NOTE TO READERS: Hey peoples…don't forget just how many days are passing in this story! I've had some people ask me wondering how exactly Uno is capable of learning to speak and all this other stuff so quickly. Remember, this is taking place over a span of months, not days. By now she's been with them for about two months now…give or take a few. You may see a lot of jumping dates though…I have ideas but how can I put a child's life into a story without traveling day-by-day?
Duo's Child
Chapter 18
Uno was peacefully sleeping early morning. Nothing bothered her, Duo had obviously left her alone, and she was off in the destructive dream world her pals had trained her in. Everything was perfect.
Until a gunshot went off and caused her eyes to snap open. On instinct, she reached for the gun underneath Duo's mattress and cocked it. Scanning the room, she crawled off the bed and slowly made her ways towards the bedroom door. Quietly reaching for the knob, berretta aimed up to the ceiling, she was just about to grasp and turn when the door sprang open.
Without thought, Uno shoved the gun in front of her and aimed up at—
—Duo's smiling face which soon turned into wide eyes at seeing the barrel of his gun pointed right at his nose.
"Uno?" Duo blinked, wondering why she had his gun. "Calm down."
"I heard a shot."
Duo lifted his hands up into the air as Uno lowered the gun. He took the gun from her hands and unclipped the magazine.
"It's okay. Heero accidentally shot a hole through the wall; nothing big. Nothing to worry about." Duo stepped into the room and put the gun back under the mattress.
"I was acting on instinct. I heard a shot; figured." Uno turned to face him.
Duo stood up. "Good. You're getting better." He started back towards the hallway. "I was coming in here to wake you up anyways. It's four o'clock in the afternoon."
"!!!" Uno's eyes shot wide. "Are you serious!" Her mouth dropped.
"Yep," Duo grinning and leant on hands resting on his hips. "Happy Birthday my little ghoulish clone." Duo hugged Uno. He figured to let her sleep in since it was her birthday and he and Heero already hung the decorations up.
Uno was about to follow Duo downstairs when she stopped dead in her tracks. Duo spun around, questionable at her actions.
"Heero shot a hole in the wall?"
As the hours went by, Uno was drastically thinking of ideas to blow her own party out of proportion. Unfortunately, each time Heero would get in the way. She though of poisoning the cake, but Heero caught her just as she was opening the vile of powder. He glared at her for stealing something of his just like Duo; now he'll have to watch his back for two thieves. She's tried to send emails to each person saying that the party was canceled, but she didn't know everyone's email address and had to suddenly hide under a desk for three hours while Duo stepped inside the office to send out emails of his own. Once, she even tried to lock herself in the weapon storage closet but she also forgot that Heero practically lived in the room.
She was sitting on the couch in the living room dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt with 'death?' written on it in bold red letters, contemplating what else she could do to spice the party, when Duo stepped into the room. He stood there with his arms set upon his waist, staring and grinning at her like an enemy. Uno slowly looked up and blinked at him.
"What?" she asked.
Duo continued to grin and stepped up to her. "Come on, get up. We gotta' go pick up Theresa."
Uno grumbled and slid off the couch.
"How's Ricky going to come here?" Duo wrapped his arms around Uno's waist and lifted her up off the ground. Carrying her down the hallway, Uno hugged Duo and leant on his shoulder.
"Shorty." Duo smirked and looked at her through the corner of his eyes.
Uno glared him. "Hush. I gave him directions. He said his dad's dropping him off."
"Great. I want to meet this guy; his license plate's got me thinkin'."
"Of what?" Uno pondered.
"Oh…very old business. The letters seem to be the scrambled version of something I remember."
Duo stepped outside and shut the door behind him. He then turned and started back towards the vet.
"Man, I haven't carried you in so long…I feel like I've been depriving you of something."
Duo set Uno down on the ground and opened the door for her. Uno got in the car grumbling, while Duo shut the door and walked around to his side. When he sat down, Uno glanced at him.
"Are you going to want to meet everyone's parents?" Uno grinned.
Duo nodded, "yes. Why?"
Without a reply, Uno sat back in her seat and smirked while looking out the windshield. Duo was soon going to find out just why she didn't want to have a party.
A knock on the front door startled Theresa while she was brushing her hair. Dropping the brush onto her dresser, she stood up from the dresser seat and ran over to her window that was directly on top of the front door. Instantly smiling, she saw Uno and her guardian. Spinning around, Theresa scanned her room for Uno's gift—finding it on the shelf besides her bedroom door—and looking again for her jacket.
Duo gawked up at the huge white mansion before him then suddenly whistled. He and Uno were stepping up to the front door. Uno rolled her eyes.
"Damn…what do her parents do for a living?"
Uno shrugged. "I don't know. We live in a mansion as well."
Duo nodded, "true. And one that's bigger, but this is huge on its own and Quatre has roommates."
The front door opened to a smiling brunet, brown eyed lady in a pair of blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. Uno smiled at the lady. Duo—though secretive as he is—glanced at the woman's figure. He smirked at her slender body in tight fitting clothes.
"Hi! You must be Uno!" The lady allowed Uno and Duo in. "Theresa's upstairs on the second door to the right. Go ahead up."
"Alright." Uno smiled and began jogging up the stairs.
Duo glanced around at the vast open area. The front living room was formally designed and continued on openly to the dinning room, kitchen, and living quarters. Cabinets squared off the kitchen at large odd angels. White fluffy carpet and glossy white walls shined the suns reflection. Duo whistled.
"Nice house." He looked back at Theresa's mother, feeling like lint on a fabulous fur coat.
"Thank you. Theresa's father—Billy—is an architect. He designed this building with my help about seven years ago and built it."
"That's great."
"Hi, I'm Lori." Lori took Duo's hand and shook it.
"Duo. I'm Uno's Guardian."
"Oh? She was adopted?"
