Quatre was in his bedroom, wondering what he should pack. After putting away all his bathroom accessories in a neat little package, he had opened his closet.
Pink shirts with purple vests stared back at him, courtesy of Quatre�s sisters and�that�s all there was. Whatever happened to his other clothing?
"Um, Serena," he called out the door when Serena walked past.
She looked in. "Yes?"
"Well�." Quatre glanced uneasily into his closet. "Do you know where all my other clothes went?"
"Oh, you don�t know?" Serena asked. "Hmmm, I thought I told Terra to tell you."
Quatre shook his head. Terra was the most absent-minded of all his sisters so any message coming to Quatre might as well have flown out the window.
Serena said, "Well, since we gave you so many new clothes, we didn�t think you�d want to wear your old ones anymore."
Quatre tugged worriedly on his lip. "So�"
"So we donated them all to the Salvation Army."
"What?!"
Serena pouted. "Don�t you like your new clothes?" she asked, eyes watering.
"Oh, of course I do, it�s just that---"
"That�s good! See you around!" With that, she bounced happily away.
Quatre sighed. He didn�t want his sisters to start a cry-fest, but he didn�t want to be pink-shirt-purple-vest boy for the rest of his life, either. In this type of situation, there was only one thing left to do.
Surveying his closet, he started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trowa didn�t have much to pack. He looked around his empty room, shrugged his backpack across his shoulder and started walking over to Wufei�s.
Halfway there, he stopped. Something was missing.
He turned around again and walked back to his room. Looking around the dust-ridden place, his gaze settled on his bed. Oh, yes, how could he forget?
Reaching under the bed, Trowa dragged out his trampoline, then started rolling it down the hall towards Wufei�s room, whistling a little tune.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heero didn�t have much to pack, either. Unplugging his laptop and randomly grabbing a few shirts, he left his room, not even bothering to clean it up for the next inhabitants. Let them figure out what to do.
Walking to the doorway, he paused and looked back. He had almost forgotten about the jewelry that Relena gave him for his birthday. Oh, well. Quatre�s sisters could fight over it.
He stepped out into the hall, then almost got run over by what appeared to be a rolling trampoline. Heero dodged out of the way with his quick reflexes.
"Sorry," Trowa said from behind the canvas.
Heero nodded, Trowa nodded back, and they both headed over to Wufei�s room together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo was cleaning up his room, trying to arrange everything just so. All the stuff that he would bring to Wufei�s was piled up in a tangled heap in the middle of the floor. Meanwhile, Duo was trying to make his room as neat and presentable as possible, wanting to make a good impression for the girls that would be living in there.
For Duo, packing was all a manner of deciding whether he should leave something there on display, not whether he should bring it for his own use. Already, he had left his favourite hairpins in the bathroom, wanting the girls to see that he did indeed keep a good hygiene, and so he left his toothpaste, soap, and everything else needed for good hygiene in the bathroom too, just to be on the safe side.
That done with, Duo made last minute adjustments on the photographs of himself hanging along the wall, flashed a beautiful smile into the mirror, and tripped his way over to Wufei�s room, staggering under the weight of all his junk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What is this? What is all of this?" Wufei asked, pointing first at Trowa�s trampoline, then at Duo�s paraphernalia strewn all about his floor.
Just then, Quatre collapsed into Wufei�s doorway. His face was all red and he was huffing and puffing from dragging his suitcase down the entire hall. Falling onto the carpet, he weakly threw a bunch of stuff at Duo and Duo deftly caught them. "Oh, so that�s where my tamagotchi pet went. Thanks!"
Quatre slowly nodded. Duo had left a trail of junk behind him and Quatre had to walk down the hall, bending down every few seconds to pick up something that Duo had dropped.
Now that Quatre wasn�t supporting his suitcase anymore, it slammed down on its own. The clasps burst open and the suitcase popped. Pink shirts and purple vests came flying out.
"No!" Quatre cried. He wasn�t counting on anybody seeing that. He had originally planned on unpacking his suitcase secretly on his own, hoping that no one would notice if he happened to wear a purple vest over a pink shirt for the rest of the week. Apparently, it was too late now.
Wufei, who had been silent during Duo and Quatre�s interlude, now slowly shivered with rage. Everyone, noticing the sudden menace in the atmosphere, turned to look at Wufei.
