Disclaimer: FUNi pwned me. It's in chapter two.

Heh heh, yeah I knew what you meant Ace. I'm just messing around. :P My A/Ns are crazier than the contents of my stories, sometimes. Give me an inch; I take a mile, yadda yadda. I better shut up before I sound more deranged than I really am as well.

The first order of business after lift off seemed to be to laugh at Uwaki's head that Piccolo still had in the storage box, quickly followed by drinking and smoking.

"I still can't believe that you had the nerve to kill those bastards and not leave anything for me." She tapped the ashes from her roll onto a plate beside her chair, which looked almost like a couch in the way it was reclined. "I would have loved to ring Shuran's neck, even if it has been years."

Piccolo was sitting as he usually did on the ground about 2 meters away from her. "Heh, sorry. I didn't even remember them when I killed them. I just remembered that I hated them. Plus, I was too busy trying to get out of the mania. You understand, right?"

"Oh sure, sure. I understand. I guess I can't complain too much. Your life over on Earth has been a royal pain in the ass in comparison to mine. One problem after another, and dying twice."

He chuckled. "You say that as if you had no worries. Lately its hard to see anything of you that doesn't involve your duties."

"That's because I've been gone without setting anything up, so I've had to catch up with all the things that I've missed. I've taken long vacations from it many times. I've told you that."

"Your vacations consist mostly of training."

"I wouldn't think of that as being all that surprising."

"I suppose not." A pause took place afterwards. I guess it's now or never. "Atsarute, what is the deal with Kenturion? You said that he was the one with the attitude problem, but I could see clearly when you bumped into him that he wasn't." He had more questions concerning Kenturion, but he thought it best to not bring up the dream.

She gave a slow exhale and looked to the side, the lines of humor erased from her face. "He used to be that way. When I first told you about my suitors, he still was. Such a spoiled brat. But… I guess the best way to say it is that he grew out of it. He keeps a charade up because I asked him to."

"But why?"

"Mother," she growled, "She's always bothering me to marry, but, luckily, she hates both of my prophesized suitors, otherwise she would bother me even more. She hates Kenturion because of that haughty attitude, so he keeps it up in front of her."

"Why does she dislike Sanatoasu?"

Atsarute shrugged. "How should I know? She decides to hate people on the weirdest things. He probably just rubbed her the wrong way several years ago and she hasn't forgiven him."

Another gap in the conversation sprung up, and Piccolo sorted through his questions. He couldn't fully form his next question in his head before she spoke first, "Why did you come with me, anyway?"

Piccolo twitched a bit, but then resolved in his head that this might be the best way to continue the dialogue. "I panicked."

"Panic? That sounds like an excuse."

"Heh. For what? I panicked because of how events have gone so far."

"And what about that would make you panic? You're healed; I'm healed. We're all good."

Piccolo hesitated before continuing, "I heard something about you and Sanatoasu."

"And what did you—" Then it seemed to strike her, "—Uh… I…"

"It really did happen, didn't it?"

She turned her body fully away from the Namek. "It was a long time ago."

"So, it was only once?"

"…Twice actually."

He felt a pang, but continued undaunted. "Do you love him?"

"No!" She spun around into a sitting position and glared down at Piccolo.

"Then why?"

"Hormones! Emotions! Lots of stupid little things, gnawing away at me at once!" Atsarute made a low, defensive growl. Despite it, Piccolo rose and approached her. Her snarls grew louder, and when he stopped before her, she snapped her teeth at him, then crossed her arms and closed her eyes, taking a calmer (but still angry) look on her face.

He put a hand on each of her shoulders. Her eyelids twitched as she kept herself from abiding her reflexes to open her eyes from the contact. The two were completely still for several moments before she pressed the lit blunt onto his hand. He jumped backwards and stared straight at her, defensively pulling the damaged hand away from the afflicter. She seemed eerily still, she didn't even seem to be breathing; the only movement coming from her was the smoke emitting from the now slightly bent cigarette. The expression on her face was blocked by her bangs, rendering it unreadable.

At length, the general brought the blunt back up to her lips and took a hit from it. "Can I ask you some questions, Piccolo?" Smoke poured from her mouth as she spoke.

He looked down at the slight burn mark (which really was slight; not much more than a slight darkening of skin since his green hide was hard to damage) and nodded. "I believe you have sufficient right to."

