Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ My Kinda Fairy Tale ❯ Breaks ( Chapter 7 )

GS Notes: Ak! This took a long time! Um, I blame it in school. Also, I sprained my pinky, doesn't that count? Also, this chapter might...offend some people. Italian people in fact. JUST TO LET YOU KNOW! I am Italian, I love my Italian family. I just go to a Catholic school. About 90 out of 100 students are gina's or gino's with the big hair, loud makeup, tight pants, you get the picture. It's not so much bashing as I let it be known to the world that I am a minority in the school. Some aren't that bad, really. Some are really nice. But most of them feel that need to fire spit and paper balls at me and over my homework in the café. Go figure, they were in grade 12. Lets just say they won't be picking on me anytime soon!

These are based on real life stories I've heard, stuff that happened to me and other things my twisted mind has made up! Also, if you do come from Robert F. Hall and know that guys that do the announcements, they are a bit off character for humour sake but they seriously act like this over the PA!

There is little 1x2 in here, I just can't get romance quite right! Heero will be back soon and some more characters will be introduced! So, end of note, read the story.


Chapter Eight

Breaks

//Duo sat on the edge of his bed slowly drumming his fingers on the mattress. His eyes tracked Quatre around the room. The short Wish examined everything, from the pictures on the wall to the designs on Duo's bedspread. He seemed amazed by all the colourful swirls and decorations Duo had adorned in his room.

Duo sighed as Quatre picked up another gold bracelet and twirled it around his fingers.

"Quatre?" he asked. "It's the second day, I only have five more days left until I have to decide. Are you gonna counsel me now?"

"What?" Quatre looked up. "Huh?" He returned to twirling the gem studded gold.

"Quatre," Duo ordered, his voice slipping into an authoritative tone. "Now."

"In a second," Quatre's eyes tracked the moving colours.

"I'll give you chocolate," the tone changed to a light begging one. Quatre's head snapped up.

"Chocolate?" he asked confused. "What's that?"

Duo held out a large slab of brown chocolate. He had received it from a promising princess from the North. He waved it tantalising.

"You won't know until you try it!" he said in a musical voice. "Come on..."

Quatre quietly sat at Duo's feet and kept his eye on the waving chocolate. He held out a hand pleadingly and Duo broke off a small corner. He placed it-"//

"Duo!" a hand rapped sharply on this door. "You're going to be late! Solo can't hold the bus forever!"

"Shoot!" Duo scrambled up and shoved his book in his bag. He zipped it up with one hand was he quickly unlocked and opened the door. Sister Helen glared at him with withering patience and held out a brown paper bag.

"One day Duo," she warned as Duo snagged his lunch and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"See ya Sister!" Duo ran down the hall, his thumping feet waking up a few of the younger children in the dorms. He slid out the door and raced to run through the open bus doors and irritated bus driver.

He sighed in relief and stretched as he settled beside Solo in a seat near the back. Solo sighed and tugged his braid.

"One day you're not going to make it," he warned.

"And when that day comes," Duo smiled. "I'll cut my braid."

Solo snickered at the mental image as Duo grabbed his notebook to pass the time.

// Quatre quietly sat at Duo's feet and kept his eye on the waving chocolate. He held out a hand pleadingly and Duo broke off a small corner. He placed it on Quatre's hand. He sniffed it for a minute before popping it in his mouth. The second the chocolate touched his tongue, Quatre's eyes widened. He sucked it slowly as his hands grew to tight fists.

Duo watched amazed as Quatre's swallowed the small piece. Almost immedently he had to fight two small pale hands away from the huge chocolate slab.

"No!" Duo flipped to the other side of the bed and Quatre jumped it in one stride. Duo clambered quickly to the top of his dresser, a height too great for even a food-obsessed Wish. "Either we talk civilly and you get more chocolate or you can head on back to your little office with the paper work!"

