Homeward Bound

Chapter 3: Gohan, Where Art Thou?

ChiChi kept herself calm as she retrieved the phone, but her finger shook as she began to dial nine-one-one. Pausing on the last number, she thought of the most likely place that her son would be.

"If he told him to come I'm going to murder him!" ChiChi found the number in her address book and proceeded to call up her ex-husband long-distance in Tokyo. The phone had barely completed its second ring before it was picked up.

"Moshi moshi."

She began to shout at him, interrupting him every time he tried to speak. "You listen here Son Goku! If you convinced my son to come live with you then I'm going to have you arrested!"

There was a shocked silence. "Nani?! Why would I do something like that without even talking to you first?"

"You've always wanted him to live with you and you resent the fact that you can't see him!" ChiChi's face darkened in pure rage.

"I didn't tell him to come to Tokyo!" Goku's voice changed from anger to worry. "He's gone and you don't know where he is?! Never mind, forget it ChiChi! When he shows up I'm taking you to court for child neglect!" He hung up and ChiChi was left with only silence.

'Where is he?' ChiChi asked herself as she debated on whether or not she should go look for him. 'My little boy is out there all alone!' She decided that at least checking around the bus terminal couldn't hurt because she knew that Gohan didn't have nearly enough money for a plane ticket. Besides, children under eighteen couldn't purchase any. All those who tried were immediately identified as runaways and detained. She grabbed her purse and car keys, trying not to throw herself into a panic.

***

Breakfast was shoved underneath the door on a small metal tray and only consisted of two glasses of water and two bowls of what looked to be gruel. Gohan's stomach turned at the sight, missing sugar-coated cereal and blueberry pancakes, but he grabbed his portion anyway knowing that going until lunch on an empty stomach wasn't a good thing to do.

His slumber had been fitful at best and he was awake to hear the whimpers that came from Colby as he was hurt even in his dreams. Gohan had tried to calm him enough so that the nightmares would end, whispering soothing words that he himself didn't even believe. Everything was *not* going to be okay and they probably weren't ever going to escape.

"Ya' got ten minutes to eat before going to work!" one of the men who guarded the children shouted at them. Gohan went over to his friend and shook him awake, flinching a little when the other boy awoke with wild eyes and heavy breathing.

"It's just me," he whispered in a soothing voice as he handed him the tray. "Breakfast came."

"My dog wouldn't eat this crap," but he smiled weakly and began to eat anyway.

Gohan decided that a little conversation would go a long way. "What do you like to do when not locked up in an underground hideout?"

Colby grinned at his attempt at a joke. "I like to take apart things. TVs, telephones, radios -- all kinds of stuff. My father got so mad one time when I took apart the engine in his cherry red Corvette to see how it worked." His face darkened and a scowl appeared on his face. "I had stopped doing that for a while because they don't understand that I just have to see how things work. To my parents, I just destroying everything in sight."

He thought that Colby's parents sounded a lot like people who hated their own lives and loved making others join in the misery. "What do they do for a living?"

"My mother's a "homemaker"," he did an imitation of a falsetto voice complete with his fingers in the shape of quotation marks. "In other words she likes to laze around the house. My father's an accountant."

Gohan finished the last of his tasteless, lumpy cereal and pushed the bowl away. "I spend a lot of time reading, watching television, and on the computer when I can get it from my kaasan. She's a high school teacher but she wants to become a college professor. My tousan's a pediatrician in Tokyo. I think he makes a good doctor." He smiled at the other boy in a what he hoped was a reassuring manner. "Listen, I'm going to make sure that Cyrus doesn't lay a finger on you. Don't worry about a thing."

He didn't bother to keep the hope from shining in his eyes. "How are you gonna do that?"

"C'mon you little brats!" a thin, gruff looking man growled as he unlocked the cell door. "Time to get to work."

Gohan grinned at him. "You'll see."

The walk was boring and uneventful. The twins, Rosalyn, and another girl walked with them. The man that was leading them caught the attention of another man who stood beside another one of the famous nondescript doors, and they were all ushered inside a small room that smelled of dust, sweat, and -- Gohan took a deeper sniff and cringed, recognizing the metallic scent -- blood.

"What are you going to do to us now?" Rosalyn asked, the angry look on her face barely seen by the dim glow of the single light bulb that hung above them. The thin man held up a thin strip of something with a cruel smirk and she gasped.

"Is that a collar? Are we just animals to you people?!" She glared at him and moved until her back was against their only exit. She opened in a crack and hurriedly shut it as she stared into the barrel of a gun. "Who rates a gun?" she asked him as she saw the knife he had in a sheath on his belt. "Can't be you."

"For that comment you're gonna go first, little girl." He grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. She resisted and that gave Gohan enough time to whisper something to her.

"I smell blood, Rosalyn. That collar didn't cause it." She gulped and glanced around nervously from a sharp object besides his knife. She didn't find any. The thin man dragged her off into a corner and there was a few moments of silence while he put on the leather collar before the screaming started.

