A/N: Here we are again. Thx to Hikaru (Wooohoo! Hope you'll have a good laugh again.), Curious Dream Weaver (Yeah, he's impatient like me. And I'm telling you it's god damn hard to get rid of this fault.), Akennea (I will!), Erinamation-limited2-nothing (I do love you for your regular review but I still have to ask you a favour: would it be okay to call u Eri for short in my answer to your review? I don't want to mess up your pen name but u see I'm just always stumbling over that name…it's so long. It's like Mariemaia. I never know how to write nor how to pronounce it.)
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Attention. I hope you have no trouble following the dialogs. Usually Quatre is the one who uses first names and Wu Fei is the one who calls the others on their last names. Some of the reactions and answers should be also obvious to guess who's saying them. If you still had trouble following their conversation please let me know. Thx.
Chapter 8: "Mission parameters"« Okay what we need is a plan. »
Quatre spoke to the four more or less attentively listening pilots. After he had finally managed to distract Wu Fei from murdering Duo, Duo from throttling Kenji to death and to bring Kenji himself to a more or less safe place for him to wreck havoc he had gathered the pilots around the kitchen table.
So there we had the seemingly asleep Trowa who was draped over half the table hiding behind his bang seemingly oblivious to what was going around him. Quatre had to more or less drag the tall boy out of bed not that he didn't secretely enjoyed that. Beside him a furious looking Roman god of death who by the way looked litterally like death. Quatre wondered how Duo was still able to bring up so much energy and then there was the famous Chinese dragon who sat to Quatre's left currently sulking, ignoring said Roman god and muttering soothing promises to his favourite katana about things involving certain persons next to him but we better not dwelve deeper into this. The source of all the chaos was currently quietly sitting in front of the TV watching early morning cartoons but still in the blondes watchful eye.
Quatre regarded the silent pilots. Nobody spoke up. Then just as he opened his mouth everybody started to talk at once.
Duo hissed. "I want him out of my hair – litterally."
Wu Fei snickered but before Duo could snap back Trowa already grumbled. "I want my silence back. One night and I feel like I need a vacation." With that his head vanished between his arms and bang again.
Everybody eyed Trowa suspicially. 'Okay so what.' Quatre thought. 'He might not be a kid person but therefore he's great with animals.'
"Trowa has a point. Kenji needs some serious instructing. Otherwise none of us will be up to any missions."
"I didn't even had the chance to recuperate from the last one." Duo said sarcastically.
And somewhere from the dephts of Trowa's arms came. "And what do we do when we have to leave all the safe house? I don't want him near my Heavyarms."
'Okay.' Quatre noted. 'He's not a morning person either but that doesn't make him any less cuter.'
"Same here. If he touches Deathscythe I'll make sure that brat has a meeting with the maker."
"Duo!!!!" Quatre said outraged.
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know he is a kid and whatever but I won't put up with this any longer. If you haven't realized I'm the one who suffers the most here."
"Thanks god." Muttered Wu Fei who now really had no urge to deal with Kenji.
"Okay. Okay okay. If everybody would just be quiet for a minute." The others ignored Quatre with no difficulty to busy with complaining about the little pest a.k.a. Kenji.
"Don't forget about evacuation plans! What do we do if we're attacked?" grumbled Trowa.
"Leave him behind?"
"That's the first useful thing you said today, Wuffie." Duo grinned at him.
"Watch your mouth, Maxwell."
"Yeah, wishful thinking." Muttered Trowa silently wishing the teen Yuy back at least he was less complicated – for his standards at least.
"SHUT UP. I ASKED YOU TO BE QUIET FOR A SINGLE MINUTE BUT YOU MANAGE NOT EVEN THAT. TO BUSY TO JUDGE OTHERS BEHIND THEIR BACK. SHAME ON YOU." Quatre screamed outraged at them.
The usually calm blonde had a nice tomato color on his cheeks and a gleam in his eyes which made the others shrank back into their chairs. Even Trowa had sat bold upright staring with one wide eye unbelieving at Quatre. Wu Fei was currently under the table since he had dropped his katana in surprise at Quatre's outburst. Duo sat simply frozen on his seat daring not to move in case of another verbal attack keeping his big mouth firmly shut for a change.
