A/N: Thanks for the reviews and those who weighed in. Though cross-dressing didn't show up in this chapter, there's a good chance it will show up at some point, so keep an eye out! Enjoy.

Heero didn't look very happy to be leaving me by myself, but to his credit he did go. I stuffed the wig he'd given me into my bag and tossed it over my shoulder, wincing a little as it struck one of the larger bruises on my back on the way down. I hadn't been lying before; I really was fine for the most part. It was only when I forgot and tried to do something without thinking that anything really hurt. But I wasn't about to share that with him; he wouldn't let me do anything if he knew, and that included coming on this mission. I'd never imagined that Heero could be such a mother hen, but he really was. In some ways it was kind of endearing to have someone worry about me that way, but in other ways it was stifling because I wasn't used to it. I needed a little time to myself and the need for a disguise was providing me with the perfect opportunity.

I took a different trail that would lead me straight into the town. The first thing I did was pull out my baseball cap and tug it low over my face. People rarely paid attention to teens that didn't stand out and I knew I'd be no exception. No one spared me a second glance as I walked towards the main street, where most of the shops were located. I was trying to think of some way to disguise myself on a more long-term basis, since I didn't know how long that Heero and I would be at the school for. That was the one problem with my hair that I would admit to: it made disguises a tough thing to handle. It was so long that it was nearly impossible to dye; it would take several boxes and several hours longer than I had. That left a wig, but not the blond one that would look awful.

I kept walking, searching for inspiration, aware that time was ticking. If I didn't make it back to the school in less than a couple of hours I'd be in trouble with both Heero and the administration. I stopped and reached into my bag, pulling out the identification papers that Heero had given me. As usual, we'd been set up under false names. I had been set up under Alex Smith and he was Kenji Chiko. There was additional information about where Alex was from - the bare bones that the school would have required when it came to falsifying records - but that was it. It was pretty much a blank slate for me to build upon, which was both a good and bad thing, really.

The easiest thing for me to do would be to disguise myself as a girl. Yes, I said easy. I'd done it before, as a child, and I couldn't see it being much different now with the right accessories. Alex was a gender ambiguous name, after all. But I was reluctant to do it. First of all, I hated the thought of anyone seeing me that way, much less Heero or - gods forbid - the other pilots. Secondly, I had a distinct memory of Heero promising that the two of us would be sharing a room at this school and I desperately wanted that to happen. There was no way the administration would allow a boy and a "girl" to share a room no matter how much Heero worked on the records. I'd do it if there was no other way, but I wouldn't be very happy about it.

My eyes lit on a costume store and I wandered a little closer. The uniform to the school would make me look different; no one would expect a fellow student to be a terrorist in disguise, so that would be one thing in my favour. If I could change the color of my eyes with contacts, that would help even more, and they probably wouldn't be too expensive. My hair would be the hardest part but if I pinned it into a couple of different sections, I might be able to get a wig on. I cast a derisive glance at my backpack. Provided I had the right one, of course. It wouldn't be perfect, probably far from it, but I'd have to do the best that I could.

It took me a couple of hours to gather everything that I needed. The local costume store sold contacts for a couple hundred credits a pack. They were the "in thing" right then and no one looked twice at me buying them. I got brown, hoping that the natural color would make me stand out less. They were also a bitch to put in. By the time I was finished, my eyes were full of tears from accidentally poking myself and I'd scared away a couple of other customers because I was swearing so much. But finally - they were in and they didn't look too bad, even if it was eerie to look into the mirror and see brown eyes staring back at me.

I took my hair out of its braid and re-braided it into three different sections. From there it was a relatively simple matter to pin my hair close to my scalp and pull a wig over it. This one was made from deep brown hair that was closer to my natural coloring, but lacked any hint of auburn. It looked much better than the blond would have, I knew. I slipped it on and then used a couple of extra pins to fix it in place, using the braids underneath as anchor points to make sure it stayed in place. Not the best job I'd ever done, but it would do for a school.

