Well I'm back again and ready for another chapter. But before that I just have to say…………
OOOOOHH! I love everybody even MORE now! You're all so nice to me *sniff*. THANKYOUUUUUUUUUUUU………….!!!!!!!!! ^ _^ (Your lovely reviews is what makes me want to get these chapters out as fast as I can!)
NB: ¤°°º°º°°¤|çé ß|úé Éy駤°°º°º°°¤ asked me whether or not the girls were Senshi. I just don't know. I think later on I might turn them into senshi but before that I'm going to focus a bit on Rei and Wufei (hee, it rhymes) because poor Wuffie hasn't gotten much attention yet. (BTW, I didn't include Rei at first 'cause obviously she doesn't go to the same school as the rest of them --I don't think Minako does either… my memory tends to fail me, you see, but oh well…-- so she wouldn't have to move schools.)
Key:
Bold = emphasis
Italics = thoughts
Awaiting Good Fortune
*******Chapter Three: Katanas and New Arrivals
Minako saw Duo ran up the stairs and into the corridor from her hiding place under the table.
I've got him now! She thought excitedly, as she crept out from underneath and began leaping up the stairs three at a time. She heard the sound of a door banging open and a few of the laser-shots being fired. Reaching the top of the stairs, she rounded the corner and fired two shots right at Duo. His vest pack warbled its defeat.
"Hah!" She said as she walked up to him, assuming he was frozen in shock because she had won. "I win agai--!" She saw what he was looking at. She was completely stunned.
Heero could feel the girl in his lap tense, she didn't even seemed to breathe. He wasn't sure that he was breathing either. Endless seconds of silence passed, four sets of blue eyes staring in shock, fear, and panic.
Minako suddenly began to laugh.
"I knew it!" She said, pointing a finger at them both. "Not even a full day together and already there's sparks flying! I was right! I was right!! I knew it!!" She grinned happily, believing that she had the both of them figured out.
"Ah--… …" Usagi quickly shook her head, trying to clear it. (And accidentally smacked Heero in the face with one of her long pig-tails). "…I--It's not what you think Minako!!" Usagi yelled angrily as her face slowly began to heat up.
"Oh, maybe it's exactly what I think, Usa." She turned around and strutted self confidently over to her door and went inside.
"It's not!!" Usagi cried, her load call being drowned out by the music Minako switched on. Her face was completely crimson by this point, and every muscle in her was tensed. She squeezed her eyes shut. Please let me die. Please let me die. Please let me die… she repeated in her head.
She stopped abruptly and, with one eye every so slightly open, she looked at the still open doorway.
Duo was still standing there. His plastic gun was still pointing at them, his mouth was still hanging open and he seemed to have not blinked or taken a breath since he saw them.
Usagi slowly climbed off Heero's lap, walked over to the door and closed it softly, Duo staying frozen the whole time.
She stared at the door for a long time until her face returned to its normal colour, then walked over at sat on her bed, staring at her hands meekly and trying to think of an excuse to tell Minako next time she saw her.
Heero continued his work.
Wiping off the sheen of sweat on his brow, Wufei slowly climbed up the stairs, his sheathed katana held in his right hand.
He finally reached the top and noticed the braided bane of his life standing frozen and gaping at a door, an idiot plastic gun held out straight with both hands.
He frowned. He could have sworn that he burnt all off those.
"Maxwell, you idiot. What are you doing?" He hit the brown haired boy painfully over the head with his sheath. As soon as he did, the fool began screaming and running in circles. He soon found some kind of direction and ran to his room open and closing the door at an astonishing speed. This speed, however, did not allow enough time for his entire braid to enter the room. So he watched with disdain as the tail of the plait slid down the crack in the door and reached the floor with a thump that he assumed to be the thick idiot's head hitting the ground.
He narrowed his eyes at the sheer idiocy of the boy then stomped over to his room.
Duo's eyes snapped open as cold water splashed over his face. He looked around frantically and spotted Quatre and Ami standing over him, looking concerned.
"Are you okay Duo?" Quatre asked, tilting his head a little.
"Heh! No problems!" A sudden pang at the back of his head led him to reconsider. "Oww…. Huh? What happened?"
"We heard screaming and a thud from downstairs, we rushed up and found your braid laying outside your door and knew something was wrong," Ami said with a comforting smile.
