Switching Souls Part 2

…

Vegeta flew up to Kakkarot's house and paused outside the door. He could hear Trunks and Gotenks railing and screaming at the television inside, and the harpy's strident voice shrieking at them from the other side of the house. He groaned and leaned his head against the door. He took a deep breath, and, resigned, made to open the door. Instead, it opened before he could touch it, Goku's son nearly knocking into him.

"Hey dad!" he greeted, face breaking out into a wide grin. Vegeta flinched back, Trunk's face immediately coming to his mind.

"Uh, hi… son."

"Wow, you're early. Vegeta kick you out early today?" he grinned and checked his watch before Vegeta could answer. "I'm off to grab a few things from -'s I forgot. Don't wait up on me for dinner!" And with that the saiyan zipped off into the air and disappeared.

Vegeta groaned. "Your sons are exhausting, Kakkarot," he muttered under his breath, and pushed the door open.

"Gotenks, you turn that television down or I am taking away your video games for a week!" Chichi's reaming carried through the house like a siren, and Vegeta still didn't know why the damned woman couldn't just walk the ten steps from the kitchen to the living room like a normal person and just ask the boys to turn down the volume.

"Boys, listen to your mother," Vegeta offered, closing the door behind him.

"Dad!" Gotenks exclaimed, head swiveling like a wind-up toy, and flew up out of the couch. He shot towards Vegeta like an arrow, and purely by reflex Vegeta ducked. Gotenks hit the door with a dull thunk and flopped to the floor. Trunks, appropriately, burst out laughing.

Vegeta turned around, horrified, and watched the boy sit up and rub his head.

"Uh," Vegeta said stupidly.

"Guess I gotta work on those turning reflexes still," Gotenks admitted with a grin, and as easily as if he'd simply slipped, and flew up, grabbing Vegeta by the neck and hugging him tight.

"You're back early, dad!" Vegeta tensed for a moment at the sudden, unexpected, and wholly wrong experience of being hugged. He resisted the urge to pull the child off him like a leech and send it flying to Mars, and instead patted Gotenks awkwardly on the back.

"Uh, yeah. Guess I am."

Gotenks finally released him and flew back over to sit by Trunks, obediently lowering the volume on their cartoons.

"Goku, is that you?" Chichi called from the kitchen. She poked her head out and grinned when she saw him. "Oh, you're back early! How was training today?"

"Short," Vegeta said, vexed by all the comments about being home early. Was Kakkarot really this negligent about coming home to his family? Why? He always seemed so happy to be around them, and they definitely enjoyed his presence, if the blinding smiles and exuberant greetings weren't clear enough.

"Since you're here, why don't you help me with dinner?" Chichi offered. Vegeta recoiled, staring at her in such utter horror that she rolled her eyes. "I was joking, Goku. You know very well I wouldn't let you within ten feet of this kitchen ever since –"

"Yeah, no thanks," Vegeta quickly muttered.

"Why don't you set the table instead?" She held out five bowls in his direction, and a handful of chopsticks. Vegeta debated telling her off, but remembered he was playing Goku. He silently took the bowls and placed them in a circle on the table, with two chopsticks next to each bowl, as he'd seen Bulma do before. Nothing to it.

He joined the boys for a few minutes before the screaming cartoons began to grind on his nerves. Thankfully, a few minutes later, Chichi called from the kitchen, "Dinner's ready!"

The boys immediately shut off the television and sprang off the couch, flying into their chairs at the table. Trunks landed too heavily in his chair and it careened over.

"What did I tell you boys about flying into your chairs and breaking the furniture?" Chichi screeched as she stomped over with a platter covered in bowls of steaming rice, noodles, fried vegetables, and meats.

"Sorry Ms. -," Trunks said, straightening his chair and sitting in it properly. Chichi frowned but began setting the bowls on the table. Almost as soon as they landed, their contents disappeared onto the boys' plates and in their mouths. Unabashed, Chichi brought three more platters of food over to the table before sitting beside Gotenks with a modest bowl of rice and vegetables. She glanced up at Goku.

