Friday afternoon, 2.13pm

The day had gone by swiftly and school was over already. Usually on Fridays, to see somebody hanging around in school after 2 was rare as everyone would be dying to get back home for the weekend. But this particular Friday had distant sounds of a ball being bounced onto the ground, echoing through the hallway, disrupting the serene atmosphere of the building.

Thump! Thump! Thump! The basketball came into contact with the surface of the smooth, shiny floor and bounced off right  into a pair of hands. Duo had isolated himself to the school's indoor basketball court to practice after dismissal. Rehearsals for that day had tired him out mentally due to the mass memorizing of stage lines and his head hurt; not because of an overload of words but because Dorothy had kept whacking him on the head with her loudspeaker whenever he had forgotten a line. He had calculated a total of 1775 hits that day, averaging about 5 hits per minute.

To relax a little after school, Duo had decided to brush up on his basketball skills. He dribbled the ball as he commentated. "Yes! Duo has the ball and all eyes are on him! 12 seconds left on the clock and still a point behind, they question... can he do it?! The superstar skilfully slips past an opponent. Another tries to steal the ball, he grips on and passes the ball to his left hand behind his back and whips by like the wind, he bounces the ball under the third opposing party and runs past. He jumps, he dunks, he scores!" Duo raised both hands high up into the air, fists clenched. "It's over! He wins! The crowd goes wild! The world goes crazy! He receives a standing ovation!! They name a sneaker after him!!!!!" A few beads of sweat glimmered down his cheeks as Duo cheered himself on.

"Do you always talk to yourself like that or did that woman knock the brains out of you today?" Someone spoke from the doorway. Duo whirled round to see his classmate standing at the entrance, a look of disgust on his face.

"Yo! WuFei! Come in and join me for a game or two!" invited a flushed Duo.

"Not interested in making a fool out of myself." WuFei snorted and he turned to make his exit.

Duo ran over and blocked his way. "C'mon! It'll be fun!" WuFei refused to budge, his heels rooted firmly to the ground. He huffed and kept his arms crossed over his chest as the cheerful and optimistic one pushed him into the court. Duo picked up the ball and tossed it over to his friend who caught it with a hand. "Give me your best shot!" The ball came flying towards him. Duo leapt out of the way. "What are you trying to do?! KILL me?!"

"You said to give you my best shot, so there."

Duo slapped his forehead. "Oh my... Wu, have you ever played basketball before in your life?"

"Basketball? So that's what this silly game's called."

Duo fell over to one side, he felt his knees weakening as though they were jelly. "Ok, fine. I guess we'll have to start from the basics." He nonchalantly tossed his braid over a shoulder as he concluded. "You don't throw the ball at or try to bash up your opponents like you usually do in martial arts. In basketball, you bounce the ball."

"Why bounce it when you can run with it?" WuFei remarked sarcastically.

"That's because it's basketball!!" Duo screamed out his reply. "See that thing over there?" He said as he pointed over to one end of the court to the hoop. "You're supposed to try to get the ball into that in order to score. Here. Give it a try." The ball passed from Duo's hands into WuFei's. WuFei gave it a hard stare before throwing it high up into the air. He jumped up and gave it a kick, causing it to fly over to the board, knock into it and right into the hoop.

"Basketball is such an easy game."

Duo's jaw dropped open in utter disbelief and astonishment. He pushed his jaw close and swallowed. "That's right, Wu. You're supposed to get the ball into the hoop."

WuFei smirked.

"BUT YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO USE YOUR LEGS!!!!!"

"You're so fussy... just like a woman."

"I'M A MAN!" Duo defended. "Calm down, Duo. Take a deep breath and count to ten. The earth is round, the grass is green." Duo regained his composure and started to speak again. "Let's try again and you try to get the ball into the hoop without using your feet, only the hands. Anyway you like as long as it's only the hands." He grabbed another ball from the basket and tossed it over. WuFei took a deep breath and extended a fist at the incoming ball, punching  right through and deflating it. Duo's jaw dropped again. "What the heck are you doing?! I didn't tell you to punch the ball!"

