Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ No Job for a Man ( Chapter 22 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 22: NO JOB FOR A MAN


Wufei-


Wufei and Nasty came up to the driveway of Noin's house when Wufei skid his motorcycle to a stop and helped her off the bike. Wufei took a deep breath. Now, the hard part. The part women always reacted badly to. "Nasty, please stay out of sight."

"What?" She asked, her eyes narrowing and Wufei knew she was hearing an implied insult.

"If there are assassins going after your brother, then it's very likely that they would see you as a target or potential hostage. Please, stay here and out of sight." Wufei really thought that he was being very sensible and reasonable.

There was a tense moment as Nasty considered what he was asking. Finally, with a bright, cheery smile, Nasty said, "Sure."

Wufei blinked, not sure that he'd heard right. Did she just agree without a fight? Somehow he'd thought she would be harder to convince than that. Still, he really shouldn't argue when she was finally starting to act sensibly. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He promised, pulling his gun out and readying it for action before he headed off into the shadows of the trees.

Wufei made it to the window of the house without trouble and hid himself just under the window when he heard voices inside. The conversation left little to the imagination and Wufei knew the voice of the woman from the tape he and Nasty had watched. The woman, Une, was threatening her prisoners and telling them point blank that she was going to kill them.

Wufei would have preferred to have his sword at that point, but knew that it was more efficient to use the gun. Peering cautiously over the edge of the window to get a look at the situation, Wufei took in the situation with a practiced eye.

He saw one man with reddish hair on the floor and unconscious. From the information Wufei had been able to collect, that man was Trieze Kushranada, the target Wufei had been looking for. Trieze didn't look very dangerous with his head lolling on another man's lap. Trieze's face was pale and his eyes were closed, as if he were simply asleep. Wufei knew that the man must have been injured in some way, but there was no blood that Wufei could see.

The man who held Trieze's head had very long white hair and looked absolutely furious. His arms were protectively around Trieze's shoulders, but he looked at their captor hatefully.

'I'm not sure who this is, but I can tell from his eyes that he's no civilian.' Wufei thought.

Worst of all, to Wufei's mind, was the fact that the Une was actually pointing the gun right at the forehead of a young woman with short dark hair. The woman, small and delicate looking, obviously had no place in a battle. 'How dare they threaten a woman?!' Wufei thought indignantly. Wufei simply couldn't imagine dragging a woman into a fight like this.

The evidence Wufei and Nasty had found on the video tape less than an hour ago, though, pointed to Une as being the ringleader of the assassins. Wufei, though he was very intelligent and was one of the finest minds of his generation, couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that a woman, A WOMAN, was in charge of this whole mess. It just didn't seem natural to him.

'How am I supposed to fight a woman?' He thought. Could he actually bring himself to kill her? Still, she was the criminal here. She was the one who'd killed Meiran.

Une wasn't alone in the crime. Also, in the room, were a dozen men wearing a sort of cast off military uniform. 'Mercenaries, most likely.' Wufei thought with a sneer. 'Greedy fools who fight for nothing more than money. Ah, and there's Mayers.' Wufei touched the dragon pendant Meiran had given him that was just under his shirt. 'Be with me, Meiran. I'm doing this for you.' When he thought the time was just right, Wufei jumped up and in through the open window.

The battle was short, but quite spectacular. Wufei attacked and the distraction was the perfect time for the victims to defend themselves. The young woman, presumably Nasty's friend, Noin, grabbed the gun from Lady Une's hands and the two wrestled for control of it. Noin showed greater strength that Wufei would have thought from her small body and fought well against Une who was several inches taller and looked much stronger.

The white haired man pulled out a gun from under his sweatshirt and started firing, never moving far from the man on the floor. It was all quite exhilarating, but Wufei didn't have time to appreciate it properly. He was engaged fighting with the man, Mayers. Mayers, well-dressed even when on a job like this, had tried to tackle Wufei. Wufei, fortunately, was faster and jumped out of the way, only to roll on the floor and end up with his back to a closed door.

Mayers had brute strength, but no proper training, so Wufei was confident that he'd defeat the man quite easily. "You shouldn't mettle in grown up business, little boy." Mayers said, grinning as he aimed his handgun lazily at Wufei. "You might get hurt."

