AN: Long time no see ^^;; Maybe I should've waited a little longer so that
I'll update when it's been a full year ^^;; Hehe, I'm not that mean, it's
just that school is getting into the way a lot and I have to apply to
university this year so it's a big headache . But I'm picking up my act,
and now I write a page a day, so hopefully I'll be able to keep this good
habit among all of my bad ones ^^;;
Thanks to: Celestial DreamBlaze (I thought that it's already wacky enough ^^;; God knows what I'll do to Mamo-baka if he's in it too.), Larky-chan, Tenshi-chan, adb, Tasie (Hehe, sorry to make you wait even longer for this update ^^;;), KokushibyouOni (but I like to see people beg ^_~), Hikari- chan (Does Duo even know that he lost his journal?), Serena Yuy, Moon Girl, Mingming-chan (the impossible has happened, we've ran out of things to chat about O.o), Bluejello (not a genius, just a girl who's bored in her biology classes ^^;;), KittyMagic, Akiko-chan (I really don't know where you disappeared to), Tenshi Cat, Dayster Flame, Momoko (do I need to call an ambulance for you?), peilin (thank you very much for the nice review!), Asia-chan (here's more insanity, can you handle it? ^_~), Crazygurl70 (Lol, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind being put to death right before the exams ^_~)
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Chapter 2
"You know sweetheart. I won't run away." A grinning Duo Maxwell whispered teasingly into the blonde girl's ear as the young couple walked hand in hand.
"Make a move Maxwell and you're dead. I don't give a damn we're in public or not," Usagi answered with her own little sweet innocent smile, leaving all the passer-bys sighing at the sight of such a cute pair of young lovers, especially in this time of war, it was a rare sight to see.
Rare indeed, if they only knew that hidden from their view, the pair of handcuffs that was so lovingly preventing the God of Death from escaping his beautiful captor.
"A guy has to be mad to want to escape from you gorgeous," the young man flirted lightly, not at all worried that he could anger Usagi enough for her to refuse him the antidote for the poison she gave him. In fact, the glare that she sent him was enough to sent any other person beside the cheerful pilot into hell. "Don't look so scary, you're catching everyone's attention."
The statement only made the bunny scowl even more seeing that what Duo said was true; almost everyone was staring at her and whispering. With her training, she could only catch little whispers of "Oh look, are they fighting?" Forcing a tight smile on her face, which only made her eyes appear even icier, Usagi all but dragged the grinning young man down the street, ignoring all the people.
"Don't mind her, she's just in a hurry to get home and start the action," Duo called out to jokingly, making everyone laugh while he himself cried out in pain as a certain someone jerked his braid painfully. Amidst all of his pain, he thought that he heard murmurs of 'Omae o korosu' somewhere. "Jeeze, can't she even take a joke. Well as they say, like brother like sister."
"What did you say?!" The blonde girl stopped in front of a tall building.
Knowing that Usagi wouldn't be able to do anything to him since she still needed him to rescue her brother, the only thing that he was worried about was the poison in his body, which without Usagi's antidote, he would die a young death at fifteen years old. But as long as he got to die by the side of the loveliest girl on earth, who was he to complain?
"Is this the building?" A hard jab in his ribs snapped Duo out of his daydream and stare at his companion with a goofy expression.
"Is this the building?" Usagi asked again, patience wearing thin when it was obvious that the pilot 02 didn't hear a word she was saying before.
"Hun? Oh yeah." After spending all night after being woken up in such a unique way by a beautiful girl, then being told that he swallowed poison in his soup, and unless he could get the girl's brother out of the Alliance's Hospital, he would be dead in less than twenty four hours, he had to spend the rest of his time staying up with a gun pointed to his head as he hacked into the Alliance's main computer to find out where they kept the homicidal- gun-crazy-girl-shooting-boy was; who apparently was related to Usagi, the ultra-cute girl who he 'saved' on the same day. And right now, it wasn't hard to tell that the bunny was related to the trigger-happy boy at the dock, they were wearing the exactly same scowl.
"What's his name?"
No answer.
"Fine then, don't blame me if I rescue some random forty-years-old man then because I have no clue who you're brother is."
"Hiiro." The blonde girl whispered quietly.
"I can't hear you."
"HIIRO!!!!"
Duo winced in pain as his ear was jerked down and that heavenly voice all but blasted his eardrums as Usagi screamed out. "Now happy?"
"Yeah. happy to be deaf," the braided pilot murmured to himself as he was dragged into the tall hospital.
~*~*~*~
"Maxwell! Move over a little!" Usagi hissed out dangerously, even though she had to keep her voice low not to be over heard by the woman and the girl underneath her.
If only it was a little lighter, then she would've seen the smug look on the braided young man's face. "Sorry sweetheart, I'm going to fall off if I move even one inch, riding on the roof of the elevator doesn't exactly give you the luxury setting as a gundam you know." Like Hell he was going to move when he had the girl of his dreams practically sitting in his lap.
"Well at least take your arm off from my waist!" The blonde tired to move the offending limb off of her, especially the hand where it was touching one of her intimate parts. No matter how much she resembled her onii-chan, she could never reach his level of emotional control, especially when it came to guys molesting her like what Duo Maxwell was doing now.
"I can't," the God of Death whined out in a childish voice. "My entire arm is asleep, it won't listen to me when I tell it to move."
"I'll cut it off then if it won't move."
"And how am I suppose to save Hiiro if I bleed to death before him?" The God of Death prompted, knowing full well that he was safe as long as he could use saving her brother as an excuse.
"Shut up baka. So why did you choose to hid on the elevator roof if you knew it wasn't big enough for the both of us?"
