Wow, I can't believe it. I have, maybe, three chapters worth of written stuff to post! I haven't been on the internet in a while. At least, never with enough time to psot. But I do now, so I am! Enjoy!
"I can't believe you got away with spitwads in Master Henshi's class," Hilde laughed.
"What can I say? I'm a master at stealth," Duo smiled. "Hey, there's Une!" Duo ran up to the military dressed woman and grinned. "What's up, Une?"
"The cost of anti-war weapons," Une replied dejectedly.
"That's not exactly what I was expectin' but cool!"
"Isn't 'anti-war weapons' an oxymoron?" Hilde asked, coming up beside him.
"Who's this, Duo?"
"Lady Une, this is Hilde Schbeiker. Hilde, this is Lady Une," Duo introduced them as the others walked up to them. "Hey, can we go to the movies with Hilde on Saturday? She invited us."
"The movies?" Une frowned as she thought it over. "Well, I kind of don't want you out of my sight..."
"We'll be good! We won't do anything! And I'll keep Heero from blowing off anyone's head," Duo pleaded. "And Hilde's uncle is goin'. He's, like...fifty three or something, so he can be our chaperone. Pleeeeeaaase, Une?" Duo gave her the puppy eyes she loathed to see, for, while they were incredibly cute and wide, they caused any of her opposition to melt like jelly. "You said you wanted us to have a normal life..."
Une sighed. Duo had just delivered the line which completely broke her opposition and smushed it into millions of tiny pieces. "Alright, you can go to the movies on Saturday with Hilde. But for today, you have to come home right away. The general tests are back, boys. And the DNA genetic matching test will be back in a few hours, so we can see if you have any family."
"What are you guys?" Hilde asked. She was very confused, but mostly suspicious, because of the fact Une, the Head Preventor, wanted to keep an eye on them, and the fact that Duo claimed Heero would blow people's heads off, and they wanted to have a normal life, and they had tests done and were trying to find their families..."What?" she declared hotly as they all stared at her...well, technically, there was one glaring and one scowling, but the rest were staring, unless Quatre was sleeping standing up. She could never tell. You could get away with a lot in that outfit. She wondered what he looked like.
"Uh...Quatre!" Une clapped her hands together to distract Hilde's attention. "Your sunlight tests are back."
Quatre stared at her for about a half minute, then realized she wouldn't be continuing. "And?" he asked timidly, knowing she wanted him to ask.
"You are officially not allergic to the sun!" Une said with a flourish.
"Hey, cool!" Duo shouted. "C'mon, Quat, take off your goggles!" Quatre's hands flew up protectively to his face, the memory of Miss Harrone still fresh in his mind.
"No, Duo!" Une said loudly, with a deep warning in her tone that made Duo freeze. "If Quatre is just revealed to light, it could seriously damage him, permanently. We have to do this in a medical area."
"Oh, 'kay then, let's go to Miss Iria!" Duo grinned. "Hey, Hilde? Wanna come to Quatre's unveiling?"
"Duo..."
"Really?" Hilde interrupted Une as her eyes grew wide in anticipated excitement. "That would be sooo cool. I mean, I'd love to see if Quatre is as good looking as the rest of you guys!" She grinned at their faces, and nearly chuckled as Duo looked down at himself and then to the other boys. She continued when Duo suddenly grinned and smirked. "He's probably twice as hot!" Duo then scowled at her and pouted the next second.
Quatre knew that if they could see him, they would see he was very red, nearly crimson from blushing. "Uh...Hilde. I'm right here..."
Hilde only looked at him and smiled, winking. "I know."
Wufei rolled his eyes. "Onna!"
Duo grabbed Hilde and Quatre's wrists and quickly dragged them to the open door of the Preventor van. They jumped in, followed casually by a cold Heero, a scowling Wufei, a stoic Trowa, and a confused Une as to why she had six instead of five. She shrugged and got in the front seat, ordering the driver, a Preventor of lower rank, to drive them home. Fifteen minutes later, all seven sat in the main examination room of Iria Winner, Quatre up on a table/bed thing.
"Okay, Quatre...," Iria checked her charts for a moment. She was an extremely nice and pleasant woman, with a motherly caring attitude about her and shining, curly blonde hair that matched well with her deep blue eyes. "You are not allergic to light in any way, artificial or natural. So, today we will test your skin and eye reaction. According to what I know, you were given two shots once a month."
"Yes," Quatre nodded. H had always come in with the needles. One to help his blocker, and another one which did something he didn't know. He mentally reminded himself he was due for more shots next Monday.
