*~*~*
Chapter 11: Part 2
"Trowa, Quatre, thank you both. This means a lot to me." Mikoshi smiled and shook the boys' hands.
Trowa nodded.
"It would be our pleasure, ma'am. He's a nice boy." Quatre said, gently, smiling.
Kihono frowned. "Well ~I~ don't agree with it."
"What's new?" Mikoshi muttered, catching a glare from her husband.
"When would you like us to start?" Trowa asked.
"Umm---"
"Never."
"Shush, Kihono!" Mikoshi frowned at her husband. "This is important to me."
Kihono raised his eyes to the ceiling, sat back in his chair, and sighed. "Yes, as is every other helpless creature in the world." Out of nowhere, a hand slapped him on the back of his head. "Hey!" He yelped. "I'm still the General!"
"In charge of whining." Mikoshi uttered dryly.
Trowa and Quatre glanced at one another and smiled.
*~*~
It was impossible. It had to be. No human-no ~normal~ human-could have done it. Yet ~he~ was. He was going to die. Maybe he'd just get maimed. But still-how was this possible?!?
Duo shook his head in amazement and confusion while he finished his thirteenth jumping jack. Morning exercises had just begun, and John, Kihono's officer in command, had started them all out with jumping jacks. John, honestly, was the jackass of all jackasses, and if there was one person John absolutely loathed, it was Shenji.
So what was so interesting about Shenji right this minute? Well, the boy had started out on beat doing jumping jacks, but had slowly faded in and out of consciousness. Finally, after his fifth jumping jack, Shenji had given up and fallen asleep. Thing was, he was ~still~ doing the jumping jacks ~while~ he slept! He was also majorly off beat, and John was going up and down the line of jumping jack-ers, checking straight arms, legs, and upper-body. Shenji would die.
"Psst! Shenji, man!" Duo couldn't help but crack a tiny smile at the sight of Shenji's head bobbing up and down while he slept and clumsily jumped. His arms flailed about, threatening to pummel the person beside him. "Psst!"
"Shut up!" Wufei hissed, trying to be as silent as possible. If John found out that that idiot Duo was talking, he would make everyone do fifteen laps around the whole camp, plus sixty extra jumping jacks.
"Look at Shenji!" Duo barked back in a harsh whisper, snickering at the sight of Shenji slowly falling over.
Wufei's eyes widened a bit, and at first he scowled-until he saw how close John was to them. John was already in front of Hiiro, who stood next to the guy next to Duo. Wufei smiled wickedly. "Let the baka have his rest."
Duo couldn't help it and let out a laugh when Shenji began leaning on the boy next to him, legs going every which way and arms smacking anything near him.
"Hey, get off me!" The boy yelled, quite loudly.
John whipped his head around at the noise. He frowned. "What's going on?"
Duo snorted into his loud laughing, coughing and wheezing as he jumped.
Wufei smiled smugly: Shenji was in for it.
Usagi, awoken rudely by the sudden hard ground, muttered a few choice words and blinked heavy-lidded eyes to focus. Her eyes slowly shut once more, and sleeping took over.
John, veins in his neck pulsating, stared down at Shenji with an even deeper hate than he had ever known. "Boy," he growled, "get up."
She knew the voice. First instinct: Run. Run veeeeeeery fast. Usagi's eyes popped open and she 'eeped,' shooting up and flying away from John's angry glare. 'Damn, now I have to hide ~again~!' Hey, it wasn't like this was the ~first~ time she'd had to run from John.
From their hiding places, Trowa and Quatre sighed.
"This is pretty pitiful."
"Trowa!"
Trowa smiled calmly. "But he'll get better."
Quatre nodded. "I do hope so."
::777 minutes and 3 seconds later [in other words, 13 hours later] ::
"Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty!" Usagi stretched from side to side and kicked out her legs after her jumping jacks were finished. "I think I'm doing better already!" She proclaimed happily.
Hiiro looked up from his stretching position on the ground. "How? We haven't even started the training yet."
She giggled. "I know, but I don't feel so sleepy. Usually I'd be wiped out after a day of training."
"That means you're doing better in the Boot Camp."
"I guess. So what're we learning today, Sir?" She asked cheerily.
He stood and mimicked her previous stretching. "Attacks."
Usagi clapped. "Yes! I've been waiting for this! Okay, punches? Kicks? Any weapons involved?" She couldn't wait to get better so she could show off what she knew.
Hiiro nodded. "Kicks, mainly. If we have time, weapons. Punches will be added in to everything. We might get to bed a little late tonight."
Usagi smiled. "Fine with me. Guess what!"
"No."
She sweat-dropped. "Well anyway, I stayed outside until four something in the morning yesterday!"
"Why?"
"I was going over everything we had learned!"
"Oh."
"Oh?" She frowned. "Aren't you going to praise me? Give me a 'good job,' or a 'nice going,' or a 'that's great'?"
He frowned. "You were doing something you've been required to do since the first day you learned that material. Why would I praise you?"
Her face fell and she blushed, looking at the ground. "Oh. Yeah, you're right." She said, quietly.
Hiiro sighed, rolling his eyes upward. "Congratulations anyway, though." He muttered.
Usagi giggled. "Thanks, Sir!"
"Let's begin."
Trowa and Quatre sat in a tree watching the training from afar.
"He's persistent. That's good."
"Yes," Quatre agreed, smiling, "He's doing much better."
"Much."
"You know, Shenji could really be a great fighter in the future."
"Hm."
They shared a friendly smile and watched. The wind of night blew, as if it itself were praising Shenji's persistence.
Usagi kicked her leg higher, then screeched, falling to the ground. "Ow! I think I ripped something in there!" She howled, grabbing her thigh.
Hiiro bent down to check the leg, probing it tenderly until:
"Kuso!" Usagi lashed out and smacked Hiiro. "That HURT! Don't touch that spot!"
He glared. "You pulled a muscle. Get up and keep going."
"Nani?! But---" She stopped. After being silent for about five minutes, she ground her teeth together and pushed herself up to a standing position. Hot pain ripped throughout her leg, and sweat began to form over her brow. "Let's keep going." She whimpered.
He nodded approvingly, and swept his leg under Shenji's feet, tripping him.
She fell on her wounded leg.
Quatre scrunched up his face. "If there's one thing about Shenji I'll always remember, it's how loud he can scream."
Trowa smiled. "I'll probably remember a lot more."
"He doesn't sit with us at lunch. I invited him yesterday, but he just turned his back and went to the gym to train. In fact, he's been in the gym during lunch ever since his training began with Hiiro."
"Ah." Trowa mused, watching Usagi kick and fall back, only to kick higher and straighter each time.
The blonde smiled. "Trowa, I'm pregnant."
"Ah-WHAT!?" Trowa whipped his head around to his laughing friend. "Quatre, you're not a female, are you?" He tensed, wondering if all of his so- called "male" friends were women in disguise.
Quatre abruptly stopped laughing. "No-o. I was kidding. You get so lost in your thoughts sometimes. I figured I'd wake you up." He grinned. "Scared you, didn't I?"
"Ha." Trowa focused back on the training.
