Hey guys can you believe it I've actually written part 3!! Gasp this one is for Katie, Dee and super nova along with all the other ppl who has pestered…eh I mean asked nicely for more chapter 3 and lese. A big big thank you to my good friend death angel who sat for two nights in a row in bishie land letting me talk to Trowa and Quatre so I could actually finish this arigato d.a!! Oh thank you Tro-chan and Quatre too ^_^
DUO-BLE TROUBLE 3
8.45 a.m
" Please Duo!!! Pretty please!!"
" No"
"But…but…please!!! I wanna"
" Eh.no!!"
" That's soooooo not fair!! You big fat meanie!!"
" For the last time lese you are not I repeat NOT playing in death scythe!!! Do you hear me!!?"
Lese slumped in defeat across the kitchen table sighing; she laid her head on her arms sulking as Duo continued to munch his breakfast. She'd been trying to get her paws on a gundam all morning with little success, she wasn't giving up but so far the day had gone as follows:
7.30 a.m
Lese barged through the door of Duo's room without thinking to knock; she was met with a naked god of death fresh from the shower dripping all over the floor. Least ways it would have been a floor if it wasn't covered with old clothes, piles of comics, sweet wrappers, gundam parts, Manga videos, soggy towels, various c.d's out of their boxes and god knows what else that made up the belongings of Duo Maxwell
" Aggghhh!!" screamed Duo" Lese!! Get out!! Sheesh do you know how to knock at all??!!" yelled a very flustered and embarrassed Duo, his face growing red as he desperately tried to wrap his towel round himself, and shove his sister out of the door at the same time
" HAHAHA jeez Duo when did you get so touchy about nudity?" sniggered his sister highly amused at her twins flustered state
" It's nothing I haven't seen before bro I saw you naked tons when we were little remember" she continued giggling as she braced herself against the door frame, trying to resist Duo's one handed shoving in the small of her back, as his other hand was trying to hold the towel round his waist.
" Yeah well I'm older now, and scuse me for NOT wanting to do the full Monty in front of my sister!! Now get out!!" yelled Duo his chest rapidly matching his now crimson face
" Ok ok chill I just wanted to ask one thing then I'll go" pleaded lese, Duo stopped trying to shove her out the door and managed to fasten his slipping towel round his hips. Pushing the wet hair out of his eyes, he glared at her expectantly
" Well?!! What is it?" he snapped folding his arms over his chest. Lese grinned and played with her fingers trying to think how to phrase the question
" Um can I borrow death scythe?" she asked sheepishly. Duo's jaw hung open and his eyebrows shot up round his hairline.
" what?!!! Are you mad?!! Let me think…um no no no and did I mention HELL NO?!!!!" ranted Duo his face still set in a look of utter disbelief
Lese opened her mouth to protest but was bodily shoved out the door by a very ticked god of death. Waking up at the crack of dawn for a mission, having his sister barge in on him naked, and then have her try and borrow his gundam was not his ideal way to start the day!!
" Ok I can see you're cranky I'll try you again later" chirped lese heading out the door, trying to avoid standing on the play station, and crow comics blocking her path, leaving an annoyed brother behind. Duo spluttered unable to think of a suitable reply, she had to be kidding!! He slammed his door shut fuming, and turned back to getting dry, lese quickly stuck her head back in the door
" One more thing bro ya towel slipped cute butt" she giggled, Duo looked down and was horrified to see his towel puddled at his feet, he felt his face grow hot again
" AGGGHHH!! LESE!! OUT NOW!! GET OUT!!!" he yelled throwing his towel at the rapidly closing door as his sister ran off down the hall giggling.
7.45 am
Ok strike one with duo thought lese who else can I try? As if the heavens had given her the answer ahead of her she saw trowa coming in the front door. Ahhh hah!! Thought lese he'll do!!
" TROWA!!" yelled lese happily charging down the stairs towards him. Trowa froze like a deer caught in headlights, oh god he thought she's got that hyper happy look on her face she's after something!! Trowa looked left and right for escape but there was nowhere to run as the braided force of nature known as Celeste Maxwell bounced up to him.
" Eh… Good morning Celeste" he greeted her while desperately trying to unlock the door behind him to escape.
"Trowa I need a favour so say yes puhlease!!" said lese using the Quatre puppy dog eyes for all she was worth, and desperately trying to paste an innocent look on her face.
" Well…that depends" replied a now very nervous Trowa backing up, call him paranoid but he didn't trust lese or duo when they pulled the innocent routine, innocent with those two always meant " I'm planning something…ya probably not gonna like it but ya know I'm gonna get my own way anyway so just give in now and save yourself a lot of trouble"…. what the hell is wrong with this door?!! Thought Trowa. Why the hell won't it open?!! He gave the doorknob a few more twists before giving up and resigning himself to whatever lese had in store for him.
" Depends on what?" asked lese making her violet eyes go all wide and sparkly so she looked about four years old, and making Trowa feel very uncomfortable. He slumped against the door and folded his arms, trying to avoid looking at the picture of innocents in front of him.
" Well…" he said slowly stalling for time. He was still vainly hoping something would come along and get him out of this, hey he was a good person he could hope for a miracle!!. " It depends on what IT is lese…you can't expect me to say yes to something, when I don't know what that something is" lese just grinned and stuck her hands in the pocket of her shorts.
" Oh I wanna borrow heavy arms" she replied casually, Trowa's visible eye went very wide and he was pretty sure his jaw had just hit his chest, making him look a little like a slack jawed gold fish. He straightened himself looking stunned, then he looked away and looked back, blinked a few times and shook his head as if trying to decipher and fully understand what the hyper brunette had just said
" I beg your pardon?" he managed to reply
" I wanna borrow heavy arms" lese repeated brightly giving Trowa a happy expectant look. Trowa took a deep breath before answering
" Yes ….I thought that's what you said…do you mind me asking why?!!" lese looked thought full for a minute and studied her feet before answering cheerfully
" I wanna play in a gundam?" Trowa tried to look as disapproving as possible while desperately trying not to laugh at he complete honesty
" Celeste gundams are not to be played with! They are not toys but weapons of war understand?" Lese looked guilty for a second and chewed her lip; Trowa actually believed he had escaped this time till she looked up again trying to look serious
" Well how about if I borrow it as an essential life skill then?" Trowa's face fell, oh god help he thought, as he racked his brain for a Maxwell proof reason, not to let a maniacal 15 year old girl loose with a weapon of mass destruction. The maker was obviously listening to Trowa that day because just then world war 3 broke out on the landing causing the perfect distraction.
