As with almost everything else in the world, I lay no claim to any of these
characters. They don't belong to me no matter how much I'd like them too.
Polling Place! = I know I said I wasn't planning on killing Relena off, but as I've been developing the story more, it seems that she might actually get knocked off... *_*; I was wondering what you all would think if at one point in the story I had Lita kill her off. (This question might make more "sense" once you've read the chapter.)
YEAH! We will have other scouts showing up in the next chapter, promise! I swear the other's will come in eventually, but all you outers fans should be pleased because two of them will be in the plot and another will make a cameo appearance to help the plot along…and the plot WILL be carried out in chapter six! Gomen about the other scouts not being in here so much, but they will come in later, yakusoku suru! (I promise!) And they might even wind up getting a little romance themselves…^_^
As promised, this chapter will be more entertaining, hopefully, then the last. Unfortunately, you have to get through some boring parts to get to the good stuff. Hope this makes up for it!
The next few days were a true test of patience. Every since the so- called dirty laundry incident, there had been a lot of tension between certain parties. Lita tried to cover her nervousness, wondering when Heero was going to tell everybody else her "little" secret. Heero wasn't too happy about spilling his either, even though to have kept it from her would have been unfair. However, what was really getting under Heero's skin wasn't that…it was Lita herself. Not only because every time he thought about her he found himself getting all confused, but she was driving him crazy…literally.
Finally, much to Heero's relief, Friday did come at last. As everybody came back from the Peacecraft Academy that afternoon, they found Heero standing at the door waiting for them, a rather smug look on his face.
"Whoa, Heero what's the deal with stalking us?"
"You are going to suffer with me for the entire weekend Duo, every last one of you!" he exclaimed, pointing to all the pilots in turn.
"What do you mean suffer?" Quatre asked hesitantly.
"I mean this." Heero held up a bullet-riddled sheet of paper with four bulls eyes printed on it, all of which had a picture of Heero superimposed over them.
Wufei laughed. "She used you for target practice…hahaha!" Then he suddenly stopped, realizing something. "Yuy…if that onna shot those holes…then she must have had a gun…"
"Say, Wu-man's right Heero. We didn't realize we were living with somebody else who was armed and dangerous."
Heero glared at Duo. "For your information, she is not armed. She was using my gun."
Duo's eyes popped out of his head. "YOU LET HER TOUCH YOUR GUN?? YOU WON'T EVEN LET ME COME WITHIN 30 FEET OF IT!"
"Yuy, you are getting careless if you let her find out you had a gun." Wufei frowned. "She's going to get suspicious."
"It doesn't matter. She already knows about us."
"She what??" Wufei shouted.
"I told her our 'secret' in exchange for hers."
"So what is the deal with the glow bug anyway?" Duo asked.
"That's for her to tell, not me." Heero said.
"So that's it? You're not going to tell us?"
"No Duo, I'm not…and believe me, it's in our best interest if nobody else finds out."
"Yeah, yeah…ok Heero. But will you at least tell us how she got a hold of your gun then? Unless you told her you had one."
"I'm not stupid Duo. But I kind of slipped once…. She thinks she's recovered now and she refuses to stay put anywhere and rest like Quatre left instructions for her to do. She kept sneaking off and trying to do something where I wouldn't find her…I finally had it, so I pulled out the gun and told her if she didn't do exactly as Quatre said I was going to kill her."
"HEERO!" Quatre exclaimed. "You can't kill the help!"
"I wasn't planning on actually doing it."
"Well, did it work? Did you scare her into staying put?"
"Not exactly. She told me she wanted to see my gun because she'd never seen one up close before…she's as bad as you are Duo…has to see everything…." Grumbling, Heero continued. "Anyway, I let her have it and she immediately pointed it back at me and told me that unless I quite acting like a prison warden she was going to kill me."
"Yuy, you're getting soft!" Wufei interrupted. "Allowing an onna to threaten you like that with your own gun. Disgraceful."
