The Queen was cut off by a violent shaking and the sounds of explosion. Screaming erupted
throughout the hall, and Minako immediately bound up to the stage, making sure the Queen was out
of harms' way. The Senshi ushered the Queen away as two cats, a white and a black one with
crescent moons on their foreheads, ran through the dance hall shouting the warnings of attack.
The Senshi immediately powered up and began directing the guests and musicians to safety.
"Duo! WuFei!" shouted Makoto, "You have Gundams, ne? Get them! Maybe we can hold the
attack off together!"

The two boys looked at each other, each remembering being stuck in that cell on the OZ base which
lay on the dark side of the moon. They blushed, remembering the kisses they had shared in their
time of need, and wondered why it had taken them this long to remember each other.
Well, I suppose we *do* look different, wearing the royal moon clothing, and we *were*
blacking out at that point. If I remember correctly that was at the point when the air was cut
off ... Duo mused quickly.

WuFei and Duo looked at each other one more second, then nodded.
"I'll round up Trowa and Quatre," the Chinese boy said, "Duo, *you* can deal with Heero."

The braided boy grinned at him.
"You got it!" he winked then turned to Makoto, his face solemn, "You be careful, ne? I
don't want to see you hurt."
"Back at ya, koi," she replied, reaching up to kiss him, "And you, Fei-kun. Both of you
better come back to me, understand?"

The Chinese boy blinked at her in surprise and Duo nodded. Without giving it much thought,
Makoto reached up on impulse and kissed WuFei. He stood there in shock, and couldn't quite
think.
And Duo doesn't seem to mind, he mused.

Much too soon for him the kiss ended and Makoto pulled back to join her fellow Senshi. She waved
once before running over to where Minako and Quatre had pulled away from a kiss that they had
shared. Quatre ran over to Trowa, all but dragging him from Ami. WuFei joined them and Duo went
in search of Heero. Apparently he'd been in that room with the Princess of the Moon throughout
the whole dance. Rei and Mamoru kissed one last time before separating. The Prince of Earth
would guard over Princess Selenity while Heero went to battle.
"Be careful, otouto," the elder prince said with a small smile to his little brother.

Heero favored him with a tiny smile of his own.
"I'll try."

When the boys joined up they outlined their plan of action: Grab their Gundams and blow up some
mobile suits.
"Everybody agreed?" Quatre asked.
"Hell yeah. They can't mess with Shinigami and last for long," Duo grinned.

Trowa nodded, Heero just stood there, and WuFei 'hned'.
"Yoshi. The Maguanarcs can't help us this time, but we can do it on our own if we trust
each other," the young blonde said, giving them all a smile, "So let's do this."

With the pep-talk over and nothing to do but fight for their loved ones, the Gundam pilots ran
out of the dance hall and to where their Gundams had been hidden. Heero, Trowa and Quatre
immediately went to theirs and settled themselves in, doing systems checks and the like, but Duo
held WuFei back.
"WuFei, I know you hold feelings for my girlfriend," he silenced WuFei's protest with a
wave, "And I know you hold those same feelings for me, though you're trying to deny it. You
remember that time we had together as well as I do and ... well ... I wanted you to know that ...
eh ... Wereturnyourfeelingspleasedon'trejectus."

The Chinese boy blinked. Duo's rambling took some time to figure out, said quickly and in
English rather than Japanese, the common language they all spoke. Eventually, however, he
realized that the braided boy had said: We return your feelings please don't reject us. Before
he could say or do anything, Duo kissed him swiftly, then broke into a run for his Gundam.
"I ... I ... I don't reject you," WuFei whispered, lips tingling from both Duo's and
Makoto's kiss, "I only wish this was under better circumstances."

He quickly climbed into Altron and powered up, doing the same systems checks that had to be done.
Heero had already taken off and Quatre was preparing to. Trowa would take a bit more time
because of the weight of his Gundam and soon Duo would be finished with his system checks. He
really was faster than the other pilots gave him credit for, but WuFei knew that he was just as
fast as the self-proclaimed Shinigami. Quatre was up in the air and headed out to battle at top
speed, Trowa was only a minute or so behind him. WuFei looked at Duo's Deathscythe Hell through
his video cameras. They took off together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Senshi had been engaged in hand to hand combat for a while when they saw the Gundams fly off.
Being trained since birth, they all knew not to stop and watch, as their Princess might have
done. Sailor Jupiter smiled as she remembered the day that Selenity had insisted on joining them
in a training session. She had demanded to be treated as one of them, so Rei had gone to set the
illusion screens.

///The screens that lined the walls of the training room were set to look like one of the many
gardens of the Moon Palace.
"You can't be serious! Who would dare fight in one of our gardens?" the princess cried,
distressed.
Makoto looked at her solemnly. She'd been chosen as the one to fight the Princess because she
would not go too easy, but could also control herself.
"Anybody who didn't care for beauty, but only for power and victory. There are many
people in this universe like that, Sele-chan," Jupiter's princess sighed, "You wanted to spar? So
let's spar." ///

Makoto smiled fondly at the memory, even in the heat of the battle she was engaged in. They had
sparred, ending when Selenity looked away because she caught sight of a shooting star. That had
only been after five minutes. Defeating one enemy after another, she wondered how the others
were doing. They had long been separated, but she could still feel each of their presence in the
back of her mind. They were still alive, as were the pilots, and that was enough for her to
know.
Take care of yourself, Duo-chan, Fei-kun. I'll be waiting, Makoto thought fondly, then
turned her full attention to the battle at hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Duo?"
"Ee?"

