Care to Dance?
A Wufei/Sally fic
Absentmindedly, Lady Une watched the meeting progress with agonizing slowness. Out
of the corner of her eye, she watched with a hint of amusement as Duo chewed at the end of
his pencil. Heero seemed to be listening, but his head was propped on his hands, and Lady
Une could see that he was somewhere else, probably in Relena Land. She stifled a chuckle at
this thought, but turned her ultimately bored attention towards the overhead projector once
again, listening with an air of boredom as the manager droned on and on about the new floor
plan for the new Preventers headquarters up in Chicago, in America. She had never set foot
on American soil before, and even though she had perfected her English with Duo as her
trainer, she still didn't want to leave Japan; traveling was a strain for her. But now she
was ready to see the world with her own eyes, and so she decided a long time ago that
probably the only good thing to come out of this new headquarter site was the trip to
Chicago, which she didn't have to pay for. The company would do that.
She toyed with the option of raising her hand and standing up, proclaiming, "Sir,
can we all go to sleep now?" then just shrugged it off as a ruse. A clatter to her right
made everyone in the room jump, and when she turned to look at the disturbance, she saw that
everyone else was staring at a very bashful-looking Duo who sat beseechingly by the table,
while Hilde held the pen that he had been twirling so happily for the last 2 hours (sheesh!
Hasn't his fingers fallen off by then?) over her head, while evading his futile attempts to
get it back. Finally, Duo slumped down, chin on the desk, and pouted. Hilde relented and
gave him back the blue-and-gold styled pen, which she had gotten for his birthday and had
asked him to pen down his thoughts in an empty diary, which she also supplied. As everyone
watched this little scene unfurl, Duo happily picked up the pen, and to everyone (especially
Hilde)'s dismay, he began to twirl the pen again. A few minutes later, they heard the
telltale sounds of the pen dropping yet again.
"Well, then", the manager said at last, "we will display the improved blueprints for
the Chicago headquarters next time, drawn up by me, but until now, Preventers Sally and
Wufei will kindly display their notes for this meeting and put the blueprints in the filing
hanger, this meeting will be closed." Everyone watched as the 2 Preventers in question got
up and began to shuffle papers in order to put into the filing hanger. The manager waited a
few seconds, then waved his hand in a sign of dismissal. Everyone groaned when they stood
up, even Lady Une couldn't hold back a yawn that she had been holding back for so long, and
she was one of the last to leave, since she always brought so much with her; she was the
Chairwoman for the Committee, so it was only correct that she brought certain confidential
materials to all Preventers Agency meetings she attended. As she was going out, though,
something other than her gun that she had stored under the folds of her dress was the object
of her attention.
"Give it!" Sally tugged fruitlessly on the cylinder that held the blueprints.
"You're going to bend them all up like you did last time and we'll just have to draw them
again! Do you remember what we had to do when we folded the blueprints last time? We had
to go on 2 extra missions, and for what? Observations! The most boring job on the face of
the Earth! We had to examine something boring called landscape! Now give it! I've had
enough of your crazy folding ideas!"
Wufei, on the other end, pulled his side of the cylinder. Lady Une noticed, with a
hint of amusement that since the cylinder wasn't able to fit inside the filing hanger, they
probably planned to take the blueprints out and put them separately into the top ledge.
Looking around, she saw there was decidedly no one around except for the fighting pair and
her, the witness. She covered her mouth with her mouth as the fighting erupted into pure
chaos.
Sally pointed a finger over Wufei's shoulder. "Look! It's Meiran!" She realized
just a minute later that she was pointing at Lady Une, who evidently did *NOT* look a thing
like Meiran, Wufei's deceased wife. Lady Une pointed to herself and mouthed the word "Me?",
and Sally took this chance to snatch all the scrolls of blueprints from Wufei and throw them
into the filing hanger. It looked as if this basket was going to be a 3-pointer...
...But the ball was intercepted by Wufei, who unwittingly took the blueprints and
began to fold them in half. Sally gave a wild cry and tried to take the papers from him,
but failed as the tightly wrapped scroll exploded into a whirlwind of papers. It was only
then that they realized that there were LOTS of papers in there, not just ONE. The backlash
got them, and both landed on their rear ends, looking dumbfoundedly at the white-and-blue
papers that cascaded around them, and slid off their heads. With a stimulus-resigned sigh,
both bent down (not to say they were standing anyways) and began to pick up papers. Soon,
it wasn't just the act of picking up papers, it was the race of picking up papers. Sally
looked challengingly at her Chinese partner, and he looked back at her, competition clear
in his eye. They both began to scurry around like ants (as Lady Une depicted them), and at
the end, Sally dived for the last paper. Her momentum wasn't enough to carry her too far,
but she clamped her hand down on the paper first, to look triumphantly at Wufei. Her look
of smugness was replaced by a look of horror as Wufei flew headfirst at her-
-and landed into her, clamping his hand right on top of hers, only to blush
profusely and take his hand from its perch on top of hers. He turned away, ashamed of such
flirtatious behavior, and hid his red face that could match the brilliance of the sun behind
the rest of the blueprints, pretending to be examining them (no one pays attention at the
actual meeting; people fight over Sally and Wufei's notes in the end because their notes are
so much clearer than the rambling of the manager) due to his inattention at the meeting. Of
course, that was untrue, because Wufei was always aware of the things around him, and he
observed everything. But somehow, Sally just remained an enigma, a mystery person that was
felt so protective of him, for what reason? He had never done anything for her, yet she was
so kind to him; it showed in her blue eyes...what was he thinking? A new shade of red
appeared on his cheeks, and he piled even more papers in front of his face in an attempt to
hide himself. A hole in the ground that I could just be buried in on this spot would be
even better..., he thought.
Sally was also blushing even brighter than Wufei. But it didn't seem that way,
because only her cheeks were alight with color, the rest of her face was as pale as it would
get, and it seemed that all the color from the area outside of her cheeks had been sucked
into a single point at her cheeks. She glanced back at Wufei, and smiled as she saw him
furiously examining the papers. She suddenly remembered the task that they had been given,
and snatched the papers from Wufei's hands. The "fun" game of tug-o'-war was about to start
up again when both heard a clear voice behind them. It made them jump, because it seemed
the silence that had been building up for the last half minute had been shattered, like
fragile glass.
"Ahem", was all the Lady said. She looked at one after the other with an almost
wicked scrutiny, and Sally and Wufei squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. They both stood
up at the sound of the former officer who still had not lost her touch for having an
intimidating aura around her. They backed up into the wall, and hastily stuffed the
blueprints into the filing hanger, looking to see that the blueprints wouldn't slide out
again after putting them in. They caught each others' eye for a moment, then began to blush
again, just when their faces had returned to their normal colors. They stared
uncomfortably at their leather patented shoes for a moment, then faced opposite directions
with a pivot of the foot that would've made any general in any army proud. Without looking
up at the Lady, they muttered an unanimous "Gomen" and walked briskly away in their separate
directions. Lady Une went Sally's way, for Wufei had forgotten that this was a ROOM, and
rooms only have one door. Sally had enough sense to go OUT the door, and not the OPPOSITE
way of the door, as Wufei had done.
A few moments later, Lady Une smiled as she heard a slight "Ouch!" as Wufei
unwittingly rammed himself into a wall in his ignorance. She was surprised that Sally had
actually had the guts to invite Wufei to join her Preventers team in the first place, but
she decided in an instant that this little shahrazade of pretending to not like each other
had gone too far. It was time to take this matter into her and the other pilots' hands.
She smirked slightly at this thought, and then took a detour to her office to call a meeting
for everyone.
