Disclaimer: All characters from the Gundam Wing series don't belong to me.
Niko, J.C., and Daga belong to Niko Nightwind herself. I don't own GW,
but I wish I did. Enjoy and please R&R.
Gundam Wing Episode 20 *Operation: Take Back* 7:00a.m.
The fierce sound of fighting cats echo through the hallow hall. The tearing and gnashing of teeth on cloths and skin leaving rips in their bodies then they pull away from each other staring one another down. Shimi changes back from being a brown tiger and rises. She ignores her shredded shirt that was now just enough to cover her breasts. Her burning arms and legs start to drip with blood. The only way to get that thing off is with my bare hands.
Trowa leaps at her and she instantly ceases his collar as she hits the wall. He claws at her as she tries to pull it from his neck. Her hands throb signaling their pleading for rest. He pins her to the wall almost biting her wrist. Trowa slowly transforms back as her demands by her hands weigh out her strength. He pulls back; she loses her grip on the collar. His eyes glow red indicating the continual function of the device. With blinding speed he punches her in the face knocking her to the ground.
"AHH!" He grabs the lock of her hair and yanks her to her knees.
"Nice try, Shimi, but you'll have to try a lot harder then that." She kicks Trowa powerfully in the stomach. He immediately releases her and she tackles on him reaching once again for the collar.
"That thing's coming off." He grabs recovering quickly her wrists and pushes her off him. Still holding her wrists her slams her into the wall. She kicks him in the balls. "Sorry, Trowa, but this is for your own good." She punches him in the face. She beats him up as he slowly recovers from her recent kick. She stops as he lies still on the ground. She catches her breath watching him closely. She carefully goes over and hesitant at first turns him over. "Now to get that thing off him" says as reaching for the collar once again. Just as she touches it he springs to life and throws her into the floor. "AAHHH!!"
"For my own good is it." Trowa says his eyes blazing. He knocks her head into the floor a few times then slaps her. He rips her from the floor to her feet. "I don't know why I even bothered being nice to you. I didn't even get the information I wanted from you. All you were nothing, but a bother to me." Another punch sends her flying into the wall. This time however she didn't stand or look up as he came towards her. He kicks her in the face knocking her face first into the ground. He steps on her head, but she does nothing to protect herself. "What's the matter, Shimi? You're fighting back this time." He kneels down next to her then lifts her head up to his. Tears stain her eyes and face.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~ "I believe my friends would like something to drink as well," Trowa said after she stared at him for at least five minutes straight.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Shimi said blushing then hands Heero and Duo a drink. "I'm sorry about that, excuse me." She exited the back room and jumped into a bathroom. Trowa watched her exit quickly.
"G's, Trowa, you stole her away from me with one look."
"Hum," Trowa turns to face Duo.
"I think she likes you, Trowa."
"If you want her, she's yours, Duo."
"I don't know, I've already talked to her and she didn't give me a look like that."
"She humored you, to be nice," Heero said after he finished his drink.
"If you haven't noticed this is a conversation between Trowa and I," Duo said not pleased with Heero's remark, "Well, you don't have to worry about getting a girl since you have Relena."
Heero looked at Duo a moment before turning back to his work, "Just because you can't get a girl doesn't mean you can take it out on me."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Duo looked at him a second before deciding to shrug it off. "So, Trowa, you like her? Come on, I saw the way you were looking at her."
Trowa put down his drink, "If you haven't noticed we have work to do."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"So, you really are in love with he aren't you, Shimi. Can you believe he didn't want to hurt your feelings? So, you lose your will to fight." He takes hold of her neck, and she does nothing to stop him as he squeezes. The tears flow faster down her face.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~ Trowa turned sharply as the sound of someone behind. A familiar looking brunette stared shyly at him holding a towel.
"I um. thought you might need an extra towel for your hair since I used up all the extra towels in here." She looked at her feet. "I didn't think you'd get done so soon."
He took the towel and said thank you after spiting in the sink. Trowa assumed she must have seen him come out of the shower. Trowa rinsed out his brush and put it back in its case. He turned back around to see Shimi still standing there. Her eyes fixated on him for a moment before looking away. "You can go now, Shimi."
"Oh, sorry." Embarrassed she dashed out the bathroom.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
".Trowa." Shimi manages to choke out. The tears start to wash Trowa's bloodstained hands from their earlier fight. He ignores a steady growing pain in him.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"You can work with me, Shimi." Trowa said speaking for the first time all day.
"Really Trowa?" She smiled seeing that he meant it. "He picked me! AHH!" She jumped for joy screaming and ran over to Duo. Grabbing his hands she twirled around the room with him. Niko joined in, but Daga kept her distance all the while finding it hilarious.
"Why did you pick her, anyway?" Heero asked watching the three do another round around the room. "I wouldn't have minded."
"I think I can get some more information out of her without her getting suspicious." Heero glanced at Trowa a moment before turning back to the ruckus on the other side of the room. "Is that the only reason?"
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa's squeezing stops remembering Heero's words then shakes his head knocking it away. Why do I care if he loves her or not? All she did was cling to him like a lost puppy, pretty pathetic.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa set up the chess board. Wufei sat at the end of the couch reading. Shimi entered the room carrying a picnic basket. Seeing Trowa she raced over.
"There you are." Trowa stood up when seeing her. "I was looking all over for you." She hugged him before he could move then held the basket in front of him. "I hope you're hungry because I made lunch." Trowa took the basket and looked inside.
"He doesn't want to be bothered by you, Shimi." Wufei announced flatly looking up from his book for only a moment.
"Looks appetizing," Trowa said knowing Wufei's words have hurt her. "Maybe we should enjoy this in the cafeteria." Her eyes light up.
