Braids of a Feather
By AlantisB
Chapter 5


AN: HI all! ::grins:: One person asked me about the pairings in this fic. Hm, well it goes like this... Heero use to be Duo's old lover until they split apart. The reason was one; Duo even though he loved Heero, felt it was better that they shouldn't have a relationship based purely on sex. Heero agreed much to Duo's surprised and Ta Da! No more 1x2
Thats all I'll tell you for now since in Chapter 2, I already hinted at a past relationship with Heero. So there! ::sticks out her tounge.

I hope you all enjoy my story cuz it takes me at least two hours to write one chapter! .
Okay well, On with the Story!

".." talking
'..' Thinking
OoOo Scene change




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"Heero."

Heero turned away from his laptop and looked at Wufei. He was dressed in his white Chinese clothes and he had his pack with him. Heero raised an eyebrow in question.

"That woman, Sally called. We're to go to the Preventor's office in the United States ASAP." Said the Asian.

"Hn." He closed the laptop and stood up. He went over to his closet and opened the door. He grabbed the black bag that held all his clothes, personal supplies, weapons and of course ammo. He walked over to the desk and grabbed the laptop and stuffed it in the bag. He headed to the door.

"Lets go." Wufei followed in step behind him as they set out to their carriers which held their gundams and would also transport them to Earth.




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Nabiki headed to the Cafe where she would meet Kuno. It was Saturday, and it was time for the big wad of bills she was sure to con out of the rich village idiot each week. She opened the door of the Cafe and smiled at the bell that chimed her entering. The smell of coffee beans and boiling water met her nose and she sat in her own little booth.

A waitress came over and asked if she would like anything. Nabiki ordered a cup black coffee with half-and-half milk in it. The waitress wrote down the order and left Nabiki to her business. She lifted her arm and checked her watch.

The bell chimed as another person entered. She smirked, 'Right on time' she thought. Quick steps headed over in her direction before sliding into the seat across from her in the booth. The man looked at her seriously.

"Ah, Nabiki Tendo! You have pictures of my pigtailed goddess and the fierce tigress named Akane Tendo that the gods have blessed me with?" he looked as if he were on an addiction to a drug and needed more to keep functioning. 'What a pathetic, stinking rich man.' She thought to herself.

She reached into her coat and pulled out a large yellow envelope then unclasped the flap and pulled out 5-set pictures. She spread them on the table as the waitress gave Nabiki her coffee.
She took a sip of her coffee and smirked at Kuno.

"5-set pictures. Two sets, one of Akane and the other of your pigtailed goddess. 1000 yen. Take it or leave it."

Kuno frowned at her. "Surely you rob me with that price!"

Nabiki looked at him cooly. "100 yen, Kuno-baby! If you can't afford it.." she trailed off for effect as she started to put the pictures back into the envelope.

He slammed down a few yen bills in front of her. "Sold, Tendo!" He grabbed the pictures and walked away gazing down at them, grinning.

Nabiki took another sip of her cup and grinned cat-like. 'Too easy.'




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Kuno snorted in disgust as he threw the pictures away in a nearby trash can; where no one would see the pictures. He shook his head as he walked down the street. Tendo was easy to fool, thinking she had him under her thumb. It was only a matter of time before the corporation he now worked under will take what was theirs in the first place and create total peace in the world.

He couldn't believe what he had found out about the Space Wars. How could some people his age do such a thing do a company who just wanted to keep justice. Surely they must work for the dark ones like that sorcerer named Ranma Saotome! How else could children kill so many lives? Demons! All of them!

And he will make sure that justice will be served and the Demons will be eliminated.




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Dr. Tofu walked out of the storage room and looked at the impatient young woman in front of him. He smiled and finished wiping his hands. "He will do fine, Ukyo. The wound wasn't as bad as it looked and the bullet missed any vital organs so in a few days he should be fine. But he has lost a lot of blood so I suggest when he wakes he be given these," he held up a bottle to her he had taken out of his medical bag. "And he is to stay in bed for two days after regaining consciousness. Unless of course, you feel that he should leave all the more sooner is up to you."