"Fool." Wufei couldn't help but smile back, envisioning this man with a bullet between his eyes. If Wufei could get his knife out, a slit throat would be even better. "You think that because I'm a child, I'm helpless?"

Mayers' smile vanished, replaced by a scowl. "Damned kids. I hate kids. First Trowa and now you. Well, one of you out of the way is better than nothing, I guess." Mayers fired and Wufei dodged under the aim, grabbing Mayers by the legs and bringing him crashing to the floor. "What does it take to kill you brats?!" Mayers demanded, trying to shot again.

Wufei knocked the gun out of Mayer's hands and reached for the knife still hidden in the band of his pants. With one hand on Mayers' throat to keep him still, Wufei didn't know Mayers' other men coming toward him until rough hands grabbed him by the arms. Wufei was dragged off Mayers and pinned to the floor. He couldn't tell what was going on around him, or what had happened to the three people he'd come to rescue. The men holding him muttered,

"What's this kid eating? He's strong as a horse! Hold him, don't let him get free."

Meanwhile, Mayers had gotten back on his feet and picked up his gun again. "Coward!" Wufei screamed furiously from his vulnerable position. "Can't you even fight without a gun in your hands or do you just shot the defenseless?" He fought as hard as he could, but Wufei couldn't get even an arm free with so many men holding him down.

"I'm just here for the money, kid. I don't care how the job gets done, so long as it gets done." Mayers smirked and pulled back on the trigger.


Byakuen-


Byakuen slept deeply, still exhausted by the loss of the blood he'd given Anubisu. His sleep was troubled by a dull roar of...something in the background. It wasn't loud enough to wake him from his sleep, though. Byakuen lay on the floor in the same room where Anubisu had left him and really didn't want to move, yet.

"Wake up, Byakuen."

Byakuen tried to ignore the familiar voice.

"Come, you great beast." The voice continued, intruding into Byakuen's rest. "You are missing a grand battle."

Byakuen slowly opened his eyes at the insistent voice. Still feeling to tired to move, Byakuen just looked up at Sh'ten. The red haired man was dressed as he usually did when he wasn't expecting a battle, in a green kimono with pink sakura blossoms. His eyes were sad, though he smiled slightly. "You don't want to miss the excitement, do you? Get on your feet, you lazy creature."

Struggling, Byakuen did as Sh'ten told him. Shaky at first, Byakuen took a moment to steady himself. He could clearly hear the sounds of fighting in the room beyond and the scents of unfamiliar humans mingling with a few he did know.

Byakuen snarled, 'An enemy? In my den?!' He knew that Seiji and Ryou were gone, but Luc was still there along with Trieze and Zechs. The thought of Zechs made Byakuen wary, the white haired human was a dominant male and therefore dangerous. Trieze, however, made Byakuen feel down right hostile. That male was an alpha and was only barely tolerated in Byakuen's den.

Gathering what little strength he had, Byakuen burst through the door with a mighty roar. The humans in the room yelled and forgot what they were doing and started to run and scream, abandoning their fight. Byakuen saw Luc fighting with another female and Zechs was trying to defend Trieze against other attackers. Obviously, they were under attack.

A cub, some young male Byakuen hadn't seen before, was being held to the floor just in front of Byakuen, but the males holding him ran when they saw the white tiger. The cub looked up at Byakuen, his eyes wide with awe and fear.

Byakuen didn't waste time examining the cub, but turned his gaze back to the attackers. Byakuen jumped, landing on one of the running humans and holding him to the floor as they had done to the black haired cub.


Wufei-


Lady Une kicked Noin in the ribs hard, probably breaking a few of the ribs from the way Noin grunted and bent double. Noin's grip weakened for a just a second, long enough for Lady Une to pull it out of Noin's hands. Just before she could do anything with the gun, though, a most...unexpected assistance arrived.

The door just behind Wufei seemed to explode, showering the room with shards of wood. The biggest white tiger Wufei had ever seen jumped over his head and landed mere inches from Wufei's feet. The mercenaries scattered at the sight of the tiger and Wufei was finally free. It stood just in front of Wufei, so he was forced to look up to see it properly, and Wufei was awed by the sense of raw power radiating from the creature. For one of the very few times in his life, Wufei was speechless. The tiger was a mass of muscle; its brown, unearthly eyes scanned the room until they seemed to focus on Mayers, running like the coward he was.