"Really," She took his hand and led him out of the room.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
His grip slackens on her neck. Why are these memories coming? I shouldn't be having these memories. He stares at her his anger boiling. He pulls his hands away and covers his head trying to drown out the continual flow of memories.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"I've always wanted to be an actress." Shimi said standing. She stretched out her arms and slowly spins. Trowa listened with interest. "Or if I couldn't do that a famous spy." She giggled then stopped in front of him. "I guess you can say I've got half of what I want already." She took his hand pulling him from the wall where he was standing and casually danced with him. "What do you want to be Trowa?"
"Me?
"Yeah, have you ever wanted to be something? I guess being a gundam pilot there really isn't anything that'd give you a similar thrill right."
"I've never considered it before."
"Really." she looked at him. Her brown eyes shine lively.
"I guess I'm happy just being a circus performer."
"Circus performer, huh, that sounds cool, but I bet it's pretty hard sometimes."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
What's wrong? Why can't I kill her? He can't love her. Trowa looks at her confused. .could he? He feels his heart beat quicken.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Dooo you have a girlfriend, Trowa?"
"." Trowa glanced at Shimi then sat up on the couch. She had brought him out of his thoughts. Something about Fox and Sophia didn't add up. For some reason, he couldn't put his finger on it. It was like someone up a blockade and he had trouble getting over it. "Hum?"
"Girlfriend."
"No" She moved closer to him.
"Do you consider yourself a good kisser, Trowa?" He didn't know what to say. No one had ever asked him such a question in his life. He was in complete shock, but he didn't show it. Something in her eyes told him she already knew, but he didn't know how. It felt like they could read each other's thoughts by just looking at each other. There was something abnormal about her eyes. At the same time, they were extremely beautiful something he never really noticed before. Suddenly, he felt uneasy which was very new for him.
"Don't you ever smile, Trowa, just a little?" Shimi changed to a relaxed sexy voice as she moves closed. "Come on, I know you can talk." He pretended to have more of an interest in what Niko and Duo were doing. Like a cat, she climbed on top of him until they were face to face. "Let's just see how good a kisser you really are, Trowa."
His heart pounded faster then he had ever felt it pound before. He pushed her away as he stood up. This only makes Shimi more ravenous. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him after flattening her body on his.
His eyes grow a bit in surprise then he finally managed to get lose of her grip and staggered to his feet beside the couch. Another smile formed on her face. Trowa could feel himself blushing then realized Heero had walked in on the whole thing. Shimi walked up to him and started to play with the lock of hair that draped over his both eyes from embarrassment. He took a step back onto the wall.
"I knew you were a good kisser, Trowa." Her voice came out as soft as butter. She turned away from him and exited the room.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Trowa?" Shimi looks at Trowa confused as he holds his head as though going mad. Her hands now swollen she sits up watching him unmoving a bit frightened. His eyes glow green instead of red and reaches for the collar on his neck. He grits his teeth as though trying hard to fight something off.
"Run, Shimi," his voice sounds as though two of him is talking at once. "I don't know how long I can control it."
"No, Trowa; I'm not going to let you do this alone," she says going to him. "You picked me as your partner and we're going to get through this together." She grabs opposite ends of the collar beside his and pulls. She grits her own teeth bearing the pain of her swollen hands. This is the only way I can make up for pestering you. Trowa, I'm sorry. "This is my fault. Now I see why Fox didn't want any of you guys to get involved." He looks up at her; his eyes still blazing green, but soon loses their glow returning to normal. "If I wouldn't have picked you guys this wouldn't have happened to you."
"Nice speech, Shimi. He was fortunate to catch the end of it." In the blink of an eye, he punches Shimi in the stomach. Her mouth hangs open in surprise and her eyes widen from the pain as the air escapes her lungs. An actual smile crosses Trowa's face that Shimi catches before she passes out. He drapes her over his shoulder and carries her off.
******
Sally's in a room refilling numerous First Aid kits with bandages, cream, etc. when the door creeks open. She looks up then goes to the door and looks out.
"Hello? ... Is anyone there?" Not seeing anyone, she closes the door and goes back to her work.
"Huh." she looks up and looks around. "Wufei" she looks up again and jumps when she feels an icy hand on her shoulder. A smile crosses her face when she turns and sees Wufei, but that soon changes when he grabs her roughly by the neck. Disbelief fills her eyes as her air supply is almost completely cut off. Fear grips her heart when his eyes glow a blood red and not the usual bright deep blue. She tries to speak, but nothing gives; not even the grip on her neck when she tries to loosen it. Suddenly he releases her. As she breathes, he jumps away. Something thick wraps around her and pulls her forward.
"Are you ok. Dr. Poe?" Jeff asks with concern.
"Yes, Jeffrey, thank you." Jeff stands in front of Sally protecting her as Wufei stares him down. She looks at Wufei again his red eyes blazing. "Wufei, snap out of it." She walks in front of Jeff."
"Dr. Poe, Wait"
"It's ok Jeff. I'll be fine." She slowly moves close to Wufei. He growls viciously as she gets closer. "It's ok, Wufei it's me Sally. Don't you remember me at all?" She places a hand on the side of his face and his eyes return to normal.
". Sally. you, you shouldn't get to close. I don't know what I might do next," then he grabs his head in pain.
"Wufei, tell me what's wrong." He slowly reaches for his neck and starts to claw at the now seen apparatus. A collar She instantly grabs hold to help, it slowly coming off.
"Sally run, this is just going too slow."
"No, I'm not leaving you." His eyes turn red then brings his claw back ready to strike. Her eyes grow wide as it comes at her. Jeff rips the collar off Wufei's neck and the claw stops inches from Sally. She breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you once again, Jeff."
"You've all been so generous to me. It was the least I could do." He says shyly.
******
Duo and Niko sneak into a dark room where Sophia is sleeping through the roof. They climb down as quietly as they can. Duo motions for Niko to go to be a look out for Quatre. He slowly walks to her so not to wake her. Just as he was about to touch the collar her eyes open and he freezes. Instead of attacking like he thought she was, she just looks up at him a moment. She moans in pain and stairs off at something in the room as though she didn't care about what he was going to do out of tiredness.
