Highbridge

By Cherry Flavored

Chapter 8- Memai

Disclaimer: don't own

~~~

"Ah-aahhhhhhh"

A loud yawn could be heard all around the first floor of the near-deserted Romefeller mansion. A girl stretched her arms out to their farthest capacity before letting them flop to her sides lazily. She got up from her comfy position on the couch to head to the kitchen; a place she hoped still had the concealed box of pop tarts she had left in secret yesterday.

After rummaging through some stuff, she found her prize.

She grinned. "Nothing like blueberry goodness to wake you up in the middle of the day," she said happily.

But as she stuffed her mouth with the sweet breakfast food, she noticed a red flashing light coming from the direction of the phone. After further investigation, she discovered she had a message on her answering machine.

This was no good.

She cautiously pressed the play button, fearful of whom would have her unlisted number and what would they want.

A familiar voice echoed through the kitchen, and this wasn't exactly a voice she had been dying to hear.

"Ms. Catalonia," said a calm, quiet voice, "A couple of dragons are calling you back home. But even though I must be their messenger, I must also explain how to get you there. Are you prepared to become a jester like myself?"

Dorothy grimaced. She knew this time might come, just… not so soon. Not to mention, she didn't know she would have to work with him, of all people.

She flipped her hair indifferently and headed to her bedroom. Now was the time to prepare.

"I'll be waiting, Trowa Barton…"

~~~

"Mr. Ledger, boarding preparations have been made for your flight. Is there anything we can get for you before you leave?" asked a pleasant attendant.

"A bible, please," asked Dulé Ledger in a pleading voice the young lady he was addressing didn't understand. So she less-than-eagerly left to comply with the young man's demands.

The attendant return with a small Gideon bible from the front of the plane, and Dulé took it and closed his eyes. He tried to take a moment to think, but was interrupted by the roar of initial takeoff.

~~~

"Well, if it isn't Miss Queen of the World, right here on the plane with me," Duo said sarcastically as he entered the cockpit with Quatre. Duo looked over at his companion. "Should I ask for an autograph?"

Relena smiled warmly. "Hello, Duo. It's a pleasure to see you after all this time."

Duo smiled a very devilish smile. "It's a pleasure to see you too, especially when Sergeant Suicide isn't around to deathglare me away." Duo slid into the seat next to Relena and leaned in towards her. "So, what are you doing tonight?" he asked with a wink.

Relena laughed. "I seem to remember Quatre telling me you have a girlfriend, Duo. What would she think?" Relena teased back, with both false shock and sarcasm evident in her voice.

The three laughed as the plane took off, but Quatre's and Duo's laughter was unusually nervous, as the secret of Ashana's death remain buried inside them.

~~~

"We need Relena back now, Zechs. Should we call her?" Sally asked.

"No, Noin already tried, but the shuttle must be in a dead area; no connection can reach her for now. I just don't know where she could be, though, because I don't think her plotted destination is anywhere near a large dead air zone," Zechs said.

Sally suddenly looked worried. "Do you think something's wrong?"

Zechs shook his head. "No, I don't think so. This always a way we can tell if she's alright. She has an alarm on her person at all times that would alert us to any danger she might be in. Even if the alarm couldn't transmit in a dead zone, which I think it can, we would hear it the second the shuttle left it," Zechs stated. "Anyway, Sally, we can't worry about her for now, so we need to be finding who did this and who they were working under, as soon as possible."

Sally nodded. A flash went off and Zechs disappeared from her vid screen, leaving an eerie silence in the room, despite the fact that she wasn't alone.

Sally sighed. She turned as a voice began to speak.

"Barton's headed to South Africa. Catalonia's coming with him," came the flat voice of Wufei.

"So she's on?" Sally asked. Wufei nodded. "Good. The more allies we have, the better. So what makes you so sure about this David what's-his-name in Johannesburg?"

Wufei smirked. "You always have to question me, don't you?" The statement was more friendly than derogatory. "You lack trust in my judgment?"

