Roommates: Mina&Trowa, Wufei&Rei, Heero&Duo, Ami&Quatre, Hotaru&Makoto. Artemis is a bit out of character but hopefully not to the point where he might as well be someone else entirely.

'...' - telepathy

"Hey Mina, can we talk? Duo told me something very interesting, and I was wondering if it was true." A mysterious glint was in his eyes, that caused Mina to shudder.

"S-Sure. What do you want to talk about?" Mina was looking around at everything but him, wishing that one of her friends would come save her. Trowa reached out and cupped her chin in his hand, turning her face so he could look at her eye to eye.

"Mina, do you have feelings for me?"

"M-Me have f-feelings for you?" Mina asked, averting her eyes from his face.

"That's what I said." Trowa replied calmly, tilting her face so he could look in her eyes.

"W-Well it isn't true! You know how Duo likes to joke around." Mina swatted Trowa's hand away and took a step back. Trowa just crossed his arms and arched a brow at her. They stood there in silence for a few minutes, before Trowa headed back into the crowd to find Makoto, a plan forming in his mind. Mina, on the other hand, stomped through the crowd, heading towards her braided "master".

"Duo! What the hell were you thinking?!" Mina growled as she grabbed his braid and dragged him off the dance floor.

"Ow ow! What are you talking about?" Duo snatched his braid back from Mina, and stood cradling it in his arms.

"What gave you the idea that I liked Trowa?" She crossed her arms over her chest and began to tap her foot in annoyance.

"I heard you and Ami talking about how you like him. Besides, it was somewhat obvious." Duo said, grinning impishly at her.

"You heard that?!" Mina shrieked, causing a few people around them to stare at the two.

"Look slave, this isn't the time or place to talk about it. We'll talk about it back at my place later tonight." Spinning around, he waved before walking back onto the dance floor.

"That jerk!" Mina turned on her heel and stalked out of the nightclub. When she got outside, to her luck, which wasn't any at the moment, it had started to rain. "Could things get any worse?" Mina grumbled as she headed down the street. Not really paying attention to where she was going, she ended up in an alleyway between two old, rundown buildings. "Ugh...now I'm lost. This is getting worse!" Mina whined as she kicked an empty soda can.

"Hey little girl, are you lost?" A deep voice rumbled from behind her. Turning around, her eyes widened as she saw a tall, well muscled guy standing behind her.

"No, I'm not." Mina drew herself up, and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"It sure don't look like that." Another voice said, causing her to turn around again. A short skinny guy was leaning against one of the buildings, and what caused Mina to gasp, was that he was missing an eye.

"I'm fine." Mina said, her voice wavering slightly.

"I think you guys scared her." A few more guys stepped out from a hole in the wall of one of the buildings.

"Listen girl, we want your money." The first guy said, taking a few steps towards her.

"And a little something else." The second one licked his lips hungrily.

"You guys chose a bad time to mess with me." Mina threatened as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.

"Enough talk, get her!" The first guy ordered, causing the men to jump into action.

Ducking under one guy, she did a quick sweep-kick on the second, before doing an uppercut on the third. The skinny guy came at her, swinging a chain above his head, while the first guy twirled knives in his hands. Dodging the chain, she did a roundhouse kick before turning to face the first guy. Narrowly missing the first knife, she brought her hand up to block the second, which ended up slicing her arm open. Grunting, she glanced down at her white sleeve which was quickly turning crimson.

"I liked this dress!" Rushing forward, she dodged another knife and kicked his wrist, sending one of the daggers flying. Jumping back, she grabbed the knife by the blade, and winced when the blade dug into her hand. Turning the knife around, she stared at the guy who just stared back. The two eyed each other for a few minutes, sizing up their chances at taking the other one down. Suddenly, they charged towards each other, intending to settle it once and for all. Mina threw herself at the guy, tackling him to the ground where they landed hard causing them both to grunt loudly at the sudden pain they felt.

Rolling off of the body, Mina laid there in the alleyway, gasping for air. Looking down, she saw the handle of the knife sticking out from between her ribs. Glancing over at the guy, she smiled at seeing the handle of her knife sticking out of his chest. Gripping the handle of the knife between her hands, she gritted her teeth as she pulled it out. Throwing the knife off to the side, Mina rolled over onto her side, and slowly pushed herself up. Blood dripped down onto the ground, and more came out as she lifted herself to her feet.

