Disclaimer: I don't own anything so please don't sue me.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're the best: REI*HEERO*FAN*FOREVER…your reviews were my favorites. the silent child, Icyfire, yanniko25, Ankle, Marsgoddess, bleh, Kaiya, Ryoga, hiko-chan, nina de majia, rei10588, Kim, Gideon's Dreamer, The Goth Witch, Princess, Dark Smile, Black Aura Sama, VioletEyes, Miz, Ash, hel, RubyRedDragon05, Angel of Mercy (Yay, she reviewed me!), Jade Hunter, Celtic Storms, Kaiya and jaCHAN.
Here's the poll to date:
Minako/Wufei- 3
Minako/Duo- 1
Minako/Quatre-4
Ami/Wufei- 6
Ami/Duo- 1
Ami/Quatre- 1
Hotaru/Duo- 3
Hotaru/Trowa- 5
Makoto/Wufei- 1
Makoto/Duo- 1
Makoto/Trowa- 2
Makoto/Quatre- 1
Remember to cast your votes in the form of reviews.
Brothers and Sisters
Chapter 2
Shopping can be dangerous?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As the day upon which the girls were to start attending classes at the Peacecraft Institute approached;they were still unable to find any clue as to the current whereabouts of Wufei Chang (AN. He's a Gundam Pilot and a Preventer, I'm assuming that his personal files and whatnot have been highly protected to the point that even Ami would have problems finding them). There was no death certificate registered in his name though so Rei and Hotaru kept their hopes up. Currently, Rei sat staring at her laptop, watching as it sifted through tons of data in search of Wufei. Ami was doing a similar search on her much more efficient Mercury palmtop. Hotaru and Makoto were in the kitchen where Mako was teaching Hotaru how to bake chocolate chip cookies. They were all startled out of their tasks as Minako came sailing in from the hallway. "We've got mail!" she exclaimed, waving a small stack of envelopes above her head.
"What is it, more school forms?" Ami asked, her attention never leaving the readout in front of her.
"No," Minako said brightly, "They're invitations to a party!"
"A party?" Hotaru asked skeptically, "We don't know anyone in this dimension, who would invite us to a party?"
Minako grinned, seeing that she held her friends' attention, "Listen to this: To your name here, as you may know as students of the Peacecraft Institute, the 18th birthday of our founder, Miss Relena Peacecraft is approaching. We the staff of the Peacecraft Institute, along with the organization known as the Preventers are holding a semi-formal dinner and dance in honour of this auspicious occasion. The rest just gives all the info, I'm sure that's what they all say. So can we go?"
Rei took in her friend's excited faces. A party would lift everyone's spirits after this long and disappointing search. But, what if while they were out partying, a clue to her brother would pop up only for a short time? Hotaru's face reflected the same doubts as her older sister. Would they be dishonoring their family by going out when they should be searching?
Ami however, anticipated this type of reaction from the sisters for when it was time for them to attend school and had prepared something ahead of time. "I've already taken care of the computer searches," she said, breaking the somewhat awkward silence that had fallen over the group, "I've linked our computers to our wristbands. While we are away from them, they'll continue with their independent searches and if anything is found, it will alert our wristbands and upload the information to the holoscreens so that we can access them wherever we are."
The girls buried Ami under a huge group hug. "Ami," Hotaru said, "You are the best. I love you and your super-brain."
"So it's settled then? We're going?" Makoto asked, smiling. She received unanimous nods in return. "Good, cause if you haven't noticed, the party's in two days and we've got near unlimited funds courtesy of Setsuna. I say makeovers are in order."
Minako smiled her best evil smile, "Ladies, let's go on a little shopping spree!"
The girls all jumped up (even Ami) eager for this distraction and headed out the door, after making sure to set their computers of course.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The Mall, Later on in the day…
The girls had split up after arriving at the mall and finding it to be huge. Hotaru and Rei decided to do a little sisterly bonding and go together while the rest of the girls went another direction. The first place the sisters visited was a hair salon where Rei went to cut some of her hair off. Currently, it reached past her knees and she was finding that it got in the way about and decided that now was as good a time as any to change her look.
Hotaru settled herself in the waiting room of the salon, anticipating a fairly long wait. Picking up a magazine, she rifled through it to pass the time. Some time had passed and she started to get bored when a voice beside her asked, "Excuse me miss, Is this seat taken?"
Hotaru looked up into a pair of violet eyes several shades lighter than her own. "No its not taken," she replied. "Thanks," the owner of the eyes, a young man a few years older than herself said, "I came here with a friend and for some reason he always takes forever. I think it's because he wants to make sure that his gravity-defying bang stays that way. Are you here to get your hair cut or are you waiting for someone?"
Hotaru smiled at the friendly boy. "I'm here with my sister. She's getting her hair cut. It's a little longer than yours. Doesn't that braid get annoying?"
