CHAPTER 2


Wufei stormed down the corridor to his quarters, his black expression warning away anyone who tried to approach him.

Once in his room, he began to stuff clothes forcefully into a case, but thought he'd better stop after he ripped a shirt. Stepping back, he felt an overwhelming urge to get rid of some of this furious energy.

Wufei hated being made to feel out of control, as Une had just done and the katana in his hand repaired his damaged ego slightly. As he gripped it and moved it around, he felt powerful once more.

The warm ups and exercises were routines he'd practised since childhood, and felt neither staid nor boring. He'd never felt a desire to skip them; his teachers had known best how he should prepare, and to ignore their advice was to insult their memories, as well as being stupidly arrogant.

Wufei lost himself in his kata, as he had known he would. He felt some of the anger leave him as his mind was numbed, consumed entirely by the complex movements he was doing. They were movements of practised ease but great concentration, with all his energy focused on achieving perfection and all his thoughts directed towards improving on that.

He slowed down and eventually stopped, his desire for strength sated and his hot head cooled. He was back to being calm and objective, a preventer once more.

"I didn't want to interrupt, but your plane leaves in ten minutes."

Wufei laid the sword carefully on his bed, and pulled out his clothes to repack them, this time folding them first. "Did Une tell you where I'm going?"

Sally would have helped him to fold, but knew that would only embarrass him, so settled instead for packing his weapons in their secure cases. "To the Sanc Kingdom, but she wouldn't say why. Is it undercover?"

"I'm on bodyguard duty."

"Miss Relena?"

"Dorothy Catalonia."

"Dorothy!" The shock was evident in her voice, and Wufei smiled. Sally was rarely surprised like this. "I always thought Dorothy could look after herself, and I'm pretty sure she thinks so too. She probably won't make it easy for you, Wufei."

Wufei's smile became a frown. "What she wants is irrelevant; what she's getting is a bodyguard."

Sally laughed. "I'm sure she'll figure that one out very quickly. I only hope it isn't too painful a lesson for her."

She clicked bullets into one of Wufei's firearms. "So what's Dorothy doing that's going to be so dangerous? Where is she going?"

"Absolutely nowhere." Wufei slammed his case shut with a snap. "She's received some threatening letters that Une's taking seriously. That's all."

Sally sat on his bed, sharpening one of his knives thoughtfully. "Maybe you're looking at this all wrong."

"It's insulting, that's all there is to it! Is she mistaking me for some weakling rookie that can't do anything else?"

"No, I think you've been chosen for this to give you bit of a holiday."

He frowned. "Why do you say that?"

She put away the newly sharpened knife and turned her attention to the next one. "Well, you've worked seven days a week since you joined us, and that was months ago. Not a single day off in all that time, it's a recipe for disaster, especially as you're so young."

"My age is an unlucky accident, not to be held against me."

Sally smiled. "Come on Wufei, you'll still be working! You'll just have an easier time of it than usual!"

"From what I hear, that girl's a viper, hardly a source of relaxation."

She shot him a disapproving glance. "Since when have you listened to gossip? I'm sure those people just misunderstood her."

"So Quatre Winner has a scar for nothing?"

"Does he hold it against her?"

"No, I hear he has lunch with her regularly."

"Ah, you see?"

"Out of diplomatic duty, I'm sure."

Sally stood up and smiled at him again. "Wufei, you're impossible. Have fun on your trip, and try to relax a little, I intend to keep you as my partner for a long time yet."

He sighed. "Hopefully, this whole thing will be over soon."

"You never know, you might enjoy it."

He snorted, and she left the room, chuckling softly to herself.

On the long journey, Wufei read over his brief with a growing hatred of the new assignment, and made many mental notes to take mud duty with thanks the next time it was offered to him.

You must accompany Lady Catalonia everywhere she goes and refer to her as "Lady Catalonia" at all times, unless directed otherwise by Lady Catalonia herself.

When accompanying Lady Catalonia, you must dress and behave as discreetly as possible, truly blending in as much as you are able to. As an example, for any balls Lady Catalonia attends, you will join her in a tuxedo as her escort. At school, you will wear the school uniform and sit by her in lessons.

You will sleep in Lady Catalonia's bedroom to prevent any attacks at night, but will respect her decency at all times. Lady Catalonia has been informed to report any incidents immediately to Preventer Une, and a note will be placed permanently in your Preventer file.

Wufei threw the brief to the floor in disgust. Who did they think he was, some kind of obsessed idiot? The brief read as if he wasn't a preventer at all, but some unprofessional fool they needed to scare and patronise to make their point.

Besides, the girl was hardly attractive. He doubted that even an obsessed idiot would go near a girl like that.

He was tempted to get his katana out and go through his kata right there on the plane, an urge stifled only by the fact that he needed to read the rest of the brief, insulting as it was.

