Kyusai (sequel to Shimihitotsu Nai Ninshin)

-----Kyusai: Character Profiles-----

NOTE: Kyusai takes place 15 years after the events in "Shimihitotsu Nai Ninshin". The two main characters in the series are Quatre Maxwell-Yuy (not to be confused with Quatre Raberba Winner) and his sister Theora Maxwell-Yuy. Here is some information on the two characters:

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-QUATRE MAXWELL-YUY-
Age: 15
Sex: Male
Hair: Chestnut
Eyes: Violet
Mother: Duo Maxwell
Father: God

Character Summary:
Quatre is the elder of the Maxwell-Yuy twins. Quatre has grown up knowing a variety of human behavior. At the age of 2 months, he and his sister were taken from their mother and his husband, Heero, by unsympathetic social workers who later told them their mother had died in childbirth. Having spent his entire life in an orphanage, watching the other children's suffering, he has grown up wishing to become a lawyer or politician so that he will one day be able to abolish the type of 'child services' that he and so many others have fallen victim to. Fate, however, has other plans.

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-THEORA MAXWELL-YUY-
Age: 15
Sex: Female
Hair: Chestnut
Eyes: Violet
Mother: Duo Maxwell
Father: God

Character Summary:

A girl who grew up in a state-run orphanage, Theora has lived a hard life. Her quick temper and eagerness to get into any fight she can find have gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion. She also has a gentle side, but she rarely shows it.

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-ONI MERQUISE-
Age: 15
Sex: Female
Hair: White
Eyes: Black
Mother: Zechs Merquise
Father: Devil

Character Summary:

Oni Merquise has always been greatly loved by those who raised her at the orphanage. Her mischief and malicious deeds have been often overlooked because of her physical beauty and she is more than happy to take advantage of this fact.

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~Tale #1: The Calm Before The Storm~
-----part 1------

".... ninety nine, one hundred. There. Now, what's next?" Theora Maxwell-Yuy rolled onto her back from her push-ups and began doing sit-ups while her brother read his email.

"Hey!" he said. "Listen to this email I got. "Dear Gentle1, your question to the 'war orphans' list attracted my attention. I have information concerning your parents that you might be interested to know. The information is of a sensitive nature and cannot be given online. If you wish to meet, please reply to this message. Sincerely, Braided&Blessed."

"So, are you going to meet this guy?" Theora asked.

"Yeah. I just sent the message. Now we just wait for a reply." Quatre turned to a few websites featuring the latest doujinshi.

"Sister Rebecca's gonna clobber you if she finds you looking at that stuff." Theora warned, looking over his shoulder at it. "That silver-haired guy is cute, though."

"Mmmm." Quatre agreed. He turned back to the email window and found another message from Braided&Blessed. This one gave a time and place for their meeting. He wrote back to confirm, then closed up the laptop.

"You're gonna sneak out, then?" Theora asked.

"We sure are." Quatre agreed.

"We?" Theora blinked. Surely her brother didn't expect her to disobey the rules just to meet someone they didn't even know.

"Braided&Blessed wants to meet with both of us." Quatre replied. "Don't worry, it won't any more dangerous than playing baseball against Oni."

Theora rubbed her upper shin at the memory of when the other girl had kicked her there while sliding into home plate. "I swear that was deliberate." she muttered. "No one has their foot that high when they're sliding if they don't mean to."


Oni Merquise scribbled a note and passed it to Theora Maxwell-Yuy, glaring all the while.

Theora opened the letter and read it quietly to herself.

"You and your brother are so dead. Who made you police of the building anyhow?"

Theora tore up the letter and tossed it into the waste receptacle. There was no pointed in showing it to anyone. They never paid attention to anything bad Oni did.

In the hallway, Oni grabbed Theora and pinned her against a wall. Theora wasn't pleased and shoved Oni onto the floor. Oni kicked Theora, knocking her to the floor. The wrestling match that followed consisted of a great number of punches, bites, and a good deal of hair-pulling before it was finally brought to a stop by Sister Rebecca.

"Oni, are you okay?" the old nun asked, checking the girl over for bruises.

"I'm fine." Oni smiled, an evil gleam in her eyes. "Thank you, Sister."

Sister Rebecca smiled then dismissed Oni. "Theora, what am I going to do with you?" she asked, crossly.

"Me?!" Theora asked in disbelief. "She's the one who started it."

"Your priviliedges are revoked for the remainder of the week." Sister Rebecca told Theora.

"What?! Hey, that's not fair!" Theora protested. "How come Oni didn't get punished?! She was fighting, too."

"That's final." Sister Rebecca said, firmly. "Return to your room."

Theora sighed, angrily, as she stormed back to her room.

*****

Theora followed her brother into the shopping center. He lead her to the cluster of benches in the center where Braided&Blessed had agreed to meet them.

A man with chestnut and white hair and violet eyes was sitting there, waiting, quietly. His hair was in a long braid.

Theora noticed the man's resemblance to her brother and herself and her mouth went dry. This man... he had to be their father.

Quatre apparently thought the same thing. Regaining his voice after several minutes, he spoke. "Braided&Blessed?"

