Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Insecurities 1 ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Insecurities 1 (Sequel to Forged Together)

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam wing universe or any of the original characters. I'm doing this for fun.

Pairing: 3x4 1x2x5 (in all combinations). This is the sequel to Forged Together which is also under my pen name. You'll have to read that to understand how the pairings came about.

Warnings: Yaoi, Romance (if you can call it that), angst, humor, AU as in Endless Waltz didn't happen

Rating: NC 17

Archive: www*fanfiction*net, www*mediaminer*org., my lj under aidannwn

Betaed :by Stray (grey_hunter)

Summary: The five boys are growing up, trying to juggle work, school, field assignments, crazy sisters and everything else. In-between they have to work out the insecurities that are tearing apart their relationships.

Update rate: Once a week. May need prodding. Sorry, people busy at work but needed to get this online.

 

 

1.1: Wufei in drag

 

 

When Lady Une found out that the Gundam pilots had decided to rent apartments of their own, she had not been surprised. She had, after all, expected them to act independently and true to their nature. However, since they were all teenagers with very little exposure to everyday life (and since she was technically keeping an eye on them) she had decided to inspect their living quarters in her spare time. It was the least she could do after all the things they'd done for her.

 

Or so she had thought.

 

However, she was standing in the middle of the apartment shared by Yuy, Chang and Maxwell trying to think logically about what she was seeing. “Heero,” Lady One tried once more. “This place is so far away from the school … the University …and the Headquarters.”

 

“Hn,” Heero said blankly. Obviously she had not worded a question so there was not much use of him answering.

 

“Why did you choose this place?” she asked instead.

 

“It's cheap and has three bedrooms,” Heero replied

 

“Er…couldn't you have found some other place, closer?” she asked. Where she could keep a close eye on these three. In his own way, each was more trouble than ten criminals thrown together, even without their Gundams, and she felt uneasy about the whole setup. There was also the feeling she was missing out on something, only she had no idea what.

 

“No,” Heero said firmly, in his no-nonsense voice.

 

“Yes, but Mr. Winner and Mr. Barton have found apartments closer to the training facility…so may be you could also follow suit and rent apartments from the same complex,” she suggested as gently as possible. After all, she was funding them so expenses were not a problem though they were all being stubborn when it came to accepting her money.

 

“No,” Heero growled. “We like it here.”

 

“Fine.” Lady Une could smell defeat when she saw it and she was not about to try and force her hand. She didn't want to know what Heero Yuy equivalent of self destruction was when it came to apartments…blow up a wall perhaps. “Can I have a look around to see if everything is all right?” she asked instead.

 

Heero shrugged to show that he didn't care, which she took as an agreement to inspect the premises. She looked around the sitting room she was standing in, Spartan by many standards with a minimum of furniture. The house they had rented was old but had been well maintained. There were cobwebs and dust collected in the corners but the walls looked firm and though the ceiling was grimy, it did not look as if it would fall on top of someone's head.

 

“What's through there?” she asked, pointing to a door on the left of the sitting room.

 

“Kitchen,” Heero said shortly as Une made her way toward it. She pushed open the door and stepped into a relatively clean kitchen, one large table in the middle taking up most of the space. Lady Une frowned trying to remember the floor plan she had looked up before she had left her office.

 

“Why do you have the table here?” she asked confused. “The floor plan suggests a large dinning room beyond this.” She indicated towards a door leading from the kitchen. Actually there were several doors but one looked like a pantry door and the other led outside to a porch overlooking a neglected garden.

 

“We've converted the dinning room to a gym,” Heero said making her jump. She had had no idea that he was standing right behind her until he had spoken.

 

“The bedrooms?” she asked as she looked at him.

 

“This way,” said Heero leading her out of the kitchen and back through the sitting room. He walked into a bare room with a sleeping bag on the floor. “This is mine,” he said without any further explanation.

 

“Uh,” Lady Une managed. They had moved in the day before so she decided to keep her counsel on buying a bed just to see if he would think of it by himself. There was a study table, chair and laptop, along with a few books which made the room look occupied. “Is that the attached bathroom?” she asked pointing to a door, hoping it wasn't a walk in closet.

 

“Only one of the bathrooms has plumbing,” Heero said, motioning with his head that they should be moving on. “The one attached to Wufei's room.”

