Weeks passed without incident on the Lookout, Piccolo teaching Kihann about earth, the inhabitants and about the various threats it had faced in the past. He'd told them about the humans, and about the different ways of lives they lead. Kihann was completely fascinated by the humans and after a little bit of practice and some guidance from Dende, she was able to watch the earth as things happened from up on the look out. She spent countless hours sitting on the edge just watching, sometimes her expression one of loneliness.

Dende often observed her from the various balconies that adorned the Lookout Palace and more often than not felt sorry for the woman. He knew that she and Piccolo had become close, but Piccolo only allowed so much closeness before he shut himself off to those he cared about. He noticed that Kihann was the opposite; she had no qualms in telling Piccolo, Dende or even Mr. Popo what she was feeling, why she felt that way and sometimes even going as far as to saying what caused her to feel certain ways.

Dende and Piccolo sometimes didn't know how to handle these situations a lot of the time. Both were used to other Nameks; the Nameks Dende and Piccolo had known were quiet, reserved, and very private about their lives. Dende recalled Nail and a few of the others being more open and expressive, but even then it was only reserved for special moments.

Both adults stood at the doorway to the palace one evening, watching Kihann go through her daily ritual of circling the outer rim to find a comfortable place to watch. Both watched in silent fascination, wearing identical expressions on their faces; the expression being one of curiosity, as she circled the Lookout twice, pausing occasionally to check the location before starting over again

"I really don't get it." Dende commented softly.

Piccolo shook his head and shrugged. "I don't either but apparently she has some sort of system that only she understands."

Dende chuckled faintly and watched as Kihann made yet another circuit around the Lookout. "I think she watches more than I do. Maybe I should back down as guardian and give her the position."

Piccolo snorted watching Kihann. "Having a female as a guardian of Earth would be comparable to having Vegeta as the spokesperson for the humane society."

Dende stifled a chuckle, not sure if Kihann was paying enough attention to overhear them. "Piccolo, that's a bit sexist, now isn't it?"

"Not at all, I've watched Chichi and Bulma in their daily lives, thus proves my theory that any female gods of days past are all dead because the males got sick of hearing them bitch over stupid stuff. They'd fuss about where to put a solar system, not liking the location of at least five different places, the four moons would clash with the two suns, the green of one planet just wouldn't look well with the grey of another. And gods forbid the species they created. They'd have to be aesthetically pleasing, and they would all get along, never a war, and chances are, males would be subservient and docile."

Dende's face screwed up in poorly contained laughter, leaning against a wall, arms wrapped around his mid-section, tears squeezing out of his eyes. Piccolo smirked superiorly, pleased with him self for having a rare moment of humor.

Meanwhile Kihann gave up her search for the perfect spot to sit and headed towards the two. Her expression was a bit stormy looking and both Nameks sensed that she was about to request something, expecting it granted or throw a fit. "I want to go to earth, please?"

Dende blinked a couple times and looked to Piccolo. Piccolo frowned a bit, "Where would you want to go?"

"I don't care! I'm bored! I want to meet people, and see places." The Nameks blue eyes were pleading as she gripped Piccolos arm and looked between the two. "There has to be something to do other than sit up here and stare down at the planet all day!"

Piccolo shook his head vehemently, "No. We can go down and I can show you some places, but there's no way in hell I'm getting near a city. You fail to understand Kihann, these humans have a tendency to dislike anything different from them; and with good reason, they've been attacked by things that they'd consider monsters, and I for one don't feel like having the military forces of the world called out on us because you feel like trying to meet people."

Kihann's mouth thinned to a thin line, obviously not liking the answer, she glanced to Dende, who wisely averted his gaze. She pursed her lips more tightly and spoke in an even tone. "At least take me someplace I might enjoy. What about your friends Piccolo? Take me to meet one of them."

"First of all Kihann, I don't have friends. I fought along side some people, and helped out a few times. Everyone I knew has gone their own ways, and I really have no desire to see anyone I used to know Kihann."

"You're so, so, so, Anti-social! You know that? You never want to talk about yourself, or talk about anything you've done, or go down below! I'm bored up here Piccolo! If I knew that being awake was going to be like this, I never would have called for help!" Kihann shoved past the two and stormed off into the palace.

