Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Warrior Children ❯ First Touch ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Cousin D 
Ryou and Seiji meet.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.31.2003 | Updated On: 01.23.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.8K | Visits: 569 | Status: Work In Progress
Ryou and Seiji meet.
Anime/Manga: Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Fantasy / Drama / Angst / Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.31.2003 | Updated On: 01.23.2006 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.8K | Visits: 569 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 7: First Touch
Seiji-
Seiji's garden had become quite beautiful in the past few weeks that he'd been at home. Seiji looked around it with pride, taking in the flowers that were just starting to go past their prime and the small fountain that trickled water constantly. There was a bird feeder to attract the song birds and even Luc commented the other day that was like it had been when their mother had been alive.
“She’d be so proud of you.” Luc told Seiji. “This garden had always been her pride and joy. She used to work out here for hours to get everything just right. If she knew you spent your time here, too, I think she’d be very happy.”
The praise felt odd. He barely remembered his parents, so he couldn’t get too worked up about pleasing them. It made him much happier to know that Luc was pleased with him. He wanted very much to please Luc and it was because of that that Seiji stopped his routine of gardening all morning. He was going to school today, Luc had told him.
Before he’d been taken away by doctor J Seiji had gone to school, but he really couldn't remember any of it. The only education he'd ever had was what doctor J had given him and Seiji dearly hope normal school wasn't like that. No matter how happy it made Luc, Seiji was sure he wouldn’t be able to deal with that sort of training again.
Luc had given Seiji a dark blue uniform and a bag with books in it and she had tried to explain to him what school would be like. “Lots of people there.” She said with a bright smile. “You’ll make friends, I’m sure. The classes might be hard, but you were always so bright. I don’t think you have anything to worry about and even if you do, I’m on leave from work so I’ll give you a helping hand. You might get lost or turned around, it‘s a pretty big building. I went to visit when I signed you up. Just make friends and they‘ll help you out.”
'What do I care? I will do this because I know it will please Luc. Perhaps I will learn something while I am there. So long as I can come back to my garden, I will do as Luc wishes.' Seiji was crouched down, so as to not get his new school uniform dirty, and dug in the soil with a spade, turning the earth so he could plant some new seeds later. As Seiji dug turned the dirt, something shining caught his eye, something partly hidden under the plants. When Seiji picked it up he found it was a gleaming green orb. It was a tiny, perfectly round crystal with the kanji symbol for courtesy in the center of it.
The minute Seiji touched it, he knew that it was special. There was no logical reason for any of it, but Seiji knew he had to keep the crystal. A word echoed in Seiji's mind, a word from a dream he'd once had. Korin.
"Seiji!" Luc called from the driveway, distracting Seiji's attention away from the orb. “Time to go!”
Seiji stared at Luc, leaning against her bright green car, and he wanted to do well. He wanted to do just as she hoped he would do because that would please her. He had to please her. If she wasn’t pleased, perhaps she would send him away. Or maybe she would just leave and not come back. It was clear that their home meant nothing to her. She lived in an apartment somewhere and only moved back into the house because Seiji was there. If he was stupid in school or did anything to shame her, Seiji just knew she’d leave.
He slipped the tiny orb into his pocket before he stood and went to Luc.
Noin-
Noin thought of herself as Noin, it wasn‘t just a nickname, anymore. When she’d been younger, everyone had called her Lucy (a name she absolutely hated), short for Lucrecia, except for Seiji who'd always called her Luc. When their parents had died, Noin had changed. She gave up many dreams she’d had and walled in depression for a very long time. Even Zechs called her Noin and she was closer to him than anyone else in the world.
“What?” Zechs never answered the phone like other people.
“Hey.” She smiled just to hear his voice. “Look, I’m almost ready to come back to work. Can I have a few more days off to see Seiji’s properly settled in school?”
“Of course.” Zechs had always been kind to her. He went out of his way to be good to her. “Has anything else happened with him? Any more strange powers? More incidents of healing?”
“Not that I’ve seen. You haven’t told Treize, have you? I’ll hold by my word and skin you alive if you have.”
“I sweat to it. Your brother’s secret is safe with me, even though Seiji didn’t seem to care one way or the other who saw him.”
“Well, I care. Anyway, he seems happy enough. He’s spent most of his time playing in the garden. I think he likes getting his hands dirty.”
Zechs laughed on the other end of the phone. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Has he told you anything about who took him?”
“No. Not a word and I’m afraid to push too much. I’m hoping that he’ll adjust to school well and start relaxing. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I remind him too much of the past. Maybe he blames me for not coming to get him.”
“Now stop that!” Zechs reprimanded harshly. “I won’t have you doing that to yourself! No matter what he thinks, you did nothing wrong. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, I know. I just wish he’d talk to me.”
“He will. Just give it time. He’s about fifteen, isn’t he?”
“Huh? Yeah. Almost sixteen. Why?”
“Have you thought about having him enlist?”
Noin blinked at the wall, as if that might give her the answer for Zechs’ strange question. “He’s too young.” She stepped to the left and looked out the window to see Seiji still toiling away in the garden. His mop of long blonde hair moved every time he moved. “Zechs, he’s playing in the garden right now. He’s no soldier. Far, far too young.”
“For active duty, yes. However, OZ has been known to take exceptional young people on early for training with permission from their guardians. You are his guardian.”
It actually wasn’t a bad idea. If Seiji became part of OZ Noin could know he was being taken care of no matter where she was for duty. She could have him moved to Lake Victoria for the remainder of his childhood. At least there, she knew he wouldn’t get into trouble. Still, that would mean that one day Seiji would enter the military and, perhaps, see active duty. Noin wasn’t sure she liked that at all. “I’ll think on it. Thanks for everything, Zechs. I really appreciate it.”
“My pleasure. Shall I call on you tonight?”
Noin had to laugh. “Sorry. Really. You sound like an old fashioned suitor.”
“I assure you I didn’t mean it like that.” One could practically see him blushing.
“Yeah. I know. See you tonight, then.” Noin hung up, but she was smiling. Talking with Zechs always made her feel better. Even on the worst day of her life, he’d somehow managed to make things a little better.
It was shortly after she’d met Zechs and after her parents had died that Noin had started calling herself Noin, insisting that everyone call her that. She wanted no part of the painful memories her true name, Date, brought back.
It had occurred to her when Seiji had first arrived that she should tell him to call her Noin, also. Looking at his sad, lonely face had made Noin keep her mouth closed on that subject. "Luc." That was the first word he'd said when she'd found in the dilapidated dojo and he rarely ever said more than that. Even after being at home for several weeks, he would sit quietly in the garden and just watch what was going on around him. It would have been shameful to take away the only thing that seemed to remain of his life before he was kidnapped and her nickname seemed to be that one thing. He’d admitted to having trouble remembering their family and even the house. Why confuse him or hurt him by making him call her by a different name?
Noin waited for Seiji as long as she could before it was time to take him to school. She waited for him patiently by her car and thought about him. It had been hard to take her mind off him since he’d come back. It made her sick to think of what might have been done to him while he was gone. Worse, he wouldn’t tell her anything and it seemed to Noin that if he wouldn’t talk about it, especially to her, then whatever he’d gone through must have been nightmarish. Otherwise, why would her little brother keep such secrets? No. Not her little brother. Younger brother was closer to the mark. Seiji may be younger by almost six years, he was only fifteen, but he was several inches taller than she was. He had been though something terrible and God help whoever had done it when she ever found them!
"Seiji!" She called, finally. This was going to be his first day of high school and she prayed that it would go wonderfully for him. It was a vain hope, though. She knew most normal kids had horrible first days of high school and Seiji was far from normal.
Seiji came promptly at her call, impeccably dressed in the uniform she'd bought for him with the book bag held in one hand. His hair, as usual, hung over the ruined side of his face and the eye someone had stolen from him. His hair had been long when Noin had found him in the dusty dojo, but she’d cut it short enough that it didn’t even touch his shoulders. The front of his hair, Noin had left long to cover his mangled face and at least save him from a few unkind stares. Seiji walked briskly over to her and stood stiffly, as if he were awaiting inspection and approval.
"You look great, Seiji. Are you ready?" She said with forced cheerfulness. He did look very good, but he didn't quite look real, more like a machine that was dressed up or a pretty porcelain doll. The perfection would end the minute a soft breeze brushed the hair away from his face. Noin really didn't want Seiji to know that she was so worried about him.
"Yes." He nodded crisply.
"Well, hop in." She motioned to the car, the bright green love of her life. “I’ll give you a lift until you learn your way to school. It’s not too far away, maybe a half an hour’s walk. Don’t suppose you want to get dropped off every day like you were a child, eh? Once you learn the way, you can walk like everyone else.” But what happened when her leave of absence ended? It wasn’t as if she could leave him alone. He barely knew enough to eat properly. The first time Noin hadn’t been paying attention, Seiji had gone two days without eating because she hadn’t told him to. “Or, if you like, we’ll get the school bus to pick you up.”
If Seiji had any preference one way or the other, he didn’t show it. He just nodded to show he understood and fell still again.
Noin was, even she would admitted, a little enthusiastic about driving. If she hadn't started working for OZ, she probably would have been a race car driver. Unfortunately, her lead foot had earned her numerous speeding tickets and a good number of close calls. Seiji took her speeding and seemingly careless driving habits without a word of complaint. He just sat there, his hands resting easily on his book bag. Noin almost laughed at how well he was taking it. Even sweet Zechs, who was so calm-natured and terribly brave, had been known to swear when she was driving and cling helplessly to his seat belt. He'd given up on riding with her and had been insisting that he drive if they were going anywhere.
Noin shook her head, so worried about Seiji. His good looks were enough to earn him enemies, Seiji was almost angelic looking in Noin's opinion and she was his sister! The girls would love him too much and the boys would hate him for getting all the attention. There was something about Seiji that made Noin have no doubt that Seiji could fight and take care of himself when it came to fights, but it was the girls that worried her. They would expect too much out of him and be bitter if he didn't know how to respond to their advances.
Then there was Seiji's odd behavior. Teenagers were notorious for singling out the "odd" ones in school and doing their very best to make life Hell for them. The worst thing that could happen, though, would be when someone happened to see passed his hair and see what remained of his eye. They would see how disfigured he was and Seiji would never hear the end of it! Thankfully, Zechs had promised to talk to some people he knew, probably Treize, about getting a glass eye at the very least and maybe even a cybernetic eye, something that could work as a real eye and feed information to his brain.