She must be hurt pretty badly if she's just lying there and doesn't care. Concern fills his face. Or she could just be being lazy.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Wufei falls to his knees obviously hurt. A feeling of relief comes over her as she turns to her next opponent, Heero who holds his ground.
"You're not done quite yet." He says in his normal inert voice and face.
"Huh" as she turns around she's punched, sidekick in the face. She continues standing until she's thrown into the table by a powerful jump kick. There's a long pause as she lies there among the shattered glass of the mirror, broken wood, and her own blood.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
No. she's hurt alright, he says to himself noticing the heavy smell of blood as she turns a little on her side and seeing her blood covered hands as she pulls her pillow down. She moves the covers over her shoulder more then continues to stare. He finally reaches for the collar and tries to pull it off, but it's slippery from blood that drips from her neck. She pulls away whimpering. Fear fills the air as she cringes.
"Shh. hey, hey, I'm sorry." He kneels down next to her. "I know it hurts, but we have to take it off." It's like talking to a little kid. "Let's go and get those wounds tended to then." He pulls the covers off her and jumps back in surprise at Quatre clutching her around the waist. His head rests on her breast. His eyes glow red before he releases her and leaps on Duo knocking him to the ground.
"Quatre!"
"Yes Duo, are you that surprised to see me? You know it's rude to sneak into other people's rooms." He says pinning him down.
"I'm sorry. was I interrupting something?" Duo flips him over, but Quatre blocks a punch then throws him against the wall.
"No, but don't worry I'll get my chance later." Quatre grabs Duo by the neck and slams him against the wall.
"Since when do you take advantage of rabbit girls, Quatre?"
"It's simple really, since I got this collar." He laughs a bit. "I thought even you would figure that out, Duo. I guess I've given your brain too much credit."
"Watch what you say." Niko says putting a knife to his neck getting him to release Duo.
"Thanks Niko."
"No problem" An evil smirk crosses Quatre's face. "I wouldn't celebrate so soon. Sophia might be weak, but she's still quite deadly. In the blink of an eye Sophia jumps Niko.
"Now, Duo, where were we?" Duo answers his question with a punch in the stomach. Quatre returns his punch by kneeing him in the stomach then kicks him to the floor. "That reminds me. I believe I remember you pushing me DUO!" Quatre kicks him again.
"What happened to forgive and forget?"
"That doesn't apply here!" he brings his foot down on Duo's back. Duo grabs it and trips him and then grabs the collar with both hands to try and rip it off. The two end up struggling. Quatre throws him off. "Now Die!" On impulse Duo strikes Quatre across the face. "AHH!" He holds his face in pain. Scooting up against the wall, he continues to hold his face.
"Sorry about this Quatre." Duo punches him in the stomach. Quatre curls up in a ball moaning in pain. Before Duo could claw at Quatre's collar Sophia jumps in the way in her transformed state. Her face now vicious and threatening warns him if he made a move toward Quatre she'd attack him. She backs up to where Quatre is and changes back to human. She helps him up then hugs him.
"I'm ok, Sophia." She gives an evil smirk then her eyes glow a bright deep blue. Without warning she plunges her claw into the collar. Sparks fly almost immediately as he rips away from her. "Why, why did you?"
"You're not as smart as you think you are." She says calmly. Quatre's eyes grow wide in surprise. Anger plasters itself on his face.
"You think you're smarter then I don't you?!" He grabs her by the neck, but she blocks his hands. Their hands now in death grips, they stare each other down.
"You said it not me." she says in a cocky voice. Furious he pulls his hands free and slaps her across the face. She looks at him in shock holding the side of her face.
"Now I definitely know you're not Quatre," Duo says grabbing his wrist before he could slap her again. He just punches Duo in the stomach then pushes Duo away from him. He eyes now stuck on the red glow of furry. He grabs her by the neck and chocks her.
"Quatre, stop. I know you have stronger will power then this. Fight it!" she says without trying to save herself. "I know you can hear me."
".Begging for your life. You think that fool can hear you," he says with a laugh, "You said it yourself he's weak. Even if he wanted to stop me I have complete control over his body. All he's able to do is watch as I KILL YOU!" Suddenly his grip loosens and one of his eyes loses its red glow and turns blue-green. He holds his head as though trying to fight it. Sophia immediately digs her nails into the collar and breaks it. His eyes instantly return to normal. "So, Sophia, I'm sorry I slapped you." She stands up without a word. "Sophia?"
"I have more work to do," She says calmly glancing back. Quatre stands up quickly and goes to her.
"You're in no condition, Sophia." She looks at him a moment then brushes him off then nudges Duo on the floor with her foot.
"I knocked your friend out," Sophia says as he sits up. Quatre continues to try and stop her.
"Though most of your wounds are bandaged you've still lost a lot of blood. You need your rest."
"I'm going Quatre. If you want to come you can or else shut your mouth." She says annoyed and turns away.
"Ok, Fox, where do you get off being mean to Quatre?"
"He shouldn't even be here. He should be at a meeting with Relena Dourine, but instead he followed me. He's jeopardizing his business following me around." An ice cold stare stops Duo from making a response.
As she slowly makes her way to the door Duo slowly leans over to Quatre and whispers, "What do you see in her anyway?"
"She's a kind and gentle person; she's just worried about me getting hurt when I come along with her, that's all."
".you see that?"
"Yes, what do you see?"
"Me," he looks at her a moment, "I see the girl version of Wufei who hates all men and enjoys making their life a living hell."
"If you two are now done talking about me behind my back we can wake Niko anytime now." Quatre blushes a bit.
"Sophia you're in worse condition then when we started you should be back in the hospital with the injuries you've received already."
"I'm. just give me till after this mission."
