Konnichiwa minna-san! I'm back with what I believe is the second to last chapter of this fic. It is sad I know but I can only drag out an outbreak of influenza for so long. And anyway I don't think they could handle an extended outbreak, I think they would all go mad. I don't anything else to say about this you after that little annoyance you can get started.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam 00 or its Characters, they belong to Bandai, Sunrise and Yun Koga. But Veda said I could borrow them for a bit as long as I don't run off with a Gundam or Tieria-kun.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Twelve: Hide and Seek

"Lockon Stratos!" Tieria demanded, "Where are you taking me?"

"Here and there," Lockon said as he dragged the smaller Meister by the hand, "like I said, we're playing hide and seek and Ms. Sumeragi is it!"

"Why on Earth would you play such a childish game?" Tieria said, "When you're supposed to be in bed!"

"I'm bored!" Lockon whined, "I hate being stuck in bed. This hasn't happened since I was a child. And don't forget, you're supposed to be in bed as well."

"Don't remind me," Tieria snapped, "And how do you know that Sumeragi Li Noriega is even going to play along?" Tieria asked as tried to fold his arms over his chest.

"Because I had the Haros in our rooms page her simultaneously," Lockon said.

"YOU DID WHAT!" Tieria screamed, "I am NOT going to get in trouble for this!"

"You were disobeying orders too you know," Lockon said, "If you weren't in my room when I woke up, you wouldn't have been roped into this."

"Shut up," Tieria snapped. He was about to start reprimanding Lockon when a sharp pain shot through his stomach. He clutched his stomach and fell to his knees.

"Oi," Lockon called, "What's wrong?"

"My stomach," Tieria muttered, "I need to sit somewhere..."

"Don't tell me you're going to be sick," Lockon said.

"I'm not going to be sick," Tieria said as he grimaced in pain, "I just need to sit down somewhere for a bit."

Lockon sighed as he pulled Tieria into an empty room. "Are you alright?" He asked as Tieria sat against the wall still clutching his aching stomach.

"I'll be alright," Tieria said softly, "This happens a lot."

"You get stomachaches like this all the time?" Lockon asked, "Then how come we didn't know about it?"

"I don't normally let anyone see me in this state," Tieria said his voice still much weaker than normal, "I would rather keep this weakness to myself."

"But if you're suffering from chronic stomachaches you need to let someone know," Lockon said, "You could have a serious illness."

"If I had a serious illness I wouldn't have been selected to pilot a Gundam," Tieria said, "I'm not ill, I just have a weak stomach. It doesn't take much for me to get a stomachache."

"Wait," Lockon said, "You mean to tell me that you have a weak stomach?"

"Yeah," Tieria said softly as he shut his eyes.

"What kind of a pilot are you!" Lockon exclaimed, "I've never heard of a pilot with a weak stomach. How the hell do you deal with motion sickness when piloting a Gundam?"

"Don't be ridiculous, I don't get motion sickness," Tieria said as the pain in his stomach started to diminish, "It's all caused by food."

"I see," Lockon said, "So which type of foods make you the sickest?"

"Dairy and anything really sweet," Tieria said, "But it doesn't happen all the time." He stood up, "I'm alright now."

Before Lockon could say anything else, Feldt entered the room, "What are you two doing here?" She asked.

"We're playing," Lockon said.

"Playing?" Feldt asked.

"Yeah," Lockon said, "And now, we're leaving." He pushed Tieria out of the room and headed off to their next destination.

Feldt sighed as she tried to figure out just what happened.

Sumeragi was furious. She had been paged to both Tieria's and Lockon's rooms and yet neither of them were there. She could expect that sort of thing from Lockon but she had been surprised when she found that Tieria's room was also empty.

"Alright," She said, "Where the hell are they?"

"Playing hide and seek!" Haro called, "Playing hide and seek!"

"What!" Sumeragi exclaimed, "Oh just wait until I get my hands on the two of them…"

"Hmm, where to next…" Lockon pondered aloud.

