Chapter 1: Home
Taki slaps her
sketch book onto the end table and stands up.
She ignores the grin struggling to life on Wufei’s face as she paces the
room. She doesn’t know what he thinks is
so funny; she’d explained the situation on the shuttle over here:
“At any and all
opportunities, you must interrogate Heero and Trowa. I’ll take Duo and Yokaze.”
“And
what information am I supposed to be gathering?”
She
ignores his incredulous tone and rolls her eyes. “If anybody’s getting any! I need details here. When, where, how often...”
“You
want me to ask Heero and Trowa—the Untalkables—about
their love lives?”
“Well, ye-ah. I’d do
it, but they’d probably shoot me.”
“What
makes you think I’m any safer?”
“Nothing. I just
think that if one of us is going to get shot, better you than me.”
He
snorts. “And why would I do this for
you?”
“Trust
me, Dragon Boy. You want to keep me
happy here.”
The last time Taki had seen Duo and Heero in person
had been a few Christmases ago and neither had given off any clues. No lovey stuff in
sight. But no anti-love vibes,
either. Ditto for Yokaze and Trowa. It’s absolutely maddening. And it’s beyond Taki how Wufei can survive not knowing.
Turning on her heel, she catches his humor-filled
gaze. Obviously, he isn’t intending to
take things seriously. It looks like
it’ll be up to her. Somehow, she’ll have
to worm the truth out of Duo and Yokaze.
And watch Heero and Trowa like a hawk, naturally.
She checks her watch and wonders when Yokaze’s shuttle is
supposed to get in. And she isn’t the
only one waiting. Cathy sits on the
common room couch chatting with Duo about life.
Heero leans toward the display of school photographs on the far wall
looking for Yokaze’s familiar face, no doubt.
Taki glances at the nearest photo: the fencing class. It’s a bit of a shock to see the reluctant
smile on Yokaze’s face as she poses with the students, mask tucked under her
arm and rapier pointed down.
Yokaze smiling while surrounded by
children.
Weird.
Well, at least she hadn’t been wearing a dress. That would have been just too much. Taki takes a fortifying breath and moves on
to the next framed photo but pauses as a sound reaches her ears. The sound of someone... no, two people... laughing.
She turns just as the door bursts open revealing Yokaze and
Trowa leaning on each to keep the other from falling to the ground with
mirth. Eyes watering and breathless,
Yokaze turns to Trowa. “That was- a
really- really- good joke.”
“Thanks.”
“What joke?” Cathy says automatically.
Holding Yokaze’s gaze for a moment longer, Trowa says, “You
tell it this time.” With gentle hands,
he picks up her bass guitar and duffle bag then disappears up the stairs.
Yokaze grins at her audience and launches into this small
story about these two naked statues, one of a man and one of a woman, who are
given life for thirty minutes by this passing angel. “...So the man grabs the woman’s hand and
they run off into these bushes. And the
bushes are rustling, branches are shaking, and there’s all this giggling. Well, after fifteen minutes they both come
out, flushed and panting. The angel
says, ‘Finished so soon? You’ve still
got time. Are you sure you don’t want to
do that again?’ The man looks at the
woman and asks, ‘You wanna do that again?’
‘Yeah,’ she says, ‘You wanna hold the pigeon
while I shit on it this time?’”
“Trowa told you that joke?” Cathy says, laughing.
“Yeah. Pretty good, isn’t it?” she replies competing
with Duo’s laughter.
Even Heero is not immune: he is shaking his head and
chuckling. He walks over and Yokaze
gives him a hug. Although they still
share several physical characteristics, it is now obvious which is which, a
marked difference from six years ago when the two of them had been nearly
identical. Heero had gotten taller and
broader and had become—Taki also notes—a real hottie. Yokaze had gotten a bit curvier and there is
something in her posture and her walk that proclaims: “I am woman, God damn it.”
“Where’s George?” Yokaze muses.
“Cooking.”
“Thank God.”
A motion at the edge of the room catches Taki’s attention: Trowa has returned,
his green eyes focused on Yokaze.
“If Trowa hadn’t told me that joke he might be walking
around with one less arm or something.”
“You don’t mind that Yokaze is a biter, do you Trowa?” The opening is too good for Taki to ignore.
A tiny smile pulls at the corner of his mouth. “Not at all,” he says and Taki gets the
impression that he knows she doesn’t know what’s really going on between him and Yokaze. She tries to look smug just to throw him off,
but perhaps it’s just her chronic paranoia that’s laughing at her and not Trowa’s
green eyes. Still...
“You didn’t put my stuff in the room next to Taki and
Wufei, did you?” Yokaze glares at Trowa
in suspicion.
A tiny smirk twitches at the corner of Trowa’s mouth. “What if I did?”
“I am not sleeping with those two making all that noise on
the other side of the wall,” she enunciates.
“Hey, we do not make any noise,” Taki objects.
“Excuse me,” Yokaze replies, “but I have recordings. I was saving them for blackmail and drinking
parties,” she says, answering Taki’s unasked question. Taki blushes and Wufei
gulps as Yokaze turns back to Trowa.
“I’ll fight you for it. After breakfast. Basement gym. No
pads.”
Trowa nods. “All right.”
“Can I watch?” Taki hurries to inquire, ignoring Wufei’s
attempt to slap his hand over her mouth.
Duo jumps up. “Me, too. I’d like to
see Yokaze kick your ass, man.”
Trowa levels a mute stare on Duo.
Duo just grins in reply.
Heero rolls his eyes. “No, you
will not watch, Duo, because there will be no fight.” Translation: no one is ever going to
hit his sister.
Yokaze grins and slides an arm around Heero’s muscled
waist. “Aw, don’t make me fight you for
a fight with Trowa. Besides, I’ve been
really looking forward to kicking his ass.”
