Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Bloodlines ❯ Mental Mayhem ( Chapter 9 )

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

Chapter 9

Feminine laughter reached the pilots ears. There was definitely more than one voice. Somehow the pilots just _knew_ that they'd been had. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Standing at the top of the stairs was the Queen of the World, but there was nothing dignified or royal with the way in which she was standing - or would that be in the way in which she was not standing? Relena Peacecraft was barely able to stay on her own two feet, she was relying heavily on the banister to hold herself upright. Tears of laughter made their way down her cheeks in streams, and she had long ago turned red from laughter, and there was no sign of her stopping soon.

Another flash of light to their left was followed by uncontrollable giggles. Once the boys were able to blink the afterimage from their eyes they discovered Usagi standing on one side of the grand staircase, a camera in her hand. On the other side stood Minako, with a video camera that obnoxious red light still blinking on, indicating it was still rolling.

Usagi giggled and glanced up at her fellow Queen, "Okay, we should've believed you."

They should have believed who? Relena? Had they missed something? Why was Relena here? The boys weren't quite getting the big picture.

"Now we owe you five bucks each". Minako didn't look too unhappy about that, she shrugged "It was worth it though." She turned smirking to the boys, "You should've seen the looks on your faces! Totally _classic_!"

Relena laughed again, "Don't worry about paying me. A copy of the pictures and video should be payment enough."

The boys could only stand there and gape. They had _definitely_ missed something while they had been gone. Relena - Heero's stalker, according to Duo, was standing at the top of the stairs. Apart from emitting the mating call of the Relenus Idioticus - a term Duo had come up with during the war after she had compromised their identities for the hundredth time - she had yet to follow standard creature behaviour and glomp the Heero Heroicus - who would then issue grunts and death threats as were common for members of his species. Of course Duo had been taking biology when he came up with the terms, his class had been studying mating habits of the worlds creatures... which went a long way to explaining things.

But still, jokes aside, Relena was _not_ acting like Relena.

The next flash was enough to shake Heero and Wufei out of their stupor. Quatre's sisters had incriminating evidence of them being stupid; it had to be destroyed - preferably burnt, with them burying the ashes in a hidden location in the middle of the night. With twin growls they
launched themselves at the girls.

It didn't work.

Placing their hands behind their backs, Usagi and Minako quickly shoved their cameras into their subspace pockets. There was no _way_ the boys were going to get their hands on the original copies - why waste good blackmail material? When their hands were bought back around to the front of their bodies they were empty.

Relena saw it all from her vantage point on the stairs. She started to laugh again, **It's not very often you see someone get the upper hand on the pilots. Don't worry my friends, your secret is safe with me. I keep my promises.**

~~Thank you.~~ Relena jumped, she'd forgotten about that.

"What?" Usagi was trying not to laugh as Wufei patted her down, trying desperately to find the camera. When he didn't find it on her he started to search the surrounding area. On her other side, Heero was mimicking his actions with Minako.

Relena burst out laughing again. The look of desperation on the two boys faces was hilariously funny. Trying to walk down the stairs and laugh at the same time was hard though, she barely caught herself on the banister a couple of times, falling on your nose was considered ungraceful after all.

Duo was looking wide eyed between the girls and Heero, **I did not just see that. Tell me I did not just see that!** "Hey Heero, it looks like they know your gun hiding trick. How do you do that? Can you teach me?" He looked hopefully between the two blonde girls and his fellow pilot.

All three gave noncommittal grunts and shrugged their shoulders - at exactly the same time.

Duo's eyes widened, "Did anybody else find that scary?"

As Relena made her way down the stairs and over towards the pilots Duo smirked, "Oi, 'Jousan!"

"Yes Duo?" She recognised that look in his eyes, he was in a teasing mood and she was his target *Damn.*

"You're slipping. It took you a week to find us."

That was a little close to home. It was true that she had spent a (great) portion of the war following Heero around like a stray puppy, but that was _not_ why she had come to Juuban.

"I've been _busy_."

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~~Usa~~, Minako pointedly did _not_ look at her sister. There were only a handful of people who knew about her abilities, and she did intended to keep it that way. Staring at her sister for no apparent reason would seem a little suspicious.

