Author's Note:  I decided to divide Chapter 6 up in to two smaller sections.  This is not new stuff; it's only been reorganized slightly.  Sorry for the false alarm.  However, I have posted a new Zero One Arc fiction: Roommates.  Thanks!

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The Taki and Wufei Story

Chapter 7: No Objections

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            Taki slides into the seat across from Duo and considers his somber expression.  She ignores the golden light trickling through the living room window and wonders what's wrong.  He doesn't say anything, simply lifts his cooling cup of coffee to his lips and takes a sip.  In fact, Duo hasn't said much at all since he'd found her last night.  She fidgets in her seat, feeling distinctly bad for her selfishness the night before when Duo obviously has a lot on his mind.  After a moment, she says, "Where's Bisho?"

            Duo's gaze finally lifts to hers.  "Out."

            "This early?"

            He tells her, "She didn't come home last night."

            "You mean she's out on the streets?"

            He nods.

            "Why didn't you say something?  Let me get my coat and we'll..."

            "It's all right, Taki.  She's not alone."

            Taki frowns.  "What do you mean?"

            Wordlessly, Duo hands her a note.  Her eyes widen as she reads Bisho's neat, precise handwriting:

            Duo, don't freak out.  Wufei needs to get a few things straight.  We'll be back after he manages to shit the stick out of his ass.  Bisho.

            Taki sits down.  She can't believe it.  Bisho and Wufei... out there... all night...  She glances up at Duo, worried in spite of herself.  "Do you think they'll be okay?"

            The corner of Duo's mouth lifts.  "Oh, Bisho can take care of herself.  It's Wufei we should be worried about."

            Silently, Taki agrees with him.

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            The fire escape railing digs into his back.  Frowning, Wufei's eyes flutter open.  For a moment, he experiences a moment of pure disorientation.  Where is he?  How the hell did he get here?  And who's sleeping next to him?

            He glances down and finds himself greeted by Bisho's face, relaxed and young in sleep.  It's at that moment that he remembers.

            He's homeless.

            Slowly, he releases a breath and leans back against the metal bars.  He's aware of his arm circling her shoulders, drawing her closer to his warmth.  It had been cold last night.  And all of the warm nooks and crannies had been taken.  This had been the best she'd been able to find.

            "It's better to be cold than to have to fight off the owner," she'd said.

            He takes this quiet moment to reflect on everything that had happened the night before.  The people who seemed more like animals than human beings.  The offers she'd constantly had to fend off.  The appraising looks they'd both received.  The money she'd stolen at the club.  The argument in the dilapidated stoop a few minutes later.

            This can't be my life, he tells himself, refusing to accept the fate she'd outlined for him.  But although it isn't his life, Wufei realizes that there are many, many people, for whom this world is all there is.  Stealing a few bucks from rave-goers, slinking through the shadows to avoid the alpha males strolling down the block, searching for someplace safe and possibly warm to rest.  No, this isn't his life.

            But it had been Taki's.

            Wufei is unaware of the look on his own face, unaware of the sudden tension in his body, unaware that this slight deviation in his posture has awoken his companion.

            Slowly, Bisho stirs and smiles when Wufei looks down at her in surprise.  He closes his expression quickly, but not before she sees his thoughts reflected in his eyes.  Gradually, she sits up and examines his once-pristine wardrobe.  Now they're little more than rags; those rust and oil stains will never come out.

            Bisho carefully stands and stretches.  She notices that Wufei doesn't follow suit.  "Well, Chang, do you know what we do now?"

            Slowly, he shakes his head.  In this world where he has no job, no home, no security of any kind, he's lost.  "No, Bisho.  What do we do?"

            She points to a park in the distance.  "Do you see that over there?  That park?"

            He glances over his shoulder and nods.

            "We're going to use the public bathrooms to get cleaned up, and then..."

            Wufei looks up at her when she hesitates.  "And then?"

            She smiles.  "And then we're going to go home."

            His eyes close as a small smile forms on his lips as well.  Home.

            And since he has no objections, that's precisely what they do.

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            Taki raises her hand to knock on the door, but hesitates.  And then she gets angry with herself for hesitating.  She pounds on the door.  She waits in the hall, wishing she'd taken Wufei's key card from Duo's and retrieved her things herself.  But no, she'd decided to take a shower, and while she'd been in the bathroom Wufei and Bisho had returned.  She doesn't bother to wonder why Wufei hadn't waited for her.  Attempting to make sense of him is an exercise in futility.