Stumbling out of the alleyway, Mina continued on her way towards the school, not bothering to go back to the club to look for her friends.

xoxo

"Have you seen Mina?" Rei asked Hotaru who was dancing with Quatre.

"Nope, not at all." Hotaru smiled at her older sister, before going back to dancing with Quatre.

"Thanks." Rei mumbled, before heading off to find Haruka and Makoto. Going over to the bar, she found the two girls along with Heero, Wufei, and Trowa. "Hey guys, have you seen Mina? I can't find her anywhere."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her since we left her alone with Trowa earlier." Haruka frowned as she set her drink down.

"Duo was the last person with her." Heero said in his usual monotone voice.

"Where is that braided baka?" Wufei questioned, causing the six of them to look for the idiot.

"I'm beat." Hotaru groaned as she and Quatre came and stood in front of the others.

"Are you looking for someone?" Duo sauntered over to the group, his usual goofy grin on his face.

"Have you seen Mina?" Rei asked as she turned to look at him.

"Yeah, about half an hour ago, why?" Duo walked over to Ami and wrapped his arm around her neck.

"Because she isn't here and we can't find her." Ami shrugged his arm off and moved away from him.

"She probably went back to the school, it is pretty late and we do have class tomorrow." It was shocking for Duo to make sense, and even more shocking for everyone to agree with what he said.

"You're right, we should get going."

xoxo

"Finally." Mina huffed as she reached the dorm that she shared with Trowa. Digging around in her pocket for her keys, it was only then that she realized she had given them to Trowa. Letting her head hit the door, she groaned loudly. Lifting her head again, she let it hit the door once more.

"Mina, is that you?" A voice asked from inside.

"Artemis?" Mina called, hoping that's who it was.

"Hold on a minute." A few scratching and grunting noises were heard before the door clicked and swung open a bit. "You have no idea how hard it is to open a door." Artemis said as he moved out of her way. "Hey, what happened?"

"A few idiots thought they could mess with me." Mina laughed weakly before going on, "But I proved them wrong. Now go get me some bandages or something so I can fix myself up before the others get back."

Getting up, she headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Putting her hair up, she turned on the shower before stripping off her ruined clothes. After throwing her clothes in the trash, she stepped into the shower, letting the hot water envelope her body. Her body ached and protested loudly as the hot water ran over her new cuts and bruises, causing them to burn painfully. Minutes passed before she finally managed to pull herself away from the hot water and got out to dry off. Wrapping a towel around her body, she walked into her room and put some panties on before pulling on a pair of green sweatpants and taking out a white t-shirt.

"Here you go Mina." Artemis, who was sitting on her bed, nudged the first aid kit he found towards her.

"Thanks Artemis."

xoxo

"'Ruka get the movies, Mako get the snacks, 'Taru get the drinks, and Ami provide the room." Rei said as the five girls, along with the guys walked down the hallway.

"Roger that!" Hotaru jabbed her fist into the air before the girls took off down the hall.

"Wufei I'm going to grab some extra blankets from our room to take over." Rei told Wufei before taking off to their dorm.

"Can I stay with you?" Quatre asked Trowa as the five guys headed towards the only unoccupied dorm, which was Heero and Duo's.

"Sure." Trowa nodded as they entered the dorm room.

"Crap, I forgot something in your dorm Trowa, can I borrow your keys?" Duo caught the keys that Trowa tossed and saluted to him before leaving the room. Jogging down the hallway, Duo stopped in front Trowa and Mina's dorm quickly unlocking it and entering.

"Can you hand me that? Oh don't give me that look! I already told you what happened." Mina's voice drifted out from her room, but Duo just ignored her and began to look for his stash of candy which he had hid earlier.

"Mina you really should have someone look at that. What if it gets infected?" A male voice also came from the direction of Mina's room, causing Duo to stop his search and tune in to what the two were saying.

"If it gets infected it gets infected." Mina snapped at the male.

"If it gets infected, it will turn green and start to ooze puss and hurt worse than it already does." The male voice replied calmly.