If Usagi could only read his mind, then she would find out that it was exactly why Duo chose this route to get to Hiiro. But lucky for the braided pilot, mind reading wasn't part of her curriculum. "No security camera. Remember that this isn't an ordinary hospital. The Alliance probably put security cameras everywhere. This is probably the only way to sneak in without being noticed."
The bunny opened her mouth automatically for a cynical reply, but for the first time since he knew her true identity, she couldn't fine any smart come back to this reasonable excuse.
"This way please."
Both Duo and Usagi tensed as they heard the elevator door open and the sound of footsteps and voices underneath them.
"Are you taking me to see Hiiro?"
The bunny almost spoke out loud when she heard the question. There was no doubt in her mind that the girl who just spoke in the elevator was the same girl who caused her onii-chan to be hurt in the first place and taken to the Alliance hospital. Didn't the little twit have any shame in her at all? Usagi wanted to scream some sense into the girl, Relena if she could remember correctly, but luckily Duo's hand held tightly against her mouth preventing Usagi from stupidly giving them away, especially when Relena and that other person in the elevator was going to go see Hiiro.
~*~*~*~
Grey, everything around him was just a smoky fog. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was falling into the polluted seawater after being thrown into the water by the torpedoes he sent into Wing and the other mobile suite. or should he say Gundam.
Slowly opening his eyes for a tiny peek, what he saw and felt confirmed his suspicions. That idiot girl had handed him over to the Alliance, and he was now a prisoner.
Lesson number three: never alert the enemy when you are unconscious.
The training of the Perfect Soldier immediately kicked in, his body forcing itself to go back into a semi-conscious state, where he was still aware of his surroundings while maintaining the appearance of a comatose patient.
Without disturbing the readings on all the monitors hooked up to him, Hiiro tried to lift up his arms, but it seemed that in his current state, there was no chance of breaking free from the leather straps holding him flat to the table.
A small flicker on the screen next to his head caught his attention. It was no surprise to him when he saw who it was on the screen.
~*~*~*~
"I'm sure that a person as talented as yourself will be able to read my lips," Duo smirked as he spoke to Usagi's brother on the screen, who appeared to be strapped down to an operating table of some sort.
He sent the blond girl to search for her brother in some other room, while knowing full well that he was able to communicate with the other boy in the room that he was currently in. But there were things that he would like to ask "Hiiro" without Usagi's presence. No matter how cute she was, his mission and the colonies were still more important. If she was here, she would insist upon saving her onii-chan right away, and he would never get a chance to ask the other pilot anything.
And speaking of the devil, even before Duo could open his mouth for the second time, the door was slammed open and a blur of yellow shoved him away from the screen.
"Jeeze Usagi, why don't you just announce to the Alliance on the speakers that we broke into their hospital," the young man muttered under his breath in pain as he pushed himself up from the floor.
"Onii-chan! It's really you! I finally found you." the bunny practically shouted out loud in her excitement, completely missing how Hiiro narrowed his eyes dangerously. There was but one thought in her head. "Wait a few minutes more, I'll be there to save you soon." With that, Usagi turned off the monitor and turned to face Duo who had a strange look on his face.
"What?"
"Are two really siblings?" the braided young man asked suspiciously.
"Of course we are, why are you asking?"
"I don't know, just the way that you asked when you saw him, it was like you're meeting your long lost lover, not just an older brother."
"That's because Onii-chan is the one I love the most in the world," Usagi said so quietly that Duo barely caught it, even with his pilot training. Neither spoke for a tense moment, before Usagi turned towards the pilot with a mischievous expression on her face.
"What's wrong Duo-chan? Are you jealous of Onii-chan?"
Thank god that it was too dark in the room. The question was so out of the blue, and added with that 'oh so adorable' face, it was enough for him to blush to death. Gruffly, Pilot 02 turned away. "Let's stop wasting time, if we don't hurry, we'll be caught sooner or later."
"Aw, isn't this cute. Are you blushing Duo-chan?" the bunny teased before following her companion out of the room.
"I am not!"
~*~*~*~
"Do you know anything else about this Hiiro, Miss Relena?" Sally Po asked as she led the daughter of the Vice-Prime Minister to where they kept the boy.
"I." The sandy blonde haired girl trailed off when suddenly an explosion broke the metal stairs the two women were walking on. Clouds of smoke and ashes blocked the view and the alarm went of with ear deafening shrills.
Through the haziness, Relena could only see two figures dashing through the debris to where Hiiro was still confined to the table. One of the figures, she could identify as the braided boy who shot Hiiro was helping cutting the leather straps. The other figure, Relena noticed with a ping of jealousy was a girl with startling sapphire eyes and long silky blonde hair. How did the girl know Hiiro?
As if feeling eyes on her, the blonde girl turned around and stared right back at Relena, making the daughter of the Vice-Prime Minister gasp in shock. The look in the girl's eyes, it was exactly the same look as Hiiro's, except this time, it was full of hate for her. Relena stood rooted to the ground as the blonde girl lifted up the gun in her hand and pulled the trigger.
~*~*~*~
Damn! Duo swore as he turned around to look for Usagi and almost got the scare of his young life. Beside him, Hiiro was rubbing his wrists, trying to bring back some circulation. While Usagi. Why couldn't he leave her for just a second without her getting into trouble? Not that he like the Dorlian girl, Relena or whatever her name was, since she was the one who caused all the trouble in the first place. But if the daughter of the Vice Prime Minister died, it would give the Alliance an excuse to strike the Colonies.
Beside him, the braided boy thought Hiiro murmur something like "No, she's essential for the peace." Throwing the parachute pack to Hiiro, Duo pulled out a hand grenade and threw it at the wall. The entire floor shook as a huge hole appeared on the side of the tall building. The movement caused Usagi to fall and drop the gun before it went off, and the God of Death took this opportunity to grab the bunny's hand and dove out the hole he caused just after Hiiro jumped out.