The tiger's muscles tensed and then it sprung, jumping completely across the room and bringing Mayers to the ground before the man had even reached the door. It threw back its head and bared its huge fangs at the terrified Mayers, seeming to try to decide if it should eat him or not.

Lady Une let go of Noin when the tiger had appeared and dropped her gun as she ran away into the nearby forest while everyone was busy watching the tiger and Mayers. Une didn't notice that she'd also dropped her second gun, the one she'd used to drug Trieze.


Nasty-


As if Nasty was going to let Wufei just blunder into danger all alone! Wufei seems to be very sweet, but Nasty still wasn't sure if she could trust him. Still, he was apparently naïve enough to believe the sweet little girl smile she'd given him and, for that, Nasty was thankful. It would make everything easier.

Nasty knew that if she'd tried to argue with Wufei about her going with him, he'd have just gotten stubborn. There was really no point in trying to reason with some people and, Nasty suspected Wufei was one of those types of people. There was also no point in standing out there fighting while her friends might be getting killed inside the house.

Nasty noticed that Wufei had left the keys in his motorcycle. How very helpful. Nasty pulled the keys out of the ignition and slipped them in her pocket. If Wufei were telling the truth about just wanting to talk to Trieze, she'd give him back the keys with an apology. If, however, he were working for some enemy, Wufei wouldn't have a ready escape.

She had to keep her promise, though. Nasty was nothing if not a woman of her honor, so she decided to keep to the trees and just watch. That way, she could keep her promise to stay out of sight and still know what was going on.

Nasty watched Wufei sneak stealthily up to Noin's modest house. He wisely kept himself hidden in the dense shrubs and trees that surrounded Noin's home until he was close enough that he was right under a window. Nasty was too far away to hear what was going on, but Wufei seemed to be listening to something. Suddenly, he jumped up and dove in through the window.

There was the sounds of gunfire and Nasty's mouth fell open. She'd expected this, but...she hadn't really been prepared to hear.

Out the door ran Une, her face a strange mix of fear and fury.

Nasty watched the tall woman run into the forest, away from the fighting, while she considered the house that was now silent. There was nothing she could do here now. Whether or not anyone was alive in the house, Nasty knew the one thing she could do.

Before anyone came out of Noin's house, Nasty ran back to Wufei's motorcycle and jumped on. Just before she turned the key in the ignition, Nasty remembered something. Wufei had dropped his phone in the saddlebag of his motorcycle when it had rung earlier. Nasty picked up the phone and looked at it for only a second before she dropped it on the ground. It might not be important, but Nasty had a sneaking suspicion that whoever was trying to call Wufei needed him. It would be best if he found the phone as quickly as possible. With any luck, Wufei was fine and he'd find the phone when he came looking for his motorcycle.

Nasty took off, back to her home. She knew exactly where Une was headed. To where all the important files were held - the Kushranada mansion. Trieze made it a habit to store all his confidential and business records at his house instead of at one of his businesses. If Une were after anything valuable, it would be at the house.

'Forgive me, Wufei,' Nasty thought, feeling quite miserable about stealing the motorcycle. 'But this is no job for a man.'


Several minutes later-


Nasty had reached her home and was hiding several computer disks and a certain videotape under the mattress in her bedroom. With the evidence taken care of, Nasty ran out to Trieze's bedroom to get the most important ingredient she needed for Lady Une's visit.

'Now,' Nasty thought. 'Where did he put it? I know he keeps some handy.' She began to rifle around in the drawers of Trieze's bureau. Finally, she found what she was looking for with a smile of triumph. 'Here it is!' She pulled down a small vial and looked inside at the tiny amount of white powder that was still inside. 'Just enough.' She held the vial tightly and ran to the kitchen.

After telling all the men who were working on rebuilding the mansion that they could have the day off, Nasty worked on the final details of her plan. Just in case her plan failed, Nasty left a note for Trieze, telling him where the evidence against Une was hidden and put it in the cookie jar. Trieze couldn't keep his fingers out of the cookies (a little known fact about him.).

