Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and Ronin Warriors belong to whatever company that licensed them. I do not own them in any way. I just write fanfic about them because they're soooo kawaii!!! ^_^

The Chibi Files:

Case #1 – Babysitting, Gundam Style

By: LittleUcchan

Chapter 3 – The Mission No One Wants To Accept

"Trowa-kun!!!"

Little Ucchan, having had belatedly spotted Trowa among the spectators crowded around Duo's (and additionally Wufei's) prone bodies on the floor, had rushed to the pilot and glomped onto him, as she normally did on any other day. The sudden outcry and scene that followed was out of place to say the least, but successful in loosening the tongues of everyone who suffered from shock after seeing the gang of chibis. Especially Kayura's.

"Now is NOT the time for that!!!" she screamed, stomping up to the pair.

Promptly sticking out her tongue at the woman, Ucchan refused to let go of Trowa. The latter having had returned to his normal, calm self (even though it seemed that there was no outer change to his demeanor to begin with).

"Kayura…"

A cold shiver instantly ran down her spine when Heero spoke her name. Even though there was no change of tone in the manner in which he spoke to her, Kayura could feel some slight string of emotion within him. Most likely annoyance.

"Explain how this happened," Heero demanded.

"Well you see… what happened was…" She blinked back confused eyes, stopping her explanation before it even began and instead focusing her attention on the scene behind Heero.

Having had seen her sudden switch of interest, he too turned around, along with the remaining teenagers who had been paying attention to them.

Mia, in the midst of all the confusion, had stepped up to the group of chibis scattered around the first unconscious pilot. With a stern look on her face, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, lightly drumming her fingernails against her sleeve sweater.

"We didn't do it!!" Chibi Kento immediately cried out, as if conditioned to do so whenever an adult would give him that stare.

"That's right!! We're innocent!" Chibi Cale pitched in, although his outcry seemed to make Mia more suspicious, considering whom it came from.

"Mia-san, it's the truth!" Chibi Anubis said.

"Yeah! Duo went inside. Saw us. Screamed. Backed up. Banged his head. And fell on the floor," Chibi Rowen informed her of the chronological order as to how Duo had come to lie unconscious on the floor.

Upon hearing that statement, she quickly moved her hand over her mouth in order to hide a smile that was starting to form. That sounded like something Duo would do.

"Mia-san, you have to believe us!" Chibi Ryo pleaded. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

Regaining a firm disposition, she took time to look at each chibi, seeing if any of them would crack under her gaze. And all remained as innocent as angels. Especially Chibi Cye. The shyest and most saint-like of them all. Who would always tell the truth.

Smiling to herself, she asked, "Cye, is this all true?"

The spotlight was suddenly focused on the young boy as he shied away from all sets of eyes staring at him. Chibi Cye never did well under pressure, and this case was no exception.

"Well… everything they said was true," Chibi Cye spoke softly, shifting his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Did everyone stay in the room?" Mia inquired.

"Well yes, except to go to the bathroom."

"But it was an emergency!!" Chibi Sekhmet immediately interjected. The other chibis nodded in agreement.

"That's fine," Mia told them with a smile. "I understand."

"So… you're not mad?" Chibi Sage asked cautiously.

"Not at all," she smiled again. "Duo stumbling into the room was clearly by chance since none of you knew that he and the other pilots were here, right?"

"Yup!" Chibi Cye cried with good cheer. "We didn't know until Sage, Kento, and Dais told us they were downstairs."

"CYE!!"

Chibi Cye immediately covered his mouth with both hands, but the damage has already been done. Smiling knowingly to herself, Mia eyed each chibi carefully. Chibi Sage, Chibi Kento, and Chibi Dais in particular.

The jig was up.

"C'mon. Out with it," Mia demanded, looking at the trio. "Why were you three near the staircase?"

In unison, Chibi Sage and Chibi Dais both pointed at Chibi Kento who blinked back in shock after easily being betrayed by his friends.

"Hehehe," the boy laughed nervously, fiddling with the straps of his overalls. But after Mia's unchanging glare began to turn him inside out… he cracked.

