Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Bloodlines ❯ Cat in the basket ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: jupiterschild 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Comedy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 536 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Comedy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 536 | Status: Completed
Chapter 7
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Trowa watched as the tall girl, Makoto, made her way to the ice-cream bar. He just _knew_ there was something about her. Something that niggled at the back of his mind. He just couldn't put his finger on it and it was beginning to get on his nerves.
She placed their order, well the boys at least - she hadn't even bothered to ask the girls what they wanted, she didn't seem to have a problem ordering for them though so this trip must be a common occurrence.
As Trowa watched Makoto place the orders, a tall, beefy male strutted up to the girl, _very_ full of self-importance. He lent on the counter beside Makoto and made a comment. Trowa didn't hear what he said to her, but from the way Makoto and the redhead taking the orders reacted whatever it was it must not have been very nice.
The tall girl whirled and glared at the offending male. Then, almost faster than he could see, she swung her fist at him, pulling the punch just before it slammed into his nose. She smirked at the outraged expression on his face and dropped into a ready stance. Her whole pose just screamed 'bring it on', but for some reason the jock didn't seem interested.
Trowa frowned as old memories resurfaced. The whole stance and attitude was eerily familiar, despite the fact he hadn't seen it since working on HeavyArms before Operation: Meteor. He shook his head slightly in bewilderment, **I can't believe it's her. I'm sure Doctor S said nothing had been heard from her since the accident. **
Trowa gave a broad smirk; things certainly had been quiet around the base after she'd disappeared. At one particular memory his smirk changed into a laugh. It was a classic, Trowa Barton flying backwards, feet over his head, clutching his face and howling like there was no tomorrow.
Everybody at the table stopped what they were doing. The boys exchanged quick looks determining that, yes it was Trowa sitting there and, yes he was laughing his head off for no particular reason. Even the girls were giving him strange looks; he really didn't seem like the type that would kill himself laughing at the drop of a hat.
They were all perplexed, Trowa rarely laughed, and nobody had said anything that was even _remotely_ funny.
"What's so funny?" Duo was more than curious about what could make the banged wonder laugh. Hell, he'd been trying for most of the war and the best _he'd_ got had been smiles and mirth filled green eyes. Yet here Trowa was giving an honest to goodness belly laugh for no reason that Duo could ascertain. And if there was a reason Duo wanted in on the joke.
Getting his laughter mostly under control, Trowa glanced back at Makoto, who was walking back across the room with a tray of ice cream, before replying, his one visible green eye twinkling with barely contained amusement, "She's the one who kept decking Trowa Barton!"
He shook his head slightly. He still couldn't believe he hadn't at least recognised her name. She had changed quite a bit physically, but her name was still the same.... then again, she'd only ever really been referred to as either Makoto or Mako.
Duo blinked at him owlishly, "She kept decking you?" his head swivelled between Trowa and Makoto, confusion evident on his face with a look as if to say 'and you didn't remember her?' "_Why_ are you referring yourself in the third person?"
Trowa laughed again and shook his head once more, "No, the _original_ Trowa Barton," he explained "The first pilot of HeavyArms."
From behind him came a derisive snort; a tray clashed down on the table in front of him. "The only reason that _baka_ was chosen," Makoto ground out as she began placing ice-creams in front of people with just a _little_ bit more force than was really necessary, "Was because _I_ couldn't interface properly! _Bakayarou_!" The last comment was spoken as a hissing growl, a particularly _dangerous_ look accompanying it.
Trowa hid a smile behind a spoonful of ice cream. The pair had _never_ got along very well, much to the amusement of everybody around them. Makoto had been slightly smaller back then, not much though, and had taken great delight in taking down the egotistical Barton every chance she got. It was usually by knockout - though she had been known to pull pranks on the older man as well. He shuddered, he _still_ didn't know how she'd managed to get that highly poisoness spider into the mans room, let alone into his bed. It had been discovered later that that particular breed wasn't found _anywhere_ on the colonies.
Everyone blinked and looked at Makoto, not quite sure if they'd heard her correctly. The girl paled as she realized just _what_ she had said. She began to dissemble, trying to look innocent, but the damage had already been done.
Usagi merely grinned at her tall friend, "So you were trained as well?"
