Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Bloodlines ❯ Dinner Explanations ( Chapter 8 )
[ 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: 4 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 505 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Comedy | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.20.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.3K | Visits: 505 | Status: Completed
Chapter 8
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Last time on Hidden Bloodlines:
Trowa discovers that he knew Makoto from before Operation Meteor, where she used to give the first Trowa Barton an extremely hard time - constantly decking him and playing practical jokes, and it turns out that she was a back up pilot for Heavyarms
Ami reveals that she may know more about the Gundam Pilots than everybody thinks.
It turns out that Haruka, Minako and Usagi were also back up pilots for Sandrock.
And now Part 8:
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The Gundam pilots were all gathered at the foot of the stairwell waiting for Usagi, Minako and their friends to come down for dinner. The lot of them had disappeared up to the girls joint rooms the moment they had arrived back and had been there ever since. The boys were just hoping they appeared before midnight, some members of the group were getting hungry, and that was a _bad_ thing.
Heero suppressed a grimace as he tried to loosen the collar of his shirt and tie without success. He hoped the girls came down soon, the sooner they got down the sooner dinner would start. The sooner dinner started the sooner he could get out of this restrictive outfit. He had _not_ wanted to wear it in the first place, but Quatre had put his foot down, turning a look on him that was usually reserved for his sisters. The tone of voice hadn't been much better.
"We are having guests for dinner. We _will_ be dressed appropriately."
Funnily enough, Quatre had been looking at Heero when he was speaking.
The Manguanacs had already headed into the overly large dining room, dressed appropriately in formal versions of their everyday wear. Haruka and her... family were also waiting with them for the girls to come downstairs. Little Hotaru was standing between Uncle Trowa and Uncle Quatre, one of their hands in each of hers, beaming. The novelty of having uncles, especially ones who doted on her, was still very new to her.
Usagi appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling, surrounded by her friends. Gracefully, she made her way down, smiling gently at the women and child who awaited her. In return, each gave a minute bow and fell into position around their beloved princess as they moved towards the dining room. Following close behind them was a slightly confused group of Gundam pilots.
As the group of females moved ahead Duo gave a slight snort and called quietly over his
shoulder to Quatre, "Y'know, Quatre, your sisters' bodyguards don't _need_ to be so overprotective in your own house!"
"They're not bodyguards", Quatre frowned slightly back at Duo, "I've got _more_than enough Manguanacs to go around."
Wufei tilted his head, watching the girls as they moved towards the dining room, and considered this statement, "It sure _looks_ like they are Winner."
By now all the pilots were staring intently at the group of chattering females walking ahead of them... in a standard guard formation.
"Hn." **They formed a protective circle around Usagi when I pulled my gun on _Ami_ as well**.
Trowa wrapped his arms around Quatre's shoulder, smiling at him when
the boy looked up, "They have a point, it looks like the sort of formation we
would use guarding Relena."
Even though most of the groups groaned at the thought they were all in agreement of that statement.
Quatre looked at the group of girls, eyes narrowed slightly, then shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands in an 'I'm innocent... really' gesture, "If they _are_ bodyguards _I_ sure didn't assign them."
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Dinner proved to be an... interesting affair.
Usagi had never been one to eat all of her vegetables, at least not at the dinner table. She was well known to eat a vegetable one night and leave it the next, leaving a different one the next night, just for interests sake. It wasn't that she was a fussy eater, but in a family of thirty children one had to find some way of drawing attention to oneself, otherwise you got lost in the crowd.
Tonight it was the peas turn to be left alone. She was passing the time, and wasting the peas, by flicking them at Rashid with her knife. She was having a few difficulties deflecting the return shots though; Rashid seemed to love flinging them back at her at full speed, only her Senshi reflexes were saving her from wearing mushy green spots on her clothes. The large man was, however, developing a suspicious twitch in the left hand corner of his mouth.
For some reason Duo and Hotaru had been seated across from one another, no-one knew how, or why, but most agreed it was a bad idea and shouldn't happen again.
Usagi had been hard pressed to explain the fit of seemingly inexplicable giggles when Minako had remarked ~~THE GOD OF DEATH AND THE GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION... ALLAH SAVE US!!!~~.
Early on in the pea hockey match between Usagi and Rashid, the pair had mutually decided that it looked like too much fun to pass up on. So they had begun a pea hockey game of their own; the current score was 8 - 6 in favour of Hotaru. The goal was to get your pea in between the wine glass and the dinner plate; there were bonus points if the pea flew off the table, or if it was squashed into oblivion, extra bonus points if it had a _really_ interesting splatter pattern.
There had nearly been an incident when Minako redirected a bad shot from Rashid, who had been distracted by Abdul at the time, almost directly into Heero's forehead. After the infamous 'Omae o Korosu' glare made its' way around the tables occupants, all games of pea hockey strangely ceased. It didn't stop Duo from flinging one last pea in Heero's direction though, he had long ago built up an immunity to the glare - he swore up and down to anybody who asked him, that Heero had different variations of it for different occasions.