She just didn't know if Seiji were strong enough to hold up under all the pressure that would be waiting for him at the seemingly innocent school. By the time the school came into sight, Noin was thinking that perhaps she'd made the wrong choice and that she should have kept Seiji at home a while longer, just to get him used to living at home again. Maybe this was too big a step for him, too soon. Just as she was convincing herself that she should turn right around and go back, they pulled up to the school and Seiji was already undoing his seatbelt. There was no going back.
"You have the number where you can reach me, Seiji." Noin said. "Call me if you need anything or even if you just want to go home. Okay?"
Seiji nodded, curtly as always.
Noin knew that, like most everything he did, Seiji was doing this to please her. If she let him have his own way, Seiji would probably never leave the house, content to sit in the garden he was slowly bringing back to life. He was going to school because she'd told him he needed it and he knew it would please her if he went along with the idea.
"Well, good luck." Noin kissed him on the cheek for luck.
Seiji nodded again and was about to open the door when he paused and looked back at her. "Luc, where's grandfather Date?"
Noin froze. "What?"
"Where is grandfather Date? The family shrine was for mother and father, but I saw no picture of grandfather. Is he dead?"
Noin wasn't quite sure how to answer this one. It had been almost a month, though, and Seiji had to find out sometime, right? "I'll tell you after school, Seiji. Just worry about making new friends, all right?"
"Yes, Luc." He got out of the car and made his way through the throng of students all drifting into school. On his way, Seiji passed a boy with blue hair walking with a blonde. How strange it seemed to have two blondes in one school full of black hair. Then again, the blue hair was odd, too.
Noin sighed and wanted to cry at the thought of her grandfather. How would Seiji react?
Ryou-
Ryou wasn't very happy with being in the Ningen Sekai in the first place, but Duo had wanted him to go and he'd do anything to make Duo happy. This city was so unlike anything he'd ever seen before, having grown up in the forest and then in the Youja-Kai. There were too many people and too many cars. The air smelled funny and everything was noisy. However, Ryou’s anxiety was lessened by Duo’s blissful happiness. He was glad that Duo was happy and thought that anything that made Duo happy must be a good thing.
“Are you sure you know the way?“ Ryou asked, for the third time since they’d left for the school.
“Gimme a break.“ Duo didn’t so much as glance at the directions mama Sh’ten had written for them. “It’s not too far, now. Just relax and enjoy the scenery.“ He paused to admire a fancy, bright yellow car. “I haven't seen cars in years." Duo almost shouted, swinging his nearly school bag joyfully. It was mama Sh’ten’s doing, again. He’d thought to get them notebooks and pencils and given them each a knife to sharpen the pencils with because he couldn’t figure out how else to do it and had wondered out loud why no one used ink wells anymore. "This is great! Modern, normal humans." His eyes lit up with utter bliss as they landed on something else he'd been dearly missing. "Look! An ice cream stand!"
Ryou looked at him, confused and maybe just a little hurt. "What? Don't you like our family? Our home?"
"Don't get me wrong. I love you guys and living in a palace is great, but it's nice to see other people for once. Not to mention girls." Duo leered at a couple of pretty young women walking down the streets, but it only earned him an elbow in the ribs from Ryou.
"What are you talking about? Kay's a girl and besides, you're gay. You told me so."
"That doesn't mean I can't like girls, too. As for Kay, she's a sister, so she doesn't count."
Ryou really didn't like the city, the people were too close together, all pushing and shoving, he felt like he was choking when they were pressed in close to him on the sidewalk. It was getting worse as they got closer to the school, other kids, in the same uniforms as Ryou and Duo, were all laughing and shouting, talking to friends. Ryou felt his heart start to pound harder.
Fortunately Duo had obviously seen his panic and took Ryou by the arm. "Are you all right?"
Ryou shook his head and moved closer to Duo. "I...I don't like this. There are too many of them."
"Just a few more blocks then things will get better, I'm sure." Duo told him reassuringly.
Ryou gave Duo a skeptical look, but said nothing. He wasn't convinced that this world would be okay, there were just too many people. He'd rather be out in the forest, playing or hunting. He'd never seen so many people in his whole life! Back at the cabin it had been him and granma. Then his new brothers. Now, there were just people everywhere!
They were almost at the school when something caught Ryou's attention. In an alley an old man with a long staff stood. He stepped out of the shadows of the alley, his long staff jingling with every step, and looked right at Ryou. "I have been waiting for you, Rekka."
Ryou stopped at the voice. The man's voice seemed echoed and sounded deep within his soul. "Who are you?" Ryou asked. He turned to look at Duo, only to find Duo frozen, his mouth half-open, as if saying something and the wind had picked up some of Duo's hair, but it was frozen in mid-air. "Duo?" Ryou was starting to get really worried at this point. "What have you done to Duo?" Ryou turned on the old man with a snarl, his eyes narrowing. "Let him go!" Ryou knew he wasn't brave or very strong, but Duo was his only friend! He would fight the weird old guy for Duo!
"Be at ease, Rekka. I have paused time for the world. Duo will not even be aware that this has happened when I wake him. I have come to see you. I was beginning to fear that you were lost to the darkness."
Ryou frowned. "What are you talking about? My name's Ryou, not Rekka, you must have the wrong guy."
"No. You are both Ryou and Rekka. The darkness that took you years ago will wish to possess your power, you must not return to them. To where you've been lost since the death of your grandmother."
Ryou started, shocked. "How do you know about my granma? What are you after?"
"You." A low, wide hat, concealing most of his face, shaded the old man's face and Ryou was afraid. There was something very wrong with this. If the old man was telling the truth, then he was supposed to stay away from his brothers? No! His brothers would never hurt him.
"Is this a trick or something? Did my oniisan's send you to trick me?" Ryou asked nervously, hoping that this was maybe one of Rajura's tricks.
"It is your own brothers I must guard you from, Ryou. They are the ma-sho of the demon, Arago. They are the forces that would destroy this world and kill everyone."
Ryou almost exploded at this point. "No!" He shouted angrily and balled his hands into fists. "You're lying! My brothers would never do something like that!" Damn the old man for saying such horrible things! Ryou was ready to attack the old man when the old man stepped to the side, revealing a metal oil drum, filled with fire. The blaze was like many that the homeless would use for heat, but it stopped Ryou dead in his tracks. Fire.
Ryou took a step backwards as the fire called to him, beckoning him closer. It would dance for him, it promised. It was singing to him, seeming to wrap its warm fingers around his heart and mind, drawing him in closer. Ryou stepped back again and bumped into something. Looking over his shoulder, Ryou saw that he'd bumped into Duo, still standing still as stone. Duo couldn't help him this time.
"Go to the fire, Rekka. It's calling you."
Ryou shook his head at the freaky old man. "No. No, I don't like fire."
"The truth is, you do like fire, but you are still afraid of it." The old man lowered his staff, pointing it at the fire. "In the fire is a treasure, Rekka, and a curse. You must take it or Duo will never be freed."
"What!?"
The old man didn't repeat himself, but stayed still and let Ryou think over his choice. Ryou slowly realized that Duo was depending on him. He couldn't just beat the old man up, Duo would stay frozen forever if he did that. Ryou took a deep breath and stepped forward, closer to the bright, dancing fire. He licked his lips but kept going, past the old man until he was right in front of the fire. Ryou looked in, trying to ignore the voices singing at him, they sounded so beautiful, so right.
In the flames, in the bottom of the oil drum, Ryou could see the flickering image of a small round ball. It was the ball, or whatever it was, that he was supposed to get, right? Ryou closed his eyes for a minute. This was for Duo. All for Duo.
‘He’d do it for me.’
Ryou opened his eyes, fast enough that he couldn't change his mind, and plunged his hand into the fire. It didn't hurt, Ryou could only feel the warm licking of the fire, like a cat's tongue on his arm. He found the ball and grabbed it as quickly as he could, jerking out of the fire and stumbling backwards, onto his butt.
"What are you doing?"
Ryou, still panting, and clutching the ball in his fist, looked up to find a perfectly normal Duo looked down at him, curiously. Looking around, Ryou saw the old man was gone and the people on the street were walking along, as if nothing had happened.
"I...the old guy...well..." He looked at Duo. "You mean you didn't see any of it?"
"Any of what? What old man, Ryou?" Duo snorted. "Come on, if you keep fooling around we're going to be late." Duo reached out a hand to help Ryou up with a smile. "I didn't know you were so wound up about this school thing, Ryou. I wouldn't have pushed you to come with me. You don't have to come tomorrow if you don't want to."
Ryou shook his head. "Naw. It's all right." The orb felt warm and safe in his hand as they continued to walk. "I...I feel better now." And strangely, it was true. He felt much better, more confident, but he would have to ask mama about this when he got home. The old man never said who he was, but he'd said Ryou's brothers were evil. That was not true. It was NOT true!
As they walked, Ryou looked down at the little orb in the palm of his hand. Benevolence. The kanji symbol glowed quite clearly in the center of the smoky red orb. It felt as if it was a part of him, but there was still something missing.
The two of them walked into the school, walking as closely together as possible, and even Duo seemed to be getting nervous as they neared their destination.
Next stop, class.
Youja-Kai-
Byakuen-
The tigers didn’t spend all their time at the palace of the demon emperor. When the animal master, Anubisu, didn’t call them, they spent much of their time hunting in the vast grasslands of the Youja-Kai. They had been off hunting when they’d realized something had happened. They didn’t know what, exactly, but something had happened. It was enough to make Byakuen break off his stalking of his prey and raise his head. Kokuen-Oh raised his head at the same time and looked at Byakuen with troubled eyes.
The palace looked the same when they arrived, with no signs of battle or any kind of distress. Rajura was in the courtyard playing with his weapons and Naaza was swimming in the bathhouse. Sh’ten was writing bad poetry in the family’s shared room. The family seemed fine, though there were two who were missing. Byakuren and Kokuen-Oh searched the palace, sniffing here and there, before they realized what it was that was wrong. Two of the cubs were gone. Gone!
Byakuen roared a complaint as soon as they realized the problem.
