"That was the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've ever seen," said Mirai, wiping the tears from his eyes as everyone managed to stop laughing.
Vegeta finally regained control of his motor functions.
"They made a mockery of my life!" he shouted. "The Saiyans are the mightiest warrior race in the universe, and they turned them into a common street gang!"
"And that's different HOW from what you really were?" asked Yamcha as he got his breath back. Ignoring the insult to his species, Vegeta continued ranting.
Meanwhile, the phone in the kitchen rang. Trunks darted off to answer it as the others amused themselves by listening to the diatribe.
"Brother, phone call!"
Surprise showed on Mirai's face as he rose from his seat on the floor and headed to the kitchen. Trunks passed him going the other way, not wanting to miss any more of his dad's tirade.
The young man picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Mirai. This is Jennifer. From the Budokai, remember?"
He felt guilty as he realized that he'd almost entirely forgotten about her. "Of course I remember you! Whatcha need?"
"Sorry I didn't call you yesterday like I said I would. Anyway, I was just wondering where you'd like to go for our date tomorrow night."
"Oh, it doesn't matter to me. You pick the place."
"Alright then. Just come pick me up at, say, six o'clock?"
"Sure. What's your address?" She told him where she lived and he scribbled it down on a handy piece of paper.
"OK, I'll be there at six. See you then."
"Yep! Bye!"
After he hung up the phone, Mirai walked back to join the others and braced himself to say something he never thought he'd have to.
"Mom, I need to borrow the car tomorrow night."
"Sure," said Bulma, not really paying attention. She was having too much fun listening to Vegeta.
Yamcha, however, did hear. "Got a date with that girl?"
"Yeah," he replied, blushing slightly.
"Good, that makes two of us."
"You have a DATE, Yamcha-san?"
"Yeah, I'm taking Pu'ar out." The shapeshifter herself had quickly grown tired of Vegeta's ranting and had retired to the bedroom she shared with the ex-bandit.
Now this Bulma *did* hear. Yamcha and Pu'ar had been friends even before Bulma had met them, and that was decades ago. While she was glad to hear he had apparently rebounded quickly from his breakup with Maron, she was a little worried. Either this would turn out to be one of the best things he ever did, or another terrible event to add on to the string of them that seemed to represent his life over the last few years.
She prayed it was the former. If something went wrong involving Pu'ar, she wasn't sure that even the normally happy-go-lucky fighter could recover from that.
Broli rose to his feet. "Well, it's been a long day, I believe I shall seek refreshment in repose." He walked by Vegeta. "I shall see you in the morning, 'loyal friend.' Good night." As he left, he tried to hide his laughter.
Bulma got up as well. "I'm gonna go to bed too. See you in a few minutes, 'loving husband' of mine." She was snickering.
"I'd better get some sleep for my big day tomorrow," said Mirai, clapping his father on the back. "Sleep well, 'caring father.'" Even he could barely keep a straight face saying that.
***
The next day, a group of reporters showed up outside of Capsule Corporation. One of them pressed the intercom at the door.
"Yes?"
"We'd like to talk to Mr. Briefs, please."
"One moment, let me go tell him."
A minute later, one of the upper windows opened and the world champion leaned out. "What the hell do you want?"
"We'd like to interview you, sir."
"NO! Now get off my lawn!"
"Or what?" asked one reporter whom Vegeta recognized as Tetsu Gobun, from last night's supposed documentary.
"Or THIS!" Vegeta hurled a ki blast directly at the man, who closed his eyes and waited for his impending death.
He opened them again a few minutes later, surprised to be alive. Then he noticed what Vegeta had done.
Practically all of Tetsu Gobun's clothes had been burned off.
"Be glad the woman's around or I would have destroyed you," growled the Saiyan. "And I WILL destroy all of you if you come back again! Now depart!"
They departed.
***
The rest of the day passed without incident until four o' clock, when Mirai approached Yamcha.
"You have to help me. I don't know what to do!"
"Hm. Never been on a date before?"
"No!"
