Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sunset Over the Horizon ❯ Itel ( Chapter 2 )

* Disclaimer: I do not own the Gundam boys or any other character from the series.

Warnings: Evil child like mischief by 6 year old child will be present, lemon, lime, yuri, occasional fluff.

Pairings: 1X2X1, 3X4X3, HXRXH, 5XS, 6XN.

Rating: NC17

Author: Ryouga.

Authors note: This fic is my, er *belated* Christmas Fic for Itel_oni. Sorry it's late girl.

Title: Sunset over the horizon ---- Sequel fic to A Love Beyond All Measure.

Sunset over the Horizon

Part 2: Itel.

Heero parked the car in the car park of the adoption agency and the two of them headed towards the main building.

Duo stopped at the bottom of the stairs as Heero continued on advancing upwards. Suddenly realizing the braided fool wasn't behind him, he turned to see where he'd managed to disappear too...

"Maxwell?"

"Are we doing the right thing Heero." Questioning eyes turned to meet Prussian blue.

"A little late to worry about that now isn't it Duo?" He nodded at the large building in front of them.

Duo grinned a lopsided grin as he ran the rest of the way up the stairs. "Good point Yuy."

Shaking his head a little Heero continued on behind him up the last few stairs.

~*~

Dark long brown hair in a pony tail, hazel eyes that held contempt and attitude. Dressed in blue jeans, blue T-shirt and sweater, white socks and sneakers, she sat swinging her legs under the chair. She looked to be about six or seven years old years old and of Asian descent.

She sighed.

Obviously tired of waiting. It seemed like she was always waiting. She'd waited at that kindergarten a year ago for her parents to come and get her, but they had never arrived.

How she hated them for that, hated them for leaving her, hated them for not being around when she was tired and wanted to curl up in their arms and sleep. Hated them for being *dead*. She knew it wasn't their fault, she knew it couldn't be helped. But still, she didn't understand what had happened and her sadness had turned into hate.

"They're not coming are they?" she asked the woman at the desk beside her. "They don't want me either!"

The woman dressed in a khaki suit looked up from her paper work and gave the young girl a reassuring smile. "Now Itel." the woman began solemnly. " Give them a chance to get here young lady. They rang and said they'd be a little late that's all."

"No one else wanted me, so why should they?"

It was true. The last two foster homes had sent her back. *Uncontrollable* one had complained *Rude and impolite, a menace* the other had said and then she had been returned to the orphanage. A deep-rooted feeling of being unwanted and unloved had settled in her heart.

The woman sighed. "Itel, I'm sure these two will be different." She thought of something to get the child's mind off the negative and back onto the positive. "What about Duo? You said you liked him when you met them last week."

"He's ok for a boy. But the other one is a bit grumpy lookin' and he's always going *Hn* and glaring at Duo. Even I can say more than just *Hn*."

The woman gave a small chuckle. "Heero is just a bit on the serious side I'm sure you'll warm up to each other after a while."

"If you say so Mrs. Jenkins." the girl replied a little cheekily. "But I dunno. I think I'd have better luck with a fireplace."

Another chuckle left Mrs. Jenkins lips as she continued with the paper work.

*Knock, Knock, knock.*

Two heads turned to face each other and then the door. "Come in!" Mrs. Jenkins called out.

Baited breath waited to be released as the door slowly opened and two young men walked into the room.

"You came. You really came!" the girl shouted loudly as she jumped off the chair and flew into the braided one's arms, hugging him senseless.

"Of course we came! I told ya we would. Like I said before we left the other day..."

"I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie" Two voices echoed together.

"Hey, I'm impressed! You memorized it." the braided one praised. "Did ya hear that Heero she memorized it. Don't ya think she did a great job?""

"Hn." Heero replied watching the two of them together.

"See!" Itel glanced up at Mrs. Jenkins a triumphant look of *I told ya so* on her face. "That's all he ever says. Well not all the time I s'pose, but he says it lots."

Duo snickered and Mrs. Jenkins rolled her eyes. Heero stood silently, observing the girl observing him. It was obvious that she was trying to assess his tolerance levels for cheeky little brats for whom Duo took a liking to.

