5: Communication
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Character Ages:
Mariemaia: 8
Catherine: 18
Dorothy: 18
Relena: 16
Heero: 16
Duo: 16
Trowa: 16
Quatre: 16
Wufei: 16
Hilde: 16
Sally: 20
Zechs: 20
Une: 20
Noin: 20
"What?! Go out for dinner?! Relena have you lost your mind?!" Hilde shouted having come out of the bathroom in a robe. Relena stood in front of the girl her hands clasped together with a controlled expression that is usually seen when she is discussing various issues between the colonies or earth in meetings.
The honey-blonde girl shook her head slowly. "No, I have not," Relena replied curtly with a blink. Hilde shoved her hands into the pockets of the robe with a pouty face, she didn't wanna go out to dinner she wanted to make dinner for Duo, Heero, and Relena it was what she did best of course when she wasn't working with the braided Shinigami-san.
"There's a formal restaurant not too far away from here, they serve the best dinner platters in this area. I had my breakfast there this morning," Relena explained hesitantly with a pleading look. "Please Hilde? We both could use a break from all the work we've done!"
Hilde looked at down at her bare feet contemplating over her whether she should go out with Relena or stay home and await the return of Duo..... Hilde's eyes widened in question staring at the groceries on the couch then at the laptop beside them before shifting her gaze toward Relena.
"Where's Heero?" She asked curiously looking around the room. Relena froze in her place with a sharp intake of breath, Hilde caught wind of her reaction to her question she stared at her skeptically arching an eyebrow while Relena simply smiled at the short-haired girl.
"He went out to retrieve Duo," She said simply. Hilde nodded with the skeptical look gleaming in her eye before she went into the bedroom to put on some dry clothes, Relena let out her breath unaware she was holding she made her way into the kitchen with a weary step in her walk, she had almost blown her cover and she was still unsure if Hilde would except her offer to go out for dinner instead of cooking.
Relena's stomach began to growl causing images of food to appear in her mind; the Eastern European tucked a lock of hair behind her ear with another sigh tapping her fingers along the counter's surface with a lazy motion listening to the rain pounding against the building with all its might as the redorange sun began to peek through clouds.
Relena smiled at the sight before the sound of Hilde's bedroom door opening caught her attention. She whipped her head in the direction of the living room watching Hilde straighten out her clothes making sure her hair was completely dry and in place, she wore a pressed khaki pants with a white dress shirt that hung over her pants and worn Nike sneakers.
Relena smiled looking down at her outfit she wore. Since they were both dressed quiet nicely she figured it was Hilde's way of saying ''yes'' to her question of going out. Hilde grabbed her slicker [raincoat] sliding her arms into the sleeves with a grunt then looked to Relena with a smile opening the front door.
"You coming or what?" Hilde asked arching an eyebrow at the pacifist. Relena blinked at her for a moment before nodding coming out of the kitchen making her way over to the side of the couch grabbing the umbrella and a long leather jacket that belonged to Duo and headed out of the house with Hilde.
The ever-present worry for Heero and Duo's well-being remained in the back of her mind lingering about while she thought about something else. The two managed to evade the would-be attack dog shuffling out through the gate with the umbrella over their heads as Hilde tried to signal a cab to pull over so they could get a ride.
The German girl began to feel an uncomfortable feelings rising within her and wondered where the American gundam pilot was. Duo had been known to disappear for a good while at times but he always return before the sun was completely down before dinner time.
But the knot her gut had become unignorable to the extent where she thought her period had stared despite the fact it wasn't that time yet. She and Relena stepped back a bit as a yellow taxi pulled up to the curb unlocking its door the two hoped into the back. In front of them was the taxi driver, he held a cigarette between his teeth wearing a worn out leather jacket and a Yankee's cap, from Relena's point of view the man looked uncivil and unclean to her.
"Where to ladies?" He asked offhandedly. Hilde opened her mouth but came out of her for she realized she didn't know where the restaurant was while Relena did; she looked to the government official for help. "The modern-rizzo, please," Relena chirped. The taxi driver gave a nod of his head to the two before turning on his meter and pulling away from the curb heading down the street.
~*~
(Preventers HQ):
Outside the preventers Headquarters, Sally Po drove her Jeep into the garage greeted by the usual hot-tempered Chinese teenager Wufei Chang otherwise known as preventer 05.
