AN: Welcome to my first Goku/ChiChi fic. I've grown really attached to this pair in particular while re-watching the DB series. I watched it as a kid, but doing it again (getting hyped for the new series) has made me appreciate the characters in different ways. I'm still trying to figure out why these two are my favorite because I love all the couples, but I guess I love the comfy/fluffy feeling they give off. Anyway, hope you enjoy the read and leave a review if you can, anything especially constructive criticism would be most appreciated! Thank you!

Summary: What if Goku and Chichi never met as children, but instead as adults trying to discover their own path in life? On a journey around the world they learn together the difference between friendship and love. Post DB Pre DBZ. AUish, Fluff w/ Sexual content. Rating may change in the future.

Meeting in the Middle

Chapter 1

It was the perfect morning to start anew. The sun was just peaking over the horizon of Fire Mountain where Chichi had grown up and lived for the 18 years of her life. The young woman set her bag down beside her and tied her ebony hair in a low ponytail. She didn't realize her long hair might be a burden while traveling, but she supposed this was all a learning experience. Picking up her bag again she looked back at her village not too far in the distance.

Just this morning she had set off on her own for the first time in her life. Telling her father she wanted to lead her own path was one of the most difficult things she had ever done, only because he was such dotting and caring man. As she was growing up Chichi heard stories of her father and even in history books his name was paved in bloodshed, but since the queen had died Chichi was all he had left. He became the gentle giant Chichi had always known and he did this not only to be a better father in her mother's memory, but so she could take his place and rule a peaceful kingdom.

Chichi wasn't sure if she was ever really cut out to be a princess or a queen for that matter. She may have been a bit of a crybaby as a child, but she was also a tomboy who learned and mastered her father's martial art techniques. She wasn't the type to have others waiting on her hand and foot or even have the best of manners. Instead whenever she left with her father into the city on the rare occasions she was told she had a hick accent, was a bit rough around the edges for such a petite girl, and little too self-reliant.

She wanted to make her father happy because he had done the best he could for her, but at the same time she wanted to understand the world beyond Fire Mountain. Sure she had visited places, but it was always with someone to look out for her wellbeing. Chichi needed freedom and exploring the world was the only way she felt she could possess that.

It was a difficult to confront the Ox King, but he had conceded as long she stayed in touch on a regular basis and come back home within the year. Chichi knew she could've simply just left without her father's blessing, but it felt comforting to have it even if she wasn't completely sure she'd be done exploring within the year, but that was for future her to worry about.

She set out on the only path just outside of the village and smiled to herself finally feeling a sense of independence for the first time in her life. Chichi was very familiar with her surroundings so far as the forests around the village were always a place of exploration for her.

"Where should I go first, though? Heading straight towards the ocean might be fun…"

Taking out a map from her bag she looked at the nearby locations and frowned, "I've been to all these villages," her eyes scanned the map further until they caught something close by and unfamiliar, "Mount Paozu? I feel like I've heard of it from somewhere." Trying to recollect but failing to do so left Chichi frustrated, but also an undeniable interest to see if this eerie memory would come back to her.

Heading into the thicker parts of the forests always made Chichi nervous when she was younger and even now as a young woman her eyes scanned every inch of the forest.

"I can't be this scared, it hasn't even been two hours since I've left home!" She chided herself and tried to forget her nerves.

It wasn't that her fear was totally unfounded, many wild beasts and dinosaurs lived in the forests and none of them took a liking to humans. Of course Chichi had sparred with men much larger than her over the years, but animals were different case altogether. The thickness of the forest hid away much of the sunlight and warmth Chichi was accustomed to and she felt a chill go down her spine. "Nothing's following me, it's just my dumb imagination," she chanted to herself quietly as the path began to pitter out into nothing, but dense trees and bushes.

The feeling of being followed was becoming more and more apparent the further she went until finally a low growl came from behind her. Chichi felt her heart stop suddenly as she slowly turned around to face her stalker only to come face to face with a newly born saber-tooth tiger. Dropping to her knees out of pure relief she looked at the kitten exasperatedly.

"You really gave me a scare there, you know?" She sighed and picked herself up as the kitten bounced towards her playfully. Laughing she decided it'd be safe to pet the small creature for a little while, "Well you are a cute little thing aren't you?" She said petting its soft fur. "Though I wonder if your parents are anywhere around." Suddenly the dark haired woman felt that foreboding chill creeping over her all over again. Of course this cub was harmless, but surely it had a mother looking for it probably angry…and hungry.