"No… I…" Sally tried to think of what to say. She became frustrated. "Dammit, Wufei, how do you always do this to me?!"

Wufei shrugged his shoulders. "It's a talent."

~~~

Relena yawned loudly. She seemed a bit disoriented at first, but she soon came to her senses.

She immediately blushed.

Relena remembered the dream she had been having with a guilty smile on her face. She realized she hadn't wanted it to end at all, as embarrassed as it made her. It had involved Heero, herself, and a private space shuttle. She paused to reflect on the memory, but soon shook her head in resistance. She had NO business thinking about that, she was sure.

Relena was slightly startled by the appearance of Duo, whose head popped up next to her right shoulder.

"Yo, milady!" Duo said, tapping Relena on the nose. "I was just coming to wake you. We'll be landing in five minutes, so buckle up."

Relena couldn't help but smile at the pilot, but her smile soon faded when the reality of what he said sank in. She would see Heero in a very short time, and be forced to explain the situation he was in. She didn't know what his reaction would be, and that worried her. She didn't want to take away his new life, either. She was torn in half.

"Landing preparations have been made for touchdown in Auckland. Please fasten your seatbelts and remain seated," came a voice over the plane's PA system.

~~~

"Find the cosine of the answer you got in problem 12…" Yume read from his trigonometry book, his voice trailing off to a stop halfway through the problem. He let out a cry of frustration that made most of the people in the library turn and give him very angry looks.

Yume blushed and ducked his head towards the table. He glanced up at Heero, who sat across the table from him, with a pleading look.

"I can't do this…" he whined. His chin sank into the textbook lying on the table before him. "What did you get, Adam?"

Yume felt a thump on the back of his head. "Yume, you won't learn anything if you keep getting the answers. It's amazing how someone can be so smart about all of these other things but hand him a math problem and he turns into a six year old," Sarah scolded him.

Yume sighed and sat up, then leaned back in his uncomfortable wooden chair. "I know, I'm a big baby," he said, then suddenly arched an eyebrow at Sarah in realization. "You think I'm smart?" he asked in a completely different tone.

Sarah rolled her eyes and hit him on the head again, attempting to hide a smile that was threatening to crawl up her face. "Not right now I don't! Now let me show you how to do this problem…" she said, leaning over and grabbing Yume's pencil.

Heero laughed slightly under his breath, with an amused expression that he often wore when he was around the two people he was currently studying with. At first, he thought spending his study hall classes (which was valuable time Heero used to brood) with Yume and Sarah to be a bad idea. But, he found it was actually quite enjoyable, and made a habit of counseling the two on their homework when they were of need.

Heero couldn't help hoping that he could stay like this, in peaceful happiness, for a long time.

'But there's something missing, I think…' he thought.

Heero's ponderings were interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing.

~~~

Relena stepped off the plane and took in the fresh air. Her stomach did flip-flops when she thought about the task she had, so she decided not to think for now; she would just breathe deeply and clear her mind.

"Miss Relena, I think that you and Duo should take the rental car and get your positions secured; I'll take a taxi to my hotel and get things set up," Quatre said warmly.

Relena nodded as Duo took her by the arm and lead her to the car, with Quatre's plane attendants behind them carrying the luggage. She slipped into the passenger side and Duo stepped behind the wheel. Relena waited for him to get going, but he didn't move. She looked over at Duo, who was looking at her expectantly.

"This is going to be a short ride, Princess, but you still have to buckle up," Duo reminded.

Relena nodded and did as she was told, the butterflies in her stomach rising again.

~~~

During Heero's fourth class hour, he was getting anxious. For reasons he couldn't explain, he didn't much like the history lesson he was having today, "Affects of the Eve Wars on today's global relations."

The teacher seemed more annoying than ever; his classmates seemed more ignorant than ever; he just didn't like being there at all.

"Can you name any major figures from the wars that are still in positions of power today?" the teacher asked. The class was silent. Heero knew why: most of the public known leaders from the wars were dead.

