City of Devils

"Uhhm..." Usagi stuttered nervously as she shrunk under Mr. Yui's hard, cold glare. They had been standing outside for over five minutes until he had finally asked her if she was 'okay'.

Well, to answer such a question, she had to know the answer. It was taking a while too, since she wasn't quite sure if she was okay. She had no friends, no real family, no grass - even though there would be a little in Tokyo, and the Vincents said she was going to go to a school with sailor uniforms.

"I'm...good, I guess." she stuttered nervously.

Hiiro sighed heavily, "Listen, lying isn't going to help you in the long end. Say how you feel. Be selfish if you have to." he sat down on the steps.

Usagi pondered his words. Meaning, about ten or fifteen minutes later she actually understood what he said.

"I feel a lot of things. So its hard to put them all together and really admit it. A lot of the time I'm scared, and sometimes I'm sad. But at the same time I'm happy, because I'm alive and the way things are going are pretty good, considering just how bad they could be."

Hiiro placed his chin on his hand, glancing back at Usagi.

"Sit with me,"

--+--

In a city of devils we live
In a city of devils we live
A city of devils we live
In a city of...

"Will...you visit me too? You and Mr. Maxwell are the only friends I have. Mrs. and Mr. Vincent aren't really nice, I don't think they like having me around."

"I don't know." Hiiro said, "I'm not that big a fan of Cinderella..."

Usagi giggled, "We could watch something else! You're a guy, so you probably like action and car stuff. We could watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!"

"..." Hiiro rose an eyebrow at the girl, "Whats that?"

"Its a really good movie! Plus its got Dick Van Dyke in it!"

"Dick Van Dyke? Okay..." truthfully, Hiiro had no idea who this Dick guy was. It was better to play along at this point, be considered normal...for once.

"Well, he plays a crazy inventor..."

--+--

"You know..." Hiiro trailed off, looking away from the blonde.

"Yes?"

"We could...we could come...see you off, if you'd like." Usagi smiled at him, she had just realized it, Mr. Yui was kind of shy.

"Really? That would be wonderful!" Hiiro almost rolled his eyes, she even talked like a fairy-tale princess.

"Alright then, Duo and I will see you off to earth. Its late, so I'd better get going." he stood up, stretching a bit. Usagi stood as well, glancing back at the window to make sure Mrs. Vincent wasn't still watching them like a halk. She was gone, which was nice, because about ten minutes earlier Usagi had peeked over her shoulder to see a very scary, pointed face glaring at her from the window.

"Good night, Mr. Yui. It was nice talking to you." Usagi said sincerely, bowing slightly.

"I'm not your teacher anymore, Usagi." Hiiro spoke softly, causing Usagi to blush - luckily it was too dark for him to see - at the implication he made.

"Your first name's Hiiro, right?"

"Yeah," he looked away from her, sighing, "I have to go..."

"I'll see you at the shuttle...umm...Hiiro. Goodnight,"

--+--

Usagi looked out the window. She currently sat on a shuttle to Tokyo, Japan. She gulped, watching men in orange suits run around, some swinging glowing sticks around and shouting to eachother. She had never been too fond of flying.

He'd promised they would see her off...

Sighing she turned away from the window, just in time to see a tall brunette staring down at her.

"You've got some nice hair going on there, kid," she said, plucking a set of headphones from her pocket.

Usagi looked down, frowning. Why did people make fun of her hair so much? It was the style her mother had used to put up for her. It had taken a lot of tries but Usagi finally perfected the look.

"Hey, hey! I didn't mean to offend you! Honestly, I'm sorry!" the brunette sat down next to Usagi, "Theres nothing wrong with it, its very unique! It suits you, kinda like a rabbit or something."

Usagi looked over at her, "Really?"

The girl nodded.

Usagi grinned, reaching out her hand, "Tsukino Usagi,"

"Kino Makoto, geez girl! Rabbit of the Moon? No wonder you wear your hair like that."

The Rabbit laughed as Makoto shook her hand. Maybe the flight wouldn't be so bad.

The men in orange suits had cleared the way and a set of gates far down the runway were opening, revealing another set of gates that would soon open and lead to outer space. Usagi gulped again, her left hand felt numb. She looked down to see Makoto's hand over hers, gripping it tightly.

