Chapter Six

<AC 203 ~ Alberta province>

Kitsune slept peacefully on Heero's shoulder as they were driving through the peaceful countryside of Canada. Andy sat on the opposite side of where his other relatives sat, staring outside the window. Sally sat next to him, informing Heero about the mission that his relatives were on (though, not entirely) while Wufei drove.

Nobody had recognized Heero thanks to Kitsune's School of the Arts. He was posed as a middle-aged businessman. Kitsune had stayed up the entire night before perfecting Heero's face mask, which was why she was fast asleep. They even attached a voicebox on his neck in case anybody had recognized the sound of his voice though it had been seven years since anybody had last seen him.

Even though Andy and Kitsune wouldn't worry about Heero's identity being revealed, they were more worried about how to deal with Relena finding THEM out.

We just gotta figure out something for her not to see us...Andy thought as he looked out the window.

"Andy? Andy, are you listening to me?" Sally's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh? Uh...nande, Sally?" Andy asked.

Sally smiled, her question answered. "I was saying that you used to live here, right?"

"Hai...I guess you can say that," he answered.

"So how long has it been since the last time you've been here?"

"Uh..."

"About seven years."

That answer came from Heero when he saw the hesitation from his relative. Sally turned to him.

"Oh, really? Then that's been a while," Sally remarked. "So you've been also taking care of Andy and Kitsune ever since they were young, Mr. Lowe?"

"Aa," Heero answered. "Since I heard that my dad broke his hip, I've been helping them out a bit."

Yeah, in military tactics, Andy thought as he looked out the window again.

<2 hours later ~ Downtown Alberta>

The car had abruptly stopped in front of a very elegant and wide building. It didn't look like the outdoor plaza in which the prime minister was going to make a speech...

"What is this place?" Andy asked.

Kitsune, who was now wide awake, stared at the building in awe. "Kirei..."

Sally and Wufei opened the doors and turned to look at the trio.

"Oh, nobody told you guys, Andy?" Sally asked. "We're going to have lunce with Prime Minister Dorlain before she makes her speech."

Heero stiffened. Andy and Kitsune's jaws dropped to the floor.

"N-nani?!?" Andy exclaimed.

"N-nobody told us about lunch..." Kitsune added.

Oh, great, NOW what, oniichan?

Why are you asking me for? Do I look like a mind reader to you? ...Just act normally.

"Oh, sou ka..." Sally said.

"You two left early before we were able to tell you," Wufei explained. "I tried calling you at home, but I guess you guys were out."

Andy gave a Look at his sister who in turn blushed lightly. Kitsune usually was the one who answered the phone at home. But last night, she was so absorbed at the makeup of Heero's disguise that she didn't pay any attention to the phone. Heero had NEVER answered it, so of course he didn't pick it up yesterday. Andy was out working on his part-time job with the local florist, so the only person of course would be Kitsune to answer.

Oops...Kitsune thought.

Ha ha ha, NOW we're in trouble, Andy remarked.

They got out of the car and went inside, dreading what was going to happen next.

<somewhere in one of those dark and eerie places>

"General Reindhart!"

"What is it, soldier?" the man named Reindhart answered, looking over the plaza below him.

General Zenith Reindhart was a man of his late fifties. His face was ridden with scars and half of it was covered by a steel plate with a ruby eye encased inside. His clothing matched the darkness that was their headquarters as his white-blond hair seemed to glow in the dark.

The soldier behind him saluted stiffly and announced her message. "Sir, all preparations have been completed. What are your next orders, General?"

Reindhart turned around, smiling maliciously. "Is that so? Well, then, send for Garnett and tell him to get ready."

The female soldier saluted again and made her exit in seconds. Reindhart watched her go and then resumed his overlook of the plaza on the TV screen.

"Soon, our revolution and remaking will begin," he said.

<Alberta Province ~ Dolitaw Restaurant>

Gally looked up at the sky, sighing heavily. She was bored and tired of waiting. Taking yet another day off of school, Gally had followed Relena to Alberta and was now waiting for the Preventers to arrive. She rested her head on the table, wishing that Maya was there to talk to.

The two had become the best of friends over the past month and a half since Gally had attended St. Gabriel's Institute. Really, Maya was the only one who ever talked to Gally. The other students at the school were cold rather than friendly. It was because of her status as a person, she guessed. She wasn't a person of high rank; she was your typical tomboy. She never knew etiquette (hell, she didn't even know what the word was at the time), she skipped school often yet somehow did miracles on her homework and exams, she was a streetfighter, she never knew her parents because they were killed at the destruction of the Lunar Base nine years ago, she didn't really have a home until Relena found her, and she was a person who never followed the rules.

"Hey, you guys!" Gally snapped out of her reverie at the sound of Relena's voice. "What took you so long?"

"FINALLY, they're here," Gally muttered and lifted her head.

Sally was apologizing to Relena as the other members entered the restaurant. Gally recognized Wufei and Sally from the reunion that she went to. Then a middle aged man walked in. She was guessing that he was an experienced member by just looking at him. But those eyes...they looked younger than he looked.