Since it was getting late, I didn't do anything else. I just grabbed my bag and left. The grounds were empty by the time I got there and I knew I was late. I'd probably hear about it from Heero later on. Maybe I could distract him before he got well into the lecture. It was a pleasing idea and I smirked to myself as I strolled into the school and made my way down to where the central office was located. The secretary didn't have a chance. I'd had a lot of practice at being charming with people, and a few winks and she was putty in my hands. She practically fell over herself to get me a set of spare uniforms and lead to my dorm room.

I recognized Heero's stuff as soon I walked in (excellent) but I didn't have time to appreciate it. I changed quickly into the new uniform and followed her down to where the classrooms were located. They were already in session and the teacher glared at us when the secretary opened the door. I gave him my best smile but he didn't seem to be affected, just gave me a cold glance and accepted the information that the secretary gave him, though whether that because he saw the bruising and assumed I was a trouble-maker or because I was late, I wasn't sure. Heero was also glaring at me from the back of the class. Feel the love, honestly.

"This is our second new student, Alex Smith," the teacher announced. "I hope you'll have a better sense of punctuality from now on, Mr Smith."

Because I was late, then. "I'll try," I said, sweeping my gaze out over the class. It looked to be about half girls and half boys, which was fine. But then I noticed who was sitting at the back of the room right beside Heero. It was Relena! My jaw dropped and it took considerable effort to drag it back up. What the fuck was she doing here?

"You can sit over there beside the window. Try to keep up."

I walked over to the indicated seat in a daze. Part of me was relieved that he hadn't put me beside Relena and Heero, but another part of me wanted desperately to stake my claim. I could feel at least one set of eyes boring into my shoulder and risked a quick look. Heero was facing the front of the room like a good little student, but Relena was giving me the once over. There was suspicion in her face and I knew she knew that I wasn't just an average student. The timing was too coincidental. I raised an eyebrow at her and adopted my best "why are you staring at me?" look. She must have taken the hint because abruptly her cheeks coloured pink and she glanced hastily away.

The class went by agonizingly slowly. To be honest, I wasn't really paying a lot of attention. Most of this stuff seemed to be pretty pointless. What good was knowing about some old, dead poet or what oxygen was on the periodic table when there was a war going on? It wasn't going to help me avoid getting shot. I leaned my head on my arm and struggled to look like I was interested, but in the process I noticed that the attention of most of my classmates had long since wandered. Heero, who was actually diligently writing down the notes, stood out more than I did. The thought made me smirk at first, but just as quickly it made me sad. It still bothered me that Heero had never been given the chance to act like a normal kid. I mean, none of us had, not really, but it was especially noticeable with him. At least I'd had the gang and knew how to connect with people. Well, sometimes.

As soon as the first break came Relena was out of her seat and charging towards me. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Hello."

"Hello," I said back. Everyone was looking at us and it would've seemed odd if I had blatantly ignored her. The whole point was to not draw extra attention. I did my best to act like I didn't hate her guts and forced a smile. "Can I help you?"

"I just wanted to welcome you to the school, that's all," Relena replied, holding her hand out. I looked down at it and reluctantly took it. She tightened her grip instantly and I couldn't help being amused by the fact that she was actually trying to intimidate me. It was almost cute, in a way.

"Thank you. I'm pleased to be here," I said shortly, dropping her hand as soon as I could. The temptation to invoke just a little of Shinigami's power and make her drop dead on the spot was just too much.

"I'll bet you are," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly. She stood there for a second later and it was obvious that there was a lot more she wanted to say, but she couldn't figure out how to do it without drawing extra attention to us. We were already the focus of the rest of the class. Even Heero was glancing at us and I could see a worry line across his forehead. I had to wonder if he was more concerned about me losing it or Relena.

