A/N: Hello everyone! This is super late but I thought it would be a waste not to post this. :'D Done for the OCtober event being held by gwepisode50 et al. on tumblr.
Week 2 word: Duel

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Duo asked. And normally he would be completely fine with this idea, except these two kids looked about ready to murder each other.

Wufei appeared to catch on too, the daughters of Heero Yuy and Milliardo Peacecraft, didn't look like themselves. The kids around them either tried to talk amongst each other as if there was nothing wrong, or watched nervously as the two girls appeared to size each other up.

"They are cousins. I don't think they will actually hurt each other." Wufei continued to observe them from the sidelines with him.

Duo gave him a look, "Do you need your glasses man cause I can go get them for you."

"I'm serious Maxwell. What's the worst that could happen? They're little girls."

About five minutes later. The idea of having the kids over to practice on an obstacle course and sparring at a Preventer base, turned out to be a bad idea. Duo and Wufei had to separate the girls as they were seriously throwing punches at each other. Some of those punches were very accurate, which he gave them props for, but he hated having to tell their dads about this. What kind of cousins were about ready to beat each other unconscious? He swore this better not be something that was inherited by their fathers.

Duo sat Helena down on the far west side of the training room while Wufei took Naina to the right. Helena's lip was bleeding and her cheeks were red, looks like the majority of the punches she blocked with her arms so they were slightly red too. Yet, despite her injuries, all her focus was on the other side of the room. Although she didn't make any move to get up from the chair, it was her sharp attention that worried him. So he immediately covered her line of sight and stared into those strange blue eyes like her father's.

"Okay so do you got any excuse we could tell your dad?" he wiped away some of the marks on her face with a wet towel.

The reminder of her father seemed to snap her attention back to him, she turned her gaze down and kept quiet. Duo sighed, Helena's other siblings had come over to see how she was doing. He could tell by one glance that Helena wouldn't talk to him if these little guys remained. He told Odin if he could do him a favor and get him more wet towels and some medicine to clean up his sister's wounds. The blonde boy didn't really look like he wanted to leave his sister's side but he nodded and took his younger siblings with him to help.

"I didn't really have any siblings like you growing up. Well at least not for long," he half smiled at her. "So I can't really think why you would fight your cousin."

"She said my mom was a liar."

Duo eyebrows could have reached the ceiling, but she hadn't seen his shocked face so he played it calm. "Why exactly?"

Helena leveled her gaze at him, and for a moment it was like she was tall enough to do that. It was kind of scary for a 12 year old girl, and also admirable.

"Naina said that peace can never last. That my Mom's work would eventually die like she would."

Shit. Why the hell would Naina say something like that? He looked across the room and saw Wufei kneeling down the same way he was, he was probably trying to clean her up too. He would have to talk to him and see if they could puzzle all of this together from Naina's end.

"Okay. That was a d—bad thing to say on her part." No cursing he reminded himself. "But you can't go and try to beat your cousin up for that. She could almost be your big sister, and you wouldn't beat up Vivette would you?"

"She's not my sister."

Of course she would be blunt. How was she Relena's daughter? He was sure she instilled some of her principles of restraint in her kids. Lord knows with the pompous entitled jerks Relena had to work with she needed it. He sighed and once again leveled his gaze to the brown haired tousled girl's.

"Would you still protect Naina in a fight?"

Her small lips tugged down, a silent stare told him she would. Didn't like that he had mentioned it, but she would. Just in case he needed to hear it out loud though.

"Would you?"

"Yeah." She grumbled. "Don't tell her that." She glared.

He chuckled, that look brought back a lot of memories. "I promise." They pinky swore. "But I think I know why she said that to you."

"You do?" she looked genuinely surprised.

"Yup."

It's not information they wanted floating around but Duo figured he needed to make an executive call on this one in order for the Peacecraft family to continue living up to their namesake among themselves. He told Helena in a low tone that Naina's mother, her aunt Noin, was recently in an accident. He left out the parts of who caused the accident, that it was assassins that were now in Preventer custody. However he was factual about the whole ordeal and how it had affected both Naina and Milou. The two needed to be hold up at his house with Hilde and the kids for a while, and within that time they didn't know how their mother was. Everything else he left out, if Heero wanted to tell her the rest he would.

Duo didn't feel right talking to her about assassins targeting her aunt or potentially her cousins. He wanted to believe that world had burned away with Libra. Guess they still had more work cut out for them. Especially so their kids wouldn't have to grow up early like they did.

"I'm not saying she's right. But deep down, in her mind, everything isn't as. . . normal as it used to be." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "If her words hurt you, that's probably saying a lot of what she's feeling right now. Even if she doesn't realize it."

Helena sat there, taking his words in and he could see the slight gloss of her eyes as she thought. Helena, like the rest of her siblings, was smart. Duo was sure she would catch on to what he was saying. After all, she had already gone through some dangerous events herself. Not that he was happy about it, but maybe these two would be able to connect with their circumstances despite those events being different. Duo really didn't want them to end up hating each other when they were adults because of a miscommunication.

