A Different Side- Chapter 2
SariaSubi: Okay! I see some people(I hope) Have read my prologue. For a note, you may or may not want to read Chapter 1, as you may find it boring(chapter 1 is labeled as 2). The interruptions are important, though. They will be flashbacks on a soon-to-be major character. Soon, the second interruption will be up, and the camp area should conclude around this chapter, maybe the beginning of the next one. Well, I see we all have met Navi, as of Chapter 1, and now I would like you all to meet……(da da dun) Zzy-chan!
Zzy: Moo!
SariaSubi: Yes, very nice. Okay, let's recap!
Zzy: I'm in the story!
SariaSubi: Yes……yes, you are. Anywho, in Chapter 1 we see four best friends-
Zzy: I'm one of'em!
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Yes. We see four best friends at camp. We see Trowa and Quatre…at the same camp.
Zzy: Could this be a meaningful, fate-lead, maybe even disastrous meeting? Da da dun!
SariaSubi: ::smacks Zzy:: For Gundam's sake, you just gave everything away!
Zzy: No, I didn't. All that stuff happens in Chap-
SariaSubi: SHUT UP!! ::slaps forehead:: Why did I bring her? I better bring Marissa next time……
Zzy: NOOO!!
SariaSubi: SariaSubi-kun does NOT own Gundam Wing or any corresponding characters in it. Don't sue, you know the drill.
Zzy: Sue? Someone's gonna sue us?!
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Hopefully not………
Chapter 2
"Well, let's start the routine!" Bruce announced, grabbing the teenagers' attention. "We all know what to do. I explain the rules to the new people, and then we shoot, okay? Now, rule one is-"
"Muuuuhhhh!" Alex dropped her head into her hands. "This is so boring! We all know the rules, why can't we just shoot? I can't believe this." She yawned and looked longingly at the archery range. It was one of the few things at this camp that she enjoyed. Would she ever have time?
~~~~~~~
"Come on, you old geezer!"
"We wanna shoot!"
"And I wanna flirt!" The girlies gushed over the two cute boys that only a few campers were separating them from. They kept their complaints to themselves, but their impatience was being shown to the whole group. They wanted to make these boys their boyfriends……NOW!
"But, Bruce always orders us in alphabetical order! We might not all be able to see them!" Kathy complained.
Clarissa smiled proudly. "Well, then, fear not girls! I, Clarissa Cohen, am C in the alphabet, right after B. I will lead us all to Trowa Barton!"
They suddenly heard annoying bursts of laughter coming from next to them. Nonetheless, it was the two girls they loathed: Alex Bloomfield and "Zzy" Baumen.
"Nu-uh-uh!" Alex waved her finger. "Ya still got me and Zzy in front of ya! Tough luck girls."
Clarissa fumed. "Ooooooh! You're gonna pay for that!"
Both smiled evilly. "Make us." Alex turned to Anshi and whispered into her ear, "Not that we like boys in the first place!" and then they all laughed again.
They were all snapped back when Bruce announced that he would start calling people to shoot. "Oi, this is going to be hard, boys and girls mixed. I gotta switch from both lists. You kids are a crank in the neck," he teased, causing a few giggles, and then he started again, "now you all know you all may not get to shoot today, right?"
"Right," the teenagers mechanically responded.
"Well then, let's start with A." He paused. "There is no A. All right now," he fixed his glasses, "B. We need our first B…… Barton. Trowa Barton."
"Yes," Trowa responded quietly and quite expressionless as he left his leaning place on the fence next to Quatre.
"Take Circle 1," he gently instructed as he watched Trowa go under the chain and into the target area. Bruce looked back at his role book. "Now the girls, eh? Let's see here……" He scanned his lists again, and looked up with a foolish grin. "Uh-oh," he smiled, "we got the Dynamic Duo here. Zzy Baumen and Alex Bloomfield, our girl's champion." Alex and Zzy shot up proudly. "Take Circle 2 and 3 you two. Now, C. We got a boy now-" Zzy stood on Circle 2 and frowned, then looking over at Alex.
"Alex-chan."
