Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing

Warnings: Some language

Rating: PG-ish

Author's Note: Written originally for the prompt of "educate." I've been flirting with this idea for a few months now and finally decided to tackle it. I hope it's up to par!

Dedication: To Emu who was encouraging.

--

"Move it."

She sidesteps the group of older girls easily, adjusting the strap on her book bag as she exits the school. There's a crowd gathered on the front steps and she ignores their gossiping, watching instead as Madame Bellamy stalks down the sidewalk to whatever it is blocked by the heads in front of her. Madame Bellamy's grey hair is tied back severely and her pale eyes are glowing in her anger.

Mariemaia hesitates a moment before following two of the girls in her year down to the large group of children. She hears Madame Bellamy while she's still in the thick of the crowd. "I do not care what you say, get off this property. This is for parents picking up their children, not loitering hooligans!"

"Listen lady," she can't see the French teacher but she has a suspicion that the woman has just glowered harder, "I already told you I am picking up a kid!"

Through waving arms and overstuffed backpacks she can make out a sleek black convertible and Madame Bellamy's towering straight-back figure. "You do not have the proper identification card or papers to pick up a student here. Now will you kindly leave?" Her accent grew stronger and her back grew straighter.

The girl in front of her moved and exposed her. She saw them both a second before he turned and saw her. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, the braid heavy down his back. She froze when his eyes landed on her and he broke out into a giant grin and waved furiously, as if afraid she couldn't see him three feet away.

"Mariemaia! Hey, Mariemaia!" He turned to the instructor and smiled pleasantly. "Told ya I was here to pick up a kid lady."

Mariemaia could actually see Madame Bellamy's nostrils flare from this distance.

"I cannot permit you to take a student off the premises without express permission from her mother!" Kids were turning to stare at her now, and she felt her face turn as red as her hair. One boy glanced between her and the older one by the car. She lifted her chin, willing the flush (of anger of course) to retreat and jumped down the rest of the stairs until she was in front of them. "Miss Mariemaia kindly return to the rest of the students, this will be dealt with severely."

"It's all right Madame. I, unfortunately, know him."

"That's not nice kid. And here I was, ready to spring you from here. Come on, get in."

"Now, wait just one minute!"

"Look lady," Duo growled as Mariemaia slid into the passenger seat silently, "Une sent me to pick her up since her meeting ran over. Just like I've told you over and over again but you won't listen. If you don't believe me, go call her. I'm sure she'd love that. Ready to jet, kid?"

She didn't respond but he didn't wait anyway. With a grin and a wave to the outraged teacher he hopped into the car and hit the gas. They hit the street going something north of legal. She glared out the window and he fiddled with the radio angrily, finally giving in and turning it off when he couldn't catch a signal. He had his arm out the window, fingers fluttering in the wind. She bowed her head to keep the wind from her eyes and he glanced over, grinned, and fetched a hat from somewhere she didn't see, placing it on her head.

"I don't know how you stand it there kiddo," he laughed. "Man, did you see her nostrils flare?"

"I rather like Madame Bellamy. She's…kind." She adjusts the hat, pulling the bill down low. "I should have let her call the police on you."

"That's nice and here I was being kind and volunteering to come get you instead of sticking you with some whiny Junior at Preventers. See if I go out of my way for you again." He takes a turn and she feels two wheels leave the street. A police car starts up from the alley and Duo waves. The sirens turn off and the car reverses. It must be nice to be able to get away with murder, literally. "So, today's a Friday and Une'll be in that meeting until at least six. I was thinking about heading to the Zoo?"

She gave him a blank look. "Why?"

"Why? Haven't you ever been to one before? I haven't personally since I grew up on the colonies and they couldn't support animals and Zoos so I thought…" he trailed off when he saw her puzzled expression. "God, Heero was right when he said you didn't act like a normal kid." He rolled his eyes and she frowned at the side of his head. She isn't sure if she likes it that the pilots seem to be talking about her, but then again she doesn't blame them for doing so. "It'll be fun, okay?"

"Right."

--

"You aren't supposed to incite them."

He turned from where he was making faces at the chimpanzees to stare at her. She was walking along the curb, jacket swinging from her hand. He shook his head as the wind blew her red hair along her shoulders. She had been like this through the various bear exhibits (he had growled at the black bear), past the hippos (he had marveled at their teeth), the camels (he'd complained loudly about the spitting), and the lions (he had told her about Trowa working with them, that at least sparked her interest some). But otherwise, there had been nothing that fascinated her he found.

The chimp howled at him and he turned away, walking over to her. A little boy passed him, running and squealing, pointing to the monkeys and he smiled absently. She looked up as he stopped in front of her. She tilted her head slightly and squared her shoulders. He eyed her warily. He still isn't sure why he volunteered to get her today, but he's committed to it. He wants her to have fun.

"What's your favorite animal?"

Her voice is clipped, despondent, and he can hear a colony accent on it for the first time. "Don't have one. What's yours?"

He stops, pondering, and shrugs. "I can't think of one. Alright, what animal do you want to see?" She shrugs and he sighs. "Isn't there anything?"

"I don't see the point of it. They're caged animals and they're probably depressed. Why would I want to stand in front of animal cages and stare at them? At least in books they're natural." He stared at her for a moment then shook his head as he let out a long, low whistle. "What?"

"Come here." She eyed him warily but complied, hopping off the curb in front of him. "Turn around." She obeyed again, staring at the monkey cages and he picked her up effortlessly, placing her on the bench next to him.

"Hey!"

"Look at the kids, will you?" She frowned and glared at him. He rolled his eyes and gestured to the group of children standing on tiptoe or sitting on the shoulders of their parents to stare into the monkey enclosures. "What do you see?"

