Hey everyone sorry for the long delay in my update. My internet has been playing up - however here is the next chap! I'd like to say thankyou to Pagan who betaed this for me! It's my birthday today, so review! hehe lol :P
Chapter 6
"The security cameras are finally up and running smoothly," Heero informed Zechs as the two worked on the security system within Heero's plain office. "All firewalls are up with additional new ones appointed to me by Doctor J when he was alive, no one will be able to get into my system now."
"Great, are all guards in place?" Zechs asked as Trowa entered the room carrying two cups of coffee. Placing one in front of Heero and one in front of Zechs he took a place leaning against a wall watching the two at work. Heero quickly flipped through all the cameras.
"All in place," he answered mechanically, before grabbing his steaming cup of coffee.
"I was thinking," Trowa started, "why don't we set a panic button for Relena, what do you think Heero?"
"Hn."
"It would make her feel better, she's been going crazy sitting up in Sally's bedroom all day, in fact all the girls have, do you think we could get one from the Preventers?"
"Wufei's already over his budget Trowa." Heero snapped irritably as he took another sip of his coffee. Trowa took a sideways glance at Zechs who shrugged his shoulders.
"Ok maybe I'll talk to him about Relena's problem…"
"You do that," the boy murmured in his seat before turning to Zechs, "we need to make sure all windows and doors are locked."
"Ok, I'll watch the computer; Trowa will help you lock up." Heero hesitated for a second as he began to get out of his seat. He glared at his future brother in law before muttering, "Fine" under his breath. Getting out of his seat and brushing past the confused ex-pilot at the door he began to check that every room was securely locked.
Duo lent over the pool table to pot another hole. He had to admit to himself, he was pretty good at playing pool. Hilde snarled as the red ball rolled into the hole, a perfect shot.
"Oh my god, Duo, you are so annoying!" She cried, "I haven't even had my turn yet and you've potted over 6 balls!" Duo grinned as he measured his next move.
"Well what can I say I love playing pool," he smirked. "We had a table at a safehouse once, I used to just sit in the room and shoot balls all day if I didn't have a mission…Damn" The red ball he'd just tried to pot bounced off the pocket and rocketed half way down the table. Hilde beamed - she'd finally get a go. Chalking up her queue she measured her move.
"Have you found anything else about that assassin?" she asked, "I haven't been told a lot and it's driving me crazy."
"Not really, things have seemed to calm down since two days ago when Wufei's car blew up." Duo spoke smirking at the way Hilde was trying to hold her queue. Rolling his eyes, he set his queue to one side and came up behind her. Leaning over her he set the queue right within her hands. Making it settle between her thumb and finger. "Everyone was shook up on Wednesday."
"I know, Relena was so scared she nearly had a panic attack, I'd never seen her so scared before." Hilde murmured as she lent into Duo's hold round her. Pretending to get the move wrong, she let him teach her how to measure the amount of force to hit the ball with. She felt his body move against hers as the queue side between their fingers backwards and forwards.
"Were you scared?" Duo asked, Hilde looked back over her shoulder fascinated at how close Duo was to her at that actual minute. She could practically feel his breath on her lips. She could smell the musky scent of his shampooed hair. He smelt like perfection and she wanted more. Her eyes leveled out with his perfectly shaped mouth.
"No" she breathed
"Why not?" Duo laughed, his violet eyes twinkling. "You a big brave girl now?"
"Duo…" she blushed, "It's just because I know…" She looked up into the boys' violet eyes "…I have you to protect me, Duo."
Suddenly the door opening caused the two to jump apart. The two's attention snapped over to the door to find Trowa and Heero standing there staring at them. Duo laughed a blush spreading across his face as he lent to scratch the back of his head with his right hand.
"So there you are Hild, that's how you play pool," he chuckled, "after having help from me you'll be the best pool player of the century."
"Save it Maxwell, we're here to check the windows are bolted." Heero snapped
"Wait Heero we... I... oh forget it," the braided boy headed for the door, "cya later Hilde." With that he stormed out the room.
"Wait Duo what about our game?!" She called after him setting down her queue and running after him out the door. Heero watched from the corner of his eye before checking the bolt he was doing up was firmly locked.