Gally continued to observe at a distance as two others walked in, their heads low. One was tall, lean, but well built, looking around her age. The other was very small and fragile standing next to the man and had a long, midnight braid. She couldn't see their faces because they were looking down and their bangs covered their eyes. Gally cocked her head to the side. For some odd reason, those two looked mighty familiar...

Andy noticed Gally from the corner of his eye and also the look that she gave them as well.

"That's just greeeeat," he muttered under his breath.

"It's nice to meet you, Mister Lowe," Relena greeted after Sally introduced him, shaking his hand.

Heero stiffened slightly as he took her hand in his, but she didn't seem to notice much. He smiled.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Relena-san," he said, so grateful that Kitsune had attached the voicebox. "You're working very hard, I hear."

"Hai, it's very though, demo, hopefully it won't be for long," Relena answered. "At least for this speech."

"Re-le-na!!!" Gally whined. "Can we eat yet? I'm starving!!"

Relena laughed. "Hai, hai. Sure!"

They all went to sit down at the table to have lunch. Or, at least, ALMOST everybody sat down at the same table.

"Are? Andy, Kitsune, Lowe-san," Sally addressed the trio who sat in the far corner. "Why're you sitting way over there?"

Andy? Kitsune? Relena thought. Masaka...

The trio's backs were turned to tthem. Andy waved his hand while the other two stared into space; at least that's what those afar saw.

"Don't worry about us. The table's too crowed, so we're going to sit here," Andy tried to explain.

"Don't be silly!" Sally argued. "We have plenty of room for you three."

"What do we do now?" Heero whispered.

"Ah! I lost my ring!!!" Kitsune shouted suddenly and ducked down under the table to find it.

Andy and Heero knew what the young girl was thinking and followed suit, shouting questions to one another as to locate Kitsune's "ring". Relena, Gally, Sally, Wufei, and others watched on in confusion, a sweatdrop on each of their faces.

"Strange," Gally muttered.

"Maa, they're usually not like this," Sally said, a bit confused. "I didn't even know that Kitsune had a ring on her..."

"Ie, daijoubu, it's just that---" Relena tried to say, but was disrupted when their table started shaking.

Kitsune had popped up, but she had completely distorted her face. She was looking up so that all anyone could see were the whites of her eyes. Her bottom lip covered her upper lip at a diagonal angle. Gally had to stifle her laughter at the sight of her.

"Ne, did you guys find it, yet?" Kitsune asked as normally as she couuld, which was quite difficult when one's tongue wasn't in use.

Heero had come out from under the table, brushing out the dust in his hair.

"Ie," he answered, taking an empty seat. "What color was it, again?"

"Blah." It was supposed to be "blue", but Kitsune couldn't talk correctly with her tongue twisted.

"The one with the blue dragons around it or the one with the sapphire gem inside?" Andy's voice asked.

That voice...Gally thought.

While it was rather easy for Kitsune to think of a perfect, yet rather childish way of masking herself, it was a tad bit harder for Andy to create a mask out of thin air. He had been too serious for a long time for him to be so open as his little sister was.

"Anno...the blue dragons," Kitsune answered. She "skillfully" stabbed a fork into a thin slice of meat and lifted it up. "Ne, oniichan, forget about the ring. Aren't you hungry?"

Sis, what the hell are you thinking? Andy thought angrily as he slowly got up from the table.

Heero had to resist from bursting out into laughter as he watched his siblings try to hide themselves in the funniest ways possible. They were trained to be perfect soldiers, but not doing stunts at the spur of the moment. He knew that their stunt wasn't going to work for long as he noticed the meat was beginning to slip off the fork.

Andy had barely got up when the meat totally fell off, revealing his nervous expression.

"Andy?!?" Gally exclaimed.

Andy forced a smile at her while glaring at his guardian who was futilely resisting to laugh.

"Aa....konnichiwa," he greeted.

Kitsune had reverted her face back to normal, laughing nervously. "Ahahaha....oops."

That was just a BRILLIANT idea, my dear little sister, Andy said to his sister.

I didn't know that it was going to slip! Kitsune tried to plead her case.

Yeah, whatever.

"Andrew, Kitsune, what are you doing here?" Relena asked.

"Andy, Kitsune, you know Relena-san?" Sally asked.

"Anno...." Andy had no clue how to explain.

Luckily, Kitsune covered up for him. "Hai! Gally introduced us to Relena-san before, Sally-san. And me an' oniichan joined the Preventers, Relena-san. Jiya's sick and we wanted to help him out."

Heero smiled inwardly at the girl's quick reaction.

"Jiya?" Relena slowly repeated the name.

I didn't know that they had a grandfather, Gally thought.

"Hai, their grandfather isn't feeling too well," Sally added. "And they've been working part-time before they joined us. Daijoubu, they may look young, demo, they are pretty experienced in the fields that we need."

As Sally continued to explain, Wufei started to doubt the two youngsters. He had the feeling before and shrugged it off, but it came back again.

What are those two hiding? he asked himself.