"Yeah, Zzy?"
"I don't like Target 2. Can we switch?"
Alex looked a little puzzled at first. Why would Zzy do something like this? It wasn't like she wasn't ever on Circle 2 before. Her eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?"
"Nya-huh!" she smiled as she shook her head, switching spots with her best friend.
When Alex situated herself in position, she realized who she was next to. It was that strange guy, Trowa Barton. He wasn't doing anything, just leaning on the fence with his arms crossed. What was he thinking? Why such an expressionless face?
She let out a bewildered breath and looked down and at her target. She was surprised when she heard a voice that wasn't Zzy's talk to her. "Girl's champion, huh?"
Alex whizzed around. Did that guy just talk to her? "Y-yeah. I am."
"You any good at this?" She looked confused. If she was the champion, why wouldn't she be good at this?
"I am," she repeated. She then thought where this might go, striking a smile on her face. "How bout you?"
Trowa didn't answer. He just stared at the target and left Alex befuddled.
He decided to answer the question as if he asked it himself. "Just pointing another gun……"
Alex raised her eyebrows. "I'll take that as a yes?" she muttered sarcastically to herself. I dunno why the girls love him, she thought. He's a strange, strange guy. She wanted to say, "Introvert," but held her tongue. She had a sure feeling he would hear her.
As soon as all twelve circles were filled, Bruce walked in front of the stationed campers. "Okay," he held his hands up as he raised his voice. "I'll instruct you through the first arrow, and then you can shoot your other arrows. Now kids, you might not all be able to shoot, but I'll try to get you all in as soon as possible. It's a new year, let's all start off slow."
Alex grunted and picked up her arrow and loaded it onto her bow, ignoring Bruce's instructions. She looked over at Trowa, surprised he did the same. But how? He was a new guy!
"Trowa, your name is?"
"Yes," he responded without looking at her.
"You good at this?"
Bruce started hollering directions.
"Yes."
"Raise your bow!"
"How good?" she challenged.
"Pull back on the string!"
"I'm gonna get a bullseye," she smirked.
"We'll see."
"All the way……and…FIRE!!!!"
Everyone let go and watched the arrows fly. Some complained of the string hitting their arm, and some of their aim. Zzy jumped as she almost got a bullseye, but unfortunate for her skills, it wasn't likely the actual thing would happen. Alex just stood shocked.
There it was, her arrow, on the edge of the yellow circle in the center of Target 2. And of course, Trowa's arrow, dead center of his target.
"H-h-h……h-how…"
"Your aim is pretty good," he stated flatly, "I have to say, since looking at everyone else, you and I got the only bullseyes."
"I g-guess," she still stuttered, "B-but h-how could you-?"
"You wanted to know how good I was." His eyes……so distant. This Trowa Barton, so tall, distant, soft spoken. Making you want to know more. Alex dropped her bow to her side. The voice from before...about the mobile suits. His seemed to match it. But what was she to do now? No ordinary person could find out about the new mobile suit, so……
So an idea danced in her head, carrying a big sign that said, "Listen to me, baka!" Alex turned towards Trowa and slowly, dangerously slowly, and so seriously, extended her arm towards him, slightly startling him out of his daze.
"Hm?"
"Alex Bloomfield," she spoke softly, looking up to him.
And for some reason, his features hardened as well as he extended his arm towards her at the same speed she had hers.
"Trowa Barton."
~~~~~~~~~~
Quatre watched all the, what seemed like action, from the outside of the separation chain. Arrows whizzed past his face.
"Wow, Trowa is doing pretty good for his first day here. I wonder how I'll do." He looked at the two bullseye targets next to each other. "That other girl is pretty good as well. I didn't know how good Trowa was. He's doing as good as the champion!"
"Well of course Alex-chan is good. She's da best! Better than any guy, hands down....I think."
"Zzy thinks. Pigs should be falling from the sky. I wonder why they haven't started, do you know why, Anshi?"
"Nuuuu!"
"Go back to missing the target!"
