Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Eternal Promises ❯ Part 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer : I've never claimed to own Gundam Wing, or it's affiliated characters, so you can't sue me for that. I'm mearly borrowing them for my entertainment, and shall return them upon compleation of this fic, . . . perhaps ^_^. I do however stake claim to all original characters I happen to throw in here, and to this particular story.

Eternal Promises

By Eden

Part 13

"I would like to have a word with you."

Heero turned around and found himself faced with a pair of green eyes that were partially hidden by long dark bangs. Trowa's expression was difficult to read, but he could detect his seriousness by his rigid posture and the firm set of his jaw.

"Hn."

They waited until everyone had left the room before either of them spoke again. While they did, Heero thought for a moment about how he had always felt strangely akin with Trowa. It was like they shared the same thoughts when it came to fighting and showing emotions. It was probably because they had shared the same sort of past.
Both of them always fighting, always in the midst of some battle. The war two years ago had only seemed like an extension of their lives before that. It was only now, in these times of peace that they were forced to find a new way to live.

His thoughts were cut short by Trowa clearing his throat quietly. Heero took a quick look around the room and saw that they were now alone, and that it was time for him to hear what was on his friend's mind.

Trowa turned towards the door as he started to speak. "Relena is worried about something, and I know that you know what it is."

Heero narrowed his eyes slightly. He shouldn't have been surprised by this, Trowa had never been one to mince words, but he did begin to wonder where exactly this conversation was going.

The young man turned back to face him, and without pausing, pressed forwards. "You realize that she's not the passive, naïve girl she once was. Relena is now the Vice Foreign Minister of ESUN, and has knowledge of the options that are available to her during a crisis, and will not likely hesitate to use whatever means possible to get rid of, or better understand this threat."

Heero was taken aback. He hadn't expected this from Trowa, of all people. Perhaps Duo, who couldn't seem to stay out of his life no matter how long he went away, or Quatre with his infinite wisdom of the female mind, all thanks to growing up in a household of sisters, but he expected that. This was something he wasn't prepared for, and it took him completely by surprise. How was it possible that Trowa could know Relena so perfectly when he knew that he had spent little or no time in her actual presence?

While he puzzled over these few thoughts in his mind, Trowa had taken a step closer to him, and lowered his voice slightly. "Something else that you might not realize it that she seems to be very sensitive to your moods. She can tell that your worried about what's happening, and is going to try her best to take care of it so she can avoid causing you trouble."

"How do you-" He let his question trail off.

Trowa shrugged. "I've had a lot of experience with reading people, same as you. The best way to defeat your enemy is to understand how they think." He stared at him for a moment and seemed to gather his thoughts before continuing. "But, to answer your question, the reason why I may be able to see these things while you can't is because I'm looking at this from an objective point of view."

"Hum." Heero crossed his arms across his chest and lowered his eyes.

"It's important that you let Relena see you're here to help her, that she's not alone." He was going on, not giving up his point. "I know what your trying to do by not telling her your real reasons for coming back, but it wouldn't kill either of you if you just let her know how you feel."

Nothing seemed to go unnoticed by the former Heavy arms pilot; it was like everything Heero did was totally transparent. "I can't do that. If I told her how I felt then I would get distracted from the job of protecting her."

"Somehow, I don't think that anything could throw you off course when it came to that." A smile, barely visible, played on the corner of Trowa's mouth. "But if you're worried about that, then you're forgetting why the rest of us are here. We all feel that keeping the Vice Foreign Minister safe is a top priority, and have already planned incase of any distraction on your part."

For a moment Heero felt his face harden. "I see." He met the green-eyed man's gaze for a moment. When he could find no traces of maliciousness on his face, and knew that he wasn't likely to find any, he relaxed again. "Thank you." The anger left him as soon as it came.

"No problem."



Once everyone had made it into the study, they had closed the doors and begun the debriefing. Wufei set up a tape recorder on top of Relena's desk, and then had instructed her to tell them everything that had happened, from when she was abducted up to when she found herself safely at home. Relena had complied, and when she was finished telling them what she remembered, the questions had started. She was forced to recall details about conversations and descriptions of people. Everything she was asked, Relena could answer with relative ease, that was except for one thing.

"When you were lying down on the table after you had been given the sedative, can you remember what the man said his name was?" Wufei asked the question like any other, with his serious tone and no-nonsense attitude.

