Surprised or not, I don't claim ownership of any of the following
characters, though I wish I could.
Yes, yes.I know it's been forever and a year since my last posting. Unfortunately, my independent study class has been occupying a lot of my time, I've had papers to do and I had midterms this week. Not to mention the hordes of reading I have in my English class. So while I've been thinking about this, I just haven't had time to sit down and type it out. I will do my best to provide you with a decent chapter that will make your waiting worth the while.
Thanks to all of you good readers who are kind and patient enough to put up with my random tardiness. ^_^
Enjoy!
Setsuna stood, arms crossed in front of her, tapping fingers on her arm. "I can honestly say I have never been more embarrassed in my life," she said, looking at all the people seated around one of the Crown's largest tables. "I came along anticipating that I would have a good time.not playing baby- sitter for a group of two year olds."
"Well some of us are two year olds," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.
"Meanie!" she retorted, cramming a cookie in her mouth.
"Meatball head!"
"That is quite enough!" Setsuna said firmly.
"Well, maybe I don't always act the most mature in the group," Serena conceded. "But it wasn't my fault we got kicked out." She frowned, looking at the guilty party.
"I was being chased by that male onna. It was self-defense," Wufei said curtly.
"Oh come on Wu-man. I thought girls were weak. Why would you need to defend yourself? Surely one girl couldn't do much damage," Duo teased.
"That male onna is the only non-weak onna I've ever met. I would rather not run into her in the dark again."
Their argument was interrupted by a bouncy red head with a ponytail. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving as she made her way over to the table.
"Hi Lizzie!" Serena waved back.
"Andrew told me you guys were here." Smiling, she grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table, sitting down. "Mind introducing me to your friends here? Don't remember seeing them around before."
"That's 'cause we just got here this week. Oh, I'm Duo Maxwell by the way," he said. "And they are Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Chang Wufei, and Heero Yuy," he added, pointing in turn to his friends.
"I'm Lizzie Furuhata."
"Furuhata? Isn't that Andrew's last name?" Quatre asked.
"Yeah," Lizzie grinned. "Andy's my older brother."
"And he wants to know why you're sitting down on the job."
Lizzie leaned back and looked up. "Aww, come on Andy. Just a few minutes, please?"
He laughed. "Ok, ok. It is kind of slow right now, so I'll make you an offer.15 minutes or until we get another customer ok?"
"Ok!" she grinned.
"Well, I better be back to work. See you guys later." With a smile and a wave, he headed off.
"So.," Lizzie said expectantly. "You gonna tell me what was going on before I interrupted?"
"Um.I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Lita said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, how would you feel about being the only people kicked out of Phazer Wars?"
"You WHAT?" Lizzie exclaimed. "Lita, I thought you'd gotten over the karate maniac stuff."
"It wasn't my fault! It was his!" she exclaimed, pointing at Wufei.
"I told you it was self-defense. Besides, who put me on the same team with that male onna? Wasn't me."
"Well.no. I guess that was my fault," Lita said.
"So.are you gonna tell me?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, I don't think anybody knows what really happened except Wufei and Haruka. But I can tell you how they wound up on the same team." After giving a brief explanation about how she'd met the guys and how they wound up here, she began the tale of the outing turned disaster. "See, Wufei.he has.gee, how do I say this nicely.."
"He's a rude, egotistical, turkey-loving woman hater," Rei said bluntly.
"Really?" Lizzie asked, surprised. "And he's so cute too.."
Wufei promptly turned his head in the opposite direction, while Duo laughed. "That is not funny Maxwell," Wufei scowled.
"Yeah it is..Chang Wufei, codename 'Cute'." Duo couldn't stop laughing.
"MAXWELL!"
"If you two could stop fighting for five seconds." Setsuna said, "I believe somebody was trying to talk."
"Yeah and if you can't behave you know what happens.right boys?" Lita asked.
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, looking apologetic.
