Disclaimer: Okay here goes, I don't own xxxHolic or TRC they belong to the lovely and talented ladies of Clamp. Gundam Wing is owned by other assorted people like Sunrise and Bandai. I do Own my stories and any OC's.

Gundanium Feathers - by Lady Syndil

Summary: Syaoran and Sakura's quest is finally over and they have wed. But Kurogane and Fai are nowhere near close to being ready to settle down. A new quest, a new adventure and feathers to search for once again.

Warnings: Implied and not so implied Yaoi, violence, angst, language. Deranged animated plush toys and hilarity will ensue.

Chapter 2 - Getting to know you...

Watanuki, Fai, Kurogane and Doumeki, along with the soulless twins Moro and Maru and both Mokona's were sitting on the porch that over looked the garden waiting for their 'guests' to arrive. Watanuki had tea, sake and snacks all set out and ready. Unlike Yuuko, he planned to welcome the shops newest customers with his usual grace and elegance, then send them off with more than just a kick in the pants. The sky began to bulge as it always did when certain 'types' of visitors arrived. The bulge reached the ground and deposited two very confused, and if the information Watanuki had gotten from 'the shop' and elderly psychic was correct, dangerous teenage boys. It was hard to believe at first glance. One had hair even Himawari might envy, long and thick it was a rich chestnut in color, trim and athletically built he was the shorter of the pair, and had the most amazing violet colored eyes. The other was stocky and solidly built, with shaggy dark brown hair, and seemingly of Japanese descent, despite the cobalt blue eyes.

The weapons the two males were holding told a completely different story. They both moved abnormally fast, the long haired male crouched low to the ground his knife held up before his eye's, the posture spoke volumes about how well he could handle that knife. The short haired male had his gun up and pointed at the group on the porch. Even Kurogane had been surprised by how fast the youngsters had moved. He hadn't seen speed like that in anyone other than himself, the Mage or the kid in a long, long time. In a flat dead voice, the stocky boy spoke first.

"Why are we here?"

Before Watanuki or anyone could answer, the second spatial bulge had appeared and dropped a young female on the two males. The two males saw the helpless body falling, tossing away their weapons to try and catch her. That said more about them than they probably realized. Watanuki sent a silent thank you to Hitsuzen. For that's what this was, Hitsuzen in action, bringing together the three in the garden. They all fell to the ground in a big puppy pile, the teenage boys breaking the fall of the girl. Watanuki stepped of the porch and went to the youngsters, who were now trying to just untangle their arms and legs. The female had dark gold hair and when she looked up at Watanuki he saw she had soft dark gray eyes. She grinned at the slender and delicate male smiling down at her and looked at the males that had broken her fall as she moved over and off the pair.

"How cool is this? I'm dead and I didn't feel a thing. So, where am I, heaven or hell? Hey, did you two just die too? Sorry I landed on you. I didn't mean too." The long haired male grinned at her as he went to retrieve his Knife. He frowned when he noticed it was clean.

"Dunno… Damnit, Heero did you go and put me out of my misery before I could do the same for you. That is so UNFAIR." The one called Heero had picked up his gun and with the swiftness and ease of one who knows exactly what he was doing checked the weapon.

"Baka. No, I still have two bullets left, one in the chamber, and one in the clip." Heero slammed the clip back home. Watanuki rubbed his forehead. He was so getting a migraine. His lover and the dark Ninja smirked and Fai was grinning like an Idiot already. The girl had noticed all the males on the porch by this time.

"Well, it must be Heaven you guys are all Gorgeous. Ah, unless, CRAP. Okay, how many of you hunks are Gay?" That did it, Fai burst into laughter, Kurogane added his deep chuckle to the mix and Doumeki even smiled. They all raised their hands. The girl sat down on the ground, utterly deflated and pointed at Watanuki.

"Fuck, this is so not Fair! I don't even have to ask about you, you too damn pretty to be straight. Hey, what about you two?" Duo grinned.

"Dunno, I've never had sex before." The one called Heero was stunned enough to show a slight emotion on his face, he blinked.

