FLEETING DREAMS: A SECOND CHANCE
CHAPTER III
By ... Divine Selenity
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HIYA
!!!!!! I know, I know I’ve been bad by
not posting up my update for Fleeting Dreams sooner. My bad. By the way, for
those of you who haven’t read A Perfect Rose:
A Valentine’s Story, PLEASE READ IT!!!!! <picture Divine Selenity with wide, sad, puppy eyes> Anyway, the evil I call school has been
giving me an enormous load of what I call injustice – HOMEWORK !!!! In fact I had a double whammy since not only
did I have extensive homework, but I also had major tests for each day this
week. I repeat – INJUSTICE !!!!
<EVERYBODY SAY: Awwwwww, poor Divine
Selenity> I think it’s because they
know that in less than three months I’ll be graduating – FINALLY !!!! <everybody cheer, “YAHOO”>
Hmm
. . . Oh, yeah! Another thing. Sorry about the late posting. You see what happened was that . . . . MY
DARNED COMPUTER CRASHED!!! Not only did
it take down with it a lot of my research papers that happened to be due, it
also took down with it the final and revised copy of Chapter 3. My only back-up [in a disk] happened to be
one of my earlier versions of it.
AHHHH, THE INJUTICE OF IT ALL!!!!!!
[Little Divine Selenity screaming and running around avoiding more shoes
and other smelly unmentionables while readers are shouting ‘You let such a
minute thing such as your computer crashing get in the way? You loser!’]
On
another bright note though, I was still able to slave all throughout these past
few nights which happen to be my spring break, up to the wee hours of the
morning actually just to finish the third chapter of Fleeting Dreams. <EVERYBODY CHEER while DIVINE SELENITY CHANTS: “Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Who’s the woman? Who’s
the woman?” Then coughing, “Back to
author’s notes everyone.”>
Now
turning to another matter, <EVERYBODY:
“Geesh, will she stop it with the notes already? Some people really would like to get on with
the story.”> Anyway, as I was
saying, about the ‘Catherine’ issue, I would like to thank everyone for all
your wonderful, encouraging e-mails. That night that I posted my author’s notes
– more like rants – I checked my e-mail box and I saw an overflow of
sympathizers. I REPEAT, YOU GUYS
ROCK. I just want to devote this
section for my shout-outs. [Sorry if
this is going to be long. You can skip
this if you want. This part of Fleeting
Dreams is dedicated specially for you guys out there.] The order of the names are in no way
reflecting favoritism, which is why I actually put them in alphabetical
order. =P . . . .
003, Abc, Alexia, Angel Love, Baby,
Calliope, Carol, Cass, Chrissy, Cindy, Diamante, Douglas, Eve, Fairy_Dust,
Fanfiction Junky, Flying Fish, Gez, Gundamgal, Identical Snowflake, Izzy,
Jadet, Jadewaters, Kodora_Chan, Lady Ayanami, Lady Saffir, Lady Shorinai, Lady
Winner, Ley, Little Rini, Mandy, Meioko Yuy, Methyl, Midi, Midnight Anime Space
Station, Mistress_Dreamz, Mona, Ndblue123, Neya, Nim, Opal Soul, Phoenixstar,
Polka Dot, PsychoKitty, Queenofallbees, Rage Barton, Reina, Rei Tamashii, Roni,
Ryuuko, Scm, Shot By A Gun, Silver Wing, Sorceress Alexandria, Starlioness,
Vee, Violet Scorpion, Zoi
A Fan, Albee, Aldesina, Amanda, Anna, Angel Love,
Angela, Anime Dorkus, Apol, Baby, Beck, Boredom’s child, Carol, Cassie, Chesna
& Rhiannon, Chris, Chrissy, Christy, Cindy, Deathcage, Diamante, Diana,
Fanfiction Junky, Flying Fish, Gez, Izzy, J. L., Jadet, Katana Force, Keri,
Lady Saffir, Lady Shorinai, Little Rini, Liz, Mandi, Mandy, Michelle A., Midi,
Midnight Anime Space Station, Mistress Dreamz, Mona, Natsumi, Neya, Opal Soul,
Peygan, Phoenixstar, Pipper, Polka Dot, Sadie, Sailor Cosmos, Sailortuxedomask,
SaraM, Sftbal, Silver Wing, Squall_Strife5, Star Lioness, The Archduke, Xellia
Metallium, Zoe, Zoi
However,
everyone knows that not all wishes comes true.
This was one of them. Relena’s
dreams were anything but sweet that night.
Oops,
correction. For the most part they were
sweet, but along with sweetness’ embrace came pain’s shrouding veil. Though her encounter with Heero Yuy had been
brief, it had more repercussions than had been foreseen. A fleeting moment in time, that’s what it
was. However, that fleeting moment in
time was enough for long suppressed memories of the past to reawaken –
besieging one who had done everything
in her will to forget the bittersweet past.
“Shh!”
she soothingly murmured, as she went to each horse, stroked their mane, and
eased their frenzied nerves. Walking
over to the last paddock, she smiled.
“Hey boy,” she joyfully greeted, “It’s me. Miss me?”
Inside
the paddock stood a magnificent white steed regarding her for a moment and
sniffing her, his nostrils flaring.
Framed by a backdrop of darkness, his silver hide glinted as he moved
forward, towards her. Stroking the
horse’s dark mane, she allowed him to sniff her scent out. Immediately recognition set in as he
continued nuzzling her outstretched hand.
“I’m
happy to see you too boy,” she whispered, laughing at the ticklish
sensation. “Shh!” she repeated. Opening the stable door, she led the
compliant steed outside the still darkened morning. After leading him farther – walking side by side with him –
leaving the mansion behind them, she saddled him up and hoisted herself
up. Then patting his mane, she asked,
“You ready to go boy?” Fury only
snorted as if saying, ‘Did you even have to ask?’
Laughing,
she gathered in his reins and nudged him. “You’re right why did I even bother to ask?”
Spying
her hide-out, a grove near the edge of the forest, she had tied her steed to a
tree and plopped down right next to her grazing horse. There she had spent the whole afternoon,
quietly reading her favorites – Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Patrick Henry,
Montesque, John Jacque Rosseau Thomas Moore, and other great political minds –
you name it! Lazily lounging down the
cool grass, uncaring of the dirt underneath her, she had read and read to her
heart’s desire until the peaceful calm of the afternoon ambience – the gentle
rhythm of a nearby stream and the sweet melodious song of the birds – together
with the pleasant breeze of the summer haze, had lulled her to sleep.
Some
sixth sense had been badgering her mind all throughout her peaceful slumber
though. And when she finally gave in to
its persistence and dazedly opened her languor-filled sky blue eyes, she
squinted against the bright sunlight.
‘Why is it so bright?’ she asked as she glanced at her simple
watch. ‘It’s only one in the
afternoon.’ Eye’s widening in alarm,
she shouted, “One in the afternoon!?!”
Relena
Peacecraft had never been known to have been late for anything in her
life. She was mature for her age and
much too aware of the weight of responsibility. But, as everyone also knows, there is always a first time for
everything – which brings us to her dilemma.
For the first time in her life, Relena was late. EXTREMELY LATE, in fact.
And
now, to put it mildly, she was in trouble.
BIG trouble.
“Oh no!”
came the frenzied cry of the fifteen-year-old Relena. Hurriedly standing up from her lounging position on the grass,
she brushed off the grass stains on her riding clothes, her face contorting
into a horrified expression. She wailed
once more. “No! No!
No! No! No!”
Hurriedly
saddling up her horse once more, her hands clasped the reins and gathered them
in. Quickly and expertly she climbed upon her horse’s back and promptly
ordered, “Fury, let’s go, on the double.”
As
the stallion’s hooves thundered across the earth below them, Relena recounted
last night’s conversation with her Ma-Ma.
“Relena,
darling,” she had begun, standing in front of Relena who seemed not to have
noticed her presence. Clearing her
throat, she began louder this time, “Relena, honey.” Still no response.
Muttering about kids and loud music nowadays, she removed the headphone
from her daughter’s head.
Startled
by the intrusion, Relena had looked up irritated, until she saw the glowering
figure of her Ma-Ma. Offering a weak
smile, she said, “Ma-Ma. Sup?”
That
simple greeting in itself just furthered Katerina’s irritation. Needless to say, it wasn’t the right phrase
for Relena to use to start a conversation with her mother for the Lady Katerina
Peacecraft happened to be a very proper lady, a descendant from a royal
lineage. Katerina arched her eyebrows
at this introduction. “Young lady, what
have I constantly said about eloquence and articulateness?” Then waving a hand to dismiss the topic she
said, “No matter. There are other more
important things to discuss.”
Inconspicuously
rolling her eyes, Relena thought, ‘Right.
Business first, as always.’ She
replied, “Shoot,” which earned her another scolding look from her mother.
Gracefully
walking towards her window, Katerina begun.
“As you know your father is due home tomorrow from his month long
sojourn in Japan.” At this piece of
information, Relena’s demeanor softened.
She had missed her Pa-Pa greatly.
Tuning in to the rest of her mother’s drivel, Relena was just in time to
hear other news. “Aside from that
though, we also have guests arriving tomorrow together with your father.” Relena had frowned at this. She hated it when other people hogged the
precious, little time she spent with her Pa-Pa. “They happen to be very special and important friends
of your father. They have finally found
the time from their hectic schedule to plan a visit to our estate.” Pausing as she glanced back to her daughter,
to check if she had her full attention – which she did – and Katerina
continued. “Now, since they are dear
friends of your father, he would naturally want to introduce you and your
brother to them. As with all meetings,
proper decorum and a decent appearance is required.” Katerina started walking back to the room’s entrance, “They
should be here before noon, which means you will have to forego your outings
with your horse. Tardiness will not be
tolerated, understood?” She turned to
walk through the door, “Oh, and Relena honey, we’ll soon have to talk about
enrolling you to boarding school – preferably Madame
Marguarite-Francoise-Louise de Lancret’s Finishing School. After all, we can’t have a royal
princess running amok society with her juvenile behavior, now can we
darling?” With that parting shot she
had left the room wherein Relena’s figure had visibly slackened.
Looking
down at her horse, who had slowed a bit, she commented, “Speed it up Fury. You’re losing your touch, buddy.” At this insult, he drastically increased her
speed. They were riding parallel to the
silvery green waters of Bordeaux Creek with the breeze skittering around like a
happy child, fluttering the leaves and the swamp grasses, and ruffling the
glassy surface of the water breaking up reflections of the flowering
tress. It also scattered the pure white
blossoms all around her – some of the blossoms clinging to her hair and to the
fine cotton of her shirt.
She
laughed gleefully as the wind swept her golden tresses all around her clear,
smooth face. Then she spotted the
silhouette of the mansion on the horizon.
Soon thereafter she stopped laughing.
Slackening the reins of her horse, she bent down and whispered to
Fury. “Hey boy, from now on we keep a low-profile. We don’t want to attract any attention. Okay buddy?” Fury merely neighed in understanding as he slowed down his gait –
no longer running yet still maintaining his hurried flourish.
Relena’s
gaze softened as she stared at Fury. He
truly looked like some wondrous mythical creature conjured up in a wild
dream. He had agility, speed, strength,
and
also brains. ‘But, he’s a softie
inside.’ Fondly glancing at Fury,
Relena caressed his dark mane. “You and
me are two peas in a pod, buddy. No one
can ever separate us, you know?”
Fury
only neighed in understanding.
“Pegasus,”
she breathed in wonder as she stared up at the grand creature. Being the curious child she was – and being
very small as well – she squirmed beneath the lowest bar of the wooden railing
and entered the ring in order to get an up-close and personal look at the horse.
Striding
shyly towards the ferocious steed, Relena was devoid of fear. She wasn’t aware of the fact that it could
crush her frail body – literally. Its
head was rearing back, neck arching and hooves pawing the air when it suddenly
became aware of another presence.
He
immediately stood his ground, eyeing the newcomer who stood shyly and curiously
before him. He snorted as if to say,
‘What the heck is this tiny, little thing doing here?’ His great, dark eyes flashed in wariness as
Relena got closer and closer until she stopped a mere foot or two away from
him. Slowly, he sniffed at her,
scrutinizing every part of her small frame, then eyed her inquiring azure-blue
eyes.
Relena
suddenly lifted her arms – a sudden movement that caused him to back away
suspiciously. Then, he snorted in
surprise as she abruptly commanded, “Up.”
Right
after, he watched as the young girl unsuccessfully try to climb on top of
him. Again, and again, she only fell
painfully on her bottom. She still
didn’t cry though. With each try, she
struggled to climb on his back.
In
fascination the horse had continued to watch each of the girl’s failed
attempt. He had watched as
determination filled every pore of her gashed and wounded figure. And as if seemingly shrugging and muttering,
‘What the heck?’ he cautiously lowered his head and helped nudged her up on his
back.
Tangling
her small hands in his mane, the seven-year-old Relena eagerly scrambled up and
sat on his back. She hugged him as
tightly as she could, and laughed gleefully, simultaneously commanding,
“Giddyup! Giddyup!”
And he,
the indulgent horse he was, trotted around the ring, carefully aware of the
fragile cargo on his back. Of course,
his actions just further gladdened the light-hearted Relena and once more she
shrieked in delight.
Her cries
drew attention to her and the next thing she heard was a shrill cry and loud
laments of ‘Oh My God! Somebody get her
down,’ together with ‘The princess might break her neck.’ The men tried to get close enough to their
princess – the key word being tried.
They couldn’t. The stallion had suddenly turned and became her
protector, fiercely and valiantly guarding her from people he viewed as enemies
– after all, they had try to manhandle him, what would they do to his small
rider?
What did Relena do in all these
commotion? She proudly sat atop the
horse she had instantly claimed as her very own and from that moment on decided
that no he definitely wasn’t a ‘Pegasus,’ for a Pegasus was a gentle, mythical
creature. The stallion beneath her was
a wild, passionate beast, a fierce defender with eyes that were darkened in
intensity. ‘Nope, definitely not a
Pegasus,’ she thought as she shook her head.
Instead he was a – “Fury,” she breathed out.
And after
this seven-year-old troublemaker had figured this all out and noticed those clamoring
for her to get down from the horse, one would think that she would have
dismounted. But, one should also
remember that this girl was Relena Peacecraft.
She never did what the rest of society did. So, she surveyed all the worried faces around her, then wouldn’t
you know it? She waved at them and
offered them all the best, satisfied, toothy grin she had ever mustered in all
her seven years.
Her
train of thought was broken as awareness washed over her. They were approaching the castle. Straightening up, she watched as they drew
nearer the place she had called home for the past fifteen years.
‘It
is a beautiful place,’ she observed.
‘Truly fit for a royal family.’
