[Notes: Fancy. I'm actually writing cause I wanna! Um… Me techyboy gets a name this chapter, aren't you proud? And for those of you despairing of Duo-Hilde fluff, it's coming. Slowly. I mean, after all, there's not nearly so much angst in that relationship.]
{DISCLAIMER: Are you people still after me? Lord above. I do not own GundamWing. If I did, it would be a great deal fluffier, and the overall quality of everything would go down. I own Shinichi, though. He's mah babee. Too bad for you. You kent havim. Um. Other than that… you can sue me if you like really want, because I found a fifty-dollar bill that I apparently made babysitting and had lost. You'll lose though ^^}
"Ukiyo-e"
c h a p t e r 3
The Common Hall, thought the slender, gray-eyed technician as he strode down the hallway, his every movement exuding a confidence he in no way felt. He had carefully assembled his authority-figure demeanor before leaving his quarters, hiding his mouse-like timidity and tendencies to speak with a stammer. They wanted him in the common hall.
He stuck his head in the door with a great show of polite interest coupled with reluctance to disturb anything that may be going on. Ah his eyes fell upon the room, he quickly tilted his head downward very slightly so that sandy bangs and a gleam on his large round glasses obscured his eyes, and therefore, the disappointed expression within them, keeping down the wave of anxiety that threatened to well up. After a few deep, silent breaths, he looked up with a chipper gleam in his eyes and a small, eager smile on his face, and entered the nearly-empty room.
He walked smoothly down the long aisle between the rows of seats that curved away seemingly endlessly. The eyes of the officers at the other side of the cavernous room bored into the young man's skull, daring him to drop his amiability—for it to falter for a second. They seemed to become farther and farther away as he moved towards them, but suddenly, he was there, sweeping a respectful bow.
"Technical advisory unit 39771, Nakagawa Shinichi, reporting."
There was a low laugh that seemed to come from all five of the uniformed men, although their expressions of bland humor mixed with severe vigilance mixed with shrewd cunning did not falter.
Drat them, the young man thought. Automatonous—and copies of one another—and extensions of the government. They are nothing alone.
"As you know," said one officer smoothly, interrupting his less-than-complimentary thoughts, "we have less than five days in which to complete all preparations. At that time the dedication of the colony built by the Earthsphere Unified Nation—" there was venom in the older man's voice as he spoke the name— "will commence. Her Excellency Vice Foreign Minister Queen Relena Derlian-Peacecraft will make a speech at that time. We must be in action before then." The stringing together of all Relena's titles, past and present, seemed to be some sort of joke, although nobody there laughed.
"Surely you don't mean, sir," Shinichi responded, his voice carefully neutral, able to be taken as humor, seriousness, eagerness, revulsion, whatever he'd need, "that we'll be abducting Ms. Peacecraft?"
"Of course not," another voice interjected, stepping toward the lab-coated man, slicking one small strand back into his elegantly smooth hair and twisting his thin moustache, "that would be tacky and unwise—and you should know, Nakagawa-kun, that we are neither tacky nor unwise."
"Undoubtedly," he responded, suppressing a shudder at the '-kun'. Herden was a strange fellow. "What, then, sirs, is her significance?"
"Not her," rejoined the first officer, looking very slightly put out at his comrade's interruption. "But surely you have heard stories of the pilot that never fails to protect her?"
"Ye—"
He continued without pause. "Who guards her whether she knows it or not? Who escapes the notice of the general public? Who was found by our intelligence alone? Who happens to be none other than the Perfect Soldier?"
Shinichi nodded. "Yes, of course, sir."
"He is our target."
"He—"
A third officer shouldered his way to the front. Crinian.
"Surely you've wondered why you're building what you're building? Surely you've wondered why you have not been trained for war?"
"I supposed that certainly the other recruits—"
"Other recruits!" Crinian barked, laughing without humor. "There are no soldiers aboard this colony."
"Then what…"
"Don't ask questions!" bit off the fourth officer without moving from his postion in the back.
"I beg your pardons," answered Shinichi uneasily, falling silent.
"We have outgrown that crude sort of war," Crinian said with a certain deal of satisfaction. "Mobile suits—mobile dolls—larger and larger weapons—children's toys. Tools of a primitive age." His cheshire-cat smile grew wider as he paused, Herden taking over.
"We have found another way—one much more elegant, more refined…. One for which we need the voluntary support of dear Relena."
Shinichi nodded. "And why have I been honored with this information?"
"Simple," said the fourth officer with a smile, holding out his hand and inspecting his fingers, shadows from his thick, dark green bangs hiding his eyes. "You now know far too much for any civilian—and if you leave now, we'll have to kill you."
