Aya: OH-HA! It's me again! To terrorize you guys with yet another fic! Tee hee.
X: Awww... more unconsciousness.
Aya: Sheesh! Are you that pessimistic that you'd think I'd write the same event in two
fics?
X: Uh.. just a bit.
Aya: Well, you WILL be pleasantly surprised! Mwa ha ha ha!
Zero: Dang, she's doing a laughing fit again.
Aya: Oh yeah, this is a shounen-ai fic... mainly. But there will be a semi girl guy pairing
in there somewhere too (dang, now I've alienated BOTH communities...) Well, the "evil"
character will be a female trying to run off with one (hum... maybe both?) of our heroes.
So yeah, don't read if you're offended by guy guy or girl guy pairings. Rest assured,
though, I usually don't do anything graphic, in either pairing.
Mob Member 1: WHAT?! A GIRL! In a shounen-ai fic? EWIE!!!
Mob Member 2: This is totally unheard of.
Aya: Oh come on! Keep an open mind!
Zero: Are you sure you're not the evil female character trying to run off with both of us?
*points of himself and X*
Aya: *Evil villainess laugh* No, no dear. But I sure wish I could! PS: Legal disclaimer,
I don't own any of the Capcom characters. End of story.. I mean, beginning of story, er..
ahh... just read!
---------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 1: Mysterious Eyes
The air was crisp. The sky was especially blue. Everything seemed more beautiful when he
was around. X and Zero were enjoying a day off from their usual duties, and sat together on
a green stretch of grass at the city botanical garden, back to back. X leaned his head back,
resting it on Zero's shoulder to get a wider view of the sky above.
"What part of this are you supposed to enjoy?" Zero asked curiously. "I just seem to be...
bored." X laughed softly.
"You're supposed to be relaxing. This botanical garden is one of the highest rated in the
world." A butterfly few by X's face. "Just look at everything. And listen..." Both of
them paused. "No, alarm sirens."
"This would be a great place to take a nap!" Zero said enthusiastically, then made
exaggerated snoring sounds. X suddenly got up, causing Zero to loose his balance and fall
flat on his back. "Ow! I was just kidding!" When he sat up, he saw the concerned look on
X's face. His green eyes darted about the garden. "X, what's wrong."
"Someone's watching us." X said.
"Watching us? I don't care who finds out about us." Zero smiled. "Besides, half the hunters
have already figured it out. It's not a secret anymore."
"It's not that. I just..." X sat down again. "... got this creepy feeling, as if someone
dangerous were around." Now X looked embarrassed about his reaction.
"No worries." Zero patted X on the head. "I'm here to protect you!" Zero wore a giant grin
on his face, until X grabbed the arm Zero was patting his head with, twisted it in an Aikido
move and pushed Zero against the ground.
"Oh?" X smiled, pinning Zero down. "You're going to protect me? Or do you need protection
_from_ me?"
Zero returned the smile, glad that X had forgotten about the phantom spy ruining their time
together. Participating in this new game, Zero raised his head closer to X and kissed the
hunter. As X was distracted, Zero managed to maneuver himself to pin X on the ground.
X's green eyes first went wide with surprise, then softened when he met Zero's gaze.
"I think it's choice number 1." Zero whispered, then rolled to the side and laid on the
grass. "You're right." He watched the clouds passing slowly above him. "This is a nice
place. Let's come back often."
--------------------------------------
/////"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She brushed some dust off. "I just got caught up at the wrong place at
the wrong time." As she tried to stand, she realized some of her leg circuitry had been
damaged.
"Oh! You can't stand." He reached down and picked her up. "I hope you don't mind, but this
is the fastest way to get you to the repair center."
She blushed. "No... I don't mind at all..."/////
She watched X and Zero, lying on the grass beside each other, and the warm feelings from her
memories were quickly burned away by jealousy. Oh, what she would have given to be the one
lying next to him, but it was old news now that X and Zero were a couple.
"Soon..." She continued to look on. "Soon we'll be together."
