Eight

Relax

      I sighed as I looked out the window. We had been here three nights now. Nikki, Sam, and Kris seemed content, and it really wasn’t all that bad. We were treated like royalty...and Trowa...
      Nikki and Sam had been playing their games almost constantly.
      It was funny.
      The guys...I smiled...Heero and Duo were used to it, so they just brushed it off.
      Quatre was...well, I wasn’t exactly sure, he and Nicole flirted, but it was all in fun. He seemed interested in Sam. He was quite the gentlemen to her, while making... highly suggestive comments to Nikki. Nicole was amused by that, and didn’t take anything too seriously. Quatre seemed to appreciate that, and took it to its limits...which bothered Heero...but he stayed silent about it.
      I was sort of worried about Wufei, however. He didn’t react the way Quatre and Trowa did...almost like Heero did, but not so...friendly...more like the guys at the school, the guys she only played games with and laughed at behind their backs...
      Trowa was slightly upset by it, but completely amused.
      Trowa was so nice and considerate...I grinned, and cute. Very cute.
      I’d resisted playing the games though, I wasn’t sure exactly why...Maybe it was the way Trowa looked at me...
      It was also good to see Duo again. He’d always been fun, and always made me laugh...and had taught me how to use his gun...I was still annoyed with Hildy for asking him to come...but not so much with him for staying.
      I could hear Nikki laugh from the hall as she and Heero talked. I smiled, she flirted with him a lot more now. Seriously too, not like the way she was with Quatre. He was happy with her attentions. In the past I’d noticed he had more than a passing interest in her, but I had thought I was seeing things, but now...I smiled. It was good to hear her laughing like that, and him too. They were alone out there.
      Samantha and Quatre were...umm...where had they gone? Oh yeah, the library... well, study, but...yeah. The room with all the books in it.
      Wufei was...somewhere, he would disappear and...meditate...or...something...
      Krystal was with Duo. They had went shopping. Kris for the fun of it, and Duo for...Kris, I assumed. He liked her a lot.
      Not tomorrow or the next day, but the day after that, Minister Dorlain would get here. According to Trowa she was really nice.
      I was wondering about Zechs, he had been the leader of White Fang, and died in the war...and showed up when Marimea was trying to take over the world...Trowa said that there was no way to tell, in After Colony one9five, if Zechs had died, and obviously he hadn’t. Trowa found it amusing.            Trowa...he was full of interesting stories. He had no problem telling me about his past. I liked the ones about when he had amnesia...
      I couldn’t help but smile, I liked Trowa.
      He was taking a shower.
      Too bad I couldn’t join him....Whoa...I smiled again, Katie...Don’t start that, the man probably sees you as a little girl...not exactly what I had in mind.


      “Hey, you awake, Trowa?” Duo’s voice came from the hall.
      “Yeah.” Trowa called, “Come in.”
      The door opened to reveal Duo in a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt, looking tired. His black baseball hat looked wrong with the outfit.
      He blinked at me in surprise, “Good morning, Heero. What’s going on?” He noticed Krystal in the corner and waved.
      “Morning, Duo...” Kris muttered in return.
      I smiled, “Nothing, just talking.”
      “Where’s Nik?”
      How had I known that was coming?
      I shrugged, “She’s with Wufei.”
      He was obviously shocked, “With Wufei?”
      “Getting breakfast. Move.” came Wufei’s voice from the hall.
      Duo stepped into the room and watched as Wufei and Nikki came in with plates of food on trays.
      “I grabbed enough for you, Braid-Boy.” Nikki added as she walked by.
      “Hey, leave my braid out of this.” Duo cried in mock offense.
      Nikki was about to make another comment when the door connecting Kat and Trowa’s room opened. Trowa had closed it when Nicole and I had come in.
      “Good morning.” she said brightly as Duo decided where to sit...and with the extensive array of floor, I understood why the choice was so hard...
      Nikki made a face, “How can you be Merry Sunshine at seven in the morning?” she said disgustedly, handing Krystal a plate.
      Kat smiled, “Practice.”
      “You can’t say that and be completely fair, Nikki.” I said in mock reprimand, “When we met, ten was late.”
      She looked at me slyly a moment, “Well, Ookami, at least I was a morning person after I slept. Unlike you and your sleepless nights...” she set a plate in my hands, “How could you do that? Be awake without sleep for four nights...”
      “Ookami, huh?” Wufei interrupted, “How fitting...” he grinned at me, “It suits you.”
