Fourth chappie! I feel like dedicating this entire chapter to Hawk. While I didn't get her to beta this one, she's still an awesome beta and person to swap ideas with! Yay, Hawk! Read on, now, and enjoy the fourth chappie!

Kassatsu-Life or Death

Storm

"Where is he?" Heero growled. "He hasn't been at school for a week."

"I never thought you to be impatient, Heero," Trowa commented, his eyes scanning the crowd of students milling in the cafeteria. Half those students eyes were glancing curiously every now and then right back at them. It was highly unusual for Kassatsu to be out and about amongst the student body. They had been dissapearing from classes and at lunch ever since Solo died. Everyone knew the boy's death hit all of them very hard.

Heero shot a sharp look at Trowa. "I'm not impatient," Heero snapped back, then sighed. "It's Duo. He's exhausting himself..." They glanced over at the long haired boy. He was seated in a chair at a table with Wufei and Hilde. His head rested on the tabletop, and his violet eyes were closed. Hilde was gently brushing his bangs out of his face as they watched, a warm, loving smile on her face. Hilde Schbeiker had been with Duo and Solo at the orphanage many years ago. She was adopted when she and Duo were eight, but they had always kept in touch and now went to the same school. Hilde was like an unnofficial sister to Duo, and together, she and Heero took care of the braided boy. Duo often became absentminded, forgetting to take care of himself, like now.

Wufei hadn't been doing that much better. He was constantly seen biting on his lip, deep in thought. This should have been a good sign, since Wufei usually bit on his lip before Solo died, since he was a scholar and always thinking, but now, they knew it wasn't schoolwork he was thinking of. He had bit right through his lip in three places already, and he was looking bedraggled. His hair often had some loose strands when he forgot his gel and his clothes weren't as neat as he always prided them as.

"They're both going to go crazy," Hilde commented as she stood up and joined them. "I don't know what Quatre spoke to you guys about, but it's bugging them a lot."

"If Quatre would just come to school, we could get them out of this depression forever," Heero said.

Trowa didn't reply. Then, after a moment, he turned an amused eye towards Heero. "Do you think you still have the knack to hack?"

"Sure. But why...?" Heero's eyes lit up and he smirked as he realized what Trowa was getting at. "Duo and Wufei make a distraction, and I check the school computers for Quatre's address."

"They might have erased them already, guys," Hilde commented.

"Even if it's been deleted, Heero can still find it," Wufei spoke, having heard the last bit as he walked up to join them. Duo still slept away on the table. "I don't tell you guys this enough, but it's damn good to have you all for friends."

"Let's wake up Duo and go, then!" Hilde chirped. She spoke quickly as she saw them glance secretly between themselves, then look at her. "If I was better friends with you three, I'd be in Kassatsu myself. And I have the funny feeling this involves Solo's death, so I'm definitely involved. Not to mention I have to look out for Duo."

"Heero looks after me more than enough," Duo mumbled.

"I mean in the feminine motherly sort of way. Wash your clothes, brush your teeth. That sort of stuff."

"If we're gonna do this, let's do this," Duo yawned, then gave a small half crooked grin. "You know, it's amazing the stuff you can hear when you're asleep." Duo stood up and rubbed his hands with glee. "So what shall we argue about this time, 'Fei 'Fei?"

"Don't call me 'Fei 'Fei!"

"Wuffles, then?"

"My name is Wufei!"

"Hold the argument for the halls," Hilde suggested to the two. Heero led the way, since people seemed to part in front of the icy eyed boy, with everyone else following until they were in the hallway, near the main office.

"I suggest a bit of fighting," Hilde smiled innocently.

Heero nodded his agreement, then shot a sharp glance at Wufei. "Don't hurt him too much, or I'll have to break your fingers."

"Hey!" Duo shouted indignantly. "I can hold my own!"

"Now, Duo?" Hilde prompted. "What were you saying about Wufei's hair the other day?"

Duo looked blank for a moment, then his eyes sparked and a devilish smile made its way slowly onto his lips. "I was saying how it was cute."

"Cute!" Wufei sputtered.

"Yeah," Duo grinned. "I mean, it's sort of tufty sometimes, and then when your bangs hang down you look really kawaii!"

"I am not cute!"

"That's only one man's opinion, 'Fei," Duo replied.

"My-name-is-Wufei!" Wufei said through gritted teeth. He looked desperately at Heero. "Can I at least break a bone? Just a little one?"

