Authors Note: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Just a little note people,
reviews inspire me. If you want more chapters faster, review, review,
review!! I want to thank Lady Black, and i am shinigami and Brit for their
wonderful reviews!! Thank you, thank you! I have one vote for shonen ai,
one vote for chance meetings with other characters (thank you i am
shinigami!!) and one indifferent, courtesy of Brit (thanks Brit, anything's
great!). Lady Black, I am sorry I ended it like that, but I was a little
pressed for time. That was actually farther than I thought I would get; I
was going to leave it where he fell asleep but I decided that was to easy.
Look at it this way, if I didn't end it there, the bully and dream never
would have happened because my random typing wouldn't have produced them. (
Please people, review! I write more when I'm happy! Also, if anyone felt a
little queasy with that blood bit..ano..you might just want to stop
reading; I tend to do some pretty weird stuff with blood, and I have this
one idea stuck in my head. And there may be some strange stuff with
knives.nothing hentai, but strange.
***Oh! Oh! I thought I'd include a little dictionary thingy for the bird- oriented jargon I'm making up.. Fledglings are beginners, youngest students, cub scouts; for those of you who have read Ender's Game, launchies or dwarfs (new ones). A flight is a choosing process, senior officers (Captains, that one's easy) choose the most promising candidates for promotion or further training. Hawks are the full group members, initiated in several ways, which I will explain as the story gets to them. Sparrows are between fledglings and hawks. They have completed enough training or shown enough potential to be shown in the flight, and they have a chance to be chosen to become a full Hawk. They remain sparrows until they either make their first kill or successfully complete a mission. Usually it's the second, and some youths can remain sparrows for longer than they were fledglings. If they take to long, they are sent back to training. To be flown is to be tested in any way, but usually refers to the first time a sparrow is presented on a flight, or the sparrow's first mission. Since these usually result in a promotion, it can be used to signify increase in rank. Kills can refer to a superior claim or rank depending on context. It can also be used to count the number of successful missions a Hawk has (a lot of the time this is what rank is based on, but not always). A fast flitter is someone smart, highly intelligent, thinks quickly and always lands on their feet. The flocks are the factions that the boys are divided up into, each headed by a captain. The Raptors specialize in assassinations and Owls specialize in espionage. Those are the most important, and there is constant friction between them. All other flocks are ranked lower. Kawing is nonsense, bs, junk, blabber, meaningless chatter etc. Beak is your mouth.. duh. Can also be used in the same way as kawing, impertinent or smart aleck remarks.*
Lost my train of thought..* a look into Triton's brain.* A train is running around and around with various anime and Fantasy characters talking or just hanging out all over. Here, Milliardo Peacecraft, Battousai and Allen Schezar discuss fencing styles and the best hair conditioners to use to keep all those beautiful locks shiny, healthy, and full while trying to fight a war. There Heero Yuy and Kenshin Himura discuss the drawbacks to becoming an unfeeling assassin at a young age and the problems it creates for your later romantic interests. In this corner Relena Peacecraft, Princess Melerna, and Kaoru Kamiya listen eagerly to Lauralanthalasa Solostran as she talks about how to get oblivious or stubborn men to break down and finally confess that yes, they do love you after all. In that corner are Dilandou and Ranma debating about the problems involved with cursed springs and fate alteration, especially the complications created by gender switching. Suddenly, all activity stops and all eyes shift to Trowa, staring. A picture of a model appears and floats around his head. Everyone stares for a moment before letting out a collective gasp. Ranma stands up. "OMG! It's actually possible!" Yes folks, it is actually possible to create that hairstyle. It is not anti-gravity or hidden antennae, or, well, it might be thousands of dollars in hair gel. But the point is, it's possible. The train starts again, forcing all characters to their knees, and normal (or as normal as it ever is) functions resume. * end of random event *
Anyway..all names mentioned in this fic, (of Hawks, not fledglings or sparrows) are the names of birds with some kind or red plumage. Cooper is Cooper's Hawk, as is Harris..trust me, I opened the field guide and wrote them all down.
Now that I have bored you all with my useless and pointless chatter once again, here's what you've all been waiting for: the story. But first, there's this, see if you can guess who it is.
Disclaimer: Triton-dono does not own Gundam Wing or any other anime de gozaru yo.
NOW!! ^_~
Chapter 8: Sticks and Stones (Part one)
Pain's a funny thing. We spend our entire lives trying to avoid pain as often as we can. Ironically, in order to avoid pain, we often put ourselves through more; which completely defeats the purpose of avoiding it in the first place. The world is run by pain, and how much you are feeling compared to everyone else; the more pain you feel, the more likely it is for you to be noticed, to do something to try and get it to stop. Strangely, self-inflicted pain never seems to hurt as much as pain received from an outside source. And sometimes you can have an injury and not know about it for hours before you finally notice it. Then, only then does it start to hurt. You can rap your knuckles against a doorframe or a desk any number of times and have it not bother you at all; but someone else rapping your knuckles stings like there's no tomorrow.
As I fell to the mat for the hundredth time in an hour I hated that little bit of knowledge with all my body. I could walk through a burning building, squeeze myself into any position necessary to get a good sniping position and set my own broken ribs, but I couldn't stand up and face that quarterstaff again without feeling tears in my eyes. Of course, I could always blame those on my black eyes and not my reaction to the pain.
