Gundam Wing

Falling Raindrops

(Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Gundam Wing. I only own Kana.)

Chapter 1

A.C. 197

The colonies and the Earth Sphere Unified Nation is at peace. Everyone, soldiers and civilians alike, have gone back to their normal lives. Even the Gundam Pilots, Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei, are living their lives as though they never encountered the horrible war that they had just taken part of.

~*~*~*~

Speeding knives flashed through the air and hit the backboard where Trowa, dressed as a clown, stood there with no expression.

They stood in the middle of a one-ringed circus tent with literally thousands of people in the stands.

The crowd roared as both of them took a bow. A girl in the audience was particularly interested.

After the show, behind the tent, Trowa was feeding the lions, when he heard someone come up behind him. He turned to see the same young girl, about two years younger than him, with long, black hair that shined in the afternoon sun, peachy skin, and sharp blue eyes, standing there, with a piece of paper in her hands.

"Umm, excuse me?" asked the girl, timidly, "I came to see about a job offer as a tightrope walker. Do you happen to know where the manager is?"

Trowa stood up and motioned her to follow him. She did this, a little bit reluctantly. They went into the tent. All the workers and acrobats were busy getting all the animals in their cages and their equipment into their cases. Catherine spotted him.

"Hey Trowa! Great work out there! Oh." She saw the girl beside Trowa, who was looking around curiously. "Who's this?"

"I'm not sure," he answered, "She said she came about a job offer."

"Oh! We've been expecting you! The manager is out right now, but he told me if you came, that you should show me your stuff. My name is Catherine, the knife thrower. Now, do you want to give me a demonstration of what you can do?"

"Umm, okay." The girl walked by all the busy people, who stopped in their tracks to see what was going on. She climbed the ladder, next to one of the support beams, up, which seemed like miles when she looked down, but she didn't have the slightest bit of fear. The girl finally got onto the ledge, where the tightrope began. It ended at the other side, where the other support beam and the second ledge stood. She looked down at Catherine, who yelled up, "Don't be shy, just do what you normally do!"

She took a deep breath, and placed one foot on the rope. It creaked as she began walking. As if she were just taking a stroll down the sidewalk, she walked to the middle of the rope and stopped abruptly. Trowa and the others looked on with interest. Just then, she placed her hands on the rope, and kicked her legs up. With wide eyes, they watched as she walked on her hands along the rope, and just as amazingly as she did that, she did two flips, both perfectly, and jumped into a mid-air somersault and a triple spin onto the ledge at the other side.

Everyone clapped wildly as she came down. Catherine ran towards her. "That was fantastic! You've definitely got the job! Oh, and by the way, what is your name?"

"It's Kana," she said with a smile.

Trowa turned and walked away. He stepped out of the tent and into the sunlight. Kana saw this and ran after him.

"Hey wait!" she called.

He turned around and saw her. "If I'm going to be working with you, I'd really like to know you're name."

He flashed a tiny smile. "My name is Trowa Barton."

~*~*~*~

After a few weeks, Kana had really gotten the hang of living with everyone there. She had done many of the chores and maintenance duties that she didn't even have to. She has opened up a lot more.

"Okay, Kana. You can take a break now," said Catherine, "The show isn't until about four days, so you should just relax in the meantime. You've done a lot already."

"Okay. I'll just get some writing supplies from the store in the city and I'll be right back."

"What for?"

Kana had just started to leave when she turned to answer. "Because my favorite thing to do is write stories." With that, she left the tent.

Outside was a gray, gloomy day. As Kana walked along the crisp, green grass, she thought to herself, "I really hope it doesn't rain soon. Or else I'll be caught outside."

~*~*~*~

9 o'clock at night-

Kana still hasn't returned. The rain has been pouring down since about an hour after she left. Everyone is asleep. Well, maybe not everyone.

Outside, a drenched Kana is running through the rain, keeping shelter under each tree that she passes by.

