Heero hates the traffic in Tokyo. Too many cars driving fast, too many cars creating traffic, too many people crossing the congested streets, too much of everything. And not one accident has occurred yet. He guessed there was something to like about the traffic after all.

He also hates everything else about Tokyo. It’s swarming with neon lights, courteous people, numerous food stands, huge billboards of famous video game characters, the abundant rain, gorgeous scenes of nature and most importantly, The Wedding Gown Shoppe, owned and operated by Katrine herself. It’s that little store in the Ginza district known for designing the most spectacular wedding gowns in existence. He hates that store and all of its 5 employees, which includes Katrine’s only older brother. He wished he could just kill them all.

But still, he’s supposed to go on a mission and he has to go pick up Duo Maxwell from the University of Tokyo. He hates doing that girl’s responsibilities sometimes.

"There you are, my good man! What took you so long?" asked the long-braided God of Death as he stuffed the back seat of an old white 2000 AD Honda Civic with his backpack and notebooks. Katrine’s so damn lucky that Heero has mechanical skills in his vast background.

"Just shut up and get in," Heero responded.

"The traffic was heavy again then," Duo smirked, "Now let’s get the Hell outta here and eat at Kat’s place!"

At least Duo’s much happier now. 3 long years ago, him and Hilde were squabbling one too many times over little matters. The squabbling got to Duo so much that it affected his work. In an effort to change all that, Zechs made the God of Death to work with Heero as part of the Preventer 5 Earth Force, also known within the group as The Dynamic Duo (so to speak). What a big mistake the former Lightning Baron made. He knew he hates Duo too. But it was either Duo’s happiness or Heero’s, and in the end, the favor was tipped to Duo’s. Why is it that Heero always have to lose to a blabbering idiot like him?

Wait a second… happiness… Heero has heard of that word many times before. Katrine loves to express it. He has seen it in everything she does and everything she watches and plays, from the anime to the role-playing games. Especially the role-playing games.

"Com’on, Heero!" Duo said to him, "Can’t you hurry up one bit? I’m starving!"

"Do you want to drive through this?" Heero glared at him for a quick second before continuing the trip to Katrine’s apartment.

Duo finally gave up, even though he didn’t want to. "I’ll just wait then," he moped.

Heero hates it when he visits the other three on several occasions. Quatre’s family business is definitely raking in the dough, but his sisters still believe their only brother should go get himself a girl- a girl he never met, of course. To get out of that arranged marriage, he dated Dorthy Catolonia, the only girl he could think of, and- well, the two are still dating now.

Trowa, on the other hand, has lots of girls going after him because of his performances in the circus, and Catherine told all of them to get lost. She knows what kind of girl would be just perfect for him, her little brother…

And what about Wufei? He’s been traveling around the colonies with Sally Po righting wrongs, of course. The two are completely inseparable.

What’s wrong with him? Why is everyone happy but him? Why is he the only one most miserable out of all of them?!

"I can’t wait to get home and eat Katrine’s home cookin’!" Duo grinned, imagining all of the great dishes laid across a glass table.

"Don’t you mean ‘I can’t wait to see Katrine and kiss her, saying Honey, I’m home’?"

After 5 long years, The Perfect Soldier and The God of Death still don’t get along.

"Don’t push it, Heero."

For once, just once in his short useless life before he breathes his last, Heero would like to have a taste of happiness. How it’s like to be happy. How it’s like to forget all of your cares and simply live. He wished he could do that now.

"Finally, we’re here!"

Duo got out of the car and raised his hands to the cloudy sky. He felt the soft rain drops stroke his face.

"Honey, I’m home!" he shouted out loud before running into the huge complex.

In a flash, Heero was forced to return to the cruel world of Reality. He was completely deep in thought, that getting to Katrine’s apartment was second nature to him. He wished that he never came back.

"Guys! There you are! I’ve been waiting all day for you two!"

The Dynamic Duo walked into their Home Sweet Home. The small clean kitchen to their right, Katrine’s room straight ahead, the closet and a small flight of stairs leading to the bathroom on their left, the tidy living room with the comfy Indigo Blue couch, glass coffee table, the complete entertainment system and two closed windows before them, Duo’s bedroom to the far left… there’s unquestionably no place like Home.

"Happy Valentine’s Day to the both of you!" she greeted them as she gave to each young man a shiny golden box of Goldiva chocolate truffles.

