Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Facade ❯ "What is fun?" ( Chapter 7 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Behind the Facade
By Angel of Death

~~~CHAPTER SEVEN-"What is 'fun'?"~~~

Heero blinked. No-one had ever spoken that way to him. Except for Duo's mischievous grin, no-one had ever even smiled at him, either. This is nice, he thought. He blinked again, surprised. 'Nice'? When had anything ever seemed 'nice' to him? He didn't even really know the definition of the word. So how could he think of something as 'nice'? Confused thoughts and questions raced through his mind, and he started feeling nervous. He'd never thought so much about something other than his training. He wasn't supposed to. Suddenly, Relena turned to him.

"What games do you know how to play?" she asked. He blinked, yet again.

"'Games'?" Relena nodded slowly.

"Yeah, ya know, games. Chess, checkers, card games, backgammon, 'I Spy', Bingo, basketball, hopscotch, baseball, soccer . . ." Her voice trailed off when his expression remained blank. She stared at him.

"You really don't know what games are?" she asked weakly, floored by the new revelation. Heero shook his head. She took a deep breath.

"Well, what do you do for fun?" she asked, trying a different tact. Heero looked at her quizzically.

"'Fun'?" he repeated, bewildered. "What is 'fun'?" He'd heard the word before, but he didn't even know what the exact definition was, much less what she was talking about. Relena's chin dropped, in horrified disbelief.

"You don't even know what fun is!?" she asked, hoping beyond hope that he would suddenly understand what she was talking about. Against her hopes, he shook his head. Relena's lip trembled, and she hugged him sympathetically, nearly in tears. Heero, bewildered, waited patiently until she pulled away and turned to glare at Dr. J, who was still arguing with Richard, now over something else. How dare he take away the child in him! she thought angrily. I'll deal with him later. She turned to Heero, who was still confused. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand.

"Come on, we're gonna go play." she said firmly. "They won't miss us."

"But-" He was about to protest, but Relena cut him off by tugging on his hand.

"No 'buts'. Let's go." she ordered. Before he could protest again, she was dragging him out the door and down the hall. Once they were a few doors away, Relena slowed their pace. Heero spoke up.

"What are we doing exactly?" he inquired, somewhat dubiously. Relena grinned.

"I'm gonna teach you how to have fun." she said confidently. She looked at him, grin widening. Hesitantly, he smiled back, an action totally unfamiliar to him. Relena saw this, and swore that if she didn't have him laughing and playing like a regular kid by sunset, she wouldn't ride her motorbike for a month. She almost laughed. This would be fun. Mission: Accepted . . .

~*~*~*~*~

~~~FOUR HOURS LATER~~~

"OMAE O KOROSU!!!" Heero yelled his battle-cry at the top of his lungs as he hurried to catch up with Relena. Relena turned back and stopped just long enough to stick her tongue out.

"Yeah, right, like you could kill me." she said in playful mockery, rolling her eyes. When she saw that the space between them was rapidly closing, she hurriedly turned back around and kept running. A few minutes later, what had once been a game of 'tag' had turned into a game of 'who can run up the hill and roll back down the fastest'. They both reached the top of the hill for the 12th time and quickly tossed themselves down, tucking their arms across their chests and holding their legs together tightly. Somehow, the roll turned into a somersault. They gradually came to a stop at the foot of the hill on the front lawn at the Academy. They lay flat on the grass, laughing so hard their sides ached and tears of merriment streamed from their eyes. Their laughter slowly died down, and they lay in amiable silence for awhile, not bothering with the time. It was Heero who spoke first.

"So, this is 'fun'." he said.

"Well, everything that feels good isn't designated as 'fun'. There's some things that are just happy. Some are joyful. Some are funny. I could go on forever." Relena said thoughtfully. Heero was silent for a moment, then he said quietly,

"I'm happy. I've never been happy before, but I think I'm happy now." Relena's eyes widened as she turned to him.

"What d'you mean, you've 'never been happy before'?" she asked. Heero met her gaze with eyes full of happiness, with a hint of sadness and confusion.

"Just what I said. Dr. J took me in when I was just a baby, I was an orphan, still am. What with all my training, and helping Dr. J, I guess I didn't have time to be happy." He scratched his head. "I didn't even know what being happy was." He smiled. "But I do now. Thank you." he finished sincerely. Relena was frozen, both by soaring happiness and deep sadness. Two teardrops slid down her cheeks, and she leaned forward to hug her new friend tightly. She couldn't even imagine not knowing what happiness was. But she was happier than she'd ever been knowing that she was able to give someone happiness.

"Why are you crying?" Heero asked. "I thought you said people cry when they're sad."

"People also cry when they're happy." she said. She pulled away a moment later and, on sudden impulse, leaned down and kissed him. Shocked at herself, she quickly scrambled away. They were both sitting up, staring at each other in surprise, each with a hand lightly touching their lips. They were startled out of their reverie when Richard's voice.

"Kids! Come back in!" he called. They looked up to see him calling from his office window. They got up and headed back inside, each avoiding the other's gaze and blushing furiously, neither knowing why. They reached Richard's office without having spoken a word to each other. Dr. J hurried over to the doorway, red-faced and angry. He grabbed his charge's arm and dragged him roughly toward the door on the other wall.

"Come on, we're going out to the forest to return." he said roughly. Relena, remembering what Heero had said about happiness, stepped forward and broke them apart, placing herself between them. She glared up at Dr. J.

"How could you!? How could you take his happiness away from him!? From what I understand, Heero didn't even know what happiness was!!! Everyone deserves to be happy, and you have it in your power to assure than he is! How could you even dream of letting him live his life without happiness!? You . . . you . . . you monster!" she yelled. By the time she was done, Dr. J had backed up until he was five feet away from her and cringing. She might be younger than him, but he knew from Richard that she could be murderous at times. This appeared to be one of those times. Heero had been looking at her with admiration the whole time, and now reached out to hold her hand. Dr. J spluttered, trying desperately to recover his dignity, but Richard stepped in to distract him.

