A/N: If I haven't mentioned it before now, this story is not JUST about our Prince. It's also about those whose lives revolve with his…

Happy Birthday Vegeta

Chapter 4: An Introduction to Sirabi

"Please come in out of the cold, Kami." She stepped back into the room and gestured for him to enter the cabin, which he did in a blast of frigid air and swirling snow. He glanced at the floor where clumps of snow were quickly melting into puddles, and without thought, the tiniest flare of ki from his fingertips evaporated the mess.

Sirabi hissed as his power pulsed through her body and left her quivering. She forced herself to move, hoping to disguise her response with motion. She brushed past him silently, causing a frission of…awareness…in him.

Her height equaled his but she moved with a grace that belied it as she took a steaming kettle from the hearth and placed it on the table. Looking up, a curtain of sable hair framed her face, and she seemed surprised that he hadn't followed her into the room. She inhaled slowly, hoping to assuage the need he evoked, praying her voice would not betray her and tremble as her body did.

"Tea, Kami?"

Piccolo started for the table, and froze dead in his tracks when he saw it. It was set cozily for two, with tiny china cups and matching saucers, lace-edged napkins, and polished silver spoons. A single rose bud waited in a faceted crystal vase. In the center of it all, luminescing on an ornate brass stand, was the number five dragonball.

"Who…are…you?" Piccolo all but growled.

She was unable to suppress the answering smile that curved across her face and stole his breath.

"You know who I am. Or at least I think part of you does." Her voice slid around him, through his sensitive ears, sultry, suggestive. There, in the back of his mind, was that…awareness, again. He stared hard at her heart-shaped face, and amber eyes, and remembered. Rather, Kami remembered.

Kami remembered a much younger Sirabi, before the life lines had gathered beside those almond eyes or beside her laughing mouth. He remembered training with her in the Solar Temple, the teachers all greatly impressed by her potential as a healer and seer. He also recalled their concern about her sensitivity to energy, a weapon too easily used against her he thought with warmth. To his shame, when he became Guardian, she was one of the things he had to leave behind.

"Sirabi…is it?" Piccolo's throat was dry. So little was an actual threat to his person, that very few things had the power to un-nerve him. But this, was just bizarre. She stirred his memories of Kami, whose regret was overpowering… In an attempt to distract himself, he looked pointedly at the windowless walls and asked, "How did you know I was here?"

Golden eyes narrowed in disbelief, then she shrugged, a small casual shift of her shoulders. "Even if I were not a gifted seer, you were lit like a lantern in this storm."

He nodded, but floundered internally, until Kami entered the conversation in his mind.

Kami - "She has been trained to perceive your energy signal, not unlike Goku and the others warriors. It has always been something of a strong suite for her." A wave of admiration and respect for Sirabi flooded his system and bent his mind.

Accustomed to being the dominant presence in his mind made it very hard for Piccolo to suddenly share the space. He fought the thoughts and feelings thrust upon him, that were not his own. He shook his head abruptly, however, it did not make the voice go away. In fact, it seemed to clarify it.

Kami - "I think this is no chance meeting…" Piccolo grabbed his head and groaned as a flash of Kami's hope took root in his heart.

Sirabi moved quickly, putting her hands on Piccolo's chest she pushed him into one of the waiting chairs.

"Easy, friend…" she soothed. "Kami, shut up for a moment, the boy is clearly having difficulty adjusting."

Piccolo - 'Boy?'

Kami expanded his awareness, until Piccolo's body, was his.

Those steady hands on his chest, the sound of a voice he never thought to hear again, her breath warm against his throat….Piccolo grimaced as admiration flared into a desire that wasn't his. It was not his hands that grabbed her waist and pulled her onto his lap, and it for damn sure wasn't his idea to kiss her, but he did. That wide, soft mouth was sweeter than all of his memories. With a sigh, her hands moved tohis face, touching hesitantly, almost reverently. Tears pearled in the corners of her eyes, and slid down her cheeks.

"Kami, you do remember…I was so afraid…"

"I never forgot Sirabi." his voice was low and strained with emotion. "There were things I had to do." He kissed her again, intent on taking her taste with him when he had to leave her again, as he knew he would.

"Hai," she mumbled against his mouth, "I know of your Guardianship, and I know of your sacrifice to stop Cell…I was afraid, so afraid, you'd be gone when you re-joined with Piccolo…"

Kami froze, and then groaned as he pulled his mouth away. He sighed heavily, and leaned his forehead against hers. "Sirabi, I have no right to pursue this without Piccolo's consent. This will have to be settled between the three of us."

Piccolo - 'Damn right you have no right! Settled! How the hell are we supposed to settle this Kami!"

Sirabi's appealed to Piccolo. "You are not so different from Kami, in the beginning perhaps, but not now. I would like for us, to get…acquainted."

"Can we start with you getting off my lap!" his words stung bitterly, and he gasped as Kami's anger shot through his skull like a knife.

Kami - "Do not be rude Piccolo. I think you and I should discuss this…later. After you have fulfilled Bulma's request."

Sirabi stood very reluctantly, her eyes burned into Piccolo's with the heat of a thousand emotions before she broke away. She moved to the other side of the table, dragging her fingers gently over the surface of the dragonball as she sat, trailers of orange plasma bloomed beneath her touch. "Of course." she took a cleansing breath and spoke softly. "The dragonballs." She stared at the unusual globe, slipping easily into trance, her eyes reflecting the stars within.

"She seeks with the purest of motives, to heal the one she loves." A frown creased her brow, and the things she saw, wrenched a cry straight from her heart, to her lips. "Kami! You know what the Prince has been through!" It is a half question only, for she knows the answer already. She shook her head in denial, of the things that have been, and of the things that would be. "What she asks cannot be done. It exceeds the power of Shenlon. Perhaps... if the Saiyan Prince asks the correct question, the dragon may yet hold his answer."

Sirabi blinked free of the trance, her eyes burdened with shadows from her vision. She took the globe from its stand, and held it out, but as Piccolo reached for it, she snatched it back. There was a hard glint in her eyes, that softened as she spoke. "I will gladly contribute to her cause, to a greater extent than you might like…But this matter between us, can not go unresolved." She held the ball out once more, allowing Piccolo to take it.

"Agreed." Piccolo felt Kami's relief, as he stashed the ball in his cloak and prepared to leave. Sirabi leaned in close, and kissed him.

"Thank you Piccolo."

With a nod to Sirabi, and a small stab of envy from Kami, Piccolo opened the door and disappeared into the snow.

Bulma's Lab

Piccolo arrived at the lab with a look of great confusion on his normally implacable face. He retained his silence as he handed the dragonball to Bulma.

"The natives weren't hostile were they?" Bulma teased.

Kami - "Hardly."

Piccolo's eyes widened, and he shook his head slightly. "Not hostile, no. All the same I think Gohan can handle the next one alone. I have some…. meditating to do."

Gohan and Bulma watched bemused as the Namek left muttering to himself.

"I don't think it's such a good idea for you to go alone on this next one, Gohan…the natives may really BE hostile."

He smiled his father's smile, and replied, "Tell me what you know and then we'll decide."