Almost instantly, Anubisu was in front of them. "What is it?" He asked, sounding irritated. "I'm in the middle of something."
Kokuen-Oh was the one who stepped closer to Anubisu to ask where they cubs were. Both great tiger demons had become attached to our two cubs since Anubisu had brought them to watch over the cubs and to find them just gone was unnerving to say the least. Infuriating to be perfectly honest.
"Oh," Anubisu replied. "The cubs went to school, to learn to be with other cubs. They will come back later. Just relax until they come back." He vanished, as he often did, and the two tiger demons were left alone in one of the palace’s corridors.
Byakuen and Kokuen-Oh looked at each other, thinking the same thing. The cubs were too young to look after themselves, so they would have to go after them and see that they were as safe as Anubisu claimed.
It was quite simple to follow the scent trail back to the room where the humans customarily ate their meals and to the two red columns that were markers for the gateway. Byakuen wasn't sure what a gateway was, but the humans spoke of them often. The cubs must have gone through the gateway and the tiger demons would follow. Just as Byakuen was about to step through, something pulled at his tail. Byakuen growled as he turned around, thinking it was Kokuen-Oh playing tricks again, but it was Kay who stood there, smiling at Byakuen with her little hand wrapped around his tail.
"Where are you going, Yaku-chan?" She'd gotten that name from Ryou, something Byakuen wasn’t sure he approved of.
Byakuen looked at the gate, showing her where they were going.
"Can I come, too?"
Well, why not? ANY OBJECTIONS? Byakuen asked Kokuen-Oh.
NONE. SHE'LL BE SAFE ENOUGH WITH US.
Byakuen nudged against Kay and she got the point, climbing onto his back. Together, they all walked through the gate into the unknown world.
Earth-
Quatre-
Quatre was looking at the screen of his computer and rested his chin on his hands, the image of the immense robot panning up and down. It was magnificent. A glorious achievement for science and the engineers who’d built it. It‘s purpose was monstrously regrettable, Quatre knew, but just the fact that something so powerful had been built was awe inspiriting. "Is Sandrock ready, Professor H?"
The man on the other end of the link was several million miles away, at a base in outer space, and looked back at Quatre with a smug expression. "Nearly, Quatre, nearly. We must wait a little longer before you can put your training into practice. Keep up the computer studies that I send for you and, of course, the technical work, for now. As soon as the Gundam is complete I will send for you to get you familiar with the operations of it. How are your lessons with that friend of yours, Rashid, I believe you said his name was."
Quatre’s smile didn’t falter, but he suddenly wasn’t so pleased. “Who told you about Rashid?”
“Does that matter? He is giving you combat training, isn’t he? Training that other boy, too.”
Professor H could know about Rashid, after all, Rashid had part custody of Quatre. It was for legal purposes when he was on Earth and not really a secret. Still, Quatre was sure he hadn’t told professor H and he knew he hadn’t mentioned Touma at all. Perhaps doctor H was bold enough to spy on him?
Quatre smiled brightly and kept his suspicions to himself. "Oh, they're both fine. Rashid is a great fighter and he's teaching me everything he knows, so I'm a pretty good hand to hand fighter. My brother is helping me with school so I'm barging ahead there, too."
Professor H had approached him two years ago about becoming the pilot of a Gundam for the freedom of the colonies and Quatre had agreed, somewhat reluctantly at first. But, as he'd thought over the offer, Quatre's mind began to turn over and over all of the possibilities that this situation offered. Terrorism. Intrigue. War.
Yes, the potential for fun was almost unlimited.
Suddenly, Quatre noticed the clock on the wall. He would have to think about professor H’s nosy inclinations later. Most likely, it was nothing to be worried about. Security was very high around the Gundam projects, after all. They were probably just researching Quatre’s connections. "Sorry, but I have to go now, professor H. It's time for school."
Professor H didn’t wait to say any good-byes before he disconnected the line and Quatre found himself staring at his reflection in the blank computer monitor.
“You’re starting to puzzle me, professor.” Quatre said to himself. “Spying? What else have you been up to? You and those others?” He stood up and walked calmly out of his room in Rashid’s home, then went to the room right next to his and thumped on the door. "Touma, time to wake up!" School didn't actually start for almost two hours, but it was a war just waking up Touma. He had time to go have a cup of coffee and have the servants start breakfast and then go give Touma another wake up call.
An hour and a half and three cups of coffee later-
"Touma! Wake up!" Quatre banged his fist against the door of his brother's bedroom, hoping to wake him up before they had to be at school. This wouldn't be the first time they were late because of Touma's oversleeping. Not once in all the years they'd been living together had Touma gotten up on time. "It's time for school!"
A groggy voice, finally, muttered something obscene through the door at him.
Quatre rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get the bucket of ice water!”
"I'm up, I'm up!" Touma shouted back, though still sounding half-asleep. "Relax, Kitty."
What an awful nickname. Still, it was Touma who‘d thought it up and Quatre was forgiving enough that he let it pass. Only from Touma, though. Honestly, someone had to do it, eventually. It was only a short hop from Quatre to Quat then to Kitty. "You'd better be up, the ice water's right out here and I'll douse you if you're not downstairs in five minutes. Xiu and Wufei and going to be here in any minute."
Quatre left at that point as the doorbell rang, but by the time he’d gotten down to the front door, one of the servants had let their guests in. It was the usual sight that Quatre had missed over the summer. Xiu in a rumpled, worn uniform and Wufei in his freshly ironed one both waiting at the foot of the stairs like mismatched bookends. They were so incredibly different for cousins.
"May I presume that Touma is still getting up?" Wufei asked redundantly. They all knew Touma wouldn't be ready until the last minute.
"He’s making an effort, yes."
Wufei nodded, accepting the fact where he'd usually fuss and splutter about how lazy and weak Touma was.
"You're in a good mood." Quatre commented. "What's happening?"
Wufei and Xiu smiled at the same time. "Two weeks to go." Was all Wufei said.
"Two weeks?"
Xiu spoke up. "Yep. He's going back to A0206 in two weeks to get hitched." Xiu grinned proudly and gave his cousin a slap on the back. "He's even invited my family to come with him to the ceremony."
"Are you quite sure about this, Wufei?" Quatre asked, sitting down in his living room and motioning for the others to do the same. "I still think you're too young. You're only fifteen, after all."
Wufei replied, proudly arrogant. "We keep different customs on A0206. Meiran and I have been married since we were three years old. This is just completing the ceremony."
Xiu nodded, confirming. "That's right. Weird, but it's true. I'm just glad mama didn't do that to me. I'd be scared to death to marry some girl like that." Xiu frowned.
Wufei disagreed. "It doesn't matter what she's like, you must marry her for the honor of your family if nothing else."
"Oh yeah," Touma, now standing in the doorway with his school bag slung over his shoulder, said. "That's real logical. Get chained to someone you can't stand for the rest of your life. Very intelligent. I'm sure that often makes for a very happy marriage." Touma had some pretty strong convictions of many things. One of those things was Wufei's impending wedding. Everyone knew about it as Wufei made sure to brag about it as often as possible.
"What's logic got to do with it?" Xiu asked. "Come on, lazy bones. Gotta get to school."
Touma gave him an amused look. "Since when did you get so caught up in the school spirit?"
"Didn't, but I heard there's a couple of new kids starting and I wanted to see them. Come on!"
At school-
The two new students were standing at the head of the class with the teacher, as was custom for new students when they were about to be introduced. One could be mistaken for a girl, if he were seen only from the back. His hair was longer than any boy’s Quatre had ever met and he was very thin. His face was obviously a boy’s face, though. The other boy looked a bit more weary and kept looking around as if he were looking for an escape route.
The teacher happy introduced them, smiling particularly at the nervous boy as if she would reassure him that everything was alright. "These are your new class mates, Sanada Ryou and Duo Maxwell. Boys, please find seats and make yourselves comfortable. I hope you’ll enjoy your new class."
Quatre watched the two search the room before finding the two empty seats. Duo, the one with an incredibly long braid, bounced over to one seat, which just happened to be next to Quatre, Ryou went to sit near the window, but looked over at Duo sadly. There was some connection between the two, obviously.
"Hi!" Duo said pleasantly, waving a hand in front of Quatre. "Nice to meet you. What's your name? I'm glad to be here." He was speaking quite loudly, almost as if he didn't know he was supposed to be quite in school.
"Please, call me Quatre." Quatre replied, casting a nervous look at the teacher who had given Duo a sour look to quiet him. At this point, another new student walked in, another boy, and handed a note to the teacher without a word. He stood stiffly at attention, his arms hanging down at his sides. The most amazing thing, to Quatre's, was that this new student was blonde, just like Quatre himself! He almost smiled. It was wonderful to find another blonde in this country where he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Finally, the teacher looked at her class. "Everyone, we have another new student. Please welcome Date Seiji. Mr. Date, there's a seat next to Ryou." She pointed to the one empty seat. The new guy nodded stiffly and went to where he'd been told to go.
Quatre watched as Ryo said something softly, almost whispering, and held out a welcoming hand. Seiji stared at the hand for a moment before taking it and both froze, staring at each other with wide, surprised eyes. Quatre smiled.
How cute to fall in love so quickly.
Ryou-
'I can see his mind. I can see Seiji's memory. What's happening to me?!'
Seiji's memory-
'I'm so scared. I don't want to be here! Please let me go home.' That was what Seiji thought every night, but it never happened. As always, they locked him in the little room and turned the lights out, sealing him in the prison of darkness…alone. This night, however, something different happened. He was six at this time, and had been prisoner of the mysterious doctor J for more than five months.
Seiji lay in the darkness, the sheets of his narrow bed, pulled up over his head, as if that could protect him from the dark. There was no sound in the darkness, that was normal for this place. No sound ever after the door was locked. Seiji could still remember the birds singing outside his window when he went to sleep at home.
Seiji tried not to be afraid, but it was hard. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was in the garden at home. Full of flowers and the warm sun, but it was getting hard to remember. He'd been in this place for so long.
The lock was turned, sounding horribly loud to Seiji, and the door opened, shedding a soft light from the hall into the room. Seiji slowly poked his head over the covers of his blanket and saw doctor J standing in the doorway with another little boy held by the wrist. Doctor J turned the lights on before walking in, pulling the boy with him.