---
There was silence in the small bus—mainly because Duo was apparently asleep. A nondescript Maguanac was driving, a safety measure Rashid had insisted upon before letting his young charge leave, and he has also stood firm on the point of transportation: namely, a smallish, old, plain twelve-passenger bus that wouldn't draw attention. The six passengers were spread out along it, lost in their own thoughts. Quatre was in the passenger seat, feeling guilty that he had agreed to let the man next to him come—what if it were dangerous?—and wishing he could find a way to send him home. Trowa was in the very back, a bench-seat, trying to diffuse a darkly furious Wufei merely by sitting near him, which Wufei was having none of other than his resentful agreement to hold silent. Hilde herself was asleep, guessing that she'd need to be completely alert for whatever Heero wanted, especially since he had seemed rather reluctant for her to come along.
The nearest launchpad, Trowa had found, was over two and a half hours away, which would put them where Heero wanted them five minutes before hand, which the green-eyed boy worried was not enough. Now, an hour into the drive, he wasn't sure what was going to happen if they weren't there when Heero said to be, and he hoped he was the only one who was entertaining these distressing thoughts.
Duo, despite pretenses, was not at all asleep. He has settled himself down to pretend to be that way facing away from the window, and therefore, toward Hilde across the aisle, who had been sitting with her back to him. But now, she had turned over in her sleep, and her serene face was at eye-level with Duo's, if several feet away.
Hilde, he knew from experience, was a light sleeper, and if he moved now, he'd wake her. So he lay staring at her in the falling darkness, thinking.
She looks so peaceful asleep like that. She's even smiling a little, I wonder if she's dreaming? Her beret's going to fall off of her head, it's so far back. Makes you notice her hair, though. Kinda like the sky at night, sorta purply-black, and I bet it's soft, too. A notion occurred to him, his violet eyes widening. She's—really pretty. I just… didn't really notice… or didn't consider it… she's just been Hilde. So little, I could pick her up and toss her in the air—heaven knows I've done it before—but strong underneath. She's an incredible help at the yard, she can practically lift twice her weight. There's muscle in those little arms! He winced, remembering the smart when she had hit his shoulder, once, for some stupid comment or other. No wonder she joined OZ, the right thing's so important to her… His wince turned to a grin. And I'll say it again—she did look good in that OZ suit…
"Duo?" Murmured a soft voice. He blinked to find he was staring into one dark blue eye, Hilde having left the other one closed.
"Sorry, babe, did I wake you?" he replied in a like tone.
"You were thinking too loudly," she said with quiet humor. "What about? Penny for your throughts."
"Times've changed, it'll take more that that! –Nothing vital to Earth's survival, don't worry," he answered, grin widening. "Go back to sleep, Hilde."
She smiled at him, sighing to herself and closing her eye, pillowing her head on her hands and slipping back into dreamland.
He watched her for a moment longer, before closing his eyes and easing himself over to face out the window. Hilde opened an eye sleepily as he did so, a corner of her mouth lifting as she looked at his back, before drifting off again.
---
Heero stared out the window before him dispassionately, arms crossed as the shuttle sped through space, the earth looming huge and blue-white-green, obscuring his view of the cold dark airlessness that was his universe. If he looked behind him, or even sideways, he saw the gyroscope-like colonies, light reflected off the planet gleaming from the spinning sides of the newest one. As his eyes fell on this one, they stayed there, despite his every intent to focus on nothing but landing and picking up the others.
His gaze didn't leave the colony, but his face didn't change, and his eyes never flickered. Not really. It must have been a reflection from the colony hitting them. Even when a voice spoke suddenly over the communications system, his face could have been made from marble, but at the words, reflection or flicker died in his eyes.
"All civilian shuttles were told to land," said the voice calmly, reasonably, and completely confidently. "How is it that this one remains in flight?"
He didn't reply for a long moment, but a response came finally, toneless. "This is not a civilian shuttle."
The voice chuckled softly. "Of course not, Mr. Yuy. As you are hardly a civilian. May I ask where you are going?"
He didn't answer.
The voice chuckled again. "I thought as much. Alas, we have no tracers upon your vessel and cannot track you; however, I strongly feel we'll be meeting soon. Pleasant journey. And Mr. Yuy—it would not be wise for you to have any potential distractions." Another light chuckle, which faded into silence.
Heero remained motionless for a long while, before reaching a single hand out to increase speed and change trajectory more directly to his destination. He did not know what he was going to do about Hilde—not that he knew this about himself; doubt was not a part of his psyche. But some subconscious part of his mind had been reluctant to allow her to come, and was thrumming like a plucked guitar string after the parting words of the voice over comm.
Unfortuately, while Heero was no extrovert, neither was he an introvert, and any doubt went unentertained. The firey trails grew brighter and larger as the shuttle hurtled forward.
[That was short. I know this. But you people need to review me. Please? **begs** Come on. Nothing big and special, just something like "Yeah, Metsuki-no-baka, I'm reading/I've read your stupid fic, keep churning, I need something to keep me amused." That would make me happy… **waves cookies enticingly**
Another minor note: Utada Hikaru rocks. "Kyou wa oishii mono wo tabeyou yo/mirai wo zutto sakida yo/Boku ni mo wakaranai…"]