Angel in Disguise by Comet~Princess
Disclaimer: Geez, don´t you people get tired of this? I´ve already said I don´t own Sailormoon or Gundam Wing seven times. What makes you think I´ll start owning it now?
AN: I want to clear up a few things for people. First, all Usagi knows about Heero is what Jupiter and Pluto told her. She doesn´t know about him and the rest of the guys being Gundam pilots. . .as of the end of the last chapter. Second, as you can tell by the chapter title, a lot of things will be explained in this chapter. Please don´t assume the characters know more than what is written on paper, or in this case, computer screen. You´ll just confuse yourself.
Warnings: Heero is OOC and I have a feeling you guys are going to be upset with me for this chapter. Just be reassured that it´s not over yet. This is kind of a boring and depressing chapter. You´ve been warned. ^_^
SilverRay : Are you trying to tell me something? ^_^ Well, it´s out about half a week early!
the Desert Fox: Gomen nasai. There´s still about a third of the story to go, and I usually leave my endings a little open, so I don´t know if that´s going to happen. I´ll consider it though.
Cheska: I don´t know how it´s going to end either! LOL! I´ll have to work it out sometime, ne?
Timeframe: Starts at around October of A.C. 196. You´ll have to remember this at various points in this chapter.
Now, let´s see what Pluto wants. . .
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Chapter 7 - Background Information
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Heero awoke very early the morning after the peace celebration. He needed to find some information on the Barton Foundation that he had saw on those men´s ids the day before. Turning on his laptop, he started clicking away on the keys and hacking into files. Soon, he found a list of Bartons. He scanned the list quickly. The entire family was deceased except for three: a Trowa Barton, a Dekim Barton, and a Mariemeia Barton.
"The Barton Foundation," Heero murmured to himself as he read the three profiles. Mariemeia was apparently Trowa´s niece, but he knew that his friend wasn´t the real Trowa Barton. I´m going to have to ask him about this, he thought to himself. A familiar voice interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Pluto?" he heard Usagi said.
Heero frowned slightly. Why was she calling to a planet? He got up from his desk and was about to knock on her door to ask what was wrong when he heard another voice speak.
~*~*~*~*~
"Good morning, Seraphina," Pluto greeted, "How are you doing so far?"
"Um. . . really good, Pluto," Usagi managed to stutter out. "Uh. . . what are you doing here?"
"I am here to tell you that you must return now," Pluto answered softly, knowing very well what Usagi had been doing, being the time guardian.
Usagi shook her head, her hair flying in every direction. "No!" she replied, tears threatening to fall. "Please let me stay, just a little while more?"
"I can´t," Pluto said. "Your mission was to help the Chosen Warrior, better known to you now as Heero Yuy, regain his humanity. Now that it´s done, you must come home. That is the way things are supposed to happen, according to the timeline."
"But I-" Usagi started.
"I know," Pluto interrupted. "I know. But you still cannot stay here."
Usagi remained silent. What was she supposed to say? Pluto knew that she was in love with him, but that appears to be of little concern to her. Usagi bit her lip. "Can I at least say goodbye?" she asked softly.
Pluto nodded. "Yes, but you may wish you didn´t do that after," she answered before disappearing as abruptly as she appeared.
Usagi sighed before getting out of bed and changing out of her pyjamas. She wondered briefly if her and Heero would still be a possibility if she told him everything. Then, she decided against it. It won´t be fair to him at all, she thought with a pang of guilt at her own selfish wants. She took a deep breath and headed for the kitchen to make some breakfast. It was still really early, too early for any normal person to be up on a weekend, which is why she was very surprised to find Heero sitting at the kitchen table. There was nothing cooking, nothing on the table, and Heero was doing nothing but glaring at her with his emotionless eyes.
"Good morning, Heero," she greeted, attempting her best to be cheerful. "How come you´re up so early?"
"I could ask you the same," Heero replied, his voice cold.
Noting his mood, Usagi asked carefully, "What´s wrong?"
"Don´t play games with me, Usagi, Seraphina, or whatever your name is," Heero said.
Usagi paled at the name he called her. How did he know that name?
Reading her question in her eyes, Heero answered, "I overhead your conversation." He stood up and whipped out his gun. "Who are you really and who do you work for?"
