Tori: [wearing a band across her forehead and a yukata robe] Next chapter up! *tosses copy into the air, catches it, and tosses it to a similarly dressed muse*

Kegawa: *catches it and spins it on his paw* And it's a hot one!

~*~*~*~*~*~

            Heero took off running after the boy, but when he caught up, Tobias didn't seem to notice. "Why doesn't he…" Time froze.

            "…showoff…" Duet growled, slanting a glance at the new angelic arrival standing in front of a bewildered Heero who had appeared along with the stopping of time and whatnot.

            "This my replacement?" asked an older man with dark brown hair and shaded blue eyes.

            "Yeah, your term's up, Yuy."

            "Yuy..?" echoed the five boys. They exchanged more looks of confusion which had suddenly become the thing to do at times like this. God forbid they ever face any real danger any more or they'd die lost and bewildered-looking.

            "Heero Yuy. The pacifist advocate of the Colonies. And you must be my namesake," he smiled, patting Heero's shoulder with a thick hand. "Tobias here's a tough one, but you can handle it, can't you? Good luck!" And with that the former Colonial leader disappeared.

            As the once Perfect Soldier watched in awe (or possibly confusion, because his expressions are all pretty much the same), manacles clamped around his wrists and chains wound about his slim figure.

            "-the hell is this!?" he cried and Duet winced.

            "They should disappear in a few seconds," she explained and waited for the boy to calm down. Slowly, the chains melted into his angelic flesh until only the shackles on his wrists remained.

            When the blinding glow that had surrounded him finally faded, time jump-started.

            "-pacifist advocate of the Colonies… You can handle it, can't you?…" Duet mimicked, sneering at the man who'd just left.

            Heero only blinked in, you called it, confusion as did Trowa, Quatre, Duo, and Wu Fei. "Wh-what were the chains for?" he managed, his throat feeling a bit dry which he knew was impossible since, Hey! he was dead, but you know how your mind can play tricks on you.…

            "Eh, God's into a lot of symbolism and stuff. Basically they prevent you from being separated from your ward."

            "How would one become separated?" Wu Fei frowned, schemes already forming in his mind.

            "DON'T even THINK it. Those things will give you such a shock… But sometimes spirits become a little too mischievous for their own good and might try to nab your charge."

            "Spirit? Like a hikitsune or something?" Heero grimaced and Duet nodded sadly. "I didn't even know there were such things really out there…"

            "What would a spirit want with a human?" Trowa asked, eyeing Heero's cuffs.

            "Well, most of the time they would try to use your ward to get to you. Their intentions are always different, make friends, destroy you, they're tricky little buggers, but the stress of it would drive your ward crazy."

            "Oh. I get it…" Quatre nodded, bringing a philosophical finger to his chin.

            "No, you don't, Quatre. You're not fooling anyone." Duo turned from his blonde friend and fixed Duet with another of his inquiring looks.  "Now, ah… Where is Heero's new friend going?"

            The angels turned to look and say Tobias halfway on the giant yellow school bus stopped at the corner of the street.

            "Heero, hurry! I'll come back to give you some help after I've dropped everyone else off!" the un-braided girl yelled, but Heero was too far away after the boy to hear her. "…he'll make a good guardian angel…"

~*~*~*~

Tori: Wow. Here's the next extremely late chapter. I'm sorry… I know it's inexcusable, but I just got these nail tips and-

Kegawa: Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

Tori: -I can't wait for them to fall off. ARGH!

Kegawa: You think you've got it bad? I'm the one who has to sit here listening to you drum on everything!

Tori: I need a fricken' scratching post… *unconsciously starts petting Kegawa*

Kegawa: *grits teeth* Help… Me… *twitches*