Chapter Twenty-One- Our Week Back

When they had finally landed, it was late, very late, and Piccolo was surprised to see lights on in the house. It was either a late day training, or they forgot to turn off the light.

Slowly, Piccolo opened the door to the Son's home, and he was greeted by the faces he loved.

Gohan ran to Piccolo and embraced him in an everlasting hug, Goku too was happy and gave Yusagie his own hug as he welcomed her back.

"You guys are up so late." Yusagie commented to the two Saiyans.

"I received some good grades this week so my mom said I could stay up late since it was the weekend!" Gohan answered Yusagie. "So I'm watching some TV. Dad is getting a snack!"

"I love my snacks." Goku chuckled as Piccolo shut the front door behind him. He assumed Chichi had already made it to bed.

"I'll take your things." Piccolo reached for Yusagie's bag in a caring gesture to do it for her. Goku noticed this change instantly.

Piccolo decided to head down the hall to where they had slept before leaving. Everything was the same, and nothing had changed inside. He took his time putting what little belongings they had away, and in the meantime, Yusagie had joined Gohan on the couch.

When Piccolo left the room to find Yusagie, he found her in front of the television. He was tired, he wanted to sleep and he was going to sleep without her if need be.

"What are you watching?" Piccolo asked curiously as neither one of them ever watched TV, but Yusagie was at that moment with Gohan beside her.

"Discovery channel, it's talking about all the endangered animals here on earth!" Gohan said excitedly as Piccolo sat down in-between them.

"Its actually interesting to watch all the creatures from your planet." Yusagie added as piccolo's arm didn't hesitate to be around her and Gohan's, pulling both of his favorite people close to him.

Gohan was tired; Piccolo could tell his dad had been working him, pushing him beyond his limits as a child. "Are you two going to get married? "Asked Gohan as he looked up at Piccolo.

"Ha. No kid. We are just friends. And also, we don't have marriage in our culture." Piccolo replied with. When he did, Yusagie looked over at him and Gohan in an odd manner.

"My parents got married." She didn't care to explain to him that her parents were also the first marriage ever in their race, but they got married anyway.

"What?" Piccolo looked over at Yusagie. "No, they didn't-Nameks?"

"Yes." Yusagie nodded. "My father asked for my mother's hand in marriage, and the elder approved. They had a ceremony too." Piccolo didn't know about this, she didn't talk about her parents much, and when she did, her mother, the first Namekian woman ever, was never mentioned.

"That's interesting—well Gohan—ah.." Piccolo paused when he looked over at the sleeping child in his arms. Piccolo couldn't help but smile. He didn't move him, he left him there and still continued to watch TV with Yusagie. It wasn't long before she too fell asleep in his arms as well and in a sitting upright position, Piccolo too dozed off. Sitting upright on the couch felt nice, since he had been sleeping on the ground of caves and solid mats on floors for over a month. At some point Gohan removed himself from the couch and went to lie down in his own bed, leaving the two Nameks alone. Throughout the night, the two ended up laying down, getting comfortable and embracing each other until the morning. When morning did come, Goku found them asleep beside one another, and a humble smile fell on his lips.

He reached over to shake Piccolo's body awake, and that did the job. "Ready to train?" Goku asked in a whisper as the Namek's tired eyes stared at him with confusion before sitting up.

"Yeah—" Piccolo rubbed his eyes awake. "What time is it?" When he asked, Yusagie too began to sit up and woke her sleeping eyes.

"It's 9am. We all slept in a little."

Piccolo nodded in understanding. "Yeah—let's go train." His stiff body stood up and walked over to the door as he waited for Gohan, yawning a few times before he arrived.

"Can you make us lunch Yusagie?" Goku asked. "I tried to make breakfast, I didn't do so well. Chichi is really sick so it would be nice if you could. Thanks!" Goku laid his hand on her shoulder. She agreed with a nod, but wasn't sure if she could do it. Could she cook as well as Chichi?

When the boys left for training in the field beyond the Son home, Yusagie had meditated all morning. She decided to let Piccolo have a break from her, as she needed one from him, and she let him train with Goku and Gohan. She spent her day on the porch. Early morning sunrise to what was now a cold late afternoon. Being alone for the day was nice.

Once she was done, she knew the boys would be returning and she tempted lunch. Yusagie tried to read everything on the page in front of her in the kitchen, but couldn't. She just couldn't make it out. She couldn't read their language no matter how hard she tried as she stood over the hot stove and a large pot of boiling water.