Quatre eyed the chocolate then Duo. He quickly flickered back to the chocolate. "Choco- I mean we can talk Duo," he tried to grin winningly but Duo was still unnerved by the manic look he gave the chocolate.

Duo slowly climbed down from his perch from the dresser. Quatre's bright eyes never left the chocolate. Duo opened his mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door-//

"Would you stop poking me," Duo glared at Solo, trying to show his deathly annoyance through the one intense glare.

"You're going to break your pencil," Solo said casually. Duo glanced and saw the pencil on the point of breaking from where he was gripping it.

"Well," Duo said, releasing his death grip on the pencil and stuck his nose in the air. "Some people are busy making a masterpiece so-" and with that Duo made a very rude gesture with his finger. Solo laughed and Duo grumbled as he turned back to his work.

// Duo opened his mouth to speak when there was a knock at the door. Duo covered the chocolate and placed it in a locked drawer while keeping an eye on Quatre. He moved to the eyepiece of the door. He pulled back the sliding metal looking piece and said loudly without looking out, "Who is it?"

"Cadet Chang Wufei!" Came the immedant answer. Duo rolled his eyes and looked out now that there was no danger of being stabbed in the eye. "I bring Prince Trowa Barton of the Barton Lands. He wishes to speak with you!"

"One minute!" Duo looked at Quatre panicky.

"I'm invisible, remember?" Quatre held out his hands innocently.

"Not that, the clothes! My rooms a mess!" Duo started to kick clothes under the bed. Quatre quickly helped him. Meanwhile, Wufei sweatdropped outside the door.

"I apologise Prince Barton," Wufei said a little essaparated. "Prince Duo tends to have one sided conversations. Trowa just nodded as the door was unbolted and Duo grinned.

"All right, come on in Prince Trowa," Duo bowed Trowa informally into his bedroom. Trowa suddenly realised why he was so glad he had decided on these peace talks. There was a huge bed at the end of the room with black drapes on the side pulled back. There were several tall uncovered windows that let in light and they also held lanterns and torches beside them. There was a huge paper-covered desk off to one side surrounded by bookshelves and maps. A huge wardrobe stood on the opposite wall with a small staircase leading to the private baths. What shocked Trowa the most though, was the brutal tapestries on the wall. They ranged from people transforming into hideous monsters to the royal emblem hovering over a kingdom in ruins. Duo caught Trowa's look and glanced at the walls.

"I regret the tapestries, Prince Trowa," he smiled easily. "They are well before my time and as much as I request, they cannot be taken away."

"It's all right," Trowa tore his gaze away from the wall as he sensed something different leaking from the room. He scanned the walls lazily until they rested on the chair by the desk. There was something else here, something he could not see.

Trowa had a habit of seeing the unseen, an undesirable talent in his homeland so he preferred to keep it a secret. He let Duo lead him to another chair lining the walls as he kept half an eye on the chair. It was the same thing that had been at breakfast. And at the archery range.

Trowa settled down. Wufei of course stayed in the room, it being too much of a disgrace to be left in a room with the Crown Prince. He knew they had been lenient last time because they had a spying spell in his room but the Prince had his privacy and Wufei had to stay in the room.

Duo stuck his tongue out at Wufei who ignored it and sat down beside Trowa.

"Prince Trowa-"

"Just Trowa," Trowa said quietly. "I come of informal business, Prince Duo."

"Then it's just Duo," the braided prince smiled. Trowa nodded. "Now, what was it you wanted?"//

Duo felt Solo stand up beside him so he glanced out the window to see the school. He quickly closed his book and followed the crowd of teenagers off the bus. He and Solo spilt ways and Duo walked casually into the school. Almost immedently he was pounced upon.

"The end is coming!" the girl yelled in his face, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. "God help us all!" She let go and ran to the next person. Duo just looked at her shocked. He made his way to his locker and reached in to grab his books.

