Braids of a Feather
By AlantisB
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything in this fanfic. Except, the plot! ^.^ Which comes from the twisted fragment of my brain called the imagination.
A/N: I know alot of you were disappointed about Chapter 9 cuz well, it sucked. But Hey! I had a bit of writer block and I had to figure out how to fix it. I had Ryoga bust through the giant block so now I'm back in action! Hope you enjoy it, and please review my story!!
"..talking.."
'..thinking.."
OoOo Scene change
OoOoOoOoOo
Duo walked out the back room grinning. He wasn't in much pain anymore, that old bat really knew her stuff. She used some rare herbal plants to wrap around his wound and used pressure points that stopped the pain, numbing him to a point. It hurt like hell when she was doing the pressure points, tapping the spine wasn't fun, but it was worth it.
He looked down at his watch and saw it was almost dinnertime. He blinked in surprize. 'Wow, time sure went fast.' He thought with disappointment. He could only have dinner and a small chat before he had to get back to Ukyo's like he promised. He sat down next to Ryoga and Ranma in his usual ease and grace now that the pain was gone.
Ranma smiled at him sympathetically, he had pressure points preformed on him before by Dr. Tofu, it had hurt like hell. Ryoga just sighed and slumped against his chair. At the same time, both Ranma and Duo's stomachs growled in anger at being ignored too many times today. Duo grinned cheerfully. "Well, can we eat now or do I gotta worry about anything popping out the woodwork at me?"
"Ah! Shampoo cook good food for Airen, Pig-boy, and Braid-boy! Want some, yes?" The purple hair Chinese Amazoness smiled cutely before laying three bowls of ramen in front of the boys and bounced cheerfully back to the kitchen to cook more food.
Ryoga poked at the food with his chopsticks, suspicious. He didn't feel like being drugged, knocked out, or tormented with some posion or herbs at the moment. Ranma picked up his chopsticks and dug into the food with viger. Duo did the same managing not to leave a single drop. Finally Ryoga ate his ramen and then Shampoo came back with some delicious smelling drinks held in mugs.
The boys gulped down the drink and smiled at the good meal they had just eaten. Something felt a little off, but the guys just ignored it and thanked Shampoo for the wonderful meal when she came back in and had gave them some rice too. Shampoo smiled sweetly.
"Shampoo have question." She gazed at the boys, she had their full attention focused on her. "Who Braid-boy?"
Duo grinned. "I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell! I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie." He winked at her before sipping his drink again.
Shampoo just smiled again. 'We'll see if that's true!' she thought to herself. 'With all those truth herbs I had put in his ramen like Great Grandmother told me to, it had better work!'
"Why you come to Japan? Shampoo curious."
Before Duo could think correctly of a response, words were pouring out of his mouth without his control. "I had to get away from my ex who saw me only as a stress reliever to keep him sane during the war and I came to see if I could find peace in Nerima with my best friends in the whole world." Duo's mouth dropped a little in surprise. He hadn't meant for all that to come out! He gazed at his friends with a little fear. 'They'll hate me for sure! Earth doesn't approve of homosexuality! Damn it Maxwell! Just because you're out the frying pan doesn't mean your outta the fire! I should of checked that soup for drugs or something! Damn, I'm way too laid back here. This ain't good.'
Shampoo blinked in surprise and she tried to find the right words to ask him what she wanted to know. Damn Japanese for such a difficult language! "You males like?" She frowned some, it hadn't come out right but he must have gotten the gist of it.
The answer came out before he could think again. "Yes." The jester mask he put on for everyone cracked with spider cracks as if made of glass. He seem to recoil in fear at admitting it in front of them and gazing at Ranma and Ryoga who were in shock.
Shampoo thought for a moment. 'What a waste of males, what good are they if they mate with each other.' She gazed at Ranma and her lips curved into a smile. He seemed to trust this boy, and this male named Duo paid a lot of attention to what his friends think. This could be used to her advantage.
"What Airen think of Braid-boy now?"
Ranma opened his mouth and practiced the Foot-in-mouth technique. "That's disgusting!" His eyes widen as he looked at Duo, hurt was clearly shining through his violet eyes. 'Great Saotome. Lift up foot, stick it in mouth.' He thought to himself savagely. "I-I'm sorry! I..Duo..I didn't mean it like that.."
Duo got up quietly. "It's okay, I understand. I-I hafta go now." He lowered his eyes and walked out the restaurant in a hurry.
