Mission One

Chapter 9: The Payback

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            "Taki."

            The sound of her name somehow penetrates the exhaustion-induced coma she'd been peacefully residing within.

            "Taki."

            She turns her head away from the sound.

            "Taki."

            "Murf vay," she mumbles into the pillow.

            Beside the bed, hands on his hips, Wufei contemplates the immovable form.  With a small sigh, he decides to break out his secret weapon.  He leans over her and whispers a single word into her ear: "Children."

            She is instantly awake with a small shriek.  Wufei hides his grin as she sits up and looks about the room for the horrors.  Then, just as she starts to relax, she glances down.  She utters a second horrified shriek at the sight of the pajamas Wufei had dressed her in the night before.  She levels a lethal glare on the man trying to keep a smile from his face.  Taki points to the pastel garments and growls by way of morning greeting, "What in the hell is this?"

            Wufei tries to keep his mouth from twitching.  "Pajamas," he tells her, brilliantly stating the obvious.

            "Ye-ah," she agrees.  "But why are they on me?"  She gazes down at herself, taking in the images of Precious Moments children covering her from neck to ankle.  She can read a single phrase repeated over and over again: Angels from heaven.  "Demons from hell, more like," Taki mutters.  "Whiney, grubby, snot-blowing, soul-sucking little poop machines."

            Wufei coughs to cover up a bark of laughter.  In lieu of answering her question, he hands her a pair of fuzzy teddy bear slippers, each with a pink bow decorating the right ear.  "Breakfast is on the table downstairs."

            She sets the slippers aside.  "Fine.  I'll just get changed—"

            Wufei shakes his head and moves to stand in front of the closet.  "Breakfast is ready now."

            Taki stares at him, open-mouthed.  "You expect me to wear this downstairs?"

            Grinning unabashedly now, he leans forward and mutters three words: "Pink.  Fuzzy.  Bathrobe."

            She slumps in resignation of her payback.  With a heavy sigh, she sits down on the bed and reaches for the fuzzy slippers.

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            George looks up from helping Kathy set the table as a shadow fills the doorway.

            "Good morning, Heero," Kathy says.  "I'm glad you could make it.  Did Duo come with you?"

            Approaching the table, Heero shakes his head.  "He had to pick up the photos he took of Bisho at the spaceport.  He'll be here soon."

            George nods and motions for Heero to have a seat.  As Heero sits, a second figure enters the room.

            "Good morning, everyone."  Quatre grins at the sight of Heero.  Taking the seat opposite, he asks, "How are things with Duo?"

            Heero coughs into his cup of steaming coffee.  "What?" he croaks.

            Quatre's benign smile doesn't so much as twitch.  "The garage.  How's it going?"

            "Oh.  Fine," he grunts, turning his attention to wiping up the coffee splatters on his plate and hand.

            In the moment Heero's gaze is directed elsewhere, a sly, knowing expression shows briefly on Quatre's face.  A motion near the door draws Quatre's gaze.  "Taki and Wufei have... arrived..."  His voice trails off as he takes in the pajamas Taki is wearing.  "Er...  Taki...  Do you, ah, have something to tell us, perhaps?" Quatre ventures.

            With a glare at Wufei, she declares, "No."

            Quatre swallows yet another grin as he realizes he is witnessing something akin to a payback.

            She slides into the nearest seat and tells George, "Just feed me already.  I wanna get this over with."

            Wufei's brows arc.  "But I thought we could go to the zoo after breakfast..."

            The stare she turns on him could cut ice.  "You are a sick, sick son of a—"

            "'Morning!"

            Everyone looks up at Duo's timely arrival.

            "Did you bring the photos of Bisho with you?" Kathy asks.

            Grinning, Duo plops the packet down on the table next to his plate.  "Yup.  Plus, they gave me one of those throw-away cameras for free.  Promo deal and all that."  He holds up the camera.  As he pulls his chair out, a motion at the other end of the table snags his attention.

            "Dude!  Taki!  What happened to you?"  In a matter of seconds, Duo has the small cardboard camera in position and is clicking away.