Usagi, on her knees, kept tasted thick blood in her mouth as she bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Ever since Hiiro had told her she'd pulled a muscle, he'd been visciously attacking her wounded leg, making the pain greater and more unbearable. She pinched tears from her eyes. "Hiiro-"
"No." He shook his head, kindness had left him hours ago. His eyes were uncaring, cold, hostile. "We're going to continue like this until I say to stop. And you're not going to cry, scream, whimper-none of that. You want to leave, leave. Get up and do a lap around the camp."
Her eyes bulged in fear and disbelief. She clamped her mouth shut so she wouldn't scream 'No!' and stood, shakily, her thigh burning with pain that shot through her body, making her head dizzy. "Fine." She growled through clenched teeth. "Sir." She began at a slow walk, then made herself jog, finally succeeding in a lanky run.
Trowa smiled softly. 'Sorry, Usa. I'd help, but Hiiro's right.'
She breathed through her mouth, pushing the air out through her nose. The crisp scent of winter burned her nostrils, froze her throat, made her shiver. Still she ran on. Her feet crunched loudly on the gravel of the ground, pebbles and rocks and dirt flew out from beneath her feet. Her thigh throbbed, begging for her to sop ad just quit this, go home to Rei and Rini. She ran even harder.
Her breathing sped up and she pumped her arms, balling her fists and punching the air as she had learned to do yesterday; as she had practiced during lunch today. Her fist sliced through the cold air, sliced through the fog her breath made in the darkness of night. Her hair cut like a whip through the air, bouncing and jolting off her back as she ran even faster.
Her legs pumped, eyes became keen of everything around her. A rustle in the bushes, the wind in the trees. She didn't let anything unnerve her, running even faster, ignoring the rapidly building pain in her leg until finally: Hiiro. He stood, arms crossed, awaiting her arrival. She had made it around the school.
Quatre suppressed the urge to clap and instead smiled widely.
Hiiro lifted a sole eyebrow at the determination in Shenji's eyes. He felt his mouth twitch as Shenji proceeded to run right past him, running on to do a second lap around the school. ~This~ was what he had been waiting for. Shenji had grown up.
They spent hours working with kicks; Usagi's leg had been wrapped with a bandage. They blocked each other, breathing as one, training as one, attacking as one.
Trowa and Quare hopped down from their posts in the tree as soon as the training finished, each smiling.
"Tomorrow's going to be a fun day. So what do we tell Mikoshi?"
Trowa grinned. "She should keep Shenji here."
Day 003
All of her classes had been put on hold until further notice so she could train with Hiiro. And train she did. They were in the gym.
"Ya!" She thrust her fist out, missing Hiiro, but quickly ducked his punch, blocked his kick and retaliated with one of her own. She found herself on the ground a moment later.
Hiiro stood above Shenji. "Today," He declared, danger in his eyes, "we work with weaponry. To be specific: knives."
She yipped and stood, wincing when she put weight on her leg. "Why does it still hurt, Sir?" The name had become normal.
"You've been putting weight on it, and using it. This is the painful way for it to get better. Catch." He pulled a knife from his bag and tossed it to Shenji.
Usagi yelped in pain when a clean slice appeared on her thumb, the weapon dropping to the ground. "Ow!" She hissed, bringing the wound up to her mouth and sucking.
Hiiro scowled. "You can't catch? ~Now~ I've seen everything."
"I can catch!" She yelled, embarrassed. "But I don't spend my time catching knives, so I'm a bit out of practice." Sarcasm dripped from her lips as well as the blood from her cut.
"Well, sucking it will only make it infected. Let me see the cut." He balked at the small slit in her thumb. "You're whining over ~that~?"
She yanked her thumb from his eyes, flushing a deep red. "I wasn't whining. It hurts." It did. It throbbed, and the air made it pulse. "And it's bleeding! Make it stop!" She quickly brought it to her mouth, but her hand was smacked.
"You're going to get a lot more cuts while training with these knives, so get used to pain. Put your thumb down!" He ripped the finger from her mouth. "Leave it down. Down! Good. Put it back down!" He glared.
Usagi whimpered. "But it ~hurts~!" She fought the urge to suck on her thumb, pressing a finger over the wound.
"Pick up the knife you dropped. I'm going to show you how to throw."
Hiiro set up a dartboard that stood on legs. He held a shiny knife by its blade, reared his arm back and threw. The knife sliced cleanly through the air and hit its mark: the middle of the dartboard. "Now," He turned to Shenji, "you try."
She frowned at the knife in her hand. "You're dangerous." She declared, glaring at the knife. "You could kill somebody. You could kill ~me~. You could kill-"
"~Why~ are you talking to my knife?" Hiiro asked, exasperated. He had learned to expect anything weird from Shenji. "Just ~throw~ it."
Her nervous laugh echoed throughout the gym. " 'Kay." She mimicked how Hiiro had held the knife, reared back her arm and threw. The knife went sailing over the dartboard and hit the wall behind it, clanking noisily to the floor. She flashed Hiiro a grin. "Good, eh?"
He shook his head. "Yes, Shenji," He growled and went to retrieve his knife, "real good."
She could feel the sarcasm in his voice. "I thought so too!" She yelled, and stuck her tongue out at him.
A knife suddenly flew at her.
Usagi screamed and fell flat on the ground, the knife hitting the wall behind her and sliding to the ground. She stood. "Yui!" She screamed, "You're such a-AHH!" She dodged another knife, ducking another, and jumping over yet another. "Stop it!" She howled in pain as a knife lodged itself inside her thigh, only the handle sticking out.
Black and white flashed before her eyes as sirens went off in her ears. She could hear shrill shrieks being erupted, and somewhere in her mind she knew it was her herself who was screaming. Something warm and wet glided over her leg, and the screams reached a higher octave as someone put pressure on her leg. Pounding filled her ears as pain found its way to every fiber of her being, and her thigh began to shake. Still she screamed. Someone was yelling at her to calm down, and people were suddenly crowding her.
"Shenji, calm down!" Quatre held the shaking shoulders of the howling boy. "Trowa, he's going into shock!" He yelled over his shoulders.
"I can't do much about that right now!" Trowa yelled back, helping Hiiro apply pressure to the gushing wound on Usagi's thigh. "Damnit Hiiro, why'd you have to cut he-him!" He caught himself.
Hiiro said nothing, only applied pressure. He ripped a piece of the bottom of his shirt and tied it around Shenji's red, sticky thigh, the blood quickly coating the floor and making it slick and shiny.
Trowa glared daggers at Hiiro but said nothing, only helped to tie the wound tighter.
Quatre looked into Shenji's dilating pupils and sighed as they began to flicker back to normal, the boy's sobs reducing a bit noise level. "He's all right." He propped himself beside Shenji against the wall on the ground. "He's going to be fine."
"Has he lost too much blood?" It was the first thing Hiiro had said. His ears were still ringing from Shenji's screams of pain.
"He's lost a lot." Trowa snapped, wiping bloodied hands on his shirt. "Maybe you should stop training him."
Usagi stopped screaming abruptly, and after a second, she screamed a word: NO!
Quatre winced. Shenji had stopped screaming, but huge tears were rolling down the boy's contorted face of pain.
Her knuckles were white as she sobbed, gripping into her palms and penetrating the skin. Her thigh throbbed, shook-her body trembled. "Kami, it hurts! Trowa-Trowa make it stop!" She began to sob uncontrollably, the pain unbearable.
