Sea of Emotion 7/?
Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:24 pm
I come forth with chapter seven! This is a heavy chapter and it was a pain, so please enjoy and leave a review!
Chapter dedicated to Zapenstap, for listening to me gripe about how hard this chapter was to write.
Disclaimer: Don?t own GW.
*~Sea of Emotion~* Chapter 7
By Gundam Girl
Noin was the first one awake that was the part of the crew with the day shift. This was because she hadn?t slept all night, and most likely wouldn?t until her body positively demanded otherwise. She didn?t trust the people here.
Well, she didn?t trust the people on the Rosetta, but at least there she knew the territory. Here, it was so different. The atmosphere was?kinder.
Whose doing was that, she had to wonder? Was it the crew?s? The one named Duo Maxwell certainly seemed a cheerful fellow. And the doctor, Quatre Winner, was lighthearted as well.
Or maybe it was the captain?s. His eyes, she could recall them very clearly. Intense they were when she first glimpsed them, before they had gone into surprise when he had focused on her and then they had become so gentle as he had brought of her to the main deck.
And then he had made her an officer. Instantly. With little questions and no threats. With a welcome in his voice.
Noin shook her head as she roamed the quiet dawn halls of the Golden Wave, the ship she had heard so much about from Trieze and the Rosetta crew. Zechs Merquise probably thought he was doing her a favor.
What she damned was the fact that he was. But at the same time, he wasn?t. If Treize ever got to her again, he would be infuriated that she had been caught, she was certain. He would set to punish her. That was one of the ways Treize worked. Beating what he didn?t tolerate out of his crew members. Forcing it all out. Forcing?
She shook her head again, this time to clear it. She wasn?t on the Rosetta with Treize now. She was on the Golden Wave with Zechs Merquise. Although, hopefully, she wouldn?t see the captain again for a few hours. There was something about his eyes she didn?t want to deal with so early in the day.
Some would call her a coward unable to face her superior. Noin called herself a coward unable to face a man. It was everything about him, honestly, that made her nervous. His very countenance set her adrenaline pumping and her mind racing. Thoughts of how to possibly escape him had twirled in her brain for a while, but fear of trying and failing made her hands shake, so she had ignored the possible scenarios best she could.
Walking into the kitchen, she pulled over the gigantic refrigerator that was cleaned out and restocked every day from the food in the huge pantry, she pulled out a bottle of water. Her dark eyes landed on the dry-erase board on the fridge door:
Stop in Venice today.
Noon?3am tomorrow
-Captain Merquise
He?d written it himself, Noin noted, instead of ordering a petty messenger to do it for him. He?d been standing right where she was standing now.
She shivered, then cursed herself in the next moment for being effected by a thought so meaningless as that. Tons of people had stood in this spot before, so why the hell should it matter?
Oh, but it did matter. She could picture him, hunched over slightly because he was so damn tall, writing in a sure hand on the board, smiling a little because he seemed to almost always smile. And he would stand in the doorway, she thought, greeting anyone who was already in the kitchen with his smile.
?Good morning, Officer Noin.?
She jumped?literally. Noin jerked off balance and had to slap a hand against the nearest wall to keep from falling. Pulse thumping horribly, Noin stared at Zechs Merquise?s huge frame in the doorway of the kitchen.
?Early breakfast person?? he queried casually.
Noin squeezed her water bottle and wished to God he would go away. ?No, sir,? she muttered weakly. ?I couldn?t sleep.?
?I?m sorry to hear that. No one in the crew disturbed you, did they?? This question was a little sharper. Although Zechs appeared completely friendly, it was clear that he intended to run a mature ship. No late-night room partiers would be tolerated.
?No, sir,? she repeated, doing her best to straight from the wall. ?I was?unused to my surroundings.?
Zechs nodded, then went to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out an apple for himself. Rummaging through a drawer, he pulled out a knife and began to cut off bits of apple, biting them right off the edge of the knife. ?That?s understandable, Officer.?
The formality put a bit of the usual spark back in Noin?s voice and she decided if she were going to stop being effected by Zechs, she?d have to make a conscious effort. ?Your colonel put on a quite a show with me yesterday.?
Zechs paused in his task. ?Relena had no intention of embarrassing you.?
