Title: The Final Decision
Author: Skye-chan a.k.a. Waka1
Feedback: Yes, please, send feedback.
Email Address: Skyechan14@hotmail.com
Warnings: Weird? OOC? Hinted shounen-ai. WARNING: Relena bashing! ::very big grin::
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, unfortunately, and I fully intend to return the boys to Bandai or whoever in almost perfect shape. Honest, I have no idea where those bruises came from! ::grins evilly:: I do own Sukie Taki however. Erishi Wakatsuki owns herself. Sukie is based off of myself, and Erishi is based off of my best friend. Bandai or whatever company owns Gundam Wing has no part in this fanfic. The Dixie Chicks, Lonestar, and any other singer/group I mention had no part in this either. I don't own their songs, though I wish I did. No money's being made from this. Please don't sue me for using the characters. I probably don't have anything you'd want, being that I'm a meager high school student. I don't wanna go to court, so please spare me the embarrassment of having to explain to the court that I warned you that didn't own the characters, and you still sued me anyway. Okie dokie! Enough of me blabbering on and on! On with the story!
Author's Note: In this fic, I made all the G-boy's a little taller. LOL Cause if you convert the G-boy's heights to feet, they're only like 5 foot 2-4 inches I think. ::giggles:: And the G-boys, Sukie, and Erishi are about 18-19 years old. Also, towards the end of the story, 'the boss' isn't Treize, or Zechs, or anybody that was in the series. This story was really hard to divide into chapters…if you have any suggestions on where I should put a chapter break, other than where I have them, feel free to tell me!
Chapter 1
(Normal POV)
Sukie walked down the street and sighed. 'Ever since I got transferred here, I've been lonely. I miss Tokyo.' She thought. She glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "Oh shoot! I'm gonna be late!" she cried, and took off running down the street. Her silky black hair whipped around her face. 'Man, I knew I should've put my hair in a ponytail.' She thought agitatedly. About five blocks down, she slowed down a little. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder when she ran straight into somebody. "Ow!" she cried out, and fell backwards.
"Hey! Watch out!" a male voice muttered. Sukie looked up at who she ran into and almost gasped. She was staring at the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. He stood about 5'8" tall, wasn't that built, but still had a nice body, and had stunning aqua-marine eyes. His platinum blonde hair looked well kept, except that his bangs hung down in his eyes. He held out a hand to help her up. "Are you ok?" he asked, concern edging into his voice.
"Y-yeah. I think so. I'm really sorry; I should've been watching where I was going." Sukie replied, and winced at how much her accent showed through. She grasped his hand and pulled herself up. She let out a small gasp at the electric shock she felt when she touched his hand.
"I'm Quatre. I don't think I've ever seen you around." Quatre said.
"I'm Sukie. Sukie Taki." Sukie replied and smiled. "I just moved here from Japan."
"Wow! Cool! It's nice to meet you."
Sukie nodded and smiled. "Ditto." She said. 'If you only knew how nice.' She thought. Quatre smiled at her.
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
Sukie looked puzzled for a moment. "Actually, I don't remember!" she finally said, and giggled. Quatre laughed.
"I've done that before. It's annoying!" he said. Sukie nodded, and smiled.
Chapter 2
(Quatre's POV)
I couldn't believe my eyes when Sukie had crashed into me. Here I was, just heading back to the safe house, and this beautiful girl ran into me. I slightly laughed to myself. 'This kind of thing always happens to Duo and Heero, but it doesn't happen to me. Man, I sure got lucky this time.' I thought to myself.
"Hey Sukie, you wanna meet my roommates? They're kinda, oh what's the word, weird? I think that's it. Well, I'm not sure if you'd really describe it as weird, but they get a little wacko sometimes." I said, and laughed. She giggled and smiled. Then I noticed the X-shaped scar on her right cheek for the first time. She must have noticed me looking at it, 'cause she covered it up with her hand quickly. I forced myself to stop looking at it, and made myself look at her eyes. Her bright green eyes looked kind of troubled. I mentally shook it off, and took her free hand. "You ready?" I asked. She slowly took her hand off of her cheek and nodded.
"Uh huh." She murmured. I gently squeezed her hand, then let go and started walking. Sukie hurried after me, and fell into step beside me.
"What part of Japan are you from?" I asked, trying to lift the tenseness in the air.
"Downtown Tokyo." She replied.
"Cool. Isn't it a belief or way of life in Japan, that the women are supposedly weaker than men¹?" I asked. I saw Sukie visibly stiffen. 'Shoot, did I say something wrong?' I thought.
¹AN: I know that's probably not totally correct, but I couldn't think of any other way to put it. Gomen.
