Note: Things in "" and italics are when the people are speaking Japanese!

Chapter 15: Vacation Fun?

Day hit early than Heero expected as he slung his duffel bag over his shoulders and headed out the door to the airport, which was within walking distance, leaving the key's to his apartment with Miyyuuki. He had brought along the food she had given him: a Chinese food boxed lunch that Miss Hagurai had made him for the trip, the batteries Miyyuuki left him, his CD player with the Evanescence CD, his laptop, some Japanese currency for spending, his small amount of credit cards, and some disks which he always carried with him (the very disks Relena had learned contained some clues to his past).

He met the others and got onto the private plane that Relena had gotten for them and boarded.

Heero sighed along with Trowa. "Why does this have to be me?' They thought almost at the same time. They had willingly come along, though not wanting to.

Relena and the other two happy Gundam pilots' had dragged them along for a vacation over in Japan for a fun time. Then again, they would rather be themselves than Wufei, who had also been dragged along, only against his will. He had been tied down to the seat and a gag placed tightly over his mouth. He had been screaming muffled curses to them the whole way to the airport.

Relena had a special shuttle, which had a limited number of other people on them, but they all were starting to get headaches. Heero placed his hand on his head. He got to sit next to Trowa, which he was happy for since he didn't have to sit next to Relena who was merrily chatting with Quatre and Duo about all the other stuff they could do once they arrived.

Wufei was sitting in a seat next to the corner growling and threatening anyone that came near to untie him or else. He had a whole yarn full of threats, which he seemed to have a never-ending supply of.

Heero shuffled in his seat. Heero didn't feel so well ever since that odd looking flight attendant gave him a glass of water during the meal he had eaten while the other's ate the airline food, which wasn't good at all, so Trowa had some of his meal. He didn't feel well at all, being exhausted and having a headache, or worse: a migraine. Wufei was yelling muffled cries, which he heard clearly since he was adapt to this, at a flight attendant who shuffled away nervously.

"GET BACK HERE WOMAN!" The muffling translated. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE!" His muffling translated to. The other passenger's shook their head and sighed heavily. It was going to be a long ride. A very, very long ride, it already seemed longer than it already was so far.

Heero couldn't take much more. His mind was splitting in two, and his ears were pounding. After years of training and such, his mind was used to the explosions and such but not the constant yelling of someone with a very large lung composite. Luckily Duo had been willing to go. His screaming was much more annoying because he never shut up, unlike Wufei who would scream himself hoarse. That would be about three more hours.

Sadly, Heero was going crazy and so was Trowa, though only Heero could tell. Heero got up from his seat and walked steadily over to the seat where Wufei was strapped in. He glared at him when his muffled cry came when he recognized the person before him.

"Heero! Get me out of here!" He shouted to the pilot.

Heero glared back and he shut up immediately. "I'm sorry to do this, but you're driving all of us insane!" He told him fiercely. The other passenger's watched the young boy confront the maniac, holding their breaths to see if he could shut the annoying teenager up.

Heero hit a pressure point of Wufei's neck who let out a 'ugh' and then dropped his head, unconscious. Heero sighed heavily, returned to his seat and plopped down, exhausted. He had a lot of things on his mind and it was wearing him out. Trowa looked at him and raised an eyebrow and mumbled something that sounded a whole lot like he was asking if he was all right, but Heero couldn't respond. His body shut down and he turned his head to the window and fell asleep with his arms crossed over his chest.

Trowa looked at the pilot. He hadn't even answered him. After he came back he almost immediately fell asleep. 'Odd...' He thought, looking at the pilot with suspicion in his eyes. 'He's never been like this, and it's not because of his wounds either, they are completely healed and he's been taking a break lately, more than he usually would...'

Quatre and Relena were talking about all the places they could go and Duo was pointing out food places in the food and fine dining part of the tour book they got.

"We're going to have some trouble communicating with them." Quatre pointed out. The others nodded in agreement (in this story, they can all speak English, 'kay. That's what adds the "humor"! If you call it humor...). Relena nodded back. She wasn't fluent very well in Japanese, in fact she only one word, the easiest to know: sayonara. Which meant good-bye. Unknown to them was that Heero was Japanese. (Surprise for them!)