"Children of varying ages being rowdy?" Her voice wavered and he grinned. "I don't understand the point of…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Look, will you? They're kids, some young, some old, but still just that, kids. Like you if you can believe it. And you know what the big difference between you and them are?" Duo asked, watching her face carefully. It paled slightly before coloring.

"They're young and immature, easily amused?" she demanded haughtily. He rolled his eyes and flicked her in the head. She glared down at him.

"No, they're still just kids, having fun. They like being here and seeing the animals. They haven't lost their childhood somewhere along the way like the rest of us, or at least, like some of us who don't try and keep it." Her eyes narrowed. "I don't just mean you, by the way."

"Oh, really?" She hops off the bench and stares up at him as she shrugs on a jacket. "I think I want to go home."

He watched as she spun on her heel, heading toward the Zoo gates with or without him. With a sigh usually associated with those of long suffering he chased after her. "Hey, wait up! Come on kiddo, wait up!"

She stopped short just before the gates and turned to face him sharply. She was a good foot-and-a-half shorter than him but she still managed a glower that almost rivaled Heero's. He stopped quickly, almost falling and he caught a bit of a smile before her face went neutral.

"My name is Mariemaia Khushrenada, not "kid," "kiddo," or "girl," get it? If you want to address me please do so with my name." He stares at her and she sniffs, rubbing at her nose as she moves her eyes to the ground. Visitors stop, staring at the two of them and he musters a glare almost as fierce as Heero's when they start whispering to each other.

Some tried to return the look but most did the Respectable Thing and dropped their eyes or moved on.

"Come on kid—Mariemaia, let's go." He slipped an arm around her shoulders, guiding her out of the Zoo and toward the car. She let him, blinking furiously and refusing to cry. Refusing to exist really. He opened the passenger door and she slid in, hands disappearing under jacket sleeves. He started the car but didn't immediately hit the gas. "I'm sorry," he said finally.

"For what?" Her voice was whisper-soft and he rubbed his temples. "If it's for the nicknames, a lot of people do it. I'm sorry I yelled, and got mad. It wasn't, it wasn't right of me to do that. It won't happen again." Her back stiffened and her head jerked as his hand connected with the steering wheel violently.

"Damn it Mariemaia, don't say that!" She gave him a blank look and his face turned dark. "Didn't you listen to anything I said back by the monkey cages? You are a child, don't you realize that? You have a childhood to live, not a world to rule over or an army to muster! You don't have the same life we all had, don't you get that?" He ignores the narrowing of her eyes, the set of her mouth. "You can be just like them. You don't have to suffer."

"That is where I think you are mistaken Duo. I am a child physically, but do you honestly believe any of my classmates will treat me like an equal? Not likely, especially if they mention me to Mommy and Daddy. I may not have faced the same things you have, I may not have actually ruled the world or overseen an army, but it's the same nonetheless. I have no childhood Duo. I lost that option when my mother was wheeled into the morgue and Dekim promised me the world, literally."

He opened his mouth to speak and she shook her head. "I know what you're trying to accomplish, it's admirable, really. But don't think I haven't tried to be a kid on my own, I have. I simply don't know how to exist in a child's world anymore." Her eyes darkened and she was reminded of one of her first conversations with Miss Relena.

"That's sad," he said finally. He started put the car in gear and hit the gas, shifting gears as they left the parking lot. It wasn't as fast as their mad escape from the school though, and the breeze felt nice as he lowered the top. "That's really fucking depressing, oops, sorry about the language."

She laughs, a real laugh and not one of those false ones he hates, and he turns to stare at her. Her face looks relaxed and her legs are crossed on the seat, her uniform skirt pulled over her knees. "I grew up around soldiers Duo, I don't think anything would faze me," she giggles.

"Yeah, guess not," he replies with a grin. His hands tighten on the wheel as the car speeds faster. She turns her face into the wind, lets her arm dangle out the window, trying to catch the air as it rushes by.

"Being a kid isn't that great, y'know?" she questioned suddenly. He glanced at her as he turned the corner and grinned when she tightened her grip on the armrest. Speed was his thing. A convertible was nothing when compared to a Gundam. "People treat you like your something less than acceptable all the time. As if you could never possibly be equal to intelligence with even the most brain dead of adults. It's annoying and frustrating, I don't know why you want me to be one, or to be one yourself even."

He snorts and drums his fingers on the dash when a red light forces him to stop. "Adults are idiots, kiddo. I hold respect for very few Adult Figures in the world; always have, even when I was an urchin. Childhood is so much simpler, that's why I like it. That's why I fought so hard for this peace, you know? This way kids like you and in the future can have their childhoods spared."

She turned, her back pressed into the door as they turned down the street toward her house. The sun was just beginning to set, the dying rays warming her neck and cheek. "I understand that Duo, really. I'm just not a child anymore. Just like Heero told you." Her smile is bitter when he looks at her. "And I'm okay with that, really."

"Bullshit. That's complete fucking bullshit," he ignores her raised eyebrow, "if I ever heard it." He stops in front of the brick house. "You can say that all you want kiddo, but it's not true and you know it. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be a kid, so stuff it and get over it." He grins brightly at her. "Don't worry kiddo, I'll get you to have fun if it kills me, which I doubt it will, we just need to find what you like."

"Don't strain yourself."

"Hah, hah, you're a real laugh kid. I mean it kiddo; it's my personal mission now."

"I thought Heero did the mission-thing." She rolls her eyes, exiting the car and grabbing her bag from the floor. "I doubt you can Duo," she smiles. "Go ahead and try if you really want to though." He watches her as she walks up the front steps and unlocks the door. She laughs softly as he floors it and takes off in a rush of squealing tires, letting the yellow curtains fall shut as she turns from the window.

Secretly she hopes he succeeds.