" AGHGHHHHHHH HE-CHAN !!!" screamed duo's panic filled voice from above. Trowa and lese turned to see duo running along the landing for all he was worth, while trying to hold his braid away from the grasp of a murderous looking Heero.
" OMAE O KOROSU DUO!! GET BACK HERE" roared the psychotic looking Japanese boy as he rugby tackled the American, pining him to the floor and twisting his arms behind his back. Duo struggled under Heero's grip and tried to get away
" But ..But he-chan all I said was ya should start using moisturiser before all that death glaring gives ya wrinkles" whimpered duo face down in the powder blue carpet
" Damare baka!!" growled Heero giving duo's braid a vicious tug and drawing back his fist to give duo an early morning beating. Duo shut his eyes and winced waiting for the inevitable pain that would signal Heero's fist connecting with his jaw, and then he had an idea
" Quick Heero it's Releena!!" he yelled burying his head in the carpet in case his plan didn't work. Heero's head snapped up as he instantly jumped off duo grabbing his gun from …well wherever the hell Heero manages to keep his gun in those shorts!!
" Releena? Where? Where is she? How the hell did she find us?" he snapped scanning the hallway for his permanent psycho stalker, oblivious to the looks lese and Trowa were giving him below. Duo took full advantage of the situation and got up running, making a bee line for the stairs which he charged down 3 at a time in an effort to get away from the now fully armed wing zero pilot.
" Hahahah works every time " he crowed grinning and blowing a raspberry at his koi who looked ready to instantly self destruct with rage. Duo's celebrations were cut short however when Heero vaulted over the balcony and landed neatly in front of duo treating the god of death to his very best aforementioned death glare. Duo skidded to a halt and tried grinning at Heero but it didn't work he just ended up staring down the barrel of a gun. Ok duo thought ..Plan b he pulled out the big guns and gave Heero the puppy eyes lese had just used on Trowa, if there was one thing Maxwell's did well it was the big pitiful eyes…well that and eating. But Heero was not in a forgiving mood today. He was still mad at duo for putting itching powder in his spandex and slapping sailor moon wallpaper all over his lap top, not to mention being kept awake till 2 am while duo serenaded everyone with "who let the dogs out" and his wonderful version of " the real slim shady" that went " well I'm duo Maxwell, yes I'm the real duo, all ya other gundam pilots are just imitating" Heero was. …ticked. Ok thought duo I need more ammo, the bottom lip came out
" I'm sorry he-chan" he whimpered, Heero weakened and the gun was returned from whence it came. Duo breathed a sigh of relief and dusted himself off
" Fine I wont shoot you I'll just hit you, hold still" growled Heero, duo's face dropped
" Agghhhh sis save me" squealed duo diving behind a bemused lese as Heero tried to grab him and make his nose concave
" So Releena huh Heero?…oohhh scary" giggled lese as Heero made a grab for her twins braid and missed. Duo ran for cover behind Trowa, Trowa who was used to this just sighed, and allowed himself to be used as a human tree by duo, who was running round him in ever decreasing circles trying to dodge his ferocious mate. Heero didn't even reply to Lese's comment, he just shot her a full wattage death glare that promised severe death and unpleasantness is she didn't shut up and continued trying to nab her soon to be ex brother.
" Ok ok!! Releena I'm sure she's really horrible…vile …nasty" assured lese holding her hands up in mock surrender and edging away from Heero, she still had marks round her neck from Heero grabbing her by the throat the other day. With a final lunge Heero managed to snag duo's shirt.
" Aiiieeee owww let go He-chan that hurts!!" wailed duo scrabbling with the front door knob to get away
" Good it's meant to" snorted Heero giving the back of duo's collar a savage twist, just then duo got the door open and, after the sound of tearing material was heard, a topless death scythe pilot was seen sprinting across the lawn of Quatre's estate at top speed while squealing
"Ack!! Oh my god it's cold!! Agghhhh!! It's f-f-freezing!!" as the full force of January blizzard hit him.
Trowa and lese turned to see a pissed Heero holding what was left of duo's shirt in one hand and his gun in the other while glaring after duo. Trowa raised his eyebrow at the Japanese pilot and then looked and the rapidly disappearing duo, as if to say well? Now what? Heero looked at the shirt, shrugged, threw it on the floor then ran out into the snow after the braided dot on the horizon.
" Jeez they make ya cold just looking at them!!" muttered lese astonished as she watched her topless brother and a spandex clad Heero ploughing through the 6 inches of snow on the ground. Trowa turned back to her then remembered what she has been about to ask him and dashed out after the other two pilots.
" Hey where ya going?" yelled lese after the joyfully escaping Trowa
" Ah…erm..I..Eh…have to stop them killing each other " yelled back Trowa rapidly making his exit
" Ahhhh nuts!!" pouted lese " and I was this close to getting my paws on heavy arms too!!" oh well she thought…there's always Wuffie it's a slim chance but worth a shot…. So after making a detour to duo's room to pinch some warmer clothes, she headed for the hanger to find the Chinese boy
8 a.m
Lese walked into the gundam hanger and suddenly felt very small, on her left she was dwarfed by wing zero and on her right towering over her was the giant black form of her brother's gundam. Lese stopped at its feet and looked up with a mixture of awe and pride.
" Hey there big guy" she whispered sitting on it's foot, she still couldn't believe that her brother was one of THE gundam pilots, it made her fiercely proud but also a bit nervous and worried. Her brother was one of the most hated enemies of oz and they wanted him dead, she was sure duo was a good pilot and all but still accidents happen. It didn't help ease her mind that duo's job basically involved sitting in the line of fire, in a tin can while praying he would make it home for dinner and not end up at the pearly gates. She placed her hand on the cold metal and looked up at death scythe's head.
" Just you take good care of him you hear?! I just got him back I don't wanna loose the baka again k? Please death scythe bring him back to me" she pleaded laying her cheek on the gundams leg. The gundam didn't reply but she hoped it understood, then she laughed at herself shaking her head
" Ahhhh jeez I'm loosing it I'm talking to a machine," she muttered jumping off death scythes foot and landing with cat like grace. She turned and looked at the shining white form of wing zero
" And you!! Just you watch his back," she scolded before heading further down the hanger in search of wufei.