I was in the self-defense class. After the young man in charge of us fledglings, Race (yes folks, a red race), had finally dragged me to the small assembly hall where I was introduced to the other children as 'a boy with no name and no home who was brought in by Cardinal,' I had been given a choice of what classes to take. Along with the required classes I had immediately signed up for an extra hour of self-defense, a computer course, sniper training and personal health (surgery, stitches, broken bones etc.). Cardinal signed me up for a music class. So there I was, dressed in the standard karate and tae kwan do uniform, having the daylights hammered out of me with a four foot long, one inch diameter wooden pole. I lay on the mat for a moment, debating whether or not to go into a savage fury and break every bone in my opponent's body. But no, I wanted to learn a controlled self-defense. I couldn't depend on my ability to sense weaknesses with lightning fast accuracy any longer; I'd have to learn the way the others did. The way humans did. Stifling the groan I could feel burning in my throat I pushed my self up, standing once more to face my doom. The sensei watched me, respect growing in his eyes as again and again he knocked me to the mat, and again and again I got up. At least I wasn't hurting myself when I fell, like some of the other boys. I was nearing the end of my strength though; I couldn't see well with two black eyes and my arms and legs were complaining from the constant bombardment. Not to mention I felt as if my ribs were broken again. And this was only the first class of the day. And I had been stupid enough to sign up for two classes of it.
"You should take a break kid, before you're body gives up on you." I shook my head. I had memorized his move, and figured out a way to get round it. The last few hits had hit exactly when and where I thought they would. There were several variations, but he always shifted just a little too much weight to his left foot when he was about to strike. I wasn't about to give up when I knew I could beat him. He shrugged and returned to his fighting crouch. For the first time, instead of standing and taking the hits straight, I slid into a crouch as well. Not a fighting crouch, but the crouch my body was used to using on dark nights and in shadowed corners. A spy's stance. Sensei looked surprised, but continued anyway. Shift to the right, lower the staff, step to the left, pull the staff back while shifting back, and lash out, the staff aiming for my left side. A dodge, leap and slide tackle later sensei was laying flat on his back, trying to regain his breath. He sat up slowly, using the staff to help himself to his feet. He stood there watching me for a moment, not saying a word. But it was enough for me. I had earned his respect, and now I could trust him not to play games with me as he did some of the others.
"That was very good. A little unrefined, but it got the job done. Very good."
"That's why I'm here. To learn control. And refinement." He grinned at me.
"Well we certainly don't need to work on your speed, or pain tolerance. I couldn't even see the move. But you're right; you do need to learn control. And grace too. You may be fast and fall right, but your stance is too heavy, your movements too awkward, for you to ever master a technique."
"Can you teach me?" I wanted to learn this more than any of the skills offered. To catch yourself, to be able to judge within a fraction of a millimeter the distance between yourself and anything else and then be able to stop just before hitting. I wanted to control my body in the way I would never be able to control my mind or destiny. It was the one thing no one could take away without killing me. He nodded, unable to keep the grin from spreading over his face.
"I can teach you. Cardinal was right, you are quite the amazing fledgling." Something swelled up inside me, something I had never felt before, never had any reason to feel before. Even with my black eyes and split lip; even with all the pain my body was complaining of, I glowed back at him and smiled the carefree smile I rarely used. Cardinal thought I was amazing huh? Well, I'd just have to prove him right.
(1)
The day was full of surprises. Apparently Cardinal liked to talk about me because nearly every instructor I talked to related some sort of compliment from him. In some of the classes (namely computers and math) I was far ahead of the other kids and they gave me tests to determine exactly what level I was on. Some of the classes were purely exercises and simulations of missions, trying to teach us what to do in certain situations. It was just my luck to be thrown into a group with the boy who had beaten me up and two others. One had brownish blond hair in wisps all around his face, framing the large green eyes that seemed laughably innocent. The other wore his platinum blond locks long down his back, caught in a ponytail at his neck, and narrowed his steel gray eyes in suspicion as I approached them. Amber eyes just glared.
"What do you want?" Steel eyes watched me closely, summing me up and obviously finding me wanting. I shrugged it off. They would learn soon enough that practical experience won over training.
"I was told to join this group."
"It's a flock, not a group." I shook my head, disagreeing but not willing to argue. Amber eyes spoke up.
"I'm Rick, that's Adam, and the shy one is X. We already know you don't have a name." X decided he had something worth saying.
"What do you want us to call you?" The question caught me off guard. What did I want them to call me? Why did it matter? I shrugged, not caring much. I was willing to wait until I became a Hawk to receive a name.
"Aw, it doesn't matter X, don't bother." Adam obviously was not fond of me.
"But we have to call him something!" Steel gave way to pleading emerald.
"Fine," I interrupted, suddenly realizing the perfect name.
"Call me Hitokiri." They stared at me.
"What?"
"Call me Hitokiri."
"What's that?"
"It's Japanese."
"Okay, but what does it mean?"
"Shadow assassin."(roughly) They stared at me for a moment. Then Adam laughed.
"I'm calling you 'Nanashi' (no name) until you earn a name like that!" I just shrugged again. Rick blinked for a moment, then decided we'd wasted enough time with introductions. He picked up the sheet that contained our mission and objectives.
"Get into the manor undetected and find the safe. Inside will be blueprints for the base's ground floor. Retrieve them and give them to the next team. Kill who sees you aside from those you know to be on your own side." What was he doing? Didn't he know anything? You can't just stand in the middle of a group, in full hearing of anyone who cared to listen of any cameras or listening devices and read the mission! That was how you got killed! I couldn't believe how stupid he was. I hit him up side the head and snatched the papers away.
"Baka! Do you want everyone to hear? Are you going to proclaim everything to the world?" I hissed at him, hating him in that moment for getting me into the situation. I was about to go on a mission at half strength with at least one idiot. He stared at me stupidly.
"They're all on our team Nanashi, we have to give one of them the blue prints." I clamped my hand over his mouth and glanced around. No one seemed to be listening, but I couldn't be sure.
"Would you just shut up? It says on the next page what they're going to do with them so that we can do it as back up. There's no reason to assume that none of them are traitors." I might be new, but I knew how to complete a mission, and a mission like this was done in secrecy. I looked through the rest of the sheets, memorizing everything we would need to know. There was a map to the manor, including the general layout and what security systems could be expected; there was also a list of weapons. There I got confused. We had a list of weapons and an order to kill anyone who saw us, but we didn't have the weapons themselves. I looked up at the three boys, two of which were now glaring at me, hating that I had taken charge so easily. I handed the papers to X, sure that he was the most likely to answer my questions.
