"Damn it, WUFEI! Cut the crap and make that freaking phone call NOW!"
"WOMAN!" Wufei annoyingly tossed the newspaper aside. "I will not talk to that ..... "
"For God's sake..." Meiran [1] chuckled. She couldn't believe her husband could hold a grudge for this long. "It was a cute prank that Duo pulled. It didn't even...."
"CUTE?!" Wufei stared at his wife, not believing a single word she said. His face turned a slight shade of red while his voice was close to shatter the window in their living room. "That insolent bastard hacked into FBI mainframe computer, changing my name to "wufie" and..."
"Honey...." Meiran chuckled. "It was his part-time job. He was testing how secure the ..."
"Now everyone in the FBI office is calling me WUFIE! And don't tell me that you believe his shit!"
"Honey. I was the person who hired him."
Wufei drank up his orange juice and banged the glass on the table loudly. "I. Will. Not. Talk. To. Him. Ever... and I mean EVER again!"
Meiran sighed. "And you wonder where your son's stubbornness come from."
Wufei raised his eyebrow, not exactly approving of his wife's observation.
"At least you should talk to Heero then. We need to decide what we are doing when Trowa and Quatre come to town."
"You talk to them." Defeated, Wufei snapped. "I am going to pick up Nataku from Odin." Knowing that he would never be able to win any case from his wife, Wufei threw the words out before he slipped into their bedroom to change out of his pajama.
"Dad said meet him at 11 at Porter Square." Watching Wufei stormed into their room, Meiran sighed again. Despite what Wufei said, she knew how much his husband cared about Duo and Heero. For six years, he had been making sure that there is a tight security around them. It wasn't until two years ago that he allowed Duo to change back his name. He even used his position at FBI to lay 24 hr phone tap and surveillance just so that he could screen out any potential....
The phone suddenly rang, disrupting Meiran's thoughts and the temporarily quiet household.
* * *
//"You think they are as happy as we are?"//
//" I know they are."//
Quatre stood next a big floor glass window of Los Angeles Airport. He looked up in the blue sky, tracing a small figure of an airplane that carried his husband. The words from their morning conversation rang in his ears.
"I hope you are right, Trowa." Quatre said quietly to the fast disappearing airplane while remembering the phone conversation he had with Heero a few weeks ago.
The blonde-hair man could not pretend he really understood Duo. Despite his cheerful demeanor, he had refused to allow anyone to get close to him. Even Heero could only see a part of the ice burg hidden in the dark water. It was for that reason that Heero had called him up.
Quatre turned from the window and laid his eyes on a departing lover at the terminal across. A young woman tearfully hugging her lover while the man also eagerly returned the embrace.
Quatre only smiled sadly. He knew that Duo and Heero loved each other. He had never doubted that at all. But when Heero called and told that Duo had gently refused his marriage proposal, he was utterly lost.
The blonde businessman gracefully picked up his light coat from a nearby chair and merged into the crowd, heading toward the airport parking lot.
He could still remember the controlled voice Heero used on the phone. It was very quiet. Very calm. So mechanical-like that Quatre almost booked a flight to get to Heero's side. When he asked what reasons Duo had given him, the other end of the phone was silent.
Duo had not given a reason.
Quatre lightly clenched his fists. Knowing that both Heero and Duo had their own dark past, the blonde-haired man only wish for their happiness. And that's why he would make things right. Next week, when he fly in and meet up with Duo, he would definitely beat some sense into that little bean size brain of his.
* * *
After she carefully put her blood-smeared walkman into a plastic bag, Relena Peacecraft closed the door behind her and glanced coldly at the unconscious man on the floor. She had not believed that it was this easy to lure this man into her place. In fact, she was a bit annoyed that Heero had not recognized her at all. She had been the one that made Heero and his friends transferred out of her school as Quinze had asked her to. She had prayed that the assassin Quinze had planted in that high school would end the lives of her brother's killers.
