Hallo. As always, short. But look on the bright side! It's longer than usual. ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon, and the Usagi in this story doesn't either.
…………………
"She's still not up, Hiiro?" The restless pilot of Deathscythe poked his head into the room where the unfamiliar girl presently rested.
"Iie."
"Does it look like she's awake, Maxwell?" Wufei shot back irritably from trivial lack of sleep. He turned back to the girl who had deceptively tumbled from the sky -- even Hiiro's computer, heck, even Dr. J's new-fangled machines couldn't fathom exactly from where.
The second she had materialized, he had felt drawn to her and had even gone as far as to interrogate the others. All concurred and puzzled over this. There was the noticeable fact that she was stunning, but that would only account for Maxwell's fascination with her, not Trowa's, Hiiro's, Quatre's, or his.
For a moment, uncertainty twisted his face but that was hurriedly masked by the muttered comment, "It's only natural that such a person of the weaker sex should take so long to recover from a simple fall. Weak onna."
"Idiot pig," the now-awake girl on the bed snapped in what was meant to be a biting tone. Instead, it sounded half-sleepy and half-affectionate. She tried to fortify the intended meaning by chucking a glare in his general direction but even that was softened by the 'early morning' fuzzy hair. What resulted was a rather entertaining effect.
Usagi blinked and rubbed her eyes and then blinked again. Was it just her or do these people look like ... no, important questions first.
"Is there something to eat? Being in a coma for a day-"
"A week," Quatre corrected.
"-a week, doesn't exactly satisfy a person's stomach," she finished undauntedly, beaming at the five boys gaping at her.
"You wake up and the first question you ask is what's for lunch?" Wufei asked incredulously.
"Well-"
"Hmmm ... I'm kinda hungry too … let's eat!" Duo interrupted while rubbing his stomach wistfully. Quatre smiled genially and stepped out of the room. The hunt for the kitchen began.
…………………
Five minutes later, everybody was assembled in the southeast wing, kitchen number three's central, right table. Usagi had already braked her initial speed of eating, but the food was still entering her mouth at the speed of a small jet. At this rate, all the food on the table would be digested in a matter of seconds but then again, what are Maguanacs for?
"I'm getting motion sickness just watching her," Duo remarked, turning a light shade of lime green.
"Now you know how we feel whenever you come over and eat."
Even as they were speaking, the food's miles per hour was slowing down to the speed of an automobile, a racehorse, a bicycle, a person, and finally, normal speed.
"So, um, where am I?" the now satiated girl asked between refined bites of a buttered roll.
"Quatre's mansion," Trowa supplied concisely, gesturing at the blonde-haired angel labeled Quatre. This earned him a murderous glance and a harsh poke for disclosing valuable information.
"Q-Quatre?" she stammered, roll falling from her hand to the now sparkling plate. "A-and Maxwell?"
"Yeah, this is Yui Hiiro, Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei, Trowa Barton, and myself, Quatre Raberba Winner." A look of murder was shot in his direction as well for so liberally giving out their names.
Chuckling nervously, she testily questioned, "Are you all really into Gundam Wing or something?"
At the mentioning of the word gundam, Hiiro's long-waited-for opportunity to pull out his gun presented itself. The four others stiffened severely.
"What do you know about gundams?"
By now she had caught her mistake. If her theory was correct ... nah. Couldn't be! But she would have to be more guarded, knowing Hiiro's personality. She kicked herself under the table before grinning like a madwoman.
"Well, I know they're made out of this unique kind of metal and that there's supposedly five of them. And I know that nobody knows who the pilots are." She applauded herself for the comeback...
"So why did you ask if we were into Gundam Wing or not?"
...a little too soon.
"Er ... you know what? I'm really tired, maybe we could discuss this later?"
Hiiro and Wufei both immediately opened their mouths to decline, but Quatre jumped in and said kindly, "Sure, we'll talk about it later."
