A/N: I need to chill out before I finish this story in a week... lol. I'm also really glad you guys like this! I love OC stories and changing the DBZ world lets me have a bit more creativity. Then I'm not stuck in one specific domain.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or anything affiliated with it.

-MalRev

The Ties That Bind

8

"Trunks, Goten! Leave Naomi alone! She just had to cross an inter-dimensional portal and I bet she doesn't want to wake up to you two staring at her."

Conscious slowly dawned upon me and I groggily opened my eyes to see two little boys sitting directly in front of me, both grinning hugely. Alarmed, I flew up in bed and nearly fell off the other side but a pair of strong arms grabbed me before I collapsed and set me gently back on the sheets. I rubbed my eyes a few times to make sure I was seeing the kids right on not dreaming. One was a photocopy of Goku, just much smaller and the other seemed to have purple hair. He looked a lot like the Vegeta guy—they even had the same permanently pissed off eyebrows.

Behind them stood a woman with teal hair and glasses who was giving a strange smirk to the man still holding me. I wriggled free and turned to see Goku sitting behind me with his legs crossed, rubbing the back of his head and yawning. The kid who I assumed was Goten leapt up on the bed and crept forward to study me with black eyes while his little friend remained behind to watch from a distance. I was wearing some bright orange clothes that were way too big for me.

The woman switched her attention to me and smiled. "Hello, Naomi, it's very nice to meet you. My name is Bulma Briefs and I'm a scientist at Capsule Corporation. But I guess Goku should give you the grand tour of our world before I start filling your head with that nonsense. You've already met Gohan, Videl and Vegeta, who are all very excited that you're here. Chi-Chi had to run some errands but she'll be back when we all have dinner tonight at my place. How are you feeling?"

"Uh… fine," I said. "Did we come here while I was asleep?"

"I was getting impatient," Goku said, laughing. He sounded strangely excited.

Everything seemed brighter in their world and I realized Goku was right about my reality being much more somber. Birds chirped outside, sunlight streamed through the windows and nothing felt foreboding. If I didn't have so many obligations back home I would've loved to go on a permanent vacation to Goku's realm but I couldn't leave my family behind. I rolled up the ludicrously long sleeves of the outfit I was in and Bulma snickered a bit.

"Your clothes were torn when you crossed the boundary," she explained. "I made special ones for Goku so he wouldn't come to your world naked and I have some set aside back home for you, too. I'd love to cross over the next time you two leave so I can see what it's like. It'll be great for my research."

"Bulma loves her science stuff!" Goku said. "Thankfully she's smart because I have no clue how any of this works. I just got some of my old training clothes so they're kinda big. But Chi-Chi is great and keeps them clean for me so you don't have to worry about that. Where do you wanna go first, Nome? We're at Mt. Paozu in my house but we can go to Satan City."

"Let me get my bearings. I'm really not in a rush to be going anywhere." I climbed out of bed and tightened the blue sash around my waist.

"Let's all go swimming!" said Goten, leaping so high into the air it looked like he was flying.

"Can we get food first? I'm starving!" Goku grimaced comically and rubbed his stomach, causing his son and Trunks to laugh while Bulma rolled her eyes.

Was he overtired or did I meet a completely different guy back in my world? I didn't feel any different but Goku had pulled a complete 180. He was mildly naïve and good-natured most days yet here he was acting like a doofus while two kids tried to wrestle him to the ground. I was probably thinking too much again. It could have been an act around the children—I'd have to wait until they were gone to see if I had been mistaken about him in the first place.

Bulma left with the boys a few minutes later and I was once again alone with Goku in a totally foreign place. He rose from the bed and stretched his arms to the ceiling, incidentally touching it with the tips of his fingers, then cracked his neck. I waited patiently for him to explain his change of behavior but he just yawned again and scratched the back of his head, apparently waiting for me to lead the way out of the bedroom. I folded my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow expectantly.

Goku shuffled past me to a small bathroom within his room. "What? Are you upset I saw you naked? Most of your underwear was intact; it was really just your pants and shirt. I don't remember it, anyway." He opened a reflective cabinet to grab a toothbrush and began vigorously cleaning his mouth, gesturing to an open box of new toothbrushes.

"I wasn't concerned about that until you mentioned it," I muttered, taking a red brush and spreading some toothpaste on it. "Why are you sunshine and rainbows when they're around? Happy to be back home or is there something else you're not sharing with me?"

"It's personal."

"Sleeping next to me every night and coming on to me in my bedroom is personal, too." I paused in brushing and looked at him sourly. "So is seeing my half naked and putting your clothes on me. I better not find any suspicious stains if you know what I'm saying. That won't make me very happy."

"Look, it's just part of who I am and we'll leave it at that. I try not to fall out of it but sometimes I slip up, usually when I'm mad. I'd appreciate it if you'd play along so I don't have any more aggravating concerns on my plate. My wife is coming home tonight and she won't be happy if she figures this out on top of meeting the woman I'm sleeping with every night. By the way, you're sleeping on the floor."

"Hell no! I will be happily sandwiched between you and your wife tonight."

"You'll be staying in Goten's room and he can share with Gohan. I haven't seen my wife for a while and… you know how that is, right?" Goku winked and nudged me with his elbow.

"Way too much information," I said, reaching across the sink to put my toothbrush in the holder. "But I guess I should have seen it coming, based on how you pinned me down on my bed the other night. Is this your bedroom? Wasn't she sleeping here last night? That must've been a rude surprise."