Heero made a face before continuing. "It wasn't any threat. You should have seen the way she was holding it…it was obvious she didn't know the first thing about guns or shooting one. When she realized that her 'threat' wasn't going to do anything, she demanded that I teach her how to use the gun so she could give me a real threat the next time."
"I can't believe you actually did that Yuy…letting that glowing…whatever she is…learn how to handle a weapon."
"It was either that or run all over the house looking for her. Frankly, it's easier to keep her in line if I know where she is and what she's doing Wufei."
"That explains those funny targets then," Duo snickered. "She was mad at you, so she had you print those up so she could take out her frustrations on you…safely…."
"Hn."
At that moment, Lita appeared in the entryway, where they were all still standing. "Thank god the rest of you are here! Now maybe I can get some relief from the prison warden."
"Well...you certainly look to be much better," Quatre said.
"Of course I am! Now please Quatre…please let me start working again. I can't stand not being able to do anything. I know you were only doing it for my own good, but please, oh please I can't take it anymore!"
He laughed. "All right, all right. But only if you do me a favor in return."
"Anything!" Lita exclaimed.
"We've been in sad shape the last few days that I confined you to resting. None of us are really good in the kitchen…so if you could give us a lesson…?"
"INJUSTICE! Cooking is women's work and I will not do it!"
"If Quatre says you are going to have a lesson in cooking, then you will get a lesson in cooking," she said plainly. "And if you do not show up, I will use your katana for target practice next time."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Do you really want to find out?"
Wufei glared at her.
Duo laughed. "It is a good idea though. I mean...Heero's idea of food is anything instant. Wufei can only make rice balls and all Trowa can make is soup. I don't know about Quatre."
"You're one to talk," Heero said a tad angrily. "Everything you make has sugar in it whether it's supposed to have sugar or not."
"But I like sugar," Duo said, pouting. "What's wrong with sugar?"
"Look in a mirror," Wufei answered.
"That was mean Wu-man!"
"It was true."
"ARGH! Quit it you two! Tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. in the kitchen. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, saluting.
"Good. I except all of you to be there…no exceptions."
And all of them were, much to Lita's surprise. "Well, I'm glad to see you all here. So let's get started…Heero, you and Duo will be working together as will Quatre, Trowa and Wufei. Small groups will be good for you…help each other and learn to get along too."
"That's a sneaky trick," Wufei grumbled.
"Yes, well…I live with sneaky people, so it's bound to rub off."
"Quatre, we will have to do something about this. I think leaving her here with Heero was not a good idea. He appears to be a bad influence."
"Oh my god…Trowa that was the longest sentence I've heard you say in like…forever!" Duo said.
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Lita yelled. "Now quit stalling." That said, she proceeded with the lesson…boy, what a mess that turned out to be. Duo and Heero were fighting over the amount of sugar to put into the cake, resulting in Heero waving his gun around in an attempt to get Duo to be reasonable. Meanwhile, Wufei was refusing to participate because this was "an onna's job" as he said.
"That does it," Lita announced. "We have to fix this. As Quatre and Trowa are the only ones getting along, they will continue working together. Wufei, you will be working with Duo because you won't allow that much sugar in your food so you'll be forced to participate."
"INJUSTICE!"
Ignoring Wufei, Lita continued. "Heero, you work with Quatre and Trowa and we'll see how this arrangement turns out."
Much to her delight, it worked out much better. As she had predicted, Wufei did indeed participate because he didn't want his cake to be full of sugar. Quatre, being a peacemaker of sorts, was able to convince Heero to put his gun away and behave himself. In time, both groups had finished and were ready to get approval from the teacher.
Lita started with Quatre's group, since they had been more cooperative for the most part. Their cake looked and tasted just fine. "Good job you guys." Then she moved onto Duo and Wufei's cake. "Well, it looks ok…" She cut a small piece, and choked it down, eyes watering.
"See, told you it'd be ok Wufei."
Wufei frowned. "To much sugar…I knew it was, but Maxwell wouldn't listen to me."
"Did you put the sugar in Duo?" Lita asked.
He shook his head. "I told Wufei how much and he put it in. Why?"