"Aw, that's okay, I'm sure that they can speak English!" Duo said, shoving the peanuts the flight attendant gave him into his mouth. He took a deep swig of the cola on his folded out tray and then once again joined the others in their conversation.

The flight attendant moved down the aisle, giving them their snack and their beverage at this time. "Sir, can I get you anything?" The young woman asked, hiding a blush as she saw how handsome Trowa was, about her age too.

"Sure." Trowa said. "I'll have a Pepsi if you have some." He said, glancing at the cart for the ever so familiar blue colored can.

The lady shook her head. "We have coke-a-cola though." The woman said. Trowa nodded his head to this, and accepted the can with thanks.

The attendant looked and saw Heero with his head leaned down, looking straight ahead with his arms folded across his chest and his eyes closed.

She blushed again. 'Wow.' She thought. 'Not every day you see hot guys like this in the same row. Miss Relena must have some good friends!'

Trowa looked at her and she asked him if Heero, though she didn't know his name so she referred to him as 'the person next to you' would want anything.

Trowa shook his head. "No, it's all right. When he wakes up I'll ask him."

Heero was once again in a dreamless sleep, which he enjoyed since dreams could be annoying at times. The only thing was, he was exhausted in this world too. Images floated through the void reminding him of everything. He sat down onto nothing, floating in the void and sat cross-legged and then closed his eyes, taking deep breaths to relax, which didn't work as a splitting headache racked his head.

Heero winced slightly in his sleep when a slight pounding racked his head again, starting as a little pain and growing, thankfully, to nothing sever. Trowa noticed this and looked at the pilot with concern. He ignored the fact that maybe something was wrong that was tugging at him, thinking he had just been sitting in that position for too long and his muscles were getting sore.

Trowa got up and walked over to Relena and the other's, taking an empty seat that they had there in case he decided to change his mind, or Heero. "So what are we going to do on this trip?" Trowa asked. He had never been on vacation and Katherine was more than anxious for him to go, saying he needed the break also.

"A lot, we're going to visit some shrines, some natural hot springs, and a lot of other places!" Quatre said, excitement in his voice.

"How are we going to get around? No one speaks Japanese, do they?" Trowa questioned further. He looked at them and in return they looked at him.

"Hey!" Duo shouted. "I got it! Wufei, he knows that stuff, right?" He said happily.

Trowa sweat-dropped while looking at Duo who had a cheery expression written all over his face. "Um...Duo, Wufei is Chinese, not Japanese." Trowa said.

Duo froze, his smile glued onto his face. His lower eyes twitched. "Heh heh." He said, then the smile faded. "Do you have a better idea?" Duo pointed out.

"No, we don't have any time to memorize some of the language. We're getting ready to land." Trowa pointed out.

"How do you—"Duo was about to say but was interrupted by the intercom on the plane.

"All passenger's, please take your seat and fasten your seat belts. We will be landing soon. Do not remove your seatbelt until the captain says it is safe. Thank you for flying with Cross Airlines." A young maiden's voice said.

Then after Trowa took his seat and buckled his seat belt and woke Heero up, who was still groggy though he refused to admit it and acted awake, he had faint dark lines under his eyes, the intercom went on again, only it was the captains voice now.

"Flight attendants please prepare for landing." It commanded and clicked off.

"Did you get some rest? You look worn out." Trowa pointed out. 'I've never seen him like this...' Trowa thought, concern hidden by his mask.

Heero looked at him, then looked away, "Kind of..." He trailed off, looking out the window.

The plane jerked as it hit the ground. The plane went to it's terminal and they were on Japan's soil now. Heero grabbed his bag from the above compartment. He only had one bag and didn't need to bring a lot. His laptop, some clothes, some disks, and a small discreet CD player and some CD's.

He slung it over his shoulder and followed the others and the now untied Wufei who had woken up a few minutes before. He didn't have anywhere to go so he had to follow them willingly.

