Shinigami Desdemona

Duo yawned and got out of bed. When his feet touched the ground, they sprang back up again. The floor was cement, therefor it was cold. "AH!" Duo yelped as he brought his feet back up.

Duo remembered the reason he had waken up as soon as it happened again. There was a knock on the door.

"Duo! Get up! The two girls you have to train are going to be here shortly." It was Relena. "Relena, I can't believe you think that it's a good idea to let two girls join US. I mean, we're five guys, they're only two girls! Not enough to go around!" Duo said, jumping from his bed to the small carpet next to his door. He fell into the door with a thud.

"What did you just do, Duo?" Relena said with a laugh. "I fell. Big deal!" Duo said, rubbing his sore head. "Well, hurry up, please Duo, they'll be here shortly!" Relena said, then Duo could hear her walk away. He walked over to his dresser and got out the same outfit he always wore.his priest uniform lookalike.

He walked out of his room and turned the corner. He ran right into Quatre. "Hey Quatre! How's it goin'?" Duo asked him excitedly. "I'm fine. I was actually sent to tell you that the two girls you are training are here." Quatre said, handing him two folders, one on each of the girls.

"Thanks. Hey Quatre, did you see them? Did they look like a couple of ditzes?" Duo asked, worriedly. "No, not at all! Well, not both of them. I got to speak with them, and they both sound qualified. They have had training other than this, but they somehow ended up here. One sounds kinda.stupid.but the other one is very into what she is doing. She reminds me almost of a girl version of Heero." Quatre said with a slight chuckle. "Oh great.someone who's going to know more than me!" Duo said, slapping Quatre on the back then walking off towards where the girls where. Relena was standing there, waiting for Duo.

Duo noticed one girl with deep black hair that fell past her waist, and she was just as tall as him! The other girl was fairly short and had long brown hair with red streaks that fell a little past her shoulders. She had it pulled back in a headband. Duo was instantly reminded of Relena.*shudder*

"Hey Relena!" Duo said, walking up to them. He waved quickly at them. "Duo! This is Ryo Desdemona." Relena began, implying to the girl with black hair. Duo noticed just now that she had emerald green eyes like he had never seen before. "She is 16 years old, and this is Dahlilha Ray, 17 years old." Relena said, turning to the other girl. "And this is-" Relena began, but was cut off by Duo. "I'm Duo Maxwell!" He said, happily. "Well, I guess we're introduced, so we should really get going!" Duo said, then with a wave of his hand, implied them to follow him. "See ya Relena!" Duo yelled as he walked off.

Dahlilha happily followed him. Ryo looked serious about every step she took. Everything had to be perfect and precise. She wasn't sure if she could tolerate someone as.weird.as Duo was. But, she would have to try.

"So.I guess I'll show you guys where you'll be staying while you are being trained!" Duo said, leading them down the corridor.

"Dahlilha, does he seem a bit.unqualified.to you?" Ryo whispered to Dahlilha. "No, not at all! He seems like a nice guy, and I noticed the way he looked at you!" Dahlilha told her, smiling impishly. Ryo just rolled her eyes and continued walking, sorry she had said anything.

"Okay!" Duo began, stopping before a door. "This is your room, Dahlilha. Ryo, follow me to yours. Dahlilha, you can get your stuff set up, and them meet me where we met earlier in.oh say.half an hour? I still have to eat yet." He told her. She nodded her head at him and walked into her room. "Ryo, follow me!" He led her down the hall to another room. "Okay, this is your room! Remember, half an hour!" Duo said. She shut the door in his face.

"Wow.she's a bit rude... but I'll have to break her of that, won't I!" Duo said to himself as he walked away, heading towards the kitchen.

Half an hour passed, and Duo was the last one to get to the meeting place. "Hey! Wow, are you guys always early?" Duo asked with a slight chuckle. "No. You're just 5 minuets late." Dahlilha said with a slight giggle. "Right.well, let's get started! First, how much training have you actually had?" Duo asked them. "Well, I started training when I was 10 years old. I don't exactly know how much that is.but oh well!" Dahlilha said, shrugging her shoulders. "And you, Ryo?" Duo asked, smiling. "I started my training when I was 5 years old. I know how to pilot a Gundam perfectly and I can work any weapons that you would want me to do." Ryo said, matter of factly. "Well.what Gundam do you pilot?" He asked Ryo quizzically. "I piloted a custom Gundam by the name of Dragonfire Hell. It had an Ice laser sword and was triple armored. It could breathe fire, hence the name Dragonfire." She told him, almost snobbishly. "And you piloted that in battle?" Duo asked, curiously. "I never got the chance. I piloted it in training, but I was never able to in battle." Ryo said, almost sounding disappointed. "Oh. Okay." Duo said, looking at her.

The interview dronned on, and they started on a bit of training in the range of about five days.