Ryoga turned his head to Ranma in anger. His greenish aura gave off a small glow to him, creating a more fearful appearance as he glared at Ranma. "How could you say that to him!" he yelled.
"I..I didn't mean--" Came the weak reply.
"Shut up Ranma! I'll never forgive you if Duo runs away from us for good!" He got up quickly and left the restaurant leaving a saddened Ranma behind who felt as if his heart had broken in two. In the back, Cologne hopped off on her staff quietly.
OoOoOoOoOo
Cologne could feel the power again. She smiled savagely with her old, wrinkled face, it was time for the hunt. She hopped the rooftops, going from roof to roof. The wind rushed by her and her long white hair tangled itself in the winds.
The power was moving fast, running probably, and seemed to shine out for all. The old wizened amazon concentrated and tried to tap this power. All that wasted energy could be put to use for magical items or perhaps more plans to capture her Son-in-law. She gasped and felt herself blown onto her back. She was shaking, her nerves up and down her body were tingling.
What power!
It had been incredible; the power had surged through her and right into the building to the ground. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. The power was dark, black magic. The power gave her a feel of needles crawling up and down her back. It called to her but she resisted the temptation knowing it would bind her to the person of power.
She got up and began the chase again. She will find out who this person is, if it was the last thing she would ever do.
OoOoOoOoOo
Lady Une gazed at the Video screen where she had just ended a conversation. The soldier leaned back in her chair and looked out the window thoughtfully. 'So,' she mused to herself. 'Duo Maxwell is on Earth. How surprising, this will be an interesting development.' She smirked and pulled off her glasses and took a sip of her coffee.
Tomorrow she would capture the cheerful Shinigami and extract all useful information from him. Her informant was young, but clever. This young adult reminded her of herself a bit, strong, clever, and down right sneaky.
Perhaps when they kill the gundam pilots, she'll take this young one under her wing. It was only right, after all.
OoOoOoOoOo
His eyes filled with tears he fought not to let fall. How could he let those words get to him so badly? He had heard it before and it hadn't hurt this much. He ran to one of the rooftops and jumped up onto it and hid behind one of the walls and folded his knees to his chest. He breathed heavy as he laid his head on his knees and struggled not to cry.
"Boys don't cry. Boys don't cry." He repeated it softly like a mantra over and over out loud. He rocked himself back and forth. He hadn't cried since the Maxwell Church Masacre, he wouldn't start now! He made a promise. He promised to be strong, to never cry again and to fight for the colonies. He swallowed hard and looked at the ground through the space between his knees. He had to remember his promise! He never lied, he can't lie to his one and only family he had ever known.
Thunder crackled across the sky loudly as a downpour of rain began. He lifted his face to the sky and let the water wash over him as if to cleanse him from the shame that he felt. The way he felt dirty, it had created a small pain in his chest that grew and grew. His friends surely hated him now. They would never speak to him again, because of his sexuality, because he was gay. He let his tears fall, letting them mix with the rain. 'No one would know,' his mind whispered to the heavens. No one would see him crying. He hadn't broken his promise to Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. He hadn't, nope, just the rain. Just rain falling down. Not his tears of pain, tears of the sorrow he felt. Just water from the sky, not his eyes.
He chuckled bitterly to himself. All hopes of Ranma coming to visit him, or coming to the colonies with him was long gone now; just a pitiful dream. Besides the fact that he would be with an outlaw, besides the fact he didn't really have any money for the both of them, Ranma wouldn't go because he was disgusted with him. The words of his best friend repeated over and over in his mind. Like a bad movie you couldn't forget. '"That's disgusting!" "That's disgusting!"' More tells fell from his eyes. He couldn't stop them. He felt that horrible pain grew larger, his heart felt like it was cracked and broken like glass.
He wished he had his blade now so he could cut himself, to take the pain away. To make him feel a greater physical pain so the pain in his heart would be drowned out. But no, he had quit. When he had became a pilot; Doctor G forced him out of his blades. Took them all away and made sure he would break the habit. Duo wished he still took them, wished he still carried his knives in his sleeves. The knives were still in his bag at Ukyo's and he didn't want her to find him in the morning, bleeding his life away on the bathroom floor.
No, he owed her more then that. She didn't deserve to see him lying on her floor, his wrists cut and bleeding, getting the red liquid of life in his hair and his eyes half closed, gazed, staring at her.