Nasty pulled out a box of raspberry tarts and lay them neatly on a silver tray. Nasty sprinkled the white powder on the raspberry tarts and then started making the tea. She knew the traitor would be here in just a short while.


Wufei-


"Byakuen, no!" Noin shouted to get the tiger's attention as it loomed over the screaming man. "Don't kill him, we need..." Byakuen sunk his teeth deeply into Mayers' throat. Blood gushed all over the floor and Mayers only twitched for a moment before he died. Noin turned pale for a moment and then slightly green, but shook it off and went back to see that Trieze was all right.

Wufei was still on the floor where the mercenaries had left him and he rather thought that it was time to get up. Wufei pushed himself up, but didn't even make it to his feet when the tiger, Byakuen, swung its large head toward Wufei. Wufei froze and prayed that if it was going to kill him, at least that his death should be swift. He had no desire to be mauled to death by an animal.

Byakuen left Mayer's body and walked slowly toward Wufei, its pace was slow as it padded toward him on its huge feet. Mayer's blood was smeared on Byakuen's muzzle, making the beautiful animal look all the more savage. Wufei couldn't take his eyes off the animal, almost hypnotized by those chocolate brown eyes that were steadily coming toward him.

"Trieze? Are you all right?" A man's voice asked.

Wufei didn't look away from the tiger, who was still approaching him, to see what was happening with the people who hadn't runaway. Right now, he just didn't want to die.

A slight groan and Wufei knew that Trieze was waking up. Byakuen was now directly over Wufei, his front paws on either side of Wufei's arms, and leaned in toward him. The tiger put his face only inches from Wufei and sniffed him. Wufei swallowed hard and forced his eyes down, remembering something he'd read that meeting an animal's eyes was like a challenge.

Byakuen put a paw on Wufei's shoulder and gave him a little push, as if it were testing him. Wufei let himself be pushed back down onto his back as he didn't want to provoke the tiger any more than necessary, and filled his thoughts with peaceful memories of Meiran.

Somehow, Nasty's image floated into Wufei's mind.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of Byakuen examining him, the tiger took a long lick of Wufei's face before backing away with satisfaction in its eyes. Byakuen yawned, showing off its long teeth, and lay down in a corner of the room, promptly falling asleep.

Wufei just blinked and wiped the tiger slobber off his face with one of his sleeves. He was very, very relieved that he was still alive.

"Who are you?" Wufei looked up to find yet another gun at his head. It was the white haired man, now wearing a silver mask, who held the gun. "What are you doing here?"

Wufei didn't fear guns. Tigers and other creatures with long teeth, yes. Guns, no. He'd had plenty of training with them himself that the idea of guns had lost the menace most people felt for them. Wufei looked behind Zechs, presumably this was the Zechs whom Nasty had told him about, and to the other two people in the room.

Noin was helping Trieze to his feet and Trieze, finally awake, was holding his head as if he had a headache. At least Une's plan had failed and now Wufei have time to decide if Trieze was guilty enough to die or if he should let Trieze live.

"I am Chang Wufei. May I presume you are Trieze Kushranada?" Wufei pointed at Trieze.

All three of them looked at Wufei sharply. Trieze, who seemed to be getting control of himself a little more, answered, "Yes, I am. What can I do for you?" Trieze was still leaning against Noin, but his eyes looked alert and Wufei could almost see the gears turning in the ginger haired man's head.

"I've come at the request of your sister. She was a bit worried about you when we discovered a conspiracy threatening your life."

This simple sentence made them all pause and Wufei saw Zech's stance relax just a bit, but it was enough that he knew he was safe enough to stand up. Wufei found that Trieze and Zechs were both much taller than he, seeming to tower over him.

"How do you know my sister?" Trieze asked as Noin helped him to stagger forward. "Where is she?"

Wufei ran a hand through his long, loose hair (his pigtail had fallen out during the fight) and decided to tell the truth. Lying was dishonorable, after all. "She's outside waiting with my motorcycle..."

Even as he said this, Wufei heard the ominous sound of a motorcycle engine starting up. 'Oh no. She wouldn't!' Wufei raced to the window he'd recently jumped through just in time to see a trail of dust and his motorcycle disappearing into the distance. 'Yes, she would.'

