Disclaimer: Don't own them, but wish I did (drool!). I do own Junior.

Very slight slash, nothing explicit.


We're Going Where?
By: Cousin D

Email: jdctidd@ttlc.net


I like the Japanese names better, don't you?


Anubis- Sh'ten
Dais- Rajura
Cale- Anubis
Sekhmet- Naaza

Ryo- Ryo
Cye- Shin
Kento- Shu
Sage- Seiji
Rowan- Touma

Mia- Nasutei a.k.a. Nasty


For the sake of this story, please ignore the fact that all the Ronins do, in reality, have parents, except poor Ryo. They all should be orphens for the plot to work.


"We're going where?" Ryo demanded, leaning forward on the couch in astonishment and resting his elbows on his knees.

They were all sitting in Nasty's living room, all nine of them, and looking at the dark haired girl with astonishment. The Samurai Troopers were sprawled on the couch or lounging around when Nasty had come in to announce her news while the Warlords had had to be called away from the television in the other room.

Nasty put her hands on her hips and gave her 'boys' a stern look. "That's right, boys. We're all going to school. High school to be exact." She had known that most of them wouldn't like the idea, but it had to be done. Even looking at the stricken expressions of Shu and Ryo, she had to do this.

Everyone had different reactions to the news. Touma and Shin looked happy, but the others didn't. Seiji just accepted the news as another part of life. Shu sat back in the couch with a plaintive look at his (current) girlfriend. "But why, Nasty? What did we do wrong?" His voice plainly said that he didn't know why they were being punished.

Nasty laughed. "Nothing! But, unfortunately, someone from the department of child welfare saw us all out at the mall last week when, apparently, we should have been in school. He's threatened to have the state intervene on our behalf." She said this ominously. The Warlords looked at each other in puzzlement.

Sh'ten considered what she said as he sat behind Shin, who was on the floor between Sh'ten's legs, and ran his fingers through the other boy's brown hair. "What does that mean, exactly?"

The Ma-Sho had only been in the mortal realm for a few weeks after Arago's death and they were still a little shaky on how the Earth worked these days. Everyone was still getting used to Sh'ten and Shin falling in love and living with former enemies. Still, Sh'ten did not like the sound of this.

"It means that they'll send in police to take us all to separate children's homes or the juvenile penitentiary." Nasty answered, dreading the idea. True, it would be only for a year, until they were legally adults, but she hated the thought of being separated from the only family she knew. Her boys were her whole world.

Anubis looked at her with a frown as he scratched unconsciencely at his scar. IT was a nervous habit he wasn't even aware of. "What is that? A juvenile penitentiary?" He was standing behind the couch and practically leaning on Ryo's shoulders. He always seemed to be finding a reason to be near Ryo and making it seem as if it were nothing, which made Ryo rather uneasy, at best.

"It's like prison for children." Touma answered. He had his arm around Seiji and was absently stroking his lover's shoulder. "They'll lock us up there, or worse, they'll put us in an orphanage."

Ryo shuddered inwardly, though he said nothing. After his grandmother had died, he had lived in an orphanage for several years before running away. The thought of going back sent chills down his spine, but he'd never let anyone know. There were a couple of very good reasons that he'd run away when he was fifteen. Reasons he didn't want to think about, not now, not ever.

"We are not children!" Naaza shouted, insulted. "We four are all well over 400 years old!" He said, referring to the Ma-Sho.

Rajura laughed at the expression on his lover's face.

Nasty sighed. "But you look seventeen and, by law, that's to young to be living on one's own. We have to go to school or the truant officer is going to catch us and separate us when they find out there's no adult here to look after us."

Rajura ran a hand through his beautiful, long, white hair. "I don't know why you're worried, Nasty. If anyone tries to disrupt our home, we will kill them." Life was very simple for Rajura and he liked it that way.

"We can't do that." Ryo told Rajura firmly. "We're the good guys, remember? Now, you're good guys, too."

Rajura frowned. "Why not? That's how it used to be before we went to the Nether Realms. I suppose if the idea of killing makes you so unhappy, I could just make myself look older when one of these social workers comes by and pretend to be an adult."

"That's not really the point. They don't know that we haven't anyone to look after us, yet. They just think that we haven't been going to school. But, if we don't go to school, then they will send someone out here to look up on us and they'll find out we don't have any adults out here. Then we'll be sent to orphanages regardless on whether or not we go to school.

Look, stop fighting me on this." Nasty said, getting frustrated. "It has to be this way. Everything will be fine so long as just go and make the best of things for one year. That's all we have to do. I've all ready made fake IDs up for everyone and filed it with the high school. We're all going together, so there's nothing to worry about. Let's just accept reality."

Rajura never did like reality, it just didn't suit him. He had a plan and wasn't about to go to school like a child. Rajura smiled, forming his plan carefully in his devious mind.
Chapter 2




They approached the high school slowly, after parking their cars in the school's parking lot, taking in the surroundings. They had had to bring three cars for everyone, Nasty's jeep, Seiji's sports car, and Shu's pickup.

The boys, thanks to Nasty going shopping for them, were all dressed in the dark blue school uniforms, that were customary for boys, and Nasty wore a long maroon skirt and jacket with a white blouse that was ruffled at the collar and her wrists. The boys were not happy with their uniforms and Shu thought the little string tie they had to wear was especially wimpy.

Much to the Ma-Sho's irritation, Nasty had firmly told them that they couldn't wear armor to high school. It would simply draw unwanted attention to them and, besides, there was no real reason for it. Sh'ten pulled the collar of his shirt uncomfortable. "I get the feeling I'm not going to like this 'school' thing." He complained. "Must we really wear these...uniforms? We look absurd."

"You'll get used to it, dude. Try to think of it as another kind of armor." Ryo reassured him, not sounding any happier. "I went to high school before the war started. It's not a lot of fun, but we can suffer through it. How hard can it be?"

The Samurai and the Ma-Sho were silent as they walked up, looking for all the world as if they were going into battle, with Nasty in the middle of their group, laughing and joking, as she tried to help everyone to loosen up. She didn't seem to be having much luck.

It was a sort of unspoken agreement that they would protect Nasty until they knew whether or not this place would be dangerous. The samurai's weren't all that worried, but to the Ma-Sho this was all unknown territory and they didn't know the rules of survival. Shu stood very close to Nasty, the current love of his life.

It wasn't that Shu didn't love Nasty, but he loved everyone so much that he just couldn't settle his heart on any one of them for an extended period. Therefore, it was generally accepted that Shu switched his loves every couple of weeks. Nasty was doing well and had lasted as Shu's love for almost a month. It was a record. Last month Shu was head over heels for Seiji and, Nasty expected that in about a week and a half he would dump her for Naaza, though Rajura might object to that. Still, he knew Shu well enough to know that it wasn't serious.


Duo-


"Hey, look. New kids." Duo Maxwell said to his best friend as he pointed with his thumb at the new students walking up the pavement to the school. Duo and Heero Yuy were on the front steps of the school and watched as a group of eight boys approached slowly with a girl standing in the center of their group. Some of the boys were joking and laughing, the others looked worried. She really didn't look like she belonged there. While the boys were all rather large, she was small and, in Duo's opinion, just about the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

Not that she could compare to his Heero, of coarse. Still, a girl friend might be nice.

Heero barely glanced up at the strangers. He cared about very little, least of all new students. This school was just a hiding place for him and Duo until the next mission.

Duo was still staring at the brown haired girl, laughing at something the big guy with dark hair said. Jeeze, she was good looking. Suddenly, the group was passing them and Duo, on the spur of the moment, jumped up and, managing to get his arm through the boys surrounding her, grabbed the girl's arm. "Hey, you're new here..."

He never got any further as one of the large boys with dark hair and an orange bandanna in his hair, instantly had his throat and pulled him away from the girl. "You will not touch her!"

"Shu!" the girl said, seeing Heero take out a gun and put it at Shu's head. The world froze. Shu's friends glared at Heero and wondered if this was some new threat, or if the kid was just crazy.

Shu kept his hand on Duo, slowly squeezing the breath out of him, and smiled at Heero. "Maybe this won't be as dull as I'd feared, Nasty." Shu really didn't take Heero or his little toy seriously and Duo felt himself start to black out, hoping that Heero would do something soon.

The girl, Nasty, planted her fists on her hips. "Let him go, Shu. We're not here to fight!"

Shu reluctantly let Duo go with a pout. "Aw...you're no fun, Nasty."

While this was going on, Naaza had snuck (he was good at sneaking) around to Heero's side and made a sudden lunge. Heero swung on Naaza, only to be disarmed by Anubis. Anubis looked at the small piece of metal in his hand curiously, while Naaza grabbed Heero's arms and held him easily, not letting the boy attack again. "Don't move, child." Naaza hissed into Heero's ear while pinning Heero's arms behind his back. "You'll be safer if you hold still."

Heero turned his head slightly to look at Naaza and the Warlord of Venom was surprised by the dead look in Heero's eyes. 'Interesting,' Naaza though. 'The boy is fearless.'

Ryo got a little tense as Anubis looked down the barrel of the gun. "Er, Anubis, why don't you give that to me? It can be dangerous." Ryo held his hand out for the gun.

"Really? What is it?"

"It's called a gun and you're looking down the wrong end. It could hurt you."

"Why, Recca, I didn't know you cared." The scarred young man said sarcastically. Anubis crushed the gun in his bare hands, shocking Duo.

Now that the threat was taken care of, Nasty looked at Heero disapprovingly. "It's against the rules to bring weapons to school. Don't you know someone could have gotten hurt? Come on, boys, school's about to start and we don't want to be late on our first day."

Heero rubbed his arms where Naaza had grabbed him and noticed that Shu stayed behind just a moment longer than the others to cast a black glare at Duo who was still gasping for air.

"Shu? Are you coming?" The girl, Nasty, called.

"Yeah." Shu rushed to catch up with his friends.






Duo had a large bruise on his throat where that guy, Shu, had grabbed him and he glared at the front of the class where all nine new students were standing. He would get revenge on that Shu! They didn't look like they belonged in high school, Duo thought. Sort of like Heero, there was something different about them.

They were at the front of the class where all new students were introduced to the class, standing in a stiff, straight row.

"May I introduce your new class mates? Sanada Ryo," A dark haired boy with blue eyes bowed with a cheery smile. He looked, to Duo, as if he didn't care very much about what other people thought about him. His clothes were sloppy and he looked uncomfortable in the uniform, as if he weren't used to dressing up. His hair was long and shaggy, not even tied into a neat pigtail or braid. He did, however, look very happy and carefree.

"Date Seiji," this blonde gave a curt nod to the class. His arms were crossed over his chest and he studied the class with an expression that was not unlike the one that Heero wore, as if the world around him wasn't worthy of his attention.

"Mouri Shin," A brown haired boy with a slight build bowed low. He had an innocent look to him, as if he'd been sheltered from most of lives hardships. He also smiled, but it was a shy smile.

"Shu Rei Fuan," A heavily muscled boy waved happily. His eyes were guileless and Duo knew this boy could never keep a secret. He was also the violent one who'd attacked him outside. Duo scowled, but at the same time wondered how he could look so innocent one moment and then act like a thug the next.

"Hashiba Touma," this boy actually had blue hair and a serious expression. He carried several books in his arms all ready and bowed as well as his full arms would allow.

"Oni Sh'ten," A red head with sinister, slanted eyes and a sharp featured face. This one did not bow or make any kind of acknowledgment that the class was even here. He had pride and arrogance screaming from the whole set of his posture. Duo was almost certain that he would NOT like Oni Sh'ten.

"Doku Naaza," This one was very strange looking with green hair and eyes that weren't quite normal. His eyes were too large and he didn't seem to blink very often. He also seemed to be wearing make up, purple eye shadow to be exact. Weird.

"Yami Anubis," A boy with dark blue hair and a nasty scar that ran over his eye and down his left cheek. He was as large as Shu was, those two being the tallest and most muscular of the group, and had a wicked smile on his face. His eyes didn't reflect the smile, though. His eyes were hot and smoldering, as if he were thinking thoughts that were best kept in the dark.

"And Yagiyu Nasutei." Duo almost sighed. Her name was as beautiful as she was. Nasutei had long brownish red hair and a sweet smile. She, alone of everyone up there, seemed to be perfectly happy and at ease.

When they sat, Duo saw (now what were their names again? Oh, yeah!) Touma and Naaza whisper to each other.




Samurai and Ma-Sho-




Once they all sat, Touma whispered to Naaza, "Where's Rajura?"

Nasty scowled when she heard the question and answered for Naaza, not sounding very happy. "He never showed up. I haven't seen him since yesterday."

Then the teacher spoke again. "Next, I want to introduce the newest addition to our teaching staff, Mr. Gen Rajura. He will be our new gym teacher." The new teacher walked out in front of the class, a very nicely tailored black suit and shoes polished to a shine. He was unusual in that he had long silver hair and an eye patch.

Mouths hit the floor. It was Rajura, with an illusion, obviously, to make himself look a few years older, who walked into the class. His imposing presence made all the students go quiet suddenly and he smirked at them.

Sh'ten, rather nervously, whispered to Ryo. "What's a 'gym'? I thought it was that place in the basement where we work out."

"It's also a physical education class." Ryo whispered back, keeping his eyes on Rajura, dressed in a suit and tie and looking about twenty years older. "They teach kids to do sports and things."

The Ma-Sho all groaned miserably and Touma asked, "What's wrong?"

"Rajura was our teacher for many long centuries. I don't want to go through that again!" Naaza hissed angrily. "Oh, Kami, I can't take it."

"It's only gym class, not a battle school. How bad can he make it?"

Anubis crossed his arms in a pout. "You'll find out soon enough."

"But won't he take it easy on you?" Shu asked Naaza. They all knew that the two were lovers, and he thought that would count for something.

Naaza laughed. "If anything, he'll be harder on me. He's just a touch sadistic and likes to see people suffer, especially me."

Rajura left the room after a quick wink at his friends and grinned at them. I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU. He whispered through the telepathic link they all shared.

WHAT ARE YOU UP TO? Ryo asked. WHY AREN'T YOU WITH US?

YOU'LL FIND OUT. I THINK THIS WILL MAKE THINGS MUCH MORE INTERESTING.

Rajura didn't contact them again and they were introduced back into the life of ordinary high school students. Until lunch time, that is.




Nasty-




It was crowded in the cafeteria and Nasty had quickly went to find her friends. Unfortunately, she had only two classes with Shu, but she and Touma shared several of the more advanced classes. It was lunch time and Nasty had figured that the best thing to do would be to go to the cafeteria and find the others. They had to be here somewhere. She carried under her arm a rather large and heavy picnic basket she had picked up from her car earlier.

Nasty was looking for her friends when a hand caught her arm. Nasty turned, half-afraid it was that guy with the cute braid who'd grabbed her this morning, and found it was a blonde girl, smiling brightly.

"Hello." The girl smiled brightly. "I'm Relena Darlian. You're Nasutei, right?"

Nasty smiled back. "Right. Nice to meet you." Well, this might not be so bad, she thought to herself. It had been ages since she'd had a girl friend to talk to. The boys seemed to be her whole life, lately. Not that that was a bad thing, she mentally smiled. What girl wouldn't want to live in a house with nine supernaturally sexy studs?

"Why don't you sit with me, Nasutei?" Relena invited. "I'll introduce you all around. It must be hard on your first day, not knowing anyone." Relena started to lead her to a table, but Nasty pulled away.

"Oh, but I do have friends." Nasty insisted. "I came here with my friends, and I'm trying to find them. I can't see them in the crowd, I'm afraid. They said they'd meet me at lunch."

Relena thought back. "Oh, all those boys you came in with this morning?"

"Yes, have you seen them?"

Relena frowned slightly. "Yes, they're outside." Disapproval was strong in her voice.

"Is something wrong?" Nasty asked. She didn't want to have trouble on their first day of school, but she also wouldn't have anyone insulting her friends. Nasty knew her boys were very good, but she knew some people in this modern world wouldn't understand them. They were...different, especially the Warlords.

Relena started to walk with Nasty, guiding her outside. "You're friends are fighting out there. They say they are only sparing, but they have weapons!"