"Huh?" Quatre raised his eyebrows towards a two girls; one small with short, rugged black-brown hair, and another with brown hair up in a ponytail almost at his height.
And both girls seemed embarrassed.
"Eheheheh……gomen-nasai! My name's Anshi Shuukaku. And this is GG Mernon," the small girl pointed to the taller girl behind her, who just eyed Quatre suspiciously. He noticed it right away and slightly backed off.
"You look familiar, though I can't put my finger on it," she finally spoke.
Both Quatre and Anshi looked at her. Anshi turned back to Quatre. "Oh! This is Quatre Rebarba Winner! I am so honored to meet you!" she gave a small bow.
Quatre smiled. "No need for formalities, please. I'm glad to meet you, too. Both of you." Then he turned away to watch his friend again.
Anshi's expression turned to seriousness, and she looked back towards GG and walked close to her. "Please tell me that's the only way you recognize him."
GG backed away. "And what if it wasn't?"
"GG!" she tried to keep her plead discreet.
"I have seen him before. The name Quatre Rebarba Winner rings a bell."
"You're avoiding the question!"
"So what? Maybe if you checked your database every once in a while and didn't constantly badger the rest of us, you would know," she continued to mock her.
Anshi's eyebrows furrowed and she gritted her teeth in anger. "Wait until we leave here. I'll-I'll……"
"Oh no," she mocked her again, pretending to be worried, "what's the great Mari-"
"GG, no!" she quickly jumped up and covered her mouth.
She grunted and apologized unsympathetically. "Che, sorry. It wont happen again."
"Good," she lowered herself. "Now let's go and cheer Zzy and Alex on, ne?"
"Fine."
"Quatre," Anshi started, causing him to look away from the target area. "I'm surprised at how good your friend is on his first day. What is his name?"
"Trowa. Trowa Barton." He laughed on the inside. He said it the exactly the way Trowa would have three years ago.
"Uun, Trowa. I see." That's when the conversation died.
~~~~~~
Later, Zzy, GG, and Anshi walked away from the archery range.
"That was fun, minna-san!"
Anshi and GG twitched uneasily as they stared at her. "Of course it was for you. We didn't get to shoot because Bruce ran out of time. You did horribly, though, Zzy-chan. Alex whooped your ass. Her 400 and you 45? Man, that is sad."
"Shuddup! You're lucky you didn't go, or otherwise you and Anshi would have lost terribly!"
"Eh…Zzy-chan…"
"Hey guys, where is Alex anyway? AH! GG, let go of Zzy's neck, please!" she cried.
"Fine," she released the girl. "I dunno where she is. Probably found a nickel or somethin'."
"A nickel? Where? Where?" Zzy looked frantically.
"Moron!" GG slapped her over the head.
Anshi looked back towards where they had come from. Where was Alex? ~~~~~~~~~
It seemed that Trowa and Quatre purposely stayed behind the crowd to seclude themselves, especially from the girls that were obsessively swooning over them. Alex stayed behind as well, pretending to tie her shoe. She watched them from the corner of her eye.
But Trowa was watching her as well. It seemed she was taking a very long time to tie one shoe lace. Though she seemed different. She wasn't there because she was swooning. She seemed…suspicious of them.
I have to hear him talk again, she thought. Or else I'll never be sure who's voice it was.
~~~~~~~~~~
Clarissa brushed her flowing blond hair behind her ear. "I wonder where Trowa is? I must make him mine!"
"No war, Rissa, he's mine. I so saw him first!" Michelle ran her hand through her long brown hair.
"You wanna say that again?"
"Hey, hey, guys," Rachel held up her hands. "We always have Quatre!" She still pronounced it qua-trey. "And we have Petey, Mikey, and Brad! They're still available!"
"They're not as good! And--oh, Rissa," Kathy looked at Clarissa's belt, "somethin's beeping. There's a light flashing," she pointed to the girl's belt.
"Oh no!" Clarissa gasped. "Not now, not now, notnownotnow!"
"What is it?" Michelle raised her eyebrows.
"I don't want them to contact me now! I'm not even close!" she cried, totally serious.