Well, she was a little cute, but he wasn't about to admit it outright.

"I'm so glad you could make it today." Mrs. Jenkins began as she fidgeted with some paper work on her desk. "This was the only appointment time I had until next week."

Duo grinned and sat down, the young girl still attached to his neck. "Well even though we're a little late there's no way in the universe I would've missed out on this, not even for ice cream." he winked at Itel and she giggled.

"It wasn't ice cream that made us late." Heero said with a smirk.

Duo blushed.

Unaware of the slight teasing between the two young men, Mrs. Jenkins passed them both a pen and some forms. "I have all the paperwork ready to go and all I need now is your signatures. So if you'd like to read through them, then, if you're comfortable with them, sign here and here." She pointed to a boxed area on all the forms."

Itel crawled down from Duo's lap. "I'll go get my bag while you do that ok?"

"You got it kiddo." Duo smiled at her as she rushed back over to the chair she had been sitting on when they'd arrived. He watched as she opened up her bag and started to check everything, making sure it was all there. Duo couldn't help it, he was attached to the kid already.

Heero picked up the paper work and looked over it meticulously. Duo signed on the dotted line without so much as a second glance. Heero glanced over at him, watching as he scribbled his signature on each of the forms. "I gather you saw it then?"

Duo handed his paperwork over to Mrs. Jenkins. "Here ya go all done." He turned to face Heero with a large grin on his face. "Saw what?"

Heero began to read from a section of the paperwork. "Any type of deserts, candies or other such treats and privileges are only to be eaten by all parties in carer positions, as well as the child only if … 1. The child has earned it *i.e.* behavioral wise, and, 2. If the child has satisfactorily completed their meal before hand."

Blinking, Duo grabbed the paperwork back off Mrs. Jenkins. " Sorry about this but lemme see that again would ya?"

Certainly Mr Maxwell." she replied, allowing him to remove it from her hand. She had realized at this point what Heero was attempting to do and gave him a knowing nod. Heero in return, nodded his appreciation for her keeping quiet as Duo frantically searched for this, what he felt was an extremely harsh rule.

Duo re-read the paperwork three times, and try as he might, he still couldn't see where it was. Finally he placed the papers back on the desk and scratched his head. "I can't find it Heero where was it?"

"Ya been duped Duo." Itel grinned, peering up from her bag. "Even *I* know there ain't no rule like that in there."

Heero promptly threw a slight glare at the girl who just shrugged and retaliated by poking her tongue out. "Shouldn't tell lies Mr Heero." she said chastising him. "Especially in front of kids. Teaches `em bad habits don't ya know?"

"It wasn't a lie." Heero stated. "It was a necessary ploy to get Duo to read the forms properly. Sometimes if you don't read everything properly you can miss important things."

"Heero's right Itel." Duo said in his husbands defense." Lemme see. Ok. Let's put it this way." he said walking up to her and sitting by her on the floor. "Say if you got an invite to a party and you open the invitation and start reading it."

"Ahuh."

"And you go fast reading it because you want to see who's invited you, but you go too fast and you read it wrong, accidentally mistaking the finishing time of the party for the starting time. Then when you get there the party has finished. How would you feel?"

"I dunno cause *I* wouldn't be that dumb! I'd read it slow."

Duo chuckled a little. "Well just for me k. Say that did happen. How would you have felt?"

Itel stopped rustling around in her bag long enough to fold her arms and think about an answer. " Hmmm." She started putting some thought into it. "Well, ok, yeah. I would feel pretty dumb!!"

Duo ruffled her fringe a little. "So you see Heero's just trying to protect me from doing something silly."

Hazel eyes gazed momentarily into the violet before her. Her mind grasped the logic of Duo's words and she nodded. "I get it now." A grin covered her small round face. "He doesn't want you to look like a stupid idiot right?"

Duo's jaw dropped, his mouth opened but words escaped him and nothing came out. The sincerity and harshness of the truth from a child sunk into his every pore and he sighed, somewhat defeated

Heero's face developed a slight grin as he enjoyed his moment of victory as it shone before his very eyes, as this *wonderful* child gave his cause the support it needed to sink into the baka Shinigami's thick skull. "Exactly. " he answered the girl in confirmation of her question.