A girl in the front row raised her hand timidly. The teacher acknowledged her. "Well, Relena Peacecraft is the current Vice Foreign Minister."

Heero swallowed hard.

The teacher nodded her head. "But now she goes by her adopted name, Darlian. Does anyone have any other thoughts?"

A boy raised his hand. "Yeah, why is it she's the only person still living? I mean, Dermail? He's dead. Khusrenada? Dead. How is it a sixteen year old girl was kept alive?"

Another girl raised her hand. "I think it is because she had extra protection due to her age."

"Or maybe it's because her ideas weren't popular with the high up government, so her people thought she was going to be assassinated and they put her under extra guard."

"I think she used body doubles so if any of them died, they wouldn't get the real one."

Many ideas were passed around the class.

The teacher spoke up. "Did any of you hear that during her rule in the Cinq Kingdom, she had protection from Gundam pilots? Many people believe that to be true."

At this idea, the class quieted. A few people raised their hands to offer their opinions.

Heero didn't like the way the conversation was going. Thoughts of the war were spinning in his head, making him dizzy. He put his head down, trying to block everything out.

"Mr. Yurigashi, I know that you are not attempting to sleep during my lesson. Is there something you would like to add to our discussion?" She was trying to put him on the spot.

Heero wiped a bead of sweat that had formed on his forehead. He spoke up, trying to clear his head. "I'm not very learned as to what Gundam pilots do in their free time, Mrs. Jones. I'm not quite sure what you want me to tell you."

Some of the class snickered at the attitude in Heero's comment. Heero remained straight-faced.

"You may sit down, Mr. Yurigashi," said the teacher, with annoyance in her tone.

"Wow, the great Yurigashi has been stumped. So he is human!" called a boy from the back of the class.

"That'll be enough, Mr. Dalton," the teacher amended.

Heero clinched his teeth. 'If they only knew…' he thought. 'I could tell that kid things that would make him want to be sick for the rest of his life. If only…' His hands began to shake. 'There's nothing here for me… Why do I still tolerate people like these?'

Heero was reaching his emotional boiling point. The last thing he needed was for his anger to go haywire. So he closed his eyes, and put his mind elsewhere.

Relena would be proud.

~~~

As the bell rang, Yume watched his friend storm from the classroom. He rushed to catch up with him. Yume had never seen the guy like this; it might not be a very good sign.

"Adam! Stop, wait for me!" he called. Heero turned around, and Yume saw his blue eyes flare with some strange emotion that Yume couldn't put his finger on. Whatever it was, it was scary. But Yume wouldn't be perturbed. He continued toward him.

"Listen, you can't pay attention to people like that; they're just jealous," he said.

Heero looked away. He wasn't in the mood to talk; he was in the mood to leave. So, he headed for the front door determinedly.

Yume barely noticed Sarah coming up behind him until it was too late. He blushed at the site of her.

"Yume, how's it going? Hey, what's with Godzilla up there? He looks pissed off," she noted as they both headed off to follow him.

"You know that moron Dalton in our second period class? He said something to Adam," Yume explained.

Heero stopped and raked a hand through his hair with frustration. "It wasn't that kid, okay?! It's this whole damn place; I just don't belong here," he snapped, heading for the door again.

Yume and Sarah exchanged nervous looks.

~~~

Relena watched Duo head towards the building with a gleeful pep in his step, but Relena could see through him. He was nervous; she picked up on that. His happiness seemed to be forced. He was hiding something.

Duo turned around to see if she was going to follow, but her look indicated that she would not be joining him just yet. She was still sitting in the car, and didn't much want to get out. But the second she did, she didn't regret it, because she got her first glimpse of the school building Heero had been staying at for all this time.

"Wow…" she said, with not so much of a tone of awe, but impression. She examined the large front lawn, and while doing so spotted a bench she deemed perfect to rest at until Duo returned.