He sniffled as the rain came down harder and he tried to wipe the tears away. Why did Ranma say that? Had he really meant to say it? Or was that just his old self, sticking his foot in his mouth? He leaned against the cold cement wall and shivered from the rain. He should get out of the rain, as it is his braid is probably a mess, and his wrappings on his wound might get soaked.
He stood, letting the rainfall wipe his face clean again before his tears stopped. He calmed himself and relaxed. He glanced down at the ground where there was no one in sight, then jumped down off the rooftops and landed softly. The rain slowed around him then stopped completely. Duo's shoulders slumped a bit and he stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked down the street. The area around him seemed to brighten back to the normal colors of the area but he took no notice. He just watched his feet walking to Ukyo's.
OoOoOoOoOo
Cologne gazed at the sky when it stopped raining. She looked out over the horizon and tried to find the power again. She cursed in Chinese and banged her stick against the rooftop. 'Damn!' She thought in pure anger. It was gone again! When will she ever catch up to it?
She was so close this time too! So very close, she could feel it. Another two minutes and she would've found out who this mysterious ancient was.
She still had time, she would find the power again.
OoOoOoOoOo
Wufei wiped the sweat off his forehead and he gazed at his console. He grumbled to himself and mumbled Chinese curses as the readings showed the same exact readings as it did two hours ago. Why the hell weren't the readings changing? He was dead weight in space unless he fixed his gundam. Good thing he remembered to set his gundam on recycle and reuse so that he had enough air to survive for a days in space. But that wouldn't help him any if he never fixed his damn gundam!
Yuy hadn't contacted him yet which meant he hadn't fixed his gundam fully yet either. Wufei smirked and allowed himself a small amount of pride. Heero the "perfect soldier" hadn't fixed his yet and that gave Wufei some small satisfaction to some point.
He sat back and pulled up his armband and gazed at his digital watch. He had about another hour before they would really need to get going in order to reach the meeting on time. He couldn't be late, that weak woman Sally Po would never let him live it down!
OoOoOoOoOo
Well?! I hoped you liked it! I know it was a long wait but, well I was lazy! Plus I had huge writers block and I knew what I wanted to do, just not how to write it. Anyway, for any one who reads my other stories, Travels Through a Mirror Chapter Two will be posted today, with better writing and the plot thickens!
Ja!
-AlantisB
By AlantisB
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything in this fanfic. Except, the plot! ^.^ Which comes from the twisted fragment of my brain called the imagination.
A/N: I know alot of you were disappointed about Chapter 9 cuz well, it sucked. But Hey! I had a bit of writer block and I had to figure out how to fix it. I had Ryoga bust through the giant block so now I'm back in action! Hope you enjoy it, and please review my story!!
"..talking.."
'..thinking.."
OoOo Scene change
OoOoOoOoOo
Duo walked out the back room grinning. He wasn't in much pain anymore, that old bat really knew her stuff. She used some rare herbal plants to wrap around his wound and used pressure points that stopped the pain, numbing him to a point. It hurt like hell when she was doing the pressure points, tapping the spine wasn't fun, but it was worth it.
He looked down at his watch and saw it was almost dinnertime. He blinked in surprize. 'Wow, time sure went fast.' He thought with disappointment. He could only have dinner and a small chat before he had to get back to Ukyo's like he promised. He sat down next to Ryoga and Ranma in his usual ease and grace now that the pain was gone.
Ranma smiled at him sympathetically, he had pressure points preformed on him before by Dr. Tofu, it had hurt like hell. Ryoga just sighed and slumped against his chair. At the same time, both Ranma and Duo's stomachs growled in anger at being ignored too many times today. Duo grinned cheerfully. "Well, can we eat now or do I gotta worry about anything popping out the woodwork at me?"
"Ah! Shampoo cook good food for Airen, Pig-boy, and Braid-boy! Want some, yes?" The purple hair Chinese Amazoness smiled cutely before laying three bowls of ramen in front of the boys and bounced cheerfully back to the kitchen to cook more food.
Ryoga poked at the food with his chopsticks, suspicious. He didn't feel like being drugged, knocked out, or tormented with some posion or herbs at the moment. Ranma picked up his chopsticks and dug into the food with viger. Duo did the same managing not to leave a single drop. Finally Ryoga ate his ramen and then Shampoo came back with some delicious smelling drinks held in mugs.
The boys gulped down the drink and smiled at the good meal they had just eaten. Something felt a little off, but the guys just ignored it and thanked Shampoo for the wonderful meal when she came back in and had gave them some rice too. Shampoo smiled sweetly.