She shook her head and smiled and thanked the doctor before he left. She walked over to the young man who was now lying on a spare futon she had found. He was beautiful. She blinked. 'Where did that come from? I love Ran-chan!' But this person had such beautiful long hair, and the eyes, she wanted to see what color his eyes were. She thought they might be blue, he looked like a foreigner. Perhaps he was visiting someone, or maybe on a training journey? She didn't know and she didn't want to pry through his stuff to find out. She would have to wait until he woke up.

'I wonder, who would shoot such a friendly, kind boy.' She thought to herself.

His head moved over to the side slight, and his eyelids twitched. She watched closely as he slowly opened his bright, wide, amethyst eyes. He sat up, or tried to as he soon fell onto the futon on his back. He groaned and his eyes slid shut for a moment before he turned his head and opened his eyes again. He was looking at her.

"Where..am I? W..who are you?" he rasped out in a scratchy throat. She got up and walked over to him and handed him the glass of water she had taken from the counter.

"Take some water, hun. Then you can talk."

He glanced at her suspiciously before grabbing the cup weakly. He gulped down the water in one swallow and looked over at her again. He handed her the cup. This time he repeated the questions again in a more pleasant voice.

"You're in Nerima, sugah. I'm Ukyo the chief of this restaurant named 'Ucchan'. Nice to meet you, hun. You got a name, sugah?"

He grinned at her and weakly grabbed her hand and shook it. "It ain't sugah, but I love sweets all the same," he winked at her. "'Names Duo. You said this was Nerima?" He looked over at her and sat up on his own slowly, but he looked to be getting stronger.

She smiled and nodded. "That's right, sugah. This is the Nerima district of Tokyo."

Duo grinned and tried to stand up but was pushed back down by Ukyo. "Nuh uh, hun. The doctor said I'm not allowed to let you get up for two days. And I plan on following Doctor's orders."

Duo grinned. "At least one of us is." She looked up suddenly. "Oh!" she blushed. "I forgot to give you this," she handed him the bottle. "The doctor said it'll take away the pain." Duo nodded and took out two pilled and popped them in his mouth and swallowed.

He looked down at the bandages. 'This guy is pretty good, not too tight; but not loose enough that'll fall off me in two seconds.' He looked up at the young woman.

"Hey uh, Ukyo, right?" she nodded. "Can take a quick shower or somethin'? My hair is all in clumps and stuff."

Ukyo smiled. "Why, of course sugah. You'd want to get all that blood out of it before it really messes up your hair."

He smiled at her and reached into the pack that was lying next to him. She must've laid it next to him when, he was being all cleaned up by this doctor she talks about. He dug around in it and pulled out his shampoo, conditioner, brush, and of course his priest outfit since his other set of clothes were ruined.

Ukyo helped him up and led him to the shower upstairs and winked. "Now, don't you use up all my hot water, sugah! I still have to take a shower." He grinned at her in response. She shut the door and Duo sagged against the wall, sighing. He then set about the task of taking off the bandage so it doesn't get wet.




OoOoOoOoOo
A half hour Later..



Duo slowly made it down the stairs. He was feeling better and his side didn't hurt him. Man, that doctor must have him on the good stuff. He hoped Ukyo wasn't being billed with his medical treatments.

He saw Ukyo had her grill open and was serving people fresh Japanese pizza. He almost gagged. Nothing was as good as American pizza-everything else was just nasty. He watched amazed as she cooked the pizza in under a minute flat and flipped it onto the heating oven to keep the pizza warm until customers came to the place, and sauced with a cute message, all ready to eat.

He realized she was using martial arts to cook like she did. He grinned, now this was his kind of babe. He could think of the possibilities of cooking under a minute in the restaurant business. He sat in a chair just watching her cook for her customers.

"Ya know, you can go shower now." She jumped and the pizza she was flipping was flying in the air. Duo reacted before he could think, he grabbed the pizza plate and ran to catch the pizza. He lifted the plate a bit and caught the pizza without spilling anything and put the dish onto the table before sagging against it in pain from moving too fast too soon.