(Sukie's POV)
I could feel myself stiffen at the mention of women being weaker than men. "Yeah, it is. But I don't agree with it. I don't stand behind a man. I stand beside him, or not at all. If he wants to make me stand behind him, he's not worth being around in my opinion." I replied. I slightly blushed at the realization of how much I had said. I looked at Quatre out of the corner of my eye and inwardly sighed. He wasn't looking at me. He was staring at the ground as he walked, and seemed to be thinking over what I had said. I didn't notice the raised part of sidewalk, and tripped. I landed hard on my knees and hands. I let out a sharp cry of pain, and that seemed to get Quatre out of his thoughts. He gasped when he saw what had happened. He hurried over to me, and helped me up. My palms were all scraped up and bloody, and my jeans had two holes in them at the knees. My knees weren't scraped up that bad, my pants had gotten the worst of it. I bit my lip to keep from crying.
"I'm so sorry Sukie; I forgot to tell you about that part of the sidewalk." Quatre said.
"It's ok. Accidents happen." I quipped, and then winced in pain. I looked at my palms again, and started to feel a little dizzy. I swayed a little bit on my feet. Quatre reached out to steady me. "I can't stand the sight of my own blood. It makes me feel sick." I explained, and then lost my balance.
(Quatre's POV)
I saw Sukie lose her balance again, and she started to fall, but I caught her.
"I'm ok. Really." She tried to tell me.
"I'm not gonna have you fall again. I'm carrying you the rest of the way." I said, and proceeded to pick her up. Sukie looked like she was about to protest, but decided not to. She laid her head on my chest, and sighed. I could hear her humming the Dixie Chicks song, "Ready to Run". I smiled slightly. 'Her and Duo'll get along, cause they both like the Dixie Chicks.' I thought. 'I just hope they don't get along to well…'
Chapter 3
(Sukie's POV)
I sighed contentedly as Quatre carried me. I smiled to myself. 'My dream come true.' I thought. I started humming "I'll Take Care of You" by the Dixie Chicks. I looked at Quatre, and leaned up and quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek. I smiled to myself.
(Quatre's POV)
It startled me when Sukie kissed me on the cheek. I placed my finger under her chin, and lifted her face to look at me. I slowly leaned my face down to meet hers. She leaned up to close the last few centimeters, and our lips met. I stopped walking, placed Sukie on the ground, and then wrapped my arms around her as we kissed. Her palms had stopped bleeding, and she tangled one hand in my hair, while her other hand seemed to explore my body. I pulled away from the kiss, both of us gasping for breath. Sukie looked at me questioningly.
"Let's wait 'till we get to the house, ok?" I told her, and swept her up into my arms again. Sukie giggled and nodded. She wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled her face into my neck. I kissed the top of her head, and I could feel her smile into my neck. It didn't take long to get to the safe house. I was debating over going in the front door or the back door, when something interrupted my thoughts.
"MAXWELL!!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!" a voice yelled from inside the house. Sukie looked at me questioningly again.
"That would be Heero threatening Duo for something. A normal procedure. Heero threatens one of us at least once a day." I explained. Sukie giggled.
"I had a friend in Tokyo like that. She normally did it at least 5 times a day though." Sukie said and laughed. I placed her on the ground, and took out my keys.
"You better stand off to the side, no telling what's gonna come out the door…" I said, and inserted the key. No sooner had I gotten the door open, I got shoved out of the way by Duo, who was quickly followed by Heero.
"Sorry Q-man!!!" Duo called over his shoulder, saw Heero closing in, and started running faster. Sukie was giggling uncontrollably.
"They're funny!" she giggled. I smiled and put my arm around her. I led her through the door, and took her inside. Trowa was on the couch reading a magazine, and Wufei had just come in holding a bowl in one hand, and in the other hand, there was a spoon. He was pulling the spoon out of his mouth, but he stopped about halfway out of his mouth. He raised an eyebrow at us, and then shrugged. I led Sukie over to where Trowa was.
"Hey Trowa, what's going on with Heero and Duo?" I asked.
"I think Duo deleted a file on Heero's computer that he was working on." Trowa replied, and glanced up from the magazine. His eyes fell on Sukie and just sat there staring at her. I felt a twinge of jealousy.
(Sukie's POV)
I saw Trowa look at me, and seem to look me over. I blushed slightly. I glanced at the magazine he was reading, and noticed it was about mobile suits. 'Why would he be reading about mobile suits?' I thought. 'He does look like one of the pilots of the Gundams…no, it couldn't be them…'
"Hi. I'm Sukie Taki." I said to Trowa, and held out my hand.
"Trowa Barton." He replied, and shook my hand. Then I turned to Quatre.
"Who's 'silent guy' over there?" I asked, referring to Wufei.
"Oh, that's Wufei. He's kind of a loner. Not to keen on the subject of women either. His wife was killed." Quatre said softly. I lowered my eyes.
"He was married?" I whispered. I felt Quatre squeeze me gently.
"Yeah, but he doesn't like to talk about it." He replied. He led me over to another couch, and sat down. I sat down beside him, and moved as close as I could to him. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He put one arm around me, and pulled me closer.
"The guy with the braid that ran by is Duo, and the guy in the spandex is Heero." He said. I nodded.
Chapter 4
(Quatre's POV)
As if on cue, Heero stormed through the door, dragging Duo by the braid. Duo was yelling his head off, but Heero didn't seem to hear or he was ignoring him. Heero dragged him down the hall.
