"So did you talk to him?" Duo stood beside Quatre next to a willow tree,
watching Shingam inspect the jungle gym with the eye of an overprotective
parent. Killashandra stood beside him quietly, watching the trees sway and
the clouds lazily drift by. It was like watching a child see the world for
the first time; and Quatre felt a dull fear that perhaps this was Killa's
first time.
Shaking off his worry he turned back to Duo. "We talked a little. Honestly, it wasn't all that terrible. Trowa understood, and after he made me promise never to do it again, he forgave me. He seemed more upset about my fears of his anger, than he was of me not telling him I was in pain. I think I blew this whole thing totally out of proportion in my head and expected this great big fall out between the two of us. Really Duo, next time you want to scare me to death, make sure Trowa's going to do something drastic, like leave me or something." He smiled kindly at Duo who only shook his head.
"Yeah right! If we waited for Trowa to leave you, Hell would be an ice skating rink." They laughed together as they watched Trowa and Heero lifting the two children onto the sturdy wooden frame.
When they had cleared this section of the garden, there'd been quite a few trees that needed to be removed. Wufei had insisted they not go to waste and none of the others had been inclined to disagree. Trowa had shown his ability to work the wood; while Wufei, Heero, and Duo had constructed the climbing device; he himself had designed it.
Now years later, it stood tall and proud; an addition to the garden that pulled children from their parents homes to play and socialize. Today was a rare day, and it seemed the onslaught of Christmas had most of the children with their parents, tucked safely away.
Quatre watched as Trowa effortlessly vaulted up and onto the platform before lifting Shingam and settling him onto the slide. The slide held a certain amount of pride for the pilots. It was constructed from a piece of the outer hull of the Epyon. One more marker to prove that war could bring some measure of peace and perhaps even joy to another generation.
"Quatre!" A voice that unmistakably belonged to Marieminna traveled across the garden to him, and he spun around just in time to receive a huge hug from the slight girl.
"Oh Quatre, I missed you so much! And look! Look what Mom got me! It's a kite! Mom said that I can play with it until dinner. But I'm not allowed to play with it if there's rain or lightning, and she said something about tying keys to it-but I didn't understand that part. But look, isn't it neat?! Did you miss me, as much as I missed you? Who are those kids? Will you play with me? Please!!!"
Quatre laughed happily as the little bundle of energy wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. He lifted her into the air and twirled, swinging her around and around until she began to giggle uncontrollably.
"I did miss you; very, very much. And I'd love to help you fly you're kite. It's very pretty, is that a picture of a unicorn? Well it's a very pretty unicorn. And your mom's right, you shouldn't tie keys to your kite, and you shouldn't fly it in rainstorms. Why? Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll tire of it before the next rain season." He laughed heartily as she swatted at him for his wayward remark.
Kneeling down, he set Marieminna on her feet but was startled to see Killashandra standing next to Duo, her eyes taking in his interaction with the much taller girl. Her eyes were stone, but behind them he could just make out what he considered a look of curiosity, and perhaps, something else.
"Marieminna, I want to introduce you to Killashandra. Killa, this is Marieminna. Lady Une, the woman that helped fix the soup you ate last night, is her Mom. Marieminna, Killashandra doesn't talk, so you have to be patient with her. Her friend is Shingam-who's coming over right now- sometimes he can speak for Killashandra, so if you want to ask her a question, you'll need to ask Shingam for the response, understand?"
She looked perplexed for a moment before turning and walking up to Killashandra. The smaller girl didn't more, but kept herself tucked firmly, half hidden behind one of Duo's legs. Marieminna extended a small hand to the little girl.
"Hi, I'm Marieminna. This is my new kite, want to see it?" She presented the kite for inspection, but Killashandra only glanced at it before turning her eyes towards him; watching for his reaction to the entire situation. He smiled to reassure her.
"She won't talk to you! Killa's my responsibility! You don't talk to her!" Shingam stood next to Marieminna now, his stance was defensive, and he truly looked as if he'd harm the red haired girl if she disregarded his warning. But Marieminna was a dictator in her own right, and as Trowa and Heero approached, they all watched the drama unfold.
