Acire and Trin walked into the garage where they were supposed to meet the boys at exactly seven. Duo and Heero were already there, both of them leaning on a black RX-7 Mazda convertible. As Trin predicted, both were dressed casually. Heero wore a black sleeveless shirt and jeans and Duo also wore jeans, a white sleeveless shirt and a matching jean jacket. His jaw dropped as he saw Acire and she in turn blushed. Trin rolled her eyes and inspected the car.

"Well aren't we the classy gentlemen" she grinned.

"Hn" was Heero's simple response and Trin realized she was really starting to hate that syllable.

Duo didn't respond for the reason that he was still staring at Acire who smiled at him shyly. They seemed to be locked in some sort of trance and snapped out only when Heero revved the engine impatiently. Duo turned startled to see Heero sitting behind the wheel with Trin the front next to him.

"Are you coming or do you plan to stand here all night with your mouth open?" Trin asked as she leaned on the edge of the door.

Both blushed and Acire glared at her furiously, nevertheless they got in the car.

"Hey, I wanted to drive" Duo whined as Heero sped out of the garage. The tires screeched at a turn and the brown haired pilot was thrown against the door.

"Put your seatbelt on" Heero said monotonously as he sped around another corner. Grumbling something under his breath, Duo complied.

Trin noticed they were going down the street that her and Acire's school was on. Soon the school grounds started and the huge main building came into view. Even though it was the middle of the summer and school was out, the school was swamped with teenagers. It was one of the most popular social spots during the summer.

As they kept going, they were spotted by the girls' friends and classmates. Trin and Acire waved left and right, yelling countless "Hey!"s and "What's up!"s. Both of them laughed, especially when they passed a group of popular girls who gave the pilots sluttish looks and were obviously jealous of the Trin and Acire.

Trin's cell phone rang and she dug it out of her purse hurriedly.

"Yeah?"

"Hey!!" the girlish voice on the other line squealed.

"Emily, hey" Trin grinned and Acire pocked her in the back from the backseat and told her to say 'hi' for her as well. "Acire says hi"

"Who's the hot guy you hanging with?" was the next thing the girl asked. Before Trin could answer there was static and she guessed the phone was wrestled away.

"Did you get a boyfriend and not tell us?"

Fiana. Figures.

"No" she answered flatly.

"Uh huh, sure" the girl replied sarcastically.

"Fiana, come on, you know me better than that" Trin tried, but she knew there was no way in convincing that girl that Heero Yuy was not her boyfriend. There was static again and Emily's voice reappeared.

"Is he single?" she asked eagerly and Trin frowned.

"And I'm paying for this?" she grumbled to herself as the girl talked non- stop in her ear.

Luckily for her, they had pulled up into the parking lot of the restaurant they were having dinner at. It was a obviously a Japanese restaurant, the building built to resemble the ancient Japanese structures.

"Emily, Fiana, I gotta go" she said sounding all too gladly "I'll call you guys later"

The girls mumbled their goodbyes and she hung up. Shoving the phone back in her purse she got out of the car just as Duo courteously pulled open the door for Acire and offered her his elbow as she got out. Smiling, she took it and he escorted her onto the restaurant.

"This is *not* a date" Trin mumbled to herself as she walked toward the restaurant with Heero following her. About halfway through the parking lot he caught up with her and silently placed her hand on his elbow. Despite herself, she smiled at him. But as they walked, repeated to herself mentally that this was not a date.

* * *

They had ordered their food and were now talking. They were seated at a table near the window with a nice view of the forest. The restaurant itself was beautifully decorated and it felt as if they were in Japan.

Duo waited a full minute after they had ordered before he started complaining that their food was taking too long.

"That's it. I'll go make the food myself if I have to" he finally stated. Trin and Acire paled at the thought and as he got up Heero grabbed his collar and shoved him back in his seat. Duo protested and accidentally tripped a waiter that was passing them with a large tray of food balanced in his hands. The waiter gasped and stumbled forward. The tray overturned and a plate of ice cream fell to the floor splashing it's contents onto an old man at a table nearby, and a bowl of noodles landed in an old lady's lap. She in turn jumped to her feet, surprisingly fast for her age, and sent another waiter flying.

As that pattern continued, Duo pretended he had nothing to do with the chaos happening. Heero glared at him and Trin and Acire laughed so hard they thought their sides were going to split.

Finally as everything settled down and the waiters cleaned up and handed out the coupons in apology to the customers, their food was delivered.

The young Japanese waiter smiled at Trin as he placed the plate of food in front of her and she smiled back at him.

"Arigatou" she said.