Makoto nodded, dazed.
"Sugoi! And you had that same problem too? Glowy thing?" At Makoto's second dazed nod Usagi grinned, "Ha!! I thought it was just me, 'Ruka and Mi!"
Heero slowly turned his stare from Makoto to Usagi, who had returned to downing her ice cream with gusto, "Same problem...?" He was not hearing this, somebody please tell him he was not hearing this.
Usagi looked up from her ice-cream, grinning sheepishly, and gave a nervous giggle, "Oh....er, did I say that? I didn't say anything, did I? Hehehehe....umm....oops. Ooookay, I'll jus shut up now." The last comment was directed into her ice-cream bowl as she picked up her spoon once more.
When Usagi began shovelling her ice cream at what _had_ to be inhuman speeds to get out of answering Heero, the boy turned his glare on Quatre. He was going to get answers out of somebody today if it was the last thing he did.
**Trust Usagi**, Quatre sighed softly. Dropping his head into his hands he looked over at Heero through is fingers, "There was originally four pilots for SandRock", he stated quietly.
Duo blinked, his mind slowly digesting what he had just been told. He looked at Quatre and his sisters, then over at Makoto, ".... four?"
Minako made some strange sort of zooming motion with her head as though she was watching something run past at high speed. "Mreeeeooooow, there goes the cat!"
Everyone just stared at her, puzzled look on their faces. Duo put into words what everyone else was thinking.
"Huh?"
"Cat's out of the basket." Minako cheerfully replied to the inquiry.
"Bag Minako," Rei sounded slightly exasperated, "You mean the cat's out of the bag".
"But I keep Artemis in a basket." Minako looked _really_ confused about this one.
"That's not the _point_"
"Why not?"
The boys were beginning to understand the concept of Minako and quotes not mixing very well.
Rei sighed, "Forget it".
Ami looked over the group, a slightly smug smile adorning her usually serene face, "There were backup pilots for _every_ Gundam," For some reason Ami was looking pointedly at Heero when she said this."Why do you think there was enough Gundaniam alloy to make replacements for all your suits?"
Wufei gave her an incredulous look, **Is nothing a secret around here?** he wondered, "How do you know that?"
Ami just smirked.
Usagi frowned. Ami was acting weird again;actually she'd been acting weird since the boys had arrived - she made a note to pull her aside and ask her about that later, it was making her extremely curious.
Duo was looking up from his empty ice-cream bowl indignantly, "Hey! It wasn't _our_ fault they got blown up!". He thought back over the war, Heero self-destructing, Quatre blowing up SandRock, "Umm. Okay, maybe it was our fault, some of us anyway. Let me rephrase that. It wasn't _my_ fault 'Scythe blew up", he pointed an accusing finger at the banged pilot; "_Trowa_ blew it up, not me!"
The accused rolled his eyes, well at least that's what everyone assumed, they couldn't see his other one. **Is Duo _ever_ going to let that drop?** "I've paid you back for that _countless_ times, when are you going to let it go?"
Duo turned the full force of his best 'kicked puppy' expression on Trowa. It may not have been quite up to the potency of Quatre's - then again the boy had twenty-nine older sisters and if they were _all_ like the three living in Juuban he'd _need_ some sort of super weapon, maybe he needed a buster rifle for his birthday - but it was close to it, "Ice-cream is good."
To Usagi, who had also finished hers in record time, those were the magic words, "More ice-cream, more ice-cream!" She began to bounce in her seat, banging her spoon in time with her chanting a wide grin on her face.
Each one of the girls gave a collective sigh and hung their heads. She may be their princess, their future Queen, their wonderful, kind-hearted friend, but Usagi was being Usagi again. Her zest for life, and more importantly her zest for food, could be embarrassing at times... and this was one of those times.
Quatre crossed his arms and tried to look stern. It was hard to do, especialy when Usagi was bouncing up and down in her seat chanting for more ice-cream. Duo had decided to join her and Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or grin when the pair managed to rope Minako into it as well. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed those two, life had been far too quiet without them - less painful, yes - but too quiet, "Fatima will be _slightly_ put out if you don't eat your dinner tonight."