She quirked an eyebrow at him before unbuckling herself. Wufei watched the 20-year-old woman jump over the door instead of going through it he rolled his eyes slightly with an annoyed expression. "Baka onna," He muttered in annoyance tapping his foot.
Sally's eyebrows narrowed at the Chinese pilot.
"What was that Wufei?" She asked hotly turning her back to him reaching into the jeep for her backpack. Wufei shook his head when Sally turned to face him her inquiring expression remained, the 16-year-old shrugged turning away from the woman heading for the exit of the garage with a tried look in his eye before he stopped and looked at Sally.
The ex-alliance major's eyes widened in question wondering what it was the boy could possibly want now since he only said one thing to her despite its insulting meaning, she folded her arms holding her backpack by its' strap awaiting for a small or ongoing sentence to emit from Fei's mouth when he cleared his throat looking the other way.
"Une wanted to me tell you to meet her in her office," He said sternly in his usual tone of voice. "Don't ask why, just go." With that said, the Chinese teenager walked through the garage's exit heading for his office thinking of caffeinated coffee to wake him up while Sally watched the door swing in and out until it ceased the motion completely.
She smirked rolling her eyes. Sally always thought Wufei was something of a shy person when it came to a normal conversation but she never teased him about since it would wound his pride greatly not to mention his 'honor complex'; Sally pulled her keys out of the ignition and headed out of the garage toward Une's office with a dreading feeling thinking she had done something wrong.
Sally made her way past the dormitories of the in-training preventers along with several others who seemed to be talking about Zechs Merquies' long platinum blonde hair and his relationship with Lucreiza Noin from what the Chinese woman could hear as she passed by them quickly not wanting to make Une wait any longer than she was.
Sally began to jog down the hall toward the German woman's office when she noticed Wufei leaning up against the wall with his arms folded across his chest eye closed, Sally slowed down her pace staring at the young preventer in question.
"What are you doing here, Wufei?" She asked curious. Wufei glanced up at her briefly before closing his eyes, he cocked his head to the side with a sigh. "Its' a free country isn't it? Or do I need permission to stand out in the hall?" Chang looked up at her questionably.
Sally shook her head making her way toward the door while Wufei removed himself from against the wall making his way slowly down the hall wearing a smirk on his face, confused by his sudden movement she grabbed the door knob and turned it.
Sally entered the slightly dark office scanning the room until she found Une who stood by the window with her hand placed up on the glass, Sally found this to be an odd thing to witness. This is interesting.... She thought stepping into the room closing the door behind him.
Po usually found Lady Une at her desk sifting through papers or speaking to the president about their finatual position. The German woman glanced to the right before turning around to greet the Chinese preventer. "Sally? I didn't expect you back soon," Une asked in question raising her eyebrow.
Sally nodded her head slipping her backpack straps over her shoulders while wondering why Une was surprised by her presence. Despite this Sally decided to speak and think nothing of the woman's confused expression. "I've completed my mission on destroying the remnants of a military mobile suit base and captured the rebels, I handed them over to the authorities and made sure they got a nice long jail sentence. I hear you sent Noin and Zechs to do the same," Sally said with a short salute.
Une nodded in confirmation; lately they're had been a several countries and colonies trying to start another war or revolution resembling the ones of the past naturally the president and many other government officials [minus Relena] became increasingly worried and assigned the preventers to handle the situation before thing got out of hand causing yet another Endless Waltz. Sally blinked at the woman for a moment before speaking again.
"Uhh, I don't mean to pester you if you were busy but Wufei said you wanted me for something?" She said hesitantly. Une cocked another eyebrow at the woman appearing to be surprised before she narrowed them. "I never wanted to see you Po," Une said. "Why would Chang say that?"
Sally blushed feeling like an idiot, the infamous Wufei Chang played a trick on her! "Excuse me," Po said opening the door rushing out in a hurry. Une blinked emotionlessly watching the door shut itself, with one last blink she made her way around her desk placing herself into the chair with a tired sigh with her mind set on her adopted daughter Mariemaia.
