Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Broken Wing ❯ Broken Wing - Chapter Seven ( Chapter 7 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Authors Note: Here you are, chapter seven



Authors Note: Here you are, chapter seven! Well, as a sort of side note: I've been sending out emails to people every time I update Broken Wing. If you want to be added to this list of people, then make sure that you tell me in your review, and PLEASE be sure that your email address is included! Putting me on author alert would be easier, though, IF you have an account at ff.net. However, if you aren't an author at ff.net, I'll be happy to add you to my list. Anyways: I'm fudging a little bit of Sailormoon fact in this chapter. Anyone who has ever seen the subtitled S season knows that our dear Usagi-chan can't speak English worth beans. Well, in Broken Wing, she is older, and I'm going to say that she learns quickly when she puts her mind to it. So THERE! And yes, I stole the market place scene idea from Aladdin. It was just TOO good to resist! As always, even though I don't always say it, I give oodles and oodles of thanks to Marika Webster. Hey, she's an author who's Voyager and Sentinel fics are simply AWESOME! Go read her fics after you read mine. And also a HUGE, absolutely HUGE thanks to Trenchcoat Man. You know who you are. ::winks::

Disclaimer: Takeuchi Naoko-sama owns Sailormoon, not me. And I don't own Gundam Wing either, although I wish I did. Plft. And neither do I own Aladdin, which gave me a bit of inspiration in this chapter.

Broken Wing ~ Chapter Seven


Four weeks passed. Four weeks in which Duo and Usagi both drove the other pilots insane by simply being bored and having no outlet for which to alleviate that boredom. Even Trowa had nearly cracked, once barely holding back from grabbing Hiiro's gun in order to put Duo out of his misery.
On this particular day, Duo was once more confined to his room. He sat at the window, chin rested in one hand, annoyed indigo eyes gazing out at the landscape. The only thing that made him feel any better at all was the fact that Usagi, who had quickly corrected him on what she was to be called, was also locked in her own room. No doubt she was creating more of a ruckus than he ever had.
His mind wandered briefly, back to the scene enacted not too many days after she had first arrived . . .

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


"Hey, Usagi-chan!"
Usagi whirled on the braided one, who waved at her with the most idiotic of grins plastered on his face.
"Don't call me that! You don't have the right to call me that!"
"Huh?" Duo asked, plain confusion written on his features, "Why not? Isn't that what Setsuna called you? I thought it was your name."
"My name is Tsukino Usagi, and only my friends and family call me Usagi-chan!" Her voice was flooded with indignance, even as she left out some of the more complicated details of the suffixes that followed all Japanese names. "You are younger than I am, and not only that, but you barely know me!"
"Er . . ." he wasn't sure if this was important or just the rambling of an insane teenager, "So . . . what DO I call you?"
"Since I'm older, and you don't know me well, you should call me Usagi-san!"
"Usagi . . . -san . . ." Duo tried out the new sound, and he wasn't so sure about it. Somehow it didn't seem to fit this bubbly, cheerful girl. But by the look in her determined blue eyes he knew that any attempt to call her anything else would result in him having a black eyes, or worse. "Okay, I'll call you Usagi-san."
"Arigatou," she replied, and Duo gave her the purest look of confusion.
"It means 'thank you,'" she informed him.
"Oh . . ."


