Heero looked around the dark room, every time he chose to talk back to his
owner, he was placed inside. To tell the truth, he was getting sick of it
very quickly, but every single moment he would think about not challenging
his owner, he would remember that young woman from a while back. He glared
at nothing. She had made some true and untrue statements and accusations
there and he was not happy about it. She seemed to understand too well
what life was like, unlike some other people including Lost Children.
Heero stood up and looked at the bolted window. He only wished to tear the
damn thing apart to let the sun shine in. He shook his head and turned to
sit back down leaning against the wall. P
Moments later, the door flew open and Heero shadowed his eyes from the
sudden light. His owner stood there. Heero did not meet his eyes, but
forced himself to try to relax. He was angry with his owner, but he was
not going to permit himself to let it show through. His owner's name was
Hiroshi, Genshi Hiroshi. Heero had grown up knowing him only as Hiroshi,
but heard other speak of him as the Relentless Hound. He was known for his
stubbornness with his gambling and fortunes. Heero despised him for it.
It was something that he had no control over and despite his upbringing for
this life, he wanted more than ever to be in control.
Hiroshi moved to sit next to him. Heero did not react at all. Silence
fell over them. P
"You know, I'm very generous to let you even play your way out of this
life. More than likely you will succeed, but I will not stop you from your
freedom, but I will not help anymore than I have to." Silence fell over
them as Heero did not respond. His owner only smiled a little. P
"I don't know if it will be so easy to let you go." Heero jerked his head
up and stared furiously at Hiroshi, who smiled wickedly. "But than again,
why else did I buy another young boy, to replace you, with such talents in
the bloody game of football. It is amazing to think that people used to
play these games with rules! It is so much more exciting to watch people
bitterly fight for their lives and futures, it makes others realize what
life is and the cruelties. Their happiness is an illusion created by their
own minds and therefore, may be shattered as easily as I might shatter your
hope to freedom." Heero lowered his gaze once again. P
"No, young Heero, I will not beat you. For I was once like you, but you
know that of course. I only hope that one day you will see why I have not
just set you free. I am teaching you the value of a work towards your
freedom and of what value that is. When you have your freedom, you will
find it even more precious than friendships, love, and yes, even the
meaning of your very life." Hiroshi saw that Heero did not intend to
answer or respond so he sighed and ran his strong hand through his thinning
hair. P
"Go on. Get out of here. Join the others." Heero got up silently and
left without a glance at Hiroshi. Hiroshi secretly smiled to himself. "He
will see one day. Then he will thank me." P
P
BR
P Heero found Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei standing in a court near a rundown warehouse. It was the usual place that they met at and they all were expecting him to show up sooner or later. Quatre waved over to him. Heero only nodded in response. P "Hiroshi let you out of there early today?" asked Duo with a glance at Heero's weary eyes. Heero didn't say anything. Being used to such icy treatment, Duo merely shrugged and turned to the hoop, putting the ball through. P "The championships are coming soon and we're still a long way from being the best," said Trowa bluntly. "Stop pissing Hiroshi off and we can actually get some work done." P "If I am to be a Lost Boy, then I wish to be treated like one." Wufei's brow wrinkled in protest at this statement. They had grown weary and angry at their friend's behavior. If he continued to do this they would never win their freedom from slavery. P "Consider yourself lucky then. This sure beats living with an abusive owner. At least when Hiroshi punishes us, it won't possibly kill us," said Quatre. Heero gave him a head on glare. P "I don't like having it the easy way. I don't deserve any better treatment than any other Lost Child." P "Heero, you don't know what the easy way is. Because you've lived it your entire life so far. You have been with Hiroshi for years and you can't even remember what life was like before you were with him." Heero swung back around to glare at Wufei. "You don't even know what all of us got daily," he continued. P "You were beaten and put into slavery," spoke Heero bluntly. P "Yes, we were beaten and do you know what comes of a beating?" said Duo angrily. They all glanced at him in surprise. Heero was not effected at all by it. Duo strode forward and lifted up his sleeve. There was an ugly jagged scar that was rough from the scar tissue and a small line of a scar encircled it. P "My owner thought it would be fun to use me as a piece of carving wood." Heero refused to respond to this. Wufei saw that they would not get it through to him. P "Heero, that young woman you talked to." That got his attention. He spun around to his friend and locked his eyes with Wufei's. P "She was