"Quatre, I need you." Heero approached the blonde as though he were pedaling illegal goods or something.

"What for?" Quatre glanced around the front porch, but there was nobody else out to enjoy the spring day.

"You need to beat me up." Heero demanded. "I have discovered a secret mode that women only employ in the midst of injured men."

Quatre glanced sidelong at Heero. "You want me to injure you?"

"Yes. As soon as possible. Before Masaki finishes his chore."

"What, like with my fists or something?" Quatre finished the sentence open-mouthed.

"We can get you some kind of club if you want it." Heero said sincerely. "I'd be happy to return the favor later."

"Heh, no thanks. I don't agree that violence appeals to girls, and I definitely don't want to get beat up by you later."

Heero couldn't let the opportunity slip. "I insist. There's no time, we need to start now."

"But, Heero…"

"Now. This is going to work, trust me."

Quatre sighed heavily. "Violence never wins anything…"

"Now. Start yelling at me so we can get their attention." Heero led Quatre into a spacious area of the yard, and looked expectant.

"I can't believe this." Quatre wailed. "What are we supposed to be yelling at each other about?"

"Pretend you insulted the Jurain royal line." Heero suggested.

"You know, Heero, I just can't do this. It's not in my nature." Quatre was going to make a retreat, but the perfect soldier had other plans for him.

"How dare you say such a thing about the Jurain royal line?!" Heero called rather loudly, charging Quatre with a seeming attempt to kill.

"Heero, nooooo!" The last thing Quatre remembered was flying over Heero's shoulder and landing hard on a paving stone. He could vaguely hear Heero muttering as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"That was not the plan…"

"Quatre!" A high-pitched voice chirped. "Quatre! Oh, Quatre!"

Quatre could feel the ache in his head, and some water dripping on his face. The world felt like it was moving, and there was somebody breathing close by. He opened his eyes.

"Quatre!?" Mihoshi leaned even closer as though she had to get a better perspective of his open eyes. She practically went nose-to-nose with him. "You're okay!"

"What… happened?"

"You and Heero were practicing your super-hero skills, remember? Don't you remember?" Mishoshi panicked. "You don't have amnesia, do you!?"

Quatre tried to shake his head, but she had him by the shoulders and was shaking him before he could move a muscle.

"Your name's Quatre Raberba Winner, and I'm Mihoshi and we're… close friends!"

"I know!" He said, gritting his teeth against the violent shaking. "I don't have amnesia!"

"Are you sure!?" Mihoshi dropped him with a thud. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She held up five.

"What does that have to do with amnesia?"

"We have to make sure! Now that we were just getting to know each other, I wouldn't want you to forget it all!"

Quatre sat up and wiped his face. "Were you crying on me? My face is wet…"

"Maybe." Mihoshi looked embarrassed. "I think I kissed you a few times, too."

"Why!? I was knocked cold!"

"I don't know… I was worried…"

"Well… where'd Heero go?" Quatre looked around with a paranoid expression.

Mihoshi sat tall on her knees and put her fists on her hips. "He just came into the kitchen calm as you can imagine and told me you were out here with injuries! He hasn't been back to check on you!"

"Oh. Well, I think I'm alright now, anyway."

The couple just sat on the grass for a few silent minutes and listened to the outdoor sounds. It really was more colorful here than in the gundam 'verse like the Tenchi crew had claimed.

Mihoshi finally gave a long exhale. "Do you want to have a picnic?"

"Sure. Want to go see the symphony afterwards?"

"Why can't we see the real one?"

"Huh?" Quatre was stumped by her response.

"Well isn't the sym-real better than the sym-phony?" She looked puzzled, too.

The gundam pilot realized the mistake and laughed. "Mihoshi, if you'd rather go to the sym-real, I'd love to be the one to take you."

"Even though I don't know exactly what it is, that is so sweet…"

"You want a what?!"

"I'm askin' for a motorcycle." Duo said vivaciously. "Guys with motorcycles score; it's a scientifically proven fact."

Washu rubbed her pink hair. "Scientific, huh?"

The lab was overflowing with bubbling beakers, sparking wires, and the occasional dimly lit experiment that looked like it was designed to eat anybody who ventured too close to their little dark corners. Duo liked the place.

"Oh yeah, it's proven! I mean, have you ever heard of a guy with a bike that doesn't score chicks everywhere he goes?" Duo insisted.

"It does sound like a reasonable variable in the dating equation. I like flashy pieces of machinery myself…"

"So what do you say?"

"Well…" Washu threw some oversized goggles over her eyes and started blinking with magnified eyes at a trio of amoebas. "You haven't exactly been the teacher's pet, Duo."

Duo slumped. "How am I supposed to become the teacher's pet?"

Washu poked one of the amoebas none too gently with a tongue depressor. "Teachers love the aspiring student. Somebody with excellent extra-curricular activities under their belt."