Acres of formal and informal gardens swarmed in the view. A small lake was located nearby and her
great-grandmother, Maria Antonia, who had undertaken the task of beautifying
the surrounding area, had engineered for a tributary be dug up to form several
ornamental pools riddling the gardens – like a Japanese garden. Thereafter, terraces were built to look over
the gardens while archways decorated each terrace’s walkway. Fountains and beautiful statues were
situated near each ornamental pool since they derived their flowing waters from
it. In recent years, another summerhouse
was added to the other four that had long been established. They were used mostly by close friends of
the family who came for long visits or for those lingering after a social
function.
Relena
sighed, satisfaction resonating in every pore.
Her blood quickened as it always did whenever she laid eyes on her
home. To her, nothing could surpass the
sheer romanticism of the place. She had
loved it ever since she could first remember.
And even now, she still loved it.
Unease
filled her now though. ‘Odd,’ she
thought as she looked about, at the same time dismounting from Fury’s back. ‘Where is everybody? It is past noon and this place should be
bustling.’
“Oh
well,” she breathed out. “It seems like
you and I are safe for the moment,” she murmured to Fury as she led him to his
paddock. She constantly looked left and
right, alert to even the softest sound around her.
With
a brief hug and a responding nuzzle, she sadly left Fury in his stall, having
taken care of his needs first. “Until
tomorrow, buddy,” she whispered as she walked backwards to the stable’s
entrance. “Rest well my friend.”
She
was so preoccupied with her horse’s welfare that she didn’t notice it until it
was late – she bumped into somebody.
‘Uh-oh,’
was the main thing running in her mind as she turned in trepidation at the
person she bumped into. Grimacing, she
crossed her fingers. ‘Hopefully, it’s
not the housekeeper – Mrs. Glenn, or even worse,’ at this she grimaced even more as she gulped. ‘Or even worse – Ma-Ma.’ She glanced up and –
.
. . immediately sighed in relief.
“Milli!” She hugged him tight,
then after a while drew back from him – and promptly smacked his right arm.
“Ouch,”
Milliardo uttered as he winced from his little sister’s hit. It was a well-known fact that she was
endowed with a mean right hook. He
could only sigh with regret. ‘This is
why I should never have let her tag along with me and my friends when we were
kids.’ He rubbed his sore arm, ‘They
taught her how to fight, a skill she seems to be fond of practicing on me.’ Raising a questioning brow, he sarcastically
greeted, “Hello to you too.”
His
sarcasm was rewarded with another hit that he should have anticipated. Should have, but didn’t. As a result he was nursing bruises on both
of his arms. She glared at him. “You know better than to sneak up on me when
I’m trying my darndest to be inconspicuous from Ma-Ma’s eyes. You creeping up on me like that nearly gave
me a heart-attack.” With a frightened
tone, she shuddered. “For sure I
thought it was Ma-Ma.” Once more, she
sighed in relief. “But, it’s only you
Milli!” Smiling exuberantly, she slid
her arm through his and began walking towards the castle. “So has Ma-Ma figured I’ve been gone
yet? You didn’t tattle on me did you?” Looking up at him in apprehension, Relena
was alarmed to see his grave face. She
offered him a wry, wavering smile. “I
take it that you aren’t exactly too happy to see me right now, are you?”
His
playful air of moments ago was gone, replaced with the unrelenting face of a
big brother ready to scold the wayward manner of his kid sister. He somberly nodded in answer to her question.
Continuing,
Relena replied, “And, I’m guessing from that grim look on your face that I am
in big
trouble.”
Milliardo
Peacecraft – or ‘Milli’ as Relena fondly called him ever since she could talk
at the age of nine months (As smart as she was at that young age, she couldn’t
say ‘Milliardo.’ She was still, after
all, only nine months old.) – nodded once more in reply. With both of his hands he stopped his
sister’s saunter and turned her towards him.
Relena unconsciously winced at his solemn attitude. ‘You’ve pushed it too far this time,
Relena. He really looks mad.’
Milliardo
Peacecraft was her brother, and the Crown Prince of Sanq Kingdom, the heir of
Sanq Kingdom, current vice-president of Peacecraft Enterprises and future
successor in the business, and he was also – . . . . To put it simply he was a very powerful and important man.
Relena
sneaked a glance at her brother. For a guy, he was elegant. She had only ever considered two men in her
life as elegant, one of them was her father, the other was her brother. She had very high standards for men and to
be called an elegant man by her would be an honor to itself. While the cerulean coloring of her eyes were
inherited from their father, his dark blue eye coloring was from their
mother. That wasn’t the only thing he
inherited from their mother. Their
mother had also bequeathed him his beautiful platinum blonde hair. She got the darker shade – being deep honey blonde
– probably due to her father’s light brown hair. One thing that he had acquired from their father though was his
imposing figure. Relena smiled as she
gazed at her brother’s hair and shook her head amusedly. She had always laughed at his ridiculous
hairstyle – he grew it long. She had
always shaken her head in disbelief as he always retorted , ‘You’ll see; women
love long hair. They think it’s very sexy. It’s all the rage now in America.’ At this she would laugh even harder at his
ridiculous drawl. Relena shook her head
once more, recalling that he turned out right, as usual – while she was in the
wrong, again. A smile formed on her
face at her recollections as she glanced once more at her brother. Then the smile faded. For one moment she had forgotten that he
happened to be mad – very mad.
Mentally she prepared for the inevitable scolding
she deserved. She wasn’t prepared for
his next action. He tiredly sighed out,
“Ma-Ma clearly told you that you
weren’t supposed to go riding about today.
And yet –.” He punctuated his
exasperation with another sigh, “You still disobeyed her.”
Relena
had the grace to look apologetic.
“Ma-Ma always says that. She
restricts everything I do.” After a
pause, she admitted in a whisper, “You know how I am.”
Milliardo
just answered. “I know it all too
well.” Ruffling her hair playfully, he
thought, ‘Life as a young princess is clearly not for you, Lena. You have a wild spirit craving freedom from
society’s chains. I hope you get it some
day because I don’t want you tied down to something you don’t want.’ Gently, he nudged her towards the direction
of the mansion. “I’ve been running
interference for you. Ma-Ma is still
terribly upset though at your tardiness.
Noin is in there trying to divert her from noticing my disappearance as well.”
As they entered the back door to the mansion, he urgently whispered,
“Now, hurry up and get dressed.” His
soft eyes immediately glinted with impish glee as he picked stray blossoms and
leaves stuck in her hair. He commented,
“Not only do you look terrible, you smell it too.” With one hand, he waved her off in the stairs direction.
“Shoo!!!” The other hand was busy
holding his nose, and his face was scrunched up in distaste. “Shoo!!!” he insisted, playfully.
Relena’s
eyes twinkled whimsically. “Thanks for
covering for me Milli. This is why I
love you so much.” That being said she
launched herself on his arms. “This is
a token of my gratitude. My undying
sisterly love for you.”
“Yeesh,”
Milliardo grimaced. “This is what I get
for covering your hide?” He detached
himself from her. “Not only do I smell
like crap, I now look like it too.”
“I
love you too, bro.” She playfully
winked at him. Turning to climb the
stairs, “Now I need to get dressed before Ma-Ma figures out that I’ve been gone
the whole time.”
“Too
late,” came the cold voice behind her.
‘Uh-oh,’
Relena thought in alarm. Suddenly, she
became very religious, silently and desperately praying to the gods above
her. ‘Jesus Christ, Buddha, Allah, or
Yahweh. I don’t care whoever you
are. Just please, please, for the sake of preserving my life, grant my prayer.’ With one last look at the heavens above, she
mouthed, ‘Save me.’ Slowly and
apprehensively she turned around, dreading what she would see. “Ma-Ma,” she greeted out nervously, anxiety
filling every pore of her being.
Relena,
of course, had the right to be afraid.
Standing before her was a very refined and graceful looking Lady
Katerina Peacecraft – though clearly looking incensed at that moment. She was accompanied by a contrite faced Noin
who immediately joined her husband’s side.
As she passed by Relena, Noin sent an apologetic glance, simultaneously
mouthing, ‘I’m sorry.’
Smiling
fondly at Noin, the love of her brother’s life, Relena just shrugged the
apology off. ‘You’ve done more than
enough, Noin.’ Lucrezia Noin-Peacecraft
stood proudly next to her husband’s side, her Mediterranean heritage
brilliantly shining throughout the defiant stance of her face. While her dark purple eyes stared
apologetically into Relena’s, Noin’s chin took on a bold tilt towards
Katerina’s direction. Her spunk was one
of the things Relena admired the most.
It was also one of the reasons both girls got along perfectly – they
were both stubborn and strong-willed women.
Noin’s platinum’s silvery black hair was cut elegantly short to
compliment the shape of her face while her lithe body was clothed with a dark
blue, light, flowing dress that further emphasized her Mediterranean complexion. ‘They make such a handsome couple – young
and in love,’ Relena had to admitted wistfully.
Immediately, she
turned her attention back to her mother who was still standing there, and still
clearly furious.
“Relena,”
her majestic mother greeted out coldly.
She eyed her daughter from head to toe and a look of displeasure
flittered to her face. “You went riding
today,” she calmly stated, not bothering to ask. Then with renewed vigor, “And deliberately disobeyed my
orders?” Though angry she still kept
that grace about her – never shouting yet furious nonetheless. Her calm anger – a paradox at its extreme –
only served to tighten Relena’s wrung-out nerves.
The Lady
Katerina Peacecraft stood regally, with her hair tied in an exquisite French
coil, wisps falling softly around her face, emphasizing her genteel
beauty. Her dark blue eyes were fiery
and indignant, greatly contrasting Milliardo’s soft and gentle ones. Though she was already in her mid forties
she still had a lithe young body toned by daily exercises and work-outs. She had donned a dress similar to Noin’s
except hers was of a lovely lilac violet shade and long sleeved. Relena sighed, her mother was the epitome of
a regal lady, truly deserving her title as the Queen of Sank Kingdom. Although the woman did prefer downplaying
her importance, choosing instead to be called by Lady rather than her true
title of Queen. Relena sighed. Her mother was garbed in her usual polished
self, and here she was confronting her refined mother looking like a mess. ‘Why me?’ she silently pleaded to the skies.
Steeling
herself for a heated confrontation, Relena sucked in a deep breath and
started. “Ma-Ma –”
She was
never even given a chance to finish her sentence as Katerina immediately
launched into her tirade.
“No
excuses. I specifically asked you to
forego riding – just for one day. One
day! You can’t even do a simple
thing such as that!”
Relena
looked down as shame filled her.
‘Ma-Ma. Why do you continue to
live in your Old Regime views?’ she asked herself forlornly. “Ma-Ma – ” she attempted to talk once more.
And
was again cut-off. “You knew your
father was arriving today, with honored guests also. Your Pa-Pa and I had hoped to present a decent royal princess to
our guests. After all, as the
illustrious Peacecraft family, we have an image to uphold.”
“But,
Pa-Pa doesn’t care my riding about nor any of my other extracurricular
activities. He understands that I’m
still a teenager.” Relena rose up to
defend herself.
“A
teenager who also happens to be a royal princess,” Katerina promptly
added. A look of pure indignation
crossed the matriarch’s face. “I’ve had
enough of your childish games and immature behavior. Now, not only are you insulting me by disobeying my orders, but
you are also insulting your heritage by carelessly treating our prominent
background with indifference.” Her
voice startlingly rose up a notch, “You are now fifteen years old Relena. Soon, you will be crowned as the princess of
Sanq. Act like it.” Exasperatingly she cried, “Why can’t you be
as responsible as your brother Milliardo?”
Relena
visibly grimaced. ‘Ouch, that one
really hurt.’
Milliardo
moved in front of Relena, “Ma-Ma, enough is enough. That comment was entirely uncalled for. You and I know that –”
Katerina
favored him with a level gaze that clearly warned him not to interfere. She then turned back to Relena. “First thing tomorrow morning you will be
escorted to Madame Marguarite-Francoise-Louise de Lancret’s Finishing
School.” With that being said, she
stared down her daughter, daring her to argue.
Milliardo,
despite her mother’s warning, cut in.
“Hold on. You can’t just do
that. It’s not fair to –”
Coolly
reprimanding her son, she argued, “On the contrary; I can, and I just did.”
“But,” interjected
Milliardo.
“What’s
going on in here?” cried a new voice.
Relena’s head jerked back rapidly as she – along with the others –
scanned the group of distinguished men heading their way. As soon as she spotted the man leading the
group, she instantly smiled, locking her gaze at the man who’s face had also
simultaneously lighted up once he saw Relena’s own. His silvering hair caught the fine light and his light blue eyes,
aside from their usual calm intelligence, held abundant joy.
Through
the haze of her angry and defiant emotions, a shaft of happiness flooded
throughout her body. “Pa-Pa you’re
home,” she happily shrieked as she ran towards his outstretched arms and hugged
him exuberantly. “I’ve missed you Pa.”
Relena
leaned her head towards her father’s neck savoring his favorite cedar
cologne. The fact that her beloved
pa-pa was home was all she could think about.
‘Pa, I really missed you, so very much,’ Relena thought as she tightened
her hold on him.
Milliardo,
since he bore so much resemblance to their mother, was naturally closer to her
while Relena, who looked so much like their father, had always been closer to
him. In front of her mother, she had to
act like a dignified princess, while she could always loosen up and relax in
her father’s presence. She had always
loved his quiet, dignified manner, his maturity, his wisdom, and also his quiet
poise. Days that were supposed to be spent
refining her skills as a young princess were often found disposed in favor of
refuge in her father’s study. He would
cover for her, of course, later on making excuses to his wife about how she was
particularly helpful in a certain business matter of his that was currently
boggling his mind – which she actually was.
Those getaways were either spent in moments of silence and reading or
moments of learning about business strategies.
Relena,
though unwilling, broke away from her father as she suddenly became aware of
the men behind him. Slowly she perused
each of the three individuals. Clearly
they were all related. Their
resemblance in their appearances, bone structure, and mannerism gave that fact
easily away. ‘Even an idiot can see
that one clearly.’
Her
gaze surveyed the people in front of her, turning from one man to the other,
until she reached the last one, that is.
When she locked eyes with that last man, her whole world came to a
crashing halt and she imagined that her heart had stopped beating at the same
time too. ‘Or is it just beating too
rapidly?’ she thought in confusion.
Prussian blue eyes, holding deep profoundness in their small orbs,
weren’t hesitant to return her lingering perusal. ‘Wow,’ was the only thing she could think of as she eyed him up
and down, a slight reddish tint emphasizing her roseate cheeks. He clearly was a man to be reckoned with.
Reluctantly
she broke her gaze away from the striking man, her breathing shallow and her
composure shaken. No one – and no man –
had ever had such an unnerving effect on her.
Slowly, she recomposed herself and ,’ she thought as she slowly tried to
regain her composure and then returned her eyes back to her father’s exuberant
face. She smiled at the childish glint
in her father’s eyes.
“I
missed you too, poppet,” he fondly referred to her. “Now, princess,” he called her by her other nickname as he held
her at arm’s length, and looked at her.
“It’s been two long months eh?