One arm holding the propeller and the other arm holding Usagi, Duo watched dumb folded as the other boy sailed down towards the bottom of the fifty- floor building headfirst. "Idiot! Open up your parachute!" The braided boy screamed out, but the wind carried his voice upwards as gravity continued to pull Hiiro down.
"Eh, I'm going to have nightmares about this one for sure." The God of Death muttered to himself. After all the work that he put in to save the other pilot, Hiiro should've told him earlier if he didn't want to live, that would've saved Duo wasting so much time. The only regret he had was that the girl in his arms would have to witness her older brother die in such a gruesome manner.
"Onii-chan!" Beside him, Usagi gave a chilling scream. Even from this distance, both teenagers could see Hiiro jerk in surprise before he pulled the parachute release.
"It's too late now." Duo sighed.
"Hiiro!" From the top of the building Relena yelled out from the destroyed floor.
Struggling to free herself, Usagi didn't even blink when she was free from Duo's secure hold, and started to free-fall towards her brother.
"Usagi! Are you crazy?!" The braided boy yelled out in shock. He knew it, as pretty as she was, the blonde girl was as crazy as her brother. They were a pair of suicidal maniacs. And now, if Usagi died, who was going to give him the antidote for the poison in his body? He didn't want to die yet! He was too young to die. He still has to complete his mission, travel around the world, go to Las Vegas, win the jackpot, marry the girl of his dreams, and have eight kids. How could he go to Hell before he hasn't completed even one of these things? Duo thought pitifully as he closed his eyes. Looks like this time he was going to become "God of Death" for sure.
"Duo no baka. Open your eyes, you're not going to die." A voice spoke in his head that sounded surprisingly like Usagi's. The unexpected sound was almost enough for him to loosen his death grip on the propeller. But following the bunny's instructions, he almost got a heart attack. It seemed like ever since he met the blonde girl, his life was full of surprises that were meant to reduce his already short life span.
In the clear day light, in front of his very eyes, Hiiro and Usagi were both very much alive. Contrary to the laws of physics and nature, which state that all objects fall when dropped, the two siblings were floating in mid-air. Duo blinked continuously to see if the sunlight was playing tricks with his mind. But every time opened his eyes, he still saw exactly the same thing. a pair of large snowy wings that grew from Usagi's shoulders. Angels didn't live on Earth, did they?
The angelic wings flapped elegantly in the air as Usagi and Hiiro was gently brought to solid ground. Once their feet touched down, the wings on the blonde's back began to slowly disappear until not a trace of the heavenly gift was left. For a moment the God of Death thought that he was just imagining the whole thing, especially since angels wouldn't harm humans, and he was extremely sure that Usagi poisoned him, so therefore she couldn't be an angel. But from the smirk that the blonde girl was giving him and the single white feather on the ground, he doubt that it was just a hallucination.
"Onii-chan, you're hurt!" Usagi's sudden exclamation made Duo snap back into reality and notice the large gash on the other boy's leg.
Under the braided one's fascinated stare, Usagi bent down and moved to put her lips next to the wound. But before the pink flesh could touch Hiiro's cut, the young man moved back, keeping a distance between himself and his sister.
"Onii-chan? I have to heal your wound, you've already lost a lot of blood." The blonde girl walked towards the Perfect Soldier, totally unaware of Duo.
Hiiro didn't reply but a hard look appeared in his eyes. He lifted a hand, and before the braided boy could stop him Usagi's head was thrown to the side from the force of Hiiro's hand.
All three teenagers didn't move, a faint red mark appeared on the bunny's cheek even though her head was still turned away.
"What the Hell is wrong with you man?!" The braided boy cried out when he saw a tear slip down the bruised cheek. "Don't you know how much danger she went through to save you? She was almost raped if I didn't find her! You don't even than her, and did you even think about of asking if she was hurt?" At that point, Duo was angry enough to beat some sense into the other boy, despite the fact that Hiiro was already injured. Looking down into the cold blue eyes that stared back into his violet ones blankly. Didn't this guy have any feelings at all? He didn't even seem worried that his younger sister could've died. To someone like Duo who grew up alone, it was in impossible to believe that someone like Hiiro could treat a little sister to be granted like that.
"Don't hurt him Duo. I'll never forgive you if you hit him!" The blonde girl cried out when the braided one was about to punch Hiiro.
"How can you care about a heartless bastard like him Usagi? He made you cry for God's sake!" Even though he didn't hit the other pilot, Duo still didn't let got the strong hold he had on the green tank top
"Can we talk alone for a while please?"
He didn't want to leave Usagi alone with that jerk of a brother, but he couldn't say no to the pleading look in her watery sapphire eyes, and he had a feeling that from now on, he would never be able to resist her anything. "You better not hurt her." Giving a dark warning look to Hiiro, Duo pushed the other boy away and walked towards the beach, he had to contact Howard anyways.
"Why did you come?" Hiiro broke the silence when Duo was out of hearing range.
"I was worried about you, so I snuck out after you left for Earth with Luna," Usagi whispered, still not daring to look at her onii-chan in the face.
"And what about the others?"
"I have already contacted them, but they still don't know where I am, but I brought my communicator along so I can contact them when there's danger."
"Do you know how thoughtless and dangerous your actions are? If they caught you, then it would be the end of everything. We are fighting for peace, but if they capture you, then everything that we are fighting for will be wasted, and the colonies and the Earth will never gain freedom or peace." Hiiro lectured in his monotone, his eyes did soften a little.