"She's not your slave, and I'm not your servant. Don't tell her or me what to do! If she want's to see my kite then she can!"
"I said she can't!"
"I don't care!" The two were about to begin screaming when Killashandra stepped out from behind Duo and reached for Shingam's hand. The boy had her securely behind him in the blink of an eye.
Marieminna looked a little hurt for a moment; and then suddenly, Killashandra reached out with her unoccupied hand, and lightly touched the kite. Shingam turned to look at her but Killashandra was stepping away from him, fingering the flimsy material of the kite.
Marieminna nearly radiated with triumph, and she had no qualms about sharing it with Shingam.
"See, I told you she could make up her own mind. I use to be a dictator, I know nobody listens to meany's!" She paused as if to rethink her statement, only to shrug her shoulders and give a hesitant smile. "Anyway, that's not important. What's your name again, I forgot when I was yelling at you."
"Shingam." He said his name proudly, as if he hadn't lost anything in the exchange. "What's your name?"
"Marieminna. Lady Une's my Mom; and Quatre's my best friend. You can be my friend too; you and Killashandra. But you have to be nice, and you can't tell me what to do. Quatre says that's unbecoming of a lady, and I really want to be a lady when I grow up, just like my Mom. But like I said we can be friends. Do you and Killashandra want to help me fly my new kite?"
Like children so often do, Marieminna was so willing to accept total strangers, to allow into her sheltered life something, or more accurately some ones, who did not fit neatly into the mold so many would make for her. She offered the kite out to Shingam for inspection, which he examined as he had the jungle gym; looking for something but obviously not finding it.
"Kite?"
"Yeah silly, it's a kite. Mom said people use to fly them all the time in the early pre-Colonial days. She said little kids use to play with them on sunny days in the summer. But I guess since it's sunny here all the time, it doesn't have to be summer to fly a kite. But I saw one flown once, and it was really neat. I can't wait to fly mine. So do you want to help or not?"
Hesitantly Shingam nodded, and Quatre felt a sense of relief wash over him. Moving closer the boy took the kite between his hands and flipped it over, and then over again.
"What's it for?"
Perplexed, Marieminna answered as best she could. "It's for playing. We're going to play with it, right?"
"What does it do?"
She paused. "Um, I think it does tricks; and it flies really high in the air. It's so neat! Just wait and see! But we have to get it up first. You and Killashandra are going to help me, right?"
Shingam nodded his head and turned to Killashandra for a moment of silent communication before he floored them with his next question.
"Where are the missiles located?"
"HUH? What are you talking about?"
"It's a training device? Where are the missiles?"
"It's not a training device! It's a toy, you play with it!"
"If it doesn't train you, then what's the point?"
Collectively, they all shuddered. Could it be that these two children knew only about weapons and war? Could their whole lives be nothing but pain and suffering? Quatre felt blinding anger again towards the scientist that had done this to these sweet children. He didn't care if they were sent to kill them like Duo and Heero thought; he didn't care! He was going to make sure that they were never touched by war for the rest of their lives.
He was about to lean down and tell them so, when Marieminna again startled them all.
"Well, I guess there isn't a point. It's just fun. But if you wanted to make it a training device we could pretend there are 87X-RC missiles on it. Those usually blow up anything they come in contact with. That way when the kite hits the ground it'll blow up. We can even duck and cover when we pretend. I'm not suppose to talk about weapons and bad stuff like that, but I'm sure Mom won't mind since I'm just playing."
But Shingam was shaking his head. "87X-RC missiles will do too much damage, if they hit the ground they'll blow up a fifty foot radius. We need something smaller."
Marieminna rolled her eyes. "It's just pretend! We're not really going to blow stuff up! We'll just pretend that the ground is laced Gundanium alloy, mixed with half parts steel and concrete. That way when it blows up, it'll only make a small hole, but'll blow the concrete up."
Shingam nodded. "The debris should sufficiently neutralize anything we're aiming at."
"Yeah, I used it in a march on Asica, a town in New America. There weren't any survivors, it was pretty cool."
"Marieminna!"
