Chapter 33- Reluctant Joining

"No. I cannot allow it. You can't play football in your state." Goku and Vegeta had cornered Dr. Briefs during Vegeta's usual morning check up to discuss the prospect of Vegeta playing football again. Dr. Briefs, the kind old pushover of a man, was being unusually stubborn, though.

"But it wouldn't be for two weeks, and what if I would just practice?" Vegeta argued.

"Yeah. It wouldn't really be playing. It would be more like..." Goku paused to think of an accurate way to put it.

"...intense physical rehab." Vegeta covered for him.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think it would be a good idea." Dr. Briefs said.

"But...but." Vegeta stammered looking to Goku. They'd been at this for ten minutes, and he was running out of ideas.

Goku suddenly remembered something he'd heard on TV. "But statistics show that getting out and enjoying yourself actually speeds up recovery."

"Hm...do they?"

Vegeta and Goku both nodded solemnly.

"Well. I suppose that in two weeks we could give you a physical examination and depending on that I'll decide whether or not you can practice. But only practice...light practice. No games until I am assured you are ready. Understood? No football until I clear it." Dr. Briefs gave both boys a semi-stern look then turned and left.

"Well?" Goku said once he was gone.

"Well what?"

"Bulma."

"Oh her...I'll take care of it."

Goku looked at him doubtfully, then shrugged and picked up his books. "Well I've gotta get to school. Oh and we have a game tonight, if it doesn't start storming." He said looking out the window. He didn't like what he saw. "It probably will, but if the game's still on you should come. It's gonna rain all day, though. You think they'll let you out in the weather?"

"Probably not."

"Oh." Goku said scratching his cheek. "Maybe next week then." He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before turning to leave. "Well...uh...see ya later then."

Vegeta just grunted in response and turned on the TV.

"Has anyone seen him?"

"No, but that isn't surprising."

"Why not?"

"Well he was in West City for at least a week, and could still be here, and we couldn't catch him."

"Has anyone at least called in with a lead?"

"Someone did this morning and I sent Kyle and Dakotah to check it out. It ended up nothing, though. They're on their way back now."

"There's nothing that we could get from the kid. He might know something."

"I haven't talked to him since…Monday…I think. I'm supposed to go and tell him about the whole court procedure thing."

"Is he going to testify?"

"I've convinced him to, but I'm hoping that it doesn't come to that. He's been through enough."

"Well we're not doing anything now. Why don't we..." Brianna started to say. However, Johnson's phone started ringing.

"This is Johnson...Yeah...okay. We'll be right there." Johnson hung up and looked at Brianna. "Someone says they've seen something."

"Did it sound promising?"

"No, and I'll bet it's nothing, but we've got to check it out anyway." He said with a sigh.

"It is what we're getting paid for." Brianna pointed out, but she wasn't any more hopeful than her partner.

Bulma had thought all week about what ChiChi and Juuachi had told her to do, and the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. It wouldn't hurt to be the most popular guy in school's girlfriend, and it wasn't like she'd be using him. She'd be helping him.

Now as Bulma drove home from school, she was trying to decide what she could do that would kind of push him along. The football game was cancelled, but it would have been too loud there anyway. She had thought of just renting movies and staying home, but Vegeta was probably tired of being cooped up in Capsule Corp. Her next option was to go to the mall, but it would probably be too much walking for him. The arcade was out of the question because he couldn't get his heart rate up. Bowling took too much physical activity. Anything requiring them to be outside was scratched due to the thunderstorm.

She was actually surprised that with a city as big as the one she lived in, the only thing it seemed they could do was to go see a movie.

A movie was fine with her, however. She just had to get him to go with her.

"Hey, Vegeta." Bulma said walking into the living room and taking a seat on the couch opposite the one Vegeta was sprawled across. "I was wondering if you would want to go see a movie and maybe go eat or something...wait...you can eat food right?"

Vegeta looked at her oddly and gave her a slight nod.

"I was just making sure...jeeze..." Bulma tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "So uh do you wanna go?"

"With just you?"

"Yeah just me. It'll be my treat." Bulma said wondering what he was getting at.

"Mmm...Okay." Vegeta said. This may work out to his benefit.

"Alright. We'll go see an early one; it'll probably be less crowded. How's the 6 o'clock show sound."

"S'fine." Vegeta said glancing over at the clock. Seeing that he had two and a half hours, he settled back into the sofa and continued watching TV.

Bulma looked at him, only slightly agitated at how little he was enthused. Figuring that he was probably on some kind of nerve drug, she shrugged and headed toward the lab to tell her dad that she was taking Vegeta to see a movie and that they may be home late.

