Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ By The Light... ❯ return to green ( Chapter 19 )

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

By The Light…

A Fanfic by Lady Lye

Chapter Nineteen: return to green

Copyright 2001

Idea suggested and consulting/editing by Mako-chan

Disclaimer: Don't own GW *sob* Don't own SM *sob again* but I do own- KATAKU! My keyboard!! BWAHAHA! *laughs in Wufei's face* Take THAT annoying Justice Boy!!

Note: I scramble names a tad… Japanese- English- what's the dif? Some of each all mixed together to create MY Universe…

Other Note: SM time; after Super S but before Stars since the manga's not all out. ^__^ GW time; um, we're gonna mess with this A LOT. They're comrades living together w/ the Winner's I dunno if they have gundam but it remains to be seen… Just go with the flow, k? All will be revealed eventually…



XIX

Mina coughed as dust flew off the cupboards Heero opened, frowning. They were mostly bare and what little was there was typically past it's experation date save some meat in the freezer. Heero turned to her, embarrassed.

"Sorry, I was sure there was more here. We don't cook much," he apologized.

"Who does the shopping?" Mina peered at an unlabeled tin suspiciously.

"Quatre orders in bulk," Heero looked sheepish. "None of us really gets out much."

"Hm," Mina murmured absently. "You know, this is silly. Tomorrow I'll talk to Lita and we can go shopping and get some more food for you guys so you don't have to order every night." A sudden thought struck her. "You DO know that most supermarkets ARE open twenty-four hours?"

He paused. "No, we didn't know that."

She giggled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Lita'll help me get some easy stuff you guys can make and if you want, I'll come around and help. I wouldn't mind an excuse to stay away from home."

He looked at her, surprised. "You want to come back?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked meaning it.

"You're not afraid that you'll be prey for vampires and a werewolf?" he arched one fine eyebrow.

"Them? You?" she scoffed. "Yeah, right. I bet none of you would hurt a fly. You're all too nice. So where do they keep the take-out menus?"

~~~%*%~~~

Heero waved ineptly in the spotlight of the street lamp as Mina disappeared into the darkness. She had insisted on walking home alone and Heero frowned, knowing just how dangerous it could be out here. He was just debating following her when the tree overhanging someone's fence rustled over his head.

Duo swung down on the branch by his knees, upside down, the end of his braid hanging a good foot and a half off the ground. High fence, high tree. "Want me to?"

Heero nodded. "If you would. You're quieter than I am."

Duo nodded. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of your study buddy. I'll be back within the hour." He swung back up into the tree effortlessly and with barely a rustle, was gone.

Heero walked back to the house, thinking. Mina had insisted on setting the table when they ate, and her fresh point of view and laughter had seemed to bring light into the room. He still remembered the stunned feeling that had washed over him, watching her serve the cheap take-outs in the old, lacy satin apron left behind by a house cleaner, affecting overdramatic, large movements while she cheerily made banter about bringing them all back to civilization. She did it so easily; laughing and talking and drawing smiles out of even Trowa and Wufei. Duo had said it best. She was alive, and that in itself was beautiful.

One would have to be blind not to notice that she was beautiful on the outside as well as the inside. Heero knew the others had seen it too, because his keen senses had not missed the way they looked at her. Oddly, there hadn't been any hunger in the looks, the way he had seen them look at other humans. They seemed to feel the same way he did; Mina was beautiful in every way, making her desirable and nice to dream about, but ultimately that beauty made her above them and unapproachable.

Really, he rationalized with himself, he didn't have any feelings toward her that he shouldn't. She was his friend now, that he was certain of, but he told himself that he wanted nothing more. He didn't get the same feeling when he looked at her that he got when he looked at Ami. Ami… what was it about her that made his stomach do flip flops, his chest clench, and his mouth go dry of both water and words?

~~~%*%~~~

The phone rang insistently and Lita reached out a lazy hand to the receiver. "Hello?"

"You're coming food shopping tomorrow."

"What?" Lita sat up and blinked, the phone now receiving her full attention. "Mina?"

"You heard me. You're going to help me go food shopping for some- uh- nutritionally deprived 'people'. You'll meet us at Green Grocery at 3?"

"What? Mina, what are you talking about? I mean, I can come, but-"

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow, Lita-chan!"

