Chapter 9
"God that girl is annoying. How did Lily put up with her for that long?" Duo walked through the park and watched all the people with their families. "But every time I look at Lily, I never get the impression that she hates her. I think she wants to be friends with her, but she doesn't know how. Nikki's mad at Lily for some reason and we have to find out why." Duo could always tell by that lonely and hurt look in Lily's eyes. Why did she push herself away from everyone if she hated being alone so much? But she didn't anymore. She had let them in and yet she still had that look in her eyes.What exactly happened? It was really bugging him.
Duo stopped abruptly when he noticed a certain lavender haired girl silently walking through the park. "What's she doing here? Well, it would explain why she wasn't at home." He quietly walked up behind her. This gave him the chance to finally talk to her.
"Hey Lily." Lily jumped and quickly turned around. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized that it was just Duo.
"Oh, hi Duo. You scared me a bit."
Duo just laughed nervously and said, "Gomen." He did, however, receive a smile from Lily, but it quickly faded. Duo was then suddenly serious. He hated it when she didn't smile. Finally she had opened up to them and yet she still hid something from them. "Lily, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle. I've lived with it for awhile now. I'm used to it." It wasn't really a lie, but it did hurt her to think about it and so she usually tried to avoid it. No matter how much she tried though, she never succeeded.
"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean that you're okay with it." Lily just looked at him, a little confused. "Lily, why don't you talk to me about it? I'm your friend and that's what friends do. They listen to one another! You can tell me anything."
"Friend?"
"Yeah. I know, I know. You don't have any friends. They only get in the way." Duo sighed and Lily smiled. Suddenly she hugged him, not understanding why.He really was her friend and she loved that about those boys.
"Domo arigatou Duo-kun. You truly are my friend." She pulled away from him, still smiling. "I was wrong. I do have friends. I have you and the other gundam boys, and I love you all very much. You're all like family to me." Duo smiled, happy to finally be accepted by Lily.
* * *
Lily sat by the pond and happily ate the ice cream that Duo had bought her. Duo just sat beside her and smiled as he watched her. His smile faded when Lily finished her ice cream and suddenly appeared to be staring into space. She was really quiet and Duo just couldn't stand that, but he didn't know what to say or do to cheer her up.
"It was late." Lily turned to Duo, tears flooding her eyes. He was confused.
"Huh?"
Lily wiped tears off her cheeks and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before she spoke anymore. "We were on a mission, Me, Nikki and.....Erik. Erik was a friend of mine. A very close friend. I loved him very much. He was very protective about me, most definitely like a brother." Tears continued to pour down her cheeks.
"Lily, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Duo assured her, but Lily just wiped away more tears and shook her head. She wanted to tell him. She had to tell someone, she just couldn't hold it in any longer. Finally she had someone to talk to and so they just had to listen to her.
"Iye. It's about time I got it out. I've tried so long just to lock it away and forget about it, but I can't. I just can't. I have to tell you."
"Lily..."
"Please! You said that you would listen. You said you would." She looked at him, eyes begging him to listen. "Please Duo. Please." She didn't want to lose this one chance to talk... the only chance that she probably ever would get the courage up to talk.
Duo smiled and hugged Lily. He wouldn't push her away. Everyone had been and he wouldn't be one of those people. He cared too much about her to just push her away like everyone else. "Daijoubu Lily-chan. You can tell me anything anytime you want. I promise." Lily nodded and so her story began.
~ "Lily, throw me my gun," shouted Erik. Lily flipped in the air and landed near his gun. Picking it up, she quickly threw it to him. Nikki watched the two then checked to make sure that no more soldiers were coming around.
They had been sent on a mission to attack a secret OZ base just beyond colony L3. Lily, Nikki and Erik, who really weren't having a good day, put all their troubles behind them and quickly ran out of the room that they were in. Lily was ahead of the other two an quickly scanned the halls to see if it was clear.
"Can we go?" asked a very annoyed Nikki. Lily rolled her eyes and continued searching. "Hello! Are you going to answer me?" She hadn't been having a very good day and Nikki was only making it worse. She just wanted to get this mission over with and get home.
"Quiet," whispered Erik in a very sharp tone. "You're going to get us caught." He also just wanted to get home and just to talk with Lily. He knew that she wasn't having a good day and he wanted to be older brotherly figure that he had been for awhile now. The two shared an apartment and so it made it easy for him to talk with her.
