Okay, well, here I am again. I keep trying
to find something big and surprising to put in
this but so far, the only good stuff is closer
to the end. If you're reading this, it must
mean you like it a little though (or you are
just so bored, you'd put up with any ol' junk...).
Anyway, I'm always telling everyone to give me
their suggestions but no one does. Even if you
suggest something that could never happen, I
want to know. Every time I read a fic, I imagine
what'll happen next. It never does, but it's
still fun. I am really desperate for e-mail. I
don't care if it's a flame or you tell me
everything you would have done. Freedom of
speech, ya'll. Gyah....


Sister Earth
Part five


_____________________________________________________________________

    Makoto tossed up the football she'd brought
outside with her. "Okay," she said, trying to get
organized. "Who's playing? We need two teams.
Usa-chan? Are you going to play?"
    "I don't like football, Mako-chan. You know that."
    "But it's so fun when you play."
    "Too bad. I'm just going to sit on the porch."
    "Okay..Ami, you're on my team, okay? And-"
    "I'm on the other team," Haruka interrupted.
"Otherwise, the game would be too easy. I take
Hotaru and Minako. I want Michiru to be on your
team....because...well, you don't want to know
my reasons."
    "I think I do anyway..." Makoto muttered.
"Okay, I'll take Sestuna and you can take Quatre
and...Wufei, are you going to play?"
    "No, I'll just sit with Usagi."
    She shrugged. "Your loss."
    Quatre came running out of the house and
tackled Minako. Wufei shook his head as he sat
on the porch beside Usagi. He'd never thought
that his shy friend could be such a flirt.
    "You sure you don't want to play, too?"
    "Yeah." He eyed her suspiciously. Did she
want him to leave?
    "I just feel guilty that you're missing out on the fun."
    He snorted. "Do you think I'm sitting here
just to keep you company?"
    Usagi shrugged. "Probably not, but if you are,
it's very nice of you."
    He snorted again and looked away.
    "Why do you do that?"
    "Do what?"
    "Try to act like you aren't a good person.
You are, I know you are, but you try to act like
a...well, like a robot."
    "I do not."
    "Yes, you do," she smiled softly. "Do you
think it'll make you look less manly or something?
Because if you do, you're wrong, Wufei."
    "Emotions are a weakness."
    "I can't believe you just said that!" She
kept her voice low so the others couldn't hear
them. "Haruka and Makoto have emotions and they're
the toughest people I know."
    "They're women."
    "So? Quatre shows emotion. He's not a woman."
    "No, but he's weak."
    "Is he? I don't think so. He just has a different
way of showing his strengths. In fact, weak people
can't handle emotion."
    "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "Emotions can hurt a person worse than anything
else in the world. Someone you care about can get
hurt or betray you, or they can be used against you.
Weak people can't handle real feelings because it's
too hard for them to cope."
    "I don't have feelings. Does that make me weak to you?"
    "No, because you do have feelings. You just
don't want anyone to know about them. That's fine
for you, but I could never do that," she smiled
and there was something sad in her eyes. "But I
think at least around your friends, you should be
yourself. At least around me."
    "Why you?"
    "Because I've caught on to your little trick
and know what you're up to, that's why," she laughed.
After a bit of hesitation, he joined her.
______________________________________________________________

