A/N:  Congrats to Hirokono who was my 100th reviewer (and who somehow managed to review chapter 100 a couple lines later).  I was going to reply to something in Hirokono's review either way. It seems some of you may/may not remember seeing Mr. Brief's face fault.  For some reason, I seem to remember him doing it once.  And I believe it was just after his wife said something, and I think the whole gang joined him, or he joined them, whichever way you want to put that.  I think it was just after the Frieza thing, but I can't say for sure.

      DISCLAIMER:  Hmm, first person to tell me how to peel an orange without touching it can also let everyone know I don't own DBZ.

      Whoever said "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", I hope they weren't talking about my fic!  I hope you do find some satisfaction in guessing this next title (from which two words have flown away, --hint):

Chapter 10:  In The Arms Of …

      The class watched Mr. Kato, trying to guess what his reaction would be to this news.  Mr. Kato now seemed to have a rather blank look on his face, as if he wasn't sure what to make of the newest development at Orange Star.  He seemed to remember some sort of warning from the last Principal who had been going away on stress leave "Never underestimate the ability of teenagers to live in a fantasy world, or their ability to drag you into it."  The old principal hadn't said anything about nurses who had the ability to scare the entire school population, or gym teachers who wanted Lawn Bowing added to the school's regiment, and definitely nothing about a whole class of students agreeing that an alien had kidnapped one of their classmates.

      About the only thing that was stopping Mr. Kato from putting the whole group in detention, besides the fact that he would have to oversee it, which would make him miss his favourite TV show "Old and the Peaceful", was the fact that the students all seem to believe this … this … fantasy.

      Mrs. White glare grew deeper and deeper, as Mr. Kato squirmed somewhat uncomfortably in his chair.  She wanted to go and terrorize the students, and this interruption was taking too long.  As far as she was concerned, lock all the kids in the cafeteria and force them to eat cafeteria food for the next three days and get it over with!

      Mr. Kato, who was now slouched quite far down in his chair cleared his throat nervously and spoke in a slightly high-pitched voice.  "Mrs. White."  At this point, his voice cracked, something it hadn't done since he was 13.  Clearing his throat with more force, he bravely (so he thought) plowed ahead.  "Mrs. White, I believe you have other duties to attend to?"

      Mrs. White narrowed her eyes at him, but deciding it was in her better interest to leave (there would be students wandering around during lunch soon, just asking to be talked to).  Spinning on her high-heels, she made an abrupt about-face, and with a little effort, opened the door (Mr. Shinara had taken to standing right infront of it, and had been frozen like a deer in the headlights when the nurse had turned around to face him so suddenly).  The door closed with a soft click.  There was an palatable air of relief, and it seemed the group let out the breath they had been holding in one great big feeling of relief.

      Mr. Kato watched the students, who in turn watched him.  The only thing that had changed was Mrs. White's frightening presence was now gone.  And Mr. Kato's thought was once again They definitely didn't cover anything like this in University!

~*~

      Silence reigned not only in Orange Star High's Principal's office, but in a certain yellow building's living room.  The only thing moving seemed to be Gohan's tail, which didn't seem to like holding still.  The tip twitched every so often, reminding everyone why they were all there.

      Vegeta was the first one to recover.  And in typical Vegeta style, the first word he said was "Brat!"

      Gohan looked up at Vegeta, then quickly stared back down at his, well tail.  He was finding it hard to concentrate on his shoes when his tail would blur across his vision ever so often.  The silence became even harder to stand as Vegeta left a pause, perhaps on purpose, to draw out the tension.

      "Brat!"  Vegeta repeated.  "Why on earth are you here?"

      Gohan's head snapped up.  Was it possible Vegeta hadn't noticed his tail.  No, that couldn't be it.  You'd have to be pretty dense not to notice something like that.  After a quick examination of that thought, he sweatdropped.  Mrs. Briefs hadn't seen anything worth mentioning.

      Trunks, who displayed remarkably Goten-like naivety at times, chose this moment to put in his two cents.  "Dad!  Haven't you seen Gohan's tail?"

      Vegeta turned and scowled in his son's direction.  Trunks laughed nervously, then his face became a little paler as Vegeta glared at him with a look that said 'Leave now or you'll regret it'.  Regretting it usually came in between the third and fourth hour of full-on sparring in the Gravity Room.  Trunks took one last glance at Gohan, yelled "I forgot to … um… pick up my toys, yeah.  I'd better go do that!" and dodged around his still-unconscious mother, his glaring father, and Piccolo, who was in one of his statue fazes, arms crossed and a slightly sinister look on his face.

      The air of Trunk's passing must have disturbed Bulma, as she groaned and began to come to.  Blinking rapidly, she stared at the brown carpet What an ugly colour, I'll have to get that changed.  Hey, wait a minute!  What am I doing on the floor?!.  As she started to stand, she saw a couple pairs of feet.  One set definitely had her husband's training boots on, the other was identifiable not by the boot selection, but rather by the green legs that came attached to the boots.

      Bracing herself, she pushed up quickly with her hands, and stood facing Piccolo and Vegeta.  "Hello Piccolo."  She greeted.  The turning to her husband, she said "Hey Vegeta, what are you doing here?"

      Neither warrior responded to her question.  They simply continued to look at something behind her.  She turned around, and almost fainted again.  Oh yeah.  That's why I was on the floor.

      "You still haven't answered my question brat.  Why.  Are.  You.  Here."  Vegeta replied, his voice becoming more taunting as he slowed down, talking to the young demi-saiyan as if he were a little child.  Of course on Vegeta-sai they would've simply blasted the teen by now.   Nothing too serious, definitely not enough to kill him, just enough to get the response they wanted out of the … addressee.

      "Well… umm…"  Gohan started, trying to remember how exactly he did end up in the Brief's living room.  "It's like this…"

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A/N: Next time… Gohan tries to explain… will Vegeta let him finish… will Bulma let the boy speak?

       This chapter brings my grand total to more that 10,000+ words (story words, not including Author's Notes.  I make most of my chapters 1000 words plus – except the one with 998 words… oh well).

      If anyone who's currently on my list isn't getting a message, let me know.  I think I'm doing it properly, but who knows…Hotmail may not like me!  Sorry if anyone took last time's A/N to be me begging for reviews.  I would still continue, but getting reviews definitely gets me off my little behind faster!

      THANK YOU to everyone who's helped me reach 100 reviews!  A selection of Cyber-cookies, ‑chocolate bars, and –drinks are available to anyone who has reviewed. J