Nasty smiled. "Oh, is that all?"

Relena walked with Nasty out to the track field where she saw all the boys. They were still in their school uniforms, with the exception that they were all now in bare feet and had the jackets off. Each of them was using one of the wooden swords used in the Kendo classes and bashing each other with them.

Nasty guessed that either Seiji had used his considerable charm to get the instructor to lend the bokten's out, or Naaza had stolen them. Naaza did that occasionally. Perhaps Rajura had gotten them for everyone, now that he was a teacher.

"How can you ask, is that all?" Relena asked, watching Nasutei's smiling face. "You approve of their fighting?" She sounded amazed and horrified that anyone would approve of fighting.

"But they're not fighting. Not really." Nasty said easily. "They're just practicing. No one will get hurt."

At her reassuring words, Ryo swung his wooden sword with enough force to strike Sh'ten on the head and send him crashing to the ground. The sword broke as a result, splintering violently.

"You were saying?" Relena snapped sourly.

"Just watch."

Sh'ten, as Nasty knew he would, stood up, completely unhurt, except for being a little dizzy, and waited as Ryo went to fetch himself another sword.

"They know what they're doing." Nasty assured Relena. "You don't have to worry about them." She was so proud of the boys. Although, Nasty didn't like to see them hurt each other, they worked very hard to be the best at their skills and they were very, very good.


Relena-


Relena was quiet a moment. "I hate fighting. It only leads to pain." She remembered her father's death and watching the devastating war, the war that was threatening to kill them all. She would do anything to avoid something like that. Anything.

"Sometimes fighting is necessary."

Relena looked at Nasutei, surprised by the solemn tone. As Nasutei watched the practice she seemed to be remembering something. "If you want something badly enough, you have to fight for it. Nothing is free." Nasutei smiled, shaking off the somber mood. "Well, it was nice meeting you." Nasty said to Relena and gave a little wave. "I have to join them. They're waiting for me, I expect."

Relena's eyes widened. "You? You fight?"

Nasty blushed a little. "Me? Goodness, no! I'm no fighter, but they are waiting for lunch." Nasutei held out the picnic basket she'd been carrying.

Relena, strangely, felt a surge of something in her heart. Something she hadn't known had existed before. Feminism.

"You mean you just carry their food around for them all day?" That feminist part of Relena's mind screamed in pain. It just seemed very unfair if that's all they used Nasutei for, to carry their food.

"Not exactly." She smiled slightly. "They need me. Whether they know it or not, they need me. Excuse me." Nasutei gave a small bow and walked over to her friends. As soon as they saw Nasty, the boys all stopped their sparring and ran to her. She was greeted with smiles and hugs and set the basket down while the boy with a yellow bandanna dug in eagerly.
Chapter 3



After lunch, it was time for gym class and they had to say good bye to Nasty again, as it is customary in this school for the boys and girls to be in separate classes.

The Ma-Sho didn't like the gym class, they were pacing nervously on the field out back of the school, Sh'ten was visibly pale, hugging himself with Shin talking to him calmly. They felt foolish in the gym uniforms. What kind of training could one do dressed in nothing but, what seemed to be, undergarments?

Shin looked at Ryo. "They're starting to make me nervous, too, with all that pacing. Naaza's going to pull out all his hair at this rate!" Ryo nodded in agreement.

They had stayed together the whole day, wanting to stay with their own group rather than meet new people. It wasn't that the other students were unfriendly, but the warriors were more comfortable with each other. Perhaps it was because of the armor or maybe it was because they'd been through so much together. Who knows? The fact was that other people made them wary.

"Try to relax." Ryo advised his friend. "Maybe if you relax, Sh'ten will and then the others will follow his example."

"Then you relax, so Anubis will." Shin responded, teasingly. He had noticed Ryo pacing back and forth and flexing his hands convulsively. Ryo looked at the Warlord of darkness and saw that Anubis had been watching him with a wicked grin.

Ryo looked away uneasily. He knew there was something going on, something that Anubis seemed to be thinking, but Ryo just couldn't quite put his finger on it, though he was sure the others knew. He really wished someone would tell him what was going on.

Only Seiji, cool and confident as always, was simply standing there with his arms crossed and waiting. He, like everyone else, knew what was going on with Ryo and Anubis. However, it was simply to amusing to watch as Ryo tried to figure it out. He certainly wasn't going to tell Ryo what was going on.

Seiji looked toward the school doors that suddenly opened and the girl's class, usually held apart from the boy's class, came bubbling out. Odd.


Duo-


"What's going on?" Heero looked up to find Duo staring as the entire girl's gym class walked out onto the field, looking just as confused as the boys were. Duo's eyes landed on Nasty and he smiled.

"Finally! She's away from those others." He ran a hand over his hair and smiled.

She looks so cute in that gym uniform, Duo thought looking at her long legs and the lithe figure. This is it, my one chance. Duo ran his hands down his shirt to straighten it.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked.

Duo gave him a charming grin. "I'm going to ask her out, of coarse."

Heero lost interest at this point.

Giving the beautiful girl his best smile, Duo walked up to her, and she walked right past him as if she hadn't even seen him, and went to the boys she'd come in with.

"Damn!" Duo swore, walking back to Heero. He watched as Nasty was surrounded by her friends and started talking to them happily. "What's so special about them anyway? Why is she always with them?" He stopped when he saw Nasutei go to Shu and give him a kiss. "Aw, jeeze." His head hung with disappointment.

Heero looked up again and considered what his friend had said. "Something wrong?"

Duo tried to get over his irritation that the prettiest girl in school all ready had a boy friend. "Naw, not really. But have you noticed that they won't talk to anyone outside their little group? The blond guy completely ignored the girls who were trying to flirt with him and acted all shy. The guy with the blue hair is really rude." Duo had tried to talk to Anubis earlier, only to be sworn at viciously and he'd started to attack Duo, for no reason at all!


-Duo's flashback-


"Get out of my face, you effeminate little turd!" Anubis screamed at Duo.

Duo instantly went on the defensive. "I just asked where you got the scar!" He wasn't afraid of anyone, and he was ready to fight the blue haired guy. He was just trying to be friendly!

"It's none of your business!" Anubis raised his fist, but it was then that Ryo appeared and stepped between them.

Ryo waved his finger at Anubis, as if he were puppy who'd just done his business on the new carpet, ignoring Duo. "No! No! No! Bad! Bad! Bad!" Ryo grabbed Anubis' arm and pulled him away from Duo and Duo heard Ryo say, "You're not evil any more, don't go killing people because they offend you!"

"Awww, but Ryo...!" Anubis sulked as he was pulled away from the confused Duo.

"No! Bad Anubis!"


-End Flashback-


Duo brought his mind back to the present. "Still, I wonder why the girl's class is out here, too."

The question was answered when the new teacher, Mr. Gen, came out with a smile and a twinkle in his one good eye. "In my class, I expect the girls to compete with the boys on equal footing. I will have none of the nonsense that girls are weaker than boys. I have known one girl in particular, who could kick my ass any day of the week (Lady Kayura), so no pity because you happen to be a woman. Got it?" The large man with an eye patch walked up and down infront of the students, almost examining them. "I own you. While you are in my class, I own you. You will do as I tell you or you will suffer. Take your pick."

Some time while he was saying this, the new students all clustered up to the front, standing near Heero and Duo. Duo heard one of them say, "Is he joking?" One with shaggy black hair and a dark complexion asked. It was Ryo, one of the more friendly members of the group.

"No, I'm afraid not." This came from the thin red head, Sh'ten. "Rajura was always very serious with his teaching and this time will not be any different. He enjoys teaching just a little to much."

"You know him?" Duo looked at them only to be glared at by Shu and Anubis, but Sh'ten answered.

"Oh, yes. I do hope you are in good shape." Sh'ten looked down, examining Duo and Heero, and spoke with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Fairly. Why?" Duo answered defensively. 'I am a Gundam pilot, after all!' Duo thought proudly.

Sh'ten turned to look at the white haired teacher who had yet to tell them what to do. "Because he will demand the best you can show him and Rajura settles for nothing but the best. I just don't know if your rather...undeveloped frames can handle it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Duo growled.

"It means that you're scrawny."

Mr. Rajura barked a command. "Run!"

The entire class stared at the teacher except for Sh'ten, Naaza, and Anubis who took off running as fast as they could around the track. Their friends took only a moment longer before they followed the first three, figuring that they knew what they were talking about, with Nasty going more slowly behind them.

Mr. Gen looked at the rest of them as if he'd expected this reaction. "May I ask what you are waiting for?"

"What makes you think you can say that you own us?" One boy shouted.

Mr. Gen centered on that voice and said softly, "Web of Deceit." Suddenly, there was a terrible scream and the boy who'd spoken fell on the ground screaming. Duo took off to help the boy with Heero following more slowly.

By the time Heero and Duo made it to his side, the boy was staring into space and shaking with fear. Duo looked up to find Mr. Gen swaggering over to them with a pleased smile on his face.

"What did you do to him?" Duo asked suspiciously. Was this some new kind of weapon? Was Mr. Gen from OZ, and if he was, why on earth would he attack a kid?

Mr. Gen smirked. "Its called discipline. Obviously, none of you has any. It is my duty as a teacher to give you discipline, a duty I enjoy immensely." Suddenly, the boy on the ground stopped screaming, but looked up at the teacher with horror in his eyes. "I said, run." Mr. Gen repeated himself.

The boy jumped up and began running as quickly as he could. The rest of the students followed. Duo and Heero looked at each other before shrugging and starting to run. It was only running, how bad could it be?

Mr. Gen kept them running for an hour. To most students, this was almost unbearable punishment. For Duo, it was difficult. For Heero, it was just another job.

At the end of the hour only a few students were left: the eight new boys, Duo, and Heero. Mr. Gen had made Nasutei, who'd tried to keep going, sit out. He had obviously seen that she was on the verge of passing out, but was to stubborn to let herself quit. When she was passing him, heaving and pale, Mr. Gen caught her arm. "Take a seat, Miss. Yagiyu."

Nasutei looked up at him. "I can keep going, Rajura." She was wheezing as she spoke and Mr. Gen gave her a slight smile.

"Commendable for you to say so, but the fact is that you cannot without doing yourself damage. I will not have the others saying that I hurt you. Sit."

Nasutei seemed to want to protest, but then she gave up fighting him and sat down in the grass, trying to catch her breath.

When the rest of the students gave up, Mr. Gen wasn't so kind hearted. He called them everything from lazy to weak and a few other things teachers probably shouldn't say. Mr. Gen looked at the remaining runners.

He nodded politely at some of the boys, but to the red, green, and blue haired boys, he glared. "I am terribly disappointed."

The red head took offense at this. "We did fine! It's not as if this is real training!" He put his hands on his hips and glared at Mr. Gen.

Now what was that supposed to mean? Duo wondered. What kind of training did they have?

Mr. Gen glared at Sh'ten. "You've known me how long, Sh'ten? What makes you think this isn't real?" His voice was threatening and he was stepping closer to Sh'ten who didn't back down.

Sh'ten waved his hand at the other students. "This isn't real competition and you know it! If we had really tried, we could have left them in the dust."

Well, that was a LITTLE insulting, Duo grumbled to himself, but had to admit it was probably true. Especially with the way they had easily run the arduous course. He was getting paranoid, Duo knew, when he immediately thought that they were trained by OZ and had been sent to spy on them. Jeeze, OZ didn't even know they went to school here!

"Exactly! You did very poorly out there and I don't like what I've seen. Those two kept up the lazy pace you set." The teacher pointed to Duo and Heero. Mr. Gen moved in until he was practically nose to nose with Sh'ten. "Two ordinary, practically untrained boys. They kept up your pace, Sh'ten. I am ashamed!" With that, Mr. Gen hauled off and struck Sh'ten on the side of his face with fierce force.

Sh'ten's head rocked back, but he didn't fall, and he looked back at Mr. Gen hatefully. "And I am tired of this game!" Sh'ten growled, and Shin went to his side, giving Mr. Gen a hard look. Shin touched Sh'ten's cheek tenderly, to make sure there was no real damage.

The entire class tensed. No one had expected Mr. Gen to be abusive, especially not in front of everyone. Duo would have jumped in, but Heero took a hold of his arm and held him back. Duo frowned and wondered why his friend didn't want to help Sh'ten. Relena also looked as if she wanted to jump in, but she was holding herself back.

Mr. Gen chuckled. "The game will end at the end of school when you will do extra training. I will not be disappointed by you again, Sh'ten." His glare turned to the other nervous boys with odd colored hair. "Any of you. The other's I can forgive, I have never had an opportunity to train them before now, but you..."

The bell rang, signaling the end of class and everyone gratefully stood to leave. No one was going to like this class. Duo started to walk away with Heero, but before he could Mr. Gen said, "A moment, Duo, Heero." They both turned, but stayed out of reach. They didn't want to give him an opportunity to attack as he had Sh'ten.

"What do you want?" Duo asked. He didn't like the way Sh'ten had been treated. The red head had done a fantastic job; he'd run faster than anyone with the special training the Gundam pilots had would. That, and the mysterious references hinted at when they were talking, said plainly that they all knew Mr. Gen before coming to this school. After all, how many students were on first name basis with their teachers? Some of them, at least, had some kind of training from him.

Mr. Gen smiled. "I wanted only to congratulate you on completing the hour. I find it unusual that you were able to do it."

"Lots of people can run for an hour." Duo said, trying to make it sound ordinary. After all, they didn't want to attract attention.

"But not a lot of high school kids and not at the pace the others set." He gestured toward Sh'ten who was rubbing his cheek, surrounded by his other friends. "Where were you trained?"

Duo tried to laugh it off. "Just natural ability, I guess."

Heero said nothing, but was looking at Mr. Gen as if he were curious.

"Well," Mr. Gen said softly. "I guess we'll just have to expand that natural ability and see how far we can stretch it."

Heero finally spoke. "It's been stretched about as far as it can go."

Mr. Gen shook his head. "We shall see. I think both of you are far more capable than you know. Goodbye, children." With that, Mr. Gen strode happily into the school.

Duo heard Sh'ten mumble. "I swear I'm gonna kill him this time! I am going to kill him!"

The green haired one, Naaza, laughed. "You couldn't kill him the last time, so what makes you think you can this time?"

Sh'ten grinned. "This time will be different! I know I can do it this time."

"If you hurt him, I'm going to poison your breakfast!"

Nasutei hushed them, suddenly seeing that Heero and Duo were watching them. "You can't just say these things, Sh'ten."

Sh'ten looked over at the two boys. "Why not? Are they a threat?"

Anubis gave a wolfish smile. "Yes, these are the perverts who grabbed Nasty and attacked us earlier. Perhaps they are a threat and we should take care of them."

Shu nodded in agreement. "I don't like them." He put a possessive arm around Nasty.

Duo tensed and he knew that Heero did, also. They hadn't come to school thinking that they would have to fight. At least, Duo hadn't. Heero had brought a gun this morning, if Duo remembered properly, and who knows what other weapons he had hidden on his person.

Again, Nasutei interrupted, rolling her eyes. "This is silly! We're going to be late to the next class. This is no place for fighting, Anubis, Shu! Besides, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, he was just being nice. Come along."

With the air of a queen, Nasty led her boys away, leaving Duo and Heero alone. "Well, what do we do now?" Duo asked Heero. If they were supposed to fight, he'd like to know when to fight. Better to have it all out in the open instead of having enemies sneaking around.

Heero walked to the school. "We go to class."



Girl's teacher-


From the corner of the school, the girl's gym teacher watched the proceedings with interest as she wrote notes in a little notepad. This new teacher had given her the perfect opportunity to observe. He had said that he wanted to join the classes together, so she could have some time off.

All right, so it was a little insulting, but it did let her work on her other job. The notes were written quickly, as she watched the new students run the course set by Mr. Gen.

