Disclaimer- Gundam Wing is not mine. Duh.







A Fallen Angel- chapter 3





"Name?"

"Rhia."

"I need your last name too."

"I don't have one."

Relena lifted her eyes and glanced at the young girl sitting in front of her. "I can't just leave that space blank."

"Then make up something."

"I can't make up someone's last name!"

"Fine, then I will, my name is Rhia........Kusuro."

"I don't agree with this, but...." Relena scribbled something down on the paper. "Age?"

"13"

"Dress size?"

"........"

"Dress size," Relena repeated.

"Um......"

"What size dress do you wear?" Relena said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

"I.....I have no idea."

Relena practically threw the paper across the room. "Are you trying to be impossible!?"

"No."

"Then tell me what your dress size is!"

"I said I don't know."

Relena closed here eyes and took a deep breath. Calm down Relena, calm down. She didn't normally get this snappy, but today had been a really bad day. "Ok, what size is your pants and shirts?"

"About three sizes to big on me in mens."

Relena grabbed something that was used for measuring clothes off of her desk (why it was there, she had no idea) and measured Rhia. Then she sat back down and looked at the measurements in dismay. "I don't think we have your size- it'll have to be ordered." Could this day get any worse? She thought as she picked up the phone to order Rhia's outfit.

~



Rhia slouched in her chair, staring of into space, barely listening to the teacher's endless droning. Normally, she was a "dream student," sitting up strait, taking rapid notes on information that she already knew by heart, but she was having one of those days when she just didn't feel like working. Any ways, it wasn't like Dr. J. was here to punish her, but she still kept glancing around the room nervously. Many people wondered how Dr. J. had mange to create such "perfect soldiers," who showed no emotion, fear, or pain, and she know, all to well. He simply found the one thing that she feared the most, and used it against her. Every time she did something wrong, every time she didn't meet his expectations, he scolded her harshly, saying how disappointed he was, and that was all it took. That had been her worst fear at the time- doing less than what she was expected of, causing someone emotional pain. That was still her worst fear, but she had learned to conceal it well.

"Rhia," Rhia lifted her eyes and looked at her teacher. "Will you please give this to Relena?" the teacher asked, handing her the note.

"Yes sir." Rhia replied obediently, taking the note and walking out of the room. Once a safe distance away, Rhia quickly took of her shoes to ease her aching feet. She didn't she how Relena could put up with this all day- they made her feet sore, plus they made her trip even more than usual. The dress didn't help, either. Besides the fact that it was also uncomfortable, Rhia couldn't do anything in it. What if she was attacked? There was no place to hide a gun or a knife, the dress slowed down her kicks, and it made running physically impossible.

Rhia glanced at her watch. Damn, I've been here for five minutes now, I'd better get going. She grudgingly put her shoes back on, and started walking to Relena's office.



~



Of all the places we had to go to, we had to choose here, the Sanq Kingdom. Heero thought as he looked at Relena, refusing to let it be known how fast his heart was beating. It was lucky to him that Quatre had taking charge- talking, laughing, smiling with Relena, while also giving her the necessary information she needed, for Heero doubted he could find his voice. When he looked at Relena, he say a failed mission, but he also saw something else that he barely remembered form a time long ago. Love, though he refused to admit it.

"Relena," a female voice asked, "I was told to give this to........you." The last word came out in barley a whisper. "Hi Quatre," she said softly. Heero turned around and looked at the young girl and felt his heart stop. It was Ayna. She looked different, yes, but he knew it was her, Ayna, his sister.

Quatre ran over to Ayna and hugged her fiercely. She simply stood there, looking confused at what she was supposed to do, then she closed her eyes, and returned the hug.

"I'm guessing you know each other," Relena stated.

"You could say that," Quatre replied, "you could say that."



~



A small bird,

with wings of the whitest silk,

simple yet beautiful in its own way,

soars freely over a lush green meadow,

everything is the way it should be,

the way it once was.

Then the mood shifts,

and darkness comes,

destroying everything in its path.

