Disclaimer: Fruits Basket … it makes me so depressed. Lol. Oh … wait … Right. I don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon … ~sigh~ Fruits Basket … ^^;;;

Pretty short of a chapter. Warning for bunches and bunches of useless dialogue. ^^;;;

Chapter 12: Relena Makes her Move

"Mr. Winner! The entire ESUN was surprised when you chose to scorn the governmental defense organizations. Can you explain to us your decision?"

"Mr. Winner! Why did you choose Innocence to support your opinions?"

"Mr. Winner!"

"Mr. Wi-"

He walked quickly and tried to hide his face as his guards hovered around him, telling the reporters off with "No comment"s.

The limousine door opened and, with no small amount of relief, he slid into the back seat and leaned back tiredly.

"Mr. Winner? Where are we headed?"

He looked up and smiled at his driver. "Back to the Philadelphia estate. We'll stay twelve hours and then leave on a commercial shuttle to L4."

"All right then."

The partition slid up slowly.

…………………

"Usagi! Where is he?" Ami stormed in first through the door, followed closely by Artemis and Relena.

Usagi stood up, clothing splotched with blood and pointed dazedly.

Ami gasped and swooped down, kneeling and flipping open her medical bag expertly, instantly getting down to work. Usagi watched mutedly as the doctor quickly inserted a chest tube and closed the entrance wound, monitoring Hiiro's breathing rate every few minutes. She watched the frown play on Ami's face as the brunette shook her head slowly. "What I'd do for an x-ray right now."

"Is he going to be all right?"

Ami glanced back briefly before getting back to work. "You're lucky the bullet is so low. Since the left lung was above the wound, the internal bleeding didn't press so much against it and it didn't collapse with the right one." She glanced back again and shot Usagi an encouraging smile. "Since the chest tube is already in him, we're much better off than before."

"You're not … operating?"

Ami shrugged. "Not yet, anyway. Until the air in his lung returns to its regular pressure level, I can't remove the chest tube. When I do that, I'll have to sew the torn tissue up. That's the tricky part and what the antibiotics are here for."

"So you don't have to dig out the bullet?"

The doctor shook her head and stood up, pulling the protective gloves off of her hands and dropping them onto the mass of bloodied towels, flinching slightly. "You've been watching too much ER. The lung will heal itself and the body will form scar tissue around the bullet since it's nowhere near a joint or bone."

"How do you feel?" Artemis jumped in, eyeing the seemingly half-dead Usagi, smiling gently as he stepped closer and touched her comfortingly on the shoulder.

She shook it off. "I'm fine." Her voice was faint and fatigued and she wobbled when she stopped leaning against the wall.

"Oh, Usagi! We were all so worried about your disappearance!"

Usagi's eyes finally landed upon the last person present who had been silent up until that point and widened. "Relena? You can't be here! This is way too dangerous!"

"Nonsense! If Artemis has to come then so do I."

The silver-haired man rolled his eyes. "You see what I have to put up with in New York?"

Usagi managed a smile but quickly turned back to Ami.

"What will happen now?"

Heaving a sigh, Ami grinned. "You did a great job of stopping the blood flow and remembering to slap on the thin plastic so quickly. And we were lucky that the bullet didn't go through and through … He'll need to stay in a reclining position for several days and won't be able to move much. Plus he'll be constantly drugged on antibiotics, just in case there's infection. Other than that … I don't think there'd be any major problems from now on."

Artemis caught Usagi as she fell back and fainted out of exhaustion.

"Usagi!" Relena looked horrified.

Ami looked on sympathetically. "She's worn-out."

"We have a time limit. I need to get back to Innocence in six hours and three of those are needed for the ride back." Artemis stared at Usagi's limp form that he had carried over to the couch and sighed. "Why don't you leave a set of instructions for her on how to take care of him, Ami?"

The doctor nodded absentmindedly as she studied her patient.

"Well … you know what they say. All's well that ends well," Relena smiled.

"We should get Usagi into her b-"

"Everybody freeze!" The door banged open to reveal two agents, Colt .45s aimed and ready. Trowa Barton and Wufei Chang surveyed the startled group in front of them.

…………………

Rashid greeted him warmly when he arrived back in Philadelphia and promptly asked him when and where he'd like to have lunch.

"I'll take it in my study," Quatre smiled and thanked the Maguanac. "Oh, and please hold all calls."

…………………

Artemis was the first to recover. Quickly, he snatched at the pistol in his pocket. But Wufei spotted this and automatically shot out. There was a flash of crimson as Artemis staggered back, clutching his wounded hand and glaring at the Asian agent. Ami moved slowly over to him, trying to help him but he pushed her away.

"We are here on behalf of the ESUN Preventers and FBI to arrest Artemis Danilo, Ami Mizuno, Usagi Tsukino, and…" Trowa paused to pencil something in. "Relena Darlian."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Artemis raged as he stepped forward. Wufei's gun was instantly trained on him.

"Don't move."

Trowa bent down to examine the dead body by the couch, eyebrows shooting up at the man's FBI badge. "Do you know a Spencer McEvan?" he asked Wufei.

Wufei looked up and shook his head no.

"Says here he's in the Khushrenada division. Suspicious, huh?"

Wufei grunted.

"We'll take him with us."

"Who shot him?"

Nobody answered.