"Please, Heero, listen to me!" Usagi pleaded.
"No," Heero said, his voice deadly calm. "Maybe I don´t want to listen to you anymore." A streak of sadness passed through his eyes. But it was gone as quickly as it came. "I thought you were different, that you actually cared about a cold-blooded person like me. But I was wrong. You were different, because you´re the only person who´s ever played me like a pawn in a chess game," he accused.
Usagi´s eyes filled with tears. "Is that what you really think?" she asked softly, her voice shaking.
"Does it matter to you?" Heero replied. "You played your part. Go back to where you came from. You can tell them that you completed your mission."
Usagi´s tears fell from her eyes. She felt like he had just taken out her heart and ripped it to shreds. Seeing her heartbroken tears and hearing her sobs, Heero was tempted to just hold her, tell her he was sorry, that he was wrong in accusing her, but the soldier in him wouldn´t allow it. His years of training refused to let him. Taking one last look at him, Usagi whispered, "Goodbye." And she ran out of the dorm, the door slamming shut behind her with finality.
Heero sat back down in his chair, putting his gun away and burying his face in his arms. Hearing that goodbye and the slamming of the door made him feel like his heart had been cut open. It hurt a lot, and he didn´t know why. It hurt more than all the training he´d endured as a child. Heck, it hurt more than the time he almost died self-detonating Wing Gundam. Life is such an ironic façade, he thought with bitterness. He´d suppressed his emotions all his life because he didn´t want them to interfere with his missions. Now, the one time he actually let himself care about someone, it turned out that it had been her mission. He sighed out loud. Dr. J was right. Emotions got in the way. But no one told me they hurt like hell, he thought. "Usagi Tsukino," he murmured, and suddenly, he wanted to smack himself. He had known to search for Barton, but not for Usagi´s last name. He needed to know more about her family. Walking back to his room, Heero opened another window and started a search. There was no family information, just a really old newspaper article. Whatever, better than nothing at all, he thought as he clicked on it. Heero skimmed the article quickly. Apparently, the Tsukinos were a family of scientists. In A.C. 180, the entire lab blew up due to some experiment gone wrong. (AN: Yes, it can happen.) The only member of the family who survived was a baby who was barely a month old.
"Usagi," Heero muttered to himself. "But what happened to her after that?" Something was nudging him in the back of his mind, and he knew it´d give him the answer. He quickly replayed the entire morning in his head. Seraphina, he answered himself. That was what that lady called her. Heero blinked. Wait a second. How did that woman get in and out of the dorm without him noticing anyway? "Not important right now," he said to himself as he searched for anyone with the name 'Seraphina.´ It was a rare name. It shouldn´t be that hard to find. He was right. There was only one record of anyone with that name. A girl named Seraphina Hikari. As soon as the profile came up, Heero knew he´d hit the nail on the head. He would recognize the picture of the silver-haired girl and her sparkling blue eyes anywhere. He read the information quickly, and blinked. "What?!" he grumbled in a very un-Heero-like manner. He read it a second time before printing out the profile and walking to Trowa´s room.
~*~*~*~*~
Duo chatted a mile a minute as he ate his breakfast with Trowa. Quatre had taken Wufei and gone to the Preventers´ Headquarters with him, not wanting to leave the Chinese boy alone with Duo in case he would find one dead pilot when he came back. So, now, Trowa was reading the newspaper and tuning out Duo while he talked on and on about cream pies. He stopped when he heard a knock on the door.
Trowa looked up from the headline news. "Must be Heero," he concluded before getting up to open the door. As soon as it was open, a piece of paper got shoved into Trowa´s face.
"Tell me I´m reading this wrong," Heero commanded in monotone.
Duo´s head popped out from the kitchen door. "You´re reading it wrong," he said.
Heero glared at him. Trowa took the piece of paper off his face, shut the door behind Heero, and led him to the kitchen while he scanned the profile. He read it once, blinked, read it a second time, and blinked again.
"You sure this is right?" he asked Heero, who had helped himself to a cup of coffee.
Growing impatient, Duo grabbed the piece of paper from Trowa and read it himself. "So? This is Usagi and she has a different name. So what?" he said. "It looks normal otherwise. Name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, date of death, hair colour, eye-" Duo stopped abruptly. "Date of death?" he asked aloud.