Wufei made his way down the hall calmly with a cool expression, his hand were shoved in his jacket pockets with not a care in the world when he heard fast approaching footsteps. He looked behind him catching a glimpse of an angry Sally Po red as a beet. Wufei smirked; she fell for his trick. Baka onna, he thought triumphantly with a full blown smile.
"WUFEI CHANG!" She shouted coming toward him at top. Wasting no time, the Chinese teenager broke into a run rushing down the corridor of the Preventers Headquarters catching the attention of everyone within hearing range.
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Noin traveled through a corridor with her gun cocked and ready to go as she advanced closer toward the factory's control room, her dark blue eyes scanned the area cautiously while her thoughts resided on Zechs and his whereabouts after the had split up to take over the two control rooms on different sides of the mobile suit factory.
He seemed intent on splitting up; Noin thought it because he thought they ran the risk of being caught if they hadn't. She rolled her eyes before she picked up the sound of footfalls in front of her coming frowned around the corner she approached.
Noin's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she scanned the area for someplace to take cover until the person passed she looked up at the vent above her and proceeded to climb up, putting her gun back into its pack and reaching upward she tucked her fingers underneath the vent's cover pulling it toward her with all her might. Noin grunted in fustration as the cover refused to oblige to her attempts to remove it from the ceailing.
Beads of sweat rolled down her face her arms were beginning to create a dull ache as she continued to pull on the cover. "G-damnit!" She cursed through clenched teeth. This was more a task than she expected, with a defeated grunt Noin removed her sore swollen fingers from the cover just the shadow of the figure became noticeable, with much haste Noin threw herself against near the edge of the wall making a futile attempt to blend in with the surroundings as the one of the rebels, a female came around the corner with a cup of coffee in hand.
As the woman appearing to be of Russian nationality strode across the hall she caught a glimpse of a slender figure slipping by her with a look of slight panic expressed on their face, stopping the woman turned around to ensure she wasn't seeing things only to be greeted by a blur of a figure and then received a fist in the gut.
Noin watched the cup the woman was holding fall from her grip, the Mediterranean preventer caught it with ease lowering herself to the ground while keeping a firm grip on the woman's fury collar as she placed the cup onto the ground. With a grunt Noin maneuvered the woman over her shoulder so that her front facing her, rising from her kneeling position she turned to the door of the controll room with a smirk.
"That was close," Noin muttered to herself making her way across the corridor with an uneasy feeling in her stomach noticing there was a touch pad beside of door instead of a keyboard for punching codes in. Noin grabbed the woman's wrist placing her hand onto pad, she watched a green laser scann the woman's hand downward in a slow motion before she heard a hiss of air.
The doors slid open revealing an empty room Noin stepped inside letting the door shut behind her. Now that she was in Noin had to figure out how to cut the power to the machines aiding the rebels in rebuilding the mobile suits...... which was easier said than done; dropping the Russian woman on the ground with a grunt Noin made her way over the control panel.
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Heero trudged inside of the house greeted by an eerie silence which by the way didn't bother Heero at the least, he was alot more worried about his aching limbs and shoulder that was weighed down upon by Duo Maxwell himself.
He shut the front door with a push of his foot and made his way across the threshold kicking off his soggy shoes making a futile attempt to remove his wet socks that chilled his feet to the bone. "Grr..!" Heero began to hop around trying to slip his right foot into the slip of the sock on his left foot.
The Japanese teenager ceased his jumping and made his way over to the couch noting to himself to wear sandals the next time he went out in the rain/ Swade boots were not water proof. Carefully, Heero placed the boy on the floor against the couch as he removed the groceries from the couch to place Duo onto the cleared area.
Heero slid the wet braided American onto the couch with a grunt sliding the heavy wet braid of his shoulder last before rising from the ground heading toward the kitchen to find a first aid kit along with some smelling salts to wake the baka from his involuntary slumber.
Heero stood in front of the table trying to remember which cabinet Hilde had placed the smelling salts in as he made his way toward the first aid kit that resided on the marble counter near the sink. The 16-year-old grabbed the box and began his search for the salts, he searched through every cabinet scrutinizing ever nook and cranny inside the box on the wall, he grunted in annoyance as he stood on his tiptoes searching around in the last cabinet beginning to lose his patience with the entire ordeal.