 

Lady Une walked through Chang's room trying to ignore the stack of white clothes in the corner and the sleeping bag in the middle next to a meditation mat. There were books stacked on the table, the floor, the window sill and even on the sleeping bag. And in contrast, the bathroom was…bare.

 

It lacked all the beauty products normal teenagers would use; only a large bottle of shampoo, three toothbrushes and a single tube of toothpaste. Lady Une stared at the toothpaste for some time then finally said, “You share everything.”

 

“All,” Heero said in a pleased voice.

 

“You share all,” Lady Une said trying to understand. “I guess, that's nice.” She did not even want to know what Maxwell's room was going to look like. Black with gold crosses painted on the wall? “I…have to go back to office,” she said faintly. “Perhaps you would like a lift.”

 

She knew that Chang was the only one having classes that afternoon while Winner and Maxwell were already at the Training Center after their classes. Barton had gone to the Spaceport to pick up his sister and would be coming with her to the center, which had left Yuy. Heero had an odd combination of subjects which left most of his Wednesday free and had agreed to her request that he be present at their new home for her assessment of their living quarters.

 

“All right,” Heero spoke a little grudgingly, almost as if Une had asked him to donate a kidney.

 

Une shrugged. Knowing Heero Yuy, if he ever lost a kidney, he'd probably be able to grow another.

 

---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!---

 

The ride to The Peace Keepers' headquarters was spent in silence, with Heero observing his surroundings as if expecting a squadron of mobile dolls to attack them at any second. Une gave him a sideways glance, noting the uniform he wore; plain grey long sleeved shirt with a stiff, high necked collar, no adornments, black trousers and knee high black boots, which were the only thing that stood out. The boots were expensive and hardy but after her years as a commanding officer, Lady Une understood that soldiers needed good footwear. So did sixteen-year olds going on seventeen.

 

When they arrived, they parked in the underground parking lot and rode to ground level with the elevator. As they walked down the sterilized hallway towards her office, Lady Une studied Heero discreetly. His hair was still messy, but he had grown a couple of inches in height. His eyes were darting from side to side taking in all the people walking in the corridors, his attention remaining fixed on the new volunteers. She held her breath, wondering just when Heero would make and observation. After all he was still a teenager and …

 

“So many girls.” He sounded more nervous than pleased.

 

Lady Une understood perfectly. The Gundam pilots had had very little exposure to the opposite sex and it was obvious they were not used to dealing with girls. Only Relena seemed to be a constant presence in their lives and only she was immune to Heero's abrupt behavior. Lady Une wasn't really worried. She knew perfectly well that in a few weeks she'd be trying to pry the boys off the girls; it was the nature of the world. But to make sure that Heero did not feel too uncomfortable she decided to change the subject.

 

“There are a lot of female volunteers after Princess Relena made that announcement she was joining The Peace Keepers,” she said, testing the water. Relena would always be a pacifist and would never carry a weapon, but she had expressed an interest in security after the incident at The Sanc Castle. While it had been a good move on the part of the Princess to join them, even if it was in an administrative post, most of her ardent admirers had decided to join the task force following in her. While it boosted their ranks, Lady Une knew most of the girls were there with no idea as to what they were walking into. A failure of the A.C. would have a few in tears, while their mascara ran down their cheeks, making them look like zebras. Still, there were a few serious ones here and it was up to the old timers to sort them out. And Lady Une knew just the person to do it…

 

“Hn,” Heero grunted. “When will we have our physical examination?” he asked abruptly.

 

Lady Une wondered just how nervous the boys were at the prospect of getting a physical. She had been asked the same question by both Maxwell and Chang. “We'll have to sort it out as soon as Noin returns from her mission,” she replied. “Until then Sally is helping me with the administrative side of things.” Since Relena was proving to be klutz at it

 

“What mission?” Heero asked, latching onto the word immediately.

 

“It's a need to know thing,” Lady Une said, smoothly. “But Noin will be back in a couple of days …” hopefully with another person “…and you can ask her yourself.”

 

“Yes, but…”

 

“Do you think Mr. Barton is ready for field duty?” she asked, changing the subject, quickly.

 

“Yes.”

 

“I have a mission in mind for him,” she said thoughtfully. “I'll have to assign it to the two of you before I go to the World Security summit.” She had a few Ministers to sooth and some heads of securities to intimidate. “It's an easy one, which will help him ease back to his feet…”

 

She was interrupted by Quatre who was standing, leaning against one of the store doors, acting, almost as if he was a lookout.

