He Doesn't See Me

��A blonde headed boy walks down the path, cheerfully greeting all that come near enough for him to greet. As a sign of respect to such a man, and to add a playfulness to their day, they return the young man's gesture, and watch happily as his blue-green eyes twinkle with happiness as they answer his quiet but firm "Hello". After he has left radius of earshot, all mothers come out and scold their children, saying that when they grow up, they should be just as polite as he.

��Another boy lurks in the shadows, hugging them so that no one will see him. He watches the blonde boy carefully,closely, but not close enough to be seen. Suddenly the blonde boy stops, and starts to turn in the other boy's gaze. The other boy quickly tilts his head back, letting his strangely groomed brown hair shine in the sun, so the boy will see that it is a person with their back to him. As a sign of politeness, the blonde boy never disturbs a person unless they are facing him. The boy with the light brown hair waits until the blonde boy is out of sight, and then breathes out a sigh of relief. They are broken by the seemingly lifeless green eyes that calmly watch again as the blonde boy greets all he can in the park, then his mouth unconsciously start to form words.

��But not to risk another close encounter with the boy with the aquamarine eyes, the brown haired boy walks away, risking another glance as he shrinks into the shadows of the trees, then with a rustle of leaves and foliage, he is gone. Quatre looks behind him, sensing someone watching him, someone familiar, but he shrugs it off as a ruse, because no one is there.

��The same brown headed boy stays in the corner of the ballroom, a shorter girl with laughing blue eyes and brown curls that frame her face clinging to his elbow. They watch from the balcony above the dance floor where forms whirl and spin, their multicolored dresses and tuxedos showing no sign of stopping their dizzying ways. The girl admires the throng of people on the ground below them, and calls up to him softly, her voice taken away by the music that drowned out everything else. But the boy knows that she is speaking, and knowingly reads her lips. They tell him that she is proud of her brother, but she is concerned about the factor of his everlasting sadness.

��Discovered, he looks at her sharply, then just stares at the blonde boy, now on the far corner of the room. His sister follows his gaze, and acknowledges this discovery. But she do not speak, just observes as her brother stares at his best friend in the corner.

��Quatre waltzes with Dorothy for a little while, when he feels that watching presence falling over him again. The same presence he felt in the park, on the street, in the office building...someone was watching him, but whoever it was, he could tell that this person meant no harm, only good. He/She wanted only to make sure that he was safe, and he was glad that someone was watching his back when he couldn't do it, and that someone cared. But he couldn't help but wonder, who was it? There was no one there but his closest friends, yet he felt this presence was foreign, an aura that he wasn't acquainted with. Frowing, he looked around, but there was no one there. Everyone was talking with each other, even Trowa up on the balcony seemed preoccupiedly chatting with his recently found sister. He was glad for them, all right, but still, Trowa was an enigma, an unknown. Could there be more to him that met the eye?

��Trowa leaves the party early, while Catherine was talking with Dorothy. He doesn't regret that he left early. He was sure that Quatre suspected something, now. The blonde Arab had almost caught him staring at him, and the Latino could only turn to Catherine and ask her to pretend to talk. Catherine began to chat with him about the lions, and what their names were again. She never could seem to remember the names, but she could always identify them by her own set of names. He sighed, and looked up at the sky again.

��I wonder how long it's been since I met Quatre...it seems like it's been forever, we met so long ago. I just hope he remembers our first meeting as well as I do, the fight and the compromise, it is always here, in my mind. I always consider him first, and I know he would do the same for me. But I don't have the guile or the elegance he has. I am content to watch him from afar.

��The brown haired boy sighs again, a heavyhearted, deeply-in-love sigh, but he knows that it's better this way, not to interfere, to pretend not to care. He could not reach past the deep friendship that he had bonded with Quatre, he couldn't lose it, or else it would take him a long time to get back to where he was now. He had finally found a purpose in life to live, with more pillars holding up his sky than he ever though he would need, but Quatre was the tallest, and the strongest of them all. Just knowing that the blonde was safe was enough for him.

��From a distance, the brown haired boy watches again as his best friend walks down the park street again, this time with a girl on his arm. The same girl from the party, the same girl that Quatre unwittingly saved and won the heart of on Libra, when it hadn't blown up. In sparing her life, she gave him hers to keep, and it seemed that Quatre was taking her offer: to stay with her forever, and love her. She has an aura that is so delicate after being totally stripped of her title and rank, but now she has found another type of honor and justice to live for. She was everything she thought she wasn't: funny, incentive, thoughtful....perfect for Quatre in every aspect. Not like me, he thought a bit bitterly, but assured himself that it was for the best.

