Crystalline water lapped the sandy shore of the island. In its center, a cheery little house sat flanked by palm trees. On the small expanse of grass an even cheerier group huddled around a grill.

Bulma doused some of the tender meat with sauce, and then shooed the men staring over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist.

"It'll be ready in twenty minutes," she growled. "And besides, Chichi hasn't started on the sides yet. You boys need to relax."

Yamcha and Goku heaved exaggerated sighs and sunk onto a bench.

From the other side of the picnic table, Oolong snorted, looking awfully haughty for a pig at a BBQ.

The door to Kame House smacked its frame, and Gohan teetered onto the lawn. He set the overflowing platter of freshly steamed buns on the table's center, and his father's stomach growled.

The boy smiled politely. "It smells good, Ms. Bulma!"

"Thanks!" She stopped basting and frowned at Krillin. "What do you think? Need another coat?"

"Nope." He shook his head confidently. His bald head gleamed in the sun; his white 'Kiss the Cook' apron was smeared with sauce. "Looks perfect, Bulma."

And just as Chichi brought out the remainder of the side dishes, and the group settled around the table, something streaked across the sky.

"Huh," Bulma said. "A comet?"

"No. Not a comet," Yamcha snapped. His jaw was locked and his eyes followed the trail leaving a long crescent the sky.

Bulma glanced around the table, now officially the only island occupant besides the turtle who could sense chi. Each of her friends wore identical expressions of panic. All but Goku, who grinned and jumped to his feet.

"Alright!" he cheered, and without another word, he grabbed a fistful of steamed buns and leapt into the sky, flying faster than Bulma could follow.

Since the three years since he'd learned, he'd taught nearly everyone else to fly, too. And so Yamcha and Krillin were quick on his heels. Bulma rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of Gohan's shirt before he could abandon her, too.

"Take me along, little guy?"

Gohan blushed. "S-Sure, Ms. Bulma."

His eyes darted to his mother who huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm not going anywhere." And then she softened a fraction. "But be careful."

At her elbow, Oolong shoveled another forkful of rice into his mouth. "Without Goku here, I actually have a chance to eat."

Lifting Bulma by her armpits, Gohan took off in same direction as their friends. Since he was a thoughtful and polite boy, he flew at a much slower pace. Even if Bulma was used to taking reckless speeds on her capsule copter, flying like this was different. The wind stung her face and tossed around her hair.

Just as she was wondering if she had some goggled stashed away in one of her capsules, her feet were back on solid ground. As she sucked in enough air to reprimand Yamcha, Krillin and Goku for leaving her behind, she froze.

The world stopped spinning so fast she almost fell over.

"Vegeta." The name tumbled out of her mouth before she could process much else. Before the rational part of her brain remembered, years ago, when she'd met him in a hallway of the PTO ship and he'd stared at her like she was a stranger.

But now, he met her gaze. His dark eyes unreadable, his features stiff. Perhaps it was the hope squeezing her heart, but it felt like he knew her. Bulma swallowed. He had to know her.

"Kakarot," he snapped, Goku's Saiyan name instead of her own. Bulma rolled her eyes. Boys.

However, before Goku could reply, Piccolo landed to the far side of the field, making a three-pointed triangle. Clearly not aligning himself with the newcomers or the earthlings.

Goku, however, didn't seem to notice. "Hey, Piccolo! Great for you to join us."

And though the Namekian tried to look angry, his features softened a bit at the sight of young Gohan, still hovering close to Bulma's knees as though she were the buffer between Earth and this new threat.

"I'll just stay, in case things get bad," Piccolo grumbled, and Bulma wanted to scoff at all the displays of aloof masculinity. It was really quite tiresome.

It was Raditz, however, who cleared his throat and the air. "Kakarot, you're a Saiyan from Planet Vegeta."

"Yep." Goku nodded eagerly. "I know."

"You… know?" Raditz stared at his brother in confusion, and Bulma noted that the burly man hadn't lost his penchant for wearing nothing but briefs.

Goku flashed another face-splitting grin. "Sure. Vegeta told me a long time ago."

When both Nappa and Raditz shot Vegeta twin gazes of bewilderment, the shortest Saiyan simply huffed like he couldn't be bothered with an explanation.

"C'mon, Vegeta. Tell them. It's been a long time, but surely my energy is familiar. Last time you were here, you taught me how to fly. I taught you to sense chi. You-"

"Impossible," Nappa interrupted. "Vegeta's never been to Earth."

Bulma didn't miss the way Vegeta flinched at that statement. It was just the slightest bit of movement and widening of eyes, but she knew.

And abandoning any pretense, Bulma left the security of the Earthling side and approached Vegeta with purposeful, fearless footsteps. When she was only a foot or so in front of him, she squinted.

He stared back at her, and removing her eyes from his familiar features, she looked behind his powerful shoulders to Raditz and Nappa. Then she heaved a sigh.

This was strange. This was…

"The records say this place is inhospitable and barren." Nappa scoffed, kicking his toe into ground. Uprooting blades of green grass and dislodging some of the damp soil. "Looks pretty populated and fruitful to me."

Bulma opened her mouth to reply, but Vegeta got to it first,

"Bulma."

Her axis tilted a notch. Her eyes widened. And then, a smile tugging at her features, she replied in greeting,

"Vegeta."

The look in his eyes wasn't what any sane person would classify a smile, but there was a degree of happiness there. At the very least, he wasn't any unhappiness to be found.

