Blissful Ignorance

Don't Push Me Away

by Neon Fantasy


Disclaimer: Same old, same old. Don't own the characters from GW, I wish I did but oh well, life goes on


Chapter 9

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" --- " - Speaking
' --- ' - Thinking

Pressing the intercom button of the front gates to the Winner Mansion, Duo gave his name and purpose of visit before the gates gave access for him to enter. He found it quite odd that you had to have everything about you stated before you could even set foot on the property; he was surprised that they didn't have id scans and finger prints taken just to confirm it was you and not some sort of 'imposter'. Looking back at Relena who was behind him he gestured for her to enter before him. As they walked up the path to the front door of the estate, Peter welcomed them with a smile as he held the door open for them, "Good afternoon Duo, Relena. It has been quite a while since your last visit," Peter stated as he closed the door behind them.

"Yeah, there were reasons for that. But anyway, what's Quatre up to?" Duo asked.

"Ah, Mr. Quatre and Miss. Dorothy are having a fencing match together; I will take you to them." As Peter started walking off in the direction to the living room, Relena and Duo looked at each other in question before they followed after him.

As Peter waited by the entrance of the living room, Duo and Relena peered inside and watched in total fascination of what Dorothy and Quatre were doing. Dorothy looked to be dressed in the white fencing outfit that is usually permitted to be worn when dueling but all Quatre had on was the helmet and gloves, other then that he was wearing normal clothing. It looked as if they were about to start their match. Quatre took off his mask and rubbed his gloved hand through his short hair before putting it back on while Dorothy re-adjusted the gloves on her hands more tightly before she positioned herself.

"You see," Peter said in a quiet tone as to not disturb the Winner siblings, "Fencing involves three different weapons, a foil, epee or sabre. The idea in foil is to 'kill' ones opponent so you are only allowed to go for the torso, groin and back areas. Epee is usually fought to 'first blood' rather than to the death. Since it's to 'first blood' you may attack your opponent anywhere on the body, including arms and legs. Now, what Mr. Quatre and Miss. Dorothy are playing with is a saber. With sabre you target anything above the waist and you continue to fight until someone scores five points or until the time runs out."

Dorothy pointed her saber out towards Quatre and remained positioned like that until Quatre was ready. Quatre followed her steps and held his saber out towards her, signifying that he was ready he tapped her blade with his and they began the match. Dorothy swung her saber at him but ended up having it deflecting by Quatre. Defending himself from her shot he took the offensive position and thrusted his blade towards her, just missing Dorothy's right arm. As Dorothy dodged his swipe at her she advanced on him and went to swipe at his neck but Quatre ducked under her attack, leaving Dorothy wide open for him to attack her. Taking this as an advantage Quatre rose up from the ground and followed his saber through to hit Dorothy in the chest but before his saber could make contact with her; she twirled past his attack and followed through to swinging her blade towards Quatre's back. Quatre reacted a little too late to her surprise attack and tried jumping out of the way but as he did so he got swiped across the shoulder, causing his arm to bleed from her attack. Dorothy just smirked and went to advance on him again while Duo and Relena watched in shock as they went to continue dueling again.

"Hey, can't she see that he is wounded, shouldn't they stop?" Duo pointed out.

"No. Not by the rules that they are playing."

Duo just looked at him wide eyed, with the way Quatre's shoulder was swiped at were they going to just stand around and wait until one of them dies?

"They look as though they have been playing for quite some time," Relena stated.

"Yes, their father, use to play this sport when he was a child. It takes concentration, speed, technique and accuracy to play it properly and since he thought so highly of it he wanted his children to learn it as well. They started learning when they were young and Miss. Dorothy still takes the sport seriously, she is one of the top players in her division while Mr. Quatre only learnt it and remained content with that."

'So in other words, Quatre has no hope of winning,' Duo thought to himself.

Quatre and Dorothy swung at each other again, allowing the sound of metal verses metal to chime around the room. Both had their blades against each other, trying to push the other aside but neither one of them was going to back down. Since Quatre had the upper hand when it came to strength he pushed Dorothy aside and thrusted his saber towards her. Dorothy swung her blade up from the ground to the air as she pushed Quatre's weapon out of his hand, allowing her easy access to stab him in the chest. Taking that opportunity she did just that and touched the end of her blade on Quatre?s chest, declaring her the victor.

Quatre took off his mask and smiled at Dorothy, "That was great Dorothy; I had no hope of winning." Quatre chuckled a little at the thought of that. He had never taken fencing very seriously so he had no hope against Dorothy, she practiced the sport on a regular basis so the only chance he really had at winning was if she had broken arms.

Dorothy took off her mask and just smirked at him, "Hmph, here I am hoping that you might have practiced up a bit but you seem to just keep getting worse."

"HEY! Have a little more respect than that Dorothy!" Duo yelled as he approached her. Dorothy just raised and eyebrow at him as he approached her while Quatre just stared at him wide eyed, 'Duo? What is he doing here?'

"I think Quatre did a great job against you! Stop treating him like shit for a change!"

"HA! You?re one to talk. You haven't hardly talked to him ever since that stupid fight!"

"I-There were reasons for that!"

"How is that any different from this? At least I have a right to say something since the duel was between me and Quatre but since that fight hardly revolved around you two I think YOU are the one who has treating him like shit THANK YOU!"

Relena just watched as Duo and Dorothy started having one of their regular arguments again, she found it odd that they could never get by one another with out arguing about something. Looking over at Quatre she noticed that he was just as clueless as she was with the way Dorothy and Duo kept mouthing off at each other; however his attention didn't stay on them long since the cut on his shoulder wasn't healing anytime soon.

"We need to get that cleaned up," Relena said as she approached him. Quatre just looked at her as he watched her take hold of his shoulder, examining the wound he inflicted from the duel.

"Here is the first aid kit Relena," Peter said as he handed the kit to her. He had left Duo and Relena by the door earlier on to get this for him, however he found it quite disturbing that Quatre had been dueling Dorothy without his fencing outfit, Quatre could have been injured far worse than this.

"Thank you," Relena said as she watched him nod in response and leave the room, but as he was leaving he took a glance over his shoulder and watched as Relena seemed to be playing the part of being Quatre's personal nurse. He couldn't help but smile at that, luckily he had his back towards them so they wouldn't have been able to notice.