"Remember you promised me you'd take it easy." She growls remembering her promise. "So are you... going to take to take it easy?" Quatre walks up to her. "Please" he says softly.
"Fine.!" then she says softly with a weak smile, "It's good to have you back Quatre."
******
Daga turns off the water in the shower and casually steps out. She snags the two towels on the rack and wraps her body and hair before exiting the bathroom. She turns sharply at the sound behind her. Barely moving out of the way of the bear claw she stumbles, but catches herself. The bear leaps on her bearing his fangs trying to rip out her neck. Daga grips the neck of the bear trying to fend him off. The bear's red eyes blaze as it claws at her ripping the towel around her body. No, it can't be. She thinks to herself finally recognizing the sent of the bear as Heero.
"Heero. what's wrong. Why are you doing this?" All she gets is a growl of a ferocious bear. "Heeerrrroo! .Stop!" She throws him off her and barely has a chance to get to her feet before he attacks again. The towel drying her hair falls off.
As she continues to fend him off, she grabs hold of something thick around his neck. What's this? She instantly pulls it off and as she does Heero stops. He slowly changes back. They stare at each other a moment in awkward silence. "You can get off me now, Heero." Heero blushes, but only for a split second and quickly gets off her. Picking up the towel on the floor, he hands it to Daga who was completely naked.
******
Trowa slowly opens his eyes and sits up on the bed. The overpowering smell of freshly spilled blood fills his nose. He looks around at blood covered bed and floor then sees the broken collar beside him. Feeling the back of this head, he feels a bump then stands after hearing a faint roar of a tiger. He follows it to the bathroom where there were also more traces of blood on the floor. Shimi was huddled in of the tub with her face buried in her arms. The tub's filled with water which was discolored from blood.
"Shimi?" he says kneeling next to her. She flinches as he touches her shoulder and he quickly withdraws his hand. The smell of fear fills the room as she looks up. She looks at him for a long moment. Tears fill her eyes as she hugs him. She cries griping his shirt tightly, "Shimi, what's.?"
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Stop, let go of me." Shimi scrams as Trowa sits on top of her. "Trowa, fight this."
"Shut up, he can't hear you anyway." He says starting to undress her.
"No! Stop!" he grabs hold of her neck when she tries to stop her.
"Don't make this harder then it has to be, Shimi. For that, I'm going to kill you when I'm done."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa's heart leaps remembering what he did. "Shimi. I'm." No, I can't just say sorry for what I did to her. He feels himself start to shake a bit not wanting to remember the rest. He hugs her back almost as tightly as she was to him.
*******
Sophia looks up at the ceiling. This is boring. I hate being forced to stay put in one spot. She looks over at Niko who finally starts to stir in the bed beside her. She sniffs the air and sits up. I better check this out.
"Is there something wrong, Sophia?" She stands up and heads for the bathroom.
"I'll be back." Closing the door behind her she jumps into the vent overhead feet first while using the doorknob. Changing into her fox form she scurries through the vent, her paws muffling the sound. There are two foreign scents in this building and I'm going to figure out who they belong to. If my hunch is correct they should be down here or at least one of them. She carefully removes the cover on the vent and peaks in. She had entered the kitchen. Everything looked normal until something white scurries across the floor kitchen and into the cupboard. She jumps down and then changes back. Slowly she starts searching keeping the sent in her nostrils. I smell a rabbit. Ok, little guy, now where are you. She says searching through pots and pans. "Gotcha!" Sophia says snatching up the rabbit by the ears and then says calmly, "I thought I smelled a rabbit." This is the same white rabbit girl that got Duo in trouble at the base. The rabbit girl kicks her feet frantically trying to loosen the grip on her ears. A wiz of air behind her catches her attention. She looks around the kitchen, but doesn't see anything. Suddenly an intense pain strikes her shoulder. The claw digs deep in her shoulder ripping muscle tissue to the bone. Her eyes grow wide. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Her scream echoes throughout the building as she falls to the floor flinching in pain. The rabbit girl drops to the floor and runs back in the cupboard. She peeks out watching.
"Ha, that was too easy. and all this talk about the great Fox. I thought I'd have more of a challenge." Sophia gets a good look at her attacker. He was in his mid twenties and well built. His eyes were silver; his hair was brown with a few stripes of black in it. He wore all black. He walks up to her and soon realized who it was. ". Damn it, I got the girl instead. I can't take her back like this." Then he notices the little rabbit girl in the cupboard. He reaches over with ease and snatches the girl up. "I can't have any witnesses now can I." Before he could kill her a claw comes out his stomach. Sophia retracts her bloodied hand.
"Yes, you got the person you were looking for, but it's not wise to turn your back on your victim." She says coldly.
"There's no way you should be standing unless." he manages to chock up before coughing up blood.
"I hate cheap shots." Sophia watches him fall to the floor dead. She walks past the terrified rabbit girl. She walks out the door and slowly makes it down the hall. Sophia looks back and spots the rabbit girl trying to hide, but it was obvious that the rabbit girl was following her. Man. she's a terrible hider. She continues on down the hall and soon ends up leaning on the doors as she continues to lose blood. She finally stops and sits at the door she was at and tries to look at her lifeless arm. Great. now I know I have to go home to get myself a new arm. I never thought I'd need a metal arm. Well, at least it can't get any worse.
She sighs and closes her eyes trying to ignore the pain. She opens her eyes to see the rabbit girl next to her watching her curiously. She closes her eyes again continuing to think. The door opens. The sent of a bear and wolf gets Sophia's attention. Sophia looks into the eyes of Daga and Heero. Before Daga could pick Sophia up the rabbit girl jumps on her head and starts pounding it.
"Hey!" she avoids Daga's hands as she tries to grab her. "Ok, you." The rabbit girl rumps to the floor and starts to run around her confusing her, Heero reaches over and grabs her when she rests for a moment. "Settle down we're not going to hurt you or her," Heero says to her calmly. The rabbit girl finally stops struggling. Daga picks up Sophia and they head down the hall.