Trowa's heart just about broke as Usagi called out to him, but there was only one thing he could do to stop the pain. He gripped the knife in her hand and stuck it back into the wound, slowly inching it in and cutting the cloth.
"What are you doing?!" Quatre yelled, pushing Trowa away.
Her head snapped back as she let out a final scream of pain. It was too much-hurt too much. Her insides tightened, her thigh stopped shaking. Her breathing slowed, her screams stopped. Her eyes closed.
Hiiro stood, lifting the unconscious Shenji over his shoulder. "Good idea."
"I didn't see ~you~ doing anything, Yui." Trowa barked, throwing the knife to the ground and standing.
He ignored this. "Control your emotions, Barton."
"Control this." Trowa's fist connected with Hiiro's nose in a forceful punch, sending more blood to splatter on the wall. A resounding crack echoed off the gymnasium walls. He took Usagi's limp body and placed it over his own shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Hiiro and stalking out of the gym to the Medical Center.
Quatre rushed over to Hiiro. "You alright?" He was pushed away.
Hiiro grasped his nose with both hands and set it back into place with a sickening crunch. The blood really flowed now, and he bent his head forward, spitting blood from his mouth. "It'll have to bleed out." He growled. "Go get something to clean up this gym with. I'll be fine."
Quatre nodded and hurried out of the gym.
'Barton,' Hiiro seethed, 'you're lucky I wasn't expecting that. Otherwise, you'd be dead right now.'
::2 HOURS LATER::
He had been watching over her for a while now, and he glanced at his watch. Mikoshi and Kihono had been outraged when they had learned of Shenji's wound, but he had said he would take care of Shenji, and told them not to worry.
Trowa leaned forward and pressed an ice pack to Usagi's burning forehead. The girl moaned in response to the cold stimulus. He smiled. She was coming around.
Pain. That was all she could feel. Moving caused an alarming amount of soreness in her thigh, and she hissed, daring to open her heavy-lidded eyes. A familiar face greeted her with a smile. She tried smiling back, opened her mouth to speak. Not a sound came out. Her eyes widened in alarm and she tried again. Nothing.
He chuckled at the worried eyes cast his way. "You used your voice up screaming. You'll get it back." "Shenji!" Duo bounded into the room, falling over and into Trowa, landing on the ground next to Shenji's cot. "Man, this is the second time you've been in here. You ~must~ be a woman or something." His mind told him to joke, to make everyone smile. His eyes darkened when he spotted the bandage around Shenji's leg spotted with crimson. "I'll kill him." He vowed.
She smiled widely, trying to laugh but only producing a few puffs of air.
Trowa smiled. 'Not if I get to him first.' "Guess this means it's your turn to watch over Shenji." He stood.
Duo laughed. "Nah, I just dropped by." He trailed off as Shenji's face fell. "But I guess I can stay."
Trowa nodded. "Good bye, Shenji. Have fun, Duo."
"Later Tro!" Duo called as the tall teen left. He smiled at Shenji. "Ha. Wufei's never gonna let you live this one down."
She sighed. Leave it to Duo to laugh at her. She grinned a bit. He ~was~ funny, though.
"Hey, you OK?"
Startled by his seriousness, she smiled, blushed and nodded. 'Thanks, Duo.'
Duo grinned. "I'm only askin' because Wufei-"
'Some things will never change.' She sighed.
~*~*
Mikoshi mirrored her husband's anger tenfold.
"So careless! We told you to train him, not ~maim~ him!" Kihono boomed, shaking his fists wildly.
Hiiro stood stock-still, acting as if he wasn't even hearing a word they were saying.
Mikoshi, so heated with anger, stepped forward and smacked Hiiro across the cheek.
He showed no signs of feeling any pain, only shifted his weight with a grunt. His cheek stung and was red.
Kihono shook his head as Mikoshi prepared to slap the boy again. He grabbed Hiiro by his collar, snarling into his face. "Look at me, ~boy~. Listen closely: if you ever hurt one of my trainees again, I will have you shot and killed, got it?" He tightened his hold around Hiiro's clothing. "I don't care how good a soldier you are, you're not ~that~ good. You're lucky I'm not stripping you of your authority in this camp. Now get out of my sight." He thrust Hiiro away from him roughly.
Hiiro regained his balance, bowed to his leaders and left the room. He hadn't spoken a single word. Out in the hallway, he made a silent promise to himself. 'I ~will~ be better. I will be flawless.' He smirked. 'I will be perfect.'
~**~
Trowa and Quatre sat in silence in a private area of the camp. Loud planes roared over head then faded, leaving a smoke path behind.
"We're really going to war?"
"Yes, Quatre."
Quatre sighed. "Wonderful." He muttered dryly.
"Kay-sera-sera." Trowa said, so softly only the wind heard.
*~*~
Usagi opened her eyes as the sweat trickled down her forehead. 'Have to get better to defeat the Alliance. Can't waste a day of training.' She pushed herself up, then sat still. A familiar light-headed feeling wafted over her, air filling her lungs and making her body feel like it were floating. Her eyes clouded over and she gasped, unable to breathe for a minute, but the feeling quickly faded and the cool air vanished from the room.
She gasped, sucking in air in great gulps and panting. She clenched the sheets around her as a final pain set itself upon her thigh-she ground her teeth together until it passed and a distant burning sensation was left. It, too, passed. She tore the sheets off of her body, ripping the bandage from her leg to find her suspicions confirmed: she had just healed herself.
Rising up and out of bed, Usagi padded, in socks and only a shirt, underwear and boxer shorts, to the door and pulled it open, traveling to her dorm room. She was getting dressed to meet Hiiro.
Their training session that day was a bit off-key at first, but they both got through the awkwardness and got down to serious training. For one, they both had things running through their mind. For Usagi, it was to defeat the Alliance. For Hiiro, it was to become perfect. Both met each other punch for punch, kick for kick. Hiiro even added in the knives, being more careful this time. Usagi was a quick learner when she wanted to be, and the third knife she threw landed in one of the outside rings of the dartboard. All in all, they had a fairly good training session.
Until Hiiro demanded to know how Shenji was able to train while his leg was . . . wounded.
Usagi made up an excuse about the cut not being as deep as everyone had thought (when in reality it was much deeper) and about it not being any of his business since, for one, Hiiro was the one who stabbed her in the first place.
Grouchily Hiiro backed off and the matter wasn't pressed anymore by anyone.
[AN: I'm gonna speed this up a lil, K?] Day 004, 005, 006, 007 and 008 they reviewed, worked with knives, and Hiiro even brought a gun. He had promised Shenji that he would get to use it one of these days, but not now. Shenji, in his mind, was becoming very skilled, not as good as Hiiro, but good enough to face-off against Duo. Now, Day 009, they would work with guns and moving targets. The gym was the regular training room.
"Yes!" She couldn't stop hopping around. Her thigh wound had completely closed up, leaving her with only a scar. "Sir! Where're the guns? And who're the moving targets? And-"
"No Hiiro. I won't do it. No, no, no."
She giggled. "Hiya Duo. What'cha doin' in here?" She'd learned slang from the American boy.
Duo frowned. "Yo. Hiiro wants me to be a moving target for you guys to shoot at. I told him I'm too young to die."