"Ok. First of all, be your usual polite self. Girls like that. And be sure to compliment them on their looks."
"Alright..."
"Don't talk too much about yourself unless they ask you to tell them about yourself. Try and keep the conversation focused either on them or on something neutral."
"Sounds kinda hard."
"Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. And she'll probably sense that you don't have much experience in this area, so she'll cut you some slack."
He continued to give out some tips for several minutes.
"Well," he concluded, "That should be all you need to know for a first date. I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Thanks." Mirai walked out, then returned again.
"I forgot something!"
"Yes?"
"What do I wear?!"
***
At five-thirty, Mirai activated the capsule car and drove to the address that Jennifer had given him. When he arrived, he parked on the side of the road and walked up the door.
He hadn't even had time to knock before the door opened to reveal Jennifer. She was wearing an absolutely stunning red dress that went spectacularly with her hair.
"I'm ready to go," she said in those same tones of innocent yet sultry. Mirai managed to reply.
"O-Ok."
***
"Ready to go, Pu'ar?" yelled Yamcha up the stairs.
"Ready!" She walked down, having shifted into the form of a beautiful human woman who was almost everything Yamcha could ask for.
"Gee, you look great," he said, awed. For a brief moment he felt as if he'd reverted back to his old girl-shy ways.
"Thanks."
Yamcha opened the door and escorted her out to the car.
***
The conversation during the ride to the restaurant that she had chosen was filled mainly with small talk about how each other's day had gone.
When they got there, Mirai zipped around to open the car door for her. Then he walked a step ahead and got the restaurant door for her as well.
"Ah, a true gentleman, I see. Don't get many of those nowadays." She smiled at him. True to tradition, he blushed.
The restaurant wasn't very crowded, so they got taken to a table immediately. After looking over their menus and deciding what to have, they began to talk.
"So, Jennifer, why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Alright, where to begin?"
She began by telling him about her job as a lawyer ("so if you try to make me pay for the whole meal, I'll sue you for all you're worth"), then moved on to her family, and eventually her interests.
The waiter showed up and took their orders, then returned to the kitchen.
"Well, I've babbled on enough. Tell me about you."
Mirai began to sweat. He'd asked Yamcha what to do if she asked about his past, and he'd said to go ahead and tell the truth about his half-alien heritage. If she accepted him, fine; if she rejected him, she was a bigot not worth dating.
"OK," he said, adjusting his collar, "This is gonna be a little hard to believe..."
***
As they drove to the restaurant, Yamcha and Pu'ar chatted about life in general.
Upon parking, he helped her out of the car and they walked through the door. The restaurant was pretty crowded tonight, but fortunately a table had just opened up and they were seated at it almost as soon as they walked in the door.
After choosing their meals, they felt rather embarrassed. Two old friends going out on a date are usually very awkward, and this was no exception. There was a whole minute of tense silence.
"So," Pu'ar finally said to break the silence, "That documentary sure was something else, huh?"
It was enough. They began talking about the documentary, and from there were able to branch off to all kinds of subjects.
When the food arrived, Yamcha chose that moment to broach a question he'd been wondering about for the last several days.
"Pu'ar," he said hesitantly, "Last week when you said you'd secretly loved me for a while...well, just how long?"
***
"...and so I came back to this timeline to live with this version of my parents," said Mirai, concluding his long exposition of his past. "There you have it."
The food arrived in the middle of his recollection, but Jennifer hadn't touched it. She had simply sat there with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Well, you're right, that is hard to believe," she managed to say. Her expression grew hostile.
"I can prove it," said Mirai hastily.
"OK, let's see it."
"Not in here, we'll have to go outside." He motioned the waiter over and told him that they'd have to leave for a moment, but that they'd be back and not to touch their food.
They stepped into the parking lot. Theirs was the only car there.
"Now show me the proof," she said skeptically.
Mirai closed his eyes and concentrated. A moment later, his hair had turned into spikes that glowed golden. When he opened his eyes, the irises--normally blue--had turned green.
