A/N:  Not much to say today…

      DISCLAIMER: Nope.  I still don't own DBZ… maybe next time… common, a girl can always dream right?

      Today on DBZ, will Gohan finally find out Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong, or will he miss the next word too much?

Chapter 12:  The Lion Sleeps …

      Videl, having delivered her ultimatum began to count down… "Ten…"

      Mr. Kato's brain began to work in what must have been slow motion.

      "Nine…"

      What was he going to do?  He couldn't just let them go, could he?

      "Eight…" a few voices had joined Videl's.

      It would be against all the rules he tried to uphold!

      "Seven…" excitement was catching on, most of the students were now in full count-down mode.

      But what would happen if he didn't do anything… Videl wasn't the kind to make idle threats.

      "Six…"  Erasa joined the rest of her class.  As she hadn't been paying much attention, she wasn't sure what she was counting down to, but it seemed like fun!

      "Five…"  The once quiet countdown was not in full swing.  Most of the students had almost forgotten why they were doing it, but in typical teenage fashion, they didn't care… it was fun after all!

      Mr. Kato was becoming desperate, he really couldn't think of a good way out of this.

      "Four…"  Someone in the back had begun yelling.

      Mr. Shinara woke up with a start.  What was happening.  Why were his students yelling numbers?

      "Three…"  Oh! It's a countdown! he thought happily, joining in with the students just in time for:

      "Two…"

      Mr. Kato's head jerked up as he confirmed his suspicion, even Mr. Shinara was against him.  I guess I really have no choice he thought.

      "One…"

      "STOP!"  Mr. Kato yelled, his voice seeming to overpower the students by sheer terror.

      The countdown stopped.  No one really knew what they were supposed to yell at the end.  Somehow the traditional 'Blast-off' and 'Happy New Year' didn't quite cut it.

      "Well?"  Videl barked.

      "You can go?"  Mr. Kato wasn't quite sure if this was what Videl wanted to hear.

      "And…"  Videl said, pushing him to continue talking.

      "And…um…uh…hehe."  The poor Principal was now completely confused, what else did these little monsters want from him?

      "And do you believe us now?"  Videl yelled, imitating an army drill sergeant.

      Mr. Kato felt the urge to jump to attention, but instead he just banged his knees on the underside of his desk.  Having failed to stand up, he was momentarily drawn away from the problem at hand by the sharp stinging of his abused knees.

      "Well, do you believe us?"  Videl, having decided he'd paused for too long.

      "Umm…" What am I supposed to say, yes?  I can just see the headlines tomorrow.  Orange Star High Principal told "Satan City Today" a green alien came and kidnapped a student during gym class…sources say Videl was at the scene.  Coverage to follow on the 6:00 news.  But if I don't…  At this point, the principal let out an honest-to-goodness "eep!"  Looking up at Videl he opened his mouth and said…

~*~

      Vegeta was the quickest to regain mental composure, or as close as he seemed to be able to get to mental composure.  "Brat.  The Onna and the Green Freak want to know why you were unconscious."  He conveniently left himself off that list.  It wasn't like he was interested.

      Gohan, who had apparently forgotten his usually vast vocabulary once again resorted to "Ummm…"

      Vegeta had had enough with that word and let the third-class know it.  "And if you say that one more time, so help me, I'll blast you into Other World, so you can visit that baka you call a father."

      "Vegeta!"  A voice shrieked.  Both Gohan and Piccolo visibly cringed.  The only indication Vegeta gave that it bothered him was a slight twitch of an eyebrow.

      Choosing to ignore his harpy mate, Vegeta continued on, "And while you're at it, you'd better tell me how you got your tail back!"

      Gohan opened his mouth to say 'Umm' again, but thought better of it once he remembered Vegeta's threat.  Having nothing to say, he simply shut his mouth.

      Bulma, having finished glaring at her mate, who was trying to completely ignore her, also turned to Gohan and smiled sweetly.

      Warning alarms went off in Gohan's head.  When Bulma or his mother smiled like that, the next words always wound up being something you either didn't want to know (like being told about Grandchildren) or a request for something you didn't want to do (like find a mate and have Grandchildren).  Backing up a few steps, Gohan regarded Bulma with a measuring gaze, and waited to hear what her next words were.

      "Gohan, you know I've known you forever."  Danger Will Rogers flashed through Gohan's mind, he wasn't quite sure where the quote came from, but man this was going to be trouble.  Bulma only used this phrase when she wanted him to something really big.

      "You've always been such a kind, truthful, young man."

      The alarms had turned into sirens… what was she trying to do?

      "You know you can trust us, right?"

      How on earth was he supposed to answer that?  He couldn't exactly say no, but if he said yes, it would imply that he had been keeping something from them.

      Batting her eyelashes at the pale teen, who suddenly allowed blood to rush into his cheeks, she said in her most charming voice, "Don't you want to tell us how you got your tail back?"

      Gohan was now officially backed into a corner, and it looked like there was no way out.

      RING!  Gohan jumped.

      Ring, Ring!

      Bulma huffed and reached over to pick up the telephone, she answered gruffly, not ready to be pleasant towards whoever had interrupted her little session with Gohan.  "This is Capsule Corp.  What do you want."  The last wasn't even a question.

      "Oh!"  She suddenly sounded a little bit more cheerful, "It's you …"

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A/N:  Sorry this one's a little shorter that I normally like them to be, but it was such a wonderful place to leave off, I think I'm getting pretty good at the evil cliff-hangers, ne?

      Next time…HELP!  Should I let Videl & co go to Capsule Corp, or should I try to be more original… I don't have any preference at the moment, either could work at the moment.  It's just that I sorta have an idea of how to get the class to CC… but I could just as easily do something else.