…………………
Slitted eyes followed her every movement until finally, she walked out the kitchen. Who was this girl? Well, nothing a laptop couldn't find out. Muttering a hn, to Duo's Where're you going, Hii-chan?, he departed the room swiftly.
Tapping on the arm of his chair, he waited for the laptop to start. Until ... he stopped in mid-tap and almost banged his head against the table. He didn't even know her name! Shaking his head and grumbling about braided bakas affecting the memory, he leaned back. There was something outlandish about this girl ... something that gave him the impression that not only did she know more than she should, she knows more than anybody short of being a goddess should.
…………………
He concentrated on breathing in and out, slowly and delicately, making it an art form. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. A certain blonde's sheepish face hopped into his thoughts. What attracted him to her? Something ... and that something isn't your everyday boy likes girl something. His mind instinctively rebelled against the perplexing thoughts and goaded them out of his mind. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out.
………………….
Though Hiiro and Wufei had both been more than a little impolite, he wasn't about to follow their example. Throughout the whole conversation, he had survived with not pointing out her oddities. After all, if he wasn't going to make her feel at ease, who is? However, there could be a point made against him -- she could be an opponent, however unlikely it seems to him...
…………………
Hiiro and Wufei are both way too serious for their own good, in his belief at least. So what if she's an enemy? She's dazzlingly beautiful and those enemies are the best.
But really, that's not his key argument -- he's a lot more sensible than that. In his mind, he just knows that she isn't the enemy. No questions asked -- just knows. What more is there to discuss?
…………………
She's the enemy or not, that's the focal question. The others are too engaged in wondering what they, as a whole, would do once they worked out whether or not she was the enemy so he's unintentionally assigned the job of finding the answer to the initial question.
He tried to push any emotion or feeling towards her away and focus on the facts. They all pointed out the obvious -- she had something to withhold. And if she were an ordinary bystander, why would she have something to hide?
…………………
What was this, a dream? She pinched herself on the arm but still did not wake up.
Here she was, in her own manga, conversing with her own characters, including … him.
There was the very appealing choice of staying here forever and living in this world, but what about her friends ... family ... Artemis...? Do they all think she's dead right now?
Her vision smudged as tears hurtled to her eyes. She couldn't do that. She could never leave them like that, letting them wonder whether she was alive or not and where she was. She couldn't -- no matter how much she loved him. Besides, as real as he is to her, he isn't. It's ridiculous to live in a daydream, and as relentlessly as she tries, she could never make it reality.
…………………
Ikuko Tsukino stirred and immediately felt something amiss. She threw an arm out to her left and felt Kenji's sleeping form. She ran upstairs and checked on all of Usagi's cousins and found that they were all out of harm's way. It wasn't until her eyes fell upon the sleeping "Motoki" did all of the proceeding night's events come to her. Her legs quivered and then gave out as she fell in a sobbing heap. Usagi...
…………………
"Must you analyze everything so much?! Heck, she could just be a normal person."
"I suspect she isn't."
"Do you ever not suspect something?"
Hiiro glowered but then shook his head. He felt sorry for any guy who had gotten to know Duo in their lives.
"It is best to keep all options open until they can be proven wrong," Trowa cautioned, looking meaningfully at Duo with an intense green eye.
Duo hmphed and turned away, braid swinging with irritation.
The doorknob turned slowly and opened to expose...
"Ohayo!"
...Usagi.
"It's afternoon," Wufei pointed out crossly.
"Oh," she stopped abruptly and frowned but then promptly chirped, "So, what are you guys talking about?"
There was an awkward silence before Duo answered, "Babes." Well, he wasn't completely lying. After all, they were talking about her, and she was a babe, he reassured himself.
"Babes?" Usagi queried, eyebrows raised.
Wufei choked and started turning muave, Quatre tugged at his shirt collar uneasily, Trowa turned away to hide a smile, and Hiiro pondered what time would be the best time to slaughter Duo. The Deathscythe pilot was, however, smiling at her with an innocent and (hopefully) laid-back smile.
