Ryoko-onee – You're right, nearly all the kids do have malfunctions. Well, Kaori most of all…
Chapter Four
Hayden didn't remember running out of his father's apartment in search of Kaori. He didn't remember running through the halls and stairwells to get to her door. He only knew that he found himself here, in front of her door and pounding on it for her to let him in.
No one answered.
Without hesitation, he opened her unlocked door and burst into her room.
* * * * * * *
"Heero!" Duo breathed, not believing the words that had just escaped his friend's mouth. Mei and Luke took their leave of Duo's apartments and left quietly.
Heero sat down heavily in a recently vacated chair of the kitchen, letting out a sigh and preparing to let out a tremendous amount of emotion. He knew Duo was there, in every possible sense of the word "there." Duo was the most caring and supportive person Heero had ever met. Duo had helped him live through some of the biggest tragedies of his life. And now Duo was more that willing to help him with this. He looked up at his braided friend with haunted eyes.
Duo moved a chair closer to Heero and sat with his arm around the shoulders of his friend, while Heero leaned forward on the table, his chin pillowed on his crossed arms. "What's been going on, Heero?"
"She's convinced that her life's not worth living," he said simply. It was the truth: harsh and real.
Duo just shook his head slowly. "But why?"
"Kaori. Jin sees how she's developed…mentally. It makes Jin feel…insignificant, somehow. It makes her miss the way she used to be. So she goes out on active duty to make up for it." A few light tears fell from Heero's eyes. "She thinks we've lost some of the intimacy, the connection, that we had at the beginning…"
"But you guys haven't had that kind of connection since the beginning. She lost her telepathic abilities after the interrogation chips…"
"I know." Heero was silent for a long while. He never really had understood why Jin felt the way she did. They were here, amongst friends in the Academy with fulfilling jobs and careers as instructors. They had a beautiful daughter. They had each other. And even without the initial connection that they'd had, Heero still loved her more than he could express in words. He never understood why she continued to accept mission assignments from Une. "I even tried asking Une to not consider Jin as a possible soldier for missions. She said it was Jin's decision, and that I could beg all I wanted, but she'd use Jin while she could."
"What kinds of missions does she accept?" Duo asked.
"The kinds that no one else does. The kinds where she's not expected to come back."
* * * * * * *
Kaori's room was empty. Hayden searched every possible corner he could find. She simply wasn't there. Of course she's not here, he thought to himself. Why would she come to her room when obviously didn't want to be found. Hayden suddenly remembered the lake. She had been there last night. Maybe she went there again.
The lake was as peacefully still this afternoon as it had been last night when he and Kaori had first met each other. Hayden spun in a circle when he reached the nearest shore, avidly looking for her. Then he looked out over the water, searching along the faraway shores of the other sides of the lake. No use. With a sigh, he was about to accept defeat. Until he remembered that she'd approached him last night from somewhere off to the right and around the shore of the lake.
With a dim spark of hope in his heart, Hayden made his way around the shore of the lake, walking slowly and looking everywhere. That spark started to fade as he made his way farther and farther around the lake. He walked for an hour. When he noticed that he'd reached the far end of the lake and could see the building complex of the Academy directly across the lake, he gave up trying. Hayden fell into a sitting position in the sand, staring absently over the water.
He'd lost her. He knew it. He stayed there on the other side of the lake until the sun started setting, enflaming the clouds in bright hues of pink and orange. The few lights that worked during the low power mode inside and outside the Academy came to life and cast little glows upon the ripples of the lake. Darkness of night enveloped him quickly.
"You haven't lost me yet," he heard her voice say, just as he was about to get up and go home.
Relief flooded over him. "How long have you been behind me?"
"Since about when you got here." He felt her presence close to him as she sat down beside him. It reminded him of when they sat together last night, except she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt instead of in a simple dress. And her hair was shorter and in a bun, rather than long and flowing around her.
"So you've been watching me and reading my mind this whole time?" he asked with more of a sharp edge to his voice than he meant to convey.
"Yes and no," she answered. Kaori stretched her back and resettled in the sand, pulling her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. "You haven't had a whole lot going through your mind until recently," she said. "So I didn't bother reading your mind. I've been thinking…"
"About what?"
"Many things. About my mother. About my father. About you." She blushed a little when she said that last part and purposefully looked out over the water to avoid his surprised glance in her direction. "That I should tell you I was kicked out of the Academy when I was seventeen."