The bird struggles fiercely,

but is to weak,

and its wings are soon stained with blood,

but still it fights,

trying to regain what once was.



1. Decipher this poem.



Heero stared at the poem, utterly confused. It seemed like a bunch of nonsense to him. A bird flying over a meadow? And why did it matter what color it's wings were? It was just about a stupid bird trying to fight a forest fire. That's what he wrote, just without the stupid part. He never did get language arts- he was best with facts. History, science, math- they all had one answer and only one answer, but with language arts, there could be hundreds of answers, and the could all be right. His rarely were. He didn't do well in this subject.

Just then he noticed that it was quiet. Ayna, who was called Rhia, had stopped playing. For once, she was without her constant companion, Quatre. He had taken to dragging Rhia everywhere with him, forcing her and Heero together. They had gotten to know each other, to say the least, and it wasn't uncommon for them to be together even if Quatre wasn't there. It was instinct. And he had gotten used to the guitar that Rhia always carried around., and played whenever she had the time.

"Do you need help?" she asked.

"No."

"Fine," she replied, then went back to playing. Heero read the next question- "what does the bird symbolize?" What in the world? It's just a bird.

Again, Rhia stopped playing and looked at Heero. "Ya' know, if someone asks you if you need help, they're not going to think you're stupid if you say yes," she paused, "do you need help?"

"No," he sighed, "yes."

"Ok, you have to think about what things represent. For instance, the bird, they said it had "wings of the whitest silk," which is a poetic way of saying that it was a white bird. Now think, what kind of bird is white?"

"A seagull?"

"Yah......but it's a different bird, one that symbolizes something that's a big issue right now."

"..........A dove."

"Right, now the darkness. The darkness symbolizes something that is also a big issue right now."

"War."

"Good, do you understand now?"

"Yes..........thank you," the words sounded foreign to his lips. Instead of continuing, like he normally would, Heero sat and thought about what just happened. When he had first me Rhia, she had seemed so different from what she used to be. No longer the cheerful, giving, happy-go-lucky child that she once was, she was now quiet, reserved, acting like she couldn't care less about anybody else, like him. But he could tell that she was slowly opening up, smiling like she truly meant it, not just to make Quatre happy. If he remembered correctly, as a child, Rhia lived to please. If someone wanted her to be happy, she would be happy, if someone wanted her to be sad, she would be sad- she was very easily molded.

Heero put down his pencil, tired of working and looked at Rhia. Or more, at her fingers. It was amazing how they knew just when and where to pluck a string. She wasn't even looking at the guitar- her head was tilted slightly to one side and down, as if she was once looking, but her eyes were now closed. "What instrument do you play, Heero?"

"I don't play an instrument."

"What instrument do you want to play, Heero?"

"None."

"If you had to choose, what instrument would you want to play?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand. She had absolutely no intentions of not getting an answer.

Heero thought about that for a minute. "If he had to choose, what would he want to play?" "Trumpet," he finally declared.

"Do you want me to teach you?"

He wasn't expecting that. He should have seen it coming, he shouldn't have let his guard down like that, but it was hard to be alert when you're sitting under a magnificent oak, watching children run and play.

"Do you want me to teach you?" she repeated.

Heero paused to think about it. He did, he always felt left out when Quatre and Rhia played music, or more, the played for five minutes, then Quatre stopped to watch Rhia. He really had it bad for her. Relena came sometimes, but rarely- she was usually extremely busy. "I guess so," he said, not letting it be known that he cared.

"Ok, is tomorrow, same time, same place, good for you?"

"Yes."

"Great!" She stopped playing suddenly and looked up. "I've got to go- class starts in five minutes!" She swiftly placed her guitar in its case, then dashed off, leaving Heero staring at the place where she once was.



