Twist of Fate
Chapter 9 or 10 (I forget...Could you please let me know which one it is?)
By: Kiana Darkk
AN: Sorry I haven't updated for awhile. I've been working a bit on my other fics, and regaining my life outside of my computer room. (I am a hermit.) ...My dog is sniffing the tele at this moment. God, she is stupid! I'm rambling. That's okay though. Here, just skip this part and go read the story.
Disclaimer: Usual ones apply. Read previous chapters for the details.
*Sydney, Australia-The Beach, Daea's POV*
The Preventers, minus the one called 'Trowa', were sitting on our beach towels, keeping a careful eye on us. Us Immortals, minus Makoto, which made it just me and Hotaru, were sitting on lounge chairs. Well Hotaru was sitting. I was sort of leaning against the cement wall next to her. Putting as much distance between myself and Wufei and his coworkers.
We'd been waiting for Makoto and Trowa for awhile now. Boy, they sure were taking their sweet time hey? I was starting to get irritated. First Taru goes and makes this insane bargain with a bunch of honorless law enforcers. Then Makoto just up and leaves us here with them. Not that I'm complaining. No, I'm just expressing negative opinions.
Wufei kept glancing at me periodically. It was quite nerve-racking. Only on earth would men actually have the balls to look at me in a menacing way. On the Sun, they'd be so scared to death of Phoenix deciding to fry them. Anyway, back to the problem at hand. Wufei. God, he was hot! Did he have any idea how hot he was? He should...I mean, he's been that way all his life. Somebody must have told him along the way.
I wondered what his hair would look like if that painful-looking ponytail were taken out, if I ran my fingers through the dark silky-looking strands, kissed those sensuous lips...Okay, stop! Phoenix's claws! He was one of the enemy! The opposing team! We're supposed to hate them, not physically want them! Oi. I'm in trouble. God, did I get distracted easily.
Speaking of trouble, where was Makoto. I decided to ask Hotaru. I bent down close to her ear and whispered.
"Hey, where's Makoto?"
She turned her head so that she was speaking almost directly into my ear, and said quietly, "I don't know. Getting a ball and a score pad I presume."
"Let's hope she hurries 'cause I think the Preventers are getting antsy." Hotaru looked at the Preventers at the same time I did. They did look antsy. The braided one was talking to Wufei, who was looking aloofly annoyed. Is that possible? Oh well, he pulled it off. Mister trigger-happy was just sitting there with this eerily calm expression on his face.
Mister Trigger-Happy. I had already decided that I didn't like him. Not only was he completely psychotic (pulling a gun on us in a crowded, public place), but he was too empty. Like one of those shells you find on the beach. His eyes...there was something about his eyes that said he would do anything for the mission, that he lived only for the mission. That was disturbing.
I couldn't believe we were about to go up against four Preventers in a volleyball game, betting our lives, our freedom as the prize. Oh, and dinner. Like I want to go out to dinner with the four of them! If it were just Wufei, I'd say 'hell yes!' But it's not. It's Mr. Trigger-Happy, Trowa, Wufei, and the Braided Baka. Four very dangerous men. I could handle one of them, quite possibly two without getting killed. But four? Not a chance. I tried explaining this to Hotaru.
"Hun, you do realize that we're screwed?"
She just nodded her head. "But at least this way we have a chance. If we had a full-blown battle here on the beach, not only would we blow our cover, but we would probably get killed. Innocent bystanders might get injured. All because we lost our cool. We weren't ready for them, and now we're paying for it."
"I understand that, but they're men. They are naturally stronger than us, they were Gundam pilots, and they outnumber us. We are strong, but not as strong as them, we are fast, yes, but we have less people to cover a lot of ground. Not to mention the fact that Makoto still isn't back."
Hotaru suggested an idea. "Maybe she knocked the pilot unconscious and split."
"Hotaru, did you just make a joke? 'Cause if you did, that's not funny. It's cruel and inhumane."
