Chapter 4




The weeks passed in much the same manner. Relena could never get anyone to speak against Mr. Gen, nor could she find out any information about him. Duo couldn't figure out the mystery of the new students and Heero didn't care. It wasn't a mission, so it didn't concern him. Duo wanted to know, but soon let it slide. He was forced to continue with his training under Mr. Gen and had to admit that he was getting better. He'd thought that he was good before, but now he was great! Even Mr. Gen had once admitted that he was improving. High praise!

Mr. Gen even promised to get him a proper weapon, anything he wanted. Duo's mind was fixed on having his own Scythe, and Mr. Gen had even told him that he had one available if Duo should prove worthy of it. Besides, they weren't doing any harm and, he was getting to be friends with some of them.

Ryo, Shin, Touma, and, to an extent, Naaza, were all quite friendly. Shu, seemed to forgive him for the sin of touching Nasutei, but would get upset if Duo look at her for to long. Seiji reminded Duo just a bit too much of Heero, Sh'ten was arrogant to an extreme that Duo couldn't stand him, and Anubis was violent and unpredictable.



Even Nasty had something interesting happen to her. In the city, while she was visiting the local library, she met a young man, a few years older than herself with long, straight white hair.

"Is that interesting?" He looked at the cover of the book she was reading. An old, dusty cover with the title, ANCIENT PROPHESIES.

Nasty nodded. "Very interesting, not to mention useful."

He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Millardo."

Nasty shook hands politely and wondered if this guy was trying to flirt with her. It didn't happen often, so she really wasn't used to it. Especially not by someone as good looking as this Millardo guy. "Nasutei." She replied.

"If you want some more reading that might interest you, try the basement. They keep all the old stuff down there."

"Do you work here?"

"Nope. Just passing time."

As the man turned his back and started walking away, Nasty smiled. Yep. Definitely flirting.


SEVERAL WEEKS LATER-



It was on a Saturday that Shin announced that he had to go to town to get some groceries. Seiji offered to drive him (no one drove Seiji's car but him!), but Shin had decided to walk. It was such a beautiful day. Sh'ten offered to walk with him, but Shin told him to stay home and that he wanted to time to think. No, nothing was wrong, he just wanted time to himself. After all, the house was such a busy place all the time, with ten people and an overgrown tiger living in it.

Ryo would have offered to walk with him, but he was expecting Heero and Duo to come by today. Duo was doing as badly in one of the classes as Ryo was. Duo had asked Touma to tutor him, once he found out that Touma was literally a genius. Touma agreed thinking it would be easier to tutor Duo and Ryo at the same time.

So, Shin took his own sweet time and told everyone he'd be home sometime in the afternoon, about three o'clock. He strode down the dirt road, starting his journey to the city, some thirteen miles away. It would take him all day to get there and back. If he didn't get tempted by some river or lake and decide to go skinny-dipping.


WUFEI-


Wufei was walking to the market with Quarte at his side when he heard the commotion. "Stay here." Wufei told Quarte as he curiously followed the noise and came upon an almost cliché scene. Three teenage boys were beating on one in a darkened alley. They were laughing and shouting at the boy who held his arms over his head protectively. Wufei frowned. The strong should not harm the weak.

"Stop." Wufei said it loud enough that he wasn't shouting, but everyone turned to look at him.

"This isn't your business, keep out of it." One of them told him arrogantly.

"I have made it my business." Wufei disagreed. "You are not fighting honorably."

To make a long story short, Wufei kicked ass and sent them all running. He broke the arm of the leader, just to make his point clear, and only roughed up the others. He was in a good mood from spending the day with Quarte. Quarte had that effect on people.

Wufei stared after the retreating boys for a moment before he heard a soft voice on the ground.

"Thank you." It was the boy who had been beaten. He looked far worse than Wufei had thought. He was nearly drenched in blood. Both of his eyes were swelling and would be blackened for days. There was blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth.

