Chapter: Ichi
Usagi settled back into her seat on the lush private shuttle with a yawn, staring out the window. She could hear the soft murmur of male voices- Hiiro had immediately pulled Wufei, Duo, and Trowa to the back of the shuttle to discuss something, leaving the girls to settle in for the five hour trip to L4.
"Miss Tsukino?" the voice of Rei called to her, drawing her attention from the window.
"Hmm?" she asked, looking up to where Rei was offering her a cup of tea. "Oh! Thank you."
"It's no problem." Rei said, smiling as Usagi took the cup and sipped it slowly. "May I sit here? Minako and Makoto are both already asleep."
"Yes, yes, of course- Hiiro may kick you out when he gets back though." Usagi said with laughing eyes as Rei sat beside her.
"He doesn't seem like what Duo explained him as." Rei mumbled, sipping from her own cup and earning a puzzled glance from Usagi. "He always said he was rather cold, uncaring. Never smiled or laughed, and rarely talked except when it was about a mission or something." Rei quickly added, and Usagi nodded in understanding.
"He was like that when I first met him, and while he was training me. I made him go out and do things though whenever we got the chance, and I still do. He reverts to that when it comes to work, though." she explained, wrapping her blanket tighter around herself.
"How did you start working for the Preventers?" Rei asked, and Usagi giggled catching her off guard. "What?"
"I wasn't even in training when I met Hiiro. He found me while he was recruiting from the Tokyo police, who my brother works for. I just happened to be in the undercover department when he came in, and I acted the part of an officer- curious to see how long he'd buy it." Usagi laughed again, sipping from her cup before continuing. "It didn't last very long, let me assure you, but he said I had potential and recruited me instead of the men he really came there to see. I was 16.... you?"
"I went to the academy, specialized in business investigation and graduated top of my class. I'm twenty-four." Rei said, and Usagi nodded with a smile.
"Looks like I maybe the youngest, ne? How old were you when you graduated?" she asked setting her cup in the holder on the table in front of them.
"19, my grandfather made me wait unlike most kids that go into the Preventers." Rei said, and Usagi nodded again as Hiiro cleared his throat from beside them.
"Chair. Out. Now. Need to talk to Usagi." he grunted, and Rei sent a look to Usagi saying "I thought you said he wasn't like this anymore?" as she stood.
Usagi merely giggled a little and waved good bye as Rei bowed slightly to Hiiro and walked off, tea in hand.
"All ready making new friends. Not surprising." Hiiro mumbled, sitting beside her as she smiled brightly at him, her eyes laughing. Hiiro glanced at her before letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Ne, ne, Hii-kun- daijoubu ka." Usagi asked, slipping into her native Japanese, eyes immediately thinning slightly in worry.
"Daijoubu. Just tired, confused. And you know I-"
"Hate being confused. Hai, I know." she cut him off, impulsively kissing his cheek before settling in to take a nap. "We're the best. Everything will be fine, Hii-kun- you'll see."
"But when you're always on top of the ladder... you'll eventually fall." he whispered, not expecting her to hear. The small hand slipping into his shocked him for that reason. Usagi glanced at him one last time, sqeezing his hand in reassurance before laying her head on his shoulder and drifting off to sleep.
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"I'm tempted to go over there and ask who he is and what he did with Hiiro. But of course, what he said during that little chat is exactly what Hiiro'd say...so I dunno." Duo said to Wufei and Trowa as he stared at the picture Hiiro and Usagi made; her asleep against him and he quietly reading.
"It's been a while since any of us have seen him in person though. Not since he met Tsukino." Trowa said and Wufei raised an eyebrow at him.
"Are you suggesting that she's the reason he's changed as much as he has, Barton?" he asked, in a tone of disbelief as Trowa stared in thought at Hiiro and Usagi.
"Only a possibility. I'm not suggesting he's interested in her as more than a friend, far from it actually, but she seems to be an amazing person from what I've found out, and heard about her." Trowa shrugged, and shook his head before taking a sip from a cup of coffee.
"Hiiro hand picked her, didn't he? She's gotta be something special." Duo said, crushing his pop can and tossing it into a bin.
"Who knows... but he's right, about the girls that is. We need to keep them out of this as much as we can." Wufei said, standing and walking over to sit down besides Minako.
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"You can't be serious. Hiiro, this is what you trained me for! I'm not sitting on the sidelines while you and your buddies go out, possibly risking your lives, to figure out what the hell is going on." Usagi said, crossing her arms over her chest in a slight pout.
"Usagi, I'm not risking your life for something that my past dragged you into. You don't deserve to have to deal with any of my old enemies that may be lurking around." Hiiro said firmly, before the announcement came that they were preparing to dock.
