I Wish
Part 2

By: Sarah Slutz

Thanks TryniaMerin for betaing!

Chi-chi was sewing a new dress for herself when she heard knocking at the front door. She went to the living room and peeked out. It was Goku! When she opened the door and her husband walked in, Chi-chi hugged him fiercely. The clueless warrior returned the hug uncertainly.

"I'm very sorry Goku, I didn't mean to..." she started to apologize.

No sooner did she start, he interrupted, "Don't worry; you were right, I should help you more around the house and should pay more attention Gohan's education."

Chi-chi stared at him with petrified eyes. She whispered, "Did you ask Shenron for..."

"Don't worry about it," he smiled. Somehow, it wasn't his patented happy-go-lucky smile. His eyes appeared a lot less innocent and that worried her quite a bit.

Goku glanced around and asked, "Where is Gohan? I need to talk with him about his classes. I want to know how he is doing."

Chi-chi turned to face him and gaped at him with her mouth hanging open. Ask about his classes? she asked herself, flabbergasted. Goku noticed she was quiet and hadn't answered his question, so he queried, "What's wrong, darling?" He then closed her mouth with his index finger, since it was still hanging a bit wide open in astonishment.

"I'll look for him, okay? Wait here, I want to talk to you after I talk to him." Then, he kissed her deeply on the lips, something that he very, very rarely did just like that, out of the blue.

The kiss felt... so good, so different to Chi-chi.

When he turned around and walked away, she fainted.

When she came to, the first thing Chi-chi felt was that she was in bed, covered with her blanket. She opened her eyes and focused on Goku who was looking down at her with... deep concern? She tried to talk but he put his index finger on her lips.

"Don't talk sweetheart, just rest. You fainted and slept for about half an hour. Just stay in bed for the rest of the day," he said, very sternly. Chi-chi rose from the bed, ignoring Goku's protests.

"What's wrong with you, Goku-sa?" she asked, dismayed.

He looked at her, puzzled. "Nothing's wrong. I made myself some food and washed the dishes, by the way, since you looked pretty tired. Maybe you should go to the doctor tomorrow, just in case. You can never be too careful about your health."

"Nani?? Are you serious?!?" He is talking in complete sentences? He washed the dishes? Noticed I looked tired? Mentioned a doctor?

"Hai. Is something wrong my dear?" he wondered.

"Iie Goku-sa," she told him shakily. This is getting too weird. "I need to make a phone call." She walked to the phone and called Bulma, not paying attention to his protests that she should lay down.

"Mushi mushi," answered Bulma when she picked up the phone. Chi-chi could hear Trunks wailing in the background.

"Bulma," Chi-chi said immediately. "Goku made the wish. He is acting..." she couldn't find an appropriate word for his behavior. Insane perhaps?

"Like a thirty-two-year-old?" Bulma supplied.

There, that was it! "Hai. But it's so very unnerving!"

Bulma shook her head, glad her hysterical friend couldn't see her. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Well ..." Chi-chi trailed off. I did wish for it, didn't I?

"See?" It was just what she had asked for, Bulma thought, wanting to voice out her opinion, but not wanting to upset her friend further.

"Demo..." Chi-chi admitted, nervously.

A bit exasperated, Bulma said sternly, "No buts. You asked for it."

It was true but... she sighed and said, "Okay, see you later."

Chi-chi was left feeling extremely confused... Why couldn't she be happy that Goku was acting so maturely? She sighed, feeling her headache was beginning to worsen. Perhaps she should lie down.

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Goku walked to Gohan's room while his wife spoke on the phone. He opened the door without knocking and stepped in. He saw Gohan kicking the air, then spinning around, obviously practicing a flying kick. Gohan stopped, turned around and looked at him with horror on his face and then his expression quickly relaxed.

"I thought it was kaa-san. What a relief, I thought I was about to get punished again. Where were you this morning, tou-san?"

What a shock! Well, it was daddy, not mommy who came in, Gohan thought, as he waited for his dad's retort.

"What were you doing just right now?" Goku asked sternly.

"HUH?" Did I just hear a "father-is-angry" tone there? He'd heard it very seldom, but enough times to know how it sounded like.

"FINISH YOUR HOMEWORK!" Goku scolded. Gohan looked perplexed at his father. What's WRONG with him?

"MOVE IT!!!!!"

After that forceful command, Gohan scrambled to his chair and immediately began writing.

