Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor moon or Gundam Wing...I do not own Sailor moon or Gundam Wing...I do not own Sailor moon or Gundam Wing...I do not own Sailor moon or Gundam Wing... And I promise not to give boys wedgies. There.
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Fuseiseki : Failure
Chapter Twelve : The Bleeding Heart
...
They all stood on the Veranda, at the front of the house together, waiting. Usagi's eyes were narrowed. "Soon." She whispered. Hiiro had his arms around her shoulders, and she shivered, though she was not cold. Duo held her hand, fingers intertwined, as they had so many times before. Quatre was next to him, with Trowa standing behind him, and Wufei was on her other side. His Katana made a soft clicking noise as he pulled it and inch from it's sheath, and let it fall back in, over and over again, like a clock ticking.
"Wufei." Sally was standing behind him in the fading light. "Enough." It was quiet. She could feel how tense they all were. No one really wanted to speak. Relena stood behind them all, with Noin and Milliardo. Her breath was heavy. Usagi could hear it.
And then the sky opened up. She stood up straight and squeezed Duo's hand, turning to look at all of them as she stepped away from Hiiro. His hand went immediately to the gun he constantly had hidden in his jeans. She hadn't noticed before, but they all had one, save Relena. "Do not interfere." She said stoicly, and felt the blaze of her eight pointed star appear, knew her pupils had faded to pure silver. Her hair trailed to the ground, and dragged in soft waves behind her as she stepped backwards, towards the rift in the sky.
"SSsserenity..." She turned away from her friends as four figures drifted down. The first was a being that was neither snake nor man. His bottom half was a tail, the upper half human like, but with slits for nostrils and narrowed orange eyes. He was covered in green and brown scales all over, and his hands ended in menacing claws. She could hear Relena gasp, and blocked her out, blocked all of them out.
The second figure looked like a child, with long black hair and eyes of royal purple. He was carrying Hilde, who had her hands tied behind her back, her eyes wild. She was beaten badly. Blood oozed from her lip, her face was bruised. Usagi clenched her fist. The third being was a small girl, who shadowed the boy in many ways, though her hair was black and her eyes lighter than his. She could feel the power building in her veins, bursting at the seams merely at the feeling these three gave her, and the terrified look in Hilde's eyes.
She let it go, The rage that had built inside her, and fell in on her self as her wings burst from her back with a spray of dark blood. She felt her simple sundress change to the fuku of the Goddess of stars, and her hair wound itself into the heart shaped buns she could no longer bear to fix herself. When she stood fully erect again, she strode forward.
She was not scared. She had no fear. She was not Usagi. She was Cosmos. The Goddess of Stars. "Identify yourself." She spit.
"Sssaron..at your sservice..." The being hissed, and he hit the ground with a thump that shook the earth beneath her feet. He was huge. More than eight feet tall. She turned her eyes to the small boy, who smiled wide but stayed quiet, and then on Hilde.
Behind her, she heard the footfalls of Duo. Could hear the screaming in his head. With one hand, she pointed towards him without looking at him, whispering. "Silent Wall." An instant barrier of light purple energy raised it self up, and he was forced to stop before it. "Stay." She warned, her voice void of emotion. She did not look spare him a glance even then. Her eyes were on her enemies.
Holding the barrier with her mind, she moved closer to the small gang, her tones dulcid as she spoke. "Give Hilde back." She demanded. The boy laughed, wrenching Hilde to her feet. The cry she let out stung her core.
"Now, Now." The boy said. "That would ruin all the fun." His eyebrow raised, and she could see Ssauron ready his attack.
"You want to play?" She spit, the anger growing in her chest at the childishness of it all. "Let's play." Moving her hands into position, she let loose a flaming arrow with the cry, "Mars Flame Sniper!" Saron batted it away with a sharp toothed smile.
"You underesssstimate me." He hissed, and she ducked as his tail stretched, flying at her head. When it had passed, she leapt up, using her wings to angle back towards him at high speed, and sending a kick right to his temple. He recoiled, clutching at the wound as she landed.
"You underestimate me." She dodged again as he swiped, too slow, and winced as his claws dug into her shoulder. She spun away without pause, her breathing light as she stared her opponent down.
