Piccolo stared at the young woman. He was letting the news sink in, letting her make the first move.

He was still worried about her. The break in her control over herself was terrifying, he wasn't sure what made her stop mid – pounce but she had.

DBZ

After her blood – curdling howl she started to dash to the man, Nappa he leaned was his name, he had stepped in the way. He had expected her to dodge him but instead she stopped not three inches away from colliding with him.

Her pupils were tiny and the warm brown irises seemed to be tinted with red. But that must have been a trick of his vision. Goku grabbed her around the middle but she wasn't doing anything. She was staring at Piccolo with those wide eyes and he didn't know what to do exactly.

Then she went limp, she hadn't passed out, she just gave up. Piccolo had brought her to her room but he decided not to leave. He wasn't sure leaving her alone would be a good idea, instead, he sat down at her desk and waited for Bulma to stop by which she undoubtedly will.

Nira didn't move from where she was placed on her bed. She was on her back, on arm on her stomach and the other out to her side. She kept clenching and unclenching her fist. She had cut her palms with her nails and was getting blood all over the sheets but neither she or Piccolo minded. Her eyes were open and a little glazed over as she stared at the ceiling. Piccolo watched her chest rise and fall in steady intervals. It was almost soothing, to watch her breath as if she were asleep.

When Bulma finally showed up Piccolo went in search of the man that had killed Nira's brothers.

DBZ

"So, he's going to be killed." Nira finally said in a monotone after a straight five minutes.

Piccolo nodded, "Yeah, he's getting the chair.

Nira nodded, her black hair bouncing,

"No comment?" Piccolo raised a non - existent brow.

Nira sighed heavily, "I don't know. I mean, I'm upset. I'm just not sure what I'm upset about." She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. "For most of my life – the last thirteen years of it – I've wanted nothing more than to watch that guy die at my hands." She slowly looked up at Piccolo, "And when I finally had the chance to do it, I didn't."

"I was wondering about that." Piccolo was sitting cross - legged on his chair with his arms crossed – like always but there was a different air about him. He hadn't noticed, but Nira had. "Why didn't you? You could have dodged me easily."

Nira shook her head, running her hand through her hands, "I just, I saw you. And I – I" she started tugging at her black locks, "I realized how scary I must have been. I was so ready to kill him." She accidently pulled some hair out, "Just like he killed my brothers and I just – I didn't want to be like that."

Piccolo took the girls hands away from her hair. Nira hadn't noticed him get up and was even more surprised by the uncommon physical contact. Piccolo was well known to be anything but a touchy person. Nira was shocked to see how big his hands were, they nearly dwarfed her petite ones.

Piccolo huffed, "Stop pulling out your hair. Its unbecoming."

Nira narrowed her eyes at the green haired man and slowly took her hands back and crossed them tightly around her. Much like she's seen Piccolo done on many occasions.

Piccolo stared down at the young woman. Why is she so ridiculously hard to understand?

"Yeah, you were out of control but you stopped yourself." She still didn't look at him, "Look at me." He commanded.

Nira slowly looked up at her doctor.

"Look, Nira, believe it or not but I'm pretty damned proud of you for snapping yourself out of that. And you know me, I don't tell that to people lightly." He said, in his usual gruff demeanor.

Nira's eyes widened at the rare show of praise. Piccolo was surprising her left and right today. First he stayed with her after her tantrum and then the physical contact and now this? She must've really shaken him up for him to do these things. Her heart - beat falter for the smallest second as she stared into his onyx eyes. Is she getting sick?

She swallowed down the lump in her throat, "Thank you." She chocked. "Thank you, Piccolo."

"What for?" the green haired doctor grunted.

Nira smiled crookedly, "For jumping in front of me."

Piccolo felt the slightest of blushes tint his cheeks, "Sure."

DBZ

"Do you want to see him?" Bulma asked, sitting beside Nira on her couch in her office.

Nira shook her head, "No, not really."

Bulma smiled inwardly, she was glad that Nira was choosing this path instead of the one she thought she would. She wasn't about to say it but she was proud of the young woman, she came a long way since that rainy day in April.

The blue haired doctor stroked the girl's hair, hoping to give some kind of comfort to her. "I wasn't expecting you to take this so calmly."

The raven - haired girl sighed, "I'm anything but calm, Bulma. How can I when he's somewhere in this building?"

Bulma faltered, "You're not going to be okay until he's dead are you?"

Nira nodded, "It was my life's ambition to see him die. I know I'm rejecting that, but I'm not going be alright until he's gone."

Bulma smiled sadly, "He's not going to get anywhere near us, okay. You don't have to worry about that. We have great security."

"Wasn't worried about that." The girl mumbled.

"Of course you weren't." Bulma sighed.

DBZ

"It's the day." Krillin murmured, leaning against the couch.

Goku leaned over to see Nira's face, "You sure you don't want to do anything?"

Nira was twisting her hair between her fingers. Her eyes seemed to be looking into a far off place. "No."

Vegeta was leaning against the wall, crossing his arms. He hasn't said a word so far but the tension seemed to be rolling off of him in waves. He was glaring at the floor in his moodiness as if it did him a personal wrong.

The circles under Nira's were darker than ever. She hadn't been able to sleep since Nappa had come to the hospital. Not even a Goku human pillow could give her a peaceful rest. For a while she was a little slap happy, successfully pissing off Piccolo more than a few times, but now she was just tired. She was constantly hunched over with exhaustion, she would hardly eat and when she did she could barely keep it down.

The other couldn't wait for Nappa to just die and get it all over with.

Bulma was finding hard to see Nira in so much distress that she would rant about Nappa and how unfair that girls life while she was visiting Juu. Juu slapped some sense back in her and Bulma cried, not just because it hurt but because her heart went out to Nira.

Little did she know that she had already adopted that girl as a daughter in her mind.

DBZ

Hours later, and Nira hadn't so much as moved, she suddenly picked herself up and said clearly, "I'm going."

The trio of men watched her leave with concern.

Nira opened her door and closed it softly. She stared at her white room, her arms dangling at her sides like a rag dolls. She felt numb, so very numb. No doubt that that man was dead already. He wasn't crazy enough to not get the chair.

Nira sighed, long and drawn out until all of her breath was gone.

Then she slowly walked to her bed and collapsed into it. She crawled to the middle of it, messing up the white sheets. The brown eyed girl laid on her stomach, face turned to the side and her fists clutching the sheets.

She wasn't going to sleep. She wasn't going to cry. She was just going to try to clear her mind and try to forget.