Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Love In Writing ❯ The Roof ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
The Roof

Piccolo flew threw the air the next morning, heading towards Capsule Corp. He had to return Bulma's book and ask her a question. He wasn't entirely sure what these new emotions were, but he had the unmistakable urge to make sure that nothing untoward happened to this woman. He had felt similar when he had trained Gohan, but there was something different about May.

Piccolo landed in the front yard of Capsule Corp and tapped on the door which sounded more like a pounding. The door opened after a few seconds and Piccolo scowled in annoyance.

"Piccolo, what a pleasant surprise," Bulma's mother said and latched herself onto his arm. He was used to this every time, and had learned long ago that if he did anything to the woman, Bulma would yell at him, wounding his poor, sensitive ears. If he did anything to Bulma, he would have a pissed off Saiyan prince after him.

"Where's Bulma?" He asked, trying to pull his arm from her amazingly strong grasp.

"She's down in the lab fixing something or another," she said, "would you like something. I have plenty of water."

"No," he said, extracting his almost numb arm and striding purposefully towards Bulma's lab.

"If you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she called, waving after his retreating form.

Piccolo almost sighed in relief, that woman grated on his nerves in a whole other way from Chi-chi or Bulma. He approached the door to Bulma's lab and knocked. Not waiting for permission, he opened the door and stepped inside.

Bulma sat at a table, hunched over some piece of machinery, working meticulously. She didn't even look up at his entrance, so engrossed in her work, that she kept on mumbling about a certain Saiyan prince that needed to do something that he didn't think was physically possible.

Finally tired of waiting after about two minutes, Piccolo cleared his throat which startled Bulma and caused her to drop the tool and the machine on the table. She looked up at him, clearly annoyed at the interruption, and said, "Don't do that! This is a delicate piece of machinery."

"Hn," Piccolo said, not really caring at all if he had interrupted her work. He then removed something from his belt and handed it to her.

Bulma smiled then and took the object, "Did you like it?" She asked in a sort of teasing tone.

Piccolo just glared at her momentarily, not dignifying that with an answer, and decided to ask his own question. "How do you fix a roof?"

Bulma looked taken aback by the odd question and just stared at him for a moment before asking, "Why?"

Piccolo was getting annoyed now and crossed his arms across his muscular chest before saying, "Because I want to know."

Bulma looked at him warily; suddenly intensely curious as to why he wanted to know such a thing. "That isn't an answer."

"Yes, it is. Now are you going to tell me or not."

"Fine, only if you tell me something."

"What?" He asked, not wanting to tell her anything.

"Did you really meet the author of this book?"

Piccolo was a little surprised at such a simple questions and after analyzing it for any hidden agenda's, he decided to answer, "Yes."

"Wow," Bulma exclaimed, her eyes shining like stars, "Do you think you could introduce us? You could bring her to the get-together next month."

"Can you just answer my question now?" He huffed.

Bulma came back down to earth and said, "oh, sure." She began rummaging around in a couple of drawers, all the while mumbling, "Where is it? I know I just used it the other day when Goku and Vegeta sparred over the house."

Suddenly she stood up straight, a triumphant look on her face as she turned back to Piccolo, a capsule in her hand. "It's a robot that I designed especially for repairing buildings walls and the roof."

She handed Piccolo the capsule, wanting to ask him another question but he turned around and began walking away. He said, "Thanks," and left without another word.

Bulma, loving any gossip she could find, decided to call Chi-chi and fill her in on her suspicions. She picked up the phone and dialed; after two rings someone picked up and she heard Chi-chi holler, "Goten, take that thing outside . . . I don't care if it's your new friend, it belongs outside."

"Hey Chi-chi," Bulma said, once the yelling had stopped.

"Oh, hey Bulma, what's going on?" Chi-chi knew that Bulma only called about get-togethers or gossip and they had just attended a party so it had to be gossip.

"Piccolo came by a few minutes ago and brought back my book and, get this, he actually knows the author."

"You're kidding!" Chi-chi exclaimed. She had read some of Bulma's books and was always looking forward to the next one. They were magnificent stories about romance and love.

"Nope, he actually admitted it, but he wouldn't introduce us," Bulma huffed, still a little upset over that. "Oh, and then he asked me something really unusual."

"What?"

"He asked me if I knew how to fix a roof. I mean, come on, the guy lives in a cave; why would he need to know how to fix a roof."

"Maybe he's going to help someone."

They thought about that for a minute before simultaneously saying, "Nah!"

"Woman, where is my lunch?" They heard hollered throughout Capsule Corp.

Bulma rolled her eyes, "I better go before 'his highness' has a fit," she said sarcastically.

Chi-chi chuckled at that and said, "All right, but if anything else happens, you let me know."

"You got it. Same goes for you."

"Right, talk to you later."

"Bye."

***

At around noon, Piccolo arrived at the house in the woods occupied by May. He hovered in the air above the house, several feet up, debating whether or not to land. After careful consideration, and a strange feeling, he decided to head down, and landed before the front door.

Just as his feet touched the ground, the front door opened, and May stepped out. She hadn't noticed him yet because she was rummaging in a purse as she made her way out. May closed the door and made sure it was locked before turning around abruptly and running straight into Piccolo.

Piccolo wrapped his arms around her shoulders to keep her from falling, and after a few seconds, he released her, a mild blush on his cheeks that lasted only a second. She looked up abruptly and exclaimed, "Piccolo!"

