TM: Hey, sorry about the delay on this chapter. I've been busy with something else. So...let's get going. Read and review minna!
Chapter Ten
Duo's Ingenious Plan
Lady Une summoned in all seven pilots. She motioned for them to sit. Only Quatre, Duo, and Makoto did so. The rest stood. Lady Une noticed something rather different about Hotaru. "Megami...are you okay?" Lady Une asked, noticing a more gentle look. Hotaru looked at her, a little shocked. 'Oh that's right...she doesn't know who I was. Hn, if I'm to be a solider, might as well stick to being Megami.' Hotaru fixed her posture and let the emotion slip from her eyes. "Yes."
The pilots shuddered slightly at Hotaru's now chilled voice. Heero quirked an eyebrow slightly before shaking his curiousity off.
Lady Une nodded. "All right then. We have found one of the main bases for the new enemy, Silver Bullet. Your mission is to infiltrate the base on Colony L2. You will go undercover as soldiers or something of the sort. Only two of you will sneak into the building and set up the explosives and download the information we need to collect about them." She handed out clipboards to everyone. "Heero and Megami, I've chosen you two to download the information. The rest will keep the others busy and learn all you can before the explosives go off." Lady Une replied.
The pilots looked down at their new identities. Quatre was supposed to be the son of a very important leader in the Silver Bullet (actually Quatre looks very much like this guy's son). Wufei was supposed to be Quatre's friend along with Trowa. They were also soldiers in the army. Duo and Makoto were to attend as a very rich couple who wanted to help the Silver Bullet with financial aid. The mission was to start at 18:00 (six o'clock) the next evening.
*i*
Hotaru was the first to awake. She usually was now-a-days. Ever since her soldier training, she had always awoken strictly at 04:00. She wasn't even tired. But, regardless, she walked into the kitchen to make herself a nice, hot cup of coffee (with non-dairy creamer).
"Morning." A deep voice greeted monotonously. Hotaru, who was only slightly startled, looked over at the man. The Perfect Soldier was sitting on the countertop, drinking a cup of coffee, and reading over today's mission for probably the sixteen thousandth time. "Morning." She returned. Despite her composture, her voice sounded rather tired. Hotaru scowled at herself for it. She never sounded tired before...why start now? She sipped at the extremely hot liquid as it burned everything it touched as it went down. She slightly winced before setting the cup down and hopping soundlessly onto the countertop. Once again, she picked the cup up and used it as a hand-warmer.
"Heero...?" She started. Heero looked at her quickly, as if wanting her to say his name. She had then forgotten what she was about to say. "Never mind..." Hotaru mentally scolded herself. 'What the hell is going on with me?! I'm not supposed to act like this. Though I did regain my memories...that doesn't excuse my sudden show of emotion. Damn it Hotaru. You didn't show this kind of emotion before you got your memories back! Stop it!'
Heero stared at Hotaru and he could tell she was mentally having a conversation with herself. He was quite amused, but didn't show it. "Hotaru? Are you okay?" Hotaru jumped up, clearly forgetting Heero was sitting beside her. She nodded numbly before setting down her coffee cup and jumping down from the counter. She made no noise at all as she jumped down. She then leaned on the countertop, her elbows propped up and staring in her coffee cup.
Heero was just about to speak when a voice interrupted them. "Morning everyone!" Duo cried. Hotaru looked over at him and glared, but quickly got over it. "What are you doing up this early?" Hotaru let a small giggle escape from her mouth as she saw Duo's hair. "What's so funny Ru-chan?" Duo asked. He had grown quite informal with her...for as little as he knew her. Hotaru sighed and smiled smally. "Come with me. We'll fix that hair "don't"." Hotaru said as politely as she could.
Heero could feel the agonizing sense of jealousy fill him up. He felt like killing Duo now, more than ever. But, he remained cool, calm, and collected. Hotaru escorted Duo out of the kitchen as she walked up to her room. A brush already in her hands.
*i*
Hotaru felt a little weird as she did a man's hair. She just didn't feel...comfortable. "It's kind of weird doing your hair Duo. I'm so used to doing a girl's hair." Hotaru stated. Duo smiled. "Yup, but I don't mind! Hey, can you fix brownies?!" Duo cried. Hotaru let another small giggle escape her mouth. 'Mission complete.' Duo thought to himself. Makoto had persuaded him to try and get Hotaru to lighten up a little. He was doing very well at this point. But, their little moment was interrupted by a tensioned knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Hotaru asked, trying to mask the amusement in her voice. "It's about time we get going." Heero said monotonously. Hotaru looked at her watch and walked up to the door and opened it. There, she met with a Perfect Soldier. He was clearly a little startled by her opening the door on him. "Heero? It's only five in the morning. It takes an hour to get there...at most. We have plenty of time." Hotaru said with confusion streaming throughout her voice.
However, Duo knew exactly why Heero was in such a hurry to interrupt them. 'Hehe, the Perfect Soldier is acutally jealous. Of me even.' Duo thought to himself. He smiled mischeviously. He walked up to Hotaru and put a friendly arm around her shoulder. "Hello Heero." He said with a smile that hid his true fear. Heero gave him a glare that could even make Zechs Marquise run for cover. But, Duo stood his ground. 'He's going to kill me...I know it!' Duo thought to himself.