Why'd Duo have to go and pick a fight?! I don't have time for this! Heero grumbled mentally thinking about the letter Une had sent him and the 48 hour time limit plastered to it, he pushed several spices to the side searching the cabinet for last time before removing his head from inside and slamming the cabinet shut with a huff.
Heero flexed his toes to relieve the ache from standing on them he scanned the counters in defeat shifting his gaze toward the contents on the center of the table noticing a small bottle with a cork labled; smelling salt: rosemary.
Heero's Prussian blue eyes brightened like the stars themselves knowing he had finally completed his mission on finding the smelling salt, walking over to the table he grabbed the small bottle and walked out of the kitchen his usual impassive expression returned afterwards. He learned over Duo's soaken wet body fiddling with the cork on the bottle that seemed to be hammered into the hole.
Heero was practically putting up a struggle against the cork that would not budge from its' tightly fastened place the Japanese expilot pressed his foot into Duo's stomach pulling harder against the cork's protests to come undone when it finally decided to come out, the wooden object came flying out of the hole in the bottle and out of the young man's hand falling to the ground with a silent thud.
"Hn!" Heero grunted in triumph removing his foot from against Duo's stomach. He leaned over the wet teenager carefully moving the bottle around in a back-&-forth motion under Duo's nose, nothing happened for at least a few minutes until the twitch of the boy's nose and the automatic jerk of Maxwell's body let Heero know that he was coming around to the land of the conscious. He let the American have another whiff of the salt to ensure he was conscious and that it wasn't just a reflex of a slumbering person.
Duo reached up to his nose swatting away whatever was emitting the burning aroma's smell as he cracked open his eyes slowly, the former Shinigami's wheels in his mind began to turn with intrigue as his eyes rolled in the back of his head once again. Heero huffed in annoyance, this guy was harder to wake than Relena after a hard day of work, with a sigh he brought back his arm ready to strike the American.
Hmm ... blurry figure in front of me..... blurry surroundings.... Smelly stuff...... a couch....., Duo's thoughts were abruptly cut off by a backhanded slap to the face. Heero watched the salvage worker jerk upward with his coalbolt eyes open to their limit as his head jerked in all directions in confusion, the Japanese teenager rolled his eyes fighting the urge to slap him again. "Wha- happened?" Duo drawled sleepily rubbing his eyes before a throbbing pain in his skull returned.
He immdiately turned his attention to the pain slapping his hand against the side of his head wincing, Heero leaned upward in annoyance shoving his hand and the bottle into his pocket watching the young man he nicknamed braided baka or plain ol' baka with an amused glint in his eyes, Duo glanced up at the antisocial man above him with a coy grin which was challenged by a death glare. "Oi Heero, whatcha doin' here?" Duo asked unaware of his surroundings.
Heero blinked at him before kneeling down once again revealing the first aid kit while Duo cringed at the pain that was slowly beginning to fade in his head, he watched the silent warrior pull out an exceptionatly hug stick no bigger than the palm of Heero's hand with dabbing cotton at both ends before reaching into the kit again grabbing a bottle of peroxide then alcohol along with some bandages.
The slight of the these objects were giving Duo the goosebumps but he continued to watch Heero wet both dabbing cottons in the different smelly chemicals before he reached over to touch one of Duo's bruises the American pilot pulled back immediately with a look of terror while Heero continued his approach on his arm. "Turkey," Heero muttered grabbing a hold of Duo's arm the second he was off guard.
Maxwell huffed in annoyance but made no move to retrieve his arm Heero's grip, he could only wince at the stinging pain the peroxide caused him, Heero glanced up the pained expression of his friend then returned to dabbing his injuries before he decided to ask how Duo ended up covered in brusies he only got in training as a 11-year-old boy. "How'd this happen?" He asked never taking his eye off his work.
Duo looked down at Heero in confusion wondering why the stiff-necked boy wanted to know how he ended up covered with bruises and many other varieties of injuries that don't cause death, he looked up thoughtfully realizing they were inside his and Hilde's house before considering to answer Heero's question. He slowly began to explain everything that had happened to him (minus his encounter with Relena, he figured Heero already knew) up to when he intervened in a fight between a now defenseless boy and a teenager no older than they were.