beaten because of her tardiness home that night." Heero's eyes narrowed. P "How do you know this?" he said furiously. P "I know. a young woman who is also part of that particular market and was informed that her friend was beaten. She has a broken collar bone, fractured ribs and a serious injury to her arm from a broken bottle." Heero stepped forward calmly so he was nearly an inch in front if Wufei's face. Suddenly, Heero grabbed his friend's vest and shook him. P "What place is she staying at?" P "Heero. you met her once and." P "Where!" P "I don't know, but I can tell you where they practice as of now." Heero shook him again. P "Tell me." P "You met her once!" yelled Wufei. P "I need to know of something from her. She seems to understand something that none of us do and I need to know what that is!" No one moved, or spoke for a long moment. Finally, Wufei expelled a breath and stared into Heero's eyes. P "In the old lot next to the girls' high school. I've watched and found that they go to different courts. Most of them are run down and not good to play on." P "They want only to be prepared for the championships," muttered Trowa. Wufei and Heero ignored him. Heero dropped his friend and started to walk off. The others glanced at one another and suddenly, Duo was running to catch up with Heero. P "Hey! Wait for me!" Heero kept on moving. P "He's heading for trouble," grumbled Trowa. Quatre shook his head. P "Come on, forget it. Let's get practicing. We don't have time to go chasing after girls." Suddenly, Wufei thought of that young woman. He still had the challenge of finding her name. He smiled and was nearly bowled over when he lost his concentration as Trowa threw the ball at him. P "Wake up Wufei!" he yelled. P "Yeah. sorry, just thinking of something." The game began. P
P
BR
P "Hey Heero, would you slow down for a sec?" cried Duo as he was catching up to his friend. Heero paid no attention to him. Heero only needed to talk to her once, and that was all, but Wufei said that she had been seriously hurt. He swallowed down any guilt. He was fuming at Wufei. Wufei claiming that he did not know real pain. ha! He knew pain; none of them realized that he still remembered what his life was like before Hiroshi. He just chose to let them believe what they wanted. Shaking the memories, he ran on towards the courts and just as Wufei had claimed, there were the girls. Heero stood behind a tree and watched carefully to find that young woman from before. She wasn't there. Heero remained crouching there as Duo found him. P "Heero? What are you doing, man?" Heero hushed him. Duo rolled his eyes and knelt down next to him. He noticed Heero's eyes attached on the game in front of them and so he followed his gaze and then the players caught him. Their movements were fast and born of sheer desperation. Everything they did from their knives to the way they dodged and punched was incredible. How could this team be so good and no one had ever heard of them? Duo stared at each of the players and his eyes settled on a dark haired young woman. Her lip was bleeding and her eyes held a kind of pain Duo could only remember from a year ago. She knew what each game was for. another step towards freedom, that's exactly how he felt. His eyes began to examine her up and down and were impressed. For such a small young woman, she packed quite a punch. literally. P They must have been sitting there for an hour when the girls began to pack up their meager belongings and head out. At that moment, Heero shoved Duo awake and he saw that his friend intended to follow the girls to their home. P "Whoa, wait. hold on a moment pal, we're not going to stalk those girls! This is ludicrous!" His objections went unheard as they followed the girls several blocks. Then they came to an old run down building and Duo stared in shock. God. it looked like someone had taken a bunch of bricks thrown them together and said come on in! Duo glanced at Heero as his friend did not hesitate for a second. The moment the door was closed, Heero went around the back and peaked in through the windows. P "Hey, Heero, this isn't such a good idea. What if we get caught!" cried Duo quietly. P "Sh!" said Heero sharply. He searched every window and found nothing, so he looked around the ground and saw that one of the basement windows was cracked and bore a large hole in the middle. Heero's stoic face remained as he forced it open and slowly eased his way in after checking if the coast was clear. Duo bit his lip nervously and finally decided to follow Heero. P Heero landed on the ground noiselessly and looked around once again as Duo clumsily made his way through the window as well. There were some old cement stairs going up and Heero immediately made his way up to an old wooden door with a squeaky knob. He opened it slowly and glanced out. There was a child sitting further down the hall. Heero was about to come out, but a gruff voice stopped him immediately. He pulled back the door again as a large man drunkenly walked by and swung around a bottle of liquor. Heero's eyes narrowed as he guessed that was the young woman's owner, the one that had beaten her. The man shoved the little boy aside and kept on his walk down the hall. Heero