"October of A.C. 195 when the colony she was living on was blown up," Heero answered.
"Wouldn´t that mean she´s been dead for over a year? But we only met her two months ago! What?!" Duo exclaimed, waving the piece of paper around. (AN: Thanks to key, who asked awhile back whether or not Usagi´s dead. You inspired me about Usagi-chan´s background. ^_^)
Heero looked at Trowa. "You´re the one that believes in the supernatural and afterlife," he said.
"Afterlife?! You mean she´s a ghost?!" Duo yelled.
"I don´t believe in THAT," Trowa answered calmly. "I´m interested in it, and even so, only in the Gods."
"So she´s a goddess," Duo concluded.
"Stop jumping to conclusions, Duo," Trowa said. He turned to Heero. "Are you absolutely sure this is her?"
"If you know someone else with silver hair and those blue eyes, you can tell me now," Heero replied, crossing his arms.
Duo and Trowa both shook their heads. "How did you find this?" Trowa asked Heero. He had always felt that something wasn´t quite right with Usagi, but he had never come across this. Certainly, the name was part of the reason, but how would Heero know that name?
"Overheard someone calling her by that name," Heero answered.
"Who?" Duo questioned.
"Hn," Heero grunted.
"So Usagi was a code name?" Trowa asked.
Heero shook his head and gave a very brief history of the Tsukinos.
"So she got adopted into another family after and they changed her name?" Duo asked.
Heero grunted an affirmative.
"Maybe the record´s wrong," Trowa said. Sure, he was interested in the supernatural, but that didn´t mean he believed it. Still, it would explain a lot about Usagi if she did come from the heavens or whatnot.
Heero shrugged. It was a possibility, but the records stated that she had been on the colony the day it was blown up, and they had no reason to lie. "I have a favour to ask of you, Trowa," Heero added.
Trowa looked up. Heero rarely asked for favours. "What do you need?" he inquired.
"What do you know about the 'Chosen Warrior´ ?" Heero asked.
"Huh?" Duo cut in. "Are you okay, Heero? Wouldn´t a chosen warrior be a guy who was elected to fight or something?"
Heero glared at his comrade. "Omae o korosu if you don´t shut up right now," he threatened.
Duo snapped his mouth shut. There was something about the way Heero had said that this time that made Duo believe his friend would actually carry out the threat if he didn´t comply.
Trowa stared at Heero for a moment before answering. "It´s a myth, or prophecy, or a tradition among the Gods. I´ve only read it once. As far as I remember, a person is selected by the Gods to fight for the Earth and its people. That person rarely finds out he or she was picked. They´re supposed to have superior combat skills and a higher survival rate. They´re also supposed to be able to sense magic," Trowa informed them.
Duo blinked. "Sure, whatever. Who believes this stuff anyway?" he muttered. "You guys are way too weird. I´m going to get some chocolate."
A couple of minutes after Duo has left the dorm, Heero spoke up. "How are they supposed to sense magic?"
"I have no idea," Trowa admitted. "I would guess it´s just a sixth sense."
"The profile isn´t wrong then," Heero concluded.
"What?" Trowa asked, surprised despite the fact that he wasn´t showing it.
"I´ve had weird sensations at random times during the past couple of months. A few times the day Usagi arrived, just before Wufei attacked me about sandwiches on her first day of school, among a few," Heero answered. "If what I overhead and what you say is true, then I´ll say she was using magic when I felt it. I just assumed it was a premonition about the rebels before," he finished.
"Are you telling me Usagi is a supernatural being and you´re the so-called Chosen Warrior?" Trowa asked.
Heero nodded. "That´s what the woman Usagi was talking to called me," he confessed.
"What happened anyway?" Trowa questioned, knowing he was missing a large part of the puzzle Heero had laid out for him.
"I´d rather not talk about it," Heero replied, looking at Trowa meaningfully. "Don´t bring it up with the others either. All you need to know is that she´s gone."
Trowa twitched, but refrained himself from asking any more questions. It was obvious that Heero would tell him if he wanted to, and that whatever had occurred, he was upset that Usagi had left. Trowa nodded, accepting his friend´s decision.
~*~*~*~*~
"So, we cracked the code on the disc and found a detailed description of the computer system of the base at Wincara, which is supposed to be their headquarters," Quatre finished.