 

“Mr. Winner,” she said, stopping. “You aren't raiding our store, are you?”

 

“Of course not.” The blond smiled like and angel.

 

“Where's Mr. Maxwell?” she asked suspiciously. Those two were thick as thieves and if one was there, the other was soon to follow.

 

“He's inside,” Quatre admitted, reluctantly then said hurriedly. “Wufei is with him.”

 

“Oh, well,” she said, letting out a breath. “Tell Mr. Chang I want to see him…I have special task for him.”

 

“I will,” Quatre nodded, and then signaled Heero to stay. Lady Une couldn't pry without looking like an over suspicious bitch, so she nodded to both of them and continued towards her office. She would deal with them later.

 

----!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!----

 

Heero watched Lady Une walk away in her female version of the Peace Keeper uniform, and when he had judged her to be out of hearing range, turned around and demanded.

 

“Are they having sex in there?”

 

“No!” Quatre blushed. “It's just…Wufei…um…why don't you go in and see for yourself.”

 

Heero did not bother to speak as he barreled past Quatre into the store room and stopped at the sight of …

 

…Wufei and Duo engaged in a passionate kiss. If he had not been so hurt by the actions of the other two, he would have found the whole thing a turn on. Though Heero had grown a little, both Wufei and Duo had remained the same height; Duo probably due to childhood malnutrition, Wufei because of his Chinese[1] genes. Their hands were firmly around each other, Duo having pulled Wufei's hair clasp free. Wufei's hair fell down to his shoulders easily and Duo had a hand running through it. They were so close together that Heero could not have slipped a finger between them. He could see the way their facial muscles moved - there were tongues involved, he was sure - and the way their hips were grinding together was erotic.

 

But Heero wasn't sure as what to think.

 

They had come to an agreement that day in the hospital while waiting for Trowa to wake up that the three of them would try out a relationship. However, it seemed as if he was interfering in an already existing one. Duo and Wufei had been together before Heero had come along to break into their little partnership. It seemed as if he was always in the way.

 

Sex had not come up. First there had been the move, then hiding their Gundams, then enrolling at school…and joining The Peace Keepers. With so many things to do, their relationship had been put on hold. Indefinitely, it seemed sometimes. Heero had been the one to discourage sex when it became obvious they would be subjected to a physical examination. They did not want any outward signs of their relationship to give it away. They were coming to terms with it themselves. They did not need nosy adults trying to deal with it.

 

Then there had been the intimacy problems Duo had; Wufei was trying to come to terms with the whole concept of having two lovers yet…still…but…

 

Why come to a storage room to kiss when they had a house to themselves? Was it because they didn't want Heero to see them? Did they think Heero was an outside interference? Heero hadn't known about Wufei and Duo the first time he'd had sex with Wufei but now he did…maybe he should…

 

He was slowly backing towards the door when Duo looked up and their eyes met. For a moment Duo looked confused then he broke free of Wufei abruptly…

 

“Heero,” he said, sounding slightly breathless. “You're here. Look, Wufei has this problem and…”

 

As far as he could see, the only problem Wufei seemed to have was fitting into his trousers, and Duo was sporting an impressive erection as well. He kept on backing towards the door, feeling like an intruder. Duo, the more observant of the two seemed to note Heero's movements and darted forward.

 

“Wait…uh…look…”

 

Stuttering was an indication the speaker did not know what to say or how to say it. It was sign of guilt or reluctance to say what they wanted to say. Either way, it was apparent to Heero that he was simply not needed.

 

Then at that moment Wufei turned around scowling, his eyes blazing, shouting. “Yuy, they've dressed me up as a woman!”

 

There was a pause as Heero took in the information; the round collared grey blouse Wufei wore, short sleeved with pink flowers embroidered on the edges to give a more feminine touch to the female member of Peace Keepers

 

He couldn't help it. Heero snickered.

 

“You think it's funny,” Wufei fumed. “That woman …” referring to Sally with whom he was not in good terms at the moment “…had run out of uniforms for us. There just happened to be an abundance of these…” pulling at the blouse as if it would tear.

 

“You look nice in it,” Heero observed. The blouse was loosely cut with enough room for someone with a more developed chest to wear comfortably. It hung loose on Wufei's slender frame, even with all the buttons in place, dipping forward to reveal his back tank top underneath.

