A/N: Heh heh, it takes me a long time to update . . . and I'm notorious for short chapters . . . but I kinda know what I want to do with this story . . . but I don't have all the kinks worked out. So it may take a while. Heh . . . don't kill me! Please? Thanks to all the people who reviewed! I heart you! BTW: Tell me what you think of the two new charries . . . lame oc's or potential? Ahem . . . now on with the story . . .


Chapter Two

Made of plastic and elastic
He is rugged and long-lasting
Who could ever ever ask for more?
Love without complications galore

The ride home seemed to take forever for the excited young boy, but finally after eons of waiting the sleek black limo pulled up the long driveway to the Winner family mansion. Though the boy paid no attention to the luxury before him it was quite the grad sight to see. Acres of green grass surrounded the pearly white three story palace. The windows glistened in the sun and the siding nearly shone with wealth as the said a bright hello to the neighboring finely trimmed hedges and numerous flower gardens. But again, Quatre noticed none of it.

Curiously he reached over to touch his new doll's strange hair, wondering what it felt like. Just as his fingers were about to touch a piece of the doll's bang, it suddenly shrank back and threw it . . . sorry, his arms protectively over it. The same solemn, nearly emotionless expression remained however, and this might have scared the boy the most. A small pout formed on his lips as he sat back in his seat as they both continued to regard each other. Though Quatre made no more moves to touch his hair the doll continued to shield his auburn locks. How strange.

"We're home Master Quatre." Rashid announced as he pulled the vehicle to a stop.

Just as long as it had taken for them to arrive home, it seemed to take even longer for Rashid to get out and walk to the back door to open it not only out of respect but of necessity; once Quatre had found out to work the door handle child proof locks became a must. Anxiously Quatre fidgeted after unbuckling himself and the doll. He nearly bounced in the seat with excitement, yet the doll just continued to sit . . . and protect his bang.

Ever so slowly the car door opened and like a flash of lightning the blonde haired boy leaped out of the car and dragged the unsuspecting doll out with him. Rashid blinked a few times in surprise, but by the time he recovered the front door was already closing and the sound of the little boy's pitter patter was fast fading. Shaking his head, though a smile found its way to his lips, Rashid just continued on. It was good that the boy was excited over something.

-Coin Operated Boy--Coin Operated Boy-

"My name's Quatre Rebarba Winner!" The boy said proudly pointing to his chest. "What's yours?"

The doll sat silently against the wall, arms still covering his bangs. Bright green eyes looked suspiciously from behind his arms at the grinning human before him. Quatre heaved a sigh and crawled closer to sit directly in front of the doll.

"You can put your arms down now you know. I promise I wont try to touch your hair again. Cross my heart!" He pleaded, giving the best watery puppy dog innocent little boy eyes he possibly could.

Slowly to doll's arms went down to settle gracefully in his lap. Green eyes met aquamarine; one pair calculating and suspicious, the other curious and thoughtful. Suddenly Quatre leaped forward and wrapped his arms around the doll in a huge glomp!

"I love you already!" He squealed.

It took him nearly and hour to coax the doll back out from under his bed. Coaxing of course involved Quatre wriggling in after him and trying to pull him back out . . . and getting bitten in the process. If one thing was to be learned it was this; don't glomp solemn dolls with long auburn bangs. Their bites hurt!

"You still haven't given me your name you know. And I said I was sorry! Really honestly I am! I didn't mean to frighten you so much." He apologized as he looked down at the floor. A soft dejected sniffle was given as he traced the fiber of the light blue carpet. "Does this mean you don't like me? If you don't . . . I'll understand . . ." Quatre sniffled once more.

"Trowa Barton."

Surprised, the boy's eyes darted upwards to look at the doll sitting in front of him. The doll sat just as solemn as ever and had they not been the only two in the room Quatre wouldn't have believed this toy had actually spoken.

A wide grin spread across his face once he got over his surprise and he had to catch himself before glomping the doll once more. Bright beaming face met stoney and solemn one, and for a minute or so it just continued this way. Happy and solemn. Bright and stoney. Animated . . . and not.

"So what do you want to do now?" Quatre finally said as he jumped to his feet.

He then realized that the coin had run out and the doll sat lifeless in front of him. A small pout came to his lips once again as he also realized that Rashid had the bag of coins he needed. Stomping his foot once in agitation he ran to the door to fetch more coins, pausing once to look back at Trowa before leaving the room. He could've sworn Trowa winked at him.

-Coin Operated Boy--Coin Operated Boy-

"Pretty please Rashid? Pretty pretty please? With a cherry on top? And whipped cream? And ice cream?" Still he would not budge. "Fine then! With chocolate rainbow sprinkles too! That's my final offer!" The four year old begged as he tugged insistently on Rashid's pant leg.

