Well, here's the epilogue, at last! Thanks so much to Shichan and Sparda for sticking with us the whole way through! I've had fun, I hope you guys did, too! :)
Kazoku
by ReySolo and Tori Sakana
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Epilogue (In which warm fuzzies abound)
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Duo stared down at his youngest son, wondering if the model colony Sifir was constructing would end up having artificial gravity. The boy simply amazed him.
More than his impressive engineering abilities, what impressed the braided man about his son was his ability to recuperate. It had only been a few weeks since their kidnapping, yet Sifir seemed fully recovered. Of course, there had been the expected nightmare or two, but overall he seemed mostly back to normal.
Well, not entirely normal for Sifir, Duo amended mentally. Indeed, the boy did appear to be behaving a bit more like an ordinary four-year-old boy since the ordeal. He didn't change in any major ways that would concern his fathers, but he did seem to spend a bit more time with his family, and play more with his older siblings. In fact, earlier that morning, he had been playing with Ven and Juuni, until he decided he'd had enough of their game of Ozzies and Gundam Pilots.
Speaking of Ven and Juuni, Duo wondered when he'd last seen his two oldest. They'd been out playing in the yard, but usually they ran back in through the house every once in a while. Besides, their uncles would be arriving soon, and the kids should be there to greet them.
Just as he was wondering if he should check on the kids, Juuni walked into the living room, wearing a self-satisfied smirk.
Duo eyed her suspiciously. "Juuni? Where's your older brother?"
Her smirk grew wider. "Hopefully right behind me. I set up a little welcoming gift for him at the front door…"
"For who, now?" Ven appeared in the other entrance to the room, looking suspiciously at his sister.
Seeing him enter from the wrong direction, Juuni protested, "Hey! You weren't supposed to go in through the back!!"
Duo heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and seconds later, Heero entered the room. "Wufei's here, I just saw his car pull up in the driveway."
Smiles appeared on all three kids' faces. "Uncle Wuffie!" Juuni cried joyfully, before her smile was replaced by a look of apprehension. "Uh-oh…"
Duo looked to her in confusion, then realization. "Uh, June-bug, what was that 'welcoming gift' you left for your brother?"
*CRASH!*
"By Nataku!"
Juuni gulped and turned to run to her room, but Duo grabbed her by her braid. "Uh-uh, not so fast…" He pulled her toward the front door. Intrigued, Heero, Ven, and Sifir followed to see what had happened.
When Duo threw open the door, he had to fight the urge not to burst out laughing at the sight before him. Ven didn't even try to hold in his amusement, and even Heero and Sifir were smirking. Juuni just appeared mortified by the scene she had caused.
Wufei was sitting on the front step. Sitting, because apparently he had slipped in the pile of blue foam--shaving cream, Duo realized--covering the steps. It seemed there had been multiple buckets of the froth, for there was a coating of it covering the Chinese man's dark hair and shirt, as well as his back and buttocks, from falling into it. Some suds dripped from his eyebrow onto his cheek as the man glared up at the highly amused family. "I will get you for this, Maxwell!"
Duo stopped laughing to look offended. "Me? I'm not the one who did it!" He pointed to his daughter and shoved her forward. "Juuni did it! Do what you want with the girl, but don't hurt me!" [1]
Juuni glared at her American father, but then turned to look penitently at the sud-covered man. "I'm sorry Uncle Wufei. I didn't mean to do that to you."
Nodding, Wufei assured her, "It's okay, girl. I believe you." He returned his glare to Duo. "It's your father I blame. Your genetics and upbringing caused this, Maxwell!!"
"What? Why just me, then? What about Hee-chan??" the braided man complained, shoving his partner forward this time, bringing the number of people to glare at Duo in the space of thirty seconds to three.
Wufei was not swayed. "Heero never painted Nataku pink. Heero never hid my katana and replaced it with a toy lightsaber. Heero never--"
"Okay, I get the point, Fei-chan!" He looked behind the annoyed man to see another car pull into the driveway, and Trowa and Quatre stepped out. "Hey guys!"
Quatre grinned at them. "Hello, Duo, Heero, Ventuno, Juuni, Sifir… Wufei?"
Trowa's lips began to pull up at the corners. "Having trouble with that top step, Wufei?"
The foam-covered man redirected his glare. "Shut it, Barton."
Heero decided to be helpful--and protect their carpet--by offering, "I'll get a towel or two for you, Wufei."
The Chinese man nodded gratefully, moving to stand carefully without slipping again.
"Why don't you two go around back?" Duo suggested to the new arrivals, who had stopped staring at Wufei and were now eyeing the slippery front porch. They nodded and headed around to the back door.
As Duo moved toward the back of the house to let them in, he heard Ven's quiet "Uh-oh…" from behind him. He turned and looked at the boy questioningly.
