Chapter 5
Heero left Jai to arrange her quarters as she saw fit. He decided he needed an outlet for some of the raw emotion he was feeling right then. Putting holes in things usually helped, strangely enough. To anyone who didn't know him even marginally, anyway. To avoid an outburst that could result in some plaster related repairs, he rested his hand on the gun he now kept in a holster under his jacket, although he still kept his trusty revolver in a small ankle holster. He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for sub-basement one, where the shooting range was. He always got a degree of satisfaction from looking at the faces on people as he put the target back to the maximum possible range and putting a single hole through each eye socket, one in the forehead, and one in each of the vital organs. One time, he had shot a line of bullets, each hole interconnected, around the arm that held the target in the air, causing the arm to be holding nothing but a small semi-circle of paper, and the rest of the target, sans scalp, to fall on the floor. He had accomplished this in about two seconds, and shot eight times. When he left, everyone else was still wondering whether their hearts were going to start beating again.
When he walked into the range, he noticed a target near the other side of the room, and while he watched, two eyes, a nose, and a smiley face were carved into the head of the target with bullet holes. He knew instantly who was in THAT stall, and decided to go have a little talk with Mr. Marksman, AKA Duo. He kept right on shooting smiley faces into innocent paper while Heero walked up behind the stall he was using. He tapped Duo on the shoulder,
"GAH!" Duo yelped, causing the next shot to go wild, right into the forehead of a target that already had a nose and two eyes.
"Don't DO that!" Duo exclaimed, turning to face Heero. "I don't see your name on this stall, and I was here first!"
"I don't want the stall, you baka. I came down here for the same reason you did."
"What, Jai nail YOUR arm, too? He asked, peering at Heero's left side with wide eyes. Duo held up previously immobilized arm. "This thing is just now coming back under my control." He looked back at his target, and grimaced. "Oh, that's gotta hurt. Sorry, man." He turned back to Heero, and said. "I hope you don't think I'm trying to take the skirmish onto enemy ground, but did you notice the way Quatre was looking at Jai? I don't think I've ever seen him look at someone like that. Especially those weird girls his sister….now what the hell was her name….Oh yeah! Kellee! Why is she always trying to set him up?" he asked, turning back to his target.
"I don't think she likes to see him alone, even with us as friends."
"Hey, we're better company than those funky chicks she keeps sending to him!" He shot one…two…three…four…five more times. "They always act like they're around royalty and they have to see to his every need. That's a good quality in a maid, not someone she seems to think he wants to spend some time with." He brought the target back up to the counter, unclipped it, and handed it to Heero. "Here. You keep this. Suits you well enough" Duo walked away, and Heero watched him go. He then looked at the target. It had a nose, two eyes, a hole in it's forehead, and……and a frown on it's face.
'That guy's got a weird sense of humor.' He thought as he occupied the stall Duo had vacated. He had to acknowledge that he was a good source of information, even if he was a bigger irritation than a horde of locusts.
His attention was on Quatre right now, though, and he had to get the point across to him that Jai was not exactly available, inasmuch as either he or his sister would probably apply some sort of sleeper hold if Quatre got too close. Every time he made an advance, he'd wake up about half an hour later with a brush burn on his forehead from sliding down the wall after one of the Yuy twins jabbed a nerve ending in his neck or something.
He began to shoot, with the usual speed and accuracy that he was sometimes glad had been pounded into him. There were things about being the supposed "perfect soldier" that he, in fact, enjoyed. He could make a pile of these targets two feet high with that you'd be able see straight through in six or seven places at once if you held them up right.
Quatre remained in his quarters for the morning, playing his violin. The crystalline voice of the bow and the strings dancing conjured images his mind gladly embraced. His home, his sisters, this whole planet, now that peace reigned. While his instrument sang, his soul sang with it. He would do this as often as possible, and he pitied those who could not. Sweet music flowed from his softly swaying form, and put him at peace. It was slightly different this morning, though. The song of the strings called up another image, one he had not seen before that morning.
'Janai'
Her beauty was parallel to that of the sweet song that had conjured it's image. Fitting, he supposed, as he set the violin back in it's case, and left his quarters refreshed from the morning's battle, and in the process, nearly ran into the goddess he had been thinking of.
"Ah, nice to see you again, Janai." He said, a pleasant smile on his face while he made a short bow.
"Please, call me Jai. Anyone I consider a friend does. Quatre, right?"
"Right." Quatre couldn't help noticing that her smile made his knees weaken a little, and that she had extremely blue eyes. It was like staring into two sparkling sapphires. Before he could be caught gawking, however, he renewed the conversation. "That was very impressive work up there. I think even Heero was a little stunned, and being his sister, you should know that it isn't easy to surprise Heero."
"Yes, actually, I was going down to the database to collect some information on your Gundams. If I'm going to help redesign parts of them, I'm going to need to install new generators, and new circuitry in some places. I need to know how big the current housings for the original generators are."
"Perhaps I could be of some help. I would be of the most help redesigning Sandrock, of course, but I imagine I could help with the rest of them, too." 'Please say yes.' He pleaded silently, as she pretended to think it over.
"All right. One more good brain to work on the problem. Now come on, let's head down. We've got work to do." She said as she turned to the elevator, waited until he got in, and pushed the button for the floor the computer database was on.
Later, after Jai had collected the design specs on the rest of the Gundams, Quatre looking over her shoulder pretty much the entire time, her trying to focus as much of her attention on the computer as she could, while being mentally assaulted by admittedly eloquent compliments radiating from him. She had never really known that you could still have a way with words in your own head. She couldn't remember when she had ever been so highly praised, and while she enjoyed it, it was somewhat unnerving.