Quatre cleared his throat to gain his sisters' attention. It worked, but not before Haruka made a turning motion with her hand and smirked, "Needs a little more choke." [1]
Deciding to ignore his sisters smart-arsed comment, he aired the question that had been bothering him for most of the day, "Who exactly is 'Mamo-baka'?"
The reactions were quite interesting. As one everyone looked at the blonde girls, it was hard not to notice each and every female at the table wearing a deep scowl. Some, like Makoto and Haruka, were muttering curses under their breath.
Hotaru, quite interestingly, began to glow a dark purple, "If I _ever_ get my hands on him," she spat out, looking much older than her eight years - and rather dangerous, "I'll slit him from neck to navel!".
"'Taru, don't be so bloodthirsty. Wait until you're older," Usagi was doing her best to pretend the conversation was not happening, "Besides, _I_ have first dibs."
The pilots were more than a little surprised when the usually calm, collected Setsuna spoke up, a fierce frown marring her elegant features, "We are _all_ going to cause him great amounts of pain."
The quiet, yet dangerous, tone of voice she used to deliver her threat, no, her promise, caused Quatre to become even more curious about the answer. He decided to try again, since it didn't seem like his query was going to be answered, "Who is he, and what did he do?"
The glow around Hotaru deepened, the tone of her voice promising pain, "He hurt Usagi-hime. He must die!" The girls sitting nearest to her began to edge away_very_ slowly - reminiscent of the way the boys did when Quatre was _really_ mad. Zero system type mad.
Usagi skewered a potato on her fork. Tilting her head as she bought it up to eye level, she addressed it, "I have an eight year old wanting to help me kill my ex. Oh _yay_". The tone of voice, however, was expressing anything but joy.
She viciously ate the potato, nearly biting clean through her fork in the process.
Duo took in the various expressions of disgust on the face of every female in the room with a feeling akin to awe, **Wow, they're _really_ protective of her. I didn't think it was possible, but I think they're even worse than the Manguanacs!** He spoke up, his voice slightly petulant, "I want friends like that!!"
Wufei rolled his eyes as he snorted at his lovers antics, "Baka," he cuffed Duo lightly in the shoulder, "You _do_ have friends like that!"
Duo paused for a second to consider what Wufei had just said, sitting back in his chair slightly, "Oh. Yeah."
Quatre's eyes narrowed dangerously as he heard Usagi's conversation with her potato. He barely managed to grind out the word thought he had heard his sister utter, "Ex?"
Usagi barely restrained herself from groaning out loud. **K'so, busted. Damn.** She flipped hear hand in a negligent wave, "Forget it Q. We've got it covered."
Unsurprisingly Quatre wasn't going to 'forget about it'. He hadn't been sure about what she had said before, now that he knew he _really_ wanted a damn good explanation - and he wanted it yesterday.
"Ex."
Usagi glared at him, her tone becoming icy, "Is it _so_ surprising that _I_ had a boyfriend? _You_ have one, do you see _me_ going ballistic about it? I _said_ 'forget it'."
Quatre ignored the glare, merely reflecting it right back at her, his tone was just as icy, "And I'm not going to. I'll say again. Ex?"
Usagi was stubbornly silent.
Seeing that he was going to get no response his frown deepened - similar thoughts were running through each sisters head **He looks so much like father when he does that** - and bought out the heavy artillery, "Finish the story, Usagi, or Rashid gets to ask next." If he didn't know better, he could have _sworn_ he saw Rashid preen himself.
Usagi dropped her head in defeat at the sight of the large mans' grin. The other females in the group also flinched at this shot, Usagi and Minako had taken great lengths to describe Rashid to them. A muttered 'Bugger' could be hear coming from Rei's end of the table.
Makoto decided to speak up before things got any worse for her princess, hopefully stopping any further questions while she was at it. She had been idly flicking her steak knife over in her fingers since the topic of Tuxedo-baka had been raised - wishing that he was in the immediate vicinity so she could throw it at him.
"He dumped her, what more needs to be said?" She paused and tapped the knife's hilt thoughtfully on her chin, "Oh yeah, He must DIE!!!" With that, she sent the knife spinning across the table.
Had anyone else other than Trowa been sitting in that position - say Mamo-baka - the results may have been... slightly different. As it was, Trowa simply plucked the knife out of the air and handed it back to her, silently vowing never to introduce her to Catherine if he could possibly help it - he knew having two females in a room that liked to throw sharp, pointy objects at him would probably not be a good thing. Though he should have remembered about the incident with the knife in the mess hall... Barton had a nasty scar as a result of that encounter.
He arched his eyebrow as Makoto began flipping the knife again. Turning to his silently fuming lover he understated, "Bloodthirsty lot."
Quatre was absently rubbing at his chest with a frown marring his features, he could feel the pain emanating from his sister. **I'm sorry Usa, but if I don't know what he's done I can't plan accordingly.** He looked back at Trowa, "With good reason."