The man looked up. "Gentle1?" he smiled. "Why don't we get something to eat and we can talk?"

Quatre and Theora followed the man into a nearby diner. Once their orders were taken, Braided&Blessed turned to Theora. "Duo Maxwell-Yuy." he introduced himself. "he runs, he hides, he does everything, but he never lies. It's Duo Maxwell-Yuy."

"Then you *are* our dad." Quatre said, his heart racing. He looked at Theora and realized she was just as thrilled as he was.

"Nope." Duo grinned. "I'm your mom."

~Tale #1: The Calm Before The Storm~
-----part 2------

Quatre blinked. "Our *mom*?" he asked. "How is that possible?"

"Our mother is dead." Theora told him.

"No, I'm not." Duo replied. "You were taken from Heero and I because the state didn't approve of same sex couples raising children. We would've won if we'd had our day in court, but you were shipped off and we were never able to find you until you went online."

"Tell us what happened." Theora asked.

"Well, several years back..." Duo paused.

"Duo?" Quatre asked.

Duo looked up at the door as a man with greying hair walked into the room. "Hee-chan! Over here."

"I'm approaching middle-age and he still calls me Hee-chan." the Perfect Soldier muttered. "Duo... are these?"

"They sure are." Duo grinned. "Quatre, Theora, this is your father; Heero Yuy."

"Duo..."

"They have a right to know the truth, Heero." Duo cut him off. "And I plan on telling them."

Heero nodded. "I agree with you. But not here. Let's go to Trowa's place."

"Can't." Duo reminded him. "Trowa's out of town."

"He left me the key." Heero explained. "He wanted me to house-sit while he was gone."

"Okay, then," Duo agreed. He looked over at Theora and Quatre to see what they thought.

"Quatre..." Theora sounded uneasy.

"We'll be fine." Quatre smiled. "And if anything happens, I'm sure you can kick their butts and save mine. Its either that or head back to the orphanage for a game of go-fish or old maid."

"Ugh." Theora winced. "Well, this may be dangerous, but that beats boring any day in my book."

*****

Fifteen minutes later, Heero's ATV pulled up outside an old apartment building.

"We used to live here, years ago." Duo told the twins. "Your father and I moved out just after..." a tear fell from his eyes.

"Don't think about that, Duo." Heero told him. "They're back now. That's what matters." he unlocked the door and let the others inside, following close behind.

"Over here." Duo told them, walking into the room where Trowa's desktop computer was set up. He turned on the computer and sat back.

"Duo, that you?" asked an image, ethereal and beautiful, fair-haired and with eyes the color of a summer sky. 

"Who is this?" Quatre asked, watching the image with great interest.

"This is the Winner Family's AI, Spaceheart." Duo replied. "In life he was called Quatre Raberba Winner. Your namesake, Quatre. He died two years ago. Just before that, he was imprinted into the network. He now exists solely in this form."

~ Tale #1: The Calm Before The Storm~
-----part 3-----

"Spaceheart, is the data on Duo's pregnancy still in the system?"

Spaceheart shook his head. "Duo deleted it after the twins were taken." he replied.

"K'so." Heero swore. He couldn't really blame Duo. Losing the twins had been painful to both of them and the last thing Duo had wanted in those days was a bunch of reminders.

"You're forgetting something." Spaceheart pointed out. "I was there the entire time. I still have the memories that Quatre Raberba Winner had of the events. I can access those if you like."

"Please?" Theora asked, anxiously.

It was like watching old home movies. There were scenes from early on, when Duo had just started feeling the effects of pregnancy, though at the time no one had suspected his condition. There were scenes from when he was just starting to show, when he started wearing maternity clothes and often sat in quiet contemplation. There were scenes from later in the pregnancy, the shopping trip, the birth, the rumors of a second male pregnancy, this one nearly fatal to the 'mother'. and the confirmation, just before Duo's children had been taken, of the birth of Zech's daughter, Oni.

"I *knew* there was more to that kick than just mere rivalry." Theora exclaimed, pounding the desk with her fist.

"Nani?!" Duo turned to face his daughter. "You've met Oni?"

"We go to school with her." Quatre replied. "She's a bit of a troublemaker."

"Have you told the teachers?" Heero asked. 

"Everyone does. All the time. They just shrug it off." Theora sounded pissed. "If I or anyone else did what she does, we'd get expelled. But they just keep on letting her get away with it. I hate them so much."

"You don't have to go back if you don't want to."

"What?" Quatre asked.

"Come with me," Duo invited, "I have something very special to show you."

Quatre and Theora followed Duo downstairs. Duo pressed a button and a panel slid open in the wall. Beyond was a large room, deeper than the previous one, the door opening onto the catwalk. Two large metallic figures gleamed alongside it.

"Deathscythe and Wing." Duo replied. "Your father and I were Gundam Pilots when we were your age."

"I thought the Gundams were destroyed." Quatre remarked.

"The others were. But your father and I hid these for you."

"You see," Heero said, as he walked in, "we knew that one day the war would start up again, and when it did, we'd need these Gundams and someone who could use them. We had our turn long ago. Now it's time to pass our legacy of fighting for true peace and freedom on to a future generation."

-----TBC-----