"Yeah. I fell in love with her when I first saw her." Duo smirked. "The little devils just about as wild as I was when I was her age."
"Oh! That's great. Well, I'm glad that you two have gotten along so well. Theresa tells me that you live in Winner Mansion."
Duo nodded. "That's correct. I just began working at Citywide Specialists so, I haven't yet had a chance to pay rent."
"Oh! You're so a roommate?"
Duo nodded. "Eventually, my girlfriend and I will marry and it'll be just the three of us living in a little house. But right now, I think it's a good thing I'm staying with my friends because it's a hard thing to control Uno but it's also good for me so I don't have to hire a babysitter while I go to work."
"Oh well, any time you need to drop her off you feel free. Theresa won't stop talking about Uno; they're just perfect friends."
Duo smirked and nodded. "Yeah. She's one of the few friends I think Uno's got. She didn't make a whole lot of friends on the first day."
Lori nodded and looked down. "Yeah, Theresa had pretty much the same problem. We kept her home and schooled her here, but Billy and I agreed that she needed to grow up in the world as a normal child so we're keeping a close eye on her grades, but she knows what's right and wrong for herself. I warn you, however. Since Theresa said Uno's having pretty much the entire class spend the night, be forewarned about some of the parents."
Duo blinked. "Why?"
"Well…a few of the kids seem to be a little…how should I put it…stuck up. Kinda' makes you wonder how the parents are as well." Lori paused. "Truthfully, I'm from a colony myself. Cluster L3, really. When I came here I met Billy and we hit it off from the start."
"Colony L3! No way! I'm from L2, and my friends are from the others. Trowa's from L3. You may have seen him if you've ever gone to the circus; he's the lion tamer."
Lori smiled, "really! That's wonderful."
"Hi there." Duo looked behind Lori to a man who was clad in blue jeans and a blue t-shirt. Duo held out his hand.
"Hi, I'm Duo, Uno's Guardian."
"Billy, Theresa's father." Billy put his arm around Lori. "I heard your little girl's turning six. That's great."
"Yeah, young for her grade but we schooled her at home to catch her up. She wasn't really…fit…for education when we got her."
"That's the problem with kids these days; they don't want to study. Instead, they just want to have it done for them and expect to get smart over night."
"Amen to that." Duo agreed. He has to see people like that all the time at his job.
"Your wife tells me you're an architect."
Billy nodded, "sure am. Built this house all on my own. About four years after we married, I showed Lori the plans and she modified a little of it. A couple years later I bought the land and began building. Come on, I'll show you around!"
Lori nodded goodbye to Duo as Billy wrapped his arm around Duo and walked him around the first floor. Each room was wide and bright with light. Duo not only was happy he lived in darkness, but was also wondering how much income the two of them made to keep the house up and running.
"So Duo, what do you do?"
"Well, I just recently began working for Citywide Specialists."
"I thought they closed." Billy asked.
"They did…but…Jenkins' still has the company opened for emergency cases. There are still a few people who ignore the signs and come in. Either or, he doesn't want us turning customers away. Heh, I guess you could say, he's always looking for visitors."
"So," Billy leant against the bar in the piano room. "You work on cars?"
Duo nodded, "that's right."
"Would ya' mind checking out something of mine then? I know how to change some things but there's a loud hum in my car that I can't figure out what's causing it."
"Sure. I haven't had a mishap yet and I've been working with automobiles for about…about ten years now."
"Really? My, you are a true bred machine."
Uno and Theresa ran downstairs about an hour later and stopped to breath in the foyer. Uno stood firm and normal while Theresa bent over to breath.
"Dang Uno…how do you do so much and run so much and not get tired?"
Uno shrugged. "Just better than you, I guess."
Theresa glared Uno then both girls started laughing. Uno refused to tell her friend about the trainings she's endured. Uno glanced around and saw Duo stepping up to them with Theresa's father, wiping oil from his hands with a towel.
"So that's all it was, eh?" Billy asked, folding his arms and looked at Duo.
"Yep." Duo wiped the oil off and handed Billy the towel. "You can still drive it, just not that much. Just bring the car by the lot Monday and I'll check it out for you. If it's anything else, I'll change it and fix it back up. Just ask for Duo."
"Well I thank you." Billy shook Duo's hand. "And take care tonight; some of the kids can get a little…vicious."
Duo grinned. "You haven't seen Uno."
Uno and Theresa were playing a video game when the doorbell rang. Neither one of them made a look of moving. Strangely enough, Heero stepped up to the door and opened it.
"Hi!"
"…"
Heero stared into the blue eyes of a blonde woman and instantly thought it was Relena. Luckily, it was a parent with one of the girls for Uno's party.
"Hi, I'm Jennifer, Claryce's mother. Are you Duo?"
Heero shook his head and backed out of the way so Duo could take over the conversation.
"I'm Duo." Duo shook the ladie's hand. "Hi, sorry…my friend's a mute."
Heero turned and glared at Duo.
"Oh! Well…" the lady's smile still shown even after she laughed a few fake times. "I hope Claryce doesn't make a lot of trouble. I'm sorry I can't stay and talk with you, I'm sorta' in a rush. Her older brother is arriving at the space sport in a few minutes and I have to go pick him up."
"Oh okay! Well, she's safe over here."
"Thanks! Bubbye!"
Duo looked down at the blonde and shut the door. She looked up at him with silent blue eyes, much like her mother's but not at all noisy like her. He smiled.
"I'm Duo. Want me to take your things?"
"Okay." Claryce handed Duo her bag.
"Just leave the present on the table over there. Uno and Theresa are straight ahead in the living room."
Claryce nodded and started walking away. Duo headed upstairs into another room that he was going to give Uno.
Well…she'll probably take one of these rooms eventually so why not let her have it now. Hell, I know I'll be taking one soon.
