Afterlife continues on like this for awhile, until one day (he still doesn't have a better term), Princess Snake joins him on the roof while he's examining his piece of fruit. It's just as fresh, just as necessary, just as unappetizing as ever, and apparently it's the first time the princess has seen him with it.

"Oh, you have a peach! I love peaches, may I have a slice?" she asks hopefully, "It's not like you can eat it."

Now, on the one hand, she's right – he can't eat it, hasn't been able to or wanted to eat anything since he died, and both his morals and his conscience remind him that sharing is good and that she has been very generous in letting him stay in her home instead of sending him back to hell, especially since she'd been so cross with him that first while.

On the other hand, this is food they're talking about and, before anything else, he's still saiyan. He's prepared to fight over this one.

…apparently his morals and conscience had been taking notes before he knew about them, because they tag-team him and he gets his ass handed to him. So he tears off a chunk of the fruit – the peach, she called it – and hands it to Princess Snake.

He barely hears her thanks or the delighted sounds she makes as she bites into it, because tearing the peach open had exposed part of something brown in its center and his entire being is suddenly screaming at him that this, this is what he needs, what he's been wanting for so long, the thing that made the peach smell so good. He shreds the rest of the fruit away from the pitted brown thing and, without pausing to think, swallows it.

It's warm, like stepping out of a deep cave into sunlight, warm and golden and suffusing every inch of him. He feels more solid than he has in ages and the guilt of his actions in life, while still present, suddenly feels lighter, like it will be easier to carry now and might even eventually be absolved. He hadn't realised how heavy that weight really was until now.

He doesn't notice his eyes are closed until a startled gasp makes him open them. Princess Snake is staring at him, frozen in the act of licking peach juice from her fingers, and he can see her but it's through a grey haze. Even as he notices it the haze grows thinner, and he follows it down with his eyes as it sloughs off the palace roof, watching it sink below the yellow clouds. Then he looks up at Princess Snake again. He feels… fresh. And slightly curious. "What was that?"

"Your damnation," she breathes, eyes wide, "The sins of your past life, your old debts… you've been purified."

"Oh." He's sure this will be surprising later, but right now he feels too good to really worry about anything. It's a little bit like when he'd gone for too long without sleep when he was alive – floaty and slightly disconnected from the world. It's a nicer feeling than that, though. And… have Princess Snake's lips always been green? It suits her. He smiles at her. "You're really pretty." And he lets his tail unfurl from around his waist to brush her ankle.

She jumps a bit and looks down at it, then up at him where he's still sitting there, watching her and smiling. Then she reaches out and brushes a hand across his face. It feels good, almost like this is the first thing he's truly felt in an eternity. Which is silly, because he touches things all the time. Still, he leans into it a little, a faint purr escaping from his chest as he does so. It's the first time he's purred since- he can't actually remember. Oh well…

"And you're solid," Princess Snake states, quiet but firm, "Not flesh, but solid all the same." She looks down at the remains of the peach by their feet, broken into several large chunks, juice spilling on the roof, and growing horror spreads across her face. "That's no ordinary fruit, that's one of Yemma's peaches! I just ate part of one of King Yemma's peaches – and freely given at that!"

Suddenly, the snake form that has surrounded her like a faint outline all this time grows opaque and solid and the woman shape he knows grows indistinct.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" she roars, and part of him helpfully points out that that is one big-ass snake the princess just turned into, but the rest of him just cannot bring himself to care at the moment, so the worried bit shrugs and leaves again. Meanwhile, he's been asked a question.

"I don't know," he answers honestly (as if he could answer any other way), finally standing, "I didn't know what it was, just that I needed part of it. But look at you," he places a hand almost reverently on her huge snout, "You're a warrior after all, aren't you? And this is your Oozaru. Or, no… Ohebi, maybe? That's what I've been seeing all this time." his smile grows broader. "Look at you!"

And suddenly her woman-form is in focus again, but he still has his hand on her nose, which is weird when she looks like this, so he removes it. But he keeps smiling at her.

She sighs. "A solid soul and you're still honest. And I'm guessing you can still see my other self, too?" he nods and she groans, "Wonderful, so you're still illusion-proof." Bending down, she scoops up the rest of the peach and offers it to him. "Here, this is yours."

"Don't want it." And he really doesn't. It still smells okay, he supposes, but it's lost that supernatural pull that it's had on him for so long. He hides his hands behind his back. "You can have it."

She snorts. "How generous. Let's wait and see what the first dose did to me, hmm?" she turns and hops off the roof, flying down to the balcony below, and he follows her, swinging down with one hand, mostly because he can and that seems like a very good reason to be doing things at the moment. He watches her put the rest of the peach in a box.

"Which is real?" he asks as she locks the box and swallows the key, his mind beginning to ever so slowly reform from the warm mush it has been since he was cleansed, "Woman or Ohebi? Dai-hebi. Something-hebi."

Okay, so his mind's still mostly mush at the moment, but she gives a snort of laughter, so that's okay for now. "I think you know the answer to that."

He opens his mouth to protest, then closes it because he realizes she's right. "Both. Both are real."

"Exactly. I just choose which is realer at any given moment." She chuckles, then sighs. "Yemma really didn't put you up to this, did he?"

