Title: Omae O Korosu - 1/3ish (06/01)
Author: Lady Tiku
Archives: in ff.net soon under Lady Tiku
Category: angst, a bit of humor
Pairing(s): read and see.
Disclaimers: Gundam Wing and it's characters are not mine. The kids are though, as well as the story itself.
Rating: General
Warnings: First attempt at writing! - het, shonen ai, touch of an ethical issue here later, angst.
Spoilers: none really.
Notes: When I was in my 20's, for a reason I no longer remember, I realized one day that between the date of my parents wedding and the date of my birth, there was only 7 months. o.O!? Yah, I can hear you out there. "took ya over 20 years to notice that!?" Why would I have checked that in the first place? Anyhoo, that's my line of reasoning for Relena, and I'm sticking to it!
Feedback: Like I said in the warning, this is my first ever attempt at writing and actual story of any kind. So ok, C&C would be nice. Helpful even since I have no real idea how to write. Hope you are too.
This fic is dedicated to Sailor Zoicite, The Wannabe Shinigami & Andarkos Mate for their wonderful help beta reading. But more importantly for their encouragement and support. We all have to start somewhere, I'm just glad they were there to help me with my first steps. *big big BIG hug and smoochies*
OMAE O KOROSU
by Lady Tiku
Part One
There was quite a commotion going on somewhere upstairs, and one thing was evident; someone had earned the wrath of the gods, or as in this case - the fury of a seven year old girl - and had decided to clear out. "Come back here!" the girl shrieked at the Chinese boy as he streaked out the back door of the house, startling Duo where he sat at the table. The girl stormed into the kitchen hot on the boy's heels, growling after the long-gone boy, "I will kill you!"
The sound of a cup shattering punctuated her words and stopped her in her tracks. Duo and the girl both turned at the sound to see Heero standing in the doorway. The girl did *not* miss the look of pain in Heero's eyes as he looked directly at her. Then, without a word, Heero turned on his heel and headed for the front door.
As soon as she heard the front door close the girl turned to Duo, who was now quietly cleaning up the broken glass. "Daddy, what ... what did I ...?" Her voice trailed off, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
Letting out a sign of resignation, Duo pushed himself to his feet, the broken cup forgotten completely for now. With a soft, sad expression on his face he took the girl's hand. "Come on Princess, let's go sit down." He led her into the living room and sat on the couch, pulling the girl onto his lap and holding her close to him, her head tucked under his chin. He hardly knew what to say so he went with the easiest explanation he thought a 7-year-old would understand, and more importantly, accept.
After a few moments he turned her on his lap so he could look at her in the face. "First of all," he began, "Papa Heero is NOT mad at you, and you did not do anything to hurt him."
"But Daddy, he just left ... And he looked like I had hurt his feelings," she said as tears ran down her cheeks.
'Princess' he thought, 'you are every bit your mother's daughter . . . and your father's, too.' "Relena, sometimes when we look at you, you remind me and Papa Heero of your mother so much that it makes us miss her very much. And sometimes that makes us very sad." He took her chin in his hand so he could look into her eyes. "Do you understand what I mean?" he asked.
"I - I think so," Relena replied. "But I don't want Papa Heero to be sad because of me," she added sadly.
"Sometimes we can't help it, though. Just try to remember that it's not you that makes him sad. It's because he misses your mother." 'And he still feels guilty,' he added silently in his mind. 'You did what was needed at the time, koi, and now you need to forgive yourself for something no one blames you for.'
Just then Wufei knocked at the back door. Duo looked at Relena, trying hard to hide the smirk that begged to show. "Care to tell me what happened upstairs?" he asked. If Wufei was here he wanted to at least know why his daughter was uttering death threats, a bad habit of hers that was going to have to be nipped in the bud. And after the look he had seen in Heero's eye when he had heard Relena, it had to be soon. Those words carried too many painful memories for Heero to bear hearing, especially coming from his own daughter.
"Maxwell!"
Duo pulled out of his thoughts at Wufei's bellow. "Let's go see if we can sort things out, shall we?" he said to Relena as he headed to the back door.
* * * * * * *
A few years later.
"How could you have NOT known!?" Li said, rolling his eyes.