Hayden didn't know what to say to that.
"I have…problems…when it comes to following orders," Kaori continued. "I know, strange for the daughter of the Perfect Soldier and an OZ Special to have problems following orders, huh?" She had a hint of laughter in her voice.
He chuckled lightly. It was kind of ironic. "So you didn't follow some orders…"
"…and they told me to leave halfway through my first year," she finished. "I told my dad that I wanted to go back to the Academy, so he pulled some strings and got me readmitted this year."
"Do you really want to go back to the Academy?" Hayden asked.
"Yes and no." She laughed at her ambiguous answer. "I want to be a soldier. I want to go out on missions the way our fathers used to and the way my mother still does. But I want to GO already. I don't like the training part."
Hayden nodded slowly. With living here at the Academy and having Heero and Jin as parents, he figured Kaori already knew more about being a soldier than some soldiers did. It must be frustrating for her to go though the same training as everyone else. The same training he'd need to go through. "Will you help me then?" he asked.
"With what?" she asked, looking at him.
He cocked his head to the side. "You mean you weren't reading my thoughts?" he joked.
Kaori smiled. "I can't do that kind of thing. Empathy isn't like that. Anyway, even if I could, it's a big invasion of privacy. I'd try not to do that, you know…"
Standing up, Hayden offered a hand to help her up. "And I wouldn't mind, you know," he said with a grin. She took his hand, and he helped pull her to her feet. "But I meant: would you help me at the Academy, since you already know this stuff and I know nothing?"
"You're joining?"
Hayden looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes," he said simply. They started walking together back around the lake, towards their home.
* * * * * * *
The first day of classes arrived too early in the morning for Luke Maxwell. Hayden yelled at him louder and shook his shoulder, trying to get the big guy out of bed.
"Alright, alright," he moaned, rolling over and falling out of the bottom bunk. They'd moved into a room on the fifth floor with the rest of the cadets yesterday and he wasn't used to this small of a bed.
"Get your ass up and dressed," Hayden said with a growl. "Today is not a good day to decide to sleep in." He was busy with problems of his own, having to tame his long mane into a tight braid. But his hair seemed to have a mind of its own today.
"I'm up, I'm up," Luke said, stumbling towards his closet. He was stopped halfway there by a soft knock on the door. Detouring, he opened the door.
"You should get some clothes on. You'll be late," Kaori said with a smile as she brushed past him and into the room. Mei remained in the doorway, glancing with an embarrassed look at Luke, who stood in front of her in his boxers.
"Sorry," he mumbled, reaching for his pants and pulling them on quickly.
"Help me," Hayden whined at Kaori. She laughed a little and walked to him, braiding his hair with efficiency that only someone who'd had long hair could achieve. "And you should take a shower Luke," he added.
"Not really…" Mei said.
"Why not?"
"Because Wufei's martial arts class is last on our schedules," Kaori explained. "You'll get plenty dirty and sweaty then. Take a shower after class."
"How do you know my schedule?" Luke asked, buttoning his shirt.
Kaori rolled her eyes and kicked Luke's shoes in his direction. "Do you honestly think that my Daddy didn't teach me how to hack into the school computer system? Of course I know how to do that, and I checked your schedules."
"What are your and Mei's schedules like?" Luke asked.
"Just like yours." Kaori smiled and headed towards the door. "There's only fifty first year students here, and we all have the same schedule."
* * * * * * *
Kaori had been right. After a quick breakfast, the four of them made their way to their first class, with Kaori's father as the instructor. Combat Maneuvers. In there they'd learn everything that they'd need for a mission, from marksmanship to military codes. That class lasted all morning, and halfway through, Heero left the teaching to his assistant. Lieutenant Commander West.
The dark woman made her way to the front of the room after Kaori's father left. So far, Hayden thought this wasn't going to be too bad, since Heero refused to give his daughter or any of the Gundam pilots' children special attention. Lt. Commander West had a different idea in mind.
"Listen up, dogs!" Her voice demanded attention and respect. "This class will teach you how to survive in a mission. Failure to comply with each and every rule we lay in this class WILL result in your death and possibly the deaths of your squad – if in a real situation. Therefore we treat each and every training exercise as seriously as a real mission. Any foul-ups will be accurately, swiftly, and severely punished." Lt. Commander West glared directly at Kaori. Hayden shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked beside him at Kaori, who was giving her own Yuy death glare directly back to the woman. "Understand that, Yuy?" West asked with the intent of unnerving the girl.