"How'd I get in my room…? Last thing I remember was…" His eyes widened as the picture of Usagi and Heero flashed briefly through his mind.
"Duo? Duo, are you okay?" Quatre asked as a soft, keening wail began to sound from the boy's open mouth. The edges of his mouth curved up slowly and the keening wail soon became giggling. Duo suddenly jumped up and pranced out his door singing loudly,
"Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes the love then comes the marriage—"
The sound of a door opening bought Minako's voice into the chant.
"—then comes the baby in the golden carriage! Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S…"
Quatre and Ami sighed simultaneously at their antics.
"I think some people's minds simply stop advancing after primary school," Ami said jokingly as the immature pair in the corridor continued to chant.
"And we have to share a house with two of them," said Quatre, shaking his head.
"—comes the love, then comes the marriage. Then comes the baby in the golden carriage! Usagi and Heero sitting in a tree…"
After putting away all of the clean dishes, Makoto had taken one of her favourite romance novels and gone out onto the front lawn to read it. Apart from cooking, reading a book outside on a beautiful day was her favourite pastime. It made her forget that she didn't have a boyfriend and boosted her optimism for a short time.
Makoto sighed as she turned the page. The main female character reminded her of Rei. After only a day she already missed her fiery-minded friend. It was quite depressing to know that they couldn't simply meet up at the Crown anymore, or that she wouldn't be able to separate her and Usagi from their violent bickering. She would also miss all the free love-charms that Rei would give her whenever they were requested. And to add insult to injury, they couldn't even visit her on Weekends because getting to Tokyo from where they were now would be too time consuming and expensive. She sighed again.
Makoto rolled over onto her stomach and crossed her legs behind her as she came closer to her favourite part of the novel. The two lovers were just about to admit their love for one another when…
… a large shadow covered her book.
Looking up to find who had just performed the horrendous and insulting act, Makoto saw a truck. Her novel was forgotten as he heart leapt as she read "Japan Movers Inc." in large red letters across the side.
A blue Mitsubishi sedan pulled up behind it and a very familiar, raven haired, amethyst eyed teenager popped out and waved.
"Hey, Makoto!" She said, running up towards her pony tailed friend and giving her a hug. "Wanna help me get all of this inside?" She said with a grin and waving her hand at the truck. Makoto was still astonished at the appearance of the girl she had just been thinking about that she didn't even hear the question.
"Rei! What are you doing here?!" Makoto asked in a shrill voice that was extremely uncommon for her.
"Well, that's some welcome," She said, putting her hands on her hips. "I can tell you later. Where's everybody else?" She looked around, seemingly expecting her other three friends to pop out from one of the several shrubs and flower bushes littering the front lawn.
"Oh, they're all inside. Here, I'll help you bring your stuff in. Well… some of it," Makoto said as she looked up at the monstrous truck idling before her.
"Oh, that's not all my stuff. I only have three suitcases. The rest is just other people's stuff who are moving to this area as well," Rei said disinterestedly as she walked over to the gargantuan vehicle.
"…I-S-S-N-G! First comes the love, then comes the marriage, then comes the baby in the golden—REI?!!" Minako screeched as she saw her black haired friend enter the house with suitcases in hand.
"In the golden 'rei'…? What's that meant to be?" Duo asked as Minako began to run up and down the corridor screaming 'REI'S HERE! REI'S HERE! REI'S HERE!'
Duo walked over to the stairs (hoping to find out what Minako was yelling about) and saw Makoto with an unfamiliar girl standing in the doorway. Duo copied Minako's actions, but had his own version, "ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE! ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE! ANOTHER HOT GIRL'S HERE!!"
Curious why people were screaming down the halls, doors began to open and residents of the house began fling insults, queries and requests at the two screeching teens sprinting up and down the hall.
"MAXWELL! ONNA! SHUT UP!!!" was what came out of Wufei's mouth.
"Please quiet down," was all Trowa said as we went back into his room.
"Rei?? Are you sure?" Ami said innocently as she tried to catch one of them for more questioning.
"Who's here? Duo? Duo, please calm down. Duo?" The gentle Arabian asked softly as he tried in vain to stop Duo's excessive rampaging.
"REI!?! WHERE?!?" Usagi asked as she began looking left and right down the corridor to find her (occasionally insulting) friend.
"DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS! DOWNSTAIRS!" Yelled Duo and Minako as they raced each other down the stairs.