"Shampoo have question." She gazed at the boys, she had their full attention focused on her. "Who Braid-boy?"
Duo grinned. "I'm Duo, Duo Maxwell! I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie." He winked at her before sipping his drink again.
Shampoo just smiled again. 'We'll see if that's true!' she thought to herself. 'With all those truth herbs I had put in his ramen like Great Grandmother told me to, it had better work!'
"Why you come to Japan? Shampoo curious."
Before Duo could think correctly of a response, words were pouring out of his mouth without his control. "I had to get away from my ex who saw me only as a stress reliever to keep him sane during the war and I came to see if I could find peace in Nerima with my best friends in the whole world." Duo's mouth dropped a little in surprise. He hadn't meant for all that to come out! He gazed at his friends with a little fear. 'They'll hate me for sure! Earth doesn't approve of homosexuality! Damn it Maxwell! Just because you're out the frying pan doesn't mean your outta the fire! I should of checked that soup for drugs or something! Damn, I'm way too laid back here. This ain't good.'
Shampoo blinked in surprise and she tried to find the right words to ask him what she wanted to know. Damn Japanese for such a difficult language! "You males like?" She frowned some, it hadn't come out right but he must have gotten the gist of it.
The answer came out before he could think again. "Yes." The jester mask he put on for everyone cracked with spider cracks as if made of glass. He seem to recoil in fear at admitting it in front of them and gazing at Ranma and Ryoga who were in shock.
Shampoo thought for a moment. 'What a waste of males, what good are they if they mate with each other.' She gazed at Ranma and her lips curved into a smile. He seemed to trust this boy, and this male named Duo paid a lot of attention to what his friends think. This could be used to her advantage.
"What Airen think of Braid-boy now?"
Ranma opened his mouth and practiced the Foot-in-mouth technique. "That's disgusting!" His eyes widen as he looked at Duo, hurt was clearly shining through his violet eyes. 'Great Saotome. Lift up foot, stick it in mouth.' He thought to himself savagely. "I-I'm sorry! I..Duo..I didn't mean it like that.."
Duo got up quietly. "It's okay, I understand. I-I hafta go now." He lowered his eyes and walked out the restaurant in a hurry.
Ryoga turned his head to Ranma in anger. His greenish aura gave off a small glow to him, creating a more fearful appearance as he glared at Ranma. "How could you say that to him!" he yelled.
"I..I didn't mean--" Came the weak reply.
"Shut up Ranma! I'll never forgive you if Duo runs away from us for good!" He got up quickly and left the restaurant leaving a saddened Ranma behind who felt as if his heart had broken in two. In the back, Cologne hopped off on her staff quietly.
OoOoOoOoOo
Cologne could feel the power again. She smiled savagely with her old, wrinkled face, it was time for the hunt. She hopped the rooftops, going from roof to roof. The wind rushed by her and her long white hair tangled itself in the winds.
The power was moving fast, running probably, and seemed to shine out for all. The old wizened amazon concentrated and tried to tap this power. All that wasted energy could be put to use for magical items or perhaps more plans to capture her Son-in-law. She gasped and felt herself blown onto her back. She was shaking, her nerves up and down her body were tingling.
What power!
It had been incredible; the power had surged through her and right into the building to the ground. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. The power was dark, black magic. The power gave her a feel of needles crawling up and down her back. It called to her but she resisted the temptation knowing it would bind her to the person of power.
She got up and began the chase again. She will find out who this person is, if it was the last thing she would ever do.
OoOoOoOoOo
Lady Une gazed at the Video screen where she had just ended a conversation. The soldier leaned back in her chair and looked out the window thoughtfully. 'So,' she mused to herself. 'Duo Maxwell is on Earth. How surprising, this will be an interesting development.' She smirked and pulled off her glasses and took a sip of her coffee.
Tomorrow she would capture the cheerful Shinigami and extract all useful information from him. Her informant was young, but clever. This young adult reminded her of herself a bit, strong, clever, and down right sneaky.
Perhaps when they kill the gundam pilots, she'll take this young one under her wing. It was only right, after all.
OoOoOoOoOo
His eyes filled with tears he fought not to let fall. How could he let those words get to him so badly? He had heard it before and it hadn't hurt this much. He ran to one of the rooftops and jumped up onto it and hid behind one of the walls and folded his knees to his chest. He breathed heavy as he laid his head on his knees and struggled not to cry.