"Yeah, we were talking about babes, but before that we were talking about fashion. Don't you think green looks wonderful on Hiiro? And how about red and Wufei? A dress here and there would improve the atmosphere greatly."
"Really..." she responded and promptly walked back out of the room without another word, several shades paler.
Silence reigned for the briefest of moments before, "MAXWELL!"
…………………
"I went through her purse."
"You did what?!"
"I went through her purse."
"You went through her purse?!"
"Yes, can you not hear?! I went through her purse!" Wufei reached over and tugged on Duo's ear.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, Wu-man! Let go!"
The Asian pilot ignored him and continued yanking him down the hall to where the other pilots were currently gathered.
"I went through her purse."
"You what?!" Quatre stood up, looking mortified.
"I went through her purse."
"You went through her purse?!"
Wufei turned scarlet with irritation and stomped out of the room, ranting about bad hearing. "Her name's Tsukino Usagi," he grumbled over his shoulder.
…………………
Hiiro typed Usagi Tsukino into the computer with the other pilots, minus Wufei, looking over his shoulder. The computer screen flashed and then ... searching ... searching ... searching ... returned: nine matches.
"Nine?" Duo exclaimed in dismay.
"Miss Tsuki Usa of Norway, Miss Bunny Moon of Chicago, Miss Serenity Moon of the North Pole, Mr. Tyler Tsuki of Dallas, Miss Serena Tsukino of Denmark, Mrs. Luna Usagi of Victoria, Mrs. Usagi Carlisle of Sydney, Neo Princess Serenity of Crystal Tokyo, and Miss Usagi Asia of Candyland Lane," Quatre read aloud.
"Let's go in order, shall we?" Duo muttered tiredly.
Taking a deep breath, he began firing out words, "Miss Tsuki Usa, age five, not it.
"Miss Bunny Moon, age twenty-three, taxi driver, 6'0", not it.
"Miss Serenity Moon, age unknown, editor for the Santa Times, height unknown, currently living happily with her two pet reindeer, not it.
"Mr. Tyler Tsuki, not it.
"Miss Serena Tsukino of Denmark, age fifteen, currently under guard at the local juvenile detention hall, not it.
"Mrs. Luna Usagi, age twenty-four, homemaker, 5'9", not it.
"Mrs. Usagi Carlisle, age twenty-two, kangaroo tamer, 4'9", currently in hospital after trying to rescue a koala, not it.
"Neo Princess Serenity, age nine hundred and ninety-seven, famed princess of folklore, 3'7", not it.
"Miss Usagi Asia of Candyland Lane, age unknown, enchantress, 4'11", currently engaged to the Muffin Man, has obsession with cows, unusual hair-do, blue eyes and dark blonde hair, has been counseled for schizophrenia, is currently in Antarctica playing with the penguins, not it.
"She's not here," Duo pointed out the obvious.
"There's one more result on the next page," Trowa pointed at the bottom of the screen where a link that wasn't previously there appeared.
"Miss Tsukino Usagi of Guatemala, age eighteen, height 4'11", competent finance consultant and part time ... assassin..." Duo trailed off but continued again. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, location unknown, reward of 500,000 pounds will be given to the captor of her, active member of the search for gundam pilots, and has, to date, murdered over twenty-one victims," he finished apprehensively.
"Well, maybe it's not her. After all, Guatemala?" Quatre reassured shakily.
"We have to follow the facts."
Trowa shook his head and glanced at the computer screen again, "I agree with Hiiro. The facts are right before us; there's no way to deny it."
"Go get Wufei," Hiiro ordered.
…………………
She entered her room, stunned, to find all the contents of her purse spilled over the floor. Gasping, she checked to make sure everything was there -- her photos of her family, cash, ID ... ID! So that's what they were looking for.
She studied it: Usagi Tsukino. They won't be able to find her under that name. Impossible. The door creaked open, and she turned around, almost in fear, but it was too late. A hand covered her mouth before she could scream.
…………………
I hate this chapter … hate it. *bleah* Oh well, you have to live with it, not me. ^^'''