Disclaimer: I ain't sayin' it!!! >.
Author's Note's: Thanks to Usa-chan for pointing out one of my slip ups... ^^() Hehe I just realized, after Usa-chan told me, that what happened between Heero and Usagi is similar to what happened between Hotaru and Duo. *bangs head against wall* There went my creativity. Oh well I'll try to make the next chapter as interesting as possible. Italics mean dreams.
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Chapter Ten: Planning Ahead
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The woman turned around and
faced Hotaru.
"I'm sorry dear, but I don't
know you," the woman said regretfully with a British accent. Hotaru nodded
and walked closer.
"I'm sorry. I thought you
were someone else," Hotaru apologized with a forced smile. The woman smiled
back.
"If you'll excuse me I have
to talk to Mr. Winner." Hotaru nodded and scanned the woman who was now
trying to sell something to Quatre. The woman had long black hair tinted
green and was about Setsuna's height. From a glance it was easy to mistake
her for Setsuna. But with a closer look you would see the three inch platform
shoes and her sparkling purple eyes that matched her streaked bangs. Hotaru's
attention was diverted as Chibi Chibi came skipping around a corner while
singing a song.
"Chibi! Chibi! Chibi chibi
chibi!" the tiny girl sang before tugging on Hotaru's skirt to ask her
something. "Chibi chibi!" she said as she pointed outside.
"Aw Chibi Chibi, I'm really
sorry but I have to do something. I promise I'll take you out and play
later, ok?"
"Ok!" she mimicking Hotaru's
last word.
* * * * *
Usagi slowly let her heavy eyelids shut.
"Usagi you're getting older.
I know you realize what's ahead of you, not just you, but the whole kingdom.
You must married before the war. The Earth will be a powerful ally that
will help us greatly."
"But Mama! I want to marry
for love. Not for an ally!"
"I'm sorry little one."
* * *
"Would you like to dance?"
The princess opened her mouth to say no, but with one glance from her mother
she changed her words.
"I would greatly appreciate
it." Half way through the slow waltz, the windows shattered and Beryl's
army stood ready for command. Many royal guards lost their lives, along
with the queen and princess of the Moon. But the moment before the queen
died, she called forth the silver crystal and sent the children of the
Moon in to the future.
* * *
"Usagi! Stop reading that
manga! You're supposed to be helping us track this crystal!" Rei shouted
at the young blonde.
"WAAAAAAHHHHH!!! Rei you're
so mean!"
* * *
"I remember. I'm sorry Serenity..." the prince whispered before passing out. Kunzite took that opportunity to take him to Beryl. "No! Mamo-chan!!!"
* * *
She was the last one left but she would get Beryl back no matter if it took her life.
* * *
The tree hadn't wanted energy.
It had wanted love. Real love. Not a crush, nor forced love, but real love
that comes from the heart.
'That's what I want...'
the young girl thought slowly to herself. 'But is that what I really have?'
* * *
Once again someone tried to force love out of me. Demando... He was so preoccupied with me he couldn't see that Wiseman was deceiving him. Not even after his own brother died trying to say it to his face.
* * *
The Death Phantom had parished, and the girl's future daughter went back home.
* * * * *
Usagi bolted up right
in her bed. She knew what came next, and she knew how it ended. A cold
sweat remained on her face as tears silently came down her cheeks. Sniffles
and whimpers escaped her mouth as she stood up and made her way to the
door. Her tears turned to small rivers, and all to soon sobs wracked her
body as she clutched the person in front of her. The soft, worn material
greatly contrasted the wearer's personality. Heero pried the girl's shaking
fists from his tank top and looked into her eyes. Usagi's sobs calmed as
Heero waited for her to listen to him.
"Where's Duo?" Heero asked
placidly. Usagi shook her head and tried to choke back her on coming sobs.
"C-can you send him here if
you find him? P-please?" Usagi asked. Heero watched her a minute before
leaving. Five minutes later Duo dashed into the room to see Usagi sniffling
and wiping her tears.