            Taki glares at Wufei yet again.  "I don't know how, but this is all your fault."

            Duo pats the camera.  "Whew.  I'm glad I got a picture of that."

            "I'm not," she grouses.

            Wufei, wisely, remains silent.

            "So, Taki.  Is this..."  He gestures to the pajamas.  "...like a hint or something?"

            Uncomprehending, she parrots, "A hint?"

            "Are you two... expecting?" he drawls with a massive grin.

            Taki is instantly incensed.  "NO!  I AM NOT NOR WILL I EVER BE PREGNANT!  YOU GOT THAT, MAXWELL!?"

            Duo backs up a step and snaps a second photo of Taki's reddened visage.  Lowering the camera, Duo looks at Wufei and mutters, "She sounds just like you, man.  Freaky."

            Wufei's tears of mirth are the only reply.

            Duo turns to return to his end of the table.  When out of the corner of his eye he spots a figure in the doorway.  He pauses and opens his mouth to offer a greeting to Trowa when a second figure appears behind the tall man.  A single hand grabs one of Trowa's belt loops and pulls him out of sight into the hall.

            Blinking, Duo cautiously approaches the doorway.  The sound of conversation resuming at the table tells Duo that no one else had noticed Trowa's almost entrance.  Camera ready, he leans out the archway to investigate.  His jaw drops.

            Trowa and Yokaze are going at it in the hall!  With shaky hands, he quickly snaps a photo.  If either of them had heard the tell-tale click of the camera, they made no sign of it.

            "Where's Trowa and Yokaze?" Taki says suddenly from the table.

            Duo grins widely as Yokaze finally manages to get her hands under Trowa's turtleneck and Trowa's hands roam down her back, down, down...  Duo snaps yet another photo.  He hears Kathy's reply to Taki's question.

            "I'm not sure.  I didn't even hear her come in last night from her date."

            The silence at the table speaks volumes.  After a breathless moment, Wufei's wry voice finally breaks the unnatural quiet.  "Congratulations, Kathy.  You've managed something I haven't in over five years: you got her to shut up."

            Duo glances away from the passionate couple in the hall in time to see Taki's mouth snap closed as she glares daggers at her companion.  Ignoring her hostility, Wufei takes a sip of coffee.

            From the man's other side, Heero says very quietly, "Date?"

            Duo's gaze returns to the hall and he notices that they've changed positions: now Yokaze is pressed against the wall and Trowa's hands are...  Woah!  He snaps a third photo.

            "Hey, D-duo?" George calls as he places platters of steaming delicacies on the table.  "C-can you see them?"

            Immediately, Duo shakes his head.  "Nope.  No sign of them.  Let's eat."

            Taki reaches for the nearest plate.  Her spoon pauses in mid-air when she hears Duo exclaim: "Woah!  Are those teddy bear slippers?!" followed by the click of a camera lens.  Taki lowers her glowering face into her hands and shakes her head.

            "Toast?" Wufei asks innocently.

            He watches her fingers shift until he can see the malicious gleam in her eyes.  "Yes," she agrees, "you will be, Dragon Boy.  You will be."

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             Trowa leans against the doorframe and watches Yokaze pull on her grungy garage clothes.  "Did you hear Duo?"

            Yokaze steps into her faded jeans.  "When he was taking all those pictures of us in the hall?"

            Trowa chuckles.  "No.  As we passed him on our way into breakfast."

            "I guess I didn't.  What did he say?"

            "That I could thank him for the Seduction Pants later."

            Both of Yokaze's brows arc.  "Hell, I'll thank him now."

            Trowa grins, his eyes following Yokaze as she sits down to pull on her boots.  He watches her hands deftly handle the long, brown laces and wonders what he could say that would persuade her to spend the morning with him instead of heading off to the garage.  The evening before and this morning have been... beyond description and Trowa is in no hurry to allow the rest of the world to intrude on them.  As he stands there, struggling with words, a soft sound from the sitting room draws his attention.  He strides into the other room and stops in front of Yokaze's laptop.  Trowa leans forward and answers the summons.