��Quatre had always been the peaceful, kind one of the group of 5 that overcame great odds together, working independently, until their strategies demanded they have allies to work with, and to associate with. They had a life, too. Just a different one, one filled with everything a life wasn't supposed to have but they had excess of, enough to fill their next few lifetimes with. Behind his back, Quatre had nicknames: the Innocent One, the Peaceful One, the Eloquent One...there were too many words and meanings to describe him, and the brown haired boy wasn't about to try. But he was about to try to talk to the fair haired lad that he admired so much after all these years and hardships they had defeated, together. That word was still foreign on his tongue, still insecure in his mind. It didn't sound familiar, but somehow the brown haired boy knew that it was right. He walked through the bushes, and was greeted by the happy, vibrant smile Quatre always wore for him. The only regret he had was that it wasn't the same smile he gave Dorothy.

��Trowa smiled, just a minuscule gesture of the upturning of the corners of his lips. But Quatre's smile grew brighter at this, until he finally closed his eyes and began to skip happily along the path, Trowa half-jogging, half-walking to keep up with him. When Quatre finally tired, they both plopped down on a bench, exhausted but joyful.

��I could tell Quatre, Trowa thought as he looked over at his comrade. I could change everything I lived for, and live for just him alone. He wouldn't push me away, perhaps to make it up, he would let me stay with him for a little while until I came to my senses and accepted the fact that he wasn't in love with me. Does he know how much torture he has put me through? No. And I'm not about to let him find out either, because he is as strong as steel in battle, his thinkingl quicker than the speed of light, and power in his hands, but in matters that involve emotional things, he is easily harmed, but he easily recouperates, as well. I wish with all my might I could tell him, but it would shatter him forever. I can't harm him, now that he has found his happiness in another person.

��Quatre felt Trowa's attention was on him, but what he couldn't distinguish. As far as he could tell, Trowa was extremely happy. Perhaps something had happened in his life that made him this happy. "Trowa", he started. "Why are you smiling?" Trowa looked at him for a moment, then gave a smile back in return. He just stared, but didn't speak, and somehow Quatre knew that it was him that was making Trowa so happy, so alighted to have him beside him. He looked up at the Latino, still questioning, but Trowa gave no spoken answer, but turned away, a faint smile still on his face.

��You. That's what's making me smile, Trowa thought with a smile that was apparent on his face. It was rare for him to smile at all, so he was glad that he was able to do so in a place where they were all strangers, and wouldn't mind him. Except for Quatre, he thought. He would never be a stranger. Always a welcome person in this mundane life of mine. He is someone else's, though, and I can't say anything about that. I can't control his life, and if he's happy, so am I.

��He nodded in accordance to the blonde in question. Quatre smiled happily and continued his rounds in the park, as he strode everyday. Trowa couldn't help but have a newly enlightened heart at this joyful boy that skipped down the path in unhidden happiness. He reminded Trowa of a little sunbeam, beaming for everyone that he came across. His faint smile turned down, though, when the next thought crossed his mind: He sure didn't deserve this little sunbeam's light, he was the bringer of darkness, of death and destruction, and he was yearning for light? Preposterous, he thought with a frown. Without a word of goodbye, he turned his heel in a pivot and walked away. Quatre stopped, feeling something was wrong with Trowa, and he watched sadly as the brown haired boy walked away, head hunched between his shoulders. But he had no time to brood, for Dorothy had appeared around the corner, right on schedule.

��Trowa glanced behind him, and was satisfied to see Quatre was now preoccupied with Dorothy. Good, he thought with a wry smile, he's with someone else, someone the total opposite of me, a queen, a member of royalty like him. Why would anyone like me anyways? I have been on the battlefield since as far back as I can remember. I have no right to be with such a person of high rank, the owner of the Winner Family. He is a king, I am but a peasant. He should be left to his own premises, his own life is full enough as it is. He doesn't need me meddling with his affairs. The Latino walked off, but Quatre was watching him, sensing something was wrong with him. He shrugged for the moment, but vowed that he would visit Catherine soon to find out if something was wrong.

��Trowa watched as L3 disappeared from sight, and wondered if Quatre knew. He probably did, because of his Uchuu no Kokoro, but somehow he knew that he had to leave this behind, as far from him as L3 was now, miles away in unpenatrable space. He wouldn't go back. And though it broke his heart (if he had one, he added silently) to think that he would never feel the light of the sunbeam again, it was better if the dark stayed away from the light. Disaster came after they conversed together.

Well, here's a brand new fic, and this is the first 3x4 fic I've ever written. Flame me all you want, but you must realize that the Dorothy thing was just like she had an infatuation with Quatre, and he just submitted. If you flame me about that, go ahead, it was just an alternate pairing to make Quatre seem distracted, and give Trowa a chance to escape. Sorry, all you 3x4 fans out there, but I don't think Quatre and Dorothy go together either, it's just that I had to make Quatre distracted with something, so I put Dorothy in.