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Children of War
By,
Luna Dragon

~*^*^* ~

"Get up!"

Those were the only words Wufei heard before someone suddenly lifted up his mattress and he was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. He snarled a few choice words as he rubbed his aching head. In his mind he was going over all the painful ways he could kill who had dared disturb his sleep. He gazed up at the one who was stupid enough to provoke his wrath and looked right into the angry blue eyes of Sally Po.

"Woman, what the hell are you trying to pull?" He demanded as he got to his feet. "Have you not tormented me enough for one day?"

"Not yet," Sally announced with a slight twinkle of humor in her eye. "I want you to go to the infirmary and apologize to Rei about what you said earlier. Then I'll leave you in peace."

"What?" Wufei sputtered. "This is injustice! You wake me up for this?"

"Wufei," Sally pressed. "I don't think you realize just how much you hurt the girl's feelings. Just go and talk to her, please?"

"I most definitely will not!" Wufei folded his arms stubbornly over his chest and huffed. "It's her own fault for showing weakness, which is all she is good for."

Sally regarded him coolly. 'Enough of this game.' She thought. "Do it Wufei, or you'll be working the midnight shift for the rest of your Preventer career." Wufei's eyes widened. She wouldn't dare. Or would she? Was Wufei willing to take that chance? Deciding it wasn't worth it, Wufei stalked out of the bunkers and headed down the hall to the infirmary. Sally gave a triumphant smile as he retreated. 'I'll get to you yet Chang Wufei.'

Grumbling to himself the whole way, Wufei did not feel charitable at all as he stepped into the medical room for the consequences that awaited him. The whole place was empty save for the teenage girl sitting on one of the beds. She was grumbling to herself as well as she tried in vain to wrap one of her burnt forearms.

For a moment Wufei watched her quietly, taking note that she had managed to catch a shower while he had been asleep. She was now dressed in a red tank top and dark shorts -- as wearing pants would have been too painful for her leg. Her hair was straight and long, so dark a raven it was almost black. It ran down her back, past her shoulders and past her waist, shining with a healthy gleam in the light. Her round face and slightly tan skin give hint of oriental influence in her. She finally noticed Wufei and turned her slightly slanted eyes upon him.

"You again," Rei said in annoyance. "What do you want, Chang?"

It was obvious Sally hadn't informed her of his visit. Wufei folded his arms and stared her down with his own dark eyes. "I want the truth," He said levelly.

"I already gave it to you. I used to work for Tomoe. So why don't you just go away?" It was obvious some of the spunk Wufei had seen during their first encounter was surfacing again. Wufei just glared her down, knowing he couldn't leave until he had done what Sally sent him to do. Rei watched him silently then narrowed her eyes and said something quite unexpected. "You look like you could use some sleep. Your eyes look really tired."

Having been caught off guard, Wufei's features softened a bit. It had been the only sympathy he had received all week and he decided to at least receive it gracefully. He sighed heavily before stepping further into the room.

"Would you like some help with that?" He asked, motioning to the sloppily bandaged arm.

"Um . . . yeah, I guess." Even though she relented, she watched Wufei carefully as he sat down next to her as he started unwrapping her previous work.

"You wrapped this too tight, woman. Doesn't it hurt?"

"Like hell," Rei nodded, deciding to ignore his sexist comment, being to tired to argue.

Wufei fought back a smile. No need to get too friendly with Rei just because Sally sent him here. But as he set about rewrapping her arm more carefully, he could feel her eyes on him. She seemed as though she was trying to see through him, trying to figure him out. Wufei felt impressed to say something to her to quell her intense gaze. "I . . . apologize," Wufei spoke quietly.

The raven haired priestess looked at him, a small smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "An apology from you, that must mean something." Rei said jokingly.

Wufei gave a 'humph' and pointed to a thick scar he noticed on her upper arm. Part of it was round, a thick circle with a diameter of at least four inches. Protruding through the upper-right of the circle was another scar, thinner than the circle, that extended an inch at least, and had the tip of an arrow head. "That's an interesting scar," He stated.

Rei continued to smile. "Of all the scars I'm going to be getting from this and you, as well as everyone else, think that this one is interesting." She said. "It's the sign of Mars, I was born with it. Call it a disfigured birthmark." Wufei just raised his eyebrow in reply, but said nothing, moving to start bandaging the other arm. Rei's face sobered as she watched him. "It bothers you that I used to work for Professor Tomoe, doesn't it? It makes you think that I can't be trusted, right?" She asked sincerely. Wufei didn't say anything, but kept working on her arm. "Well as scary as you might think it is, it's a lot scarier for me. Professor Tomoe isn't one to take lightly . . . Yuuchiro found that out when it was too late."