**Usagi, not eat her dinner?** Rei snorted loudly, the girl could be a veritable vacuum cleaner when she wanted to be, "No worries there, Usagi has a bottomless pit for a stomach."
Usagi stopped bouncing and pouted. She pouted even harder when no-one came to her defence, "Rei, you're so _mean_. Why do you always pick on me?"
"I do not!" Rei stuck her nose up in the air , feigning a mixture of wounded pride and arrogance.
"Do too!"
"Not!"
"Too"
"Not"
"Too"
The boys' heads were bouncing backwards and forwards between the girls. Wufei blinked and stopped himself quickly when he realized what he was doing. He felt like he was watching a tennis match. He smirked and leaned back in his seat to watch the argument. **I've heard plenty these arguments before when I was hiding out at the temple, but I've never been actually able to watch one, I believe it gets just as irritating very quickly either way.**
"_Not_"
"_Too-ooo-ooo_" Usagi bounced in her seat a few times for that one, it reminded Wufei of a four year old throwing a temper tantrum.
It quickly degenerated from there. Before the boys knew what was happening, the two girls were forehead to forehead, glaring at each other - Duo would swear up and down later that he could see sparks flying between the two and real flames in Rei's eyes - and engaging in what looked suspiciously like some sort of raspberry/tongue war.
Quatre sank as low into his seat as was physically possible, "I don't know her" he muttered not so quietly, looking around to see how many people were watching his sister humiliate herself. He was shocked to notice next to no one paying any attention.
The rest of the boys found this strange too. It was becoming obvious that a) this sort of argument was a common occurrence, and b) the girls were regular customers to the place. The other patrons had given up taking any notice a _long_ time ago. Some of the younger ones had never seen the arcade without these displays on a regular basis, it was part and parcel of coming to Crown Arcade.
The girls all sighed again. After all they had been through, Beryl, Ail and Ann, Doom Phantom, Heart Snatchers, Death Ring Circus, Neriphiria, Galaxia, Chaos...and they still acted like that. In some ways it was a good thing, they hadn't let everything they'd experienced change who they were, but did they have to be so _embarrassing_?
"That looks like fun!" Duo was watching the pair with amused interest, seeing how long they could keep it up for.
"Don't even _think_ about it Maxwell."
"Too late Wu!" Duo grinned impishly at his lover, "What'cha gonna do 'bout it?" and then waggled his eyebrows at him.
Wufei rolled his eyes, well used to Duo's antics. Grabbing a hold of Duo's wrist, he pulled him closer and wrapped an arm around the boys' waist - it was half to restrain him from trying anything, and half hug.
Duo smiled as Wufei pulled him even closer and whispered into his ear. His face softened, "Wu, that's so sweet. Really?"
Ghosting his right hand down Duo's face in a move that was obviously an affectionate gesture, Wufei nodded and quirked his lips in an almost smile.
Duo's smile widened and he snuggled into the Chinese boy. Wufei wasn't usually this affectionate in public but he wasn't complaining, _noooo_ he was not complaining at _all_.
The tender moment was ruined as Minako tensed, and paled. She swore not so softly. Usagi glanced away from Rei, concequently breaking the stalemate and followed her line of sight. She also tensed, "Oh shit."
The statement seemed to sum up the situation rather appropriately.
Haruka had just walked through the Crown Arcade door, looking for all the world like a woman on a mission. She quickly scanned the room and headed straight for their table, snagging a chair on the way.
"Is Koneko okay?" she asked as she reached them, flicking the chair around the wrong way and straddling it in a manner that bespoke _lots_ of practice, "I heard what she did."
"She's had some ice-cream," Minako was trying to push herself into the back of the chair. When her older sister got into protective mode Allah help anyone who got in her way - they usually ended up on the wrong end of a Space Sword Blaster.
Haruka shook her head, frowning slightly as she looked from Usagi to Minako, "Not enough." She stated as she tossed an energy bar that she had produced from nowhere across the table, hitting Usagi in the middle of the forehead when she failed to catch it in time.
Haruka's frown deepened, **She should have been able to catch that, her reflexes are _much_ better than that!** "Eat. Now."
Usagi glowered at her sister but did as she was told though. Through her loud munching the words 'meanie', 'over protective' and 'worse than Rashid' could be heard.