* * *
Duo gave an annoyed yawn. He laid his head on the cool tabletop and gave another
yawn. Hilde took one look at her lazy boyfriend and slapped the side of his head gently,
but not too gently that he wouldn't feel it. He turned to look at her and gave her a half-
grimace, half-scowl. "Aw, c'mon, Hilde, take pity on this poor soul who hasn't had any to
eat", he gave an anguished moan/howl and continued his rant for food to hit the bottomless
pit that was the American's stomach. "I need FOOD! NOW! If I don't have something to eat,
I'm going to die of starvation..." He stopped when he realized that everyone was looking at
him, and immediately his face was a mask of innocent surprise. "What? Was it something I
said?" At this point, everyone started to clamor about the subject of lunch. Duo had
already gotten up and had his hand on the door handle to get his lunch when it opened before
he could do anything. He stepped back a pace when he saw who it was, then gave a ghoulish
grin and knelt in front of the Lady.
He recited his lines, the paragraph that he said every time a different girl entered
the room. It was usually aimed at Hilde, who would just put her hand to her cheek and blush
a little, then drop the pretense and drag him unmercifully to his feet. But now he said
what he wasn't paid for saying, and Lady Une was left quite speechless as he did so, not
having had anyone do this for her before.
"Milady, I, the Great Destroyer, the Shinigami, dutifully pledges his duty as a
protector, an advisor, a bodyguard, and a member of the solemn organization of the Knights
of the Round Table, to you, milady, the spark of light and life that illuminates this castle
of simple ness with your radiance, the very air around you speaks for itself who is the
graceful, the talented, the educated, and the beautiful of us all. And so I, Duo Maxwell,
pledges his support in hopes that milady will accept it as an act of allegiance, and bind
her trust to mine." Here he bowed his head lower and lifted his left hand as a fist, and
his right hand out straight, clapping it together with a smack of sound. He was about to
say the last line when Hilde stormed up, and clamped a hand on the end of his braid, which
was conveniently sitting on the marble tiles, and dragged him back to his seat. Lady Une
did pay enough tribute to listen to the end of his little speech. It sounded jumbled, but
the whole thing brought a genuine smile to her face, a rare sight.
"Andsobeit, Ipledgemylife, myfortunes, andmysacredhonortoyourverywhim, everycommand,
inhopesthatmiladywillacceptthislowlygiftfromoneevenmorelowlymansuchasI!" The last word
ended on a shriek that richoetted off the walls of the room and made everyone wince. Hilde
had taken hold on his ear and pulled it. Duo gave a muted yelp, while Hilde covered his
mouth to prevent him from screaming too loudly or too shrilly, while all the others ducked
their heads under the table to stifle their laughter. Still others pretended to be busy,
but the red in the cheeks gave away their subdued mirth. Hilde made short work of Duo, and
whacked him several times stolidly on the head. The poor American gave a pitiful whimper
and seated himself far from the clutches of Hilde, who had just metamorphed into her
ultimate "Evil Hilde" form. Duo took one look at her scary face and shrunk even smaller
into his already very small chair. Quatre on his left patted his back comfortingly, while
Hilde sent flying daggers at Duo with a glare that would've given Heero a run for his money.
Lady Une took all this in, and sat herself down at the head of the table. She looked a few
seconds at all the members of the table, and then said sharply, clearly, "Let this meeting
begin."
Duo looked up at her, with a cross between annoyance and pity on his face. "Aw,
this better be good, milady, because I really want to eat something! I didn't really want
to give up my lunch break, but if it's something that involves matchmaking", he glanced with
a sparkle of eagerness in his violet eyes at the members seated at the oval table, "then
count me in! Wufei and Sally have been head-at-heads to each other for -what -2 years now?
They really need to get their act together!" He looked up at the Lady expectantly. "The
meeting should resume now?", he said with an air of deadly accuracy.
The Lady was dumbstruck for a moment. "Why, of course, I should've already known
you people would figure it out by now. One way or the other, yes, I think we should do a
bit of creative matchmaking to get them together. Listen up, everyone. I take it Quatre's
holding a party for all Preventers to celebrate the opening of our new branch in Chicago,
right?"
Quatre nodded, but the expression on his face told everyone that he was nonplused to
what this had to do with Wufei and Sally's coupling.
Lady Une smiled, and told everyone her plans. Immediately all voices chorused into
shakes of denial, new suggestions, and argument. After calming everyone down, the meeting
resumed its usual quiet, and after much deliberation, a plan was made, with a word from
everyone. All members exited the room with a grins on their faces an hour later, after much
thinking and brainstorming. Lady Une could only look after them all, at their backs as
they exited the room, and thought to herself excited before she chided herself for acting
like such a little girl.
I can't wait for the plan to start! I hope nothing goes wrong...
* * *
Lady Une fidgeted on her perch on the porch of her house, on the swing, just
sitting, and review the 'script' that she had typed up for herself to remind herself.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew up, blowing the stray hairs around her face that weren't long
enough to go into the bun at the back of her head. They obscured her vision for a moment,
then were blown out of her face again by an opposing wind. She stuffed the script into her
dress pocket and hurried down the steps to meet the Arabian's car. Quatre leaned out, and
even in the darkness of evening, Lady Une could tell that he was dressed as neat as ever,
and even more polite. She was about to open the car door when Quatre hurried over, gave her
a heart-warming smile, and opened the door for her, and ending the act with an exaggerated
bow, flipping his hands over and over until they rested on his stomach in a bow.
"Milady, I trust you are comfortable?", he asked pleasantly. Lady Une slapped the
top of his head playfully and pointed to the driver's seat. "Quatre, DRIVE. I didn't ask
you to come here to flirt with me. If you want to flirt with someone, flirt with your
girlfriend Dorothy. I'm too old for you, can't you see that?"
Lady Une swore she could see Quatre's face outshine the sun at that moment.
Nonetheless, he climbed into the driver's seat and quickly drove back to his mansion. Just
when she had just arrived, she saw headlights in the rear view mirror. Quatre quickly
swerved into the driveway, and much to the Arabian and the Lady's surprise, the car followed
them. It was a shiny BMW, a convertible, whose color couldn't be distinguished because it
was so dark. Quatre parked the car right in front of the mansion's main door, and Lady Une
got out, hugging the car's shadow as far as she could go. No one could be sure who was the
driver in the other car; it could be anyone. But the Arab didn't seem to want to be taking
any chances, and after Lady Une was safely out of shooting range, or on the outskirts of it,
he threw open the driver's door and pulled his concealed handgun from his back tuxedo
pocket. He aimed, but didn't fire. Instead, a look of amazement crossed his face and he
lowered the gun, jogging over to owner of the BMW.
Heero threw a casual but amused glance over the currently in hiding Lady Une, and
then back at Quatre. He took out his small ring of keys, and pressed a button on the
controller to the car. The car beeped back a horn, and flashed a red light from all doors
a few times, then he leaned against it, and turned back to Quatre. "Well", he said
smoothly, his silhouette against the moon casting elongated shadows against the hard ground.
"I see you haven't totally lost your touch as a gundam pilot, Quatre." He said the name
fiercely, as if he actually liked saying it, and Quatre looked down to hide a faint blush.
He was very in love with his current girlfriend, Dorothy, but any comment that seemed
particularly like a compliment would make him blush.
Lady Une stepped down from the white marble staircase, and froze when Heero suddenly
moved his hand to his back pocket. Before he could do anything, though, 2 guns clicked back
their last safety locks, and it was his turn to freeze. Then he held up his arms
disarmingly, and let Quatre fuss over him. It seemed they didn't have much to fear; Heero
had just gotten his wallet for the invitation. The Arab flushed a deep red at the
discovery, and his discomfort was even more pronounced by Heero's quirked smile, the rarest
sight that ever came across the Japanese's face. NO one had ever seen him smile before,
maybe except for Duo and Relena, who were constantly hanging around him and coaxing him to
"lighten up". Quatre had to admit, with a bit of a smile, that their constant haranguing
had taken its toll; Heero did open up a bit more now, and no harm could come of that.
