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Love's Lir

Chapter One: Late

Relena nervously brushed the fabric of her forest green gown with her hands again as she hurried back toward town. She had been on her morning ride when her horse had thrown a shoe. Now, with reigns in one hand and her skirt in the other she walked swiftly. She was still at least twenty miles from Majhara and she knew that if she didn't quicken her pace she would not make it home in time to prepare for tonight's party.

Relena's feet ached as she tripped over another stone and nearly fell. She approached the river crossing and looked at it distastefully. There was another crossing further downstream but it was another mile out of the way and she couldn't afford to lose that much time. She sighed. People on horseback did not use this bridge, it was too narrow, too old, and very unstable. She took a deep breath and led the gray Andalusian onto the bridge. The boards creaked and warped under the heavy hooves of her horse and Relena closed her eyes and took a deep breath before carefully walking further onto the bridge.

Relena both felt and heard the snap of the dry cracking wood below her feet. Her horse reared and pushed forward with his hindquarter, pushing passed Relena and landing squarely on the other bank. Relena teetered on the bridge and fell into the railing. That wood cracked too and she was sent headfirst into the cold water of the river.

The current was swift and she was quickly pulled downstream by it. The heavy fabric of her gown weighed her down as she struggled to keep herself above the surface of the water.

"No Dante I don't think he'll be mad that I'm late, I mean I'm only late by a few-" A scream interrupted his words and he turned his Friesian toward the river. His dark blue eyes scanned the western bank as his stubborn locks of chocolate brown hair obstructed his vision.

Another scream filled the silence and he looked closer. He saw her then, in the cold water. His eyes widened and he kicked sharply at his horse. The Friesian jumped at the sudden command and cantered quickly before breaking into a gallop beside the water. It's long black mane and tail flew in the wind as he ran. The man pulled his feet up onto the saddle and pushed himself off it into the water as soon as he got close to the drowning woman.

The water was freezing, his white shirt clung to his chest as he forced himself to keep breathing. He swam desperately toward her screams. When he was almost at arm's length she saw him… Their eye locked for an instant… The helplessness in her aqua colored eyes took his breath away. He reached out to her and she to him. He pulled her toward him with an arm around her waist and immediately started swimming toward the shore where his horse, Kahn, was running along, waiting for them.

When he had pulled her to the shore and out of the water he noticed that she had stopped breathing. A cold hand gripped his heart as he felt frantically for a pulse. Kahn looked on silently from above while his master began mouth to mouth. There was a long moment of silence as he put his mouth over hers and blew in. She coughed, choked and a fair amount of water came up from her lungs. She coughed several more times and rolled onto her side. He stroked her back in a calming fashion.

She turned to him once all the water was out of her lungs. Neither said anything as they looked at each other. She reached her hand up and brushed the hair from his eyes. When she moved her hand away if fell back and he couldn't help but chuckle, his hair was always stubborn. She smiled slightly.

"Thank you." She said very quietly. She was still lying on her side so he settled down next to her in the grass, still breathing heavily from the excursion but happy that it had turned out alright.

"You don't have to thank me my Lady. Are you alright?" He said softly back, smiling.

"I certainly am now." She sat up and he followed. She shivered visibly from the water that had soaked and chilled her to the bone.

He frowned and stood, moving toward the beautiful black horse that towered over them both. He started looking through his saddlebag. "My name is Heero." He said without looking up.

"Relena." She answered simply, watching him curiously. He pulled a thick black cape from his saddlebag. It was made of a strange material that felt like crushed velvet and warmed like wool. He walked over to Relena and she stood, looking at it curiously. It was solid black with a hood and he wrapped it around her, clasping the two tiger clasp, one made of gold and one of silver, at her throat. She looked at him thankfully. She saw him smile, his smile was wonderful and friendly. She looked more closely at him. He had just the tiniest hint of dimples when he smiled, and his eyes laughed playfully. He wore a simple white long sleeve shirt, which was soaked and sticking to his every curve, she noted, and brown slacks with tall brown leather riding boots. He looked cold but said nothing of it.