"Great." Duo nodded enthusiastically. "What's it mean?"

"Well, since I'm such a well-rounded instructor, I'd say you have a few choices of things to impress me with." The tongue depressor caught fire for no apparent reason and the amoebas burnt up with a tiny screech. Duo found it cool.

"Lay it on me, Teach."

Washu removed the oversized goggles and shook out her hair. "My, you are a fast study! Is that your choice, then?"

Before he could have understood what was happening, Duo had a 'little-scientist' in his arms. "Huh?!"

"I think it's very responsible of you to be practicing outside of your assignment, Duo." Washu backed the Shinigami up slowly. "I think a student with your 'ambitions' might easily become my favorite."

"Wait a minute!" Duo tried to dig his heels in, but the lab's floor was slippery. "What'd I choose!? What was the other choice!?"

Washu really looked evil at the moment, but she was balancing in some sultriness as well. "You chose to practice your woman-charming skills on me! Very admirable."

"I never said that! What's the other choice!?"

"Well," She stopped shoving him for a minute and looked over her shoulder at the sizzling remnants of her amoebas. "I just ran out of test subjects, and I'd be impressed if you volunteered to-"

"Uh… no." Duo cringed. "How exactly do you want me to charm you?"

"With number twenty-two or something. I've got a padded examination table right back here."

"You are aware there's nothing inviting about an examination table, right?"

"You've never played doctor, then?"

Duo sweatdropped. "You want to play doctor!?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of 'mad scientist and helpless experiment.' Want to give it a go?"

"I'm not so sure about this…"

Washu had edged him back to the table. "What's the matter? Don't you want your motorcycle?"

"This is bribery!"

"No, this is seduction. It's part of your syllabus, and you'd be improving your GPA by paying attention."

"Um…"

"Call me Little Washu."

"What!?"

"Do it."

'Crap.' Duo checked for an exit, but they weren't obvious. The lab seemed to twist in on itself, and those menacing experiments were looking even more menacing all of a sudden. It was still cool, though. "Okay… Little Washu…"

This title seemed to delight Washu. She gave Duo a rough push onto the table, pinning him by the shoulders and climbing onto the table herself to kneel over the panicky pilot.

"Hang on!" Duo remembered wishing for something interesting to do a few days ago. He had not had this in mind.

"To what?" Washu grinned, squeezing her prisoner's shoulders.

"I mean wait! Maybe I don't need a motorcycle! Maybe you've got a mo-ped or something instead?"

Washu descended and kissed him in response.

"Um… okay." Duo said when he got the chance. "I'll settle for a scooter."

"Scooters are expensive…"

"It doesn't even need to have an engine. What about a skateboard!?"

"I do have a motorcycle, Duo." Washu said. "It's free to the teacher's pet."

"Well, I sure do feel like a pet all of a sudden…"

"Is this the way you're going to charm Kiyone tonight? Somehow, I don't think she's going to be very impressed."

Duo was uncomfortably aware of Washu's breath on his face, her fingers digging into his shoulders, and her knees pressing into both of his sides.

"Or did you have a different plan for love between the two of you? Maybe something a little more… consensual?"

Duo turned this last word over in his mind a moment. "Oh, I get it."

"You do?"

"You think I'm too pushy and you wanted me to see what it feels like to be pressured. Am I right?" He silently prayed that he was right.

"Duo!" Washu brightened, and shifted her weight so her fingertips were playing along his cheekbones. "You are a clever student when you're in a… tight spot."

"Well, I get the lesson, all right? You're done… right?"

Washu sighed deeply. "It's so satisfying to see the education getting through… especially with gifted students like you."

"Uh… can you get off now?"

Washu raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd learned your lesson?"

"I mean… would you get down?" Duo corrected himself almost urgently.

She nodded knowingly. "It's funny how you never asked if there was another option besides becoming one of my new test subjects. I definitely qualify you as a teacher's pet if you can demonstrate such rapid academic improvement."

"So I get the bike?"

"Duo, Duo," Washu still hadn't really moved. She was running a finger along the bridge of the pilot's nose. "Not only do you get the bike, you get THE bike, if you know what I mean. There's not another one like it in the universe, I've seen to that!"

"Sounds cool…" He went cross-eyed watching her trailing fingertip.

"I'm such a genius. Don't you think so?"

"If I agree, are you going to get all excited again?"

"Again?"

"Like when I called you Little Washu before? Oh crap…"

Her eyes lit at the sound of the name and she started in with the extremist kissing again.

"What kept you?" Kiyone asked sweetly, watching TV with Sasami.

Duo looked roughed up since she had last seen him, and he had a traumatized glint in his eye. "Have I ever told you how much I respect you?" He said with wide eyes.

Kiyone shook her head and smirked. "No, I don't think so."

