Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Mission: Wings of a Dove ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

All the standard stuff: Gundam Wing and its character are not mine. Wufei's point of view.

I slowly woke as sunlight started invading my room. To my mild surprise, I had slept through the night. It was a rarity to me, but in this case it wasn't unwelcome. I stretched and turned over to look at my clock. It was just after seven. Not only had I slept through, I had slept late. Probably for the first time in my memory, I didn't mind it. The sleep had all but eliminated the headache I had the previous evening.

The night's memories suddenly showered down on me, bringing back a faint reminder of my headache. As if fate couldn't let the five of us suffer in peace, a woman and a boy had to be thrown into the mix! What a mess this all was…

I decided I would call Ms. Une and talk to her about the situation. I didn't like the idea of letting a woman be involved in this assignment, especially one with a little boy to take care off. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not condescending of women; I just don't like seeing them in harm's way, involved in war or violence. That's what got Meiran killed… If it weren't for that, I would be the scholar I had worked so hard to become.

After a moment or two of trying to brush old memories aside, I yawned and sat up, running a hand through my loose hair. A faint creak came from the far corner of the room caught my attention. I immediately looked in that direction and caught sight of the little boy. Only the top of his head peeked through the door, stopping just above his nose. He was staring at me, like he did last night. I hated that stare of his. It was so… full of caution, need maybe, utter fear? I don't know; I could see them all.

Naturally I sat there and stared back at him. I wasn't about to lose a staring contest to a child when staring is one thing I commonly do. Soon, though, I started to get unnerved by that blasted look. When I shifted to sit more comfortably on the bed, Shiloh darted away from the door with a small squeak, like I was moving to attack him or something. Less than twenty-four hours with a child in the manor and I was already starting to get irritated by him. I prayed that I wasn't that confusing as a child.

Trying to brush off the event, I reluctantly got out of bed, showered, and dressed. I didn't bother with shoes; today would be a very eventless day for me, with nothing to do but read. Well, one can hope, can he not?

I quietly made my way down the stairs. The sounds and smells of an active kitchen suddenly alerted me to how hungry I was. When was the last time I ate? Despite the urge to race down the stairs, I quickened my pace only slightly. A smooth female laugh emanated gently from the kitchen, obviously belonging to Sparx.

I walked into a surprisingly full kitchen; all members of the mansion were moving about in the large room. Sparx was at the stove, a spatula in hand, still laughing as she turned over a few pancakes. For a moment, I wondered how she could work at a stove at all in the black long sleeved turtle neck and black jeans she was wearing. Maxwell sat at the dining table across the room with a horrible blush staining his face, staring at the table as if he had done something wrong. Shiloh was sitting next to Maxwell in his own chair, wiggling about and laughing as any six-year-old would.

"Oh, good morning, Wufei," Winner greeted me from where he stood at the kitchen island cutting fruit. "You just missed it!"

"Apparently," I muttered. "What was it I missed?"

"Duo made a comment to Shiloh about talking weird and he got a full glass of milk dumped in his lap for it."

I didn't find it all that funny, so I ignored it and moved into the kitchen to get breakfast for myself. Children that young of age shouldn't be allowed to do such crude actions, in my opinion.

I headed for Winner at the island in the middle of the kitchen, planning on sticking with fruit for breakfast. I was never a fan of pancakes. Sparx slid a plate full of food across the counter from where she stood at the stove. Winner smiled and walked over to retrieve the plate and bring it back, placing a portion of the cut fruit on it.

"Here you go," he handed it to me. "Try not to eat it too fast, the food is fantastic."

Feeling that I couldn't be rude, I took the plate and walked over to the table without a word. I had a hunch that my eventless day would turn out to be the antithesis of just that.

As I sat down, Maxwell stood up and carefully walked out of the kitchen, probably to change.

"Don't touch my food!" he called back from the entry hall.

"No promises!" Sparx yelled in reply.

"Not fair!!"

"Too bad!"

I heard him make his way upstairs with a groan. The rest of us ate in comfortable silence, and I took my time eating. Winner was right about the food; I was surprised at how good it all tasted. Perhaps it was because I hadn't eaten in over twenty-four hours. I reasoned that must have been why and brushed it off at that.

