Ashan 20 721
Goku actually managed to wake up on time for the first time in a long time. On time was of course dependent on when he needed to wake so he still had a ways to go before he could truly be considered “early”. He got up and stretched for the day and took a deep breath in. He smelled… what was it? He sniffed and moved over to the window and stuck his head out of it. “I knew it!” he said when he looked around. There was fresh bread that was being carried by someone holding a basket. Goku hopped out of his window and made his way over giving no mind that he was still in his pajamas.
“That smells amazing!” he said when he approached. The woman looked at him strangely but couldn’t help but laugh at Goku’s silly messed up hair.
“Goku, what are you doing up so early? Don’t tell me all it took to get you out of bed was the smell of bread.”
Goku laughed and clasped his hands behind his head. “What can I say? I’m hungry!” He hadn’t noticed the woman before but now he knew her to be a prior neighbor who had moved slightly further away to be with her husband. Goku fancied her from an early age but she’d gone and gotten married before he mustered the courage to really pursue a relationship.
The girl sighed and pulled the basket close. “Well I can’t give you any. I’m bringing this out to a farmer who sent for some food. You should come along if you’re free, he might be happy to share some if you do some work for him.”
Goku groaned at the thought of doing work but he didn’t need much to be convinced to help out. “Fine, but he better at least have something interesting. I once dug some holes for some flowers and that was pretty boring.”
The girl pushed him jovially. “It’s farm work it’s going to be boring. If you’re coming go get ready at least. Wouldn’t want to get your pajamas all messy.”
Goku looked down and noticed that he was totally underdressed for work. He went through his window and changed into some decent clothing. Decent for work, not decent in quality. The pair of pants and shirt he wore looked totally worn at the joints and had plenty of nicks in them from doing laborious jobs. He exited his home through the door this time and ran to catch up to the woman who had already started walking away. “I thought you were going to wait for me!”
They arrived at the farm not too long later. It was always a lengthy walk to get out of town and to where the farms were but it was no big deal. Walking such a distance put some strain on Goku’s legs but it was nothing he wasn’t used to by now. He thought he made the right decision coming along on this trip once he met up with the farmer and got some assignments. He doubted he was going to get paid for helping out but he was always going to be happy with building his reputation for helping out now and then. Once people liked him… that’d be the best time to take advantage of them.
Goku was supposed to pull up some weeds for starters. The farmer pointed to some spots that needed some work and showed Goku what a weed was supposed to look like. He’d no idea living in a town for most of his life and never having set foot on a proper farm before. Goku found it difficult to detect whether something was a weed or not. Even when being told precisely what to look for Goku couldn’t really tell unless he looked at the plant for a while. The girl that brought him there thought it was funny to watch Goku crawl around on all fours and inspect weeds closely before digging them out with his hands.
The weeding went on for about fifteen minutes before Goku cleared even one area that needed work. He ended up only getting one single weed so obviously he wasn't going to be much help in this area. Had he been paid well for helping he would have kept going but it was difficult to keep himself motivated when there was little incentive.
“You got to have something better for me to help with,” Goku said while brushing off dirt from his pants and kicking mud off of the bottom of his shoes.
The farmer looked around pensively. He had not expected to get some help like this. He had expected someone a little weaker looking to come help but now that he had Goku here he figured he would put his strength to some use. He told Goku that, “actually, there is something you may be able to help with. There’s a piece of equipment that is buried under the ground that I really could use some help unearthing. It’ll take someone really strong to do it but maybe if I help and if the girl helps too we can all get it to unearth.”
Goku looked worried when he heard what the farmer wanted him to do. He looked even more worried when he saw what the farmer was referencing. There was a metal farming tool that was half buried in the ground that looked pretty stuck. Goku pressed on it with a foot and it barely budged.
Goku said, “can’t you get an animal to get this out? It’d be easy for an ox probably.”
The farmer said, “can’t. It’s too close to the house and the shack so an animal would risk causing too much damage if a mistake is made. You’re strong aren’t you? Give it a shot.” The farmer went around and got some ropes and tied them tightly around the metal tool.
Goku held the ropes and tried to apply the best lifting principals that he could. He slung the rope over his shoulder and pressed his shoulder into the rope from the other side. He pulled with the weight to his back but all he did was dig his feet into the mud and fall over backwards, nearly smashing his head against the tool.
“Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” cried the girl who quickly came to Goku’s aid. For all she wanted to help him the woman lost her balance and slipped on the mud. She came crashing down on Goku and ended up laying right on top of Goku with her chest pressed to his chest.
Once Goku got over the initial pain of the landing he couldn’t help but notice that he was staring right into the woman’s eyes. He remembered how attractive he’d thought she was when they were younger and he got caught up in the moment. They stared at each other for an extended moment and Goku went for the kiss. The kiss lasted five seconds because the woman was so surprised as to what had happened. When she finally realized what had just happened. She broke the kiss and slapped Goku with all her strength which was honestly was not very powerful but it still stung like hell.
“I thought we were sharing a moment,” Goku called after her when she ran off.
The farmer didn’t understand the context so he asked, “why’d you have to go and do that?”
Goku said, “I thought she might have liked me back… I expected something but that was a bit extreme. I hope she doesn’t tell her husband.”
The farmer burst out laughing after finding out that Goku’d tried kissing a taken woman. “You crazy bastard, I love it. Wish I had balls like yours but I’d lose the farm if I made my wife that mad. Guess we aren’t pulling the tool out after all.”
“Believe me, I wish I didn’t have the balls. My face would sting a whole lot less.” Goku got to his feet and tried to assess the situation. He had felt the tool come up a ways before he had lost his footing so he wasn’t out of hope yet. He was willing to give it one more good try. “Let me do one more thing I probably shouldn’t do. I’ll still need your help though.”
Goku took some time to focus energy into his arms and legs. He was using runes that he had learned from his teacher that was able to amplify his strength. He drew a rune onto his torso over the course of ten minutes and was able to use that to stabilize his core enough to help lift the tool slightly. “Could use some help!” he shouted between breaths. The farmer quickly grabbed hold of the rope and with their collective teamwork they were able to lift the back end of the tool just enough for the farmer’s wife to slide some wood underneath the sunken bit. By the end Goku felt totally wiped out. He probably could have pulled the whole thing out himself and lifted it over his head if he had been able to put runes all over his body but he’d had to make do with just the one on short notice. The tool was not even that heavy to begin with… all the work really was to pull it from the mud’s grip.
Goku was treated to a heaping meal for all of his efforts. He finally got some of that bread that had brought him here in the first place and he shared some laughs with the farmer while relaxing. Goku was happy he had gotten to help the farmer out and that he had managed not to give up because his second attempt had worked. The only thing that kept bothering him was his interaction with the woman from before.
There was still more weeding to be done but Goku didn’t do the weeding himself. The wife did the work and Goku just followed behind with a sack to collect the weeds and empty them into a pile. This part of his day was by far the easiest because weeds weren’t heavy and all he really had to do was stand around.
“I better go make things right,” he told the farmer when the sun started to go down. “Maybe if I can get her to understand how I feel she’ll understand how I feel. Who cares if she’s married, if we like each other why shouldn’t we be together?”
The farmer responded but Goku didn’t pay any attention. He hitched a ride with a passing caravan all the way back to town because he knew he would regret it if he walked. His back and legs were already worked as hard as his intensive home workouts. Goku had intended to go meet up with the woman but he would have to save that for another day. As soon as he opened his door and looked at his bed he couldn’t resist sleeping.