"This is what a Super Saiyan looks like, that I was telling you about." He returned to his normal state.
"I'll accept that," said Jennifer, a pragmatist if there ever was one.
"I hope this doesn't bother you." He felt like he'd embarassed her by having to prove her wrong on a first date.
"Not at all. So your father's an alien. Big deal. Some of the people I see in court don't seem totally human either, and at least you're a lot nicer than they are."
He sighed with relief. "Thanks."
"Now let's go back in and eat. I can't wait to find out more about you."
***
Pu'ar swivelled her eyes downward and clasped her hands together. "Ever since we were thieves out in the desert," she whispered.
Yamcha nearly choked on his drink. "WHAT?! EVER SINCE THEN?!"
"Yes."
"That's been more than twenty years! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Well, back then I didn't want you to think I was weak by having feelings for you. Then after that you and Bulma were together for years, and whenever you had a fight or something I knew it wouldn't last so I knew I shouldn't say anything. And then you finally did break things off eventually, and you were--well--such a mess I thought you needed some time by yourself to straighten everything out. And after you *had* straightened yourself out, you started to see other girls, and I didn't want to mess those up either." Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.
Yamcha sat back in his seat, stunned. He'd be the first to tell you that he'd had plenty of romantic problems over the years. But compared to this...! Hell, even in the worst of times, at least he'd been able to have his feelings out in the open.
Not really knowing what to do, he grasped one of her hands. "Pu'ar," he said gently, "If that's true, you're not weak. You're one of the strongest people I know. I couldn't have handled that. Even back in the desert, I wouldn't have thought so. My goal back then was to get married, remember? And after that, you should have told me how you felt no matter what. Then at least it would have been out in the open."
Using his other hand, Yamcha scratched the top of her head. During those few occasions when she'd been openly down about something, he'd done this while she was in her base state of a cat, and it had helped cheer her up. He hoped it would work on her now.
It seemed to. She wiped the tears from her eyes, then looked at him.
And then he felt it. It was something he'd felt only once before in his life, and it had also involved eye contact.
It had been the morning after they, Goku, Bulma, and Oolong had foiled Emperor Pilaf's plan to conquer the world. He and Bulma had looked into each other's eyes, and things had changed. The day before she had been an obstacle preventing him from obtaining the Dragonballs, but with that look he had fallen in love with her.
The same thing had just happened again.
He leaned in close. "We've been friends for a very long time now. Well, I've just decided...perhaps we can be something more."
Straining to catch his very soft words, she leaned forward as well. Once she'd heard what he'd said, she grinned widely, and began to cry again, though the tears were of a decidedly different nature this time.
Yamcha wiped them away with a finger. And then something--maybe fate, maybe gravity, maybe some subconscious part of their brains--compelled the two of them to lean a little bit more. When they did so, their lips came together in a kiss.
They stayed that way for a moment or two, then separated.
The restaurant broke out into applause, and they blushed.
***
The rest of the dinner with Jennifer went spectacularly well. They talked throughout the rest of the meal, learning a lot about one another and enjoying each other's company.
The highlight of the night came when the date was over. They'd arrived back at Jennifer's house and were standing on her doorstep.
"Thanks for a great evening," he said.
"Oh no. Thank you." Then she gave him a small peck on the cheek. As he began to flush rapidly, she winked at him and went inside.
Blushing all the way, but smiling as well, he walked back to the car and drove home.
"Have a good night?" Bulma asked as he walked in. Then she looked at him. "Never mind, you obviously did." She gave him a grin.
Puzzled, he went back to his room. Then he caught his reflection in the mirror. There was a lipstick smear on his cheek.
He turned a redder shade of crimson.
***
Yamcha and Pu'ar returned a few minutes later. They didn't even see Bulma.
Bulma, who did see them, was immensely relieved to see them smiling, holding hands, and looking at each other in certain ways.
Vegeta, who was getting one of many snacks, walked in from the kitchen in time to see them as well.
"Good," he said once they left the room, "Maybe now he won't be so damned melancholy."