Distancing herself a bit from the small animal Chichi took in her surroundings again. It was quiet in all directions and while that should have comforted the young woman she couldn't help but feel it was too quiet.

Suddenly she felt something coming from behind and barely dodged it as she rolled out of the way. Coming back up again to face her opponent Chichi was shocked to see a man about a head taller than her not counting his gravity defying black hair wearing a bright orange gi.

He gave her a dark look, but his open stance showed he wasn't challenging her to fight, "you weren't planning on taking that cub away were you?" He asked angrily.

Chichi stepped back unsteadily, "Of course not it was just following me around!" She yelled back trying to establish her composure. The stranger's stare had definitely unnerved her, but at the same time she felt a familiarity she couldn't quite place.

The man's demeanor quickly relaxed as he went to pick up the animal, "That's a relief 'cause his mom's been looking everywhere for him!" He turned to her and smiled briefly while holding the cub in his muscular arms.

She stood dumbfounded. His smile changed his rugged exterior into a boyish friendliness that Chichi instantly recognized. How she couldn't tell it was him before shocked her, but she supposed out of all the times she's seen this man he was always sporting his signature smile.

"Are you…Son Goku?" She asked hesitantly.

He looked up from the cub and cocked his head to the side, "Yup that's me, never met you before you though." He said as his brows furrowed in confusion.

Her eye widened in amazement. Son Goku, the winner of The World Martial Arts Tournament and savior of the Earth was standing right in front of her! She could hardly believe her eyes and he was so much more handsome up close she thought with a slight blush.

Stepping forward Chichi tried to put on her best smile. "My name's Chichi, I've seen you fight in the World Martial Arts Tournament. You're actually a huge inspiration to me and I want to say thank you for saving the Earth!" She bowed lowly and rose up to see Goku scratching the back of his head with the same childlike smile.

"You saw me at the tournament? Were you fighting in it?" He asked with excitement. Chichi stared at him oddly. He didn't seem to care at all about anything else she said, not even a 'your welcome.'

She huffed a bit at his blatantness, but chalked it up to him probably getting sick of being recognized and thanked all the time. "I- no, I wasn't in the tournament this year, I just watched it on TV. I wanted to wait, but I guess since the arena and everything around it was destroyed that won't be happening any time soon."

The black-haired man nodded almost sadly, "Yeah that announcer guy gave me my prize money and told me not to come back for awhile." He looked at her thoughtfully and then grinned brightly, "So that means you can fight, huh? Do you wanna spar with me?"

Chichi could hardly believe what she was hearing. The world's greatest fighter wanted a match with her? Of course she was honored, but knew it wouldn't be a fair fight by a long shot. She saw what he could do when he wasn't even trying and the television broadcast had lost transmission during the real fight with Ma Junior before it had gotten serious. Chichi could only guess what she saw from Goku at the last tournament wasn't even half his power.

Chichi giggled a bit at the thought of being in a serious fight with this man, "I'm not sure I'd be a worthwhile opponent for you. Though I'm very proud to carry on my father's teachings, maybe I can show you some techniques for fun."

Goku's face brightened at that. "You think fighting's fun too? Bulma says I got a one-track mind and no else thinks the way I do about fighting."

Bulma? Maybe a friend? A girlfriend? Chichi frowned at herself, not like it mattered to her. "Well. I've been taught it all my life. I guess I think about it a lot too." Probably not as much as him, but it was only a white lie to get him to smile at her more.

"Yeah we can both teach each other stuff!" He then looked down at the animal with determination, "But later. I gotta give this cub back to its mom. I've been following her around for awhile and she's been looking for him all morning."

Chichi stared in silent awe as Goku looked up to sky and called out something. An instant later a yellow puffy cloud raced down and hovered between the two. He smiled at her briefly before climbing on it.

The young woman jumped back in fear, "What is that thing?!"

Goku looked down at the yellow cloud under his feet and merely shrugged, "This is my friend Flying Nimbus."

'Ok so he's friends with a cloud and he thinks that's normal?!' Chichi thought trying to wrap her mind around the strangeness of it all.

"Well I gotta go. See you around Chichi." He waved as the cloud started to ascend.