A small smile formed on her face and she shook her head. "Yes, I was joking. Listen, Daea, stop worrying. She'll be back any minute now."
"Uh huh..." In the logical part of my mind, I knew that, but right now, I was panicking. Seriously panicking. If we lost this one game, we were fucked for about oh...the rest of our lifetimes.
"Hey, babes, we're baaa-aaack!" Makoto cried from behind us.
I looked up. She hadn't left. Relief flowed through me like water. The Preventer was still with her. His eyes were open, and I stared into them, but at the same time, they were closed, and I couldn't see into his soul. With a shock, I realized that I couldn't see into any of their souls. It was like they had a natural wall against it.
Makoto stood there in her bathing suit and a pair of jean shorts she'd thrown over them, holding a volleyball in her hands. The dude, Trowa, was holding one of them number-flippy-scorepad thingys.
Hotaru stood up and stretched. I noticed with amusement, how Duo's eyes followed the movement, as though mesmerized. Feeling the weight of my gaze, he turned to look at me, and I had a sudden feeling of deja vu. "Have we met before?" I asked suddenly, impulsively. He shook his head, the braid behind him moving back and forth too. "Nah," He said, smiling charmingly, "Don't think so. I'd definitely remember a pretty girl like you."
I couldn't help it. I threw my head back and laughed, full-throated, right there in front of our enemies. "Why, Mr. Maxwell, you sure know how to flatter a girl." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hotaru frowning at me and glaring slightly. She never let me have any fun!!
"Alright, let's play." Hotaru said in her no-nonsense, I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass tone. "You guys set up," Makoto said, moving towards the beach bag, "I gotta get some sunblock on before I fry." I noticed that she and Trowa kept giving each other little glances and smiled mischievously. Hehehe. Looks like somebody likes somebody!
Heero watched her reach into the bag, with his hand resting lightly on his gun, and I knew that if Makoto did something wrong she'd either be dead or permanently maimed. Hotaru shrugged her shoulders and went to the volleyball net. Duo followed after her, as did Heero, but Wufei stayed behind. He was looking at me expectantly, as though I were about to jump up and start doing cartwheels. Inwardly I shrugged and walked off towards Hotaru. I noticed with amusement that Wufei went only when I did.
With amusement, I bet that they had assigned people to watch. Duo got Hotaru, I was guessing, Wufei got me, and Trowa got Makoto, which left Heero to get whoever needed getting.
We waited while Makoto got her sunscreen on, all except for Hotaru and Duo, who were busy setting up the scorepad. "Ahem. Gentlemen, I was wondering, if perhaps, one of you would care to tend to the scoreboard. Just to make the teams even. Of course, when one player gets tired on your team, you may tag the other in, and have the injured player tend to the scoring. What do you say?" Hotaru said this with a pleasant, polite smile on her face, and her hands clasped in front of her.
Duo looked to Heero with his eyebrows raised, while Wufei looked at Hotaru suspiciously, trying to discern if there was a plot afoot. There wasn't, I knew. Hotaru had said what she genuinely meant. After a moment of thinking, Heero nodded his consent. "I will see to the scores at first."
I spoke up then. "You have to promise not to cheat." Wufei looked at me as though surprised.
"I can promise if you like, but you wouldn't believe me." Heero said in his stern tone of voice.
"Give me your word, and I'll believe you. Even criminals have a certain measure of honor," I responded. On impulse I winked at him. "Besides, we could sit here all day and debate this. We've got all the time in the world, don't we girls?" By this time Makoto and Trowa had joined us.
Hotaru nodded her head solemnly, while Makoto said, "Totally." I raised an eyebrow at Heero, and finally he nodded and said, "My word that I will be fair." I smiled then and jumped up, "Great! Now let's play!"
Makoto, Hotaru, and I took our place on one side of the net, while Trowa, Duo, and Wufei took their place on the other side. "Who goes first?" Makoto called out. "We do!" Duo called back. I got in the ready position-- knees slightly bent, feet apart, hands ready to make a forearm pass-- while the others did the same.