The rest of the interested (and one of the annoyed) inhabitants of the house made there downstairs, however only one of them was wielding a katana. Trowa had decided to stay in his room and Heero refused to move for anything Duo found interesting.
Rei look in a mixture of shock and amazement at the wide and spectacularly odd variety people bouncing, walking or running down the stairs.
She felt as though she hadn't seen her four closest friends in a millennium though it was actually closer to about 24 hours. But other people besides her friends were making their way down the stairs. One of them was a boy with long brown hair in a braid and playful blue eyes, the one afterwards was a blonde boy who was chatting to Ami, and the last unfamiliar face belonged to a Chinese boy wielding a nasty-looking sword and shouting curses at some person or something called 'Duo.'
"REI!!" Yelled Minako and Usagi as they both screeched to a halt in front of her then proceeded to give her hugs, although it felt fro Rei more like they were both choking the dear life out of her.
"Mi…na…ko…… Meat… ball… head…… let… go… can't… breathe…" She managed to get out in a strangled whisper before they both set her free from their death-grips. Ami was much more civil in her greeting as she said, "Rei, it's wonderful to see you!"
Rei was about to formally greet them all when the Chinese boy suddenly yelled, "MAXWELL!!!" and proceeded to take a swipe at the braided boy with his katana. The victim of this attack stepped aside nonchalantly, as if being violently and mercilessly attacked with a sword was an everyday occurrence.
"Hey, chill out Wu-Man! We've got another babe in the house, aren't you going to say hi?" He said teasingly. Rei wasn't sure to take being called 'babe' as a compliment or sexist insult, she was just about to decide when the Chinese boy retorted to the braided boy.
"I would never waste my time speaking to some weak idiot onna, Maxwell!" He said, preparing his sword for another attack.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Rei screeched as she threw her bags to the ground and turned rage-filled eyes towards the insulting boy. "HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF BEING A WEAK IDIOT, YOU DENSE CHAUVINISTIC PIG!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, GIRL, BEFORE I GET MAD!!" Wufei shouted, grip on the katana's handle intensifying.
"YOU ALREADY ARE MAD, YOU COMPLETE FOOL! NOW PUT DOWN THAT PATHETIC SWORD BEFORE YOU CUT YOURSELF!" She screamed, waving an angry finger at him and his weapon.
"I WOULD NEVER LIVE TO SEE THE DAY THAT YOU OR ANY OTHER FEMALE HANDLES A SWORD WITH THE EXPERTISE I DO!!"
"I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW, YOU IGNORANT ANIMAL, THAT AS PRIESTESS AND GUARDIAN ((AN: not too sure about the guardian bit, but it works so run with it) OF MY GRANDFATHER'S TEMPLE IN TOKYO THAT I AM AN EXPERT IN KARATE AND SWORD FIGHTING!!!" She roared.
Silence filled the room for an extremely compact period of time, allowing Rei a quick glance at the horrified witnesses of the argument. She softened her voice and turned back to the boy in front of her. "And if you would like me to prove my skills, I would be exceedingly happy to."
He narrowed his eyes and she gave a smug smile.
"8 o'clock in the training hall. Get someone to show you the way and have an ambulance waiting, onna, because you'll need it," He said as, after one final glare, he walked out through a door that led to the backyard.
"I have to give it to you Rei, making an enemy and challenging the first person in sight to a death match was certainly one hell of a welcome," Minako said with a raised eyebrow and a cocky grin. Rei growled.
"He deserved it! Is he always such a sexist moron?" Rei asked a rather shocked Duo.
"Pretty much," He said, shrugging. Rei 'hmphed' and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"Well at least he's gone for the moment," she said as she straightened her shirt and smoothed her skirt. "Hey… is this all the people who live here?" Rei said, looking at the measly number of people in front of her.
"No, there's two more but—" Ami began, only to be interrupted by the grinning braided boy.
"I'll get them!" He left the group and loped up the stairs bellowing, "HEEEERO! TROOOOWA!! YOU HAVE TO COME DOWNSTAIRS NOW OR YOU'LL GET KICKED OUT OF THE HOOOUSE!!!" He clapped his hands evilly and paraded down the stairs happily. Two boys sauntered after him, looking less than happy.