"Hmph. Why do you always yell at me and not Lily? I hate you! I hate you both."
Lily, knowing the true impact of that remark on Erik, said nothing and did nothing. It's not like she cared, right? Wrong. Erik was her friend. Her only friend at that. She loved him very much. And besides, he always had reason to yell at Nikki. She was always complaining or screwing something up. Never had Erik once yelled at Lily, and she wasn't sure what she would do if he ever did.
Lily grabbed Erik's hand and the two of them ran down the hall and into a small room. Lily was suddenly grabbed and pulled to the side, a gun to her head. Erik didn't worry about it though and Nikki just ignored it.
"Don't move," a soldier said. "I'll shoot her if you do."
Lily, not quite liking that idea, brought her leg up and kicked the guy in the forehead, causing him to stumble back and drop his gun. Nikki quickly scooped up the gun and held it a him.
Lily walked over to a computer. "Nikki, toss me the disk."
"No! I'll do it." She slowly walked towards Lily, gun still at the soldier. She didn't want Lily taking all the credit for this mission and so she decided to take care of the disk. It was a major risk, but she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to prove to Lily that she could accomplish a mission as well.
"Nikki, now. Toss it to me." She didn't like where this was going and she knew that if Nikki kept this up, that they would all fail and someone would end up getting hurt. She hoped that it was Nikki though, for all the trouble that she was causing.
"I said no."
"Nikki, give it to her," ordered Erik, but Nikki still refused.
The soldier smiled making the three start to wonder what he was up to. As soon as Nikki turned to work on the computer, the soldier pulled out another gun and shot Lily in the arm. Erik tackled the guy and Nikki quickly finished on the computer. The lights started blinking as an alarm was set off. Erik knocked the guy unconscious, giving the three the chance to escape.
"Nikki," started Lily as they ran down the hall. "Look at what you've gotten us into now. Don't you ever think before you act? My God, I feel like I'm watching over a little five year old." And it was true. If Lily didn't watch what Nikki was doing all the time, they would have been killed already. Why did they always have to be sent on missions with Nikki anyway?
"I HATE YOU LILYANNA MICHELLE HINO!! I REALLY DO!!" Lily didn't care though and just ignore her. Very frustrated by this, Nikki ran up to Lily and pushed her forward. Lily stumbled and set off a trap. Her and Nikki's eyes both went wide. Nikki didn't mean to do that. She was just mad at her. She prayed that Lily wouldn't get hurt. Lily felt herself thrown even farther and blacked out for a few minutes as she hit a wall. A frightened scream could be heard. When Lily regained her vision there was a puddle of blood on the floor. Right next to it was...
Lily's scream could be heard with Nikki's as they saw Erik lying on the floor, completely crushed. Her friend. Her best and only friend was dead. He was dead. Pictures of their past raced through Lily's mind and her scream died down to crying. Nikki sat beside her and they cried...together. Probably the only time they ever would. ~
Lily sat there, crying, no longer able to say anything. Duo hugged his friend and slowly calmed her down. He felt sorry. Very sorry. Lily had a horrible past and he had a feeling that there was still more that she wasn't telling him. No matter. He would wait. There was no need to rush her. No need to rush her at all. This was bad enough as it was.
* * *
Yuriko sat off to the side and watched as the five boys stuffed their faces with food. But Duo wasn't as bad as usual. He actually ate slowly today. Why? Did it have something to do with Lily? Was it her story? It had to be. Did he actually care for her that much? What exactly was it? He couldn't stop thinking of it though... of Lily's story.
Yuriko stood up. "Duo, may I please talk to you?" Everyone looked up at Yuriko and then to Duo.
"Huh?" Duo looked up at Yuriko. "Uh...sure." He got up and the two of them walked outside. "Well, what do you want?" Yuriko turned to him. He had been to quiet, and she didn't like it. Duo was supposed to always be cheerful and to always keep everyone going and smiling.
"Duo, is anything wrong? You've been awfully quiet lately."
Duo just shrugged and said, "Just haven't felt like talking lately." Obviously. Yuriko didn't like his answer much and frowned.
"It's not just that. Your schooling and training has been off today also. It's all really gone downhill. Look, you don't have to tell me what wrong, but please, keep up with your normal activities. I do worry Duo. Don't think I don't, ok?" Before Duo could say anything Yuriko had walked off.