He laughed. It was a slow hiss separated by pauses of breath. Her eyes narrowed. "All it takesss it a touch... " He said. "Can you feel the poison running through your veins yet?"
She winced as her arm pulsed, her veins surrounding the four deep scratches feeling as if they were on fire. She did not let him see her falter. "You think poison can stop me?" She asked, her voice even.
"Maybe not immediately." He spit back. "Slowly it will kill you. Ever so slowly. And when you writhe on the ground, I will devour your pretty little form." He licked the end of his long claw, soaked in her blood. "Deliciousss..."
She stood up straight, ignoring the burning sensation that was traveling down her arm, and raised her arms to the sky. "Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Electricity crackled in the air, as the leaves pulled themselves of the branches of the trees around them, and they swirled about her in a massive tornado. With one graceful finger, she pointed at the beast, and he was instantly barraged with electrified, razor sharp leaves.
She watched him try to shield himself, to no avail. Blood that was dark green and black spattered the ground around him. When the debris had cleared, he was still standing, though cuts laced every bit of his serpentine body. "Kuso." She took a deep breath and cursed under it. Her arm refused to stop bleeding, and was hanging limply at her side. She stood tall regardless, shaking her wings out with a snap, and watching Chaos' creation with calculating eyes.
Usually she finished off such enemies with one of her own attacks, but as Cosmos, those attacks threatened to destroy the entire area she was in. She turned a quick eye to the group of people who stood just beyond her silence wall. Hiiro's eyes were blazing. Duo's still resembled a coming storm. She could see the tense muscles in Trowa and Wufei's arms. And Quatre... he was repeating something, over and over again. She read his lips. 'Please stop.'
She sighed. Stop? She turned narrowed eyes back to her enemy, who was standing, although shakily. She had just started. Her eyes moved to the small children, who stood, watching, a writhing Hilde at their feet. She had fallen again. Would she have to fight them too? He seemed to be content observing. She could tell he was no ordinary child. He was empty, devoid of a host soul. Chaos' creations were getting more advanced. They usually didn't look so human.
She leapt up when Saron lunged at her, using her wings to keep her in the air as he cried out in frustration. "Ssstay ssstill and die!"
She smirked, and raised her good arm, screaming as a ball of yellow energy formed at her fingertips. "Uranus World Shaking!" It did exactly what it implied, shaking the ground as it smashed into the serpentine beast, and effectively, he burst into dark smoke, his last hiss echoing into the now dark night.
She landed to complete silence, and turned her vision to the quiet girl, the smirking boy, and the panicked looking Hilde.
"Well done, Serenity." The boy said, and clapped mockingly. "I had honestly expected less." Everything about him was smug.
"Sorry to disappoint." She said. "I don't think I caught your name, little one." The boy smiled wide, and she shivered despite herself. There was no joy, behind the broad smile.
"Kione." He said with a prince-like air.
"Fitting. From Nowhere." The boy made no move to come at her. She had a moment to wonder at his intentions, at his presence, before Kione raised his hand. In it formed a blade of pure black, energy crackling around it. She could feel the fear in Hilde's heart. The fear in her own, deep beneath the cold exterior of Cosmos.
"Chaos promised her life." She said it as if it was a command. The dark being hadn't, really, but the lie was worth a shot. The boy laughed, and it chilled her heart. He was pure evil incarnate, a tiny devil.
"I didn't." He said sweetly, and plunged the blade down towards Hilde's chest.
...
Nobody knew what to say. There hadn't been a word passed since the fight had begun. Usagi was strong. They could hear little of what was going on beyond the barrier that she had created. She was injured, but she had defeated the monster set before her.
Duo watched with bated breath as she approached the kid who was holding Hilde captive. He could not cry out as he manifested the blade in his hands, could not move as it lunged towards Hilde, and dropped to his knees when the spray of blood filled the air.
His fingers twisted in the dirt and grass of the ground beneath him. She had been so fast he couldn't see. Usagi stood in Hilde's stead, her wings spread to protect the girl she didn't even know, and the black, crackling blade protruded from her chest.
