Just a short little piece...





Look Behind You

a Dragonball Z fanfic by Eternal Lost Lurker

DBZ is the property of Toriyama Akira, Bird Studio, Jump, Toei, and a
buttload of other people who aren't me. I'm not making money from this, so
hopefully their lawyers won't try to either.

*******

Death got kinda boring after a while.

Oh, sure, there'd been the tournament. And training with all the other
strong guys at Dai-kaiou-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, and his friends, and about 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...

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

Son Gohan, the man who had raised Goku 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. "Goku. It has been so long."

"Yeah. How've you been?"

"Dead. How about you?"

"Dead."

The two men chuckled.

"So, what's up, ojiisan?"

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

Goku 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 Goku 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 Goku,
as were many others.

"Ahh, that was good," Goku 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?" Goku replied, shrugging. He then noticed that his
grandfather seemed a bit pensive. "Oi...what's up, ojiisan?"

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

"Tell me what?" Goku 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."

Goku 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."

Goku 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."

Goku 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."

Goku 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..."

Goku blinked. "Ojiisan, *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 this secret stuff, ojiisan. 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?"

Goku nodded. "Un."

*******

Some amount of time later, Goku 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!" Goku sped off and boarded the indicated escalator.

A few minutes later, he found himself in a dark, dusty lobby with cracked
tiles, mould on the walls, cobwebs in the corners, dead potted plants, and
thick layers of grime everywhere. "Ano...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 Goku. 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 Goku 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," Goku said, blinking at the
ancient figure in front of him.

"North He--why in tarnation wouldja wanna go there, boy?" 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," Goku said. With no further ado, he went through the hole...

*******

North Hell number three was very, very pink.

Goku 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
Goku passed.

"What the hell kind of 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.

"Damn. Wonder if I got the wrong Hell." He walked along for a bit, then
tried again. "Oi! I'm Son Goku! 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. Goku looked around, blinking.

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

Goku 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 Goku noticed that rust-like flecks were dropping from it onto
the soft ground. A peculiar tang filled his nostrils, and he realised 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. "My ojiisan said you wanted
to see me. If you're who asked about me, I mean."

The man laughed dryly. "Ojiisan...heh. It's a funny thought."

"Ano..."

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."

Goku 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.

"Ano...who *are* you?" Goku 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."

Goku blinked. "Kaka--hey, hey. Only...only Saiyajin call me that."

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

"Oi...wha...hey, what're you doin' with my face?" Goku asked. The cloaked
man was without a doubt Saiyajin; he looked exactly like Goku. For a brief
moment, he feared that he'd encountered Taresu...but then he noticed the
scar on the man's cheek, the slightly more tanned skin, the smeared blood,
the difference in the eyes...

The Saiyajin chuckled. "It's you who has *my* face, Kakarotto." He walked
forward and placed his hands on Goku's shoulders. "My name is Bardock. Do
you know who I am?"

Goku 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."

Goku, 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?"

Goku 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?" Goku 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 realised 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."

Goku 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," Goku 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."

Goku shook his head. "Gomen ne, 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."

Goku 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 world." 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!"

Goku 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."

Goku nodded. "Goodbye...otousan."

*******

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

"Gomen ne, Kaiou-sama."

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

Goku 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.

***owari***


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