DISCLAIMER: Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation own DRAGONBALL Z. No copyright infringement is intended.

C&C desperately needed.

I look at the empty place in my bed and sigh. Another sleepless night. I just can't help it. The room feels cold and uninviting without him— and I'm so lonely.

Nothing has changed. I still wait for him, even though he's dead. For how much longer? He can't hope for me to sit and wait forever, right? I need someone by my side, holding my hand, helping me raise the children. Sometimes I think I should just forget about him, maybe look for someone else.

Then why don't I?

Because I still love him, because there's no one in this universe that could even begin to be compared to him; that's why. He's so handsome and gentle, yet strong and courageous. And he still has that lovely innocence, the same one that made me fall in love with him in the first place. Nothing has been able to take that away from him; not the years, not the fights, not even death.

I allow a small grin to reach my lips. Well, maybe he hasn't kept ALL of his innocence, or neither Gohan nor Goten would have been born. Not to mention that the wedding night would have been simply too boring.

Besides, can I really begrudge him his long absence? He has saved the world so many times… Every single time we have been in danger, he has come. Like a knight in shining armor, he has saved me again and again. In how many occasions has he been the hero of the day, the savior of Earth?

He's free. Nothing has been able to chain him; not gravity, not death… not even his wife. And I think he feels the freest when he fights. The smile he wears while battling a stronger enemy, the joy he finds in the Art. I'd kill myself before I clipped his wings.

Every time I look at Gohan, I can see his just how much of Gokuu he has in him. Those confident eyes, the cocky grin that alights his face when he confronts a challenge, that charming naïveté. When people look at Gohan, they only see a bookish, unassuming, pale boy. Only the ones who really know him notice the strength, the power that runs through his veins, lying dormant in his blood. Just waiting for anger to release it, and fuel it like gasoline on a fire. His Saiyan blood.

Gokuu is gone now, it's true.

But I know he will return. He always returns. And when the day comes that I see his handsome face again, I will hug him fiercely and won't let go for a few minutes. Then, I'll go to the kitchen and will fix the tastiest meal ever. More, a feast worthy of the richest king. And when we have all finished eating together, as the family we are, I'll sit in the grass outside the house and see how he plays with Goten, or perhaps spars with Gohan. And I'll marvel at hearing his joyful laughter filling the air once again, and I'll join him, laughing in mirth, and I won't stop until my eyes are full with tears and my stomach hurts.

And maybe, when our sons are finally asleep in their rooms, we will make love. And I will feel his callused hands gently touching my body, the fingers slowly running along my back, and I will lose myself in his strong arms.

But when the sun rises from behind the mountains, I will open the window with a smile, and he will fly away. Out to save the world, one more time. My hero.

I close my eyes, and sleep.

The end.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007