"J, weren't you just leaving?" he said.

"Oh, yes, we were. Well, let's go." He quickly made his way out the door, followed by the other scientists and their respective pupils. Richard, sensing that Relena and Heero wanted to say 'goodbye' went over to Dr. J and successfully distracted him. Once everyone was out and walking down the hall, the two soldiers-in-training turned to each other. They stood in awkward silence for a moment, then, just as Relena was about to speak, Heero leaned down and kissed her, a tad longer this time. They pulled apart, just to pull into a tight hug.

"I will see you again. I'll make sure of it." Relena promised. Heero nodded.

"Heero! Come on, we're leaving!" Dr. J called. They left the room hand in hand, and they only let go when Dr. J pulled Heero away. Relena waved, smiling when Heero returned the gesture. Richard put an arm around Relena's shoulders, smiling when he saw the unmistakable sparkle of love in her eyes.

"When can I see them again?" she asked expectantly. Richard's face fell.

"Well, um, ya see . . ." His voice trailed off. Relena looked up, frowning.

"Well?" she pressed. Her heart stopped when he kept avoiding her gaze. He sighed, closing his eyes.

"Relena, you're not gonna see them again. See, Dr. J thinks that you six should be the Perfect Soldiers, and to him that means that you have to be completely emotionless so that you won't ever hesitate to kill an enemy. Therefore, he thinks that, well, you can't be friends, because that would mean you have emotions, and you wouldn't be the Perfect Soldiers in his eyes." Richard said quickly, praying he wouldn't have to explain any further. It was painful to watch them be broken apart, and it was even worse that he was part of the cause. A solitary tear of understanding and sorrow slid down Relena's now-pale cheek. Her eyes darkened in resolution, and she clenched her fists.

"Then I'll just hafta find another way to see him." she said, all traces of lost hope gone. Richard sighed, pulling something long out of his pocket. It was a needle.

"You don't understand Relena. You . . ." Relena held up a hand to stop him, sighing.
"Won't remember, I know. Gimme just a moment." She fixed her gaze on Heero's receding back. God, if you're up there listening, please grant me just one wish. Please don't take him away forever. If he has to leave now, just please make sure we meet again. I beg you. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears welling up and not caring. She quickly relived that one moment where he'd said he was happy. Mission: Accomplished . . . She sighed and turned to Richard, holding her arm out limply. She knows . . . he thought, taken aback. She knows and she's not fighting. She understands . . . For a moment, he just stared at the six-year-old in front of him, who's eyes were brimming with tears of pain and understanding. But there was a hint of hope glittering through all the tears. He braced himself, pulling up her arm and injecting the greenish liquid into her vein before she could object. Relena, who had passed out immediately, lay limp in his arms. He quickly blinked back the tears that threatened to fall at the sight of the sad look frozen on her face.

"I'm so sorry . . ." he whispered, picking her up and turning to go inside.
~*~*~*~*~
Down in the cluster of trees a little ways away from the Academy, the scientists and their respective pupils stood in a cluster. Duo nudged Heero playfully.

"So, what were you an' 'Lena up to after you left, huh?" he asked innocently. Heero frowned and was about to yank on the baka's braid when Dr. J turned to him.

"Give me your arm." he ordered, flashing a needle. Heero backed away.

"Why?" he asked warily. Dr. J still hadn't told him whether he would get to see Relena again, and he was determined not to cooperate until he did. "And you never answered me."

"Fine, I'll answer your question. Never, that's when, never. Trust me," Dr. J grabbed the boy's arm and quickly injected the same liquid that Richard had injected into Relena into his vein. "You won't remember a thing."
Heero fell almost immediately into the scientist's outstretched arms. The Dr.'s eyes were filled with a sudden sadness as he recalled the hint of love he had caught in his pupil's eyes as he watched Relena stand up to him. I'm so sorry, Heero, but it's better this way. I hope you can forgive me someday. Maybe you'll even see her again . . . He paid no attention to anyone except to jump into the portal with Heero when Pluto arrived. All of the trainees had been injected by the time they got back to their home universe.

"You used the injection that only erases one day, right?" Dr. J asked his fellow scientists. They all nodded their verification. "Good."

~*~*~*~*~

Back at the Academy, it was getting late, and Richard had just tucked Relena snugly into her bed. He was just about to leave when Relena woke. She yawned, while Richard held his breath. Did it work?

"It's night already?" Relena asked drowsily. "But it was just morning, did I finish my mission? I-I don't remember . . ." Richard sighed in relief, but an immediate feeling of remorse rushed in.

"Yes, you finished your mission splendidly." he assured her, trying to speak past the lump of guilt in his throat.

"Oh . . . good . . ." Relena said, drifting back to sleep. Richard gazed at her face for a moment longer, then got up and left. The instant he had closed the door, Pluto stepped out of the shadows. Slowly, she brought the top tip of her staff down to rest on Relena's forehead.

"Power of the Staff, grant her the Memory until dawn's awakening!" she whispered. The Garnet glowed red momentarily before going back to it's usual dark red. A smile slowly spread across Relena's face, bringing a sad smile to Trista's face.

"You can relive your wonderful day just one more time before it fades away." she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek as she recalled Relena's happiness, which was followed by several more until streams of silver laced her face in a spider-web of diamonds. She turned away and went back through the portal from whence she came. A shaft of moonlight fell across Relena's face, creating an angelic effect.

"I didn't even know what being happy was. But I do now. Thank you."
TO BE CONTINUED(perhaps) . . .