SANADA RYO- FAST, GOOD MUSCLE TONE
HASHIBA TOUMA- LIGHT BUILD, EXCELLENT ACADEMICS
SHU REI FUAN- STONG, VERY STRONG
HEERO YUY- EXCELLLENT ENDURANCE
DUO MAXWELL- TENATIOUS

The list went on and on, going on about good points of the students. She began to focus on several quickly, though. Anubis Doku, Date Seiji, and Shu Rei Fan, for strength, while she put stars next to Oni Sh'ten and Hashiba Touma's names for the intelligence she'd noted earlier. It was incredibly easy to get access to the other teacher records.

She smiled and picked up her little cell phone. "Hello, Mr. Treize. I think I've found some likely candidates for recruitment."


Relena-


Relena had been in the gym class and she hated what she saw. Mr. Gen obviously wasn't a very good teacher. He was practically torturing the students! So she brought up the subject to one of the other teachers in the next class. "He's abusing the students!" She almost yelled with righteous anger. "We all saw it, he hit poor Sh'ten, for no reason at all!" Relena was not a girl to let a wrong go without trying to right it.

The math teacher, Miss Connor, looked at Sh'ten who sat with his friends. "Is this true, Mr. Oni?"

Sh'ten cast an angry glance at Relena who didn't know why he should be angry with her. He stood up and faced the teacher. "No, Ma'am."

Relena, without invitation, stalked down to the front of the class where Sh'ten was standing and pulled his hair aside, revealing the still pink imprint of a hand. "How can you lie like that? He obviously hurt you. Everyone saw it."

Sh'ten pulled his hair back and covered his cheek. "Mr. Gen never hit me. You are imagining things." With that, he sat down in a dignified manner and closed his eyes.

This puzzled everyone, murmuring to each other, that they had all seen it quite plainly. Sh'ten, once he realized that Relena wasn't going to go away, glared up at Relena. "Keep you nose out of my business!"

Relena's eyes shot open at being spoken to in such a rude manner.

"Well, what about Justin?" Relena turned her attention toward the boy Mr. Gen had disciplined. The boy was looking down at the top of his desk and looked up at the mention of his name. "Mr. Gen did something to him, and we don't even know what, yet."

Miss Connor looked at Justin and his haunted expression. "Do you want to say anything, Justin?"

Justin looked terrified and shook his head vigorously before looking down again. Relena went back to her desk in disgust and anger. She knew there was something wrong with that new teacher. She just knew it!


Samurai and Ma-Sho -


"What did Rajura do to that boy?" Shin asked Sh'ten, appalled that something had frightened the boy so badly.

Sh'ten shrugged absently. "Same thing he does to us when he's teaching. The boy will get over it. We all did. I suppose you can call it an encouragement, of sorts. Just something to get him moving."

It was at this time that Rajura, or Mr. Gen as the rest of the school knew him, walked in. He smiled charmingly. "I was wondering if I could borrow Duo Maxwell for a short time?" He asked the other teacher.

After just hearing how this Mr. Gen had supposedly treated Oni Sh'ten, the math teacher, of coarse, did not seem especially thrilled to do this. "Well, we were just in the middle of something, actually..." She never finished the sentence because Rajura never stopped to hear her. He walked straight to Duo, grabbed him by the braid and pulled him roughly out of his chair.

"Come, boy. You're mine." Rajura said calmly, while Duo struggled, confused.

"Get off!" Duo demanded. "Let go of my hair!" He kicked and thrashed for all he was worth, but Mr. Gen didn't seem to notice. He pulled Duo down the isle of desks, with Duo on his back, fighting.

Now Miss Connor did take exception to this disruption and stopped Rajura with her hand on his chest. "Stop where you are, buster! How dare you come into my class and grab one of my students like that? I've heard some pretty disturbing things about your teaching methods today and I..." Rajura, letting go of Duo's braid for a moment, grabbed Miss Connor and pulled her into a long, passionate kiss. The kiss lasted nearly five minutes, until Miss Connor was limp and pale.

Finally, Rajura let her go, after hearing the sound of Naaza's jealous hissing, and set her on her feet. Miss Connor stood swaying there for a moment before she slowly opened her eyes. A huge smile graced her face. "OK, you can have him." She told Rajura happily with a glazed look in her eyes.

Relena stood up again. "What!? How can you do that?"

Miss Connor beamed at Rajura. "He can do anything he wants." She sighed, blissfully.

Duo looked at her with pleading eyes. "Don't abandon me!" He cried. God only knew what Mr. Gen was planning to do with him. Mr. Gen grabbed Duo's braid again and pulled him out the door with Duo casting one last pleading look at Heero. "Save me!"

Heero, thinking that it couldn't possibly be as Duo was making it out to be, ignored his melodramatic friend.

Relena, overcome by the absurdity of the situation, slumped down on her desk and buried her face in her arms. "This can't be right." She whispered to herself.



Duo-


"Why me?" Duo screamed in terror as the flaming log swung down at him from the rope and barely missed him. "Why me?" The ground opened up in a wide canyon in front of him and Duo was forced to jump up and grab hold of a vine that, of coarse, turned out to be a snake that tried to bite him with inch long fangs. "AHHHHHHH!" Duo punched the snake out of sheer desperation and let go just in time to land face first on the jungle floor in a mud puddle. "This can't be happening." He mumbled. Out of the darkness a voice shouted at him.

"Keep moving!" It was Mr. Gen. This was all his fault! "Don't slow down, fool! There is a time limit, you know!"

Duo jumped to his feet after the threat. The last time he hadn't listened and some kind of freaky monster had attacked him. Duo barreled through the jungle and tried not to think about the fact that fifteen minutes ago Mr. Gen had brought him out to the track field, the same field they'd just had gym class, and now he was in a tropical jungle filled with deadly booby traps. Sweat was pouring down his face and his clothes were sticking to his chest.

The night (Duo was fairly certain that only moments ago it had been broad daylight) was filled with the cries of exotic animals. Duo was scared and tired. He physically didn't usually do this sort of thing and he really didn't like doing it. I wanna go home! Duo though desperately. I want my Gundam! I want my teddy bear!

Suddenly, the jungle vanished and Duo found himself standing in the middle of the track field again. He looked around, confused, but there was only Mr. Gen looking at his stopwatch with a slight frown. Duo felt tears of joy fill his eyes.

"I'm alive!" He shouted happily, throwing his fist into the air triumphantly.

Mr. Gen snorted. "I suppose you might have done worse."

This got Duo's attention. "What do you mean? I was great!" Modesty was not one of Duo's flaws.

Mr. Gen shrugged and turned away. "It's a starting point, I guess. I will see you tomorrow at this same time for practice."

"Now wait a minute! What are you talking about? How did you do all that? How did I get to a jungle?"

"I have decided to train you as a warrior, Duo. You will get the finest training available to any human anywhere. As for the jungle," Mr. Gen looked at him with a slight smile. "That's a secret."

Duo was left alone in the track field and collapsed in sheer exhaustion and he really didn't want to think about what he'd just gone through. How could he tell Heero? Was it even real? It had to be a nightmare. That just couldn't have been real.

Duo sat in the field, staring into thin air for a long time. Maybe someone slipped something into his soda this morning.




Duo never mentioned to anyone what he'd just gone through, even though Mr. Gen did come through on his threat to 'teach' Duo and train him to be a warrior. After that one morning, Duo never found himself in jungles, only in the field being tortured by the gym teacher.

Chapter 4




The weeks passed in much the same manner. Relena could never get anyone to speak against Mr. Gen, nor could she find out any information about him. Duo couldn't figure out the mystery of the new students and Heero didn't care. It wasn't a mission, so it didn't concern him. Duo wanted to know, but soon let it slide. He was forced to continue with his training under Mr. Gen and had to admit that he was getting better. He'd thought that he was good before, but now he was great! Even Mr. Gen had once admitted that he was improving. High praise!

Mr. Gen even promised to get him a proper weapon, anything he wanted. Duo's mind was fixed on having his own Scythe, and Mr. Gen had even told him that he had one available if Duo should prove worthy of it. Besides, they weren't doing any harm and, he was getting to be friends with some of them.

Ryo, Shin, Touma, and, to an extent, Naaza, were all quite friendly. Shu, seemed to forgive him for the sin of touching Nasutei, but would get upset if Duo look at her for to long. Seiji reminded Duo just a bit too much of Heero, Sh'ten was arrogant to an extreme that Duo couldn't stand him, and Anubis was violent and unpredictable.



Even Nasty had something interesting happen to her. In the city, while she was visiting the local library, she met a young man, a few years older than herself with long, straight white hair.

"Is that interesting?" He looked at the cover of the book she was reading. An old, dusty cover with the title, ANCIENT PROPHESIES.

Nasty nodded. "Very interesting, not to mention useful."

He smiled and held out his hand. "I'm Millardo."

Nasty shook hands politely and wondered if this guy was trying to flirt with her. It didn't happen often, so she really wasn't used to it. Especially not by someone as good looking as this Millardo guy. "Nasutei." She replied.

"If you want some more reading that might interest you, try the basement. They keep all the old stuff down there."

"Do you work here?"

"Nope. Just passing time."

As the man turned his back and started walking away, Nasty smiled. Yep. Definitely flirting.


SEVERAL WEEKS LATER-



It was on a Saturday that Shin announced that he had to go to town to get some groceries. Seiji offered to drive him (no one drove Seiji's car but him!), but Shin had decided to walk. It was such a beautiful day. Sh'ten offered to walk with him, but Shin told him to stay home and that he wanted to time to think. No, nothing was wrong, he just wanted time to himself. After all, the house was such a busy place all the time, with ten people and an overgrown tiger living in it.

Ryo would have offered to walk with him, but he was expecting Heero and Duo to come by today. Duo was doing as badly in one of the classes as Ryo was. Duo had asked Touma to tutor him, once he found out that Touma was literally a genius. Touma agreed thinking it would be easier to tutor Duo and Ryo at the same time.

So, Shin took his own sweet time and told everyone he'd be home sometime in the afternoon, about three o'clock. He strode down the dirt road, starting his journey to the city, some thirteen miles away. It would take him all day to get there and back. If he didn't get tempted by some river or lake and decide to go skinny-dipping.


WUFEI-


Wufei was walking to the market with Quarte at his side when he heard the commotion. "Stay here." Wufei told Quarte as he curiously followed the noise and came upon an almost cliché scene. Three teenage boys were beating on one in a darkened alley. They were laughing and shouting at the boy who held his arms over his head protectively. Wufei frowned. The strong should not harm the weak.

"Stop." Wufei said it loud enough that he wasn't shouting, but everyone turned to look at him.

"This isn't your business, keep out of it." One of them told him arrogantly.

"I have made it my business." Wufei disagreed. "You are not fighting honorably."

To make a long story short, Wufei kicked ass and sent them all running. He broke the arm of the leader, just to make his point clear, and only roughed up the others. He was in a good mood from spending the day with Quarte. Quarte had that effect on people.

Wufei stared after the retreating boys for a moment before he heard a soft voice on the ground.

"Thank you." It was the boy who had been beaten. He looked far worse than Wufei had thought. He was nearly drenched in blood. Both of his eyes were swelling and would be blackened for days. There was blood seeping out of the corner of his mouth.

Damn, the boy was hurt worse than Wufei had thought.

Quarte was suddenly there by his side, appearing as if out of thin air, and knelt next to the fallen boy. "Are you all right?"

The brown haired boy managed a weak smile. "I've had better days." Then he began coughing and blood spilt out of his mouth in a gush.

"My god!" Quarte exclaimed. "We have to get you to a hospital!"

"Yes," Wufei agreed. "Stay with Quarte and I'll call an ambulance for you."

The boy shook his head. "No, I need to go home. The hospital wouldn't help me." He looked up with a dazed expression. "I need to call my friends. They'll come and get me."

Wufei shrugged though he thought it was odd. Why would the boy be afraid to go to the hospital? "There's a museum across the street. I suppose they'll have a telephone we can use. Though, I really think Quarte is right and you should get to a hospital. There's nothing your friends can do for you that the hospital can't. We can always tell your friends to meet you there."

Again, the boy just shook his head. "I have to go home."

Quarte and Wufei shrugged at each other and helped the boy to his feet. "What's your name?" Quarte asked. "I'm Quarte Winner and this is Chang Wufei, my friend."

The boy gasped as they helped him to stand and put a hand to his ribs. "I'm Shin. Mouri Shin. I think I've broken some ribs." With Wufei and Quarte on either side of Shin, they struggled across the street, attracting just a little to much attention for Wufei's comfort.

As they hobbled out into the street and toward the museum, Wufei told Shin, "You are to weak to try and fight people who would attack you. Why didn't you run away?"

Shin didn't seem particularly upset at being called weak. "I wasn't expecting the attack, though I suppose I should have. They surprised me and I didn't want to hurt them."

"So you let yourself take such a terrible beating?" Quarte asked. "Why?"

"If I fought, I might have hurt them. Badly."

"Then you should fight." Wufei told him. "You must protect yourself, even if it means hurting others. Were they just after your money?"

"No." Shin looked at them as if not sure that he should tell them the real reason he was attacked. Finally, he said, "They jumped me because I'm gay and they didn't like that."

To their credit, neither Quarte nor Wufei reacted. Shin continued. "Apparently, they saw me kissing my... friend at school and I guess they followed me when they saw me in town. Thanks for coming when you did. It was getting to the point where I was going to have to fight back."

"So you would have fought?" Wufei asked. By now they had reached the museum and were avoiding the curious stares of passerby's.

"Yes. I do know how to fight and I'm quite good, I just don't like it."

They managed to find a phone in one of the halls of the museum and Quarte helped Shin to sit on the floor with his back to the wall. Shin gave Wufei the number and told him with a sleepy voice, "Ask for Date Seiji, please, and tell him where we are. He'll come for me. I don't want Sh'ten to know what's happened, yet."

Wufei told Quarte, "Keep him talking. I think he's going into shock."

Quarte obliged and kept Shin awake as much as he could while Wufei dialed. The phone was answered with a happy sounding, "Yo!"



Duo-


Duo and Heero were walking down the long road to where Ryo said he lived. Duo groaned. "Why would anyone want to live in place like this?" He asked his silent friend. "There's nothing around here for miles!" Duo gestured to the thick forests that completely surrounded them. It was a trip that Duo was not likely to make again, if he had any choice. They had to take a bus for a half an hour and then walk for another half an hour. Next time Touma offered to tutor him, he'd tell Touma to meet him at the library in the city!

Heero, of coarse, didn't respond.

Duo raised an eyebrow at the sight of the house. It was huge and he never would have guessed that he would find something like that out here. It was not just a house, but a mansion.

"Wow," Duo sighed. "Ryo's folks must be loaded!"

Out of nowhere, Duo was suddenly tackled and threw to the ground with an immense weight on his chest. He blinked and looked up to find himself looking in the warm brown eyes of a Siberian Tiger. There was a low grumble coming from its chest.

"Heero, do something!" Duo whined desperately, trying to stay calm, but he was used to fighting in battles, not wild animals. He cast a look at Heero who was now holding his gun and wondering if he should shot or not. Shoot, please shoot! Duo prayed.

"It looks like White Blaze has just as bad taste as Ryo does." Heero looked over at the new voice, Anubis. "They both like you." Duo looked between the tiger's legs and saw Anubis, looking much different than he had in school.

Anubis stood with his arms crossed and leaned against a tree. He had black jeans and a leather vest on, but that was all. Duo noticed that Anubis had his left nipple pierced and several tattoos on his arms and across his chest. The very image of tough, bad boy. The blue haired young man sniffed. "Get away from them, stupid cat."

The tiger growled at Anubis and, just to spite him, sat on Duo's chest. Duo started to turn blue under the weight and squeezed out, "You're not helping!"

Anubis smirked and didn't seem at all concerned about Heero's gun that was still out. "I wasn't trying to help you." He acted as if he hadn't even noticed the gun. Then Anubis turned and looked over one shoulder.

Ryo was walking toward them, one arm behind his back, suspiciously. "What are you doing, Anubis?" Ryo called, coming closer.

"Irritating your tiger and trying to get your guests killed. Just having fun."

Ryo scowled at him. "Behave yourself."

"And if I don't?"

Ryo grinned evilly (a strange expression on his face) and pulled out his hand from behind his back. He held a small gray puppy in his hand that was yelping happily and wagging its tail. "I'll give Junior a shave."