Relena found the exit through much trouble and was trying to get a taxi the American way, but all of them were taken. She saw a limousine and walked over to it. The man rolled down a window shield and spoke some Japanese.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any Japanese, can you take us to this hotel?" She said.

The man looked at her. " I'm sorry, I don't understand you. " The man said. " Do you need a ride, is that what you want? " The man questioned. Relena stared at him.

Heero, sighing heavily, walked up to her and took the piece of paper from her and talked to the man in Japanese. " Sorry about that, they aren't fluent in this language. " He said.

" Oh, it's alright. It's good that you can speak it though. You don't have an accent, were you born here? " The man asked. The other's looked at Heero and then back to the driver, not understanding what was going on.

Heero nodded. " Something of the sort. We need a ride to this location, are you picking anyone up? " Heero asked.

" Nope. " The man shook his head. " If you have the money, get in. " Heero nodded and opened the door.

Heero looked at the others, who were looking at him dumbstruck. "What are you waiting for? Get in." He said and got in to the car with the other's following him, putting their luggage in the trunk and the limo pulled out of the pick up area and turned to go to the hotel Heero told him about.

"Heero, I never knew you spoke Japanese. You can speak it fluently, right?" Relena said sweetly.

Heero looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and continued staring out the window. "Yeah, I guess." He said in a monotone voice.

"When did you learn it, I thought that you were busy during the war, did you have the time?" Duo asked.

"I was, and no I didn't." He said, "I just learned it." He stated.

"Oh." Duo said and noticed how the pilot closed his eyes, meaning he had no means of talking about the subject anymore.

The driver looked back to the group of people through the review mirror. " So, are you here on vacation? " The driver asked, they were still a long way from the hotel.

Heero opened his eyes and straightened up a bit and then leaned against the stiff leather seats they occupied. " Yeah, do you know any good places to go that are interesting? " He asked. " My friends are going to shrines and stuff, I've already been to some and most of them are the same. They are also planning on going to the hot springs near mount Fuji. " He said.

" Oh! You shouldn't go to the best spring's there, make sure you ask for the second best or such. Don't get the most luxurious bath, there are spirits and restless creatures there. As well as a young maiden's ghost who died there. I suggest you go to the Otaku Inu, it's a good place that the tourists don't know about. They aren't very friendly with English-speaker's, but you'll get in just fine since you're fluent. " The man said.

" Alright, anyway, can we hire you for the week, we don't have any means of being transported around here, and I'm gonna rent a motor cycle but the other's will need a vehicle. " Heero said.

" Alright. " The man said, nodding his head. " I'll give you a discount. So are you're friends how us people imagine tourists to be? They can't even ride a motorcycle. " The man chuckled. " The war did a lot to this place but we are getting' on our feet just fine. People are still edgy about some soldier's though, the earth and colonies were so close to starting another war, luckily it was prevented and everything is all right now. They even got funny bulletin boards up now 'cause of some shows that are airing for fantasy and stuff like InuYasha and all. " He said.

" Really, like what? " Heero asked. Relena looked at him but he concentrated on the driver who rarely diverted his eyes from the road.

" Well, here's a good one: 'What's with falling down well's in Japan? Either you get attacked by hoards of demons, or you die in seven day's. Horrible. Not that we recommend falling down well's in any other countries!' (1)" The man laughed.

The other's looked at Heero to see him smile a bit. "Wow! Heero's smiling!" Relena stated, astonished. The driver looked through the mirror to look at her.

"Yeah, this is amazing! Some one get a camera!" Duo joked but received a silencing glare from Heero to Duo whom immediately shut his mouth.

" What did they say? " The driver asked.

" They said that I was smiling. " He stated to the driver.

" Oh, you don't smile a lot, do you? " The man asked. Heero shook his head. " Well, why don't you tell them the joke, then they will know what you were smiling about. " The driver pointed out.

It made sense, but they wouldn't understand it. Heero looked at them. "He says that I should tell you what he said." Heero explained. "You probably won't get it, but," He took a deep breath. "'What's with falling down well's in Japan? Either you get attacked by hoards of demons, or you die in seven day's. Horrible. Not that we recommend falling down well's in any other country'." Heero told them.

