AN: I am very sorry for the huge lack of updates; I've been having a lot of family issues as of late. As well as quite a few issues for school. My recent girlfriend, who also happens to be one of my closest friends as of the past four years, has just been cut off from me by my mother. I am no longer allowed to communicate with her, at least until my 'problem' is solved. I'm not having a very good life right now.
She means the world to me, so I apologize ahead of time if my heart doesn't seem to be into this, it really isn't at the moment. My mother has no idea of how much she's hurting me by doing this. Well, here's the chapter. I hope you enjoy it and reviews are highly welcome. I am so sorry for being so egotistical earlier. I hope I still have readers.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Gundam Wing. Maybe I'll be able to buy it when I go to Japan.
Oh, BTW, got the name of the fic from the song "Tequila Sunrise" by the Eagles. Listen to them. They're good. Tammelo, Lisi, Mia, Kio, Rebi, and Em are all property of themselves.
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"What? Not even a hello?" joked Duo, stepping into the entranceway.
Rebi shoved her way through the other guys and flung her arms tightly around Trowa's neck.
Kio, Em, and Li quickly ran and hugged Heero, Wufei, and Quatre respectively.
Which left Mia just staring ahead and Duo looking slightly uncomfortable.
"Um... sorry for showing up so suddenly..." Duo mumbled, finally getting Mia's attention.
Mia grinned, tears welling up in her eyes. "You goof!" she shouted, running up to Duo and hugging him, burying her face in his chest.
Duo smiled. "Hey, you cut your hair."
Mia returned the smile, looking up at him. "Yeah, sorry."
"No!" protested Duo. "I like it," he insisted, running his fingers through Mia's now-short hair.
"Glad you're back..." Mia grinned.
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The gang all gathered in the living room, Li and Mia bringing in tea for everyone. Just as they had all settled down, they were once again interrupted by that pesky doorbell.
"AGH! Whoever that is, they must have a death wish!" grumbled Kio, standing up from her spot on the couch, which Mia quickly took over, and went to get the door, again...
"Hello!" yelled an unknown persons as the door opened (this sounds kind of like 'hyellow'. Really loud and really odd...)
The girls all sighed, knowing it could only be one person. "Tammelo..." they all muttered as a boy with brown-blonde hair walked into the living room.
"Hey gang!" he called, noticing the other occupants of the room and blinking a few times to reassure himself they were really there. He promptly went over and poked Heero. "Wow! These are cool! Where'd ya get 'em? Lifelike, eh?" Heero growled, pointing his gun at the source of his annoyance, Tammelo. "Neat! They even come with weapons!" Tammelo exclaimed, completely oblivious as to how close he was to having his head blown off his shoulders.
Kio wandered into the living room, seeing Tammelo and Heero, and hitting herself in the head. "Hopeless..." she muttered, dragging Tammelo away by the cross he wore around his neck.
"Hey! Lemme go!" screamed Tammelo, flailing his arms and legs about.
Kio glared, let go, and walked over to Heero, standing behind him and hugging him around the neck. "Ignore the idiot Hee-chan."
Tammelo blinked a few times. "Did I miss something...?"
Mia sighed. "Yes, you did, as usual. These are the ACTUAL pilots and NO, this isn't one of my famous practical jokes." (AN: I actually do have quite a few jokes I love to pull. Even when I was little I played quite a few. When the new mint Oreos came out, I scraped out the insides and put toothpaste in instead. People ate them, it was fun.)
Wufei looked confused. "Ooookaaay.... but who is this guy?"
Tammelo grinned goofily. "The name's Tammelo... ONNA!" he yelled before running off screaming.
Wufei twitched angrily. "BAKA!" he bellowed angrily before chasing Tammelo with his katana.
"So..." muttered Duo over the noise. "Is he your friend, or... something else..."
The five girls and Tammelo stopped immediately, leaving Wufei to run into a wall swearing, and began laughing hysterically.
"PLEASE!" Rebi yelled between her bursts of laughter. "TAMMELO?!"
(AN: The funny thing about that is, I actually DID go out with the guy Tammelo is based after. shrugs Funny how things work out, neh?)
"No offense Tammelo," added Li.
"None taken," Tammelo insisted, once again running from Wufei's anger.
Mia snickered as Em snatched Wufei by his hair. "Tammelo is a good friend, nothing more," she reassured Duo, smiling at his look of concern.
"So how did you guys get back anyway?" Em questioned, forcing the raging Wufei to sit down beside her.
"Well, we started out by looking for a portal on the colonies," recalled Quatre as Tammelo found himself a seat as far away from Wufei as possible.
"That didn't work..." mumbled Duo sadly.
"So our next best bet was the doctors," explained Heero.
"THE DOCTORS?!" yelled Tammelo and the girls.
