Disclaimer:
All Gundam Wing characters belong to Sotsu Agency Sunrise and Bandai. I do own this little fanfic though.

Author's Note:
I didn't plan to submit this story until my other story is complete, since this would spoil a lot of things for the other one (ie, some of the chars' background setting, which is the same for all my stories), but I just had an urge to get this one out because I've completed it for almost half a year now...^__^;;
Anyway, this is an AU story, and only three of the Gundam boys are in here. The main pair of the story is, of course, Noin and Zechs, but other couples are present as well (not that obvious though).
I don't know if having Noin disquised as a man is a commonly used route, but I remember one of my friends told me that her non-anime friend thought Noin was a guy... Er, I admit she does look handsome, but I like her the way she is :)
Comments are well liked by me. Please tell me what you think of the story! Enjoy~! ^__^

Author's Note II:
This story was first submitted to Aishiteru (www.yaoijanai.com) a few years ago, and it was the very first fanfic I've ever submitted. My Author's Note and story concept might seem old by now, but just bear with me please. :)

~Handsome Puppy~

"Lucrezia dear, it's time to get up." A soft voice floated into an elegant room at the opening of the door, followed by a graceful lady entering the room with a warm smile. However, her smile froze as soon as she saw that both the bed and the room were empty, and the window was wide open.

"Lucius! She is gone!" The lady fled to inform her husband, startled.

"What?" A formidable looking man inquired, looking up from the newspaper.

"She must had overheard us talking about her marriage arrangement last night." the lady frowned worriedly. "What do we do now?"

"Calm down, Rosalina." The man went to his petit wife and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. "She will be alright. It's not the first time she has ran out on us, you know."

The presence and reassurance of her husband made the lady relaxed a bit. "Yes, I know. Should we spread out the words to retrieve her? The bride candidate conference is only a few days away, and she will miss it if we don't find her in time."

"Nay." The master of the house waved his hand. "Even if we get her to the conference, she would just think of other ways to unimpress the judges. It's really too bad she can't have a chance at the Prince, but maybe we should give her some freedom this time, let her think a bit and explore the world by herself."

"Well, if you say so." The lady smiled slightly. "Guess we'll just have to tell them our daughter won't be present at the conference."

* * * * * * * * *

"WHAT?! That's injustice!!" A shout could be heard from inside the President's office of the Pacific Enterprise, the fastest growing business cooperation in Europe. The person responsible for the almost deafening roar was Wufei Chang, head of the security department.

"What's the matter, Wufei?" A man with long blond hair and ice blue eyes smiled at the irritated Chinese innocently.

"You want ME to bodyguard a bunch of weak women?" Wufei was outrageous. "It's bad enough that my team has to put up with all the pretending and acting of these weaklings during the conference, now you're asking me to bodyguard them? I am a warrior, not a baby-sitter!"

"You know those guys from the Romefeller Foundation will try to get to me through those weaklings, so I need you to protect them." The man remained calm despite the fact that he was dealing with a raging fire. "Oh, you'll also need to strengthen the network security system."

Wufei glared at the president of the cooperation for a few moments. "How many women are going to be here for the conference?"

"Five... No, four. Parents of one of the girls withdrew at the last minute." The blond handsome man flipped through the files in the folder. "See, that's one less weakling you'll have to watch over already." He doesn't think of women in term of weaklings, but when dealing with Wufei, it's better to use his terminology for best result.

"...........fine. After all, you are an old friend, Zechs." Wufei reluctantly agreed.

"Thanks, Wufei." Zechs smiled.

Wufei fumed and slammed the door when he left the room. Everyone could see that he was in a very bad mood and stayed out of his way. He had only sat down in front of his desk when the door of his room burst open. He looked up at the intruder with a death glare, only to change it to a frown. "What happened to you, Pargen?"

