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Chapter 5
More Questions
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Wufei stirred. He was being carried. He opened his eyes to see Nataku. Duo was putting him down near the Gundam.
"Hey, pal, you're awake. How do you feel?"
Wufei groaned.
"That good, huh?" Duo smiled. "Everyone gets sick once in a while. Heero had pneumonia when I saw him last summer, and he still refused to go to the hospital. I finally had to tell Doctor J to get him some help."
Wufei blinked. "Heero was sick?"
"Yeah. Weird, huh?" Duo shrugged, and he draped a blanket over Wufei. "If you want, I'll check Nataku. It should be cool enough now to actually look at, I hope. He tried to burn me earlier." He grinned ruefully at his bandaged palms. "But I was too fast for the fire."
Wufei looked around for Takai. "Duo, who was that woman?"
"Takai? She's a friend of mine."
"How do you know her?"
Duo sighed. "We met while I was visiting New York this past winter. If you're wondering about her, I can't tell you a lot, but you can trust her."
"How do you know that if you don't know her?"
"I…can't tell you what I know, Wufei. Please, trust me on this."
Wufei frowned. "Maxwell—"
"It sounds crazy, I know, but I have reasons to believe her. She's not a spy. And trust me, if she was, there isn't anything we could do about it."
Wufei looked at Duo narrowly. He visualized Takai, not in the black robes she had worn that day, but in the white she had been wearing the night before. He shuddered.
"Are you cold? Your fever's almost gone, but you need to be careful. I'm sorry, I don't have anything but that blanket. I wasn't planning on being gone from my apartment long."
"Where are you living?"
"At New York. But Takai…asked me to meet her at that town, Aliston, so I flew into Chicago, spent the night there, and headed out this morning."
Wufei nodded. "Does Takai live in New York?"
"I'm pretty sure she doesn't."
"Hm."
Duo started rummaging in his bag. "I don't have much food, but here." He tossed Wufei an apple. "I still have a few."
Wufei took the apple and ate hungrily. He guessed he'd slept another six hours, at least, since the picnic. "I still don't trust her."
Duo shrugged. "I think…it's best if you do that on your own. She'll be back soon."
"Where did she go?"
"She didn't say, and I don't know."
"You aren't telling me everything."
Duo grinned. "I already told you that."
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Wufei woke early the next morning. Nataku sat on the ground, and Duo was snoring, curled up in Nataku's elbow where he'd been working the night before. Wufei's hair rose on the back of his neck, and he turned.
A woman in red knelt next to him. She smiled gently, her white hair rippling around her narrow face. Wufei couldn't move away from her, but it didn't seem to matter. He felt warm, safe, as if he was back in his meadow in the colony. The woman placed her hands on his chest, and his lungs filled with an airy lightness, tinted with electricity. It spread to the burns on his body and to his head. The pain lessened.
The woman smiled again, and everything turned to mist. Wufei thought he heard a flute somewhere, but it faded. The mist turned to green trees and blue water—and Takai, only five feet away, watching him from where she sat beside a fire. She stood, her dark robes swaying. She knelt nearer Wufei. "How do you feel?" she asked. He inched away from her, as best he could. Takai sighed and nodded slightly.
"Who are you?" Wufei asked. "I don't just mean your name. Who are you, really?"
Takai sat back. "Would you have told any civilian that you were part of Operation Meteor at the time?"
Wufei blinked.
"Of course not. You don't need to know everything about me." She stood and went over to Nataku. "Duo, wake up. Duo."
"Five more minutes," he mumbled.
"Duo!"
He jumped up. "Huh? What?"
"It's breakfast time. Get up."
"Breakfast!" Duo hopped down.
"Yes. Hurry and wash up."
Duo he ran off. Takai returned to the fire and poked in the embers, turning over a series of white roots. A teakettle and a thin, flat stone sat near the flames. Takai pulled some eggs from a small hand basket. Wufei raised an eyebrow as Takai began cracking eggs and pouring them onto the stone. "Yes?" she asked. He looked at the basket. "Did you expect me to bring a picnic basket again? I actually foraged for this today." She grins. "I can do that. Do you like peppermint tea? It's mint, water, and honey."
Duo sprinted back into the clearing. "That smells good."
"Thank you. The roots are almost done, and the eggs will be done soon, too." The teakettle started to whistle, and Takai added some peppermint leaves. She set out three bowls and small cups. "Duo, will you say grace?"
Duo said the meal prayer again, a little more easily than the night before. After the amen, Takai passed out the food—for each, a piece of omelet, a roasted tuber, a cup of tea, and a handful of berries. Duo dug in with gusto. Wufei picked at the omelet, and he slowly started eating. Takai smiled.
After breakfast, Takai gathered the dishes. "Duo, I need you two gentlemen to get ready. We're going into town."
"What for?"
"Here." She pushed the dishes into his hands. "Why don't you help me clean first?"
Wufei watched them narrowly as they went to the stream and knelt down to clean the dishes. Takai was talking to Duo, but her voice was too low to hear. Duo responded with a slight jump, but Takai continued talking. Duo nodded, and they finally stood up and returned. "Come on, pal, let's get you on your feet."
"What's going on, Maxwell?"
"Well..." Duo glanced at Takai, but she merely threw him a smile and kept packing her basket. "We need to get you into town, to a doctor."
"How?"
Duo looked at Takai again, but she didn't even seem to be paying attention. "Aliston isn't too far away. I guess we should get you there first."
Wufei looked from Duo to Takai. But the dull pain returning to his limbs and head, the fire in his chest, reminded him of how right they were. He nodded, placed a hand against the tree behind him, and started slowly levering himself up. Duo reached out, then drew back, allowing Wufei this moment. Takai had finished, but she remained crouching, looking into the underbrush, humming. Wufei stood up, and he leaned against the tree, breathing out slowly. Duo finally stepped forward. "Are you ready?"
Wufei nodded, and Duo put his arm under Wufei's. They slowly started walking, and Takai fell into place next to Duo. "Do you two mind if we have a little company? You've already met the dirges, Duo."
"Of course. I don't mind." At Wufei's sharp look, Duo continued. "They're Takai's pet wolves. They're pretty nice."
"Maybe just Dubhagain today." Takai whistled, and a minute later, a shaggy black wolf bounded out of the brush. He jumped up on Takai to get his ears scratched. She did so, then he licked Duo's hand and sniffed at Wufei. He took up his place on Wufei's other side and walked along, sniffing at the loam and brush.
"It isn't comforting to think that your wolf was lurking, waiting to be called," Wufei said.
"I can understand that. I hope you'll forgive us, though. Dubhagain doesn't like sitting still too much, and you hadn't met him yet. So I didn't bring him into camp."
The wolf looked up at Wufei with shining blue eyes. He continued his exploration of the forest floor.
About half an hour later, the edge of the woods was in sight, revealed by the brighter light and feel of open air ahead. Dubhagain ran to the tree edge, and he woofed lowly, staring at something. Takai jogged ahead as Duo stopped to let Wufei rest. She waited with Dubhagain, and when the boys came limping up, she turned to them with a smile. "Kameko durana sequya."
Across the stretch of open grass, going towards the burnt rubble of the warehouse, were Quatre and Trowa.
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Well, what do you think? Hope you guys like it, but I would like to hear your comments and suggestions from you. Thanks for reading! Please r&r.
Author's note: "Kameko durana sequya." I don't know any language well enough for this phrase, so it's really just jibberish. The only other language I know at all is Spanish, which doesn't really fit for this. Then again, I don't know of any that would, except for maybe an ancient or inhuman language. So for now, it's one of those. Supposedly.
