Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Tears ❯ Delayed ( Chapter 4 )

TITLE: Tears

CHAPTER: 4 - Delayed.

AUTHOR: Anastasia

PAIRINGS: 2x5/5x2, 1+2/2+1, 1x5/5x1, 3x4

WARNINGS: This might get a bit complicated (the fic, I mean), yaoi, language, perhaps angst later (but not to much), little bit of sap. Set after Endless Waltz.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Jack, Gundam Wing or anything else I happen to use in this fic.

NOTES: Kassia (Kah-c-ah) is mine, I don't mind the name. New Character! But you'll love her, I am sure!

DEDICATION: To those who are reading! Review as well as read, please??!!??

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Kassia moved silently through the decrepit streets of L2. Her bear feet made no noise on the cracked cement and bitumen that formed the basis of the foundation on which houses have been erected and brought down by the years of wars that had occurred not that long ago.

Thugs sneered at her, bearing their rotting teeth and cracking their knuckles. She payed then no heed, they knew what would happen if they crossed her. She moved towards the more expensive area, less dilapidated then the near condemned suburb which she had emerged from.

Walking through the now heedless crowds, she looked for a likely victim. The one she was concerned for was waiting for her at home. They needed food tonight, he was sick and still concerned for her safety enough to ask her not to go out. It broke her heart seeing him like this, ashen faced and pleading from a collapsing bed, and guilt was eating at her for disobeying him, but she had to. He had done so much for her, taking care of her as soon as he returned after the wars. He had never forgotten or left her, like the others in her life. He just had to get better. It was her only hope in life.

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Wufei and Heero walked through the dirty streets of L2. Wufei was careful not to touch anything with any part of is anatomy other than his feet, which were safely concealed within thick soled shoes. Heero was walking closely beside him, keeping an eye out for any signs that could hint at Duo's presence.

They had been on the colony for about three days and no one they had spoken to had known anything about the braided man. They had been so sure that Duo would be here, back at his home colony. Now that they had actually experienced what the colony was like, they were struck with insecurities about whether or not Duo would have returned to this hell-forsaken place.

The moved through the crowds of nameless faces who were more concerned with avoiding pickpockets than anything else, sharp eyes scanning at every face and beyond for Duo. They had stuck with staying in the more populated areas where there was some semblance of order and signs of feeble attempts at recovering from the wars. Neither of them thought that Duo would go back to the vile streets he had escaped from years ago. He had made it seem like he never wanted to return to that type of life, just help those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the same situation that he had been in.

At the same moment the pair spotted the end of a braid through the press of bodies. They looked at each other, confirming that the other had seen it before pushing their way past the swarm of human bodies. Duo, it had to be Duo.

They moved with the grace that can only be acquired through the practise of martial arts, not natural but perfected through endless hours of training. People parted for them without even realising, their bodies naturally reacting to the pairs' presence. They followed the hints they saw of the end of a long braid making its way through the masses, parting people with practised ease.

They hadn't been following the almost phantom for more than a minute before the ex-pilots lost it. They stopped momentarily, catching their breath while still surveying the area they had ended at. As they tried to get their bearings and decide on the best course of action they heard a scream from nearby.

Wufei immediately started running towards the noise. He had been sure it was a girl's voice that had voice the scream, and from the pitch, the girl wasn't that old. Even though he hadn't been as sheltered from the harsher acts of life as others would believe, he would not stand for any woman to be violated if he could help it.

He skidded around the sharp corner that was created by a partially collapsed building at the end of the block. He stopped once he saw the scene before him, rage gathering at the abuse of strength and power that had taken place. Heero was directly behind him, ready to back him up in any way possible.

A girl, who couldn't be more than thirteen, sat on the cracked pavement, cradling an obviously broken arm. Two huge men, who looked to be gang members, stood above her. They were about to advance on the girl again, calling her names and making suggestive comments about what they should do with her as `punishment'. A third man stood to the side, keeping a lookout for anyone who might come along and to encourage people to just look the other way.