waited another moment and stepped through the doorway, ignoring the little boy's wide eyes at his sudden appearance. Duo smiled a little at the boy, who shrank away. A twinge of memories hit Heero and he turned away, pretending to examine the hallway. Duo walked over and offered an outstretched hand. The little boy got even smaller as if he were trying to shrink into the wall. P "Do you know where we can find five young women that play Ancient Basketball? The little boy eyed him up and down and nodded slowly. At this response, Heero turned and indicated for the boy to lead them to the young women right away. They made several confusing turns and twists, leading from one hall to another, each inch getting dirtier and darker. Duo looked around in disgust. This was what he had lived in for much of his life. Finally, they arrived in front of a door less room. A blinking light was hanging from the ceiling as they found the girls lying around lazily, not able to do anything else. The girl with the dark hair was throwing a ball up in the air as she lay on a board that resembled a bunk and catching it. P
They all acknowledged the young men's presence at the same time. P "Tommy, who are these people?" asked a young blond woman kindly to the little boy. P "I don't know. they were looking for you." Dorothy smiled and patted the little boy's head. He grinned, showing two front teeth gone and he was suddenly running down the hall. From the shadows, stepped a young woman. Heero knew her right away, except her arm was sloppily bandaged, and there was a stain of green and yellow on a disappearing bruise. Heero's eyes connected with hers and she didn't seem too happy to see him, as he had guessed. She was about to say something, but a crashing sound interrupted her. Her eyes widened as did the other girls and they all seemed on the brink of panic. The young woman with brown hair and green eyes pulled on Duo and Heero's arms and indicated for them to hide under the bunks. Duo was under one and Heero under another. Just as they were safely hidden away, the young boy from before was literally thrown into the room. Catherine ran forward to catch the falling boy. Tommy's eyes were wide with fear as they all turned to find the owner standing in the doorway, drunk as usual. His eyes squinted and narrowed as he tried to focus on one thing. He slurred out to the boy. P "Wha' are you doin' ere boy?" Tommy was shaking in Catherine's arms. He tried to form some coherent words, but did not succeed in producing any sound but whimpers. Catherine clutched Tommy to her chest tightly as Owner took a step closer. Hilde rushed forward and knelt hugging the boy and Catherine, as if to protect them. Owner growled in disapproval. He came closer as the other girls backed away in fear. He reached forward and grabbed Hilde by her collar and held her up as if to examine her. P "Get out of my way you filthy brat!" he grumbled and threw her away from him, letting her hit the wall. She slid down, her back leaning on it and her eyes were having trouble focusing. Catherine held on tighter to Tommy. Hilde shook her head and placed a hand to her tender skull. Glaring at Owner, she ran forward again stubbornly. Natria and Dorothy now decided that Hilde had gone over the edge. Their friend's eyes were blazing. Relena shook her head as she watched Hilde begin the futile mission of stopping Owner. 'Hilde.' P As this was all going on, Heero and Duo were hiding tensely under the bunks. Duo watched the feet. A pair of large feet was drunk as they stepped forward and he saw the brown haired young woman and Tommy sitting on the floor right next to his bunk. P Then that dark haired young woman looked as if she was trying to stop their owner from doing anything. She turned and whispered something over her shoulder to the young woman sitting with Tommy. P "Catherine. when he comes after me, take Tommy and get him out of here. Owner will forget about him." Owner seemed to be getting irritated and was ready to charge. Catherine seemed to go into shock. P "Hilde, you're going to get us all killed." Duo made the effort of peering a little up and saw just the bottom of the young woman's mouth curl up slightly as she sadly looked down at her friend. Hilde knew what was going to happen. P "Don't worry about. He only can only have enough strength to beat one of us. Might as well be the strongest of us all." She was teasing, but Catherine did not laugh. Suddenly, Owner ran forward and tackled Hilde, hitting her low in the gut. She let out an oof and Catherine pulled Tommy closer to her as she began to edge away from the beating to come. Tommy whimpered, but Catherine quickly clamped her hand over his mouth. Only Catherine, Tommy, and Duo heard the giving statements from Hilde and Duo didn't like how this was turning out. He frowned as he saw Hilde's feet slide back as she was smacked. He glanced over at Heero and saw that his fists were clenched. His gaze turned back to Hilde. She fell after the second blow and landed on her back. The foot came crashing down, barely hitting her square in the stomach. Luckily, Hilde had rolled slightly and it hit her side instead. She let out a cry and Duo's jaw clenched. In that moment, Catherine