Disclaimer:
I don't own Gundam, but I do own Kitty, Kay, and all the new people.

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Falling Angels: Chapter 4

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Relena woke up the next morning, still depressed, but feeling better. She didn't know how to handle it, how to make friends with this girl that reminded her of Heero every time she saw her. But somehow she would manage. At least here she had a warm bed and a roof and food. She could deal with a broken heart that kept on tearing apart.

After she had showered and dressed, Kay brought a few friends over from the other side of the room. There was a girl that was sixteen, Kay's age, and one that was eighteen, Relena's age.

"Cerena, this is Hallie," she pointed to the blond sixteen year old next to her, "and this is Hikari." pointing to the Japanese girl. "Hallie, Hikari, this is Cerena."

Relena greeted them, and then the three girls shoved two of the cots together. Then they sat in a circle, with a spot open for Relena. She came and took the spot. Hallie turned Relena so each girl sat facing another's back. Then she felt pulling on her hair.

"How would you like your hair today?" Hallie asked cheerily.

"What? Oh, just a simple braid." She replied, rather stunned, but deciding she liked it here. She smiled and tapped Hikari's shoulder. "Hikari, what about you."

"Surprise me." she said.

Relena raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? You don't know me very well..." she trailed off, mischief in her voice.

"Oh, anything is fine on me, as long as I can get it out this evening. If I can't, you have to." she laughed.

"OK. I won't do anything complicated." Relena began to pull Hikari's rich black hair into the hairstyle she knew best, the two braids tied in back. "Wow, you hair is so nice. And the color is natural too."

"Yours isn't?" Kay piped up.

"Nope, I'm a blonde. I need to redo it though. The color is showing at the roots." she explained.

"Hmm. Another ditz Hallie. You are no longer alone!" All the girls began laughing.

"Tell you what. I'll get Jamie to buy some today, and we'll all dye our hair tonight." The other three girls cheered at Kay's suggestion.

As they finished and left the room for breakfast, Relena found herself truly enjoying this. Maybe I will stay here.

Everyone in the Orphanage was there, all the boys and girls. There were about fifty kids total. Before they ate, Jack went to the front and called for attention. "Kids who have been here for a while, I have an announcement. You all remember Chris, right?" The boys cheered and Kay cheered with them. "I'll take that as a yes. Well, you know that Kitty left a month and a half ago. I also told you all she was hurt, but recovering. Well Chris found her on Earth, and he's taking her back home. He will also take a small vacation with up for a while."

Kay jumped out of her seat. "Yes!! Demons, you going down!" she shouted, much to Relena's puzzlement.

"Kay, sit down. Well worry about that once Chris and Kitty are here. Marie is coming with them for a visit as well." This was met by cheers from the girls and groans of 'Kill me now!' from the males.

"Long story." Kay said as she sat down. "Chris is my older brother, and Kitty is my sister. Chris has been gone for four years. He left to fight in the war, so the two of us wouldn't have to. But, you'll meet them later today. Anyway, let's eat!!" she cried.

Fight so they wouldn't have too. That reminds me of Heero, although I can't think why. Relena pondered this for a moment, then dismissed the thought and began to eat.

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Heero was sitting next to Kitty and across from Une and Marie. After about thirty minutes he reached into his carry on bag, pulled out a roll of duct tape, and looked meaningfully at his sister and her best friend. The quickly stopped sharing blackmail stories from the last two years. He then replaced the roll in his bag.

Noticing Lady Une's look, he said, "You know, I forgot how much I hate traveling with your daughter. The duct tape is an old joke."

If anything, this sent Lady Une and Zechs farther into shock.

Suddenly, something occurred to Marie. "Oh! Chris, we're going home!! Em and the boys are still there!" she exclaimed.

"Demons fallin' back to hell." Heero said in unison with Kitty.

"You two never change." she said, laughing.

"No. Never." Heero assured her.

"You would expect Angels to change? No, we are eternal!" Kitty taunted, and laughed.

Heero whacked her on the head playfully, although only a slight grin cracked his face. "Now don't go spilling all our secrets, little angel."