"You are staying in this room all day. I am punishing you, so don't you dare watch TV or train in your room. Finish your homework and also begin doing tomorrow's assignments. After that, maybe we'll train like we agreed. Your education is very important to your mother and we don't want to disappoint her, right, Gohan?" After glaring at his son, Goku turned around and Gohan stared at his retreating back, his eyes wide and confused.

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Chi-chi was washing the dinner dishes but she had stopped midway, just staring off into space. Goku came behind her and told her, "You are letting the water run, Chi-chi. Close the faucet," startling her. Chi-chi turned the tap off, not having the mental strength to realize this was a strange command coming from Goku, the one who always left the faucet running.

"That's better." He smiled and then said, "I am going to spar with Vegita. I felt his ki in CC when I arrived this morning. He is back from his little trip, I guess. Is that alright with you, dear?"

"But you said you were going to spar with Gohan yesterday. Did you forget? Now, remember to not be too rough on him Goku-sa..."

"Gohan is punished because I found him training while he should have been doing his homework," he told her, cutting her sentence short.

"You PUNISHED him???" Goku punished Gohan? Now the furniture will certainly begin dancing and singing!

"Hai," he said. Shrugging, Goku turned around. Then he turned back once more and added, "I'll be back in a couple of hours." Chi-chi stared at his retreating back, her eyes wide and confused.

Gohan sauntered into the kitchen stared at his mother. He looked really worried. "Kaa-san… tou-san is acting very strange

"I know, baby. I know," Chi-chi sighed, patting him forlornly on the head.

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Bulma greeted Goku warmly at the entrance of CC and Goku kissed her cheek. Bulma was quite taken aback, never having been greeted like that by him, but she simply smiled.

"I didn't expect to see you here so early, Son-kun! Well, considering Chi-chi is so upset... never mind that. Vegita will be out in a couple of minutes since he probably already felt your ki. He's finishing his routine in the Gravity Room. I swear, all he does is train! He was gone for almost two days and he didn't even say hello to Trunks..." all of a sudden she stopped and grinned sheepishly, noticing Goku was still standing outside with a polite smile on his face the entrance while she had been ranting.

It was strange, the way he looked at her so politely while she talked. He would usually be fiddling with his clothes or hair, or would have already nudged her aside to walk in. Being patient with ranting women was a trait Goku normally did not possess. She almost missed the old childish Goku at that moment.

"Sorry, it's just that he makes me so mad! I tried to have a fight with him, but I couldn't even do that because he immediately shut himself in that dammed thing... Oh, my mouth is running off. Here, walk in before I can continue," Bulma declared as she moved away from the entrance and let him in.

Goku said soothingly, "Don't worry about it Bulma. I know you and Vegita sometimes have issues, but I know you love each other, even if he would rather die than say it. And now you have a baby together, I remember when we first had Gohan; it was tough for Chi-chi to handle a half-Saiya-jin baby, but we didn't know about the whole Saiyan thing... Hopefully things will improve with time, right?"

Bulma smiled and signaled Goku to follow her. They entered the kitchen and she wordlessly sat down.

"Let's sit for a bit." When he did, she continued, "Well, I really don't think it is going to change. I mean the situation. He doesn't want to make a real commitment. He comes and goes without a warning and doesn't give a damn about our son." She sighed and then amended, "At least he's back semi-permanently."

Goku shook his head sympathetically. He reassured her, "He'll probably pay more attention to him when he is older. He will certainly want to train him."

"You're probably right about that," she told him. Then she sighed and Goku remained quiet.

The two old friends just sat there at the table, in companionable silence until Bulma spoke again. "Goku, do you really feel better like this? With all the burdens of feeling so mature? It is not that easy, you know. I used to envy your ability to be so cheerful, no matter what the situation."

Goku simply shrugged, not really knowing what to tell his friend. Just about the time when he was about to say something else, Bulma interrupted him, "You don't have to answer me. Just think about it. Do you want something to eat?"

"It's okay, I already ate. I'll just wait for Vegita here. You don't have to entertain me, you know, Bulma. You can go back to work or whatever you were doing," he said politely.

Bulma stared open mouthed at Goku and felt goose bumps prickling all over her skin. Sure, talking to an articulate and adult-sounding Goku was a bit unsettling, but rejecting an offer of food? This was absolutely unheard of. It was like Vegita saying, "I don't feel like training today."

