A tail.

Several long minutes of silent staring went by before anyone was able to speak. Wufei was able to make his voice work first, while still speaking in a stunned tone. “Ma-Maxwell?” He stammered in shock. “What the hell happened?!”

Just as flustered as the others were, it took Neko-Duo a few minutes to manage an answer as well. “I dunno!” He whimpered weakly. He glanced nervously at the tail he still clutched in one hand. His tail. And that was by far not the worst of it. His eyes were narrowed much like a feline’s with pointed dagger-like pupils. And sitting on top of his head were two overly large furry pointed ears. Duo winced at his reflection and looked back at the other four pilots. “I kinda...woke up like this.”

The instant Duo finished his explanation, a furious certain Japanese pilot grasped his tail firmly and spun the American around, ignoring his shouts of protest and pain.

“Baka,” Heero growled as he pinned his koi to the tiled bathroom wall. “I told you! I told you not to eat those mushrooms!”

“You have no proof the mushrooms did it!” Duo cried in self-defense.

“Then what else could have done this Duo?” Trowa asked, a coldly sarcastic tone in his normally even voice.

“Eh...um, Quatre’s spaghetti!” The braided pilot proclaimed.

“Nothing happened to the rest of us,” Wufei said, folding his arms and leaning against the opposite wall to Duo and Heero. This was going to take a while.

Duo sighed and pricked his ears back. “Okay, okay,” The Neko murmured. “I guess it was the mushrooms.” He remained silent for a moment, then smiled up at Heero. “But at least they didn’t kill me, ne?”

“Baka! Omae o korosu!” Heero shouted. Yes. Shouted. For once, the Perfect Soldier was actually angry enough to yell. He instinctively already had one hand on Duo‘s throat. “If you could just think before you do something stupid-- like eating something you didn’t even know was edible, you’d be able to stay out of a hell of a lot more trouble!”

Duo continued to give his lover the same innocent look, hoping he’d be able to avoid at least some of Heero’s wrath by doing so. “Eh...gomen?” The violet-eyed Neko tried, giving him a very fake smile.

“Wait a minute,” Wufei stepped forward smugly and stood next to Heero. “This is one of your stupid tricks, isn’t it Maxwell?”

After providing another false yet embarrassed smile, the braided Neko shook his head as well as he could with Heero’s hand still grasping his neck. “Fraid not Wu-man,” He coughed.

The Chinese pilot gawked in surprise momentarily, then reached a hand to one of Duo’s ears and started to pull. “It’s a headband or a clip,” Wufei said firmly. No way can these or that tail be real.”

Duo screeched in pain as Wufei pulled at his ears while Heero tried to wring his neck. “Guys!” He coughed, squirming to get out of their grip. “This...kinda hurts...blacking out here...Argh! Leggo!” Eventually the two pilots released the braided boy, but Duo barely had time to draw in a breath before Heero had him against the wall again.

Seeing Duo wasn’t exactly out of danger yet, Quatre chose the moment to step in between the two of them. “Heero,” The blond said quickly. “What’s done is done...you can’t change that now. Maybe instead of yelling at him, we should be trying to find a way to help him.”

Heero said nothing for a moment, giving Quatre the same deadly glare he had been giving Duo. Finally he backed off and folded his arms, not removing his gaze from the Arabian boy. “Fine...what are we supposed to do about this?” He asked, pointing to Duo. “We sure as hell can’t tell the doctors. Who knows what they’ll do to him? None of us know what to do!”

Duo sighed and stared at the floor for a full two minutes before thinking of something. “What about Sally?”

“Sally’s a doctor,” Wufei said sharply. “Not a veterinarian.”

“But she’s our best bet,” Quatre pointed out calmly. “We can’t just go to any normal doctor’s office and like Heero said, the doctors will do Allah knows what...and we certainly cannot just let this go!” The blond boy glanced at Duo, then the others. “Sally Po would at least be able to tell us if this is permanent or not. She’s really the only person we can trust at the moment.”

Another long span of silence followed, then Heero finally nodded. “All right. We’ll go see Sally.”