Heero graciously took his place at the door, and waited for the first guests to
check in, then show them to Quatre, who in turn would show them to their appointed seats on
the floor. Lady Une would then give her speech on the new branch, and thank you's to
everyone who helped, and Quatre (as a cordial host) would announce the dancing to begin.
Once the dancing began, people would leave when the wanted, and stay as long as they wanted.
There was to be a very minimum of alcoholic beverages at the party because this mansion did
not belong to Quatre himself; it belonged to one of his sisters, who was currently in space.
He had promised to keep it clean, and he intended to keep this promise, especially to his
sister. He had told everyone that should be told beforehand, so there wouldn't be any
trouble when it came to the party.
The Japanese waited stiffly at the door, and stomped his feet in both impatience and
because of the cold. He had just started to complain in his head when a set of headlights
flashed briefly in the distance, then turned into the driveway. It was a minivan, and it
was hurriedly stopped at the door and Hilde jumped out. She walked up the steps, and gave
her invitation to Heero, who took it wordlessly and nodded to show that it was valid. She
then turned to wave at the driver of the car, but the man had already hurried out and
trotted neatly up the steps to bade her a slight parting. Heero was not surprised to see it
was Duo, especially after Hilde had to go on her tiptoes to kiss him. Duo hugged his
girlfriend goodbye, then turned to Heero, who just looked at him, expecting an invitation to
be shoved into his hand. Duo just ran his fingers through his slick hair and told him, "I
still need to pick up several others. Heero, if ya don't mind, I'll give you my invitation
later, with the others that I escort in. While I'm gone", he looked down nervously at his
shiny black shoes, "can ya please keep an extra eye for Hilde for me? I don't want any
people getting close and making her uncomfortable...I'm kinda extra protective of her, if ya
can tell. Well, I gotta go." He glanced up briefly at Heero, who nodded. Duo took that
nod for 2 answers: a) yes, I will take your invitation later, and b) yes, I will keep an eye
for Hilde for you the while you're gone.
At the bottom of the steps, Duo turned back and clicked his tongue at Heero. "Well,
Mr. Doorman, how much is Lady Une paying you for that?"
Heero's eyes narrowed. "Was that an insult that just came from your mouth, Duo?"
Hastily, the American added, "No, no offense meant, no offense meant. Just wanted
to ask you...I want to earn a few extra bucks too! It's not fair if Hilde keeps taking us
out to dinner and I have no way to repay her, even though she claims having me around her is
enough. Well, see ya!" He climbed into the car and sped up, leaving an unseen trail of
dust behind. Heero watched for a moment as it traveled from his view, then turned back to
the few party guest that had arrived and had to be content to just watch.
Duo, according to schedule and the plan they had made a few days before, pulled
first into Wufei's apartment complex. Wufei lived on the first floor, and Sally lived just
next door, with adjoining rooms as well. Their doors, painted green, had the two numbers
102 and 103 on them, but when Duo reached to knock on the door, it opened before he could do
anything and Wufei stepped out, looking annoyed, with Sally leaning on his elbow delicately.
Duo was taken aback for a moment at this sudden change of appearance, then just smiled and
showed them to the car. Wufei grabbed Duo's arm while he was passing by and hissed, "You're
late, Maxwell."
Duo just plainly answered, "Was there a time when I wasn't late?"
Wufei could only stare at that comment. Sally stepped in front of him and waved a
hand in front of his face. "Ohayo, Earth to Wufei?", she said teasingly, her sapphire eyes
sparkling merrily. The Chinese snapped out of it, and mentally berated himself. The thing
was, the whole time he was scolding himself, he was staring at Sally, who blushed and gently
whacked on the head with her purse, which she had extracted from her hidden dress pocket.
There was also a gun hidden on the bottom hem of her dress, making it heavier to walk
forward, but she prayed no one would notice, and that she wouldn't have to use it during the
party, especially not during the party. It would spell disaster, she told herself as she
looked at Wufei. Now if only Mr. Justice would most certainly stop staring at me like that
...it gives me the chills, but in the good sense, not the creepy sense. In fact, I like it
...oh, look what you've gotten yourself into now, Sally! Fallen in love with the most
undesirable man on the face of this world, you have.
Duo could only stand and look helplessly from one to the next in disbelief.
Finally, he bundled them both into the car and drove off to pick up the Peacecrafts, or,
perhaps, the Merquises, whichever way you want to put it.
Milliardo was waiting when Duo arrived. He also gave Duo a firm lecture on
tardiness and punctuality, while Noin was still inside fixing her hair. She had just run
out, Milliardo coming up to meet her, when she stopped and exclaimed in fake shock, "Oh! I
forgot something!" Everyone else moaned for Noin to hurry up. After a few minutes -er,
moments -Zechs got worried and went in to see what was taking her so long. After a long
while of patient waiting, the happily married couple stopped at the threshold of the door,
where their silhouettes were illuminated by the light within their mansion, and kissed in
the half-moonlight, half-lamplight scene. Duo smiled inwardly and noticed, with a smile,
that everything was going as planned. Wufei, seeing Milliardo and Noin so passionately
embracing in front of everyone, in public view, quickly detached his eyes from the scene and
looked towards the back of the car, only to catch Sally's eye. This time, both blushed, and
turned their attention to their suddenly fascinating shoes. Since both weren't looking, Duo
risked a thumbs-up sign at both of them, and their answered with their own thumbs-up; so far
everything was working according to plan.
After another romantic escapade with Trowa and Catherine as the cast, the company
trundled up back to Quatre's borrowed mansion.
* * *
Duo quickly flipped through the CD's with practiced ease; he hadn't really been
trained to actually 'dance' to classical music, but he had been trained to be the DJ, and
since everyone voted that he was a valid character to do so, he reluctantly agreed through
mumbles of "I don't like this kind of music" and "I don't want to". Nevertheless, he took
his place on the stage, and scanned the CD's available, as well as the sheet music that
Quatre was allowed to accompany as an extra violin. As a tribute, the party would have
several times where all the pilots would play their designated instruments, and all couples
would have to get up and dance. This was to promote socializing, since Preventers meetings
were more than often too stiff and too formal, and this was to be a relaxing, time-off
party. Duo frowned at the choice of music, but propped up a stand and clipped the music to
the top of the stand for Quatre to read, then brought it over to him. He cast a glance at
Hilde, who was currently chatting away with Relena, and felt he didn't need to keep an eye
out for her if such an important person was with her, and turned his full attention to the
CDs. Normally, he would've picked pop, rock, and rap CD's, but this was a elegant party,
not a club, so he wasn't allowed to play such. So he had to do with what he had. He
motioned Quatre over as Lady Une was giving her 20-minute speech, and had Quatre pick out
his favorites in order so he could play them. The pilots would all take turns playing
accompaniment so the others could have a chance to dance, except for Duo, who was DJ. After
the speech was over, Duo nodded to Quatre, who began to play "Le Moldau", a beautifully
written piece that was not just beautiful, but fast-paced as well. This would loosen up
legs and feet, and didn't involve arms around hips and people leaning against each other.
It wasn't an intimate dance, so people who weren't designated to come together as a couple
could dance together if they wanted, without getting their dates upset. Duo had a mind to
just yell and curse with disgust at the choice of CDs, jump down to the dance floor, and
start doing the twist, but a look from Lady Une silenced all rebellious thoughts of mutiny.
