Perfect Beauty

Perfect Beauty

Chapter 5

"Kanani dear, there is something that I think you should know. Your mother was not killed through some random act of terrorism, she was killed by the IRA. When I was younger, I, along with many other college students, protested the IRA. I was very liberal at the time and I voiced my hatred for them numerous times at several rallies. They contacted me one day and warned me that if I spoke about them with such vile again, they would hurt something very dear to me. At the time, I didn't think about it and thought that it was just an idle threat, I had nothing to hurt anyways. Years went by and nothing had happened so I thought nothing of it. When news of the shooting aired at work, my heart sank and that was when I realized that the IRA didn't forget me after all. We didn't flee Ireland because of my job, it was because of them," her father stated as he looked sideways out the window at the city below.

"But Dad, why didn't you tell me this before?" Kanani implored.

"You were too young to understand. I felt this time would be right to tell you, I couldn't keep it a secret any longer."

Kanani remained silent for the longest time, she was still trying to absorb all of what her father had said to her. "Kanani, there is something else I need to tell you," her father said and she gave him her individed attention. "Heero here is your bodyguard. I asked him to protect you for the time being. Heero is the best in the business and I could never be too careful when it comes to the safety of my only child."

Kanani looked over at Heero who was leaning up against the wall, arms folded, remaining in the shadows. Heero looked up to meet her gaze momentarily, he could see the confusion in her eyes as plain as day. Kanani turned back around, shocked at the reality of her life. 'Was Heero only nice to me because he is my bodyguard? Were all of those displays of kindness and caring all an act?' Kanani thought as she stared at the ground, she felt so betrayed. Her father had withheld the truth from her about her mother's death for so long and the one she thought was her friend, turned out to be her bodyguard. "Kanani dear, are you all right?" her father asked.

Kanani looked up at her father, she fought back the tears that began to well up in her eyes. She took a deep breath and replied, "I don't know what I am father." Kanani then stood up and turned on her heel towards the door. She then paused and trying her best to cover up the sadness in her voice, said, "It was nice seeing you again father and thanks for telling me the truth about mom, it makes things a little bit clearer now. Good-bye." She walked to the door and it opened. She stepped out of his office not once looking back. The door shut behind her.

"Heero, keep a close eye on her please," her father said.

Heero nodded and left the office as well. He found Kanani sitting outside in the lobby downstairs waiting for him. Kanani smiled faintly at him and they left to go catch the train back to the college. Kanani took the seat beside the window and stared out it the whole way home, not saying a single word. Heero looked at her through the corner of his eye and thoughts began to flow through his mind. 'I knew this was going to happen but it had to be said. I just wish I wasn't there when it was said so I didn't have to look into those eyes of hers,' he thought as he looked at her. His eyes then began to softened a little as he gazed at her, her auburn hair glistening in the soft sunlight. 'Poor girl,' he thought as he reached over to touch her but quickly pulled back when he realized what he was doing. 'What am I thinking?' he questioned himself. 'I'm her bodyguard, it is my duty to protect her, that's that,' he told himself, as he reverted back into his soldier mentality.

Kanani noticed his hand out of the corner of his eye and spoke up softly, "Heero?"

"Huh?" he said as she caught him off guard.

"Were you only pretending to be my friend?" she said just above a whisper.

Heero was stunned, he wasn't sure what to say. 'Was I just pretending or do I really care for her?' he thought. He finally replied, "To tell you the truth Kanani, I'm not really sure myself."

"Oh, ok," was all she said as she turned back around to face the window. The rest of the trip was left to silence.

When they returned home, Heero escorted Kanani to her dorm room, she had a very long and emotionally draining day. With a faint smile, Kanani said good bye to Heero and shut the door behind her. Within seconds, he heard her flop down on her bed and the muffled sobs as she cried into her pillow. Heero just turned and walked away, he couldn't stand to hear those painful cries. 'I will not let my personal feelings get in the way of my duty,' Heero mentally ordered himself as he walked back towards his own room.

Kanani had cried herself to sleep, the day was just too much for her to handle. Heero had gone back to his room and flopped down on the bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling above. 'Why did she have to get so attached to me? It makes the job a lot harder,' he pondered, he just didn't know what to do about the whole situation. All of a sudden the phone rang, making him lose his train of thought. "Hello?"

"Heero, I need to talk to you. Meet me at the hill over by the garden terrace, you will know what I mean. Be there at 8 o'clock tonight please. Bye," Kanani said, not letting him get in one single word. He looked over at the clock and he still had half an hour to go. He had no idea what she wanted to talk about, everything was basically said and done earlier that day. He sat on his bed and looked out his bedroom window as the sun was beginning to set, it was going to be another cold night. Heero then walked out onto his balcony and watched as the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon. As soon as night fell, Heero went back inside and reached into his closet and pulled out his black leather jacket and put it on over his dark blue turtle neck.. At ten minutes til' eight, he headed out towards the garden terrace.