Duo rose early the next morning and wondered down through the house. Dressed only in his loose black boxer shorts and black t-shirt he entered the kitchen, but stopped in his tracks once seeing who was sat at the table. He stared at the other boys back before continuing on his way to the coffee maker to grab himself a cup. Heero was currently sitting at the table with the three riddles placed out in front of him, a look of deep thought on his face. Pouring himself and Heero a cup of coffee, noticing there wasn't a cup in front of his friend, he quickly grabbed a biscuit from the biscuit barrel before settling in a seat at the opposite end of the table from Heero. He pushed the other boys coffee as far as he could down the table without getting out of his seat.
Noticing the cup, Heero gratefully reached half way down the table and picked it up, taking a sip, his eyes never leaving the riddles on the tabletop. Duo rested his chin on the top of his knee as he stared at the riddles upside down. Feeling the tension within the room Duo felt like he could cut it in half with a knife. Instead, he began to hum.
"Will you stop?" Heero muttered, "I'm trying to think."
"I'm sorry…it helps me think," blue eyes looked up at violet.
"You and I both know it isn't because of that," he murmured, Duo let a small sad smile come to his lips. Heero let his gaze fall as he fished something out of his pocket. Slipping it carefully onto the table he pushed it towards Duo's end of the table. The braided boy peeked down at the piece of folded paper before looking up at Heero again.
"Open it," the boy insisted going to glare at the riddles again. "You'll be very amused." Duo nodded and reached for the folded paper. Unfolding it a large grin appeared on his face as a loud laugh fell from his lips.
"Where the hell did you find this?"
"At the safehouse," Heero answered, "It was in the desk drawer."
"Oh my god, I thought I'd lost this," the braided boy laughed, "I can't believe you've found my amazing piece of art Heero!"
"Amazing?"
"Oh shut up, it's good to me, I can't see you doing any better!" Duo stuck his tongue out at the boy at the other end of the table. The room was left into silence again and Duo felt like he had to break it. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For finding my picture," he answered in a small voice, "It means a lot to me." Glimpsing up at the boy, Heero nodded in response.
"Duo?"
"Hmm?"
"Why…"
"Oh my God guys." Sally cried wondering into the kitchen. "Do you know where Relena hides the chocolate, beans, and ice cream in this mansion of hers?!" She had her hands resting on her aching back.
"Here, take a seat momsy," Duo called jumping up and pulling out a chair for the pregnant woman to sit on. "I'll find you your beans, chocolate, and ice cream."
"Cheers Duo I owe you," Sally sighed taking her seat next to Heero. As Duo began to raid the cupboards she glanced over to see what Heero was up to, spying the three riddles laid out over the table.
"Have you worked any out yet?" she asked, Heero shook his head.
"Heero's rubbish at stuff like that, that's why he always skips the crosswords in the newspaper."
"Hey!"
"Only joking Hee-chan" Duo froze for a second, after suddenly realizing what he'd just called his friend.
"I haven't heard that in a while." The other boy muttered under his breath. Sally grabbed one of the riddles from her seat. Glancing over it she gave out an 'hmmmm' and set it back down.
"Got any ideas?" Heero asked
"One or two," she answered
"Hey Sal do you want it all mixed together?" Duo called over his shoulder as he emptied the beans into a saucepan.
"I want them all seperate please!" she called back while thinking over the riddles. "Well Heero I'm not sure yet, I'll think it over before I let you know," the boy nodded before settling back in his seat cradling the cup of coffee in his hands.
"What's with the beans, ice cream and chocolate phase?" he asked
"Pregnancy cravings" Sally sighed "Its weird I've been craving the oddest things over the last few months, first it was tuna pizza – I don't even like Pizza!" Duo raised his eyebrows up at the statement, "and then it was beetroot and salmon…"
"How's Wufei taking to it all?" Duo asked, "I mean he hated my eating phases."
"Ok actually," Sally grinned, "He's been so supportive, I think you must have gave him lots of practice" Duo let out a low chuckle as he scooped the ice cream onto a plate.
"I'm glad for you," Heero smiled weakly; "it must be wonderful to be starting a family."
"Yeah," Sally breathed as she placed a secure hand on her bump. "But hey Heero it'll be Relena who'll be pregnant next, you'll be having mini Heeros running around, or mini Relenas."