Lady Une noticed, as well as the other conspirers in all corners of the room, that
Sally was still undecided with Wufei at her side; Wufei didn't seem to want to be here,
didn't seem to be enjoying company. He was just standing, Sally at his elbow, but he was
staring out into space, while Sally looked a little pained at this reaction. Obviously she
had wanted Wufei to be a little more animated, but it didn't look like that was going to
happen. As Trowa was getting ready to switch with Quatre for accompaniment, Lady Une got up
and sneaked up to Duo and pointed to the silent, uncomfortable couple in the corner,
whispering, "Slow song. Let them loosen up with that." At once he looked through the CDs,
and held up a cover and motioned "#5" to Trowa. The flutist got the point and opened the
sheet music, playing. All couples looked up at the music, soft and soothing, and all
couples got up and began to go hip-to-hip together, creating a myriad of colors and forms.
Lady Une gave a tiny but triumphant smile when Sally tugged at Wufei's arm and questioned
something into his ear. At once, he protested, but Sally took no argument, and dragged him
unmercifully onto the floor. The Lady looked up at Duo, who was also looking at them, and
then turned his gaze down to Lady Une, giving a smile and a wink. Lady Une gave him a
thumbs-up. Trowa, onstage, inwardly gave a smile, and began to play the music even more
convincingly.
Sally tugged on Wufei's arm a little, and when she got no reply, she tugged so hard
his shirt almost ripped. He turned to look at her after straightening her shirt, his eyes
questioning the way they did, without words. The half-Chinese pointed to the whirling forms
on the dance floor and smiled happily. "Let's dance, Wufei."
Wufei turned a little red, but shook his head, almost dejectedly, and said quietly,
"I-iiee, Sally."
Sally looked at him impatiently. "Why not?"
Wufei looked at the ground embarrassedly, wishing it would come up and swallow him
up at that moment as he made his statement. "...Sally, I don't know how to dance."
At this, Sally seemed even happier at this discovery. "It doesn't matter!" she said
over the din of the music, and dragged his form onto the dance floor. Wufei struggled
against her for a moment, then just plain gave up; he knew that when Sally had an idea she
determined to be rightfully determined about, she wouldn't let the idea go, no matter what.
The black-haired Chinese gave a resigned sigh and let Sally guide his hands to her hip, and
then twine his hands with her other one. A wave of strange giddiness spread through him,
and he lowered his head while he blushed. On the marble floor, he suddenly saw something:
Duo was staring at him. He quickly snapped his head up, but Duo had already realized his
mistake and was now trying to look busy while shuffling through some CDs. Wufei's feet slid
the wrong way, but he didn't care for the moment, he just looked at Duo to make sure he
didn't do any spying on him again. Heero was taking his chance on the stage, his instrument
being a cello, and he flipped to the music he wanted, and conferred with Duo for it. The
American nodded in ascent, and the music began to start up again, but Wufei wasn't waiting.
He tore himself from Sally's grasp, and stormed back to the corner, only to find someone
else had already occupied the space, and they were busily kissing each other. The Chinese
decided not to bother them, but before he could escape again, Sally had dragged him onto the
dance floor again.
Sally couldn't understand what happened, but she forcefully put them back into
position, and was surprised when Wufei put up less of a fight than she expected. But what
surprised her the most was the determined look in Wufei's eyes as he took control and
twirled her under his uplifted arm, extending their clasped hands to their fullest extent,
taking up almost the whole horizontal dance floor. Sally's forest green silk dress rustled
enticingly at this move, but she hid her surprise with a smile at Wufei. This smile only
made Wufei embolden his moves, and soon all people were watching the remarkable couple,
never dancing before together, on the floor with the time of their lives. Wufei's head
whirled with a warm rush of feeling that left him overflowing with happiness, his head
swimming with drunken ness. Sally could only inwardly gape as he took control, inviting her
to join him in this wispy, whirly sensation that filled her head all of Wufei, and his
merriness on the dance floor, which he had mastered better and faster than she had seen
anyone do. Finally he reeled her in from all the excess dancing, not paying attention to
the room, the floor beneath them, which seemed gone as well, no music, no people looking on
with unspeakable awe, no ceiling, no sky, no ground, no floor, just Wufei and Sally, their
arms around each other, holding each other close, and both wished for the same thing: to be
like this forever. Slowly they both tilted their heads towards each other, and their lips
touched lightly, a chaste kiss, but a kiss nonetheless. It didn't grow very deep, but it
was the significance that they loved each other, a proof that would never be erased, a bond
never broken between the 2 of them. Then the kiss was broken, and they were left staring in
each others' eyes, blue meeting obsidian. They leaned forward again, and their lips met
again, the spark of a flame that was never to be extinguished between them had started to
burn up between them again.
Lady Une almost fainted with subdued excitement that she felt like jumping up and
down with delight. She turned to look at Quatre, who opened his eyes to see why everyone
was so quiet. The aquamarine eyes widened to their full extent, and he almost drew the bow
too widely out, almost a screech in the music, but not quite. Trowa looked with no emotion
on his face, and he wished that he had the same guts to do what Wufei was doing with
Catherine. Duo looked on with pleasure at the new couple, and had already lifted his hand
and was about to shout something when a hand clamped over his mouth and jerked on his braid.
Duo fell on top of the person, who happened to be Heero, as the Japanese raised a finger to
his lips and scowled fiercely at the American. Duo just shrugged, and turned back to his
CDs, happy that at least someone had found someone in their life.
But for now, the newfound couple didn't seem to care. They were in their own world,
a world where they both existed, and nothing else mattered at that moment, except for each
other. They could only see each other, they couldn't take their eyes off one another, and
they just simply stared, drinking in everything of the other at that very moment, committing
it to the deepest part of their memory, forever etched into their minds, a place in time
they would treasure forever, just a time that they were together, inseparable, content for
the world to leave them behind and just leave them there. Wufei could only see her, and
Sally could only see him. They were perfect, to each other at that moment, and they hoped
it would forever remain that way.
Wufei whispered the words first, the 3 words that Sally had longed to hear for so
long, and now the person she dreamed of saying those words was telling them to her. She
couldn't think of anything to say, but something told her that Wufei would love her, even if
she remained silent for the rest of her life. There was simply no need for words at that
time, and to her time wasn't there anymore, there was just Wufei, and those words he
uttered.
"I love you."
He inhaled her scent before him, and there wasn't anyone anymore except for her. He
was there with her, and she was there with him, and there was nothing more to be said about
them. They were in perfect harmony, and they intended to be that way forever. They were
destined; a rough time would follow, but their love would prevail in the end. It always
would, because of this perfect moment. Wufei covered her mouth with his, again, and this
time it grew deep, strong, a sign of their unbreakable pact, now.
Lady Une smiled, and covered her mouth to keep from crying. She quickly left after
more tears came tracking down her face, leaving the 2 lovers behind her, behind her in the
threshold, and she was happy for them. She had planned it all out, yes she had, and she was
happy. She hurried away, glad to be away when the storm of Wufei and Sally ensued. When
she looked back, the 2 lovers had stopped their seemingly endless kiss, and were now staring
at each other again.
"About time!", Duo yelled, and then began to clap. Soon the whole room was
clapping. The new couple whirled around, staring at the faces that smiled congratuatingly
at them, some familiar, some not, and they felt their faces turn red with embarrassment.
They had been set up! But, they found that was alright, as long as they had each other.
And with the beaming smiles on everyone's faces, they leaned in and kissed once again.
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's note:
Hmm, a little ruse, especially because my friend gave me the idea. Siva_chan has
her edition on http://www.fanfiction.net as well, and I'm very glad I read her fic first
before I did mine. It was quite a good thing that I read hers first, because I wouldn't
have been able to come up with such content myself. Happily, she granted me permission to
revise her fic, which I compiled. Her fic is "Lady Une's Set up", and she is my little
writing partner in crime.Anyways, I am glad for whoever finished reading this; it was not
just a long fic, it was an extensively long fic. Feel free to blame me for pairing these 2 up; I couldn't help it. As usual, I must
say I have absolutely no confidence in my writing, but I write anyways.