Duo nodded. "Yeah. We convinced them to come up with a plan to get us back and I pooled all my favors Howard owed me to get him to build the device that the doctors designed!" he boasted proudly.
"Wow... so all those people got together to bring you guys back to us?" questioned Mia.
Trowa nodded. "Pretty much."
"Aww..." cooed all the girls, kissing their boyfriends on the cheek.
"Ewwwww!" squealed Tammelo.
Em glared, throwing a pillow at him. Many others followed. "Shut up Tammelo."
Li frowned. "But how long can you guys stay for?"
"For as long as we're still living," smiled Quatre.
"Really?!" questioned Rebi, looking to Trowa for answers. Trowa nodded, a smile spreading across his lips. "YAY!!!" screamed Rebi, leaping at Trowa and hugging him around the neck. The pair promptly fell over and the room shook with laughter.
Mia wiped a tear from her eye. "Okay, okay. So... um... what are we going to do for sleeping arrangements?"
Kio looked troubled. "Oooh yeaaaah...." she mumbled.
"'Oooh yeaaah' what? What's the problem?" asked Heero worriedly.
"Well since you guys left, everyone kinda moved in here..." replied Rebi, smiling slightly. "We only have one spare room now..."
The pilots just sat there in an awkward silence (insert random tumbleweed here) until Heero spoke up. "Why don't we just use the same room plans as last time?"
"Unless you guys wanna sleep in a room full of women's lingerie and feminine hygiene products…" sniggered Mia at the guys' uncomfortable expressions.
"If you guys don't mind about sleeping in the spare room and living room, we have a pull-out couch and extra cots and junk," said Em, shrugging slightly.
"Sounds good to me!" yelled Duo, grinning.
Tammelo, who had been unusually quiet for the whole proceeding of choosing rooms, stood up in a hurry, upsetting a table in his rush. He dusted invisible dirt off his pants and cleared his throat. "Well guys and, erm, girls, I'd better be off! I still have to pack!" he yelled, running quickly out the door.
Quatre blinked. "Pack?"
Rebi nodded. "Yeah, he's probably going camping again."
"Camping?" asked Trowa, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah. He's always going camping or to some insane retreat or SOMETHING of that sort," explained Mia dully.
"Oooh…" mumbled all the guys monotonously.
"So…" muttered Em. "Do you guys still have the gifts we gave you?" she asked, grinning.
"Uh… somewhere in here…" Duo mumbled, digging through his pockets.
The remaining pilots promptly went to their bags that they had brought with them. Quatre was the first to retrieve his gift from his neatly organized travel bag. He pulled out a small leather-bound photo album.
"What's that?" Mia asked, looking suspiciously at Li.
Li looked nervous. "Um… don't kill me, but… I gave Quatre a copy of the pictures from Universal…" (AN: When I went to Universal Studios recently, it was very surprising to me that they didn't have these picture thingies anymore. They didn't have the ET ride either. sigh Disappointment for all…)
"WHAT?!?" screamed Mia, causing everyone else to stop in their tracks.
"Don't freak, it's not like they hadn't seen them before," Em said, trying to calm the twitching Mia.
"Fine," grumbled Mia angrily.
"Here we go," said Wufei, pulling Em's card and photo out of his bag.
"Wow! So you still have it?" grinned Em. "Cool! Do you remember what it said though?"
Wufei nodded. "Of course," he replied, pulling a long, thin parcel out of his bag as well and handed it to Em. "Lessons start tomorrow at nine."
Em ripped the brown paper off the parcel and gasped, marveling at a beautiful new katana. "Thank you so much Wufei!" she yelled, throwing her arms around Wufei's neck.
"Did you read the inscription on the blade?" asked Wufei, smiling at Em.
Em shook her head and detached herself from the black-haired Asian long enough to read the inscription aloud. "'To my dearest Nataku, may you always be close to my heart', aww… how cute!" she cooed, pecking Wufei softly on the cheek.
Heero handed Kio her CD, smiling ever so slightly. "Not a scratch and the lyrics have never reached another soul's ears."
Kio grinned happily. "Good! I knew I could count on you Hee-chan!"
"No problem," nodded Heero, looking over as Trowa pulled a girls' shirt out of his bag. Rebi began giggling and Heero suddenly remembered that the shirt currently in Trowa's hands, was the same one he had saw tossed off the roof and onto the deck all those years ago. Shaking his head sadly, Heero decided to watch Duo continue to dig through his pockets in search of his gift.
"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Duo. "Now I remember where I put it!" he called, reaching around his neck for something and pulling out a long silver chain, on the end of which was a plain black cross along with Mia's amethyst heart. "I knew it was here SOMEWHERE!"
Mia sniggered. "Just glad you kept it."