Wufei was standing in the middle of the room, fists knotted into extremely tight bunches. His veins stood out along his arms and neck and an especially large one was throbbing on the side of his temple. One of Quatre�s boxers was dangling off his ear.
With an inhuman cry, Wufei ripped off the boxers and started stalking towards Quatre. Quatre, very much afraid, tried burying himself under his pile of shirts and vests. He waited for Wufei�s punishment of justice.
He waited for a terribly long time.
Finally, suffocating under all those clothes, Quatre cautiously peeked out a blond head.
Wufei was sitting at his desk, scribbling something onto a piece of paper. The entire dimly-lit room echoed with Wufei�s scratching as he etched away with his calligraphy pen, only stopping once in a while to carefully dip the nib into the bottle of ink, then continue writing again. No one wanted to go near him.
Finally, Wufei ripped the piece of paper from his desk. Everyone flinched.
Spinning around, he walked over to the door. Quatre swore that he could see smoke coming out of Wufei�s head.
Tearing off a piece of masking tape with his teeth, Wufei stuck the masking tape into a nice, tight wad, then, with amazing gentleness, carefully arranged the wad on the back of his paper and pounded the piece of paper onto his wall.
Stepping back, he gave a triumphant smile.
Everyone gathered around the paper to see.
In Wufei�s spidery chicken-scratch handwriting, it said:
Rule #1: Anybody who dares to touch my stuff will die a horrible death!
Rule #2: Anybody who even remotely sits on my bed will also die a horrible death with the plague to burn you!
Rule #3: Anybody who does not clean up after themselves will die a million deaths after dying a horrible one!
Rule #4: Anybody who brings or invites anybody of the weaker sex into my room will wish that they had never been born and that includes everyone of your family line!
Rule #5: If anyone, ANYONE, happens to break ANY of these rules, they will face the wrath of a billion slashes from the sword of justice - after first dying a million horrible deaths! (and that means you, Duo!)
"Is that all?" Duo asked sarcastically.
Wufei thought for a moment. "For now," he answered.
Everyone started in on rule number three and started tidying up there belongings.
Duo scrounged a corner of Wufei�s room for himself, the one farthest from Wufei�s bed and closest to the bathroom. He started arranging his stuff around him, creating his own little room within a room. Silken drapes hung all along Wufei�s walls, and Duo reached out to touch one. Feeling its wispy softness, he rubbed his face into it, liking the touch of it on his skin.
"Rule number one!" Wufei cried and Duo quickly dropped the fabric. Looking up, he saw that Wufei was glaring at him from all the way across the room, arms crossed in front of his chest. Duo shook his head. Man, that Wufei had eyes like a hawk.
Duo, after arranging the corner to his satisfaction, looked around to see how the other boys were doing.
He saw that Quatre had also chosen himself a place across from him, on the other side of the bathroom door. That was smart of him. Quatre�s suitcase was open and Duo saw that Quatre directed the flat side towards Wufei, like a shield.
Duo laughed. Quatre looked up, saw what Duo was laughing at, and his face turned red. He promptly turned the suitcase so that it now blocked both Wufei�s and Duo�s vision, then continued on folding his clothes.
Beside Quatre was Trowa�s trampoline. And beside Trowa�s trampoline was Trowa, who was pushed right against the door because of his trampoline. His meager belongings were dumped under the trampoline�s canvas while Trowa himself was sitting on the floor beside it, casually picking his teeth. Duo wondered where Trowa would be sleeping.
Beside Duo was Heero. Heero had taken up the only electrical outlet in the room and now he was on his laptop computer, asking the UPS guys to send in his grenades and missile launchers directly to the house.
Duo sighed. Life was so boring around here.
He got up. Where was Wufei? Oh, Wufei was talking to Quatre, his back turned to Duo. Wufei was asking Quatre about his suitcase, getting suspicious. Poor Quatre was sweating bullets.
Duo rubbed his hands. Now, to explore.
He had never been in Wufei�s room before; Wufei had a sign hung on his doorknob that read "Stay out, everybody! Especially Duo!" Duo scratched his head. Why did Wufei always make such a big deal out of everything related to him? What did he ever do?
Duo stood in the center of the room, hands on his hips. Wow, Wufei had such nice furnishings, things that he�d never noticed before. Then again, before he was never allowed in here. Silky maroon drapes hung all across his walls, covering every inch with the soft fabric while Wufei�s Chinese style furniture added a nice touch to his utter refinement. Wufei really brought richness to the extreme.