Andrea Weiling
A Wufei/Sally fic
Absentmindedly, Lady Une watched the meeting progress with agonizing slowness. Out
of the corner of her eye, she watched with a hint of amusement as Duo chewed at the end of
his pencil. Heero seemed to be listening, but his head was propped on his hands, and Lady
Une could see that he was somewhere else, probably in Relena Land. She stifled a chuckle at
this thought, but turned her ultimately bored attention towards the overhead projector once
again, listening with an air of boredom as the manager droned on and on about the new floor
plan for the new Preventers headquarters up in Chicago, in America. She had never set foot
on American soil before, and even though she had perfected her English with Duo as her
trainer, she still didn't want to leave Japan; traveling was a strain for her. But now she
was ready to see the world with her own eyes, and so she decided a long time ago that
probably the only good thing to come out of this new headquarter site was the trip to
Chicago, which she didn't have to pay for. The company would do that.
She toyed with the option of raising her hand and standing up, proclaiming, "Sir,
can we all go to sleep now?" then just shrugged it off as a ruse. A clatter to her right
made everyone in the room jump, and when she turned to look at the disturbance, she saw that
everyone else was staring at a very bashful-looking Duo who sat beseechingly by the table,
while Hilde held the pen that he had been twirling so happily for the last 2 hours (sheesh!
Hasn't his fingers fallen off by then?) over her head, while evading his futile attempts to
get it back. Finally, Duo slumped down, chin on the desk, and pouted. Hilde relented and
gave him back the blue-and-gold styled pen, which she had gotten for his birthday and had
asked him to pen down his thoughts in an empty diary, which she also supplied. As everyone
watched this little scene unfurl, Duo happily picked up the pen, and to everyone (especially
Hilde)'s dismay, he began to twirl the pen again. A few minutes later, they heard the
telltale sounds of the pen dropping yet again.
"Well, then", the manager said at last, "we will display the improved blueprints for
the Chicago headquarters next time, drawn up by me, but until now, Preventers Sally and
Wufei will kindly display their notes for this meeting and put the blueprints in the filing
hanger, this meeting will be closed." Everyone watched as the 2 Preventers in question got
up and began to shuffle papers in order to put into the filing hanger. The manager waited a
few seconds, then waved his hand in a sign of dismissal. Everyone groaned when they stood
up, even Lady Une couldn't hold back a yawn that she had been holding back for so long, and
she was one of the last to leave, since she always brought so much with her; she was the
Chairwoman for the Committee, so it was only correct that she brought certain confidential
materials to all Preventers Agency meetings she attended. As she was going out, though,
something other than her gun that she had stored under the folds of her dress was the object
of her attention.
"Give it!" Sally tugged fruitlessly on the cylinder that held the blueprints.
"You're going to bend them all up like you did last time and we'll just have to draw them
again! Do you remember what we had to do when we folded the blueprints last time? We had
to go on 2 extra missions, and for what? Observations! The most boring job on the face of
the Earth! We had to examine something boring called landscape! Now give it! I've had
enough of your crazy folding ideas!"
Wufei, on the other end, pulled his side of the cylinder. Lady Une noticed, with a
hint of amusement that since the cylinder wasn't able to fit inside the filing hanger, they
probably planned to take the blueprints out and put them separately into the top ledge.
Looking around, she saw there was decidedly no one around except for the fighting pair and
her, the witness. She covered her mouth with her mouth as the fighting erupted into pure
chaos.
Sally pointed a finger over Wufei's shoulder. "Look! It's Meiran!" She realized
just a minute later that she was pointing at Lady Une, who evidently did *NOT* look a thing
like Meiran, Wufei's deceased wife. Lady Une pointed to herself and mouthed the word "Me?",
and Sally took this chance to snatch all the scrolls of blueprints from Wufei and throw them
into the filing hanger. It looked as if this basket was going to be a 3-pointer...
...But the ball was intercepted by Wufei, who unwittingly took the blueprints and
began to fold them in half. Sally gave a wild cry and tried to take the papers from him,
but failed as the tightly wrapped scroll exploded into a whirlwind of papers. It was only
then that they realized that there were LOTS of papers in there, not just ONE. The backlash
got them, and both landed on their rear ends, looking dumbfoundedly at the white-and-blue
papers that cascaded around them, and slid off their heads. With a stimulus-resigned sigh,
both bent down (not to say they were standing anyways) and began to pick up papers. Soon,
it wasn't just the act of picking up papers, it was the race of picking up papers. Sally
looked challengingly at her Chinese partner, and he looked back at her, competition clear
in his eye. They both began to scurry around like ants (as Lady Une depicted them), and at
the end, Sally dived for the last paper. Her momentum wasn't enough to carry her too far,
but she clamped her hand down on the paper first, to look triumphantly at Wufei. Her look
of smugness was replaced by a look of horror as Wufei flew headfirst at her-
-and landed into her, clamping his hand right on top of hers, only to blush
profusely and take his hand from its perch on top of hers. He turned away, ashamed of such
flirtatious behavior, and hid his red face that could match the brilliance of the sun behind
the rest of the blueprints, pretending to be examining them (no one pays attention at the
actual meeting; people fight over Sally and Wufei's notes in the end because their notes are
so much clearer than the rambling of the manager) due to his inattention at the meeting. Of
course, that was untrue, because Wufei was always aware of the things around him, and he
observed everything. But somehow, Sally just remained an enigma, a mystery person that was
felt so protective of him, for what reason? He had never done anything for her, yet she was
so kind to him; it showed in her blue eyes...what was he thinking? A new shade of red
appeared on his cheeks, and he piled even more papers in front of his face in an attempt to
hide himself. A hole in the ground that I could just be buried in on this spot would be
even better..., he thought.
Sally was also blushing even brighter than Wufei. But it didn't seem that way,
because only her cheeks were alight with color, the rest of her face was as pale as it would
get, and it seemed that all the color from the area outside of her cheeks had been sucked
into a single point at her cheeks. She glanced back at Wufei, and smiled as she saw him
furiously examining the papers. She suddenly remembered the task that they had been given,
and snatched the papers from Wufei's hands. The "fun" game of tug-o'-war was about to start
up again when both heard a clear voice behind them. It made them jump, because it seemed
the silence that had been building up for the last half minute had been shattered, like
fragile glass.
"Ahem", was all the Lady said. She looked at one after the other with an almost
wicked scrutiny, and Sally and Wufei squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. They both stood
up at the sound of the former officer who still had not lost her touch for having an
intimidating aura around her. They backed up into the wall, and hastily stuffed the
blueprints into the filing hanger, looking to see that the blueprints wouldn't slide out
again after putting them in. They caught each others' eye for a moment, then began to blush
again, just when their faces had returned to their normal colors. They stared
uncomfortably at their leather patented shoes for a moment, then faced opposite directions
with a pivot of the foot that would've made any general in any army proud. Without looking
up at the Lady, they muttered an unanimous "Gomen" and walked briskly away in their separate
directions. Lady Une went Sally's way, for Wufei had forgotten that this was a ROOM, and
rooms only have one door. Sally had enough sense to go OUT the door, and not the OPPOSITE
way of the door, as Wufei had done.
A few moments later, Lady Une smiled as she heard a slight "Ouch!" as Wufei
unwittingly rammed himself into a wall in his ignorance. She was surprised that Sally had
actually had the guts to invite Wufei to join her Preventers team in the first place, but
she decided in an instant that this little shahrazade of pretending to not like each other
had gone too far. It was time to take this matter into her and the other pilots' hands.
She smirked slightly at this thought, and then took a detour to her office to call a meeting
for everyone.