While Quatre glowered at them a small voice tentavely asked. "Daijoubu desu ka, Quatre-sama?" The blonde looked up to see Kenji standing at the door looking confused from one to the other. Not understanding anything the blonde looked for help from Wu Fei. "He's asking if you're okay."
Promptly Quatre colored an even deeper shade of red (if that was even possible) stuttering embarrassed. "Yes. Yes, of course."
Wu Fei rolled his eyes. Typically Quatre. One moment the cute little lamb the next the big bad wolf scaring them half to death. Wu Fei thought that this was definitely not healthy. But suggesting a head examination would probably trigger another outburst so he kept it to himself.
"Wu Fei? Are you alright?"
"Huhuhu Wuffie. L1 to Wuffie!"
"Stop waving your hand in front of my face, Maxwell! What is it you want?"
Too late he realized that everybody was looking at him concerned and Wu Fei felt himself blushing.
"Oi, lookie there who's blushing now." Duo pinched the furious looking Chinese' cheek like a babie's.
"Nice color, Chang." Said Barton from his safe distance.
"Can we please get to the matter on hand?" sighed Quatre.
The snickering instantly stopped and the attention was again on the blonde. "Wu Fei, I need you translate my words please."
"Hmpf."
Quatre hoped it was a yes and waved Kenji over. The kid came closer and Quatre sat him for more than one reason on the kitchen counter keeping a safety distance between him and certain persons seated at the table.
"Now Kenji, we already know your name it's time that we introduce ourselves also. Like you obviously already know I am Quatre. Quatre Raberba Winner."
Wu Fei was rapidely mumbling something in Japanese and a moment later Kenji beamed at him and repeated once again.
"Quatre-sama." Said person looked a bit confused about the weird attachment to his name but then nodded to Trowa.
The tall Latin boy eyed the small kid warely but finally said. "Barton, Trowa."
Kenji nodded. "Trowa-san."
Finally it was Duo's turn. But the god of death kept his back to the kid balancing his chair while ignoring all of Quatre's pleading looks. The blonde sighed and opened his mouth to introduce the Deathscythe pilot but before he could do so a flash of white was attached to Duo's chair pulling at the long braid while jumping up and down shouting.
"Duo-san. Duo-san."
Wu Fei was grinning from ear to ear at the spectacle. The kid had once again got the best of Duo Maxwell who right now was busy yelling at the brat to let go of his hair while trying to balance the chair and not to fall off.
"Let go, you god damn brat. How often I have to tell you to not touch my braid." Duo was almost screeching.
"Probably because he didn't understand a word of your rambling and heaven help me but he's not the only one. And I CAN understand English."
Duo flashed Wu Fei a nasty look. "Comon Q-man. Give me a hand here!"
Quatre who had been silently enjoying the scene in front of him – it wasn't often to see the master of pranks being harrassed himself – decided to help him. After a few minutes Kenji was once again securely on the kitchen counter while Duo was sulking on his chair which was now FACING Kenji out of security reasons.
"Anything else, Duo?" Quatre asked pleasently.
"Yes, it's Duo. Only Duo. Nothing else." Said the still in the sheet wrapped teen grumpily. Wu Fei shrugged and translated. Kenji seemed to consider it before nodding his agreement.
"Why thank you!" Duo said sarcastically.
Wu Fei was last and the introduction was made quickly.
Quatre clapped happily his hands. "Wonderful. Now can you please ask him how old he is? He seems very smart for such a small person."
"Smart, please! This is Yuy we're talking about." Duo muttered.
"?!"
Everybody looked at him but Duo ignored them staring straight at Kenji who smiled back.
"Wu Fei?" Asked Quatre politely.
The Chinese did as he was asked. The small Japanese looked at the expectant blonde and said.
"Go."
"Where?" Asked Quatre confused.
"Not in English, Winner. It's Japanese for five."
"No way."
Everybody looked astonished at Duo.
"What, Maxwell?"
"No way the kid is five. I mean look at him. He's like…like…well like tiny. He can't be five."
The other pilots looked again at Kenji who sat innocently on the counter swinging his legs watching the funny teens talking in a weird language. Indeed he was small. For a five year old boy he looked definitely small.