"How about our rooms," Tieria snapped loudly, "Where we're supposed to be!"

"Hmm, no," Lockon replied simply, "That would be too easy. Where to go, where to go…"

"I am not playing this game anymore Lockon Stratos," Tieria said loudly, "I am going back to my room and you-!"

Lockon put his hand over Tieria's mouth muffling the last part of Tieria's little tirade, "Shh, someone's coming…" Lockon said.

Tieria's eyes briefly flashed yellow then widened. He grabbed Lockon's wrist and opened the door that he had been pushed against.

"Oi," Lockon said, "What was up with that?"

"Keep your voice down," Tieria urged quietly, "Sumeragi is out there," His eyes flashed again, "Dammit she heard us, quick hide somewhere."

"Ah I see the little killjoy is finally getting into this," Lockon said.

"Shut up!" Tieria whispered as he hid himself from view.

"You know," Lockon said, "It would really suck if we were in Sumeragi's room."

"This isn't Sumeragi's room," Tieria said, "Now keep quiet, she's about to open the door."

Sumeragi was now both enraged and confused. She could have sworn she heard Tieria's typical "rant voice" coming from this hallway but there was no one there. There was only one room in this corridor so she figured that they must have been hiding in there. She opened the door and peered into the dark unused living quarters.

"Alright you two," She called into the darkness, "I know you're both in here so come out and maybe I won't punish you for going against orders!"

Lockon held his breath as Sumeragi spoke. He knew what she had said would definitely cause Tieria to possibly come out of hiding and rat him out. /Tieria/ He though, /You move and I swear to god I'll hurt you!/

"I'll give you to the count of three," Sumeragi said, "One…two…"

"Sumeragi-san," Christina called, "Something's up with one of the monitors in the bridge! You should come quick."

Sumeragi sighed, "Alright, I'll be right there," She said. /You two may have won this round/ she thought, /But I'll catch you two eventually…/

Sumeragi left the room and Lockon let out the breath he had been holding. He walked up to the bed and knelt beside it, "I'm really proud of you," He said as he peered under the bed, "Gyaa! What the hell!" He cried in shock as he was met just by a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Tieria then pulled himself out from under the bed, his eyes still glowing. "Don't do that to me Tieria!" He yelled still breathing heavily, "Geez…you could give someone a heart attack with that little…crazy…thing you can do with your eyes…what the hell are you doing anyway?"

"Getting us out of trouble," Tieria said as he stood up.

"Wait," Lockon said, "You caused the messed up monitor? You really are getting into this!" he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "I'm so proud."

"Shut up," Tieria said, "I just didn't want to get caught."

"Whatever," Lockon said, "Come on let's go cause more trouble."

Tieria sighed, "You have a fever," He said, "Aren't you tired yet?"

"No," Lockon said, "Are you tired?"

"A little bit," Tieria said as he was dragged by Lockon, "And my stomach is starting to hurt again. Can I please go back to my room? I have a lot to do."

"No," Lockon said, "I'm not done playing yet."

"Lockon," Tieria moaned as they were walking near the hangars, "I need to sit again," He clutched his stomach, "My stomach really hurts again."

"Alright, alright," Lockon said, "We'll go in here." He said not realizing where he was.

"Lockon Stratos, Tieria Erde," Setsuna said, "What are you two doing here? You two are supposed to be resting."

"Oh well," Lockon said, "Tieria are you alright?"

"Give me a while," Tieria sighed as he clutched his stomach and shut his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Setsuna asked as he noticed the look of pain on Tieria's unusually pale face.

"He has a stomachache," Lockon said, "Tieria what did you have for lunch?"

"Three sandwiches," Tieria muttered.

Lockon sighed, "No wonder your stomach hurts," Lockon said, "You never eat more than one sandwich on a normal day. You haven't eaten much in about a week then you go and eat three sandwiches in one sitting? What the hell were you thinking?"

"Shut up," Tieria muttered.

"Setsuna!" Sumeragi called.

"Oh shit…" Lockon called as he hid from the communicator's view.