Usagi grinned. "Please, Duo? You can have my chocolate cake at lunch from now on."
"Considering you're never ~at~ lunch. No."
"Yes." Hiiro loaded his gun, holding it to the back of Duo's head. "Now strap up."
Duo sighed, grinning darkly. "Okay, okay. You got me, Hiiro." The gun was removed from the back of his head and he spun around, tripping Hiiro with his leg. He proceeded to attack him.
Usagi's eyes widened. "What're you doing, Duo?" She yelled, watching the boys get into a fist-fight.
Duo, knocked to the ground, laughed dizzily. "I figured I'd rather die by a fist-fight than a gun wound. Those things hurt."
Hiiro, unfazed, scowled. "You really ~are~ as dumb as I thought. Strap up. Now."
Duo stood, grumbling, and put on a bullet proof vest over his upper half, placing knee-vests and arm-vests on their respective places. "You better not shoot me on purpose either, Hiiro." He crossed his arms, pouting.
Usagi, excited, jumped up. "Duo, just DO THIS or I'LL shoot you instead! Gimmie a gun, Hiiro!"
Hiiro sent an icy stare at Shenji.
Usagi flinched, laughing nervously. "I meant Sir."
"Now," Hiiro continued, "Duo's going to act as a spy, hiding behind the dartboards and running back and forth from each board. I want you to shoot him."
"I can do that-"
"No." Hiiro glared at the boy. "I don't want you to shoot ~at~ him, I want you to shoot ~him~. Now go." He tossed Shenji a small handgun, loaded, and stepped out of the line of fire as Duo scampered behind a dartboard.
She caught it with ease-Hiiro had taught her to catch guns the same way she caught knives, only skillfully-and quickly pulled the trigger, missing Duo and hitting the wall behind him. "Darn." She cursed, laughing. She fired again as he ran back and forth from each dartboard. Again and again she fired, and again and again she missed.
Duo stopped running, glaring full-force at Shenji. "Damnit!" He growled, throwing up his hands. He stomped up to the giggling boy and placed the gun- nozzle first-on his chest. "Now shoot," he snarled, "because obviously this is the only way you'll ever hit me."
"Duo, don't interfere with Shenji's training. I asked you to be a ~moving~ target, not a ~talking~ target." Hiiro crossed his arms. "He'll hit you sooner or later."
"Yeah," Duo sneered, walking away, "more later than sooner."
BANG!
Hiiro smirked. "Told you."
Usagi hopped up and down happily as she shot Duo again and again, not missing this time. She had caught him unaware, and she was having a helluva time. "Duo, stop moving!"
"You can stop now!" Duo yelled, running back and forth. "The bullets are hurting my ears, Shenji! STOP SHOOTING!"
She grinned wickedly, aiming for Duo's feet. "Dance for me, Duo!" She pummeled him with shots.
"I'll kill you for this!" Duo hissed. "Dead. You're dead, Shenji!"
Trowa and Quatre, trying desperately to conceal their laughter, watched Duo's ridiculous dance in private.
"Well, at least Shenji's learning how to shoot." Quatre remarked, making him and his comrade burst into a fit of laughter.
And still the days continued. Usagi was getting better with each session of training with Hiiro. The sessions lasted from 6:30 in the morning until 4:30 the next morning, and soon 2 hours worth of sleep was routine for Usagi.
::21 days later::
She stared at the ceiling, not wanting to get up. It was time. Today was the day. This was D-Day. Today was the day Mikoshi and Kihono would decide who was to continue their stay at the camp to train, and who was only going to slow down the rest of the trainees and be sent home. She sat up, eyes awakening to the darkness of her room. 6:23. She knew the time by the gray outside. Hiiro had trained her with all he knew, and she was skilled in gun handling, but she could use some more practice.
She got up and went to the shower room, dragging a limp white towel and the customary clothing. Her shower was ice cold, quick, penetrating. She got dressed in silence, taking her dampened hair and wrapping/weaving it into a long braid, which she placed into a tight bun so it would get out of her way. [AN: Not a girly bun! Think of the buns the guys from Mulan wore. You know, Mulan, the movie?]
To prove their worth to the camp, every single trainee was to fight in hand- to-hand combat against someone of a higher rank. Those who failed miserably would be cast away. Those who prevailed, or even failed honorably would be welcome to stay. Of course, everyone had the choice to go home.
She went through the movements of punching, kicking, uppercuts, surprise attacks, sliding, ducking, tripping, plunging. She went to a door she often visited with no one but herself and the occupants around. She knocked.
"Come in."
She went inside. There was only one occupant right now, and she walked to him, curled into his bottom bunk bed and closed her eyes as he placed a blanket over her.
Trowa smiled, brushed a stray strand of Usagi's hair out of her eyes and went back to work on his computer. Him and Quatre had been asked to stay at the camp with Mikoshi so she could have them give their opinions on who should stay and who should leave. Quatre was with Mikoshi discussing things to look for in the trainees right now. Usagi often visited him to talk or just sleep in his and Quatre's room when the blonde boy was out. She never went to lunch, only trained while others pigged out. She ate alone, and only ate vegetables and good meats, drinking water. He knew. He looked out for her.
~**~
Duo, in the gym with Hiiro and Wufei, cocked his gun, then slipped it back into the holster. He repeated these movements with trained agility, then went to train with Wufei.
Hiiro trained himself, not stopping for anything or anyone. He was determined to fight. Was determined-ready-to be perfect.
~**~
Mikoshi looked at the whistle, a silent prayer being uttered in her mind. 'Kami, please let Shenji prove himself today. Please, ~please~ let Shenji prove himself worthy of Kihono.' She glanced at her husband as he brought the whistle of attendance to his lips, and he blew.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Well . . . hi! I've missed this story! Have you guys? Okay, I'm sorry about the whole not updating in 2 months thing, but I completely messed up when I tried to update this chapter [well . . . this 2-part chapter] and didn't have to courage to try to update it again because I thought something worse would happen.
So . . . yeah, sorry about that ^.^. I hope the 2-part thing made up for it! I promise I'll get the next chapters out as soon as possible, but I got a job! [Technically I'm too young to have one, but somebody sympathized with me, and . . . blammo, I got a job!]
Back to the story . . .
PHEW!!! Oh my goodness!!! That was looooong!!!! Heh, you guys are happy, eh? Well, next chapter the fighting begins! We'll see who stays and who leaves. Oh, and everyone? Usa's been training for a month, and the day is October 31st. Welp, let's see if she does well, or fails miserably. I can continue the story both ways.
If she wins, hey, she'll get to train with the others and have a lil romance with one of the guys [Who, ahem, you need to, you know, VOTE FOR a bit more. Haha, but you guys've been doing great w/ the voting, so thank you!!], plus everyone else'll have to find out she's a girl sooner or later, right? You do the math.
If she fails, then she goes home, but that doesn't mean she can't do anything about her friends. After all, she now knows how to heal herself without her magic henshin stick, or Hotaru; plus, she's been trained by one of the elite, so she can defend herself. Besides, she still wants to find Makato and the others, and her family, right? Again, you do the math.
::snickers:: I know, I'm leavin you all hanging. Hope you liked this chapter!!! Sorry again!!! Review!!