Gundam Wing Episode 20 *Operation: Take Back* 7:00a.m.
The fierce sound of fighting cats echo through the hallow hall. The tearing and gnashing of teeth on cloths and skin leaving rips in their bodies then they pull away from each other staring one another down. Shimi changes back from being a brown tiger and rises. She ignores her shredded shirt that was now just enough to cover her breasts. Her burning arms and legs start to drip with blood. The only way to get that thing off is with my bare hands.
Trowa leaps at her and she instantly ceases his collar as she hits the wall. He claws at her as she tries to pull it from his neck. Her hands throb signaling their pleading for rest. He pins her to the wall almost biting her wrist. Trowa slowly transforms back as her demands by her hands weigh out her strength. He pulls back; she loses her grip on the collar. His eyes glow red indicating the continual function of the device. With blinding speed he punches her in the face knocking her to the ground.
"AHH!" He grabs the lock of her hair and yanks her to her knees.
"Nice try, Shimi, but you'll have to try a lot harder then that." She kicks Trowa powerfully in the stomach. He immediately releases her and she tackles on him reaching once again for the collar.
"That thing's coming off." He grabs recovering quickly her wrists and pushes her off him. Still holding her wrists her slams her into the wall. She kicks him in the balls. "Sorry, Trowa, but this is for your own good." She punches him in the face. She beats him up as he slowly recovers from her recent kick. She stops as he lies still on the ground. She catches her breath watching him closely. She carefully goes over and hesitant at first turns him over. "Now to get that thing off him" says as reaching for the collar once again. Just as she touches it he springs to life and throws her into the floor. "AAHHH!!"
"For my own good is it." Trowa says his eyes blazing. He knocks her head into the floor a few times then slaps her. He rips her from the floor to her feet. "I don't know why I even bothered being nice to you. I didn't even get the information I wanted from you. All you were nothing, but a bother to me." Another punch sends her flying into the wall. This time however she didn't stand or look up as he came towards her. He kicks her in the face knocking her face first into the ground. He steps on her head, but she does nothing to protect herself. "What's the matter, Shimi? You're fighting back this time." He kneels down next to her then lifts her head up to his. Tears stain her eyes and face.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~ "I believe my friends would like something to drink as well," Trowa said after she stared at him for at least five minutes straight.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Shimi said blushing then hands Heero and Duo a drink. "I'm sorry about that, excuse me." She exited the back room and jumped into a bathroom. Trowa watched her exit quickly.
"G's, Trowa, you stole her away from me with one look."
"Hum," Trowa turns to face Duo.
"I think she likes you, Trowa."
"If you want her, she's yours, Duo."
"I don't know, I've already talked to her and she didn't give me a look like that."
"She humored you, to be nice," Heero said after he finished his drink.
"If you haven't noticed this is a conversation between Trowa and I," Duo said not pleased with Heero's remark, "Well, you don't have to worry about getting a girl since you have Relena."
Heero looked at Duo a moment before turning back to his work, "Just because you can't get a girl doesn't mean you can take it out on me."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Duo looked at him a second before deciding to shrug it off. "So, Trowa, you like her? Come on, I saw the way you were looking at her."
Trowa put down his drink, "If you haven't noticed we have work to do."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"So, you really are in love with he aren't you, Shimi. Can you believe he didn't want to hurt your feelings? So, you lose your will to fight." He takes hold of her neck, and she does nothing to stop him as he squeezes. The tears flow faster down her face.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~ Trowa turned sharply as the sound of someone behind. A familiar looking brunette stared shyly at him holding a towel.
"I um. thought you might need an extra towel for your hair since I used up all the extra towels in here." She looked at her feet. "I didn't think you'd get done so soon."
He took the towel and said thank you after spiting in the sink. Trowa assumed she must have seen him come out of the shower. Trowa rinsed out his brush and put it back in its case. He turned back around to see Shimi still standing there. Her eyes fixated on him for a moment before looking away. "You can go now, Shimi."
"Oh, sorry." Embarrassed she dashed out the bathroom.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
".Trowa." Shimi manages to choke out. The tears start to wash Trowa's bloodstained hands from their earlier fight. He ignores a steady growing pain in him.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"You can work with me, Shimi." Trowa said speaking for the first time all day.
"Really Trowa?" She smiled seeing that he meant it. "He picked me! AHH!" She jumped for joy screaming and ran over to Duo. Grabbing his hands she twirled around the room with him. Niko joined in, but Daga kept her distance all the while finding it hilarious.
"Why did you pick her, anyway?" Heero asked watching the three do another round around the room. "I wouldn't have minded."
"I think I can get some more information out of her without her getting suspicious." Heero glanced at Trowa a moment before turning back to the ruckus on the other side of the room. "Is that the only reason?"
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa's squeezing stops remembering Heero's words then shakes his head knocking it away. Why do I care if he loves her or not? All she did was cling to him like a lost puppy, pretty pathetic.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa set up the chess board. Wufei sat at the end of the couch reading. Shimi entered the room carrying a picnic basket. Seeing Trowa she raced over.
"There you are." Trowa stood up when seeing her. "I was looking all over for you." She hugged him before he could move then held the basket in front of him. "I hope you're hungry because I made lunch." Trowa took the basket and looked inside.
"He doesn't want to be bothered by you, Shimi." Wufei announced flatly looking up from his book for only a moment.
"Looks appetizing," Trowa said knowing Wufei's words have hurt her. "Maybe we should enjoy this in the cafeteria." Her eyes light up.
"Really," She took his hand and led him out of the room.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
His grip slackens on her neck. Why are these memories coming? I shouldn't be having these memories. He stares at her his anger boiling. He pulls his hands away and covers his head trying to drown out the continual flow of memories.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"I've always wanted to be an actress." Shimi said standing. She stretched out her arms and slowly spins. Trowa listened with interest. "Or if I couldn't do that a famous spy." She giggled then stopped in front of him. "I guess you can say I've got half of what I want already." She took his hand pulling him from the wall where he was standing and casually danced with him. "What do you want to be Trowa?"
