Misguided Soul

Summary: After 7 years of peace: Goku and Vega are living happily in the wilderness raising Tarble and his younger brothers Bardock and Goten together. Chichi has been married to Yamcha for five whole years and are expecting their first kid. As for Gohan and Xena, well things just got a little more interesting…

Chapter 4: Past Regrets

"I can't believe you threw me under the bus!" Gohan complained to Xena as he watched her at the computer. He glanced at his watch rubbing his wrist nervously when he didn't get a response from her. "I mean really Xena, you get along with her way better than I do."

"I don't train with humans, Gohan. Not the way Videl wants me to anyway. I play at Boxing Club, give pointers, but I don't fight, I don't dip their fingers into managing energy and flight. You're more patient, and better suited to show her want she wants and needs."

"What are we gonna do about the tournament? She wants us both to participate. What if we have to go against her father? Do you know what will happen when the Earth's mightiest hero gets decked by a high school student?"

"He'll play it off as finding a worthy successor to his lineage and offer to take you up as a student, then in private beg you to either teach him, or to play it off for him." Xena said with a grunt. "Personally I'd love the chance to make the bastard grovel after the things he did with Cell. Our parents died protecting this planet and that bastard got rich off their blood!"

Gohan huffed out a breath. He had to admit she had a point. "Our parents wouldn't have wanted the attention anyway. They like their life in the mountains, you saw how happy they are. It was for the better."

"Tch…" She pushed back from the computer swiveling in her chair to narrow her eyes on him. "You're going to teach her, Gohan… and I expect you to do some extra training while you're about it. I want a good fight when we hit the ring."

"Maybe we won't have to fight each other." Gohan rubbed the back of his head grinning.

"Gohan we're two super saiyans participating in a tournament full of humans. Who could possibly rival us?"

"I could!" Radditz sneered from the doorway leaning on the jamb.

"Dad? You're going to participate in the World Martial Arts Tournament?" The idea caused a stirring of excitement deep in her belly. Radditz caught the fire in his daughter's eyes and gave a quick smirk.

"You damn right I am… and you'd best call your mother and Kakarott and make sure they participate as well." He gripped his hand into a fist. "I've been training non stop for a chance at redemption. I'm going to beat my brother once and for all!"

Gohan suddenly got an image of the tournament grounds caught up in flames and rapidly paled.

"You sure this is a good idea?"

"Why the hell not?" Xena whirled around. "Dad may look like a brute but he's not an idiot. He'll play by the rules, won't you?" She gave a warning glance to her old man. "Otherwise I don't think you'll get Kakarott on board."

"Fine… I'll play to the rules of your pathetic human tournament. I'll still have the advantage." He turned and exited. Suddenly fired up Xena skidded her chair along the floor and picked up a phone to dial their parent's number. "Ooh I bet the boys will love to participate as well. Thsi is gonna be awesome. Gohan why don't you go fly off and see if Krillin and Piccolo wanna join in as well?"

"Now that's a good idea…" Gohan agreed.

"Don't forget Videl's lesson!" She shouted after him then turned into the receiver to deliver the news to Goku who cheerfully answered the phone.

~A few days later~

Gohan stood in the big open field surrounded by his siblings. Xena stood beside him in training gear that reminded him of a male version of her mother. Videl was due to meet them there so her full on Zee persona was in place. The deep royal blue had sleeves that stopped mid bicep and tight black biker gloves that protected the knuckles. The pants she wore were padded on the thigh and had a cup over the crotch which should have been used to protect male genitalia but was stuffed with a sock instead.

"She's so slow!" Goten complained and shifted his weight from toe to toe in impatience. "Can't we start without her? The rest of us know how to fly!"

"That may be, Bro, but I did make a promise. I told her we wouldn't start til she got here…. Ah there she is!" He pointed upward and all heads turned to see a capsule plane lowering to land. Videl jumped out and tightened the tie on her pigtail and looked around with a deep frown.

"What's with all the kids?" She asked suspiciously. "Did you get caught babysitting."