-------------------------------------
X and Zero arrived back a the Maverick Hunter Headquarters office the next day to rumors that
an unidentified virus had infected several of the staff members.
"It's strange." Douglas told the two hunters as they had lunch in the cafeteria. "Five people
have caught it already, but it doesn't seem to be contagious, so we have no idea how they got it.
At least it's not life threatening. Alia caught it as well, and she's in bed with a big headache."
"This started yesterday?" X asked.
"Late last night." Douglas nodded. "Five Reploids checked into the medical center within an
hour of each other. We're still trying to find a common factor between the five of them.
Until then, we've relieved them of duty. They can't be much help with a big headache, anyway."
"So have we found replacements for everyone?" Zero joined in. "We are already shorthanded
to begin with."
"Actually, we have a couple of Reploids fresh out of training from the academy." Douglas looked
over his shoulder. "They're all sitting at that table over there, with Signas. He thought it
would be a good idea to have lunch with the new recruits."
One of the recruits pulled her gaze away from Signas, who looked like he was giving a long
lecture about protocol to the bored new recruits. She glanced over at the table where X,
Zero, and Douglas sat, smiled, then returned her attention to Signas and nodded.
"Did she just look at us?" X blinked.
"Her name is Faith." Douglas sighed happily. "She's awfully cute, isn't she?"
"I think she was looking at you, X." Zero teased.
"Wha, what?!" X sat up straight in his chair, eyes wide. "I.. I..."
"I'm kidding." Zero nudged X with his elbow. "Can't you take a joke?"
"I should go." Douglas got up. "I have to go work on the virus problem."
"I have to go, too." X finished drinking his tea. "I think Signas is starting to get
irritated by those unfinished reports. Are you coming?" He asked Zero.
"This chocolate ice cream requires my attention." Zero said with complete seriousness. "I'll
join you at the office when I'm done dealing with this crisis."
"Okay." X winked at Zero before turning to go. "Later!"
Zero waved goodbye to the two, then continued eating his ice cream. Out of the corner of his eye,
he caught Faith looking in the direction of his table again, with an intense look in her eyes.
She looked as if she had completely forgotten all about Signas and the other people at her table.
Even when Zero looked up at her, she did not flinch, and instead, continued the intense gaze.
She looked... angry.
//What in the...// Zero thought. //Why is she looking at me like that?// After a couple more
moments of the staring, she excused herself from the table and left the dinning commons. Zero
shook his head in confusion when the doors closed behind her. "Women." He said as he ate
another spoonful of ice cream.
-------------------------
X's attention was pulled away from his paperwork when someone entered the work area. He recognized
her as the Reploid he saw at the dinning commons earlier. Thoughts about what Zero said earlier
flooded back to his head, and he blushed slightly, still bothered by Zero's joke. Faith scanned
the office and started towards X. When she reached his table, she smiled and extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm faith, the temporary navigator for your unit." X got up and shook her hand. "You're
commander X, right?"
"Just X is fine." He sat back down. "Please, grab a chair and sit down." She took the nearest chair
and pulled it up to X's desk. "So, have you had any experience navigating before?"
"A bit, yes." She nodded. "My team finished first in the academy wide competition." She beamed
proudly. "I'm happy to have a chance to work on your team."
"Have you met the other members of the 17th unit?" X asked. She shook her head. "I should
introduce you to the team later today."
"Thank you, you're so nice!"
"Uh.." X blushed again. Usually he was the most cheery one in the room, and meeting someone else
who surpassed him in that category was a little unusual. "Thank you."
She clasped her hands together in front of her and smiled coyly as she stared down. "Um... X?...Uh.."
"Yes?"
"Um... Would you... join me... for dinner...tonight? At 7:00." Her eyes looked hopefully up at X,
who was caught completely off guard. He was at a loss for words. "It would mean a lot to me."
-------------------------
"Wahhh ha ha ha HA! You said WHAT?!" Tears welled up in Zero's eyes from excessive laughter.
"Oh man! I can't believe you actually got suckered into a date!" He continued to laugh, rolling
around on the couch he was sitting on.