The elderly man addressed thus appeared as if he just went through a war zone. His grey hair was messed up, his dark brown suit was covered in dirt, and there were a few scratches and small wounds on his face and arms. His facial expression and the gleeful tone of his voice, however, did not reflect his physical condition. "You wouldn't believe what just happened, Wufei!"

"I can't believe anything unless I know what it is first." The Chinese replied sarcastically, then his eyebrows creased. "Were you attacked?"

"Yes. Four men grabbed me just as I stepped out the car in the parking lot." Pargen explained. "They pushed me to the ground and kicked me, but someone passing by saw us and came to my rescue. He quickly dispatched the attackers and escorted me to the front door. You should have seen him, Wufei! He was as good as you are in fighting!"

"Is that so?" Wufei narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. He went back to his chair and slumped into it. "If that's all you have to tell me, I have better things to do. As you can see, Zechs gave me loads of works to do to keep me busy." He snorted at the stacks of papers on his desk.

"Well, did you not mention about needing help with the computer system? I found just the guy for the job." Pargen said.

"You mean the guy that rescued you? Is he really gonna be of ANY help to me? I want someone who can defend the network against any kind of hacking and cracking, not just a regular programmer, you know." Wufei questioned.

"I know, that's why I'm having him working out some system bug in my computer right now."

"Hmm. Then let's see how he is doing." Wufei rose from his big chair and led the way to Pargen's office.

As soon as he stepped into the room and saw the back of a dark-haired individual working on the computer, Wufei couldn't help but cried out. "Is 'he' the one you were talking about??"

"Yeah. Is there something wrong?" The grey-haired elder asked with a quizzical look.

"But she's a WOMAN!!" Wufei yelled.

The figure in front of the computer stiffened at this and slowly turned to face them. She had short raven hair and sparkling deep blue eyes. Her skin was smooth and creamy, and she was almost as tall as Wufei. However, people would normally took her as a man, since she was disguised as one. But to a extremely sensitive person toward woman like Wufei, he spotted her right away.

Pargen glanced out his office and was relieved to see no one in the vicinity to hear Wufei's cry. He closed the door behind them to prevent anyone from venturing in accidentally. "Are you sure, Wufei?"

"I know a woman when I see one." Wufei snorted.

"Guess I can't fool anyone with this disguise." The young woman sighed and walked up to them. "Sorry about the trouble I made, I'll just leave now." She turned to the old man. "I've fixed your computer; it should work fine now."

She proceeded to leave the room, but Pargen called out. "Wait!"

The woman stopped and turned with her hand still on the doorknob. "What is it?"

"Please stay for a few more minutes." The old man said, then he dragged Wufei to the desk and showed him something on the computer. Wufei gritted his teeth at the display on the screen, a serious battle going on within his mind.

"Who are you?" Wufei finally asked.

"I am supposed to be Noin Eclair, a 27-year-old male without a job right now." she shrugged. "But since I failed to deceive you, I'll have to return to my original identity and go home."

"You were looking for a job as a man?" Something flashed in Wufei's eyes.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Look, I'm really sorry for trying to trick you like this..."

Wufei interrupted before she could finish. "Would you like to work for me?"

"Huh?" She blinked.

"I am the head of the security team of the company, and I'm looking for some temporary help on computer network systems...." An idea came to his head suddenly. "And body guarding. Will you take the job?"

"Huh? Er, of course!" she could hardly believe what she just heard. This must be her lucky day.

"I am Wufei Chang." He held out his hand to welcome his partner.

"Noin Eclair. It's such a pleasure." She shook hand with him.

"I don't know what's your reason for covering up your identity, but as long as you can prove yourself capable and worthy, rest assured that nothing will be said to endanger it."

"Thank you, Wufei."

"Now, come with me to my office so I can assign you a quarter and tell you what you need to do. Thanks, Pargen. That was helpful." He led Noin out of the room.

The many staff members of Pacific Enterprise all looked wide-eyed when Wufei gave Noin a tour of the building and introduced her to the head of each department. The male staff eyed Noin with envy because 'he' was tall and handsome. The female staff looked at Noin with dreamy eyes and their minds were filled with all sorts of fantasies, since 'he' appeared to be warmer and more friendly than the other good-looking men in the building, namely Zechs and Wufei.

