A muscle under his cheek twitched as he stood in line, trying hard not to look over to his right where he just knew that conniving old bastard stood next to him. Even not looking, Piccolo could just imagine the look he must be sporting, jovial, patient amusement for a wayward child.

"So-"

"Shut. Up." Piccolo couldn’t help but snarl through his clenched teeth as for the second time since he had been here in the afterlife line up he reached over head, grabbed his halo, brought it down before his eyes, and destroyed it utterly in a ball of ki.

Only to have another one pop into existence over his head again.

"That’s not going to work you know," Kami sighed, watching his, er, nephew sulk even as they moved up a bit.

"But it makes me feel better," Piccolo replied as he watched in satisfaction as the immediate surrounding souls moved away from them.

A blue oni with two horns came jogging up to them, a slight scowl on his face. "Sirs, single file! This is a single file line, not a two at a time service stand!" He reached out, grabbed onto Piccolo’s cape, and tugged lightly on it.

The muscle, including his ears, twitched as he turned to glare down at the little paper pusher. "Do you know what I am?" he hissed.

Looking up into cold obsidian eyes, the oni paled to a sky blue. Glancing behind the very tall green man to the person behind him, he noted the staff in the old man’s hand. Blinking rapidly he released the cape. "No, but he’s obviously important..."

The muscle twitched again. He could swear that if he were alive he’d be having a major migraine. "Of COURSE he’s important! The old wind bag is the damned ‘I’ll-watch-well-others-do-my-job-for-me-and-die-in-the-process’ God of Earth!"

The oni blinked, his color returning, "Oh, wow! We haven’t seen a dead God up here for the last couple thousand years! Wonder who won the pot... Hey, if you’re standing beside him and look so much like him, you must be a God to! So which planet were you from?"

Well, there went the other eye. "Don’t insult me, I’m the Demon King of Earth, Piccolo Daimaou Jr."

Blink, Blink. "Oh, wow, you’re HIS son! Your father-"

"Sire," Piccolo corrected with a growl.

"came here only a decade ago... Ya know, you’re not acting nearly HALF as hostile as that guy! He blasted a good sixth of the hired help before Enma-sama could come out and take care of the commotion."

"Great, my sire was an idiot as well as a demon," he growled low, glancing over at Kami. "Well, you certainly didn’t get the brains when you two split, so that must have been the price."

Kami smiled amusedly down at the oni. "Don’t mind him, he’s just sore about the way he died."

Piccolo just got more depressed. He glowered at the oni, his eyes glowing red for a second, and shot a warning shot at its feet. It scampered away in fear. "I’m never gonna live that down with you, am I, old man?"

Kami just smirked. "Never in a thousand years."

Piccolo sighed and looked up at the arches of the building now in front of them. "Well, at least I’ll never see you again after this."

Kami frowned as he looked at his other half’s profile. "Surely after what you did you don’t think you’ll be sent to Hell?"

Piccolo turned to Kami, a smirk on his face that Kami noted didn’t reach his eyes. "Why of course. Just because I did one unselfish thing in my life doesn’t make up for everything else I’ve done. I’ve killed dozens, terrorized thousands, am the son of a demon, and the Demon King. You think that just because I saved the life of a child that’s younger than I, and assisted in the meager defense of a planet, which might I add, was YOUR job, that I’ve made up for all of these atrocities? You’re an old fool." He cocked his head as the sound of a heavy stamp fell and a soul shrieked as it was sent to Hell. ""sides, it seems Enma-sama isn’t in a gracious mood at the moment."

Kami winced. Piccolo did have a small point. Okay, so maybe it was a big point, but still, it was such a pessimistic view...

Another blue oni opened the door in front of them. "He’ll see you now."

Piccolo turned to him and nodded, striding through the doors. Shaking his head, Kami followed him, causing the oni to protest slightly, but he fell silent when the good natured God gave him a stern serious look that said, "this is a matter of life or death."

Enma-sama didn’t look up from his papers. "Planet and Name," he grunted.

"Earth, Piccolo Daimaou Jr."

"Earth, Kami."

Enma-sama already had the book for Earth in his hands from reaction before the names struck a chord in his mind. Looking up he saw the serious God and his counter-part. His eyes shifted over to the God. "Weren’t you just here for that Son Goku?"

"Hai," a wry smile spread across his face. "The young’n here went and got himself killed."