 

“I don't…” Wufei exploded. “I look like some drag queen…”

 

“Yeah,” Duo teased. “Pink is really your color….”

 

“Don't you start again,” Wufei fumed. “If Sally hadn't brought that whore with her…”

 

“What exactly happened?” Heero asked as he stepped forward so Wufei, who had been about to run off, stopped. He caught a small movement from the side of his eye and looked around but it was Duo standing, looking innocent and unassuming - a sign that he had been up to something.

 

“Did you do something behind my back?” Heero inquired.

 

“Geeze,” Duo huffed. “You got eyes on the back of your head now?” Heero noticed Duo hadn't denied the claim. Still, when he looked back Wufei was trying to tear the pink flowers out with a blunt fingernail, pouting in a way which said he was annoyed.

 

“You'll make a hole in it,” Heero pointed out.

 

“Good,” Wufei said with satisfaction. “Then I can go topless.”

 

“At least she didn't give you a skirt,” Duo offered.

 

“That's because all of the skirts available came up to my mid-thigh,” Wufei shouted.

 

“You wanted to wear a skirt?” Heero asked.

 

“No!”

 

“They only ordered five Peace Keeper uniforms in our size,” Duo said wearily. “Then Sally brought Shaun along with her and since Wufei was late coming here- and she had assumed he already had a uniform and gave it to Shaun instead.”

 

“I tell you, she did it on purpose,” Wufei said, his fists clenched.

 

Duo pulled out a box of pencils and started to nibble on one of them. It was obvious Sally and Wufei were at odds with each other since the meeting on the Peacemillion. Sally had not done anything wrong as far as the others were concerned. She had simply told Wufei that she had been part of the OZ troops that had destroyed his colony and there might be more survivors than he had originally thought.

 

“…mean survivors?” Wufei shouted, his face red.

 

“Your colony was counting on getting attacked,” Sally said. “They knew they should move before it was destroyed. By the time the OZ troops arrived most of the children and civilians had been evacuated in escape shuttles…”

 

“You are lying,” Wufei said, almost in tears. “I was there…”

 

“I don't think you were in any condition to keep watch over the entire colony,” Sally said kindly. “I don't think they would have told you, no matter how important you were of the decision. After all, the most prominent families chose to stay behind and fight…”

 

“But I would have known,” Wufei shouted. “They wouldn't have let my wife die if…”

 

Needless to say they had returned earlier than expected with a preoccupied Wufei…

 

“Who is Shaun?” Heero asked. The name was familiar but he was not able to place it properly.

 

“Remember the time Wufei got a call from Sally saying she had some trouble with a couple of Mobile Suits?” Duo supplied. “And came back all bloody.”

 

“Ah,” Heero nodded, remembering. “Shaun was the spy inside their camp who was acting as a prostitute in town.”

 

“He wasn't acting as the town whore,” Wufei ground out. “He was the town whore.”

 

“But he tried to blow up Sally,” Heero said. “Why would she want him around?”

 

“According to her the best way to keep a terrorist in check is to enroll him or her as a PK Duo said, putting a hand into one of the storage boxes and pulling out a handful of foam padding used to keep the supplies in place during transportation. “Here,” he said holding it out to Wufei. “Try stuffing this in your front so it'll look as if you have boobs.”

 

“I'm going to kill you,” Wufei scream, as he launched himself at Duo.

 

“That's Heero's line to Relena,” Duo taunted jumping out of the way, knocking over a box of notepads in the process. “Cool it, man. No one will notice it if you don't make too much of a fuss about it.”

 

“You mean no will notice I have streamers of pink flowers down my chest,” Wufei said as he started to chase Duo who was running circles around Heero.

 

Heero put out a hand and caught Wufei around his waist and pulled him close. Duo skidded to a halt, flinging out his hands for balance and pushed over a box marked `fragile, glass paper weights.' There was a sickening sound of glass breaking as the box fell and the three of them paused.

 

“You should put that in place,” Heero said with a scowl to Duo and re-turned his attention to Wufei who was taking advantage of the distraction to worry the embroidery.

 

“Stop it,” Heero said, reaching for the waistband to pull the shirt out. Perhaps if it wasn't tucked in, it wouldn't be too obvious.