He began to look over Usagi's friends, trying to decide who would be the best to pry the information out of. Haruka and Minako had closed ranks, with Haruka taking Michiru with her. Makoto and Hotaru seemed to be incoherent, therefore no good to get any answers out of - plus Makoto was still flipping that knife, and Hotaru was still glowing purple. That left only Rei, Ami and Setsuna. He made his decision.
"Ami."
All the girls cringed. The knew Ami's answer would be brutally honest.
Noting the reactions, Quatre congratulated himself on a choice well made. He looked over at Usagi and pulled up short, not quite believing what he was seeing. He blinked and looked again.
She was still doing it.
She was glaring at him. That in itself was not strange, it was _how_ she was glaring at him. At some time, while he had been choosing who to ask about Mamo-baka, she had picked up her fork, and Heero's as well if his startled look was anything to go by, and held them vertically in front of her eyes as she glared. Quatre held a brief debate with himself and curiosity won, he had to ask, "Usagi...._what_ are you doing?"
"Stress relief, you're all in jail."
It was delivered with a perfectly straight face. Her monotone would have done Heero proud.
The table gaped at her, disbelieving - Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or laugh. As he watched, she shifted the forks so that they prongs were horizontal and began to smirk slightly.
He covered his eyes partly with one hand and looked at her from between his fingers, "What now?" He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.
"You all fell over."
About half the Manguanacs choked on unison, while Duo fell out of his chair howling with laughter. Rashid was covering a broad smirk with one hand while the other pounded Abdul on the back, trying to help him to breathe. In between giggles the girls were trying to figure out where the hell Usagi had learnt that one! [2]
Once everything had calmed down somewhat, with only the occasional giggle from the girls, Quatre turned to Ami, "Ami, what happened?"
The room went silent - bar Usagi's munching and attempt to converse with her plate. "Baka, baka, 30 no baka!" The plate wasn't answering her... yet.
Ami looked between Usagi and her little brother and decided to look at the wall behind Usagi's ear instead. She uttered the explanation as quickly and painlessly as possible, "He found a new girlfriend while he was studying abroad at University and forgot to tell anyone, mainly Usa-chan."
Silence reigned over the room. "He needs to die". Well, apart from Usagi's not so quiet chanting. She was stabbing at the steak on her plate rather violently.
"I'm beginning to agree with her," muttered Quatre distractedly as he reviewed Ami's statement. There was something abut what Ami had said that was niggling at the back of his mind. Finally it caught up with him, "WHAT?! He was at _UNIVERSITY_?!?!"
Minako nodded an affirmative , **Q looks pissed. In for a penny in for a dollar I guess.** "Yeah, he was doing post-grad studies in..."
Quatre's outraged voice cut her off before she could finish. His eyes were flashing dangerously, he didn't look very happy at all. "He was doing _post-grad_?" He growled and raked his gaze across the table, "How old _is_ he?"
Rei looked thoughtful as she did the math aloud, "Well, let's see. We met him when he was twenty... and we were fourteen. So that would make him... around twenty-three I guess." She glanced at Ami and Usagi to confirm her calculations and stopped short. There were some rather interesting reactions happening around the table.
Quatre was spluttering furiously. Trowa was trying to calm him down but failing miserably - it didn't help that he was looking decidedly outraged as well.
Rashid's face was so red it was bordering on purple, Abdul was gaping at the girls - mainly Usagi - while the rest of the males present were blinking. They had been expecting an age difference, but not _that_ big of a difference - it was almost cradle snatching!
As one, the Manguanac end of the table seemed to come to life. They all seemed to
realize that this 'Mamo-baka' had insulted one of their charges - vengeance was called for, something swift, just, and _extremely_ painful. They were searching for swords, guns, knives, hacksaws, nail files [3], any sort of weapon they could get their hands on.
The girls, meanwhile, were surreptitiously looking for an exit - give them Beryl, give them Chaos, _anything_ but vengeful Manguanacs out for blood.
Shall it be said that the situation degenerated rapidly from there.
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The week continued normally - well as normally as you can get in Juuban, especially when you live in a house with forty over-enthusiastic Manguanacs, five Gundam pilots, two Sailor Senshi, and two talking cats. Minako swore there was a partridge in the apple tree hanging around somewhere as well, but she couldn't prove it.
'Study sessions' were now split between Hikawa Jinja and the Winner residence. This was mainly due to a certain overprotective, blonde, Gundam pilot, brother who didn't need to be named.
Thursday afternoon saw the first of the new study sessions. It had got off to a good start - Fatima had plied them with enough goodies to feed a small army, or in this case Usagi, and Makoto had to be held back from following her into the kitchen. None of the pilots were home, though they did have to be careful of the Manguanacs who weren't busy stalking Quatre.
