Fourth chapter! Heheh, I'm posting these all in a row! Read on and enjoy and please do review...I like reviews!

Wakai Kyoushu

Young Assassins

Storm

The boys had all agreed to go with the Preventors with little protest. The only protest was in giving up their weapons, which they refused to do, especially Duo with his scythe and Wufei with his sword. Une had ordered the Preventors to let them keep whatever they wanted, just bring them to her as soon as possible. Talk about a leap of faith. So the Preventors told the boys to pack up their stuff, since they were moving out, and come with them.

Heero had simply grabbed his labtop in its case and a bag with some of his weapons and his other change of clothes. Do had only brought his scythe with him. Evidently nothing in his room was of value to Duo, except his scythe. He had his guns and knives hidden on his person. Trowa brought absolutely nothing, except for his weapons hidden away and a small brown box, and Quatre brought his other clothes, also black, and the thick book, plus his weapons, of course, and, oddly enough, a violin case. Wufei brought his reading glasses, his sword, a few other weapons, and a change of clothes with some good books. None of the boys acted entirely friendly, except maybe for Duo who chattered on and on to anyone, since they hadn't really been in contact with other humans much. Not at all, in fact. Just their mentors and weapons and death.

The boys were each taken in seperate vehicles to Preventors Headquarters, then ushered up to the small lounge, the one Une had reserved for them. Heero arrived first, followed by an incredibly curious and totally not shy Duo. Trowa and Wufei arrived at pretty much the same time,a nd then Quatre made his entrance a few moments after. Quatre, who simply looked like a kid dressed up entirely in black with a black cloak covering him entirely with the hood up and black goggles covering his eyes, looked around at all of them curiously.

"Hey, Shadow!" Duo chirped, waving. Quatre hesitatingly waved back. He wasn't sure how to deal with others, especially of his own age. He thought that they were supposed to be all critical and tease him because of his outfit. Duo seemed nice enough, though. "Ya know, if I wore your stuff and had my scythe, too, I'd definitely be Shinigami." Quatre didn't understand this, but Duo's eyes were shining, and he knew it wasn't an insult. It was more of a compliment, he was sure.

Quatre sat down in the second last available chair, next to the chinese boy and boy with the one eye-funny how they always ended up in their numerical order-and brought out 'Legend Of The Dragon'. He found his page and had just immersed himself in the words when the chinese boy cleared his throat next to him. Quatre looked up to see Wufei staring at him curiously.

"So you were the one who borrowed my book?" he said.

Quatre was confused for a moment, then realized this boy was who H had taken the book from. "It's your book, then," Quatre smiled, though the chinese boy couldn't see it through his veil. "It's very interesting."

"Have you only read that much?" Wufei frowned, seeing his page number. "That book has been borrowed for five months."

"Oh, no," Quatre assured him. "I actually just finished reading it this afternoon. But it's the only book I have, so I decided to start re-reading it. Do you have any other books with you?"

Wufei nodded and rummaged around in his bag for a moment, before pulling up an adventure book. "This one is rather good."

They traded, Quatre returning 'Legend Of The Dragon' for the new book, and he read the title. "'Arabian Knights'. Thank you."

Wufei smiled. He was fascinated to find someone else who had managed to read the entirety of 'Legend Of The Dragon'. It was a one of a kind, a priceless book, and one of his greatest treasures. This boy, while seeming to be dressed a little darkly, certainly had good reading taste, and polite manners. Wufei appreciated him already. He watched Quatre settle into the chair, pulling up his black slippered feet, and then clicked his tongue, returning to his own task of reading. He managed to finish one paragraph before the door opened, and he looked up to see a woman come in, wearing a uniform of high rank.

"I'm Lady Une," she said immediately, smiling warmly. "I'll be helping you get adjusted to the new situation you are in."

Quatre closed 'Arabian Knights' and looked up at her. "What's going on? Did you let Instructor H go? They said if I came here, they'd let him go." He sounded very troubled, Une noticed. "He's didn't do anything wrong, really. He didn't kill anyone. It's my fault! I killed those people!"