"Wait, close to what?" Kathy neared her. "Who is contacting you?"
Clarissa looked up grimly, startling her friends with her seriousness.
"Noz."
~~~~~~~~~~
Quatre, Trowa, and Alex were locked in a stare down. She felt uneasy that the two were eying her like that. Great, she thought. I better save myself.
She put on a smile. "You guys new here?"
They both looked at each other. That was strange, they seemed to both think. They didn't answer.
She twitched in annoyance. "I'll take that……as a yes?"
Quatre stuttered. "H-hai. We are."
"Ah, so…you two related?"
"Yes," Trowa answered without moving. "Distant cousins."
"Eh…" She struggled for something to say when she looked to her left. "Ah! The group's leaving!" Quatre blinked his eyes. "Well, come on!" The three of them started walking slowly the same route the larger group of teenagers walked. Alex looked at the two boys. "Did you just move here or somethin? It's kind of a late age to enter Pierce, ya know."
Quatre struggled with something to say. He looked at Trowa for help, but it seemed his fellow ex-Gundam pilot was either in his own world or struggling for words as well and just wasn't showing it. He finally remembered the address to their makeshift home they were occupying until they investigated the situation with the MSs some more. What was the name of the city again? He just knew that it was a small, yet what the neighboring small-town people would call "luxurious" house. He glanced back at the girl who was looking questioningly at him.
"Uh, we just moved into a small house in…"
"Yokota-atte," Trowa helped finally.
"No lie?" Alex asked them. When she saw there was seriousness about the subject, she spoke up, "I live in that town. They just built three new houses by my house. You probably just moved into one of those." Both of them shrugged with the same thought on their minds: If they had someone from this place living near them, they could find some info out that they would regret. They had to be extra cautious now.
"We just joined because we needed some occupation this summer. There would be nothing else to do."
"You certainly think so, but I don't." This brought the attention on her. "With Noz out, a lot of people our age here are trying to join Noz and become MS pilots our small time agents or whatever the organization gives them for a job."
Quatre couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Excuse me, 'Noz'?"
Alex stared at him seriously. So they don't know about it. They couldn't possibly be…Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Trowa wasn't responding. Was he doing that on purpose? She wanted an answer from both of them.
"Both of you have no idea what Noz is?" she noted, slightly craning her neck to see if Trowa would respond.
Quatre saw this, but didn't know the reason behind it, so he responded to help her out, "I don't. Trowa?" They waited in silence.
"No."
"Well, just ask around. A lot of people are going in for training. Oh, here, this is where we part. The boy's bunker in that way, see?" she pointed. "Mine's that way. See ya guys around." She waved as she ran off.
Trowa's eyes narrowed as he mulled over the girl's words. "Noz" sounded far too much like "Oz" The names were so similar that it caused him discomfort. He remembered how she was looking at him whenever she asked questions, as if she knew Quatre wouldn't know the answers and he would. Another uncomfortable situation.
He also had a strange feeling about her. Alex Bloomfield, but what was it? He didn't know the thoughts his friend was thinking.
~~~~~
Quatre shifted in his chair. He felt weird. For the last few weeks, the two boys gained a mutual friendship with their neighbor, Alex Bloomfield, but Quatre felt something about her of which he himself had no idea what it was.
He straightened himself as he started playing his violin. He could sense Trowa in the room, though he knew his friend would not join in for a duet. The clicking he heard indicated that Trowa was on his laptop. So he continued playing, glancing out the window. He almost stopped when he saw that Alex was leaning out her window. Apparently, she noticed him, smiled, and gave the peace sign, seemingly enjoying the show of his talents.
He continued. Over the past few weeks, he had learned Alex was a musician as well; she played the guitar, and he and Trowa could sometimes hear her practicing with Anshi playing along on her drum set.
Both boys noticed that the frequent visits of those girls from camp. At Alex's house, they changed quickly from their lively behavior to utter seriousness. Anshi came most frequently and seemed to be the only one who smiled at Alex at their "meetings." Not that the two wanted to spy or eavesdrop.
But there was something about these four that just wasn't right.
