Chapter 12

By Tenshi no Mugen & Moonlightchic

Previously-

Noin brushed a lock of her short purple hair out of her face as she looked up at Zechs. "Are they going to cooperate with us?"

Zechs looked out of the small window beside Noin's head. "They'll cooperate," he smiled. "In fact, I think they'll be the key to winning this war."

O.o--- (say what?)

----- Three months later -----

"How in the eight levels of hell have they managed to pass every test we've thrown at them with more accuracy than all of our lieutenants and Drill Instructors combined if they've never had the official training!" raged Noin, practically pulling her hair out.

"Try not to be jealous that you are now the sixth highest score on the placement exams," Zechs responded from behind his martini. He was currently seated behind his desk with his legs propped up and looking completely un concerned.

"And I don't suppose the thought occurred to you that they could be working in conjunction with the pilots?" she reply angrily. She looked ready to burst a blood vessel.

Zechs sighed and put down his now empty glass. "Yes, Noin, the thought has occurred to me. Several times, in fact. However, every time I have them bugged they talk about losing someone and they usually turn that particular conversation towards the Gundam pilots. I don't have anything conclusive because it only takes them an hour or so to find the bugs, but I believe that the pilots killed someone important to them," he surmised.

Noin, who had finally cooled down, pulled her uniform jacket down to smooth out the wrinkles. "Well, sir, what are we going to do about them?" she asked, still a little dubious.

Zechs smiled. "I think we should have them replace the Drill Instructors. Those DI's obviously don't deserve the money they are paid. I think we should put in someone who will…"

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

"C'mon, you little maggots! When I say move I mean today!" Jerome yelled at the cadets that were no older than he was. "Who're you lookin' at, you pussy?" Yuriko yelled, pacing back and forth in front of the group of cadets she and her brother were in charge of.

The twenty unfortunate teens the twins had been assigned were currently running in place, something they had been doing for the past half an hour.

"Okay," Jerome blew his whistle. "Go run five miles."

As the cadets started to comply, Yuriko stopped them. "No! Make it three!"

Jerome growled. "No! Five!"

"Three!"

The cadets looked confusedly back and forth between their twin DI's.

Jerome pushed his sister. "No! I said five, baka!"

Yuriko punched his arm. "And I said three, kuso atama!"

The cadets, not knowing what to do, just began to run, figuring that if they had to do five they might as well get started. They left the two quarrelling siblings, who were now rolling on the ground fighting.

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

Kimaru, who had just handed off her cadets to her partner in instructing a.k.a. Rebecca, walked out of the entrance to the underground section of the base the neo-pilots were currently stationed at. She breathed in deeply to rid herself of the musty smell of the indoor shooting ranges.

The cadets she and Rebecca were in charge of weren't exactly brilliant, but then again if they were it would only conflict with the orders they were given. Considering they were only needed to follow orders, that would be a bad thing.

/Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwo-Fwo-Fwoosh/ Five cadets went sprinting past Kimaru at what looked like top speed, as if the hounds of Hell were on their trails. They were wearing the grey sweat suits that all cadets wore and the black arm band with a blue/red yin yang symbol on it.

"Of course! Who else but Riko and Jerome could scare their cadets so thoroughly?" Kimaru mused. "Maybe I should pop in on my favorite twins. Judging from the running, I'd say they're fighting again…" Kimaru's thoughts trailed of into mild amusement. She began to jog over to where she knew they would be.

"I said five, damn it!" yelled a male voice in the distance. "I said three!" came the feminine reply. Kimaru shook her head in disgust.

"Hey, you!" she yelled to the nearest cadet. He halted his mad dash and came to attention in front of Kimaru. After he saluted, Kimaru began to give him orders. "Stop the rest of the cadets and have them form a squad right here," she commanded. The cadet saluted once more and hurried off. As soon as the cadet was out of sight, Kimaru went up to the brawling siblings, took a deep breath, and yelled in her best DI voice, "Oh my God, it's Zechs in a thong bikini!"

