I felt a light tapping on my shoulder and shifted in my sleep, snuggling deeper into the depths of Piccolo's lap. Too tired... Too comfortable...

TAP TAP TAP

God dammit...

TAP TAP TAP

I opened one eye and saw Jay-chan looming above me smirking. The sunlight caught my eye and I moaned. Not morning. Anything but morning. Well... anything but THIS morning. I glanced over at Jay-chan again and snickered when I saw her giving me a thumbs up.

Piccolo stirred and I buried my face in his lap, pretending to be asleep. I was on the floor within seconds.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, TA?" Piccolo gave me a meaningful look but I was too tired to catch on.

"You said I could sleep on you last night..."

"WHAT THE FUCK?! I NEVER SAID THAT!" His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched.

"Yeah you did... You said that after we---"

"Piccolo," Jay-chan sighed, "You can stop trying so hard. You think I didn't notice that Tiffy never came back upstairs last night?"

The demon lord lowered his fists. "I have to go."

Jay-chan was staring at the floor, "You shouldn't leave."

Piccolo continued on like she hadn't said a word, "TA, we have to go back to your place. I told Dende to meet me there when everything is all set up and ready to make the wish."

I lowered my head as well, "Okay..."

The Namek came over and scooped me into his arms. He was almost to the door when Jay-chan stopped us. "Take me too. I wanna see you off..."

"I thought you were mad at me," Piccolo replied.

"I still am, but I can hate you later... Right now, I wanna see you off and be there when you leave Tiffy all by herself."

"Thanks..." Piccolo snorted, his brows drawn low over his eyes. He opened the front door and then cast a glance over his shoulder, "You coming or what?"

Jay-chan pranced over to us and Piccolo transferred me to his left arm, holding me like he would a sac of potatoes. Grabbing up my best friend in his other arm, the demon lord took to the skies.

No words were exchanged during the flight. You thought it was bad when I had hair flying in my face, you should have seen Jay-chan! She looked like a living, breathing Cousin It!

When we got to my apartment, I took my time finding my keys and opening the door. I could already tell Dende-sama was waiting for us... Sure enough, the younger Namek was in my living room.

"Good to see you again, Piccolo-san!" the youthful Namek approached Pic with outstretched arms, but the older Namek brushed right past him.

"Lets get this over with..." he mumbled.

Dende-sama gave us a sympathetic smile, "My name is Dende, the guardian of the Earth, but I guess you two already know that."

We shook hands with the teenaged Piccolo look-alike before he turned to the demon sitting on my couch. "Goku and Gohan have the dragon balls ready. They're gunna summon Shen Ron and then we have to leave. The bridge will close behind us, effectively protecting this world and ours."

Piccolo was gnawing on his lower lip. Is he okay? He made us leave so suddenly... I never got a chance to talk to him about last night.

"Piccolo-san?" Dende's smile was faltering. "Are you ready?"

"Of course I am!" he snapped. "Don't ask foolish questions!"

Jay-chan marched forward suddenly. Piccolo didn't even bother to look up at her. "Piccolo!"

The Namek lifted his head only to meet her open palm. The loud smack of skin on skin echoed throughout my apartment and Dende-sama jumped back. "Oh my!"

Jay-chan snarled, her face menacing, despite the single tear that was trickling down her cheek. "How can you just leave her like that?! You bastard! How?! My God, you have some nerve! So you get what you want from Tiffy the night before you leave and you're done?"

Dende-sama whirled around and gave me an astonished look. I just stood there with my eyes stuck wide open, the blush on my cheeks nearly burning through my skin.

"You weren't supposed to see that," Piccolo answered back.

"Do you WANT me to hit you again?! I wasn't supposed to see what, Piccolo, that you actually care about Tiffy? What's so wrong with that?---"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT TA!"

Um... Wow... I really don't wanna be here right now... My stomach clenched up and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"You're such a jerk!" Jay-chan screamed. "I really thought you might be different from all the other bad guys out there, but I guess I was wrong! You're, like, King of the Assholes!"

"I. Have. To. GO, Jay-chan! You wanna shut the fuck up already? I gave her fair warning last night. I told her not to mess with me; she brought this on herself. She's almost 20 years old; she's old enough to make her own decisions. If she didn't want to get hurt, she should have backed the fuck off!"

I felt Dende-sama wrap his arm around my back, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze. I shuddered, the tears falling beyond my control. I'm sick. I feel so sick. I'm gunna throw up... I fell for it again. I gave myself to someone horrible again. I'm diseased. What's wrong with me? Oh God... My heart feels like it's tearing in two... I never meant for this to happen. Never. I'm so STUPID!

"I hate you!" Jay-chan cried. "You're the biggest jerk I've ever met! You're worse than her ex! You have no heart at all! Tiffy was wrong about you! I was wrong about you! You don't deserve someone as caring as Tiffy... and you'll live to regret what you've done here for the rest of your life!"

"Jay-chan," I choked on a sob. "Leave him alone. He's right, I should have known better... I've known this whole time that he doesn't feel for me the way I feel for him... but I... I wanted to be with him... even just once... It was my fault."

I looked up at Piccolo, seeing his image distorted and blurry through my tears. His expression was unreadable. He let out an enormous sigh.

"Why the hell can't you hate me, TA? Why can't you make this any easier?---"

"Piccolo-san! The sky! It's turning black! We have to go now!" Dende-sama shouted from his place beside me.

Piccolo's eyes never left mine. "This could have been so much easier, TA... Why did you have to screw around with things? Why did you have to cause yourself more pain?"

"What about you?!" I screamed. "Stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself! What do you feel? Am I the only one suffering here or could you possibly feel the same?!"

My room shifted and the floor began to rumble. The dishes in the kitchen began rattling against each other and the corner of my living room became fuzzy and pixilated. After a few moments a dark patch of black void gapped before all of us.

Dende-sama rushed to Piccolo's side, "We have to go NOW!"

"PICCOLO!" I screamed. "What do you want?!"

Dende-sama was halfway through the portal. "NOW PICCOLO!"

I watched in silent agony as Piccolo wheeled around and ran toward Dende-sama.

Why, Piccolo? Why?

His green hand thrust forward and slammed into the guardian, throwing him backward into the portal.

What the heck?

His moccasined feet dug into the carpet, slowing his forward motion. A pair of intense obsidian eyes locked with mine. His thin lips were moving in unison, forming words that came to my astonished ears with a second delay.

"PICCOLO-SAN!" I heard Dende-sama cry out from the depths of the abyss.

"Tell Gohan thank you for me..." Piccolo called into the portal, his eyes never leaving my face. His outstretched hand began to glow and the demon pointed two fingers toward the opening. A small lightening bolt of energy shot forward, zapping the gateway closed. Forever.

Jay-chan's mouth was hanging off its hinges.

Piccolo stood in my living room, his eyes still locked in a trance with mine.

I stood frozen to the floor. Oh... my... God...

"You better not make me regret this, TA..." he snorted.

I squealed and raced forward, tackling Piccolo with a hug.

A/N: I just wanted to take this time to thank all of you who have taken the time to read and review this story. It's great to see old friends and new Piccolo fanatics enjoying my modest work here on Thanks for all the support and enjoy the rest of the story!