Tokyo, Japan One Week Later

"How is Eriol-kun doing?" asked Ami as she, Minako, Tomoyo, and Sakura walked through the door to the guys' suite.

"He says he'll be fine," answered Ranma. "He says he just used too much magic. Ucchan is with him."

Almost a week had passed since that day at the beach when the sky had all of a sudden grown dark. Apparently the Clow Card's power was great enough to cover the entirety of Japan in darkness. The Japanese government had deemed the unnatural darkness as dangerous and therefore had ordered the majority of businesses and public institutions to close temporarily. Even airports were closed down, since the Clow Card's magic also seemed to dampen the effect of radar, making it extremely dangerous to fly anywhere in Japanese airspace. Eriol had been researching and spell casting almost continuously since that day, refusing to sleep until Ukyo threatened to stay up with him until Eriol went to sleep. She had even stayed in the same bed as him to make sure he didn't get back up to do more research.

"So I guess he hasn't been able to come up with anything," stated Sakura sadly. She was answered by a bunch of heads slowly shaking from side to side.

After sitting in silence, Duo finally decided he'd had enough. "Heero," he stated, making his comrade look up from staring at the top of Sakura's head. Sakura was sitting on Heero's lap with her head against his chest. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

It was very rare that Duo ever talked in a completely serious tone of voice, so Heero knew it must be important. The two went to Heero's room so they could momentarily talk in private. "What did you want to talk to me about, Duo?"

"I think we should tell them about the Gundams," Duo stated matter-of-factly. Heero raised an eyebrow indicating he wanted Duo to explain himself. "You know as well as I do that wherever this Clow Card is, our Gundams will be able to reach it. I know we agreed it was best not to tell our new roommates about the Gundams, but even you yourself came up with the idea of installing the extra seat in each cockpit. If this situation isn't serious enough to tell them about the Gundams, I don't think there will ever be a situation that is."

Heero thought briefly about Duo's statements. In truth, Heero had been debating with himself about that very same issue, but had inwardly hoped Eriol was going to be able to find some type of spell that would solve the problem so he wouldn't have to worry about it. "You're right, Duo. We can't keep hiding forever." Duo nodded and they both stood up and walked back through the door into the common room.

When the two Gundam pilots entered the common room, everyone, including Ukyo and Eriol, who had apparently woken up sometime during Duo and Heero's conversation, turned to face them. "We have a way to get to the Clow Card."

Everyone was surprised at that. "How?" asked Syaoran.

"Come with us and we'll show you," said Duo. "It's a while away, so we have to drive."

Everyone looked to one another before looking back at Duo and Heero. When they saw the seriousness of the two guys they all nodded and stood up. Duo and Heero led them out of the building and to the cars in complete silence. As Heero stepped into the driver's seat of his car, he turned to everyone else and finally broke the silence. "Follow me closely. We are heading to a very remote area. If you get lost, it may be difficult to find your way." The other four who would be driving nodded and then the group got under way, with Heero and Sakura in the lead, followed by Syaoran and Ami, Tomoyo and Ranma, Eriol and Ukyo, and finally, Minako and Duo.

"Umm, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura timidly once they were alone in Heero's car. Heero looked at Sakura and smiled gently to relieve some of her anxiety. He knew he was acting extra serious and he wanted to make sure he wasn't frightening her. Sakura relaxed a little as a result of Heero's smile before continuing. "What's going on exactly?"

Heero's smile faded once he heard Sakura's question. "I'm about to show you an important part of my life that I am in no way proud of."

Sakura was taken aback at Heero's answer. "I don't understand."

"I'm sure you have wondered what happened in my life before moving to the Sanc Kingdom, as well as why I have a number of skills that very few other people posses." Sakura just nodded. She had often wondered what type of life Heero could have led that turned him into the guy he was now. "When we reach our destination, a number of those questions will probably be answered, but even more will probably come up at the same time."

"I still don't understand, Heero-kun," responded Sakura.

"You will," said Heero softly. "Just please don't think less of me when you do."