"Well, I-" Relena looked around the room. Everyone was watching her, and they all expected an answer. Without thinking she looked up to where Heero was standing beside her. She hadn't paid much attention to him up until this point because of the way he had dismissed her at breakfast. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to look at him now, but she did, and was surprised to see him looking back at her. Heero had what looked like an encouraging look to his face, and no matter how unsuspecting she might be of the thought that caused this transformation; Relena was comforted nonetheless.

"I don't remember his name." She turned and saw the Asian man sigh in frustration, but she continued undaunted. "When he finally told it to me, the sedative must've already made me incoherent, and so, I'm not able to recall what he said." Relena tried to explain.

"So you heard it?" Sally had joined the group after she finished setting up the equipment for Relena's ESUN address. "You don't remember what this man said, but you heard it?"

"That's correct." The way the red-haired Preventer was staring at her was making it difficult not to think she had a plan, or idea in mind.

"If that's the case then there is one option available to us, although I'm not sure you'll be in favor of it."

"What were you thinking of?"

"I was thinking of hypnosis."

Relena's breath caught in her throat for a moment. Hypnosis? Was that really such a good idea? Before she could voice her concerns, the former alliance doctor began to explain her reasons.

"Normally I wouldn't suggest such a thing because of personal feelings, but it may prove useful in this situation. Because you were not put through anything that would force you to suppress memories on purpose we wouldn't be causing any harm with this route. Of course," Sally paused for a moment while she raised a finger to tap her chin. "The final decision is completely up to you, Ms. Relena."

Relena wasn't able to say anything right away; she was too busy going over everything in her mind. The thought of being put under hypnosis and losing control of any kind was vaguely disturbing. Of course, if going through with it would mean answers for the Preventers so they could find the kidnappers faster, then the logical decision would be to agree with the idea.

After a few more moments of pondering over the two options, Relena raised her gaze to meet Sally's. "I'll need a bit of time to think about it, if that's alright with you."

"Of course." She answered with a nod.

"Is there anything else you would like to go over right now? Are there any more questions?" Relena looked to the left of Sally, at her scowling partner.

"Not right now, but I'll be sure to let you know if anything comes up." His voice was surprisingly calm for someone who had not received and answer to his earlier question.

"That's fine." She turned to check the clock mounted on her wall. "I suppose I should go and make the address to ESUN now. It everything set up?"

"Yes, of course, Ms. Relena." Sally motioned towards the door. "I'll show you where we put everything."

"Thank you." Relena followed the older woman as she set out of the room.



As Heero left the study behind Relena, he was stopped by someone clearing their throat. Turning his head to the side he caught site of Pagan standing not far off.
"Excuse me, Mr. Yuy," The older man came towards him. "I am aware that you spent the night on guard duty and have not yet slept. I took the liberty of having a room prepared for you so that you might rest."

"Thank you," Heero answered, surprised at the gesture. "But I-"

"That's a very good idea." A male voice interrupted him in mid-sentence.

Heero saw a flash of platinum blond hair from the corner of his eye. He didn't need to turn his head to know that Zecks had come out of the room as well. He felt himself scowl. Just what was Zecks trying to pull?

"Noin and I were going to accompany Relena as she records her address to the ESUN, and I had hoped to perhaps talk with her for a bit afterwards. This would be a good time for you to get a couple hours sleep."

"Hn." He was beginning to realize what the older Peacecraft sibling wanted. He wanted some time alone to talk to his sister, perhaps try to explain to her all the things that had happened to him, and why he had done the things he had in the past. In an indirect way, he was also telling Heero to back off for a while and look after himself. What a guy.

He let the expression on his face soften and melt away; he had finally noticed how tired he was. Relena hadn't been mistaken when she'd said that he had been awake since they had gotten back to the Peacecraft mansion, and only now was he beginning to feel the full effects of his body's fatigue. It was different being on Earth, he didn't feel the need to stay awake because of the dreams he had, he felt like he could actually get a restful sleep.

"Well, it's decided." The large mustache above Pagan's mouth moved to smile. "Mr. Yuy, if you would follow me, I'll show you to your room." With that, the elderly butler began to make his way down the hallway towards the large staircase.

Heero had taken a step to follow suit when Zecks leaned his head down close to his ear. "I would like to have word with you also, but it will have to wait until later."