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


It was the sudden sight of a figure darting out over the green grass of the valley that broke Duo out of his memories. There was no mistaking those twin rivers of sun-gold; it was Usagi. He sighed. Where did she think she was going? If the guys found out they'd be absolutely livid!
Now, Duo had no reason to help her. In the past four weeks the two of them had played more practical jokes on each other than Duo had EVER played in his entire life. And that was quite an accomplishment. He learned that Usagi had quite a malicious streak in her when the situation allowed, and his trust of her had plummeted considerably since that first day. Anyone who brought scissors within a foot of his braid was an evil, evil person who didn't deserve his trust.
But . . . if he sneaked out of his window now to bring her back, that was ten minutes of freedom. And ten minutes of freedom in this prison was nothing to throw away.
In moments the braided one had climbed out of the window and was darting across the valley after the golden girl, Usagi.
It didn't take him very long to realize that her steps were too sure, her path too certain, for this to have been her first secret trek. Duo's eyes narrowed as he decided simply to follow her at first to see where it was she was lurking off to. Through the trees she traveled, and Duo had to hide several times while Usagi stopped to untangle her hair from various low growing bushes. He snickered under his breath; that was a good reason to wear one's hair in a braid, and she deserved the trouble and pain this was causing her, he was sure of it.
Perhaps fifteen, or maybe twenty, minutes after the journey had begun, Duo blinked to find that somehow Usagi had managed to locate the nearest small town. From what Setsuna had told him of the base's location, he knew that the girl had led him into the Sanch Kingdom, for that was where the only town within walking distance lie.
"Hello, Usagi-san!" shouted a little girl, who ran up to Usagi, brown pigtails bobbing in the wind.
"Konnichiwa, Terry-chan!" the older girl replied in that odd language that somehow the other pilots understood. He was going eventually have to ask them what it was, so that he could learn it as well. Obviously Usagi had been spreading the knowledge around, or else the little girl would not have known to call her "Usagi-san." More proof that this was only the latest in a string of secret excursions.
Duo slipped from his hiding place out into the crowd in order to continue following her as she walked along with the little pig-tailed girl. Every so often he ducked into a new hiding spot, if they seemed to turn his way. The two seemed to be involved in some serious conversation, about food no doubt, knowing Usagi. And all along the way people would nod and smile at Usagi as if she were the dearest of old friends, and some of them even offered her fresh baked buns or pastries. None of them seemed at all worried about the fact that until a little while ago this girl had been a complete stranger to them, perhaps even an OZ spy.
Either the people of the Sanch Kingdom are crazy, Duo thought to himself, or there is much more to Usagi than I thought . . .
"Hey, you! Yeah, you with the braid."
Duo gulped at the harsh tone in that voice. He turned slowly, looking up into the black-bearded face of the shop owner behind whose barrels he had chosen as his most recent hiding place.
"What do you think you're doing?" the less than happy looking man demanded, shaking a spatula in Duo's face, "Did you think you could sneak a loaf or two from that barrel without me noticing, eh?"
"No! I-"
