Disclaimer: Of course, all of the owners write FANfiction, its the new "fad". Please tell me you picked up the sarcasm.
AN: Arika, Akira, Arika, Akira, do you have the slightest idea who Arika is yet? ^-~ just pulling you're leg. Well, here's the next chapter, enjoy!
.
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 4
'Akira! Help me!' Aki stumbled back from the sudden memories. 'No, no!' Her arms came up to the side of her head and she violently tried to blocked out the sounds.
"No!" She opened her eyes and looked straight at the brown-haired man's questioning eyes, which snapped her out of whatever it was she was experiencing. Perhaps it was post-war drama?
"Aki! What's wrong?" Her mother ran up to her and stood close, but far enough for her to have some air. The attacks came back on. Another image of a girl identical to her filled her head.
"I- I," Her eyes darted frantically, like a caged animal. Everyone else began to crowd around and Aki continued to back away. "Stay back, let me calm down a bit." Her heart was beating rapidly.
The adults stayed where they were, waiting patiently for her to calm down. Aki fell to the ground, and sat there panting, trying desperately to lock up those old memories within her concious. Her eyes eased closed and her breathing slowly became normal. When she looked at her mother again, the dizziness in her head moments ago subsided, and it wasn't long before she could stand again.
"Aki..." Her name slipped out of Relena's mouth, and the girl stumbled towards her, gripping her like a lifeline. "Honey, what's wrong?" She could hear her daughter mumbling into her hair.
"She, him... Arika," she managed to get that much out before she backed off a bit. She was still unsteady though, and Relena made out to walk to her. "Arika," Aki said a bit more firmly. "was my twin sister."
"What?" Heero whispered softly, and Akira's eyes fell on him. "You don't have a sister."
"Who do you think this is?" She took off her locket and shoved it towards him, stumbling slighty. "It certainly isn't me. This one doesn't have the scar." Her hand came up to the side of her face and trailed a nearly invisible scar running from just below her temple and down to her chin. It was covered by her hair.
Trowa stepped up to Aki and studied the scar carefully. Finally, he stepped back and nodded. "That scar is old. I met Arika just before the Gundam wars. This one was made around that time."
"Exactly. The only time I remember leaving her side was when I was trapped un all that debris, when the colony was being taken over." She scanned through the crowd looking at her. She still wasn't comfortable with all this.
"I remember that!" Dorothy cried a bit loudly, then flinched. Her eyes grew haunted as her own mislead memories of war began to take effect on her. "That was my army."
"No grudges held. It was the past and we've all grown since then." Dorothy's eyes went from surprised to sad, but the young girl stood unflinched. Dorothy swallowed before replying.
"Yes, we've all grown. But I still don't know why you're not mad. Didn't your sister die in that?" Aki gave off a hesitant laugh. Half because she found it odd that everyone loved to jump to conclusions, and that she thought her own kin a blood could die in something like that, after what they'd been through before it. So foolish these veterans were...
"No. Actually, if it hadn't been for Arika, I would've died. But tell me, Mr. Barton, what did you do whilst with my sister?" All eyes fell on the stoic clown who stood against the wall.
"She came up to me as she was recruiting people to help her sister, actually, you. She asked if I could help her, and when I agreed she told me that my help would all that she needed. But when she was leading me to... you I guess, there was an explosion. That's when she was blown away. Last time I saw her." He stood waiting for Aki to consider it.
"Well, that explains the bruises and scrapes, but, how do you remember her so well?" She clutched the locket in her hand and traced the word on it. Hope, just like her sister.
"I remember her because she was the first kind person I met before the Gundam Battles. Before that, I thought everyone was always out to get something from you, but since her, I've learned better."
Aki nodded ruefully. "She did always have that effect on people. But she was too trusting..." memories began to take form but she ruthlessly pushed them to the back of her head.
"So what happened to her?" it was Sally who interrupted.
"She was trying to contact someone we used to know, and it turned out there was a shuttle heading from our colony to theirs. I wanted to come with her, but by that time, I already had my group in the gang, an it was my responsibility to make sure they were safe. Then I tried to stop her, but you don't know how hard it is to persuade her after she had made up her mind. So I was left behind while she went off in this crazy chase." Aki stopped and looked away from Quatre. "The colony was blown up after she arrived."