"Hey!" X strained his voice. "This is serious! I didn't mean to agree on a date! It's just that,
she was... giving me this... look." He plopped down next to Zero and sighed. "I couldn't say no.
It would probably break her heart if I did that."
Zero continued to laugh while X thought about his "date" with the new navigator, Faith. He thought
about how she jumped up and down and cheered when he muttered something about "okay" and bolted out
of the room to get ready.
"Shouldn't you be somewhat concerned I'm going out on a date with someone else?" X made a face at Zero,
who looked like he was finally going to stop laughing. "Aren't you the least bit jealous?"
"Jealous?" Zero wiped away the tears from his eyes and let out a couple of small laughs that remained
in his system. "Well, heck yes, I'm jealous that she'll be stealing you away from me tonight." He
brushed his fingers across his face. "I'll be thinking about you a lot... I know you'll be a
complete gentleman about the date, and let her know how you really feel. I trust you." He planted a
kiss on his cheek. "Besides, I'm much prettier than her."
X chuckled and hugged Zero. What he didn't tell Zero was that he had an immensely bad feeling about
his date with Faith. Something about her eyes wasn't right. He didn't notice it until after she left
him at the office. Little things like the movement of her eyes, the way she smiled... Something
wasn't right about her.
-----------------------------------------
"X!" Faith said excitedly. "Come in! I'm almost finished with dinner!" Somewhat nervously, he
entered her quarters and saw the dining room table had been nicely set with two place settings. He
was somewhat relieved the atmosphere was not as heavy as it could be. There were no romantic candles
set in the center of the table, no dimmed lights. It actually looked pretty innocent.
"Smells great." X commented. "What did you make?"
"Fried chicken!" Faith chimed from the kitchen. "My favorite."
X scratched his head. Either he completely got the wrong idea about the point of the dinner, or Faith
had no idea about what the words "romantic atmosphere" meant. //Fried chicken? What's next? A movie
on TV while we have dinner?//
"Oh!" She came out of the kitchen with a platter of chicken. "I also ordered a movie we could watch
with dinner!" X almost fell over. "Well, they didn't have my first choice available, so I got this
other one I've never seen before... let's hope it's not too boring!" X started to sit down at the
dining table, but she headed straight for the couch with the platter of chicken. "Um.. dinner will
be served at the coffee table, this makes watching the movie easier."
//Definitely. Not. Romantic.// X thought happily as he headed over to the couch to join Faith.
//She just wanted to be friends. This is great!//
The movie started, and the two started munching on the chicken. Unfortunately, the movie seemed quite
boring, and soon X started to lose interest in the film and instead started to nod off. At first he
fought it, since he didn't want to be rude, but the plot of the foreign film was completely lost to him,
and soon his eyelids got too heavy to keep open.
"X?" She whispered softly, then nudged X lightly. The hunter was out like a light, and fell over on the
sofa. Faith smiled darkly and wiped her hands off on a napkin, then reached in her pocket and took out a
chip. She got up from the sofa and caressed X's face with her hands. "You are sweet." His sleeping face
looked angelic. "I can see why Zero fell for you." Carefully she lifted the chip in the air and admired
it. "But no one will stand between me and my man. Soon..." She looked down at X. "Soon..."
--------------------------------------------
Mob Member 1: I don't know about this girl idea....
Aya: Well, we killed off Vile in the last fic, so unless you want to see some Sigma and X action, you'd better
just live with it!
Mob Member 2: Waah! NOOOOO. We'll be good.
Zero: Wow, she's gotten much more assertive since her first fic.
X: Could it be the ego getting to her head.
Faith: Nah, I'd say it's the Pepsi.
X and Zero: *Dashes behind Aya*
X: Eeek! How could you drug me! *Looks accusingly at Aya* I thought you said you weren't going to do that again!
Aya: Hee hee, old habits die hard, I guess, but keep in mind about what I said about surprise!
Faith: Oooo, playing hard to get, I likee! *evil grin*
Aya: Ur.. join us next week. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.