The guys were sitting around Heero´s dorm, exchanging information on the last mission. Heero had displayed no reaction what-so-ever at the trap with the mobile suits his friends had encountered. But his information on the Barton Foundation triggered quite a reaction from his comrades. Trowa had proceeded to explain that he had been Nanashi, an ordinary engineer who was working on the construction of Heavyarms. The real Trowa Barton had been a member of the Barton Foundation and had wanted to proceed with the original Operation Meteor. The scientists had disagreed and shot him. Nanashi had then proposed to them that he could take over Trowa Barton´s identity and keep their crime under wraps. That was how he became the pilot of Heavyarms.
"What do you know about Mariemeia?" Heero asked. Since his talk with Trowa that morning, he had tried to push all thoughts of Usagi away from his stubborn memory. A mission in progress was the best distraction. None of the guys had brought up Usagi, not even when he suggested using his dorm room as the meeting place. As far as Heero knew, Trowa had informed them of her departure and warned them not to bring it up around him at all.
"About as much as you," Trowa replied. "She´s the real Trowa´s niece and he bragged once that she would rule the Earth."
Heero narrowed his eyes, but Quatre was the first to speak up. "We shouldn´t jump to conclusions just because he said that. Besides, we don´t even know if the Barton Foundation is behind the recent rebellion or whether they´ve changed in the past years," he reasoned.
"Yea," Duo agreed. "We should do what we can for now."
"That means attacking that base," Wufei imputed.
"The computer system is apparently a double mainframe, which means you need two people to decode the file at the same time," Quatre explained. "It´s your routine mission. Get the disc and blow up the base." (AN: Remember the James Bond movie Goldeneye, where you need two keys to turn simultaneously to activate the computer program? Kind of like that.)
"Mission accepted," Heero said in monotone and got up to go to the hangar, not bothering to wait for the others.
As soon as the door shut, Quatre turned to Trowa. "He was actually happy for the past couple of days, and now it´s back to no emotions at all. What happened between him and Usagi?" he asked worriedly.
"I really don´t know," Trowa answered.
"He was asking weirdo questions this morning too," Duo blurted out.
Trowa shot Duo a look and Wufei muttered, "Onnas just make you weak."
"You may think so," Quatre replied softly, "but I think he would rather have her back."
"How would you know, Winner? You heard as much as I did," Wufei retorted.
Quatre pressed a hand to his heart. "I feel it, the pain in his heart," he said.
Duo´s eyes widened. "Are you telling me Perfect Soldier is in love with Usagi?" he asked incredulously. Despite the fact that they didn´t know whether or not that was her name, the guys had grown used to using it, which is why they still called her Usagi.
"I don´t know," Quatre replied. "The only person who can answer that is Heero himself."
"I so knew Heero wasn´t a normal person," Duo grumbled. At his three comrades´ questioning stares, he explained, "It would figure that the one person Heero falls in love is either a ghost or a goddess."
~*~*~*~*~
Seraphina hugged the giant stuffed bunny to her as she cried. She had gone back to the dorm after she knew Heero had left to retrieve it. It wasn´t as though he´d want it back, and she needed to have something of his close to her. She was sitting in the gardens. Flowers were blooming all around her. They came in all types and colours, but right now, they may as well be black and white. Someone clearing their throat interrupted her crying fest. She whirled around to find Pluto looking at her sympathetically.
"Are you alright?" the time guardian asked carefully.
Seraphina shook her head. "I´ll never be alright," she whispered hoarsely.
"I´m sorry, Seraphina," Pluto said softly.
"I knew I shouldn´t fall in love with him, but I did anyway," Seraphina replied. "Don´t be sorry."
A moment of silence passed where Pluto didn´t know what to say to the young angel. It was Seraphina that voiced her thoughts first. "Don´t you and Jupiter need to punish me?" she asked.
"We can´t do that," Pluto replied.
Seraphina looked up into her friend´s eyes. "Why not? Didn´t I break a rule?"
"It´s forbidden for immortals to fall in love with mortals if it was not supposed to happen according to the timeline. You merely did what Fate set out for you to do," Pluto said.
"Wait a second!" Seraphina exclaimed. "Are you saying that I was supposed to fall in love with Heero?"
