*Burning Roses. *

*A Beauty and The Beast story. *

Rating: Pg-13

Pairings: None yet.

Genre: Romance, Humor, and Drama. And action (I think).

Disclaimer: Please for the love of God, keep the first chapter's disclaimer in your mind as you read.

     Summary: All will be answered soon my readers.

Bomb Shelter? Oh my…. :: looks around for bomb shelter preferably gundanium reinforced steel.:: Ah. Wait. I have the power of creativity on my side. :: holds up metallic silver pen with a crazy glint in her eyes.:: I'll make myself a Gundam. Ha ha ha. Or not. Ahem. At this point in my life, I have just one thing to say. Insanity kills. And it's so going to hurt.

Yeah, vending machines are very tricky. I think they are evil. And they fall on you.

Relena…. Well, she gets creepy in this chapter. Really creepy. Beast and Serena get a tad closer. But not that close. And Duo is provided with the greatest hangover cure. Fear.

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Chapter Thirteen.

Out in the garden, the birds and the bees were doing their thing.

That didn't sound right.

Well, they were tweeting sweetly and buzzing and all that jazz.

That really didn't sound right.

So, anyways, the bees got their business done and left to go home. And the birds sang their ode to a beautiful morning.

What am I, writing a sick romance here? Yeesh.

Getting away from the demented birdies and bees, we'll look in on our prospective sweet hearts thank you very much. Yes, that would be much better and less ... Traumatizing.

I need a coke and some aspirin.

Serena sighed, turning her face to the sun with a soft smile. This was the life. At home, she had never been able to enjoy nature unless it was to pluck weeds from the herb and vegetable garden, and then she was always staring the soil. And the worms.  Needless to say, they weren't very interesting nor very entertaining. That and Serena was a tad squeamish. Bugs just gave her the willies.

Every time a worm had even touched her hand she had jumped to her feet with a shriek and stomped it. Stomping was her defense mechanism. It worked like a charm. Was there any doubt about that?

Still, she did feel bad about stomping Quatre and Duo and Wufei. It had been a reflex action. She'd have to work on that. You probably couldn't go around stomping vampires and get away with it now could you?

"Shilling for your thoughts?" Beast's voice inquired which in turn caused Serena to half jump out of her skin. She rounded on him, irritated that he had just snuck up on her and spoke into her ear like that. Was he trying to give her a premature heart attack? Heck, she felt the gray hairs sprouting already.

She came face to face with a curious beast man. "Any one ever tell you 'Curiosity killed the cat?'" She huffed, sidling away from him as inconspicuously as she could.

"…'And satisfaction brought it back.' Yes, of course I have. Why?"

Oh, how dare he pull that naïve act with her!

"Hmph." She hmphed, crossing her arms.

Beast did the innocent blink. " You aren't by any chance mad at me are you?"

Serena fell over. " Oh, no Beast where ever did you get that idea?" Sarcasm was the honey that defined the tone of her voice. It dripped and oozed.

Beast ignored her quip and reached a paw to help her up. She blinked at the sudden appearance of the appendage and batted it away.

She was a firm believer in independence. Serena could pick herself up on her lonesome. She'd had to since she was six. No one else had been there to do it for her.

" I'm fine, thank you anyways." Dusting herself off, Serena made a mental note to stop wearing those jewel toned dresses. Dirt didn't go very well with them. At all.

" So. How about that little jaunt hmmm?" Beast asked, and offered her his furred arm encased in pale blue silk. She just blinked, and with a mental shrug accepted the arm.

And off they went. La de fricken da all the way.

Lovely garden. Wonderful variety of roses. Fabulous array of fountains. Beautiful vines intricately scaling the garden's whitish gray walls.

Of all this, Serena was far more aware of the creature/man guiding her through the garden. Everything else was just a background thing. It was there but she didn't see it. And, snakes were chasing the butterflies in her gut. Not very pleasant. What if he asked her about her past. What if he forced her to tell him? He had fangs. He could do that. He was bigger then her. Eeek.

"Serena?"

She jumped, startled, "Huh?"

He gave her a look. " I've been calling your name for the past few minutes. Where'd you go to?"

" Um.. somewhere," She vaguely waved her hand about to emphasize her statement. A rose hue coming to her chinks, ashamed of where her doubts were going before he disturbed her from them. Of course, he'd never hurt her. Beast was nice. She could trust him.

Couldn't she?

"Serena. You're doing it again." Beast smiled, and poked her in the side gently. Claws, mind you. And once again, She jumped but added a new move to the dance and jabbed him back. Hard.

He oofed and rubbed his ribs -for show- with the hand not attached to the arm she was occupying.

"Wimp."

Beast just grinned, baring long white incisor fangs, ignoring the blatant insult. She suddenly stopped and looked around. Then winced and dragged him behind a tree.

" Why Serena, how improp—mmph." Beast's quip was cut off as Serena clamped a hand down on his muzzle and shook her head.

Seconds later….

"Sereeeeeeeeeeeeeeenaaa!!!"

From under his tousled bangs, Beast's eyes widened, and he tilted one ear back in a question.  Serena merely pulled him back towards the garden wall and into the shadows, whispering curses under her breath. He tried not to notice how close he was to her. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts. Bad th---

"Serena! Where are you?" It was Relena, apparently. Well, no duh. Who else would have screamed at the top of her lungs like that during the early morning hours.