"Wufei?"
"Oh all right." Glaring, he turned his attention to his drink.
"Anyway," Lita sighed. "Where was I? Oh yeah, the teams. Rei and I planned the teams ahead of time so we could avoid arguments when we got to Phazer Wars. Well, we put Haruka and Wufei on the same team. Both of us though that maybe Haruka could intimidate Wufei into behaving for once."
"And you thought this would happen in our lifetime?" Heero asked.
"Well, It seemed like a good idea at the time," Lita said, defending herself.
"So what happened?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, everything was going fine. Then all of a sudden there were these crashing noises and shouting. The next thing you know, we were being shown the door."
"It wouldn't have happened if somebody hadn't gotten trigger happy," Haruka said.
"I was not trigger happy! I thought you were Duo.." Wufei's voice trailed off after receiving a glare.
"You thought I was that clown??"
"Haruka."Setsuna said warningly.
"But Setsuna," Haruka said sweetly. "He thought I was a man.no less, the goofy man."
"I thought you were a guy when I first met you," Serena said. "In fact, all of us who didn't know you thought you were a guy."
"But.but.."
"You know we love you Haruka," Michiru smiled. "Now if it's not too much trouble, perhaps Wufei would like to continue the story?"
Looking rather surprised, he nodded. "Like Lita said, everything was going fine, but it is true that I tend to have a short temper. Well, Duo always picks on me for some unknown reason and when I heard his voice, I thought it would be a good chance to get back at him. I turned in the direction I thought his voice was coming from and fired. The next thing I heard wasn't Duo's voice. I heard a strangled choking followed by a loud stomping and felt somebody yanking on my hair as I tried to sneak away."
"That was such a giveaway! I could tell after grabbing the hair of the person I ran into it was Wufei. I mean, nobody else in the group has a ponytail that small. Anyway, I could also tell he was nervous, leading to the conclusion that he was the one that shot me.and got me 'knocked out' of the game. Well, that and the fact that he said 'Oh shit' after I asked him just who the hell he was trying to pick off."
"Oh my," Quatre said. "That would explain why I heard somebody run by screaming 'Die bastard, die!' at the top of their lungs."
Duo cracked up. "Wu-man shot Haruka thinking it was me. Now that really is rich."
"SHUT UP MAXWELL! Or I will poor the contents of your glass over your head!" Wufei said, outraged.
"You wouldn't dare.."
"Oh wouldn't I?" Wufei picked up the water-filled glass and dumped its contents out in a waterfall that dripped down Duo's face.
Duo blinked and brushed some stray drops that caught in his eyelashes, before scowling. He was about to give a nice, biting comment when Wufei suddenly hunched over in his set, yelping.
"What the." Duo said.
"Damn onna," Wufei growled. "Kick me under the table will you.."
"Rei!" Ami said, shocked. "You shouldn't be kicking people under the table, especially not in public."
"But remember Ami, some of us are two year olds," Serena said giggling.
"Oh shut up Serena," Rei scowled back.
This little exchange was suddenly interrupted by a loud smack followed by a string of courses. Everyone turned and looked at the source of all the racket. There was Wufei spouting every bad world he knew, holding onto his head which was now washed in soda that was running down into his lap in sticky rivers.
"Chang Wufei!" Setsuna said, huffing angrily. "I have had all I can take of your attitude and I refuse to let you ruin our day anymore. So eat leather." With that, Setsuna took out her purse and promptly bonked him on the head.
Momentarily stunned by Setsuna's display of purse whacking, Ami looked over at Rei. "Now see what you've done. I told you not to kick him."
"I didn't do it that time," Rei said.
Ami raised an eyebrow.
"What! I didn't do anything!"
"I would like to interject on the lady's behalf," Duo said.
"I'm glad you're going to confess," Hotaru smiling from her place between Duo and Haruka.
"I KNEW IT!" Wufei cried.