Before he could reply, Zecks was off walking in the same direction that Sally and Relena had gone, and Heero was left standing by himself. Taking a breath he continued to follow after the disappearing Pagan and thought to himself how he wasn't looking forward to his talk with Zecks.



A few minutes later, Heero was closing the shower door inside of the adjacent bathroom to the room Pagan had directed him towards. He allowed himself to relax as the hot water ran over his tense muscles and soaked his hair flat against his head.

His mind was utterly blank for the first time since hearing about Relena's kidnapping. Not a single coherent thought flitted across it. The only thing that mattered was the hot water that was slowly burning away his constraints and anxiety. He watched as the soap he had lathered onto his body was washed down the drain, and for the time being took his worries with it.

His whole life, his whole existence had always been about protecting himself or protecting other people. It was such a weight that seemed to have been temporally lifted from his shoulders.

Turning off the water finally, Heero grabbed a towel from the bar mounted outside the shower door and stepped onto the tile floor. A rush of cool air hit him as she left the bathroom to get something to wear. It was refreshing to feel the coolness against his heated skin. As he glanced around the room, he saw that his duffle bag had been placed on the floor by a dresser. His query found, he went over towards it to begin searching for something more appropriate than a towel.

Once he found a pair of shorts, Heero dried the remaining moisture from his body and slipped them on before moving to collapse onto the large bed.

"For once," he mumbled as his eyes slowly began to close. "I'm going to leave the guarding and protecting to someone else."



While most of the room followed Relena and Sally as they went down the hallway to make the ESUN address, Trowa followed Wufei to the makeshift Preventer base camp. It didn't take them long to get to the living room, and once they got there, Wufei headed straight towards the far wall where a laptop was sitting upon a coffee table.

"Let's see if we can find what we're looking for." The Chinese man picked up the small piece of equipment and sat down in a nearby chair.

Trowa took a seat near him and waited while Wufei found the information they were looking for. It didn't take long before he was being motioned over to take a look at the screen.

"This is it," Wufei pointed at the screen. "The location of the computer that first received the satellite transmission."

He leaned over to take a look at where the black-haired man was pointing and skimmed the information for himself. "Hum." Trowa was strategizing in his mind. "Western Canada. They couldn't have picked a location further away from here."

"I estimate at least a twelve hour trip to get there." Wufei continued to stare at the screen for a moment and then write down the exact location on a scrap of paper he pulled from his pocket.

"At least that." He agreed. "Well, since time is no longer on our side, you and the others need to think of another plan while I'm tracking down this lead."

"You're still going to go?"

Trowa nodded and straitened in his chair. "Like it or not, if something happens here while I'm off looking for the kidnapper's base, we'll at least have something to pursue. We can't afford to let this lead go cold while we have nothing else to go on."

Wufei nodded. He understood what he was doing. This wasn't for Relena as the Vice Foreign Minister anymore. Somehow he knew that they all understood this was more than just that. This wasn't about protecting a political figure, or about saving the one woman their comrade had ever loved. It was bigger than all of that. This was about protecting the lives that they had carefully built over the years since the war and about their desire not to give it up or see anyone else suffer because of pointless fighting.

No matter what the reasons behind Relena's kidnapping, and no matter what response the kidnappers had hoped to receive, it was going to end without anyone else getting involved. If it didn't, then it could be someone that he cared about next.

Trowa stood up and cast a look down towards Wufei. "Thanks for finding the location. I'll take it from here."

Wufei handed him the scrap of paper with the address on it. "I hope you find them."

"So do I."



Heero wasn't sure how long he slept, but when he opened his eyes, the room was dark. Sometime during his sleep, he had found his way under the covers and was pleasantly warm because of it. Turning his head to look at the bedside clock, he was surprised to see that it was after eight o'clock. He had literally slept the entire day away.

As he slowly began to get up out of bed, he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He tensed and froze, his mind worked furiously. His gun wasn't in reaching distance, he was at a large disadvantage.

As he watched the intruder, they moved slightly, just a fraction of an inch, but it was enough. Heero saw a flash of golden blond hair in the moonlight and relaxed.

"Relena, . . ."

There was some more movement, and then she came and knelt beside the bed. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." He said, her face now visible to him in the pale light coming through the windows. "Why are you here?"

