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Gohan had grown accustomed to the oddities Goten would bring home without fail. Frogs, lizards, spiders, snakes and even an occasional chipmunk. Collections of “funny” rocks had taken up so much room that Gohan allotted an area of his desk to assist.
All the same, he was surprised to find stacks of paper and his brother attempting to fold each one meticulously.
“Goten, what are you doing?”
Huffing as if he had been interrupted from some sort of deep contemplation regarding the fate of the universe, Goten faced his brother. “Making animals!”
Gohan picked up one of the folded figures, turning it this way and that. It had a head, of sorts and what looked like legs but beyond that, he hadn’t a clue. Having learned the trick to understanding and preserving his brother’s feelings long ago, Gohan asked, “Tell me about it.”
“It’s supposed to be a fish.”
Ah. He could see it now, what he thought to be a head was actually a large fin. “Not a bad start. Didn’t know you were into origami.” Took too much sitting still.
“I hafta learn how to do the crane.”
Gohan eyed his sibling. “Why the crane?”
Looking shocked, Goten retorted. “Cause of the story, remember?”
Well, this was awkward. He was the main storyteller for Goten though Mom had entered her own tales as well. But Gohan had told his brother so many and he definitely couldn’t recall a bird in any of them. “Which one? I tell you a lot of stories.”
“The one about the little boy who made his Mommy better because the Gods granted his wish.”
Gohan had to think a little on that one. After all, he’d made a few wishes in his life just not to the gods…
Or, maybe he did. Shenlong was a Dragon God wasn’t he?
“But,” Goten went on. “You said he had to put in the work. To show the Gods how serious he was, he folded one thousand cranes!” Goten’s face fell. “I dunno how to make a crane yet though.”
Flopping himself down next to his brother, Gohan asked. “What would you ask for if you got a wish?”
“For Daddy to come home.”
Gohan closed his eyes tight. Ever since they’d gotten the message that his father would be using his one day on earth to come to the Tournament, that was all Goten wanted to know about.
And who could blame him? It was all Gohan could think of too. What would his father think of him? Would he have changed any? Would the Tournament give his family any time alone? Oh, when he saw Goten for the first time or saw Mom again.
Gohan selfishly looked forward to his father’s hug. Goku gave the best hugs and he was damned determined that he would get one all to himself.
“Big Brother, are you listening?”
Blushing and a bit ashamed, Gohan rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, Goten. Was thinking.”
“About Daddy?”
Nodding, Gohan set his eyes firmly on his brother. “Yeah. Sorry. Thinking about seeing him soon—“
“And getting a Daddy hug?”
“Dad gives the best hugs!” He smiled. “But I’m listening now.”
Goten gave a sharp nod, an unspoken stance of “you better!” but when he spoke, his voice carried nothing but sympathy. “That’s why I gotta learn to do a crane. So I can ask them to let Daddy come back forever.” He paused, looked at his hands, fumbling with the colored paper. “You and Mommy’ll be sad when he hasta leave.”
Well, Gohan couldn’t exactly call him a liar because he wasn’t lying. When Dad had to leave at the end of the day, it was going to destroy him. He didn’t even want to think about Mom.
In some ways, Goten not knowing his father was a blessing.
“So I’m gonna ask the Gods for my wish once I get one thousand cranes.”
Warmth in his eyes, Gohan advised “The Dragon God has already resurrected him once, Goten. You only get once.”
Goten rolled his eyes. “Big Brother. I’m not gonna ask the Dragon God. I’m gonna ask the Crane God.”
Well, he had him there.
“Maybe the Crane God is nicer.” Looking about at his failed fish, Goten pouted. “But I gotta make a thousand of ‘em! And I can’t even get the fish right. But then Daddy’ll just get to come gone after the battle and we’ll get to be the family you and Mom miss again.” A grin, so reminiscent of Goku’s. “And I’ll have a Daddy.”
Gohan lost himself in the thought, as asinine as it might have been. Yet given the kind of life he’d lived, was it really so crazy to think the Gods might answer such dedication with a request? He’d certainly heard crazier things.
Picking up a piece of paper, he held it out to his brother. “To make a crane, you start like this.”
Goten watched transfixed as his brother took the flowered paper and folded and creased. Before long, their first crane sat perched upon the desk, a red and white patterned one.
Goten selected blue and gold paper for his and the process began. He refolded and straightened and groaned but eventually a lovely blue and gold crane sat next to the red and white one.
“Two down,” the boy grinned.
“Nine hundred ninety eight to go,” Gohan finished, selecting another piece.
It became their nightly ritual. They would train, eat and then stay up well into the night, folding cranes.
It took Goten some time to get into the rhythm but like he was with everything else, he learned quickly. Before long, they were averaging about ten cranes each per hour. On their days of “rest,” they did more.
If ChiChi noticed their strange obsession, she said nothing. When Goten came bounding downstairs and disappearing into their room with large stacks of paper, she just raised a brow but said nothing. When Gohan grabbed ointment for cuts from their pantry but didn’t seem to have any visible scars on him, she wondered but didn’t intervene.