As it was, the local wild life had probably had collective heart attacks from the shock of the banshee wail. Serena seemed to feel their pain, as her face was formed into a grimace. She shook her head slightly, probably to dislodge the ringing. Beast himself was seeing stars and hearing bells.

"I'll never get used to that." The small blonde muttered.

"Can I rip out her—mphhmphgrumhp." Yet again, he was silenced. Serena, amused, just shook her head.

Moments passed by then a drunken curse rang through the crisp morning air. " Ack. Get away from me you she demon!! Back I shay. Or elshe. I have a uh… uh…shilver platter and I am not afraid to ushe it."

Guess being drunk gives the drunkee more of a back bone. Duo was going good.

"I shwear to the great god above that I will not heshitate to kill you."

Oh yeah that was threatening. A pipsqueak giving out death threats. What a world.

" Jesus Christ! Go away!! I mean it!" Duo's voice was edged in hysterics.

The liquor had gone off on a permanent vacation.

Serena resisted the urge to run in the opposite direction and began to storm towards the voice, which was now crying desperately for help. So much for the back bone. She had to save the poor little guy, her conscience was getting on her nerves. Besides, she owed him that much.

And she had just become the president of the Save the Fairies campaign. Time to kick some pink butt. Er…yeah.

Relena was attempting to squeeze Duo's giblets out his rear by the looks of it. The poor little fairy was crushed to her chest in what resembled a hug but no hug had ever been fatal. Except for Aunt Gertrude's but that's beside the point. But, I'm doing fine now. Aside from the broken ribs. Auntie Gert, on the other hand, is not doing so well.

Serena felt herself pale at the horrid site before she rushed forward and slapped Relena's hands.

"Drop the fairy and I won't hurt you." She barked. Then caught the swirly-eyed braid boy in her hand as he fell from Relena's own startled hold.

Beast stepped forward a frown on his feature's as Serena tried to check Duo for injuries. She found none. He was a sturdy little thing, she'd give him that.

"Poor thing." She sighed, then pinned Relena with a glare.

Relena was shock white and could only manage a squeak of terror as Beast lanced her with a look of death. And then Serena did as well. She feared Serena more then she did the beast. Only because she knew what Serena could do to her.

" I thought I told you not to go anywhere near the fairies." He growled. Not a particularly comforting sound to Relena at the moment.

" eep." She eeeped. Going even whiter. Her eyes wide.

Serena sighed, " Relena, they are living creatures not stuffed animals." The petite girl just walked away, giving up on the situation.

Which left Relena to the beast's mercy.

Three feet away, Serena paused at the sound of a body hitting the floor, her left eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Relena had fainted. How Victorian. Sigh.

Beast sweat dropped, staring down at the body that had just crumpled into a surprisingly compact heap. Well, he'd never known a girl could achieve that position so easily.

That didn't sound right.

He needed some …. He was going to get out of there. Serena had the right idea. Rubbing his forehead, behind which the mother of all migraines was starting to take hold, he stalked from the room.

Serena frowned at the still dazed and confused Duo. She just didn't get her sister sometimes. The older girl acted like a four year old spoiled brat. And Serena acted like a thirty year old maid, intent on keeping what was left of her family together.

Maid. Yes, that was the correct term for it.

God, she hated her life.

With a self mocking smirk, she placed Duo on her bed and stared at him for a moment then got close to his ear and whispered, " Duo?"

No response.

" Duo?"

 This time she got a twitch from his foot.

She sweat dropped and thought about what she could do to wake the despondent mini man up. A quick look around the room showed there was nothing she could use.

Well, there was one thing she could use.

" Duo. What are you doing in Relena's bed?" She asked, putting the perfect amount of fear and scandal in her voice.

A blur with a braid screeched past her and hid in her hair.

" Save me. Save me. Save me." The blur whimpered, clinging to her neck. Serena blinked. Then thought over what she had said.

Relena crushing him to her chest. Duo falling unconscious. Then her telling him the bed thing.

Oh. My. God. Nightmares.

" I'm sorry Duo, I was just teasing. She's not here. You're safe." Her voice came out a tad raspy from the fairy's choke hold.

He sighed in relief but stayed hidden in her hair. " Well. Lead the way, My guardian Angel. And if that thing comes along, you can beat her off with Wufei's pin needle."

Not a bad idea really. Laughing, Serena waltzed from the room, Duo perched on her shoulder wearing a cheeky grin that ran ear to ear. Needless to say, he was rather pleased at his new position in life. Very pleased indeed. 

End Chapter.

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…I think this chapter bit the dust. The next chapter's going to be better, I promise. But, I suppose this one was interesting enough. I could smack myself.

Ermmm, Relena is starting to scare me. I mean really scaring me. That's bad.

Advice for the Chapter: First rule of Acting: Whatever happens look as though it were intended. And remember, Never say 'oops' always say, 'Ah, intriguing' that way, no matter what, you look like you know everything.

No joke this time, sorry. I can't think of one. Dern. Need inspiration for basically everything. HELP!!