Duo called the score, "Zero, Zero!" and popped it over the net. Makoto rushed the ball and thwapped it back over. Wufei got it this time, and set it back over the net. I just jumped up slightly, and spiked it back over. Sticking out my tongue at him, I laughed inwardly.
Trowa slammed the ball over, and luckily Hotaru had been covering the back. She set the ball really high while Makoto ran up and spiked it so powerfully, it was out before the boys even blinked. "Yeah!" I yelled excitedly, "One point for us!!"
"Zero, One!"
The ball went whizzing over at an incredibly fast speed, and Trowa forearm passed it over, but I was paying attention, contrary to belief, and forearm passed it over to Trowa again, who whacked it back over. It came at me again, so I just forearm passed it again. It continued like this for awhile, until I managed to whack it high enough to go over Trowa's head. Who knew the guy was so tall?
Heero gave us another point, although grudgingly, but he'd promised! I would laugh, but it's rather inappropriate to gloat.
In the meantime Hotaru and Makoto had been talking about where to go to dinner. "Maybe Riatonicio's?" Hotaru shook her head. "Nah, not expensive enough. Carinelli's?"
"Are you kidding me? That place costs more than our entire wardrobe's combined!" Hotaru smiled. "My point exactly."
It was our serve, and since it was my turn, I punch-served it over the net after calling out, "Two, Zero!"
Suddenly the ball came whizzing past Makoto's head, and...she missed it. Hotaru was too busy planning to catch it, and I was up front. The ball hit the ground. One point for them. Makoto put her hands over her face and groaned. "I can't believe I missed that one!"
Wufei smirked. "Maybe next time you'll pay attention instead of talking so much." Okay, that was it. No one insults my teammates and gets away with it. Wufei, you're mine, I promised silently.
It was still Duo's serve, so he whacked it over, and this time Makoto dived for it, and had just enough leverage to get it over the net. Nobody was standing very close on that side, so ha, nobody got the ball. Wufei grabbed it and threw it back to me. Catching it hurt my hands, but oh well. Hey, c'mon, dude threw it hard!
Glaring at him, I called out the score, "Three, One!" And whipped it over the net, and straight into Wufei's face. He didn't even realize what had happened, until he went flying back, clutching his nose. "Oh my God!" I screamed, I hadn't mean to do that! "Are you okay?!" I looked at Duo and Trowa, who were checking up on him. "Is he okay?" I could feel my eyes go impossibly wide. Neither of them would answer me!
I ran underneath the net until I was beside Wufei. "Hey, 'Fei, you gonna live?" He glared up at me, but nodded his head. "Hey, sorry man, didn't mean to hit you...that hard." I smiled sheepishly while he continued glaring at me. He mumbled, "Apology accepted," though it was rather nasally sounding due to the fact he was holding his nose. Trowa handed him a handkerchief, which he used to soak up the blood and wipe off his hand.
"Well 'Fei, hope you get better soon."
"My name is Wufei, emphasis on the WU syllable."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose impulsively before I got up and scurried away. "A kiss to make the boo-boo get better soon!" I yelled, and blew him another kiss. When I looked back he was blushing a bit, and getting to his feet. He walked over to where Heero was and took his place at the scoreboard.
*Wufei's POV*
I was a bit in shock by Daea's antics, but certainly she hadn't meant anything by it. Had she? Oh well, back to business.
Heero was in the game, so now at least we had an edge. He wouldn't let us lose. It was the Immortals' serve, and the one named Makoto punched it over the net. Heero passed it back over, and the leader, Hotaru, had to make a dive for it to get it back over the net. When she got up her skin was red, and in some spots, scratched.
She glared at Heero, who had already hit the ball over to Daea. She drew her arm back for a powerful spike, which went straight to Duo, who hit it over the net again. Hotaru tried to hit it, but she was too close to the net, and missed. One point for us.
