Shouri: Heyla people! Oh My Kami, I am so sorry! I finished this the same night as the last chapter, but I decided to wait a day to post it... and look what happens! My old compy, poor ancient thing, has been working on and off for several months, and seeing as it has no floppy drive, and is lacking a burner, I have been desperately hand-typing all of my very first fics onto my current laptop... and it's taking a very long time, not that I care, I'm just happy to be saving some of my original fanfics, the ones I wrote when I was eleven or twelve... they may be a little simplistic... or different from what I write now, at least... but I don't want to lose them. Anyway, my compy decided to work again the next morning, and the next week was so hectic with trying to type everything off... which still isn't done btw, I still have about 200 pages worth of fics needing to be transferred... that I totally forgot to post this! I didn't even realize till I did a routine check of my account! Please forgive me! I hope this is okay. Everyone enjoy!

Epilogue: Forgetting One's Training

Heero stares at his laptop with a wild look, absentmindedly picking a few overlooked twigs out of his messy brown hair. After a second or two, his look of resigned dread fades from his face, leaving behind a smooth, emotionless mask. Barring a few liberal scratches across his face and shoulders and a leaf pointing straight up out of his hair, which he seems to have missed for all his exploratory ruffling, he almost looks normal.

The screen glows a bluish white in the early predawn light, just enough to illuminate the tiny berth in which Heero is standing. His battered green backpack and an innocuous black duffle bag sit on the lower of the two cabin bunks. The door is a musty old sheet, moth-eaten at the edges and stained black with watermarks. His beloved laptop is taking up the only available surface other than the beds, the wide window ledge, which had been thick with dust prior to Heero's arrival.

In the background, the sound of splashing water can be heard from towards the back of the boat. Having been the one to replace the blown tire, and thus being liberally covered in mud, Wufei had claimed the right to wash up first. Towards the front, there is a cacophony of quiet clangs as Quatre makes tea and breakfast. Soft voices murmur as he and Trowa converse. Duo's voice has fallen silent during Heero's contemplation of the window.

Currently, Heero is splitting his time between glaring at the screen of his computer, and gazing out the window into the gray-touched world of the swamp on which their newest safe house is tethered. When he does look at the laptop, he glances away quickly, as if by not looking at it his problems will disappear.

Which, of course, isn't working. Glowering faintly, Heero drags a rickety stool over to the window and sits down, sharp Prussian eyes flicking over the words on the screen.

From: J-Kami at scientist . org

To: H-Wing at rampage . com

Subject: LATE!

01, I quite clearly stated that you were to check-in by 2123 hours last night. I received the all-clear no earlier than 0452 this morning! Explain yourself!

J

Heero shudders as he reads the message again. Nothing has changed since he last read it.

'How on Earth am I going to…' Heero thinks, trying to ignore the imperceptible… to anyone but him anyway… sound of footsteps as someone with superb stealth skills pads softly past his 'door'. With swift fingers, he opens a reply e-mail and addresses it to his controller.

From: H-Wing at rampage . com

To: J-Kami at scientist . org

Subject: Detained

Sir…

'No… to formal… he'll suspect something…'

delete delete delete

J…

'NO! Don't even address him! Treat it like a mission report!'

delete

'Let's see… we had to stop when Duo teased Quatre with a dead spider… no! He won't tolerate that!' Heero mentally groans, hands hovering over the keyboard. He pauses momentarily to look over his shoulder as he hears a soft snicker, checking for signs of Duo. Nothing is visible under the brief sheet, so he turns back to his task, fidgeting vaguely because his back is to the door, through which his braided partner could come at any moment to wreak havoc.

'Um… 04 crashed the car when the spider… no, I can't mention anything about spiders! I do NOT want a repeat of the last time I forgot my training… but what to do!' Heero looks around desperately for inspiration. Somewhere behind him the door that leads onto the deck creaks.

'I've got it!' Heero almost smiles, and starts typing.

Relocation delayed by encounter with single hostile at approximately 1305. 02 removed the threat.

Thirty minute halt for 04 to regain composure, during which 01 replaced 02 as point.

Relocation resumed until approximately 1843, when convoy encountered a second hostile.

01 and 04 distracted by enemy, during which convoy was diverted into an agrarian habitat. Transport damaged during ensuing events. 01 and 04 separated from rest of team. 05 sustained mild head wound during vehicle crash. 02 incapacitated through lack of oxygen.

Nest of hostiles discovered during intervening time frame. 03 removed the threat.

Approximately 3.5 hours for 01 to reunite with team. 1 hour additional required for location of 04.

05 had by then repaired transport sufficient for travel. 0.5 hours required to ensure hostile extermination.

Relocation resumed. Remaining distance covered at better than calculated rate.

Arrived at destination at 0445.

Operative report at 0452.

End of Report.

01

A sigh of relief escapes Heero's lips as he sits back to briefly reread his creation before sending it. The splashing noises behind him have ceased. Quatre's voice echoes quietly, calling out that breakfast is ready.

Suddenly, the peaceful morning is broken by a loud curse.

"KUSO! MAXWELL!" Wufei bellows from the washroom. Heero looks over his shoulder.

