[Disclaimer]: I do not own the rights to any of the characters, nor do I claim them. The idea, however, is mine.
Heart of the Dragon
Part 6
"Maxwell, I really wonder what goes through that mind of yours sometimes," Meilin stated. She, the pilots, and Relena were standing in front of what looked like a recreational park with a series of obstacle courses and apparatus. The six teenagers were all dressed casually, wearing something comfortable, due in large part to Duo's persuasion.
Quatre looked up at the sign, which hung from the arched entrance. "Paintball Palace," he read out loud, turning towards Duo with a questioning look.
"Duo, why are we here," Heero asked, posing the question that silently ran through everyone's minds.
"To have fun, of course," Duo exclaimed. "Something, I might add, you all need to be reacquainted with." He glanced over the group and smirked. "Except in the cases of Heero and Wu-man. You need to be introduced to it, first."
"Maxwell," Meilin warned.
"Let's go," Duo exclaimed, ushering everyone inside. After he paid for their admittance, they went to get their equipment.
"What, exactly, are we doing, Duo," Relena asked. She watched momentarily as the pilots put on their protective vests. She followed suit, slipping hers on. As she struggled with her zipper, Meilin rolled her eyes, and did it for her. "Thank you, Wufei," Relena stated gratefully.
"Hmph," she replied, mentally kicking herself for her show of kindness. She cursed inwardly as she saw a smile on Duo's face.
"Well, I'm glad to see the two of you getting along, because you'll need to for our game," Duo explained. "Remember how I had you pick the name out of the hat, Relena?" She nodded her head, and Duo put an arm around Meilin's shoulder. "Well, Wu-man will have to protect you."
"From what," Relena asked. Duo got an almost predacious look on his face, causing her to take an involuntary step back.
"From us," Duo replied, making a sweeping motion past Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and himself with his free arm.
"What," Meilin exclaimed, pushing off his arm, which rested on her shoulders. "Maxwell, this is the worst idea you could have come up with!"
"He has a point, Duo," Relena added. She frowned slightly as she watched Heero check over the paint gun he held in his hands. She looked down quickly at the gun she held in her own hands, as Heero glanced up in her direction. "I don't even know how to use a gun."
"It's not a real gun, Ms. Relena," Quatre stated. "Paintballs are harmless." As he showed Relena the correct way to hold the paint gun, Meilin turned towards Duo with a murderous look on her face.
"I want you to know I'm not happy about this at all," she stated simply, holding her own paint gun loosely at her side.
"I know," was Duo's reply. "But this will be and we will have fun. I'll tell you what. We'll even give you two a couple minute's head start ... before we hunt you down and win."
Meilin glared. "I don't need ..."
"Hurry, Wufei," Heero stated, interrupting her. "The clock is ticking." A small, unnoticeable smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and Meilin clenched her fist shut.
"Come on," she barked towards Relena, grabbing her loosely around the wrist before releasing it and stalking off. Relena glanced over at Duo, who was waving at them.
"Good luck you two," he stated. Relena sighed, and then turned to follow Meilin. As they disappeared, Duo turned towards the Wing pilot. "If I didn't know any better, Heero, I would think you actually like this idea."
"Hn," Heero uttered, checking over his gun once more.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Wufei, slow down," Relena stated slightly out of breath. As the two stopped, she held the paint gun awkwardly in her hands. "I don't like this anymore than you seem to, but Duo wasn't clear on what the rules are." Meilin's gaze shifted to her momentarily before glancing around for any sign of the others.
"These trees should provide some cover for us," Meilin thought as she vaguely heard as Relena continued to talk. Making a mental note to get Duo back, she turned her attention back toward the girl.
"Once we get hit, do we lose, or do we have to get hit a certain number of times," Relena asked.
"Do you always talk this much," Meilin stately bluntly. A hurt look passed over Relena's face, and she clamped her mouth shut. "I don't know what the rules are any more than you do," she continued. "Only that idiot Maxwell knows them all, and all he told us is that I have to protect you from getting hit."
"I've never done anything like this before," Relena said quietly. "I'm just nervous, I guess."
"You and me both," Meilin thought sourly. She clenched the gun tightly as her hand shook slightly. "We'll survive," she stated finally. A rustle sounded off to the side, and Meilin spun in that direction, gun in a readied position. She applied a little pressure to the trigger as the rustling grew louder.
"Quatre," Relena exclaimed as the blonde stepped through the greenery.
"Oh, Ms. Relena, Wufei," he replied. "I'm glad I found you first. I wanted to find you to tell you the rest of the rules." Meilin relaxed a little as the boy smiled.