"Eww! Thanks for grossing me out! Now give me my shirt, the others should be back about now." Duo's eyes widened at hearing the last part. Her shirt was off? This he had to see! Creeping over towards the door, he thanked Shinigami that it was cracked open, and peered inside, trying to catch an eyeful. Before he could see anything, the door opened and Duo found himself face to face with the guy Mina had been talking to.

"Uh..." Duo took a few steps back, not really sure what to say. The guy had long white hair, bright blue eyes, and was wearing a pair of jeans with holes in the knees and a black t-shirt.

"Duo, what are you doing?" Mina asked as she came up from behind the man.

"Who's your friend?" Duo countered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ar-Alex. His name is Alex." Mina barely caught herself, and thanked Venus that Duo would be stupid enough to believe her.

"So is he a friend of yours? Or maybe a boyfriend?" Duo arched his brows suggestively at the two, causing them both to roll their eyes.

"Mina, let's go." Grabbing her hand, Artemis lead Mina away from the braided idiot. Duo watched the two leave, replaying the conversation he overheard in his head. 'What would get infected?' Putting that thought on hold, he went back to looking for his stash of candy.

"You really should have that looked at." Artemis said as he glanced down at Mina who was walking next to him.

"I'll be fine." She said, a look of determination on her face.

Artemis nudged her lightly with his elbow, causing pain to flash over her face at the pressure on her wound.

"Ow! Stop it before I clobber you." Mina glared up at him and he turned away so she wouldn't see the smirk on his face. Hotaru, who was currently carrying a few bottles of soda, stopped at hearing two familiar voices. Turning, she saw Mina and Artemis walking down the hallway and let out a squeal of delight.

"Mina! Artemis!" Running down the hallway towards the two, she stopped in front of them, a grin on her face.

"Hey 'Taru." Artemis said while ruffling Hotaru's hair.

"What's with all the drinks?" Mina asked as she took a few from Hotaru to help lighten her load.

"We're having a sleepover at Ami's, girls only. You guys are coming, right?" The three of them headed down the hallway towards the dorm that Ami and Quatre shared.

"Sure, we have nothing better to do, right Artemis?" Artemis looked like he was about to object, but Mina elbowed him, causing him to close his mouth.

"Right." Hotaru pondered how to open the door with her arms full of soda bottles, but Artemis quickly solved the problem by opening and holding the door for the two girls. About to follow the girls into the dorm, he turned at hearing a sound coming from behind him.

"Someone better help me before I trip and kill myself." Rei said as she walked across the hall from her dorm, her arms full of blankets.

"Let me help you." Grabbing some of the blankets from her arms, Artemis followed Rei into the dorm and headed over to the couch, dumping the pile of blankets on it.

"Hey Artemis, haven't seen you in human form in awhile. You look great." Rei winked at him, causing him to smile and shake his head. "I'll set up the blankets, take Mina and go get some pillows from Heero and Duo's dorm." Nodding, Artemis pulled Mina out of the kitchen before she could try her hand at cooking something up for the sleepover. The last thing any of them needed was for the fire department to be called.

"What do you think you're doing? I was going to make my famous chocolate chip cookies!" Mina exclaimed as she tried to break his grip on her wrist.

"Rei said we need to get some pillows from Heero and Duo's dorm." He replied as they neared the dorm.

"Fine, but when we get back, I'm making my cookies!" Mina stuck her tongue out at him and blew a wet raspberry.

"Mina! Don't you think you're just a bit too old to be doing that?" Artemis glared down at her which only caused her to glare back up at him in return.

"Of course not!" She huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're so immature." Rolling his eyes, he knocked on the door and ignored her as she blew another raspberry at him. The door was opened a minute later by none other then Duo.

"Hey guys, what are you two up to?" Duo asked with a huge grin on his face.

"Who is it?" Quatre came up from behind Duo and was surprised to see Mina standing in the hallway with a guy he had never seen before. "Oh, I don't think we've met before, my name's Quatre." Hearing Quatre introduce himself, caught the attention of the three remaining guys, who turned to look at the doorway, wondering who it was outside.

"Alex, pleasure to meet you. Rei had sent us to get some pillows." Growing slightly annoyed with Mina and her raspberries, Artemis quickly put his hand on her face and shoved her, causing her to stumble back in surprise. At seeing Mina shoved back suddenly, in the middle of a raspberry no less, Duo began to laugh, ignoring the glare that Mina shot him. Unfortunately for Mina, the others inside the dorm saw what happened but instead of laughing, they merely watched in curiousity and slight suspicion.