Une was startled. Maybe these boys had some idea of what they had done. Quatre seemed to be willing to say it right out. She wished she could see what he looked like. "We can't let Instructor H go, I'm sorry."

"Hey, you're an assassin, too?" Duo stood up and pointed at Quatre. "I'm an assassin!" He laughed. "My name's Duo Maxwell. I'm Shinigami!"

"You're Shinigami?" Quatre asked, and Duo nodded. "Wow...I never thought I'd ever actually meet you."

"Same here. So what's your name, Shadow?" Duo asked.

"Quatre Raberba."

"Nah, I meant your codename."

"Oh," Quatre understood. He hesitated a moment before saying. "Night Wraith." Duo's eyes widened, as did the others.

"Your Night Wraith?" Wufei asked. "The assassin who only goes out at night?" Quatre nodded. "Wow," Wufei stood up, shaking Quatre's hand. "That explains your clothes and the goggles now. I'm Wufei Chang, Dragon."

"So does the light, like, burn you if it touches your skin?" Duo asked curiously.

"I...don't know," Quatre replied. "I've never been touched by light."

"Never ever?"

"Never ever."

Duo whistled and grinned. Une chose this moment to step in. It seemed that they each knew they weren't the only assassins. The boys knew each other's codenames and obviously knew of each other's talents and quirks. "Let's finish up the introductions, then, shall we? You are..." She looked pointedly at Trowa, who stared back for a moment.

"I am Nanashi, but you may call me Trowa Barton," he finally said.

"Mister Silent," Duo said.

"And..." Une directed her gaze over to Heero.

"Heero Yuy, Zero," he replied coldy.

"Good. Now we know who everyone is," Une said brightly. She felt the automatic urge to cheer someone up. Heero was staring at her with cold eyes, Wufei seemed to have a scowl on his face, and Trowa just looked blank. Duo seemed chirpy enough, but she knew Quatre was worried by his voice and body movements. She felt a distant meternal nudge as she wished she could comfort them.

"Hey. Lady Une?" Duo spoke. "What's gonna happen to G? Do we gotta go to jail now?"

"No, Duo," Une explained. "G and the other scientists will most likely be going to jail for a long while, though." She took a deep breath and took the plunge. "Do you boys know what you have done?" They all stared at her, confused as to what she was talking about. She continued. "Like Quatre admitted, he's killed people. As have the rest of you."

"We're assassins," Heero spoke. "It's our job."

"Do you enjoy it?" Une asked. Heero didn't reply. "Did you enjoy it when J pumped you full of chemicals? Does Quatre enjoy having never seen the sun? I'm sure Duo enjoys blowing up things, but does he enjoy learning how many people died because of it? Does Wufei enjoy cleaning other people's blood off his sword? Does Trowa enjoy seeing the look on their faces when they die, when they see their life flash before their eyes and take their final breath?" She paused, looking at them all. They were clearly uncomfortable with the topic. She suspected they had never actually talked about it. "I highly doubt it. You're murderers, boys. And the scientists made you into these murderers. And they're going to pay. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but you won't be seeing your mentors for a long time."

Quatre pulled his knees up to his chin and buried his face in it. "I'm not a murderer..." he muttered to himself.

"How do you figure that, Quatre?" Une asked. The boy couldn't play naive any more. "You killed innocent people for no reason, other than a old man told you to."

"They weren't innocent!" Quatre exclaimed. "H told me! He said they were bad men, who needed to die. He said they were evil..."

"They were damn peace officials and foreign delegates," Une retorted loudly. "I don't think someone who has worked their entire life for peace is evil, do you? They were innocent, and their families were innocent. You five had no right to just kill people. You should have thought about what you were doing, used your brains!" Une stopped and took a deep breath. She couldn't lose her temper. These boys didn't deserve that.

"But H said...," Quatre sobbed. He was too confused right now. Was he really a murderer?