Wufei looked up and their eyes met. He could see the pain, the sincerity and even a bit of the fear in her eyes. He just nodded and silently went back to work.

Rei smiled slightly as she watched him. Perhaps there was a chance of reaching an understanding with this hot headed young man after all.

Unknown to them, from out in the hall, Sally Po had heard the whole thing. A small smile of satisfaction crept upon her full red lips. 'It was a full apology . . . not bad Wufei. Not bad at all. Maybe there's hope for you yet.'

~*^*^*~

It was quiet, nothing but her soft short breaths filled the small room. Her hands were behind her head as her brown eyes drooped closed, tired of staring at the stucco dots on the gray ceiling above. She was tired, she was in pain. But, Akiko figured, getting surgery could possibly do that to a person. Especially with no anesthetic afterwards. She shuddered slightly, the pain in her abdomen intensifying at the memory of being shot, twice, and at the realization that Duo had suffered through something similar. 'Only he had pain killers damn it. And here I am, stuck with a burning sting in my stomach, sown together by string. Ow . . .' Akiko thought absentmindedly, pulling out the downloaded information on a roughly battered floppy disk.

She was so tired, but she knew sleep wouldn't come any time soon, her subconscious mind was trying desperately to keep her awake, and it was doing an extremely good job at it, in Akiko's opinion. Her mind began to wander aimlessly, starting from thoughts on Duo; on how he saved her life, surrendering just for her sake. Why? Akiko had no clue, and couldn't even began to think of an answer. She had barely known him for three days, and her best friend almost succeeded in killing him. Her next thoughts were on where she was, and why the guards didn't check her for weapons. Even if they did, Akiko had no memory of the pass hours; just a deep feeling of pain. Then finally, her thoughts wandered to the conversation that Duo and the guard had. She remembered the man's hard voice reminding Duo that he would soon be caught, just like four of his friends. But which four? With Hotaru, Kaiya, Rei, Ami, and herself, including the pilots, that made ten people. Herself and Duo were out of the question; they were right there. But then it ranged from Heero, Ami, Trowa, Rei, Quatre, Hotaru, Kaiya, and Wufei. Eight. Which four had been caught? And not to mention Relena and Sally Po. Akiko didn't even want to think about that anymore, the consequences too severe for her to imagine.

She remembered Duo's voice when he surrendered, sounding weak, yet strong. Firm and unsure all at once. Akiko had no idea why in the world the 'braided baka' as he was called, would do something that extreme. Sure, he would have--might have--been caught anyway, but he was a Gundam pilot! He could've gotten away with fair enough ease, considering Professor Tomoe's base was already infiltrated. 'Great,' Akiko thought suddenly, knowing that she had hell to pay when the Prof found out the little 'present' she had left him.

"Well," Akiko mumbled as she sat up shakily, grabbing her stomach painfully, "maybe now the Prof knows better than to underestimate me, Kaiya, and Hotaru. . ."

"That's one thing I noticed. There are an awful lot of girls around here!" A cheerful voice said through the door of Akiko's imprisonment. The door opened and the first thing that the brown eyed girl saw was the swinging chestnut colored braid. A smile instantly overcame her features as she realized who it was.

"Duo!" She shouted with a grin, as the 02 pilot twirled the keys to her confinement around on his index finger. She noticed, though, that as soon as he entered fully, his eyes went from cheerful to worry, obviously having taken a good look at his friend's condition. The illegal operative hadn't seen a mirror in a while, but she knew her looks weren't her best to say the least.

From what she could figure out herself, her shirt was torn and a crimson red, stained almost completely. Her hair was swirled and in desperate need of a combing and brushing. Long pants that had once been black, had very large blotches of white and red, torn and shredded almost as badly as her shirt. Duo's face softened as he walked over to the girl in front of him, kneeling before her. "I know this is gonna be a stupid question, but I'll ask anyway." Duo began, gently taking Akiko's hand and rubbing it gently, his eyes searching her body for other injuries. "Are you okay?"

Through her pain, Akiko had to smile. In front of her was a true friend; despite their petty, playful arguments and disagreements. His eyes showed genuine concern, much like Kaiya's did. And her father and mother before they were slaughtered by the hands of Tomoe. As her brown eyes searched Duo's cobalt blue ones, she nodded. "I'm fine, as fine as I could get anyway." She answered quietly, watching as his eyes flashed with relief, but also disbelief. His muscles became less tense, but just slightly, as he looked at a hole in her shirt; showing the incredibly poorly done stitches. He himself could've done better.

But Duo, his stubborn quality getting the best of him, persisted. "You sure?" He asked once more, just as quietly, just as gently, his eyes still glued to the purple, blue, and black bruises visible through Akiko's tattered clothing. "I didn't get to see what the bastards did after I surrendered--"

"Duo, I'm fine. Sure they did a hell of a job on fixing me up, but I've had worse." Akiko interrupted, a dry attempt at humor.