Damn, the boy was hurt worse than Wufei had thought.

Quarte was suddenly there by his side, appearing as if out of thin air, and knelt next to the fallen boy. "Are you all right?"

The brown haired boy managed a weak smile. "I've had better days." Then he began coughing and blood spilt out of his mouth in a gush.

"My god!" Quarte exclaimed. "We have to get you to a hospital!"

"Yes," Wufei agreed. "Stay with Quarte and I'll call an ambulance for you."

The boy shook his head. "No, I need to go home. The hospital wouldn't help me." He looked up with a dazed expression. "I need to call my friends. They'll come and get me."

Wufei shrugged though he thought it was odd. Why would the boy be afraid to go to the hospital? "There's a museum across the street. I suppose they'll have a telephone we can use. Though, I really think Quarte is right and you should get to a hospital. There's nothing your friends can do for you that the hospital can't. We can always tell your friends to meet you there."

Again, the boy just shook his head. "I have to go home."

Quarte and Wufei shrugged at each other and helped the boy to his feet. "What's your name?" Quarte asked. "I'm Quarte Winner and this is Chang Wufei, my friend."

The boy gasped as they helped him to stand and put a hand to his ribs. "I'm Shin. Mouri Shin. I think I've broken some ribs." With Wufei and Quarte on either side of Shin, they struggled across the street, attracting just a little to much attention for Wufei's comfort.

As they hobbled out into the street and toward the museum, Wufei told Shin, "You are to weak to try and fight people who would attack you. Why didn't you run away?"

Shin didn't seem particularly upset at being called weak. "I wasn't expecting the attack, though I suppose I should have. They surprised me and I didn't want to hurt them."

"So you let yourself take such a terrible beating?" Quarte asked. "Why?"

"If I fought, I might have hurt them. Badly."

"Then you should fight." Wufei told him. "You must protect yourself, even if it means hurting others. Were they just after your money?"

"No." Shin looked at them as if not sure that he should tell them the real reason he was attacked. Finally, he said, "They jumped me because I'm gay and they didn't like that."

To their credit, neither Quarte nor Wufei reacted. Shin continued. "Apparently, they saw me kissing my... friend at school and I guess they followed me when they saw me in town. Thanks for coming when you did. It was getting to the point where I was going to have to fight back."

"So you would have fought?" Wufei asked. By now they had reached the museum and were avoiding the curious stares of passerby's.

"Yes. I do know how to fight and I'm quite good, I just don't like it."

They managed to find a phone in one of the halls of the museum and Quarte helped Shin to sit on the floor with his back to the wall. Shin gave Wufei the number and told him with a sleepy voice, "Ask for Date Seiji, please, and tell him where we are. He'll come for me. I don't want Sh'ten to know what's happened, yet."

Wufei told Quarte, "Keep him talking. I think he's going into shock."

Quarte obliged and kept Shin awake as much as he could while Wufei dialed. The phone was answered with a happy sounding, "Yo!"



Duo-


Duo and Heero were walking down the long road to where Ryo said he lived. Duo groaned. "Why would anyone want to live in place like this?" He asked his silent friend. "There's nothing around here for miles!" Duo gestured to the thick forests that completely surrounded them. It was a trip that Duo was not likely to make again, if he had any choice. They had to take a bus for a half an hour and then walk for another half an hour. Next time Touma offered to tutor him, he'd tell Touma to meet him at the library in the city!

Heero, of coarse, didn't respond.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the sight of the house. It was huge and he never would have guessed that he would find something like that out here. It was not just a house, but a mansion.

"Wow," Duo sighed. "Ryo's folks must be loaded!"

Out of nowhere, Duo was suddenly tackled and threw to the ground with an immense weight on his chest. He blinked and looked up to find himself looking in the warm brown eyes of a Siberian Tiger. There was a low grumble coming from its chest.