X: Awww... more unconsciousness.
Aya: Sheesh! Are you that pessimistic that you'd think I'd write the same event in two
fics?
X: Uh.. just a bit.
Aya: Well, you WILL be pleasantly surprised! Mwa ha ha ha!
Zero: Dang, she's doing a laughing fit again.
Aya: Oh yeah, this is a shounen-ai fic... mainly. But there will be a semi girl guy pairing
in there somewhere too (dang, now I've alienated BOTH communities...) Well, the "evil"
character will be a female trying to run off with one (hum... maybe both?) of our heroes.
So yeah, don't read if you're offended by guy guy or girl guy pairings. Rest assured,
though, I usually don't do anything graphic, in either pairing.
Mob Member 1: WHAT?! A GIRL! In a shounen-ai fic? EWIE!!!
Mob Member 2: This is totally unheard of.
Aya: Oh come on! Keep an open mind!
Zero: Are you sure you're not the evil female character trying to run off with both of us?
*points of himself and X*
Aya: *Evil villainess laugh* No, no dear. But I sure wish I could! PS: Legal disclaimer,
I don't own any of the Capcom characters. End of story.. I mean, beginning of story, er..
ahh... just read!
---------------------------------
Hunted Heart
Chapter 1: Mysterious Eyes
The air was crisp. The sky was especially blue. Everything seemed more beautiful when he
was around. X and Zero were enjoying a day off from their usual duties, and sat together on
a green stretch of grass at the city botanical garden, back to back. X leaned his head back,
resting it on Zero's shoulder to get a wider view of the sky above.
"What part of this are you supposed to enjoy?" Zero asked curiously. "I just seem to be...
bored." X laughed softly.
"You're supposed to be relaxing. This botanical garden is one of the highest rated in the
world." A butterfly few by X's face. "Just look at everything. And listen..." Both of
them paused. "No, alarm sirens."
"This would be a great place to take a nap!" Zero said enthusiastically, then made
exaggerated snoring sounds. X suddenly got up, causing Zero to loose his balance and fall
flat on his back. "Ow! I was just kidding!" When he sat up, he saw the concerned look on
X's face. His green eyes darted about the garden. "X, what's wrong."
"Someone's watching us." X said.
"Watching us? I don't care who finds out about us." Zero smiled. "Besides, half the hunters
have already figured it out. It's not a secret anymore."
"It's not that. I just..." X sat down again. "... got this creepy feeling, as if someone
dangerous were around." Now X looked embarrassed about his reaction.
"No worries." Zero patted X on the head. "I'm here to protect you!" Zero wore a giant grin
on his face, until X grabbed the arm Zero was patting his head with, twisted it in an Aikido
move and pushed Zero against the ground.
"Oh?" X smiled, pinning Zero down. "You're going to protect me? Or do you need protection
_from_ me?"
Zero returned the smile, glad that X had forgotten about the phantom spy ruining their time
together. Participating in this new game, Zero raised his head closer to X and kissed the
hunter. As X was distracted, Zero managed to maneuver himself to pin X on the ground.
X's green eyes first went wide with surprise, then softened when he met Zero's gaze.
"I think it's choice number 1." Zero whispered, then rolled to the side and laid on the
grass. "You're right." He watched the clouds passing slowly above him. "This is a nice
place. Let's come back often."
--------------------------------------
/////"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She brushed some dust off. "I just got caught up at the wrong place at
the wrong time." As she tried to stand, she realized some of her leg circuitry had been
damaged.
"Oh! You can't stand." He reached down and picked her up. "I hope you don't mind, but this
is the fastest way to get you to the repair center."
She blushed. "No... I don't mind at all..."/////
She watched X and Zero, lying on the grass beside each other, and the warm feelings from her
memories were quickly burned away by jealousy. Oh, what she would have given to be the one
lying next to him, but it was old news now that X and Zero were a couple.
"Soon..." She continued to look on. "Soon we'll be together."
-------------------------------------
X and Zero arrived back a the Maverick Hunter Headquarters office the next day to rumors that
an unidentified virus had infected several of the staff members.