Yuriko smiled and didn't look back. She knew that Duo was thinking about what she had said. "Good luck Duo," she whispered to herself. "You'll need all the luck that you can get." Yuriko disappeared into a nearby forest.
* * *
"Yuriko is right," Duo told himself. "I can't let some stupid little problem of mine destroy my life. I'm sure I'll get over it anyway. I just have to." He sighed and walked back into the gundam base to finish eating. He had to stop thinking about her anyway. It's not like she ever thought about him. But that wasn't true. Duo was the first friend that she had made in two whole years and so she couldn't help but think of him. She had to also think think of the other four g-boys. They were the nicest boys that she had ever met and she was really happy to be friends with them.
The four g-boys looked at him as he entered. He just ignored them and took his seat. He still didn't feel like talking, especially to them. He didn't know what to say anyway.
"Well?" asked Wufei. "What did she want to talk to you about?"
Duo looked at him and simply said, "None of your business." He then finished eating and left. It was unusual for Duo to keep quiet like that, but he obviously wasn't in a good mood. He was worrying his comrades, though.
"Geez, what's his problem?" Wufei just shrugged it off and finished eating. If Duo wanted to talk then he would. It might have been unusual, but everyone has their moments.
* * *
"So," started Sally, "do you think that they're ready yet?"
"No," came Yuriko's harsh and cold voice. "No where near ready. They need practice. Lots of it. If they can't beat Nikki, then they most definitely can't beat Koji. I won't let them go." Yuriko was right. The boys weren't skilled enough for this mission, and they had to be able to fight Koji if they were accomplish this.
"Then what do you suppose we do?" asked Noin. She understood that the boys weren't ready yet, but if they didn't take this mission now then it might be too late by the time they are ready.
"Let me train them."
"Are you sure?" It was a hard job to train five boys, and normally Yuriko wouldn't do such a thing, but she wanted to get this over with. She would train them, whether they liked the training or not.
"Absolutely. Their training starts tomorrow. They won't stop till I say. Get me?" Both Noin and Sally nodded. Yuriko was a pretty tough trainer and those boys had no idea of what was to come in their training. No idea at all. If they thought that it was hard before, then they'll definitely think that this is hard. Noin and Sally just prayed that the boys would survive this.
"God that girl is annoying. How did Lily put up with her for that long?" Duo walked through the park and watched all the people with their families. "But every time I look at Lily, I never get the impression that she hates her. I think she wants to be friends with her, but she doesn't know how. Nikki's mad at Lily for some reason and we have to find out why." Duo could always tell by that lonely and hurt look in Lily's eyes. Why did she push herself away from everyone if she hated being alone so much? But she didn't anymore. She had let them in and yet she still had that look in her eyes.What exactly happened? It was really bugging him.
Duo stopped abruptly when he noticed a certain lavender haired girl silently walking through the park. "What's she doing here? Well, it would explain why she wasn't at home." He quietly walked up behind her. This gave him the chance to finally talk to her.
"Hey Lily." Lily jumped and quickly turned around. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized that it was just Duo.
"Oh, hi Duo. You scared me a bit."
Duo just laughed nervously and said, "Gomen." He did, however, receive a smile from Lily, but it quickly faded. Duo was then suddenly serious. He hated it when she didn't smile. Finally she had opened up to them and yet she still hid something from them. "Lily, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing I can't handle. I've lived with it for awhile now. I'm used to it." It wasn't really a lie, but it did hurt her to think about it and so she usually tried to avoid it. No matter how much she tried though, she never succeeded.
"Just because you're used to it doesn't mean that you're okay with it." Lily just looked at him, a little confused. "Lily, why don't you talk to me about it? I'm your friend and that's what friends do. They listen to one another! You can tell me anything."
"Friend?"
"Yeah. I know, I know. You don't have any friends. They only get in the way." Duo sighed and Lily smiled. Suddenly she hugged him, not understanding why.He really was her friend and she loved that about those boys.
"Domo arigatou Duo-kun. You truly are my friend." She pulled away from him, still smiling. "I was wrong. I do have friends. I have you and the other gundam boys, and I love you all very much. You're all like family to me." Duo smiled, happy to finally be accepted by Lily.
* * *
Lily sat by the pond and happily ate the ice cream that Duo had bought her. Duo just sat beside her and smiled as he watched her. His smile faded when Lily finished her ice cream and suddenly appeared to be staring into space. She was really quiet and Duo just couldn't stand that, but he didn't know what to say or do to cheer her up.