"I know, that's why I've persuaded Duo to take me with him to save you." A smile broke out on her face when she realized that she has been forgiven and that Hiiro was no longer made at her.
"Persuaded? Should I feel sorry for him then?"
The bunny giggled and trued to look at the lone figure standing by the water waving to a distant boat. "I just made him think that he swallowed some poison."
"And he fell for it?"
"I think so. I hope that all the other Gundam pilots aren't as easily fooled like Duo or else the Colonies will be doomed, but he is cute," the Usagi smiled mischievously.
"Cute or not, I'm sending you back to the Colonies right away." Hiiro said quickly when he saw Duo walking back towards them.
"But, I want to stay her with you!" As if to prove her point, the bunny clutched onto her onii-chan's arm. "I won't let go unless you agree!"
Dropping his head for a moment at this old game, he supposed that things never change with Usagi, it was still impossible to deny her anything. "We'll talk about it later."
~*~*~*~
"What's all the noise about?" Duo yelled out above the noise as he ran out onto the deck, just in time to catch the Wing Zero take off into the sky. "I can't believe it.. He actually fixed his Gundam without any help from us."
"Oh no! He stole his parts from the other one!"
From the back ground the braided one could hear one of the technicians complain. "Hiiro, you traitor!!!!!!!!!"
"What's happening?" a sleeping voice spoke above all the commotion.
"Usagi?!?!?!" The braided boy stared at the blonde girl as if she grew a second head. "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean? Why shouldn't I be here?" Usagi demanded, still not fully awake yet.
"Aren't you suppose to be with Hiiro? He just left with Wing Zero!"
"What?!?!" That finally caught her attention. "Onii-chan left without me? When did this happen?"
Duo cringed slightly as the panic made the blonde scream in his ear before dragging him around the ship to find if he was lying or not.
"Duo! There's a message left in the Deathscythe." Howard called out before reading the few lines on the main monitor inside the black gundam. "Duo take care of Usagi for me. I can't take her with me, she's too much of a distraction on a mission. If something happens to her, you'll never get the antidote to the poison in your body -Hiiro."
"She's a distraction to you? What makes you think that she's not a distraction to me too?! How am I suppose to complete my missions now? Hiiro you bastard! Take your sister with you!" Duo yelled out again jokingly, making a fist towards the direction where Hiiro disappeared with Wing Zero.
"What did you say?" Behind him, a frightening blonde head appeared, and Duo yelled in pain as his braid was pulled painfully. Everyone on the ship sweat dropped when they heard one of the legendary gundam pilots beg for the mercy of the petite blonde girl.
Omake 2: Water.
"I want water." Minako croaked out through her patched throat.
"Stop complaining onna, endurance is a virtue. We are the ones telling the story here," Wufei snapped, even though he was starting to see doubles.
"Where are we now?" Usagi asked sleepily, lifting her head from Duo's chest where she has been taking a nap.
"Somewhere in Arizona. We just passed the Four Corners," Hiiro answered his imouto.
"And how far are we from New York?"
"From my calculations, if we continue with this speed, we'll be human jerkies before we get there," Rei muttered crossly. "Don't you ever remember anything from your studies Odango? New York to us now is as far as the Colonies. Without a car and water, we will all die of dehydration VERY soon."
"But. but. that means I'll never get married!" Everyone cringed when the water works began.
"I think that survival is more important than anything else right now Usagi- chan," Quatre put in kindly. "We have to find more water somehow, even these horses won't be able to last long if they don't have anything to drink."
"How about Usagi and I ride ahead, and at the nearest town, we will rent a car and come back and pick up you guys?" Duo suggested and was about to ride away with his fiancée if it weren't for an iron grip on his braid and the pilots and senshi surrounding the motorcycle.
"Don't even think about it you two. How do we know if you won't just leave us here and make a U-turn back to Las Vegas to get married?" Haruka demanded pulling Usagi down from the motorcycle. "We'll keep Usagi here as a hostage if you still want to try your plan." Everyone nodded.
The bunny struggled in the sky senshi's hold. "Why are all of you so mean? Duo-chan and I won't do anything like that."
"The last time we trusted you, the two of you ran away to get married, the memory is still very fresh in our minds to make the same mistake again. Michiru! Are you okay?" Haruka broke off when the water senshi swayed on her feet.
"I can feel it." The green haired woman said. "Ami, can you hear it?"
The shorthaired girl closed her eyes and concentrated. "It's very faint, but I can hear the sound of water too."
"Where?!?!" Twelve voices cried out simultaneously.
The two senshi of water pointed ahead to a patch of shadowed area.
"Trowa. Isn't that the Grand Canyon?" Quatre asked. "Then we're saved for sure! All we have to do is climb down till we reach the Colorado River!"
"So why are we still here wasting time? Let's go already," Makoto said as she spurred her horse, the thought of water driving everyone on.
"How about continue with the story so the time we'll pass more quickly?" Hotaru asked.
"Well, girl was a distraction." Wufei began.
"Brother didn't want girl," Hiiro smirked at his imouto.
"Boy was stuck with girl," Trowa continued.
"And that's how Hell began on Earth," Quatre concluded.
~*~*~*~
"We're finally there! Water!" Usagi jumped off the motorcycle and ran towards the furious current of the Colorado River.
"Be careful Odango, if you fall in, you'll be a drowned rabbit for sure," Rei warned. a little too late. Before anyone realized what has happened, they heard a loud splash, and the bunny's blonde head flowing down the river.
"Usagi!" Duo yelled in panic before diving into the river himself.
Everyone stared shocked. Did both Duo and Usagi just get swept away into the Colorado River?
TBC.