?I wasn?t embarrassed,? she said hurriedly. Too hurriedly, for sure. ?Captain. I truly wasn?t. But her actions appeared to me as?rash.?
?I believe Relena prefers to think of it as not wasting time. Sometimes she?s as though her life is being whisked away from her.? He smiled again. ?Sometimes she could care less. She?s funny that way.?
?She doesn?t strike me as a funny person.?
?That isn?t unusual,? Zechs answered, pausing to finish his apple. Tossing the core in the waste basket, he added, ?She?s been at work for a long time. She?s never taken a vacation.?
?How long has she been working??
?Since she was twenty. She?s twenty-five.? He shrugged, stuck his hands in the pockets of his uniform pants. ?Hardly ever leaves the ship. I?m hoping today she?ll actually go out and see what sunshine feels like.?
Noin smiled a little. ?Will you??
Zechs looked at her and tilted his head. The poor vagabond. It was her role, one that didn?t suit her. That something he?d decided when he?d first heard her speak so fiercely. This Luchrezia Noin. ?A little. I?ve got repairs and supplies to see to. You?re Italian.?
It was a statement, one that made Noin realize for the first time exactly where they were going. It was Venice. It was the place she?d?
?Yes,? she whispered to answer his question. She tipped back her water and drained the half-full bottle in just three gulps. ?Excuse me, captain,? she muttered briskly and hurried past him out of the kitchen.
Standing alone of the considerably small room, Zechs stared at the ceiling. An upset woman never pleased him.
An upset Noin ? a woman he didn?t even know ? seemed to tug at something he didn?t want tugged at.
Zechs sighed and ran a few fingers through his platinum bangs. He had a feeling today would be a long one.
---
?So, we heard the news.?
Relena looked up from her desk to her open dorm room door, seeing the grinning faces of Hilde and Sarah. ?Which??
?The big one.? Flouncing inside, Hilde threw herself on Relena?s previously well-made bed. ?The one that involves you, Heero, and a nice restaurant.?
?Aren?t all restaurants in Venice nice?? Relena murmured, going back to the paperwork she was looking over and hearing Sarah click her tongue.
?No, dice, Relena. We?ve docked in Venice before, but you?ve never gotten out to look at it.? More composed, Sarah next to Hilde. ?So now that you are, we?re thinking you should?dress well for it.?
Relena?s brow knitted and she pressed her lips together. ?I don?t need to get ready for another few hours. Heero left me a memo that we?d leave around eight-thirty.?
?Eight-thirty?? Hilde went pale. ?Relena, it?s already four!?
?Yes, it is.? Calmly, she turned over the file and began signing it. ?I?ve plenty of time.?
?You?ve no time!? Sarah corrected her. ?We?ve got to find a dress for you! Hilde, quick, go get Duo to find out what Heero?s wearing!?
Hilde scrambled up and practically slid out of the room. Sighing a little, Sarah turned back to Relena.
?We could be dead, we could be dead,? she murmured.
?Only if I kill you,? Relena told her, setting down her pen with a deliberate patience. ?I?m not nervous about getting something to eat with a crew member.?
Sarah?s green eyes bugged out. ??Getting something to eat,? she calls it! This is hell. It is hell! Relena,? she insisted, ?whether you accept it or not, you?re going out on a date tonight with Heero Yuy, mysterious man number one and sexiest man on the Golden Wave. ?Getting something to eat,?? she grumbled and she passed a suddenly frozen Relena to go to the colonel?s closet and survey the shoe selection.
No, Relena thought, chewing lightly on her top lip. What she was doing tonight with Heero Yuy was no more than sampling true spaghetti. Definitely. It wasn?t a date. Heero didn?t consider it a date. And she was certainly not being as ridiculous as being nervous about something that was <i>not</i> a date.
Grumbling a bit herself, she turned back to her paperwork. And saw the multiple scrawls of her signature on something that had only called for it once. Her eyebrows shot up.
Oh God, she was being a teenager. She hadn?t acted this way since?since a long time ago. Damn, Relena thought. It was a date.
---
Treize?s bed was cold. It hadn?t been cold for five years. Anne had been around for a long time, and then Noin had been handy for his weak moments, and before either of them? He sighed and pulled the thick coverlet closer around his body, bare but for a thin pair of cotton pants.
