Meditating alone in the desert was not something Piccolo ever thought that he would miss. In fact after spending the majority of his life meditating in a wide variety of extreme climates, he had imagined any time not spent alone in his own head would be a welcome change.
Though this part of his life had been before Gohan, and before anyone on earth had even heard of a Saiyan, and of course before his brief stint in the afterlife. In the last few years Piccolo had seen a drastic spike in his social circle, though this drastic increase constituted of exactly two people who would willingly speak to him. Well two people and a whole host of uneasy allies, who though still scared, were not outright terrified of him. Except Krillin, but Piccolo was convinced Krillin was terrified of pretty much anything.
He was not entirely sure what had possessed him to accept Goku's offer to train with him every day until the arrival of the androids. There were of course a number of completely reasonable explanations. First and foremost Piccolo was in no rush to die again, secondly Son was an amazing sparring partner, also training with him meant that he could spend more time with Gohan and continue to oversee his training, and in his own way he enjoyed the companionship. Though Piccolo would ever admit any of these reasons to anyone out loud, ever. He expected Son Goku knew all of this already. That bastard could be dumb as a rock but he was oddly perceptive, especially when it came to Piccolo's feelings.
Piccolo however had perhaps overestimated how much of Son he could handle in any given day. Since training to take down Raditz, Piccolo and Son had not spent a great deal of time on the same plant, or even of the same plane of existence. Piccolo was not prepared to deal with living alongside his former arch rival.
God, if he thought GOHAN was talkative, his father was exponentially worse. He could prattle on for hours and hours every day, about food of all things, even after several reminders that Piccolo did not in fact eat. He had also decided to give Piccolo a nickname. Inwardly Piccolo swore to himself that if Son called him 'Pic' one more time he would rip his face off. He could tolerate Gohan calling him Mr. Piccolo at least that denoted some measure of respect. But 'Pic' no part of Piccolo invited such a diminutive nickname.
Though he secretly admitted to himself, despite how annoying he could be. He couldn't kill Son Goku now. He could no longer muster up the old anger and rage that Son had once inspired in him. That did not mean however that he wished to spend every waking moment in his presence. After four months of close proximity training Piccolo had enthusiastically agreed to ChiChi's suggestion that Sunday's be a 'family day' and that Gohan and Goku were forbidden to train. He was sure his quick acceptance of the plan had surprised ChiChi who thought his entire life revolved around disrupting her home life and trying to turn her son into a delinquent warrior.
Though to be fair, Piccolo thought, she's not wrong.
At this point however anything that guaranteed Piccolo at least one day to meditate in silence it was a blessing. Piccolo closed his eyes and prepared to enter a deep meditative state, shifting his position slightly to return circulation to his right foot.
His eyes almost immediately snapped open as he felt a familiar ki approach.
'So much for my Saiyan free day' he thought standing up and shedding his cape and turban 'and so much for solitude'
Though he had to admit Vegeta's arrival to the desert brought with it the promise of an amazing spar.
Several hours later Piccolo and Vegeta sat apart, breathing heavily. The rubble of the previously cliff filled desert were scattered haphazardly around them. Thousands of years of geological progression reduced to rubble.
"So I guess we'll call this one a draw eh?" Piccolo rotated his wrist where he had just finished regrowing his hand after a chi blast had singed it off.
"Just because we hit the ground at the same time does NOT mean we are done this fight Namek. If you would like to continue where we left off I can show you the true might of a Saiyan elite." Vegeta said beginning to lift himself out of the rubble.
"I think it's better to just call it here, one more hit and your ribs will go from bruised to broken and I'll never hear the end of it for delaying your training. Besides it's common knowledge that any sparring match ends when a limb gets severed."
"Whatever" Vegeta scoffed glancing at Piccolo's newly grown hand and trying not to wince as he felt his ribs shifting as he moved. "You can just keep regrowing body parts, it's all you lizards are good for."