"I can just imagine mini Heeros running round," Duo murmured from his place at the stove. A few minutes later the beans were ready. Placing the chocolate and ice cream seperately on the plate, he then poured the beans on.
"Hey Sal can I try some mixed together?" Heero's eyes widened as Duo took hold of Sally's spoon as she passed it to him.
"Are you mad? That's disgusting!" Heero grimaced as the braided boy ate a spoon full of beans, ice cream and chocolate.
"Sal…" Duo spoke through gulps, "That is the best concoction I've ever tried, you should try it!" Heero's mouth dropped. "Try some Heero." Duo held out a spoon full toward Heero who scooted back in his seat.
"No, I think I'll pass on this one."
"Aw come on!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Aw well your loss!" Duo shrugged his shoulder before Sally snatched the spoon from his hand
"Make your own Duo, this is mine," she growled as she began to gobble the rest down. Duo smiled warmly at his pregnant friend, how he had missed his friends so much.
xXx
Mariemaia dressed herself in front of her large mirror. She decided that after the Duo incident of trying to get her dressed she'd learn how to do it herself. After all wasn't it weird for a girl her age to be still dressed by a maid? She pulled on her black jumper over her head before grabbing a hair brush to brush out the tangles in her flowing red hair. Behind her she could see her adopted mother Une and her husband Rally getting ready to go down stairs. Though she really wanted to know what had been happening over the last few days, she knew someone was trying to hurt Miss Relena. But why? She wanted to know all what was happening but no one would tell her anything. Sighing she placed the brush back on the side. How she wished her adopted mother would stop being so over protective of her, but she had stated when she first met her that she wasn't going to let the daughter and last living relative of Trieze Khushrenada get hurt or worse, die.
"Une?" she called, "I want to know what's going on." Une stopped in putting her shoes on and lifted her head to meet her daughters gaze. Her brown hair slipped from her shoulders and dangled from where she was bent over.
"Marie I don't think…"
"Une I'm 14 years old I have a right to know what's going on!" She yelled, "Don't keep me in the dark." Une turned to Rally who nodded his head.
"Come here Marie, sit by me." Une patted the bed next to her. The young girl raced over and stopped next to her adopted mother. "Now Marie, I don't want you to get scared, Heero has everything under control"
"I won't Une, please just tell me."
"Relena, is under threat of an assassin." Une told the girl, her voice turning business like, "she has been for the last few weeks, and Heero and the other boys have been working hard to secure the mansion so it's safe enough for Relena to live in for now until the assassin is caught."
"Does anyone have any idea who it is?" Mariemaia asked
"Not a clue, except the assassin is a girl." Rally added as he slipped on his gym trainers, "Now that you know, we want you to be careful round the house. I know you may feel immature by having to stay with Aunt Noin and Jamie all day but it's best for your safety."
"Ok Rally I understand," Mariemaia replied "but why, is the question I've been meaning to ask, why would someone want to kill Miss Relena?" Une smiled before kissing the top of the girl's head.
"We don't know, but that's what we're trying to find out."
"Well I want you to know, that I'm here to help, Une, and I know that you must think I'm a worthless brat but if you need me to do anything I'm here."
"Ok Marie," Une smiled quickly putting on her other shoe, "Come on let's get you down the stairs and with Noin, she's expecting you."
"Yes Une."
"Remember to act normal around Relena, it's her first time out of Sally's room since the incident the other day, Heero thinks the house is secure enough for her to walk around freely now."
"Ok" Mariemaia grabbed her dolly shoes and sipped them on before exiting the bedroom with Rally and Une following her closely behind.
xXx
The afternoon came and went. By 3pm all the boys had decided to hit the mansion gym, while the guards looked after the girls. Quatre watched in amazement as Wufei practiced his sword skills in front of the many mirrors within the gym on the first floor of the house. He was currently wearing a red robe, which the Preventer had once told him represented fire, one of the Chinese five elements. He was told that the Chinese element fire helped his practice his sword fighting. Quatre could remember at the many safehouse's watching the Chinese man practice his sword skills on the front lawns in any weather. When it would rain Duo would go out and prance around him when he did it, saying he was working out, while all the boy wanted to do was run in the rain. The braided boy found it acceptable to run around outside if Wufei was. It was at that exact moment that Quatre remembered this, when Duo began to run around the current Wufei as he practiced his sword skills.