SariaSubi: Okay! I see some people(I hope) Have read my prologue. For a note, you may or may not want to read Chapter 1, as you may find it boring(chapter 1 is labeled as 2). The interruptions are important, though. They will be flashbacks on a soon-to-be major character. Soon, the second interruption will be up, and the camp area should conclude around this chapter, maybe the beginning of the next one. Well, I see we all have met Navi, as of Chapter 1, and now I would like you all to meet……(da da dun) Zzy-chan!
Zzy: Moo!
SariaSubi: Yes, very nice. Okay, let's recap!
Zzy: I'm in the story!
SariaSubi: Yes……yes, you are. Anywho, in Chapter 1 we see four best friends-
Zzy: I'm one of'em!
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Yes. We see four best friends at camp. We see Trowa and Quatre…at the same camp.
Zzy: Could this be a meaningful, fate-lead, maybe even disastrous meeting? Da da dun!
SariaSubi: ::smacks Zzy:: For Gundam's sake, you just gave everything away!
Zzy: No, I didn't. All that stuff happens in Chap-
SariaSubi: SHUT UP!! ::slaps forehead:: Why did I bring her? I better bring Marissa next time……
Zzy: NOOO!!
SariaSubi: SariaSubi-kun does NOT own Gundam Wing or any corresponding characters in it. Don't sue, you know the drill.
Zzy: Sue? Someone's gonna sue us?!
SariaSubi: *sweatdrop* Hopefully not………
Chapter 2
"Well, let's start the routine!" Bruce announced, grabbing the teenagers' attention. "We all know what to do. I explain the rules to the new people, and then we shoot, okay? Now, rule one is-"
"Muuuuhhhh!" Alex dropped her head into her hands. "This is so boring! We all know the rules, why can't we just shoot? I can't believe this." She yawned and looked longingly at the archery range. It was one of the few things at this camp that she enjoyed. Would she ever have time?
~~~~~~~
"Come on, you old geezer!"
"We wanna shoot!"
"And I wanna flirt!" The girlies gushed over the two cute boys that only a few campers were separating them from. They kept their complaints to themselves, but their impatience was being shown to the whole group. They wanted to make these boys their boyfriends……NOW!
"But, Bruce always orders us in alphabetical order! We might not all be able to see them!" Kathy complained.
Clarissa smiled proudly. "Well, then, fear not girls! I, Clarissa Cohen, am C in the alphabet, right after B. I will lead us all to Trowa Barton!"
They suddenly heard annoying bursts of laughter coming from next to them. Nonetheless, it was the two girls they loathed: Alex Bloomfield and "Zzy" Baumen.
"Nu-uh-uh!" Alex waved her finger. "Ya still got me and Zzy in front of ya! Tough luck girls."
Clarissa fumed. "Ooooooh! You're gonna pay for that!"
Both smiled evilly. "Make us." Alex turned to Anshi and whispered into her ear, "Not that we like boys in the first place!" and then they all laughed again.
They were all snapped back when Bruce announced that he would start calling people to shoot. "Oi, this is going to be hard, boys and girls mixed. I gotta switch from both lists. You kids are a crank in the neck," he teased, causing a few giggles, and then he started again, "now you all know you all may not get to shoot today, right?"
"Right," the teenagers mechanically responded.
"Well then, let's start with A." He paused. "There is no A. All right now," he fixed his glasses, "B. We need our first B…… Barton. Trowa Barton."
"Yes," Trowa responded quietly and quite expressionless as he left his leaning place on the fence next to Quatre.
"Take Circle 1," he gently instructed as he watched Trowa go under the chain and into the target area. Bruce looked back at his role book. "Now the girls, eh? Let's see here……" He scanned his lists again, and looked up with a foolish grin. "Uh-oh," he smiled, "we got the Dynamic Duo here. Zzy Baumen and Alex Bloomfield, our girl's champion." Alex and Zzy shot up proudly. "Take Circle 2 and 3 you two. Now, C. We got a boy now-" Zzy stood on Circle 2 and frowned, then looking over at Alex.
"Alex-chan."
