When Piccolo woke up the following day, he felt refreshed. He didn't feel tired or fatigued, and he hadn't been woken up once. From the window, he could see the sun was shining. There marked another first – the first time he ever managed to sleep through the entire night.
He sat up and stretched his neck, side to side. He stood up, and went to the front of the house. When he got there, no one was there. There was a mess in the kitchen, but no one there to cause it.
The back door swung open. Chi-Chi was carrying a basket of vegetables. She saw Piccolo, and frowned, slightly. "Nice of you to finally join us. You slept like a log all the way through lunch. I hope you got your beauty rest."
Piccolo looked at the clock – it was four in the afternoon.
He slept even better than he thought.
Chi-Chi went to the sink, and started washing the veggies. She glanced behind her. "There are leftovers in the fridge, but don't gorge yourself, now: dinner'll be on the table soon." He just stood there, not sure what he was supposed to say to that. He was slowly beginning to realize how inept he was with human interaction.
She looked back at him, again. "If you're just going to stand there, then at least come and help me prepare some of this."
He sighed. This woman was pushy. However, she was letting him stay here free. Maybe he should try helping. It was better than doing nothing. He shook his head. Not even a day here, and he was already out of his mind.
He walked up next to here. "What do you want?"
She looked up at him, surprised. "Oh god, not even Goku takes me up on that…" She suddenly perked up. "Well, just dry off the veggies over there, once I finish washing them. Put them in the big bowl on the counter over there, when you're done. We'll work from there."
He grunted, and moved to the other side of her.
"Have you washed your hands?"
He sighed, and pushed her out of the way of the sink.
Soon, Piccolo and Chi-Chi had a steady rhythm. He learned just when she would finish washing a vegetable, and took it from her without a delay. He learned how long it needed to be dried before the next one came along. They were an efficient team, and by the time they noticed, the workload was already done.
Chi-Chi grabbed the bowl of vegetables. She stumbled backwards, before gaining her footing, again. "Well, thank you for helping out! I really appreciated it. You can go do something else – I'll take it from here."
Piccolo nodded. Once Chi-Chi went back to preparing the food, he didn't know what to do, next. He turned around and went into the parlor, deciding to have a seat. He listened to her working in the kitchen. Pots and pans were clinking against each other, and she hummed to herself. Oddly, he didn't find it annoying. He found it almost… pleasant.
Maybe he could get used to this.
The front door slammed open, making him jump. "We're back!"
And he spoke too soon.
Goku kicked the door closed, carrying a giant fish in one arm and Gohan in the other. Gohan was fast asleep, on his shoulder.
"I got the fish, Chi-Chi! Where do you want it?"
"Just put it on the counter, Goku."
He went into the kitchen to deliver his bounty. He put the fish down on the counter. Now that both of his arms were free, he held his son with both. "Gohan fell asleep, on the way back, but he had fun. You should have seen him. He really wanted to go after a bird, so we chased it down on Nimbus!"
"Oh, I wish I could have! Next time you take Gohan out, I'm coming with you!" She took Gohan from him. "I trust that he behave himself."
"Yeah, he was really good. I think he got scared, seeing me fish, but he was okay once I came back up, again."
"We'll I'm glad. Dinner's still going to be a while, so you can go do something else, for a while."
"Thanks, Chi-Chi!" He kissed her on the cheek, before running back to the parlor, making a b-line for the front door.
Piccolo still hadn't gotten a handle on what Goku's relationship with his wife was, or what to think about it. They weren't really physical or amorous, like a lot of couples he had come across in his years. Of course, most of the couples he came across were lovesick morons, but he had come to expect something like that with every couple: hell, even Bulma's affair with Vegeta had started like that. He had yet to see anything like that between Goku and Chi-Chi. If he hadn't known, he would have just assumed they were friends. It was odd, to say the least.
As Goku ran through the parlor, he finally saw Piccolo. "Hey, you're up! I was beginning to think you died, or something. You must've been really tired!"
"He actually helped me with cleaning the vegetables, earlier," Chi-Chi yelled from the kitchen.
"He did?! That's great! Didn't think you'd adjust to all of this that quickly, did you, Piccolo?"
He huffed out a sigh. "Shut up," he muttered.
Goku laughed. "You wanna go do some training? We can work our appetites up for dinner, and everything. Plus, with all that sleeping you're doing, you should be at your best!"
He rolled his eyes, but stood up. "You lead the way."
"Cool! Let's go!"