There was a choking sound but no one turned to see who it was; they already knew.
"I suppose it would be inappropriate to ask who your sister was looking for?" Hilde nudged her way through the crowd to approach the girl. Aki grunted and looked away in digust.
"My parents."
*~*~*~*~*
Relena sat back in her chair as she recalled the night's events. It had started out so simple, but the one simple act of trying to figure out who Aki really was had burst into something new. After the admittance of her parents, though, her daughter had closed up and refused to say anymore. She was led to her bedroom before Relena went back downstairs to join the others and discuss her new family member.
Then she thought of how wrong it was. The child hated her parents, and for what reason she [Relena] didn't know. Sighing, she stood to get ready for a shower when a knock came at her door.
"Come in." Her voice practically sang through the air. The door creaked and she was half surprised to see who it was standing there.
"Mom?" A small foot stepped into the light and Aki's entire body came out from hiding behind the door. "Look, I'm sorry for ruining your night." She stepped shyly towards her mother, her head bowed low in apology.
"What do you mean, 'ruining my night'? I doubt it would've been much better. Besides, I dont think I would've ever heard the truth if it hadn't been tonight." Relena sat on her bed and motioned for her daughter to sit beside her, which she did hesitantly.
"Yeah, but, I still haven't told you everything." She sat shyly beside her mother and kept her head bowed.
"Do you want to tell me?" Aki nodded once. "Okay then, let's start from the beginning."
The little raven-haired girl took a deep breath. "I was born to a different family then the ones that raised me for my first two years. But it wasn't really even a family, just a tramp and her abusive... lover." She hesitated slightly at the look on her mother's face. "They had abandoned my sister and I on the streets after we were let out of the hospital. The people who raised us after that had known my real parents, and moved off when they took us in.
"They moved to the colony you just visited and let us grow up there. That was where my sister grew so kind. She got it from my foster parents. But after we were barely two, they were killed. We were then taken in by friend they had made on the colony and been trusted with the secret of our real lives. Being fully comprehendable at that time, we were told the truth. Shortly after our third birthday, they had been killed also.
"We wandered the streets then, slowly growing up by whatever portions we could find, and about a few months later, someone else took us in. This one wasn't an adult though, he was just a kid, like us. His name was Alex, and later became the leader of our little survival gang. But he taught us how to steal and survive. It was about two years after that did we meet Jean, and began organizing our gang.
"So we lived like that for two years, and after that, I was assigned my own group, including my sister, Gremlin, and Ice. At that time, Quicksilver and Nightsky weren't old enough to go outside yet. But during the Gundam battles, Arika decided she wanted to meet the people that had abandoned us, determined that no one was really that cruel, and I was powerless to stop her, being bound as I was.
"You know what happens on her little 'quest'. After that, I kinda learned to live with it and moved on. I led my little group for four more years, that's when I met you."
Relena sat there, stunned at all that had happened before they had met, and began feeling a little guilty at being given everything she needed for so long. She moved closer to her daughter and hugged her for comfort. Exhaustion weighed on them both, though, and they soon fell asleep.
That's how Heero found them three hours later.
~Heero's POV~
As I laid there on my designated bed in the Peacecraft mansion, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to the scene in Relena's room. They had seemed so much like a regular family then. I never remembered my family, at all. Actually, Relena is the closest thing I've had to family all my life.
But I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to have an actual family. Then my mind drifts to Duo, when he had tried to get Relena and I together by putting her in a postion where she had to go out in skimpy clothes to get my help. He had stolen all of her clothes and left her only a few towels, some of Hilde's clothing, and not to mention that Teddy she was wearing.
She had run to my room in the towel, refusing to wear what had been left for her and ran straight to my room. Thank god reporters where not allowed on her property, since the scene of the Foriegn Vice Minister running practically naked into her bodyguard's room would have tabloid business through the roof. But then again, Duo sported a black eye for a week after that.
As I think about the recollection, a blush crawls up unnoticed into my cheeks. When I realized it, I ran to my ajoining bathroom and got ready for a cold bath. That should help.