She hurried past heavy arms and sandrock, her feet echoing in the quiet hanger, she was beginning to feel like a bug next to all these massive mechas
" God now I know how Alice felt in wonderland" she whispered afraid to break the silence, as she approached Wufei's beloved shenlong. She stood and eyed Wufei's gundam, she hadn't really spoken to wufei much since she'd…um well…since she'd disarmed him, hell she hadn't even really seen him since then, the guy was almost avoiding her. She looked around and seeing no one nervously put her foot in the winch that would take her up to the cockpit
" Don't even think about it onna!" Celeste jumped at the voice behind her and spun round to see wufei eyeing her suspiciously from across the hanger, where he was sat cross-legged. She stared at wufei with his hair down a little more than she should of before she realised what she was doing and managed to mumble
" Ahhhh um didn't see you there Wuffie!!" she hastily took her foot out of the sling and felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Wufei slowly stood up and came striding towards her pulling his hair back into his customary ponytail and securing it
" Evidently not" he replied grabbing hold of the winch from her hand, making her jump
" What exactly did you think you were doing onna?" he snapped glaring at her, Celeste looked away feeling very uncomfortable under that gaze, wufei unnerved her a bit
" Um..I.was…eh..that is…I was going to look in Shenlongs cockpit" she managed to stutter turning very red and desperately wishing the earth would swallow her whole right about now.
" I can see that!! Growled the pilot " what I want to know is why?!" lese cringed at his tone and was really beginning to regret coming here; she let out a loud sigh before replying
" Because I want to learn how to use a gundam" wufei raised an eyebrow and folded his arms
" Why not use Maxwell's then? He is your brother!" lese frowned turning back to wufei
" Well he said no so I can't" she snapped back tossing her head, the faintest smirk crossed Wufei's face
" Maxwell for once had some sense! Gundams are not for amateurs girl and certainly not for females, don't let me ever catch you near Nataku again onna" wufei yelled over his shoulder while heading for the exit" lese could feel he temper boiling in the pit of her stomach wufei had a real talent for rubbing her up the wrong way and she'd had enough
" What the hell do you mean especially females??!! What the hell has me being a girl got to do with anything?!!" she roared grabbing wufei by the shoulder and spinning him round, his black eyes flashed for a second before replying simply
" Weaklings" for the briefest instant duo's infamous shinigami look crossed her face before her hand made contact with Wufei's face and a satisfying "crack" echoed through the hanger
" you..you pompous!! Sexist!! Arrogant…self absorbed…egotistical….JERK!!" She yelled at the astonished boy who just stood there blinking
" Go do the world a favour and…and..Just go self detonate!!" she continued before shoving wufei out of the way and storming off back out into the snow muttering about how much she hated wufei, how much he ticked her off and all the things she wanted to do to him
Wufei watched her leave and brought his hand gingerly to his cheek where he could feel a bruise already forming. He couldn't believe it..that..That female had gotten the last word again!! And..and she'd hit him!! Him!! Chang wufei had been hit by a weak onna!! And..and to make it even worse it was Maxwell's damn sister!!
" AGHHHH WOMEN!!" he ranted at the silent gundams throwing his hands up in exasperation. Hearing sniggering he spun round to see 28 of the magnamacs who had just come in to start work in a heap on the floor, they had witnessed the whole thing. Wufei glared at them but they still were in fits of laughter
" Shut up you imbeciles!!" he ranted
" Ahhhh admit it wufei you like her" yelled Abdul from the far side of the hanger in between fits of laughter, wufei turned red
" Shut up I do not like Maxwell's sister!! She more annoying than her damn brother shut up all of you!!" he screamed before storming out into the snow leaving the sniggering magnamacs behind him
8.20 a.m
" I hate wufei!! He's such a jerk!! A stupid sexist…royal pain in the butt!! I'd soooooo like to take that sword of his and shove it up his…well I wanna hit him anyway. I'd love to wipe that smug look of his sexy little face!! Wait a minute?!! He's not sexy?!! Lese what the hell are you thinking girl?!! This is wufei !! Agghhhh oh god!!" this was what lese was muttering to herself as she stomped into the cheery kitchen in Quatre's house and threw herself angrily down in the chair. She shook her head to get the snow off it and continued to growl to herself when a cheerful voice interrupted her personal Wuffie rant
" Good morning Celeste is something wrong?" lese looked up and saw Quatre making tea, he was giving her a very worried look. Lese smiled and shook her head
" Hi Quatre nah just Wuffie being a pain" Quatre gave her a reassuring smile and carried a cup over to the snow encrusted girl
" Why don't you have a nice hot drink and tell me all about it?" he asked handing the cup to lese who pulled a face
" Uh no offence q but um…I don't really like tea…" she was interrupted by Quatre chuckling.
" I thought you might say that" he pointed to the cup she was holding which she now realised wasn't full of tea but hot chocolate complete with cream and marsh mallows
" Ahhhh cool thanks q how did you know?" asked lese while burying her nose in her cup and getting it covered in cream, quatres eyes sparkled as he sat down opposite lese and handed her a napkin to decream her nose
" Same as duo, he wont drink anything that isn't loaded with sugar and extra sweet, I thought you'd probably be the same" laughed the blonde " so what happened with wufei?" he continued Lese's face became dark
" Oh ..That guy makes me sooo mad!! He's..he's well he hates women and..and he's..well" lese stopped and thought what was it about Wuffie she hated so much?
" You know q ..I can't think why I hate him so much…I just know I do…odd huh?" Quatre just smiled again understanding dawning on him
" Oh I'm sure it will be alright Celeste, don't be so hard on wufei he has his reasons, he doesn't mean to be that way"
" I guess" lese replied miserably staring at her cup, she was beginning to feel guilty about hitting wufei earlier she had after all been about to steal his gundam, she'd be ticked if someone tried to take her stuff.