If the Rosetta had any extravagance anymore, it was in Colonel Une?s room. Anne had been spending her nights alone in her mistress?s bedroom, sleeping comfortably there for the last two years. She had been hating him that long, he reflected, staring up at the black ceiling. It was mid-day. He had nothing to do; there was no one to raid and no one to run from because it was the time of the month when all the bounty hunters restocked their ships. It was the time of the month when the bounty heads could relax.
Trieze had to wonder, did Zechs do his infamous little mercy trick and lasso Noin as he had with so many people from so many crews? Noin made the second member from Rosetta, though the first official one.
Zechs, he mused, was a clever man, and an iron one unquestionably. Once that damned hunter closed his fist around something he was hard to let it go again. He?d proven that before.
Trieze wanted Noin back. Not for any emotional significance or even entertainment purposes, but Treize wanted her back to show Zechs what it felt like to have something stolen from him. For Zechs had felt that, Treize knew, but not the full extent of it. Now that completeness of having something ripped away, something that put true breath into your body, true light into your soul. He wanted Zechs to know the pain that had been inflicted upon him, he needed Zechs to know the agony of it. Zechs deserved to know. It would make him a better captain. If, of course, he still wanted to be one after Treize was through with him.
He would, Khushrenada thought as he stood from bed and began to dress, face this new day, already half-over, with a smile. For once since he?d set out in the Rosetta, he wanted to approach a victim with intent other than just mere stealing. He intended to completely rob the Golden Wave of everything that made it so great.
---
?Okay!? Duo exclaimed cheerfully. ?The sun?s shining, the ship?s docked, you?re showered, you?re dressed, and you?re?kinda?relaxed.? And the poll?s going strong, he added silently. ?I?d say you?re ready.?
?I?d say,? Heero replied, tucking his wallet in the back pocket of his plain black slacks, ?that I?m toast.?
?Nah, you were toast the second you laid eyes on her. Think of it this way.? Duo grinned, leaning against the wall. ?You?re the first person to score a date with Colonel Relena Darlian, twenty five years old and beautiful as an angel on Cloud Nine, in her whole career. No matter what happens, you?re a god among the crew.? He slapped a hand on Heero?s back, which was covered with a sapphire-blue dress shirt. ?And you?ve paid like two hundred dollars for dinner, so you better have a fucking good time.? He winked. ?And don?t stinge on that, either.?
Heero shot him a dark look. ?You better go if you want to live long enough know the results of tonight.?
?Eh.? Duo winced, twirling his braid absently between his fingers. ?No kidding. Have a party,? he called as he stepped confidently out of Heero?s room. The second he was in the next corridor, he snickered. Heero is one hell of a bastard.
Heero wasn?t used to the tingle of nerves along his spine and naturally didn?t like them. It occurred to him for the tenth time that day that he didn?t have a single idea of what to say to Colonel Darlian. He had brushed off living intentioned females in Panama, and certainly hadn?t talked to any of them beyond the word ?no.?
He supposed that they could discuss work. He was still new, and there must have been plenty things she could say to him. He hoped.
Relena?s thoughts ran the same way as Heero?s as she walked out of her bedroom to go to the ship entrance, where they had arranged to meet. She ignored the slap of a high-five coming from behind her as Hilde and Sarah celebrated their success.
It had taken a ridiculous amount of time, in her opinion, to get ready. She?d spent an hour just standing in a robe after her shower, going between Sarah?s and Hilde?s closets (her outfit selection was apparently completely unacceptable). At last they had decided to go with one of Hilde?s dresses but would use Sarah?s makeup for Relena?s complexion.
Relena personally didn?t understand. But it had left her friends pleased, so she had nothing to complain about. And, if she did say so herself, the completed image had not been painful to look at.
She saw a figure move out of the corner of her eye and recognized it as the newest crew member. ?Officer Noin,? she called out, and Noin stopped and looked at her, saluting. Relena returned the salute, noting the blatant surprise on Noin?s face. ?I realize I?m a bit out of dress to treat you as your colonel,? she said, ?but I want to ask how you?re getting along??
Noin blinked rapidly and shook her head. ?I think?uh?I?m adjusting,? she stuttered. ?Er, may I ask, Colonel?where are you going??