"Is something wrong, dear?"

"No, no," Vegeta said, quickly taking a seat beside Trunks and well away from the harpy. "Smells delicious." He tried for a grin and Chichi looked concerned.

"Are you sure you're alright? You haven't looked so good since coming home."

"I'm fine," Vegeta said, perhaps too sharply. Gotenks glanced up at him in concern. Vegeta busied himself by piling his plate with food and digging in. He had to admit it was good food. Chichi appeared sedated by his usual voracious appetite and picked delicately at her food.

Goten joined them half-way through dinner, apologizing for his tardiness and taking a seat between Chichi and Vegeta.

"So how was training today, dad?" he asked nonchalantly. "-

Vegeta almost choked and glared at the Son boy. Gotenks started at the unusual glare, and Vegeta tried to soften it with a shrug and attempt a smile. It hurt his mouth.

"We sparred. I won," Vegeta said, keeping it short.

"Of course y'did," Gotenks muttered around a mouthful of rice. Vegeta raised his head and glared at his son.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he said slowly.

"Well," Gotenks swallowed. "Everyone knows you're stronger than him."

"Hey!" Vegeta and Trunks said, simultaneously. Vegeta glanced at his son, who looked down at his plate sullenly. Vegeta cleared his throat.

"Vegeta is very strong," he insisted. "He could pulver- protect you all as well as I could."

"You're too nice to Vegeta, dad," Gotenks said, chewing on his meal. "You always take his side."

"Yeah, I mean, even I know my dad is kind of a dick sometimes," Trunks commented.

"Language, young man," Chichi chided.

"I just think Vegeta's misunderstood," Gohan commented, flipping through a page of his newspaper and readjusting his glasses with a quick smile.

"Misunder-what?" Vegeta stuttered.

"Well, he's always acting tough and mean, but underneath it all, he's pretty nice. He's had a tough life, it's only natural that he'd grown up so cruel-mindedly. I mean, he cares about Trunks and saved all of us several times. Heck, he helped save the world once or twice."

"You forget he tried to kill your dad in the middle of the battle against Buu," Trunks said.

"And then self-destructed. Which didn't really help anyone," Gotenks finished.

"Hey," Vegeta began in irritation.

"But it's the thought that counts," Gohan commented wisely. "That Vegeta was willing to sacrifice himself to save you both, to save the planet he used to care nothing for, shows how much he's changed. He's a delicate soul."

Trunks snorted. "Yeah, delicate as a flower. That's my dad."

Gohan sniffed. "I never said he was a dandelion," he said.

"So what, he's a Venus flycatcher?"

"Or a corpse flower!" Gotenks laughed.

"Hey, my dad does not smell!" Trunks countered, flicking a pea at Gotenks' face.

"Vegeta is not a flower!" Vegeta snapped. Four faces swiveled in his direction. He immediately tried to relax his expression and curled his lips back into an uncomfortable grin. "He's just… Vegeta, all right?"

"Yeah, of course," Gohan said with a knowing smile. Chichi smiled and kneaded Vegeta's shoulder.

"It's so nice to see how much you care about your friend," she said. "You're always willing to give people a second change."

"Uh, yeah," Vegeta said slowly, stuffing his mouth with more food to avoid the strange looks Kakkarot's wife was sending him.

After dinner finished, the kids were shuttled to their room and ordered to go to sleep promptly at eight. Vegeta debated keeping his current clothes or changing into a pair of fresh briefs and shirt which were inadvertently Kakkarot's. Either way, he was wearing the other saiyan's clothes, as strange as the idea seemed, so he quickly threw on a pair of checkered white trunks (the least ridiculous of the many strangely patterened underwear in Kakkarot's closet) and a blue wife-beater. He threw himself on his bed and closed his eyes, praying for the following morning to come as quickly as possible so he could rid himself of this blasted house and its thrice-damned occupants. And did Trunks really think he was a dick? Well he wasn't exactly Kakkarot, that's for sure, but it wasn't like he beat his own son or anything. Just when they were training. And he was pretty gentle about it. Usually.