Sakura still didn't understand what Heero was trying to say, but in her heart, she knew that whatever secrets Heero's past may hold; she still didn't want to loose him.

Uninhabited Forest Somewhere in Japan

"What are we doing way out here?" asked Ami as she got out of Syaoran's car. Heero had parked in a large open area that was surrounded by high trees which were so full at the top that they almost covered the entire area, creating a gigantic dome.

"Wait here," stated Heero. "We'll be back in a minute." Then he and Duo walked into one section of the trees and disappeared.

"Minako-san," said Sakura when Heero and Duo disappeared from sight. "Did Duo-kun tell you anything on the drive over?"

"He was really vague," answered Minako. "He said something about understanding why he and Heero kept it a secret when we see."

At that moment, all eight heard and felt something very large approaching on the ground from the direction where Heero and Duo had disappeared to. Out of habit, Syaoran called his sword and Eriol called his staff when they heard the noises and felt the ground tremble. Ami and Minako both transformed to Senshi mode, and Ranma and Ukyo got into fighting stances in front of Tomoyo for her protection. The only one who didn't look worried was Sakura. Somehow, she knew it was Heero who was approaching and therefore wasn't frightened. The ground continued to shake, until two gigantic machines stepped out from between the trees. They both stopped in front of the group and bent down on one knee. From this position, the group could see that both machines had intense glowing green eyes. Just as soon as they were in position, the light from the eyes suddenly disappeared and the chest plate in each machine opened up and a single person stepped out of each.

"Everyone," said Duo as he jumped the short distance to the ground from Deathscythe's cockpit. "I would like to introduce you to Deathscythe and Wing ZERO." All eight were speechless. Never in their lives had they seen anything even remotely similar to the two daunting machines. Even Tomoyo was so surprised that she completely forgot about her camera, and didn't even think to get the giant mobile suits on video. "I would also like to say that both Heero and myself apologize for not telling you about these earlier," continued Duo when he saw that everyone was frozen with shock. "But I think you guys can understand why we didn't."

"Wh-what are those?" managed to stutter Minako.

"They are called Gundams," answered Duo. "There are a total of seven existing mobile suits, the most advanced of which are the Gundams. These are two of five existing Gundams on the planet. They are the most powerful, most advanced military technology ever created."

"How come you guys have them then?" asked Ami who, along with Eriol and Syaoran, had finally recovered from the shock of seeing the monstrous machines. "Shouldn't they be in the care of some type of military organization?"

Duo sighed before answering. "It is a really long story, but I'll try to summarize it for you. I'm sure you have all noticed that Heero and myself know a few things that aren't common knowledge for the majority of the public. This is because we received special training ever since we were really young. This training was specifically so that we could pilot these Gundams and be perfect soldiers. We were both trained separately and our Gundams were built by different engineers, but the original designs were all done together. Our missions with the Gundams were basically solving problems in areas of the world where war was ruining people's lives. The plan was good originally, but after a time, a group of aristocrats, called the Romefeller Foundation, began to exploit us and the engineers that gave us the Gundams ordered us to stop following the orders of the Foundation and to fight on our own. That is when we moved to the Sanc Kingdom. We all went there to protect Princess Relena. Now we have decided that the Gundams are completely unnecessary in this world, so we keep them here where they will stay out of the hands of those who might wish to cause trouble with them."

By the time Duo had finished his story, everyone had regained their wits about the situation, and both Eriol and Syaoran returned their weapons to their normal form. "I've heard of the Romefeller Foundation," said Syaoran. "They have been trying to get the Li Clan to join them for some time now, but my mother and the elders always refuse the offer. I guess they all knew that it was an evil organization to be associated with. So where are the other suits?"

