A/N: Bear in mind that, while in this chapter I may use a bit of fancy terminology (I haven't decided yet), I know little to nothing of geology and thus may end up talking a load of tosh. So forgive me if I do.
The World's In Your Eyes, by Kaoru Saotome
It had been two days since Heero's discovery. Quatre hadn't left his room much; he said he'd rather get everything he could from the paper found in the doghouse. Gustav had evaded major harm using the simple expedient of biting Heero on the arm and refusing to let go even when beaten over the head with his own kennel (which had mercifully done little damage to his rather thick skull). Heero had more or less healed from the small lacerations of the dog's grip and, with some bandaging, was now arguing with Duo about an idea the American had had.
"I'm tellin' ya, we need to relax," said Duo. "All of us. This place is perfect!"
"Bull," said Heero calmly and bluntly, as usual. "You just want to goof off. We should stay at the task until we're done."
"Why not just ask Quatre?" suggested Wufei quietly, not bothering to look up from his katana-polishing. Milliardo, Sylvia and Relena were walking in the grounds below them, and he was half-listening to their conversation.
"Because he'd automatically go along with it just to keep Duo happy," growled Heero. "And it'd divert us from our objective."
"Then put it to the others," said the Chinaman, sheathing his katana and standing up. He walked over to the door and turned briefly.
"I'll talk to Quatre," he said quietly. "Duo, get the others."
Heero cupped his face in his hands as Duo responded to this by leaning out of the window and accosting the wandering trio at the top of his voice.
"A hot springs?" echoed Quatre, one eyebrow raised. "I know the place you mean…and I don't disagree, but why?"
"We all need a break," replied Duo. He got a cynical look from nearly everyone present; even Relena knew enough of him to guess he considered this whole task to be one long holiday.
"I think he's right," said Sylvia thoughtfully, surprising some of them. "Quatre, you've been working almost non-stop for two days now. You need some relaxation more than any of us. I think we should do it."
"We shouldn't start slacking halfway through the job," protested Heero. He could tell he was fighting a losing battle. And Heero Yuy only did one thing when he lost…
"Ah, you're always on the job," said Duo with a grin. "Give it a rest."
Milliardo had to look away.
"Fine," said Heero, following his usual 'I've lost' procedure. "Let's do it."
They looked at him in surprise.
"That was a turn-around," murmured Wufei.
I think he just self-destructed his point of view, thought Sylvia in bemusement.
"When do we leave?" asked Relena. "Should we just get ready now, or do we have anything to finish first?"
"No prep time," said Duo firmly. "The best way to do these things is to be spontaneous. Grab your swimsuits, guys!" He raced off upstairs. There was a pause.
"Follow him," shrugged Wufei, wandering off. "He's the most experienced slacker of us all, so he knows what he's doing."
Finding the logic acceptable, Heero went off after them. He was followed by the others, somewhat hesitantly; the general air was one of not knowing what was going on but wanting to participate. Relena kept blinking.
It was some three hours later that the group arrived at the springs. Like all such places, it was divided into two parts for unisex bathing. Duo had stripped off and leaped into the water wildly as soon as he'd been able, opening the clasp of his braid so it unravelled behind him as he sailed through the air with a mighty hurrah, splashing down in the dangerously shallow water and knocking his elbow on a rock. He came up swearing loudly in time to be hit on the side of the head by a shampoo-bottle hurled over the pool's bisecting wall.
"What the hell is this?" he yelled, grabbing at the bottle.
"Shampoo," came Sylvia's voice. "In case you want to wash your hair. There were two bottles here."
"None here," observed Milliardo. "Thanks, Sylvia." The rest of the males stripped to their shorts and entered the pool gingerly.
"This isn't so hot," said Quatre, pleasantly surprised. He slid into a sitting position, sinking up to his shoulders.
"I must admit, Maxwell, when you pick a place to relax, you know how to make the right choice." Wufei pulled his hair from its small ponytail and let the elastic rest on the edge of the pool.
"Hey, leisure's my specialty," grinned Duo expansively.
"We know," said Heero, floating past on his back.
Over in the girls' pool, Sylvia was relaxing underwater and seeing how long she could comfortably go without needing to surface. It was a surprisingly long time; occasionally she'd see Relena's legs go by as the young queen explored their relaxation space, but she knew her companion's manners were better than to get her to surface just to tell her of her discoveries. She was surprised, therefore, to look to the wall and notice a small hole in it. Clearly, one gender had thought the other to be worth watching. She surfaced, moved over to it – deciding to ignore Relena's inquiries as to her intent – and submerged again to look through the hole.