"Come sit over here Quatre," Relena insisted as she guided him over to one of the couches in the room. Quatre just looked at her blankly as she did so, it wasn't like he had just broken his leg or anything; it was just a scratch after all. But as he noticed the concern she had in her eyes over him he couldn't help but appreciate what she was doing for him, who was he to complain?

Sitting down on the couch Relena looked over the cut again but suddenly started to blush. Quatre had no idea what that was about, that was until she opened her mouth, "I, um, I will need you to remove your shirt since your cut is on your shoulder." Memories of the earlier encounter they had while he was working out started flooding into his mind again, causing him to blush at that as well. As he began unbuttoning his shirt he didn't fell as uncomfortable as he thought he would by doing this for her, it was probably the fact that she had seen a lot more of him than this so how could this be bad? Relena was busying herself with getting out the things she would need to clean Quatre's cut but she couldn't help but watch him from the corner of her eye. To her disappointment though, Quatre didn't completely remove his top, he only removed the arm which had the cut over it. Shaking her head from those thoughts she scolded herself for thinking such things, although she couldn't deny the fact that Quatre was very handsome, not to mention well built so she was only doing what any other girl would. That was what she was telling herself anyway.

Duo and Dorothy continued to argue for a while longer, Duo happened to get the last word in before she was left speechless. He was about to rub that in before he noticed something flash across her eyes, something which looked like, sadness? Before he could question this, Dorothy turned her back on him and stomped out of the room. She couldn't stand the fact that he always got the better of her, how was he able to do that? She was usually the one to show people up with a good smart arse comment, but she could never keep it up for long when it came to Duo. Lowering her head in defeat once she left the room she felt a flash of anger rush through her for being so uptight about this. Slamming her fist across the wall of the hallway she figured that a shower would help calm her down.

Duo felt content with himself as he showed her up once again, but what ever he saw in her eyes just now concerned him a little. It was only there for a second so he wasn't sure if whether or not his eyes were just playing tricks on him. Brushing it off he turned his gaze to where Quatre and Relena were. He was about to say something to them but kept silent as he watched what they were doing. Quatre had taken one half of his shirt off to allow Relena to clean his cut but as she was busy doing this he looked to be staring at her. Duo couldn't help but smile at that, he could just be watching her treat his cut but Duo noted that his eye level looked to be way above his shoulder. 'Hmm, interesting.'

Quatre had to admit that Relena had change a bit from their first encounter. She was very cold to him in the beginning, although that was mainly his fault since he was trying to pry into her life within five minutes of their meeting. He didn't know what came over him that day, usually he wasn't one to be so rude like that, not only did he pry into Relena's personal life but he also snapped at her mother. Since then he had been determined to try and understand her better, no matter how much she would try to brush him off. Why did he do that though? If she didn't want him around, why did he continue to pursue her like he did? Duo was right about the fact that socializing with her meant trouble; he could already tell that he has made good enemies with Heero and his group, not to mention that it had led him to fighting against Duo and his group as well. He didn't feel as though it was such a big loss though, her putting up with him now was indeed an achievement and he couldn't help but feel content enough with that. What he wouldn't give to see her smile though, the only thing he ever saw close to a smile was when her father introduced him to her, although that was just out of politeness, the smile didn't reach her eyes at all. She always worse black as well which made him question that when ever he saw her. Even now he noticed that she was wearing a black leather jacket with a black, high necked top and black flare pants. He didn't have a problem with the colour or anything, but seeing her in it constantly was some what strange to him. When he had first met her too, she was wearing black and grey. Duo wore black all the time but he claimed to say that it was like his trade mark, not to mention his favourite colour. But in Quatre's opinion, Relena suited soft colours like baby blue, pink, yellow or purple, or even white, those colours contrasted with her aquamarine eyes and, in his opinion, would make her stand out more.

Once Relena had finished bandaging up his wound she looked up at him and said, "Alright, it's finished now."

As she rose up from the ground Quatre just smiled at her and said, "Thank you," but continued to stare at her, he didn't care to look at the job Relena had done on his shoulder, much to Duo's notice. Relena nodded to him but suddenly grew a bit confused with the way he was watching her. Opening her mouth to say something, nothing seemed to come out; instead she seemed to follow his example and started staring at him, much to Duo?s surprise.

They continued to do this for a while before Duo decided to clear his throat, just to alert them that they weren't alone. This caused the both of them to turn their heads away from each other in a flash, not to mention that it awarded them with bright red faces.

"Well," Duo started as he looked between the both of them smiling, "Might as well state the reason why we are here, huh Relena?"

Relena looked over to Duo and nodded as she moved away from Quatre and sat herself down on one of the couches. Quatre put his arm back through his sleeve but kept his top unbuttoned since he would have to have a shower soon anyway. He was actually anxious to find out why they were here, and more importantly why Duo was talking to him, plus coming over with Relena, of all people.

"Ok, well we came to invite you over to Hilde's hockey match!" Duo announced, causing Quatre to just stare at him blankly, "Didn't you know she was playing today against Hoshi no Manazashi High School (H.M.H)? It should be a good match, so everyone is going over to watch for support. That means no more reading books or studying for you tonight pal!" Duo teased as he winked at him.

Quatre continued to just stare at him blankly; he was expecting an explanation over their issues first before anything like this. 'Well, he must have sorted himself out with Miss Relena now I guess.' As much as he would like to know the reason for it he decided to not ask any questions on it, the matter involved Relena and Duo after all so it wasn't to concern him.

Duo was very much aware of the way Quatre was watching him, he looked shocked by his invitation but seemed to accept it anyway. He knew that he would have to explain himself soon but for now, he was content enough to try and have a good time with all his friends, including Quatre. He had been very dark towards him and everyone else at that, so his goal tonight was to make people smile again and show that he was back to normal again.

"Well come on Quatre! Don't just sit there, get yourself ready ok? We will wait."

With that said, Quatre got up from his seat and smiled sheepishly at him, "Oh yeah, um, I won't try to take long." Just as he was about to leave he looked over his shoulder at him and said, "Please make yourselves comfortable, I will get Clare to serve you both something to eat and drink ok?"

Duo's eyes brightened at the sound of that and smiled widely at him, causing Quatre to chuckle a little at the sight of him before walking out. Relena's eyes softened as she watched Duo and Quatre converse with each other, she was glad to see that their friendship might not be such a hard thing to mend up after all. Duo hadn't even said anything about their visit yet and already, they were acting like best friends again, "Um Duo? Why didn't you explain to Quatre why you have suddenly forgiven him? He deserves to know doesn't he?"