" I should apologise to him q ..I..I hit him" Quatre's eyes twinkled mischievously as he got up from his seat to start breakfast
" Oh I wouldn't do that just yet Celeste, wufei needs to rethink his idea that all women are weak this might be just what he needs, but you didn't hear that from me ok?" winked the sandrock pilot. Lese looked doubtful
" Ya think?" she asked sceptically. Quatre turned back from placing a large frying pan on the stove and grinned a very duoish grin at her
" Trust Me," he said simply
" Well ok..but if he comes after me with that sword of his I'm blaming you q!!" sighed lese getting up and rinsing her cup before helping Quatre mix pancake batter
" He wont" replied Quatre in a sing song voice turning on the radio and filling the room with classical music, then seeing the grimace on Lese's face he sighed and switched stations filling the room with instead with Eiffel 65 blue
" Better?" asked Quatre picking up the spatula and ducking Lese's braid as she danced around the kitchen
" Much!!" she replied happily singing along as she started setting the table, then she looked at Quatre and remembered her mission for the morning
" Hey Quatre how attached are you to sandrock?" she asked casually while laying out the knives and forks. Quatre kept his back to her as he flipped the pancakes so she couldn't see the amused look on his face
" Sandrock is a very dear friend of mine….and no I'm sorry you can't borrow him" lese stared amazed at Quatre's back
" Hey..how did you know….?" She gasped, Quatre turned round with a plate of pancakes and set them down in front of her smiling
" Oh I know lots of things Celeste" she gazed at the blonde with a look of wonder before Quatre took pity on her and pointed to the door where Trowa was coming in for breakfast " besides Trowa told me you were trying to get heavy arms from him". Lese glared at Trowa as he took his seat opposite her
" Thank you koi get me in trouble with our only female" sighed Trowa picking up his coffee. Lese just grinned
" Ahhhh don't worry I'm ok Trowa ya safe…for now" she winked at him as wufei walked in, both him and Celeste avoided eye contact and he took his seat at the far end of the table from her.
" Good morning wufei" greeted Quatre giving the Chinese boy his breakfast
" Hn" was the only reply that wufei gave as he shot Celeste a look out of the corner of his eye, Quatre hid a chuckle as he noticed the red hand print on Wufei's left cheek. Heero then joined them sitting at the other end of the table and trying not to shiver as his skin was covered in goose bumps and had a faint blue tinge.
" Cold?" asked Trowa over his cup, Heero just scowled back from underneath his dark brown bangs
" No" he growled desperately trying to get his cup to stop shaking as he shivered visibly. Oohhh hey haven't tried Heero thought lese he was after all her last hope
" Hey Heero can I…" she didn't get any further as Heero had his gun against her head while continuing to drink his coffee
" Go near zero and omae o korosu" he growled the colour returning to his face.
" Ok ok sheesh calm down Heero switch to decafe willya?" lese replied pushing his gun away from her head
"hn" he grunted magically making the gun disappear into his shorts again. Just Then duo entered wrapped in a blanket teeth chattering and sporting a purple and black eye. Lese pulled the chair out for her brother, which he immediately huddled in looking like a little quivering mountain of blankets.
" Heero caught ya huh bro?" duo nodded dumbly teeth still chattering as Quatre handed him a hot chocolate and pancakes
" Drink this while it's warm duo before you get pneumonia" scolded Quatre while feeling duo's forehead. Duo downed the drink in one and fixed accusing eyes on Heero who squirmed feeling bad at the state he'd reduced his koi to.
" I…i..ii'l be fine.i..i.iii just gotta eat..t.t.then I'll go back to bed..i.i..don't feel well" stuttered duo while wolfing down his pancakes. Heero looked very guilty now duo was never sick.
" Gomen koi…I didn't mean to" apologised the kamikaze pilot in one of his rare instances of compassion, putting his hand on duo's shoulder. Duo gave a weak smile milking the sympathy for all it was worth
" It's ok he-chan I'm sure I deserved that thrashing and being buried in the snow" whimpered duo casting a side long look at the horrified faces of the three other pilots, the effect was ruined by lese snorting into her second hot chocolate and getting cream up her nose
" Oh come off it bro!!! I've seen you pound a kid 4 years older than you when you had whooping cough when we were kids. Stop the sympathy act before I have hysterics" she sniggered mopping up the spilt drink, duo shot her a glare while Heero gave her the faintest smile
" Gee thanks sis ruin it why don't ya!!" he pouted shaking off the blankets his shivering miraculously stopping as he helped himself to extra food, lese just grinned and wrinkled her nose at her twin while fighting him with forks for the last pancake. That was how the morning had gone
8.47 a.m
Lese lifted her head off her arm and stared up at her brother through her bangs.
" Duo!!" she whined
" Look I said no!! All right? Sheesh persistent!! Gimmie a break lese, ya think I want my only relative running round in a gundam?" he reasoned oblivious to the other four pilots watching him and his sister argue. at a loss lese gave him the look, you know the one!! That look you give your parents when you've done something or you give your older siblings that instantly makes them give in.
" Lese quit it!! …That wont work ya know!!……I'm not even looking!!..Ahhh jeez damn it FINE!!" Duo caved, lese one duo nil.
" Yay thanks bro!! Ya a star" squealed lese hugging duo and bouncing up and down
" Yeah yeah yeah now get off and let me eat will ya? Ya can have a quick go..in the grounds and no blowing anything up got it?" he growled making a mental note to learn how to say no in future. Lese just nodded her head excitedly
" MAXWELL ARE YOU INSANE?!!" exploded wufei at the end of the table " you're letting that onna loose in death scythe? Do you have a brain?!!" duo looked up from his plate and treated wufei to a shinigami glare
" I told ya before wu to lay off her, she'll be fine it's not like I'm letting her battle and she'll be supervised get the rod outta ya butt and chill out!!" duo snapped as the others watched, wufei narrowed his eyes and got up from the table slamming his chair back
" Kissima fine!! Women and mobile suits do not mix Maxwell I know!!But fine!! ….let your sister get herself killed, what do I care?!!" he snarled before slamming out of the kitchen to his room. Lese turned to Quatre with an astonished " what was that about" look on her face, Quatre just shook his head
" Another time, I promise" he replied clearing the table. Lese looked at duo that just sighed.
" He's…well I guess he got his reasons lese…don't sweat it sis" he gave her a reassuring smile before grabbing her hand and hauling her out to death scythe.
" Well this should be entertaining, duo being a teacher anyone else want to come watch?" asked Trowa getting up and stretching. Quatre and Heero looked at each other and shrugged
" Why not?" said Quatre pulling his coat on
" Great two baka and a mobile suit!!" growled Heero following them out of the front door to watch Lese's gundam debut.