What really made Heero jealous was the fact that Hotaru wasn't pulling away from him either. He spun on his heel and made his descent down the staircase. "What was that all about?" Hotaru asked. Duo shrugged innocently. Hotaru narrowed her eyes and pointed a finger at him. "You do know. But, I don't feel like interrogating today. I wanna go rest by the pool side. See ya!" Hotaru walked out of the room and to the pool room.
Duo rubbed his hands together evily, as if he had a sudden ingenious idea. "Of course...I'll have to ask them first." Duo said before stealthily ducking out of the room and to everyone else.
*i*
Duo gathered everyone, with the exception of Hotaru (who was in the pool room) and Heero (who was somewhere else) into the small room. "What is this 'ingenious' plan of yours Maxwell?" Wufei asked, quite annoyed. Duo paced the room like a mad scientist would. "I have come up with the ultimate plan to get Heero and Hotaru together. You can see that they want each other...more than anything." Duo told them. Wufei clenched his fists as Quatre put his hand on his shoulder, warning him not to pound the braided idiot. Makoto smiled inwardly. "Oh yes, I must hear this! I can see they like each other." Makoto replied. She loved doing this.
Duo nodded. "Each of us guys will need to constantly flirt with Hotaru, making sure it's definitely near Heero, to make him uncontrollably jealous. Now, this will result in some quarrels later on, but I'm sure he'll thank us in the long run. Meanwhile, you women must flirt non-stop with Heero while Hotaru is in the room. Now, that's the tricky part...considering who Heero is. Anyway, I'm almost certain this will work." Duo informed. "Almost certain?" Relena asked.
Duo smiled sheepishly. "Well, there's a twenty percent chance Heero might kill us guys...but I'm sure he won't. So, yeah, almost certain." The pilots and Relena exchanged glances. "Well, I say we go for it!" Makoto cried. "I'm in." Trowa replied next. Quatre nodded his agreement. Relena nodded as well, sighing. Wufei thought this over. "What good is going to come out of this?" He asked. Makoto walked up to him. "A nose not broken...a sword not shattered." She replied threateningly. Wufei shamefully nodded. "I'm in." (AN: Yeah, I know. Wufei would normally not cower over like that. But, she did something earlier I forgot to mention...like kick his ass back to Hong Kong...and they're in Colony L4!)
Duo smiled radiantly. "Okay. Who's first? Hotaru's in the pool room...I think you two should only flirt with Heero when you think Hotaru is falling for someone else." The girls nodded. "I'll take the first shift." Wufei replied after Makoto jabbed him in the ribs. Duo snickered and nodded. "Just don't call her an onna or insult her or anything...just don't be you." Duo encouraged as Wufei went into the pool room.
*i*
Wufei grumbled incoherently to himself as he walked to the poolside. He then stopped in his tracks as he saw Hotaru lying on the lawnchair, just resting a black swimsuit that showed off her curves generously. And being a guy, Wufei felt a sudden urge to just forget about Heero and make her his. But, he couldn't do that...and live it down anyway. He walked over to Hotaru. "Hey." She said, not moving her eyes from the ceiling. "Hey." He replied back. How could she sense his prescense? Well, not even she knew that one.
"What are you doing down here? If anything, I didn't think you'd want to be near a weak onna like myself." She replied, letting only one emotion pass through: amusement. This made him wonder. She wasn't insulted? "I just want to swim, even if a weak onna like you is near." He said subconsciously as he walked to the pool side. Hotaru smiled inwardly. She quietly got up and stalked towards him.
Heero walked towards the pool room, wanting to speak with Hotaru. Just then, he saw Hotaru stealthily creeping up to Wufei. 'Oh no...Wufei's going to kill her...' Heero said in his thoughts. He began quickly walking over.
Hotaru placed her hands on Wufei's back and pushed him in. "That's one way to get used to the water, Wufei!" Hotaru cried at the Chinese pilot. Remembering what Makoto would do to him if he didn't play along, he fought down the urge to yell at her. Instead, he gave her a maniacal look. "Wufei...don't you dare..." Hotaru said as he neared her. Quickly, he jumped out of the water and Hotaru relaxed ever so slightly. Then, she felt a pair of arms surround her tiny waist as Wufei jumped into the water, her in his arms.
Heero skidded to a stop as he watched the scene in pure horror. Suddenly, a raging jealousy bottled up inside of him as he saw Hotaru laughing while scolding Wufei. Wufei only shrugged her scolding off and then began playfully splashing water at her. She did the same.
But, before Heero could do anything, they stopped and just relaxed on the lawn chairs. Heero would let this go...for now.
"Oh...I haven't laughed like that in such a long time." Hotaru patted his wet arm. "Thanks Wufei." Wufei felt himself blush under her touch. 'No! I can't fall for her! Not only will it go against who I am...but this is a plan to get Hotaru and Heero together...' Wufei shrugged. "It was no problem." Hotaru smiled and rested her eyes.
*i*
TM: Uh oh, looks like one of the pilots is going to die: and it will be by the hands of Heero Yuy! I hope this chapter made sense...and the infiltration will begin in the end of the next chapter. A lot happens between 06:00 and 18:00. Anyway, read and review minna! I'd appreciate it!
*i*
~TM~