Duo turned his gaze to her and smiled, "Of course he does, but for now, I think the best thing for us to do is to just hang out and forget our problems for a change. Since I am talking to him now, not to mention showing him that I am talking to you as well, I think he understands that I have forgiven him. Not to mention that he has forgiven me too, much to my relief." Relena nodded her understanding and lowered her gaze to the ground. Duo watched as she did this and walked up to her, sitting him self down on the right arm rest beside her. As they sat in silence for a while, Duo broke the silence between them and suddenly stated, "It helps to talk to him you know." Relena jumped with surprise when he said this and looked up at him. He had his gaze to the ground when he had said that and continued, "He helped me understand things clearer, not to mention that I have learned to cope with everything now. I admit that it still eats away at me from time to time, but that?s only normal right? With me talking to you now, it has helped me confront what was affecting me and, I think maybe you should talk to him too."

Relena could understand what he was trying to say but she shook her head in response, "Duo, I appreciate what you are saying but there is still a lot about me that you don't know. What I told you was only one aspect of it and I don't think that even Quatre could help me. I don't want to burden him with my problems; it's something which I have to deal with on my own. He hasn't gone through what I have so, how could he understand? But I thank you for comforting me though, I'm sorry for breaking down like I did."

Duo gave her a little smile and wrapped his arm over her shoulders, "I'm sorry that I couldn't have done anything more, but I'm glad I helped anyway. I still stand by what I believe and that maybe you should talk to someone, preferably him, but you will realize that soon enough. I was just as stubborn about my past as well, but what I find strange about him is the fact that he always seems so understanding you know. Like he can feel your pain or something... Maybe it's just me but it still makes me wonder about him. But getting back to the point, Quatre seems to understand people even without experiencing what ever they went though. How would I know? Well I don?t think Quatre?s father has committed suicide the last time I checked."

Relena just remained silent at that, she could tell that he was only joking with that last comment but she didn't find suicide being a joke. She agreed with him over that factor about Quatre though, she had noticed on a few occasions where he seemed to look within your soul or something and just instantly felt what you did, like he had some sort of gift. It was when he got the chance to look into your eyes, that waas what she determined anyway.

At that moment Clare, one of the maids of the Winner household came in and smiled her greeting at them, "Good afternoon, I brought you both some assorted biscuits and some coke. I would serve you tea but I'm sure you would prefer soft drink huh?"

Duo was up in an instant once she placed the tray down before them; Duo thanked the lady and began digging in. Clare looked at him with shock over the way he was eating but smiled and made her way out the room. Relena just sat and watched as Duo stuffed biscuits down his throat as though he hadn't eaten for days. Swallowing one load down his mouth Duo smiled up at her and offered her some. Saying her thanks but claiming that she wasn't hungry caused Duo to look at her as though she were crazy but began to dig in again, who was he to complain that he was getting more for himself?

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Whacking the puck from the opposition, Hilde dashed across the ice as she twirled and dodged her way past the H.M.H players coming her way. But as she approached the goals she was suddenly pushed aside by an unexpected player. Meiran took possession of the puck and skimmed it across the ice and scored a goal for the team. Smirking at Hilde she raised her arms over her head as the crowd cheered. Tooi Yoake High's senior female ice hockey team were the number one team in the league, Meiran was the captain of the side and played as center while Hilde played as an attacker on the right wing. Both Meiran and Hilde were the top players on their team but both had a serious problem with each other.

Meiran looked out towards the crowd and smiled when she spotted Sylvia's and Heero's group in the crowd. She waved hysterically at them but kept her eyes focused on a specific someone in-between Wufei and Heero. Hilde glared at her for stealing the puck away from her but was determined to show her up for that. Not to mention pay her back for making her look like a fool to her secret love.

As the opposition started making their way towards T.Y.H's goals, a player from their side intercepted it from them and made their way back to the other side of the rink. "Pass it here!" Hilde called out to the player as she dashed ahead, waiting for the pass. But as the girl hit the puck towards her; Meiran came between them and took possession of the puck once more. Hilde was not about to have Meiran show her up again this time though.

As Meiran skimmed past the H.M.H players she glided her way towards the goals. Being too over confident with herself she didn't noticed someone come up behind her. The player knocked Meiran out of the way but just as they were about to take the puck, Hilde dashed towards them and ran the player over, allowing Hilde to take the puck and score for their team once more. Everyone cheered once again as T.Y.H scored. Meiran got up from the ice and narrowed her gaze at her but Hilde wasn't paying any attention, instead she looked out at the crowd and saw Duo and everyone else cheering her on. Smiling at them she waved her hockey stick at them but then she turned her gaze to the other side of the stadium and smiled at a particular someone in the crowd. The same person Meiran waved at earlier.

A couple of minutes later the siren went off and declared it the end of the second period. As everyone went to where the coach waited for them, Hilde and Meiran glared at each other as they listened in.

Tucking a few strands of reddish/brown curly hair behind her ear, their coach started going through the things she needed to cover with the team. Her blue eyes eyed each player but she sighed in annoyance when she noticed Meiran and Hilde having one of their little staring competitions again. She wanted to laugh at the fact that they always wanted to show each other up just for attention from a certain someone. How did she know this? Well he just happened to be related her, not to mention they always asked questions about him. She knew how well they played when ever ?he? was around, so she made sure to make the person come with her to each match they played. Hey, if it made them play to the best of their capabilities, who was she to complain? But what annoyed her most about Meiran and Hilde was the fact that neither of them cared if they 'both' got sent to the penalty box, leaving their team two players short, not to mention that they were the best players on the side. ?They better not be sure to do that tonight, other wise no more visits from their little crush.?

As a few people started getting up to either head to the toilets or get something to eat from the kiosk Duo rose up from his seat and stretched his arms over his head, "You know," he started, "I feel like something to eat, does anyone else feel the same?"

Mariemaia brightened at the sound of food and shrieked loudly, "OH YES! I'm starving!" Her loud voice caused Alex and Mueller to rub at their ears from the loud ringing in their heads. Duo smiled and asked what she wanted. Nodding to her once she gave him her list of lollies, soft drink and potato chips Duo was about to leave but looked over at Quatre and Relena. Smiling at them he handed Quatre the money and said, "Hey Quatre, mind if you could get us something to eat?"

