Chapter
2
By:
Kohan
"Heero
isn't in right now." Hotaru said plainly from the couch.
"Your welcome to come in and wait until he returns,
however."
"Thank you," Relena said, and stepped inside.
"Would you like some tea, um, Relena?" Usagi asked,
looking around nervously to see if the cat had well ducked out of
sight.
"That would be nice, thank you." Relena took off her
shoes and sat down in an armchair. "Do you have any idea
when Heero will be returning? It is important that I speak to
him."
"It shouldn't be too long, though if I see him before he
comes, I'll tell him to stay far away," Duo said from the
kitchen doorway. He had a smirk on his face, and was leaning
against the frame with his arms crossed.
"Hello, Duo-kun." Relena said.
"How in Shinigami's name did you get here, Relena? Certainly
you didn't fly."
"No. It was rather strange though," Relena said,
"There was what appeared to be a time warp in my room, very
interesting if you ask me."
"Uh-huh." Duo said, not amused. Usagi returned with the
tea, and handed it to Relena.
"I don't believe I caught your name," She said to
Usagi.
"It's Usagi. Tsukino Usagi,"
"Usagi I--" Wufei stopped walking in and talking when
he saw Relena. "Um, cleaned up your mess. What are you
doing here? Yuy won't be happy about this."
"Why not, Wufei? You mean to tell me that he hasn't been
missing me since the moment he arrived here?" Relena said,
Wufei and Duo sweat-dropped. The door suddenly opened, revealing
Heero with two rather large bags of groceries.
"Next time one of you is coming to help me," came his
muffled voice, "A little help here, Firefly? Usagi?
Someone?" Hotaru got up, setting her tea down and picking up
one of Heero's bags. Heero then spotted Relena. "You."
He said.
"Heero! I've missed you so!" Relena said, getting up,
ready to fling herself into his pre-occupied arms when little
Michiru and Haruka came running down the stairs.
"That Sailoruranus doll is mine!" Haruka
yelled. "Mine you hear me!?"
"Come and get it if ya want it!" Michiru said.
"You two, act your ages!" Usagi said for the second
time that day.
"Sorry," Michiru said, "Heero, did you get any ice
cream, I seem to be having a strange craving for that."
"If he did get any ice cream, it's for me!"
Haruka yelled, snatching her Uranus doll from Michiru.
"No!" Michiru said. Usagi, Hotaru and Heero
sweat-dropped, and Heero made a move to go into the kitchen.
Relena, however, stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
"Heero, didn't you miss me? I came here to find you...when I
talked to that weird lady with green hair and found out that you
we--"
"You talked to Setsuna?" Usagi asked, completely
ignoring the fact that she had just interrupted Relena
Peacecraft.
"Um, yes, if that's her name, as I was saying-"
"Look Relena," Duo said, "can't you see that Heero
is rather pre-occupied right now? I'm sure he'll be willing to
pull out his gun and shoot you after he puts away his
groceries."
Heero
walked into the kitchen after Hotaru and set his bag down at the
counter.
"She--she, she..."
"Will hopefully be gone in the morning," Keika said,
jumping onto the table. "I've never seen such a nosy
person." Heero stared at Keika. Did that cat just speak?
"What are you and who do you work for?" He
said, pulling out his gun.
"Heero, don't shoot her. She's just a regular cat that
can...talk..." Hotaru said.
"I can see that."
"This could be a problem, she obviously is a civilian, and
we can't have her running around here when we've got 5 girls who
just happen to be growing up faster then normal."
Keika said.
"How did you know about that?" Hotaru asked.
"I know about a lot more then you think, Destruction."
"Please don't call me that," Hotaru said softly.
"It's a part of me that doesn't deserve a name."
"Weather it deserves a name or not, it's still a part of
you, a part you can't hide from, just like Mr. Perfect Soldier
over here." Keika jerked her head towards Heero who was
putting away several boxes of cereal.
"Heero!" Duo's voice came from the living room.
"Hurry up! We don't want to be stuck with her any longer
then you do!"
"Why don't I just put her out of her misery... it would do
everyone a favor."
"You can't just go around killing innocent people."
Hotaru said, "It's not um, fair? Sportsmanlike?
Honorable?"
"Don't worry about it, I wasn't going to kill
her..."
"Oi! Heero, in here, buddy!" Duo's voice yelled again.
Heero shrugged and put his gun away, Keika seemed to relax a
little.
"Have some tea, Heero." Hotaru said, "I hope you
bought more, otherwise we will be drinking Wufei's tea any time
now."
"No, I brought more," Heero said, taking the cup Hotaru
offered. Hotaru looked outside, the twilight was quickly falling,
and she wondered briefly when Minako and Trowa would be back with
Makoto. Clouds are coming in, she thought, seeing the
approaching clouds and regarding them with a shiver. So this was
the last day of good weather. Hotaru noticed there was such a
uneasy stillness in the air and wondered if it had anything to do
with the coming of Relena Peacecraft.
"Heero!"
"I think we should go in before Duo blows an artery."
Hotaru said, and opened the door to the kitchen. Heero followed
her, Keika stayed behind, remembering Usagi's sharp look.
"It
took you long enough." Duo huffed. Heero gave him a death
glare.
"What are you doing here, Relena?" He said in monotone.
