As agreed, Piccolo began training with Gohan the next morning after breakfast. Gohan attacked him with his hands and feet. Piccolo simply dodged each of his punches and kicks and knocked the boy to the ground. Staggering, the latter picked himself up again.

"Can't we start with something easy?" Gohan appeared to be on the verge of tears. Sitara doubted Piccolo's training method. He hadn't been so rough with her either. She wanted to say something, but then held back. That was another agreement between them: No criticism of the training method.

"You must anticipate my every move." Instead of giving Gohan a breather, Piccolo shot two energy beams from his eyes. Gasping, Gohan fell over. "You better watch what my eyes are doing." After a pause, he continued, "We only have six months left. We will only interrupt training to sleep and eat, understand?"

"But, but... I'll never make it," Gohan stuttered. He couldn't imagine training for months on end. How would that work?

"Make an effort." Piccolo attacked again.

Piccolo showed no mercy in his training with Gohan. Any lapse in cover was punished with a hard blow. An attempt by Gohan to avoid Piccolo's attack with a high jump ended with the boy hitting the ground very hard.

Only when it was completely dark did Piccolo finish the training, let Gohan and Sitara have something to eat, and then resumed training with Sitara.

Like Gohan, Sitara was making significant progress. Her technique had improved and her attacks were stronger and more precise.

When the night was half over, they finished the training and Sitara went to bed to get a few hours of sleep before the routine started all over again the next day.

Unsuspecting of his son's exertions, Goku had finally reached the end of the Snake Way and found King Kai's planet.

Bulma and Master Roshi had in the meantime found all seven Dragonballs and were ready to summon Shenron so that he could revive Goku.

Sitara could hardly tell the days apart. Breakfast, training, lunch, training, dinner, training, short sleep and at dawn the routine began again.

The day when the two Saiyans were to arrive was inexorably approaching. Gohan had already made great progress. Sitara was proud of him and was sure Piccolo was too, but would never admit it.

Sitara called Piccolo and Gohan to dinner when the sun had almost disappeared on the horizon. Beaming with joy, the boy skipped towards her, Piccolo following shortly behind. Sitara smiled and wondered briefly if it was possible that they could live like a family here in the forest. Then she shook her head. Such sentimental thoughts.

Piccolo looked at her questioningly.

"I was just thinking of something strange," she dismissed his unspoken question.

She handed Gohan, who had already sat down, a plate of food, which he accepted gratefully. Piccolo also took a plate and sat down. For a while they ate in silence.

Sitara looked at Gohan from the side. His suit was torn in several places, scratches and bruises were visible everywhere. His left eye was swollen shut.

"Piccolo gave you a good beating today," Sitara said, pointing at his eye with her chin.

Despite the pain the boy must be in, he smiled. "Yeah, I was too slow."

"I'll put some more ointment on it in a minute."

Piccolo cleared his throat. Sitara ignored him. If it were up to him, she shouldn't be tending Gohan's wounds so that it would make him stronger, but Sitara had persuaded him. If Gohan got a wound infected it would set them back several days in training and that wouldn't help anyone.

"At least you've learned to take it and you're not such a crybaby anymore." Piccolo rarely spoke to Gohan outside of training. That he was now even offering praise was something quite new.

Gohan smiled. He knew this was Piccolo's way of expressing appreciation.

" So, Piccolo?" An affirmative sound came from Piccolo's direction, which prompted Gohan to continue speaking. "My dad always said you weren't so bad. He says you're actually as pious as a lamb."

"Once those Saiyans are taken care of, it's your father's turn." Piccolo had clenched his hands into fists and was staring into the fire in front of him.

Sitara jumped up and told Gohan to come with her. They entered the hut and left Piccolo outside.

Gohan quickly brushed his teeth, put on pyjamas and lay down on the bed. Sitara had left the bedroom to him and slept on the couch. She applied some more ointment to his wounds and covered him up.

"Did I say something wrong?" asked Gohan before Sitara turned out the light.

"No. Piccolo just doesn't like to talk about it." She paused. "He feels like he's failed because he's not the terrible Demon King his father was a few years ago."

"So why didn't he want to be the Demon King?"

Sitara shrugged. "I don't know. When I landed here on Earth almost five years ago, he'd been here alone in the forest for almost a year."

"Do you think he's not doing this because he met you?"

She blushed. Children could ask really difficult questions. "I don't know," she then said quietly. Then she shrugged again. "Try to get some sleep now. Tomorrow it's early out of bed again." She smiled at him again and turned off the light.

Outside, Piccolo sat by the fire, still unchanged. Sitara paused for a moment at the threshold of the door, watching him. Despite the cape that hung over his back with broad shoulder pads, she saw his tension. Sure enough, he gritted his teeth and scowled into the fire.

Slowly she approached him. He did not respond at first as she stood beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you want?" he asked her unkindly, making it clear that he was not in the mood to talk. How dare the peck talk to him like that? He would give him an extra hard time for that in tomorrow's training. And anyway, how dare Goku spread such lies about him? Pious as a lamb. Ridiculous!

She giggled. "Pious as a lamb. How fitting."

He growled, not responding to her words. Now she was starting too. He continued to fixate on the fire.

"Piccolo," Sitara said softly, leaning down to him. "You know it is not an insult. Even though your father may have predicted a different fate for you, it's still your choice what you make of it."

Piccolo relaxed a a while, he nodded slowly without looking at her.

When Sitara felt him relax a little again, she straightened up and gave him a gentle peck on the shoulder.