Vegeta finally regained control of his motor functions.
"They made a mockery of my life!" he shouted. "The Saiyans are the mightiest warrior race in the universe, and they turned them into a common street gang!"
"And that's different HOW from what you really were?" asked Yamcha as he got his breath back. Ignoring the insult to his species, Vegeta continued ranting.
Meanwhile, the phone in the kitchen rang. Trunks darted off to answer it as the others amused themselves by listening to the diatribe.
"Brother, phone call!"
Surprise showed on Mirai's face as he rose from his seat on the floor and headed to the kitchen. Trunks passed him going the other way, not wanting to miss any more of his dad's tirade.
The young man picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Mirai. This is Jennifer. From the Budokai, remember?"
He felt guilty as he realized that he'd almost entirely forgotten about her. "Of course I remember you! Whatcha need?"
"Sorry I didn't call you yesterday like I said I would. Anyway, I was just wondering where you'd like to go for our date tomorrow night."
"Oh, it doesn't matter to me. You pick the place."
"Alright then. Just come pick me up at, say, six o'clock?"
"Sure. What's your address?" She told him where she lived and he scribbled it down on a handy piece of paper.
"OK, I'll be there at six. See you then."
"Yep! Bye!"
After he hung up the phone, Mirai walked back to join the others and braced himself to say something he never thought he'd have to.
"Mom, I need to borrow the car tomorrow night."
"Sure," said Bulma, not really paying attention. She was having too much fun listening to Vegeta.
Yamcha, however, did hear. "Got a date with that girl?"
"Yeah," he replied, blushing slightly.
"Good, that makes two of us."
"You have a DATE, Yamcha-san?"
"Yeah, I'm taking Pu'ar out." The shapeshifter herself had quickly grown tired of Vegeta's ranting and had retired to the bedroom she shared with the ex-bandit.
Now this Bulma *did* hear. Yamcha and Pu'ar had been friends even before Bulma had met them, and that was decades ago. While she was glad to hear he had apparently rebounded quickly from his breakup with Maron, she was a little worried. Either this would turn out to be one of the best things he ever did, or another terrible event to add on to the string of them that seemed to represent his life over the last few years.
She prayed it was the former. If something went wrong involving Pu'ar, she wasn't sure that even the normally happy-go-lucky fighter could recover from that.
Broli rose to his feet. "Well, it's been a long day, I believe I shall seek refreshment in repose." He walked by Vegeta. "I shall see you in the morning, 'loyal friend.' Good night." As he left, he tried to hide his laughter.
Bulma got up as well. "I'm gonna go to bed too. See you in a few minutes, 'loving husband' of mine." She was snickering.
"I'd better get some sleep for my big day tomorrow," said Mirai, clapping his father on the back. "Sleep well, 'caring father.'" Even he could barely keep a straight face saying that.
***
The next day, a group of reporters showed up outside of Capsule Corporation. One of them pressed the intercom at the door.
"Yes?"
"We'd like to talk to Mr. Briefs, please."
"One moment, let me go tell him."
A minute later, one of the upper windows opened and the world champion leaned out. "What the hell do you want?"
"We'd like to interview you, sir."
"NO! Now get off my lawn!"
"Or what?" asked one reporter whom Vegeta recognized as Tetsu Gobun, from last night's supposed documentary.
"Or THIS!" Vegeta hurled a ki blast directly at the man, who closed his eyes and waited for his impending death.
He opened them again a few minutes later, surprised to be alive. Then he noticed what Vegeta had done.
Practically all of Tetsu Gobun's clothes had been burned off.
"Be glad the woman's around or I would have destroyed you," growled the Saiyan. "And I WILL destroy all of you if you come back again! Now depart!"
They departed.
***
The rest of the day passed without incident until four o' clock, when Mirai approached Yamcha.
"You have to help me. I don't know what to do!"
"Hm. Never been on a date before?"
"No!"
"Ok. First of all, be your usual polite self. Girls like that. And be sure to compliment them on their looks."
