Chapter 1


Duo Maxwell leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk. It was a nice desk, made of sturdy plywood that creaked under the weight of his well worn sneakers and was scuffed with months of being shifted around, everyday in a new corner, as its owner attempted to create as much space as possible in a place barely bigger than the desk itself. The chair that squeaked underneath, at least, was in a useable condition, and it was comfortable enough, considering he spent less time in that chair than he did in the office itself. Duo wasn't someone who could sit still for any given amount of time, and, well, with his job, he didn't really have the time to sit, period.
This is the life, he thought idly to himself, staring up at the flat, white ceiling that was decorated with a mired of pen dots, all invisible unless you were directly beneath. They looked like stars, and, indeed, there were a few that had been attempts at constellations. Great job, he continued to himself, no wars, the world's safe and best of all, I get to watch Wufei be bossed around by a woman. What more could a guy ask for? He closed his eyes and grinned. Well, maybe a cup of coffee and-
"Maxwell, what are you doing, besides slacking off? Again." Duo opened his eyes and sat up, letting his feet fall to the floor. His braid thumped against the back of the chair as he leaned onto the desk.
"Wu-man, you ruin all my fun and relaxation," he replied, making a face. "What can I do for you?"
"We're here to work, baka," answered Wufei, glaring sternly at the one behind the desk. "Kiro wants you in her office," he added, his gaze completely level. Wufei made no sign of being hurt by working for a woman. He had made his peace after complaining for a month straight, then actually getting to the job and discovering that, in no way, was Kiro a girly woman. She was a severe Taskmaster and didn't have a feminine bone in her body, despite being blonde and well built for a girl. She did wear skirts, however they gave away nothing of the legs beneath. Duo guessed that she was full figured - he had no actual idea. And, since Kiro had made it crystalline clear that she disliked Duo a great deal, he had really no chance of finding out.
"What does she want?" inquired Duo, wrinkling his nose at the thought of facing his fierce little supervisor. As if drawn by some force, Kiro herself appeared in the door, well tailored pants hanging loose from her waist in waves of deep blue silk. The matching jacket, as there was always a matching jacket with Kiro, had obviously been left somewhere, as she only wore a white sleeveless blouse with the pants.
"She," she interjected sharply, "i.e. me, I'm assuming, wants you to get off your ass and pick a job," she said, her accent a very sophisticated English Lady, but there was nothing lady like other then that. Kiro was tomboy, through and through. "I've got three reports I want done by Saturday. You too, Chang. I've got work for your friends, Yuy and Barton, and has anyone seen Winner, or did he leave us?"
"He went to investigate the possible Gundam sighting in Ireland," said Duo, standing from his chair. He was taller than Kiro, by at least a half foot, but she always made him feel much, much shorter. Then again, Kiro made everyone feel, feel much shorter. That was why she was the head of the company - absolute, inborn charisma and the attitude of a rapid Chihuahua.
"Who sent him on that?" she demanded, glaring so hard that her blue eyes lit with a raging fire. Duo felt the urge to shrink back, but quickly squished it, in favour of his dignity.
"He, um, volunteered," he managed. "The case came through Hibari, so we assumed it was legit. If it wasn't-"
"The fuck it wasn't!!" hollered the woman, throwing her hands up in the hair. "Oh, honestly, what the hell am I running? A bloody tabloid?! Somebody get him back here by tonight or I'm going to be surgically removing my Gucci from someone's ass!" She shoved two file folders into Wufei's arms and stalked back to her office, her heels emphasizing the previous statement threateningly. They both watched her go, their eyes inadvertantly drawn to the rhythmic click clicking. Duo shook his head, and looked to the folders, finding a place to draw his attention away from his certain doom.
"I'm so screwed," he murmured. "No way is Winner coming back from Ireland anytime in the next week, much less tonight. And knowing Kiro, she'd make me pay for the surgery." Wufei snickered, a most un-Wufei like sound that he had been making quite a bit as of late, especially when it came to Kiro and Duo's professional relationship. Duo grinned, but said nothing. "What'd we get?" he asked, changing the subject.
"You got a missing persons case and I got an investigation of a weather phenomenon in Japan," answered Wufei. Duo accepted the folder and heaved a sigh.
"I feel as if I'm being gypped with more work."
"I don't really care, Maxwell." Wufei dropped the folder on Duo's desk and left. Duo sat down, leaned back and pulled the file into his lap. It was an average brown manila folder, the edges worn as if Duo wasn't the first person to have picked it up. There was no title on the tag line, just a single short line to the far left. Duo opened it and began leafing through the papers piled inside. Someone had done most of the research for him already.