Ami arrived half an hour into the session, and, at her suggestion, they opened the connecting door to the main foyer. They had a _perfect_ view as the boys came slipping and sliding into the foyer some minutes later, sopping wet and shivering.
The girls all gathered in the doorway and tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh.
"Let me guess," Makoto looked them up and down, smirking and trying to look thoughtful, "You tried to help the Senshi again ne?"
All the girls lost what little composure they had and burst into giggles. An irate message had come through on their communicators earlier, > It had been followed by much grumbling about uncertain parentage, and some rather inventive swearing in Mercurian, before the link clicked closed abruptly.
The boys were all glaring at them. They didn't find anything amusing about the situation, they were all cold and wet. The girls managed to get themselves under control for a little while, but were set off again at the sight of Duo wringing out his braid, and Heero pouring water out of his oh-so-precious gun. It was just too funny not to laugh.
"We did warn you not to try and get involved," stated Usagi. She showed a great deal of restraint as she looked them over - trying desperately not to laugh outright in their faces, "Neptune?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.
All five shook their heads miserably.
Rei looked them over, taking in Duo's blue lips, the arm Trowa had around Quatre in an attempt to keep him... to get him warm. "Ahh, _Mercury_. Sailor Senshi of Ice and Intelligence."
Duo shivered violently, "We can vouch for the ice." He sounded _slightly_ put out.
Even in his extremely sodden and chilled state, Heero noticed Rei's statement. **She appears to know their abilities well. A fan... or something else?**
Minako snorted at Duo's tone, "Be thankful it wasn't Mars!"
"Why?" Trowa looked at her quizzically over her brothers' head.
She didn't answer him. She was too busy trying not to blush. The feelings of love and contentment emanating from Quatre were quite sweet really - in a sickly sweet, lovey dovey sort of way, but Duo's thoughts were running away with him, and they were definitely heading down south of the border at an _alarming_ rate.
~~Shower... Hot shower... 'Fei and hot shower. I wonder if I can convince him that I need help washing my hair...heh heh...~~ Could be heard, by her at least, and his eyes had glazed over.
Minako was pretty sure from the barely visible smirk on her brothers face, that similar thoughts were running through _his_ head - but at least _he_ knew how to shield.
Rei rolled her eyes at Trowa's question, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world, "Say it with me now," She moved her hands as though she were conducting an orchestra, "Flambé."
There was a decidedly evil smirk on her face.
Usagi began to snicker at the mental image _that_ conjured up, "Let's just say you'll be able to see out of _both_ of your eyes."
**They _all_ seem to know a lot. A regional thing?**
"HEY!!" Rei objected to Usagi's comment, "The aim's not _that_ bad."
"If you say so pyro, if you say so." Usagi seemed to be deliberately provoking her.
Heero was getting more and more curious as the conversation progressed, **Interesting.**
That incident was repeated at various times throughout the week as the boys tried to help the Senshi - and the Senshi kept knocking them out of the way with low powered attacks. If they thought Mercury was bad, the Outer Senshi were even worse, their version of 'low power' was getting stronger by the day.
They were getting better at finding Youma weak spots however.
The week passed normally. The girls kept disappearing, the boys kept trying - without success - to follow them. The Manguanacs kept finding the two cats in the _strangest_places - like down in the computer room in front of an active computer, heading away from the estate, in front of the refrigerator... but then again they kept finding Usagi there when they thought she was missing too.
It was just going to set the trend for the weeks to come.
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Sunday afternoon found the boys returning from their monthly debriefing at Preventers HQ. Duo found it a little unusual that they were going to have a 'monthly' debriefing after only being in Juuban for a little over a week. It turned out to be relatively uncomplicated. It was more of a 'How are you settling into your new home?' and 'Oh, Sally wants to do some tests' type of debriefing.
The latter statement was met with an ear piercing shriek from Duo. He lunged for the window and attempted to pull a Heero. That is, jump out of the window in an attempt to escape - totally disregarding the fact that they were fifty stories up, and he was without a parachute.
Sally, of course, walked in as the others were trying to pry Duo away from the now open window, "Ahh, Duo. Happy to see me as always I see".
Duo snorted and let go of the window frame, "Always great ta see ya Sal, but those instruments of torture you have in that medical cart hiding out in the hallway? HELL NO!!!"
They were well and truly glad to be home. They had been poked, prodded and jabbed enough to last them a lifetime - or until Sally felt like being sadistic again at least, which happened _far_ too regularly. A swim and some relaxation was sounding really good right about then.
It was not to be, Zoltan - one of Quatre's Manguanacs - hurried up to the group as they walked inside. Let it be said that he _did_ try to stop them but they were _very_ determined to get inside.
"Quatre-sama, Quatre-sama, you have a guest. She's...."
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"< br>
They followed standard life preserving procedure: Duck and cover.
A brilliant flash of light lit up the foyer.