~azure_chan~
Chapter 11: Part 2
"Trowa, Quatre, thank you both. This means a lot to me." Mikoshi smiled and shook the boys' hands.
Trowa nodded.
"It would be our pleasure, ma'am. He's a nice boy." Quatre said, gently, smiling.
Kihono frowned. "Well ~I~ don't agree with it."
"What's new?" Mikoshi muttered, catching a glare from her husband.
"When would you like us to start?" Trowa asked.
"Umm---"
"Never."
"Shush, Kihono!" Mikoshi frowned at her husband. "This is important to me."
Kihono raised his eyes to the ceiling, sat back in his chair, and sighed. "Yes, as is every other helpless creature in the world." Out of nowhere, a hand slapped him on the back of his head. "Hey!" He yelped. "I'm still the General!"
"In charge of whining." Mikoshi uttered dryly.
Trowa and Quatre glanced at one another and smiled.
*~*~
It was impossible. It had to be. No human-no ~normal~ human-could have done it. Yet ~he~ was. He was going to die. Maybe he'd just get maimed. But still-how was this possible?!?
Duo shook his head in amazement and confusion while he finished his thirteenth jumping jack. Morning exercises had just begun, and John, Kihono's officer in command, had started them all out with jumping jacks. John, honestly, was the jackass of all jackasses, and if there was one person John absolutely loathed, it was Shenji.
So what was so interesting about Shenji right this minute? Well, the boy had started out on beat doing jumping jacks, but had slowly faded in and out of consciousness. Finally, after his fifth jumping jack, Shenji had given up and fallen asleep. Thing was, he was ~still~ doing the jumping jacks ~while~ he slept! He was also majorly off beat, and John was going up and down the line of jumping jack-ers, checking straight arms, legs, and upper-body. Shenji would die.
"Psst! Shenji, man!" Duo couldn't help but crack a tiny smile at the sight of Shenji's head bobbing up and down while he slept and clumsily jumped. His arms flailed about, threatening to pummel the person beside him. "Psst!"
"Shut up!" Wufei hissed, trying to be as silent as possible. If John found out that that idiot Duo was talking, he would make everyone do fifteen laps around the whole camp, plus sixty extra jumping jacks.
"Look at Shenji!" Duo barked back in a harsh whisper, snickering at the sight of Shenji slowly falling over.
Wufei's eyes widened a bit, and at first he scowled-until he saw how close John was to them. John was already in front of Hiiro, who stood next to the guy next to Duo. Wufei smiled wickedly. "Let the baka have his rest."
Duo couldn't help it and let out a laugh when Shenji began leaning on the boy next to him, legs going every which way and arms smacking anything near him.
"Hey, get off me!" The boy yelled, quite loudly.
John whipped his head around at the noise. He frowned. "What's going on?"
Duo snorted into his loud laughing, coughing and wheezing as he jumped.
Wufei smiled smugly: Shenji was in for it.
Usagi, awoken rudely by the sudden hard ground, muttered a few choice words and blinked heavy-lidded eyes to focus. Her eyes slowly shut once more, and sleeping took over.
John, veins in his neck pulsating, stared down at Shenji with an even deeper hate than he had ever known. "Boy," he growled, "get up."
She knew the voice. First instinct: Run. Run veeeeeeery fast. Usagi's eyes popped open and she 'eeped,' shooting up and flying away from John's angry glare. 'Damn, now I have to hide ~again~!' Hey, it wasn't like this was the ~first~ time she'd had to run from John.
From their hiding places, Trowa and Quatre sighed.
"This is pretty pitiful."
"Trowa!"
Trowa smiled calmly. "But he'll get better."
Quatre nodded. "I do hope so."
::777 minutes and 3 seconds later [in other words, 13 hours later] ::
"Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty!" Usagi stretched from side to side and kicked out her legs after her jumping jacks were finished. "I think I'm doing better already!" She proclaimed happily.
Hiiro looked up from his stretching position on the ground. "How? We haven't even started the training yet."
She giggled. "I know, but I don't feel so sleepy. Usually I'd be wiped out after a day of training."
"That means you're doing better in the Boot Camp."
"I guess. So what're we learning today, Sir?" She asked cheerily.
He stood and mimicked her previous stretching. "Attacks."
Usagi clapped. "Yes! I've been waiting for this! Okay, punches? Kicks? Any weapons involved?" She couldn't wait to get better so she could show off what she knew.
Hiiro nodded. "Kicks, mainly. If we have time, weapons. Punches will be added in to everything. We might get to bed a little late tonight."
Usagi smiled. "Fine with me. Guess what!"
"No."
She sweat-dropped. "Well anyway, I stayed outside until four something in the morning yesterday!"
"Why?"
"I was going over everything we had learned!"
"Oh."
"Oh?" She frowned. "Aren't you going to praise me? Give me a 'good job,' or a 'nice going,' or a 'that's great'?"
He frowned. "You were doing something you've been required to do since the first day you learned that material. Why would I praise you?"
Her face fell and she blushed, looking at the ground. "Oh. Yeah, you're right." She said, quietly.
Hiiro sighed, rolling his eyes upward. "Congratulations anyway, though." He muttered.
Usagi giggled. "Thanks, Sir!"
"Let's begin."
Trowa and Quatre sat in a tree watching the training from afar.
"He's persistent. That's good."
"Yes," Quatre agreed, smiling, "He's doing much better."
"Much."
"You know, Shenji could really be a great fighter in the future."
"Hm."
They shared a friendly smile and watched. The wind of night blew, as if it itself were praising Shenji's persistence.
Usagi kicked her leg higher, then screeched, falling to the ground. "Ow! I think I ripped something in there!" She howled, grabbing her thigh.
Hiiro bent down to check the leg, probing it tenderly until:
"Kuso!" Usagi lashed out and smacked Hiiro. "That HURT! Don't touch that spot!"
He glared. "You pulled a muscle. Get up and keep going."
"Nani?! But---" She stopped. After being silent for about five minutes, she ground her teeth together and pushed herself up to a standing position. Hot pain ripped throughout her leg, and sweat began to form over her brow. "Let's keep going." She whimpered.
He nodded approvingly, and swept his leg under Shenji's feet, tripping him.
She fell on her wounded leg.
Quatre scrunched up his face. "If there's one thing about Shenji I'll always remember, it's how loud he can scream."
Trowa smiled. "I'll probably remember a lot more."
"He doesn't sit with us at lunch. I invited him yesterday, but he just turned his back and went to the gym to train. In fact, he's been in the gym during lunch ever since his training began with Hiiro."
"Ah." Trowa mused, watching Usagi kick and fall back, only to kick higher and straighter each time.
The blonde smiled. "Trowa, I'm pregnant."
"Ah-WHAT!?" Trowa whipped his head around to his laughing friend. "Quatre, you're not a female, are you?" He tensed, wondering if all of his so- called "male" friends were women in disguise.
Quatre abruptly stopped laughing. "No-o. I was kidding. You get so lost in your thoughts sometimes. I figured I'd wake you up." He grinned. "Scared you, didn't I?"
"Ha." Trowa focused back on the training.