"Yes ma'am," Kaori said with a growl.
West walked over to her chair and leaned down. "I asked if you understood that, Yuy," she said in a soft voice, dripping with venom.
Kaori glared harder, narrowing her eyes. After half a second, she stood up and gave a proper salute, holding her chin up and staring out with distant eyes. "Yes Ma'am," Kaori said in a crisp soldier voice.
"Glad to hear that, Yuy," West replied, circling Kaori like a vulture. "You shouldn't have been readmitted into this institution, but since you're here, I'll make a good example out of you." West smiled cruelly. "Drop and give me twenty."
"Yes ma'am." Kaori lowered her salute and promptly dropped to the ground, counting out her pushups. "One…Two…Three…"
"I can't hear you, cadet!" West bent down and screamed into Kaori's ear.
"FOUR…FIVE…SIX…"
"This is bullshit." Hayden glared at the instructor.
Lt. Commander West's head snapped around and looked at him. "Did you say something, dog?"
Mei's hand clamped down on Hayden's knee and she whispered, "Don't Hayden…"
"I said THIS IS BULLSHIT!" Hayden said louder, getting up to stand taller than West.
"I'm glad to have your opinion…" she peered at the nametag on his uniform shirt, "Maxwell. You just gave your friend twenty more pushups." West sneered and turned away from him. "Hear that Yuy?"
"THIRTEEN…Yes ma'am…fourteen…"
Hayden sighed in defeat and sat down heavily. That didn't quite go as he planned. He fumed silently as he watched Lt. Commander West stalk around the room as she continued her lecture. When Kaori reached twenty the second time, she got up slowly and sat back down next to him.
"Sorry about that," he whispered, too mad at himself to even look her direction.
"Don't worry about it," Kaori said, breathing a little heavy from the pushups. "Her goal is to make me suffer."
* * * * * * *
"And then she had to do twenty more pushups…" Luke was saying when Kaori and Hayden made their way to the front Duo's classroom after he finished his lecture. Mei was already sitting on Duo's desk next to Luke as Luke told his father about their first morning in the Academy.
"I hear you've had a bad day," Duo said to Kaori with a smile as she rested against the desk on the other side of Luke. Other students filed silently out of the classroom, heading toward the last class of the day – Wufei's martial arts training.
"Could be worse," Kaori said.
"And you need to learn how to keep your mouth shut," Duo said with a slight scolding tone as he addressed Hayden's presence.
Hayden just snorted and continued wearing the angry frown that hadn't left his face since the pushup incident. Kaori nudged him playfully. His mouth twitched into a smile momentarily and then fell back into the frown.
"Hade's more upset about it than Kaori is," Luke explained, mimicking his father's broad smile. There was nothing he enjoyed more than capitalizing on his brother's misfortunes. "Come on, girls," he said, putting an arm around Mei and around Kaori. "Let us head to our next intriguing class. See you later, brother," he called as they left the room together.
"You better get going, son," Duo said, patting his shoulder.
Hayden sighed. "It's Wufei's class. How hard can it be?"
* * * * * * *
Hayden's head pounded as he looked up at his Chinese instructor from his back on the floor. Wufei's "initial analysis" of his students' skills had been going on all class period. His only small victory lay in the fact that he had outlasted Luke against the Chinese master, if only for about thirty seconds.
"Good job, Maxwell," Wufei said, offering a hand to help him up. The same help he'd offered to every student who had fallen on the ground before him during Instructor Chang's sparring matches.
"Thank you, sir," Hayden managed to reply as he accepted Chang's help and made his way unsteadily to his feet. He walked back to where Luke, Mei, and Kaori waited for him on the floor. Sitting heavily, he unconsciously rubbed the ache in his chest. Wufei had already beaten another student by the time Hayden sat down.
"Good job, Jackie Chan," Luke teased.
"Hey, I lasted longer than you did," Hayden pointed out.
"Only 'cause Master Chang stopped to retie his ponytail in the middle of the fight," Luke countered.
"Now boys," Mei said with a mocking motherly tone, "Behave."
Luke just laughed. Hayden sighed.
This was going to be a long two years.