"Two, Three!" Trowa called as he served the ball over the net. Makoto used a forearm pass to hit the ball back over the net. It went flying straight at Duo, but Hotaru, who was standing right in front of him, suddenly pulled up her top and flashed him. Duo's eyes instantly went to her, and he missed the ball. One...point...for them.
Daea burst out laughing hysterically, while Makoto chuckled, and Hotaru just smirked. "Jeez Duo, I figured you'd know a diversionary tactic when you saw one!" She called out. Duo smiled back at her. "I certainly saw somethin', babe!" He called back. Hotaru laughed, and clutched her sides. I noticed that the atmosphere was a lot less vicious. Even Heero was playing fairly.
The girls were playing fairly. So to speak. We hadn't said they couldn't flash us. It's just...not something we had thought of previously. I had to give them points for ingenuity.
It was their serve again, still Makoto's turn, so over went the ball, and back it came, so on and so forth, until it was near the end of the game. The girls had nine points, and we had seven.
"Nine, Seven!" Hotaru cried, then whacked the ball over. Back and forth it flew for awhile until Trowa hit it so hard that it flew right past all three of the girls, and into the out zone. Point for us! Yes! I even did a little victory dance, although silently, in my head. Now we just needed two more points to beat them. In my opinion, the harder job would be to keep the Immortals from getting one more.
It was Heero's serve, and he yelled, "Eight, Nine!" as he smacked it over the net. Daea got that one and smacked it right back over. From our side of the net to theirs it went, until Duo got a really good spike, and up and over it went, and then down. Another point for us! We were tied! Just one more point!
It was our serve again, and so up and over it went. This time Hotaru whacked it back over, and this ensued and whacking war with Duo. The two of them seemed to be competing fiercely. Then Hotaru set the ball, and Makoto ran up and smacked it over the net, so powerfully that if Duo hadn't ducked, it probably would've taken his head off. The ball touched ground....
We...had lost. By honor, we had promised, that they were free to go. AND WE'D TAKE THEM OUT TO DINNER! I knew that Heero wouldn't break his word. He'd wait until he had another chance to bring them in.
The Immortals were celebrating, jumping and hugging and yelling. Heero just looked pissed. Duo, on the other hand, looked resigned, maybe even slightly relieved. Trowa was unreadable as always. I didn't even know what I was feeling. Part mad I guess, and maybe relieved too.
They cleared off of the volleyball court and came to stand by me. Hotaru walked up to Heero, and stared at him solemnly. He nodded his head once, then said, "We'll pick you up at seven sharp. If you're not down in the lobby, we'll come up and get you." Hotaru smiled in relief and nodded. "Agreed. Now, after dinner, you're going to let us go, right?"
Heero looked at her for a moment, before saying cryptically, "For now."
"If that's the best we can get, we'll take it," Daea said from where she was standing next to me. Her presence was like a fire near me, it was that distracting, uncomfortably warm. Duo was staring at Hotaru, who broke away from Heero to stand next to her friends, then smiled at him. "I apologize for flashing you, but it was necessary."
"Hey, you don't see me complaining, do ya?" He responded nonchalantly. "Guess not..." Hotaru trailed off.
Makoto spoke up. "Well if that's all then, we'll be taking our car now, and going back to the hotel. Ta for now, boys!" She waved back at us, and Hotaru followed after her. Daea brushed a hand over my shoulder and said in my ear, "Sorry again, about the nose." Then she too turned and left.
We watched them leave, and I was aware that we were putting a great deal of trust in them not to leave during the day. I wondered about that, but then Heero spoke up. "I'm going to tail them," he explained and left us there to walk back to our hotel.
"So generous of him to offer us a ride back," Duo said sarcastically.
Trowa shrugged, and started walking back. Duo and I hustled to catch up.
AN: Wasn't that nice? After ages of waiting, I finally updated. Be happy! Please review for this, and expect the dinner part to be up soon.