Trieze was suddenly by Wufei's side, though slightly unsteady, and gripped the windowsill tightly enough to turn his knuckles white. "Who was the attacker?" He asked calmly.

Noin snarled, "Lady Une."

Trieze turned to her with a look of complete disbelief. "What?!"

"I'm sorry." Zechs said. "Noin is right. It was Une with a group of mercenaries. They were going to kill us all."

Trieze took a moment to digest this. He swallowed hard and licked his lips as he rubbed the back of his neck where the tranquilizer dart had hit him. "Is she dead?"

Zechs shook his head. "She ran out when Byakuen came out. There was enough of a commotion that she managed to get away."

Trieze looked down at Wufei. "Who are you to my sister?"

Wufei blinked at the change in subject and then refocused. "I am nothing to her. I came to see you and I met Nasty at your home."

"Me? What can I do for you?"

Wufei thought about telling the whole truth, but decided against it. So long as he didn't actually lie, then his honor would be intact. "I just wanted some answers. Where would Nasty have gone with my motorcycle?" It had taken him many hours in mama Fan's kitchen to earn the money for that motorcycle, after all.

Trieze was quite for a moment, thinking. Then his eyes got wide. "Oh, dear. Noin, may I use your car?"

"Sure, but why?"

"I do believe my dear sister has gone back to the house."

"So?" Zechs asked.

"I'd like to get there before Lady Une does. I don't think I want Lady Une to find Nasty all alone."

Wufei had alarms blaring in his head. Nasty? Alone? With a killer? When Trieze walked out to a flashy green car, Wufei was instantly in the passenger side, not even bothering to ask. He wouldn't let Nasty get hurt!

Trieze raised an eyebrow, but got in the driver's seat without a word.

Zechs leaned down, putting his hands on the roof of the car while he spoke to Trieze thought he open window. "Are you sure you're alright to drive? Do you want me to go instead?"

"No." Trieze smiled. "I'm fine now. Whatever she'd given me seems to have worn off."

"Then we'll meet you at the house." Noin added in. "We'll be there as fast as we possibly can."


Noin-


Trieze nodded and he and Wufei pulled away, speeding toward Trieze's house.

"Wait a minute." Noin grabbed a hold of Zech's arm before he started running without her.

"What?" Zechs looked back at her, only to find that Noin had run back into her house.

She found what she was looking for on her living room floor. Byakuen was still asleep in the corner, snoozing like a baby. "Such a good boy." Noin said out loud. "I'll treat you to a steak dinner when you wake up."

On the floor, Noin picked up Lady Une's fallen gun and then her eyes landed on the gun that held the tranquilizer darts. A naughty smile spread across Noin's lips as an idea blossomed and picked up the gun. Noin took out two unused darts and the naughty smile grew slightly as she put both darts in her pocket and then ran out to meet Zechs.

Noin and Zechs immediately started running, hoping to get to Trieze's home in time to help. As they ran, Noin told Zechs, "If Trieze even scratches my car, I'll kill him in cold blood. You know that, right?"

"Right."

Just as they reached the end of the long driveway, where the driveway met the public road, Noin noticed something half hidden in the leaves on the ground. She stopped running and bent down to pick up a small, black cell phone.

"Is it yours?" Zechs asked.

"No." Noin frowned. "Seiji doesn't own one, either. I wonder..." Just as she was saying this, the phone vibrated.

Noin blinked and then answered the phone. Before she could even say a word, a man's deep, yet cold, voice on the other end said, "05, report."

Noin frowned, but kept silent and just listened.

"05, I repeat, report on current mission."

Still, Noin kept quiet, but now she moved so she and Zechs could listen to the strange voice together. "05, why aren't you responding? You have new orders." The other person on the line abruptly hung when he must have figured out something was wrong.

"That was weird." Noin commented.

"Keep it. Maybe Wufei dropped it." Zechs advised and he started running again. He obviously didn't want to see Trieze in danger again. Especially if the phone was Wufei's and Wufei was a possible threat. What sort of orders was Wufei likely to get over the phone?

Noin slipped the phone into a pocket and kept running, also.


Une-


Lady Une had just reached the Kushranada home when Nasutei opened the front door and waved cheerfully. Lady Une found herself invited into the parlor with a sweet smile and she tried to calm herself.