"Well," She said, readjusting her position on the floor. "When you didn't show up for dinner, I asked Pagan if he knew where you were. He told me that you were sleeping, and I thought that when you woke up you might be hungry."

"Oh?"

"Yes." She looked away for a moment, before looking back at him with a smile. "So would you like to eat?"

Heero thought for a moment before giving up to the young woman. "Sure."

"Good," Relena said standing up and turning on the bedside lamp, "Because everything should still be hot, I brought a lot of food."

He pushed himself up, and was about to leave the bed and move towards the small table Relena had set up, when she came strolling back towards him with a breakfast tray in hand.

"I can just - " Heero tried to make her understand that he didn't mind getting up before she interrupted him.

"Just sit up against the pillows," She smiled again, "I have everything ready."

It was strange to have someone do this for him. Never had Heero been looked after like this before. Relena placed the tray over his legs and took the cover off of the plate with a flourish. "I hope you like it."

The plate was full of food. There was chicken, potatoes, vegetables, roast beef and more all piled together. She must've noticed his eyes widen, because she spoke up. "I wasn't sure what you would like so I just brought some of everything. Just eat what you want."

"Thank you," Heero turned towards her, "But you didn't need to go to any trouble."

The smile had left Relena's face in an instant. "Don't say that." She shook her head. "You always do so much for me, even when you don't have to. I'm just glad that I can do something for you this once, even if it is a small thing."

They sat there in silence for a moment. Heero felt that he should say something to her, to reassure her that he didn't mind doing things for her. He never had. Before he had a chance to speak, Relena motioned towards the plate on his lap with a half smile turning up the corner of her mouth, her humor restored.

"Go ahead and try it," She said, "Tell me what you think."

Nodding, he picked up his fork and took a bite. After chewing if he looked up towards her again. "How did the ESUN address go?"

"Fairly well," Relena pulled a chair up to sit beside the bed. "The recording itself only took about fifteen minutes, and then it took another half an hour before I received my first phone call from them.

"What sort of reaction did they have towards your statement?"

She thought for a moment. "They seemed to be relieved I was back safely, but they didn't seem to want to give me any time for myself before they began throwing me back into work."

Heero frowned. He didn't like the direction this was headed. Didn't these politicians and political figures understand she needed time to rest? "How long did you end up working today?"

"A couple of hours maybe. I wasn't able to do much after lunch because Sally came in and insisted that I stop for the day." She gave a light laugh. "Don't worry, I didn't overwork. I ended up taking a little nap." Relena assured him when she saw his eyebrows rise.

"Hum." He wasn't too keen on the idea of her actually jumping right back to work until things were back to normal. They weren't. They were still trying to figure out the real reason why she had been targeted for this kidnapping, if it hadn't been political. For all anyone knew, the kidnappers could come back at any time, declaring that they had poisoned Relena, or something worse, if their demands were not met. This situation was still too delicate for things to return to normal.

"I think that you should take some time off."

"What do you mean?" Relena was leaning forward in her chair, a confused look on her face.

"Since this situation has not been fully resolved, I think that it would be wise for you to make arrangements for someone to temporally fill in for you, or perhaps put some projects on hold until things are under control." He brought his fork to his mouth once again.

Knowing how seriously Relena took her work, he expected her to put up a fight, and to insist that she was doing work that was worth risking her life to complete.

"That might be a good idea," She sat back in her chair again. "I don't remember the last time I had a vacation. It would be a nice change to relax for once."

He stopped chewing for a moment, and almost choked in shock. Once he swallowed, he eyed her carefully. "Are you sure your okay with that?"

Relena stretched her arms out in front of her before answering. "Honestly, I think I've been heading towards this for a while now. The time off, not the kidnapping" She clarified when he raised an eyebrow. "Things are beginning to feel tedious so it might be a good idea to take a break, and then go back to things with a fresh perspective."

"You might be right." Heero started eating again. "What sort of things did the ESUN representatives feel were of great importance today?" Now that one matter was settled, it was nice to change the topic.

The young woman gave a small grimace. "It wasn't anything that someone else couldn't have handled," She went on to tell him all about her dealings that afternoon.

Heero found that he was quite enjoying hearing about her day, and all the small things that happened in it. He listened to what she had to say, offering occasional acknowledgment, and comments. Before long, though, he put his fork down on his plate and leaned back against the pillows.

"All finished?" Relena asked, getting up from her chair.