"Well," she prompted.
"We're playing Duo's version of hide-and-seek, I suppose," Quatre began. "Though hunt-and-destroy is what he called it." Quatre laughed nervously before continuing. "Like he said, you have to protect Relena from us. If any one of us are hit by either you or Relena, then we're out for the game."
"What about us, if we're hit," Relena asked. An explosion of color appeared on Meilin's shoulder, and she looked at her now green shoulder in shock.
"Wufei can be hit any amount of time, however you, Relena, can not be hit once." Trowa stood leaning against a tree, his gun resting against his shoulder. "If you're hit, Relena, you lose, and our team wins," he continued.
"Trowa, did you follow me," Quatre accused, his brow knitted together. "I thought I had gone off unseen." A small smile appeared on Trowa's face as he pushed himself off the tree.
"I would make myself scarce if I were you," he spoke as he walked away. "If you don't want to lead Heero and Duo here, that is. I wasn't the only one that noticed you leave." The remaining three looked off in the distance as the distinctive sound of Duo's voice bounced off the trees.
"I guess the game is starting officially now," Quatre stated. "You two shouldn't stay here for long."
"Thank you, Quatre," Relena stated as the blonde began to walk away. He turned slightly, nodding his head before he disappeared back through the bushes.
"Come on," Meilin stated, her eyes scanning the area once more. "We need to keep moving."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
"Ah, this is no fun," Duo complained to himself as he was walking along. "Wufei and Heero are taking this all too seriously, and Quatre even went as far as to tell..." He stopped, resting his gun against his shoulder as he looked around. He caught movement from the corner of his eye, and in one quick motion, he had his gun poised, ready to shoot.
"It's just me, Duo."
"Ah, Trowa," Duo replied, relaxing. "Man, you shouldn't sneak around like that."
"Any luck finding anyone," Trowa asked.
"None. What about you," Duo replied. He noticed a small smile appear on Trowa's face, and he sighed. "Don't tell me the game is over already!"
"No, but I did run into Wufei and Relena," Trowa stated.
"I know," Duo retorted. "I ran into Quatre, and he told me all about what happened. I'm glad you had the sense enough not to shoot Relena. I know a certain someone who would have, ruining all the fun."
"Those two seem to be getting along better than I thought they would, though Wufei seems a little distracted ... Nervous, almost," Trowa said thoughtfully. The two turned as a noise was heard, though nothing was there.
"Well, this certainly seems to be to our disadvantage," Duo mused as his eyes continued to search for the source of the noise.
"It is proving difficult to find Wufei in this terrain," Trowa agreed.
"At least it's more fun than a game of chess. That much, I'm sure even you agree to," Duo boasted, allowing his voice to trail as he turned to see Trowa no longer standing there. "...right? Hmph, nice talking to you, too," he mumbled indignantly. He began walking again, and as he passed underneath a tree, something fell down and hit him on the top of his head. "What in the ..." He looked up and smiled as he saw Relena sitting in the tree.
"Duo," she exclaimed, releasing the breath she had been holding.
"Well, well, what do we have here," Duo asked, putting a hand on his hip. "Did Wu-man tell you to stay put or something?" She meekly nodded her head, causing him to laugh.
"You won't shoot me, will you Duo," she pleaded. "We can just pretend you never saw me."
"I don't know," he replied, rubbing his chin in mock consideration. "You have been pretty lucky, so far. But now you've run into me, and your luck may just be out." He raised the paint gun, aiming it towards her. "I think orange is your color."
"And purple is yours." Duo spun around towards the voice, however it was too late for him to dodge, as he was hit by the paintballs. Duo watched in wide-eyed shock as 'Wufei' stepped out from behind a tree, covered in an array of colors. "Looks like you're out too, Maxwell," Meilin stated triumphantly.
"Where did you ... Damn! This is what happens when I let my guard down," Duo stated. He looked up towards Relena and smirked. "That was pretty sneaky."
"It's not her fault you fell for such an obvious trap," Meilin stated walking over to stand next to Duo underneath the tree. Duo clutched at his chest.
"I don't think my heart can take too much more shock from the things you say, Wufei," he stated with a laugh. Meilin stared at him, and then smirked.
"Well, you might as well join Quatre," she stated, before turning her attention up towards Relena.
"I see you ran into him, as well," Duo said, noticing the splotches of yellow on Meilin's arm. "He's the one you got out?"
"Yes," Relena answered. She swung her legs over the branch, so they were both facing one direction.
"You did, Relena," Duo asked in surprise.