"Come on, catch me." He felt her grin at his back. 'Catching' was not the easy child's game. It was about skill and speed. They chased each other through tightly packed woods, flying or running. Catching the other without running into a tree was the ultimate goal. Piccolo was skilful, but Sitara was fast. In the rocky landscape she hid behind rocks again and again, letting Piccolo come close and then flying off. She teased him. He had to admit to himself that he enjoyed chasing her. It distracted him from his dark thoughts. And at the same time it trained his dexterity and speed. Lots of advantages.

In the darkness of the night they chased each other first through the forest and then over the rocky plain above the forest. Three times Sitara had already disappeared from his field of vision. She was really damn fast. He looked for her energy and could perceive her behind two rocks to his right. Slowly he approached the rock. He waited another moment to lull her into safety. He saw her in front of him, hovering expectantly tense on the other side of the rock.

Piccolo made a mirage of himself and let it circle the rock from the left. His real self hovered around the rock on the other side.

Sitara saw Piccolo flying towards her and flew away from him. He reached for her but only grazed her foot.

"Almost, my green one," she called out with a laugh. She spun to fly for the nearest cover, bumping into something.

"Gotcha," said a deep voice. Strong arms encircled her. Piccolo had caught her. She squinted behind her. The second Piccolo was dissolving. A mirage. Involuntarily she had to grin. That had been a really good trick. In planning ahead, he was definitely the superior one.

"Thank you," he said softly. "For the distraction."

"Distraction from what?" she inquired.

"From dark thoughts."

She understood. Gohan's words had reopened the old wound of not carrying on his father's mission. She knew he would tell anyone who would listen, or not listen, that he wanted world domination. But deep down, that was not what he was striving for. Training, meditating, getting stronger, measuring his strength. These were the things he pursued. For himself. He had no higher goal. Gohan's question had made her think too. Would he have bent to his father's will if they had not met? Or would he have spent his life in solitude?

"I always like to do that," she replied, leaning her head against his chest. Was she imagining it, or was he wrapping his arms tighter around her? She wondered if he could feel the heat of her blushing cheeks on his body.

For the past few years, they had spent almost every hour together. Physical closeness had only taken place during their training. Apart from the few times Piccolo had carried her in his arms because she had been injured. He had never been so close to her for so long. Sitara breathed in his wonderful scent and snuggled even closer to him. She didn't care at that moment what he would think.

At that moment she admitted to herself what she had felt for a long time but had always repressed: she wanted to be closer to Piccolo. Not just mentally, but physically. To be connected to him. Sitara had never dared to take a step forward because she was afraid of rejection and afraid of destroying their current good relationship. This situation made a small hope grow in her.

Piccolo was moving through similar thoughts at that moment. He wondered if it would have been possible to build a different kind of relationship with Sitara under different circumstances. He wasn't sure if he would have followed his father's path without her, if he would be training Gohan without didn't know if it was right to reject the call of the devil, but it felt good. Deep down, he knew he didn't have much time left on Earth. Wouldn't it be unfair to her if he gave in to his feelings now? But her closeness felt so good right now.

"Sitara," he spoke her name he did so, he caressed her cheek with his left hand and continued to hold her with his right arm. Sitara only made a questioning sound, unable to form complete sentences. She hardly dared to breathe or move. She certainly didn't want to ruin this moment. "Why so tense?" She heard a smirk resonate in his question. If that was even possible, she blushed even redder and stammered something about "Tense? Me? Never?" and would have preferred to sink into the ground.

"I've never known you to be so talkative." Was his grin getting even wider? Now Sitara's face felt like it was glowing. Sure enough, it was already glowing and could still be seen from a distance.

Piccolo moved away from her a little, but still held her tightly. He reached under her chin with the hand he had been caressing her cheek with and hovered down a little so that she could look him in the face. Their faces were so close.

His eyes fixed her and it was impossible for Sitara to look away. She had never noticed that he could also be gentle, almost empathetic. "I'm glad you came into my life."

Sitara swallowed. Had he really just said that? Had she really heard him correctly? Was he expecting a response? She perceived that Piccolo was still staring at her. She liked hearing those words. It was as if the words warmed her heart. A smile spread across her lips as if by itself.

"Thank you," she finally managed in a choked voice, throwing her arms around his neck and nestling her face in the crook of his neck. His arms clasped her tighter again. They both felt that this embrace was something they should have done long ago, but neither of them had dared.

As the sun sent its first rays over the mountains, Sitara broke away from the embrace.

"I must prepare breakfast." She wished that for once they wouldn't be training today, that they could continue to enjoy this moment. But she knew how important Gohan's training was. She breathed a kiss on Piccolo's cheek. "See you soon, my green one." Slowly she floated backwards, still the smile on her lips that didn't seem to want to go away.

Before she was out of his reach, Piccolo grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. His eyes wandered over her face as if to memorise her every feature. He followed the sweep of her eyebrows, over her cheekbones, her lips and finally lingered on her dark eyes. Gradually, as if in slow motion, his face came closer. He did not break eye contact as he did so. Sitara tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes. Then she felt his lips on hers. They were surprisingly soft.

Fire seemed to flow through her veins from her lips. A firework of feelings burst over her. A tingling sensation spread through her belly. She had not known that she had wanted his touch so much. How had she lived for years without the touch of his lips?

The kiss was only brief. Piccolo was already breaking away again when Sitara realised what had happened.

"See you later," he said close to her lips so that she could feel the warmth of his breath. The next moment he flew away.

Sitara slowly sank to the earth. Her knees felt very soft. Her head seemed to glow and on her lips she still felt him. She traced the curve of her lips with her fingers and smiled. It had felt wonderful.

With a sigh she jumped up, rose into the air and flew back to the forest. Time for breakfast.

Thank you for reading my story this far. If you like it, I would be happy to receive a comment. Yours, Jessica