Quatre just looked at him in question before he slowly took the money, "But this is my first time here, I don't know where to go."

Mariemaia was about to volunteer to take him but Duo beat her to it and said, "I'm sure Relena would be willing enough to take you."

Hearing her name being mentioned she looked over at Duo and noticed him grinning widely at her. The way he was smiling at her instantly told her that he was up to something, she had no idea what though.

Brushing it off though, she got up from her seat and said to Quatre, "Alright, shall we go before the next period starts?" Quatre nodded his agreement as they both started making their way past the rows of seats. Once they were out of sight, Duo just smiled to him self and relaxed into his seat, not noticing the three pairs of eyes looking at him in confusion.

When Quatre and Relena made it to the kiosk, there looked to be a bit of a line up so their turn wouldn?t be for a while. To pass the time, Quatre tried making conversation with her.

"Do you come and watch our team play often?"

Pausing for a moment Relena stated, "Um, you could say that I used to."

"Did you start getting bored of the sport?" Quatre asked in curiosity.

"You could say that I mainly came just to, um, keep the peace between certain people."

Quatre just looked at her in question when she said this. He was about to ask why that was but he noticed that it was his turn to be served. As he started ordering what Duo and Mariemaia wanted, Relena stood beside him and looked about the place. It had been a while since she last came here but in all honesty she didn't miss it, not with the memories it left her. But she had to admit that it was a lot better being in the company of Quatre and his friends then the other group she ?use? to be with. When she came to sit with everyone in Duo?s group when they arrived here, she noticed their surprised glances at her, knowing full well who she was. She felt really uncomfortable at that and was about to consider leaving but ended up being welcomed with open arms, much to her astonishment. She was expecting the total opposite from that but felt relieved that they were being so nice to her. Even as she sat by and watched the way all of them conversed with each other and loudly cheer Hilde on she admired the friendship they shared, what she wouldn't give to have the same.

Once Quatre got their orders he had to use both of his arms to hold all the food, he still couldn't understand how Duo could eat so much; even Mariemaia had her moments when it came to junk food.

"Ok, shall we go?" Quatre asked as he looked over to Relena. She nodded her agreement and went to help Quatre with the food but Quatre stated that he was fine.

"I don't mind helping, I might as well make myself useful," she stated as she tried again at trying to carry something. It looked quite rude for her to leave Quatre struggling with everything while she just stood by him with nothing at all.

Quatre was about to decline the offer again but once he saw her eyes pleading for her to help he sighed in defeat and gave her a few things to carry. Of course he still carried the majority amount of the food since he only found it right that he should hold on to it.

"Oh my, is that you Relena?" A feminine voice said behind them.

As Relena and Quatre turned to face the person who recognized Relena, Quatre noticed that the woman behind him was also in company of Heero.

"Oh, hello Lucrezia. Nice to see you again," Relena said as she turned to look at Heero, "Nice to see you too Heero."

Heero nodded to her while Lucrezia smiled and turned her gaze to Quatre. Examining him from head to toe, her grin widened as she approached him. Quatre began to grow a little nervous with the way she was approaching him, not to mention with the way she was staring at him. Holding out her hand to him she kindly said, "Hello there, my name is Lucrezia Noin."

Quatre nodded at her and juggled the food he was carrying to sit in his left arm while he shook her hand with his right, "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Lucrezia, my name is Quatre Raberba Winner." As he shook her hand he noticed that Lucrezia was a very tall woman. She looked to be exactly the same height as Heero and himself. She had purplish/blackish hair with the same coloured eyes. Her hair was short at the back but was fairly long at the front since it went over one of her eyes in length; the style was a little similar to his father's. She was wearing a creamy coloured jacket which went down to mid thigh in length and wore a tight white t-shirt underneath with blue jeans. She seemed very friendly, very different from the way he had met Heero. But what puzzled him the most though was the way Heero's arm hung loosely around her waist, were they together or something?

Heero just glared at him as he watched the way he was talking with her. Lucrezia on the other hand couldn't stop smiling at him, "Oooo such polite manners. You could learn a thing or two from him Heero," she said in a teasing way. Heero's glare went from Quatre to her when she stated that, much to her amusement. Releasing her hand from Quatre she winked at Relena and said, "He's wonderful Relena, when did you two start going out?" Relena's eyes widened when she said that, not to mention it made her face redden. Quatre just looked at Lucrezia blankly, thinking that she was asking what time they usually went out with their friends, which to him didn't make any sense at all. Heero on the other hand looked at Lucrezia with a blank expression; he was hoping that she was only joking when she said that.

"U-Um, no y-you've got it all wrong, Q-Quatre is just my friend," Relena stuttered to say, feeling her cheeks burn. Lucrezia just raised an eyebrow at her and looked to see Quatre's reaction at that.

Quatre was looking at Relena with concern in his expression, with Relena's red face he was beginning to wonder if she was developing a fever or something.

Heero was the one who felt about ready to be sick. How could she think that Quatre and Relena were together? And how could she down grade him to Quatre?s standards like that? Of all people, why him? He had lost his appetite now, no thanks to her and now he had the anxiety to leave, immediately. However, before he did so, there was something he needed to sort out first.

"Relena, can I talk to you?" Heero asked all of a sudden. Relena looked up at him and noticed his gaze on her, silently insisting for her to agree with him. She didn't feel quite up to talking to him at the moment but she knew that he wasn't going to back down even if she said no. Hesitating at first, she figured that the sooner she allowed him to talk to her, the quicker she could go back with Quatre. Nodding in response to his question, Heero walked up to her and raised his hand to rest on her back as he guided her away from Lucrezia and Quatre, "Go back to the others Lu, I will be up there shortly."

Lucrezia nodded her understanding to him and faced Quatre again, "Well it was nice meeting you Quatre. It looks as if he will be talking to her for a while so you better get back to your seat since the next period would be about ready to start now."

"Yes, I will be sure to do that. By the way, it was nice meeting you Miss Lucrezia, I hope to see you again sometime," Quatre said smiling at her.