"I'll introduce you to them all, Rei! This one here with the braid and loud mouth is Duo…" Minako said gesturing to the grinning boy who was on the receiving end of a few death glares. "The tall one is Trowa. The blonde haired one near Ami is Quatre. And the one Usagi was—" Minako stopped abruptly as Usagi jabbed her quickly in the ribs with her elbow. "Uh… the one next to Trowa is Heero."
"Don't expect him to say much," Duo added.
"Oh, and the one you just challenged to a duel was Wufei Chang," Minako said matter-of-factly. Rei nodded.
"So why are you here, Rei?" Usagi asked as she poked her in the shoulder.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you… Well, a few months ago one of my distant cousins came to stay with us. I noticed she had a lot of psychic potential even though she was only 10, and so did Grandpa. So he decided to help her master her abilities. A little while afterwards you guys left to come here. It wasn't your fault, I know, but I felt left out and thought I wouldn't see you all again. I told Grandpa that it didn't matter if I was in Tokyo or here, because this school has just as good a reputation as my old one, and I don't have to be a priestess at the temple because Akiko is there." She shrugged.
"You mean you're never going to be a priestess again?" Makoto was horrified that Rei would give up what meant so much to her just because of her friends.
"Are you insane? I could never do that. During school holidays my plan is to return to Tokyo and help at the temple, but during the school term, I'll stay here," she said smiling. Everyone was nodding as what she was saying made perfect sense. Well, everyone except Trowa and Heero, who were simply bored out of their wits.
"Rei…?" Ami asked, a slight frown across her brow. "How are you going to duel Wufei if you don't own a katana?"
Rei grinned. She knelt down to one of her suitcases on the floor and opened it. Lying on top of a multitude of fashionable clothes and two full school uniforms, lay a sword in it's sheath, wrapped in white silk with a thin piece of red rope tied around the centre. She picked it up gently and slowly unwrapped the piece of rope. She let the thin piece of red and the exquisite white silk fall to the floor. Left in her hand was a smooth black sheath with delicate red carvings swirling across it.
"This was Grandpa's. He doesn't look like much now, but he used to be a great swordsman. He was the one who taught me." She grinned as she looked at the weapon in her hand.
"Um… this may sound dumb, but why did you bring a deadly weapon to the boarding house?" Duo asked, eyes transfixed on the sheathed sword in front of him.
"Well, you have to be prepared for anything," Rei said, sounding a bit irritated by the question.
"I think she meant to say, 'you have to be prepared to stab anything,'" Minako said to Duo behind her hand, making sure Rei heard.
"Her and Wufei would make a great couple," Duo chuckled. Minako nodded. Rei Fumed.
"Minako! Stop matchmaking!! That's my job!" Rei said vigorously as she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, that's true, but you can't very well matchmake yourself can you?" Minako said devilishly as her and Duo began a hushed conversation behind their hands, eyes occasionally darting to Rei and then back again. Heero and Trowa took the opportunity to silently saunter off back to their rooms. Usagi noticed them leaving.
"Hey Heero! Don't forget to finish my software stuff for me!" She said in a commanding but cheerful way. His mouth moved as if he was silently mumbling under his breath, and then he walked into Room number 2.
"All right then, who wants to help me unpack?" Rei asked as she began to re-wrap her katana.
"I'm so sorry Rei, but Quatre and I were about to play a game of chess," ((AN: Is that all they ever do? Don't worry, they'll do more interesting stuff in the next few chapters)) Ami said apologetically.
Minako's head popped up. "Sorry Rei. Can't. Busy." Her head moved back down as she and Duo continued their secret conversation behind their hands.
"Sorry, Rei, but I have to make sure Heero doesn't ruin my new laptop." Usagi turned and walked up the stairs, looking as thought every fiber in her body didn't want to be in the same room as the Heero boy.
Makoto sighed. "I guess I'll help you Rei." She picked up two of her friends bags and walked up the stairs. They stopped as they both looked down the corridor.
"Which rooms mine then?" Rei looked up to Makoto as if she would know the answer.
"Room 10 is free."
Makoto had to use a lot of self-control to stop herself from laughing. Rei, without knowing it, was now Wufei's next-door neighbor.
Usagi lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to block out the annoying noise of Heero's fingers tapping on the keyboard. It had been an hour since Rei had arrived, meaning that now the time must be around 4 o'clock, and all she had done during that time was stare at the roof.