Bulma had undoubtedly enjoyed the movie more than Vegeta did, not to say that he didn't like it. It had been a romance, but it did have some action and gunfire in it.

It was around 8 when the movie let out, and since they were both hungry, the first thing they did was find something to eat. They went through a drive-through but only ended up getting ice cream—Vegeta because the food was too greasy for him, and Bulma because she didn't want to seem rude.

Bulma just drove around for a while, wondering when he would start talking.

It was already nine thirty, and neither had come near striking up any conversation about the possibility of dating. In fact Vegeta had hardly talked at all. ChiChi had told Bulma that Vegeta liked her, but Bulma figured that he was just too afraid to say anything.

She was partially right. Vegeta had really never had a girlfriend, always making the excuse that he had never wanted one or didn't have enough time to date. He really had no idea how to go about asking her, and furthermore, he wasn't really sure that he wanted to date her. She was nice he supposed, but kind of spoiled. She wasn't the reason he was doing any of this though, he reminded himself. All he wanted was to play football and go to college, but in order to ensure that he would get the chance to do either, he would have to ask her to be his girlfriend.

He was just about to speak, but Bulma beat him to it. "I know!" She said turning off the main road. "Have you ever been to the peak?"

"No. But I've heard of it." Vegeta said recalling a few stories he had heard from Zachary about his trips to the infamous "peak".

"You'll like it. It's got a great view of the city."

Vegeta just grunted, wondering how any view of West City could possibly be great.

Bulma looked over at him. He had hardly said anything the entire night, and she was starting to wonder if he was feeling all right. She had heard stories about bad weather making people's injuries ache, but she didn't know if any of that were true. Figuring that he would have told her if he were hurting she shrugged it off. It was probably just that he was contemplating asking her to be his girlfriend and was nervous about it. She figured that once they got to the peak, he would say something.

Neither said anything again until they had reached the peak.

Bulma parked the car but kept the windshield wipers on so that they could see. She made a comment on the view, but Vegeta didn't reply.

After a while, she started to get worried.

"Um, Vegeta." She asked, finally killing the motor.

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?

"I'm fine."

"Well you seem...um...depressed."

"What?"

"Well, ChiChi and Juuachi said that you might be and that's why they told me to spend time with you and cheer you up. They actually said that I should push you on so that you would ask me to be your girlfriend." She chuckled and then realized what she had just said. "Oh but don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I wouldn't want to be...or anything." She blushed furiously and began plucking at the beads on her purse.

"Juuachi said that...and ChiChi...huh?" Vegeta said keeping all emotion out of his voice.

Bulma nodded and continued to stare at her purse. She had thought that she might have hurt Vegeta's feelings, but she was surprised when she heard him chuckle. She ventured a glance at him, but he wasn't looking at her.

"Why is that funny?" She asked feeling a little offended.

"Huh?" He said seemingly just remembering that she was there. "Oh...it's funny because, Goku did the same thing to me. He's a terrible liar so I figured out their little plan."

"Plan? What plan?"

"Well apparently ChiChi and Goku made a deal that if you and I were dating by the next Friday, ChiChi would go on a trip with Goku to visit his grandfather."

"What?"

"It was all a bet."

"But why would she do that?" Bulma said pulling out her phone.

"What are you doing?" Vegeta asked.

"I'm calling her to tell her that we figured our what she was doing and that we do not appreciate it."

"No! Don't do that!" Vegeta snatched the phone away and turned it off.

"Why not?"

"Because. When Goku told me about the plan, I told him that the only way I would agree to it is if he would talk to the coach and let me come back and play."

Bulma was speechless. "You really didn't want to go out with me?" She finally sniffled out with tears forming in her eyes. How could he use her like that?

"What?" Vegeta was shocked that someone would cry over something so trivial. "What are you talking about? It had nothing to do with whether or not I wanted to go out with you or liked you or anything."

"You don't care about me at all! You're so selfish! I'm trying to help you, and you just use me so that you can play football!"

"I don't need your help!" Vegeta roared. His moodswing momentarily shocking Bulma. "I'm perfectly fine. And! If I remember correctly, the only reason you asked me to come with you is because your friends put you on a guilt trip."

"That's not it at all! I actually cared, unlike some people who only think about themselves!" They both sat in silence, neither one looking at each other, but instead gazing out of their windows. It was a few minutes before Bulma spoke again, quietly and still without looking at him. "Get out."

"Huh?"

"Get out of my car!"

He didn't move.

