Chapter 36: Graduation Day
"Abdul----you're late." Rashid's greeting to his fellow Maguanac Corp member was almost as threatening as the tall, dark leader's eyes. Abdul gulps down behind his circular shades, wishing today would already get started with, so it could end all the quicker.
A thousand curses on your moustache and your fezz as well, Achmed! What I haven't put up with this morning with that evil-eyed one! And now the Captain is angered with me as well? Curses! All because of that devil herself!
"We...um...ran into some...difficulties with the cargo." Abdul tries to gently explain as he steps out of the limo's driver's side. His eyes behind the dark glasses roll as his head motions towards the bulging tied down trunk of the extra-large limousine.
"Oh, did you?" Rashid's deep voice conveyed his own understanding of Dorothy Catalonia, aka as "Viper woman" to them; and everything undesirable that came with her spider-like territory. But as both he and Abdul peer through the little crack in the limo's driver to passenger area peephole, it seemed to both of them that the master didn't find the despicable woman undesirable at all.
In fact, it seemed quite the opposite...
Dorothy's incessant chattering all along the drive were halted it seemed, somewhere along the way. Quatre Raberba Winner's eyes and lips were all too eager, though she was able to snake out of his arms and kiss as the limo door was yanked open by Master Quatre's greatest defender from clutching feminine claws.
Rashid almost growls audibly at the sight of the wicked eyed Senator's claws dug firmly into his 'master's' bare arms as she tries to get away.
"Kindly remove your hands from my person, Quatre Raberba Winner." Dorothy Catalonia's voice was flustered to say the least. She felt rather...mortified...to have the Winner heir's 'little trained minions' gawking at her in such an embarrassing state of discomfort as she bats away the remainder of Quatre's arms around her.
"My expensive, needing to be very gently handled luggage---which is 24 carat gold plated---is in the boot of this---ahem---limo. See to its safe loading on board your vessel and send it directly to my room. That's where I'll be for most of this...blessed ride." Dorothy Catalonia's refined and purposeful, methodical way of life was going through quite a rollercoaster ride of its own. Neither her screaming mind nor her thumping heart knew quite what to make of the meek looking Master Winner's sudden transformation into a manly...man, in the past 24 hours.
His smooth-talking, inviting lips and hands during the last two minutes the limo drive was unexpected, unsettling------and absolutely driving her mad.
Of all the conceited, arrogant----ooh! That man! Who does he think he is to touch me like that! Just because I allowed him to kiss me before doesn't mean he can just take liberties! I can't wait for this all to be over and I can go back to being me.
"Let's get this over with!" Filled with dutiful scorn, Dorothy erupts from the open car door. "Get out of my way, Ramid!" With a rudely, royal thrust of her hand to his tall, towering form shadowing her path, she tosses her long blonde hair over her shoulder. It glimmered in the bright sunlight and followed her, as Senator Dorothy Catalonia marches up the shuttlecraft's entrance plank as if she owned the joint---and perhaps someday...she would.
Handsome billionaire Quatre Raberba Winner steps out from the limousine watching her breathtaking trail until she disappears; to him, the sunlight seemed to disappear with her.
"Are you sure about this, Master Quatre?" Rashid's low voice didn't even have to say it, but he does anyway. The thought 'let's leave this viper woman here on Earth and just go without her' was written on his every dark, and growing darker, feature.
"Oh, yes." Quatre's softest voice was almost wistful, yet firmly strong in his conviction as clear aqua eyes meet Rashid's grim ones. "I'm absolutely sure about her."
Gingerly touching the traces of fresh ruby red lipstick still on his lips, the hopeless romantic Quatre was could still smell the scent of her overpowering perfume encompassing the closed interior of the limousine. He blamed it for his lack of control in stealing another kiss at the last moment from the woman he now knew he was in love with.