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[1] S: My Dad does this -_-;;
[2] M: My friend Ty taught me. I soo nearly sprayed everyone at dinner the first time
she did it ^_^
[3] M: The nail files are _too_ a weapon the nice man at the airport who made me open all my bags and get them out told me so :P
Last time on Hidden Bloodlines:
Trowa discovers that he knew Makoto from before Operation Meteor, where she used to give the first Trowa Barton an extremely hard time - constantly decking him and playing practical jokes, and it turns out that she was a back up pilot for Heavyarms
Ami reveals that she may know more about the Gundam Pilots than everybody thinks.
It turns out that Haruka, Minako and Usagi were also back up pilots for Sandrock.
And now Part 8:
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The Gundam pilots were all gathered at the foot of the stairwell waiting for Usagi, Minako and their friends to come down for dinner. The lot of them had disappeared up to the girls joint rooms the moment they had arrived back and had been there ever since. The boys were just hoping they appeared before midnight, some members of the group were getting hungry, and that was a _bad_ thing.
Heero suppressed a grimace as he tried to loosen the collar of his shirt and tie without success. He hoped the girls came down soon, the sooner they got down the sooner dinner would start. The sooner dinner started the sooner he could get out of this restrictive outfit. He had _not_ wanted to wear it in the first place, but Quatre had put his foot down, turning a look on him that was usually reserved for his sisters. The tone of voice hadn't been much better.
"We are having guests for dinner. We _will_ be dressed appropriately."
Funnily enough, Quatre had been looking at Heero when he was speaking.
The Manguanacs had already headed into the overly large dining room, dressed appropriately in formal versions of their everyday wear. Haruka and her... family were also waiting with them for the girls to come downstairs. Little Hotaru was standing between Uncle Trowa and Uncle Quatre, one of their hands in each of hers, beaming. The novelty of having uncles, especially ones who doted on her, was still very new to her.
Usagi appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling, surrounded by her friends. Gracefully, she made her way down, smiling gently at the women and child who awaited her. In return, each gave a minute bow and fell into position around their beloved princess as they moved towards the dining room. Following close behind them was a slightly confused group of Gundam pilots.
As the group of females moved ahead Duo gave a slight snort and called quietly over his
shoulder to Quatre, "Y'know, Quatre, your sisters' bodyguards don't _need_ to be so overprotective in your own house!"
"They're not bodyguards", Quatre frowned slightly back at Duo, "I've got _more_than enough Manguanacs to go around."
Wufei tilted his head, watching the girls as they moved towards the dining room, and considered this statement, "It sure _looks_ like they are Winner."
By now all the pilots were staring intently at the group of chattering females walking ahead of them... in a standard guard formation.
"Hn." **They formed a protective circle around Usagi when I pulled my gun on _Ami_ as well**.
Trowa wrapped his arms around Quatre's shoulder, smiling at him when
the boy looked up, "They have a point, it looks like the sort of formation we
would use guarding Relena."
Even though most of the groups groaned at the thought they were all in agreement of that statement.
Quatre looked at the group of girls, eyes narrowed slightly, then shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands in an 'I'm innocent... really' gesture, "If they _are_ bodyguards _I_ sure didn't assign them."
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Dinner proved to be an... interesting affair.
Usagi had never been one to eat all of her vegetables, at least not at the dinner table. She was well known to eat a vegetable one night and leave it the next, leaving a different one the next night, just for interests sake. It wasn't that she was a fussy eater, but in a family of thirty children one had to find some way of drawing attention to oneself, otherwise you got lost in the crowd.
Tonight it was the peas turn to be left alone. She was passing the time, and wasting the peas, by flicking them at Rashid with her knife. She was having a few difficulties deflecting the return shots though; Rashid seemed to love flinging them back at her at full speed, only her Senshi reflexes were saving her from wearing mushy green spots on her clothes. The large man was, however, developing a suspicious twitch in the left hand corner of his mouth.
For some reason Duo and Hotaru had been seated across from one another, no-one knew how, or why, but most agreed it was a bad idea and shouldn't happen again.
Usagi had been hard pressed to explain the fit of seemingly inexplicable giggles when Minako had remarked ~~THE GOD OF DEATH AND THE GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION... ALLAH SAVE US!!!~~.
Early on in the pea hockey match between Usagi and Rashid, the pair had mutually decided that it looked like too much fun to pass up on. So they had begun a pea hockey game of their own; the current score was 8 - 6 in favour of Hotaru. The goal was to get your pea in between the wine glass and the dinner plate; there were bonus points if the pea flew off the table, or if it was squashed into oblivion, extra bonus points if it had a _really_ interesting splatter pattern.
There had nearly been an incident when Minako redirected a bad shot from Rashid, who had been distracted by Abdul at the time, almost directly into Heero's forehead. After the infamous 'Omae o Korosu' glare made its' way around the tables occupants, all games of pea hockey strangely ceased. It didn't stop Duo from flinging one last pea in Heero's direction though, he had long ago built up an immunity to the glare - he swore up and down to anybody who asked him, that Heero had different variations of it for different occasions.