"Of course I kept it! What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I didn't?!" Duo protested, looking slightly hurt by the minor accusation that he may have disowned such a keepsake.
"Aww… you're the best Shini-baby!" Mia smiled, hugging Duo tightly.
Duo grinned broadly. "I know!"
Mia snickered and hit him in the shoulder lightly, but she was quickly interrupted by Rebi yelling over the noise. "Okay! Who's up for catching lizards!?"
"I!" yelled all the girls, their hands shooting upwards into the air. The guys, meanwhile, simply looked confused.
Em sighed. "Come with us, you'll see," she said, dragging Wufei outside with her. The rest of the gang follow, the pilots with a bit of worried curiosity.
Kio pulled a fishing rod off a shelf in the garage. "This," she explained. "Is what we use to catch lizards."
"You fish for them?" questioned a confused Duo.
"No hooks, don't worry," said Lisi reassuringly, noticing Quatre's wary look. "And no Duo, we 'fish' for them."
"We do this!" replied Mia, tying the bottom of the fishing line into a slip-knot.
Duo looked more confused than ever. "I still don't get it."
Em sighed. "We just loop it around the little guys' neck and VWIP! You've got instant lizard on a leash!"
Quatre looked horrified. "You STRANGLE them?!"
"No, no! Of course not!" Li answered him. "It doesn't hurt them. And besides, we take it off, look at them, and let them go anyway!"
"Alright…" muttered Quatre, still not entirely convinced.
"Okay!" yelled Mia, punching a fist into the air. "Let's go catch some lizards!"
"Hang on, hang on," growled Kio, ruining the dramatic moment. "Why don't we make this more, I don't know, INTERESTING…"
Rebi looked confused. "What do you mean by 'interesting', Kio?"
Kio got that familiar evil glint in her eye, the one everybody learned to fear. "Well… whoever manages to catch the biggest lizard wins. We'll be in teams of two because we only have five rods. The losers do the winners' chores for a week!" she finished, laughing evilly.
"Uh… Kio?" Mia interrupted. "We don't have chores."
Kio pondered this for a moment. "How about five bucks to the winning team from EACH of the losing teams?"
"Agreed," everyone replied, splitting up into separate teams, each taking a fishing rod.
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"Here lizard, lizard, lizard… here lizard… Oh screw it! Where the hell are you, you stupid little s-"
"Mia!" Li yelled. "Shh! You're going to scare them all away!"
Mia grumbled, poking the fishing rod into a nearby bush. "But I can't find - AHA!" she squeaked, pointing a few meters down the sidewalk at a seemingly frozen lizard.
"Shhh!" hissed Li.
"Sorry," muttered Mia, tiptoeing towards the motionless reptile. In the time it takes to turn on a light, Mia had slipped the loop around the creatures' neck, jerking the rod back quickly. "Got it!" she yelled, pointing to the un-moving lizard, dangling from the string.
"Did you kill it?" questioned Li worriedly, poking at the suspended lizard.
Mia glared. "Of course not!" she grumbled, grabbing the creature before removing the slipknot and dropping it in a jar.
The two stared at it, waiting for the slightest movement to announce that it wasn't dead, before Mia spoke up. "Um… on second thought… I'm gonna check…" she said, opening the jar and snatching the lizard by the tail.
Mia squeaked as the reptile wriggled and ran off, leaving its' squirming tail in Mia's hand and Li laughing her ass off. "Ew! Gross! Gross! Gross! I'll NEVER get used to that!"
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Duo walked through the orange trees, pouncing on anything that looked even relatively close to a lizard.
"The one thing you'll accomplish by doing that is scaring them off. They like the sun anyway," stated Em, pointing to the sun-laden sidewalk.
Duo mock-glared. "Mia's right, you ARE like Wu-man!"
Em grinned. "Thanks! Now let's go look in the sun," she ordered, dragging Duo into the front yard.
"AAAHHH! The sun! It BURNS!" Duo cried, flailing his arms.
Em glared. "Oh shut up you baka onna. You're not a vampire and you're not burning."
Duo grinned stupidly, suddenly looking at the sidewalk. He pointed to a motionless, tail-less lizard sitting there. "Look!"
"Shhh!" Em hissed, sneaking over to the lizard, slipping the string around its' neck and jerking it back. She held the fishing rod out to Duo. "Here, take the lizard off, but don't lose him."
Duo gently grasped the lizard, pulling the string off its' neck. He stood with his hands closed for a moment, before beginning to scream and flail his arms about, running in circles.
"What the hell is wrong with you!? Where's the lizard!?" Em yelled angrily.
"AAAHHH!" screeched Duo, still running in circles. "IT'S IN MY SHIRT! IT'S IN MY SHIRT!!! HELP!!!!!!"