"Heero, do something!" Duo whined desperately, trying to stay calm, but he was used to fighting in battles, not wild animals. He cast a look at Heero who was now holding his gun and wondering if he should shot or not. Shoot, please shoot! Duo prayed.

"It looks like White Blaze has just as bad taste as Ryo does." Heero looked over at the new voice, Anubis. "They both like you." Duo looked between the tiger's legs and saw Anubis, looking much different than he had in school.

Anubis stood with his arms crossed and leaned against a tree. He had black jeans and a leather vest on, but that was all. Duo noticed that Anubis had his left nipple pierced and several tattoos on his arms and across his chest. The very image of tough, bad boy. The blue haired young man sniffed. "Get away from them, stupid cat."

The tiger growled at Anubis and, just to spite him, sat on Duo's chest. Duo started to turn blue under the weight and squeezed out, "You're not helping!"

Anubis smirked and didn't seem at all concerned about Heero's gun that was still out. "I wasn't trying to help you." He acted as if he hadn't even noticed the gun. Then Anubis turned and looked over one shoulder.

Ryo was walking toward them, one arm behind his back, suspiciously. "What are you doing, Anubis?" Ryo called, coming closer.

"Irritating your tiger and trying to get your guests killed. Just having fun."

Ryo scowled at him. "Behave yourself."

"And if I don't?"

Ryo grinned evilly (a strange expression on his face) and pulled out his hand from behind his back. He held a small gray puppy in his hand that was yelping happily and wagging its tail. "I'll give Junior a shave."

Anubis' eyes went wide and he panicked. "You wouldn't!" He lost all sense of dignity.

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Snip, snip."

"You let go of my wolf!" Anubis screamed, shaking one fist in the air while tears ran down his face. He made a sudden jump at Ryo and grabbed his wolf puppy from the enemy hands, rolling expertly and holding the pup close to his chest. When he stopped rolling, Anubis sat on his butt on the grass cradling the small gray puppy. "Don't worry, baby. Daddy will protect you from the bad man!" He shot Ryo a dirty look.

"Next time, you leave my tiger alone." Ryo stuck his tongue out and his tone was suddenly back to normal.

Anubis growled and stood, still cuddling with his wolf cub. He gave the cub a kiss on the top of its head and it licked his face happily while Anubis muttered under his breath. "Damned pyro! I'll get him for this. Nobody threatens my little Junior!"

Ryo looked down at Duo and smiled. "Hi." He leaned one elbow against the tiger's shoulder comfortably as if he did it all the time. "You're late, dude." He sounded as if he didn't think it was at all odd to have a 700-pound tiger sit on your guests.

Heero spoke up. "That tiger is suffocating Duo. Please remove it."

Ryo, for the first time, looked startled and blinked down at the tiger. "Oh, sorry. White Blaze, move your tail." The tiger obligingly did as he was told and went to stand next to Ryo, licking his hand as he did so. "So, are you ready to study with Touma?" Ryo asked as if it were more important than a study session.

"Yeah. Why?" Duo struggled to his feet.

Ryo gave a sort of laugh. "Studying with Touma is not as easy as it sounds. He's very demanding and he will not let you leave the house until he is certain that you have learned everything."

They started walking toward the house with White Blaze at Ryo's side and Anubis trailing slightly behind them. Duo wasn't especially happy at having Anubis at his back, but Ryo trusted him. After all, Duo was a Gundam Pilot, the pilot of Death Scythe Hell, what harm could one blue haired guy do to him?


Ryo-


Touma had invited Duo over and he was helping the both of us with algebra. Jeeze, algebra, as if that was important in my life and death struggles against the evils of the universe! Still, Touma seemed to think it was important so I tried not to fall asleep.

Duo had also brought Heero, the solemn boy who always seemed to be following Duo quietly. Ryo thought that Heero was one weird little bugger. He didn't come for the lessons, Duo explained. He was just there to keep Duo company. Strange, as Heero spent the last hour staring out of the window at the forest.

