Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 1 Blood on the Window ❯ Practical Chinese ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"Hey, Heero?"

"Hm?" I tried to open my eyes and make my dream stop…

"Do I really know all the times you cheated on me?"

"Mm-hmm…"

"Really?" Relena's voice was quiet in the sleep-silence of the house.

"Think so…" I replied, finally managing to surface back into reality, blinking at the room and trying to remember what had been dream and what hadn't been.

"You told me?"

I blinked at Relena's eyes in the darkness, re-connecting to her questions, "Yeah." I muttered, rolling onto my side, "Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Just…one more." she muttered, pressing at my shoulder.

I allowed her to roll me, giving her a look.

"You love me?"

"More than life itself," I replied, sitting up to kiss at her ear as she giggled and rolled over, "Why? What brought this on?" I blinked at the alarm clock, which said five, "Have you slept at all?"

She giggled a little more, then nodded at me, "One of the girls went to the bathroom a while ago," she muttered, "It woke me up."

I chuckled, relaxing against the bed.

"You're heavy." she muttered, pushing at me.

"I want to sleeeeep," I informed her, rolling off her again as she situated herself so she was laying on me, "And how is that fair?"

She giggled, running her fingers over my chest.

"Oh…" I took a deep breath, allowing myself to start relaxing again.

"If I asked you to," she muttered right before I fell asleep again, "Would you stop being an assassin?"

I lay there a long time, and when she sighed, I realized she thought I'd went back to sleep, "Depends on why you asked." I muttered.

"Are we ever getting married?"

"Do you want to?"

"Only if you do."

That woke me up, "Um…"

"Go back to sleep, Heero." she muttered, nuzzling against my chest.

"When?"

"Now."

"No…when do you want to get married?"

"Autumn." she replied quietly, "In the palace…"

I wrapped my arms around her as I felt her body relax as she went into sleep.

I found, however, that I could not sleep.

.

"As always," Quatre muttered, hugging Relena, "It was a pleasure."

Relena smiled at him, "You need to hurry up and move here so you don't have to keep saying that."

Quatre laughed, turning to hug Duo, studying his eyes, "You should see if some weekend you can go with Kayla to meet her mom. It doesn't sound like the woman will live until you finally decide to marry her daughter."

Duo gave him a look, then laughed, "I'll let you know how that turns out."

Quatre winked, turning to study me a moment, "I will suggest this once, and only once. Carry a weapon." he hugged me, "I know you don't like to anymore, but something-even if it's your sword. I don't care. Something. I think you really pissed Jun off the other night."

I nodded my agreement, thinking about it. I had a license to carry a concealed weapon, and a sword was not concealed…

"Take care of yourself." Quatre added very quietly in Chinese, "I know it's so much easier to let others do it for us, but you're a strong warrior."

I nodded, not quite meeting his eyes.

"And you're no man's bitch."

I had to laugh at that, shoving at his chest.

"What?" Relena asked, her tone vaguely amused.

"Just some practical Chinese." Quatre brushed the matter aside, winking at me and extending a hand to Miguel, "I'm very happy to have met you. I'm glad you've tied Wufei down finally."

Miguel laughed, "That is, until he decides to be free."

Quatre sniggered, "Don't we know it."

He laughed more, flashing me a look before focusing on Trowa a moment and hugging him. I saw him whisper in Trowa's ear, and wondered what he'd said when Trowa nodded and looked away. I wasn't going to press the issue, however.

"And you." Quatre added, scooping Alex into his arms to hug her, "Are you going to be good?"

"Yeah," she muttered, "Pappa reminded me that Santa's gonna come soon."

"Oh, yeah!" Quatre muttered, turning to look at Lea, who was hugging Relena, then turned back, "I was thinking that if you weren't a good girl, I wouldn't be able to bring you a good Christmas present, but that works too."

Alex giggled, hugging him.

"Well," Hilde muttered as he set Alex down again and she wandered over to Lea, "What practical advice do you have for me, oh mentor?"

Quatre laughed, pulling her into a hug, "Use a condom."

Hilde laughed at that, smacking his shoulders, "That's absolutely of no use to me."

"Hm…I'll think of something and call you."

She grinned at him, "You'd better."

"Don't I always?" he protested.

She grinned at him.

Quatre sighed finally, watching as Lea moved into Heero's arms before meeting my eyes again and shaking his head, "School lets out in mid-June. I'm sure I'll have a place by then. I've made sure that my people only look in areas that belong to Jaded. I want a several bedroom place so everyone doesn't have to keep living with you two," he indicated Heero and Relena, "I'm thinking I'll be able to buy a place in your same neighborhood…well, not me. The estate." he rolled his eyes, "They keep trying to hoist money off on me in large dollops. If I try to work for it they try to give me more." he made a disgusted noise.

"Such a hard life," I muttered, giving him a look.

