Braids of a Feather
By AlantisB
Chapter 13
Disclaimer: General Standard Disclaimer Applies
A/N: Chapter 13! Things are starting to string together and the end is near! Hehe! ^.^ Keep reading, and review again (if you can..)
"..talking.."
'..thinking.."
OoOo Scene change
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Ranma sat there for the rest of the school day watching over Duo. He hadn't woken up yet and Ranma didn't let the nurse close enough to see his cuts and bullet wound. When she went out to fetch Kuno (during lunch he was beaten up by Ranma..again), and Ranma cleaned up his best friend's wounds and bandaged them again. The bleeding had stopped but he would be out for a while so his body could produce the blood again.
Just as Ranma was throwing away the dirty bandages, he heard a grown. He looked over at the American and noticed he was coming around. The hairs on the back of his neck started to rise slightly, his nerves tingled in a warning and he forced down the feeling as he watched Duo.
His friend was breathing in gasps as if he had just ran a few miles without breathing correctly, his hands were gripping the sheets tightly and Ranma quickly walked over and tried to figure out what to do. He finally stopped thinking and sat next to Duo and pulled him up into an embrace. He hugged his best friend close to him and whispered reassurances in his ears to get him to calm down.
Duo's grip on the covers relaxed and he snuggled himself into Ranma's embrace causing the martial artist to freeze up. He looked around wildly hoping none of his fiancees saw this, lest of all Akane. He didn't feel like taking a trip on Akane Air today by Mallet-sama. He heard Duo sigh happily and he allowed himself to smile.
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Duo's eyes widened as he watched the demon start to give off the eerie purple aura again. He started to feel pins and needles all up and down his body as the demon merged with him. Spots danced across his vision as he tried to keep focus and to get his mind off the pain. It was horrible! It felt like he was stretching and compressing all at once.
The shadows and mist around him tried to comfort him as best as it could, creating that semi-warm feeling of safeness but it didn't feel as good as it did when he had first been comforted. He guessed because the pain was blocking out most of the safeness. It was hard to feel safe when you felt you were on fire. But then he felt something warm and comforting wrap around him and he snuggled into it. His mind wandered from the pain on its own and listened to the whispers of whatever was holding him.
The hole in his heart slowly closed a little bit at the soothing sounds and he closed his eyes. There was a bright flash of light and blinding pain for an instant before it all faded away into nothing and he felt safe again, if only for a little while.
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked back the blurred shapes that greeted his vision. His eyes adjusted to the light of the room and he looked around. 'An eye chart, a bed, and a medicine cabinet.' He frowned slightly. 'Great, way to go Maxwell. Faint in the middle of a fight. You sure showed them, huh?' Beating himself up good helped him focus more on his surroundings.
He inhaled deeply and caught a musty scent and roses. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the smell. He then snapped his eyes open when he noticed he was being held close to someone, a very close, warm, sexy person! 'Ranma! What the hell...' he closed his eyes again for a moment and enjoyed being held close to his best friend. 'Mmm bud, you smell so good right now if I had no control I'd jump ya.' He grinned to himself. 'But I have no control. But your lucky I'm too weak right now to pin you down, much less enjoy myself.'
"Duo? Are you awake?"
Damn, boy was he getting sloppy. Heero would kill him if he knew someone who wasn't military personal figured out he wasn't sleeping. 'Well,' he thought savagely. 'Yuy can kiss my ass cause he ain't here now!'
"UUghh..kinda..Get the number of that MS that threw me into the vacuum?" Pain was performing jumping jacks on his brain while blasting loud music to the max and using a jack hammer to slam a rhythm to. At least, that was what it felt like to him.
Ranma grinned down at him and slowly, reluctantly, let go of Duo as he stood up. "Er, about that. Look Duo-chan I'm sorry about..well, you know." Ranma rubbed the back of his head looking away from Duo on the cot. It was rare he ever admitted he was wrong, but saying sorry was another story; he never said sorry to anyone. He heard the cot shift as Duo got up and wrapped his arms loosely around Ranma's waist and laid his head on his shoulder, grinning. He gave Ranma a hug from the back then let go and flicked his braid over his shoulder. And walked over to the side of the cot and picked up his CD player and slid it into one of his pockets. He made sure no one took the cell phone he had stuffed in one of his deep leg pockets and grinned when it wasn't. He looked over at the wild horse.
"It's okay buddy. Like I said, old habits die, hard! Let's not talk about it, okay? Is school over?" Duo quickly changed the subject not wanting his best friend or himself, to dwell on his cutting any longer then they had to. Ranma sighed in relief and opened his mouth to reply but a sudden noise interrupted him.
Riiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiig.
Duo blinked in surprise and quickly bent down and pulled the cell phone out of his leg pocket. He flipped the flap open and pressed the green button.