~Exit Heero's POV~
"Heero?" Relena knocked on his door about six in the morning. It was soft and quiet, but he heard it anyways; like he had been asleep. Heero walked to the door and opened it swiftly. "I..." She stood, to his amusement, shocked by the sudden action. "Aki fell asleep in my room... and she's a little big for me to move alone without waking her up." Her hand moved to rub the back of her neck, which was probably sore from sleeping in the awkward position.
"Hn." He grunted and waited for her to lead the way, which she did shortly after her neck felt a bit better. In Relena's room was Aki sleeping at the foot of the bed, her body not sprawled out, even a bit. It was instead kept in a straight line from one side to another. Heero picked her up gingerly and rested her comfortably in his arms.
She moved her head and began to snuggle closer to him. "Daddy..." her small murmur caused Relena to giggle as he carried Aki out into the room a little down the hall. Relena opened the doors for him and watched as he laid her daughter on the bed. Tucking the twelve year old in, she gently pushed Heero out of the room and into the hall.
"Thank you." She smiled before heading off to her room. Heero stood outside of Aki's door until Relena disappeared into her own room. When the door closed, he too turned around and walked back into his own room. 'This better not happen too much...'
*~*~*~*~*
There was a loud bang of the front door as Aki was about to step into the pool. 'Damn' she grimaced. It had been only a week after the little incident, but she was determined to seem like a normal kid. Her happy-go-lucky atittude was back and she was more restless than ever. Nothing like exercise to help one forget their psychological problems. But now... it seemed like her mother was home and she was mad.
Stepping into the large mansion, she first went upstairs to the most likely place she would be; her bedroom. "Mom?" The door was creaked open just as a pillow was thrown at it. Aki caught it without even noticing. "Hey mom, what's wrong?"
Relena was on her bed beating the crap out of her pillows. "Ummm, you're servants already fluffed them..." she moved in cautiously, Miss Relena Darlian Peacecraft was never like this.
"I'm sorry Aki, it's just that JOHNathon," she hit the pillow at the name, "and I had a talk today. It seems that he doesn't approve of you. He doesn't even know you!" Aki noted the steady pounding of her mother's fists against the pillows began to increase in urgency. "He's such a... a..."
Aki smirked. It wasn't every day the Vice Foreign Minister was at lost for words. "Imbecile."
"Yes, thank you." They both noted that Shadow (Hmmm... I wonder who that is...) had entered the room. "He's so... so..."
The little raven haired girl gestured in a circle-ish movement, as if asking the right word to come to her. "Arrogrant? Selfish?" What was that word, that one word... maybe it started with an 'I'?
"No not selfish..." poor pillow... "Ignorant, that's the word." Aki moved her head in a bobbing motion as if to say 'yeah, that's the one...' "I can't believe I saw anything in him." she whispered harshly.
"Well, I guess I'm lucky I'm not going to be meeting him. Sounds like a real ja-"
"Language, young lady." The younger one grinned. "And you sure know how to make me feel good about my choice in men."
Heero raised an eyebrow. 'When did Relena get so sarcastic?' Aki walked up to her mother and pulled the pillow out of her unsupecting hands. Relena gave a small yelp of indignation as Aki threw them to the foot of the bed.
"These are too expensive to be popped. Besides, sports is always a better alternative." She pulled her mother gently out of the bed and fixed it up. Relena looked at her daughter's outfit.
"Like swimming?" Aki was about to say something, but remeber her outfit and thought a bit.
"No, but I was going to go swimming before you came back. How about horse back riding?" Then she looked at the pillows and reconsidered. "No, that would be animal cruelty. Oh! I know! You have some unused tennis rackets in the garage."
"Those were my father's."
"Then let's check out your father's taste in sports!" Grasping Relena's hand, she ran past Heero and left him to catch up with the two girls he now protected. Before leaving the room, he sighed ruefully. 'That girl is going to kill both Relena and I.'
*~*~*~*~*
Well... You see... my stories tend to go from action to normal, then action, to normal, etc. So yeah.... And I bet you can't wait for the next chapter!! Relena if tennis!! Hee hee. With an anger problem too.... Well, R&R!