Sh'ten had taken Shu upstairs to keep him away from Duo and out of trouble. Nasty was out in her garden while Seiji was out at the lake meditating. Rajura was in the gym with and Naaza doing god knows what, probably working out, but really, who could tell with those two? Shin was at the market doing the grocery shopping for the week and Anubis was hovering. Occasionally walking in and leaning over Ryo's shoulder as if to see what he was doing, or just standing there.

As usual, Junior was yapping at Anubis' heels unless Anubis was actually holding the pup. Anubis, the warlord of darkness, also seemed to have a soft spot for wolves. So soft, that when he'd found the orphaned cub only a few weeks ago, he'd instantly adopted it and named it Junior. On reflection, I have to admit that Anubis treated Junior rather like I treated White Blaze. More like a friend than a pet, I thought as I absently scratched Byakuen behind the ears. He purred happily.

It was slightly unnerving that when Junior wasn't with Anubis he could be found with White Blaze. More than once I had found my friend, Yaku-Chan, carrying the cub in his teeth, as if it were his kitten, or letting Junior ride on his back. I wonder if Byakuen had adopted the pup.

Eventually, I got irritated with Anubis' hovering and Junior's yelping for attention. "Do you want to sit in or something?" I asked. Having Anubis hanging over my shoulder made me nervous for some reason. Lately, Anubis always seemed to be hanging around. Was he still mad about that little threat outside with Junior? Was he looking for revenge? That thought made me nervous.

"No." Anubis leaned over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Just passing." Then he left after giving my shoulder a squeeze. "Come on, Junior. Let's see if Shin has left some scraps for you in the kitchen."

I frowned, watching Anubis wander out, my eyes lingering on Anubis' rear end. Boy, Anubis had a great butt... I shook my head. Now where had that thought come from? Why did my shoulder feel warm where Anubis had touched my?

"What are you thinking, Ryo?" Touma asked with an innocent smile, leaning his chin on his hand.

"Hmmm? Oh, nothing." I answered, wondering why Touma was smiling like that, as if Touma knew something I didn't. OK, that could mean a lot of things.


Duo-


Duo watched the interplay with a grin. Even he could tell what Anubis was up to. Ryo must be pretty thick, not to notice. Still, why ruin the game by telling Ryo that Anubis was trying to seduce him?



Ryo-


The phone rang and, happy for a break from algebra, I picked it up cheerfully.

"Yo!"

"Hello." The caller said. "I would like to speak with Mr. Date Seiji." The voice was unfamiliar so I asked,

"Who's calling?"

"My name is Chang Wufei."

"Gotcha." I went to the window that looked out at the lake and where Seiji was mediating. I leaned out of the window and shouted at the mediating figure out by the lake, "Phone, Seiji!"

The silent voice was in my mind and asked, WHO IS IT, RYO? Seiji didn't bother to move from his position almost a hundred yards away. He sounded a tad bit irritated to have his meditation interrupted.

I shouted back, "Some guy named Chang Wufei."



Touma-


Heero and Duo looked up sharply and Touma noticed, but didn't say anything. He would mention it later when the visitors weren't around to listen. Seiji didn't answer, but Ryo saw him stand and walk slowly toward the house. When he sat at the couch again, Duo asked. "Who was that?"

"Beats me. Why do you ask?" Ryo looked at him with those guileless eyes.

"Just curious." Duo smiled, feigning innocence.

Ryo smiled back, truly innocent.

Seiji walked in, nodding slightly to Duo and Heero, and he picked up the phone. As he passed the couch Touma thought to him, THEY KNOW THE NAME CHANG WUFEI. THEY BOTH BECAME ALERT WHEN RYO YELLED IT OUT TO YOU, BUT THEY WOULDN'T ADMIT IT WHEN RYO ASKED.