"Memorize everything you can, we need to destroy the documentation." He looked startled, then nodded before volunteering the information I wanted.
"Weapons are at the first check point. You wouldn't know the way, older kids teach it to the new ones." That made sense, even if it did annoy me to have to depend on the other two. He finished reading and gave the sheets to Adam. He scowled for a moment before getting a look of fierce concentration as he glared down at the defenseless paper. There was one more question, well two really, but the second would just have to be seen.
"It says to kill everyone who sees us. Are they real? Are the weapons real?" Adam shook his head and passed our orders to Rick.
"The guns are fake, they kill the holograms of the people in the mansion."
"What about the other kids?" Adam stared. X blinked at me in confusion, and Rick handed me the papers before voicing his tidbit of information.
"You don't shoot your comrades Nanashi." I pulled the lighter Odin had used to start the cook stove out of my pocket and put it to the papers. They flared up immediately and I let them fall to the ground and burn until there was only a tiny pile of ashes left.
"What if they aren't really your comrades?" I watched their reactions closely. If one of them was a traitor this was the time to find out. Rick and Adam looked stunned, they had obviously never thought about it. X blinked at me innocently. I should have suspected something then, but I was new to reading people's faces.
It was obvious that I would have to take any traitors down myself. This mission was proving more frustrating with every passing second. I would much rather have done it alone, but I didn't know where the weapons were. I turned to Rick, he was, after all, the oldest.
"We should go get weapons." He nodded, turning to walk towards the nearby hologram of destroyed apartment buildings. Almost everything in that building was a hologram. After wandering seemingly aimlessly through the rubble and concrete for a few moments (I memorized every step, unwilling to trust myself to my 'teammates' judgment when there was no need), we reached a slightly more intact building, and entered. The others seemed perfectly comfortable, but I couldn't relax. I was sure it couldn't be quite this easy. We hadn't seen any of the other groups. Rick opened a trapdoor in the far corner of the room, revealing our weapons and a few tools. As I watched them pick out what they would be using, I realized that they had no idea what they would really need. I snatched the voice coder from X's hands, giving him a decoder instead; if it malfunctioned I was sure I could manage on my own..
"We won't need the small clippers, the large ones work just as well, and have a wider range." I took those for myself, along with a handgun and one of the wall-seekers (I made that word up, it's a device that tells where fake walls are and if doors really open to rooms or are dummies.). I didn't care what weapon they chose, but I wanted to be sure we had any equipment necessary. To Adam I gave the spray bottle of water and a grappling hook. Rick got additional rope and tripwire.
"Hitokiri, why don't you want to use much of the computer stuff, it makes things a lot easier." X had taken me at my word. He was the sort who made a good soldier, following orders; just glad someone else was in charge. I had talked so much already that my tongue and jaw were starting to complain of the unusual use. My throat was getting scratchy. But there was nothing else for it.
"Computers malfunction, it's better to rely on your own talents."
"What if you can't perform some of the functions?"
"I can do well enough." I clammed up. Nothing more was worth saying.
The next half hour or so passed in near silence. The other three tried to start meaningless conversations, but an icy glare was enough to shut them up. By the time we reached the manor grounds I was feeling better. This was where I belonged; doing the things my life had trained me for. We stopped short of the gates, scanning for security. I motioned for the other three to follow me as we made a circuit around the walled in courtyard. There were cameras and motion detectors at every corner, lasers crisscrossing the walls. Rick looked stumped, X's shoulders drooped, and Adam glared at me.
"If you hadn't been so insistent on leaving all that stuff behind, we could be over the wall by now." I shrugged (my shoulders were starting to ache from more than my self-defense class. Odin had never been so insistent on my answering him!), kneeling in the soft dirt to uncover a power line. There were three, one on each side and one in back. I followed them to the power box, foolishly placed outside the building. According to everything I could find, they controlled all power to the house and security on the grounds. I'm sure I was grinning as I returned to the other three. X was looking more depressed, slumped on the ground with his head between his knees, and Rick was glaring daggers. Adam was about to lose is temper.
"Where'd you go off to?" I stared blankly at the blonde for a moment, just to make him squirm before I answered.
"There's a box back there that controls the power to all the manor's systems. I'm going to shut it off. As soon as you see the lasers turn off (using that spray bottle Adam was so put out about having to carry) and the cameras stop, throw the grappling hook and rope over the wall and climb in." Adam glared at me before admitting, in a whisper;
"I don't know how to use this thing." What? He didn't know how to use a grappling hook? But he wanted to be a spy! I turned to the others.
"Do either of you know how to use it?" X looked up.
"I do." I nodded to him and he took the rope and hook from his friend.
"What about you? When we go over we'll have to take the rope with us 'cause Rick can't climb all that well without it." At least the dark haired boy had the grace to look embarrassed. Would wonders never cease? These boys had been doing these exercises for over a year and they still didn't know the most basic things. Why didn't he just jump? I just shook my head. I could easily scale an uneven stone wall.
I started back towards the power box, but X stopped me once more.
"Don't you want he decoder?" I shook my head. The decoder wouldn't help me. What I needed was pure hacking.
Five minutes later all power was dead and I was over the wall and standing among my 'teammates.' They seemed a little surprised, but they were more interested in completing the mission then my accomplishments.
At first, everything went well. There was a lot of confusion in the house because of the lack of power, allowing us to search in relative peace. WE had already retrieved the blueprints when someone noticed us.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" Rick froze, looking guilty; Adam stopped and glared defiantly, hand going to his gun. X and I kept on walking. Thank heaven one of them had some sense.
"You there wait! What's that you have?" Unfortunately Adam was carrying the blueprints, and it was rather easy to tell what they were. I sighed. I really didn't want to do this, I had never done it before, but the others seemed unable to take any action. And we had our orders.
I turned, bulled my handgun out of the back of my jeans, and pointed it at him.
"What are you doing kid? Put the gun down before you hurt someone." I didn't reply. I was fighting with my training. Everything I had ever been taught was thirsting for his blood. But the shred of soul that hid under the mask fought until it could no longer stand up and still remain free. I aimed between his eyes and fired.