Relena suddenly felt very self-conscious of her appearance and the drastic change in it. ?I?m going out to eat,? she replied as confidently as she could. Hating the odd tremor that wanted to enter her voice, she added, ?With Heero Yuy. He?s our surveillance officer.?
?I see.? Noin blinked again, then saluted again and forced a smile. ?Well, have a good time then.?
?Miss Noin,? Relena said slowly. ?Did I do something to cause you distress? I am aware that my actions yesterday were most likely unnecessary. If you have a problem with me, I honestly want to know about it.?
Noin, and Relena herself, were shocked at the colonel?s almost warm behavior. ?I? I understood you yesterday, ma?am. I do not resent you for it.?
Relena nodded, still a bit baffled at herself. ?All right. Enjoy your day, Miss Noin. I hope you?ll take advantage of the docking.? With a small nod, she continued on her way to the exit, not noticing how her fingers began twisting together at the thought of dinner with Heero.
Noin stared after the colonel, who looked completely out of her element, and then sighed. She was Officer Noin of the Golden Wave.
---
Treize was showered, fully dressed, and holding a mug of bland coffee when he walked onto the main deck and addressed Quinze, his ship navigator.
?Turn around, Mr. Quinze, and head back to Mediterranean waters.? Having anticipated it, he nodded at Quinze?s off-guard expression. ?I intend to discuss a certain matter with a Golden Wave employee.?
?Sir.? Shaken and believing his captain was crazy, Quinze began to change the coordinates. ?Are you certain of this plan? How does Colonel Une feel about it??
Treize?s eyes sharpened. ?I am certain. And need I remind you, Quinze, that <i>I</i> am your captain??
?No, sir.? Quinze shut his mouth and concentrated on his task.
Treize sat down in the chair in the center of the deck. Zechs, he thought, it?s finally time for the revenge I?ve been wanting for five years.
-------------------------------------------
OK, OK, this was more or less a build-up chapter, and I don?t deny it. Maybe that?s why it was difficult. There comes a time when I know exactly what I want to write, but it?s really hard getting up to writing that certain part. The next chapter is a major turning point, so please look forward to it! Review!
Chapter dedicated to Zapenstap, for listening to me gripe about how hard this chapter was to write.
Disclaimer: Don?t own GW.
*~Sea of Emotion~* Chapter 7
By Gundam Girl
Noin was the first one awake that was the part of the crew with the day shift. This was because she hadn?t slept all night, and most likely wouldn?t until her body positively demanded otherwise. She didn?t trust the people here.
Well, she didn?t trust the people on the Rosetta, but at least there she knew the territory. Here, it was so different. The atmosphere was?kinder.
Whose doing was that, she had to wonder? Was it the crew?s? The one named Duo Maxwell certainly seemed a cheerful fellow. And the doctor, Quatre Winner, was lighthearted as well.
Or maybe it was the captain?s. His eyes, she could recall them very clearly. Intense they were when she first glimpsed them, before they had gone into surprise when he had focused on her and then they had become so gentle as he had brought of her to the main deck.
And then he had made her an officer. Instantly. With little questions and no threats. With a welcome in his voice.
Noin shook her head as she roamed the quiet dawn halls of the Golden Wave, the ship she had heard so much about from Trieze and the Rosetta crew. Zechs Merquise probably thought he was doing her a favor.
What she damned was the fact that he was. But at the same time, he wasn?t. If Treize ever got to her again, he would be infuriated that she had been caught, she was certain. He would set to punish her. That was one of the ways Treize worked. Beating what he didn?t tolerate out of his crew members. Forcing it all out. Forcing?
She shook her head again, this time to clear it. She wasn?t on the Rosetta with Treize now. She was on the Golden Wave with Zechs Merquise. Although, hopefully, she wouldn?t see the captain again for a few hours. There was something about his eyes she didn?t want to deal with so early in the day.
Some would call her a coward unable to face her superior. Noin called herself a coward unable to face a man. It was everything about him, honestly, that made her nervous. His very countenance set her adrenaline pumping and her mind racing. Thoughts of how to possibly escape him had twirled in her brain for a while, but fear of trying and failing made her hands shake, so she had ignored the possible scenarios best she could.
