Gundam Soul-Prolouge: Stories

Author's warning-This fic has a *very* light shounen-ai *feel* between

Trowa and Quatre. No real romance, though. It's meant to be saddish.

The wind blew Heero's bangs from his forehead as they stood in front of

the building. It had been so long since the 5 of them had all worked on

the same mission, and Heero was uneasy with the idea. *Oh, well, too late

to turn back. Besides, Heero, you have a mission.*

That was two days ago. Noone expected what they had come across. A little

girl was the only person left in the entire building, abandoned by OZ

soldiers to fend for herself. Her pale white skin and dirty brown hair

gave her a sad, pathetic look, but one glance at her eyes proved that she

was fine. There was something about those large chocolate eyes that left

Heero uneasy. Unbeknownst to him, it was the same look Quatre had when

he was under Zero System.

"Mr. Heero, what are you doing?" She popped up beside him as he clicked

at his keyboard, her long brown hair bouncing behind her. She looked much

better since Quatre had bathed her. She was even a little cute in one of

Duo's over-sized T-shirts. Heero sighed. He hadn't thought it to be a good

idea for her to stay with them, but they needed to keep their profiles

low for a few weeks, so dropping her off at an orphanage was out of the

question. He turned to her. "Nothing that concerns you. Go eat something."

She vaguely smiled. "No, thank you, I'm not hungry." She sat down and

quietly observed as Heero continued to type. After a few minutes, she

became bored and walked out the bedroom door. *Thank God.* He wondered

what it was about her that made him so uneasy.

"Hello, Quatre-sama," she'd been calling him that since he had given

her the bath, "What are you doing?" Quatre put down his cup and smiled

at her, despite his discomfort. "I, young girl, am drinking tea." He

cupped his face between his hands and set his elbows on the table. He

looked down at her thin little face and studied her. "Have you decided

to tell me your name yet?"

She smiled. "No."

"Why not?" She looked away and frowned, a desperate shade befalling her

eyes. She replied without looking back to him. "I can't tell you my name

because you don't need to know it. You and your friends are planning to

give me away, even though I don't belong there."

Quatre frowned, a bit puzzled. "How-Never mind." He smiled. "What do

you mean by 'I don't belong there'?"

"I don't belong with children." Quatre chuckled, despite himself, and

patted her on the head. "But you *are* a child. Don't you want to be

with others your age?"

She turned to him and smiled sadly. "You wouldn't understand."

"Why not?"

"Because you grew up with a family."

Quatre frowned. "Who told you that?" She didn't answer, just stared at

him with those large eyes. He tossled her hair a little more. "That

doesn't mean I can't empathize-oh, empathize means-"

"I know what it means." There wasn't any anger in her tone, just

sincerity. She lightly touched the hand that wasn't playing with her

hair. "But even though you can empathize, you wouldn't understand what

I mean." She got up and began to leave, a dumbfounded Quatre staring

after her. As if as an afterthought, she turned her head to him from the

doorframe. "Don't be sad." And she left.

"That girl has to go." Heero glared at no one in particular. "She'll

just get in the way. There's an orphanage in a city 20 miles north of

here. We can drop her off tomorrow."

Quatre shook his head. "We can't. We have to keep a low profile, remember?"

Heero didn't respond, knowning good and well that he was right. Quatre

smiled briefly then turned and looked at Trowa. "Trowa?"

"Hmm?"

"There's something odd about that girl. I had a very confusing conversation

with her. She seems so sad. And she still won't tell me her name." He raised

a finger. "Plus, while I bathed her, she had a very unusual scar running

down one of her legs."

Trowa registered no emotion and said "We found her in an OZ facility. She

was probably abused." He looked his companion in the face. " 'Don't be

sad'?" Quatre nodded. "That is odd."

"Are you talking about me?" The 5 boys turned to look at the small figure

in the door. "Please, don't. I get curious when others talk about me,

and I'm not supposed to be curious."

Heero glared, a look that was well noticed by the child. She smiled and

walked towards Heero, looking up at him with those big eyes. "Why do I

make you so uncomfterable?"

Heero looked about as flabbergasted as Heero was able. "Who said that?"

"You did."

Heero glared again. "I don't remember that."

She sat down and began tracing the designs on the rug with her fore-finger.

"You said it on the inside, not on the outside."

Heero looked sideways at Quatre, who only shrugged. "What?"

She repeated herself, putting more emphasis on each syllable. "You. Said.

It. On. The. In. Side." She smiled, seemingly growing more fascinated

with her tracing game. "I do make you uncomfterable, right? I'm sorry.

I try not too."

Heero ignored her and turned to Quatre. "When you were growing up, what

did your sisters do when they were this old?"

Quatre shrugged. "Uh, how old are you, little girl?"

"Seven."

Quatre smiled. "I don't know, played with dolls, I guess."

"Mobile Dolls?" The boys looked at the girl's suddenly awed look. "I'm

not allowed to play with MD yet. Doctor L says I can when I'm older."

Duo leaned over and sat next to the girl. "And what do you know about

MD, kid?" She slowly crawled into his lap, much to Duo's surprise, and

lazily began playing with his bangs, flicking them forward and waiting

for them to come back so she could repeat the process. "Oh, I know lots

about MD. Like how to make the programs, and how to transfer flight data."

Heero suddenly became interested. "You do?" He wanted to say "how", but

was afraid that the girl might become wise. She did seem above average

in intelligence. She smiled, but kept looking at a very uneasy Duo. "I'll

tell you how someday." Heero stiffened. "But right now I'm tired. Will

you put me to sleep, Mr.Duo?"

Duo sort of smiled, and he blushed at the amused looks on Trowa's and

Wufei's faces. Even worse was Quatre's sickly gushing smile. "Uh, sure,

kid." He picked her up and put her over his shoulder. She wrapped her

arms around his neck and gave a contented sigh as he trudged up the stairs.

Quatre smiled. "I can't believe she thought I meant MD..."

"Tell me a story." Duo scratched his head as he looked at the little girl

in his bed, her eyes already closed, and gave an uneasy chuckle. "Uh, sorry,

kid, I don't really know any stories." She lazily sighed, indicating she

would soon be asleep, a small, sad smile still tugging at her mouth.

"Can I tell you a story?" Duo felt serene, so he sat on the edge and grinned,

even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, go ahead, kid."

"Once upon a time...a boy fought a fight to honour the souls of those

who could no longer fight. He acted happy and angry at the same time. But

he wasn't really..." Here she yawned. "Happy or angry. He was sad." She

partially opened her eyes and stared at Duo, who was staring ahead with

a slightly confused look. "Know how the story ends?"

"...no."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Neither do I."