Life With You

Part 9: Full Moon

Son Gohan's home was full of laughs by Goku and ChiChi. They sat at the small table looking over Goku's workbooks as a child. For Goku, it was a trip down memory lane and brought Goku fond memories he shared with ChiChi.

"You were good at this," ChiChi commended him. "You did most of the work correctly."

"I guess." Praises for anything besides fighting left Goku bashful. "After Grandpa died, I didn't immediately stop working in these books. I finished Grade 2 but I quit in the middle of Grade 3. It got too hard. I guess if Grandpa was still alive...." he shrugged. "Part of me did feel I was letting Grandpa down for not finishing but at the same time I felt a sense of freedom."

"Freedom?"

"I didn't feel pressure to do something I didn't wanna do. I could do what I want. I wish it didn't take Grandpa's death for that to happen." Feeling self-conscious of his confession, he looked away. "I'm probably not making any sense."

"Actually, I think I understand." ChiChi's words had Goku turning back to her. "Dad wants us to live with him and take over his kingdom after his passing but it's not what I want. I want to be a wife and mother. I feel guilty about my choice sometimes because it's not the same as my Dad's and he has done nothing but given me what I want even at the expense of his own dreams for me."

Goku pondered ChiChi's words and how it compared to what he felt about grandpa. "So being with me, you feel freedom from being ruler of your Dad's kingdom?"

ChiChi smiled. "And people think you're dumb. What fools they are."

Goku rubbed the back of his head, chuckling embarrassed again. Since they made up, Goku slowly opened up to ChiChi about Gohan. ChiChi didn't ask questions about Gohan until after he initiated discussions about him. Goku liked that. It allowed him to have the choice on what he wanted to share with ChiChi.

ChiChi closed the books and placed them back in the chest drawer. Goku wasn't happy with ChiChi going through Gohan's things but after thinking about it, he realized she wasn't wrong. When Gohan told him he couldn't go in the top drawer, he was a child. He was too young to understand things he kept in there. He was an adult and didn't understand it, but Goku now knew Gohan didn't mean forever when he made that decree.

"Do you want to read the letters between Gohan, Master Roshi and my father?" ChiChi asked.

Goku looked up, suddenly aware his mind had drifted. ChiChi stood by the chest holding the letters. "You haven't read them?"

"I am curious but these are your grandpa's things." She held out the letters to him. "You're his grandson. You should read them before anyone else."

Goku took the letters. His fingers gently touched the worn paper. "Well, I might not understand everything." He held them up to ChiChi. "You read them."

ChiChi gently pushed the letters to him. "We'll read them together." Seeing Goku pleased with that idea, she turned her back on him to pull out the map she found. "Do you want to look at the map?" Again, Goku nodded. ChiChi opened it and spread it across the table. "You've showed me some of these places but there's a lot I don't recognize."

As soon as Goku saw the familiar markings, memories from the deepest recesses of his mind surfaced. "I remember this. I had no idea Grandpa kept it in that drawer." Goku struggled to keep the rush of emotions in check. "I looked for this after Grandpa died, ChiChi. I never thought I would see it again."

From the wondrous look on Goku's face, ChiChi knew this map was special. "Did Gohan make this map?"

"Both of us did." He still couldn't believe he was looking at it. "Grandpa started this map a few days before he found me. After he found me, he put it aside. When I got older, Grandpa thought it would be a fun adventure and great training for us to complete a map of Mount Paozu. For weeks, we travelled and marked off landmarks, lakes and animal territories." Goku touched a waterfall marking. "I fell over this waterfall but I had Grandpa's power pole. It was the first time I used it." He pointed to a lake near something named 'Bear Territory.' "The biggest fish in this area grows here." He pointed to a baseball drawing. "Grandpa found me here."