They called it a day and told the kids to go get ready for lunch. Helena and Naina didn't look at each other, they looked more solemn now. Having raised four kids, he trusted that they would sort the rest out amongst themselves. Still he planned to keep a close eye on them, the last thing he wanted was two former gundam pilots holding a grudge against him for letting their daughters fight each other without intervention.

"So what did Naina say?" He glanced at Wufei from the corner of his eye.

He kept silent for a moment. His stern gaze unwavering. Then he sighed.

"Milliardo and Noin have to talk to her, and with Milou too I suspect."

"She's taking it that hard?" Although Duo could understand. It's not every day that you see your mother in a hospital bed after being shot.

"She's a kid. A 14 year old teenager, but a kid nonetheless. Wouldn't you say your eldest daughter and son would find the situation difficult?"

"Yeah." Especially Dontae. The boy acted mean sometimes, but he was the most sensitive in Duo's opinion. Mathilde was the one that would lick her wounds by herself., after she made sure he little brothers and sister were okay. Actually that wasn't much different from the Peacecraft twins. Naina was frank about her emotions, while Milou kept his thoughts to himself. It was no wonder Dontae and Naina got along so well.

Duo told Wufei what Helena had told him. "I don't think Naina would have said anything to anyone else about how she's feeling. She didn't say it out right like normal, but she lashed out at Helena. I wonder why her though. Naina didn't always take her cousin- seriously I guess."

"It wasn't that long ago when Helena and her siblings were threatened with that home invasion. Naina is probably understanding some of that fear Helena had gone through. I guess their fight was a way to share each other's pain. Words are difficult to use in those type of scenarios, particularly with children."

"Yeah you're right." Duo said.

On that day Helena tried to defend her family the best an 11 year old could do, and then she thought she had committed a crime because of it. Her other siblings were also directly affected, but none of them had pulled the trigger, literally.

"For better or worse," Wufei continued. "Those two are catalyst for each other. I'm sure their fathers have caught onto this. Let's leave it to them to decide what they will do about it."

Duo let out a deep breath. "Sure, sure. So long as they don't try to kill each other I'm golden."

Although, he couldn't shake the idea that when they got older, those two would shake the foundations of anywhere they planned to spar, or fight. Whoever became their mediator he wished them luck. For now, it looked like that was their job. Lunch came and went without any trouble, so did dinner. The kids parents would be ready to pick them up in a week so he and Wufei figured out other activates that didn't involve sparring for a while. So they came up with different obstacle courses that involved teamwork. It was Wufei's call.

Naina and Helena both had a presence that would sway other children to their side if they left them to work on this individually. Currently it wasn't to their benefit for them to split up so teamwork it was. They were slow at first, as expected, getting everyone to the finish line. Some children were faster than others due to their age and height. The only way for the timer to stop was for everyone to cross. Those who had more than one sibling took longer to get over somethings, but they worked the best together. The only one who didn't have siblings was Shaelynn, and her cousins weren't there to help her. That didn't stop her from clearing the courses by herself, she was fast, but it didn't help the team's time.

The kids appeared to get frustrated that no matter how fast they went, their time remained the same, too slow. Duo would be open for them to try out the course in smaller groups, but he reminded them that they would have to grow up and work in larger groups, with complete strangers. If they thought this was hard with friends, it would only get worse as they got older. Duo didn't know if his words went through one ear and out the other, but it was up to them if they wanted to keep their score like it was. Neither he or Wufei could push them to do better, they knew they were good. It was up to them to figure that out. By midweek he could tell they really didn't like the course as much as they did in the beginning. Duo wondered if there was something else he and Wufei could come up with for the last 4 days before they would be picked up. When he, finally, witnessed something new.

As soon as the whistle blew Naina and his daughter Mathilde rushed ahead of the group and put their hands together, telling the others to use it as a means to get over the first wall. The others were stunned for a second, then reacted just as quick. They sent up 2 older kids first so they could help catch the younger ones. Then the kids above helped Naina and Mathilde get up over the wall. At one point, in order to get through a steep and slippery wall, Helena and Naina both formed an arm chain to get their fellow members over. When they reached the pendulum swing course, a part where two people were needed to cross, Shaelynn could cross them by using her momentum. Now she was safely guiding her friends through it. The most difficult obstacles became nothing to them. The numbers didn't lie, by the end of the week they had shaved off an entire 5 minutes from their start record. When Sunday came rolling around their time on the Mars Preventer base was over, and they all appeared well in tune with each other.

Although he learned some interesting news from his oldest child Mathilde. Apparently after their first fight some nights ago, Helena and Naina had another one. This time no one was around except her of course, and Helena had started this fight. By the end of it there was no clear winner. Naina had started crying while simultaneously trying to brush away her tears and keep fighting, but Helena didn't fight back. Instead she let Naina cry and just sat next to her until she stopped. Mathilde didn't know the details about Naina and Milou's situation, but she knew they were having a tough time. The pressure that Naina must have felt, to not be afraid while trying to look after her brother, not look visibly worried about her mother. It all came crashing down.