"So Relena" he began, "what exactly happened anyway? I mean to get you into the river."

Relena frowned at the memory. "Well, I was rushing home to a party because my horse had thrown a shoe and I was thrown off the bridge."

"Not the foot bridge?"

"Yes." She replied. He looked startled. "I was in a rush I didn't have time to get to the other one, not on foot."

He looked up river, the direction that she had come. "Where is the party?"

"The capital, Majhara."

He frowned and sighed. "You're on the wrong side of the river again."

"I know." She said with a downtrodden look on her face. "Where are you headed?"

"Ellas…" he said, once again looking upstream. "Majhara isn't too far out of my way, I'll take you."

She looked at him sharply. "Isn't too far out of your way! It's about fifty miles out of the way."

He chuckled, he was very mild tempered. "Don't worry about it, I'm late anyway, one of us should at least be on time."

Relena was about to argue with him when he did something very unexpected. He approached her very quickly, she almost couldn't see him for a moment and then he was lifting her into the saddle of his large horse. Relena's eyes widened and she held tightly onto the pummel. The Friesian was much larger than the light-footed hunter she road and it made her uneasy. She looked down at Heero to see his smiling face once again. He was enjoying the awkward look she had been making. She stuck her tongue out at him almost without thinking, a very childish action and most unladylike. He laughed right out before hopping up behind her. He slowly moved his arms around her waist and took the reigns in both hands. With a sharp kick of his heels they were off in a canter.

They headed downstream to the bridge and then moved back upstream. They found Relena's horse near the broken footbridge with its reigns tangled in the branches of a tree. Heero had tied the reigns to the saddle of his own horse. Kahn, his horse, was as mild tempered and gentle as his owner.

As they rode to Majhara Relena found herself relaxing more and more with Heero. They talked pleasantly the whole time. Heero, she found out, was on his way home from the Crystal Isle, at the southernmost border of Homana. He had been there apprenticing at a shipyard. He said it was interesting, meeting all sorts of travellers, but he had been very homesick the whole time. What surprised Relena the most was that he hadn't asked to be paid for his services and rather nonchalantly said that it wasn't important to him, he had wanted to expose himself to knew cultures. Relena had been very tempted to tell him the story of when she had traveled to Rheghed, and of the white tiger she had seen, but decided not to. For some reason she didn't think she could take it if Heero thought she had been seeing things.

When they were only about ten minutes away Relena was startled to see something in the bushes to their right. She gasped when she recognized a tiger as it dashed between the bushes. Heero stopped Kahn immediately.

"What?" Heero said into her ear, he was instantly on alert.

"I, I thought I saw…" She closed her eyes a moment and opened them again. "I must have been seeing things."

He seemed to relax. "Did you see Dante? He's, well, kind of a pet, but more like my best friend."

She turned to look at him. She could feel his warm breath on her face and had to force herself to focus. "Is Dante a tiger?"

He smiled. "Yes."

She sighed heavily in relief. "Than yes, I saw Dante. What kind of a person has a pet tiger?"

He chuckled. "Me I guess, and like I said he's not really a pet, he's a part of me. Anyway, he's nervous around people he doesn't know, that's why he's hiding."

With that said Heero gave Kahn a little prompting and he began a trot, which quickly became a canter. She had met many people with strange pets from monkeys to small weasel like creatures called ferrets. Relena watched the bushes closely, hoping for another glimpse of Dante. She thought of the painting she had completed yesterday. Could Heero be the man in my dreams, and Dante the orange the tiger?

"Heero is Dante an orange tiger?"

"Yes." He said simply.

"Do you think that the white tiger is really extinct?" She wanted to look at him again but was afraid the shift would throw her off balance and she'd fall.

"No, I think they are still out there, staying deep into the forests where humans are too afraid to travel because of the Cheysuli." He said all this very calmly, like he had contemplated the subject before.

Relena frowned at the reference to the mythic race of Cheysuli. She wondered if he believed such stories. She didn't dare ask, she really didn't want to think less of him, and she knew that if he believed in them, than she would be compelled to as well… and she had argued so many times with so many people about the existence of such things. Cheysuli, give me a break.

