Loving A Memory

Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.

Chapter 1

The man walked on, lost in his own thoughts as he trudged down the empty beach. Memories ran through his mind like old black and white films as he slowly made his way towards his destination.

Tonight was, of course, a special night for celebration since it was his eldest son’s birthday. But, though the rest of his family was waiting around the kitchen table at his home, he felt no reason to hurry towards his destination. So, he walked on, his friends and family all waiting his arrival, but never feeling so alone.

Flashback

“I can’t believe we finally did it. Our first child. Just look at him,” whispered Mirai, gazing at the newborn that lay in the newly purchased bassinet.

“Yes, we did. Our son. Our little miracle,” his mate wearily replied, squeezing Mirai’s hand in happiness.

End Flashback

Giving a heartfelt sigh, the man walked on, his house clearly in sight. It had been so long since that particular bit of his past had been his present. But, even though his mate had left long ago, he could still feel how his hand had felt during that memory, and how he’d felt in every other memory.

Flashback

“Please don’t leave me, koi. I’ll miss you too much,” Gohan said, giving his loving mate a teary eyed look that tore at Mirai’ s heart.

“I have to. I can’t stay here when there is someone that needs my help. And he really does, Gohan, you know that,” Mirai replied, fondly kissing Gohan’s head.

Gohan bowed his head, not wanting to face that fact just yet. “I know, but…I just don’t want you to leave me alone.”

Taking his young mate gently into his arms, Mirai hugged him fiercely, silently telling him just how much he loved him. “Koi, listen. You won’t be alone for long, I promise. I’ll be back soon. You’ll hardly even realize that I’m gone, okay?”

Gohan nodded, memorizing every inch of his mate’s body as he returned the hug, until, reluctantly, he was forced to let go. “Okay,” he whispered, trying to smile as he stepped back. “Just don’t be too long, alright?”

“I won’t. I’ll see you soon, Gohan. I love you,” Mirai said, grabbing Gohan for one quick hug before he bounded up the ramp into the spaceship that would take him far, far away from Earth, his home.

“I love you,” Gohan whispered, the words barely making it out of his mouth as he watched his mate leave. And even though it tore at his heart, he watched as the ramp retracted, and stayed until the spaceship had left the atmosphere.

And then, wiping a few tears away, he turned around, and headed back home, without his mate beside him.

End Flashback

It had been so long. So long since Mirai had left to go help his father out of a troublesome predicament. And, disturbingly enough, he had never returned. Gohan tried not to think about it, tried not to recall exactly how many decades, months, and days it had been since Mirai had left him, but every now and then he was reminded of something, and, just like that, he recalled how very alone he was.

“Grandpa! Grandpa! Hurry up!”

Startled out of his self-pity, Gohan looked up to see a small form running towards him at full speed. Almost instantly, he realized that it was one of his grandchildren, and he smiled, always happy to be with a member of his ever-increasing family. He stared, trying to figure out who it was, but it took a moment before he recognized the bundle of trouble headed towards him. And upon that thought, he groaned.

Not only was it one of mischief-making grandchildren, it was, in fact, the ringleader. It was Vegito, the youngest child of his eldest son, Godin. Not to be denied, this child was a miniature version of his great-grandfather, Vegeta, who had also not returned from the quest to help Goku.

“Grandpa, come on! Stop being such a slow poke and hurry up already! Everyone’s waiting for you!” Vegito called, skidding to a stop in front of Gohan. Wearing an adorable t-shirt that said ‘Bite Me,’ Vegito looked up at Gohan with such an evil smirk that Gohan had to wonder what mischief he had done to make him want to actually do something helpful.

“Alright, Vegito. What did you do?” Gohan asked, giving the chibi a fond smile.

Vegito blinked, absently twitching his tail to the right, a sure sign that he was about to lie. “Nothing, Grandpa. Honest,” he intoned, giving Gohan the pathetic puppy dog look that all children knew instinctively.

“Vegito,” Gohan warned, giving his grandchild what he hoped was a serious look. “You’re lying, now what did you do?”

Sighing, the chibi gave his grandparent an overly curious look. “How do you always know, Grandpa? I wasn’t giving away any signs at all!” he exclaimed, completely ignorant to the fact that all of the adults in the family were aware of his tail twitch, and had decided not to inform him that they knew of it.

“I just did, Vegito,” Gohan said mysteriously, taking the chibi’s hand in his as he started to walk. “Now, what did you do?”

Vegito coughed as he, unsuccessfully, tried to mask a look of complete and utter triumph. “Well, Grandpa, I…uh, that is to say, I…well…”

“Spit it out, Vegito.”

“I…um…shaved off all of Goja’s hair while she was sleeping,” he muttered, staring fixedly ahead as they made their way back to the house.

Gohan blinked, not really wanting to believe it, but knowing his grandchild was capable of it all the same. “Um…Why?”

“She made fun of me yesterday, and said that I was short. So, I decided that without all of her extra hair she would realize exactly how short SHE was.”