Quatre's voice rang loudly in the silence of these two children discussing war tactics like adults; and with as much pride as could be considered distasteful to the most liberal of generals. Marieminna cringed under his tone and turned sheepish eyes towards Quatre's angry face.
"Quatre, we were only pretending. I wasn't really going to put 87X-RC missiles on my kite, honest."
Behind her Shingam nodded. "This-kite-wouldn't support their weight anyway, it's too flimsy."
Marieminna spun, rising to what she considered a challenge. "I know that! We'd have to lighten the load anyway, or make the kite stronger, maybe even use jets! But we're just pretending." Realizing what she was saying she turned guilty eyes back to Quatre and looked at him like a bad puppy would. "Sorry Quatre."
"OK," having enough, he knelt down to be eye level with the three children and made a point to catch each of their eyes. "No more talking about missiles or 87X-RC missiles, understand." He watched Marieminna nod solemnly, while Shingam looked a bit scared for a moment before he looked at Heero's stern but kind face and nodded as well; Killashandra did nothing but continued to look at the kite, ignoring him. "Missiles and weapons hurt people, don't they Marieminna?" She nodded. "And it's bad to hurt people isn't it?" Again the girl nodded.
Shingam didn't agree. "Sometimes you have to hurt people to protect people."
Marieminna turned questioning eyes on Quatre but he grimly nodded his agreement. "Shingam, are you talking about the information you learned from the ZERO files?"
"ZERO files? You read them?! I spent months trying to track down a usable copy for my mobile dolls! You've read them?!" Marieminna was at once astonished.
"Marieminna! What have you been told?" His voice held a hint of a warning and the girl before him again looked guiltily.
"I'm not suppose to talk about my trying to take over the world in present tense. But Quatre, he's read the files, and I really did spend a lot of resources trying to track them down! Did he have them all the time?" She turned accusing eyes on Shingam and Killashandra. "Did you? Did you have the files all the time?"
Shingam shrugged. "I know what's in them."
"OOOHHHHH! I'm so-so mad! I'm mad! Where were they? Where are they now?"
"MARIEMINNA!"
"But Quatre-"
"No 'buts', now no more of this! Do you want Shingam and Killashandra to help you fly your kite-without pretending it has missiles attached to it-or would you rather go in?" He knew the children thought he was being harsh but it was for their own good.
"Ooohhh fine! Do you want to fly my dumb old kite or not?" Marieminna turned turbulent eyes on Shingam, but the sable haired boy only nodded, and taking Killa's hand, walked with Marieminna some distance away.
Quatre breathed a great sigh of relief.
"That was really, really deranged." Leave it to Duo to stamp the situation.
"We knew Marieminna had adept knowledge of all things military, but Shingam has superior skills as well. It's almost-"
"Frightening. Heero, it's frightening." Trowa's voice cut through Heero's next word, but the perfect solider nodded his agreement.
"How? Why? Why teach a child so young about such things?" Quatre couldn't comprehend the treatment the children, including Marieminna, had to have gone through to become like they were.
"Simple," Heero answered. "Get them young. Train them hard. And forget about them if they don't come back." Suddenly Duo had his arm wrapped around Heero's shoulder, offering comfort for a topic obviously too close to home.
"Well, guess what? There are people here now that care if they come back, all of them." The 'them' was made to include Heero, and in an act not often witnessed by outsiders, Heero folded into Duo, taking comfort in the shelter of his lover's arms.
Quatre saw a confused expression fall over Trowa's face, and he moved to his partner in question. "It can't be easy. Watching these two children, especially Shingam, rattle off weapons of mass destruction like discussing computer games. I forgot the kind of training you had to go through when you were little, all that mecha repair and construction. You had to learn all about those types of weapons at his age too, didn't you?" Carefully, Trowa nodded. "Then, maybe you should talk to him. You and Heero have the firmest grasp on what he must be going through. I think if I started to talk to him, I'd get lost in the jumble. Imagine a five year old knowing what a 87X-RC missile is; I don't even know, and I'm twenty!"