"Who was that?" Sumeragi said, "Setsuna, have you seen Lockon and Tieria?"

"They should be in their rooms," Setsuna said.

"Well they're not," Sumeragi said, "I was informed by a Haro that they were playing hide and seek."

"I don't know where they are," Setsuna said.

"Alright thanks," Sumeragi said as she ended the call.

"Come on," Lockon said as he pulled Tieria to his feet, "We have to go."

Tieria grimaced as the pain in his stomach worsened, "Lockon…" He moaned. His eyes flashed again, "We need to get out of here."

"What happened to your stomachache?" Lockon asked as Tieria hurried towards the door.

"Sumeragi is on her way over here," Tieria said, "Now let's go!"

"Alright, alright," Lockon said as he was pulled from the room by Tieria.

"Tieria…" Lockon moaned, "Can we stop now? I'm tired…"

"Yeah," Tieria said. /It's about damn time/ he thought. But he also needed to sit somewhere. His stomachache was beginning to become unbearable and he was also rather fatigued. He opened the nearest door, and as usual he found himself at the observation deck. He didn't know why he always ended up here. "Is this alright?"

"Yeah," Lockon said as he sat on the bench.

"We really should go back to our rooms," Tieria said, "If Sumeragi finds us here she'll-"

"Shuddup," Lockon said as he covered Tieria's mouth with his hand again, "I don't wanna go back to my room."

Tieria sighed as he sat down on the bench as well.

Sumeragi was livid, absolutely livid. She had searched every corner, every nook and cranny of the Ptolemaios and yet Tieria and Lockon were nowhere to be found. She had even used the cameras that were in every corridor however thanks to Tieria's little special ability, the footage showed nothing.

"I swear when I get my hands on them, they are NEVER going to hear the end of it," Sumeragi said she then opened the nearest door. She walked into the room and found Tieria and Lockon asleep on the bench.

She walked over to Tieria and nudged him on the shoulder, "Tieria," She called softly as Tieria started to stir, "Tieria wake up and tell me why you're not in your room?"

"I needed to get out of my room for a bit," Tieria said softly. His stomach was still bothering him.

"So you ran around the Ptolemaios playing hide and seek with Lockon?" Sumeragi asked.

"He started it," Tieria muttered, "I didn't want anything to do with it but he wouldn't listen."

Sumeragi sighed, "You don't look like you're feeling well," She said as she placed her hand on Tieria's forehead, "You feel a tiny bit warm."

"It's just a stomachache," Tieria said.

"A stomachache from what?" Sumeragi asked, "Eating too much at lunch when I told you to take it easy today?"

Tieria nodded, "I just want to go back to my room," He said.

"Alright," Sumeragi said, "Lockon," She snapped, "Open your eyes now!"

"Just five more minutes…then I'll get up." Lockon moaned.

"NOW!" Sumeragi yelled.

"Alright, alright," Lockon said, "Geez, you don't have to be so pushy," He opened his eyes, "Oh shit…Ms. Sumeragi…fancy seeing you here."

"Yeah, fancy seeing you here," She said, "Where are you supposed to be?"

"In my room," Lockon answered sheepishly.

"Where in your room?" Sumeragi asked.

"In my bed," Lockon answered.

"Where are you?"

"The observation room," Lockon responded.

"Why?"

"I was bored," Lockon said, "I hate being stuck in bed."

"Too bad," Sumeragi said, "Now get back to your rooms, both of you. Oh and by the way, I win."

Lockon sighed as Tieria glared at him with a glare that read, "If I get in trouble for this, I am never speaking to you again."

Lockon just shrugged and hoped that Tieria's stomach was aching too badly for him to do anything to him in retaliation as Sumeragi escorted both Meisters to their rooms.

So Sumeragi won the little game of hide and seek. But that was kind of expected, Lockon's still sick and Tieria still feeling rather tired from being sick, plus the stomachache from over eating didn't help him out much. But despite what he said, Tieria did get into the game that Lockon started. Well, until next time minna-san!

Ex-Shark-V-005