As Duo reached another door and opened it to an empty room, he stood there grinning in thought at an idea he held. Moments later, the doorbell rang. He dropped the bag on the bed and ran out the door. When he got to the balcony overlooking the front door and bottom hallway, his eyes enlarged with shock.
"Hi." Heero greeted the male with black hair and black-looking eyes.
"You Duo?" The man looked at Heero's appearance.
"No, Duo's upstairs and can't come to the door at the moment. I'm Heero." Heero nodded at the man.
"Oh well, if Jessica's any problem just lock her up in the bathroom or something. Feeding her only gives her fuel."
Jessica glared up at her father then back to Heero. Heero moved out of the way and let her in. He nodded at her father then shut the door.
"Put your present on the table down there; Uno and her friends are down there already. I'll take your things."
"Okay." The short girl with long black hair and yellow-brown contact eyes handed Duo her backpack and headed towards the party.
"My, my, my, Heero." Duo watched Heero step up the stairs and hand Duo the bag. "I didn't think you could talk."
"Thoughts coming from you; I'm so shocked." Heero turned his back to Duo and started back downstairs.
Duo stood shocked with his hand to his chest. "And he uses such sarcasm! What fright!"
Just as soon as Heero landed on the first floor, the bell rang again. Opening the door, he saw a red haired woman with a package in arms. Her uniform was tight on her body and shown all the curves a man would want in a woman. Heero blinked at her.
"Heero Yuy?" The voice rang out like an engine purring to life.
Heero nodded, accepting the package and signing the form. He knew exactly what was in here too. He smiled at the lady.
"Thank you." Heero stated with as much appreciation as he could. She nodded and turned to leave.
"Holy crap! You smiled! You actually smiled!!!" Duo shouted at the top of his lungs.
Heero shut the door and looked down at the package. He then grinned up at Duo.
"Happy Halloween, Duo."
Duo's eyes were huge. "Oh dear Lord, I think I'm going to die of shock."
Heero was just about to open the package when the door knocked. He blinked up at Duo.
"What time did you tell?"
"About four. I know, they're actually coming here on time. Amazing…just about as amazing as it is of you smiling.
Heero placed the package on a shelf besides him while he opened the door. Another woman with red hair stood behind a little girl who had dirty blonde hair. Both of them looked up at him.
"Duo?"
"I am, up here." Duo waved at the lady.
Heero remained quiet, her snobbish tone told him everything.
"Isn't the father supposed to be the one opening the door if there isn't a wife to do it for him?" The lady sneered from Duo to Heero.
Dear God, don't let Heero have a sense of humor like me! I don't need this lady to think Uno's guardian is gay!!!
"Well, my daughter Brittney is here for her little friends birthday slumber party. I'll return tomorrow to pick her up." The woman's snobbish tone radiated off of her, past Heero, until Duo could feel it and shiver from its touch upstairs.
"Hm," the woman smirked. "Well…good luck."
She checked out Heero with a smirk of a stuck-up attitude then turned to leave. Heero shut the door and looked down at Brittney.
"Who are you?"
"Heero."
"Where's Duo?"
"Right here." Duo stood now only three steps from the bottom and reached out for her bag. "I'll take your bag. Just drop off your present to Uno down there on the shelf and join their party."
"Fine." Brittney rolled her eyes, handed Duo her bag, and started walking down the hallway.
Duo glared the little girl. Heero picked up his package and began opening it.
"I do hope the rest of the people are not going to be as stuck up and snobbish like that." Duo sighed and looked at Heero. "What ya' buy?" As nosy and picky as Duo is, he tried to peer inside the package.
"A Colt Python." Duo sweat-dropped and Heero looked at him. "I needed another one."
"What happened to the one you had all these years?"
"I'm giving it to Uno later on. She's deserved it."
Duo grumbled. "Better watch it, Heero. She'll put a hole in the wall just like you had. Even now as you look at it…" Duo pointed out the miscolored paint job on the wall above a side hallway table and a vase of fake silk roses and below a large fantasy-rainbow picture. "We'll end up having two of them."
"It'll dry. Give it time."
Duo grumbled and started upstairs once again. Heero walked off to the training room, watching how quiet the new-comers were around Uno and Theresa's video game competition.
Uno and Theresa were close on the end count when finally Uno started trying and finished quickly. Theresa stared at the screen, her mouth ajar and eyes wide at how fast Uno was able to beat her. She's never played the game before, but still she gave Uno a good challenge. Heck, she's never even heard of Oz and War Handlers before for a PS2.
"Uno…where did you buy this game?"
Uno shrugged and shut down the system. "I don't know where Duo got it."
"My older brother can program things; maybe he had somebody make it for him." Claryce explained, ignoring the looks Brittney and Jessica gave her.
Uno shrugged off the thoughts. She never even knew Duo had a space-flight simulator game that can only be played through first-person-view, but either or, Uno won yet again. Uno sat with her back to the television and faced her 'friends'. She was about to say something to lighten up the mood when the doorbell rang. Sending a prayer and rolling her eyes, Uno sprang up from her seat and ran down the hallway.
She opened to door to see Sarah in her face. The both of them blinked at each other then Uno looked up to her mother.
"Hi. Let me guess, you're Uno! Right?" Uno nodded at the lady. "Well I'm Sarah's mom—um, is your Daddy home?"
Uno looked down the hallway as Duo stepped up to them. Sarah stepped inside and Uno signaled her upstairs.
"You're mother's scary." Uno stated when they were halfway up the staircase.
"I know…she frightens me as well." Sarah followed Uno into the room and put her bag down. "Wow! Big room, Uno!"
Uno looked at it and at the posters Duo obviously had hung up earlier when she was downstairs. She rolled her eyes and turned to face Sarah.
"My new room."
"Where's your old one?"
"You don't need to know." Uno left the room.
"Wow." Saeah gawked up at the professionally painted ceiling and all the gold trim along the corners of the walls, the dark grey paint job, and the sky-blue carpet. She spun around and followed Uno downstairs.