Helena didn't judge her cousin, she just waited. Mathilde didn't know if they said anything to each other. They were some feet between them and her, she could only see them looking up at the Mars night sky. This new piece of information brought it all together. The way the teams managed to get better in the end, the way Naina's expression changed from a cold iceberg to its normal calm expression with an occasional smile.

His past idea of them still stood, he was sure if those two were ever enemies an entire war could ensue. Then the opposite was also true, together they were an indomitable force. He pitied the enemies that dared stand against them. He felt a smidge of sadness to see them head back home after all their progress, but he was sure now that this first step was laid out, in the future they would be so much better off. Trowa was the first to pick up Shaelynn, the little blonde immediately clung to him and both left just as quickly like the wind. Duo wasn't offended by it, he knew that his wife was of frail condition and couldn't come with him to space often at the risk of her health. It was no wonder that they were in a hurry so Shae could see her mother and her cousins.

Quatre was happy to see that his son and daughter had enjoyed their time. They were able to chat for a bit, he updated him about what happened earlier with Naina and Helena and Quatre reached the same conclusion like they did. Naina needed someone she considered her equal to share her burden, without worrying the ones she loved. It was good that this meeting for Mars delegates came at the time that it did. Otherwise who knew how long Naina would have held such heavy emotions.

As expected Heero had a lot of questions. He somehow found out about Helena's fights, Duo had forgotten to mention to the kids to keep the whole thing to themselves as it had all worked out in the end. He sighed and explained the whole story to him, Wufei also backing him up and going into more detail when needed. Heero didn't flinch at any point, his eyes were set on them through the whole explanation, his whole demeanor was like a watch dog ready to pounce at one wrong move. Normally it was something he could easily handle after all these years, casually talk to him about the gravest situation without a worry. But this time he wasn't dealing with Heero Yuy himself, he was talking about his little girl. Whom Duo saw tear a man's arm off its socket with his bare hands when the man in question was the second in command who orchestrated the invasion of his home and had punched his son. Duo was sure he would have torn off the whole arm if he had not been in the interrogation room with him to stop him.

"You made a good call. Letting them handle it among themselves." He finally spoke.

Duo rarely heard Heero compliment anyone, even them after everything they'd been through. So his tongue was struck numb for a moment before he could talk again.

"Uh you're welcome?"

"Just in case I would recommend maybe letting your kids visit Milliardo and Noin's home. It's been about a year hasn't it?" Wufei said.

Heero brows furrowed as he thought about the suggestion. "It has, I would have to talk it over with Relena. See if she needs to stay longer."

"Even if you both do we can look after them." Wufei offered.

Duo still had to get used to how much Wufei had changed. No scratch that. How much better he was of getting to know Wufei. They had only worked a handful of times, and the majority of those times he would just talk away on whatever came to his mind. While Wufei would just linger in his own private thoughts not bothering to shut him up anymore unless need be. They worked efficiently together. Although it was extremely rare for the raven haired man to say anything about what he felt outside of work and his philosophy. Now that he had kids. Maybe that's what changed his behavior. Opening up more and willing to talk to others with less of a bite in his tone. He still reserved that tone when he needed to whip new recruits into shape.

Made sense since some of these new timers these days took things too easily, not all of them, but just a few that needed reminding of who they were working for and what they were in for in Preventer. Wufei was the perfect man for the job. However when he talked to the kids, or his little girls and his son, it was with a patient tone. Answering all the questions that spurted out from them, taught them martial arts and let them figure it out once he showed them a couple of times. Duo knew those girls would be just fine when they grew up and his son might be even more relaxed than what he used to be.

"I'll talk with Relena and let you know." Heero said.

Wufei gave a single nod and both he and Duo looked over their shoulders as they heard someone approach them from behind. The long platinum blonde hair of Milliardo Peacecraft swayed behind him as he made his way toward them. Duo really regretted not just writing this all down so these two could know what had happened. Even he was getting tired of talking right now. When Milliardo stood close to them he was still taller, maybe by an inch or two, and Duo wondered if his kids would reach that height.

"There's no need to explain everything. I heard as much from Milou, and caught the last parts from your conversation."

Thank God. Duo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Heero. I might need your help looking over our updated solar panels and their infrastructure for the future. Today their lay out is sufficient but in the future who's to say that Mars' population will not grow and affect their location. It might take a couple of weeks. The engineers I'm reviewing with now all seem to be, less than interested to settle with an idea. It's annoying."

"Relena was talking to me earlier with an idea she had about that." Duo thought he saw a faint smirk on his lips. "Can't be helped if we have to stay for a little longer."

"The burdens of leadership." Milliardo snorted. "By the way, I am curious about one thing." He directed his attention to him and Wufei.

"What?" Duo said.

"Who won that fight?"

A/N: This was definitely a good practice exercise for building up Naina and Helena's relationship. Especially hints at their grown up relationship as cousins. Plus you can never have enough grown up Duo so it was a perfect opportunity. Hope no one minds these short posts of stories of these OCs but it would be a great preparation for when I eventually post the bigger project. Hope with this semester wrapping up and writer's block easing off that I will be able to post more short fics.

Thanks for reading!