Walking to Wufei�s bed, Duo gave it a little kick.
BANG! "Ow!" Duo grabbed his shins and quickly turned around to see if Wufei had heard. He had not. Wufei was now slitting open Quatre�s suitcase, wondering if there were any hidden weapons in it.
Duo spun back around and glared at the bed. Carefully lifting up the silken blanket, he took a peek under it.
Woah! Geez, the guy slept on rock! Duo rapped softly on the solid hardwood oak mattress and his knuckles stung. Man, either that guy was too cheap or he was too crazy! Duo opted for the craziness since everything else looked to cost a small fortune.
Above Wufei�s bed was a large embroidered tapestry of a dragon, flashing its teeth in all its ferocity and pride. For some reason, Duo was reminded of Wufei.
Duo sniffed the air. What was that earthly scent? His gaze flickered all about the room, then finally settled underneath the window.
Now where did that come from? Duo asked himself, walking over to the miniature shrine. It was blood red and shaped like one of those ancient Chinese temples that he sometimes saw when he went grocery shopping with Quatre. In front of the mini shrine was a tiny glazed pot with several incense sticks poking out of it. The lovely scent was coming from those sticks.
Duo looked around. Wufei was now rifling through Quatre�s clothes as fast as Quatre quickly refolded them.
Duo looked back to the shrine. His mouth was really itching to do something.
Uh, oh. Last time something like this happened, he had ruined Relena�s birthday party. But he just couldn�t help it.
Duo quickly clamped his hands above his mouth, resisting the temptation. But, being Duo, these things just naturally happened on their own.
Duo couldn�t take it anymore. Swinging his arms wide, he took a deep breath, and blew.
The incense flames winked out.
*Phew*. Duo thought that if he didn�t do that, he would explode.
The room became immediately silent. Just the distant flick of Trowa picking his teeth was the only sound.
A chill wind blew through the window, ruffling the silken curtains. For a few seconds, Duo was smothered by this miasma of fabric, then he started fighting his way out. He heard a tear.
The entire curtain was ripped from its hangings as Duo struggled, trying to twist himself free. His body whipped around on the carpet for a few seconds, then, like a butterfly bursting from its cocoon, Duo�s head finally poked out, his tongue lolling and face red, panting like a dog.
He tried to pull himself out some more, but something was blocking his way. His head was bumping against something.
Duo looked down. All he saw was black felt fabric. Twisting his head, he backed up for a better look.
Strange. Something that looked a lot like Wufei�s shoe was blocking his way. He tried to push it away with his cheek, but it wouldn�t budge.
His head bumped against something else, something hard. He looked at what it was. Hmm, something that looked a lot like Wufei�s ankle was connected to the thing that looked like Wufei�s shoe. Oh, and there was something that looked like Wufei�s knee and�Duo�s gaze travelled higher and higher...and there was Wufei.
Duo did a double-take. Wufei was standing above Duo like an imposing tower, statuesque in all his power. What was Wufei doing here?
Wufei frowned.
Oh.
"WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, YOU IGNORAMUS?" Wufei cried, putting his leg to action. Duo quickly rolled away until his back hit against Wufei�s hard, oaken bed. Then he tried shuffling himself underneath the microscopic crack between the bed and the floor.
Wufei grabbed up his braid and, with tremendous strength, shoved Duo�s face against the mini altar and into the bowl of ashes.
Duo couldn�t breathe. Puffs of scented grit was clogging up his nostrils, while the stuff also went in between his eyelids, making them itch. The incense sticks were poking up his nose.
"THIS IS A SHRINE TO MY ANCESTORS AND YOU SIMPLY�" Wufei�s voice cracked and rose to a squeek, "�SIMPLY JUST BLEW OUT THE CANDLES?! JUSTICE MUST BE DONE!" he cried, and rubbed Duo�s face into the bowl with renewed vigour. Ash was getting everywhere but Wufei didn�t care. If justice must be done, then justice must be done.
All of a sudden, the rubbing stopped and Duo choked, spitting out several mouthfuls of ash. Wufei was now walking over to a corner of his room where he hung his sword and took it down.
"But�but it wasn�t in your rules!" Duo sputtered, accidentally spitting ash on Wufei�s shoe. Wufei paused for a moment and contemplated his dirty shoe. He looked up again.