"No way," he replied, "My braid is sacred. This thing is never getting cut. Is your sister as cute as you?"
Hotaru blushed, and searched for some way to answer the boy when another voice cut in and said, "Is this baka bothering you miss?"
Looking up, Hotaru locked eyes with another young man. His eyes were a deep emerald green, similar to Makoto's, one covered by what she could only see as the "gravity-defying bang" that the first young man had told her about.
"Trowa, my man," the first guy said, "That was faster than expected. What happened? Did they discover some new sort of super-gel? This is my new friend…um…what was your name again?"
Hotaru laughed at the braided one's antics when Rei emerged from the salon, her hair now reaching just past her bottom and more layered than it had previously been. "I'm Hotaru and this is my sister Rei," she replied, "And you are?"
"Duo Maxwell, at your service," he replied, "I may run, I may hide, but I'll never tell a lie." His friend rolled his eyes at this last little bit. Catching this action, Duo added, "And this is Trowa Barton. He doesn't lie for the most part because he doesn't talk a lot in general."
This received a glare from Trowa and laughter from both Rei and Hotaru. "So what are you ladies up to today?" Duo asked, flashing them his most charming smile. "Just shopping," Hotaru replied, "We just moved here so we need to get some stuff."
"Really?" Duo said, "Do you want a quickie tour around the mall? I know this place like the back of my hand."
Seeing that Rei was about to turn him down, Hotaru quickly accepted, eager to make new friends in this new dimension. Here, no one knew who she was and what powers she possessed and she wanted it to be a true fresh start. Rei shrugged, following along with the plan with some resignation. To Duo's surprise, Trowa didn't object to this little detour and offered Hotaru his arm like a gentleman. Blushing slightly, she took it and allowed him to lead her. Duo, not enjoying how his little tour had been co-opted by his friend, hurried to catch up, dragging a slightly annoyed Rei along beside him.
"Hota-chan," Rei called to her sister, "What about the others, we do have to meet them in a little over an hour for lunch."
"You're both welcome to join us, Barton-san, Maxwell-san," Hotaru said in response to her sister's query.
"Sure," Duo replied, "Are you're friends as hot as you and your sister?"
"Maxwell!"
Both Duo and Trowa turned to the voice they knew well. "Hey Heero," Duo said weakly, "What's up?"
Rei and Hotaru both turned to see a young man with messy brown hair and Prussian blue eyes striding purposefully towards them. "What are you doing, you were to meet with Quatre and myself five minutes ago," Heero stated in his usual monotone, his eyes flickering over Rei and Hotaru in a dismissive glance. "I understand that you are easily sidetracked by some skirt but I had hoped Trowa's presence would have dissuaded that impulse." Now Heero wouldn't have said something like this normally but he had just barely managed to escape the clutched of his stalker, Relena. Rei however, did not have this little background information and her nerves were already tightly strung from the events of the past few days. Well 2+2=1 and this combination of events led to what the girls affectionately called a "Rei Bomb."
Marching straight up into Heero's face, she let loose one of her infamous tirades, "NOW SEE HERE YOU ARROGANT JERK. NEITHER I NOR MY SISTER ARE WHAT YOU SO DELICATELY CALLED "SOME SKIRT". IF YOU HAD ANY SEMBLANCE OF INTEGRITY OR EVEN COMMON SENSE YOU WILL APOLOGIZE TO ME, MY SISTER, AND THESE TWO BOYS WHO ARE APPARENTLY SUPPOSED TO BE WHAT PASSES AS FRIENDS TO YOU. WE'RE NEW HERE AND THEY SO KINDLY OFFERED TO SHOW US AROUND. IF THEY TRIED ANYTHING OR WERE EVEN THINKING OF TRYING ANYTHING, I WOULD HAND THEM THEIR ASSES ON A PLATTER, SOMETHING WHICH I AM CONSIDERING DOING TO YOU RIGHT NOW. IF YOU SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO EITHER ME OR MY SISTER EVER AGAIN, OMAE WA KORUSO!
With that, Rei grabbed Hotaru's hand, and, forgetting the apologies that she had demanded, stormed off.
Heero stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Duo's jaw had dropped and Trowa's eyebrow had practically jumped into his hairline. What just happened? Heero thought to himself, That, that girl just yelled at me for no real reason and somehow, I …I feel guilty.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Okay, so that was a fun chapter. I tried to get it out as soon as possible but I've been alternately lazy and busy. I've become obsessed with the newest Canadian Popstars, "Velvet Empire". I really love their CD, it's sooo much better than "Sugar Jones", the first Canadian Popstars. Anyways, I want to get on with the romantic aspects of the story so the poll will close at midnight next Wednesday so be sure to vote before then. As always, at least 15 reviews please? They keep me writing when I get frustrated with the story.
Ja
Ying Fa