* * *
Duo gave an annoyed yawn. He laid his head on the cool tabletop and gave another
yawn. Hilde took one look at her lazy boyfriend and slapped the side of his head gently,
but not too gently that he wouldn't feel it. He turned to look at her and gave her a half-
grimace, half-scowl. "Aw, c'mon, Hilde, take pity on this poor soul who hasn't had any to
eat", he gave an anguished moan/howl and continued his rant for food to hit the bottomless
pit that was the American's stomach. "I need FOOD! NOW! If I don't have something to eat,
I'm going to die of starvation..." He stopped when he realized that everyone was looking at
him, and immediately his face was a mask of innocent surprise. "What? Was it something I
said?" At this point, everyone started to clamor about the subject of lunch. Duo had
already gotten up and had his hand on the door handle to get his lunch when it opened before
he could do anything. He stepped back a pace when he saw who it was, then gave a ghoulish
grin and knelt in front of the Lady.
He recited his lines, the paragraph that he said every time a different girl entered
the room. It was usually aimed at Hilde, who would just put her hand to her cheek and blush
a little, then drop the pretense and drag him unmercifully to his feet. But now he said
what he wasn't paid for saying, and Lady Une was left quite speechless as he did so, not
having had anyone do this for her before.
"Milady, I, the Great Destroyer, the Shinigami, dutifully pledges his duty as a
protector, an advisor, a bodyguard, and a member of the solemn organization of the Knights
of the Round Table, to you, milady, the spark of light and life that illuminates this castle
of simple ness with your radiance, the very air around you speaks for itself who is the
graceful, the talented, the educated, and the beautiful of us all. And so I, Duo Maxwell,
pledges his support in hopes that milady will accept it as an act of allegiance, and bind
her trust to mine." Here he bowed his head lower and lifted his left hand as a fist, and
his right hand out straight, clapping it together with a smack of sound. He was about to
say the last line when Hilde stormed up, and clamped a hand on the end of his braid, which
was conveniently sitting on the marble tiles, and dragged him back to his seat. Lady Une
did pay enough tribute to listen to the end of his little speech. It sounded jumbled, but
the whole thing brought a genuine smile to her face, a rare sight.
"Andsobeit, Ipledgemylife, myfortunes, andmysacredhonortoyourverywhim, everycommand,
inhopesthatmiladywillacceptthislowlygiftfromoneevenmorelowlymansuchasI!" The last word
ended on a shriek that richoetted off the walls of the room and made everyone wince. Hilde
had taken hold on his ear and pulled it. Duo gave a muted yelp, while Hilde covered his
mouth to prevent him from screaming too loudly or too shrilly, while all the others ducked
their heads under the table to stifle their laughter. Still others pretended to be busy,
but the red in the cheeks gave away their subdued mirth. Hilde made short work of Duo, and
whacked him several times stolidly on the head. The poor American gave a pitiful whimper
and seated himself far from the clutches of Hilde, who had just metamorphed into her
ultimate "Evil Hilde" form. Duo took one look at her scary face and shrunk even smaller
into his already very small chair. Quatre on his left patted his back comfortingly, while
Hilde sent flying daggers at Duo with a glare that would've given Heero a run for his money.
Lady Une took all this in, and sat herself down at the head of the table. She looked a few
seconds at all the members of the table, and then said sharply, clearly, "Let this meeting
begin."
Duo looked up at her, with a cross between annoyance and pity on his face. "Aw,
this better be good, milady, because I really want to eat something! I didn't really want
to give up my lunch break, but if it's something that involves matchmaking", he glanced with
a sparkle of eagerness in his violet eyes at the members seated at the oval table, "then
count me in! Wufei and Sally have been head-at-heads to each other for -what -2 years now?
They really need to get their act together!" He looked up at the Lady expectantly. "The
meeting should resume now?", he said with an air of deadly accuracy.
The Lady was dumbstruck for a moment. "Why, of course, I should've already known
you people would figure it out by now. One way or the other, yes, I think we should do a
bit of creative matchmaking to get them together. Listen up, everyone. I take it Quatre's
holding a party for all Preventers to celebrate the opening of our new branch in Chicago,
right?"
Quatre nodded, but the expression on his face told everyone that he was nonplused to
what this had to do with Wufei and Sally's coupling.
Lady Une smiled, and told everyone her plans. Immediately all voices chorused into
shakes of denial, new suggestions, and argument. After calming everyone down, the meeting
resumed its usual quiet, and after much deliberation, a plan was made, with a word from
everyone. All members exited the room with a grins on their faces an hour later, after much
thinking and brainstorming. Lady Une could only look after them all, at their backs as
they exited the room, and thought to herself excited before she chided herself for acting
like such a little girl.
I can't wait for the plan to start! I hope nothing goes wrong...
* * *
Lady Une fidgeted on her perch on the porch of her house, on the swing, just
sitting, and review the 'script' that she had typed up for herself to remind herself.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew up, blowing the stray hairs around her face that weren't long
enough to go into the bun at the back of her head. They obscured her vision for a moment,
then were blown out of her face again by an opposing wind. She stuffed the script into her
dress pocket and hurried down the steps to meet the Arabian's car. Quatre leaned out, and
even in the darkness of evening, Lady Une could tell that he was dressed as neat as ever,
and even more polite. She was about to open the car door when Quatre hurried over, gave her
a heart-warming smile, and opened the door for her, and ending the act with an exaggerated
bow, flipping his hands over and over until they rested on his stomach in a bow.
"Milady, I trust you are comfortable?", he asked pleasantly. Lady Une slapped the
top of his head playfully and pointed to the driver's seat. "Quatre, DRIVE. I didn't ask
you to come here to flirt with me. If you want to flirt with someone, flirt with your
girlfriend Dorothy. I'm too old for you, can't you see that?"
Lady Une swore she could see Quatre's face outshine the sun at that moment.
Nonetheless, he climbed into the driver's seat and quickly drove back to his mansion. Just
when she had just arrived, she saw headlights in the rear view mirror. Quatre quickly
swerved into the driveway, and much to the Arabian and the Lady's surprise, the car followed
them. It was a shiny BMW, a convertible, whose color couldn't be distinguished because it
was so dark. Quatre parked the car right in front of the mansion's main door, and Lady Une
got out, hugging the car's shadow as far as she could go. No one could be sure who was the
driver in the other car; it could be anyone. But the Arab didn't seem to want to be taking
any chances, and after Lady Une was safely out of shooting range, or on the outskirts of it,
he threw open the driver's door and pulled his concealed handgun from his back tuxedo
pocket. He aimed, but didn't fire. Instead, a look of amazement crossed his face and he
lowered the gun, jogging over to owner of the BMW.
Heero threw a casual but amused glance over the currently in hiding Lady Une, and
then back at Quatre. He took out his small ring of keys, and pressed a button on the
controller to the car. The car beeped back a horn, and flashed a red light from all doors
a few times, then he leaned against it, and turned back to Quatre. "Well", he said
smoothly, his silhouette against the moon casting elongated shadows against the hard ground.
"I see you haven't totally lost your touch as a gundam pilot, Quatre." He said the name
fiercely, as if he actually liked saying it, and Quatre looked down to hide a faint blush.
He was very in love with his current girlfriend, Dorothy, but any comment that seemed
particularly like a compliment would make him blush.
Lady Une stepped down from the white marble staircase, and froze when Heero suddenly
moved his hand to his back pocket. Before he could do anything, though, 2 guns clicked back
their last safety locks, and it was his turn to freeze. Then he held up his arms
disarmingly, and let Quatre fuss over him. It seemed they didn't have much to fear; Heero
had just gotten his wallet for the invitation. The Arab flushed a deep red at the
discovery, and his discomfort was even more pronounced by Heero's quirked smile, the rarest
sight that ever came across the Japanese's face. NO one had ever seen him smile before,
maybe except for Duo and Relena, who were constantly hanging around him and coaxing him to
"lighten up". Quatre had to admit, with a bit of a smile, that their constant haranguing
had taken its toll; Heero did open up a bit more now, and no harm could come of that.