She could see nothing but legs. One pair was clearly Milliardo's, as they were longer than the rest. The strands of hair floating near another set signified them to be Duo's; however, she wasn't sure which of the other three was which. Finally, one pair detached itself from the rest as their owner took to floating around on his back; short brown hair, Sylvia noted, meaning this was Heero. She watched him until she surfaced again – and when she did, she heard a hideous sound.
Duo had found a cigar-like piece of wood and was doing Groucho Marx impressions to cheer Quatre up. It was working well; the improvised doubletalk had left the blonde in stitches. He was laughing so hard he regularly had to stop himself sliding underwater. Even Milliardo was laughing as he soaped up his hair; he had decided to make use of the shampoo. Even Wufei had made himself busy, erecting small piles of pebbles for no particular reason. Heero was still floating around…but all that changed when Duo managed to tip the scales from idiocy to insanity.
Sighting the drifting Wing pilot, Duo removed the stick from the cigar-pose. Taking careful aim, he drew his arm back and – amid horrified stares from the others – screamed, "ACHTUNG! FIREN TORPEDO!" before sending the stick hurtling toward Heero's shorts.
There was a noise very much like a paper bag full of custard hitting a brick wall. Then a howl from Heero as he sank, doubled over. Then a "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" from Sylvia, over the wall.
"Just Duo," called back Quatre. "He, uh…he threw something at Heero."
"Is he all right?" called Relena, suddenly panic-stricken. Sylvia was amazed at that reaction time from someone who'd never used a weapon.
"He'll be fine when he surfaces," replied Quatre.
"Maxwell won't be, though," added Wufei. "Not for long."
"And Heero might have a little trouble running for a while," said Milliardo. "Or generating little Heeros, come to that."
"Hell," blinked Duo. "Imagine Heero with a daughter."
"A son would be worse," chuckled Wufei. "He'd teach the boy everything he knew. Imagine meeting him in the street and being deathglared from two feet up."
Quatre was starting to snigger quietly again. Although he didn't want to admit it, he'd found the incident incredibly funny; his admittedly remarkable diplomatic skills had begun to crack, and his empathic ability wasn't helping as Duo's mental laughter drove him through the walls of common sense.
Sylvia desperately sought to change the subject before the fuming Heero lost all his self-control and drowned his American 'friend'. A topic of small talk came to her; gripping it gratefully, she called over the wall.
"So how long have these springs been here?"
"They were only discovered about thirty years ago," said Quatre. "Apparently a local was wandering by and the ground exploded under the water pressure. This pool was formed, and the people here were quick to realise it was a great spot to bathe."
"Imagine what he must have thought," mused Duo. "'Help! OZ attack!'"
"OZ weren't a well-known organisation thirty years ago," said Milliardo. "It wasn't until a few years into the war – right after I joined the Specials, actually – that they became public knowledge at all. Then when they began their offensives in China and the L5 colonies, everyone knew about them."
There was a moment's pause. Milliardo had no idea what had happened that fateful day at the home colony of the Long Clan, but he knew that, like himself, the younger pilots didn't often enjoy talking about the war. War in general was fine by him, but the ones they'd all been involved in had left some ironically painful scars.
"So, Milliardo," said Quatre brightly, shifting subject smoothly with the diplomatic skill of the born negotiator, "Are you still in contact with Miss Noin?"
"You know she prefers Lucrezia now," chuckled Milliardo. "You do know it's all right to use first-name terms with someone if they tell you so, don't you?"
"Oh, let him be polite," chided Relena, raising her voice slightly so as to be heard. "It's probably reflexive. I'm the same with politicians."
"What, and your brother isn't?" laughed Duo, looking at Milliardo.
"I don't have the patience," replied Milliardo. "I'm more of a deterrent than a negotiator."
"Yeah," giggled Sylvia. "I saw you at that party last year, Milly…you're better at glaring than Heero, I've never seen so many people scared of one man standing still!"
"Heero used to be good at that," reflected Relena as Milliardo fumed at Sylvia's name for him. "Just standing around looking dangerous. 'This is what we'll set loose in a Mobile Suit if you even think about getting hostile'. Politics has never been so easy before or since."
"Why don't you ever attend diplomatic meetings any more, Heero?" asked Milliardo.
"Because I have other things to do…Milly." This last was said with a hint of mirth. Duo collapsed laughing, almost drowning in the process.
"Remember you're waist-deep in water," said Wufei, master of the obvious.