Notes: Here's the second part! I use the original Japanese names for the Senshi. For those of you who have been exposed only to the NA dub, the names are as follows: Usagi=Serena/Sailor Moon, Ami=Amy/Sailor Mercury, Rei=Raye/Sailor Mars, Makoto=Lita/Sailor Jupiter, Minako=Mina/Sailor Venus, Chibi-Usa=Rini, Haruka=Amara/Sailor Uranus, Michiru=Michelle/Sailor Neptune, Setsuna=Trista/Sailor Pluto.
Mission to the Past
Chapter Two: Settling Down
"Where the heck are we?" Duo demanded. He and the other four ex-Gundam pilots, plus Sailor Pluto, were in a cloudy area. The only things that were there were fog and two immense double doors.
"You're in the fourth dimension, the Gate of Time," Sailor Pluto told them calmly. "Through these doors lies your destination. But beware: hold on tight to each other's hands, for you can easily be separated, and should that happen, there would be no way out. You would wander around for all eternity."
"That's reassuring," Duo muttered sarcastically.
"Now, go to find the Sailor Senshi!" Sailor Pluto commanded.
The door opened. Duo grabbed onto Trowa's hand, Trowa onto Heero's, Heero onto Quatre's, and Quatre onto Wufei's. Together they stepped forward into the void.
THUNK! The doors closed behind them.
"YAAAAAAAHH!!" Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Heero screamed.
"YEEEE-HAAAA!!" Duo yelled happily, louder than the other four combined.
After a few moments of screaming and flying through seemingly endless space, another set of double doors, identical to the first, appeared. They opened automatically and the five teens tumbled out...
...and down.
Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei landed in a heap on the ground. Heero managed to grab on to a not-very-sturdy branch. Most unfortunately, it happened to be the same branch Duo grabbed on to. Heero's eyes widened. "Oh, --"
CRACK! The twig snapped. Heero and Duo joined the heap.
Everyone then proceeded to untangle themselves and get up. "That was a roller coaster ride from heck," Wufei muttered.
"Really?" Duo said. "I thought it was fun."
Wufei glared at him. "You would."
"My hand," Quatre whimpered. "Heero, you practically broke it."
Heero shrugged. "Sorry. But she said to hold on tight."
"Well, she didn't say to cut off my circulation, did she?" Quatre retorted.
"You think you had it bad?" Trowa said, rolling his eyes. "Duo here nearly made me go deaf with his yelling."
"I wasn't that loud," Duo said indignantly. "You just have sensitive ears, that's all."
"Has anyone stopped to wonder WHERE THE HECK WE ARE?" Wufei yelled, startling everyone. They all looked around. It seemed to be an ordinary enough neighborhood, but where? And, more importantly, when?
Two girls in school uniforms consisting of blue pleated skirts and sailor tops walked by, chatting and laughing. Heero walked right up to them. "Where are we?" he asked.
One of them gave him a funny look. "Uh, like, in Tokyo?"
"What year?" Heero demanded.
"Like, 1995?" the other said.
"Thank you," Heero said. The two girls walked on, saying something about "what a weirdo." Heero went back to his friends.
"Well?" Trowa said expectantly.
"We're in Tokyo in the year 1995," Heero told them.
"What?" Duo yelped. "No way!"
"Guess time travel's possible after all," Trowa remarked.
"No kidding," Wufei muttered.
"So what do we do now?" Quatre wondered.
"I guess we find a place to stay," Heero said, still amazed.
"How about there?" Duo suggested, pointing to a large, five-bedroom house with a "For Sale" sign on the lawn and a person standing next to it looking desperate.
"Convenient," Trowa noted.
"A little too convenient," Wufei said suspiciously. No one paid attention.
They talked to the person, signed some papers, paid (well, actually, Quatre paid), and the house was theirs. They went to inspect their new living quarters. They had wanted to before, but the person had been so desperate, she let them have the house for half price if they'd buy it right away. Naturally, this made them suspicious, but the house was actually very nice.
Inside, they found a note. It read:
Dear ex-Gundam pilots,
To save you hassle, time, and money, I have positioned you in front of this house, as you know by now. I have also furnished it. Your rooms are copies of your bedrooms in your homes. I allowed you each to bring some of your money with you, as well as some of your possessions and clothes. They are already here.