"It's strange." Douglas told the two hunters as they had lunch in the cafeteria. "Five people
have caught it already, but it doesn't seem to be contagious, so we have no idea how they got it.
At least it's not life threatening. Alia caught it as well, and she's in bed with a big headache."
"This started yesterday?" X asked.
"Late last night." Douglas nodded. "Five Reploids checked into the medical center within an
hour of each other. We're still trying to find a common factor between the five of them.
Until then, we've relieved them of duty. They can't be much help with a big headache, anyway."
"So have we found replacements for everyone?" Zero joined in. "We are already shorthanded
to begin with."
"Actually, we have a couple of Reploids fresh out of training from the academy." Douglas looked
over his shoulder. "They're all sitting at that table over there, with Signas. He thought it
would be a good idea to have lunch with the new recruits."
One of the recruits pulled her gaze away from Signas, who looked like he was giving a long
lecture about protocol to the bored new recruits. She glanced over at the table where X,
Zero, and Douglas sat, smiled, then returned her attention to Signas and nodded.
"Did she just look at us?" X blinked.
"Her name is Faith." Douglas sighed happily. "She's awfully cute, isn't she?"
"I think she was looking at you, X." Zero teased.
"Wha, what?!" X sat up straight in his chair, eyes wide. "I.. I..."
"I'm kidding." Zero nudged X with his elbow. "Can't you take a joke?"
"I should go." Douglas got up. "I have to go work on the virus problem."
"I have to go, too." X finished drinking his tea. "I think Signas is starting to get
irritated by those unfinished reports. Are you coming?" He asked Zero.
"This chocolate ice cream requires my attention." Zero said with complete seriousness. "I'll
join you at the office when I'm done dealing with this crisis."
"Okay." X winked at Zero before turning to go. "Later!"
Zero waved goodbye to the two, then continued eating his ice cream. Out of the corner of his eye,
he caught Faith looking in the direction of his table again, with an intense look in her eyes.
She looked as if she had completely forgotten all about Signas and the other people at her table.
Even when Zero looked up at her, she did not flinch, and instead, continued the intense gaze.
She looked... angry.
//What in the...// Zero thought. //Why is she looking at me like that?// After a couple more
moments of the staring, she excused herself from the table and left the dinning commons. Zero
shook his head in confusion when the doors closed behind her. "Women." He said as he ate
another spoonful of ice cream.
-------------------------
X's attention was pulled away from his paperwork when someone entered the work area. He recognized
her as the Reploid he saw at the dinning commons earlier. Thoughts about what Zero said earlier
flooded back to his head, and he blushed slightly, still bothered by Zero's joke. Faith scanned
the office and started towards X. When she reached his table, she smiled and extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm faith, the temporary navigator for your unit." X got up and shook her hand. "You're
commander X, right?"
"Just X is fine." He sat back down. "Please, grab a chair and sit down." She took the nearest chair
and pulled it up to X's desk. "So, have you had any experience navigating before?"
"A bit, yes." She nodded. "My team finished first in the academy wide competition." She beamed
proudly. "I'm happy to have a chance to work on your team."
"Have you met the other members of the 17th unit?" X asked. She shook her head. "I should
introduce you to the team later today."
"Thank you, you're so nice!"
"Uh.." X blushed again. Usually he was the most cheery one in the room, and meeting someone else
who surpassed him in that category was a little unusual. "Thank you."
She clasped her hands together in front of her and smiled coyly as she stared down. "Um... X?...Uh.."
"Yes?"
"Um... Would you... join me... for dinner...tonight? At 7:00." Her eyes looked hopefully up at X,
who was caught completely off guard. He was at a loss for words. "It would mean a lot to me."
-------------------------
"Wahhh ha ha ha HA! You said WHAT?!" Tears welled up in Zero's eyes from excessive laughter.
"Oh man! I can't believe you actually got suckered into a date!" He continued to laugh, rolling
around on the couch he was sitting on.
