To Armygundamgirl- You must not have read many fics, then…. This isn't all that sweet….. Yeah, Heero's fun in this story; but once again, I just hope I'm portraying little kids right, since I don't know very many…. Trowa's easier, since he's very mature and all.
To GundamPilot03- Gah, I love Heero in this story! I can honestly say I've never had so much fun writing him. I'm debating about introducing Nataku, and what she'll be if she does enter the story. The roles I've come up with so far are his mother, his sister, his cousin, his bride, and his friend. Or she could be a pet. Pet is a distinct possibility right now. Yes, yes, chibiness is goooood…. And that's a funny image of Wufei, all right…. Snerk. I'll try to move faster on this one, but no promises, okay?
To Yaeko- No, no 1x2x1 in this story. You want 1x2x1, you go read one of my other GW stories. I've got other plans for Duo in this one. There won't be any 3x4x3, either; I'm avoiding mainstream pairings this time around. Sorry. I'm working as fast as I can on this, too, so it should be out soon.
"Heero, is the teacher here yet?" Cathy asked, sighing impatiently.
"No." Heero said quietly, his small hand twitching briefly in hers. "I'm bored."
"So am I." Cathy retorted, smiling. "But we have to wait for the teacher so he can introduce you to the class." She still couldn't believe that someone as young as Heero was in the same grade as her, and would be in her class starting today. He was probably amazingly smart, and if he looked half as sweet as he sounded, the other girls would probably be hanging all over him.
"Here he comes." Heero spoke up, tugging on Cathy's arm. "'Bout time."
"Sorry I'm late, you two, but I got held up down in the office." The energetic voice of Cathy's teacher apologized by way of greeting. "I take it this young lad is Heero? A heartbreaker he will be, for sure. Well, let's get you two in and settled, before those students of mine go crazy without supervision, shall we?" The door opened, and Cathy allowed Heero to lead her into the classroom.
Heero watched his new classmates with sharp interest, fascinated by the diversity to be found in this one small room. Even with all the people who had visited the circus, he wasn't prepared for so many different personalities.
Take the teacher; he was very loud, and he talked a lot about stuff besides what they were learning. Heero didn't understand what most of it was supposed to mean, but he filed it away to ask Trowa about later. And as if the teacher wasn't weird enough, there were girls.
Heero had never had the chance to meet girls his own age, and now he was sitting in a room full of them. They kept looking at him funny and whispering and giggling, like they'd never seen a boy before, which couldn't be true, because there were a bunch of those in the class, too. The funny looks the boys gave Heero were different from the funny looks the girls gave him, and he didn't like them.
By the time recess came, Heero had decided it would be best to stay with Cathy, both to help her out, and to make sure he didn't get lost. There were a lot more people here than he'd thought there would be. So when the bell rang, he closed his notebook and slipped over to Cathy's desk.
"Cathy, can I stay with you?" He whispered, standing as close to the desk as he could. "I might get lost by myself."
"Sure!" Cathy said, smiling. She smiled a lot, even though she could be sad, and Heero liked that. "I can show you around, and you can make sure I don't run into any walls, since Dorothy's sick!"
"Okay." Heero agreed. He'd met Dorothy last week, before he'd started school, and she was the scariest girl ever. She was almost as loud as Duo, tougher than Trowa, and Cathy's very bestest friend. It was almost unbelievable she could even get sick.
"Hey, Heero," Cathy said suddenly once the two were in the hall. "Are you gonna go trick-or-treating tomorrow?"
"What's trick-or-treating?" He asked, frowning. It sounded kind of familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was.
"You don't know what trick-or-treating is?" She demanded with an astonished gasp. "Then you absolutely have to go with me and Quatre and Duo! When we get home, we've gotta make you a costume!"
"Hey, Duo, guess what I heard!"
Duo looked up from his chicken salad sandwich – courtesy of the very talented Quatre – in time to spot one Sally Po bearing down on him with a look in her eye that spoke of gossip.