Chapter 9 or 10 (I forget...Could you please let me know which one it is?)
By: Kiana Darkk
AN: Sorry I haven't updated for awhile. I've been working a bit on my other fics, and regaining my life outside of my computer room. (I am a hermit.) ...My dog is sniffing the tele at this moment. God, she is stupid! I'm rambling. That's okay though. Here, just skip this part and go read the story.
Disclaimer: Usual ones apply. Read previous chapters for the details.
*Sydney, Australia-The Beach, Daea's POV*
The Preventers, minus the one called 'Trowa', were sitting on our beach towels, keeping a careful eye on us. Us Immortals, minus Makoto, which made it just me and Hotaru, were sitting on lounge chairs. Well Hotaru was sitting. I was sort of leaning against the cement wall next to her. Putting as much distance between myself and Wufei and his coworkers.
We'd been waiting for Makoto and Trowa for awhile now. Boy, they sure were taking their sweet time hey? I was starting to get irritated. First Taru goes and makes this insane bargain with a bunch of honorless law enforcers. Then Makoto just up and leaves us here with them. Not that I'm complaining. No, I'm just expressing negative opinions.
Wufei kept glancing at me periodically. It was quite nerve-racking. Only on earth would men actually have the balls to look at me in a menacing way. On the Sun, they'd be so scared to death of Phoenix deciding to fry them. Anyway, back to the problem at hand. Wufei. God, he was hot! Did he have any idea how hot he was? He should...I mean, he's been that way all his life. Somebody must have told him along the way.
I wondered what his hair would look like if that painful-looking ponytail were taken out, if I ran my fingers through the dark silky-looking strands, kissed those sensuous lips...Okay, stop! Phoenix's claws! He was one of the enemy! The opposing team! We're supposed to hate them, not physically want them! Oi. I'm in trouble. God, did I get distracted easily.
Speaking of trouble, where was Makoto. I decided to ask Hotaru. I bent down close to her ear and whispered.
"Hey, where's Makoto?"
She turned her head so that she was speaking almost directly into my ear, and said quietly, "I don't know. Getting a ball and a score pad I presume."
"Let's hope she hurries 'cause I think the Preventers are getting antsy." Hotaru looked at the Preventers at the same time I did. They did look antsy. The braided one was talking to Wufei, who was looking aloofly annoyed. Is that possible? Oh well, he pulled it off. Mister trigger-happy was just sitting there with this eerily calm expression on his face.
Mister Trigger-Happy. I had already decided that I didn't like him. Not only was he completely psychotic (pulling a gun on us in a crowded, public place), but he was too empty. Like one of those shells you find on the beach. His eyes...there was something about his eyes that said he would do anything for the mission, that he lived only for the mission. That was disturbing.
I couldn't believe we were about to go up against four Preventers in a volleyball game, betting our lives, our freedom as the prize. Oh, and dinner. Like I want to go out to dinner with the four of them! If it were just Wufei, I'd say 'hell yes!' But it's not. It's Mr. Trigger-Happy, Trowa, Wufei, and the Braided Baka. Four very dangerous men. I could handle one of them, quite possibly two without getting killed. But four? Not a chance. I tried explaining this to Hotaru.
"Hun, you do realize that we're screwed?"
She just nodded her head. "But at least this way we have a chance. If we had a full-blown battle here on the beach, not only would we blow our cover, but we would probably get killed. Innocent bystanders might get injured. All because we lost our cool. We weren't ready for them, and now we're paying for it."
"I understand that, but they're men. They are naturally stronger than us, they were Gundam pilots, and they outnumber us. We are strong, but not as strong as them, we are fast, yes, but we have less people to cover a lot of ground. Not to mention the fact that Makoto still isn't back."
Hotaru suggested an idea. "Maybe she knocked the pilot unconscious and split."
"Hotaru, did you just make a joke? 'Cause if you did, that's not funny. It's cruel and inhumane."