Nothing happened. The gun had fired, the bullet had hit him; but there was no reaction. One moment he was standing there staring at me, the next he was gone, only to reappear lying in the dirt. Then I remembered. They were holograms; I had not actually killed someone. See? Part of me yelled. It's okay. But I knew it wasn't okay. I had thought he was real, and I had deliberately taken his life. It would never be okay. My companions stared in shock. Perhaps they had never seen someone shoot without warning, or true reason. But they should have known. They should have known how to shoot him, should have done it themselves. They couldn't have been in the program for so long and not at least see it. I turned to climb over the wall, scaling it easily and helping Adam up so he didn't drop the documents. Once again we walked in silence, but it was an easier silence. Adam and Rick didn't see me as the dirt under their heels anymore. When we reached the checkpoint I stopped them. There were three kids our age in the little space, talking. My life of creeping in the shadows took over as I slunk closer to hear what they said.
"Where are they?"
"Who knows, maybe they got lost, or someone else took care of them."
"Last time we communicated he said they were close, nearly out of the manor."
"Maybe they met another group, or they got caught and couldn't kill whoever saw them."
"He did say none of them could bring themselves to kill."
"What about the new kid?"
"Him? He's to scrawny to be a threat."
"He beat the sensei in class today."
"Only after he was hit about a hundred times, trust me he's not a problem."
"Okay, but I wish we were done with this. It makes me edgy."
"What? The fact that we're lying? They don't know that, all they know is to give the 'prints to us."
"But to practice betrayal seems so wrong somehow. How are we supposed to be trusted if we do this?"
I had heard enough. Someone had betrayed us, and the three in the clearing were planning to do more. I was not going to let them mess with my mission. I went back to my team.
"Okay, you three, go out there like you're going to give them the papers."
"What do you mean 'like'?"
"You'll see." Adam shrugged, and Rick just started walking. X watched me for a moment, measuring me before following his friends. As they approached the three who were waiting looked up.
"Oh good, you're here. We were beginning to get worried." I moved silently, getting as close as I could. AS the one who appeared to be the leader reached for the documents, I raised my gun and shot him, turning quickly to dispatch with the other two before they could react. For a moment all six of them stared at me in shock before the three I had shot suddenly started glowing red. Apparently that was what happened when you were killed on an exercise. Total paralysis hit them and they fell to the ground. Rick turned on me, anger making his eyes look like melted gold.
"What was that for Hitokiri?" I quietly noted the change in address and glared back.
"They were traitors." I pulled out the voice recorder I had taken from X and replayed their entire conversation. It was almost comical the way his face changed from anger to surprise to horror as he listened.
"Wow."
"So what do we do now?" Adam wanted to be done. He thought he had done more than enough already. X just stared at the other kids in shock.
"Now we complete the mission they were supposed to do. Get inside the base and disarm the missiles."
"Where is it?" I didn't reply, just started walking. It was only a few feet away. There was no security here because it was so close to the trees; it would have been next to useless. It was the ideal place to sneak in. Standing in the artificial moonlight I studied the blueprints, deciding where we needed to go and what we needed to do first. That decided, I took the grappling hook from X and swung it up. This wall was much smoother, no hand holds. After testing the security of my guide rope, I climbed up, crouching on the wall to observe the inner compound.
Suddenly I felt something slam into my back and I was falling. Twisting I tried to land properly, on my feet or with my hands cushioning my fall. But I misjudged the distance and felt something snap in my leg as blinding pain shot through my body. Fighting the darkness I tried to look around and saw my three teammates huddled over me, looking worried with the concrete walls of the base behind them and the hologram stars above them. I could see blood on the wall where I had scraped my shoulders in an effort of slow my momentum. Suddenly the world was full of light and everything was gone. I could see two Hawks rushing towards me. One of them was Cardinal.
"Good Lord boyo, what happened?" I shook my head, unsure. He looked down at my leg.
"We need to get you to the infirmary." I shook my head again.
"I'll be alright, just help me to my next class, I'm supposed to learn how to set my own bones." I hissed in pain as the other Hawk, whom I now recognized as Cooper, accidentally bumped my leg as he tried to lift me to my feet. Cardinal waved him off and picked me up completely, carrying my like a baby.
"Alright boyo, you can set it yourself. But I'm carrying you." I just nodded into his chest too exhausted to argue. Cardinal, being Cardinal, couldn't help but comment.
"Your lighter than one of the guard dogs boyo! What do you weigh anyway?"
"48 lbs." I mumbled.
"You're kidding. Sheesh, how did that happen? With the amount you ate last night you should weigh more than that!" I tried to explain about the circumstances of my birth, but I was only half conscious.
".space,..Japanese, .heavy training." I could feel the laugh bubbling up in his chest.
"Colony born may be lighter boyo, but I think the problem lies in your lineage, and the way you use your body. According to Harris, you don't care one whit how beat up you get as long as you can still function relatively well."
"Harris..sensei..?"
"Yeah, you think I'd let anyone but a Raptor teach you boyo?" I couldn't concentrate anymore. He said more, but I didn't hear it. I just lay in his arms and relaxed for the first time in my life, listening to his voice and the caring tone it held as he talked to me. The fact that he cared so much for me lit that glow again; It spread through my body and settled somewhere in the vicinity of my chest, just under my collarbones. I was happy then, for the first time in my short life I was happy. Of course it only lasted a few minutes, but it didn't matter. It had happened, and I knew it could happen again.
End of Part One
Notes: Sorry this took so long, I really meant to get it up sooner, but there was a lot of stuff I wanted to get in here, and my biology teacher decided we needed more homework. Hopefully I'll get the second part done this weekend too, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. ESPECIALLY if you REVIEW!!! Like I said at the top, reviews inspire me. You review more, I write more. (well, faster than I would otherwise. I've been having trouble finding time before parents order me to bed, and I'll be starting track next week, so less time.) I still need people's votes on shonen ai and possible meetings with Relena before the war!! If I spelled in Japanese wrong, please tell me, and I'll fix it. I'm going to have to have a day where I just go fix all those little mistakes. That bit about Trowa's hair is true by the way, and anyone who can identify all the anime characters mentioned in that random event or the disclaimer will receive a special gift. (especially if they leave their e-mail^_^) Next chapter: 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words hurt all the more.' Please REVIEW!!!! It's so easy.
