Separated From One Another

Chapter Twenty: Scars of the Past

After spending almost a year at Bulma's house, she had made you go home to spend time with your family. Which you would not have minded if it was not only Chi-chi in the house.

"Goku and Goten will be back later on for dinner, I had to threaten them to get them to at least sleep here," Chi-chi mentioned with a sigh, as she busied herself with cooking, "By the way, how has Bulma been recovering, post-pregnancy can be hard."

"Oh, she's doing fine, Trunks is too," You explained.

"How has studying been going?"

You bit the inside of your mouth, "It has been going good, Bulma says I should be able to take the GED test after this whole Android business."

The lie was sour on your tongue as it escaped your lips, you did not want to lie to her. But she was annoying when it came to trying to get you and Gohan to study.

"I'd rather you not get into any of that," Chi-chi muttered under her breath, she brightened up as she changed the subject, "Come help me cook, has Bulma taught you anything?"

"Mostly just boiling water and making sandwiches," You admitted—pickle and peanut butter sandwiches to be exact.

"Better than nothing, here, I'll show you how to cook rice," Chi-chi guestured you to her side. Hesitantly you joined her, it was nice standing next to her and helping out, it was a breath of fresh air. Neither of you talked much save Chi-chi softly instructing you on how to wash the rice and use the rice cooker.

Goku and Gohan showed up around 5 o'clock, their clothes dirty; Chi-chi yelled at them to wash up before they could have any dinner. Dinner itself was a quiet event, Goku wolfed down a large portion of the food, it reminded you of Bulma during her pregnancy. You did not say anything, eating a good amount of the food, the chicken she made was nothing to scoff at. Maybe you would ask her later about how to make it, so you could make Bulma something nice.

After dinner, you helped Chi-chi clean up before heading to your room. You picked up some things you had left on the floor, random socks, and some t-shirts. Dressing down you changed into your pajama shorts and started pulling on the loose shirt that you slept in.

"AH!"

You whipped your head around, getting stuck in your shirt as you struggled to pull it down. Chi-chi stood in the doorway, horror on her face, you stared at her in confusion. Before you could orient yourself she was marching forward grabbing ahold of your wrist and spinning you around.

"WHAT ARE THESE!" She shouted, pressing her hands on your scars. You jolted at her sudden touch, arching your back to get away from her palm.

Goku hurried to the doorway at the sound of screaming, "What's going on?"

He stilled as his gaze fell on your form, Chi-chi's grasp on you was bruising, "Goku, did you know about this?!"

His eyes raked over your bare back, scars marring the once pristine skin, "No..."

Chi-chi snarled, her attention snapping back to you, "Were you not going to tell anyone?!"

"Bulma knows," You bit back, trying to free yourself from her grasp.

"You told her before your own mother!"

"She saw during that examination when I first got here," You snapped.

As Bulma had warned before, Chi-chi was pissed, "You should have told me!"

Gohan stood in the doorway now, his face broke something in you, shoving off Chi-chi's hands; you ran. You needed to get out, everything was too much. You could not go to Bulma's, she probably just put Trunks down for a nap. So your feet took you through the forest, your body knew the forest better than your foggy brain did. Ducking around trees and jumping over rocks you could not see. You curled up against a tree trunk deep in the forest, you allowed your tears to flow freely.

A blinding light fell upon you, holding your hand above your head you gazed up into the spotlight. Your head spun like a top at the dizzying light that overwhelmed your mind. A strange energy crackled around you, before everything around you shifted, you were no longer laying in the forest anymore.

You lay prone on the metal floor, a voice rang out around you, "We found them, Bijou sir!"

"Good work, welcome back—"

You took a deep breath in, choking at the surge of air rushing into your lungs. Gohan stumbled back, worry filled his eyes; you quickly lowered your haunches.

"I'm sorry," Gohan muttered, "I understand that you weren't ready for us to know."

"It's okay, I probably shouldn't have waited so long to mention it," Lowering your head and wiping away stray tears.

"It's not your fault—Mom tends to overreact to things like that," He mentioned, sitting down next to you after a long moment of hesitation.

Silence fell over the clearing, save the soft tittering of birds and the rustling of the leaves. You barely noticed as Gohan's head fell against your shoulder, soft snores drifting from his parted lips. With a small smile you lifted the boy up, he would get a crink in his neck if he slept out here all night. He did not stir in your arms the whole way back to the house.

When you pushed open the door, you quickly pressed a finger over your lips when Chi-chi rushed to her feet. Languidly she fell back against the couch, her eyes falling to the floor; you moved to go put Gohan to bed. Chi-chi did not follow you, laying your brother down.

Hiding away in your room, you did not sleep the whole night; the scars on your back itched the whole night. You needed to get out of the house, Chi-chi had broken your trust and you did not know if you could forgive her. When Goku brought up the idea of camping, the next morning, you leaped at the chance to get out of the house.

A/N: I finished chapters 24 & 25 and decided to post this as a treat to myself, hope ya'll like it