Chapter Four
The girls gather in the main room once again, coming back one by one from showing the men to their rooms. Ami is the last to enter, slightly out of breath she looks at Usagi, "We're going to have to figure out what we're going to tell them."
"Why do we have to tell them anything? We don't need to explain ourselves to them!" Complains Rei.
"Rei, they're already suspicious." Ami states in a firm voice.
"She's right Rei, I mean Heero did already threaten her once…" Makoto speaks up.
"Twice." Ami mutters under her breath blushing.
"What? How dare he! In my temple…" Rei slams her hand down on the table rattling the tea cups she had just set out.
"It's alright Rei, It's my fault…if I hadn't let my curiosity get the best of me…" Ami sighs. "He's just worried about what I know, and how I found out as much as I did. I should have known better than to blatantly show off my skills like that in front of strangers." She breaks off again taking a deep breath. "They've lived through so much…as much as we have, just differently. You don't trust easily after you've lived through things like that."
"What exactly did you learn about them Ami?" Minako asks curiously. Everyone is curious now. Ami smiles sadly at her friends and begins to tell them all that she knows about the infamous Gundam boys who fought for peace.
It's late, and the temple is quiet, peaceful almost, the girls have long since gone to bed. The five boys sit and stand around the room the have gathered in waiting for someone to speak.
Heero is unexpectedly the first to break the silence. "I've set up a mic in the main room, it seems as though that is where their 'meetings' are mostly taking place."
"Is that really necessary…" Quatre sighs. "I mean I understand that it all seems suspicious, but…"
"They are just girls, whatever they are doing it can not be of that great importance." Wufei mutters.
"One of those girls kicked your Chinese butt earlier today Wu-man." Duo chuckled from his spot lounging at the end of Heero's bed.
"Shut up Duo." Wufei growls, slamming his first down on the desk where he is sitting before launching into a tirade of angry muttering. Even Trowa can't help but smirk at the angry man. It had been amusing to see him bested, even if only for a moment, by the fiery woman. It was not an image any of them would forget anytime soon.
"Enough." Heero's usual monotone cut through both the laughter and the curses. "We are here to review what suspicious activity the mic recorded earlier this evening."
One by one the boys nodded, settling down and heading back to their respective seats around the room. Sure the war was over, but some things would never change. Heero was still their leader, they had spent too many years fighting together for some habits to ever change, and obeying his orders was definitely one of them. As they listened to the recorded conversation of the girls earlier meeting, their faces became more and more confused.
"How is that possible?" Asked Quatre, looking at Heero in shock. "I thought…"
"Everything was buried, yes. That detailed of information should not be possible, at least with out accesses to some of the highest security government sites, yet somehow…" Heero breaks off with frustrated shake of his head.
"So this blue haired chick, Ami…she's some kind of genius hacker?" Duo asks whistling.
"It would appear so." Heero agrees, though it's obvious by his voice that he wishes he didn't.
"Do you have any idea what this could mean? There are still plenty people out there that would love to have us dead, even though the wars over. She knows everything! She could hand us to them on a silver platter!" Wufei exclaims enraged. "Injustice!"
"I don't think they would do that." Trowa muses. "They seem honourable."
"Regardless. It seems Quatre that you're sister and her friends are hiding something, we need to know what." Heero insists. They boys all slowly nod in agreement.
The next morning the girls have meet once more in the main room, they had all decided last night that it would be best if they all stayed at the temple while the boys where visiting just in case they caused trouble. Usagi is still in her pyjama's, yawning as she curls up on the floor at one end of the table mumbling grumpily about being dragged from bed at such an ungodly hour.
"Oh grow up." Mutters Rei. She is kneeling beside Usagi, pouring tea for everyone. It had been an extremely late night last night but they still hadn't had a chance to discuss what they had originally called yesterday's meeting for. Maramou. He'd been missing since their last battle with Queen Beryl's minions. Something wasn't right, even Rei had to admit it was worrying.
"You haven't heard from him still Usagi? Minako asks.
Usagi looks up from her tea, her face serious. "No…it's not like him, something is wrong." Her eyes are watery. It had already been a week. The last time they had fought the Dark Kindgdom, Mamoru had been injured badly while protecting Usagi. Before she had been able to get to him he had disappeared. They had hoped he had managed to get away while the Generals had been distracted by Usagi destroying the Youma's that they had created, but now they worried he might have been abducted.