The boy was very thin, almost starved looking with narrow, angry eyes and shaggy brown hair.
"Hiro," Doctor J started using Seiji's code name, the name Seiji hated. "This is Heero. He's going to live with you and be your partner when you go into battle. You will train together and when you are put into action, you will fight together." Doctor J gave Heero a little push toward Seiji's bed. "Make room, Hiro. I'll have another bed in here someday. Until then, you're sharing."
Doctor J left the room, leaving Heero just standing there, glaring at Seiji. The silence went on for sometime, until Seiji gave in and threw back the sheets of the bed. Seiji patted the bed beside him, inviting Heero in. There was no choice.
Heero crossed his arms over his chest and glared, but once the lights went out again, Seiji felt the bed shift slightly and knew Heero was in with him. The two boys covered themselves and tried to get comfortable in the bed that was made for one very small person, not two growing boys. They ended up with Seiji curled around Heero, his arms almost hugging the smaller boy.
"My name's not Heero." The other boy said quietly.
Seiji knew what he was talking about. "My name's not Hiro." It was very important that they save their identity, even if it was so little a thing as a name. Seiji had been desperately holding onto the name for a very long time, and he wondered if Heero would tell him his name. "How'd you get here?"
Seiji felt Heero shrug in the darkness. "I fell asleep and when I woke up, the guy I lived with was selling me to that freaky doctor." Heero sniffed and Seiji wondered if Heero was crying. "I'll just kill him if I ever see him again." Heero yawned. "At least now I have someone to talk to."
"That's true." Seiji smiled. Maybe this won't be so bad with a friend at least. Both boys fell asleep in the darkness, and Seiji was comforted by the fact that he could feel Heero's heart beating where his hand was on Heero's chest. Seiji smiled before he fell asleep, with his nose in Heero's hair. It felt so good to be with someone who wasn't going to hurt him.
They liked each other very much, Heero and Seiji. They got on very well, even to the point that they didn't have to speak to understand each other, which was lucky as Dr. J seemed to disapprove of talking and they could only do that in private at night. They even fought well together.
One night when they were nine, everything changed. The two boys were sound asleep when they heard the door open and the sounds of people walking into the room. They both woke quickly when they heard the door open, but the light never came on, so they didn't know what was going on.
Suddenly, Heero was jerked violently out of the bed. "What?!" He cried out, frightened. "You're hurting me, leggo!"
Seiji heard a slap, and a man snarl, "Shut up, kid."
Seiji, quick to help his partner, jumped up to defend Heero, but another person pushed him back onto the bed. "Stay where you are, Hiro. You don't want to get involved in this." It was a deeper voice that said this. Seiji didn't want to listen, he only knew that Heero was in trouble and that if he could see what was happening he could help. Seiji pushed himself off the bed again, as Heero shouted,
"Help me!”
Seiji was afraid, but not more so than he usually was. They were always hurting the boys, always for some reason or another. But, this was the time when they were usually safe, the night was supposed to be the time when they could rest. This time, the man took Seiji by the collar and threw him hard against a wall and Seiji's vision blurred before going black entirely.
Later, Seiji woke up in the darkness with the sound of Heero crying. Seiji blinked and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. "Heero? Where are you?" He started crawling around, not sure if those men were still here or not. “I’m coming, Heero.”
"Here." Came the choked sob.
Seiji was worried when he heard that. Heero never cried. Even when they were beaten for some mistake, Heero would never cry. Seiji crawled to where he'd heard the voice and his hand bumped into Heero's ankle.
"Stop!" Heero screamed, terrified. Seiji stopped instantly, not knowing what had happened. Heero's scream turned into crying again.
"Heero? Please let me help. I don't know what's going on." Seiji said, practically begging.
"I want to go to bed. Help me."
"Sure. What did they do to you, Heero?" Seiji felt his way to Heero's arm and helped pull his friend to his feet. Together, they stumbled to the bed and Seiji lay Heero down first.
"I hurt, Seiji. I hurt all over."
Seiji put his hands on Heero's chest, but couldn't feel any blood. He searched with his hands in the pitch darkness, but still couldn't find any wounds of any kind or even any blood. The only odd thing was that Heero wasn't wearing his clothes anymore. It wouldn't have been the first time that one of them had been nearly killed, but why had they taken Heero’s clothes?
"I can't find anything, Heero. What did they hurt?"
"Everything.”
Seiji cuddled Heero that night. Held his friend so tightly he was almost afraid that he'd hurt Heero, but he was afraid. He didn't understand what was wrong with Heero and this was all he could do, so Seiji just held on as tightly as he could.
Ryou blinked and found himself pulling away from Seiji’s hand, both ashamed and frightened of what he’d seen. That sort of thing was private. He shouldn’t have seen it.
Seiji-
Their hands touched and Seiji saw Ryou's life. Ryou's whole life in an instant flash in Seiji's mind was forever etched into Seiji's mind.
The fear Ryou had felt when the fire he'd created had killed his grandmother and the guilt of surviving the fire that had taken her life. The hunger of living alone in the mountains. He'd hunted for food, trying to use traps and snares to catch small animals to eat, though he'd eat them raw. He had to. To cook, Ryou would have to use fire and that he wouldn't do. Seiji saw Ryou's terror at the men who'd caught him alone and held the struggling boy while they talked amongst themselves. He'd almost used the fire to get rid of them, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control it again.
They'd taken him to the government and then to the orphanage where he'd met Duo, the kind soul who'd taken him under his wing. Other, happier, images of Ryou playing in a fantasy landscape that couldn't possibly be real. No such place could be real. Men with unreal weapons and a castle with endless corridors and a maze guarding the castle, set to confuse any would be invaders. Being trained in strange, archaic weapons and learning to read by the light of a candle, not lamps or any modern lights.
"Keep your arm up!" The man with green hair, Naaza, shouted, bringing one of his swords down on Ryou's head. Ryo only barely managed to block it in time. "Keep yourself guarded, boy, or I'll catch Hell from Sh'ten about hurting one of his babies!" Naaza swung his other sword, almost catching Ryou off guard while Duo burst into laughter from where he watched the training.
"Go, Ryou!" He shouted. "You can do it! Kick his butt!"
"You're next." Naaza shouted in warning to Duo. The battle continued, but Seiji knew they were not really trying to hurt each other. This was training. Naaza knew exactly when to stop and Ryou had unshakable faith in his older brother.
Seiji knew that Naaza was not Ryou's brother, but he had adopted both Ryou and Duo along with three other men whom Ryou thought of as his brothers. The memories flashed again, showing Seiji another place and another person with Ryou.
"Ryou, come on, you can do this." A red haired man Seiji knew as Sh'ten, coaxed. They weren’t in a courtyard, but in Sh’ten chambers, sitting at a large desk.
"But, mama Sh'ten, reading is just to hard! I don't get it!" Ryou said, glaring at the parchment scrolls in front of him. Not books as most people would have, but newly written parchments.
"Only because you need practice. Just look at Duo, he's a fine reader."
This made Ryou even more upset. "Duo's smarter than I am. Can't I just go back to weapon's training with Rajura?" Ryou just wanted to throw the whole parchment out the window and have done with it.
"No." Sh'ten said with finality in his voice. "I won't have you living as a brainless fool for the rest of your life! You will learn to read, even if it kills you."
Other scenes of Ryou playing with an immense white tiger and another boy, Duo, riding on the back of a black tiger on a large, empty plain. The moon over head was huge, impossibly huge and the sky was purple with no stars over head.
Not possible, but Ryou believed absolutely. This was his life, where he'd come from. Perhaps he was mad, driven to insanity by the death of his grandmother.
Seiji pulled away and his mind separated itself from Ryou’s.
End memories-
Slowly, the two parted, their hands drawing apart and growing aware of the classroom they were in. They were no longer in the past, reliving them, but they still remembered.
They understood each other. Totally and completely, they understood each other. Ryou was shaking and Seiji looked a little wild around the eye. What had just happened? Ryou worried because Seiji now knew about his firepower and where he came from. Mama had said not to tell anyone where he came from.
Seiji worried about what Ryou would do now that he knew Seiji's past, the past he'd kept hidden even from his sister. Would Ryou turn him in, would someone take him back to doctor J? That would not be allowed.
Duo-
Duo watched as Ryou shook the blonde's hand. He looked shocked for a minute, then managed a weak smile. What coincidence that they should meet him again and they'd both started on the first day and all. Poor Ryou was obviously head over heels for the guy, even though they'd only known each other for a few minutes. That handshake had taken almost a minute and they'd stared at each other so intently.
Duo shook his head. He would have to remember to ask Ryou about the guy at lunch and see if he was nice at all. Blondes just weren't Duo's cup of tea and his mind floated back to the guy he'd dreamed about, the one with the serious blue eyes. If only he could meet that guy.
Heero-
Outside the school, Heero waited patiently in the tall tree. He had easily managed to escape the hospital earlier in the week. Finding Hiro, his former partner, had proved only slightly more difficult than he’d expected. He'd managed to track Hiro to this school and he was certain that if he waited long enough he'd find the target. Hiro was his first assignment. Find or eliminate.
Seiji had told Heero his true name after they'd been teamed up for quite a while and they'd learned to depend on each other. Trust had been hard to build, but they’d managed it eventually. He was Seiji, now. Not Hiro.
Heero’s mobile suit had been destroyed when he'd come to Earth by the Alliance, but he'd managed to survive and woke up in a hospital, guarded by several men who were obviously military, wearing the uniform of the Alliance soldiers. After killing them, his escape had been simple.
Heero held his gun loosely in one hand; its weight was a great comfort to him and helped to keep his mind on business. Seiji had escaped and doctor J knew he was to valuable to lose, but he was also a security risk. Seiji knew where the hidden base was and he knew all the training that was going on. If Seiji went to the authorities of Earth and reported what he knew, they'd be shut down before they could even start the war.
Seiji had escaped weeks ago and so far had done no damage, simply gone into hiding. Heero, strangely, found himself angry with Seiji. They'd been close when they were younger, close enough to be almost family, but it didn't last long. Looking back, Heero knew that it was only the circumstances that had made them friends. They had no one else and had been literally thrown together.