Pluto nodded. "You still had control over yourself, but the truth is, there was no other way for him to regain his humanity. Fate wanted to him to live a normal life and break down the barriers he´d put up around himself, and the only being who could have done that for it was you. You intrigued the Chosen Warrior like no mortal could, as you have affected many of us here. That was why you were selected by Jupiter and myself to do this task. You and him falling in love was part of the necessary process," she explained.
Seraphina sat in open-mouthed shock. Her eyes were glazed for a minute before they started snapping with fury. "So I was a chess piece in this life-size game board as well," she said, not even realizing that she had used Heero´s analogy. She turned to Pluto. "Can I be with him?" she asked, hoping that there was at least one good card in this cruel hand that Fate had dealt her.
"The timeline says it will not happen," Pluto supplied.
"And you knew all this? But you still sent me down
there?" Seraphina asked.
"I´m sorry, Seraphina, but the timeline must be followed," Pluto replied.
Seraphina stood up, glaring down at the woman. "Screw Fate and screw the timeline!" she said angrily. "I don´t care what you and Jupiter do to me! The only thing that matters is Heero and I´ll make damn sure that he´s safe and happy if it´s the last thing I do!" That said, Seraphina stomped off to the pathway to Earth.
"Seraphina, you cannot be with him because he will age as you will not. How can that be fair to him? Seeing you at sixteen when he is sixty," Pluto called out. She knew this angel´s weakness, and she knew she must stop Seraphina from messing with what was set out to happen.
Seraphina´s steps faltered. She stopped in the middle of the pathway and closed her eyes. Maybe she can´t be with him, but she said she´ll make sure HE was happy and safe, not herself. Without another glance at Pluto, she continued on her way.
Pluto watched her retreating back with sorrow. "I´m sorry, Seraphina, but your love with the Chosen Warrior cannot happen," she murmured before leaving for the time gate.
In the shadow, a blond haired, blue eyed figure stepped out into the light. She had wanted to cheer up her best friend when she saw Pluto come by, so she had ducked behind one of the many trees around the garden. She had seen and heard the entire conversation. "You´re wrong, Pluto," she whispered. "True love is stronger than any power Fate and your timeline has over any being´s life. You may be the time guardian, but I am the Goddess of Love."
~*~*~*~*~
"So, who´s going in this time?" Duo asked cheerfully over the vid-com.
"I´m taking care of the suits," Wufei replied, indicating that he was not going to be hacking into the computer system.
"I will," Heero said.
"Be careful, Heero," Quatre replied. "After the last two bases, I have a really bad feeling about this one."
Heero shrugged. So what? If he died, he died. Maybe that would even be better. If the afterlife existed, he could at least be with the one person he cared about. He didn´t really know what was wrong with him. When he had found out that he had been her mission, he had been angry, with her or with himself, he didn´t know. A little of both, he supposed. She had lied to him, or concealed the truth was a little more accurate, but he guessed that he was more upset with the fact that he had been so careless about who she was and what she was doing. He didn´t even clue in that something was wrong after she had tried to set him up with Relena, for God´s sake. He had been totally intrigued and protective of the beautiful girl, and he was supposed to be the Perfect Soldier. He hated himself for caring, but he can´t stop caring either, no matter how much he tried. She didn´t know it, but he had already forgiven her. And he´d give his life to have her back, pathetic as it may seem.
"We need someone else to go in too," Trowa reminded them.
"The person who´s closest to me will come with me," Heero commanded.
Duo, Trowa, and Quatre nodded while Wufei promised himself to stay far away from Heero. He preferred beating the crap out of mobile suits to waiting for some information to download. Suddenly, as though the enemy knew they were coming, the five Gundams were attacked by multiple missiles, courtesy of the Wincara base. The Gundams dispersed and moved in to attack. They soon found out why this base was the headquarters. The mobile suits were stronger and much more organized, the pilots better than those at the other bases. Even though the Gundams were physically stronger, they were greatly outnumbered.