 

“It makes me look gay,” Wufei complained as Heero's palm brushed the skin near his hips. They both stiffened at the contact.

 

“But you are gay.” Heero observed, even as he leaned forward and captured those pouting lips in a kiss. Wufei's mouth tasted of sugar and tea - a sword calloused palm gripped Heero's hand in an iron grip, holding it in place while the other snaked around Heero's neck, looking for a steady grip…

 

“Are you three done throwing temper tantrums?” Quatre's voice sailed through the closed door. “I have to go now- Trowa is going to be here.”

 

“Yes,” said Heero, pulling free. He should not have gotten distracted by Wufei in a place where they could be so easily compromised. “We will be out immediately.”

 

“I'm not going out in public dressed like this,” Wufei protested.

 

“We're going,” Heero said. “We have the introduction meetings today. We should not be late.” He gripped Wufei firmly and dragged him towards the door, pausing to look over his shoulder at Duo who was struggling with the fallen box. He huffed in exasperation and walked towards Duo, lifted the box and kept it in place easily. Then he propelled Duo out with a firm hand on the shoulder, grabbed Wufei by the arm and tried not to mentally curse his lovers.

 

[1] No disrespect meant for the Chinese. Just that compared to Europeans, they are short.

 

1.2: The Attack of the Big Sister(s)

 

“You are the Winner, as in the owner of Winner Group,” Catherine said, towering over Quatre in her high heeled boots.

 

Quatre gulped and nodded, feeling helpless, as Trowa looked over her shoulder. Trowa had shot up in height, making Quatre's two inches of growth seem insignificant, while Catherine seemed to have the same genes as her brother.

 

“We were never rich to start with, you know,” she continued. “We are unassuming people who don't want to trouble anyone. So what exactly are your intentions towards my brother?”

 

Quatre wondered what her intentions towards him were. He had no intention of going close to Trowa if she was about. And anyway, he was keeping Trowa at a distance for now. After all that Trowa had put him through, he was not about to forget and forgive.

 

“You've caused a lot of grief for him,” she said firmly.

 

“Cathy,” Trowa said weakly.

 

“Um,” said Quatre, wondering if he should point out the amount of angst Trowa had caused him.

 

“Well, you were moaning over him when you last came to see me, weren't you?” she said.

 

“I wasn't exactly moaning,” Trowa protested.

 

“He was?” Quatre perked up at the idea.

 

“Well,” said Catherine looking him over from top to bottom. “We'll have proper talk once I've settled in. These inter-planetary rides haven't improved in quality, at all.”

 

“How was the trip?” Quatre said weakly, feeling like an idiot. He wanted Trowa and since Catherine was Trowa's sister, it was imperative she liked him. He just didn't know how to get into her good books.

 

“Long,” Catherine said, shouldering her bag while Trowa attempted to take it from her with no avail. “I was told I could share Lady Une's quarters since someone called Noin is out of town.”

 

“Yes,” said Quatre, wondering about Noin's mysterious mission. “But you can come over and stay at …” He was going to say my place but it was hard to say that. Though his apartment was both expensive and exclusive, there wasn't much living space.

 

When he had first gone apartment hunting, he had realized that sharing a place with the threesome would not be a good idea. While Wufei, Duo and Heero would not have complained, their relationship was still too new for them to handle an outsider as well. On the top of it all, Quatre was aware that they had been living in each other's laps for a while and wanted to stretch his limbs. A little independence would do him some good.

 

So when he had come across an exclusive single person apartment in a secure neighborhood he had grabbed it. One of the reasons he had taken it had been that the agent who had sold it to him had told him that it was for one person exclusively. He wanted Trowa to get the message that he preferred to be alone. It had not stopped Trowa from renting a single room loft apartment in a building, just opposite Quatre's apartment. The blond hadn't asked for a reason and Trowa hadn't given one but it was obvious Trowa was there because of Quatre.

 

Still, there was Trowa's big sister who was scarier than a stampeding dinosaur who wanted the best for her newly found little brother. Quatre knew she didn't mean any harm - just her way of making up for the years apart. She took her role as big sister very seriously - even if it meant overriding Trowa at times.

 

“I'd like to talk to Lady Une anyway,” Catherine said walking forward briskly. Performing in front of a group of people every day meant she did not lack in confidence. “I've heard so much about her during the war but now I get to meet her in person.”