"Duo!" he heard another voice call him. He turned and saw Dorothy run up to him. She stopped and placed her hand son her knees and panted quickly. "Did ya hear?"

Duo raised his eyebrow, Dorothy was too dignified to run often and she rarely resorted to slang. "The world is ending?"

"The PTA is petitioning for uniforms!" she gasped, her hand to her chest as she tried to slow her heart.

"What!?" Duo asked sharply. "It'll never happen, who is stupid enough to sign that? This is a public school for Christ's sake!"

"Oh, they're quite convincing," she scowled. "They almost got Wufei to sign."

"Wu?" Duo asked faintly. "Our Wu?"

"Yes, our Wu. The Wu that didn't wear his glasses. And they held it too far away for him to see it properly. I managed to stop him just in time. They almost tricked him into thinking it was a petition for better café food."

"Damn," Duo glared. He was about to say more but the bell rang. "This is stupid, see you in Science, Doro." They quickly parted. As always, Duo happened to be as far as possible from his next class and had to run. He slid in just in time to hear the bell sound at his back.

Standing by the blackboard writing her name, was a new teacher. Duo paused at the doorway as he took in her appearance. She had two chestnut braids over her shoulder, a light shade then Duo's but chestnut all the same. She was fairly tall but looked young. Duo raised an eyebrow; he would get another chance to write today.

He was pushed in my other students who were also late and he sat down in a seat near the back. The teacher continued to ignore the loud chattering and speculation. Then, the announcements started. Announcements here were done by students who wanted to do them.

"Good morning crew! Please, place you're hands firmly on your desk, lean forward. Push off of your desk with you hands and straighten so you shoulders are once again parallel to your hips. Congratulations, you are standing. Now sing our national anthem."

Duo smirked as the class stood up and stood by the edge of their desk. There was too much talking to actually hear the song but Duo was surprised the teacher did nothing to stop it. The song ended and everyone sat back down.

"Good morning every one and I hope you are all having a nice day. Mike here will start off the announcements, won't you Mike?"

"Yes sir, I will. There will be a very important book club meeting for all old and new members. Please be there. Also, if you think 'Catcher and The Rye' is a kind of bread, please stay after school and they can help you work out your illiteracy problems."

"The hockey team is meeting tonight in the weight room. If you can't make it please see Mr Domino ASAP. For those of you who don't speak in acronyms, that's As Soon As Possible."

"Would the owner of a grey piece of cheese on the back staircase please go and claim it, the mice are nesting."

"People on the Gun Barraged are to meet our VP Ms Une in the café for your workout session."

"And today's thought of the day, if number 2 pencils are the most favoured pencil in the world, why are they still number 2? Thank you and have a nice day!"

The PA clicked off and it was a repeat of chaos from the day before. Duo was about to open his bag for his notebook when a loud crack snapped the class into silence. The new teacher was sitting on the end of the desk. Her eyes were closed and she was smiling. A broken ruler was in her hand.

"Hello class, I am the supply teacher for the rest of the week. It seems you have scared off your last one. Her eyes opened and she fixed the class with an icy blue stare. "My name is Major Sally Po. The usual 'miss' will suffice buy I also go by Sally. I am a very nice person to get along with, if you don't get on my bad side."

"Yea right miss," a loud irritating voice at the front of the room broke the still stunned silence. "That's what all the supplies say. What's so different about you?"

She grinned. "I have a military background. I would like you all to open your textbooks to page-"

"What about attendance miss?" the same kid asked again. Duo gritted his teeth. That kid was always obnoxious and ground Duo's last nerves.

"I am not stupid," she said calmly. "I know perfectly well that most people will sneak out of class after attendance. So I will take it irratically through out class time. Page fifty-six everyone."

Duo groaned as his chance to finish some other English work was pushed aside. The class reached into various bags and piles to pull out a red textbook. Duo flipped his quickly to the page.