"Alex you're such a jerk." Mina shot her friend a glare before shoving past her audience and into the dorm in search of extra pillows.

"Dude, come in." Duo, wiping a tear from his eye, moved out of the way so Artemis could enter.

"Thanks." As he entered the dorm, he noticed Heero and the other two glaring at him.

"This is Heero, Trowa and Wufei." Quatre said in his usual politeness as he introduced Artemis to the other three.

"Pleasure." Artemis replied as he looked at the three.

"You never answered my question, are you and Mina going out?" Duo questioned as he plopped down on a nearby chair, a bag of candy in his hand.

"Duo, do you ever mind your own business?" The question caught Duo by surprise, who ended up choking on a gummi bear.

"No, he never does." Quatre laughed.

"So what were you two doing in her room earlier then?" Duo arched his eyebrows suggestively, causing Artemis to roll his eyes. "You know what I mean, 'Give me my shirt.'" Wufei choked on his soda, but quickly covered it up with a cough.

"Duo, leave him alone." Ami said as she walked into the dorm. Glancing at Artemis, she gave him a warm smile which he returned.

"So how do you know him?" Duo asked, as he watched the quick exchange between Artemis and Ami, his curiosity taking over.

"Alex come help me." Mina ordered as she walked out of Duo's room with a few pillows in her arms. Ami looked at Artemis and arched a brow in question, in which he nodded towards the guys.

"Why should I?" Artemis crossed his arms and looked down at her, a small smirk on his face.

'Please? My side's killing me.' Mina gave him her best puppy dog eyes, causing him to scowl at her.

'Why's your side hurt?' Ami looked at Mina before turning to look at Artemis. 'Did she hurt herself?'

'She got in a fight after she left the club.' Artemis nodded at Ami who in turn looked back at Mina.

'I can't believe you didn't tell me! We should have Hotaru look at it immediately!' Ami's eyes widened before narrowing.

'Don't worry about it, it's not all that bad!' Mina argued, taking a step back.

During the whole conversation, the five boys watched in confusion as the three people's expressions changed as if they were talking to each other. Except, they weren't talking. The silence went on for a bit longer before Duo couldn't stand it any more and decided to break it.

"Since Alex is going to be there, can I also come?" Duo asked Ami with a grin while he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Fine. The rest of you can come too if you want." Ami addressed the others before glancing once more at Artemis. 'Artemis, take her to my room where I'll look at her wound.'

'Hello I'm right here!' Mina shoved the pillows in Trowa's arms and turned to glare at Ami and Artemis. Ami and Artemis looked at each other before looking back at Mina.

'Oh, we know.' They both thought at the same time.

'Jerks!' Mina scowled at them both.

"Come on Princess." Artemis said before throwing Mina over his shoulder, his shoulder hit the sore spot where she had been stabbed, causing her to bite her bottom lip to muffle the grunt that escaped her lips.

"Hey! I'm delicate here you big oaf! Now put me down! I can still walk!" Grinning, he left the dorm, carrying the screeching Mina with him.

"Those two are...weird." Duo commented, causing the others, minus Ami, to nod. "How did they meet anyways?" They left the dorm and after Heero locked it, proceeded down the hall to Ami and Quatre's dorm.

"He was living on the streets and she thought he was adorable so she took him home." It was the truth, and in all honesty that sort of thing happened all the time, so it seemed normal to Ami. But to the others, imagining a girl bringing home a man...that was indeed a strange thought. As they reached the dorm that Quatre and Ami shared, they heard a small explosion and a scream. The finely tuned instincts that Heero and the other pilots had kicked in suddenly and they rushed ahead of Ami into the dorm.

Inside the dorm room, it was easy to tell that the explosion, whatever it had been, had come from the kitchen which was currently covered in brown goop that might have been brownie batter at one point in time. Hotaru and Haruka had taken cover behind the up-ended kitchen table, both of them staring at each other with wide eyes; neither of them had expected an explosion but since neither had cooked before in their life, it wasn't too surprising that something had gone wrong. Rei, who turned out to be the one who screamed, was currently standing on a chair and rambling on about a giant spider. Mina had come out from Ami's bedroom to see what was wrong and didn't having anything covering her bare chest except for the t-shirt she held up in front of herself which wasn't covering much. Artemis was standing behind Mina, an amused look on his face as he took in the scene in front of him.