"Well then." Mrs. Jenkins voice sounded out bringing the Shinigami some sort of relief from this embarrassing moment in time. "Everything's signed. It's all correct and I can see no problems at all, so when ever you're ready to get going Itel is all yours and if you find it all works out then it's up to you for the final option we were discussing the other day over the phone."

Heero nodded and glanced over at the two misfits by the chair. He could see why Duo had taken such a shine to her. It was almost as if they were two of the same. Now instead of one big kid, he had two to contend with. " Well I think we should get Itel back and get her settled into her room."

The girl glanced up at the words, almost knocking her bag off the chair. "My room?" The astonished voice almost cracked with excess excitement. "You mean, you mean I have my *own* room?"

Duo stood up from the floor and stretched. "Yup. You heard the man kiddo. You have your own room." He gave her a wink. "Complete with your own bed, your own set of drawers and your very own bedside table."

The girl blinked. She could swear this was starting to sound like a dream. Her own room and with all that stuff, and she didn't have to share with mean, older, other peoples kids who'd boss her about and blame her for everything. This was so neat. She hadn't had her own room for a long time now. Not since… She tossed the thoughts aside. This was no time to start crying about the past. "That's so cool. I have my own room. Does that mean I can put Chester on my bedside table next to my bed?" she asked rifling through her bag once again.

"Chester?" Duo asked the girl. "Who's Chester?"

The girl continued to rifle through her bag as she answered him. "He's my bear. I got him off my mom when I was five but, but I can't find him any where." She folded her arms and looked to the ceiling as if in deep thought." Aww, crap! I must have left him at the Griffiths' place. Damn it!"

"Itel!" Mrs. Jenkins chastised the girl. "Language please. You should know better."

The girl avoided eye contact with her like the plague. "But they suck and they hate me too. I have to get him back, so now I gotta go over and get him and that means I gotta see all their ugly faces again."

"ITEL!!" the woman said in a stronger tone of voice. "That's enough!" She glanced over at Duo and Heero with an apologetic look.

Heero nodded. "We can go by their place and pick the bear up Itel, but Mrs. Jenkins is right. You need to show respect even if they have done you wrong. It makes you the better man."

Itel stared into those deep Prussian blue eyes. "Yeah well I ain't no man, I'm a kid! Do I look like I got ba…"

"…I_think it's time to go get the bear." Duo interrupted with a smirk on his face. The more time he spent with this kid the more he liked her, but it was better in this instance *not* to let her finish what she'd started.

Heero could see this was going to be an interesting trip. The girl disliked these people and it was obvious, since they'd returned the girl, that they felt the same way inclined. "Do you know where to go Itel?" He asked her.

A slight nod of the head began the reply as she finished zipping her bag back up and turned to face the Prussian eyed man. "Course I do. What sort of question is that? I'm not dumb ya know!"

"Obviously not." Heero replied as he turned to face Mrs. Jenkins, giving the woman a short respectful bow of his head. "I'll contact you as soon as we arrive back home."

Mrs. Jenkins got up from her seat behind the desk and walked over to the three of them who were now standing side-by-side, Itel's hand grasping Duo's tightly. "Thank you so much for taking Itel on gentlemen." She gratefully shook their hands and then looked down at Itel. " Promise me young lady that you won't misbehave for your new foster parents. This all goes towards the adoption you know and if you cause trouble you know what will happen." she warned the youngster.

"Yeah. I know, but it weren't me before. It was them. I told ya what they did!" the girl replied in her own defense.

"I know Itel, I know! But it was your word against theirs. You know that we have to prove that it actually happened before we can take action."

The girl sighed. "I know and I'm only a kid. A kid with a demons soul. Least that's what Mr Griffiths used ta say before locking me under the stairs."

"Is this true?" Duo asked a little heatedly. The thought of some one mistreating a young child in that way made his blood boil.

Mrs. Jenkins sighed. " Well I believe Itel; but I'm afraid the agency has had problem's fostering her over the past year and both times the families were adamant it was her doing when they brought her back."

