Chapter Two: Smile

*"I promise this won't be as bad as you think it will. Just give it some time. Who knows? Maybe you'll like it enough to want to continue going after these five months." No response filtered through the busy airport. "Come on Princess, say something to me? Please?"

"How could you do this to me? Send me to military school of all things? Don't you love me anymore Daddy?" Guilt ebbed at the old man's heart. He loved his daughter. But was his love of her blinding him from the truth about her? Yes. This was the only option left.

"Of course I do. I just think you need a stricter lifestyle than I can give you."

"Then send me to Aunt Edna!" She cried. How could he be doing this to her? They had always been so close, more like friends than parent and child. But he was sending her away- to military school no less!

"She's too old to be dealing with energetic children like you Princess. Besides. You'd manage to slip away from her somehow, you always do."

"I'm not a child anymore!"

"No, you're not. You're a young lady who needs to grow up and learn to behave like one. I can't let you keep sneaking out of the house every night and vandalizing the school and town, and I can't have you getting into any more gang fights like last night. It's too dangerous. This is all for the best Princess, I promise."

"No. It will ever be for the best." Her eyes welled with tears.

"Final boarding call for flight ten ninety!" The flight attendant called.

"Look, I love you. This is all for the best, just remember that!" He opened his arms to hug his only daughter, his life, good-bye.

"I hate you!" She cried, the tears finally spilling over. Then she turned and walked down the boarding ramp, head held high, never once looking back.

)(

"So they suckered you into this too, huh Hiiro man?" The braided boy bellowed over the vid-phone, laughing. It was good to see his quiet friend again, even if it was only over a phone.

"I accepted the mission without knowing the full perimeters." Replied the dark man whom Duo was speaking to.

"Or you could look at as them tricking you. Whichever way is easier on your pride!"

"Duo, stop teasing him." Quatre yelled in the background. Duo snorted, and looked at his friend. If possible, the man seemed to have become paler than before. His chocolate hair was just as tousled, and his sapphire eyes just as acidic. He also seemed taller and stronger, but for some reason, thinner. He was a dangerous looking person if Duo had ever seen one. Yes, not much had changed on Hiiro Yui.

"Alright, I'm sorry Hiiro. So when are you coming to join us? You know orientation is tomorrow, right?"

"I have a seat booked on the next flight over there."

"So do you need someone to pick you up then?"

"Send Trowa."

"But I'm free! I could…"

"Send Trowa."

"But Hiiro! I…"

"Maxwell! You heard him! He doesn't want to hear your incessantly annoying voice!" Wufei's voice blared over the phone.

"Wu-man, I'm so hurt!" Duo replied.

"Maxwell!" The line temporarily went dead, and the man in the airport waited patiently for his comrades to call him back. Soon the phone rang, and he picked it up.

"Hiiro." Trowa's voice stuck out amongst the yelling in the background. "Quatre is trying to break them up. I'll come pick you up. When should I expect you?"

"Six hours. Plane ride's five, customs and baggage excluded."

"Fine, I'll see you then."

"Hnn." With that, the conversation was severed.

"Final boarding call for flight ten ninety!" The flight attendant's voice echoed through the airport. Hiiro grabbed his jacket and silently made his way towards the boarding ramp.

The plane was incredible full, regardless of the fact that it was a considered a late night flight. Hiiro checked his watch. It was eight. Five more hours of this, and then he would be back with his comrades. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing? He couldn't tell anymore. He knew he missed them, each of them in their own way, but he wasn't sure he had enough sanity left within his mind to handle them for as long as he was going to have to. Five months with them was a long time. And he would only receive two weeks worth of break time before he had to go back for another six months. He could only pray…

Finding his row, and then his seat, Hiiro climbed in and took his place near the window. When the flight attendant had asked him what he preferred and he had said he didn't care, he supposed she thought the window seats were the best, so she put him in one. Not that it mattered. A seat was a seat. Suddenly someone blocked the light next to him.

"Little girl, that's my seat, get out of it!" A gruff man was the source of the block, and he didn't look too pleased. Hiiro turned around to watch the scene unfold.

"Sorry, I didn't know there were assigned seats, I've never been on an airplane." A sweet voice echoed through the quiet plane.