let the boy run out the door unnoticed and she sighed slightly in relief as Tommy disappeared into the darkness, into safety. P Turning over onto her stomach, Hilde tried to crawl away from the foot that continued to fly at her sides. Tears were forming in her eyes as the pain enveloped her. Duo stared as Hilde's face came only a few inches from his. Her eyes were clenched shut in pain as tears leaked out and ran down her cheeks. He felt his insides wrench around as he heard the low thud of a body being beaten. He felt his muscles bunch and prepare to fly out and pummel the owner, but Heero caught his eyes and shook his head against the actions he knew his friend was planning on doing. Duo held onto his sanity longer, but it still felt as if every fiber of his own body was being hit. With one last cry, Hilde fell flat onto the floor and didn't move. Owner continued to beat her for a moment and somehow realized that she had given out and he snorted and stumbled backwards. Then his gaze wandered around the room, as if he was wondering what he was doing there. No one moved, or even breathed. Finally, Owner turned around and tripped his way out of the room. After they listened to his receding footsteps, they all shot forward at once and aided Hilde. P Duo saw that Catherine and Dorothy were trying to pick up Hilde, but realized that they could drop her and cause further damage. He shot forward and cradled her in his arms and they indicated to him to place her on one of the bunks. After doing so, they all set to trying to revive Hilde and checking for injuries. Relena stood back and watched as Heero pulled himself out from under the bunk. Just as he looked up, he found himself staring at the tip of a sharp knife. Relena's eyes were blazing at him. P "What are you doing here, you bastard?" she growled angrily. Obviously she had blamed him for this occurrence. He stared coldly at her. P "I came because I need to talk to you." P "What about?" she hissed as she edged the knife closer. P "You were talking about some things the first time I met you and I want to know what you meant by them." Relena growled clenching her fingers around her knife. P "It just sounds as if you're obsessed with me and stalking me to my home." She edged the knife a little bit forward coming very close to the tip of Heero's chin. Heero's eyes narrowed a little, but it wasn't in anger, more in amusement. Relena heard a groan from behind her and she turned to see that Hilde was coming to once again. P "Are you going to live Hilde?" asked Dorothy. Hilde lifted a hand and rubbed her head and winced at the pain that shot through her whole body. She looked around as the pain ebbed. P "What happened? It feels as if a mega train hit me," she said painfully. Catherine glared at her friend. P "In answer to your first question, you were being an idiot and in response to your last comment, technically, you were hit by a mega train, one that was drunk." Hilde smiled a little if not with a little twitch of the lips. P "Ah, I see it's all coming back to me," she said sarcastically dreamily. Duo smiled a little. She had a sense of humor than, even when she was beaten to a pulp, bleeding in several areas, and bruised from head to toe. P "Who are these idiots that came here anyway?" asked Dorothy as she glared from Heero to Duo. Natria stepped in at this answer before Relena could reply with a stinging remark. P "They're AB players." The girls all turned to glare and drew knives, except for Natria. Even Hilde drew her knife. Duo looked shocked for a moment. P "Anyone who is going to challenge us and keep us from making our way out of here, will be done away with," stated Catherine tensely. P "Hey, we didn't come here to be butchered!" cried Duo defensively, then he turned and glanced at Heero. "Right, Heero?" Heero didn't answer and Duo rolled his eyes and brought his gaze back to the girls in front of him. Each knife was a dull one and would probably be more painful than being sliced with a sharp one; either that or they would have a harder time cutting into him. P "Come on Heero, let's get out of here," said Duo in exasperation. Catherine came forward as Duo made a move to leave and pointed the tip of her knife to his throat. Heero ignored this and continued to stare coldly at Relena, who returned with equal force. Silence filled the room and Natria shifted her feet casually. P "Let them go," she said lightly. Everyone stared at her in shock. She examined her nails and looked up with cool eyes. "We'll beat them at the tournaments anyway. Besides, if Owner finds two dead bodies in here, we all might as well forget our freedom." The girls eyed Duo and Heero and realized that Natria was right. Hilde was the first to put her knife away, and then Dorothy and Catherine followed. P Duo's eyes remained on the injured girl and as she tried to shift her position she winced in pain and fell back onto the not too soft pillow. Duo stepped over, and being that she didn't have the energy to refuse, she let him pillow her head in his lap. Catherine's jaw dropped and Dorothy smiled in revelation at the actions displayed by Duo. Relena on the other hand, only held the knife closer to Heero. P "I think you ought to leave now," she