Duo looked at the two of them, leaning on the closed door. "So."
"What?" Uno asked.
"How many left to go?"
Uno looked at Sarah and thought. "Just Ricky."
"You invited him?!" Sarah went shocked.
"What's the matter with Uno's friend?" Duo crossed his arms, interested.
"He's so scary looking…and he's in the third grade."
Duo looked at Uno and blinked, then grinned. "Uno…are you hitting on older boys again?"
Uno rolled her eyes. And turned away from the two of them.
"I thought I told you to stop after Heero."
"Please." Uno grumbled and Sarah followed her down the hallway.
Duo stood there laughing some. He was about to turn and go back to his room when the door knocked over and over and over again, repeatively. He spun around and faced it, glaring the door and already knowing who it had to be.
Glaring still, he grumbled, "Ricky."
He quickly grabbed the doorknob and swung open the door. What looked like a clone of Heero stood with his eyes wide and his right hand held in a fist in mid air—with an older looking boy similar to him standing behind.
"Let me guess…Ricky?"
"…" Ricky softly nodded and swallowed back what was stuck in his throat. He lowered his hand to his side. Duo grinned then faced up at his brother.
"And you are?"
"Johnson. Ricky's brother." The boy had shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes surrounded by a red hue; a low groan escaped Duo's throat as one word came to mind when he faced the ripped jean-shorts and old t-shirt boy with red eyes: druggie.
"I was hoping to meet y'alls father." Duo stood tall and leant on the doorframe.
"Yeah well, his works a bitch and won't let him off. He called me in the middle of a party to take my brother up here. Nice hood-by the way."
Duo sweat-dropped. Hood? What the hell does the boy think he is?! He's wearing a death metal t-shirt and talking like a rapper!!! Duo's eyes looked down and to the corner, away from theirs.
"Er-yeah…thanks." He looked down at Ricky. "Come on in. I'll take your stuff but down the hallway is Uno and everyone else."
"Thanks." Ricky gave Duo his bag and carried Uno's gift down the hall. Duo looked up at Johnson.
"What party? A pill-n-weed crew? Rave? Slasher regroup?" Duo grinned.
"Dude, no way man! My friend, she's just turned 21 and all of her friends and she were hanging out at her house. I was invited for the show." Duo blinked.
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
Duo grinned, "your dad know you messin' around with a twenty-one-year-old girl and all of her friends?"
"Dude, chill man. Ain't no body going to get pregnant. They're all on the pill." Duo sweat-dropped again.
"Whatever. Are you picking up your brother tomorrow or your father?"
"See, that's what I need to talk to you about. My dad's out of town and wants me to do it. But…well…you see…you know I'll be busy with eleven girls and well…I was hoping you could drop him back off at the house."
"Your father doesn't mind having him home alone?" Johnson shook his head. "Okay…well, you've got our number in case you need to get in touch with him."
"Sure thing; whatever man. You look young to have a kid. How old are you?"
"Early twenties."
Johnson smirked. "Need a date? I know some fucking hot babes."
Duo lowered his head. "I'm engaged. No thank you." He faced Johnson's grinning face again. "Besides, if they're coming from you, they've got to be ugly."
"No way man! Three of them are models for Playboy. One's a beginner for Penthouse."
Duo blinked. "Your father know about all of this?"
Johnson shrugged and popped a cigarette in his mouth, cupped his hands around it, and lit the paper. Exhaling the first waft of the stick, he replied.
"No. He's never home anyways so basically it's just me taking care of Ricky. When he is home he's usually busy in his office with work or paying bills."
"I was wondering about that. He picked up your brother the other day and I noticed his car."
Johnson nodded. "A Humvie—I know. His job pays him well as long as he gives them what they want."
"What does he do?"
Johnson shrugged again. "Hell if I know. The man's never home and doesn't answer his calls on his cell phone. It's a wonder if he has a secretive life. All I know is that he's only home Friday and Monday. But besides that, he's hardly at the house unless to get something."
Duo thought up an idea and grinning sheepishly at it. "Ever thought of sneaking around?"
"Yeah. Impossible. He's got some kind of locking system on the outside door of his office; I can't even shoot it off."
I bet I can hack into it, though.
"Well, I gotta' get going. My girls are probably starting without me. Take care man!" Johnson waved off at Duo and turned to head back to his pickup truck.
"See ya'!" Duo shut the door and thought about what Johnson said of his father's job.
When Duo arrived into the living room of the party, he stopped and held back a big grin and laugh. Uno and Theresa had Ricky pinned down and wrapped up in the left over party strands that Duo had stored on a shelf. Ricky was squirming around when Duo leant on the wall.
"Uno, what are you two doing to that poor boy?"
"Nothing." Both Uno and Theresa replied innocently. Everyone else was on the side watching.
Ricky squirmed, "help me!"
"Look Uno," Duo began, stepping up to the three of them. "When tying a person up you have to remember that they can still talk."
Ricky's eyes got huge when Duo wrapped more party strands around his head and over his mouth. Uno and Theresa busted out giggling and laughing when Duo started doing what he was doing to Ricky. Sarah looked up at the new person in the hallway on the other side of the living room. He looked much like Ricky.
"Hey Ricky…you have a clone." Sarah stared up at Heero. Heero stopped and looked down at her, then over to Duo.
"Duo…let the boy go."
Duo sat back and looked at the two of them. "Hey Heero! You got a clone!"
"Now!!!" Uno shouted out and she, Theresa, and Sarah jumped on Duo's back. Theresa managed to weave confetti and more party things in Duo's braid, Sarah wrapped the party strands around the braid, and Uno the entire time was holding Duo by the neck to make sure they could get done what they were doing. When they all let go and Duo managed to stand up without little kids all over him, he was covered from head to toe in black party favors.
Heero smirked. "It matches you, Duo."
