Chapter 13

The beast seemed to stiffen when Piccolo mentioned that name. It gave a throaty growl before inching closer towards his face.

Piccolo's expression remained solid. "It is you, isn't it?"

The beast gave him his answer by adding more pressure onto his shoulders and digging its claws into his fleshy muscle. He cried out in pain as the claws broke the skin. He could feel his blood oozing out from the gashes.

The beast's eyes widened slightly when it heard Piccolo's screamed, and it eased its pressure. Piccolo took the opportunity and shoved the creature away. It skidded on the ground slightly but regained its composure.

Piccolo stood up shakily. He could barely move his arms to attack, but at that point he didn't want to fight. "Katrina, you've got to listen to me!" He shouted back at the creature. "I don't know what happened, but I can help you! Just stop this!"

The creature picked its head up slightly and sniffed the air. After sniffing the air, it growled again and swished its tail back and forth.

Great, now she smells my blood. Piccolo thought as he shakily lifted his hand and laid it on his opposite shoulder. His blood was still trickling from the open wounds. He clenched his teeth from the searing pain on his chest where she has sliced him.

He stared into Katrina's glowing red eyes and sent out compassion towards her. The beast raised its shoulders when it sensed the open emotion. It began to sniff the air again.

Piccolo could sense that she was letting her guard slip away, but he didn't want to hurt her badly. He just wanted to figure out how to reverse whatever she was under.

Wait a second--! He said to himself. The red eyes...and the full moon! He turned away from the creature and looked towards the sky. Sure enough, a full moon hung in the black, clear sky. "That's it!"

He looked back over at Katrina, who was back on red alert. She growled loudly at him and started galloping towards him. Piccolo just laughed and took to the air as high as he could go.

"If I take out the moon, she'll revert back to her normal self." He said out loud. He gathered as much energy as he could and fired a huge energy blast towards the white orb in the sky.

It took a little time, but the energy blast finally reached the moon and set off a massive explosion in the sky. Piccolo shielded his eyes from the light and slowly made his way back towards the ground.

As soon as he landed, he could hear the creature shrieking loudly. He walked over towards his shoulder weights and ripped the cape off like he had before. Piccolo walked over towards the crying creature. He picked it up in his arms and wrapped the blanket around it.

It opened its eyes wide at Piccolo as he cradled it in his arms. The red dissipated from its eyes and slowly reverted to black. Its massive paws slowly transformed back into her hands, and the black fur slowly disappeared until her normal skin tone was showing. On its face, its nose shrank until it was normal size, and her elongated fangs began to retract. From the fur on top of its head her normal raven black hair formed.

It took a little while longer, but soon, she was reverted back to her normal self. Piccolo stood up, still cradling her in his arms and slowly walked back towards camp. Gohan was still asleep when he got back, and he was glad. Piccolo laid Katrina down on her stomach, reached under the blanket—which was her only covering at the moment—and grabbed a hold at her long black tail. "I think you're the cause of that little episode as well." He said and with a hard yank, her tail popped out. He threw it to the side and looked over at Gohan. "I don't even wanna know what you'd transform into if you saw the moon." He knelt down and pulled Gohan's tail off as well.

There. He thought, tossing the tails away. Now with both tail and moon eliminated, there will be no chance of transforming ever again. He walked back over towards Katrina and sat down. He sat her up against his shoulder and made sure that she would be alright. Great, now I have to go out and get more clothes...

Katrina awoke and immediately felt a pounding headache and sore muscles the next morning. She could barely move from underneath the white blanket.

She tilted her head and saw that Piccolo and Gohan were sparring in the open field. She watched the fight for as long as she could but her eyes kept shifting towards Piccolo's tall figure. Katrina smiled warmly as she watched him.

When she finally realized that she couldn't take her eyes off of him, her eyes widened. Oh god... She thought to herself. I think...I think I'm in love... She thought as a slight blush rose to her cheeks.

She stared at his glistening body and nodded. "Yep. I'm definitely in love." She whispered under her breath. She figured it would be safer to say out loud than in her mind.

When Katrina finally mustered up enough strength, she managed to sit up against the large tree. She wrapped the blanket tightly around her when she noticed that she was completely nude. That shock added to her headache, so she whimpered in pain and held her head to get rid of the dizzy spell that plagued her.