The reaction was instantaneous. The twins stopped fighting and looked around. "What, where!" said Yuriko. Then she saw Kimaru looking down at them with an expression that was half amused, half annoyed. "Oops."

"Yeah, oops!" agreed Jerome as he pulled himself off the ground. He then pulled Yuriko up when she held up her arms for a lift, their fight almost completely forgotten.

"I came up to tell you guys that lunch is in fifteen and the cadets need to wash up. The higher ups are offering promotions today," Kimaru smirked, "But I might have to inform our dear Colonel Marquise that two of his newest DI's are acting below their rank."

Yuriko looked up sharply. "You wouldn't." Kimaru grinned at her evilly. "Oh, wouldn't I?" she gave Jerome a condescending look. "I think Jerome deserves it, even if you don't. I have yet to get him back for putting the blood-red hair dye in my shampoo."

Jerome held up his hands defensively. "Hey, at least it's almost gone now! Besides, you know you like it. Why else would you keep touching it up?"

Kimaru humphed. Then she turned to face the twins full squad of cadets at attention. "So, are you going to dismiss them or are they going to show up to lunch in their sweaty training clothes?" Jerome flicked her off before turning to the squad.

"Fall out to the showers. Full uniform is required for lunch. Squad, dismissed!" he yelled. The cadets scrambled for the stairs to the underground locker rooms.

"I think you two have managed to scare them in a record breaking five weeks," commented Kimaru. "Those cadets don't even know the definition of the word scared," Yuriko countered. "Besides, Jerome's face is much scarier than our attempt at being Drill Instructors!"

"I resent that remark!" retorted Jerome, "But not so much because your face looks worse than mine!" Yuriko shot him a glare that could have melted titanium. "Why you-!" she began, advancing on him. Kimaru quickly stepped between the two, much to Jerome's relief. His sister may have been younger by a few minutes, but she sure could punch.

"Save it till after the promotions, 'kay? I heard that two of us are getting bumped up a bit," said Kimaru. Upon completing their testing, the neo-pilots had been given the rank of lieutenant as a complement to their new jobs. Next rank was captain, which would result in combat command of a wing of Vayeate or Mercurius class MS's.

As the three hurried toward their own quarters to get ready, Kimaru put an arm around Yuriko's sweaty, dirty shoulders conspiratorially. "Bet ya twenty bucks that me and you are the ones promoted!" she hissed. They parted as Kimaru began to leap down the stairs three at a time.

Yuriko gave her an amused look as she followed suit. "Don't play games with me, Kimaru. I've lived with you long enough to know that you only bet on a sure thing. So, who told you? Spill it!"

They reached their floor and Kimaru entered the pass code to let them through the door. Then she grinned widely at Yuriko. "Damn, you know me too well. I was shuffling through some papers on Zechs' secretary's desk, because she asked me to sort it for her while I was waiting to talk to our darling Colonel. There in the outbox was our promotion papers! We're going to be in command of a flight of Mercurius class MS's!"

Yuriko and Kimaru followed the passageways to the officers' quarters in the female section of the barracks. As they reached their room they had opted to share, Kimaru slid her card key in to the slot, waiting till the light showed green to push open the door.

Yuriko made a beeline for the bathroom and began to undress. "Hey, Kima? She yelled through the door. "Yeah?" came the muffled response. "How do our uniforms look?" she heard the closet open. "They're both pressed and all the accoutrements are in place. I did that last night after dinner," Kimaru replied. Yuriko sighed in relief and entered the shower.

Two minutes later she walked out, wrapped in a towel. As she dried off, she noticed that Kimaru's hair was wet as well. "I'm guessing you had a shower before you came to get us?" she commented. Kimaru nodded and continued to gather socks, dress shoes, and hair ties for the both of them.

When Yuriko finished drying and getting her underwear on, Kimaru already had her uniform on and her hair pulled back into a bun. "C'mon, Riko! The lunch starts in five minutes! If we're late to promotion, they'll give it to Rebecca and Jerome."