“So, you shaved it off?” Gohan asked, picturing exactly how Goja, the first child of his second child, Spice, would look with all of her hair shaved off.

“Yep!” Vegito exclaimed, forgetting for a moment that he wasn’t supposed to look happy about the result of his little prank.

“Okay,” said Gohan, doing his best not to snicker at the images playing through his mind. He WAS supposed to be a responsible adult after all. “So, let me guess. You decided to come get me, so that you could avoid the punishment that you know is coming.”

Vegito nodded, choosing not to say anything, since they were almost at the back door.

“Well, Vegito,” Gohan said, casting a look at the seething Saiyan that was perched on the kitchen counter. “I really don’t think that you will be able to escape this punishment,” he said, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

“What do you mean, Grandpa?” Vegito asked, a look of confusion crossing his face as he stared at his grandparent.

Gohan opened the door, and, wisely, took a step to the side. “Because your cousin is about to kill you, Vegito,” he said, watching with slight amusement as Goja shot out of the kitchen like a cannon, her entire head bright red with livid anger.

Vegito eyes widened, and before you could say Super Saiyan, he was running as fast as his legs could carry him down the beach, his screaming cousin hot on his heels.

“What took you so long, Dad?” Godin asked, dark eyes watching his parent as he slowly turned away from the hilarious scene playing out in front of him.

“I was, well, just thinking,” Gohan replied, smiling at Goja’s evil laugh as she tackled Vegito to the ground.

“About Father,” Godin stated, age-old anger visible in his eyes.

“It’s not important, Godin. Now, is everybody here?” Gohan asked, cutting off any attempt from his son to continue the conversation. Godin had been angry at Trunks for as long as he could remember. In Godin’s view, it was Mirai’s fault for all the problems that their family had been through, and for how weak Gohan was at the moment. For the last few decades, Gohan and his family had protected the planet against all invaders, but, in the last battle a few years ago, the enemy had used a deadly weapon that they had not been able to defend against.

With just a few seemingly unimportant battles, the enemy had achieved their goal, and had been able to inject a decidedly fatal virus into Gohan’s system.

If it wasn’t for Bulma, Gohan wouldn’t have survived.

He still suffered the effects every now and then, but, for the most part, his daily life remained unchanged. Except, of course, for the fact that he no longer had the ki to fight, let alone protect himself or the planet.

“Yes, it is Dad!” Godin exclaimed, following Gohan into the living room, where everybody had moved to watch a movie.

“No, it isn’t Godin. Now, just let it drop. I want you to have a happy birthday,” Gohan said, his deep frown at the subject changing to a smile as his family jumped him, glad to see him again. “Hey guys! Long time no see!”

“Dad, it’s been a while! How have you been?” his second child, Spice, asked as she enveloped him in a large hug.

“Fine, sweetheart. How are you and the kids?”

Spice sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. “Okay, I guess. Goja is a complete handful now that she’s a teenager. I have to threaten every guy that even walks by her. And, Toma, he’s well, just as much trouble as his twin. Between him and Goja, I don’t have the time of day to think, let alone have any time to myself,” Spice complained, rolling her eyes as she caught of glimpse of Goja firing ki blasts at Vegito outside.

Gohan chuckled. “Don’t worry about it Spice. Soon enough, they’ll be out of your hair, and you’ll wonder where the time has gone. I went through it with every one of you guys.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said, leaning back into the well-worn couch. “So,” she said, peering around the room. “Where’s Trunks? I thought he said that he was going to be here?”

“I thought I saw him a few seconds ago, but I guess he must have ducked out,” Gohan said, looking for Godin’s mate.”

“He did. He didn’t want to run into us,” Vegeta interrupted, moving to stand in front of them with his brother, Goku.

“Why?” Gohan asked, briefly hugging each of them. They were Godin’s older children. Vegeta was born first, and less than a year later, Goku came along. The two were pretty much inseparable, and, oddly enough, they were exact replicas of the Saiyans that they were named after. It was sometimes confusing, but the minute they decided to pull one of their famous pranks, all of the older Saiyans were reminded of exactly how unlike their great-grandparents they were.

“We told him last week that we were planning some pranks, and we kind of hinted that he would be our first target,” Goku said, grinning as he looked at his brother.

“You did?” Spice asked, interested despite herself.

“Well, yeah,” Vegeta exclaimed, “After what he did to us last week, we have to get revenge on him.”

“Yeah,” said Goku, crossing his arms over a t-shirt that read ‘Do me or die,’ “Dear old Dad needs to receive just as much as he gives out.”

Spice and Gohan blushed. Though they were all grown adults, the brothers acted more Saiyan than they did, and as such, they were more comfortable with talking about certain subjects in public.

“That was way too much information for my tastes,” said Spice as she stood up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to rescue your little brother before Goja kills him.”

“Good luck,” they called out merrily, before sitting down next to their grandfather.

“So, Gramps,” said Vegeta, slinging an arm around the shoulder of his favorite relative. “Do you have interest in helping us with our exalted plans?”