"Who says it's your past that is the only reason for this, Hiiro? What are you hiding from me? I think I have a bit of a right to know." she asked quietly, all most in a hurt voice.
Hiiro sighed, and placing his mouth millimeters from her ear, whispered; "You're all ready in enough danger as it is, Chibi. I'll tell you when this is all over, okay?"
Usagi froze, nodding numbly- attempting to ignore the feeling of his warm breath against her ear and the shivers it was giving her. If Hiiro noticed this, he didn't say anything. Merely nodded, adding a 'buckle up' before pulling away and doing so himself.
"They look alot closer then friends, ne, Wufei?" Minako asked him quietly, before stifling a yawn behind her hand.
"Yes, they do. Knowing Yui though, they're just friends."
"What's that mean?"
"Hiiro wouldn't know love if it slapped him in the face."
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"Winner! Didn't expect you to be picking us up yourself." Wufei said as he reached the bottom of the steps from the shuttle, the blond smiled at him and nodded.
"I was advised against it... with the investigations and all, no matter how ill founded they are. Took much arguing with Rashid before he allowed it." Quatre said with an exausted sigh, shaking his head.
"You probably shouldn't have, Quatre." Hiiro grunted out, earning a roll of the eyes from Usagi.
"You honestly expect them to be able to understand you when you talk like that?" she asked, setting her hands on her hips and looking slightly annoyed, as Quatre looked on in slight surprise- the others just watched in amusement.
"You can understand me can't you? What makes you think they can't?" he prodded her, still grunting and she threw her hands into the air.
"I'm standing right next to you, they aren't."
"So?"
"So? So!"
"Hnn..."
"Dammit! Now don't start with that!" Usagi huffed, and stalked the rest of the way down the stairs, ignoring the grin Hiiro was giving her back.
"Hn." he said one last time before following her down the steps.
"You purposely do that to annoy me don't you? ..Wait, no, don't answer that." Usagi grumbled, sending a glare back to Hiiro before turning and smiling at Quatre.
"Usagi Tsukino, pleasure to meet you, Sir." bowing slightly to him, he smiled before doing the same.
"Quatre Winner, Hiiro's told me about you." he said, and she raised an eyebrow, turning to look at Hiiro.
"Oh really..? I hope it wasn't anything too bad, though knowing him it was." she said, and Hiiro just cocked an eyebrow back at her.
"No, nothing bad."
"That's a shocker, he's usually pretty critical of me.
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"So, you, Minako, and Makoto have all met before? That's not fair..." Usagi whined softly, as her and Rei sat in the library of one of the Winner Estates on L4.
"Yeah, Duo said that they had invited you and Yui; but that you were all ways in the middle of an operation when we got together." Rei said, running her a hand through her hair, gently brushing it out of her face.
"Wouldn't be surprising, we were all most all ways working- I think the longest period between missions we had was a week. I don't see how Hiiro got the time to assign the others with how much we spent under." Usagi let out a soft sigh and leaned back into her chair, reminiscing of her work.
"That sounds like the Yui Duo told me about- a workaholic." Rei murmured, and Usagi nodded with a yawn.
"Both of us are, we enjoy our jobs. Or we did any ways... gods, I can't believe we're under investigation... it seems so unreal." Gently touching her temple, Usagi shook her head and sighed again.
"I heard Mr. Winner is under investigation as well... seems odd, doesn't it? They worked together constantly during the Eve Wars, according to Duo... and all five of them are under investigation at the same time, now..." Rei said, and Usagi suddenly blinked; looking up at Rei she stared at her in shock. "What? What's wrong?"
"Rei... is Maxwell secretive about what he did during the war?"
"Well yeah..."
"Do you know if Chang and Barton are, too?" Usagi asked, causing Rei to blink at her.
"Mako and Mina have mentioned they are, yes. Why? What's going on Usagi?"
"I need to do some research... I'll get back to you on that."
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Wheee. It took less then a month. Go me. It is a bit short, but oh well....
Thank you all for your reviews, minna-san! they're very appreciated~! Speaking of which... answering a few questions:
zero^insanity7747: Ami will come in shortly... just gotta find the right spot. Mamoru will probably not come in, neither will Chibi-Usa. Ririna, however... I'm just waiting for the right moment... more then likely there will be no bashing. As much as I don't really like her, Hiiro probably does consider her a friend in the anime, so....yeah. *stops rambling*
the Desert Fox: No killing the braided fool, no... there will be some annoying of Wufei, though... it's like...required >>
Allyna: Yeah, it's AU for BSSM. There was no scouts, nor reincarnation... that doesn't mean they're normal though >> *shuts up*
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