"Yes, thank you." Heero was about to get up and take the tray back to the table where Relena had brought it from, when she quickly lifted it from his grasp.

"I'll take it."

When she did, he looked down and finally noticed his state of undress. He was still only wearing the pair of shorts he had gone to sleep in without a shirt, and covered by the comforter. He wondered why he hadn't noticed it sooner, but then remembered how Relena had come into the room while he was still sleeping. Surprise or no surprise though, it was time that he did something about it.

Pushing the covers off of his legs, he got up and went towards his duffle bag, which was still on the floor by the dresser. After digging in the bag for a moment, he pulled out a tank top and slid it on over his head. Once he had done that, he turned to see what Relena was doing.

She had finished returning the tray to the table, and was now just staring out the window, her hands clutched behind her back. The soft lamplight played off of her golden hair, and warmed the pale tones of her skin. The expression on her face seemed worn, although a soft smile adorned her lips as she stood, not saying a word.

Heero felt himself tense up. This was a perfect opportunity for him to tell her why he came back. The real reason, not the half-assed response he had given her last night after her nightmare. He knew it was something he had to do, and wanted to do, but as he moved to stand just behind her, he couldn't make himself speak.

This was as close as Heero had been to Relena all night, and his body was responding to it in strange ways. It was the smell of her, that subtle floral sent that seemed to linger in the air around her, and made him feel like he needed to reach out and bury his face in her hair. She was intoxicating, and while he was attempting to gain control over himself again, she turned around to face him.

"Heero," She started, tilting her head up to look at him. "I spoke to my brother today."

"That's good." He wasn't really listening to her, he was to preoccupied with the way she had pushed her hair back enough to reveal the soft arch of her slender neck.

"He told me that they may know the reason why I was kidnapped and then let go so suddenly," She seemed to be a little distant now as she spoke to him. "But he wouldn't tell me why."

Heero swallowed. She had his full attention now. Anything that had to do with Zecks and the kidnapping could mean trouble for him. "Did he give you a reason?"

"He said that you should tell me, that it wasn't his place."

Shit.

Zecks had found his way to make him tell Relena how he felt, and now he had no way to back out of it. Heero's hand came together in a tight fist as he cursed the man's name under his breath.

"I want to know, Heero." Relena's expression grew serious. "This has to do with me, and since I was the one who was kidnapped, I deserve to know."

Her eyes were burning into his with a little bit too much intensity, and it made him turn his head to look out the window. "It's complicated."

"That's alright, I have time."

He looked down at her face once more. "It's not easy for me to say."

Her forehead creased. "What?"

This wasn't going the way he wanted it to. She was demanding answers from him that he was barely able to admit to himself, let alone tell her. There was no possible way Relena was going to let him get away with some lame excuse this time. Zecks had seen to that by basically assuring her he knew something more about the situation then she did.

He let out a breath and tried to start. It would be better to get it over with. "Relena, I-"

She took a step closer to him, and the floral smell assaulted his senses again, rendering him incapable of continuing. Did she know what she was doing to him?

Without warning he felt her fingers gently loosen his fist, as she held tightly onto his hand.

"Please Heero," Her face had softened, and pleaded with him. "I just want to know why someone would be after me."

He looked at her in awe. He had always been able to fight against all odds, take on suicide missions, and stare death in the face; all the while able to keep his mission clearly in mind. For some reason, though, this young woman was able to break through all of his hard training and catch his breath. She literally made him want to confess everything; his feelings for her, the theory behind her kidnapping, anything she wanted to know. But he couldn't do it, not just yet.

"I-" Her violet eyes distracted him. The intensity that he would've thought impossible from someone like her made him pause.

Suddenly a knock sounded at the door. He was temporarily saved from saying anything.

"Come in," Relena called out, moving her gaze towards the door, and releasing his hand.

The door opened and Pagan stepped into the room. "Sorry to disturb you. I just came up to see if there was anything you needed."

Relena smiled. "No thank you Pagan, we're quite alright."

"Well, in that case, I'll just take that tray for you," He came into the room and over to the folding table. "And be on my way."

"It's alright," Relena tried to stop the elderly man. "I'll take it back downstairs in a moment."

Pagan chuckled. "Miss Relena, the day that I allow you to carry a tray for me will be the day that I retire. Besides, your still supposed to be resting."

