to_be_called

Author: Swiss Army Knife
Email: dragonswissarmyknife@hotmail.com

To Be Called Daddy

“Come on, baby…” A voice coaxed. “…Can you say, pa-pa?”

The little girl looked back at her father with wide blue eyes and blinked happily. She gurgled and bubbled a bit, but that was the only form of verbal communication that she made, if you could call that communication at all. She clapped her little hands at her daddy’s disappointed face and laughed.

Juuhachigou came into the room and took a seat on the couch. She propped her chin on one hand and watched her husband and daughter amusedly.

“You know, Kuririn,” She said in a light voice. “It would probably be easier if you just let her learn to talk on her own. She’ll call you daddy soon enough.”

Kuririn turned his head around and forced a sour look onto his face. “Humph.”

Juuhachigou rolled her eyes as he turned back around to little Marron. He was lying on his stomach on the floor next to the blanket his daughter was seated on. As he flopped back around, the girl crawled closer to him and sat down in front of his face. She began tugging gently on his dark bangs as Kuririn began his teaching again.

“Say papa, Marron.” He said, pulling her tiny hands away from his face. “Say pa-pa…”

Marron whined a little, and tugged pointlessly at her dress.

Chuckling a bit, Juuhachigou spoke up again. “I think that she’s trying to tell you something after all,” She said. “Someone needs a diaper change, Kuririn…”

As she laughed, Kuririn sighed and sat up. He carefully scooped up his tiny baby into his arms as he stood.

“All right, Marron,” He said unhappily. “I get the message. That’s the end of today’s lesson…”

*****

Juuhachigou looked up at the sky and frowned. The clouds were dark and stormy; even the air around her seemed moist. She felt certain that it would rain soon.

Turning to look down at her husband, she watched him quietly as he prepared to leave for the store. For some reason, she began to feel very uncomfortable about him going.

“You could just go tomorrow.” She suggested quietly, straight hair stirring slightly in the light, humid breeze. “It’s not like we’ll starve over night.”

Kuririn smiled at her concern. “It’ll be fine. I’m just going to run out for some groceries.”

Marron began to whine, and Juuhachigou readjusted the child on her hip. The girl reached out with small chubby arms to her daddy, and Kuririn grinned happily. He took her in his arms.

“Do you want to go with me, precious?” He asked her, and she bubbled lightly. He looked pleased. “Fine then. You can go with your papa.”

Juuhachigou looked alarmed. “Kuririn, it looks like it’s going to storm…” She trailed off. I don’t know if I want her to go with you this time…

He caught her look, and put on his most pitiful face. “Oh, come on, Juu-chan!” He said. “Let her come with me. Look at her, you know she wants to…”

Marron giggled happily as Kuririn bounced her in his arms. She squeezed his neck as she settled, and babbled incoherently. Though she wasn’t able to give her answer directly, it could hardly be doubted that she was happy where she was – in her daddy’s arms.

Juuhachigou’s look gave way as she gazed into those two nearly identical sets of pleading eyes, and she swiped her hand at them.

“All right then, you two.” She said, fake irritancy coloring her voice. “Get out of here! But hurry back before it rains!”

Kuririn smiled, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Marron drooled on her face a bit. They walked to the edge of beach, and Kuririn waved. “We’ll be back soon!” He promised, and his ki flared brilliantly around him a bright beautiful white.

*****

Kuririn urged his body faster through the air as raindrops began to land on his head one after the other. Ominous clouds shoved their way to the forefront of the sky, and Kuririn could feel the hair on the back of his neck begin to stand up as electricity filled the tense atmosphere.

Boy, was this ever going to be a big one… He thought to himself. And here they were not even at the store yet.

Marron seemed very unconcerned, and playfully grabbed at the falling drops of water as they fell past her. Hoping that she wouldn’t get any wetter than she had to, Kuririn pulled her closer to his chest and further into the protection that his body provided from the rain. He was beginning to regret insisting on taking Marron with him now…

“Hold on, baby.” He muttered to her, racing on. He wanted to get out from under this cloud cover.

Unfortunately, the weather was unwilling to wait for the two small humans to clear out of the sky. With a sudden burst of thunder, lighting lit up the sky, and everything became a good deal darker. Water began to come harder and faster by the minute, and Kuririn realized that he was going to have to stop soon.

Marron was beginning to get a little wet, and decided that she didn’t like it. To share this sentiment, she began to bawl. Kicking her little legs, she pulled herself to her daddy and howled louder into his ears. Kuririn was really regretting taking the child now.