"What happened?" Duo asked
as he sat on the end of the bed. Usagi flung herself into Duo's arms and
tried to calm her breathing. Duo now knew exactly what had happened. "Same
dreams?" Usagi nodded and sniffled. "Shh... It's all right..." he whispered
as he lifted her up and laid down on the bed with her.
"Duo..." Usagi whimpered as
she lifted her head up. Duo's eyes widened.
"No please! Not here!" Duo
begged. Usagi stared at him with out blinking, and Duo knew his resistance
was futile. Duo stood up and tugged off his shirt. He laid back down and
Usagi laid her head on Duo's bare chest. Usagi smiled weakly at Duo's blushing
face as she listened to his heart's steady beat. Usagi lifted her head
up slowly and kissed Duo softly on the the nose.
"Thank you Duo-chan," she
whispered as she laid her head back down. Usagi fell into a deep dreamless
sleep while listening to the lively thudding of Duo's heart. After making
sure Usagi was completely asleep, Duo got up, tugged his shirt on, and
kissed Usagi on the cheek.
"No more bad dreams ok?" he
whispered as he went and turned out the light before leaving.
* * * * *
The young Setsuna-look-alike
was escorted out by Rashid after Quatre politely declined the offer for
life insurance (A.N. Gundam pilot.... Life insurance... The word 'duh'
comes to mind... :-D).
"Hotaru, how is Usagi?"
"She's just a little tired.
Thank you for asking. Um, if you don't mind me asking, but why does the
news say that 'the young Mr. Winner' died in an explosion?" Hotaru asked,
trying to be as polite as possible. Quatre's face held a look of shock
a moment before recovering. "Oh and where have Trowa, Wufei, and Heero
gone to?" Quatre shifted uneasily, and glanced at the tiny red haired girl
at Hotaru's feet.
"Well, I have many many siblings,
twenty-nine to be precise, so it's quite possible they were speaking about
one of them. As you can see I'm just fine," Quatre said with a forced smile.
Hotaru nodded and didn't press any further even though she knew all of
Quatre's siblings were female.
"That news report confused
me, but now I understand. What happened to the others."
"Heero left to finish something,
Trowa went back to the circus, and Wufei went back to his clan."
"Thank you," Hotaru said as
she led Chibi Chibi to the door. Quatre watched the two until they disappeared
outside. Quatre walked back into his room and shut the door.
* * * * *
"Duo..." Luna whispered from
her spot near the doorway. Duo pulled his gun out, startled. Luna cocked
her head to the side. "Duo do you know what you're doing? It's risky to
be close to Usagi." Duo grinned.
"You know Luna, for a talking
cat you aren't very smart," he said flapping his hand as he walked out
the door. Luna shook her head as she walked over to Usagi.
"You've got to stay strong
Usa or this time is doomed too," she murmured sadly. Even though Luna had
an uncanny resemblance to a human, she still retain several cat-like qualities.
And right now her sensitive hearing was picking up on someone just outside
the door. Luna cracked the door open a little bit so that a stream of golden
light climbed across the dimly lit room. Luna's sapphire colored eyes met
with Heero's cobalt ones as she opened the door wider.
"You don't have to eavesdrop.
I'll tell you if you'd ask me..." she whispered. "Why do you insist upon
slinking around? I thought we were closer than that," she said, watching
his face for any sign of emotion.
"I don't get close to anyone,"
he said icily as he turned and started to walk away. Luna snatched his
wrist before he could get very far.
"Drop the act, Heero," she
said flatly. "Are you worried about what Usagi could do? She's not dangerous
you know."
He growled, annoyed. Luna
persisted.
"Ugh... Do you have to be
so loud?" Usagi asked while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She yawned
before stretching as far as she could go; exposing her stomach in the process.
