Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Mended Wing ❯ Mended Wing - Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Authors Notes: Hi all! I hope that you're enjoying Mended Wing so far. I know I'm enjoying writing it! I'm going to have some MAJOR fun, and those of you who read Wayward know what I get like when I have fun, HAHAHAHA!!! But don't worry, I won't have THAT much fun. Almost, but not quite. Hehe. Let's see, who do I have to thank now? Marika Webster for being such a good friend, even if she hasn't posted chapter 9 of Rare Are These Things yet. PWP! Oh… there it is! Girl-chama for just being so cool! You're on vacation now and I MISS YOU!! Usa-chan just because! Fuuzaki-chan cause we live in the same city!! YAAAH!! Lissa for being completely and totally ruthless! HAHA! Rashaka-chan for making it back from your mystical sabbatical around the world! ::huggles:: SilverRay for being my first email reviewer! Yay! Thankies, thankies, thankies! Polgara for asking me to host BW on her site! That makes me feel so loved and stuff! And to everyone who's supporting me in my personal boycotting of ff.net. It's just my own personal crusade, and it won't get anything accomplished, but at least I won't be dealing with THEM anymore!

Disclaimers: I don't own GW and I don't own SM. I don't own any of the characters in this fic so far! ::sniffles:: I'm using asterisks (*) to denote Japanese speech. Arigatou.

Mended Wing - Chapter One

Duo found himself lodged in a tree. In a very uncomfortable tree. Legs and arms straddling a rather large branch, Duo had to push himself up carefully to avoid damaging a sensitive area. As it was his back creaked upon rising. Geez, You'd think I was 80 years old or something! He rubbed his head, which ached steadily. Not a pain as if he'd struck the tree, but a subtle and continual throb, like a headache, but somehow not the same either. He had the overwhelming sense of having done something in one leap that should be done in process, of skipping over some middle step that really shouldn't be skipped.

"Kuso!" came a familiar voice from below him. Duo balanced himself precariously on his branch in order to look downwards. There, attempting to extricate himself from clothesline and tree branches, Hiiro Yui cursed, and not under his breath.

"Hiiro!"

"Dammit, Maxwell, what have you done know?!?"

"Wufei!" Duo looked up. On the branch directly above him sat Trowa, perfectly at home. Above him, dressed in what looked to be a very expensive business suit, Quatre clung to his own limb and looked for all the Earthsphere like at any moment he might scream for his Manguenacs. And on the highest branch, sporting his usual white silk and wielding his ever present katana, Wufei hung by his pants. Duo blinked. Somehow the idea of Wufei having his katana with him even in such a compromising position seemed right. Which made his flushed, near-panicked face all the more hilarious.

"Maxwell! Stop laughing and GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!!!"

Trowa helped him. Quatre still hung on like a cat and Hiiro hadn't quite managed to get untangled. Duo met the acrobat near Wufei's position, unable to climb any further for lack of room.

"I'll . . . uh . . . get him unhooked," Trowa fought valiantly against laughter in order to spare what little tatters remained of his Chinese friend's dignity. "When he falls, you catch his arm."

"Barton?!? Shouldn't YOU be catching me?!? YOU'RE the on in the circus!"

"Hey, Wu-man, dontcha trust me?" Duo asked through a snigger. He had no qualms about battering Wufei's pride, knowing that the katana-waver always had some held back for emergencies.

"Shut up, MaxWEEELL!" The man screamed as Trowa unhooked his pants from the branch stump that they had snagged on and he fell. Duo caught him deftly, a few years of lost practice meaning nothing to the braided one. Somehow he thought any one of them could perform the maneuver just as skillfully no matter how much time may pass. He swung Wufei so the other caught a lower limb and landed on it in graceful style.

In a few minutes Trowa, Duo, and Wufei managed to pry Quatre away from his branch and untangle Hiiro. Down on the ground, they noticed the world looked much different than they were used to.

"We're definitely on the Earthsphere," Quatre mused aloud, looking up into the expansive blue sky. Duo had the urge to comment on the observation skills of their daring Captain Obvious. "I can't tell exactly where though. Too many trees blocking my way."

At that moment a couple walked by, dark skinned with the characteristics of the Japanese people.

"We're in Japan," Duo stated cheerfully, grinning as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Quatre glared at him, annoyance sparking from his blue eyes. "Hey, it was just an observation." He neglected to mention what a painful observation it was, knowing that Usagi had once walked in Japan. Oh, he knew she still existed, but that was a world separate from his own, one in which he did not belong. He never visited Serenity or her happy family.

"Their dialect . . ." Quatre's eyes narrowed as they followed the young couple, the Arabian obviously straining to pick up their conversation.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?"