"The other three Gundams are in the care of each of their pilots," answered Duo. "I believe you three," continued Duo as he looked at Ami, Sakura, and Syaoran, "met Trowa Barton a while ago at the circus. If you remember him, he is the pilot of the Gundam Heavy-Arms. We also told you about Quatre Raberba-Winner and Chang Wu-Fei. Quatre is the pilot of the Gundam Sandrock, and Wu-Fei pilots the Nataku Gundam. While Trowa's Gundam moves all over the world with him and the circus, Quatre and his Gundam are at the headquarters of the Winner Foundation and Wu-Fei is probably somewhere in China. The other two existing mobile suits are the Tallgeese and the Taurus. Both these suits are in the Sanc Kingdom. The Tallgeese is piloted by Princess Relena's older brother, Milliardo Peacecraft. Not many people know he's alive and he goes by the name Zechs Merquise when in public. The Taurus is piloted by Milliardo's wife, Lucrezia Noin. Noin is also the official Captain of the Sanc Kingdom's Royal Guard."

"You said that these would be able to get to the Clow Card," said Eriol. "How?"

"Among other things, these suits are capable of planetary takeoff as well as orbital reentry."

"But even if you do get up there, how can you capture the Clow Card if you have to pilot the two suits?"

"That is where Heero comes in," stated Duo. "A while back, Heero had us install auxiliary chairs behind the pilot seats inside the cockpits. It will be a little cramped, but each of us can take a single passenger into space to find and capture the Clow Card."

"I call one of the seats!" shouted Minako, surprising everyone.

"What do you mean, Minako-chan?" asked Duo.

"I'm saying that I want to be the one who gets to ride with you and go into space," Minako answered. Everyone was so surprised that she processed the news of Duo and Heero's Gundams so quickly and was so quick to state that she wanted to see space, that nobody really knew what to say.

"I guess Sakura-san has to be the other one," said Eriol in a composed tone of voice. "Since only Yuy and Sakura-san have the ability to capture the Clow Cards, and Yuy has to pilot one of those things, Sakura is going to have to handle the capturing."

At the mention of Sakura's name, everyone turned to look at the auburn haired girl, and were startled to see that she didn't seem to be paying attention to their conversation at all. Instead she was just staring blankly at Heero. In much the same way, Heero didn't look like he noticed that anyone besides Sakura was present either. It looked almost as if the couple were talking to one another without saying a single word.

"Why didn't you tell me, Heero-kun?"

"I wasn't sure what your reaction would be and I didn't want to risk loosing you."

"Do you really not trust me that much?"

"I trust you with all my heart. I just don't trust myself or my past."

"I wouldn't have abandoned you just because of things you had to do in the past."

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san. I should have had more faith in you."

"So when you said earlier that you weren't proud of your past, what types of things did you have to do?"

"I have been the cause of a number of tragedies across the planet. We were sent to clean up military messes around the world, but the result of our actions caused a number of people to loose their lives. I just don't want to be responsible for terminating the lives of any more people than I already have."

"There wasn't some other way to fix the situations that wouldn't have resulted in the loss of life?"

"Ever since I was young, I was trained to be an emotionless perfect soldier. I was taught everything from battle tactics to exercises to increase my physical abilities. I was also put through psychological training to make my mind devoid of any type of human kindness and caring about the loss of life of others."

"I know you seem serious at times, but I have never seen you come to a point where you would be willing to kill people."

"I am a different person now than I used to be. The training had a flaw somewhere in its design. They were unable to completely rid my heart of the feelings of kindness. They only managed to bottle them up. However, while I was fighting out on the battlefield, the training did suffice. I killed numerous soldiers and terrorists without a second thought. It wasn't until I made a grave mistake that my feelings began to show themselves."

"What went wrong?"

"I screwed up a mission. I miscalculated my attack and was responsible for the loss of innocent bystanders. Normally this probably wouldn't have affected me in the way that it did, but before the mission I met this little girl and her puppy. She was happy and care-free despite the fact that she lived in a war ridden nation. Later that night, when I undertook my mission, I made a miscalculation with the explosives and was responsible for killing the little girl, her puppy, and all the others living in the civilian apartment building. I was retrained after that incident, and continued to act in the way I was supposed to. It wasn't until I met you that my psychological training has finally failed in its entirety. You reminded me of the little girl who's life I unintentionally stole, and I promised myself that I would do whatever was necessary to protect you."