***Oh! Oh! I thought I'd include a little dictionary thingy for the bird- oriented jargon I'm making up.. Fledglings are beginners, youngest students, cub scouts; for those of you who have read Ender's Game, launchies or dwarfs (new ones). A flight is a choosing process, senior officers (Captains, that one's easy) choose the most promising candidates for promotion or further training. Hawks are the full group members, initiated in several ways, which I will explain as the story gets to them. Sparrows are between fledglings and hawks. They have completed enough training or shown enough potential to be shown in the flight, and they have a chance to be chosen to become a full Hawk. They remain sparrows until they either make their first kill or successfully complete a mission. Usually it's the second, and some youths can remain sparrows for longer than they were fledglings. If they take to long, they are sent back to training. To be flown is to be tested in any way, but usually refers to the first time a sparrow is presented on a flight, or the sparrow's first mission. Since these usually result in a promotion, it can be used to signify increase in rank. Kills can refer to a superior claim or rank depending on context. It can also be used to count the number of successful missions a Hawk has (a lot of the time this is what rank is based on, but not always). A fast flitter is someone smart, highly intelligent, thinks quickly and always lands on their feet. The flocks are the factions that the boys are divided up into, each headed by a captain. The Raptors specialize in assassinations and Owls specialize in espionage. Those are the most important, and there is constant friction between them. All other flocks are ranked lower. Kawing is nonsense, bs, junk, blabber, meaningless chatter etc. Beak is your mouth.. duh. Can also be used in the same way as kawing, impertinent or smart aleck remarks.*
Lost my train of thought..* a look into Triton's brain.* A train is running around and around with various anime and Fantasy characters talking or just hanging out all over. Here, Milliardo Peacecraft, Battousai and Allen Schezar discuss fencing styles and the best hair conditioners to use to keep all those beautiful locks shiny, healthy, and full while trying to fight a war. There Heero Yuy and Kenshin Himura discuss the drawbacks to becoming an unfeeling assassin at a young age and the problems it creates for your later romantic interests. In this corner Relena Peacecraft, Princess Melerna, and Kaoru Kamiya listen eagerly to Lauralanthalasa Solostran as she talks about how to get oblivious or stubborn men to break down and finally confess that yes, they do love you after all. In that corner are Dilandou and Ranma debating about the problems involved with cursed springs and fate alteration, especially the complications created by gender switching. Suddenly, all activity stops and all eyes shift to Trowa, staring. A picture of a model appears and floats around his head. Everyone stares for a moment before letting out a collective gasp. Ranma stands up. "OMG! It's actually possible!" Yes folks, it is actually possible to create that hairstyle. It is not anti-gravity or hidden antennae, or, well, it might be thousands of dollars in hair gel. But the point is, it's possible. The train starts again, forcing all characters to their knees, and normal (or as normal as it ever is) functions resume. * end of random event *
Anyway..all names mentioned in this fic, (of Hawks, not fledglings or sparrows) are the names of birds with some kind or red plumage. Cooper is Cooper's Hawk, as is Harris..trust me, I opened the field guide and wrote them all down.
Now that I have bored you all with my useless and pointless chatter once again, here's what you've all been waiting for: the story. But first, there's this, see if you can guess who it is.
Disclaimer: Triton-dono does not own Gundam Wing or any other anime de gozaru yo.
NOW!! ^_~
Chapter 8: Sticks and Stones (Part one)
Pain's a funny thing. We spend our entire lives trying to avoid pain as often as we can. Ironically, in order to avoid pain, we often put ourselves through more; which completely defeats the purpose of avoiding it in the first place. The world is run by pain, and how much you are feeling compared to everyone else; the more pain you feel, the more likely it is for you to be noticed, to do something to try and get it to stop. Strangely, self-inflicted pain never seems to hurt as much as pain received from an outside source. And sometimes you can have an injury and not know about it for hours before you finally notice it. Then, only then does it start to hurt. You can rap your knuckles against a doorframe or a desk any number of times and have it not bother you at all; but someone else rapping your knuckles stings like there's no tomorrow.
As I fell to the mat for the hundredth time in an hour I hated that little bit of knowledge with all my body. I could walk through a burning building, squeeze myself into any position necessary to get a good sniping position and set my own broken ribs, but I couldn't stand up and face that quarterstaff again without feeling tears in my eyes. Of course, I could always blame those on my black eyes and not my reaction to the pain.
I was in the self-defense class. After the young man in charge of us fledglings, Race (yes folks, a red race), had finally dragged me to the small assembly hall where I was introduced to the other children as 'a boy with no name and no home who was brought in by Cardinal,' I had been given a choice of what classes to take. Along with the required classes I had immediately signed up for an extra hour of self-defense, a computer course, sniper training and personal health (surgery, stitches, broken bones etc.). Cardinal signed me up for a music class. So there I was, dressed in the standard karate and tae kwan do uniform, having the daylights hammered out of me with a four foot long, one inch diameter wooden pole. I lay on the mat for a moment, debating whether or not to go into a savage fury and break every bone in my opponent's body. But no, I wanted to learn a controlled self-defense. I couldn't depend on my ability to sense weaknesses with lightning fast accuracy any longer; I'd have to learn the way the others did. The way humans did. Stifling the groan I could feel burning in my throat I pushed my self up, standing once more to face my doom. The sensei watched me, respect growing in his eyes as again and again he knocked me to the mat, and again and again I got up. At least I wasn't hurting myself when I fell, like some of the other boys. I was nearing the end of my strength though; I couldn't see well with two black eyes and my arms and legs were complaining from the constant bombardment. Not to mention I felt as if my ribs were broken again. And this was only the first class of the day. And I had been stupid enough to sign up for two classes of it.
