Chapter Three: Decades Research

*When Trowa awoke the next morning, he blinked and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Quickly he realized he was not in bed with his girlfriend Cathy, nor had he fallen asleep on anything remotely comfortable. Rubbing his face tiredly, he stretched his tired muscles and groaned when a kink in the back of his neck started to ache.

“Good morning sunshine!” Duo snorted. “Looks like you had your beauty sleep last night. And I thought you were supposed to be looking for a historian for Hiiro, not falling asleep at the computer.” Trowa grinned good-naturedly and looked back at the computer screen. The blank screen had gone dark long ago, and little white dots, supposed stars, were zooming toward him and disappearing before they flew out of the computer screen.

“I was looking.”

“Really? Find anyone?” Wufei joined them.

“No. I left emails and messages on three or four different message boards, but I highly doubt we’ll get anyone willing to do this. There just isn’t enough time for people to consider this, and then actually get up enough courage to do this.”

“What wimps!” Duo whined.

“Maxwell, you’re one of them!” Wufei laughed.

“Not fair! Hilde won’t let me go! And besides, you wouldn’t let Sally, Mr. Over-protective boyfriend!” Duo glared. Trowa and Wufei chuckled.

“Maybe that’s why Hiiro wants to do this?” Quatre said, walking into the library, where they were all chatting. “Let’s face it. Hiiro doesn’t have anyone he’s close to. Sure, he has us, but he doesn’t think along the same lines as we do. He sees us as allies, and as potential threats if we ever decide to switch sides. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, or family, no one. The only person he has is himself- and his gun, if you’d care to consider that piece of metal machinery as human.”

“Why not? Yui’s a piece of metal machinery, and we still consider him human.” Wufei smirked.

“You’re saying he wants to do this because he knows he’s the only one who can?” Duo asked, smile gone off his face, seriousness written in his violet eyes.

“Precisely. He doesn’t trust anyone else, and he has nothing to lose.”

“No, Hiiro isn’t that crazy. There has to be an ulterior motive here. Why does he want to go back to the fifties so badly?” Trowa murmured. No one knew the answer.

“And better yet, what happens when he actually gets to the fifties? Everyone he interacts with, talks to, does something for, it could potentially change and rewrite history as we know it.” Wufei added. Silence again. Then Duo broke out laughing.

“You guys are getting too philosophical for me! I don’t want to think about Hiiro’s ulterior motives, or changing history, I just want the poor to lighten up, and if letting him go to the fifties is what it’ll take, so be it.”

“Duo’s right- we’re thinking too deeply into this. We need to just relax and stop worrying so much.” Quatre grinned. “To hell with changing history!” Trowa and Wufei joined Duo in laughing, and Quatre simply smiled. As they marveled at the simplicity of their new, seemingly profound thoughts, Hilde’s loud voice rang out through the house.

“Breakfast boys!” The only one not to jump was Duo. Instead, he grinned idiotically.

“That’s my girl!” And off he went, following his nose.

“It’s scary how much alike they are.” Wufei shook his head. Quatre grinned.

“Come on, let’s go eat.” And the remaining three boys took off, at a slightly less brisk pace, towards the kitchen.

Soon all eight of them were gathered around the large breakfast table joking and laughing. Pancakes, cereal, milk, and orange juice were being passed around. Two chairs at the end of the table were empty, but no one took notice of the empty chairs. Hiiro never showed for breakfast, hell, he never showed, and the other chair had been gathering dust since Quatre had decided to put them all up in his mansion.

“It’s reserved for Hiiro’s invisible girlfriend.” Duo had always joked. But it was no joke anymore, only a sad reminder of the fact that they all had a friend who was less than mentally stable. Just as everyone settled themselves in, the doorbell rang.

“Quatre, it’s what, seven o’clock in the morning? Who’d you set up a meeting with at this godforsaken hour?” Sally joked.

“I didn’t set any meetings up.” Quatre smiled good-naturedly. “I like my mornings to last as long as possible.”

“Master Quatre?” A large, booming voice echoed through the hall.

“Yes Rashid?”

“You have a visitor. May I present Miss Serena Tsukino?” Trowa’s eyes went wide, and he began coughing hard. Catherine worriedly began to pat his back, in case he was choking. Finally he caught himself and managed to control his coughing fit. Rashid stepped aside, and the goofy grins that had once played across the features of everyone at the table dissipated instantly.

Before them stood the shortest, frumpiest woman they had ever seen. She slouched over, making herself even shorter than she already was. Upon her feet were ripped up and brown sneakers that had obviously once been white, and a pair of dirty, ripped jeans that was three sizes too big was belted around her waist. A gray turtleneck that was four times to large hid any curves the woman might have had at one time, and her blonde hair was in disarray as it escaped from the tight knot she had pulled it into at the base of her neck. Thick tortoiseshell glasses rested on her delicate nose, hiding her seemingly gray eyes. The woman wore no makeup, no jewelry, and an expression of utter fear lay embedded in her face.

“You’re Serena Tsukino?” Trowa choked out, quite shocked beyond belief. Not what he had been expecting, not in the least.

