Disclaimers: Not mine, no money, don't sue, me is just a poor undergraduate, me owns nothing.

            And I was inspired by Lorena's fic, Chiaroscuro. But it's not the same thing, I'm just borrowing the idea of the nightmare in studying in a private school (which I'm currently experiencing). ^___^

Warnings: AU, Cross-dressing. Language. Lame attempt at humor. Lil' bit o' Shounen Ai? By me, 'nuff to scare you? ^___^

Notes: Uhm, this is going to have Shounen Ai in it, definitely, especially this part. But that's to be expected since this is taking place in an academy exclusively for boys. So… if you don't like that, there's the back button for you. But it's not really that detailed, just kissing and stuff, it's for the plot. ::grin:: Oh, well. Read at your own risk.

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Part 7

            "This wasn't the right time to barge in, was it?" Hilde asked, flashing them a sheepish smile. The two merely stared at her and the girls behind her dumbly. "Oops."

            Heero pointed at them then at the picture that was the topic of their conversation only seconds ago. "You…friends…"

            Relena wished for the nth time that day that her long-overdue lighting would strike her. NOW.

            "You're aware visitors, especially females ones who aren't even your relatives, are prohibited, right?" Heero asked after another minute of stunned silence from all parties.

            Dorothy burst out laughing. Then shrugged when three pair of eyes glared at her. "I just thought it was funny," she said. She walked over to where Heero was sitting at the couch and extended her hand. "Dorothy Catalonia. I know you must be a little bit of surprised to see three girls barging into Rey's," she paused, smirking as the name rolled off her tongue then continued, "window like that. We wanted to surprise him," she half-whispered to the boy.

            Relena rolled her eyes. Surprise her? She nearly died of heart attack!

            She regained composure and cleared her throat. "Meet my friends, this is Catherine Bloom and this is Hilde Schbeicker."

            "Your cousin," Heero said softly, looking at them and giving them something that resembled a very, very small, almost non-existent smile.

            "Cousin?" Relena repeated. "Uh, yeah, my cousin." She flashed him a bright smile. "Not that I'm throwing you out or anything, Heero, but can we—can we, uh, continue our conversation tomorrow?"

            Heero shrugged. "I have to see Duo anyway. He'd want to know if you're okay." He stood up and allowed Relena to walk him to the door. The three waved at him from the couch as they passed.

            Relena opened the door and stepped aside to let Heero out. "I'll see you tomo—" She was cut off when four bodies tumbled in and Relena's eyes widened.

            Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei smiled at them from the floor sheepishly. "Um, hi, Rey, Heero," Duo greeted from the top of the pile.

            "We got worried when Heero didn't come back to their room after ten minutes," Quatre said, looking apologetic. "We were afraid you weren't okay…"

            "More like afraid that you and Heero got into another of your 'arguments' and one of you pushed the other out the window is more like it," Wufei muttered under his breath. "Get off, me, Barton! That's my pancreas you're squashing!"

            "I would, if Maxwell would gladly get off me first—Quatre, save that for later!" Trowa grunted from underneath the chuckling blond.

            "There are other people in the room, you know," Duo made a face. "Really, you two should—" He stopped midsentence when he saw Hilde and the girls waving at them cheerfully from the couch.

            The four immediately stood up and Relena closed her door, locking it firmly behind her back. She sighed. Oh, well. At least all her friends would get to meet each other. "My friends from CHA," she said, giving them a sunny smile. "They decided to surprise me but it seems as if they got their own share of surprise themselves."

            "You are aware of the rule about visitors, aren't you?" Wufei asked, frowning slightly.

            Duo made a face then pointed a finger at Hilde. "You! I know you—well, I don't know you know you but I know you!"

            Relena stared in silence as Hilde merely smiled at him. Maybe the lightning was out of the question now.

            GIVE ME A DAMN EARTHQUAKE!

            "Me? I don't believe we've met," Hilde shook her head then paused, looking thoughtful. "Hey, I remember! I saw you at the disco some nights ago." She grinned. "Great moves, by the way."

            Duo grinned and laughed happily. "Glad you think so, Miss…?"

            "Hilde Schbeicker," Hilde said, standing up and shaking his hands. "And you are…?"

            "Duo Maxwell's the name."

            Dorothy cleared her throat and smiled at them. "We're still here, just thought I'd let you know," she gave her shorthaired friend a sweet smile. "Dorothy Catalonia and this with me is—"

            "You must be Quatre!" Cathy exclaimed, walking toward the blond and pinching his cheeks affectionately. She then turned to Wufei. "And you must be Wufei, the perpetual anal," she grinned evilly.