"One of them boosted your blocker, whatever that it," Iria paused, and then continued when Quatre looked away, hiding. "And one was to make you immune to sunlight, in case you were ever accidentally exposed. H couldn't have you suddenly dying on him, as you would have, if you were to be exposed. He took precautions. So, you should be able to expose your skin and not be affected negatively right now, if you wanted to." They all looked at him for a moment, and he crossed his legs nervously and ducked his head, swallowing.
"I'll be giving you a couple of extra precautionary shots now before we go outside, just in case," Iria said.
"Who's H?" Hilde asked. "Oh, and what's a blocker? I don't like this. You're all making it sound like Quatre was an experiment."
"Note," Duo held up a finger. "When in a Preventors base, do NOT ask questions. You learn that pretty quick, living here. Basically, it's a general rule of 'keep the trap closed and locked since we have lots an' lots of guns!' type thing." Duo was slightly exaggerating, of course.
"Right!" Hilde made the gesture of zipping her mouth closed. She then ruined it by talking. "Can you hurry, Doc?" she asked Iria. "I'm dying to see what Quatre looks like!"
Iria smiled and chuckled, and began to give Quatre his first out of four shots. It was a hard procedure, since Quatre didn't want to reveal his skin to the light, and Iria had to work around that dilemma, but it worked out okay since she had plenty of experience from when she had taken the beginning tests. So, after a few small problems and complications, Iria dropped the last needle into the sink and Quatre got off the table, Trowa giving him a hand as he was feeling slightly dizzy.
Quatre barely remembered the trip outside, since the world was in a black blur from the four shots in a row. Iria explained the dizziness would pass in a few minutes, and it did. When he could again see and think clearly, he noted they were outside again, in a large garden full of flowers and green grass and a grand maple tree in the center. It was a gorgeous sight to behold to Quatre's covered eyes, and even Heero's eyes seemed to soften a tad at the sight.
"Isn't this beautiful?" Iria laughed, running to the tree like a young, happy child. "I love this place. It's so peaceful and quiet."
"Exquisite," Trowa said.
"Pretty," Duo added, a simple word compared to Trowa's extravagant one.
"Tranquil," Wufei muttered. "This would be a good place to meditate."
"Oh, yes, I meditate here quite often," Iria said, then added. "Well, I don't really know how to meditate, but I like to sit in the silence and just enjoy things. It calms the mind."
"It's a better location for meditation then other places. It does not contain certain people," Wufei added, with a deep glare towards Duo.
Duo shrugged. "How was I supposed to know it was meditation? You looked like you were sleeping sitting up. And it was in the middle of class, 'Fei! Who meditates in class?"
"You were sleeping in half the classes, baka," Heero pointed out, and Duo winced and shrugged again, apologetically this time and to Une. Une had raised an eyebrow at him, and now she chuckled.
"Are you ready, Quatre?" Iria interrupted them, returning their thoughts and gazes to Quatre, who unconsciously stepped back. "The shots I gave you kicked in about five minutes ago."
"Are you sure he'll be okay?" Wufei asked. He had a concern for the night assassin, as well as deep respect.
"I'm 99.9 percent sure!" Iria smiled.
"What about the .1 percent?"
Iria sighed at Duo's question. "I didn't want to sound false to you. Fine, I'm 100 percent sure he will be absolutely fine!" They all looked over at Quatre again.
"I...," Quatre hesitated. "What if...H said..." Quatre seemed to be trying to think of an excuse. Trying and failing greatly. His eyes met every one of their's, though they didn't know it, and he hung his head, speaking in a low, trembling voice. "I'm...too scared..."
Trowa walked up to Quatre and tilted his head up so their eyes met. "So am I."
"Huh?" Quatre blinked, confused.
"I...," Trowa closed his eyes and spoke low. "I am scared of everything. I'm scared of being out of my room, and away from S, and of trying to have a normal life. I'm scared of not being an assassin, because it is all I know." His eyes opened, and there was determination and kindness flowing in them. "But I have to overcome my fear, for every day that will pass. And you will, too, Quatre. I cannot be Nanashi any longer, and you should not have to be Night Wraith." Trowa took Quatre's gloved hand in his own and lifted it. "You said you were curious about what the sun feels like, that you wanted to feel the warmth. I don't want you to be cold anymore, Quatre..."
Quatre swallowed and closed his eyes. "Neither do I..." He whispered. With a trembling hand, Quatre slowly pulled off his glove. He winced when the sun hit his skin, instantly worrying everyone, then relaxed as he realized it didn't hurt. He turned his hand back and forth in front of his eyes, watching the sun dance on it, making shadows. Trowa's hand came up, and he placed his against it, feeling the touch of someone else's skin against his own for the first time. It felt so wonderful! The touch shot wavery tingles along his nerves, and he soaked everything in. The warmth of the sun, the feeling of the light on his skin, that it didn't hurt! And Trowa's coarse hand against his own pale, smooth one. He lifted his head from their hands to meet Trowa's gaze. Trowa suddenly smiled. Just a small smile, a secret smile between only them.