Every single one of the Senshi were giving Haruka odd looks. They were trying to envision the tomboyish girl as anything other than what she looked like now, mainly with butt length hair and in a dress.
It wasn't working.
At all.
The boys were looking at Haruka as well, though for a different reason. They couldn't work out _how_ she had known Usagi had done. She hadn't been anywhere _near_ the Youma attack - that they knew of. Well, all of them were looking except Quatre of course, Heero made a mental note to ask him about that later, he just looked resigned to the fact that Haruka had shown up. He was trying to slide under the table though, managing to look quite like Minako in the process.
"How did you know?" Heero asked, though the tone of voice he used made it sound more like a demand.
"A little birdie probably told her!" Quatre piped up, straightening in his chair a wicked glint in his eye at being able to pull one on his sister for a change.
Haruka gave her little brother a long suffering look, "The _wind_ told me 30."
Say _what_?! All the pilots - bar Quatre once again - gave the girl a measuring look. Either she was slightly insane - given what they had seen of the family so far they weren't ruling that possibility out - or there was something going on here.
Trowa hazarded a wary guess, "Another one with abilities?" He didn't think insanity ran in the family, not all of it anyway just every second child or something.
Quatre nodded at his lovers guess, " 'Ruka has always had a strange affinity with the wind. She can control it and it tells her things."
Ami was looked over the group slightly curious, "Another one?"
Haruka picked up the explanation before Quatre could continue, and - to her way thinking - stuff it up, "Some of us Winners have ummm what could be termed 'Special abilities'. As you've heard, I have an affinity with the wind. 30 has what he calls his 'Uchuu no Kokoro' -think empath - Usagi has her healing abilities..."
For some strange reason both Haruka _and_ Quatre winced at the exact same time.
~~SHUT UP~~
Nobody else but those two had heard it. It had been meant for Haruka, but Quatre had heard it as well, and possibly Usagi as she slightly raised an eyebrow at the same time as her other siblings flinched.
Minako leapt onto the table, one hand on her hip, the other with the index finger pointed in the air and bellowed, "I AM THE GODDESS OF LOVE!!!!" She then followed this bold statement up with a high pitched laugh that sent a pigtailed boy in a red chinese shirt running at full speed from the arcade yelling about roses and someone called Kodachi.
"_Still_ has to work on her volume", muttered Haruka darkly briefly massaging her forehead.
Quatre had to agree with her whole heartedly, **Her volume's improved..._OW_** he thought as he rubbed his temples.
"Mina-chan, get off the table please," floated a slightly amused and indulgent male voice from somewhere in the arcade. It sounded suspiciously like Motoki.
"Sure Motoki-chan!" Minako called back as she skipped off the table and bounced back into her seat grinning madly.
Usagi rolled her eyes as she leant over the table to explain to the confused boys, "She's the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love. _Don't_ mention that you're single."
As one, the Gundam pilots turned and looked at Heero, who tried, unsuccessfully, to glare them all down.
Duo thoughtfully tapped one finger against his jaw wondering aloud, "Does Relena fall into Youma, or Human category?"
Makoto gave him a curious look, "Why?"
Duo gave her an evil grin and then winked at Heero, "Just wondering."
Heero glared at him, "Baka."
The remainder of the afternoon proceeded in much the same way. Both groups bantering, or bickering, between each other. Three near-miss ice-cream fights and a dinner invitation later they were ready to leave Crown Arcade.
There was one small problem: They had lost Minako somewhere.
They looked for her in the toilets, at the video games - that had been... interesting they had had to explain _why_ Minako looked exactly like Sailor V.
Eventually they finally found her out the back, talking to Motoki. The pair were standing a _little_ too close for Quatre's comfort.
He frowned deeply, "Minako, we're leaving _now_." At the glare his sister shot him he wondered if there was a way he could've handled that better.
On the way out of the arcade Quatre pulled Minako aside to hiss quietly in her ear, "Work on the volume, hey Mi. That _was_ a little bit loud." He rubbed his temples to emphasise his point.
Minako winked and walked out the doors ~~GOTCHA Q-TRA~~
He winced again and rubbed his head. He had forgotten Minako only had three volumes: loud, louder, and loudest.