“Yeah, do you want to help us?” Goku asked, “We were could really use your help!”

“No, I don’t think so. The last time I was involved in one of your brilliant schemes it was a disaster.”

“Alright,” Vegeta said dejectedly as he stood up to go. “I guess we’ll just have to find another victim…er…helper.”

“Go ahead then,” Gohan said, chuckling as they immediately made a beeline for Radditz, his youngest child. He’d had all of his children within two years of each other, and immediately after Radditz’ birth, everything had changed. He sighed and tried to remember painful memories, but, yet again, he was unsuccessful.

Flashback

Gohan sighed as he walked down the long hallway to the kitchen, a chibi in each arm. Radditz, the newborn, and Spice, just a few months older, were both hungry and had woken him up at three in the morning to remind him of that fact.

Once in the kitchen, he ki-warmed a few bottles of milk, and one by one, gave them to the crying chibis. It had been a few months since Mirai had left, and it had been a very hard adjustment so far. Gohan could barely sleep, let alone function without his mate, but he had been forcing himself to do it.

He held both chibis until they had drunk their midnight snack, and then carried them back upstairs and put them back to bed. Standing over their cribs, he watched with a strange mixture of fondness and sadness as his children slipped into a peaceful deep sleep.

He couldn’t help but wonder what exactly they dreamed about, but he hoped that they were more peaceful than the nightmares that haunted him each night as he slept.

He could only hope so.

End of Flashback

“Dad? Dad? Earth to Dad? Are you there?”

Startled, Gohan blinked and looked up to see Radditz staring at him. “Uh…yeah. Sorry. What’d you need?”

“Nothing, Dad. Just wanted to make sure that you were okay,” he said, looking at Gohan with a worried expression on his face.

“Yeah,” Gohan said, rubbing his face, “Just a little tired. I’ll get over it.”

“Okay,” Radditz said, not entirely convinced. “But if you need anything you know you can ask me right?”

Gohan nodded. “Yes, I know son. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“Alright…and before I forget, I need you to follow me in here, because the party is finally about to start,” Radditz said, gently helping Gohan to his feet.

“About time, I was beginning to wonder,” Gohan said as he walked behind Radditz into the well-lit kitchen.

“Beginning? Dad, you were in full-fledged thought mode. You didn’t even notice when everyone headed into the kitchen!”

Grinning sheepishly, Gohan moved to stand at the head of the table, as he had done for many years. “Yeah, I guess I didn’t. Oh, well…So, um, are we ready to start?” he asked, looking at all the faces standing around the table.

“Get on with it,” shouted Vegito, his now bald head gleaming.

Gohan glared at the chibi and then turned to face everyone else. “Alright then. First off, I’d like to make a toast to Godin since he felt that he was too old to have ‘Happy Birthday sung to him. So, everyone raise their glass, or…er….juice cup,” he said, raising a glass that had been placed on the table. “Okay, um…Godin…I wish you a happy birthday and I hope that you have many more to come. To Godin,” he said.

“TO GODIN!!”

“Thanks, guys,” Godin said, blushing, as he moved to stand next to his father. “Now, since I know all of you guys are really hungry, let’s eat!”

At those words, Gohan took a quick step back to get out of the fray, and made his way to the counter to where he knew his plate had been stashed.

“Dad?”

Gohan turned, plate in hand as he looked at Godin. “Yes, son?”

“Thanks.”

Gohan grinned, but before he could say anything the grin faded into a serious frown. Within seconds, Godin’s face matched his own, and one by one, every one in the house stopped and mentally followed the trail of the large ki that had just entered the atmosphere.

“It’s huge,” whispered Trunks, eyes shut as he tried to track exactly where it was going to land.

“Yes, and it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s come for a vacation,” Godin stated flatly, fists alternately clenching and unclenching.

Gohan looked at his son. “We need to go investigate.”

“We will, Dad. But you won’t.”

“I’m going. I’ve gone every time before, and you won’t stop me now,” Gohan firmly stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

“This one feels more powerful than the last, and we don’t want you to get hurt. Plus, someone needs to watch the chibis,” Godin said, trying to reason with his parent.

“Goja and Toma will watch them. They’re still to young to fight in serious battles,” Gohan said, ignoring the protests from the twins.

“Dad…”

“I’m going and that’s final,” Gohan said, not leaving any room for discussion.

Godin sighed, not liking the idea, but forcing himself to accept it all the same. “Alright, but please promise that you’ll stay out of the fight and keep yourself hidden.”

“I will. Now let’s go.”

Godin nodded, and making sure everyone had a hand on him, he raised his hand and teleported to where the powerful ki had just landed.


End of Chapter !!

Author’s Notes: For anyone who is confused, Gohan and Mirai Trunks are mates, and they have three children: Godin, Spice, and Radditz. Godin is mates with Trunks and has three children as well: Vegeta, Goku, and Vegito. Spice is mates with Goten and she has two children: Goja and Toma. Radditz does not have any children. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please review!!!