"So, you wanted to ask me some questions? I hope they aren't all about Bulma."
"They aren't… but they can wait." I paused. "Goku didn't want to tell you because he didn't want to worry you. He cares about you and knows how upset you get when you find out things didn't go smoothly or to plan."
"Oh?" Chichi said, her voice as sharp as the knife she was cleaning at that moment.
I decided to head that off. If I could keep her unbalanced, hit her with information body blows, it would make all of this far easier. "I don't like to lie-" And in my head I could hear the laughter of… well, no one I knew as none of them had ever realized just how MUCH I twisted the truth, "-and I think you deserve to know what really happened."
"I do," Chichi said frigidly.
"We found out where Goku came from."
That caused her to stop short, her rage disappearing instantly.
"What?" She turned to stare at me. "You mean… he said his Grandpa Gohan found him but…" she trailed off, leaving me a chance to answer.
"Goku isn't from Earth." I decided to rip that Band-Aid off. "He is from another world… one long gone. He is one of the last of his kind, a species known as the Saiyans."
"Last… oh… oh my." She glanced back at the kitchen door where we could hear Goku chatting with the Ox-King between bites of food. "My poor Goku. He must have taken that so hard…"
"I don't think he's really thought of it," I said as Isco buzzed over to me, handing me a new dish cloth as the one I currently had was too damp to handle the dishes.
"That sounds like Goku," Chichi admitted. "There was never a problem he didn't find a way to avoid… unless it was a fight."
Isco chose that moment to speak up. "Rather I think it truly doesn't matter to him. He has always seen himself as a human. The Saiyans do not matter to him because how can he mourn for something he never sought out and does not need?" He paused and Chichi considered his words. "I believe he informed Raditz that Bulma and Krillin were more his family than he ever was. In fact he has declared them his sister and his brother and Gohan is addressing them as Aunt Bulma and Uncle Krillin."
"Hmmm… I guess that makes sense. I'm not a fan of some of the things those two do but they have always been there for Goku. And I do like that Gohan has more family to make sure he is safe…" She trailed off as she picked up something that Isco had said. "Raditz?"
I sighed. "The Saiyan that arrived to tell him all this… he's his brother."
"They fought, didn't they?" Chichi asked, already knowing the answer. "Well, at least Goku defeated him."
"He didn't."
Chichi froze.
"Wha… what?"
"Goku didn't defeat Raditz. He even worked with Piccolo and wasn't able to match Raditz."
"He… WORKED with Piccolo?!" Chichi exclaimed only to drop her voice, glancing at the door again. She clearly realized that if Goku heard her that would lead to the end of the conversation and rightly assumed it was only through me she would learn the truth. "Him and Piccolo. But he-"
"Hates him?" I finished. "Piccolo saw that Raditz was the greater threat to us all."
"And they still couldn't defeat him."
"No," I said. "We only were able to buy ourselves 13 months before he returns. And… it came at a cost." He looked down at the cup I had been drying for the last five minutes and set it aside. "Yamcha died saving Krillin."
"…no," Chichi whispered.
"That's what this trip Goku wants to take Gohan on is about."
"The Dragon Balls," she said at once. "They are going to collect them…"
"Only one of them," I told her. "The others are collected the rest. We're going to go and collect ours and then return to Capsule Corp and bring Yamcha back."
"Of course," Chichi said at once. "Of course. If… if it had been Goku… I know Yamcha would have sought the Dragon Balls to bring him back." She sighed. "But does he have to take Gohan?"
"He wants to spend time with him," I stated. "He knows he's going to have to begin training hard to fight Raditz… he doesn't want this fight, Chichi, not really. He'll do it and get excited to grow stronger but Goku…" I thought of how to word what I wanted to say, to not reveal future knowledge. "Goku would rather fight someone in a friendly spar than for the fate of the world. That's what I sense at least."
"And it is the fate of the world?"
I glanced at her. "If Raditz had his way rather than eating that meal Goku would come in here, tear my head off, then bash your skull against the table before it caved in. Then he'd go back, finish eating, and find your closest neighbor and do the exact same thing. Until every living thing on this planet was dead."
She stared at me in horror.
"This isn't Piccolo. He wanted to rule. Same with the others that came before. Raditz wants a dead planet. THAT is why Goku has to prepare."
Chichi trembled at that, utterly shaken by the brutality I had described. After a moment though her head snapped up and she fearfully asked, "Gohan. Did this Raditz-"
"I had Master Roshi hide him. He doesn't even know he exists."
She sagged with relief. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I… suppose then, at least for the Dragon Ball… they can go." She looked down at the dish water and swished her hands in it. "I just worry about them both, you know? Worry that they will get hurt."
"…come with us then."