"I came to see you, I've missed you... I know you missed me
too..."
"No, what are you really doing here?" Duo
said. "Do you know where you are?"
"Of course I do! It's the 21st century, a time known as
AD!" Relena said, Duo nodded, but he still didn't look
impressed.
"There's no way you can stay here," Usagi said
from the couch. Hotaru nodded, it was a very bended rule that
allowed Heero and the others to stay, but this girl certainly was
no exception.
"There's not exactly any way she can leave, either."
Said a voice from the doorway. Setsuna stood there, she looked
very harassed and tired.
"Setsuna?" Usagi said, "What are you doing
here?"
"What do you mean we can't send her back?" Wufei said,
a look of fear on his face.
"I have just closed the Gates, and I will not be returning
to the 4th dimension until they re-open, which will not be for
several years."
"How, how could you? You mean to tell us that we're
here...stuck with her!?" Duo yelled.
"Quite on the contrary." Setsuna said, "It looks
to me like she is stuck with you."
***
"Well,
I'm glad that's over." Usagi huffed out, entering
the house after she returned from taking Relena to find an
apartment. It had taken her more then two hours to get everything
sorted out, and Usagi was tired. Hey--where was everyone?
"Helloooo...minna..." Usagi whispered. She crept into
the hallway and stuck her head into Michiru and Haruka's room.
There, on their big bed, lay Rei, Michiru, Haruka, Ami and
Makoto. That was to be expected. Usagi knew that to grow faster,
they needed a lot of sleep. She shut the door quietly behind her,
and tiptoed down the hall farther, to Hotaru's room. She peeked
in, but only the dancing moon rays could be seen on the bed.
Usagi was stumped. She then looked in the room she was sharing
with Minako--Setsuna's old room, and found Minako asleep on her
bed. Setsuna had left a few hours earlier, fatigue getting to
her, saying that she would sleep at a hotel for that night until
she could rent an apartment. Okay, Setsuna had left, but where
were the boys and Hotaru? Usagi silently walked to the kitchen
and stuck her head in the door. Hotaru and Heero were seated at
the table, speaking softly to each other. Awww, how sweet,
I'm gonna cry now. Usagi thought, and closed the door, since
neither Heero nor Hotaru had spotted her.
"Well, this is just peachy!" Usagi said loudly.
"Be quiet, onna! You'll wake up the whole damn house!"
Wufei said from the couch, where he had been sleeping on the
fold-out bed. Usagi regarded him with a piercing look, and
skipped over to the TV. She pulled out a bag of cookies from her
stash, and then bounded onto Wufei's bed.
"Aw, put a sock in it, Wu-chan. I was just gonna eat some
cookies, ya want some?"
"Cookies?" Wufei said, looking interested.
"Ah, so the honorable Wufei does have a weak
point!" She said, taking out several cookies and handing
them to Wufei, she claimed quite a few for herself as well.
"So, how did things go? I mean, after I got that Relena girl
out of here."
"Duo almost broke down in tears of happiness, and I swear I
saw a smile break Yuy's face. I would have served her justice
though, Nataku would have been proud."
"Who's Nataku?" Usagi asked.
"Nataku is my...well...it's a long story."
"I've got time," Usagi said, with interest. She propped
herself on her elbows and continued to eat her cookies. So, Wufei
told Usagi all about Nataku and the Gundam days. She listened
with an open mind, amazed at what Wufei had gone through, and his
willingness to tell her about it.
"I
wish I had something like that...I mean, I do, but it's just a
rock... it's nothing as great as something like a spirit."
"A rock?" Wufei said skeptically.
"Yeah--actually, it's a crystal." Usagi said, pulling
her brooch out of her space pocket. She opened it and showed
Wufei the silver crystal inside that was her own. "It's
saved my life more then once, I guess, and it's special and
all." Usagi flipped the brooch around in her fingers
akwordly. "Well, thanks Wu-chan, for telling me this...It's
nice to hear a story that isn't my own." Usagi said, looking
up. She had never realized the intensity of Wufei's onyx eyes.
They were...pretty, and in that instant, Usagi felt
herself being drawn into Wufei's stare. Just as Usagi was caught
up in Wufei's eyes, a solitary dragon was being tempted into a
pool of pure blue.
***
AN: Okay, that's it for now, minna-san. You won't be seeing anything for awhile because I'm goin' on vacation this week...gonna be lots o' fun! So, wish me lots o' fun, k? Anyway, Just to let ya' know, peoples who have been kinda following what I do- I'm working on River of White. Re-writing it and such, I'm still on the prelude, but it's turning out better then before, so you should be proud of me. Oh, and just to let you know beforehand, this won't be a deathfic, the last one was, and I think that was pretty weepy, and all's good that ends good, right? I'm feeling happier now, cauz' I got my report card and I got a B in math! Happiness fills me!! I was kinda worried there for awhile, I was sick for two straight weeks, and the baka math teacher didn't tell me a bloody thing about what we were doing! So, I did better then I thought I would, got a B in math and a B in LA. My baka History teacher told me that I got an A in History, but NO! It was an A-. (Sorry, I look for perciseness in EVERYTHING!) Oh, boy, this note is turning out to be a novel, ne? Okay, well I'll talk to ya'll later! Ja-ne!