To his surprise, she leaned back and took on a smug grin. "Do such questions actually hold an importance?"

"Well, they hold importance to me."

"And the way you phrased it, it seems to me that hearing about what Sanatoasu and I have done was the event, or at least among the events, that caused you to panic. Am I correct?"

"Yes."

Atsarute chuckled slightly to herself and put out her cigarette in the tray beside her. "And you came with me because I'm going to see him before running off on my own?"

"…I wouldn't go that far, Atsarute. It has more to do with your not coming back after seeing him. I've been wanting to talk with you a lot since our 'reunion'."

"Ah, I see… I have one last question, Piccolo."

"Sure."

"Does Dorai still love Jin?"

He sat for a moment in silence then grinned back at her. "How could someone who never existed love? Especially when the person they're supposed to love also doesn't exist."

"Hmm?" Atsarute gave a stunned look before she began laughing again. "I've forgotten that you actually have some wit to you, Piccolo. Okay, so 'Dorai' and 'Jin' are just a couple of fictional characters in an old love story." She picked up her bottle and took a swig from it before wiping her chin and replacing the glass container back on the floor. "That's fine by me; I'm satisfied. Now, next conversation…"

"How about that song… 'Nothing More Dangerous', I think it was called?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"These are the things Sanatoasu wanted, right?" Atsarute kicked the crate in front of her closer to the soldier. The man fidgeted before peeking at the contents and making a tentative nod of approval before motioning others to take it away.

"Uhh…" The man seemed incredibly anxious around Atsarute. "Lord Sanatoasu wishes to speak with you."

"I would prefer to speak with my sister-in-law."

"Atsarute-sama, please. She is quite busy at the moment. Besides, our lord wishes to spar with you as he had in the past."

"Well… okay. I suppose one sparring session wouldn't hurt." She looked back at Piccolo, who was doing his best to not sulk. "Wanna come, Piccolo? You might be overpowered early, but a good, three-way battle would do us all some good, I think."

"I guess it would be better than just sitting around this place." He was referring to the landscape of Karigo-sei, which, although it certainly had interesting vegetation and a wondrous horizon in the distance, it had black, sandy ground that seemed to stick like soot and whirled up into the air without much effort. It didn't take long to annoy him.

The soldier escorted the pair into the lord's mansion and gestured the Namek to stay behind in the main room as he brought the general to his lord. Piccolo reluctantly sat and waited, now trying to amuse himself with the decorations of the inner walls. "At least this guy's taste isn't too terrible; it's better than what Son and his wife do to their house, for sure." He scanned over the sculptured walls and the tall paintings, trying to figure out what they were depicting. Probably something that happened in their history, he reasoned, since they were mostly of Karigo-sei-jin fighting amongst themselves.

He didn't have to wait long, though. He could hear Atsarute's voice, along with another's, approaching from down the hall she was lead earlier. They appeared before long; Atsarute and a man with copper-toned skin, dark eyes, and long, black hair that was tied back and bound in something similar to a chonmage. His clothing looked to be a mesh of black silk robes and chrome paladin armor.

When the man saw him, he extended his hand in greeting and smiled. "Ah! You must be Piccolo-sama from Katatsu-sei. I'm Sanatoasu. Atsarute has said a bit about you and suggested that the three of us spar together." He walked out ahead of them. "Come. I'll take you to the grasses. It's better to spar there since there's so much room and the dust doesn't blow up in the eyes."

Atsarute turned to Piccolo. "Would you prefer with or without weapons?"

"Without is fine."

"Heh," Sanatoasu began, "That's not as fun as when you have lots of things, but if you drop out first, Piccolo-sama, I'm sure you won't mind if Atsarute and I continue with weapons."

"Why would I care?"

"That's good." Then there was little sound between the three outside of their own footsteps before the lord stopped suddenly and looked back at them. "There are… only two of you, correct?"

Atsarute raised a brow. "Yes, why?"

He shrugged and continued forward. "It's nothing. I just thought I heard a third person breathe or something a second ago. Must've been my imagination."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Sanatoasu predicted, Piccolo dropped out of the sparring session first, but it wasn't out of exhaustion. Instead, he found that he was more interested in watching them fight instead of trying his own skills against them. Their techniques intrigued him, and he felt more inclined to study them than test them.