"Boys don't cry. Boys don't cry." He repeated it softly like a mantra over and over out loud. He rocked himself back and forth. He hadn't cried since the Maxwell Church Masacre, he wouldn't start now! He made a promise. He promised to be strong, to never cry again and to fight for the colonies. He swallowed hard and looked at the ground through the space between his knees. He had to remember his promise! He never lied, he can't lie to his one and only family he had ever known.
Thunder crackled across the sky loudly as a downpour of rain began. He lifted his face to the sky and let the water wash over him as if to cleanse him from the shame that he felt. The way he felt dirty, it had created a small pain in his chest that grew and grew. His friends surely hated him now. They would never speak to him again, because of his sexuality, because he was gay. He let his tears fall, letting them mix with the rain. 'No one would know,' his mind whispered to the heavens. No one would see him crying. He hadn't broken his promise to Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. He hadn't, nope, just the rain. Just rain falling down. Not his tears of pain, tears of the sorrow he felt. Just water from the sky, not his eyes.
He chuckled bitterly to himself. All hopes of Ranma coming to visit him, or coming to the colonies with him was long gone now; just a pitiful dream. Besides the fact that he would be with an outlaw, besides the fact he didn't really have any money for the both of them, Ranma wouldn't go because he was disgusted with him. The words of his best friend repeated over and over in his mind. Like a bad movie you couldn't forget. '"That's disgusting!" "That's disgusting!"' More tells fell from his eyes. He couldn't stop them. He felt that horrible pain grew larger, his heart felt like it was cracked and broken like glass.
He wished he had his blade now so he could cut himself, to take the pain away. To make him feel a greater physical pain so the pain in his heart would be drowned out. But no, he had quit. When he had became a pilot; Doctor G forced him out of his blades. Took them all away and made sure he would break the habit. Duo wished he still took them, wished he still carried his knives in his sleeves. The knives were still in his bag at Ukyo's and he didn't want her to find him in the morning, bleeding his life away on the bathroom floor.
No, he owed her more then that. She didn't deserve to see him lying on her floor, his wrists cut and bleeding, getting the red liquid of life in his hair and his eyes half closed, gazed, staring at her.
He sniffled as the rain came down harder and he tried to wipe the tears away. Why did Ranma say that? Had he really meant to say it? Or was that just his old self, sticking his foot in his mouth? He leaned against the cold cement wall and shivered from the rain. He should get out of the rain, as it is his braid is probably a mess, and his wrappings on his wound might get soaked.
He stood, letting the rainfall wipe his face clean again before his tears stopped. He calmed himself and relaxed. He glanced down at the ground where there was no one in sight, then jumped down off the rooftops and landed softly. The rain slowed around him then stopped completely. Duo's shoulders slumped a bit and he stuffed his hands into his pockets as he walked down the street. The area around him seemed to brighten back to the normal colors of the area but he took no notice. He just watched his feet walking to Ukyo's.
OoOoOoOoOo
Cologne gazed at the sky when it stopped raining. She looked out over the horizon and tried to find the power again. She cursed in Chinese and banged her stick against the rooftop. 'Damn!' She thought in pure anger. It was gone again! When will she ever catch up to it?
She was so close this time too! So very close, she could feel it. Another two minutes and she would've found out who this mysterious ancient was.
She still had time, she would find the power again.
OoOoOoOoOo
Wufei wiped the sweat off his forehead and he gazed at his console. He grumbled to himself and mumbled Chinese curses as the readings showed the same exact readings as it did two hours ago. Why the hell weren't the readings changing? He was dead weight in space unless he fixed his gundam. Good thing he remembered to set his gundam on recycle and reuse so that he had enough air to survive for a days in space. But that wouldn't help him any if he never fixed his damn gundam!
Yuy hadn't contacted him yet which meant he hadn't fixed his gundam fully yet either. Wufei smirked and allowed himself a small amount of pride. Heero the "perfect soldier" hadn't fixed his yet and that gave Wufei some small satisfaction to some point.
He sat back and pulled up his armband and gazed at his digital watch. He had about another hour before they would really need to get going in order to reach the meeting on time. He couldn't be late, that weak woman Sally Po would never let him live it down!
OoOoOoOoOo
Well?! I hoped you liked it! I know it was a long wait but, well I was lazy! Plus I had huge writers block and I knew what I wanted to do, just not how to write it. Anyway, for any one who reads my other stories, Travels Through a Mirror Chapter Two will be posted today, with better writing and the plot thickens!
Ja!
-AlantisB