-Lei Xang
AN: Arika, Akira, Arika, Akira, do you have the slightest idea who Arika is yet? ^-~ just pulling you're leg. Well, here's the next chapter, enjoy!
.
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 4
'Akira! Help me!' Aki stumbled back from the sudden memories. 'No, no!' Her arms came up to the side of her head and she violently tried to blocked out the sounds.
"No!" She opened her eyes and looked straight at the brown-haired man's questioning eyes, which snapped her out of whatever it was she was experiencing. Perhaps it was post-war drama?
"Aki! What's wrong?" Her mother ran up to her and stood close, but far enough for her to have some air. The attacks came back on. Another image of a girl identical to her filled her head.
"I- I," Her eyes darted frantically, like a caged animal. Everyone else began to crowd around and Aki continued to back away. "Stay back, let me calm down a bit." Her heart was beating rapidly.
The adults stayed where they were, waiting patiently for her to calm down. Aki fell to the ground, and sat there panting, trying desperately to lock up those old memories within her concious. Her eyes eased closed and her breathing slowly became normal. When she looked at her mother again, the dizziness in her head moments ago subsided, and it wasn't long before she could stand again.
"Aki..." Her name slipped out of Relena's mouth, and the girl stumbled towards her, gripping her like a lifeline. "Honey, what's wrong?" She could hear her daughter mumbling into her hair.
"She, him... Arika," she managed to get that much out before she backed off a bit. She was still unsteady though, and Relena made out to walk to her. "Arika," Aki said a bit more firmly. "was my twin sister."
"What?" Heero whispered softly, and Akira's eyes fell on him. "You don't have a sister."
"Who do you think this is?" She took off her locket and shoved it towards him, stumbling slighty. "It certainly isn't me. This one doesn't have the scar." Her hand came up to the side of her face and trailed a nearly invisible scar running from just below her temple and down to her chin. It was covered by her hair.
Trowa stepped up to Aki and studied the scar carefully. Finally, he stepped back and nodded. "That scar is old. I met Arika just before the Gundam wars. This one was made around that time."
"Exactly. The only time I remember leaving her side was when I was trapped un all that debris, when the colony was being taken over." She scanned through the crowd looking at her. She still wasn't comfortable with all this.
"I remember that!" Dorothy cried a bit loudly, then flinched. Her eyes grew haunted as her own mislead memories of war began to take effect on her. "That was my army."
"No grudges held. It was the past and we've all grown since then." Dorothy's eyes went from surprised to sad, but the young girl stood unflinched. Dorothy swallowed before replying.
"Yes, we've all grown. But I still don't know why you're not mad. Didn't your sister die in that?" Aki gave off a hesitant laugh. Half because she found it odd that everyone loved to jump to conclusions, and that she thought her own kin a blood could die in something like that, after what they'd been through before it. So foolish these veterans were...
"No. Actually, if it hadn't been for Arika, I would've died. But tell me, Mr. Barton, what did you do whilst with my sister?" All eyes fell on the stoic clown who stood against the wall.
"She came up to me as she was recruiting people to help her sister, actually, you. She asked if I could help her, and when I agreed she told me that my help would all that she needed. But when she was leading me to... you I guess, there was an explosion. That's when she was blown away. Last time I saw her." He stood waiting for Aki to consider it.
"Well, that explains the bruises and scrapes, but, how do you remember her so well?" She clutched the locket in her hand and traced the word on it. Hope, just like her sister.
"I remember her because she was the first kind person I met before the Gundam Battles. Before that, I thought everyone was always out to get something from you, but since her, I've learned better."
Aki nodded ruefully. "She did always have that effect on people. But she was too trusting..." memories began to take form but she ruthlessly pushed them to the back of her head.
"So what happened to her?" it was Sally who interrupted.
"She was trying to contact someone we used to know, and it turned out there was a shuttle heading from our colony to theirs. I wanted to come with her, but by that time, I already had my group in the gang, an it was my responsibility to make sure they were safe. Then I tried to stop her, but you don't know how hard it is to persuade her after she had made up her mind. So I was left behind while she went off in this crazy chase." Aki stopped and looked away from Quatre. "The colony was blown up after she arrived."