Shaking his head, he followed her out of the arcade. He had to warn Fatima that there were going to be some more dinner guests that night.
Trowa watched as the tall girl, Makoto, made her way to the ice-cream bar. He just _knew_ there was something about her. Something that niggled at the back of his mind. He just couldn't put his finger on it and it was beginning to get on his nerves.
She placed their order, well the boys at least - she hadn't even bothered to ask the girls what they wanted, she didn't seem to have a problem ordering for them though so this trip must be a common occurrence.
As Trowa watched Makoto place the orders, a tall, beefy male strutted up to the girl, _very_ full of self-importance. He lent on the counter beside Makoto and made a comment. Trowa didn't hear what he said to her, but from the way Makoto and the redhead taking the orders reacted whatever it was it must not have been very nice.
The tall girl whirled and glared at the offending male. Then, almost faster than he could see, she swung her fist at him, pulling the punch just before it slammed into his nose. She smirked at the outraged expression on his face and dropped into a ready stance. Her whole pose just screamed 'bring it on', but for some reason the jock didn't seem interested.
Trowa frowned as old memories resurfaced. The whole stance and attitude was eerily familiar, despite the fact he hadn't seen it since working on HeavyArms before Operation: Meteor. He shook his head slightly in bewilderment, **I can't believe it's her. I'm sure Doctor S said nothing had been heard from her since the accident. **
Trowa gave a broad smirk; things certainly had been quiet around the base after she'd disappeared. At one particular memory his smirk changed into a laugh. It was a classic, Trowa Barton flying backwards, feet over his head, clutching his face and howling like there was no tomorrow.
Everybody at the table stopped what they were doing. The boys exchanged quick looks determining that, yes it was Trowa sitting there and, yes he was laughing his head off for no particular reason. Even the girls were giving him strange looks; he really didn't seem like the type that would kill himself laughing at the drop of a hat.
They were all perplexed, Trowa rarely laughed, and nobody had said anything that was even _remotely_ funny.
"What's so funny?" Duo was more than curious about what could make the banged wonder laugh. Hell, he'd been trying for most of the war and the best _he'd_ got had been smiles and mirth filled green eyes. Yet here Trowa was giving an honest to goodness belly laugh for no reason that Duo could ascertain. And if there was a reason Duo wanted in on the joke.
Getting his laughter mostly under control, Trowa glanced back at Makoto, who was walking back across the room with a tray of ice cream, before replying, his one visible green eye twinkling with barely contained amusement, "She's the one who kept decking Trowa Barton!"
He shook his head slightly. He still couldn't believe he hadn't at least recognised her name. She had changed quite a bit physically, but her name was still the same.... then again, she'd only ever really been referred to as either Makoto or Mako.
Duo blinked at him owlishly, "She kept decking you?" his head swivelled between Trowa and Makoto, confusion evident on his face with a look as if to say 'and you didn't remember her?' "_Why_ are you referring yourself in the third person?"
Trowa laughed again and shook his head once more, "No, the _original_ Trowa Barton," he explained "The first pilot of HeavyArms."
From behind him came a derisive snort; a tray clashed down on the table in front of him. "The only reason that _baka_ was chosen," Makoto ground out as she began placing ice-creams in front of people with just a _little_ bit more force than was really necessary, "Was because _I_ couldn't interface properly! _Bakayarou_!" The last comment was spoken as a hissing growl, a particularly _dangerous_ look accompanying it.
Trowa hid a smile behind a spoonful of ice cream. The pair had _never_ got along very well, much to the amusement of everybody around them. Makoto had been slightly smaller back then, not much though, and had taken great delight in taking down the egotistical Barton every chance she got. It was usually by knockout - though she had been known to pull pranks on the older man as well. He shuddered, he _still_ didn't know how she'd managed to get that highly poisoness spider into the mans room, let alone into his bed. It had been discovered later that that particular breed wasn't found _anywhere_ on the colonies.
Everyone blinked and looked at Makoto, not quite sure if they'd heard her correctly. The girl paled as she realized just _what_ she had said. She began to dissemble, trying to look innocent, but the damage had already been done.
Usagi merely grinned at her tall friend, "So you were trained as well?"
Makoto nodded, dazed.
