The Warrior of Pure Heart | Dragon Ball Z

14

14

The following days, Chi-Chi barely got out of bed. She spent much of the time lying down but didn't sleep. She just stayed there still, with her head against a pillow, her gaze fixed on the wall, and her pajamas to sleep as the only change.

Even though she had insisted that her father go away and leave her alone, Ox-King refused and stayed all that time there to take care of her. There wasn't much the old king could do for her other than fix her a meal and try to get her up; in the latter, he had not been so lucky. Chi-Chi only got up to eat, but not when his father served her food, but practically until the trembling of her insides caused by hunger became unbearable. And yet, she would only eat a few bites in silence, and then she would throw herself back on the bed.

Ox-King felt devastated to see his daughter in that state. He understood the suffering she was going through, but he knew well that this routine would not be healthy for her in the long run.

What should he do? Force her to get up and move on? Or give her time and wait for her to recover her verve on her own? He had no idea, which made him feel almost like a failure as a father. Maybe if he was stronger, he would have been able to do something to save his grandson and spare his daughter all that suffering. But the reality was that this whole situation was beyond them both.

They only had to wait for Goku...

One morning, as in the previous ones, Ox-King prepared breakfast early: eggs, sausages, rice, meat... The entire house was permeated with the delicious aroma of food, which somehow kept bad energy away, at least a little.

"Chi-Chi, breakfast is ready," he said forcefully as he knocked on Chi-Chi's door with his big knuckles. He didn't get any response from the other side, but that certainly didn't surprise him.

Ox-King sighed in resignation and headed himself to the table to eat. However, he had just sat down and taken the first bite of his plate when he heard the bedroom door open. Reflexively, he rose to his feet, somewhat alarmed, but he felt a small flash of joy as he noticed the silhouette of his daughter leaning into the dining room.

Chi-Chi had her hair totally loose and misaligned, and two marked dark circles decorated her eyes. Her pajamas were out of place, with the top part falling slightly to the side, exposing part of her shoulder; it didn't even seem to be appropriately buttoned. She looked awful, but at least she was up. And that she had done it just when he called her must have been a good sign.

"Chi-Chi," Ox-King pronounced excitedly. "Come, sit down to eat, please."

She inched forward, her gaze distracted toward her chair.

"Thank you, Dad," she said slowly as she sat down. She then began to serve the different dishes but felt almost as if her hands were doing it automatically, and in reality, her mind was elsewhere.

Once everything was served on her plate right before her, she took both chopsticks and prepared to eat. However, she stopped at the last moment and raised her wary gaze to the two empty chairs at the table: the chair where Goku usually sat and the other that belonged to Gohan.

She could almost see for an instant the silhouette of both of them sitting there, eating cheerfully, smiling, and praising what a good cook she was. She could still hear their laughter and even smell their scents mingling with the food.

She felt once more that the tears threatened to take over her eyes, but it was the mere sensation because they remained dry. She had already cried so much that she had no more tears to shed. So she forced herself to just eat in silence. Her father tried to get some small talk out of her, as always, but she limited herself to only responding with slight nods or grunts barely recognizable as words.