WuFei paused. The first wave attack was over, but reinforcements were on the way. The other
pilots had regrouped and were setting up a new strategy, but the Chinese boy had taken this lull
in the fighting to talk to Duo.
"How did you know?"

Duo paused and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"Saa ... Mako-chan has this gift. You've probably seen it in use ... well, you can't
really see it, but ... Anyway, she can hear other people's thoughts. She could hear your thoughts
during and after the fencing match you had. And, uh, she tells me everything, so please don't be
mad at her for telling me, but ... " the self-proclaimed Shinigami sighed, not sure how to say
what he wanted to say.
"Duo," WuFei said sharply, "I'm not mad, but I will be if you don't tell me."

The braided boy took a breath and began to explain.
"Hai, hai. Mako-chan could hear your thoughts. She Heard your inner grief, basically. I
know it sounds corny, but she Heard about your wife, Meiran. She Heard about all that happened in
the Lunar Base three or four months ago."
"So she knows what we did?"
"It's not like we did *that* much. And I didn't know her back then, so it's not like she
was mad at me for "cheating" on her or something. Mako-chan's very accepting, actually. Y'know
Haruka-san? The one who played judge?"
"Hai."
"Well, Haruka-san is in love with Michiru-san, and those two are Mako-chan's role
models."

WuFei sighed, whether in relief or because of some other emotion he did not know.
"Demo ... that doesn't explain ... "
"Fei, ever since I got thrown in that cell with you, I felt some attraction to you.
Kamisama only knows why, but I did. We were about to die, and I didn't want to die alone. You
were *there*, Fei. You didn't even know me that well, but you were there for me, willing to go as
far as I wanted, just so I wouldn't have to die alone. I admired that, and kept my, ahem,
activities down to a minimum. After we busted out together, I couldn't help but think of you. I
told Mako-chan about you, because even after I started a relationship with her, I still thought
of you."
"That helps, but it doesn't tell me why Makoto decided to kiss me."

Duo grinned tiredly at him.
"I'd told Mako-chan about you so often, she felt she knew you. When she met you in
person, I admit, she thought you were an "arrogant little beep", but after the match, and much
consideration, her opinion changed. Mako-chan admitted to me before the dance that she thought
you were cute, and I told her to give you a chance -- "
"For what?" WuFei interrupted.
"For love."

The Chinese boy blinked.
"Nani?!"
"I told her, because she told me about how you were arguing with yourself, that maybe you
would consider ... joining us. Mako-chan ... she agreed. You don't have to," Duo quickly added,
"It was just a thought."
"Well ... these are fine circumstances in which to find out that someone is attracted to
you," WuFei muttered.

Duo snorted.
"Gotta love perfect timing, ne?"
"Aa," there was a pause while WuFei considered his options, "How can she be so sure that
she's attracted to me? I just *met* her yesterday."
"She makes up her mind very fast. It can get her into trouble, but it can also save her a
lot of trouble."

There was a tense silence as Duo anxiously awaited WuFei's answer. An answer which WuFei was not
eager to give, because it could bring disaster to the Moon, and that was *not* something they
needed right now. Duo took his silence as rejection and looked down at the control panel of
Deathscythe Hell.
"It's OK, y'know, if you don't want to. We just thought that you looked lonely but ... "
"I will."
"Huh?" was Duo's intelligent answer.

He had been set up for the rejection so when it did not come, the braided boy was not quite sure
if he was hearing correctly.
"I said: 'I will'. I'll join you, if you really want me," WuFei said quietly.

Duo grinned.
"Are you kidding?! Fei, if I weren't in this Gundam, three or so miles from your Gundam,
I'd be jumping all over you! So would Mako-chan and -- "

He was interrupted by Quatre appearing on their screens.
"Mobile suits spotted less than a mile from your position, Duo. WuFei, you get over there
and back him up until one of us can reach you."
"Wakatta, Quatre. We'll be ready for them," WuFei answered grimly.

The mobile suits appeared from over the horizon, there were at least a thousand. Duo smiled his
usual manic grin and powered up.
"Let's give them a screwing they'll never forget, Fei. What d'you say?"
"Let them come in their legions and they will be met, Duo. I didn't know you liked Les
Miserables."
"What can I say? It's a classic."

There was no more talk as they rushed into the heat of the main attack, Quatre, Trowa and Heero
bringing up the rear.
~Owari, chapter 8~

Incase you all think I'm crazy, well, you're right. Les Miserables is my *favorite* Broadway show
to date and with good reason ... I was in it! I'm kidding, I'm kidding ... it's my favorite cause
it's an awesome show with great music and the book is really good. Anyway, the last few lines
*are* from the show, they're on the original Broadway soundtrack (I'm not sure about the London
cast). So, that's where it all comes from.

On another note, I will most likely finish the story in chapter 9, and I will put up a list of
Japanese words as chapter 10, for all you who non-Japanese speaking people.