Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lost and Found ❯ Chapter VII ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

"What do you mean, you aren't leaving here tonight?" Duo blinked up at Emmer

who was sitting Indian style on Duo's bed.

"Exactly that!" She said with a grin. "I mean! What if Wufei is waiting around the corner or in my room for that matter! So I'm not setting foot out of this room!" Emmer crossed his arms.

Duo shrugged as he sat on the floor in front of the door, "Whatever man, but I call the bed!"

Emmer smirked at him, "Oh? I thought we would share…"

"HA!" He looked at Emmer oddly, "I'm not like Quatre and Trowa." He crossed his arms.

Emmer blinked at him, "So you know about those two?" Emma uncrossed her arms and leaned forward, holding her weight on her ankles as she gripped them with her hands.

Duo kept giving her his odd look then waved his hand up and down in the air as he gave a big smile, "Sure, sure. I mean, of course they try to hide it, but we all know. I mean, it's easy to spot when the two hardly ever leave the other's side." Emma nodded at this. "Oh… well… Okay. Good night Duo!" she laid down on his bed with her back to him.

"Good night Emmer…" He blinked, "HEY!" He got up and pounced the `boy' in his bed. "I said I called the bed!!" When he had pounced, she squealed and they started to play fight for the bed, that led to an all out tickle and pillow war, with Duo winning, after Emmer fell off of the bed. Duo jumped up onto his feet and started laughing, his fists on his hips, he exclaimed: "I am the Great Destroyer once again!!"

Emmer sweat-dropped. "Yeah… yeah… All hail the Great Destroyer…" She threw a pillow at him and it knocked him off balance and onto his butt. Emmer laughed at him and he blinked before he too started to laugh. During the laugh fest, he handed her the pillow then got up to turn out the lights. "We''," he chuckled. "Good night, Emmer." He flicked the lights off then jumped into bed.

"Night Duo." And she went to sleep, not noticing that Duo was watching her through the dark.

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

Emma woke up the next morning when the sun hit her eyes. She groaned as she sat up and after rubbing the sleep from her eyes, looked to see if Duo was still asleep. His bed was empty and already made. Emma got up and looked around. Duo didn't leave a note or anything. ~Damn! ~ she thought, ~ I was going to spend today with him. Maybe Quatre might know where he is! ~ And with that, she raced out of the room and down the hall. She passed and dodged servants as she made her way to the dinning hall. On entering, she stopped dead in her tracks for not only were Trowa and Quatre there eating breakfast, but so too was Wufei, wearing a faded black tank top and the same white pants. "Um… morning!" She waved with a smile an her face as she walked the rest of the way to the table.

Quatre smiled up at her, "Oh! Good morning Emmer! Please, sit and have some breakfast."

Wufei grumbled, "I will not eat with that woman…"

Emma smirked at him, she didn't care if he knew her secret, "You're one to be calling someone a woman, Chang." This made Wufei drop his fork and clench his fists. Emmer smiled at this reaction, glad to be getting under his skin, she liked the threat of it. She soon turned to Quatre, "I'll just grab an apple, thanks. I was going to find Duo. Do you know where he might be?" she looked hopeful.

Quatre gave her his cute smile again, "He usually spends his mornings at the Mobile Suit hangers."

Emma blinked, "Where are they?"

Quatre called over one of the servants and told him to show Emmer the way. The servant bowed and waited for Emmer to say when he was ready to go. She grabbed two granny smith apples and pocketed one. "Just show me the building and I'll be fine!" She said to the servant as they left the room. "Yes, sir." He said, leading her to the mane balcony and pointed out a large building that was only a few blocks to the east. "That long metal one there."

"Thanks!" She said with a smile and ran down the hall. As she turned the corner, she had to stop suddenly for Relena was standing in her way. "Well, if it isn't the lost boy." Relena smirked. Today she was in something very similar to what she was wearing the night before, but she wasn't wearing the gloves, and was wearing a white blazer instead of the overcoat.

Emma blinked and changed the octave in her voice to Emmer's. "Good morning Foreign Minister." She said with a bow, then smirked at the blond haired girl.

"I don't know what you're hiding Mr. Emmer, but I'll find out. I know you're hiding something." Relena said.

"Well, I wish you luck in finding out!" Emmer took a bite of his green apple. "And be sure to tell me when you do! I'd like to know as well!"

Relena only glared into Emmer's eyes then quietly walked away. Emma shrugged then ran off, eating the apple as she ran.

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

Duo sat Indian style on a metal platform that was raised up to the left arm of the mobile suit. The only part to the suit that was missing was the head. Duo sat there typing away at to laptops that were connected to the arm, switching from one to the other as he worked. Cords ran from the small computers to the arm and hand of the suit that would be a Leo suit when it was finished.

"Try the arm now! I think I got it to stop sticking!" Duo yelled to a man who was sitting in an opening at the chest of the Leo suit that was it's cockpit. The man got up and went inside to sit in the battle chair. He pushed a few buttons and grabbed onto the two handles that were at the end of the armrests. He turned the lever slightly and the fingers of the left hand started to move. He then pulled a little at the lever and the arm moved. The man moved it up and down a few times then shut the system down. Duo was smiling at his work when the man walked back out.

"How does it feel?" Duo called to the man.

"It's still a bit heavy to move. Maybe we should take off those unneeded weights!"

"Or maybe you should just get stronger!" They both heard someone call from below. They looked at each other then looked down towards the ground. Duo smiled when he saw who was down there. "Hey Emmer! I didn't expect to see you here! Hang on! I'll be right down!" He started to unplug the cords from the arm and hand of the suit then turned off the computers. He hit a switch and stood up as the platform made it's way down. As he waited for the slow ride down, he wrapped up the wires.