 

“I'll take the bag,” Trowa offered.

 

“Forget it,” Catherine said, with a huff. “I don't want you straining your chest.”

 

“I'm fine,” Trowa protested.

 

“Trowa tells me you have a meeting now,” Catherine said as she turned to face Quatre, ignoring Trowa.

 

“Nothing big,” Quatre said, weakly. “Lady Une wants us to get used to the procedures here so she's giving us a run down of the basics. She has a Summit meeting to attend to in two day's time so she'll be out of the office for a while. She just wants to assign us duties before she leaves so things will run smoothly during her absence.”

 

“Still,” Catherine said, thoughtfully. “What time will this end?”

 

“It'll be over in an hour or two,” Trowa said.

 

“Good.” Catherine brightened up. “That'll give me time to freshen up. Let's have dinner together…just the three of us.” She looked Quatre directly in the eye and the blond noticed that her eyes were the same intense green as Trowa's. “It's time we got to know each other better.”

 

---!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1---

 

“I don't have much time,” Quatre told Iria over the com-link. “I have a dinner to get ready to.”

 

His sister looked pleased at the prospect. “With a pretty girl - finally. I knew this was good for you.”

 

“Eh,” Quatre floundered. “It's nothing like that. It's just Trowa and his sister that I'm going…”

 

“Is she pretty?” Iria demanded.

 

“Who?”

 

“Trowa's sister?” his sister said with a wink. “Is she tall and slender like he is?”

 

“But you haven't even met him,” Quatre protested.

 

“But I've seen enough holo-vids of him,” Iria said, unperturbed. “So…what's she's like?”

 

“Scary,” Quatre said grumpily.

 

“Oh, I forgot,” Iria said with a knowing smile. “You haven't had much practice interacting with girls. Don't you worry…you'll get used to them.”

 

`What if I don't want to,' Quatre thought. “I'm going to be late so…”

 

“Wait!” Iria said. “Jane[2] wants to talk to you.”

 

“I was hoping to catch you before you went anywhere,” Jane said with authority as he tired hard not to roll his eyes. Jane was not his eldest sister but she was the one nearly everyone in the family with the natural authority. She ruled the family with an iron fist - minus the padded glove.

 

“Jane,” Quatre said, fighting the urge to say `ma'am'.

 

“Have you looked at the proposal I sent you yesterday?” she demanded. “I want your opinion on it as soon as possible. And also the new plans for the old refinery equipment. What do you think of using the solar shields from the old Omega Two station and....” Even though Jane rules the family, Quatre was by birth the true male heir, which meant she had to defer to his wishes. Amazingly enough, she took it in stride as she did everything else.

 

“I'll have to look over everything on Saturday,” Quatre said weakly. “I haven't had time with school and all…”

 

“Ah, yes,” Jane nodded looking pleased. “I heard you've finally decided to continue your education. At a public institute no less- perhaps we could arrange for private tutors for you…”

 

“No!” Quatre said before his sister could get carried away with the plans. “I prefer it this way. Draws less attention.”

 

“But you'll have to come back and manage the family business one of these days,” Jane reminded him sternly.

 

“Not in a hurry,” Quatre muttered under his breath, wishing his sisters would leave him alone so he could find his spare dress shirt and comb his hair.

 

“Fine,” Jane decided. “Have the papers sent to me by Monday.” Even in the advanced age there was something about dealing with paper. Most of Winner industries day to day businesses took shape on paper [3] which meant a lot of hands on contact with ---paper.

 

“Monday,” said Quatre thinking it over. “I'll have it sent to you by courier…”

 

“No need,” Jane said dismissively. “Rashid said he'd be visiting L4, so you can send it through him and …”

 

Quatre remembered the plan he'd hatched up to make a match between one of his sisters and Rashid, which had ended in a disaster. But still if Rashid was contacting Jane and telling her of his plans to visit L4 it would mean something had blossomed in the desert. He wondered if he should ask her about it.

 

“Uh,” he said instead. “I'll see to it.”

 

“And Camilla is going to make an Earth-side visit sometime soon,” Jane said. “She went to school there you know. Has a couple of friends she's lost touch with and wants to bring her entire family for a visit.”

 

Quatre could not remember whether Camilla had three or four kids but he nodded dutifully. “That's nice,” he said.