"It's really late. I bet no one's awake. Damn." She wrung out her soaked shirt, with which a heavy stream of water falls to the ground. "I really need to dry off. And," she clutched to her bag of writing supplies, "I need to get this inside, before it's all ruined."

She ran as fast as she could to the tent, her hair streaming water behind her. Kana saw that someone inside still has their lights on. She reached the tent, and pulled back the curtain door that covered the person's room.

Inside was Trowa, reading a book by lantern. He looked surprised as he saw Kana, dripping wet in his doorway. The heavy rain was started pouring into the room.

"Kana?"

She was breathing heavily. Her breath was visible in front of her. Holding her supplies to her chest, she suddenly found the room spinning 'round and 'round. Kana's face turned beet red and she dropped her bag.

She weakly said, "Trowa," and started falling to the floor.

Trowa gasped and threw down his book. He ran towards her and caught her just before she fell to the floor.

"Kana, are you all right?"

She lay on Trowa's chest, still breathing heavily. His clothes were now wet as well. He held his hand up to her forehead, and felt that it was red-hot.

"You need to dry off and rest," he said, quickly taking his hand away. He helped her to his bed, which lay at the southwest corner of his room. He went to the eastern side and closed the curtain door. That part of the floor was now wet. He picked up her things and set them by a chair.

"I'll go get a towel for you to dry off and something you can wear to sleep. You'll sleep in here, all right?"

She nodded weakly as he left the room.

A few minutes later, Trowa came back with a fuzzy blue towel and some pajamas from her room.

"Here." He handed them to her. "I'll be outside of the room while you change. Tell me when you're done." He walked out of the room. As Kana slowly took off her clothes and set them on the floor, she thought to herself, "I shouldn't have gone out. If I hadn't had gone, then I wouldn't be stuck here in Trowa's room, taking his bed from him." She dried herself off and put the towel folded on a chair in front of her. Then she put on her dry clothes and sat down on the bed.

"Okay, I'm done, Trowa."

He walked in and saw Kana, still red, sitting on his bed. Trowa helped her into bed, and pulled the covers over her. "I'll try and get you something to cool your fever down, all right?"

"Okay," Kana answered, gripping the blanket over her. He left and came back about a minute later with a tray, a small towel, and a bowl of cold water on it. Trowa put the towel into the bowl, soaking in some water. He wrung it out and folded it, then put it on Kana's forehead gently.

"Now rest. You need to, otherwise you won't get better."

"Uh huh," everything became fuzzy as Kana drifted off to sleep.

~*~*~*~

"What's wrong with Kana?" asked Catherine, standing outside of Trowa's room with him.

"She has had a fever since she came back late last night. Right now, she's still asleep."

"Well, why didn't you just take her back to her room?"

"I just thought it would be easier on her if she just slept in my room. That's all right, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, as long as you don't do anything to do that would cause her to be, well, uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, I won't do anything like that," Trowa said, shaking his head of the mere thought of doing something like that to Kana. He went in to check up on her. She was still sleeping peacefully, her face not as red as before, though her cheeks were clearly pink.

He sat down at the nearest chair, reading the book was reading the night before. After a few minutes of silence, Kana shifted in the bed, causing Trowa to look up. She was now on her side, facing Trowa. But instead of going back to his book, Trowa continued to stare at the sleeping girl, some strands of her long, black hair falling in front of her face. His heart beat faster and heavier in his chest as he looked at her. He tried to get back to reading his book, but he couldn't help glancing at her from time to time.

Finally, he left the room to get some fresh air, as he told himself. He looked at the sky, the once gray and sorrowful appearance it had yesterday was now bright and sunny, with some scattered white clouds rolling along in the sky. He never took notice of this before, but now that he did, he began to appreciate the beauty around him. The grass underneath him, green and twinkling, because of the raindrops scattered on their blades. The trees in the distance, swaying in the cold gentle breeze that has passed by him.

Then it became apparent to him. He couldn't believe it.

"I'm in love with Kana."