Piccolo chose to ignore the lizard comment. "Just because I CAN regrow body parts, monkey, does not mean I ENJOY it. It is not as easy or as painless as I make it look."
Vegeta coloured at the monkey comment but did not rise to it. Piccolo smirked. Talking with Vegeta did not happen very often. Men like Vegeta and himself normally preferred to talk with their fists. Usually conversations only occurred after they had both thoroughly depleted their ki in battle that verbal sparring was all they had the energy to do. After spars such as this they were forced to sit together until they had recovered enough ki to fly back to their respective homes.
Piccolo did admit that this communication conducted entirely through bravado and sarcasm was something he felt at home with, and thoroughly enjoyed. It was much easier to deal with than the straight forward and honest way that Son spoke to him.
"Speaking of monkey's" Vegeta shot back "how is training with Kakarot and his brat?"
Piccolo shrugged, his shoulder popping audibly as he moved "It's fine sparring with a REAL Super Saiyan keeps you on your toes."
Piccolo smirked as he watch Vegeta turn red, and then turn purple and a vein become increasingly visible in his temple. 'Pushing his buttons should not be this fun' Piccolo thought 'and yet…'
"By the time these Androids appear I will have surpassed Kakarot, regained my rightful title as the strongest fighter in the universe and wipe that no good, third class, idiot off the face of this wretched mud ball of a planet."Vegeta did an admirable job keeping his tone even as he spoke. He would have loved to punch the smirk off the Namek's face. The only thing preventing this was his severely limited ki and the growing throbbing in his ribs as the multiple fractures he had sustained made themselves known.
"I'm sure," sarcasm dripped from Piccolo's voice as he popped his shoulder back into its socket.
"Mark my words Namek, I will kill Kakarot, you will count yourself lucky if I do not end your miserable life as well."
"Well," Piccolo began choosing to ignore Vegeta's all too real threat to his life "If you are planning on killing Son, there is a fairly long line."
A disbelieving look from Vegeta was all Piccolo received in response.
"He's made a fair amount of enemies over the years; in all honestly you'd have to take a number."
"Like who" scoffed Vegeta. From what he had seen everyone on earth seemed ready to fall over themselves extolling Kakarot's virtues. "Kakarot may as well be the fucking mascot for this planet's pathetic bunch of warriors."
"Me for one" Piccolo snapped back.
"You?" Vegeta then paused to laugh. It was Piccolo's turn to blush, the tips of his ears turning purple as Vegeta continued his laughter.
"You?" Vegeta continued trying to contain his disbelief, "what could Kakarot have possibly done to make you want to kill him? You live with him for god's sake, you babysit his stupid brat, hell you may as well be the president of his fucking fan club."
Piccolo raised an eye ridge at Vegeta "You have no idea do you?"
"No idea of what" Vegeta replied returning the stare.
"Of anything! Of anything that happened that happened before you showed up! We had lives before you and your idiot partner decided to crash land on our planet and seriously screw up all our lives."
"Should I care?" Vegeta's flippant tone implied he did not "Besides I refuse to believe that you could want to kill Kakarot, this is surely some terrible Namekian attempt at humor."
"You want to know what Son did to make me want to kill him, eh?" Piccolo took Vegeta's non-committal shrug as the closest to a yes that he was going to get. "Well for starters he killed my father…."
"Bullshit" Vegeta interjected. "Kakarot killing someone? You must be joking, he didn't kill ME after I allowed half his friends to be murdered in cold blood, he didn't kill Frieza for god's sake, FRIEZA! And you want me to believe he killed your father?"
"Yes" Piccolo was completely deadpan "he killed my father. Though to be honest given that he had murdered a fair portion of Son's friends and was hell-bent on destroying the world and populating it completely with demons, Son probably did the right thing. In fact I was born with the sole purpose of avenging my father, killing Son and destroying the earth. A plan that got indefinitely sidetracked by idiot monkey's from space continuing to visit the planet."
Vegeta ignored the monkey moniker yet again, trying to absorb Piccolo's backstory. "Are you trying to tell me you were literally born to kill Kakarot."
