Warnings: This is SLASH!! That means boy-on-boy action.

Disclaimer: See the first chapter.

Dedicated to: All my wonderful reviewers. You all encouraged me to update faster, so this is for you!!

It's something unpredictable

But in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

-Green Day "Time of Your Life"

Duo bounced into the theatre and looked at the still sleeping couple. He had been the first to wake up, just before sunrise. It was an old habit from his time on the streets. You had to be the first up, or you didn't get any money from the wealthy that took early morning walks.

Trowa and Heero had been the next two to wake up. Trowa woke up early so he could watch the sunrise before going to work in the gym. When he was in the circus, watching the sunrise and going to practice his acrobatics was his normal routine, one that he continued even today. And Heero was the Prefect Soldier. He just snapped wake. Duo had always shrugged it off because it was kind of creepy. Not his boyfriend, just the way he woke up so aware of his surroundings. Duo needed three or four cups of coffee before becoming aware of his surroundings. Or at least when he was home, he needed coffee to wake up fully. On missions, his adrenaline kept him up and aware of his surroundings.

Quatre had woken up soon after his boyfriend had left. Apparently, the blonde could not sleep with his boyfriend near him. Of course, this was probably true. After a while, Duo had grown used to having Heero in the same bed as he was. It was probably true for Quatre and Trowa.

The only two left sleeping, even at 6:45 in the morning were Raiden and Wufei, and this was strange for both of them. Both were early risers, normally waking up just after Duo and Trowa. But today…they were the last to wake up, a title that normally belonged to Quatre.

"They're cute together." A voice said from beside him.

"Yeah, they are." Duo told Quatre, having identified the footsteps as they came down the hall. And indeed, Wufei and Raiden made a cute couple. Both of them were laying on their sides. Raiden's head and face were buried in Wufei's neck, where the shoulder and neck met. One of Raiden's hands were wrapped around Wufei's waist while the other rested over Wufei's heart. Meanwhile, Wufei had his head resting on Raiden's, and both of his hands rested on Raiden's waist, holding him tight against Wufei's chest.

Noticing Raiden's hand moving, he smiled. "Looks like Raid is waking up."

And he was right. Raiden was slowly waking up. Slowly because he didn't want to leave the warmth of whatever he was wrapped in. But as conscious slowly flowed into his mind, so did memories of last night. They had been watching a movie, and he had been getting sleepy. Wufei offered to share the couch. And then darkness.

'Please tell me I'm in a blanket and not wrapped around Wufei.' Of course his plea went unanswered as he opened his eyes and ended up looking at the shiny ebony locks that belonged to his crush. 'Damn.' He thought.

'Okay, so how to get out of this mess?' he thought, unwrapping his arm from Wufei's waist. He tried to slide down, blushing the entire time, but Wufei only tightened his grip on Raiden. So he tried to detach Wufei's arms from his waist. He only got mumbled Chinese and another tightening of the arms for his effort.

'What am I, his damn teddy bear?' Raiden thought to himself as he was hugged by the sleeping Chinese boy. It was really entertaining to think that Wufei had a stuffed teddy bear, and Raiden would probably ask him about it later, like next year. But right now, it was not entertaining to be used as a living bear.

"Need some help there, Raid?" Duo's voice held a hint of barely concealed laughter. He must have been watching the entire time. Why else would he be laughing at the youngest of the house residents.

"Yes, please." he whispered, trying not wake Wufei up. He was trying to save him the embarrassment of waking up with Raiden.

Duo rolled his eyes as he made his way over to the pair. Even in times of great embarrassment, Raiden was just like Quatre and kept his manners. He was always saying please and thank you, and occasionally he would call one of them sir. Yeah, manners were good when in the presence of people like Sally or Lady U. But at home? Someone had ruined the poor boy.

"Be prepared to run." he warned as he finally showed Raiden what he had been hiding behind his back.

"Duo, no…."

