A/N: Second part…where were we?

CM: Waist deep in water.

KS: Yeah.

The World's In Your Eyes, by Kaoru Saotome

There was only so much insanity Heero Yuy could take. He was near his limit.

"Is it legal in Belgium to kill Duo in self-defence?" he asked.

"Not if he isn't attacking you," said Milliardo. "But here they have an exception…if he's mentally unstable and it looks like he's about to attack you, it's legal to act on your own judgement."

They paused long enough to size up the sentence and see if it fit Duo. Yep.

"Can I quote that in a court?" asked Heero.

"Yeah," said Milliardo. "It's called a Sanity Clause."

"Haha," said Duo, "You can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Claus."

That did it. Heero and Wufei both dived on the raving American, lifting him out of the pool bodily and looking around for somewhere to put him that would shut him up. A brief glance from Heero toward the bisecting wall got an internal response of don't even think about it, so they simply deposited the wailing Duo in a bramble bush a few metres from the pool. The shredded pilot's yelps were music to Wufei's ears as he wandered back to the warm water and seated himself in his previous spot, and his threats involving missiles and Heero's backside served only to make Quatre laugh so hard Milliardo had to prop him up against the wall. The Arabian nodded his thanks, being incapable of coherent speech, before continuing to snigger so hard it hurt.

Sylvia and Relena were stuck wondering what was going on. They had a pretty good idea, from the sounds that filtered over the wall, but Sylvia found herself relieved that she couldn't begin to guess at events. She took a deep breath and ducked her head under the wall again to look through the hole; she was in time to see Heero and Wufei re-enter the pool, followed by Duo and what looked like half a thicket. Piecing together what had happened quickly, she surfaced to tell Relena.

"So much for relaxation," complained Duo painfully as the warm water soothed the bruises he'd taken from his landing. "I thought we came here for some peace and quiet."

"We did," said Heero, his eyes closed. "So shut up."

"I don't know," smirked Wufei. "Personally, Maxwell, throwing you into that thing has been one of the more therapeutic things I've done since I arrived."

"Ah, you're no fun," sighed Duo, sitting back and closing his eyes. He then amazed them all by promptly falling asleep.

"I still think he was mentally scarred in the war," muttered Heero. "He's a manic-depressive who never gets depressed."

"Oh, funny," retorted Milliardo, who knew someone like that and wasn't about to laugh at it.

"He's right, though," said Quatre. "The cheerfulness he displays…it's like he's hiding something behind it."

"He does it damn well," murmured Wufei in admiration. "Even I couldn't put up a wall like that."

"It's going to rain," said Relena.

"He did survive the Maxwell Church atrocity on L2," explained Heero. "It's probably something to do with that."

"I might have guessed," mused Milliardo. He hadn't known. "He'd have been the only survivor…all the staff and orphans were killed, according to the reports. With his stealth skills it's easy to see how he escaped."

"It's going to rain," agreed Sylvia, following Relena out of the water.

"He wasn't there," said Heero softly. "It's not my place to tell you. Ask him about it…later."

"So…" Quatre got no further as raindrops began hitting the water with astonishing force and suddenness. "What the…it's raining!"

"We told you," said Sylvia from under a towel near the edge. "Now come on. Wake Duo up and let's get under some shelter."

"Damn smart-alec females," muttered Wufei as they ran for cover.

It was mid-afternoon when they got back to the Winner mansion. Although they'd had fun, certain parties were grumbling about the lack of purpose in going to a hot springs to get rained on.

"Oh, stop complaining, Wufei," giggled Relena over her teacup. They'd needed something to warm them up after the deluge outside, and so they'd bullied a kettle into active service before seating themselves in the kitchen they'd taken over two days previously.

"All I'm saying is that we might as well have stayed here," protested the Chinaman. "The way that rain came down, we could have just taken a bath each and stayed relatively dry."

"Ah, blow it out your ass, Wufei," grinned Duo. "You and I both know the laughs were worth it. Admit it, you enjoyed it while it lasted."

"I will admit no such thing," replied Wufei with a quiet, sincere smile.

"Don't you love these personal moments," murmured Heero, half to himself, as he stared into the depths of his cup. There was a pause, then Relena giggled. Heero's immense self-control managed to stop him spilling his drink during his reflexive fight-or-flight moment, his limbic system going quietly into overdrive as a conditioned reaction to the Peacecraft girl's laughter.

Sylvia blinked. The idea she'd glimpsed days earlier, when Wufei had arrived, had just waved to her again.

Personal moments...

I wish I knew more about Trowa. I'd be able to help more. She decided not to say anything, as it'd be of no help until she worked out what she was trying to tell herself.

"What do we do now?" asked Duo, looking around.

"We wait some more," said Quatre. All of a sudden, he looked very tired.

"You sure?" asked Sylvia. "We can look at that note some more, see if we can think of anything to – "

"There's nothing we can do," whispered Quatre, closing his eyes. "We just have to wait for him."

The room was silent for a long time after that.