"What's going on?" Ami asked as she pushed her way past the guys who were starting to realize that despite the scene that was in front of them, there was no one attacking the dorm, not intentionally anyways.

Makoto, the only one who seemed undisturbed by everything that had taken place, stood up from where she sat on the couch, watching tv. "Rei freaked out over a spider and Hotaru and Haruka tried to cook." When she caught sight of the guys, a smile appeared on her face. "Looks like it's going to be a full house tonight. Come in and make yourselves comfortable. Trowa, could you help me with the snacks? I don't trust those two." She jerked her thumb towards Haruka and Hotaru who were currently cleaning up the mess they made.

Trowa glanced at Mina who was being led back into the bedroom by Artemis before nodding in agreement to what Makoto had said. "Sure."

"Where's the spider?" Heero questioned as he looked up at Rei.

"In the corner." She pointed to the corner where a chair sat, her hand shaking slightly.

"Hotaru, I may need you for a minute." Ami told the girl as she headed towards her bedroom.

"Coooommmiiiinnnnggg!" Ami groaned at realizing Hotaru had eaten candy. Groaning again, she felt a headache coming on. Hotaru and candy should never be mixed.

Trowa watched as the door to the bedroom closed behind Hotaru. He was curious to know what was going on inside the room that would require to Mina to have her top off. Although he hadn't known Ami or Hotaru as long as he had Mina, he could see right away that they were close and that seemed normal among friends. Alex however seemed to be a different story. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the young man and although he didn't want to admit it, even to himself, he didn't like how with Alex around, Mina had taken to following him around. If he hadn't be trained to keep his emotions from showing on his face, he would blush at the thought. What was he thinking? Its not like he enjoyed having Mina follow him around, but for some reason it just bothered him that she was now following someone else around. Heading towards the kitchen, he shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts. He shouldn't care about any of this, Mina was just a friend to him, the same as any of the other guys, that was all. Right?

"So Trowa, do you have a girlfriend or anything?" Makoto asked as she pulled a few bowls out and began filling them with chips and popcorn. After spending time in jail, she had missed out on precious boy hunting time and she was more than ready to get back on track and get herself a boyfriend. Shaking his head, Trowa poured everyone drinks and put ice cubes in the glasses.

"Really? Then would you wanna go out with me sometime?" About to say no, he glanced at the bedroom in which Mina and Alex were in. His previous thoughts popped up in his mind once more and, scowling at the closed door in annoyance, he nodded his head. Just a friend.

"Sure." Picking up the food and drinks, the two headed towards where their friends were.

After the movie was half over, the four teens emerged from the bedroom and took various spots in front of the tv. Heero, Rei, Quatre, and Wufei sat on the couch, Haruka, Duo, Hotaru, Ami, and Artemis sat on the floor, and Mina, after seeing Makoto snuggled up to Trowa in a chair, growled and sat next to Artemis.

For Mina, the night slowly dragged on, and all she could think about, was Makoto and Trowa. She snuck glimpses of the two from time to time, and grew even more annoyed at seeing them in the same position each time. It was going to be a very long night.

Haruka left the next day along with 'Alex', both of them claiming to have business to take care of back home. Artemis however decided to take up his position once again of playing Mina's pet cat. In the following days after the slumber part which had been a success for some more than others, a few new changes had taken place. Makoto was beaming as she informed her friends that her and Trowa was a new couple and she was thrilledto be dating someone as hot as he was. Spending time together trying to out prank each other, Duo and Ami finally, after some convincing from Duo, decided to start dating. Duo would brag about his success to anyone who listened while Ami, threatened to change the hair color of anyone who asked about her relationship to Duo, to bright pink.