"I'm not sure I want to know what Duo's punishment is." Trowa said.
"Me either." I replied.
"Huh?" Sukie asked.
"Duo and Heero are, oh, how should I put this? To put it simply, they're lovers. They come up with punishments for each other that would turn your stomach." I replied.
"You mean, they're gay?" Sukie said. I cringed.
"Yeah, pretty much. Trowa, Wufei, and I don't really go into detail with them about it." I replied. Sukie grinned.
"Ok. That's fine." She said, and then laid her head back down on my shoulder.
"It's no problem?" I asked.
"Nope. People have their own preferences." She murmured. I nodded, and started stroking her silky black hair softly.
"Why don't I show you around the place?" I offered. Sukie looked at me and nodded. I nodded and stood up. She stood up beside me and took my hand. I led her into the kitchen and showed her where everything was. She nodded every once in a while. Then I led her down the hall, showed her where the bathroom was, and pointed to where Duo and Heero's, Wufei's, and Trowa's rooms were. "I was wondering, do you have any place to stay?" I asked.
"No…right now, I'm living in a hotel." She replied.
"Well, we've got an extra room; would you like to stay here?" I said.
"Sure! I mean, if it's not too much trouble." She said, and smiled sweetly.
"It's no trouble at all! Do you need someone to help you with your stuff?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah, I do." She replied. "Let's go get my stuff! I can get settled in." she said and grinned. I grinned back at her. She started back towards the front of the house. I followed after her thinking about lucky I was.
Chapter 5
(Sukie's POV)
I couldn't believe it when Quatre had asked me to stay with him and the other boys. Quatre came up behind me.
"Are we gonna go get your stuff?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded. After we got to the door, we didn't even touch it when it flung open and hit me in the face. Relena Peacecraft stood in the doorway.
"Heero! Oh, Heero! Where are you? I know you're here somewhere!" Relena cried. All of a sudden, a very familiar face popped up from behind Relena. It was Erishi Wakatsuki, my friend.
"Hey Sukie. The boss wants to see you." She said, and then promptly made a face at Relena from behind her back. I rubbed my sore face as I tried not to laugh.
"Do you know what for?" I asked.
"Nope. I don't ask why, I just deliver the message." Erishi replied. Then she, yet again, made another face at Relena. Relena suddenly spun around and stared at Erishi. "What? Got a staring problem?" she asked. Relena turned back around and stalked inside and went looking for Heero. Once she found him, she dragged him out the door, while Erishi stood and laughed.
"You're going to take me out to dinner!" Relena said.
"I don't have any money!" Heero replied, thinking of excuses.
"That's ok! I'll pay!" Relena said happily.
"Then what's the point?" Heero muttered.
"I get to be in your company!" Relena replied.
"Oh, I'm so thrilled." Heero said sarcastically. I looked at Erishi and she was laughing very hard, and had to lean up against the door jam for support. Then she regained her composure. She seemed to realize something, and then without saying anything, grabbed me and dragged me out the door. I briefly waved to Quatre, who waved back at me.
"Do you have any idea who you were just in a room with?" she asked me when we out of earshot.
"No…" I replied.
"Those were the Gundam pilots." She said.
"Uh oh."
"Exactly. And do you know what our new mission is?"
"No…"
"We have to kill the Gundam pilots."
"B-b-but, I was just about to get a date!" I whined. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.
"Well, get over it!" she cried. I sighed, shrugged, and let Erishi drag me towards the base. On the way, I hummed "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks. She rolled her eyes again.
"I can't figure out what you see in that music stuff." Erishi muttered. I looked up at her in surprise.
"You don't like music? Man, you don't know what you're missing!" I cried.
"The only music I know is the cry of defeat from your enemies." she replied. I looked at her like she was insane, which knowing her, she probably was. Constant programming had taken the toll on her mind. I realized I was still being dragged along the ground.
"Can I walk now?" I asked.
"Yeah." She dropped hold of me, and I climbed to my feet. "So how did you get to be with OZ?" she asked me as I was dusting myself off. I started walking slowly, my hands in my pockets.
"I guess they thought I would be a good pilot or something." I said. "When I was very young, maybe two or three years old, they broke into my house and kidnapped me. They killed my parents and my older brother too. They died trying to protect me. Then, when they got me to a base, they branded me on my cheek. That's where the scar comes from." I said, and absentmindedly traced the scar with my finger. "I normally don't like talking about my family…" I said softly, and lowered my head. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at Erishi. I searched her face for any kind of emotion, but found none.
"You'll meet them someday." She said simply. I nodded. I started walking again, and started humming "With Me" by Lonestar. I heard Erishi mutter something under her breath. I just grinned to myself. Then I stopped humming, as my thoughts turned back to Quatre. Erishi fell in step beside me, and we walked in silence. I put my hands back in my pockets, and stared at the ground as I walked. I glanced up once, and noticed we were getting close to the base. When we got about a block away from the base, I could hear the alarms going off, and I heard the sounds of fighting. Erishi broke out into a full run, and I ran after her. We got into the base, and quickly jumped into our mobile suits. I adjusted my earphones and microphone, so that I could hear commands and reply to them, and then flipped the ignition switch².
