Author's notes: Hello everyone. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, what I can say I was busy. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed up to this point. I like knowing what people think good or bad. So all I can say is keep reading and reviewing.

Disclaimer: To think I nearly forgot. I don't own DBZ, never have never will, but if I did I'd have to invest in my own chocolate factory.

"Double quotations indicate conversations."

'Single quotations in italics indicate thoughts.'

Glossary :

Ohayo: Good morning

Baka: Idiot

Kuso: (Generally) damn or shit.

Kuririn was startled; he glanced back over his shoulder. 'What in Kami's name is going on?' Maya's aura settled to a soft glow, which progressively diffused to nothing. Until only a vague warmth and a faint sense of her quiet, stubborn will remained. Her dark eyes glittered with anger like two chips of tiger's eye, bright glossy, gold and cool. She retained her self control, stood very still. Even so, her whole body vibrated with quiet, cold fury.

Maya's eyes roved over the battle field took in the blood and destruction. Before they lit on Tien, who had some how found the strength to stand. There was something familiar about the way he was standing. A dull note of warning sounded in the back of her mind. 'Kuso! Too late! I can't stop him.' Before she could move, the blast drove into Nappa's body with deadly accuracy. It did nothing to halt the Saiya-jin's progress. But it drained Tien of the last of his strength, he shivered, exhausted and hopeless grief showed on his colourless face. Life ebbed with in him and he fell to the earth completely defeated. Motionless, Tien lay in the pool of his half congealed blood, the stump of his severed arm cessed to bleed. 'Dead men don't bleed.' Maya sighed and glanced from Tien's body to Vegeta. The Saiya-jin prince sensed her annoyance and smirked.

"He fought like a man and died like a dog." Vegeta's words arrogant, smug and completely with out compassion penetrated Maya's mind in a way that his earlier insults had not. Anger flared within her. The senshi were beyond shock, only Kuririn and Gohan cried out. A shrill sound of anger and grief that grated on the air as Kuririn yelled his defiance. Maya was relieved to find herself mercifully nub she felt no grief. She was instead filled with anger, regret and sorrow. Sorrow or not they had no choice but to continue to try. If only to up hold the fallen warriors' honour. The three adults watched the Saiya-jin warriors, angry and distrustful.

The Saiya-jin prince yelled at Nappa in a series of inaudible unintelligible words. The fight cessed abruptly. Vegeta said something about having a three hour break. Maya barely heard him; she glared at him with undisguised disgust. Vegeta had tried to unnerve Maya, 'baka human woman,' only to find she unnerved him! After a few minutes, Nappa grew restless and departed in search of something to do, Vegeta stayed. The senshi and the Saiya-jin prince regarded each other with equal distaste. Distrustful and wary Maya's eyes followed Vegeta's every movement unwilling to lose sight of him. They rested, waited out the three hours in nervous anticipation.

The three hours passed far too quickly. The battle recommenced when Nappa returned. It was then too that Maya sensed Gokou's familiar ki. It was time to put Piccolo's plan into action.

"Let's get on with it." She called quietly, Piccolo and Kuririn responded with the faintest of nods. The adrenalin pumped through Maya's veins it silenced her fears. Took with it the debilitating anxiety of waiting. She looked up at Vegeta the faintest glimmer of devilry in her eyes 'sadistic prick we'll leave Gokou to deal with him. He won't be so cocky when he's up against someone his own size.' Above the Saiya-jin prince smirked confident in the belief that no one could stop him. With his arms firmly folded, he was the very image of a smug, self satisfied bastard. No one felt the faintest sense of pity for the twisted man that the Saiya-jin prince had become.

"Finish them off. Now!" Nappa responded to the order with relish and bore down on the small group.

They powered up quickly, positioned themselves for retaliation. They kept their guard up, and watched Piccolo's progress. Piccolo took off and made a grab at Nappa's tail. He was agile and quick though tall, he caught hold of Nappa's long hairy tail and hung on. Piccolo's iron grip made no difference to the huge man's progress Nappa was unconcerned. Kuririn put his arm up palm upper most parallel to the ground and produced a flat spinning disc of energy, a Kienzan. It was loud, and bright the temptation to watch Kuririn use his new technique was strong. Maya resisted it and concentrated on warming up for her over offensive. Kuririn let the disc go it struck Nappa on the cheek but left only a small barley oozing graze.

Nothing that would assist in stopping him, 'Kuso.' The consensus wasn't good, still they had to try. Piccolo had let go of Nappa's tail and left the way clear for the rest of them to attack. Maya felt the energy crackle between her fingers, felt it burn up her arm. She released the thin pale blast aimed at Nappa's throat. Her aim as always was impeccable. The blast flashed outwards, on impact it completely hid the Saiya-jin from view. When the brightness of the blast and the dust settled Nappa again appeared unharmed.

"What are these guys made of?" Kuririn's disbelief echoed her own. 'How are we going to stop them if we can't damage them?' Nappa laughed at their amazement. They all suddenly became aware of Gokou. He was approaching rapidly.

"Hurry up and finish them off." Vegeta's voice was irritable. Nappa charged at Gohan who had no choice but to attack. He cupped his hands above his head gathered energy for a blast.