Since Zechs let him compose his own team, he did not need to report about any addition to his department. However, when Wufei had guided Noin through every department of the building, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. He decided to bring Noin to see the boss.

The handsome young blond glanced up good-naturedly from his desk when the Chinese walked in. "Well, Wufei, that was fast. Have you already solved the bodyguard and network dilemma?" He was teasing, of course. He was not expecting an answer.

"In fact, I have." Wufei said. His calm and quiet tone alarmed Zechs.

"You have what?" He frowned.

"I have solved the bodyguard and network dilemma." Wufei grinned menacingly. "The most incredibly flaw-less intra-network will be up and running within a couple hours, and I'll only have to take care of two weaklings instead of four."

"Huh?" Zechs was dumbfounded, then he noticed the shadow on the ground, indicating that someone else was behind Wufei's 181cm frame. "Who is that?"

"That person," Wufei smiled triumphantly. "Is the key to my accomplishing the mission." He stepped aside to reveal a rather embarrassed Noin.

"New recruit?" Zechs asked while considering the person before him.

"Yup. Meet Noin Eclair, my new partner." Wufei introduced. "And this person with features that would envy even the most beautiful princess is Zechs Merquise, President of the Pacific Enterprise. He is not your boss though, mind you. You're under my direct command." He addressed Noin.

"Eclair? Isn't that the national surname of Luce?" Zechs inquired.

"Good to meet you, Sir. Yes, I am from the Luce Kingdom." Noin saluted Zechs and received an approving glance from Wufei.

Zechs nodded and grimaced at Wufei's laughing eyes toward him. He knew he must looked very funny when he heard what Wufei was able to accomplish in an hour. He sighed and picked up the four folders from his desk. "Since you've got that covered, take these files and study them before the conference."

Wufei took the files about the bride candidates that would be present for the conference and left with Noin. When they were inside the elevator descending to their floor, Wufei opened the folders and glanced through them. He handed two to Noin.

"Sylvia Noventa and Catherine Bloom?" Noin looked at the names. "Who do you have?"

"Dorothy Catalonia and Sally Po." Wufei offered her a quick peek at the girls' pictures.

"Why do I have a feeling that these two will be easier than mine?" Noin said dryly.

"Because I am your boss, and I get to pick the stronger weaklings." Wufei said with his head held high. "Besides, they are all younger than you, so you should be able to handle them."

"Oh, whatever." Noin rolled her eyes. "So who are they and what's the conference all about?"

"You don't know?" Wufei looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "The bride candidate conference is the talk of the city!"

"Of course I know about that conference... Wait, you mean Zechs is the reason that this conference is held?" Noin frowned. "I thought that kind of custom only exists within royal families, why is he going through this?"

"Well, it's supposed to be a secret, but with the news of the conference breaking out, I guess it's almost public now." Wufei pondered a bit. "These four girls are selected by Zechs' father, King Peacecraft, out of something like one hundred girls from all over the world. He then arranges this conference, where these four will attend and be evaluated in different categories. Zechs will marry the one with the highest score."

"Wait a second." Noin tried to clear her head. "King Peacecraft is Zechs' father? So Zechs is actually Prince Miliardo Peacecraft?!"

"Yeah." Wufei didn't notice the sudden paleness on her face and continued. "He wanted to start his own business so he used an alias. Zechs does not want to have his marriage planned out like this, but his father decides that since he is almost 28 years old, it's time for him to get married and prepare to reign the kingdom."

Noin was quiet for the rest of the way back to her quartre. 'I thought I've escaped from a marriage arrangement by running away, but look where I've ended up? I am still a part of yet another marriage set-up conference, even though this time I am not actually a participant. I pity those girls. Hope I can get through this without any trouble.' She said a silent prayer before started working on the computer.