Dende cleared his throat, his deep voice really reminding Piccolo of Nail and just how grown up the kid had gotten. "You know, she has a point Piccolo. Now, now hear me out before you get mad. Please, just think from her point of view, she's stuck up here with us day after day, with nothing to do but roam these halls, and talk to us. We're not the greatest of conversationalists, we barely understand her, just like she barely understands us. We're a complete enigma to her and vice versa."

Piccolo sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, he didn't want to admit to Dende that the kid was right. He somewhat understood how boring it could get up here, and how isolated it was. Kami had understood that quite well, and even though he'd been devoted to his life as a guardian, even Kami had found himself occasionally going to Earth to wander a bit when the mood struck him. Even Dende had admitted a couple times to wandering around the planet when he got too restless. "Okay, okay. Both of you harping on me like a pair of house wives. Fine I'll take her below and show her some of the rural areas. Last thing I want is anyone knowing she exists."

Dende nodded and glanced back to the palace doors. "Just show her the oceans or something, something she'd like. There are lots of places to take her without human interaction."

Piccolo turned and headed into the Palace without another word; he sought out her faint, odd ki signature instead of searching for her room by room. He pinpointed her in the library. I should have figured, he thought; she practically lived in the library. Opening the door he leaned against the marble door frame and watched her as she sulked by the big glass window. Clearing his throat he watched her jump, but made no other indication that she was listening, but Piccolo knew she was. "I suppose it wouldn't kill me to show you a few places, and" Piccolo hesitated a moment as she turned to face him. "I also suppose, if we happen to run into someone I know, I can introduce you."

The way she had reacted Piccolo would have been happier to have not experienced. He had never realized she could move so damn quickly! But suddenly there she was, blue eyes wide and arms around his neck. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Her lips connected with his in a quick kiss, and before he even realized what was happening, she'd darted down the hallway, and was gone outside. Piccolo stood there, looking completely stunned, before he realized just what had happened. He blinked a few times and shook his head muttering; "I really don't get her." Before walking out and following in Kihann's wake.

Kihann was dressed and more than ready to go by the time Piccolo had caught up with her. She wore a light white cape, a purple loose fitting top that cut off at the mid-riff, baring the light pink skin on her belly, matching Arabic type pants, a style typical among female Nameks from her time. She smoothed out her outfit, fidgeting with the light head covering, just a simple piece of cloth tied up and over her head, the ends trailing down her back. She grinned at both namek's, giving the look of 'well, coming?' All in all, she looked fantastic, and it gave both of the boys an eyeful of well accentuated curves.

Dende stared openly at the girl as she continued to fuss with her clothing, his tone just above a whisper, and full of wonderment. "Kind of makes you wonder just exactly what Guru was thinking when he created us asexually huh?"

"He was thinking of saving the planet of drooling hormonal teenagers." Piccolo commented as he walked by the guardian, swatting him on the back of the head as he passed by, then grinning in satisfaction as he got an 'ow' out of the kid.

Kihann rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, arms behind her back, trying to be patient as Piccolo and Dende exchanged words, and Piccolo shared a cuff to the back of the guardians head. She grinned and waved to the two. "Hurry up Piccolo! C'mon!"

Piccolo sighed, resigned to his fate of playing tour guide to the girl, approaching the edge He was grateful that in the past weeks, she'd learned to fly. "Come on, I'll take you to one of the beaches I used to take Gohan to when he was a kid."

Kihann grinned happily as she bolted off the edge, not bothering to wait for Piccolo. Piccolo cast a backwards glance to Dende, who just offered a slight wave and a grin as Piccolo jumped off the edge and followed Kihann. Catching up to the woman they flew along in silence until at around the halfway point; Piccolo felt a familiar ki signature, and soon spotted a small plane heading upwards. "Kihann we have to go back to the Lookout!" He fairly shouted above the wind. "There's about to be visitors and it may be important!"

Kihann eyed the plane warily and nodded before reversing her course and heading back up; Piccolo trailed after her, not looking at all happy; if she'd seen Piccolo's face that unhappiness would have turned to worry. She continued to glance behind her as they both raced up to the Lookout, noting that the plane and whoever was inside were getting closer.

