Title- Wind on the Water

Author- Feather

Rating-PG-13

Genre-Angst

Category-Gundam Wing

Author's notes- Well, I was the Endless Waltz about the thirteenth time when I was struck with the idea of a Sally/Zechs fic. However, not until now, upon watching for the seventeenth time, did I finally get an inspiration how to portray Zechs and Sally. This is a bit graphic, though no actual lemony content, and not lime, at least I hope not ^^;. Please don't attack me; I like Noin/Zechs as much as the next person out there. This is just a twist to make things a bit more interesting, with a bit of Alternate Universe added, too…There are several metaphoric references in this…brownie points to those who can guess what they are. There will be a note at the end explaining them…Thanks, love you all! ~ Feather =^-^=

~

It was the night, and he could feel it in his very marrow; he was ready. The Earth's moon, one that he had dreamed to see so long ago, had swelled full in a glorious dance of pure night, the swift wings of fate quickly soaring around him into a haze of knowing, knowing that what he was doing was indeed destiny. Quickening his pace, Zechs walked quickly towards Noin's apartment, fingering the small diamond ring in his pocket. The thing silver band with a small diamond would make everything so perfectly right, take away that guilt, and maybe then he could forget about the war.

The Colony had been made to seem like Earth's winter; many Colonists wanted everything to be closely replicated of Earth's seasons, so a bitter chill wind whipped from underneath him, creeping up his woolen coat until it was no use. Walking through the park was even worse than just in the normal streets, but he had been too anxious to take the long way through the city's main streets.

He stopped for a moment on the worn asphalt path, looking at the shimmering frozen lake. Young lovers danced passionately on the ice, twirling themselves into a frenzied song of longing as the ribbons of silver moonlight twisted more quickly, intoxicating them into fleeing brief kisses. Older couples strode fluidly on the ice, looking into the others' eyes as they saw the younger couples and their passions, smiling as if they, too, remembered. A family or two stumbled across the icy lake, laughing loudly and melodiously as they, in a common plain tune, sung their love for one another. How he longed to dance, too, on that ice, the frozen water, the wind whipping through his hair as he alone could be free of those ties to others, and he could laugh, he would sing, the song of a lone wolf, his eyes closed.

Shaking these longings of lonely moonlight skatings, Zechs started again towards Noin's apartment. Once again fingering the small ring in his pocket, he could only imagine how lovely she would look, his only salvation as he rushed through the cold. Upon reaching the door in a delirium from the chill, he graciously accepted the warmth of the apartment building and quickly walked over to the elevator, punching in the familiar numbers.

With a familiar jerk, he was in the wide cream-painted hall on the floor of Noin's apartment. Though she could have easily afforded her own home, she had decided to take the apartment the Preventor's had offered her so she could live closer to her work, rooming with her good friend Sally Po. He walked slowly to her apartment, trying to think of sensible words that would make sense, if he proposed her. Gibberish ran though his mind as he desperately tried to think of eloquent speeches, but nothing could come out that seemed romantic. Noin wasn't that sort of dozen-red-roses person, so romance wasn't as much a key factor as it might have been.

Taking in a deep breath as a wave of nausea rose to his throat, Zechs knocked on the door. Who would have believed this was the fearless war leader? He waited for several seconds that stretched into an eternity, each second giving him another pang of something in his mind that maybe this wasn't right. Finally, he could see the door-handle turn. Slowly, it opened.

Zechs stepped back, wanting to get a full view of Noin. Instead, he was faced with Sally, Sally Po, wearing nothing but a towel. Upon seeing who it was, Sally flushed a bit, and closed the door a small bit, too, but Zechs was intoxicated. There was something in the innocence of her face that drew him closer, though her eyes were still slightly haunted; she had seen more evils and demons in her time then one just nineteen should have. "Sally," he breathed nervously, "Is…Noin here?"

Sally quickly regained some of her lost composure, though still slightly blushing. "Of course…she's getting ready. I'm sorry about this, Zechs." She stood aside, and held the door open a bit more so he could slide in. In one swift moment, he had entered, and Sally shut the door.

"It's all right, Sally," he tried to reassure her, though he knew as well as she that it was, indeed, not.

"I…was in the shower," she explained, toying with her wet locks of golden hair, now dulled to a dull brown. "Noin was getting dressed, and I don't think she heard the knock. Her bedroom is near the back," Sally said, stuttering it bit.

