#one last time...

"This is all I ever wanted for you, for both of us."

"It's beautiful."

Hannibal, The Wrath of the Lamb, August 29th, 2015

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Chapter 5

Goku was awaken by the smell of all sorts of foods. At first he laid there thinking about the past few days, listening to the pitter patter of the rain hitting the roof. He decided to try and count all of the foods he could smell. He could smell bacon, bread, meatballs, and anything else you could possibly think of. Wait why does it smell like food. If Chichi wasn’t here then- That meant Chichi was here right? And the kids to! Goku jumped out of bed, and ran to the kitchen sliding in on his socks with excitement flooding his heart, but he didn’t see Chichi, but he did see a kitchen filled 12 inch subs and a hungry Vegeta sitting down eating some of them.

“Wheres Chichi and the kids,” Goku asked curiously peeking around the corner.

“She-Er-Will be back later,” He replied quickly.

“Oh okay,” He beamed,” Did you buy theses for me?”

“Well...They were all for me,” He teased,” But i guess i can part with maybe...Two.”

“Aww, come on ‘Getes,”He begged using his puppy dog eyes,” I feel like I haven't eaten in days.”

It felt like a pin had shot through Vegeta's’ heart. He really did think it was just a dream…

“Um, Vegeta? Are you okay?,” he asked concerned.

“Yeah. Yeah i’m fine,” He said shaking the thought out of his mind,”Help yourself.”

“Thanks Getes, you’re the best!”

Vegeta flinched at these words...He hoped that he was making the right decision. He wondered how he was even going to keep this up.

Goku quickly ran to a seat and started to gorge himself with sandwiches, stuffing them him into his mouth faster and with more effort than usual. This confirmed that he had not been eating…

“Gete’s are you alright,” He asked with his mouth full.

“Alright as i’ll ever be. Why,” He said trying to sound above suspicion.

“I don’t know… Something i’m sensing on you...It’s like you're hiding something,” He mentioned uncertainty.

“ Hah, Kakarot,” Vegeta coughed nervously,” I have nothing to hide!”

“Okay,” He said with a suspicious glare in his eye,” ...If you say so.”

He then stuffed another sandwich down his throat.

They ate in an awkward, dreary silence then Older saiyan offered,” We haven't trained in a while. Do you want to do that while we. Er. Wait for your wife to get back.”

He wanted to punch himself in the face for even reminding him about her.

“Oh, yeah! That sounds great!,” He exploded eagerly,”You go ahead and warm up. I need to use the bathroom.”

“Okay,” Vegeta said with a hint of challenge in his voice.

Goku chuckled and went into the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror. He almost didn’t recognize the person he saw looking back at him. He just didn’t seem like the same person anymore, and Vegeta seemed strange. He had an od sense to him. It was almost like he was hiding something…”But everything is fine...Vegeta said so...Just go on as things were,” He mumbled to himself,”Nothing is wrong.”

He splashed his face with cold water trying to shake the feeling, but it hung over him like a cloud.

He sighed, put on a smile, and walked out to the back yard. Vegeta was doing a few warm up kicks and punches, when Goku noticed a small ash pile on the ground. He crouched down to examine it. He looked at the ashes, and carefully moved them around with his finger, uncovering a small piece of what remained of what was burned here.

The small piece of paper burnt around the edges, and it was smudged with ash. He could just barely make out the words,”For Goku” In Chichis hand writing. The whole world seemed to just crumble around him. He realized what Vegeta was hiding from him.

“Kakarot! I hope you’re ready for defeat!,” Vegeta growled playfully.

Goku forced a laugh that seemed to be so natural, so genuine, that Vegeta couldn’t hear his pain, and he put on a smile that could fool anyone. He went on with their training trying to pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

Dodging punches, kicks, elbows, and blasts as fast as he could while trying to suppress the thought of what he had found.

After they fought, Vegeta’s stomach roared a loud growl, and he said,”I’m starving. Let’s go to the woman's house, and see if she has anything we can eat.”

Goku definitely was sure now that He didn’t dream about Chichi leaving, and that in fact was real. She was gone...They were gone… And Vegeta’s behavior only made it more obvious. He was walking on eggshells, or trying to anyways. To the best of his ability. Trying to distract him from the truth.He must have found the letter...Burned it, tried to make it seem like she was at the store. How long did he think that he could  have kept up  the act anyways? Eventually he’d realize something was up.

“Vegeta,” Goku said with sad eyes pulling the burnt piece of paper out of his pocket,”  Vegeta I” His voice began to crack, and his eyes started to water,”I know that-that their gone…”

Vegeta looked at Goku then the piece of paper again. There was a short pause.

“Damn it Kakarot! I spent the five most horrid minutes of my life mangled up last night trying to hide this from you!”

Goku chuckled as a tear escaped his eye, slithering down his cheek,” Thanks Vegeta that was very kind of you.

“Tch, shut up,” He snarled looking away,” Let’s go to the woman’s, and get something to eat.”

“Actually,” Goku mentioned,” I’m not very hungry.”

Vegeta looked up at him with a mix of confusion and understanding.

“Well, what do you suppose we do?” He asked sounding like his old self, but Goku could still sense that he was picking and choosing his words carefully. Making sure he didn’t say anything that pressed the wrong button.

“Well, I kinda… Wanna  be alone…,” Goku confessed forcing his regular happy voice to return,” No worries. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Time will heal…”

Goku had a gut wrenching feeling, knowing that he was lying to Vegeta… To himself…  Vegeta didn’t look too convinced either.

“Hey don’t give me that look,” Goku joked,” I’m going to take a shower and try to wash away all these negative thoughts. You go home to your wife and kid. Okay?”

“Kakarot, i’m not worried about you,” He growled looking away again.

“Then why are you still here?”Goku questioned.

There was a short pause.

“I was bored,” He spat.

“Then go to your family,” Goku tried to convince,”Trunks is probably bored to.”

Vegeta gave him one last undecided glare and ordered,”Don’t go off and do anything stupid!”

“Now  why would I go off and do something like that?” The larger saiyan joked.

Vegeta only gave him a smirk and replied with the wave of two fingers and took off.

Goku closed his door and sat on the couch afraid to even show to himself how he really felt, so he sat there...Trying to force a smile, and blink away tears...Pondering...

Written by: @superjustanotherfangirlstuff

Special thanks to: @lesleytonyb, @davevin, and all you others who are reading this ^.^