Wufei went into action immediately, kicking the watcher down before he had even opened his mouth to ask Wufei to leave. Heero moved quickly and took the bigger of the two men out while Wufei pinned the other to the ground.

"What the /hell/ did you think you were doing, attacking someone weaker then you like that?" Wufei asked the goon, pressing his face harshly into the ground.

The now scared man didn't have time to reply before Wufei lifted his head up and slammed it back into the ground, just hard enough to prevent knocking the man unconscious.

"Perhaps you should know what it feels like to be weak, even though you are already." Wufei whispered at the man, lifting his head back up and crashing it to the ground again.

While Wufei was reaping just punishment on the man, Heero was seeing to the little girl. He approached her carefully, showing her that he meant no harm to her. She was backed onto a wall, holding her arm to her chest and only a slight sheen to her eyes betrayed the fact that she was holding in tears. He squatted in front of her, smiling slightly (or as close to smiling as Heero could manage) and reached out his hand.

"My name's Heero. Do you want me to take a look at that arm for you?" He near whispered, still holding out his hand.

Her eyes widened slightly at his name, but she gave no other indication that she had heard the Japanese man. He let a small sigh escape him but gave no other indication that he had realised that this was going to take a while.

Wufei finished `punishing' the man, and left him on the ground unconscious while he walked up to where Heero was squatting in front of the girl. He couldn't see if Heero was making any progress, as he had squatted directly in the girl's view of what Wufei was doing to the man and thus cut of Wufei's view of the girl. He walked slowly, unknowingly mimicking Heero's earlier moves.

"Did they do anything else to you?" He asked quietly, squatting beside Heero.

The girl shook her head, but still stayed pressed up against the wall, eyes occasionally flickering to the side, looking for a way to escape. It was much the same as what they had seen Duo do when he was cornered when they were sparing. They never stuck to traditional sparing, and would always fight until one of them had to call it quits or it was obvious that death would result from the current position.

"My name's Wufei, what's yours?" He asked, holding his hand out just like Heero had.

She glanced from the hand to the two men in front of her and back to that hand. Then she timidly reached out her good arm and shook Wufei's hand.

"Kassia. Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have to get home. Dad'll be waking up soon." She made to stand, but the action cause her arm to move and she swayed, near fainting, almost as soon as she had made to move.

Heero looked concerned. "Will you let me take a look at your arm, please? I could try fixing it here, if you don't want to go to the hospital."

Wufei's eyes widened slightly at the suggestion, but wasn't about to question Heero's actions.

"I need to get home. He's sick, and I couldn't get any money from. . ." Kassia trailed off, realising what she was telling the two strangers.

"Ah, so that is why they were attacking you. You should know not to pick pockets, especially from people who are obviously from a gang." It was a very light admonishment, coming from Wufei, but the Kassia still hung her head.

Heero decided to step in, offering what he could to the young girl. "Okay, how about you come with us to our hotel room, Wufei will get some food together while I bandage your arm so that you can get back to your dad as soon as possible."

She looked as though she was considering her options for a moment. Realising that in this state she didn't have much choice she looked at the two Asian men in front of her. "Okay, but we have to get back to dad quickly. I don't really want him knowing what I was doing. . . is that okay?" she asked as an afterthought.

"Sure." Heero replied.

Wufei moved forward and gently picked up Kassia, being careful not to jostle her arm. Heero lead the way, having memorised the layout of L2 as best he could before hand and knowing generally where they were. It was only after Wufei picked Kassia up that they noticed something about her.

"That's a pretty long braid you have there." Wufei said, just loud enough for Heero to hear.

Heero spun around and looked at Wufei then to the braid. So, this was who they had been following through the crowd. The two ex-pilots couldn't stop the look of disappointment that crossed their faces. It hadn't been Duo after all.

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Anastasia

~*~ Proud member of SDDI ~*~

~*~ Proud member of SDQB ~*~

General of the Baka Brigade!!

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