ELSPETH CHANG HTTP://WWW.KJKEMP.FSNET.CO.UK
DUO-BLE TROUBLE 3
8.45 a.m
" Please Duo!!! Pretty please!!"
" No"
"But…but…please!!! I wanna"
" Eh.no!!"
" That's soooooo not fair!! You big fat meanie!!"
" For the last time lese you are not I repeat NOT playing in death scythe!!! Do you hear me!!?"
Lese slumped in defeat across the kitchen table sighing; she laid her head on her arms sulking as Duo continued to munch his breakfast. She'd been trying to get her paws on a gundam all morning with little success, she wasn't giving up but so far the day had gone as follows:
7.30 a.m
Lese barged through the door of Duo's room without thinking to knock; she was met with a naked god of death fresh from the shower dripping all over the floor. Least ways it would have been a floor if it wasn't covered with old clothes, piles of comics, sweet wrappers, gundam parts, Manga videos, soggy towels, various c.d's out of their boxes and god knows what else that made up the belongings of Duo Maxwell
" Aggghhh!!" screamed Duo" Lese!! Get out!! Sheesh do you know how to knock at all??!!" yelled a very flustered and embarrassed Duo, his face growing red as he desperately tried to wrap his towel round himself, and shove his sister out of the door at the same time
" HAHAHA jeez Duo when did you get so touchy about nudity?" sniggered his sister highly amused at her twins flustered state
" It's nothing I haven't seen before bro I saw you naked tons when we were little remember" she continued giggling as she braced herself against the door frame, trying to resist Duo's one handed shoving in the small of her back, as his other hand was trying to hold the towel round his waist.
" Yeah well I'm older now, and scuse me for NOT wanting to do the full Monty in front of my sister!! Now get out!!" yelled Duo his chest rapidly matching his now crimson face
" Ok ok chill I just wanted to ask one thing then I'll go" pleaded lese, Duo stopped trying to shove her out the door and managed to fasten his slipping towel round his hips. Pushing the wet hair out of his eyes, he glared at her expectantly
" Well?!! What is it?" he snapped folding his arms over his chest. Lese grinned and played with her fingers trying to think how to phrase the question
" Um can I borrow death scythe?" she asked sheepishly. Duo's jaw hung open and his eyebrows shot up round his hairline.
" what?!!! Are you mad?!! Let me think…um no no no and did I mention HELL NO?!!!!" ranted Duo his face still set in a look of utter disbelief
Lese opened her mouth to protest but was bodily shoved out the door by a very ticked god of death. Waking up at the crack of dawn for a mission, having his sister barge in on him naked, and then have her try and borrow his gundam was not his ideal way to start the day!!
" Ok I can see you're cranky I'll try you again later" chirped lese heading out the door, trying to avoid standing on the play station, and crow comics blocking her path, leaving an annoyed brother behind. Duo spluttered unable to think of a suitable reply, she had to be kidding!! He slammed his door shut fuming, and turned back to getting dry, lese quickly stuck her head back in the door
" One more thing bro ya towel slipped cute butt" she giggled, Duo looked down and was horrified to see his towel puddled at his feet, he felt his face grow hot again
" AGGGHHH!! LESE!! OUT NOW!! GET OUT!!!" he yelled throwing his towel at the rapidly closing door as his sister ran off down the hall giggling.
7.45 am
Ok strike one with duo thought lese who else can I try? As if the heavens had given her the answer ahead of her she saw trowa coming in the front door. Ahhh hah!! Thought lese he'll do!!
" TROWA!!" yelled lese happily charging down the stairs towards him. Trowa froze like a deer caught in headlights, oh god he thought she's got that hyper happy look on her face she's after something!! Trowa looked left and right for escape but there was nowhere to run as the braided force of nature known as Celeste Maxwell bounced up to him.
" Eh… Good morning Celeste" he greeted her while desperately trying to unlock the door behind him to escape.
"Trowa I need a favour so say yes puhlease!!" said lese using the Quatre puppy dog eyes for all she was worth, and desperately trying to paste an innocent look on her face.
" Well…that depends" replied a now very nervous Trowa backing up, call him paranoid but he didn't trust lese or duo when they pulled the innocent routine, innocent with those two always meant " I'm planning something…ya probably not gonna like it but ya know I'm gonna get my own way anyway so just give in now and save yourself a lot of trouble"…. what the hell is wrong with this door?!! Thought Trowa. Why the hell won't it open?!! He gave the doorknob a few more twists before giving up and resigning himself to whatever lese had in store for him.
" Depends on what?" asked lese making her violet eyes go all wide and sparkly so she looked about four years old, and making Trowa feel very uncomfortable. He slumped against the door and folded his arms, trying to avoid looking at the picture of innocents in front of him.
" Well…" he said slowly stalling for time. He was still vainly hoping something would come along and get him out of this, hey he was a good person he could hope for a miracle!!. " It depends on what IT is lese…you can't expect me to say yes to something, when I don't know what that something is" lese just grinned and stuck her hands in the pocket of her shorts.
" Oh I wanna borrow heavy arms" she replied casually, Trowa's visible eye went very wide and he was pretty sure his jaw had just hit his chest, making him look a little like a slack jawed gold fish. He straightened himself looking stunned, then he looked away and looked back, blinked a few times and shook his head as if trying to decipher and fully understand what the hyper brunette had just said
" I beg your pardon?" he managed to reply
" I wanna borrow heavy arms" lese repeated brightly giving Trowa a happy expectant look. Trowa took a deep breath before answering
" Yes ….I thought that's what you said…do you mind me asking why?!!" lese looked thought full for a minute and studied her feet before answering cheerfully
" I wanna play in a gundam?" Trowa tried to look as disapproving as possible while desperately trying not to laugh at he complete honesty
" Celeste gundams are not to be played with! They are not toys but weapons of war understand?" Lese looked guilty for a second and chewed her lip; Trowa actually believed he had escaped this time till she looked up again trying to look serious
" Well how about if I borrow it as an essential life skill then?" Trowa's face fell, oh god help he thought, as he racked his brain for a Maxwell proof reason, not to let a maniacal 15 year old girl loose with a weapon of mass destruction. The maker was obviously listening to Trowa that day because just then world war 3 broke out on the landing causing the perfect distraction.