²AN: Do MS's have ignition switches? I'm not really sure, so just bear with me, and let's just pretend they do, okie dokie?
I waited impatiently as the big machine roared to life. When it was fully booted up, I went after Erishi, who was already heading towards the battle. There were only four mobile suits to fight, but when I saw who we were going to be fighting, I let out a strangled cry.
We were fighting the Gundams!
My worst nightmare was unfolding right before my eyes. I saw Erishi go after the one with the scythes, and they engaged in battle. I desperately tried to remember what Gundam Quatre flew. I knew this at one time before, but it seemed that when I had actually met Quatre, it had all been cast aside. My head sank into my hands, and I sobbed quietly. All of a sudden, Erishi's face appeared on screen. I looked up at the screen, my face streaked with tears.
"Yo! Sukie! Get out here and help! I can't do this on my own!" she yelled, and then the screen jarred as her MS was hit hard. Her face contorted in pain.
"Erishi!" I cried, and rage filled me, pushing all other thoughts out of my head. Everything happened so quickly, that I couldn't remember a lot of what happened next. I remembered flying at the nearest MS and attacking savagely. Other reinforcements helped with the other suits, but I focused as well as I could on the one I was fighting. Afterwards, after I tumbled out of the cockpit, and painfully stood up, I waited for my opponent to come out. I let out another strangled cry as my opponent came out of his cockpit.
It was Quatre.
After he jumped down, he collapsed to the ground. I ran to him immediately, and gently used my arms to prop him up. He slowly opened his eyes.
"S-Sukie? What are you doing here?" he asked slowly, as his face filled with pain.
"Oh Quatre, I'm so sorry." I whimpered as a tear slid down my cheek. He painfully lifted a hand, and brushed it away.
"For what? You didn't d-…" he tried to say something, but the pain cut him off. He slowly gained his breath back and tried again. "You didn't do anything."
"But I did. I'm the one that did this to you. I was the one that fought with you. I work for OZ." I choked out, as a few more tears slid down. He just stared at me for a minute, and then reached up and caressed my face. "I didn't know it was you I was attacking. I was attacking blindly because of my rage." I whispered.
"It's ok. I forgive you. You had no way of knowing." He managed to say.
"But it's all right. You'll be ok. I promise. I know you will." I said. I knew I sounded pathetic, but I didn't care. He slowly smiled.
"If I have you beside me, I will be." He replied. I smiled through my tears. Then I thought of something I needed to do. I slowly lowered him to the ground.
"I need to go do something." I told him, and stood up to my full height, which I admit, isn't that tall, only being 5'5". I turned on my heels and came face to face with my boss. "Well, aren't I lucky? I was just coming to see you." I said sarcastically.
"Sukie, I heard from Erishi what you did to help her, and I'm promoting you a rank." My boss said.
"As much as I would like to accept it, I can't." I said, and pulled my rank insignia out from inside my jacket. I tossed it on the ground in front of him. "I hereby proclaim that I no longer work for you, or for OZ." I sneered, and spun on my heels. My boss grabbed me by the shoulders, and turned me to face him. His eyes were burning with fury. He pointed to my scar.
"Does this mean nothing?! Did you forget that you are branded?! You can't quit! You're bound here forever!" he yelled in my face. I wrenched myself free of his grasp, and picked my insignia pin off the ground.
"That's what you think." I said, and snapped the insignia in half. I threw the pieces on ground at his feet. "And as for my being branded, I don't have to show up for work. Yes, you could probably find out where I am, but I am not required to show up. And did you ever think about that I could have surgery done, to remove the scar? Hmm? Did you ever think of that? Evidently not. Good luck on trying to find me. If you haven't noticed, in previous missions, I'm very good at covering up my tracks." I spat, and then spun on my heels again, and helped Quatre up. He leaned up against me. I looked at Erishi, who had just appeared beside the boss, with her arm in a sling. "And Erishi? If you want to stay here in this hell hole, go right ahead, I won't stay here any longer." I said, and then started helping Quatre walk towards the safe house.
"Whatever Sukie. Whatever. Good luck on your new life." She called after me. I glanced back at her and smiled.
"Thanks." I told her, and then kept helping Quatre.
Chapter 6
(Normal POV)
As Erishi stood there watching Sukie help Quatre leave the battleground, she couldn't help but wonder what had made Sukie change her mind.
'Maybe it's that stuff they call love.' She thought to herself. She shrugged with her good arm, and turned and headed after her boss, who was going back to the base. On her way, she stopped briefly at the broken pieces of Sukie's insignia pin. As if to finalize Sukie's decision, she crushed the pieces under her heel, and then continued towards her base. She gave one look back at Sukie and Quatre. 'Good luck you two.' She thought, and then opened the base door, and walked inside…
The End (or is it? laughs evilly)
Author: Skye-chan a.k.a. Waka1
Feedback: Yes, please, send feedback.