      “Good morning.” Quatre said as he came in and accepted a plate from Nikki. Samantha followed listlessly and Nicole handed her a cup of coffee, which she accepted...correction...snatched as Wufei handed Trowa and Kat plates.
      “What suits you, Heero?” Quatre asked curiously.
      “Ookami.” Wufei told him, handing two empty trays to Nicole.
      “What does it mean?” Duo asked.
      I glanced at him, he’d learned Japanese. I smiled slightly at Nikki, who pretended to ignore me, “Wolf.”
      “Wolf?” Duo’s brow furrowed.
      “Who called you that?” Quatre asked, looking around.
      “Nicole did.” Wufei replied, accepting a plate from her, “Thanks.”
      She nodded.
      “Why did you call him that?” Quatre asked her.
      She shrugged, “It seems to fit.” she winked and sat down beside me.
      “So when does Minister Dorlain arrive?” Krystal asked the room in general.
      “Probably around seven.” Quatre replied, “Maybe eight.”
      As we all started eating, silence fell over the room.
      Suddenly Duo threw his hat at Nicole.
      She grabbed it, “Wow...” she grinned at me, directing her voice to him, “Thanks for the hat, Good Lookin’, always wanted one...”
      “Now who said I gave...” Duo started.
      “Good Lookin’?” Quatre was amused.
      I laughed, “They haven’t seen each other in a few months, Quatre, they’re renewing their friendship. I think we may be in for a few hours of immaturity...”
      Nikki stuck her tongue out at me and Duo grinned, flipping me off with a flick of his wrist...
      Everyone started laughing.
      I winked, “Point made.”
      We returned to silence for a time.
      Nikki was now lounging idly against me, toying with the hat.
      I needed to go shower. I stood without giving Nikki enough time to really catch herself. She ended up squatting in front of me and glaring.
      “Sorry...” I muttered as Duo snickered.
      She threw the hat at him, hitting him on the chest. I realized what her position must look like from their vantage...and decided against putting on a show for them...she wouldn’t appreciate it...she was a little too close to some sensitive areas for me to get away with it, and...well, it was my fault.
      She turned and began to ignore him as she stood, “Going somewhere?”
      Trowa muttered something that sounded vaguely like, ‘Use to that position...’
      I turned and gave him a level look as Nikki also glared at him.
      Trowa shook his head, “What?”
      She continued to glare at him, “Don’t piss me off, little boy. I do like revenge, remember.”
      Trowa held his hands up in surrender, “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
      She rolled her eyes, “That was rude.”
      He frowned slightly, “Sorry.”
      “How would you know anyway?” Duo asked, lounging further back against the wall.
      Trowa sighed, “I wouldn’t.”
      “And I doubt you will any time soon, either. Too bad for you...”


      “And I doubt you will any time soon, either. Too bad for you...”
      “Not like I was expecting to.” he muttered, then focused on me, seeming to remember something, “Kaze of the maze, 1.5.3...”
      I swallowed hard, looking at him, “Where did you hear that?”
      He blinked, “I was passing a room on Barge and a girl was saying it to...you...” he thought a moment, “I think...she was teasing.”
      I bit my lip, “Suretta...” I couldn’t make myself go on.
      “What does it mean?”
      I closed my eyes, “Talk about your breech in security...Those were my personal ID numbers for the maze...the computers. I had access to all the files...”
      “All?”
      I nodded, “All. If you’d put those numbers in the log-in, you would have had un-restricted access...”
      They were shocked.
      “Un-limited..” Duo started.
      “Un-restricted...” Quatre went on.
      “Why?” Heero demanded.
      I smiled slightly at him, “I’m Kaze of the maze, remember. No matter how ridiculous the title is, it was just faster for me to be able to do everything without having to wait for verification.”
      Quatre smiled a bit, “So now you have full access to the Winner computers, too. How fitting...”
      I smiled at him.
      “You want fitting?” Heero asked, grinning at me, “Try being emancipated at fifteen and living near the dorms of your high school.”
      Duo laughed, “Yeah, and letting a second year student stay over without adult permission all the time and nearly getting shot for it when he comes back from stopping the hostile take over of a seven year old...”
      “Duo...” I objected as he grinned at me.
      “What?” Quatre asked, clearly confused.
      “I almost shot her one night, before you called for us to send our Gundams to you again. She had made herself an obstacle...” Heero replied calmly.
      “To what?” Quatre demanded, upset slightly.
      Heero smiled again, “To me killing myself.”
      Wufei shifted slightly, “So why isn’t she dead?”
      “Because she made sense.” Samantha replied, a little annoyed.
      “Huh?”