"They're mine." Zee said calmly rubbing knuckles casually against the shirt. The look on Videl's face made her smirk. "My brothers… Videl. Geez you're easy. This is Goten, Bardock, and Tarble." She pulled the eldest in by the neck and rubbed her knuckles into his head making him squirm.

"They're here to train also. Don't worry, you and Gohan go have your flight training while the trio and I do some exercises. You can join us once you're done." She shoved Tarble out and caught the fist he threw at her. "Nice try, little man… come on, let's do some laps. Hup to it! GO!" She shot off a ki blast at their feet making them jump and run across the tall grass.

Videl's eyes went wide at the sight of the blasting light and she turned to Gohan mouth wide opened. "Wha… how… she does tricks?"

"Hoo boy!" Gohan slapped a palm to his cheek. "This is gonna take awhile."

It actually took several hours… He managed to calm Videl down, get her to take a meditative state with him on the grass so he could show her how to pull energy from her body and use it. Every once in awhile she'd get distracted by the thundering sounds of fists and blasts off in the distance where the other four had gone off to train.

"Don't pay attention to them Videl. Focus on me…" Gohan risked a touch and turned her face so that their eyes met and he immediately pulled back his hands so she wouldn't get the wrong idea. "There… now we've gotten you to pull the energy… now it's time to use it. Now let's start from the beginning. Feel the energy in your stomach and slowly bring it out…. Relax your muscles."

Videl scowled down at her feet her eyes narrowed in concentration as she fought to relax, to ease the power out of her. She felt it warm, and spread pushing out and causing a tunnel of wind to gust up her twin tails. Her body slowly rose her feet raising from the ground and floating a few inches… then a few feet.

Gohan let out a shout of praise.

"Yes! That's it, you're doing it!"

"Shh! Gohan, I'm trying to concentrate!" Videl glared at him making him clamp his hand over his mouth. Slowly Videl lowered to the ground and then turned those cool blue eyes on his face. Gohan waited a beat then let the praise flow out.

"That's incredible, Videl. I've never known anyone who learned to fly so quickly."

"Is that a fact?" Videl turned her eyes up to the sky. In the distance the two could just make out the scatter of kids playing tag in the air, the youngest one was barely five and had the speed of a hyper jet.

"Well my brothers are an exception they've been controlling their energy since they were born, and it's in their blood and stuff." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"I want a closer look at what they're doing." She starts walking in that direction but Gohan took her shoulder.

"No, wait, it's probably not a good idea. My brothers can get kinda careless when it comes to their energy. Besides it looks like it's getting late, you should probably start heading home."

"I suppose you do have a point, but I'll be back tomorrow." Videl said firmly turning up her nose.

"Huh? Why? I taught you how to fly, now all you need is a little private practice,"

"I want to learn more about this energy thing…" Her eyes go harsh. "Or is my presence a burden on you?" She said with some spite.

"No, no, of course not!" Gohan let out a nervous laugh.

"Good, it's settled then." Videl opened her capsule and headed toward the plane. Gohan admired her a moment. God she was so strong, so skilled. With the right kind of training she could be as strong as Krillin and the other humans in the Z fighters. In some ways… hell a lot of ways she reminded him of Xena. She was a spitfire, tougher than nails, and still so beautiful. He relaxed a moment staring at her back as she opened the door to the plane.

"Hey Videl…" He caught her before she climbed in. She turned and his thoughts lingered on the similarities between her and Xena. "I was thinking about your hair. It might be better short."

Videl looked at her twin tails running her fingers through it but then smiled and blushed a little. "You mean you like short hair, on girl's Gohan?"

He thought of Xena… She had had both long and short hair… if he had to choose…

"Yeah, I do… i mean girls look nice with any hairstyle but… for a fighter like you, short would be best."

He saw pleasure bloom on Videl's face and she walked from the plane and over to him. Leaning up on her toes she gave his cheek a kiss which had him blushing and jumping back a few feet.

"W-What was that?"

"Oh, you know…" Videl winked. "Just being friendly. See yah later, Gohan." She jogged back to the plane and took off.