"You said I could use my hands!"

"Ya, but I didn't mean for you to punch it!"

"You didn't say that!"

"Use your head, for pete's sake!"

"Now you tell me I can use my head to play basketball! Make up your mind! You hesitate like a woman!"

" I didn't say you could use your head! I said only the hands! And I'M A MAN!!!!!" protested a flustered Duo. "What did I get myself into?" Duo thought to himself as he felt his forehead to see if he was running a fever. "Ok, Wu. Never mind about that. We'll just have to teach you from the very beginning." Duo perked up immediately and laughed. "Watch as I demonstrate!" He picked up another ball from the basket full.
 

Hall

Quatre was checking on some of the musical instruments on the request of Lady Une. Before doing that, he had to run a few errands and so it had resulted in him staying back after school. He walked around with a notebook in his hands, taking down some notes on faulty equipment and packing up some items at the same time. After some time, exhaustion took over and he sat down on the floor next to his violin and glanced at his watch. "Coming to five o'clock. I've got a bit more to do before I finish completely." He looked at his violin casing and opened it, picked up his violin and began to play, while sitting cross-legged on the floor of the vast hall. Ease filled him as he played and hummed to the tune.

Roof Top

Trowa opened his eyes and sat up. With one hand placed on the floor for support, the other raised to scratch his head. He wondered how long he had slept. During recess, he wandered off to the roof top to seek refuge from fatigue AND Lady Une. Since then, he had stayed asleep there until now. Standing up, he decided to make a move and go home but he suddenly remembered that he had left his bag in his class and went down the stairs back to the classroom to retrieve it.
 

Principal's office

Heero had returned to school and was typing away at the computer. This time, he didn't intend to steal any disks containing test or exam questions. That's right, this time he was going to alter his results AND steal disks containing test and exam questions. His fingers brushed over the keys as he stared as if hypnotized by the body of text scrolling down, his gaze never left the screen. "Accessed." The word escaped from his lips as he pushed the 'enter' key. "Ninmu kanryo." A grim smile drawn onto his face. "Haa... ha choo!" His cold was getting better but was still recovering from it.

The whole building was engulfed in a pit of darkness. Power supply died down and the entrances and exits of the school slided close, automatically locking up. Trieze had upgraded the school's security system heavily after discovering that there was someone breaking into his office and using his computer. He didn't like the idea of someone else using his computer besides he himself. Now, there was no way into or out of the school.

"Chikusho!!" Heero cursed his wretched luck and pounded the keyboard, smashing it into half. He snatched up his bag and burst out of the room. The door slammed close and something metallic fell to the floor. [ not again, bro. < D ] [ I tell you, every door he opens next is gonna be spoilt for SURE. < P ] He sprinted off to the main exit.

Trowa was making his way to the exit when the place suddenly blacked out and the door shut close in front of him. He looked at the closed door blankly and walked away. Coming from the other end of the pitch blackness was sounds of running footsteps. Trowa stepped aside, Heero ran up to the door and pounded it, denting it a little.

"Shit! It's locked." Heero swore under his breath.

"We're locked in."

"Dare da?! (Who?!)" demanded Heero, squinting to peer into the shadows. He couldn't make out who the other person was in the dark.

"If you must know, then you can call me Trowa... Trowa Barton."

"Trowa. I believe I met you before."

"................................"

"I'm going to the cafeteria to the main switch. Coming?"

Trowa shrugged. "Why not?"

The two felt their way around in the dark, with Trowa behind Heero. [ Heero knows the way around the school very well ^^ ]
They stopped in their tracks and turned into the laboratory. Rummaging through the drawers, they managed to fish out two torch lights. Trowa switched it on and made his way to one of the cages, intending to rescue the mouse he had seen there that morning. Empty. Heero paused next to Trowa. "Let's go."

They went through the hole [ Duo and WuFei's masterpiece ] and right into the music room before walking out to the cafeteria right at the end.
 

Basketball court

Duo and WuFei were still practising when all of a sudden, without warning, the lights and air-conditioning ceased functioning.