"Okay!! I smelled brownies! So I went out to go get some," Chibi Kento confessed.

"And we went out to stop him from getting us in trouble," Chibi Dais added with an affirmative nod from Chibi Sage.

"Alright," Mia said, quite satisfied with their replies. "And about Duo?"

It was Chibi Kento's turn to use the accusation finger, which was automatically directed at Chibi Sage. "It was his idea."

Shooting Chibi Kento a nasty glare, Chibi Sage tensed when Mia had directed her attention to him.

"Sage… " Mia began, giving him a stern look.

"We… we just wanted to play, Mia-san" Chibi Sage stuttered, looking down at the floor. "So… we gave White Blaze a note to give them, asking them to come upstairs."

"… Gomen nasai, Mia-san," Chibi Sage apologized, as with the rest of the group who bowed their heads humbly.

Taking in a slow deep breath, Mia sighed, letting her lips curl up into a soft smile. Walking up to Chibi Sage, she rustled his hair lightly, causing him to look up. "It's alright now. I'm not upset with any of you."

"That's right. You guys shouldn't look so sad," Kayura pitched in and then added, looking at the three remaining Gundam pilots, "It's just that… we were trying to keep you guys a secret."

"But why?" Chibi Cale asked.

"It's hard to explain," Kayura laughed. "You don't have to worry about that right now."

"So…" Quatre began, wanting to confirm what he could already see with his own eyes. "Those are really the Ronins and the warlords?"

The girls, aside from Little Ucchan, nodded. Ucchan was still glomped onto Trowa, who was, for no apparent reason, keeping track of how long she had stayed glued to him. Five minutes so far.

"Eh? Quatre-san, you don't remember us?" Chibi Ryo inquired.

"Of course I remember you guys," he replied, not wanting to somehow offend the little boy. "It's just that… you changed. So I almost didn't recognize you."

"But you recognize us now right?" Chibi Ryo asked.

"Of course I do," Quatre replied with a smile.

A small 'ahem' from Heero's direction caught Quatre's attention. Looking back at his companion reminded him of the situation they were in. It was about time that they find out what's been going on.

"Mia-san. Kayura-san," Quatre addressed them both. "What happened? How did they become chibis?"

He watched as they exchanged glances and then looked directly at Little Ucchan. That small gesture had caused numerous reactions among the three pilots. Heero had groaned inwardly, knowing already what must have happened and not desiring to learn anymore. Trowa had sighed to himself upon realizing that this was all Ucchan's doing. And Quatre had a sweatdrop on his head, contemplating on how ironic it was that she inevitably caused all problems that seem to happen in this house.

"Will this require a long explanation?" Trowa asked.

"Actually, it's quite simple!" Little Ucchan cried, smiling up at Trowa.

Kayura sighed and then looked down at Duo and Wufei. "But before we go into that, I think we should deal with them."

Heero nodded. "I agree."

***

"Man!! Why are we always left out of the fun?" Chibi Kento yelled with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I dunno," Chibi Cale shrugged. "That's grown ups for ya."

Mia had told all nine chibis to stay downstairs in the living room, away from the conversation that she was going to have with the Gundam pilots. Kayura had questioned her decision of leaving all of them alone downstairs, but she had assured the young ancient that, due to the previous incident with Duo, they'll behave.

"They don't want to have me scold them again," Mia had said. Kayura had to agree.

While Kayura and Mia had been tending to the chibis, Quatre and Heero had moved both Duo and Wufei into the guest room (former play room of the chibis) without the help of Trowa. Little Ucchan had let go of him earlier, but she was now clinging onto his arm.

Heero decided to let them be and didn't ask Trowa to help Quatre while he was effortlessly dragging Duo across the floor to the nearest bed. Trowa, of course, understood this. He figured that, with Ucchan close behind, he'd unwillingly cause young Winner more trouble.

Quatre had managed on his own. He was able to get Wufei into the room just as Kayura arrived to lend him a helping hand. Soon after, Mia had entered the room, closing the door behind her. She paused, and then started to explain the situation.

***

"So that's what happened," Trowa said, more to himself. "And the antidote?"

"Ucchan's working on it," was Kayura's reply.