"Please sit down. It's so nice to see you again, Lady Une."

Lady Une sat in Nasutei's modest parlor and smiled as Nasutei set out the tea and raspberry tarts. Lady Une just loved raspberries and it was no secret that she couldn't resist them.

"What did you want to see me about, Nasutei-san?" Lady Une asked as Nasutei sat across from her.

"I just wanted to thank you. My dear brother can be so thoughtless sometimes so he probably hasn't thanked you for all your loyalty to him. I wanted to say how much I appreciate you taking care of my brother all this time. You've been with him for years now, haven't you? Giving him such faithful service all that time and I'll bet he's never thought to thank you."

Nasutei's smile was almost blinding in its innocence and purity.

"Mr. Kushranada is a very good employer." Lady Une replied, pleased by Nasutei's gushing. She took a bite of one of the tarts and savored the taste. "I have no complaints about my work."

"That's good. You know, I wanted to know if you'd look out for him when he goes to the colonies next week. I've heard you were supposed to stay here, on Earth, when he left. To be honest, if you were to go with him, I'd feel much better, knowing that someone reliable was with him."

"I will certainly do as you wish." It was all working out too easily! Lady Une wanted to smile at how easy Nasutei was making this for her. The girl obviously trusted her completely, which was just the way Lady Une wanted it, and Lady Une had to try very hard not to laugh aloud. There would be no more sneaking around now. Trieze would be awake by now and Noin and Zechs would have told him what had happened. However, Nasutei would make a very convenient hostage. Lady Une picked up a cup of tea and sipped it.

For about twenty minutes they chatted about this and that, just passing the day, when Lady Une suddenly found that she couldn't breathe. Une's eyes widened and she dropped the teacup she was holding as she put a hand to her throat. Une sucked in a deep breath, but it didn't help. Her head was spinning and her lungs were painfully demanding oxygen. Une reached out a hand to Nasutei, "Help!" She gasped desperately. Nasutei took another sip of tea and leaned back in her chair, with a content smile on her face.

"Is something wrong?" Nasutei asked sweetly.

Lady Une looked at Nasutei, but couldn't quite focus on her. Her head was buzzing and then her knees gave out. Une landed on the floor with a thud.

"You don't look well, Lady Une."

Une again took a deep breath and screamed with all her might, but Nasty kept smiling. "Now, now. There's no need to overreact. It's only poison, you know. I thought you liked poison."

Une knew, as she slumped to the floor, her vision darkening, that Nasutei knew what she'd done and this was revenge. 'All my hard work and planning for nothing.' Une thought, laying her cheek on the thick carpet. She could only barely make out Nasutei, now. Only just hear the words of her murderess.

"You really should learn to curb your taste for raspberries, you know." Nasutei picked up the nearly full plate of tarts and emptied them into a wastebasket. "They aren't good for your health." Nasutei walked back to Une and knelt down, tilting her face up so she could look at Une directly. "I suppose this is what you'd call poetic justice, right? You tried to poison my brother and, as you know, turn about is fair play."

Une died a long overdue, well-deserved death.


Nasty-


Nasty sat back in her chair and listened to the sound of Noin's beloved car speeding up the driveway. Trieze had arrived and Nasty rather hoped that he'd brought back Wufei with him. The Chinese boy seemed quite nice and Nasty thought that she'd like to get to know him better.

Nasty let her eyes stay fixed on Une's unmoving body for a moment. She found that she couldn't even feel any sympathy for the woman she'd just killed. Nope, no remorse about what she'd done at all. The world was definitely a better place without Une.


Wufei-


Wufei wondered exactly what he was going to do now. Trieze Kushranada wasn't the sort of person that he trusted. There was something about Trieze that made Wufei nervous. However, the man was now displaying nothing but concern for his sister and seemed to be single-mindedly focused on driving as fast as Noin's car would go.

Then there was another problem. Mayers had said the name, Trowa. Was it the same Trowa that was Shin's friend? It seemed likely. There couldn't be too many people with that name and Trowa did say that it was his fault someone had tried to kill Shin. Did that mean that Trowa was linked, somehow, with Une? Was Trowa to be his enemy?

No. Trowa had said he was trying to get away from Mayers group.