For some reason, they'd been split up only two years later, when they were both nine. Heero had never been told the reason and after that day he hadn't seen Seiji. Still, even if they hadn't been together in so long, why did Seiji not even make an attempt at rescuing Heero?
'My partner.' Heero thought. 'Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me behind?'
Seiji-
Seiji's garden had become quite beautiful in the past few weeks that he'd been at home. Seiji looked around it with pride, taking in the flowers that were just starting to go past their prime and the small fountain that trickled water constantly. There was a bird feeder to attract the song birds and even Luc commented the other day that was like it had been when their mother had been alive.
“She’d be so proud of you.” Luc told Seiji. “This garden had always been her pride and joy. She used to work out here for hours to get everything just right. If she knew you spent your time here, too, I think she’d be very happy.”
The praise felt odd. He barely remembered his parents, so he couldn’t get too worked up about pleasing them. It made him much happier to know that Luc was pleased with him. He wanted very much to please Luc and it was because of that that Seiji stopped his routine of gardening all morning. He was going to school today, Luc had told him.
Before he’d been taken away by doctor J Seiji had gone to school, but he really couldn't remember any of it. The only education he'd ever had was what doctor J had given him and Seiji dearly hope normal school wasn't like that. No matter how happy it made Luc, Seiji was sure he wouldn’t be able to deal with that sort of training again.
Luc had given Seiji a dark blue uniform and a bag with books in it and she had tried to explain to him what school would be like. “Lots of people there.” She said with a bright smile. “You’ll make friends, I’m sure. The classes might be hard, but you were always so bright. I don’t think you have anything to worry about and even if you do, I’m on leave from work so I’ll give you a helping hand. You might get lost or turned around, it‘s a pretty big building. I went to visit when I signed you up. Just make friends and they‘ll help you out.”
'What do I care? I will do this because I know it will please Luc. Perhaps I will learn something while I am there. So long as I can come back to my garden, I will do as Luc wishes.' Seiji was crouched down, so as to not get his new school uniform dirty, and dug in the soil with a spade, turning the earth so he could plant some new seeds later. As Seiji dug turned the dirt, something shining caught his eye, something partly hidden under the plants. When Seiji picked it up he found it was a gleaming green orb. It was a tiny, perfectly round crystal with the kanji symbol for courtesy in the center of it.
The minute Seiji touched it, he knew that it was special. There was no logical reason for any of it, but Seiji knew he had to keep the crystal. A word echoed in Seiji's mind, a word from a dream he'd once had. Korin.
"Seiji!" Luc called from the driveway, distracting Seiji's attention away from the orb. “Time to go!”
Seiji stared at Luc, leaning against her bright green car, and he wanted to do well. He wanted to do just as she hoped he would do because that would please her. He had to please her. If she wasn’t pleased, perhaps she would send him away. Or maybe she would just leave and not come back. It was clear that their home meant nothing to her. She lived in an apartment somewhere and only moved back into the house because Seiji was there. If he was stupid in school or did anything to shame her, Seiji just knew she’d leave.
He slipped the tiny orb into his pocket before he stood and went to Luc.
Noin-
Noin thought of herself as Noin, it wasn‘t just a nickname, anymore. When she’d been younger, everyone had called her Lucy (a name she absolutely hated), short for Lucrecia, except for Seiji who'd always called her Luc. When their parents had died, Noin had changed. She gave up many dreams she’d had and walled in depression for a very long time. Even Zechs called her Noin and she was closer to him than anyone else in the world.
“What?” Zechs never answered the phone like other people.
“Hey.” She smiled just to hear his voice. “Look, I’m almost ready to come back to work. Can I have a few more days off to see Seiji’s properly settled in school?”
“Of course.” Zechs had always been kind to her. He went out of his way to be good to her. “Has anything else happened with him? Any more strange powers? More incidents of healing?”
“Not that I’ve seen. You haven’t told Treize, have you? I’ll hold by my word and skin you alive if you have.”
“I sweat to it. Your brother’s secret is safe with me, even though Seiji didn’t seem to care one way or the other who saw him.”
“Well, I care. Anyway, he seems happy enough. He’s spent most of his time playing in the garden. I think he likes getting his hands dirty.”
Zechs laughed on the other end of the phone. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Has he told you anything about who took him?”
“No. Not a word and I’m afraid to push too much. I’m hoping that he’ll adjust to school well and start relaxing. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I remind him too much of the past. Maybe he blames me for not coming to get him.”
“Now stop that!” Zechs reprimanded harshly. “I won’t have you doing that to yourself! No matter what he thinks, you did nothing wrong. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, I know. I just wish he’d talk to me.”
“He will. Just give it time. He’s about fifteen, isn’t he?”
“Huh? Yeah. Almost sixteen. Why?”
“Have you thought about having him enlist?”
Noin blinked at the wall, as if that might give her the answer for Zechs’ strange question. “He’s too young.” She stepped to the left and looked out the window to see Seiji still toiling away in the garden. His mop of long blonde hair moved every time he moved. “Zechs, he’s playing in the garden right now. He’s no soldier. Far, far too young.”
“For active duty, yes. However, OZ has been known to take exceptional young people on early for training with permission from their guardians. You are his guardian.”
It actually wasn’t a bad idea. If Seiji became part of OZ Noin could know he was being taken care of no matter where she was for duty. She could have him moved to Lake Victoria for the remainder of his childhood. At least there, she knew he wouldn’t get into trouble. Still, that would mean that one day Seiji would enter the military and, perhaps, see active duty. Noin wasn’t sure she liked that at all. “I’ll think on it. Thanks for everything, Zechs. I really appreciate it.”
“My pleasure. Shall I call on you tonight?”
Noin had to laugh. “Sorry. Really. You sound like an old fashioned suitor.”
“I assure you I didn’t mean it like that.” One could practically see him blushing.
“Yeah. I know. See you tonight, then.” Noin hung up, but she was smiling. Talking with Zechs always made her feel better. Even on the worst day of her life, he’d somehow managed to make things a little better.
It was shortly after she’d met Zechs and after her parents had died that Noin had started calling herself Noin, insisting that everyone call her that. She wanted no part of the painful memories her true name, Date, brought back.
It had occurred to her when Seiji had first arrived that she should tell him to call her Noin, also. Looking at his sad, lonely face had made Noin keep her mouth closed on that subject. "Luc." That was the first word he'd said when she'd found in the dilapidated dojo and he rarely ever said more than that. Even after being at home for several weeks, he would sit quietly in the garden and just watch what was going on around him. It would have been shameful to take away the only thing that seemed to remain of his life before he was kidnapped and her nickname seemed to be that one thing. He’d admitted to having trouble remembering their family and even the house. Why confuse him or hurt him by making him call her by a different name?
Noin waited for Seiji as long as she could before it was time to take him to school. She waited for him patiently by her car and thought about him. It had been hard to take her mind off him since he’d come back. It made her sick to think of what might have been done to him while he was gone. Worse, he wouldn’t tell her anything and it seemed to Noin that if he wouldn’t talk about it, especially to her, then whatever he’d gone through must have been nightmarish. Otherwise, why would her little brother keep such secrets? No. Not her little brother. Younger brother was closer to the mark. Seiji may be younger by almost six years, he was only fifteen, but he was several inches taller than she was. He had been though something terrible and God help whoever had done it when she ever found them!
"Seiji!" She called, finally. This was going to be his first day of high school and she prayed that it would go wonderfully for him. It was a vain hope, though. She knew most normal kids had horrible first days of high school and Seiji was far from normal.
Seiji came promptly at her call, impeccably dressed in the uniform she'd bought for him with the book bag held in one hand. His hair, as usual, hung over the ruined side of his face and the eye someone had stolen from him. His hair had been long when Noin had found him in the dusty dojo, but she’d cut it short enough that it didn’t even touch his shoulders. The front of his hair, Noin had left long to cover his mangled face and at least save him from a few unkind stares. Seiji walked briskly over to her and stood stiffly, as if he were awaiting inspection and approval.
"You look great, Seiji. Are you ready?" She said with forced cheerfulness. He did look very good, but he didn't quite look real, more like a machine that was dressed up or a pretty porcelain doll. The perfection would end the minute a soft breeze brushed the hair away from his face. Noin really didn't want Seiji to know that she was so worried about him.
"Yes." He nodded crisply.
"Well, hop in." She motioned to the car, the bright green love of her life. “I’ll give you a lift until you learn your way to school. It’s not too far away, maybe a half an hour’s walk. Don’t suppose you want to get dropped off every day like you were a child, eh? Once you learn the way, you can walk like everyone else.” But what happened when her leave of absence ended? It wasn’t as if she could leave him alone. He barely knew enough to eat properly. The first time Noin hadn’t been paying attention, Seiji had gone two days without eating because she hadn’t told him to. “Or, if you like, we’ll get the school bus to pick you up.”
If Seiji had any preference one way or the other, he didn’t show it. He just nodded to show he understood and fell still again.
Noin was, even she would admitted, a little enthusiastic about driving. If she hadn't started working for OZ, she probably would have been a race car driver. Unfortunately, her lead foot had earned her numerous speeding tickets and a good number of close calls. Seiji took her speeding and seemingly careless driving habits without a word of complaint. He just sat there, his hands resting easily on his book bag. Noin almost laughed at how well he was taking it. Even sweet Zechs, who was so calm-natured and terribly brave, had been known to swear when she was driving and cling helplessly to his seat belt. He'd given up on riding with her and had been insisting that he drive if they were going anywhere.
Noin shook her head, so worried about Seiji. His good looks were enough to earn him enemies, Seiji was almost angelic looking in Noin's opinion and she was his sister! The girls would love him too much and the boys would hate him for getting all the attention. There was something about Seiji that made Noin have no doubt that Seiji could fight and take care of himself when it came to fights, but it was the girls that worried her. They would expect too much out of him and be bitter if he didn't know how to respond to their advances.
Then there was Seiji's odd behavior. Teenagers were notorious for singling out the "odd" ones in school and doing their very best to make life Hell for them. The worst thing that could happen, though, would be when someone happened to see passed his hair and see what remained of his eye. They would see how disfigured he was and Seiji would never hear the end of it! Thankfully, Zechs had promised to talk to some people he knew, probably Treize, about getting a glass eye at the very least and maybe even a cybernetic eye, something that could work as a real eye and feed information to his brain.
