Chapter 5: Wufei's Surprise
The clashing of the wooden blades could be heard, but the movement of the two who wielded them was almost undetectable. One of the fighters quickly spun around and stuck his leg out and the other fighter hit the dirt. The other fighter quickly pulled back her feet and before Wufei could bring his blade down to claim mastery she kicked it out of his hand. She put her feet on the ground, arched her back and brought her entire body up onto her feet in a single swift jerk. With her blade in hand she charged for her opponent. Wufei quickly caught both of her wrists and tried to push her back. She held her ground and threw all of her weight in keeping her adversary from getting the upper hand in this fight. Her index finger found a pressure point on the wrist that was holding his weapon. The blade fell from his hands and her other hand, finally free from Wufei's grasp, took a quick swipe at his face. The fist connected and sent him sprawling on the ground. She brought her leg up high and planted her heel on the ground where his chest would have been if he hadn't rolled away. Wufei slid from his position and knocked her on her back. She quickly grabbed one of the wooden blades and Wufei grabbed the other. Both stood up at the same time. Both Woo and Wufei were breathing heavily as they eyed one another.
This was Woo's sanctuary and practice ground. Here her fighting skills had been sharpened and improved with constant practice. She had always known since that day Merian died that she would have to fight Wufei. She had never told him the truth and he had always known that she held a secret from him. As she had run there she had cried a single solitary tear. It brushed off of her eye and was carried away in the wind. She cried for her sister, the secret she kept, and the friends who had always looked on her with honor. She cared for them all deeply, but didn't deserve their kindness and certainly not their honor and respect. How could they have ever loved her knowing the secret she kept from him?
He had followed her to her training ground and had engaged in a battle with her. To her she couldn't lose. She had promised her sister never to tell. If she lost this battle she would have to give him Nataku's secret that she had kept safe all of the years she had been gone. Natuaku and made her promise the night before she died never to tell Wufei. But now he was here, trying to stare her down. She lunged for him and he quickly dove out of the way. He flicked his wrist and caught her up under the chin with his sword. He held it just had Treize had so many years ago. She slowly stood knowing she had been defeated. Her body was covered in bruises. Her hands, knees, and elbows were covered in green from where she had hit the ground. She clothes were torn in multiple places and her hair was in disarray. He knew that he was probably in just as bad condition as she was. "What was the secret she told you?" he demanded to her. Her mouth remained fearlessly quiet. He put his foot behind her and edged the sword closer to her throat. To avoid getting her throat sliced she tried to move, but simply tripped over his foot. She was on her back staring at the boy above her who held his blade warningly at her throat. This time he asked more harshly, "What was the secret Woo." Her eyes narrowed and she shot out her legs and made him fall. She rolled over and straddled Wufei's torso and held his arms to his side. Wufei was stunned at the enraged face that hovered over his. "Then so be it Wufei. You have pushed me too far this time. Wufei, Merian was pregnant when she was killed. You left on the Gundam so quickly that I never got the chance to tell you. Later, I choose to keep the secret from you because the test results showed that the child Woo was carrying wasn't yours." she spit out ferociously. She rolled off of him and stared at the sky.
"Woo, I knew that Merian wasn't in love with me. That is why I told her to follow her heart. I was the first to know that she didn't love me, but was in love with another man. She was a sister to me just as she was to you. Her death still hurts me for I have lost a dear friend who taught me about justice." He said rolling on to his side. "Still she never told me she was pregnant." Woo stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "I thought that you didn't know. I thought that if I told you her name would be dishonored because she wasn't faithful." Wufei just smiled. "She fought me one day and she lost. She told me that she didn't love me the way a wife should and I understood. Since that day she and I were brother and sister to one another and husband and wife to the outside world. I didn't care because I knew I didn't love her that way either. Later, when we were older we were going to arrange an appeal to our arranged marriage. Then we would have been free to do what ever we wanted with our live. That day never came for her." He said sadly.
Woo shook her head not believing what she was hearing. They had only been friends and Wufei had known she had loved another. It was impossible. But then again she thought Merian hadn't taken the arrangement of her marriage easily and it made sense to Woo that she would have fought to be with the one she loved. It was something her spirit would have demanded she do. And Merian always had listened with her heart not her head. "I thought you would have ruined her name." Wufei stood and offered her his hand. She took it. "Woo, your sister followed her heart. There is no reason she should be punished for that." The two stood facing one another.