'I should never had told him' Relena thought sourly. 'I'll never hear the end of it!' the fifteen-year-old let out an exasperated breath of air. "Why would I have checked in the first place!?" Earlier that day Relena had come to the realization that the accident that had *killed* her parents when she was born had actually taken place almost two months *before* she was born. It wasn't that the information had been kept from her, it was just that the exact dates of the events never mattered before, so she had never had reason to think about it. She had always just assumed that the accident had taken place within a day or so of her birth. And the markers on her parents graves only had the *years* of birth and death on them. And up until now she had never had any reason, or interest, to look at any kind of documentation about the accident. If it hadn't have been for a class assignment about family histories, who knew how long it would have been before she noticed? She knew the accident had happened, she knew that her parents' had died as a result, and that was when she was born, and that had been good enough for her.
She thought back to what happened earlier that day. It was the last class of the day before the weekend and the teacher had been going over the family history assignment, and was answering questions about what it entailed. The students had been told to try and get family members to tell anecdotes about their lives to fill out the histories. It would make the lives of the people more real than just a list of names dates, and events. The bell finally rang and the students were getting up and leaving when their teacher asked Relena to stay back for a moment.
"Maybe she wants you to write a 'True Histories' tell all report about all the good stuff the texts never say," Li joked.
"Can't be or you would have to do it too," Relena laughed back.
"I'll meet you at the lockers, O.K.?" he said as he picked up both her books and his. She nodded and went up to the teachers desk.
"First of all," Miss Booth began, "this is nothing to worry about." Relena relaxed and Miss Booth continued, "You know that these histories are to be presented to the class. But because of who your family is, there is already a lot that most people know. Now I'm not wanting a 'tell all' like Li said, but I would like you to try and find things to write about that are not common knowledge. It doesn't have to be a great look into some secret event, in fact looks into mundane life may be just as interesting because it's something that most people wouldn't get to see. I still want you to cover important times as well. And a good one is what it was like for your family during the months between the accident and when you were born." Miss Booth paused, and looked at Relena who had suddenly flushed. "I'm sorry, I don't mean you have to get into everyone's private pain. I was thinking about how the upset of loosing such a prominent political figure, your mother, affected the roles of your immediate family."
Relena caught herself, "Oh - all right. I guess I can do that."
"Good then, that's all I wanted to say to you. There is plenty of time for the assignment so don't hesitate to come to me if you want any help on what type of things to include. And you can tell Li Chang that too. I don't want you two just copying what history already has written about your families. I'll see you on Monday then. Bye now," Miss Booth said brightly as Relena turned to leave.
"Uh yeah, bye Miss B." Relena answered distractedly as she went out the door to her locker. 'Two months before I was born?' she thought. 'That can't be right. It doesn't make sense. What did she mean then? I'll check the dates later, she must be wrong.' And she put it out of her mind for the time being. Li was waiting for her and he had promised to take her for pizza.
"Come on! You said you were buying pizza and I'm hungry," Relena said as she picked up the book bag he had loaded for her and headed out.
"Well, what did Miss B want?" Li asked, on the way to the pizza place.
"Nothing really, she was suggesting to me to try and find out what it was like for my family at the time my Mother - died. Stuff that happened at home, kinda behind the scenes part of the politics." Relena shrugged. "At least that's what I though she meant. She said the same goes for you too. But let's forget school for now, okay?"
"Sure." he replied, as his urge to play with fire got the better of him.
* * * * * * *
The two teenagers were walking though a park on the way and Li decided to take advantage of the cover of the trees. It had taken a long time for the two childhood friends to start dating. And Li's penchant to want to torture Relena for the fun of it, a hang over from childhood, still got him into hot water . . . a lot. He pulled her under a nice big shady tree, tugged the bag she was carrying off her shoulder and tossed it aside.
"Li! What do you thi-" Relena started to say as he leaned back against the tree, pulling her close. He stopped her words with his mouth. "Oh, O.K." she said with a smile, as he let her lips go. "I guess we've walked long enough we need a rest," she joked, and reached up to take his face between her palms and pulled him down for a deep, but playful, kiss. They wrestled tongues for a while until Li moved to her jaw line and started to kiss and nibble his way to that one area that always sent shivers through her body.
Kissing and caressing, the two teenagers enjoyed the intimate interlude… until Li forgot himself. Or rather, forgot where he was. His hands wandered freely over Relena's back, dipping under the short t-shirt she wore. 'God, I love these tops!' he thought, barely concealing a chuckle as he continued nibbling on Relena's neck. 'Such easy access!' If Li had been thinking coherantly, he would *never* have made his next move.
With a startled yelp, Relena suddenly jerked out of Li's warm embrace. She crossed her arms automatically over her chest to stop her now unfastened bra from working any looser than it already was. Words were not needed as Relena's drawn brows and flashing eyes spoke volumes to Li. 'I am a dead man.' The thought richoceted around Li's mind, even as he struggled not to laugh at the indignant expression on his girlfriend's face.