"Me?
"Yeah, have you ever wanted to be something? I guess being a gundam pilot there really isn't anything that'd give you a similar thrill right."
"I've never considered it before."
"Really." she looked at him. Her brown eyes shine lively.
"I guess I'm happy just being a circus performer."
"Circus performer, huh, that sounds cool, but I bet it's pretty hard sometimes."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
What's wrong? Why can't I kill her? He can't love her. Trowa looks at her confused. .could he? He feels his heart beat quicken.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Dooo you have a girlfriend, Trowa?"
"." Trowa glanced at Shimi then sat up on the couch. She had brought him out of his thoughts. Something about Fox and Sophia didn't add up. For some reason, he couldn't put his finger on it. It was like someone up a blockade and he had trouble getting over it. "Hum?"
"Girlfriend."
"No" She moved closer to him.
"Do you consider yourself a good kisser, Trowa?" He didn't know what to say. No one had ever asked him such a question in his life. He was in complete shock, but he didn't show it. Something in her eyes told him she already knew, but he didn't know how. It felt like they could read each other's thoughts by just looking at each other. There was something abnormal about her eyes. At the same time, they were extremely beautiful something he never really noticed before. Suddenly, he felt uneasy which was very new for him.
"Don't you ever smile, Trowa, just a little?" Shimi changed to a relaxed sexy voice as she moves closed. "Come on, I know you can talk." He pretended to have more of an interest in what Niko and Duo were doing. Like a cat, she climbed on top of him until they were face to face. "Let's just see how good a kisser you really are, Trowa."
His heart pounded faster then he had ever felt it pound before. He pushed her away as he stood up. This only makes Shimi more ravenous. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him after flattening her body on his.
His eyes grow a bit in surprise then he finally managed to get lose of her grip and staggered to his feet beside the couch. Another smile formed on her face. Trowa could feel himself blushing then realized Heero had walked in on the whole thing. Shimi walked up to him and started to play with the lock of hair that draped over his both eyes from embarrassment. He took a step back onto the wall.
"I knew you were a good kisser, Trowa." Her voice came out as soft as butter. She turned away from him and exited the room.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Trowa?" Shimi looks at Trowa confused as he holds his head as though going mad. Her hands now swollen she sits up watching him unmoving a bit frightened. His eyes glow green instead of red and reaches for the collar on his neck. He grits his teeth as though trying hard to fight something off.
"Run, Shimi," his voice sounds as though two of him is talking at once. "I don't know how long I can control it."
"No, Trowa; I'm not going to let you do this alone," she says going to him. "You picked me as your partner and we're going to get through this together." She grabs opposite ends of the collar beside his and pulls. She grits her own teeth bearing the pain of her swollen hands. This is the only way I can make up for pestering you. Trowa, I'm sorry. "This is my fault. Now I see why Fox didn't want any of you guys to get involved." He looks up at her; his eyes still blazing green, but soon loses their glow returning to normal. "If I wouldn't have picked you guys this wouldn't have happened to you."
"Nice speech, Shimi. He was fortunate to catch the end of it." In the blink of an eye, he punches Shimi in the stomach. Her mouth hangs open in surprise and her eyes widen from the pain as the air escapes her lungs. An actual smile crosses Trowa's face that Shimi catches before she passes out. He drapes her over his shoulder and carries her off.
******
Sally's in a room refilling numerous First Aid kits with bandages, cream, etc. when the door creeks open. She looks up then goes to the door and looks out.
"Hello? ... Is anyone there?" Not seeing anyone, she closes the door and goes back to her work.
"Huh." she looks up and looks around. "Wufei" she looks up again and jumps when she feels an icy hand on her shoulder. A smile crosses her face when she turns and sees Wufei, but that soon changes when he grabs her roughly by the neck. Disbelief fills her eyes as her air supply is almost completely cut off. Fear grips her heart when his eyes glow a blood red and not the usual bright deep blue. She tries to speak, but nothing gives; not even the grip on her neck when she tries to loosen it. Suddenly he releases her. As she breathes, he jumps away. Something thick wraps around her and pulls her forward.
"Are you ok. Dr. Poe?" Jeff asks with concern.
"Yes, Jeffrey, thank you." Jeff stands in front of Sally protecting her as Wufei stares him down. She looks at Wufei again his red eyes blazing. "Wufei, snap out of it." She walks in front of Jeff."
"Dr. Poe, Wait"
"It's ok Jeff. I'll be fine." She slowly moves close to Wufei. He growls viciously as she gets closer. "It's ok, Wufei it's me Sally. Don't you remember me at all?" She places a hand on the side of his face and his eyes return to normal.
". Sally. you, you shouldn't get to close. I don't know what I might do next," then he grabs his head in pain.
"Wufei, tell me what's wrong." He slowly reaches for his neck and starts to claw at the now seen apparatus. A collar She instantly grabs hold to help, it slowly coming off.
"Sally run, this is just going too slow."
"No, I'm not leaving you." His eyes turn red then brings his claw back ready to strike. Her eyes grow wide as it comes at her. Jeff rips the collar off Wufei's neck and the claw stops inches from Sally. She breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank you once again, Jeff."
"You've all been so generous to me. It was the least I could do." He says shyly.
******
Duo and Niko sneak into a dark room where Sophia is sleeping through the roof. They climb down as quietly as they can. Duo motions for Niko to go to be a look out for Quatre. He slowly walks to her so not to wake her. Just as he was about to touch the collar her eyes open and he freezes. Instead of attacking like he thought she was, she just looks up at him a moment. She moans in pain and stairs off at something in the room as though she didn't care about what he was going to do out of tiredness.