"I can't even begin to imagine what type's of hardships you must have gone through in your life, Heero-kun. But I promise you, I won't leave anytime soon." With that final thought, Sakura walked over to where Heero was standing, unaware that all the others were watching the two of them, and pulled him into a tight embrace and a long passionate kiss. When the couple ended their kiss, Sakura finally took notice of the fact that everyone else's eyes were glued onto her. This made her blush and she buried her head in Heero's chest to escape the embarrassment. It wasn't that the others had never seen them kiss before, but Sakura and Heero also seemed to make it a point not to kiss very often in public where other could see them. The fact that Sakura had just walked up and given a long kiss to Heero without even thinking of hiding it, made her embarrassed to no end.

Everyone laughed a little at the sight of the uncomfortable Sakura hiding in Heero's arms, thankful that the situation had lightened a little. Although the mood was nowhere as serious as it had been previously, the group did decide that it was time to get down to business. "So Sakura-san," started Eriol. "As we were saying earlier, we think it is best if you and Aino-san go with Yuy and Maxwell to go capture the Card."

"How?" asked Sakura who hadn't been paying attention to the previous conversation and therefore didn't know about the auxiliary seats in the cockpits.

Eriol sighed when he realized that Sakura hadn't been listening at all earlier. "Each of those Gundam things have a second seat in the cockpit so that Yuy and Maxwell can each take a single extra passenger. Aino-san already said that she wants to go with Maxwell, and since Yuy needs to pilot his suit, you have to go with him to do the actual capture." Sakura nodded in understanding now that she was fully briefed on the entire situation.

"I have a question," said Ami. "If the Clow Card is as high as I think it is, there won't be any oxygen in the air up there. Do your Gundams have some type of oxygen storage and breathing system?"

"They do," said Heero. "But when we are in space we always wear spacesuits in the cockpit just in case something goes wrong. Duo and I each have our own suits, but if Aino-san and Sakura-san are coming along, then we'll need to make some new ones."

"I don't think we have time to make them the traditional way," said Syaoran. "It's probably best if you just make a couple with the Create Card, Sakura."

"Here's a suit to base the design on," said Duo as he jumped up to Deathscythe's cockpit and pulled out his suit.

"I want to help!" exclaimed Tomoyo. "Can I design your suits, Sakura-chan? Please?" Sakura had already figured that Tomoyo would say something like that and just smiled and nodded to her best friend. Tomoyo's eyes lit up when Sakura said ok to her request. "Thank you, Sakura-chan!"

"Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" When Sakura's wand released from its pendant form, she also pulled out a single Sakura Card. "Create!" When the Create Card released, Sakura ordered it to follow the instructions of Tomoyo for creating a spacesuit. The Card waited momentarily for Tomoyo to do some quick, but very skilled, sketches of what she wanted the two spacesuits to look like.

When Tomoyo was finally finished giving the Create Card all of her very detailed instructions, two new spacesuits appeared in front of the group and the Create Card returned to card form. Both suits were almost identical to the one Duo had pulled out of his Gundam in basic design, but Tomoyo had added a few personal touches to each. Minako's suit was yellow instead of the black of Duo's suit. It was trimmed in a pretty orange color and had a few small red roses adorning the helmet and along one of the arms. Sakura's suit was pink, of course. Tomoyo had always thought pink looked best on Sakura so she had made her suit pink. It turned out that Heero's suit was white, so the pink made a good companion to it. Sakura's suit was pretty much the same as Minako's but instead of the orange trim, hers was white and instead of the roses on her suit, Sakura had cherry blossoms. Overall, Tomoyo was impressed with the skill of the Create Card, and all the others were impressed that Tomoyo had been able to think of the design of the suits in such detail in such a short amount of time.

After Sakura and Minako managed to get into their new spacesuits, Heero jumped up into the cockpit of Wing ZERO. He was about to release the cable to allow Sakura an easy trip up to the cockpit when he noticed her following his example and jumping from the foot to the leg of the mobile suit, before doing a flip and landing smoothly right in front of the startled Gundam pilot. Sakura noticed Heero's amazement and giggled before grabbing him around the neck for a good luck hug before finding her way to the auxiliary chair inside Wing ZERO.