"Shut up, Maxwell."

Duo, ever the mature adult, made a face at Wufei and turned back to Quatre with a witty phrase in mind. However he discovered that the blonde had moved on, following the two people and listening to their conversation. The four remaining blinked, looked at each other, then scuttled to follow their smaller friend. Actually, Quatre wasn't much smaller than them anymore. In eight years he'd grown somewhat and almost managed to reach Duo in height. As it was, Quatre already stood over Wufei, who would probably never be much taller than he had been at fifteen. Duo snickered at that thought and received a withering look from the Chinese man, as if the dark-eyed one knew what crossed his mind.

"Trowa!" Quatre called back, rushing them along with a waving hand. "Trowa, listen, do you hear it?!?" The blue-eyed boy- Duo still thought of him as a boy, and probably always would- peered up at his koi and bounded up and down on his toes. His new and polished leather shoes creaked as he did. Trowa narrowed his eyes and listened, even as the conversation died. The couple looked nervously behind them, noticing the five men who seemed to be stalking them. Duo waved and the woman giggled, said something in Japanese, and the man dragged her away. "Do you hear it?" Quatre asked again, and Trowa nodded, visible green eye open wide.

"What?" Duo glanced between the two. "Keeping secrets isn't nice, you know."

"We're here!" Quatre clapped his hands together and, to everyone's surprise, did a little dance of pure joy. Even Trowa arched a brow.

"Would either of you care to tell us exactly where 'here' is?" Hiiro crossed his arms and stared at Quatre in a style faintly reminiscent of the old Death Glare. It seemed that one thing, at least, lost some power over the years. Duo no longer felt like running at the first sight of that gaze.

"Tokyo!" Quatre squealed and ran off again, Trowa sighing and following. Duo, Hiiro, and Wufei shared a communal confused glance. The braided one watched as slowly, both of his companions' eyes widened as they came to understand what their not-so-little friend meant.

"Tokyo!" Wufei repeated, and Hiiro nodded.

"What about it?" Duo asked, looking back and forth between their glowing, enlightened faces. Neither deigned to share with him, only turned and began walking after Trowa and Quatre. Duo grumbled something under his breath about damn dirty stoics, shoved his hands in his pockets, and followed at a reasonable distance behind Wufei and his katana.

"I can't believe it!" Quatre was screeching from a good twenty feet ahead, "I can't believe we're in Tokyo and that we're going to see her again!"

Her? Her who?

Hiiro and Wufei looked over their shoulders at him, snickered, and looked away. Duo blinked, and not for the first time since arriving in this strange place. The image of Hiiro AND Wufei snickering simply did not make sense in his mind. Something certainly seemed rotten in the state of Denmark. Well, Japan. And not rotten really, just extremely strange. Duo sighed, glad he hadn't said that line aloud.

At length the five of them reached an end to the lines of trees, grass, and lake just in time to step onto the busy, crowded sidewalk of the city. The braided one realized that they must have been lucky enough to land in the park. He thanked God for such small favors. The thought came to him, insidious the way thoughts come, and he wondered if maybe it wasn't God he had to thank for that, but someone else. For the life of him, however, he couldn't figure out who it could be if not God, so he stopped straining what little of his brain remained and settled himself for being contentedly confused. Sooner or later one of his friends would take pity on him and tell him what was going on. He hoped. Surely Quatre would, at least.

All about them a sea of babbling voices pounded at his ears, all of them speaking that elusive language of Japanese. Every so often he caught a word that sounded vaguely familiar, or the snatch of a suffix, but never enough to be sure it was something he actually knew. It seemed he would have to rely on the others, he being the only of the five who never learned another language besides his own. The only phrases he remembered from Usagi were "gomen," "hai," and "ja ne!" And of course the suffixes; she'd been so adamant about those suffixes. He smiled a bit as he remembered the first time he'd dared to call her just Usagi, without-

"USAGI!"

The four turned back to look at him, all wearing annoyingly amused smiles. Especially Wufei, who would never let him live this delayed realization down. Duo grumbled, feeling heat rise to his face. Eight years and he still hadn't lost his designation as the ditzy one.

"How old is she now?" Hiiro asked the pertinent question, for in knowing her current age they would know where to find her.

"Well, eight years would make her twenty-four, one year older than us."

"But what if it hasn't been eight years for her?" Wufei responded to Quatre's evaluation. "I mean, what if we've been put into a time when she's thirty? Or even before she met us?" The Chinese man shrugged and gestured out to the bustling city. "There's an approximately fifty year span in which the cities of Earth all stayed practically the same. We could be anywhere within that fifty years. Usagi may not even be born yet."