"Well, not me," she replied, resting her elbows on her knees. "Wufei got him out. All the shots I fired were missing." Duo uttered a whistle, and she raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You're answering for each other," he stated. "Just how close have you two gotten over such a short amount of time?" Relena blushed slightly, and Meilin scowled.
"Shut up, Maxwell," she growled.
"Wufei, how am I supposed to get down," Relena asked, slipping as she tried to figure a way out of the tree.
"I'll catch you as you slide down," Meilin answered, a slight coloring appearing on her cheeks as she heard Duo snickering. As she turned to yell at him, green paint splattered against the tree trunk behind her. "Trowa," she exclaimed.
"Wufei," Relena started hesitantly, pulling her legs up to her chest.
"Just stay put and be quiet," Meilin replied, trying to avoid looking towards her hiding spot. Relena remained silent, and Meilin held the paint gun firmly in her hands. "Okay, where are you, Trowa," she wondered silently. Her eyes scanned the area, and caught movement ahead of her. "There!" She let out a spray of shots, however the figure dodged them. As the person stepped into the lighted area, she cursed inwardly.
"Heero, welcome to the party," Duo exclaimed as the Wing pilot, followed by Quatre, came into view. "Oh, and you too, Quatre. Wu-man got me out, too."
"It's Heero as well," Meilin thought inwardly as she noticed blue paint coloring the clearing. She frantically reloaded the paint cartridges as her eyes scanned for Trowa. "Where is he?" With the reloading done, she shot off some more paint towards Heero, who easily dodged.
"Behind you, Wufei," Relena warned, giving away her position. Meilin spun around, tagging Trowa with a paintball, and as she turned back around, Heero was already taking aim at Relena. She took aim at Heero, and squeezed the trigger. Nothing.
"I'm out again," she almost screeched, realizing she has wasted most of her shots at Heero before. She searched quickly for another paint cartridge, however couldn't find one.
"Looks like we win," Duo smirked, leaning against the tree. He glanced over at Heero, and his jaw dropped open. "No ... way ..." The tip of Heero's hair was tinted with color, however in the middle of his chest, a large, purple spot was plastered. The pilots looked towards Relena, who was climbing down from the tree. She missed a step, and fell down onto her posterior. She stood quickly, going to Meilin's side.
"We did it, Wufei," she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Meilin's neck. "We won!" She released her grasp and smiled. "I can't believe I actually hit Heero." Meilin looked over at Heero, and then towards Relena, fighting down the urge to celebrate as the other girl was doing.
"So we did," Meilin answered as calmly as she could manage. She turned towards Duo, and as she was about to speak, he shot a paintball at her. "Maxwell …"
"Just because you won doesn't mean I can't do that," Duo interrupted. Meilin raised a challenging eyebrow, and as she brought up her gun, she was hit in the back.
"Oh, Wufei, I'm sorry," Relena apologized. "I was trying to get Duo, honest!" Meilin's brow twitched, and then she started laughing. She raised her gun, aiming for Relena, and as she shot, the girl ducked, and Heero got hit instead. Soon, they all had their paint guns raised, and a fight broke out.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Later that evening, the six paint-covered teenagers returned to the Dorlian-Peacecraft residence. Each were either smiling or laughing, as Relena let them all into the house.
"I haven't had this much fun in so long," she stated with a smile. "Thank you all so much."
"Didn't I say we'd have fun," Duo asked with an amused look on his face. "And I always deliver on my word." They all turned as Pagean entered the foyer.
"Ms. Relena," he stated, raising an eyebrow at their appearance. "There is a letter that came for Mr. Chang today. I just delivered it to the guesthouse. Should I go and retrieve it?"
"No, Pagean, thank you," Relena replied. She turned to the pilots and smiled. "Let me go and change, and we'll go over to the guesthouse."
"Sure, Relena," Duo answered for them all as she climbed the stairs.
"Finally, Sensei has sent word," Meilin thought, a serious expression settling on her face. A few minutes later, Relena came down the stairs, traces of paint still in her hair.
"Pagean, please have dinner sent over," she instructed.
"Of course, Ms. Relena," he replied as they left the house. They made the short trip to the guesthouse, and entered. Turning on the light in the main room, Meilin saw the envelope on the coffee table. She walked over and picked it up, ripping it open.
"What," she whispered as she read the short note. The others watched silently, a confused look on each of their faces at the expression on Meilin's face.
To Be Continued . . .
I didn't intend on making this entire part about their "day out together" but as I was writing, I thought it was a good idea and kept with it. ^_^ I know the pilots were a little OOC at the end, but even they can have fun, right? Of course they can!
As always, please leave those reviews!