"I haven't seen you around here before. You must be a foreigner. Well then, the guards will be only too happy to hand you over to OZ so they can take you home!"
OZ?!?
Duo's eyes widened as he thought about what OZ would do if they got their hands on him again. He couldn't let that happen. He scowled and prepared to run, maybe even slap the shop owner around a bit if it was necessary for his escape.
"Shingo!" came a familiar voice from the crowd, and Duo blinked, looking that way. There stood Usagi, her hands on her hips, an expression of pure annoyance on her face.
"You know this boy, Usagi-chan?" the owner asked, still wielding the spatula as if ready to smack Duo at any moment.
"Yes, George-san," she answered with a respectful bow, "He's my little brother, Shingo-kun." She turned her eyes to him and shouted, wagging a finger in his face, "What have I told you about following me? Mama and Papa will be furious with you! I'll take you home, but then you have to stay there, understand?"
Duo opened and closed his mouth silently for a moment, not quite sure what to make of this situation. Then, looking into her face, he realized what it was she was doing. His mind scrambled for the proper word, and came up with the only one he'd heard her speak that he thought might fit.
"Hai," slipped from his lips, and he saw her relax ever so slightly. Apparently he'd chosen correctly, and she'd taught these people enough of her language that they would know the difference. If he was to play her little brother, it was important that they hear him speaking the same as she did.
"I don't know, Usagi-chan," rumbled Spatula Man, doubt swimming in his eyes, dark with suspicion, "He looks a little old to be your younger brother."
"He's tall for his age," she replied with a laugh, wrapping the slender fingers of one hand around his arm as she pulled him to his feet, "And he looks like our Papa, while I look like our Mama." Duo nodded dumbly in agreement. "He was probably just spying on me," she went on, and bopped him on the head in what he felt certain was not false annoyance, "you know little brothers!"
Spatula Man peered at them for a moment longer, then sighed and waved them away with his flat weapon, "Fine then, go on. And I'd better not see you hanging around my bread barrels again, got it?"
"Hai!" Duo offered with more confidence than before, even managing an innocent looking smile. Spatula Man scowled and turned back into his small shop.
Usagi released his arm and smacked him upside the head.
"What are you DOING?!?" she hissed at him under her breath as the crowd began to disperse.
"HEY!" he gripped his head and glared at her with confused and angry indigo eyes.
"You know better than that!" she continued in a subdued whisper, "Setsuna-san told me enough about this . . . about what's going on for me to know that you'd be in VERY deep trouble if OZ ever found you!"
"Yeah," he admitted, somewhat guiltily, "but that doesn't give you the right to hit me!"
"It was for your own good," she shot back at him with a mischievous grin, "After all, someone's got to beat some sense into that thick skull of yours, ne?" Duo scowled as Usagi popped one of the buns she'd gotten as a free gift into her mouth and started once more down the street to where the little girl waited for her.
"Hey, Usagi-san," Duo called to her, and she turn to look at him expectantly, "Uh . . . thanks. You know . . . for helping me."
She offered a blazing smile and a giggle.
"It's my job, remember? I'm here to help you guys!"
"Right," he laughed a bit, then ran up beside her, "Hey, and next time, bring me along with you, okay? It's not fair for you to have all the fun!"


