Chapter One: All Work and No Play Mentality

 

            * It was five thirty. Five thirty one, he mentally corrected himself as the red digital clock blinked the new minute into the dark room. He was tired. Dead tired. He hadn’t slept in over three days. Not that that was a bad thing. He had finished most of his work, and managed to do a little extra in the time as well. And what had the other done? As far as he knew, they had gone out clubbing every night that week. Well, all be damned if Hiiro Yui stopped working to go out and dance.

            “Hey, Hiiro man! What’s shaking?”  He looked up to see his ‘best friend’ in the doorway of his room. The figure in the door flicked on the bright yellow lights and Hiiro blinked and inwardly groaned as his eyes refocused to adjust to the new invasion in the room.

            “Come on Hiiro! You haven’t left your room in three days! We don’t even know if you’ve slept! Come on out and at least eat dinner with us all. We are a team you know.” Said the figure that had strolled in from the doorway. Hiiro ran his eyes over the youth. He hadn’t changed in three days. His brown hair was still pulled back into a knee length braid, his light blue eyes were still beaming with happiness. He still wore his infamous black shirt, and his small silver cross still hung around his neck. Duo Maxwell hadn’t changed in three years. Why had Hiiro thought he would change in three days?

            “Maxwell. Get lost.” Hiiro really didn’t have patience for his ‘friend’ tonight.

            “Hiiro! Come on man! What if we get a mission or something. I’m sure the Captain would be mad if you were too hungry to complete it.”

            “Get. Out.” Hiiro tried his favorite death glare.

            “Just come out and sit down with us. You don’t even have to eat. But I’m warning you, Quatre and Trowa have been cooking, and you know they make the best food…” 

            This time Hiiro didn’t acknowledge. At least, not with words. He simply reached into his top desk drawer very slowly.

            “Oh! Hiiro man! Come on! You know I’m just playing with you! Come on man! Please don’t…” Duo closed his mouth to gulp in fear. Why in the heavens had he picked a suicidal trigger-happy freak as his best friend? Now he could feel the cool metal travel from the center of his forehead to his temple.

            “Get. Out. Now.”

            “Going. Going.” Once Duo had scampered out of the room and shut the door behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief. Inhaling again, he forgot Hiiro.

            “Food!” And he stumbled towards the kitchen and the wonderful smell it was emulating.

            Hiiro shrugged as he heard Duo’s ‘food’ comment through the thin walls of the apartment. He opened the drawer and put the gun back where he had gotten it. He really loved his gun at that moment. Hell, he always loved that gun. It was the only present he had ever been given, and the only way he knew how to live. If he didn’t work with the government as part of the SWAT team Gundam, he probably would have become something else just as deadly. Anything, so long as he could use his gun. 

            He thought over his job. All the work he did always paid off. It  took his mind away from other, more haunting things in his life. Not to mention now that he was part of the Gundam SWAT team, he had friends. Or, well, allies that called him a friend. Hiiro Yui had no friends, nor did he want them. It was inevitable that anyone who he became to close to would die, so though they considered him a friend, he distanced himself as best as possible. It was hard though. He lived with the rest of the team, so he couldn’t exactly get away from them. Duo was only the first of the other four members of their team.

 All five of them were supposed to ‘bond together’ as their Captain said. It was supposed to help them when they had infiltration missions, or practically any other top secret and deadly important mission.

 As far as Hiiro could tell, they did well enough the way they were now. Their negotiation officer was Quatre, a short, blonde haired, blue eyed Arabian who was usually too polite.

 The investigations and infiltrations expert was  Trowa Barton, a tall reddish brown haired boy with green eyes who had originally been a circus performer. Though he was  quiet, he was calm in situations and a quick study.

Then came Wufei Chang with his raven hair slicked back into a short, tight ponytail at the base of his neck. A pale yet harsh face framed his Dark onyx eyes. He was their more law- savvy partner. He had connections with ever judge, lawyer, law firm, and other major corporation that they might need funds or help from. He was also the most easily irritable of the bunch, often threatening to cut off Duo’s knee length braid if the boy didn’t stop talking.

Duo. Duo was Duo. He was a great pilot, skilled at both hotwiring and driving anything on land, sea, or in air. He also had a knack for being the ‘spirit’ of the bunch, always the cheerful loudmouth getting himself into trouble.

Then there was himself, Hiiro Yui. Brown hair. Blue eyes. 135 pounds, 5’6’’ tall, blood type O-, nick name: the Perfect Soldier. The weapons and technical expert. He could hack any regular computer system in under a half and hour. Under an hour and a half if it was a government computer, and under two hours if it was another computer hacker’s computer. So that was the team. Were they bonded, as the Captain had hoped? He had no idea. What he did know was that Quatre’s cooking was making him hungry. Even the Perfect Soldier could get hungry after no meals for three days.

“Hey Hiiro! Glad you decided to join us!” Quatre exclaimed when he saw Hiiro gracing their table.

“Yui.” Wufei acknowledged him.

“Hey Hiiro.” Trowa said to him, with a slight nod.

“Hiiro! We’re going to a bar after we eat, want to come?” Duo exclaimed while stuffing his face with food.

“No.” He answered.

“Come on Hiiro man!”

“Hiiro, you do need to get out more often.” Quatre added, avoiding the glare Hiiro sent his way by asking Trowa to pass the salad.      

“All work and no play makes for Hiiro to have a very dull day!” Duo happily announced.

“Maxwell, shut up!” Wufei said with a threatening tone in his voice.

“Hiiro, just come.” Trowa said. Hiiro stared hard at all the boys, then gave a short nod in acknowledgment and a grunt.

“Yeeha! It’s party time!” Duo yelled as the table of guys stood from eating to get ready to party.*