Getting her nerve back Chichi reached her hand up to him, "Goku hold on!"

He stopped and hovered down closer to her. His dark eyes staring at her wide and in wonder. If it wasn't for his childlike demeanor Chichi might of felt intimidated by his open stares and closeness.

"I…I just wanted to say I'm traveling around the world so I won't be staying in this forest. I'm not sure how we could meet up later." She said trying not to break the unending eye contact.

Goku didn't seemed fazed by her flustered appearance and grinned at her, "Are you journeying to become a better fighter? I did that when I was younger to get ready for the tournament!"

She faltered a bit at that. It seemed everything really did revolve around fighting with him. "Err well maybe? The first place I'm going to is Mount Paozu, I thought it would be good to start there."

The young man's eyes widened and his smile grew. "That's where I live! I've lived in Mount Paozu all my life."

Chichi couldn't believe her luck. First day and she runs into the greatest fighter on Earth and now this happened. It all seemed too good to be true. "R-really? That's amazing!"

"Yeah I guess so. Me and my grandpa were the only people living there for years. Do you know anyone there?" Goku asked genuinely curiously.

"Well no. But it sounds familiar to me. I know that's not much to go off of, but I had a good feeling about it" She looked at him expectedly only to receive a blank stare. "Since you live there and everything could you take me with you?" She asked with slight embarrassment. Was it considered cheating if she got a ride to her destination on her first day exploring?

Goku pondered her request and looked down at the now sleeping cub in his arms. "Well the only way you can come with me is if you can get on Nimbus." He peered up at the young woman carefully, "only people with pure hearts can ride it. Besides me Nimbus has only let a few people on."

Chichi frowned at the man's piercing gaze. 'Pure heart? What's that supposed mean and why is he testing me all of a sudden? Haven't I already proven to be a good person?' She thought angrily.

"So what? If your cloud doesn't like me you won't help me get to Mount Paozu?" She asked, temper flaring.

Goku's blank stare broke into a short laugh, "You remind me of Bulma. She get's mad at me too."

Chichi huffed at him ignoring her question and bringing up that girl again. "I don't who this Bulma is, but if she's around you a lot I can see why."

They stared at each other silently, Goku with his signature smile and Chichi with her determined frown.

After a moment she stepped forward and reach her hand up to him. "Help me up." She demanded. She wasn't sure what a pure heart meant, but she knew she was good person deep down, sure she had a temper and an attitude when she didn't get her way, but she always had good intentions and if that wasn't good enough for this cloud then so be it.

Goku grabbed her hand and easily hoisted her up onto the puffy cloud. When she didn't immediately fall through Chichi smiled in triumph. "It likes me!" She shouted waking up the cub.

The man next to her beamed down at the cloud, "Nimbus is never wrong. You are a good person!" He said turning to her.

Chichi smiled back at Goku, but nervously averted her gaze. He really was too handsome, especially when he was looking at her with a carefree expression.

Goku shrugged at her odd behavior and directed Nimbus to the sky. Chichi cried out as she almost fell at the unexpected speed. "Goku slow down!" She yelled involuntarily grabbing Goku's bicep.

He looked back at her in confusion and lightly pulled away. "Why are you grabbing me?"

Chichi blushed heavily, but never let go as she glared up at him, "I could've fallen Goku! I need to hold onto something. This" she said gesturing to her hands tightly grasping his arm, "means nothing, okay?"

He scrunched his nose in bewilderment, "What means nothing?"

Chichi stared at him in disbelief, but shook her head, "Nothing, never mind. Just let me hold on to you." She said pressing herself closer to his side as she looked down to see them hovering high above the trees.

She'd never been this high before and never thought she would be. Hell she never thought she'd be on top of a judgmental cloud holding on to a handsome clueless stranger for dear life.

Chichi sighed quietly to herself. Her first day was prepping up to be indescribably strange, but as she peered up at Goku with his gentle smile she didn't regret her decision to follow him, not for a moment.

A/N: So I took some writing liberties by making Fire Mountain closer to Mount Paozu, which isn't a big deal or anything I hope. Also of course since Chichi and Goku never met as children I'm just going to erase the fact that Fire Mountain needed Master Roshi to put out the fire. That's about it for making it a bit AU.

Next chapter I might switch it up a bit and show Goku's thoughts. Hope you like it and tell me your thoughts!