A small smile formed on her face and she shook her head. "Yes, I was joking. Listen, Daea, stop worrying. She'll be back any minute now."
"Uh huh..." In the logical part of my mind, I knew that, but right now, I was panicking. Seriously panicking. If we lost this one game, we were fucked for about oh...the rest of our lifetimes.
"Hey, babes, we're baaa-aaack!" Makoto cried from behind us.
I looked up. She hadn't left. Relief flowed through me like water. The Preventer was still with her. His eyes were open, and I stared into them, but at the same time, they were closed, and I couldn't see into his soul. With a shock, I realized that I couldn't see into any of their souls. It was like they had a natural wall against it.
Makoto stood there in her bathing suit and a pair of jean shorts she'd thrown over them, holding a volleyball in her hands. The dude, Trowa, was holding one of them number-flippy-scorepad thingys.
Hotaru stood up and stretched. I noticed with amusement, how Duo's eyes followed the movement, as though mesmerized. Feeling the weight of my gaze, he turned to look at me, and I had a sudden feeling of deja vu. "Have we met before?" I asked suddenly, impulsively. He shook his head, the braid behind him moving back and forth too. "Nah," He said, smiling charmingly, "Don't think so. I'd definitely remember a pretty girl like you."
I couldn't help it. I threw my head back and laughed, full-throated, right there in front of our enemies. "Why, Mr. Maxwell, you sure know how to flatter a girl." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Hotaru frowning at me and glaring slightly. She never let me have any fun!!
"Alright, let's play." Hotaru said in her no-nonsense, I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass tone. "You guys set up," Makoto said, moving towards the beach bag, "I gotta get some sunblock on before I fry." I noticed that she and Trowa kept giving each other little glances and smiled mischievously. Hehehe. Looks like somebody likes somebody!
Heero watched her reach into the bag, with his hand resting lightly on his gun, and I knew that if Makoto did something wrong she'd either be dead or permanently maimed. Hotaru shrugged her shoulders and went to the volleyball net. Duo followed after her, as did Heero, but Wufei stayed behind. He was looking at me expectantly, as though I were about to jump up and start doing cartwheels. Inwardly I shrugged and walked off towards Hotaru. I noticed with amusement that Wufei went only when I did.
With amusement, I bet that they had assigned people to watch. Duo got Hotaru, I was guessing, Wufei got me, and Trowa got Makoto, which left Heero to get whoever needed getting.
We waited while Makoto got her sunscreen on, all except for Hotaru and Duo, who were busy setting up the scorepad. "Ahem. Gentlemen, I was wondering, if perhaps, one of you would care to tend to the scoreboard. Just to make the teams even. Of course, when one player gets tired on your team, you may tag the other in, and have the injured player tend to the scoring. What do you say?" Hotaru said this with a pleasant, polite smile on her face, and her hands clasped in front of her.
Duo looked to Heero with his eyebrows raised, while Wufei looked at Hotaru suspiciously, trying to discern if there was a plot afoot. There wasn't, I knew. Hotaru had said what she genuinely meant. After a moment of thinking, Heero nodded his consent. "I will see to the scores at first."
I spoke up then. "You have to promise not to cheat." Wufei looked at me as though surprised.
"I can promise if you like, but you wouldn't believe me." Heero said in his stern tone of voice.
"Give me your word, and I'll believe you. Even criminals have a certain measure of honor," I responded. On impulse I winked at him. "Besides, we could sit here all day and debate this. We've got all the time in the world, don't we girls?" By this time Makoto and Trowa had joined us.
Hotaru nodded her head solemnly, while Makoto said, "Totally." I raised an eyebrow at Heero, and finally he nodded and said, "My word that I will be fair." I smiled then and jumped up, "Great! Now let's play!"
Makoto, Hotaru, and I took our place on one side of the net, while Trowa, Duo, and Wufei took their place on the other side. "Who goes first?" Makoto called out. "We do!" Duo called back. I got in the ready position-- knees slightly bent, feet apart, hands ready to make a forearm pass-- while the others did the same.
