Braids of a Feather

Braids of a Feather

By AlantisB

Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam or Ranma and you can take me to court for all I care cuz I ain't do shit! ^.^

A/N: ARGH! Damn my incomitant computer! Yesturday when I had this chapter almost completely done, IT FROZE! Doesn't that just suck? Well I felt I didn't want to type it again that night so I didn't.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story! Oh yah, a lot of you have asked if there will be a Ranma/Duo couple. Come on man, didn't I say that was a secret? Tsk, tsk. To let you in on one small secret...::leans close and whispers in readers's ears:: I really don't know.

HA! Surprise! I orignally had a couple planned out but.. ::rolls her eyes:: Like some authors say, the story wrote itself. So it depends entirely on what I write. Nothing is planned as of yet, but I have some couples in mind. You'll (and me) will have to wait and see.

Damn, this was the longest author note I've had so far..hmm.

Enjoy the story!

"..talking.."

"..thinking.."

OoOo scene change

OoOoOoOoOo

Nabiki watched the boys joke around and hang out. She frowned and gazed at the trio. She had never seen Ranma so relaxed in all his years staying at the Tendo dojo. He was either nervous, tense, angry, annoyed, and determined; but never relaxed. He was smiling, and joking with Ryoga whom she never thought to be the joking type, since he was a overly depressed person.

She looked over at Ryoga who was sporting the new braid. How come, if he had protested so much, he didn't just throw Ranma and this new guy Duo off him? Nabiki had seen him smash through concrete walls without so much as feeling it or noticing it. But he can't get Ranma who was conciderably not as strong as him, or Duo who (in her eyes anyway), looked like he couldn't even lift Ryoga's umbrella and was very frail looking; off of him and yell at them?

She was confused and missing a very important piece of information by the looks of it.She remembered now why she hated mysteries; she always had to solve them.

It was that reason that she hated secrets. And this secret must be big. 'And', she mused to herself. 'I always find out the secrets.' She looked at Duo again, watching him interact with the idiots. He had a type of aura around him that demanded attention but made you shiver from an unseen chill from his rare amethyest eyes.

She also saw something she couldn't place in the way he moved, it was sort of like Ranma and Ryoga but more refined. It wasn't that he was a martial artist, she could tell he was way behind in that department of martial arts. She could tell from watching him move again as her expert eyes (well her mercanary eyes) gazed at him, she thought that he probably was a few years behind Ranma and Ryoga with the not as graceful movement. But he moved with an unseen caution. As if he expected to be attacked at any time and any where with no warning.

She grinned. She knew what to do now. All she had to do is see if her theory was correct.

OoOoOoOoOo

He sat back in his chair. He sighed and looked away from the console to look at Heero. The Perfect Soldier was asleep. His shift was almost over and he would have to wake Heero soon. Wufei's lips quirked upwards for a moment before he forced it down with a scowl and looked out at the stars as the ship past them.

The last time he had woken up the sleeping pilot, Heero was murmuring Duo's name. He knew something was going on between the baka and the Perfect soldier, he just chose to ignore it. When Heero had realized it was not Duo who had woken him, he had slipped his cold exterior over his face again and got up and sat by the console.

Wufei folded his arms infront of him and tilted his head to the side a bit. Heero was talking in his sleep, it was barely coherent but he got the gist of it. A trinkle of blood dripped from his nose, his cheeks were a flaming as he hastily wiped his nose with a napkin to get rid of the blood. Heero was moaning in his sleep, groaning Duo's name, and by the sound of it, was enjoying a nice round of screwing Duo silly.

He coughed and tried to busy himself by watching the monitors. That really wasn't what he should be hearing, it was private. Wufei tried to keep from having a nosebleed because of the images he was seeing in his mind. Although it didn't work, as he couldn't keep some of the fanasties from springing into his unguarded mind. Seeing Duo's hair out loose, streaming behind him as he layed infront of Wufei in all his naked glory. Wufei would be running his hands through the silky hair, leaning in close and burying his nose in the beautiful hair and smelling the scent that was uniquely Duo's alone. Running his battle-hardened hands along side of Duo's sleek, soft form and feeling him writhing and moaning beneith him, calling his name in a deep, long moan--

Wufei almost groaned outloud and quieted himself, snapping out of his fanasty. 'Boys do not like Boys! Liking Duo like that is wrong! Wrong..wrong..' he told himself fiercly. Maybe if he kept telling himself that, he might believe it one day.