whispered coolly. Heero only held her eyes with an electric gaze and shook his head, stating once again he wished to speak with her. In reality, Relena was very nervous. She had told him things that she had never told the girls and she didn't want him to start something where she would be questioned later. Her eyes darted to the other girls who were staring at her expectedly. Relena dragged her eyes back to Heero's face and realized that he was not going to give up. Being that Owner was probably tired and off drunkenly sleeping, Relena found that it would be safe if she and Heero went somewhere else to talk. Slowly she nodded and reluctantly signaled for Heero to follow her out the door. Natria watched them leave with narrowed eyes. With her eyes still on the door, she spoke to Duo. P "Is your friend always this obsessive?" she said dryly. Duo grinned and Hilde found herself spellbound. P "Only when he wants something." Catherine's eyes connected with Duo's. P "And what does he want? Relena, or an answer." Duo shrugged. P "Judging by the way he's acting, I can safely guess both." Dorothy shook her head at this response and only chuckled a little. P "If that's the case, then he will have one hell of a time trying to get both." Duo smiled a little and looked down at Hilde. She smiled a little, sighing; she closed her eyes and proceeded to fall asleep. Duo was stuck. She was binding him every moment he sat there. He would have to find someway out of this mess, but he was very reluctant to do this. P
P
BR
P Heero found Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Wufei standing in a court near a rundown warehouse. It was the usual place that they met at and they all were expecting him to show up sooner or later. Quatre waved over to him. Heero only nodded in response. P "Hiroshi let you out of there early today?" asked Duo with a glance at Heero's weary eyes. Heero didn't say anything. Being used to such icy treatment, Duo merely shrugged and turned to the hoop, putting the ball through. P "The championships are coming soon and we're still a long way from being the best," said Trowa bluntly. "Stop pissing Hiroshi off and we can actually get some work done." P "If I am to be a Lost Boy, then I wish to be treated like one." Wufei's brow wrinkled in protest at this statement. They had grown weary and angry at their friend's behavior. If he continued to do this they would never win their freedom from slavery. P "Consider yourself lucky then. This sure beats living with an abusive owner. At least when Hiroshi punishes us, it won't possibly kill us," said Quatre. Heero gave him a head on glare. P "I don't like having it the easy way. I don't deserve any better treatment than any other Lost Child." P "Heero, you don't know what the easy way is. Because you've lived it your entire life so far. You have been with Hiroshi for years and you can't even remember what life was like before you were with him." Heero swung back around to glare at Wufei. "You don't even know what all of us got daily," he continued. P "You were beaten and put into slavery," spoke Heero bluntly. P "Yes, we were beaten and do you know what comes of a beating?" said Duo angrily. They all glanced at him in surprise. Heero was not effected at all by it. Duo strode forward and lifted up his sleeve. There was an ugly jagged scar that was rough from the scar tissue and a small line of a scar encircled it. P "My owner thought it would be fun to use me as a piece of carving wood." Heero refused to respond to this. Wufei saw that they would not get it through to him. P "Heero, that young woman you talked to." That got his attention. He spun around to his friend and locked his eyes with Wufei's. P "She was beaten because of her tardiness home that night." Heero's eyes narrowed. P "How do you know this?" he said furiously. P "I know. a young woman who is also part of that particular market and was informed that her friend was beaten. She has a broken collar bone, fractured ribs and a serious injury to her arm from a broken bottle." Heero stepped forward calmly so he was nearly an inch in front if Wufei's face. Suddenly, Heero grabbed his friend's vest and shook him. P "What place is she staying at?" P "Heero. you met her once and." P "Where!" P "I don't know, but I can tell you where they practice as of now." Heero shook him again. P "Tell me." P "You met her once!" yelled Wufei. P "I need to know of something from her. She seems to understand something that none of us do and I need to know what that is!" No one moved, or spoke for a long moment. Finally, Wufei expelled a breath and stared into Heero's eyes. P "In the old lot next to the girls' high school. I've watched and found that they go to different courts. Most of them are run down and not good to play on." P "They want only to be prepared for the championships," muttered Trowa. Wufei and Heero ignored him. Heero dropped his friend and started to walk off. The others glanced at one another and suddenly, Duo was running to catch up with Heero. P "Hey! Wait for me!" Heero kept on moving. P "He's heading for trouble," grumbled Trowa. Quatre shook his head. P "Come on, forget it. Let's get practicing. We don't have time to go chasing after girls." Suddenly, Wufei thought of that young woman. He still had the challenge of finding her name. He smiled and was nearly bowled over when he lost his concentration as Trowa threw the ball at him. P "Wake up Wufei!" he yelled. P "Yeah. sorry, just thinking of something." The game began. P