            "Hey there you sexy..."  The blond man on the screen blinks as Trowa and not Yokaze's face stares back at him.  "Uh... is NW around?"

            Hiding a grin at the other man's expense, Trowa nods.  "Just a moment."  He heads back to the bedroom.

            "Who is it?" Yokaze asks, picking up her garage duffle.

            Trowa doesn't answer until she is crowding the doorway with him.  In a low voice and with a miniscule wiggle of his brows, he tells her, "It's lover-boy."

            Yokaze snorts at his comical expression.  "And just how are you managing to be here and on my laptop screen right now?"

            His eyes darken at the comment.  "Talent," he mutters.

            She knows that look.  Over the last eighteen hours she's seen it quite often.  Her hand caresses his abdomen as she passes him and heads for the laptop.  She can't hear him, but she's fairly certain he's followed her.  She takes a seat behind the computer and notes Trowa looming from the other side of the desk.

            "Hello, Luke," she says, turning her attention on the monitor.

            "Hello yourself, my lovely sex goddess."

            Yokaze arcs a brow at him.  "You're chipper this morning.  Jock itch all cleared up?"

            Luke laughs and clutches his chest in mock heartache.  "Oh, you sure know how to cut a man down, NW."

            "I hope you have something for me?"

            "Other than my unconditional love and devotion?"

            She nods.  "Yes."

            Luke grins.  "Well you are in luck.  I've got the info you requested.  Don't know if it's what you're looking for.  It's pretty boring stuff."  On his end, Luke taps out a command on his pc.  A few seconds later, Yokaze's inbox alerts her to a new message.

            As she's reviewing the file, Luke clears his throat.  "So, ah, NW, who was that guy who answered?"

            "He's some seriously hot stuff, Luke, that's who he is."  She glimpses a bit of a blush spreading over Trowa's cheekbones at her factual statement.

            Luke grins.  "Oooh?  And is that the voice of experience talking?"

            "Would you be jealous if it were?"

            "I would be heartbroken."

            "I keep telling you I'm a ManEater."

            "I know, but my heart won't listen."

            "It will if I rip it out."

            Luke winces.  "Ouch.  You sure tell it how it is."

            She grins in reply.  "You have been warned.  I'm uncharmable.  Save it for Fifi or Brandy or whichever flavor of the week you've got drooling all over you."

            He chuckles.  "Oh, all right.  I'll catch you around."

            "Yup.  Oh, and Luke?"

            "Yeah?"

            "Thanks for this data.  I owe you one."

            A completely lascivious grin spreads across his handsome face.  "Really?"

            Yokaze rolls her eyes.  "I owe you a favor which Mr. Hot Stuff won't object to," she elaborates.

            Luke feigns a look of crestfallen disappointment.

            "Took the wind out of your sails, did I?" she asks.

            He grins.  "Yeah, but a good blow might—"

            Yokaze cuts him off by closing her laptop.  She looks up at Trowa's face.  His shoulders are shaking in silent laughter.  "Is he always like that?" he asks.

            "Yup.  During his finer moments he reminds me of Duo, a much younger, much more perverted Duo..."

            Trowa watches her pull a disk from the laptop's drive and slip it into her back pocket.  He briefly wonders what is on it before turning his attention to the way Yokaze's hair curls around her earlobe.  Trowa watches her pick up her duffle bag and sling it over her shoulder.  As she prepares to leave, a single request flutters through his mind: Stay.

            Yokaze takes in Trowa's silence.  Reads in his eyes and body language what he will not say.  She walks up to him and reaches around him to slide both of her hands into his jeans' back pockets.  He reaches up and toys with the wayward lock of hair he'd noticed.  He wants to tell her he likes her hair, likes the way she pulls him close, likes the warmth in her eyes.  He is so full of words that they jam in his throat and he says nothing at all.  But Yokaze seems to understand, nonetheless.

            "I'll see you this afternoon," she tells him.

            Silently, Trowa nods and watches her pull away.  He stares at the door for a solid minute after it has shut in her wake.  When, finally, he goes to check his own messages, something in his back pocket catches his attention as he sits down.  He pulls out a small note written in Yokaze's horrendous handwriting.

