Disclaimer: Like everyone else in this site has said, I do not own these characters from the series known as Gundam Wing.

Chapter 5:
The Mission

Trowa and Duo wondered into yet another village as they continued their journey to... well, nowhere in particular. They just both agreed that if they kept walking around they would eventually find something. Whatever that something was.

"I'm so hungry..." Duo began to mumble. He looked around at the stores that lined the street. "What the hell is 'Udon'?" he questioned barely making out the Japanese characters on a small banner outside a restaurant of some sorts.

Trowa shrugged. He had never had the luxury of eating costly foreign foods before in his life so he wasn't really familiar with anything that wasn't as common as sushi. He stopped for a moment and glanced over at Duo. He was rather surprised the braided youth was actually able to read the characters on the banner. Come to think of it, Duo was able to speak pretty well to the guards from the rice field. Not only that, he had taught him how to put his kimono on properly. Trowa continued to stare puzzled. Since when did Duo know how to speak Japanese? Had Heero thought him at some point? How come he had never known this? Well, he finally thought to himself, guess he's not as useless as he looks. "How is it that you know what that banner said?" he questioned genuinely intrigued.

"Hu?" Duo turned to look at his traveling companion. "Ohh... I started watching anime some time ago and got into the whole Japanese thing. So I started learning it so that I wouldn't have to deal with those horrible English dubs... and I'm just too lazy to read the stupid subtitles that flash by too fast," he stated. "Besides, they're hardly ever translated correctly. Damn FCC and their anime butchering!"

Trowa stared at him blankly.

Anime.

He simply wanted to understand what a cartoon said so that he wouldn't have to read the little subtitles. Why had he actually expected a good response to his question at all? Trowa looked around. Well, at least it wasn't that great of a stupidity. He himself had been unable to speak to anyone when he was traveling alone. His Japanese was extremely limited (or rather, he knew only a handful of phrases) and he couldn't understand a single word written in the language. At least now he'd have some idea of what others said.

"You don't understand Japanese, do you?" Duo questioned.

Trowa shook his head.

"So you have no clue what that guard the other day yelled?"

Trowa waved his hand to signal a "so-so" answer. He might not know, but he could only image what was said.

The braided young man began to laugh slightly. Finally, he had found something that Trowa couldn't do and he could. Oh, how it feels so go to be more useful then someone else!

Trowa sighed as he glared over at his comrade. "I can't even figure out what WuFei mutters, you expect me to know Japanese?" the anger in his voice was become more apparent. He was getting a headache now. How he wanted to get back to his time so that he could just disappear and be left alone again.

Before Duo could continue taunting his friend, a group of men on horses raced down the street. They rod in what looked to be a perfect formation. They wore heavy armor and carried swords at their side. Their horses were well groomed and also sported some sort of armor. Many of the men carried a flag at their side as they rode down the street. People scattered in every which way in order to get out of their way. The men stopped for no one and trampled over a few towns people along their way. They finally came to a stop a few feet from the pair of ex-gundam pilots. The lead rider pulled a scroll from somewhere in his armor and began to read it in a booming voice.

Trowa glanced over at Duo waiting for an interpretation. He watched as Duo made a face every now and then. "What's he saying?"

"Ummm..."

"I thought you said you understood Japanese."

"I do!" Duo protested, "just give me a minute." Trowa rolled his eyes but waited for the interpretation nonetheless. "Something about surrendering or else they'll kill everyone here. This town are belongs to God now."

The two stared at one another in a confused silence.

Trowa turned and began to walk away more annoyed then ever. "'This town are belongs to God' my ass", he muttered under his breath, "why do I even bother!" He continued to half listen as the man on the horse continued reading. This had nothing to do with him and he could care less who owned what town.

"What!" Duo's voice came in a shriek.

Trowa turned to look at Duo. His expression was one of total and complete disbelief. The braided man looked over at his comrade. Raising a hand and pointing at the horseback riders he stated, "They say they belong to Goddess Mariemaia's Divine Army."

###

"How the hell did this happen!" Duo continued to shuffle through the stack of papers he found in the room frantically. "This can't be happening!" he continued to shove papers into the sleeve of his brand new (actually, "borrowed") kimono. Trowa's plan to send him into the inn as a maid where the army was staying at had worked a little too well. With his hair unbraided and dressed up in a pretty kimono, Duo really did look like a woman. A harmless, innocent, young lady. The good part was that he had found the army leader's room. The bad part of it all was that somehow or another, he had been confused for a prostitute or something and was now waiting for the army leader in his room. "I'll kill you, Trowa!" he swore under his breath, "I'll beat him to a bloody pulp, I swear I will!"

