Part 2: Confusion...



Heero dialed Relena's office.

"Konnichiwa! Peacecraft-sama's office!" Lucy, Relena's secretary said brightly.

"Hello Lucy," replied Heero flatly, "Could I speak with Relena please?"

"Ooh...Sorry Yuy-san, she's in a meeting right now."

Heero cursed mentally. "K'so! The annual senior world peace summit!" He shied away from that topic, he didn't even want to THINK about what had happened at the junior meeting... "Please Lucy, it's an emergency..." Heero trailed off, trying to inject SOME sort of urgency into his voice.

"Well, I suppose," Lucy replied reluctantly.

"Arigato." Heero waited for the sequence of clicks that meant his connection had been forwarded.

"Hello, Relena Peacecraft here." A very tired sounding Relena snapping into her cell.

"Konnichiwa Relena, I need some advice..." Heero began tenatively.

"Look, Heero, could I call you back? I'm in the middle of some veral gymnastics. Relations have been a mess since the junior alliance massacre." Relena sighed and gritted her teeth as the representative from L2 began yet another accusitory, childish, finger-pointing rant. She rubbed her temples trying dispel her building headache. "Heero, I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"Relena, Duo's back." Heero responded bluntly.

"I'll have my shuttle ready in five minutes," she replied, a bit shocked. As she hung up, Heero could hear the faint stands of, "I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, but a personal emergency has suddenly arisen, and I fear I must take a short leave of absence..."

The connection clicked, and, with his heart considerably lighter, he stood there with a dead reciever in his hand.



*****



Duo's back.

The thought echoed around Relena's shocked psyche.

Duo.

Duo, the obvious object of Heero's affection, even though he would never, ever in a million years admit it. He had hidden it so well that it had taken her years to figure out, even after he 'convinced' her that he didn't want her as a lover. She rubbed her left foot over the nickel-sized scar on her right... not that she hadn't really deserved it.

She chuckled at how different they all had become. Heero actually began to show emotion, "Even to me..." Relena reflected a tad wistfully, first loves always died hard. He smiles, even laughs occasionally, in the company of his closest friends. He even tells a rare joke.

Wufei finally relaxed a little and let the bug up his ass die after the war. He also finally managed to relax somewhat around women, especially his 'weak onna' partner Sally Po. She was his field and research partner in the ranks of the preventers, but also his, as Relena was beginning to suspect, crush. It was understandable. Sally was the only woman, including Relena herself, that Wufei fully respected. She was 23, pretty, his probable best friend, and available. He was 19, attractive, and probably sexually repressed because of years of scholarly life, then the military. He seems uptight, he probably is, but all that tension building up is just going to explode one day.

Relena smirked, what she wouldn't give to be Sally or another lucky candidate that day...

Even compared to Heero and Wufei, Quatre and Trowa were probably the most changed of all. They didn't show it at first glance, but the both of them had developed radically. The fairly exuded happiness when they were around each other, their movements blended seamlessly into each other. When dancing or fighting, it was often hard to tell where one began and the other ended. Literally in all appearances, 'joined at the hip.' Together they were more dangerous than Relena's personal guard combined.

They were: a coldly detached boy who cared only for the kill, a boy who hid himself under anger and an obsession with justice, a quiet, gentle boy disgusted by killing but doing his duty nonetheless, a silent ex-clown with no family, no name and no past, and a naive girl who lived mostly in either her own dreams or nightmares, becoming a stalker.

And what had happened to them? They grew up.



Now their final member had returned. Relena wasn't sure what to expect from Duo. Unlike the rest of the team, with his strange happy-sad, young-old eyes, had seemed to grow up a long time ago. She was pretty sure she'd encounter the same pranking, lovable Duo she'd known, back from beyond with stories and adventures, and a few stolen hearts trailing after him.

He, along with Quatre, had been the light that had held the little group together. "No," she decided, "Duo probably hasn't changed one bit!"

"Relena-sama?" The pilot interrupted, "We'll be landing in five minutes."



******





Dun dun dunnnnnn! Sorry that was so short everyone! I have more written, I just have to type it, so review and check back soon! Thanks!