"Don't scare me like that sugah! And don't move around too fast yet, you'll get hurt." She took a good look at him. He was dressed in black pants that flared a little at the hip, a preacher's shirt and collar with the sleeves rolled up, and his hair was braided down his back. His black shoes shined a bit and he winked at her when he noticed her checking out his clothes.

"I ain't a preacher or anythin, if that's what you're thinkin. I just like this outfit." Said the American.

Ukyo nodded and motioned him to sit. "Now, I'm curious hun. Before I take my shower can you care to tell me why you were shot and how you ended up at my door?"

Duo folded his arms thoughtfully. "Well, I was headin to Nerima to see a couple of old friends of mine and I just got off a bus. Some thugs jumped me and I took five of 'em out but the leader shot me. Then I blacked out and woke up in an alley." He shrugged and grinned at her cheerfully. "But I'm fine, I ain't in too bad of a fix."

"Who's your friends, sugah. Maybe I know them." She wanted to know what kind of sane man would head into Nerima where there are plenty of sane districts to visit in Tokyo.

"Ranma Saotome and Ryoga Hibiki. Or is it Saotome Ranma and Hibiki Ryoga? I don't get the way this country has the last name first thing." He shrugged confused.

"Ranma and Ryoga? You know them both?!" she yelled.

"Um.." he sweat-dropped nervously. "Is that a problem or something?" He suddenly found himself with a rather sharp looking spatula at his neck.

"You aren't planning on attacking my fiancée, are you hun?" She stated with a threat.

He gulped then blinked. "Ryoga got a financee? The lucky guy!"

She blinked. "No not lost boy, Ranma is my fiancée."

His eyes widened. "Ranma has a fiancée?"

She sighed and took the spatula away from his neck and sat down next to him. "Three."

He looked confused again. "Huh?"

She glanced at him. "He has three fiancées."

"WHAT?!"




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Ranma sneezed. He looked around him and shrugged as he battled for food with his Pop at the breakfast table. Nabiki had gone out early while he and Pops were sparring so, no breakfast with the ice queen. Akane was fuming over something he did, he didn't remember but with her it was always something. Ryoga was still sleeping upstairs.

He had felt bad for Ryoga, he knew how loud his dad is and he probably didn't get a wink of sleep last night so he allowed Ryoga to sleep in. It wasn't his fault that Ryoga would miss breakfast; that was his problem.

He finished eating and headed up the stairs.

He walked into the room to see Ryoga still sleeping and he rolled his eyes. He walked over and kicked him in the side. "Ryoga. Get up buddy! It's nine o'clock already you pig!"

Ryoga rolled over and seemed to ignore Ranma's attempt to wake him up. He was having a fantastic dream about being free of his curse and living happily ever after eating pork. Pork buns, pork rolls, bacon, pork chops-

"RYOGA!" Ranma kicked him hard in the side and his breathing hitched as he sat straight up.

"RANMA THIS IS ALL-Oh. Damn why the hell did you wake me up! I was having a good dream." He complained as he glared at Ranma.

"It's nine O'clock and sleeping late will just make you even more tired. You missed breakfast." Replied Ranma who smirked at him.

"Hn. Okay let me get dressed and all. Get out."

Ranma rolled his eyes and walked out the room to wait for Ryoga to hurry up and get his butt out here so they could plan what to do when Duo got here.

Ryoga came out a few minutes later dressed in his normal clothes and Ranma led him down stairs where he made himself a sandwich without getting lost.

He chewed into it thoughtfully when he finished making it and thought about what could they do when Duo got here. It had been such a long time since any of them had any real fun, at least he could say that for Ranma and him. But Duo was an entire matter.

Would they still pull some pranks? He didn't know but he knew that Duo had the best mind for creating the ultimate fun wherever they are. It didn't matter what it involved. He was like a thriller to walk around, he could create more chaos around him then Ranma could to draw it.

He chuckled to himself and he looked out the window to see the bright sunny sky. It was going to be a good day.



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Well? Did you like it? I made the Duo part extra long for all those people who felt that they needed a longer part. Here ya go! ^.^

-AlantisB
SlrMoon2oo@aol.com