"Ah-shut up."a Duo looked down to all the smiling giggles below him. He glared and smirked each one of them.
"I have an idea…let's play a game."
"What game?" Sarah asked.
"Anyone up for twister?"
"I am!" Claryce hopped up. "I'm great in that game!"
"Sure!" Theresa looked at Uno.
Uno rolled her eyes, knowing already who was going to win.
"Follow me!" Duo went down the hallway and towards the stairs to go to the new second floor gameroom. The trail of girls followed behind.
"Hey!!! What about me?!" Ricky squirmed. "Grr."
Heero stepped up to him and took out his combat knife. "Hold still."
Ricky froze until Heero released him. He sat up. Heero looked at him closely.
"Whose your father?"
"Um…some guy that works for a living." Ricky stood and watched as Heero stood up.
"What does he do?"
"I don't know. Some military program."
Which one? Heero studied him for a moment.
"Follow me, they're already upstairs." Heero turned and headed towards the staircase.
By the time Ricky got into the game room, Uno was on hands and feet, backwards, with Brittney and Sarah underneath her. Uno was on top and free of their grasp; Brittney and Sarah were struggling to stay up through their nasty-looking tie.
"Hey Ricky! Come join the fun!" Duo said, smiling at him. Ricky stepped in the room as Heero shut the door behind him, getting a good glimpse at Uno's winning streak.
"Quit moving, Sarah!" Birttney growled.
"I'm trying to scratch my side; I've got an itch!"
"Right hand on red." Claryce stated.
"Ah crap." Sarah looked around upside down for a red spot. Uno quickly placed her hand on the one Sarah spotted.
"Yes!" Brittney tackled the spot she found.
"Dang Uno…I didn't think you could bend that way!" Uno blinked and looked over—upside down—at Theresa.
"Wow." Ricky sat down besides Duo.
"Shikies!" Sarah's foot slipped and caused her to fall. Brittney was using her for support and fell as well. Uno stayed up.
"Yay! Uno wins again!" Uno released her hands from the floor and used her strength to pull herself upwards to a standing position. Everyone around her except for Duo gawked; Duo grinned.
That's my girl.
"My turn!" Ricky stood and kicked off his shoes.
"Me too!" Claryce stood and handed Theresa the board.
Theresa spun the dial and then began with "Left foot on green."
Each took their green spot, glaring one another. Uno grinned instead.
"Left hand on yellow...right foot on blue."
"Um…Uno…can you wiggle over some?" Sarah Claryce asked.
"No." Uno grinned.
"Claryce, you're in my way." Ricky managed to weave himself through the two girls.
Duo blinked. The damn boys already managing to get entangled with two girls! Damn…
"Right hand on yellow."
"Uh oh…" Ricky noticed where he stood against and found the closest yellow spot was far on the other side. "This is going to rough."
About three hours later and many tired kids of paying Twister, Duo decided it was time to go back downstairs. They grabbed their shoes—except for Uno and Theresa—and traveled down the flight of stairs back to the living room. Heero was rubbing his fingers over the painted hole when Duo grabbed his shoulders.
"Heero!"
"Hn?"
Duo peered around his shoulders to glimpse a peak at the wall. "Is it dry yet?"
"Can you find it?" Duo sweat-dropped. "My point exactly."
"Well pish-posh! I'll just return to watch the party of vicious children!" Duo and Heero glanced down the hall to the pack of kids in the living room, pushing each other around like they were fighting.
Duo sniffed back a fake cry. "They remind me of my group when I was their age. It's so sad."
Heero rolled his eyes. Uno stepped up to them.
"Duo…can we watch some of your anime?"
Duo blinked. Heero smirked at him because most of Duo's anime was hentai.
"Which one?"
"Petshop of Horrors."
"Uno…that's not for your age group."
"But I've seen it before, and they'll all older than me!" Uno pouted. "Pweas?"
"Don't you give me that innocent, 'I'll-cheat-you-in-through-acting-cute attitude! It won't work on me." Duo sneered.
"But…" Uno pouted.
"No!" Duo shouted.
Pouting, Uno hung her head and turned to go down the hallway. She let a sniffle escape her.
Duo sighed. Heero grinned at him.
Duo grumbled, "I hate it when she does that." He raised his voice back to Uno. "Fine…you can watch it!"
Uno spun around and smiled up at Duo. "Love you Duo!" She ran into the living room.
"And you got on Quatre's case for falling to the act. Shame on you." Heero walked away from Duo.
"What?!" Duo stood there, amazed.
"Hey Uno…what's Words Worth? It looks cool! Let's watch that afterwards!" Jessica looked in the cabinet at all the anime movies.
"Ask Duo; they're all his." Uno put in the Petshop of Horrors DVD.
Jessica turned around to face Heero.
"Hey Heero? Can we watch Words Worth?"
Heero stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned his head to her direction. "No." He stated clearly.
"Why not?" Brittney asked, snobbishly.
"Not for children." Heero glared Brittney.
"Hey, I'm in third grade!" Ricky raised his hand.
Heero looked at him. "You're only nine-years-old."
"…How'd you know?"
"…Guessed." Heero turned and left the room for the kitchen.
Duo came in just when the first show was starting. He crept past the group as silently as he could and into the kitchen. Heero was on his laptop and eating a bowl of grapes. Duo grabbed a Sprite from the fridge and sat down besides Heero, grabbed a handful of grapes, and ate a few.
"I have an idea." Duo began.
"Hn?"
"I want to play a joke on them."
Heero smirked. "What kind?"
"Well…knowing Uno if she's anything like me—which we all know by now she is—she'll want to tell ghost stories later on tonight."
"So what would you do to them?"
"We are going to scare the living breath out of their bodies!" Duo grinned.
Heero stopped trying and shook his head smirking. "Alright. Just let me finish this and then we'll both head out to the shed for tools."
"Alright." Duo ate another grape until the best finally got of him. "What ya' doing?" He leant over to look at the screen.