Email Address: Skyechan14@hotmail.com
Warnings: Weird? OOC? Hinted shounen-ai. WARNING: Relena bashing! ::very big grin::
Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, unfortunately, and I fully intend to return the boys to Bandai or whoever in almost perfect shape. Honest, I have no idea where those bruises came from! ::grins evilly:: I do own Sukie Taki however. Erishi Wakatsuki owns herself. Sukie is based off of myself, and Erishi is based off of my best friend. Bandai or whatever company owns Gundam Wing has no part in this fanfic. The Dixie Chicks, Lonestar, and any other singer/group I mention had no part in this either. I don't own their songs, though I wish I did. No money's being made from this. Please don't sue me for using the characters. I probably don't have anything you'd want, being that I'm a meager high school student. I don't wanna go to court, so please spare me the embarrassment of having to explain to the court that I warned you that didn't own the characters, and you still sued me anyway. Okie dokie! Enough of me blabbering on and on! On with the story!
Author's Note: In this fic, I made all the G-boy's a little taller. LOL Cause if you convert the G-boy's heights to feet, they're only like 5 foot 2-4 inches I think. ::giggles:: And the G-boys, Sukie, and Erishi are about 18-19 years old. Also, towards the end of the story, 'the boss' isn't Treize, or Zechs, or anybody that was in the series. This story was really hard to divide into chapters…if you have any suggestions on where I should put a chapter break, other than where I have them, feel free to tell me!
Chapter 1
(Normal POV)
Sukie walked down the street and sighed. 'Ever since I got transferred here, I've been lonely. I miss Tokyo.' She thought. She glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "Oh shoot! I'm gonna be late!" she cried, and took off running down the street. Her silky black hair whipped around her face. 'Man, I knew I should've put my hair in a ponytail.' She thought agitatedly. About five blocks down, she slowed down a little. She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder when she ran straight into somebody. "Ow!" she cried out, and fell backwards.
"Hey! Watch out!" a male voice muttered. Sukie looked up at who she ran into and almost gasped. She was staring at the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. He stood about 5'8" tall, wasn't that built, but still had a nice body, and had stunning aqua-marine eyes. His platinum blonde hair looked well kept, except that his bangs hung down in his eyes. He held out a hand to help her up. "Are you ok?" he asked, concern edging into his voice.
"Y-yeah. I think so. I'm really sorry; I should've been watching where I was going." Sukie replied, and winced at how much her accent showed through. She grasped his hand and pulled herself up. She let out a small gasp at the electric shock she felt when she touched his hand.
"I'm Quatre. I don't think I've ever seen you around." Quatre said.
"I'm Sukie. Sukie Taki." Sukie replied and smiled. "I just moved here from Japan."
"Wow! Cool! It's nice to meet you."
Sukie nodded and smiled. "Ditto." She said. 'If you only knew how nice.' She thought. Quatre smiled at her.
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
Sukie looked puzzled for a moment. "Actually, I don't remember!" she finally said, and giggled. Quatre laughed.
"I've done that before. It's annoying!" he said. Sukie nodded, and smiled.
Chapter 2
(Quatre's POV)
I couldn't believe my eyes when Sukie had crashed into me. Here I was, just heading back to the safe house, and this beautiful girl ran into me. I slightly laughed to myself. 'This kind of thing always happens to Duo and Heero, but it doesn't happen to me. Man, I sure got lucky this time.' I thought to myself.
"Hey Sukie, you wanna meet my roommates? They're kinda, oh what's the word, weird? I think that's it. Well, I'm not sure if you'd really describe it as weird, but they get a little wacko sometimes." I said, and laughed. She giggled and smiled. Then I noticed the X-shaped scar on her right cheek for the first time. She must have noticed me looking at it, 'cause she covered it up with her hand quickly. I forced myself to stop looking at it, and made myself look at her eyes. Her bright green eyes looked kind of troubled. I mentally shook it off, and took her free hand. "You ready?" I asked. She slowly took her hand off of her cheek and nodded.
"Uh huh." She murmured. I gently squeezed her hand, then let go and started walking. Sukie hurried after me, and fell into step beside me.
"What part of Japan are you from?" I asked, trying to lift the tenseness in the air.
"Downtown Tokyo." She replied.
"Cool. Isn't it a belief or way of life in Japan, that the women are supposedly weaker than men¹?" I asked. I saw Sukie visibly stiffen. 'Shoot, did I say something wrong?' I thought.
¹AN: I know that's probably not totally correct, but I couldn't think of any other way to put it. Gomen.