Distracted by his thoughts, he didn't realize he was no longer alone in the room until someone slipped into the bed with him and slid a cool hand under his shirt. Vegeta nearly squeaked and flipped over, staring as Kakkarot's wife gave him a sultry gaze under her loose black hair, a tight-fitting pink nightgown hugging her body.

"What… are you doing?" Vegeta managed to say as civilly as possible.

"What are you saying Goku," Chichi asked. "Come on, it's been a while since you've actually been home on time and not conked out straight after dinner." She smiled provocatively again, tugging at his trunks. "What do you say we have a little fun tonight?"

Vegeta resisted the urge to screech and fumbled back, hand suddenly slipping as he no longer felt the mattress and slipped off the bed with a muffled thunk.

'Nonononononono,' he thought desperately. 'No way I'm sleeping with this harpy!'

"Goku dear, are you alright?" the woman asked from the bed. Vegeta scrambled to his feet and turned to face the window, desperate to hide his flustered appearance and skyrocketing pulse.

"I'm… actually not feeling well," he stuttered. "I think it was the sparring from this afternoon. Vegeta really got me good in the stomach."

"Did he?" Chichi asked, before her voice turned disapproving. "Really Goku, you shouldn't hold back around him. I'm sure he'd still kill you if he had the chance."

"I would n–" Vegeta stopped himself, biting down on his tongue. "I'm not holding back," he said instead. "Not… not really… I guess." Vegeta paused. What if Kakkarot was holding back? Well, consciously knowing the stupid third-class saiyan was marginally stronger than him didn't necessarily mean that he was constantly holding himself back when he practiced with Vegeta. At the same power levels, they were technically evenly matched. Vegeta scowled as he mulled over this possibility.

"Goku." Vegeta jerked upright as a slender hand snuck around his abs and dipped dangerously close to the waistband of his trunks. "Are you coming back to bed?"

Vegeta plucked Chichi's hand from his chest and handed it back to her, trying not to grimace. "I'm… I think I'm going to go get some air."

Chichi's curious expression turned into a frown, and she folded her hands over her chest.

"If this is your way of being evasive, or getting away from fucking m –"

"Jeeze, wo – Chichi, it's not that!" Vegeta quickly interrupted. "I'm really not feeling good is all."

Vegeta strode past the human woman before she could reply and left the room, padding as quietly down the stairs as he could manage, opened the door, and zipped out into the cool night with mild goosebumps, desperate for a bath and Goku's face to punch several times. Maybe a lake would have to do, with Goku's reflection for company.

…

Vegeta found the lake, but it was already occupied. He'd been so distracted on his flight over that he hadn't even noticed the Namekian's presence until he was about to land. He figured he'd already been spotted, and it was too late to turn tail. Not that he would. The thrice-damned string bean would just have to shove off if he found Vegeta's presence irritating. Then he remembered that he was supposed to be Goku and that Kakkarot brooding by himself at the lake was likely to be suspicious. Right on schedule, he felt the Namekian approach and land a few feet away.

"Goku?" Piccolo greeted, sounding uncertain. "I could swear I felt Vegeta nearby. Are you two fighting again? It's a bit late for your lover's quarrel, isn't it?"

"Ah, can it, green bean," Vegeta muttered irritably.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean… I said 'stop it, that's mean."

"Uh huh," the Namkian drawled skeptically. "You sound off, Goku. You alright?"

Vegeta grumbled silently. Even the Namekian was getting all personal. Wasn't this guy supposed to be evil and standoffish most of the time? Since when had Piccolo and Goku become best buds?

"I'm fine, just tired. Needed some air."

"All right. Need to spar?" Piccolo offered.

Vegeta shook his head, then thought about it. "Yeah sure, why not?" He grinned and cracked his knuckles, thankful the moonless night hid his bloodthirsty expression. Playing around with Goku's abilities might be fun. Who knows, maybe he'd make it to SS3!