It is a Sunday. School is already in session, as it is late September. I suggest you go enroll yourselves in various schools nearby. Don't forget: the Sailor Senshi are your age right now.
Thank you again for agreeing to help.
Sincerely,
Sailor Pluto
"That was very thoughtful of her," Quatre said after they had finished reading the note.
"Well, it was the least she could do after she zapped us back into a couple of centuries before we should exist," said Duo.
"Let's go upstairs," Trowa suggested. They all agreed.
Upstairs, they found that their rooms were indeed perfect copies of their rooms back home. Heero went into his, turned his laptop on, and in a few minutes was looking at a list of nearby schools on the Internet.
"Okay," he said finally. "The four main schools in the are Grass Valley High, Crossroads High, Mugen Gauken Academy, and Brookdale Private School. Quatre, how much money do you have?"
Quatre checked. "Not that much," he said.
Heero
rolled his eyes. "I mean, how much
compared to how much a normal person would have?"
"Oh. In that case, a huge amount, I guess."
"Good. In that case, we can afford the two private schools." Heero looked at the list again. "Alright, who wants to go where?"
"Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe," Duo chanted, closing his eyes and pointing at the list. "Catch a tiger by the toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe. My mother said to pick the very best one and you are IT!" He opened his eyes and found that he was pointing at Grass Valley High. "Guess I'll go there."
"Brookdale is closest, so I'll go there," Wufei said, not really caring.
"I once went to a school called Mugen, so I may as well go there," Heero shrugged.
Quatre looked at Trowa. "I guess that leaves you and me at Crossroads."
"Yeah," Trowa agreed.
"Here are the addresses," Heero said, pointing. "Let's go enroll ourselves, then meet back here."
"Alright," they all agreed. They left to go their separate ways.
* * *
The next morning, Heero got up early, made himself breakfast, and walked off to his first day of school. Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa got up a little while later and did the same thing. Duo, on the other hand, woke up when his alarm clock went off, turned it off, and went right back to sleep.
Having reached Mugen, Heero checked his watch. Five minutes before school starts, he thought to himself. Better check on Duo. He walked to the nearest pay phone, dropped in some coins, and dialed their number.
RING! RING! RING!
Duo grudgingly opened his eyes. "Stupid phone," he muttered, walking to the kitchen to pick it up.
RING! RING! RI-
"'Lo?" Duo mumbled sleepily into the phone.
"Duo, this is Heero," said the familiar voice on the other end. "You have five minutes to get to school, or you'll be late for your first day. Good-bye."
"Bye," Duo mumbled, hanging up. He started to walk back to his room, when suddenly what Heero had said hit him. "Five minutes!" Duo yelped, now full of energy. "Oh, man!"
He raced to his room, got dressed in record time, and raced back out the door, not even bothering to stop for breakfast. The only thought in his mind was, If I run as fast as I possibly can, maybe I can make it...
Meanwhile, on the other side of town...
"EEEEEEEEEEEE!! ARTEMIS! I'm late! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!" Mina Aino yelled as she got dressed.
"I tried to," Artemis, her white cat, complained.
"Oh, no, if I'm late again, I'll get detention for sure," Mina wailed.
"It's your own fault," said Artemis.
Mina completely ignored him. "Come on, let's go!" she cried, dashing out the door. "Oh, I've got math first period!"
Suddenly, Mina tripped and ran smack into someone. "Artemis! Why you little--huh?" She looked at the boy she had run into. "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I thought you were someone else. Here, let me help you up." She stood and offered her hand and he took it. Mina noticed the uniform he was wearing. "Hey! That's the uniform from my school! Are you new?"
"Yeah," the boy said. "The name's Duo Maxwell. What's yours?"
"Oh!" she cried. "How silly of me. I'm Mina Aino." She looked at her watch. "Three minutes. If we really hurry, we can maybe make it. Come on!" They took off.
As they were running, Mina studied the boy. He was an inch or so taller than her, as most people were. He had big Prussian blue eyes and a long brown braid. He wasn't bad-looking. No, he certainly wasn't bad-looking. Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. Mina felt her cheeks go hot. She looked away.