"But," Duo stepped forward, "why would we be sent back before she was born, or for that matter, before she knew us? This has to be Setsuna's doing, and for her to send us back only to not meet Usagi . . . well, wouldn't it be a little pointless?"

He truly couldn't stand the 'will miracles never cease?' expressions that crossed all of their faces each time he said something that made sense. When did it become so amazing that he might say something intelligent every once in a while? Have I really been giving off that sort of aura all of these years?

"Well," he said, starting out onto the street, "I guess the first place to look would be the University, right? Maybe she's still in classes there." He didn't even stop to see that look again.

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

"Tsukino Usagi." Quatre told the woman behind the desk. Hiiro leaned backwards on the counter, crossing his arms as he waited for the reply. Students all around them laughed, ate, and hurried to class.

"Gomen nasai," the woman said, "*but we're not allowed to give out that information.*"

"*We only want to know if she's enrolled here,*" Quatre continued, gazing at her with large, pleading blue eyes. Hiiro felt the urge to snort at such a blatantly pleading use of looks. It could almost be considered flirting, were Quatre not very much of a different persuasion.

"*I've already told you, we cant--*"

"Look," Duo exploded, pushing past the blonde and slamming his hands on the desk, "I don't know what you're saying, but I know you're causing problems! Quatre, tell her that if she doesn't tell us what we want to know now, I'll-"

"*Is there a problem here?*"

Hiiro turned to see a young man with a sheen of black hair and narrowed midnight blue eyes. He straightened his glasses and glared back at Hiiro without any fear. The once Perfect Soldier scowled, wondering if he had lost his touch or if this man simply had a backbone of steel.

"Hai, Chiba-san," the secretary said at the same time Duo yelled:

"YOU!"

Everyone, including the sophisticated young man looked to the braided on, who stared at their visitor with a mixture of relief and something approaching hatred. Where on the Earthsphere could Duo have met this man? They lived four thousand years apart!

"Endy!" The next word from Duo's mouth caused the young man to step back, arms raised suddenly as if in protection . . . or attack. Ah hah! A warrior! No wonder the Death Glare had no effect on him. Hiiro felt slightly better. "You're him!" the braided baka continued, "You're Seren-"

"Shut up, idiot!" The man spat in accented English, surprising everyone but Duo. He motioned them to follow him and marched down a hallway. He pushed past students who grumbled about how teachers were so rude these days. Before long he led them into a small office marked with a plastic plaque on the door: Chiba Mamoru. He shut the door behind Trowa and stalked over to his smallish desk, sat down, and stared at them. Taking a deep, calming breath, he spoke again in English. "Who are you, and how do you know me?" Mamoru reached into his jacket. Hiiro cursed and, in true reflex, had his gun out and aimed before the man had out his . . . rose? "And don't lie to me," he concluded, as if his flowery little weapon might actually do some harm. Hiiro, as well as the rest, looked to Duo.

"You're Serenity's . . . husband." He seemed to spit the word out with difficulty.

"I will be . . ." Mamoru replied in slow, careful tones that made Hiiro wonder if there might be some trick in the answer. Next to him he heard a gasp and looked to the wide-eyed form of Quatre, who stared at the black-haired man with new appreciation.

"Endymion! I remember now! You look exactly like you did back then, on the Moon!"

Endymion? Hiiro glared harder at the man named Mamoru. Prince of the Earth, fighting against the Dark Kingdom, died for his love the Princess Serenity, the one that Setsuna told them about? THAT Endymion? Hiiro lowered his gun. If this was the man who died to save Usagi in another lifetime, he would be no danger to them.

"I'm called Mamoru-san in this lifetime," he said, emphasizing the respectful suffix, "but Chiba-san to those who don't know me. But you still haven't answered my question. We usually don't reveal our identities to just anyone."

We? Oh yes, Hiiro remembered, Setsuna mentioned protectors as well. Surely they lived in this lifetime as well, protecting their princess as they had on that long-ago Moon.

"Well . . ." Quatre glanced to each of them in turn, the question in his eyes one of wondering how much they should say. Had Usagi told her husband and friends the entire story? Or did they know nothing of the five? "We're . . . old friends of Usagi-san."

Midnight blue scanned each of them in turn, a possible small spark of recognition behind them, only possible. Those orbs were as unreadable as Hiiro imagined his own Prussians to be. Finally Chiba sat back and steepled his fingers, looking over the tips to his five guests. He said:

"Alpha is a demon in mechanized form."

Hiiro felt the jolt of his limbs. He knew his own face reflected the absolute shock shown by his four comrades.

"That's right," Quatre said, sadness fraying the sides of his face into a weary mask, "Alpha was a demon, until Doctor Mizuno destroyed it utterly. Relena ordered the destruction done."