P
BR
P "Hey Heero, would you slow down for a sec?" cried Duo as he was catching up to his friend. Heero paid no attention to him. Heero only needed to talk to her once, and that was all, but Wufei said that she had been seriously hurt. He swallowed down any guilt. He was fuming at Wufei. Wufei claiming that he did not know real pain. ha! He knew pain; none of them realized that he still remembered what his life was like before Hiroshi. He just chose to let them believe what they wanted. Shaking the memories, he ran on towards the courts and just as Wufei had claimed, there were the girls. Heero stood behind a tree and watched carefully to find that young woman from before. She wasn't there. Heero remained crouching there as Duo found him. P "Heero? What are you doing, man?" Heero hushed him. Duo rolled his eyes and knelt down next to him. He noticed Heero's eyes attached on the game in front of them and so he followed his gaze and then the players caught him. Their movements were fast and born of sheer desperation. Everything they did from their knives to the way they dodged and punched was incredible. How could this team be so good and no one had ever heard of them? Duo stared at each of the players and his eyes settled on a dark haired young woman. Her lip was bleeding and her eyes held a kind of pain Duo could only remember from a year ago. She knew what each game was for. another step towards freedom, that's exactly how he felt. His eyes began to examine her up and down and were impressed. For such a small young woman, she packed quite a punch. literally. P They must have been sitting there for an hour when the girls began to pack up their meager belongings and head out. At that moment, Heero shoved Duo awake and he saw that his friend intended to follow the girls to their home. P "Whoa, wait. hold on a moment pal, we're not going to stalk those girls! This is ludicrous!" His objections went unheard as they followed the girls several blocks. Then they came to an old run down building and Duo stared in shock. God. it looked like someone had taken a bunch of bricks thrown them together and said come on in! Duo glanced at Heero as his friend did not hesitate for a second. The moment the door was closed, Heero went around the back and peaked in through the windows. P "Hey, Heero, this isn't such a good idea. What if we get caught!" cried Duo quietly. P "Sh!" said Heero sharply. He searched every window and found nothing, so he looked around the ground and saw that one of the basement windows was cracked and bore a large hole in the middle. Heero's stoic face remained as he forced it open and slowly eased his way in after checking if the coast was clear. Duo bit his lip nervously and finally decided to follow Heero. P Heero landed on the ground noiselessly and looked around once again as Duo clumsily made his way through the window as well. There were some old cement stairs going up and Heero immediately made his way up to an old wooden door with a squeaky knob. He opened it slowly and glanced out. There was a child sitting further down the hall. Heero was about to come out, but a gruff voice stopped him immediately. He pulled back the door again as a large man drunkenly walked by and swung around a bottle of liquor. Heero's eyes narrowed as he guessed that was the young woman's owner, the one that had beaten her. The man shoved the little boy aside and kept on his walk down the hall. Heero waited another moment and stepped through the doorway, ignoring the little boy's wide eyes at his sudden appearance. Duo smiled a little at the boy, who shrank away. A twinge of memories hit Heero and he turned away, pretending to examine the hallway. Duo walked over and offered an outstretched hand. The little boy got even smaller as if he were trying to shrink into the wall. P "Do you know where we can find five young women that play Ancient Basketball? The little boy eyed him up and down and nodded slowly. At this response, Heero turned and indicated for the boy to lead them to the young women right away. They made several confusing turns and twists, leading from one hall to another, each inch getting dirtier and darker. Duo looked around in disgust. This was what he had lived in for much of his life. Finally, they arrived in front of a door less room. A blinking light was hanging from the ceiling as they found the girls lying around lazily, not able to do anything else. The girl with the dark hair was throwing a ball up in the air as she lay on a board that resembled a bunk and catching it. P