She just didn't know if Seiji were strong enough to hold up under all the pressure that would be waiting for him at the seemingly innocent school. By the time the school came into sight, Noin was thinking that perhaps she'd made the wrong choice and that she should have kept Seiji at home a while longer, just to get him used to living at home again. Maybe this was too big a step for him, too soon. Just as she was convincing herself that she should turn right around and go back, they pulled up to the school and Seiji was already undoing his seatbelt. There was no going back.
"You have the number where you can reach me, Seiji." Noin said. "Call me if you need anything or even if you just want to go home. Okay?"
Seiji nodded, curtly as always.
Noin knew that, like most everything he did, Seiji was doing this to please her. If she let him have his own way, Seiji would probably never leave the house, content to sit in the garden he was slowly bringing back to life. He was going to school because she'd told him he needed it and he knew it would please her if he went along with the idea.
"Well, good luck." Noin kissed him on the cheek for luck.
Seiji nodded again and was about to open the door when he paused and looked back at her. "Luc, where's grandfather Date?"
Noin froze. "What?"
"Where is grandfather Date? The family shrine was for mother and father, but I saw no picture of grandfather. Is he dead?"
Noin wasn't quite sure how to answer this one. It had been almost a month, though, and Seiji had to find out sometime, right? "I'll tell you after school, Seiji. Just worry about making new friends, all right?"
"Yes, Luc." He got out of the car and made his way through the throng of students all drifting into school. On his way, Seiji passed a boy with blue hair walking with a blonde. How strange it seemed to have two blondes in one school full of black hair. Then again, the blue hair was odd, too.
Noin sighed and wanted to cry at the thought of her grandfather. How would Seiji react?
Ryou-
Ryou wasn't very happy with being in the Ningen Sekai in the first place, but Duo had wanted him to go and he'd do anything to make Duo happy. This city was so unlike anything he'd ever seen before, having grown up in the forest and then in the Youja-Kai. There were too many people and too many cars. The air smelled funny and everything was noisy. However, Ryou’s anxiety was lessened by Duo’s blissful happiness. He was glad that Duo was happy and thought that anything that made Duo happy must be a good thing.
“Are you sure you know the way?“ Ryou asked, for the third time since they’d left for the school.
“Gimme a break.“ Duo didn’t so much as glance at the directions mama Sh’ten had written for them. “It’s not too far, now. Just relax and enjoy the scenery.“ He paused to admire a fancy, bright yellow car. “I haven't seen cars in years." Duo almost shouted, swinging his nearly school bag joyfully. It was mama Sh’ten’s doing, again. He’d thought to get them notebooks and pencils and given them each a knife to sharpen the pencils with because he couldn’t figure out how else to do it and had wondered out loud why no one used ink wells anymore. "This is great! Modern, normal humans." His eyes lit up with utter bliss as they landed on something else he'd been dearly missing. "Look! An ice cream stand!"
Ryou looked at him, confused and maybe just a little hurt. "What? Don't you like our family? Our home?"
"Don't get me wrong. I love you guys and living in a palace is great, but it's nice to see other people for once. Not to mention girls." Duo leered at a couple of pretty young women walking down the streets, but it only earned him an elbow in the ribs from Ryou.
"What are you talking about? Kay's a girl and besides, you're gay. You told me so."
"That doesn't mean I can't like girls, too. As for Kay, she's a sister, so she doesn't count."
Ryou really didn't like the city, the people were too close together, all pushing and shoving, he felt like he was choking when they were pressed in close to him on the sidewalk. It was getting worse as they got closer to the school, other kids, in the same uniforms as Ryou and Duo, were all laughing and shouting, talking to friends. Ryou felt his heart start to pound harder.
Fortunately Duo had obviously seen his panic and took Ryou by the arm. "Are you all right?"
Ryou shook his head and moved closer to Duo. "I...I don't like this. There are too many of them."
"Just a few more blocks then things will get better, I'm sure." Duo told him reassuringly.
Ryou gave Duo a skeptical look, but said nothing. He wasn't convinced that this world would be okay, there were just too many people. He'd rather be out in the forest, playing or hunting. He'd never seen so many people in his whole life! Back at the cabin it had been him and granma. Then his new brothers. Now, there were just people everywhere!
They were almost at the school when something caught Ryou's attention. In an alley an old man with a long staff stood. He stepped out of the shadows of the alley, his long staff jingling with every step, and looked right at Ryou. "I have been waiting for you, Rekka."
Ryou stopped at the voice. The man's voice seemed echoed and sounded deep within his soul. "Who are you?" Ryou asked. He turned to look at Duo, only to find Duo frozen, his mouth half-open, as if saying something and the wind had picked up some of Duo's hair, but it was frozen in mid-air. "Duo?" Ryou was starting to get really worried at this point. "What have you done to Duo?" Ryou turned on the old man with a snarl, his eyes narrowing. "Let him go!" Ryou knew he wasn't brave or very strong, but Duo was his only friend! He would fight the weird old guy for Duo!
"Be at ease, Rekka. I have paused time for the world. Duo will not even be aware that this has happened when I wake him. I have come to see you. I was beginning to fear that you were lost to the darkness."
Ryou frowned. "What are you talking about? My name's Ryou, not Rekka, you must have the wrong guy."
"No. You are both Ryou and Rekka. The darkness that took you years ago will wish to possess your power, you must not return to them. To where you've been lost since the death of your grandmother."
Ryou started, shocked. "How do you know about my granma? What are you after?"
"You." A low, wide hat, concealing most of his face, shaded the old man's face and Ryou was afraid. There was something very wrong with this. If the old man was telling the truth, then he was supposed to stay away from his brothers? No! His brothers would never hurt him.
"Is this a trick or something? Did my oniisan's send you to trick me?" Ryou asked nervously, hoping that this was maybe one of Rajura's tricks.
"It is your own brothers I must guard you from, Ryou. They are the ma-sho of the demon, Arago. They are the forces that would destroy this world and kill everyone."
Ryou almost exploded at this point. "No!" He shouted angrily and balled his hands into fists. "You're lying! My brothers would never do something like that!" Damn the old man for saying such horrible things! Ryou was ready to attack the old man when the old man stepped to the side, revealing a metal oil drum, filled with fire. The blaze was like many that the homeless would use for heat, but it stopped Ryou dead in his tracks. Fire.
Ryou took a step backwards as the fire called to him, beckoning him closer. It would dance for him, it promised. It was singing to him, seeming to wrap its warm fingers around his heart and mind, drawing him in closer. Ryou stepped back again and bumped into something. Looking over his shoulder, Ryou saw that he'd bumped into Duo, still standing still as stone. Duo couldn't help him this time.
"Go to the fire, Rekka. It's calling you."
Ryou shook his head at the freaky old man. "No. No, I don't like fire."
"The truth is, you do like fire, but you are still afraid of it." The old man lowered his staff, pointing it at the fire. "In the fire is a treasure, Rekka, and a curse. You must take it or Duo will never be freed."
"What!?"
The old man didn't repeat himself, but stayed still and let Ryou think over his choice. Ryou slowly realized that Duo was depending on him. He couldn't just beat the old man up, Duo would stay frozen forever if he did that. Ryou took a deep breath and stepped forward, closer to the bright, dancing fire. He licked his lips but kept going, past the old man until he was right in front of the fire. Ryou looked in, trying to ignore the voices singing at him, they sounded so beautiful, so right.
In the flames, in the bottom of the oil drum, Ryou could see the flickering image of a small round ball. It was the ball, or whatever it was, that he was supposed to get, right? Ryou closed his eyes for a minute. This was for Duo. All for Duo.
‘He’d do it for me.’
Ryou opened his eyes, fast enough that he couldn't change his mind, and plunged his hand into the fire. It didn't hurt, Ryou could only feel the warm licking of the fire, like a cat's tongue on his arm. He found the ball and grabbed it as quickly as he could, jerking out of the fire and stumbling backwards, onto his butt.
"What are you doing?"
Ryou, still panting, and clutching the ball in his fist, looked up to find a perfectly normal Duo looked down at him, curiously. Looking around, Ryou saw the old man was gone and the people on the street were walking along, as if nothing had happened.
"I...the old guy...well..." He looked at Duo. "You mean you didn't see any of it?"
"Any of what? What old man, Ryou?" Duo snorted. "Come on, if you keep fooling around we're going to be late." Duo reached out a hand to help Ryou up with a smile. "I didn't know you were so wound up about this school thing, Ryou. I wouldn't have pushed you to come with me. You don't have to come tomorrow if you don't want to."
Ryou shook his head. "Naw. It's all right." The orb felt warm and safe in his hand as they continued to walk. "I...I feel better now." And strangely, it was true. He felt much better, more confident, but he would have to ask mama about this when he got home. The old man never said who he was, but he'd said Ryou's brothers were evil. That was not true. It was NOT true!
As they walked, Ryou looked down at the little orb in the palm of his hand. Benevolence. The kanji symbol glowed quite clearly in the center of the smoky red orb. It felt as if it was a part of him, but there was still something missing.
The two of them walked into the school, walking as closely together as possible, and even Duo seemed to be getting nervous as they neared their destination.
Next stop, class.
Youja-Kai-
Byakuen-
The tigers didn’t spend all their time at the palace of the demon emperor. When the animal master, Anubisu, didn’t call them, they spent much of their time hunting in the vast grasslands of the Youja-Kai. They had been off hunting when they’d realized something had happened. They didn’t know what, exactly, but something had happened. It was enough to make Byakuen break off his stalking of his prey and raise his head. Kokuen-Oh raised his head at the same time and looked at Byakuen with troubled eyes.
The palace looked the same when they arrived, with no signs of battle or any kind of distress. Rajura was in the courtyard playing with his weapons and Naaza was swimming in the bathhouse. Sh’ten was writing bad poetry in the family’s shared room. The family seemed fine, though there were two who were missing. Byakuren and Kokuen-Oh searched the palace, sniffing here and there, before they realized what it was that was wrong. Two of the cubs were gone. Gone!
Byakuen roared a complaint as soon as they realized the problem.
Almost instantly, Anubisu was in front of them. "What is it?" He asked, sounding irritated. "I'm in the middle of something."