"Yeah, Zzy?"
"I don't like Target 2. Can we switch?"
Alex looked a little puzzled at first. Why would Zzy do something like this? It wasn't like she wasn't ever on Circle 2 before. Her eyebrows rose. "Are you sure?"
"Nya-huh!" she smiled as she shook her head, switching spots with her best friend.
When Alex situated herself in position, she realized who she was next to. It was that strange guy, Trowa Barton. He wasn't doing anything, just leaning on the fence with his arms crossed. What was he thinking? Why such an expressionless face?
She let out a bewildered breath and looked down and at her target. She was surprised when she heard a voice that wasn't Zzy's talk to her. "Girl's champion, huh?"
Alex whizzed around. Did that guy just talk to her? "Y-yeah. I am."
"You any good at this?" She looked confused. If she was the champion, why wouldn't she be good at this?
"I am," she repeated. She then thought where this might go, striking a smile on her face. "How bout you?"
Trowa didn't answer. He just stared at the target and left Alex befuddled.
He decided to answer the question as if he asked it himself. "Just pointing another gun……"
Alex raised her eyebrows. "I'll take that as a yes?" she muttered sarcastically to herself. I dunno why the girls love him, she thought. He's a strange, strange guy. She wanted to say, "Introvert," but held her tongue. She had a sure feeling he would hear her.
As soon as all twelve circles were filled, Bruce walked in front of the stationed campers. "Okay," he held his hands up as he raised his voice. "I'll instruct you through the first arrow, and then you can shoot your other arrows. Now kids, you might not all be able to shoot, but I'll try to get you all in as soon as possible. It's a new year, let's all start off slow."
Alex grunted and picked up her arrow and loaded it onto her bow, ignoring Bruce's instructions. She looked over at Trowa, surprised he did the same. But how? He was a new guy!
"Trowa, your name is?"
"Yes," he responded without looking at her.
"You good at this?"
Bruce started hollering directions.
"Yes."
"Raise your bow!"
"How good?" she challenged.
"Pull back on the string!"
"I'm gonna get a bullseye," she smirked.
"We'll see."
"All the way……and…FIRE!!!!"
Everyone let go and watched the arrows fly. Some complained of the string hitting their arm, and some of their aim. Zzy jumped as she almost got a bullseye, but unfortunate for her skills, it wasn't likely the actual thing would happen. Alex just stood shocked.
There it was, her arrow, on the edge of the yellow circle in the center of Target 2. And of course, Trowa's arrow, dead center of his target.
"H-h-h……h-how…"
"Your aim is pretty good," he stated flatly, "I have to say, since looking at everyone else, you and I got the only bullseyes."
"I g-guess," she still stuttered, "B-but h-how could you-?"
"You wanted to know how good I was." His eyes……so distant. This Trowa Barton, so tall, distant, soft spoken. Making you want to know more. Alex dropped her bow to her side. The voice from before...about the mobile suits. His seemed to match it. But what was she to do now? No ordinary person could find out about the new mobile suit, so……
So an idea danced in her head, carrying a big sign that said, "Listen to me, baka!" Alex turned towards Trowa and slowly, dangerously slowly, and so seriously, extended her arm towards him, slightly startling him out of his daze.
"Hm?"
"Alex Bloomfield," she spoke softly, looking up to him.
And for some reason, his features hardened as well as he extended his arm towards her at the same speed she had hers.
"Trowa Barton."
~~~~~~~~~~
Quatre watched all the, what seemed like action, from the outside of the separation chain. Arrows whizzed past his face.
"Wow, Trowa is doing pretty good for his first day here. I wonder how I'll do." He looked at the two bullseye targets next to each other. "That other girl is pretty good as well. I didn't know how good Trowa was. He's doing as good as the champion!"
"Well of course Alex-chan is good. She's da best! Better than any guy, hands down....I think."
"Zzy thinks. Pigs should be falling from the sky. I wonder why they haven't started, do you know why, Anshi?"
"Nuuuu!"
"Go back to missing the target!"