"Yes I would like that." Before walking away from him though she turned her gaze towards him once more and said, "Don't worry Quatre, Heero will not do anything to hurt Relena." With that said she waved her good byes to him and began walking away. Once she was out of sight, Quatre turned to notice Heero and Relena still talking to each other in the distance. What ever Heero was saying to Relena was beginning to depress her in some way. Quatre couldn't help but feel a tinge of anger flow through him at the sight of that. He noticed Heero raise his arm up to her shoulder too, causing Quatre to narrow his eyes on him. Why was he feeling like this? Heero was only talking to her, why was he making such a big deal out of it? Taking Lucrezia's advice he began to make his way back to Duo and the others, although he couldn't help but look back at them every now and then, hoping that maybe they would finish talking soon.

Duo was beginning to wonder just how long Quatre and Relena were planning to take, the game had already started again and he was getting really hungry. Within Duo's twisted mind he was beginning to wonder if Quatre and Relena were up to more things then just 'getting food'. Suddenly noticed a stack of food being handed down past him as it was given to Mariemaia. Looking to his right, he noticed that Quatre had given her the food and watched as he sat roughly sat back in his seat, not saying a word when he was seated.

"Hey, where is my food?" Duo enquired. He suddenly noticed a flash of anger run through Quatre's eyes when he asked this.

Trying to keep his anger at a minimal, Quatre took a deep breath and tried calming down a bit before he answered Duo's question, "Miss Relena has it. She is, talking to Heero at the moment."

Duo just raised an eyebrow at him, couldn't Quatre have taken the food Relena had with him so that he wouldn't have to starve like this. Looking over at Mariemaia he noticed her proudly stuff her face with some potato chips, 'God, those chips look good.' He hoped Relena would be here soon; hearing Mariemaia munch on those chips wasn't easing his hunger down one bit. However, what concerned him was the way Quatre was acting; he looked annoyed or frustrated over something.

"Duo, do you know a woman named Lucrezia Noin?" Quatre suddenly asked.

"Err yeah, well use to anyway. She use to go to our school, that was until she graduated and started university. She?s Heero's girlfriend," Duo explained, noticing Quatre's eyes go wide eyed with that last bit of information. Quatre had to admit that Lucrezia looked a little older than Heero but for some reason he thought that she was a relative of his or something. Sighing in relief he relaxed into his chair a little more, he didn't feel as tense as he was before for some strange reason, 'Hang on, if Heero has a girl friend, what does that make Relena?' Quatre always assumed that maybe Heero was pursuing her since he thought that he wanted her for himself, but if that wasn't the case then what was it about?

Noticing the way Quatre eased a little with that information, Duo just raised and eyebrow at him again and said, "I think jealousy is getting the better of you Quatre."

Turning to Duo, he just looked at him blankly and said, "What do you mean by that?"

Staring at him for a while, just to see if whether or not Quatre was just toying with him, Duo noticed that Quatre really didn't have any idea what he was talking about. Sighing to himself, Duo shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it," and went back to watching the game. He was beginning to wonder how Quatre calculated some of these emotions within that thick mind of his. If Quatre couldn't tell that he was jealous then Duo would have to assume that he would have no idea what love is either. Smiling at that, Duo figured that he might have to test that out for himself sometime.

Quatre tried watching the game but his gaze always drifted at the entrance to where people would come through to find their seats, he was anxious to see Relena again, hoping that she would be alright since she looked pretty upset while talking to Heero.

As the game went on, Quatre started looking over to the other side of the stadium; he couldn't believe how popular ice hockey was since there were so many people here to watch it. Looking about the crowd and noticed Sylvia's and Heero's group around the middle of that seating area. Sylvia was sitting with Midii while Trowa was separated from them by a vacant seat and by him was Lucrezia and...Heero? Quatre's eyes widened at that. How long had Heero been sitting there? And where was Relena?

Quatre got up from his seat and was about to leave before Duo suddenly asked, "Hey, where are you going? The game is almost over."

"Miss Relena hasn't come back yet, I'm going to go look for her," Quatre said as he quickly made his way past the people sitting in their row. Duo was a little worried as well, but figured that Quatre will be alright on his own. Heero was never one to talk a lot so something must be up if she wasn?t back yet. Looking down at his watch he noticed that there was only a few minutes left of the match, if Quatre wasn't back before then with Relena than he knew that there would have to be heavy interrogations made with Heero, whether if it was verbally or physically.

Quatre quickly made his way down to the kiosk area to where he last left Heero and Relena. Looking about the place he noticed that no one looked to be around. Walking around for a bit he noticed that it was very quiet; hardly anyone was around since everyone would be up watching the game. This was not good at all, where was she? He was beginning to panic now; he had almost walked around in a full circle from where he had begun his search but before he made his way back to where the entrance of this place was he faintly heard some sobbing. Taking this as a sign that it could possibly be Relena he followed the sounds of the person crying as best as he could, leading him to the toilet area.

As he turned the corner to where the men's and women's toilets would be he was shocked to see Relena standing against the wall, quietly sobbing to herself as she looked to be hugging herself. Quatre quickly went over to her and gently took hold of her shoulder, causing her to jump at the sudden contact. She was about to panic before she noticed a pair of gentle blue/green eyes look at her with shock and concern.

"Miss Relena? What happened?" Quatre asked but instead of getting an answer she began to cry harder, "Miss Relena..." He couldn?t stand seeing her like this; she looked so helpless and looked to be under a lot of pain. Watching her in such a state was stabbing its way into Quatre's heart, causing him to feel her pain as well. She didn't look to be in any condition to talk so instead he slowly started making his way closer to her. She didn't seem to notice him until he gently put his hands over her arms.

"Ow..." Relena voiced out when she felt Quatre touch her. Quatre quickly removed his hands from her but looked at her with even more concern, "Miss Relena, are you injured?" Relena didn't answer; instead she folded her arms behind her back and continued to cry. Quatre didn't mean to cause her more pain, he wanted to check her arms just to make sure that Heero didn't do anything too severe on her, but he wouldn't dare to while she was in this condition. Raising his hands up to her once more he gently rested them on her shoulders, thankful that at least she hadn't been hurt there. Relena looked up at him with teary eyes when she felt his hands over her but suddenly felt her self being drawn into his chest. Quatre had wrapped his arms around her back, gently rubbing his hand over her in a way to help comfort her. She was shocked at first by the sudden contact but after a few moments she calmed down a little and rested her head on Quatre's chest, sobbing quietly on his blue jacket. Quatre was relieved to feel her settle down a little but he was beginning to feel a mix of emotions over this. One: He was very upset to see Relena in such a state. Two: He cursed himself for leaving her alone like he did. Three: He was going to murder Heero for doing this to her.