There was a choking sound but no one turned to see who it was; they already knew.
"I suppose it would be inappropriate to ask who your sister was looking for?" Hilde nudged her way through the crowd to approach the girl. Aki grunted and looked away in digust.
"My parents."
*~*~*~*~*
Relena sat back in her chair as she recalled the night's events. It had started out so simple, but the one simple act of trying to figure out who Aki really was had burst into something new. After the admittance of her parents, though, her daughter had closed up and refused to say anymore. She was led to her bedroom before Relena went back downstairs to join the others and discuss her new family member.
Then she thought of how wrong it was. The child hated her parents, and for what reason she [Relena] didn't know. Sighing, she stood to get ready for a shower when a knock came at her door.
"Come in." Her voice practically sang through the air. The door creaked and she was half surprised to see who it was standing there.
"Mom?" A small foot stepped into the light and Aki's entire body came out from hiding behind the door. "Look, I'm sorry for ruining your night." She stepped shyly towards her mother, her head bowed low in apology.
"What do you mean, 'ruining my night'? I doubt it would've been much better. Besides, I dont think I would've ever heard the truth if it hadn't been tonight." Relena sat on her bed and motioned for her daughter to sit beside her, which she did hesitantly.
"Yeah, but, I still haven't told you everything." She sat shyly beside her mother and kept her head bowed.
"Do you want to tell me?" Aki nodded once. "Okay then, let's start from the beginning."
The little raven-haired girl took a deep breath. "I was born to a different family then the ones that raised me for my first two years. But it wasn't really even a family, just a tramp and her abusive... lover." She hesitated slightly at the look on her mother's face. "They had abandoned my sister and I on the streets after we were let out of the hospital. The people who raised us after that had known my real parents, and moved off when they took us in.
"They moved to the colony you just visited and let us grow up there. That was where my sister grew so kind. She got it from my foster parents. But after we were barely two, they were killed. We were then taken in by friend they had made on the colony and been trusted with the secret of our real lives. Being fully comprehendable at that time, we were told the truth. Shortly after our third birthday, they had been killed also.
"We wandered the streets then, slowly growing up by whatever portions we could find, and about a few months later, someone else took us in. This one wasn't an adult though, he was just a kid, like us. His name was Alex, and later became the leader of our little survival gang. But he taught us how to steal and survive. It was about two years after that did we meet Jean, and began organizing our gang.
"So we lived like that for two years, and after that, I was assigned my own group, including my sister, Gremlin, and Ice. At that time, Quicksilver and Nightsky weren't old enough to go outside yet. But during the Gundam battles, Arika decided she wanted to meet the people that had abandoned us, determined that no one was really that cruel, and I was powerless to stop her, being bound as I was.
"You know what happens on her little 'quest'. After that, I kinda learned to live with it and moved on. I led my little group for four more years, that's when I met you."
Relena sat there, stunned at all that had happened before they had met, and began feeling a little guilty at being given everything she needed for so long. She moved closer to her daughter and hugged her for comfort. Exhaustion weighed on them both, though, and they soon fell asleep.
That's how Heero found them three hours later.
~Heero's POV~
As I laid there on my designated bed in the Peacecraft mansion, I couldn't help but let my mind wander to the scene in Relena's room. They had seemed so much like a regular family then. I never remembered my family, at all. Actually, Relena is the closest thing I've had to family all my life.
But I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to have an actual family. Then my mind drifts to Duo, when he had tried to get Relena and I together by putting her in a postion where she had to go out in skimpy clothes to get my help. He had stolen all of her clothes and left her only a few towels, some of Hilde's clothing, and not to mention that Teddy she was wearing.
She had run to my room in the towel, refusing to wear what had been left for her and ran straight to my room. Thank god reporters where not allowed on her property, since the scene of the Foriegn Vice Minister running practically naked into her bodyguard's room would have tabloid business through the roof. But then again, Duo sported a black eye for a week after that.
As I think about the recollection, a blush crawls up unnoticed into my cheeks. When I realized it, I ran to my ajoining bathroom and got ready for a cold bath. That should help.