"Sugoi! And you had that same problem too? Glowy thing?" At Makoto's second dazed nod Usagi grinned, "Ha!! I thought it was just me, 'Ruka and Mi!"
Heero slowly turned his stare from Makoto to Usagi, who had returned to downing her ice cream with gusto, "Same problem...?" He was not hearing this, somebody please tell him he was not hearing this.
Usagi looked up from her ice-cream, grinning sheepishly, and gave a nervous giggle, "Oh....er, did I say that? I didn't say anything, did I? Hehehehe....umm....oops. Ooookay, I'll jus shut up now." The last comment was directed into her ice-cream bowl as she picked up her spoon once more.
When Usagi began shovelling her ice cream at what _had_ to be inhuman speeds to get out of answering Heero, the boy turned his glare on Quatre. He was going to get answers out of somebody today if it was the last thing he did.
**Trust Usagi**, Quatre sighed softly. Dropping his head into his hands he looked over at Heero through is fingers, "There was originally four pilots for SandRock", he stated quietly.
Duo blinked, his mind slowly digesting what he had just been told. He looked at Quatre and his sisters, then over at Makoto, ".... four?"
Minako made some strange sort of zooming motion with her head as though she was watching something run past at high speed. "Mreeeeooooow, there goes the cat!"
Everyone just stared at her, puzzled look on their faces. Duo put into words what everyone else was thinking.
"Huh?"
"Cat's out of the basket." Minako cheerfully replied to the inquiry.
"Bag Minako," Rei sounded slightly exasperated, "You mean the cat's out of the bag".
"But I keep Artemis in a basket." Minako looked _really_ confused about this one.
"That's not the _point_"
"Why not?"
The boys were beginning to understand the concept of Minako and quotes not mixing very well.
Rei sighed, "Forget it".
Ami looked over the group, a slightly smug smile adorning her usually serene face, "There were backup pilots for _every_ Gundam," For some reason Ami was looking pointedly at Heero when she said this."Why do you think there was enough Gundaniam alloy to make replacements for all your suits?"
Wufei gave her an incredulous look, **Is nothing a secret around here?** he wondered, "How do you know that?"
Ami just smirked.
Usagi frowned. Ami was acting weird again;actually she'd been acting weird since the boys had arrived - she made a note to pull her aside and ask her about that later, it was making her extremely curious.
Duo was looking up from his empty ice-cream bowl indignantly, "Hey! It wasn't _our_ fault they got blown up!". He thought back over the war, Heero self-destructing, Quatre blowing up SandRock, "Umm. Okay, maybe it was our fault, some of us anyway. Let me rephrase that. It wasn't _my_ fault 'Scythe blew up", he pointed an accusing finger at the banged pilot; "_Trowa_ blew it up, not me!"
The accused rolled his eyes, well at least that's what everyone assumed, they couldn't see his other one. **Is Duo _ever_ going to let that drop?** "I've paid you back for that _countless_ times, when are you going to let it go?"
Duo turned the full force of his best 'kicked puppy' expression on Trowa. It may not have been quite up to the potency of Quatre's - then again the boy had twenty-nine older sisters and if they were _all_ like the three living in Juuban he'd _need_ some sort of super weapon, maybe he needed a buster rifle for his birthday - but it was close to it, "Ice-cream is good."
To Usagi, who had also finished hers in record time, those were the magic words, "More ice-cream, more ice-cream!" She began to bounce in her seat, banging her spoon in time with her chanting a wide grin on her face.
Each one of the girls gave a collective sigh and hung their heads. She may be their princess, their future Queen, their wonderful, kind-hearted friend, but Usagi was being Usagi again. Her zest for life, and more importantly her zest for food, could be embarrassing at times... and this was one of those times.
Quatre crossed his arms and tried to look stern. It was hard to do, especialy when Usagi was bouncing up and down in her seat chanting for more ice-cream. Duo had decided to join her and Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or grin when the pair managed to rope Minako into it as well. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed those two, life had been far too quiet without them - less painful, yes - but too quiet, "Fatima will be _slightly_ put out if you don't eat your dinner tonight."
**Usagi, not eat her dinner?** Rei snorted loudly, the girl could be a veritable vacuum cleaner when she wanted to be, "No worries there, Usagi has a bottomless pit for a stomach."