Wu Fei shook his head. "You forget that Yuy is Japanese at least to some extent. Japanese people are small. Of course the children are also smaller than the once from other races. I mean Maxwell for an American you're not very tall either."
Duo shrugged and grinned. "Still taller than you, Wuffers." Wuffers scowled.
Quatre coughed discretely. "So Kenji is five. Good. He should be old enough to do several things by himself then."
"Like what?" Asked Trowa curiously.
"Ehm, eh … I don't know." Surprised by the sudden interest of the Latin boy the blonde had forgotten his words.
"Like tieing his shoes, going to the toilett, dressing himself."
Everybody looked surprised at Wu Fei. How did he know that? Before anyone could start asking uncomfortable questions – Maxwell looked ready to bombard him with questions – he cut them off.
"So who is doing what?"
"Hm?" Quatre looked confused.
"?!"
"Oh!" Trowa had his head probbed up on his hands blinking at Wu Fei like a one eyed owl. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, we need to supervise him. Each of us should take care of something related to Kenji."
Duo looked suspiciously at Kenji. "Didn't you just say he'll be able to get on alone?"
"Maxwell, use your brain. He's five. How is he supposed to make his food? Think about it. You barely manage to boil some water for pasta…"
"So what? I like pasta." Duo grumbled sulkily.
Wu Fei ignored him giving Quatre a pointed look. The blonde took the cue. "Okay, since I don't think Kenji will survive one day when Duo would take care of him I suggest we find for you something different. I volunteer to tend to Kenji's basic needs like bathing, food etc. What brings me to another problem." Here he looked at Wu Fei. "We need you to teach him English."
The Chinese nodded. "I thought so much. Well, that's no problem at least I hope so…"
"Since Wu Fei will be having enough work with teaching Kenji I think it will be best to let Trowa take over the physical training."
Duo frowned. Somehow that didn't sound right to him. "What do you mean? Are you afraid the real Yuy will be loosing his top condition while he's Kenji? He IS indeed only a kid, Quatre. Don't forget that."
Everybody stared at Duo again as if he had grown a second head. Even if it would have, it couldn't have been more surprising. Duo Maxwell was worrying about Kenji.
"Don't worry, Duo. –"
"I'm not worrying. Just stating the obvious." Duo interupted.
"Whatever, Maxwell."
"As I said Kenji needs some training in form of self defense." Quatre looked pointily at Duo. "And he needs to be taught how to act in an emergency."
Trowa thought about that. "I think I can handle that."
"And what about me?" Duo asked grinning thinking he'd got off easy.
"Hm, since you're not fit to do something for Kenji you will have to do something for Heero."
Duo's face darkened. "And what will that be?"
"Upgrade Wing and take over the missions which would have been Yuy's generally."
Duo thought about it. Sure he would definitely be grilled if Yuy ever found out that he had touched Wing but hey he had always been wondering about Wings mechanics. The braided young man had a knack for technic and was probably the most talented for this in their team.
"Deal. But you gotta keep that brat out of my hair or I won't be able to do any missions."
Quatre nodded. "I'll try my best. But you see he kind of eh has developed a liking for you."
Duo scowled. Trowa chuckled and Wu Fei smirked.
"Yup, that could make things a bit more difficult. Too bad Maxwell, looks like you have to live with the fact that Yuy likes you."
Duo sent him a scowl but didn't comment on it.
"Hm, there would be also something else." Trowa said.
"And what would that be, Trowa?" Asked Quatre smiling.
"How do we explain the situation of him being here in the first place?"
Everybody looked perplexed. Looked like they had overlooked a small detail in their perfect plan…
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Sorry for not updating last week. I caught a virus from my kids and I spent half the week in bed AND my precious week-end was down the drain also. Anyway, I hope nobody has trouble with the Japanese phrases I used since usually you get the sense from the context or Wu Fei translates it for us. AND GUYS review! Usually I don't nag people about it but I was a bit surprised about the lack of feedback last week. I have a lot of ideas for other stories/ animes and I rather start writing a new Gravitation story than wasting my time here. I mean this story just happened to be out of a spur of a moment so let me know if you at least enjoyed reading the chapter or not. Geez, I am grumpy. Duo is rubbing off on me. Or vice versa? Ah well, just had a really shitty week.