~Exit Heero's POV~
"Heero?" Relena knocked on his door about six in the morning. It was soft and quiet, but he heard it anyways; like he had been asleep. Heero walked to the door and opened it swiftly. "I..." She stood, to his amusement, shocked by the sudden action. "Aki fell asleep in my room... and she's a little big for me to move alone without waking her up." Her hand moved to rub the back of her neck, which was probably sore from sleeping in the awkward position.
"Hn." He grunted and waited for her to lead the way, which she did shortly after her neck felt a bit better. In Relena's room was Aki sleeping at the foot of the bed, her body not sprawled out, even a bit. It was instead kept in a straight line from one side to another. Heero picked her up gingerly and rested her comfortably in his arms.
She moved her head and began to snuggle closer to him. "Daddy..." her small murmur caused Relena to giggle as he carried Aki out into the room a little down the hall. Relena opened the doors for him and watched as he laid her daughter on the bed. Tucking the twelve year old in, she gently pushed Heero out of the room and into the hall.
"Thank you." She smiled before heading off to her room. Heero stood outside of Aki's door until Relena disappeared into her own room. When the door closed, he too turned around and walked back into his own room. 'This better not happen too much...'
*~*~*~*~*
There was a loud bang of the front door as Aki was about to step into the pool. 'Damn' she grimaced. It had been only a week after the little incident, but she was determined to seem like a normal kid. Her happy-go-lucky atittude was back and she was more restless than ever. Nothing like exercise to help one forget their psychological problems. But now... it seemed like her mother was home and she was mad.
Stepping into the large mansion, she first went upstairs to the most likely place she would be; her bedroom. "Mom?" The door was creaked open just as a pillow was thrown at it. Aki caught it without even noticing. "Hey mom, what's wrong?"
Relena was on her bed beating the crap out of her pillows. "Ummm, you're servants already fluffed them..." she moved in cautiously, Miss Relena Darlian Peacecraft was never like this.
"I'm sorry Aki, it's just that JOHNathon," she hit the pillow at the name, "and I had a talk today. It seems that he doesn't approve of you. He doesn't even know you!" Aki noted the steady pounding of her mother's fists against the pillows began to increase in urgency. "He's such a... a..."
Aki smirked. It wasn't every day the Vice Foreign Minister was at lost for words. "Imbecile."
"Yes, thank you." They both noted that Shadow (Hmmm... I wonder who that is...) had entered the room. "He's so... so..."
The little raven haired girl gestured in a circle-ish movement, as if asking the right word to come to her. "Arrogrant? Selfish?" What was that word, that one word... maybe it started with an 'I'?
"No not selfish..." poor pillow... "Ignorant, that's the word." Aki moved her head in a bobbing motion as if to say 'yeah, that's the one...' "I can't believe I saw anything in him." she whispered harshly.
"Well, I guess I'm lucky I'm not going to be meeting him. Sounds like a real ja-"
"Language, young lady." The younger one grinned. "And you sure know how to make me feel good about my choice in men."
Heero raised an eyebrow. 'When did Relena get so sarcastic?' Aki walked up to her mother and pulled the pillow out of her unsupecting hands. Relena gave a small yelp of indignation as Aki threw them to the foot of the bed.
"These are too expensive to be popped. Besides, sports is always a better alternative." She pulled her mother gently out of the bed and fixed it up. Relena looked at her daughter's outfit.
"Like swimming?" Aki was about to say something, but remeber her outfit and thought a bit.
"No, but I was going to go swimming before you came back. How about horse back riding?" Then she looked at the pillows and reconsidered. "No, that would be animal cruelty. Oh! I know! You have some unused tennis rackets in the garage."
"Those were my father's."
"Then let's check out your father's taste in sports!" Grasping Relena's hand, she ran past Heero and left him to catch up with the two girls he now protected. Before leaving the room, he sighed ruefully. 'That girl is going to kill both Relena and I.'
*~*~*~*~*
Well... You see... my stories tend to go from action to normal, then action, to normal, etc. So yeah.... And I bet you can't wait for the next chapter!! Relena if tennis!! Hee hee. With an anger problem too.... Well, R&R!
-Lei Xang