As Emma waited for him, she had to try to stay out of the way of the workers who kept passing on their way to take things to and from other mobile suits in the hanger. She smiled when Duo jumped off the platform and ran over to her. "Hungry?" she asked him. Before he could say anything she handed him the apple. He took it with a smile, "This wont fill me you know." He chuckled.

"Yeah… I know… But I figured it would hold you until we got to the marketplace. I want you to show me around the city." She smiled at him.

Duo shrugged, "I don't see why not. Hey Akee! I'm taking a break!" He yelled up at a big Arab looking man who was watching the workers from atop a catwalk that ran across the whole hanger and was connected to the other crosswalks. The man waved down to Duo, "Alright! Thanks Duo! We'll see you later!" And with that, Duo led Emmer out of the hanger.

"So!" He said as they walked and he ate the apple, his other hand in his pocket, "Which Marketplace did you want to see?"

"There's more than one?" she blinked.

"Yeah, Quatre keeps them separated so that it isn't all one big mess."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the food is all sold in one part of town, then there is a row of restaurants or houses that separate it from the dry goods such as clothes, supplies, odds and ends, and traders as well as money changers. Then there is another place that is set off for the buying and selling of animals. He keeps it that way so that the food and things are fresh off the boats that come in on the river. That way, fish guts don't get all over everything as well as animal droppings getting everywhere." He led her to a busy street. "This is the Dry Good market."

Emma's eyes widened with wonder as she watched Arabic people rushing about as they bought, traded, and bartered. As they walked, Emma saw many lovely things that she would have loved to try on, but knew she couldn't in front of Duo. ~I'll just come back later with Quatre and Trowa and get them to help me. ~ She smiled at this thought. "What if I want to purchase something?" She asked as they walked past a tobacco and incense booth, on the other side of the street was a rug seller's stall. Duo smiled as he walked with his hands up behind his head, "We usually just charge to Quatre's account. All of the venders know who we are, and Quatre doesn't mind because we just pay him back by running errands for him.

Emma nodded and smiled, "Can we go see the animals?"

Duo looked at her then shrugged, "Sure then we can get lunch after that, then head back to the estate." He turned his head and smiled at her, then blushed at seeing that Emmer was smiling at him. ~He is kinda cute…~ Duo thought to himself as they walked and he watched Emmer looking everywhere at once. ~He seems so familiar though, like I was supposed to know him. Well, he does remind me an awful lot of myself. Like a little brother or something. ~ Duo chuckled at this thought as they made their way to the Livestock market. The place was filled with pens that contained camels, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, chickens, and many other things. The one thing that really caught Emmer's eyes were the little monkeys. A seller had five of them in a café and was trying to sell them by using a sixth one that was dressed in a red vest with a red fez on it's head. The little monkey did tricks like dancing and doing flips. It also gave kisses. "They're so adorable!" Duo heard Emmer exclaim. "Would you like one?" He smiled.

"Do you mean it?" Emma's eyes lit up with joy.

Duo chuckled at his reaction. "Sure! But let's name it Wufei okay?"

Emmer blinked, "That would be funny… but I think Mischief sounds better, and we can tell everyone that we named him Wufei when we show it to them! And see how they react!" She smiled.

"Alright!" Duo smiled. "Mischief it is then!" He then went to haggle for a decent price for one of the little monkeys. When they came to an agreement, the man let them pick out the one they wanted and put the little monkey on the leash.

Mischief kept jumping to and from each of their shoulders as they walked back to the Dry Goods market. "I think a blue vest and fez will look good on him!" Duo said with a smile.

"Yeah…" Emma agreed. "But where do we go to find monkey clothes?" She looked when Duo pointed at a stall that Emma couldn't see through the crowd of people. It was getting closer to midday and the restaurants would be busy in a few more minutes and Emma was a head shorter than Duo.

Duo led the way to the stall and Emmer followed, staying quiet as Duo worked his magic to haggle for the vest and fez. After they put the fez and vest on Mischief, they made their way over to Duo's favorite outdoor restaurant where Emmer had her first taste of Arabic food. She had no idea what she was eating because Duo had ordered it for her, but whatever it was, it tasted good and she didn't want to ruin that fact by asking. The meal was spent with the two of them laughing and feeding Mischief. Emmer asked questions about the economy of the markets and about the mobile suits.

"You sure do ask a lot of questions about mobile suits." Duo said as he was enjoying a glass of cold date juice. "Do you think you might have been a pilot?"

Emma had never thought about piloting a mobile suit before and wondered what it was like. "No, I didn't even think of that. But even if I wasn't, it would be an interesting experience. Maybe you can train me!" She smiled at him.

"It's a possibility. Maybe I can show you how they work and you can be my assistant! I plan on owning my own Mobile Suit hanger some day!" he said proudly.

"Really? Do you think I could?!?"

"Sure! Why not? It's not like your getting much of your memories back in a hurry. And who knows, you might have been a pilot!"

"Do you really see me as your partner in the future Duo?" She smiled, trying to hide her blush.

Duo blinked at this then chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sure! Why not? You're a pretty cool guy! Not like Heero who thinks he's Evil Kinival. Don't get me wrong or anything." Duo waved his hands in defense of what he just said. "Heero's a great pilot, probably the best, and a wonderful mechanic, but the guy has issues."

Emma chuckled, "I understand completely. You're a cool friend Duo. I hope you always stay that way."

Duo smiled before standing up, "Well, lets head on back to the Mansion, the guys might be wondering where you are."

Emma nodded, "Sure." Mischief jumped onto her shoulder and the two made their way back to the middle of the city.