"Let's see," he said to himself aloud. "Akairo Hiarashi. Age: 18. Place of Birth: Tokyo, Japan. Employed: Hobbies and Antiques, New Orleans, Louisiana. Date missing: September 21, AC 199." Duo raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at the calendar on his desk, only to see that his guess was correct - it was October 21, a month to the date after Miss Hiarashi's disappearance. It was severely un-Kiro-like for him to get an assignment a month old, and it already had a lot of research on her. If it was thing Kiro liked, it was for her reporters to do their own research. This was beginning to smell very funny to Duo. He pulled the photo from the paperclip and studied it. There didn't seem to be anything particular about Akairo Hiarashi that jumped out at him, except, that for a girl born in Tokyo, Japan, with a Japanese name no less, she didn't look very Japanese. Her hair was a curly, deep brown and she had large, blue eyes that were set in a pretty face straight out of a European fashion magazine. The photo looked like it was a candid shot, because her eyes were looking to something to her left 0 or maybe it was from a fashion magazine and it was some kind of artistic shot. Duo had no idea, so he flipped the picture over, hoping to find some kind of date and source scrawled on the back. Instead, he was met with a untidy script that scrawled an ambiguous warning,


Be Careful. This is far more than what you may think.
Duo frowned deeply, then turned the picture back over to stare at it. She had finely chiseled features that struck a note of familiarity in his memory, but what was so familiar, he couldn't comprehend. He slipped the picture back under the paper clip and closed the folder, then stood up so fast his chair fell over and into a wall. This was ridiculous - he needed more information on this case than just what was in the papers. Somehow, there was more going on here than Kiro was letting on. By the time he reached her office door, his resolve had hardened - he was going to be completely informed on this.
But the sound of her voice stopped it. The door to her office stood ajar, and her voice came through, reassuring in its tone, but urgent in the rapid way she fell over the syllables of the rich language. Duo stopped, his hand only inches from the handle, and listened.
"It's French." Duo's back went ramrod straight and he whirled around on his heel, his braid wrapping itself protectively around his neck.
"Am I the only one who says 'hi' anymore?!" he shouted, perhaps a little higher pitched than usual. The person beyond him only watched him with a level gaze, his vibrant green eyes as calm as a meadow on a windless day. "Geez!" breathed Duo, shaking his head and pulling his braid free. He let it flop back behind him. They stood together in the hallway, the two boys, one slightly small with auburn hair, the other taller, with pale brown hair that was arranged so that it covered one of his eyes, no matter where you were standing.
"So… Trowa," tried Duo, still listening to Kiro talking rapidly, "do you know what she's saying?"
"Some," shrugged Trowa, "But none of it is really important, just that she has everything covered." He raised his hands before Duo's mouth came open again and shook his head. "I have no idea what."
"Damn," muttered Duo, snapping his fingers. He glanced back at the door and decided that it really wasn't worth his ass to interrupt Kiro, just yet. He could wait in the hallway a little longer. A need for conversation struck him. "What'd you get for a case, Trowa?"
"The Hiarashi family ruby was stolen from the highest security bank in the colonies," answered Trowa. "The government agency assigned to the case has put out rumors that they have evidence it was an inside robbery, so I was planning to research the jewel and the bank this afternoon. You?" he added amiably.
"A really weird missing persons," Duo answered, tapping the file with the tip of his finger. "Some girl named Akairo Hi-" He paused a moment, realization springing to his cheerful face, "-arashi. You know what, Barton, I think I'm gonna tag along with you." Trowa nodded and Duo looked to the door again. Kiro's voice was softer, but still in an language Duo couldn't understand. Now, another voice added the occasional comment, in French, a low, quiet tenor that was indistinguishable through the doors, even with one ajar. The braided one narrowed his eyes at the door, recognizing the voice even as his common sense told him he was being stupid.
"When did Heero get back from his last assignment?" he inquired, taking a step towards the door. Trowa grabbed his arm above the elbow and pulled him back gently.
"Heero failed his last assignment," he hissed quietly, his eyes suddenly lighting with a strange light. "He was supposed to bring someone in for an interview, but she was kidnapped. The woman Miss Kiro is talking to is the interviewee's roommate. She thinks Heero kidnapped her."
"A little French my ass!" stated Duo indignantly. Kiro's voice stopped in mid sentence and both boys feel completely silent. "We should leave," said Duo, looking to the door. A shadow passed by the open space and Duo took a step backward. Trowa motioned down the hallway and Duo nodded silently. They left, one after the other, and, from inside the office, a well-manicured finger tapped a button marked "speaker"
"Are you still there?" inquired a level female voice tinged with a English accent.
"Oúi," came the answer.
"Good," replied the voice. "Now we can talk."