Heavy breathing was the only sound in the space. The breathing of someone who was dying. Slowly and tortuously. Not only was she in an empty space. Someone else was there with her, and she could feel the frustration…

It felt as if she was floating in a vacuum. Which was odd, as she had never floated in a vacuum before. Despite the lack of air, she was not drowning. In fact, she didn't even feel the need to breathe.

The pain…

There was an unusual pressure in the empty space regardless. There was nothing around her. Only herself, floating around. It reminded her of when they were taught in the academy about the pressure that was common in deeper waters. She had never really experienced it, but it was the closest thing she could relate to what she was feeling.

The hatred…

She turned around, multiple times. There was no one else in the infinite emptiness. Only herself, floating around. But she had a feeling. Something was telling her that she was not really alone. Something was hiding in the shadows.

The burning hatred…

Suddenly, she felt as if fire was intensely burning under her feet. She yelled, screamed. And then, she saw it.

The beast. Severely maimed and missing both of its legs and a single arm. Its face, already that of a monster, was partially destroyed. Some veins and cables were still visible where its limbs were supposed to be, while a purple liquid similar to blood flowed from them.

Her eyes were as wide open as humanly possible. Her entire body was shaking in complete horror, while her screams continued. They would until her vocal cords snapped.

"Bring…"

She tried to run away. As fast as she could. But it was useless, pointless. She turned her head to glance behind her. Despite how fast she was running, and how much she was pushing herself to the limits of her own body, the beast was no further away than before.

"Him…"

She continued to run. It didn't matter that it was useless. The sensation of actually trying felt better than that of just staring at whatever the beast was.

"To…"

She finally fell down. What previously had been an invisible floor gave in, and she fell into the infinite darkness. She was still screaming.

"Me…"

Upon waking up, she sat up on the bed. It seemed she had already been screaming in her sleep, and she just continued. The panic of her dream continued into reality, and she took a while before she even noticed her surroundings.

She had been in a coma for around nine days. It turns out that not only Piccolo, but also Gohan had exceeded the necessary power to beat the strangers.

After her vocal cords began to hurt, she finally stopped. Her breathing was heavy, which was to be expected due to her being agitated from the nightmare, and also due to her screaming.

Her green eyes first caught the color of the wall in front of her. It was white. Her bed was also white, and surprisingly comfortable. The sheets that were covering her body were blue, and the bed had purple curtains hiding it from the rest of the room. However, they were somewhat translucent, which allowed her to notice that someone was sitting on a chair right next to her.

She rubbed her eyes, wondering what had happened to everyone. The last thing she remembered was her team getting completely humiliated by the demons. Though given the fact she was now resting on such a fancy bed, Kakashi had probably saved them and taken them back to Konoha.

She just wasn't sure she remembered ever seeing such curtains in any hospital bed.

Gently, Sakura pushed one of the purple curtains away. She wondered who could be sitting in that chair. Maybe Sasuke, which would be such an honor to her. It could also be Kakashi, who would probably be making sure she was alright. Or it could be that idiot Naruto.

It was neither. In fact, it was probably even worse than if it was Naruto. On the chair was sitting the half-blood Saiyan, fast asleep.

She screamed once again, and this time it woke up the Saiyan.

Gohan jumped off the chair and fell on the ground. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, trying to help himself in regaining his senses.

The pink-haired girl tried to jump out of the bed, but her legs were a little numb after her coma. The Saiyan yawned one last time before noticing that the girl was trying to leave, so he walked up to the bed.

He cluelessly put his hand on her head. "Hey, hey. Take it easy, you just woke up from a coma."

Her throat was irritated, so she had stopped screaming. However, she began shaking upon the touch of the black-haired boy.

"Get off me!" She grabbed his arm and pushed it away.

Gohan was a little surprised by her reaction. After all, he didn't really consider the fact she still probably saw him and Piccolo as demons.

"Where is my team? What did you do to them?" Her tone was beginning to shift from fearful to angry. "Did you kill them? Are you going to kill me too?!"

The half-blood could only shake his hands, indicating that was not the case. He was not used to being treated like a menace. It was hard to imagine how Piccolo lived so many years being perceived as such.

"No, no. They just left without you. We always try to avoid killing." He explained while sitting back down on the chair. "And since we felt responsible for your injuries, we took care of you."

"Left? Where?"

The boy shrugged. "It's been more than a week and they haven't returned."

Such revelation hit her like a bullet straight to the heart. She gritted her teeth. It couldn't be possible. The demon was lying.

"Liar!" She punched the bed. "Where are they?!"

"I couldn't tell you. We really don't know this world." It didn't matter to him that she was accusing him of killing her friends. He just answered her questions.

"But…" She lowered her head. "They couldn't have possibly left me behind like that…"

Since he did not really know the rest, he couldn't say much to her. He just shrugged.

"Once your injuries are healed, we can get you back home. Which should be soon as our senzu beans are almost ready!"

Sakura ignored him. She was still trying to process the fact that her team left her to die. Abandoned her at the mercy of two demons. Tears finally overwhelmed her eyes and fell down on the bed sheets.

"Ah, I guess you don't know what a senzu bean is…" He had been rambling, but once he stopped, he finally realized that the girl was crying.