"Duo, please tell me, you didn't fight thru two wars, lived with Hilde and never did it."

"You did? Oh Wow, no wonder Relena chased you all over the place. Hilde, well he-he, ya see, turned out she was only into girls, so she ended up like a sister to me." The one called Duo shrugged, as he tried to get his hair back under control, quickly braiding it and pulling a spare rubber band out of his pants pocket to tie off the end. Watanuki rubbed his forehead again, yep it was definitely a Yuuko sized migraine, one he hadn't had since the Drunken Dimensional Witch had left him alone in the Shop nearly 5 years ago.

"You are not dead, none of you are dead."

"Huh? You mean I just kissed a guy and 'didn't' die? Well shit, hey you, come over here I need to kiss a girl now and see if there's any difference." The girl grinned and moved closer to him.

"Hm, I'm not sure that is quite fair to me."

"Why do you say that?" Duo was honestly curious.

"Well you two obviously know each other, and have some kind of past together. Enough that you were about to double suicide, and kissed first. You don't even know my name so it wouldn't have the same emotional impact."

"Oh yeah, I see your point. Okay how about you tell me your name and 'then' I kiss you?"

"You really want a kiss don'cha? I think we can safely say your bi if nothing else. My name is Danae by the way." Duo grinned.

"So, does this mean I get a kiss now?"

"Sure, why not. I still think I'm dead anyway." She stepped closer and let him pull her into his arms, as his lips settled on hers she closed her eyes. It was light and sweet for about 3 seconds. Then he was pulling her closer, deepening the kiss and instinctively trying to get his tongue in her mouth. Heero grabbed the back of his black shirt and pulled him off Danae.

"Baka, let her get some air." Panting they looked at each other and started to laugh. Danae shook her head.

"That, went rather well. Hm, maybe I'm not dead after all." Watanuki sighed.

"I already told you, you weren't dead."

"Oh, and I was going to believe you after I just slammed into a truck. Riigghhtt…."

"YOU ARE NOT DEAD! DAMNIT! YOU ASSHOLES GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME OUT, OR I SWEAR TO GOD, THERE WILL NO MORE SAKE FOR A WEEK. DO YOU HEAR ME DOUMEKI! I'M HIDING YOUR SAKE AND ALL THE PORK BUNS BOOZE…." The three newbies just stared as Watanuki flailed about and ranted at the 2 smirking and 1 giggling male on the porch.

Eventually, they got things somewhat sorted out enough so that the 'newbies' were sitting on the porch eating Watanuki's snacks and trying to take in what had happened to them. Well except for Duo was attempting to out drink the Buns of evil. He was doing a pretty damn good job of it too. Kurogane and Doumeki were actually impressed, Watanuki sighed heavily and poured more Sake for the teenager. Danae did a lot of the talking, as Duo tended to babble (like a certain Mage they all knew) without making any sense, eating and drinking, and Heero seemed particularly fond of glaring. Duo had called it his 'Death Glare' capitalized and everything. As Watanuki and Danae talked, Duo drew (and drank), he was drawing pictures of his and Heero's Gundams. Watanuki wanted to see them, and it would help explain to the others the task they were about to embark on. Seems Duo was the better artist of the two boys.

"So, why 'are' we here Watanuki? I mean there must be a reason, right?"

"Yes, the boys are here because they, like Kurogane, are too strong for their own world." Heero agreed with that assessment.

"Hai, it's why we were going to die. There was just no place left for us in that world, we had fought for peace and won. My last mission was to take out Duo and then myself. The others weren't as dangerous as us, and had been deemed safe." Duo grinned and looked up from his nearly completed drawing. His tone was half joking and half sarcastic.

"Yeah, I mean what do you do, with two guys who blow up buildings to relieve stress. It makes for an interesting resume. Duo Maxwell here, highly skilled guerilla terrorist, munitions expert, computer hacker, Specialty Stealth, and let's not forget, Gundam Pilot. Killer of countless thousands…. Hi, can I have a job? Well Duh, I don't think so. So I had already decided after our Gundams were plunged into the sun that I'd follow Deathscythe into Hell." Duo handed his now finished drawing to Watanuki showing both Wing Zero and Deathscythe Hell.

