The Birds II Quatre looked up sleepily as his fellow gundam pilots walked into the c abin ahead of him. He titled his head to the side as he heard the call of a crow in the trees above. Somehow that call made shivers crawl up his spine. < It's just a bird, Quatre. Get a grip. > But somehow he knew his spaceheart wasn't telling him wrong. Something was going to happen. "Hey, Quatre! Are you alright?" Duo peeked his head from out of a window in the cabin. "Yeah, I'm fine!" < Just paranoid. > Quatre thought as he turned to look back at the trees. < I must not be a wilderness person. > Trowa looked up from his pack as Quatre came into the room and collapsed on the bed. He frowned with worry. "Still tired?" "Yeah...Travel makes me tired." Quatre responded, his voice muffled by a pillow. Suddenly he turned to look at Trowa. "Um...Trowa?" Trowa put the last of his clothes in the drawer and shut it with a ‘snap'. "Yes?" "Do you ever get the feeling that ...well...nevermind." < I'm just paranoid. That's all. I shouldn't put my problems on poor Trowa. > Trowa stood there silent as he stared down at Quatre's resting form. He sighed and got in the bed behind him, wrapping his arms tightly around the smaller boy's waist. Quatre smiled as he felt Trowa settle against him. < This can wait til morning.... > `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Wufei looked around the cabin with an eager eye...then frowned. "Maxwell, where's the food?" "Huh?" Duo said as he crawled from under his bed, unidentifiable substances clinging to his hair. "Where's the food?" Wufei repeated, his patience wearing thin. "Oh, food? Hmm....let me see....I don't know." "ARGH! I'm hungry!" Wufei yelled as he stomped around the cabin looking for food, "I bust my butt trying to drive with /Maxwell/ in the van and then when we get to the cabin there's no food! WHERE'S THE JUSTICE!" Wufei ducked as a bag of popcorn was thrown in his direction....from under another bed. "Huh?" "There's food," Duo grinned as he straightened out his braid, "The previous campers must have left it. Pig out!" "Maxwell, you are the most disgusting..." "Whaa...Whaaa I do?" Duo said around a mouthful of popcorn. "ARGH! I'm going to have to get my own food then!" Wufei yelled as he stormed to his room and shut the door. "What did you do, Duo?" Heero yelled from his room. "Nothing. I just gave him a bag of popcorn." ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Wufei walked out of his room, his katana in hand as he saw Maxwell sprawled on the floor, the empty bag of popcorn in his hand. "Disgusting." "Wu-man! Where you going?" "I told you not to call me that!" "Aw, come on. Don't be mad." "Well...for your information...I'm going to hunt for our food." Duo stared at Wufei, his katana, and then at Wufei again. "You're joking." "No, I'm quite serious." "But, Wu-man...why don't you just cook something if you're so hungry? We have food in the pantry." "WHAT?!" "I know I said that we didn't have food...but I was drunk! Never trust me when I'm drunk." "MAXWELL!" ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Heero looked up from his computer, and Duo looked up from Heero as the banging of pots, pans and cursing could be heard coming from the kitchen. "What's he trying to do in there?" Heero asked absently. "Oh, trying to cook something. He must be really hungry to go through all that! You know I've never seen him cook anything before, I wonder what's going on in there. Before, if anyone tried to watch him cook he'd kick them out or threaten to cut their braid." He said as he wrapped a possessive finger around a tendril of his hair. "Ah..." "Yeah! So, now I don't think it would be a good time to go in there. He's already mad at me tonight for some reason. Do you know why?" "Hmmm..." "Me neither. Hey Wu-man! Why are you mad at me?" A fresh string of curses burst forth from the kitchen and the sound of bubbling came to their attention. "Shut up, Maxwell! I'm trying to concentrate!" Duo shrugged his shoulders and looked over at Heero, "See? He just won't tell me. It's not like I do it on purpose or anything....Sorry, Wu-chan!" "ARGH!" Wufei yelled as something crashed to the floor. "Do you think he needs my help?" "........" "Yeah, you're right. He'll just get mad at me." "........" "You're right that is like Wufei! I'll just let him cool off." "........." "Thanks! I like my hair too!" *sweatdrop* ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` "Duo, why don't you go do something useful?" Heero mumbled. "Oh, but I am doing something useful! I'm talking to you!" "....Why don't you go do something really useful?" "But I am doing something really..." "Duo, go chop firewood." "Okay." `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` "I can't believe I got lost." Duo mumbled to himself, "I'm going to get the biggest lecture of my now very short life." Duo walked on, two bundles of firewood in his arms. < And even more in my hair. > He thought ruefully. "Heero's gonna find me here, wandering in circles! It's the damn bird's fault!" *FLASHBACK* "Duo this and Duo that! Duo, go find me food! Duo, go get firewood! Duo, Shut up! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Duo yelled as he walked through the woods, his braid flying out behind him and snagging on every tree he passed. "Ow!" He turned back to glare at the tree that had snagged his braid. "Stupid tree. Leggo!" With a huff he tore his braid from the grip of the tree and was about to move on when he heard the sound of..... wings? Duo slowly looked up to see... "AHHH!" Hundreds of crows flocked from the tree, all headed for one person. Duo. "Get away from me!" He yelled as the birds kept making grabs for his hair. He had the feeling they were taunting him, trying to see how he'd react. We'll he'd show them! He wasn't a gundam pilot for nothing! "Okay, you flying freaks! You asked for it!" *BANG!* The crows scattered. Duo smiled and looked around to find he was.... "Lost. Damn!" *END FLASHBACK* `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` *BANG!* Heero looked up quickly from his computer as he heard the sound of a gunshot. "Duo..." "Yuy, what's going on?" Wufei said around a mouthful of spaghetti. "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." Heero said as he grabbed his gun, "Keep watch while I'm gone." "Hai." But as Heero approached the door...he stopped. "What the hell are dead birds doing all over our front porch?" To Be Continued....