Anubis' eyes went wide and he panicked. "You wouldn't!" He lost all sense of dignity.

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Snip, snip."

"You let go of my wolf!" Anubis screamed, shaking one fist in the air while tears ran down his face. He made a sudden jump at Ryo and grabbed his wolf puppy from the enemy hands, rolling expertly and holding the pup close to his chest. When he stopped rolling, Anubis sat on his butt on the grass cradling the small gray puppy. "Don't worry, baby. Daddy will protect you from the bad man!" He shot Ryo a dirty look.

"Next time, you leave my tiger alone." Ryo stuck his tongue out and his tone was suddenly back to normal.

Anubis growled and stood, still cuddling with his wolf cub. He gave the cub a kiss on the top of its head and it licked his face happily while Anubis muttered under his breath. "Damned pyro! I'll get him for this. Nobody threatens my little Junior!"

Ryo looked down at Duo and smiled. "Hi." He leaned one elbow against the tiger's shoulder comfortably as if he did it all the time. "You're late, dude." He sounded as if he didn't think it was at all odd to have a 700-pound tiger sit on your guests.

Heero spoke up. "That tiger is suffocating Duo. Please remove it."

Ryo, for the first time, looked startled and blinked down at the tiger. "Oh, sorry. White Blaze, move your tail." The tiger obligingly did as he was told and went to stand next to Ryo, licking his hand as he did so. "So, are you ready to study with Touma?" Ryo asked as if it were more important than a study session.

"Yeah. Why?" Duo struggled to his feet.

Ryo gave a sort of laugh. "Studying with Touma is not as easy as it sounds. He's very demanding and he will not let you leave the house until he is certain that you have learned everything."

They started walking toward the house with White Blaze at Ryo's side and Anubis trailing slightly behind them. Duo wasn't especially happy at having Anubis at his back, but Ryo trusted him. After all, Duo was a Gundam Pilot, the pilot of Death Scythe Hell, what harm could one blue haired guy do to him?


Ryo-


Touma had invited Duo over and he was helping the both of us with algebra. Jeeze, algebra, as if that was important in my life and death struggles against the evils of the universe! Still, Touma seemed to think it was important so I tried not to fall asleep.

Duo had also brought Heero, the solemn boy who always seemed to be following Duo quietly. Ryo thought that Heero was one weird little bugger. He didn't come for the lessons, Duo explained. He was just there to keep Duo company. Strange, as Heero spent the last hour staring out of the window at the forest.

Sh'ten had taken Shu upstairs to keep him away from Duo and out of trouble. Nasty was out in her garden while Seiji was out at the lake meditating. Rajura was in the gym with and Naaza doing god knows what, probably working out, but really, who could tell with those two? Shin was at the market doing the grocery shopping for the week and Anubis was hovering. Occasionally walking in and leaning over Ryo's shoulder as if to see what he was doing, or just standing there.

As usual, Junior was yapping at Anubis' heels unless Anubis was actually holding the pup. Anubis, the warlord of darkness, also seemed to have a soft spot for wolves. So soft, that when he'd found the orphaned cub only a few weeks ago, he'd instantly adopted it and named it Junior. On reflection, I have to admit that Anubis treated Junior rather like I treated White Blaze. More like a friend than a pet, I thought as I absently scratched Byakuen behind the ears. He purred happily.

It was slightly unnerving that when Junior wasn't with Anubis he could be found with White Blaze. More than once I had found my friend, Yaku-Chan, carrying the cub in his teeth, as if it were his kitten, or letting Junior ride on his back. I wonder if Byakuen had adopted the pup.

Eventually, I got irritated with Anubis' hovering and Junior's yelping for attention. "Do you want to sit in or something?" I asked. Having Anubis hanging over my shoulder made me nervous for some reason. Lately, Anubis always seemed to be hanging around. Was he still mad about that little threat outside with Junior? Was he looking for revenge? That thought made me nervous.

"No." Anubis leaned over and put his hand on my shoulder. "Just passing." Then he left after giving my shoulder a squeeze. "Come on, Junior. Let's see if Shin has left some scraps for you in the kitchen."

I frowned, watching Anubis wander out, my eyes lingering on Anubis' rear end. Boy, Anubis had a great butt... I shook my head. Now where had that thought come from? Why did my shoulder feel warm where Anubis had touched my?

"What are you thinking, Ryo?" Touma asked with an innocent smile, leaning his chin on his hand.

"Hmmm? Oh, nothing." I answered, wondering why Touma was smiling like that, as if Touma knew something I didn't. OK, that could mean a lot of things.


Duo-


Duo watched the interplay with a grin. Even he could tell what Anubis was up to. Ryo must be pretty thick, not to notice. Still, why ruin the game by telling Ryo that Anubis was trying to seduce him?



Ryo-


The phone rang and, happy for a break from algebra, I picked it up cheerfully.

"Yo!"

"Hello." The caller said. "I would like to speak with Mr. Date Seiji." The voice was unfamiliar so I asked,

"Who's calling?"

"My name is Chang Wufei."

"Gotcha." I went to the window that looked out at the lake and where Seiji was mediating. I leaned out of the window and shouted at the mediating figure out by the lake, "Phone, Seiji!"

The silent voice was in my mind and asked, WHO IS IT, RYO? Seiji didn't bother to move from his position almost a hundred yards away. He sounded a tad bit irritated to have his meditation interrupted.

I shouted back, "Some guy named Chang Wufei."



Touma-


Heero and Duo looked up sharply and Touma noticed, but didn't say anything. He would mention it later when the visitors weren't around to listen. Seiji didn't answer, but Ryo saw him stand and walk slowly toward the house. When he sat at the couch again, Duo asked. "Who was that?"

"Beats me. Why do you ask?" Ryo looked at him with those guileless eyes.

"Just curious." Duo smiled, feigning innocence.

Ryo smiled back, truly innocent.

Seiji walked in, nodding slightly to Duo and Heero, and he picked up the phone. As he passed the couch Touma thought to him, THEY KNOW THE NAME CHANG WUFEI. THEY BOTH BECAME ALERT WHEN RYO YELLED IT OUT TO YOU, BUT THEY WOULDN'T ADMIT IT WHEN RYO ASKED.

Seiji didn't respond, but Touma knew that he'd heard. This might just be an interesting coincidence, but then, why would they lie about something like that?
Touma stored the information away for later thought. It might be important, it might not.

"Hello?" Seiji spoke into the phone and listened for a moment. "I see. Yes, I will be right there." Seiji hung up the phone. "I will be back later." He then just walked out and moment later, they heard a car engine roar to life and then disappear down the road.

"What was all that about?" Duo asked.

Touma shrugged. "Seiji is a mystery unto himself." He said with a secretive smile.



Wufei-


We waited for only perhaps twenty minutes, all the while with the boy, Shin, getting paler and less coherent. 'I knew we should have taken him to the hospital, no matter what he wanted!'

At that moment, a tall, thin young man strode in. He had golden hair and was very pale. He moved, Wufei thought, like someone trained in the martial arts. He walked straight to them, his eyes fixed on Shin.

"Are you Seiji?" Quarte asked as the tall man approached.

"Yes. Shin?" Seiji knelt next to his friend and touched his face gently. "What happened?"

Shin's eyes were half closed. "I'm sorry, Seiji. I didn't want to fight. I hate fighting." That was all he had to say in his defense.

Seiji, with a stone expression, said, "Don't worry. I'll take you home." He was stronger than he looked when he picked up Shin and carried him away without a word. Wufei and Quarte looked at each other.

"He really needs to go to the hospital." Quarte told Seiji.

"He'll be fine." The blonde told Quarte coolly, as if he wasn't the least bit concerned with the broken body in his arms and was irritated that these people should involve themselves in something that wasn't their concern.

Wufei scowled. "Fine?!" Wufei demanded. "How can you call yourself his friend, you aren't even worried."

Fortunately, as the situation might get out of hand, Shin woke enough to say, "Don't worry about me. Seiji will take care of me. Thank you again." His head lolled back against Seiji's chest murmuring softly, "I won't forget you."

Wufei shook his head, pitying Shin who might get himself killed if he kept up this attitude. Quarte looked after the calm Seiji. "Well, how do you like that for manners?" Quarte said indignantly, looking at Seiji's back.



Seiji-



Seiji carefully settled Shin into the passenger seat of his beloved car. He squatted on his heels on the sidewalk and held Shin's hand tightly. It was such a simple and natural thing to let his healing ability flow down his arm and into Shin's body. He only used a little of his power, enough to wake Shin, but not enough to attract attention.

"I'm glad you didn't bring, Sh'ten." Shin said, now more awake and holding Seiji's hand as tightly as he could.

Seiji gently moved his hand away from Shin, fastened his friend's seat belt and climbed in the driver's side. FOOLISH, Seiji thought. BY NOW SH'TEN'S NOTICED YOU'VE CUT US ALL OUT OF YOUR MIND. HE'LL BE WORRIED SICK. It was normal for Seiji to communicate this way. He much favored telepathy to talking.

"Yes," Shin answered as they set out toward home. "And if he'd come for me, he might had attacked those boys who saved me. I knew you'd wait for the whole story before attacking."

STILL, YOU SHOULD HAVE LET US KNOWN THAT YOU WERE BEING ATTACKED. THAT WAS CRUEL TO SH'TEN.

"I didn't want you all to worry." His excuse sounded rather silly even to Shin now that he thought about it.


Ryo-


Sh'ten was indeed worried. They had all stopped studying and were having a snack when Sh'ten burst into the living room, his chest and feet bare and sweating heavily from his work out with Shu.

"Can anyone contact Shin?" He asked Ryo and Touma abruptly, looking distressed and not at all concerned that they had strangers in the room. "I just tried, but he's blocked me out." That was unusual. Shin normally had his mind wide open for any of them and especially for Sh'ten.

Ryo and Touma closed their eyes, momentarily forgetting their guests. They felt the warmth of the minds of their friends. The taste of their personalities and how they were feeling. Rajura was getting a good deal of pleasure from beating a punching bag, Sh'ten was worried, Shu was in his room and watching television, Anubis was feeling quite pleased as he watched Junior attack a feather on the end of a piece of thread. Naaza was teasing Anubis about something, while Junior was playing. Seiji, wherever he was, was cool, but concerned.

Shin wasn't there. In the place in his mind where Ryo should have felt Shin, there was a wall.

Both Ryo and Touma opened their eyes at the same time, now worried. "Where was he going?" Touma asked Sh'ten.

"He said he had to go to the market for dinner. He said he'd be back a half an hour ago, but he blocked us out almost an hour ago. That's why I'm so worried."

"What's wrong?" Duo asked, remembering Shin from school.

"None of your #&%$#& business, you little %@$*!" Sh'ten cursed angrily, turning on the first available target. He liked having a target for his anger and he didn't care about offending Ryo's guests.

Ryo jumped up the same time Duo did and stood between his two friends. "I was just asking!" Duo exploded. Jeeze, why did they all yell at him?!

RYO, Seiji's voice came to Ryo's mind. GET YOUR GUESTS OUT OF THE HOUSE. WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

Ryo put a hand on Duo's arm. "I think you need to leave now, Duo. Thanks for coming by, you too, Heero." Ryo hurried them along while his brain spoke to Seiji. WHAT'S WRONG?

SHIN. HE'S BEEN HURT, BADLY.

Duo glared at Sh'ten. "Maybe your right. See you at school tomorrow, Ryo."

HOW BAD? Ryo asked Seiji.

BAD. I NEED TO WORK ON HIM. WE'LL BE THERE IN JUST A MINUTE.

That was enough for Ryo. Seiji didn't use his power needlessly. If Shin needed to be healed by Seiji, then it must be bad.

He hurried Heero and Duo out the door and then called the others to the living room.


Duo-


Ryo practically slammed the door in our faces. Well, that was weird. Heero and I started walking down the ridiculously long road to where they'd be able to catch a bus or taxi.

Before we'd gone very far, we heard the soft engine of Seiji's black sports car and it came hurdling up the road and past them. We stood and watched as Seiji jumped out of the car. Others came out of the house and pulled someone out of the car, carrying the person into the house carefully.

We were to far away to see the person being carried clearly, but it was pretty obvious. "Shin?" Duo looked at Heero.

Heero shrugged. "You forgot your notebook. You need to get it for school tomorrow."

I had to smile at Heero's devious little mind. He could have reminded me before we left. Heero had wanted to come back and see what was going on, too. We both hurried back and, leaving Heero at the door so it wouldn't look odd, after all he didn't need to come in to help me grab a note book, I opened the door without knocking. I cheerfully ran into the living room as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Sorry, I forgot my..." My eyes went wide at the sight. Shin, bleeding and looking near death was laying on the couch with his friends around him, Sh'ten kneeling next to him.

Looming over them, was a robot in green and white armor with an impossibly huge sword in its hand. Both the robot and Shin were glowing green. Everyone turned and stared at me including the robot. I saw the face of the robot and recognized it. "Hee, hee," I laughed nervously. "I'll get it later."

"Get out!" Anubis thundered and, with Shu at his side, they charged me and I ran out the door and into Heero. Junior was hot on Anubis' heels and yelping madly with White Blaze roaring like thunder next to him. If I hadn't been so scared, he'd have laughed.

"What happened?" Heero asked. I grabbed Heero's hand and pulled him along in the run away from the house, even though Anubis and Shu hadn't followed us out. "Why are we running?" Heero asked calmly as we ran.

"There's a robot back there." I told him, still running.

"From OZ?" Heero asked, interested.

"Don't know. Seiji. Kick ass sword! Keep running!" I managed to pant out while running as fast as I could. I looked over my shoulder to find that they weren't being followed and we slowed. "I don't know if the others are robots, or not, but they were not happy that I'd come in and found them like that."

Chapter 5




The next day, Heero and Duo had called Wufei and Quarte to their school to discuss what Duo had seen. It was odd. Then Duo happened to mention that the robot was called Seiji. Trowa would have come, but he was undercover at the moment.

"How interesting." Quarte remarked. "We just met a Seiji yesterday. We found a poor boy being beaten in an alley and he asked us to call Date Seiji to come and take him home. He was tall with very blond hair and a cool personality, to put it politely."

Duo looked surprised. "It sounds like the same guy. Date Seiji. Was the guy you found named Mouri Shin? Thin with light brown hair?"

Wufei nodded. "Yes. I presume we are talking about the same people. I doubt very much that Shin is a robot, Duo. He had been beaten by very ordinary human teenagers, it is unlikely that he would have let that happen if he was a robot. There would be no point."

It was at that very moment that Wufei felt a hand on his shoulder just before two arms wrapped around his shoulders.

He was surprised, to say the least to find Shin hugging him from behind with a happy smile.

"You're them!" Shin cried. "You're the ones who saved me!" Shin actually kissed the back on Wufei's head, making Wufei gag and struggle futilely against Shin's amazon like glomp. He wasn't used to public affection to begin with, let alone a boy hugging him that he'd just met yesterday. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

Wufei, once he was able to loosen from Shin's grip, and the rest of the Gundam group stared at Shin. He was completely healed, not a mark on him. He'd been nearly dead yesterday and now it was as if nothing had happened.

Shin must be a machine, some kind of cyborg or android.

Shin looked at Quarte and fell to his knees before shifting his glomp to the blonde's waist. "And you, too! I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to find you again and I really wanted to thank you for helping me! You must come for dinner tonight. I'll cook for you. Chicken, steak, pizza, anything you want and I'll make it!" Shin cooed happily, rubbing his cheek on Quarte's chest.

Well, he certainly didn't act like any machine they'd encountered before.

Quarte nervously patted Shin's back as Shin still hadn't let go of him. "That's all right. We were happy to help." Quarte suddenly noticed that Shin wasn't alone. There were eight other boys and one brown haired girl standing behind him. The red haired boy didn't look happy.

"Who are your new friends, Shin?" Sh'ten, the red head, asked acidly.

Shin turned to his friends with his arms still locked onto Quarte. "Guys! Come meet my new friends!" He yelled happily, waving them over. The others came slowly over at his call. "Guys, this is Wufei and Quarte. They're the ones who saved me from the attackers."

