The World's In Your Eyes, by Kaoru Saotome

"Down," growled Wufei. "Down. Down, I say!"

Sylvia walked carefully down the steps into the impromptu practice room Wufei had created in one of the house's cellars. Sheets of paper bearing kanji symbols adorned the walls in a couple of places, and the floor was waxed. She couldn't help but wonder why he did that…but, she reasoned, if he wanted it that way it was his choice. Remembering the little she knew of such places, she silently slipped off her cork-soled platforms and watched Wufei's first duel in the Winner mansion.

"There's a satisfactory dog. Now…off. Get off. Let go. Did you hear me say let go? Oh, look…this is so humiliating…fetch!"

"Having fun?" giggled Sylvia as Quatre's dog, Gustav, began trying to chew through the cherry-wood scabbard of Wufei's katana.

"Can you distract that damned canine?" asked Wufei, omitting a greeting as usual. You'd think he'd be polite enough to say hello, thought Sylvia as she beckoned the dog over with a whistle and a snap of her fingers. The Old English sheepdog dropped the lethal weapon and trotted over to her with a hearty bark of recognition. Wufei quickly retrieved his sword and checked the sheath for marks. Finding none, he buckled it to his hip and knelt by the dog, petting it with Sylvia.

"Thank you," he said brusquely. "That seemed to be the only way of getting it back."

"Wufei," asked Sylvia, taking a leaf out of the Chinaman's book and getting straight to the point, "I heard some fighters name their weapons…like the Gundams were named, or like those axes and things in myths. I'm wondering, is yours named?"

"It is," said Wufei warmly. He enjoyed talking about his culture; it was almost egotistical, but he felt he had a right to since he'd dragged his Clan and their way of life back from almost nothing. "It's named Iss-Hogai, which means 'for life'…it's sort of appropriate, really, considering what I fought for in the end."

"I like it," smiled Sylvia. "I never learned to use a sword in school…my grandfather being who he was, he encouraged a more academic education for me."

"I…almost envy you," sighed Wufei, looking away from her briefly. "You never needed to fight."

"But you were able to," replied Sylvia. "I had to be protected."

"And you were. We, all five of us, were dragged into that war by circumstance and our own youthful exuberance…not all of us even knew what we were doing."

"It can't have been good," agreed Sylvia. "But it's behind you, right?"

"Some of us, yes," said Wufei briskly, standing up and walking past her to the stairs. "But…there's at least one of us who's haunted to this day by what he had to do. If you like, you can try to guess who."

Sylvia blinked as he left.

Heero hid beneath the bed, narrowing his eyes. The knocking continued.

"Heero, I know you're in there!" called Relena, sounding almost angry. "Won't you come out?"

Remaining silent, the Soldier pulled out a small cellphone and tapped in a number. He needed rescuing from his only fear – the royal family of the Sanc Kingdom.

Some four minutes later, there was a knock at the window. Heero dragged himself across the floor and opened it, to be greeted by a grinning American with a rope.

"Shinigami ex machina," chuckled Duo quietly. "Hold this." Handing Heero the remainder of the rope, he hauled himself up to the roof. Heero, in turn, slid to ground level and ran for the front door, aiming to wander past Relena and make her feel an idiot.

He never saw the slip of paper, but he did step on it. Sliding his own length rather too rapidly, he impacted a bush and vanished. Four seconds later he reappeared, clutching the paper and shaking off twigs.

"The hell…" he muttered as he glared at the paper with a 'this is all your fault' expression. His face softened in amazement as he began to read it. It was wet and chewed, so Quatre's dog had found it first; however, some of the words could still be read.

Quatre…take…longer…circuit…soon…Trowa.

Now he was really confused. He wandered over to the doghouse to investigate further – and, just inside the kennel, discovered a slightly dented can of green beans. Further probing disclosed the remains of a brown paper bag, half a violin bow, untold amounts of hair and some chewed celery as well as some unidentifiable sludge that might once have been food covered in dog saliva.

Heero backed away from the kennel. These were the groceries Trowa had gone out to get.

"What'd you find?" asked Duo next to him. Heero almost jumped, then wordlessly grabbed the back of Duo's head and shoved it into the kennel.

"Hey, let…" began Duo before he realised what was in there with him. He ceased resisting, felt Heero's grip slacken and removed his head from the doghouse.

"Those were groceries," said Heero flatly. "The reason Trowa left."

"This is starting to freak me out," muttered Duo. "What the hell can this mean?"

"There was a note," began Heero, but Duo cut him off.

"Oh my God! The dog ate Trowa!" he yelled. Heero smacked him across the head.

"Shut up, baka," he growled, pushing the bedraggled paper under Duo's nose. The American looked at it briefly, snatched it from his friend's hand and read it properly.

"Great!" he hissed excitedly. "This is great!"
There was a pause.

"What is it?" asked Duo, expression unchanging.

"I have no idea, but it's to Quatre from Trowa," said the Soldier calmly. "Go and find everyone you can. I'll meet them in the kitchen – our kitchen – in ten minutes. I'm going to have another look around."

At the appointed time, Heero appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. The others, assembled there, stopped talking and looked at him.

"I don't know how much Duo's told you," he said. "But we've found something important."

"What is it?" asked Wufei.

"Trowa came back from his shopping trip," said Heero, his expression unreadable. "And I think he tried to tell you something, Quatre, before he left." Here he tossed the worn note onto the table. Quatre picked it up and looked at it blankly.

"Where did you find this?" asked Milliardo.

"Gustav's place," smirked the Wing pilot. "There were some chewed-up pieces of food there, too. I think the dog got to the groceries and dragged them home, taking Trowa's message – whatever it is – with them."

"Nice detective work," said Sylvia. "But isn't the note the real point of the thing?"

"I'll need to look it over in private," said Quatre. "I'm pretty good at that stuff…I'll try to find out what the rest of it used to say, too…"

"I'll begin asking around," said Relena, "See if anyone's…"

"No one saw him," said Wufei.

"What? How do you know?"

"Quatre will already have asked everyone, and Trowa will never be seen if he doesn't want to be."

"Well, we know he came back, at least," said Milliardo. "That could make all the difference. Now what do we do about it?"

"I'll try to retrace his movements," said Quatre. "He'd have left the groceries here, and then…well, then Gustav took them…"

"That dog needs a kick in the ass," grumbled Wufei. Sylvia chuckled.

"There isn't a lot the rest of us can do," said Heero. "But if you need us, Quatre, we're here."

"Thanks, you guys," smiled Quatre. In that second Sylvia realised how like a family the pilots had had to become.

"Come on, Wufei," said Milliardo. "We'll fence now." The Chinaman agreed readily, mixing his confidence with the necessity to distract himself and the others from the situation. As Quatre left, they followed him and headed to the basement.

"I think I'll contact the Alliance again," said Duo, standing. "Check the local surveillance – not just Quatre's, but those little industrial-espionage camera bugs he's always complaining about. There might be some indication of at least which direction he went."

"I'm gonna go teach the dog a few lessons about groceries," growled Heero, taking a fork from the cutlery drawer and stalking out. Sylvia blinked as Relena, always averse to animal cruelty, erupted from her seat and rocketed down the corridor with a cry of dismay. Even harder to believe was the speed at which Heero left her field of vision once he realised he was being followed and hit his famous top gear, leaving the princess behind to give voice to her trouble.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOO!!"