"Sending an email."
"To who?"
"To a company manager who was called in." Heero sent the letter and shut down his laptop. "I got a call from someone who was fired for no good reason and wanted me to send a virus."
"How much they pay you?" Duo took a gulp of his Sprite.
"Fifty thousand."
Duo choked on his swallow and coughed. "Fifty thousand! Jeeze, Heero! What are you going to buy with that?"
"More things for the training room. Uno's getting better and I want to teach her the rocket launcher."
"…How much do they cost?" Duo stayed quiet.
Heero stood up and put his laptop underneath his arm while he carried the empty bowl to the sink. "No more than fifteen."
"For a good one, I mean." Duo stood up.
Heero turned around to face him.
"A good one is about fifty to seventy-five. She's in training, I'm getting a little cheapy."
Duo grumbled. "You call that a cheapy."
"What do you call it? How much would you pay for an updated model of a scythe?"
"Yeah but those are antiques!"
"And rocket launchers are illegal."
"They are?" Duo cocked his head to the side.
Heero nodded. "Outlawed around the beginning of the Federation when Zeon ruled the forces."
"Who?"
Heero hung his head in doubt. "Duo…before our times in fighting, did you ever read up on our history to know what the cause we'd be fighting for?" Duo shook his head. "It's the same reason I agreed to help you train Uno. Wars have existed for centuries—long before Oz was ever even thought up. The Federation goes back centuries, to the first colony, really. I know you've heard of the RX-78, right?"
"Yeah, I'm not that idiotic. I know about the first Gundam. But what about it?"
"Since then wars have repeated. Even though we're going through a time of peace right now, there will again, be another war. Perhaps not in Uno's lifetime, but soon. It's been long enough."
"Damn Heero…I don't need a history lesson here." Duo stood up and followed Heero out the into the garage.
"Then maybe you should read about our history on your own."
That night, when the movie was finally over, Uno ejected the DVD and turned on the lights to see a few shaken faces. She blinked as Claryce , Jessica, and Sarah looked fightened.
"Was it that scary?" The three of them looked at Uno and nodded.
Uno giggled and put the disc back in the case, then put the case back in the cabinet.
"I've got an idea." Uno began.
"Let's watch another movie." Brittney stated.
"Well…I have to ask Duo."
"What was your idea, Uno?" Theresa asked.
"If anyone wanted to tell ghost stories."
"Isn't that supposed to be done at night when it's dark?" Brittney rolled her eyes.
Uno glared Brittney then managed a cocky attitude like hers while she retorted. "Well then I guess Sarah, Jessica, and Claryce have you to blame if they get scared again."
"Please, only an idiot would fall for something stupid like that or the movie." Brittney folded her arms over her chest.
"I don't know, you seemed to have jumped in one scene in the movie. And if I remember correctly, you said 'eww' in another." Ricky grinned. Uno sat back against his arms and smirked. Theresa smirked as well.
Everyone was quiet with nothing to say or do for the next few moments. Brittney sighed heavily. Jessica looked around the room. Claryce picked dirt out of her nails. All three girls were silently sitting on the couch, not minding a thing…until a masked creature popped up from behind them and screamed, his arms flailing about with a bloodied scythe in hand. The face was a skeleton covered with a black cape over its head, blood dripped out of its mouth, and the eyes were so black it looked as if there were nothing beneath it.
All three girls screamed wildly and leaped off the couch with immense speed. They spun around and fell to the floor, scooting back as much as they could. Brittney bumped into Ricky, Claryce into Theresa, and Jessica into Sarah. The character stood up and removed the mask. Soon after, a smiling and laughing braided man was standing before them, repeating familiar words.
"Only an idiot would fall for something like that? What's that make you?"
Uno grinned at Brittney. Brittney held her hands to her chest and breathed heavily.
"Anyone want cake and icecream?!"
"Yeah!" Shouted Jessica, Claryce, and Sarah. Theresa stood up. Ricky stood up and helped Uno up.
"Not if its coming from you." Brittney stood up and followed everyone into the dining room. She smirked. "Nice room, Uno."
Uno smiled in return to Brittney and sat down in the end chair of the table. She swallowed what stuck in her throat, knowing that now Duo was going to have everybody sing to her a happy birthday song. She sulked; she didn't want to be reminded that they were all going to stay the night.
When they finally stopped chatting away, Duo brought in a black cake with flames and blood decorated all over it. Uno blinked at it. It looked more like a Halloween cake rather than a birthday cake, but coming from Duo it no longer mattered. He placed six candles in a circle around a Gundam design and lit them. Trying to ignore the song they sung at her, and Ricky's grinning face at Duo holding up her braid, Uno was finally given the chance to blow out the candles…only they lit back up.
"Trick candles! Those are so great!" Sarah said.
"…" Uno stared at the flames, blew again, then watched them return to life. Growing antsy, she just took both her hands and shoved them down onto the wick of the dancing flames, instantly putting them out. Everyone froze expecting Uno to be in pain and her hands to be sore. Instead, she let go and smiled when the flames finally died out.
It was Duo who broke the silence. "Um…who wants a corner?" Heh…damn Uno!
Duo passed out slices of cake to everyone and then opened up the tub of ice cream. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and triple fudge chocolate ice cream; what a meal! He passed out several scoops to everyone and realized they were on the verge of running out.
"Dang…y'all are a bunch of pigs! Look at this!" Duo held up the container and everyone—even Brittney—laughed some. Uno giggled at the fact that Duo spent a lot of money of a full gallon of ice cream, never use any of it, and now it was just about all gone with out him even getting a chance to have some.
Duo scooped up just about the rest except for a spoonful and put it on a plate for himself. He turned away to pass out napkins to everyone and when he turned back, saw it missing and the back of Heero walking into the kitchen. He whined. Uno tugged on his shirt and gave him the rest of hers—considering she was practically already finished.