A smile spread across his face slightly as he asked innocently, "Then maybe beating the crap out of some guards back there wasn't necessary?"

Akiko laughed but quickly stopped, the painful abdomen getting the best of her. 'Ouch,' she thought with a wince, suppressing giggles. Duo finally let go of Akiko's hand, his cobalt blue eyes filling with a deep emotion that took a while to register in Akiko's mind. When she did recognize it, her laughing stopped, her brown eyes searching his intently. A sweep of confusion settled in Akiko's mind briefly, dissipating when a hesitant hand brushed away an irate bang that had carelessly fallen from the mass of untidiness locks on her head. "Really, Kiko. Are you okay?" Duo's voice broke Akiko from her loss in his eyes, the cobalt pools that once had barrier after barrier of sadistic block, now fully open to her view. There was an inner turmoil locked deep in his heart. Pain etched his features, making his face look wiser and older than it usually looked with the hyperactive grin. There was so much emotion locked deep inside Duo's heart that it almost made Akiko's head spin. Brief images of her life before she met Professor Tomoe and afterwards clouded her eyesight for a heartbeat, before she found her own barriers and inner defenses breaking down, until she finally realized how alike she and the 02 pilot really were. Both had lost so much. Both hid behind barrier after barrier of facades, keeping them intact no matter what. Both had seen so much cruelty war could bring, and both had even been the cause of that cruelty.

Almost as if someone was sending her a silent signal, Akiko's face inclined closer and closer to Duo's, until their lips met. Duo's eyes went slightly wide with shock, but they soon closed, when he realized that subconsciously, this was what he wanted, and that he was enjoying himself. Their kiss deepened slowly; each giving the other time to either reciprocate a respond or pull away. Finally, Akiko broke away from the passionate kiss, a small smile on her lips as her breath came out more ragged. "Does that prove I'm okay?" She asked playfully.

He smiled as of a flood of relief over came him, and out of his own mischievousness. But, it was his turn now. Grasping her wrists gently to draw her to him, he kissed her lips, slowly and hungrily, taking the time to taste and savor her mouth. She leaned into the kiss with an artless abandon that matched his, feeling the beginnings of the not-quite-dissipated warmth steal through her body again. It seemed like time had stopped for the two, as they gave into heart filled passion. With his free hand, Duo stroked away Akiko's bangs gently, the other hand around her waist. Slowly, Akiko's arms found their way to his neck, wrapping themselves around him, and unconsciously deepening the kiss until both were finding it hard to breathe. Someone cleared their throat behind the two, and Duo pulled his mouth away from Akiko with obvious reluctance. A grin was on his face and his eyes were caring as he gazed down at her. For a moment, it felt like Akiko's heart would melt (she hadn't known how much he meant to her) at Duo's child like features.

"If you two are finished . . .?" Setsuna's voice calmly spoke, though it carried evident amusement, as did her garnet eyes. She stood at the door, her arms folded neatly in front of her as she propped herself lightly off the wall. Her gaze traveled from both teens with a small smile.

Akiko's smile matched Duo's as he helped her stand, the pain in her side she had forgotten before having returned fully now. Seeing her hesitant steps, Duo wrapped an arm around her waist, being extremely careful not to irritate her injuries, and placed one of her arms around his neck. Appreciating the help, Akiko leaned on Duo slightly. "Do you understand where to go?" Setsuna then asked Duo. "Time is running short, and both of you must leave before the Professor discovers that his two hostages have left."

"Go where?" Akiko asked Setsuna, her gaze going between the two, an eyebrow raised, showing her confusion. Duo just shrugged and turned his attention to Setsuna.

"Duo will explain what he knows soon, but you two just need to leave. Now. There's a motorcycle awaiting you near the back gates of the complex. This time, be more careful. And Akiko," Setsuna turned to Akiko with a sincere smile, "just ask for Haruka and Michiru when you get there, one of them will be glad to give you proper medical attention."

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End of Chapter . . . for now . . .
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*.*

Okay, I know this took an _extremely_ long time to get this
out--literally weeks--but I've been really busy with school,
improving my grades, and I've been basically a stress case.
Even worse since I got into that damn fight . . . anyway, don't
hate me for getting this chapter out INCREDIBLY late, because
I'm going to update tomorrow, and after tomorrow, two days straight,
two long chapters, and maybe even more in between. The end is coming,
and so is the romance . . . so keep up with this because I have a
habit of giving an ending that people NEVER suspect. Trust me, you'll
find finishing this fan-fic worth while, I promise you that . . .

Bye, for now, anyways . . .