Piccolo growled. "Believe me, if I had known I’d have to talk to you, I’d just have let the brat get killed. His own fault for having frozen," he grumped as he fidgeted in his clothing and looked away.

"Ah, I know you don’t mean that, Piccolo." Kami looked back at Enma-sama. "I’d like to make another similar request to my last one, if you’d please."

Enma-sama looked slightly pleased. "You know of another that’s pure of heart and can over take the challenge of Snake Way? From the same planet as the last one, no less! Earth must be an interesting place. You realize, however, that there isn’t a chance for these warriors to be revived by the Earth’s Dragon Ball’s, right?"

"Of course, I’ve been in contact with Mr. Popo, and he say’s that Son Goku and his son, Son Gohan, and a few of their friends are going to Namek to revive them through the Dragon Balls there."

"Ah, in that case, who is it?"

"Four people, actually. Three have already passed through and the fourth is right here," Kami said, indicating Piccolo.

Piccolo was startled enough to stumble forward from shock. "Kami, you really are an idiot," he whispered under his breath. Composing himself, he looked Enma-sama straight in the eyes after giving his grinning counter-part a dirty look that just screamed, "When this is over, your life is SO going to know a new level of pain."

Enma-sama frowned and opened the book in front of him, flipping to the right passage. Quickly scanning it he looked at the God in confusion. "Are you mad?! He’s not even neutral! And you want him going on a quest for the pure of heart?"

Kami stared at the really big god seriously. "Next to Son Goku, Piccolo’s the best fighter on Earth. Who’s to say that who ever those Saiya-jin’s worked for won’t try to attack Earth in the future? In would be in Piccolo’s best interest’s to fight against them, if for nothing more than because they’re in his territory." Suddenly a cocky grin spread across Kami’s face as he eyed Piccolo slyly. "However, I think he might have a more... personal reason to do so."

Piccolo sulked. /Asshole./

Enma-sama raised an eyebrow at this little interchange. Amusing... he shifted his focus to the Earth’s Demon King. "Piccolo, how did you die?"

He looked edgy and fidgeted, gripping his arms a bit tighter and looked away, a light blush staining high on his cheeks. "I was stupid, got blasted, lingered a bit, and died," he grunted out. His gaze turned back to the Judge, the blush gone. "It hurt like shit, and I’m not to fond of doing it again."

"What he’s not telling you," the almost gratingly happy voice of his counter-part chirped out, "is the circumstances in which it happened." When Kami had Enma-sama’s full attention he slipped his ace out, "He took the blast meant to kill Son Gohan."

Enma-sama grunted in surprise and went back to Piccolo’s file, reading through it more in depth. Interesting, seemed the kid, for it seemed he was only 10 earth years old, was manic-depressed, was emotionally screwed-up, and had basically had a rough life from the get go, even from his counter-part, yet had a very strict honor system he held himself to. Only two people he had met seemed to have ever given the kid a chance, one being his sworn enemy that killed his Sire, and the other he had kidnapped to train to protect the planet from the Saiya-jin threat and subsequently died for. Still, that didn’t make up for the kid’s attitude towards everything. He was about to close the book and say no when a small slip of paper that had been attached to the back of the page slipped out. Curious, he picked it up and read it over.

Oh... Well, that would explain the kid’s behavior. Emotional and mental trauma usually happened in these sort of cases.

"Alright," he said, looking up at the two in a serious manner. "He can go to the North Kaiou’s for training. Now who are the other three?"

*---*---*---*

Kami sighed as he watched the dead Z senshi be escorted out of the room. He looked up at Enma-sama curiously. "What changed your mind? I could tell you were going to say no."

Enma-sama just looked down sadly at the Earth’s God. Taking the little article he passed it over.

Kami’s brow creased in puzzlement then his features slid slowly into shock as he read it over. Absently he handed it back. "I never knew," he whispered as he looked down the tunnel the men had exited through.

Enma-sama shrugged. "Victims usually try to cover it up. He was lucky, actually. The rape triggered his Sire’s memories and he was able to kill the rapists before he lost to much blood."

"But so young..."

"It was in the past though. You can’t change the past, only the future. Soon he’ll have a second chance, if that Gohan has any say in it. Now," Enma-sama’s eyes went from sad contemplation to a little mischievous as he turned his full attention on the dead God. "I believe some one slighted me in front of a certain Son Goku recently, hmm?"

Kami sweat-dropped.

--Fin