After that comment it didn't even take a minute for Yuriko to get completely ready. "Well?" she grinned, walking past Kimaru to the door. "Don't just stand there, we have a lunch to get to!" Kimaru shook her head and followed.

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

O.o--- (say what?)

Jerome looked at Adam, who was hanging his spoon from his nose. "You're a brainless retard," Jerome deadpanned, shaking his head.

"Which is why he's not being promoted," Rebecca said, smirking a little, "And we just might, if Yuriko and Kimaru don't show up in the next minute."

Adam's spoon dropped as he turned to his cousin in surprise. "Like, how do you know?" he asked, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"I'm a genius. It's all up here," she said in a serious tone, tapping her temple. Jerome raised an eyebrow at her obvious rip-off of him. "Excuse me, but I was the one who told you about that."

At which point Yuriko and Kimaru came barreling in the room at full speed. They dashed down the isle and up the stairs to the lower dais, where Captains, first and second Lieutenants, and the rest of the DI's and sat. The upper dais was reserved for officers with the rank of Major and above.

As soon as they were seated Kimaru, who was breathing a little faster than normal, grinned at the disgruntled boys and girl. "Hey! (pant, pant) Waz up?"

Adam and Jerome stared at the two out of breath girls, whose uniforms weren't mussed in the least. Rebecca on the other hand was growling in aggravation. "How in the eight levels of hell did you shower, dress, and get here in ten minutes!" Rebecca hissed.

Yuriko leaned forward so she could see Rebecca around her brother. "In my opinion, a better question would be: how did my darling brother, Jerome do it?" Yuriko whispered in a smug conspiratorial voice.

Jerome glared at her. "You can ask, but I won't answer." Adam looked between the three glaring teens in slight confusion. Finally, he sighed, shook his head and resumed hanging his spoon from his nose.

When Yuriko and Rebecca had finally cooled down, Zechs and Noin arrived at the mess hall. "Atten-hut!" cried the soldier at the door. As everyone stood to recognize them, the two Oz officials walked to their table on the upper dais and sat. "As you were," said Zechs. The moment everyone was seated, Zechs began to speak.

"It has been brought to my attention that under the direction of our newest DI's, the incoming recruits' scores have had a ten percent increase in accuracy and speed. Two of these DI's have gone above and beyond what was required of them and shown skill and competence in all that they have done." At this Rebecca and Jerome sent glares in Adam's direction. "It is with great pride that I promote these two upstanding young ladies to the rank of Captain and wing co-leaders of the twenty best Vayeate pilots we've got. Yuriko Williams, Kimaru Azuma, would you please come to the front?

Yuriko shot her brother and Rebecca a grin, to which he sent his most venomous glare. She then followed Kimaru to the front of the upper dais. Both Yuriko and Kimaru walked to the front with their heads held high and eyes full of pride. Once they reached the front, they stood side by side. Zechs shook their hands and presented each of them with hand-sized gold-plated plaques.

"You have made me very proud today," he whispered to them. Yuriko looked a little surprised at his comment, but Kimaru grinned covertly at him. "Then we shall look forward to tomorrow!" Zechs allowed a small smile to grace his lips in return.

The two captains reseated themselves in their chairs and shot smug looks at Jerome, Adam, and Rebecca. "Looks like we're winning that bet!" snickered Kimaru. Jerome growled in anger and frustration, while Rebecca pointedly ignored them.

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

After lunch, Yuriko and Kimaru were summoned to Zechs' office to receive their orders and rank bars. On the way, though, they were waylaid by Lt. Col. Noin Both new Captains looked mildly surprised and skeptical to see her blocking their path. Kimaru's thoughts, however, were anything but.

'Just smile and keep going, Yuriko, don't do anything to piss her off, please?' she desperately thought, practically dragging Yuriko towards Zechs' door. "Hello, Captains." Kimaru sighed internally. 'Too late.'