Sparx had already started cleaning dishes off the counter when Maxwell came back in a dry pair of sweatpants. His obvious relief that no one had touched is food in his absence was slightly amusing to me. As he sat down once more, Shiloh climbed off his chair and took his empty plate to Sparx.

"Good boy, Shiloh," she told him and took the plate. "Now go get your homework."

Shiloh crossed his arms and made a funny sort of gurgling sound, obviously making an effort to intimidate her.

"Don't growl at me; there's a lot to catch up on. Work on math first if you want to, then I'll help you with English."

With a small whine, he turned around and walked out of the kitchen. Sparx smirked as she watched him solemnly leave.

The silence turned awkward now. Winner soon made his way over to the dining table with the rest of us, and Sparx wasn't far behind. I assumed this was the explanation we were all waiting for, so I stayed put.

"So," Maxwell said as Sparx sat down next to him, with Barton on her other side, "I take it you're going to do a lot of explaining."

"If you want to know anything, ask questions first," she answered wisely.

"Good point," Barton admitted. "But where should the questions start?"

"The obvious questions should be brushed aside first, I suppose…" she suggested.

"Like?" Maxwell pressed.

"How do you know you can trust me?"

"You gave us the code last night," Winner answered simply.

"Yes, but I can still see doubt on all your faces. You called Lady Une, didn't you Mr. Yuy?"

Yuy looked slightly taken aback. "Yes. What of it?"

"No reason; that just tells me that you now know you can trust me."

"You're very confusing…" Maxwell muttered.

"Mr. Yuy checked with Lady Une about whether I really was assigned here, is that correct?"

"Yes," Yuy answered.

"Then he knows I'm trustworthy."

"But what about the boy?" I inquired skeptically. All this small talk was irritating me, I wanted to figure out the things I didn't know rather than hear about the things I already knew.

"What about Shiloh?" she challenged me in a warning tone. I could see the irritation in her creepy eyes and had to suppress a shudder.

I leaned back in my chair to get more comfortable before speaking. "You can't expect us to agree with the idea of housing a little boy in the middle of a dangerous assignment. What if we're traced?"

"That's a risk I have to take. I don't leave Shiloh behind; I can't."

"Sparx, no matter his medical conditions, it's too dangerous for him to stay here," Maxwell argued. "We're all in constant danger wherever we go."

"I dare you to tell me something I don't know, Maxwell." She placed one elbow on the table to lean forward. "Besides, it's my responsibility to raise him, and that's what I do when I'm not working. His condition has a butt-load to do with it. For example, c0hange upsets him terribly. If I were to leave him with a complete stranger in an unfamiliar setting, he's capable of hurting himself in the temper tantrums that are caused."

"So aren't we an intrusion, then?" Yuy asked.

"In his mind, yes. He'll get used to it, no worries."

"Must be a severe case if he's that sensitive to change," I couldn't help but comment. I had studied autism very briefly in my scholarly training, but hadn't covered much of it before I was sucked into the war.

"Not at all, Mr. Chang," she answered. "One of the most common traits of autism is dislike to change. The move here was a little traumatic for him, but the effects are slow to surface."

"Are there other traits?" Maxwell asked with genuine interest.

"Oh yes. Trouble communicating, learning disabilities, sporadic temper tantrums, and hypersensitivity to pain are a few. In Shiloh's case, he can hardly speak and he's hard to understand when he does. I tutor him the best I can, but learning is one of his strong points. He's very wise for his age."

"He's shy," Winner commented off-handedly.

"He's distrustful of anyone he doesn't know, sometimes even frightened. Most people can't touch him without sending him into a fit."

"He clings to you, though," Maxwell pointed out.

"Yes," she nodded. "Unless I'm on a mission, he's never far from me."

"That must be taxing at times," I commented. She only shrugged.

"I'm there for him when I can be. That's all I can offer him, and I won't let him down."

"So how are we supposed to handle him?" Barton asked.

"He's getting along marvelously with all of you so far," she mused, glancing at all of us but me. I knew she was avoiding my gaze. "He seems to trust you most, Maxwell."