Sh'ten didn't seem impressed with this, but Shin continued, jumping up and throwing his arms around Wufei again, much to Wufei's embarrassment. "This is Wufei, he was incredible! He came out of nowhere and was so magnificent! He jumped right in and defeated all five of them so easily." Shin sighed, giving Wufei big, anime sparkly eyes filled with adoration.

Sh'ten growled, baring his teeth at Wufei. He was not happy to hear Shin sing praises to anyone but him. Him alone. Just him. OK, maybe he was a little possessive.

"Shin," Touma said.

"Yes?" Shin didn't even look away from Wufei.

"Those are the ones who saw Seiji in his armor."

Shin's happy attitude suddenly disappeared. He let go of Wufei and backed away into the protection of his friends and looked doubtfully at the Gundam pilots. "You...you did?"

Duo nodded. "I sort of walked in and he was in bright green armor. Are you...machines?" It seemed like an odd thing to ask in the middle of a schoolyard.

Sh'ten put an arm around Shin's shoulders. "We are all grateful that you saved Shin's life," He told Wufei. "But I will ask you not to put your hands on him again!" Sh'ten's mouth twisted in an unattractive snarl. "Shin is mine!"

Ryo looked around at the other kids starting to gather for the beginning of school. "Perhaps we should talk somewhere more private. We knew we would have to talk to you after yesterday." Ryo held out something to Duo. It was his forgotten notebook.

Duo took it guiltily. If they were OZ machines, then they were the strangest he had ever seen. They really acted as if they had minds of their own instead of programming.

Everyone nodded, agreeing that this should be done away from prying eyes. The back of the school, in the athletic field would be best. Quiet and undisturbed.







"So, what's going on?" Wufei asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Duo is reliable when it comes to this sort of thing. He wouldn't lie and he rarely makes such mistakes. You," he looked at the emotionless Seiji, "at least, are a machine. What about the rest of you?"

They all looked at each other uncertainly, except for Shin who had returned to gazing at Wufei and Quarte with near adoration, only Sh'ten's hold keeping him from running to them again. Shu also didn't look terribly worried. In fact, he was looking at Wufei strangely.

Ryo shook his head. "You've got us all wrong. I don't know why you keep going on about machines, but we're just people. We just came to school. We haven't hurt anyone and we don't intend to. We just want to be left alone, that's all."

"Hello." Everyone turned to see Mr. Gen standing with them.

Duo started sweating and wondering what they should say. They certainly didn't want a teacher to get involved in all this. "Well, you see...Uh..." Had to think of a lie to get the teacher away and out of this whole mess.

"Hi, Rajura." Ryo said with a slight wave.

"Morning." Rajura went to Naaza and kissed him passionately. "How's my favorite little love toy?" He gave Naaza's butt a tight squeeze, making the green haired boy jump slightly with a smile on his face.

"Not here, Rajura. There are people watching."

"You're to shy."

Quarte went quite pale and Wufei's eyes almost popped out of his head. Duo thought it was just sick that a teacher would do something like that.

Naaza, after giving a kiss that would melt an ice burg, frowned at Rajura. "What do you mean 'favorite little love toy'? How many do you have?"

"They saw Seiji's armor." Touma told Rajura before the older man could answer.

Duo suddenly understood. "You know about them?" He asked Mr. Gen. "You know that they're machines?"

Rajura raised an eyebrow. "Machines? What does this boy speak of?"

"We're not sure." Sh'ten answered. "I think they're confusing us with the machines that mortals make these days. Perhaps if we let them understand they will leave us in peace."

"I doubt it. I have been hearing much of these boys and they are not the most trust worthy of humans." Mr. Gen's good eye stared at them. "I think it would be better to escape this whole facade and go back to our old lives."

"No!" Shu cried suddenly, much to everyone surprise. "I won't leave him." He looked directly at Wufei who suddenly looked like a deer caught in headlights. Duo giggled.

Nasty looked at Ryo. "I think I've just been dumped." It was the first time she's spoken since she'd arrived with the boys. It seemed like she was used to staying in the background.

Ryo answered, "You kept him a good month and three days. That beats Touma by two days and that's a new record. Now, you can go chat up that guy at the library you told me about."

"True."

"And what do we do when they bring their Gundam ships to our home and step on it?" Touma asked Shu sharply. "That won't make Nasty very happy."

Sh'ten let an evil grin spread across his face. "Let's kill them." His eyes lingered on Wufei and Quarte. "No more problems if they're all dead."

Duo started to worry when he saw some of them considering this.

"Not him," Mr. Gen pointed at Duo. "He's my new student and I won't have him killed before his training is finished. You can kill the others if you like."

"Don't hurt Wufei!" Shu smiled at the smaller man. "I won't let anyone hurt my Little Panda!"

Wufei spluttered, forgetting that the people in front of him were probably androids. "I am not your Little Panda!" He shook a fist in the air. "INJUSTICE!"

Shu blinked with surprise. "Justice?"

"It is my life's work to serve justice." Wufei declared proudly.

Touma started laughing. "You've just nailed your own coffin, pal."

"Can we get back to the subject, please?" Seiji asked softly. "We have to decide what to do about them."

"Nasty, are you involved in all this, too?" Duo asked, trying to derail that train of thought that suggested they all die. He was also trying not to laugh at Wufei's predicament of Shu smiling at him sweetly.

Ryo answered for her. "Sort of. She takes care of us and we live at her home. She isn't one of us, though. Nasty's just real nice and we like her." Ryo was quiet a moment. "I just don't know what to do." He admitted. "We've never had this problem before." He looked at them hopefully. "I don't suppose we can trust you to just forget what you saw about Seiji?" He was talking to Duo who was the only one to actually see Seiji as a machine.

Duo shook his head. "I never lie."

"I'm not asking you to lie, just not to tell anyone."

"Sorry."

Ryo frowned, looking at the ground as he thought, before looking up with hope. "What do you think I should do about this?" He asked the Duo.

Naaza snapped, "You don't ask the enemy for help, baka!"

"But he's my friend!" Ryo protested.

Anubis growled at Naaza. "Don't yell at Ryo."

"He's asking them what we should do! Let's just kill them, hide the bodies, and get back to class."

"I'm all for killing them." Sh'ten agreed helpfully until Shin frowned at him.

"Are you jealous?"

"Me? Of coarse not!" Sh'ten sniffed arrogantly, but didn't take his arms off Shin.

"Then you don't mind if I give my new friends another hug?"

"Don't you dare!"

Ryo opened his mouth, but Seiji spoke up. "What if we can convince you that we are not these OZ machines you seem to hate so much?"

"My objective is to destroy OZ." Heero said in his usual dry monotone. "Nothing else matters. If you are from OZ, I must destroy you."

"I need an answer. If we can convince you that we are not OZ, will you leave us in peace?"

Heero shrugged. "I have no interest if you are not from OZ."

Quarte spoke. "I won't hurt you, so long as you don't pose a threat to humans. If you're going to attack this world or the colonies, then we'll have to fight you."

Seiji nodded. "That is acceptable. Just don't give away our secret." He then frowned. "What do you mean, 'colonies'? What colonies?"

"The colonies in outer space." Quarte gave a puzzled frown. "Haven't you heard of the colonies before?"

"Where've you been living for the past several decades?" Wufei asked.

"We have been in the dark nether realms of the dynasty for the past several centuries." Anubis sneered at them before Sh'ten shot him a scowl.

"Yeah, and we've been a bit busy trying to kill them." Shu added.

"Is it true, Touma?" Sh'ten asked the blue haired boy. "Are they're really people in outer space?"

The Gundam team watched as Touma got a misty look in his eyes and it seemed as if he weren't seeing them any more. His head tilted up until he was looking at the clouds and swayed slightly. "Yes." His voice was soft and far away. "Yes, very many people in the void." A smile touched his face and Duo realized with a shock that Touma was glowing. "Singing...the stars are singing." His voice had dropped to a whisper and Duo knew the blue haired boy was no longer talking to them. His mind was elsewhere.

Duo jumped slightly. Touma was not only glowing a soft blue, but he was hovering several inches off the ground until Seiji grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him back down to earth.

"How did you do that?" Quarte asked. "If you aren't a machine, how did you do that? You were flying! I saw it, you were really flying!"

Touma looked embarrassed. "I try not to do that in public, but it's hard when I look into the void. The stars are singing to me." His gaze started to drift up again, but Seiji shook his shoulder. "I have to stay focused or I try to get to the stars. I would stay up there forever, if I could. Perhaps the truth is best."

The eight boys and Mr. Gen spread out around the Gundam pilots and Nasty, surrounding them in a circle.


Duo-


We were suddenly at their house. I don't know how we got here, but they had suddenly surrounded us and then we were at Nasutei's home.

"This is the best place for privacy." Ryo told us. "We won't be interrupted. Are we agreed?" He looked at all his friends and, I saw something passed between them. I'm not sure what, but it was as if they were talking without talking. Ryo nodded and took a step away from us. "Don't be afraid." He told us. Ryo made a fist and shouted. "Armor of Wildfire Tao Jin!" There was a flash of light and I swear I saw flame engulf Ryo for just a moment and then he was there in red and white armor and holding two slim, but dangerous looking, swords. "I am Ryo of Wildfire. I bear the armor of wildfire and I am virtue."

"You are virtue?"

"It's my greatest trait. We all have one trait that defines us." Ryo nodded at the others. One at a time they transformed in front of us into the strange armor.

Seiji of Halo-courtesy

Shin of Torrent-faith

Shu of Hardrock-justice

Touma of Strata-wisdom

Sh'ten of Cruelty-loyalty

Anubis of Darkness-obedience

Naaza of Venom-piety

Rajura of Illusion-serenity



I stared at Mr. Gen. "You're a kid!" I exclaimed.

Mr. Gen smiled and touched his now young looking face. "Yes. I'm a kid. The face you saw as Mr. Gen was, of coarse, an illusion. It was helpful and I rather enjoyed being a teacher again."

Wufei was looking a little pale as he stared at Shu. "You...you are justice?"

Shu sighed and started walking toward Wufei. "Yeah. Just imagine, Little Panda, together, you and I fighting for justice, forever."

Wufei started to back away, moving behind Heero. Shu said something in Chinese that made Wufei blush before yelling at Shu in his native language. This continued for a few minutes until Ryo grabbed Shu's arm. "Why don't you give him a few minutes to get used to your profoundly unique love, Shu? Maybe he's not used to it."

Shu looked at Wufei appraisingly. "Yes, I think you might be right." Then he smiled at Wufei again. "Though how a cute devil like you can't be used to love, I have no idea." He winked at Wufei.

Wufei, again, blushed bright red.

Sh'ten said, loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Who would have thought of Shu as having a silver tongue?"

We just stared at each other for about five minutes and they patiently let us until Quarte said, "What are you?"

"We are the Samurai Troopers." Ryo said.

Sh'ten indicated the darker warriors. "We are the Ma-Sho. You've seen us transform, but we are still human. Our hearts beat and we bleed, we are human. We bear your world no ill will. Let us live in peace."

"We wear the armor to protect the Earth and guard it from harm." Touma added.

Heero spoke. "Will you fight against OZ or with it?" He did tend to get stuck on subjects and even if he didn't know what exactly these people could do, it was always helpful to have allies.

"We don't care about your little war one way or the other. It is only one more of the countless wars that had been fought and, like all others, it will be forgotten in short time." Anubis said. "Go fight it yourself. We will interfere only if the Earth is in danger."

"We can't allow OZ to rule us!" Wufei snapped. "You don't understand what Treize will do to us..."

Anubis looked at Ryo. "Treize? Isn't that the name of the guy who nosed in at the gym yesterday?"

Everyone went silent and the Gundam pilots tensed visibly. Ryo thought. "Yeah. Treize Kushranada, I think."

"What did Treize want with you?" Heero asked. They would have to know if these people would be new enemies.

"We were at the gym in the city when he just walked over. He wanted us to work for him." Ryo answered. "He offered very good pay, too. Still, I don't want to get involved with anything like that. I'm not good at obeying orders."

"What were you doing when Treize approached you at the gym?" Heero asked Ryo.

Anubis stepped casually behind Ryo with a hand on the hilt of his sword. Anubis began to stroke the hilt of his hand slowly with a suggestive leer on his face. "We were thrusting." He drew out the last word to make it sound obscene and licked his lips.

Everyone gaped.

Rajura leaned forward. "Don't tell me you..." His gaze drifted back and forth between Ryo and Anubis. "You didn't! Did you?"

Ryo nodded happily. "Yes, we were practicing sword technique. Anubis thought my thrusts needed work, but I think I was doing just fine."

Everyone face faulted.

"Why?" Ryo asked in his innocence. "What did you think we were doing?"

No one answered him, but Naaza screamed at Anubis, "You brat! Got us all excited and then to let us down like that, I could just kill you!"

"It's your own fault," Anubis told Naaza as he strolled away several yards. "You've got a filthy mind."

I tried to get back on track. "So, you're not planning to join OZ?"

Ryo shook his head. "We've all discussed it and, frankly, it's none of our business who rules this world."

"What?" I demanded. "How can you say such a thing? It is everyone's business, OZ is murdering people!"

Touma nodded. "Yes, that is pretty awful. On the other hand, you Gundams routinely kill OZ soldiers, don't you?"

"Well, yes."

"So, what makes you so much better than them?"

"His point," Anubis added, "Is that it doesn't concern us how this world is governed, so long as it is ruled by humans. We are more concerned with guarding this world from others."

"What others?" Quarte asked. "Are you talking about aliens?"

Naaza laughed. "If only it were so simple." Trowa could have sworn that he saw fangs when Naaza laughed. "We are not worried about aliens. We watch for evil." He told them ominously. "Spirits and those that serve the spirits."





It was decided, after a while, that the Gundams had no quarrel with the strange armored warriors and everyone agreed to leave each other alone. No fights and no problems, so long as neither group started anything.

Except of coarse that Shu was still declaring his eternal love for Wufei and Wufei was hiding from Shu. Apparently, Wufei would find candy and flowers on his doorstep every morning for a week with a card addressed to Little Panda. It made him so nervous, that he moved in with Quarte for a little while. How Shu had found out where Wufei lived was a mystery.

Chapter 6


Anubis-


They had decided that, for a while anyway, Shin would have a guard when he went out. It just wasn't safe if he was going to get attacked and he really didn't feel safe without his friends.

Of coarse, nothing would happen as Sh'ten had all ready found out who did it and extracted proper punishment. The little criminals wouldn't be found for a few weeks yet, if they were ever found. Yes, he was on the side of goodness now, but really...he was still the Ma-Sho of Cruelty and he just couldn't let someone get away with pounding on his little Shin, now could he?

It was Anubis' day to watch over Shin as they walked to the market early on Saturday morning, as was Shin's usual habit. It had been one week since the attack and Shin had decided that it would be safe to go out, because the chances of a second attack happening so soon on the same day were just to unlikely.

If nothing else, this was a good opportunity to get Junior out for a walk. The small cub ran happily beside them on his little leash.

Anubis was joking with his younger friend when they noticed a man standing in the middle of the road. Anubis was instantly alert when he recognized the man. There was something wrong about the way that man was standing there, as if he'd been waiting for them.

He was dressed very sharply with a short cape slung over on shoulder artfully. "What do you want?" Anubis asked, stepping slightly forward, so he stood in front of Shin.

"Good morning, Anubis, isn't it? I don't think I've met your friend." He addressed Shin. "I am Treize Kushranada and I've come to make you a job offer, again." Shin and Anubis exchanged doubtful looks as they recognized the name and Treize continued. "I am a representative from the OZ organization. We are currently in need of talented young people and you've managed to come to our attention. We would like to train you to become pilots and soldiers in the future."

Anubis yawned. "Get you your point. The sooner I get home, the sooner I get drunk. I do not wish to stand here listening to your voice."

"Yes, I know your opinion on my offer, but I just wanted you to rethink it." Treize seemed only slightly surprised by his attitude. "I would like you to consider working for us. I have had my people watching the local schools and you are two of the people who have recently come to our attention."

