Chapter 7

Katrina awoke to a small nudge. She moaned slightly. "What time is it?"

"Early still." Piccolo grunted. "Get up."

Katrina rolled her eyes underneath the blanket and sat up. "What are you, an early bird?"

"I don't sleep...much."

Katrina paused for a second. "I should have known that..." She mumbled. "Well, I'm more of a lazy person so could you come back later? Much later?"

"Sorry, but no. Trust me, after a few months of this you won't be lazy. Now get up before I have to pick you up." Piccolo crossed his arms and stared down at her.

Katrina did not feel like moving. She had gotten quite comfortable on the grass. "What are we going to do today?" She asked.

"I'm going to teach you how to fly. It's pretty basic and easy to learn if you can keep up."

"Aren't we going to do it here? Why do I have to move?"

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "I'm going to take you up on a mountain flat. By the end of the day, you'll be flying off of it. It makes good motivation."

"So you're going to have to pick me up anyway..."

Piccolo glared. "You are such a baby..." Then he turned around. "I'm going to count to five. If you aren't up by then, I'll drop you back in the city. I don't deal with babies."

"Let me guess, you eat them right?"

Piccolo paused for a long time before saying, "One."

Katrina rolled her eyes.

"Two...Three...Four..." He counted off.

Katrina then appeared at his side.

Piccolo smirked. "I knew you would come around."

Katrina shrugged. "Actually I was already up when you said one. I was just fixing my hair."

"You should get it cut."

"Touch my hair and die."

"I'm just saying that with long hair like that, it'll be a problem for fighting and flying. If it gets much longer, you'll have to cut it."

"Don't worry. My hair doesn't seem to grow very fast. I've had it this length since I was five years old."

Piccolo dwelled a moment, just staring at her with an odd look.

Katrina cocked her head to the side a bit. "What is it?"

Piccolo seemed to snap out of it and shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing. Let get going, we're wasting daylight." He moved closer towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist. The white flame came around them again and they took to the air.

"What do you mean daylight?" Katrina asked as they grew closer towards a mountain range.

Piccolo remained silent as they neared a huge, brown mountain. They flew up quite a bit to reach the surprisingly flat top. When he landed, he set her down and pointed towards what had to be the East. "That daylight."

Katrina followed his gesture and looked. Her eyes widened. The sun looked so close from up there that it looked like you could reach out and touch it. It was beautiful to watch its gentle rays slowly come across the ground below and stretch over the flat mountain top.

Piccolo watched her. It's so strange...she has no fear of me whatsoever. And simple things like this amaze her...'Piccolo thought. Maybe she'd been locked away in that city for too long...no wonder she doesn't want to go back.

Katrina felt a sudden presence and turned to look at Piccolo. For the first time ever, she realized that he hadn't been wearing his turban or his shoulder weights for a little while. Nothing about his appearance was new except for the fact that he was bald and he had antennae on his forehead. She wasn't freaked out or anything, either. She only felt that his appearance was familiar.

They both looked at each other for long moments of time. Katrina realized that he wasn't glaring at her either. His face seemed gentler than before. Piccolo couldn't help but notice how her eyes sparkled in the morning sun.

Finally, Katrina turned her head away and walked over towards the edge of the cliff. Piccolo joined her by her side. She continued to stare at the morning life below her. "Thank you, Piccolo." She whispered without looking at him.

At first, he was a little perplexed. But then he understood. He didn't say it, but Katrina sensed a "you're welcome" from him. Then he turned and walked over towards the center.

Katrina remained a moment, still staring at the beauty. She never noticed that the rocks underneath were starting to give away. Finally, she heard a loud crack and looked down. The rocks beneath her feet started to crumble and slide down the steep slope of the mountain.

Piccolo also heard the crumbling and turned. Katrina started to scream as she began falling with the rocks.

"Kat!!" Piccolo hollered and rushed over. He was able to grab her just in time and pull her up away from the cliff. Katrina instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist and she watched the rocks tumble and fall. It wasn't until a few seconds later that they heard them hit the ground.

Both of them sighed in unison and realized a few seconds later that they had their arms wrapped around each other. Katrina turned a bright red and released him immediately. Piccolo did the same.

After another moment of silence, Piccolo finally retorted, "Watch where you're going next time."

Katrina glared up at him. "Oh yeah, I really knew that the cliff had a weak spot."

"I didn't have to save you, you know."

"Then why did you?" Katrina asked, setting her hands on her hips.

Piccolo didn't respond. He simply turned around and walked back over towards the center. Katrina didn't hesitate to join him this time.