He screamed then, for all he was worth, heard Hiiro fire off useless shots with his gun. Nothing went through the barrier. He heard Quatre cry out, even Relena and Noin. Wufei, Trowa and Millardo were stony and silent with rage and disbelief.
"Oh Gods." He whispered, when his voice had gone hoarse. "Usa..."
...
It was a split second decision that she wasn't even sure would work. Chaos held Pluto's starseed, but she had already proven that the sailor's powers came to her naturally, and so she raised two hands, and called out the most forbidden attack there was beyond Saturn's Ultimate.
"Time Stop!" The words meant death, to Sailor Pluto. But Chronos was not Usagi's father, and the rules did not apply. She had made no promise to the God of time. The effect was instantaneous. Everything froze. She ran then, tucking her wings to her sides. She had no idea how long she could hold the attack. Already the blade was inching towards Hilde, faster and faster.
The poison running through her veins burned like fire, made her vision blurry. She was losing grip. Just one more second. She pleaded to anyone that could hear, and then her chest blossomed with dark red, her wings snapped open, and she stared into the laughing eyes of Chaos' creation.
"Ugh..." She breathed out, choked on the blood that filled her mouth suddenly, but smirked at the boy who was more confused than triumphant.
*Return Kione.* She could hear him in her mind. The boy looked indignant.
"Master..." He spoke aloud. The voice that answered was laced with demand and anger. Chaos sounded pissed. It warmed her little.
*Now Kione. You have done enough.*
The boy's smile dropped, and he released the blade, letting it dissipate to nothing. She stood her ground through sheer force of will, her vision nothing more than a blur of shadow. He looked at her, and smiled once more.
"Don't die Serenity." He said. She was too out of it to be surprised. "I think you and I could have some fun together." He disappeared then, as well as his sister, in a flash of royal purple that matched his eyes. There were noises that came to her ears. Screams, voices. Someone was calling..her name? Was that her name? Usagi...
Everything was fuzzy, detached. She was aware she was losing alot of blood. And then aware of nothing but deep pools of prussian blue. "Usagi Onegai."
She'd never heard his voice like that. It was coming back, with the pain. She gasped, and tried to focus. Tried hard because he needed her to. He needed her to be okay. The tone of his normally stoic voice said it all. "Hilde." She whispered. She knew it wasn't what he wanted to hear, but she had to know. Did she complete her task? Duo was next to her, she could feel him. He radiated so many emotions. Sounded so very sad.
"She fine Usa. You saved her. She's fine."
She smiled, coughed at the metallic taste of blood. Hiiro's hand was pressed to the wound in her chest. She wanted to tell him it hurt. Thought better of it. "Hiiro." If these were her last words, she wanted them to be for him. "Gomen Nasai." For not being okay. For making you sound so sad.
"Shhh." He was trying to be calm. She could feel his insides raging like a hurricane. It gave her some hope. Some small part of her was still ticking. Her heart was still beating. She could hear it in her own ears, slow, but there. "You shouldn't speak. Quatre's getting a doctor."
She breathed in and out and it hurt. Blood dribbled from her mouth over her lip and she felt him wipe it with a shaking hand. So sorry. Her vision tunneled again, and as pain consumed her, she whispered his name, hoping he caught all of the feeling she conveyed in just one breath. "Hiiro." And then it was dark, and ever so still.
...
The shots he fired bounced off the barrier Usagi had created with ease, and he cursed her for it, half-heartedly. He hadn't seen her move, but his eyes did not lie. She stood impaled on the blade that had been meant for Hilde, and was somehow still standing, staring at the small boy.
He spoke aloud, and though he could not hear he read his lips. "Don't die Serenity. I think you and I could have some fun together." Hiiro's fists clenched, and he cursed aloud.
And then the boy disappeared with his small accomplice in flashes of purple. The barrier had dissipated in sparks of lavender as she fell, and her body bounced off the ground. He ran faster than he'd ever thought he could, felt Duo and the others with him. He lifted her up to him with hands cold with sweat, holding a hand over the wound in her chest, So much blood, there was just so much blood. He vaguely realized this was Usagi that was in his arms, not the cool Cosmos, not that it mattered to him. Her hair was as black as the night that surrounded them, her wings non-existent. Her clothes had changed back to that of a simple black sundress and sandals.