Une blew a fuse. "H lied! Get it through your head. H and the others have done nothing but lie to all of you! They took you from the world and tortured you and crushed you and then used you for their own purposes!" Une watched as Quatre sat there crouched in the chair that was a size too large for him. She noticed he winced when she yelled at him and felt guilty for a moment. Quatre's one hand went to his chest as the other went to his head. After a few moments of silence with the boys all staring at Une and Quatre, Quatre stood up and took something from his back pocket. Une'e eyes widened as she watched him bring out the small gun and load it with trembling fingers.

"W-what are you doing?" she stuttered, flabbergasted.

"I'm going to kill him," Quatre muttered darkly. "I'm going to kill H!"

Une panicked and quickly took the gun from Quatre's hand, holding it high above his head. "No, you're not. Reasons why. Number one, killing the bastard would be too good for him. Number two, if you kill him, you wil be arrested and charged for murder. You have an excuse for before, but not if you kill now. Number three, you're thirteen for pete's sake, you shouldn't be killing or have a gun!"

Quatre was stunned. No one had ever taken his gun away from him directly before, not even H. He pondered her actions and then her reasons, and growled inside as he realised she was right. He couldn't kill H, as much as he wanted to.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Wufei asked. "Killing is all we know, and our weapons are all we have."

"Which is a disturbing fact," Une shuddered. "What we're going to do first is give you all some tests. We're going to check your blood and other things. We'll see if Quatre is allergic to sunlight and, if he's not, we're going to get him outside and expose him."

"What?" Quatre yelled. "But..."

"No boy should live without the sun," Une proclaimed. "After we get you all checked out, we're going to give you some clothes and some rooms, and get a life started for you. Then we'll start trying to locate your families, if you have any."

"...families...?" Duo asked.

"Yes, families," Une repeated with a smile. "All that will happen today, and tommorrow you'll start your first day at your new school."

"So we're going to live at a Preventor's base and go to school?" Duo said, then pumped a fist. "Awesome! I'll never be bored again!"

"I truly hope you'll co-operate with us," Une said. "The Preventors will be your temporary family. If you need or would like anything, just ask, and we'll try our best. I hope you five don't mind sharing a large room."

"I've never slept with anybody else before," Quatre said nervously. "Is the bed big enough?"

"No, no. You all have your own beds, just in the same room. There's a kitchen and a recreational room just down the hall from you, and a library and a gym as well. We have everything here."

"We don't have to stay in our room all day?" Duo asked. Une shook her head no, and the braided boy did a dance of joy.

"Will we have to give up our weapons?" they all looked over at Heero.

"I'm not quite sure on that account," Une said. "I'm thinking it would be a good start if you would all give up most of them, but you can keep a gun and knife and Duo can keep his scythe and Wufei his sword. But you don't neccessarily need a ton of guns and knives here. There are Preventors all around to protect you..."

"We can protect ourselves," Wufei said.

Une continued on. "...but you would have to relent and dispense of all your weapons during school time. It's not as though a bunch of average teenagers could hurt any of you."

"Too damn true," Duo chuckled.

"Yes," Une laughed a bit as well. "Anyways, Iria Winner is waiting for you five to take your tests. And if I recall, her assistant Sally Po is anxious to meet you as well. And if we hurry with the tests and clothes and room, we can make it to the lounge on time for Preventors Pizza and Talent Night." She went to the door, gesturing for them to follow her.

"What's that? Wufei asked as he and the other stood up.

"It's the once a month night when all the Preventors agents gather together to watch a few perform on stage. There'll be skits and some of the woman will sing and I think there's going to be a magic demonstration. It's very fun, and there's free pizza for everyone. I know the agents would love it if you came. They're all very curious to meet you."

"What's pizza?" Trowa asked.

"You don't know what pizza is?" Une took a deep breath and blew it all out. "Then we have to hurry so I can introduce you to one of the best foods in the world." They walked down the hall in silence for a minute or two.

"Uh...Lady Une?"

"Yes, Duo?"

"These tests...do they involve needles?"

"Yes, why?"

"Aaaaaah!"

"Duo, come back!"

Hee, hee! Duo and the dreaded needle battle while you go on to next chappie! REVIEW! Please...

Storm