Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Pepper & China Roses ❯ chapter ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Pepper & China Roses

By Rude.

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Warni ngs:

AU, Possible OOC, yaoi, other stuff, maybe some angst.

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Chapter 2

Back at the Preventers main building, Wufei strolled from one end to the other of Une's office while she spoke in sedate tones to her secretary on the com line.

The former Coronel had the calm facade of a business woman while her insides twisted around in anguish. The news of his Excellency's... remains... being moved. God it was so hard, even after all these years, to think of him in past tense.

She summoned Preventer Dragon to review a case this morning and he was as surprised as her when the ESUN delegate stormed in with the news. Agent Chang Wufei, code name Dragon, was the last person she wanted to learn of this.

- Maybe Mariemeia would have been worse - she hoped the child never found out about this new mess.

Wufei. The man who drove the killing blow home.

She could not bring herself to hate the boy, she followed the fight in space just like everyone else in the control room at the time. The boy had as much fault in his death as she did, or anyone else on earth for that matter. It was suicide... clear and simple.

She doubted the other pilots new exactly what had happen. After the battle and the failed Barton coup, the boys hardly saw each other outside the few missions that required more than one of them at a time.

They were not boys anymore. Young at 17 and 18, they were far from children even if they looked, physically at least, far away from men.

Smiling lightly, she spied Wufei pacing her office like a caged beast, he was a good example of what kind of training after effects they all suffered from. He would probably be lucky to grow a couple more inches, his tinny feet was a simple way of guessing this.

Combat boots in kid size was the standard for former Gundam Pilots, the uniforms in extra small size was their tell tale signature and the old matronly officer in charge of supplies relished every time a hopeful (but still grumpy ) Wufei will storm in her warehouse for his supplies.

The woman will pull a measuring tape out of her pocket and demand he stay still for her to check his measurements, he will sputter and growl at her but she will have none of this and went on raising his hands to lace the petite waist, the powerful but slim thighs and at last but not the least in their ritual, she pushed him to stand straight against the wall to measure his height. Every time he grew a millimeter she will smile at him and watch those eyes, black as a beetle's back, shine in contentment.

As commander of Preventers she had a regular gaggle of aides and secretaries to relate these little gems of information about there favorite little ducklings. The boys would blow a fuse if they found out the girls had nicknames for them.

Wufei growled something at her from his chair. When did he sit down?

"What was that agent Chang?"

"I said, will that be all commander?"

"Yes, needless to say discretion is required about this unexpected situation"

He nodded stiffly and left with barely restrained anger. She smiled tiredly,

- The little grump... could have sworn you called me a 'dallying onna'-

Now she was left to deal alone with the fact that someone wanted his excellency's grave to be moved.

It was hard enough to fine were to put it the first time, now someone sent a court order for her to do so in the next 48 hours. From what her aide had manage to dig up, the "official" reason for all this had something to do with his grave being in the same cemetery as some of the Alliance officers with the big family names...

-didn't want some poor widow to visit her hubby's grave at the same ground where his alleged killer laid-

The real reason had more to do with money. A lot of people got compensation for loosing a family member, be it as a pension or a direct donation from organizations such as the ESUN, the money they provided came from anonymous accounts she new were formerly Oz and Alliance money now set to help rebuilt the Earth Sphere and Colonies after the damage they suffered during two hundred years of intermittent wars. Treize had even destined most of his family's assets for one of these accounts in his will, whatever was left was to be distributed amongst his surviving family.

In the past, wealthy families claimed millions from war mortality pensions, those who died in battle got juicy settlements even more so if they were well known in society. A lot more than those who had the same rank, died in the same battle and dint have any money or a big name. Under Alliance laws they did not have as much worth as the wealthier families.

Said families decided to pull their collective weight, now, as a political maneuver to attract attention. Also, the claim was made out of spite, since the vice foreign minister denied their petition for a memorial.

She snorted in disgust.

-memorial? more like hulking displays of their mugs carved in stone, portraying themselves as martyrs and heroes. His excellency has a humble tombstone amongst some bushes at the back of the lot. And he did far more for humanity than some pencil pushing, money laundering... -

The beeping of the vid phone interrupted her less than polite thoughts.

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tbc