"You're not Chinese," I blurted out. She turned to look at me, both confusion and defense showing on her features.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not Chinese. You're allowed to call us all by our first names."

"What's the matter, Chang, unable to be in the same room with someone as courteous as you try to be?"

I narrowed my eyes, a habit I had when I felt annoyed by someone.

"Oh I'm sorry," she continued in mock surprise. "Did I offend you with my good manners?" She smiled. "Too bad; deal with it, Chinaboy."

Maxwell struggled to stifle his laughter, but I caught wind of his efforts. Sparx chuckled and sat back in her chair, playing with the empty water glass in front of her.

"The best you can do as far as handling Shiloh," she continued back on the original conversation, "is to just be perceptive to what he does. Learn how he interacts with you, learn his body language, and listen to me when I tell you something about him. Other than that, it's a trial and error path. Just don't avoid him like the plague, that makes him very self conscious and I don't want him jumping on that one way train ride again..."

That last comment confused me, and I'm sure it confused the others as well. One of us probably would have inquired about it, but at that moment the boy walked into the room with a text book open in his hands. Squeezing his way between Maxwell and Sparx, he set the book on the table in front of her and pointed to a spot in the book, making a helpless moan. Sparx bent over the book to read some part of it, and I decided to take that opportunity to leave the room and find some peace of mind elsewhere. I caught sight of Yuy watching me as I left the table and walked out of the kitchen. He had a habit of watching me when I prefer not to be seen. No matter, I suppose; it didn't really matter where I hid in the estate, Yuy would find me if he wanted to.

I trekked a short distance to the library to look for the book I was working on. I have to say Great Expectations is one of my favorite novels, though I wouldn't readily admit that to anyone I know. It took but a moment of searching to realize I had left it in my room. So with an annoyed sigh, I went upstairs to my room and came back down with my book in hand. I went through the library, past the indoor pool, and through several more hallways before making it to the back door of the mansion. To get any peace around here, I'd have to be away from the others, which didn't bother me at all. People call me Solitary Dragon for a reason.

I walked out to one of several gardens on the estate grounds and sat down under a tree to read my book. I was surprised at how long I was being left at peace. Only when I started wondering about how soon the quiet would be interrupted did I realize how edgy I was about having other people here in the mansion. I would have liked to say that it didn't bother me in the least; that I really didn't care. In reality, I did care. I didn't like the bright idea of having a woman and a boy here, in the middle of serious potential danger. It outright bothered me. I couldn't really explain it to myself, but I had this creeping, very quiet desire to make them leave for safety's sake. It annoyed me that I felt this way about someone I didn't know anything about. At the least, Sparx annoyed me every time she opened her mouth.

Perhaps it annoyed me more that I really didn't know anything about her, and she wouldn't tell us anything. I felt a sense of jealousy that she could get away with being so mysterious, when I'm supposed to be the most mysterious one of us all. Huh… almost as if she had stolen half my title literally overnight. Maxwell knew of her; where did that come from? Within the past few years, we had all learned a little more about each other. I had heard tiny parts of everyone's past, and they of mine. I knew that Maxwell had been in a gang of orphans led by a boy who called himself Solo, but of all the names he mentioned, Sparx wasn't one of them. It annoyed me, also, that she had no last name to speak of. I felt almost disrespectful trying to address her by the only name I knew her by.

Why is it that females have to be so frickin' complicated?!

Thinking on the delicate topic of women got me thinking about how much had changed since the war ended.

Vice Foreign Minister Relena Dorlian had taken time off to search for none other than Yuy. At the time I had felt sorry for him. Later on, I heard from other people that Dorlian had immediately confessed her deep-seeded feelings for him upon finally finding him. Apparently, he felt the same way, and dedicated much of his time standing by her side as her "body guard" until he was called to the Preventors foundation.

Maxwell, being the ladies man he's always been, soon had Hilde Schbeiker in his arms. Not a big surprise to me, considering she hung on him every chance she got during the war.