    "What do you see?" Trowa hissed.
    Duo was beside him, a pair of binoculars at
his eyes. "Wufei is talking to some girl and...oh,
my God! He's laughing!"
    "Let me see!" Trowa made a grab for the
binoculars but Duo pulled out of the way,
accidentally elbowing Heero in the ribs.
    "Watch it, baka!"
    "Sorry...Quatre is...oh, that lucky dog! He's
playing tackle football with a bunch of girls. Ohh!
That blonde tomboy one sure is tackling the aqua-
haired one a lot...I like this game!" he grinned.
"Oooh, yeah..."
    Heero snatched the binoculars away and received
stares from Duo and Trowa. "He was making me sick,"
he explained, a little embarrassed, but not willing
to show it.
    Suddenly, he saw Wufei look up from his conversation
with the girl with funny hair and frown.
    "Kuso," he muttered as he watched the Chinese
boy get up from where he was sitting and begin to
walk toward their hiding spot.
    "What is it?" Trowa asked quietly, shielding
his eyes in hopes to see better.
    "We're caught."
    "Whaat?" Duo's eyes filled with worry and he
began to look around frantically for a means of escape.
    Wufei reached the bushes and looked at them
in annoyance. "What do you think you are doing?"
    It can only be said that Duo began to freak,
babbling off any and all excuses he could think of.
Rolling his eyes and asking himself why he had to
be stuck with such a moron, Heero pulled out his
gun and held it to the braided one's temple.
    "Shut up. Now."
    Needless to say, he did.
    The girl Wufei had been talking to walked up
and surveyed them critically, and if she was
surprised at Heero's gun, she did a perfect job
of not showing it. "You must be the others," she
said, smiling slowly. "They've told us about you.
Well, Quatre told us anyway." The smile grew as
she held out her left hand. "My name's Usagi. I'm
in your class."
    Heero pointed the gun at her forehead and
surprisingly, her smile didn't waver.
    "Why do they keep coming here?" he asked suspiciously.
    "Probably because Mako-chan is such a good
cook," she laughed. "You guys wanna come play?
I'm sure you'd be welcome."
_____________________________________________________________________

    Usagi and Wufei sat together on a bench in
the park. Usagi was rubbing her sore ankle, which
she'd twisted, with a grimace. The whole group
(Senshi and pilots) had gone to the park to walk.
The simple exercise had soon turned into some kind
of a contest and Usagi, who had a knack for falling,
got hurt when she accidentally stepped in a hole.
Her friends didn't want to leave her alone, so Wufei
had volunteered to stay with her, proclaiming that
the contest was weak anyway.
    It had been a month since the first time all
five of the pilots had come to the Senshi's house.
Like Quatre and Wufei, they'd found themselves
instantly accepted and appreciated and the now much
larger group did stuff together nearly everyday.
    "Thanks for staying with me," Usagi said sweetly,
looking up at him through her long lashes.
    "I..didn't want to shame the others by beating them."
    She laughed a little. "Sure.." she drawled
out sarcastically, shaking her head. Wufei couldn't
have stopped himself from smiling at her if he'd tried.
    "Is it feeling better yet?" he asked, motioning to her ankle.
    "No, I got it good this time. Really gotta give
myself credit for being such a klutz. I don't think
anyone could pull it off quite so nicely. You probably
think I'm really weak, don't you?"
    He stared at her, surprised at the abrupt change
of subject. "No," he finally managed to say. "Anyone
who would call you weak is a fool."
    "But..?"
    He smiled again. He seemed to be doing a lot of
that lately. "I used to be a fool. A couple of months
ago I would say you are weak, but now I know better.
You just do things differently from me. There's nothing
weak about that."
    She beamed at him, then winced as her hands found
a sore spot in her ankle muscle.
    "Here, give me that." He took her ankle and gently
began to massage it. "Does that help?"
    "Yes, thank you."
    "Usagi.." he hesitated, then remembered everything
she had taught him and went on. She wouldn't think bad
of him for asking her...
    "Hmm?"
    "Well, there's this stupid weak dance at school on
Friday, you know. And my..." He stopped, not yet willing
to call the other pilots his friends. "The others are
going to make me go. Um, do you think you'd like to...go
with me? If I have to go, I might as well be with someone
who won't make me feel completely stupid," he felt his
face warming, but that was the price of letting himself
feel emotions.
    The beautiful smile she gave him was worth all the
embarrassment. "Yes, that sounds like fun. Thanks." Her
smile became a mischievous grin. "Let's not tell the
others I'm going with you. I want to surprise them. Can
you imagine the look that'll be on their faces?" She
laughed even as he felt his heart sink. She wanted to go
with him to surprise her friends. Not for any..other
reasons.
    "Yeah.." He said half-heartedly, his hands pausing
in their work of massaging her ankle which looked as bad
as it probably felt.
    Suddenly, she surged forward and threw her arms
around his neck. He couldn't figure out why she began
to cry.
    "Usagi...?"
    She didn't answer, only cried until the others came
back. When asked about her tears, she just said her foot
hurt, but Wufei knew there had to be a different reason
completely.
______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________
To be continued