"I don't get it." Duo stated. The other's agreed.

Heero sighed heavily and talked to the driver. He had to admit, he liked talking Japanese again, and it was enlightening in a way. The others didn't have a clue on what he was saying so that was one less thing to worry about. Currently he held the advantage. " They didn't understand. " He stated, the driver nodded and continued driving in silence.

"Why would you die in seven days?" Relena asked.

Heero looked at her and the other's who waited for him to explain. "It's all about the 'Ring of Life.' It's a traditional story that's been made into a movie over here. When you see the Ring you die in seven day's. It's hard to explain, so I'll rent the movie for you." He stated and turned to look out the window, passing a shrine on the way.

"You seem to know a lot of stuff about this place." Trowa stated back, pointing out the obvious. Heero nodded. He was about to ask why but Heero closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. He was exhausted, still. This feeling was getting on Heero's nerves.

The driver looked back. Relena moved next to Heero as the other's moved around a bit to get more comfortable. " You look exhausted, you shouldn't do anything today. " The driver suggested.

Heero nodded. "I guess..." He said in English before he fell into a dreamless sleep once again, but awoke a few minutes before they were at the hotel area.

" Thanks. We're going to be here for a week, I think at least. " Heero told the driver. He handed him the amount needed for the ride in Japanese currency.

"Heero, you should have let me pay for it." Relena told him, noticing the faint dark lines under his eyes.

"You didn't trade it your money for the currency." He pointed out. Relena nodded, forgetting all about doing that at the airport, but she would be able to do it at the hotel. Her mind replayed this and she then noticed that Heero hadn't stopped to trade in his money either. He had been with them the whole time.

They all got out of the car, and the driver parked the car and went to go and get a room, giving them his number incase they needed him to drive him anywhere.

They walked into the hotel. Heero got them rooms: Trowa and Quatre got a connecting room with Wufei and Duo, Heero got his own room which was connected to Relena's, much like the Suite style. He pulled out his credit card and told the registration person something and she handed him an American brochure, which he gave to his traveling companions.

He told them to follow him and then told them where their rooms were: second level, room number's 680, 681, 682, 683, 684.

Heero opened the door to his room which was next to Relena's turned o the lights, unlocked the door connecting their rooms so she could come in if she needed anything. Relena unlocked her door too and opened it and walked into Heero's room.

He turned around from fumbling around in his suitcase for the adapter for his laptop. "You stay here, I'll be right back." He commanded.

He left down the hall and opened the door to the stairs and walked down them barely making a sound even though they were metal.

Relena sighed and plopped down into a chair and looked around the room. It was identical to her room, except different color's and his had a fridge.

After waiting a couple of moments, Heero came back carrying a tape that said 'The Ring'. He gave it to her and told her to get the others and they could watch it.

Relena walked out into the hall and was stopped by two people. They looked her over and touched her gently on her hair and hand. She edged away, but Heero told them something in Japanese, they nodded and walked off. Relena looked at Heero. "What was that all about?" She questioned.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye while he waited for the guy's to open the door. "People here think it's good luck to have blonde hair and blue eyes." He stated. "They hope the luck will rub off on them." He said simply.

"Oh." She mumbled. The door opened and the smiling face of Duo appeared in front of them.

"Well, if it isn't the two love birds, eh?" He shouted in their faces so loud that Heero actually flinched slightly from the immense volume. He glared the coldest stare, colder than the ones he gave Milliardo, at him and walked past him, into the room.

The other three walked in, hearing Duo yell and plopped down in chairs after Relena explained the whole plan on watching the movie.

Relena took a seat next to Heero, who didn't seem to notice. Duo sat next to her and Quatre sat next to Duo. Wufei and Trowa took a seat in armchairs.

"So, let's put the movie in." Relena tossed to movie to Trowa who put it into the tape player.

It was the English version, one that they saved for tourists, and the movie flashed on.

