Disclaimer: I don't own anything I didn't create.

A/N: Review please. I hope you enjoy it.

"She left! She left! How could she leave? She's injured! She's safer here! I could help her! What was she thinking?" Duo paced around the living room of the safe house as he ranted hysterically, voice quivering on the edge of breaking down completely. I watched through one calm, green eye with one hand on Quatre's shoulder as he sat, half-doubled over on one of the living room's sofas, undoubtedly dealing silently with the pain of both Trio being taken out of the picture so suddenly, and Duo's resulting hysteria. His eyes were closed and his face screwed up as he tried to hide it by resting his forehead on his knees. I could tell he was in a lot of pain, by the way his hand was trying to clutch his heart. Trio and him were close, and having the connection severed so suddenly…

No one answered Duo's rant, only the clacking of computer keys filling the silence as Heero worked away mutely at the nearby kitchen counter, trying to find more information to what Trio had given him before taking off. This was how he usually was when one of our own was missing. Wufei was outside, training. He couldn't stand the tense atmosphere.

Trio had flown off in Bullet after shouting at us to stay in the garage, after giving us important information on the location of her assailants, and the one, barest piece of information about who they were. An 'old enemy'. Her taking off had triggered a rain of bullets on her gundam, and Heero had opened fire into the woods, the rest of us except for Quatre and Duo –who were unarmed- following suit. None of us expected an attack on our home. I frowned. Hopefully Trio knew what she was doing. Heero tapped away at his computer keys methodically, and Quatre sighed painfully. I squeezed his shoulder.

"Didn't she once say something about a welsh gang called the Black Sheep?" Duo froze and pivoted on his feet to look at me with wide eyes. I quirked an eyebrow at him, prompting him. Duo blinked owlishly. Quatre sighed in relief as the burden of Duo's hysteria left him, and Heero's typing paused.

"The Black Sheep Gang." He murmured to himself, dropping his eyes to the floor. "They were welsh." He confirmed. "Trio set their base on fire after a year of traveling with them after they captured her, and she freed others who had been taken against their wills by that group as well." He fell silent, and slowly looked up to look at me, violet eyes grim. "She seems to have a sense of goodwill that makes the baddies angry with her. It was just pure luck that KOS self-destructed before they could go after her. If the Black Sheep gang survived the initial burning of their base, and were given time to re-group… they would be out for blood." I watched the braided man through a narrowed, green eye as I watched him spin back into a circular pacing again after sighing as he fiddled with the bottom of his braid. That was always a nervous habit with him. It was hard to get him out of one of his funks when he started fiddling with his braid, but the sadly, there was nothing I could do.

"Would you stop crying over the damn Onna, already!" I blinked and watched as Wufei practically stormed into the room, glaring at the black-clad ex-pilot of the gundam Deathscythe. The man startled, and turned to look at the Asian, who had a towel thrown over his shoulder as if he'd just wiped his sweat away with it. Duo's eyes narrowed dangerously, his mouth opening. "Her taking herself out of the picture was a low blow for all of us, so don't go drowning yourself in worthless guilt that'd only slow us down, baka. She left on her own." Duo blinked, surprised, Quatre now being able to sit up- still wincing, but not in as much pain as before. Wufei had taken whatever proverbial wind there had been, out of Duo's metaphorical sails, leaving the man gaping at him, because even he had to admit that he had a point. Duo frowned and sighed before casting his eyes to the ground. I felt Quatre grimace under my hand before speaking up.

"She may not have been trained like we were, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have the skills necessary to keep herself out of harm's way, Duo." He said, causing Duo to look at him. "I know you two have something, and that it's natural for you to worry about her, but worrying any more than necessary will only prolong the amount of time we spend looking for her, not shorten it. So please, try your best to…" Here, Quatre searched for an appropriate word as Duo watched him with an incredulous raised eyebrow, not all of the emotional pain he was going through gone, but less heavy at the least. Quatre was no longer grimacing, so that was a good sign. "-relax. We will find her." Duo had looked away once Quatre had asked him to relax, but blinked when he heard the steely determination in the blonde's voice.

I watched as Duo sighed and grabbed the end of his braid, head down, walking out the door Wufei had come in through, the Chinese man watching him with a frown as he went. Duo had always felt his emotions strongly, and he did everything loudly. His personality was just loud and strong, and it had always been that way. He was an American, it was who he was. An emotionless Duo would be… frightening, but… because of all of his emotions, falling in love would compromise rational thought. We'd have to leave him out of the fight to get Trio back. He'd be a liability.

The door pulled shut with the sucking sound of a vacuum, and a moment passed were we all processed what had just happened before I looked up and met Heero's eyes.

"Find anything?" He nodded silently, and I tapped Quatre on the shoulder before I walked over to his side, looking at the screen as we gathered by Heero's side, and explained the plan in dull, soft undertones, making sure that Duo, sitting on the porch with his head in his hands- couldn't hear.

"I am GOING Heero!" Duo's furious shout made the walls quiver, and minute amounts of dust fall down from the ceiling from the sheer volume and power of his voice. I wouldn't be surprised if Heero went temporarily deaf from standing so close to him, but then again, Heero practically was superhuman, so I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't.

Duo wasn't taking the news well, to say the least, and Quatre and I were doing the wise thing and staying out of it, in my opinion, although Wufei looked like he wanted some of the action going on at the moment. It had been a week since Heero'd first dug up useful information on the Black Sheep gang, and Duo was objecting very strongly to our refusing to let him come with us to take them down.

"Trio is going to need someone to come home to. Who better than her boyfriend?" was Heero's calm, nearly emotionless response, and Duo's spluttering reaction would've been comical if the situation hadn't been so serious.

"She will be at the fight! I wouldn't be surprised if she was already trying to take them down herself, having infiltrated them, trying to take them down from the inside!" Silence. He had a point. Duo knew Trio better than any of us, except for maybe Quatre, who was like a brother to her. Duo and Trio were alike in so many ways, and different in so many others. We all had formed a friendship with her, and she always made us smile and laugh when she had the time to, if she thought we were down or being too serious, which was another trait she and Duo shared. Duo had a point, and it made us take him seriously, realizing that we hadn't thought of that ourselves. The silence was now grim and I could practically feel the penetrating stare Heero was giving Duo myself. Duo stared back, lips pressed into a thin line, blue-violet eyes narrowing but not looking away. He was not going to back off.

"You're sure of that?"

"As sure as I know myself." Duo responded quickly, sure in his answer, and he brought his shoulders back sub-consciously as he half-glared at the former Wing pilot. "I am going with you. I know her best, and I can find her and keep her safe. That's half of the mission. The other half is taking down the Black Sheep, and I will listen to you after we have Trio safe and with us again."

"A fight isn't safe."

"With me, it is." Heero sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he looked at the Mexican tiles of the kitchen floor of the safe house. Duo could be as stubborn as an ass, and that trait was showing through strongly at the moment. Heero looked up at me for my judgment, and I nodded. We weren't getting rid of him. If we left without him, he'd follow us, and that would ruin the mission. It would be better to clue him in, so he wouldn't be completely lost. Heero sighed and looked up at him.

"Fine."