When she and Quatre went their separate ways, she sought out Heero. She found him at the shooting range, 'of all places,' she added silently. She walked up behind the stall he was in, and said his name. He didn't even flinch, and she had to admire his control, anyone else would have at least missed a shot when someone came up silently behind them and suddenly said something. No such luck. His next shot went directly through the target's left eye.
She reached beside him toward a pile of targets about two inches high, and held up about half of them. She produced a small flashlight from a pouch at her belt, and shone it at the back of the targets. You could see the light through the entire stack all at once, in about seven places.
"Come on. I have something to discuss with you." She said, and led him back to the quarters. On the way she told him about Quatre, and repeated some of the most flattering compliments she had ever received, much less from someone who didn't see fit to voice them.
When she was done, Heero turned to her and asked, "One bullet or two?"
Jai laughed. This side of Heero was hers, and no one else even had a hint that it existed. "What are you, a hit man? I didn't shoot him, and you aren't going to, either."
Heero was beginning to worry about this. She had never enjoyed being flattered before she got here. She was more likely to knock you out if you tried. Maybe it was because it was only Quatre's thoughts she had picked up on, and he hadn't actually said anything. In any case, he would have to try to deter Quatre from his undoubted future ambitions. He discussed the remodeling ideas for the Gundams half-heartedly. He had other things on his mind. Jai, who didn't have to read his mind to tell he didn't particularly want to talk. She eventually made an excuse to make an exit, and left him to himself.
Heero thought about his problem for a moment. He had a sister who had forgotten more ways to kill someone than Quatre ever knew, and second, he had a friend that was apparently either infatuated with this sister, or had never seen a girl before. The guy grew up with something like twenty eight sisters. He knew what women looked like. That ruled out the second possibility. Now, he had to make Quatre realize this without letting him realize it was him who planted the seed. Quatre was astute, so it would be harder to….tweak him in the right direction. And Jai had a temper like nobody's business, so he had to trod carefully, or there would be bruised pilots. He smiled, recalling her flashfire fits of rage. She would not be so gentle, would his sister.
Quatre was back in his quarters, working on copies of the design specs, looking for the areas that would require modification. He had been at it for about twenty minutes when there came a knock at the door. Remembering his manners, he went to answer it. Heero's calm eyes met his.
"Oh! Heero! Come in, I wasn't expecting you."
Heero walked into Quatre's living room, and looked around. Spotting the computer with Wing Zero's design on the monitor, he walked over and observed the modifications Quatre was making to the basic weapon systems. He nodded approval.
"So, Quatre, what do you think of Jai? I mean, you're the only one besides me who's really spent any time with her."
"I think very highly of her. She's a strong woman, and a good pilot."
"She ought to be. She was trained the same way I was. I was trained more as a pilot, she more as a spy. You should have seen the male candidates for the training. I think one of the reasons she was chosen along with me was that she was able to repel their advances without seriously injuring them."
In that instant, Quatre learned what jealousy was. He wanted to know the name of every other man that had ever even looked at her, whether they had touched her…..and most especially where to find these men so he could kill them. What was wrong with him? He hadn't even touched her, let alone kissed her, and she was already able to make him think like this?
"Yes, I can see just from her appearance that she'd be a target. But from what I heard happened to Duo, I don't think they ever got very far!" he said with remarkable control, and laughed.
Heero saw that this was working, and continued. "We both went through training that would prepare us for virtually any contingency, as a soldier, or as a person. If we both looked like I always do, we'd be dead before we were able to say a word. We learned how to use peoples minds and bodies against them, use their pain, and their pleasure" he added, with a hint of importance to it," to our advantage."
He let that sink in for a moment. Quatre stared at him with wide eyes as he went over what Heero had just said. Pleasure? They were both trained to use pleasure against people? 'Oh…..shit.' he thought, as Heero's meaning dawned on him.
Heero saw that Quatre took his meaning, and acted as though he didn't know what was making him suddenly quiver with an effort to keep control. Heero made the pretense of Quatre not looking so good, and left his quarters. Quatre knew that it was no secret that he never chased after women, and that he had always been conservative when it came to their sex. He was not totally ignorant of sexual matters, but he lacked real knowledge, and it galled him. Not surprising in a man his age, he directed his anger at her. How could he measure up to a woman of her undoubted accomplishments? He cursed his methods and his ethics for getting him into this mess. He had never distributed his favors among the girls here at H.Q., much to their chagrin. Production of bastards was never a good idea, and he had long ago sworn to himself that he would not complicate his succession by siring any. He considered taking up one of the girls here on one of their previous offers, but at this juncture his pride rebelled. Why should he settle for someone he had rejected in the past? He had worked himself around almost to the point that he almost didn't care if everyone at H.Q. lined up outside his rooms to observe his choice of a bedmate. Here, however, he met an unexpected obstacle. Not one female here at H.Q, with one obvious exception, appealed to him. Any girl he might have considered lost any charms they might have otherwise held for him when he contrasted them with Jai. Besides, the image of himself as an infamous seducer was ludicrous.
Quatre's masculine pride had taken a serious blow, and his sense of humor was unable to make up the balance. He was in little evidence around the suit hangar or the database, for Jai still occupied those areas, and he avoided her like poison. Jai had no idea what had suddenly come over him, but was beginning to wonder what had happened to him that he was in such a foul mood. Everyone advised her that one of the wisest courses of action when Quatre was pissed was to sail to the Philippines and not come back until his temper had cooled. She thought that that was a little extreme, but she had seen him in he halls, and if looks could kill, he'd have wiped out enough people to rival the population of Brazil. She had avoided him as well, not wanting to give him an unpleasant outlet for whatever was ticking him off so much. She tried to use her telepathy as little as possible around her friends, but she was beginning to think Quatre was in need of some serious probing.