"I don't really like planes," she explained, "I hope you don't mind,"

"Oh...its okay, I don't really like flying either." Usagi said comfortingly. A voice over the intercom rang throughout their cabin, at the front stood a woman smiling a little too happily.

"Please fasten your seatbelts for take-off, thank you!"

The two girls glanced at eachother, not really wanting to let go of their hands.

"Excuse me, but your seatbelts?" a flight attendant bent down towards the girls.

"Can't...let go..." Makoto muttered, her face becoming very pale. The attendant almost rolled her eyes, but caught herself, she sighed, reaching over and buckling them up.

'Little babies,' she thought sourly.

Usagi blinked her eyes, she felt tears coming as she thought of her friends. Maybe they didn't really like her.

'Its not so bad, really.' she thought to herself, 'Its not like they ever actually said we were friends. I'm used to it anyway, everybody thinks I'm a freak.'

The plane started moving.

Usagi let the tears fall, shutting her eyes tightly as the shuttle started rolling along the runway slowly. A clunk came from the window, startling her. She looked out the window.

Duo and Hiiro ran along a catwalk, knocking over men in orange suits and waving their arms like crazy people.

"Bye Usagi!" Duo shouted, she couldn't hear him, but it was kind of obvious. Usagi wiped her eyes with her free hand, waving back. She started laughing at the sight. It was great! She never knew the two could look so flustered!

The shuttle started going faster, and so did the two men. Usagi laughed harder, tears still rolling down her face, she didn't know why she was crying, but she didn't care. They came.

"Usagi?" Makoto bent over to look out the window, "Whats so funny? We can die on this thing!"

"My friends came to see me off!" Usagi exclaimed, pointing at the two men who were still running - they must be in great shape - and Duo was still waving to her.

"Oh my..." Makoto's eyes widened as Hiiro leapt over a cart full of bags.

Unfortunately the catwalk didn't go on forever and the two finally had to stop. Hiiro just stood there looking at Usagi and Duo was bent over, holding his stomach.

"Bye, you two. You'd better visit me." Usagi said, blowing the two a kiss - that only Hiiro caught. She giggled, sitting back in her seat. Makoto stared out the window, there were nothing but blurs, the plane was picking up speed and lifting off the runway every few seconds.

"So...what was that?" she asked, looking at Usagi expectantly.

"Its kind of a long story."

"The flight is like, ten hours long."

Usagi sighed, "Once upon a time..."

--+--

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Tsukino Usagi." Makoto said, shaking Usagi's hand again. Usagi smiled,

"Same here, and you know what? The flight wasn't so bad."

"Well...we were a bit distracted." Makoto said, chuckling, "What did they throw at the window anyway?"

"I don't know...maybe a rock or something."

"A rock would've broken the window!"

"Usagi!" a sharp voice cut through the air, over the intercoms and the shouts of other people. Usagi winced, looking around for the pointy woman.

"Your mom?" Makoto asked.

"Not really, okay kind of. She adopted me."

"You're..an orphan?" Makoto's smile faded, and she looked at Usagi with wide eyes.

"Yeah..." Usagi looked down.

"Me too!" the tall brunette exclaimed, "Not that I'm proud of it or anything, but its something else we have in common!"

"You are?"

"Yup! I'm all on my own though, orphanages don't really suit me, but theres a really nice lady who lives in Juuban who can give me an apartment to live in and a pretty decent job! Apparently she knew my grandmother or something and shes willing to help me out!"

"Juuban? I'm going to be attending school there!"

"Whoa! Thats so cool, we might be in the same classes!"

"I guess this isn't good-bye then, huh?" Usagi said grinning, "Now I don't have to worry about not knowing anybody."

"Tell me about it, its always like that with new schools and everyone looks at you like a piece of meat!"

"USAGI!" this time both girls winced as the woman came up to her, an angry look on her face.

"I've been calling you! I need you to carry my bags!"

"Geez, give her a break! Shes not Cinderella!" Makoto snapped, stepping up to the woman. Azalea Vincent was approximately 5'4", whereas Makoto was around 5'6", and taller than the woman. Makoto glared down at Azalea.

Usagi gaped at her new friend, Azalea almost backed away in fear as Makoto raised her fist.

"Come, Usagi. You needn't associate yourself with such filth." the woman started shoving through the crowd.

