Chapter Four
Trowa POV
Later that night, curled up in bed with Quatre sleeping peacefully in my arms, I had the chance to think about the latest addition to our group of Gundam pilots: Heero Yuy, or so he said was his code name.
The boy sure is an enigmatic surprise. Most people would say that about me, I confess, but in reality I am much simpler than Heero. I don't have three distinct personalities controlled by an old scientist, for one. Nor do I have a form that looks like a cross between a wolf and a panther. I am also not fourteen years old.
That came as the biggest shock to me. The boy that I had seen mow down and kill OZ troops with his bare hands. The boy that ruthlessly attacked both OZ and myself until he collapsed after the explosion. He was most definitely the fiercest of the five of us, yet he was the youngest.
"Trowa…." I bit my lip as Quatre turned around in my embrace to look up at me. "Why aren't you sleeping yet?"
"Thinking."
"About Heero?" I nodded. "He's so young, but his mind is older than all of ours. He'll make a good leader."
"He will." I agreed. Quatre sighed.
"He's too young for this, I know. But you heard him down there. He's been raised for this since he was born! It angers me to think that he could never have what the rest of had. And then to go through what he said he did with J."
"It's a shame we can't do anything." I said.
"Oh, but we can." Quatre looked up at me and smiled. "We can be there for him. You saw him tonight on the stairs. In the mode he's in now, he seems as helpless as the child he is. At least while he's like this…"
"We can try, Quatre. But remember that even though he has 'modes', they are all a part of him. We don't know if he can switch on his own or if, say we got attacked. If he would become the soldier." Quatre nodded against my chest. "We'll have to be careful around him, but not so that he notices."
"I agree. But I don't like it. I feel him now, and he's…." Quatre trailed off. "He feels young."
"We'll help him all that we can."
The next morning I woke early and went downstairs, expecting to be the only one up. I was surprised to find Heero at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee in his hands. "Good morning." I said.
"Hn." I poured myself a cup and walked to the other side of the table. Though Heero's face was lax and he looked half asleep, I could still sense the edge of danger he always seemed to radiate. "Before you ask, I haven't been triggered. I'm always like this before my coffee."
"I wasn't going to ask." I replied calmly, watching as Heero lifted his head. There were dark rings under his eyes, which were half closed. "Didn't sleep well?"
"No. I'm not sure what J wants me to do. Wants me to tell you, or not tell you." He let out a frustrated grunt.
"You're hiding something else." I noted. He nodded. "Is it going to hurt you?" He opened his mouth, and then paused before shrugging. "Can it?" He nodded, but didn't offer any more information. "Well, if you ever need to talk…."
"Arigatou." I nodded and we drank our coffee in silence. Wu Fei joined us a few minutes later with his tea, and Quatre soon struggled down for his own morning dose of caffeine. He settled beside me and drank in silence. Duo was the last to arrive, and he looked so pathetic with his disheveled braid and wrinkled clothes that even Heero grunted in laughter.
"Yar yar, yuk it up guys. Where's my coffee?" I held back a laugh and motioned to the coffee pot, which was soon emptied by Duo. I shook my head in amusement as Duo plopped into the chair beside Heero and let his head thunk to the table. Heero actually looked torn between amusement and worry.
"He's fine Heero." I assured him. "This is almost like a daily ritual. Watch, next he'll wake back up and be all confused."
"Wake back up? He was sleepwalking?" I nodded and sure enough Duo shot up in his seat and looked around.
"Huh?" He blinked. "Coffee?"
"In your hand." Wu Fei said. Duo looked down at the cup in confusion, then looked up and grinned sheepishly.
"I did it again. Did I do anything stupid?"
"Not really." He sighed in relief and downed the rest of the coffee.
"So what's on the agenda for today?" Duo asked as I cleared the table off. "Anything exciting planned?"
"Someone needs to get groceries." Quatre piped up. I could see Duo scowl and smirked. "I think you should take Heero." Heero looked up, still partially asleep. "He should get to know the land and town."
"There's a town? This close to the safe house?" He asked unhappily.
"It's not all that close." Duo said. "It's a two hour drive."
"But…!" He let out a little yelp and quieted. I peered at him in concern but he recovered and acted as if nothing had happened. Quatre hadn't missed the little yelp either.
"So will you two go?" Duo let out a sigh but nodded. Heero nodded as well, although he seemed a bit subdued.
"Great! Thanks!" Duo retreated to get dressed, and I followed him to the stairs.
"Duo!" I stopped him. Remembering to keep my voice low so Heero wouldn't hear, I began to speak. "I need you to see if you can find out what Heero's hiding. He said it can hurt him, and he shouldn't say. But did you notice in there….?"