Shin frowned. "You've been spying on us?" He sounded outraged and Anubis could understand why. They all valued their privacy and were trying very hard to keep a low public image. Anubis had heard this all before when Treize had confronted him and Ryo at the gym in the city. He was not impressed.

Treize shrugged away Shin's anger. "We've got many people at many different schools to scout for new recruits. There are many benefits to joining OZ, you may want to consider."

Before he could go any further, Shin interrupted him. "I don't think so, mate. We don't need to be joining any army. We're kids, in case you haven't noticed, and we don't belong in wars."

The irony of that statement made Anubis let out a barked laugh.

"We can always work out a contract to wait until you've reached adulthood." Treize offered.

Shin shook his head. "No. Thank you anyway, but no." He started to walk past Treize who looked at Anubis following Shin.

"What about you? Do you share his feelings?"

Anubis gave Treize a half smile. "I do. Stay away from our friends, also."

Treize gave them a small smile. "I have to apologize, I'm afraid."

Shin looked at Anubis who frowned. "Apologize for what?" They both started to turn back to look at Treize when, without warning, Shin and Anubis felt a sharp pinprick at the back of the necks.

Anubis felt instantly light headed, but fought to control himself. Damn! He was an experience warrior, how could he get caught in such a simple trap!? Rajura was going to KILL him!

The warlord of darkness focused on the smiling man. He felt Shin's fear and confusion as the boy fell to his knees.

ANUBIS? I...I THINK WE'VE BEEN DRUGGED. Shin looked up at Anubis, terror in his eyes. Anubis then felt Shin's mind focus in another direction. HELP! Good, he was contacting the others. They should be here soon.

GEE, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT? Anubis asked sarcastically.

Anubis used his rapidly dwindling strength to leap at Treize and wrapped his large hands around the other man's throat. "Die!" Anubis snarled surprised at how hoarse he sounded.

Normally, Anubis was strong enough to kill almost instantly, but Treize just smiled and pried Anubis' fingers off his throat and let Anubis fall to his knees. The world was growing fuzzy. If only Naaza were here, he could easily neutralize the poison.

Dimly, Anubis saw through Shin's eyes and knew uniformed soldiers surrounded them. They were the ones who'd drugged Shin and himself. They stood with guns aimed at Shin and himself as they slowly walked out of the forest.

Anubis cried out to the others, WE NEED HELP! NOW!

Instantly, he felt the minds of his friends flood into him. Worry and anger were on the tops of their minds. WE'RE COMING. That was Ryo and Anubis felt strangely comforted that Ryo had answered so quickly. Granted he'd wanted Ryo's body for as long as he could remember, but lately the feeling had been growing more possessive. He was starting to view Ryo with an emotion. Love.

Anubis was growing weak and fell to the ground near Shin.

ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? Shin asked, slumping further down until he was lying on the ground, on his side.

Anubis didn't answer, but knelt next to Shin and opened his mind fully to all his friends. The warlord of darkness carefully filled his mind with Trieze's face before looking at the uniformed soldiers. The others would have to know who to hunt.

His eyes were closing when Rajura touched his mind. WHO ARE THEY? WHERE ARE YOU?

WHAT'S HAPPENING? That was Sh'ten.

TREIZE FROM OZ. Anubis answered. WE'RE ABOUT THREE MILES FROM THE CITY, NEAR THE OLD SHRINE RUINS. Anubis started to reach for his kanji ball to summon his armor when Sh'ten's voice hit him.

DON'T!

WHAT? Anubis pulled his hand away by reflex. I CAN'T HELP SHIN WITHOUT MY ARMOR, HE'S OUT OF IT! Indeed, he looked down at Shin whose eyes were now closed and his mind felt still.

WE DON'T KNOW IF YOUR ARMOR WILL CANCEL THE POISONS THAT THEY HAVE GIVEN YOU. IF THEY SEE THE ARMOR AND YOU ARE STILL WEAKENED BY THE POISON, GOD KNOWS WHAT THEY WILL DO! LET THEM THINK YOU'RE A NORMAL HUMAN. Sh'ten's order made sense, but Anubis was a warrior, after all, and letting himself give in to his enemy was embarrassing. WE WILL COME FOR YOU. Sh'ten promised. JUST STAY WITH SHIN AND KEEP HIM SAFE, HE'S NOT AS STRONG AS YOU ARE AND MIGHT NOT RECOVER AS QUICKLY.

THEY WILL FIND OUT ABOUT US. Anubis thought about Shin's physical differences that would be quickly discovered. He couldn't do anything if Sh'ten, his general, forbid him to. After all, he was obedience. WE CAN'T AND WE SHOULDN'T HIDE.

Sh'ten paused and, while Anubis' eyes watched Treize lean over him, said, CALL YOUR ARMOR.

Thankfully, Anubis tucked his hand into the pocket of his jean and felt his fingertip brush against the impossibly smooth surface. The touch gave him renewed strength, if only for a moment, and his eyes sprang open. "Armor of the Jackal! Tao Tei!" He screamed his war cry as loudly as he could. He felt the armor surround him and was comforted with its familiar feel. Safe and cool in the metal that was his destiny with the long red cape flowing around him.

Unfortunately, the armor, as Sh'ten had feared, didn't cure whatever poison Anubis had been given.

Then he fell again and touched Shin, hoping the Ronin had enough strength to wake for just a moment. SHIN, WAKE AND TAKE YOUR ARMOR. YOU MUST. There was no answer for a moment. SHIN, YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR ARMOR ON!

Shin's eyes fluttered open, but then closed quickly. He couldn't do it. Anubis blacked out on top of Shin.



Treize-


I looked down at the two boys, absolutely shocked. I had never expected this! How on earth had the blue haired boy done all that by simply yelling? I had been certain that the drug would have knocked them both out in seconds, but they impressed me by staying conscience for several minutes, the blue haired one, Anubis, even tried to strangle me. Still, OZ needs their strength, even if we have to...convince them of the right side to be on in this war. I am very persuasive when I want to be.

I knew Anubis, of coarse. I had met him when I went to interview the other boy, Sanada Ryo. I had considered taking them both at that point, but they were in a public gym and someone might have walked in. Anubis seemed to be a typical ruffian, with all the piercing and tattoos and dyed hair, but there was something interesting about him. Then this armor had suddenly appeared.

In the local school there had been eight new students who had caught the attention of one of my scouts. Physically superior and mentally impressive. The boy, Touma, I really want working as one of my scientists. The others would be incredible pilots.

"Be careful with them." I told my soldiers as a van quietly puttered up the road. "They are our guests."

My men were very careful when the new recruits were strapped down to the stretchers and loaded into the van as if it were an ambulance. The smaller boy, Shin, was easier, but Anubis, with the strange armor, was far more difficult and took seven of my men to simply lift him. The armor shouldn't weight this much.

I wonder if he's some kind of machine. Still, I almost hope not. It would be wonderful having a human like him working for me.



Trowa-



Trowa walked quietly down the halls of the military complex, not feeling the least bit out of place although he was currently dressed in an OZ uniform, the organization he was fighting to destroy. The young man felt completely at ease with the standard issue gun on his hip and all the older soldiers walking past on the way to their own duties.

The pilot of the Gundam Heavy Arms had his own duties. Officially, it was his watch in the laboratory. Unofficially, he was doing some intelligence gathering.

As he made his way through the halls Trowa's thoughts went to Quarte, his gentle friend. He had asked Wufei to look after Quarte while was away. Trowa thought a great deal of Quarte, but frankly didn't trust the boy to look after himself if he were left alone.

It had crossed Trowa's mind to ask Heero to look after Quarte, but Heero had a tendency to shot people. Duo's name sprung to mind, but then was squashed by common sense. Duo couldn't be trusted to open a can of tuna without supervision. That left Wufei, and even Wufei wasn't entirely trusted, as he was a tad bit unstable. OF coarse, Quarte did tend to go a little -odd- in stressful situations.

Basically, in Trowa's mind, Trowa was the only sane one of that whole bunch of lunatics.

"I'm your replacement." Trowa told the soldier in the lab. Trowa was surprised to find the lab occupied. Usually, it was filled with Treize's pet scientists working on various projects, along with the base's medical department. It, normally, was very quiet. Today there was a flurry of activity.

"What's going on?" Trowa asked the other soldier before he left.

"Beats me." The soldier shrugged. "They brought in two kids about an hour ago and won't stop fussing over them."

Just then, one of the boys woke up. There was a scream. Trowa stepped forward to get a better look and saw a blue haired boy sitting up and struggling violently. He was dressed in armor with a bizarre helmet with a long cape falling over the sides of the examination table.

"Let me go, damnit!" The boy screamed furiously before turning to one of the doctors who'd gotten to close and sank his teeth in deeply in the man's arm.

The doctor swore, after he managed to pull away, clutching his arm. "Shock him!"

Someone punched a button and the boy jerked savagely, thanks to two electrodes attacked to his forehead. Tears of pain filled his eyes while the electricity coarse through his body and the wrist and ankle restrains were strained from the vicious, involuntary thrashing. The boy went limp and an IV needle was inserted into his bare cheek, just under a horrible scar. His face was the only part of his skin that was visible under the armor.

The excitement died down and everyone went back to their jobs. When he was sure that he wasn't being obvious, Trowa went to the tables were the prisoners were kept. The blue haired one, with needle in his face, looked up at Trowa, slowly. His eyes were cloudy and unfocused, drool oozed out of the corner of his lip.
His eyes were furious, but he the drugs were stopping him from doing anything.

"Stand away from him." One of the scientists told Trowa. He walked toward the prisoner with a black strap of leather in his hand. "He's more dangerous than we thought." The scientist professionally gagged the prisoner with the leather band then looked down, approving of his work. "There. That'll keep him out of trouble."

Trowa stepped back from the prisoner just as Trieze walked in.



Treize-


The scientists who worked for OZ were having a field day with they're new guinea pigs. They had run into Trieze's office and dropped off an armful of papers before running out to play with their new toys.

Treize looked briefly down at the pile of papers before deciding that he wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Without reading the reports in front of him, Treize left his office and headed down toward the laboratories. He was staring to get suspicious that maybe his scientists were starting to work on their own.

All he wanted was a simple physical before he had the boys woken up. He had decided to speak with them privately once they woke and try to convince them both to join with him.

Treize frowned when he got there and saw almost a dozen men in lab coats happily tapping away on computers and fiddling with medical equipment, scalpels, syringes, and other, more sinister looking tools. There was a slight amount of blood on the tools.

"What's going on?" Treize asked, frowning when he saw both boys still strapped down and Anubis still in his armor. Why should there be blood on those tools?
A young soldier stepped away from Anubis as I walked in.

Everything stopped, for just a moment, as if they were shocked to find a stranger in their midst. One of the scientists stepped forward and the work resumed.

"Mr. Treize, so nice to see you." The scientist said with true feeling. He was very happy about something. "I was wondering if you would come down to see our work."

"Professor Door, I would be pleased to, but I have to admit, no one's bothered to tell me what's going on." His voice darkened. "I had given my instructions, Professor Door. They are guests, not prisoners, there is no reason for them to still be bound."

The scientist told Treize, almost bubbling with joy. "Nothing like them has ever been discovered before. You must let us keep them!"

Treize looked at the boys, keeping as calm as possible. "What are they doing here? They should have been woken up by now." He just hated it when people disobeyed him! He certainly wasn't going to let innocent boys become experiments, even if they were, some how, unique.

"They are awake." Professor Door went to the brown haired young man and put a hand to Shin's throat. The boy's eyes opened instantly and he started to thrash, but as he was belted down, there was not much he could do. His eyes were filled with pain and fear. He'd had skin scraped from around his left eye, Trieze noticed with a frown. He did not condone torture for any reason.

Treize put a hand gently on Shin's hair. "Easy, child." He whispered. "I won't let you be hurt."

Shin's eyes rolled around until he was looking at Treize and Treize took his hand away. There was something in Shin's eyes. He was gentle and kind, but he glared at Trieze with ice in his eyes. He was not as weak as he appeared.

The scientist ignored the boy's struggle and pulled his head to one side, brushing aside his brown hair. Now Treize noticed something odd. Just on the side of the boy's throat was a slit of skin, as if he'd been sliced.

"What is it?" Treize asked, looking closer. Had they cut open a child's throat for some experiment?

"He has a matching on one the other side of his throat. As far as we can tell, they're gills. Completely natural gills on a human."

Treize slowly looked up at the scientist. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. His toes are webbed, as you can see," Treize looked down at the boy's bare feet and saw, indeed, tiny webbing. "And, if we were to turn him over, you would see scales on his lower back and on the back of his arms and legs. Sir, we believe that this boy is able to breathe underwater."

Treize stood up straight and thought for a moment. "Is he the result of an experiment, perhaps combining humans with fish, or something?"

"Oh, no. As far as the DNA tests have been able to determine, he is one hundred percent human!"

"But, it's impossible for humans to have these kinds of attributes. He must be some sort of mutation."

Again, the scientist shook his head. "No, no mutation of any kind is found. He is absolutely impossible, yet he does exist. We just can't understand it." The little man's face practically glowed with happiness. He had a mystery to solve. "It's the same with this one."

Treize looked at the other prisoner, strapped to the next bed. This one glared up at him with hatred and huge muscles were tensed and straining at his bonds. "We had to sedate him after you got here just to get him this calm." The scientist told Treize indicating the IV needle that was stuck into Anubis' face, the only visible part of his body. "We can't get his armor off and he's tried to attack anyone who goes near him. He woke up just minutes after arriving and almost killed several orderlies." Dr. Door touched the blue hair, just peeking out from under the helmet. "Isn't he just beautiful? Quite the mystery, also."

"Is he a fish, too?"

"We're not sure what he is, but just look at this." The scientist lead Treize to a monitor that was recording everything that was done to the prisoners. The brown haired boy was shown on his bed, still strapped down.

Anubis was not on the monitor. Treize blinked and looked back at the actual bed to where he saw the boy still glaring at him. Then back at the monitor.

"What is this?" Treize asked finally.

"We're not entirely sure. We are sure that there is a person in that bed. We know this. We also know that he doesn't show up on any kind of camera, but we're not sure why. It's almost as if his body is absorbing the light and making us think that he isn't there." The white haired man shook his head. "I just don't understand this. It's as if all laws of physics have been dismissed because they're to inconvenient." Professor Door beamed happily. "At one point he vanished completely and then reappeared. I believe he has the power to make himself invisible. A manipulation of light perhaps, or even darkness."

"You can't manipulate darkness, darkness is just the absence of light. It is nothing." Treize argued without thinking.

"Perhaps. But we need to experiment to make sure."

Treize thought. A boy that appeared to be half fish and a boy who didn't obey laws of nature were definitely interesting and he wondered if they had anything to do with the Gundams. Certainly, his people had reported unusually high results in physical responses and odd reports about behavior. They COULD be Gundam pilots.

Treize didn't look at the scientists as he said. "I want them released." They could be very useful if he could just talk to them.

"What?!" Professor Door demanded, shocked. "We can't let them go, yet! We have more experiments, more studying! Besides, that one is dangerous." He pointed to Anubis. "He just attacked a nurse so we had to sedate him."

Treize turned slowly. "Release them." His voice held no room for argument. He saw the smaller boy with brown hair watching them and he stepped closer to look down at the frightened boy.

"What's happening?" The boy mumbled, looking up at Treize. His voice was slurred and he sounded confused from the drug. Still, he had fight in his eyes and Treize knew Shin was every bit as able to fight as Anubis.

"You're my guests." Treize told him, trying to sound calm and friendly. He was very angry with the scientist making he job more difficult. Now he would have to convince them of the truth that he had nothing to do with this foolishness.

The boy shifted his eyes around until he saw his friend and they just stared at each other a moment.


Shin-



ARE YOU ALL RIGHT? Shin asked Anubis.

BEEN BETTER. AND YOU?

I THINK I'M GOING TO THROW UP. Shin said, feeling his stomach churn violently. WHATEVER DRUG THEY GAVE US WAS A DOOZY.

THE OTHERS ARE COMING. DON'T WORRY.

Shin looked back at the stranger. "Please let us go. We haven't done anything wrong."

