Chapter 3

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She heard him coming long before he even saw her. There were reasons she allowed fallen tree leaves to cover the once immaculate lawn. Still she made no move to slow down or speed up as she listened to him approach. Instead she pulled her hood tighter over her face and kept up a steady step towards the road she would take. She had to get her grocery shopping done like she did every week and nothing was going to stop her.

But when a hand clamped down on her shoulder she nearly jumped a mile. He had caught up much faster than she had expected him to. "Kon'nichiwa Yui-san," she told him, keeping her face as covered as possible.

The look on his face was priceless as his eyes went wide with shock. "How do you know my name?"

"Just because you know nothing about me does not mean that I know nothing about you. But if you will excuse me, I have grocery shopping to do." She was surprised at how level and authoritative her voice was, considering how long it had been since she had spoken to anyone. How long had it been? The last time Setsuna had visited had been . . . three years ago. And yet her voice had not changed or grown tired with disuse.

It took him less than a second to react. "If you know who I am, it is only fair that I should know who you are."

Her smile was more sly than friendly. "Life isn't fair."

"Omae wo korosu." The words slipped out of habit.

She only laughed. "Please do," she told him, "I have lived too long." He paused, not knowing what to say and she took the opportunity to speak again. "If you can do nothing but stand here and gape I'm afraid I must be going." She turned to leave, but Heero grabbed her arm once again, holding her back. She jerked to a stop so suddenly that her hood fell back and he got a good look at her. Ivory skin even paler against the darkness of her cloak. Hard, cerulean eyes that locked with his own in a battle of will. Long blue hair, streaked with black, held in a loose ponytail that pooled in the bottom of her hood. Though she was not blonde, the boy's description of 'goddess' had not been far from correct.

Her eyes no longer shaded, she finally got to see the fabled Heero Yui that was so interested in knowing about her. His dark brown hair was slightly mussed, long bangs falling askew over his face. Dark eyes of Prussian blue that held her securely where she stood. His face was hard-set and yet strangely handsome. And he had quite obviously not let his personal fitness go to waste after the war was over . . . Yanking her mind back to the here and now, she tried her hardest to level him with her gaze. "I will not ask you again, Yui-san, let go of my arm."

"Who are you."

She didn't reply, merely took his pinky finger in her hand and bent it backwards until he was forced to release his hold. Then pulling her hood back over her face she stalked off down the street. She didn't own a car, hadn't since the twenty-first century because she had never felt the need for one. But now she did as she walked to the store she was followed constantly by Heero who kept calling after her, asking repeatedly who she was. From what little she had found to learn from about the man, this kind of behavior was very out of character for him. Finally growing sick of the endless torment, she whirled around to face him. "Fine, okay? My name is Mizuno Ami. There, you learned what you wanted to know. Will you leave me alone now?" Her words were more of a surprise to her than Heero, that kind of loud outburst was something she had never expected from herself.

He was shocked too. An explosion like that was something he never would have pictured as coming from so small a girl. Or woman. Somehow she was both. Heero just kept walking until he stood right beside her, looking down into her eyes. "Your name is not who you are," he said, his voice surprisingly calm and even.

She smirked. "So now you're a philosopher?"

"Huh."

A sigh. "Okay, okay. If you're going to hang around you might as well make yourself useful. Come on." And that was how he came to carry half her groceries back to her house. "Usually I just borrow a cart and bring it right back," she explained, "They trust me enough to let me do that. But as long as you were tagging along I figured I could put you to good use." Taking the bag from him, Ami put it on the kitchen table and commenced to unpack it. "Ah, take a seat. Pardon me for being such a horrible hostess, but I haven't had guests in, oh, at least a century." The tone in her voice was so unrecognizable he didn't know whether she was kidding or not.

"Not possible." He realized that he had gone back to speaking in as few words as he could.

