disclaimer: .... I don't know who owns dbz, I know I don't and that no one else here owns it either..... I think that Toriyama guy owns it...

However.... I do own Ruika

(A little clearing up on punctuation: 'italics' are telepathic conversations 'plain text' are thoughts and italics outside of conversation are dreams/visions)

My Fault

There was Fire all around her. She couldn't believe what was happening. Her world came crashing down. Her past was already shattered and now her physical world was going up in Flames. "I warned you all," she calmly said, holding back her tears as she saw all the people she knew being burned alive. "I guess it's my fault again for not making you believe," she said bitterly as the tears came. A small spacecraft materialized out of the heated air. With a heavy heart she climbed into it and took off into space... to begin her life anew...

The Namek's eyes opened wide. He does have visions at times while he meditated but never one this strong, this real. He floated back down to the ground. The sound of the waterfall roared in his sensitive ears as he drank the water from his flask. He stopped suddenly as he felt a strong, yet dying, power hurtle towards Earth. He heard a loud crash as the power made contact with the ground. He flew over to where the sound came from. A look of shock came to his face as he saw the spacecraft from his vision before him. The craft opened up. Bleeding, the Vision Girl crawled her way out of the opening then collapsed a few feet away. She seemed to look up straight at him. "Please," she said weakly, "help me."

Not knowing what else to do he picked her up and flew to the Lookout to have Dende heal her.

"What did you do to her?!"

"NOTHING!! I told you already! She crash landed."

"Then why is it taking so long to heal her?"

He hesitated. "... I don't know! Maybe she's just more injured than we thought." He was clearly getting impatient with Dende. "Just heal her!"

"Why is it so important if she gets healed?"

The namek growled at him. "You ask one more question and I'll rip those antennae out of your head..."

"There won't be any need for that," they heard the girl say as she came to. "I'll be alright." She went to sit up but fell right back down as a searing pain went through her whole body. She opened her mouth for a silent scream then tried to hide her pain. "Eventually."

A nap and a few hours later the girl was feeling much better. She walked up to the two Nameks that saved her life. "Sorry if I was a bother."

"Oh! You're awake! No, you were no bother at all. It wasn't your fault you crashed."

"My... fault..." she said to herself. 'It's always my fault.'

"Did you hear me?"

"Sorry! Got kinda lost in my thoughts for a minute. What did you say?"

"What's your name?"

"Ruika. What's yours?"

"Dende. And this is Piccolo. He brought you here."

"Really?" She turned to him and smiled. "Thank you Piccolo." Her bright smile turned into a look of confusion. "I said thank you."

Dende pulled her down to his level and whispered in her ear. "He heard you. He just doesn't talk much... He's... grouchy."

"Ah. Well I should be leaving then. I have to go see if I can repair my ship." She walked over to the edge. She stopped mid step as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Unless you can fly, I suggest you stay here until I'm ready to leave!" Ruika sensed the taller Namek behind her and had Piccolo on his back before he even realized he'd been thrown.

"Who are you to say where I can and cannot go?!" Still dazed Piccolo looked up towards her. Fiery reddish-orange hair fell in front of her piercing hazel eyes. But there was also a kind of numb sadness to them.

He tried not to provoke her to fight again. "Just saying that as a suggestion. It is a well over sixty thousand drop back to earth."

'Great... I'm stuck with Mr. Pain in the Ass until he feels like leaving.' Grudgingly, she pulled Piccolo back to his feet. "So when are you gonna be ready?"

"When I've calmed down!"

She sighed. "Calmed down? That'll take too long," She teased.

Now he was really confused. He could've swore she was pissed at him just a moment ago. He shrugged it off. 'Women...' "I'm going to meditate and when I get back, then we can leave." 'Dende, make sure she doesn't follow me.'

'Right.' "So, why did you come here?"

"My home... it's... been destroyed." 'My fault...' "I didn't really choose to come here. My ship went through some asteroid storm and got damaged pretty bad. It just happened to make it here. Tell me, are Nameks the only kind of people here?"

"Nah. Piccolo and I are the only ones here. There's some Saiyans and half-Saiyans, but the majority of Earth's inhabitants are humans."

"I knew a Saiyan once. No idea what happened to him. He came to my planet looking for help destroying some guy named Frieza. We would've helped him had we not been in war at that time. He saved my life..."

"How do you know about Nameks?"

Ruika stared at him a moment, she really wished he'd stop asking such questions. "I've always liked to learn about new things." She knew she was being a terrible conversationalist, but she was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"I know Piccolo can seem like a jerk at times, but he's good at heart."

"I have no reason to doubt that. I just want to stay here any longer than I have to. Nothing personal." 'With you. With me it is. I couldn't bear it if I had to see this place called Earth be destroyed like my home. All because of me... It's all my fault. I should've died that day...'

"Who's your new friend?"

"This is Ruika. Ru-Ruika?"

"Oh Sorry!" she said as a smile came to her face. "I tend to drift into my thoughts a lot, don't I?" She laughed uneasily.

Dende saw small tears form in the corners of her eyes. 'Piccolo is right, women are strange.' "Ruika this is Gohan. He's one of the--"

"Half-Saiyans. I know. I can tell."

"Hey Dende, is Piccolosan here by any chance?"

"Yes, but he's meditating right now."

"Oh well. I need to talk to him." He took off and looked for Piccolo. Ruika went to follow him but Dende grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"No. You're better off just waiting for him."

"Dammit."