He flashed me an irritated, yet amused, glance.

"You could always volunteer," Duo reminded him, "If you need something to do."

"Good point." Quatre agreed, then sighed and looked to Lea again. She was hugging Miguel.

I scooped her into my arms when she came to me and hugged her before kissing her cheek, "I love you, Angel."

"Kay," she said happily, hugging me tightly, "I love you more."

"I love you more than you love me." I returned.

"I love you more than you love me."

"I love you more than you mean it."

She giggled, "I love you more than you say it."

.

"What's this?" I asked Wufei as he came into the living room with his sword strapped to his belt.

"The practical Chinese Quatre mentioned." he replied easily, yawning slightly, "Are you coming tonight?"

"No. Trowa is."

"Why?" he looked startled.

"We have a job." I replied, digging my jacket out of the closet, "I'll probably be there in the next hour or so, but right now Trowa is going with you."

He nodded, moving around me to get his own jacket, "You gonna have Heero drop you off? You guys should hang out a bit."

"I'll see if Heero wants to. He's tired, though." I rolled my eyes. He'd been in a good enough mood until an hour after Quatre left, and then he'd become despondent before snapping at me when I asked him if he wanted cocoa.

"Huh…I thought they went to bed early last night?"

"I got the impression he didn't sleep much."

"Relena is fine."

I shrugged, "I dunno."

He grinned at me, picking up his car keys and whistling up the stairs.

"Just a minute!" Trowa sounded irritated.

Wufei blinked.

"He's helping Alex with her homework," I explained, "It shouldn't take more than five minutes."

Heero started down the stairs, looking Wufei over and tilting his head as he focused on the sword, "I take it you don't have your concealed permit?" he muttered.

Wufei laughed, "I have one, I just would rather use a sword than a gun."

"Whatever gets ya wet, I suppose." Heero shrugged that off and gestured for me to join him.

"I'll be there in a bit." I muttered, moving passed Wufei.

"Later." he called after me.

.

"Fine!" the guy who'd been nearly begging Wufei for fifteen minutes to play him a game of pool gave up the argument, turning to me, "You shoot?"

"Better than you do." I replied, smirking at him.

"You want to put your money where your mouth his?"

I grinned more, "I don't want dirty money."

The man laughed, his face splitting into a boyish grin, "Come on…play me?"

I looked to Wufei curiously.

He shrugged at me, "He's good. He nearly kicked Tailor's ass a week or two ago."

"Tailor sold his soul to the devil, that's how he won that game," the guy shook his head ruefully.

"I don't think Tailor even has a soul," I muttered.

Wufei's eyes flashed.

"Tcch, ya llege," Duo's voice was vaguely annoyed and amused as he smacked me upside the head.

I turned and smacked him back, informing him that he was a bitch.

"What?" he demanded, thinking about what I'd said as I realized I'd said it in Spanish.

I laughed, smacking him again and dodging away, indicating the guy should lead me to the table he was at.

"What's your name?" he asked as we neared one and I scrutinized the sticks on hand, "Chance." I replied easily, "You?"

"Raymond, my friends call me Ray."

"So which am I to call you?" I asked, selecting one and grinning at him.

"Master of-the fuckin' world." he replied, grinning.

I laughed, "Yeah, we'll see about that…"

.

It took me five minutes to realize Trowa wasn't coming out.

I sighed, climbing out of my car and locking the door, checking that my keys were in my pocket as I moved toward the building.

The bouncer at the door recognized me on sight and grinned at me in greeting, so I returned the friendly gesture before stepping into the equally dark interior of Pawn.

Wufei was doing tricks with glasses as Duo lounged in the corner seat we all took, and after a few moments I spotted Trowa off in the distance, playing pool.

"You could have told me he wasn't coming out." I muttered grumpily to Duo as he turned and focused on me.

"Oh shit, sorry." he muttered quickly, "I completely forgot you were out there."

I gave him a look.

"What's up?" Wufei asked, moving to me, "You want something?"

"No, I'm gonna head back to the house."

"Oh…" he frowned at me, "You should hang out for a while."

I flashed him an evil grin, "I'd rather spend the time with Relena."

He laughed, "Oh yeah…so why are you here?"

"I was going to give Trowa a ride home, but evidently…" I focused on the guy as he looked up from a shot he was about to take and grinned at me. He was too far away to hear our conversation, so I knew he wasn't laughing at me.

"Have a drink, this shouldn't take too long. Ray's good, but Tro's better."

"I'll go talk to him. If this is easy money he may not want to come home yet."

They both nodded to me and I moved across the bar to Trowa, who landed two balls and laughed a happy little laugh, "I didn't think I'd get that one." he admitted to the man he was playing against, grinning at me, "Hey, Tony. What's up?"

"You want a ride, or you gonna hang out?"