"You should take a break kid, before you're body gives up on you." I shook my head. I had memorized his move, and figured out a way to get round it. The last few hits had hit exactly when and where I thought they would. There were several variations, but he always shifted just a little too much weight to his left foot when he was about to strike. I wasn't about to give up when I knew I could beat him. He shrugged and returned to his fighting crouch. For the first time, instead of standing and taking the hits straight, I slid into a crouch as well. Not a fighting crouch, but the crouch my body was used to using on dark nights and in shadowed corners. A spy's stance. Sensei looked surprised, but continued anyway. Shift to the right, lower the staff, step to the left, pull the staff back while shifting back, and lash out, the staff aiming for my left side. A dodge, leap and slide tackle later sensei was laying flat on his back, trying to regain his breath. He sat up slowly, using the staff to help himself to his feet. He stood there watching me for a moment, not saying a word. But it was enough for me. I had earned his respect, and now I could trust him not to play games with me as he did some of the others.
"That was very good. A little unrefined, but it got the job done. Very good."
"That's why I'm here. To learn control. And refinement." He grinned at me.
"Well we certainly don't need to work on your speed, or pain tolerance. I couldn't even see the move. But you're right; you do need to learn control. And grace too. You may be fast and fall right, but your stance is too heavy, your movements too awkward, for you to ever master a technique."
"Can you teach me?" I wanted to learn this more than any of the skills offered. To catch yourself, to be able to judge within a fraction of a millimeter the distance between yourself and anything else and then be able to stop just before hitting. I wanted to control my body in the way I would never be able to control my mind or destiny. It was the one thing no one could take away without killing me. He nodded, unable to keep the grin from spreading over his face.
"I can teach you. Cardinal was right, you are quite the amazing fledgling." Something swelled up inside me, something I had never felt before, never had any reason to feel before. Even with my black eyes and split lip; even with all the pain my body was complaining of, I glowed back at him and smiled the carefree smile I rarely used. Cardinal thought I was amazing huh? Well, I'd just have to prove him right.
(1)
The day was full of surprises. Apparently Cardinal liked to talk about me because nearly every instructor I talked to related some sort of compliment from him. In some of the classes (namely computers and math) I was far ahead of the other kids and they gave me tests to determine exactly what level I was on. Some of the classes were purely exercises and simulations of missions, trying to teach us what to do in certain situations. It was just my luck to be thrown into a group with the boy who had beaten me up and two others. One had brownish blond hair in wisps all around his face, framing the large green eyes that seemed laughably innocent. The other wore his platinum blond locks long down his back, caught in a ponytail at his neck, and narrowed his steel gray eyes in suspicion as I approached them. Amber eyes just glared.
"What do you want?" Steel eyes watched me closely, summing me up and obviously finding me wanting. I shrugged it off. They would learn soon enough that practical experience won over training.
"I was told to join this group."
"It's a flock, not a group." I shook my head, disagreeing but not willing to argue. Amber eyes spoke up.
"I'm Rick, that's Adam, and the shy one is X. We already know you don't have a name." X decided he had something worth saying.
"What do you want us to call you?" The question caught me off guard. What did I want them to call me? Why did it matter? I shrugged, not caring much. I was willing to wait until I became a Hawk to receive a name.
"Aw, it doesn't matter X, don't bother." Adam obviously was not fond of me.
"But we have to call him something!" Steel gave way to pleading emerald.
"Fine," I interrupted, suddenly realizing the perfect name.
"Call me Hitokiri." They stared at me.
"What?"
"Call me Hitokiri."
"What's that?"
"It's Japanese."
"Okay, but what does it mean?"
"Shadow assassin."(roughly) They stared at me for a moment. Then Adam laughed.
"I'm calling you 'Nanashi' (no name) until you earn a name like that!" I just shrugged again. Rick blinked for a moment, then decided we'd wasted enough time with introductions. He picked up the sheet that contained our mission and objectives.
"Get into the manor undetected and find the safe. Inside will be blueprints for the base's ground floor. Retrieve them and give them to the next team. Kill who sees you aside from those you know to be on your own side." What was he doing? Didn't he know anything? You can't just stand in the middle of a group, in full hearing of anyone who cared to listen of any cameras or listening devices and read the mission! That was how you got killed! I couldn't believe how stupid he was. I hit him up side the head and snatched the papers away.
"Baka! Do you want everyone to hear? Are you going to proclaim everything to the world?" I hissed at him, hating him in that moment for getting me into the situation. I was about to go on a mission at half strength with at least one idiot. He stared at me stupidly.
"They're all on our team Nanashi, we have to give one of them the blue prints." I clamped my hand over his mouth and glanced around. No one seemed to be listening, but I couldn't be sure.
"Would you just shut up? It says on the next page what they're going to do with them so that we can do it as back up. There's no reason to assume that none of them are traitors." I might be new, but I knew how to complete a mission, and a mission like this was done in secrecy. I looked through the rest of the sheets, memorizing everything we would need to know. There was a map to the manor, including the general layout and what security systems could be expected; there was also a list of weapons. There I got confused. We had a list of weapons and an order to kill anyone who saw us, but we didn't have the weapons themselves. I looked up at the three boys, two of which were now glaring at me, hating that I had taken charge so easily. I handed the papers to X, sure that he was the most likely to answer my questions.
"Memorize everything you can, we need to destroy the documentation." He looked startled, then nodded before volunteering the information I wanted.
"Weapons are at the first check point. You wouldn't know the way, older kids teach it to the new ones." That made sense, even if it did annoy me to have to depend on the other two. He finished reading and gave the sheets to Adam. He scowled for a moment before getting a look of fierce concentration as he glared down at the defenseless paper. There was one more question, well two really, but the second would just have to be seen.
"It says to kill everyone who sees us. Are they real? Are the weapons real?" Adam shook his head and passed our orders to Rick.
