The Birds V Quatre woke up slowly to the gentle pitter-patter of rain as it hit the cabin roof and washed down the windowpanes. It was getting colder, he noted, and he shivered slightly as he sat up from his warm spot on the floor. Yawning, he stretched his arms above his head, and turned slightly to see Trowa curled up between him and the oven. Being careful not to wake him, he slowly stood up. Duo lay sprawled in the middle of the kitchen floor, his braid half undone, and his mouth hanging open as he snored softly. Heero lay beside him, his hand tightly clutching Duo’s braid. Quatre sighed as he stepped over them, and walked over to the window above the sink, where Wufei was perched on the counter, his sword across his lap in readiness. How Wufei could sleep sitting up he did not know, but he managed to do it. Droplets of rain slid down the windowpane, almost obscuring the forest beyond, but Quatre leaned close and saw through the darkeness to their minivan parked just a few yards away from the tree line. < How are we ever going to reach it? > He wondered silently, < There is no sound but I know they’re still there. > As if to confirm his speculation, lightning suddenly lit up the forest, reveling dark figures perched in the trees, numbering in the hundreds. Startled, Quatre gasped and stumbled back. To his dismay, his foot landed on something soft and a wail of pain signaled to him what it was. “ Quatre! My hair!” Soon, everyone woke up to a very embarrassed and blushing Quatre. “ Ah…um…gomen?” *glares* Needless to say, everyone was a little bit more high strung than usual. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````` “ …So we need some sort of plan.” Groans were heard from various corners of the room, as Wufei continued his forty-minute tirade. Trowa looked over at Quatre, who was holding his stomach and trying not to laugh. He followed his gaze over to Duo, making funny faces of Wufei running from the birds. < Birds…chasing us…> He slowly lifted his hand up to his face and felt the marks left from the bird’s beak. < We could d ie, from birds. We’re gundam pilots and we might die from birds! > “ Hahahahahahaha!” Wufei clamped his mouth shut tight, and looked over at Trowa in astonishment. He was rolling on the floor laughing, tears streaming from his eyes as he struggled to hold it in. Duo whistled,” I didn’t know I was /that/ funny.” “ You aren’t.” Heero said. “ Hey! That’s no fair! Heero…” Trowa quieting down, caused Duo to shut up instantly. Trowa sat up, his mask back on his face and stared at them in confusion. “Did..did I just…” “ Yep.” Duo said, smiling. Quatre’s mouth hung open in surprise. “We’re in trouble.” “Yep.” ````````````````````````````````````````````` “Are we all going crazy?” snap click pop Quatre looked over helplessly at Heero as he took apart and put back together his gun in rapid succession. He groaned in frustration. “ Well, *hickup* I’m not…uh…going crazy!” Wufei put his hand on over his face in defeat as he took in Duo’s drunken form. < I thought he was more quiet than usual…> “ Kisama! Who let Maxwell into the cupboard!” “ Well, I had to do something to keep from being bored out of my mind!” Duo ranted,” Boring, boring, boring…” Trowa opened his eyes slightly, “ Why doesn’t everyone just go to sleep.” Quatre sighed and laid his head on Trowa’s lap, ready to doze off. Wufei crawled over to the cupboard and shut the door. Duo yawned and crawled over to Heero’s lap, only to be met with a gun in the snoot. “ Hey! Heero…huh?” Duo blinked once, then twice as he looked down at a slumbering Heero.” Wow. Automatic! Now that’s what I like in a guy!” Being careful to avoid sudden death, Duo curled up next to Heero and entered slumber land. All remained quiet in the cabin, wind whistled in the trees. Heero turned over restlessly,” Hmm…underneath…” To Be Continued…