" AGHGHHHHHHH HE-CHAN !!!" screamed duo's panic filled voice from above. Trowa and lese turned to see duo running along the landing for all he was worth, while trying to hold his braid away from the grasp of a murderous looking Heero.
" OMAE O KOROSU DUO!! GET BACK HERE" roared the psychotic looking Japanese boy as he rugby tackled the American, pining him to the floor and twisting his arms behind his back. Duo struggled under Heero's grip and tried to get away
" But ..But he-chan all I said was ya should start using moisturiser before all that death glaring gives ya wrinkles" whimpered duo face down in the powder blue carpet
" Damare baka!!" growled Heero giving duo's braid a vicious tug and drawing back his fist to give duo an early morning beating. Duo shut his eyes and winced waiting for the inevitable pain that would signal Heero's fist connecting with his jaw, and then he had an idea
" Quick Heero it's Releena!!" he yelled burying his head in the carpet in case his plan didn't work. Heero's head snapped up as he instantly jumped off duo grabbing his gun from …well wherever the hell Heero manages to keep his gun in those shorts!!
" Releena? Where? Where is she? How the hell did she find us?" he snapped scanning the hallway for his permanent psycho stalker, oblivious to the looks lese and Trowa were giving him below. Duo took full advantage of the situation and got up running, making a bee line for the stairs which he charged down 3 at a time in an effort to get away from the now fully armed wing zero pilot.
" Hahahah works every time " he crowed grinning and blowing a raspberry at his koi who looked ready to instantly self destruct with rage. Duo's celebrations were cut short however when Heero vaulted over the balcony and landed neatly in front of duo treating the god of death to his very best aforementioned death glare. Duo skidded to a halt and tried grinning at Heero but it didn't work he just ended up staring down the barrel of a gun. Ok duo thought ..Plan b he pulled out the big guns and gave Heero the puppy eyes lese had just used on Trowa, if there was one thing Maxwell's did well it was the big pitiful eyes…well that and eating. But Heero was not in a forgiving mood today. He was still mad at duo for putting itching powder in his spandex and slapping sailor moon wallpaper all over his lap top, not to mention being kept awake till 2 am while duo serenaded everyone with "who let the dogs out" and his wonderful version of " the real slim shady" that went " well I'm duo Maxwell, yes I'm the real duo, all ya other gundam pilots are just imitating" Heero was. …ticked. Ok thought duo I need more ammo, the bottom lip came out
" I'm sorry he-chan" he whimpered, Heero weakened and the gun was returned from whence it came. Duo breathed a sigh of relief and dusted himself off
" Fine I wont shoot you I'll just hit you, hold still" growled Heero, duo's face dropped
" Agghhhh sis save me" squealed duo diving behind a bemused lese as Heero tried to grab him and make his nose concave
" So Releena huh Heero?…oohhh scary" giggled lese as Heero made a grab for her twins braid and missed. Duo ran for cover behind Trowa, Trowa who was used to this just sighed, and allowed himself to be used as a human tree by duo, who was running round him in ever decreasing circles trying to dodge his ferocious mate. Heero didn't even reply to Lese's comment, he just shot her a full wattage death glare that promised severe death and unpleasantness is she didn't shut up and continued trying to nab her soon to be ex brother.
" Ok ok!! Releena I'm sure she's really horrible…vile …nasty" assured lese holding her hands up in mock surrender and edging away from Heero, she still had marks round her neck from Heero grabbing her by the throat the other day. With a final lunge Heero managed to snag duo's shirt.
" Aiiieeee owww let go He-chan that hurts!!" wailed duo scrabbling with the front door knob to get away
" Good it's meant to" snorted Heero giving the back of duo's collar a savage twist, just then duo got the door open and, after the sound of tearing material was heard, a topless death scythe pilot was seen sprinting across the lawn of Quatre's estate at top speed while squealing
"Ack!! Oh my god it's cold!! Agghhhh!! It's f-f-freezing!!" as the full force of January blizzard hit him.
Trowa and lese turned to see a pissed Heero holding what was left of duo's shirt in one hand and his gun in the other while glaring after duo. Trowa raised his eyebrow at the Japanese pilot and then looked and the rapidly disappearing duo, as if to say well? Now what? Heero looked at the shirt, shrugged, threw it on the floor then ran out into the snow after the braided dot on the horizon.
" Jeez they make ya cold just looking at them!!" muttered lese astonished as she watched her topless brother and a spandex clad Heero ploughing through the 6 inches of snow on the ground. Trowa turned back to her then remembered what she has been about to ask him and dashed out after the other two pilots.
" Hey where ya going?" yelled lese after the joyfully escaping Trowa
" Ah…erm..I..Eh…have to stop them killing each other " yelled back Trowa rapidly making his exit
" Ahhhh nuts!!" pouted lese " and I was this close to getting my paws on heavy arms too!!" oh well she thought…there's always Wuffie it's a slim chance but worth a shot…. So after making a detour to duo's room to pinch some warmer clothes, she headed for the hanger to find the Chinese boy
8 a.m
Lese walked into the gundam hanger and suddenly felt very small, on her left she was dwarfed by wing zero and on her right towering over her was the giant black form of her brother's gundam. Lese stopped at its feet and looked up with a mixture of awe and pride.
" Hey there big guy" she whispered sitting on it's foot, she still couldn't believe that her brother was one of THE gundam pilots, it made her fiercely proud but also a bit nervous and worried. Her brother was one of the most hated enemies of oz and they wanted him dead, she was sure duo was a good pilot and all but still accidents happen. It didn't help ease her mind that duo's job basically involved sitting in the line of fire, in a tin can while praying he would make it home for dinner and not end up at the pearly gates. She placed her hand on the cold metal and looked up at death scythe's head.
" Just you take good care of him you hear?! I just got him back I don't wanna loose the baka again k? Please death scythe bring him back to me" she pleaded laying her cheek on the gundams leg. The gundam didn't reply but she hoped it understood, then she laughed at herself shaking her head
" Ahhhh jeez I'm loosing it I'm talking to a machine," she muttered jumping off death scythes foot and landing with cat like grace. She turned and looked at the shining white form of wing zero
" And you!! Just you watch his back," she scolded before heading further down the hanger in search of wufei.