"Masenkou!" and let fly. Maya remained motionless as the blast ricocheted past her and into Nappa. It made no impact on the mammoth man as was expected. 'All our efforts are proving to be a waste of time and energy. So what do we do?' Nappa more angry than anything fired a huge energy beam at Gohan. There was no stopping it the best they could do was to remove Gohan from its path. Gohan shaken cried out. Maya felt the back wash of energy burn her skin, she moved not entirely sure of her intentions. Only knowing that she would never be able to live with herself if she let Gohan die. Piccolo beat her too it, Maya braced herself. She sild to a halt bare millimetres from the blast. Piccolo used his body to shield Gohan from the blast to protect him. At the cost of him own life. For a moment Piccolo remained up right then, he fell his body ravaged by the blast.

"Piccolo san, Piccolo san don't die. " Gohan continued to say at infinitum as Piccolo's life energy faded away.

Maya watched sadly as Gohan clung to Piccolo's lifeless body. It made her so intolerably angry to see Gohan's unnecessary grief and the unnecessary slaughter that had caused it. Gohan eyes wild went to attack Nappa. Maya shuddered she realised all to well what the out come would be. Frantic she stepped between them braced herself for the impact. Nappa laughed a dull laugh that grated on Maya's over stressed nerves.

The power and velocity of the impact, of their bodies nearly swept Maya of her feet. Nappa was tall and heavy far heavier than she had thought and he had been moving quite fast. Maya weighted barely half as much as the huge Saiya-jin. 'I've got to stop him. somehow. I have to find a way.' Nappa bore down on her pushed her into the ground. Maya began to feel a bit breathless, pain began to pulse in her legs and shoulders. She was at a loss, 'what the hell am I going to do?' At that moment, she felt the hard edge of the sword hilt twist in her palm. 'Great, just great.'

Maya closed her fingers on the sword with renewed determination. 'If he wants to kill me, he's going to find that I don't go down with out a fight.' Nappa's body bore down with unrelenting pressure driving the oxygen from her lungs. His large, rough hands pulled strands of hair from her plait, groped for a grip on her body. Nappa's body and the smell of his sweat surrounded her. 'If I'm going to do this I'll have to do it now.' Pain flooded her body, her mind she fought to bring the blade up, to steady it. Her mind filled with images of Yamcha, Tien, Chaozu and Piccolo's deaths all a result of the bastard that was now trying to take her life. A mixture of anger and adrenalin gave her the strength that she so desperately needed.

The sword quivered the unsteadiness of her hands amplified by the weight and length of the blade. Slowly, painfully Maya drew the blade in between them forced it up. The blade bounced off the ridges on Nappa's torso plate. It jarred her arms and her hands began to ache, her legs threatened to give under the force. Finally, level with what would be if he were human, his spleen Maya put all her weight behind the sword and pushed. Forced the sword up and in. Nappa supremely confident or unaware of the danger continued to force her into the ground. Maya stopped fighting she stopped fending off Nappa's groping hands and focused her strength on the hard steel in her hands. His own momentum cracked his chest plate and drove the blade between his ribs.

The incredible force of Nappa's weight made it virtually impossible to breathe. Maya was only vaguely aware of the warm fluid that ran over her hands and spilled on to her legs. It a disjointed way she was aware that Nappa was bleeding, but for a moment her muddled brain could not understand why. Nappa was surprised. He flung himself off of Maya furious, surprised and in pain. Several long bloody strands of Maya's hair still clasped between his fingers.

Everyone watched in stunned silence. Maya shook, her breathing was heavy, but she remained up right. Nappa was hurt. He drew his hand across his ribs surprised, disbelieving. The same emotions were for a split second mirrored in the face of the Saiya-jin prince. No one saw their eyes were focused on the short, thin woman soaked in her adversary's blood. Vegeta could not believe it he cursed inwardly at what he perceived to be Maya's luck.

Maya somehow retained the sense to hang on to the sword. She forced her lax fingers to grip the handle again. The blade steadily disengaged from Nappa's ribs as he retreated. The suddenness of Nappa's retreat carried her along for a few steps. 'Baka man.' Maya was too tired to think of a more imaginative insult. Blood welled brightly in the incision, as more of the sword slipped from his body the flow of blood increased. Maya was pale, her pupils wide unusually dilated she looked young and vulnerable, no one would have known she was older than Nappa. Wisps of hair hung in her eyes and around her face from her half undone plait. Blood flowed sluggishly from a dozen minor lacerations and one much larger one. The heavy Celtic cross and flat gold disc, that she had worn continuously for the last twenty odd years slipped free from her shirt and winked in the sunlight. Past and present merged. She was no longer sure who the fallen were. Yamcha, Tien and Piccolo or her brethren. Sweat ran into the open wounds making them sting. Maya shook her head tried to clear her clouded thoughts. Her body trembled. Her breath came in rough gasps each one emphasised by the restless jangle of the cross and the disc on their chain. Her clothes stuck to her skin with a combination of sweat and blood, mostly Nappa's. She struggled to stand up right, to stop shaking. As she straightened her spine, she felt the familiar roar of over stressed muscles, nerves and bones. Blood pounded in her head, distorted her thinking.

"Fucked bitch!" Nappa cursed at her freely once the initial shock and surprise had worn off. The shining flat disc caught the sunlight. It reminded her of how far she'd come, renewed her flagging determination, and sparked off her anger. 'How dare he! Just who does he think he is!'

"Just shut it, you baka whining jackass. What did you expect? You started this." Maya snapped she managed to sound in control and defiant despite her breathlessness. Nappa's face coloured up. 'Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.' Nappa charged, blood still strickling from his wound, dripped onto the ground. Maya sighed 'not again, doesn't he learn,' she had no choice but to hold her ground Gohan and Kuririn where still behind her. Another of Kuririn's Kienzans flew past her as she rocked the blade back up into the defensive position. Waited for the impact that never came.

(2002)