"There's always going to be jealousy with families who foster if they already have children." Heero's voice was calm and quiet as he spoke. "No doubt favoritism would have been the main source of Itel's troubles."

Mrs. Jenkins nodded in agreement. "I know that too, but I just organize the paper work etcetera. I'm not responsible for the agencies action's when it comes to the welfare of the child." She smiled at the young girl. "I only wish I were because I would have investigated further."

Duo squeezed the girl's hand tight. "Well it ain't gonna happen here. Right Itel? It's just you me and Heero."

Itel swung around and hugged the braided man tightly. "I'll do my best to be real good Duo, honest I will."

Duo's heart melted as the young girl clung to him. " I know ya will Itel. Now you'd better say see ya to Mrs. Jenkins cause we need to get going if we're gonna get that bear of yours."

Itel let go of Duo long enough to give Mrs. Jenkins a quick hug. "Thank you Mrs. Jenkins for lookin' after me. "

"You're welcome Itel. Now just remember what I said about behaving alright?"

The girl nodded attaching herself to Duo's arm as he picked up her bag for her. "I will. I promise."

Heero started for he door. "I'll talk with you soon." he reconfirmed as he held the door open for Duo and the girl. "And don't worry about Itel." he smirked as he went to leave. " I'm sure she'll be easier to handle than Duo."

The door shut and they were gone.

Mrs. Jenkins smiled to herself. Maybe the girl had finally found a place to call home.

~*~

The Griffith's' place was only a few blocks from the agency. A tall, fancy looking place. Two stories high, a white washed picket fence; it was almost like the perfect dream home. The gardens were clean and tidy, bushes and hedges pruned and Duo took a distinct disliking to the man as soon as he opened the door Dressed in fancy clothes acting like he was some kind of worshipped deity.

"Yes. Can I help you? " he asked, looking down at them like they were dirt.

"I believe you have a child's toy bear that was left here a short time ago?" Heero inquired as Itel shuffled nervously behind Duo.

"And just what business is that of yours?" he asked impolitely.

"It belongs to our foster daughter and we would like it returned to her. "

Griffiths saw her shuffling behind the longhaired `lout' and pointed. "What is she doing here? How dare you bring such a filthy animal into my presence."

Duo saw red when he turned and found himself gazing into the sad little eyes and he stepped forward, ready to strike out. "Why; I oughta just…"

Heero placed his hand in front of Duo stopping him from doing something stupid. "Just give the bear to us and we'll be on our way. We want no trouble."

"Trouble?!" The man laughed. " It's too late now! You'll be sorry you chose that little demon. I'm warning you, she'll cause you nothing but trouble."

The bear?" Heero asked again, ignoring the man and his ramblings.

"I'll get you the infernal bear and then get off my property and out of my sight before that filthy piece of dirt causes me more evil." he growled, disappearing for a few minutes.

Duo was livid. He wanted nothing more to take a swing at this, this, this bastard. The only thing that was stopping him was the fact that Heero had prevented him from going that extra step. Maybe it was better that way. If things were to work out for them as well as Itel then they'd all need to be cautious with their behavior.

He watched with an angry scowl on his face as Griffiths returned with a small fluffy bear shoving it into Heero's arms. "Now take it and go!"

"Thank you." Heero turned and gave the bear to Itel who grabbed onto it and then onto Duo, tears in her eyes caused by the events of the past few minutes. "Take her to the car Duo." Heero ordered firmly, turning back to face the nasty man before him. "I have something for you in return."

"What's that?" Griffiths snapped.

Heero gave the man a slight smirk and Duo realizing what was to come, grabbed Itel by the midsection and hightailed it back to the car as fast as he could go. But it was already too late. Itel had seen the punch that laid the nasty man out cold on the floor and her mouth gaped open wide.

Duo seat belted Itel, then waited as Heero walked casually back to the car as if none of the recent events had even taken place.

"That's right, keep all the fun for yourself." Duo grinned as he and Heero climbed into the car and buckled up.

Heero glanced in the rear view mirror and watched the girl as she tightly hugged her most prized possession. "That wasn't fun Duo." he calmly told him. "That was retribution!"

~*~