Chapter 14
Heero flashed up on the comm. unit as Duo landed the Gundam.
"Break camp and be ready for the signal." were the eight words he said before the screen went blank.
"Cheerful guy, ne?" Duo flashed his lopsided grin at Reena, who was grabbing some of the stuff from the storage bin she had found in the floor.
"Nah, he's just worried about that girl Relena. Maybe after we get her out he'll lighten up." the blonde girl answered over her shoulder as she took a couple steps toward the door of the Gundam. She waited a minute and when Duo didn't open the door she turned to shoot him a look and found he was right behind her.
"Can we finish what we were up to before we were so rudely interrupted?" He asked, putting his arms around her waist, she nodded and tilted her head up to his. His lips brushed lightly against hers and she heard the sound of Quatre's voice. Wait! she thought, Mou, he has the worst timing!
Duo gave an exasperated sigh as he turned around to see Quatre's blushing face on the comm. screen. He gave him a look and opened the platform for Reena. As she was stepping out she heard him saying some things to Quatre, who was apologizing profusely by the sounds of it, she also thought she heard a girls voice in the background but waved it off, Must be from the constant noise of the generators...I'm hearing things.
Reena studied the various curves and ledges for the best way to get down from her perch on the platform of Deathscythe. The towel she had managed to find among Duo's unorganized stored items was where she had thrown it, on the ground a couple feet from the Gundam. Reena sighed as she remembered the little pulley device her father had shown to her the last time she had gone for a ride in a mech. She glanced around, found it and let it lower her to the ground. She picked up her towel and set off on a natural trail she found in search of at least a stream to wash in.
Reena was admiring the tall trees and the many colored flowers of the partial rainforest she was walking through. Only a couple kilometers to her right was the Sahara desert, and only a couple miles to her left was a dense tropical rainforest. It's amazing how two totally different ecosystems can live together like this, she thought, a rainforest on the edge of the desert...how pretty.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of water she heard the her right. She left the path and walked across many flat rocks as she made her way to the sound. Pushing the leaves of a flowering plant out of the way, she stepped into a small clearing. In front of her the ground ended in a short cliff, and to her left there was a hill that lead down to a shallow pool. She stepped closer to the cliff and saw a waterfall bubbling from a dark hole in the rock that fell to splash in the crystal water of the pool below her. Reena smiled and ran down the hill to the sandy shore of the pool. She dipped her hand in the water and felt it to be quite warm so she put the towel she was carrying down on a sun warmed rock and quickly undressed. She ran back up to the top of the hill and looked over the edge of the cliff.
The water's deep enough, she thought, I didn't see anything dangerous when I was down there, and I'm still wearing my bikini from this morning, life is good. she mused as she dived over the shallow cliff and into the deep clear water down below.
* * *
"Quatre, from now on if Reena is in the Gundam with me, do not go to vid screen first, Ok?" Duo said tersely into the monitor, Quatre blushed and started to apologize.
"Duo, I'm really sorry but I just wanted to make sure everything was going Ok." He said quickly as Duo was turning to leave, "Also, I have an unexpected—"
Duo leaned against the control panel and hit the switch for the comm. unit, turning it off. He smiled as Quatre's picture faded and was replaced by a blank screen.
"Oops, sorry buddy." he smiled playfully as he walked outside, grabbed the handle of the pulley system and jumped from the platform to the ground, landing gracefully. Pressing a button on a remote he retrieved from his pocket, the platform door closed and he activated the cloaking device. Making the Gundam less visible to any passing scouts from the base.
Duo turned and walked in the direction Reena had went, passing through bushes and tall rainforest trees along a trail made by, what Duo thought, was frequent traveling by various animals. Soon he heard water and moved off the trail through some sparse undergrowth and hopped from rock to rock until he got to the source of the noise.
A small waterfall fell from the short cliff he was standing on, into an almost perfectly round pool below. The water was crystal clear and he could see the bottom of the miniature lake quite easily, he guessed it was about ten feet deep in the shallowest parts. The shore of the pool was sandy on one side and fringed by trees everywhere except for the break that lead up a small hill to where he was standing now. He looked around and saw Reena swimming over to one side of the waterfall wearing her white bikini from the previous day. He smiled as he remembered the guys reaction when they thought she had no top on.