Yuriko nodded briefly. "Lieutenant Colonel. Excuse us," she respectfully dismissed her. Kimaru nearly danced in relief. "Just a moment of your time ladies, if I may?" Noin pressured. Kimaru's hopes dropped again.

The two meekly followed the higher ranking officer to her own office next to Zechs'. She shut the door behind them. "I know there's something different about you five," she began, looking between the two girls menacingly.

Yuriko and Kimaru exchanged glances. "Uh, whatever," Yuriko said, giving up on the façade of respect. Kimaru raised an eyebrow, her expression as deadpan as Yuriko's.

Noin slammed a fist onto her desk, sending papers flying and pens jumping. "Zechs might think the five of you are so perfect," Noin hissed, "but I know that you've been helping the Gundam pilots." She was practically snarling at them.

The two Captains finally gave up trying to hold back there amusement. "Oh, yeah, 'cause you know the Pilots were just dying to fight pilots that were faster and more accurate then the last few," Yuriko snorted. "Absolutely! They were getting bored with the last ones," Kimaru added, smirking at the snarky woman.

"One of these days you're going to slip up and give yourselves away. And you can be sure that I'll be there to watch you fall," Noin informed them, her eyes narrowed to slits.

Kimaru looked at her nails, a bored look on her face. "Right. Whenever we're about to "slip up" we'll make sure you are the first one to know."

Noin regarded the duo with a certain amount of acerbity. "You two think you're the best, don't you?" she sneered.

"Uh, correction!" Yuriko said, beginning to look annoyed. "We are the best." Kimaru gave her a thumbs up. "Damn straight!" Kimaru grinned cheerfully.

"I will kill you before this is all over," Noin said calmly.

Yuriko snorted. "Another idle death threat," she snickered. "God only knows my day isn't complete without someone threatening to end my life." Both she and Kimaru headed for the door. "See ya around, Lt. Col. Noin," Kimaru smirked as they exited the room.

Standing behind her desk, Noin seethed. "I will destroy them, even if it 's the last thing I ever do," she whispered to her empty office, imagining herself stabbing the two impertinent captains in the chest repeatedly.

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

Yuriko and Kimaru walked into Zechs' office with a smile on their faces. Both teens were thinking the same thing. "That bitch doesn't know who she's dealing with.

"You two seem happy about something. You haven't done anything I wouldn't approve of, have you, Kimaru?" Zechs' asked from his position behind the desk.

Kimaru grinned at him, saying the first thing that came to mind. "Now why would I do anything that would jeopardize my position as Captain when I'm tied for winning the group bet, sir?" When they had first arrived here, Kimaru and Zechs' secretary had become fast friends, so she was used to Zechs' dry humor by now.

"Zechs turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Winning what, pray tell?" he asked looking intently at his ever-present martini.

Yuriko glared at Kimaru for telling him about such a thing. "My friends and I are competing for the highest rank in the corporation before we win the war, sir," Kimaru replied without hesitating.

Zechs laughed at her forward attitude. "Really? So you are winning, I gather. Tell me, what are the stakes for which you play?" he asked, chuckling slightly.

Yuriko gave up and decided to participate in the banter. "The winner gets one favor from each of the losers," she told him.

"Hmmm," Zechs acknowledged thoughtfully. "And what types of 'favors' are these?" Yuriko and Kimaru exchanged glances. "Just….favors," Yuriko said.

Zechs nodded. "I see." He swirled the contents of his glass, watching as it brushed gently at the sides. "Please, sit down," he said, seemingly recovering himself. He motioned to two chairs in front of his desk. They both complied. "As I have said," he began, "I am very proud of the two of you."

"Thank you, sir." The replied in tandem.

"You two are truly the best of the best, which is why I am giving you both the task of being in charge of the best wing of Vayeates we have here," he waited for this to sink in. "I trust you will not let me down."

Yuriko stood up and saluted. "We will not fail you, sir." Kimaru stood up as well. "Yes, it'll be the best wing in the entire organization by the time we're done with it."

