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When it came to their anniversary, Chi-Chi was never sure what to expect from Goku.
Their first one. Chi-Chi had been so convinced he forgot and spent the whole day furious with him—until she belatedly figured out that he didn’t even know what an anniversary was. Once she explained it was another thing married couples did, he felt terrible about it, and of course she felt terrible for being mad at him for something that wasn’t really his fault.
Despite that rocky beginning, he did make up for it with largest bouquet of wildflowers she had ever seen. There were so many, he explained bashfully, because he wasn’t sure which ones she liked, so he picked them all. It was the most romantic thing anybody had ever done for her.
He never forgot their anniversary after that. And aside from the ones he missed when he was dead or lost in space, they were all wonderful.
This year, Chi-Chi told him that she didn’t care about gifts. All she wanted was for them to spend the day together. And true to his word, he made sure he was home from training Uub in plenty of time.
So on the day of their twenty-eighth anniversary, she planned to make him his favorite apple pie for his gift. But just as she retrieved the apples from the refrigerator, he stopped her. “Wait, don’t use those!”
“Why? I only got them a few days ago,” she replied, confused. “Have they gone bad already?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I just want to get them from somewhere else.”
She was instantly suspicious. Since when was Goku so finicky about food? “And why is that?” she demanded, folding her arms over her chest.
“You’ll see! C’mon!”
He pulled her out the door, ignoring her startled protests as he called for Nimbus. The next thing she knew, they were soaring through the sky with a couple of baskets in tow.
Did he always have to be so impulsive? Oh well…
Her annoyance faded as she remembered how he did the exact same thing after the tournament twenty-eight years ago, sweeping her off and leaving his bewildered friends behind. She smiled nostalgically, leaning close to his back. It had been a while since they went off on a ride, just the two of them. And what better time to do it than their anniversary?
Kami, had it really been so long ago? They were just teenagers then. Now…she frowned, not wanting to spoil the mood with any worries about aging. She just wanted to enjoy the day.
They stopped a short time later by small meadow by the lake. surrounded by apple trees. Goku hopped off Nimbus and looked at her expectedly. “Well?”
She stared back him blankly. “What?”
“Don’t you remember this place?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“From back when we were kids?”
Her gaze traveled the pink wildflowers growing by the shore of the lake from the trees. There was one tree that stood out among the others, marked by a rather unusual dent in its trunk the size of a fist…
A child’s fist.
Images swam through her memory: herself as a young girl, picking flowers for what she thought would be her wedding day, only to be surprised by Goku calling to her from the trees. She giving him flowers, and he giving her an apple. The two of them eating by the river; he devoured his apple in two chomps while she took dainty little bites…
“Yes!” she exclaimed in delight. Now she remembered. She couldn’t believe that he did too. “This is why you wanted apples from these trees?”
“Yeah.” Goku scratched the back of his head shyly. “I just thought it would make the pie more…you know…special.”
“Oh Goku!” She threw her arms around in him and nuzzled her head against his chest. “You really are the best.”
“Aw, no I’m not,” he mumbled, blushing.
“Well, we’re definitely going to pick a whole bunch of these apples!” she declared happily as she picked up her basket. “I think I might have to make you four or five pies, not just one!”
“Really?” His mouth watered at the thought. “Let’s get pickin’ then!” Grabbing his basket, he ran for the trees, and in a matter of seconds it was filled to the brim with apples.
Chi-Chi, of course, moved at a slower pace, looking around the field with a smile. “It’s been so long since we were here.” She pointed to the dented tree. “Remember making that?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “You told me we were on a date, and dates are when people do stuff together.”
“And you thought that meant a sparring match and we wound up fighting,” she giggled.
“It was fun!” he defended himself.
She couldn’t argue with that. It was the first sign of what married life with Goku would be like: strange and unpredictable, and yet fun and exciting all the same.
“Can you believe we’ve been married for almost thirty years?” she mused, growing wistful. “We were so young…” She sighed. “Not anymore though.”
“We’re not that old,” he was quick to point out.
“You aren’t,” she retorted, “but I am.”
“You’re the same age as me!”
“You still look young because you’re a Saiyan. Me, I’m getting gray hair and wrinkles.”
“Not that many.”
“Oh, come on,” she snorted, rolling her eyes. “I look older and you don’t.”
“Do you want me to look older?” he asked innocently.
“No,” she admitted.
It made her feel like a complete hypocrite to prefer his youthful looks while being self-conscious about her own aging. She couldn’t help it though. She just couldn’t picture him as an older man. And she was struck with the sudden sadness that she probably wouldn’t be around it to see it.
“What about you?” she asked hesitantly, stepping closer to him. “Do you wish I still looked younger?”
“No,” he answered automatically.
She shook her head in disbelief. “Be serious!”
“I am!” he insisted.
“Maybe I don’t look that old to you now, but I will eventually,” she reminded him. “And it’s only going to get worse. Won’t that bother you when it happens? It doesn’t bother you now?”
Goku cocked his head to the side as he considered this. His black eyes moved the faint lines near her mouth and eyes. He reached out and ran his hand through her long black hair, tied in a loose ponytail, noting a stray strand or two that shimmered in the sunlight.
“I like you this old,” he said softly.
Her mouth turned up in a tiny smile. “Really?” she asked hopefully.
“I mean, I always liked the way you look, but now…because we’ve been together so long…” Once again, he rubbed the back of his head as he struggled to explain. “Everything just means more to me now, you know? It’s like this place. I didn’t think it was special back then, but now it is, because…”
“Because we’re older now?” she finished for him.
“Yeah!” he nodded. “Does that make sense?”
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Absolutely,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him.
Picking apples might not have seemed like a romantic anniversary to other couples—the normal ones that grew old together and took it for granted. But for years and years afterward, Goku and Chi-Chi would look back at it as one of the best anniversaries they had.