About an hour later, Duo was stacking up paper plates in the trash can when Brittney and Uno walked down the hallway of bedrooms. Ricky stood shocked at the end of the hall; Theresa gawked at them as well.
"So Uno…you live here alone?"
Uno nodded, "Mmhm, just me and the five of them."
"Of who?"
"Duo's friends. They helped teach me so I could go to school. I didn't know anything. Duo and Trowa taught me how to read. Trowa how to count and Quatre how to be proper."
"What did Heero teach you?" Birttney glanced at Uno.
"…How to stay quiet."
They both giggled. Brittney stopped when they reached the corner of the hallway and ran down the other side to the huge windows and the French doors.
"Wow! Look how dark it is outside! You can't even see the grass!" Brittney plastered her face to the window.
Uno sighed and stepped up to her. "I know. Duo said there's a search light-thing out there that'll turn on by itself when there's movement."
"Search lights; we have those all around our house." Birttney looked at Uno and stepped away from the glass, grinning. "Ready to tell those ghost stories of yours?"
The group was gathered in a circle by the time Uno and Brittney returned to them; very appropriate for them at this moment. Ricky noticed Uno had a flashlight in her hands and Brittney a flame dancing lamp.
"What's those for?" Ricky asked.
"Ghost stories, what else?" Brittney replied and sat down. She placed the lamp in the center and plugged it in to the wall. Uno went around and shut out the lights around them: kitchen, hallways, living room, television, and anything else that gave off a hint of outside life. She stepped back up to the group and shined the flash light on each member of the pack.
"So…who goes first?" Uno asked.
"I want to! My mom said I'm very good at being morbid." Jessica raised her hand. She took the flashlight from Uno and held it to her chin. "Do I go yet?"
Uno sat down on the end of the circle, in the middle of Ricky and Theresa. "Go ahead."
"Alright. On a cold and midnight time, there was a young girl named Nancy who was never able to fit in with the rest of the crowds. She wore long black clothes and pale face paint. Her eyes were baby blue. Her hair was as black as oil. She was perfectly beautiful in the dark sense of fashion; all except for being the witch that she is. Well, Nancy was busy sorting out her book of spells from the book of monsters and the likes when she got a phone call. She wasn't sure who would be calling at one in the morning, so she answered it. To her surprise, it was a mans voice. The same man she likes that she sees everyday in school. He sounded like he was in trouble, like he was dying. His voice was rough and scratchy, like his throat was sliced. Nancy didn't know what to do, so she replied cautiously—Claryce, your turn."
Claryce blinked and received the flashlight from Jessica. Duo was making his way down the dark staircase when he heard the soft sounds of gossips or story telling. Quickly, he leaped over the banister about five steps away from the ground floor and took off running down the hallway. He spun the corner, ran to the library, emerged into the other hallway and busted open the training room door. Heero was aiming his gun at a target and pulled back.
"What?"
"They're telling ghost stories." Duo coughed, smirking and catching his breath.
Heero grinned and slowly turned to face Duo. "Are you ready?"
"So, when they finally came up to her mangled body, they were so shaken up they didn't know what to do. Nancy fled from her house in the midst of the night, expecting to save someone's life but in turn the jokers struck her with their car by accident. Nancy's body laid there in the road, twisted in ways that were inhuman. The group of jokers circled her body, talking about what they were going to do next, when all of a sudden—Uno." Theresa handed Uno the flashlight. By now, Uno was the last person. It started with Jessica, went to Claryce, then to Sarah and then Brittney. From there Ricky took over and gave the light to Theresa. Uno was the one to finish the story—oh yay, she thought.
"When all of a sudden, Nancy's eyes shot open with a blood red color and looked at each person who stood around her. She growled and slowly began to sit up. By now, everyone was sure she was killed. After all, Phil had said that when he checked her pulse, she was cold. But, even now Phil was beginning to think he had no right to become a doctor because the laws of life no longer worked for Nancy as she stood up and hunched her body over. Blood seeped out of the cuts on her forehead. It dripped out of her eye sockets, her nostrils, and her mouth. Her fingers curled up into fists. They gripped tighter and everyone decided that if they wanted to survive, now would be their only time. Quickly, everyone ran from her and took shelter in their scattered places. Cara ran and hid in the cluttered shed. Sharon snuck down into the storm shelter, un-aware of the un-use of it for centuries and the amount of poisonous snakes down there with her. Phil and David took shelter in the abandoned house, the house that was nearly fallin' apart. Nancy didn't take no for an answered and wanted her revenge. She managed to make her way towards the shed. Upon arrival, her foot hit something hard and metal and noticed it was the chainsaw. Grinning with satanic thoughts, she picked it up. A soft whimper escaped Cara's lips and it signaled Nancy that someone was in there. Nancy stepped inside and hid in the shadows, kept really quiet until Cara made another move and when she got close enough, cranked the engine. Before she knew it, Cara was chopped up. Nancy didn't want anything else to get in her way or anyone to get away, so made her way outside. She stepped up to the storm shelter and locked the pad lock together, making sure Sharon had all the time she deserved with nature's loveable deadly creatures. A scream and knock on the metal doors told Nancy that the snakes have already gotten to Sharon and were soon devouring the fresh meat. Nancy looked up at the house and stepped inside. The winding staircase was made of wood and much of it was already destroyed. Cranking the engine, she started the chainsaw and took down the rest of the old staircase. The stairs fell and shattered to the floor below and caused a large hole in the ground to the basement below. A vile scream sounded up from below to tell Nancy that Phil was struck by falling debris. With only David left to go, she used her witch-like powers and lit the candles around her with only her eyes. She picked up a candle stick and carried it to the nearest wall, then to the other walls, to the furniture, the ground, then finally she through it down into the basement and watched as the flames shot up. She slowly turned out and left the building. Without a home to go and with only a chainsaw in hand, she lifted her face to the sky and screamed out loud, at the top of her lung, with all of her fury and might, how much she was ready to just let loose and fall over."
