LOOK BEHIND YOU

Death got kinda boring after a while.

Oh, sure, there'd been the tournament. And training with all the other strong guys at Daikaiou-sama's place was fun. And the food wasn't too bad, considering the dead didn't need to eat to begin with.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been dead, though the last time he'd asked Kaiou-sama, it had been three years. He wasn't sure how long ago that was, though. Time didn't really matter in ano-yo.

But occasionally, one or two interesting things would happen. Someone really strong would die and show up to train with the greatest of the dead warriors. Paikuhan wandered through from time to time, and they'd spar. And every so often, Kaiou-sama gave him bits of news about Chikyuu—about his family, his friends, and the peaceful times they were enjoying. He got a little sad when he heard about that, because he wished he could be with them, but he was happy they were all doing well, and he was glad that without him, nothing bad was happening there.

One day, he was teaching Oribu and some others a few of his moves, when Kaiou-sama showed up, with Uranai Baba and...

"Jiichan!" Gokuu broke off his training immediately and ran to give the long-dead hermit a hug.

Son Gohan, the man who had raised Gokuu as a child and taught him the basics of fighting, smiled as he suffered an embrace that would probably have killed him if he still had real ribs to crack. As it was, he was content to return his adopted grandson's embrace. "Gokuu. It has been so long."

"Yeah. How've you been?"

"Dead. How about you?"

"Dead."

The two men chuckled.

"So, what's up, Jiichan?"

Gohan shrugged. "Well, I found out you were dead, and asked the old lady to bring me to visit you. Daikaiou-sama's world, eh? Impressive. I've never been here before."

Gokuu chuckled. "Yeah. It's a lot of fun."

The two spent a few minutes catching up on old times—of course, with Gohan having been dead and in Heaven for decades, and having already known most of what Gokuu did in the living world, there wasn't much of this to do. So, eventually, they settled down to lunch, with some of the other warriors joining them. Oribu was curious to learn about the grandfather of Son Gokuu, as were many others.

"Ahh, that was good," Gokuu said after stuffing himself with seventeen helpings of lunch.

"You still eat like that," Gohan said, shaking his head and laughing.

"What can I say?" Gokuu replied, shrugging. He then noticed that his grandfather seemed a bit pensive. "Oi...what's up, Jiichan?"

Gohan sighed. "I'm just debating whether or not to tell you..."

"Tell me what?" Gokuu asked, tilting his head.

"Well..." Gohan paused, drinking his tea. "A few years ago—before you died again—I met someone, purely by chance mind you. Someone who wants desperately to meet you."

Gokuu blinked. "Eh? Someone wants to meet me? Who?"

"Mind you, he's not in the nicest place in the afterlife. I wouldn't've even been there myself if Uranai Baba hadn't asked me to find something she needed from there." The older man shrugged. "But...well, I was pretty shocked when I met him. But we talked a lot about things, and he said that if he ever got the chance, he'd really love to meet you."

Gokuu nodded. "Okay, I got that part. So if he wanted to meet me, why hasn't he come to see me?"

"Well...he can't." Gohan shrugged. "He's in Hell."

"In Hell?"

The old man nodded. "North Hell number three, to be precise. Not a very pleasant place to be."

Gokuu blinked. "North Hell number three? I thought there was only one Hell."

"The one under Snake Way?" Gohan chuckled. "That's just Chikyuu's Hell. Well, one of Chikyuu's Hells. There's lots of Hells, my boy. Every world has its own Hell, or several Hells. Where you go depends on where you died, how bad you were, and what your personal idea of Hell is."

Gokuu nodded. "Okay, okay—so this guy's in Hell, right?"

"That's right. It's entirely up to you whether or not you visit him. I know you can get to anywhere in this world and back easily..."

"If I can find his ki, I can go right away."

Gohan shook his head. "You won't know his ki. You've never met him. Well...you might know his ki..."

Gokuu blinked. "Jiichan, who is it you're talking about?"

The old man smiled. "I think I'll let that be a surprise. It's only fair you get surprised like I did. Besides, if I tell you..." He paused. "If I told you who it is, you might not want to go."

The Saiyajin frowned. "I don't like secret stuff, Jiichan. But...you're the one telling me, and I trust you, so...I guess I'll go."

Gohan smiled. "I don't think you'll regret it. Well, I have to be shuffling off now. I'll see you later, okay?"

Gokuu nodded. "Un."

* * * * *

Some amount of time later, Gokuu stood in an airport terminal, stretching out a cramp he received from the abysmally small seats on the ano-yo airplane. He looked around and saw spirits—some with bodies, some without—and oni milling about, talking, carrying things, and boarding escalators that went every which way. He walked up to a counter with a pretty, pink-skinned female oni. "Oi, which way to North Hell number three?"

The clerk blinked at him. "Excuse me?"

"I gotta meet someone in Hell. Can you tell me which way?"

The oni stared at him as though he were crazy, then shrugged. "Third westbound escalator on your right leads to Sunabi's office. Ask him, he can direct you to your desired Hell."

"Thanks!" Gokuu sped off and boarded the indicated escalator.

