Dragonball Super Z http://hometown.aol.com/juuhachigouda/dbszfic.html By: Juuhachi-gou and MiraiBulma Dragonball Z Freshmen: Part One "For the Life of Me I Cannot Remember" When I was young, I knew everything And she a punk who rarely ever took advice Now I'm guilt-stricken, sobbing with my head on the floor A stalk of baby's breath and a shoe full of rice ~*~ Gohan's watch cheeped the hour, and he glanced at it, then smiled at the group before him. "That's all for today, everyone," he said, shutting the workbook and setting it beside him on top of the desk on which he was sitting. A chorus of "Awwww!" and "Gohan-sensei, already?" greeted his announcement. Several dozen children crowded the small reconstructed classroom; most of them had never had a proper teacher before, and having an adult sit down and explain the mysteries of formal education to them--for hours on end!--was a welcome novelty. The fact that Gohan was likable, patient, and more approachable than almost any adult any of them had ever known--even those lucky few who still had mothers or fathers--was a bonus none of them could have expected. Most of these children had lost one or both parents, and Gohan Son was like an older brother, or even a surrogate father, to those who had no family left at all. Gohan smiled and nodded. "Study your lessons carefully, and tomorrow we'll work on the next chapter. Hurry home now, it's lunchtime!" The children called out cheerful farewells as they dashed outside at this reminder--several of them had become so engrossed in Gohan's revelations that they'd forgotten their stomachs completely. Drinking in their teacher's revelations quenched their thirst for knowledge, but did nothing to assuage the pangs of physical hunger. Finally only one student remained at the back of the classroom, struggling to get out of a schooldesk that was far too small for him. Finally the oldest attendee of Gohan's reading class managed to stand, stretching the kinks out of his well-muscled limbs. "Ano, that was fun!" Gokou announced. "But I'm hungry. Gohan, you wanna come home with me for lunch?" "Not today, Tou-san. Videl's expecting me." Gohan removed the glasses he didn't really need and packed them carefully away. Wearing the spectacles made him look older, more the part of a teacher and scholar. He wore a business suit and sensible tie every day, for the same reason--to present a mature, respectable image to his students, someone they could look up to and who deserved their attention. (He didn't realize that the children in his class would have listened to his lessons just as worshipfully if he came to class in pajamas and fuzzy slippers.) "Saa, I keep forgetting you're married now!" Gokou put a hand behind his head and laughed. "I did the same thing when ChiChi and I got together, till she beat me so many times I had to remember! Gomen!!" Gohan smiled gently. "That's okay, Tou-san. See you tomorrow!" "Yosh'!" Gokou gathered up his books, not wanting to forget his homework. He was the only adult in Gohan's class, but he didn't mind it; he liked children, and they liked him as well, quickly overcoming the awe that had first intimidated them at having a living legend sitting in their midst. Gokou's unabashed, unaffected charm had won even the shyest of his younger classmates over within a week, and he was now readily accepted as one of them despite his age. Gohan waved at his father as Gokou dashed outside, whistled for the Kintoen, and flew off into the wide blue of the sky towards the west. Gohan put his backpack on and started the walk home, whistling softly to himself. Married life agreed with him, he decided. The month they'd spent in the alternate past had shown him how happy he could be with the woman he loved, and the very same day they'd returned home he'd gone straight to Videl's little apartment over the flower shop and proposed to her. Seeing no reason to wait, they'd married quickly, and now, almost three months later, Gohan had no regrets about his decision. ChiChi thoroughly approved of Videl, and it did his heart good to see how well the two women in his life got along. His new bride was quite a bit like his mother, he supposed--she was a strong woman with a quick mind and a sharp wit, not to mention a fiery temper that Gohan had no desire to provoke. A small, neat little white house sat on the edge of town, newly built, the paint still bright and unmarred by the elements. Gohan walked in through the red-painted front door and dropped his backpack in the hall closet. "Tadaima!" he called. "I'm in the kitchen, darling," Videl chimed. "I've got lunch ready." Although Videl was a fine cook in her own right, she and ChiChi spent several hours a week in the kitchen at House Son, with the older woman giving the younger advice on cooking for a husband with a Saiyajin's taste and appetite. It was amusing to watch the young bride and the younger mother-in-law working together--it could have been an older and younger sister in the kitchen, except it was the twelve-year- old who gave the instructions while the young adult listened and followed directions. Gohan sat down and ate quickly, without preamble, and although his table manners outshone his father's, he was no less rapid in his mass consumption of rice and soup and the small white fluffy dumplings Videl had just learned to prepare. After lunch, Videl served some hot tea, and