(Sukie's POV)
I could feel myself stiffen at the mention of women being weaker than men. "Yeah, it is. But I don't agree with it. I don't stand behind a man. I stand beside him, or not at all. If he wants to make me stand behind him, he's not worth being around in my opinion." I replied. I slightly blushed at the realization of how much I had said. I looked at Quatre out of the corner of my eye and inwardly sighed. He wasn't looking at me. He was staring at the ground as he walked, and seemed to be thinking over what I had said. I didn't notice the raised part of sidewalk, and tripped. I landed hard on my knees and hands. I let out a sharp cry of pain, and that seemed to get Quatre out of his thoughts. He gasped when he saw what had happened. He hurried over to me, and helped me up. My palms were all scraped up and bloody, and my jeans had two holes in them at the knees. My knees weren't scraped up that bad, my pants had gotten the worst of it. I bit my lip to keep from crying.
"I'm so sorry Sukie; I forgot to tell you about that part of the sidewalk." Quatre said.
"It's ok. Accidents happen." I quipped, and then winced in pain. I looked at my palms again, and started to feel a little dizzy. I swayed a little bit on my feet. Quatre reached out to steady me. "I can't stand the sight of my own blood. It makes me feel sick." I explained, and then lost my balance.
(Quatre's POV)
I saw Sukie lose her balance again, and she started to fall, but I caught her.
"I'm ok. Really." She tried to tell me.
"I'm not gonna have you fall again. I'm carrying you the rest of the way." I said, and proceeded to pick her up. Sukie looked like she was about to protest, but decided not to. She laid her head on my chest, and sighed. I could hear her humming the Dixie Chicks song, "Ready to Run". I smiled slightly. 'Her and Duo'll get along, cause they both like the Dixie Chicks.' I thought. 'I just hope they don't get along to well…'
Chapter 3
(Sukie's POV)
I sighed contentedly as Quatre carried me. I smiled to myself. 'My dream come true.' I thought. I started humming "I'll Take Care of You" by the Dixie Chicks. I looked at Quatre, and leaned up and quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek. I smiled to myself.
(Quatre's POV)
It startled me when Sukie kissed me on the cheek. I placed my finger under her chin, and lifted her face to look at me. I slowly leaned my face down to meet hers. She leaned up to close the last few centimeters, and our lips met. I stopped walking, placed Sukie on the ground, and then wrapped my arms around her as we kissed. Her palms had stopped bleeding, and she tangled one hand in my hair, while her other hand seemed to explore my body. I pulled away from the kiss, both of us gasping for breath. Sukie looked at me questioningly.
"Let's wait 'till we get to the house, ok?" I told her, and swept her up into my arms again. Sukie giggled and nodded. She wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled her face into my neck. I kissed the top of her head, and I could feel her smile into my neck. It didn't take long to get to the safe house. I was debating over going in the front door or the back door, when something interrupted my thoughts.
"MAXWELL!!!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!!" a voice yelled from inside the house. Sukie looked at me questioningly again.
"That would be Heero threatening Duo for something. A normal procedure. Heero threatens one of us at least once a day." I explained. Sukie giggled.
"I had a friend in Tokyo like that. She normally did it at least 5 times a day though." Sukie said and laughed. I placed her on the ground, and took out my keys.
"You better stand off to the side, no telling what's gonna come out the door…" I said, and inserted the key. No sooner had I gotten the door open, I got shoved out of the way by Duo, who was quickly followed by Heero.
"Sorry Q-man!!!" Duo called over his shoulder, saw Heero closing in, and started running faster. Sukie was giggling uncontrollably.
"They're funny!" she giggled. I smiled and put my arm around her. I led her through the door, and took her inside. Trowa was on the couch reading a magazine, and Wufei had just come in holding a bowl in one hand, and in the other hand, there was a spoon. He was pulling the spoon out of his mouth, but he stopped about halfway out of his mouth. He raised an eyebrow at us, and then shrugged. I led Sukie over to where Trowa was.
"Hey Trowa, what's going on with Heero and Duo?" I asked.
"I think Duo deleted a file on Heero's computer that he was working on." Trowa replied, and glanced up from the magazine. His eyes fell on Sukie and just sat there staring at her. I felt a twinge of jealousy.
(Sukie's POV)
I saw Trowa look at me, and seem to look me over. I blushed slightly. I glanced at the magazine he was reading, and noticed it was about mobile suits. 'Why would he be reading about mobile suits?' I thought. 'He does look like one of the pilots of the Gundams…no, it couldn't be them…'
"Hi. I'm Sukie Taki." I said to Trowa, and held out my hand.
"Trowa Barton." He replied, and shook my hand. Then I turned to Quatre.
"Who's 'silent guy' over there?" I asked, referring to Wufei.
"Oh, that's Wufei. He's kind of a loner. Not to keen on the subject of women either. His wife was killed." Quatre said softly. I lowered my eyes.
"He was married?" I whispered. I felt Quatre squeeze me gently.
"Yeah, but he doesn't like to talk about it." He replied. He led me over to another couch, and sat down. I sat down beside him, and moved as close as I could to him. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He put one arm around me, and pulled me closer.
"The guy with the braid that ran by is Duo, and the guy in the spandex is Heero." He said. I nodded.
Chapter 4
(Quatre's POV)
As if on cue, Heero stormed through the door, dragging Duo by the braid. Duo was yelling his head off, but Heero didn't seem to hear or he was ignoring him. Heero dragged him down the hall.