"No," Heero replied firmly, then looked thoughtfully at Duo for a moment. "But I can't say a black eye is out of order..."

Wufei laughed maniacly and pounced on Duo. As they went rolling down to the floor, throwing feints and fake punches and kicks to draw a crowd-though Wufei was adding in a few real ones, which Duo returned graciously. When the two Kassatsu members fought publicly, it always drew a crowd and every teacher in a matter of moments, since Wufei excelled at martial arts and always put it to use, and Duo was an excellent brawler, with a few underhanded tricks of his own. So, just like every other time, the entire school was drawn to them like bees to honey, and Trowa and Heero slipped into the school office easily.

It was empty, as expected, and Heero entered the principal's office and sat at the desk. His fingers flew instinctively, passing through each and every one of the locks and password protected areas. In a moment, he accessed the student database. As predicted, one Quatre Raberba-as they had learned his last name from the school know-it-alls-was not there. So Heero did some searching, going deeper and deeper into the history and deleted files of the hard drive. He let a smirk rise on his face as he faithfully printed out the information pages on Quatre Raberba. Handing one set to Trowa, and putting one set in his own pocket, they exited.

Ths site outside was different than when they had left it. Apparently, Duo and Wufei got a bit too into it, since it appeared that Duo had fisted a teacher in the eye and Wufei had knocked one student out cold. Now they stood back to back, facing teachers all around. It always happened that way, even with a diversion. They fought each other, then backed each other up in order to escape punishment. The principal was talking to them, trying to 'reason with them', while holding his nose to try and stop the blood flow. Heero and Trowa weaved their way into Duo and Wufei's protective circle area.

"Mission accomplished, 02," Heero murmured in Duo's ear, wrapping a hand around Duo's waist. The teachers apparently saw their chance as the whole circle seemed to lean in. It stopped quickly and instead expanded as Trowa easily backflipped towards them. No one ever wanted to mess with Kassatsu. Duo knew street fighting, Wufei martial arts. Trowa was an expert acrobatic fighter, and Heero was just plain impossible to take down.

"Let's blow this joint!" Duo shouted. "Take me away, Heero!" Heero gripped Duo's hand in his own and they bolted, knocking down about ten people on their way out. Trowa simply started flipping head over hands down the hall, which automatically cleared a path that Wufei followed before it closed again. In a moment, the four of them were sprinting out the doors and away from Shiann High, teachers calling and yelling that there would be consequences after them.

All of them knew the teachers couldn't do anything. Duo was an orphan, living at the Maxwell Church Orphanage. Wufei's parents were in China, a very long distance call. Trowa lived with his sister, who trusted Trowa more than the teachers, and simply ignored them. And Heero...none of the school people knew where Heero lived or his phone number, so they couldn't call him. If anything, they'd be suspended. They didn't really care. And if they were expelled...well, they'd wait two weeks, then Heero would do his computer magic and they'd be in again.

"So where does the little blonde angel live?" Duo asked as they stopped in safety.

"444 Fourth Avenue."

"...Solo's number," Duo stared. "That's kind of ironically scary..."

"Scary or not, let's go," Wufei insisted. A moment later, they were in Trowa's car, which he only trusted himself and Heero to drive. Of course, only those two had their full licenses.

Trowa pulled out of his parking space and shifted gears, then sped off towards Fourth Avenue, which was, ironically, in the fourth district of town. Surellin was probably the only town split into mini districts for a purpose no one seemed to know. About five minutes of driving later, Trowa rode up to a rather large house...no, it was more of a mansion.

Duo whistled. "Who wants to bet the kid's loaded?"

"For once," Wufei said as he stepped out of the car. "I think Maxwell might be right."

The four went up to the gate, then began discussing who should ring the bell. Heero was ruled out immediately, since he was't very social. Trowa was checked off next since he was sort of scary to meet for the first time since he always looked the same. It was a tie between Duo's insanity and Wufei's grouchiness. As they pointed out reasons why and why not, none of them noticed Trowa pushing the ringer until a funny, arabically dressed man came to the gate and grinned at them.

"Who's calling at the Winner mansion?" he chuckled.

Trowa replied. "My name is Trowa Barton. These are my friends, Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, and Wufei Chang..."

"Chang, Wufei," Wufei muttered.

"...We're here to see Quatre Raberba, please."

"How do you know Master Quatre?"

"We met him at school."