"Huh?" Quatre raised his eyebrows towards a two girls; one small with short, rugged black-brown hair, and another with brown hair up in a ponytail almost at his height.
And both girls seemed embarrassed.
"Eheheheh……gomen-nasai! My name's Anshi Shuukaku. And this is GG Mernon," the small girl pointed to the taller girl behind her, who just eyed Quatre suspiciously. He noticed it right away and slightly backed off.
"You look familiar, though I can't put my finger on it," she finally spoke.
Both Quatre and Anshi looked at her. Anshi turned back to Quatre. "Oh! This is Quatre Rebarba Winner! I am so honored to meet you!" she gave a small bow.
Quatre smiled. "No need for formalities, please. I'm glad to meet you, too. Both of you." Then he turned away to watch his friend again.
Anshi's expression turned to seriousness, and she looked back towards GG and walked close to her. "Please tell me that's the only way you recognize him."
GG backed away. "And what if it wasn't?"
"GG!" she tried to keep her plead discreet.
"I have seen him before. The name Quatre Rebarba Winner rings a bell."
"You're avoiding the question!"
"So what? Maybe if you checked your database every once in a while and didn't constantly badger the rest of us, you would know," she continued to mock her.
Anshi's eyebrows furrowed and she gritted her teeth in anger. "Wait until we leave here. I'll-I'll……"
"Oh no," she mocked her again, pretending to be worried, "what's the great Mari-"
"GG, no!" she quickly jumped up and covered her mouth.
She grunted and apologized unsympathetically. "Che, sorry. It wont happen again."
"Good," she lowered herself. "Now let's go and cheer Zzy and Alex on, ne?"
"Fine."
"Quatre," Anshi started, causing him to look away from the target area. "I'm surprised at how good your friend is on his first day. What is his name?"
"Trowa. Trowa Barton." He laughed on the inside. He said it the exactly the way Trowa would have three years ago.
"Uun, Trowa. I see." That's when the conversation died.
~~~~~~
Later, Zzy, GG, and Anshi walked away from the archery range.
"That was fun, minna-san!"
Anshi and GG twitched uneasily as they stared at her. "Of course it was for you. We didn't get to shoot because Bruce ran out of time. You did horribly, though, Zzy-chan. Alex whooped your ass. Her 400 and you 45? Man, that is sad."
"Shuddup! You're lucky you didn't go, or otherwise you and Anshi would have lost terribly!"
"Eh…Zzy-chan…"
"Hey guys, where is Alex anyway? AH! GG, let go of Zzy's neck, please!" she cried.
"Fine," she released the girl. "I dunno where she is. Probably found a nickel or somethin'."
"A nickel? Where? Where?" Zzy looked frantically.
"Moron!" GG slapped her over the head.
Anshi looked back towards where they had come from. Where was Alex? ~~~~~~~~~
It seemed that Trowa and Quatre purposely stayed behind the crowd to seclude themselves, especially from the girls that were obsessively swooning over them. Alex stayed behind as well, pretending to tie her shoe. She watched them from the corner of her eye.
But Trowa was watching her as well. It seemed she was taking a very long time to tie one shoe lace. Though she seemed different. She wasn't there because she was swooning. She seemed…suspicious of them.
I have to hear him talk again, she thought. Or else I'll never be sure who's voice it was.
~~~~~~~~~~
Clarissa brushed her flowing blond hair behind her ear. "I wonder where Trowa is? I must make him mine!"
"No war, Rissa, he's mine. I so saw him first!" Michelle ran her hand through her long brown hair.
"You wanna say that again?"
"Hey, hey, guys," Rachel held up her hands. "We always have Quatre!" She still pronounced it qua-trey. "And we have Petey, Mikey, and Brad! They're still available!"
"They're not as good! And--oh, Rissa," Kathy looked at Clarissa's belt, "somethin's beeping. There's a light flashing," she pointed to the girl's belt.
"Oh no!" Clarissa gasped. "Not now, not now, notnownotnow!"
"What is it?" Michelle raised her eyebrows.
"I don't want them to contact me now! I'm not even close!" she cried, totally serious.