"The guns are fake, they kill the holograms of the people in the mansion."
"What about the other kids?" Adam stared. X blinked at me in confusion, and Rick handed me the papers before voicing his tidbit of information.
"You don't shoot your comrades Nanashi." I pulled the lighter Odin had used to start the cook stove out of my pocket and put it to the papers. They flared up immediately and I let them fall to the ground and burn until there was only a tiny pile of ashes left.
"What if they aren't really your comrades?" I watched their reactions closely. If one of them was a traitor this was the time to find out. Rick and Adam looked stunned, they had obviously never thought about it. X blinked at me innocently. I should have suspected something then, but I was new to reading people's faces.
It was obvious that I would have to take any traitors down myself. This mission was proving more frustrating with every passing second. I would much rather have done it alone, but I didn't know where the weapons were. I turned to Rick, he was, after all, the oldest.
"We should go get weapons." He nodded, turning to walk towards the nearby hologram of destroyed apartment buildings. Almost everything in that building was a hologram. After wandering seemingly aimlessly through the rubble and concrete for a few moments (I memorized every step, unwilling to trust myself to my 'teammates' judgment when there was no need), we reached a slightly more intact building, and entered. The others seemed perfectly comfortable, but I couldn't relax. I was sure it couldn't be quite this easy. We hadn't seen any of the other groups. Rick opened a trapdoor in the far corner of the room, revealing our weapons and a few tools. As I watched them pick out what they would be using, I realized that they had no idea what they would really need. I snatched the voice coder from X's hands, giving him a decoder instead; if it malfunctioned I was sure I could manage on my own..
"We won't need the small clippers, the large ones work just as well, and have a wider range." I took those for myself, along with a handgun and one of the wall-seekers (I made that word up, it's a device that tells where fake walls are and if doors really open to rooms or are dummies.). I didn't care what weapon they chose, but I wanted to be sure we had any equipment necessary. To Adam I gave the spray bottle of water and a grappling hook. Rick got additional rope and tripwire.
"Hitokiri, why don't you want to use much of the computer stuff, it makes things a lot easier." X had taken me at my word. He was the sort who made a good soldier, following orders; just glad someone else was in charge. I had talked so much already that my tongue and jaw were starting to complain of the unusual use. My throat was getting scratchy. But there was nothing else for it.
"Computers malfunction, it's better to rely on your own talents."
"What if you can't perform some of the functions?"
"I can do well enough." I clammed up. Nothing more was worth saying.
The next half hour or so passed in near silence. The other three tried to start meaningless conversations, but an icy glare was enough to shut them up. By the time we reached the manor grounds I was feeling better. This was where I belonged; doing the things my life had trained me for. We stopped short of the gates, scanning for security. I motioned for the other three to follow me as we made a circuit around the walled in courtyard. There were cameras and motion detectors at every corner, lasers crisscrossing the walls. Rick looked stumped, X's shoulders drooped, and Adam glared at me.
"If you hadn't been so insistent on leaving all that stuff behind, we could be over the wall by now." I shrugged (my shoulders were starting to ache from more than my self-defense class. Odin had never been so insistent on my answering him!), kneeling in the soft dirt to uncover a power line. There were three, one on each side and one in back. I followed them to the power box, foolishly placed outside the building. According to everything I could find, they controlled all power to the house and security on the grounds. I'm sure I was grinning as I returned to the other three. X was looking more depressed, slumped on the ground with his head between his knees, and Rick was glaring daggers. Adam was about to lose is temper.
"Where'd you go off to?" I stared blankly at the blonde for a moment, just to make him squirm before I answered.
"There's a box back there that controls the power to all the manor's systems. I'm going to shut it off. As soon as you see the lasers turn off (using that spray bottle Adam was so put out about having to carry) and the cameras stop, throw the grappling hook and rope over the wall and climb in." Adam glared at me before admitting, in a whisper;
"I don't know how to use this thing." What? He didn't know how to use a grappling hook? But he wanted to be a spy! I turned to the others.
"Do either of you know how to use it?" X looked up.
"I do." I nodded to him and he took the rope and hook from his friend.
"What about you? When we go over we'll have to take the rope with us 'cause Rick can't climb all that well without it." At least the dark haired boy had the grace to look embarrassed. Would wonders never cease? These boys had been doing these exercises for over a year and they still didn't know the most basic things. Why didn't he just jump? I just shook my head. I could easily scale an uneven stone wall.
I started back towards the power box, but X stopped me once more.
"Don't you want he decoder?" I shook my head. The decoder wouldn't help me. What I needed was pure hacking.
Five minutes later all power was dead and I was over the wall and standing among my 'teammates.' They seemed a little surprised, but they were more interested in completing the mission then my accomplishments.
At first, everything went well. There was a lot of confusion in the house because of the lack of power, allowing us to search in relative peace. WE had already retrieved the blueprints when someone noticed us.
"Hey! What are you doing there?" Rick froze, looking guilty; Adam stopped and glared defiantly, hand going to his gun. X and I kept on walking. Thank heaven one of them had some sense.
"You there wait! What's that you have?" Unfortunately Adam was carrying the blueprints, and it was rather easy to tell what they were. I sighed. I really didn't want to do this, I had never done it before, but the others seemed unable to take any action. And we had our orders.
I turned, bulled my handgun out of the back of my jeans, and pointed it at him.
"What are you doing kid? Put the gun down before you hurt someone." I didn't reply. I was fighting with my training. Everything I had ever been taught was thirsting for his blood. But the shred of soul that hid under the mask fought until it could no longer stand up and still remain free. I aimed between his eyes and fired.
