"So" Duo asked sheepishly, "How long have you known Kay?" Duo and Trowa were back at the abandoned space station. He was sitting at table across from Natalie. He kept eyeing out Kay who was sitting on a box of ammo, cleaning his gun.
Earlier, she was checking out his gun. She complained that it was poorly kept and very dirty. She offered to clean it for him. What could he do? He certainly couldn't turn down an offer like that!
She shook her head and glanced at Duo. He smiled widely at her. She rolled her eyes at him and went back to cleaning his gun.
Duo sighed deeply. Nat noticed Duo's grim mood at once.
"You got the hots for Kay, don't you?" she asked.
"Is it that obvious? I mean, have I been that dumb?" he asked.
Nat just smiled.
"Maybe that's why she doesn't like me." Duo said sadly.
"No! You have that all wrong, Duo." She said.
Duo looked up.
"That's right. All you have been doing is attacking the problem from the wrong perspective." Nat explained.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Kay is a very cuddly person. She gets very attached to her guy but…"
Duos smiled faded a little. "There's a bad thing? I would like my girl to be cuddly and loving and everything like that."
"That's not the point. You see, people like that tend to be very vulnerable to others. In other words, others treat them like shit and take advantage of them, there fore hurting them." Nat replied.
Duo thought for a moment and then turned to look at Kay who was now polishing his gun. It gleamed in the light.
"Wow…" he sighed, staring at her. He thought for a while then said, "How do you get her attention?"
"Well, all you have to do is be yourself. She likes the funny folk. Just play it cool and don't worry. If she digs you, then you know you did it right. Oh and don't offend her. If it is supposed to be a joke, then tell her so."
Duo took in all this information and took a deep breath. He got up and walked over.
When he got there, Kay raised the gun and fired at a practice dummy, hitting it right on the nose. She looked up at Duo. She returned his gun and fired it towards the dummy. He hit it in the eye.
"Wow!" Kay said, "Who taught you how to shoot like that?"
"I should ask you that. I have never seen anyone shoot so good." Duo said, honestly.
Kay smiled and gleamed up at Duo.
"Can I sit?' he asked.
Kay moved all her cleaning supplies to the ground and moved down. Duo sat next to her and they started talking.
"So, how long have you known Nat?" He asked.
"I heard you ask that to Natalie. Didn't she answer?" Kay said, smiling but looking down.
Duo looked shocked. "You didn't hear the whole conversation, did you?" He asked.
"No," she said, "Only the first few words. Then I found a glitch in you gun." She pointed to a small metal piece on the ground. "If you had fired that, then it would've backfired."
"Duo's mouth dropped. "Wha…"
"Don't worry, I cleaned it thoroughly again and I'm positive that nothing is wrong with it." Kay said, handing over the weapon. Duo took it and examined it.
"Wow. That's great. Thanks." He said.
Kay smiled again and stood up. She looked toward Duo and said, "Uh, where are all my stuff?"
"Stuff?"
"Well, I hate to ask but, well…" Kay said, her voice fading.
"What? Are you all right? Duo asked.
Kay looked up. She smiled and shook her head. "Never mind" She turned to walk away but Duo stopped her.
"No. It's ok. Tell me." He said kindly.
"Well," she started, "I never really asked anyone for anything but, we don't have extra clothes or a place to stay and I was kind of wondering…"
"If you could stay with us and if we had another set of clothes?" Duo said, finishing her sentence.
"Yes that is exactly what she meant." Nat said, walking over to them. Duo grinned as Nat winked.
"Ok. What is going on here? Did I miss something?" Kay asked, eyeing Nat and Duo.
"No!" they said quickly.
Kay raised her eyebrow and turned away. With her back facing them, Nat and Duo smiled and gave each other a thumbs-up.
Duo called after Kay. "Hey wait! What about the clothes and the room?"
"Anything is fine." She answered without turning around.
"What about you, Nat?" Duo asked
"Same." She said and ran after Kay.
When she caught up with her, Kay was warming up, doing the basic kicks of martial arts. Nat joined her.
"Why are you warming up?" She asked.
"Why are you?" Kay asked as she did a spin kick.
"Well, I guess we have to keep it in mind." She said as she followed Kay with the same kick.
"Hurry up." Kay said, "Your falling behind"
Natalie quickened her pace and soon had caught up. "I think we are getting bad at this. I mean, we are losing the touch."
"No way! We didn't win all those championships to lose the touch!" Kay said.
They both did the splits. Then landed a punch straightforward. That was the end of the warm up. They walked outside to get a drink of water.
"Hey! I have an idea. Let's have a scrimmage!" Nat said.
"In other words you want me to fight you?" Kay asked, surprised.
"Yeah why not? Two fights. Winner of the two is champ and no tie breakers." She said.
"Bring it on!" Kay yelled.
Duo walked over. "This will be interesting."
Trowa walked out of a room. Duo called him over to watch the fight.
The two girls bowed to each other and took their defense position. Nat through the first punch and missed as Kay rolled over. She swung her leg around Nat's ankles and took her down. Nat kicked Kay in the face and stood up.
"Nice" Kay said as she ducked under Nat's attack.
After a few minutes, Nat landed a punch right in Kay's stomach. Kay doubled over and Nat kicked her face. She flipped onto her back and tapped the ground to show her defeat.
Nat laughed as they bowed again for the second and final match. This time, Kay was on the offensive. She kicked as Nat moved just in time. Nat turned around and grabbed Kay by her shirt and pushed her against the wall.
"Hey!" she yelled. When Nat let her go Kay muttered, "Americans."
Nat smiled as Kay continued her attack. Kay false kicked Nat and forced her to move to the left. Kay grabbed her shirt and slipped her leg around Nat's ankle and pulled. Nat fell to the ground. As she stood up, Kay punched her in her side and again in her stomach. Before she could kick her, Nat gave up.
They bowed one last time and hugged. "It was a tie" Kay said, "We both won"
Trowa walked back into the room he was in and Duo stood up.
"Wow! That was great!" he commented.
"Thanks" the girls said in unison. Kay poured water down her face and sighed in relief. Nat drank her water down in a couple gulps and took a deep breath.
"Well Kay, we know one thing."
"What?"
"We still got the skill." She said.
"I agree" Kay said as they sat down.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*