"It was late." Lily turned to Duo, tears flooding her eyes. He was confused.
"Huh?"
Lily wiped tears off her cheeks and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down before she spoke anymore. "We were on a mission, Me, Nikki and.....Erik. Erik was a friend of mine. A very close friend. I loved him very much. He was very protective about me, most definitely like a brother." Tears continued to pour down her cheeks.
"Lily, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Duo assured her, but Lily just wiped away more tears and shook her head. She wanted to tell him. She had to tell someone, she just couldn't hold it in any longer. Finally she had someone to talk to and so they just had to listen to her.
"Iye. It's about time I got it out. I've tried so long just to lock it away and forget about it, but I can't. I just can't. I have to tell you."
"Lily..."
"Please! You said that you would listen. You said you would." She looked at him, eyes begging him to listen. "Please Duo. Please." She didn't want to lose this one chance to talk... the only chance that she probably ever would get the courage up to talk.
Duo smiled and hugged Lily. He wouldn't push her away. Everyone had been and he wouldn't be one of those people. He cared too much about her to just push her away like everyone else. "Daijoubu Lily-chan. You can tell me anything anytime you want. I promise." Lily nodded and so her story began.
~ "Lily, throw me my gun," shouted Erik. Lily flipped in the air and landed near his gun. Picking it up, she quickly threw it to him. Nikki watched the two then checked to make sure that no more soldiers were coming around.
They had been sent on a mission to attack a secret OZ base just beyond colony L3. Lily, Nikki and Erik, who really weren't having a good day, put all their troubles behind them and quickly ran out of the room that they were in. Lily was ahead of the other two an quickly scanned the halls to see if it was clear.
"Can we go?" asked a very annoyed Nikki. Lily rolled her eyes and continued searching. "Hello! Are you going to answer me?" She hadn't been having a very good day and Nikki was only making it worse. She just wanted to get this mission over with and get home.
"Quiet," whispered Erik in a very sharp tone. "You're going to get us caught." He also just wanted to get home and just to talk with Lily. He knew that she wasn't having a good day and he wanted to be older brotherly figure that he had been for awhile now. The two shared an apartment and so it made it easy for him to talk with her.
"Hmph. Why do you always yell at me and not Lily? I hate you! I hate you both."
Lily, knowing the true impact of that remark on Erik, said nothing and did nothing. It's not like she cared, right? Wrong. Erik was her friend. Her only friend at that. She loved him very much. And besides, he always had reason to yell at Nikki. She was always complaining or screwing something up. Never had Erik once yelled at Lily, and she wasn't sure what she would do if he ever did.
Lily grabbed Erik's hand and the two of them ran down the hall and into a small room. Lily was suddenly grabbed and pulled to the side, a gun to her head. Erik didn't worry about it though and Nikki just ignored it.
"Don't move," a soldier said. "I'll shoot her if you do."
Lily, not quite liking that idea, brought her leg up and kicked the guy in the forehead, causing him to stumble back and drop his gun. Nikki quickly scooped up the gun and held it a him.
Lily walked over to a computer. "Nikki, toss me the disk."
"No! I'll do it." She slowly walked towards Lily, gun still at the soldier. She didn't want Lily taking all the credit for this mission and so she decided to take care of the disk. It was a major risk, but she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to prove to Lily that she could accomplish a mission as well.
"Nikki, now. Toss it to me." She didn't like where this was going and she knew that if Nikki kept this up, that they would all fail and someone would end up getting hurt. She hoped that it was Nikki though, for all the trouble that she was causing.
"I said no."
"Nikki, give it to her," ordered Erik, but Nikki still refused.
The soldier smiled making the three start to wonder what he was up to. As soon as Nikki turned to work on the computer, the soldier pulled out another gun and shot Lily in the arm. Erik tackled the guy and Nikki quickly finished on the computer. The lights started blinking as an alarm was set off. Erik knocked the guy unconscious, giving the three the chance to escape.
"Nikki," started Lily as they ran down the hall. "Look at what you've gotten us into now. Don't you ever think before you act? My God, I feel like I'm watching over a little five year old." And it was true. If Lily didn't watch what Nikki was doing all the time, they would have been killed already. Why did they always have to be sent on missions with Nikki anyway?