“You know her Trowa?” Quatre asked as Catherine smacked his arm.

“Be nicer!” She whispered.

“Well, last night I was looking for historians, and I emailed three or four different people…”

“One of which was this woman?” Wufei finished in disgust.

“She’s the world’s leading expert in Decades research.” Trowa whispered.

“What’s a decade?” Duo asked dumbly. Hilde took her turn and smacked him.

“Ten years you braided idiot!” She scolded.

“I know that! I meant what is Decades research?”

“She’s an expert at everything from the 1920’s through to the 1990’s. Top in her field four years running, nominated for three Nobel prizes. She’s the best there is…”

“And now she’s here.” Sally smiled. Then she stood. “Please forgive our rude manners. Allow me to introduce us. My name is Sally Po.”

“The Preventer Water?” The historian whispered.

“That’s right. I see my reputation precedes me. Beside me is my partner, Wufei Chang.”

“Preventer Dragon.”

“And next to him, with the braid, is Duo Maxwell.”

“Preventer Scythe.”

“Then his girlfriend, Hilde Shebeiker. On the other side of the table across from Hilde is Dorothy Catalonia.”

“Duke Dermail’s granddaughter.”

“And beside her is her boyfriend, Quatre Winner, the owner of this mansion.”

“And the resource satellites in space.”

“Trowa Barton, the man who emailed you last night, is next.”

“Preventer Jester.”

“And beside Trowa is Catherine, his girlfriend. But it seems that you’ve heard of most of us.”

“I find it important to keep up on current events as well as historical events… history does have a tendency to repeat itself.” The disheveled blonde whispered.

“Hmm. A woman that has sense. Not many do.” Wufei glared pompously. She stepped back.

“Don’t mind him Serena, he’s a chauvinist, always has and always will be. There’s no changing his mind. You’ll just have to put up with it, and after a while you get used to it.”

“Woman! Do not mock me!”

“Me? Mock? Never. I merely jest.”

“That is Trowa’s department, you stay with what you’re good at.” Wufei grumbled.

“Of course dear.”

“Miss Tsukino, won’t you join us? We were about to eat breakfast.” Quatre smiled. Dorothy next to him gave her a smile as well.

“Yes, join us. We would love to hear your thoughts on Trowa’s mail. I’m sure it must have been slightly startling.”

“I’m not hungry thanks. Time machine? It’s real then?”

“Real.” A dark voice resounded throughout the room. “It is not a matter of reality. It is a matter of operation.” From the shadows, a dark figure glided into the light. Momentary shock hit the occupants of the room and washed over them like a wave upon a beach, emptying them of everything, then placing it back as quickly as it had been stolen.

“Hiiro?” Quatre asked. “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.”

“Serena,” Quatre tried to smile at the tiny woman, who was cowering in the far corner of the room. “May I introduce Hiiro Yui, the final member of our team? He is the one who will be traveling back in time.”

“Preventer Zero? H, h, him?” The blonde stuttered.

“Yes, Hiiro is the only one of us brave enough to do something so crazy.” Duo opened his loud mouth, then instantly regretted it as he was smacked by Hilde and Wufei, and glared at by everyone else.

“Don’t listen to Duo. He doesn’t know what he’s saying half the time.” Catherine offered. Then she stood and made her way to Serena. “Come on then, Hiiro won’t bite.”

“Hard.” Duo muttered.

“He won’t bite at all.” Catherine emphasized. “Come eat a pancake, it’ll make you feel better.”

“Historian.” Hiiro clipped, breaking Catherine’s soothing care. Serena, still shaking in fear, only nodded in acknowledgement. “Are you willing to die to test this machine?” Such a simple question with so many shades, moral, ethical, and personal.

“I don’t know.”

“I leave at noon. Know by then.” As Hiiro stalked out of the room, the chilled ambiance left with him. Everyone visibly relaxed, and there were even a few smiles. The only one who never changed was the historian, Serena Tsukino.

“Honestly!” Dorothy stood and slammed her fist on the table. “What is that man’s problem! He is so rude to all of us! One day he is going to learn that being rude will not get him everything he wants, and when he does, I want to be there. I want to be there to laugh in his face! He needs a good kick in the pants! Maybe it’ll wake him up from the nightmare he constantly lives in!” It was obvious to everyone around the table that Dorothy was furious with Hiiro. He’d finally gone too far.

“Dorothy, come on. Hiiro will be Hiiro. He isn’t rude, just… disturbed. Let him alone.” Quatre soothed her.

“One of these days…” Dorothy muttered. But she did seem to cool down, and even allowed Quatre to pull her back to sitting.

“Well, now that we’ve had our Hiiro epiphany of the day, Serena, why don’t we tell you exactly what’s going on?”

The petrified girl blinked, roaming her eyes from each person until they finally landed on the floor in front of her feet. “All right.” *

~~~ Lots of talking behind Hiiro’s back in this chapter. I had writing it, even if it is kind of dull. But don’t worry! Next chapter Sere gets her two cents in… that should be most interesting! Much love, Vixen ~~~