He was right, it was a cold night and the icy wind blew up against his face. The night sky was littered with a sea of stars as the moon rested high in the sky above. Heero inhaled the frigid air as he walked towards the gardens, the smell of the jasmine blossoms getting stronger as he got closer. Heero ventured over to the terrace and to his left, he saw the hill Kanani was talking about. He followed the little pathway that led to the hill which was covered in long, lush, green grass and little wild flowers that looked like little fireflies dancing in the wind. There sitting amidst it all was Kanani, her knees pulled to her chest as her head rested upon them, her gaze directed upward at the sea of stars above. Heero watched her quietly for a moment and so as not to startle her, he gently strode across the grass to take a seat next to her. "Hi Heero. Thank you for meeting me here," she whispered softly.

He sat down beside her and leaned back on his hands, his feet stretched out in front of him. "Heero, there is something I need to talk to you about," Kanani said softly.

Heero turned his head slightly as she spoke. "Why Heero? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not important. You weren't supposed to know," he replied.

"Oh I see," she replied in a solemn tone. "I guess it's not that important, trusting and pouring your heart out to someone who doesn't even care about you in the first place, no, that's not important. To actually care about someone and then to find out that they only pretended to care for you in return, no, that's not important. To think, I thought of you as a friend, now I realize that you were just there for me because you had to, because that was your job," Kanani said angrily.

"Kanani, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say," Heero replied softly.

"I'm not a kid anymore! I can take care of myself. Besides, you're just a kid as well, how the hell are you supposed to protect me? My father must have been nuts to hire you to protect me, in fact, he must not care that much about me at all to send a kid like you to protect his only daughter," she spat out bitterly.

Heero remained silent as her words penetrated his heart like a million little daggers. "How...the..hell...are..you supposed..to...protect...me!?" she said as tears started to flow freely down her face. "What, you have nothing to say? That's no surprise," she spoke calmly, finally regaining her composure. After a moment of awkward silence, Kanani turned her head upwards at the stars and sighed.

"Why did my father hire you," she muttered faintly.

Heero didn't respond and Kanani looked at him, she saw that his eyes were filled with deep pain and anger. "Heero?" Kanani implored. She then realized something, her mother and her gift. Kanani knelt behind Heero and placed her hands on his temples and closed her eyes. "Just hold still Heero." She concentrated hard and then the visions of his past life flooded her mind. She saw the life he had endured and all of the pain he has been through and witnessed. Kanani couldn't take anymore of it, she quickly let go and knelt there absorbing all that she had saw. Tears filled her eyes again and she wrapped her arms around Heero's shoulders, nuzzling her head against his back and sobbing. "I'm so sorry Heero, I didn't realize.." she sobbed and Heero just closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of her breath against his back. Kanani then stood up and walked away from Heero, she couldn't face him after what she had said. 'God what have I done?' she questioned herself. 'He must despise me after all that I said to him," she thought as she stood there looking up at the stars, her arms wrapped around herself to try and keep warm.

Heero turned and looked at her standing by herself, her cheeks glistening from the newly shed tears. Her hair blew in the cold mountain breeze, whipping strands of it against her face. He got up and walked towards her. As he got closer, Heero could see her shivering so he took off his jacket and walked behind her to put it around her shoulders. She turned her head sideways to see him standing right beside her. "You looked cold," he said quietly.

"Heero, I'm so sorry, you must hate me after all of the things I said to you. I had no right to say such things," she said sadly.

"Don't be, you had every right to be angry," Heero said calmly.

"I didn't realize the life you had to endure, it must have been difficult," she spoke as she looked at him from the corner of her eye as they both looked out at the stars.

"I got through it and that's all that matters. Kanani?"

"Yes?"

"How did you know?"

"I read your mind. Let's just say it was a gift bestowed on me by my mother."

"Kanani?"

"Hmm?"

"I wasn't pretending," Heero said into the wind.

Kanani turned and looked at him and smiled. "Do you mean it?"

He just smiled back and she took that as a yes. "Beautiful night isn't it?" Heero said out of the blue.

"Sure is," she whispered.

Heero then took a seat on the grass and patted the spot beside him. Kanani took a seat beside him and pulled her knees tightly to her chest. Catching her off guard, Heero put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him, her head resting against his shoulder. "You were shivering," was his only explanation.

"Aren't you cold Heero?" Kanani said as she looked up at him.

"Not the least bit," he replied as he pulled her a little closer.

Heero felt her eyes on him and looked down back at her. He didn't smile but all Kanani had to do was look into his eyes to know that he was smiling back at her, in his own little way of course. Kanani smiled slightly and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him tightly. Without thinking, Heero put his other arm around her, embracing her as if to shelter her from the cold. "The stars sure are beautiful," Kanani whispered as she looked out at the stars above.

"Yeah."

"Heero, are the stars as beautiful here as they are in outer space?"

"Yeah but too much of something will cause you to lose sight of its true beauty."

"I don't think I could ever get tired of stars," Kanani replied.

Heero smiled slightly and looked down upon her as the night sky cast a subtle glow on her face. "I don't think I will either," Heero answered quietly.

"Heero?"

"Yes?"

"Can you always protect me?" she muttered just before she fell asleep in his arms.

Heero looked down on her and cracked a smile, 'Always.' Heero just sat there for awhile in the serenity of the night before scooping her up in his arms and taking her back to her room. He gently pulled back the sheets and laid her gingerly on the bed. After he pulled the sheets back over her, he quietly walked out of the room, locking the door on his way out. Heero then retreated back to his room, it had been a long day for the both of them.