Seiji didn't respond, but Touma knew that he'd heard. This might just be an interesting coincidence, but then, why would they lie about something like that?
Touma stored the information away for later thought. It might be important, it might not.

"Hello?" Seiji spoke into the phone and listened for a moment. "I see. Yes, I will be right there." Seiji hung up the phone. "I will be back later." He then just walked out and moment later, they heard a car engine roar to life and then disappear down the road.

"What was all that about?" Duo asked.

Touma shrugged. "Seiji is a mystery unto himself." He said with a secretive smile.



Wufei-


We waited for only perhaps twenty minutes, all the while with the boy, Shin, getting paler and less coherent. 'I knew we should have taken him to the hospital, no matter what he wanted!'

At that moment, a tall, thin young man strode in. He had golden hair and was very pale. He moved, Wufei thought, like someone trained in the martial arts. He walked straight to them, his eyes fixed on Shin.

"Are you Seiji?" Quarte asked as the tall man approached.

"Yes. Shin?" Seiji knelt next to his friend and touched his face gently. "What happened?"

Shin's eyes were half closed. "I'm sorry, Seiji. I didn't want to fight. I hate fighting." That was all he had to say in his defense.

Seiji, with a stone expression, said, "Don't worry. I'll take you home." He was stronger than he looked when he picked up Shin and carried him away without a word. Wufei and Quarte looked at each other.

"He really needs to go to the hospital." Quarte told Seiji.

"He'll be fine." The blonde told Quarte coolly, as if he wasn't the least bit concerned with the broken body in his arms and was irritated that these people should involve themselves in something that wasn't their concern.

Wufei scowled. "Fine?!" Wufei demanded. "How can you call yourself his friend, you aren't even worried."

Fortunately, as the situation might get out of hand, Shin woke enough to say, "Don't worry about me. Seiji will take care of me. Thank you again." His head lolled back against Seiji's chest murmuring softly, "I won't forget you."

Wufei shook his head, pitying Shin who might get himself killed if he kept up this attitude. Quarte looked after the calm Seiji. "Well, how do you like that for manners?" Quarte said indignantly, looking at Seiji's back.



Seiji-



Seiji carefully settled Shin into the passenger seat of his beloved car. He squatted on his heels on the sidewalk and held Shin's hand tightly. It was such a simple and natural thing to let his healing ability flow down his arm and into Shin's body. He only used a little of his power, enough to wake Shin, but not enough to attract attention.

"I'm glad you didn't bring, Sh'ten." Shin said, now more awake and holding Seiji's hand as tightly as he could.

Seiji gently moved his hand away from Shin, fastened his friend's seat belt and climbed in the driver's side. FOOLISH, Seiji thought. BY NOW SH'TEN'S NOTICED YOU'VE CUT US ALL OUT OF YOUR MIND. HE'LL BE WORRIED SICK. It was normal for Seiji to communicate this way. He much favored telepathy to talking.

"Yes," Shin answered as they set out toward home. "And if he'd come for me, he might had attacked those boys who saved me. I knew you'd wait for the whole story before attacking."

STILL, YOU SHOULD HAVE LET US KNOWN THAT YOU WERE BEING ATTACKED. THAT WAS CRUEL TO SH'TEN.

"I didn't want you all to worry." His excuse sounded rather silly even to Shin now that he thought about it.


Ryo-


Sh'ten was indeed worried. They had all stopped studying and were having a snack when Sh'ten burst into the living room, his chest and feet bare and sweating heavily from his work out with Shu.

"Can anyone contact Shin?" He asked Ryo and Touma abruptly, looking distressed and not at all concerned that they had strangers in the room. "I just tried, but he's blocked me out." That was unusual. Shin normally had his mind wide open for any of them and especially for Sh'ten.