"Wha...?!" Duo wondered. Just before the lights went out, WuFei was throwing a ball to Duo. It hit Duo in the abdomen. "OOF!" He grimaced in pain and doubled over. "That hurt."

"Duo, where are you?" WuFei took a step forward and stepped onto Duo's fingers.

"EEOUCCH!!" Duo pulled back his fingers and sat up. WuFei tripped over the crouching Duo and fell over to the floor. Duo was blowing his fingers. He turned around and shouted, "WU!! Where are you, man?" WuFei punched him in the face.

"You don't have to shout! I'm just in front of you!"

Duo held onto his nose. "Where?" He leaned forward and his head came into contact with WuFei's. Both sprawled backwards, holding on to their forehead.

"Will you watch where you're going?!" growled WuFei.

"I will if there was some light around here! What happened anyway?"

"Blackout, I guess. Let's wait till the lights come on again."
 

15 minutes later

"Still no lights yet, Wufy. What do you suggest?"

"Let's wait till the lights come on again."
 

15 minutes later

"What do you suggest, Wu?"

"Let's wait till the lights c-"

"Forget the dammit lights! I'm getting hungry... let's head for the cafeteria and see if we can get some food there. I can always go home a little later." Duo flung his braid around, looking for WuFei. He didn't want to knock his head again so he decided to use his braid instead.

WuFei felt something touching his arm and grabbed it, thinking that it was an insect crawling on him.

"OW! Leggo!" He pulled his hair back.

"That was your hair? I thought it was some bug."

"C'mon, let's go!" Duo stood up. WuFei picked himself up and grabbed onto Duo's braid again. "What are you doing?!"

"How do you expect me to find you if you get lost in this darkness? I'll just have to use your hair to make sure you don't wander off."

"Well... ok, but not so hard."

And the two made their way out of the court, knocking into almost everything in their way. WuFei finally got fed up and refused to let Duo lead the way. Instead, he walked ahead and pulled Duo along by his braid.
 

Hall

Quatre stopped playing his violin. "Power failure?" He stood up and felt his way around. "I have to get to the cafeteria. The main switch's there." Making his way out of the hall, he heard a familiar voice travelling from somewhere in the corridor.

"Let go of my hair! Hanaseyo! (Let go!)"

Quatre knew that voice. "Duo! Where are you, Duo?" He took a few steps forward. "Duo! Where..." Quatre collided head-on into WuFei. "Itai... (pain)"

Duo felt the grip on his hair released. "I'm free!" Pulling back his hair, Duo coiled it up into a bun to prevent WuFei from tugging at it again. WuFei turned around and knocked into Duo again. He felt around and managed to get his hands on Duo's head, feeling for the braid so he could hold onto it again. Instead, his fingers felt a coil of thick hair.

"A bun? A woman?!" WuFei was in shock and spun around, whamming into the wall. He slumped to the floor.

"Wufy? You there?" Duo felt around and tripped over WuFei and fell right into Quatre.

"AAHH!" Quatre voiced out when something fell onto him.

"There you are, Wu." Duo touched Quatre's face with his two hands. "I thought I heard Quatre's voice from somewhere."

"Ano... Duo. I'm Quatre."

"Quatre?! Then where's WuFei?"

"I'm here, you moronic imbecile!" came a voice from behind. "I thought you were a woman!"

"I REPEAT AND I EMPHASIZE, I'M A MAN!!!!! M-A-N!!! MAN MAN MAN MAN MAN!!!!! Don't keep making me repeat myself, it's not good for my health!"

"Why are you still in school, Duo?" Quatre asked.

"Trying to teach the goon behind me how to play basketball, that's why! Can you believe he kicked a basketball and deflated another?!"

"Err... never mind. We have to go to the cafeteria for the switch box."

"Just what I was thinking, but I was intending to go there for food, not the switch box. It doesn't sound appetizing." Duo chided.

Together, the three stood up, taking great care not to hit each other and made their way down the stairs with WuFei leading, followed by Duo and Quatre respectively. What Quatre didn't realize was that Duo had stepped onto his shoelaces when he fell onto him. As Quatre walked down the steps, he accidentally stepped onto his own shoelaces that had come loose and tripped.