“Marron…” He cried, trying to quiet the girl. It did little good.

Before long, though, the storm had drowned out her wailing. Spotting a large forest coming up below him, Kuririn knew that he needed to land and seek whatever shelter he could find there. There was no way that he could keep flying in this!

He had just gotten over the dark trees when it happened…

All of a sudden, just as he began to descend lower, he felt himself tingling all over. Instinct jolted his brain, telling him what was about to happen. Move! His feverish brain screamed to him. Before you loose you chance!

It was to late. Out of the clouds like a great brilliant strip, a thundering steam of burning light came streaking right toward father and daughter. Brighter than any light on earth! At least ten times hotter than even the sun! Kuririn’s eyes widened as he saw the streak of lighting barreling, out of control, to slam into his body.

Conditioned reflexes, tuned to be almost as fast as the lighting itself, was all that saved them. At the last possible second, Kuririn cried out and jerked spasmodically to his left as fast as he could, ripping Marron as far as he could from the monster of light. He felt the cracking air beside him as it fried so close to his skin.

As momentum and force sent him flying out of control in another direction, he saw a tree below explode into a fiery blaze at the corner of his eye. He had only the barest second for his mind to process that the tree could have and almost had been he and his daughter. Then he was hurled into the branches of the nearest tearing trees.

Unable to catch himself, he let himself fall. Gravity pulled him fast to the ground, and the last thing that he felt was being slammed brutally into the side of a jagged rock cliff before his head spun crazily and he blacked out…

*****

When Kuririn dimly floated back into consciousness, he was immediately aware of a sharp throbbing that flamed across the length of his spine, more intense at the base than up toward his neck. He groaned and blinked at the darkness buzzing at the edge of his vision until he could see clearly again.

Pushing aside the pain, which had not yet gone away, he attempted to roll over onto his side. His fingers met with moist soil and rough twigs on both sides. When he squinted, he barely made out a number of towering trees stretching upward, and beyond them, glimmers of the gray, angry sky.

It bothered the warrior that everything around him looked mildly warped; the jointed branches seemed to be surrounding him, reaching out. His vision swirled angrily every time he moved his head. He decided he needed to get out of this place.

He tried to get up, but was suddenly struck by the fact that he couldn’t feel any of his lower body. Panic coursing thorough him like poison, he willed his legs desperately to move – to do anything other than lie there uselessly in front of him.

With a great deal of difficulty, he pushed himself into a half sitting position with his palms and stared down on his two lower extremities, concentrating with all his might on just an inch’s worth of movement. He was bound to be disappointed.

Falling back in exhaustion, Kuririn lay prone on the wet forest floor, breathing heavily. The pain in his back had gotten worse, and it seemed to drain all the strength from his muscles. He spent one terrible moment not knowing what to do. He needed help, but there was no way that he would be able to get back home like this – even if his arms worked, they were already too depleted to be of much use.

He was so tired…

To his left, he was suddenly alerted to a tiny sound coming from a few feet away. Dazedly, he turned his head toward it, fighting for consciousness as his skull began to throb in time with his increased heart rate.

He was startled, but not surprised to see a tiny little girl waddle toward him looking very lost and scared. The baby whimpered as she reached her daddy’s side, crawling as close to him as possible and burring her small face in his dirty shirtfront. It amazed Kuririn that she hadn’t already begun to cry.

“Marron!” He choked, alarmed by how quiet and horse his own voice sounded when it left his throat.

Tears began to fall down her rounded face, and he struggled to pull an arm around her comfortingly. She snuggled into him, beginning to cry harder. One could hardly blame her; and she was so scared.

With tentative, fading eyesight, Kuririn looked her over. He thanked Kami that she wasn’t hurt in what must have been a very long, hard fall from the sky. Her pink jumper was torn, and the tiniest bit of blood oozed from a small cut on her forehead, but otherwise she seemed fine.

Sighing deeply, Kuririn leaned back against the cold grime beneath his head. A light drizzle had gradually soaked his clothes, and he knew that if he or his daughter sat there in the rain for much longer than they could be in worse trouble then they already were. He was already beginning to shake as he became more chilled.

Looking down at the tiny girl beside him, a flood of despair filled his battered body. He grunted painfully as he tried to move his legs again, but it was no good. He realized now that he had done something terrible to himself when he bashed into that rock face, and he was paralyzed. There was no way for him to get help; no way to find his home. Sure, the others would look for he and Marron when they didn’t come home that night, but by the time that they were found, it might be to late.