"Chang?" Trowa's smooth tenor queries as the tall pilot walks down the narrow hallway towards the back of the boat.

"Barton, kindly retrieve a spare set of clothing from my bag. Maxwell has removed my fresh set to god-knows-where…" Wufei huffs as Heero stands and goes to the door, ducking under the dirty sheet to look out.

Almost immediately he freezes, half caught between staring and smiling in mirth. After a few seconds, he settles on a vaguely amused face. He catches Trowa by the upper arm as he starts past to get to Wufei's bag.

"I wouldn't bother. Duo has been busy." Heero intones, nodding towards the window across from his room. Trowa turns to look, and then stares blankly.

Slowly he begins to laugh. Quatre comes out of the tiny kitchen, wiping his hands on a tattered old cloth. He too stares out the window, before blushing a brilliant crimson.

"Oh my…" Quatre whimpers, trying not to laugh. Heero smirks as Trowa starts to lean against the wall, laughing a little harder every time he glances out the window.

"What is taking so long!" Wufei's gruff tone draws attention momentarily to the Chinese pilot, who has emerged from the bathroom wrapped in what appears to be an old and tattered, but clean, sheet of a lilac hue. Trowa takes one look at him and laughs again. Wufei frowns.

"Has Barton gone mad?" He asks Heero, ostentatiously keeping his gaze off of the bright pink and snickering Arabian. Heero grunts, then motions towards the window.

Outside, several old boards have been drafted as makeshift signs, and are perched in various locations along the shore. One is even nestled in the crook of an old, bare tree. White chalk marks the boards, and all make the various announcements in different languages. Wufei gapes.

Strewn across the ground are all of his pants and shirts, interspersed with a few of Quatre's pink button downs and what looks like an older pair of Trowa's jeans. Every article of clothing he has is lain out in the dirt, save for his boxers, which are draped throughout the skeletal tree.

Wufei blushes a bright red, and takes several deep breaths.

'He is being amazingly calm about all this…' Heero muses, as Duo suddenly appears, prancing across the stretch of ground they can see from the door, wearing a crown of old ivy, and tossing more clothing around in with an almost elfish twirl in his step. The wide, mischievous grin on his face widens as he notices them all gaping at him, and he twirls prettily on his toes, before waving a pair of pink-dyed boxers at them. They appear to be Wufei's…

"MAXWELL!" Wufei shrieks, before tearing across the boat in his lilac sheet and slamming out the door.

'… or not.' Heero finishes the thought with a sigh. Quatre is trying vainly to look anywhere but out the window, where Wufei is chasing a laughing Duo, his sheet flapping almost forgotten as they stumble around on the soggy shore.

Duo knocks over a sign that reads 'Romantic Waterside Rendezvous'… Cheap!' and rounds the tree, causing the 'Bring Your Own Condoms, Gentlemen´ sign to tilt dangerously.

Wufei, hard on his heels, trips over a sign reading 'Available all days except Sunday… Sundays cost double!' in Spanish.

With an internal smirk, Heero turns and ducks back into his cabin, leaving Trowa to share his silent mirth with Quatre as Duo's catcalls and Wufei's angry cries float through the air.

'Well, at least the whole ordeal can finally die down now… I can't believe Duo let the whole… situation… go like this. I expected him to be teasing me for the rest of my life. Not that I'm not grateful, mind you!' Heero glances upwards in an almost whimsical manner, eyes sparkling in relief, before his gaze drops to his laptop, the message still glowing evilly from its screen. Heero cringes.

'I thought I sent that… no matter, I'll just send it now and…' Heero freezes, hand halfway to the keyboard, and his eyes widen. Seconds tick by tensely.

Something moves in the shadows of his screen, a thin streak of black inching over the back of his laptop and splaying crookedly onto his keys. A second dark shadow joins the first, and the two lines bend and tense, pulling a bulbous body into view. Eight glittering black eyes gleam menacingly up at him as the hairy menace settles in a crouch on his delete button. Heero feels all the breath in him rush out in terror, and a stab of panic twists his guts.

Nothing moves. Nothing…. Nothing…. Until the hairy beast jerks one of his foremost pairs of legs in a somewhat threatening manner.

Heero's eyes widen and he inhales a deep, gasping breath of air.

Panic-stricken and wearing the emotion on his sleeve, Heero whirls with all the grace of a terrified toddler seeking the comfort of his mother's apron, stumbling in ungainly haste over his bag, and nearly slamming shoulder first into the door frame. A piercing shriek of unmatched tone echoes through the boathouse and out across the swamp, startling all into silence and sending what few creatures there are around, into scurrying for cover.

"TROWA!"

Shouri: Well, that's it for this particular episode. In case I haven't mentioned, thanks to Kei and Sai, who formed the basis of this story with their escapades involving the nest of spiders in Sai's car! And thanks very much to the reviewers! I appreciate it greatly! I will definitely take your suggestions into account for future writing! Even though this is done, feel free to review still, I need all the help I can get, and I'd really like to know what you guys liked and disliked! Tankiwa! Ja ne!