"Show me the sugar you used."
Wufei held up a container. "Here."
She stuck her finger in and taste tested it. "I thought so. Wufei…that wasn't sugar you put it, it was salt."
"SALT?"
"Yes Wufei, salt."
"And you said I was going to mess it up," Duo said, laughing.
"SHUT UP MAXWELL!"
"Oh both of you just stop it," Lita said. "Now, could we please continue?"
"With what? We're done."
"Not quite Duo. I'd like to see what you can do on your own, now that you have some vague idea of what you're doing. And Wufei, you may not refrain from participating. Oh, and no slacking…you guys will be eating this when you're done with it so unless you want to eat something that tastes like moldy socks you will do your best. Now, here are your recipes." She pulled out some index cards and handed them out.
"Mine says meatloaf on it," Wufei said. "What nonsense is this? Meat does not come in loaves."
"Wufei…it will come in a loaf when you're done following the instructions ok?"
He mumbled to himself and went hunting for his ingredients.
"NO FAIR! I don't wanna make this layered salad or whatever it is."
"Duo…you are making salad because it has no sugar in it," Lita said. "And frankly, I don't think even you would want to eat sugar coated vegetables."
Duo made a face.
"I didn't think so, and before anybody else asks…Heero you are making bread because it involves some weird chemical process things…and that seems to fit. Quatre, you're making dessert because I know you won't load it with sugar and Trowa's making a kind of appetizer because I figured it'd be hard for him to mess that up since his hair covers up one eye and I don't know how well he can read like that. Now everybody start."
It wasn't long before the chaos started. Wufei was instantly up in arms over the meatloaf once he realized there was no rice in it. Duo was grumbling about not getting to use any sugar. When Trowa opened up the package of kabob skewers, one of them flew out and accidentally hit Wufei, prompting a skewer fight between the two. Since this battle was going on over his head, Quatre decided to relocate…unfortunately, Wufei and Trowa's battle resulted in a glass of water being spilled and Quatre slipped on the puddle, dousing the floor and himself with the contents of his bowl.
Just when Lita thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard somebody talking and looked over to see Heero staring at the bread, saying, "I need bread."
"Um…Heero, why are you talking to the bread?" Lita asked. This of course, got everybody's attention.
Duo laughed. "Heero is talking to the bread…."
Heero glared and shoved his card in Duo's face. "There is a typo. It says 'knead' but it should read 'need'. It says do that 16 times, so I'm needing the bread 16 times."
She tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it and Lita collapsed against the counter in a fit of giggles. "No Heero, that wasn't a typo. 'Knead' means something like fold…like this," she said, demonstrating. "You don't have to tell the dough you need it 16 times." Still laughing, she tried to stop. But it didn't help that everyone else was laughing at his mistake too. However, Heero himself seemed unaffected. The only sign that he was embarrassed was a tiny tinge of pink that appeared on his face.
Clearing her throat, Lita managed to compose herself, feeling bad for him. "Ok everybody…get this mess cleaned up and let's finish up in a civilized manner please? That means no more skewer fights, no grumbling about lack of ingredients, and no tormenting each other."
The rest of the time passed smoothly and in the end everything came out just fine. Even Wufei had to admit that maybe meatloaf wasn't too bad after all.
The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday found Lita trying to catch up on her work and she did manage to do all of it, with a little help of course. After finishing the last of her make-up work, she gathered her materials up in front of her, but didn't move.
"Do you plan on sitting there all night?" Heero said, already at work on his laptop.
"No, but I wanted apologize. I didn't realize I was such a bad 'patient' as such and I'm sorry for what happened yesterday during the cooking lesson. That was totally uncalled for on my part. I guess I just kind of took it for granted you guys would understand a little more since I do this all the time. Anyway, I want to make it up to you."
"If it involves bread, the answer is no."
Lita sighed. "No, it doesn't involve bread. I was thinking more along the lines of getting back at Duo for what he did to you."
Heero turned around in his chair. "Oh, you mean that whole…thing."