"Well, now you know, so move!" The overweight man yelled.

"You know, I don't think I will. I've had a rotten day, and I don't see the problem in you moving for me." The same voice retorted calmly. But Hiiro heard a sniffle follow her words. It was just some overemotional woman who had probably just broken up with the love of her life. Not worth the trouble in finding out the outcome of the fight. Hiiro turned around and tried to block out the noise.

"Now look here you little brat, I don't care what kind of day you've had, get the hell out of my seat! Or, you could sit on my lap if you want. I'm sure we could think of some arrangement." The man grinned. She rolled her eyes and ignored him. "Why you little monster! No one ignores me!"

"Please leave me alone. I don't appreciate your disgusting suggestions." She replied. The man's face became red, then purple, and then he made a lunge for her. Hiiro saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and could no longer contain his curiosity. He turned to watch the scene once more.

Just as the man lunged for the woman, whom Hiiro could not see, a knee came up and hit the man hard in the groin. Groaning, the man pulled his attack short and fell into the aisle, moaning in pain.

"Don't touch me creep!" She cried, standing up.

"Is there a problem here?" One of the flight attendants asked.

"Yes sir, there is. This man was making vulgar suggestions to me." She spoke up.

"She kicked me in the groin!" The man rolling on the floor gasped in self-defense.

"You, you're the leader of that gang!" The flight attendant gasped. "The one responsible for egging my uncle's car dealership!"

"Are you going to do something about this pervert or not sir?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Are you joking me? You probably hit him without him provoking you!"

"She did not." All three of them, the man, the flight attendant, and her, turned to look at the man now towering over them.

"Si, sir? Did you see the whole thing?" The flight attendant mumbled.

"I did. He lost his temper and unnecessarily attacked her. Her attack came out of self-defense."

"Well, if you're sure then sir…"

"I am." Hiiro didn't know why he was helping. Maybe it was because he himself was so tired of watching fights, or that he was sick of people being prejudged because of their reputations. Gang leader or not, the girl had been innocent. Maybe that's why he was doing it, because he was supposed to protect the innocent. No matter. He had done his part, now he could go back to being a recluse once more.

"Well then." The flight attendant turned to the man on the ground. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to get off this plane." In the background, she nodded, knowing the man would get his just desserts. Then she went off in search of the bathrooms. She could thank this new man later.

But the fat man wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"What? Because of some bratty girl? There's no way in hell I'm getting off this plane!"

"Leave or I'll have to call in the airport security." The attendant threatened.

"Never."

"I'll take care of him." Hiiro stood, tired of the fat man's annoying voice and rude manners.

"I'm sorry sir, but only airport security can…" Hiiro flashed his Preventers badge at the flight attendant. "Oh. Then by all means, Preventer Zero, take him." Hiiro nodded, and after a slight struggle, dragged the man out. The plane settled down, and everything became quiet once more.

When Hiiro returned from taking the man to security headquarters, he found that his seat was no longer his. Occupying it was a familiar figure. As he studied it, who it was stuck him. The woman whom he had spoken in defense of. But she was no woman, only a teenaged girl his age, maybe slightly younger. She wasn't bad to look at though, even to his soldier's mind.

"You're in my seat."

"Oh, you're back!" She looked up in wonder at him. Now that she had the time to look at him, he was very pleasing to her eyes. His untamed chocolate locks hung dangerously in his face, threatening to cover his deep indigo eyes. He was very well built, tall and strong, even if he was a bit thin. She gathered her courage and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to say thank you for helping me back there. It's not ever day a stranger sticks up for me."

"Hnn."

"Well. I suppose you would like your seat back then?"

"Keep it." He said, sitting down in the chair next to her.

"Thanks. So you're headed for England too, huh?"

"Hnn."

"What for?"

"Hnn."

"Fine. I don't much like the reason I'm going either. So what's your name?" She asked. Who knew? Maybe once she got settled in at the military base, she could sneak out and look him up.

"Hiiro Yui." He sighed. He was going to let himself be dragged into a conversation with this peppy girl?

"I'm Serena, Serena Tsukino." As she said her last name, her smile dropped and she sighed heavily. He frowned.

"Smile Serena."*