"I am resting," She spoke fondly to her butler, "But that doesn't mean I have to be helpless."

"Now that's something you will never be." Pagan picked up the tray and started towards the door. Once there, he turned around again. "I bid you goodnight," he gave a slight bow, "And Mr. Yuy, please be sure Miss Relena doesn't stay up too late."

"Of course." Heero answered.

"Goodnight Pagan."

The man gave a final nod and closed the door behind himself. Once he was gone, Heero turned to Relena again.

"It's getting late, we should go to your room."

"I suppose." He heard her sigh as he went to find a pair of pants. "You still need to tell me about the kidnappers."

"Later." He slid a pair of jeans up over his shorts. Picking up his gun that he had deposited on the dresser upon entering, he checked the clip. The weapon was the same as when he left it. Sliding the clip back into place, he motioned for Relena to follow him, and opened the door to the hallway.

When they finally cane to Relena's bedroom door, Heero was greeted with a once over stair from Wufei, who immediately re-crossed his arms that he had dropped upon seeing their arrival.

"Glad to see you made it here alright."

"What are you doing here?"

"Bartan informed Duo, Quatre and myself that you thought the Vice Foreign Minister could use a little extra protection, so we worked out a schedule to keep at least two of us around at all times." The Chinese man opened an eye to look up at him carefully. "You seem surprised."

Heero shook his head and Wufei continued. Trowa is making rounds outside with the other Preventers, and Duo and Quatre are getting some sleep. You'll be covered the entire night."

The two men exchanged looks of understanding. Wufei might know what Heero was about to do, but knowing the former Shenlong pilot like he did, he was confident that if he had thought there was a problem with it, he would say something. When nothing else was said, Heero nodded at Wufei in thanks. Words weren't necessary.

Without any more hesitation, Heero reached over and opened the door to Relena's room. He entered first, turning on the lights as he went, his gun following his line of sight. Once he had checked the whole room and the bathroom, he motioned for Relena to enter.

She said goodnight to Wufei before closing the door behind herself and moving towards her dresser to retrieve what must've been pajamas. As she went to the bathroom to change, Heero unlocked the balcony door and stepped outside.

He could feel the chill through his thin shirt, but ignored it. He had more important things at the moment to deal with, like how he was going to tell Relena about the kidnappers, and about how he felt for her. He never would've imagined that sharing his feeling with someone would be such a complicated matter, but he had never had much practice with it either. His whole life up until a few years ago had been all about hiding any emotion, and any feelings that could be mistaken as weakness on his part. The very act of trying to be honest with Relena went against everything he had been trained to do.

Maybe she would forget.

Somehow that possibility seemed highly unlikely. She was incredibly focused on finding out what was going on, and even more so now that Zecks has pointed her in the right direction.

No matter how much he wanted to be angry with the older man, he knew he couldn't. Zecks was right after all, it should be up to him to tell Relena what was happening, and what may happen. He just hadn't come up with a good way to do that yet.

Heero leaned against the side of the door, and looked up a t the sky. Just like the night before, the clear cloudless night allowed him to see the stars shining brightly. The moon hadn't come out yet to wash them out either, so Heero was able to make out a couple of constellations he knew. The big and small dippers, Orion, and a few other he had forgotten the names for.

He was just looking for Venus when Relena came out the balcony door beside him. Turning to look at her, he saw that she had taken her hair out of the ponytail it had been in earlier, and her body was wrapped up in a large think robe. In her hand she held an over sized sweatshirt that she handed to him before pulling her robe more tightly around herself.

"I saw you standing out here, and thought that you must be cold wearing just a tank top."

"Thank you." He said after he had pulled the shirt over his head.

She nodded slightly, a small smile on her lips as she turned away from him and took a few steps away from the door and looked up at the sky. "It's such a clear night." Her words were quiet, almost hard to hear. "The stars are so beautiful."

Something that he had come to notice was that any kind of light was attracted to Relena's hair. It always shone, no matter what kind of light was present. As his eyes continued to follow her every movement, a wind came up suddenly and pushed her shimmering hair up off of her shoulders, before letting it settle on her back.

Relena shivered, and tried to wrap her robe more tightly around herself while she tilted her head to look higher in the sky. "I love to come out here and just watch the stars before I go to bed at night. I find it relaxing. What about you?"

He thought for a moment before answering. "Looking at them gives perspective on things."