Heero graciously took his place at the door, and waited for the first guests to
check in, then show them to Quatre, who in turn would show them to their appointed seats on
the floor. Lady Une would then give her speech on the new branch, and thank you's to
everyone who helped, and Quatre (as a cordial host) would announce the dancing to begin.
Once the dancing began, people would leave when the wanted, and stay as long as they wanted.
There was to be a very minimum of alcoholic beverages at the party because this mansion did
not belong to Quatre himself; it belonged to one of his sisters, who was currently in space.
He had promised to keep it clean, and he intended to keep this promise, especially to his
sister. He had told everyone that should be told beforehand, so there wouldn't be any
trouble when it came to the party.
The Japanese waited stiffly at the door, and stomped his feet in both impatience and
because of the cold. He had just started to complain in his head when a set of headlights
flashed briefly in the distance, then turned into the driveway. It was a minivan, and it
was hurriedly stopped at the door and Hilde jumped out. She walked up the steps, and gave
her invitation to Heero, who took it wordlessly and nodded to show that it was valid. She
then turned to wave at the driver of the car, but the man had already hurried out and
trotted neatly up the steps to bade her a slight parting. Heero was not surprised to see it
was Duo, especially after Hilde had to go on her tiptoes to kiss him. Duo hugged his
girlfriend goodbye, then turned to Heero, who just looked at him, expecting an invitation to
be shoved into his hand. Duo just ran his fingers through his slick hair and told him, "I
still need to pick up several others. Heero, if ya don't mind, I'll give you my invitation
later, with the others that I escort in. While I'm gone", he looked down nervously at his
shiny black shoes, "can ya please keep an extra eye for Hilde for me? I don't want any
people getting close and making her uncomfortable...I'm kinda extra protective of her, if ya
can tell. Well, I gotta go." He glanced up briefly at Heero, who nodded. Duo took that
nod for 2 answers: a) yes, I will take your invitation later, and b) yes, I will keep an eye
for Hilde for you the while you're gone.
At the bottom of the steps, Duo turned back and clicked his tongue at Heero. "Well,
Mr. Doorman, how much is Lady Une paying you for that?"
Heero's eyes narrowed. "Was that an insult that just came from your mouth, Duo?"
Hastily, the American added, "No, no offense meant, no offense meant. Just wanted
to ask you...I want to earn a few extra bucks too! It's not fair if Hilde keeps taking us
out to dinner and I have no way to repay her, even though she claims having me around her is
enough. Well, see ya!" He climbed into the car and sped up, leaving an unseen trail of
dust behind. Heero watched for a moment as it traveled from his view, then turned back to
the few party guest that had arrived and had to be content to just watch.
Duo, according to schedule and the plan they had made a few days before, pulled
first into Wufei's apartment complex. Wufei lived on the first floor, and Sally lived just
next door, with adjoining rooms as well. Their doors, painted green, had the two numbers
102 and 103 on them, but when Duo reached to knock on the door, it opened before he could do
anything and Wufei stepped out, looking annoyed, with Sally leaning on his elbow delicately.
Duo was taken aback for a moment at this sudden change of appearance, then just smiled and
showed them to the car. Wufei grabbed Duo's arm while he was passing by and hissed, "You're
late, Maxwell."
Duo just plainly answered, "Was there a time when I wasn't late?"
Wufei could only stare at that comment. Sally stepped in front of him and waved a
hand in front of his face. "Ohayo, Earth to Wufei?", she said teasingly, her sapphire eyes
sparkling merrily. The Chinese snapped out of it, and mentally berated himself. The thing
was, the whole time he was scolding himself, he was staring at Sally, who blushed and gently
whacked on the head with her purse, which she had extracted from her hidden dress pocket.
There was also a gun hidden on the bottom hem of her dress, making it heavier to walk
forward, but she prayed no one would notice, and that she wouldn't have to use it during the
party, especially not during the party. It would spell disaster, she told herself as she
looked at Wufei. Now if only Mr. Justice would most certainly stop staring at me like that
...it gives me the chills, but in the good sense, not the creepy sense. In fact, I like it
...oh, look what you've gotten yourself into now, Sally! Fallen in love with the most
undesirable man on the face of this world, you have.
Duo could only stand and look helplessly from one to the next in disbelief.
Finally, he bundled them both into the car and drove off to pick up the Peacecrafts, or,
perhaps, the Merquises, whichever way you want to put it.
Milliardo was waiting when Duo arrived. He also gave Duo a firm lecture on
tardiness and punctuality, while Noin was still inside fixing her hair. She had just run
out, Milliardo coming up to meet her, when she stopped and exclaimed in fake shock, "Oh! I
forgot something!" Everyone else moaned for Noin to hurry up. After a few minutes -er,
moments -Zechs got worried and went in to see what was taking her so long. After a long
while of patient waiting, the happily married couple stopped at the threshold of the door,
where their silhouettes were illuminated by the light within their mansion, and kissed in
the half-moonlight, half-lamplight scene. Duo smiled inwardly and noticed, with a smile,
that everything was going as planned. Wufei, seeing Milliardo and Noin so passionately
embracing in front of everyone, in public view, quickly detached his eyes from the scene and
looked towards the back of the car, only to catch Sally's eye. This time, both blushed, and
turned their attention to their suddenly fascinating shoes. Since both weren't looking, Duo
risked a thumbs-up sign at both of them, and their answered with their own thumbs-up; so far
everything was working according to plan.
After another romantic escapade with Trowa and Catherine as the cast, the company
trundled up back to Quatre's borrowed mansion.
* * *
Duo quickly flipped through the CD's with practiced ease; he hadn't really been
trained to actually 'dance' to classical music, but he had been trained to be the DJ, and
since everyone voted that he was a valid character to do so, he reluctantly agreed through
mumbles of "I don't like this kind of music" and "I don't want to". Nevertheless, he took
his place on the stage, and scanned the CD's available, as well as the sheet music that
Quatre was allowed to accompany as an extra violin. As a tribute, the party would have
several times where all the pilots would play their designated instruments, and all couples
would have to get up and dance. This was to promote socializing, since Preventers meetings
were more than often too stiff and too formal, and this was to be a relaxing, time-off
party. Duo frowned at the choice of music, but propped up a stand and clipped the music to
the top of the stand for Quatre to read, then brought it over to him. He cast a glance at
Hilde, who was currently chatting away with Relena, and felt he didn't need to keep an eye
out for her if such an important person was with her, and turned his full attention to the
CDs. Normally, he would've picked pop, rock, and rap CD's, but this was a elegant party,
not a club, so he wasn't allowed to play such. So he had to do with what he had. He
motioned Quatre over as Lady Une was giving her 20-minute speech, and had Quatre pick out
his favorites in order so he could play them. The pilots would all take turns playing
accompaniment so the others could have a chance to dance, except for Duo, who was DJ. After
the speech was over, Duo nodded to Quatre, who began to play "Le Moldau", a beautifully
written piece that was not just beautiful, but fast-paced as well. This would loosen up
legs and feet, and didn't involve arms around hips and people leaning against each other.
It wasn't an intimate dance, so people who weren't designated to come together as a couple
could dance together if they wanted, without getting their dates upset. Duo had a mind to
just yell and curse with disgust at the choice of CDs, jump down to the dance floor, and
start doing the twist, but a look from Lady Une silenced all rebellious thoughts of mutiny.