This didn't surprise Heero one bit, he nodded once Duo had gotten to the end of his explanation of his unfortunate timing to stumble upon a brawl between two people with specators. "That's what happened, huh?" Heero asked turning the stick around on the alcohol side. "Hai, pretty much," Duo nodded watching Heero slap a bandage onto several of his clean injuries before making his way over to the left side of his arm.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes wincing again at the sting of alcohol on his cut, he glanced down at Heero who's mouth was hanging open as if he wanted to say something but nothing came out. "Would you stop that! That hurts ya' know?" Duo complained straching the side of his ear unconsciously.
Heero clamped his mouth shut with a smirk spreading across his face as he continued his work. "Don't be such a weakling Maxwell," He grumbled amused. Duo rolled his eyes sitting back as he fought the urge to snap at Heero again before noticing the man's mouth was open again, annoyed by his ever-present open mouth Duo kicked Heero in the side causing the Japanese teenager to jab the dabbing cotton onto one of Maxwell's worser injuries.
The 16-year-old hollowed in pain getting another jab in another one of his wounds only this time his kept his mouth shut knowing he would get the same treatment if another sound emitted from his mouth again. "Jerk," Duo muttered.
"Braided baka," Heero shot back. Duo huffed at the insult and wracked his brain for a good comeback while Heero smiled in victory. "Antisocial baka!" He cried in triumph. Heero sent him a death glare while Duo hummed a tune of victory himself before the silent warrior jabbed another one of his injuries this time sliding the dabbing cotton across it.
The world seemed to have froze in time as Duo's senses became overwhelmed by pain, he let out the loudest cry of pain he could muster as an indication it hurt like all hell, Heero listened to the string of profane words utter from the God of death's mouth as he placed many bandages on his injuries before dakrness engulfed the entire room leaving the two pilots practically blind.
"What the hell?" Duo manged to say despite his current pain. Heero placed the dabbing cotton on a stick back into the first-aid kit shutting the lid he placed it on the ground beside him as he rose to the ground pulling out his gun while searching the darkened area. "My sentiments exactly, Duo," Heero muttered cocking his gun.
Duo climbed to his aching feet coming up from behind Heero with a bad feeling forming in the pit of his stomach as he followed the moving figure of Heero across the living room toward the basement door that was located on the far side of the entrance to the kitchen, the two ex-pilots made they're way over to the door noticing it was cracked open.
Heero and Duo glanced at eachother uncertain of the dangers that awaited them below those stairs but decided there wasn't any need to delay the inedible and made they're way down the stair case carefully glancing every which way in the dark despite the fact that they couldn't see a damned thing.
Duo slid down the balesters landing on the cold stone ground with the grace of a cat making his way across the basement toward the box full of wires and switches he forgot the name of it, Heero sat himself on the bottom stairs awaiting Duo to turn the power back on before leaning back as if he were under the sun lying on a mat at the beach.
Duo began to fidle with the contents inside the box searching for the correct switch that'll turn the power back on when light filled the pupil of his eyes realizing the power had returned to them causing both young man to think that it was a power failure at the plant or wherever they control the electricity to supply it the world. "Must have been a fluke," Heero spoke up breaking the silence that lingered between them.
Duo glanced at the usually silent teenager giving him a nod indicating he was listing, Heero sat himself back up rising from the bottom stair with a yawn gesturing his head toward the stair way, Duo blinked at him before following after Heero who had began making his way up the sitars without him.
Impatient baka, Duo thought irritably closing the door behind him once they were up stairs in the living room. Both men turned around advancing toward the couch to oblivious to the wet adolescent against the couch when he made a sound resembling a yawn/grunt Duo and Heero shifted they're gaze over to the tweenager who was beginning to become aware of his surroundings from what the two ex-pilots could tell.
Duo made his way passed Heero over to the boy with a smirk before he noticed the tween was rubing his aching jaw with a scowl on his face before he glanced up at Duo, his ocean blue eyes widened in fear to the extent the second Duo moved another inch he began to back up against the couch clawing for some stable to grab or attack him with.
"S-stay away from me!" He stammered in fear climbing up onto the couch beginning to shiver from the cold he had no noticed. Duo backed away from the boy raising his hands in way to calm the boy down. "Hey listen, I'm not gonna hurt you kid... I just wanna see if you're okay," Duo said tensely making no sudden moves. The boy blinked at him shivering worse but made no move or indication that he was listening to anything Duo was saying to him.