A few minutes later, he found himself in a dark, dusty lobby with cracked tiles, mold on the walls, cobwebs in the corners, dead potted plants, and thick layers of grime everywhere. "Anou...anyone here?"

He waited for a long moment, and was about to leave, when a rattling cough caught his attention. A light flickered on, and he blinked at the back of a large, peeling leather recliner. "Who's there?" an elderly voice wheezed.

"Son Gokuu. Are you Sunabi?"

"That's me," the voice rasped. The chair turned, and a withered old man with a thinning white beard and two tufts of white hair sticking haphazardly out of his liver-spotted head peered down at Gokuu through filthy spectacles. "Ain't seen nobody here in ages, sonny. What can I do ya fer?"

"Ah...I need to go to North Hell number three," Gokuu said, blinking at the ancient figure in front of him.

"North He—why in tarnation wouldja wanna go there, sonny?" Sunabi asked.

"I'm supposed to meet someone there."

"Oh. Hmm. Okay. Well...alright." Sunabi picked up a hard, shrivelled object from his desk, and threw it at the wall. A rain of plaster dust joined the layer of filth on the floor as the wall crumbled, and a bright pink light spilled forth. "There ya go, sonny. Happy trails..."

"Thanks," Gokuu said. With no further ado, he went through the hole...

* * * * *

North Hell number three was very, very pink.

Gokuu looked around in awe at the place. It wasn't what you expected any Hell to look like. There were no oni, no lakes of blood, no needles, no flames, no boiling things or burning things or screams of pain. The sky above was pink, the clouds looked like fluffy golden cotton candy, and the ground as far as the eye could see was made up entirely of overbearingly cute stuffed toys.

Here and there, spirit-clouds gathered around large television displays which showed tooth-rottingly adorable kittens and puppies frollicking, though some of the displays showed scenes of fighting—far more clouds were gathered around those. Wistful-sounding burbles escaped those spirits as Gokuu passed.

"What the hell kinda Hell is this?" he wondered. Aloud, he called out, "Oi! Anyone here?"

Several clouds chittered and squeaked.

"Anyone with a body?" he amended.

There was no answer.

"Chikushou...wonder if I got the wrong Hell." He walked along for a bit, then tried again. "Oi! I'm Son Gokuu! Did anyone here want to meet me?"

A shadow suddenly fell across the plush ground as a thick red cloud boiled overhead. Several spirits rushed past as though in a hurry to escape some dreadful thing. Gokuu looked around, blinking.

A dry chuckle echoed through the pink landscape, which was rapidly darkening to the color of blood. "You came. I was wondering if you would."

Gokuu blinked. "Who's there?" He walked a few more paces, feeling slightly unnerved by the sudden drastic change in scenery, and the odd familiarity of the voice which had just spoken.

He came upon a large television which was showing, to his surprise, his own battle with Freeza. Kuririn's death, his transformation...the destruction of Namek...

A dark figure stood in front of this television. He was tall, broad, with wild, spiky black hair. He was shrouded in a cloak which appeared to be brown...but Gokuu noticed that rust-like flecks were dropping from it onto the soft ground. A peculiar tang filled his nostrils, and he realized with a sick sort of fascination that the cloak the man was wearing was dyed in old, dried blood.

"Ah...hello..." He paused, unsure what to say. "Jiichan said you wanted to see me. If you're who asked about me, I mean."

The man laughed dryly. "Jiichan, hm? ...Heh. It's a funny thought."

"Anou..."

The shrouded man turned slightly. "Aside from being dead, you seem well."

"Um, thanks."

The man nodded. "I've wanted to meet you for a long time. I didn't get a chance when you were dead before, because—well—you were busy. I thought you were gonna die again sooner, but someone changed the future. I should've seen that coming. I can see the future, you know. I even know when you'll go back to the other world. But I can't tell you about that. It wouldn't do any good anyway. You can't change destiny."

Gokuu stared as the strange figure rambled. The voice was soft, quiet, subdued, and yet...he knew it.

Knew it like he knew his own.

Knew it because it was his own.

"Anou...who are you?" Gokuu asked.

The man laughed again, that dry, empty laugh. "That knock on your head really did screw you up, didn't it?" He turned fully now, but his face was still shrouded by the hood of his cloak. "Still...I am very, very glad to be able to see you at long last, Kakarotto."

Gokuu blinked. "Kaka—oi, oi. Only...only Saiyajin call me that."

"And it's your name, even though you like that ridiculous Chikyuujin name better. But, ah well. It doesn't matter." The man pulled down the hood of his cloak...and Gokuu gasped in shock.

"Taresu?!" Gokuu gasped.

The Saiyajin chuckled. "I'd forgotten you ran into that asshole. No, I'm not Taresu." He walked forward and placed his hands on Gokuu's shoulders. "My name is Bardock. Do you know who I am?"

Gokuu blinked. "Bardock...? That name—I've heard it. But..." He shook his head. "I can't remember where."

Bardock shrugged. "No surprise. But it doesn't matter. Kakarotto...I'm your father."

"My..."