Duo coughed, mildly embarrassed. "Well, Ami told Rei not to kick you, but she didn't say anything about me not doing it."
Wufei was about to make some comment about Duo being immature, when a hand thrust a handful of napkins over his shoulder.
"Maybe you'd like to dry off a little?" a voice asked. Wufei turned around behind him and there stood Lizzie.
"Thank you," he said gruffly, turning back around and taking the offered napkins.
Seeing Wufei was embarrassed and fighting a losing battle to hide the slight blush on his face, Lita decided to step in and draw everyone's attention from the flustered pilot. "Say Lizzie, when did you disappear?"
"Right after the drink went splash," she said, resuming her seat at the table. "I would've told you, but I don't think you would have heard me over your um.conversation."
"It's very nice of you to overlook this outrageous behavior," Trowa said. "We apologize if we're being disruptive."
"Oh no, not at all!" Lizzie said, waving her hands. "This place is a big hangout for the middle and high school crowds, so we get loud kids in here all the time. Besides, I love meeting new people and since you all are friends of the girls here, you're friends of mine. Oh shoot." she suddenly said, catching a glimpse at her watch. "I gotta get back to work." She put the chair back at the table she had borrowed it from. "Hope you come back to visit sometime," she said smiling, waving a good-bye as she headed back to work.
"I like your friend Lizzie," Quatre said. "She seems nice."
"She is," Serena nodded in agreement.
"Oh, say Serena," Lizzie said, suddenly appearing again around "I forgot to tell you that we got the new Sailor V game this week. Thought you might wanna check it out." With a wave and a smile, she
"She said the magic words," Rei groaned.
"Magic words?" Quatre asked.
"Serena loves video games."
"I've told her more then once not to spend all her allowance here," Ami said, shaking her head. "She never listens to me. Then again, if she did, she wouldn't be Serena."
"But you know, it has been a while since we've been here," Mina said, tapping her chin. "And I did get extra allowance this week.."
Rei laughed. "You got extra allowance? How'd you manage that?"
"It was probably the only way her parents could get her to give Artemis a bath," Haruka teased. "Last time I saw him, he was looking a little on the brown side."
Mina stuck her tongue out. "It's not my fault. If he was your cat you wouldn't want to give him a bath either. But that wasn't the point anyway. I was just going to say that I wouldn't mind a few rounds in the arcade myself."
"Not you too," Ami sighed. "Besides these games being an obvious waste of money, there is no intellectual stimulation."
"They're not supposed to stimulate your mind Ami. It's just fun! Besides, even you can't deny that they improve eye-hand coordination."
"Well.no.."
Mina grinned in triumph. "So who else is up for some action?"
"I'll go," Duo said.
"That goes double for me," Rei said. "You have a thrashing coming to you after that stupid Sailor Smash game cheated and made me lose."
"In that case you two are going to need supervision," Ami said.
"Why don't we just all go over to the arcade?" Haruka asked. "I mean, I wouldn't mind taking down Wufei here a peg or two."
"Is that a challenge onna?" he asked.
"Sure is."
"I think having everybody in one place is a good idea," Setsuna said. "It will allow Ami and I, as the responsible members of the party, to keep all of you little hoodlums in line."
Rei was about to retort that she was in no way a hoodlum, when she caught the glint of laughter in Setsuna's eyes. "Yes mother," Rei grinned. Setsuna shook her head and stood up, sort of "herding" everyone toward the arcade.
Everyone then made themselves comfortable in various places. Everyone that is except for two people who were nowhere to be found. Not that anybody was looking for them at that point in time. They were all busy either yelling at each other or at the cheating arcade games.
Meanwhile, the Lita was tagging along beside Heero as he walked down the street. "Have something on your mind?" she asked.
"What makes you think something's on my mind?"
"Because you've seemed grouchier then normal today."
"Hn."
"Oh come on," she said. "You can talk to me."
"I don't need a therapy session."
