(A/N: I, your authoress, have big new! Well...big for me.It may be absolutely pointless drivel to you readers! Hell! Alot of people don't even read these things! But nonetheless, I shall share my happiness with the world! As of August 4, 2006, I officially have hooked up with my dream guy! WOOT! Now that I have shared with you readers my joy, On With Da Fic!)
"I'm not too sure about this." Wufei mumbled under his breath as he stared through the glass that separated him and the other pilots from Mimiru and the Mad Doctors.
"Well…I'm sure they wouldn't do anything to hurt her." Quatre said uncertainly, eyes trailing after Mitsuki as she paced around the room for the umpteenth time.
"Intentionally you mean." Trowa added, picking up on the rapid rhythm of Mikura's foot drumming speedily against the floor (wow! Mambo #5! I love that song!)
"I still can't believe she agreed to do this." Duo said, shaking his head in disbelief and trying his best to ignore Misaki's acrylic nails digging into his arm (somebody's stressed)
Heero said nothing, but instead, tried to successfully prevent his charge from fainting…and failed the instant Michiru witnessed the hypodermic needle containing the local anesthesia breeched her sibling's skin.
"Boys, please, choose your words wisely." Sally sighed as she tied up the straps of her surgical mask, walking into the operating room in her scrubs.
"Alright then." Doctor J said, "That anesthesia has been administered. Sugino-jo? How are you feeling?"
"…like I just had a huge freakin' needle stab me in the back of the neck." Mimiru growled, laying on her stomach, face concealed in a cushioned hole in the operating table, "What do you think, dumbass?"
"Nice to see you've retained that oh-so-sweet attitude of yours." Sally smirked, before directing her attention to Instructor H, "How long until it takes full effect?"
"Two more minutes at the most." He replied, stroking his mustache, "Then we can begin."
"Um, question?" Mimiru called, raising one hand slightly and waving it a little, "Why do I have to be awake for this again?"
"Because of the location, my dear." Doctor S said pleasantly, "It's so close to your spinal column that one false move could permanently paralyze you."
"So we need you awake so we can perform reflex tests while we attempt to remove it." Master O said contentedly, fiddling with the edge of his latex gloves.
"Attempt?…paralysis?" Sally and Mimiru thought to themselves, "Why am I suddenly very worried?"
"Alright Sugino-jo, can you feel this?" Doctor J asked, pressing forcefully against the skin all around the thin, one and a half inch scar.
"No." Mimiru replied truthfully, more than slightly weirded out that she was going to be conscious for this entire procedure.
"Very well then." Professor G replied, retrieving a scalpel from a nearby medical supply tray and depressing it against the nape of her neck, drawing a thin river of blood, "Making the first incision."
"Okay, while that's very pleasant, could you please keep that little piece of info to yourself?" Mimiru thought to herself, mumbling irately under her breath.
"Doctor S, the retractors if you please." Instructor H said mildly, extending his hand to take the tool, "I need to widen the incision."
"…you don't…tell a person that, you social retard!" Mimiru thought to herself, her inner self doing the "What The HELL Are You THINKING?" dance, while her outer self remained perfectly calm (…someone's been hangin' out with Heero when we weren't lookin')
"Clamping the main artery." Sally said, securing either half of the blood vessel in a temporary clamp to be sutured later, "How ya feeling Mimiru?"
"Juuuuuust peachy." Mimiru said dryly from her face down position, "Now, if it's not too much trouble, could we maybe move this along?"
"But of course." Master O said amiably, "Suction. Ahhh…there's the spinal column. Now-where's that little rascal hiding?"
"There it is. Oh...oh dear." Professor G murmured, "It seems to have lodged itself in her spinal cord. Well, this certainly poses a problem."
"Look." Mimiru snapped from her position on the table, at the end of her rope and starting to feel more than slightly nervous, "You freakin' idiots. Just. Get it. Out of me."
"But if we pull even slightly in the wrong direction-" Doctor S began, only to be cut off again.
"Let's just get this over with." Mimiru said dryly, "If you really must know, I'm so hungry, I'm getting some really twisted ideas about your hands and a bottle of jabenero sauce. So if we could just, oh I don't know, speed this up so I can get a Powerbar or some-"
"Alright! Alright." Doctor J cried, throwing his mechanical hands into the air, "I see your point. Now then, Doctor S? Please administer the reflex test while I take hold of the chip with the forceps."
"Um, why don't I-?" Sally started, before Doctor S waved her off dismissively (sending waves of apprehension down her spine, she knows somethin' bads about to happen) and moved forward to begin the tests.
