"Uh… well, I… suh—" Goku stuttered, her eyes darting across the room in search for some much desired assistance. A room full of wide eyes were staring back at her, silently demanding an answer. She felt the sudden urge to turn on heel and run out of there as fast as she could. She wanted to fly to a desolate island and hide herself away from the rest of the world. She was simply too confused to deal with this scenario. She finally quit searching when it became obvious that she wasn't going to receive any help on the matter. "Suh—sorta," she finished, laughing uneasily.
"Sorta?! Goku, take a look in the mirror for Kami's sake!" Yamcha burst out.
"Well, I…" Goku murmured, glancing around at the judgmental faces. They didn't understand. They all thought this was some sort of joke on her part. Something began to well up in Goku's chest—a feeling she couldn't pinpoint if she had even cared. She wasn't accustomed to it. "I didn't mean to do it! Do you think I actually wanted to be a girl? Now I have to be like this for an entire year before I can be wished back to normal!" she retorted in a very uncharacteristic snappish tone.
Needless to say, the outburst surprised everyone.
"Sheesh… someone's moody," Oolong teased whilst rolling his eyes.
Goku's cheeks flushed crimson as she realized what she had just done. She hadn't meant to shout at Yamcha. The words just came flying out of her mouth by their own accord. 'What's wrong with me?' The issue at hand was seriously bewildering to her. She realized that she hadn't been acting like herself at all, and this thought terrified her. 'If I can't control my attitude and the words I say than I just won't speak at all!'
"Maybe we should call off the reunion until a later date—" Bulma suggested, glancing at her downcast friend and yearning to hug her.
'Darn it! I can't!' "No!" Goku exclaimed. "I—I mean don't do that because of me! I didn't mean to yell… I'm just so confused right now…" She vaguely realized that the others couldn't possible understand what she meant by that. Son Goku never lost his cool—who was this intruder claiming to be him? "Why don't you guys celebrate somewhere else? I'll just stay home and think things through… or I can leave, and you all can just forget this happened."
Bulma placed an understanding hand on Goku's shoulder. "Goku, we're not leaving you," she said with a determined look.
Goku struggled to display a genuine smile. "I appreciate your concern, Bulma, but I think it's best for everyone. I need some time alone to collect my thoughts. Maybe I'll even get some training in!" The thought of training actually perked her up a bit. Her smile was at least believable.
"Well okay, if you say so," Bulma conceded. A loud clicking noise broke the silence that followed, and Bulma instinctively looked to the front door. "Someone's at the door," she muttered.
Bulma had left it unlocked for the party guests to come in. A moment later, ChiChi waltzed into the room with a handful of food dishes piled up in her arms. Gohan was behind her, carrying an even heavier load.
"Sorry I'm so late!" ChiChi quickly apologized. "I made Gohan promise to finish his studies before we came because I knew he'd be beat when we get back."
As ChiChi spoke, she was oblivious to her gender-swapped husband. The pile of food towering in her arms like the Leaning Tower of Pisa conveniently blocked her from view. Goku's first thought was to instinctively free her wife from her heavy load, but she caught herself. Reality dawned upon her once again. ChiChi had said she wanted nothing to do with her any longer, and she had sounded quite serious about it—more so than she'd ever before experienced.
Goku slinked away to the back of the group—hoping to Kami that nobody would realize her absence. If she could just slip out of the room as quiet as a mouse, nobody would be the wiser, and all would be well. ChiChi handed off the food to Krillin. He and Gohan promptly took it to the kitchen and returned in time to witness the spectacle that ensued the moment ChiChi noticed Goku's presence.
She smiled—it was forced. "Goku," she greeted with a strained tone of voice. She was obviously trying to control her surmounting anger. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."
At this point she was like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any given moment's notice. Goku gulped down the lump that had steadily been building in her throat. She slowly backed away as one does when confronted with a vicious wild animal. Any sudden movement and the tigress might make chase. Due partially to her muddled brain, Goku stumbled clumsily into Vegeta, stepping on his toes in the process.
She didn't realize it quickly enough, and Vegeta hissed at her like a serpent. "Shit!" he cursed. "Get off of me, you buffoon!"
Bulma shot Vegeta an icy glare. When her attention returned to Goku she was surprised to see a blank look on her face. It was as if Vegeta's cruel reaction to the honest mistake hadn't even registered.
"Dad?" Gohan muttered in a questioning tone. His eyes were wide with astonishment. He'd of course known of the wish for a little while now, but his dad had been kicked out ever since, and staring at her like this right now just hammered in the reality of the situation. It was difficult to picture his dad as a woman. It just didn't seem right to him. It didn't quite make sense. "H—How?" he finally asked, his face turning red with embarrassment. He just had to know. Nobody ever explained the details to him, and he couldn't rest easy not knowing.
Vegeta felt something taking over him that he didn't quite understand. Could it be possible? Was he actually feeling pity for his most-despised rival? No. It simply wasn't technically Goku's fault, and she was certainly taking all of the flack for it. He couldn't allow that. He had his honor to consider.
Vegeta couldn't believe he was doing this. He regretted it the moment the words escaped his lips: "It's not your father's fault." 'Blasted soft earthlings must be rubbing off on me!'
"Don't believe a word that miscreant says! It's your father's fault that this happened," ChiChi interjected hotly. "The truth is your father isn't a responsible man. He has a simple, one track-mind. He's a man-child, and he isn't capable of considering the long-term affects that his self-centered decisions have on others—namely his family. I'm sorry, Gohan, but he isn't fit to be a father to you."