The Three Trials for Power

By Lars the Goddess

Part III

Chapter 4

Heero was definitely bored as he stood taking in between the many racks of products. Shopping with these girls was almost worse than shopping with Relena. The only one of the guys who seemed to be having any fun was Duo who willingly gave his opinion tot he girls when they showed him various objects. He had to give the braided boy credit though; he was a natural flirt. Heero filed this away in his mind, just in case the need for a flirt came up in a mission. Even Quatre seemed a little bored except of course when he was preoccupied with the girl Montana who had attached herself to him. Trowa was similarly engaged with the over happy girl, Anika, who flirted with him openly.

At the moment, they were in some store called After Thoughts. It was definitely a store for girls. Anika approached him, trying her best to become his friend, completely unaware of Trowa’s watchful eyes on her back. "What do you think of this necklace?" she asked as she held up a Celtic cross on a silver chain.

Eyeing the trinket wearily, he decided it would be best if he answered. "Hn," he said, hoping that it would be enough to discourage her from talking to him anymore. Suddenly, there was an outburst toward the back of the store. His head turned toward Duo and Cyanea as they started to argue.

"Oi, I’m sorry, Cy!" the braided boy was saying. "I was only telling the truth. The scarf is ugly. It’s a canned pea green, what could be more disgusting?" he asked as he wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"How can you say that!" Cy asked. "It is the most beautiful color in the world."

"Sorry," he said as he stared into the angry eyes of the girl in front of him. "I run, I hide, but I’ll never tell a lie."

Suddenly, the anger disappeared from her face and a large smile formed on her lips. "Good, I hate guys who lie," she said as she threw the scarf back onto the shelf.

Wow, that girl has mood swings. And after all that, she isn’t even going to buy it? In fact, the girls haven’t bought one thing, Heero though, his eyes narrowing as he grew suspicious.

"Man, I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat," Duo said to the group that had gathered in the middle of the small store, making it difficult for other customer’s to get around them. The five others agreed, even as Heero just continued to glare.

"Excuse me," one of the cashiers called out to them. "If you aren’t going to buy anything, I need to ask you to leave. You’re blocking the aisle and the other customer’s can’t get through."
Montana shot the woman a coy smile, "Of course, sorry to be an inconvenience." Turning back to the group she said, "Come on. I know this great Chinese restaurant. They have the best egg rolls."

Heero watched as everyone agreed and then turned to follow as the girls led the way. He observed with narrowed eyes as Cy linked her arm in Duo’s. He did not trust these girls one bit, but at least Montana and Anika weren’t attaching themselves to their chosen men. Heero snorted, It’s probably a good thing. Those two are probably so girl shy that they wouldn’t know what to do with one attached permanently to their arms. Not that it’s a bad feeling…especially when Relena does it.

***  Dodging through the crowd and gaining the front of the large line in front of the fast food Chinese restaurant, the black haired boy placed his order. Waiting for it, he felt someone bump him from behind and turned to glare at them with narrowed black eyes, causing the startled woman to back off and give him some extra room. Wufei growled deep in his throat as he thought of why he had to come to this terribly crowded place at all.

He had lost track of time as he worshipped Nataku in the clearing located in the woods behind the school. In the process, he had managed to miss both lunch and dinner and was now starving beyond belief. It was an injustice that the school cafeteria wouldn’t serve him because he arrived a few minutes before they closed. He was now headed to a Chinese restaurant located in the middle of the local mall in hopes of finding some edible food.

Looking up as his food was set in front of him, he took it and turned to look for a place to sit in the overcrowded food court. Glancing around, he saw that all the tables were full when he suddenly heard his name being called.

"Hey, Wu-man!"

The boy clenched his teeth. There was only one person that would dare to call him Wu-man. "Maxwell," he growled irritably.

He turned to see the overly zealous boy waving maniacally in his direction. "Damn it. If I wasn’t so hungry, I wouldn’t dare sit with them." He sighed in reluctance and then headed over towards the table.

"Hello," Quatre said happily from his seat by Montana.

Anika offered a seat on the other side of her as the Chinese boy approached them. Wufei looked at it and then pulled the seat over to sit next to Heero. Anika pouted cutely and then turned to Trowa who was sitting next to her for comforting. Trowa, being a gentleman, decided to give it, causing disgusted growls to emit from Heero and Wufei’s direction.

Everyone quickly finished eating and then looked at Wufei. "What," he growled.

"We’re not gonna wait for you, so hurry up and finish," Montana said.

"Then go," he said. "I don’t want to hang out with no weak women."