"Usagi." He whispered her name. "And for the first time ever, his voice broke. It hardened with his insistence. "Usagi open your eyes." He looked at the wounds she had sustained, and his heart fell. "Usagi Onegai." It was a whisper, without strength.
He searched her eyes when they finally opened. They were dull, and lifeless. Tired. "Hilde." He stopped himself from punching the ground in frustration. She was lying there bleeding to death and she was worried for the girl she'd never met.
Duo was beside him. He had untied Hilde, who clung to him, her face pale with horror as she stared down at Usagi. "She's fine Usa. You saved her. She's fine." His comrades voice was as broken as his had first been. He wanted to hate Hilde for doing this to his angel. To the one thing he was loathe to lose, before even his own life. Decided in a split second he was being unfair.
"Hiiro." Her eyes locked on his, and he breathed out. His chest was tight with emotions he did not know. Was this fear, was this worry, and beneath it, the warmth that had gone cold at the sight of her blood. Love? "Gomen Nasai."
Sorry? She was saying she was sorry? It took all he had not to snap back. To tell her she was stupid, that he needed her to live, not be sorry. That he had told her to come back because...because... "You shouldn't speak." He said instead. "Quatre is getting a doctor." And spied the blonde Arabian out of the corner of his eye, Rashid running in long strides in front of him. He and Catherine had arrived a few hours ago. He was thankful for it.
She breathed in, and it was labored. She choked on the blood that was in her mouth, he wiped it away with shaking fingers. "Hiiro." Was the last thing she said, and it spoke volumes. It made his insides hurt more. His heart constricted as she fell limp in his arms, and he was pushed away as gently as possible by Quatre.
He looked down on her with eyes that were as cold as they had ever been, and shoved Quatre with force, exploding without meaning to. The image of her still body was in his mind as he ran. And ran. And ran.
...
He felt sick to his stomach. He had let Hilde go to be checked out by Lana. He sat outside the room where Rashid, Asiya, and two other medic maguanacs worked diligently on Usagi. He looked up when Quatre exited the room, looking pale and weak as he closed the door. "How is she?"
It was a sick, sad deja-vu. He remembered asking that same question on the night they had whisked her away from her cell. But it didn't hold the weight it held now. Quatre sat heavily in the chair next to him.
"They are the best." He started. "Rashid is the best doctor I know. But she's lost alot of blood Duo." He looked pained, clutched at his chest. Duo knew he could physically feel more than he could. His empathic abilities were strong, and went beyond emotion, crossing the threshold to sharing one's pain. "And that thing. It seems to have poisoned her. Rashid thinks he has a good recipe for the antidote. Asiya is working on it now, but it takes time, time Usagi is losing." He breathed out slowly, Duo guessed to calm himself. He looked awfully sick all of a sudden. "The wound in her chest is severe. Rashid said she had a lung punctured. The only good thing seems to be that all the wounds were clean, and can be repaired with his expertise. He worries at the loss of blood and her will to live." He looked up, and locked eyes with him. Duo could clearly see the tears there. "But Duo, I swear, her heart is beating like a drum. I have no doubt that she will wake up. It's amazing."
He got up , and held out an arm for the Arabian, who nodded with a tight lipped smile and took it. There was no way the blonde could walk on his own, and being so close to Usagi was killing him. He let Quatre lean on him as he walked down the hall. He could feel him getting stronger as they moved away.
"Standing here won't do a thing buddy." He said softly. And didn't know if he was trying to affirm his leaving of his post, or Quatre's. "Have you seen Hiiro?"
Quatre took a deep breath, and stood straight, stopping for a moment. "I haven't seen him. Trowa and Wufei tried to tail him, and he disappeared."
Duo frowned. He wasn't happy with Hiiro for running. She needed him here with her. But, Duo thought, Maybe his stoic friend didn't know that. Usagi may have opened him up, and may have even stolen the soldier's heart. But that didn't mean he knew how to interpret the emotions he had never had. In that case, good old Duo knew what to do. "I know where to find him." He said. "You gonna be okay?"
Quatre nodded. "Don't take too long." He said.