            The door finally swings open, startling her out of her thoughts.  There stands Wufei, dripping wet with a towel around his waist.  For a moment, Taki forgets why she's even there.  But only for a moment.

            "I came by to get my things."

            He opens the door wider, inviting her in.

            She doesn't take off her coat.  She's not staying.  She can feel his gaze on her as she collects her still-too-light backpack and her few personal items from the bathroom.  That accomplished, she heads for the small foyer.  Wufei remains near the door, his hand resting against the wall.  As she grasps the handle, she considers simply leaving.  But, for some reason, she feels compelled to say... something.

            "You're a real jerk."

            Ooops.  That hadn't come out the way she'd anticipated.  She glances at him and blinks at his not-so-subtle smirk.

            "I know," he replies.

            A bit of the tension bleeds from her body.  Taki tells him lightly, "Despite that, it's been fun."

            He nods.  "Yes, it was."

            Pause.

            "Thanks."  Taki blinks.  She hadn't meant to say that, either.

            "For what?"

            She sighs.  Might as well be honest...  "For trying?"

            For a moment, he looks uncomfortable.  "I... didn't do a very good job."

            She almost laughs at the tone of his voice: challenging, as if he's daring her to contradict him.  "There's always next time," she says.

            He moves a little closer to her.  "Is there?"

            Taki backpedals.  "Well, not with... me, of course.  But there'll be someone else.  Someday."

            Wufei says nothing, simply watches her.

            Is it just her or is this whole situation getting just a tad awkward?  She draws a breath.  "Okay.  Have a nice life."  She twists the handle and opens the door.

            "A dancer."

            His voice is so soft she almost doesn't hear it.  She pauses.  "What?"

            He repeats, "A dancer."

            For a solid minute, her mind draws a total blank...  And then it hits her.  Truth or Dare...  When he'd been a kid, Wufei Chang had wanted to be...

            "I wasn't done guessing," she says, stunned.

            "That's funny," he counters, "I thought you'd given up."

            Taki admits, "Almost."

           They simply stand there, looking at each other for a long moment.  But then he smiles... hesitantly, but it's still a smile.  "Stay for breakfast?"

            "Um...  Okay."

            The door settles back into the frame.  Without taking his gaze off of her, he nods toward the desk.  "Why don't you call down to room service while I get dressed?"

            "Sure."

            She watches him stride back toward the bathroom.  Then, with a small shake of the head, she wanders over to the telephone and plops into Wufei's chair.  She dials the number and makes her requests.  And as she re-cradles the receiver, she wonders why she'd just agreed to stay.  He hadn't apologized for being an ass... not really.  What the hell is she still doing here anyway?

            Taki sighs and moves to get up, but then something among the papers and files on the desk catches her eye.  With a shaking hand, she reaches for it and gently brushes her fingers across the matte surface of the disk and its two words:

            Taki Daemon.

            She chokes back a sob.  She realizes that the disk isn't the same as the one she'd thrown away.  The handwriting isn't even Yokaze's.  But the disk...

            She smiles as a completely insane idea comes to her: Yokaze's ghost is following her.  Taki sighs happily.  Perhaps this is a sign.  Perhaps...

            "Taki?"

            She looks up, noting that the bathroom door is open a crack, allowing Wufei's voice to travel across the room.

            "Yeah?"

            There's a short pause, and then: "Truth or dare?"

            And she can't help it; she laughs.

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~End~

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Author's Note:  So that's it, the beginning of Taki and Wufei's relationship.  What do you think?  I realize that I didn't deal with every issue each of them have, but I'm sure you can imagine them discussing (a.k.a. arguing) over breakfast.  So, okay, what's next?  Well, I'm still going to write Roommates but I've started working on a fic called Caged which is about Yokaze's reaction to Heero self-destructing his gundam in Episode 10 of the series.  So, you'll probably see Caged first.  As for length, I'm thinking Caged will be a one-chapter story and Roommates will be, perhaps, four or five chapters long.  And, yes, I'm still planning on writing Night Wind and I hope that one will be between fifteen and twenty chapters.  Thanks again for reading and reviewing.  I hope you enjoyed!  And check back soon for more good stuff!