You’ve grown tall and very pretty indeed.” Staring at her, he scrutinized her more, “Though you do look
somewhat rugged as of right now. And
you do smell a little bit peculiar.” He
raised one of his eyebrows as he mischievously ignored Relena’s indignant face
and admonishing cry of ‘Pa-Pa!’. “I see
you’ve been out riding again, have you?”
Not waiting for her answer, he ventured on, his twinkling eyes staring
at hers, “I had hoped to present my beautiful little princess to my great
friends, but I guess I’ll have to make do with you.” He laughed as she playfully hit him. Then, gesturing to the men behind him, he said, “Princess, I’d
like you to meet the greatest friends a man can ever have.”
One
of the men piped up behind him, “Oh stop it with the flattery. We get it already. You missed having us around terribly.”
Relena
stared at the man peculiarly as he continued to exaggeratedly blabber on and on
about how her father had missed hanging around with the group in Japan. Questioningly, she turned to her father for
the man’s identity.
Smiling
wryly at the man’s antics, Constantine pointed to the man who continued to
blabber on. “That fool,” he
affectionately began while in the background the ‘fool’ stopped his blabber
long enough to cry ‘Hey! Are you
talking about me?’. Constantine just
shook his head, as he continued. “As I
was saying, that fool over there is Lucenzo Yuy. My childhood best friend.”
Lucenzo
immediately stepped up to Relena and took her dainty hand in his and bowed in
flourish. “Princess,” he began with
flourish. “It is my pleasure to meet
such an esteemed young lady whose magnificent beauty is worldly known. My heart, whose beating had accelerated
exponentially, at this time clamors peaceful rest now that such unworthy eyes
had laid upon such a vision.” Sighing
blissfully, Lucenzo dramatically bestowed a kiss upon Relena’s small
hands. As he rose, he looked at her and
. . . winked in amusement at her shocked face.
Relena’s
forcibly closed her openly gaping mouth as a smile teasingly tugged her
lips. ‘This ‘guy’ is Pa-Pa’s best
friend?’ Shaking her head, she thought,
‘Oh the horror. Now, I not only have
one, but two idiots to take care of.’
Her
attention was diverted to her father once more as she tuned in just in time to
see her father deal Lucenzo with a smack in the head. “Idiot. Stop teasing my
daughter.” Crossing his arms in his
chest, he huffily added, “Trust me Lucenzo, I am saving you from insufferable
pain. My daughter can fight like the
best of them.” He added, “She
single-handedly beat my son and I up.”
While saying this, he had ignored her daughter’s outraged look,
something that he shouldn’t have. A
moment later, he was sporting a bruised arm as he introduced the next man.
Relena’s
gaze raked over the old man. She
immediately decided that though he had a blank mask on his face that hid his
emotions and made him look intimidating to some, he also had a warm presence
about him that made him appear hospitable at the same time.
“Poppet,
this is Natsushi Mizaki, Lucenzo’s father-in-law.” Natsushi nodded his head in acknowledgement and offered a slight
smile. Relena curtsied in return and
proffered a shining smile. ‘He must be
the patriarch of the family.’
Then
Relena’s gaze turned to the final man, the man with the riveting Prussian blue
eyes. She forced her heart to stop its
rapid beating and her mind to stop its wandering musings as she looked up at
the striking man.
“And
here,” Constantine once more introduced, “I am pleased to present you with
Lucenzo’s young son and protégé, Heero Yuy.”
Relena
stood entranced as Heero approached her and caught her hand in his. His intense eyes held hers in its enchanting
spell as he lowered his head down – not once breaking eye contact – and
lingeringly bestowed a kiss upon the hand he held. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Princess,” he huskily
murmured.
All
throughout his grand introduction, Relena had held her breath, afraid of
destroying the magical moment. ‘God,
get a hold of yourself Relena,’ she pointlessly tried to convince herself. Then, ‘Please, please, don’t let this moment
pass,’ she wholeheartedly wished. Alas,
no divine entity seemed to be present, since once again no one answered her
plea – the moment passed as he stepped back and gentlemanly bowed in
recognition of her.
The
magical moment shattered, Relena found herself reluctantly pulling her eyes
away from Heero Yuy’s bewitching presence and tuning into what her father was
saying.
“They’ll
be staying with us for a month or so since they’re still deciding what estate
they are going to buy. After that,
they’ll have to look into paperwork, house furniture, relocating some of their
household staff and other items. Thus,
the month’s stay in our house.” Looking
excitedly at her face, “You’ll be hanging around with your old man this whole
month. Scary thought eh?” Then, noticing her suddenly shut-out expression,
he asked, “Poppet, what’s wrong?”
She
didn’t answer his question. Instead,
she just replied, “Pa, sorry to be a prude, but I hope you don’t mind if I
visit Fury right now okay?” She offered
him a trembling smile as he, in a confused daze from his daughter’s abrupt
change of mood, nodded.
Chin
up, Relena strode out back to the way she came from.
Milliardo,
seeing through the expertly placed happy mask of hers, attempted to walk away
from the group and catch up with his dejected sister. However, he was blocked by his mother’s form. “Leave her be Milliardo.” Seeing a rebellious look flit on his face,
she added, “Do not try to usurp my authority in this house. A lesson must be learned, and the earlier
the better.”
“What’s
going on?” asked a baffled Constantine.
Katerina held her poise as she didn’t deign give him an answer. Noin attempted to, but was countered by
Katerina’s imperialistic look of authority, one that rebuked all resistance
against her command.
Finding
no answer between the two women, Constantine focussed his attention on the
concerned countenance of Milliardo’s.
He donned an appearance even more sovereign than Katerina could ever
produce – which is why he was effective as the reigning sovereign of the Sank
Kingdom – proving his worth as the royal majesty. He wore the look of a father wanting answers concerning his
beloved baby girl. Looking Milliardo
directly in the eyes, he asked – no he demanded, “What the hell is going on?”
Milliardo,
looked down at the ground, remorse at his sister’s situation. “Pa, I know how much you’re looking forward
to spending a whole month with Lena, but, I’m afraid she won’t be able to.”
“Huh? And why the hell not?” By this time, not only was he baffled but he
was downright furious. ‘How dare anyone
try to tell me that I can’t spend any time with my own daughter!’
Sighing
in defeat, Milliardo somberly answered.
“She’s leaving first thing tomorrow morning for Madame
Marguarite-Francoise-Louise de Lancret’s Finishing School.”
“The
hell she is!” he angrily countered.
Katerina,
who had remained quite throughout the whole exchange between father and son,
interjected. “And why not? She’s a princess. It’s about time she learned to act like one.”
Understanding
dawned in Constantine’s mind as he finally realized who masterminded Relena’s
current predicament. His countenance
softening, Constantine turned to his beloved wife. “Katerina,” he began softly.
“Your intentions are noble, but they’re not right. Relena may be the crowned princess, but no
matter what, she’s still our little girl.
So what say you? Shall we put
this matter to rest, love?”
Her
resolve softened for a moment – only for one moment though. Ignoring her husband’s pleas, she pointedly
looked at their visitors and stated, “I think it would be wise if we discuss
this later and tend to our guests.
Don’t you agree?” Then looking
beyond the group, she saw Mrs. Glenn standing behind them, awaiting her
attention. Tilting her head to the
guests’ direction, she commented, “If you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I need to
attend to some matters.”
“Katerina
- ” Constantine called out.
With
a tight smile, Katerina looked back and replied, “Later, love.” To which, Constantine sighed furiously. Looking back at Milliardo, he asked, “Stables,
right?”
Milliardo
just shrugged and answered, “That’s the only place she’ll be in right now. Unless, she’s already halfway out of our
borders, riding at break-neck speed.”
This
didn’t ease Constantine’s worried mind.
Rubbing his temples, he sighed, defeated. Then, just as suddenly, he donned a smile for everyone, a smile
that everyone very well knew was forced.
“Well, she’ll be back later,” he stated with a wave. Then trying to divert the group’s attention
to other matters, he switched to another topic. “Well, so far you’ve seen the family dining room, the ball room
and its adjoining dining room, the gardens and the guest houses. What else would you like to see?” he asked,
all the while ticking his fingers off in counting.
Lucenzo,
trying to appease his friend’s concerned mind, interjected with a wry
smile. “Seeing out rooms would be nice.”
At
this, Constantine had a blank look on his face followed by a sheepish
smile. “Oh yeah. I forgot that didn’t I?”
Smiling
in exasperation, Lucenzo shook his head while his father-in-law Natsushi Mizaki
kept his same blank look, his eyes conveying all his amusement for the
others. Lucenzo walked up to
Constantine and smacked his back.
Ignoring Constantine’s grimace – though it didn’t hurt – and his loud,
‘What did you do that for?’ he walked straight to Milliardo, put a hand on his
shoulder, and with a tsk-tsk attitude, dramatically commented. “Son, I feel sorry for you.”
Milliardo
just raised his eyebrow and smiled in amusement. He was not stupid. He
knew the other man’s ploy to ease his father’s anxiety. ‘I like that man already,’ he quietly
thought.
Then,
Lucenzo suddenly asked, “So, shall we proceed to our rooms old man?” as he
proceeded to grant another hit upon Constantine’s back. With an impish glint in his eyes, he
continued, “Or will you be standing there all day, Old Man?”
That
comment definitely caught his attention.
“Who are you calling Old Man, Old Man?!?!?” he yelled
indignantly as they proceeded to playfully hit each other while following their
other friends.
Milliardo
just kept a detached expression on his face, though inwardly he couldn’t help
but be amused at both of the aged men’s antics. A smile graced his lips as he shared an amused look with his
wife. Milliardo shook his head once
more. ‘For a successful corporate
businessman, a respected husband and father, and not to mention the ruling head
of the Sank Kingdom, Pa-Pa sure can act like a kid sometimes.’ Looking back once more at the playfully
quarreling duo and the exasperated patriarch behind them, he mentally noted
that, ‘Yep, there’s never a dull moment here.’
Then he noticed something else, ‘Hmm, I seem to be missing somebody,’ he
noticed. Staring back at the direction
they came from, he spotted their ‘missing’ guest – ‘Heero Yuy wasn’t it?’
–standing at the middle of the hallway thoughtfully looking around him. Detaching himself from the group with
instructions for Noin to entertain and lead the group to their destination,
Milliardo approached the thoughtfully mulling man.
“Hey,”
he gently interjected, breaking Heero from his train of thought. “Anything in particular you want to look at?”
Heero
just nodded at him. “Thanks for the
offer.” Then as an afterthought, “Hey,
you wouldn’t mind if I take a look around by myself, would you?”
Milliardo
offered a slight smile. “No, not at
all.” He turned to walk away, at the
same time, advising, “By the way, you’re room’s on the west wing, same as all
the family members. The servants will
know where it is if you can’t find it.”
Heero
just muttered a ‘Hn,’ and a mumbled, ‘Thanks,’ before proceeding down the
hallway, towards the exit previously taken by the one who had unwittingly
captivated his thoughts for the previous minutes.
Continuing
along his way, he determinedly headed towards his destination – the stables.
Stealthily
he made his way to the far end of the stable, an inner sentient giving him the
confidence that he would find what he was looking for in that direction. As he reached his destination, Heero
smirked. ‘And as always, I’m right.’
At
the last paddock, stood what – or rather – who he was looking for. Though it was early afternoon, the stables
inner sanctum was shrouded in darkness, the fact that the lights weren’t turned
on adding to the dim effect. However,
sunlight streamed in, shining down the ground on a gradient through glass
windows situated high up on the stables’ wooden side foundations. It just so happened that the object of
Heero’s thoughts was standing directly under one of these said windows. The rays of sunshine drifting down from the
window illuminated the willowy figure beneath it.
Heero Yuy
was one of those people who was rarely ever taken by surprise. In order to survive many sly, manipulating
mongrels in the business world, he had to learn not only to rely on his basic
instincts, but also on his powers of observation. Each inch of the surrounding he frequented would undergo his
itemized scrutiny, not excluding the individuals in these surroundings. Every little move he made was calculated to
ensure every little thing would turn favorably to his tide. Yeah, he was definitely a person in control
of everything around him. However, as
emphasized earlier, there’s always a first for everything.
As Heero
stared at the figure, his jaw dropped to the ground – literally. It might have continued with its descent had
not the ground made that move impossible.
At that instant, he visualized the Earth stopping its regular spinning
from its axis and Chronos himself wielding his staff to stop time. Heero felt what he imagined movie stars
would feel when under the camera, and Heero then visualized a set of camera
lens zooming into his figure while everything around him faded into mere
obscurity. The only thing holding
anything of importance was the vision he beheld and the feelings exploding all
at once within his chest.
A lump
formed in his throat and he vaguely realized that his body was forgetting to
perform one of its vital functions – breathing. Not like it would matter at the moment though since Heero would
probably have barely even noticed that his heart was failing to beat its normal
rhythm anymore. His heart was already
doing complicated summersaults at the moment.
Vaguely, the logical and analytical side of his brain surfaced to berate
him that his imaginings were not humanly possible. And, for once, Heero ignored that side. He focused on regaining enough of his bodily function, so that he
could breathe out and be able to whisper the only thing he was capable of
uttering at the moment – a soundless, “Wow.”
Because
of the resplendent light, the figure below it looked almost . . .
‘Ethereal,’
Heero’s numb mind barely whispered, a word that came nowhere near to describing
the mirage before him, but happened to be the only thing his feeble brain could
provide from its vocabulary data base.
A golden aura seemed to surround Relena’s supple figure making her
almost goddess-like. Her long,
strawberry-blonde hair was unfortunately tied back and constrained by a pink
ribbon, long wisps having escaped its bonds though, and softly framing her
gentle face. And her face, her face was
the most alluring one any man that had ever lived has seen, holding such a
distinctive charm to it that would naturally attract anyone around its
vicinity. For one so young, she exuded
a certain mature femininity about her and her face. To put it simply, she was beautiful.
She was
every artist’s dream project – a picturesque painting speaking to any soul more
than a thousands words could ever convey.
Yet, with all these poetic descriptions of this female divinity’s
apparition running through his head, the only thing Heero could still scramble
to say is, “Wow.”
Then, as
if remembering something important, he shook his head, attempting to shake away
the sudden emergence of his poetic side while at same time trying to get his
thoughts in order.
Straightening
up, he treaded lightly to her side, his feet softly impacting the hay-filled
ground. A few paces from her, he
stopped, not wanting to make any sudden movements that will terribly surprise
her. Instead, he chose to speak out to
announce his presence.
“Penny
for your thoughts?” Heero winced at the
horrid cliché he just uttered. ‘For
such a supposed intelligent guy, I seem to have a horrendous luck with first
impression words.’ Seeing how she
stirred from her reverie, turning to face him, he thought with a shrug, ‘Oh
well, as long as it gets the job done.’
