Tori: What does 'shizzle' mean, anyway?
Heero: *crosses arms and sighs* If you have to ask, you'll never know…
Tori: o___o Oh God… Please don't let it be something really perverted… *grabs the front of Heero's shirt* You know how many little kids read Gundam manga these days!?
Heero: -___-* If you don't know what a word means, why would you use it!?
Tori: Because it's one of those things you say in those rare instances where you choose to display a faint glimmer of a sense of humor. o__o
Heero: *deadpan* Ducklings…
Tori: And what does THAT mean? __ You guys really need to get around to writing a dictionary for the rest of the world THAT DOESN'T SPEAK 'DEMENTED FUCKED-UP LOSER'!!
Duo: You called?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What're you cryin' for?" Duo's brow was creased with concern. He crossed his arms and stood beside his ward. Rachel lay on a mattress that had been laid on the floor in the crook of the pit couch. Of the friends that she had spent the day with, three were staying over; two on the couches and one next to her on the mattress, all fast asleep.
"Go AWAY," she whispered harshly into her pillow.
The braided boy sat next to the mattress, but she rolled over to face away from him and continued to sob silently into her pajama sleeves. He reached for her shoulder to turn her back, but she pulled the comforter up to her chin and he withdrew his hand.
"Sometimes a girl just needs to cry." The girl next to Rachel stirred and the two froze until she resettled.
"I don't get you… You're happy one minute and sobbing your little glass heart out the next! I'd blame it on your hormones, but obviously none of them have kicked in yet."
Rachel reached over and gave Duo's braid a sharp tug.
"Hey! I was just tryin' to lighten the mood a bit! We both know you've got nice curves for a fourteen year old---OW! OW! OW!"
"Keep your eyes to yourself, you…you weirdo." She snorted in amusement at her momentary loss for derogatory nouns.
"Alright… Alright… I'll get serious. Now, what's buggin' ya?"
With a little sigh and a great shifting of blankets, Rachel sat up on the mattress. Duo could see in the eerie near-dawn light the stains of red around her eyes. It made her eyes look more intense-nearly aquamarine.
"You… Them." She nodded slightly to indicate her friends.
"…you angry at me?" Duo asked.
"No… I'm angry at the world. You just happen to be part of it."
"Well, what'd the world do to piss you off?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about…"
"Yes, it is. I'm your guardian angel. I'm here to fricken guard you, alright?"
"…I'd love to meet the guy who decided you were qualified for this…"
"Who said anything about me being qualified? This is just what I do… I listen. So tell me what's wrong…"
"You don't get it… I'm a catch-22."
"I love that band…"
"No! Not the band…" She rolled her eyes. "Your idiocy is supreme…"
"I'm just playing with you… You mean catch-22 like in the military, right?"
"Yeah. I'm a crazy person, Duo Maxwell. I'm neurotic. I mean, I shouldn't even be able to see you…any of you. But if I can acknowledge to myself that I'm crazy, am I really crazy?"
Duo fully expected her to start crying again, but her face was completely stoic. This was apparently something she asked herself a lot, and she had the question memorized right down to its sentence structure. It was a tough question…but as anyone who's spoken to Duo knows…Shinigami knows all.
"You need to rethink your definition of crazy…"
"What's to rethink? It means I'm decrepit, deranged…weakened or disordered in intellect. Or would you like it in medical terms? There I'm someone with a functional or emotional disorder marked by severe anxiety, depression, and the like without any apparent psychical origin. See also psychoneurosis! THAT'S a neurosis in which the patient's anxieties, fears, and physical complaints are emotional and-"
"Shut up." Duo growled. Rachel froze, wide-eyed. Duo had never struck her as the type to actually get angry over something. "You've got a real mental problem. You should go see a therapist. No one has EVER had a problem like yours before. …is that what you want me to say?"
"I…" she was at a loss for words. She couldn't bear to look at him, so instead she looked over her shoulder at her girlfriends. She found some strength there, but it was drained away again and then some when she remembered that they didn't know what kind of hell was inside her head. Would they even care if they did?
"Look at me."
When she turned, she met him glare for glare. She wanted to shout things at him, but she didn't know what those things were. She wanted to tell him he had the wrong idea. That she just wanted to get better. That she just wanted to be normal like everyone else. …but she didn't.
"Is that what you wanted?" he asked.
"No," she replied coldly.
"Then what do you want?" His eyes never softened. He really was angry, she marveled. But over what? Why would he waste such intense emotion one some little fourteen year old girl he hardly knew?
"I want… a friend. One who knows what I see, and who believes me…"
The tears finally came as Rachel lay down again, cuddling closer to her friend.
Duo's expression finally softened. "S'what I'm here for, kiddo…"
~*~*~*~
"You know… My ward's supposed to have 95% social problems, and so far she hasn't been emotional at all," Wu Fei explained to the blonde woman next to him. She smiled at him, and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Ninety-five is just a percentile… It could be ninety-five percent of 365, or ninety-five percent of 7…"
"Huh?"
"People's problems aren't twenty-four/ seven…It's just, of the problems she has, ninety-five percent are due to her social life."
"I understand now…" the Chinese angel mused. "Thank you, Mrs. Hayton."
"Please, Wu Fei. Just call me Carol," she smiled.
Carol was the guardian of Maria's friend, Robbie, which means she and Wu Fei saw quite a bit of each other. Carol was about thirty when she'd died in a car crash, she had explained. She didn't remember much of what had happened, but she was happy enough with her current employment and patiently awaited her return to heaven.
In the hours that dragged by while Maria and Robbie were busy at the deli, the two angels passed the time chatting. Wu Fei had, in the span of a few days, revealed to her his entire life story up until his death, which he was still having trouble accepting. He told her about his friends, his job, and his wife who was in heaven waiting for him. She in turn told him about her childhood, and about the children she had now. She liked to baby Wu Fei in the absence of her own daughter, and what could he do but allow her?
~*~*~*~
"Where are we going?" Kevin asked. He followed slightly behind Quatre as the blonde boy weaved his way through the crowds of people along the sidewalk.
"I'm…trying to find a Catholic church…" he replied sheepishly. He'd been so caught up in trying to be a firm leader for Kevin that he'd forgotten Kevin had lived here nearly all his life. He probably knew the city like the back of his hand.
"Oh… Does it have to be Catholic? The temple I go to isn't far from here."
Another blunder, Quatre realized. He was so nervous. He had to rely on his heart, not bits of false trivia he'd called up from the back of his mind; things he'd read in pamphlets that Catholic fanatics sometimes slipped under the front door on certain Sundays.
"A temple would do just fine," Quatre replied cheerfully. A smile graced Kevin's lips for a moment, but it faded quickly.
So silly, Quatre thought. It didn't matter what god someone believed in… Heck, it probably didn't even matter if they worshiped a god or not. As long as someone's led a good life…their soul would be clean, right? After that thought, even finding a temple seemed foolish. Some people worshiped at home… Some brought God everywhere they went… Quatre stopped walking. Kevin noticed a few seconds later that the shorter boy was no longer following him, and quickly backtracked.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"We spent all that time searching…and the way to get into heaven has been here all along," Quatre replied.
"Where?" the African-American man looked around, not sure what he was expecting to see, but knowing full well he hadn't seen it.
"I'm sorry… I was being foolish." Quatre smiled up at the sky. "We're ready now, Allah."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tori: *giggle* I went on a cleaning spree today…
Ke: Tori, you don't live here.
Tori: ^__^ I cleaned out all your closets, guys! And look what I found! *pulls leash, jerking Quatre into view*
Awa: I am gonna laugh SO hard when he just up and kills you one day.