sat down at the table with him. Gohan looked at her and saw her dark eyes sparkling with excitement. He sensed she had something to tell him, some wonderful secret. He detected, too, a certain nervousness in her expression, and smiled to set his bride at ease. "What is it, Videl?" "Gohan..." She set her cup down, folded her hands in her lap and looked at him earnestly. "How soon would you like to start a family?" "Nn?" Gohan sipped reflectively, pondering the question. "Well, I know Kaa-san would be thrilled to have a grandchild..." Videl smiled patiently. "I don't want to know how ChiChi feels...I want to know what you think about it." Gohan laughed softly at himself. "I don't want to make you feel rushed, Videl...I mean, if you want to wait a while, that would be okay." "Mm." Videl looked away, but not before Gohan saw some of the light fade from her eyes. "However," he added quickly, "if you want to start trying, we can. I love children, and I'd really like to have one of our own as soon as you're ready." She looked back at him, brightening again. "Really?" The desperate hope in her eyes made him reach out and take her hands in his. Cradling her cold little fingers in his warm grasp, he nodded earnestly. "Whenever you want is fine with me." "Do you want a boy or a girl?" "To start with, you mean? I don't care, so long as he--or she--is ours." Videl hopped up and darted around the table, landing in Gohan's lap so fast he almost fell off the chair before he managed to steady them both and put his arms around her. She covered his face with kisses. "Oh, Gohan, I'm so happy!" "Videl, it's good that you're happy." Gohan sensed that there was something more to Videl's glee than he was currently aware of. "Do...do you want to start trying right away?" he stammered, blushing a little. *Here, in the kitchen?* he wondered, scandalized. "You don't understand," she said, beaming as bright as the sunshine streaming in the kitchen window. She looked at him, her eyes shining. "Gohan...I'm going to have a baby. I just found out this morning." "...nnh?" He blinked. "I'm about two months along, according to the test," she chattered. "I took it twice, just to make sure. Of course, I'll need to confirm it with a doctor, but he won't be in town again until next week. Not that I need him to tell me. I can feel it," she said, touching her flat tummy. "I can feel our child growing inside me." Gohan's brain, usually so quick to grasp any concept, was having a hard time processing this new and unexpected information. "You..." He swallowed. "You mean you...you mean I...you mean we...?" "Yes, Gohan!" she giggled. "We're pregnant!" Slowly a smile dawned on Gohan's long face, reaching proportions that could only be described as...goofy. "YOSH'!!" he cried in an unconscious imitation of his father, leaping from his chair with his bride cradled in his arms and spinning her around the small neat kitchen, laughing and twirling until they were both dizzy with delight. ~*~ ChiChi struggled valiantly with the huge bowl and set it on the table with a grunt. Strength wasn't really the problem; ChiChi was as physically strong as her husband, if not as accomplished a warrior. No, it was her small size--a child's size--that made her task more difficult. "I'm so tired of being a little girl," she sighed. Gokou did a remarkable thing: he paused in the middle of eating and looked at his wife with wide and curious eyes, his cheeks stuffed full like a chipmunk's. "Ufuhmabrfeefee?" he mumbled before gulping the food down. "Oh, I don't like to complain," his wife sighed, "but being twelve years old, while it's wonderful to be young again, makes...so many things inconvenient." She drew her sleeve across her small brow. "Well, in a few years I'll be grown up again. Till then, I'll just have to manage, I guess--" Gokou finished his bowl of rice in three enormous gulps. "Why didn't you say something before? I can fix that!" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and jumped from the table. As he ran outside, he whistled shrilly. "Oi! Kintoen!!" "Gokou-san!!" ChiChi ran after him as fast as her short legs could carry her. By the time she reached the door, her husband was standing on the magical golden cloud, speeding off into the high blue sky. "Back soon!" he shouted. "But--Gokou-san! I..." ChiChi stood in the doorway, blinking. "I want...to go with you," she finished softly, watching Gokou dwindle in the distant blue sky to a speck, racing off to Kami-knew-where. Again. She wondered how many years he'd be gone this time. ~*~ "Shoot, there's a water shortage in the North Sector...I thought we'd installed enough pumps to compensate for that." Bulma fussed over the graphic of New Hope City, scowling at the fine web of flashing red lines and junctures that signified where the flow of fresh water was dangerously low. "Maybe if we reroute through the canyon..." So intent was she on watching the city schematic that she didn't hear the softest of footfalls behind her. She was completely unaware of another presence in the lab until she felt something furry brush against the outside of her left thigh. She shrieked and started, so violently she almost fell over in her chair. Glancing around, she scowled at the smirking face peering over her left shoulder. "You beast! Kindly control your appendage and leave me to work in peace!" "My 'appendage'? Oh, you mean this old