Consciousness 2/?

Gin Ryo no Nari

Standard Disclaimers

Thank you,” Relena whispered as she plastered on her diplomatic smile.

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Relena walked over to the table of diplomats and greeted them with all the grace and poise of the Princess that she was, in lineage if not in title. She conversed with them politely; careful to avoid subjects that might start an argument between different colony representatives. Unfortunately, in Relena’s opinion, the representatives were all males of high office on the colonies they represented. She had hoped that there might have been more women or members of lower class elected to office, to represent another segment of colony life, in the last election. However, the diplomats were not why Relena accepted the position as Vice-Foreign Minister, and she loved what was at the heart of her job. The nights she was able to get sleep, she slept better knowing that she had at least tried to make life better for humanity. At least that was what she kept telling herself.

In the beginning it was true; for the first two or so years things had run so smoothly, people still remembered the wars vividly. They remembered the meaning behind those battles. But now, four years after the Mariemaia incident everyone seemed to be a bit more complacent and more intent on the success of their community or colony and less concerned about how their neighbors were. Also on the political end, red tape and bureaucracy had slowed things down. Everything had to conform to a hundred different, and sometimes conflicting, codes. The paperwork had to be carefully worded to conform to the demands of politics and not change the intent or ability of the projects, agencies, foundations, etc. That was what wore down Relena, but being as skilled as she was in diplomacy, you couldn’t tell it very easily.

The blue eyes that watched over her from across the room could see the signs though. He could see the tense muscles in her back, shoulders and neck. Her eyes that had once seemed to glow with their own light, perhaps from that inner optimism and faith in humanity, had dulled some. Her voice had gotten a little flat, losing that hidden sparkle of laughter. Finally, while she was never golden skinned, she always had a little color, now her skin had taken a pallor to it perhaps from staying indoors most of the time now.

Heero removed his gaze from her frame and surveyed the small crowd around her before scanning the ballroom once more for and suspicious activity or behavior. He could hear Duo approaching him. As loud as the braided man could be, you would never expect that he would be good at covert operations, but then again you wouldn’t expect him to be a soldier either.

“Hey Heero.” Duo greeted as he approached. “So have you found any assassins yet,” he queried once he was in close enough range to speak in a normal tone of voice. Duo was tugging on his dark blue bow tie; which matched the under-vest of his tuxedo.

“Not yet,” he replied softly.

“I’ve got a great idea for a way to spot assassins!” He said with a grin on his face.

“Really,” Heero replied waiting for some insane idea from the American.

“Yeah. Ask Relena to dance. There will be plenty of daggers being thrown across the room and that way you can keep an eye on her too.” Duo finished with a smile.

“I’m not an escort Duo and she has been asked several times tonight already.” Heero answered with a deadpan expression. “I’m here to protect Relena.”

“Yeah, I noticed that she needed a little rescuing on the balcony a little while ago. What was that about?”

“She just got a little dizzy. She hasn’t been getting enough sleep, and she hasn’t been eating right the past couple of weeks,” he replied while focusing on a possible target. He filed the person away in his brain for further observation, and continued his survey. “I told the head of palace security to do something about the rails but he doesn’t see my point as valid. --I think I really pissed him off that time I had you, Trowa and Wufei break-in with me to test the security grid.”

“Heero, --Buddy you really need to find something you can call a life. --Outside “I’m Mr. Bodyguard” man.” Duo commented as he lightly slapped Heero on the back. That little maneuver won him a death glare from the Japanese man.

There were times when Heero wondered why he had come to think of the American as his “friend.” This was definitely one of them. Heero was not the same mission oriented person he had been when he had piloted a gundam five, even four years ago; but he still liked to keep his private life and private thoughts to himself. He knew where this conversation would head if he didn’t end it soon, preferably now. The best way to do that was… “Duo isn’t that Hilde over there? She seems to have quite the crowd of men listening to her.” Heero gestured to the table, about 43 feet from where they stood, where the dark-haired woman was sitting, happily chatting to six or seven young men in tuxedos.

He hoped it made Duo a bit paranoid. A scowl passed over Duo’s face, briefly, when he realized that he had been out-maneuvered. Mission accomplished. “Thank you Heero,” Duo said with a smirk, “I’ll catch up with you later.” He then left to make an appearance by his fiancée to make sure she wasn’t flirting with the other men, too much.

Heero watched the former pilot stop to grab two flutes of the champagne and go over to the young woman and promptly kiss her on the top of her head after putting the glasses on the table. When Heero turned his head to where Relena had been, she was no longer there. He then started looking for both her and the target he had spotted earlier. The target, in a black duster, was still in plain sight, sitting at a table sipping champagne. Heero left the balcony and headed towards the main staircase hoping the extra eight feet of elevation would help him find Relena but she was no where to be seen in the ballroom. He forced himself to fight the feeling that sat like lead in his stomach, he hadn’t felt a panic like it in many years. Not since an early assignment to demolish a base on the colonies, the one that had destroyed a few buildings on accident, and killed several families. He went back out on the balcony and looked around the grounds. She was not out in the open garden, where about 20 of the guests were, nor was she walking by the palace walls. Then he saw a figure with dark-gold hair and a long gray gown start to head into the garden maze. While it was possible that the person he had seen could have been a decoy, he had to go out just incase it was Relena.

Heero got over the rail of the balcony and, holding onto the old, thick covering of ivy on the wall and using the uneven cut-stone of the masonry to bear his weight, climbed about 10 feet down the wall. From that height he easily jumped to the ground 15 feet below him and made his way to the maze entrance. She had a head start but if it was Relena he knew where she was headed.

to be continued

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