"Don't worry Usa." Makoto patted her friend on the shoulder. "We'll find him. Right Ami?" She asked turning to the brains of the group. Ami had come up with a system what was able to track energy sources, she had been using it as a way of detecting Youma's in the area but she had spent most of last night tweaking it so it would recognize Mamoru's aura as well. Just then an alarm on the girl's laptop went off.
Typing a few commands quickly, Ami brought up a map of the city. "There's been a sighting, the science building. Two I think."
Usagi nodded, face grim. "Let's go."
No one noticed Trowa standing just out side of the door to the courtyard.
It's late in the evening when the girls stumble home, the sun has already began to set. Usagi is limping, one arm around Makoto's shoulder, to steady herself as she goes.
They had gotten to the Science building just in time stop Kunzite and his Youma's from attacking a group of unsuspecting students, but Usagi had taken the brunt of the attack from Kunzite, and it had taken all her energy to finally chase the General off while the girls dealt with the Youma's. Entering the Temple through the courtyard, Rei holds the door open while Makoto half carries, half drags Usagi into the main room. She stops suddenly at the unexpected site of five boys lounging around the room.
It was obvious from the boys expressions that they had been waiting quite a while for them, and that it hadn't improved Heero's mood any that they had taken this long to return.
"Makoto! Move!" Groans Rei, annoyed the brunette has stopped abruptly in front of her, effectively blocking the entrance to the room.
Duo is the first to react to their entrance. "What happened? Is she alright?" Leaping up from the place where he had been reclined on a sofa, he rushes forward swiftly scooping Usagi up into his arms. He moves so quickly Makoto doesn't even have a chance to protest. Usagi doesn't react at all, her head hangs limply against his chest. It looks as though she might have passed out.
Released of her burden, Makoto moves cautiously forward into the room, finally allowing the girls behind her to pour in after her.
"Makoto?" Minako asked confused, until she spots the boys. "Oh. Ummm hello."
"Explain." Heero commands, his temper growing shorter by the second.
"Oh. Ummm, she's fine…really. If you'd just give her here, we'll just be on our…" Minako begins to say, stepping towards Duo to take Usagi back from him.
He retreats out of range instinctively, while the other boys start to stand as well, moving towards him stopping just in front of the girls who, at closer inspection, didn't look much better than their friend now that they thought of it.
Makoto's hair is dishevelled, dirt smudged across her cheek, her clothes are ripped and askew, the tares in them are jagged as if made by something sharp and curved. Little do the boys, know they are the result of a Youma's claws, which had come uncomfortable close to parting Makoto's skin as easily as it had the fabric of her clothes.
Minako has deep bruises on her arms as if she had been grabbed roughly and her knees are badly scraped and bleeding.
Rei favours her left leg, as she leans heavily against the wall. A sign of weakness that she would normally hate to show. There is also dried blood smeared like blush upon her cheek from a cut that runs from her mouth to her temple, where she had felt the kiss of Kunzite's cold blade on her skin before Usagi had managed to push the General back into a retreat.
Ami is standing at the very back, the last to have entered the room. She stands cradling her right shoulder protectively, her arms hangs useless at her side, a terrible bruise blooming on her temple. She sways as if in a daze.
"Explain." There is no change in Heero's voice but all the girls can tell his anger is growing. He sounded dangerous. They shudder.
"Oh dear." Ami states in a detached voice…right before she falls with a dull thud to the ground.
"Damn it." Heero swears as Quatre and Minako both move towards Ami's prone figure. Brushing blue hair out of her face gently Minako, gasps softly. The bruise is a deep angry purple now, and has spread to cover part of her cheek. "Oh Ami." She mutters softly.
"She's taken quite a blow to the head." Quatre confirms, looking over his shoulder at the fuming Heero. Ami moans as she starts to come to. "She shouldn't be alone. Someone will have to keep her conscious, she probably has quite the concussion by the looks of it."
Minako finds herself shoved roughly aside by Heero as he appears at Ami's side, Quatre pulls the pretty blonde back out of the way, propping her up in his. Heero is gently picking up the semi conscious girl up in his arms, all the while glaring at her as if for the inconvenience it is causing him.
"Escort the girls to their rooms." Heero barks and then he's gone, leaving a room of stunned Senshi behind him.