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Duo waited by the counter of the cafeteria as he and Hilde silently waited for the food they ordered. After Hilde's match, they were planning on eating dinner out together as a group, not to mention do a bit of recreational ice skating. But when Quatre finally came back with Relena in his arms, everyone grew very concerned for her and thought about canceling their plans for tonight. She didn't want to be the one to ruin their plans and still wanted to go out with them, going home in such a state was the last thing she needed at the moment.

"Duo, do you know what happened to Relena?" Hilde softly asked.

"I don't know, even Quatre doesn't know," Duo answered. After a few moments his expression hardened and said, "Although, Quatre told me earlier on that she was talking with Heero. I bet he was the one who did this to her, the fricken bastard." Hilde was shocked to hear such words coming out of Duo's mouth. It had nothing to do with his language; it was the fact that he was actually standing up for Relena! She couldn't hide the shock from her face when she saw her with everyone else earlier on before the match started. She was however, happy that Duo was beginning to turn back to his original self again, not to mention that it looked as though they were friends with Quatre again, plus it has brought them a new friend too! 'Why couldn't things go right for a change?'

Their orders were all finally done as she thought this. The person serving them behind the counter served their food on three separate trays for them to take over to one of the tables. Duo took hold of two while Hilde carried the other to the table where everyone was waiting. Relena had stopped crying on the way to The Ice Arena but still remained depressed. Nobody spoke as they all began to silently eat their burgers and fries. This continued on, even as each of them began finishing off their meals. Duo couldn't take anymore of this; the silence that was stretching out around them was beginning to get very uncomfortable. Rising up from his seat, Duo grabbed hold of Relena's hand, causing her to jump in surprise, not to mention surprise everyone around the table.

"Come on Relena, let's go skating, that's what we came to do after all," Duo said, smiling at her. He figured that the only way he could cheer her up was to get her doing things so that she couldn?t think, if she didn?t want to talk about what happened than this was all he could do for her. As he guided her over to a bench beside the ice rink, Relena was beginning to feel a little nervous about this. Duo got up from his seat beside her once he got his skates on and held out his hand to her. Looking at his hand briefly she looked up at him with a saddened expression and said, "Duo, I can't do this. I have never skated before."

"Don't worry; I will teach you. Trust me on this; I use to play ice hockey like Hilde a couple of years ago so I know what to do." She wasn't convinced, looking out at everyone on the ice, she noticed how everyone looked to be like professionals. The way they glided over the ice with ease was beginning to disturb her. She would look stupid out there slipping all over the time all the time. Duo wasn't about to let her back out though. Grabbing hold of both her hands he dragged her with him out onto the ice.

"Ah! Duo!" Relena yelled at him and she slipped and stumbled around a bit before she fell onto her knees. Pulling her up off the ground Duo continued to hold her hands and said, "Relax Relena, you?re going to keep slipping around if you don't stand still. Now, here is what you do. Keep your feet at shoulder length apart, like this. Then from here on out, you basically do a sort of leap and walk motion to get yourself moving. Come on let's give it a shot." Duo wrapped one arm around her waist and started to move, keeping her by his side as he did so. Trying to follow his movements, Relena watched the way Duo glided across the ice; she continued to slip and stumble around a few times but Duo was there to keep her standing.

Everyone watched as Duo taught Relena how to skate, as frightened as she looked out there, it seemed to have gotten her mind off from her troubles, much to Quatre's relief.

"Well I'm not just going to stand around and watch them two skate, come on you guys, let?s go!" Hilde gestured to them as she made her way over to the benches to get her skates on; everyone nodded their agreement and went after her to do the same. Hilde stepped onto the ice and glided across it as though she were walking on air; she had been skating ever since she was six so she had the most experience between the whole group at this sort of thing. Duo had learned to skate when he use to play ice hockey like her, but he had to eventually quit since his part time job and studies were beginning to get in the way. Mueller had played ice hockey long with Duo during their junior years of high school so he was pretty confident on the ice as well. As he stepped onto the ice he waited as Mariemaia stared down at it wide eyed, she watched others do this and at the beginning it didn't look so hard, but now that she was staring down at it, she had a feeling that she would sink right through it once she stepped onto it.

"Come on Marie, I'm right here so don't worry," Mueller said as he took hold of her hand. As he guided her onto the ice though, he wasn't expecting her to suddenly slip backwards. She squealed and tightened her hold on his hand, causing him to topple over on top of her. Pushing him off her she cursed him for not rescuing her like he should have, he just smirked at her clumsiness but remained silent as he got them both off the ground, "Ok, let's try that again." Following Duo's steps with Relena he wrapped his arm around her waist and showed her what to do before he started moving. Alex wasn't use to ice skating but he was really into roller blading so he figured that this should be a piece of cake. His over confidence got the better of him though as he stepped onto the ice, slipped around a bit, then landed straight onto his butt, "Ow, geez that hurt." Quatre had no experience when it came to skating at all. He was a beginner just like Relena and Mariemaia so he was a little nervous about this. Instead off trying to glide across the ice like everyone else, Quatre took hold of the railing long the side of the rink and began to make his way along the ice, using the railing to support him. He figured that if he used this first, then maybe he would get a better feel at how you were suppose to balance.

"Hey Quatre!" Hilde greeted, surprising him as she did so. Turning to face her a little too quickly he slipped and landed on his hip when he made contact with the ice.

"Hehe, I assume you haven't done this before?" Hilde asked him as she helped him up.

"Haha, yes you could say that. I'm finding it quite interesting but a little hard at the same time," Quatre sheepishly replied.

"Ok, let me help you out," Hilde said as she took hold of his hand. Pushing the blade of her skates across the ice she started getting them in a reasonable pace. She was surprised to notice that Quatre hadn't slipped over yet, causing her to smile at him, "Wow Quatre, you might be a natural at this."

That comment caused him to chuckle at her, "I wouldn't go that far, balancing isn't too hard, it's the moving which I can't master." Hilde laughed and agreed with him on that one.

As she explained how to get yours elf gliding across the ice properly, Mueller was having a hard time trying to get Mariemaia to stand let alone move.

"Come on Marie, I showed you how to stand already. If you don't keep your feet firmly placed on the ice then of course you won't be able to maintain balance for long."

"Oh thanks, you are making me feel a lot better. Do I look as though I'm ENJOYING the way I keep landing on my butt every five seconds?" Rubbing her behind as she got off the ground once again she added, "Ow, by the time this is over, I won't be able to sit for a week."

