Notes: Unless otherwise noted, all dialogue is in Japanese - so if there's Japanese words sprinkled within dialogue, it's because the language being spoken at that moment is something else.
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change
Mission: Nerima Part 3
There was no sign that any of the others were stirring yet as Duo padded softly down the stairs and out of the house, picking up his coat and shoes on his way. He emerged into the cool stillness of early morning, relieved to have successfully slipped away undetected.
Facing Heero over the breakfast table this morning was something that he just didn't feel prepared for; he was already stressed out enough about starting school today. Japanese schools might have technically adapted to the standard Earth Sphere educational system, but they were still known for being extremely demanding, particularly for students in their final year of high school. Entering after the beginning of the term would be bad enough anywhere. Doing so here, in a language other than his native tongue, was not going to be pleasant.
Particularly since the only time he had ever formally attended school on anything approaching a regular basis was back when he was at the Maxwell Church Orphanage. His brief stays at various schools during the war certainly couldn't be counted. And, while G had made sure that he had all the training in mathematics, physics, and chemistry that he could possibly need as a Gundam pilot, that left a great many other subjects that had not been covered. Sure, he'd attempted to fill at least some of those gaps in on his own, but during training and the war there really hadn't been much opportunity, and the year since the war had been mostly taken up by helping Hilde get her struggling salvage yard back in the black.
None of the others - well, except possibly Trowa, Duo didn't know for sure what his education had been like, but suspected that mercenaries probably didn't spend much time on literature and history either - could even begin to understand why he dreaded school so much. That had already been made perfectly clear last night...
----- Flashback Begins -----
"Remember what Une said," Heero warned, glancing at each of the others. "We need to keep a low profile. That means wearing the school uniform and being good students. No getting in fights, no poor grades, no uncompleted assignments." He gave Duo a pointed look. "Is that clear?"
Nods from each ex-Gundam pilot answered him, but Heero was unsatisfied with that response from Duo. "You can't treat this like you did those school missions during the war, Duo. You have to..."
Moving with an icy calm that barely hid his hurt, Duo uncoiled from his chair and cut Heero off abruptly, "I'm not an idiot, Yuy. I'm well aware of the situation.
"Now if you'll all excuse me, this has been a long day. I need to get some sleep if I'm expected to be alert for school tomorrow. Good night, Quat, Tro, Wufei. Yuy."
----- Flashback Ends -----
'Heero was the one who came right out and said it, but the others didn't exactly jump to my defence either, so I guess they must agree with him. They're all expecting me to fuck this up.'
Catching a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye, Duo looked up just in time to dodge a cloud of dust as a pretty young woman swept the entryway of the house next door.
"Oh my," she exclaimed, "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. You must be one of our new neighbours. Good morning. I'm Kasumi Tendo." The young woman set her broom aside and smiled expectantly.
"Uh, yes, I just arrived yesterday. I'm Duo Maxwell. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Tendo," Duo offered, glad to be dragged away from his dark thoughts.
"Just Kasumi, please. You're attending Furinkan, I see," Kasumi said, motioning towards Duo's uniform and bookbag. "My sister Akane and her fiancé Ranma go there as well. It's a bit early to be leaving for school; it's not that long a walk."
"Uh, well, I just thought I'd take a look around the neighbourhood first," he explained awkwardly.
"Ah, I see. Well, if you don't mind waiting a moment, I believe that Ranma is helping his friend Ukyo with her restaurant this morning and should be leaving momentarily. I'm sure he would be more than happy to show you around on the way there. And if you haven't had breakfast yet, Ukyo makes a wonderful breakfast okonomiyaki," she finished with a smile.
"I really don't want to be any bother," Duo said quickly.
"Oh, it's no bother," Kasumi assured him brightly. "Just a moment while I see if Ranma is ready to go."
***
Ranma drew his kata to a close, held the final position for a moment, then relaxed. He really preferred training outdoors, but staying inside helped him remember to tone down his workout to a less - noteworthy - level. And if he did happen to forget, there was a much slimmer chance of being caught in the act by their new neighbours. He'd just have to do a few extra katas to help make up for the lower level of difficulty.