"Wait, close to what?" Kathy neared her. "Who is contacting you?"
Clarissa looked up grimly, startling her friends with her seriousness.
"Noz."
~~~~~~~~~~
Quatre, Trowa, and Alex were locked in a stare down. She felt uneasy that the two were eying her like that. Great, she thought. I better save myself.
She put on a smile. "You guys new here?"
They both looked at each other. That was strange, they seemed to both think. They didn't answer.
She twitched in annoyance. "I'll take that……as a yes?"
Quatre stuttered. "H-hai. We are."
"Ah, so…you two related?"
"Yes," Trowa answered without moving. "Distant cousins."
"Eh…" She struggled for something to say when she looked to her left. "Ah! The group's leaving!" Quatre blinked his eyes. "Well, come on!" The three of them started walking slowly the same route the larger group of teenagers walked. Alex looked at the two boys. "Did you just move here or somethin? It's kind of a late age to enter Pierce, ya know."
Quatre struggled with something to say. He looked at Trowa for help, but it seemed his fellow ex-Gundam pilot was either in his own world or struggling for words as well and just wasn't showing it. He finally remembered the address to their makeshift home they were occupying until they investigated the situation with the MSs some more. What was the name of the city again? He just knew that it was a small, yet what the neighboring small-town people would call "luxurious" house. He glanced back at the girl who was looking questioningly at him.
"Uh, we just moved into a small house in…"
"Yokota-atte," Trowa helped finally.
"No lie?" Alex asked them. When she saw there was seriousness about the subject, she spoke up, "I live in that town. They just built three new houses by my house. You probably just moved into one of those." Both of them shrugged with the same thought on their minds: If they had someone from this place living near them, they could find some info out that they would regret. They had to be extra cautious now.
"We just joined because we needed some occupation this summer. There would be nothing else to do."
"You certainly think so, but I don't." This brought the attention on her. "With Noz out, a lot of people our age here are trying to join Noz and become MS pilots our small time agents or whatever the organization gives them for a job."
Quatre couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Excuse me, 'Noz'?"
Alex stared at him seriously. So they don't know about it. They couldn't possibly be…Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Trowa wasn't responding. Was he doing that on purpose? She wanted an answer from both of them.
"Both of you have no idea what Noz is?" she noted, slightly craning her neck to see if Trowa would respond.
Quatre saw this, but didn't know the reason behind it, so he responded to help her out, "I don't. Trowa?" They waited in silence.
"No."
"Well, just ask around. A lot of people are going in for training. Oh, here, this is where we part. The boy's bunker in that way, see?" she pointed. "Mine's that way. See ya guys around." She waved as she ran off.
Trowa's eyes narrowed as he mulled over the girl's words. "Noz" sounded far too much like "Oz" The names were so similar that it caused him discomfort. He remembered how she was looking at him whenever she asked questions, as if she knew Quatre wouldn't know the answers and he would. Another uncomfortable situation.
He also had a strange feeling about her. Alex Bloomfield, but what was it? He didn't know the thoughts his friend was thinking.
~~~~~
Quatre shifted in his chair. He felt weird. For the last few weeks, the two boys gained a mutual friendship with their neighbor, Alex Bloomfield, but Quatre felt something about her of which he himself had no idea what it was.
He straightened himself as he started playing his violin. He could sense Trowa in the room, though he knew his friend would not join in for a duet. The clicking he heard indicated that Trowa was on his laptop. So he continued playing, glancing out the window. He almost stopped when he saw that Alex was leaning out her window. Apparently, she noticed him, smiled, and gave the peace sign, seemingly enjoying the show of his talents.
He continued. Over the past few weeks, he had learned Alex was a musician as well; she played the guitar, and he and Trowa could sometimes hear her practicing with Anshi playing along on her drum set.
Both boys noticed that the frequent visits of those girls from camp. At Alex's house, they changed quickly from their lively behavior to utter seriousness. Anshi came most frequently and seemed to be the only one who smiled at Alex at their "meetings." Not that the two wanted to spy or eavesdrop.
But there was something about these four that just wasn't right.