There's that name she'd said before. "I… don't think so?" (that's apparently good enough for his honesty thing), "Who's Yemma?"

She blinks at him. "Yemma? King Yemma? Big red fellow, purple clothes?"

"Oooh, the Judge of the Dead," he nods, remembering the huge red saiyan in purple furs he'd seen when he first died, then he shudders. "Oh gods, those were his peaches? Aw…" he droops, "He doesn't like me. I'm gonna get damned again." And that's a depressing thought. He hasn't been not-damned for very long, but it's been great so far.

Princess Snake pats his arm and laughs, "Well, that answers my question. And he can't damn you again. However you managed it, you got one of his peaches and managed to hold onto it long enough to figure out what to do with it, which means, one way or another, you earned your salvation. Those are the rules." She gives him a speculative look. "But, just to be safe, I think it's time I formally made you part of my household."

"Why?" he's starting to feel more himself again as the initial buzz of being purified slowly fades to a faint background glow.

"You're probably the first damned soul to steal his or her own salvation and keep it in a thousand years, dear – that makes you a rare commodity. It won't take long for the kais to come along and try to claim you for various reasons."

"And is that why you want me?" he asks quietly. He'd lived most of his life knowing that he was kept and tolerated only because he was one of the last of his kind, a rarity. He's not sure he wants to go back to that.

But Princess Snake just laughs at his question. "My dear Ghost, I couldn't care less about the state of your soul. But the girls would miss you if you left, and I've gotten used to having you around. And you like it here, don't you?"

"…yes." He thinks about his situation for a moment. If he's really been cleansed – and he's got no reason to think otherwise at the moment – he could probably give getting into heaven a shot. It's supposed to be really nice there. But he does like it here. And heaven probably doesn't have attendants who chase you if you tease them, or if it does you probably aren't supposed to. And he seriously doubts he'll know anyone there. Anyone who will be happy to see him, that is.

But if he does stay here, there is one thing he needs to make perfectly clear. "I'm not going to wear one of those dresses."

Princess Snake's laugh is delighted and amused. "I wasn't planning on making you an attendant, Ghost – I was thinking more along the lines of a guard. I've never had a guard before."

"I can probably manage that," he smirks at her, "And my name's Raditz, you know."

"Is it?" she gives him a flirtatious look from under her eyelashes. "Well mine's Nagi. Come along, Raditz, let's get you a uniform."

And so he swears his loyalty – the only good trait he's always had – to Princess Nagi Snake, and becomes her only guard. It's a pretty empty role, because she obviously doesn't need a guard, and he pretty much continues to do what he was doing before – get chased by the attendants (though now they also sometimes pester him to let them play with his hair (a thing that is not happening (ever))), dance with Nagi, shadow-box, think about things on the roof. A more accurate description of his job would really be 'Palace Ghost,' but that doesn't sound as good. Besides, the position of guard comes with his own room, and while he doesn't actually sleep and the roof is comfortable, lying on a bed that's his own occasionally is nice.

The uniform takes some getting used to – it's a tunic cut in a similar style to the attendants' dresses, but much shorter, a pair of pants, and sash, all in the dark green and dark purple the attendants wear. And… it isn't that the clothes don't fit per se, but how they fit. He has always worn armor in the modern style, which is skin tight. These clothes… are not. And it feels like they're going to just fall off for the longest damn time, to everyone's amusement but his.

Fortunately, the new clothes go with him when he turns intangible, something he can still do easily, though the peach pit seems to have switched his base state to solid and he needs to put a little intention into doing so. He can still feel the pit inside of him in a way, a firmness in his left breast that takes a little more effort to will intangible than everything else, slowly becoming more and more a part of him. He somehow knows that, until it finishes dissolving, this will be a weak point for him, one he must protect if he ever fights again, though this prospect doesn't seem likely, as the attendants prefer to chase, and no one has come along Snake Way since his brother had zipped past awhile ago, heading for King Yemma's place.

On the whole, he's enjoying himself as much as he was before, if not more.

Nagi seems to be having fun, too, though she's still trying to figure out what the peach did to her. She claims it did something, but she doesn't know what it was. He tells her not to worry about it, and, sometimes, he kisses her. He doesn't know why, he's still a ghost, but somehow being solid has brought a return of certain things, like the occasional twinge of hunger or desire. And, as he had suspected he would when they first met, he finds Nagi very desirable. Fortunately, the feeling now seems to be mutual.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Fast and loooooooose~ with the details! Originally Raditz was just going to eat the peach, but then I got creative. This actually works better for the flow of the story, anyway – you'll find out why next chapter.

I know my name for Princess Snake is not hugely creative, but I like it and it suits, so I'm going with it. As for why Raditz is acting rather loopy in this chapter, it is because he is feeling rather loopy at the time, and it was super-fun to write. Also, I find the concept of saiyans purring adorable (if totally illogical), and Raditz is being adorable this chapter, so he's purring.

If you feel the 'purification' thing is a bit too quick, well, all I can say is that sometimes these things are quick. Besides, I work on what I call the 'Vegeta Factor,' which basically says that anyone who has been as evil or less evil as/than Vegeta is capable of redemption.

Also, I imagine after wearing clothes like we see Raditz wearing in the show, wearing anything less than skin tight would feel really funky for awhile afterwards.