It was her all right. Standing 5’2" tall, weighing about 106 pounds, with reddish-brown brown hair that’s always brushed to the right side of her cute face with short bangs to the left, and a pair of mesmerizing eyes that are the exact color of Duo’s hair… no wonder Duo wanted to stay here in Tokyo. With a hard-working 20-year old girl like that, who needs anything else?

Duo nearly shrieked. "Aw~ I forgot~!" he panicked, "Heero! How come you didn’t tell me Valentine’s Day is today?!"

"It’s okay," Katrine said, "I’m not expecting anything from any one of you."

"Thank you, Katrine…"

"Anytime, Duo."

"I’m fine, Baby! Besides, no virus can keep the God of Death down!"

That did it.

"DON’T CALL ME ‘BABY’, YOU GOT IT?!?!" she threatened while she held him by the hair.

"Okay okay~! I’m sorry, Katrine~!" he implored, " Now please, don’t even think of cutting off my braid again~!"

Oh, those two… they haven’t changed in the past 3 long years.

Heero, on the other hand, did what he does best. He threw the expensive Goldiva chocolate truffles away into the trash can and was about to leave. He wanted to sleep on his bed, the cozy Indigo Blue couch, but there’s no time for that. If he did, not only would he be scolded by Zechs, he can’t sleep with those two around each other. The so-called "friendship" (if one can it that) between Duo and Katrine was making him sick to his empty stomach. Katrine expected Heero not to accept her gift, so she stared across the room straight at the cruel misunderstood man.

"Heero…? Heero, where are you going? I haven’t even served lunch yet,"

Katrine said.

As usual, Heero said nothing.

"It’s one of your favorites~!" she beamed, "Wakasagi tempura!"

"What? Again?" Duo objected, then remembering how appetizing it would go with a hot bowl of freshly made rice with sweet soy sauce poured on top, "Oh well. I can eat that!"

Katrine wasn’t listening to the joyful God of Death. She only heard the silence that came from Heero. He never told her what was bothering him, but after dealing with his attitude for 3 long years, she was getting better at reading his tormented mind.

"Another mission already? Sheesh Heero, Zechs makes you work too hard. I can understand that you’re ‘The Perfect Soldier’, but still, you got to eat and study for exams."

Heero simply turned his back to her.

"<Sigh> Heero, when are you going to realize that life is more than just war and fighting?"

"That is my life."

"It is not! Heero, you are going to stay put, no matter what Zechs says, you got it??!?"

Still silence.

"Preventer 5 Captain Heero Yuy, I command you to stay here and eat with Duo and me!"

"You’d rather eat alone with Duo, anyway."

"I’d WHAT-?!!" Katrine gasped. She could feel her face turning red, so she dared not to look at Duo, who wanted to strangle The Perfect Soldier with his bare hands for that.

"I won," Heero concluded, and with that previous comment still fresh on Katrine’s mind, he left the apartment without a trace.

"Dammit Heero… haven’t I taught you anything?" she complained,

"The war is over! You’ve got your whole life ahead of you!"

Before she could curse any more, she felt a warm caring hand on her shoulder.

"You did your best, Kat," Duo told her, "You’re lucky that he jinxed himself when he said he was going to kill you, or else he wouldn’t be this nice to you for the past 3 years."

He was right, though.

"How come you’re not going with him this time, Duo?"

"Zechs doesn’t want me to go help him no more. I work solo now."

Katrine has finally found the problem.

"Stupid Zechs…," she swore underneath her breath.

It was a dark silent night. The full moon shined in the clear sky blanketed by a sea of brilliant stars. The towering palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and the waves quietly crash onto the jagged shore. It was such a dark silent night.

A flock of alarmed birds flew out of their resting-places into the open sky, as a vulnerable air force base was being smashed into smithereens. The fearful soldiers were running for their very lives, but it was cut too short by the multiple explosions and the falling debris from the ruined buildings. One soldier managed to run into the wrecked control room, where the irritated commander watched the bloody massacre in complete horror.

"We’re under attack!" cried the terrified guerrilla soldier.

"Isn’t that obvious?!?!" the bloodied commander exclaimed, "Damage report!"

"We have lost 75% of our men when the dormitories were blasted away in a single shot."

"Son of a-!… What about our weapons?"

"We have lost all of them in the blast as well!"

"Now who in the Hell could be attacking us now?!?! Check the surveillance cameras!"

It was obvious who it was. The white shedding wings of an angel, the blue and white Gundaminum body… it could only mean one thing.