Duo called the score, "Zero, Zero!" and popped it over the net. Makoto rushed the ball and thwapped it back over. Wufei got it this time, and set it back over the net. I just jumped up slightly, and spiked it back over. Sticking out my tongue at him, I laughed inwardly.
Trowa slammed the ball over, and luckily Hotaru had been covering the back. She set the ball really high while Makoto ran up and spiked it so powerfully, it was out before the boys even blinked. "Yeah!" I yelled excitedly, "One point for us!!"
"Zero, One!"
The ball went whizzing over at an incredibly fast speed, and Trowa forearm passed it over, but I was paying attention, contrary to belief, and forearm passed it over to Trowa again, who whacked it back over. It came at me again, so I just forearm passed it again. It continued like this for awhile, until I managed to whack it high enough to go over Trowa's head. Who knew the guy was so tall?
Heero gave us another point, although grudgingly, but he'd promised! I would laugh, but it's rather inappropriate to gloat.
In the meantime Hotaru and Makoto had been talking about where to go to dinner. "Maybe Riatonicio's?" Hotaru shook her head. "Nah, not expensive enough. Carinelli's?"
"Are you kidding me? That place costs more than our entire wardrobe's combined!" Hotaru smiled. "My point exactly."
It was our serve, and since it was my turn, I punch-served it over the net after calling out, "Two, Zero!"
Suddenly the ball came whizzing past Makoto's head, and...she missed it. Hotaru was too busy planning to catch it, and I was up front. The ball hit the ground. One point for them. Makoto put her hands over her face and groaned. "I can't believe I missed that one!"
Wufei smirked. "Maybe next time you'll pay attention instead of talking so much." Okay, that was it. No one insults my teammates and gets away with it. Wufei, you're mine, I promised silently.
It was still Duo's serve, so he whacked it over, and this time Makoto dived for it, and had just enough leverage to get it over the net. Nobody was standing very close on that side, so ha, nobody got the ball. Wufei grabbed it and threw it back to me. Catching it hurt my hands, but oh well. Hey, c'mon, dude threw it hard!
Glaring at him, I called out the score, "Three, One!" And whipped it over the net, and straight into Wufei's face. He didn't even realize what had happened, until he went flying back, clutching his nose. "Oh my God!" I screamed, I hadn't mean to do that! "Are you okay?!" I looked at Duo and Trowa, who were checking up on him. "Is he okay?" I could feel my eyes go impossibly wide. Neither of them would answer me!
I ran underneath the net until I was beside Wufei. "Hey, 'Fei, you gonna live?" He glared up at me, but nodded his head. "Hey, sorry man, didn't mean to hit you...that hard." I smiled sheepishly while he continued glaring at me. He mumbled, "Apology accepted," though it was rather nasally sounding due to the fact he was holding his nose. Trowa handed him a handkerchief, which he used to soak up the blood and wipe off his hand.
"Well 'Fei, hope you get better soon."
"My name is Wufei, emphasis on the WU syllable."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose impulsively before I got up and scurried away. "A kiss to make the boo-boo get better soon!" I yelled, and blew him another kiss. When I looked back he was blushing a bit, and getting to his feet. He walked over to where Heero was and took his place at the scoreboard.
*Wufei's POV*
I was a bit in shock by Daea's antics, but certainly she hadn't meant anything by it. Had she? Oh well, back to business.
Heero was in the game, so now at least we had an edge. He wouldn't let us lose. It was the Immortals' serve, and the one named Makoto punched it over the net. Heero passed it back over, and the leader, Hotaru, had to make a dive for it to get it back over the net. When she got up her skin was red, and in some spots, scratched.
She glared at Heero, who had already hit the ball over to Daea. She drew her arm back for a powerful spike, which went straight to Duo, who hit it over the net again. Hotaru tried to hit it, but she was too close to the net, and missed. One point for us.