"Go, Tro!" Duo whooped. "Yeah, Q-ball! That was the longest speech we've heard from Trowa yet! Mark the calendars! This is a dually momentous day!"
"Baka," Heero cuffed Duo lightly, and the violet eyed boy grinned crazily at the stoic pilot.
"Aw, thanks, Hee-chan!" Duo hugged Heero for a moment. "I love you, too!" Une raised both eyebrows at this action, and nearly laughed from Duo saying 'Hee-chan'. Didn't the boy know it was supposed to be 'Hee-kun'?
"Quatre...," Trowa's voice brought them all back to the event on hand.
"No, it's okay," Quatre said to Trowa, dropping his cloak beside him and reaching to unwrap his head. He had already stripped the other hand of its glove. "I want to do this now." He first took off his veil, revealing the thin skin mask he wore behind it over his mouth and nose. He took a deep breath, then began to unwrap it from around him quickly, revealing his skin. The others watched as an inch, then two, then three and four and more inches of pale, perfectly smooth skin appeared from beneath the black cloths. Quatre finished unwrapping his face and he breathed deeply, opening his pale pink lips to breathe in the air directly. His chest rose as he breathed deeply, but he didn't stop unwraveling himself. His hands move to the back of his head, and he undid the knot that kept his black bandana in place. Pulling it off, he shook his head, his mass of pale, golden white locks falling free, his bangs hanging slightly over his still goggled eyes. He ran a hand through his somewhat curly hair and relished the feel of his skin on his bare hair. The breeze rustled through, blowing his hair wildly, and Quatre beamed with pleasure at the cool feeling.
"You're a blonde?"
Quatre looked at Duo, and his smile faded at Duo's expression. "Am I?"
"Duo, don't be rude!" Iria scolded. "Your hair is a wonderful color, Quatre. It's a lovely golden white."
"Golden white...," Quatre repeated.
"Dude, I figured you'd be darker, like us!" Duo exclaimed. "You're practically white blonde! And your skin...Q, you look real pale. Hey, you got earrings!"
"His pale skin is a side effect from no light," Iria explained, then peered to see the two golden hoops in Quatre's left ear.
"I was wrong, Duo!" Hilde laughed. "He's not twice as hot, he's twice as cute!"
"Darker...white blonde...pale...," Quatre repeated everything as Duo said it with a confused expression, his lips pursed in thought. He turned his head towards Trowa, tilting it sideways. "Trowa?"
"Yes?"
"What is golden white?"
"It's the color of your hair, Quatre," Une supplied.
"Color?" Quatre's head whirled about, looking at all of them. He suddenly began to fiddle with his earrings. "Uh...what's color?" Seven pairs of eyes widened.
"You don't know what color is?" Heero asked.
"No, should I?"
"I wasn't expecting this," Iria said with some concern in her voice. "It could be since he has never seen light, he has never seen the colors light produces. Darkness has no color. It is simply black."
"Quatre," Une spoke seriously, concerned by the fact he didn't know color. "Could you please take off your goggles?" Quatre's jaw immediately tensed and his fists clenched. He shook slightly, and managed to find Trowa's hand, squeezing it for comfort. Trowa held on as Quatre breathed.
"Please, Quatre?" Une asked again.
Quatre reached up a hand and steeled himself. He counted to ten, then pulled the goggles up off his eyes and over his head. His eyes were closed tight, but he immediately sensed the difference as light flared through his eyelids.
You have to open your eyes, Quatre," Hilde said, with some amusement in her voice.
Quatre did, and time seemed to slow. Light flared in his eyesight, blinding him, along with dozens and dozens of various colors, which he didn't know were colors. It overwhelmed his sense of sight, and all he could see was the flaring light all around him, consuming him. His head began to pound and his knees began to feel weak. An extreme sense of dizziness flowed over him from the intensity of light, and the brightness of everything. It all looked illuminated by bright rays and blurry to his eyes.
"Holy shit!" Duo shouted. Quatre barely heard him, for the sound of his rapid heartbeat sounding in his ears muffled his voice. "He has silver eyes!"
Silver eyes. Quatre held onto that thought, intending to ask Duo what silver was and why that was so unusual. He managed to store it away in his memory just before his knees gave. He fell to the ground heavily, vaguely heard someone call his name, and then the darkness he was so used to fell over him, and he faded into the bliss of unconsciousness.
I LOVE SUSPENSE! But not when I'm the one in suspense. So I'll try and hurry and get you readers out of it. So review, and I'll post the next chappie soon as I can!