She didn't see Dante again, and when they entered the city Heero told Dante to wait for him where he was, but the animal never appeared, Heero just seemed to know where he was.

It was nearly dark; Relena was still wet from the river and decided it would be wise to go straight to the party. Catherine was sure to have something dry she could put on and if she went home wet she would never hear the end of it.

So Relena led Heero to Catherine's large estate at the eastern end of the city and he pulled to a stop in front of the large wooden doors. He dismounted and turned so as to help Relena down. She slid off the saddle into his arms and he held her there a moment.

"Thank you again Heero, for everything."

He opened his mouth to say that he needed no thanks, but words never came. Relena pulled his face to hers and kissed him deeply. She knew the moment it had begun that she shouldn't have. It was improper, unheard of for a Lady and Relena knew she shouldn't have presumed any affection from Heero, he was simply a gentleman. But all of her worries were laid to rest when he moved his hands around her waist and pulled her closer, pressing her against him.

They heard the door begin to open and moved apart abruptly. Lawrence stood there, looking curiously down at her. She turned back to Heero only to find that he was gone. Only her horse stood there, with its missing shoe, and tired face.

"Miss Relena are you alright?" Lawrence asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yes Lawrence I'm fine. My horse threw a shoe can you have someone take care of him for me and can you get Catherine, I'm going to need to borrow some dry cloths." She moved up the stairs into the hall and waited for Catherine. She straightened herself, and looked down at her rumpled, damp dress and gasped. She was still wearing his cape. She pulled the black fabric around herself and breathed in deeply. The scent of pine filled her lungs, pine and something else, something husky. She reveled in the smell of Heero. It wasn't a dream this time, he was real and this is the proof. Catherine entered the hall and her eyes widened as she looked at her friend.

"Relena you're soaked to the bone!" Catherine yelled. Always the dramatic…

"Catherine I'm just damp, that's all. I just want to know if I can borrow a dress?" Relena replied looking again at her forest green gown.

"Of course, but why are you wet and why are you wearing Heero's cape?" Catherine's eyebrows were up and she smiled at the look on Relena's face when she mentioned Heero.

"How do you know…"

She gently touched the two intertwined tigers at Relena's throat. "Heero Yuy, he's a great guy isn't he?" Cathy said, not elaborating. "So why are you all wet?"

"My horse threw a shoe and I tried to take the footbridge so as not to be late and well, fell off."

Catherine shook her head. "And let me guess, Heero was on his way back from the Crystal Isle on his Friesian, Kahn, with his tiger Dante and saw you and saved you, just like is in his nature."

Relena just looked at Cathy. Could it be that everyone knew Heero? Could he have the same effect on everyone he encountered? She didn't want it to be true. She wanted…

"Where is he now? Did he bring you all the way here?" Cathy asked, leading Relena upstairs.

"Yes he brought me here but then he disappeared before my eyes… I don't know where he is." Relena replied.

"He tends to do that. My guess would be that he slipped in downstairs amongst the guests," she opened the door to her bedroom and entered, moving quickly to the closet "our guards are good, but not good enough… to Heero's standards." She was looking through the cloths now and Relena began to take her own gown off.

A servant entered, a woman, and she silently helped Relena remove the dress. Relena had been doing it without removing the cape, not wanting to lose its warmth. The servant removed the cape without a word, completely unaware of Relena's glare. Her undergarments were also damp so those were quickly removed. The servant moved to a nearby dresser to retrieve some dry ones as Cathy turned around with a beautiful silver dress in hand, embroidered around the edges and glimmering in the lamplight.

"This will do." Cathy said. Relena just stared at her, the dress must have cost a fortune. "Don't look at me like that it was a gift and is too small for me, besides I don't look good in silver."

The servant had returned and was fitting her in her undergarments and then the dress was pulled on over her head. Cathy walked to the vanity and returned with a brush, taking down Relena's hair and combing it as the servant laced the back of the dress up.