A few days later, Quatre and Trowa came up to them, arms around each other. "Hey you guys, we're going out to the dance club tonight, me Trowa, Heero, and Wufei, and we were wondering if you guys wanted to come with!" Quatre said, happily. "I will! But I don't know about these guys." Duo said, looking back at Ryo. "I'll go!" Dahlilha happily stated. She walked over and stood next to Quatre and Trowa. "I think I'll pass." Ryo said. "Oh come on Ryo! Have some fun already!" Dahlilha said. The initial 'yeah' and 'come on Ryo' followed her comment! "I guess I'll think about it. I'll be in my room." She said, and then turned around and walked towards her room.

Duo walked down the hallway towards Ryo's room. He knocked on the door. "What is it?" Ryo yelled from inside. "It's me, Duo." He said. "The door's unlocked." She said, not moving. "Hey. I came to see if you were going to come tonight." Duo asked, opening the door. "I dunno. This book is captivating." Ryo said, sarcastically. "Well, I don't know about the others, but I really want you to go." Duo said, looking at her. She looked up from her book and into his eyes. "Okay, I'll be ready in 15 minuets." She said solemnly, and Duo walked out of her room, smiling.

15 minuets later, Ryo emerged from her room. Even Dahlilha had to say, "Wow." But naturally Duo was the most captivated.

Ryo was wearing a strapless black silk mini dress and a pair of velvet high heel sandals. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, with only two little strands of her bangs hanging down. But Dahlilha looked just as miraculous. Dahlilha had on a pair of black pleather pants and a white stretch tube top. Her hair was up in a bun, but had little buns with odd spikes everywhere around it.

"You guys ready to go?" Heero asked them, sounding like he didn't even want to go. "Yep." Everyone said at odd times. Trowa and Quatre walked out the door followed by Dahlilha, who was in turn followed by Heero and Wufei. The door began to close, and Duo made sure he caught it before Ryo got there. "There." Duo said, smiling at her and holding the door open. She shrugged her shoulders and walked out the door, Duo following.

"Ugh. I can't believe I actually wore this." Ryo said, slightly complaining. "Why? It looks great!" Dahlilha said, confused. "It's a dress. I don't like dresses. You know that." Ryo said, with a slight laugh. "Oh yeah. Oh wow.that's right.this is like the first time in your life that you've worn a dress! Yay! Something to torment you about!" Dahlilha said happily. Everyone giggled a bit. Ryo just laughed a little and buried her face in her hands.

The car stopped out front of a tall brick building. "Okay, here we are!" Quatre said as he stepped out of the car. "Wow. Are you sure this is going to be fun?" Ryo asked Duo seriously. "Yeah, of course! It always is, and we hardly ever get the chance to do this. Always too busy." Duo said to her. "Busy is good." Ryo said to herself as they walked up to the door. They paid their money and walked in. "Hey, I like this song!" Dahlilha said, grabbing Heero and dragging him to the dance floor. Wufei glared, but only Quatre noticed. It was a fast song, so, naturally Ryo sat in the corner on a chair. "Come on Ryo, dance!" Dahlilha said to her, trying to pull her up. "No!" The night passed by quickly for most, but slowly for Ryo. Finally, the last song of the night, a slow song, came up. "Thank God." Ryo sighed, then got up to wait for them out side. "Where do you think you're going?" Duo asked her, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Out to the car." Ryo replied, looking at him like he had three heads. "Nope. You've been sitting there all night. You're dancing with me right now." Duo said, then pulled her on to the dance floor and wrapped his arms around her waist. Ryo leaned her head on his shoulder, happy. Truly, playing hard to get works wonders on what you want.

On the way out, Dahlilha walked up behind Ryo. "I saw that Ryo Juliet Desdemona. I think someone's got a crush!" She said. "Nope. We're just friends." Ryo said, matter of factly, although she knew the conversation that went on in the other room when they stopped dancing.

~*~ "That was fun Ryo, you have to admit it!" Duo said as they at on the couch in the back room. "Yeah, it was pretty fun towards the end.but the best part was getting to laugh at Dahlilha's dancing." Ryo said with a slight laugh. Duo just smiled at her then said, "We'll all have to do this again some time." While still smiling. "I just have one thing to ask. Duo, no guy has ever treated me with as much respect as you have. To tell you the truth, all of the guys I've met had liked me in some way or another, but they all treated me like I wasn't equal. Now, what makes you so different?" Ryo asked, curiously.

Nothing was said. All they did was look into each other's eyes. Finally, Duo moved in, and they kissed. ~*~

But, the others didn't know about that conversation.

"Ryo, you really should go out with Duo. I mean, I can tell that you like him, even if it's just the slightest bit." Dahlilha said that night, brushing her long brown hair. Ryo had put back on her façade of seriousness. "No, I don't think so." Ryo said, flipping the page of her book. "Come on Ryo!" Dahlilha said, complaining. "No!" Ryo said, looking at her sternly.