"I should warn you, if you touch my sister in any way that is disrespectful, I'll kill you." Trieze said without taking his eyes off the road or raising his voice from a calm level.

"I wouldn't touch any woman without respect." Wufei said, turning slightly red with embarrassment. How dare Trieze suggest that Wufei would do such a thing?! "And I have no interest in your sister."

"I am not blind or stupid, Wufei. I know my sister is very beautiful and very charming. She is also an heir to one of the world's greatest fortunes. There have been many boys and men who have courted her and I have not found one worthy of her." Trieze looked at Wufei from out of the corner of his eye. "Men have vanished for insulting my sister in the slightest manner. She is the only family I have that I care about. I will not have her hurt."

Wufei's eyes narrowed at the implied threat. Trieze was, indeed, as dangerous as Wufei had thought. He didn't answer Trieze, though. He had no interest in Nasty, though.

Really.

Honest.

It was just a mystery that her face kept dancing across his mind and that he kept hearing her laugh.

Wufei turned back to watch the road, away from Trieze's piercing eyes, and tried to focus on Meiran.

'She just died! Why am I thinking of Nasty?' Wufei wanted to hit himself. 'I can't be so shallow that I'd abandon Meiran so soon after her death! I love her. With all my heart, I love her. So why am I thinking of Nasty?'

They arrived at Trieze's house and rushed in to find Une dead on the parlor floor and Nasty finishing her cup of tea.

"What happened?" Wufei asked in disbelief.

Trieze, however, didn't seem as phased. He went immediately to the telephone and pushed one button. "I want a clean up crew at my home. Yes. Thank you." He hung up the phone and held out a hand to Nasty. "Why don't we go into the music room?" He indicated that Wufei should follow them as he escorted Nasty into an adjoining room.

Nasty didn't say a word as she went to the piano and sat, calmly tapping out a soft melody. "Don't get so upset, Wufei." She said.

It was only then that Wufei noticed he was pacing. He immediately stopped. "What did you do, Nasty?" Wufei had a horrible suspicion that he knew what Nasty had done.

"I killed her."

Trieze had his hands clasped behind his back and was looking out a window, waiting for the clean up crew. "You knew she'd come here." He stated bluntly.

"Yes."

"You should have waited for me, let me take care of this...situation. I don't want you involved in this sort of thing." Trieze said, his voice was strained, clearly upset with what Nasty had done.

Nasty stood up and went to stand next to her brother. She put her hands on his arms and forced him to turn around so he would look at her. "Don't be silly. You're a man, Trieze. Men, with very few exceptions, will hesitate when it comes to killing a woman. For a split second you would have paused and it would have given her the opportunity to escape or kill you." Nasty smiled to take away any insult. "I'm a woman so I have no such reservations. I don't hesitate. I have no regrets, either."

"How did you do it?"

"I borrowed the cyanide you keep in bedroom."

Trieze sighed, apparently accepting what she said and he pulled her in for a hug. "You should go back to grandfather Yagiyu. There isn't so much danger there and I don't want you taking chances, Nasty."

Nasty hugged him back, but over Trieze's shoulder, her eyes bored into Wufei. She had the same eyes as her brother, Wufei realized. A demanding, burning gaze that didn't let you look away.


Noin-


Noin and Zechs arrived after a white van marked, "SPEEDY CLEANING" was pulling away from the house. The two friends exchanged a bleak look, as they knew exactly what Trieze used that van for, and continued to the house, hoping for the best.

They found Trieze in the music room muttering to himself and Nasty sipping tea while Wufei was shifting uneasily from foot to foot, seeming uncomfortable. Noin found out later that Trieze had threatened Wufei again with a long slow death if word of what Nasty had done ever reached outside the house.

As everything looked to be fine, all her friends were safe, and Une was nowhere in sight, Noin went to Wufei while Zechs went to speak with Trieze. "Is this yours?" Noin pulled the black cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to Wufei.

He seemed surprised to see it and took it. "Yes, thank you. I didn't know I'd lost it." As soon as he took it, the phone vibrated again. Wufei turned instantly from being an uncomfortable teenager into something more serious and dangerous than Noin had seen, even when he was fighting back at her home.

"Here." Wufei said sharply.