 

“She'll introduce you to a couple of family friends,” Jane continued. “Nice girls…well brought up…”

 

“Girls.”

 

“Well, you are planning on getting married and settling down, aren't you?”

 

“Yes…but…”

 

“Dad met mom at your age…though they didn't get married for another three years. It's to give you time to know the girl…we aren't barbarians you know, we expect you to have someone you can live with,” Jane said as if she was discussing the weather.

 

Quatre had an inkling as to how Wufei must have felt when his family had arranged his marriage. While it was not like he hadn't seen it coming, his sisters interference with his life was becoming a bit of a sore point. Thinking of Wufei reminded him of the pink flowered blouse he had worn for the meeting and had to stop himself from snickering. Wufei had looked so cute in it and Quatre had noticed that both Heero and Duo had found it fascinating.

 

“I'm not dad,” he bit out heatedly. “You just leave me …”

 

“We can't do that,” Jane said sharply. “All our lives and many more depend on Winner Industries and how you behave determines it as well. So you had better get your act together and…”

 

“I'm late,” Quatre snapped, reaching forward and switching the com-link off, fuming. While he did not think his father spent all his days playing with test tubes (and the image was all wrong) he had a life of his own. He did not want to shoulder the responsibilities of an entire colony. While he was fighting the war and piloting Sandrock it had been easy. All he'd had to think of was staying alive and repairing his mecha. Now, there were so many things to worry about…

 

He sighed. Arriving late at a dinner was no way to impress anyone and he had to pick up some flowers, too. He hoped Catherine liked flowers.

 

[2] In the canon all 29 of Quatre's sisters are not named. So does naming one of them make it a new character? Stray suggested I refer to them by Borg names like: 5 of 29 and 7 of 29…]

 

[3] Gundam wing universe is pretty backward, apart from a few large Mechas. Might as well be living in the 18th century.

 

1.3: Wufei and the Girl(s)

 

What Lady Une was thinking was beyond Wufei's comprehension. At least Trowa and Heero had been assigned for background checking of applicants and the other two were doing a perimeter security check. And he was stuck in a roomful of girls who'd never seen a uniform in their entire life. There were exactly twenty three girls in the room and in Wufei's eyes they seemed to have tripled in number. There were tall girls, short girls, girls with short hair, long hair…no hair…ok wearing some sort of skin colored hat and …there was even one Chinese looking girl.

 

She didn't look anything like Merian - apart from the fact her eyes slanted, her hair was straight black and she had the same skin tone as his wife had. Just that there were so few pure bred Chinese around nowadays, Wufei recognized her origins without any difficulty. There were very few people who could boast of being pure. Heero, the blue-eyed Japanese sometimes looked about as Japanese as Treize did and Quatre definitely had a European bloodline mixed with his Arabic one.

 

Wufei pointedly ignored the girl and looked over the `lot' in general. They were all around his age, dressed in what they considered to be work out clothes…which varied from skin tight jeans in which they'd never lift a leg in (like that brunette with a braid surprisingly similar to Duo's) to comfortable workout clothes like what he was wearing (like the Chinese girl.) Wufei had changed into his usual white trousers and black tank top as soon as possible - he was not wearing his blouse ever again. It had been bad enough that everyone at the meeting had been trying hard to bite back their laughter - Sally's little pet monkey had laughed out loud. On the top of it, the next morning he had found a matching skirt on his sleeping bag when he'd returned from his shower. He was going to get back at Duo for that, even if it was the last thing he did.

 

“We'll start with the basics,” Wufei said as he stepped into the mat. “This is your first self defense class and if you can't…” he stopped as a leggy red head put up a hand.

 

“Yes,” he bit out. He was not a teacher. He should be doing something more productive than dealing with females who were munching bubble gum like cows chewing cud.

 

“What's your name?” the red-head asked between rotating her jaws to get the maximum out of her bubblegum.

 

“He's Chang Wufei,” another girl answered. “He was at Princess Relena's ball and he's a prince.”

 

“I saw it on World Media- there was that attack and…”

 

“And there was a fire…”

 

“People were running out…some even lost their clothes…” Wufei wondered where that had come from.

 

“He's from L5…the colony that blew up…it was so old and…”

 

“They say he's the only survivor…”

 

“It can't be…isn't Jasmine from there too…”

 

“ENOUGH!” Wufei bellowed, feeling control slip from his fingers. Women were only good for talking. He had no idea what they were doing here in the first place. If they had any common sense at all they'd have left long time ago.