Uno looked at each member of the group—including Ricky and Theresa—and smirked; everyone's mouth was gawked open and they looked as though they were terrified. Suddenly, a the engine of a chainsaw cranked to life in what sounded like only a few feet away and a deadly scream sounded the room. Everyone screamed—except for Ricky and Uno; Theresa just jumped and shook some—and ran from the gathering 'camp fire' and scattered across the house. Jessica fled to the upstairs. Brittney ran down the hallway to the library. Sarah and Claryce both ran down the opposite hallway and hid in the old office Quatre onced used.
Uno shut her eyes, shook her head, and lowered her face to the ground. Ricky laughed. Theresa smirked some, still shaken up, and glanced at both of her friends.
Duo took off his Devil mask and killed the engine of the chainsaw. He blinked and looked around.
"Was I that scary?"
About an entire hour later, everyone slowly made their ways back to the living room. The light was back on, Theresa, Ricky, and Uno were playing video games, and Duo was sitting on the couch watching. Heero sat in the chair on the side of the room looking something up on his laptop.
"Um…that story…earlier…um…" Sarah stumbled out.
"I liked it too." Uno smiled up at her. Ricky grinned.
"Eh-yeah." Sarah sweat-dropped.
"Hey…now that everyone's calmed down from the experience of a life time…" Duo received a bunch of glares for that. "Heh…how about Uno opening presents?"
"Yeah…I'm up for that." Brittney said, sitting down on the corner of the couch and hugging her knees.
"Great!" Duo got up and dragged the table over to the group. Uno turned off the console and walked up to Duo. The first gift she picked up was wrapped in a pink paper.
She looked at Sarah who was grinning wildly. "Yours I can guess."
Sarah nodded. "Go on, open it!"
Uno opened it to see a box with decorations on it. She blinked and turned it around until she got to the front of the package. "Puzzle Box?"
"Yeah. It's like six puzzles in one…very confusing. It took me forever to figure out. My dad had to finish it for me."
Uno smiled. "Thanks."
Next Uno lifted up a sparkling silverish-blue paper wrapped gift and looked it over.
"Its from me." Claryce smiled.
Uno nodded and ripped it open. It was a Polly Molly Jennifer doll. Brittney smirked. Uno blinked.
"Thanks…Claryce."
"Open mine next!" Brittney picked up a pink and green striped gift that was pretty big and handed it to Uno. She then picked up a pink and blue striped gift that was four times smaller.
Uno unwrapped the larger one and found it was a Polly Molly vacation home set. The second one was a Polly Molly doll with accessories up the butt. Uno blinked and smiled at Brittney.
"Thanks!" Uno made everyone appear as if she were glad for the gifts and going to play with it as soon as possible, but Theresa and Ricky both knew—along with Duo and Heero—that she'd store it in a closet and forget about it on purpose. Only Duo and Heero knew she'd use it for target practice.
Uno picked up a purple wrapped package with monkeys on the paper. It was shaped funny and squishy. Uno poked a hole in it and tore the paper off. It was black stuffed cat with big yellow eyes. Uno blinked at it and smiled, hugging it.
"His name is Kuroneko; he's from the anime Trigun. I thought it was so cute so I got it for you! It fits you well too!" Jessica said.
"I thought that cat looked familiar." Duo said, glancing to and from the glass cabinet where his Trigun collection was to the cat in Uno's arms.
"Well…open mine next then Ricky's!"
"Gee…thanks Theresa." Ricky grumbled.
Theresa giggled and Uno picked up the large black wrapped gift that took the entire length of the table.
"Dare I ask what you got me?"
"You can try." Theresa grinned even after Uno glared her.
Uno pried her fingers in a hole and tore at the paper. Her eyes widened when she found there was more black paper beneath it. Again, she ripped it off and again, more black paper. It wasn't until an entire ten minutes went by and a multitude of black paper was surrounding Uno and she was just about to ask Duo for a lighter when she finally reached the box. Inside, she found it was a bunch of fake medieval weapons that included a scythe, whip, chains, and more. She even taped up besides the box a couple newer and modern age weapons like a berretta, sub machine gun, and more. Uno's eyes widened at the sight and grabbed Theresa for a grippingly tight hug.
"Thank you!!!" Theresa giggled and patted her friend on the pack.
Heero blinked at all the things inside and grinned; Uno's training has just kicked up a notch.
Ricky sighed. "Now you make my gift look like a bunch of crap." Ricky picked up his present, looked it over, then handed it to Uno. "Here."
Uno smiled at him and opened it. "At least you didn't wrap it up to death like she did."
"No…I'm not that harsh and rude." Theresa spat her tongue out at Ricky. Ricky grinned.
Uno opened it up to see a 35,000 piece puzzle with pictures of all sorts of medieval and new modern weapons on it. Uno, Duo, and even Heero's eyes shot open at it.
"How did you find something like this?!" Uno shouted, giving Ricky the biggest and tightest hug yet.
"Heh…well, my brother found a bunch of pictures on the internet and printed it out. I don't know how he made it, but he put the pictures together and colored—actually painted—it onto wood then cut the wood up with my dad's jigsaw puzzle cutter. I didn't think he was this sweet, but he helped me."
"Wow." Uno looked at the picture.
"It'll fit your entire wall for about three to four feet in width, he said."
"Thank you." Uno was enlightened in the present.
"Can I help you put it together?" Theresa, too, was gawking at the picture.
Brittney and Claryce both sulked and looked disturbed, as if a boy was accidentally born in a girl body. Jessica didn't care and Sarah only smirked; at least Uno didn't fake-to-like hers.
"Alright all you kiddies! It's one in the morning…it's time for bed." Duo stood up.
"Look whose talking." A sullen voice from below spoke and Duo turned around to glare Heero in the face.