The computer beeped a few times and Wufei turned his attention to the screen. His eyes widened conciderably as he gazed in shock. He jumped out of the chair and ran to Heero's cot and shook him hard. "YUY! Get up!"

Heero's eyes snapped open and he glared at Wufei. "Get our gundams ready!" He almost yelled at Heero who stared at him. "NOW!"

Heero shot out of bed and ran to the storage room to prepare the gundams. Wufei ran back to the console and began to type quickly, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. He then hit enter and give the moniter one last look.

"MS Dolls.." There was 50 of them heading there way and they weren't prepared. Wufei ran out the room and sprinted down the ship to the storage room and jumped up onto Nataku's leg before swinging himself into the cockpit and shutting the hatch.

Suddenly the world around him and Heero exploded in a bright, blinding flash of light.

OoOoOoOoOo

The plate he was holding crashed loudly into pieces on the floor from his loose hands. His eyes were wide and glossy from unshed tears. Trowa ran into the room and walked over to Quatre, gathering him in his arms. "Whats wrong? What happened?" he asked quietly.

Quatre couldn't speak, he sagged against Trowa and sobbed into his shirt. He clung to him like a lifeline, his only hope in the world. Only when he felt he could speak clearly did he look up at Trowa with sadness radiating off him in waves.

"Wufei.....Heero.." More tears fell from his blue-green eyes. "They're gone.."

Trowa's eyes widened as he tightened his grip on Quatre who had started looking out the window at the blue sky.

"They're gone..."

OoOoOoOoOo

Duo grinned and winked at Ryoga who blushed. "Sooo, your single huh? Tough break my friend! You'll find someone! I know it." He looked over at Ranma with a twinkle in his eyes. "When were you planning on telling me you had three fiancees huh?"

Ranma's eyes widened. "How did you find out!?" He thought angerly, 'If Nabiki made him pay for that informat-' His thoughts were cut off when Duo began to speak.

"Ukyo. One of your fiancees told me. I'm stayin with her, she picked me off the street and got some doc to fix me up from the wound so.." He shrugged and winked at Ranma. "I'm stayin with the lonely girl to repay my debt. I might even cook.."

"If she wanted her restaurant burned down," Ryoga replied dryly. "She would do it herself."

Duo gasped in mocking shock as he used wide gestures to himself in an overly dramatic way. "Moi?" He clasped his hands over his heart as feined a hurt expression. "You wound me, sir!"

Ryoga poked Duo's side. "ITAI!" yelled Duo. Ryoga smirked and folded his arms. "You have enough of a wound as it is, one more won't hurt."

Duo glared at Ryoga and 'hmphed' as he turned to Ranma and grinned. "I'm hungry! Do you got any good places ya recommend, old buddy, old pal of mine?" Ranma was the only guy who could hope to match Duo's huge appeitite.

Ranma nodded and grabbed Ryoga's hand who glared at him. Duo thought that was smart, since Ryoga would get lost and he told Ryoga that. ("I DON'T NEED HELP!") Ranma started to walk down the street holding onto Ryoga's arm and Duo trailing beside Ranma.

Duo looked around the city, admiring things while Ranma pointed out all the places he knew. "Thats Doctor Tofu's office, he's the guy that fixed ya up." Duo made note of the place so that he could thank the doctor.

While both Ranma and Duo busy, Ryoga smirked to himself and reached behind with one hand and untied the braid he had aquired. His smirk got larger when he noticed they didn't see him do it. He fixed his bandana so that his long hair was held up to his ears like normal. It was okay for Ranma and Duo to see him in a braid, but if people in the rest of Nerima saw it, they would think he was copying Ranma. Besides, it was majorly embarrassing.