Before he launched into another kata, Akane hurtled through the dojo's door. "Ranma, the braided one - Duo Maxwell, right? - is leaving now; Kasumi's gone out front to delay him. Hurry up and get ready, that way you can talk to him on the way to Ucchan's."
Her final sentence was addressed to Ranma's back as he tore into the house and up to the furo to quickly get cleaned up and dressed for school.
***
Just as Kasumi turned to enter the house, a whirlwind of red and black shot through the door, nimbly dodging to avoid a collision.
"Oops, sorry Kasumi!" the boy exclaimed.
Duo gave the other teen an appraising look. Dressed in a red silk shirt and black pants, a black coat hanging half-on, half-off, the boy was in the midst of quickly plaiting long black hair.
That was definitely not the Furinkan school uniform.
"Ranma, you idiot! You forgot your books and your lunch! I am not carrying them for you!" a female voice shouted from inside the house. "HERE!"
The boy - Ranma, evidently - released his half-completed braid to catch the bookbag and bento that were hurled through the doorway.
"Akane! Now I've gotta start all over again! Uncute tomboy..." he grumbled, dragging his coat the rest of the way on and slinging his bag over his shoulder before turning to offer a grin as he re-plaited his hair. "Hi, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."
"Duo Maxwell." Glad to get off to a friendly start, Duo grinned back. 'Okay, maybe this won't be all bad.'
"I told Duo that you'd be happy to show him around the neighbourhood on your way to Ukyo's," Kasumi told Ranma.
"No, really, it's not necessary. I don't want to be a bother," Duo protested.
"No bother," Ranma shrugged. "Not much to show, either, but if you haven't had breakfast yet, I'd be glad to treat you to one of Ucchan's breakfast okonomiyaki."
Ranma had started walking as he spoke, and Duo automatically walked along with him. "No, I haven't had breakfast, but I don't want..."
"...to be a bother," Ranma finished for him, laughing. "It really isn't a problem, but if you feel strongly about it, you could always help pick up tables or do dishes or something. We all pitch in to give Ucchan a hand, but another pair of hands is always welcome."
As they reached the canal, Ranma automatically hopped up on top of the chain-link fence and started walking along the top rail. Duo stopped in his tracks and gaped at him.
"What are you doing?!"
'Oops. Damn, this acting-ordinary thing is going to be harder than I thought... Too late now, I'll just have to make the best of it.' Ranma turned around to face Duo but kept walking backwards. "Oh, uh, just a little balance training. I'm a martial artist, and Pops always says that everything can be used as training. So..." he shrugged, hoping that his behaviour and explanation weren't too extraordinary.
"Huh. Makes sense, I guess." 'A little over-the-top for most people, but... it does kinda make sense.' Duo started walking again and caught up to Ranma, who turned around and started walking forwards again. "That actually looks kind of fun," he observed, eyeing Ranma's nonchalant, hands-in-pockets, stroll along the fence.
"It is. Wanna try it?" Ranma offered impulsively.
'If I fall in the canal and show up for school all wet, Heero will kill me. But then, he'll probably find a reason to do that before the day is out anyway, so...' "What the heck - why not?" Duo grinned, taking the offered hand and preparing to scramble up. Injured ribs twinging, he had an instant to second-guess his decision as Ranma easily lifted him up on the fence. 'Whoa, he's strong... Guess he really does take his training very seriously...'
"Here, gimme your bag," Ranma said, balancing Duo with one hand and holding out the other. "I've been doing this for a long time, but believe me, you don't need anything extra to upset your balance till you get the hang of it."
Once the bookbag had been transferred, Ranma started walking backwards, still using one hand to steady Duo's progress. "Keep your eyes on me," the martial artist warned when Duo started to glance down into the canal. "So, there's probably a few things I should tell you about Furinkan before you get there..."
***
Duo gave the counter one last wipe, took off the borrowed apron, then glanced at his watch. "Still some time before when Ranma said we'd have to leave to make it to school on time.' He had enjoyed the morning so far. It had been easy to forget his concerns about school in the easy camaraderie of the hectic restaurant breakfast hour. In a way, it had been almost like being back working with the Sweepers again. Ranma's friends Ukyo and Konatsu had accepted his presence quite casually, and when he had presented himself behind the counter after finishing the okonomiyaki that Ranma had tossed in front of him, Ukyo had given him a friendly smile and an apron, then sent him off to wipe down tables.