Walking into the kitchen, she pulled over the gigantic refrigerator that was cleaned out and restocked every day from the food in the huge pantry, she pulled out a bottle of water. Her dark eyes landed on the dry-erase board on the fridge door:
Stop in Venice today.
Noon?3am tomorrow
-Captain Merquise
He?d written it himself, Noin noted, instead of ordering a petty messenger to do it for him. He?d been standing right where she was standing now.
She shivered, then cursed herself in the next moment for being effected by a thought so meaningless as that. Tons of people had stood in this spot before, so why the hell should it matter?
Oh, but it did matter. She could picture him, hunched over slightly because he was so damn tall, writing in a sure hand on the board, smiling a little because he seemed to almost always smile. And he would stand in the doorway, she thought, greeting anyone who was already in the kitchen with his smile.
?Good morning, Officer Noin.?
She jumped?literally. Noin jerked off balance and had to slap a hand against the nearest wall to keep from falling. Pulse thumping horribly, Noin stared at Zechs Merquise?s huge frame in the doorway of the kitchen.
?Early breakfast person?? he queried casually.
Noin squeezed her water bottle and wished to God he would go away. ?No, sir,? she muttered weakly. ?I couldn?t sleep.?
?I?m sorry to hear that. No one in the crew disturbed you, did they?? This question was a little sharper. Although Zechs appeared completely friendly, it was clear that he intended to run a mature ship. No late-night room partiers would be tolerated.
?No, sir,? she repeated, doing her best to straight from the wall. ?I was?unused to my surroundings.?
Zechs nodded, then went to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out an apple for himself. Rummaging through a drawer, he pulled out a knife and began to cut off bits of apple, biting them right off the edge of the knife. ?That?s understandable, Officer.?
The formality put a bit of the usual spark back in Noin?s voice and she decided if she were going to stop being effected by Zechs, she?d have to make a conscious effort. ?Your colonel put on a quite a show with me yesterday.?
Zechs paused in his task. ?Relena had no intention of embarrassing you.?
?I wasn?t embarrassed,? she said hurriedly. Too hurriedly, for sure. ?Captain. I truly wasn?t. But her actions appeared to me as?rash.?
?I believe Relena prefers to think of it as not wasting time. Sometimes she?s as though her life is being whisked away from her.? He smiled again. ?Sometimes she could care less. She?s funny that way.?
?She doesn?t strike me as a funny person.?
?That isn?t unusual,? Zechs answered, pausing to finish his apple. Tossing the core in the waste basket, he added, ?She?s been at work for a long time. She?s never taken a vacation.?
?How long has she been working??
?Since she was twenty. She?s twenty-five.? He shrugged, stuck his hands in the pockets of his uniform pants. ?Hardly ever leaves the ship. I?m hoping today she?ll actually go out and see what sunshine feels like.?
Noin smiled a little. ?Will you??
Zechs looked at her and tilted his head. The poor vagabond. It was her role, one that didn?t suit her. That something he?d decided when he?d first heard her speak so fiercely. This Luchrezia Noin. ?A little. I?ve got repairs and supplies to see to. You?re Italian.?
It was a statement, one that made Noin realize for the first time exactly where they were going. It was Venice. It was the place she?d?
?Yes,? she whispered to answer his question. She tipped back her water and drained the half-full bottle in just three gulps. ?Excuse me, captain,? she muttered briskly and hurried past him out of the kitchen.
Standing alone of the considerably small room, Zechs stared at the ceiling. An upset woman never pleased him.
An upset Noin ? a woman he didn?t even know ? seemed to tug at something he didn?t want tugged at.
Zechs sighed and ran a few fingers through his platinum bangs. He had a feeling today would be a long one.
---
?So, we heard the news.?
Relena looked up from her desk to her open dorm room door, seeing the grinning faces of Hilde and Sarah. ?Which??
?The big one.? Flouncing inside, Hilde threw herself on Relena?s previously well-made bed. ?The one that involves you, Heero, and a nice restaurant.?
?Aren?t all restaurants in Venice nice?? Relena murmured, going back to the paperwork she was looking over and hearing Sarah click her tongue.