She hurried past heavy arms and sandrock, her feet echoing in the quiet hanger, she was beginning to feel like a bug next to all these massive mechas
" God now I know how Alice felt in wonderland" she whispered afraid to break the silence, as she approached Wufei's beloved shenlong. She stood and eyed Wufei's gundam, she hadn't really spoken to wufei much since she'd…um well…since she'd disarmed him, hell she hadn't even really seen him since then, the guy was almost avoiding her. She looked around and seeing no one nervously put her foot in the winch that would take her up to the cockpit
" Don't even think about it onna!" Celeste jumped at the voice behind her and spun round to see wufei eyeing her suspiciously from across the hanger, where he was sat cross-legged. She stared at wufei with his hair down a little more than she should of before she realised what she was doing and managed to mumble
" Ahhhh um didn't see you there Wuffie!!" she hastily took her foot out of the sling and felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Wufei slowly stood up and came striding towards her pulling his hair back into his customary ponytail and securing it
" Evidently not" he replied grabbing hold of the winch from her hand, making her jump
" What exactly did you think you were doing onna?" he snapped glaring at her, Celeste looked away feeling very uncomfortable under that gaze, wufei unnerved her a bit
" Um..I.was…eh..that is…I was going to look in Shenlongs cockpit" she managed to stutter turning very red and desperately wishing the earth would swallow her whole right about now.
" I can see that!! Growled the pilot " what I want to know is why?!" lese cringed at his tone and was really beginning to regret coming here; she let out a loud sigh before replying
" Because I want to learn how to use a gundam" wufei raised an eyebrow and folded his arms
" Why not use Maxwell's then? He is your brother!" lese frowned turning back to wufei
" Well he said no so I can't" she snapped back tossing her head, the faintest smirk crossed Wufei's face
" Maxwell for once had some sense! Gundams are not for amateurs girl and certainly not for females, don't let me ever catch you near Nataku again onna" wufei yelled over his shoulder while heading for the exit" lese could feel he temper boiling in the pit of her stomach wufei had a real talent for rubbing her up the wrong way and she'd had enough
" What the hell do you mean especially females??!! What the hell has me being a girl got to do with anything?!!" she roared grabbing wufei by the shoulder and spinning him round, his black eyes flashed for a second before replying simply
" Weaklings" for the briefest instant duo's infamous shinigami look crossed her face before her hand made contact with Wufei's face and a satisfying "crack" echoed through the hanger
" you..you pompous!! Sexist!! Arrogant…self absorbed…egotistical….JERK!!" She yelled at the astonished boy who just stood there blinking
" Go do the world a favour and…and..Just go self detonate!!" she continued before shoving wufei out of the way and storming off back out into the snow muttering about how much she hated wufei, how much he ticked her off and all the things she wanted to do to him
Wufei watched her leave and brought his hand gingerly to his cheek where he could feel a bruise already forming. He couldn't believe it..that..That female had gotten the last word again!! And..and she'd hit him!! Him!! Chang wufei had been hit by a weak onna!! And..and to make it even worse it was Maxwell's damn sister!!
" AGHHHH WOMEN!!" he ranted at the silent gundams throwing his hands up in exasperation. Hearing sniggering he spun round to see 28 of the magnamacs who had just come in to start work in a heap on the floor, they had witnessed the whole thing. Wufei glared at them but they still were in fits of laughter
" Shut up you imbeciles!!" he ranted
" Ahhhh admit it wufei you like her" yelled Abdul from the far side of the hanger in between fits of laughter, wufei turned red
" Shut up I do not like Maxwell's sister!! She more annoying than her damn brother shut up all of you!!" he screamed before storming out into the snow leaving the sniggering magnamacs behind him
8.20 a.m
" I hate wufei!! He's such a jerk!! A stupid sexist…royal pain in the butt!! I'd soooooo like to take that sword of his and shove it up his…well I wanna hit him anyway. I'd love to wipe that smug look of his sexy little face!! Wait a minute?!! He's not sexy?!! Lese what the hell are you thinking girl?!! This is wufei !! Agghhhh oh god!!" this was what lese was muttering to herself as she stomped into the cheery kitchen in Quatre's house and threw herself angrily down in the chair. She shook her head to get the snow off it and continued to growl to herself when a cheerful voice interrupted her personal Wuffie rant
" Good morning Celeste is something wrong?" lese looked up and saw Quatre making tea, he was giving her a very worried look. Lese smiled and shook her head
" Hi Quatre nah just Wuffie being a pain" Quatre gave her a reassuring smile and carried a cup over to the snow encrusted girl
" Why don't you have a nice hot drink and tell me all about it?" he asked handing the cup to lese who pulled a face
" Uh no offence q but um…I don't really like tea…" she was interrupted by Quatre chuckling.
" I thought you might say that" he pointed to the cup she was holding which she now realised wasn't full of tea but hot chocolate complete with cream and marsh mallows
" Ahhhh cool thanks q how did you know?" asked lese while burying her nose in her cup and getting it covered in cream, quatres eyes sparkled as he sat down opposite lese and handed her a napkin to decream her nose
" Same as duo, he wont drink anything that isn't loaded with sugar and extra sweet, I thought you'd probably be the same" laughed the blonde " so what happened with wufei?" he continued Lese's face became dark
" Oh ..That guy makes me sooo mad!! He's..he's well he hates women and..and he's..well" lese stopped and thought what was it about Wuffie she hated so much?
" You know q ..I can't think why I hate him so much…I just know I do…odd huh?" Quatre just smiled again understanding dawning on him
" Oh I'm sure it will be alright Celeste, don't be so hard on wufei he has his reasons, he doesn't mean to be that way"
" I guess" lese replied miserably staring at her cup, she was beginning to feel guilty about hitting wufei earlier she had after all been about to steal his gundam, she'd be ticked if someone tried to take her stuff.
