A Sad Clown's Princess:

A Gundam W character fanfiction:

Trowa Barton

II:

A sad homecoming....

Once the plane landed on a jetway, the four, among the other passengers who were heading places, unboarded. They looked around for anyone that they know, only to find no one waiting on them.

Duo tapped Quatre's shoulder.

"I thought Catherine as well as Tori was going to meet us here," he said.

"That's what I was told as well, Duo," he agreed, slightly frowning in concern. "I wonder where they are." He then spotted someone waving at him. She was tall, fair skinned and was smiling at them.

"Quatre! Brother! Over here," she yelled over the noise.

"Who's that?" Duo asked, spotting the girl as well.

"It can't be," Quatre mumbled to himself. "It's not Tori."

"Well, whomever it is," Wufei said, startling Duo a bit. "We'd better head over to her, before we get ran over."

Once they had reached the woman, Quatre instantly recognized her and smiled as she ran towards him.

"Brother, I'm so glad that you're okay," she said as they hugged each other.

Duo looked surprisingly at Trowa, who was looking back at him, both of them having shocked looks on their faces.

"Glad to see you again, sis," he said, as they let go of each other. He looked back at the three, except Wufei, who had shocked looks on their faces. He chuckled at them. "You didn't know that I had siblings?"

The woman giggled. Quatre had such funny friends with him. A light breeze pushed her dark yellow hair away from her back, fanning out at the breeze.

Quatre turned back to her, his smile still on his face. "Where are the others?"

"They're waiting for you back at home, Quatre," she said, then nodded at his comrades behind him. "Who are you friends?"

"Oh yeah," Quatre said, slightly blushing, remembering them. He looked at them. "Yuli, these are my friends, Trowa Barton, Wufei Chang and Duo Maxwell," he said, pointing to each one so she could remember their faces. "Guys, this is one out of the many sisters that I have, Yuli Winner, my third eldest sister."

"Well, Quatre, we best get going, the others are awaiting you," she said.

"Uh, Yuli, wait up a minute," he said, stopping her by touching her shoulder. "I have made a promise to Trowa that I would go with him to see someone," he murmured to her so the others wouldn't hear. "Can you give Wufei and Duo a lift to the house and give them a room to stay in for the night, until I return? Tell the others that we have guests and I will be back as soon as I can. Please Yuli?"

She smiled at him. He always had a cute face when he was little, especially when it came to pleading.

"Sure, Quatre, whatever you wish. I'll escort your friends home and I'll come and get you whenever you're ready," she said. "Where is that you're going?"

"To the circus, it's not far from here," he said.

"At section J?" she asked.

"Yeah. We're going to visit a friend of ours and that's where he's staying."

"Okay," she said. "Oh yeah, before I forget. A woman is there waiting for you at home. She says she's a close friend of yours."

Relena? he thought to himself.

"Thank you, Yuli, I owe you one."

"You coming back home for good is quite enough for us, Quatre," she said, slightly ruffling his hair. She looked up at the others. "I'll take you to our home. I'm sure that Quatre had some plans with Trowa."

"I'll join you this evening, guys," Quatre said to Wufei and Duo. "I promised Trowa that I would do something with him."

"Follow me," she said as she turned and left, with Wufei and Duo right behind her. Quatre looked at Trowa, a friendly grin on his face.

"Well friend, shall we look for Catherine?" he asked.

"She's at the circus," he said. "I know that she's there."

"Come on, we'll get a transport to take us there," Quatre said friendly as they headed inside the airport. Outwardly, he was glad to be back home, but inwardly, he was worried about Trowa. He could see the sad look on his face that Catherine didn't fill her word.

An hour later, they had arrived at the circus, to where it was busy. Trowa, who was the one driving, stopped and they both got out. He looked around for Catherine, but didn't see her anywhere. He spotted Danta about ready to feed one of the elephants and approached him.

"Where's Catherine?" he asked.

"Trowa?!" the man asked, his old features changing to shock. "You're alive, lad?"

"I'm alive and well, thank you," he said. "Now, where's Catherine?"

Danta's features turned grim once again.

"My boy, I have grave news," he said.

"What happened?" Trowa asked suddenly, panic alighting his eyes at tone of Danta's voice. "Is she okay?"

"Something arrived with extreme urgency for her not too long ago, lad," he explained. "I watched her open it and then her usually happy face turned grim and sad. I knew that something had happened that made her become this way. Tears fell from her eyes and she headed for her tent. Now, I don't know what happened, but she has never left her tent. I'm afraid something had upset her."

"Poor girl," Quatre said silently.

"Did you see who it was from?" Trowa asked.

"No, I did not. I thought it was a letter stating that you had died in some battle or something."

"Hn," Trowa said thoughtfully as he looked at Quatre and motioned him to follow him as they headed for Catherine's tent.

Catherine continued to sob, until the sound of a tent flap opening forced her to stop and furiously wipe away her tears. She looked to see who had entered and gasped at Trowa.

"Trowa," she cried as she stood and went into his arms as he held her.

Quatre smiled and shrugged at him as he met Trowa's eyes, an odd look crossing Trowa's face as he looked at him.

Catherine stepped away from him, her eyes red from crying so much as she looked up at him. She smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't meet you at the airport as I had promised to," she said.

"You've actually believed that I would die in an attack, Catherine?" he asked.

"Oh no," she said. "Did Danta tell you that? That wasn't it, though. Of course, you had me worried."

"Then, what's wrong, Catherine?" Quatre asked. "Is there any way that we can help?"

"I don't know," she said. "I have thought about it, but I'm not sure."

"Well, why don't we start with this," Quatre suggested, a cheerful smile on his face. "I'll make some hot tea before I leave for home while you two discuss it, alright?" He looked over at Catherine. "Now, where do you keep your stuff?"