Zee stared dumbstruck from the air her eyes full of both confusion and fury. When Videl's plane zipped off she slammed down to the ground creating a small crater around her feet and she hissed at Gohan, the ends of her spiking, her temper threatening to send her into super saiyan mode.

"What the hell was that!?" She clenched her fists on either side of her.

"That's what I asked… she said she was just being friendly."

"What the hell did you say to her? What did you two do while I was off with the midgets? Did you actually train her or did you just make goo goo eyes at each other?!" Her eyes started to turn teal and had Gohan taking another cautious step back.

"I did teach her to fly, she floated, and why are you so mad? You're the one who put me in this position to begin with remember?"

"I didn't tell you to kiss her!"

"I didn't kiss her she kissed me!" Gohan said defensively. "And again why the hell are you angry about it, it was just a kiss."

"Oh shut up! You're such an idiot, Gohan!" She floated up and shot off her trail going gold mid-flight.

Gohan just stared dumbstruck, his eyes wide his emotions raging and confusion all at the root of it. Goten floated down casually as his brother tackled each other to the ground. "What was she all upset about?"

"I don't… KNOW!" Gohan held his head and fell to his knees. He gave up, he just plain gave up. Girls were just too complicated to figure out.

~Two days later Capsule Corps~

She'd overreacted, Xena thought as she did sit ups in the gravity room while her father did one finger push ups. She had to cool off for two days to see it, but she knew she'd over reacted. Gohan was just like his father, completely oblivious to the female tells. What was worse was that he was still oblivious to her own feelings for him.

She was his cousin, she kept reminded herself. Family, blood ties… but her mother and father had both told her that marrying into family, such as cousin to cousin had been quite common on Vegeta, due to need for elite breeding and class. So she marked it up to the stupid Saiyan blood for what she was feeling.

He was also a Saiyan… a saiyan close to her age, and the proper age for breeding. It was all just body chemistry, all instinct that had her wanting, had her aching… and had her dreaming of herself and Gohan in those steamy situations since she'd been 14. Hadn't she distanced herself from him and the family because of those silly emotions? Obvious four years apart had done little to settle them. She'd have to find a way to get it out of her system and just move on.

At one thousand push ups she stopped and just lay there a moment, the increased weight not even bothering her anymore and she grumbled and rolled onto her belly to start the same push ups her dad was doing… then paused.

"Hey Dad."

"What is it?" Radditz grunted through his teeth.

"How come you decided to have sex with Bulma?"

Radditz slipped, his chin smacking against the ground making him roll over and hold it and snarl.

"Damn it, Fuck! Where the hell had that question come from?" Still holding the sore spot he turned his dark eyes to hers. She paused her push ups a moment, staring at the ground before bending herself up on the knee.

"Just answer the question, old man."

He cursed some more, rolling over again to sit up in the same position.

"I did it because I wanted to. What other reason is there?"

"You always do what you want, no matter the consequence?"

"Yes, I helped conceived you didn't I?" Radditz smirked.

"Ha-ha, very funny. I'm serious, Dad. What made you make those moves?"

"Truth be told she was the one who made the moves, I just responded the way any sane man responds to a flirtation from a beautiful woman." He stood and retightened his gloves.. His hand paused on the straps and he gave a sigh. "If you really want to know, I did it to get over your mother."

"Mom?"

"Once saiyans are mated for life, that's it. There's no redos or second chances, they're the ones. I should have known your mother wasn't mine when she held me off for as long as she did. I couldn't imagine her with Nappa, and at the time I thought we were the only ones left and if either of us could have her I wanted it to be me. Come to find she preferred my brother for such a thing."

"She cares about you though… you know that right?

"Don't get mushy on me girl."

"I'm totally serious dad… she held off Kakarott for a long time too because she had a hard time forgetting about you. The two of you are complete opposites in personality, you're rough and ready, and he's patient and sweet but the fact that you two are brothers really showed through, whether in looks or… just overall familiarity. I overheard her say that the two of you feel very similar, and she would dream very vividly of both of you kinda meshing together confusing her, stirring her up."