"IT’S… IT’S A GUNDAM!" they screamed for the last time before being blown away.

"Mission complete," Heero surmised after he checked the burnt remains of the military base for any more warheads.

"Heero!"

Not again- it’s her. He wished that he never gave her his frequency number.

"Heero!"

He wants to be left alone, but with Katrine, she makes sure one never feels that way in any shape or form.

"Heero, I know you’re there. Answer me or else I’m not cookin’ my special dish tomorrow~!"

He had no choice but to answer her call.

"Now what, Katrine?"

"I knew that would get your attention."

Darn. She got him back for that quote about her and Duo earlier in the day.

"Are you done with your mission, Heero?"

"Perfect timing."

"Good! That guerrilla army should never mess around with ‘The Perfect Soldier’, or else they’ll all die!" she kid.

"Shut up, Katrine."

"Oh yeah… Heero, ‘The Three Musketeers of Outer Space’ sent this to you."

Heero almost laughed when the picture showed up on the screen. It was the rest of the gang: Trowa, Catherine, Quatre, Dorthy, Wufei and Sally, all covered in whipped cream, strawberries, chicken soup, deli slices of chicken and turkey, 4 kinds of cheeses, broken pieces of wheat bread and several different kinds of edible greenery. Looks like Trowa started another food fight again.

"Cool picture, huh? I just got it in my mailbox earlier today."

Heero rolled his eyes in disgust, but he couldn’t hide his smile from her.

"Hmm~? What’s this I see~? A smile on Heero’s face~?" she questioned like a sly cat.

"Stop it, Katrine."

"Oh Duo~!" she sung, "Get over here! Your friend’s smiling~!"

"He sees this, and I’ll kill you."

"I’d like to see you try, soldier boy!"

Katrine’s so nice to him. Sometimes, he wonders what did he do to deserve such a good friend like her.

"Duo, I said to get over here! Heero’s smiling! He looks so cute with his smile~!"

Sadly, Reality wanted to ruin this small joyful moment for Heero, like it always has with his entire life.

"…What, Duo? You mean it?"

The once smiling soldier felt the mood changing back to the ones he’s used to.

"Katrine, what is it?" asked a concerned Heero.

"Should I tell him, Duo?" I mean, this is unreal!"

His patience started to run thin.

"Katrine~"

Finally, she looked back at the screen.

"Heero, go watch the news," she ordered.

"Why do I have to?" he remarked.

"Do I have to explain everything, Heero? Just do it!"

He doesn’t want to feel her wrath when he goes home, or her friends and especially her older brother don’t nickname her "Kat" for nothing. He checked the TV waves and saw that all of the channels were having special reports. He didn’t know which one to watch; it looked like all of them were covering the same story. To him, just one news station will do.

Suddenly, Heero’s world came crashing down. Everything he knew ceased to exist in his Prussian Blue eyes.

"Dammit-!" Katrine cursed, "I pray to my ancestors that I hope not who I think it is."

Heero’s mind was instantly bombarded with those long forgotten thoughts as the news reporter continued with his story.

"Tomorrow…?!?! That’s- that’s Valentines’ Day over there…," Katrine indicated.

"Now who be interested in Relena?" Duo asked.

"You’re asking the wrong question. It’s who Relena is interested in?" she corrected him.

"Definitely not a lot of guys…"

"That’s what I’m saying! There is only guy I can think of, and I pray really hard that he’s not the one who asked for Relena’s hand in marriage!"

Duo at long last understood what she was trying to explain. "Oh God…," he gaped, "Don’t tell me it’s- !"

Katrine only nodded her head.

Heero was suddenly left in the cold darkness of the silent night. Even though the line was still open, it seemed that he couldn’t hear them. He felt that he was trapped in a horrifying nightmare that never ends. His hands begin to tremble uncontrollably, and he eventually took them off the controls. Despite the mission he recently finished, his guts told him that he failed miserably.

"Why Relena…?" he asked, "Why did you do this…?"

Author’s Note: Wakasagi is basically the smelt, usually a tiny silver fish that’s the

size of a pen (I believe…). They are best eaten in the winter.

There! Shocking, isn’t it? No fear… the next Chapter is just

as shocking… maybe more! Enjoy!

All Gundam Wing characters are the copyrights of Sunrise, the Sotsu Agency and Bandai. All rights reserved. But all of the other characters are MINE! ^0^