The nights before the Tournament rolled away in such a manner, until late into the night the day before, Goten pleaded, sleep in his eyes and voice. “How many…Big Brother?”
Yawning himself and cursing the intricate folds that had torn his fingers apart, Gohan looked to his chart. “Nine hundred and eighty.”
“Almost there then!” Goten’s enthusiasm was betrayed by his exhaustion. “That’s…”
“Twenty more.” Gohan reached out and ruffled his brother’s hair, so much like his father used to do. Oh, to have that back. “Go to sleep. I’ll finish them.”
“That’s a lot still…”
“And you hafta be rested for the Tournament, you know.”
“You do too.”
“But I can fight on less sleep than you.” It seemed so silly. Was there even a guarantee this would work? Yet, the prospect of not finishing and potentially losing a life changing wish was terrifying to him. “You started this, Goten. Your idea. So let me finish it.”
Goten hardly seemed willing but exhaustion does not allow for a lot of say in the matter. He was asleep while halfway through a crane of his own. Gohan plucked it up and finished it.
Fold, crease, repeat.
One after the other. He had to redo some as his folds began to get sloppy. But no, so close. They only needed a few more. Just a few.
Only ten more.
Only five more.
Only three more.
Only two more.
Only one more…he pushed aside crane Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine….
“Up! Up! We’re gonna be late!”
Morning came with the sound of ChiChi’s sharp commanding tone. Gohan came awake with a groan and a large kink in his neck.
The last crane sat unfinished on his desk.
“C’mon!” ChiChi’s voice left no room for argument. “You have just enough time to wash up. We can’t be late!”
Goten’s small voice was heart wrenching. “Big Brother? Did you finish them?”
ChiChi looked from one boy to the other. “Finish them?” Her eyes settled about the room. She’d not really been in it much. The boys had all but barricaded her out. But now she saw—origami cranes. Hundreds of them. Sitting on the desk, overflowing in cardboard boxes on the floor. Sitting in the window.
“What were you…”
“A thousand cranes, Mommy.” Goten rubbed sleep from his eyes. “Like the story you and Big Brother always tell. One thousand and you get your wish! We can wish for Daddy not to have to leave after today. He can stay!”
ChiChi’s eyes swelled. “Oh, my sweet boys.” She embraced Goten and kissed Gohan’s head. “How many…”
“Nine hundred ninety nine.” Gohan lifted his last crane from the night before. “I must have fallen asleep.”
“Good. At least you got some sleep. Now go wash up so we won’t miss your father.” As she spoke, she lifted a sheet from Gohan’s desk of green and silver and with a smile to Goten, she folded it tightly into a crane of her own. Setting it next to Gohan’s and unbeknownst to her, next to Goten’s first one, she declared “One thousand.”
Goten svrsmbled to her side. “We hafta make the wish! Make the wish!”
Taking hold of Gohan’s hand in her left snd Goten’s in her right, ChiChi closed her eyes. “Well then let’s wish! All your heart!”
Gohan closed his eyes.
Goten closed his though he still bounced up and down.
“Give us our Goku back.” ChiChi’s voice was clear and strong. “Let him come home and come home to stay. Give us back our father, our husband. Let us be a whole family again.”
“We made all the cranes!” Goten chimed in. “All one thousand! This is our wish!”
Gohan spoke, solid and firm. “A thousand cranes for our father’s life. Please.”
They didn’t know what they were expecting. Maybe a miracle, maybe a laugh. Maybe nothing.
But after a few minutes, ChiChi broke their little ensemble, insisting the boys “had to clean up now” and the family of three departed, leaving their offering of cranes scattered about the bedroom.
When they finally returned home, after a flurry of battles, deaths, revivals, it was with happy tears and all three clinging to Goku as if he would vanish if they didn’t maintain contact. Goku laughed and kissed their heads, ruffled their hair.
As they entered the little home, Goku suddenly asked “Hey, did you make those for me?”
Sitting inside the doorway on their entryway floor were three cranes: one green and silver, one red and white and one blue and gold.
The three family members questioned stared, eyes dumbfounded and it was Goten that rushed inside and to the room he and Gohan shared. His family only had time to take off their shoes before he was rushing back. “They’re gone! All of them! All but those!” He shouted as he pointed.
“What’s gone?” Goku asked. “Somebody come and rob us?”
“The cranes.” Gohan clarified. “Before the Tournament, Goten had the idea to…fold the thousand cranes. To see if we might get your life back.”
ChiChi leaned on her husband’s shoulder. “Like the old stories.”
Goku grinned. “Well, it was the Old Kai that gave his life to me. He’s a God, ain’t he?”
The three looked at each other and Goten laughed. “He is! So it worked! The Gods took our cranes and gave you back, Daddy!”
He leapt for Goku who wrapped him in a strong hug before taking Gohan with his free arm and laying his head on ChiChi’s. “I must be pretty special then huh? To have a family to ask the Gods for a favor for me? How’d I get that lucky?” He gave them another squeeze, pulling them as close as he dared.
They didn’t answer, just relished his hug.
Goten decided Gohan was right.
Daddy did give the best hugs.