Bardock nodded, then stepped back. "Damn, but I'm glad I finally got to meet you. You did good, boy. You finished that bastard. You got him back for what he did to us. And you even took that arrogant little snot of a prince down a peg or two." He smirked. "And to think when you were born, I didn't give a damn about you because you only had a sentou-ryoku of two."

Gokuu, for his part, simply stared at Bardock in wide-eyed astonishment. "You're really my father. This is a Saiyajin Hell, and you're—"

"That's right." The Saiyajin grinned. "I'm one of the few of us that got to keep his body. Actually, aside from you and me and Vegeta-sama, I don't think any of us got to keep our bodies." He snorted. "Not what you'd expect our Hell to look like, is it?"

Gokuu shook his head mutely.

"I've been keeping tabs on you, son," Bardock said. "I have to admit I nearly lost it when that Namek idiot killed both you and Raditz. I wasn't so much upset at seeing both my sons die at once as I was worried that the future was going to be screwed up."

"The future?" Gokuu asked.

Bardock nodded. "Right before I died, me and my team were on this one planet Freeza wanted. We killed everyone, but one of them survived and got the drop on me when I had my guard down. He put a curse on me. He made it so I'd see visions of the future...see Freeza destroy Bejiitasei before it happened, see you on Chikyuu, see you grow up...see you fight Freeza." He paused. "When I realized what that bastard was gonna do to us, I tried to get everyone to help me stop him. But they all thought I was crazy. So I tried to face him alone. All it meant was when he blew us all up, I was the first one to die."

Gokuu felt a lump in his throat.

"But I knew, Kakarotto. I knew it'd be you. I knew you'd do it. And you did." Bardock smiled. "You proved that we're the best. You proved that the Saiyajin are better than—"

"We're not," Gokuu said vehemently. "I know what we were. I don't like it."

"Un," Bardock nodded. "I know. You were raised different. You didn't have the kind of life the rest of the Saiyajin had. But it's okay. It doesn't matter. All that matters is you avenged us. Avenged me. I'm proud of you."

Gokuu shook his head. "Gomen na, but I'm not sure if that means much to me. I'm just not—"

"I know. You don't think of yourself as Saiyajin. But we have more in common than you might think." He smiled sadly. "You know what happened to me right before Freeza killed all of us?"

"What?"

"My team got sent to a planet by Freeza while I was still in regen from the other mission. I went after them. When I got there, I found them all dying." He looked at the ground. "Dodoria and some of Freeza's men had ambushed them. I'm not sure why, since they were planning to kill us all anyway. But I found them there, dying. Toma...he was one of my best friends. He was barely alive. He told me what happened. He told me Freeza was about to betray us. I watched him die." He was silent for a moment. "I soaked a piece of cloth in the blood of my friends and tied it around my head. I killed all the bastards who killed my team except Dodoria. He nearly killed me, but I managed to escape. I went back home.

"When I got there, I was nearly dead...I could barely stay awake. But I knew Freeza was coming for us. I tried to get everyone to listen, to come with me, to fight Freeza, but they all laughed at me. I was the only one who knew or cared. So I went...I was nearly dead, but I went. And I fought. And I tried to fight Freeza."

"And he got you. And everyone else."

"Un."

Gokuu shook his head. "I'm sorry. I guess I never thought Saiyajin even had friends."

Bardock laughed. "We had friends. And we loved. And we did lots of things that aren't much different from what people do on your Chikyuu." He shook his head. "I won't deny we were barbarians. Savage. We probably deserved to die, because we did the same thing to so many people..." He sighed. "But we could have been more. Better. I see you and Vegeta, and your sons, and I know something could have changed. If we hadn't died...maybe we could've changed. Could've been more like you. I dunno. Probably not. I just wish we'd had a chance."

"Nobody deserves to die like that. Not even if they kill lots of other people who didn't do anything to them.

Bardock smiled. "That's what makes you strong. Vegeta calls you an idiot all the time, but I think we were the real idiots. We didn't care about anything but fighting and killing, and look where it got us." He shook his head. "Anyway. I just...I'm glad you came, Kakarotto. And I'm glad you didn't die with the rest of us. And that you had a good life, and a good family. Your boy Gohan is amazing!"

Gokuu grinned. "He is, isn't he?"

"And I'm especially glad that you got rid of Freeza. Even if it wasn't for the reasons I had in mind." Bardock started to turn away. "I can't talk any longer, because I'm about to get more of my punishment, but I'm glad I got to see you, son." He glanced back and smiled. "You're not finished yet, you know. But I can't tell you..." He chuckled. "Goodbye, Kakarotto."

Gokuu nodded. "Goodbye...Tousan."

* * * * *

Kaiou-sama started as Gokuu faded into view beside him. "Gokuu! Don't DO that!"

"Gomen na, Kaiou-sama."

The old god frowned. "Gohan told me who you went to see. Did you—I mean, was it—?"

Gokuu smiled. "Yeah. He's not such a bad guy. I think I'm glad I met him."

"Well, that's good."

"Now...when's dinner? I'm starving!"

Kaiou-sama facefaulted.



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