The cookbook before her had pictures, enough that she was able to guess how to make the soup, but not enough to be able to know what order to put everything in. Chichi had done it enough times in front of her, it had to be easy.

She had chopped every vegetable, diced every onion, cut every carrot, sliced the celery and potatoes. Yet, she wasn't sure what to do next.

"Let them boil." Said a deep voice from behind.

"What?" Yusagie asked as she turned to see Piccolo, sweating and breathing heavily as he was now reading over her shoulder. He came in for some water and caught her trying to cook. There was something wrong with him, though. She could tell. "You put in salt, and then let it boil, when it's done, you put all the vegetables in. That's what it says." He read the book out loud to her.

"Well—Alright—Are you done training? It's only noon." Said Yusagie hesitantly as she placed all of the contents into the pot.

"No. Can you not read this, at all?" Piccolo thought she could at least read some small words.

"No." She said as she stirred the pot as it boiled.

"Can you read Namek?" He looked over her shoulder, reading the rest of the directions. He thought maybe Popo could create a cookbook for her in Namek.

"Yes, at a very basic level. I never lost the language, somehow. Can you?"

Piccolo shook his head. "No. I wish I could. Are you cooking this with meat?"

"No, I'm not."

"Good. I'm sure it will taste good." Piccolo said as he placed his hands on her shoulders. It smelled good, and he was happy to see she wasn't putting any dead creatures in it like chichi does.

"Will you teach me?" Yusagie asked curiously as she sipped some of the soup for taste.

"Teach you?"

"To read." She asked as she looked over at him placing the spoon back in and stirring it some more and then adding a pack of cheese inside the pot.

"I thought you wanted to train?"

"I do, but if I stay here, reading would be a plus."

"Do you plan on staying?" Piccolo asked curiously. She had been here a while already, she learned their language well, even though her accent was strong. She hadn't talked about her own people in a long while, and he began to think she didn't have an intention of leaving.

Yusagie fell silent. She had to think. She didn't know of an answer right off hand yet. "Yes. I do."

"What language do you know fluently?"

"Something called Cayuga. A native language on our planet, but we were taught to speak everything because we traveled to other planets to destroy them. I was often an undercover soldier, so I knew them all. Well not all, cause I didn't know yours. "

"Wow, I didn't know you did that, I thought you were just a soldier, I didn't know you did undercover work." Piccolo lifted his hands from her shoulders and turned the heat down on the stove for her.

Yusagie put her hair up out of her face, so it's length didn't get to the soup. "Yes. There were times I would go in by myself and take over a planet in a week. I became promoted right before I came here."

"And you didn't want to keep that promotion?"

Yusagie turned around to face him, her back against the knobs on the stove. "Let me put it this way-I was fired." She said in a way that didn't seem like she was joking. Piccolo didn't question her. Though he began to wonder if that's why she was asking for help. Something had happened that she was no longer in power and now in need of help. Was she in danger?

Yusagie turned off the heat completely and then used a ladle to scoop some of the soup into a bowl for him. "Here" She offered, wondering if he would like it. She poured herself some and then Goku one when he came into the kitchen smelling something amazingly good.

"Where did you learn to cook?" Goku asked as he took his bowl she handed him before sitting down.

"From your wife. I've been watching her since I came here, it was a big part of me learning your language."

Gohan too entered with a smile, as he also wanted some soup.

"Yummm" He said in a pleasing manner as she handed a bowl to him also.

"I would have assumed you would have had to have known how to cook being a soldier." Goku said before eating his soup in one gulp and getting seconds for himself. Yusagie too sat down with Piccolo and Gohan.

"No, we had people do that for us." She said as she took a sip.

"People?" Asked Gohan as he put some crackers into his.

"Yes. I wish I had learned to cook."

"Why didn't you just be a cook then?" Gohan asked curiously.

"It's a long complicated story." Yusagie sighed with a smile before sipping her water.

"I want to hear it! I don't know a lot about you, and you're a part of our family now." Gohan said with a wide smile as Yusagie looked over at Piccolo. He didn't know a lot about her either, but eventually, they would. The fact Gohan called her family made her feel warm inside, so she sat down with them at the table.