Kokuen-Oh was the one who stepped closer to Anubisu to ask where they cubs were. Both great tiger demons had become attached to our two cubs since Anubisu had brought them to watch over the cubs and to find them just gone was unnerving to say the least. Infuriating to be perfectly honest.
"Oh," Anubisu replied. "The cubs went to school, to learn to be with other cubs. They will come back later. Just relax until they come back." He vanished, as he often did, and the two tiger demons were left alone in one of the palace’s corridors.
Byakuen and Kokuen-Oh looked at each other, thinking the same thing. The cubs were too young to look after themselves, so they would have to go after them and see that they were as safe as Anubisu claimed.
It was quite simple to follow the scent trail back to the room where the humans customarily ate their meals and to the two red columns that were markers for the gateway. Byakuen wasn't sure what a gateway was, but the humans spoke of them often. The cubs must have gone through the gateway and the tiger demons would follow. Just as Byakuen was about to step through, something pulled at his tail. Byakuen growled as he turned around, thinking it was Kokuen-Oh playing tricks again, but it was Kay who stood there, smiling at Byakuen with her little hand wrapped around his tail.
"Where are you going, Yaku-chan?" She'd gotten that name from Ryou, something Byakuen wasn’t sure he approved of.
Byakuen looked at the gate, showing her where they were going.
"Can I come, too?"
Well, why not? ANY OBJECTIONS? Byakuen asked Kokuen-Oh.
NONE. SHE'LL BE SAFE ENOUGH WITH US.
Byakuen nudged against Kay and she got the point, climbing onto his back. Together, they all walked through the gate into the unknown world.
Earth-
Quatre-
Quatre was looking at the screen of his computer and rested his chin on his hands, the image of the immense robot panning up and down. It was magnificent. A glorious achievement for science and the engineers who’d built it. It‘s purpose was monstrously regrettable, Quatre knew, but just the fact that something so powerful had been built was awe inspiriting. "Is Sandrock ready, Professor H?"
The man on the other end of the link was several million miles away, at a base in outer space, and looked back at Quatre with a smug expression. "Nearly, Quatre, nearly. We must wait a little longer before you can put your training into practice. Keep up the computer studies that I send for you and, of course, the technical work, for now. As soon as the Gundam is complete I will send for you to get you familiar with the operations of it. How are your lessons with that friend of yours, Rashid, I believe you said his name was."
Quatre’s smile didn’t falter, but he suddenly wasn’t so pleased. “Who told you about Rashid?”
“Does that matter? He is giving you combat training, isn’t he? Training that other boy, too.”
Professor H could know about Rashid, after all, Rashid had part custody of Quatre. It was for legal purposes when he was on Earth and not really a secret. Still, Quatre was sure he hadn’t told professor H and he knew he hadn’t mentioned Touma at all. Perhaps doctor H was bold enough to spy on him?
Quatre smiled brightly and kept his suspicions to himself. "Oh, they're both fine. Rashid is a great fighter and he's teaching me everything he knows, so I'm a pretty good hand to hand fighter. My brother is helping me with school so I'm barging ahead there, too."
Professor H had approached him two years ago about becoming the pilot of a Gundam for the freedom of the colonies and Quatre had agreed, somewhat reluctantly at first. But, as he'd thought over the offer, Quatre's mind began to turn over and over all of the possibilities that this situation offered. Terrorism. Intrigue. War.
Yes, the potential for fun was almost unlimited.
Suddenly, Quatre noticed the clock on the wall. He would have to think about professor H’s nosy inclinations later. Most likely, it was nothing to be worried about. Security was very high around the Gundam projects, after all. They were probably just researching Quatre’s connections. "Sorry, but I have to go now, professor H. It's time for school."
Professor H didn’t wait to say any good-byes before he disconnected the line and Quatre found himself staring at his reflection in the blank computer monitor.
“You’re starting to puzzle me, professor.” Quatre said to himself. “Spying? What else have you been up to? You and those others?” He stood up and walked calmly out of his room in Rashid’s home, then went to the room right next to his and thumped on the door. "Touma, time to wake up!" School didn't actually start for almost two hours, but it was a war just waking up Touma. He had time to go have a cup of coffee and have the servants start breakfast and then go give Touma another wake up call.
An hour and a half and three cups of coffee later-
"Touma! Wake up!" Quatre banged his fist against the door of his brother's bedroom, hoping to wake him up before they had to be at school. This wouldn't be the first time they were late because of Touma's oversleeping. Not once in all the years they'd been living together had Touma gotten up on time. "It's time for school!"
A groggy voice, finally, muttered something obscene through the door at him.
Quatre rolled his eyes. "I'm going to get the bucket of ice water!”
"I'm up, I'm up!" Touma shouted back, though still sounding half-asleep. "Relax, Kitty."
What an awful nickname. Still, it was Touma who‘d thought it up and Quatre was forgiving enough that he let it pass. Only from Touma, though. Honestly, someone had to do it, eventually. It was only a short hop from Quatre to Quat then to Kitty. "You'd better be up, the ice water's right out here and I'll douse you if you're not downstairs in five minutes. Xiu and Wufei and going to be here in any minute."
Quatre left at that point as the doorbell rang, but by the time he’d gotten down to the front door, one of the servants had let their guests in. It was the usual sight that Quatre had missed over the summer. Xiu in a rumpled, worn uniform and Wufei in his freshly ironed one both waiting at the foot of the stairs like mismatched bookends. They were so incredibly different for cousins.
"May I presume that Touma is still getting up?" Wufei asked redundantly. They all knew Touma wouldn't be ready until the last minute.
"He’s making an effort, yes."
Wufei nodded, accepting the fact where he'd usually fuss and splutter about how lazy and weak Touma was.
"You're in a good mood." Quatre commented. "What's happening?"
Wufei and Xiu smiled at the same time. "Two weeks to go." Was all Wufei said.
"Two weeks?"
Xiu spoke up. "Yep. He's going back to A0206 in two weeks to get hitched." Xiu grinned proudly and gave his cousin a slap on the back. "He's even invited my family to come with him to the ceremony."
"Are you quite sure about this, Wufei?" Quatre asked, sitting down in his living room and motioning for the others to do the same. "I still think you're too young. You're only fifteen, after all."
Wufei replied, proudly arrogant. "We keep different customs on A0206. Meiran and I have been married since we were three years old. This is just completing the ceremony."
Xiu nodded, confirming. "That's right. Weird, but it's true. I'm just glad mama didn't do that to me. I'd be scared to death to marry some girl like that." Xiu frowned.
Wufei disagreed. "It doesn't matter what she's like, you must marry her for the honor of your family if nothing else."
"Oh yeah," Touma, now standing in the doorway with his school bag slung over his shoulder, said. "That's real logical. Get chained to someone you can't stand for the rest of your life. Very intelligent. I'm sure that often makes for a very happy marriage." Touma had some pretty strong convictions of many things. One of those things was Wufei's impending wedding. Everyone knew about it as Wufei made sure to brag about it as often as possible.
"What's logic got to do with it?" Xiu asked. "Come on, lazy bones. Gotta get to school."
Touma gave him an amused look. "Since when did you get so caught up in the school spirit?"
"Didn't, but I heard there's a couple of new kids starting and I wanted to see them. Come on!"
At school-
The two new students were standing at the head of the class with the teacher, as was custom for new students when they were about to be introduced. One could be mistaken for a girl, if he were seen only from the back. His hair was longer than any boy’s Quatre had ever met and he was very thin. His face was obviously a boy’s face, though. The other boy looked a bit more weary and kept looking around as if he were looking for an escape route.
The teacher happy introduced them, smiling particularly at the nervous boy as if she would reassure him that everything was alright. "These are your new class mates, Sanada Ryou and Duo Maxwell. Boys, please find seats and make yourselves comfortable. I hope you’ll enjoy your new class."
Quatre watched the two search the room before finding the two empty seats. Duo, the one with an incredibly long braid, bounced over to one seat, which just happened to be next to Quatre, Ryou went to sit near the window, but looked over at Duo sadly. There was some connection between the two, obviously.
"Hi!" Duo said pleasantly, waving a hand in front of Quatre. "Nice to meet you. What's your name? I'm glad to be here." He was speaking quite loudly, almost as if he didn't know he was supposed to be quite in school.
"Please, call me Quatre." Quatre replied, casting a nervous look at the teacher who had given Duo a sour look to quiet him. At this point, another new student walked in, another boy, and handed a note to the teacher without a word. He stood stiffly at attention, his arms hanging down at his sides. The most amazing thing, to Quatre's, was that this new student was blonde, just like Quatre himself! He almost smiled. It was wonderful to find another blonde in this country where he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Finally, the teacher looked at her class. "Everyone, we have another new student. Please welcome Date Seiji. Mr. Date, there's a seat next to Ryou." She pointed to the one empty seat. The new guy nodded stiffly and went to where he'd been told to go.
Quatre watched as Ryo said something softly, almost whispering, and held out a welcoming hand. Seiji stared at the hand for a moment before taking it and both froze, staring at each other with wide, surprised eyes. Quatre smiled.
How cute to fall in love so quickly.
Ryou-
'I can see his mind. I can see Seiji's memory. What's happening to me?!'
Seiji's memory-
'I'm so scared. I don't want to be here! Please let me go home.' That was what Seiji thought every night, but it never happened. As always, they locked him in the little room and turned the lights out, sealing him in the prison of darkness…alone. This night, however, something different happened. He was six at this time, and had been prisoner of the mysterious doctor J for more than five months.
Seiji lay in the darkness, the sheets of his narrow bed, pulled up over his head, as if that could protect him from the dark. There was no sound in the darkness, that was normal for this place. No sound ever after the door was locked. Seiji could still remember the birds singing outside his window when he went to sleep at home.
Seiji tried not to be afraid, but it was hard. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was in the garden at home. Full of flowers and the warm sun, but it was getting hard to remember. He'd been in this place for so long.
The lock was turned, sounding horribly loud to Seiji, and the door opened, shedding a soft light from the hall into the room. Seiji slowly poked his head over the covers of his blanket and saw doctor J standing in the doorway with another little boy held by the wrist. Doctor J turned the lights on before walking in, pulling the boy with him.
The boy was very thin, almost starved looking with narrow, angry eyes and shaggy brown hair.