Usagi, on her knees, kept tasted thick blood in her mouth as she bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Ever since Hiiro had told her she'd pulled a muscle, he'd been visciously attacking her wounded leg, making the pain greater and more unbearable. She pinched tears from her eyes. "Hiiro-"
"No." He shook his head, kindness had left him hours ago. His eyes were uncaring, cold, hostile. "We're going to continue like this until I say to stop. And you're not going to cry, scream, whimper-none of that. You want to leave, leave. Get up and do a lap around the camp."
Her eyes bulged in fear and disbelief. She clamped her mouth shut so she wouldn't scream 'No!' and stood, shakily, her thigh burning with pain that shot through her body, making her head dizzy. "Fine." She growled through clenched teeth. "Sir." She began at a slow walk, then made herself jog, finally succeeding in a lanky run.
Trowa smiled softly. 'Sorry, Usa. I'd help, but Hiiro's right.'
She breathed through her mouth, pushing the air out through her nose. The crisp scent of winter burned her nostrils, froze her throat, made her shiver. Still she ran on. Her feet crunched loudly on the gravel of the ground, pebbles and rocks and dirt flew out from beneath her feet. Her thigh throbbed, begging for her to sop ad just quit this, go home to Rei and Rini. She ran even harder.
Her breathing sped up and she pumped her arms, balling her fists and punching the air as she had learned to do yesterday; as she had practiced during lunch today. Her fist sliced through the cold air, sliced through the fog her breath made in the darkness of night. Her hair cut like a whip through the air, bouncing and jolting off her back as she ran even faster.
Her legs pumped, eyes became keen of everything around her. A rustle in the bushes, the wind in the trees. She didn't let anything unnerve her, running even faster, ignoring the rapidly building pain in her leg until finally: Hiiro. He stood, arms crossed, awaiting her arrival. She had made it around the school.
Quatre suppressed the urge to clap and instead smiled widely.
Hiiro lifted a sole eyebrow at the determination in Shenji's eyes. He felt his mouth twitch as Shenji proceeded to run right past him, running on to do a second lap around the school. ~This~ was what he had been waiting for. Shenji had grown up.
They spent hours working with kicks; Usagi's leg had been wrapped with a bandage. They blocked each other, breathing as one, training as one, attacking as one.
Trowa and Quare hopped down from their posts in the tree as soon as the training finished, each smiling.
"Tomorrow's going to be a fun day. So what do we tell Mikoshi?"
Trowa grinned. "She should keep Shenji here."
Day 003
All of her classes had been put on hold until further notice so she could train with Hiiro. And train she did. They were in the gym.
"Ya!" She thrust her fist out, missing Hiiro, but quickly ducked his punch, blocked his kick and retaliated with one of her own. She found herself on the ground a moment later.
Hiiro stood above Shenji. "Today," He declared, danger in his eyes, "we work with weaponry. To be specific: knives."
She yipped and stood, wincing when she put weight on her leg. "Why does it still hurt, Sir?" The name had become normal.
"You've been putting weight on it, and using it. This is the painful way for it to get better. Catch." He pulled a knife from his bag and tossed it to Shenji.
Usagi yelped in pain when a clean slice appeared on her thumb, the weapon dropping to the ground. "Ow!" She hissed, bringing the wound up to her mouth and sucking.
Hiiro scowled. "You can't catch? ~Now~ I've seen everything."
"I can catch!" She yelled, embarrassed. "But I don't spend my time catching knives, so I'm a bit out of practice." Sarcasm dripped from her lips as well as the blood from her cut.
"Well, sucking it will only make it infected. Let me see the cut." He balked at the small slit in her thumb. "You're whining over ~that~?"
She yanked her thumb from his eyes, flushing a deep red. "I wasn't whining. It hurts." It did. It throbbed, and the air made it pulse. "And it's bleeding! Make it stop!" She quickly brought it to her mouth, but her hand was smacked.
"You're going to get a lot more cuts while training with these knives, so get used to pain. Put your thumb down!" He ripped the finger from her mouth. "Leave it down. Down! Good. Put it back down!" He glared.
Usagi whimpered. "But it ~hurts~!" She fought the urge to suck on her thumb, pressing a finger over the wound.
"Pick up the knife you dropped. I'm going to show you how to throw."
Hiiro set up a dartboard that stood on legs. He held a shiny knife by its blade, reared his arm back and threw. The knife sliced cleanly through the air and hit its mark: the middle of the dartboard. "Now," He turned to Shenji, "you try."
She frowned at the knife in her hand. "You're dangerous." She declared, glaring at the knife. "You could kill somebody. You could kill ~me~. You could kill-"
"~Why~ are you talking to my knife?" Hiiro asked, exasperated. He had learned to expect anything weird from Shenji. "Just ~throw~ it."
Her nervous laugh echoed throughout the gym. " 'Kay." She mimicked how Hiiro had held the knife, reared back her arm and threw. The knife went sailing over the dartboard and hit the wall behind it, clanking noisily to the floor. She flashed Hiiro a grin. "Good, eh?"
He shook his head. "Yes, Shenji," He growled and went to retrieve his knife, "real good."
She could feel the sarcasm in his voice. "I thought so too!" She yelled, and stuck her tongue out at him.
A knife suddenly flew at her.
Usagi screamed and fell flat on the ground, the knife hitting the wall behind her and sliding to the ground. She stood. "Yui!" She screamed, "You're such a-AHH!" She dodged another knife, ducking another, and jumping over yet another. "Stop it!" She howled in pain as a knife lodged itself inside her thigh, only the handle sticking out.
Black and white flashed before her eyes as sirens went off in her ears. She could hear shrill shrieks being erupted, and somewhere in her mind she knew it was her herself who was screaming. Something warm and wet glided over her leg, and the screams reached a higher octave as someone put pressure on her leg. Pounding filled her ears as pain found its way to every fiber of her being, and her thigh began to shake. Still she screamed. Someone was yelling at her to calm down, and people were suddenly crowding her.
"Shenji, calm down!" Quatre held the shaking shoulders of the howling boy. "Trowa, he's going into shock!" He yelled over his shoulders.
"I can't do much about that right now!" Trowa yelled back, helping Hiiro apply pressure to the gushing wound on Usagi's thigh. "Damnit Hiiro, why'd you have to cut he-him!" He caught himself.
Hiiro said nothing, only applied pressure. He ripped a piece of the bottom of his shirt and tied it around Shenji's red, sticky thigh, the blood quickly coating the floor and making it slick and shiny.
Trowa glared daggers at Hiiro but said nothing, only helped to tie the wound tighter.
Quatre looked into Shenji's dilating pupils and sighed as they began to flicker back to normal, the boy's sobs reducing a bit noise level. "He's all right." He propped himself beside Shenji against the wall on the ground. "He's going to be fine."
"Has he lost too much blood?" It was the first thing Hiiro had said. His ears were still ringing from Shenji's screams of pain.
"He's lost a lot." Trowa snapped, wiping bloodied hands on his shirt. "Maybe you should stop training him."
Usagi stopped screaming abruptly, and after a second, she screamed a word: NO!
Quatre winced. Shenji had stopped screaming, but huge tears were rolling down the boy's contorted face of pain.
Her knuckles were white as she sobbed, gripping into her palms and penetrating the skin. Her thigh throbbed, shook-her body trembled. "Kami, it hurts! Trowa-Trowa make it stop!" She began to sob uncontrollably, the pain unbearable.