They all acknowledged the young men's presence at the same time. P "Tommy, who are these people?" asked a young blond woman kindly to the little boy. P "I don't know. they were looking for you." Dorothy smiled and patted the little boy's head. He grinned, showing two front teeth gone and he was suddenly running down the hall. From the shadows, stepped a young woman. Heero knew her right away, except her arm was sloppily bandaged, and there was a stain of green and yellow on a disappearing bruise. Heero's eyes connected with hers and she didn't seem too happy to see him, as he had guessed. She was about to say something, but a crashing sound interrupted her. Her eyes widened as did the other girls and they all seemed on the brink of panic. The young woman with brown hair and green eyes pulled on Duo and Heero's arms and indicated for them to hide under the bunks. Duo was under one and Heero under another. Just as they were safely hidden away, the young boy from before was literally thrown into the room. Catherine ran forward to catch the falling boy. Tommy's eyes were wide with fear as they all turned to find the owner standing in the doorway, drunk as usual. His eyes squinted and narrowed as he tried to focus on one thing. He slurred out to the boy. P "Wha' are you doin' ere boy?" Tommy was shaking in Catherine's arms. He tried to form some coherent words, but did not succeed in producing any sound but whimpers. Catherine clutched Tommy to her chest tightly as Owner took a step closer. Hilde rushed forward and knelt hugging the boy and Catherine, as if to protect them. Owner growled in disapproval. He came closer as the other girls backed away in fear. He reached forward and grabbed Hilde by her collar and held her up as if to examine her. P "Get out of my way you filthy brat!" he grumbled and threw her away from him, letting her hit the wall. She slid down, her back leaning on it and her eyes were having trouble focusing. Catherine held on tighter to Tommy. Hilde shook her head and placed a hand to her tender skull. Glaring at Owner, she ran forward again stubbornly. Natria and Dorothy now decided that Hilde had gone over the edge. Their friend's eyes were blazing. Relena shook her head as she watched Hilde begin the futile mission of stopping Owner. 'Hilde.' P As this was all going on, Heero and Duo were hiding tensely under the bunks. Duo watched the feet. A pair of large feet was drunk as they stepped forward and he saw the brown haired young woman and Tommy sitting on the floor right next to his bunk. P Then that dark haired young woman looked as if she was trying to stop their owner from doing anything. She turned and whispered something over her shoulder to the young woman sitting with Tommy. P "Catherine. when he comes after me, take Tommy and get him out of here. Owner will forget about him." Owner seemed to be getting irritated and was ready to charge. Catherine seemed to go into shock. P "Hilde, you're going to get us all killed." Duo made the effort of peering a little up and saw just the bottom of the young woman's mouth curl up slightly as she sadly looked down at her friend. Hilde knew what was going to happen. P "Don't worry about. He only can only have enough strength to beat one of us. Might as well be the strongest of us all." She was teasing, but Catherine did not laugh. Suddenly, Owner ran forward and tackled Hilde, hitting her low in the gut. She let out an oof and Catherine pulled Tommy closer to her as she began to edge away from the beating to come. Tommy whimpered, but Catherine quickly clamped her hand over his mouth. Only Catherine, Tommy, and Duo heard the giving statements from Hilde and Duo didn't like how this was turning out. He frowned as he saw Hilde's feet slide back as she was smacked. He glanced over at Heero and saw that his fists were clenched. His gaze turned back to Hilde. She fell after the second blow and landed on her back. The foot came crashing down, barely hitting her square in the stomach. Luckily, Hilde had rolled slightly and it hit her side instead. She let out a cry and Duo's jaw clenched. In that moment, Catherine let the boy run out the door unnoticed and she sighed slightly in relief as Tommy disappeared into the darkness, into safety. P Turning over onto her stomach, Hilde tried to crawl away from the foot that continued to fly at her sides. Tears were forming in her eyes as the pain enveloped her. Duo stared as Hilde's face came only a few inches from his. Her eyes were clenched shut in pain as tears leaked out and ran down her cheeks. He felt his insides wrench around as he heard the low thud of a body being beaten. He felt his muscles bunch and prepare to fly out and pummel the owner, but Heero caught his eyes and shook his head against the actions he knew his friend was planning on doing. Duo held onto his sanity longer, but it still felt as if every fiber of his own body was being hit. With one last cry, Hilde fell flat onto the floor and didn't move. Owner continued to beat her for a moment and somehow realized that she had given out and he snorted and stumbled backwards. Then his gaze wandered around the room, as if he was wondering what he was doing there. No one moved, or even breathed. Finally, Owner turned around and tripped his way out of the room. After they listened to his receding footsteps, they all shot forward at once and aided Hilde. P Duo saw that Catherine and Dorothy were trying to pick up Hilde, but realized that they could drop her and cause further damage. He shot forward and cradled her in his arms and they indicated to him to place her on one of the bunks. After doing so, they