Consciousness 4/?

Gin Ryo no Nari

I’m about $10,000 dollars in debt with college loans and taking out loans for another year and a half. I’m barely able to afford my apartment with my roommate. If you really can’t figure out what I’m saying -- I’M BROKE!!! No Money, Bread, Clams, Greenbacks, Dough, Moolah. College Student! And if that’s not bad enough I don’t own Heero or Relena or any other nouns from G.W.

Relena took in his expression and smiled again.

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The night was quickly growing cooler, and even with Heero’s jacket on Relena still felt chilled, not to mention slightly guilty of depriving him of extra warmth. Even so, his hand on her back and the one encasing her own were both warm. Dancing with him also reminded her of how much taller he was now. At five-feet ten-inches, he towered over her five-feet and five-inches; he had definitely hit a growth spurt in the last three years. She rested a cheek on his shoulder and watched the light coming from the palace and the garden maze around them.

Heero rested his cheek on her head and was mildly distracted from keeping his eyes and ears open to threats by the pleasant thoughts resting in his mind. Relena’s smaller form was, very simply, nice to hold. He knew that they couldn’t stay outside much longer though. Relena had already been out for at least half an hour, but oh how he did not look forward to relinquishing his hold on her. He felt her squeeze the hand that was holding hers and he turned his gaze to her face, which she had turned towards him.

“Heero,” she nearly whispered, “how long have I been out here?”

“About thirty minutes.”

“If you don’t mind then, I would like to stay out here for another ten or fifteen. I know it is rude of me --but it is just so hot in there, and crowded --and busy,” she replied as she laid her head back on his shoulder.

Heero nodded slightly before resting his cheek back on the top of her head. He smiled wistfully and for a moment tightened the arm around her waist before letting it relax back to its previous state. He began to think of how the young woman in his arms had affected his life. She somehow “taught” him to relax around others, although he admitted he was much more relaxed and comfortable when it was just he and she. There was also something about her that allowed him to express his emotions openly. Well most of them anyway. He drew the line at crying. Nope. No crying for Heero. He was a grown man after all, and real men don’t cry. An unexpected result of being around her though, was the over-protectiveness that had developed over a brief course of time. But thoughts along that line led to ideas that were still a bit uncomfortable to the twenty-one year old. The ideas were not unpleasant, but they were different from the familiar, the expected, and in their own light a bit frightening. On that note Heero turned his attention fully outward, toward protecting the ‘beautiful’ Vice-Foreign Minister.

Relena was thinking of how she should deal with some problems the dignitaries had presented to her just before she had come outside for some “fresh air.” L-4 wanted some of the new hydroponics equipment that had just been developed by the Indonesian region on Earth. The problem, as she was told by the colonists, was that the diplomat from that region had denied them any such usage of the equipment. Of course earlier in the week, the aforementioned diplomat had complained to her that the colonists were demanding an unreasonable amount of equipment and that the scientists had not even received approval to manufacture, market and retail said equipment. It was still in the safety and productivity confirming stages. Just thinking about the obvious lack of communication drove her crazy, but neither party was willing to hear the other out any further. And of course, if there was any sort of problem, be it something as petty as a minor disagreement about payment for earth based construction crews working on a colony to something as major as threats of war on the Earth, they all came to her. There were times when she really wondered if the Foreign Minister truly existed, or if he was simply a random person who conferred with her through e-mail.

She turned her head more into Heero’s shoulder and she remembered where she was and who she was with and felt happy. While she no longer carried the early teenaged desire for a cliched romance with him, she did know that she truly loved him. It was not tainted by lust as some had speculated. Of course she didn’t deny to herself that she wanted Heero physically at some level, but if he was happy that was what she wanted the most for him. She had come to the realization that she wanted more for him than from him about a year and a half ago, and she had come to believe that it was the truest and most pure form of Love. After that realization she understood that she had loved many people and she in turn had also been truly loved by a number of people.