Trowa's heart just about broke as Usagi called out to him, but there was only one thing he could do to stop the pain. He gripped the knife in her hand and stuck it back into the wound, slowly inching it in and cutting the cloth.
"What are you doing?!" Quatre yelled, pushing Trowa away.
Her head snapped back as she let out a final scream of pain. It was too much-hurt too much. Her insides tightened, her thigh stopped shaking. Her breathing slowed, her screams stopped. Her eyes closed.
Hiiro stood, lifting the unconscious Shenji over his shoulder. "Good idea."
"I didn't see ~you~ doing anything, Yui." Trowa barked, throwing the knife to the ground and standing.
He ignored this. "Control your emotions, Barton."
"Control this." Trowa's fist connected with Hiiro's nose in a forceful punch, sending more blood to splatter on the wall. A resounding crack echoed off the gymnasium walls. He took Usagi's limp body and placed it over his own shoulder, narrowing his eyes at Hiiro and stalking out of the gym to the Medical Center.
Quatre rushed over to Hiiro. "You alright?" He was pushed away.
Hiiro grasped his nose with both hands and set it back into place with a sickening crunch. The blood really flowed now, and he bent his head forward, spitting blood from his mouth. "It'll have to bleed out." He growled. "Go get something to clean up this gym with. I'll be fine."
Quatre nodded and hurried out of the gym.
'Barton,' Hiiro seethed, 'you're lucky I wasn't expecting that. Otherwise, you'd be dead right now.'
::2 HOURS LATER::
He had been watching over her for a while now, and he glanced at his watch. Mikoshi and Kihono had been outraged when they had learned of Shenji's wound, but he had said he would take care of Shenji, and told them not to worry.
Trowa leaned forward and pressed an ice pack to Usagi's burning forehead. The girl moaned in response to the cold stimulus. He smiled. She was coming around.
Pain. That was all she could feel. Moving caused an alarming amount of soreness in her thigh, and she hissed, daring to open her heavy-lidded eyes. A familiar face greeted her with a smile. She tried smiling back, opened her mouth to speak. Not a sound came out. Her eyes widened in alarm and she tried again. Nothing.
He chuckled at the worried eyes cast his way. "You used your voice up screaming. You'll get it back." "Shenji!" Duo bounded into the room, falling over and into Trowa, landing on the ground next to Shenji's cot. "Man, this is the second time you've been in here. You ~must~ be a woman or something." His mind told him to joke, to make everyone smile. His eyes darkened when he spotted the bandage around Shenji's leg spotted with crimson. "I'll kill him." He vowed.
She smiled widely, trying to laugh but only producing a few puffs of air.
Trowa smiled. 'Not if I get to him first.' "Guess this means it's your turn to watch over Shenji." He stood.
Duo laughed. "Nah, I just dropped by." He trailed off as Shenji's face fell. "But I guess I can stay."
Trowa nodded. "Good bye, Shenji. Have fun, Duo."
"Later Tro!" Duo called as the tall teen left. He smiled at Shenji. "Ha. Wufei's never gonna let you live this one down."
She sighed. Leave it to Duo to laugh at her. She grinned a bit. He ~was~ funny, though.
"Hey, you OK?"
Startled by his seriousness, she smiled, blushed and nodded. 'Thanks, Duo.'
Duo grinned. "I'm only askin' because Wufei-"
'Some things will never change.' She sighed.
~*~*
Mikoshi mirrored her husband's anger tenfold.
"So careless! We told you to train him, not ~maim~ him!" Kihono boomed, shaking his fists wildly.
Hiiro stood stock-still, acting as if he wasn't even hearing a word they were saying.
Mikoshi, so heated with anger, stepped forward and smacked Hiiro across the cheek.
He showed no signs of feeling any pain, only shifted his weight with a grunt. His cheek stung and was red.
Kihono shook his head as Mikoshi prepared to slap the boy again. He grabbed Hiiro by his collar, snarling into his face. "Look at me, ~boy~. Listen closely: if you ever hurt one of my trainees again, I will have you shot and killed, got it?" He tightened his hold around Hiiro's clothing. "I don't care how good a soldier you are, you're not ~that~ good. You're lucky I'm not stripping you of your authority in this camp. Now get out of my sight." He thrust Hiiro away from him roughly.
Hiiro regained his balance, bowed to his leaders and left the room. He hadn't spoken a single word. Out in the hallway, he made a silent promise to himself. 'I ~will~ be better. I will be flawless.' He smirked. 'I will be perfect.'
~**~
Trowa and Quatre sat in silence in a private area of the camp. Loud planes roared over head then faded, leaving a smoke path behind.
"We're really going to war?"
"Yes, Quatre."
Quatre sighed. "Wonderful." He muttered dryly.
"Kay-sera-sera." Trowa said, so softly only the wind heard.
*~*~
Usagi opened her eyes as the sweat trickled down her forehead. 'Have to get better to defeat the Alliance. Can't waste a day of training.' She pushed herself up, then sat still. A familiar light-headed feeling wafted over her, air filling her lungs and making her body feel like it were floating. Her eyes clouded over and she gasped, unable to breathe for a minute, but the feeling quickly faded and the cool air vanished from the room.
She gasped, sucking in air in great gulps and panting. She clenched the sheets around her as a final pain set itself upon her thigh-she ground her teeth together until it passed and a distant burning sensation was left. It, too, passed. She tore the sheets off of her body, ripping the bandage from her leg to find her suspicions confirmed: she had just healed herself.
Rising up and out of bed, Usagi padded, in socks and only a shirt, underwear and boxer shorts, to the door and pulled it open, traveling to her dorm room. She was getting dressed to meet Hiiro.
Their training session that day was a bit off-key at first, but they both got through the awkwardness and got down to serious training. For one, they both had things running through their mind. For Usagi, it was to defeat the Alliance. For Hiiro, it was to become perfect. Both met each other punch for punch, kick for kick. Hiiro even added in the knives, being more careful this time. Usagi was a quick learner when she wanted to be, and the third knife she threw landed in one of the outside rings of the dartboard. All in all, they had a fairly good training session.
Until Hiiro demanded to know how Shenji was able to train while his leg was . . . wounded.
Usagi made up an excuse about the cut not being as deep as everyone had thought (when in reality it was much deeper) and about it not being any of his business since, for one, Hiiro was the one who stabbed her in the first place.
Grouchily Hiiro backed off and the matter wasn't pressed anymore by anyone.
[AN: I'm gonna speed this up a lil, K?] Day 004, 005, 006, 007 and 008 they reviewed, worked with knives, and Hiiro even brought a gun. He had promised Shenji that he would get to use it one of these days, but not now. Shenji, in his mind, was becoming very skilled, not as good as Hiiro, but good enough to face-off against Duo. Now, Day 009, they would work with guns and moving targets. The gym was the regular training room.
"Yes!" She couldn't stop hopping around. Her thigh wound had completely closed up, leaving her with only a scar. "Sir! Where're the guns? And who're the moving targets? And-"
"No Hiiro. I won't do it. No, no, no."
She giggled. "Hiya Duo. What'cha doin' in here?" She'd learned slang from the American boy.
Duo frowned. "Yo. Hiiro wants me to be a moving target for you guys to shoot at. I told him I'm too young to die."