"Ah," the man clicked his tongue. "Master Quatre didn't like that place. He quit. Said he liked tutoring better. Rashid is always right!"

"May we see him?" Trowa asked, ignoring the man's random talking.

"Oh, sure, sure," the man opened the gate. "Nice that Master Quatre made some friends. He doesn't have any, unless you consider us old codgers. That kid gets very lonely indeed." The gate swung open, and they stepped through. The man stopped them and began searching Trowa quickly. He searched Heero, with Duo keeping Heero from killing him, and then Wufei. When Duo's turn came up, he emptied his pockets into his hands and searched through it until he found his jack knife, handing it to the man, then getting searched. Duo getting searched took about a full minute, since he kept giggling and claiming he was ticklish. After about ten minutes and some odd questions, they were let into the house, where a giant of a man met them. He had broad, broad shoulders and dark hair. He was also dressed arabic style, and the others seemed to refer to him. Others as in the dozen more arabic men they passed.

"I am Rashid," he said in a deep voice. "Please follow me." He led them up a set of stairs and down a long hall, then motioned them through a set of doors. "Master Quatre resides through those doors down the hall. Do not try anything foolish." And he left.

"Better stay behind, Duo," Wufei remarked. "You always play the fool." Duo simply grinned and spun towards the door, wacking Wufei in the face with his braid. He opened the door and stuck his head in, then whistled low.

"It's a palace in a bedroom!" he said. The others stepped in with him, gazing at the room. Marble stone was in various places, with crossing silken curtains and real beads of stone. "Looks arabic," Duo commented. "Bet'cha Quat's arabic!" Eyes rolled as they advanced in the room, calling out Quatre's name. Trowa pushed aside a hanging and motioned the others to join him in the corner of the incredibly large, maze-like room.

"Aaaw, kawaii!" Duo chirped at the site.

The corner of the room was occupied by a silver styled bed, with silver silk covers, all mussed and bunched up in places. And the bed was occupied by a little blonde angel, sprawled cutely on his stomach. He was dressed in soft, white pajamas, his barefeet sticking out of the covers, his middle covered. One hand hung over the edge of the bed, while the other was tucked under the pillow. His face was peaceful and smooth.

Even Trowa couldn't help but let a secret and hidden smile slide onto his face for a second as he looked at Quatre. Trowa was always a sucker for small, cute, shy things. It was why he was so good with animals of any kind. And Trowa couldn't help but think of Quatre as entirely kawaii, like Duo said. Only Trowa saw it all the time. It was why he had called Quatre 'little one' earlier. And it fit. Of course, 'desert prince' seemed to pop into his mind as well.

The four of them stared at Quatre for about five minutes until Duo spoke uncertainly. "Should we wake him up?"

"I don't know guys," Wufei said. "I assume Rashid didn't know he was asleep, or we probably wouldn't be in here."

"But should we wake him up?" Duo asked again. "Or should we let him sleep?" Duo seemed to think of this statement, then answered his own question. "Nah. We've done too much to get here in the first place to leave and come back later. I I got a black eye to get here, you know. Who knows if Quatre will even let us in later? Let's wake him up." Even though Duo had said it, no one moved.

"Who's going to wake him up though?" Wufei asked.

"You know, that's a very intelligent question, 'Fei 'Fei, since you never know how someone wakes up," Duo stated his opinion. "Quatre could be a very bad morning person, which means we shouldn't wake him up because he could hurt us, since we know this kids got powers. And trust me, when Heero wakes me up too early, I get mad, too. I'd hurt him if I wasn't sure he'd deny me cuddles for the day. It's bad to go without at least a cuddle a day. It gets lonely! My motto is 'A cuddle a day keeps loneliness away'."

"I thought your motto was 'I run, I hide, but I never tell a lie'?" Wufei asked.

"The many personalities of Duo Maxwell have many mottos," Heero grunted. "I believe one of them is 'A motto a day keeps Heero away'."

"No-o, Hee-chan, don't be like that," Duo whined, pulling on Heero's arm as he pouted. Heero 'hn-ed' and rolled his eyes, but everyone knew he had given in and didn't really mean what he had said.

"Changing the subject, who will wake him up?" Wufei asked.

"Trowa should!" Duo grinned. "He's always been good with cute li'l things."

"That's animals, baka!"

"Animals, people, we're all the same inside," Duo said dramatically, then paused, Quatre twitching as if waking as he did. Duo continued in a whisper. "Actually, people are a lot dumber sometimes."