~



"Put your lips together, like this," she demonstrated, "then blow." She blew into the trumpet, producing a high, clear note. "Now you try." Heero looked skeptically at the trumpet he held in his hands, then back at Rhia. He brought it to his lips, blew, and produced a note that sounded more like a duck that was dying in a very slow and painful manner. Rhia giggled, and Quatre, who had been sitting a few feet away, looked as though he was trying very hard not to laugh. Heero found himself blushing. Again, Rhia giggled, "it's ok, playing an instrument is a very humbling experience. Clarinets, oboes, flutes, they all squeak, guitars buzz, they all sound awful, we all get over it."

"Yah," Quatre pipped up, "when I was just learning to play violin, my dad used to lock me in the far corner if the house I sounded so bad."

"Go on, try again." He did, and this time it sounded much better, as if the duck was still dying, just not as painfully. "Ok, you're actually doing better than I was when I first started, I couldn't even get a noise out, let alone a decent sound. This time, why don't you press these two fingers down and tighten your lips a little. Yah, that's right."

Relena smiled a small sound as she watched Heero learn to play from a distance. She had been hoping to get some work done, but that didn't seem likely- this was to rare an opportunity to miss- Heero making a fool out of himself, and Rhia generally looking as though she was having a good time. For some reason, Relena's mind drifted back to the small speech Rhia had given about her views on war. It had even gotten Relena thinking, though she was still a Peacecraft through and through.

War is not entirely stupid, Relena. Believe it or not, it does have some meaning. One thing that I find funny about most people is that was seem to think that we are nothing more than animals. And when a species of animals gets to populated, one way or another, they will begin to die out. They might kill each other, like we are, or they might refuse to eat, or something else. We are certainly to populated, considering that we no longer live on out home planet, Earth. The animal instincts that we are all born with are emerging and telling us to fight, to kill, and that's what we're doing. By the end of this war, nearly one third of the population would have died. And the fighting will cease. But in a hundred years from now, when we have again grown to populated, the peace will be broken and history will repeat itself like it has done for hundreds upon thousands of years.

Then she had gotten up, and walked out of the room, leaving behind a ghostly feeling and uneasy silence in the air.

Relena was jarred from her thoughts by Heero making an obnoxious sound on his trumpet, then turning a bright magenta. That was just to much- Relena burst out laughing, betraying her hiding place. Heero's blush deepened as he looked up at her, only causing her laughter to grow louder. "I'm sorry," she managed to say, before she ran off with her head in her hands. Rhia and Quatre looked doubtfully, then burst out laughing, and, though it wasn't seen, even Heero managed a small smile.



~



That was the last time the three of them spent together for a long time. The very next day, Heero vanished, and then Quatre left the day after, leaving Rhia behind. She stayed for a while, but then grew weary, and also left, leaving Relena once again forced to put up with Dorothy's company. It was funny how they left so suddenly- it was almost as though she imagined up the whole thing. But she hadn't, for she occasionally heard people in the halls talking about Heero, referring to him by his new code name- The Hunk. She could just imagine him getting a new mission with that name- "The Hunk, your mission is to......" that caused Relena to burst out laughing. But there was something else that had been bothering her about Rhia and Quatre. She had walked in on them many times, only to have their conversation end in a dead halt. It happened with Heero too. Did Rhia know that Quatre was a gundam pilot? Did Quatre know that Rhia was a gundam pilot? Relena felt her heart skip a beat at that. Rhia was a gundam pilot? Why had she thought that? It seemed to make sense though. But did Heero know? Relena remembered the time when she walked in on Heero sitting on his bed, lap top on his lap, open shoe-box at his side, looking at a picture that Relena couldn't see. But it certainly made her curious. I seems that the perfect soldier has yet another mystery. But then again, everyone had some little mystery, didn't they?



~



*these are my true feelings on war. Pretty interesting theory, huh?



A/N- ::stares at story:: and that took me how long to write? Wow.

Ok peoples, I don't know how many people are actually reading this, considering I only get about two reviews per story. (Not counting the first one) I really wish you guys would review, even if you thing the story is sorta good, 'cause the more reviews I get, the faster I write. So, with that in mind, bye!