It took only a few minutes into the class for Duo to really start to like this new teacher. She knew what she was talking about and her voice captured most of the classes attention. She assigned the work then reached for the attendance sheet.

"Alan, Kelly." the girl waved her hand lazily.

"Gavalo, Elsavador." A boy from the front called out.

"Sam miss, my name's Sam. Can we all go now? This class is a joke!"

"Thank you Sam," she glared at the bleached haired boy. "But no. You have strict instructions from Mr Merquese to attend class. People who disobey this rule will be dealt with by him. Herman, Clayton."

She went through the list with the class being fairly quiet and working. She reached Duo's name.

"Maxwell, Duo."

"Here," Duo said from his hasty scribbling. He figured that if he got his homework finished now he would have time at the end of class to work on his story.

"Maxwell..." Sally murmured for a minute. "Could you see me after class Mr Maxwell?"

"Yes miss," Duo blink surprised and looked up. That was weird. He shrugged it off and looked back to his binder. Then the announcements crackled on.

"There will be an emergency meeting for all grade twelves in the café. That's ALL grade twelves in the café NOW!"

Sally stood up. "You heard him, everyone down to the café." She stopped and stared evilly at them. "Who ever doesn't come back will be answering to ME first. Get going."

Duo left the class quickly and they all hurried down the spiral staircase to the café. All the tables had been folded to benches as the older teens filled into the large cold room. Dorothy waved at him from the back so he carefully struggled his way to her.

He plopped on the cold hard bench and shivered. He poked Wufei who sat stormily beside Dorothy.

"Any reason why we are here?" Duo asked inquisitively.

"I think it has to do with Student Council," Merian said quietly from the other side of Dorothy. Dorothy nodded in agreement. More classes wandered in and Quatre sat with them. He also agreed with the Student Council idea. It was still longer until the last class came through the huge doors and they were joined by Trowa. He was grumbling slgihtly about being called from the wait in Guidance.

"Has anyone see Heero?" Duo asked as he scanned the café.

"He's in France with his parents," Quatre said as he settled back and crossed his arms. "They had to go on a business trip and their partners have a daughter Heero's age."

"Damn," Duo swore as Mr Kushrinada struggled to be heard. The microphone was squeaking loudly before he succeeded in quieting down some of the café.

"That's it, phone calls to parents of kid who won't shut up!" he yelled. That message needed not a microphone. He cleared his throat and handed the mike over to another student.

"You are probably wondering why we called you here," the dark haired boy started.

"Go Johnny!" came a female cry from somewhere in the crowd. Johnny coughed and continued.

"Your female student council rep had to leave the school due to... health problems this afternoon."

The microphone was violently ripped away by an older blonde haired kid. The boy burst out quickly.

"Yea, some health! Her implants burst at the football game!" There were several burst of laughter and whistles as the blonde boy received a deadly glare from Mr Kushrinada.

"Mike!" Johnny yelled and wrestled the microphone away from the taller boy. "That was supposed to be confidential! Anyway, that leaves you without a female rep. There have been a few suggestions and candidates chosen so we will call you up to give a short impromptu speech. First off we have Jessica Julio."

"This is gonna be good," Duo whispered gleefully and rubbed his hands together. "I wonder who else? Merian perhaps? Dorothy are you trying again?"

"After that defeat by Gina Italiano in grade nine," Dorothy glared at the back of the head of the kid in front of her. "Never. I swore off politics from that day on!"

"Really?" Quatre said shyly. "I think you might be great at it!" Trowa nodded mutely.

Up at the stage, Johnny Priece was shocked at the horrible speech Jessica was presenting. It had something to do with more room at Smoker's and having the Home EC class cook lunches in the cafe. Johnny doubted they would survive that experience. He looked at his list. It was shorter then the council had described to him. There was only one more name. Duo Maxwell. He frowned. Was that a girl's name? Only one way to tell.

Jessica finished her excuse for a speech and Johnny took the microphone back. "Our next possible rep would be, Duo Maxwell!"