"WEAK!" Anika yelled as she stood up from her chair, knocking it over. "I’ll show you weak! I don’t wanna be you’re friend anymore," she added as she crossed her arms. Suddenly, Wufei noticed her face contort with anger. "I tried to be nice! I tried to be civil! But you just want to be mean to me. Well, no more!" At this point the entire food court was staring at her in confusion and bewilderment, but she was on a roll.

Wufei’s eyes widened with shock as he noticed the silver swirls brightening her dark brown eyes. Feeling a lurch, his chair collapsed under him, upsetting his bowl of rice and causing it to fall on his head. He glowered angrily at the girl, knowing that somehow it was all her fault. The three girls burst out in laughter; all anger forgotten as the boys just stared in shock at the irate Chinese boy.

"Serves you right," Anika said in between giggles.

"Y…you did this to me!" Wufei shouted angrily.

"How could she? She’s all the way over here," Trowa said calmly even as Anika pointed to herself and made an innocent face.

"He has a point," Heero said from beside him. Wufei turned his head to stare at him in astonishment. Wasn’t Heero the one who didn’t trust these girls? Or had they gotten him too, he asked himself.

Turning his head, still sporting the bowl on top, he pointed at Anika, "Her eyes did the swirly thing!" he said on the verge of panic.

"The what?" Anika asked mockingly.

"You know, I really think you should get off the floor. You’re making a spectacle," Cy said annoyed with the entire happenings.

"Since when did you ever care about self image?" Montana asked her friend.

Wufei had had enough for the moment. Getting up, he removed the bowl and brushed the rice out of his hair and clothes. "Let’s get out of here," Heero said standing with the Shenlong pilot.

Cyanea agreed, "Yah, I need to go to a certain store anyway."

"And what store is that?" Wufei asked as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, nowhere important. Just Victoria’s Secret," she said with a smirk.

Wufei’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, "What!" he roared. "There is no way that I am going into that feminine products store."

"Fine, have it your way. The rest of you can wait outside until Duo and I are done," Cy said as she started down the hall.

"Victoria’s Secrets!" Duo’s eyes lit up, most likely at the thought of women’s lingerie hanging on the walls, as he finished off the last of his specially ordered French fries. Jumping up, he quickly followed after Cyanea who was already half way down the hall. "Hey! Hey, wait up!" he yelled after her.

Wufei shook his head and followed the couple with the rest of the group.

***  Staring at the now deserted table in the middle of the crowded food court, Kerri reflected on what she had just witnessed. She knew that somehow, the girls were responsible for Wufei’s chair collapsing under him. Not that she really cared about what happened to the anal retentive boy. After all, he had insulted her after the assembly just today and she wasn’t about to put up with that. However, she realized it wasn’t possible to prove these girls were responsible for his torture. Maybe she could catch them doing a ritual or a sacrifice.

A sly smile crossed her face as she looked at her friends that sat there looking vaguely perplexed by what had happened. "Come on, we’re going to the appliance store. I’m gonna put that credit card my parents gave me to use."

With that, the head cheerleader headed off with her loyal friends trailing behind her. Kerri knew her plan wouldn’t fail as she went off to buy what she hoped would be the downfall of the three witches of Streame High Academy.

***  Cyanea couldn’t help but laugh whenever the anal retentive boy’s nose started to bleed at the sight of the mannequins in the store window. She also thought that Anika was the best for making the chair collapse under him. Leaving the other boys behind with her two friends, Cy was now watching Duo rummage through a table of crotchless underwear.

Picking up a red pair, the braided boy looked up at her. "Hey, Cy! I think these would look really good on ya. Wanna model them for me?" Duo asked with humor in his violet eyes.

Cy turned bright red and grabbed them from the boy’s hands. Depositing them back on the table she looked up to find a sales woman coming up behind him. "May I help you two ladies?" the young woman asked politely.

Duo turned around quickly, "Ladies?!" he asked insulted.

"Oh. Oh dear. I’m sorry!" the young woman exclaimed as she realized her mistake.

Cyanea began to laugh hysterically. "Don’t worry about it," she said between gasps for air. "It happens to him all the time. And no, we don’t need any help. We were just browsing."

The sales woman nodded and disappeared back between the many racks of revealing lingerie. Duo glowered playfully at Cy. "Didn’t you need something here?" he asked her, although he didn’t really appear to care whether she did or not because he was having way too much fun.

"Actually, no. But I needed a way to be alone with you and I knew none of your friends would want to come in here," she said matter of factly.

"Alone, huh?" the braided boy asked wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and giving her a goofy grin.