Chi-Chi finished up the food, emptying the last of the rice into a bowl. She quickly set them out on the table, careful to leave enough space for both her and Goku. As she finished arranging them, she looked over her handiwork and smiled. She peaked her head out of the window. "Goku! Dinner's ready! It's time to eat!"
As she looked over the table, again, she groaned. She frantically moved to rearrange everything, yet again. She had forgotten to leave a third space open, for Piccolo.
She stopped, when she heard babbling, behind her. Gohan sat upright, and rubbed his eyes with his fist. She immediately ran over to him, and cradled him. Gohan snuggled into his mom, before glancing around.
"Don't worry, sweetie," she cooed. "Daddy just went out for a little walk. He'll be back, in no time, no doubt."
There was talking from outside. "Chi-Chi… can you come outside?"
"Oh, that's him now! Let's go say hi to him!"
Chi-Chi opened the door, with a smile on her face and her eyes closed. "Dinner's on the table – go eat up!"
She opened her eyes and screamed, holding Gohan protectively to her chest.
Goku laughed, awkwardly. One of his eyes was shut, and the other was only half-open. His gi was tattered, and there were bruises all over his body. He wasn't even standing up – he was being carried by a similarly injured Piccolo under his arm. "Hey, Chi… how's it going?"
Chi-Chi immediately snatched him up, dragging him along by his ear. Goku winced and yelled in pain, as he was taken into the house.
"C-can I at least get something to eat?"
"You keep this up, and you'll be cooking your own meals from now on!"
Piccolo couldn't quite understand what he was seeing. The strongest being of this planet and a decent warrior, as he discovered from their session today, was being manhandled by a tiny woman. This threw another wrench in figuring out their marriage.
He'd leave them to their squabble – maybe he could get some meditation done, elsewhere.
"OH, NO YOU DON'T!"
Piccolo was quickly snatched by his ear, too. He gave a surprise yelp, in pain. Her grip was like a vice, and he felt as if she might tear his ear off. Chi-Chi dragged him back into the house. "You caused this mess, too; you have to face the consequences!"
Piccolo sat with his arms crossed, staring at the floor. Chi-Chi was treating his wounds from the fight, next to him. He tried to stand up and leave, but she slapped his arm, and pointed down. He snarled. This was humiliating.
He glanced next to him. Goku was looking down and pouting, in embarrassment. He was still reeling from the verbal lashing that Chi-Chi had given him. If he knew that this would finally get him to shut up, Piccolo would have done this a while ago.
"Well," Chi-Chi said. "It's clear that I can't trust you to be responsible, with your training. You can't go overboard, like that – it's not healthy."
"It was just one time," Goku whined. "We won't let it happen, again."
"I know you won't. You won't be doing any training for the rest of the month."
Goku got down on his knees. "WHAT?! You're kidding! Oh, come on! Please don't do this! I promise I'll be more careful next time!"
"I said no, and I mean it. If you want to be able to fight, again, you'll have to earn it."
Goku looked up at her with pleading eyes, but Chi-Chi shook her head. He slumped forward and sighed.
"The same goes for you, Piccolo."
Piccolo looked up at her, in shock. "Why are you trying to order me around?!"
"You live in my house, you live by my rules. If you don't like that, then you can leave."
Goku immediately stood up, and put his arm around him. "No, he'll listen! We both will! We swear it!" He laughed.
"I wasn't telling you, Goku – I was telling him."
"Y-yeah, but… I-I mean- I mean, he means," He stuttered over his words, for a moment. Then, he backed off, and scooted to the side.
Chi-Chi walked up to Piccolo, standing on her toes to get in his face. "Now, are you going to follow my rules, or will you leave?"
He had to admit that Chi-Chi had nerves of steel. Still, this presented him with a dilemma. He could go back out and live on his own, again. Then, he wouldn't be bossed around by a tiny woman or be annoyed by a loud, grinning idiot.
But then he'd be back to where he was, before. Maybe getting to a better place meant compromising on a few things.
He huffed out a sigh. "Fine. You won't hear about any training, from me."
"Then we won't have any more problems."
Piccolo resisted the urge to roll his eyes, when Goku sighed, in relief.
"Now, go get something to eat, before it gets cold."
"Alright!" Goku immediately sprinted, for the kitchen.
Chi-Chi shook her head and chuckled, as she watched him. Her expression became serious, as she looked at Piccolo. "I won't be this generous, next time."
"I figured," he muttered.