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


After that, Usagi and Duo got along much better than they had before. The practical jokes stopped . . . well, mostly anyway, and Duo became Usagi's closest friend at the base. She still insisted that he call her Usagi-san, however.
Quatre, unlike even laid back Duo, had trusted her from they very first moment he met her, knowing what he did. But he had yet to really approached her and try to create a friendship. He wasn't certain why it seemed to be so difficult. Perhaps it was because he knew what he did about her, and still hadn't shared with the others: she was a princess.
Then, one day, just before dinner, the opportunity to interact with her was thrust into his lap and Quatre couldn't avoid it any longer.
He was walking down the hallway with Trowa, both on their way to the dining room, when his eyes landed on the figure of Usagi walking ahead of them. She went along at a lazy pace, and he saw one of her hands rise to stifle the yawn that issued from her mouth. He sighed; for a princess she was very idle, and slept more often than she did anything else, save for eat. Yet for all of the things about her that could be annoying, she somehow became more endearing than anything else. Even Hiiro and Wufei seemed to be enjoying her company more, as much as either of them could enjoy anything. Quatre did, however, get the feeling that Hiiro was around her more often to observe her carefully than try and earn her friendship.
He was certain that neither he nor Trowa made a sound, or called out to her. But Usagi turned and greeted them both with a bright smile, as if she wasn't surprised at all to find them behind her. In fact, her entire reason in turning seemed to be in order to talk to them.
"Quatre-kun, Trowa-kun! Konbanwa!"
"Konbanwa to you, Usagi-san," Quatre replied with a small smile. Being the heir to a large fortune had its pros, one being a very thorough education, including foreign languages. Japanese was only one of the many languages that Quatre knew, so he was able to converse with Usagi, when he did, in her native tongue. It was odd, however, because there were certain words or phrases that he understood, but were somewhat off, as if she spoke a different dialect of Japanese than that he had learned. And he had learned all current dialects of that language.
"I'm glad to see you here," she continued, speaking Japanese, "because I knew that if you were here, Trowa-kun would be as well."
Trowa, who also spoke the language, though he couldn't recall where he had learned it, blinked in surprise. Quatre was quite astonished himself.
"What do you want with me?" Trowa asked, never uncrossing his arms, and never giving more than a raised eyebrow in expression.
"Well . . ." she paused, and even cast a glance about, as if afraid that someone might be listening in, "I think . . . I might be able to help you."
"Help me? With what?" Trowa tossed a glance at Quatre, who merely shrugged. Neither of them could dare guess at what she might mean.
"With your memories."
"Nani?!?" This shocked Trowa so much that he actually took a step backwards. Quatre stared at the girl, who only looked back at them with a calm, serene expression.
Serene . . . Serenity . . .
The blonde stepped forward and grasped Usagi's hand tightly, looking at her with eyes he was certain held his plea in them.
"If you can help Trowa regain his memories, we both will owe you a debt we could never repay."
She smiled at him and shook her hand from his grasp.
"Don't be silly," she giggled, "You won't owe me anything! I'm here to help you, that's why Setsuna-san brought me here, ne?"
Quatre nodded silently, watching as she stepped forward to place a hand on Trowa's forehead. Her iridescent blue eyes narrowed in concentration and her cheerful face hardened into a mask of perfect command. There was no doubt that she was indeed royalty.
"It's alright," she murmured to Trowa, "this shouldn't hurt. Just open your mind, alright?"
Trowa, who had tensed when her fingers touched his skin, relaxed at the sound of her voice. His visible emerald eye locked onto her gaze, and there passed between them a spark of something Quatre couldn't quite understand, even with his abilities. For a moment he felt a blaze of jealousy flare up in his gut, to know that Usagi and Trowa would forever share a bond because of this experience that he would never know. He quickly quelled the feeling, however, knowing that it wasn't fair to either of the two. Quatre did not know what the tall boy's feelings towards him were, but he did know that Usagi could love only one man. If Endymion were alive again, as she was, her heart belonged to him and him alone.
At least, Quatre hoped so.
In the moments while he had been lost in his own thoughts, Usagi and Trowa had not moved a muscle. Now, though, now Usagi pulled her hand away, gazing at Trowa with hope shining in her eyes. Ah, thought Quatre, even she doesn't know whether it was successful or not.
Trowa stared into her eyes, his own wide and disbelieving. He seemed unable to do such a simple thing as break eye contact with the girl of sun-gold hair. And then the most unbelievable thing happened.
A single tear slipped down his face.
Usagi smiled, knowing at that sign that she had succeeded. Quatre looked on as the girl flung her arms tightly around the tall boy, and Trowa raised his own arms stiffly to return the embrace. The brilliant green eyes lifted to gaze at the blonde, and Trowa's lips sounded out two very important, miraculous words.
I remember . . .
Quatre smiled, his heart filled with a joy that he'd never known before. Such a simple happiness it was, to be so glad over the return of a friend's memories. To him, however, Trowa was much more than a friend, even if the tall one never knew.