The new enemy mobile suits vaguely resembled Heavyarms. It had a double gatling gun on one arm and missile launchers on its shoulders. The colour was a dull green. (AN: We know this as the Serpent. ^_^)
Wing Zero used the twin buster rifle to take down about ten suits before throwing it aside. It consumed a lot of energy and took a long time to charge. It drew its beam saber and proceeded to take them down in close combat. Deathscythe Hell slashed a couple with its scythe while Altron used its trident. The suits, however, seemed to be stronger than the Leos and the Taurus. The Gundams´ attacks didn´t blow the suits up and Duo voiced this observation through the vid-com.
"They´re made of Neo-Titanium," Quatre answered, reading the analysis from Sandrock´s computer. "They´re stronger than the ones we´ve faced in the past."
"Change of plans," Heero ordered. "Lower the numbers before we go into the base."
Quatre agreed. "We´re already outnumbered as it is."
It was easier said than done though. Heavyarms was steadily running out of ammunition, and Sandrock was taking damage from the multiple missile attacks. Altron and Wing Zero both appeared to be on rampages, just taking out whatever suits they wanted.
"Energy level lowering," Heero announced as the beam on his Gundam´s beam saber faded away.
As the Serpents moved in to attack the seemingly disabled Wing Zero, the beam saber started glowing again, except this time, it was silver instead of green. Heero blinked before snapping back into soldier mode. He slashed through a fair amount of the mobile suits in his way and surprisingly, they blew up this time.
Duo´s eyes widened. "Hey Heero! Want to tell me what you just did?" he asked as he tried frantically to reserve his own Gundam´s energy.
Instead of answering Duo´s question, Heero grabbed the communicator and jumped out of the cockpit into the base. "Are you coming?" he asked Duo through the little black device.
Duo looked around and noted that he was the closest person to the base, next to Heero. He sighed and jumped down, following Heero down the twisting halls, knocking out guards along the way.
"You sure they´ll be able to handle it?" Duo questioned.
Heero glared at his comrade before answering, "We have some extra help. They´ll be fine."
Duo paused. "Huh?" he asked.
Heero didn´t bother to reply as they barged into the control room, shooting down the five guards inside. "You take that one," he commanded as he seated himself at the opposite computer and started to type. Duo mumbled something about anti-social, trigger-happy perfect soldiers before following Heero´s example. Minutes later, the information was downloaded onto a disc. An alarm ran out and metal bars came crashing down around the doorway, efficiently locking the two pilots in the room. Duo ran to the bars and tried to pry them open. He swore when he realized it was impossible.
"Don´t waste your efforts," Heero replied from the computer. "It´s Neo-Titanium. We can´t get out."
"How do you know that?" Duo asked.
Heero pointed to the computer screen, where a message read: The bars are made of the same material as the mobile suits you fought. Don´t bother to break out. Goodbye, Gundam pilots.
"How can you be so calm?! This base will self-destruct in five minutes!" Duo yelled.
Heero stood up and went to the computer Duo was using. "We knew from the start it was a trap," he answered. "The important thing is getting this information out to Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei." He contacted Quatre on the communicator, summarizing their situation as he opened a line between the computer he was using and the one inside Sandrock. Duo, meanwhile, had calmed down and was trying to deactivate the self-destruct through a second computer.
"We´ll come get you!" Quatre´s voice ran out desperately through the communicator.
"I think you have your own troubles," Heero replied. As the information completely transferred to Quatre, Heero added, "I´m going to destroy Wing Zero so the enemy doesn´t get to it. Hurry up and get out of here." Quatre was about to reply, but Heero cut the line off.
"There´s a complex five-way lock on it," Duo announced.
Heero nodded. "They figured we wouldn´t all come in," he said, standing up from his seat and taking out Wing Zero´s self-destruction device.
Duo looked at his friend and took out the one to Deathscythe Hell. "We may not get out, but they won´t get to the Gundams," he said firmly. Then, as an effort to lighten the mood, he added slyly to Heero, "Sorry you never got to see her again."
Much to Duo´s surprise, Heero smirked as he looked at the timer on the computer. "I already have."
As the timer reached zero, both boys pressed the switch to destroy their Gundams as the base blew up around them.
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End of Chapter 7.
AN: Told you it was boring and depressing. Anywho,
don´t forget to REVIEW! It´s greatly appreciated by us
authors, in case you didn´t know. Um. . .yea, that´s it for
now. *runs behind Heero* Hii-chan, they´re trying to kill me! Ah!