"Thankfully, you never had to know." It was something in the way Trowa said it, the timber of his voice changed ever so slightly, and instantly Quatre had him close. Arms where they should be-wrapped tightly about his lover's waist-and Quatre pulled Trowa's head down onto his shoulder and ran light fingers through his hair.
Quietly, for Trowa's ears only, he whispered. "The past isn't something we can forget, Luv. It won't go away, and we can't out run it. But we learn from it, and sometimes the best we can hope for is to tell another of what we know so they don't have to go through the same things we did. Right?" Weakly, Trowa nodded against his neck.
He nuzzled into Trowa, rubbing their cheeks together and kissing his unusual bangs lightly. It was so easy to see Trowa as strong and capable now; so easy to forget that less than a year before-really only a little more than six months ago-Trowa was always where he was now, tucked safely against him; safe from the world. Trowa was so strong, so wonderful, he'd braved the worst the world had to offer just for him; so that Quatre wouldn't have to suffer needlessly. But every now and then, he knew Trowa missed the hidden surprises, the stolen kisses. He knew but was hesitant to try. He didn't know if Trowa would consider it a slip, reverting back to old patterns, and false senses of his own strength. So he played the part he was given, acted for Trowa, not the strong man he'd become, but the hesitant man Trowa thought that he was. Trowa wanted to be the one in charge; it's what he'd said a little over a month ago. He wanted Quatre to do as told, to follow for a little while instead of leading. And Quatre would be anything Trowa needed, would become whatever his lover wanted him to be. If Trowa wanted to be strong, then Quatre would be weak, it was the least he could do.
"QUATRE LOOK!!!!" Lifting his head from his silent thoughts, he saw Marieminna pointing to the sky, and sure enough, the picture of a white unicorn floated about fifteen feet off the ground. Shingam stood a short distance away, and Marieminna held onto the string with a seaman's grip.
"Marieminna, that's wonderful! Good job Shingam, that's great!"
In a selfless move, he saw Marieminna move over to Killashandra and hand the smaller girl the plastic ring that held the string. Killa took the offering and watched fascinated as the kite soared high into the air.
"Something tells me, we're all about to go 'Awwwww' any moment now."
"Duo, be quiet."
"Yes, Heero."
And together, they all proclaimed loudly, "Awwwwwwww."
Shaking off his worry he turned back to Duo. "We talked a little. Honestly, it wasn't all that terrible. Trowa understood, and after he made me promise never to do it again, he forgave me. He seemed more upset about my fears of his anger, than he was of me not telling him I was in pain. I think I blew this whole thing totally out of proportion in my head and expected this great big fall out between the two of us. Really Duo, next time you want to scare me to death, make sure Trowa's going to do something drastic, like leave me or something." He smiled kindly at Duo who only shook his head.
"Yeah right! If we waited for Trowa to leave you, Hell would be an ice skating rink." They laughed together as they watched Trowa and Heero lifting the two children onto the sturdy wooden frame.
When they had cleared this section of the garden, there'd been quite a few trees that needed to be removed. Wufei had insisted they not go to waste and none of the others had been inclined to disagree. Trowa had shown his ability to work the wood; while Wufei, Heero, and Duo had constructed the climbing device; he himself had designed it.
Now years later, it stood tall and proud; an addition to the garden that pulled children from their parents homes to play and socialize. Today was a rare day, and it seemed the onslaught of Christmas had most of the children with their parents, tucked safely away.
Quatre watched as Trowa effortlessly vaulted up and onto the platform before lifting Shingam and settling him onto the slide. The slide held a certain amount of pride for the pilots. It was constructed from a piece of the outer hull of the Epyon. One more marker to prove that war could bring some measure of peace and perhaps even joy to another generation.
"Quatre!" A voice that unmistakably belonged to Marieminna traveled across the garden to him, and he spun around just in time to receive a huge hug from the slight girl.
"Oh Quatre, I missed you so much! And look! Look what Mom got me! It's a kite! Mom said that I can play with it until dinner. But I'm not allowed to play with it if there's rain or lightning, and she said something about tying keys to it-but I didn't understand that part. But look, isn't it neat?! Did you miss me, as much as I missed you? Who are those kids? Will you play with me? Please!!!"