Similar to Sakura, Minako followed Duo's lead and jumped into the cockpit of Deathscythe. Duo wasn't nearly as surprised that Minako made the jump to the cockpit as Heero had been that Sakura made it, since Minako was still in Senshi form. He knew from watching Ami and Minako fight that when in Senshi form they had far superior physical skills than they did when in normal form. "You're lucky you aren't going with Heero," said Duo once Minako got herself positioned and buckled into her chair.

"Why is that?"

"Wing ZERO has this messed up cockpit system. It screws with your head. He's learned to control it, but I hope he warns Sakura-san before starting up the system."

After helping Sakura get as comfortably seated as possible in the cramped second seat of Wing ZERO, Heero knelt down and looked her straight in the eyes. "Sakura-san," he began. "I have to warn you about this suit." Sakura was a little confused at what Heero was talking about and it showed in her facial expression. "This suit utilizes a cockpit system called the ZERO System. It connects the mobile suit directly to the mind of the pilot. It helps with the control and reaction time of the pilot, but it isn't perfectly designed. There is a flaw. It has a tendency to mess with the head of the pilot, making them act out of character to an extent. I have mastered using this system so it doesn't effect me any longer, but I want to warn you before we leave so you can try to fight anything it might try to do to you. I promised that I would protect you, and I plan to do the same when it comes to this system. I have never had two people in the cockpit at once, so I'm not sure how it will react to a second mind, but I promise you that I will protect you from anything it makes you feel."

Sakura was a little worried about the ZERO System after Heero's statements. She knew he wouldn't have mentioned it unless it was important, but she also had faith that he would find a way to keep her out of any type of trouble. "I trust in you, Heero-kun." Heero gave Sakura a smile and kissed her quickly before settling himself into the pilot seat.

"ZERO," said Heero very softly under his breath. "Please take care of her." His request made to his Gundam, Heero let his hands fly over the numerous numbers of controls, closing the door to the cockpit and starting up the giant machine. The cockpit lit up in a yellow glow, signaling the starting up of all the systems, including the ZERO System. From outside, the rest of the group could only watch in awe as the two mobile suits stood up to their full height and stretched out their wings. The white wings of Wing ZERO spread out extremely wide to the sides and the black wings of Deathscythe unwrapped themselves from around the suit and locked into place behind it. Right before powering up their engines, the six on the ground could see the eyes of each mobile suite turn a bright green. "Are you ready, Sakura-san?"

"Hai."

"Here we go." Heero pulled back on the throttle of the suit, causing the engines under each wing to jump to full power, creating a gust of wind and dust outside. Heero then pulled on the controls and the gigantic wings flapped once and the mobile suite lifted off into the sky, doing a number of twists and turns before righting itself and hovering in the air waiting for Duo. A moment after Heero took off, Duo did the same. Putting the engine mounted on the back of the suit to full power, Deathscythe took off in a flash and shot straight up in the sky heading towards Heero's position. The other six just stared up from the ground in awe. They figured the mobile suits must be advanced, but had just been unable to picture the speed and agility the giant machines showed.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura when Wing ZERO stopped to a hover after the acrobatic takeoff. "That was great! This is so much fun."

Heero couldn't help but chuckle at the cuteness of the amused Sakura sitting behind him. "You haven't seen anything yet," said Heero with a laugh. Before Sakura could either protest or question, Heero took Wing ZERO to the max. Powering up the suit to full speed and using all his reflexes and piloting skills, Heero sent Wing ZERO into a series of almost physically impossible stunts, exciting screams, laughs, and cheers out of Sakura. He didn't spend too much time using ZERO to entertain his girlfriend however, and soon stopped flying tricks in the sky and stopped his suit next to where Duo was hovering in the sky. "Ready to get down to business everyone?" Heero asked to Sakura and to Duo and Minako over the intercom.

"Let's get this show on the road," came Duo's answer through the speakers in Heero's cockpit. In a flash, the engines mounted on the back of each suit both powered up fully and the two suits flew through the night sky.