"I second that motion," Trowa agreed, sending a long look in the direction of the babbling members of Kassatsu. Well, Heero didn't babble, but Duo did, and Duo could get Wufei off track like taking tires off a car. And once thay were all distracted, Heero often by Duo...well, wise Trowa was left on his own.

Trowa stepped forward to the bed to gently shake Quatre's shoulders when he stopped midstep and listened, his sharp hearing picking up the faint, telltale sound of liquid dripping slowly onto carpet.

"What is it, Tro?"

Trowa held up a hand, motioning them to be quiet, his ears focusing on the sound, blocking all other noise out. He followed it, with his ears, then with his eyes. The sharp, emerald pair of eyes followed it down the wall and down Quatre's arm on the bed. He took a sharp intake of breath and knelt beside the bed, setting his palm underneath the Quatre's fingertips hanging off the bed, the liquid dripping off into his palm.

"Oh, God...," Trowa breathed, lifting his hand up to see clearly. Three glistening streaks of red blood droplets shone on his skin.

"What the hell...Tro...is that blood?" Duo asked hesitantly, worry coming into his voice. Trowa slipped into action. He reached up and flipped Quatre over, revealing the ten inch gash along the pale boy's forearm, rapidly seeping blood.

"Holy shit!" Duo yelled. "Oh, shit, shit...Quatre!" Trowa quickly took a sheet, bunched it up, and pressed it against the wound to stop the blood flow. Quatre winced in his sleep as Trowa applied pressure.

"Someone go get Rashid!" he ordered. Wufei turned and ran out to fetch the big man, since Duo was busy panicing at the moment. Heero finally tugged on his braid and told him firmly to get a hold of himself or he wouldn't get any cuddles. Duo giggled nervously and shut up.

"Do you think he was trying to kill himself?" Heero asked.

"Is...is being a spirit psychic that bad?" Duo asked.

"I doubt it's suicide," Trowa said. "Nothing here truly speaks of suicide."

"How did he get that cut, then?"

Trowa looked at Quatre, who hadn't woken up at all. "I don't know."

"Is he gonna be okay?" Duo asked. "God, please let him be okay..."

"We just have to get him treated, and he should survive," Trowa mentioned as Quatre twitched again. "He hasn't lost that much blood..."

"Trowa," Heero interrupted, pointing at Quatre's other arm. "Look." Trowa's eyes followed Heero's direction and he stared, shocked and stunned by what he saw. Before their eyes, Quatre's skin on the other forearm was parting as though being cut. It started at his joint and went nearly to his wrist, another ten inch long gash.

"That is not normal!" Duo yelled, squatting to the floor. "Oh, God...Heero!"

"Duo, relax," Heero said, even as he gathered his own handful of blankets to press against the new wound. "Just breathe, koi. He's going to be fine!"

"We didn't let you die, and we won't let him die!" Trowa assured his friend. Duo breathed as Heero instructed, his breaths shuddery and shaky, then watched them with frightened eyes, staring at the blood.

"What in the...," Rashid's voice came booming into the room just before he did. He made his way over to the bed and his eyes widened at the sight of the blood and Quatre. "Master Quatre!" He exclaimed.

"I didn't do it!" Duo cried, holding his head. "I didn't do it!"

"Wufei!" Heero spoke the chinese boy's name, attracting his attention, and looked at Quatre's arm, then to Duo. Wufei understood, and they rapidly changed places so Heero could go calm the now panicing Duo.

"It's just a bad memory, koi," he whispered into Duo's ear. "It's not real. I'm here. You're okay." While Heero comforted Duo, trying to get the braided wonder to calm down, Rashid went and shook Quatre's shoulders.

"He has to wake up," Rashid explained. "He's being attacked right now. If we wake him up, he won't get any more hurt. Master Quatre, wake up!" Quatre suddenly gasped and convulsed, arching his back in pain. Rashid's face took on an extremely dark and worried expression. "Oh, no. They're trying to kill him. They're attacking his life force! Master Quatre!" Rashid shook the boy's shoulders once more, continuing to speak Quatre's name.

"Wake up, you baka!" Wufei called, blood starting to seep through the cloth.

"C'mon, Quatre," Trowa said. "C'mon, little one..."

So the life threatening part has started. The next part will explain some more about how Quatre is getting hurt, but I have to finish it. So much writing to do! So many readers to please! Anyways, this is the fourth chappie, brao for me, and review please!