Quatre laughed happily as the little bundle of energy wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. He lifted her into the air and twirled, swinging her around and around until she began to giggle uncontrollably.
"I did miss you; very, very much. And I'd love to help you fly you're kite. It's very pretty, is that a picture of a unicorn? Well it's a very pretty unicorn. And your mom's right, you shouldn't tie keys to your kite, and you shouldn't fly it in rainstorms. Why? Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll tire of it before the next rain season." He laughed heartily as she swatted at him for his wayward remark.
Kneeling down, he set Marieminna on her feet but was startled to see Killashandra standing next to Duo, her eyes taking in his interaction with the much taller girl. Her eyes were stone, but behind them he could just make out what he considered a look of curiosity, and perhaps, something else.
"Marieminna, I want to introduce you to Killashandra. Killa, this is Marieminna. Lady Une, the woman that helped fix the soup you ate last night, is her Mom. Marieminna, Killashandra doesn't talk, so you have to be patient with her. Her friend is Shingam-who's coming over right now- sometimes he can speak for Killashandra, so if you want to ask her a question, you'll need to ask Shingam for the response, understand?"
She looked perplexed for a moment before turning and walking up to Killashandra. The smaller girl didn't more, but kept herself tucked firmly, half hidden behind one of Duo's legs. Marieminna extended a small hand to the little girl.
"Hi, I'm Marieminna. This is my new kite, want to see it?" She presented the kite for inspection, but Killashandra only glanced at it before turning her eyes towards him; watching for his reaction to the entire situation. He smiled to reassure her.
"She won't talk to you! Killa's my responsibility! You don't talk to her!" Shingam stood next to Marieminna now, his stance was defensive, and he truly looked as if he'd harm the red haired girl if she disregarded his warning. But Marieminna was a dictator in her own right, and as Trowa and Heero approached, they all watched the drama unfold.
"She's not your slave, and I'm not your servant. Don't tell her or me what to do! If she want's to see my kite then she can!"
"I said she can't!"
"I don't care!" The two were about to begin screaming when Killashandra stepped out from behind Duo and reached for Shingam's hand. The boy had her securely behind him in the blink of an eye.
Marieminna looked a little hurt for a moment; and then suddenly, Killashandra reached out with her unoccupied hand, and lightly touched the kite. Shingam turned to look at her but Killashandra was stepping away from him, fingering the flimsy material of the kite.
Marieminna nearly radiated with triumph, and she had no qualms about sharing it with Shingam.
"See, I told you she could make up her own mind. I use to be a dictator, I know nobody listens to meany's!" She paused as if to rethink her statement, only to shrug her shoulders and give a hesitant smile. "Anyway, that's not important. What's your name again, I forgot when I was yelling at you."
"Shingam." He said his name proudly, as if he hadn't lost anything in the exchange. "What's your name?"
"Marieminna. Lady Une's my Mom; and Quatre's my best friend. You can be my friend too; you and Killashandra. But you have to be nice, and you can't tell me what to do. Quatre says that's unbecoming of a lady, and I really want to be a lady when I grow up, just like my Mom. But like I said we can be friends. Do you and Killashandra want to help me fly my new kite?"
Like children so often do, Marieminna was so willing to accept total strangers, to allow into her sheltered life something, or more accurately some ones, who did not fit neatly into the mold so many would make for her. She offered the kite out to Shingam for inspection, which he examined as he had the jungle gym; looking for something but obviously not finding it.
"Kite?"
"Yeah silly, it's a kite. Mom said people use to fly them all the time in the early pre-Colonial days. She said little kids use to play with them on sunny days in the summer. But I guess since it's sunny here all the time, it doesn't have to be summer to fly a kite. But I saw one flown once, and it was really neat. I can't wait to fly mine. So do you want to help or not?"
Hesitantly Shingam nodded, and Quatre felt a sense of relief wash over him. Moving closer the boy took the kite between his hands and flipped it over, and then over again.
"What's it for?"
Perplexed, Marieminna answered as best she could. "It's for playing. We're going to play with it, right?"