Quatre cleared his throat to gain his sisters' attention. It worked, but not before Haruka made a turning motion with her hand and smirked, "Needs a little more choke." [1]
Deciding to ignore his sisters smart-arsed comment, he aired the question that had been bothering him for most of the day, "Who exactly is 'Mamo-baka'?"
The reactions were quite interesting. As one everyone looked at the blonde girls, it was hard not to notice each and every female at the table wearing a deep scowl. Some, like Makoto and Haruka, were muttering curses under their breath.
Hotaru, quite interestingly, began to glow a dark purple, "If I _ever_ get my hands on him," she spat out, looking much older than her eight years - and rather dangerous, "I'll slit him from neck to navel!".
"'Taru, don't be so bloodthirsty. Wait until you're older," Usagi was doing her best to pretend the conversation was not happening, "Besides, _I_ have first dibs."
The pilots were more than a little surprised when the usually calm, collected Setsuna spoke up, a fierce frown marring her elegant features, "We are _all_ going to cause him great amounts of pain."
The quiet, yet dangerous, tone of voice she used to deliver her threat, no, her promise, caused Quatre to become even more curious about the answer. He decided to try again, since it didn't seem like his query was going to be answered, "Who is he, and what did he do?"
The glow around Hotaru deepened, the tone of her voice promising pain, "He hurt Usagi-hime. He must die!" The girls sitting nearest to her began to edge away_very_ slowly - reminiscent of the way the boys did when Quatre was _really_ mad. Zero system type mad.
Usagi skewered a potato on her fork. Tilting her head as she bought it up to eye level, she addressed it, "I have an eight year old wanting to help me kill my ex. Oh _yay_". The tone of voice, however, was expressing anything but joy.
She viciously ate the potato, nearly biting clean through her fork in the process.
Duo took in the various expressions of disgust on the face of every female in the room with a feeling akin to awe, **Wow, they're _really_ protective of her. I didn't think it was possible, but I think they're even worse than the Manguanacs!** He spoke up, his voice slightly petulant, "I want friends like that!!"
Wufei rolled his eyes as he snorted at his lovers antics, "Baka," he cuffed Duo lightly in the shoulder, "You _do_ have friends like that!"
Duo paused for a second to consider what Wufei had just said, sitting back in his chair slightly, "Oh. Yeah."
Quatre's eyes narrowed dangerously as he heard Usagi's conversation with her potato. He barely managed to grind out the word thought he had heard his sister utter, "Ex?"
Usagi barely restrained herself from groaning out loud. **K'so, busted. Damn.** She flipped hear hand in a negligent wave, "Forget it Q. We've got it covered."
Unsurprisingly Quatre wasn't going to 'forget about it'. He hadn't been sure about what she had said before, now that he knew he _really_ wanted a damn good explanation - and he wanted it yesterday.
"Ex."
Usagi glared at him, her tone becoming icy, "Is it _so_ surprising that _I_ had a boyfriend? _You_ have one, do you see _me_ going ballistic about it? I _said_ 'forget it'."
Quatre ignored the glare, merely reflecting it right back at her, his tone was just as icy, "And I'm not going to. I'll say again. Ex?"
Usagi was stubbornly silent.
Seeing that he was going to get no response his frown deepened - similar thoughts were running through each sisters head **He looks so much like father when he does that** - and bought out the heavy artillery, "Finish the story, Usagi, or Rashid gets to ask next." If he didn't know better, he could have _sworn_ he saw Rashid preen himself.
Usagi dropped her head in defeat at the sight of the large mans' grin. The other females in the group also flinched at this shot, Usagi and Minako had taken great lengths to describe Rashid to them. A muttered 'Bugger' could be hear coming from Rei's end of the table.
Makoto decided to speak up before things got any worse for her princess, hopefully stopping any further questions while she was at it. She had been idly flicking her steak knife over in her fingers since the topic of Tuxedo-baka had been raised - wishing that he was in the immediate vicinity so she could throw it at him.
"He dumped her, what more needs to be said?" She paused and tapped the knife's hilt thoughtfully on her chin, "Oh yeah, He must DIE!!!" With that, she sent the knife spinning across the table.
Had anyone else other than Trowa been sitting in that position - say Mamo-baka - the results may have been... slightly different. As it was, Trowa simply plucked the knife out of the air and handed it back to her, silently vowing never to introduce her to Catherine if he could possibly help it - he knew having two females in a room that liked to throw sharp, pointy objects at him would probably not be a good thing. Though he should have remembered about the incident with the knife in the mess hall... Barton had a nasty scar as a result of that encounter.
He arched his eyebrow as Makoto began flipping the knife again. Turning to his silently fuming lover he understated, "Bloodthirsty lot."
Quatre was absently rubbing at his chest with a frown marring his features, he could feel the pain emanating from his sister. **I'm sorry Usa, but if I don't know what he's done I can't plan accordingly.** He looked back at Trowa, "With good reason."