Duo looked at the girl. She had icy blue eyes and long, pale blond hair tied back with a cheerful red bow. She was a little shorter than he was, which was unusual. She was very pretty. Duo averted his eyes, embarrassed.
"Yes! Made it!" Mina cheered as they slid through the gates just as they closed behind them.
"Barely," Duo added. "Well, I'm off to the admissions office to find out what class I'm in."
"And I better head to math," Mina said, making a face.
"Uh, where exactly is the admissions office?" Duo asked.
"Oh, just go straight down that hall," Mina told him, pointing. "Well, maybe I'll see you later."
"See ya," Duo said, walking down the corridor.
Mina headed to her math class and slid into her seat just as the teacher, Ms. Komitsu, called her name on the role call.
"Here," Mina said. She yawned. Oh, why did school have to start so early? She was so tired.
"Class, today we have a new student," Ms. Komitsu announced. "Come in, Duo."
Mina perked up. It had to be the same boy she had run into. Sure enough, in walked the very same boy, looking less nervous than most people would on their first day at a new school.
"Class, this is Duo Maxwell," Ms. Komitsu told everyone. "I hope you will all make him feel welcome." Then, taking notice of his long braid, she said to him, "Duo, I'm afraid we don't allow boys with long hair in our school."
Duo blinked and stared at her incomprehendingly.
"Duo, you're going to have to cut your hair," she clarified.
"No," he said, quite simply.
"Duo, cut your hair."
"No."
"Duo, long-haired boys are not allowed in this school."
"So?"
"You are a long-haired boy."
"And?"
Ms. Komitsu was becoming visibly frustrated by now. "Duo, cut your hair!"
"No!"
This continued for some time. Mina yawned again and laid her hand on the desk. She felt her eyelids grow heavy. Surely it couldn't hurt to close them...just for a little bit...
The next thing she knew, a black-haired girl next to her was shaking her. "Huh?" Mina said groggily.
"Mina, math class is almost over," the girl told her.
"It is?" Mina looked at the front of the room. Duo and Ms. Komitsu were still arguing, but the latter was clearly weakening.
"Cut your hair!"
"Over my dead body!"
"That could be arranged," Ms. Komitsu said fiercely under her breath.
"I'm not going to cut my hair!"
"FINE!" the teacher nearly screamed. "Don't cut your hair! See if I care! But you WILL stay for detention all this week! So HA!" Ms. Komitsu stood, pointing triumphantly at Duo and looking somewhat deranged. The class shrank back in their seats, afraid she was going to explode.
"Okay," said Duo calmly.
RING!
The bell rang. Ms. Komitsu stormed out of the room. A new teacher entered. Duo checked his schedule. He had Advanced English, one of the few classes he would have to leave his homeroom for. He wasn't looking forward to it, since the only person he knew in the school was Mina, and he didn't think she would be in Advanced English; it was only for those fluent in English.
But
luck was with him, it seemed. As he
walked out of the door, Mina was right behind him. "Hey," he greeted her.
"You're in Advanced English, too?"
"Yeah," she said. "I spent six months in England a few years
back, so that's how I became fluent.
What about you?"
"Oh, I'm American," Duo explained.
"So Maxwell is an American last name?"
Duo nodded. "Yeah."
Mina smiled. She felt very glad that Duo was in Advanced English with her, but she couldn't quite say why.
* * *
Over at Mugen, Heero was having a much more normal first day of school.
"Class, this is Heero Yuy," the teacher chirped. "Say hello, Heero."
"Hello," Heero obliged.
"Hello,
Heero," his bored-sounding classmates responded.
"Heero, are you familiar
with the school yet?" the teacher asked.
Heero shook his head. "No."
"Well," the teacher said, "we go from nursery school up through graduate school. Each section of school is assigned certain floors, with the nursery on the bottom and the graduate school on top. The high school stays on the tenth through twelfth floors. Any questions?"
Heero shook his head again.
"Good. You may sit in the back, right in that seat." She made it sound as if she were doing him a big favor. "Now, class, take out your science books." Everyone groaned, but obeyed.
Little did Heero know that two figures, a blue-haired girl and a tall blonde, were watching him from a distance, carefully deciding whether he could be trusted or not.