She nodded. "I have a couple friends who I'm sure would help, and I know that after a little persuasion they could convince a third to help…otherwise it won't work. But I'm sure they can convince her. I mean, after all it isn't like she has any real duties right now and besides she needs a good laugh anyway."
"Slow down a minute…I'm just a little lost here."
"Oh, sorry…guess I got carried away. But I was thinking something like this…." She then proceeded to outline her plan. "Well, what do you think?"
"Those two you mentioned…they're the 'special' ones aren't they?"
"Yeah…just never heard them called 'special' before…." She shrugged. "Oh, well."
He thought for a moment. "Well, if she can be convinced to help, then everything should work out quite nicely."
"Good," Lita said, grinning. "I'll get in touch with them tomorrow and see what arrangements we can make."
"Over the phone? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I won't be using the phone."
"Then what?"
"I have my ways," she answered, picking up everything and heading back down to her room; leaving behind one who wondered just what she was up to now.
Of course, tomorrow came and found the group heading to the Peacecraft Academy per usual arrangements, to face the beginning of another week. At first, it seemed as if all would go well…but that notion soon vanished when Relena approached Heero during lunch and told him that she wanted to see all of them after school, including Miss Kino.
"Damn," Heero swore under his breath.
"She suspects something doesn't she?" Quatre asked.
"I knew that onna would be nothing but trouble." Wufei grumbled.
"Well, maybe Relena doesn't suspect anything. We'll just have to wait and see," Duo said, trying to be optimistic. His optimism was short lived, vanishing when the group stood in front of Relena as she scrutinized them carefully.
"I find it rather interesting that two of you should be absent on the same day and come back the same day," Relena said, shuffling some papers on her desk. "I find it rather hard to believe that whatever mission you had Heero, could be more important then protecting me. Not to mention, that you all seem to be on good terms with Miss Kino here. There's something fishy about this whole situation and I want some answers."
"Oh lay off Relena. No need to get paranoid."
"Duo, I won't lay off. Something isn't right here and I'm going to find out what it is."
"Please…you need to stop being so jealous."
"I'm not jealous!"
"You are too!" Duo exclaimed. "Geez, I mean really…she's just hired help after all."
"Damn it Maxwell, you and your big mouth!" Wufei shouted, yanking on Duo's braid.
"Hired help hmm?" Relena looked at Lita. "Is this true?"
"I…I…." She stuttered, unsure of herself.
"She'll find out anyway…might as well tell her now," Heero said.
"Tell me what?" Relena asked.
"I'm Quatre's, I mean Mr. Winner's cook," Lita answered. "And…and I live in his house…or mansion, whatever you want to call it."
"YOU LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF AS MY HEERO?"
"I'm not your Heero," he said angrily.
"You dirty sneak," Relena said, thrusting out some papers. "I bet these enrollment forms aren't even real, are they?"
"Well, since you asked…no. I'm not 18, I'm 16 and I was a terrible student back home."
Relena was furious. "You know that this admission means that you will be expelled from this place. I won't have people like you here polluting my school." She picked up the phone to make the call to the appropriate office in order to have the expulsion endorsed. (See, even though she owns the school she still has to answer to somebody…the checks and balance system…has to be good for something.)
"Oh no you don't," Heero said, grabbing the receiver and slamming it back down. "We forged those papers for her because she wanted to come here. We knew it was a risk, but we decided we were willing to take it. If you make that call…."
"Then you'll get in trouble too…DAMN YOU!" Relena slammed her fist down on her desk. "Then I guess I have no choice but to put her in her appropriate age level."
"I think not," Heero replied. "What does it matter how old she is if she can do the work? I make a promise to you Relena…if you don't leave things as they are, then we will be forced to resign our mission here."
"HEERO! You can't do that! You're supposed to protect me!"
"I don't care what I'm supposed to do…if you fail to keep your nose out of this, it will not be overlooked by any of us. Come on guys." He headed out of the room, the others following.
As Lita was turning to go, Relena stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"You're position here is safe…for now…but don't think for one minute that you're off the hook missy…I'll be watching you," she said acidly.