"IT IS, NOW!" and with a wild battle cry, raised his sword above his head for the punishment of his newly invented trillion slashes.
"Noooo!" Quatre cried and rushed towards Wufei. Heero and Trowa each grabbed Wufei�s arms while Quatre ran in between them, plowing into Wufei�s chest and tackling him down. All four of them fell together onto the hardwood bed.
"Ow," Heero and Trowa both said, as there elbows were simultaneously jarred and a tingle ran up to their baby fingers.
Quatre sat on top of Wufei and thwacked away Wufei�s sword. Wufei screamed and struggled even harder.
"Quick, tie him to the bed!" Quatre said. Trowa removed some rope from his backpack and expertly tied Wufei�s wrists to the bed posts, then his ankles.
Quatre bent over Wufei�s head and started yelling into his face. "Snap out of it!"
"Oh, little brother�," one of Quatre�s sisters called out in a sing-song voice from down the hall. She waltzed over to the doorway. "Hello, I was wondering if�dear God! What is happening here?"
All she saw was Wufei tied to the bed with Quatre lying on top of him. And Duo�s face covered with dirt. She didn�t know what to make out of Duo but that was besides the point!
Quatre, seeing Belinda�s face all red, suddenly realized what she might be thinking and blushed. He pointed to Wufei and said, "It�s all his fault."
Belinda shook her head in disbelief.
"Get him off me!" Wufei cried for added effect.
Quatre immediately crawled off him and rolled onto the floor. His shoulder brushed against something that clattered and Quatre, realizing what it was, quickly tried to shove it under the bed but, like Duo realized, it was only a microscopic crack.
"What is this?" Belinda cried, walking into the room. She came up to Quatre and Quatre moved out of the way, trying to hide Wufei�s sword behind his back. But it was no use.
Belinda drew out the sword, slicing off a few of Quatre�s hairs. She looked from the sword, to Wufei still tied on the bed and a look of disgust crossed her face. "Quatre, I didn�t know you were into these type of things."
"No�" Quatre shook his head in denial.
"And�your boxers, what are they doing all the way over here?"
Quatre looked. Oops. Where Wufei had flung Quatre�s boxers, they were now dangling sexily off of Wufei�s bedpost. Quatre had missed that one. Quatre quickly snatched them away but that action only made him look more guilty.
By now, the rest of Quatre�s sisters had heard the commotion and were peeking through the doorway. Duo, seeing all the girls, quickly ducked behind Wufei�s bed and started wiping his dirty face on Wufei�s blankets. Wufei saw what Duo was doing to his blankets and started struggling against his bonds, voice crying out in rage.
"Oh, you poor boy." Belinda came over and started untying the ropes. All of Quatre�s sisters looked from Wufei, to the sword, and then to Quatre holding his boxers. They didn�t know what to make of Duo wiping his face on Wufei�s blanket but that was besides the point.
"Oh, you poor boy," they echoed and they all gathered around Wufei�s bed, trying to console him.
Wufei finally got his wrists untied and wanted to start after Duo again but all of Quatre�s sisters flocked around him and started patting his head, asking him if he was all right whispering words of support against Quatre�s harassment. Wufei couldn�t move.
Quatre didn�t know what to do. He was standing to one side, watching all his sisters give Wufei peer counselling. How had Quatre suddenly become the bad guy around here?
"I think you had better leave," Heero said to Duo and, grabbing Duo�s arm, plowed him out of the room. Trowa, doing the same to the dazed Quatre, brought him outside into the hall and down the stairs. They could all hear Wufei�s yell when he realized that his quarry had gotten away.
"No, come back here! I�m not through with you yet!"
All of Quatre�s sisters looked at Wufei weirdly. "You mean, you actually like this kind of stuff?" asked Belinda.
Wufei, not getting the meaning, cried, "Yes!" and tried getting up. A look of distaste crossed over all of the girls� faces and they quickly made room for him, letting him pass.
Wufei ran out the door. "You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me?" he was yelling down the hall.
All of Quatre�s sisters shivered.
"You know, we have to do something about our little brother," said Trista, fingering the silk blanket, then recoiling her hand after realizing what could have passed if they hadn't come in.
"I agree," said Davina. "He is becoming way too aggressive."
Everyone nodded around, then filed out of the room, ready to convert Quatre to the side of good for the sake of all.
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Part 3: Woody-haired Creatures