~~Yeah Mi?~~

~~He can access subspace?~~

Her sister gave the mental equivalent of a snort, ~~Well, the gun has to come from somewhere and I don't see any betraying lines 'round his butt do you?... Not that I was looking or anything.~~

~~But...~~

~~Yes butt. Let's not go there right now. I'll talk to Luna later. Not that she'll remember anything anyway.~~

"If you two are _quite_ finished." Quatre flicked an irritated look between his sisters. Minako had forgotten that he knew when she was talking, he had once described it to her as a faint tingling in the back of his mind.

"It was a private conversation." She said in an upper crust English accent, just to annoy him.

Quatre sighed. The other pilots had a feeling that they were missing an important piece of the puzzle. There had been no 'private conversation' taking place, neither Usagi's _or_ Minako's lips had been moving.

Relena tapped Usagi on the shoulder, breaking the staring competition that was beginning between the siblings, "Usagi, I'm going to go and retrieve Mamoru from the Manguanacs now. I'll see you at school on Monday." Relena turned and left the room before any of the boys present could ask just what she had meant by that, and who was Mamoru?

"Did we miss something?" Duo couldn't figure out where too look. His gaze was bouncing between Quatre's sisters and where Relena had disappeared, questions racing their way across his brain.

Moments later Relena returned with a rather dishevelled male in tow. He was tall, with dark hair, wearing a black turtle neck and green blazer -despite the fact it had to be at _least_ 28 degrees outside and brilliant sunshine, not to mention that he looked ridiculous with it on. Relena waved as she went past, dragging the male rather forcibly behind her, he looked nervous when he spotted Usagi and Minako but looked even _more_ so when he spotted Quatre.

Wufei watched them pass, bemusement and confusion warring for supremacy on his features, "_Definately_ missed something. Exactly _who_ was that?"

"Mamoru Chiba." Minako's voice and manner were decidedly _too_ chirpy.

"Mamoru." There was something about that name, something familiar about it, "Ma..mo..ru...Mamo..ru... as in _Mamo-baka_?!"

He wasn't a happy little brother, if he had it right a perfectly good target had just walked out his front door.

"Yep!" If chirpiness was catching, then Usagi had caught it.

Heero looked at both of the grinning females slowly. Something didn't quite make sense here, just the other day they were threatening 'Mamo-baka' with grievous bodily harm, hell every female at the table and the Manguanacs had been. Yet they had just let him walk out the door relatively unharmed. He couldn't _quite_ believe he was seeing this, "The one you wanted to kill?" He just had to check and see that he _was_ 100% correct here.

Usagi nodded, "Uh huh. Just like you're going to kill Relena... eventually. A word of advice though Heero, death threats seem to work best when you carry them out."

Heero glared at her. It was with what Duo had named Shut-up-you-annoying-little-insect-before-I-squish-you-flat-with-Wing-self- destruct-
and-then-shoot-you-twice glare, it was used when you pissed him off. This particular glare and Duo were old, old friends, after the first one hundred times or so it lost its' potency - provided you survived that long.

"And you let him into the house?" Quatre couldn't quite believe his sisters either.

Minako gave him an evil grin, "We're making him sweat."

"Besides," Usagi smirked, "We let the Manguanacs have a little 'chat' to him."

Both girls began to snicker.

Trowa almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. He could well imagine what the Manguanacs had done to him once they discovered that he was the well hated Mamo-baka.

He remembered when he and Quatre had first started dating. He had been pulled out of bed by four Manguanacs - he and Quatre were still sleeping alone at that stage - and bodily carried to a tent some distance away from the main camp. He'd been tied to the room's only chair, clad only in his boxers, and grilled by all forty Manguanacs on his intentions toward Quatre. He shuddered to think what would have happened had they not found him worthy of him, he was pretty sure they would have been a Gundam pilot down for the rest of the war. He felt truly sorry for whoever ended up dating Usagi and Minako. The Manguanacs had adopted the two girls much the same way they had adopted their brother, and it appeared that it wouldn't be long before their friends were adopted as well. He almost smiled, those girls were going to find it _hard_ to get a date very soon.

Wufei was still staring at the door where Relena and Mamoru had left, "That was Mamo-baka...with Relena?"

The two girls nodded. Usagi had been tempted to say 'Nuh-uh that Catsy she was taking Rubeus out shopping for a dress to wear to the ball on Friday night', but then she would have had a hard time explaining just who they were, and if anyone did know, how they knew them.