Polling Place! = I know I said I wasn't planning on killing Relena off, but as I've been developing the story more, it seems that she might actually get knocked off... *_*; I was wondering what you all would think if at one point in the story I had Lita kill her off. (This question might make more "sense" once you've read the chapter.)
YEAH! We will have other scouts showing up in the next chapter, promise! I swear the other's will come in eventually, but all you outers fans should be pleased because two of them will be in the plot and another will make a cameo appearance to help the plot along…and the plot WILL be carried out in chapter six! Gomen about the other scouts not being in here so much, but they will come in later, yakusoku suru! (I promise!) And they might even wind up getting a little romance themselves…^_^
As promised, this chapter will be more entertaining, hopefully, then the last. Unfortunately, you have to get through some boring parts to get to the good stuff. Hope this makes up for it!
The next few days were a true test of patience. Every since the so- called dirty laundry incident, there had been a lot of tension between certain parties. Lita tried to cover her nervousness, wondering when Heero was going to tell everybody else her "little" secret. Heero wasn't too happy about spilling his either, even though to have kept it from her would have been unfair. However, what was really getting under Heero's skin wasn't that…it was Lita herself. Not only because every time he thought about her he found himself getting all confused, but she was driving him crazy…literally.
Finally, much to Heero's relief, Friday did come at last. As everybody came back from the Peacecraft Academy that afternoon, they found Heero standing at the door waiting for them, a rather smug look on his face.
"Whoa, Heero what's the deal with stalking us?"
"You are going to suffer with me for the entire weekend Duo, every last one of you!" he exclaimed, pointing to all the pilots in turn.
"What do you mean suffer?" Quatre asked hesitantly.
"I mean this." Heero held up a bullet-riddled sheet of paper with four bulls eyes printed on it, all of which had a picture of Heero superimposed over them.
Wufei laughed. "She used you for target practice…hahaha!" Then he suddenly stopped, realizing something. "Yuy…if that onna shot those holes…then she must have had a gun…"
"Say, Wu-man's right Heero. We didn't realize we were living with somebody else who was armed and dangerous."
Heero glared at Duo. "For your information, she is not armed. She was using my gun."
Duo's eyes popped out of his head. "YOU LET HER TOUCH YOUR GUN?? YOU WON'T EVEN LET ME COME WITHIN 30 FEET OF IT!"
"Yuy, you are getting careless if you let her find out you had a gun." Wufei frowned. "She's going to get suspicious."
"It doesn't matter. She already knows about us."
"She what??" Wufei shouted.
"I told her our 'secret' in exchange for hers."
"So what is the deal with the glow bug anyway?" Duo asked.
"That's for her to tell, not me." Heero said.
"So that's it? You're not going to tell us?"
"No Duo, I'm not…and believe me, it's in our best interest if nobody else finds out."
"Yeah, yeah…ok Heero. But will you at least tell us how she got a hold of your gun then? Unless you told her you had one."
"I'm not stupid Duo. But I kind of slipped once…. She thinks she's recovered now and she refuses to stay put anywhere and rest like Quatre left instructions for her to do. She kept sneaking off and trying to do something where I wouldn't find her…I finally had it, so I pulled out the gun and told her if she didn't do exactly as Quatre said I was going to kill her."
"HEERO!" Quatre exclaimed. "You can't kill the help!"
"I wasn't planning on actually doing it."
"Well, did it work? Did you scare her into staying put?"
"Not exactly. She told me she wanted to see my gun because she'd never seen one up close before…she's as bad as you are Duo…has to see everything…." Grumbling, Heero continued. "Anyway, I let her have it and she immediately pointed it back at me and told me that unless I quite acting like a prison warden she was going to kill me."
"Yuy, you're getting soft!" Wufei interrupted. "Allowing an onna to threaten you like that with your own gun. Disgraceful."
Heero made a face before continuing. "It wasn't any threat. You should have seen the way she was holding it…it was obvious she didn't know the first thing about guns or shooting one. When she realized that her 'threat' wasn't going to do anything, she demanded that I teach her how to use the gun so she could give me a real threat the next time."