?No, dice, Relena. We?ve docked in Venice before, but you?ve never gotten out to look at it.? More composed, Sarah next to Hilde. ?So now that you are, we?re thinking you should?dress well for it.?
Relena?s brow knitted and she pressed her lips together. ?I don?t need to get ready for another few hours. Heero left me a memo that we?d leave around eight-thirty.?
?Eight-thirty?? Hilde went pale. ?Relena, it?s already four!?
?Yes, it is.? Calmly, she turned over the file and began signing it. ?I?ve plenty of time.?
?You?ve no time!? Sarah corrected her. ?We?ve got to find a dress for you! Hilde, quick, go get Duo to find out what Heero?s wearing!?
Hilde scrambled up and practically slid out of the room. Sighing a little, Sarah turned back to Relena.
?We could be dead, we could be dead,? she murmured.
?Only if I kill you,? Relena told her, setting down her pen with a deliberate patience. ?I?m not nervous about getting something to eat with a crew member.?
Sarah?s green eyes bugged out. ??Getting something to eat,? she calls it! This is hell. It is hell! Relena,? she insisted, ?whether you accept it or not, you?re going out on a date tonight with Heero Yuy, mysterious man number one and sexiest man on the Golden Wave. ?Getting something to eat,?? she grumbled and she passed a suddenly frozen Relena to go to the colonel?s closet and survey the shoe selection.
No, Relena thought, chewing lightly on her top lip. What she was doing tonight with Heero Yuy was no more than sampling true spaghetti. Definitely. It wasn?t a date. Heero didn?t consider it a date. And she was certainly not being as ridiculous as being nervous about something that was <i>not</i> a date.
Grumbling a bit herself, she turned back to her paperwork. And saw the multiple scrawls of her signature on something that had only called for it once. Her eyebrows shot up.
Oh God, she was being a teenager. She hadn?t acted this way since?since a long time ago. Damn, Relena thought. It was a date.
---
Treize?s bed was cold. It hadn?t been cold for five years. Anne had been around for a long time, and then Noin had been handy for his weak moments, and before either of them? He sighed and pulled the thick coverlet closer around his body, bare but for a thin pair of cotton pants.
If the Rosetta had any extravagance anymore, it was in Colonel Une?s room. Anne had been spending her nights alone in her mistress?s bedroom, sleeping comfortably there for the last two years. She had been hating him that long, he reflected, staring up at the black ceiling. It was mid-day. He had nothing to do; there was no one to raid and no one to run from because it was the time of the month when all the bounty hunters restocked their ships. It was the time of the month when the bounty heads could relax.
Trieze had to wonder, did Zechs do his infamous little mercy trick and lasso Noin as he had with so many people from so many crews? Noin made the second member from Rosetta, though the first official one.
Zechs, he mused, was a clever man, and an iron one unquestionably. Once that damned hunter closed his fist around something he was hard to let it go again. He?d proven that before.
Trieze wanted Noin back. Not for any emotional significance or even entertainment purposes, but Treize wanted her back to show Zechs what it felt like to have something stolen from him. For Zechs had felt that, Treize knew, but not the full extent of it. Now that completeness of having something ripped away, something that put true breath into your body, true light into your soul. He wanted Zechs to know the pain that had been inflicted upon him, he needed Zechs to know the agony of it. Zechs deserved to know. It would make him a better captain. If, of course, he still wanted to be one after Treize was through with him.
He would, Khushrenada thought as he stood from bed and began to dress, face this new day, already half-over, with a smile. For once since he?d set out in the Rosetta, he wanted to approach a victim with intent other than just mere stealing. He intended to completely rob the Golden Wave of everything that made it so great.
---
?Okay!? Duo exclaimed cheerfully. ?The sun?s shining, the ship?s docked, you?re showered, you?re dressed, and you?re?kinda?relaxed.? And the poll?s going strong, he added silently. ?I?d say you?re ready.?
?I?d say,? Heero replied, tucking his wallet in the back pocket of his plain black slacks, ?that I?m toast.?
?Nah, you were toast the second you laid eyes on her. Think of it this way.? Duo grinned, leaning against the wall. ?You?re the first person to score a date with Colonel Relena Darlian, twenty five years old and beautiful as an angel on Cloud Nine, in her whole career. No matter what happens, you?re a god among the crew.? He slapped a hand on Heero?s back, which was covered with a sapphire-blue dress shirt. ?And you?ve paid like two hundred dollars for dinner, so you better have a fucking good time.? He winked. ?And don?t stinge on that, either.?