            Wufei sputtered then glared at her. "I am not anal!"

            She tweaked his nose playfully. "I'm Catherine, I'm sure you've heard about me."

            Quatre gaped at her. "Ca-Catherine? As in Catherine Cathy? Older sister of Trowa?" when she nodded, he hugged her. "Ne'chan!"

            Relena stared at the two back and forth. What the hell is going on? Trowa Barton was her friend, Catherine Bloom's brother? The one she was supposed to check on? "Why do you guys have different last names?" That would've made her life A LOT easier locating Trowa.

            Cathy shrugged. "Didn't I tell you? Bloom's the stage name of our parents when they were in the circus. I decided to keep it since it has a nice ring to it, don't you think so? Catherine Bloom." She chuckled then turned to Trowa. "Had you been taking care of yourself like you promised me you would?"

            The brown-haired boy nodded. "Yes, ma'am! Besides, you already commissioned Quatre for that."

            Cathy giggled then shrugged. "Hey, let me act like the nagging big sister, okay?"

            Dorothy rolled her eyes. "Family reunions. Is it some sort of requirement that they have to be cheesy?" She shrugged when eight pair of eyes glared at her. "Anyway, Rey, do you have anything cold here? All the climbing took its toll on me. Not all of us had circus backgrounds, you know," she said meaningfully, looking at Cathy.

            The girl who was a year older shrugged. "But I think you have potential, Dorothy. You have rather flexible limbs there. Tell me if you wanna take up my offer, okay? I can get you in anytime."

            "I'll get the drinks," Relena cut in before Dorothy muttered (audibly, the kind everybody hears) another comment that would no doubt ensue another verbal feud, which often happened in Dorothy's case.

            Dorothy was really a good friend but sometimes, she couldn't keep her comments to herself. She believes in freedom of speech and abuses it too much. Intentional or not, her words could be pretty harsh at times. She did not want another tongue clashing in front of her other friends.

            She set the tray of canned drinks and snacks on the table and sat down on the empty beanbag next to Heero. Duo and Hilde seemed to be hitting off while Cathy was too focused on talking to Quatre and Trowa to pay anyone else any attention. Dorothy and Wufei were having a heated debate about politics that Relena didn't want to interrupt. The last thing she wanted to do was pin herself in the middle with two razor-sharp tongues more than ready to tear her to pieces for being at the middle of crossfire.

            "Hey," Heero said, handing her a can.

            "Thanks," she said, feeling something resembling a blush on her cheeks. "Sorry about this. They're a bit…strenuous for the ears but they're really fun."

            "What was it you were saying back then again?" he asked. "You weren't exactly able to finish what you were saying. It seemed serious."

            Relena opened her mouth but no sound came out. She tried again but no such luck. Okay, she could take a hint. "Nothing," she lied. "It wasn't serious or anything like that. I was just going to tell you that…" I am a two-faced lying fake. "you don't have to worry about James. I'll kick him at the groin next time I see him. The bastard."

            "I'll throw in a few punches while you're at it," Heero winked and Relena felt her heart skip.

            Breathe, Relena, breathe… It won't do you any good to pass out from lack of gas now. So maybe there's a slight chance he's interested, but don't get your hopes up. "Thanks. How about we ambush him tomorrow afternoon? I can probably gather a few rocks to hit him with by then."

            "You take head and I'll take the other parts. He still owes me for trying to get fresh with me back in first year."

            First year? Note to self: Gather rocks the size of Titanic to hit the evil bastard with. That'll teach him to try getting fresh with Heero, even if it was years ago!

~*~*~*~

            Not an hour after her friends left (both male and female), her phone rang. It displayed Hilde's number so she was debating whether or not to answer the call. She had a pretty good idea what she was going to say.

            Resigning to her fate, she pushed the button and armed herself for the oncoming battle. "Yes?"

            "He's cute," Hilde said, giggling a bit. "No wonder you didn't want to tell us about it at first. Did I tell you how lucky you are to be living in the same campus as him?"

            "Who? Duo or Heero?"

            "I knew it was Heero for you!" Hilde exclaimed, laughing.

            Relena felt herself color. Stupid! She could practically see the "IDIOT" stamped on her forehead now. "What about Heero?"

            "As if that'll work," Hilde said dryly. "Why won't you just admit it? He's cute anyway—but I was talking about Duo—I see no reason why you won't just admit it. We won't stone you to death, you know."