"Fuck!"

A body was shoved into the middle aisle and the person straightened up quickly. Johnny frowned, the person might be female, she had the hair. Her face was round and feminine with slender shoulders. She wore a white tee shirt with a black silk button top over it. It was buttoned, leaving a few holes at the top to show off her neck. She wore semi tight light blue jeans. Johnny nodded to himself. Must be a girl, flat chest though.

The chestnut haired girl took the mike angrily from him and glared at the audience with violet eyes.

Dorothy was having a blast. She had entered Duo's name as revenge for never letting her forget her humiliating defeat in grade nine when Gina Italiano had tripped her coming up to the mike. She had fallen flat on her face, broke her glasses and chipped her braces on the floor. This was going to be fun. She poked Wufei who was turning red from pent up laughter. She whispered her plan in his ear.

Duo was not impressed. He faced the student body. He had never been popular at school and most people didn't know his name let alone gender. He knew exaclt who had set him up. He fixed a glare at Dorothy and tried to quickly plead his case.

"Look, there is some sort of mistake!" he pleaded. "I would not make a good student rep-"

"Modesty in a leader! We need that!" a high feminine voice called from the back. Duo now fixed his well-practised glare at the grinning Chinese girl. Merian raised a fist in the air triumphantly.

"Look, seriously, you don't want me-"

"She sounds trustworthy to me!" this time Wufei yelled anonymously from the back. "She has my vote!"

"No guys-"

"Duo! Duo! Duo! Duo! Duo!" a steady chant grew from the small group of the soon-to-be-beat-to-a-bloody-pulp friends to the surrounding crowd.

"No, no, hear how bad I would be! Um, the other's may give you light but I will lead the way! How corny is that-"

"This girl is the best!" a random person yelled from the middle. Duo looked helplessly at Johnny and threw the mike in his face.

"DOROTHY!" Duo yelled "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! ARG!"

****

"Er," came the nervous announcement as the grade twelves filtered back to their rooms. "By default, Jessica Julio is now the grade 12 female rep for Student Council. An apology goes out to Duo Maxwell. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Duo glared at anyone who gave him a sideways glance and slumped so his eyes were barely over his desk. Sally wrote the homework on the board and sat behind her desk with brisk instructions to talk quietly with your neighbour or ask her for help. Duo quickly became stuck on the next question. He looked from the book they were reading, Hamlet and looked back to the textbook. He shrugged, closed the books and reached for his story. He didn't have a partner, hell he could do anything he wanted right now.

There was a knock at the door. Sally stood up and opened it to reveal a student calmly holding a piece of paper.

"Do I have the right class?" a familiar voice asked quietly. Duo looked up. "I am transferring to Mr Marquise's English. Is this is?"

"Yes, I am supplying for him," Sally replied and took the note. She read it over quickly. "Everything seems to be in order Mr Barton. Please, take a seat next to, Mr Maxwell."

"Thank you miss," Trowa nodded his head. "May I ask when Mr Marquise is expected back?"

"Tuesday of next week," she smiled and pointed him to Duo. "Until then Mr Maxwell can help you and share his books. If you have any questions I'll try to answer them until Mr Merquese is back."

Trowa walked over and sat next to Duo in his own little cold plastic blue chair.

"Can I see your book Duo?" Trowa asked under his breath as Sally took her seat again. His quiet voice was lost in the medium whispers of the class. Even Sam was quiet, he too feared the wrath of Major Sally Po.

"Why'd you switch? It's the third month!" Duo hissed as he flipped to the textbook and tried to find the right page but kept on missing.

Trowa read the board, grabbed the book and opened it to the right page. "I'm only going from General to Advanced," Trowa whispered. "We were doing the same book and Mrs Whets recommended me to switch."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Duo hissed. "And since you are so smart, help me with the first question."

"You never asked. Shakespeare was trying to portray the..."