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


Duo insisted that they throw a party in Trowa's honor, now that the silent pilot was complete. The others, however, while happy for Trowa, did not agree. They were too close, Hiiro said, to the border of Sanch and the village where Duo had nearly been caught, to risk their safety now by making too much noise. Oh yes, they'd found out about Usagi and Duo's jaunt into that village, and both were supposed to be strictly confined to the base. Of course, there was little that could actually be done to keep the two of them locked in if they were really determined to get out.
The day after Usagi's Miracle, as Duo only half-jokingly called it, he was waiting in the forest for her to arrive. They had chosen a specific tree to meet at on days when they were going to the village, and Usagi was invariably late each time. This day was no different.
At long last he saw her golden tresses through the tree branches and leaped down from his perch to land before her. He was disappointed when she didn't scream in surprise, but merely told him to hurry up. Then again, he HAD done that every single time. Duo did realize that after so many times, Usagi was bound to begin expecting it. He sighed, and followed her.
They chatted about various things along the way, from their shared continued annoyance at Wufei and his arrogance, to their concerns about Hiiro's quiet nature, and round three of "Can Usagi catch the braid before Duo notices?" She taught him a bit more of her language, which he learned was Japanese. It was no wonder Hiiro knew it, for the stoic boy was himself Japanese and had been taught English as a small child. Quatre, of course, would have been taught languages, and Trowa had mentioned something in passing the day before about remembering traveling a lot as a child. No doubt he'd picked it up somewhere along the way. Wufei informed them that before he became a Gundam pilot he had been a scholar, and it was only natural for a scholar to learn languages other than his own, for uses in translation. Duo, it seemed, was the only pilot who spoke only one language and that was something he intended to rectify before this ordeal was over and Usagi was sent back to whatever mysterious place Setsuna had plucked her from.
They were nearly to the village when Duo's sensitive ears picked up the sound of a struggle. He frowned, thrusting a strong arm in front of Usagi to stop her from proceeding.
"What?" she asked, and he shushed her with a quick motion of his other arm. Usagi quieted, somehow knowing that when Duo was serious it was best to listen to him. After a moment he cursed under his breath and rushed forward, leaving behind a confused Usagi.
"Hey," he shouted to the two OZ soldiers who were in the middle of harassing a village girl, "I thought Sanch was a peaceful kingdom. What are you idiots doing in a place for peace, eh?"
The two looked at him, ugly scowls breaking across their faces as they pushed the girl to the ground. One of them pulled his gun and pointed it in her face to keep her still, while the other turned fully to Duo. The braided pilot saw that this soldier was at least twice his size, if not more so. He gave an impish grin, knowing that the soldier thought he had the upper hand against such a small boy.
"This isn't any business of yours, boy," the man spoke with surprising clarity, obviously educated despite his large, dumb appearance, "I suggest you take your girlfriend and leave us to our own affairs."
"Girlfriend, what?" Duo turned to see Usagi standing behind him, glaring at the two men in anger. Apparently she hadn't understood that she was supposed to remain hidden. Ah well, too late to do anything about it now. Duo looked back towards his two foes, the larger of which now looking towards Usagi with more than a passing interest. The grey eyes that sat in his face narrowed as he looked at her.
"You . . ."
"Uh oh." Usagi murmured, and Duo wanted to turn and ask her what was wrong. There was no time, however, as the large soldier shouted at his companion.
"That's the girl! The one all OZ personnel are ordered to capture on sight!" He pulled his own gun from its holster, "Forget the villager! Seize that one!"
This is bad . . . this is VERY bad!
The situation began to look worse as the leader pulled out a transmitter and shouted orders into it for the rest of his company to converge immediately on the spot.
"Damn!" Duo pushed Usagi back into the foliage, hoping that she would take the message and run as far away as possible. He could only wish that she would escape, for he knew he wouldn't. He took a flying leap at the large soldier, jaw and fist clenched in determination.
"Get her!" the man yelled at his subordinate seconds before Duo's fist collided with his cheek. He sputtered, blood and even a couple of teeth shooting from his mouth. Duo nursed his hand for a moment, forever surprised at how much that always hurt. Cursing between blood soaked spits, the soldier raised his gun to aim it at the boy. Duo was no fool, no matter how many times Hiiro or Usagi called him "baka," and he knew better than to stand still and wait for a bullet to hit him. Moments later the gun clattered to the packed dirt road as a result of his swift kick. Now it was the soldier who cursed and grasped his injured hand.
Behind him, Duo heard Usagi shouting indignantly, and he turned to see the first subordinate soldier and another who had appeared on the scene. Each of them had the girl by an arm, and she was kicking and screaming, putting up a rather good fight if Duo did say so himself. But more soldiers were coming, and one they arrived neither of them would have any chance. Duo took a step forward.
Bright red burst across his field of vision at the same instant a blunt pain struck him at the base of the neck. Duo fell, pushing himself up in order to see the large soldier had retrieved his gun. He'd hit Duo with the hard butt of the weapon, and Duo heard Usagi scream his name before the gun came down again and this time he blacked out.


