Disclaimer: All I own are a Wing Gundam Model, a Shenlong Model, and a cute little Nefertimon toy, so if you sue me, you won't get anything of any value, and that's including if you were able to get my mind. =^.^=
Okay, now it's time to get this thing started. All right, boys and girls, get to your places! It's time to start Act VI!
1 week later, Sally's Apartment, Earth Sphere...
Sally cast a worried glance across the room at the smaller Chinese woman. It had been a week since Meiran had returned to Earth. Physically, she had made a full recovery; but emotionally, the young woman was in an obvious state of decline. Meiran had neglected the meditation and exercises that she usually did with near-religious devotion. She rarely left her room and had yet to leave the apartment.
Meiran noticed Sally's worried glanced and quickly looked away. The worry she saw in Sally's eyes every time the older woman's glances fell upon her struck a cord deep within her, bringing forth strong emotions she hadn't felt since before Operation Meteor. Those emotions clashed with the depression she had fallen into since finding out that the other pilots knew the secret she had kept for so long, forcing her to look away everytime Sally's gaze fell upon her.
Sally stood up. "Meiran, let's go," Sally practically ordered.
Meiran cast a glare at Sally, then immediately turned away. "I don't feel like going any where," she stated unconvincingly.
"No, you're just afraid to go anywhere," Sally declared.
Meiran stood, fire blazing in her eyes. "I do not fear a world of weak people," roared Meiran. Sally's laughter caught Meiran off guard, but she quickly recovered, realizing that Sally had set her up. "Onna no baka..." Meiran muttered.
Sally laughed. "You've lived as a boy for many years, Meiran, but don't forget you're back to being an 'onna no baka,'" Sally stated. "Now, are we going to go somewhere, or are you going to hide around in here and prove yourself to be weaker than the 'weaklings' you 'do not fear'?"
Meiran started to say something, then stopped. She started to say something again, then stopped.
"Well?" Sally asked.
Meiran again started to say something, then stopped. She thought for a moment, then started to say something then stopped. Finally, she stopped stopping and started, "Fine, I'll go, but only to prove to you that I am not afraid of the world." Though I do fear the other gundam pilots, she admitted silently to herself.
Sally grabbed her purse and led the way out to the car. Her and Meiran got in and drove, in silence, to the city park.
They sat on a bench, in silence, watching people walk by. Sally watched the younger chinese woman. After a few hours, she saw two familiar boys walk into the park. One was dressed in a priest's outfit and the other was wearing a green tank top and black spandex shorts. Uh-oh, thought Sally. I think it's best I get Meiran to somewhere else before Heero and Duo see us. Too late, Sally realized when Duo grabbed Heero's hand and the two boys started walking towards the bench she and Meiran were sitting on. Meiran hadn't yet noticed them. She was too focused on watching a cute couple who were playing on the swings.
"Hello, onna," greeted Duo with more than a hint of distaste in his voice. Meiran, startled, looked up to see Duo standing no more than 5 feet away. Almost imediately she glanced away again and watched the couple on the swings.
"Konnichi wa, Heero-san," Sally said, ignoring Duo. Heero ignored Sally and focused his glare on Meiran. Sally started to glare, but when she looked closer into Heero's eyes she saw that the glare was only on the surface, that there was a hint of... ...compassion? ...kindness? ...pity? This confused Sally.
Then Heero spoke up. "I wish to speak to Meiran alone." Duo made a nearly inaudible grunt of disapproval and Sally's eyes opened wide in shock. Meiran looked at Heero and froze, fixated by his gaze. Though she was afraid of Heero, something in his eyes told her that she would be okay. After a few minutes of silence, she stood up and replied, "Alright, shall we go somewhere private?"
"Hai," he replied.
Just then, Sally spoke up, "No! I will not allow you to take Meiran anywhere!" Before she could stand up to prevent Meiran from going with Heero, Heero's pistol was in her face.
"Heero, put the gun away." ordered Meiran. As Heero put the gun away, she turned to Sally. "Don't worry, Sally, I'll be fine." With that, she turned and walk away with Heero, leaving Duo and Sally alone. Duo left to get ice cream while Sally sat and worried about Meiran.
Heero and Meiran sat down on a bench on the other side of the park. They sat there for a few moments, then Heero finally spoke up. "I wanted to let you know that I'm not mad at you for going after Duo. If I had been in your situation, I'd have done the same thing. I also understand, probably better than anyone else, why you pretended to be a boy all these years. It must have been hard having to pretend to be your deceased husband." Meiran nodded and Heero continued, "A few years ago, Duo would have still reacted badly to this, but he wouldn't have stayed angry so long. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but I'm going to take him on a vacation to clear his head and hopefully get him back to 'normal.' I suggest you do the same thing."
Meiran nodded again. "I think I will do that. Thank you."
"You're welcome." replied Heero, getting up. He started to walk away, but then stopped and turned to face Meiran again. "The other pilots don't hate you either. They're merely not sure what to think, so Duo's got them thinking the wrong things." He then turned and walked away.
Meiran sat on the bench in silence for a while, thinking about what Heero had said. About ten minutes later, she heard Sally's voice. "A penny for your thoughts," Sally was saying.
The younger chinese woman looked up at the older chinese woman. "I need a vacation," she said flatly.
Sally nodded. "Alright, where you wanna go?"
Meiran thought for a moment, then spoke quite enthusiastically, "Anywhere, as long as you go with me."
"Alright. How 'bout skiing in the Rockies?"
"Hmm...sure!" Meiran replied, smiling for the first time in at least a week, then got up and went with Sally to work out all the things that needed to be worked out.
Hmm...I actually planned for that Act to be longer than that, but I decided to shorten it some and go into more Acts instead. =^.^= I gotta leave ya'll hangin' in some form or fashion, otherwise you might not keep reading. =^.~= Oh, and if you're wondering about Heero and Duo's vacation, I *might* write that, though I'll put it as a seperate fic rather than another Act of this fic, since this fic is about Meiran, not Heero and Duo. Your feedback will definitely effect whether or not I write the Heero/Duo vacation fic. =^.^= Nani shiro, I better go find my chibis now before they manage to get me into trouble. I can get into plenty of that on my own. =^.~=