Lita stared at the silent receiver in her hand and carefully laid it on the cradle. "That girl is… strange… curiouser and curiouser…"

~~~%*%~~~

Lita rounded the corner to the grocery store at precisely five minutes to three. She glanced around the parking lot but saw only the usual mom pushing toddlers in shopping carts. With a small sigh, she leaned against the railing of the area reserved for carts and settled in to wait. Though she wasn't as bad as Bunny, Mina had been known to be late as well. Sometimes drastically.

Once again, Lita considered their odd conversation from the night before. Food shopping. Well if that wasn't COMPLETELY random. 'meet US'. Meet who? Mina had been acting more than a little unusual lately and she was spending more and more time with that new guy.

Not that Lita didn't like him. Heero seemed nice enough, if a little odd. It was just the fact that they didn't know him or his crowd and what they might be up to. Mina, she knew and trusted. Heero, she didn't.

Thoughts of strange guys propelled her down a similar vein… She closed her eyes and smiled, savoring the memory of a rainy afternoon and an emerald knight in shining rubber galoshes. She giggled and opened her eyes again, well aware of how silly her thoughts could turn in a heartbeat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain was still coming down evenly, not showing any sign of stopping yet. She reached in and fished her house key from her pocket, stopping them both before her apartment building.

"Thank you…"

"I'll see you again, soon," he promised solemnly, something flickering in the depths of his eyes.

"Sure," she smiled. "I'd like that." A lingering moment, and then too soon she was inside in the warmth and the dry, watching him disappear into the misty rain.

"I'll see you again, soon."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The smile had returned to her lips now. She certainly hoped she would see him again. She glanced at the dry sky wistfully. If only…

"Oi! Oi! Hey, Lita-chan!" Lita looked up to see Mina calling and waving frantically in the distance and she smiled and waved back. She squinted at a figure following Mina at a more sane pace and allowed the shock to register on her face for a moment. Heero? Heero was coming food shopping with them?

"Hey, Mina, Heero," she nodded genially as they approached.

"Hey!" Mina beamed, a little out of breath from hurrying to get here. "Heero's going to help us- we're shopping for his friends."

"Oh, uh, really?" Lita turned her green eyes on Heero, and he suppressed the urge to fidget under her gaze.

"Yeah," Mina continued brightly, straightening a little as she caught her breath. "He knows what they like to eat, and I'm guessing you know what they SHOULD eat, so I figured this was the perfect combo!"

"And what are YOU going to be doing?" Heero quirked an eyebrow at her skeptically.

"Supervising of course!" she flashed him a grin and the V-sign, teasing. "Come on, let's do this!" she dragged them both inside.

~~~%*%~~~

"A balanced diet needs a sampling of all of the five food groups!!"

"…we ALL prefer meat, though, really. I honestly don't think anyone's going to touch these… carrots."

"You say they're teenage boys? They need to grow. They need a balanced diet!"

"Lita, you don't need to be too fanatic with this, I mean… I wasn't looking for a nutritionalist organic sort of thing- just advice, ya know!?"

"You say they've never had to cook for themselves before- who IS going to be doing the cooking?"

Mina and Heero glanced at one another, almost sheepishly. A wolf in sheep's clothing… might've been funny if they weren't bearing the brunt of Lita's glower.

"Uh, I guess I am," Mina gave a half-hearted smile.

Lita paused. "You? You who- YOU-" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, counting quietly to ten. "I'm not doing anything tonight, so yes, I'll be happy to come around and cook and save your friends' lives, Heero," she smiled a little too pleasantly at him.

"HEY!"

"Ah, thanks, Lita," Heero nodded. He had seen the goodies Mina brought for lunch…

…and was unable to pawn off to ANYONE…

"My cooking is NOT that bad!"

…even a starving Bunny…

"Great!" Lita beamed.

"I'm offended over here!"

They proceeded to ignore her and made a quick, amiable decision about the carrots now that Lita could plan a menu directly. Mina fumed and was forced to push the cart after them, her pride wounded. Heero and Lita seemed to hit it off and got along fabulously, all the way through the check out and carrying the bags out the door.

A sudden thought smacked Mina in the face and she grabbed at Heero's arm, holding him back to whisper furiously in his ear. "What are we going to tell her about them?!?!"

~~~%*%~~~



Reveiw it!! PLEASE? *pleading eyes* Or hey, dude, click on the lil guestbook at the bottom of the page and leave it there!

-Lady

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