"And how is that going?" he asked, looking down at the girl that stayed latched onto his arm.

She looked up and then fiddled with Trowa's sleeve before answering. "Well, it might actually take me all day…"

"That's a good sign," Quatre said. "To already come up with a cure in only a day's time."

She sweatdropped. "You didn't let me finish Quatre-kun. It'll take me all day to find the formula."

Quatre was ready to drop dead on the floor, but Kayura held him up firmly when she saw him begin to slip.

"All day?" he asked unbelieving. "Did you lose the formula?"

"Well…"

"Not at all Quatre-kun," Kayura cut in and then glared at Ucchan. "She didn't have it written down to begin with."

This time, Heero and Trowa slightly wavered as the news struck them dead on. Quatre fell promptly on the floor.

"Hey! It was a test run okay!!" Little Ucchan cried. "I didn't think it was really going to work so I didn't bother to document it!"

"How are you going to find the formula?" Trowa asked.

Looking up with her eyes, Ucchan searched back through her memory as to what she needed to do. "Well I have the punch in the basement. So all I need to do is break down the solution to find out the amounts and then reconstruct it to make sure it's the right one. That should take me a day if nothing goes wrong."

Mia sighed heavily at that last sentence. Something always goes wrong. She estimated that it would take her a week at the earliest.

"And then you'll need to find a formula that would cancel the potions effects," Heero reminded her. Little Ucchan nodded.

"And God knows how long that will take," Kayura muttered.

"So the question remains," Quatre said, having recovered from his fall. "What do we do now?"

A soft groan from one of the beds had caught the group's attention. Wufei stirred under the covers, slowly opening his eyes to the dim light of the room. He looked around to get his bearings straight, and then sat up with a relieved smile.

"I had the strangest dream that there were chibi Ronins and warlords all around me. Now isn't that cra—"

"Mia-san!!" Chibi Rowen yelled, suddenly opening the door to the guest room. "Anubisu is crying!"

"What happened?!" she immediately asked.

"We were playing Ronin Warriors and Sekhy hit him over the head," Chibi Rowen reported. Mia then rushed out of the room with Chibi Rowen close behind.

The remaining teenagers had sweatdrops on their heads. Kayura slowly looked towards Wufei and sighed. The young man had thrown the covers over himself upon seeing Chibi Rowen and laid there huddled beneath the blankets.

"Oh boy," Kayura muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Wufei…"

"No! No way!" he cut off Quatre, his voice muffled because of the layers of cotton lying over him. "This is some kind of nightmare!"

"Wufei calm down," Trowa said. "This is no time to panic."

"This is the perfect time to panic!!"

"Does he have Chibiphobia?"

"Ucchan…"

"I was just asking."

The group watched as the 'lump' known as Wufei sunk lower into the bed.

"I seriously think he's Chibiphobic."

"Ucchan…" this time more irritated.

"What??"

While all of this had been taking place, White Blaze had been watching quietly from a corner in the room. He couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. He only wished that it was over so he could spend time with his two favorite human companions, Ryo and Heero.

But Ryo had, for some reason, become a child, and Heero was preoccupied at the moment. What was a tiger to do? Even he could suffer from boredom. That is… until he spotted a long rope of brown hair dangling for the side of one of the beds. If tigers could smile, that's exactly what White Blaze was doing right now.

Casually getting up from his resting spot, he strode over to the side of the bed and *CHOMP* bit onto Duo's braid and started pulling. Only Heero had noticed what the tiger was up to and, instead of doing anything about it, positioned himself so no one else could see the tiger.

About a minute later, not being able to take the repetitive dull pain that was pulling at his head, Duo had woken up with a grunt. He turn to the side to see again the same pair of dark chestnut colored eyes settled in a mane of black and white. Only this time, the furball was chewing on his hair.

With a scream even higher than the first two, Duo lunged out of bed and fell on the floor once White Blaze decided to release his braid. A split second later, he was jumping up and down in pain as he clutched the back of his head. Apparently, he landed on the bump from his previous accident.

This continued onward for a while with Duo mumbling countless profanities as he continued to dance around the room. But he stopped in a minute or so. (The dancing. Not the cursing.)