"You know one another?" Someone asked. Bulma didn't look away from Vegeta and she wasn't sure who had spoken. It could've been Nappa or Yamcha for all she knew.

It was Vegeta who replied, "We've never met."

Yeah. She definitely hadn't done his gruff voice justice all those years ago when she'd been playing his part.

"Well," she began. "I saw you once, but you didn't know who I was."

"What was happening was more complex than I originally thought. When you approached me we hadn't started swapping, uh," he fumbled for a moment and settled with, "messages yet."

Then he retrieved something from the confines of his chestplate and, extending his hand, dropped it into Bulma's palm. She stared down at the little Number 9 capsule, her eyes widening.

"That day, you dropped this."

"You kept it?" She stared at him. "But, you didn't know me then."

"No. I didn't." His lips flexed to a frown. "That was three galactic years ago."

"Then," she paused. His gaze dropped to her mouth, and she smiled. "Why did you keep it?"

He could've told her the truth; that a strange, pretty girl in ill-fitting PTO armor had winked at him and he'd been rendered dumb. That later, when he'd learned two PTO guards had been knocked unconscious, stripped, and left in the hanger, he'd known. And, for some reason, he didn't tell anyone and he'd kept the damn thing. And years later, when he'd started swapping places with her, he'd pieced the whole thing together and it was something he couldn't let go of. Instead he shrugged and said,

"Not sure."

Bulma lifted the capsule between them. She'd long since forgotten anyone else was standing in the clearing with them. She'd waited so long to see Vegeta. She'd never thought it would be this stilted or awkward, but she'd also convinced herself that it probably wouldn't happen at all. Stilted and awkward was a great improvement to that, at least.

Blue eyes darting from Vegeta to the capsule and back again, she asked, "Did you ever open it?"

"Open it?" he repeated, like the thought had never occurred to him.

With a grin, she tossed the capsule to the ground. Raditz and Nappa both jumped backwards. When the little plume of smoke cleared, only a modest sized refrigerator sat in its place. Bulma stepped forward and pulled open the door, revealing a tray of pink and white petit fours decorated with edible flowers, rows and rows of fat strawberry tarts, and entire shelf of her mother's homemade chocolate candies.

Vegeta clicked his tongue. "Fucking desserts. I should've known."

"Hey," Bulma shot back, hand on her hip, giving him the glare that he knew had her board of directors fearing for their livelihood. "These sweets have stood the test of time and space, buddy. Show some respect."

"Tch. I'll show no respect until you've proven you can do a single pushup or eat an ounce of protein."

Bulma grinned. Vegeta in person was even more fun than he was on paper.

It was Goku who tore her out of her haze with the question, "What are you guys here for?"

And Vegeta's already stoic and unmoving form stiffened as Raditz answered his brother's question.

"We found out Frieza was the one who destroyed our home world and decided to extract our revenge. Only…" He paused, his eyes large and earnest. It reminded Bulma of the time he sought help with unrequited love. Raditz didn't often look vulnerable, but when he did, Bulma's heart squeezed. "Our revenge didn't quite go as planned so we fled the empire. When we were looking for a place to lay low and train for a bit, Vegeta read the description of planets outside the PTO's watch and we thought about Earth. After we pulled up the description he said the information must've been fabricated by someone intelligent and reckless."

Bulma shrugged a single shoulder. "Guilty, I guess."

"So, you're going to train here, get stronger?" Goku grinned. "I'll help."

"I will, too," Bulma added.

Vegeta stared at her, a little crease forming between his eyebrows.

"He's a Saiyan, even if a pathetic one," Nappa scoffed. The unarticulated compliment seemed to take great effort. "Why would you help?"

"Vegeta saved our planet once," Bulma replied. "It's the least we can do."

Vegeta's dark gaze never left hers, and she wanted to thank him. She wanted to do lots of things to him, if she were being honest with herself, and she really didn't give a damn if this wasn't the time or the place.

"How long ago was it for you? Coming here, taking my shuttle into space?"

"Two months," he admitted. And she blinked. So recently… Quickly, she shook off the shock and got back to business.

"Two months ago, Vegeta saved Earth. So we Earthlings," Bulma said, her glare cutting across the small splattering of men who looked ready to argue her speaking on their behalf, "would be happy to help you Saiyans defeat Frieza in any way possible."

And then, lowering her voice so only Vegeta could hear (despite being vaguely aware that some of friends were freaks with super-hearing), she winked and said, "Besides, I'd like to get to know you better."

Vegeta looked like he'd just swallowed a mouthful of sand. It was so fun, making him mad that she couldn't help but adding with a wink, "Besides, don't you want to find out if I still sleep naked?"

And the blush that set those stoic cheeks aflame was even better than she'd imagined it.

…..

The End

…..

I know some of you expressed interest in seeing this continue to a Defeat Frieza arc, but the original draft I'd typed up was a one shot and so even this version was really pushing it.

Never fear! I have two new (long) stories in the works, and I'm chipping away at each of them, trying to decide which to post. Plus there's Coalesce, a story a started a million years ago and never finished. My goal is to Never Leave A Story Incomplete. So I should probably get on that…

For ideas/questions/love/hate, whatever, you can always PM me or ask me on tumblr at aladylan. :)

Thanks for following this body swapping comedy of errors until the end. Now go watch Your Name (Kimi no na wa), the original inspiration behind the thing. It's a beautiful, amazing movie and supposedly J.J. Abrams is going to be adapting the film into a live-action American movie, so you should definitely see it before that happens.

In the meantime, I love you! Thank you for reading. You are wonderful.

-lady lan