all set to trying to revive Hilde and checking for injuries. Relena stood back and watched as Heero pulled himself out from under the bunk. Just as he looked up, he found himself staring at the tip of a sharp knife. Relena's eyes were blazing at him. P "What are you doing here, you bastard?" she growled angrily. Obviously she had blamed him for this occurrence. He stared coldly at her. P "I came because I need to talk to you." P "What about?" she hissed as she edged the knife closer. P "You were talking about some things the first time I met you and I want to know what you meant by them." Relena growled clenching her fingers around her knife. P "It just sounds as if you're obsessed with me and stalking me to my home." She edged the knife a little bit forward coming very close to the tip of Heero's chin. Heero's eyes narrowed a little, but it wasn't in anger, more in amusement. Relena heard a groan from behind her and she turned to see that Hilde was coming to once again. P "Are you going to live Hilde?" asked Dorothy. Hilde lifted a hand and rubbed her head and winced at the pain that shot through her whole body. She looked around as the pain ebbed. P "What happened? It feels as if a mega train hit me," she said painfully. Catherine glared at her friend. P "In answer to your first question, you were being an idiot and in response to your last comment, technically, you were hit by a mega train, one that was drunk." Hilde smiled a little if not with a little twitch of the lips. P "Ah, I see it's all coming back to me," she said sarcastically dreamily. Duo smiled a little. She had a sense of humor than, even when she was beaten to a pulp, bleeding in several areas, and bruised from head to toe. P "Who are these idiots that came here anyway?" asked Dorothy as she glared from Heero to Duo. Natria stepped in at this answer before Relena could reply with a stinging remark. P "They're AB players." The girls all turned to glare and drew knives, except for Natria. Even Hilde drew her knife. Duo looked shocked for a moment. P "Anyone who is going to challenge us and keep us from making our way out of here, will be done away with," stated Catherine tensely. P "Hey, we didn't come here to be butchered!" cried Duo defensively, then he turned and glanced at Heero. "Right, Heero?" Heero didn't answer and Duo rolled his eyes and brought his gaze back to the girls in front of him. Each knife was a dull one and would probably be more painful than being sliced with a sharp one; either that or they would have a harder time cutting into him. P "Come on Heero, let's get out of here," said Duo in exasperation. Catherine came forward as Duo made a move to leave and pointed the tip of her knife to his throat. Heero ignored this and continued to stare coldly at Relena, who returned with equal force. Silence filled the room and Natria shifted her feet casually. P "Let them go," she said lightly. Everyone stared at her in shock. She examined her nails and looked up with cool eyes. "We'll beat them at the tournaments anyway. Besides, if Owner finds two dead bodies in here, we all might as well forget our freedom." The girls eyed Duo and Heero and realized that Natria was right. Hilde was the first to put her knife away, and then Dorothy and Catherine followed. P Duo's eyes remained on the injured girl and as she tried to shift her position she winced in pain and fell back onto the not too soft pillow. Duo stepped over, and being that she didn't have the energy to refuse, she let him pillow her head in his lap. Catherine's jaw dropped and Dorothy smiled in revelation at the actions displayed by Duo. Relena on the other hand, only held the knife closer to Heero. P "I think you ought to leave now," she whispered coolly. Heero only held her eyes with an electric gaze and shook his head, stating once again he wished to speak with her. In reality, Relena was very nervous. She had told him things that she had never told the girls and she didn't want him to start something where she would be questioned later. Her eyes darted to the other girls who were staring at her expectedly. Relena dragged her eyes back to Heero's face and realized that he was not going to give up. Being that Owner was probably tired and off drunkenly sleeping, Relena found that it would be safe if she and Heero went somewhere else to talk. Slowly she nodded and reluctantly signaled for Heero to follow her out the door. Natria watched them leave with narrowed eyes. With her eyes still on the door, she spoke to Duo. P "Is your friend always this obsessive?" she said dryly. Duo grinned and Hilde found herself spellbound. P "Only when he wants something." Catherine's eyes connected with Duo's. P "And what does he want? Relena, or an answer." Duo shrugged. P "Judging by the way he's acting, I can safely guess both." Dorothy shook her head at this response and only chuckled a little. P "If that's the case, then he will have one hell of a time trying to get both." Duo smiled a little and looked down at Hilde. She smiled a little, sighing; she closed her eyes and proceeded to fall asleep. Duo was stuck. She was binding him every moment he sat there. He would have to find someway out of this mess, but he was very reluctant to do this. P