 

“I have a list of names here…so this is what I will do. I need to know your level of competency at defending yourself…. I'll start with you one by one and when I call your name you get on the mat and…uh…attack me.” He looked around. “Yes,” he said to the red-head who was holding up her hand.

 

“Can we use weapons?” she asked.

 

Wufei looked around the training room, a bare, padded walled enclosure with a rubbed floor. “What are you going to use?” he asked. “Bubblegum.”

 

A few girls tittered.

 

The red-head pulled out a flick blade and showed it to him. “Where I come from we use these.”

 

“Where I come from, you don't carry a blade unless you know how to use it,” Wufei replied evenly. Inside he was thinking of hundred and one ways of throwing the girl out. What was he doing here!! “You wait your turn like everyone else and fight like everyone else.” A knife might give other girls a few ideas he wanted to discourage. Like that carrying weapons might make them invulnerable. “We'll start with A. Abraham, Hannah.”

 

Wufei spent exactly three seconds with Hannah before he kicked her out of the training area. He was impatient and needed to get home early. There was a stack of books he needed to read for the assignment due next week. There was also a huge pile of laundry collecting in a back room…

 

He literally pushed the next girl to the floor, ignored the sickening crack that followed. If she didn't know what she was getting into, then she should have stayed at home and taken up cross stitching.

 

He waded through the next collection of girls with barely controlled fury, knowing they should have been better off at homes. Didn't they know they would get hurt in the end - maybe even killed? They were weak creatures and most annoyingly, pack creatures. He had noticed it before but now, it became even more obvious. They cheered when a girl managed to stay on the mat longer than five seconds with him. They would shout encouragement at her and cheered her on. In addition, there was all the high pitched screeching and even more annoying sobbing as they were helped off the floor.

 

He was thankfully reaching the end of the list when he reached the name he had been dreading. Yao Jasmine!

 

He let her make the first move, knowing that she knew a little about fighting from the way she moved. She stepped back and came at him with the exact same move Meiran had used on him all those years back and he froze. Her kick caught him square in the middle and he went with the flow, flipping over and bouncing back, backhanding her as he found his feet. She fell over hard, missing the mat and cracking her head against the floor. The look of disbelief in her eyes, coupled with something close to amusement reminded him - again of his long dead wife.

 

“You women are all useless,” Wufei ground out speaking to the class but maintaining eye contact with her. “You should stay home and get married and have kids. That should be enough for you.”

 

----!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111----

 

At the end of the training session, the girls limped, crawled and literally ran out the room leaving Wufei alone. Well, not all alone…

 

“I've heard of you,” Jasmine said, approaching him.

 

“You're from L5.” It was a statement. Wufei would have known her for the fighting style if nothing else.

 

“Yes.” She bowed low. It was not an act of submissiveness, it was simply good manners. “My family was one of the last to leave the colony.”

 

Wufei did not answer, simply turning his back to her to show that the conversation was over.

 

“How did you beat me?” she blurted out all of a sudden. “I…I've been studying the fighting techniques all my life. And…my grandmother remembers you as a child and she says you were a scholar not a…”

 

“…fighter,” Wufei concluded turning around to face her. “I have no idea who you think me to be, but I am not him. War changes people.” He shut up abruptly before he could reveal more - it was so much like talking to Meiran, he was starting to get carried away. He was about to head for the showers when he was stopped by a faint touch on his upper arm.

 

“That was rude of me,” Jasmine apologized but her voice said otherwise. “I'm sorry.” Wufei remained motionless, mentally willing her to let go of his arm. He wanted to pull away but it was almost as if she was piece of home he had not seen in a long time. For the first few years of his life he had been surrounded by people like her - who looked like her - and him. He was suddenly flooded with a rush of homesickness he had not felt in years.

 

“You didn't say anything new to me,” Wufei replied as he shook off the arm and walked away. He went towards the showers with the intent of washing the disastrous day off and heading back home. However, as he reached the entrance of locker room, he realized that most of the girls had decided to use it. Gritting his teeth, he decided to take a shower back at home. Even though he wore a blouse now and then, it did not mean he was going to start exchanging hair-care tips with them while scrubbing his armpits - after all, he could do the same at home with Duo.