I'll say this much for Relena: she knew when to cut her losses. She spun on her heel with a flip of her blonde hair and stalked back to her seat, flouncing into it with a huff. I turned back to my books, my heart racing. I felt like I had just passed some major test, but I was certain that it was only the first of many. I knew that Relena recognized me and she would probably make my life a living hell as soon as she found out I was rooming with Heero. And if she discovered just how our relationship had progressed, I'd have to start sleeping with one eye open. There was no doubt in my mind that Relena Darlian could be a dangerous girl when it came to things she wanted, and she'd probably never wanted anything in her life as much as she wanted Heero.

Class was boring for the rest of the morning. As soon as lunch arrived I was out of my seat and out the door without waiting for anyone else to get up. I knew that Heero would want to talk to me, so I started making my way back down towards our dormitory. I should've figured that he wouldn't be the only one. Relena could move fast when she wanted to. She was waiting outside of our door, arms folded, leaning against it in a way that told me no one was inside. She wouldn't have risked someone opening the door and causing her to fall backwards. Too much of a chance that someone passing by might see her in such an ungraceful position. I stopped a few feet away and folded my arms, staring at her until she looked up at me.

"Can I help you?" I repeated my words from earlier.

"It would probably be better if we spoke inside," she said, cutting each word off sharply. I didn't really want to bring her into the room, but she was right: any conversation between us was probably best had in private. I took the key out of my pocket and unlocked the door. Relena marched inside without waiting for an invitation, which was probably best considering that I was loathe to give one to her. I closed the door behind us and leaned against it.

"What do you want, Relena?"

"I want to know what you're doing here," she retorted, spinning to face me.

"Why do you think I'm here? It's not like I would chose a school as a fun place to hang out," I retorted, exasperated. I folded my arms and scowled. "For that matter, I could ask the same thing as you. How the hell did you even know that Heero and I would be here?"

Her expression became smug in a matter of seconds. She clearly enjoyed putting one over on me. "That's for me to know, thank you very much."

"Are you following us?" I asked suspiciously.

"No. Honestly, I've been waiting here for you for weeks," she snapped. "I knew Heero was supposed to be here ages ago but I didn't think it would take this long. Do you know what it's like to be surrounded by a bunch of kids all the time? I had started to think that he wasn't coming at all." A dreamy look came over her face. "But then he showed up and he was so pleased to see me."

By pleased, I assumed she meant revolted. "You do realize that you're putting him in danger, right?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. "Every moment you're here draws more attention to us and you're not helping by clinging to him the way you do. People will start looking at him more closely and if someone even suspects that they know who he is, they'll call Oz. I rescued them last time, Relena. I don't know that we'll be so lucky a second time around. If you really cared about Heero, you would leave right now. Leave and not approach him again until the war is over."

Relena bristled. "And what about you?" she threw back. "What are you doing? Like you're not putting him just as much danger as I am? They had your face all over the television network, Maxwell. If someone figured you out then Heero would come under suspicion for rooming with you. What would happen then, huh? How long would it be before someone figured things out?"

I didn't want to admit it but her words made me feel cold. "Relena - "

"No, you know I'm right!" She planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. "You're just being a hypocrite, that's all. You talk about me like I don't care about keeping Heero safe when you're every bit as bad as I am. Heero could die because of you."

My mouth snapped shut and I just stared at her for a long moment in silence, uncertain of how to respond. Maybe it was better that I didn't say anything, because a minute later the door opened and Heero walked in. He looked at us, surprised, and then his expression became wary as he registered the tension. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Heero," said Relena, shooting me an icy look. "Duo and I were just having a chat, that's all."

"Relena, you can't call us by our real names," Heero told her. "You'll get us into trouble."

"Yeah and I would hate to do something that might deliberately put you into danger," she said softly. "I have to go eat some lunch. Why don't you come with me, Kenji?"

"You go ahead. I'll catch up."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear, judging by the pout on her face, but she went. Heero moved over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. "Is there something I should know about?"

"No," I said weakly. It was the truth. There was no need for Heero to know about this. I dropped my gaze so that I wouldn't have to look into his eyes. Relena's words had made me feel sick somewhere deep inside where I couldn't reach. I couldn't shake the lingering feeling that she was right. The only question was, what was I going to do about it?

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