"Well—I wasn't a cook because I was strong. We had a lot of branches in our kingdom. Some people were engineers, some were cooks, and others were fighters. Everyone had a job though. Everyone is trained to be a child soldier until they are about 12. Those who prove to have potential get sent off for more training and take on missions to be a combat warrior. Those who prove to be smart can become doctors, or help build ships. Those who cook or clean, they are proven to not be so strong, and they are sent do learn to prepare meals for the military." Yusagie explained as she ate some more.

"So what happens when you're done in combat training?" Gohan turned his head curiously.

"Well—you get placed into a sect. You are low class, middle class, elite or Royal solider."

"What were you?" Gohan was so innocent with his questions. Her past was dark, she had a dark side, and she knew it had to be shared eventually to the people she had fallen in love with, the people who considered her family and wanted nothing but protection for.

"I was a royal soldier." She replied calmly, not looking at them as she stared into her lap.

"That sounds like a good gig, why leave?" Goku got up to his third serving. Why would someone leave the royal guard?

"I killed our head commander." Piccolo instantly looked up when he heard her speak. She had killed someone, she had to run, that's why she was fired, and it started to piece together now. That was why she was here to began with and now it made a bit more sense to him.

"Why? Do you mean Frieza?" Goku raised this question with concern. He considered Yusagie family now, and nothing she could really say would change that.

"We worked under Frieza, but we had a king. " Yusagie explained in a half lie. She still couldn't tell them she was from the future. "Anyways, I killed him because he needed to be killed. I could have stayed and not trained hard and been a baker, but I wanted to make my father proud."

Yusagie stood up from her chair with her bowl and walked it to the sink.

"So, you killed your leader, and now people are after you. That's why you need our help?" Piccolo asked as he looked over at this woman he had grown to care for. He didn't judge her for what she did, and he didn't understand why either, but he would be there for her when the time came.

Yusagie shrugged. "I've been here a year, and no one has found me. I think it's safe to say I no longer need anyone's help. Excuse me." Yusagie asked before exiting the kitchen. She needed to walk out, that was a lot for her to tell them in one sitting, and holding tears back was even harder.

Yusagie exited onto the porch where they had a swing she loved to sit in, but she just stood there for now, staring into the rocky distance. She stood there by herself for a while before she heard his footsteps from behind, and the door was opening as well.

"How was meditating today?" Piccolo asked as he walked up behind her from inside the Son's home.

"It was nice and quiet. I was able to get lost in my thoughts and focus on energy inside me I didn't know I had."

"Meditating does that to you." He said as he reached his hands to her shoulders and gripped them gently.

"How was training?"

"Good. I forgot how strong Goku was. It was odd training with someone who wasn't you in all honesty." Yusagie turned to face him as he slipped his hands off her shoulders.

"How so?"

"Just got used to training with you I guess." Piccolo shrugged as he looked down at her.

"I might be more of a challenge for Goku." Yusagie jokingly admitted as she nudged Piccolo in a silly manner. He chuckled lightly to himself. It was odd not having her around at every moment that day. It almost hurt to not have her there.

"Hurt are you?" Yusagie asked as she reached for his inner forearm that bleed from training.

"It was worse earlier. I'm still regenerating." He said as he slowly pulled his arm from her. He was regenerating too long, there was something wrong and she knew it. But She was caring, he liked that about her, but it would hurt her in battle. While she was strong, and she certainly challenged him, but kindness would be her main weakness.

Yusagie looked up at him, a man she had started to care for, someone she was growing closer and closer too, and him the same. Neither one had ever imaged they would be such close friends, if not more by this point.

Piccolo turned away as her staring at him made him nervous, and uncomfortable all at the same time.

"What?" He asked, in hopes to get her to look away.

"Nothing—you—"

"What about me?" He raised his brow curiously.

"I kind of—missed ya-"She said casually but leaned up towards him.

"I missed you too—" He laughed while tilting his head down to her. He was going to kiss her, something they hadn't done in a few weeks. He was also feeling venerable today, more than normal. Their lips were almost touching and interacting with one another. As he felt her breath and her nose touch his, both pulled away from each other with the sound of a closing door. It was as if everyone wanted to interrupt their kisses whenever they had the moment to share one.

"Hey guys!" Goku happily greeted them as he walked outside on the porch to join them. "Oh man, it's cold out! Why couldn't it have been this cold earlier while we were training! Geeze!" Goku stretched and looked over at Piccolo who glared at him with a tad of annoyance. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No." Piccolo responded short, in his usual grumpy tone.