Heero watched from the place he stood watching the tweenager with interest, he reminded Heero of himself, the boy's blue eyes were different from his, but the well-tanned skin and wild hair (minus the shoulder lenghth braid behind him) had an uncanny resemblance to his; the only problem was his facial features were completely different from his own which he was extremely thankful for.
He glanced to Duo who was attempting to coax the boy into trusting him while the kid scanned the area or would glance at Heero curiously before returning to his present situation. "Are you one of Tomeki's lackey's? Where am I?" He asked through his chattering teeth. Heero watched Duo shake his head quickly before rubbing his sore neck possibly remembering the beating he took to save the kid. "Your at my house an N-no I'm not one of Tomeki's lacky, you see," Duo began stammering trying to explain himself.
"I kinda stumbled onto your 'dispute' between Tomeki's and stopped them beating you do death and kicked Tomeki's ass but it was sorta like vice-versa afterwards; they beat the shit outa me instead for doing that to their mighty leader, excuse my language."
The boy stared at Duo as if he had grown two heads, he blinked for a moment feeling the need to moisten his eyeballs noticing the bandages traveling up the teenager's arm before he glanced upward a the black eye Duo had along with the brusies on his face, there was no reason to think he was lying.
The injuries he suffered were enough proof for him to believe he was telling the truth and with a defeated sigh the boy relaxed on the couch as Duo made another attempt to get near the boy. "It's okay guy, I believe you," The boy said calmly with his eyes closed surprising Duo.
The braided sweeper was creeped out by his calm yet stern expression as he checked his arms and other parts of his body. "Well we're gonna need to take you to the hospital to get these injuries....." Duo trailed off when Heero came up beside him with a inquiring expression.
Duo glanced up at him in question before the Japanese teenager grabbed the American by the braid dragging him away rasing a finger to the boy asking him wordlessly to give him a minute with the young man. Duo grumbled mentally at Heero's methods of getting people's attention when it wasn't Relena who he treated like fragile cargo and spoke to a lot more than him or the rest of the Gundam pilots, his friends. Heero let go of his braid once they were out of the nameless boy's hearing range.
Duo rubbed his sore scalp with an annoyed expression on his face. "What is it now, Heero!?" He exclaimed under his breath. Heero glanced at the boy on the couch then returned his gaze to Duo who was loosing his patience, with a sigh the Japanese teen spoke. "I think we should at least ask where this boy lives and leave this situation to his parents," Heero said in a mater-of-fact tone. Duo shook his head quickly.
"I can't do that Hee-man, I'm involved and this kid expects me to get to the hospital I'll call his parents when we get there," He said sternly not considering Heero's option. "So are with me or against me?"
Heero gave him a look at usually was his way of asking if he had gone crazy, there was a moment of silence between the two men before Heero finally gaze in. "I'm with you," He said quietly. "Just don't call me Hee-man, or I'll have to kill you." Duo smiled at his friend, the two headed off toward the child who was nodding off to sleep.
The boy was halfway in dreamland when a loud ear piercing whistle emitted from Duo jerked him out of his semi-slumber, he looked up at the two teenagers before glaring at Heero who glared back at him. "Wake up kid, we're taking you to the hospital," Heero said blanly. The kid rolled his eyes at Heero before climbing off the couch with yawn he reached up taking a grip on the end of his thick plait rubbing it between his fingers lazily before speaking.
"My name is not 'kid' mister," He said mockingly with a smug smirk. Duo looked to Heero then to the kid then back to Heero, the two acted as if they were related to eachother which was humanily impossible. "Then what's your name kid, and where do your parents live?" Heero shot back tapping his foot.
The wild-braided-haired boy shrugged with the feeling of nostalgia wash over him at the mention of parents, both Heero and Duo noticed this. "I don't have any parents or anyone for that matter...... I'm an war orphan. Tomeki was my only family until now," He replied. Duo and Heero's mouthes hung open in aghast when then what the boy had said processed in their minds.
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Author's note: [Whipes brow]: Man that was hard. I hope you all liked this chapter. I would write more but sadly I've run out of run, and this author's note is the last of it. Read and review and happy holidays. Sorry for any mispelled words, grammar errors, etc. Adios! Sakura123~