Don't tell me... chapter 8









I slouched in the back of Relena's convertable, my arms crossed protectively across my chest. I don't care what Relena or Q think, what I am wearing is considered underwear in many cultures, and therefore should be covered up. I mentioned this to Relena, thinking, you know, womanly modesty and all. I thought that maybe she had truly changed, her eyes lit up with what I'd assumed was understanding and she'd rummaged through the bags of purchases for a few minutes. What she came up with was neither a trenchcoat, nor black. It was an elegant pale yellow chiffon scarf that she draped attractively (to her, that is) around my neck and shoulders and handed me a the dainty, matching purse (completely useless, not even big enough to hold a small gun). She stepped back, tilted her head to one side, and pronounced my outfit complete. I teetered on my heels and restrained myself from using the fist of death.

Q said it's necessary to complete my disguise. A member of the Cinq royalty would be flawlessly coiffed at all occaisions, appearing otherwise would arouse suspicion. I then pointed out that the boarding school had a uniform, but he started rambling about weekends and evenings and dances and blah blah blah, all the while giving me these big bambi eyes (an animated film about a deer, circa 20th century, don't ask how I know this shit). Evil cherubic little bastard.



*****





"Mission. Mission. Mission. Du-oh *fuck*" Heero thought. His concentration had been off for the last couple of hours, ever since a rather female Duo had reared his... *HER* annoying head and re-entered his life. He had missed her.

#Duoduoduoduoduoduo# his hormones chanted.

/shutupshutupshutupshutup/ he chanted right back at them. They didn't shut up, however.

# You've searched for her for the last two years, go jump her! Right now!# Heero grunted and grit his teeth, summoning the mental training that made him so deadly in the cockpit. He fiercely cut himself off from all of his emotions, letting the cool, icy shield of his conditioning wrap around his heart and sharpen the logical, analytical parts of his brain as it shut down the emotional centers. The hormones didn't go easy though. Their last, fading cry was; #We'll be back, asshole!#







*****



I slouched into the bedroom. Relena and I were alone in the house, Wufei and Heero were off sulking somewhere, and Quatre and Trowa were... well, I was trying not to think about what they were doing. I have an over-active imagination. Quatre had put me and Relena in the largest room with two twin beds before he had disappeared, now I was bored with the rest of the house and wanted to get at my gameboy or discman et cetera. Problem was, Relena was sitting on the floor beside her bed, absorbed in various folders spread around her. They were color-coded with little tabby-things. I let my head thunk against the doorframe. Did being a girl mean I had to be organized and use tabby-things? I don't like tabs, they say, Conform! Fear the codedness! I turned my head toward Relena. She hadn't noticed the thunk.

Well, I'll have to do it someday. "Hi." I said, poking my head into the room, long braid dangling over one shoulder. Relena looked up over her reading glasses and brushed a stray hair out of her eyes.

"Hello Duo." She replied. "Is there something you need?"

"Uh," I was not prepared for this. Screechy Relena I knew, whiny, preachy Relena, I could deal with. Prolonged-niceness Relena was something altogether different. "I just need some, well, some of my things?"

Relena raised an eyebrow, "Duo? Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head, "Nah. Just need to get back into the groove y'know." I said making disco-style hand motions. Relena laughed. I don't think she's ever laughed at something I did before. Well, sure she'd laughed at me, but not when I was trying to be funny. "Why.." I started involuntarily, before I snapped my mouth shut. I really should work on the thinking before I speak thing.

Too late. "Why what?" Relena asked, starting to file away her folders in her briefcase.

I sighed. "Why are you being so damn nice to me? Last time I heard, you hated my guts."

She smiled a tad ruefully, "Last time I saw you was two years ago Duo, I was still in love with Heero then, it was pretty deluded, but hey, can you really blame me?" She grinned, "I mean, the boy *does* have a killer ass."

"Yeah," I smiled dreamily, "I like his eyes better though... what the hell am I saying?" My eyes widened and I slapped my hands over my mouth as I realized what I'd just blurted out. Were was this coming from?

Relena just grinned wider, "Actually I was more into..." She made some lewd gestures with her hands, "God bless spandex." I blushed. I actually friggin blushed.

"Relena!" I squealed, "Quit it! This is HEERO!" She just smirked and continued his litany. I was wrong, the girl hadn't got any less evil. She'd just gotten smarter.

"I can't believe you're getting all embarrassed!" Relena crowed in a sing-song voice, "Weren't you crowned the champion of dirty jokes?"

My cheeks burned, "Yeah, but this is Heero. The man of steel... don't even think about saying it 'Lena... he hardly even knows we exist."

Relena calmed at my comment and looked at my carefully, "Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

I frowned. "Noticed what?"

She smiled at me, genuinely this time. "Never mind." She tossed her hair and walked toward the bathroom. "Congrats D, you just completed your first girl talk."

She rummaged through her overnight bag. "Now for the total girl night, I'm going to show you how to do a proper manicure." She said as she sneered at my chipped black polish. An hour ago I would have been ready to give up ever pulling off the mission.

Now it was just, "Snobbish bitch."

"Damn straight, now get your tomboy ass into this bathroom."

And then I made my first female friend.

I think I'm getting the hang of this girl thing.





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