Em sighed, snatching the collar of Duo's shirt, stopping him in his tracks. She told him to slowly lift his arms, which he did, and she quickly lift off his shirt and tossed it onto the lawn. She sighed as she watched the offending lizard scuttle out of the shirt and across the grass. "Baka," was all she said before walking off to find another lizard.
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Kio twitched, checking under another bush, attempting to ignore Wufei's constant complaints.
"What kind of a weak onna game is this?!" Wufei yelled, probably scaring off any lizards within a 50 mile radius.
Kio, on the other hand, was grinding her teeth in an attempt to stay calm. 'Must not kill sexist bastard… must not kill sexist bastard…' Finally, something just snapped, making Kio twitch even more and tempting her to find something rather blunt and heavy to throw at Wufei's head. Instead, her eyes spotted the closest thing to her. A big, bushy, prickly rose bush…
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Rebi was poking at a rosebush with a stick, attempting to poke the lizards, whom were hiding inside, fearing the pointy stick, out of hiding.
"Um… Rebi?" questioned Quatre politely, now knowing better than to put 'Miss' in front of anyone's name anymore.
"Yeah?" Rebi replied, still poking the rosebush, promptly getting frustrated with it and chucking the stick into the bush.
Quatre pointed to a tiny sunny spot of rock in front of them. "Is that the lizard we're looking for?" The lizard in question blinked lazily.
Rebi grinned maniacally. "Yep!" she called quietly, sneaking up on the small tail-less lizard before tripping over a loose rock surrounding the flowerbeds. "ACK! DAMMIT!" she screeched, falling face-first into the dirt, scaring the lizard under a rosebush. Rebi stood up, dusted herself off, found a new pointy stick, and resumed poking at the bush, now trying to skewer the lizard inside.
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Trowa was lying utterly motionless in the sun, covered in lizards. A particular tail-less lizard was crawling on Trowa's unibang. Heero pulled out his gun slowly, quietly, aiming at the reptile on Trowa's head. One emerald-green eye glared at him. Trowa mouthed 'Don't even think about it,' before sitting up, lizards running in all directions.
"Dammit Barton! We're going to lose money on this bet!" Heero glared, pocketing his gun.
Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you scared that thing might go off in your pants?"
"No," growled Heero. "I put the safety on."
Trowa grinned slightly. "Ok, if you don't want to lose money, I bet you ten bucks for whoever can get to the top of that tree first," he bargained, pointing to a curvy avocado tree.
"Doesn't look too hard…" muttered Heero thoughtfully. "You're on."
The two ran to the tree, beginning to quickly climb the strangely shaped branches.
"And no circus shit," stated Heero.
"Fine by me," replied Trowa, already half-way up the tree.
Heero struggled to hoist himself over another branch, falling into a dead rosebush below. Trowa laughed at him from the top of the tree, and Heero glared at the acrobatic clown. He dragged himself out of the prickly branches stabbing into his side and fingered Trowa.
Trowa only laughed harder.
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The gang met in front of the house a while later, as the sun was beginning to set. Each one of them was empty handed.
Rebi sighed. "Definitely a bad day for catching lizards…"
Mia nodded. "Yeah, not even one! Damn tail-less lizard…"
Kio looked at Heero, who was still picking sticks out of his hair. "What happened to you?!" she laughed, helping him pry the twigs out of the tangled mass of brown hair.
Heero glared at Trowa, whom had abruptly started laughing again. "I fell out of that damned tree…"
Em was pulling thorns out of Wufei's arm as he muttered angrily, "At least you fell…"
Kio glared. "Serves you right for being a sexist asshole."
"What did you do?" asked Lisi curiously, not noticing the rosebush with newly broken branches.
"She shoved me into a goddamned rosebush! That's what!" barked Wufei.
"Oooh… you poor baby…" cooed Em, and the girls burst into fits of laughter.
Quatre looked up at the quickly blackening sky. "Shouldn't we be going inside soon?"
"Yeah… I suppose…" mumbled Rebi. "Hey Tro? What's that thing on your head?"
Everyone stared as a small, tail-less lizard slowly made its' way down Trowa's unibang and blinked lazily.
The birds all quickly departed their nests in the trees as the whole gang let out a shriek loud enough to wake up half of Los Angeles.
END CHAPTER ONE
AN: Once again, sorry for the delay. Life isn't so hot. Anyway, the lizard bits all belong to me. I used to catch lizards a lot when I was little and visiting relatives in California. The gang's house is kind of based off a house belonging to my Aunt. I love that house. Back to the lizards. I've actually fallen out of an avocado tree into a dead rose bush, fallen (though Wufei was pushed) into a rosebush while going after a lizard, and had one of the little buggers crawl up my shirt. Ah yes, the lovely vacations…
Reviews are highly appreciated. Thank you!