Cy rolled her eyes, "Is that all guys think about?"

"Is ‘what’ all guys think about?" Duo asked giving her a dumbfounded look.

"Oi! C’mon. There’s somewhere I wanna take ya, but we had to ditch your friends first cause I know they already don’t trust us. At least, Heero and justice boy don’t trust us. I think Trowa and Quatre are coming around though," Cy said with a smirk.

"Don’t blame them. Your friends are pretty hot themselves," Duo said. Noticing the sidelong glance from Cy, he amended, "But not as hot as you."

"I’m glad to hear that," the red haired girl said as she grabbed the boys braid and proceeded to drag him toward the back entrance of the store. The violet-eyed boy gave into her show of force without question, maybe even enjoying it. Mentally, she thought, Yes! He thinks I’m hot!

She was quickly brought out of her thoughts by the voice of her ‘prisoner’. "Wait!" Duo said, stopping and causing her to stop too, before she ripped his hair out by the roots.

"What?" Cy asked as she turned to look at the boy, feeling slightly impatient.

"I really think you should get this," he said as he rubbed the back of his head at the base of his braid with one hand. In the other hand was a black lace teddy.

"You’re not serious, are you?" Cy asked as she walked over to him and looked at his face. What she saw caused her to do a double take. He’s blushing! She giggled out loud, I can’t believe he’s blushing!

"Why are you laughing?" the braided boy asked, a hurt expression on his face.

Cyanea looked up at him sharply at the sound in his voice. "You don’t really expect me to buy that, do you?" she asked as she eyed the lacy material cautiously.

Duo shook his head confidently, "No…I’ll buy it for you."

She was definitely surprised by this. Did her really like her that much, or did he just want to use her and make a fool out of her in the process? She wondered. Her last boyfriend had tried to use her. Little did the boy know that he was very lucky that he hadn’t succeeded. Turning her thoughts back to Duo, she placed her hands on her hips. "You’re really gonna buy it for me?" Seeing him nod, her anger flooded her brain preparing to give the young American a good taste of the Irish temper. "Why, so I can model it for you?" she asked knowing that the boy in front of her couldn’t possibly miss how mad she was at the moment.

"No," he said as he closed the distance between them. He gave her a brilliant smile. "I want you to have it so you can model it for the guy you truly love," he paused, his face growing very serious. "I can only hope that guy is me."

Cy, for once in her life, was at a loss for words. Never before had she been stuck for a comeback in an argument. This was an argument, right? She asked herself, completely confused. Now that she thought about it, she was the only one who had been arguing.

The red haired girl hadn’t realized she was looking down until she felt a callused finger gently tilt her face up to look into a pair of bright violet eyes. She opened her mouth to say something to get herself out of this slightly awkward situation. Before any sound could escape her mouth, Duo’s handsome face closed in on her own. Then she found her eyes closing as his lips met hers, causing all of her anger and confusion to fade away. Melting into the kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck and began to return it enthusiastically, realizing how soft his lips were. Finally, pulling away for air, Duo asked, "So, shall I buy it for you?"

Finding herself caught in a fuzzy, happy world, all Cy could do was nod. She told him her size and then watched him as he went up to the counter to make his purchase. She couldn’t help but laugh as the cashier gave him a funny look. Cyanea had to admit, the boy had guts. He didn’t even blush at the attention the young woman gave him.

Turning toward the window that faced out to where the rest of the group waited, Cy’s face turned to shock. Between the scantily clad mannequins, she saw the mall security trying to calm down an extremely snobby looking woman who kept gesturing toward the sexist Chinese boy and Heero. Undoubtedly, justice boy had gone and gotten them in trouble. Looking to make sure the girls were all right, she was relieved to see them a few feet away. Both were extremely occupied with Quatre and Trowa. She could see Quatre and Montana in what seemed a deep conversation, while Trowa nodded his head and gave small smiles as Anika babbled at him happily.

Cy turned around when she heard Duo approaching with the bag which he handed to her, his eyes never leaving her face. Accepting it with a shy smile, she quickly placed it in the cloth bag at her hip. Looking back up, she blushed at the thought of wearing so little. Watching his face, she laughed as he twisted it into a funny expression and winked at her.

"So, you had somewhere you wanted to take me, right?" he asked as he laced his fingers with hers. Cyanea nodded. "Then we better hurry before they start missing us."

The red haired witch stopped him from turning toward the back door. He looked back at her, his forehead creased with confusion. "Don’t you want to take me?" he asked.