He began to look over Usagi's friends, trying to decide who would be the best to pry the information out of. Haruka and Minako had closed ranks, with Haruka taking Michiru with her. Makoto and Hotaru seemed to be incoherent, therefore no good to get any answers out of - plus Makoto was still flipping that knife, and Hotaru was still glowing purple. That left only Rei, Ami and Setsuna. He made his decision.
"Ami."
All the girls cringed. The knew Ami's answer would be brutally honest.
Noting the reactions, Quatre congratulated himself on a choice well made. He looked over at Usagi and pulled up short, not quite believing what he was seeing. He blinked and looked again.
She was still doing it.
She was glaring at him. That in itself was not strange, it was _how_ she was glaring at him. At some time, while he had been choosing who to ask about Mamo-baka, she had picked up her fork, and Heero's as well if his startled look was anything to go by, and held them vertically in front of her eyes as she glared. Quatre held a brief debate with himself and curiosity won, he had to ask, "Usagi...._what_ are you doing?"
"Stress relief, you're all in jail."
It was delivered with a perfectly straight face. Her monotone would have done Heero proud.
The table gaped at her, disbelieving - Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or laugh. As he watched, she shifted the forks so that they prongs were horizontal and began to smirk slightly.
He covered his eyes partly with one hand and looked at her from between his fingers, "What now?" He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.
"You all fell over."
About half the Manguanacs choked on unison, while Duo fell out of his chair howling with laughter. Rashid was covering a broad smirk with one hand while the other pounded Abdul on the back, trying to help him to breathe. In between giggles the girls were trying to figure out where the hell Usagi had learnt that one! [2]
Once everything had calmed down somewhat, with only the occasional giggle from the girls, Quatre turned to Ami, "Ami, what happened?"
The room went silent - bar Usagi's munching and attempt to converse with her plate. "Baka, baka, 30 no baka!" The plate wasn't answering her... yet.
Ami looked between Usagi and her little brother and decided to look at the wall behind Usagi's ear instead. She uttered the explanation as quickly and painlessly as possible, "He found a new girlfriend while he was studying abroad at University and forgot to tell anyone, mainly Usa-chan."
Silence reigned over the room. "He needs to die". Well, apart from Usagi's not so quiet chanting. She was stabbing at the steak on her plate rather violently.
"I'm beginning to agree with her," muttered Quatre distractedly as he reviewed Ami's statement. There was something abut what Ami had said that was niggling at the back of his mind. Finally it caught up with him, "WHAT?! He was at _UNIVERSITY_?!?!"
Minako nodded an affirmative , **Q looks pissed. In for a penny in for a dollar I guess.** "Yeah, he was doing post-grad studies in..."
Quatre's outraged voice cut her off before she could finish. His eyes were flashing dangerously, he didn't look very happy at all. "He was doing _post-grad_?" He growled and raked his gaze across the table, "How old _is_ he?"
Rei looked thoughtful as she did the math aloud, "Well, let's see. We met him when he was twenty... and we were fourteen. So that would make him... around twenty-three I guess." She glanced at Ami and Usagi to confirm her calculations and stopped short. There were some rather interesting reactions happening around the table.
Quatre was spluttering furiously. Trowa was trying to calm him down but failing miserably - it didn't help that he was looking decidedly outraged as well.
Rashid's face was so red it was bordering on purple, Abdul was gaping at the girls - mainly Usagi - while the rest of the males present were blinking. They had been expecting an age difference, but not _that_ big of a difference - it was almost cradle snatching!
As one, the Manguanac end of the table seemed to come to life. They all seemed to
realize that this 'Mamo-baka' had insulted one of their charges - vengeance was called for, something swift, just, and _extremely_ painful. They were searching for swords, guns, knives, hacksaws, nail files [3], any sort of weapon they could get their hands on.
The girls, meanwhile, were surreptitiously looking for an exit - give them Beryl, give them Chaos, _anything_ but vengeful Manguanacs out for blood.
Shall it be said that the situation degenerated rapidly from there.
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The week continued normally - well as normally as you can get in Juuban, especially when you live in a house with forty over-enthusiastic Manguanacs, five Gundam pilots, two Sailor Senshi, and two talking cats. Minako swore there was a partridge in the apple tree hanging around somewhere as well, but she couldn't prove it.
'Study sessions' were now split between Hikawa Jinja and the Winner residence. This was mainly due to a certain overprotective, blonde, Gundam pilot, brother who didn't need to be named.
Thursday afternoon saw the first of the new study sessions. It had got off to a good start - Fatima had plied them with enough goodies to feed a small army, or in this case Usagi, and Makoto had to be held back from following her into the kitchen. None of the pilots were home, though they did have to be careful of the Manguanacs who weren't busy stalking Quatre.
Ami arrived half an hour into the session, and, at her suggestion, they opened the connecting door to the main foyer. They had a _perfect_ view as the boys came slipping and sliding into the foyer some minutes later, sopping wet and shivering.