With the speed of the Wing ZERO and Deathscythe, it wasn't long before Heero and Sakura began to feel the presence of the Clow Card. The two Gundams shot through the sky, eventually flying through the Earth's atmosphere and out of the layer of magically controlled darkness. On several occasions Duo had asked Heero and Sakura if they were sure they hadn't passed where they wanted to go. Based on the distance they had traveled, Heero and Sakura could understand why Duo thought they had gone too far. However, the higher they got, both magicians could clearly feel the power getting stronger and closer.

The entire flight, Sakura was filled with many conflicting emotions. She was feeling a mixture of intrigue, worry, and caring with regards to Heero and his troubled past. Surprisingly, she wasn't frightened of what Heero had done in his past, nor of what he was obviously capable of doing again in the future. She was more worried that Heero was going to close up emotionally again, and try to distance himself from her. She could tell Heero was still uncomfortable that she now knew about his past, and was worried that he felt the best way to protect her would be to leave. She also had mixed feelings about the mission they were currently undertaking. Sakura was genuinely excited and mesmerized by the fact that she was actually in space. Her attention was always shifting from the many visual monitors surrounding her, that allowed her to see the beautiful site of Earth and space, and the ever increasing power of the Clow Card. The strength of the Clow Card was beginning to scare the cute teen card captor. When she and Heero had first picked up the feeling of the Clow Card, it had already been almost as powerful as the four elemental cards, and as they kept getting closer, the power just kept increasing.

When the two Gundams finally stopped their ascent into space, they were high enough to allow a gorgeous breathtaking view of the entire planet. They had stopped when Heero and Sakura had felt the new Clow Card's energy finally reach its peak. The power was almost twice as powerful as the Light and Dark Cards, and that fact frightened Sakura immensely and even had Heero a little worried. Heero, Sakura, and especially Minako, who hadn't trained much in enhancing her magical skills, were having a little trouble pinpointing the exact location of the Clow Card because the amount of power it was emanating was so great.

It took some effort, and a lot of concentration, but Heero and Sakura had finally managed to narrow the location of the Clow Card down to a small area and all four passengers of the two mighty Gundams were looking carefully at the numerous displays in each cockpit for any sign of the Clow Card. It turned out that they didn't need to look very carefully, for when the Clow Card did decide to show itself, it was impossible to miss. In a flash of light and a surge of power that was so bright and strong that Ami, Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Ranma all saw and felt it back on Earth, the Clow Card's physical form appeared before them.

Author's Notes:

This chapter requires a good deal of explanations in regards to the Gundam Wing portion. Since it would be impossible to incorporate the correct Gundam Wing timeline into this story, I had to make one up instead. The basic history of the Gundams is this: Instead of coming from the colonies (which don't exist in my story) the Gundams are military weapons that settle disputes on the Earth sphere. After they had taken care of the problems of the Earth, the pilots took their Gundams and hid them so they couldn't be used for selfish purposes. In regards to the other characters from the Gundam Wing saga, I had to change a few details here and there with them too. Quatre is still the head of the Winner Family Business just like in the anime series, but instead of it being based in outer space, it is a Earth based organization. Relena is once again the Princess of the Sanc Kingdom and will remain that way throughout my story. Milliardo Peacecraft is also alive and by this time is married to Noin. The Tallgeese in my story is the Tallgeese III (also from Endless Waltz in case anyone was wondering) and the Taurus that Noin has is the white Taurus from the series (the one in Endless Waltz is pretty much exactly the same as the one in the regular series) and is the only mobile suit besides the Tallgeese and Gundams that was ever built. Now that that is settled, I again want to say I'm sorry for taking so long to post this latest chapter. It is not finished yet, Chapter 9 Part IV is still in the works, but I'm trying to finish it as quickly as possible, but decided to upload Chapter 9 Parts I-III early. By the way, to the people who have read my story already and are just reading the updated new chapters, I made a few minor changes in the first 8 chapters, including adding comments on the bottom of each section. Nothing major though. Sorry this Author's Notes is so long, but I'm done now. Part IV will be out as soon as I can manage it!