Landing next to Piccolo she half walked half jogged towards the entrance before she was stopped by Dende. "Wait up Kihann, I have a feeling this visit may have something to do with you."

Kihann glanced to Piccolo who stood next to Dende with a grim expression. "Why so grim you guys? Its just visitors! I mean geeze, this is an opportunity."

"Or a bad sign," Piccolo commented darkly. "First of all it's Vegeta and his wife Bulma. Bulma is the one who helped me locate you. Like Dende said, this could possibly have a lot to do with you. I will warn you, Vegeta is not a nice person; and if anything he'll do what he can to piss you off. My suggestion is to ignore what he says and pretend he doesn't exist."

Kihann shifted on her feet uncomfortably, glancing over her shoulder as the small two man plane landed on the Lookout; a man with a sour expression on his face stepped out of the passenger side, and a woman with short blue hair stepped out of the pilots' side, carrying a packet with her. Both stopped and stared as they caught an eye full of Kihann.

Vegeta's expression was one of amusement as his eyes slid over Kihann's obviously female body, and then over to Piccolo. "So, after all these years you finally manage to find something to entertain yourself with, huh namek?"

Kihann narrowed her eyes, she didn't like the little man, and he reminded her of some of the humans from the lab. Her fists clenched tightly at her sides, but took heed of Piccolos previous advice and kept her mouth shut. Piccolo noticed the girls stiff posture and moved in front of her.

"Shut your mouth Vegeta, when you're on the Lookout you'll treat those here with the respect that this place requires." Piccolo snapped at the short saiyajin, taking on a somewhat defensive stance. "If you can't at least have some semblance of manners up here then I can happily toss your ass off of here. Now what do you want?"

"I don't want anything you idiot namek. Bulma made me come along on this little field trip. Ask her what she wants." Vegeta turned away from the group and stalked off to the edge of the Lookout.

Kihann spoke up softly from behind Piccolo, speaking in her native language. ~Quite the little asshole isn't he? That thing always allowed to run loose off its leash or can his female not control him?~

Dende choked back laughter and hurried inside to fetch Mr. Popo before he got nailed by Vegeta. Piccolo suppressed a smirk and a laugh, responding in somewhat broken Namekkian; ~No, that's Vegeta, a saiyajin, the majority of them are alright. But this one here is a special case. He's a prince, of an entire race of saiyajins. Namely one full blooded saiyajin, four half blood saiyajins and ruler of a planet that was destroyed. All in all, it's made him a bitter ass. That and he hates us, probably because we survived Frieza's attacks and his species didn't.~

Vegeta glowered over his shoulder and snarled. "If you're going to talk about me fool namek, at least have the courtesy to call me an ass to my face. Or wait, I forgot, you lack the skill and power to take me on."

Piccolo barked a laugh, a rather nasty sounding cruel laugh that made Kihann shiver slightly, she glanced up at the larger namek and shivered again, noticing that Piccolo wore a cruel grin, one revealing fangs. "Any time you want to spar Vegeta, and not worry about getting your ass kicked too badly come up here; after all Goku's proven who's the stronger."

"Pah, fuck you namek." Vegeta turned away from Piccolo knowing if he continued the arguing he'd find himself out of Bulma's good graces, and sleeping in the guest room.

Piccolo smirked and looked to Bulma; "You obviously didn't come here for conversation. So what is it?"

Bulma cleared her throat and glanced from Kihann to Piccolo. "How about you introduce us to your friend, please Piccolo, and take us inside someplace cool?"

Piccolo nodded and motioned for Kihann to go on a head, and then followed behind the girl. Bulma cast a glance back at Vegeta before heading inside. Once inside she found the two Nameks in a sitting room of sorts, Kihann sitting on a pile of pillows and Piccolo taking his usual stance next to her. Both looked tense, and sat down on a chair.

Piccolo cleared his throat and awkwardly introduced the two. "Bulma, this is Kihann, Kihann this is Bulma. Bulma is one of the humans that lives down below, and was the one who helped me find you."

Kihann mumbled a soft hello to the woman suddenly unsure and nervous about this whole situation. The man had already unnerved her, and this woman staring only made it worse.