Winner had fallen head over heels for Dorothy Catalonia, of all possible people on earth and in space! She had been set on killing him for most of the war, and look what happened instead. She's very demanding of him when they're together. It makes me sick…

Both Barton and I had been left to our lonely selves, and I had no problem with my being alone. Though Sally Po is a close friend of mine, I had no desire to push it into a relationship.

As for Barton, I had long since given up trying to figure out what went through his head. I can tell he thinks a lot, but he makes little sense when he speaks half the time. Very sensible, but probably the black sheep out of us.

All of that thinking had only served to worsen my irritated mood, so I took a deep cleansing breath and returned to my reading.

Why should I worry about that woman and the boy anyway? It's not my concern that they choose to risk their necks by staying here. So long as they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone.

Coming to that conclusion, I settled back against the tree and turned the page. Just as I was sucking in a calming breath, the sharp snap of a branch being stepped on alerted me to someone behind me. I felt my shoulders slump, and ended up letting out that breath in thoroughly saturated irritation.

"What do you want?" I asked. There was no answer. I immediately got that creepy feeling typical of knowing that someone is watching you but you don't know who or where they are. A shuffle behind me made it obvious that they were making no effort to stay quiet. I was in no mood to play games, so I stood up and turned around.

"What?!" I sucked in a half-startled breath just after saying it. It was that boy again; why did he follow me like this?! Once again he was staring at me with that innocent look that made my stomach turn. In a way I guess I hated innocence. Innocence meant cluelessness, and in war that meant certain death.

Shiloh looked like he was either about to wet himself, or about to dart off again. If he was so scared of me, why did he look at me in the first place? I could make no sense of his actions, but I guessed his autism was the cause of that. He sucked in a breath as if to say something, paused, then pointed back at the house and grunted. Feeling no inclination to speak to him, I only did what I thought he was trying to tell me. I sighed, closed my book, took off my glasses, and stepped forward in the direction of the house.

Once again, he squeaked fearfully and sprinted ahead of me, looking back only once to make sure I wasn't at his heels. That fearful look on his face annoyed me, though I couldn't explain why at the time. I made sure to keep my distance and just took my time going back to the mansion, not really wanting to go back at all. About halfway back, Shiloh ran back to me, stopping just out of arms reach and making sure to keep his distance. He grunted at me urgently, desperately almost, jabbing a finger at the mansion as if something were wrong.

I felt a certain sense of dread just then, and with it came the urge to jog the rest of the way. So I did. Once again the boy raced ahead of me, seeming to not be around me once I got the message. It didn't take me long to get back to the mansion, and I went inside the same way I had come out. I followed Shiloh through the hallways, letting him lead me to where everyone else was. He led me to the security room, and stopped in the doorway, making no move to go inside. I passed him and walked in. Everyone was standing around one of the computer monitors. They were watching something, and whatever it was must have been important; even Yuy was oblivious to my arrival. I walked over to an empty spot in the semicircle they had formed to see what was going on. Duo was sitting in the computer chair, hands on the keyboard as if he had been working at the computer. Sparx stood to his right, leaning over slightly to stare at the monitor. It still urked me a little that she was here in our business. Instead of dwelling on that, I turned my attention to the screen.

What looked like news footage was playing on the screen. There was no sound, only the pictures. The camera was shaking horribly, catching glimpses of people running away and then at a smoking building. The camera was obviously being held by someone who was running with the crowd. If I looked carefully at the people within the short glimpses, I could see them opening their mouths to scream. They looked scared.

"Damn…" I heard Yuy whisper.

Now I was convinced that this was something important. The camera glanced back at the building, but all that could be seen was a cloud of dust. My mind went through a very short moment of stupidity, and I almost asked, "where'd the building go?", but I knew. It had collapsed. There were probably innocent people in that building. I was starting to feel irritated again, but for a different reason. I clenched my fists at my sides, willing myself to watch the rest of the footage to find out where this might be taking place.