AN: Sorry, I know that the Omake is kind of boring ^^;; I'm out of ideas, and suddenly remember how my friend fell into the Colorado River when she was white river rafting ^^;; It's been six years since I lived in the US, so my US geography might be a little off, so I apologize in advance for that.
Thanks to: Celestial DreamBlaze (I thought that it's already wacky enough ^^;; God knows what I'll do to Mamo-baka if he's in it too.), Larky-chan, Tenshi-chan, adb, Tasie (Hehe, sorry to make you wait even longer for this update ^^;;), KokushibyouOni (but I like to see people beg ^_~), Hikari- chan (Does Duo even know that he lost his journal?), Serena Yuy, Moon Girl, Mingming-chan (the impossible has happened, we've ran out of things to chat about O.o), Bluejello (not a genius, just a girl who's bored in her biology classes ^^;;), KittyMagic, Akiko-chan (I really don't know where you disappeared to), Tenshi Cat, Dayster Flame, Momoko (do I need to call an ambulance for you?), peilin (thank you very much for the nice review!), Asia-chan (here's more insanity, can you handle it? ^_~), Crazygurl70 (Lol, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind being put to death right before the exams ^_~)
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Chapter 2
"You know sweetheart. I won't run away." A grinning Duo Maxwell whispered teasingly into the blonde girl's ear as the young couple walked hand in hand.
"Make a move Maxwell and you're dead. I don't give a damn we're in public or not," Usagi answered with her own little sweet innocent smile, leaving all the passer-bys sighing at the sight of such a cute pair of young lovers, especially in this time of war, it was a rare sight to see.
Rare indeed, if they only knew that hidden from their view, the pair of handcuffs that was so lovingly preventing the God of Death from escaping his beautiful captor.
"A guy has to be mad to want to escape from you gorgeous," the young man flirted lightly, not at all worried that he could anger Usagi enough for her to refuse him the antidote for the poison she gave him. In fact, the glare that she sent him was enough to sent any other person beside the cheerful pilot into hell. "Don't look so scary, you're catching everyone's attention."
The statement only made the bunny scowl even more seeing that what Duo said was true; almost everyone was staring at her and whispering. With her training, she could only catch little whispers of "Oh look, are they fighting?" Forcing a tight smile on her face, which only made her eyes appear even icier, Usagi all but dragged the grinning young man down the street, ignoring all the people.
"Don't mind her, she's just in a hurry to get home and start the action," Duo called out to jokingly, making everyone laugh while he himself cried out in pain as a certain someone jerked his braid painfully. Amidst all of his pain, he thought that he heard murmurs of 'Omae o korosu' somewhere. "Jeeze, can't she even take a joke. Well as they say, like brother like sister."
"What did you say?!" The blonde girl stopped in front of a tall building.
Knowing that Usagi wouldn't be able to do anything to him since she still needed him to rescue her brother, the only thing that he was worried about was the poison in his body, which without Usagi's antidote, he would die a young death at fifteen years old. But as long as he got to die by the side of the loveliest girl on earth, who was he to complain?
"Is this the building?" A hard jab in his ribs snapped Duo out of his daydream and stare at his companion with a goofy expression.
"Is this the building?" Usagi asked again, patience wearing thin when it was obvious that the pilot 02 didn't hear a word she was saying before.
"Hun? Oh yeah." After spending all night after being woken up in such a unique way by a beautiful girl, then being told that he swallowed poison in his soup, and unless he could get the girl's brother out of the Alliance's Hospital, he would be dead in less than twenty four hours, he had to spend the rest of his time staying up with a gun pointed to his head as he hacked into the Alliance's main computer to find out where they kept the homicidal- gun-crazy-girl-shooting-boy was; who apparently was related to Usagi, the ultra-cute girl who he 'saved' on the same day. And right now, it wasn't hard to tell that the bunny was related to the trigger-happy boy at the dock, they were wearing the exactly same scowl.
"What's his name?"
No answer.
"Fine then, don't blame me if I rescue some random forty-years-old man then because I have no clue who you're brother is."
"Hiiro." The blonde girl whispered quietly.
"I can't hear you."
"HIIRO!!!!"
Duo winced in pain as his ear was jerked down and that heavenly voice all but blasted his eardrums as Usagi screamed out. "Now happy?"
"Yeah. happy to be deaf," the braided pilot murmured to himself as he was dragged into the tall hospital.
~*~*~*~
"Maxwell! Move over a little!" Usagi hissed out dangerously, even though she had to keep her voice low not to be over heard by the woman and the girl underneath her.
If only it was a little lighter, then she would've seen the smug look on the braided young man's face. "Sorry sweetheart, I'm going to fall off if I move even one inch, riding on the roof of the elevator doesn't exactly give you the luxury setting as a gundam you know." Like Hell he was going to move when he had the girl of his dreams practically sitting in his lap.
"Well at least take your arm off from my waist!" The blonde tired to move the offending limb off of her, especially the hand where it was touching one of her intimate parts. No matter how much she resembled her onii-chan, she could never reach his level of emotional control, especially when it came to guys molesting her like what Duo Maxwell was doing now.
"I can't," the God of Death whined out in a childish voice. "My entire arm is asleep, it won't listen to me when I tell it to move."
"I'll cut it off then if it won't move."
"And how am I suppose to save Hiiro if I bleed to death before him?" The God of Death prompted, knowing full well that he was safe as long as he could use saving her brother as an excuse.
"Shut up baka. So why did you choose to hid on the elevator roof if you knew it wasn't big enough for the both of us?"
If Usagi could only read his mind, then she would find out that it was exactly why Duo chose this route to get to Hiiro. But lucky for the braided pilot, mind reading wasn't part of her curriculum. "No security camera. Remember that this isn't an ordinary hospital. The Alliance probably put security cameras everywhere. This is probably the only way to sneak in without being noticed."