Relena
shook her head once more and proceeded to wipe the remaining tears dry from her
swollen eyes. She was so angry, she
cried. That was her instant reaction
whenever she couldn’t bottle an extremity of a particular emotion, whether it be really happy, mad, depressed,
or upset. Her outlet was the tears and
she had been really mad when she had entered the stables. Having removed the last of her anger, she
finally stood still as she looked at the place around her. And what she saw, said one thing, she had
clearly made a mess during her frenzy.
Though the stables were normally dirty, it was still a relatively decent
place. Now it looked as if, forgive the
cliché, a hurricane had gone through the room.
The miscellaneous objects she had grabbed haphazardly and thrown all
over in her fit of rage littered the floor around her. If the floor was wooden, Relena imagined she
would have seen a hole through it as she remembered the her heated pacing back
and forth that spot. ‘Yeah,’ Relena
thought as she made a last survey around the place, ‘the room has definitely
seen better times.’
Smiling,
Relena plopped down on a bundle of hay and placing her elbows on top of her
raised knees, she supported her chin as she prepared herself to go through the
afternoon’s event through her mind once more.
Before that though she released an amused smirk. ‘At least I got to vent. It’s not safe to bottle up things. It could get messier later on.’ And that was that.
As
far as Relena was concerned the morning had been great. Not only had she spent quality time with
Fury, she had also been able to catch up on her reading. It’s been a while since she just sat down
and read a good book. In this case, she
figured that with the amount of books she had read that afternoon, she’ll be
able to survive at least a month living her crazy, royal life.
Relena
had been excited with the prospect of seeing her Pa-Pa after a long time of not
seeing him. Then there was also the
added incentive of meeting new people – important friends of her Pa-Pa. And whomever her Pa-Pa liked, she ended up
liking too. So, she had reveled in the
impetus of probably having a friendly spar – she and her Pa-Pa having dabbled a
little in martial arts, an activity her mother had extremely frowned on – or
possibly a very enlightening conversation with them. Weighted with those possibilities, she had anticipated the
adventure that awaited her in the afternoon.
Yeah,
the afternoon definitely ended up as an adventure alright – an adventure from
hell.
Just
thinking about it made Relena’s features screw up into a distasteful knot. Okay, so she wasn’t entirely blameless, she
figured as she thought about her latest antic.
She shouldn’t have disobeyed her Ma-Ma, she knew that. But, her Ma-Ma should also learn to lighten
up a little. It didn’t help matters any
that her mother had just sentenced her to years in Madame
Marguarite-Francoise-Louise de Lancret’s Finishing School, effected immediately
– meaning tomorrow – without any second thoughts at all even when her father
was clearly going to spend a whole month with his family – his first
uninterrupted hiatus in a long time.
Just thinking about the whole situation she was in revived her
resentments and her deep-seethed anger.
Relena
released a pent-up sigh, deflated and defeated. Okay, so thinking about the whole situation calmly wouldn’t
work. Standing up, Relena dusted off
the hay from her jeans, and walked towards Fury’s paddock and gazed at her
sleeping friend. Seeing her old friend,
just curled up and nestled in his makeshift hay bed, resting peacefully calmed
her entirely frazzled nerves. Her
fury-glazed eyes faded into its depths to be replaced by the gentle hues of her
sky blue orbs.
Removing
her gaze from her peaceful friend, she stared blankly ahead of her. It’s not that she hated her mother, on the
contrary, she loved her unconditionally, it just so happened that her mother
grated her nerves in the most frequent times.
Their relationship only worsened as she reached her teens. Her mother hated the way she acted – which
was the behavior of any other normal teen.
In her eyes, she was born a princess she must act like a princess no
matter what the circumstances are. It
also didn’t help that Relena clearly preferred being with her father, thus
earning herself the nickname ‘Daddy’s little girl.’
Relena
let out another sigh. She’s been
sighing a lot lately. That she
has. She hated her forgiving and
understanding side, like especially at these kind of moments. Relena knew that she couldn’t blame her
mother for her actions. Ever since
Katerina had been born, she was instilled by her mother with values like those
of any other old generation monarch – strict to the rules and relentlessly
unbending to anything else. On the
other hand, Relena liked to think of herself as part of the new generation of
the royalty class – free from the restrictions placed by the old regime on
monarchs.
It was
this attitude that usually got her into trouble. Her liberal-minded Pa-Pa, a reforming mind full of progressive
thoughts, welcomed her refreshing new look at the way monarchs should now
behave. After all, he also happened to
be a free spirit like Relena. In his
perspective, the time of absolute monarchy regimes had expired thousands of
years ago. This was now the era of the
people where monarchs had no place imposing their views on the people nor
trying to overrun the administration.
This
difference in views was what separated Relena from her mother. It was just one thing yet it was
everything that barricaded them from a harmonious relationship. It didn’t help that she had a rebellious
streak in her too, which she couldn’t contain.
However, Relena was trying to be a normal teenager and she definitely
wouldn’t have been a normal teenager if she didn’t yield to her rebellious
phase, now would she?
Ruffling
her hair in frustration, Relena hugged her defeated form and struggled with
herself to accept her mother’s command . . . for now at least. After all, leaving home, even if it was for
a stuffy, pompous boarding school, might soothe her Ma-Ma’s ruffled
nerves. Right?
An
unbidden thought made its way into Relena’s mind, impromptu. Without thought, her lips curved upward as
she thought of an enigmatic soul she met earlier, a mysterious looking, roguish
man. Shaking her head woefully, she
thought, ‘It is a shame though. Tall,
dark, and handsome comes into my life, and is actually staying for one whole
month in her house, and my Ma-Ma chooses this instant to send me away to Madame
Marguarite – Ah, forget it.’ She
twitched her nose in annoyance.
‘Whoever came up with that name must be crazy. It’s too darned long. How
do they expect people to remember that?’
Ruefully shaking her head, she turned her thought once more to the man
who had sneakily tried to dominate her thoughts. ‘I don’t mind though since he happens to be such a gorgeous
guy. Haaaaiiiiii . . .’ Relena smiled
dreamily as she easily conjured in her mind the image of Heero Yuy. Then smilingly shaking her head once more,
she berated herself, ‘Relena, you are one pathetic, infatuated girl. You’re practically drooling at a mere image
of him. What are you going to do when
he’s right in front of you?’
“Penny
for your thoughts?”
Relena
gasped as a familiar, smooth baritone enshrouded her whole being. Turning around, she couldn’t prevent the
shock that appeared on her face, realizing that the object of her thoughts
materialized in front of her. ‘Can fate
get anymore playful?’ she wryly asked herself.
Not knowing what to say or how to act, she let the silence lie still in
the taut-strained air.
Heero
mistook her uncomfortable silence as an unwelcome reception from her. ‘I guess she doesn’t want me here.’ That mere thought should have only produced
indifference from him, maybe a little awkward feeling at the fact that he had
imposed himself where he was clearly not welcome, however, it did bother Heero
more than it really should have. He
felt an insufferable pain in his heart at the thought that she didn’t welcome
his presence. ‘Must be the jet-lag,’
Heero reasoned for his current conflicting feelings.
Not
wanting to prolong the silence and the awkwardness, Heero spoke up, hesitantly. “I’m sorry I bothered you. I should have realized that you wanted to be
alone. I guess I’ll just see you
later.” Immediately he turned around
and headed back towards the mansion.
“No,
wait!” was the protest that stopped him in his tracks. To another person it might have just been a
regular protest, a request for him to stop and a reason for him to turn around
and inquire why she had asked him to top in the first place. Yeah, that would be another person’s
interpretation. However, though Heero
was sometimes known by a lot of his peers as a man of few,
straight-to-the-point words, it doesn’t mean that he had totally lost the
ability to communicate with another person.
He preferred depending not merely on words alone, but observing and hearing
the depth behind those words. Every
pronunciation of a syllable and the melodic rise and fall of one’s tone every
second speak volumes for him. And right
at this moment, the very recent utterance from Relena’s euphonious voice spoke
loud and clear to Heero. Behind that
simple request was a cry of hidden anguish and disappointments. Relena was profoundly . . . sad.
So
he did the only thing he could do at the moment – he turned around and made his
way back to her.
Her only
conclusion? That impulsive cry did have
reasons behind it. She really did want
Heero Yuy to stay and talk to her.
There was also the added something she was even trying to hide from herself. Relena was very much drawn to him, not just
for his looks, mind you, though it was an added bonus to itself.. He was positively emitting warmth,
affection, and understanding. And, that
was what exactly she needed right at that moment. So, she had stopped him before he left the stables. But, like as of lately, her impulsiveness
seems to deposit her into trouble: She
had no idea whatsoever what to say to him.
Relena
was just standing her looking at his back trying to garner enough strength to open
her mouth and produce some sound – any sound – when he walked back towards her
and solve her problem of the moment for her.
He broke the silence.
“So
I’m guessing this is your sanctuary, huh?” he asked as his lips quirked up to
form a welcoming smile. He stood a few
paces from her, looking straight into her eyes – trying to read her soul.
A
questioning frown formed on her forehead as she asked, “What makes you say
that?”
“You
look like you belong in this setting,” he answered simply.
Her
impish streak instantly returned to Relena as her eyes transformed from
melancholy seriousness to mischievous laughter – a transformation not gone
unnoticed by Heero. He was glad for her
change of moods, but he suddenly felt very nervous indeed.
Clearly
teasing, Relena’s voice turned on a playfully indignant tone. “Are you hint at something with that
comment? Are you trying to say that I
look and smell dirty?”
Getting
in on the act, Heero adopted a serious mask, eyes twinkling laughingly, as he
smugly replied, “Oh, well what I actually meant by that comment was that you
seemed very comfortable in this environment.
But now that you mentioned it . . .” he trailed off simultaneously,
looking her up and down. He looked
straight at Relena seriously, however, he ruined his act by winking at her.
Giggling
merrily, past problems forgotten, Relena mock-threatened him, advancing towards
him and trying – but failing horribly – to take on a menacing face. Simultaneously, she rolled up each of her
sleeves, trying to add for effect. “You
should learn to heed your elder’s advises.
Weren’t you listening earlier when my father pointed out not to mess
with me? You did see both my brother
and father favoring their arms, didn’t you?”
Heero
merely stood his ground, putting his hands on his pockets, acting nonchalant at
her horrible pretend threat. Rolling
his eyes, he replied, “I was there. I
saw. I heard.” Then, he added in a clearly exaggerated
voice, “Oooohhh, I’m scared – shaking in my boots in fact.”
“Oh,
you’re going to regret you ever said that,” Relena warned him as she tried
punching him.
He evaded
those punches, and commenting, “I don’t think so. I am after all stronger, faster, smarter, and especially
older. Experiences counts a lot more.”
Relena
just continued attempting to punch
him while rolling her eyes in exasperation, as she remarked, “And here comes
the famous male ego. You seem to have
ten times any normal man. I shudder for
your fellow men, having you as part of their gender.” Then, “Stay still so I can punch you.”
Evading
her last punch, he leaned in close to her ear enough to say, “Do you know that
you’re incredibly cute when you’re all huffy and mad?”
That
stopped her in mid-punch. She sputtered
out an incredulous, “Wha- What ?!?!”
Still
sporting that same quirky grin, he added, “Also when you’re all speechless and
in shock.”
Wide,
perplexed azure blue eyes stared at Heero as a rosy hue appeared on Relena’s
soft cheeks. His grin only
widened. “Most specially when you’re
blushing.”
“ . . . .
” that’s the only thing coming out of Relena’s gaping mouth. The rosy blush instantaneously blossomed to
an uncontainable, raging, crimson flush.
Heero
walked up to her and stooped down slightly in order to be eye to eye with
her. Still sporting that wide grin, he
patted his cheeks and said gaily, “You are so easily distracted.”
“You are
a horrible man Heero Yuy,” Relena commented huffily as she made her way back to
Fury’s paddock. Her thoughts were all a
jumble as she replayed the past few moments of bantering with him. ‘He is an insufferable jerk. Totally without manners is what he is. Moron, loser, dork . . .’ Mentally she sighed as she recalled, ‘And he
called me cute!!!’ She hid the evidence
of a burgeoning pink tint displayed upon her face by busying herself with
picking away invisible dirt on her shirt and jeans.
“Thank
you very much Relena Peacecraft!!!!” he replied with gusto and cheer as he
followed her progress back down where she earlier was. Now, she had placed her arms horizontally
upon the chest-high paddock door, laying her head on top her meeting hands,
obviously looking fondly at something.
He came up behind her to peer over her bent head. “What ‘ya looking at?” he asked with a calm
curiosity, ignorant at the tumble of emotions the girl before him was once
again feeling.
Relena
was grateful that her face wasn’t in direct sight of his eyes or he would’ve
have wondered what had made her blush maddeningly once more. She knew that he was walking towards her,
however, she had thought that he was going to position himself beside her, not
right behind her. Every pore of her
skin was prickling with awareness. He
was way too near . . . and she liked it.
She could smell his _________ cologne [SHORINAI: HELP ONCE MORE!!!! I need another type of men’s cologne. Something that would definitely be a ‘just Heero’ type of
cologne. Thank ya!!!] He had also braced his arms on both sides of
her to balance himself, and, unwittingly, trapping her within his arms. And right at this moment, Relena was
feeling, ‘Paradise,’ she light-headedly commented. Then, gathering her wits about her, when she heard him ask his
question again, she cleared her throat and answered, “Fury.”
“Fury?”
he questioned.
“My
horse,” she answered simply, her mind still too muddled to muster any further
information to give to him.
“I see,”
he remarked. Relena shivered slightly
as she felt his breath, while he responded, stir strands of her hair.
Silence
ensued as they just beheld the sight of the sleeping stallion before them. He wasn’t sleeping for long though. The silent gazes seemed to have alerted his
subconscious, triggering his waking.
For a moment, he just contentedly raised his indignant head to
scrutinize the people who had dared to wake him up from his restful
slumber. His attitude seemed to be
exuding a strong, ‘You’re going to be sorry you woke me up’, until his eyes
feasted itself on Relena’s exuberant face.
Then, ignoring the stranger behind his mistress, Fury immediately got up
to his feet and started nuzzling Relena’s neck.
To Fury’s
delight, Relena gifted him with her laughter and hugged him back. “Hey, boy!” she cheerfully greeted. She held Fury’s face between her dainty
hands. “I’m sorry we woke you up. Did you have a nice rest?” she asked. Fury’s answer was a joyful neigh. Looking behind her, Relena pointed to Heero,
“Hey Fury I’d like you to meet Heero Yuy.
He’ll be living in the house for a month while he and his family looks
for a new estate here in Brussels.”
Fury looked
over Relena to the young man his mistress pointed to. And seemingly, Fury sized up the man Relena introduced as
Heero. If he could talk, he would have
said, ‘Hmm. Not too shabby, I
guess. Pretty decent by the looks of
it. I expect he’ll want to pet me now
like any human here does.’ Heero leaned
in more to Relena in order to pat Fury’s mane.