"Anyway..." Marie interrupted. "When you get back, Em is going to challenge. And if I know Chris, you won't be playing, Kitty."

"Exactly." Heero nodded.

"But how are you going to play 2 on 2 basketball? We have no 2 on 2 strageties!" Kitty pointed out.

"Neither do they." Heero parried.

"You can't play 2 on 2, you gotta let me in!"

"Fat change, angel."

"What's more important to you, my little scratch or family pride?" she asked. Then, "Ohhh...stupid question, never mind..."

"If the Demons challenge, I will refuse."

"Refuse?!" The girls asked, astonished. "Has anyone ever done that before?" Marie asked.

"Yes, actually. Just once, only a few weeks before you moved in." Heero said. "Aaron had broken his leg and no one told me. If I knew, I wouldn't have challenged. Em slapped me. She thought I knew."

"Ohh!! She slapped you!! I bet she loves you! Kissy, kissy now!" the two erupted into laughter.

"Oh, shut up, will you. I do not like that Demon. You two girls are nuts. You know that Em has cooties. And Eric and Aaron have cooties too. Which one do you like, I can never remember. Are you crushing on Eric...no, I think that's Kay..." he teased.

Fire blazed in the girls eyes as she silenced her brother. "I will never, ever feel anything but hate for the Demons."

"Then you're missing the point, little angel." Heero sighed, his mood changed suddenly. "You have to know your enemy to defeat them. Not only that, you must understand them. And you can't hate them. It only gets in the way. Do not hate, it will only come around and bite you in the ass." Heero did not smile. "I believe your hate has already done so. We've been in friendly competition since we were little. But you hate them, and that leads you to think we are better. If we really were better, wouldn't we have won this contest years ago?

"We are different from the Demons, yes, but we are not better. Sometimes, we must join with our enemies if we are to survive." He closed his eyes and gathered his thoughts. "I called Jack and got the full story. You left on a mission. Without Kay, because she was down with the flu, like Eric. You could have replaced the Demon of Fists and worked under Emily for one mission, but you refused. You thought they were below you."

He continued his lecture, capturing the attention of those around him, including Zechs and Une. "You thought you could take a half-trained soldier into the field and survive. Andy was never really good with a gun, nor could he fight to match even Kay. His knowledge of tactics was worse than yours. Yet you took him out. Your infatuation with him blinded you to his weakness."

By this point Kitty was crying. "Are you saying it was my fault? Because I refused to go with Demons, because I took him...that's why he's dead?" she sobbed, and he rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry angel. I never wanted you to fight, but it was in your blood. I tried to fight for the three of us, but you two fight anyway. Now you see the horrors of war. Someone you love dearly has died. You don't remember Momma or Poppa. I saw them die. They were my first lesson. But I didn't learn, so the Lord had to take away Kaily." Heero blinked, his face filled with pain, then composed himself once more.

"Angel." He lifted her chin, and looked at her tear streaked face. "You see the truth that the Lord sent us here to learn. Now the only Angel yet to fall is Kay." Kitty's heart tore further as she thought of her sister going through the same pain.

"Hey, Chris, I forgot about this." Marie spoke up, quietly. She pulled a cross from around her neck and handed it to him. "You dropped it back at the fortress two years ago. I was going to give it back but I never saw you..." she handed him the cross.

He looked at the simple piece of metal in her palm, and pushed it back. He then pointed to Kitty. "She needs it more then me. I don't need good luck anymore."

Marie put the cross around Kitty's neck, and guided her towards the wheelchair-friendly bathrooms to wash up.

"I didn't want to break her heart, but there was no other way." He said in apology. Then his face hardened, and he was the Perfect Soldier once more. "It was necessary."

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Hmm...it was necessary, ne? Why? Why did I make Heero do that? Now he's just gonna kill me. Perfect. All I need is *him* after me. I already have an English teacher after my rear, why this? Anyway, R&R plz, *hugs* and all that good stuff.

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-Ayanami_Chan
ayanami_rei@softhome.net