*--*

"Oww, WuFei, that hurt!" Kristen rubbed her lower backside after standing up. "What'd you do that for?"

I had come here originally to talk to her about last night, and to do what Trowa and Quatre had suggested a couple of days ago. But I found I had no courage. "You're doing it wrong," I said bluntly.

She stopped moving. "Huh?"

"Your forms. Here, I'll do them with you." We worked together silently for the next forty minutes. I corrected her where she was wrong. "No, not like that." I moved her arms, and changed the angle of her hands slightly. "Like this." By the time we were finished, we were both hot and sweaty, and I *still* had not accomplished what I had come for.

*--*

Oh, why did he have to come here? I get so flustered every time he's around. Every time he put his hands on me to correct me, I felt my face hat up. I found myself almost making the errors on purpose, I longed for his touch so much. "WuFei, I . . . ." I want to say I love you. I want to say this past month has been torture for me, being so close to you, yet so far away.

"Yes?"

"I . . . nothing. I'll see you later." I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. I was too weak, too scared. Too 'chicken'. There was no way I could ever tell him.

I took off at a run as soon as I turned the corner, going full speed until I hit our room. I lay on my bed under the covers and sobbed silently.

*--*

"WuFei, I . . . ." she started, toweling her face dry. She gave me an odd look, and I thought, or rather, hoped there was something more than friendship there, but all I saw was confusion.

"Yes?" Now *I* was confused.

"I . . . nothing. I'll see you later." With that, she left.

I sighed as soon as she was gone, and sat on the floor of the training room. I had hoped so much that she harbored the same feelings for me as I had for her, but now it seemed nothing but a hopeless cause; I was nothing more than a comrade. Nothing less, but nothing more, either. I went back to practicing my katas for the next two hours, working myself to exhaustion.

*--*

Jaime sighed when Trowa woke her up at six o'clock. "Jaime . . . koi, it's time to get up." She blushed at her nickname.

"Mmm. . . ." A month since Trowa gave that advice to Kristen, today was the day they attacked the home base of the Mariemaia Foundation. Mariemaia and Deakim Barton would be there, and the Gundam pilots' orders were to capture them. "I have a bad feeling about today, Trowa," she said sleepily. "I don't like it at all."

"It's okay," Trowa replied, his voice muffled by his shirt as he pulled it over his head. "Today was well-planned. Nothing can go wrong."

Jaime shook her head. "I just don't like not being able to use our Gundams. I feel so unprotected. I don't see why we can't just kill Deakim and Mariemaia and get it over with."

"Don't worry, you'll have your weapons, and you're well-trained. Don't doubt yourself, and you'll do fine."

Jaime nodded, still unsure. "I hope so."

*--*

WuFei and I were in our room again, and an awkward silence reigned. After that incident a month ago, I mostly stayed to myself after battles, sometimes even locking myself in the bathroom. I tried to think of something to say as I strapped my shoulder holster on, but WuFei beat me to it.

"You do realize that this is it, don't you?"

I glanced up. "What?"

"The last day. If everything goes as planned, the war will be over, and we can all live in peace."

I nodded. "Yes. I hope it all goes smoothly."

WuFei smiled ruefully. "This is too well-planned for it to go wrong. It's a flawless victory."

I was still worried. Something bad was going to happen. I knew it, and I felt it in my heart.

*--*