It couldn't last though; working at the salvage yard for the past year had taught him that. Even in the colonies, ex-Gundam pilots were far from popular; he doubted that Earth would be any more accepting. Obviously, his new acquaintances hadn't realized exactly who - or rather, what - he was. Better to get it over with. He sighed in resignation.
"What's wrong, sugar?" the okonomiyaki chef asked as she finished cleaning her grill.
"Umm, there's something I need to tell you all. I don't think you realize who I am..."
"Sure we do," Ukyo said. "Duo Maxwell..."
"Pilot 02 from L2..." Konatsu added, peeking around the corner of the storeroom door.
Ranma finished, "...aka Shinigami, pilot of the Gundam Deathscythe." He looked at the surprised look on Duo's face, then reached out and snagged the end of Duo's braid and waved it in front of his nose. "You're a little hard to mistake."
"You knew? But... you didn't say anything..."
"If you wanted to talk about it, sugar, we figured you'd bring it up." Ukyo shrugged nonchalantly. "Otherwise, it's none of our business." Turning, she dashed upstairs to get changed.
"But, since you brought it up..." Ranma said, then glanced at the clock, "Damn, we're running out of time." He hadn't really intended to bring this up yet, as it could be a very touchy subject, but he'd discovered that he genuinely liked Duo and wanted to help him get settled in as quickly and easily as possible. "Look, I don't know all the details about your past, but Akane's sister Nabiki always makes a point of finding out everything she can about new people in the neighbourhood, so based on what I do know, I'm gonna make a guess here. Don't get mad if I'm wrong, but I'm betting you haven't spent much time in a school setting in the last few years at the very least."
Violet eyes went wide with shock. With an effort, Duo managed to say, "That's a pretty safe bet."
"Well, I've had pretty much the same problem," Ranma grimaced. "My pop's idea of training a martial artist involves dragging the kid all over creation from toddler age up on so-called 'training trips'. School wasn't exactly a high priority. That changed once we landed back in Nerima. I had a lot of trouble at first, but eventually one of the teachers and I worked out a deal. Now, I'm almost caught up to where I should be in everything. Ms. Hinako happens to be the English teacher at Furinkan, so she's probably the best bet in your case anyway. I'll introduce you to her, and she should be able to help you get things straightened around."
Duo didn't get a chance to respond. Ukyo dashed down the stairs, warning, "Guys, let's go, or we're going to be late." She held the restaurant door open and motioned impatiently, adding, "Besides, Ranchan, aren't you and Ryoga on Kuno Hair Patrol control this morning?"
"Oh damn, almost forgot!" Ranma raced out the door, swearing under his breath. "See you guys in class," he yelled back over his shoulder.
"C'mon, hon," Ukyo urged. "Let's get you and that braid of yours safely into the school while they've got ol' pineapple-head occupied."
Duo followed her down the sidewalk towards the school, his mind and emotions in turmoil. The revelation earlier that morning that the school principal had a Hawaii-fetish and a penchant for shaving the heads of unfortunate students in spite of the lack of an actual school rule regarding hair length had been bizarre but, considering that Ranma and Ukyo had long hair too, he wasn't too worried about it. It was either some strange sort of joke or they were used to handling the situation. Either way, his braid was safe.
He was admittedly rather curious as to exactly how much this Nabiki had found out about the Gundam pilots. While there was a fair bit of information in the public record, it would take a lot of digging to pull it together. 'Heero's gonna hit the roof when he finds out. Better tell the others first, maybe Wufei or Tro can keep him under control. We do not need Heero terrorizing the neighbours.'
Especially since it looked like at least some of those neighbours might turn out to be friends.
And that was what had him truly overwhelmed. Not only had this group apparently accepted him in spite of his past as a Gundam pilot - something he had learned not to count on over the past year - but Ranma had nailed his concerns about school in one breath and offered a possible solution in the next. Yet his fellow pilots, people he considered his friends, people who had seen him placed in uncomfortable school situations time and again during missions, hadn't even realized that there was a legitimate reason he dreaded school so much.
Nearing the school grounds, Duo shook his head slightly, pushing those thoughts away for the time being. Later. He'd think about it later.
TBC...
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