"And everyone's _okay_ with this?" Duo, like everyone other male present, was having a hard time believing what he had just seen and heard. Why weren't they following him with knives and other sharp instruments with strange, unholy gleams in their eyes?

Usagi smirked, "Unless Heero has a problem with it?"

Everyone looked at Heero.

He was blushing. Usagi quickly whipped out her camera from subspace, took a picture, and hid it again. Heero glared, but somehow, it just wasn't as potent as his normal ones were, it may have been the slightly panicked look in his eyes. It somehow lacked in the intensity department.

"_Baka_!" Just who Heero was talking to couldn't be determined - he stormed out before anyone could ask him just who was 'Baka'.

"You know," Usagi looked thoughtful, "That almost sounds extremely nasty the way he says that."
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Over the ensuing weeks certain facts became evident to the pilots; the girls had a number of secrets, or one large one, and Relena, it seemed, knew said secret. No matter how hard they tried to find out what these secrets were, they were met with dead ends, something the pilots had rarely encountered before.

Relena was helping to cover for the girls - with whom she had become very fast friends, when that had happened was just as big a mystery [1]. It also appeared that Motoki, from the arcade, knew something, but whatever it was, he was just as tight lipped as Relena. It was beginning to get on the boys nerves. Really, Relena being able to keep a secret?

They also continued to try and help the Sailor Senshi in their Youma fights; much to the disgust of the Senshi. It was becoming a common occurrence to have a Senshi or two come up to them after a battle and bawl them out - their magic wasn't the only powerful thing about them, some of them could yell quite loudly when they wanted to, most bystanders were more taken aback by the senshi's displays of temper than the actual Youma.

Take the leader, Cosmos, for instance, some of her shrieks would probably be off the decibel scale, with Mars coming in a _very_ close second. Jupiter appeared to be close to decking some of the pilots a number of times, once she had to be held back by Uranus, and Mercury seemed to take a perverse pleasure in freezing them on sight, no questions, no explanations, just deep freeze.

Venus would just tie them up with that chain of hers, though once she had even terrified her fellow senshi, she had just grabbed Duo and Quatre out from in front of a blast. They were still tied up with her chain when she threatened them with a stone sword. Cosmos and Pluto
looked like they nearly had heart attacks on the spot. In the gentle tone one uses with insane people they got her to put the sword away, both looked decidedly shaken though. The pilots didn't see what the big deal was, it was a stone sword, how much damage could it do. [2]

They didn't even want to _think_ about the Outer Senshi - Saturns' Glaive was rather pointy... So was Uranus' sword for that matter; and although it looked funny, Plutos' Key pack a very good wallop, Duo had a bump for days after the usually calm woman slammed it into the side of his head during a particularly rough fight.

It was getting to the point where the pilots could dodge a 'low powered' attack from the Sailor Senshi meant to knock them away from the fight - they really needed to talk to them about their definition of 'low power' - and still fire at the Youma's weak spots.

It was a game of wits - was it really 'low power'? which way will I dodge? Where is the weak spot? Not surprisingly all the pilots were all enjoying it greatly.

It was surprising how fast the Senshi learnt their names though.

---

"DAMNIT CHANG, move that white clad hiney before I roast your hide you _idiot_!"

Wufei decided at the last minute that yelling 'Just 'cause you can't aim for shit, Rei!', may not be the wisest course of action at that time.

Oh, Rei knew he knew about of course - he'd discovered _that_ little secret the last time he had been in Juuban [3]. The girl had sworn him to secrecy about that little fact, along with a couple of others. He really _didn't_ fell like testing the potency of a 'Flame Sniper' at the moment, not at that range anyway and not without his Gundam - you do _not_ argue with temperamental Miko's who can control fire, especially when her friends control the other elements, well not without significant protection, or unless you have _no_ survival instinct.

Needless to say, the discoveries he had made on his previous visit had been expanded on. Rei hadn't sworn him to secrecy on that, but he wouldn't tell anyone anyway - she had powerful friends, well ones that could cause great amounts of personal and property damage anyway.

---

One of the most interesting events by far - and that was saying something considering what they had seen already - had been the boys, and some of the girls, discovery of Minako's ability.

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Minako and Usagi had gone missing, _again_. It was becoming too regular an occurrence.

"Y'Know Q this is a _great_ way to spend a Friday night. Waiting for your friends' big sisters to come home."