"The soul of outer space tells me she's the one." Quatre's undaunted dreamy expression whispers as he trails the 'evil' senator, bounding up the shuttle's plank. It was enough to make Abdul's jaw drop. Rashid merely rolls his eyes, resigning himself to this most unpleasant of missions now.
All because of that viper woman's witchcraft over you. 'The soul of outer space?' Not that again...
Rashid's eyes roll straight up towards the ominous space they were about to embark upon. Outer space was a very dark place today, indeed.
It wasn't only Rashid who was of that opinion right about now. A dark, gloomy haze was about to fall over one poor man upon his own hurried return to outer space.
The first step this orphan No-Name took back again on the soil of this Colony that was not his home was in anxious hope of nothing more than to see her sweet face again.
He races as fast as his long stride would take him, to hear her cute voice call out his name, singing all the while, as she would grab hold of his arm in her dainty hands. She would then brush back feminine tears of joy at seeing him again, saying over and over how much she had missed and worried over him. Then she would jauntily swirl her curled hair to and fro, giddily greeting him with all the happy talk abuzz at such a pleasant, joyful place as a circus.
However---
"Oh, Trowa! You're back...so soon..." Cathrine Bloom's usually high-strung voice was not that at all today. Her pretty face turns colors with something like...guilt...as she offhandedly--too quickly---gives Trowa Barton a hesitant greeting, diverting her lovely purple eyes as she looks down.
Now Trowa knew that his Cathy was having a bit of a hard time accepting their new relationship, just starting to bloom from the brother/sister sibling thing she had going on in her mind before. But the way Cathrine was acting now was way too much for even that.
None of her teary eyed, hysterical blubbering at his dangerous mission's return---no making him 'promise' not to ever do it again in that worried 'big sister' voice---no incessant chattering that generally followed either or both of which.
Nope.
Just her hands behind her back, her head hung, and diverted eyes that told Trowa only her total feeling of shamed guilt at something he had no idea of---but was now about to find out...
"Hi, Cathy. What's going on here?" Trowa lets his attention follow Cathrine's guilt-ridden gaze across the flat grassland of this L3 Colony that Manager was given a permit to run and park his Circus tent and troupe upon. The troupe itself was growing thinner and thinner of late. The life of an interplanetary travelling Circus didn't draw either the adoring crowds looking for thrills or the talented performers willing to be over-worked, over-travelled and under-paid by this skinflint of a manager, who always seemed more interested in his live animals and their well-cared for trainers, than the human performers.
The lions, the monkeys, trick bears---they never complained of over-grueling work or about raises in salaries. Nor did they bellyache of suitable living arrangements. No, they were perfectly content as long as their cages were kept clean, their food was ample and on time, and they were well-treated.
Manager was liking the live animal side of the circus more and more as compared to the troublesome riffraff and untalented vagabonds who were traipsing in and out of his circus nowadays.
If only I could run this Circus with the animals as the main attraction. After all, the children are the folks who belong to the circus and they love the animals most of all. Sometimes, if it weren't for good kids like Cathrine and Trowa...
Manager's hopeful, greying eyes come back from his AA&A (All Animals & Acrobats) Circus dreams to spy out his window at where those said couple of kids were strolling together in the dusty path leading to Manager's 'office.' (Three crates piled together--one atop another in the back of the campgrounds, amidst the peace of lions, tigers and bear cages. Oh my!)
It seemed that it was only here with the animals, far away from the hustle and bustle of the quarreling at scheduling and financial bookings in the broad daylight, that Manager could find serenity as he works beside the big top.
But even his prized acrobat and almost daughterly knife-throwing star, who were walking this way, were about to disturb his five minutes of peace from the sound of their conversation that both he and the lion pick up on the wind.
'Girl' raises his befurred head with a grumble from the slumber he was enjoying at his wrestling partner's sudden troubled words. The lion looks to his keeper---to find Manager's 'throne' of crates deserted. His treasured schedule book fell flat to the ground.