Mueller couldn't help but laugh at that. Alex came up to them at that moment, he picked up how to ice skate pretty quickly, at the cost of him falling over a few times but it was worth it in the end. Taking hold of Mariemaia's other hand he decided to help Mueller out a little since he looked pretty stressed out trying to teach her how to stand on ice.

"See? You?re getting it Relena," Duo stated as he held onto her hand instead of her waist. She was getting the idea on how to balance so now he was trying to give her more confidence by standing on her own. She had no problems so far so he thought to be a little more daring and held her out arms length apart from each other. She was a little nervous about his actions at first but he continued to hold onto her hand, just in case. Noticing that she was still doing fine, he stretched the limits a little by picking up the pace a bit, just a bit at a time so that he wouldn't startle her.

"Ok Quatre, try on your own now," Hilde said as she slowly let go of his hand. Quatre glided a long the ice with no problems at first, but Hilde's smile slowly disappeared as her eyes started to widen, "Quatre! Look out that-" It was all well and good that Quatre could skate now, although Hilde forgot to teach him how to stop. She watched as he tried to stop himself but it resulted in him slipping over and hitting his head against the wall. Hilde couldn't help but giggle at the sight of that but as she was about to go over to help him, she was surprised to see how well Relena was doing with Duo.

Duo figured that she was confident enough to try on her own now, not only did he hold her at arms length apart, he had increased his speed a bit and noticed that she had been able to keep up with no problems, "Alright Relena, this is your chance to prove yourself now."

Looking over at him in question she noticed that he was grinning at her, 'Oh no...'

"Wait! Duo! I can't do this on my own!" Relena complained.

"Sure you can, you haven't slipped over for a while now so I think you can handle it, just be sure to relax ok? In the count of three ok? One..."

There was no that she was going to do this on her own. And with him counting like this, it was beginning to make her nervous all over again. Tightening her grip on his hand, Relena pleaded with him and begged, "No, please wait Duo, I?m not ready yet."

"Two..."

"NO, DON'T! I CAN'T, DON'T LET GO!?

Duo was loving every moment of this. Increasing their speed once more he added, "Speed usually helps you maintain balance so if you keep moving you shouldn't fall ok?" Noticing the look on her face he winked at her and removed his hand from hers but quickly grabbed her by the wrist, "You won't die ok Relena?" No matter how much she pleaded and begged for him to not let her go, he didn't seem to take pity on her but continued to grin instead. Bringing his arm back a little he winked at Relena's shocked expression and yelled, "THREE!" At that moment he swung her forward and let her go, watching in curiosity at how long she would stand. He was taught how to skate this way so he wasn't trying to pick on her or anything, it did work, but he couldn?t deny that it was fun to watch as well.

Hilde came up to him at that moment, smiling at her he said, "Hey there, how did your teachings go?"

Smiling at him she shrugged and said, "It went well, he can balance and skate fine. But there was one thing I forgot to teach him, and that was how to stop."

Once she said this, Duo went wide eyed at her, "Oh shit..." How could he forget to teach Relena how to stop!? She was going at a very fast pace and she could hurt herself if she collided with anyone. Watching her in the distance he noticed that she was drawing closer and closer to the wall on the other side. Getting his skates in action he started to dart his way towards her, hoping that he could reach her before she got hurt. Hilde was just as worried and followed as well. Since she had been doing this a lot longer than him she caught up with no problems and started increasing her speed even more to try and reach Relena.

Relena shrieked as she continued to glide across the ice. She wanted to stop but she didn't want to fall over in order to do so. It was fortunate enough for her that anyone who was in her path gladly moved away as she passed them. With the way she had her arms swinging about her and the way she was shrieking was alerting everyone to move out of the way. If things couldn't get any worse, she noticed that her run way was beginning to come to an end since the wall was coming up closer and closer to her. 'Oh no,' Relena said to herself as she noticed someone getting up from the ice, grabbing hold of the railing by the wall to help them up. They were 'right' in the way of her and if they didn't move away soon she would collide straight into them, "Look out!!!" Relena called out to them.

Quatre just got himself off the ground before he suddenly heard someone shouting at him. Not wanting to pull another stunt like he did earlier when Hilde had called out to him he took hold of the railing and slowly turned to face his back against the wall. But at that moment he suddenly noticed Relena heading towards him at a very fast pace. Now, usually logic would tell him at this moment that the best thing to do in this sort of situation would be to move out of the way, but he couldn't bring himself to since he knew Relena would get hurt if he did so. Taking another opinion he used the wall to push himself towards Relena in a fast pace.

Duo and Hilde stopped as they watched what Quatre was about to do, they had no hope of reaching Relena in time so they hoped that what ever Quatre was doing will help her. Noticing that the person that she was about to hit into was Quatre, Relena started to panic, did he want to get hurt or something, since she noticed him coming towards her instead of away from her. She was content enough to just slam into the wall and hope for the best but she didn't want to hurt anyone along with her. Closing her eyes she hoped that Quatre would move out of the way and allow her to hit the wall. Quatre on the other hand wasn?t about to let Relena hit into the wall. Holding his arms out to her, he grabbed hold of her tightly as they collided together. The force he pushed himself at from the wall as stronger then the pace Relena was going at so this was causing him to fall forward. Before he was to allow himself to fall on top of Relena he twisted his body and allowed himself to hit the ground first, along with Relena collapsing on top of him.

Mariemaia, Alex and Mueller had just watched this little incident and quickly went over to them to see if they were all right. However, the effort to get to them was another story since Mariemaia 'still' couldn't stand on the ice. Mueller and Alex grew that frustrated that they decided to just drag her with them as they headed for Quatre and Relena, much to Mariemaia?s annoyance. Hilde quickly made her way over to them as well, while Duo just smirked and followed casually after them.

Quatre opened his eyes and blinked a few times before his eyes rested on Relena's head. Her face was pressed against his chest so he couldn't tell if she was alright or not. Slowly getting himself into sitting position he kept his arms around Relena and grew concerned with the way she hadn't raised her head up yet.

"Relena! Quatre! Are you two ok?" Alex asked as he, Mueller, Mariemaia and Hilde came up to them.