"Yeah, I'll try." Duo said, serious. I nodded and returned to the kitchen just as Heero was leaving to get himself dressed.
Duo POV
I took the keys to the jeep off the hook and swung a coat on over my tee. I made sure my braid was tucked in before donning a cap and slipping on my boots. "Heeero! You comin!" There was a thump from the living room.
"Don't yell Maxwell!" Wu Fei hollered.
"You did!" I pointed out, just as Heero slid down the rail to land in front of me. I grinned at him and he gave me a shy smile in return.
"Did you jut slide down the rail?" Trust Wu Fei to hear the almost inaudible sound of clothing on wood. Heero had a deer-caught-in-headlights look, and I shrugged at him.
"No. I've been by the door the whole time." He was silent so I grabbed Heero by the elbow and, ignoring the flinch, dragged him out to the jeep before Wu Fei could figure out it was Heero that slid down the rail.
"Is that not allowed?" Heero asked once we were in the jeep and cruising down the dirt road.
"Well, Wu Fei and Trowa get annoyed by it. But almost anything annoys them." I said. "It's not NOT allowed, so you can do it if you want. I've known Quatre to do it on occasion!"
"Oh." He was silent. Unfortunately there wasn't any radio in the jeep, so I filled the silence the only way I know how.
"So, got any other little secrets?" I asked with a grin. I could see Heero stiffen at the question. Slowly, hesitantly, he answered.
"Yes." He flinched, as if expecting me to yell at him…or something.
"Wanna share?"
"I don't know if I can." He said, fiddling with the strap of his tank top. I shrugged and was ready to drop the subject, when he surprised me by speaking again. "Okay. Okay." I looked over at him and almost had a heart attack as a thin band of steel slowly materialized around his neck.
"Holy Fuck! Heero, what IS that?" I pulled the jeep over so I wouldn't loose control over it in my shock.
"It acts as a communication device between me and J. It's how he triggers me. That's all I am allowed to say." He said with a sigh.
"You can…talk to J through that?" I asked. He nodded. "And he can talk to you." Another nod. "Can you turn it off?"
"Sort of. We can turn off our ends but there is a way to make the other know if we need to be in contact." Here Heero shifted and I guessed I must have hit on a topic he wasn't able to talk about.
"How?" I ventured.
"Can't tell you." The metal band – collar, really – disappeared.
"How does it do that?" I asked as I pulled back onto the road.
"It has the same technology as you Gundam." I whistled. The rest of the ride into town was silent, with the exception of a few curses when pedestrians decided to run in front of me. My road rage made Heero snicker.
The trip through the small grocery store was, in my opinion, quite fun. I coaxed Heero into taking two carts, then after picking up the first items on our list (cereal: Coco Puffs, Rice Chex, Oatmeal mix, Raisin Bran…) I coaxed him into a cart race that ended with me sliding into a display of Campbell's soups. The manager of the store, to my surprise, merely laughed as I helped pick up the display.
After that little incident we continued on to pick up various kinds of cookies, microwave dinners, oven pizzas, toaster foods, bread, soups, Spaghettios and other related items, drinks, and finally ice cream. I managed to coax Heero into tasting the sample stir fry chicken being handed out, and he grimaced.
"The real stuff tastes better." He then proceeded to buy the ingredients for traditional Japanese stir fry and I grinned. Some more junk food was added to our carts, mainly for my use, and then we were on our way through the checkout line.
Let me tell you this, I'd never been more grateful for the scientists funding our supplies then I was at that time! The total came close to two hundred dollars. The bags barely fit in the jeep. As it was, Heero had the bread and squashable items in his lap as we careened back down the dirt roads to our safe house.
Wu Fei was nice enough to help us unload and put stuff away. When I asked about Tro and Quat he flushed and motioned to the ceiling. "They've been…occupied since you left."
"They're boinking like bunnies." I waggled my eyebrows. Heero narrowed his eyes, probably at my crudeness. "Oh well. I guess they don't want to know about Hee-chan's little secret."
"Secret? Another one?"
"Hee-chan?" I snickered.
"I'll tell, or rather Heero will tell, when they finish upstairs." I told Wu Fei. "And yes, Hee-chan." I skipped into the living room and began searching for the remote, grinning as Wu Fei spoke.
"He gives everyone he considers family 'nicknames'." He said in mild disgust. "You've officially been adopted into his 'family'."
"Do you have one?" I cracked up as Wu Fei spluttered and I couldn't help it.
"He has several. Wu-man, Wu-bear, Fei, Fei Fei, Fei-cakes…"
"Maxwell!" I eeped and leapt up as Wu Fei came crashing into the room, dropping the remote on the couch and dashing upstairs. I could hear Heero's laughter as I ran, and I grinned.
TBC