She must be hurt pretty badly if she's just lying there and doesn't care. Concern fills his face. Or she could just be being lazy.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Wufei falls to his knees obviously hurt. A feeling of relief comes over her as she turns to her next opponent, Heero who holds his ground.
"You're not done quite yet." He says in his normal inert voice and face.
"Huh" as she turns around she's punched, sidekick in the face. She continues standing until she's thrown into the table by a powerful jump kick. There's a long pause as she lies there among the shattered glass of the mirror, broken wood, and her own blood.
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
No. she's hurt alright, he says to himself noticing the heavy smell of blood as she turns a little on her side and seeing her blood covered hands as she pulls her pillow down. She moves the covers over her shoulder more then continues to stare. He finally reaches for the collar and tries to pull it off, but it's slippery from blood that drips from her neck. She pulls away whimpering. Fear fills the air as she cringes.
"Shh. hey, hey, I'm sorry." He kneels down next to her. "I know it hurts, but we have to take it off." It's like talking to a little kid. "Let's go and get those wounds tended to then." He pulls the covers off her and jumps back in surprise at Quatre clutching her around the waist. His head rests on her breast. His eyes glow red before he releases her and leaps on Duo knocking him to the ground.
"Quatre!"
"Yes Duo, are you that surprised to see me? You know it's rude to sneak into other people's rooms." He says pinning him down.
"I'm sorry. was I interrupting something?" Duo flips him over, but Quatre blocks a punch then throws him against the wall.
"No, but don't worry I'll get my chance later." Quatre grabs Duo by the neck and slams him against the wall.
"Since when do you take advantage of rabbit girls, Quatre?"
"It's simple really, since I got this collar." He laughs a bit. "I thought even you would figure that out, Duo. I guess I've given your brain too much credit."
"Watch what you say." Niko says putting a knife to his neck getting him to release Duo.
"Thanks Niko."
"No problem" An evil smirk crosses Quatre's face. "I wouldn't celebrate so soon. Sophia might be weak, but she's still quite deadly. In the blink of an eye Sophia jumps Niko.
"Now, Duo, where were we?" Duo answers his question with a punch in the stomach. Quatre returns his punch by kneeing him in the stomach then kicks him to the floor. "That reminds me. I believe I remember you pushing me DUO!" Quatre kicks him again.
"What happened to forgive and forget?"
"That doesn't apply here!" he brings his foot down on Duo's back. Duo grabs it and trips him and then grabs the collar with both hands to try and rip it off. The two end up struggling. Quatre throws him off. "Now Die!" On impulse Duo strikes Quatre across the face. "AHH!" He holds his face in pain. Scooting up against the wall, he continues to hold his face.
"Sorry about this Quatre." Duo punches him in the stomach. Quatre curls up in a ball moaning in pain. Before Duo could claw at Quatre's collar Sophia jumps in the way in her transformed state. Her face now vicious and threatening warns him if he made a move toward Quatre she'd attack him. She backs up to where Quatre is and changes back to human. She helps him up then hugs him.
"I'm ok, Sophia." She gives an evil smirk then her eyes glow a bright deep blue. Without warning she plunges her claw into the collar. Sparks fly almost immediately as he rips away from her. "Why, why did you?"
"You're not as smart as you think you are." She says calmly. Quatre's eyes grow wide in surprise. Anger plasters itself on his face.
"You think you're smarter then I don't you?!" He grabs her by the neck, but she blocks his hands. Their hands now in death grips, they stare each other down.
"You said it not me." she says in a cocky voice. Furious he pulls his hands free and slaps her across the face. She looks at him in shock holding the side of her face.
"Now I definitely know you're not Quatre," Duo says grabbing his wrist before he could slap her again. He just punches Duo in the stomach then pushes Duo away from him. He eyes now stuck on the red glow of furry. He grabs her by the neck and chocks her.
"Quatre, stop. I know you have stronger will power then this. Fight it!" she says without trying to save herself. "I know you can hear me."
".Begging for your life. You think that fool can hear you," he says with a laugh, "You said it yourself he's weak. Even if he wanted to stop me I have complete control over his body. All he's able to do is watch as I KILL YOU!" Suddenly his grip loosens and one of his eyes loses its red glow and turns blue-green. He holds his head as though trying to fight it. Sophia immediately digs her nails into the collar and breaks it. His eyes instantly return to normal. "So, Sophia, I'm sorry I slapped you." She stands up without a word. "Sophia?"
"I have more work to do," She says calmly glancing back. Quatre stands up quickly and goes to her.
"You're in no condition, Sophia." She looks at him a moment then brushes him off then nudges Duo on the floor with her foot.
"I knocked your friend out," Sophia says as he sits up. Quatre continues to try and stop her.
"Though most of your wounds are bandaged you've still lost a lot of blood. You need your rest."
"I'm going Quatre. If you want to come you can or else shut your mouth." She says annoyed and turns away.
"Ok, Fox, where do you get off being mean to Quatre?"
"He shouldn't even be here. He should be at a meeting with Relena Dourine, but instead he followed me. He's jeopardizing his business following me around." An ice cold stare stops Duo from making a response.
As she slowly makes her way to the door Duo slowly leans over to Quatre and whispers, "What do you see in her anyway?"
"She's a kind and gentle person; she's just worried about me getting hurt when I come along with her, that's all."
".you see that?"
"Yes, what do you see?"
"Me," he looks at her a moment, "I see the girl version of Wufei who hates all men and enjoys making their life a living hell."
"If you two are now done talking about me behind my back we can wake Niko anytime now." Quatre blushes a bit.
"Sophia you're in worse condition then when we started you should be back in the hospital with the injuries you've received already."
"I'm. just give me till after this mission."
"Remember you promised me you'd take it easy." She growls remembering her promise. "So are you... going to take to take it easy?" Quatre walks up to her. "Please" he says softly.