"You speak Japanese?" he asked, his voice had a slight accent.

"Hardly, but I'd love to learn" she laughed.

He was about to say something else but caught the icy glare the brown haired boy was giving him, and quickly retreated.

Heero watched Trin as she animatedly talked about something to Acire and Duo, waving her chopsticks around in the air as she gestured. She reminded him of Relena, he realized. It was strange, she looked and acted nothing like her, yet she reminded him of her so much. Her hair for example. It wasn't the same shade of brown as Relena's, but it reminded him of her. He remembered meeting other girls during the missions in the past year that reminded him of Relena, but every time the memories were painful. He scowled. He hated that he had let her get so close to him that now that she was gone it hurt. He swore that he would never let anyone get close to him after that. But that feeling he had when he was around her or thought about her, wouldn't disappear. It wasn't what he had felt for Relena, but was something just as unfamiliar.

Shaking the thoughts out of his head he picked up his chopsticks and ate slowly. He noticed Trin was finished her conversation with Acire and Duo. The two were now involved in a heated discussion on why the word "abbreviation" was so long when it was meant to make words shorter. Intelligent, nothing to say about that.

* * *

The fortune cookies were placed in front of them and Heero paid the bill. Duo and Acire grabbed onto the same cookie and neither would let go. Trin attempted to convince them that there was absolutely no difference in which cookie they got, but naturally the two didn't listen. She sighed in exasperation and grabbed a cookie for herself as did Heero. She opened hers and read the fortune.

'If u can't go up or down go across' it stated. Trin blinked. That was the stupidest one yet, and she had gotten some idiotic ones before.

She looked over at what Heero got and snickered.

'Your lovely attitude will soon be rewarded'

He stood up and she followed, as did Duo and Acire who were still fighting over the cookie.

The drive home wasn't long and pretty much silent except for Acire and Duo bickering over the fortune cookie in the backseat.

However, when they pulled into the garage Duo again pulled open the door for Acire. Muttering a "goodnight" Trin quickly walked into the building and so did Heero.

Duo lingered back with Acire and when she was about to go grabbed her arm to stop her. She looked at him confused and he smiled at her. That smile was enough to make her melt, but he didn't stop there. He quickly leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

* * *

Trin lay awake in her bed staring up at the ceiling. It must have been one or two in the morning and she couldn't get back to sleep. Finally getting tired of it, she threw the covers off and getting up, headed to the kitchen.

As she walked into the darkened room she saw Heero sitting at the kitchen table; an almost empty bottle of vodka next to him. She watched in shock as he took a long swig of the liquid.

"Heero?" she asked softly, her voice shook. He didn't reply and she stepped closer to him. He looked up at her; his eyes were strange. Still cold and emotionless, but somehow different.

"Heero, what are you doing?"

He didn't seem to hear or understand her. And as he reached again for the bottle she took it away and threw it in the trash. He sat unmoving and stared blankly at the table. She walked back to him and gingerly placed her hand on his arm. When he didn't respond, she gently pulled him to his feet and slowly guided him to the door. Noticing how he was slightly unsteady, she moved closer to him so that some of his weight was leaning on her.

If asked, she wouldn't be able to describe what she was feeling at the moment. She was extremely worried about Heero, he had seemed fine at dinner, so why had he been drinking to the point when he was almost passed out from the alcohol? But at the same time, she liked the feeling of helping him; knowing that he relied on her. Not consciously of course, he was barely awake. But she was happy to be near him either way. Except for offering her his elbow that evening, he was exceedingly distant since that night when he told her about his first mission. She could tell he didn't like people being too close to him and she was beginning to think that she made a huge mistake hugging him. But he looked like he was in so much pain, she recalled, as if justifying herself.

By then they had reached his room. Trin pushed open the door and led him in. Not bothering to turn on the light she guided him to the bed and he was out the second he hit the mattress. Picking up a blanked she pulled it over him and then sat down on the floor, putting her head on her elbows on the edge of the bed and watched him. His chest moved up and down as he breathed. He looked peaceful in a way, but she knew it was just a illusion.

She meant to leave when he was asleep, she really did. But the longer she stayed, the heavier her arms and legs got, and finally she fell asleep on the edge of the bed, next to the past out Wing Zero pilot.















A/N: Geez it's 1:00 am, I got school tomorrow, and what am I doing? Writing this!! lol well I hope you liked it ^^ I'll just wrap up quickly, I need the sleep. You know the drill, please review. Oh yeah, and yes! I got my 1st brown belt in karate! I'll test for black in about a year! Okay, goodnight ^^;

Luv

~Arion~