Radditz stayed silent for a good long while. The thought of Vega being any kind of messed up or stirred up was a bit too wild to believe… but then again the Vega he knew now was different than the Vega he knew then. Earth had softened her… which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was still strong, competitive, feisty… but she held the value of family and those she cared about more openly, showed more affection. In a way it had affected him as well. He had a daughter, and now a son because he had allowed himself to slip into this world, allowed himself to blend.

"Why do you want to know about all this?" He finally asked.

"I was thinking of sex and it kinda just popped into my head to ask you." She admitted.

"Who's ass do I have to kick?" he said with a warning growl.

"No one's, yet." She stood up and stretched her arms out. "I was thinking it was about time I had the experience… and who I should try it out on."

"Don't be in such a hurry girl. No human could ever match you."

"In that case, I'm doomed." She dragged out the 'oo' sound to make it more dramatic. "I'll be a virgin forever." She gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Very funny, fine if you really want my advice on such matters then let me make one thing clear." He holds up a finger. "Don't go into this half assed. You want sex, be sure you pick someone who is gonna do it right, who will take you on, challenge you."

"Challenge me, huh?" She thought about it, her eyes getting a sudden glint and she let the smirk slowly form. "Alright… thanks dad."

"Just be forewarned if he gets you pregnant I'm kicking his ass from here to otherworld!"

Xena rolled her eyes.

"Yes, dad."

~Later~

The damn girl was too brazen for her own good. Radditz thought as he changed out of his training gear. He tossed on a pair of jeans and a black tank. His once thick mane of hair had been tamed to shoulder length which suited him fine, at least he wasn't carrying the annoying weight of it around. Damn he was hungry, he'll have to track down the blue haired harpy and get a meal out of her. All this talk about sex was stirring him up much as before… and made him think too much of the past.

Vega had missed him?

He thought he'd gotten over the woman… but once you loved a princess it was hard to settle for less. Bulma, oh he knew the woman's name. Like Vega she had the presence of royalty… not the cool and proud stature that Vega had, but a sort of command presence that demanded attention.

The first time they'd had sex, made that connection, had been a spur of the moment, and surprisingly completely her idea. She'd strolled in, started a conversation that eventually led to affection, and a bit of annoyance. She'd stroked his arm, his face, telling him he could stay with her as long as he wanted and needed.

It was a move that had taken him seconds to respond. Going with impulse he'd kissed her, tasted a human female for the first time… and by god it had been sublime. He wasn't satisfied with just a taste after that, he found himself wanting more, needing more. In the end they too had conceived a child, and somehow in a strange way had formed a family, and he had quietly become quite fond of them.

He stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching his strange family now. Xena had changed and was sitting at the table in a lounged position. Bulma at the stove flipping over thick meat patties that had the hunger in his belly roaring again… and there in his high chair sat his son. The boy was only two and he had the satisfaction of seeing himself and the mother blended in his looks. The hair was a dark blue nearly black color that he imagined would lighten as he got older. The eyes Saiyan black and laughing as Xena made faces at him.

Something besides hunger clutched in his belly and he found himself walking to the kitchen, past his children and straight to the woman who had turned his life upside down. He caged her hips in his hands, her petite waist just fitting into the palms, and he placed a kiss at the nape of her neck.

"I'm hungry, woman."

Bulma, smiling from the mix of affectionate touch and rude mannerisms, turned her head to look back at him.

"Lunch is almost ready, have a seat Radditz and I'll get you settled."

He nodded but then whispered in her ear with a devilish grin.

"That wasn't the hungry I was in reference to."

With a pat on the ass he pulled back and took a seat the table, smirking at the now flushed woman. No, Bulma wasn't the raven haired Saiyan princess, and no his children weren't natural born elites serving in the army with pride and power… but all things considered Radditz considered himself a very lucky man.

I know Radditz is a bit ooc but I tried to fit as much of his saiyan attributes into the mix. I hope you guys enjoyed the combination and the chapter.

Next Chapter: Countdown to the Tournament