Looking sheepish, Ven explained, "Well, I thought Juuni would follow me in through the back door, so I kind of…"
Duo's eyes widened, and he raced toward the back, shouting, "Tro--!"
*CRASH!*
This crash was followed by the sounds of many rolling objects.
Weary of what he would find this time, Duo opened the back door. First he saw Quatre sprawled in the midst of dozens of marbles strewn all over the porch. He wondered where Trowa had gone until he noticed the unibanged man performing a perfect handstand on the railing between the porch and the lawn.
Duo heard three gasps of awe, and looked back to see the kids had all followed him.
The three were further amazed as the former acrobat then executed a swift double flip in the air to land in the grass, then made his way carefully to his partner.
"Are you okay, love?" Trowa asked.
Quatre groaned and slowly stood. "Yeah, I'll be fine."
"I'm sorry, Au--Uncle Quatre," Ven said humbly. (He barely caught his slip, as he'd been teasing Juuni about 'Auntie' Quatre constantly for the past few weeks.)
The blond smiled at the boy. "It's okay, Ven. I'm sure it's only due to Duo's upbringing, anyway."
Duo just gaped at his friend. Was everything his kids did his fault? He supposed that when they did things well, it was thanks to Heero influence. He sighed and looked to his youngest. "Thank you, Sifir, for not pulling pranks like your siblings seem to enjoy."
When Sifir smiled up at his father angelically, Ven looked offended. "Hey! It's not that he doesn't pull them, he's just better at them than we are!"
Sifir glared at his brother, and Juuni added, "Yeah! Why do you think your conditioner turned your hair green last week?"
Duo's eyes widened, and he silently turned to the boy in question.
"It only lasted a day," Sifir defended himself meekly. Then, when he wasn't reprimanded immediately, he added mischievously, "Besides, it looked cool, and matched Tousan's shirts..."
Quatre laughed, and Trowa smirked. Duo sighed, rolling his eyes. "You're a bunch of imps, all three of you! Come on, let's get inside and see if Uncle Wuffie's done cleaning up yet."
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"So, Wu-man, where're the wife and kids today?"
The group was now assembled in the living room. Trowa and Ven sat on the floor playing a video game, X-Men. Trowa, for some reason, always insisted on playing Cyclops. He was currently pummeling Ven's chosen character, Wolverine. [2] The others were scattered in various positions throughout the room. On the couch, Wufei sat on one end, Heero in the middle, and Duo on the other end with his legs sprawled out on his partner's lap. Quatre sat in the recliner nearest Trowa, while Juuni and Sifir sat on the floor by the game players, waiting for their turns.
"Jennifer offered to help Sally get all the kids' school supplies," Wufei answered with a grimace. "They're brave women--taking four girls and a boy shopping with just two people."
Duo grinned at Wufei's acknowledgement that any women could be brave. The grin was then replaced with a look of confusion. "Who's Jennifer?"
Everyone in the room just stared at him. Except Ven, who took advantage of Trowa's distraction and pounded Cyclops into the ground.
"Jennifer White..." Sifir stated as if it were obvious.
"Wh--Dr. White has a first name?" Duo asked, looking around at all the incredulous faces.
"Even I knew that," Trowa stated. "And you and Sifir have known her--Hey!" He suddenly realized that Ven had continued playing. He quickly returned to the game, not wanting to lose another round.
"You didn't know Jennifer's name?" Quatre asked.
"I--She never--"
Heero snorted. "Baka."
"Juuni, Tousan called me a baka," Duo whined.
"That's because you are one," Juuni retorted.
"Thanks for the help," he replied sarcastically. Then he turned to Wufei, an indignant expression on his face. "Hey--you called her Jennifer..."
"Yes..."
"You've known her for two weeks..."
"You got a point, Maxwell?"
"That!" Duo exclaimed, pointing at the Chinese man. "That's my point! You' known me for a decade and I'm still Maxwell!! I have a first name, too, you know!"
Wufei looked stunned for a moment. "Sorry." He paused. "Maxwell."
"Hmmph!" Duo crossed his arms. "I'm feeling unloved."
Suddenly, he felt Heero grab his chin and initiate a passionate kiss. Duo overcame his shock quickly and responded, deepening the kiss.
"Tou~san, Da~ad!!" Juuni's voice broke them apart. "We've been over this! Parents aren't supposed to kiss!"
As the others started laughing, Heero whispered to Duo, "Still feeling unloved?"
With a suggestive smirk, the braided man replied, "I dunno, maybe you could persuade me more later tonight?"
Heero rolled his eyes, but the hint of a smile indicated that he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.
"So, what's up with Doc--Jennifer, anyway?" Duo asked. "The Preventors cleared her of all charges and everything?"
