Chapter Four

Segways

The next few weeks were fairly uneventful, Axl was back on active duty with Zero's unit and Sunako was kept in Alia's company in the Navigator's control room whenever the hunters were out. The fox girl was well accepted in headquarters by all the reploids she met, even earning Commander Signas' affection with her gently playful personality, but she steered clear of any and all human personnel. No one noticed this save the few human researchers who wanted a closer look at her, but no one paid any attention to their complaints.

Sunako came to Axl's room every night, refusing to sleep in her quarters in sector fourteen. The redhead slowly became accustomed to her presence, and that her warm and comforting weight at his side kept away his nightmares, replaced with dreams of the stories and legends she shared with him from her home.

-xXx

Axl had made of point of replacing the kitsune girl's ruined robe by getting her several bolts of new fabric and other supplies with his generous salary to do with as she pleased, and wound up getting pleasantly surprised.

Axl and Zero wandered into rec room four after a long morning of training to find Alia, Pallet, Layer, Sunako, and a bunch of other female reploids taking over the space in a mess of what looked like a rainbow exploded. Fabric and half-finished garments of every possible color were hanging or placed in every available space, more than half the women being fitted for clothes and the others working various stages of sewing, cutting, pinning, or laying patterns.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked Zero.

Nearly all activity stopped. Each woman present shared the same, thoughtful, then scheming look, before five of them jumped on the blonde hunter.

In seconds Zero found himself armorless and tied up in nothing but the lower half of his black undersuit.

"What the?"

Axl cracked up laughing at the dazed expression on his friend's face. "Ha, the invincible Zero gets captured by a bunch of seamstresses!"

"What's that supposed to mean you brat?"

"That you're the resident pretty boy and we can't resist the chance to dress you up." said Alia from the middle of the room. "Personally I've always wanted to see what you looked like in something other than red."

"Well," Axl laughed, "have fun ladies."

"Oh no you don't!" barked a female hunter as she grabbed him. "Sunako has dibs on you cutie."

"C-cutie!"

It was Zero's turn to laugh as Axl joined him in a similar state, tied up and half naked.

"Oh shut up." growled the redhead.

"Irony at it's best kid."

Hours passed in a whirlwind of color, and the two boys actually found they were enjoying themselves as the women fussed over them. Zero's hair was brushed and re-brushed till it shone, tied into different styles of ponytails, and treated with products so it was silky soft. Axl's own copper hair was washed, trimmed, and his bangs restyled into a new punk look once the girls found out that his hair actually grew like a human's.

With their compulsion towards their hair taken care of it was on to clothes. It turned out that Alia had taken their measurements from their medical records and the slew of women had already produced a multitude of garments to try on them.

Zero was in the middle of being fitted in a sexy black tux when X walked in.

"What in the world is going on here?"

Zero looked up at his oldest friend, and smirked. "I'm enjoying the attention, for one." he said, smug. "Can't help it if the ladies like my stunning good looks."

"Then was this mess your idea?"

Alia laughed from where she was pinning a seam on Zero's side. "Far from it, if you're going to blame someone, blame Axl."

"Hey!"

Said redhead was currently being re-dressed into a pair of low-riding skinny jeans and a half top that showed his toned midsection. "Don't pin this on me!"

A huntress working on him giggled. "Aw, don't be like that Axl. You did start it when you bought Sunako all that fabric." she said, giving him a small smack on his backside. "You do make a pretty sexy pretty boy out of that armor though."

All the women burst into giggles when Axl blushed to his ears.

X was not amused. "So you are responsible." he said, arms crossed.

"Am not! I just wanted to replace her dress, I couldn't find anything like it in stores!"

"Lighten up X." quipped Zero. "At least it's constructive."

"You men blow things up to relieve stress, we do clothes." said Alia. "And you're certainly not exempt from this, get him ladies!"

And so the blue bomber was lassoed and stripped just like the two before. But unlike Axl and Zero, X was body shy.

And the navigators took dozens of pictures.

"You know ladies," said Zero, studying a gown one of the women was fitting on a manikin, "you could start your own fashion line, Hunter Chic maybe?"

Most of them paused, shared a thoughtful look, and smiled.

"You know, we'd never thought about it." said Layer. "Sunako just asked us if we were interested in designing some clothes for ourselves."

Sunako herself was sewing the sleeve on a long robe that most of the others could not fathom the purpose for. It was a soft violet, patterned with golden flowers and a pale red ripple design, a contrast to another finished one that hung on a pole through the sleeves to keep it flat. That one was shorter and mostly blue and green with a geometric pattern of bamboo in black in white and not nearly as glossy as the more feminine one she was working on.