"I'm sorry Master Quatre, but your sister has insisted that she take you out for ice cream tonight so you can meet her new . . . friend. Nicolette loves to spend time with you, would you disappoint her for a doll?" Rashid told him while trying not to smile. Those watery puppy dog innocent little boy eyes almost got him that time! It was close . . .

"Oh pooh Rashid, give him the coins! He can take his new toy with him, I wont mind!" Came the sudden cheery voice of the blond fondly hugging what she could of Rashid.

The little boy looked up fondly at his sister. Nicolette was one of the few sisters that actually lived in the area. She lived with her mother, which Quatre knew was not his, but whether full or half blood in relation he adored her. Since she was so much older than himself (seventeen) there were no problems of rivalry or fighting. Every chance she got she spoiled the only sibling that was younger than herself.

With a bright smile similar to the boy's she knelt down and scooped up the bundle of boyish energy and nearly fell over with the force he ran at her. Balancing him on her bony hip she planted a sloppy kiss on the cheek which Quatre promptly, furiously, tried to wipe off. The tips of her family inherited blonde hair brushed the tips of her bony shoulders and warm gray eyes sparkled with bounds of energy. They were quite the trouble makers when put together, and no matter how much she insisted she was the older one it was really quite hard to tell when comparing personalities.

"I missed you Kitty Quat! It's been more than a week since I was last able to see you! Tip to the wise, never take physics and chemistry in the same year. It's a killer." Nicolette wrinkled her nose to emphasize her point and after getting over the embarrassment of her silly nickname for him he giggled.

"Cola? Can we go to the one next to the park? Then we can play after we eat! I love swings but I don't like the slide no more cuz last time I tried to go down it I got scared and wanted to climb back down but there was this big mean bully kid and he tole me I hadda go down but I didn't wanna and I told him but he said tough and pushed me down and I was really scared!"

"Yeah, those kids are real mean aren't they? Like the time I was in the grocery parking lot and I wanted to go bob carting with this one shopping cart with this one friend of mine called Tweek and we got it going real fast but then this jerk off rent-a-cop came along and yelled at us to get out of the cart cuz it was destroying store property but we laughed and ran even faster and we almost out ran that fat ole rent-a-cop cept Tweek was a retard and ran me into a pothole and we all went crashing over and I had a huge bruise on my butt for like a week but it was worth it cuz that rent-a-cop got his pant leg caught by a piece of broken pavement and we got away anyway . . . but we were banned from that parking lot . . . pooh on them."

Rashid merely blinked as he went from one exclamation of gibberish to the other, amazed at the fact that both of them seemed to know exactly what the other was saying. Amazing . . . just . . . wow. Shaking his head he handed the Quatre dubbed "Cola" the bag of coins and left grumbling "Get him home by seven." and walking away. Just slowly back away when confronted with questionable creatures. They may have rabies.

"Oh! I almost forgot Kitty Quat . . ." This earned a scowl from the boy. "I'd like you to meet Kris!" Cola poked her head out the door. "Sorry hun, come on in! I can't believe I forgot all about you!"

Curiously Quatre leaned over to try and see who his sister was talking to. Slowly the figure sitting in her passenger seat climbed out and softly closed the door behind them. Dark blue eyes lifted to those of aquamarine and suddenly Quatre felt very uneasy.

Long curly brunette hair fell to the small of her back and a face perhaps more pale than his own were all of the actual body features he could see of the girl. What he assumed was an average figure was concealed beneath the folds of her black zip-up hoodie, black leather gloves (With the fingers cut off, oh look! Another view of skin!), nondescript jeans, and equally unmentionable sneakers.

"This is my girl . . . er my friend! Uh, Kris! Kris, this is my little bro Quat that I've told ya so much about!" Cola said cheerily.

The other girl merely nodded and shoved her hands into her voluminous hoodie pockets. Cola frowned briefly, but shrugged and set the boy down and gently shoved him in the direction of his room.

"Well now Kitty Quat, go and get your doll and we can go get ice cream . . . and go to the park too." She said fondly.

Quatre was more than eager to escape the scrutinizing gaze of Kris as he went to get Trowa. His sister had the weirdest friends. One thing he hadn't thought of was moving the doll however . . . it was heavy. So he had to push it. Oh but those stairs . . . too late! Trowa was sent tumbling down them with loud bashing noises and Quatre flung his hands to his mouth in fear of loosing his newly found friend.

Good thing the doll was durable, he thought, as they pulled out of the driveway and headed for the ice cream store.