      “She pointed out that I did still have friends who could be hurt.” Heero was completely focused on the Chinese man.
      Wufei arched his brow.
      Heero was smiling slightly, “Of course, she was crying...”
      I smacked him, “Ass...” I muttered.
      He grinned at me, looking a bit sheepish, “It’s true.”
      I gave him a look.
      “I know...” He was pacifying me with that, looking down. He grinned and grabbed my right wrist, “Forgive me?” He asked in an innocent tone, kissing my ring.
      I laughed at him and tried to pull my hand away, “Fine...”
      He grinned at me and winked, kissing my palm...a brushing of the lips...I nearly shivered from it. It reminded me of that night...but before I could do anything, he let me go and turned back to his friends. He had a smug grin as he met Quatre’s eyes, “She always does...”
      “You’re an ass.” I informed him, getting over the distraction.
      “Tell them the story of when you met.” Duo instructed, sitting back.
      Why he wanted us to was beyond me, he knew the story and generally discouraged us from telling it over and over...
      Heero nodded, “Like Duo said, she let me stay over...”
      “How did that come about?” Trowa asked.
      Heero looked at his comrade a long moment, “The beginning then...After we all went our own ways, I started going to school.
      “Not that you don’t know this already...” I muttered.
      Heero attempted to ignore me. “Anyways, I didn’t like people being able to tell me what to do when they didn’t know what I’d been through...so I made ‘friends,’” he made air quotes, “With some people who were more annoying than...” he didn’t name anything and I rose an eyebrow at him, “Eventually, they took me to Nikki’s and asked her to baby-sit...” he rolled his eyes, “It took a while, but finally she caved. They were getting on both our nerves so she reminded them that dorm check was in five minutes.” he grinned, “I don’t remember ever seeing people run that fast without a gun involved...”
      “Of course,” I added, realizing he hadn’t mentioned it, “At that time I didn’t know he spoke English.” I rolled my eyes, “That didn’t last long. As soon as they were out of sight, he scared me.”
      Heero chuckled, “I complemented her.”
      “In English, I take it.” Trowa said rather than asked, not surprised.
      Heero started to nod.
      I shook my head, “Not so much. He came up behind me without making any noise or stirring the air...or anything. He was just there...It made my heart jump into my throat...”
      Trowa grinned at me.
      “After I scared her a few more times...” Heero was about to go on but Duo quirked a brow.
      “Don’t skip things now.” he interrupted.
      What was up with him?
      “First, he wouldn’t move,” I picked up the story, “So I threatened to throw him out. He challenged that. I knew I couldn’t, but asked him if he wanted to find out if I could. I was glad when he said no.” I smiled at the memory. I had actually been scared of him...that was a laughable idea now...I had no reason to be scared of him.
      “Why?” Quatre asked.
      I looked at him, then at Heero, “Do you really need to ask?” he was leaning against the bed, his legs out in front of him, one straight, the other crooked, an arm against it, the other along the bed.
      He seemed like as much of a wolf now as he had that first night. A casual elegance of pure danger. His eyes were as wild as ever. But he was completely controlled.
      Quatre looked at Heero a moment, then nodded in assent.
      “Anyway...” Heero murmured, meeting my eyes.
      I grinned, “Then he asked me how old I was, where my parents were, and why I was emancipated...”
      Trowa rose an eyebrow, looking at Heero, “Great way to gain her trust...point out to her she’s alone in the same house as an older stronger teen-age guy by herself...”
      Heero shrugged.
      “Then, he grabbed my wrist and I couldn’t pull it away...”
      “Pointing out that he was much stronger...” Trowa noted to Kat, who nodded.
      I sincerely hoped he wasn’t as much of a chauvinist as he sounded...he’d never seemed to be before...
      “It’s that ring.” Heero protested, gesturing defensively to my right hand. “The damn thing always stops me...”
      I smiled, “Needless to say, that hadn’t occurred to me. I was terrified.”
      Heero chuckled, “Then I told her to shut up and let me think...” he paused for Trowa.
      Trowa shook his head once.
      “She got a bit pissed then...”
      “What did she say?” Duo asked with an amused look in his eyes.
      He was doing this on purpose...
      Heero thought a moment, “Well, first, she slapped me...”
      Wufei chuckled.
      Heero looked at him levelly for a moment, “Then I let go.”
      “She actually slapped you?” Quatre was surprised.
      Heero smiled, “Yeah, hard too.”
      “How’d she manage that?” Wufei asked.