"What?" He asked around a mouthful of food, before quickly finishing the bite under Quatre's disapproving glare.
"I hear there's a total genius three-year-old in first grade!" Sally exclaimed, squeezing onto the bench between Duo and the lunchroom wall. "He's supposed to be adorable, with the biggest blue eyes you ever did see!"
"He's five." Quatre disagreed, polishing off his orange juice. "His name's Heero, and he knows a lot, but he thinks boys shouldn't cook. He's staying with us."
"Is he really?" Sally demanded. "Can I meet him, do you think?"
"Meet who?" A new voice inquired, and the object of their discussion melted out of the crowd, holding tight to Cathy's hand.
"You." Quatre said. "This is Sally Po. She's a friend of Duo's."
"Your hair looks funny." Heero said by way of greeting, eying the strange ponytail-like twists on either side of Sally's face. "You should've been in the circus with us."
"Heero, that's not nice!" Cathy exclaimed a split second before Sally Po burst out laughing.
"Well, if I'm funny-looking, then what are you?" The fourth-grader retorted, grinning. "You're short, skinny, bug-eyed, and your hair looks like a rats' nest. Not only that, but your clothes are weird."
"I like my clothes." Heero protested, sounding slightly offended. "So there."
"Well, he's never been trick-or-treating." Trowa explained, shrugging. "We were usually out on the road on Halloween, and even when we weren't, we were too busy helping out at the circus to go."
"But… but…" Cathy protested weakly. "Five years old, and he's never gone trick-or-treating? That's just plain sad, Trowa. And as punishment, you have to help make him a costume, since I can't sew."
"Can I be a clown?" Heero asked, blinking innocently. "Mama made me a clown suit before she sent us away. That way we don't have to make anything."
"That's perfect, Heero! Let's go find Sister Helen and ask if you can go with us, then we'll go put your costume on, and you can help me with mine!" The two started for the door, but Cathy paused, as if struck by a sudden through. "And you're coming, too, Trowa, you hear?"
"Your sister is going to grow up beautiful, Quatre." Trowa commented quietly, watching as the final touches were added to Cathy's Nubian warrior costume. "I'd suggest learning how to fight."
"Huh?" Came Quatre's witty reply, muffled by Duo's bulk hanging off the small blond.
"When she gets older, boys are going to like her a lot." Trowa explained. "They're going to try to make her do things she doesn't want to, and as her brother, it's your job to make sure they leave her alone. So you need to learn how to fight."
"Really? Do you know who can teach me how to fight?" Quatre asked. Mention Cathy in a possibly dangerous situation, and Quatre suddenly became all for anything that could prevent it.
"No, but I bet we can find someone." Trowa answered as Sister Helen stood up.
Even the nun was in costume, her blondish-brown hair falling free over her shoulders beneath a cleverly designed halo of gold-painted tinfoil, a beautiful white gown encasing her slim body.
"All right ,children, are we all set?" She asked with a smile for her odd group of charges that widened at the enthusiastic affirmatives. "Then let's get going before it gets dark, okay?"
As the other orphans followed the nun down the church steps, Trowa watched in his usually quiet fashion. Cathy the Nubian warrior had acquired Duo the girl, Heero the clown, and Quatre the doctor as escorts, with twin catgirls Janice and Violette a close step behind, Helen the Guardian Angel in the lead, and Jason the knight and Ash the scarecrow bringing up the rear.
Trowa himself had refused all attempts to dress him up, insisting he could give a perfectly reasonable explanation for his ordinary jeans and turtleneck. He had consented to go on this ridiculous outing; he'd never agreed to enjoy it.
And next chapter marks Heero's first ever Halloween trick-or-treat trip! Once I've sorted out my problem with Nataku, I'll introduce Wufei, but I'm still open to any other characters you want to see. Review, and I'll get cracking on chapter six, okay?