But it was too late. The prankster had already poured the glass of ice water over Wufei's head. Jerking awake, Wufei glared with fire in his eyes at the grinning American. "MAXWELL!!" he yelled, and apparently that was the cue to run. Duo took off, out though the doors and passed Quatre, who stood shaking his head. Wufei tore out of the room after him, shouting in Chinese. And poor Raiden sat on the floor where he had been thrown when Wufei left in a hurry.

Across the manor, Trowa and Heero had the shout and gave sighs in unison, even through they were in different rooms. Sounded like Duo had woken Wufei up with ice water trick again. It was his favorite, but just Duo's and Duo's alone. Everyone else hated the silly wake-up prank that caused Wufei to be in a bad mood the rest of the day.

It was after a delicious breakfast of crepes, muffins, and a smoothie for Raiden, that Duo surprised Raiden. He been excused to go and get ready for his lessons with Trowa and Duo. They had added one non-physical training session to every day he had a physical session. He had been working too hard, and Trowa was worried about a relapse.

"Hey, Raid. You only have to go change into something comfortable, but loose. You aren't going to be going to Trowa's lessons today, or rather not his politics lessons." He said with a smirk.

Raiden had ruined his fun early in the game. Actually, he ruined the plans for just about everyone. Originally, Heero was going to teach him hacking, computer and technology, and gun safety/shooting. Well, he still got to do that. Raiden was about average with hacking and the technology part, but he still a bit below average while holding a gun.

Trowa and his politics lessons were shot down as Raiden revealed that he knew about negotiating and manipulation. So he taught Raiden about the government of the AC Era.

Poor Quatre. His history lessons had been quick and easy, and Raiden already knew about etiquette, so on the days Raiden met with Quatre, they normally worked on languages.

Each of the five pilots still spoke in their native languages at times, so they had all picked up on them. Wufei was the only one besides Heero that actually was able to stick to the original plan. He was still teaching Raiden swordplay.

Duo, he was completely off his own original idea. Stealth had been shot down immediately. Several times, Raiden had been able to sneak up on not him, but the Prefect Soldier. So next came the knifes. And the kid had been a natural with them. So, today Duo planned to introduce the kid to hand-to-hand fighting. And Trowa was going to help him.

"Ok." Raiden said, going up to his room to change. He knew that he would have to meet Duo and Trowa in the gym.

Oh yeah, this was going to be fun. Or at least, it will be a little bit of fun for him. Raiden probably wouldn't find it fun. But it was payback, friendly payback. He didn't want Raiden to hate him.

"Which do you defend, Raid? Internal or face?" The voice seemed to come from behind him. He spun on his left heel, right hand in a fist by his head while his left wad covering his stomach.

He was met by a fist to the face.

As he laid there, he remembered those words. Duo had said to defend your stomach and thus your organs. "A black eye always heals, hurts a little and looks terrible. But better to have a black eye than to have a ripped diaphragm. Then you're into the docs." Those were Duo's exact words.

A lightly tanned hand appeared before his face, and he reached up and grabbed it. With Trowa's help, he managed to stand. He had really taken a beating the last two hours. And of course, before he had started the hand-to-hand, Trowa had tested him with the knives.

Yeah, he was tired. But the good news was his magic was helping to heal all the cuts and bruises.

"Not too bad. You need a lot of work, but you're better than most people. Most would have given up a long time ago." Duo said, not even winded. He had used to do this to survive. And since joining and working with the pilots, he had tons of opportunities to practice. Heero was almost always willing to practice…shooting. So that left Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. Wufei and he had practiced a few times, as had Quatre and he. But neither one were on the same par as Trowa was. Duo didn't know where Trowa had learn to fight so well, but he enjoyed their practice fights. It kept them both in shape.

"Go on up, take a shower, and relax." Duo told him, preparing to go upstairs himself.

"Trowa, may I cook dinner tonight?" Raiden asked from the doorway, looking back at the man in question.