When the second bell rang later Trowa said a hasty goodbye and darted off to his next class. Duo waved and quickly went to Sally's desk and shifted his feet nervously. Sally looked up and smiled.

"Ah, Mr Maxwell. Mr Merquese left specific intructions for you."

Duo paled. Was this about his story?

"He informed me about one of your teachers, a Mr Dekim? It appears you have having some problems with him."

All the blood rushed back to Duo's face and he looked at this feet, too embarrassed to meet her eyes. This was something Duo had kept from everyone, even Heero and Dorothy and Wufei. It was just some perverted teacher's fantasy that would never come true, why couldn't he just deal with it? It just had to be his luck that Mr Marquese like to look out for the well being of his students.

"It's nothing I can't handle Miss," Duo muttered and looked to the door, still avoiding eye contact. "I have to go Miss, thank you anyway!" Duo quickly bolted to the crowded hallway before Sally could stop him.

He lugged his heavy bag to his next class, pushing the conversation out of his mind. Fortunately, his first two classes were only about a hall apart. He grumbled as he tried to go from one flow of people to another. The halls moved like highways between classes sometimes and he always got stuck behind the people that had lunch and took their sweet time. He managed a hasty apology and squeezed between people until he popped out in his hall way. He slid into his Science class on time and settled down beside his blonde friend.

"Hey Doro, what are we doing today?"

"Do you ever listen Maxwell?" she sighed annoyed. Duo shook his head and she sighed. "We are reviewing for the test today. This time pay attention, no last minute cramming sessions this time."

"Me?" Duo asked shocked. She just rolled her eyes as the teacher emerged from the back room. Today it was only Doktor H. He looked down on the gathering students. Duo was suddenly glad he was on time as the second bell rang and Doktor H locked the door. This professor had a certain dislike for late comers.

"Today will be the Chapter 5 review day," he looked at the slack jawed student. He sighed in annoyance. "My fellow professor have gone to a previous conference on the Dung beetle exhibit opening at the museum. Open your books while I take attendance."

Duo grabbed his text and peeked onto Dorothy's book to get the right page. He breathed out a sigh of relief, he had already read the entire textbook and lucky for him this was his favourite chapter.

"I hope you all understand the concept of covalent and ionic bonding," Professor H picked up and piece of chalk. "In case not, ionic bonding involves two atom to ions that combine and either loose or gain an electron in order to follow the octet rule. In turn they become combine to create-"

"Sir?" one of the girls raised her hand lazily. "What's an ion?"

"For the love of God!" the professor slammed his book down, any sense of calmest quickly erased. "Out of my class! If I get asked that ONCE more, the apocalypse will rain down on you all!"

Duo and Dorothy exchanged looks as the girl once again raised her hand nonchalantly. "Sir, what's an apocalypse?"

"Out! Out, out, out! You stupid girl!" the professor slammed his book shut. "The same goes for you who don't know what an ion or the apocalypse is!"

Most of the class looked at each other and stood to walk out of class. The end result were about three people of the original twenty-five, Duo and Dorothy sat stunned in their seats. Professor H rubbed his temples.

"Class is cancelled. Just, just make sure you read the chapter?"

"Yes sir," Dorothy and Duo quickly gathered their books and left the deserted class. They both started to giggle as soon as they were out of the room and down the hall.

"Priceless," Dorothy wiped tears from her eyes. "An extra lunch, oh good. I have time to finish my Geography homework."

"I can work on my English," Duo grinned. Then he grabbed Dorothy around the shoulders and turned her to face him excited. "Quatre has this lunch! Merian too! Quick, they might still be in the café!"

The two long-haired teens raced down the slick hallways. They moved through darker haired students until they smacked into a single fair youth coming out of one of the café doors.

"Quat!" Duo smiled and laughed out of breath. He received several strange looks as he wrapped an arm around the perplexed blonde and steered him away from the café.