Nothing happened. The gun had fired, the bullet had hit him; but there was no reaction. One moment he was standing there staring at me, the next he was gone, only to reappear lying in the dirt. Then I remembered. They were holograms; I had not actually killed someone. See? Part of me yelled. It's okay. But I knew it wasn't okay. I had thought he was real, and I had deliberately taken his life. It would never be okay. My companions stared in shock. Perhaps they had never seen someone shoot without warning, or true reason. But they should have known. They should have known how to shoot him, should have done it themselves. They couldn't have been in the program for so long and not at least see it. I turned to climb over the wall, scaling it easily and helping Adam up so he didn't drop the documents. Once again we walked in silence, but it was an easier silence. Adam and Rick didn't see me as the dirt under their heels anymore. When we reached the checkpoint I stopped them. There were three kids our age in the little space, talking. My life of creeping in the shadows took over as I slunk closer to hear what they said.
"Where are they?"
"Who knows, maybe they got lost, or someone else took care of them."
"Last time we communicated he said they were close, nearly out of the manor."
"Maybe they met another group, or they got caught and couldn't kill whoever saw them."
"He did say none of them could bring themselves to kill."
"What about the new kid?"
"Him? He's to scrawny to be a threat."
"He beat the sensei in class today."
"Only after he was hit about a hundred times, trust me he's not a problem."
"Okay, but I wish we were done with this. It makes me edgy."
"What? The fact that we're lying? They don't know that, all they know is to give the 'prints to us."
"But to practice betrayal seems so wrong somehow. How are we supposed to be trusted if we do this?"
I had heard enough. Someone had betrayed us, and the three in the clearing were planning to do more. I was not going to let them mess with my mission. I went back to my team.
"Okay, you three, go out there like you're going to give them the papers."
"What do you mean 'like'?"
"You'll see." Adam shrugged, and Rick just started walking. X watched me for a moment, measuring me before following his friends. As they approached the three who were waiting looked up.
"Oh good, you're here. We were beginning to get worried." I moved silently, getting as close as I could. AS the one who appeared to be the leader reached for the documents, I raised my gun and shot him, turning quickly to dispatch with the other two before they could react. For a moment all six of them stared at me in shock before the three I had shot suddenly started glowing red. Apparently that was what happened when you were killed on an exercise. Total paralysis hit them and they fell to the ground. Rick turned on me, anger making his eyes look like melted gold.
"What was that for Hitokiri?" I quietly noted the change in address and glared back.
"They were traitors." I pulled out the voice recorder I had taken from X and replayed their entire conversation. It was almost comical the way his face changed from anger to surprise to horror as he listened.
"Wow."
"So what do we do now?" Adam wanted to be done. He thought he had done more than enough already. X just stared at the other kids in shock.
"Now we complete the mission they were supposed to do. Get inside the base and disarm the missiles."
"Where is it?" I didn't reply, just started walking. It was only a few feet away. There was no security here because it was so close to the trees; it would have been next to useless. It was the ideal place to sneak in. Standing in the artificial moonlight I studied the blueprints, deciding where we needed to go and what we needed to do first. That decided, I took the grappling hook from X and swung it up. This wall was much smoother, no hand holds. After testing the security of my guide rope, I climbed up, crouching on the wall to observe the inner compound.
Suddenly I felt something slam into my back and I was falling. Twisting I tried to land properly, on my feet or with my hands cushioning my fall. But I misjudged the distance and felt something snap in my leg as blinding pain shot through my body. Fighting the darkness I tried to look around and saw my three teammates huddled over me, looking worried with the concrete walls of the base behind them and the hologram stars above them. I could see blood on the wall where I had scraped my shoulders in an effort of slow my momentum. Suddenly the world was full of light and everything was gone. I could see two Hawks rushing towards me. One of them was Cardinal.
"Good Lord boyo, what happened?" I shook my head, unsure. He looked down at my leg.
"We need to get you to the infirmary." I shook my head again.
"I'll be alright, just help me to my next class, I'm supposed to learn how to set my own bones." I hissed in pain as the other Hawk, whom I now recognized as Cooper, accidentally bumped my leg as he tried to lift me to my feet. Cardinal waved him off and picked me up completely, carrying my like a baby.
"Alright boyo, you can set it yourself. But I'm carrying you." I just nodded into his chest too exhausted to argue. Cardinal, being Cardinal, couldn't help but comment.
"Your lighter than one of the guard dogs boyo! What do you weigh anyway?"
"48 lbs." I mumbled.
"You're kidding. Sheesh, how did that happen? With the amount you ate last night you should weigh more than that!" I tried to explain about the circumstances of my birth, but I was only half conscious.
".space,..Japanese, .heavy training." I could feel the laugh bubbling up in his chest.
"Colony born may be lighter boyo, but I think the problem lies in your lineage, and the way you use your body. According to Harris, you don't care one whit how beat up you get as long as you can still function relatively well."
"Harris..sensei..?"
"Yeah, you think I'd let anyone but a Raptor teach you boyo?" I couldn't concentrate anymore. He said more, but I didn't hear it. I just lay in his arms and relaxed for the first time in my life, listening to his voice and the caring tone it held as he talked to me. The fact that he cared so much for me lit that glow again; It spread through my body and settled somewhere in the vicinity of my chest, just under my collarbones. I was happy then, for the first time in my short life I was happy. Of course it only lasted a few minutes, but it didn't matter. It had happened, and I knew it could happen again.
End of Part One
Notes: Sorry this took so long, I really meant to get it up sooner, but there was a lot of stuff I wanted to get in here, and my biology teacher decided we needed more homework. Hopefully I'll get the second part done this weekend too, so you shouldn't have to wait too long. ESPECIALLY if you REVIEW!!! Like I said at the top, reviews inspire me. You review more, I write more. (well, faster than I would otherwise. I've been having trouble finding time before parents order me to bed, and I'll be starting track next week, so less time.) I still need people's votes on shonen ai and possible meetings with Relena before the war!! If I spelled in Japanese wrong, please tell me, and I'll fix it. I'm going to have to have a day where I just go fix all those little mistakes. That bit about Trowa's hair is true by the way, and anyone who can identify all the anime characters mentioned in that random event or the disclaimer will receive a special gift. (especially if they leave their e-mail^_^) Next chapter: 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words hurt all the more.' Please REVIEW!!!! It's so easy.