‘I was right,’ Fury scoffed smugly at being correct at his hunch. While allowing Heero to administer gentle
brushes through his mane, Fury turned his attention back to his mistress. ‘I would have bitten his head the instant he
touched me, like I do to the others who dare touch my perfect mane that
mistress Relena gently brushes for me, but since of my mistress seems to be
fond of that thing I guess I’ll indulge
her wishes and let him pet me.’ Then,
‘Hmm. Ahhhh,’ he thought satisfied, as
he returned his attention back to Heero’s gentle hands. ‘Got to admit, this thing knows how to treat a great stallion such as myself.’ And that was when Fury stopped his monologue,
choosing instead to whinny and neigh to convey his contentment.
“Hey
there boy. How you doin’?” Heero murmured as he petted the willing Fury.
Relena
blinked at this. ‘Fury had never
instantly liked another person other than me.
He’s just too stubborn and untrusting creature.’ Relena smiled. ‘It’s part of his animal senses.
When he trusts you that means that you’re a trustworthy person.’ Looking at Heero interacting with her Fury,
she smiled. ‘I guess that means that
you’re a pretty okay guy. My instincts
were right after all.’
Eyes
softening, Relena observed the engrossed pair.
As if sensing her scrutiny, Heero bent his head down and momentarily
focused his attention at her, his eyes boring through her and a sudden smile
lighting his face. With that smile,
Relena felt as if her heart had once again failed to beat and her whole being
was reeling. ‘There goes that
light-headed feeling again.’
Regaining
her composure, she unconsciously leaned back more into Heero’ warmth and
offered him a slight smile. “I’m
guessing he likes you.”
Heero
smiled back and commented, “He’s a pretty strong horse for his age. He sure has spunk, I give him that.” Smugly he added to her, “I like him.”
Relena
smiled back and answered, “I think he likes you too.” Silently, she added as she continued to gaze at him, ‘And he’s
not the only one.’
Then,
as if remembering something, Heero again focused his attention at Relena as he
asked, “So you’re really leaving tomorrow?”
That
question deflated Relena’s lively mood, a dark cloud shrouding her
light-heartened feeling. “The hell I
am,” was what she wanted to say, but she had to face facts. Her mother was very stubborn, after all, Relena
had to have gotten that obstinate trait from somebody and it was more from her
mother than her father. So instead she
answered sounding extremely defeated, “Yeah.
Yeah, I guess I am.”
Heero
seemed to mull over her confirmation.
After a few seconds, he answered slowly, as if he had put a lot of
thought into his reply. “Think of it
this way. You’re going to be coming
home after every few weeks, and every time you come home, you’ll have something
to look forward to.”
Relena
turned around, placing herself in an even more intimate position. She was
still trapped within his arms, therefore, their new position seemed to display
them as a loving couple in act of teasingly embracing each other. If she were aware of her situation,
she would’ve blushed maddeningly, but playful curiosity was overriding her
other senses at the moment. Clearly
interested at his recent statement, Relena inquiringly asked, “And what am I
looking forward to exactly after infuriating weeks of sitting at lessons I’m
sure I have long been educated at? What
could possibly gladden my heart after enduring bothersome lessons on
aristocratic mannerism and form of etiquette?”
Impishly
grinning, Heero quirked his eyebrows up in a mannerism suggesting ‘How can you
not know?’ Then, while still sporting
the playful twinkle in his expressive eyes, he retorted simply, “Why, the
pleasure of seeing me of course.”
Relena
just looked straight at the widely grinning man before her. Suddenly, a prankish idea crossed her mind
at that exact moment. An sly twinkle
appeared only for a moment in her eyes, something that Heero should have
noticed but didn’t. He was distracted
with his banter with Relena. Relena
leaned in seductively closer and smiled up at Heero. Huskily she murmured, “You are so cute, Yuy, do you know that?”
Heero
could only watch, perplexed as Relena pressed herself closer to him. He swallowed a big lump that had immediately
formed at his throat. Vaguely he noted
that he needed water . . . badly. Just
as suddenly though, he thought, ‘Ouch,’ as he in a flash, found himself
unexpectedly lying down on the ground looking up at an indignant Relena
innocently dusting off unseen dirt on her hands as she whistled without
care. Thereafter, she placed her hands
on her hips, smiling smugly down at him.
“You are so cute Yuy,” she repeated.
Grinning broadly than before, “But, not that cute.” Crouching near his face, she patted his
cheek, and devilishly declared, “Awww.
Poor Heero-baby. You are so
easily distracted.” Standing up, she
turned around and sashayed to the stable entrance. Tossing a smile Heero’s way once more, she waved, “Ta-Ta” and her
graceful figure was out of the door.
Heero,
having propped the upper half of his body from the ground with his elbows,
looked at the door, remembering the Relena’s beautiful, expressive face,
mirroring her internal feelings of fierce joy and uncontainable excitement.
‘Mayn,’
he thought in awe. ‘I definitely can’t
wait to see her again.’
For
the next two years, she alternated between boarding school and trips to Brussels. She was right about an earlier comment she
made regarding the boarding school.
They taught things that she already knew and trivial things such as
royalty’s etiquette 101 and aristocratic mannerism 100 gave her further
ammunition to hate her life. It also
furthered her desire to visit her home – so much so that she practically throws
herself inside the designated limousine that picks her up every Friday night to
bring her to the airport for her weekly visit home.
Every
time she went home, she encountered her coolly receptive mother. Their relationship had been beyond repair
ever since that day her mother sent her to boarding school. They’d exchanged a tense-filled few words,
Relena would offer a polite excuse, her mother would acquiescence, and Relena
would immediately, yet gracefully, rush to her father’s study where she was
sure to see her father and of course, Heero Yuy.
To
the delight of both, their relationship had blossomed to great friendship – if
one would call their constant bantering and Relena’s constant beat-up of Heero
friendship, that is. However, they say
their best friends, and so they’re the greatest of best friends. Granted, the first few outings with him had
been a tad uncomfortable. He may have
been very playful and mischievous at times, but he wasn’t used to opening his
deep inner thoughts to others. But,
after the first few words were uttered by his mouth, the rest came easy. It was a whirlwind friendship, as they
termed their easygoing relationship.
Her weekend visits would never be the same without Heero being there,
taking her out to see the latest movie, to ride Fury, or to just hang out with
each other, even saying nothing at all.
Relena
basked in her relationship with Heero Yuy.
It was a giving relationship.
He’d give his time and care for her while she committed the same for
him. No secrets, even the darkest,
ugliest one was kept between them. Boy,
she would realize that she had been so wrong later on. No secrets indeed! However, right at that moment, Heero was there in every turn,
weaving himself into the fabric of her life.
Endlessly, he listened to her dreams and her rages. Whenever Relena cried, Heero would let her
cry on his shoulder and usually all over his new suit. When she was feeling melancholy, Heero would
be silently sitting right next to her.
He wouldn’t hesitate to berate her when he knew she did something
wrong. He laughed whenever she laughed.
And he would even go as far as to let her use his body as a punching bag when
she was raging with anger. Of course,
later on he would always wake up to Relena’s soft, tending hands and tearful,
‘I’m sorrys’, since she had once again punched him that he actually nursed a
black eye. It was all good with him
though.
Since
this relationship was so perfect, Relena didn’t want anything else to mar it or
change it, therefore when one day she had woken up to the realization that she
wasn’t infatuated with him anymore, but was rather, in love with him, she
forcefully suppressed her blossoming feelings and unsuccessfully attempted to
forget those feelings ever existed.
They
were kept concealed, and the duo’s relationship continued to grow stronger each
day. However, all things must come out
to the open right? And all relationships were destined to change
since the people within those relationships change as times passed by. It was a natural cycle. So, therefore, it was only natural that
Heero and Relena’s relationship change as two years passed, seeing as they had
only had a very brief yet phenomenal relationship. One can only speculate if they would have changed for the better
or for the worse.
See,
it all started out on one the most important days of a girl. It was Relena’s eighteenth birthday . . . .
‘Big
whoopee. Sure couldn’t be happier,’
Relena thought sarcastically, weaving through the throng of well-wishers
greeting her a very ‘Happy Birthday’ and the likes. Feigning a totally enraptured smile, Relena would graciously
thank them and present a picture of a very ecstatic birthday girl – something
she was definitely not right at the moment.
While expertly keeping track of her unknown current companion’s sayings,
she inconspicuously darted her head left and right, back and forth. One mainstream ran through her head, ‘Where
is that dufus?’ as she searched for the familiar face of her best friend,
Heero.
Exasperated
beyond belief, Relena looked behind her, and suddenly wished she hadn’t. Across the room a man – obviously of the
royalty class based on his expensive and decorated clothing (That fact was also
probably was also a dead give-away that he was bearing a royal family’s coat of
arms on his clothing.) – smiled and cheerily waved at her. Now, it should be brought up here that
Relena had perfected her so called ‘mechanical’ smile ever since the age of
ten. Once it is learned, it can’t be
forgotten – akin to riding a bicycle, one can say. But, as has been the theme of her life, there’s a first for
everything. Spotting that man, her
smile faltered. However, Relena should
be given credit since she regained control quickly as she waved back. And, evidence of her great intelligence
could also be seen from her quick thinking.
Before that said man could even think of disentangling himself from his
chatter with a group of clearly love-struck women, Relena was already halfway
across the other far side of the room, having made her excuses with her
previous group and already chatting with the next group of well-wishers.
Once
more, Relena furthered the distance between her and ‘that man’ by nimbly
socializing with as many people she encountered as possible. In the back of her mind though, she was
already coming up with reasons for her to live the current guest and move on to
the next. Simultaneously performing
this act, her eyes would rapidly scan the entire room – no mean feat whatsoever
since it was a pretty big venue – locating Heero whom her mind has vindictively
associated with the words, ‘blasted man.’
‘I
swear when I get my hands on him, he’s dead,’ Relena vowed. As she noticed herself nearing a dimly-lit
terrace – good for one wanting to fade in relative obscurity – she darted a
furtive gaze around her and after making sure that no one was watching her,
abruptly hastened outside the terrace.
Relena
blended with the shadows as best as she could and waited for five minutes,
standing as stock still as she could.
Then a silently relieved, “Whoosh,” came out from her lips, glad that no
one knew she was there. Feeling more
confident, she walked farther out the terrace, stopped, and tilted her head up
to the skies, reveling at the satisfyingly cool night. She looked out from her spot on the
terrace. It was truly a magnificent
night to be celebrating her birthday.
There were no objections to that.
Nature seemed to be celebrating along with her by providing her a
memorable setting. The night sky was
clear, the clouds seeming to know that tonight was not the night to provide
hiding places for the brightly, sparkling stars. They will have to forego their usual game of hide-and seek for
until tomorrow. Upon the shimmering
backdrop, the moon took center stage, its crescent shape serving for Relena’s
idea of a romantic night. Smiling
wistfully, she reluctantly turned her attention from the entrancing view back
towards the party, her fingers idly playing with the champagne flute, which she
had somehow acquired before coming to the terrace, in her hand. Reflectively, she observed the festivities
before her.
So
far, the evening had been marvelous with her parents playing host to hundreds
of guest – a hodgepodge of royalty, aristocracy, and important individuals in
different governments and businesses.
Basically, anyone who was ever anyone was there. Queen Katerina Peacecraft, her Ma-Ma, was
glamorous decked in all her queenly glory.
In a style full of grace and splendor, she looked resplendent in her
long-sleeved creamy white silk evening dress flowing freely from her waist
down. She wore her hair freely, styled
for volume to make her already fabulous hair, even more. A simple pair of pearl drop earrings adorned
her ears while a matching beautiful pearl teardrop pendant was worn around her
neck. The only ring she wore was on her
ring finger – her golden wedding band.
King
Constantine Peacecraft harmonized with his enchanting counterpart every step of
the way. Relena’s Pa-Pa garnished in
all his kingly majesty, dressed in a matching cream suit with a silk cravat rakishly
tied at the throat. His only accessory
that being the matching golden band on his ring finger glimmering brightly
underneath the chandelier’s light. He
was right behind Katerina’s side involved in leisurely conversation to a bunch
of people that had surrounded them.
They were clearly the center of attention.
One thing
Relena promptly noted was her Pa-Pa’s arm snaked around her Ma-Ma’s still slim
waist. A slight flush graced her
Ma-Ma’s cheeks. Relena permitted
herself what she said would be her last wistful sigh of the evening. ‘That was love,’ Relena thought as she
envied her parents’ relationship even more.
Even with all the arguments they get to – and those were frequent and
infinite – their affection towards each other was always there, steady through
it all. Relena went back on her word,
she sighed again, longing for a love as strong as her parents.
Turning
her thoughts away from such yearning-filled ideals, Relena recounted the whole
night in her head. Earlier in the
evening, after the guests had trickled in and settled down, everyone had
feasted on drinks and dozens of platters of delicious canapés in the cool of
the verandas. Then, an hour or so
later, dinner was served in an adjoining, lovely, spacious dining room that
held the same capacity as the ballroom.
The round dinner tables were all labeled with the sitting arrangements
and were all meticulously set-up to accommodate the needs of the guests. The room was especially charming with its
floor-to-ceiling French doors and fanlights.
Dinner had been finished some thirty minutes earlier, which brings them
to the here and now.
Most
guests were either standing around and talking to one another or dancing to the
tunes artistically played by one of the famous orchestras in Brussels – the
Moonlight Sonata. As Relena watched
couples before her dance the soft tunes floating all around the ballroom, she
mentally prepared herself for the part of the evening she had been dreading the
most – the coronation ceremony. As was
custom, as many past Peacecraft children before them had undergone, each royal
prince and princess not only had a grand celebration for their eighteenth
birthday, they also given a ceremony whence they receive their birthright and
are formally crowned as the Prince and Princess from the House of Peacecrafts.
Relena
shook her head in exasperation thinking about the whole elaborate pomp and
ceremony put into one’s royal status.
‘In fact, just thinking about it is giving me a migraine,’ she admitted
wryly. Then a sly thought passed her,
‘Maybe I can just call it a night and let Pa-Pa and Ma-Ma handle the apologies
while I curl up in my very comfy bed in my very comfy nightclothes – meaning an
oversized T-shirt in Relena terms – and dream very comfy dreams, and in the process
snore my heart out.’ She giggled at the
mental image and a moment later reality came crashing down on her. ‘Nah.
That’ll never work.’ She turned
her attention back to the venue, the Peacecraft palace’s ballroom, and its
elaborate decorations
Tonight
all the doors were open to the wide expanse of the terrace for guests to freely
go out in the gardens and enjoy nature whenever they wanted to. The breeze drifted in, ruffling the soft
curtains that were dancing in time to the rhythm of the wind. As the cool air drifted all around, Relena
made out the totally seductive aromatic scents of exotic and native flowers
from the Peacecraft gardens.