She looked up from her work, snipping the tied off thread with her sharp fingernails and tucking the needle in a pincushion. "You say something?"

"Fashion line, you interested?" said Layer.

Sunako hummed to herself, ears flat on her head. "I don't know, but it sounds kind of fun." she said. "Can you bring Axl over? I've got something to try on him."

Several women squealed, this was the first time Sunako had put any clothing on a person, so none of them knew how the beautiful robes were supposed to fit.

Sunako pulled the green robe down from it's hanger and took out several sashes and cords of varying colors, then what looked like a large navy pleated skirt and another robe, this one grey with a red smoke pattern.

Axl tried to resist, he didn't fancy being put in a dress, but the combined forces of the collected women was too much for him.

Sunako first draped the grey on him, folded it closed and tied it with a thin sash. Then she put on the green one and tied it as well. Both had those big sleeves, but they nestled together one inside the other very well. She put a decorative black piece over it that made the shoulders look sharper and covered the back, then she put him in the skirt, which had a wide split on the hips and long ties on both front and back. She tied the back ones first around his front, then the longer front ones around his back then in a knot in front. She stepped back and let everyone see the finished look.

"Holy...he looks like a samurai!" gaped Zero.

Indeed, Axl looked like a samurai with his hair in a high ponytail, the layered robes and the skirt-like pants. All he was missing were the stilted wooden sandals and a sword to complete the look.

"Hmm, looks good enough, how does it feel?" Sunako asked.

Axl blinked, looked himself over, and was surprised at how comfortable the ensemble was.

"It's...comfy." he said. "Warm, but kinda breezy."

"Damn, can I get one of those?" asked Zero.

Sunako laughed. "Later maybe, I need to finish my formal one first." she said, waving to the flowered robe. "Formal kimono need to have layers, all of them detailed and different. A woman's requires at least two, not counting the lining yukata underneath, young unmarried girls get the furosode formal with the ankle length sleeves, men and married women only hip length. The one Axl is wearing is an upper class everyday ensemble, lighter fabrics and no embroidery."

"I like it, but what makes men's formal?" asked Alia. "Is there a difference?"

"In cut, not really, it's the quality that makes a kimono formal."

"Then what about those other robes you made first?"

"My everyday wardrobe, knee length."

Axl grinned. "You mean like the one that got ruined? You gonna show us?"

"Sure, I'll wear it to dinner, we've been here for hours."

-xXx

Thirty minutes later the group was in the entrance hall, everyone wearing a new outfit. Zero was proudly wearing slim-leg jeans and a dark green jacket over a charcoal muscle shirt, X sheepishly in a pale yellow vest jacket over a grey skintight turtleneck and straight leg slacks, and Axl in a punk-goth baggy jeans with chains and a sleeveless tight high neck top. The navigators each wearing their own version of something trendy and flattering, Sunako in her short kimono and a wide sash belted in the middle with a thinner sash, a wide headband across her ears.

All the other HQ personnel in the room stopped what they were doing to stare at the legendary hunters X and Zero, most having never seen either in anything but their signature armors. Zero was reveling in the attention, X tried to run away.

"C'mon X, loosen up." scolded Alia, yanking on his vest collar to prevent his escape. "You do owe me a dinner date, remember?"

X hung his head. "Yes ma'am"

Axl laughed. "Aw man X has she got you whipped!"

Zero chuckled. "You don't know the half of it kid."

Sunako and the other girls giggled.

"So, where are we going?" asked Layer, playing with a strand of her purple hair. "The rest of us going as a group?"

"Same place X and Alia are going, just to play bailiff if he tries to make a break for it."

Pallet laughed. "Sounds like a plan, operation Date Security."

Alia, who was listening, agreed. "Thank you, how about that new steakhouse downtown sound?"

"Awesome, I'm driving." said Zero.

"Shotgun with Zero!" quipped Axl.

"Driving second car." said Layer.

"Shotgun!" said Pallet.

-xXx

The restaurant was busy, but the manager was ecstatic to find that the heros of the Red Alert Maverick uprising were all in his restaurant.

X and Alia were quickly put at a booth for two, the rest only had to wait a short time to be seated at a larger table a respectable distance away from the couple, but still visible to one another.

The group of five had prime seats to watch the vid-screens of the sports broadcastings, but paid little attention as Sunako got them into a discussion about a possible fashion line when she pulled out a sketchpad and a pencil.

