Half a Chance – At Innocence
Hiiro: Minako does not own the story any more, I do! Hehe…
Ken: Mr. Yui, Minako DOES own the story. She doesn't own Gundam Wing and Digimon!
Minako: That's right! And that classes as a disclaimer!
Hiiro: Minako is evil.
Minako: Shut up, or I might have to draw some A type blood from you
Hiiro: Don't do that it's rare.
Minako: So it is… I don't need it… I've just gotten very interested in blood types. I wanted to know what rare, not very rare, kinda regular, and crossover. And my friend gave me info on the Gundam pilots about blood types. So I KNOW ALL! My mum says that I have either O type or O- type blood. I have the same blood as Quatre! *Gets creepy fan-girl look in her eyes*
Leita: She's become a fan girl…
Izzy went on to explain the concept of the digital world to the two young pilots (?) who listened. By the end of his explanation, he had the sudden sense he might have said too much. Oh well, he didn't use any names. They guessed he was involved otherwise he wouldn't know about it. Izzy also noted the fact that Hiiro seemed to want no-one to know of their real reason for being in this school, in this city, at this time. So, Izzy called a truce.
"Okay. I understand that fact that mentioning to anyone that you just transferred here from another dimension would be a bit weird. But you have to understand that only about 11 other people know what you do. You must not tell ANYONE, and I'll do likewise. There isn't any problem with that, right? Good. Anyway, I think I deserve a little explanation of yourselves, since I just told you some stuff I really shouldn't have. And if you don't really want to, could you at least explain this ZERO program?"
Quatre looked fairly close to tears. He didn't really want to be reminded of the awful things he had done only days ago. Quatre was surprised that Hiiro hadn't actually mentioned anything about it, he thought maybe the 01 pilot would condemn him, or at least mention it. But, no. Well, he didn't really need anyone to rebuke him; he was doing a pretty good job on his own. Bad Quatre. He killed all those innocent people for no reason. And then, his closest friend. What kind of person does that?
(AN: Note that Quatre doesn't actually know that Trowa is alive yet. I know all)
"Well… the ZERO system is a program that manipulates a part of the mind which cannot be used naturally. It predicts an opponent's move, and sometimes it can show you things from the past, the present, the future, and sometimes just random things. But… the problem is, the system can take control, leading the user to very… genocidal techniques… and it also makes you loose the most important thing you have…"
"What's that?" Izzy was curious to exactly how a system to that effect could be used, or, moreover, why. He didn't notice that fact that it seemed to be tearing the blond pilot apart to talk about it.
"Well… I guess… it's different for different people…"
"So why would something like that even be needed?"
This time, Hiiro, in his cold placid voice replied. "For war."
"War?"
"There is a war. No matter what happens, there is always someone out there who still wants to fight." Hiiro sighed, and looked at his watch. "We shouldn't be talking about this now though, another time. Your friend would be back, it's the end of school."
"I can send him to do something else. Anyway, you seem to have made quite an impression on him. He'll try to stay out of your way, that's for sure," Izzy smiled warmly and Hiiro nearly laughed. The thought of walking around in this building with the annoying guy hiding from him was kind of amusing.
Izzy kept smiling as he studied the coding Hiiro had done. Very nice. Hiiro has a nice laptop too. Izzy could briefly hear the thought 'I want one!' running through his head, but the was reminded by his logical side that, well, he wasn't going to get one. And the main reason for that was the fact that it came from another dimension entirely. Koushiro then took the time to note that Hiiro wasn't smiling so much any more, and the fact that he seemed to answer the question a little too quickly, and pushed the subject away a little too eagerly. It was obvious that Hiiro didn't seem to have much problem actually talking about the war, so why stop? Izzy, proving once again that he deserved the crest of Curiosity instead of Knowledge, decided to pry.
"So, do you… fight in the war?"
"Yes." Izzy noticed once again the need to get away from this subject in Hiiro's tone. Sure, he didn't seem to mind talking about the war, but then, Taichi seemed to be a bumbling idiot as opposed to a leader.
"Are you a good guy or a bad guy?" The shrug that Koushiro received in reply really did seem to say 'Don't know' as opposed to 'Don't care'. "Well, are you fighting for the right thing?"
"Probably." The sureness in the answer was… not exactly what it could have been.
"Do you try to fight for what's right?"
"Yes." Izzy knew Hiiro was being brief, but he would not be shaken off. He could guess that Hiiro didn't tend to go into detain too often, but… he was still answering too fast, and it looked like there was more he wanted to say.
"So… do you both fight?"
"Yes." How come Hiiro was the only one willing to answer now?
"Is there any particular reason?"
"Mission." It seemed that this one word made perfect sense as an answer… to anyone except Koushiro, who was fast turning into that cat that got korosu-ed by curiosity.
"Uh… elaborate, please."
"I fight because it's my mission. And, I suppose, in the process I've begun to fight for peace, and begun to believe in it." Oh. That seemed to really cover it properly. So, Hiiro could go into detail, at least a little bit. Wasn't much more he could ask Hiiro.
"So, um… what about you?" Izzy directed the question at Quatre, who all of a sudden didn't look so good. When he didn't get an answer, Koushiro was tempted to prompt. Lucky he didn't.
"I'm not all that sure any more…" Well, that was a bit of a stupid answer, in Koushiro's mind.