Helpless in the face of the hope shining in Yokaze’s eyes,
Heero makes an incoherent noise in the back of his throat which could mean
anything. But Yokaze says, “I knew you’d
understand.”
Heero glares at her.
“You promise you’re going to kick his ass?”
“I swear.”
Shooting a second, more lethal glare at his old friend over
Yokaze’s head, he relents. “Well, all
right then.” You hit her and I’ll kill you.
Trowa accurately reads Heero’s glare and nods.
Just then, George sticks his head in the room. “Hey!
Y-you’re here!
“I’m here,” Yokaze replies.
“And I’m starving.”
“G-good, ‘c-cause I’m c-cooking. C-c’mon in. Eggs b-b-benedict are
g-getting c-cold.”
“Sweeter words, you have never spoken, George.” Yokaze glances at Cathy and smiles. “Well, not to me anyway.”
Cathy grins with secret knowledge about her husband of four
years. “Oh, he has some really good
moments,” she says to the room at large, causing George to blush and disappear
on a stutter about checking something on the stove.
One by one, they all file into the dinning room and settle
around the feast George had lovingly prepared in honor of Yokaze’s return. Small talk fills the room around the sounds
of silverware clinking against porcelain.
First helpings and second helpings come and go. Finally, on the excuse of starting up the
coffee maker, Trowa disappears into the kitchen.
Taki is listening to a story Cathy is telling about what
George had done for their anniversary last year—who knew he was such a mushy
romantic?—when Yokaze also gets up.
“Anyone want more juice?”
Her inquiry is lost in the morning munchings
and she heads for the kitchen. It takes
Taki a whole ten minutes to realize that neither Trowa nor Yokaze has returned
to their seats. With a start and clatter
of silverware, she hops out of her chair and races into the kitchen, only to
reappear a moment later, breathless.
“George, how the hell do you get to the basement gym in
this place?”
She walks into
the dark room expecting an attack. She
is not disappointed. From the darkness,
a strong hand grabs her wrist and pulls her against a muscled, male body. She twists and steps backward, pulling her
opponent over her back and onto the padded floor. But the hand around her wrist does not budge and
she is pulled down on top of him.
Long, graceful hands seek her waist in the darkness. She twitches as he finds her most ticklish
spot. Her legs curl around his as they
tumble through the blackness. She
fumbles for his wrist as she laughs, as she listens to his soft laughter in her
ear, as she feels his warm breath against her neck.
Side by side, they struggle on the floor to get the best of
the other. Finally, she grabs his wrist
and pulls his arm away from her.
Panting, she leans her forehead on his shoulder. “I... have missed... this,” she tells him.
“I’ve missed you,” he replies, his words barely more than a
whisper.
In reply, her hand releases his wrist and whispers its way
up along his arm to his shoulder and nape.
Her legs slide along his, relaxing.
“Trowa?”
“Yes.”
She shivers. “Ah,
you’ve just whispered my favorite word.”
She can feel his smile against her throat. The hand at his nape tenses, coaxing him to
look at her. Her weight shifts until
she’s crouching over him, staring down at his face in the dark. Her free hand brushes at his wild hair. She can feel his fingers around her wrist
caressing little patterns into her skin.
“Trowa... I’m going
to kiss you. I hope you’re all right
with that.”
There is a long pause as Yokaze settles her body against
his. He is breathless when he finally
speaks: “Yes.”
Her lips brush his, nibble, massage. She can taste the maple syrup and coffee on
his lips. She attempts to lick it off
with little, tentative touches of her tongue.
Her teeth scrape his lower lip as his mouth opens to her. She can feel his hesitation. It is as if he is not convinced she’d been
truly serious about wanting to kiss him.
She can feel his fingers in her hair, pulling her down to him. She smiles.
He doesn’t need to ask her twice.
She’d been thinking about doing this for... for a very long time.
She kisses him fully and shivers as she feels his response,
feels his arms encircle her, feels his thighs move against hers. So much strength, and yet he holds himself
back as if expecting her to change her mind, to break away from him.
Suddenly, a thought occurs to her. “How long before Taki barges in on us?” she
whispers against his mouth.
“Any moment,” he mouths back.
“God damn it.”
“Amen.”
She kisses him again, unleashing her passion. Yokaze expects him to respond in kind, but he
merely absorbs her passion rather than exposing his own. She wonders about this. Wonders if he is convinced he truly wants to kiss her.
She leans away, both hearing and feeling the sound he exhales against
her skin. She nuzzles his neck and feels
his muscles flex along his jaw. His body
is telling her one thing, but his restraint tells her another.
“I think I hear her.”
Yokaze swears.
Swiftly, she uses the hand still wrapped around her wrist to turn him
onto his stomach. He lays quietly with
his arms trapped behind his back and Yokaze leaning over him. She leans down and whispers into his ear, “Do
you know what this means?” She doesn’t
wait for his reply. “This means you get the
room next to Taki and Wufei... unless you want to share, of course.”
“I—“
“What are you two doing?”
“Rolling around in the dark,” Yokaze says as the lights
flicker on above them. She offers Taki
and Heero a victorious grin. She gingerly climbs off of Trowa and approaches her
brother. “See? No worries.
I kicked his ass good, didn’t I, Trowa?”
“Yes.”
Taki examines Trowa.
No bruises in sight. He doesn’t
limp as he gets to his feet, either. His
hair is disheveled. And, is she
imagining it, or are his lips just a tad swollen? And is that a smile?
Yokaze sighs. “Yup, been really looking forward to kicking some ass. I think I’ll go unpack now.” And with that, she sweeps from the room. Heero stares after her. Taki stares at Trowa, who is still smiling
his ghost of a smile.
~End of Chapter 1~