(A/N: Hey all! Thank you spank you for the review-oos! And now, ONWARD WITH THE CHAPTER! WOOOT!)
"Awwww! It's sooooo kyooot!" Hinode, Sora, Relena and Quatre squealed (sorry, butcha gotta admit, he's a girly boy.)
"It…is an elephant." Duo muttered, seeing the danger it posed instead of how adorable it was, "A huge, hulkin' grey, leathery tank…with tusks"
"An elephant with an iddle bitty baby!" Relena added (ew…baby talk…yech!)
Heero gave his girlfriend a look, shook his head, and refocused his attention on the animals outside the vehicle.
"It's shnozz makes Jay Leno's look tiny by comparison." Akane mumbled boredly (internally squealing along with them: remember, her one weakness is animals! see ch. 4 of the first saga)
"That's not nice!" Sora cried indignantly.
"It could turn us into Swiss Cheese in a matter of seconds." Wufei grumbled, eyeing the massive tusks warily "I fail to see what's so cute about them."
Anelephant calf, as though it heard, understood, and was determined to prove how adorable it was, walk over clumsily and examined Wufei's face gently with it's trunk, effectively making the Shenlong pilot blush.
"Awwww! How kyooot!" Hinode, Quatre, Sora and Relena shrieked.
Trowa ignored the shrieks and continued to gaze contentedly at the peacable creature.
Akane twitched slightly, making her half-brother's snicker.
Duo snapped a photo (for blackmail use later) of Wufei stammering like an idiot and awkwardly patting the baby pachyderm on the trunk, stuttering out what sounded vaguely like, "Okay, pleeeease go away now."
Trowa let loose a chuckle as he took in the normally composed pilots actions.
Quatre dissolved into unrestrained snickers as Wufei attempted to gather what was left of his dignity.
The herd of elephants lumbered on past the Jeep amiably and the guide applied light pressure to the gas pedal causing the vehicle to inch forward.
They didn't get very far before a rather inquisitive cheetah launched itself onto the hood of the Jeep, curious as to what these creatures were doing on it's hunting grounds.
It was then a little known fact about the Shinigami came to light.
As it turns out, Duo is afraid of cats.
And a good sized one leering him down was just the thing to set trigger his well concealed felinophobia.
"GEEYAAAAAUGH!" He screamed, diving into the backseats and latching onto, of all people, Akane, "GEDDIT AWAY!"
"AIIYAAAAA!" Akane shrieked, punching him away mercilously, "WHERE DYA THINK YER FACE IS, PERVERT?"
Quatre then latched onto Sora, who rocked him back and forth.
"Kitty go 'way! Kitty go 'way! He whimpered.
"I am sooo gonna remember this." Wufei thought with a snicker.
"There, there, Duo-kun! It's okay!" Sora said sympathetically, patting his head.
"Don't worry! We won't let the mean, nasty kitty get you!" Hinode said, soothingly spoonfeeding the braded pilot lies.
Akane clung to Takomi hissing, "I'll kill'm! I'll KILL'M!"
"Just chill, Monkey." Mannen laughed from his seat behind them.
"Yeah, it was 'n accident!" Suo grinned on her right.
"Besides, it's not like he could help it with those midgets on your-PBBLT!" Kazuo never finished the sentence as his dear, sweet, widdle sister promptly socked him in the jaw, loosing several of his teeth.
"Ooo! Good one." Takaomi said appreciatively, giving his sister a pat on the shoulder as Kazuo hit the roof and shot back into his seat.
"I told you t' KEEP QUIET ABOUT THAT!" Akane shouted.
The cheetah, seeing that, while very noisy, this particular group posed no threat, calmly hopped off the hood and stalked off lazily.
The jeep lumbered on for a ways before coming across a herd of zebra.
"Oooo!" Relena breathed, "Heero aren't they gorgeous?"
Heero was inclined to agree with Relena in this instance; they were rather picturesque sight.
Akane was getting a headache from the sound of the dumb blonde's voice and was seriously wishing that one of those zebra's would gallop over and kick the Vice Foreign Minister square in the puss.
"Shh! Relena, you'll scare them-!" Quatre began to be interrupted by none other than our favorite gang leader.
"-away with yer face." Akane said loudly.
Wufei began to laugh uncontrollably at that one while Relena herself shook with rage.
The Effed Up Foursome (better known as Aka's half brothers) were laughing along with Wufei.
You'd have thought they'd have never heard anything so funny in their lives.
Heero decided at that precise moment to go deaf and ingnore the remark as a zebra ambled up alongside the jeep and nudged him with it's muzzle, exhaling hot breathe to inhale his scent.
Entranced, and not really thinking, he reached out and patted the beautiful creature between the ears.
It momentarily pressed against his hand before rejoining its herd.
"HEERO!" Relena shrieked, "Did you hear what she just SAID? Are you evenLISTENING to me!"
"…no." Heero replied distractedly, still watching the zebras.
"RRRRGH!" Relena growled in frustration as the others laughed at her plight.
-Later That Night…-
"So many pics!" Kazuo exclaimed, running his fingers through his recently cut, short blonde hair (think Mido Ban from GetBackers short)
"Mm-hm." Akane nodded, smirking slightly, "Don't you worry.I got you guys souvenirs too…even tho' ya don't deserve'm…bitches."
"Aww, do I detect a note of homesickness in thine small, pink voice, Monkey?" Taka asked teasingly, pulling his short sibling into his chest.
"…maybe." Akane mumbled, sticking out her lower lip, pouting immaturely.
Her remark surprised all four of her half-brothers as well as her friends.
Akane was the type of person who would usually answer that last statement: 'Are you shittin' me? 'course not! The level of stupidity in the' air went down considerably away from you 'tards.'
In "Akane Speak", 'Maybe' meant, 'Of course I missed you, smartass! Gedda clue!' and the fact she was admitting at all that she had missed them worried her brothers a bit.
But their worries were groundless as Akane let loose a yawn.
She was tired.
Akane was always a bit more truthful than usual (as well as extremely childish) when she was drowsy.
"Alright, Monkey." Takaomi said, switching his sister onto his back, "Time fer bed."
"But I'm not shleepy." Akane whined into his shoulder, eyes far past the half-lidded mark.
"Ohhh, yes you are." Mannen smirked up at her.
"No'm not." Akane mumbled, eyes sliding closed.
"Still such a child." Suo sighed, shaking his head as Takaomi carried his snoozing sister into the adjascent room.
Duo just gaped.
How could the holy terror who made his life miserable from sunrise to sunset suddenly act like such an innoc-it shouldn't be possible.
Takaomi returned a minute later, sans shirt.
"Umm…not to pry…" Quatre said carefully, "But what happened to-?"
"My shirt?" Takaomi laughed, "Monkey hadda death grip on it. Id've had t' break her fingers t' get it loose."
"We don't mind!" Hinode smirked, eyeing his six-pack, "Do we, Sora?"
"Mm-mm." Sora said shaking her head, "Washboard abs. Yum!"
Wufei shot the girls a look as the Freakish Four laughed their heads off.
Heero caught Relena checking Takaomi out and deliberately spilt the soda he was drinking all over his shirt as an excuse to go topless.
Which immediately sent Sora and Hinode into faint by nosebleed status.
All in all, a rather uneventful night, wouldn'tcha say?
(A/N: The gang leaves Madagascar. Onwards to Switzerland! Time ta hit the slopes! R&R!)