The bunny opened her mouth automatically for a cynical reply, but for the first time since he knew her true identity, she couldn't fine any smart come back to this reasonable excuse.
"This way please."
Both Duo and Usagi tensed as they heard the elevator door open and the sound of footsteps and voices underneath them.
"Are you taking me to see Hiiro?"
The bunny almost spoke out loud when she heard the question. There was no doubt in her mind that the girl who just spoke in the elevator was the same girl who caused her onii-chan to be hurt in the first place and taken to the Alliance hospital. Didn't the little twit have any shame in her at all? Usagi wanted to scream some sense into the girl, Relena if she could remember correctly, but luckily Duo's hand held tightly against her mouth preventing Usagi from stupidly giving them away, especially when Relena and that other person in the elevator was going to go see Hiiro.
~*~*~*~
Grey, everything around him was just a smoky fog. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was falling into the polluted seawater after being thrown into the water by the torpedoes he sent into Wing and the other mobile suite. or should he say Gundam.
Slowly opening his eyes for a tiny peek, what he saw and felt confirmed his suspicions. That idiot girl had handed him over to the Alliance, and he was now a prisoner.
Lesson number three: never alert the enemy when you are unconscious.
The training of the Perfect Soldier immediately kicked in, his body forcing itself to go back into a semi-conscious state, where he was still aware of his surroundings while maintaining the appearance of a comatose patient.
Without disturbing the readings on all the monitors hooked up to him, Hiiro tried to lift up his arms, but it seemed that in his current state, there was no chance of breaking free from the leather straps holding him flat to the table.
A small flicker on the screen next to his head caught his attention. It was no surprise to him when he saw who it was on the screen.
~*~*~*~
"I'm sure that a person as talented as yourself will be able to read my lips," Duo smirked as he spoke to Usagi's brother on the screen, who appeared to be strapped down to an operating table of some sort.
He sent the blond girl to search for her brother in some other room, while knowing full well that he was able to communicate with the other boy in the room that he was currently in. But there were things that he would like to ask "Hiiro" without Usagi's presence. No matter how cute she was, his mission and the colonies were still more important. If she was here, she would insist upon saving her onii-chan right away, and he would never get a chance to ask the other pilot anything.
And speaking of the devil, even before Duo could open his mouth for the second time, the door was slammed open and a blur of yellow shoved him away from the screen.
"Jeeze Usagi, why don't you just announce to the Alliance on the speakers that we broke into their hospital," the young man muttered under his breath in pain as he pushed himself up from the floor.
"Onii-chan! It's really you! I finally found you." the bunny practically shouted out loud in her excitement, completely missing how Hiiro narrowed his eyes dangerously. There was but one thought in her head. "Wait a few minutes more, I'll be there to save you soon." With that, Usagi turned off the monitor and turned to face Duo who had a strange look on his face.
"What?"
"Are two really siblings?" the braided young man asked suspiciously.
"Of course we are, why are you asking?"
"I don't know, just the way that you asked when you saw him, it was like you're meeting your long lost lover, not just an older brother."
"That's because Onii-chan is the one I love the most in the world," Usagi said so quietly that Duo barely caught it, even with his pilot training. Neither spoke for a tense moment, before Usagi turned towards the pilot with a mischievous expression on her face.
"What's wrong Duo-chan? Are you jealous of Onii-chan?"
Thank god that it was too dark in the room. The question was so out of the blue, and added with that 'oh so adorable' face, it was enough for him to blush to death. Gruffly, Pilot 02 turned away. "Let's stop wasting time, if we don't hurry, we'll be caught sooner or later."
"Aw, isn't this cute. Are you blushing Duo-chan?" the bunny teased before following her companion out of the room.
"I am not!"
~*~*~*~
"Do you know anything else about this Hiiro, Miss Relena?" Sally Po asked as she led the daughter of the Vice-Prime Minister to where they kept the boy.
"I." The sandy blonde haired girl trailed off when suddenly an explosion broke the metal stairs the two women were walking on. Clouds of smoke and ashes blocked the view and the alarm went of with ear deafening shrills.
Through the haziness, Relena could only see two figures dashing through the debris to where Hiiro was still confined to the table. One of the figures, she could identify as the braided boy who shot Hiiro was helping cutting the leather straps. The other figure, Relena noticed with a ping of jealousy was a girl with startling sapphire eyes and long silky blonde hair. How did the girl know Hiiro?
As if feeling eyes on her, the blonde girl turned around and stared right back at Relena, making the daughter of the Vice-Prime Minister gasp in shock. The look in the girl's eyes, it was exactly the same look as Hiiro's, except this time, it was full of hate for her. Relena stood rooted to the ground as the blonde girl lifted up the gun in her hand and pulled the trigger.
~*~*~*~
Damn! Duo swore as he turned around to look for Usagi and almost got the scare of his young life. Beside him, Hiiro was rubbing his wrists, trying to bring back some circulation. While Usagi. Why couldn't he leave her for just a second without her getting into trouble? Not that he like the Dorlian girl, Relena or whatever her name was, since she was the one who caused all the trouble in the first place. But if the daughter of the Vice Prime Minister died, it would give the Alliance an excuse to strike the Colonies.
Beside him, the braided boy thought Hiiro murmur something like "No, she's essential for the peace." Throwing the parachute pack to Hiiro, Duo pulled out a hand grenade and threw it at the wall. The entire floor shook as a huge hole appeared on the side of the tall building. The movement caused Usagi to fall and drop the gun before it went off, and the God of Death took this opportunity to grab the bunny's hand and dove out the hole he caused just after Hiiro jumped out.