"I'm not sure I want to know what Duo's punishment is." Trowa said.
"Me either." I replied.
"Huh?" Sukie asked.
"Duo and Heero are, oh, how should I put this? To put it simply, they're lovers. They come up with punishments for each other that would turn your stomach." I replied.
"You mean, they're gay?" Sukie said. I cringed.
"Yeah, pretty much. Trowa, Wufei, and I don't really go into detail with them about it." I replied. Sukie grinned.
"Ok. That's fine." She said, and then laid her head back down on my shoulder.
"It's no problem?" I asked.
"Nope. People have their own preferences." She murmured. I nodded, and started stroking her silky black hair softly.
"Why don't I show you around the place?" I offered. Sukie looked at me and nodded. I nodded and stood up. She stood up beside me and took my hand. I led her into the kitchen and showed her where everything was. She nodded every once in a while. Then I led her down the hall, showed her where the bathroom was, and pointed to where Duo and Heero's, Wufei's, and Trowa's rooms were. "I was wondering, do you have any place to stay?" I asked.
"No…right now, I'm living in a hotel." She replied.
"Well, we've got an extra room; would you like to stay here?" I said.
"Sure! I mean, if it's not too much trouble." She said, and smiled sweetly.
"It's no trouble at all! Do you need someone to help you with your stuff?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah, I do." She replied. "Let's go get my stuff! I can get settled in." she said and grinned. I grinned back at her. She started back towards the front of the house. I followed after her thinking about lucky I was.
Chapter 5
(Sukie's POV)
I couldn't believe it when Quatre had asked me to stay with him and the other boys. Quatre came up behind me.
"Are we gonna go get your stuff?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded. After we got to the door, we didn't even touch it when it flung open and hit me in the face. Relena Peacecraft stood in the doorway.
"Heero! Oh, Heero! Where are you? I know you're here somewhere!" Relena cried. All of a sudden, a very familiar face popped up from behind Relena. It was Erishi Wakatsuki, my friend.
"Hey Sukie. The boss wants to see you." She said, and then promptly made a face at Relena from behind her back. I rubbed my sore face as I tried not to laugh.
"Do you know what for?" I asked.
"Nope. I don't ask why, I just deliver the message." Erishi replied. Then she, yet again, made another face at Relena. Relena suddenly spun around and stared at Erishi. "What? Got a staring problem?" she asked. Relena turned back around and stalked inside and went looking for Heero. Once she found him, she dragged him out the door, while Erishi stood and laughed.
"You're going to take me out to dinner!" Relena said.
"I don't have any money!" Heero replied, thinking of excuses.
"That's ok! I'll pay!" Relena said happily.
"Then what's the point?" Heero muttered.
"I get to be in your company!" Relena replied.
"Oh, I'm so thrilled." Heero said sarcastically. I looked at Erishi and she was laughing very hard, and had to lean up against the door jam for support. Then she regained her composure. She seemed to realize something, and then without saying anything, grabbed me and dragged me out the door. I briefly waved to Quatre, who waved back at me.
"Do you have any idea who you were just in a room with?" she asked me when we out of earshot.
"No…" I replied.
"Those were the Gundam pilots." She said.
"Uh oh."
"Exactly. And do you know what our new mission is?"
"No…"
"We have to kill the Gundam pilots."
"B-b-but, I was just about to get a date!" I whined. She let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.
"Well, get over it!" she cried. I sighed, shrugged, and let Erishi drag me towards the base. On the way, I hummed "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks. She rolled her eyes again.
"I can't figure out what you see in that music stuff." Erishi muttered. I looked up at her in surprise.
"You don't like music? Man, you don't know what you're missing!" I cried.
"The only music I know is the cry of defeat from your enemies." she replied. I looked at her like she was insane, which knowing her, she probably was. Constant programming had taken the toll on her mind. I realized I was still being dragged along the ground.
"Can I walk now?" I asked.
"Yeah." She dropped hold of me, and I climbed to my feet. "So how did you get to be with OZ?" she asked me as I was dusting myself off. I started walking slowly, my hands in my pockets.
"I guess they thought I would be a good pilot or something." I said. "When I was very young, maybe two or three years old, they broke into my house and kidnapped me. They killed my parents and my older brother too. They died trying to protect me. Then, when they got me to a base, they branded me on my cheek. That's where the scar comes from." I said, and absentmindedly traced the scar with my finger. "I normally don't like talking about my family…" I said softly, and lowered my head. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at Erishi. I searched her face for any kind of emotion, but found none.
"You'll meet them someday." She said simply. I nodded. I started walking again, and started humming "With Me" by Lonestar. I heard Erishi mutter something under her breath. I just grinned to myself. Then I stopped humming, as my thoughts turned back to Quatre. Erishi fell in step beside me, and we walked in silence. I put my hands back in my pockets, and stared at the ground as I walked. I glanced up once, and noticed we were getting close to the base. When we got about a block away from the base, I could hear the alarms going off, and I heard the sounds of fighting. Erishi broke out into a full run, and I ran after her. We got into the base, and quickly jumped into our mobile suits. I adjusted my earphones and microphone, so that I could hear commands and reply to them, and then flipped the ignition switch².