Ryoga finally looked around and spotted a familiar Chinese restaurant. "No way! You're not thinking of going in there you baka! Are you? You are aren't you!" Ryoga glared at Ranma who smirked.

"Am I missing something?" said a confused Duo. "What's so bad about this Nekohaten place?"

Ryoga grumbled, "You'll see." as they walked into the restaurant. Ryoga looked like he was timing something on his watch. All Duo caught was the '3. . 2 .1' before a purplish blur glomped on Ranma like a leech.

A purple blur shot past Duo and glomped to Ranma. "Niaho Airen! You come see Shampoo for date, yes?" She purred almost catlike as she rubbed her body against Ranma who was shifting uncomfortably.

"SAOTOME! HOW DARE YOU TAKE MY SHAMPOO AWAY FROM ME! PREPARE TO DIE!!!" yelled a blind amazon martial artist who shifted away from Ranma's direction and suddenly threw knives out of his Chinese robe sleeves. They were heading in Duo's direction.

Duo's eyes widened as he shifted into a fighting stances, not thinking of the pain that will erupted from his side if he were to move too suddenly. His hands blurred in motion as he caught the knives in his hands holding them upwards by the blade. Without a thought he threw them in a flash back at the owner.

THUNK, THUNK

Two knives ripped through the man's sleeves and pinned him to the wall that was behind him.

THUNK, THUNK

Two other knives sank into his baggy kung-fu pants at the ankles and kept his legs pinned to the wall.

THUNK, THUNK

One of the last two knives hit just above the almost-blind man's head by a centimeter. Pieces of hair fell from his head. The last knife hit right under the man's groin, slicing his pants. The man fainted from semi-shock of almost losing his most important body part.

Duo's stance faltered because of the pain that was causing black spots to dance across his vision as he stood up again and had to lean on Ryoga some. He grinned to himself. 'I still got it! I havta remember to thank Trowa for bein my personal target as I practiced.'

Ranma and Ryoga were in shock at what their friend just did. They didn't know he could move that fast and didn't think much less catch knives in the air and hit a target so directly. They snapped to attention when some clapping was heard.

Cologne hopped into view on her five-foot staff and gazed at Duo. "Nice throw, sonny." She probed his aura and smirked in her mind. He was recently shot, it was obvious he was hurt by the way he was leaning on Ryoga. "I haven't seen a knives master in over 200 years." she commented offhandedly.

Duo's eyes widened. "Man your old, lady!" He grinned and stood up right by his self again. Suddenly the small TV that was brand new in the Cat Cafe blared into the silence of the restaurant.

"This just in.." said the reporter of the news. "Six members of the Chinese Red Dragon gang have been found in Koyto, one dead and the rest severly injured. Li Lan has the story! Let's go to her."

"Well Ryo," replied a womanly vioce. "Neighbors had heard a fight earlier last night around twelve midnight between the gang and someone who had been walking out on the street. They then heard a gun shot. When Police arrived to the scene, they had found five of the members of the gang with broken bones. One gang memeber, the one who had apparently had shot the gun, is dead. His body was burned to a crisp by unknown causes. The body had deep gashes in the side and neck of the young gang member."

Duo's eyes widened, and Cologne watched the young man closely. Ranma and Ryoga were watching the news report with rapid attention. Ranma was so caught up in it, he had forgotten about Shampoo who was clinging to him.

"The body was taken to Tokyo General Hospital for an altopsy. Doctors say that it will take a while to get results. Whoever had killed the member so brutily is still on the loose and police recommend that people of Tokyo should stay in their homes at night. Back to you, Ryo."

"Thankyou Li Lan, in other news..." Cologne shut off the TV.

Mousse pulled himself off the wall and ran at Ranma but tripped on a bucket sending the water flying at Duo and the guys.

Duo's eyes widened as the water poured over Ranma, Ryoga, and Shampoo.

"Meoow.."

"BWEE!!"

"Um..heh.." squeeked out the redhead female as she backed away from the cat.

OoOoOoOoOo

Well? Did you like it? Did you hate it? Tell me please!
-AlantisB