Danae was still somewhat confused, and this made her very angry. How dare some asshole decide these two boys didn't deserve to live. They were SO young, too young, for what she was only beginning to suspect they had been thru in their short lives. She'd gotten a look at herself in a mirror a few minutes ago. She'd been middle aged when she had apparently been torn from her world (not died) and brought here. But her reflection told a different story, the face that had stared back from that mirror was one she hadn't seen in many a long year, not since the summer she had turned 18. Her thoughts turned back to the conversation at hand.

"Okay so that explains them, somewhat. I'm guessing you either have someplace they can go where their skills will be useful again or have something you need them to do. But what about me, I wasn't anything special."

Ah, but there your wrong, you belong to the both of them"

"Excuse me?" Danae's voice had just turned as cold as ice. Heero was actually impressed, she'd Death Glared the slender Seer perfectly. Watanuki swallowed and started over.

"Let me rephrase that. You belong 'with' them. The three of you complete each other and they need you, and the skills you don't yet know you have. Nothing in this life happens by chance. there is only inevitability. That you are here says that it is your Hitsuzen to join them on their journey."

"Wow, you talk a mean circle there buddy. Spit it out, why are Heero and I here, and not in hell where we belong?" It was Kurogane that asked the next question of the braided ex-pilot.

"And you believe you belong in hell, why? Because you were a soldier that followed orders and innocent people died? Then Fai and I will get there long before either of you. Before meeting a certain Witch, I killed only to prove I was stronger. Fai here, thought his life was an abomination, that he had killed his identical twin brother only to save his own worthless life and then was cursed with someday having to kill the man who had saved him from a living hell." Heero spoke up at that point.

"People die when I get irritated." Duo muttered about that being an understatement, Heero Death Glared him.

"So, kill only people who deserve it or learn to control yourself. Stop being a cry baby about it."

"Omae O Korosue." Kurogane blinked.

"Don't worry Kurogane, that's Heero's idea of a pickup line. He used it on Relena and she followed him all over the solar system."

"What? Oh I'm not worried about that. I was just surprised to 'hear' it in my native Japanese. The Mokona's are a kind of magical translator, every time Fai and I get separated from the crème puff we can't understand a damn word we say to each other."

"Now Kuro-mi that's not entirely true." Kurogane actually blushed.

"Oh, Heero and I speak a ton of languages. That was another problem we had, there was no need to send us to school like most kids our approximate age."

Approximate?

"Well yeah, I have no idea how old I actually am. About 17 is my best guess. Hey Heero, what about you?"

"Odin knew the date of my birth. I will be 18 in 3 months, on August 28."

"What about you Danea?"

"Huh? Well I'm going to say I'm currently 17 and my birthday is June 13th."

"Damn. That is so not Fair! You're both older than me, I just know it. Hey, I want a birthday too. Before the war I didn't really care, it wasn't like I had anyone to give me presents or bake a cake. I stole one once though, it was really good." Watanuki blinked away the tears that threaten to fall at the innocent declaration. He got up and headed to the kitchen, just before he left he turned around and bestowed a birthday on the youngster.

"It's today, from this day forward your birthday will be May 14th, and you just turned 17."

"Ohh, um okay, that sounds good to me. Uh, hey where's he going I thought he was going to tell us what we're doing here?" Duo's face had softened at the words spoken so very firmly, his amethyst eyes shimmered with unspoken emotions. He had a day now, one of his very own. Maybe he was going to keep living after all. It was Doumeki who answered.

"He went to check on dinner." Shizuka knew his mate and knew him well, Kimihiro had gone to the kitchen all right. But dinner wasn't the only thing he was working on in there. The woman, Danae also suspected, she watched the Seer's retreating back with a soft smile on her face. The soulless little servants went zooming after Watanuki chanting in their usual way.

'We're Helping' 'Helping in the kitchen'

AN: Anyone who doesn't know what Watanuki is making in the kitchen please stop reading now and go read xxxHolic by Clamp. ;)