* * *
"Class, today we have a new student," a depressed teacher droned. "His name is..."-she checked a card-"...Wufei Chang. Let's all welcome him to Brookdale. Wufei, sit behind Raye," she said, pointing to an empty desk. Wufei glared at her before following instructions.
The girl in front of him, a long-haired Japanese girl, turned around. "Hi," she said. "My name's Raye Hino."
Wufei sneered. "That teacher is such a weakling," he grumbled.
"Um, right," Raye said unsurely.
"Turn around, woman," he said, spitting out the word "woman" like an insult.
"Well!" Raye huffed. "At least I'm not a idiotic, sexist, pig-headed, moronic jerk!" She turned around.
Wufei was almost sorry he had done that. It had mainly been habit. He didn't really believe all women were weak anymore, after interacting with Sally Po and Noin at Preventors HQ, and especially after those numerous arguments which Sally always won somehow.
Oh, well. Raye had been over-sensitive, anyway.
* * *
"Hello, are you the new students?" a teacher greeted Quatre and Trowa.
"Yes, we are, ma'am," Quatre said politely.
"Alright,
then," she said, clapping her hands for silence. "Class, these are our new students. Would you like to introduce yourselves?"
"I'm Quatre Raberba
Winner," Quatre said. It was a relief
for him not to hear whispers around the classroom like, "The
Winner? No way!"
"Trowa Barton," Trowa said tersely, arms crossed.
In
the back of the room, Amy was trying hard to wake Serena. "Serena," she hissed. "Wake up.
New kids."
"Huh? Oh," Serena mumbled, yawning and looking at
them.
"Oh, wow," Lita breathed, getting a familiar, dreamy look in her eyes. "They're so cute. They look just like my old boyfriend."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Lita, they look nothing alike. How can they both look like your old boyfriend?" Lita ignored her.
"Okay, Quatre, Trowa, you can take those empty seats in the back," said the teacher.
The two boys walked to their seats. Quatre found himself behind a pretty, blue-haired girl, and Trowa was behind a meatball-headed blonde. Next to him was a tall brunette.
The blue-haired girl and the meatball-head turned around. "Hello," the former said politely. "My name is Amy Mizuno."
"Hiya!" said her friend. "I'm Serena Tsukino!"
"And I'm Lita Kino," the brunette introduced herself.
"Pleased to meet you," said Quatre, then elbowed Trowa.
"Nice to meet you," Trowa said, rubbing his arm.
* * *
Hotaru looked at the boy. He was so cute, and it was more than that. He was so strong, and their was something fierce and wild about him, from his messy brown hair to his deep cobalt blue eyes. Too bad he was three years older than she was.
Hotaru sighed. She wanted to get to know him, but she doubted it would happen. She would have to admire Heero Yuy from afar.
* * *
"Duo's late," Wufei snapped. "He said he'd meet us here right after school, and we've been waiting for ages!"
"He probably got detention for being late," Heero reasoned.
"Speak of the devil," Trowa said. Their braided friend was running up to meet them.
"Hey, guys!" Duo called. "Sorry I'm late. I had detention."
"For being late?" Heero said.
"No, actually," Duo said. Heero was surprised. "For having long hair."
"So you're going to have to cut it?" Quatre said sympathetically.
"Heck, no!" Duo dismissed the idea. "I'm just going to have detention all week, that's all. It's not so bad. At least, today it wasn't. There was this girl I met, Mina Aino. She had it for falling asleep during class. She's nice. Funny, too. So, how were your days?"
Heero shrugged. "Nothing special."
"Met a weak teacher and some weak students," Wufei growled. "Other than that, okay, I guess."
Quatre and Trowa exchanged glances. "We met some, uh, interesting people," Quatre said.
"Like Serena the meatball-head," Trowa said.
"Trowa!" Quatre scolded. "She was nice."
"That doesn't change the fact that her hair is downright bizarre."
Quatre ignored him. "Then there was Amy, the girl genius."
"Girl genius?" Heero said. "What do you mean by that?"
"Her IQ's about three hundred," Trowa stated. Heero, Duo, and Wufei's eyes bugged out.
"Yeah, that was our reaction, too," Quatre said. "But she's very down to earth, and not snobby at all."
"So, no one had a terrible first day, right?" Duo said. "That's good."