" I should apologise to him q ..I..I hit him" Quatre's eyes twinkled mischievously as he got up from his seat to start breakfast
" Oh I wouldn't do that just yet Celeste, wufei needs to rethink his idea that all women are weak this might be just what he needs, but you didn't hear that from me ok?" winked the sandrock pilot. Lese looked doubtful
" Ya think?" she asked sceptically. Quatre turned back from placing a large frying pan on the stove and grinned a very duoish grin at her
" Trust Me," he said simply
" Well ok..but if he comes after me with that sword of his I'm blaming you q!!" sighed lese getting up and rinsing her cup before helping Quatre mix pancake batter
" He wont" replied Quatre in a sing song voice turning on the radio and filling the room with classical music, then seeing the grimace on Lese's face he sighed and switched stations filling the room with instead with Eiffel 65 blue
" Better?" asked Quatre picking up the spatula and ducking Lese's braid as she danced around the kitchen
" Much!!" she replied happily singing along as she started setting the table, then she looked at Quatre and remembered her mission for the morning
" Hey Quatre how attached are you to sandrock?" she asked casually while laying out the knives and forks. Quatre kept his back to her as he flipped the pancakes so she couldn't see the amused look on his face
" Sandrock is a very dear friend of mine….and no I'm sorry you can't borrow him" lese stared amazed at Quatre's back
" Hey..how did you know….?" She gasped, Quatre turned round with a plate of pancakes and set them down in front of her smiling
" Oh I know lots of things Celeste" she gazed at the blonde with a look of wonder before Quatre took pity on her and pointed to the door where Trowa was coming in for breakfast " besides Trowa told me you were trying to get heavy arms from him". Lese glared at Trowa as he took his seat opposite her
" Thank you koi get me in trouble with our only female" sighed Trowa picking up his coffee. Lese just grinned
" Ahhhh don't worry I'm ok Trowa ya safe…for now" she winked at him as wufei walked in, both him and Celeste avoided eye contact and he took his seat at the far end of the table from her.
" Good morning wufei" greeted Quatre giving the Chinese boy his breakfast
" Hn" was the only reply that wufei gave as he shot Celeste a look out of the corner of his eye, Quatre hid a chuckle as he noticed the red hand print on Wufei's left cheek. Heero then joined them sitting at the other end of the table and trying not to shiver as his skin was covered in goose bumps and had a faint blue tinge.
" Cold?" asked Trowa over his cup, Heero just scowled back from underneath his dark brown bangs
" No" he growled desperately trying to get his cup to stop shaking as he shivered visibly. Oohhh hey haven't tried Heero thought lese he was after all her last hope
" Hey Heero can I…" she didn't get any further as Heero had his gun against her head while continuing to drink his coffee
" Go near zero and omae o korosu" he growled the colour returning to his face.
" Ok ok sheesh calm down Heero switch to decafe willya?" lese replied pushing his gun away from her head
"hn" he grunted magically making the gun disappear into his shorts again. Just Then duo entered wrapped in a blanket teeth chattering and sporting a purple and black eye. Lese pulled the chair out for her brother, which he immediately huddled in looking like a little quivering mountain of blankets.
" Heero caught ya huh bro?" duo nodded dumbly teeth still chattering as Quatre handed him a hot chocolate and pancakes
" Drink this while it's warm duo before you get pneumonia" scolded Quatre while feeling duo's forehead. Duo downed the drink in one and fixed accusing eyes on Heero who squirmed feeling bad at the state he'd reduced his koi to.
" I…i..ii'l be fine.i..i.iii just gotta eat..t.t.then I'll go back to bed..i.i..don't feel well" stuttered duo while wolfing down his pancakes. Heero looked very guilty now duo was never sick.
" Gomen koi…I didn't mean to" apologised the kamikaze pilot in one of his rare instances of compassion, putting his hand on duo's shoulder. Duo gave a weak smile milking the sympathy for all it was worth
" It's ok he-chan I'm sure I deserved that thrashing and being buried in the snow" whimpered duo casting a side long look at the horrified faces of the three other pilots, the effect was ruined by lese snorting into her second hot chocolate and getting cream up her nose
" Oh come off it bro!!! I've seen you pound a kid 4 years older than you when you had whooping cough when we were kids. Stop the sympathy act before I have hysterics" she sniggered mopping up the spilt drink, duo shot her a glare while Heero gave her the faintest smile
" Gee thanks sis ruin it why don't ya!!" he pouted shaking off the blankets his shivering miraculously stopping as he helped himself to extra food, lese just grinned and wrinkled her nose at her twin while fighting him with forks for the last pancake. That was how the morning had gone
8.47 a.m
Lese lifted her head off her arm and stared up at her brother through her bangs.
" Duo!!" she whined
" Look I said no!! All right? Sheesh persistent!! Gimmie a break lese, ya think I want my only relative running round in a gundam?" he reasoned oblivious to the other four pilots watching him and his sister argue. at a loss lese gave him the look, you know the one!! That look you give your parents when you've done something or you give your older siblings that instantly makes them give in.
" Lese quit it!! …That wont work ya know!!……I'm not even looking!!..Ahhh jeez damn it FINE!!" Duo caved, lese one duo nil.
" Yay thanks bro!! Ya a star" squealed lese hugging duo and bouncing up and down
" Yeah yeah yeah now get off and let me eat will ya? Ya can have a quick go..in the grounds and no blowing anything up got it?" he growled making a mental note to learn how to say no in future. Lese just nodded her head excitedly
" MAXWELL ARE YOU INSANE?!!" exploded wufei at the end of the table " you're letting that onna loose in death scythe? Do you have a brain?!!" duo looked up from his plate and treated wufei to a shinigami glare
" I told ya before wu to lay off her, she'll be fine it's not like I'm letting her battle and she'll be supervised get the rod outta ya butt and chill out!!" duo snapped as the others watched, wufei narrowed his eyes and got up from the table slamming his chair back
" Kissima fine!! Women and mobile suits do not mix Maxwell I know!!But fine!! ….let your sister get herself killed, what do I care?!!" he snarled before slamming out of the kitchen to his room. Lese turned to Quatre with an astonished " what was that about" look on her face, Quatre just shook his head
" Another time, I promise" he replied clearing the table. Lese looked at duo that just sighed.
" He's…well I guess he got his reasons lese…don't sweat it sis" he gave her a reassuring smile before grabbing her hand and hauling her out to death scythe.
" Well this should be entertaining, duo being a teacher anyone else want to come watch?" asked Trowa getting up and stretching. Quatre and Heero looked at each other and shrugged
" Why not?" said Quatre pulling his coat on
" Great two baka and a mobile suit!!" growled Heero following them out of the front door to watch Lese's gundam debut.
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