Duo suddenly froze as he heard someone at the door of the room. His blood ran cold in his veins for a split second. The door slid open as he dove for the cushion in the center of the room and sat up as pretty as he could. He quickly brushed back his long, wavy hazel brown hair as the man entered the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, young lady," the leader said.

"You could have token longer..." Duo felt his heart pound in his chest. His mind raced to find a way out of the inn, but being in the mist of the enemy's layer and weaponless left him with no choice. There was no way out. He was completely surrounded with absolutely no where to run. He had thought about jumping out the window, but the window overlooked the garden in the middle of the complex. After some time, Duo had decided to just wait it out and look for his best opening to escape. Unfortunately that wasn't happening either. He continued to panic as the man sat down next to him. Duo scooted away briskly. The man laughed slightly as he reached out for the "young maiden".

Duo got up from his place in a panic. Taking a few steps back he began to stammer in his heavy English accent. "Ok man, the truth is I'm not really a woman! I'm a guy! One hundred percent male! I only dressed up as a woman to infiltrate your army and look for stuff!" He instantly covered his mouth wide eyed. Great, he thought, now I gave myself away!

The leader stared at him confused. "A man?" he questioned.

"Ya," Duo nodded even more nervously. Now, his cover was blown. What would happen to him? He didn't know, but it would be a lot better than having another guy hit on him.

The leader smiled. "I like young men."

###

Trowa heard a loud scream come from the second floor. There was no mistake in his mind, that was Duo. He took the candle he was carrying and lit the gun powder trail he had made. He watched for a moment as the small spark raced down the aisle before him, he then headed out into the garden to his left. A number of soldiers stared at him as he raced past them, but before anyone could say or do anything, a room at the far end of the inn burst with an angry fury. The explosion set everything on fire as men began to race around franticly.

As he headed to the entrance of the inn, a young, petite woman raced down a flight of stairs, her bright yellow kimono slightly pulled up so as not to trip on it. Her long, slightly curled brown hair moved delicately as her head turned from side to side in confusion.

Trowa began cracking up inside at the sight before him.

"YOU BASTARD!" The 'young woman' yelled. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Without stopping to even question if he was alright, Trowa continued on his course out the door. Duo was literally at his heels and reaching out for the olive-green eyed man as he continued to curse and threaten his life. No one seemed to notice the pair racing past them. Well, to be honest, they didn't seem to care about the odd pair because three buildings were now on fire. The gunpowder in the room had done its job quite nicely.

The two stood at a distance watching the huge fire rage on. The fire had now consumed six houses and was quickly spreading. The sight was truly something amazing to behold as people franticly continued to run around trying to extinguish the blaze. The fire itself burned so intensely that the sky had lightened up in color.

Without warning, Duo sucker-punched Trowa. The slender man fell to the floor with one hand to his cheek. Before he could do anything, he felt Duo settle his entire weight on him. "YOU BASTARD!" he continued to punch the tall brunette in the back of the head.

With a swirl of fabric, Trowa managed to topple Duo off and pin him to the floor. "What are you complaining about?"

"That guy almost rapped me!" Duo yelled at the top of his lungs. "YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

"But you got the map we needed." Duo continued to struggle under Trowa's grip. "Anyways," Trowa continued, "you're the idiot for not noticing... considering you're the one who's interested about Japanese culture."

Duo lay still on the cold ground for a moment. "Notice? Notice what?"

"Even I know that the bow on a kimono is tied on the back."

Duo turned his head as far as he could. He stared at the slender man out of the corner of his eye as he continued to lie on the ground.

Trowa sighed deeply. "The bow tied off in the front, like you have it, means the woman is a whore."

Duo froze. Again, Trowa had made him look like a fool. Not like that was anything hard to do, but that's beside the point. The point is that... umm... I just lost my train of thought... Anyways, yes, Duo had once again fallen into Trowa's trap.

"Now then," Trowa took the map that Duo had stolen, "let's go find Mariemaia."

A/N: Wow... I totally forgot about this completely. Goes to show you just how easily it is for me to forget things. Anyways, he's the latest chapter of this odd ball saga. I hopes you enjoy this read, and don't be shy telling me what you think of it