Ryo and Touma closed their eyes, momentarily forgetting their guests. They felt the warmth of the minds of their friends. The taste of their personalities and how they were feeling. Rajura was getting a good deal of pleasure from beating a punching bag, Sh'ten was worried, Shu was in his room and watching television, Anubis was feeling quite pleased as he watched Junior attack a feather on the end of a piece of thread. Naaza was teasing Anubis about something, while Junior was playing. Seiji, wherever he was, was cool, but concerned.

Shin wasn't there. In the place in his mind where Ryo should have felt Shin, there was a wall.

Both Ryo and Touma opened their eyes at the same time, now worried. "Where was he going?" Touma asked Sh'ten.

"He said he had to go to the market for dinner. He said he'd be back a half an hour ago, but he blocked us out almost an hour ago. That's why I'm so worried."

"What's wrong?" Duo asked, remembering Shin from school.

"None of your #&%$#& business, you little %@$*!" Sh'ten cursed angrily, turning on the first available target. He liked having a target for his anger and he didn't care about offending Ryo's guests.

Ryo jumped up the same time Duo did and stood between his two friends. "I was just asking!" Duo exploded. Jeeze, why did they all yell at him?!

RYO, Seiji's voice came to Ryo's mind. GET YOUR GUESTS OUT OF THE HOUSE. WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

Ryo put a hand on Duo's arm. "I think you need to leave now, Duo. Thanks for coming by, you too, Heero." Ryo hurried them along while his brain spoke to Seiji. WHAT'S WRONG?

SHIN. HE'S BEEN HURT, BADLY.

Duo glared at Sh'ten. "Maybe your right. See you at school tomorrow, Ryo."

HOW BAD? Ryo asked Seiji.

BAD. I NEED TO WORK ON HIM. WE'LL BE THERE IN JUST A MINUTE.

That was enough for Ryo. Seiji didn't use his power needlessly. If Shin needed to be healed by Seiji, then it must be bad.

He hurried Heero and Duo out the door and then called the others to the living room.


Duo-


Ryo practically slammed the door in our faces. Well, that was weird. Heero and I started walking down the ridiculously long road to where they'd be able to catch a bus or taxi.

Before we'd gone very far, we heard the soft engine of Seiji's black sports car and it came hurdling up the road and past them. We stood and watched as Seiji jumped out of the car. Others came out of the house and pulled someone out of the car, carrying the person into the house carefully.

We were to far away to see the person being carried clearly, but it was pretty obvious. "Shin?" Duo looked at Heero.

Heero shrugged. "You forgot your notebook. You need to get it for school tomorrow."

I had to smile at Heero's devious little mind. He could have reminded me before we left. Heero had wanted to come back and see what was going on, too. We both hurried back and, leaving Heero at the door so it wouldn't look odd, after all he didn't need to come in to help me grab a note book, I opened the door without knocking. I cheerfully ran into the living room as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Sorry, I forgot my..." My eyes went wide at the sight. Shin, bleeding and looking near death was laying on the couch with his friends around him, Sh'ten kneeling next to him.

Looming over them, was a robot in green and white armor with an impossibly huge sword in its hand. Both the robot and Shin were glowing green. Everyone turned and stared at me including the robot. I saw the face of the robot and recognized it. "Hee, hee," I laughed nervously. "I'll get it later."

"Get out!" Anubis thundered and, with Shu at his side, they charged me and I ran out the door and into Heero. Junior was hot on Anubis' heels and yelping madly with White Blaze roaring like thunder next to him. If I hadn't been so scared, he'd have laughed.

"What happened?" Heero asked. I grabbed Heero's hand and pulled him along in the run away from the house, even though Anubis and Shu hadn't followed us out. "Why are we running?" Heero asked calmly as we ran.

"There's a robot back there." I told him, still running.

"From OZ?" Heero asked, interested.

"Don't know. Seiji. Kick ass sword! Keep running!" I managed to pant out while running as fast as I could. I looked over my shoulder to find that they weren't being followed and we slowed. "I don't know if the others are robots, or not, but they were not happy that I'd come in and found them like that."