Oh, yah! Right here, right now, she thought as she studied his handsome features. Pulling her mind away from that train of thought, she responded. "In a minute. I just want you to know that I have secrets that may cause you to change your mind about us."

Duo just shook his head and smiled. "You think I don’t know you and your friends are witches?" he asked, noting the astonished look on her face. He laughed, "You didn’t think I was so stupid I couldn’t figure it out, did you? Between Anika’s big mouth, Wufei’s chair collapsing, the storm and the way you healed me, I had no chance of not noticing. Anyway, I’ve been studying Wicca for a while now. I just never had the chance to practice it."

Cy smiled, "Then now’s your chance. ‘Nika, ‘Tana, and I are holding a ritual in a week. Will you join us?"

"Course I will," the braided boy said with a wide smile. "Now, where are we going?"

"To get supplies at the Magick Shoppe. C’mon!" she said as she dragged him out the back door.

***  Chapter 5

Sighing contentedly as she observed the current situation, the black haired girl thought about the ingenious plan she and Cyanea had come up with. The whole process was simple, and the goal was to get Duo alone with Cyanea so she could explain everything to him and do the other shopping. While her Irish friend was doing that, she and Anika were to keep the other boys busy outside the store. Keeping the others occupied wasn’t proving to be too difficult. Anika was entertaining Trowa, while she was keeping Quatre company. Heero had separated himself from them and sat on a bench nearby to wait for the anal retentive boy who had gone to the rest room. Montana giggled at the thought of the major nosebleed the Chinese boy had received just from looking at the windows of the store. It had been priceless.

"What’s so funny?" Quatre asked her, his light blue eyes filled with curiosity.

Trying her best to control her giggling, Montana looked up, "Just thinking about justice boy’s reaction to the window. Damn! You’d think with all his macho talk, a little bit of lingerie wouldn’t effect him that much."

Quatre began to laugh with her, "Oh, you mean Wufei, right?" Montana nodded between gasps for breath. "Well, everyone has their weakness, although I’d never think that simple under clothes could defeat Wufei."

Both began to laugh even more hysterically, losing awareness of everything around them but each other. Montana brought her head up quickly as the sound of raised voices. Holding the stitch in her side and looking around at the others she found Anika and Trowa talking not far from her. Actually, Anika was talking and Trowa was listening, contented to just be near her. Good, they make a cute couple. She then looked for Heero and Wufei and stopped when she found them.

To her dismay, she found the source of the raised voices. Wufei was approaching Heero with an irate female close behind. "Great! Justice boy just pissed off another one," she said to Quatre as he followed her line of vision.

"Oh, no! Security is coming!" he said looking over at Anika and Trowa who were still in deep conversation, oblivious to what was going on around them.

"Well, I for one am not getting kicked out of the mall. Those two can take care of themselves," she said crossing her arms and glaring over Quatre’s shoulder at the Chinese boy who was now at Heero’s side. Both of them were trying to stare down the two security guards who were insisting that they either apologize to the young woman or leave. The black haired girl continued to talk. "So, Quatre. What did you think of the assembly this morning?" Montana asked innocently as she ignored the other two boys who had finally gave in and turned to leave with their uniformed escort. Hopefully, they’ll stay out of Cy’s way. After all, ‘Nika and I can’t watch them and these two hotties at the same time.

Just then Montana saw Cy and Duo escape out the back door of the lingerie store. Sighing in relief, she felt she could turn her full attention back to Quatre, but to her dismay he was no longer standing beside her. Looking about frantically, she spotted him speaking calmly with the security guards. Shaking her head in disbelief, she wondered why Quatre would bother himself with that Chinese loser of a boy, although she decided that Heero wasn’t so bad after all. She did sort of find it strange that these boys would make such sacrifices for each other when they all only met after they al transferred to the Academy, no more than a week in between each.

The Indian girl approached them to see what was going on, stepping up next to Quatre to hear him speaking. "I’m telling you officer, he’s not that bad of a person. I’ll pay for whatever damages there were."

"Good," the snobby woman said indignantly. "This outfit cost $120 dollars wholesale and I don’t appreciate this sexist little bastard getting his blood on it."

Quatre gave her his sweetest smile causing her to calm down immediately. "I understand your anger completely. Wufei is just a little…abnormal," he said as he reached for his checkbook. The woman’s eyes lit up at the sight. "So, what is your name, Madam?" the blond boy asked politely.

"My name is Octavia Garfield Prescott," she said with a smug smile.

Montana couldn’t hold it in as she collapsed on the floor at the Arabian pilots feet laughing hysterically. Man, if only Anika could have heard this, she thought as she looked over at the happy couple still engrossed in their one-sided conversation.

