Unfortunately for Piccolo, Gohan had seen him blush for that one second and he was now curious about the real relationship between his former sensei and this woman. If there was something going on between them, Gohan wished him all the luck in the world. But, knowing Piccolo, he wanted to make sure that he didn't do anything to screw it up like hiding from his emotions.
After the food was consumed and the group was just lounging around the backyard, playing games, sparring, or just idly talking, Yamcha, who had drank just a little too much, decided to sit beside May. Piccolo had accepted a challenge by Goku, and the two were now have a friendly spar. May just sat and watched them from a safe distance beneath a tree as the two fighters danced back and forth. She was amazed at their skill and ability as she had never witnessed such a fight.
"Hey May, what's really going on between you and Piccolo?" Yamcha asked with a slight slur to his voice, but quiet enough so that no one but May heard.
May didn't look away from the fight and therefore didn't notice his state and said, "We are just friends. Why?"
"Well, you're kinda cute and I wanted to see if you'd go to dinner with me sometime."
It was then that May looked at the man, a slightly surprised look on her face which turned apologetic. "I'm sorry, but I like someone, and I'm hoping that he'll ask me out."
May saw his face get red and an angry snarl appeared as he said, "Why would anyone ask you out?" he sneered, "I only felt sorry for you and figured I'd do you a favor. You should be lucky I even bothered. Whoever this guy is, he probably thinks you're an ugly bitch like I do." He said and then got up and walked away.
May's eyes began to water and she tried to think about how it wasn't true, but she had always been a little sensitive and couldn't stop the tears from coming. She tried to be quiet, but a small whimper escaped her lips and the sensitive ears of Piccolo were the only ones to pick it up.
Piccolo stopped in mid-punch and dropped his arm as he stood straight up. Goku stopped immediately and asked, "What's wrong Piccolo?"
Without a word, Piccolo scanned the yard for May and found her sitting beneath a tree. He walked over to her, leaving a very confused Goku who just shrugged his shoulders and went to see if there were any leftovers.
When Piccolo arrived at the tree that May sat beneath, he noticed that her face was buried in her hands and her shoulders were shaking. He kneeled down to her level and asked, "What's wrong?"
May didn't respond and just turned away from him, not wanting him to see her cry. Unfortunately, he was stubborn and wouldn't leave her alone until he knew what was bothering her. When he had left her, she had been happy, but now, she wasn't, and he was determined to find out why.
Piccolo reached over and carefully pulled her hands away from her face. He grew angry when he saw the tear streaks down her face and immediately felt the need to kill whatever or whoever had done this to her.
"What happened?"
May looked up into his eyes and asked a question she needed to know, "Do you think I'm ugly?"
Piccolo was a little taken aback by the question, but he didn't show it, and still kept his gentle hold on her wrists. 'Why would she ask such a thing?' he wondered. He decided that he needed to answer the question to make her feel better and to find out what had made her cry. "You're not ugly. Who said such a thing?"
May turned her head away, embarrassed about the way she had acted, but he removed his hand from her wrist and turned her face back to him. "Who said it?" He asked sternly, wanting and needing to know.
"Yamcha," she whispered, almost inaudible to the human ear, but loud enough to be picked up quite well by a Namekian ear.
Piccolo said, "That bastard wouldn't know beauty if it punched him in the face." He then stood up abruptly and walked in a straight beeline towards Yamcha leaving May to think about what he had just said.
Piccolo had just called her beautiful. She smiled, her tears long forgotten, and her heart raised so high, she felt like she could fly.
Piccolo walked up to Yamcha, who was now chatting with Krillin. No one seemed to noticed the pissed off look of the very strong Namek as he stood before them. Faster than either of them could register, Piccolo grabbed Yamcha by the throat and lifted him up so that they were now face to face which left the human dangling about a foot off the ground.
It was then that some of the others noticed and Goku walked up to him to see what was going on. "Uh . . . Piccolo, what's wrong?"
Piccolo said nothing and just squeezed a little tighter causing Yamcha to gasp for air and claw at the hand that now held him. Between gasps he tried to speak, "What . . . please . . . air . . ."
Piccolo growled in anger at his pathetic whimpering. It was then that May came out of her stupor and noticed what Piccolo was doing. She wiped the remainder of her tears from her cheeks and rushed over to the gathering group who were still a little confused as to why Piccolo wanted to kill Yamcha.
When May reached his side, she grabbed Piccolo's unoccupied arm and said, "It's all right Piccolo. Just put him down. I'm alright."
Most of the group understood now and could guess what happened. Goku, Goten, and Trunks were now the only ones still a little confused as to what was going on. The others just figured that Yamcha had done or said something to May and Piccolo had found out about it. It was then that they began thinking that something more was going on between the two.