A faint smile twitched Goku's lips. "Chi-Chi wasn't happy but she understands. The other night was a lapse in judgment and nothing more, so stop mentioning it. I'm not gonna get involved in your personal life and you don't get involved in mine, so you can enjoy Craig as much as you want and I'll continue to enjoy my wife. Sound good?"

Goku left the tiny bathroom and headed out to the bedroom to put on some new clothes. I stared at him irately and waited by the door with my back turned until he was ready, wearing the same outfit I was. He grabbed my arm and performed his trick, landing us outside a huge, perfect semi-circular building. Big letters read "CAPSULE CORP" so I assumed it was where Bulma lived, perhaps with Vegeta. The Trunks kid looked a lot like him so it was possible they were together.

The door to the place suddenly burst open and a woman came running out so fast I could only make our a blur of black hair as she sped past me. She leapt on Goku and hugged him fiercely, hanging on tightly when he spun her around and laughed. Gohan and Videl emerged from the house next and the latter ran up to greet me with some cookies she had helped Chi-Chi make. They didn't look edible but I took one anyway and stomached a few bites in an attempt to be polite. Videl was definitely not a homemaker.

Chi-Chi was finally set down by her husband and the two kissed like no one else was around, making Gohan groan in embarrassment. There was an irritated prickling on my spine when I saw them and I quickly turned away to nibble on my burnt cookie. No, I wasn't jealous. What was there to be jealous of? Chi-Chi was pretty and she had two perfect sons and a perfect husband but I wasn't envious in the least. I was content dating all sorts of weirdoes while everyone else in my life was settled and happy.

"Chi-Chi, this is Naomi," Videl finally said, handing the plate of cookies to her boyfriend. She spun me around so I was facing Chi-Chi. "She's from the other world. Cool, right?"

"It would be 'cool' if she wasn't trotting around in my husband's clothes," Chi-Chi said without casting me a second glance. She picked a few pieces of lint off Goku's shoulder. "You should probably bring her inside and get something more appropriate on those skinny bones of hers. Goku and I are going to pick up Goten and bring him back here for dinner."

"We can't go very far," Goku said sheepishly. "It kinda causes both of us pain when we're too far apart so I don't want to risk anything bad happening."

"If you can tolerate being pummeled by aliens then I think you'll be okay being away from your little… friend," Chi-Chi said. "Are we going? I'd like to find our son before it gets too late."

"Well, gee, Chi. I know this is hard but it's really not safe for us to be—"

"I meant now," Chi-Chi said.

Goku sighed and placed two fingertips to his forehead, taking Chi-Chi's small hand in his free one. He squeezed his eyes shut and was gone in a flash, leaving me behind to deal with the ripple effect. I yelped when a cold punch landed right in my stomach but Videl caught me with ease and waited until I caught my breath to let me stand up again. I grimaced at the dull, painful ache deep in my gut. How had I ever lived with it before? It was almost unbearable.

"Chi-Chi's a little rough around the edges sometimes," Videl said. "Why don't you come in and lie down for a while? Bulma put some tea on and she's dying to hear about what your world is like. Gohan, want to help me carry Naomi inside?"

The bodybuilding teenager nodded and picked me up like I was a sack of feathers, throwing me over his shoulder a bit roughly. We went inside and he carefully placed me on the couch before excusing himself to help Bulma with dinner. Videl sat beside me and offered me another cookie which I quickly refused, then tightened the braids holding her thick black hair in place. She had a unique alien beauty I had never seen in my realm and I kind of wanted to tell her she could go places with her looks.

I swallowed, afraid to broach the uncomfortable subject of Goku and I's relationship. We were by no means together but he had hinted a few times that he was mildly interested in me, which is why it hurt so badly to see his wife all over him when we were due to finally meet. Why was I surprised, though? If they were married for twenty years with two kids that meant they had to be happy together in some regard. Goku hadn't been himself the night in my bedroom. He was trying to stay away from me now.

"Look, I'm not good with this girly stuff," Videl said suddenly, adjusting her plain white shirt. It looked more like an oversized dress. "But you seem like a reasonable person and if you ever want to talk about something I'm more than willing to listen. Just no nail-painting. Or cooking."

"You're pretty forward," I said.

"I don't like beating around the bush. Anyway, don't let Chi-Chi bother you too much. Of course she's upset but she'll get used to it after a while. Bulma's getting closer every day to splitting you and Goku apart which means you just have to relax and enjoy having a mini vacation at Mt. Paozu. Well, technically this is Satan City now, named after my father but whatever. Who needs details?"

"Did you meet my friend, Erin? Because I think you two would get along marvelously. She can be kind of boy-crazy and girly but you're both kind of… blunt."

"When you and Goku head back I'll drag Gohan over and we can all have an inter-dimensional get-together." Videl smiled and stuffed one of the cookies in her mouth. "Sparring is fun over in you world. Our energy is suppressed so we're kind of normal like you guys but we can still beat the hell out of each other. It's hard keeping up with a group of male Saiyans when you're a normal human—"

"What's a Saiyan?" I asked.

Videl noticed her gaffe and backtracked as fast as she could, turning the conversation back to her own world, the place she had known since she was young. The throbbing pain subsided for a moment as I turned the new word over in my mind: Saiyan. What could it mean?