"Filth, huh? Look whose talking! Look whose walking away, you scaredy-cat!" Makoto shouted after her. Makoto glared down at Usagi, who stood at a measly 4'11".

"And you! Why don't you stand up to her?"

Usagi looked away, "I have to go..."

Makoto sighed heavily, "Whatever. I guess I'll see you around school then. Later."

And with that the two parted ways, Usagi wondering if they would really share classes, and Makoto wondering how someone so small could be older than 12.

--+--

"Well, I need to go shoe shopping this week," uttered Duo as he and Hiiro stared at the closed gate.

Hiiro glanced at his friend, wondering what had possessed the brunette to throw his shoe of all things at the shuttle. The men in orange suits had seized the innocent inanimate object from the ground, escorting the item to the garbage shoot.

They had made it though.

Curse shuttle security! Curse Hiiro's alarm clock for not going off on time! Curse Duo for speeding and getting caught speeding by a cop! Usagi, what could she have thought? That they weren't coming? That they had let her down? That he had let her down? Afterall, he was the one who had promised her.

"I'll see you at the shuttle...umm...Hiiro."

She had called him Hiiro. It sounded nice. Maybe because she was the only girl besides Relena who said his name like that. Like saying his name so nonchalantly would break it. Hiiro almost laughed out loud--but didn't since Duo would worry about his sanity--at that thought. Breaking his name? Or breaking him? Usagi had been careful that night, very careful in what she said and how she said it.

The way she would look at him sometimes, even though it had been dark, he had seen the looks in her eyes. The way she would freeze everytime he moved. 'She's afraid of me,' he thought. It was just as well, it wasn't like she was the only person to find him scary. To find him...withdrawn, distant, or even hostile.

"Hey, Hiiro! Are you coming?" Duo called, heading off for the exit.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm coming."

'She's afraid of me,'

--+--

Flying alone I,
Feel like I don't belong and I,
Can't tell right from the wrong, why,
Have I been here so long

"I'm not like that." Hiiro said to the mirror. He looked at his face, the prussian blue eyes, the straight nose. He turned his lips up slightly, smiling. It wasn't a nice smile, almost sinister. As if his reflection was laughing at him, making fun of his attempts.

So what if he was no prince charming?

Hiiro laughed, he smiled, he felt. And yet, there were only a few who seemed to understand that. In the end, Relena couldn't see that. She only saw a cold man. Why? Did God not want them to be together? It could've worked out.

Hiiro sighed, pushing his hair back from his face. His eyebrows rose and his eyes widened. The expression on his face was almost funny, if anyone had been there to see it, they probably would have laughed. Usagi would have laughed. Even if she was scared of him, he could be casual enough to sort of...relax her.

Hiiro walked into his bedroom, his face returning to it's usual neutral expression. He looked around, it felt rather empty. Which it was, other than the bed, dresser, desk, and the distorted teddy bear which sat on said desk. Another one of Hiiro's odd jokes, he had actually planned on giving it to Relena, but decided not to let the item go to waste. Valentine's Day was coming up next month, maybe he would give it to Duo. Scare the poor boy a little. If Trowa were around he would probably find it quite humorous.

Trowa had a strange laugh. Then again, maybe he just thought that because the sound wasn't heard often. Trowa liked Hiiro's jokes. Quatre once mentioned their sharing a dry sense of humor.

But really, his room could use a paintjob, the off-white color was so bland. The window's glass was clouded with...whatever that was, so he couldn't see out of it, and the green curtains made him feel boring.

Hiiro Yui was not boring.

--+--

I don't belong
Don't belong
I've been here too long
Too long

Finally got this stupid thing done, I'm not used to writing more than a thousand or so words a chapter - I've been slacking off too much! Oi.

At the end I concentrated on fan interpretation of how Hiiro is emotionless. He's not. Plain and simple, I believe that such an interpretation seems to be derived from Hiiro's philosophy of not letting emotional attachments affect his combat judgment. Hiiro's mentor, Doctor J, even implies that Hiiro is quite emotional, and even kind-hearted. So at the end I thought I would show you just how Hiiro might feel about being exploited in that way in all this fanfiction! Really!

Well, please review, I love hearing ya'lls thoughts on my work!

Happy Thanksgiving!