"I can't believe you actually did that Yuy…letting that glowing…whatever she is…learn how to handle a weapon."
"It was either that or run all over the house looking for her. Frankly, it's easier to keep her in line if I know where she is and what she's doing Wufei."
"That explains those funny targets then," Duo snickered. "She was mad at you, so she had you print those up so she could take out her frustrations on you…safely…."
"Hn."
At that moment, Lita appeared in the entryway, where they were all still standing. "Thank god the rest of you are here! Now maybe I can get some relief from the prison warden."
"Well...you certainly look to be much better," Quatre said.
"Of course I am! Now please Quatre…please let me start working again. I can't stand not being able to do anything. I know you were only doing it for my own good, but please, oh please I can't take it anymore!"
He laughed. "All right, all right. But only if you do me a favor in return."
"Anything!" Lita exclaimed.
"We've been in sad shape the last few days that I confined you to resting. None of us are really good in the kitchen…so if you could give us a lesson…?"
"INJUSTICE! Cooking is women's work and I will not do it!"
"If Quatre says you are going to have a lesson in cooking, then you will get a lesson in cooking," she said plainly. "And if you do not show up, I will use your katana for target practice next time."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Do you really want to find out?"
Wufei glared at her.
Duo laughed. "It is a good idea though. I mean...Heero's idea of food is anything instant. Wufei can only make rice balls and all Trowa can make is soup. I don't know about Quatre."
"You're one to talk," Heero said a tad angrily. "Everything you make has sugar in it whether it's supposed to have sugar or not."
"But I like sugar," Duo said, pouting. "What's wrong with sugar?"
"Look in a mirror," Wufei answered.
"That was mean Wu-man!"
"It was true."
"ARGH! Quit it you two! Tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. in the kitchen. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, saluting.
"Good. I except all of you to be there…no exceptions."
And all of them were, much to Lita's surprise. "Well, I'm glad to see you all here. So let's get started…Heero, you and Duo will be working together as will Quatre, Trowa and Wufei. Small groups will be good for you…help each other and learn to get along too."
"That's a sneaky trick," Wufei grumbled.
"Yes, well…I live with sneaky people, so it's bound to rub off."
"Quatre, we will have to do something about this. I think leaving her here with Heero was not a good idea. He appears to be a bad influence."
"Oh my god…Trowa that was the longest sentence I've heard you say in like…forever!" Duo said.
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Lita yelled. "Now quit stalling." That said, she proceeded with the lesson…boy, what a mess that turned out to be. Duo and Heero were fighting over the amount of sugar to put into the cake, resulting in Heero waving his gun around in an attempt to get Duo to be reasonable. Meanwhile, Wufei was refusing to participate because this was "an onna's job" as he said.
"That does it," Lita announced. "We have to fix this. As Quatre and Trowa are the only ones getting along, they will continue working together. Wufei, you will be working with Duo because you won't allow that much sugar in your food so you'll be forced to participate."
"INJUSTICE!"
Ignoring Wufei, Lita continued. "Heero, you work with Quatre and Trowa and we'll see how this arrangement turns out."
Much to her delight, it worked out much better. As she had predicted, Wufei did indeed participate because he didn't want his cake to be full of sugar. Quatre, being a peacemaker of sorts, was able to convince Heero to put his gun away and behave himself. In time, both groups had finished and were ready to get approval from the teacher.
Lita started with Quatre's group, since they had been more cooperative for the most part. Their cake looked and tasted just fine. "Good job you guys." Then she moved onto Duo and Wufei's cake. "Well, it looks ok…" She cut a small piece, and choked it down, eyes watering.
"See, told you it'd be ok Wufei."
Wufei frowned. "To much sugar…I knew it was, but Maxwell wouldn't listen to me."
"Did you put the sugar in Duo?" Lita asked.
He shook his head. "I told Wufei how much and he put it in. Why?"
"Show me the sugar you used."