"...I don't have a trailer anymore...?" Trowa's voice is unusually taken off his guard at Cathrine's guilty explanation of why the entire camp that Trowa had left intact only a day or two ago was all moved and quite empty looking. Wheel wagon tracks and dug out posts in the ground were all that was left remaining in the place where Trowa's own makeshift trailer once stood.
"Well...now that you mention it...no." Cathrine was doing her darndest from offerings of practice to lunch to a quick soup treat, to keep Trowa from walking towards the spot where only a big, empty space of air now stood in the place of his trailer.
Sure, it was beat up and old---and half rotting away in some weather-worn spots, especially the creaky and cracked non-existent stair entrance---but what did those little obstacles matter to a skilled aerobat who required neither steps nor guardrails? A flipped out spin every morning to invigorate the soul did the trick! But even skilled acrobats needed a bed and a roof over their head.
Trowa didn't begrudge Manager for selling it out from under him after he had left so suddenly, but----
His knapsack falls to the ground in a pile of depressed dust.
"You see, Trowa. The morning after you left, there was an unexpected visit from a health inspector. He went around the tent and every one of our trailers! Sneaking about and squirreling for health hazards or regulation violations----or some big words like that. Manager almost went into a conniption fit when that weasel of an inspector condemned your trailer. Just because that stupid man tripped and fell out the door on his face! He didn't give it the jump---like you usually do, you know. And then he said that your trailer 'fell way under the Red Cross' mandatory rules for health conditions.'" Cathrine prattles on and on as Trowa stares at her and big, empty hole with blinking eyes.
"...Then the local authorities took possession of it the next day! It's out of our hands now." Cathrine makes a sad face as she meets Trowa's disbelieving eyes for the first time since she saw him again. "Manager was soooo angry, but I told him that you could live in my place again! Even if you don't have amnesia anymore---it wouldn't be so bad...would it?...Trowa? Did you hear me?" Cathrine looks over at her companion with her most hopeful, most pleasant smile. It fades when Trowa's own face falls into self-loathing as a dark gloom descends over his entire being.
"Of course, if you want a new one, all you have to do is tell Manager." Cathrine keeps on the pasted, smiley face as she drags the depressed man over to her own trailer. She parts the lacy, flowery curtain hanging over her trailer's front door and pulls Trowa into its homey feel.
From the pink lace covering over the standard issue couch seats, to the lavender wall-papered interior, every corner of this tiny trailer exuded Cathrine Bloom's personality---her look, her scent...
And those were all reasons why Trowa didn't feel comfortable at the thought of living in her trailer anymore. Maybe before they could. But not now---now that Cathrine was his----
"I've been thinking about this for a long time." Cathrine begins giggling nervously as she quickly scoops up one discarded purple brassiere on the countertop as she almost bangs her head on the low ceiling with her rushed, harried movements.
"I know of course, it's a little small and narrow, but I try to keep it tidy and..." Cathrine's head swivels back and forth as she looks for some good points to point out about her little home. But right now, she was having quite a hard time to find any. "Ummmm, if you don't want to though..." She shamefacedly hangs her head again.
"No, it's not that." Trowa dismisses her red-faced shame with a head shake. "It's just...this...This is all right with you, Cathrine?" He asks, growing more insecure with each word.
"Oh? Was I too hasty? Of course, it won't always be like when you were living with me when you had amnesia..." Cathrine tries to justify herself, proving only to confuse both of them.
"...Why are you mentioning that now?" Trowa's face sweatdrops. The crux of the entire sticky situation came out of Cathrine's lip glossed mouth even if she herself wasn't aware of it.
"...Hmmm...I don't know why I said that exactly myself." She sweatdrops in turn and they stare at each other for a long moment.
Trowa turns to leave her trailer.
"...Trowa?" Cathy asks.
"Look, I'm not your brother and I can't ever be comfortable with this." He states emotionlessly. "I guess I should stay as far away as possible---outside."