"How can you not know why?" Oops. That wasn't supposed to be said out loud. Hehe…
"Well… I suppose I was fighting for peace in the beginning… but then, how can I say that now when it's me who ruined it when it had a chance?" Yay! An answer! Albeit a strange answer, but an answer to a rhetorical question that should have stayed inside of his head. Then he noticed Hiiro's almost unnoticeable internal sigh and wondered what was so wrong about this situation. Time to ask a good question. A well thought-out question. A logical question. A-
"So what exactly did you do to wreck everything?" A question that wasn't so insensitive.
"Taichi…" Izzy groaned in response to the sight of his rather tactless friend.
"Hey," he replied with a smile, then back to the question. "So, what was it?"
"…"
"Come on! It can't be that bad! I've done some pretty bad stuff, so I bet you can't match up!" Taichi was obviously trying to do his well known 'I can't beat me' routine. But, Hiiro didn't look in the least bit amused. It was obvious then that the stoic youth was pretty convinced Taichi could have done anything as bad as… well, whatever. If he were anyone else he would have told Taichi to leave it, but he was Izumi Koushiro, the most annoyingly curious person he knew. So instead he listened.
But, then, someone always has to ruin the fun of Izumi Koushiro. This time, it was Hiiro.
"Quatre, go home."
"Hmm?"
"Go home."
"Okay…" Quatre simply left. No arguments. Izzy was half-tempted to voice his thoughts. 'What a strange exchange…' was as far as he would have got, had Hiiro not slammed the door (in a Hiiro way), pulled a gun out of… nowhere and aimed it at Taichi.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" was the loud response from the Izumi youth. Hiiro paid no heed.
"How much did you hear?"
Taichi was grinning like the Cheshire cat, and Koushiro was pretty sure that Hiiro was just getting angrier about it.
"Relax!"
"How much did you hear?" Hiiro repeated the question in monotone, and his eyes were set to Death Glare Magnification 1000x by the looks of things. Though unconvinced before, Izzy became pretty sure that the gun was fully operational, fully loaded, and fully ready for Taichi to korosu-ed. Now HE was the cat no one heard from for a long while. Maybe he should intervene.
"Hiiro, this is Taichi. Taichi, Hiiro. Now, would please put the gun down and shake hands?"
"How much did you hear?"
"Calm down! Please! All I heard was about why you fight and stuff. Are you guys like, new CCs or something? Izzy?" Koushiro knew all too well when Taichi was giving silent pleas. He did it quite a lot, actually.
"Hiiro, there is no need to attempt to kill Taichi. It doesn't really matter if he knows, he is a chosen, in fact, and he is the main leader. I'd have to tell him eventually anyway. Taichi, Hiiro is from another dimension. That's all."
"Oh. I thought it would be bigger." Then Taichi went into what seemed to be a thoughtful pose, and snapped out quite quickly. "Hey, how come you made the other kid go away? Things sounded like they were going to get interesting!" Izzy signaled Taichi to be quiet, and, after all, who was Taichi to question the great wisdom of Koushiro?
Hiiro almost smiled. Maybe he did have a sense of humor in there somewhere… "I don't believe that you would have been able to do something worse as far as Quatre is concerned."
"Really?" Taichi spoke with almost… astonishment. He had done some pretty bad things as Izzy saw it, but he always decided that he was a good guy, and saved the world, which made up for the fact that he really had done some bad things. Taichi never was one to carry guilt for a long time, unless it concerned his friends. "Oh… so I'm guessing you know what happened, and can enlighten me?" Without receiving confirmation, Taichi went on. "Okay, so I'll tell you the things that I have done, and consider to be the worst things. One, I created a monster out of my partner and myself because of my own cowardice. Two, I have on more than one occasion, left one or more of my friends in a situation that could easily have lead to their deaths, which I could have remedied at an earlier time. And three, I let my little sister lose some of her innocence in the battle for peace. Those are the three things I carry guilt for." Izzy though carefully about it. Taichi needed to put 'Have not expressed my true feelings to the right people' on the list. Hiiro seemed to consider this for a second. Then he spoke.
"I'm not going to say anything. If Quatre is going to tell you, then he will."
"Geez… that kid should meet Ken. They can go all guilt-trippy or something…" Taichi stopped, sensing that this was not the time, nor the person, and the wrong comment might just get him korosu-ed.
He didn't know just how wrong he was becoming…
Minako: Aw… look what I did! I made Quatre all upset!
Quatre: *sniff sniff*
Trowa: …
Quatre: Do you really mean that?
Trowa: …
Quatre: Aw… you make me feel all happier…
Trowa: …
Hiiro: Trowa doesn't talk. You are talking to yourself.
Quatre: Trowa DOES talk, aren't I right?
Trowa: …
Quatre: See?
Trowa: …
Minako: Trowa! I didn't know you had it in you!
Hiiro: Wha?
Duo: I'm just as confused as you are, man. Just smile and nod.
*Duo smiles and nods very well. Hiiro looks like he's plotting something and the nodding makes him look creepier*
Duo: Dude, maybe smiling and nodding isn't your forte. Just… uh… Hn or something!
Hiiro: Hn
Duo: Better!
Minako: Anyway, I'd like to ask you a favor. Could you pretty please review me? I don't tend to get many reviews, and I keep writing regardless, I know, but I seem to be hitting a lot of blank patches lately, and some nice reviews will always get me out of a rut. I have been trying to make amends for my poor reviewing, by writing some long reviews, and this apology.
I know that saying sorry isn't really good enough, but at the moment it is all I can do…
I have written a couple of long reviews, and I was really happy when the authoresses emailed me saying thank-you. That meant a lot to me. Let me do the same for you. Please, review!