"Alright, Sugino-jo." Doctor S said, taking her hand and tapping the palm, "Can you feel that?"
"Yuh." Mimiru replied shortly as she heard the metallic -klink- of the forceps clinching something solid.
"Very good. And this?" Doctor S asked, moving behind her and tapping the sole of her foot.
"Yeah." Mimiru drawled as Doctor J began the slow, delicate process of extracting the chip.
"And this?" Doctor S asked absently, tapping what he thought was the back of Mimiru's thigh, but was in actuality-
"Yes! I felt that you perverted old man!" Mimiru snapped, now drawing on every ounce of willpower she possessed to not spin around, smack him, and botch her surgery, "SALLY!"
"Okay, move aside, S." Sally sighed, pushing the older man, who was now rapid firing apologies, "I'll finish up here. Why don't you have Quatre make you a niiiiiiiiiice cup of tea, hm?"
"I think I'll go with you." Instructor H said, leading the incoherent S by the arm, "O? G? J? You can finish up here, can't you?"
"Of course." Professor G replied calmly.
"Not a problem." Master O said with a low bow.
"Mm." Doctor J said distractedly, totally focused on what he was doing.
-A Few Hours Later-
"I cannot believe that they were actually able to take that thing out!" Misaki cried, arms wrapped around her elder sibling's shoulders, "I mean, talk about nerve wracking."
The Sugino Quints were currently situated all about in Michiru's room: Misaki had claimed the bed, Mimiru, the floorspace in front of the bed, Michiru herself, the desk chair, Mikura stood leaning against the wall, and Mitsuki sat curled up in a corner.
"That reminds me." Mikura said, a smirk playing on her lips, "Duo asked me to pass this along, Misa. He said to be sure to tell you, 'Clip your talons.'"
"Hee hee." Mitsuki giggled as Misaki's face broke into a pout, "By th' way, Michi, how's the head? You hit the floor preeeeeeeeeeeeetty hard."
"I-it's okay." Michiru said shamefacedly, "It looked w-w-worse than it was. Really. So, M-mimi, since we're on the topic, how's y-y-your neck?"
"Ugh." Mimiru grumbled, touching the bandages wrapped around her neck, "This thing itches like a bitch."
"Well, if you scratch it, I'll kill you myself." An annoyed male voice growled above her, "I am Shinigami after all, so it's my right."
"Hey Duo." Mitsuki smiled as Misaki leapt to her feet and stormed over to him, looking ready for a long winded argument.
"'Clip my talons', huh?" she snapped, eyes flashing, lips twisting into a frown.
"Yeah." Duo scowled, shoving his bicep, now covered in deep, drying fingernail track marks, "Clip'em."
"Oh." Misaki said in a rather surprised voice, looking scandalized.
"Any reason why you're here, Maxwell?" Mimiru asked dryly, not bothering to look up at him.
"…are you ever gonna call me by name?" Duo asked, truly annoyed that she was the only one of her siblings to show any sort of detachment by addressing him like Mimiru herself was a military official.
"Would it give you any sort of satisfaction?" Mimiru retorted.
"…yes?" Duo responded.
"Then no." Mimiru replied, causing achildish glower to spread over Pilot 2's face, "Now, what do you want?"
"To deliver this." Duo said shortly, placing a thin envelope atop the eldest quint's head, "It's from the Vice Foreign-I mean, it's from Relena."
"Nn?" Mikura snatching the envelope from her sister's skull and ripping it open, "It's an invite! To Lena-chan's Christmas Party."
Misaki let loose a squeal of delight and began jumping up and down like a bunny rabbit on crack.
The barest hints of a smile appeared on Michiru's lips and she began staring at her hands and blushing furiously.
Mitsuki smirked deviously, tapped her chin, as though plotting something wicked then began pacing around the room.
Mikura, sighing ever so slightly, nodded as she skimmed the date and times before passing along to Mimiru.
Mimiru let loose a loud annoyed groan and allowed her face to fall into her hands, not even trying to conceal her displeasure.
"What ever is the matter?" Quatre asked, popping his head into the room.
"This." Misaki grinned, waving the letter to and fro, "The invite to Lena-chan's Christmas Party."
"Oh, yes." Quatre said, smiling pleasantly, "It's supposed to be quite the to do."
"Quit rubbin' it in, damn it." Mimiru mumbled listlessly, letting loose another noisy groan that drew Trowa, Wufei and Heero from the next room.
"Who let Duo watch MADtv again?" Heero muttered, Haskell .45 Auto Pistol drawn and ready to fire (O.o;; ...I'm not even gonna ask)
"N-n-nobody." Michiru stammered, pressing herself against the wall furthest wall from him.