When Relena entered the room more than a few heads turned in recognition and not one looked displeased at her appearance. Catherine was at her side as they descended the stairs into the gathering room, almost as big as the ballroom in the Palace. Relena's eyes scanned the crowd. She knew who she was looking for… Heero.

The room broke out into applause at the arrival of the princess and the guests began to crowd around the staircase. She looked for Heero but didn't see him, or Catherine's brother Trowa. She sighed heavily and began to greet the crowd.

The crowd of onlookers had just begun to fill out when Trowa approached her from behind and wrapped his arms around her shoulders in an affectionate manner. Relena had spent most of her childhood playing with Cathy and looked at Trowa as she would an older brother.

"Now Relena, that was a very stupid thing to do, going on the footbridge with a horse just to get to our party." He reproached.

She turned, indignant. "I can't believe Cathy told you already, I've been here but five minutes." And then she saw him, with a large grin plastered on his face… Heero Yuy. He stood at Trowa's shoulder, smiling mischievously.

"Actually," Trowa said putting an arm around Heero's shoulders, "it was Heero who told me."

Relena smiled at them as Cathy approached.

"Heero! It has been too long." Cathy said as she walked over to him and gave him a hearty hug.

"Indeed Catherine." He relied as she began to cut off his oxygen. Relena laughed.

"Trowa you're so RUDE!" Cathy yelled, releasing Heero. "He's soaking wet! You would not provide him with some warm cloths?" She punched Trowa in the shoulder and he looked pleadingly at Heero.

"No Catherine." Heero smoothed after a moment's pause. "I was just on my way upstairs to borrow some cloths but wanted to say goodbye since I would be on my way right afterward."

Cathy looked as though she believed him, though the sigh from Trowa told Relena that that had not been formerly discussed.

"You're very late you know." Cathy said to Heero. "Your sister was here yesterday, said you were supposed to arrive at noon today. At this rate you won't be there until morning, and that's if you ride all night."

Heero smiled in his very charming way and gave Cathy another hug. "I'll be off then." He turned to Trowa and shook his hand and then he turned to Relena and engulfed her in a huge hug. "Now Relena," he said once he released her, seeing her flush, "promise me you'll be more careful."

"I promise." She said with a smile.

He nodded approvingly. "Alright, how does Thursday sound to you all. We'll meet for lunch." Trowa and Cathy nodded, Heero looked at Relena. "Will you come?" he asked her.

"I wouldn't miss it." Relena replied, smiling widely.

As Heero began to walk away Trowa yelled out to him, "Hey Heero! You can invite Aresa too, if you want."

Heero turned and continued walking, just backwards. "Yes Trowa I will invite my sister. I don't know why I'm surprised you still have a crush on her. See you Thursday."

Trowa blushed a deep crimson, and Cathy laughed whole heatedly at him. Relena watched Heero until he had disappeared upstairs.

Once Cathy had regained her composure she turned to Trowa. "I told you, you weren't fooling anyone."

((A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed! You guys rock.

Andrina: Thank you for reviewing. Yeah, something like that. You shouldn't put yourself down, that wasn't slow. No, white tigers are not extinct. In fact the color white in tiger isn't a breed it's just a recessive gene, like blue eyes, they're rare in the wild, but not extinct.

Jaid Skywalker: Thank you so much for reviewing. I hope you didn't have to wait too long.

Maki Tatsu: Thanks for the review. I really hope I live up to your expectations, I've already been told that if I mess this up and disgrace the book I'll be severely beaten, so you needn't worry. Like I said I'm only in the middle of the first one (slow reader) but I plan on reading them all. This is a slightly AU from the books too, but not too much.

Aieki Chan: Thanks for reviewing, I hope I didn't take too long getting this out. : )

Chibizaza: Thank you for the review. ::rubbing hands together:: hmmmm. I wonder who the man is, and the tigers? MWAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!! ::evil smiles:: I'm glad you like it so far and hope you continue to enjoy.

REVIEWS ALWAYS WELCOME!!!))