"AAAAHHH!" Quatre lost his sense of balance and fell forward onto Duo. "AAAAHHH!!!" Duo lost his balance too and fell forward, heading for WuFei. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" WuFei felt some mysterious force pushing him and he lost his balance. The three rolled up into a human ball and tumbled down the stairs.

WuFei touched his forehead. "My head..."

"My nose..." Duo complained.

"Daijoubu ka? Minna-san? (Are you alright? Everyone?)" Quatre was worried. "I'm sorry. It was all my fault. I didn't watch where I was walking."

"Daijoubu. (I'm ok) We better get moving to the cafeteria quick if you don't want anything else to happen again." Duo replied.
"Wu, you okay?"

"NO!" came the reply.

Eventually, the clumsy trio managed to make their way to the cafeteria after much difficulties.
 

Cafeteria, kitchen store room

Heero and Trowa were fixing the switch box in the store room for the past half an hour. Some of the switches had fused out and the two divided the fixing between them to get the job done faster. They worked in silence, occasionally speaking to the other to pass over a screwdriver. [ The tools came from Heero's bag. He had some with him when he broke into the principal's office ]

Outside in the cafeteria, the other three were trying to make their way to the kitchen so that Duo could get to the fridge for food, Quatre to the store room for the switch box and WuFei to the first aid box for bandage. They finally located the kitchen and Duo found the fridge with ease. [ Duo's very familiar with the kitchen, wonder why? ] Just as he opened up the fridge, the lights came on.

Heero and Trowa looked up to see the lights flash on.

"Ninmu kanryo." Heero turned to Trowa who was now visible. Trowa looked at Heero before he turned his head to the store room's door. [ the door connecting the kitchen to the store room ] He could hear funny sounds coming from outside in the kitchen. Heero heard them too.

KA-TONG!! KA-TONG!! KA-TONG!!

Following the sounds was a familiar voice. "Mouse! Mouse!" The voice went.

KA-TONG!! KA-TONG!!

Duo had sighted a mouse when the lights came on. He had grabbed a nearby frying pan and was trying to whack the mouse with it. He chased it around with the pan and made a hell of a noise wherever he went. Using all his might, he swung down the pan but missed. The pan hit the hard surface of the table and vibrated, causing Duo to shake as well. "W-w-whooooaaa." Duo raised his hands to his head to stop it from moving. Picking up the pan again, he steadied himself and gave chase. "You fight like a mouse!"

"It is a mouse." WuFei remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"Duo..." Quatre didn't know what to do.

Duo pursued his victim and cornered it. The little mouse quaked with fear. Duo raised the frying pan way above his head, ready to give it the last and final blow. "Sayoonara, Mr Mouse."

KA-TONG!!!!!

Trowa had snatched the pan out of Duo's hands before Duo could hit the mouse with it. The spiky haired one had used the pan to hit Duo on the head, making him fall to the floor. The bunned up boy's gaze never tore away from the mouse as the rodent ran out of the corner. His eyes followed the mouse all the way to a pair of shoes and he looked up.

"Oh my.... JINX!" Duo backed up, rowing backwards away from Trowa.

"Trowa!" Quatre exclaimed in astonishment.

Heero stepped out of the store room. Upon seeing Heero, Duo gasped. "Not him too!" Duo ran behind WuFei for cover. "Go, Wu! Use your martial arts! Go!" WuFei narrowed his eyes to a slit and moved aside. Duo looked lost and helpless without his backup. He looked at Heero and Trowa. "D-Don't think I don't know martial arts. I-I... Take this! Hii-yaa! Woo-riya!" Duo waved his hands in a frenzy, trying to copy Bruce Lee whom he had seen once on television.

The remaining four sweatdropped.

"I don't believe I'm seeing this." WuFei thought. Quatre raised an eyebrow while Trowa remained emotionless. Heero walked over to the sink with a glass and filled it with water before throwing the water at Duo's face.

Duo calmed down. "Thanks, I needed that."

The five boys took a look at one another.

On to Chapter 11...