"Mimi's just pissed cuz Lena-chan's throwin' a Christmas Party." Mikura snorted, shaking her head.
"Why does something so trivial bother you?" Wufei asked, looking slightly surprised, as she had thus far proven to be the most stable, and in his personal opinion, the most normal out of all her sisters (minus the whole drinking thing)
"Because number one, I don't like crowds." Mimiru ticked of on her fingers, not lifting her head, "And number two, I hate dresses with a fiery passion."
"…this coming from you?" Trowa asked, looking like he was ready to burst out laughing, "A dancer? Who hates dresses?"
"Hey, if were up to me, I would go out on stage in my sweats and/or leotard." Mimiru said derisively, "But it's not up to me now is it? So I just grit my teeth, bear it, then take great pleasure in burning the dress afterwards."
"She's kidding right?" Duo asked looking to Mikura for help, but got none when the girl merely shook her head at him and smiled sheepishly, "I don't believe this."
"You'll notice there's no trace of the costume she was going to wear in Venice." Misaki said pointedly, grinning ear to ear.
"True enough." Heero muttered, sitting on the edge of the desk, "I wondered what happened to that thing. But how did you burn-"
"Wait!" Duo cried, holding his hand up to stop Mimiru's comment, "Before you even say it…Peacecraft. Am I right?"
"No." She said, lips twisting into a superior smirk, "Noin."
"Damn." he growled, leaning forward on his hands, "And I was so sure."
"Nonetheless, you will be attending the affair, correct?" Trowa asked, drawing attention away from Duo's pouting.
"Well it is in good manners…" Mitsuki trailed off.
"A-and it is Lena-chan…" Michiru added.
"And it is Christmas…" Misaki tacked on.
"And we would be representing our family…" Mikura included.
All four girls and all five boys looked at Mimiru pointedly.
"Alright already! I'll wear the stupid dress." Mimiru grumped, crossing her arms huffily.
The Mad Doctors inspected the microchip carefully, to see if it was at all salvageable.
In fact, they probably would have hidden the chip away in another unsuspecting victim if Noin hadn't come along.
"Just WHAT do you think you are doing?" she snarled, startling them out of their gills, "You were supposed to destroy that the moment it was removed from Sugino Mimiru!"
"But Lady Noin!" Professor G pleaded, "Think of the research opportunities! The information that would be lost!"
"Oh, I'll do it myself!" Noin snapped, snatching it up, "Say your final farewells gentlemen."
And without pausing to let them get a word in edgewise, she dropped it on the floor and drove her heel into it with as much force as she was capable of delivering.
"There." Noin said, lifting up her boot to survey the remains with a degree of satisfaction, "Easy as pie."
She then turned to leave, but saw a stranger standing in the doorway, looking absolutely livid.
"Bitch…" he growled, face shrouded in shadow, "…you…BITCH!"
He launched himself at her, knife drawn but was halted instantly by a single gunshot from the rear and a single gunshot from the fore.
Mouth open in an "O" of disbelief, the terrorist slid to the floor in a crumpled heap.
"You know Zechs, you don't need to babysit me twenty-four seven." Noin smirked, holstering her gun, "I'm a big girl. I can handle myself."
"I'm aware of that." Milliardo said, a tiny smile on his lips, "But I just can't help myself at times. Do forgive me."
"But of course." Noin said sardonically.
The Mad Doctors, completely forgotten in the background, were on their hands and knee around the fragments of the microchip.
"Our RESEARCH!" Doctor S sobbed, "We worked on this 'Chip Concealment' project for over fifteen months!"
"And she goes and destroys it in two seconds!" Instructor H blubbered.
"It isn't fair!" Master O bawled, "All that data! GONE!"
"And she just goes about her merry way!" Professor G sniffled.
"Such a cruel, cruel woman!" Doctor J wailed.
"Yes, I'm an ice queen." Noin sighed, calling for some Pages to deal with the body, "Come on Zechs."
AUTHORESS-SHOUTOUT-AUTHORESS-SHOUTOUT-AUTHORESS-SHOUTOUT-AUTHORESS-SHOUTOUT-
Okay, this is a shout out to all readers: Should I, or should I not have OC pairings in this fic? I've done a good job thus far of keeping this fic mushy-wushy-lovey-dovey-goo free, so give me your opinion on this in your reviews or in PM's. Thank you.
(A/N: It's time for Relena's Christmas Party, and tensions are running high when the Pilots and protectee's see the amount of miseltoe strung about. Not too mention, someone unexpected may drop in for a visit. R&R!)