"I HATE YOU LILYANNA MICHELLE HINO!! I REALLY DO!!" Lily didn't care though and just ignore her. Very frustrated by this, Nikki ran up to Lily and pushed her forward. Lily stumbled and set off a trap. Her and Nikki's eyes both went wide. Nikki didn't mean to do that. She was just mad at her. She prayed that Lily wouldn't get hurt. Lily felt herself thrown even farther and blacked out for a few minutes as she hit a wall. A frightened scream could be heard. When Lily regained her vision there was a puddle of blood on the floor. Right next to it was...
Lily's scream could be heard with Nikki's as they saw Erik lying on the floor, completely crushed. Her friend. Her best and only friend was dead. He was dead. Pictures of their past raced through Lily's mind and her scream died down to crying. Nikki sat beside her and they cried...together. Probably the only time they ever would. ~
Lily sat there, crying, no longer able to say anything. Duo hugged his friend and slowly calmed her down. He felt sorry. Very sorry. Lily had a horrible past and he had a feeling that there was still more that she wasn't telling him. No matter. He would wait. There was no need to rush her. No need to rush her at all. This was bad enough as it was.
* * *
Yuriko sat off to the side and watched as the five boys stuffed their faces with food. But Duo wasn't as bad as usual. He actually ate slowly today. Why? Did it have something to do with Lily? Was it her story? It had to be. Did he actually care for her that much? What exactly was it? He couldn't stop thinking of it though... of Lily's story.
Yuriko stood up. "Duo, may I please talk to you?" Everyone looked up at Yuriko and then to Duo.
"Huh?" Duo looked up at Yuriko. "Uh...sure." He got up and the two of them walked outside. "Well, what do you want?" Yuriko turned to him. He had been to quiet, and she didn't like it. Duo was supposed to always be cheerful and to always keep everyone going and smiling.
"Duo, is anything wrong? You've been awfully quiet lately."
Duo just shrugged and said, "Just haven't felt like talking lately." Obviously. Yuriko didn't like his answer much and frowned.
"It's not just that. Your schooling and training has been off today also. It's all really gone downhill. Look, you don't have to tell me what wrong, but please, keep up with your normal activities. I do worry Duo. Don't think I don't, ok?" Before Duo could say anything Yuriko had walked off.
Yuriko smiled and didn't look back. She knew that Duo was thinking about what she had said. "Good luck Duo," she whispered to herself. "You'll need all the luck that you can get." Yuriko disappeared into a nearby forest.
* * *
"Yuriko is right," Duo told himself. "I can't let some stupid little problem of mine destroy my life. I'm sure I'll get over it anyway. I just have to." He sighed and walked back into the gundam base to finish eating. He had to stop thinking about her anyway. It's not like she ever thought about him. But that wasn't true. Duo was the first friend that she had made in two whole years and so she couldn't help but think of him. She had to also think think of the other four g-boys. They were the nicest boys that she had ever met and she was really happy to be friends with them.
The four g-boys looked at him as he entered. He just ignored them and took his seat. He still didn't feel like talking, especially to them. He didn't know what to say anyway.
"Well?" asked Wufei. "What did she want to talk to you about?"
Duo looked at him and simply said, "None of your business." He then finished eating and left. It was unusual for Duo to keep quiet like that, but he obviously wasn't in a good mood. He was worrying his comrades, though.
"Geez, what's his problem?" Wufei just shrugged it off and finished eating. If Duo wanted to talk then he would. It might have been unusual, but everyone has their moments.
* * *
"So," started Sally, "do you think that they're ready yet?"
"No," came Yuriko's harsh and cold voice. "No where near ready. They need practice. Lots of it. If they can't beat Nikki, then they most definitely can't beat Koji. I won't let them go." Yuriko was right. The boys weren't skilled enough for this mission, and they had to be able to fight Koji if they were accomplish this.
"Then what do you suppose we do?" asked Noin. She understood that the boys weren't ready yet, but if they didn't take this mission now then it might be too late by the time they are ready.
"Let me train them."
"Are you sure?" It was a hard job to train five boys, and normally Yuriko wouldn't do such a thing, but she wanted to get this over with. She would train them, whether they liked the training or not.
"Absolutely. Their training starts tomorrow. They won't stop till I say. Get me?" Both Noin and Sally nodded. Yuriko was a pretty tough trainer and those boys had no idea of what was to come in their training. No idea at all. If they thought that it was hard before, then they'll definitely think that this is hard. Noin and Sally just prayed that the boys would survive this.