"You bastard! People usually use guns for these kinds of things not knives! Even an ice pick would have been better!" The man grunted something under his breath and her she went quiet.

"Why would she prefer one choice over any of the others?" Colby whispered. Gohan shrugged.

A miserable looking Rosalyn came into view, clutching at her left ear. Gohan stared at her until she moved her hand and an earring glinted in the dull overhead light. Gohan's eyes slid from the pained expression on her face to the smirk on the man's and he gulped slightly.

"I can't take pain as well as she can," he told him in the most polite voice he could muster. "Can we reschedule this?"

"Better yet how about you just give us ID bracelets?" One of the other kids, a short girl with dark hair said to him with heavy sarcasm and a found. "When I get out of here my daddy is going to have all of you people brought up on criminal charges!"

"Well you'll just have to stay here until the day you die then because I ain't getting thrown in no damn prison!" He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her off toward the space in the back. "You're next for pissing me off!"

"Someone do something!" she shouted at them as she struggled. "You can't just let them get away with this madness!"

Gohan sighed and turned away as she began to scream. He knew that his turn was coming up soon and so far he saw nothing he could do about it. "Unless someone comes up with a plan we're screwed."

***

ChiChi came home from her search more worried than after she had gone out. The bus station had yielded unexpected results and she discovered that Gohan had been seen with an older woman who watched him get onto the bus but didn't get on herself. She had tried to find someone who knew her and could give her a name but in a city the size of Western Capital that was a pretty hopeless. She collapsed onto the sofa and turned on the television. The news report caught her attention and held it for its entire duration.

The newswoman straightened her gray business suit and cleared her throat. "We're here, on the scene, with two survivors of the incident. Apparently the bus driver was killed earlier today by an arrow with green-tipped feathers after stopping the bus to check it over. Martha Fletcher, one of the passengers, remembers what happened clearly. Ma'am, please tell us about incident."

"After the driver pulled over to the side of the road, and before he exited the bus to check things out, an arrow came right through the windshield and hit him through the neck. A little dark-haired boy told us that he was dead and that we had to run because he knew who that arrow belonged to. He and another little boy got us all out and we began to run off through the forest over there. Unfortunately, I think that bad man he had been speaking about took them and sold them into slavery." She looked down. "Very sad thing. The rest of the adults had been killed on the spot, but only me and a woman and her baby survived by hiding until the two men went away."

"Is this yet another assault and kidnapping by Cyrus and his group? Or is there some new criminal running around? Hopefully soon we will know the answer and discover what happened to the five children from that bus headed to Tokyo. Back to you Yuri."

ChiChi sat there for a long while, staring at the television screen without sight. Then trembling started throughout her entire body and a choked sob tore free from her throat. "No! They didn't get my little boy. I *refuse* to believe that!" She quieted herself by force of will and grabbed the phone from its nearby end table. Dialing in a phone number she was beginning to become familiar with, she drummed her fingers impatiently. After several rings the phone was finally picked up by a quiet voice that still made ChiChi's heart ache after all that time. He was calmer than he was before but she knew that her number showed up on the caller ID. It was only going to last for a matter of time.

"What is it now, ChiChi?" he asked in a strained voice. "Have you called to scream at me again because if you have..."

ChiChi felt the reality of the situation hit her and surprisingly she didn't burst into tears. "Have you seen the news about the bus, Goku?"

"Hai, sure I have. It's awful but why are we talking about it?"

"Gohan was on it."

Stunned silence was the only thing she heard for long moments before Goku drew in a shaky breath. "He was on the bus when they kidnapped those children?"

"Hai." She said this as calmly as she could even though she felt like screaming.

"Those bastards have my son!" He fell silent for a moment. "*Our* son. Don't worry about it, ChiChi. I'm getting him back if it's the last thing I ever do."

"Don't do anything stupid, Goku. I don't want to have to bury you." He didn't have any other living relatives and besides that friend of his, Krillin, there would be no one around to give him a decent burial. "Please call me back after you've made all of the arrangements and don't tell me about any of them."

He laughed, a sound currently not connected to any real amusement. "It's not anything illegal, you know. I'm a law abiding citizen."

Her voice was dry and heavily sarcastic. "Yeah and I'm a crazed harpy."

A silence. "Well, if the shoe fits..."

"Shut up, Goku." She disconnected the call and leaned back and closed her eyes. Her son just had to be found there were too many things for him to grow up and achieve. Couldn't do any of that if you were dead.

***

"The sun will come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun

Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs and
The sorrow
''Till there's none"

"Singing is not going to make the pain stop," Rosalyn told the dark-haired girl with a roll of her eyes.

"It won't," she agreed, "but it makes me feel better because my daddy always does it when things are horrible. Sure can't get any more horrible than this."

"That's true," Colby said with a weary look. "If you must perform songs from old musicals why don't you go ahead and sing It's the Hard Knock Life while you scrub the floors, then?"