Wufei shrugged. "I guess."
"Come on, let's go," Trowa said. "I've got a ton of homework to do."
* * *
"It's time for Study Buddies!" Amy sang out happily.
Everyone else groaned. "Do we have to, Amy?" Serena whined.
"Yup!" Amy said cheerily. They were at their usual location in Raye's temple. Today, their group included Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, and Rini, which was a bit unusual.
"Michiru, I don't see why we have to do this," Haruka muttered.
"Oh, come on, Haruka, it's a good way to study," Michiru said.
"I study just fine on my own," Haruka said.
"You know, there was a new boy in my class today," Raye said, suddenly remembering. "He was a total jerk."
"There were new students at Crossroads today, too," Lita said. "They were so dreamy. They looked--"
"--Just like your old boyfriend," everyone else finished.
Lita gave a slightly abashed grin. "Well, yeah."
"They were very friendly," Amy said.
"Their names were Quatre and Trowa, right?" Serena said. Amy nodded.
"It must be new student day, or something," Michiru said. "Mugen had a new boy in your grade today as well. We got some strange vibes off of him, but I think it must have been a false alarm."
"What was his name again?" Haruka said, trying to remember.
"Heero Yuy," Hotaru said quietly.
"Oh, yeah, that's right," Haruka said.
"You know, it's a funny coincidence," Mina said. "There was a new boy in my class today, too." Mina felt her cheeks go hot at the memory.
"Hey, Mina," Raye teased. "You're blushing!"
"Oh, um, it's just hot in here, that's all!" Mina said, trying to cover it up and failing miserably.
"Funny, I think it's kind of chilly," Lita said, smiling mischievously.
"Okay, spill it Mina," Serena said, leaning forward to hear the juicy stuff. "What's he like?"
"Well, he's very funny and sweet," Mina said.
Serena rolled her eyes. "I mean, what's he look like?"
"Oh!" said Mina. "Well, he's about an inch taller than me, with big blue eyes and a long brown braid. Very, very cute."
Serena was satisfied.
"Come on, guys," Amy urged. "We've got to study."
"Hm, we're not getting a lot of work done," Michiru mused.
"Told you we shouldn't have come," Haruka grumbled.
* * *
Duo sat at his desk, trying futilely to do his homework. As far as he knew, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei were working diligently in their respective rooms. Heero had finished a short while ago, and was now on-line looking for information on the Sailor Senshi.
Duo stared at the math problem he had been working on for the past ten minutes. It wasn't a particularly difficult problem; he just couldn't focus. His thoughts were elsewhere.
He sighed. He had never believed in love at first sight. He figured anyone who felt that way was just being shallow, only looking at a person's looks. He firmly believed that you had to know a person better before true love could be found.
At least, that was what he had believed. Now he wasn't so sure.
A face appeared in his mind: ice blue eyes, golden hair, a sweet laugh. Mina. He shook his head. Stop it, he told himself. You're stuck on a mission centuries before you should even exist. You can't get to know anyone; it'll just hurt both of you.
You can't fall in love; you'll only break two hearts.
* * * * * * * *
Notes: Well, I hope that didn't bore you to death. How'd you like it? E-mail me, PLEASE!! But remember, no flames!
FYI: Duo actually IS an inch taller than Mina. He's 156 centimeters, or 5'1". Mina's five even:). Raye's school is an all-girls school in the manga, and it might be in the anime, but in the North American dub, at least, a male student from her school is shown, so it's okay for Wufei to be there...dunno how well that works. Mina went to high school at Crossroads in the manga, but I don't know if that happened in the anime. In Japanese schools, the students usually spend most of the day in one room, and the teachers change rooms, so that explains why Duo and Mina only had to leave the room for Advanced English. Mina IS fluent in English; those six months in England took place while she was Sailor V, and this is shown in an episode that was kept out of the North American dub. Most people know that either Heero or Duo has cobalt blue eyes, and the other one has Prussian blue eyes. I asked someone who took an art course in college, and they said cobalt was much darker, and Heero's eyes are definitely darker than Duo's, so there's that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon, nor do I own any of the characters. I am not making any money out of this, but believe me, I wish fanfic writers could, because there would be a lot of rich people out there.