The woman gave Montana a withering glare. "Well, I never!" she exclaimed. She grabbed the check from Quatre’s outstretched hand and stomped off insulted.

The blond boy bent over to help the girl at his feet stand. "Well, I hope I never meet her again," he said to the still laughing Montana. Turning on Wufei, he began to scold him with his anger barely perceptible in his blue eyes. "Why do I always have to bail you out of trouble? You are gonna pay me back every cent of that money," he added as he crossed his arms in front of his muscular chest.

"What!" the anal retentive boy said glaring at his fellow pilot. "There is no way I am paying that money back. You shouldn’t have given that old shrew your check, you stupid idiot!" he added, unaware of the deadly glare he was receiving from the black haired girl standing very close to Quatre.

"Listen you mother sucking fuckhead!" she said pointing her finger into his chest painfully. "Quatre didn’t have to bail you out of that. If it would have been anyone else, they would have left you hanging. And you know why? Because nobody likes you!"

Seeing the dangerous swirl of silver in the girls green eyes, he backed off. He knew full well what would come next if he didn’t…yet another unexplainable incident. The two other boys looked at Wufei with curiosity, they had never before seen the Chinese pilot back down from a woman before. Even Trowa and Anika had turned their heads to take in the heated, on-sided argument produced by Montana. The two decided to join the small group in the middle of the hallway.

Everyone was silent until Anika opened her mouth, forgetting about the plan to keep the boys occupied with anything but Cy and Duo. "Hey, where’s Cy and Duo?" she asked as Montana smacked herself in the forehead. Anika, completely unaware of her blunder, continued. "They’ve been gone for over 20 minutes. Shouldn’t they be back now?"

Montana, trying to save the situation spoke up. "Not if Duo is as horny as most boys."

"What? OHHHHHH…oops. Sorry Montana, guess I forgot," Anika said, eyes wide with…shame?

All the boys exchanged confused glances, except for Heero who pretended to ignore the whole situation. "Perhaps we should go look for them," Quatre suggested suddenly worried by the strange way the girls were acting.

"But who’s going to go in to look for them?" Wufei asked, backing away from the group with anticipation pasted on his face.

Montana’s conniving gaze slowly turned toward the unsuspecting Heero. "I think you should go," she stated matter of factly. "After all, you’re the only one who seems to be so detached from your emotions that you won’t get distracted."

"Mission accepted," he said in his cold monotone. As he passed by the mischievous girl, she heard him mutter, "If Relena knew I was doing this, she’d kill me." Who’s Relena? Montana asked herself.

Shortly after he entered the store, they all heard an ear piercing scream., "HEEEERRRRROOOO!!!!!"

Trowa, Quatre and Wufei exchanged knowing expressions and tried to fade into the background. Meanwhile, Montana and Anika glanced at each other in confusion.

"What was that?" Montana asked.

"Hope you don’t have to find out," Wufei said as he leaned casually against a nearby wall.

Suddenly, a loud crash was heard and Heero came running out of the store, shaking lingerie off of him with a blond girl in close pursuit. The two girls raised their eyebrows in question as the strange girl latched herself onto the messy haired boy.

Quatre coughed softly into his hand to gain attention. "Um…hello, Relena," he said as he nodded to the love struck princess.

"Hi," she said quickly before returning her attention back tot he object of her affection. Her head quickly turned back as she noticed the two girls standing very close to Quatre and Trowa. "Did you and Trowa get girlfriends<" she cooed at Quatre in a shrill voice.

Montana raised an eyebrow in annoyance and decided to play along and introduce the two of them. "Ya, whatever. I’m Montana and that’s Anika."

Taken aback by the rudeness, she quickly turned her nose up in the air and returned her attention, yet again, back to Heero. "Really, Trowa and Quatre don’t have good taste in girls."

"What’d I ever do to you?" Anika whined at the stuck up princess.

Deciding to change the subject before a catfight ensued, Trowa stepped forward. "Any sign of Duo and Cy?" he asked the Perfect Soldier.

Heero looked up from Relena and shook his head. "They weren’t in there," he stated quickly.

"Then we better go look for them," Quatre said as he turned to walk down the hall, the others following him with many protests from Montana.

"That’s really not necessary. I mean they can take care of themselves," or each other, she thought.

Relena snorted, "Duo! Take care of himself? That’s a laugh. Since when has he ever gone somewhere without getting in trouble?"

With that said the dark haired girl decided to shut up as they went in search of the two missing teens.

[Home]