"Moshi, moshi!" Duo greeted whoever was on the phone with cheer.
Ranma strained to hear what was being said on the other side of the phone, but he could tell by the way Duo was losing the smile, and becoming serious, that there was a problem.
"You sure, man?" Spoke the braided 02 pilot. The martial artist watched as Duo nodded and the violet eyes lost a little of their sparkle.
"Got it. Tell the guys I'll meet 'em in a jiffy! Bye." Duo turned off the phone and closed the flap as he stuffed the phone back into his leg pocket. He sighed and his shoulders slumped slightly and he started to walk out.
"Come on Ranma, let's head outside. School's over and I don't like stayin here any longer then I gotta." His attitude changed as he covered his sadness and he was back to himself again. Ranma frowned and followed him.
When they got outside they headed toward the Tendo Dojo. "What was that about?" He questioned. Duo glanced up at him and looked at him innocently. "What was what about?"
Ranma rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Why are you so sad, huh?"
Duo saddened up again and replied in a tired voice. "The war is up again. I hafta leave tonight." He didn't glance at Ranma. It was too painful to think about, although he knew that Shi would've if he dared. But, he wasn't that person anymore and to leave his best friend, his secret-love, behind him it was too hard. Maybe, he would tell Ranma tonight. 'Ya,' he thought. 'Tonight I'll tell him.'
He glanced at his wrist bandages and thought about the knives he had hidden in his pants. 'Its getting dark. Anyone could attack us at this moment. Aww-Damn it, Maxwell! No one knows your hear except for Ranma's friends and family. Nothing will happen!'
He stiffened and held an arm out to stop Ranma from walking. He glanced around him and used his knew found sense of power to scan the area.
"I found you ancient!" Cried an old voice from above.
Duo's eyes widened as he watched a two-foot tall old woman land in front of them. Ranma had slipped into a fighting stance and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want, old ghoul?" He growled out to the shrunken figure.
The old woman smirked and looked at Ranma levely. "I am not here for you, Son-in-law. I am here for the ancient!" She pointed to Duo who put on a dazzling display of acting.
"Who me? You've lost some marbles lady, cause, I don't know what your talking about!"
"Don't try to fool me, child. I can feel your power." Just as quickly as she said that, the power disappeared. The Deathscythe pilot folded his arms and looked at the old woman.
"What do you want, huh? Ta' capture me or somethin?"
Ranma looked at Duo, then at Cologne, then at Duo. His head was going back and forth like a tennis match while the two people he knew talked and it was giving him a headache. He frowned and moved next to the American.
"What are you talking about old ghoul?" he demanded.
"Son-in-law step out of the way or I'll--"
A voice to the heavens in anguish as it walked into the area, "WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW???!"
Duo sighed and rubbed his temples. He could feel a major headache coming on. It was like this was all written like a bad comic book. 'Oh wait, it is one,' He remembered sheepishly. The Ranma1/2 comic was quite popular on Earth at the moment; the one Nabiki Tendo had drawn, scripted, and created.
To top it off, he was called to go on a mission to the good old United States of America to meet the other guys just when he and Ranma were finally getting back to the old ways. Not even one lousy prank was pulled yet. It was so depressing.
'It can't get any worse then this.'
Thunder crashed and it started to pour. Ranma changed into a girl, Ryoga changed into a pig and the old woman was standing there. In minutes he was soaked to the bone and his hair was a mess. Duo just rolled his eyes to the heavens then sighed heavily.
'Obviously, it can.'
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"Move out!"
"Yes sir!" Cried the soldiers as that loaded off the plane into the trunks. They gunned the engines and started over toward the cities when it started to pour.
"Come on, hurry up. Maxwell might catch wind of this if we don't hurry." Yelled Lady Une over the roaring winds that had suddenly come up.
The Oz soldiers drove as fast as they dared to get to their ready positions at their posts. It was bad weather conditions but it would have to do. If they were to catch one of the famed gundam pilots, perhaps they would get a raise.
It was an interesting prospect to think about. A lot of things were riding on the capture of the elite prince of thieves named Duo Maxwell, and if they didn't capture Shinigami, it was all over for their military experience.
Lady Une hoped the motivation of knew positions would get the soldiers to react faster and work harder to get the 02 pilot. They needed this boy badly for information and the only way to do that was if they captured him and not let him get away.
She glanced down at her digital watch and noticed it was almost time to start. She smirked and looked out at the city that was currently in a thunderstorm.
Soon she would get to play. It was only a matter of time, just a matter of time.
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Well? Did you like it? Huh? See everything and all the scenes I did are tying together. Only a few chapters more and the story will be complete! :;cackles insanely.:: Soooon! MWahahaha! I know it was short, but I didn't want to make it too long if I started the next scene.
-AlantisB