Thinking quickly, Duo stripped down to his black boxers with 'Shinigami' written on the waist band and yelled from the top of the cliff, "Shinigami is back from hell!!!" as he cannon-balled into the water down below.
Reena looked up quickly and was surprised to see Duo jumping off the cliff. Water splashed and she turned her head to shield it, when she turned back she saw Duo floating there with a mischievous grin on his face. She shook her head and dived underwater, swimming to the shoreline where she could touch. Duo followed her.
"It's cold!" he pouted and sat down on the sandy beach, his hair dripping into a puddle around him.
"Big baby." she smirked and he gave her his lop sided grin, "Your hair's wet now, you're lucky I grabbed one of the five brushes you had on my way out."
"I had brushes in there?" he asked, incredulous, "I remember putting them in but I could never find them." he looked at her as she rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Where'd you get that bikini?" he asked.
"I was wearing it this morning when me and the girls left, we were going to go swimming after but Heero didn't give me time to change." she explained, coming up to sit beside him, "You might want to clean out your storage box, there's a lot of stuff in there." she suggested, "Some of it might actually be useful..."
"I should, there's a first time for everything!" he said with determined nod, she laughed. Duo smiled and reached around to his braid. He unwound the black cord holding it together and started to undo it. Reena moved behind him and took over, running her hands through the chestnut hair as she went. Duo sighed as the last piece of hair fell to his shoulders.
Reena ran her hands down his back and up over his shoulders, leaving them to rest draped around his neck. He turned his head back and brushed a kiss over her lips, she responded by leaning against him. Duo reached up and brought her down across his knees, cradling her and pressing his lips to hers in a searing kiss. Reena reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and their tongues met. Duo's chestnut hair fell over his shoulder and mingled with her blonde hair as the sun set in the background.
* * *
Stars were shining in the sky when the couple got back to the lonely Gundam.
"Aw, we left Deathscythe alone all this time...poor guy!" Duo patted the metal foot of the Gundam. Reena looked up at the closed platform.
"Duo...I'm cold. How do we get back up there?" she asked, wrapping her arms around her shivering figure. Duo came over and threw his arm over her shoulder, careful not to scare her. She smiled up at him and he winked as he reached into his pocket. He fished around for a second, then, frowning, changed pockets. Still not finding anything he gave her an apologetic look.
"Ano...I kinda....well, I had this remote that well....." he began.
"Oh Duo..." she looked at him, her eyes opening wide, "you lost it? How are we gonna—"
Duo smirked and flashed her the remote.
"Oh, you've lost it all right!" she sighed and hit him on the shoulder.
"Oi, I'm not that incompetent!" he gave her his lopsided grin as he pushed a button on the control. Deathscythe's lights flickered on and a huge hand lowered to the ground. Duo hopped on and offered his hand to help Reena up. She took it and as she steadied herself Duo pressed the button again, causing the hand to rise. Reena lost her balance and fell against Duo, who steadied her with a hand around her waist.
"Gomen hun." he smiled at her.
"You did that just to get me to fall on you!" Reena poked him. Duo flinched and looked at her, wide eyed.
"Me?!?!?" he asked innocently
"Don't give me that look." she poked him again.
"Ok, Ok! I'm ticklish!" he said as he flinched to the side again.
"I know." she giggled and poked him again as he jumped from Deathscythe's hand to the platform. He reached out his hand to help her and she took it. As she landed on the platform Duo pulled her close and leaned forward for a kiss, Reena ducked out of the way and Duo looked at her.
She pointed down to the place where they were standing on the ground. Duo looked down , and seeing nothing, looked back at her.
"What? Are you still afraid—" he began but Reena put her hand over his mouth and pointed down again. Duo looked down to see a black shape slinking out of the cover of the trees. Duo looked at her questioningly just as the figure below looked up, revealing a pair of glowing yellow eyes.
"A panther." she whispered, understanding dawned on Duo and he got an idea just as the panther, far below, put its paws on the foot of Shinigami. He flew inside, leaving Reena on the platform, and she heard him type something. She jumped as a bright green light came on to her right. Reena looked to find it was a glowing blade, the panther retreated quickly into the bushes.