"Hiro," Doctor J started using Seiji's code name, the name Seiji hated. "This is Heero. He's going to live with you and be your partner when you go into battle. You will train together and when you are put into action, you will fight together." Doctor J gave Heero a little push toward Seiji's bed. "Make room, Hiro. I'll have another bed in here someday. Until then, you're sharing."
Doctor J left the room, leaving Heero just standing there, glaring at Seiji. The silence went on for sometime, until Seiji gave in and threw back the sheets of the bed. Seiji patted the bed beside him, inviting Heero in. There was no choice.
Heero crossed his arms over his chest and glared, but once the lights went out again, Seiji felt the bed shift slightly and knew Heero was in with him. The two boys covered themselves and tried to get comfortable in the bed that was made for one very small person, not two growing boys. They ended up with Seiji curled around Heero, his arms almost hugging the smaller boy.
"My name's not Heero." The other boy said quietly.
Seiji knew what he was talking about. "My name's not Hiro." It was very important that they save their identity, even if it was so little a thing as a name. Seiji had been desperately holding onto the name for a very long time, and he wondered if Heero would tell him his name. "How'd you get here?"
Seiji felt Heero shrug in the darkness. "I fell asleep and when I woke up, the guy I lived with was selling me to that freaky doctor." Heero sniffed and Seiji wondered if Heero was crying. "I'll just kill him if I ever see him again." Heero yawned. "At least now I have someone to talk to."
"That's true." Seiji smiled. Maybe this won't be so bad with a friend at least. Both boys fell asleep in the darkness, and Seiji was comforted by the fact that he could feel Heero's heart beating where his hand was on Heero's chest. Seiji smiled before he fell asleep, with his nose in Heero's hair. It felt so good to be with someone who wasn't going to hurt him.
They liked each other very much, Heero and Seiji. They got on very well, even to the point that they didn't have to speak to understand each other, which was lucky as Dr. J seemed to disapprove of talking and they could only do that in private at night. They even fought well together.
One night when they were nine, everything changed. The two boys were sound asleep when they heard the door open and the sounds of people walking into the room. They both woke quickly when they heard the door open, but the light never came on, so they didn't know what was going on.
Suddenly, Heero was jerked violently out of the bed. "What?!" He cried out, frightened. "You're hurting me, leggo!"
Seiji heard a slap, and a man snarl, "Shut up, kid."
Seiji, quick to help his partner, jumped up to defend Heero, but another person pushed him back onto the bed. "Stay where you are, Hiro. You don't want to get involved in this." It was a deeper voice that said this. Seiji didn't want to listen, he only knew that Heero was in trouble and that if he could see what was happening he could help. Seiji pushed himself off the bed again, as Heero shouted,
"Help me!”
Seiji was afraid, but not more so than he usually was. They were always hurting the boys, always for some reason or another. But, this was the time when they were usually safe, the night was supposed to be the time when they could rest. This time, the man took Seiji by the collar and threw him hard against a wall and Seiji's vision blurred before going black entirely.
Later, Seiji woke up in the darkness with the sound of Heero crying. Seiji blinked and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. "Heero? Where are you?" He started crawling around, not sure if those men were still here or not. “I’m coming, Heero.”
"Here." Came the choked sob.
Seiji was worried when he heard that. Heero never cried. Even when they were beaten for some mistake, Heero would never cry. Seiji crawled to where he'd heard the voice and his hand bumped into Heero's ankle.
"Stop!" Heero screamed, terrified. Seiji stopped instantly, not knowing what had happened. Heero's scream turned into crying again.
"Heero? Please let me help. I don't know what's going on." Seiji said, practically begging.
"I want to go to bed. Help me."
"Sure. What did they do to you, Heero?" Seiji felt his way to Heero's arm and helped pull his friend to his feet. Together, they stumbled to the bed and Seiji lay Heero down first.
"I hurt, Seiji. I hurt all over."
Seiji put his hands on Heero's chest, but couldn't feel any blood. He searched with his hands in the pitch darkness, but still couldn't find any wounds of any kind or even any blood. The only odd thing was that Heero wasn't wearing his clothes anymore. It wouldn't have been the first time that one of them had been nearly killed, but why had they taken Heero’s clothes?
"I can't find anything, Heero. What did they hurt?"
"Everything.”
Seiji cuddled Heero that night. Held his friend so tightly he was almost afraid that he'd hurt Heero, but he was afraid. He didn't understand what was wrong with Heero and this was all he could do, so Seiji just held on as tightly as he could.
Ryou blinked and found himself pulling away from Seiji’s hand, both ashamed and frightened of what he’d seen. That sort of thing was private. He shouldn’t have seen it.
Seiji-
Their hands touched and Seiji saw Ryou's life. Ryou's whole life in an instant flash in Seiji's mind was forever etched into Seiji's mind.
The fear Ryou had felt when the fire he'd created had killed his grandmother and the guilt of surviving the fire that had taken her life. The hunger of living alone in the mountains. He'd hunted for food, trying to use traps and snares to catch small animals to eat, though he'd eat them raw. He had to. To cook, Ryou would have to use fire and that he wouldn't do. Seiji saw Ryou's terror at the men who'd caught him alone and held the struggling boy while they talked amongst themselves. He'd almost used the fire to get rid of them, but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control it again.
They'd taken him to the government and then to the orphanage where he'd met Duo, the kind soul who'd taken him under his wing. Other, happier, images of Ryou playing in a fantasy landscape that couldn't possibly be real. No such place could be real. Men with unreal weapons and a castle with endless corridors and a maze guarding the castle, set to confuse any would be invaders. Being trained in strange, archaic weapons and learning to read by the light of a candle, not lamps or any modern lights.
"Keep your arm up!" The man with green hair, Naaza, shouted, bringing one of his swords down on Ryou's head. Ryo only barely managed to block it in time. "Keep yourself guarded, boy, or I'll catch Hell from Sh'ten about hurting one of his babies!" Naaza swung his other sword, almost catching Ryou off guard while Duo burst into laughter from where he watched the training.
"Go, Ryou!" He shouted. "You can do it! Kick his butt!"
"You're next." Naaza shouted in warning to Duo. The battle continued, but Seiji knew they were not really trying to hurt each other. This was training. Naaza knew exactly when to stop and Ryou had unshakable faith in his older brother.
Seiji knew that Naaza was not Ryou's brother, but he had adopted both Ryou and Duo along with three other men whom Ryou thought of as his brothers. The memories flashed again, showing Seiji another place and another person with Ryou.
"Ryou, come on, you can do this." A red haired man Seiji knew as Sh'ten, coaxed. They weren’t in a courtyard, but in Sh’ten chambers, sitting at a large desk.
"But, mama Sh'ten, reading is just to hard! I don't get it!" Ryou said, glaring at the parchment scrolls in front of him. Not books as most people would have, but newly written parchments.
"Only because you need practice. Just look at Duo, he's a fine reader."
This made Ryou even more upset. "Duo's smarter than I am. Can't I just go back to weapon's training with Rajura?" Ryou just wanted to throw the whole parchment out the window and have done with it.
"No." Sh'ten said with finality in his voice. "I won't have you living as a brainless fool for the rest of your life! You will learn to read, even if it kills you."
Other scenes of Ryou playing with an immense white tiger and another boy, Duo, riding on the back of a black tiger on a large, empty plain. The moon over head was huge, impossibly huge and the sky was purple with no stars over head.
Not possible, but Ryou believed absolutely. This was his life, where he'd come from. Perhaps he was mad, driven to insanity by the death of his grandmother.
Seiji pulled away and his mind separated itself from Ryou’s.
End memories-
Slowly, the two parted, their hands drawing apart and growing aware of the classroom they were in. They were no longer in the past, reliving them, but they still remembered.
They understood each other. Totally and completely, they understood each other. Ryou was shaking and Seiji looked a little wild around the eye. What had just happened? Ryou worried because Seiji now knew about his firepower and where he came from. Mama had said not to tell anyone where he came from.
Seiji worried about what Ryou would do now that he knew Seiji's past, the past he'd kept hidden even from his sister. Would Ryou turn him in, would someone take him back to doctor J? That would not be allowed.
Duo-
Duo watched as Ryou shook the blonde's hand. He looked shocked for a minute, then managed a weak smile. What coincidence that they should meet him again and they'd both started on the first day and all. Poor Ryou was obviously head over heels for the guy, even though they'd only known each other for a few minutes. That handshake had taken almost a minute and they'd stared at each other so intently.
Duo shook his head. He would have to remember to ask Ryou about the guy at lunch and see if he was nice at all. Blondes just weren't Duo's cup of tea and his mind floated back to the guy he'd dreamed about, the one with the serious blue eyes. If only he could meet that guy.
Heero-
Outside the school, Heero waited patiently in the tall tree. He had easily managed to escape the hospital earlier in the week. Finding Hiro, his former partner, had proved only slightly more difficult than he’d expected. He'd managed to track Hiro to this school and he was certain that if he waited long enough he'd find the target. Hiro was his first assignment. Find or eliminate.
Seiji had told Heero his true name after they'd been teamed up for quite a while and they'd learned to depend on each other. Trust had been hard to build, but they’d managed it eventually. He was Seiji, now. Not Hiro.
Heero’s mobile suit had been destroyed when he'd come to Earth by the Alliance, but he'd managed to survive and woke up in a hospital, guarded by several men who were obviously military, wearing the uniform of the Alliance soldiers. After killing them, his escape had been simple.
Heero held his gun loosely in one hand; its weight was a great comfort to him and helped to keep his mind on business. Seiji had escaped and doctor J knew he was to valuable to lose, but he was also a security risk. Seiji knew where the hidden base was and he knew all the training that was going on. If Seiji went to the authorities of Earth and reported what he knew, they'd be shut down before they could even start the war.
Seiji had escaped weeks ago and so far had done no damage, simply gone into hiding. Heero, strangely, found himself angry with Seiji. They'd been close when they were younger, close enough to be almost family, but it didn't last long. Looking back, Heero knew that it was only the circumstances that had made them friends. They had no one else and had been literally thrown together.
For some reason, they'd been split up only two years later, when they were both nine. Heero had never been told the reason and after that day he hadn't seen Seiji. Still, even if they hadn't been together in so long, why did Seiji not even make an attempt at rescuing Heero?
'My partner.' Heero thought. 'Why did you abandon me? Why did you leave me behind?'