God, he's a machine. Usagi thought to herself as Heero continued to load on all her programs and software. He's been doing this forever, and he's just sitting still and continuing to do one thing after another… He must be really bored if loading on 40 separate pieces of software is the most interesting thing you can do all day. Oh, well. Guess I can't complain, all I have to do is lay here while he does all the work. She yawned and rolled over. I didn't realize how tiring doing nothing was… Was her last rational thought before she fell softly into sleep's welcoming arms.
As Ami and Quatre walked towards the lounge room and Makoto and Rei made their way up the stairs, Duo and Minako began an extremely important conversation.
"So how are we going to set up Rei and Wufei?" Minako asked, putting her chin in her fist and thinking.
"What about Heero and Usagi, though? What are we going to do about those two?" Duo pointed out.
"Nah, there going along fine. I think the really big problem here is getting Rei and Wufei to hook up. I mean, Usagi's already sitting in Heero's lap, so when the time is right all we need to do is give each of them a little push and… TA DA!… a wonderful romance emerges. But as for Rei and Wufei… well, I think they'll need more time and a lot of our help."
"Definantly."
"I don't think we should rush anything though," Minako said frowning and shaking her head slightly. "Because that would probably just push them apart and that would make our job twice as hard."
"We should wait until after their duel. See how they interact and then we'll help them out," Duo said logically.
"Well what do we do until then?" Minako asked.
A smile spread across duo's face.
"How about another game of Laser Fight?"
"You're just asking for a loss, aren't you?"
They both raced each other to Duo's room to set themselves up for another game.
Heero quickly glanced at the sleeping girl to his right, and again he wondered why he was wasting his time setting up her laptop for her when all she did while she was awake was irritate him.
At least now she's not bothering you or sitting on you, he thought to himself.
He briefly wondered why Usagi sitting on his lap wasn't automatically put in the same column under bothering, but dismissed it as nothing.
He looked at the small clock in the lower right corner of the screen in front of him. It read 4:32 PM. He mentally sighed. He wouldn't be finished for another two hours at least.
Wufei stomped through backyard angrily, swinging his katana and cutting through anything that got in its way.
Idiot onna! He thought violently. What a fool she was to challenge him! He guessed it didn't matter anyway, the stupid girl had been idiotic enough to challenge him, and he wouldn't go easy on her.
However, as confident and nonchalant as he tried to be, something tugged at the back of his mind telling him the she wasn't to be taken lightly. This angered him even more.
He reached the back gate at the end of the garden and opened it, knowing but not caring that he wasn't allowed into the school or the training hall at this time of night. He walked through the school determinedly until he came to the training hall, he slid open the door slowly and walked in.
Just you wait, onna. I will show you the power of my sword.
At last. Complete.
He shutdown the laptop and slowly turned his head left and right, stretching the soft ache that had formed at the base of his neck. He looked over to the girl's bedside clock and the bright red numbers '7:12' stared at him.
"Hn."
It had taken longer than he had thought. It was unusual for him to estimate incorrectly but he supposed it didn't mean the end of the world. He laced his fingers together and pushed them in front of him, stretching his back.
For the second time he looked over to the sleeping form of the girl who had put him through the utter waste of his time.
"It's completed."
She rolled over and her eyes half opened as she yawned.
"OK, mum. I'll be down for breakfast in a sec," she said as she stretched her arms and her legs. She stood up, rubbed her eyes and blinked them open. She yelped. The sight of seeing Heero's emotionless face and not her mother's smiling, caring one was a bit of a shock. "Eh… s-sorry..." She blushed then looked over at her clock.
7:15.
"Ah, nearly dinnertime. Are you done?" She asked, looking over at her laptop.
He grunted.
"Are you done? Yes or no?" She asked, looking him in the eye.
"Yes."
"Then thankyou very much. I guess I owe you then." She chuckled. "OK, so when you need a favor, just ask. I'm in your debt." He didn't seem to take her seriously but she didn't mind. Her laptop was ready and dinner was almost up. Not even Heero's attitude could spoil dinner.
*******End chapter 3
Well not much happened here (sorry about that, just had to get Rei into the story before I went further). I'll leave the duel for next chapter, which probably won't be out for another few days (I've been doing one chapter a day but tomorrow I'm too busy so it'll have to wait).
Oh, and please give me your opinions on whether or not you'd like to see senshi or no senshi in later chapters.
Until next chapter, bai bai!
~Jemjols ^_^