Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Piccolo's Embrace ❯ Walking and Talking ( Chapter 6 )

"How did the class go, Alaura?" Piccolo asked as they walked, her hand held securely within his own, through the trees back towards the house. Piccolo knew they could get there faster if he flew them, but she seemed to enjoy the leisurely pace and he wasn't about to complain about being in her presence for that much longer. Every moment with her, it seemed to him, felt sweeter than the one before. The love they shared, the passion that flowed between them like an invisible current was too strong for either of them to deny.

"As well as a first class can be expect to go." She answered, still feeling a bit light-headed from their lovemaking not too long ago. They both wore dry clothing, Piccolo having summoned them with his powers, and her hair was quickly drying in the cool, late afternoon May breeze into cute white-gold spirals down her back and across her brow. She reached up and shoved a tendril of her flyaway hair from her eyes, "Not many this year. Only seven."

"Seven?" He asked, "Last year, you had seventeen. I remember because they were so noisy after class."

She grinned, recalling those days last year, It was her August through October classes rather than the ones she taught May through July, (She took November, December and January off). She remembered her late August classes, when the children would be anxious to play out of doors in the warm sunshine and run around like the children they were after a good hour at the barre doing series of plies (knee bends) and cambers (bending at the waist) and another hour an a half practicing jetés, both petit and grand depending on the level of the student.

Note: (jeté basically means "thrown" and is long, usually forward leap starting on one leg and landing on the other, in the middle of the jump the dancer may be doing a split in midair and the dancer seems to float in midair as a result of his shift of gravity from the split. Grand jeté means: "Big Thrown (step)" and Petit jeté means 'Little Thrown (step), they are smaller jumps, from one foot to the other, throwing the working leg out.)

Alaura had allowed them to go outside to explore the area just around her house, warning them not to wander off too far. She'd heard a series of shrieks from her students, all seventeen little six year girls in pigtails and ribbons, and for a moment her heart leapt into her throat as all images of horrible things popped into her often-times overworked imagination.

She rushed outside, not prepared for what she saw. The shrieks had turned to giggles as she rounded the corner of her house, she had forgotten that Piccolo was soppose to be coming by to talk with her about something or other, she couldn't remember exactly what, and broke out into a fit of laughter after she breathed a sigh of relief that no monter had come and eaten her students.

Piccolo stood there, a mixture of annoyance and helplessness on his face, which just made her laugh harder, the little girls had somehow climbed up him and attached themselves to him as if he were a living jungle gym. Actually, only seven of them were hanging off of him, two from each arm, one had her tiny hands around his head and kept trying to cover his eyes, finding her little game hysterically funny in her own way, and two were tugging at his waist, looking up at him and grinning huge, lopsided, missing-tooth grins.

The other ten little girls were jumping around them, shouting and giggling.

"You didn't have to laugh so much, you know." He brought her back to the presence, glancing askance at her, "It wasn't funny."

"Oh, yes it was!" She snickered, remembering, "It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time."

"Now you know why I don't stick around for any of your classes any more, Alaura." Piccolo growled, "I'd rather not have that episode repeated."

"Oh, come on." She leaned her head on his shoulder, linking her arm through his, and looked up at him, "They adored you. Are you telling me you weren't just a teeny bit flattered?"

"No." He said, sternly, with that old tradmark Piccolo stubbornness she knew so well, "It was an extremely embarracing waste of time."

They were silent for a while, just walking, being close to each other. Alaura was still grinning, remembering the past, and Piccolo enjoyed the quiet.

"Alaura?" He turned to her, "While I was meditating.I felt something.."

"I know you did, my dear." She said, matter-of-factly, "I have a Namek for a student this year."

"Yes." He nodded, "I felt another Namek, but a child. I wondered if he were a student of yours."

"Yes, his name is Tae and he's by far the best in my class." She said seriously, with a little pride, "I believe he will go far with this if he keeps it up. He's even asked me to see him privately."

"He sounds determined." Piccolo replied.

"I need him to be dedicated as well as determined, you know that, Piccolo." She said; "You remember...?"

"The Three D's of Miss Alaura Flaxen's School of Dance of Underprivileged children?" He grinned at her, "Of course. Determination, Dedication and Desire."

"Very good!" She said in her teacher tone, but ruined the effect by smiling too broadly, "You get three gold stars!"

"I'd rather just have this." He said, and pulled her close, capturing her mouth in a tender, gentle kiss.

"I love you, Piccolo." She whispered against his mouth a moment before he broke the kiss, "I don't understand how. Or why. But, I do."

He nodded. He understood what she was trying to say. It seemed as if this sensation, this all-consuming need to be with and please just each other, it was as if love had crept up on them unawares and attacked them in the night, beating them senseless so they had no hope of escaping it's effect.

He didn't know how or why he felt they way he did about her, only that he did and he thought it best to leave it at that. No use ever came of asking questions no one could answer, anyway. They came to the house and walked up the walkway to the front door. Piccolo paused suddenly and looked upwards, as if he were looking at something she could not see.

"Did the little Namek go home?" He asked at last, turning to her as she stood just inside the doorway, the door wide open.

"I believe so. He went home with another girl's family and a few of the others whose parents were car-pooling." She said, "He said he would be here on saterday morning, though, why, what is it?"

"I don't..I don't know." He said, at last, "I could have sworn I felt something. But it was slight, like the fluttering of a moth's wing against my senses. It seems to be gone now, though."

"Odd." She said, "Let's go inside." He caught the barely concealed fear in her voice.

"Alaura," He said, as he followed her into the house, "You have no reason to fear anything. I'd never let anything happen to you. I'd much rather end my own life."

"I know, Piccolo." She said, "My mind knows this, now I just it explained to my body." She held up shaking hands and laughed a short, mirthless laugh, "It's hard getting over some things, you know."

"Shh." He pulled her into his arms, kissed her trembling hands, "You don't have to remember it. Nothing like that will ever happen to you again. I promise."

He held her tight in his arms, silently, while the she recovered from her sudden memories of that time, that horrible time in her life, holding her until her trembling ceased and he sensed that she was back to normal once more. He's seen it happen on a few other occasions, something will trigger the memory of that night and she will start shaking, sometimes sobbing and turning inward into her fear until she was almost in a catatonic-like state.

He was thankful that he had been able to pull her back from it before it overtook her fully. He knew, someday, that she would have stand and face her demons head-on, that she really could not progress very far in her life, now their life, until this was taken care of. But, he decided today was not the day to mention it to her. But someday, he knew, she would have no choice. He vowed to be next to her, when and if that day ever came, to lend her all his strength and love.