Quatre was waiting for them with his fellow pilots. He was currently debating the merits of planting a tracking device somewhere on their person, then remembered what it was like to have to look for frogs in your pillow cases and shaving cream in your shoes every day and night.

Around 1:20am the two blondes entered the estate. They entered the mansion quietly enough, any normal person probably wouldn't have noticed them, but those waiting for them were _not_ your average people. Once the two were certain that no-one was awake, they began to
tiptoe their way towards the stairs, trying to sneak upstairs past the five ex-Gundam pilots they didn't know were standing sentry.

As they passed Quatre he flicked a table lamp on. Minako was the first to speak - but not before she shoved Usagi into the shadows, "Uhh...hi. Yeah. We haven't done anything wrong... Really." She glanced from face to stony face and gulped, "You're not going to believe us are you?"

All five shook their heads and tried to look intimidating; it appeared to be working well, for a change.

"It was worth a try."

Usagi was staying firmly entrenched in the shadows where Minako had put her. Aware his sister was attempting to stay out of sight, Quatre closely examined her and could faintly see traces what looked suspiciously like blood on her face. He wasn't one hundred percent sure because of the shadows, but it did look like she was injured in some way. He scowled more deeply, not good, not good at all.

He wasn't the only one to notice either, Trowa did also, "Usagi, come over here and give me a look at that, it looks nasty". He flicked on the table lamp near him, which also happened to be nearer her than Quatre's.

She tried to move further back into the shadows when Trowa flicked his lamp on while using the wall for support, "S'okay."

It was an obvious attempt to stop him from worrying. It only helped to confirm Quatre's suspicions; Usagi was hurt, he just didn't know how bad, "Usagi, come over here." The tone brooked no argument.

"Can't I just go to bed?" She was edging towards the exit. Trowa was moving slowly towards her from one side, Wufei was closing in from the other.

**She's _definately_ hiding an injury if she's acting like this** Now he was more worried about Usagi, "No, come over here."

"Shitshitshitshitshitshit_shit_." A faint silver glow lit up the area she was standing in. Usagi had just healed something.

She took one unsteady step into the light. The shoulder of her shirt carried bloodstains, others also on her pant legs and hands. Her cheek bore traces of blood, and yet no mark was evident.

Trowa took in her unsteady step, the pale skin, glazed eyes, blood on her shirt and face, and quickened his pace towards her. She didn't look too good, whatever she had just healed was obviously the straw that broke the camels back. Usagi seemed to realize it a fraction too late to do anything.

"Uh-oh....Mi.." Her eyes fluttered shut and she slumped forwards.

Trowa lunged the last few steps as the girl toppled, catching her just before her head hit the coffee table. Wufei wasn't far behind him and helped Trowa arrange the girl into a more comfortable position in his arms before going back to Duo's embrace looking mildly shaken. [4]

Trowa checked her over quickly, "She's okay, just exhausted."

Minako whirled angrily on her brother and launched into what would prove to be a very long tirade - a rather interesting phenomena when you took into account the fact that her lips did not move for the next twenty or so minutes.

~~DAMNIT YOU INSENSITIVE _IDIOT_!!! She's already healed a heap of people tonight _including_ half of our friends, some of us were hurt _BAD_ she'd _already_ used up all of her reserves! She has had a truckload of sugar and she _still_ won't be recovered until next WEEK!~~

Wufei raised an eyebrow, **Where the heck _were_ they?**

~~That's _none_ of your business _Chang_. 30, you should _know_ she thinks of others first and herself last! She'd drain _all_ her energy helping people if she could! She's done it before and she'll do it again! 30 no BAKA!!!~~

She ranted at her brother and his friends for some time, she probably would have gone on longer but she was stopped short when the door burst open and Haruka stormed in. Following closely behind her was everybody else - _including_ a small group of confused looking Manguanacs, led by a frantic Abdul with a worried Rashid bringing up the rear.

Spotting Usagi in Trowa's arms, Haruka made a beeline for him, shooting questions faster than anyone present could answer them, "What happened? She was _fine_ when she left us. She _swore_ she was fine, that little _baka_ I'm gonna wring her... Is she standing? No that's a stupid question, of course she's not, I can see her lying there. How bad is she _this_ time?"

Hotaru was close on her heels, scampering over to where her princess was lying, "She is still breathing, isn't she Trowa-jisan?"