"It's not therapy. Just thought it might help you to talk about it."
Heero said nothing, and the two walked on in silence for a while. They eventually made their way to a large oak tree in the park.
Lita flopped down on her back in the grass, Heero sitting down next to her. As he still didn't seem interested in conversing, she slowly felt herself dozing off. That is until she heard his voice. "Hmm?" she asked, sitting up and shaking her head to clear it. "Sorry, I guess I was falling asleep."
"I said Zechs is bothering me."
"Zechs is always bothering you. What's so new about that?"
"What's new is I can't find him."
"Can't find him?"
"I have access to things. If I want, I can find out where just about anybody is and what they're doing. But Zechs seems to have dropped out of sight. That bothers me."
"Well, so long as he's not bothering us I don't see what the problem is."
"You wouldn't."
"And just what does that mean?" she frowned.
"It means that it's quite possible he's here now in disguise, under an assumed name."
"WHAT?" she shrieked.
"Ears," Heero said, covering his up with a grimace.
"Sorry. But.but are you sure he's here?"
"I said might be. I don't know. That's what bothers me. If I don't know what the enemy is up to, I can't plan accordingly. Instead of being a step ahead, I'm a step behind."
Lita looked away, not sure what to say. Her mind was flooded with guilt, believing it to be her fault Heero had to go through all this. If she hadn't pulled that trigger..
"This isn't your fault."
Lita blinked. "Are you a mind reader now?"
"No. But do you honestly think that by this time I wouldn't have some clue as to how your mind works?"
"Well, I never thought about it actually," she said.
"In any event, it was my choice to get involved. You didn't force me too."
"I guess so, but.."
"No buts. I'm doing this for you, for me, for us."
Even with his vehement support behind his reasoning, he seemed worried and frustrated. Lita sighed, not sure what she could do, if anything, to cheer him up. She slipped her hand into his, wondering if it would help even a little. "For us," she repeated softly.
Even if he was one step behind and shrouded in darkness, he knew he wasn't walking alone.
Yes, yes.I know it's been forever and a year since my last posting. Unfortunately, my independent study class has been occupying a lot of my time, I've had papers to do and I had midterms this week. Not to mention the hordes of reading I have in my English class. So while I've been thinking about this, I just haven't had time to sit down and type it out. I will do my best to provide you with a decent chapter that will make your waiting worth the while.
Thanks to all of you good readers who are kind and patient enough to put up with my random tardiness. ^_^
Enjoy!
Setsuna stood, arms crossed in front of her, tapping fingers on her arm. "I can honestly say I have never been more embarrassed in my life," she said, looking at all the people seated around one of the Crown's largest tables. "I came along anticipating that I would have a good time.not playing baby- sitter for a group of two year olds."
"Well some of us are two year olds," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.
"Meanie!" she retorted, cramming a cookie in her mouth.
"Meatball head!"
"That is quite enough!" Setsuna said firmly.
"Well, maybe I don't always act the most mature in the group," Serena conceded. "But it wasn't my fault we got kicked out." She frowned, looking at the guilty party.
"I was being chased by that male onna. It was self-defense," Wufei said curtly.
"Oh come on Wu-man. I thought girls were weak. Why would you need to defend yourself? Surely one girl couldn't do much damage," Duo teased.
"That male onna is the only non-weak onna I've ever met. I would rather not run into her in the dark again."
Their argument was interrupted by a bouncy red head with a ponytail. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving as she made her way over to the table.
"Hi Lizzie!" Serena waved back.
"Andrew told me you guys were here." Smiling, she grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table, sitting down. "Mind introducing me to your friends here? Don't remember seeing them around before."
"That's 'cause we just got here this week. Oh, I'm Duo Maxwell by the way," he said. "And they are Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Chang Wufei, and Heero Yuy," he added, pointing in turn to his friends.
"I'm Lizzie Furuhata."
"Furuhata? Isn't that Andrew's last name?" Quatre asked.