“Would taking Duo out really be the best idea?” Trowa asked as he looked at the braided Neko and the giant furry ears that no hat would be able to hide. “People might...notice him. We should bring Sally here.”

Again silence filled the small room until Heero finally nodded. “Fine...We’ll go get Sally and Duo can stay here.”

“Alone?!” The braided boy cried. A sense of dread feared him as he realized he could have to be lonely...and extremely bored for at least two hours. “You can’t leave me alone! I’m in...well, pretty fragile condition!”

“I’ll stay with him,” Quatre offered before anyone could react to what Duo had said. “I mean...this could get...well Allah forbid, worse!”

Heero nodded slowly, never once taking his eyes away from Duo’s. “All right,” He agreed. “But make sure Duo doesn’t leave...Actually make sure he doesn‘t go anywhere.” The Japanese boy glared at his lover momentarily before slinging him over one shoulder and carrying him back to the bed against the wall. He glared at the Neko dangerously as he turned to leave. “Do anything stupid while we’re gone and you won’t have to worry about being anything for the rest of your life,” He warned. With that, Heero, Trowa and Wufei turned and left the room. Heero slammed the door harshly behind him.

Duo scrunched up his face and glared at the door as it slammed shut. He folded his arms over his chest and let his tail twitch back and forth in annoyance. A short stint of barely audible growling passed and when he was finished moping, the violet-eyed Neko jumped up from the bed. “What’d I do to deserve this?” He wondered aloud, hoping Quatre would be able to give him a reasonable answer like he always did. “I’m a frickin’ cat and Hee-chan’s mad at me...” He trailed off and buried his face in his hands.

As Quatre stood near the door trying to think of something to say, Duo looked up at him with bright Neko eyes.

“Ne Q-Man, y’know what would make me feel a lot better?” The braided Neko said as he innocently smiled.

“What?” Quatre asked politely, more than willing to make his friend more comfortable.

“A tuna sandwich and a glass of milk,”

The blond boy blinked in surprise. Duo didn’t even like fish...or milk either for that matter. “Sure...whatever you want Duo,” Quatre replied, an odd look crossing his face. He was careful to make sure the American didn’t notice. “I’ll, uh, be back in a minute.”

The instant Quatre shut the door behind him, Duo was out on the balcony trying to find a way down. No way in hell was he about to give Heero full control over his life just because he had done something stupid and been turned into a cat because of it. He carefully slid one leg over the edge of the rail and balanced himself carefully. Before he could get his other leg over the side, he caught sight of a black object backing out of the driveway. More importantly, the Prussian blue eyes belonging to the person seated on the passenger side caught sight of him. Heero made one quick cutting motion across his throat and Duo retreated inside.

“Baka,” Duo hissed as he leaned against the clear window where the warm sun was beginning to shine in. As annoyed as he was with Heero and himself, the sun shining on his back felt good. He pressed his lean form against the wall length window and purred softly. Before his mind was even aware of what he was doing, Duo was laying on the floor where the sun shone brightly through the wall length window. He stretched out on his stomach relaxing every muscle in his body before flipping onto his back and letting his tail flip slowly back and forth. *Guess being a cat’s not so bad...* He thought to himself as he continued to lay in the sun. The braided Neko rolled onto one side and purred softly, letting the warm light continue to shine on him.

He had nearly dozed off by the time Quatre came back. He glanced at the blond boy lazily as he entered the room with a sandwich in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. Immediately Duo bounced to his feet and almost pounced the Arabian boy happily.

“Arigato!” Duo cried happily as he grabbed the sandwich from his startled friend. He skipped to the bed and leapt onto it while nibbling at a corner of the sandwich. Quatre watched in surprised amazement as the braided Neko ate away, purring contentedly to himself. The blond boy sighed as he turned to leave the room and await the return of the other three pilots.

Doctor Sally Po was startled from her work when she heard a knock at the door. She hadn’t been expecting anyone and she was a bit upset that someone had interrupted her job. Being a professional as she was, Sally tried her best to ignore the unceasing noise but soon she realized it wasn’t going to sigh. With an frustrated sigh, she rose from her chair and walked to the door.