One arm holding the propeller and the other arm holding Usagi, Duo watched dumb folded as the other boy sailed down towards the bottom of the fifty- floor building headfirst. "Idiot! Open up your parachute!" The braided boy screamed out, but the wind carried his voice upwards as gravity continued to pull Hiiro down.
"Eh, I'm going to have nightmares about this one for sure." The God of Death muttered to himself. After all the work that he put in to save the other pilot, Hiiro should've told him earlier if he didn't want to live, that would've saved Duo wasting so much time. The only regret he had was that the girl in his arms would have to witness her older brother die in such a gruesome manner.
"Onii-chan!" Beside him, Usagi gave a chilling scream. Even from this distance, both teenagers could see Hiiro jerk in surprise before he pulled the parachute release.
"It's too late now." Duo sighed.
"Hiiro!" From the top of the building Relena yelled out from the destroyed floor.
Struggling to free herself, Usagi didn't even blink when she was free from Duo's secure hold, and started to free-fall towards her brother.
"Usagi! Are you crazy?!" The braided boy yelled out in shock. He knew it, as pretty as she was, the blonde girl was as crazy as her brother. They were a pair of suicidal maniacs. And now, if Usagi died, who was going to give him the antidote for the poison in his body? He didn't want to die yet! He was too young to die. He still has to complete his mission, travel around the world, go to Las Vegas, win the jackpot, marry the girl of his dreams, and have eight kids. How could he go to Hell before he hasn't completed even one of these things? Duo thought pitifully as he closed his eyes. Looks like this time he was going to become "God of Death" for sure.
"Duo no baka. Open your eyes, you're not going to die." A voice spoke in his head that sounded surprisingly like Usagi's. The unexpected sound was almost enough for him to loosen his death grip on the propeller. But following the bunny's instructions, he almost got a heart attack. It seemed like ever since he met the blonde girl, his life was full of surprises that were meant to reduce his already short life span.
In the clear day light, in front of his very eyes, Hiiro and Usagi were both very much alive. Contrary to the laws of physics and nature, which state that all objects fall when dropped, the two siblings were floating in mid-air. Duo blinked continuously to see if the sunlight was playing tricks with his mind. But every time opened his eyes, he still saw exactly the same thing. a pair of large snowy wings that grew from Usagi's shoulders. Angels didn't live on Earth, did they?
The angelic wings flapped elegantly in the air as Usagi and Hiiro was gently brought to solid ground. Once their feet touched down, the wings on the blonde's back began to slowly disappear until not a trace of the heavenly gift was left. For a moment the God of Death thought that he was just imagining the whole thing, especially since angels wouldn't harm humans, and he was extremely sure that Usagi poisoned him, so therefore she couldn't be an angel. But from the smirk that the blonde girl was giving him and the single white feather on the ground, he doubt that it was just a hallucination.
"Onii-chan, you're hurt!" Usagi's sudden exclamation made Duo snap back into reality and notice the large gash on the other boy's leg.
Under the braided one's fascinated stare, Usagi bent down and moved to put her lips next to the wound. But before the pink flesh could touch Hiiro's cut, the young man moved back, keeping a distance between himself and his sister.
"Onii-chan? I have to heal your wound, you've already lost a lot of blood." The blonde girl walked towards the Perfect Soldier, totally unaware of Duo.
Hiiro didn't reply but a hard look appeared in his eyes. He lifted a hand, and before the braided boy could stop him Usagi's head was thrown to the side from the force of Hiiro's hand.
All three teenagers didn't move, a faint red mark appeared on the bunny's cheek even though her head was still turned away.
"What the Hell is wrong with you man?!" The braided boy cried out when he saw a tear slip down the bruised cheek. "Don't you know how much danger she went through to save you? She was almost raped if I didn't find her! You don't even than her, and did you even think about of asking if she was hurt?" At that point, Duo was angry enough to beat some sense into the other boy, despite the fact that Hiiro was already injured. Looking down into the cold blue eyes that stared back into his violet ones blankly. Didn't this guy have any feelings at all? He didn't even seem worried that his younger sister could've died. To someone like Duo who grew up alone, it was in impossible to believe that someone like Hiiro could treat a little sister to be granted like that.
"Don't hurt him Duo. I'll never forgive you if you hit him!" The blonde girl cried out when the braided one was about to punch Hiiro.
"How can you care about a heartless bastard like him Usagi? He made you cry for God's sake!" Even though he didn't hit the other pilot, Duo still didn't let got the strong hold he had on the green tank top
"Can we talk alone for a while please?"
He didn't want to leave Usagi alone with that jerk of a brother, but he couldn't say no to the pleading look in her watery sapphire eyes, and he had a feeling that from now on, he would never be able to resist her anything. "You better not hurt her." Giving a dark warning look to Hiiro, Duo pushed the other boy away and walked towards the beach, he had to contact Howard anyways.
"Why did you come?" Hiiro broke the silence when Duo was out of hearing range.
"I was worried about you, so I snuck out after you left for Earth with Luna," Usagi whispered, still not daring to look at her onii-chan in the face.
"And what about the others?"
"I have already contacted them, but they still don't know where I am, but I brought my communicator along so I can contact them when there's danger."
"Do you know how thoughtless and dangerous your actions are? If they caught you, then it would be the end of everything. We are fighting for peace, but if they capture you, then everything that we are fighting for will be wasted, and the colonies and the Earth will never gain freedom or peace." Hiiro lectured in his monotone, his eyes did soften a little.
"I know, that's why I've persuaded Duo to take me with him to save you." A smile broke out on her face when she realized that she has been forgiven and that Hiiro was no longer made at her.
"Persuaded? Should I feel sorry for him then?"