"Yeah," Lizzie grinned. "Andy's my older brother."
"And he wants to know why you're sitting down on the job."
Lizzie leaned back and looked up. "Aww, come on Andy. Just a few minutes, please?"
He laughed. "Ok, ok. It is kind of slow right now, so I'll make you an offer.15 minutes or until we get another customer ok?"
"Ok!" she grinned.
"Well, I better be back to work. See you guys later." With a smile and a wave, he headed off.
"So.," Lizzie said expectantly. "You gonna tell me what was going on before I interrupted?"
"Um.I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Lita said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, how would you feel about being the only people kicked out of Phazer Wars?"
"You WHAT?" Lizzie exclaimed. "Lita, I thought you'd gotten over the karate maniac stuff."
"It wasn't my fault! It was his!" she exclaimed, pointing at Wufei.
"I told you it was self-defense. Besides, who put me on the same team with that male onna? Wasn't me."
"Well.no. I guess that was my fault," Lita said.
"So.are you gonna tell me?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, I don't think anybody knows what really happened except Wufei and Haruka. But I can tell you how they wound up on the same team." After giving a brief explanation about how she'd met the guys and how they wound up here, she began the tale of the outing turned disaster. "See, Wufei.he has.gee, how do I say this nicely.."
"He's a rude, egotistical, turkey-loving woman hater," Rei said bluntly.
"Really?" Lizzie asked, surprised. "And he's so cute too.."
Wufei promptly turned his head in the opposite direction, while Duo laughed. "That is not funny Maxwell," Wufei scowled.
"Yeah it is..Chang Wufei, codename 'Cute'." Duo couldn't stop laughing.
"MAXWELL!"
"If you two could stop fighting for five seconds." Setsuna said, "I believe somebody was trying to talk."
"Yeah and if you can't behave you know what happens.right boys?" Lita asked.
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, looking apologetic.
"Wufei?"
"Oh all right." Glaring, he turned his attention to his drink.
"Anyway," Lita sighed. "Where was I? Oh yeah, the teams. Rei and I planned the teams ahead of time so we could avoid arguments when we got to Phazer Wars. Well, we put Haruka and Wufei on the same team. Both of us though that maybe Haruka could intimidate Wufei into behaving for once."
"And you thought this would happen in our lifetime?" Heero asked.
"Well, It seemed like a good idea at the time," Lita said, defending herself.
"So what happened?" Lizzie asked.
"Well, everything was going fine. Then all of a sudden there were these crashing noises and shouting. The next thing you know, we were being shown the door."
"It wouldn't have happened if somebody hadn't gotten trigger happy," Haruka said.
"I was not trigger happy! I thought you were Duo.." Wufei's voice trailed off after receiving a glare.
"You thought I was that clown??"
"Haruka."Setsuna said warningly.
"But Setsuna," Haruka said sweetly. "He thought I was a man.no less, the goofy man."
"I thought you were a guy when I first met you," Serena said. "In fact, all of us who didn't know you thought you were a guy."
"But.but.."
"You know we love you Haruka," Michiru smiled. "Now if it's not too much trouble, perhaps Wufei would like to continue the story?"
Looking rather surprised, he nodded. "Like Lita said, everything was going fine, but it is true that I tend to have a short temper. Well, Duo always picks on me for some unknown reason and when I heard his voice, I thought it would be a good chance to get back at him. I turned in the direction I thought his voice was coming from and fired. The next thing I heard wasn't Duo's voice. I heard a strangled choking followed by a loud stomping and felt somebody yanking on my hair as I tried to sneak away."
"That was such a giveaway! I could tell after grabbing the hair of the person I ran into it was Wufei. I mean, nobody else in the group has a ponytail that small. Anyway, I could also tell he was nervous, leading to the conclusion that he was the one that shot me.and got me 'knocked out' of the game. Well, that and the fact that he said 'Oh shit' after I asked him just who the hell he was trying to pick off."