Lady Une noticed, as well as the other conspirers in all corners of the room, that
Sally was still undecided with Wufei at her side; Wufei didn't seem to want to be here,
didn't seem to be enjoying company. He was just standing, Sally at his elbow, but he was
staring out into space, while Sally looked a little pained at this reaction. Obviously she
had wanted Wufei to be a little more animated, but it didn't look like that was going to
happen. As Trowa was getting ready to switch with Quatre for accompaniment, Lady Une got up
and sneaked up to Duo and pointed to the silent, uncomfortable couple in the corner,
whispering, "Slow song. Let them loosen up with that." At once he looked through the CDs,
and held up a cover and motioned "#5" to Trowa. The flutist got the point and opened the
sheet music, playing. All couples looked up at the music, soft and soothing, and all
couples got up and began to go hip-to-hip together, creating a myriad of colors and forms.
Lady Une gave a tiny but triumphant smile when Sally tugged at Wufei's arm and questioned
something into his ear. At once, he protested, but Sally took no argument, and dragged him
unmercifully onto the floor. The Lady looked up at Duo, who was also looking at them, and
then turned his gaze down to Lady Une, giving a smile and a wink. Lady Une gave him a
thumbs-up. Trowa, onstage, inwardly gave a smile, and began to play the music even more
convincingly.
Sally tugged on Wufei's arm a little, and when she got no reply, she tugged so hard
his shirt almost ripped. He turned to look at her after straightening her shirt, his eyes
questioning the way they did, without words. The half-Chinese pointed to the whirling forms
on the dance floor and smiled happily. "Let's dance, Wufei."
Wufei turned a little red, but shook his head, almost dejectedly, and said quietly,
"I-iiee, Sally."
Sally looked at him impatiently. "Why not?"
Wufei looked at the ground embarrassedly, wishing it would come up and swallow him
up at that moment as he made his statement. "...Sally, I don't know how to dance."
At this, Sally seemed even happier at this discovery. "It doesn't matter!" she said
over the din of the music, and dragged his form onto the dance floor. Wufei struggled
against her for a moment, then just plain gave up; he knew that when Sally had an idea she
determined to be rightfully determined about, she wouldn't let the idea go, no matter what.
The black-haired Chinese gave a resigned sigh and let Sally guide his hands to her hip, and
then twine his hands with her other one. A wave of strange giddiness spread through him,
and he lowered his head while he blushed. On the marble floor, he suddenly saw something:
Duo was staring at him. He quickly snapped his head up, but Duo had already realized his
mistake and was now trying to look busy while shuffling through some CDs. Wufei's feet slid
the wrong way, but he didn't care for the moment, he just looked at Duo to make sure he
didn't do any spying on him again. Heero was taking his chance on the stage, his instrument
being a cello, and he flipped to the music he wanted, and conferred with Duo for it. The
American nodded in ascent, and the music began to start up again, but Wufei wasn't waiting.
He tore himself from Sally's grasp, and stormed back to the corner, only to find someone
else had already occupied the space, and they were busily kissing each other. The Chinese
decided not to bother them, but before he could escape again, Sally had dragged him onto the
dance floor again.
Sally couldn't understand what happened, but she forcefully put them back into
position, and was surprised when Wufei put up less of a fight than she expected. But what
surprised her the most was the determined look in Wufei's eyes as he took control and
twirled her under his uplifted arm, extending their clasped hands to their fullest extent,
taking up almost the whole horizontal dance floor. Sally's forest green silk dress rustled
enticingly at this move, but she hid her surprise with a smile at Wufei. This smile only
made Wufei embolden his moves, and soon all people were watching the remarkable couple,
never dancing before together, on the floor with the time of their lives. Wufei's head
whirled with a warm rush of feeling that left him overflowing with happiness, his head
swimming with drunken ness. Sally could only inwardly gape as he took control, inviting her
to join him in this wispy, whirly sensation that filled her head all of Wufei, and his
merriness on the dance floor, which he had mastered better and faster than she had seen
anyone do. Finally he reeled her in from all the excess dancing, not paying attention to
the room, the floor beneath them, which seemed gone as well, no music, no people looking on
with unspeakable awe, no ceiling, no sky, no ground, no floor, just Wufei and Sally, their
arms around each other, holding each other close, and both wished for the same thing: to be
like this forever. Slowly they both tilted their heads towards each other, and their lips
touched lightly, a chaste kiss, but a kiss nonetheless. It didn't grow very deep, but it
was the significance that they loved each other, a proof that would never be erased, a bond
never broken between the 2 of them. Then the kiss was broken, and they were left staring in
each others' eyes, blue meeting obsidian. They leaned forward again, and their lips met
again, the spark of a flame that was never to be extinguished between them had started to
burn up between them again.
Lady Une almost fainted with subdued excitement that she felt like jumping up and
down with delight. She turned to look at Quatre, who opened his eyes to see why everyone
was so quiet. The aquamarine eyes widened to their full extent, and he almost drew the bow
too widely out, almost a screech in the music, but not quite. Trowa looked with no emotion
on his face, and he wished that he had the same guts to do what Wufei was doing with
Catherine. Duo looked on with pleasure at the new couple, and had already lifted his hand
and was about to shout something when a hand clamped over his mouth and jerked on his braid.
Duo fell on top of the person, who happened to be Heero, as the Japanese raised a finger to
his lips and scowled fiercely at the American. Duo just shrugged, and turned back to his
CDs, happy that at least someone had found someone in their life.
But for now, the newfound couple didn't seem to care. They were in their own world,
a world where they both existed, and nothing else mattered at that moment, except for each
other. They could only see each other, they couldn't take their eyes off one another, and
they just simply stared, drinking in everything of the other at that very moment, committing
it to the deepest part of their memory, forever etched into their minds, a place in time
they would treasure forever, just a time that they were together, inseparable, content for
the world to leave them behind and just leave them there. Wufei could only see her, and
Sally could only see him. They were perfect, to each other at that moment, and they hoped
it would forever remain that way.
Wufei whispered the words first, the 3 words that Sally had longed to hear for so
long, and now the person she dreamed of saying those words was telling them to her. She
couldn't think of anything to say, but something told her that Wufei would love her, even if
she remained silent for the rest of her life. There was simply no need for words at that
time, and to her time wasn't there anymore, there was just Wufei, and those words he
uttered.
"I love you."
He inhaled her scent before him, and there wasn't anyone anymore except for her. He
was there with her, and she was there with him, and there was nothing more to be said about
them. They were in perfect harmony, and they intended to be that way forever. They were
destined; a rough time would follow, but their love would prevail in the end. It always
would, because of this perfect moment. Wufei covered her mouth with his, again, and this
time it grew deep, strong, a sign of their unbreakable pact, now.
Lady Une smiled, and covered her mouth to keep from crying. She quickly left after
more tears came tracking down her face, leaving the 2 lovers behind her, behind her in the
threshold, and she was happy for them. She had planned it all out, yes she had, and she was
happy. She hurried away, glad to be away when the storm of Wufei and Sally ensued. When
she looked back, the 2 lovers had stopped their seemingly endless kiss, and were now staring
at each other again.
"About time!", Duo yelled, and then began to clap. Soon the whole room was
clapping. The new couple whirled around, staring at the faces that smiled congratuatingly
at them, some familiar, some not, and they felt their faces turn red with embarrassment.
They had been set up! But, they found that was alright, as long as they had each other.
And with the beaming smiles on everyone's faces, they leaned in and kissed once again.
/ \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \
Author's note:
Hmm, a little ruse, especially because my friend gave me the idea. Siva_chan has
her edition on http://www.fanfiction.net as well, and I'm very glad I read her fic first
before I did mine. It was quite a good thing that I read hers first, because I wouldn't
have been able to come up with such content myself. Happily, she granted me permission to
revise her fic, which I compiled. Her fic is "Lady Une's Set up", and she is my little
writing partner in crime.Anyways, I am glad for whoever finished reading this; it was not
just a long fic, it was an extensively long fic. Feel free to blame me for pairing these 2 up; I couldn't help it. As usual, I must
say I have absolutely no confidence in my writing, but I write anyways.
Andrea Weiling