"GOD DAMN IT MAXWELL!"
"Hey Wu remember me?"
"Damn it Maxwell, you know I hate it when you do that!"
"No you don't Wuffie I bet you missed me." Duo grinned
"That's it," the Chinese man threw down his sword, "I challenge you to a sparring match." At the word spar Heero nearly tripped over himself and fell off the running machine, Trowa dropped the weights he was lifting and Quatre grinned. All the boys began to crowd round Duo and Wufei as the Chinese man warmed himself up. Jumping up and down on the spot and rolling each solider back a few times, Wufei glared at the braided boy.
"I must warn you Wufei I could hurt your rep," the boy from L2 chuckled as he cracked his knuckles. "I was getting pretty good at sparring during the war."
"Bring it on Maxwell," the Chinese man growled. "I'll have you down in 5 seconds flat." He boasted before launching forward. Duo rolled out the way and put his foot out causing the Chinese man to fall on his face. Quatre tried to stifle a laugh as Wufei fell. Duo smirked and lent down towards the man on the floor.
"Wufei, are you even trying?"
"MAXWELL!!" the Chinese man flipped to his feet and ran towards the braided boy doing every karate move he knew, which to his surprise the braided boy countered and he ended up on his face again in less than 5 minutes.
"I seemed to remember you been better than this Wufei."
"I seemed to remember you being worse," the Chinese man muttered under his breath getting to his feet "Alright…this time you're down."
"Hey Wu…Bring it," the boy mocked as Heero joined the group to watch the match.
"Oh I will," the Chinese man growled in annoyance before launching at the braided boy once more. With a spinning wheel kick to the head Wufei thought he had him, until the boy ducked with lightening speed and tripped him up quickly. Wufei landed flat on his back staring up at the mirrored ceiling.
"Crap."
"Wu I'm offering lessons if you want some," Duo teased playfully, as he held out a hand to help the other up. Wufei snarled and chose to ignore the hand and got to his feet.
"You've been cheating."
"Cheating?"
"You've been practicing."
"So have you," Duo countered, Wufei glared
"I challenge Duo Maxwell to a spar," a voice spoke up from behind. Both boys turned to see Heero remove his grey training jacket so he was down to a pair of grey slacks and his famous green tank top.
"Oh really are you up for it 'Ro?" Duo grinned as Heero chucked his jacket to the floor. Coming to stand in front of his friend Heero raised one eyebrow.
"I think so."
"Don't poor little me scare you?" Duo pouted, "I mean, I just kicked Wufei's ass"
"Doubtful;" the perfect solider answered, "are you scared of me?"
"Not one bit," Duo smirked a Shinigami grin on his face. "I'll have your pretty ass on this floor in less than five minutes."
"I'll be waiting." Stepping back the two men waited to be counted in. Quatre stepped forward.
"3…. 2…1…fight!" he called as the two boys launched towards each other. The boys watched in amazement as the two boys fought, some of the moves they were coming up with had never even been seen before by the other boys. To all of their surprise it was Heero Yuy to fall to the floor first. The boy let out a loud gasp as his back hit the thin training matt underneath him. He glared up at the ceiling, how the hell did that happen? Getting to his feet he found Duo standing to one side stretching his hamstring muscles.
"Come on Heero, I thought you could do better than that." Waiting for the count in Heero rolled his shoulders back to loosen them up, knocking his head to one side then the other.
3…2…1 fight!
Aiming to what he remembered the boy's weakness to be, he kicked his leg towards Duo's left kneecap. He kicked it as hard as he could, but found that instead of hitting bone he'd hit a hard plate of metal. 'Since when has Duo had a metal knee' he thought. A second later he was whipped off his feet as Duo pressed a pressure point on the small of his back. Heero fell to the floor, much to the others surprise.
"Winner…Duo?" Quatre called out a little confused, no one could ever beat Heero. Getting to his feet again the perfect solider mapped out a plan to take down his prey. Duo Maxwell had indeed got better at sparring but maybe that was just his fighting skills, what about his tactics?