Vegita chose that moment to walk into the kitchen, scowling as always. He barked, "Onna, stop babbling. Don't you ever get tired of listening to your own voice? Let's go Kakarot, let's not waste any more time. You're about to be beaten, you third-class warrior

Goku simply grunted and with an incline of his head said, "Saiya-jin no Ouji…" He turned around at the kitchen's door and smiled at Bulma, but she was still too stupefied to respond to anything. She didn't even fling a parting insult to her mate.

Goku and Vegita left Capsule Corp behind and flew off to a more deserted place to spar. Once there the two Saiya-jins immediately got down to business. As they fought Vegita noted something strange in Goku from the start, but couldn't put his finger on it. For one thing, it looked as if the baka wasn't in a very good mood today, because he didn't grin at all. Also, Kakarot was battling and punching him very hard, as if this were a real conflict, not holding back some of his strength like he would normally. Not that this would bother Vegita, of course, but it was unusual anyway.

When Kakarot stopped and told him he was fighting like a girl, he --too shocked to knock him off silly-- thundered, "What is wrong with you?"

Kakarot regarded him seriously --not cheerfully, or smiling, or grinning innocently, to his mounting shock-- and announced, "Vegita, I would ask what is wrong with you."

Vegita stared at him for a couple of seconds more and then shook his head. He complained, "You are acting too bizarre for my comfort, I'll go train in the gravity room, by myself." Then, he turned around,

Goku shrugged and yelled at his retreating back, "You're acting childishly, Vegita-sama."

Vegita turned around in mid-air to look at Goku with dismay, too shocked to have the sense to crack Kakarot's skull in half.

"Nani?? Look who is talking about being childish, you are a child trapped in an adult's body," Vegita taunted.

"Not today I'm not, your no Ouji!" Goku countered

"Definitely. I'm not going to train with a freak!" Vegita retorted.

Kakarot crossed his arms and told him frostily, "Do as you please, Vegita."

Kakarot is talking coldly, being sarcastic, crossing his arms, calling me childish and a girl. Yeah. Now the sand will begin attacking me. Vegita stared at this new Kakarot and blasted off. Turning around once he noticed Kakarot with his arms crossed and looking at him with an icy disdain, and felt goose bumps rise all over his arms. This is TOO creepy for my comfort. Seriously, I would rather face Freeza again right now.

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Chi-chi and Gohan were playing with a puzzle while Goku was away training with Vegita. Goku had decided to fly around the planet for a while before returning home. When he finally arrived to his house, they were still playing. The door was open, so Goku walked in. After he stepped into the living room, Goku sat with them. Although Gohan already knew where they went, Goku helped Gohan to place the pieces in their correct places. Chi-chi stared at her husband. She was already missing his childish grin.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she ran to their room, not being able to take it anymore. Throwing open the door she then locked it behind her. She flung herself on the bed, crying. Goku looked at Gohan. "Wait here," he told his son seriously. Getting up with a frown, he went to their room.

The door was locked. Goku scowled and wondered why.

What was wrong with Chi-chi? He just didn't comprehend what was going on.

He knocked and a muffled voice from inside shouted, "GO AWAY!!!!" Goku forced the door open effortlessly and walked in. He saw her lying face-down on the bed, weeping. Sitting down beside her, he gently took her into his arms. She cried on his chest, clinging to him, and he didn't care if his shirt was getting wet.

Taking her chin, Goku lifted it so he could see her face. He then whispered softly, "Why are you crying? I don't understand. Isn't this what you wanted?"

Through tears she sniffled, "I thought it was."

"Then, what do you want?"

"I want my Goku!" she cried.

"I am your Goku, the Goku you have always wanted, you know, a thirty-two year old one." He smiled, a ghost of his old grin.

"No, I want my ten-year-old one!" Chi-chi answered stubbornly.

Both of them laughed at that and Goku hugged her. "Don't worry. In about twelve hours I will be the same again. I was so childish I took your words literally and wished for only one day as an adult."

Chi-chi smiled radiantly. Maybe things could improve a little.

Goku hugged her and kissed her -she would miss his spontaneous kisses- then Chi-chi pulled closer to him. She whispered into his ear mischievously, "Well, let's use our time wisely."

Goku laughed and hugged her more tightly. Lowering his mouth to hers he kissed her passionately, looking forward to the next twelve hours.

The End!