"What does it do?"
She paused. "Um, I think it does tricks; and it flies really high in the air. It's so neat! Just wait and see! But we have to get it up first. You and Killashandra are going to help me, right?"
Shingam nodded his head and turned to Killashandra for a moment of silent communication before he floored them with his next question.
"Where are the missiles located?"
"HUH? What are you talking about?"
"It's a training device? Where are the missiles?"
"It's not a training device! It's a toy, you play with it!"
"If it doesn't train you, then what's the point?"
Collectively, they all shuddered. Could it be that these two children knew only about weapons and war? Could their whole lives be nothing but pain and suffering? Quatre felt blinding anger again towards the scientist that had done this to these sweet children. He didn't care if they were sent to kill them like Duo and Heero thought; he didn't care! He was going to make sure that they were never touched by war for the rest of their lives.
He was about to lean down and tell them so, when Marieminna again startled them all.
"Well, I guess there isn't a point. It's just fun. But if you wanted to make it a training device we could pretend there are 87X-RC missiles on it. Those usually blow up anything they come in contact with. That way when the kite hits the ground it'll blow up. We can even duck and cover when we pretend. I'm not suppose to talk about weapons and bad stuff like that, but I'm sure Mom won't mind since I'm just playing."
But Shingam was shaking his head. "87X-RC missiles will do too much damage, if they hit the ground they'll blow up a fifty foot radius. We need something smaller."
Marieminna rolled her eyes. "It's just pretend! We're not really going to blow stuff up! We'll just pretend that the ground is laced Gundanium alloy, mixed with half parts steel and concrete. That way when it blows up, it'll only make a small hole, but'll blow the concrete up."
Shingam nodded. "The debris should sufficiently neutralize anything we're aiming at."
"Yeah, I used it in a march on Asica, a town in New America. There weren't any survivors, it was pretty cool."
"Marieminna!"
Quatre's voice rang loudly in the silence of these two children discussing war tactics like adults; and with as much pride as could be considered distasteful to the most liberal of generals. Marieminna cringed under his tone and turned sheepish eyes towards Quatre's angry face.
"Quatre, we were only pretending. I wasn't really going to put 87X-RC missiles on my kite, honest."
Behind her Shingam nodded. "This-kite-wouldn't support their weight anyway, it's too flimsy."
Marieminna spun, rising to what she considered a challenge. "I know that! We'd have to lighten the load anyway, or make the kite stronger, maybe even use jets! But we're just pretending." Realizing what she was saying she turned guilty eyes back to Quatre and looked at him like a bad puppy would. "Sorry Quatre."
"OK," having enough, he knelt down to be eye level with the three children and made a point to catch each of their eyes. "No more talking about missiles or 87X-RC missiles, understand." He watched Marieminna nod solemnly, while Shingam looked a bit scared for a moment before he looked at Heero's stern but kind face and nodded as well; Killashandra did nothing but continued to look at the kite, ignoring him. "Missiles and weapons hurt people, don't they Marieminna?" She nodded. "And it's bad to hurt people isn't it?" Again the girl nodded.
Shingam didn't agree. "Sometimes you have to hurt people to protect people."
Marieminna turned questioning eyes on Quatre but he grimly nodded his agreement. "Shingam, are you talking about the information you learned from the ZERO files?"
"ZERO files? You read them?! I spent months trying to track down a usable copy for my mobile dolls! You've read them?!" Marieminna was at once astonished.
"Marieminna! What have you been told?" His voice held a hint of a warning and the girl before him again looked guiltily.
"I'm not suppose to talk about my trying to take over the world in present tense. But Quatre, he's read the files, and I really did spend a lot of resources trying to track them down! Did he have them all the time?" She turned accusing eyes on Shingam and Killashandra. "Did you? Did you have the files all the time?"
Shingam shrugged. "I know what's in them."
"OOOHHHHH! I'm so-so mad! I'm mad! Where were they? Where are they now?"
"MARIEMINNA!"
"But Quatre-"
"No 'buts', now no more of this! Do you want Shingam and Killashandra to help you fly your kite-without pretending it has missiles attached to it-or would you rather go in?" He knew the children thought he was being harsh but it was for their own good.