"She is 'Taru"." Trowa would have run his fingers through the girls bangs in a calming gesture, but he had his hands full.

Hotaru nodded once and scampered over to her other uncle, clambering into his lap and giving him a reassuring hug. She looked over the rest of the group, Duo-niichan was holding Wufei-niisan and the rest of the Senshi were throwing worried looks at Usagi. She was afraid that they might have given the Manguanacs on guard duty a bit of a fright. She'd seen some of them, like Makoto and Rei, jumping the fence in their hurry to get inside. It wouldn't be so bad if the fence wasn't something like ten feet high, and they'd cleared it with plenty of room to spare.

Michiru let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, "Thank God for that!"

"Indeed". Intoned Setsuna from behind the couch and Hotaru - exactly _how_ she'd managed to get over there was anyone's guess, nobody had seen her come in. "None of us wish to go through _that_ again."

All the women present and one little girl gave emphatic affirmative nods, it wasn't a pleasant thing to see your princess lying dead at your feet, let alone to have seen it happen numerous times.

"_Again_?" Quatre whimpered, going paler by the second, he wasn't sure if he _really_ wanted to know.

Everybody else ignored him but Hotaru gave him another hug, "It's okay Quatre-jisan. She was fine once Haruka-papa got her breathing again." If anything he only looked more horrified.

Minako was looking around the room in confusion, "I didn't call any of you, how'd you know what happened?"

Haruka's lips twitched, "You were broadcasting _slightly_."

"That loud was _slightly_?!" Makoto shrieked as she collapsed against the nearest wall rubbing her temples, wincing.

"Wait until she gets _really_ mad."

Minako looked between the two, blushing furiously, "I guess I was broadcasting.... Oops." She had the decency to at least look sheepish, "I gotta work on that."

"I'll say," slurred Usagi from Trowa's arms, "I was asleep and you _still_ gave me a headache!" She cracked one eye open to glare at her sister, "You're _loud_ Mi."

There was an almost audible sigh of relief from everyone present. It sounded like she was going to be okay.

"Usagi-hime, the healing gave you the headache, not Mina-san."

"I know that 'Taru," She snuggled further into Trowa's arms. For such a skinny guy, he was _really_ cuddly, "It's just easier to blame Mi. She _was_ wailing like a bansidhe," *~yawn~* "G'night."

Usagi passed out again, this time though there was a less panicked response. She was simply sleeping - and drooling on Trowa. With that fear relieved, the Senshi and pilots turned their attentions towards Minako, who was beginning to fidget under all the attention.

"Since _when_ were you a broadcasting telepath?" Ami had her Mercury computer out scanning the blonde even before she had a chance to respond.

Heero arched an eyebrow. From his vantage point he could see the symbol on the small, hand-held computer's lid. He made a mental note to find out what it stood for when he got up to his room. He was pretty sure what it was, he'd seen that computer before. Things were beginning to make a vague sort of sense.

"Um..." Minako gave a sheepish grin and began to rub the back of her neck, "Generally I'm restricted to other family members with abilities, but I guess that changed, ne?"

Duo snorted and rubbed his temples, his head was really sore - at least now he knew he wasn't going crazy, he hadn't known what to think when Minako began screeching without even opening her mouth, "Girl, I'm no family member and I heard it. I well and truly heard it. That was _loud_!! Panadol anyone?"

A chorus of 'yes please' sent one of the harried Manguanacs - who had been giving Usagi and Minako's friends odd looks since they had arrived - on the hunt for the painkiller and some water.

Quatre looked over the head of the now sleeping Hotaru in his lap and gave his sister a bemused look, "Mi, I think it's safe to say that your strength has improved, a _lot_!"

"I'll say." Haruka laughed, "We've heard her loud and clear when we've been on tour... did I mention loud?"

"Oops."

They couldn't agree with Minako more.

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[1] M-chan winces: I do believe that I'm to be responsible for the side story regarding this but don't hold your breath OK.

[2] From what I've been told The Artemis Sword that Venus has is covered in poison... a very deadly poison. M: TOTALLY deadly poison, no cure what so ever one nick and your gone - be very careful cleaning it Mi ^_^

[3] Yes this will be another one of the fabled side-stories.

[4] S: The last person I know of who passed out on Wu was Meiran, and she ended up dying. This kinda reminded him of that.