Ten minutes into the movie, Relena was clinging to Heero's arm. He looked at the screen, his eyes drooping as he really felt the need to sleep.

Thirty minutes into the movie, Duo screamed like a girl when he saw the dead girl and the movie with the weird images. Relena moved so close to Heero she could almost hear his steady and calm heart beat, unlike hers, which had a faster beat from the movie. Heero fell asleep, none of the other's noticing, Quatre was sitting on the edge of his seat and shed a tear when he saw the horse die. Trowa's heart was beating faster and faster and Wufei's nerves were shattering as he refused to look away from the movie and succumb to his growing fear.

At the end of the movie Relena screamed her head off when the phone rang, but no one answered it (Heero was still asleep and they didn't notice this but were afraid it would say 'Seven Days.').

Duo laughed unsteadily. "Well, now I understand what he meant about the 'seven days' thing." He felt his muscles tense just by the thought of this.

"Speaking of which..." Quatre looked over next to Relena. Noticing Heero hadn't said a word since or made a reach for the phone. He saw him next to Relena, eyes closed, breathing deeply, and his body not so tense anymore. He had red nail marks on his arm where a small bit of blood ran down his arm from where Relena clenched him so tightly during the movie.

She noticed this too and muttered a small 'oops.' And an apology as sweet as she could to him, then noticed he didn't even move when she touched the wound marks.

"He's asleep!" Duo shouted, his lower eye twitching. "We're going out of our minds here and he's asleep!"

"Well, he did talk about it casually," Trowa pointed out. "Heero's not the type to be scared by anything. He's not afraid of death so why should he be afraid of something that brings death?" He pointed out, making sense.

Wufei made what sounded like a 'hmph' sound. He looked away, shamed that he had been frightened by the movie.

Heero's eyes opened. He looked around the room to see everyone staring at him. "What?" He asked in a monotone voice, which told them he didn't care if they told him or not.

Duo looked at him, his eye twitching. "What do you mean by what! You slept through the movie!" He shouted.

"So?" Heero stated, not really caring. Did it matter if he did anyway? It was a movie and he could always watch it again.

"Grrr..." Duo growled deeply. "We are going out of our minds here and you slept through the movie." He added.

Heero looked at him and shrugged. "It's all made up." He said. "It's just a folk legend around here meant to scare." He stated.

"Well, it didn't scare you, did it?" Duo said, calming down a bit.

"It's meant to scare tourists." He stated, making it add more sense for the brunet pilot that sometimes acted more like a blonde than a brunet. He could get very loud and annoying and didn't always make the best of decisions.

"Oh, and all the sudden I forgot that all of us are tourist here!" Duo exclaimed, exasperated.

"I'm going to my room if any of you need me." Heero said. He got up, staggered a bit and got a worried expression from everyone in the room and walked out of the room ignoring them looking at him intently.

"I don't think he's feeling well. He was exhausted on the plane ride." Trowa said, a hint of worry in his tone of voice.

"He's hiding something." Duo said, crossing his arms over his chest. "This is getting really annoying." He sighed.

"What is getting annoying?" Relena asked.

Duo looked at her. "Well, all the sudden he talks to this dude in Japanese, we have no idea what he is talking about, he shows up with this damn creepy movie, he suddenly knows everything about tradition and stuff here, I mean, how does he know all of this? He acts like he was born here..." Duo said.

Quatre looked at Trowa and then Duo. "Maybe he was born here." He said calmly. The other's looked at him like he had gone crazy. "Well, it would make sense." He said, blushing at the sudden attention.

"He has so many secret's." Relena said. She remembered when she first said this, the first time she met Heero.

"He has many secret." Relena said aloud. "That's why! That's why he said he was going to kill me! Because I know his secret!" She cried out aloud.

"Reading some type of suspense thriller, Miss Relena?" Pagan asked a bit of chuckle in his voice.

Relena looked at him, blinked then smiled at him. "Yep, sure am!"

Perhaps her life was like a suspense thriller, something was always coming up whether it be good or bad. She sighed heavily and looked at the closed door of Heero's room. She couldn't help but worry over him.

TBC