      Heero looked across me to his comrade, who was now wearing denim jeans and a white dress shirt over a tank top, “The same way she almost slapped you yesterday, only, I’d been drinking and the alcohol was just kicking in.”
      Wufei nodded.
      Heero glanced at me from the corner of his eye, which I noted was twinkling mischievously, “Let’s see if I can quote her here...” he thought a moment, then nodded, “Okay,” he made an air quotes, “‘First, don’t ever fucking tell me to shut up...’” his bearing changed so we knew he wasn’t quoting, “She was pissed, and I just realized I didn’t say it in English. But anyways...” another air quote, “‘Second, if you grab me again, I’ll do more than slap your ass...Now finish eating and go to bed or fucking leave.’” he dropped his hand.
      Kat turned to me, “Why didn’t you make him leave? I mean...”
      I grinned, “I didn’t know if I could.”
      “I actually didn’t realize she was scared until she tried to pull her wrist from me.” Heero told her, then looked at me again. His eyes full of emotions I’d seen before but thought nothing of...
      Was this real? Did he...
      The room was tense...I felt breathless. I really wanted to kiss him then. Just like...God only knows how many other times...he had the look too...the look of about to kiss someone...then his eyes shifted from me to Wufei and the look was lost. His eyes had went completely cold, I glanced at Wufei. He looked just as cold...
      The uncomfortable silence drug on as the two stared at each other, the tension mounted and I could almost feel the electricity...what was going on?
      Trowa cleared his throat slightly.
      Wufei looked away first, to me, then grabbed my wrist.
      “Wufei!” I objected, trying to pull my hand away and regain my grip on reality.
      “Just a second...”
      “Let go.”
      “Just wait.” he told me, his voice slightly annoyed.
      I got annoyed as reality took a firmer grip, “Wufei...” I pulled harder.
      “Stop it.”
      It was an exercise in futility. He was too strong.
      Suddenly Heero’s hand covered mine and Wufei looked at him in surprise.
      “You want to get slapped?”


      “Stop it.” Wufei ordered.
      Wrong choice, Wufei. I covered the ring. Wufei looked at me, surprised.
      “You want to get slapped?” I demanded. I hoped she would slap his ass. I’d been about to kiss her and...I really hoped she would slap him.
      Wufei said nothing, but didn’t let go.
      I could sense Nikki’s irritation. She met his eyes.
      He said nothing, not moving.
      Movement...there was a sharp sound as her hand connected to the side of his face.
      I felt tremendously better...albeit still annoyed...but better.
      Wufei blinked, still not letting go, completely shocked as his cheek reddened.
      I was almost certain no one had slapped him before. His reflexes were generally too quick. I myself had been drinking that night, so my own reflexes were a bit slow...and I was distracted...she’d rarely slapped me period.
      “Let me the fuck go now.” Nicole ordered clearly through clenched teeth, her voice low.
      Wufei was now pissed. He let go of her wrist as if tossing something away, “Fine.” he stood.
      “Sit back down, Wufei.” Quatre said firmly, suddenly standing.
      Wufei turned to the blond, “Why?”
      “Because you were warned. Because if you leave now, there will be a grudge. Apologize. Nicole, you too.”
      Nikki was shocked, “But...”
      “I’m sorry.” Wufei muttered darkly, looking to her face to meet her eyes.
      She stared back, not saying anything.
      “Nik...” I squeezed her hand.
      She looked at me, her entire being betrayed. She also stood, looking to Quatre, “Like you said, he was warned...”
      Wufei didn’t move, he was staring at the floor by Quatre’s feet.
      Nikki looked down at me again when Quatre didn’t respond, I could see how hurt she was. I didn’t look away. Finally, she did, closing her eyes.
      “I’m sorry, Wufei.” then she brushed passed him into the hall.
      Shocked, he followed her and I stood.
      Everyone was standing.
      Seconds later, in the hall, I heard them both start running and began to follow.
      “Nicole!” I didn’t want her alone in the halls...with him...
      She ignored me and disappeared down some stairs, Wufei a white streak behind her.
      “Heero!” Quatre called firmly.
      “But...” I turned to look at him, still heading down the hall.
      He shook his head, “You hurt her.”
      My heart skipped a beat, “I know...I...”
      “Just wait. Let Wufei.”
      No...I didn’t say anything. He knew her...how she worked...I couldn’t let this stand...just like she’d come after me the night we got here...I just couldn’t...he knew that.
      “Heero...”
      How could he ask me to do that? He knew how I felt. He had mentioned it himself...
      I shook my head and turned, starting down the stairs.
      This couldn’t just stand.

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Kyeian