Only then he realized that the situation would be a bit harder than he expected.

Piccolo had been meditating as usual. He did so several hours a day, pretty much every day. It was his preferred way of training, and also a way to get the peace and quiet he so much enjoyed. But in the past few days since finding himself in this unknown world, he had also dedicated some of his meditations to discussing with Kami and Nail of possible ways to acquire the former's powers.

This new world, possibly an alternate version of their own Earth, was completely unknown to them. They had also found that such a thing as Kami and the Lookout did not exist, which means senzu beans and dragon balls were absent as well. They were lucky that somehow a single bean made its way alongside them, but they were probably not going to be as lucky with the rest.

For some reason, Piccolo felt it was somewhat his responsibility to fix that.

"If you are unable to access my powers yourself, then perhaps you can produce someone else who can." Said Kami with his serene voice. He had fused with Piccolo, but like Nail, some of him still remained inside the son of his other half. And Junior decided to manifest them as voices that could freely talk inside his head.

Piccolo gritted his teeth at the suggestion. He wasn't particularly fond of the idea of vomiting a massive egg.

Nail denied the idea. "Piccolo is of the Warrior Clan, it's not possible for warriors to reproduce."

Junior was about to speak, but Kami beat him to it.

"Piccolo Daimao was from the Demon Clan, a new class that he created upon our own separation into two separate beings." Explained the elder guardian of Earth. "This granted him new magical abilities, as well as the possibility of creating beings that were not fully Namekian. Perhaps, warriors from the Demon Clan are different from the regular warriors of Namek."

"This Piccolo Daimao seems to have indeed been a peculiar Namekian as a result of your separation…" The strongest of Namek's warriors spoke. "But I don't see why that should change how the Warrior Clan works. They're Namekians designed to fight, and that's why they can't reproduce, unlike those of the Dragon Clan."

"Well, Junior as a warrior of the Demon Clan has been able to use magical abilities that a regular warrior should not." Kami argued. He was not as knowledgeable as Nail about regular Namekians, but he certainly knew as much as could be known about Daimao and his son.

Nail remained silent for a few seconds. Piccolo's eyebrow was twitching physically at the insistence of the old guardian of Earth to call him 'Junior'.

"Then maybe it's worth a try." Finally admitted Nail.

Piccolo sighed. In the end, he would have to go through that horrible process. His father was used to it, but he as a warrior should not even be able to do it.

"Hey, this discussion was your idea, Junior!" Said Kami, anticipating the main Namekian's intentions of blaming it on him. He laughed alongside Nail, while Piccolo just grunted.

The conversation was interrupted by a voice that was coming from outside. It had at least been settled already.

Piccolo opened his eyes to his student.

"The girl finally woke up. How long do you think the first beans have left to grow?"

It was a regular day in the Konoha Hot Springs. The women and men entered their respective places to bathe in the renowned hot springs of the village. Dozens and dozens of people regularly visited the place on their days off.

Among them, a peculiar man was sitting just outside the entrance to the hot springs. His seat was a big orange frog, which he used to more comfortably write the manuscript of his latest novel.

He was a tall and corpulent man that was around his fifties. His hair was very long and of an unusual white color, which he held back with an unusual horned hitai-ate with the kanji of 'oil' painted on it.

Occasionally, he kicked the toad so it moved closer to the fence that was meant to block the view of the women's section. There, he had built a little opening in a strategic position that allowed him to look clearly into it.

He laughed softly in between peeks and writing. So far, his secret return to Konoha had produced great advances in his research and the manuscript of his incoming novel.

However, he was spooked by the sound of a staff smashing the floor. He jumped off the orange toad and his manuscript almost fell to the small pools used to decorate the entrance of the place. He barely rescued the little book at the last minute.

The man turned around furiously to see who had scared him, ready to yell and threaten the perpetrator with a painful death. However, his demeanor changed entirely once he was met with the wrinkled and bandaged face of Danzo Shimura. He almost seemed disappointed.

"Ah, Danzo." He said before jumping back onto his frog's back. It seemed his return to Konoha had not been so secret, after all. "Didn't know you also spied on girls around here."

Danzo cringed a little before replying. "I don't, Jiraiya."

"What brings you here, then? The old man sent you?" With Danzo's insistence in denying that he was as much of a perv as his good friend Hiruzen, the only alternative reason for his presence was that he had been sent to sermon the Sannin. "If he's trying to give me the hat again, tell him I already said no a quadrillion times!"

"That's not why I'm here." Calmly explained the old man. "I just wanted to ask you if you could bring Tsunade back."

The words of the advisor caught the Sannin completely off-guard. He turned around with a shocked expression. It almost seemed as if a prank was being played on him.

"What for?" Was the only thing he could think of asking.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha are severely injured. With the medical excellence of Konoha there is no doubt they will survive, but it is unlikely they will make it in time for the Chunin Exams."

Jiraiya's face once again returned to an unusual serious expression. "And you want them to participate?"

"Well, Suna is sending their jinchuuriki. It's only logical we have our own in the Exams as well."

He turned to his little hole once again. As if trying to distract himself from the decision for just a few seconds. He then stared at the notes of his manuscript, and sighed.

"I don't think I could find her in time."

"Hmmm." Danzo's silence was always hard to interpret.