"Yes, I know," Zechs replied. After realizing what he had just said, his cheeks flushed a small bit. Sally laughed nervously, but there was something in her eyes that Zechs couldn't place. Locking her eyes with his own, he searched them deeply, the deep pools of blue impossible to read. Something clicked in his mind, and the pangs of guilt, of knowing that what he was going to do wrong intensified as he looked at Sally, and saw that something – that longing.

"What do you want, Sally?" he said softly, unconsciously stepping closer to her. "What is it that your eyes are telling me you want so badly?"

"It's nothing, Zechs," she said, tearing her gaze away from his, her chest heaving a bit as she exhaled the breath she had been holding in. Yet she, too, found herself drawing closer to Zechs.

"Are you sure, Sally? I can tell when you're lying. What do you need so badly?" He was barely a fraction of an inch away from her now, his face unbearably close to her own. He could feel her quickened pulse surge in rhythm with his, the heat rising in her chest, that listless gaze of pure desire settling into her features.

"Nothing, nothing that I would ever be able to own, Zechs. Never." She closed her eyes, as her lips opened slightly, her creamy features lined with concentration to control the deep desire of her intense wanting, of wanting something she would never, ever have.

"Are you sure, Sally?" He asked again, and in one fraction of a second, all barriers of chaste-maid were dropped, as he could feel his lips on hers. Her eyes opened, startled, but quickly she closed them again, intensifying the sheer madness that she was throwing herself into. It was so wrong, but felt so pleasantly right.

She drew away, shaking a bit, limp from this sudden show of passion. "I'm never sure…Zechs."

He put one cool hand up to her cheek, the icy touch sending a shiver up her spine. He traced one long thing finger to around the back of her neck, his other on her shoulder. Her breath was hot on his face, and he could feel her shudder as he touched her. "Do you want me to make you sure, Sally?"

"Of course." He kissed her cheek, where his hand had just been moments before, the same feeling of icy forbidden passion completely intoxicating her. This light touch, this one brief contact, made her whole body shake, as her smooth lips opened again, longing that touch there. Moving his mouth slowly over, grazing over her skin, he pressed his lips to her own, deliciously cool.

Oh, how it was so wrong, but it was so perfectly right, more than anything else would ever be. Oh, and how the moonlight could play with a man's instincts so subtly. He knew that with Noin, it would never be this totally true, and she could not evoke the primordial animal instincts that made him feel so totally surrounded in an elaborate chaos that he would never solve, because he was so truly crazy for this one woman.

Her lithe form pressed onto him as he pressed his cool fingertips onto her back, their kiss still light and pure and so totally maddening. He ran his fingers lightly through the ends of her damp hair, and her head drew back as she was so totally under his spell, and her lips landed on his chin.

"Should I make you more sure?" he breathed again into her ear.

"No…Zechs," she said breathlessly, quavering on her syllables. "Noin…you love Noin, don't you?"

That stopped him, and he drew back, still holding a strand of her hair, looking deeply into her lovely eyes, her creamy face still shaking slightly. "Yes…" And he turned around, and Sally walked back to the bathroom, and Noin came out, picture-perfect in a pale-yellow dress, breathtakingly opposite of Sally, shadowy and teasing. Sally, the pure sunlight intoxicating as the shadow.

The darker and lighter halves pulled in his very soul, and it was the start of the battle, as he lifted his wine-glass to Noin and thought of Sally's gentle quavering. He knew he would never be free.

He dropped Noin off at her apartment, with an intense goodnight kiss, so deliciously thick with passions. As Zechs walked back through the park, he saw a young man dance on the empty frozen lake, the wind blowing through his pale hair, his movements so lonely as that pale silver moonlight streamed about his features, his entire being appearing unworldly.

Laughing a bit, Zechs drew the ring out of his pocket. He threw it as far away as he could, and a light breeze started across the frozen water.

~

Closing notes- In case you didn't realize it, water represented Sally, and wind represented Zechs. While watching the Endless Waltz, I was that Sally's code-name in the Preventors was 'Water', and Zechs' was 'Wind', so I thought that would be nice. I started this out actually as a Noin/Zechs but that died…alas. I really do like Sally/Zechs, and think there should be more. So thank you for reading! ~ Feather =^-^=

Disclaimer- I do not claim to own Gundam Wing or any related works.