thing." Vegeta grinned as his tail teased the back of Bulma's knee. She pressed her legs together and wrapped her feet around the wheelbase of her chair in an attempt to shield the ticklish spots on her legs--every one of which Vegeta knew, damn him. "Yes, I mean that awful furry thing! Now go away! Shoo! Let me work!" "You've been in here all day." "What's it to you?" Bulma hunched forward and focused furiously on the monitor screen. "Can't you see I'm busy? What's your problem, anyway." "I'm bored." "Go spar with somebody." "I'd rather spar with you." "Huh--? HEY!" Bulma cried as he reached around her and switched off the computer terminal. "You--you baka!! I hadn't saved that yet!!" "So now you'll have the fun of doing it over." Vegeta scooped her up under one arm and carried her, kicking and shrieking, upstairs. Her protests, as usual, did not last very long. ~*~ It had been a long, lazy afternoon, and the shadows were slanting long now as the sun dipped towards the edge of the land in the west. The wilderness outside New Hope was uninhabited, barren, but the battlescars across the landscape were slowly being eroded away by wind and rain and time. A young man sat atop a tall butte, the early-evening breezes stirring his pale purple hair. He'd cut it short for his father, but now it was growing long again. Perhaps he'd let it grow during the winter, since there was at least one person who seemed to like its length, then cut it again in spring. One haircut a year--it's not like it makes that much difference to me how I look anyway. Warm soft lips brushed the back of his neck. Trunks started and almost fell off his perch. "Na--nanda?!" he stammered, unconsciously reaching for his sword as he spun around. Juuhachi-gou giggled. "Tag, you're it," she said, beaming. "Juu! I didn't hear you." "I didn't want you to." Juuhachi-gou moved close, twining one slender arm around his. "You're so cute when you're contemplative." "Oh, I am not," he protested, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks. "And you're even cuter when you blush," she teased. "Juuuuuuu..." A silvery laugh. "Nani mo. I won't tell a soul." She stood on tiptoe to touch another kiss to his cheek. "Have you ever watched a sunset from inside a cloud?" she whispered, her breath caressing his ear. "N...no," he replied huskily, swallowing hard. "It's very...inspiring," she breathed against his skin. "You little she-devil," he growled playfully, catching her up in his arms and flying up into the gathering clouds with her. She curled against him as the mists enfolded them both. "Mm...promise...?" ~*~ Almost midnight. ChiChi sighed and stepped out of the bath. Toweling herself off, she wished mightily that she wasn't going to bed alone. She'd gotten used to having her husband beside her every night, even if her current...condition...made intimate contact not only uncomfortable but downright indecent. Wandering into the bedroom, she paused to stretch her limbs before reaching for her nightgown. She missed. ChiChi blinked as her hand hit about half a meter up from where she'd been reaching; instead of picking up the garment off the pillow, her knuckles rapped sharply into the bed's headboard. "OW!" she cried, and realized that her voice sounded different, even to her own ears. Slowly she turned around, and saw herself in the mirror on the bathroom door. She was no longer twelve, but neither was she the matronly woman she'd been when Gokou had first returned to her. She was small as she'd always been, but her full adult height once more, and slender, with smooth ivory skin and a figure that, while it wasn't on the same level as Bulma's centerfold-caliber attributes, was hardly anything to be ashamed of. Slowly her eyes tracked up her reflection-- the slim, sleek legs, the womanly hips, the still-tiny waist and a pair of proud, firm breasts. Finally she looked at her face, the face she'd worn before Gohan was born. She had no idea how long she stood there, naked and awestruck at the sight of her transformation, before the window opened from the outside and Gokou stepped in. "That better, ChiChi?" he asked hopefully. "Go--GoKOU-san!!!" ChiChi flew joyfully into his arms, covering his face with kisses. He laughed, that wonderful merry laugh of his that not only invited, but almost required you to laugh with him, and held her close. "You look as pretty as you did on our wedding night, ChiChi," he whispered in her ear. "I'm glad Piccolo told me about there being one wish left on the Dragon Balls, so I wouldn't have to be gone too long. Lucky they were pretty much all in one place, waiting for the third wish! I think I been gone long enough too many times before, don't you?" "Oh, Gokou-san..." Suddenly ChiChi realized she wasn't wearing anything except a blissful smile, and with a tiny squeal she jumped back, reaching for her towel. "Aw, now whatcha need that for?" he asked playfully, tugging the towel out of her hands and tossing it aside. "Tell you what, ChiChi--so you don't feel lonely, I'll get naked too." He grinned broadly. "Even I can figure out what we should do from there!" "Gokou...you...??" ChiChi was momentarily bewildered. She watched her husband strip down to his skin, and realized with a gleeful shock that he'd missed their intimacy as much as she had. With a delighted giggle she pounced into his arms and they fell on the bed. End Chapter Seventeen