Heero's frown grew deeper as he walked forward and in one fluid motion
snatched Usagi's brooch off her chest. Usagi's eyes widened in disgust
before she shrieked, "Ecchi!" and tried to slap the suicidal pilot. Heero
easily avoided the blow and dropped the brooch into Luna's open hands before
striding down the hall. Luna rolled her eyes as she walked down the hall
after him.
* * * * *
Quatre shut the door to his
room and sat on the corner of his neatly made bed. "Dekim Barton is holding
a party for the colony representatives. We suspect he is trying to rebuild
White Fang, so the other guys are coming along to inspect the place. Even
though they're coming, I still don't have a female escort, and I'd hate
to submit Miss Usagi to such torture..." he said slowly, while stealing
fleeting glances of Hilde out of the corner of his eye. Hilde smiled slowly.
"So I was wondering if you would like to be my escort?"
"You mean you wouldn't put
Usagi through torture and you're asking me to?" Quatre hung his head, and
started to get up, but Hilde was already there pushing him back down. "I'd
love to." A slow smile creeped across his face when the meaning of the
words hit him. Quatre looked up and locked eyes with Hilde who was smiling
down at him. He stood up and found that it was his turn to look down at
her because he was at least three inches taller than she was. Hilde giggled
softly at the height difference. Quatre cocked his head to the side so
his blonde bangs fell into his face.
"What's so funny?" he asked
with a slight smile. Hilde gently brushed the golden locks away from his
face.
"Nothing, it's just you look
so short next to the other guys. I didn't realize how tall you really were."
Quatre chuckled.
"Yes, well, next to Trowa
anyone can look small." An uncomfortable silence followed the end of the
silver bells of laughter.
"So... What was that about
you dying in an explosion?" Hilde asked. Quatre frowned, but before he
could say anything Hilde cut him off. "And I know all your siblings are
female, so don't lie." He sighed before slowly beginning.
"I assume you remember the
small incident when Miss Usagi fainted after the gun went off. Miss Hotaru
and Miss Usagi don't know because they went into a short state of a coma
soon afterwards. Well, at the time I was on a scheduled flight to a World
Nations meeting. Because of my delay, when I got to the building I was
already quite a bit late. I never made it to the elevator, so I lived...
There are no other survivors, and we suspect it to be caused the reformed
White Fang..."
Hilde raised an eyebrow. "And
Dekim Barton would be leading them?"
"That's what we're going to
find out..."
* * * * *
"You must have an escort to
get into the party. Formal attire must be worn as well," Quatre said summing
up the invitation to the pilots and women/girls.
"So we must pick an escort
from this room," Trowa stated nonchalantly. Quatre nodded.
"Hilde and I have already
agreed to go and check the second level together."
"Hotaru and I'll go together!"
Duo chimed immediately afterwards. Hotaru smiled as Chibi Chibi clung to
one of her legs and one of Duo's.
"We'll take third level patrol,"
Hotaru said quietly, not looking up.
"I'll go with Trowa to the
first level," Luna said firmly, "Unless, of course, you have any objections..."
Trowa shook his head wordlessly.
"I'll go with Heero," Relena
said straight forward. Heero had rescued her and her secritary from the
same people who had tried to take Nataku from Wufei, and bombed the meeting
building. "He would do the best job of protecting Chris and me."
"Wufei and I'll go to the
roof then..." Usagi said slowly. The disgusted look on Wufei's face was
a tell tale story.
"Now all we have to do is
wait..."
________________________________________
Dear Lord! Look at how slow I've become! This
was
a hard chapter to write though. ^^() You have
2
choices people! One long chapter next time...
Or two
normal length chapters. And tell me if you'd
like a
sequel! ^^ My e~mail has changed because of evil
AT&T. chibichan101@attbi.com ugly sounding
isn't
it? Send me anything! Comments, criticism,
compliments, flames, chocolate, money, or birthday
cards (hint hint! My b-day was Nov. 19. I'm 14!
Oh
the horror!!! :-D).
~~ chibi