Wufei nodded. "After she testified against her superiors and others in her organization, and with Sifir's testimony in her own defense," he nodded to the youngest boy sitting on the floor, "They agreed that she will not act against the government or your family again. She's even decided to join the Preventors, since part of the reason she joined that organization was to make changes. She decided she could work for those changes legitimately and avoid the injustices of such radical groups."
Sifir had been listening intently to his Chinese "uncle"'s explanation, and smiled slightly at the end.
Duo smiled upon seeing his son happy, then looked up at Heero. "Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting to ask--how'd you find us, anyway?"
Heero blinked, not replying for a second. If Duo had glanced to his right, he would have seen Juuni eyeing her parents worriedly. "We found a report that the van that had taken you ran a toll not far from you; once we knew the area, we found some of the radicals. They told us where you two were."
Duo eyed his partner suspiciously. There was something about the way he gave that explanation... But he didn't seem like he was lying; besides, what reason would he have for doing so?
Suddenly, other suspicious moments in the past few weeks sprang to his mind. Juuni's awkward avoidance of the subject when he'd asked her about whether she'd used the radio he got her. Ven's increased protectiveness of both his siblings, instead of just Sifir as Duo'd expected. The sudden silence when he'd walked into a room to find Heero talking quietly to all three of the kids. Come to think of it, he remembered Quatre cutting himself off before saying something and then Trowa changing the subject rather suspiciously at one point, as well.
"Okay, what are you all hiding from me??" he demanded, meeting the eyes of Heero, Juuni, and Sifir for several moments each. Ven was still playing the game, but turned when he noticed the sudden silence. (Trowa, of course, took this opportunity to turn the tables on his opponent.) Quatre and Wufei watched the confrontation quietly.
"What do you mean, Dad?" Juuni asked innocently.
"I mean the way all of you have been acting really suspicious in the past few weeks. You're hiding something about what happened when Sifir and I were kidnapped, aren't you?"
Heero met his accusing look with a nonchalant gaze for a moment, but then gave in. Sighing, he looked apologetically at Juuni, then back at his partner. "You and Sifir weren't the only ones kidnapped."
"What?" Duo asked quietly, looking at his daughter in concern.
She nodded. "They got me, too, but I, uh, got them to let me go."
"Let you go? I'm assuming they didn't just drive back here and cheerfully drop you off."
Juuni didn't meet her dad's eyes. "No, I annoyed them until they just let me off at the side of the road. I walked back to a gas station and got Tousan to pick me up."
Duo got off the couch and went to hug his daughter tightly, as if to protect her from the danger that had long since passed. He glared at Heero. "Why am I only finding out about this now?" He turned to Sifir. "And you! The entire time we were in there, you knew Juuni was in danger, and you didn't tell me!"
Sifir looked back at his father, pained. "You had enough to worry about at the time."
Duo sighed. It really was useless worrying about something of the past. It made him feel even more sympathy for his youngest son, however, who had to deal with fear for his sister as well as the other stresses of which Duo had been aware.
"So, uh, Dad? If, say, there were other things we hadn't told you, would you want to know?" Juuni asked, still wrapped in her American father's arms.
The braided man froze. "There's more?"
"Juuni!" Ven hissed.
The red-haired girl looked at Duo. "Ven had to crawl alone through the vents of the building to let us in so we could rescue you."
Duo gaped at his oldest son, who defensively replied, "Hey, Tousan's the one who had to jump away from the exploding truck!"
"Exploding... truck..." the braided man repeated, now looking at the shrugging Heero.
There was silence for another few seconds, then Duo shouted, "I give up! None of you are ever leaving this house again!"
Another pause, as all but one of the people in the room stared at the severely agitated Duo.
Then Trowa turned around. "So, now whose turn is it to get crushed by Cyclops?"
The gapers now turned to the oblivious Trowa.
"What?"
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owari
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Footnotes:
[1] "Do what you want with the girl, but don't hurt me" is my uncle's favorite phrase, he knows it in several languages. He's funny... :)
[2] In case y'all didn't know, a good ten voice actors from the Gundam Wing dub are also the voices for X-Men: Evolution characters. Trowa's VA, Kirby Morrow, is Cyclops/Scott Summers. (He's also really hot, but that's beside the point... :) ) Duo is Wolverine/Logan. Hey, X2's coming out soon, yay! :)
Co-author Rant: And that's all folks! We're done! Finito! Owarimashita! Wai! Wow. It's like the end of an era. From start to finish, this fic took over a year to complete. That's right, over a year. You guys just got to see the final gasp from rough draft to posting. We never thought this monster would get finished. And we were worried that no one would like the kids. That said, we're extremely happy with the way things turned out.
I'm glad you guys enjoyed our fic, but stick around cuz we're not through yet! Both of us still have a bunch of solo projects going on and who knows? Maybe another co-authoring deal.
I hope all you readers out there have a great summer! Good luck on finals!
It's been a great year. Thanks everyone!
~Tori Sakana