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Chapter 11:
A Stormy God

Trowa, Heero, and WuFei stood in awe at the sight that lay before them. The army gathering in the valley below was immense, and from what they had gathered, growing exponentially by the day. This new army to the south of the city which housed the Goddess Amaterasu and her brother Tsukuyomi was indeed impressive and quite formidable. If anyone was going to stop Mariemaia's expansion, it was certainly going to be this new army leader.

But the leader, as the young men had quickly discovered was another god. Susano-o no Mikoto, the third of the honorable siblings was the fearsome God of Storms. A frightening and formidable foe who didn't know his own strength, Susano-o had inadvertently caused more trouble than he had ever intended. Thus he had been exiled from Heaven and given the earth as his realm to rule. From what the trio had gathered, Susano-o had appeared because he was displeased with Amaterasu's presence on earth and her insatiable appetite for conquering land. Land that was by all rights his, seeing as he had been cast down from heavenly paradise so long ago.

"So how are we going to do this?" WuFei couldn't take his eyes off the massive crowd in the valley.

"Same as before," Heero replied.

The two remained silent. For the last three months the two of them had been gathering every scrap of information that they could about the Goddess Amaterasu. Well, to be fair, Heero had been the one collecting the majority of the information, updating his friends on every last bit of information he had learned. He had also taken it upon himself to teach the other two his native tongue, but as it turned out, only WuFei appeared to pick the language up. The Chinese man's ability to absorb new information was astounding. WuFei's Japanese was still jarring to listen to, but at least he was beginning to understanding what was being said.

"What do I do?" Trowa had remained silent up until now.

"You can't come with us," WuFei was quick to inform.

Trowa narrowed his eyes at the dark haired man.

WuFei simply huffed dismissingly. "You stand out like a sore thumb," he began in a belittling manner. "You're well over six feet tall, your face is too sharp and angular, you have green eyes, and you can't speak a word of Japanese. You are useless to us and would be nothing but a hindrance if you come."

"A little harsh," Heero bit back.

"Not at all. It's a miracle that no one has tried to slay him for being a demon or something along those lines."

Heero turned to face the somber brunette. He couldn't repute WuFei's logic. Trowa towered well above both of them and pretty much everyone they had ever known. Back home, he was an inch or two shy of touching the top of door frames, here, he was forced to stoop down in order to avoid hitting his forehead on them (which he had done several times already). Aside from sticking out way too much, Trowa had really been rather useless these last few months. The only thing he had been doing for the group was staying behind at an abandoned home they were using as their base of operations and cooking.

Trowa looked to be rather hurt by WuFei's words, but seemed to get over his feelings easily and simply nodded in acknowledgement. There was no point in arguing, especially when he knew it all to be truth to some degree. "I'll secure a place for us," he turned to head back up the road they had traveled. "I remember seeing building not too far back. We can meet there tonight."

"It was an abandoned shrine," WuFei informed. "If no one shows up for the remainder of the day, we can even sleep there." His dark eyes locked onto Trowa's as a smirk crossed his features. "Don't get slain by a hero, ogre."

"Bit me."

##

The trio couldn't believe that they had been apprehended so quickly. Trowa and Heero had been trained since early childhood to be stealthy. Both had been described by OZ and Alliance soldiers as shadows that came and went at their leisure. After the wars, both had disappeared. Trowa could be traced by following the circus he traveled with, but had he wanted to, he could have easily disappeared among the billions of people that populate the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. Heero, on the other hand, truly did disappear after both wars. No one could ever track him down no matter how hard one tried. He showed up every now and then when he pleased, but that had always been for short periods of time. Being shadows and falling off the grid was what they did best. Yet here they were, a few minutes into their mission and so easily caught by the enemy.

A cynical smile curved Heero's lips. They had been barred access to the young Sun Goddess and Moon God for months. Shortly after meeting up with Trowa, he had joined the Goddess's Devine Army in order to get to Mariemaia, but was unable to. Only top ranking officers and generals were allowed an audience with the two gods, and he clearly had many years to go before being counted as one of the few blessed with such an honor. And yet, here he was, a few minutes into infiltration this new army, getting caught, and being taken straight to the Storm God himself.