"Duo? Don't you have class? Dorothy, why is he skipping?" Quatre scolded the two on the same breath.

"I'm not skipping!" Duo replied happily. "We signed in and everything! Doktor H took a hissy fit and set the entire class out. So we're on your lunch! Where's Merian?"

"I think she went to the library to get a table," Quatre said as their direction turned to the large library near the café. They had to jump over a few legs of sleeping students in the halls but reach the library. Dorothy spotted Merian in an isolated table near the back. They moved out of the noisy crowd and sat next to her. To avoid another scolding, Dorothy quickly explained the situation. Merian just shrugged and they all cracked out homework. Duo quickly copied Merian's notes from French the other day and composed the short paragraph. Then he opened his notebook.

//"Then it's just Duo," the braided prince smiled. Trowa nodded. "Now, what was it you wanted?"

"I have come to you just as a friend," Trowa replied slowly. "If our kingdoms are to work together some day we should be comfortable in each other's presence."

Duo nodded and smiled. This was exactly what he wanted. Quatre, who had been sitting cross-legged on the bed, looked closely at Trowa. Duo watched him out of the corner of his eye as he replied to Trowa.

"That is exactly what I was thinking. Since you take such an interest in my country, how about helping me on a little dilemma that has come upon me?"

"He's hot," Quatre grinned cheekily. Duo swallowed and continued.

"I have recently narrowed my choices for a future bride or groom."

"I mean majority hot."

"I haven't been dwelling too much on the job they will be doing to my country yet-"

"He's just so fucking hot!"

Duo coughed and struggled to keep his voice in check. "So I was hoping for your opinion."

Trowa nodded. He too was having difficulties concentrating. He was not a blood relative of the Barton lands. He was taken when their son had died at a young age and just raised in the real Trowa Barton's place. All his life he had heard things no one else heard, seen things no one else saw. He had only mentioned this once to his new family. He never mentioned it again. He tried to listen to Duo but something was half whispering in his ear.

"-so fucking hot!" Trowa felt a blush rise but kept his eyes from showing his emotion and replied to Duo.

"Who is in the running?"

"-god damned gorgeous!"

Duo cleared his throat again and stammered out, "Heero Yuy and Dorothy Catolonia."

"-Trowa Barton."

Duo suddenly turned red. Trowa looked at his curiously as Duo gave a nervous cough before replying. "Yes, I have had a chance to get to know both those people. They seem like antiquate rulers."

"-want him."

Duo suddenly snorted. Trowa looked mildly offended so he turned it into a cough and looked up regretfully. "I'm extremely sorry Trowa. I seem to be a bit off the weather. Perhaps we could continue this conversation at a later time?"

"It is not problem," Trowa said and stood, Wufei standing with him. "I hope you feel better."

"Thank you," Duo smiled as Wufei led the price from the room. The second the door closed, Duo pounced on the Wish and tacked him to the floor.

"I WAS trying to get some help!" Duo yelled quietly. "It doesn't help when you keep making me mess up!"

"Sorry!" Quatre stuck out his tongue. "But he WAS fucking hot! And I felt like saying so! He also has a strange aura."

"How can you tell?" Duo sat up and got of Quatre. He helped the small slender boy to his feet.

"My APS," Quatre replied holding up a piece of shin metal. Lights beeped on it and showed a picture of the floor as he handed it to Duo. Duo looked at it and lifted it up to the window to see better. As he did, a picture of Quatre appeared on the screen. Duo yelped and almost dropped it before Quatre snatched it back.

"Hey, this is expensive! Do you realise how much the camera lens is alone? It's like over 1000 creds for a new one and Ira isn't gonna bail me out AGAIN!"

"What is it?" Duo asked shakily as Quatre place in back in a mysterious pocket on his faded frilly shirt.

"My APS, Aura Plus Scanner. Standard issue."

Duo looked at the shiny metal object sitting harmlessly in the Wish's hands and gulped.//