Duo strode away from him slowly. He needed to change before he left. If Hiiro felt anything like Duo did right now, which he was sure by his reaction to Usagi's condition was true, he knew just where to find him. And he'd be there awhile.
...
He leaned over the glass of bourbon like it was his lifeline. He knew Duo was there before he saw him. It was something in his step, he knew it better than any other. He also figured he'd be the first one to find him. Dropping Wufei and Trowa's tail was easy. But when he stayed in one place, there was the definite outcome of one of the pilots finding him. They were just all that good. Of course Duo, though he had once tried his hardest to deny it, also knew him best.
He dodged the uppercut, but took the left hook to the face. The bourbon was making him slow. He ignored the cries of the other patrons in the bar. Some had just gotten up and walked away. Instead he stared Duo down with eyes of pure ice. Only their location stopped him from pulling his gun.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Duo spit, and there were 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the crowd that had gathered. Duo stared them down with stony eyes and their attention averted immediately.
Hiiro wiped the blood from his lip and spit, taking another swig of bourbon before speaking. "I won't sit there and watch her die." He said, and the words were ice incarnate.
Duo sighed, and took the seat next to him at the bar. He raised a hand for the bartender, who walked over slowly, wiping a glass as he did so. "Prefer you did the fighting outside." He said. His hair was orange, of all colors, his eyes a deep brown that were battle worn and sharp.
"We're done." Duo said with half a grin. "Can I get two more glasses of whatever he's drinking?" The bartender narrowed his eyes, and picked up two glasses.
"Keep it friendly." he said as he set down the glasses. His accent was japanese, like Hiiro's, slightly more prominent. "I don't like to climb over the bar. But I will if you make me." For some reason Hiiro believed him. The man looked as if he could rumble with the best of them, and he was not at his best at the moment. He took the glass Duo offered and took a long swig, slamming it down half full.
"Thanks bud." Duo said, and took a sip of the stuff himself. His face pinched up immediately, and he spit. "Jeez Hiiro is this shit strong enough?" He looked at it. "I bet it's flammable.."
"Hn." He wasn't in the mood. The bourbon was strong. He needed it to be strong. He drank very little, but his immunity was part of his training under Dr. J. They had all gone through this training, except for Duo. He was just a natural tank.
"Listen, Hiiro." He said. "I know how you feel right now."
"I don't." He spit, wishing he did.
"I do." Duo said it strongly. "Look I know you don't know what you're feeling. But I can tell you with certainty that she needs you next to her right now. And that pain in your chest? Is fear of losing her."
"She's alive?" He asked, and Duo nodded.
"There are some complications." He took another sip of his drink, obviously over the taste. "But Quatre feels certain she will pull through."
"What complications?"
"Get off your ass and go to her." Duo finished his bourbon, and lifted a finger, and the tough looking bartender came back, setting down another glass. He looked only mildly interested in the exchange, and a knowing look passed between him and Duo that Hiiro did not miss. "And Rashid can tell you himself. If you're worried Hiiro, that's exactly where you need to be. And barring your obviously icy tone, what you're saying means you want to be there." He raised his glass, and downed it in one shot, and Hiiro followed suit, with half his fourth glass and one more for the road.
Duo waited patiently for him to finish, and when he was done, he let Duo lift him by his shirt, practically dragging him out. The bartender saluted him with a smirk that would have made Hiiro angry in another time, another place. How come all of a sudden everyone knew him better than he knew himself? The movement made his vision swim. He'd never been so drunk before. He realized now that it was true what they said. It did not make you forget. It made it worse. It made it real. And somehow Duo knew it would. So had the orange haired bartender.
He didn't speak as Duo shoved him into a car. Just let the braided pilot take him to where he needed to be. Right by her side.
...
He stumbled more than walked into the room, Duo had left him at the door, with a pat on the back. Quatre had met them at the front of Sanq, and cast a fatherly eye on Hiiro's swollen lip, but had been discreet enough not to pry. "You can see her. She's stable for now." He had said, so Duo had led him here, and left.
It was quiet and dark in the room. She lay on the bed with more bandages and Iv's and monitors than he liked, her breathing slow and erratic. He stood next to her, startled when a voice came out of the darkness. "I can't completely get rid of the poison."