Piccolo started at Goku's expression. Unbeknownst to the saiyan, he could see very well in the dark, and that grin on his face was startlingly out of place. Something was definitely off.

"Goku, why do you look like its Christmas and someone offered you a brand spanking new archenemy?"

"What?"

"Nevermind."

Vegeta ignored the Namekian's jibe and began powering up, just enough to match the Namekian. No use in smearing the insect all over the mountains on accident. Goku would have one hell of a time explaining that to his friends. Vegeta wondered if it was worth it just to see that… Piccolo would just be resurrected by the end of the month anyways.

Vegeta was so busy daydreaming that he nearly caught an energy beam to the face.

"Hey, Goku, pay attention. You look even more airheaded than usual."

Vegeta scowled. He lifted himself in the air, even to the Namekian, and gathered his chi.

Piccolo looked confused for a moment, and was barely able to stave off Vegeta's sudden flurry of mid-air hand-to-hand blows.

"What the –?" He suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Vegeta faster than the Saiyan had expected, delivering a hard blow to the back of his neck. Vegeta plummeted to the ground, slamming into rock. He extricated himself from the rubble with a grumble, cracking his neck, and startled when Piccolo suddenly slammed into the ground in front of him, face twisted in rage.

"Who are you? What have you done with Goku?" he demanded.

Vegeta froze. "Wh- what are you talking about? I'm Kak- Goku!"

"Liar!" Piccolo snarled, gathering chi to his left hand and pointing it at Vegeta. The saiyan prince was barely able to dodge the chi canon before Piccolo shot at him through the residual dust and delivered full-energy blows. Vegeta dodged and blocked with increasing frustration before he finally powered up and punched the Namekian square in the face. Piccolo soared backwards and dropped like a stone into the lake. Seconds later, he emerged, soaking wet, and pissed.

"What the hell is your problem?" Vegeta roared.

"Hah!" Piccolo exclaimed victoriously. "Goku would never say something like that! And your energy signature is completely different from Goku's!"

Vegeta cursed under his breath. Of course the Namekian would register a difference in their energy signatures. He was far more sensitive to that than the others, likely a result of harboring three spirits in one body.

"Look," he began, but was forced to bite his tongue when Piccolo began his onslaught again, this time rapid-firing chi blasts. "God damnit," Vegeta dodged and swatted away the blasts. "Will. You. Stop. It!" He swept through a half-dozen blasts and knocked into Piccolo, sending them tumbling to the ground. They both recovered and hopped to their feet within seconds.

"Damnit green bean, will you quit your firing for ten seconds," Vegeta snarled.

Piccolo froze and raised an eyebrow. "Vegeta?"

The saiyan groaned. "Aw shit. Yeah."

He waited for some kind of sardonic remark, but Piccolo just stood there, looking astonished, until a strange sound began to bubble from the Namekian and his face began to contort grossly.

"Piccolo,"

"Oh my-"

"Piccolo, I'm serious, don't."

"-god, you're… you're serious-"

"Stop laughing."

That was enough to set him roaring. Vegeta glared sullenly, crossing his arms as Piccolo let loose with the strangest bout of laughter so rusty and distorted that Vegeta was sure it only happened once in a millennia. Any more would surely cause the forest to wilt and the local fauna to pack up and migrate south a month early.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Vegeta groused.

Finally, Piccolo let up, wiping at his eyes with the edge of his cape. "Oh man, do I even want to ask how this happened?"

"It was one of Bulma's stupid new inventions, and Goku's incessant curiosity."

"Oh, balls. Where is Goku now?"

"Bulma's place. She's supposed to have the machine fixed soon."

"I need to go."

"Piccolo, don't you dare –"

"I need to see this." Piccolo looked far too gleeful. He began to lift himself off the ground.

"Oi, shit for brains, you tell anyone about this –"

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it," Piccolo grinned. "It would completely spoil the fun."

And with that, he zipped off into the night in the direction of the Briefs household.

"Oh balls," Vegeta muttered.

…