But it did not happen. Quinze was in jail. Heero, Wufei and Quatre were still alive.
And her brother was forever gone.
The blonde woman quickly walked to the window and lowered the shades. Putting on a pair of latex gloves she stole from the hospital, Relena kneeled and grabbed her victim by the arms.
She had made up her mind. She would finish the job. She would avenge for the death of Milliard Peacecraft a.k.a Zachs Merquis.
A trail of blood stained the hardwood floor as Relena dragged her victim toward the kitchen.
* * *
Just as Wufei was tying up his silky black hair into a ponytail, the door was flung open. A desperate looking Meiran rushed into their bathroom with a phone on her hand.
"It's Duo.. you have to..."
"God, Woman!" Wufei annoyingly cut off Meiran. " I don't want to talk to that bastard!"
"I said you ANSWER the phone, Chan Wufei." The desperation on her face was now mixed with anger and frustration. "Duo doesn't sound like himself."
An alarm in Wufei's mind immediately went off and he quickly took the phone from his wife. "Maxwell. What the fuck happened?" Wufei barked into the phone and started to walk out of the bathroom, toward his computer. His hair messily fell on his shoulder.
Meiran was a step head. Ignoring Wufei's yelling in the background, she already turned on the computer, typing into password and connecting to the FBI network.
"You go meet up with Odin and pick up Nataku." Wufei tossed the car key to his wife. "Heero was kidnapped and I need to dig up their phone tap to find this number that might lead us to Heero." The Chinese man clicked the phone off. As he verbally summarized the situation to Meiran, his fingers flew across the keyboard, looking for the cellular phone number and its co ordinance Duo had requested.
Meiran nodded. Not wasting anytime, she ran toward the door and headed toward their minivan parked on the curbside. She knew that there was no time for her to ask any question. She would pick up her son quickly and come to her husband's aid. But Before that, all she could do was to pray for her cousin's safety.
With thoughts occupying her minds, Meiran jammed the key and roughly opened the car door. As she was stepping into the car, she unexpectedly found her foot tangled in a mass of electrical wire nested at the edge of the car door.
A sickening feeling overcame her as Meiran tensed and unconsciously held her breath.
* * *
Trowa peered out of the small window from the aircraft. His thoughts revolved around Quatre and their conversation about Heero and Duo. He was not too surprised when Quatre asked him about their friend's happiness. In fact, he was expecting it, ever since Duo had told him about the refusal of their marriage.
"Would you like something to drink?"
Trowa turned to meet the courteous stewardess. "Water would be fine."
The stewardess smiled and started to busy herself.
Trowa turned his attention back to the blue sky with a glass of water in his hand.
Trowa had no choice. It wasn't that he tried to hide anything from his love but because Duo had asked him not to reveal anything to anyone else. In fact, his ex-partner had even asked Trowa to take on a mission for him. Not all of his traveling agenda involved orphanage, including this one. Duo had placed an important task for him to accomplish. He had requested him to find a missing person........
* * *
As soon as Wufei finished calling Duo, a deafening explosion erupted outside of his house, shattering the window and knocking down the lose furniture in the house.
"MEIRAN!" Wufei screamed as he ran out of the door and was met with the sight that he did not wish to see.
His silver minivan was now coated in a fire which danced wildly in a chaotic beat that burnt all the way to the sky. Not caring that the hot asphalt was burning his barefoot, Wufei started to run closer to his minivan, intending to save his love. But the neighbors quickly held him back for the fire was fierce.
"Let go! Let go!" Wufei frantically tried to peel off the arms on his body but his neighbors would not let him conduct the suicide.
"Mr. Chan, please calm down! Please....." The neighbors screamed into his ears.
Suddenly another around of explosion erupted as the fire reached into the gas-tank. The "NOOOOOO!!!!" Wufei screamed again as his neighbors dragged his limp body back from the bursting fire. "no...." Wufei twisted his body out of his neighbors hands. Collapsing down on his knee, Wufei pounded his fist into the hard ground. Tears flew down his cheek as he.....