"Oh, I know that. But, once I found out there was something odd about you, I needed to know what it was. We've all ready discovered your gills and other fish like attributes. Is it true that you are able to breathe underwater?"

WHAT DO I DO? Shin asked Anubis, frightened. He'd never been a prisoner like this before.

GET ME UNMUZZLED AND I'LL GET US OUT OF HERE!

"Please, I need to talk to my friend." Shin looked at Treize, begging with his eyes. "I really have to talk with him."

"Of coarse you can talk to your friend, you're not prisoners. You're my guests."
Treize unstrapped the band that covered Anubis' mouth.

Anubis began to laugh, an insane sound filled with bitterness. He gave his bonds a little tug. "Not prisoners?"

"No, you're not prisoners." Treize repeated. "There has been a misunderstanding, I'm afraid and it seems my orders have been ignored. You will be released."

A soldier walked into the room and saluted Treize. "Sir, Mr. Zechs Merquise is here to see you."

Treize nodded. "Thank you, soldier. You'll excuse me." Treize said to the two, still tied down guests before he turned to address the head scientist. "Have them untied and show them to the guest rooms. I'll come to see them after my meeting with Zechs." Treize left the room and four of the scientists stood in front of the tables where Shin and Anubis were kept.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about." One of them said.

The others nodded. "I think we're all agreed." The one who spoken to Treize said. "Mr. Treize won't be done with his meeting for several hours. We can get a lot done in that time." He walked to the clear liquid that was suspended above Anubis' head, the liquid that was being fed into him through the IV needle and pushed a button on the computer behind the table. Anubis almost instantly felt more tired and his eyes began to droop.

"That should keep this one quiet while we work on him."

"Wait!" Shin said, his voice shaking as he tried to pull away from the table. "What are you going to do to him? Leave him alone!" He was starting to wake up properly and could understand what was happening.

SHIN, I CAN'T MOVE. There was no mistaking the fear in Anubis' thoughts. I CAN'T HELP YOU. THE DRUGS ARE GETTING STRONGER, THEY MUST HAVE INCREASED THE DOSE. I'M SORRY.

"You're boss said to let us go!" Shin shouted desperately. God, if only he had his Kanji Ball! The thing was still in his pants pocket, but they'd been stripped before they woke up here and Shin saw his pants laying all of four feet away. It might as well have been four miles, it was so far away.

"Mr. Treize sometimes lacks perspective." The scientist responded. "He doesn't understand how important you two are to science. Now, what shall we do with you?"

Shin began to panic. What would they do to Anubis? What would they do to him?

DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, SHIN. AS LONG AS I AM IN MY ARMOR THEN I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY.

The head scientist motioned to an orderly. "Take him to the tank." Shin was quickly lifted off the bed, with his hands and feet still bound. They took him out of the room while Anubis lay, angrily passive. The scientists looked down at Anubis. "Don't be so angry. This is all in the name of both science, after all." He followed the orderly and the experiment out.





They went down the hall to a larger room while Shin kept talking to Anubis. I'M FINE, RIGHT NOW. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO WITH ME. STAY CALM, MAYBE THE OTHERS WILL GET HERE BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS.

Anubis' furious thoughts rang back at him. THEY'LL HAVE TO, BECAUSE I CAN'T GET MY STRENGHTH BACK FAST ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING. I'LL KEEP TRYING. Shin saw through Anubis' eyes and saw the IV drip that was delivering the drug into his system. Just enough to keep him halfway sedated, but no enough to put him to sleep.

They brought Shin to a room with a large tank of water, almost ten feet deep. "We had this made just for you." The scientist told him. "It wasn't hard to do with all our resources, and we really wanted to find out if our hypothesis was correct." The tank was filled to the absolute top and, to his surprise, they brought him over to it and, after unlocking his bonds, they threw him in the tank.

Shin landed with a splash, and he felt much better for just being in the water. He kicked off the bottom, but stopped when he saw what they were doing. The orderly's had set a large glass top over the tank, effectively sealing him in. He didn't have his kanji ball. He was helpless.

Shin floated in the water and kept his eyes on the scientist who was watching him with an amused smile.

"I knew I was right," The man's voice was distorted through the water and glass. "You can breath under water."

Shin swung his fist at the glass wall, but without his armor, he wasn't strong enough to do anything. The scientist laughed at the attempt. "Keep fighting, warrior. I want to know all about you and your friend. Now that he probably thinks you're dead, I wonder if he'll do anything interesting."



Anubis-


The scientist went back to Anubis. "We now have your friend awaiting torture, Mr. Anubis." He lied calmly. "If you don't want him to suffer, then you will take off your armor."

DON'T DO IT! Shin's voice yelled. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'LL DO TO YOU. I'M JUST IN A TANK OF WATER.

YES, BUT I KNOW WHAT THEY'LL DO TO YOU, IF I DON'T OBEY. IF DUO AND HIS FRIENDS WERE RIGHT, THESE PEOPLE ARE TOTALLY RUTHLESS. I CAN'T TAKE THE CHANCE. I HAVE BEEN TRAINED TO RESIST TORTURE, YOU HAVE NOT.

Anubis closed his eyes and let his armor fade back into his body, leaving him with the original jeans and thin t-shit he'd put on this morning. He felt terribly naked sitting like this before an enemy. When he got out...

The scientist picked up a long, thin knife. "Very good. Now we can begin."


Ryo-


We all felt Anubis and Shin's sudden panic. HELP! They had both begged and Ryo jumped onto his motorcycle. He really didn't know where to look, but he had to do something! For some reason, it was imperative to get to Anubis, now! Shin's anger and Anubis' frustration were battering at his mind as Ryo raced down the dirt road where Anubis and Shin should have been. Why would anyone attack them out here in the middle of nowhere?

Ryo listened in as Anubis and Sh'ten talked and Anubis finally called his armor. He saw Treize's face and knew who was behind this all. He would get Treize! He slowed his bike when he saw Seiji running down the road. Seiji wordlessly jumped on behind Ryo and they tore off silently.

No matter where they all were, Ryo knew they would all be heading to the same spot.

Shin's mind went numb, he wasn't dead (thankfully!), but his mind was asleep. Anubis was trying to stay awake, but he succumbed, in the end. That was the last of their contact with their friends.

When they reached the old Shrine, there was no one in sight, just a set of tire tracks leading into the city. There was no way to follow the tracks once the road became paved. Within minutes, everyone else had arrived.

Sh'ten was first and fuming with anger. Not surprising. It was the second time in two weeks his love had been attacked. When they got Shin back, Sh'ten wasn't going to let him out of his sight for a year!

"We're going to have to ask Duo and Heero." Touma said, trying to stay calm. "They said they know this Treize character, so they probably know how to find him."

Chapter 7


Duo-


Duo woke to the sound of their doorbell. He and Heero shared an apartment near their school, it was convenient and Duo seriously doubted that anyone else could stand Heero as a roommate. Not that Duo would let anyone else live with Heero! Duo yawned and rubbed his eyes, glancing up at the door as he stumbled through the living room.

Who on god's green earth would come visiting at one in the morning? Christ, it was...it was...it was just cruel!

The braided Gundam pilot peered through the peephole and frowned. Ryo was out there, his head bowed and his arms folded across his chest, but strangest of all, he was wearing the heavy armor he'd shown them a week ago. Now, what could he be doing all the way out here in the middle of the night?

"Ryo? What are you...erk!" Duo had opened the door to his friend, only to be rushed by two of Ryo's friends from the sides. He hadn't been able to see them from the peephole, they must have been hiding just out of view. When Duo got his senses back, he saw that it was Naaza and Sh'ten that held him pinned against a wall. They were both in their armor.

Naaza was hissing under his breath and Sh'ten was looking at him almost hungrily. As if he would eagerly rip out Duo's heart and dine on it.

"What are you doing?" Duo cried out, just getting enough breath past the Naaza's hand around his throat. Both young men had hands on Duo's upper arms and Naaza was squeezing his throat. "Let me go!" Heero would be out here in a minute, he just had to stall them long enough. Duo looked up at Ryo.

Ryo was still standing outside in the hallway. His arms were still crossed and when he started walking, Duo's eyes grew wide. Each footstep of Ryo's was a tiny flame, his feet were actually setting fire to the floor! Ryo walked into the room very slowly, calmly. It was now so quiet that Duo could hear Ryo breathing, heavily as if he'd been running a great distance.

The black haired boy looked up and his eyes met Duo's and Duo was afraid.

"Where is Treize Kushranada?"

Duo blinked. "What?"

"Where is Treize Kushranada?" Ryo repeated himself in an eerily subdued voice. His eyes were flat, but not cold as Heero's were. His eyes were showing his true emotion, they were literally on fire. Duo would swear that he could see tiny flames in Ryo's eyes. He was furious about something.

There was a loud click as Heero, now standing in the bedroom doorway, set his gun to kill. "Get away from Duo." He commanded in his usual monotone.

Ryo didn't bother to look at Heero. "Where is Treize Kushranada?"

Heero took another step toward Ryo, his gun still aimed straight and steady. "Let Duo go, or I will kill you." Duo knew Heero never made empty threats and this could very easily end in blood all over the new carpet.

The gun was suddenly knocked from Heero's hand, but some unseen force and crushed beneath an invisible weight. Heero registered this very calmly, all the while wondering who this new enemy was.

Duo gasped and kicked savagely out at Sh'ten. The kick connected with Sh'ten's knee and the man gave a sharp cry of pain. Duo smiled. Good.

Then Sh'ten looked up with a smile and leaned in closer to Duo. "I like it. Do it again."

"Huh?"

Sh'ten's breath was warm on Duo's ear. "The pain was nice. Do you want me to return the favor?" One of his hands reached dangerously near Duo's crotch. "I can give you such pain as you have never imagined." The tone of his voice made Duo realize, with a sick feeling, that Sh'ten really did enjoy the pain and it would give him some twisted pleasure to inflict pain on others.

Duo shook his head vigorously.

"Are we going to get on with this or what?" Naaza asked impatiently. He gave Duo a rough shake. "Tell us where that Treize is? We will have his blood!"

Heero threw himself at Ryo, to attack and take the apparent leader down. Unfortunately, he encountered the invisible thing again and was thrown back, hitting a wall hard enough to leave a dent in the wall.

With a soft shimmer, Rajura was suddenly standing there. He, like Seiji had been only days before, was dressed in heavy, primitive looking armor. His helmet had horns that were almost antlers and there was a certain spider cast to his look. "I agree with Naaza. Let's get on with this. I want the others home." Ryo's other friends, all in different armor and holding their weapons, filed into the room.

"Drop him." Ryo said firmly. Naaza did as Ryo requested, but Sh'ten gave the boy another shake, before letting him fall to the floor. Ryo took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm himself.

It was Seiji in the green armor that stepped forward. "We have to find our friends. You must tell us where they have been taken."

Without answering, Duo instantly sprang into a fight using the skills Rajura had taught him. He actually landed a few good hits until Rajura knocked him against a wall. "Don't be silly, boy. You haven't trained enough to fight us."

"What makes you think we know anything?" Duo snapped, rubbing his head and he stood up, wondering if he could get to his gun, but it was kept in the closet just behind Touma. The armored archer was holding a bead on Heero, not watching Duo. Still, Heero had weapons stashed all over the apartment. He had to be able to get to just one before he was killed.

"Because you questioned us about him. You have admitted that you know him. You must know where he is."

Duo shook his head. "Sorry, pal. We don't know anymore about him that most of the world knows. He's head of OZ and is a real jerk. That's about it."

Ryo held a hand out in front of him and caused as small fire to burst to life. "Tell me everything you know. Give me a hint or a clue or something. He's kidnapped our friends and we won't let them stay prisoners." He was now menacingly standing over Duo and Ryo's face glowed strangely in the firelight he'd created. "If you will not help us, I will personally see to it that your Gundam, Death Scythe Hell, is burned into ashes."

Duo paled. "How do you know about my Gundam?" They couldn't possibly know where Death Scythe Hell was kept, could they? His precious Gundam just couldn't fall into enemy hands.

"There's no need for threats, Ryo." Touma, in blue armor, said sensibly. "If we don't know where Trieze is then we'll just have to lure him out."

"What are you thinking?"

"Oh, I understand Strata's thinking." Naaza laughed nastily. "We'll draw him out in the open. Just attack a few of the OZ bases and he's sure to take notice. Besides, if a few pitiful mortals like them," He looked at Duo and Heero. "Can cause OZ trouble, how dangerous can they be?"

"Unless," Heero spoke up. "They decide to kill your friends in retaliation."

The armored people were quiet a moment. "We have to take the chance." Ryo said finally. "We can't just let them..." Ryo broke off in mid sentence and suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs. A horrible scream as if he were having his heart ripped out, and he fell to the floor. The rest of the armored people were also affected to different degrees.

Seiji touched his forehead, as if he had a mild headache. Rajura's eyes became unfocused and Shu moaned with pain, going to one knee. "They're torturing him!" Naaza gasped. "They're cutting Anubis."

Duo, seeing that the attackers were dazed and not so threatening any more, pulled out a gun from under the couch. Heero was very reliable that way. Since they apparently had no fear of guns, Duo didn't flash it around, just held onto it.

Whatever was happening seemed to be affecting Seiji the least and he kept his gaze on Heero and Duo, flickering back and forth. "Block your minds." Seiji instructed his friends.

Ryo shook his head. "He'll be alone, he'll think we abandoned him!"

Seiji sniffed. "Don't be silly, Ryo. He has Shin with him. If nothing else, we can't help him if we can't function normally. We have to hurry."

Touma was the first to agree and stand up shakily. His eyes slowly focused on Duo and then turned to his friends. "Is everyone all right?"

There were slow, hesitant nods.

"Can someone tell me what the Hell is going on?" Duo asked. He hated being in the dark like this! It was as if they were going to involve him and Heero in a private little war without telling them what was happening.

Ryo looked at him with those soft, gentle eyes now filled with pain. "We're all connected telepathically. Whatever one of us feels we all feel to some degree. Anubis is being tortured. They made him take off him armor after threatening Shin and they're cutting him open. God, he's still awake! They want to find out where the armor came from when he called it." Ryo looked at them pleadingly. "You have to help us. If Anubis..." He couldn't seem to finish the thought, but Duo knew what Ryo was thinking. If Anubis dies...

"It will be like losing apart of ourselves." Rajura explained. "Can you imagine someone cutting off your left arm and you not being able to do anything about it? It's the same. Although we would all probably live through the experience, we would be forever crippled by the lose of one of us." There was something in his voice that made Duo believe him. A kind of horror that told how tragic it would be to lose one of their number. "We will also all feel it when he dies, we can't block our minds enough not to feel it."

Duo was suddenly aware of Ryo muttering to himself. "I won't let it happen. I won't let them die." Ryo looked up, furious. "Even if I have to use the white armor, I won't let them die!"

Duo clutched the gun, trying not to look as afraid as he felt. He KNEW that Ryo would never hurt him, but there was such anger and fear in his face, that Duo was afraid of what Ryo might do. What on Earth could the white armor be?

"We are going to find our friends." Ryo told the two Gundam pilots. "You may come with us, or stay here. Do NOT try to stop us, you won't be able to do it." Now in armor, they all began to file out of the apartment.

There was a buzzing from Heero's tiny communicator they all had to keep in touch with each other. -Heero, this is Trowa. -

All the armored warriors stopped and looked back at Heero.



Shin-



Shin kept waving his hands back and forth in the tank of water. If he could just get the force going fast enough then he should be able to free himself. He kept up the movement as a young man who looked barely older than Shin himself replaced the single guard in the room. In fact, Shin thought, the young man looked vaguely like a brown haired Touma.

"Take your break." The new young man told the older guard. This left the new guard alone with Shin. Instead of ignoring Shin as the other had, this one walked right up to the tank and watched him wave his hands, creating lazy currents in the water. In reality, Shin was simply getting ready for a large wave, made up of hundreds of tiny ones. The young man said, "I take it you're the boy brought in with the blue haired guy."

Shin didn't dare pause in his work, Anubis was depending on him, but he did give a little more attention to the guard. "How would you like to get out of here?"