He glanced over at Trowa as he was being ushered forward forcefully. He wondered how long the army scouts had known that they had been observing them from a far. They must have noticed almost immediately if they had already captured the tall man who had been heading in the opposite direction of this army.

"Where are they taking us?" WuFei questioned glancing over at Heero. There were so many voices speaking at once that he simply couldn't understand anything that was being said.

"Susano-o no Mikoto," Heero replied dryly. He didn't bother to inform the other two that the forming mob was calling out for their heads to be looped off. That kind of information would be useless to them now that they were bound and captured. The possibility of escape was next to impossible in their current situation. He was their only hope now, seeing as he was the only one of the three who would be able to communicate with the Storm God. He hoped that his Japanese was enough to let him explain that they were not spies.

The group was finally lead to a small clearing surrounded by small bonfires, a few tents lay beyond the fires. They were forcefully shoved down onto the earth, facedown with their hands tied behind their backs. Heero could feel his heart pounding in his chest as the jeering around them become venomous. He swallowed hard as he looked over at Trowa lying next to him. The look in his dark eyes was enough to inform the other of their impending doom.

The crowd quickly fell silent as the sound of men marching through mud approached the three prisoners, heavy armor ringing with each step.

"Seems like you guys finally made it!" a familiar voice declared in plain English.

Heero watched as Trowa's face twisted in confusion, his was probably not much different than his friend's. The three men on the ground turned the best they could to get a look at familiar voice addressing them.

There, perched with legs crossed Indian style on a chair sat Duo. His brilliant blue eyes were dancing with glee and a smile starching from one ear to the other. His hair was free of its usual bond and wild, like a child who had never brushed his locks during the whole of his life. It settled messily across his back with a few strands falling forward over his shoulders, a decorative red comb pinning some of his mane back. He was still cloths in his black kimono with the sleeves held back by a white sash. In addition, he was wrapped in what looked like animal hides and had probably been running around barefooted through the mud for a while.

"Duo..?" WuFei's eyes were wide. "But… you're dead!"

"I'm sitting right here," Duo's smile faded. He turned and nodded at one of the guards. The broad man unsheathed a small blade and quickly cut the thick cords binding the three on the floor. The trio sat up and all eyes fell on Duo once more.

"He's supposed to be dead," WuFei turned his attention towards Trowa. "We buried his head and I've been praying at his grave for a month! You said you saw him get executed!"

"What the hell?" Duo protested. He wasn't sure what kind of morbid things Trowa had made up since the two had separated after their break-in, but he wasn't liking any of it.

"I didn't watch the execution," Trowa admitted. WuFei's eyes narrowed. "You saw the head! It looked just like him! Granted it was bloodied and bruised with the hair chopped off, but it looked just like him!"

"Who did we bury?" Heero questioned.

"This is getting too freaky even for me," Duo finally stood from his spot. "Anyways, what are you guys doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" WuFei snapped back still trying to make sense of everything. "Weren't we supposed to be brought to this 'Susan' god?" he emphasized the god's name in air quotes.

"Susano-o," Heero corrected. His eyes flickered with realization. The former gundam pilot turned to face his loud mouth friend. "You're Susano-o?"

The other two pilots looked up at Duo. A sly, lopsided grin spread across the self-proclaimed shinigami's face. "Yup," he replied proudly placing his hands on his hips triumphantly.

The three remained silent for a moment, taking everything in.

"How the hell did that happen?" WuFei couldn't wrap his mind around this new information.

Duo simply smiled his carefree smile and gestured for his friends to follow him into one of the many tents. He would have fun recounting his adventures from the past few months since he split from Trowa. After that it would be time to get serious about stopping Mariemaia once again. Things were only going to get easier now that the four of them were together again. He only prayed that Trowa didn't remember his betrayal from a few months ago.

A/N: Duo is back! YAY!

Well, I don't know if anyone is still reading this (someone must be since I got an add to favorite story alert some time ago), but I thank those who are still with me in advance for still putting up with my shenanigans. Putting out a chapter once a month is hard. I don't know how people upload once a week. That's just insane to me! Anywho, thanks for sticking with me and here's to the next chapter!