"Honey... stop screaming and help me get to my feet...."
A feeble voice captured Wufei's attention immediately. He followed the sound and found his wife lying on their lawn with black smears on her face. "God! Meiran!" Wufei got to his feet agilely and ran to his wife's side.
Meiran smirked. "Must be a novice who wired the freaking bomb."
Wufei captured her lips, kissing her reverently. One arm snaked around the slender waist while the other caressed the woman's silky hair. "Shh....Meiran, love. Don't talk." He lovingly brushed away the lose hair from his wife's face. His finger lingered on the soft skin.
This time, instead of a smirk, Meiran smiled. "Does that mean you will listen to me from now on?"
* * *
Wearing another fresh pair of gloves, Relena started to open a 4 feet tall barrel. A strong smell immediately permeated in the kitchen and tingled her nose, almost knocking her off her feet. But driven by her determination, she gritted her teeth and opened the top of the barrel all the way.
And she was rewarded with her weapon against her victim.
Staring at the high concentration of hydrochloric acid, Relena smirked. Her beautiful face was now twisted in hatred and thirst for revenge. She would make this man disappear, this man who seduced his brother.
Relena maliciously glanced at the limp body on the tiled kitchen floor. Her victim was now tied up by the cords that she cut from the lamps. His head was matted with dried blood and the eyes stayed shut.
Apparently she had overestimated her own strength when she hit the man's skull with her walkman.
Relena kneeled down next the bounded man and studied the beautiful face. She had to admit that the man was handsome. But it was this face that her brother that had leaded the death of her brother. Quinze had told her so. Oh... how she hated that face. She would dissolve every inch of his bone and flesh. She would deform him and make him disappear even if that means that it would take her days to accomplish the job.
Watching the unconscious man, Relena became restless. Should she wake him up so that she could enjoy every moment of his fear? Maybe.. but then she would have to deal with the possibilities that he would overcome her.
After all, her victim was a strong man who was skilled in martial arts.
Earlier, she had taken the advantage to strike when he was least suspecting her. But now, it was too much risk for her to deal with an injured animal.
She knew better. Quinze had taught her much.
Relena swiftly stood up and retrieved a sharp butcher knife from the kitchen counter. It was better this way. Maybe less perfect but the goal came first. She had to cut him in piece anyway since the dissolving process would take days....
Suddenly Relena was taken by surprised when she heard the front door was kicked open. Relena quickly threw the knife on the floor and grabbed her gun from the kitchen drawer. She ran to the living room, with her guns by her side.
She made sure the safety was off.
She quickly pointed her gun at the dark figure of her intruder.
"Let him go." Ignoring the gun pointing at him, the intruder calmly stated. His low voice resonated in the room. His hands were in his jean packet while his long hair trailing behind his back.
Seeing that her opponent was weaponless, Relena smirked. She squinted one eye while using the other to aim for her target. "Oh yes.. I will let him go. TO HELL!" Relena placed her finger on the trigger, starting to apply pressure.
The man never panicked and stayed composed. He face the gunpoint as if he welcomed it. "Lina. Don't you remember me?" He softly whispered.
But the words were still heard. Upon hearing her nickname, Relena widened her eyes. She lowered her gun and studied closely at the intruder's face for the first time.
"No... it couldn't be." Dropping the metal on the floor, Relena staggered backed a few steps. "But they said you were dead....Quinze said......"
The intruder stepped into the clearing. His blue eyes stayed focused on the blonde woman in front of him.
Relena only collapsed, sitting on the floor and tracing the outline of the man's all too familiar form. Tears flew down her cheek as she mouthed the word she had repeated in her dreams for the past 10 years.
"oniichan [2]......"
* * *
Notes: [1] Before I spelled "Merian" but I think
"Meiran" is the right spelling?
[2] older-brother
* * *