Piccolo growled a little, Yamcha still struggling in his grasp, as May said, "Come on Piccolo. Just put him down, please?"
Piccolo looked down at May, her face upturned towards him, and her eyes showing her wish for him to not kill him. He couldn't help put soften at the sight and turned back to Yamcha. He lowered the human back to the ground so that he now stood on his own two feet, but before he could catch his breath, Piccolo pulled back his arm and proceeded to punch Yamcha in the face.
Yamcha flew back towards the Capsule Corp building and proceeded to leave a large dent in the side before sliding down to the ground in a heap, unconscious. No one seemed to want to go help him, for they didn't know if that would make Piccolo mad or not. He just turned around and walked back to the tree May had sat under before. He then sat in his usual meditative position and closed his eyes, apparently meditating.
May stood there for a moment, completely stunned at what Piccolo had done. The others were just as stunned, but Goku decided to see if Yamcha was still alive. He walked over and could see that the man was still breathing, so he told the others, "He's breathing."
"Well, that's good," Bulma said, "can you take him inside and put him in a spare room."
"Sure thing Bulma," he said, and picked Yamcha up and carried him inside.
Bulma walked over to May, who now had a slight smile on her face, and asked, "Um, what happened exactly?"
May didn't want to say much, so she just said, "Yamcha said something mean to me, and Piccolo found out."
"Ok," Bulma said, suddenly getting a great idea. They would make a great couple, but Piccolo was probably a little confused because of his emotional situation. But, in her opinion, Piccolo had been alone far too long and even he deserved some happiness in his life.
Gohan's thoughts were along the same lines, and he was determined to speak with Piccolo soon on the subject of relationships because he was pretty sure that his former sensei knew nothing about such things. He was right.
Piccolo sat under the tree, trying to meditate but not getting anywhere. His thoughts kept wondering back to what had just happened. Why had he done such a thing? He had felt a great need to protect her and her feelings. He had wanted to make her happy again.
He had called her beautiful . . .
She had to know by now how he felt after all this, but he still was unsure. What was he going to do?
Just as Goku had returned and the others were once again talking among themselves, the clouds that had been quietly moving in for the past hour opened up and poured down on them. Everyone was soaking wet by the time they got inside, and Bulma's mother had plenty of towels for the women who couldn't use their ki.
Vegeta couldn't help but look at the way Bulma's dress clung to her form, while Goku was looking the same way at Chi-chi, and Krillin couldn't take his eyes off of Eighteen, who hadn't dried herself off yet.
The perverts of the group, namely Roshi and Oolong, both had nosebleeds, but decided that they didn't want to make the Saiyan's mad, or Eighteen for that matter, and had settled for staring at May.
Unfortunately for them, Piccolo noticed and didn't like it one bit. He put his hand on her head and materialized a gi similar to his. It was dry and she looked up at him, smiling, and said, "Thank you."
Piccolo just nodded and walked into the living room where the others were congregating. Bulma led Chi-chi and Eighteen upstairs, much to the chagrin of their mates/husbands, and they got into some drier clothing.
On the way down, Bulma checked on Yamcha and noticed him still alive and asleep, but there was some dried blood on his face from his nose and a cut on his cheek. She let him be and continued her way downstairs.
They talked about several things, and the storm outside died down. Krillin and Eighteen had to leave first, to get Marron home, so Roshi and Oolong left as well. Goten was sleeping over with Trunks so the two went up to Trunks' room when it got late. The other Son's left soon after, followed immediately by May and Piccolo.
"It was very nice meeting you all," May said as her and Piccolo got ready to leave.
"It was great meeting you too. We should get together some time soon," Bulma said.
"I'd like that," May remarked and gave Bulma her telephone number. "Give me a call soon and we'll get together."
Piccolo lifted May up and took off as May waved to Bulma and Bulma waved back.
During the flight, May curled up to Piccolo's chest and soon drifted off to sleep. The day had been very hectic and she felt completely at peace in his arms.
Piccolo was a little surprised that she felt this safe with him. He pulled her a little closer and flew on. When he arrived at her house, he didn't really want to wake her up, but he had no choice.
"May," he whispered, not wanting to startle her. He shook her lightly and her eyes fluttered open to regard him. "You're home."
May looked up at him and smiled as he set her down to stand before her front door. "Thank you for a wonderful day," she said as she unlocked her door and opened it.
"You're welcome," he said, and was surprised when May stood on her toes and kissed him lightly on the cheek. She then stepped inside her home and shut the door.
He stood there for a moment, his hand reaching up to his cheek. After a few moments, he noticed that the lights inside at gone out and he flew off to his cave. He lay down on his bed, his thoughts on that wonderful woman in his life, as he drifted off into a pleasantly dream-filled sleep.