Bulma smiled warmly at the girl sensing her discomfort. "It's nice to meet you Kihann, and don't let my husband bother you. He's just being his usual self and if Piccolo told you anything about him, I'm sure he probably told you to ignore anything he says. It's finally nice to meet what had Piccolo so worked up, and I'm really glad that things worked out."

"This.. Isn't a social call, is it." Kihann murmured softly as she hugged her knees to her chest.

Bulma nodded, chewing on her lip. "A general stopped by Capsule Corp a few days ago. He wasn't a very nice man, and it took Vegeta threatening to kill him to get him to leave. They had security cameras in the lab Piccolo, and they got some very close up still photos of you. They also recall you from the tournaments and as being one of the ones who fought against Cell. They also knew you had ties with Vegeta and with Goku. Chichi called in a tizzy, saying that army men show up at her door wanting to talk to Goku and Gohan. They're looking for you and Kihann both Piccolo, they're fully armed and looking for their property."

Kihann seemed to shrink into the pillows and whimpered softly. The room suddenly seemed small, cold and dark; both Piccolo and Bulma's attention were solely focused on her and she didn't like it.

"She can't go back to them Bulma. They abandoned her once, and this time chances are they'll kill her. They wouldn't understand what she could mean to our race, and I highly doubt they would care." Piccolo spoke up softly, his voice betraying his emotions to Bulma, placing a hand on Kihann's shoulder reassuring the girl that everything would be okay; "They left her, and in all honesty, they had no right to take her, nor did they have any right doing what they did to her."

Bulma shook her head, standing and pacing as she spoke. "I'm not disagreeing with you Piccolo, but these people don't view that in the same light as us. To them, she's nothing more than a lab experiment that escaped and you're just a bonus. Don't look so shocked Piccolo, they've seen the footage of the Cell games, and they do recall the previous tournaments, the one where you went up against Goku; remember that? You and he destroyed the damn ring, which was the fight that ended the tournaments till Cell came along. To them, you are one hell of a catch. Just think of the possibilities they could do with you and Kihann. Your power levels, regeneration skills, the ability to heal yourselves when absolutely necessary, your stamina alone in a battle would be worth the man power and money it would take to bring you down. I wasn't going to tell you guys' this, but they offered Capsule Corp unlimited access to their resources and close to five hundred million zeni to help bring you guys in. That was about the time Vegeta told the general to get out or they'd be finding parts of him somewhere across the ocean. To say the least, father is quite upset, and Vegeta wanted to destroy the damn planet. You know he doesn't offer to kill things just for anyone."

Piccolo glanced down at Kihann, he could tell she was about to cry and that didn't particularly appeal to him. But he also knew that Kihann needed to hear this as well. She needed to realize the seriousness of this situation, and Bulma was the best one to do it. She never beat around the bush, nor did she try and honey coat a situation. "So what do we do Bulma? Turn ourselves in? I'm not becoming a lab experiment, and I'm not turning Kihann over to them and neither can we live up here for the rest of our lives. That's just as bad as keeping us prisoner."

"I don't' want to go back." Kihann spoke up quietly, her tone almost pleading.

Bulma's expression softened as she moved to kneel next to Kihann. "Look, Kihann. I can promise you that all of us will do what we can to make this all go away. You've got some powerful protectors up here, with Dende and Piccolo; and that's not including Goku and his kids, Vegeta and my son. We take care of our own Kihann; and even though you've not been formally introduced to the others yet, and my idiot husband acts like he hates everyone, they'll protect you and Piccolo both. Not that Piccolo would have any problems with the military."

Piccolo stood and listened to Bulma try and soothe Kihann; having no idea what else to do. He was deeply disturbed by this new revelation, and this certainly made things more difficult, not only for himself, but for his friends. The entire situation had put his friends and himself into a situation that could potentially be volatile. He knew that the military had a way of making peoples lives a living hell, not only personally, but financially as well. If they knew of his and Gohans friendship, Gohan could suddenly find himself without a job, Chichi could find her lands taken away for no apparent reason. They knew about his connection with Capsule Corp. now and that could spell disaster for the Briefs and their inventions.