Then,
as she was starting to feel fully relaxed, lulled by the sweet sonnets the Moonlight Sonata was currently playing together with the
sweet fragrance in the air, she felt a distinct yet familiar tingle course
through her whole body. The prickles on
her skin were going haywire while her whole being was flooded with the
well-known warmth of another person’s presence. This explosion of feelings could only mean one thing. Heero.
‘Heero,’
Relena thought in anticipation as she pushed herself away from the terrace to
make her way back inside. ‘That blasted
man, fondly speaking, is finally here.’
Shaking her head amusingly she glanced left and right, then finally
through some intuitive feeling raised her head to look straight across the
room. Her eyes immediately locked with
Heero’s distinguished Prussian blue orbs.
Moments seemed to pass as she stared into those depths, then her vision
expanded to include not only his face but his whole being, and his immediate
surroundings. Unfortunately, by
immediate, she saw something she hadn’t quite expected. ‘Heero
brought a date!!!’ came the numb realization in her mind. ‘A beautiful date at that,’ Relena
grudgingly admitted. The woman – a word
Relena had basically spitted out – was garbed in a lean, simple black evening
dress that appeared as if it had been poured on her. Two thin straps held the whole ensemble upright, showing off her
collar _______ [SHORINAI: TASUKETE
!!!! I can’t think of that romantic
word describing the area around the throat and collarbone.] At the same time, she was given an image of
having a slender, creamy neck while the contrasting of her dark dress and her
cream colored skin brought out her features to the front. Her short dark gray hair was modernly
stylish and her purple eyes glowed with an inner delight at the happenings
around her. She didn’t even need any
jewelry to emphasize her beauty.
It was a
good thing Relena was already covering up her instant dislike of the woman
clinging to Heero’s arm as if she had the right in all the world to do
that. And, Heero wasn’t doing anything
to dislodge her from his arm either.
Internally, Relena scoffed at him.
‘Why are you letting her touch you?’
She was drowning in emotions of love, hate, jealousy, rage, and lastly .
. . self-pity. ‘Here I am in a day
that’s supposed to be a milestone in my life.
There’s a party being held in my honor and fate does everything in its
will to wreck my day.’ Staring
balefully at the sky, she inwardlly screamed, ‘And what did I do again to you
to warrant your contempt and hurtful, mischievous streak?’ At that moment, she was intensely jealous
and she didn’t want to talk to Heero and especially that thing he brought with
her. ‘It’s my day and he’s supposed to
spend it with me. His birthdays are
always spent with me while my birthdays were always spent with him.’ Betrayal was a cruel enemy. ‘We’re supposed to be laughing about those
funny, pompous aristocrats who always think that they’re the be all and end
all.’ Tears started to gather at
Relena’s eye as she watched Heero battle through the crowds waylaying him and
his thing
for a few words. And, Relena
actually offered a murmur of thanks to the unsuspecting crowds that she had
previously disliked.
If that
wasn’t enough of a shock, she actually thanked her Ma-Ma when her Ma-Ma had
unwittingly appeared at her side to call for her up front. As Relena looked up at her, she thought she
saw concern reflecting in those eyes.
‘It must be the tears,’ she chalked up as blurry images started to
multiply before her. Blinking rapidly
to dispel the unwarranted tears, she cleared her throat and murmured, “Yes,
Ma-Ma?”
Softly,
Katerina replied, “It’s time for the coronation. Your escort has been looking all over for you and when he
couldn’t find you, I took over.” Then,
Katerina looked down at her daughter, touched Relena’s face, and spoke in
hushed tones, “Happy Birthday my darling.”
A second later, her cool tone returned.
“We don’t want to keep everyone waiting. Let’s go.”
Breathing
in deeply, regaining her composure, Relena knew that it was ‘the time of
reckoning’ – as she liked to dramatize.
Any other time, Relena would have allowed her rebellious streak to
surface and would have cared less to keep everyone waiting. She would have given Heero an enthusiastic
greeting first. This wasn’t any other
time though. Turning slightly, she
tossed a brief, apologetic smile to
Heero and followed right after her mother.
She
didn’t see Heero’s disappointed countenance behind her.
Bracing herself, Relena instantly
slipped on her ‘mechanical smile’ as ‘that man’ otherwise known as Prince
Santino Echevarria from Italy’s Royal House of Echevarrian’s approached
her. His clean and trimmed blond hair
shimmered under the room’s bright lights.
He stood proud and tall at the height of about 6’ feet. He owned a broad set of shoulders that
clearly announced he was not a man to be tampered with. Not only did he look like a good-looking
man, he also had the brains to back up his brawn. Neither was he a cruel, horrible man mad for more power. He loved serving his people, always giving
to charity and volunteering his time as a lawyer to defend those who didn’t have
the financial backing to afford good lawyers.
He looked upon everyone as his equal, sharing Relena’s ideal regarding
the new generation of monarchs. All in
all he was a dreamy guy, only . . . ‘He’s not Heero,’ Relena wistfully
thought. She had been avoiding his
company ever since he had first arrived and greeted her a very Happy Birthday,
producing a lovely wrapped present with flourish for her along with a bouquet
of full-bloomed crimson roses. That had
been her first cue.
Ever since Relena had first
remembered meeting the Santino, then twenty-year-old to her mere sixteen years
of age, she had known that he was instantly smitten with her. This had at first flattered her, but she
soon forgot it soon enough as it seemed he did too. As of late though, he had been acting particularly amorous,
regularly sending her crimson blooming roses and constantly dropping by
whenever he would hear she was home. Of
course, Heero would help shoo away the smitten man. In Heero terms, he kicked the poor guy out of Relena’s
house. His lovesick attitude has had
Relena wondering what brought it upon when it had been dormant the two years
since they met. What had her even more
bewildered was that her parents just shrugged of Santino’s behavior.
As Santino met her, Relena did
one of her most hated things – she followed protocol. Curtsying low, she smiled to Prince Santino and offered out her
hand for him to take and bow down to.
Instead, he kissed her dainty hand, and as he straightened up his hazel
eyes locked to her own, he murmured huskily, “You’re looking especially
beautiful tonight, Princess.”
A blush she couldn’t help graced
Relena’s cheeks. It had been her first
compliment of the night, strange at it might seem. While they have greeted Relena regarding her birthday and coming
of age, most praises were directed to her Ma-Ma, the ever beautiful belle of
the night. So, it was understandable to
react such a way to Santino’s flattery.
She had carefully picked out what
she was going to wear for the night.
After all, it wasn’t everyday one would be formally crowned Princess and
be given her birthright. She had
blended in her conservative and flashy side.
Opting for a light silver ensemble that flowed freely from her
waist-down, like her mother’s, she had satisfied her conservative side. For an elegant touch she instructed her
dress-maker to make the back hem longer, to make it trail the ground. From then on, everything was flashy –
very. On the back, her gown scooped low
to show her smooth back. Influenced by
new European attires, she designed the gown’s top to have only one strap being
the left, leaving the right shoulder bare.
The left strap, from the back, would flow straight down to the ground
like an attached scarf. To add more touch
of elegance to it, Relena had drawn up her hair, braided as a crown on the
back, small wisps escaping to emphasize her heart-shaped face. Long silver strands were here earrings to
serve the illusion of a slender neck, she had worn no necklace at all. She wanted a gown that screamed uniqueness
and elegance. She got it, though she
wasn’t fully aware of it.
Relena accepted Santino’s
proffered arm, and graciously smiled at him as he flashed her a gorgeous smile
that had been known to make women’s hearts feel feint. Relena didn’t feel a single thing. Thereafter they followed the procession of
the monarchs, starting with both of their respective parents, then Milliardo
and Noin, and finally Relena and Santino.
“So, nervous?” he had inquired as
they lined up with the others on the platform.
“It’s only a coronation,” she
answered indifferently, though she felt quite the opposite. She wasn’t only nervous about being
showcased in front of all these people, she was still upset about something
else – Heero and that thing.
“May I
please have everyone’s attention?” her Pa-Pa spoke through the mike he had
acquired from Mrs. Glenn. Once sure
that he had everyone’s full attention, he had continued, his voice loud, clear,
and concise. “I would like to thank
everyone for coming to such a joyous occasion and sharing it with us. We also thank you for bringing along such
numerous, expensive presents for her.
Thank you and everyone can leave now.”
He ruined his serious front by winking at them. The whole congregation erupted in a fit of
laughter, which Relena shared in.
The rest
of his words went from one ear to the
next as Relena focused on looking for Heero.
Instantly, as is always the case, she found him, his eyes boring through
hers. Immediately she looked away, the
image of that dark-raven beauty clinging to his arm and chattering animatedly
to him burning in her mind. She, like
an automaton, went through the mechanical movements of her coronation. She barely felt the cool diamond tiara on
her head, too involved was she in her thoughts of Heero and the dark-raven
beauty. Because of her lack of
concentration, she had blanked out, the next thing she ended up hearing being,
“. . . announce her betrothal to her escort – Prince Santino Echevarria of the
Italian House of Echevarrian’s!!!”
Needless
to say, Princess Relena Peacecraft of the House of Peacecrafts was again dealt
with another surprise for the night.
She was positively stumped.
Blinking incredulously over and over again didn’t seem to dispel the roaring
clapping of the people gathered and the cheers of congratulations swimming
through her head. Vaguely she felt her
feet move as her mind wandered away, her physical body being led down back onto
the dance floor by her fia- by this time she was choking at the thought. So, instead she corrected herself. She was being led down back onto the dance
floor by the Prince Santino, who was all smiles the whole duration. It suddenly was very difficult for her to
think. ‘This has got to be some great
cosmic joke.’ However, looking at her
parents proudly shaking their hands with Santino’s parents – Queen Amaia and
King Benedicto Echevarria.
She was sorely tempted to breech
all protocols she had ever painfully learned and throw a fit in the middle of
the ballroom. But, keeping in mind,
Relena was only raging mad, not insane.
Therefore, she mentally prepared herself for a long night. ‘They are going to be so sorry when I’m
through with them,’ she thought as anger began seething into the pores of her
being once more. Various colors mixed
together in raging hues before her eyes, and for a moment, Relena had thought
herself blind. Only for a moment, since
rage seemed to be taking a hold of her emotions once more. ‘How dare they!’ she thought of her
parents. ‘Even Pa-Pa agreed! When they clearly knew about my bout of
self-independence!’ Rage glazed her
eyes at her parents gall. ‘Oh, there is
definitely going to be a rough night indeed.’
Rolling her eyes up to the
ceiling, she cursed the heavens above.
‘You just like to keep rubbing in your power, don’t you? What are you? A damned supreme being on a power trip? Well, are you loving every torturous minute of my so-called
life?’
Having concluded that she needed
fresh air, Relena slipped on an overly saccharine smile – sly enough to be
thought of as genuine – and turned to her left, laying her hand on Prince
Santino’s arm and flashing him her biggest smile, she murmured, “Excuse me just
for a moment, Santino.” The Prince just
gave her a sweet, indulgent smile and nodded, urging her to hurry back for
every minute without her presence was hellish torture, or he had lamented
something of the like. ‘Hellish torture
my ass,’ Relena furiously thought, as, with her mask of bountiful happiness,
she intermingled with more well-wishers and so. She was getting vulgar, meaning only one thing – she was really .
. . ‘Grr,’ as one would have heard had they closely listened to her under the
breath growl, or had they looked closely at her constantly clenching and
unclenching fists.
Having made her way to her
earlier get-away – the obscure terrace – she had looked around at the people
around her. Having satisfied herself
that she wouldn’t be missed at the time, she faded into the night, he silvery
dress glinting once and was thereafter gone.
Relena had whispered right before
she blended in with the night, “And just where is that ‘blasted man’ when you
need him anyway?”
That so-called ‘blasted man’ was
right behind her heels, softly sneaking after her, worry clearly etched on his Prussian
blue eyes . . .
Outside the terrace doors and
beyond the projection of the side lights, a silhouette once tall and imperious,
was now reduced to a slumped, vulnerable figure. The dark outline – clearly of a woman’s – was seen taking flight,
her magnificently tailored evening gown swishing behind her, as far away as
possible from the floating echoes of blissful and merry happenings coming from
the brightly lit ballroom she had departed.
As soon as she ran out of breath
from all her running – being a very long time since she was athletically
inclined – Relena hunched over, resting her clenched fists on her wobbly
knees. Her quick, short panting breaths
were the only sounds that overpowered her racking sobs. Her coiled hair had come undone, locks of
her hair arranging themselves haphazardly on top of her head. Unseeingly, she stared at the ground below
her, the soft, green grass and the baby, lilac blossoms below not registering
in her mind.
Drip . . . Drip . . . Drip . . .
Those were the sounds of her
tears as they fell ceaselessly from her tear-filled eyes, running its course
down the upper curve of her cheekbone and progressing down her nose bone,
thereafter to fall on the earth.
From the second she had excused
herself from Santino’s grasp, Relena had strolled towards the stables – only to
turn around and march to the other direction, looming deeper into the
Peacecraft backyard with the moon’s faint rays clearing the path.
After a minute of trying to catch
her breath, Relena just collapsed onto the ground, her knees buckling beneath
her to plunge on the ground painfully.
She didn’t even whimper at the throbbing twinge her knee had suffered,
her mind too preoccupied to worry about things trivial to herself at that
time. Over and over she was intent on
figuring out why she was cursed with misfortune such as hers.
‘I mean, what did I do?’ she
asked herself silently as she gathered the tattered and torn material of her
once silvery-colored gown. She drew her
knees together and hugging herself forlornly, a miserable child not even
noticing her bleeding knees. ‘I’ve been
a good child keeping up a cheerful front – which I didn’t always feel – while I
coped with the ill-fated life fate had dealt me since birth,’ she
rationalized. ‘Plus, I’ve been a little
angel to everyone I’ve ever met.’ She
started ticking off her fingers one by one.
‘I’ve been good to Pa-Pa, Milli, Noin, Ma – ’ She shook her head. ‘I’m
not gonna go there.’ After that, ‘Then,
there’s Heero.’ At the mere thought of
his name, Relena’s features brightened . . . though for only a bit because
along with his image, came the summoning of another image – his thing.
Too many conflicting emotions
were overloading Relena’s psyche. So,
she let out a nostalgic sigh, and plopped back on the ground, using her gown’s
scarf-like sleeve as her head cushion.
Dirtying her gown was of little consequence to her at this moment. ‘What the heck? It’s already tattered and torn already, anyway,’ she thought
uncaringly. Staring off to the skies
above her, she just quietly reflected on her life.
It had been getting harder and
harder as of late for her to put up a pretense. That potent attraction at the enigmatic Heero Yuy had always been
there from her side and as time passed by, her strong feelings for him had been
harder to ignore. Long ago, she had
already given up fighting the forceful pull towards him – she thereby admitted to
herself that yes, she had fallen in love with Heero . . . irrevocably.