            Thanks for a very memorable morning, Hot Stuff.  I didn't know any of that was humanly possible in a vertical position.

            Laughing, Trowa reaches for a pen and paper in order to compose his reply.

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           Heero pointedly looks at the clock in the garage as Yokaze wanders in.  With a look that clearly says, You're late, he returns to the transmission he's assaulting.

            Yokaze glances in Duo's direction but the other man only shrugs before bending over his own project.  She wonders about the bee Heero's obviously got up his bum.  Knowing that if she annoys him enough, he'll come out with it, she starts singing under her breath.

            "Leather things, Duo's missin.'  Didn't ask his permission..."

            Sauntering over to Heero's toolbox, she selects a wrench from its contents.

            "He's got a cute little bun, that son of a gun..."

            Duo puts down his tools and stares at Yokaze in ill-disguised shock.

            "Watchin' boys in sexy underwear."

            Heero, however, had redoubled his molestation of the transmission.

            "Silky pants, Quatre's wearin.'  No, I don't think I can share him..."

            A loud snort of laughter from Duo echoes in the cavernous room.

            "He's lookin' so nice, like sugar an' spice...  Love them boys in sexy underwear."

            Duo chuckles to himself as Heero glares at the metal in front of him, steadfastly ignoring Yokaze's crazy rendition of Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  It's not even fall, for God's sake.

            "Spandex pants, Heero's showin.'  Maybe they stopped him from growin'..."

            Duo throws back his head and laughs.

            "They hold him so tight, no circulation tonight..."

            Heero looks up from the transmission and glares alternately at Duo and then at Yokaze.  Blithely, she continues singing her outrageous tune.

            "Checkin' out the sexy underwear."

            Starting in on the other side of Heero's transmission, she continues, "Dragon things, Wufei's got it.  Polka dot, striped, and spotted.  He's got a mean glare and some silk underwear..."

            Heero glowers as Duo joins in the chorus with Yokaze.  "Let me see that sexy underwear!"

            "Turtlenecks are Trowa's favorite, he'll show the goods to ya naked.  Likes makin' out in the hall..."  She sends Duo a knowing look.  "Cameras and all..."

            "Yokaze!"

            She glances up at the sound of Heero's rabid outburst.  "Yes?"

            A muscle in Heero's jaw twitches spasmodically.

            "Let me guess.  No Christmas spirit?"

            "It's June!"

            "So?  Loosen your shorts."

            Heero articulates, "There is nothing wrong with my shorts."

            "Aside from the fact that no one's ever pulled them off with their teeth..."

            Duo attempts to quell his laughter and fails miserably.

            Glaring, Heero demands, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

            Yokaze says, quite loudly, "That you need to get yourself laid!"

            "I suppose, after your date last night, you'd be the expert."

            She lifts a brow.  "Do you really want me to respond to that?"

            "No."

            "Well, all right, then."

            There is a short pause.  "But you did have a date last night," he mutters, half question, half accusation.  "With Barton."

            Her expression softens.  "It wasn't nearly as bad as you make it sound."

            Unable to stop himself, Duo asks, "How was it, then?"

            Yokaze grins.  "Lovely.  By the way, Duo.  Thank you."

            Heero's eyes narrow in suspicion.  "'Thank you' for what?" he asks hesitantly.

            Cobalt gaze to cobalt gaze, Yokaze informs him, "Ask me that again and I swear I'll tell you."

            Heero turns back to the transmission without another word.  And judging by the set of his jaw, he has lost his inclination to communicate.

            Swearing silently to herself, Yokaze returns to work.  Duo attempts to restart conversation, but neither Yuy is very responsive.  After a few minutes, he turns on the radio to distract him from Heero's sullenness and Yokaze's exasperation.  The garage clock slowly, relentlessly measures the morning.  It is with pure relief when at promptly 11:30, Duo excuses himself to go start on lunch.

            Heero ignores Duo's departure.  Yokaze, however, leans over the transmission and watches Heero as he pretends she is not practically breathing down his neck.

            She says his name.