"Well I do." He said forcefully. "Like, if you were to say 'no' or something, I would totally understand and leave it at that."

"That's good to know." She pursed her lips. "But you made me dance last night, and I do recall saying no."

"I'm reformed." Duo said plainly, offering her his arm. "Shall we go? I've got a motorcycle that'll make your eyes pop out!"

She took the arm. "To this, I say yes. See you later, Sasami."

"Bye, you two!"

Heero still couldn't believe Quatre stole his idea! It was the deal that Heero would get injured, but that selfish Quatre went and practically broke his head open. It was shameless. Now, Heero had to find an alternate means of activating the newly discovered 'mode.' He didn't feel it would have quite the same effect if he accidentally fell down a flight of stairs or had another solitaire accident. No, he needed an accomplice.

He also couldn't rule out the gift idea. If only he knew what would make Ayeka 'resonate' the way Washu had mentioned. And there was no way to know unless… unless… a covert operation! Yes, that was the ticket.

Heero immediately delved into his 'stealth mode,' sidled up against a wall and started tiptoeing through the expanse of Tenchi's home in search of Miss Jurai's quarters. They were bound to contain important indications of Ayeka's gift preferences.

He made his secret progress and came across a door that was doubtless shared by the princesses. Doubtless due to the large sign hung on it with fancy script spelling: "Stay Out! Ryoko, this means you!" And in smaller, more delicate writing: "But Tenchi is always welcome."

He opened the door.

An overwhelming bombardment of pink, purple, and perfumed scents overwhelmed his senses, but he quickly adapted, shutting the door quietly behind him. Now what was important?

Some of Sasami's stuffed toys were arranged on her bedspread looking cute and fuzzy. Heero wasn't a fan of cute and fuzzy, so he pretended they weren't there. Ayeka's twin bed didn't have any stuffed toys, but there were many overstuffed pillows.

"Well, she doesn't need any more pillows." Heero decided.

His eyes roamed from the beds to the nightstands… and struck gold! There, on Ayeka's nightstand, was an old fashioned diary with a lock. If that didn't hold the answers to Heero's dilemma, he didn't know what did. So where's the key? Where would a princess hide the key?

After a brief search of the premises, Heero had not found it, so he resorted to using a bobby pin to pick the lock. It opened. What do you expect; he's Heero!

Grinning, he flipped to a relevant date and began to read.

Dear Diary. Today, Mihoshi became very upset because the Gundam Wing television show is being taken off the air. It was fun while it lasted, but the gundam pilots are not really choice people for women of royal standards to associate with. It is a good thing that I was able to learn that from the program. To think I once had found myself flirting with that Heero Yuy! Reprehensible! On a side note Diary, Tenchi was being especially wonderful today.

"Hm." Heero turned the page. "Reprehensible… doesn't sound good."

Dear Diary. Of all the preposterous things to do! Washu has summoned the actual gundam pilots to stay here… in Tenchi's abode! She didn't even ask permission! Not even from the pilots. Regardless, they are here, so I will have to do my best to be receptive. I hope they leave soon so I can spend more time alone with Tenchi.

"Her best to be receptive?" He moved on to a different entry. "I thought she was trying to make us feel unwelcome…"

Dear Diary: We went out on the town today. I sang at the karaoke bar, and I think Tenchi liked it. Maybe I should sing for him again? Ryoko was being a snot (forgive the unprincessy terminology, Diary, but this is the only place I can vent my woes) as usual. She was terrible; definitely the worst singer. Duo was bad, too. Heero was actually pretty good, but I hate him.

"She must have written that after the poem."

Dear Diary: I'm beginning to think there is a conspiracy. Washu treated us all to a ball tonight, without any notice. She used her technology to dress us all formally, and to my everlasting shame, I was wearing a completely inappropriate red dress that I am too embarrassed to even describe here, in my impenetrable diary! I got to dance with Tenchi at the end of the night, but not after Heero begged me to dance with him. He is a good dancer, but I don't like him.

"Well that's an improvement from hating me." He read on.

I'm wondering what exactly he wants from me. Could he be after the ancient royal secrets? Somehow I don't think so. I wish Tenchi would protect me… how I love Tenchi.

"Hmm…" Heero closed the book shut. "Mission Accepted." He started pacing across the plush room. "She liked singing, and she liked the dancing. She hated the poem, but I already knew that. So does this mean she likes…"

The doorknob began to twist.

Sasami entered her bedroom and stretched in relaxation. She sat on her bed and picked up two of the stuffed toys. "How are you?" She addressed them cheerfully. "Fine Sasami, how are you?" She spoke for the toys in response. "Fine, thanks. Would you two like to play?" "Oh yes, Sasami, let's have a tea party!" "Okay!"

In all of Heero's covert missions he had never witnessed a tea party from the vantage point of hiding under a bed. Tea parties aren't really everything they're hyped up to be…