The cameraman stopped to stare at the approaching dust cloud, either because that person was awestruck by the destruction, wanted good footage, or because he was unbelievably stupid. The camera shook as the cloud enveloped it. There were suddenly short clips of sound to accompany the picture. The loudness of the noise startled me; Maxwell must have turned it up when he started playing this recording. He moved quickly to turn it down, and everyone seemed to settle a little and return their attention to the monitor. The sound was full of static, and seemed to be nothing more than a jumble of screaming, incoherent words, and the roaring of wind. The sound cut out again, but the picture didn't lose its horrifying edge. When it cut back in again, I could hear the fast thudding of hooves on sand. My brow furrowed a little as I thought about it. Horses? In the middle of a terrorist attack? Where was this happening?

Again the sound cut out, just as a dark horse zoomed past the camera. The picture whirled about for a moment, as if the cameraman had fallen over or been pushed. In all the swirling dust and with patchy sound, it was hard to understand what was happening. The sound came back, and with it came horrified yelling, terrified screams, the voices of wailing and scared children. The camera was moving about again, and out in the thick screen of dust I could see large shadows moving about. One shadow came close enough to the camera for me to make out that it was a woman, and it looked as if she was running from something. That dark horse and its rider emerged from the thinning dust, chasing her. She was no more than three feet from the camera when the rider swung a short curved sword I didn't know he'd been carrying. The woman shrieked, fell, and blood spattered onto the camera lens. Maxwell and Winner gasped, Barton shuffled restlessly, I cursed in Mandarin, and Yuy remained eerily silent. Sparx walked away from the screen and started pacing behind us.

Duo turned off the footage and spun around in his chair.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

"The Desert House Group," he answered shortly. "That attack occurred earlier today in Arabia. They've started blinding their targets before attacking them."

"Lady Une called a few minutes ago and sent us the information," Barton explained further. "Someone needs to call her back."

"I'll do it," Sparx replied.

"This is none of your business!"

Everyone stared at me. Did I just say that? Having her here did irritate the hell out of me, but I wouldn't be so crude as to say that… Would I?

Sparx had froze halfway to the door. She turned on her heel and walked up to me. I hadn't really realized how short she was until now, as she stared up at me coldly.

"Dig this, Chinaboy," she hissed dangerously. "I'm now part of this team whether you like it or not, and there's nothing you can do about it. So why don't you make it easier for all of us, and pull your head out of your ass."

Once again I caught Duo trying to stifle his laughter. Sparx smirked and walked out of the room, but I could tell she was still angry by that look in her eyes. I felt like I was covered in an icy frost, all because she had stared at me. It puzzles me how women can be frighteningly intimidating despite small size or weakness.

"What's wrong with you?" Winner hissed.

"Just what Sparx said," Maxwell commented. "You've got your head halfway up your ass."

"Just give her a chance, Wufei. I'm sure she'll prove her worth."

"Fine!" I yelled, "Enough with ganging up on Chinaboy." I felt a little foolish about it all, and I left the room in a huff. I didn't usually like being around people, much less have them band together to humiliate me. I hadn't even intended to say anything, it just… slipped.

The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became. I still had my book in my hand, and my glasses in my pocket, so I decided to go back outside and read until I cooled off. Halfway past the indoor pool, I ran into Shiloh. He stood in the middle of the hallway, so unless I scared him there was no way past. I didn't exactly want to scare him.

He was staring at me again. I was starting to really dislike him just for that. But his look was different somehow. HE didn't seem so outwardly scared; it was more of a tense and alert posture. His slight brow furrowed a little bit, as if he were trying timidly to warn me.

"What?" I demanded quietly. "Are you gonna scold me about it too?"

He tilted his head curiously to the side. Damn that cute look…

"Oh never mind! It's not like you have to worry about it anyway." I stepped forward to pass him. As usual, he squeaked and stepped aside, hugging the glass wall of the pool as I walked by.

I didn't know how long they were going to stay with us, but it would be hell for the entire duration. Who knew what we were getting into because of them…

AN: Hey everyone. A thousand apologies for the lateness of this chapter, and a thousand thanks for your patience and the help of my best friend and soul sister, 8Artemis8. I'm hoping to get a lot more consistent with my updates, and now that the extended family is filtering out it should be a lot easier to do so. Forgive the imminent grammar mistakes, as I typed it up in somewhat of a hurry. R&R, and thanks to all my supporters! ^.^