"Poison?" He asked. Duo had not told him about this... The figure stood, and he recognized her instantly. It was Asiya. he remembered her, Rashid's youngest.
"Yes, the being she fought poisoned her wound. But she's fighting it on her own. It's remarkable. Her punctured lung is healing too, albeit slowly." She bowed under his cool glare, and smiled. "I'll leave you alone now, Master Hiiro." He watched her leave, cursing the alcohol in his veins. He hadn't even noticed she was there. Then, he turned his vision back to her.
She was so pale. He laid a hand on hers, and it was warm. He didn't know if it was the alcohol, or just the sight of her, that made his lips go loose, and the words spring from them. "Gomen Nasai." He reached up and touched her face, a soft brush of his fingertips. "I should have been here the whole time."
She shook, and he gripped her arms to hold her down, his eyes softening at the sight. "I need you to wake up Usagi. I need you to be okay. I need you." They spilled like a fountain, words he'd never spoken to anyone. "Anata wa watashi no jinsei desu."
She didn't move, and he hung his head over her, sitting heavily in the chair Asiya had previously occupied. With his head resting at her side, over the stiff infirmary sheets, he drifted to sleep.
...
"Do you know what that locket means?" He could hear Chibi-Usa's voice, but could not see her. It was dark, and fuzzy, as if he was only half asleep. "It only plays for two souls connected to the core. Have you heard it's song, Hiiro Yui?"
The darkness cleared, and he stood not in the plane of light and shadow as he had before, but on a craggy surface, with space far above him, clear, full of twinkling stars, to his left, close enough to see the clouds wandering over the surface and the green and brown of ground below, was the Earth.
"Yes, this is the Moon." His eyes flitted to Mamoru, who held Chibi-Usa in his arms. Her red eyes were glowing with an emotion he did not understand entirely. "Usagi's real brithplace."
"She's sick right now, huh?" Chibi said, and he saw it now, worry, love. Did his eyes look like that when he stared at her?
"She won't wake up." He said, and expected more of a reaction than he got. Chibi smiled softly, and Mamoru spoke.
"She will. Don't underestimate her will to live. To fight. It amazed me everyday."
"Me too." Chibi said quietly. "She still amazes me. After all these years."
"Do you know why?" Hiiro asked. "Why she took the blade to her own chest?"
"I think you know why, Hiiro Yui. Truth is she doesn't think much before she acts, when it comes to another life. She will do anything, to save anyone. Isn't that why you love her?" Mamoru's eyes filled with cooly sustained laughter at the shock he knew was in his eyes.
"Love?" He whispered.
"Hiiro no baka." Chibi scolded, wagging her finger in the air playfully. "Do you still deny it? The way she makes your heart beat? That tight feeling in your chest that won't go away?" She sighed, as if frustrated, but smiled afterwards. She looked tired. They both did.
"This is that last time we can come to you. Hiiro." Mamoru said. He looked up at the hulking castle behind him. "Our will can only stretch so far. But there is one last thing we must trust to you before we go."
Chibi raised her hand, and a light grew there, bright pink, and Mamoru put his free hand next to hers, a light that was royal blue and dark green swirling with that of his mesume's. When it cleared, Chibi held a key in her hand, silver, attached to a long golden chain. This time, instead of tossing it, she leapt from Mamoru's grasp, and walked up to Hiiro, standing before him with shining eyes.
"You will know when to use this." She said, and put it in his outstretched hand, for a moment, clasping it with her own. " Protect and love my mama. Hiiro Yui. Help her save your beautiful earth. We bestow upon the you the power of the moon, and the power of the Earth itself, to do so. Sarabada."
And then they were gone. He opened his eyes to the prone form of Usagi, writhing in pain on her infirmary bed, and when he reached out to put a hand on her arm, he saw the key dangling from his wrist. Embedded in the top. were two crystals. One bright pink, and the other a muddy blue and green.
Know when to use it? Usagi relaxed, her breathing slowing, and he brushed his fingers over her cheek, grasping the key in a closed hand. "Arigatou." He said aloud, hoping they could hear. If it helped him never to see her like this again, he was more than grateful. Because he did. Gods, he really did love the girl that laid prone before him. They said she would be okay, but she just looked so...broken.