²AN: Do MS's have ignition switches? I'm not really sure, so just bear with me, and let's just pretend they do, okie dokie?
I waited impatiently as the big machine roared to life. When it was fully booted up, I went after Erishi, who was already heading towards the battle. There were only four mobile suits to fight, but when I saw who we were going to be fighting, I let out a strangled cry.
We were fighting the Gundams!
My worst nightmare was unfolding right before my eyes. I saw Erishi go after the one with the scythes, and they engaged in battle. I desperately tried to remember what Gundam Quatre flew. I knew this at one time before, but it seemed that when I had actually met Quatre, it had all been cast aside. My head sank into my hands, and I sobbed quietly. All of a sudden, Erishi's face appeared on screen. I looked up at the screen, my face streaked with tears.
"Yo! Sukie! Get out here and help! I can't do this on my own!" she yelled, and then the screen jarred as her MS was hit hard. Her face contorted in pain.
"Erishi!" I cried, and rage filled me, pushing all other thoughts out of my head. Everything happened so quickly, that I couldn't remember a lot of what happened next. I remembered flying at the nearest MS and attacking savagely. Other reinforcements helped with the other suits, but I focused as well as I could on the one I was fighting. Afterwards, after I tumbled out of the cockpit, and painfully stood up, I waited for my opponent to come out. I let out another strangled cry as my opponent came out of his cockpit.
It was Quatre.
After he jumped down, he collapsed to the ground. I ran to him immediately, and gently used my arms to prop him up. He slowly opened his eyes.
"S-Sukie? What are you doing here?" he asked slowly, as his face filled with pain.
"Oh Quatre, I'm so sorry." I whimpered as a tear slid down my cheek. He painfully lifted a hand, and brushed it away.
"For what? You didn't d-…" he tried to say something, but the pain cut him off. He slowly gained his breath back and tried again. "You didn't do anything."
"But I did. I'm the one that did this to you. I was the one that fought with you. I work for OZ." I choked out, as a few more tears slid down. He just stared at me for a minute, and then reached up and caressed my face. "I didn't know it was you I was attacking. I was attacking blindly because of my rage." I whispered.
"It's ok. I forgive you. You had no way of knowing." He managed to say.
"But it's all right. You'll be ok. I promise. I know you will." I said. I knew I sounded pathetic, but I didn't care. He slowly smiled.
"If I have you beside me, I will be." He replied. I smiled through my tears. Then I thought of something I needed to do. I slowly lowered him to the ground.
"I need to go do something." I told him, and stood up to my full height, which I admit, isn't that tall, only being 5'5". I turned on my heels and came face to face with my boss. "Well, aren't I lucky? I was just coming to see you." I said sarcastically.
"Sukie, I heard from Erishi what you did to help her, and I'm promoting you a rank." My boss said.
"As much as I would like to accept it, I can't." I said, and pulled my rank insignia out from inside my jacket. I tossed it on the ground in front of him. "I hereby proclaim that I no longer work for you, or for OZ." I sneered, and spun on my heels. My boss grabbed me by the shoulders, and turned me to face him. His eyes were burning with fury. He pointed to my scar.
"Does this mean nothing?! Did you forget that you are branded?! You can't quit! You're bound here forever!" he yelled in my face. I wrenched myself free of his grasp, and picked my insignia pin off the ground.
"That's what you think." I said, and snapped the insignia in half. I threw the pieces on ground at his feet. "And as for my being branded, I don't have to show up for work. Yes, you could probably find out where I am, but I am not required to show up. And did you ever think about that I could have surgery done, to remove the scar? Hmm? Did you ever think of that? Evidently not. Good luck on trying to find me. If you haven't noticed, in previous missions, I'm very good at covering up my tracks." I spat, and then spun on my heels again, and helped Quatre up. He leaned up against me. I looked at Erishi, who had just appeared beside the boss, with her arm in a sling. "And Erishi? If you want to stay here in this hell hole, go right ahead, I won't stay here any longer." I said, and then started helping Quatre walk towards the safe house.
"Whatever Sukie. Whatever. Good luck on your new life." She called after me. I glanced back at her and smiled.
"Thanks." I told her, and then kept helping Quatre.
Chapter 6
(Normal POV)
As Erishi stood there watching Sukie help Quatre leave the battleground, she couldn't help but wonder what had made Sukie change her mind.
'Maybe it's that stuff they call love.' She thought to herself. She shrugged with her good arm, and turned and headed after her boss, who was going back to the base. On her way, she stopped briefly at the broken pieces of Sukie's insignia pin. As if to finalize Sukie's decision, she crushed the pieces under her heel, and then continued towards her base. She gave one look back at Sukie and Quatre. 'Good luck you two.' She thought, and then opened the base door, and walked inside…
The End (or is it? laughs evilly)