"Yeah" Piccolo smiled to himself "In fact, next to me and my righteous quest for revenge, your reason for wanting to kill Son is, well, rather trite."
If looks could kill Piccolo was one hundred percent certain that chunks of himself would be scattered across the dessert.
"As if you could ever HOPE to kill Kakarot, Namek. That is a luxury that is mine and mine alone" As he yelled Vegeta stood up bringing himself to his full height.
"Whatever" Piccolo shrugged still seated "I've already killed him anyway"
"The fight with Raditz does not count! Nappa and I received the footage of that battle. Kakarot sacrificed himself, he let himself be killed." Vegeta yelled standing over Piccolo.
"A kill is a kill," Piccolo said, finally standing and beginning to dust himself off "besides it's not like it matters anyway. You've probably noticed no one stays dead for very long."
"So why don't you try to kill him then, put him down for good? If your motivation for killing him is SO great why do you train with him? Why are you friends with him" venom dripped from every word.
"I have no interest in killing him. You'll see soon enough. Son, he has a way of making his enemies into allies out of necessity. Then before you know it he turns these allies into friends. You don't even now it's happening. Before you know it, you respect the guy. Eventually all the anger is gone" Piccolo finished not looking at Vegeta, but out into the desert where the sun was beginning to set.
Vegeta however was glaring in the opposite direction toward the Son household. "That will never happen to me Namek. I refuse to become allies with that idiot. He is a disgrace to the Saiyan race. I am only sticking around to kill Kakarot, and because the androids pose an interesting challenge for a warrior of my caliber. Nothing more."
"You say that now Vegeta, hell I said the same thing. Eight or nine years ago after Son saved my life instead of ending it I swore revenge on him. But people like you and I…" Piccolo paused here unsure of how to continue. Unsure of how to put his feelings into words, he was not used to speaking this much about his past or about his feelings regarding Son. "…People like you and I, we live our lives motivated by anger and loneliness. We will always react to someone like Son, someone who remains so positive in the face of anything. He will always change people. He has that power."
Piccolo knew that he hadn't articulated the sentiment properly but it was the closest he could come. He did not understand his own change fully.
"Speak for yourself Namek" Vegeta turned to face Piccolo " I will never stop trying to kill Kakarot, I will never not want him dead, do not ever presume to compare yourself to me again. We are nothing alike despite your pathetic attempt at solidarity."
Piccolo internally rolled his eyes. Why was he even making an effort to connect to Vegeta of all people. Probably since despite his insistence to the contrary he and Vegeta had more than a few things in common, though he very much doubted Vegeta wanted to hear any of them.
"I am a Prince, Namek, you'd do well to remember that fact before trying to speak to me so candidly." Vegeta tossed his hair looking smug.
"Well if my father wasn't just running his mouth about being royalty, I'm the Demon King, so I think I outrank you there."
"Demon, what?" Vegeta balked. "You know what. I do not care. Namek you are clearly insane and I refuse to listen to any more of your fucking backstory."
"Suit yourself" Piccolo smiled at Vegeta showing off his fangs "I was just trying to make friendly conversation."
Vegeta's expression let Piccolo know the obvious sarcasm had not been missed. 'It should not be this much fun to annoy him' thought Piccolo as he watched Vegeta prepare to leave 'maybe I am less of a good guy then I thought'
Vegeta turned to leave. Thinking for a moment he decided to turn toward Piccolo and have the last word. "You know Namek, I thought you were an idiot when you threw yourself in front of Nappa's blast to save that brat's life. Hearing all of this drivel today has made me even more sure of that fact. I cannot believe you would kill yourself for a child. Let alone the child of your sworn enemy. You will NEVER see me doing something that stupid."
"No" Piccolo said mostly to himself, as he watched Vegeta preparing to fly off, "I doubt that I will"
"Good spar though" Piccolo said to no one in particular as Vegeta rocketed into the sky toward capsule corp.