"That," said Duo, emerging from the cover of the Gundam, "is The Scythe. Nobody scratches up my Gundam, baka neko."
"Kakkoi..." Reena said quietly, looking at the glowing scythe almost reverently. Duo looked at her, surprised.
"I agree." he said, nodding. "I've got a smaller one too." He said and stuck his hand inside the Gundam, fishing around a bit and biting his lip. "I use it for missions with a lot of fighting. Besides, you know what they say about scythes." He pulled out a long steel pole and flicked a switch on it. Immediately a long green blade flashed out. "The bigger the scythe, the bigger the man." Duo smirked and leaned on the pole.
"Sugoi." Reena said again as she looked at the smaller scythe in the pilots' hand. "Which scythe are you going by though?" She asked with a smirk.
"Well, this one's for novelty, that one," He nodded to Deathscythes' scythe, "Is the actual size."
She laughed and shook her head."So, where are we going to sleep?" Reena turned to Duo.
"I guess we can sleep here, on the platform." he suggested, "We'll be close to Deathscythe if WuFei comes up on the comm. and we'll be out of everything's reach."
Reena agreed and deposited the towels and things in the Gundam storage box. She turned as Duo came up behind her, plopped himself on the floor beside the box and rifled through its contents. He pulled out a portable stove, cans of food and a roll of bedding.
"I've only got one roll." Duo said, referring to the bedding, "I'll sleep in here, on the chair I guess"
"It's Ok, we can share." she suggested.
"You Ok with that?" he asked looking at her.
Reena looked up from folding a pile of fabric, "Hai, we both need a good nights sleep for the mission."
Duo looked at her again, quizingly.
"I'm fine with it!!!" she insisted, "Mou..." she muttered.
Duo stuck out his tongue at her and she threw a towel at him. Convinced she was really Ok with them sleeping together, he went back to sorting through the mess of stuff in the box.
* * *
Duo slipped out onto the platform, and seeing Reenas' still form, he tip toed to his side of the bed roll, not wanting to disturb her. The metal creaked and Duo cursed under his breath as Reena looked up at him.
"Gomen nasai, I didn't mean to wake you." He apologized as he plopped down beside her.
"S'Ok," she said, "I wasn't asleep." she turned her head and resumed looking up at the many blinking stars and the almost full moon that lit the night sky.
"Whatcha thinking?" Duo asked, noticing her dreamy look. She glanced over at him and smiled.
"Nothin much, how that there is Orion's Belt," she said, pointing over to a star pattern on their left, "and that's the little dipper, the big one's right there," she stated, pointing out each one in turn, "and that," she finished, pointing to the middle star in a cluster of five, "is the Colony I'm from."
"You're from a Colony?" Duo asked, surprised, "You never told me that!"
"You never told me you were the God of Death," she teased, "so we're even."
"Guess you're right, I"m from a Colony too, L2. I don't know which one it is though." he stated, looking up at the stars.
"That one over there." she pointed back over to the same star as before.
"You're from Colony L2!?" he asked, realizing that that was the same star she had called her home.
"Hai, I lived there before I moved here." she mumbled as she turned her back to him and closed her eyes.
"Tired?" he asked her, grinning. She nodded, her back to him, and punctuated that nod with a yawn. Duo chuckled and put his hand on her shoulder as he leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"G'night." Reena mumbled sleepily.
"You're cold." Duo stated, he lifted the covers off of her and glanced underneath them. He saw she was wearing just her bikini. "You should wear more to bed, though I'm not complaining about about the view." Duo muttered as his eyes traced the line of her back, down farther, and finally along her legs as one kicked him.
"It's cold, and I only have the clothes I brought with me so I'm gonna keep them clean as long as I can. I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I walked around in the nude but I would." she muttered and he dropped the blanket.
He took his hand off her shoulder and muttered, "Kitto I would..." Remembering that there were no other blankets in the storage box, he sighed and draped his arm around her, laying close beside her, "How's this?" he whispered and kissed her ear. She leaned back against him and they both fell asleep.