First
awareness of him had already struck her when she had initially met him, she a
mere fifteen-year-old girl and he, a sophisticated twenty-year-old. It was the pivotal point of Relena
Peacecraft’s life, where her life had turned upside down. That meeting was her advent to
womanhood. One instant she had been an
innocent child – a growing teenager – with a very independent mind. The next, a
budding woman barely able to cope with the intensity of her changed
feelings. Her best friend, her greatest
buddy ever, the ‘okay’-looking and very talented Heero she loved spending her
every spare minute with became the person she was terrified of being close to,
her turbulent and passionate feelings in danger of engulfing her rational sense
at any given second. Whereas before,
Relena had looked at him with only great pride and pleasure, she now perceived
him with tumultuous desire and love . . . always love.
Every
minute spent in his presence was a raging war in Relena’s soul. Whenever Heero would give her a fleeting
kiss on the cheek at the event he visited the Peacecraft Estate – which was
often – or when she had been especially helpful in a current business problem
of his, she ached to throw caution to the wind and instead turn her mouth to
him.
Heero Yuy
. . . her first and, her only love . . .
Without
asking for her permission, Heero plopped down on the grass right beside her,
heedless of his immaculate suit.
Propping up his elbow, he lazily supported his head so that he could
turn sideways and just look at Relena, who was obviously ignoring his presence
altogether. “You want to talk about
it?” he asked after a moment of staring at her tear-stained cheeks.
“No,” she
icily answered, turning over on her side so that her back was to him.
“Hn,”
came his neutral reply. Then, “Would
you at least mind telling me why you’re mad at me too? As far as I know I haven’t done anything to
deserve your chilly words. I haven’t
even seen you until I arrived earlier – when you conveniently ignored me, by
the way – ”
“I didn’t
ignore you. I have a duty as a
princess.”
“And
among those duties is marrying the enthusiastic Prince Santino Echaverria, is
that it?”
Relena
turned over and instantly realized her mistake. Heero was now menacingly looming on top of her.
“Just
what is your problem?” he asked angrily.
“Too
much,” she replied.
Softly,
he countered, “Then why don’t you tell me?
That’s what best are for right?”
Relena
nearly gave in, until the image of him with his date tortured her mind once
more. Drawing on her remaining energy
reserves – that happened to be a small amount – she pushed Heero off of her and
stood up. Eyes blazing she shouted, “Why
don’t you just get the hell out of here?
I don’t need you. I don’t need
anyone. So just go away and leave me
the hell alone. Haven’t you left your
date alone for too long already? You
should be careful eligibility entices many desperate people. Ta-ta!” she finished as while stomping off.
She only
got as far as a step away. Heero’s arms
around her were preventing her from going anywhere else. Heero’s voice spoke softly in her ears, “So
this is what it’s all about huh? You’re
jealous of Princess Hilde Schibecker of the House of Brandenburg? Hmm . . . what do you know?”
Even as
his revelation had shocked her, Relena struggled from his arms as much as she
could while vehemently protesting. “I am NOT jealous!!!”
“Sure you
aren’t,” Heero smirked out. His
features turned solemn once more as he seriously asked, “Why is it that running
away is your solution to everything?”
“IT IS NOT!!!” she denied.
“If I let
go of you will you promise not to run away?”
“I don’t
need to promise you anything! As my
best friend you’re supposed to trust in me that I won’t run away.”
“I DO
trust you,” he fiery confirmed. He then
continued on with the same intense fervor, “It’s your tendency to run away that
I don’t trust.”
Relena
had nothing to say to that. She
continued her struggle against him, though it was no effort at all for Heero to
continue his hold on her, as she refused to pay any heed to his words. Suddenly, there were no more struggles as
Relena just slumped against Heero’s body.
“Leave me alone, Heero” was her silent plea, tears renewing its trek
down her face.
Within a
flash, in a fit a strength, Heero quickly turned Relena around in his arms and
proceeded to crush her to him, hugging her for dear life. He buried his face in her hair as he nuzzled
her neck, savoring the sweet, subtle scent of waterflowers on her skin. “I’m not leaving you alone. Because if I do you’re somehow going to
vanish into thin air, and I won’t be able to find you.” More passionately he cried, “You think I’m
that stupid?”
Relena
was dumb-shocked as his declaration rendered speechless. Softly cushioned within his arms, she was
able to smell his __________ [SHORINAI:
Can you input his cologne here? Thanks a bunch.] Gently whispering, her voice faint below the
sweet melodies of the evening atmosphere, she asked, “Why do you care so much?”
Relena
nearly cried out loud as she was jerked away from his warmth. She nearly cried out, ‘Put me back. Put me back.’ Heero held her upper arms, intently staring into her eyes,
communicating his deepest emotions to her eyes. It worked. She could see
his deep-seated fear, as well as the hopeful twinkle in his eyes, his clouding
doubt, and the most important of all was, she could see the outpouring fervor
of his love – all directed at her.
Relena nearly cried at the sight she never thought she would’ve
seen. She did.
Heero’s
impassioned speech continued. “Why do I
care? WHY DO I CARE?” he cried out
louder. “I care because I . . . .” Heero started again, “ . . . because I . . .
.” and faltered once more. Flaming Prussian
blue eyes glazed over as he drew Relena’s lithe form to him, crushing her to
him. He tilted her head up to maintain
their intense merging of souls. Throat
clogging with the ardor of his emotions, he answered. “I care because of this . . .”
And Heero proceeded to capture Relena’s lush lips with his own.
The world
exploded in myriad of colors around them as that brief touching of lips
elicited sparkles of electricity from each nerve ending to the next. A slow and longer touching of lips ensued, Relena’s
eyes closing rapturously as she savored each sweet stroke of Heero’s lips. His palm was spread across her back, pinning
her to him as his other hand caressed her velvety, creamy skin. A stroke of her face’s smooth skin drew a
soft gasp of pleasure that Heero just captured in his lips. Arching herself closer into his warmth,
Relena felt the delicious edges of his sculpted lips, and nearly whimpered
whenever he would feint drawing away.
When they
had both reluctantly drawn away from each other, their passion-glazed eyes had
instantly locked gazes. Heero’s hand
sinking its fingers on Relena’s silky hair, his other fingers tracing each
contour on her face with feather-like touches, their gazes never breaking even
for one second.
Throwing
caution to the air, Relena inhaled a deep breath and whispered lovingly, her
fingers bunching up on his hard chest with nervousness, “I love you.”
Heero
just smiled and kissed her forehead, “I know.”
Then, focusing his heavy–lidded, Prussian blue eyes on her luscious,
cherry-colored lips, he said, “Now, enough talking . . . ” and continued to
kiss her senselessly . . .
. . . And
Relena was only too happy to oblige . . .
Though
they acted the same as they usually did in front of their families and friends,
each gesture and each glance would have a weight of a thousand more meanings
behind it. It all became a game to the
two lovers – to sneak a loving caress or a passionate yet brief kiss on the
other without their family seeing. The
longer the separation from each other – the more their ardor grew.
Once she
had turned eighteen, and having spent three of the most torturous years in
Madame Margaret Nicole Louise de Lancret’s Boarding School, she had immediately
transferred to the College of Notre Dame.
There she had met two of the greatest friends she could have after Heero
– namely Catherine Bloom and Dorothy Catalonia. Relena found herself hanging out more and more with her new-found
friends, Dorothy and Catherine, rather than going home to the Peacecraft
Estate. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want
to see Heero anymore, especially since visits home were the main ways she saw
him. She wanted Heero to come to her –
Relena was feeling specially coy. And
come, Heero did.
Constantine
Peacecraft, the loving father that he was, had worried when her daughter had
foregone her regular visits home. Since
Noin now had added weight to carry around – a weight dating three months old
and yet not showing – Milliardo was quite preoccupied – more like panicking –
therefore he couldn’t be sent to check-up on Relena’s situation in Notre
Dame. The next best choice had been
Heero Yuy.
Heero had
left the day Constantine had talked to him and a few days later he was knocking
on Relena’s apartment . . .
An
entire week was all that Heero had, so they made the best of it. Two whole days were just entirely for them
while the rest of the week was spent hanging out with Relena’s best friends –
Catherine and Dorothy. Department
stores were the frequent stops of the girls and one would have to give Heero a
gold medal of achievement for not just deserting the women in the stores – they
took ungodly long. However, he did have
something that kept him happily
occupied.
Anyone
interested to know Heero’s past time while exasperatingly waiting for three
girls shopping in department stores – keeping in mind that they, being wealthy
women, had money to burn? Well, Heero
sure was a sneaky, little man when he desired
something. A couple of times, he
would pull her away from her friends to show her something he claimed looked
promising as a Christmas gift or even as a birthday gift. He would show her promising things – behind
a display rack that is. Heero would
briefly, but very powerfully kiss her, each short kiss being loaded with
intense meaning and each embrace passion-filled.
Relena,
positively dizzy from fiery kisses, lost count of how many times Heero had
kissed her senseless. Never had she
felt so giddy in her entire life . . .
A night
holding more than one surprise for both . . .
Exasperated
beyond belief, he continued his current mission – wear a hole on the
carpet. ‘Okay,’ he breathed out. ‘Maybe I should have called her and asked
what her plans were about,’ he analyzed as he glanced once more on his watch
for the umpteenth time that evening.
‘But she would’ve been very suspicious if I started asking all her
minute plans for today. And a surprise
wouldn’t be a surprise if she knew something was up!’ he frustratingly reasoned
as he combed his fingers through his hair, ruining the perfectly hair he had spent
hours taming.
Heero
jerked upright as he heard a faint sound . . .
It was
the sound of a key turning in the door’s lock.
. . . And
Heero couldn’t help but smile as he inconspicuously arranged himself to lean on
the side wall that Relena would pass on her way in her apartment. In his arms, he cradled a lovely bouquet of
blood-red roses and an elegantly wrapped present. All that was needed now was the aforementioned girl. And in she came . . .
She
was grateful when she inserted her key and came into her dimly-lit quaint
apartment. She proceeded down the hall,
turning towards her coat rack to hang her coat simultaneously reaching for the
light switch to provide some much needed guide to her room.
“Now
it’s time for a long, soothing soak on a warm bath,” she sighed out loud as she
turned around. She turned to make her
way to her bedroom and promptly screamed as she saw something she was not supposed to see . . .
It
was Heero lounging casually against one of her apartment walls.
Relena
placed her hand on top of her chest as she struggled to regain her composure,
panting little breaths of remnant fright.
Heero
just smirked as he looked at her surprised state, and pushed himself off the
wall. He shook his head in
amusement. “Tsk-tsk. You are so easily surprised,” he remarked, a
wry smile plastered on his face.
He
shouldn’t have made fun of her. He
ended up not being able to dodge her blow.
The result – a bruised shoulder tomorrow morning when he wakes up.
“I
see you’re happy to see me,” he wryly noted, wincing as he touched the
sensitive spot she had smacked him at.
At
his words, her whole face brightened up, her scowl turning to a radiating
smile, her azure blue-colored eyes sparkling with diamonds. “Now that you mention it,” she said as she
basically flew to his arms, Heero barely saving his well-thought of present and
the lovely bunch of roses. “What are
you doing here? Not that I don’t want
you here of course,” she asked as she snuggled to his warmth. Heero promptly threw his bundle to a nearby
chair – gently of course – and surrendered himself to the delicious embrace.
“Well,”
he drawled out indolently, at the same time stroking Relena’s sun-kissed
hair. “I figured that maybe we could
make something of the night. We really
didn’t get to spend that much alone time on your last birthday. And since this was an important birthday, it
being your advent to adulthood, and your good-bye to your teenager years, I
figured we could do something special.
Which is why,” Heero just inched Relena a little way off of him, as he
withdrew something from his suit pocket.
He held up that something in his fingers.
Relena’s
eyes grew incredibly wide as she saw what was in his hands.
“No
way!” she cried out unbelievably excited.
“Way,”
he affirmed. Then turning her to her
bedroom’s direction, he patted her bottom and said, “Now go get dressed before
we’re late.”
Relena
nearly flew to her room. As Heero
watched her ecstatic form disappear in her bedroom, he looked at his
hands. In it he held tickets to a play
she had really been wanting to see – Les
Misèrables. Looking up, he was
alarmed when Relena came back to the room standing in front of him, garbed only
in her robes, a sad look having taken hold of her features.
Instantly
worried, he, in a distressed voice, inquired, “What’s wrong?”
Her
silence further frightened him. His
fright rising a notch at her quiet manner, she finally spoke. “I don’t have anything nice to wear,” she
complained and proceeded to heart-wrenchingly wail.
Heero
released the pent-up breathe he had been holding while his heart struggled to
return back to its normal beating. “Is
that all,” he asked, relieved.
“IS
THAT ALL?” she repeated hysterically.
“IS THAT ALL?” she repeated again, ignoring Heero’s pleadings to be
quiet. “I need to look my best tonight! Beautiful!
Ravishing!” She inhaled a deep
breathe, prepared to rant once more, “Come on!
If we hurry, we can still buy a glamorous dress. Then, if not we can – huh?” Her attention was caught by a beautifully
wrapped present.
“Heero,
honey,” she interjected gently. “You
know I love your presents, but we have to hurry or –”
“Open
it,” he insisted above her protests.
Giving
in, she mumbled, “Okay, but if I don’t find a nice dress. You’re going to – oh my God!”
Relena
was stunned as she saw a familiar sight to her. It was the dress she wore in her eighteenth birthday – except it
wasn’t tattered or torn. She looked at
Heero, her eyes tearing up at his gesture.
“How – ?” she asked.
Shrugging,
Heero simply answered. “I knew you had
worked your heart out when you were thinking up that dress’ design. Then when you’re birthday came – ” he
gestured in the air, not wanting to explain more.
Relena’s
heart swelled with pride as she looked through bleary eyes at Heero. Impulsively, she threw her arms around
Heero. “I love you. Have I told you that?”
Heero
buried his head in Relena’s silky hair and inhaled her soft cherry blossom
scent – he smirked since he had recently had this imported from Japan and
presented it to her. “I know,” he
answered, softly. Then shooing her
away, he commanded, “You have thirty minutes to get ready or else good-bye
tickets.”
Relena’s
eyes sparkled with mischief as she stood and tip-toe and kissed him
senseless. “You wouldn’t dare,” she
softly warned. Then, she skipped to her
room, her steps light along throughout the way, her infectious laughter drifting
all around the apartment.
Heero
only stared after her, dumb-founded, his fingers on his lips.
‘Man,
It’s going to be some night . . . ’ he said, looking forward to the evening.
Heero
didn’t know how right he was.
“That was
wonderful,” Relena had commented as she and Heero, together with other
audiences, had exited the theatre.
Appreciatively, Relena once more looked at her surroundings. Her enthusiasm had only increased ten-fold
as she had entered the marvelously decorated theatre. The theatre gave off a romantic atmosphere, while at the same
time retaining its modernized features.