"Right now?" he asked, looking a bit crest-fallen, "This game shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes…" he flashed the guy a grin.

"Fuck you!" the guy returned, laughing as he landed three balls, "I say three."

Trowa sniggered, taking a shot I wouldn't have tried-and made it. Three balls rolled into one pocket, "I think you're right."

The man laughed ruefully.

"I'm ready to go. Either you come now, or…"

"Do I want to overhear this conversation?" Ray asked.

Trowa sniggered, "I'm beginning to wonder if I do."

"Tro," I snapped through gritted teeth, which brought his attention sharply back to me, "Are you coming or not?"

"Dude, you need to learn to relax…" he thought a second, then shrugged, "I'll hang out."

I glared at him, "And you couldn't just tell me that to begin with?"

"I would go with you," he replied, "If you could let me finish a game, but since you've obviously got your knickers in a twist I'll pass. I'll catch you later…can you make sure Alex gets to bed reasonably?"

I gave him a look.

"Just tell Miguel." he said darkly.

I rolled my eyes, turning and starting away from him-and pausing as I focused on Wufei. He was standing at the bar with his hand on his partially drawn sword. Duo had his knife out and was eyeing the man talking to Wufei with a grin.

The man looked annoyed as he said something else to Wufei, then tossed the envelope he'd been holding across the bar at the guy before glaring at Duo and focusing on me. He froze a long moment, then turned and started out the door quickly.

Wufei re-sheathed the sword properly and snatched up the envelope as I neared him.

"Who was that?"

"A Swathe lackey." he replied in bad humor, ripping the envelope open and laughing derisively after reading it, tossing it at me before moving down the bar to a guy who'd tapped the bar.

"What is it?" Duo asked, moving to stand next to me.

It was an invitation. The lettering was simple and the wording formal.

"Okay…" Duo muttered, taking it from my hand, "You are formally invited to attend a pre-season Christmas party at the Star-light Lounge. Guests will be required to show this invitation upon entrance. Please limit the number of your party to eight, as room in the lounge is limited. The party will be held on Wednesday, December tenth. The doors will open at six, if you wish to attend a supper, and again at nine for the party itself. R.S.V.P. at this number…" Duo looked the number over a moment, then met my eyes, "Jun can't be serious."

I took the invitation from him again, then studied it carefully, "Please limit the number of your part to eight," I muttered, meeting his eyes, "I wonder how many people everyone else is allowed."

"Jun's not completely stupid. He knows that Wufei travels with a guard lately."

I nodded, closing the thing and passing it to him, "I think it'd be fun to go to."

He smirked at me, then glanced down the bar at Wufei, "I somehow doubt he's interested."

"Maybe we can get him to wear that sword," I muttered, thinking, "Didn't you say that Jun didn't have them check him over completely? I don't think Jun would take it away from him."

He smirked even more, nodding at that, "And I doubt he'd comment on my knife."

I laughed evilly, patting Duo's shoulder and starting for the door.

"Shit!"

We both turned to where Trowa was laughing and extending a hand happily. He gestured for me to wait a moment, so I paused, watching him curiously. The man passed him over a bill and grumbled something.

"I think he just won." Duo muttered, grinning.

"Hm, think you're right." I agreed.

Trowa was still grinning as he made his goodbyes, then jogged up to us and took his jacket from Duo, "Night, Duo." he muttered.

"Night." Duo said, grinning at him.

"Night, Fei!" Tro added.

"Night, guys. Drive safe." Wufei watched us leave with a dark look.

"What's with him?" Trowa asked me, frowning slightly.

I chuckled, "He got invited to a Christmas party."

.

"Jun has some balls," I muttered darkly to Miguel as we lay in the bed. "I can't believe him sometimes…like I'd want to go to a frickin' party…shit, I told him I didn't want…stop." I snapped as Miguel ran a hand over my stomach, "Shit." I added, rolling away from him, "I'm not in the mood."

"You just need to relax…" Miguel muttered, running his hands over my shoulder.

I jerked away from him, irritated. I wasn't in the mood to snuggle. I didn't understand why that was so hard to understand.

"Wufei…" he muttered.

I turned and gave him a look, "I just told you I'm not in the mood."

He frowned at me, sitting back slightly, looking vaguely hurt.

"What?" I snapped, "I come home pissed and you just want to fuck? Jesus." I moved off the bed toward the door.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his tone vaguely annoyed.

"I'm going to bed." I replied, slamming the door after me before realizing that there were other people home who were in bed. I waited a long moment before moving down the hall again, pushing the door open and looking at Duo as he turned to blink at me.

"What's up?" he muttered.

"Miguel just wants to fuck." I grumbled, climbing under the blankets and lying out next to him.

"That's a bad thing?"

"I'm not in the mood, Duo."

"Hm…" he thought a moment, "Well…rant away."