Usagi stopped bouncing and pouted. She pouted even harder when no-one came to her defence, "Rei, you're so _mean_. Why do you always pick on me?"
"I do not!" Rei stuck her nose up in the air , feigning a mixture of wounded pride and arrogance.
"Do too!"
"Not!"
"Too"
"Not"
"Too"
The boys' heads were bouncing backwards and forwards between the girls. Wufei blinked and stopped himself quickly when he realized what he was doing. He felt like he was watching a tennis match. He smirked and leaned back in his seat to watch the argument. **I've heard plenty these arguments before when I was hiding out at the temple, but I've never been actually able to watch one, I believe it gets just as irritating very quickly either way.**
"_Not_"
"_Too-ooo-ooo_" Usagi bounced in her seat a few times for that one, it reminded Wufei of a four year old throwing a temper tantrum.
It quickly degenerated from there. Before the boys knew what was happening, the two girls were forehead to forehead, glaring at each other - Duo would swear up and down later that he could see sparks flying between the two and real flames in Rei's eyes - and engaging in what looked suspiciously like some sort of raspberry/tongue war.
Quatre sank as low into his seat as was physically possible, "I don't know her" he muttered not so quietly, looking around to see how many people were watching his sister humiliate herself. He was shocked to notice next to no one paying any attention.
The rest of the boys found this strange too. It was becoming obvious that a) this sort of argument was a common occurrence, and b) the girls were regular customers to the place. The other patrons had given up taking any notice a _long_ time ago. Some of the younger ones had never seen the arcade without these displays on a regular basis, it was part and parcel of coming to Crown Arcade.
The girls all sighed again. After all they had been through, Beryl, Ail and Ann, Doom Phantom, Heart Snatchers, Death Ring Circus, Neriphiria, Galaxia, Chaos...and they still acted like that. In some ways it was a good thing, they hadn't let everything they'd experienced change who they were, but did they have to be so _embarrassing_?
"That looks like fun!" Duo was watching the pair with amused interest, seeing how long they could keep it up for.
"Don't even _think_ about it Maxwell."
"Too late Wu!" Duo grinned impishly at his lover, "What'cha gonna do 'bout it?" and then waggled his eyebrows at him.
Wufei rolled his eyes, well used to Duo's antics. Grabbing a hold of Duo's wrist, he pulled him closer and wrapped an arm around the boys' waist - it was half to restrain him from trying anything, and half hug.
Duo smiled as Wufei pulled him even closer and whispered into his ear. His face softened, "Wu, that's so sweet. Really?"
Ghosting his right hand down Duo's face in a move that was obviously an affectionate gesture, Wufei nodded and quirked his lips in an almost smile.
Duo's smile widened and he snuggled into the Chinese boy. Wufei wasn't usually this affectionate in public but he wasn't complaining, _noooo_ he was not complaining at _all_.
The tender moment was ruined as Minako tensed, and paled. She swore not so softly. Usagi glanced away from Rei, concequently breaking the stalemate and followed her line of sight. She also tensed, "Oh shit."
The statement seemed to sum up the situation rather appropriately.
Haruka had just walked through the Crown Arcade door, looking for all the world like a woman on a mission. She quickly scanned the room and headed straight for their table, snagging a chair on the way.
"Is Koneko okay?" she asked as she reached them, flicking the chair around the wrong way and straddling it in a manner that bespoke _lots_ of practice, "I heard what she did."
"She's had some ice-cream," Minako was trying to push herself into the back of the chair. When her older sister got into protective mode Allah help anyone who got in her way - they usually ended up on the wrong end of a Space Sword Blaster.
Haruka shook her head, frowning slightly as she looked from Usagi to Minako, "Not enough." She stated as she tossed an energy bar that she had produced from nowhere across the table, hitting Usagi in the middle of the forehead when she failed to catch it in time.
Haruka's frown deepened, **She should have been able to catch that, her reflexes are _much_ better than that!** "Eat. Now."
Usagi glowered at her sister but did as she was told though. Through her loud munching the words 'meanie', 'over protective' and 'worse than Rashid' could be heard.
Every single one of the Senshi were giving Haruka odd looks. They were trying to envision the tomboyish girl as anything other than what she looked like now, mainly with butt length hair and in a dress.