The girls all gathered in the doorway and tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh.
"Let me guess," Makoto looked them up and down, smirking and trying to look thoughtful, "You tried to help the Senshi again ne?"
All the girls lost what little composure they had and burst into giggles. An irate message had come through on their communicators earlier, > It had been followed by much grumbling about uncertain parentage, and some rather inventive swearing in Mercurian, before the link clicked closed abruptly.
The boys were all glaring at them. They didn't find anything amusing about the situation, they were all cold and wet. The girls managed to get themselves under control for a little while, but were set off again at the sight of Duo wringing out his braid, and Heero pouring water out of his oh-so-precious gun. It was just too funny not to laugh.
"We did warn you not to try and get involved," stated Usagi. She showed a great deal of restraint as she looked them over - trying desperately not to laugh outright in their faces, "Neptune?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.
All five shook their heads miserably.
Rei looked them over, taking in Duo's blue lips, the arm Trowa had around Quatre in an attempt to keep him... to get him warm. "Ahh, _Mercury_. Sailor Senshi of Ice and Intelligence."
Duo shivered violently, "We can vouch for the ice." He sounded _slightly_ put out.
Even in his extremely sodden and chilled state, Heero noticed Rei's statement. **She appears to know their abilities well. A fan... or something else?**
Minako snorted at Duo's tone, "Be thankful it wasn't Mars!"
"Why?" Trowa looked at her quizzically over her brothers' head.
She didn't answer him. She was too busy trying not to blush. The feelings of love and contentment emanating from Quatre were quite sweet really - in a sickly sweet, lovey dovey sort of way, but Duo's thoughts were running away with him, and they were definitely heading down south of the border at an _alarming_ rate.
~~Shower... Hot shower... 'Fei and hot shower. I wonder if I can convince him that I need help washing my hair...heh heh...~~ Could be heard, by her at least, and his eyes had glazed over.
Minako was pretty sure from the barely visible smirk on her brothers face, that similar thoughts were running through _his_ head - but at least _he_ knew how to shield.
Rei rolled her eyes at Trowa's question, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world, "Say it with me now," She moved her hands as though she were conducting an orchestra, "Flambé."
There was a decidedly evil smirk on her face.
Usagi began to snicker at the mental image _that_ conjured up, "Let's just say you'll be able to see out of _both_ of your eyes."
**They _all_ seem to know a lot. A regional thing?**
"HEY!!" Rei objected to Usagi's comment, "The aim's not _that_ bad."
"If you say so pyro, if you say so." Usagi seemed to be deliberately provoking her.
Heero was getting more and more curious as the conversation progressed, **Interesting.**
That incident was repeated at various times throughout the week as the boys tried to help the Senshi - and the Senshi kept knocking them out of the way with low powered attacks. If they thought Mercury was bad, the Outer Senshi were even worse, their version of 'low power' was getting stronger by the day.
They were getting better at finding Youma weak spots however.
The week passed normally. The girls kept disappearing, the boys kept trying - without success - to follow them. The Manguanacs kept finding the two cats in the _strangest_places - like down in the computer room in front of an active computer, heading away from the estate, in front of the refrigerator... but then again they kept finding Usagi there when they thought she was missing too.
It was just going to set the trend for the weeks to come.
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Sunday afternoon found the boys returning from their monthly debriefing at Preventers HQ. Duo found it a little unusual that they were going to have a 'monthly' debriefing after only being in Juuban for a little over a week. It turned out to be relatively uncomplicated. It was more of a 'How are you settling into your new home?' and 'Oh, Sally wants to do some tests' type of debriefing.
The latter statement was met with an ear piercing shriek from Duo. He lunged for the window and attempted to pull a Heero. That is, jump out of the window in an attempt to escape - totally disregarding the fact that they were fifty stories up, and he was without a parachute.
Sally, of course, walked in as the others were trying to pry Duo away from the now open window, "Ahh, Duo. Happy to see me as always I see".
Duo snorted and let go of the window frame, "Always great ta see ya Sal, but those instruments of torture you have in that medical cart hiding out in the hallway? HELL NO!!!"
They were well and truly glad to be home. They had been poked, prodded and jabbed enough to last them a lifetime - or until Sally felt like being sadistic again at least, which happened _far_ too regularly. A swim and some relaxation was sounding really good right about then.
It was not to be, Zoltan - one of Quatre's Manguanacs - hurried up to the group as they walked inside. Let it be said that he _did_ try to stop them but they were _very_ determined to get inside.
"Quatre-sama, Quatre-sama, you have a guest. She's...."
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"< br>
They followed standard life preserving procedure: Duck and cover.
A brilliant flash of light lit up the foyer.
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[1] S: My Dad does this -_-;;
[2] M: My friend Ty taught me. I soo nearly sprayed everyone at dinner the first time
she did it ^_^
[3] M: The nail files are _too_ a weapon the nice man at the airport who made me open all my bags and get them out told me so :P