Cheshire Smile by 2nd Star to the Right
Disclaimer: Nothing to do with the Gundams belongs to me (but Karu and Ari do)
CHAPTER FIVE... of famous parents and the art of making a sandwich
Karu turned to watchher friend realize who it was that she had assaulted.
Normally it wouldn't take her this long, Karu made a note to get that girl some caffeine as soon as possible.
Then Ari was shrieking "DAD?" and rushing into her father's arms where she was squeezed like a doll. He even picked her up and twirled her around like he had when she was small, laughing and telling her, "Haven't I told you not to assume?"
He was stronger than his small frame seemed to provide, and tougher looking, like steel, although, amended Karu, toughness has nothing to do with size, check out Sensei.
Even if he was on the shorter side, Mr. Yuycould still manage to drape an armaroundAri's shoulders as they talked.
"Karu was telling me that you'd improved, little ninja, but I'm glad I got proof!"
"Dad! You practically rushed me! And Karu! You… you! Oh! If you knew he was going to be here and you didn't tell me!"
Karu was shaking her head, "I was more shocked that you were to find Mr. Heero Yuy in my mud room! It's not like I usually walk in on famous people infiltrating my house!" She glared playfully at Mr. Yuy, apparently they were comfortable with each other after years of sharing Ari.
Ari walked to the fridge and began rooting through it's contents, pausing to toss a can of Coke the her dad and Karu. Then she remembered the others, so far untalkative, in the room. "Anyone else?" She held up a can uncertainly and gestured at the men.
They were each dressed alike, but not the same, not a uniform or anything. So they weren't official or anything. That was sort of a relief.
Three of them held up a hand saying, "here?" or "please." From behind one of Karu's larger monitors came mumbled complaints about "first strangers all up in my house and now she's gonna feed them my stash..."
Ari shook her head even though Karu was now under the desk, "I'm actually doing you a favor- we're not gonna be here to drink your addictive soda anyway, right dad?" Karu's head popped up, apparently to hear the answer clearly.
"Very good, Ari! " Her dad was nodding approvingly.
Ari was searching the fridge for mayo and continued to Karu, "He wouldn't have dragged all these people along and gone to the trouble of getting in if he was just visiting. In fact," She emerged from the fridge with the mayo, lettuce and some deli baggies, "I bet no one knows you're here. You either need us for something or something really big happened and you think we need to be moved for protection."
Her father was smiling proudly and his men were watching her with new respect. She was carefully slicing a tomato as she added, "and more than likely, it's both."
She paused to assemble her sandwich and then turned to her dad, "Are these your friends? From when you were kids, fighting together?"
"Oh, that's right you've never met them, have you? Well, we'll take care of that! They're not all here, but this is Chang Wufei"- the asian warrior in the corner bowed slightly in greeting, "Hello."
"and Trowa Barton"- a solumn, tall man next to Wufei smiled at Ari.
"Duo and Quatre are both rather hard to get a hold of these days, but I'll make sure you meet them. These others are also friends, although I haven't known them for nearly so long, this is Lance, Ace, Doc, and Aki. I trust them and so should you."
The last comment was aimed at Karu who was typing conspicuously on her now- re-connected laptop. She waved him off muttering, "and this from the guy who broke in to my house!"
Ari's dad grinned again, "I meant to congratulate you on that- it was harder than we expected. That's why we met you at the bottom, we didn't feel like dealing with any suprises the staircase holds."
Karu nodded vaguely, she was typing again and mentioned, "That's a very, very good thing, I hate re-wiring my explosives" Ace turned to Ari and said, "I'm worrying about your choice in friends…"
Ari grinned at the older fighter and announced, "She's no crazier than I am."
Mr. Yuy burst out laughing, when he had stopped he announced, "Girls, I'm enjoying the banter, but we really need to pack and get going."
Both friends looked at him, at each other, and then laughed. In answer to his questioning look, Ari gestured to the bags each of them were holding.
"You really didn't see it? Geez, dad you're loosing your touch! I've got both of our clothes in here, and the food is here. Karu's got weaponry and our other equipment in that one and her precious laptop and it's necessities in there."
Heero Yuy blinked at his daughter, "You're sure? we can take an extra minute if you wanna check what you packed..."
He trailed off at the smirks on the girls' faces.
"You shouldn't be so cocky! Teenagers! Think they can tell you who, what, where, and when! When i was a kid i respected my elders..."
He was interrupted bythe childhood allyhe had identified as Chang Wufei, "You did no such thing! we were all punks, and you were probably the worst! and definatly the leader!"
Ari picked up her freshly packed bags and tugged her dad's arm, leadingdown the stairs as he sputtered about being betrayed by friends and family.
Chang Wufei trailed behind him saying that, "this rings just anyway, old punks with authority issues helping out new punks with the same disorder..."
Kari viewed her home for a moment before tuning off the lights and facing her next adventure, murmuring to herself, "having issues with authority isn't a disorder, it just makes life more fun..."
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