"I'm alright," Quatre stated, "But..." Tapping Relena on the shoulder to ask if she was alright, Quatre began to feel her shaking. He grew really concerned now. Taking her by the shoulders he lifted her up from his chest and was about to apologize for hurting her but what he saw caused him to stop breathing. Relena was alright, much to his relief but out of every reaction he was expecting her to have over that little incident, he wasn't expecting to see her, laughing? Her shaking on his chest wasn't her sobbing or anything; it was her trying to keep in her laughter. Relena couldn't hold it in anymore, looking at Quatre's blank expression she began to laugh hysterically.

Hilde, Mariemaia, Mueller and Alex were beginning to wonder if she had just suddenly gone crazy. Quatre on the other hand couldn't believe what he was seeing. Relena was laughing!? This has been the first time that he had ever seen her happy, he was always hoping for her to smile some day but it looked as though that today, he had been awarded with laughter instead. Duo came up to them at that moment and began to laugh along with her, causing everyone to look at him in question as well.

"Haha, wow Quatre that has got to be one of the best stunts I have EVER seen you pull," Duo said between chuckles. Quatre couldn't help but blush at that, but more importantly, "Miss Relena? Are you ok?"

Relena tried to keep her hysterical laughter down to a minimal as she wiped a tear away from her eye, "Hehe of course! I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" Looking up at Duo she said, "I need to repay you sometime for that little excitement you had just put me through too."

Duo stopped his laughter at that moment and winked at her, "Hey no prob! I?m glad that you aren't angry at me for not teaching you how to stop before I threw you like that." He was hoping that the way she was laughing had showed signs that maybe she wasn't out to kill him just yet, but with the way she was smiling at him with that evil glint in her eyes, he had a feeling that she hadn't forgotten about that at all.

Turning her gaze to everyone else she added, "I thank you all so much for what you have done for me today. I enjoyed watching you play Hilde, and I'm sorry for breaking down like I did too. I know how much you all wanted to have a good time tonight and, I seemed to have spoiled it huh?"

"What!" Mariemaia shrieked, "You haven't spoiled anything Relena! Don't be so hard on yourself."

"That's right," Hilde added, "Friends are always there for each other, during the good times and the bad. You haven't done anything wrong since you got a little upset. Fun and games can always come later but what is more important is the well being of the people that we care about first."

Relena couldn't help but allow a few tears to fall from her eyes at that. She was shocked to hear Hilde say such a thing to her, they considered her their friend, they accepted her in their group. She didn?t know how to feel, she was so overwhelmed with relief that the tears which were flowing down her face was a sign of happiness.

Hilde and Mariemaia noticed the tears skimming down her face and both came up to her and gave her a big hug. Mueller and Alex smiled at them while Quatre got up to allow the girls more space. He was glad to finally see Relena happy, the smile proved that and it wasn't a forced one either. The happiness she was feeling reflected from her eyes and showed that she wasn't afraid to be happy at the moment. The encouragement and kindness she had received from everyone had convinced her that she wasn't alone now; she had friends who cared and treated her like she was their own and would be by her side to laugh and cry along with her through the good times and the bad. If she didn't realize this yet then there was still hope for her to learn since that laugh showed that it was possible. Once Hilde and Mariemaia released their arms from Relena, she smiled her thanks at them and turned to grin evilly at Duo, "Now, about that repayment."

Knowing what he was in trouble now he shrugged and backed away a little, "Hehe, not until you catch me first!" With that said, he darted across the ice to get as far away as he could away from them.

"Hehe, you can run but you can't hide!" Hilde called out to him as she began her chase.

"Hey! Wait up!" Mariemaia called out to her. Much to Mueller's and Alex's surprise, they watched as Mariemaia got up from the ground all on her own and began chasing after Duo herself. Looking at each other in confusion they just shrugged it off and went after them.

Quatre watched as they all began making their rounds all about the rink just to try and catch Duo. Wanting to join in the fun with everyone he turned his gaze to Relena and said, "Well, shall we go joi-" Before he could finish, Relena had glided over to him and embraced him with a tight hug. She had her arms around Quatre's neck but since he was a few inches taller than her she brought his head down towards hers, causing Quatre's heart to beat rapidly as she did so. Bringing her mouth up towards Quatre's ear she whispered, "Thank you for saving me." Quatre didn't get the chance to say anything back since he surprised by her yet again as she kissed him on the cheek.

Releasing her hold on him she skated past him and went to join the others in their chase for Duo. Touching her lips she couldn't help but blush at what she had just done, she was just so overwhelmed with happiness that she got a bit carried away by doing that. Quatre watched as she skated away from him, he was so shocked that he didn't know how to react. As he touched his cheek though, he couldn't help but smile slightly. It seemed as though she had gotten over her earlier problems with Heero but Quatre wasn't through with that little issue just yet.

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Author's Note: Ok, first let me apoligize for taking a while to post this, I have been in a bit of a writer's block, which is why this chapter took me a while to do. I had to redo it a couple of times since I wasn't satisfied with it and to be honest I'm still a little iffy on it but it will do for now. And I apoligize if I happened to state any wrong information about the way fencing, ice hockey or ice skating work. I admit I haven't played either of the sports so please understand the reason why the info may be a bit wrong and only tried ice skaing once and hated it Not that I have anything against it, you could say that I was like Mariemaia, I had no idea how to stand let alone skate Um, what else, oh, Hoshi no Manazashi is the name of one of Quatre's Image Songs, it means Stargaze. Corny name for a school I know but if you read the japanese name I think it sounds cool I know that there are even more unanswered question left in this chapter (suprise suprise ) But think of it like Neon Genesis. They had unanswered questioned left throughout the whole show and left all the answers to be revealed at the end. But not everything in my story is going to be left until the last chapter so don't worry.

I had to put this on a new paragraph since it's a bit important. *****Has anyone been able to figured out a bit on Relena's past yet?***** I have left numerous hints in each chapter about one aspect to her, namely her family but I just want to know how everyone is going with it. I might have to do a write up at the end of this to reveal where all the hints were if you are having trouble but even if you don't see I WILL promise to have it all clarified soon. Well that's all from me, please be sure to review and I hope you liked the added development with Quatre and Relena Things are going to start getting better, or worse, haven't decided yet

Email: neon_fantasy@hotmail.com

I think it has something to do with her father. Perhaps he committed suicide while she was younger...a sour deal or some such...but if it was a sour deal he may have been murdered...*sigh* I have no idea what it is exactly...but I'm patiently awaiting the next chapter. This is such an excellent story! *GLOMP*