Zechs smiled a rare smile. "I'm looking forward to it. Dismissed."

----- O.o ----- ----- O.O ----- ----- o.O -----

Original Chapter 23 Authoress' notes

Wow, nobody has much to say, do they? I feel so unloved! Waaaaa! Anyways, here's the answers to reviews, like I promised:

To MyHeero (Moonlightchic: No, mine! My Heero!): Thanks for your support! And you should fear the or else! I came very close to not writing the rest of this. Hope you like the story so far!

To flufferpuf (Warm fuzzies!): How now, wow cow? Sorry, I mean what's wow? As for men fearing the mall, It's only a few who do. Those are the ones who have to go with their girlfriends/mothers/females in general. Pity, ain't it?

To Dark Devotions (My most devoted reviewer!): I'm always happy to update, too! You haven't lost to much blood from the Wufei/Becca scene, have you? Can't have you going bad from reading or curiosity on my account, now can I? Hope you like the newer chappies as much as you liked 20! I personally hate sad endings, but it had to be done. Plus it gets happier!

To WufeiLover1…& Moonlightchic (Who are the same person!): Stop reviewing our own story, retard! I don't know why I did that once. You're story is the weirdest I've ever read, in a good way! I'm still looking for a beta-reader and I'm updating as often as I can, so stop bust my non-existent balls, woman! Yeesh.

To Leo (roar!): Glad you like! If you review more, I'll write more, deal? Cool!

To BloodLasts4ever (second most faithful reviewer!): Damn me? Damn YOU! I'm going as fast as my poor fingers can, which isn't really that fast at all. Glad you like the story, so review more!

To Sarah Frost (any relation to Jack Frost?): The idea for this story was brought on by a picture of Semi-Sweet Spell. If you haven't seen it, you need to! Sorry about the A/Ns, I try to hold of to the end now. The girls are slowly developing in character, I think. The only reason that any of the girls beat the boys is because the boys were caught off guard. This added to Yuriko's bull-headed attention to detail swept Wufei off his feet, literally. The whole perfect character thing is sort of gone now. Yuriko is falling down a bit more, usually taking Kimaru with her. Kima has now been beaten by Duo, although that's mostly due to Duo's expert scythe handling. Rebecca is too moody to really bother with so we'll leave her off to one side for now. Thanks for the tips and stuff, even if you don't like the type of story this is. As for the writing…I've already started writing a new story with Spiderman at the base! Look for it around Christmas.

To Bunny (hi, Usagi!): Hope you're still reading my story. I love reviewers who review even when the have so little to say! Review more!

To Lihanou (is that Hawaiian for something?): Glad you like the story! If you read my reply to Sarah Frost, I explained why the girls were 'as good as' for a while. Thanks reviewing, do it again soon!

To Ruby-Jaganshi-2040 (howz it goin'?): Glad you like my story. Mental images keep the mind going, don't they? Glad ya liked the manicure part. As for the club, perverted keeps it interesting, don't ya think? Thanks for the reviews!

To Nakita (Hello!): You have made my days infinitely better! I'm always ecstatic when new peeps find my fic! Sorry you get lost, but if you need me to explain my AIM(which I finally got!) is Obsidian Vampix. Hopefully chapters will come more smoothly now that I have a laptop. Keep reviewing!

There, hope ya'll like it!

Tenshi no Mugen

Original Chapter 24 Authoress' notes

Okay, for our purposes we changed Noin's actual rank of Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel to keep her above the neo-pilots. Let's face it, if the pilots were changed to captains and Noin was below them she wouldn't be bad mouthing them to their faces. And in case you're curious about Ranks in Oz, we used the Air Force's ranking system.

Commissioned Officers

General of the Air Force

Air Force Chief of Staff i.e. General

Lieutenant General

Major General

Brigadier General

Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel

Major

Captain

1st Lieutenant

2nd Lieutenant

There, hope ya'll like it!

Tenshi no Mugen