            "Because it complicates matters," she replied, sighing heavily as she reclined on her bed. "I don't need a guy in my life right now. I'm perfectly content before. And I'm just lying to him this way. And he probably won't like Relena anyway."

            "I sense a lot of insecurities here," Hilde said, sounding concerned. "Lena, you're one of the most sought-after girls in the entire academy. I don't see why you have to worry about that."

            "Because they like looking at me and my bank account."

            "A bit jaded, aren't we?" Hilde snorted. "Will you listen to yourself? You've been keeping this front of being really good at everything that I thought before that having you spend time in a boy's school would help. But you keep fighting off whatever good it's bringing you."

            "And what good would that be?"

            "You're an interesting person with a good heart, anyone would have to be blind not to realize that. But you lack self-confidence where you need it most. In yourself." Hilde paused. "Yeah, you act as if you're always sure of yourself but your friends can see through you."

            "So I'm a fake?"

            "No, but you're keeping a front and it's not helping you. But after seeing you now after a few weeks there, I've seen changes. The others noticed it as well. You're not that afraid to do something on your own anymore. You can live with and befriend a bunch of guys who aren't introduced to you by your brother. I think that's a really good change. It shows you're no longer afraid of men."

            "Who said anything about me being afraid of men?" she demanded, sitting up and exhaling loudly. Did they really see that in her?

            "My brother, my brother, my brother…he's the only man you've gotten close enough with! Name me a boy our age you're close with that your brother didn't introduce you to," Hilde challenged.

            Relena opened her mouth to prove her friend wrong but stopped. "Heero."

            She could practically see her friend smiling at the other end of the line. Okay, bad choice. She felt herself flush once more. Why did it have to be Heero?

            Hilde cleared her throat. "Point proven. I'll let you ponder on your own for now. But hey, for what it's worth, it was great seeing you again. Oh, and you have more color in your cheeks—not the blush though there was a lot of that tonight—than you usually have. I really think this is doing you good." Hilde ended the conversation.

            Relena stared at the phone in her hand for a while before tossing it at the bed as she stood up. She studied her reflection on the mirror on her bathroom wall and frowned. Hilde was right. Her cheeks had a rosy tint on it. She smiled at the reflection as she thought about a certain young man and blushed. Okay, so maybe Hilde was right. Her stay at SKA is doing her good. No need to let her know and gloat about it though.

~*~*~*~

            "Should I be checking the gutters for the boy's remains tomorrow morning?"

            Heero paused from where he was working on the worksheet for the Basketball club. He encircled Dorian's name and stared at his friend. "Huh?"

            "James' remains," Duo grinned, plopping on his bed, "should I check the gutters for his remains tomorrow if he fails to show up for breakfast?"

            The Japanese's eyes darkened and his face twisted into a scowl. He turned back to the worksheet and continued analyzing the statistics given to him for the coach. But not before muttering, "If there will be anything remaining once I'm through him."

            "A tad too protective, aren't we?" Duo gave him a sunny smile from where he was lying on his stomach on the blue-blanketed bed. He shrugged when Heero glared at him. "Rey can take care of himself."

            "You were worried when he didn't show up to eat," Heero stated.

            "Yeah, but not half as worried as you were," Duo muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes. Why won't he just admit it? He feels something for the newcomer. It wouldn't kill him to open up a little.

            "I think it'll do you a world of good," Duo said, turning to face the wall.

            The other occupant of the room stared at his friend's back. "What? To kill the stupid ass?"

            "Being honest to yourself. But that'll work too. It'll help relieve some stress."

            "What do you mean?" Heero pushed the papers away and shifted in a more comfortable position on the couch. He could always work on it later. Duo was in one of his unusual "guru" moods.

            "You know what I'm talking about."

            "No, I don't. Tell me."

            "Things happen for a reason. Sometimes, change is good." When Heero's only response was silence Duo shook his head and yawned. "I'm sleeping. But think about what I said. Good      night, Heero."

            Heero could only nod in response, eyes filled with raging emotions he wasn't sure he could handle at the moment.

Tbc

            Liked it? Hated it? Loved it? Lost your lunch? Gifts? Threats? Praises? Mail me and tell me! ^_^ Send 'em over at kuroi_22@hotmail.com

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            Sorry for keeping this short. But I'm kinda in the process of reconstructing (yet again! I've lost count on the times I've reconstructed) my site. So fic updates will be a bit slow for a while. Gomen. .