Standing ramrod straight, arms still crossed over her chest defensively, Relena shook her hair back as she tried to compose herself. With a 'glare-o-death' Papa Heero would be proud of, the angered girl stepped towards Li and presented her back to him. "Do thisback up - *now* - before someone comes along." Her low, but deadly-sounding voice made a shiver run up the young man's back.
Sighing to himself, Li obediently obeyed. 'Nice move, Romeo. Be a long time before you get this close again.' He let his fingers trail lightly down the smooth skin of Relena's back and side as she turned around to face him. Li kept his eyes lowered, hiding a self-satisfied grin.
She rounded on him with a look in her eyes that was decidedly 'not kind'. With hands on her hips, Relena growled at Li, "One of these days Li Chang, *I am going to ki-*," she stopped short, 'DAMN! I promised Dad I'd stop saying that,' she mentally chided herself. She gave a mental shrug, 'At least Papa Heero isn't around to hear you. He's the one it seems to affect so bad.' "Don't *ever* try that again," she said in a low voice. Then letting out a small sigh, "At least not out in public," she added.
Li took the reprieve. "No problem. Never again . . . . in public that is," he said grinning, just happy to have dogged the bullet that time. He picked up both of their bags and they headed for the pizza place.
* * * * * * *
Li had known better to rub in the fact that Relena didn't even know the details about the time when she was born. After the stunt he had pulled in the park he was just happy she hadn't sent him packing right then and there. So he didn't push things now. "Okay so you don't know what went on at the time, there's no reason you can't ask your dads is there? I mean you don't have to just look at news stuff and get the 'hyped up' news version."
"I know. It just feels weird, y'know? And on top of that I have never asked either of them for any details about the accident. I wasn't there to remember it and I just thought it would be unkind to make my dads have to talk about it." Relena had sat back down on the couch beside Li, leaning against his shoulder.
He put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him. "I'm sure that they would want you to come to them even if it was painful for them. Especially since you want to know something about your mother and father."
She sighed, "I guess." They talked for a while more until Li finally went home. She had made up her mind to talk to her parents tomorrow.
* * * * * * *
Relena seemed preoccupied for most of the next day. Something that neither Heero nor Duo failed to notice. Something was up with their daughter and they both new it, so it was no surprise when she came to them after dinner wanting to talk.
Relena began by explaining the family history assignment that she was working on for class. She also told her fathers about her chat with Miss Booth. "I felt like such an idiot!" she exclaimed. She held up a hand and stopped Duo before he could interrupt. "I know, I know, there really is no reason for me to not have known that mother died so much later. I'm not saying it was kept from me. I realize that. But now I want to know. I mean, if she lived that long after the accident then why not longer? What happened?" And then she saw it. The look on Heero's face. Pain. Loss. Anger? But most startling of all - GUILT. "Papa?" Her own face was a mask of confusion and worry.
"I can't." Two words and Heero got up and went into the kitchen.
Her father, who never ran from anything, had just run from her. And not for the first time. She remembered the one other time he had done so. It had been years ago, but the sight of her father turning his back on her when she was only seven was an image she would never forget. "Daddy?" she said helplessly looking back to Duo.
Duo took her hands in his, "Wait here Princess, I'll be right back." He stood up, and looking down at Relena, he reached out and wiped away a tear. "We are going to deal with this . . . once and for all." He said it quietly, but very firmly, and went into the kitchen after Heero.
He left Relena looking after him with a slight frown. "Once and for all?" she whispered to herself. 'What have I gotten myself into?' she wondered.
Duo went after Heero. 'Not this time' he thought. 'Relena needs to know exactly what happened ... and why'. Heero was halfway out the back door when Duo stopped him, "Stop right there Heero." He stopped, his hand on the door frame, head bowed. Duo knew this was the one thing that his love for Heero couldn't make any easier, so he had hardened himself just a little to be able to say it. "You can't avoid this forever koi, and I won't - *can't* let you," Duo said, as gently as he could.
Without even turning around Heero spoke. His voice was low so that Relena wouldn't hear from the next room, "What do you want me to say to her Duo?" He slowly turned and raised his head, his eyes locked on to Duo's, "I love you but I killed your mother."
End of Part One
Well? Shall I keep on writting, or quit while I'm ahead. Remember this is my first try at writting so be truthful BUT - be kind about it. ^_^ Sanku.
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