It wasn't working.
At all.
The boys were looking at Haruka as well, though for a different reason. They couldn't work out _how_ she had known Usagi had done. She hadn't been anywhere _near_ the Youma attack - that they knew of. Well, all of them were looking except Quatre of course, Heero made a mental note to ask him about that later, he just looked resigned to the fact that Haruka had shown up. He was trying to slide under the table though, managing to look quite like Minako in the process.
"How did you know?" Heero asked, though the tone of voice he used made it sound more like a demand.
"A little birdie probably told her!" Quatre piped up, straightening in his chair a wicked glint in his eye at being able to pull one on his sister for a change.
Haruka gave her little brother a long suffering look, "The _wind_ told me 30."
Say _what_?! All the pilots - bar Quatre once again - gave the girl a measuring look. Either she was slightly insane - given what they had seen of the family so far they weren't ruling that possibility out - or there was something going on here.
Trowa hazarded a wary guess, "Another one with abilities?" He didn't think insanity ran in the family, not all of it anyway just every second child or something.
Quatre nodded at his lovers guess, " 'Ruka has always had a strange affinity with the wind. She can control it and it tells her things."
Ami was looked over the group slightly curious, "Another one?"
Haruka picked up the explanation before Quatre could continue, and - to her way thinking - stuff it up, "Some of us Winners have ummm what could be termed 'Special abilities'. As you've heard, I have an affinity with the wind. 30 has what he calls his 'Uchuu no Kokoro' -think empath - Usagi has her healing abilities..."
For some strange reason both Haruka _and_ Quatre winced at the exact same time.
~~SHUT UP~~
Nobody else but those two had heard it. It had been meant for Haruka, but Quatre had heard it as well, and possibly Usagi as she slightly raised an eyebrow at the same time as her other siblings flinched.
Minako leapt onto the table, one hand on her hip, the other with the index finger pointed in the air and bellowed, "I AM THE GODDESS OF LOVE!!!!" She then followed this bold statement up with a high pitched laugh that sent a pigtailed boy in a red chinese shirt running at full speed from the arcade yelling about roses and someone called Kodachi.
"_Still_ has to work on her volume", muttered Haruka darkly briefly massaging her forehead.
Quatre had to agree with her whole heartedly, **Her volume's improved..._OW_** he thought as he rubbed his temples.
"Mina-chan, get off the table please," floated a slightly amused and indulgent male voice from somewhere in the arcade. It sounded suspiciously like Motoki.
"Sure Motoki-chan!" Minako called back as she skipped off the table and bounced back into her seat grinning madly.
Usagi rolled her eyes as she leant over the table to explain to the confused boys, "She's the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love. _Don't_ mention that you're single."
As one, the Gundam pilots turned and looked at Heero, who tried, unsuccessfully, to glare them all down.
Duo thoughtfully tapped one finger against his jaw wondering aloud, "Does Relena fall into Youma, or Human category?"
Makoto gave him a curious look, "Why?"
Duo gave her an evil grin and then winked at Heero, "Just wondering."
Heero glared at him, "Baka."
The remainder of the afternoon proceeded in much the same way. Both groups bantering, or bickering, between each other. Three near-miss ice-cream fights and a dinner invitation later they were ready to leave Crown Arcade.
There was one small problem: They had lost Minako somewhere.
They looked for her in the toilets, at the video games - that had been... interesting they had had to explain _why_ Minako looked exactly like Sailor V.
Eventually they finally found her out the back, talking to Motoki. The pair were standing a _little_ too close for Quatre's comfort.
He frowned deeply, "Minako, we're leaving _now_." At the glare his sister shot him he wondered if there was a way he could've handled that better.
On the way out of the arcade Quatre pulled Minako aside to hiss quietly in her ear, "Work on the volume, hey Mi. That _was_ a little bit loud." He rubbed his temples to emphasise his point.
Minako winked and walked out the doors ~~GOTCHA Q-TRA~~
He winced again and rubbed his head. He had forgotten Minako only had three volumes: loud, louder, and loudest.
Shaking his head, he followed her out of the arcade. He had to warn Fatima that there were going to be some more dinner guests that night.