May blushed a little at the close contact and took a tentative step backwards. "What are you doing here?"

Piccolo's mind went blank for a moment as he just stared at her. A slightly uncomfortable silence settled over them that seemed to last hours when only seconds had past. May spoke up then and explained, "I was just heading into town. I go there about once a month to check with my editor and pick up supplies."

Piccolo just softly muttered, "Oh."

"You can come with me if you want, but I don't think you're the type of person that likes to be around a lot of strangers. Kind of like me." May smiled up at him.

Piccolo would have smiled back if it wasn't against his nature to do so. He just said, "Yeah, I barely tolerate some of my so-called friends."

"Well, I'll see you later then," she said, and began walking towards a white capsule car. She entered the vehicle and waved goodbye to him as she made her way down a small country road that cut through the forest.

Piccolo stood there until she was out of sight, and sighed. Why was he acting like such an idiot in front of her? He was very confused, but decided to save his thoughts for later during meditation. He walked behind the house and over to a little shed situated in the backyard. There was a small padlock on the door, but with a little burst of ki, the lock was off and the door was open. Inside was all the material needed to fix a rood.

Piccolo took out the capsule and pressed the button, throwing it to the ground. In a puff of smoke, a robot emerged and said in a mechanically monotone voice, "What are my orders?"

"Use those materials," Piccolo pointed into the shed, "to fix that roof," he pointed to the house. The robot then began to get to work. It worked swiftly and mechanically, but after two hours, the roof had been repaired.

Piccolo recapsuled the robot and stood in front of the house, admiring the work and making sure nothing had gone wrong. Just then, a car pulled up and May stepped out, a little surprised to see Piccolo.

"You didn't stand here the whole time did you?" She asked, a little worried that he might be somewhat obsessive.

"No," he declared, glaring lightly at her.

"Oh, good," she said relieved.

May opened the back of the car and began grabbing out several brown bags filled with food items and other things. There were several heavy ones and Piccolo decided to help by grabbing about six of them at a time.

May opened the door and led him through to the kitchen where he placed the bags on the table and floor. "Thanks," May said, smiling up at him again. "So what have you been doing since I left?" She asked, as she began putting the groceries away.

"Your roof won't leak anymore when it rains," Piccolo stated.

May looked up at him, shocked, and ran back outside. When she came back in she stood before Piccolo and looked up at him. Before he knew it, she had her arms wrapped around his waist and was giving him a great big hug.

Piccolo couldn't move; he was completely stunned. The only other person to hug him with such familiarity was Gohan, and even then, after a few seconds, Piccolo would grunt and tell him to knock it off.

At the moment, Piccolo's emotions were in turmoil. Who was this woman that could make him become an even better person than Gohan had already made him?

"Thank you so much Piccolo!" May exclaimed, and after a few seconds, she released him.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, not wanting to appear soft, "It was nothing. A robot did all the work, I just supervised."

"Well, you are still a wonderful guy for doing this for me," she said, continuing to put the groceries away.

Piccolo blushed lightly when her back was turned, not wanting her to think him weak. While working, May decided to start just simple conversation, trying to find out a little more about this strange man that had come into her life.

"Where did you get such a great robot?"

"Bulma gave it to me."

"Bulma? What's her last name?"

Piccolo thought for a minute; it wasn't often that he thought about such a thing. Then, he remembered Vegeta saying once, "What, is your whole family named after underwear?"

"Briefs."

May looked up for the second time, a little startled. "The president of Capsule Corp?!"

"Yeah."

"Wow, you know some pretty important people," she said, returning, once again, to her work, "Know anyone else famous?"

"I don't know."

"Well, name some of the people you know."

"Why?"

"I just want to know more about you. You're still a mystery man to me."

May finished putting away the items and sat down at the kitchen table to take a breather. Piccolo sat opposite her and thought about the other Z fighters.

"There's the Son's, Goku and his sons Gohan and Goten. Krillin, Yamcha-"

At Yamcha's name, she interrupted, "The baseball player?"

"He plays baseball?" Piccolo asked; he didn't care what the others did when not fighting.

"He is only one of the best baseball players of all time."

"Whatever," Piccolo uttered, and began speaking again, "Roshi-"

May interrupted, yet again, causing Piccolo to glare at her in annoyance; it wasn't often he talked this much and she wouldn't let him finish. "Master Roshi? The turtle hermit?"

"Yeah, that's the guy."

"Wow, and wait, that Goku once won the World's Martial Arts Tournament, right?"

Piccolo glared at her a little harder at the mention of the World Tournament, and continued before she remembered anyone named Piccolo had once participated. "Anyway, there's also Vegeta, his son Trunks, Tien, Chaoutzu, and Yajirobe. Though I wouldn't ever ask Yajirobe to help unless the opponent was winning and you needed something for it to kill as a distraction."

"That's not very nice Piccolo," May said at his description of one of his friends. "But you sure know a lot of pretty famous people. I would love to have that many friends," she said in a sort of dreamy voice.

"I guess," Piccolo then noticed that the sun was setting. They had been talking for a while now. "I have to go now," he said as he stood up and walked towards the front door.

"All right, come and visit again soon Piccolo," May said as she waved goodbye to him and watched him fly off into the sunset.