Trowa nodded. "Sure." He had seen Raiden cook before, and he was just as good as Trowa. In fact, most nights and mornings, Raiden would come into the kitchen and help him cook. There was a comfortable silence in the air as they worked, and it was almost as if they could read each other's minds, always reaching for the ingredient that the other needed before either said anything.

Raiden gave one of his heartwarming smiles before rushing out of the room, Duo's laughter ringing in his ears.

Raiden hummed as he checked on the chicken in the oven. "Just about ready." he said to himself. He had made this dish before, and it was really simple and easy for the most part. Some rice, some green beans, and a cake for dessert and everything was ready. He had even set the table already.

"What's just about ready?" The soft voice came from beside him.

Jumping a little, he looked at Quatre, he smiled. "Dinner. I'm cooking a chicken, and it is about done now."

The smile on his face said everything. Raiden obviously loved cooking just as much as he loved his music and violins. It was probably something that relaxed him, something he was passionate about. "I'll go tell the others that dinner's about done." he said with a smile before leaving the room.

Raiden smiled as he watched him leave. He had seen the look in Quatre's eyes, like he had just figured out a new puzzle. 'Probably figured out that cooking is my way of relaxing.' He thought to himself. Each of the pilots had their own way of relaxing. Duo and his engines. Trowa relaxed via his acrobatics, while Wufei had his mediation and katas. Quatre had his violin, which he played to relax. And Heero? Raiden really didn't know what relaxed Heero, probably hacking or shooting his guns. The last opinion seemed more likely to be true since he was always in the shooting range near the gym.

Carrying the chicken out to the table, he saw everyone was already gathered there, talking quietly, or in Duo's case, loudly annoying Wufei and Heero. Setting the chicken down, he smiled.

"Wow, that looks great Raid." Duo proclaimed loudly.

"Yes, it does look really good." Quatre added.

The silent ones remained exactly that, silent. They knew Raiden, and they knew that he would know that it looked good.

And so dinner began. Everyone talked, even Heero and Wufei. It was if the tension from this morning had completely disappeared. And all the while, Raiden continued smiling and laughing. He had finally found a place to call home, a place where he was accepted. He finally had a family.

"Alright, most of us fell asleep before we could finish the last movie, so we're having a continuation of last night's movie night." Duo told everyone as they gathered in the movie room again.

They settled down, Raiden laying in the middle of the room. Quatre and Trowa were cuddling together on one couch. Duo was sitting on the floor between Heero's knees, while Wufei laid on the second couch. But his head was at the bottom instead of at the top, near Heero's chair, like it normally was. It was as if he was trying to get closer to Raiden.

Duo shrugged. It was time to have fun and relax by watching a few movies. But apparently the Fates like to play games with Duo and pilots just as much as they like to play with Raiden.

Halfway through the movie 300, Heero's cell phone rang. Pausing the movie, they turned to look at him as he answered the phone. A couple of hai's later, he hung up. "Lady Une wants to see all of us, and she says to bring Raiden with us."

That left the group stunned. And as they prepared to leave the house and head back to headquarters, one question echoed in all of their minds.

'Why does she want to see Raiden?'

AN: Here's the ninth chapter of Crossing Times.

As for the name of Raiden's Gundam, please go to my profile and vote on one of those four names there. Or if you're an AFF user, leave the name you like better in a review. You'll have until Janurary 31th to vote, after which I will tally to votes from both sites and add the name into the chapters.

And the names are:

JadeGryphon

Jadestorm

Emerald Mist

Black Lightning

Emeral Lighting

I have the next two chapters planned. The next chapter, which I will probably post Saturday will be finding the new enemy and leaving for said enemy's hideout. Chapter Ten will also have the first encounter with the Pink Panther aka Relena. Eleven will be safe house time, and a little bit more of Raiden/Wufei action. And Twelve will be a little England 1998 filler.

Now that you know what to expect for the next few chapters, two requests. If you would like a email when I update, leave your email in a review. And secondly, if any of you would like to be my beta, please leave an note in your review.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews!

Leigh