The bunny giggled and trued to look at the lone figure standing by the water waving to a distant boat. "I just made him think that he swallowed some poison."
"And he fell for it?"
"I think so. I hope that all the other Gundam pilots aren't as easily fooled like Duo or else the Colonies will be doomed, but he is cute," the Usagi smiled mischievously.
"Cute or not, I'm sending you back to the Colonies right away." Hiiro said quickly when he saw Duo walking back towards them.
"But, I want to stay her with you!" As if to prove her point, the bunny clutched onto her onii-chan's arm. "I won't let go unless you agree!"
Dropping his head for a moment at this old game, he supposed that things never change with Usagi, it was still impossible to deny her anything. "We'll talk about it later."
~*~*~*~
"What's all the noise about?" Duo yelled out above the noise as he ran out onto the deck, just in time to catch the Wing Zero take off into the sky. "I can't believe it.. He actually fixed his Gundam without any help from us."
"Oh no! He stole his parts from the other one!"
From the back ground the braided one could hear one of the technicians complain. "Hiiro, you traitor!!!!!!!!!"
"What's happening?" a sleeping voice spoke above all the commotion.
"Usagi?!?!?!" The braided boy stared at the blonde girl as if she grew a second head. "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean? Why shouldn't I be here?" Usagi demanded, still not fully awake yet.
"Aren't you suppose to be with Hiiro? He just left with Wing Zero!"
"What?!?!" That finally caught her attention. "Onii-chan left without me? When did this happen?"
Duo cringed slightly as the panic made the blonde scream in his ear before dragging him around the ship to find if he was lying or not.
"Duo! There's a message left in the Deathscythe." Howard called out before reading the few lines on the main monitor inside the black gundam. "Duo take care of Usagi for me. I can't take her with me, she's too much of a distraction on a mission. If something happens to her, you'll never get the antidote to the poison in your body -Hiiro."
"She's a distraction to you? What makes you think that she's not a distraction to me too?! How am I suppose to complete my missions now? Hiiro you bastard! Take your sister with you!" Duo yelled out again jokingly, making a fist towards the direction where Hiiro disappeared with Wing Zero.
"What did you say?" Behind him, a frightening blonde head appeared, and Duo yelled in pain as his braid was pulled painfully. Everyone on the ship sweat dropped when they heard one of the legendary gundam pilots beg for the mercy of the petite blonde girl.
Omake 2: Water.
"I want water." Minako croaked out through her patched throat.
"Stop complaining onna, endurance is a virtue. We are the ones telling the story here," Wufei snapped, even though he was starting to see doubles.
"Where are we now?" Usagi asked sleepily, lifting her head from Duo's chest where she has been taking a nap.
"Somewhere in Arizona. We just passed the Four Corners," Hiiro answered his imouto.
"And how far are we from New York?"
"From my calculations, if we continue with this speed, we'll be human jerkies before we get there," Rei muttered crossly. "Don't you ever remember anything from your studies Odango? New York to us now is as far as the Colonies. Without a car and water, we will all die of dehydration VERY soon."
"But. but. that means I'll never get married!" Everyone cringed when the water works began.
"I think that survival is more important than anything else right now Usagi- chan," Quatre put in kindly. "We have to find more water somehow, even these horses won't be able to last long if they don't have anything to drink."
"How about Usagi and I ride ahead, and at the nearest town, we will rent a car and come back and pick up you guys?" Duo suggested and was about to ride away with his fiancée if it weren't for an iron grip on his braid and the pilots and senshi surrounding the motorcycle.
"Don't even think about it you two. How do we know if you won't just leave us here and make a U-turn back to Las Vegas to get married?" Haruka demanded pulling Usagi down from the motorcycle. "We'll keep Usagi here as a hostage if you still want to try your plan." Everyone nodded.
The bunny struggled in the sky senshi's hold. "Why are all of you so mean? Duo-chan and I won't do anything like that."
"The last time we trusted you, the two of you ran away to get married, the memory is still very fresh in our minds to make the same mistake again. Michiru! Are you okay?" Haruka broke off when the water senshi swayed on her feet.
"I can feel it." The green haired woman said. "Ami, can you hear it?"
The shorthaired girl closed her eyes and concentrated. "It's very faint, but I can hear the sound of water too."
"Where?!?!" Twelve voices cried out simultaneously.
The two senshi of water pointed ahead to a patch of shadowed area.
"Trowa. Isn't that the Grand Canyon?" Quatre asked. "Then we're saved for sure! All we have to do is climb down till we reach the Colorado River!"
"So why are we still here wasting time? Let's go already," Makoto said as she spurred her horse, the thought of water driving everyone on.
"How about continue with the story so the time we'll pass more quickly?" Hotaru asked.
"Well, girl was a distraction." Wufei began.
"Brother didn't want girl," Hiiro smirked at his imouto.
"Boy was stuck with girl," Trowa continued.
"And that's how Hell began on Earth," Quatre concluded.
~*~*~*~
"We're finally there! Water!" Usagi jumped off the motorcycle and ran towards the furious current of the Colorado River.
"Be careful Odango, if you fall in, you'll be a drowned rabbit for sure," Rei warned. a little too late. Before anyone realized what has happened, they heard a loud splash, and the bunny's blonde head flowing down the river.
"Usagi!" Duo yelled in panic before diving into the river himself.
Everyone stared shocked. Did both Duo and Usagi just get swept away into the Colorado River?
TBC.
AN: Sorry, I know that the Omake is kind of boring ^^;; I'm out of ideas, and suddenly remember how my friend fell into the Colorado River when she was white river rafting ^^;; It's been six years since I lived in the US, so my US geography might be a little off, so I apologize in advance for that.