Piccolo sat down and tried once again to meditate. As he began to regulate his breathing and relax his muscles his thoughts once again turned to Vegeta. He did not know why Vegeta managed to get on his nerves so easily. Probably because seeing Vegeta was a bit like seeing an unflattering portrait of himself at a younger age, full of anger and self-importance. Perhaps on some level Vegeta also saw a bit of himself in Piccolo. It would explain why since coming to reside on Earth Vegeta had sought him out several times to spar. Even though they had never discussed their similarities there had always been an unspoken understanding. Or in the very least an appreciation for one another's sarcasm.
Piccolo sighed, speaking at such length about his past had brought up some confusing emotions he had not thought about in a long while. He decided he would spend the rest of the night meditating on them.
At least that was the plan, until Piccolo's overly sensitive hearing picked up a faint crinkling noise, followed by the sharp smell of ozone. And then seemingly out of thin air Son Goku appeared over top him landing squarely on Piccolo and throwing both of them into an undignified heap on the desert floor.
"Son I swear to God if you ever drop on to me like that again I will decorate this desert with your intestines"
"Yeah, yeah" Goku said distractedly untangling himself from Piccolo and standing up, "So I felt Vegeta's power level earlier, I tried to come out to spar with you guys but ChiChi caught me and gave me that look, you know that look , the one that says you're in huge trouble and…"
Piccolo nodded half listening to Son ramble on about his wife and her displeasure. He was getting quite adept at tuning Son out when he began to go off on a conversational tangent, which was quite often.
"He's still hell-bent on killing you, you know" Piccolo interjected.
"Oh, he'll come around" Goku replied nonplussed. "I mean you came around. And you were WAY scarier than Vegeta."
I suppose so, though Gohan gets most of the credit for the conversion" Piccolo shot back.
"I deserve credit too" Goku sulked "I mean I didn't kill you and I gave you a senzu and everything."
"Yeah, yeah" said Piccolo quickly not wanting this to turn into an argument. Son was much less fun to argue with than Vegeta was. Mainly because Son's main tactic in arguments was to look like a kicked puppy.
"Anyway there is no need to be jealous of Vegeta, You'll always be my very first arch-rival Pic."
"Son, what have I told you about using that idiotic nickname to refer to me!" Piccolo fumed.
"Sorry, Pic.." Piccolo glared eyes flashing red "…Piccolo" Goku finished hands raised in mock surrender. "Now let's go home. Gohan wanted me to come and get you so he could show you this drawing he's been working on all day, he's really proud of it." Goku held out his hand in Piccolo's direction.
Piccolo sighed and reached out to take the hand. It never ceased to amaze him how casually Son acted around him. Even though a few years ago he may have torn Son's arm off if it was so casually presented to him. The way he spoke to him and treated him made him feel so, normal.
'Vegeta will come around' Piccolo thought glancing one last time in the direction Vegeta had flown off in 'and when he does, I will rub this conversation in his smug face. But for now let him be fueled by anger. I'm just glad that's not my life anymore.' And in the moment before Son used his instant transmission to teleport them out of the desert. Piccolo realized how fundamentally different he had become in the past few years and how glad he was to have allies and friends. And, though he still had numerous other faults, Piccolo could no longer count holding a grudge against Son Goku as one of them.
A/N
Well hello there . It's been a while, a long while. Though I have been actively reading fanfiction I have not written anything in a long time. Though with this story I seek to remedy that.
I have always been fascinated as someone who watched Dragonball before watching DBZ how similar Piccolo and Vegeta's character arcs were and how well they were both done over the course of both series. I also felt that Vegeta and Piccolo had a unique relationship later in DBZ it was some kind of mutual respect thing. I assumed that it was a result of them both being former antagonists and finding common ground in that. Though it struck me this was never explicitly explored or state in the canon.
So here is my humble attempt to bridge those gaps via fanfiction. This will eventually be three stand-alone stories.
See you soon
-V
PS. It's nice to know after all these years FFN still messed up your formatting royally.