Heero shot him a dark look. ?You better go if you want to live long enough know the results of tonight.?
?Eh.? Duo winced, twirling his braid absently between his fingers. ?No kidding. Have a party,? he called as he stepped confidently out of Heero?s room. The second he was in the next corridor, he snickered. Heero is one hell of a bastard.
Heero wasn?t used to the tingle of nerves along his spine and naturally didn?t like them. It occurred to him for the tenth time that day that he didn?t have a single idea of what to say to Colonel Darlian. He had brushed off living intentioned females in Panama, and certainly hadn?t talked to any of them beyond the word ?no.?
He supposed that they could discuss work. He was still new, and there must have been plenty things she could say to him. He hoped.
Relena?s thoughts ran the same way as Heero?s as she walked out of her bedroom to go to the ship entrance, where they had arranged to meet. She ignored the slap of a high-five coming from behind her as Hilde and Sarah celebrated their success.
It had taken a ridiculous amount of time, in her opinion, to get ready. She?d spent an hour just standing in a robe after her shower, going between Sarah?s and Hilde?s closets (her outfit selection was apparently completely unacceptable). At last they had decided to go with one of Hilde?s dresses but would use Sarah?s makeup for Relena?s complexion.
Relena personally didn?t understand. But it had left her friends pleased, so she had nothing to complain about. And, if she did say so herself, the completed image had not been painful to look at.
She saw a figure move out of the corner of her eye and recognized it as the newest crew member. ?Officer Noin,? she called out, and Noin stopped and looked at her, saluting. Relena returned the salute, noting the blatant surprise on Noin?s face. ?I realize I?m a bit out of dress to treat you as your colonel,? she said, ?but I want to ask how you?re getting along??
Noin blinked rapidly and shook her head. ?I think?uh?I?m adjusting,? she stuttered. ?Er, may I ask, Colonel?where are you going??
Relena suddenly felt very self-conscious of her appearance and the drastic change in it. ?I?m going out to eat,? she replied as confidently as she could. Hating the odd tremor that wanted to enter her voice, she added, ?With Heero Yuy. He?s our surveillance officer.?
?I see.? Noin blinked again, then saluted again and forced a smile. ?Well, have a good time then.?
?Miss Noin,? Relena said slowly. ?Did I do something to cause you distress? I am aware that my actions yesterday were most likely unnecessary. If you have a problem with me, I honestly want to know about it.?
Noin, and Relena herself, were shocked at the colonel?s almost warm behavior. ?I? I understood you yesterday, ma?am. I do not resent you for it.?
Relena nodded, still a bit baffled at herself. ?All right. Enjoy your day, Miss Noin. I hope you?ll take advantage of the docking.? With a small nod, she continued on her way to the exit, not noticing how her fingers began twisting together at the thought of dinner with Heero.
Noin stared after the colonel, who looked completely out of her element, and then sighed. She was Officer Noin of the Golden Wave.
---
Treize was showered, fully dressed, and holding a mug of bland coffee when he walked onto the main deck and addressed Quinze, his ship navigator.
?Turn around, Mr. Quinze, and head back to Mediterranean waters.? Having anticipated it, he nodded at Quinze?s off-guard expression. ?I intend to discuss a certain matter with a Golden Wave employee.?
?Sir.? Shaken and believing his captain was crazy, Quinze began to change the coordinates. ?Are you certain of this plan? How does Colonel Une feel about it??
Treize?s eyes sharpened. ?I am certain. And need I remind you, Quinze, that <i>I</i> am your captain??
?No, sir.? Quinze shut his mouth and concentrated on his task.
Treize sat down in the chair in the center of the deck. Zechs, he thought, it?s finally time for the revenge I?ve been wanting for five years.
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OK, OK, this was more or less a build-up chapter, and I don?t deny it. Maybe that?s why it was difficult. There comes a time when I know exactly what I want to write, but it?s really hard getting up to writing that certain part. The next chapter is a major turning point, so please look forward to it! Review!
Keep a look out. It should be up before the middle of August.