"Stop being so pessimistic. Kind of sad in a boy your age."

"You sound like my mother! How old are you anyway?"

"Fourteen if that's any of your business!"

"Calm down!" Gohan said as he gave a look to both of them. "This is not helping." Both looked ashamed at their outbursts considering what was going on around them. The group halted outside a door that made Colby's eyes widen. Gohan took one look at the door and knew that they were in front of Cyrus' room. "I promise that nothing will happen to you."

Colby looked at him, fear in his eyes, and felt that he could trust him from some unexplainable reason. "I believe in you, Gohan."

The thin man looked down upon them with a look that made Gohan angry. "How sweet!" Then the door was being opened and the two of them were being shoved inside an overly warm room with a large bed, a table, and a man that sat before a blazing fire.

***

"Are you the one I'm looking for?" Goku asked a little nervously as he stood in the doorway of a medium-sized room. Light spilled into the hallway from the office and he stared at the single occupant with curiosity.

"Are you looking for someone to solve a crime?" the low voice asked from behind the desk.

"Hai, I am."

"Then I'm the one you're looking for." The man rose and held out his hand. He was more than a six inches shorter than Goku himself and an eyebrow rose of its own accord. "The name's Vegeta."

"I'm Son Goku." He twisted the piece of paper that he held in his hand. "Have you heard about the bus thing on the news? The one that they think Cyrus had something to do with?"

"Cyrus, eh? Slimy little bastard. No one can find him." Vegeta flipped a few pages in the date book on his desk and located a blank space. "Do you need me to find out if your wife is cheating on your or somethin'?"

"Can you do it?" he asked.

Vegeta's brow creased in confusion. "Find your wife?"

"Iie, find out where Cyrus is hiding."

He smirked at him. "I'm the best there is, Son. I can find a little man like that in no time flat. Before we get into that, though, let's talk fee. Can you pay it?"

Goku smiled slowly and took out his checkbook. "Not a problem. I want to come with you when you go hunting for him."

Vegeta looked at him in disbelief for a moment before bursting into hysterical laughter. "Mister Softie wants to go on a bounty hunt!"

"I can keep up with you," Goku insisted. "I'm not as weak as I look."

"Tell you what," Vegeta said as he leaned forward in his desk chair, "you can come along on the final hunt if you don't annoy me during my information gathering."

"I won't annoy you."

He smirked. "We'll see. Right now I'm going to start looking and you can join me if you want to."

"Of course I want to! My son has been kidnapped by some man no military force in the world can find!"

"You want to know why they can't find him?" Vegeta asked him quietly. He went on at Goku's insistent nod. "His main hideout is underground and he often sends various people out into the public spotlight to distract attention. Performing a crime so close to his hideout is too dangerous for words. He's getting careless now and that will help us catch them all."

A single dark eyebrow rose. "Us? As in you and I?"

"You offered to help are you backing out now?" Vegeta grabbed a black trench coat from a hook behind the door and ushered the other man out. "It won't be too bad tonight, Son. I promise to keep the bad men in ski masks away from you."

Goku glared down at him. "Vegeta, I can hold my own without your help. Do I have to prove that to you?"

"Sure, go ahead." He settled his coat on his shoulders and spread his arms out wide. "Come at me, tough guy." The self-assured smile never left the shorter man's face even with Goku attacked him with obvious skill. The two of them exchanged blows for a while until Goku upped the speed of his assault. A small frown appeared between Vegeta's eyebrows, one that grew more and more fierce as the fight went on. Although Goku's longer reach gave him an advantage, Vegeta's smaller body gave him less of a target. The shorter man tripped the larger one and couldn't get out of the way in time. Both of them went crashing to the brown carpeted hallway before the private investigator's office.

"Get offa me before ya break something!" Vegeta growled as he squirmed weakly. He was, in fact, a little bit too tired to move. It had been a while since he had been able to go full out with anyone. Goku had surprised him. "Goku..."

The other man sat up and grinned. "You're pretty good at fighting, Vegeta."

His voice rose to a squeak. "Pretty good?! I'm only *pretty good*?!"

Goku looked at him, face completely devoid of any type of mocking smile. "You're the best person I've ever had the honor of sparring against and you're also the best person to help me find my son."

"Well a-arigatou." Vegeta cleared his throat and got to his feet, offering a hand down to his companion. "First we have to start down at the docks. Slavers have a habit of going through there because it's a quick way to get their merchandise off the island without a high risk of getting caught."

"My son is not a slave." He said this very firmly and precisely.

"He will be if we don't find him before they get him off the island. After that..." He trailed off with a shake of his head.

Goku led the way downstairs to the building's exit. "Gohan is not a slave and never will be a slave."

Vegeta gave him a sideways glance. "You better pray real hard to whatever higher power you believe in because it's sure as hell gonna get worse before it gets better."

"That's why you're here, isn't it? You handle the worse."

A little surprised chuckle came from deep inside his body. "Guess so, eh? I'm damage control."