            She receives no reply.  With a dark look, she reaches out and snatches the socket wrench from his hand.  Glaring, Heero straightens and holds out his hand for the tool.  Yokaze ignores the silent request and gazes at him expectantly.  For a full minute, neither of them utters a sound nor moves a muscle.

            Realizing that Yokaze has no intention of returning the wrench, he moves to select a second from his toolbox.  She beats him to it and solidly blocks his path.  He glares at her in silence. 

            "You don't know what you're doing," he growls finally.

            "With what?"

            A muscle along Heero's jaw ticks.  "With Barton.  He's a soldier, Yokaze."

            "And what was I during the war?  Before it?  I suppose you think I just sat around with my thumb up my—"

            Heero's fist connects loudly and solidly with the machine beside him.  "God dammit, he's like me.  He's a soldier.  And that's never going to change."

            "I'm not trying to change anyone, here," she replies carefully.

            Heero looks away, gathering his thoughts and his composure.  "The training doesn't go away, Yokaze.  Don't you understand what that means?  Don't you see the kind of damage he could cause?"

            For a moment, Yokaze is silent.  And then, "This isn't about Barton."

            Heero starts at her adept deduction.  He turns away from her, leaning against the transmission.  She watches him fold his grubby arms across his chest before taking the place next to him.

            "We're a pair, aren't we?" she wonders aloud.  "You're not the only one who can't let go of the past, Heero.  Or the secrets."

            She feels Heero's gaze shift to her.

            "You tell yourself that if you're the only one who knows, then it didn't really happen..."

            "And it can't really affect you," he finishes.  Their eyes meet for a long, honest moment.  Both of them know better than to ask after those secrets.  They also know better than to offer to share them.  There are some things in a person's life that should be kept close.  Heero and Yokaze understand this.

            He tells her, "Just...  I just... I want you to be happy."

            "I know," she says simply.  "Thank you."

            Heero takes a deep breath.  Squinting at something on the wall opposite them, he asks, "Do you care for him?"

            She glances at his profile, aware that he is referring to Trowa.  "You really want to know?"

            He nods once.

            She admits, "Yeah.  I care."

            "It'll work out," he predicts.

            Yokaze's grin is lopsided and half-hearted.  She thinks of the diskette in her jeans' pocket.  Thinks of all the secrets she's sheltering.  She is not as sure about that declaration as Heero, but she says, "My brother, the psychic."

            A smile forces its way onto Heero's face.  "Yeah, I'm picking up some seriously mystic vibes," he intones flatly.

            With a very unladylike snort, Yokaze bumps his shoulder with hers.  Heero looks at her and returns the gesture.

            After a comfortable moment, Heero says, "Doesn't it bother you?  The possibility?"

            Yokaze's attention is immediate and undivided.  Had he guessed?  But how could he?  "The possibility of what?"

            He shrugs, attempting to downplay the importance of the issue.  "That one day something will set you off.  That someone you care about will get hurt."

            She exhales the breath she'd been unconsciously holding.  "Or worse?" she speculates.  "That someone who matters to me will see how ugly and scarred I really am?"

            Heero stares at her surprised that she understands so well.  He tells her, "Not you.  You're not... those things."

            "I am especially all of those things," she replies, her tone light.  She traces the fine line of raised flesh across her right cheek.  "Some of them are even visible."

            At a loss for words, Heero simply watches her.  She offers him a small, wry smile.  Heero responds by silently pulling her into his arms and pressing his left cheek to hers.  Yokaze's eyes slide shut at the reminder of the first gift she could recall... and the totality of what the organization had stolen from her.  Had it not been for him she would still have Heero's scar today.  Had it not been for him she would not fear her past and dread her future.

            Nearly six years after the fact and it is still unfinished.  She is still haunted by the memory of him and the unthinkable possibility...  After all, she had not actually seen him die.  The one thing her soul requires to heal had been the one thing she'd been denied.  She tells herself that he is dead.  Could not have possibly survived the explosion she'd orchestrated.  But she remembers the diskette in her pocket, recalls her suspicious, and wonders...

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~End of Chapter 9~