Wufei held up a container. "Here."
She stuck her finger in and taste tested it. "I thought so. Wufei…that wasn't sugar you put it, it was salt."
"SALT?"
"Yes Wufei, salt."
"And you said I was going to mess it up," Duo said, laughing.
"SHUT UP MAXWELL!"
"Oh both of you just stop it," Lita said. "Now, could we please continue?"
"With what? We're done."
"Not quite Duo. I'd like to see what you can do on your own, now that you have some vague idea of what you're doing. And Wufei, you may not refrain from participating. Oh, and no slacking…you guys will be eating this when you're done with it so unless you want to eat something that tastes like moldy socks you will do your best. Now, here are your recipes." She pulled out some index cards and handed them out.
"Mine says meatloaf on it," Wufei said. "What nonsense is this? Meat does not come in loaves."
"Wufei…it will come in a loaf when you're done following the instructions ok?"
He mumbled to himself and went hunting for his ingredients.
"NO FAIR! I don't wanna make this layered salad or whatever it is."
"Duo…you are making salad because it has no sugar in it," Lita said. "And frankly, I don't think even you would want to eat sugar coated vegetables."
Duo made a face.
"I didn't think so, and before anybody else asks…Heero you are making bread because it involves some weird chemical process things…and that seems to fit. Quatre, you're making dessert because I know you won't load it with sugar and Trowa's making a kind of appetizer because I figured it'd be hard for him to mess that up since his hair covers up one eye and I don't know how well he can read like that. Now everybody start."
It wasn't long before the chaos started. Wufei was instantly up in arms over the meatloaf once he realized there was no rice in it. Duo was grumbling about not getting to use any sugar. When Trowa opened up the package of kabob skewers, one of them flew out and accidentally hit Wufei, prompting a skewer fight between the two. Since this battle was going on over his head, Quatre decided to relocate…unfortunately, Wufei and Trowa's battle resulted in a glass of water being spilled and Quatre slipped on the puddle, dousing the floor and himself with the contents of his bowl.
Just when Lita thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard somebody talking and looked over to see Heero staring at the bread, saying, "I need bread."
"Um…Heero, why are you talking to the bread?" Lita asked. This of course, got everybody's attention.
Duo laughed. "Heero is talking to the bread…."
Heero glared and shoved his card in Duo's face. "There is a typo. It says 'knead' but it should read 'need'. It says do that 16 times, so I'm needing the bread 16 times."
She tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it and Lita collapsed against the counter in a fit of giggles. "No Heero, that wasn't a typo. 'Knead' means something like fold…like this," she said, demonstrating. "You don't have to tell the dough you need it 16 times." Still laughing, she tried to stop. But it didn't help that everyone else was laughing at his mistake too. However, Heero himself seemed unaffected. The only sign that he was embarrassed was a tiny tinge of pink that appeared on his face.
Clearing her throat, Lita managed to compose herself, feeling bad for him. "Ok everybody…get this mess cleaned up and let's finish up in a civilized manner please? That means no more skewer fights, no grumbling about lack of ingredients, and no tormenting each other."
The rest of the time passed smoothly and in the end everything came out just fine. Even Wufei had to admit that maybe meatloaf wasn't too bad after all.
The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday found Lita trying to catch up on her work and she did manage to do all of it, with a little help of course. After finishing the last of her make-up work, she gathered her materials up in front of her, but didn't move.
"Do you plan on sitting there all night?" Heero said, already at work on his laptop.
"No, but I wanted apologize. I didn't realize I was such a bad 'patient' as such and I'm sorry for what happened yesterday during the cooking lesson. That was totally uncalled for on my part. I guess I just kind of took it for granted you guys would understand a little more since I do this all the time. Anyway, I want to make it up to you."
"If it involves bread, the answer is no."
Lita sighed. "No, it doesn't involve bread. I was thinking more along the lines of getting back at Duo for what he did to you."
Heero turned around in his chair. "Oh, you mean that whole…thing."