She walked to the large elm tree that kindly shaded the area around her bench, noting that shade wasn't needed at all on this cloudy day. She sat down, straitening her clothes on instinct, until she remembered that she wasn't wearing her diplomatic uniform or one of her long ball gowns. Today she was clad inconspicuously, wearing a short, white skirt that had small cherry blossom patterns stitched along the bottom and a light pink long sleeve shirt. The collar on her shirt was pulled out and she left a button or two undone at the top in her rush to change into less formal attire. Her hair was completely down, and she held it in front of her face a bit as to hide her easily recognizable features.

She sighed as she looked into the sunless sky. "It's going to rain today," she said to herself.

~~~

Yume caught up to his friend quickly, just as he was jerking the doors open. He noted that they were the first ones to make it outside for lunch period, and by the looks of it, they would be some of the only ones. The sky was gray, and promised rain to any person that dared to question it. Yume was about to mention the coming weather to Sarah, but stopped as he heard a small pile of books slam onto the hard concrete.

Yume looked to his left to see Heero standing, his hands book-free and completely frozen. His eyes had glazed over and Yume shivered when he looked into them. He also noticed that Heero had dropped his heavy textbooks onto his own feet and didn't seem to care.

"Hey man, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

Heero didn't say a word.

~~~

There she was. She was sitting on his bench, at his school. Heero was at a loss for words. A surge of pain washed over him as he looked at her. She could not see him, and he was grateful for that fact, because he just wanted to look at her for a little bit longer. Just stay in the moment and let time consume him.

That is, until Yume spoke up. "Hey man, what's wrong with you?"

He saw… no, he felt her head turn towards him. He felt her eyes upon him, filled with surprise and… other emotions.

At that point, Heero couldn't stop himself. He ran to her as fast as his body could carry him.

~~~

Relena didn't know what to think. She had been here for only minutes, and she already finds him. She sat there in shock, seeing him suddenly begin to move quickly. To her, he was coming towards her.

Her stomach did a nice flip flop as she stood to meet him.

~~~

He reached her, still speechless, with his two companions in tow. She walked towards him, seemingly as stunned as he was. His mind was racing, until leaned towards him, and spoke softly.

"Heero."

He looked at her in the eyes, trying to hide everything that was going through his head at the moment. He reached out and touched the golden hair that hung over her face, obscuring her features.

Relena closed her eyes, and let the moment sink in.

Then, Heero came to his senses. He quickly retracted his hand, and Yume, standing with Sarah a yard or two away, was sure that he saw a small splashed of red crawl up Heero's face. Heero realized what Relena had just said, and open his mouth to explain. She already knew what he had to say, though.

"I know, I know," she said with a small smile. She spoke up a little bit, so Heero's friends could hear. "It's good to see you again, Adam."

He gave her a questioning look. 'How does she know this?' he thought. 'More importantly…'

"Why are you here?" he blurted out.

Relena smiled and looked towards the school building wistfully. She looked back at him and breathed in deeply.

"There's… a problem," she said, and then lowered her voice. "It concerns this place… and you."

Heero immediately switched modes. "You are here alone?" he asked.

Relena shook her head. She glanced over at Heero's friends, worried that they would hear. She glanced back at Heero and held up her hand, forming a peace sign.

'Duo…' Heero thought, recognizing Relena's gesture. But there was more. She added her middle and pinky fingers up on her hand.

'And Quatre…' Heero nodded, showing he understood. Relena was scared he might blow his top.

Heero gritted his teeth, holding back any emotion he might be feeling. There was trouble, and it had to do with him and his new home. There were his friends; the only two people that had befriended him might end up with their lives becoming far more complicated than they should be. Finally, there was Relena. On one hand, she had betrayed his secret, and now there was not one, but three Gundam pilots haunting this innocent place. On the other hand… she was there.

Relena was with him.

She brought some possibly terrible information.

Relena was with him.

Heero felt dizzy.

~End of chapter 8.

Ai-ya! It's been awhile, no? Ah well, I got off my lazy tail and did something. This is overwhelming! School's gonna start again before I finish this! grrrrrrr

Email comments to inrose@aminorglitch.com

Lots and lots and lots of love,

-Cherry