"We need to get back. Jade told me where she was going to take us in her Email and it isn't far from here." She said making her way out of the temple courtyard. She swung up into the nearest tree branch. "So what do we do now? Allies?" She questioned to him from her crouching position on the tree limb. She held out her hand. "Allies." He confirmed, grabbing her hand and swinging himself up onto the tree limb. They quickly and quietly made their way to the restaurant and arrived in just enough time to hear Trowa say, "There is only one trouble with this. Woo and Wufei."
"Trowa there is to be no trouble. Woo and I have come to an agreement." Wufei said swinging down onto the veranda. Woo simply allowed her feet to dangle from the limb. Heero eyed the two. "Have all of your arrangements been taken care of Woo?" Jade asked. Woo nodded her head and Jade did the same.
"What about you Jade? Have you told them everything?" Woo asked. Jade shook her head. "No, they still don't know where Kari's hidden or about Operation Star Sisters." Woo nodded her head.
"Jade what is Operation Star Sisters?" Duo asked.
"Operation Star Sister is" She began, but was cut off by a hand that wrapped itself around her mouth. The figure just seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. But it didn't matter. Everyone recognized the long platinum blonde head. Heero was on his feet in an instant along with the rest of the pilots. The females on the other hand remained seated. Heero had his gun out and pointed at Zech's head and giving him a Yuy death glare from hell. Jade seemed relaxed and she brought her hand up to his wrist and in a second had him on the ground. She smiled. "So you came to bring me the other half of the key card I hope," she looked over at her brother, "Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Duo, and Wufei would all of you please calm yourselves. I was expecting him anyway." Heero looked angry, but sat down staring at Zechs as he made his way across the room to drop a kiss on his sister's forehead. Lily smiled and Zech plopped down into the seat next to her. "Why is he here." Heero asked icily. "Zech is one of my most trusted spies Heero." Jade said calmly. "But I would still like to know what the big idea was with you shooting me the other night." Jade said. Zechs looked guilty for a moment then said, "They were starting to question my loyalty. I have been spending a lot of time researching you guys up in head quarters and I have nothing to show for it. They are beginning to suspect that I am one of your spies. So the other night I loaded up my gun with that bullet intent on shooting you. I figured you got the point when I sent you the encrypted message about me being in a rush Jade."
"Yeah I knew something bad was going down and it involved the Assails. Oh well it doesn't really matter. I am all right and I have half of the microchip for the keycard. The other half, I am guessing you, have."
"Hold up a second." Duo said, "Just answer me this. What keycard? Why would you tip the bullet with Nightmare Shade? And when did you find the other half of a microchip?"
"Duo I am surprised you don't know!" Steph said. "Nightmare Shade tipped bullets are used by the higher ups in the Assails. It's also given to anybody that work on breaking up the underground spies."
"The keycard we are referring to is a way to get pass the inner doors of a base not to far from here that happens to have information on Kari's whereabouts and on us." she said indicating with her hand that she was talking about the girls. "We were planning to bust into the place and take the information so they don't have it. Your last question is the bullet. The bullet I took for Quatre was in reality was intended for me. Inside that bullet was half of the microchip that Zechs was going to drop off to us that night in the club." She stretched out her hand to Zechs and in her palm was a small microchip. Zechs dropped another microchip in her hand and she quickly pieced the two together. Lily tossed a small piece of plastic on the table in front of Jade and she opened the credit card looking keycard and implanted the microchip. She produced the keycard in a matter of seconds. She held it between her index and middle finger. "This keycard is our entrance into the inner base of the Assails headquarters. We are going to hit the base tonight. So what do you guys say," she said looking at Heero," are you up to the challenge?"
"So we were all after the same thing all along. I'm in." Duo said.
"So it seems Maxwell. Sure, I'm in too." Trowa said.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Quatre exclaimed.
"We are allies united under a common cause. So there is no reason we shouldn't join forces." Wufei said leaning back in his chair.
"Mission accepted." Heero uttered.
Zechs stood up and made his way towards the door. "What do you plan to do Zechs?" Jade asked. Zechs turned to look at her.
"I am leaving the Assails so I am no longer your spy. I will speak to all of you again, but for right now I need to get the Assails off my back and I would be too much of a liability for all of you. Good bye and good luck."
"Ditto." she said as he walked out the door. "We hit the base at 2:00 A.M. tonight. Here are the plans."