But Ryo really liked Duo, she just couldn't show it, unless she was around Duo. As it is now, Duo was the only one that got to see her happy side. Any other time, it was all seriousness and work.

A few nights later, Quatre came rushing in to Ryo's room, followed by Dahlilha and Duo. "Ryo, you have to get up, now! We are going on an emergency mission. Relena has been captured!" He said, panicking. Ryo had looked alert, until she found out the pourpose of the mission. "Let her be captured, its only Relena." She said, rolling over on to her side. "Ryo! You may not like her, but like it or not, she is the vice minister, and it is our duty to come to her aid!" Quatre said, rushing her. "Fine! Give me five minuets!" She said, getting up and walking over to get her cloths. They shut the door and ran out to the main room.

About five minuets later, Ryo came rushing out into the main room. "Let's go rescue the pacifist.stupid pacifist.trying to take my job away." She muttered the last part under her breath so no one would hear her. well, except Duo. "I agree." He said, and they giggled a bit.

"Okay, the only thing we have to go off of is this letter that was left. And the only information we actually have on it is the city. We'll have to go to the city and find out." Heero told them, dully.

"City? Don't you mean colony?" Duo asked. "Nope. They've taken her to earth. So, we have to go down there to a city called Wilton, Iowa." Heero said, reading off of the paper. "Now that won't be too hard! All we have to do is go around knocking from door to door, and that won't take us any more than a day!" Dahlilha said, giggling. "What do you mean?" Heero asked, quizzically. "She's right. Wilton isn't that big. We used to go to school there, and I lived there." Ryo said, agreeing to Dahlilha. "Yeah, but you have to admit.where I lived was smaller." Dahlilha said, giggling. "True. but it was still more interesting than Wilton." Dahlilha said, following the others out as they walked to the car. "Okay. Now, we have to hurry. We never know when they'll do something to Relena!" Quatre said, panicking. "Yeah, and you'll never know when I'll care." Ryo whispered to Duo, who nodded and snickered. Dahlilha caught it from the corner of her eye. Something was going on, and she knew it. She just wouldn't bring it upon Ryo yet. it wasn't the right time.

"Can we just get on with this?" Dahlilha complained. "Yes, let's go!" Quatre said, rushing them.

They all hopped into one big van and sped off into the night. About an hour later, "I'm tired." Dahlilha said, yawning. She laid her head down on Duo's shoulder, wanting to see what Ryo would do. She caught the surprise in Duo, and the slight flash of anger in Ryo's eyes. "Yeah, so am I." Ryo said, then put her feet up on the seat and laid her head on Heero's lap, knowing that he was the only one Dahlilha cared for. Ryo also sensed the surprise in Heero and in Wufei, and she instantly knew not to tread any further. Quatre caught Wufei glaring at Ryo.

"I think that I have to use the bathroom." Quatre said, then motioned to Trowa to pull the van over to the next gas station. In about then minuets they were at a small gas station, and they were all hopping out.

"Wufei, come here." Quatre motioned to him. "What?" Wufei said, wretching his glare from Ryo. "You know she's only doing it to get back at Dahlilha. I mean, she may say she doesn't like Duo, just like Duo says the same thing. But when Dahlilha laid her head on Duo's shoulder, I saw Ryo glare. Then I noticed that Dahlilha may like Heero, cuz she glared too." Quatre said slowly, trying to get it all by Wufei. "Well then why don't we just make them admit that they like each other!" Wufei said, now glaring at Dahlilha. "Because they obviously have a reason why they don't want us to know, so we'll just leave it at that." Quatre said, following the others into the bathrooms. Wufei followed close behind, glaring at Dahlilha the whole way.

"Quatre!!! Hurry up!!! I hafta go too!" Dahlilha said, bouncing up and down while she waited for the bathroom. Ryo was busy inspecting candy bars and didn't seem to notice. Duo came up and pulled her aside. "Ryo. what was all that about?" Duo asked, obviously getting defensive. "What?" Ryo asked, smiling. "The whole Dahlilha and her head on my shoulder and you're head in Heero's lap!?!?!" He said. "Don't sound so worried! I was only doing it to get back at Dahlilha for trying to get a response out of me when she laid her head on your shoulder." Ryo said, putting her head on Duo's shoulder. Duo was almost shorter than her! "Oh.okay then. I was just making sure there isn't anything going on I should know about." Duo said to her. "Nope!" Ryo said, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a kiss.

They didn't know that Quatre was spying on them. He smiled to himself knowingly and walked back over to where Trowa was.

"Hey Trowa, look over there." Quatre said, a small smile on his face as he pointed to where Ryo had her head laying on Duo's shoulder.