"Two, Three!" Trowa called as he served the ball over the net. Makoto used a forearm pass to hit the ball back over the net. It went flying straight at Duo, but Hotaru, who was standing right in front of him, suddenly pulled up her top and flashed him. Duo's eyes instantly went to her, and he missed the ball. One...point...for them.
Daea burst out laughing hysterically, while Makoto chuckled, and Hotaru just smirked. "Jeez Duo, I figured you'd know a diversionary tactic when you saw one!" She called out. Duo smiled back at her. "I certainly saw somethin', babe!" He called back. Hotaru laughed, and clutched her sides. I noticed that the atmosphere was a lot less vicious. Even Heero was playing fairly.
The girls were playing fairly. So to speak. We hadn't said they couldn't flash us. It's just...not something we had thought of previously. I had to give them points for ingenuity.
It was their serve again, still Makoto's turn, so over went the ball, and back it came, so on and so forth, until it was near the end of the game. The girls had nine points, and we had seven.
"Nine, Seven!" Hotaru cried, then whacked the ball over. Back and forth it flew for awhile until Trowa hit it so hard that it flew right past all three of the girls, and into the out zone. Point for us! Yes! I even did a little victory dance, although silently, in my head. Now we just needed two more points to beat them. In my opinion, the harder job would be to keep the Immortals from getting one more.
It was Heero's serve, and he yelled, "Eight, Nine!" as he smacked it over the net. Daea got that one and smacked it right back over. From our side of the net to theirs it went, until Duo got a really good spike, and up and over it went, and then down. Another point for us! We were tied! Just one more point!
It was our serve again, and so up and over it went. This time Hotaru whacked it back over, and this ensued and whacking war with Duo. The two of them seemed to be competing fiercely. Then Hotaru set the ball, and Makoto ran up and smacked it over the net, so powerfully that if Duo hadn't ducked, it probably would've taken his head off. The ball touched ground....
We...had lost. By honor, we had promised, that they were free to go. AND WE'D TAKE THEM OUT TO DINNER! I knew that Heero wouldn't break his word. He'd wait until he had another chance to bring them in.
The Immortals were celebrating, jumping and hugging and yelling. Heero just looked pissed. Duo, on the other hand, looked resigned, maybe even slightly relieved. Trowa was unreadable as always. I didn't even know what I was feeling. Part mad I guess, and maybe relieved too.
They cleared off of the volleyball court and came to stand by me. Hotaru walked up to Heero, and stared at him solemnly. He nodded his head once, then said, "We'll pick you up at seven sharp. If you're not down in the lobby, we'll come up and get you." Hotaru smiled in relief and nodded. "Agreed. Now, after dinner, you're going to let us go, right?"
Heero looked at her for a moment, before saying cryptically, "For now."
"If that's the best we can get, we'll take it," Daea said from where she was standing next to me. Her presence was like a fire near me, it was that distracting, uncomfortably warm. Duo was staring at Hotaru, who broke away from Heero to stand next to her friends, then smiled at him. "I apologize for flashing you, but it was necessary."
"Hey, you don't see me complaining, do ya?" He responded nonchalantly. "Guess not..." Hotaru trailed off.
Makoto spoke up. "Well if that's all then, we'll be taking our car now, and going back to the hotel. Ta for now, boys!" She waved back at us, and Hotaru followed after her. Daea brushed a hand over my shoulder and said in my ear, "Sorry again, about the nose." Then she too turned and left.
We watched them leave, and I was aware that we were putting a great deal of trust in them not to leave during the day. I wondered about that, but then Heero spoke up. "I'm going to tail them," he explained and left us there to walk back to our hotel.
"So generous of him to offer us a ride back," Duo said sarcastically.
Trowa shrugged, and started walking back. Duo and I hustled to catch up.
AN: Wasn't that nice? After ages of waiting, I finally updated. Be happy! Please review for this, and expect the dinner part to be up soon.