"How about a hunter's armor theme line?" asked Axl. "You know, clothes that look like famous reploid's armor?"

"Color-wise or structure-wise?"

"Bit of both maybe."

Zero made a face. "I don't think I'd like a bunch of people walking around dressing like me."

"It's just a thought Z."

Sunako scribbled down that note. "How about hunter's signature lines? Hero approved?"

Axl and Zero shared a look. "Now that, I kinda like the sound of."

The conversation went on this line for a good while, all through the appetizers and entrees, but during dessert the topic changed.

"So Sunako," started Layer. "How do you manage to get out of the fourteenth sector every night? Every morning I see you coming out from the third."

Sunako's furry ears, which earlier had been laying flat disguised by her hair and headband, shot straight up before she forcibly smoothed them down again. The third sector was where Unit 00 lodged, meaning Axl's room.

Axl himself desperately fought down a blush.

"I mean, seriously, how do you get to the other side of base without tripping any alarms or anyone seeing you?"

Zero looked up from his slice of chocolate cake. "You know, it's been bugging me too, how do you do it? I mean, the other day I saw you coming out of Axl's room." he teased, smirking.

Axl lost the fight with the blush.

Pallet squealed. "Oooh, busted!"

"Nothing happened." he bit out. "She just comes over in the mornings."

True, Sunako technically did come in the morning, never a minute before midnight.

Zero snorted. "Yeah right, real early."

Sunako sniffed. "I can't help it if I wake before dawn, it's an old habit."

Layer leered conspiritaly . "Then what do you do with Axl in the mornings when the rest of us are sleeping?"

"Layer! It's not like you think!"

Pallet started giggling uncontrollably. "Sounds like you've got something to hide lover boy." she said, poking him in the nose.

"N-no! It's not like that!"

The others continued to tease them as Axl's face got redder and Sunako own cheeks turned pink at the implications.

Axl ended it by flinging a spoonful of his ice cream into Zero's face.

"Hey!"

"You asked for it!"

"I did not!"

"Then stop teasing us!"

"But it's so easy."

"You too Layer!"

"You're no fun like that you know."

"That's because nothing happened! We just talk, ok!"

"About what?" asked Pallet.

"Just swapping stories, you know, nothing serious."

Pallet's face fell, disappointed. "Aw man! I thought you two were together! You make such a cute couple!"

Sunako almost choked on her tea at that comment.

Layer helpfully patted the girl on the back. "Hey now, it's not that for fetched you know, half the base is talking about how Axl's finally found a girlfriend and how cute she is."

"Axl's not my boyfriend." she sputtered, gasping.

"He isn't?" asked Zero.

"No. And I won't have one until I have my father's blessing." she said after clearing her throat.

Zero, Pallet, and Layer all raised an eyebrow in the same questioning expression.

"Sunako...do even know where your father is?" asked Layer, concerned.

Sunako looked up. "I know where he is, it's just a matter of not being able to get to him. I'll figure out how to get a message to him eventually, I've got plenty of time."

"Honey, you're eighteen, not exactly a baby you know."

"Layer, I'm eighty-seven, not eighteen."

Zero made a genuine spit-take at Sunako's blunt statement, spraying Axl with soda. "WHAT!"

"You heard me, eighty-seven." the fox girl snickered. "We all know I'm not human, my kind live about five to nine hundred years on average, ten years to a human is roughly one or two years to a celestial, but that variable changes."

The three were stunned. "Axl, did you know this?"

Axl made a face at Zero, throwing a damp napkin at him. "Of course I did, she told me like...three weeks ago."

"Damn, and I thought I was old."

Suanko laughed. "And you're doing very well for two hundred and sixty years old, counting your sleeping time underground that is."

Zero scoffed. "You're older than I've been active and conscious missy! Twice over even!"

"Which makes my point that I have plenty of time to get back in touch with my family. My equivalent age is roughly to eighteen human years, almost nineteen, so I have the better part of two centuries before the pressure is on for me to find a mate. No sense in rushing."

"But what about Axl?" asked Pallet, concerned.

"Reploids don't age remember? He'll only start looking older if he wants to, and I've told him as much as I know on my family's courting traditions."

"We're just friends guys, and I'm a little young, remember? X makes that point often enough right?"

With that, the subject was closed. Zero took the check, paying with his massive and mostly untouched bank account. Forty-some-odd years as a high-class hunter paid very well.

-xXx