Atsarute was much more serious with Sanatoasu in the beginning than she was with Kenturion; her blows were much more precise, and her techniques were applied even more heavily. Piccolo came to realize what her main point tended to lay: disorienting the opponent. He supposed that it had to do with her being a general, and such an attribute is invaluable in tactics for her men to gain an advantage. Her movements were full of deceptive flashes and spins, making it hard to keep one's eye on her even if she wasn't going particularly fast. He imagined that if they had been fighting on dirt instead of turf, that sandy-substance would be whirling around them, upset into Sanatoasu's eyes by the general herself.

Despite her techniques, however, Sanatoasu seemed largely unfazed. Between the two, Atsarute seemed to be having much more trouble, whereas he seemed to be purely enjoying himself.

The two used several different weapons that were supplied for them against each other, but had resolved to swordplay. Atsarute gradually got more aggressive, starting to gain an indigent air in her offence. Sanatoasu kept his cool, though, parrying her calmly and dodging when necessary, before going into his own attack. Swings were exchanged, and the two kept the other at a distance for some time, but he eventually began to over power her.

He forced her back from another met blow, and, seemingly without reason, small streams of blood shot out from newly made cuts on her skin. She didn't show any pain, but her stamina was dropping; her chest rose and fell sharply with each breath, and sweat hung off her brow like it had just rained. She made another lunge for Sanatoasu, but he instantly disappeared and appeared behind her, his blade at her throat.

"I believe this is what they call 'checkmate', dear Atsa." He said, triumph slipping into his voice along with a hint of… amorousness? The inflections alarmed Piccolo greatly. He strained his eyes on the blade that brushed lightly on her neck and his ears on his voice that he kept at a volume meant to be heard only by Atsarute.

"Your fighting is still quite desperate against me, even though we only spar. I told you, again and again, that I would not have a wedding fight against you because you do not wish it. I won't force you into marriage… no matter how much I might care for you. Atsa… Heh. You're still quite sensitive, aren't you? You don't mind being seen naked, and you can take any sort of harshness against your skin, but if it's done softly, perhaps with fondness behind it, you squirm away as quickly as you can. That's why, isn't it? Why you fear those Namekku-sei-jin boy schools, and why you fear losing to me…"

Atsarute clenched her hand tightly around her sword and spun around. "Ha!" Her slice cut through the air and into his neck below the chin, and his head flew off and onto the ground. The surprising action was trumped by Sanatoasu's knee burying into her ribs, causing her to double over as his body walked over, bent down, and picked up the head, replacing it on his shoulders.

"Still with the decapitation," Sanatoasu sighed, "I swear, that seems to be your favorite method of killing since you get a nice trophy out of it. You've tried so many times to do that with me, that I got tired of you cutting my hair in the process each time, so I bind it up whenever you come." He smiled. "Other than that, it's really no pain to me, Atsa. You know that."

"Damnit!" She gasped with her bruised diaphragm, "Damnit, damnit, damnit! After all this time… all this fucking work… I still can't defeat you!" She tried to stand up, but found the effort too painful and fell to her side and rolled onto her back, still gulping for air.

Piccolo could no longer stand by the sidelines and came to her side. "Do you need help?"

"—No!" Atsarute pushed out, "I don't need anything! Nothing is broken or ruptured! I'm fine!"

"Well…" The lord put the weapons back into their chest and called for a soldier to move them back into the mansion. "I trust that you two can find your way back to your ship. I'm not about to scratch on Atsa's pride by offering her a hand in something as simple as walking. Take care." And he was gone.

Piccolo looked back down on her. "He calls you 'Atsa' as well?"

She laughed a bit and winced as she pulled herself to a sitting position. "You shouldn't be able to say that you're surprised."

"I'm not."

Atsarute yanked herself up and stood, half-heartedly making a straight posture before starting to walk in a dragging pace. "Well, we're done here. Let's go."

Chonmage – A traditional Japanese male hairstyle (often called a "top-knot" by English-speakers) that is now usually worn only by Sumo wrestlers. Traditionally, one would shave part of his head, but I couldn't imagine that Sanatoasu would.
I got a Wacom tablet! Woohoo!
This means the next fanfic picture that I'm going to draw will be much quicker. So send in requests, already! The link for the voting will follow soon after. :)