"Oh my," Quatre said. "That would explain why I heard somebody run by screaming 'Die bastard, die!' at the top of their lungs."
Duo cracked up. "Wu-man shot Haruka thinking it was me. Now that really is rich."
"SHUT UP MAXWELL! Or I will poor the contents of your glass over your head!" Wufei said, outraged.
"You wouldn't dare.."
"Oh wouldn't I?" Wufei picked up the water-filled glass and dumped its contents out in a waterfall that dripped down Duo's face.
Duo blinked and brushed some stray drops that caught in his eyelashes, before scowling. He was about to give a nice, biting comment when Wufei suddenly hunched over in his set, yelping.
"What the." Duo said.
"Damn onna," Wufei growled. "Kick me under the table will you.."
"Rei!" Ami said, shocked. "You shouldn't be kicking people under the table, especially not in public."
"But remember Ami, some of us are two year olds," Serena said giggling.
"Oh shut up Serena," Rei scowled back.
This little exchange was suddenly interrupted by a loud smack followed by a string of courses. Everyone turned and looked at the source of all the racket. There was Wufei spouting every bad world he knew, holding onto his head which was now washed in soda that was running down into his lap in sticky rivers.
"Chang Wufei!" Setsuna said, huffing angrily. "I have had all I can take of your attitude and I refuse to let you ruin our day anymore. So eat leather." With that, Setsuna took out her purse and promptly bonked him on the head.
Momentarily stunned by Setsuna's display of purse whacking, Ami looked over at Rei. "Now see what you've done. I told you not to kick him."
"I didn't do it that time," Rei said.
Ami raised an eyebrow.
"What! I didn't do anything!"
"I would like to interject on the lady's behalf," Duo said.
"I'm glad you're going to confess," Hotaru smiling from her place between Duo and Haruka.
"I KNEW IT!" Wufei cried.
Duo coughed, mildly embarrassed. "Well, Ami told Rei not to kick you, but she didn't say anything about me not doing it."
Wufei was about to make some comment about Duo being immature, when a hand thrust a handful of napkins over his shoulder.
"Maybe you'd like to dry off a little?" a voice asked. Wufei turned around behind him and there stood Lizzie.
"Thank you," he said gruffly, turning back around and taking the offered napkins.
Seeing Wufei was embarrassed and fighting a losing battle to hide the slight blush on his face, Lita decided to step in and draw everyone's attention from the flustered pilot. "Say Lizzie, when did you disappear?"
"Right after the drink went splash," she said, resuming her seat at the table. "I would've told you, but I don't think you would have heard me over your um.conversation."
"It's very nice of you to overlook this outrageous behavior," Trowa said. "We apologize if we're being disruptive."
"Oh no, not at all!" Lizzie said, waving her hands. "This place is a big hangout for the middle and high school crowds, so we get loud kids in here all the time. Besides, I love meeting new people and since you all are friends of the girls here, you're friends of mine. Oh shoot." she suddenly said, catching a glimpse at her watch. "I gotta get back to work." She put the chair back at the table she had borrowed it from. "Hope you come back to visit sometime," she said smiling, waving a good-bye as she headed back to work.
"I like your friend Lizzie," Quatre said. "She seems nice."
"She is," Serena nodded in agreement.
"Oh, say Serena," Lizzie said, suddenly appearing again around "I forgot to tell you that we got the new Sailor V game this week. Thought you might wanna check it out." With a wave and a smile, she
"She said the magic words," Rei groaned.
"Magic words?" Quatre asked.
"Serena loves video games."
"I've told her more then once not to spend all her allowance here," Ami said, shaking her head. "She never listens to me. Then again, if she did, she wouldn't be Serena."
"But you know, it has been a while since we've been here," Mina said, tapping her chin. "And I did get extra allowance this week.."
Rei laughed. "You got extra allowance? How'd you manage that?"