Usagi grinned. "Please, Duo? You can have my chocolate cake at lunch from now on."
"Considering you're never ~at~ lunch. No."
"Yes." Hiiro loaded his gun, holding it to the back of Duo's head. "Now strap up."
Duo sighed, grinning darkly. "Okay, okay. You got me, Hiiro." The gun was removed from the back of his head and he spun around, tripping Hiiro with his leg. He proceeded to attack him.
Usagi's eyes widened. "What're you doing, Duo?" She yelled, watching the boys get into a fist-fight.
Duo, knocked to the ground, laughed dizzily. "I figured I'd rather die by a fist-fight than a gun wound. Those things hurt."
Hiiro, unfazed, scowled. "You really ~are~ as dumb as I thought. Strap up. Now."
Duo stood, grumbling, and put on a bullet proof vest over his upper half, placing knee-vests and arm-vests on their respective places. "You better not shoot me on purpose either, Hiiro." He crossed his arms, pouting.
Usagi, excited, jumped up. "Duo, just DO THIS or I'LL shoot you instead! Gimmie a gun, Hiiro!"
Hiiro sent an icy stare at Shenji.
Usagi flinched, laughing nervously. "I meant Sir."
"Now," Hiiro continued, "Duo's going to act as a spy, hiding behind the dartboards and running back and forth from each board. I want you to shoot him."
"I can do that-"
"No." Hiiro glared at the boy. "I don't want you to shoot ~at~ him, I want you to shoot ~him~. Now go." He tossed Shenji a small handgun, loaded, and stepped out of the line of fire as Duo scampered behind a dartboard.
She caught it with ease-Hiiro had taught her to catch guns the same way she caught knives, only skillfully-and quickly pulled the trigger, missing Duo and hitting the wall behind him. "Darn." She cursed, laughing. She fired again as he ran back and forth from each dartboard. Again and again she fired, and again and again she missed.
Duo stopped running, glaring full-force at Shenji. "Damnit!" He growled, throwing up his hands. He stomped up to the giggling boy and placed the gun- nozzle first-on his chest. "Now shoot," he snarled, "because obviously this is the only way you'll ever hit me."
"Duo, don't interfere with Shenji's training. I asked you to be a ~moving~ target, not a ~talking~ target." Hiiro crossed his arms. "He'll hit you sooner or later."
"Yeah," Duo sneered, walking away, "more later than sooner."
BANG!
Hiiro smirked. "Told you."
Usagi hopped up and down happily as she shot Duo again and again, not missing this time. She had caught him unaware, and she was having a helluva time. "Duo, stop moving!"
"You can stop now!" Duo yelled, running back and forth. "The bullets are hurting my ears, Shenji! STOP SHOOTING!"
She grinned wickedly, aiming for Duo's feet. "Dance for me, Duo!" She pummeled him with shots.
"I'll kill you for this!" Duo hissed. "Dead. You're dead, Shenji!"
Trowa and Quatre, trying desperately to conceal their laughter, watched Duo's ridiculous dance in private.
"Well, at least Shenji's learning how to shoot." Quatre remarked, making him and his comrade burst into a fit of laughter.
And still the days continued. Usagi was getting better with each session of training with Hiiro. The sessions lasted from 6:30 in the morning until 4:30 the next morning, and soon 2 hours worth of sleep was routine for Usagi.
::21 days later::
She stared at the ceiling, not wanting to get up. It was time. Today was the day. This was D-Day. Today was the day Mikoshi and Kihono would decide who was to continue their stay at the camp to train, and who was only going to slow down the rest of the trainees and be sent home. She sat up, eyes awakening to the darkness of her room. 6:23. She knew the time by the gray outside. Hiiro had trained her with all he knew, and she was skilled in gun handling, but she could use some more practice.
She got up and went to the shower room, dragging a limp white towel and the customary clothing. Her shower was ice cold, quick, penetrating. She got dressed in silence, taking her dampened hair and wrapping/weaving it into a long braid, which she placed into a tight bun so it would get out of her way. [AN: Not a girly bun! Think of the buns the guys from Mulan wore. You know, Mulan, the movie?]
To prove their worth to the camp, every single trainee was to fight in hand- to-hand combat against someone of a higher rank. Those who failed miserably would be cast away. Those who prevailed, or even failed honorably would be welcome to stay. Of course, everyone had the choice to go home.
She went through the movements of punching, kicking, uppercuts, surprise attacks, sliding, ducking, tripping, plunging. She went to a door she often visited with no one but herself and the occupants around. She knocked.
"Come in."
She went inside. There was only one occupant right now, and she walked to him, curled into his bottom bunk bed and closed her eyes as he placed a blanket over her.
Trowa smiled, brushed a stray strand of Usagi's hair out of her eyes and went back to work on his computer. Him and Quatre had been asked to stay at the camp with Mikoshi so she could have them give their opinions on who should stay and who should leave. Quatre was with Mikoshi discussing things to look for in the trainees right now. Usagi often visited him to talk or just sleep in his and Quatre's room when the blonde boy was out. She never went to lunch, only trained while others pigged out. She ate alone, and only ate vegetables and good meats, drinking water. He knew. He looked out for her.
~**~
Duo, in the gym with Hiiro and Wufei, cocked his gun, then slipped it back into the holster. He repeated these movements with trained agility, then went to train with Wufei.
Hiiro trained himself, not stopping for anything or anyone. He was determined to fight. Was determined-ready-to be perfect.
~**~
Mikoshi looked at the whistle, a silent prayer being uttered in her mind. 'Kami, please let Shenji prove himself today. Please, ~please~ let Shenji prove himself worthy of Kihono.' She glanced at her husband as he brought the whistle of attendance to his lips, and he blew.
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Well . . . hi! I've missed this story! Have you guys? Okay, I'm sorry about the whole not updating in 2 months thing, but I completely messed up when I tried to update this chapter [well . . . this 2-part chapter] and didn't have to courage to try to update it again because I thought something worse would happen.
So . . . yeah, sorry about that ^.^. I hope the 2-part thing made up for it! I promise I'll get the next chapters out as soon as possible, but I got a job! [Technically I'm too young to have one, but somebody sympathized with me, and . . . blammo, I got a job!]
Back to the story . . .
PHEW!!! Oh my goodness!!! That was looooong!!!! Heh, you guys are happy, eh? Well, next chapter the fighting begins! We'll see who stays and who leaves. Oh, and everyone? Usa's been training for a month, and the day is October 31st. Welp, let's see if she does well, or fails miserably. I can continue the story both ways.
If she wins, hey, she'll get to train with the others and have a lil romance with one of the guys [Who, ahem, you need to, you know, VOTE FOR a bit more. Haha, but you guys've been doing great w/ the voting, so thank you!!], plus everyone else'll have to find out she's a girl sooner or later, right? You do the math.
If she fails, then she goes home, but that doesn't mean she can't do anything about her friends. After all, she now knows how to heal herself without her magic henshin stick, or Hotaru; plus, she's been trained by one of the elite, so she can defend herself. Besides, she still wants to find Makato and the others, and her family, right? Again, you do the math.
::snickers:: I know, I'm leavin you all hanging. Hope you liked this chapter!!! Sorry again!!! Review!!
~azure_chan~