"Alright..."
"Don't talk too much about yourself unless they ask you to tell them about yourself. Try and keep the conversation focused either on them or on something neutral."
"Sounds kinda hard."
"Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. And she'll probably sense that you don't have much experience in this area, so she'll cut you some slack."
He continued to give out some tips for several minutes.
"Well," he concluded, "That should be all you need to know for a first date. I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Thanks." Mirai walked out, then returned again.
"I forgot something!"
"Yes?"
"What do I wear?!"
***
At five-thirty, Mirai activated the capsule car and drove to the address that Jennifer had given him. When he arrived, he parked on the side of the road and walked up the door.
He hadn't even had time to knock before the door opened to reveal Jennifer. She was wearing an absolutely stunning red dress that went spectacularly with her hair.
"I'm ready to go," she said in those same tones of innocent yet sultry. Mirai managed to reply.
"O-Ok."
***
"Ready to go, Pu'ar?" yelled Yamcha up the stairs.
"Ready!" She walked down, having shifted into the form of a beautiful human woman who was almost everything Yamcha could ask for.
"Gee, you look great," he said, awed. For a brief moment he felt as if he'd reverted back to his old girl-shy ways.
"Thanks."
Yamcha opened the door and escorted her out to the car.
***
The conversation during the ride to the restaurant that she had chosen was filled mainly with small talk about how each other's day had gone.
When they got there, Mirai zipped around to open the car door for her. Then he walked a step ahead and got the restaurant door for her as well.
"Ah, a true gentleman, I see. Don't get many of those nowadays." She smiled at him. True to tradition, he blushed.
The restaurant wasn't very crowded, so they got taken to a table immediately. After looking over their menus and deciding what to have, they began to talk.
"So, Jennifer, why don't you tell me about yourself?"
"Alright, where to begin?"
She began by telling him about her job as a lawyer ("so if you try to make me pay for the whole meal, I'll sue you for all you're worth"), then moved on to her family, and eventually her interests.
The waiter showed up and took their orders, then returned to the kitchen.
"Well, I've babbled on enough. Tell me about you."
Mirai began to sweat. He'd asked Yamcha what to do if she asked about his past, and he'd said to go ahead and tell the truth about his half-alien heritage. If she accepted him, fine; if she rejected him, she was a bigot not worth dating.
"OK," he said, adjusting his collar, "This is gonna be a little hard to believe..."
***
As they drove to the restaurant, Yamcha and Pu'ar chatted about life in general.
Upon parking, he helped her out of the car and they walked through the door. The restaurant was pretty crowded tonight, but fortunately a table had just opened up and they were seated at it almost as soon as they walked in the door.
After choosing their meals, they felt rather embarrassed. Two old friends going out on a date are usually very awkward, and this was no exception. There was a whole minute of tense silence.
"So," Pu'ar finally said to break the silence, "That documentary sure was something else, huh?"
It was enough. They began talking about the documentary, and from there were able to branch off to all kinds of subjects.
When the food arrived, Yamcha chose that moment to broach a question he'd been wondering about for the last several days.
"Pu'ar," he said hesitantly, "Last week when you said you'd secretly loved me for a while...well, just how long?"
***
"...and so I came back to this timeline to live with this version of my parents," said Mirai, concluding his long exposition of his past. "There you have it."
The food arrived in the middle of his recollection, but Jennifer hadn't touched it. She had simply sat there with a dumbfounded look on her face.
"Well, you're right, that is hard to believe," she managed to say. Her expression grew hostile.
"I can prove it," said Mirai hastily.
"OK, let's see it."
"Not in here, we'll have to go outside." He motioned the waiter over and told him that they'd have to leave for a moment, but that they'd be back and not to touch their food.
They stepped into the parking lot. Theirs was the only car there.
"Now show me the proof," she said skeptically.
Mirai closed his eyes and concentrated. A moment later, his hair had turned into spikes that glowed golden. When he opened his eyes, the irises--normally blue--had turned green.