Bulma waited for a little while, but he still neither obeyed nor spoke. She didn't know how to respond to that. She hadn't expected him to actually get out of the car, but she had expected some kind of plea for forgiveness. Anytime she had yelled at Yamcha, he'd always begged for her forgiveness and promised to make it up to her. But Vegeta seemingly didn't want forgiveness. He didn't see that he'd done anything wrong. He didn't care whether or not she understood, and didn't want her sympathy either way. He was so...so...something. She just didn't understand him. Maybe the whole thing with his father had messed him up more than he was willing to admit.

"Is it really that important?" She asked after a few more minutes of silence.

"What?"

"Football."

Vegeta still didn't look at her, but continued to gaze out of the window. "...Yeah."

"Why? How could a sport be so important?"

"You know about the scholarship; what's left to say?"

"Oh. You couldn't..."

"No. I can't afford to go to collegewithout it, okay?" He wrenched the door open and stepped out, but he was not finished. "Not everyone is handed everything on a silver platter. Just because I'm not the heiress of Capsule Corp.," He said putting an emphasis on her title. "doesn't mean that I plan to live in the slums for the rest of my life. Is that alright with you?" With that, he slammed the door and started off down the road.

Bulma sat back in her seat. All of what he'd said had not sunken in quite yet. All she could think about was that he thought she was a spoiled brat. He had no right to talk to her like that—no right to say that she was a brat when he didn't even acknowledge when people were trying to help him. As far as she was concerned, he deserved what he got. She grit her teeth as she looked into the rearview mirror, and saw him, illuminated by the taillights. She almost laughed when she saw that he was walking with a slight limp. But she caught herself. If she laughed, she would prove him right. She would be a spoiled brat –a bitch even—with no compassion. Part of her was telling her to go after him—was saying that he needed help now more than ever and that she shouldn't be so hard on him- but the other part of her wanted to hold on to her pride.

After a few more minutes of debating with herself, she decided to go after him. She looked back into her rearview mirror only to discover that she couldn't see him anymore. A dull fear began to bubble in her stomach. Why did he have to be so stubborn and walk off all alone on a cliff road in the dark?

With a growl, Bulma slammed her hands on the steering wheel, justfor good measure, and started the car. Without another thought, she sped off down the road.

Vegeta had known that getting out of the car would be a bad idea, and now he was feeling the full effects of his decision. Worse than his aching ribs and a throbbing headache, however, was the knowledge that the deal was blown. Goku had already done his part, but Vegeta had failed to do his. He probably could get the coach to let him play in two weeks anyway, but Goku was the closest thing to a friend he had. He'd hate to lose his only 'friend' because he went back on a deal.

There was not much he could do about it now, however. Now, he had to focus on getting back to Capsule Corp. alive. Then, he'd worry about the future. He didn't figure there was much chance that Bulma was going to come pick him up. She looked pretty mad when he had gotten out of the car. Even if she did offer him a ride, however, his pride wouldn't let him accept.

He had to hand it to himself; he had really put himself in a predicament this time. Sure it wasn't as bad as some other things that had happened to him, but he was walking in a thunderstorm, at night, in late September, on top of a cliff miles away from where he was going, not to mention the whole broken ribs and busted organs thing.

He suddenly heard something behind him and turned just in time to see a car speed past. The car, which he had instantly recognized to be Bulma's, slammed on its breaks and backed up near Vegeta.

"What the heck are you doing! Get back in the car before you catch your death or fall off this cliff." She yelled through the passenger window.

Vegeta ignored her and continued walking. He was surprised that she was worried about his safety, but he didn't let it show. He could hear her growl as she slowly drove alongside of him.

"Look I'm sorry!" She yelled over the noise of the storm. "Is that what you want? I'm sorry, and I'll go out with you. Just get back in the car!"

Vegeta continued walking as he contemplated this. Finally, after looking at the city in the distance and remembering how long a walk it would be, he decided to let go of his pride slightly and got in the car.

"Okay." Bulma said locking the doors but not driving yet. "We need to discuss the terms of our 'relationship'."

Vegeta just stared at her without emotion, trying his best not to shiver.

"Now. Let's get this straight. I am not dating you because I like you." To this Vegeta nodded in agreement. "I am dating you to prevent you from killing yourself, and in hopes that ChiChi will have a miserable time on her trip."

"And I" Vegeta started. "am dating you do fulfill a deal I made and to play football. This arrangement will only last until ChiChi and Goku's trip, after which we are free to go on about our own lives. Agreed?" He finished extening his hand.

"Agreed." Bulma said in a businesslike tone and shaking his hand.

Bulma started the car and they rode back to Capsule Corp. in silence.