Noin paid close attention to Wufei's reaction as he listened to the other person. The boy said nothing, but his face turned red with anger and his lips pressed tightly together in a thin line.

"I see." Wufei said finally, before hanging up. Even after he'd hung up, Wufei looked like he wanted to kill someone.

"Is something wrong?" Nasty asked, coming over to him and looking worried.

Wufei took a deep breath. "No. Nothing at all..." The phone rang again and Wufei answered it. "Here." Wufei was very near to throwing the phone through a wall, Noin could tell. Then, again, his expression abruptly changed as he listened to the caller. "What?!" He screamed at the phone. "What do you mean he ran away? Do you know why? Any clues?" This conversation must have been from a different person and Wufei quickly hung up. "You'll have to excuse me," He said politely. "I have a family emergency." He gave a quick bow and almost ran for the door.

"Wufei, I owe you a great debt." Trieze's voice stopped Wufei dead in his tracks. "You've saved my life and the lives of my only friends along with my dear sister. If I can ever do anything for you, please don't hesitate to contact me."

Wufei stared at Trieze as if trying to tell if the man was being serious or not and then ran out. Seconds later they all heard the sound of his motorcycle fading into the distance.

Noin smiled. Well, everything was taken care of. Time for fun.

Zechs and Trieze were still talking about something, but Noin didn't really care what it was about. She pulled one of the tranquilizer darts out of her pocket and wandered casually over to stand behind Trieze. She waited a few minutes, before she stabbed Trieze in the middle of his back with the dart.

Trieze, once again, fell like a sack of potatoes.

"Noin! What are you doing?!" Zechs was quickly on his knees beside Trieze.

"Don't get so upset, Zechs." Noin smiled. "That should keep him under for another twenty minutes. That's long enough."

"Long enough for what?" Nasty asked. "What’s going on?"

Noin smiled. "Zechs is going to ravish him!"

Zechs looked like he was going to die of embarrassment on the spot until he saw Nasty was smiling, too. "It's about time. You know where his bedroom is, right?"

"Um, yes." Zechs answered uncertainly. "But..."

"We'll need something to hold him down with." Noin said to Nasty. "Do you have any rope?"

Nasty thought. "Rope? No, I'm afraid not. I do have several lengths of chain in the garage, if you'd like to use them." She offered helpfully.

Noin hugged the younger girl. "You're a darling, Nasty! Chains are even better than rope." She looked at Zechs, surprised to find him still on the floor and looking up at them with bafflement on his face. "Well? What are you waiting for, Zechs?"

"You two can't be serious." Zechs said. "I'm not going to rape him while he's drugged, what do you think I am!?"

Noin grinned. "Now, let's not be hasty. I didn't say anything about rape, did I? You can wait until he wakes up. The chains just add a little excitement to the experience. You know he'll like it." She looked down at the helpless Trieze, admiring his fine, sculptured features. "He'd be disappointed if you didn't do something."

Zechs still seemed reluctant to take advantage of the situation, though, so Nasty leaned over him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Don't you think my brother is pretty, Zechs-kun?"

"You know I do."

Nasty brushed his cheek with a kiss. "I've heard him talk about you, you know. Do you want to know what he thinks about you? He likes your long hair. Better than anything, he likes your hair long, like a cape. He also likes your nose and he thinks it's a shame to cover your lovely nose with that horrid mask. Trieze once told me he wished you would..." Nasty leaned closer to Zechs ear and started to whisper.

Zechs blushed deep, dark red as he listened to her.

Noin knelt next to Trieze and ran a hand through Trieze's feather soft hair. "There's a large, unoccupied bed in the next room." She gave Zechs a cheeky grin and went on, "You two were so close at the party, maybe you should continue it here."

Zechs paused and then slowly took off his helmet. "Where did you say the chains were?"


Continued...

Une was murdered with cyanide.

Before anyone asks, I'll explain how it works. Cyanide basically causes one's lungs to shut down. You can still breath, technically, but your lungs won't bring any oxygen into your body. It's called chemical asphyxiation, I believe. That's why Une could still speak and scream when she didn't think she could breath.

Yes, it's true. I have WAY too much time on my hands if I have time to research poisons.

Hee! Wouldn't Naaza be proud of me, though?