"Fine.!" then she says softly with a weak smile, "It's good to have you back Quatre."
******
Daga turns off the water in the shower and casually steps out. She snags the two towels on the rack and wraps her body and hair before exiting the bathroom. She turns sharply at the sound behind her. Barely moving out of the way of the bear claw she stumbles, but catches herself. The bear leaps on her bearing his fangs trying to rip out her neck. Daga grips the neck of the bear trying to fend him off. The bear's red eyes blaze as it claws at her ripping the towel around her body. No, it can't be. She thinks to herself finally recognizing the sent of the bear as Heero.
"Heero. what's wrong. Why are you doing this?" All she gets is a growl of a ferocious bear. "Heeerrrroo! .Stop!" She throws him off her and barely has a chance to get to her feet before he attacks again. The towel drying her hair falls off.
As she continues to fend him off, she grabs hold of something thick around his neck. What's this? She instantly pulls it off and as she does Heero stops. He slowly changes back. They stare at each other a moment in awkward silence. "You can get off me now, Heero." Heero blushes, but only for a split second and quickly gets off her. Picking up the towel on the floor, he hands it to Daga who was completely naked.
******
Trowa slowly opens his eyes and sits up on the bed. The overpowering smell of freshly spilled blood fills his nose. He looks around at blood covered bed and floor then sees the broken collar beside him. Feeling the back of this head, he feels a bump then stands after hearing a faint roar of a tiger. He follows it to the bathroom where there were also more traces of blood on the floor. Shimi was huddled in of the tub with her face buried in her arms. The tub's filled with water which was discolored from blood.
"Shimi?" he says kneeling next to her. She flinches as he touches her shoulder and he quickly withdraws his hand. The smell of fear fills the room as she looks up. She looks at him for a long moment. Tears fill her eyes as she hugs him. She cries griping his shirt tightly, "Shimi, what's.?"
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
"Stop, let go of me." Shimi scrams as Trowa sits on top of her. "Trowa, fight this."
"Shut up, he can't hear you anyway." He says starting to undress her.
"No! Stop!" he grabs hold of her neck when she tries to stop her.
"Don't make this harder then it has to be, Shimi. For that, I'm going to kill you when I'm done."
~~~~~Flash~~~~~
Trowa's heart leaps remembering what he did. "Shimi. I'm." No, I can't just say sorry for what I did to her. He feels himself start to shake a bit not wanting to remember the rest. He hugs her back almost as tightly as she was to him.
*******
Sophia looks up at the ceiling. This is boring. I hate being forced to stay put in one spot. She looks over at Niko who finally starts to stir in the bed beside her. She sniffs the air and sits up. I better check this out.
"Is there something wrong, Sophia?" She stands up and heads for the bathroom.
"I'll be back." Closing the door behind her she jumps into the vent overhead feet first while using the doorknob. Changing into her fox form she scurries through the vent, her paws muffling the sound. There are two foreign scents in this building and I'm going to figure out who they belong to. If my hunch is correct they should be down here or at least one of them. She carefully removes the cover on the vent and peaks in. She had entered the kitchen. Everything looked normal until something white scurries across the floor kitchen and into the cupboard. She jumps down and then changes back. Slowly she starts searching keeping the sent in her nostrils. I smell a rabbit. Ok, little guy, now where are you. She says searching through pots and pans. "Gotcha!" Sophia says snatching up the rabbit by the ears and then says calmly, "I thought I smelled a rabbit." This is the same white rabbit girl that got Duo in trouble at the base. The rabbit girl kicks her feet frantically trying to loosen the grip on her ears. A wiz of air behind her catches her attention. She looks around the kitchen, but doesn't see anything. Suddenly an intense pain strikes her shoulder. The claw digs deep in her shoulder ripping muscle tissue to the bone. Her eyes grow wide. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Her scream echoes throughout the building as she falls to the floor flinching in pain. The rabbit girl drops to the floor and runs back in the cupboard. She peeks out watching.
"Ha, that was too easy. and all this talk about the great Fox. I thought I'd have more of a challenge." Sophia gets a good look at her attacker. He was in his mid twenties and well built. His eyes were silver; his hair was brown with a few stripes of black in it. He wore all black. He walks up to her and soon realized who it was. ". Damn it, I got the girl instead. I can't take her back like this." Then he notices the little rabbit girl in the cupboard. He reaches over with ease and snatches the girl up. "I can't have any witnesses now can I." Before he could kill her a claw comes out his stomach. Sophia retracts her bloodied hand.
"Yes, you got the person you were looking for, but it's not wise to turn your back on your victim." She says coldly.
"There's no way you should be standing unless." he manages to chock up before coughing up blood.
"I hate cheap shots." Sophia watches him fall to the floor dead. She walks past the terrified rabbit girl. She walks out the door and slowly makes it down the hall. Sophia looks back and spots the rabbit girl trying to hide, but it was obvious that the rabbit girl was following her. Man. she's a terrible hider. She continues on down the hall and soon ends up leaning on the doors as she continues to lose blood. She finally stops and sits at the door she was at and tries to look at her lifeless arm. Great. now I know I have to go home to get myself a new arm. I never thought I'd need a metal arm. Well, at least it can't get any worse.
She sighs and closes her eyes trying to ignore the pain. She opens her eyes to see the rabbit girl next to her watching her curiously. She closes her eyes again continuing to think. The door opens. The sent of a bear and wolf gets Sophia's attention. Sophia looks into the eyes of Daga and Heero. Before Daga could pick Sophia up the rabbit girl jumps on her head and starts pounding it.
"Hey!" she avoids Daga's hands as she tries to grab her. "Ok, you." The rabbit girl rumps to the floor and starts to run around her confusing her, Heero reaches over and grabs her when she rests for a moment. "Settle down we're not going to hurt you or her," Heero says to her calmly. The rabbit girl finally stops struggling. Daga picks up Sophia and they head down the hall.