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


A soft murmuring filled the air, the words dancing just outside the realm of his consciousness. The atmosphere smelled of cooked meat and fire. Behind the layer of human voices he heard the clank and clatter of dishes, and the splash of water. Where was he? Who was he? Why did his head ache so?
A moan was heard, and it took him a second to realize that it was his own. In the next moment a soft hand came to rest on his forehead, and a voice just as gentle reached his ears.
"Don't move, Shingo-kun," said the voice, "you took two hard blows. Your head will be hurting you for several days."
At long last he was able to open his eyes, and the blurred form that hovered over him slowly took a clearer shape. It was a woman, and she looked somewhat familiar, though he couldn't recall ever having met her before. He stared at her, then tried to push himself up and was rewarded when a bolt of electric hot pain shot from the back of his head down his neck and back. A cry escaped from his chapped lips and he fell back against the bed once more.
What happened? He thought even as the woman began speaking again, why does my head hurt? Who is this woman? What . . .
Usagi!
Duo remembered suddenly, the soldiers, the fight, and Usagi being taken from right under his nose. He clenched a fist, the one that had struck the soldier, and cursed in his own mind. Damn it, he'd been incredibly stupid. How could he turn his back on an enemy who wasn't dead or unconscious? He'd been worried about Usagi, heard her screaming, but that was no excuse for that level of idiocy.
"Oh, and your friend is here."
What? Friend?
Duo carefully turned his head to look past the woman and his eyes widened when he saw Hiiro leaning against the wall, arms crossed in usual fashion.
"Hiiro!" he croaked, trying urgently once more to sit up, but was pushed back down.
"Shingo-kun! I told you to be still!"
Duo finally took a longer glance at the woman and recognized her as the older sister of Usagi's young friend, Terry. He assumed that she had seen the fight, or found him afterwards, and brought him to her home. She called him Shingo-kun as taught by Usagi, believing as the rest of the village did that he was her little brother.
"I can't," he tried to tell her, "I have to . . . I have to find her!"
"I know," her eyes became sad then, and she sighed, "I know you tried to protect your sister, but when OZ wants something, they get it. And they wanted her. Personally . . ." she sighed again and looked at him with intense brown eyes, "I say you go home and forget about it. Whatever Usagi-chan did to call OZ's attention to herself . . . well, it's just not worth you getting involved. I'm sure your parents would rather have one child safe at home than to lose both of them to OZ's wrath. Just go home, Shingo-kun, please?" Her eyes begged him, and Duo found himself agreeing with her pleading gaze, although he knew it was all a lie. He would go after Usagi, and OZ wouldn't stand a chance.
"Let me take him," came Hiiro's calm voice, and the next thing Duo knew he was being hefted up by the boy's thin but strong arms, despite the woman's protestations. Pain seared through his head, blocking out any further thought, but Duo clenched his teeth and didn't complain. He vaguely heard Hiiro assure the woman in his frank way that he would take good care of Shingo-kun, and not to worry. Then the cool air of night hit his face and the sounds of the village drifted into the background as Hiiro led him further into the forest, towards the base.
Several minutes passed in silence, while Duo tried to regain his thought and push back the pain. At last, though, Hiiro's voice cut through the hush.
"What happened?"
"OZ," Duo replied, wincing, "Two soldiers at first, attacking a village girl. I tried to stop them, they recognized Usagi-san." He paused, pained more now by the memory than his head, "They took her."
"They didn't recognize you?" Duo thought there might be a tint of surprise in the icy boy's tone.
"I don't know. I don't think so. They were lesser soldiers, probably never saw OZ's intelligence reports on us."
"Still . . ." Hiiro paused in thought, helping Duo over a fallen tree trunk, "you would think that they would still be interested in someone who attacked an OZ soldier so recklessly."
"Yeah," the braided one admitted, feeling a surge of shame.
"So why," Hiiro continued, "did they drop all interest in you in favor of Usagi-san?"
Duo raised an eyebrow. Apparently Usagi had terrorized even Hiiro into adding the -san after her name.
Stop it, that's not important. What's important is finding Usagi and getting her back.
"They said that all OZ soldiers were ordered to capture her on sight." Duo sighed, "When we get back, you tell the others and I'll go on ahead-"
"No."
"What?!?"
"She's just a girl. She's not important. We can't risk getting captured trying to save her."
"Hiiro!" Duo latched a hand into Hiiro's shirt, his voice rising despite the pain in desperate pleadings, "What are you saying? That we just LEAVE her to OZ?!?"
"Yes."


End Chapter Seven.