"You have to wake up Usagi." He whispered in the dark. "Onegai."
...
Quatre brushed a hand through his hair, and put on his best smile for Trowa as he looked at him. He was currently sitting on his lap, on a soft love seat in one of Sanq's many lounges. His chest still ached. His body hurt like he'd been wounded himself, but being close to Trowa made the pain fade, if only a little.
Wufei was there, seated next to Sally, who was holding his hand of all things. Noin sat on Millardo's lap, playing wordlessly with his hair, and Hilde sat next to Duo, bandaged but looking much better, toying with the buttons on his shirt. Relena sat alone, picking at the chair she was on as if it was covered in lint. It was spotless actually, but he did not blame her. They were all nervous. It was remarkable, that after years of denying their feelings, hiding them from even eachother, the thought of the loss of one person, a person they had just met, had brought them all closer to one another. For a long time no one spoke, but then Relena cleared her throat, her voice uncertain.
"Is Hiiro with her?"
"Since I pulled him from the counter at the Bankai."
"He was drinking?" Noin asked, in mild disbelief. She'd never seen any of them pick up more than a glass of wine at a special event, barring Duo.
"Wouldn't you?" Wufei asked, and Noin closed her open mouth with a soft snap.
"Yes," she said quietly, touching Milliardo's face and looking at him, really looking at him. "I suppose I would."
"How does she do it?" Duo asked aloud, and every eye in the room turned to him. "We've been at this for years. Fighting non-stop, denying every feeling that came our way because the battle was more important. And in little over a month, she's got Hilde holding my hand without yelling at me, Wufei sitting an inch away from Sally, and Noin and Quatre sitting on Milliardo and Trowa's laps!" He smiled and shook his head. "She's even got you worried Relena. And to be honest, I thought you wouldn't take to her at all, seeing as how..."
"Duo." Quatre chided, but Relena raised a hand with a small smile.
"I'd be stupid not to see it Quatre." She said. "Though I'd love to play the fool." Milliardo looked at her with a gaze that was half pity, half proud brotherly love. "How can you not be wrapped in her light? Not revel in being so close to something so ethereal?" She sighed. "It's no wonder. She has us all love-struck in different ways. And her sacrifce taught us, in less than a day, that we've been wrong this whole time."
"She's right." Sally said. "In times like these, why push what you want away?" She squeezed Wufei's hand, and he gazed down on her with burnt coal eyes. "You might not have the chance to get it back."
"How is she?" Milliardo asked. "We've been wrapped up in all the politics of this, gathering soldiers and overseeing the production of mobile dolls. The Gundams are being transferred here soon, and my men have already started modifications on Zero."
"She's alive." Quatre said, and when he thought of her, the pain came back, fresh, burning. Trowa laid a hand on his shoulder, and he breathed out slowly. "I can feel her fighting the poison. But it was something unknown to Asiya or Rashid. There was only so much they could do. The rest is up to her."
"She has to wake up." Hilde said. "I still have to thank her for saving my life."
"I have a feeling she'd tell you not to worry about it." Duo said, rubbing her arm. "She jumped into that battle without question, knowing the stakes were against her. With a smile. She's a fighter."
"And has been for longer than any of us have been alive, added together." Trowa said. There was a hushed murmur about the room, and they all fell into silence again. Another day had come and passed, and there was still much to do. But they were all content, for just a moment, to enjoy one another's company. Before the storm came their way.
...
And another chapter bites the dust. This chapter had alot more action than the previous ones. Hiiro had finally confessed his love for Usagi...to himself. Will he be able to tell her to her face if and when she wakes up? And Duo, Wufei and Hiiro have received the power to aid in the battle, even though they don't know exactly how to use it. Who will visit Quatre and Trowa? What else do Chaos and his terrible twins have in store for The Goddess of Stars and the Gundam Pilots? Even I don't know. I'm making it up as I go along. So tune in for the next chapter of Fuseiseki, coming soon! P.s. There was a guest character in this chapter...can you guess who? Remember to review! And a side note to all my reviwers who have posted previously... I apologize for not getting back to you on here... but posting the chapters is all I really have time for at the moment, so please enjoy!