<Alberta Province ~ Liliham Plaza>

With everything straightened out, Andy and Kitsune had resorted to their original positions. Relena's speech was pretty not of interest to them, so they resorted to observing the crowd. Heero had warned them that there my be an attempt of attack as well as other Preventer memebers. Not only did the Preventers had ensure Prime Minister Dorlain's safety, they also had to stop whoever was instigating the rebellions in the area. The only thing in the Preventers' minds was now...

<somewhere closeby>

The sound of a gun locking into place echoed in the small room. A young man finished loading his sniper rifle and gazed through the small window in front of him. In a distance, he overlooked the plaza, a bird's eye view. He had a clear view of Prime Minister Dorlain and carefully set his gun into place and aimed...

<Liliham Plaza>

Something had caught his eye. With superhuman sight, Andy turned his head away from the crowd and to the direction where something reflected in the sunlight. His eyes widened at the sight of a gun aimed and ready to shoot. Although he couldn't exactly see who the assassin was, Andy heard the slight squeeze of the trigger. He had to react and fast.

"And now, in order to---" Relena was cut off as Andy pushed her out of the way just in time.

The bullet missed its mark and paved through a glass window instead. The crowd began to panic and flee.

<to that closeby place again>

"Che," the young man cursed to himself. He would've gotten her if it wasn't for that Preventer.

A beep rang through his earpiece.

"Yeah?" the young man asked gruffly.

"Garnett, why the hell did you just miss?!?" Reindhart yelled through.

"I had her, Sir," Garnett answered as his green eyes darted back to the plaza. "It's that annoying Preventer that pushed her outta the way."

"Well, get on to Code B. We can't have the Preventers get on our case now," Reindhart ordered.

"Yes, sir."

<Liliham Plaza>

"The hell?" Wufei shouted.

A mass of dark masked figures were coming towards them on both exits, allowing no escape.

"It's them!" Sally exclaimed.

All Preventers began to ready themselves for battle as the soldiers got closer.

"We can't stay together or else fall right into their trap," Heero pointed out. "We have to split up."

"But---" Relena managed to say.

"Relena-san, Lowe-san's right. We can't stay here," Sally added.

"Kitsune, take Relena and go," Heero said to the girl. "Protect her with your life."

Kitsune's blue eyes widened. "Demo, Hee-chan---"

'Hee-chan'? Relena repeated the name in her mind.

"Kitsune, just go!" Heero ordered.

She nodded and grabbed Relena's arm. "Relena-san, let's go."

Relena reluctantly nodded and followed Kitsune's lead.

"Now what?" Wufei asked.

"We have to stop them somehow...will Kitsune be alright?" Sally asked Andy.

"Kitsune's capable of the job," he answered. "Don't worry about them; they'll be fine."

"Andy, take Gally out of here," Heero ordered.

"Oi! I can help! I fought a lot of times before!" Gally protested as she cracked her knuckles.

"You need me here especially when half of the soldiers here are like me," Andy pointed out to Heero. Then to Gally, "Gally, get out of here as fast as you can."

She was about to protest again but saw the look in Andy's eyes and quickly left. As battle ensued, she slid across the slick surface as Garnett stood in her way of escape. She jumped back reflexively, settling in a kickboxing stance.

Garnett was a man around Andy's age. He had piercing green eyes and dirty-blond hair, standing around Andy's height. His slight build proved that he wasn't a citizen. Instead of the sniper rifle, a shotgun was slung at his side, wearing a dark gray uniform. He looked at Gally dangerously.

I don't like that look of his....Gally thought as she waited patiently on what her opponent was going to do.

Garnett raised his weapon in response to the girl's reaction. Easy target...

Shimata, I can't dodge nor find a way around the guy. Damn narrow exits, Gally cursed to herself. It was too hard to run away from him for there were people prying for the exits around her. It was like a can full of sardines packed in. She didn't want to hurt any of the citizens while making her way around, and she knew that if she moved, Garnett would just move in her direction and shoot.

Lost in her game strategy, Gally didn't notice that Garnett had already fired out. Life flashed before her eyes....

She thought she was going to feel pain, death, but found herself in Andy's strong arms as the bullet nicked his shoulder.

"A-Andy?" she managed to say.

Andy had remained silent, staring coldly at his new opponent in front of him. She turned her head.

"Dammit, that's the second time, Preventer," Garnett said, returning the stare.

"Roy..." Andy snarled.

 


AUTHORESS RAMBLINGS: I'm BAAAAAACK!!!! FINALLY!!! God, how much did I tell you how much I hate high school? I don't have as much time as I used to!!!! Gar....

Thank you all for your reviews! ^_^. I didn't know that this was starting to become a very popular fic....Anyhoo, hope this will satisfy your thirst for a new chapter. Hopefully, I'll write up the next chapter, type it up, and post it back on here soon! Writing seven stories at once is NOT a good idea, people. Plus school, being the cook of the house for my family, being a secretary for a club at my school (Hey, we've got an Anime Club at our school!!! FINALLY!!!!! ^_^ Me secretary. My twin's V.P.) Anyhoo, R&R!!!

 

Oh, and for all the Japanese that I use in here, go look them up for yourself if you don't know what the word means. I don't have the time to do it, so booyaka to you all.