"Talk about a rude awakening," Little Ucchan said.

"Shit! That tiger was chewing my braid again!!" Duo yelled, his focus of attention now on his precious hair instead of  his aching head. Stroking his hair caressingly, he began to sulk. "This sucks!"

"It's going to get worse."

Kayura's statement had succeeded in confusing the young man. Worse? And he already thought that today was going bad. But then, he recalled the reason he had slipped into unconsciousness in the first place.

"The guys aren't really chibis are they?" he pleaded, hoping his mind was playing tricks on him.

"Nope!" Kayura cried. "They accidentally drank Ucchan's chibi potion and…"

"And this is all HER fault?!?!?" Wufei screamed in surprise, roughly pulling off the blankets and getting out of bed. "SHE did this?!?"

"Wufei, it's not her fault," Quatre stepped in. "She—"

"It IS her fault!" Wufei cried glaring at Ucchan. "That women always causes trouble!!"

"Wufei. That's enough."

He stopped yelling when he heard Trowa speak, his tone of voice more commanding than usual. Trowa looked down at Little Ucchan, who had hugged onto his arm tighter when Wufei began to yell at her. "It was an accident," he reminded him.

"Tch," Wufei snorted and looked away, crossing his arms.

"Well, at least he's back," Kayura muttered under her breath.

At that moment, Mia had walked into the room after dealing with the situation downstairs. "I assume that we're all done with the explanations."

Quatre nodded. "But we still haven't decided on what to do now."

Mia smiled mischievously. "Well, unfortunately I have to run a few errands. Not to mention cook all of you lunch and dinner, so my hands are tied."

Kayura, soon catching on, had a smile of her own. "And I have to help Ucchan with her research. And also get a few things in the Nether Realm for the antidote so…"

"Wait a minute!!" Duo cut in. "You're not suggesting that WE watch over those brats are you?!"

"Thank you sooooo much for understanding Duo!!" Kayura cried, patting him on the back.

"No!! I absolutely refuse!!" Wufei yelled. "We're warriors, not babysitters!!"

"So are you saying that taking care of children is degrading to a 'warrior' such as yourself?" Mia asked with a crossed look.

"Of course it is!! It's a wom—" Wufei suddenly shut his mouth after receiving three deadly glares from the girls, deciding it to be wise not to finish his sentence.

"I think we should help out you guys," Quatre said.

"No way Quatre!!"

"But Duo, it seems like you and Wufei are the only ones who oppose this."

It was true since Trowa and Heero didn't object. But… they didn't say they agreed either. Hell, they haven't even spoken yet!!

"Trowa! Heero! For once in your life, SAY SOMETHING!!!" Duo cried.

"I wouldn't mind helping out."

Duo sighed. "That's NOT what I wanted to hear Trowa!"

"You can't make us," Wufei said firmly.

"Fine Wufei," Kayura said. "I guess you're not capable of doing a lowly women's job."

That struck a definite nerve, causing Wufei to flinch. "Woman! I—"

"You don't want to do it Wufei? Or you can't handle it?" Kayura asked.

Letting out a deep breath, he stepped down. "Alright. I'll help."

"Man Wufei," Duo said, sympathetically patting him on the back. "They really nailed you there."

"And I suppose you're not going to help Duo?" Mia asked.

"Hey, taking care of children is not my thing."

"I guess I have no choice then," Mia sighed. "We'll have to just find another way for you to repay the debt you owe me."

"The—the what?"

"Let's see… " Mia began to absently count on her fingers the number of expenses she had to pay that were directly (or indirectly) caused by Duo. "Probably a good 400 for extra food expenses. Not to mention 100 for the broken windows from playing baseball outside…the broken door hinges… that's about 50 each…"

"Okay!!" Duo cried after having had heard enough. "You win! I'll do it!"

"Good," Mia said with a triumphant smile. But then she remembered the last Gundam pilot standing at the corner of the room.

"Heero-san. What about you?" she asked, causing everyone else to divert their attention to the pilot of the legendary Wing Zero.

There was a long pause before he answered.

"Mission… accepted."