"This is what a Super Saiyan looks like, that I was telling you about." He returned to his normal state.
"I'll accept that," said Jennifer, a pragmatist if there ever was one.
"I hope this doesn't bother you." He felt like he'd embarassed her by having to prove her wrong on a first date.
"Not at all. So your father's an alien. Big deal. Some of the people I see in court don't seem totally human either, and at least you're a lot nicer than they are."
He sighed with relief. "Thanks."
"Now let's go back in and eat. I can't wait to find out more about you."
***
Pu'ar swivelled her eyes downward and clasped her hands together. "Ever since we were thieves out in the desert," she whispered.
Yamcha nearly choked on his drink. "WHAT?! EVER SINCE THEN?!"
"Yes."
"That's been more than twenty years! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Well, back then I didn't want you to think I was weak by having feelings for you. Then after that you and Bulma were together for years, and whenever you had a fight or something I knew it wouldn't last so I knew I shouldn't say anything. And then you finally did break things off eventually, and you were--well--such a mess I thought you needed some time by yourself to straighten everything out. And after you *had* straightened yourself out, you started to see other girls, and I didn't want to mess those up either." Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.
Yamcha sat back in his seat, stunned. He'd be the first to tell you that he'd had plenty of romantic problems over the years. But compared to this...! Hell, even in the worst of times, at least he'd been able to have his feelings out in the open.
Not really knowing what to do, he grasped one of her hands. "Pu'ar," he said gently, "If that's true, you're not weak. You're one of the strongest people I know. I couldn't have handled that. Even back in the desert, I wouldn't have thought so. My goal back then was to get married, remember? And after that, you should have told me how you felt no matter what. Then at least it would have been out in the open."
Using his other hand, Yamcha scratched the top of her head. During those few occasions when she'd been openly down about something, he'd done this while she was in her base state of a cat, and it had helped cheer her up. He hoped it would work on her now.
It seemed to. She wiped the tears from her eyes, then looked at him.
And then he felt it. It was something he'd felt only once before in his life, and it had also involved eye contact.
It had been the morning after they, Goku, Bulma, and Oolong had foiled Emperor Pilaf's plan to conquer the world. He and Bulma had looked into each other's eyes, and things had changed. The day before she had been an obstacle preventing him from obtaining the Dragonballs, but with that look he had fallen in love with her.
The same thing had just happened again.
He leaned in close. "We've been friends for a very long time now. Well, I've just decided...perhaps we can be something more."
Straining to catch his very soft words, she leaned forward as well. Once she'd heard what he'd said, she grinned widely, and began to cry again, though the tears were of a decidedly different nature this time.
Yamcha wiped them away with a finger. And then something--maybe fate, maybe gravity, maybe some subconscious part of their brains--compelled the two of them to lean a little bit more. When they did so, their lips came together in a kiss.
They stayed that way for a moment or two, then separated.
The restaurant broke out into applause, and they blushed.
***
The rest of the dinner with Jennifer went spectacularly well. They talked throughout the rest of the meal, learning a lot about one another and enjoying each other's company.
The highlight of the night came when the date was over. They'd arrived back at Jennifer's house and were standing on her doorstep.
"Thanks for a great evening," he said.
"Oh no. Thank you." Then she gave him a small peck on the cheek. As he began to flush rapidly, she winked at him and went inside.
Blushing all the way, but smiling as well, he walked back to the car and drove home.
"Have a good night?" Bulma asked as he walked in. Then she looked at him. "Never mind, you obviously did." She gave him a grin.
Puzzled, he went back to his room. Then he caught his reflection in the mirror. There was a lipstick smear on his cheek.
He turned a redder shade of crimson.
***
Yamcha and Pu'ar returned a few minutes later. They didn't even see Bulma.
Bulma, who did see them, was immensely relieved to see them smiling, holding hands, and looking at each other in certain ways.
Vegeta, who was getting one of many snacks, walked in from the kitchen in time to see them as well.
"Good," he said once they left the room, "Maybe now he won't be so damned melancholy."