Marron was just a baby; he didn’t know how well or how long she would hold against the cold. Worse than that, they were lost in some strange dark forest that he didn’t know. If there was something dangerous that might attack them here, how was he to protect his little girl?

He would never forgive himself if something happened to her, and his wife wouldn’t either…

Juuhachigou… His mind cried out to her pitifully. He had never wished so desperately for her to hear him.

Her worried expression as he left that morning resurfaced in his mind. Why hadn’t he listened to her when she suggested that he waited till another day? Why had he been so stubborn? Now he had endangered his daughter and crippled himself so badly that he was unable to care for her.

“You stupid fool…” He muttered to himself in a whisper as his vision faded to darkness.

*****

Juuhachigou stood at the large front window of the Kame House, staring out into the mournful rain. Unfolding her arms, she brought her icy blue eyes to scan the heavily clouded sky uneasily. It had been a long time since her daughter and husband had left on their small errand, and as the moments ticked endlessly by, she became increasingly more worried for them.

Kuririn had told her that they would be back in less than an hour, and already he was long past due. Dinner sat on the table, waiting for their return.

Brow furrowing, the young woman again went over possible reasons for their lateness, but unfortunately, none were good enough to settle the dreadful feeling that she had. Kuririn wouldn’t have stopped somewhere without calling her first; not in this weather…

She put a hand to the cool glass. “Where are you?” She asked the two members of her family aloud.

A sudden crackle of thunder made her jump backward, and the occasional drops on the windowpane became harder and faster until there were streams of water rolling down it in front of Juuhachigou’s eyes. A strong wind whipped across the beach, sending up tiny whirlwinds of sand. The ocean gurgled angrily, crashing noisily in wild foaming surges onto the shore.

Turning away from the storm, Juuhachigou retreated to the kitchen, where she immediately picked up the phone and ruffled through the small sheets of numbers that Kuririn had sweetly written out for her if she ever needed something when he was away. She hastily dialed the Brief’s number.

Thankfully it was Bulma, and not Vegita, who answered the persistent ringing. “Hello?” She said.

Juuhachigou didn’t waste her words. “Kuririn and Marron. Are they with you?” She demanded bluntly. “Because if they are, I’m gonna –“

Bulma interrupted before she could finish her threat. “I’m sorry, Juuhachigou.” She said. “They aren’t here. What’s wrong? Are they missing?”

Juuhachigou filled her in on their outing and the time that she had expected them back. Bulma was equally worried about the two being out in the weather, and she promised to get Vegita and Son Gohon to go out and look for them.

“Don’t worry.” She assured Juuhachigou before they hung up. “We’ll find them…”

*****

Little Marron was getting very cold. She wrapped her tiny arms around her tightly and rocked back and forth. All around her she was surrounded by trees and undergrowth so thick that she could barely see past them. Only the foreboding cliff face they had tumbled down was visible a few feet away.

Her extremely childish mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened. All she knew was that she was wet and she was scared and she was overall very unhappy.

Squirming into the relative warmth of her daddy’s side, she whimpered and clutched at the material of his shirt in two tiny paws. Only a minute ago, he had stopped responding to her, and he now lay with his eyes closed and his face rather pale and sick looking. She had cried some, but he had not revived except to moan quietly and drop his head to one side.

Drooling slightly onto her hand, she fearfully watched the shadows with large wide eyes. She wanted to go home…

Pulling herself to a sitting position, she slowly crawled a few feet away from her daddy. The sky growled, and above her the clouds stewed anxiously. It started to rain a little harder. One large drop hit the girl’s eye as she looked upward, and she rubbed it away irritably.

Mad, she coughed and glared at her feet. She seemed to have figured out crying would do no good if her daddy wasn’t awake, and so she sat there gloomily for a moment. Then she determinedly got to her knees and began waddling off into the forest as fast as she could…

*****

Son Gohon was flying slowly over the landscape on the most likely path between the Kame House and the nearest town. At first, the torrents of rain stung his eyes and made searching difficult, but now the clouds were beginning to dissipate and lighten.

That made the boy feel better. If something had happened to Kuririn and Marron, he would have hated to think of them out in such rain. He hoped desperately that the change in weather would cause them to resurface. Maybe when it had gotten bad, Kuririn had stopped to find shelter to him and his baby daughter.

As he neared a large forest a little more than halfway through the journey to the town, Gohon stopped. A tiny life sign had ignited on the edge of his senses. It was pitifully small, but still distinctly human. He was so far away from any towns or homes – why would there be a power out here, and alone?