She felt a hand squeeze her arm and she looked up at Heero’s face. “Is it time already,” she queried softly with a slight tone of disappointment. He nodded his head once and one of his unruly locks passed over his eyes before returning to its natural position.

“I’ll escort you back inside. You ready?” He asked as he cocked his head to the side. He felt bad having to take her back to the diplomats with their personal agendas.

Relena placed a cool hand on his cheek tenderly and looked him in the eyes, “I have no choice.” She smiled sadly before she slid her arm under his offered arm and they went back to the golden glow of the ballroom.

They had just barely entered the ballroom and Heero was going to tell her some important information when a woman, of apparent upper-class heritage and her group approached the pair. “Pardon me Madam Vice-Foreign Minister, we were just discussing the Preventers agency and we were hoping to learn your opinion on them.” The woman speaking had blonde shoulder length hair and a thin, pointed nose upturned slightly at the end. She was a bit heavy-set and wearing a green velvet dress. “I believe that they are a waste of government money. I’ve met some of their operatives and they treated me quite rudely when I asked for their assistance on some private matters.” She turned her nose up, “What do you think?”

Relena had neutral expression on her exterior, but inside some part of her wanted to simply throttle the self-important rich woman. Keeping her anger in check she forced a smile onto her face, a smile that Heero standing next to her recognized immediately as not a good sign. “I am a very staunch supporter of the Preventer Agency. Perhaps Agent Yuy could offer some insight on this topic.” She shifted her gaze to the man standing next to her.

At first Heero was shocked that she controlled herself so well, then he realized she had passed the conversation on to him. “The guidelines set up by the ESUN Government state that ‘The Preventers Agency is to monitor and control threats to the peace between the Earth and Colonies.’” While he spoke he scanned the crowd looking for his earlier target, who was still in clear sight. “Many people with political “ties” request our assistance with things that are in no way related to our operating guidelines, which is why many of the old public offices still operate, such as constables or police and agencies like the FBI and Scotland Yard. Those offices and agencies operate for the good of the communities they serve. The Preventers are not a private agency out for hire to the rich.” By this time a small crowd had gathered, some simply turned their noses up and left, as the woman who had started the discussion did, and others clapped at the end of Heero’s brief speech.

After a few moments and the crowd had begun to disperse Heero pulled Relena away from the crowd and moved her over to a corner of the room. He spoke softly to her, “Relena, I’ve spotted a possible assassin already tonight. The gentleman with the black duster and shoulder length gray hair. He will be questioned. So if I leave --be careful.”

“Miss. Relena,” a familiar voice called from behind Heero’s shoulder, he looked over his shoulder to see Quatre approaching them. He turned back to Relena, who nodded her understanding to their conversation. “Hi Heero! I’m not interrupting --am I?” Quatre smiled at the pair.

“No Quatre.” Heero stepped to the side as Quatre approached.

“I was curious if you would be interested in dancing Miss. Relena?”

“Certainly Quatre, I haven’t been on the ballroom floor all night,” Relena replied as she moved toward the blonde-haired man. Heero watched as the pair moved onto the floor and he felt the rise of jealousy in his mind as he saw Quatre put his arm around Relena when they started to dance.

He quickly squelched the feeling though and went to find Wufei when he saw Trowa, and Duo of all people escorting the suspect in his general direction. How they knew that he wanted the man, he could not begin to guess. Maybe Quatre had something to do with it, the young Arabian had an odd sort of gift and the timing would was almost too good to be coincidental Continuing on with a slightly altered plan Heero found Wufei on the other side of the staircase, not too far from where he was, and moved to the Chinese man. “Wufei, would you be interested in helping me with an interrogation?”

Wufei nodded and at that moment Trowa and Duo brought the man in the duster out from the crowd. Heero nodded and gestured with his hand for them to continue searching the crowd as he pulled out his side arm and kept it on the suspect as he and Wufei grabbed an arm. As the three left the ballroom another figure that had gone unnoticed began their preparations.

to be continued

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