"It was probably the only way her parents could get her to give Artemis a bath," Haruka teased. "Last time I saw him, he was looking a little on the brown side."
Mina stuck her tongue out. "It's not my fault. If he was your cat you wouldn't want to give him a bath either. But that wasn't the point anyway. I was just going to say that I wouldn't mind a few rounds in the arcade myself."
"Not you too," Ami sighed. "Besides these games being an obvious waste of money, there is no intellectual stimulation."
"They're not supposed to stimulate your mind Ami. It's just fun! Besides, even you can't deny that they improve eye-hand coordination."
"Well.no.."
Mina grinned in triumph. "So who else is up for some action?"
"I'll go," Duo said.
"That goes double for me," Rei said. "You have a thrashing coming to you after that stupid Sailor Smash game cheated and made me lose."
"In that case you two are going to need supervision," Ami said.
"Why don't we just all go over to the arcade?" Haruka asked. "I mean, I wouldn't mind taking down Wufei here a peg or two."
"Is that a challenge onna?" he asked.
"Sure is."
"I think having everybody in one place is a good idea," Setsuna said. "It will allow Ami and I, as the responsible members of the party, to keep all of you little hoodlums in line."
Rei was about to retort that she was in no way a hoodlum, when she caught the glint of laughter in Setsuna's eyes. "Yes mother," Rei grinned. Setsuna shook her head and stood up, sort of "herding" everyone toward the arcade.
Everyone then made themselves comfortable in various places. Everyone that is except for two people who were nowhere to be found. Not that anybody was looking for them at that point in time. They were all busy either yelling at each other or at the cheating arcade games.
Meanwhile, the Lita was tagging along beside Heero as he walked down the street. "Have something on your mind?" she asked.
"What makes you think something's on my mind?"
"Because you've seemed grouchier then normal today."
"Hn."
"Oh come on," she said. "You can talk to me."
"I don't need a therapy session."
"It's not therapy. Just thought it might help you to talk about it."
Heero said nothing, and the two walked on in silence for a while. They eventually made their way to a large oak tree in the park.
Lita flopped down on her back in the grass, Heero sitting down next to her. As he still didn't seem interested in conversing, she slowly felt herself dozing off. That is until she heard his voice. "Hmm?" she asked, sitting up and shaking her head to clear it. "Sorry, I guess I was falling asleep."
"I said Zechs is bothering me."
"Zechs is always bothering you. What's so new about that?"
"What's new is I can't find him."
"Can't find him?"
"I have access to things. If I want, I can find out where just about anybody is and what they're doing. But Zechs seems to have dropped out of sight. That bothers me."
"Well, so long as he's not bothering us I don't see what the problem is."
"You wouldn't."
"And just what does that mean?" she frowned.
"It means that it's quite possible he's here now in disguise, under an assumed name."
"WHAT?" she shrieked.
"Ears," Heero said, covering his up with a grimace.
"Sorry. But.but are you sure he's here?"
"I said might be. I don't know. That's what bothers me. If I don't know what the enemy is up to, I can't plan accordingly. Instead of being a step ahead, I'm a step behind."
Lita looked away, not sure what to say. Her mind was flooded with guilt, believing it to be her fault Heero had to go through all this. If she hadn't pulled that trigger..
"This isn't your fault."
Lita blinked. "Are you a mind reader now?"
"No. But do you honestly think that by this time I wouldn't have some clue as to how your mind works?"
"Well, I never thought about it actually," she said.
"In any event, it was my choice to get involved. You didn't force me too."
"I guess so, but.."
"No buts. I'm doing this for you, for me, for us."
Even with his vehement support behind his reasoning, he seemed worried and frustrated. Lita sighed, not sure what she could do, if anything, to cheer him up. She slipped her hand into his, wondering if it would help even a little. "For us," she repeated softly.
Even if he was one step behind and shrouded in darkness, he knew he wasn't walking alone.