She had fully intended to scold whoever had disturbed her, but once she saw who was at the door, Sally was a bit too surprised to say much. For a few uneasy moments she stared at the three stern-faced Gundam pilots, then managed to ask in a weak tone, “Who’s hurt?”

“No one’s really hurt,” Wufei said slowly. “But something’s wrong with Duo and we want you to check him out.”

Sally nodded and sighed. Something wrong with Duo probably meant that the American pilot had eaten thirty spicy buffalo wings and was suffering from major heartburn. With a glance at the three boys she turned towards her office. “Let me get my bag,” She said quickly. Sally stalked to her office and grabbed her medic bag, thinking just how she was going to scold Duo Maxwell for interrupting her important work because he stuffed that cute little face of his with overly spicy food.

Trowa glanced at Wufei as they waited for Sally to come back. “Don’t you think we should have told her what was wrong with Duo?” He asked.

Wufei shook his head. “No. She’d have all of us locked in an insane asylum.”

No one gave an argument to his statement as they waited for Sally to return with her medical supplies. It only took her a minute or two, but when she came back it was quite obvious the doctor wasn’t happy. “Let’s go,” She said to the boys, her tone none too happy.

Sally wondered silently what other things could possibly be wrong with the Gundam pilot who identified himself as Shinigami. She glanced at Heero in the driver’s seat as she got into the waiting car. The two pilots were close she knew, they were practically inseparable. Perhaps the Japanese pilot had done something to him. Doubtful, but Heero Yuy was about as predictable as an earthquake. No one, likely not even Duo knew what he thought most of the time.

She sighed to herself, fiddling with the gadgets in her medic bag as the car drove along. Wufei sat beside her and Trowa sat in the front passenger seat. “I wish you would have told me exactly what is wrong with Duo,” She complained harshly. “I only have a basic medic kit with me. What if he--”

“You probably won’t even need that,” Trowa spoke up.

“Why?” Sally asked. She looked at each boy in annoyance. “At least tell me what the matter is so I can be prepared for this.”

“It would be a lot easier just to show you,” Wufei said. “I don’t really think this can be explained logically.”

Sally sighed in frustration again and leaned back into her seat. It was no use trying to interrogate these boys. She’d never get anything out of them. She would just have to wait and find out.

Duo Maxwell was thoroughly bored. He couldn’t leave the room or Heero would most likely make good on his threat to kill him. Already he had devoured the food Quatre brought him and bounced on the bed until the springs nearly gave way. With a sigh he looked down to the patch of sunlight nearby on the floor. He waited just a moment then leapt to the spot and curled up so the warm sun shone down on him.

Just before he closed his eyes for another cat nap Neko-Duo noticed something move from the corner of his eye. His head jerked up quickly and he saw it again. He flung one hand forward and tried to grab it. ~~ Crap, ~~ He murmured when he saw it again. Duo hadn’t been quick enough to catch whatever it was.

Once he was convinced the thing...whatever it was, was gone, he laid back down in the sunlight, stretching out the entire length of his body this time. Duo closed his eyes all the way this time, but after just a minute or two he felt something flip against his legs. Immediately he was sitting up, his eyes wide and aware. Again he didn’t see anything.

Annoyed, he was about to lay back down for the third time when he saw the thing out of the corner of his eye again. He growled in frustration and pounced in the opposite direction from where he was facing. Nothing. Just the rug brightened by a patch of sunlight was all that was there. The braided Neko made a confused face and looked around again. And again there it was behind him. Duo dove and tried to catch it again. He didn’t even come close as he hit the floor face first.

Footsteps were coming swiftly down the hall, but Duo was so caught up in catching whatever the thing was he paid no mind to the increasingly numerous and loud sounds. He found himself turning rapidly in circles on his feet now, his arms flailing wildly and grabbing at nothing but air.

It was then the door was opened and Duo found himself facing the four other Gundam Pilots as well as Doctor Sally Po. All of their faces, even Heero’s were wide-eyed in surprise.

But of course who wouldn’t be after seeing Shinigami, the proclaimed God of Death, trying to catch his tail?