"You're Quatre, I assume," Chiba sighed, at last some of the hardness melting from his features. "Usako did mention her . . . trip." He said the phrase with distaste. "She never would say very much about what happened, except she talked about the five of you often. She still mentions you from time to time. You would be Wufei," he gestured to the Chinese man, who nodded. "I would put that away if I were you. Not many people walk around Tokyo bearing katanas." Wufei quickly shoved the sword behind his back. "Trowa," he looked to the tall one, then back to Quatre. "You two should meet Haruka-san and Michiru-san," he mumbled- almost as an afterthought, a memo to himself- before moving his appraisal to Hiiro. "Hiiro Yui. From what I've heard, I like your style, though Usako would never tolerate it in me." And then those dark, stormy orbs moved to Duo. Palpable dislike sparked across the room between the two of them.

"I met you once," Duo offered, surprising Hiiro. "In the future. About six months after Usagi left us." At his mention of Usagi's name, sans suffix, Chiba's expression grew darker. "Don't worry, you two are very happy together."

"I never had any doubts of that, Duo," the man growled. By the God Duo believed in, Chiba was jealous! Hiiro almost laughed aloud to think of it. He must have learned the fact of Duo's attraction for Usagi from her stories, even if the girl herself had never picked up on the braided one's feelings. Even Hiiro knew that Usagi had left Duo for Chiba then, completely in love with this darker man even at the age of sixteen. However, that knowledge must not be enough to stave off the green-eyed monster. Admit it, Yui, you get jealous when any of those other snots even glance at Relena. He knew, of course, that Relena felt love only for him, but the idea that those other, richer men were better for her never seemed to completely leave him.

"How old is she now?" Hiiro asked again, this time to someone who would be able to answer.

"She's twenty-three."

"Only seven years," Quatre mused, "Setsuna's a bit off. I wonder why she would send us here?"

"You can ask her soon enough," Chiba replied, standing, "She called me earlier asking for a meeting. Apparently she had some sort of disturbing vision she thinks is going to have some effect on the Timestream. In light of that, your appearance here can't be a coincidence." He paused, eyes boring into the far wall. "But she didn't mention you." He shrugged, as if trying to heft that doubt from his mind, "She must have some explanation. She always does."

"You're tellin' me!" Duo exclaimed, laughing. For a moment, just a split second, a smile crossed Chiba's face. Then he seemed to remember who had spoken and that stone expression closed once more.

"We should be heading towards the Hikawa Shrine. Setsuna is supposed to meet us there in," he lifted his watch to cool eyes, "about half an hour. Usako should already be there."

"Wait a minute," Wufei put his hand out, "You can't expect us to believe that Usagi-san is actually a place she needs to be half an hour BEFORE she needs to be there. It's impossible." Hiiro nodded sagely, as did the other three. They all knew such a situation would defy the laws of physics.

"Not so impossible as you may think. I set all of the clocks in our home an hour ahead." This time a great, mischievous grin broke over his face, and Hiiro could see why Usagi could love him. "She thinks she's already late."

"And she hasn't caught on yet?" Quatre asked incredulously.

"Not when all of her friends know about the ruse and, when appropriate, play along." Mamoru chuckled under his breath. "Right about now, Rei-san is probably telling her she read the clock wrong."

Hiiro didn't want to believe that Usagi, the girl who so passionately defended love and life in his time, could be so fooled by something so simple. Then he remembered Duo's prank with the Tabasco sauce and sighed.

Mamoru picked up a briefcase from the floor behind his desk and straightened, mouth open, apparently in preparation to say something. At that moment, however, Quatre was pushed aside by the slamming opening of the door. There stood the woman they all remembered, panting, green-black hair in disarray, maroon eyes wide and wild.

"Gomen nasai, Mamoru-san," she said in between gasps for breath, "*but I couldn't wait, this is too important.*" She brushed past the five of them as if they were not even there, giving no sign of greeting or even of recognition. "*The Timestream is in danger-*"

"Hey, Sets!" Duo exclaimed, his face set into the expression that proclaimed him trying- to- cause- as- much- annoyance- as- possible. Hiiro saw that look way too often. "Dontcha think it would be nicer to speak English for those of us dunces that can't understand Japanese?" He walked up and, now tall enough, flung his arm around her shoulder, a gesture that any of them could have told him would be considered extremely rude. However, the reaction it did elicit surprised even Hiiro.

Setsuna reached up and pried his arm from her shoulder with unfeminine force, pushed him back against the wall and snarled. When she spoke, it was in English, and the words caused a general wave of panic through the future five.

"Who are you?"

End Chapter One.