The ceiling was outlined with golden glitters as painting of cherubs
adorned the ceiling. It nearly reminded
Relena of Michelangelo’s work in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Rewinding
the play in her mind, Relena had started humming one of the famous solos in the
drama – [INPUT SONG . . . once I remember].
She and Heero had viewed the entire drama from the box on the left-hand
of the stage, the silky curtains held back by tarnished gold tassels. Relena couldn’t help but clap with fervor
along with the rest of the audience as the play came to an end. The romantic, piercingly sweet music and the
tragic story-line, and the heartbreak – all had touched Relena’s soul.
“I take
it that you enjoyed yourself,” Heero inquired as he watched her enraptured face
that was obviously off in la-la land.
Shaking
off her fantasies, she smiled up at him.
She hugged his arm to her, as she replied, “Yeah.” Then, “So what’s next?”
Heero
just shrugged and said, “Why don’t we take a stroll in the park?”
Relena
had just stared ahead and softy sighed out, “That would be heavenly.”
And so
they headed to the park . . .
Relena
slowly closed her eyes, sighing blissfully, exhilarated at the feel of the cool
breeze drifting through her together with the exotic scents of the roses all
around them and the melodic harmony of a wedding ballad drifting all around
them . . .
She
forcefully opened her eyes. ‘A wedding
ballad?’ she asked herself. Searching
for the source of the sound, her eyes darted all around the park until she
spotted a heart-rending sight.
On the
far end of the park, a couple was dancing together – with all the signs of
being newly married too. The bride
looked dazzling in her flowing white gown, her hair tucked under a crown of
roses. She looked completely enamored
by her husband, not taking her eyes off him as they swayed to the slow tempo of
the ballad. And the groom – he looked
every inch of a man completely and totally in love with his bride.
She
couldn’t help it, Relena sighed and drew closer to Heero as she wretched her
eyes from such a tender scene. It was a
moment belonging for just the two of them and Relena respected it. Tugging at Heero’s hand, she led him away
from that part, leaving the newlyweds to their own harmonious world.
Languidly,
they walked towards another part of the park.
Unknowingly, they walked near a makeshift lake. By common accord, they walked on top of the
bridge that perched over the lake.
Beautiful water lilies were Relena’s main attention as of the moment, as
she placed her elbows on the bridge’s railing to cradle her head and gazed her
fill, watching nature at its best.
Heero was
lounging right next to her, his body leaning against the railing, his elbows
serving as a leverage. While Relena
intently studied the water below her, Heero intently studied the person on his
side. For some reason he had been
contemplative and very spontaneous as of yet, which explained his appearance
that day to take Relena to watch her favorite play.
Serving
as Relena’s backdrop was the star-studded sky, the moon’s rays softly encasing
her silhouette in a golden brilliance.
Gentle murmurs of the evening breeze teasingly toyed with her hair,
softly blowing it this way and that, her subtle cherry blossom scent mixing in
with fragrance of other exotic flowers in the park. It was a romantic ambience at its best.
Fixing
his gaze solely on Relena, he openly gaped at her. Her supple body was encased in the slim fitting silvery gown of
hers, every curve delicately shown off.
From such a close distance to her, he smelled her amazing fragrance, the
natural scent of cherry blossoms with a mixture of clean soap and some softly,
delicate perfumed lotion. That gorgeous
shade of strawberry-blonde hung around her shoulders, thick and rich and shiny,
very soft to the touch. Her
heart-shaped face was decorated with delicate features that were perfectly
matched, innocently free of make-up.
Straight, pert nose, slightly pointed chin, delicately shaped eyebrows,
and her full and luscious mouth that looked as
if it wanted to be kissed – by him.
Heero
sighed. Relena was just so . . .
adorable. He found her absolutely
attractive, outrageously attractive, touching a part of him in a way he had
never been touched before.
Long ago,
Heero had decided that what he had liked the most about her were her eyes. Those cerulean eyes sparkled like diamonds with
lingering shades of an appealing mix of intelligence, maturity and innocence,
encased by the thickest, dark lashes he had ever seen.
At that
moment, Relena looked up at him and smiled.
Twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and hair gleaming under the moonlight – a
deadly combination. He kissed her,
passionately.
Relena stunned could only look at him under-heavy
lidded eyes, begging for more.
Heero Yuy
had a clear, ice-cold logical mind, a perfectionist to the core and a man of
control. So he didn’t understand why
that Heero Yuy did not seem to be available at that moment. He blamed it on the romantic ambience, and
Relena’s presence – it had always affected his thinking. All he knew was that between the incredibly
romantic milieu, the whole electrifying experience of kissing Relena, and his
uncharacteristically poetic side that evening, the next thing he knew was that
he was, without warning, blurting out, “Relena, Will you marry me?”
These charming display occupied her mind for only a
minute or two before she feasted her thoughts on her favorite subject: Heero Yuy.
It had been hard for her to believe that for two years they have been
romantically involved. An incredible
smile flowered as she reminisced with the things they have been doing. However, a frown soon covered her face as
she thought about the reality that only the two of them had any knowledge of
their wonderful relationship. At first
she had been satisfied, delighted even that they kept such a secret between
them. But, that novelty wore off as she
yearned to be able to openly express her feelings for him. She didn’t even know how long she could
endure their subterfuge. ‘Heero on the
other hand, seems to be adept at it,’ she thought. Then, sadly she reflected that, ‘He hides everything so well most
people don’t have a clue what’s going on inside him.’
Relena
sighed, ‘It’s not like we could just come out and say that we’ve been
romantically involved with each other for two years. There are too many complications, mainly my so-called fiancée
Santino.’
Sighing
angrily, ‘I hate the whole cruel insane tradition of arranged marriages. They ruin people’s lives before they’ve even
started to live.’ Realizing something,
‘Mom and Dad, even Milli and Noin might have had arranged marriages, but way
before they found out, they had loved each other. I don’t love Santino, never have and never will.’ Calming her mind, she chose to think of her
Heero.
Like
always, he had been breathtakingly handsome and very charismatic, and superbly
dressed, wearing a beautifully cut tuxedo, complete with a tie, most likely
tailored to fit his form precisely. His
suit did not at all conceal his active body, the outstanding figure of an
athlete.
Ever
since Relena had first watched her first James Bond movie, she had eternally
loved a man in tuxedo. In normal
outdoor clothes, Relena had thought of Heero as drop-dead gorgeous, but in a
tuxedo . . . ‘It is definitely drool time.
To be frank,’ Relena thought in a dazed way, ‘there had never been a
more magnificent male that I had ever seen, in my dreams or out of them.’
Relena
looked up as she sensed his eyes on her, as they had been for the past few
minutes. Hypnotized, she had gazed into
his enchanting Prussian blue eyes, intense and passionate. She loved the way he gazed into her eyes and
the way he made her feel as if she were the only woman on the planet. Relena’s mouth parted slightly, taking in
shallow breaths, shocked at the emotions shining in his eyes.
He smiled
only very slightly, enough to soften his features, and an unnamed emotion took
over his soul, and he promptly kissed her.
At his
lips’ touch she was hit with nostalgia and more wistful feelings. He had never kissed her like this, though
she didn’t do anything to stop him. As
their surroundings blurred into one all around her, she vaguely heard Heero’s
question, “Will you marry me?”
And time
stopped.
Relena
looked at him incredulous, unknowing what to say and how to react. Actually, she knew how she would react –
joyful. But, ‘Something’s not right
here.’ Magnificent though the
proposition was, she couldn’t help but feel a little bit uneasy. Her feelings for him had always been clear
to her. That wasn’t the issue
here. His feelings were the ones that
were murky. She had known he felt great
affection for her. He was definitely
attracted to her. That was no
question. What she had wanted from him
was a proof of his love for her, she had wanted something from him for a long
time – commitment. And, here he was
offering the best commitment of all, the pinnacle of commitment – marriage.
When
she should have been weeping for joy and basking in her happiness, she just
glanced up at him in confusion and uncertainly asked, “Heero?”
He
sighed nervously, and repeated his question.
“I asked you, will you marry me?”
‘This
has got to be a dream,’ Relena thought wonderingly. Slowly she lifted her hand up to caress his cheek. When she did, he leaned his cheek more
towards her palm-like a cat basking on his master’s caresses-then he turned his
lips towards it and kissed it. Then, he
turned back and, still leaning his cheek on her palm, stared directly at her eyes.
Relena
had always been able to guess a person’s emotions through their eyes. With one’s eyes you could tell who they
really were – their personality, their current feelings, and the like. Heero had been the first person that she was
never able to read. There had been the
occasional glimpses through his eyes, but it would quickly disappear. But, right now, what she saw was –
‘He loves
me,’ she answered. ‘He really does love
me. And, he really does want to marry
me.’ It was because of that – unheeding
of her nagging and suspicious subconscious – she flung herself into his arms
and cried for joy.
She was
going to become Mrs. Heero Yuy – her lifelong and most desired dream.
Nothing
could go wrong now.
‘Hmm,
everything is right in the world,’ Relena lazily thought as she gazed out at
the sunset from her grove. ‘How can
everything not be right? Heero loves
me. He’s going to marry me and, I bet,
my family will love him, they already do.
Now, all that’s left is to fix that whole fiancé disaster with
Santino!’ Sighing in contentment, she
stroked Fury’s mane. ‘I could learn to
get use to life like this.’
Just
staring out at the sinking sun, she suddenly missed Heero’s comforting
presence. ‘What else is new?’ she asked
herself. ‘I always miss him whenever
he’s away from me.’ Sighing, she looked
at her slim watch. ‘Well, he’s actually
supposed to go to my house tonight. I
want us to be together once we tell my parents the good news.’ With a thought, she brightened up. ‘Why not just go by his house right now – as
a surprise visit? He should be there
right now since he hadn’t planning on going anywhere else.’ Relena giggled at the thought. ‘He’d be so surprised!’ Picturing his surprised face, she
smiled. ‘He’d look so kawaii with shock
written in her face.’ She started with
a surprise, ‘I’m actually learning from my Japanese lessons with him.’ With merry in her eyes, she ordered her
steed, “Let’s go Fury.” Silently, ‘I’ve
got to thank a certain special someone for Japanese lessons – personally thanks
them, that is.’
Then
galloping all the way, the sun starting to fall from its place in the sky to be
replaced by its sister moon, only one thought rang throughout her being, ‘I am the
luckiest and the happiest woman in the world right now.’
Suffice
to say that when she arrived at the Yuy Brussels’s Mansion, she changed her
tune . . .
“Relena,
honey, what’s wrong dear child?” came the concerned voice of her maman, her
godmother – Mrs. Darlian.
“I’ll
explain later, but do you mind if I stay there for tonight, at least, until I
make further arrangements?” she had sobbed out. Looking fondly at a stuffed bear that Heero had given her, and
she had once infinitely treasured, Relena burst into new tears.
“Relena?”
Uncertainty was obvious in the voice of her maman. “Does your parents – ?”
“No,”
Relena interjected through the tears that was spilling forth from her
eyes. “They can’t know either. This is something I have to deal with
myself. I just need someone to cover
for me. Will you be that someone?” Relena held her breath as she waited for her
maman’s answer. Though Mrs. Darlian was
close to Relena, she was still friends with the Peacecrafts. She didn’t like lying and this would
constitute as lying. ‘Please say yes,’
Relena silently implored. ‘I don’t have
anywhere else to go, maman.’
“Will you
tell me the whole story once you get here?” Mrs. Darlian asked in hushed tones.
‘She’d have to tell someone eventually. Better for it to be maman.’ Relena sighed. “Yes, I will.”
Being
assured, Mrs. Darlian asked next, “How are you going to get here? Would you like me to send someone to – ?”
“No,
maman. That’s quite alright,” Relena
interjected. “Fury will do.”
“Alright
then,” came Mrs. Darlian’s defeated assent.
“I’ll have Pargan alert the stable boy to ready Fury’s stall.” After a pause, she added, “And Relena,
please just take care. Get here safely.”
“I will
maman.” Her maman’s concern had
triggered the tears once more. “Maman?”
she whispered softly.
“Yes, my
child?” came the equally soft reply.
Smiling,
Relena answered. “Thank you.” She paused as she caught herself before more
tears started to fall. “For
everything.” Then she hung up the phone.
Desolate
as she might be, and raring to leave the Peacecraft grounds before Heero Yuy’s
arrival, Relena still had one phone call to make.
Mustering
her courage, she dialed and awaited as a melodic voice answered, “Hello?”
Relena
just breathed a sigh of relief as she held the phone closer to her – like a
lifeline. “Catherine, it’s me
Relena. Listen, there’s no time for
explanations, but I have a BIG favor to ask. You’re supposed to be visiting you’re
step-brother – Trowa Barton was it? . . . ”
And from then on, she had done everything in her
power to forget him – Heero Yuy. Because
even if you had loved someone so deeply, you knew you couldn’t live without
them, there was still a limit to love.
There was only so much pain one can take – even if they had the
strongest of wills . . .
Restless,
she tossed and turned on her bed.
‘Dammit. I hate being like
this.’ Then, her whole frame went still
as she listened carefully to the nocturnal noises – well not nocturnal
anymore. It was already six in the morning.
There
it was again.
Relena,
sat upright. ‘Am I hearing
things?’ More acutely she
listened. ‘Nope, I’m not hearing
things.’ Standing up, she looked at the
clock while at the same time stretching her limbs, like a cat who had just
woken up. ‘Which is precisely what I’ve
just done!’
“Six
in the morning huh?” she mused tiredly.
There it was again – that noise.
Someone was knocking at her apartment door. ‘Must be Trowa,’ she guessed.
‘He’s the only guy brave enough to even attempt to wake me up this early
on a Saturday morning.’ She didn’t
bother putting on a robe. ‘Trowa’s
seen me a my worst. He can deal with my
ghastly appearance.’
That
being said, she strode to her front door, her garment an oversized t-shirt that
read, ‘Princess.’ While unlatching the
chains and bolts that locked her door, she loudly spoke – loud enough for the
person on the other side of the door to hear.
“Trowa, you know I love you, but I’m going to severely beat you up as
soon as I open this door.” She was
having trouble with one of her locks.
“Hold on Barton, one of my bloody locks is stuck.” Though she was still concentrating on
loosening it, she continued to holler.
“Trowa as important as you may think this is, I just saw you what – six
hours ago?” Then, she let out a whoop
of delight as she successfully loosened the stubborn lock. Opening the door, she asked, “So what can
you possibly – Oh My God.”
Relena’s
face turned deathly ashen. Through
frozen lips she was somehow able to murmur – though bit by bit only, “You. Are.
Definitely. Not. Trowa.
A
sarcastic tone met her distressed ones.
“Really?” A figure indolently
lounged at her doorway – a shoulder casually leaning against its frame. “I could’ve told you that myself.” And as Relena stared at the face of the
figure, cold, Prussian-blue eyes stared grimly into her eyes.
And since
it was only six in the morning, the only thing Relena could do was gaze at
those unreceptive – yet beautiful eyes – and whisper, “Heero . . .”