"And don't worry about us Piccolo." Bulma's voice broke the namek from his thoughts. "All of us are aware of the situation, and we're all taking precautions. Once I had Gohan explain to Chichi what had happened she calmed a bit. She's still not happy, but then you know Chichi, she's not happy unless she has someone to rant at, or bitch about. You just happen to be her favorite subject. I had no choice but to tell them that you had rescued someone from the army and their experiments, I didn't specify what or who; and that made everyone feel better."

Piccolo frowned a bit and coughed faintly, feeling awkward. "I guess I owe you quite a bit for covering my ass. Thanks for giving us a warning, although I have no idea what we're going to do to handle this, but as usual we'll figure out something."

Kihann all this time just listened, inwardly feeling like this was all her fault. She had gotten Piccolo involved, had called to him, and thusly setting the ball in motion for all this to happen. Toying with her cape end, considering her options; she could just turn herself into them, possibly giving Piccolo the chance to escape and placate the men. But she didn't want to go back, she knew what they'd do to her, what they'd subject her to, and it wasn't guaranteed that they'd stop hunting for Piccolo, after all the military now thought they had a pair and the potential for the genetic manipulations they had wanted in the first place. Her other option was to just run for it and hope for the best. She didn't like that option, but it was one of the best so far. Or, she could just stay with Piccolo and Dende, trusting that they would figure out what to do. She shoved away the fear that stabbed at her chest mercilessly and stood, smoothing her cape. "The only thing to do now is wait it out for as long as we can and as Piccolo has said, we'll figure something out. Bulma, I'm sorry you got dragged into this; it was never my intention to start any of these problems for you or your family, or for your friends."

Bulma chuckled and lightly patted Kihann's arm. "If there's one thing you're going to learn while staying with us, and more importantly staying with Piccolo up here on the Lookout is that stuff follows us no matter who it is and where they go. It's kind of a rule of ours; you can't be a part of our group unless you bring chaos, and possible destruction with you."

Piccolo chuckled faintly, adding; "And you have to be responsible for Krillin's death at least once."

Bulma grinned, shaking her head, "Piccolo that wasn't very nice."

"The truth rarely is Bulma."

Bulma rolled her eyes and focused on Kihann for a moment. "I bet you're bored out of your skull up here with nothing to do but talk to these goofballs. I don't think it'd do any harm for you to come to Capsule Corp for a while and learn the ways of us damnable humans." Bulma laughed faintly and winked at Piccolo's startled expression. "That's if your 'father' here will let you."

Piccolo snorted and glowered turning away, "I'm sure as hell not her father, and I trust Vegeta enough to not blow her into oblivion if she asks him something, I also trust you to keep her safe if anything were to happen. Besides, I should get in contact with Gohan and possibly Goku to talk to them about this whole fiasco, and I'd prefer to do it without Kihann around."

Kihann narrowed her eyes, jerking to stand up and face him with an evil look. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

"It means I don't want you drawing their attention away from me. The only Nameks those two have seen are the ones on New Namek, Dende and myself. Goku is easily distracted enough as it is, he's distracted by coins, you'd be a lot worse and I really don't think you could tolerate his questions, or his staring. Gohans marginally better, but I have to go to the city to see him, and it'll be risky enough just getting into the city unseen alone, let alone with you there. Remember they're looking for us both." Piccolo faced the angry woman with a stern gaze. "I bailed you out once, and I really don't feel like taking on an entire army just to bail you out again." With that said, Piccolo exited the room, letting Bulma and Kihann stand there alone.

Bulma's brows rose in quiet contemplation before commenting; "You know, I think he likes you."

Kihann snorted softly folding her arms over her chest, watching Piccolo disappear. "I hardly think that you could place him and the word like in a sentence together."

"No, really; it's not often that Piccolo actually opens up to people. Gohan's been the only person so far that's gotten to get him to smile let alone speak, and just by watching you two interact is proof alone that he's becoming something that none of us thought he'd become. But anyways, let's head to my plane; Vegeta can fly his sorry butt home."

Kihann allowed herself to be led along by the strange out going human and offered a faint smile to Dende as she passed by him, he offered her nothing more but a smile and that he hoped she enjoyed herself.

Piccolo meanwhile launched off the Lookout, headed for Gohans place, not liking the task ahead of him.