"Ooohhh fine! Do you want to fly my dumb old kite or not?" Marieminna turned turbulent eyes on Shingam, but the sable haired boy only nodded, and taking Killa's hand, walked with Marieminna some distance away.
Quatre breathed a great sigh of relief.
"That was really, really deranged." Leave it to Duo to stamp the situation.
"We knew Marieminna had adept knowledge of all things military, but Shingam has superior skills as well. It's almost-"
"Frightening. Heero, it's frightening." Trowa's voice cut through Heero's next word, but the perfect solider nodded his agreement.
"How? Why? Why teach a child so young about such things?" Quatre couldn't comprehend the treatment the children, including Marieminna, had to have gone through to become like they were.
"Simple," Heero answered. "Get them young. Train them hard. And forget about them if they don't come back." Suddenly Duo had his arm wrapped around Heero's shoulder, offering comfort for a topic obviously too close to home.
"Well, guess what? There are people here now that care if they come back, all of them." The 'them' was made to include Heero, and in an act not often witnessed by outsiders, Heero folded into Duo, taking comfort in the shelter of his lover's arms.
Quatre saw a confused expression fall over Trowa's face, and he moved to his partner in question. "It can't be easy. Watching these two children, especially Shingam, rattle off weapons of mass destruction like discussing computer games. I forgot the kind of training you had to go through when you were little, all that mecha repair and construction. You had to learn all about those types of weapons at his age too, didn't you?" Carefully, Trowa nodded. "Then, maybe you should talk to him. You and Heero have the firmest grasp on what he must be going through. I think if I started to talk to him, I'd get lost in the jumble. Imagine a five year old knowing what a 87X-RC missile is; I don't even know, and I'm twenty!"
"Thankfully, you never had to know." It was something in the way Trowa said it, the timber of his voice changed ever so slightly, and instantly Quatre had him close. Arms where they should be-wrapped tightly about his lover's waist-and Quatre pulled Trowa's head down onto his shoulder and ran light fingers through his hair.
Quietly, for Trowa's ears only, he whispered. "The past isn't something we can forget, Luv. It won't go away, and we can't out run it. But we learn from it, and sometimes the best we can hope for is to tell another of what we know so they don't have to go through the same things we did. Right?" Weakly, Trowa nodded against his neck.
He nuzzled into Trowa, rubbing their cheeks together and kissing his unusual bangs lightly. It was so easy to see Trowa as strong and capable now; so easy to forget that less than a year before-really only a little more than six months ago-Trowa was always where he was now, tucked safely against him; safe from the world. Trowa was so strong, so wonderful, he'd braved the worst the world had to offer just for him; so that Quatre wouldn't have to suffer needlessly. But every now and then, he knew Trowa missed the hidden surprises, the stolen kisses. He knew but was hesitant to try. He didn't know if Trowa would consider it a slip, reverting back to old patterns, and false senses of his own strength. So he played the part he was given, acted for Trowa, not the strong man he'd become, but the hesitant man Trowa thought that he was. Trowa wanted to be the one in charge; it's what he'd said a little over a month ago. He wanted Quatre to do as told, to follow for a little while instead of leading. And Quatre would be anything Trowa needed, would become whatever his lover wanted him to be. If Trowa wanted to be strong, then Quatre would be weak, it was the least he could do.
"QUATRE LOOK!!!!" Lifting his head from his silent thoughts, he saw Marieminna pointing to the sky, and sure enough, the picture of a white unicorn floated about fifteen feet off the ground. Shingam stood a short distance away, and Marieminna held onto the string with a seaman's grip.
"Marieminna, that's wonderful! Good job Shingam, that's great!"
In a selfless move, he saw Marieminna move over to Killashandra and hand the smaller girl the plastic ring that held the string. Killa took the offering and watched fascinated as the kite soared high into the air.
"Something tells me, we're all about to go 'Awwwww' any moment now."
"Duo, be quiet."
"Yes, Heero."
And together, they all proclaimed loudly, "Awwwwwwww."