In From the Cold:
Chp 4: Quiet at last
The costumed group of Gundam pilots and Sailor Senshi had finally made it to Quatre's 'house'. The ragtag procession had trekked up the street and then turned right. Quatre led the way, with Duo incessantly chattering to Rei, who looked like she was about to throttle something and preferably the braided brunette walking beside her. Trowa cradled Usagi tenderly in his arms, Minako walking beside him to make sure nothing further happened to her friend. Heero, with the help of Wufei, limped behind them. Making up the last of the group, Hotaru rode piggyback on Makoto while Ami stayed with them to keep them company. Cobblestones gleamed dimly in the shadowy moonlight.
Quatre paused. The Sailor Senshi were aghast, agape, and in general agog, when he turned, smiling, and said, "We're here."
The house wasn't even a house...it was a mansion, gigantically huge. A whole town could probably live there and not worry about meeting one another or about the lack of privacy.
Mina turned to Quatre, "Do you work here?" Her eyes begged him to say 'yes' for despite her wish to be a star, she never thought she'd ever actually meet someone with enough wealth to own this kind of a house.
Quatre grinned, shy and innocent. "As a matter of fact," he replied, "I do." He opened the heavy walnut door and led the company inside.
The girls - minus Usagi who had promptly fallen asleep when she realized she wouldn't have to walk after Trowa picked her up- chatted quietly among themselves, occasionally whistling at the wealth located in one room, while their host took charge.
"Trowa, you can put her down in the study, and if the rest of you," He looked at the five Sailor Senshi, "would like to follow him, you can all rest there while I get refreshments for us all."
Mutely, Trowa nodded, and strode off to a corridor on the right. The rest of the Senshi followed him.
Quatre now looked at Heero, who still had an arm around Wufei. "Are you alright, Heero?"
"Hnnn..."
"Then, I guess we should all adjourn to the study." He headed in that direction after a brief pause to ask a servant for refreshments for eleven.
The three teens still standing in the entry hall nodded.
By the time Quatre, Wufei, Duo, and Heero had entered the oak paneled room, Usagi had awakened.
"WOW!!!" The blonde's bright voice cried. "They're CUTE, minna."
Her friends blushed. For that matter, so did Quatre, and if one looked closely, a teeny tiny extra amount of blood also graced Trowa, Wufei, and Heero's faces. Duo simply reveled in the compliment, taking the chance to do what he did best. Lighten the atmosphere.
"Awwwwww, look at that, Q-man is blushing." Duo teased then gulped when Quatre turned and glared at him, reminding Duo that Quatre already had a grudge list on him, and it probably wasn't a good idea to piss him off again.
"Hello," Quatre smiled. "It seems kind of awkward that we don't know each other's names."
"No kidding," Ami muttered, "Much harder to yell at people that way."
The room went silent. Ami looked up, sheepish. "Did I say that aloud?"
Usagi nodded.
"Eep." The blue-haired girl pinkened and ducked her head in her hands.
"So..." Quatre continued as if he had never been interrupted. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner."
"OHMISWEETGODDESS." Rei shrieked. Her friends looked at her like she had gone loony. "You don't know the Winner Corp.?" she asked, dumbfounded.
The Sailor Senshi shook their heads. "It's ONLY the largest and wealthiest privately owned company in the Earth sphere and the colonies. And Quatre R. Winner is the owner..." Five of the six teenagers looked up in shock. Hotaru looked as if she could care less.
Wufei spoke up, his sweet, sensitive side coming out. "I'm Wufei Chang, onnas. Not that you have any right to know my name, being weak as you are."
"Actually, his name's Wu-anything but Fei," Duo inserted.
"MAXWELL!!! FOR THE LAST TIME, MY NAME IS WUFEI. USE IT!!!" Wufei reached for his trusty katana. His hand gripped only air. "DAMNIT MAXWELL!! GIVE ME MY KATANA BACK!" He began chasing Duo around the room.
"EEP! If you kill me, you'll never find your katana!"
"Maybe, but I'll have had the satisfaction of killing you!" The enraged pilot shouted back.
The chasing, and the threats continued on for several moments. Finally, winded, Duo gave up and plopped down on the floor next to Hotaru and Makoto.
Wufei kept running around in circles until finally Rei, in revenge for his sexist remarks, tripped him flat on his face.
"If we could please finish the introductions, folks?" Quatre asked sweetly, ignoring the chaos.
"Duo Maxwell, babes." The pilot of Deathscythe nodded. "I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie."
"Hnnn..." Heero grunted.
"..." Trowa introduced himself eloquently.
Quatre, about to go apocalyptic as he knew his friends could speak, took a deep breath when Usagi jumped in. "Nice to meet ya, Heero, Trowa."
Rei, Minako, Makoto, Hotaru, and Ami stared. Heero, Duo, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei stared. The whole world stared at the odangoed blonde. Usagi stared back, then shrugged. "I speak grunt and ... too. It was one of my elective courses last year."
A general murmur of understanding swept through the room.
"I'm Rei Hino," the violet-eyed priestess said.
"Ami Mizuno."
"Makoto Kino."
"Usagi Tsukino."
"Hotaru Tomoe."
"And I'm Minako Aino." The bubbly blonde waved cheerfully.
"So what are you all doing here?" Heero finally deigned to speak. "Your names are Japanese."
"Business." Ami succinctly put it, when Rei said, "Pleasure."
The girls laughed.
"We're here on a kind of working holiday." Makoto explained. "Our school is paying to send us to the Peacecraft Academy, San Francisco Chapter. We start tomorrow."
"Really?" Quatre asked. "That's where we go."
"Cool. So maybe we'll see you around tomorrow." Makoto said.
Hotaru suddenly yawned, causing a chain reaction in all of the girls.
"Maybe we should get going..." Ami suggested.
"If you like, One of my servants can drive you home." Quatre offered.
Before her friends could protest, Usagi had accepted.
"We'll see you tomorrow, everyone." she called, as they left the house. The laughter left with them, leaving the house quiet and sad.
The pilots left for their rooms without saying good night to one another.
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Another pathetic chapter. I have an idea about how I want this story to go, but it just isn't flowing right. I'll try to make up for it in the next chapter.
Next Chapter: Revenge and School