Piccolo must have felt her energy disturbance because he told Gohan that he was done. Gohan frolicked off towards the lake to wash off the sweat and dirt. Piccolo walked over to where Katrina sat and knelt down beside her. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit..." She mumbled, closing her eyes to try and rid herself of the pounding.

Piccolo shifted his position so he was sitting cross-legged in front of her. "Do you remember anything of last night?" He asked her quite frankly.

Katrina slowly shook her head. "No...I don't. Does it involve why I'm nude?"

Piccolo nodded, a light blush rising to his cheeks. "Yeah, it does. But before I tell you," He lifted his hand and gently placed it on the top of her head. Katrina had a confused look on her face when a bright, white light engulfed her entire body. When it was gone, she had on heavy training clothes. "There." He muttered, removing his hand from her head.

"How did you do that?"

"Little thing I picked up while growing up." He shifted uncomfortably when he mentioned his past.

Katrina removed the blanket and looked over her new ensemble. She had another black, three quarter sleeved shirt on but this time, a red sleeveless shirt was on top of it. Her pants were the same crimson color with a dark brown belt to top it off. Her boots were the typical style of the era but rather heavy. She also had her fighters' gloves on and the leather shined brightly in the sun. "Thanks." She said as sincerely as she could, but her energy level didn't permit her to do much.

"No problem." He grunted, crossing his arms in front of his strong chest.

"So..." Katrina started, "What exactly happened last night?"

Piccolo hesitated for a second, thinking how he should put it. "Well...um...to put it simply, that dream of yours came true."

Katrina stiffened and sat up slightly with wide eyes. "The fire one?!"

"No, no. Not that one." Piccolo shook his head and he watched as she relaxed back up against the tree. "The other one came true. The one with the moon and the red eyes."

"But...that one didn't make sense."

"It didn't," he corrected her, "But it does now. You see, the full moon does something to a saiyan. And if they have their tail, they transform. I don't know about a normal saiyan, but you transformed into some type of cat beast. Nearly mauled me to death..." He whispered the last part, but it didn't do any good.

Katrina sat up again. "Are you serious?" Her eyes filled to the brim with concern. "W-what did I do, exactly?"

Piccolo sighed. "It was nothing. I'm fine now." He started to stand up when Katrina reached out and grabbed his hand tightly. He stopped but didn't look down at her.

"Please...tell me what I did to you..." Katrina begged.

"I said not to worry about it." Piccolo said, losing Katrina's grip and walking away from her.

But Katrina was never the type to listen. She shakily stood up and began to follow him out into the clearing. She stumbled down a small hill and nearly collapsed.

Piccolo suddenly reached out before she fell down and held onto to her tightly. Katrina looked into his eyes for a moment, but then she turned her attention to his neck. He saw what she was looking at and gave up. He tilted his head so his neck was exposed, showing one of the many gashes.

Katrina gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. She laid her other hand unconsciously on his chest, but when he flinched, she saw part of another huge gash.

"Dear Kami..." She muttered. She stared back into Piccolo's face but she turned away and broke his tight hold on her. Tears began to stream down her flushed face and her head began to pound even more. She held her head in her hands as she began to walk away from him back towards the tree.

"Katrina, wait!" Piccolo called out and walked after her.

"Don't come near me, Piccolo!" She sobbed. "I'm a monster... I'm a monster..." She repeated over and over again.

Suddenly, Piccolo appeared before her and caught her. He brought her into his arms and made her look at him. "You're not a monster..." He told her. "It wasn't your fault..."

"But it was still me!" Katrina sobbed. "I still did that to you, Piccolo!"

"Shhh..." Piccolo hushed her and began wiping her tears away. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is that it won't even happen again, so you have nothing to fear."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, tears still dripping from her chin. "Of course it can happen again!"

Piccolo shook his head and stared into her teary eyes. "No, it can't and won't. First of all, the moon in gone. I destroyed it. And second of all, your tail is gone, which is what I think triggered the transformation." Piccolo wiped her face a little before adding, "It won't ever happen again."

Katrina looked down in disbelief that her tail was gone, but sure enough, nothing was there.

"See?" Piccolo said, rubbing her arms gently.

Katrina nodded. Suddenly, she buried her face in his neck and continued to cry. Piccolo stared down at her, suddenly going numb. Slowly, he brought her closer towards him and he held her quickly rising and falling shoulders. "Everything's going to be ok, Kat..." He muttered quietly. Everything will be alright.