Descending to the edge of the forest, he outstretched his senses. Now that he was on the ground, he could feel the power more strongly and his head instinctively turned west toward it. Opening his eyes, he took a few cautious steps into the dense foliage. Certainly Kuririn and Marron weren’t somewhere in here…

He marched over the dead leaves and twigs covering the ground, eyes wandering over the never changing scenery. The only life he saw was a small squirrel, who jumped onto a branch ahead of Gohon and shook the water droplets from his fur.

Still, he continued his tiresome search. He had gone a good distance into the dark woods when he at last made a discovery. The trees thinned out suddenly, forming a small clearing. Mud covered the exposed ground, along with a few patches to withered grass.

His head jerked as he made out a small sound, like a child whimpering. He took a step further in, and sure enough, the small ki he had registered seemed to be extremely close. He gasped as a baby girl, filthy dirty and clothes torn came toddling out of the bushes toward him.

“Marron!” He exclaimed, shocked. He scooped up the poor child into his arms, and cradled her as she clung to him. Her skin was cold, but she appeared to be fine. She giggled when he tickled her little tummy, and dug her little head in to him thankfully.

Smiling, Gohon lifted his head. “Kuririn!” He called out into the woodlands. “Kuririn?”

There was no response. Only the sounds of the forest and the pattering of dripping rain-soaked leaves met his ears. Perplexed, Gohon called his friend’s name again. Surely Marron wasn’t wandering around alone…

“Hmmm.” Gohon said, surveying the trees. His boot began to sink into the thick mud on the clearing floor, and he took a step backwards.

Finally, he decided that he needed to take Marron back. Wherever Kuririn was, he was sure that he could handle himself alone for a bit longer. Marron however, needed her mother. She was probably hungry, and the odor that invaded his nostrils indicated that she might also need a changing.

“Don’t worry, sweet heart.” He smiled down on her small face. “I’ll take you to your momma.”

He turned to leave and head back out of the forest, but before he got two steps Marron gave a howl and began pounding her fists on Gohon’s chest. The young man looked at her curiously, and glanced back over his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Marron?” He asked her.

The baby girl did not look in the least bit pleased. She angrily yanked at his shirt, and reached back toward the way she had come. He cocked his head strangely.

“I don’t get it.” Gohon said. “What do you want?”

Her face was twisted and she whined passionately for full attention, all while furiously squirming and reaching back toward the clearing. It was fairly obvious to the young boy that she didn’t want to go anywhere. When he refused to let her go, she finally stopped struggling and sat unhappily in his arms, fuming and whimpering.

Confused, Gohon shrugged and took another step.

“NO!” Marron screamed.

Gohon was startled by the baby’s sudden outburst. Tiny hands were clutched in small fists. Her face was screwed up in concentration.

“P…PA-PA!” She finally managed to wail. Again, pounding firsts annunciated her will. “Pa-pa!”

Amazed, Gohon turned straight around. He looked down at the little girl incredulously. “Are you saying that Kuririn’s somewhere around here?” He finally got the message.

Marron stretched out her hands back the way she came. “Pa.”

Laughing out loud, the Sayiajin boy scratched his head after an astonished fashion. “Who knew?” He muttered, eyes shinning. He was certain that baby Marron was trying to tell him just that. Kuririn was around her somewhere, and if he wasn’t with his daughter, he might need help…

*****

Several hours later, Kuririn woke up to find himself in a box-like, blindingly white hospital room. Juuhachigou sat beside him, and sent him a relieved, private smile when he managed to lift his heavy eyelids. He gave her a lopsided smile back.

Within the next few minutes, he found out what had happened while he was unconscious – that Gohon had found him crumpled up by the cliff face, and guessing on what had happened, had brought him here. Juuhachigou told him that the doctors said he must had bruised his spine when he had hit the rocks in his fall, and the injury had shocked his body so badly that he had lost mobility. He was glad to know that it was temporary.

Most wonderful, to Kuririn, was when he heard how Gohon had managed to discover him. Anyone who saw his face when he found out that his Marron had finally been able to call out his name and save him, would have sworn that tears welled up in his eyes.

Then finally, Bulma came into the room with Marron in her arms.

“Pa-pa!” The little girl squealed as she was set down beside him on the thin sterile hospital sheets. Small hands reached out for his hand and she began chewing on his fingers.

Kuririn beamed weakly. He moved his hand away from her and ruffled her short hair proudly, knowing that when it counted, his little girl had done what for weeks he had been trying to get her to do.

“That’s my girl…” He muttered quietly.

____________________________________________________________________________

~End Chapter~

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