Heero launched at the boy aiming to use every dirty trick in the book to get the boy on the floor. He did attacks from behind, he mislead attacks on the boy, but somehow, Duo knew every move he was about to do. Suddenly seeing an opening to get Duo on the floor, Heero did a surprise spinning wheel kick to the head, though he wasn't anticipating for Duo to do the exact same move to him. The two landed on their backs at the same time. Duo suddenly burst out laughing and rolled onto his side to face his friend.
"That was so funny!"
"Winner…Heero by about 1 second." Quatre called out still confused
"You won," Duo smiled holding out his hand "Good game Hee-chan," once again the name slip out of his mouth before realizing it. He snapped his hand back to cover his mouth. Heero turned to his side to face his friend his blue eyes boring into violet.
"You have a metal knee Duo," he murmured
"Yeah, you know how weak it was," he spoke softly "the sucker gave way at work one day."
"Hn." The perfect solider smiled slightly before rolled over to get to his feet. Duo pushed himself up to his feet and watched as his friend grabbed his gym jacket before exiting to grab a shower before dinner.
xXx
"Isn't it nice to be out of the bedroom and around the house?" Hilde asked as she and Relena settled down within the lounge on one of the many settees. The fire had been started up by one of the many guards for Relena to enter the room when warm. Relena nodded silently as her eyes wondered round the room looking for any place the assassin could be hiding.
"Relena relax please," Hilde placed her arm round the girls shoulder. "Heero's secured the building."
"That's what he said last time," the girl mumbled.
"Relena," Hilde turned her face towards her. "Believe me when I tell you this, Heero would never let you die," the girl sighed dreamily.
"I know Hilde." She let a small smile slip across her lips. Snuggling down into the many cushions on the settee Relena laid back and decided to let herself relax. Turning to her friend she tried to remember the last time she saw her on Earth. It was back when she had come to visit Earth and Duo. That was 3 years ago, before Duo disappeared.
"Say Hilde, what ever happened to you and Duo?" Hilde turned to her friend lying within the cushions
"What do you mean?"
"Before he disappeared." Relena asked in interest. Hilde was silent for a moment as she stared down at her lap.
"Before Duo disappeared, we had agreed to meet up at a coffee shop within the Sanc were he was living with Heero. I knew something was wrong right from the start. For starters he was there before me, sat at the back of the shop, with no welcome flowers, chocolates or whatever he usually brought me when I visited him." Hilde spoke as she fiddled with the end of her sleeve, "there was something in his eyes which told me just what he was about to say…I can remember the scene perfectly." She laughed cruelly, "I sat down and just as I went to call the waiter over he pulled my hand back down to the table. He held onto my hand staring at the table. That's when he said he didn't love me any more."
Relena gasped she'd never expected the two the break up like that. "I'm so sorry Hilde I never knew!"
"It's alright, just to cut a long story short, I felt so hurt, I told him I never wanted to see him again and he took off out of the shop; no one ever saw him again after that day. I went to his house that night but he wasn't there. As you know since you opened the door to me, I rushed off before I could even tell you we broke up, trying to think of every place he could be." Relena nodded remembering the day quiet well. She could remember opening the door to Hilde, the girl asking for Duo. Relena of course hadn't seen him but before she could ask Hilde why she was looking for him the girl had rushed off. "At the ceremony was the first time I'd seen him in years. The sad thing is, is that after all these years I still love him as much as the day he ran away. So I figured if I wanted to be with him I had to be his friend first."
"Too true" Relena answered "And how are you now?" Hilde blushed
"Well…" Relena's eyes widened
"Well what?"
"I… I think I might be in there again," Hilde grinned
"Oh Hilde I'm so happy for you," Relena reached up and hugged her friend
"I am too, whatever made him change his feelings about me, must have been temporary." Hilde smiled hopefully
"Yeah, you know what I think, Duo and you make a great couple," Relena sighed "Duo is such a nice person; remember when he was designing my mansion?"
"Yeah, he was so fascinated with the building he'd spend ages on the designs" Hilde laughed as a loud bell rung out through the house to call everyone to the dining hall
A guard knocked on the lounge door before entering, "Dinner's ready Miss Relena, are you ready to go?"
Relena nodded, quickly getting out of her seat the two exited the room with a guard who accompanied them down to the dining room.
TBC...