As he stepped off the plane, he shivered slightly. Preventer life has made you weak, Wufei, he chided himself as he marched to the meeting point.

He was driven to the School of St Jude of Thaddaeus, the name Miss Peacecraft had given her kingdom's newest school, and met by a maid who took him to Miss Peacecraft's office.

He remembered her from the news, seeing her as Queen of the World Nation. Since then, she'd become the youngest Vice Foreign Minister in history under the name of 'Dorlian' and done great things for the World Nation she had created.

Several months before, she had resigned from her position and passed it on to a trusted colleague, who was working hard to reassure her that her faith had been placed well. Vice Foreign Minister Dorlian had become Princess Peacecraft once more, and was attending school.

She looked different now, younger, in spite of the two years she'd aged. Now she was seventeen, and still looked like a fourteen-year-old.

"Welcome to the Sanc Kingdom." She bowed humbly, then smiled warmly at him. "I'm so glad you could join us here, it means a lot."

"Miss Peacecraft, I didn't exactly have a choice," he said stiffly.

"Please call me Relena, I should be calling you by title, not the other way around. You deserve much greater respect and gratitude than I could possibly give you."

They maintained eye contact for a moment. He remembered at that point that Relena had been at the frontline in the Eve Wars, that she had seen him as a gundam pilot in battle.

In spite of her young appearance, he had to force himself to remember that this was not a child he was looking at. She looked so fragile, like a china doll, as if she might break at any moment.

A rather attractive china doll. Not beautiful, but…attractive. In spite of her young appearance, she had grown up a lot since he had last seen her.

He shook away the thought.

"I understand Lady Catalonia knows nothing of my background?"

Relena shook her head. "Not a thing. Lady Une gave me strict orders last week not to let her know."

That distracted him.

"Last week!" he exploded.

"I take it you weren't given as much notice."

He studied her carefully. Her blue eyes were dancing with amusement, but her smile was gentle and sincere. The way she spoke held not an inch of mockery, and he felt with absolute certainty that she meant every word she said.

As long as she continued to be sincere and upfront, he was sure he could learn to get along with Relena Peacecraft, even if she was a politician.

Dorothy Catalonia was another story entirely.

Relena personally showed Wufei to Dorothy's room. In retrospect, Wufei realised that the princess was probably worried about the consequences of their meeting.

"Come in."

Wufei glanced around the richly furnished room and wrinkled his nose slightly and involuntarily. It was much too plush for his taste, and he wondered why Relena had given this girl such an obviously aristocratic bedroom when she advocated classlessness.

The answer became clear on further inspection. The room itself was exactly like every other; it was merely adorned in Miss Catalonia's favourite style, which seemed to be 'over-the-top'.

"Admiring my décor, I see."

From the moment Dorothy Catalonia walked into the room, Wufei felt his defences slam up.

"Admiring is too strong a word, Lady Catalonia."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh really? What word would you use then?"

"I think 'looking at' is the nicest term I could come up with right now."

She smiled. "At least you're honest," she said, seeming pleased. "I'm not particularly fond of it either, Mother chose it for me all by myself."

So, she was a rebellious teenager with overbearing parents. He had to keep from yawning.

"Wufei, this is Dorothy Catalonia, Dorothy, may I present Chang Wufei, your bodyguard."

She nodded in greeting, as did he, each seeing how shallow they could make their nods.

A bell rang, and Relena started. "Forgive me, I have to go and change for lunch. I'll see the two of you down there presently, I'm sure."

"I'm sure," murmured Dorothy, still smiling at Wufei. When Relena shut the door, she stepped closer to him, apparently studying him. "So, I'm sure you just jumped at the chance to come on babysitting duty!" she said with a grin. "What did they have to do, double pay, triple pay, all-expenses-paid cruise?"

"My world isn't ruled by money in the way yours seems to be, Lady Catalonia," he said, speaking even more stiffly than he had in Relena's office.

"Lady Catalonia? I suppose they told you to call me that."

"They told me a lot of things, including that I have to protect you at all times. We should go to lunch before the crowds lessen and your head becomes an obvious target to anyone but myself."

He was being abominably rude and he knew it, but didn't care either. He hated women that looked like ladies but acted like children. Dorothy reminded him of a fourteen-year-old in her mother's high heels and lipstick.

If she complained about him, Wufei would be taken off the case immediately and assigned to mud duty.

As he again tugged on the neck frill that was part of the uniform at St Jude's, he prayed silently for her complaint to come soon.

As Dorothy pulled on her jacket, she said, "I've been told a lot of things as well, Chang Wufei. I've been told you have to sleep in my room. You should be a little nicer to me if you want to ensure that it's anything less than miserable."

He maintained his bored _expression and looked straight past her. Her threats were unsubstantiated and pathetic at best.

Seriously, he thought with a smirk, What can she possibly do?