"Who shot him?" Trowa repeated, articulating the words slowly and carefully.

Again, nobody answered.

"Fine, you can testify in court then."

"Go stand facing the wall," Wufei ordered.

Ami, Artemis, and Relena slowly complied.

"Where is Tsukino?"

Relena nodded towards the couch.

"Go check on her." Trowa nodded and walked over, feeling her pulse and pulling back her eyelids.

"Unconscious," he stated as Wufei patted each of the three people against the wall down, removing Artemis's gun and keys, Relena's wallet, and Ami's surgical scissors.

"I-If I may speak," Relena started softly, slowly turning around and keeping her hands in plain view at all times.

Trowa nodded curtly at her.

"Agent Yui," she indicated Hiiro's form on the ground, "is injured and it is unadvisable to move him at the moment. We'll need Ami to stay with him. And Usagi is in no condition to travel. Besides, she was Agent Yui's mission, not either of yours." She finished strongly and jutted her chin out stubbornly.

Wufei glanced at Trowa to find the taller man glancing at him. Seconds ticked by before finally, Wufei muttered a, "Fine."

"Then Miss Darlian and Mr. Danilo. Please come with us." Trowa moved forward and snapped handcuffs on the two of them, not tight enough to cut off circulation but just pinched enough to hurt.

"Why are you part of this, Relena?" Trowa muttered to her while making sure the handcuffs were secure. She didn't flinch.

Out loud, almost proudly, she stated, "I'm Usagi Tsukino's finance, and I help out with Innocence's missions when I can."

Wufei blinked at her in disbelief. "I always thought you were honorable, woman."

Relena shook her head vehemently. "Innocence isn't what you think. It does exactly what you guys do except more secretively and-"

"Are you implying that the government steals?"

"Innocence does not steal! It simply-"

"Enough." Wufei shook his head. "We need to get going."

Artemis finally looked up. "Where are we headed?"

"Philadelphia."

…………………

"Master Quatre! You have visitors. They're in the patio."

Quatre nodded and got up from behind his desk. The patio door slid open easily as he walked in, expression pleasantly curious until he looked up.

"T-trowa? Wufei? What is this?" He looked from one person to the next, taking in the handcuffs and Artemis's unmistakable features. "Miss Relena!"

Relena looked bravely into his eyes, daring him to find fault in her.

Instead, Quatre turned to the two Preventers. "Have you two gone mad? What is this?"

"This is Artemis Danilo of Innocence and Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian. They are charged with affiliation with Innocence, grand larceny, and conspiracy."

Quatre blinked. "Why are you here then?"

Trowa sighed and stepped forward. "There have been so many claims that Innocence isn't … isn't what it seems. Plus, we felt that until further confirmation is given, Miss Relena Darlian should not be accused."

"What are you proposing for me to do?"

"You judge in your spare time, are prominent enough. If we don't arrest the two, you have enough weight to hold off the feds. Just hear them out and decide whether or not they should be arrested."

Artemis stared on in disbelief.

"Trowa…" Relena smiled softly.

"All right then. We'll hold closed court in Conference Room 4B." Quatre signaled for them to follow him.

…………………

Hmm … a bit odd. I'm finished writing it but … there's probably about 8 or so more chapter left. ^^''' Anyhow … thanks for reading! Yours, Angel.

Serena Yuy: Lol. Well … Usagi didn't say much this time … but hey! At least there wasn't a fight or anything … yet. ^^;;; Feel free to call me evil. :D Heh heh heh … well … that's the joy of it – taking my sweet time. ^^ But actually, as I did with Picture This, I have almost no patience with updating slowly … so updates will probably come about … twice a week or something, ok? Lol. ^^

Liquid Ice: I'm so very, very flattered. ^^;;; Thanks so much for the compliments though … whether or not I deserve them is an entirely different matter. ~tries to speak but gets light-headed from the blood rushing to her cheeks~ ^^

Naiad: Okay … so I lied. Lol. The second best public school system in the U.S. (as of … I'm not sure when), is Plano, Texas (it's pretty close to Dallas) while the best one is somewhere in Chicago … (I'm not sure if it's in Chicago or near Chicago) But I decided to change that because I was afraid that Plano would be too small of a town for people to recognize. Lol. ^^ Naturally, Scaramento was just pulled out of the air randomly. ^^

Princess2000204: Actually … (and I don't really like FF.N for doing this) the chapter is chapter 11 because I don't really count the prologue as a chapter … however, FF.N counts … all chapters as chapters sooo … lol. The number is always off … which really confuses me sometimes. But thanks for telling me about it anyhow! ^^

Vixen: Ahh … sorry to disappoint about the meeting between Usa and Rel. Trowa and Wufei are interesting … lol. As a team, especially. The background story … ~sigh~ Lol. Thanks for all of your comments! ^^

Firefly Princess: "Subconsciously, you now know her past" LOL! ^^ Thanks for all of your wonderful comments! They really brighten my day … lol (more than Fruits Basket, even! ^^) Thanks for your enthusiasm and interest … though I'm sure it had taken a long time to do … ^^;;; I shouldn't be wasting that much of your day … Lol. Thank you so much! (oh, and where did you get that many translations of Furuba manga? O___O)

Thanks go to everybody who read and to those who took the time to review as well. I really appreciate it, guys. ^^