The door closes behind his almost chilly, almost disappointed, words.
"Huh?" Cathrine blushes, knowing only that she did something terribly wrong.
"Trowa!" She just didn't know exactly what that was.
Out in the crisp, sunsetting air, Trowa Barton looks up to the sky with a regretful sigh.
"Why is it Cathrine doesn't understand how I feel for her?" He whispers so low that it was inaudible to all, save for one wizened old creature.
Grr?
Girl looks up to his 'master' and human partner with a quizzical look on its fuzzy face. He sticks his big, wet nose out of the cage and Trowa smiles at his friend's uncanny understanding of his emotions all the time.
I guess that's why I come to you with all my troubles, old friend.
"I'm going to be staying with you for a while." Trowa pets the furry mane and leathery nose with a small smile. "My 'sister's' going through a lot of trouble to take care of me." Trowa ends that statement with a big sigh.
"A lot of trouble." He repeats absently, scratching behind the lion's listening ear. Girl looks Trowa in the eye with what anyone would swear was a fatherly understanding gaze.
"It's tough being a man..." The human male says aloud as the lion male nods in total agreement.
My amnesia---everything's come back since then...But maybe she doesn't feel the same way about me as I do about her. To me, Cathrine is...
CLICK!
The double door leading to the 'dangerous' caged animal section clangs open and closed again. The woman on Trowa's every thought walks up to the lion's cage, the expression on her face hidden.
PLUNK!
Cathrine plunks her bottom on the ground beside where Trowa was kneeling. Neither look at each other.
"I'm sorry, Trowa. It was selfish of me to assume that you would want to live with me, and I could treat you like my brother." Cathrine confesses. Her heart was heavy and her eyes drawn. "After you got your memory back, I...I didn't think you wouldn't want to be with me anymore. But...that's what's happening, isn't it, Trowa?"
"No, that's not it." Trowa says simply, taking her chin firmly in his fingers and looking into her eyes.
"I...I thought I'd make dinner for you, but you probably don't want me to..." Cathrine pulls her eyes from Trowa's green ones. She felt a strange blush crawl up her body at his touch.
Trowa's eyes continue to bore right through her and Cathrine wondered if he could see the blush, the confusion, all the way into her heart...
"I'm not comfortable with the feelings I'm having for you because we were brother and sister, Trowa." Cathrine just lets her heart speak, knowing that it must sound foolish, since Trowa was not really her sibling by blood, but only by the bond she forged with the poor, abandoned boy who had nothing in the world---not even a memory.
But now, now he wasn't her 'brother.' He was a living, breathing, grown up man...
The world seemed to fly by between their blushing eyes as they meet. The whole confusing world circled as if it was making faces at them and their blossoming feelings for one another.
"Heh heh hee hee"
The release the tense moment with a giggle as both begin to chuckle with each other simultaneously, uncomfortably. This was the turning moment in their relationship and both saw it in each other's eyes, as they open on each other, as if for the first time.
"It's about time I graduated from 'brother,' don't you think, Cathrine?" With an all-serious, all-encompassing tone, Trowa's deep throat and deep forest of green eyes glaze over at her. Her violet eyes submissively flutter closed this time.
Last time, on the beach, she was taken by surprise to say the least, unprepared to say the obvious, skittish---as told by her slapping hand. But no sudden violent hand's palm reach out over Trowa's cheek now.
No, Cathrine's mind, heart and soul were ready this time. Her moistening lips were not only ready this time, but willing as his handsome head leans down over her lovely lips. Trowa bestows the gentle, most romantic of kisses on this circus girl who has finally realized that her love for this lonely boy involved every feeling in her beating chest.
He was everything to her---the world existed not in those times they were apart. Not until she was in arms that had once believed they could never feel emotions to be part of a love like this.
And Girl gently purrs on, content with the state of the universe as the curtain of nightfall descends on a world that once was also believe to never be able to exist...