Shin nodded enthusiastically as he waved his arms.

"Do you know why they want you?"

Shin shook his head sadly. He really had no idea, beyond what Trieze had said about wanting recruits. Shin said nothing, knowing that his voice wouldn't be heard very well. It was difficult to talk when he couldn't use his lungs.

The young man thought, peering out from behind his long hair that fell in front of his face. "Since you can breath underwater, I expect Trieze would want you for an under seas operative. Sabotage, perhaps, for some of his enemies." The young man was quiet for a short moment before he walked out of the room.

Shin stared after him, dismayed that he was suddenly left alone. What was that guy talking about? The Ronin of Torrent suddenly felt that the water was just about right. He just had to concentrate for a few minutes more and he could go in search of Anubis.

Shin's mind was still numbed by the pain from the warlord. He didn't dare to block his friend, knowing that the others had to in order to find them. He just couldn't leave Anubis alone to deal with all this. How could they torture him so horribly? There was no reason for it! And God help them all when Ryo got here!


Duo-


-Heero, this is Trowa. I've found out something interesting. Come to the OZ complex 75L-9. They have two prisoners and the scientists are going mad. One boy who can breath under water and another, more violent boy who can turn invisible. Bring Duo with you, if you can. Wufei and Quarte are going to meet us there. -

Heero touched the communicator. "Trowa, do you know what Trieze wants them for?"

-No. I think he just wants them as new recruits because of their special talents, but the scientists seem intent of experimenting on them.-

Duo listened to this, noticing that the armored warriors had stopped in the doorway and were listening with hopeful faces. Trowa continued. -If Trieze wants them so badly, I think we shouldn't let him have them.-

"Agreed. Mission accepted."

Heero looked up at the armored warriors. Sh'ten stepped forward. "Where is this complex?"




Several minutes later they were agreed. The warriors would go with them to the complex to rescue their friends. When Duo mentioned that he was going to get his Gundam, Naaza waved away the idea. "There is no time for that. We shall take you and then you let us rescue our friends."

"Aren't you a little over confidant?" Duo asked. "How do you expect to get there faster than our Gundams?"

"Let's go outside." Shu suggested, swinging his long staff around and attaching it to his back. "Less a mess that way."



Duo and Heero followed them to the street, empty at this hour and waited. "Now what?" Duo asked, as usual he was speaking for both of them.

Rajura stepped behind Duo and took a hold of his arms. "What are you doing?" Duo tried to get free of his 'teacher'.

Rajura smiled. "Don't you trust me?"

"Not in a million years."

"Then you'd better hope I don't drop you."

Seiji stepped behind Heero and did the same thing that Rajura had done to Duo. "Just stay as still as possible and you'll be fine."

Heero didn't answer.

Suddenly they were flying. Duo almost screamed to find himself hundreds of feet above the ground without the safety of him Gundam, but then settled into the excitement. This was better than a sugar high!

Duo grinned broadly while the wind whipped his long braid until Rajura shouted over the wind. "If that braid hits me in the face one more time, I'm going to rip it off."

Duo eeped and grabbed a hold of his braid protectively.

Heero, meanwhile was giving directions to Touma who seemed to be leading them in this insane flight. Duo had no idea how they were flying, but then, a lot of things seemed to be confusing him regarding these people. Looking around, he saw a blue glow that was centering around Touma and spread out like the light from a candle, or maybe a bubble. It was only minutes before they landed.

Duo felt his feet hit the ground with some disappointment. It was just getting good!


Shin-

One great rush and I knew it was time. I send a force of water rushing at one wall of my prison and it shattered under the water. It was a shocking change, going from the water into the cold air as I was swept up along with the water into the near empty room. I tried to push myself up while I was clearing my lungs by throwing up the water. It was dizzying for a moment, not at all like the slow change when I was swimming or just relaxed. This was almost painful when I had to do it so quickly.

I looked up to see the young guard from before. He was wet from the waist down so he must have walked in just as I had broken the tank. I stared up at him, not trusting him, why should I? He'd given me no reason to. Then he reached down a hand.

"My friends are on their way. If you want to escape, then come with me."

I didn't have to think twice before I took his hand and let him help me to stand. I coughed up the last of the water and blinked a few drops of water out of my eyes. "I have to find my friend." I told him.

"The other boy in the lab?"

I nodded. "I can't leave without him."

"I'm Trowa. Come with me."

Trowa led me through the building with his serious face and his gun poised at the ready. I have to admit, I felt a little foolish running in my boxers, but there was no help for it. Anubis needed me! He was slipping.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of silent creeping, Trowa pointed to a door. "That's the lab. Stay here and I'll go get your friend."

I shook my head. "You'll be killed. They had guards in there. You can't fight them all at once."

"I am one of those guards, remember. They won't be expecting an attack. Just stay here."

Reluctantly, I let Trowa go. There was a moment of silence and then a few shots of his gun. "You can come in now." Trowa told me.

I went in, trying not to look at the bodies around the room. I went straight to Anubis and almost threw up. His was ripped open, but still alive. I could see him barely breathing and I felt his pain, though now subdued like a shadow in my mind.

"Anubis? Wake up, Anubis." He didn't answer.

"We'll have to carry him." Trowa said, in his monotone voice. He reached for Anubis, but I stepped in front of him.

"You can't touch him. You'll hurt him." I looked around and was happy to see that my clothes were still on the table where they were when I was taken out of the room. I picked up my pants and pulled my kanji ball out of the pocket.

Trowa was slightly surprised by the sight of my armor, but he didn't react to badly. I picked up Anubis after easily tearing the restraints off him. I held him in my arms and looked at Trowa. "Lead the way."




Ryo-



We were just walking toward the door, a heavy metal door with a computerized lock when it exploded. Duo and Heero fell back, thankfully, they were behind the armored warriors who didn't seem to feel it when the metal doors collided with them. With the flying metal came a flood of water, surging out at them angrily. Duo shook his head and looked up, shocked at what he saw.

Shin, in heavy blue armor, with Anubis in his arms and Trowa standing behind him, soaking wet. Shin slowly stepped out, into the open and the other warriors rushed him. Ryo and Rajura took Anubis out of Shin's arms and lay the bleeding man on the grass.

Anubis and Shu helped Shin to sit down and told him to take off the armor so they could look for any damage.

Ryo looked up at the building where his friends had suffered so much. SEIJI? He asked.

The blond warrior knew what Ryo was asking and looked at the building and concentrated. THE BUILDING IS EMPTY. EVERYONE HAS EVACUATED. ENJOY YOURSELF.

Now that he knew he couldn't possibly hurt any innocents, Ryo raised his swords. "Flare up, now!" He screamed, swiping his swords at the offending building.

Duo raised an arm to shield his eyes as a wave of flame erupted from Ryo's swords and flew at the OZ complex. It was a solid steel building, created to resist all natural and man made disasters. Ryo's fire ate a wide path through the building leaving it so Duo could see out the other side.

Ryo was left panting for breath, now that his anger had found an outlet and sat next to Anubis. Seiji had healed most of the damage and was busy healing Anubis' face, but it still looked awful.

Anubis looked up at Ryo. "Did anyone remember to feed Junior?"

Ryo smiled with relief and then threw his arms around Anubis. "Thank god you're all right! I was so worried!"

Anubis raised a hand to pat Ryo's back. "Didn't know you'd worry so much, Recca."

Shin, still in Sh'ten's arms, smiled tiredly. "One point for Anubis. And Ryo still doesn't know the game is even being played."



Wufei and Quarte arrived late in their Gundams. They were in time to see Anubis' completed healing and Seiji standing with the help of Touma. He was always so exhausted after a healing and this was the most sever he'd ever done before. The warriors looked up at the giant Gundams. They were all very, very impressed with the robots.

"Wow." Shu muttered. Then he saw Wufei get out of one and jump to the ground. A smile spread across Shu's face.

"We came as soon as we could." Quarte said, jumping down beside Wufei. "It looks like we're a bit late."

"Not at all." Shu grabbed Wufei when he wasn't looking and hugged him tightly. "I'd hate to think of my Little Panda being in a fight." To Wufei's horror, Shu kissed him soundly on the cheek.

"Let me go, you fool!"

Shu smiled more. "You're so cute, playing hard to get!"

"I am not playing!" But Wufei still couldn't get himself free of Shu's arms. "I am not interested in you!"

"Do you have a lover all ready?" Shu looked surprised. He certainly wouldn't want to interfere on anyone else's love life.

"Er..." Wufei looked at Quarte, but Trowa stepped next to him.

"Don't even think it, Wufei. Quarte is mine and I don't share."

Wufei turned to Duo, but Heero touched his gun significantly. "I don't share, either."

Tears well up in Wufei's eyes, seeing that he had no escape route.

Shu's face lit up with triumph and he cuddled Wufei closer. Suddenly, Wufei cried out as he was picked up and thrown over Shu's shoulder. "MINE!" Shu screamed happily.

"Put me the fuck down!"

"Nope, you're mine."

Wufei felt as weak as a woman as he thrashed and kicked at Shu, but nothing worked. He was still in his armor so none of the blows connected. Everyone was staring and he was miserably embarrassed.

SHOULD WE TELL HIM THAT THE MORE HE FIGHTS, THE MORE SHU WANTS HIM? Ryo asked Seiji. AFTER ALL, SHU ONLY WANTS WHAT HE CAN'T HAVE.

Seiji thought about it a moment. NO, LET HIM FIGURE IT ON HIS OWN. IF HE FIGHTS LONG ENOUGH MAYBE HE'LL WIN OVER SHU ENTIRELY.

Touma laughed mentally. THAT'LL BE THE DAY. SHU FINALLY FALLS IN LOVE PROPERLY.

IT WOULD BE ABOUT TIME. Rajura added.



Everyone went home, after tearing Wufei away from Shu. Quarte gave Trowa a ride while Wufei ran to his Gundam to hide. He refused to tell anyone where he was going. Not even Heero.

The warriors again carried Heero and Duo away. Though this time, Ryo carried Anubis. Anubis had been planning to stand up after being healed when Seiji put a hand on his shoulder to keep him on the ground. "Hey, Ryo. You know, Anubis is still pretty weak from his ordeal. Why don't you carry him home?"

Ryo slapped his forehead. "I should have thought of that! I'm sorry I'm so thoughtless, Anubis." Ryo easily picked up his blue haired friend who smiled with a sort of shocked amazement before looking at Seiji.

THANK YOU. Anubis thought to Seiji.

NO PROBLEM.

Anubis cuddled into Ryo's chest happily and Ryo looked down, surprised. Anubis sure looked cute like that.



EPILOGUE-



Anubis finally succeeded in seducing Ryo. It happened in the middle of a snowstorm when Ryo was feeling especially cold and miserable.

"You look cold, Ryo." Anubis said coming into the living room where Ryo was sitting as close to the fire as he could. Ryo was bundled up under several layers of clothes and a blanket. He shot Anubis an evil glare.


"It's freezing. Of coarse I'm cold!" Ryo pulled the woolen blanket over his head and leaned against the fireplace.

Anubis laughed. He was feeling fine walking around the house in his shorts and a T-shirt. The winter was the perfect season, as far as he was concerned. Ryo looked so delectable all curled up on the floor like that.

Enough with waiting, Anubis decided.

"You know, Ryo, you really need to enjoy the winter."

"There's nothing to enjoy." Ryo told him sourly from under his blanket.

Anubis knelt in front of Ryo and pulled the blanket down so he could see Ryo's face. He leaned in close enough that their noses touched. "I can show you how to enjoy the long, cold, winter nights."

Ryo blinked and his face grew warm with a blush when he realized (FINALLY!) what Anubis was talking about. He couldn't say anything. He just couldn't make his mouth work.

Anubis sprang up and went to one of the windows. Ryo lost his blush when Anubis threw the window open and a burst of cold air froze the room instantly.

"ARRRRRGGG!" Ryo screamed and jumped up. "What are you doing!?" He ran to the open window, with Anubis still sitting on the sill and put his arms up to close the window. Unfortunately, Ryo didn't get to the window when Anubis put his arms around Ryo and drew him in close. Ryo looked up at him with a little fear in his eyes. He didn't pull away, but shivered in Anubis' arms.

"I want you to enjoy the winter, Ryo. Fire and ice belong together, you know." He pulled Ryo closer. Close enough that Ryo could smell Anubis' scent like evergreens.

Ryo's acting on his emotions, as was natural for him, closed his eyes and leaned into Anubis, kissing him full on the lips.

Several hours later, Ryo stared into the fireplace, feeling all warmed up with a sappy smile on his face. White Blaze was curled around him and Ryo leaned back, reclining on his best friend. He still felt dazed and wonderfully happy. He just loved the winter!

Anubis sat on the couch behind Ryo, in his robe, with Junior in his lap. Anubis took a sip of his wine and held a cigar in one hand. Yes, Ryo was everything he'd imagined and then some.



Shu, in the mean time, had seduced Wufei. It turned out that with all of his friends being together, Wufei had been terribly lonely. It hadn't been all that difficult to bring Wufei around once he'd realized that Shu wasn't going to leave.

Shu came home one night happy as a lark. "It's about time." Shin said in the kitchen as Shu came in for a cookie fresh out of the oven. "Are you going to keep him or let him go now that you've had him?"

Shu looked surprised at that. "I'm not letting him go! It took me four weeks to land Wufei, he's mine!"

Shin looked surprised. "You've declared everlasting love before, Shu. How do you know this one will last?"

Shu snatched another cookie from the baking sheet and grinned, "Because Wufei told me that if he ever caught me with anyone else, he'd fry my ass and then castrate me."

Shin almost dropped the plate of cookies he was holding. "He what?!"

"Isn't he sweet?" Shu gushed. "No one ever loved me enough to fight me."

Shin blinked, confused and then shrugged with a smile. "So long as you're happy, Shu. One word of advice, though. I wouldn't take him to lightly. Duo's told me about Wufei and he's kind of intense."

"I know." Shu was now sitting on the counter top and his arms wrapped around his knees. "I just love my Little Panda to pieces!"

"So you won't leave him after a week or two?"

Shu looked offended this time. "I'll never leave him!"

"Yeah? Did Wufei threaten to kill you if you did?"

Shu sighed. "Jeeze, Shin. You make Wufei out to be some kind of maniac! He wouldn't kill me. He said he'll just chop my legs off with his sword and then rip out my intestines."

"Oh, yes, that's so much better."



All in all, everyone was very happy.

Nasty even found a boy friend named Millardo, whom she nicknamed Millie. Nasty had come home one night and introduced him to everyone. He was invited to dinner which served as an inspection to see what this guy was made of. Millardo was, to their surprise, very worth Nasty's attention. He was intelligent, thoughtful, and a gentleman.

Though, just before he left for the evening, Ryo took him aside and explained to him exactly what they would do to him if he ever, ever hurt Nasty in the tiniest possible way. Ryo was very graphic in his description and advised him to keep acting like a gentleman, especially when the two of them were alone.

Millardo left Nasty's house looking slightly green, but he wasn't scared off.


The end



My biggest inspirations were THEN HAPPY I and THE RONIN UNIVERSE-AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A GUNDAM PILOT ON THE STREET. Both were found on http://minkland.dreamhost.cm/rg.1htm Both of these stories were extremely excellent! THEN HAPPY I told a very realistic account of how the Ronins and the Warlords would live together after the war. I also give the writer of this story credit for the pairings of Rajura/Naaza, Ryo/Anubis (hot!), and Sh'ten/Shin. As for Shu/Wufei, I felt bad for them. In almost ever fanfiction, they're alone. It's always them who are the odd ones out in their groups. So I paired them and I think it would worked out rather well.  Wufei hates weakness and Shu's the strongest person on the planet. Wufei loves justice and Shu IS justice. I'll have to do more fiction with those two as a couple. THE RONIN UNIVERSE-AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A GUNDAM PILOT ON THE STREET was where I got the idea for the cross over itself.  It was, as I said, very good. The characters were very much in character. I didn't like the scientists, though. Again, if you like this cross over, read the above stories. In fact, I think both are far better than my own story. Review please! Back to the Ronin Sanctuary.