"Hey!" X strained his voice. "This is serious! I didn't mean to agree on a date! It's just that,
she was... giving me this... look." He plopped down next to Zero and sighed. "I couldn't say no.
It would probably break her heart if I did that."
Zero continued to laugh while X thought about his "date" with the new navigator, Faith. He thought
about how she jumped up and down and cheered when he muttered something about "okay" and bolted out
of the room to get ready.
"Shouldn't you be somewhat concerned I'm going out on a date with someone else?" X made a face at Zero,
who looked like he was finally going to stop laughing. "Aren't you the least bit jealous?"
"Jealous?" Zero wiped away the tears from his eyes and let out a couple of small laughs that remained
in his system. "Well, heck yes, I'm jealous that she'll be stealing you away from me tonight." He
brushed his fingers across his face. "I'll be thinking about you a lot... I know you'll be a
complete gentleman about the date, and let her know how you really feel. I trust you." He planted a
kiss on his cheek. "Besides, I'm much prettier than her."
X chuckled and hugged Zero. What he didn't tell Zero was that he had an immensely bad feeling about
his date with Faith. Something about her eyes wasn't right. He didn't notice it until after she left
him at the office. Little things like the movement of her eyes, the way she smiled... Something
wasn't right about her.
-----------------------------------------
"X!" Faith said excitedly. "Come in! I'm almost finished with dinner!" Somewhat nervously, he
entered her quarters and saw the dining room table had been nicely set with two place settings. He
was somewhat relieved the atmosphere was not as heavy as it could be. There were no romantic candles
set in the center of the table, no dimmed lights. It actually looked pretty innocent.
"Smells great." X commented. "What did you make?"
"Fried chicken!" Faith chimed from the kitchen. "My favorite."
X scratched his head. Either he completely got the wrong idea about the point of the dinner, or Faith
had no idea about what the words "romantic atmosphere" meant. //Fried chicken? What's next? A movie
on TV while we have dinner?//
"Oh!" She came out of the kitchen with a platter of chicken. "I also ordered a movie we could watch
with dinner!" X almost fell over. "Well, they didn't have my first choice available, so I got this
other one I've never seen before... let's hope it's not too boring!" X started to sit down at the
dining table, but she headed straight for the couch with the platter of chicken. "Um.. dinner will
be served at the coffee table, this makes watching the movie easier."
//Definitely. Not. Romantic.// X thought happily as he headed over to the couch to join Faith.
//She just wanted to be friends. This is great!//
The movie started, and the two started munching on the chicken. Unfortunately, the movie seemed quite
boring, and soon X started to lose interest in the film and instead started to nod off. At first he
fought it, since he didn't want to be rude, but the plot of the foreign film was completely lost to him,
and soon his eyelids got too heavy to keep open.
"X?" She whispered softly, then nudged X lightly. The hunter was out like a light, and fell over on the
sofa. Faith smiled darkly and wiped her hands off on a napkin, then reached in her pocket and took out a
chip. She got up from the sofa and caressed X's face with her hands. "You are sweet." His sleeping face
looked angelic. "I can see why Zero fell for you." Carefully she lifted the chip in the air and admired
it. "But no one will stand between me and my man. Soon..." She looked down at X. "Soon..."
--------------------------------------------
Mob Member 1: I don't know about this girl idea....
Aya: Well, we killed off Vile in the last fic, so unless you want to see some Sigma and X action, you'd better
just live with it!
Mob Member 2: Waah! NOOOOO. We'll be good.
Zero: Wow, she's gotten much more assertive since her first fic.
X: Could it be the ego getting to her head.
Faith: Nah, I'd say it's the Pepsi.
X and Zero: *Dashes behind Aya*
X: Eeek! How could you drug me! *Looks accusingly at Aya* I thought you said you weren't going to do that again!
Aya: Hee hee, old habits die hard, I guess, but keep in mind about what I said about surprise!
Faith: Oooo, playing hard to get, I likee! *evil grin*
Aya: Ur.. join us next week. Same Bat time, same Bat channel.