She nodded. "I have a couple friends who I'm sure would help, and I know that after a little persuasion they could convince a third to help…otherwise it won't work. But I'm sure they can convince her. I mean, after all it isn't like she has any real duties right now and besides she needs a good laugh anyway."
"Slow down a minute…I'm just a little lost here."
"Oh, sorry…guess I got carried away. But I was thinking something like this…." She then proceeded to outline her plan. "Well, what do you think?"
"Those two you mentioned…they're the 'special' ones aren't they?"
"Yeah…just never heard them called 'special' before…." She shrugged. "Oh, well."
He thought for a moment. "Well, if she can be convinced to help, then everything should work out quite nicely."
"Good," Lita said, grinning. "I'll get in touch with them tomorrow and see what arrangements we can make."
"Over the phone? Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"I won't be using the phone."
"Then what?"
"I have my ways," she answered, picking up everything and heading back down to her room; leaving behind one who wondered just what she was up to now.
Of course, tomorrow came and found the group heading to the Peacecraft Academy per usual arrangements, to face the beginning of another week. At first, it seemed as if all would go well…but that notion soon vanished when Relena approached Heero during lunch and told him that she wanted to see all of them after school, including Miss Kino.
"Damn," Heero swore under his breath.
"She suspects something doesn't she?" Quatre asked.
"I knew that onna would be nothing but trouble." Wufei grumbled.
"Well, maybe Relena doesn't suspect anything. We'll just have to wait and see," Duo said, trying to be optimistic. His optimism was short lived, vanishing when the group stood in front of Relena as she scrutinized them carefully.
"I find it rather interesting that two of you should be absent on the same day and come back the same day," Relena said, shuffling some papers on her desk. "I find it rather hard to believe that whatever mission you had Heero, could be more important then protecting me. Not to mention, that you all seem to be on good terms with Miss Kino here. There's something fishy about this whole situation and I want some answers."
"Oh lay off Relena. No need to get paranoid."
"Duo, I won't lay off. Something isn't right here and I'm going to find out what it is."
"Please…you need to stop being so jealous."
"I'm not jealous!"
"You are too!" Duo exclaimed. "Geez, I mean really…she's just hired help after all."
"Damn it Maxwell, you and your big mouth!" Wufei shouted, yanking on Duo's braid.
"Hired help hmm?" Relena looked at Lita. "Is this true?"
"I…I…." She stuttered, unsure of herself.
"She'll find out anyway…might as well tell her now," Heero said.
"Tell me what?" Relena asked.
"I'm Quatre's, I mean Mr. Winner's cook," Lita answered. "And…and I live in his house…or mansion, whatever you want to call it."
"YOU LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF AS MY HEERO?"
"I'm not your Heero," he said angrily.
"You dirty sneak," Relena said, thrusting out some papers. "I bet these enrollment forms aren't even real, are they?"
"Well, since you asked…no. I'm not 18, I'm 16 and I was a terrible student back home."
Relena was furious. "You know that this admission means that you will be expelled from this place. I won't have people like you here polluting my school." She picked up the phone to make the call to the appropriate office in order to have the expulsion endorsed. (See, even though she owns the school she still has to answer to somebody…the checks and balance system…has to be good for something.)
"Oh no you don't," Heero said, grabbing the receiver and slamming it back down. "We forged those papers for her because she wanted to come here. We knew it was a risk, but we decided we were willing to take it. If you make that call…."
"Then you'll get in trouble too…DAMN YOU!" Relena slammed her fist down on her desk. "Then I guess I have no choice but to put her in her appropriate age level."
"I think not," Heero replied. "What does it matter how old she is if she can do the work? I make a promise to you Relena…if you don't leave things as they are, then we will be forced to resign our mission here."
"HEERO! You can't do that! You're supposed to protect me!"
"I don't care what I'm supposed to do…if you fail to keep your nose out of this, it will not be overlooked by any of us. Come on guys." He headed out of the room, the others following.
As Lita was turning to go, Relena stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"You're position here is safe…for now…but don't think for one minute that you're off the hook missy…I'll be watching you," she said acidly.