She didn't care. "Oh, very possible, Yui-san, very possible. But you're one of those technical types who only believes what he sees, aren't you? I've known too much to be like that anymore, but I didn't used to. With me it came from immersing myself in my studies, but I guess that for you it came with all that piloting of the gundam you did, am I correct?"

His response was more than typical. A gun came out, pressed to her temple. "Omae wo korosu."

"You've said that twice now and I have yet to see you make good on that threat."

Heero was speechless for a few moments, but then put the gun away and took a seat like she had asked. "How did you know that?" It was too late to deny it, if he had managed to curb that violent side and not threatened her he could feign innocent and say he knew not of which she spoke. So now all he could do was find out as much about her as he could.

Another smirk was the initial response. "I've done my research."

"And why do you claim to have lived for a century?"

This time she sighed. "More than just 'a' century, Yui-san. I inherited this house from my mother in 2030. Didn't start to use it until about the beginning of the fourth millennium, though. I've had it since the colonies were first created and before. I'm immortal, and at the rate at which I spend, my money's going to outlive me."

He was confused. "Why do you offer this to me freely." Even thought he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth . . .

A laugh. "You don't tell your own secrets. What could you gain from telling mine. Besides, it's not like any one would believe you. You're what these people like to call 'new money,' while the Mizuno's have been around for longer than any one else here. So whose word are they going to take, mine or yours?"

"Yours."

She grinned. "He can be taught." Then turning her back on him, she began to make an early breakfast for them both, whether he wanted one or not. It was only polite, and polite was how she's been raised and damned if she was going to lose it now. Silence hung between them, the unasked question thick in the air. Finally, Ami sighed again and spoke. "You want to know why I'm immortal." He nodded, not speaking a word, and she came to sit across from him at the table as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of him, keeping one for herself. "Now that I'm thinking about how to phrase this, it sounds crazier and crazier. I don't think you'd ever believe that I'm a sailor senshi."

Very uncharacteristically, Heero sputtered, almost choking on his food. "They died out back in the twenty-sixth century!"

"We stopped fighting, yes, but we didn't die out. Not all of us. I'm the only one still here, but I'm here."

He looked at her, closer than before, really looked at her. She had taken off that huge traveler's cloak and in the light he got an even better look at her face. His computer had information on everything, including a good section on the fabled sailor senshi. Bored one day, he had practically memorized it. This girl, this Mizuno Ami, did in fact bear an uncanny resemblance to the one called Sailor Mercury, could it be? . . . "Prove it."

A quick smile and she nodded. "I expected as much." Then with a wink she closed her eyes and held out her hands in front of her. Her lips barely moved as she whispered a soft command and ice spiraled from her out-stretched fingertips, twisting and turning in the air until it had formed a crystal symbol of Mercury.

His jaw almost dropped. "Don't you have to transform to do that?"

"Ah, you have done your homework." She grinned again, it was beginning to infuriate him. "It's very simple, really. I never de-henshined."

He had nothing to say to that, it was, after all, a reasonable answer. But something else had been bothering him. "Mizuno-san, you said you were the only one left-"

Ami sighed. "You really must listen more closely. I said I was the only one left ~here~. Pluto-chan is still at the time gates."

Heero digested the information. "What happened to the other seven?"

He was not in the least bit prepared for her response. Silence reigned for a few moments as she swallowed another bite of cereal, focused on the table. But when she looked up at him he wished her gaze had never left the wood. Eyes like steel fixed him in place where he sat, their complete lack of emotion chilling him to the marrow. Her words, when she spoke, were calm and steady, her voice never wavering. "Yui-san," she told him very carefully, "I do believe that you have worn out your welcome."

And that was how they met.

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oh, i am ~so~ having fun with this. sorry if heero is a little OOC, he's hard to write if you're actually trying to give him a personality. and one more thing, i do not speak japanese. as in, at all. so all of my '-san's and '-chan's will be so incredibly messed up you won't believe it possible. but you like it so far? review!

and does anyone on know haruka, michiru, hotaru, and setsuna's last names?