"Oh okay good, well, are you ready to get back to training? My stomach is finally nice and full and I have energy again!" He laughed as he patted his stomach while walking down the steps of his porch.

Piccolo didn't hesitate to grab her and plant a kiss on her forehead before walking off and following Goku, both flying off into a field and disappearing into the sky.

They were both tired Goku and the Namek; Piccolo was more tired than normal. And as the sun began to set, they both took a break. Lying in the grass beside each other, they stayed quiet, relaxing, enjoying the cool breeze and each other's silent presence.

"So, you guys are getting along better now?" asked Goku as he broke the silence.

"We really are." Piccolo closed his eyes. He was dizzy, he was light-headed, he didn't know why he felt so awful, but he did.

"What changed?" Goku was curious; he had seen them sleeping together on the couch in an embrace he only saw from couples.

"I don't know honestly. We were living together, and that was hell for us both. Maybe we've learned patience with one another after everything we experienced this last year." Piccolo shrugged, still not opening his eyes.

"I saw you moments ago. You almost kissed her."

"No I didn't." Piccolo shook his head, not wanting to be caught having feelings or desiring intimacy with someone.

"Don't lie to me! I saw you. Are you guys—"

"No, we are not." Piccolo sat up, he felt sick, he felt like hell. He knew Chichi was sick, but he never caught whatever the humans had.

"Why not? Am I allowed to ask why?" Goku wanted to know now about their relationship with each other. Sitting up he could tell Piccolo wasn't feeling well either.

"How can I promise her a future, if I don't know if I'll be here after the androids?" Piccolo had replied with before he stood up. "I'm not feeling so well, is it okay if we put a pause on our training for the night?"

Goku stood up too, his face full of serious thoughts as he was concerned for Piccolo. "Yeah, are you doing alright? Chichi has like a head cold, what are you feeling? The same?"

It was not the same, he felt sick to his stomach, he felt like dying as fatigue took over his body. "No, I feel like-" Piccolo began to speak, but he didn't get to finish his sentence before falling and losing his consciousness.

Yusagie could feel Piccolo's power fading, and fast. It wasn't normal; it wasn't a fading that would usually happen when training, his body was in a rapid decline.

"The boys are close." Said Yusagie to Chichi who sat with warm tea and a stuffy nose.

"Really? How do you—" Within moments Goku entered in through the kitchen door holding Piccolo in his arms. Piccolo was almost lifeless, still, and you could tell the Namek's dead weight took a toll on the Saiyan's shoulders.

"I don't know what happened—He just fainted—" Goku said frantically as he carried in the Namek. "We need to get him a senzu bean—no we need to-"

"Stop Goku. He's alright.—" Yusagie knew, she knew it was time, and there was nothing anyone could really do to help him. "Lay him down on our bed." Goku nodded and followed her orders, walking the Namek to his room.

"What, what is wrong?—" Gohan asked repeatedly as he followed Yusagie and Goku into their room. Piccolo coughed a few times as Goku laid his body down. What was she going to tell them? Would they even understand? She hardly understood it as she wasn't raised by Nameks most of her life.

"I'll take it from here." She looked over at Goku who nodded with trust and lead Gohan out of the room.

Piccolo sat up and hit his chest a few times with a constant cough.

Yusagie placed her hand over his bare chest, feeling the lump underneath his skin. It was larger than the last time she felt it.

"I think." Yusagie began to speak before she was cut off by Piccolo. He slightly pushed her away, grabbing the bedroom garbage can as he hunched his back over. Holding his head in his hands with misery, he felt his stomach turn upside down. He felt dizzy, his face began to sweat, no, his whole body began to sweat and shake. Piccolo then vomited into the small basket beside him. Not once, not twice, but over and over until he needed to catch a breath.

"Why don't we-bring you into the bathroom." Yusagie suggested as Piccolo wiped his mouth. His vomit was green, thick and almost transparent. That was when he knew it was time. He wasn't aware how awful he would feel, defeated and drained. Piccolo had been in pain for almost two months now, he was relieved it would come to an end but wasn't ready to face the challenge ahead.

Moving his body as slowly as he could, he stood up to walk to the bathroom in the hall, but it wasn't long before he clung to the toilet. His stomach felt upset, the vomiting hadn't stopped and continued through the night.