If it weren't for Rei and Hotaru being single as well, Mina would have spent most of her free time sulking over the fact that she was single and that one of her best friends was dating her roommate. Not like it bothered her, why would she care? Unfortunately for Mina, Hotaru surprised everyone by announcing her crush on Wufei and how, she was determined to make him realize that despite the slight age difference, she was a young woman. Hearing her younger sister say this however caused Rei to keep a sharp eye on Wufei, making sure he didn't make a move on her sister. The other three girls had bets going to see who would win out, Hotaru or Rei. No one stopped to even bother considering what Wufei thought about all this. Despite his lack of involvement in the argument going on between the raven haired sisters, he did have a suspicion that something was going on because Hotaru had taken up to following him around.

Thanksgiving had come and gone in the flash of an eye. Makoto and the rest of the girls, minus Mina and Hotaru, spent the day cooking along with the occasional help from Trowa and Quatre. The day had gone by smoothly, except for the part where Duo had the bright idea of putting the turkey on his head to scare Hotaru. His mission, although successful because he had managed to almost give Hotaru a heart attack, backfired as the turkey got stuck on his head. Hotaru, delighted at the turn of events, lead Duo around the hallways for over an hour, promising that help was just around the next corner. It took half an hour to get the turkey off and once that was done, Duo swore on the turkey that he'd never do anything like that ever again.

November quickly lead into December and during the first week alone, eight inches of snow covered the ground. The days which passed by quickly brought more snow and the promise that Christmas was soon coming. With no one going home to celebrate the holiday with family, they decided to put a tree up in Mina and Trowa's dorm, indicating that they would celebrate the holiday there. Presents were picked out, bought, wrapped and placed under the tree which Hotaru proudly declared she decorated entirely by herself. There was still a week left before the holiday actually arrived, but that didn't stop Makoto from spending the days cooking up a storm and using Trowa as a guinea pig for her experimental new cookies and treats.

It was on an especially cold, Thursday morning that Mina walked out of her bedroom to find Makoto and Trowa in the kitchen. Makoto had stopped mixing together a batter and had dipped her finger in it, offering a taste of the new treat to her boyfriend. Feeling slightly awkward about seeing the scene unfolding before her, Mina was about to go back to bed when she saw Trowa glance at her. His green eyes caused her to freeze before she could turn around. He saw her. Keeping his green eyes locked on her blue ones, he leaned down and opened his mouth, taking Makoto's slim, batter dipped finger in it. Makoto giggled, oblivious to the fact that her friend was watching the two of them. Feeling her cheeks burn in a mix of anger and embarrassment, Mina dashed back into her room.

Wanting nothing more than to escape the dorm which felt too small suddenly, Mina threw on some clothes and quickly left the dorm room, grunting a hello at her friends before she escaped out into the hallway. Heading down the hallway, Mina found Rei staring out one of the windows that looked onto the courtyard below, an amused look on her face. Joining her friend at the window, Mina looked out to see Heero heading in their direction with Relena following behind him as fast as she could.

"Should we go save him?" Rei asked as she looked over at her friend. Grinning, Mina nodded her head.

"Might as well." The two continued down the hallway and opened the door at the end which opened up to reveal the courtyard. Hearing Relena's high pitched whining, the two stopped to listen in on the conversation.

"Oh come on Heero, please?" Relena slipped as her foot hit a patch of hidden ice, but caught herself and continued following Heero around in the knee-high snow.

"Hn." Heero wished he could pull his gun out and shoot her, but unfortunately he couldn't considering it was his job to keep that sort of thing from happening to her.

"Heero it'll be fun." Relena began to pout, causing both Rei and Mina to look at each other, wondering what it was exactly that Relena wanted from Heero.

"Hnn." Heero stopped when he caught sight of the two girls standing near the door they had just come out of.

"Please? Just one snow angel?" It took a minute for Relena to realized that he had stopped and was looking at something. Turning, she saw what he was looking at and scowled.

"Guess we should say something." Mina muttered as she and Rei made their way over to the duo.

"Snow angels? Didn't know you did that sorta thing, Heero." Rei smirked at her friend who just glared at her in return.

"Aren't you a little old to be doing snow angels?" Mina asked Relena innocently, causing the girl's face to turn red.

"Mind your own business!" Relena snapped before turning and stomping away.

"A thank you would be nice." Mina told Heero in a childish voice.

"We could always call her back." Rei grinned. The two waited for the thank you, but instead of getting it, they both got faces full of snow.

"You're asking for it, Heero!"

"This is war!"