The Complications of Emotions
By: OniiStar
Chapter 3

Author's Notes: Well.. I finally got this chapter out.. It's longer than the rest so.. Nyah!

Disclaimers: I own nothing…. Not a thing. Just my computer.. But then I didn't pay for it.. So..*sigh*

Dedicated to: I dedicate this fic to:

IceQueen
WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!! ((Don't ask…or maybe you should)
Jade Lowe Maxwell
THANKS FOR BEING A BUDDY!!! WELCOME TO THE CLUB!!!
Lina Hino
Heya!! Don't give up on me.. I'm still here!
piscesangel
THANKS FOR ENCOURAGING ME!!!
Rogue Angel Barton
This one is definitely for you! Just one more chap and oh yeah!! THANKS ROGUE-SAN!!
SaturnActingChick
THANKS FOR ENCOURAGING ME AND HELPING ME THINK!!

*~~~~~~~~~* In Hotaru's Room *~~~~~~~~~~*

Hotaru sat up in bed, feeling the warmth of the sun heating her dark hair with ease, grumbling as she sat in front of her vanity mirror. Cera was already up, and walked into the room just as Hotaru sat down, kindly smiling at her princess.

"You're up early," Cera said.

"You know, I don't know what's more annoying, you and your ways of knowing things, or Heero's braided friend," Hotaru grumbled, obviously not a morning person.

"Was that a joke?" Cera asks, teasing her charge.

The princess of Saturn glares at Cera's reflection, but smirks in her playful way.

"Cera, I can't wait to beat his butt!" Hotaru exclaimed, clearly excited.

Cera laughs lightly, as she helps Hotaru prepare for her skating match against the prince of the Andromeda Galaxy. She slides her skates on, and smiling briefly, she teleports to Mercury, appearing on the frozen surface of the pond.

"I hope you're ready to lose," Heero stated, his loose black pants blowing gently in the breeze.

"You're mighty confident, aren't you?" Hotaru replied, glaring at him.

"I should be, princess," Heero answered coolly, then stepping on to the ice, he skated over to her.

"I've asked Princess Mercury to recommend a place for racing on ice. She booked us a place, and she'll be attending to congratulate the winner," Heero stated, then taking Hotaru's gloved hand, he teleports them to the racing arena.

Not only was Princess Mercury there, so was the rest of the scouts, except Pluto. Hotaru's eyes widened as she noticed her brother trying not to look at his sister.

'Oh WuFei, you are going to get it when we train tomorrow. And, I mustn't forget tomorrow night.. Oh no.. can't forget the ball at the Moon Kingdom. You'll get your punishment from the girls attending, and that will be painful,' Hotaru thought, her mind already thinking of ways to punish her brother for telling the gossip boy.

"Looks like we have an unexpected audience," Hotaru said, keeping her anger in check.

Princess Uranus steps up to them, but keeps off the ice, "You have to go around this arena 3 times to be claimed the winner."

Before turning to walk back to the scouts, Princess Uranus murmurs under her breath, "Kick his butt Hotaru."

Heero looks at the retreating form of the Princess of Uranus, his dark blue eyes hiding his thoughts.

Hotaru glances at him, and ignoring his question, she skates off towards the starting line. Heero glares at her back, and skates off as well, too busy thinking about things to think about his accident.

"Ready.. GO!" Duo shouted, marking the beginning of the race.

Hotaru started off with long quick slides across the ice, Heero matching her movements to examine his opponent's strategy. Then, with a burst of speed, she skated forward, the wind rushing against her face, as she made sure to keep herself under control.

Turning to skate backwards, she looks at him, a smirk on her delicate features.

"Come on, Yuy! I thought you were going to beat me!" Hotaru called out to him.

The Princess of Saturn basically flew across the ice with cat-like grace, they were almost done racing, and Heero was catching up to her.

Soon, the two rivals were side by side, each trying to go past the other, but neither succeeding. She was so close, so close.. when with one last burst of speed she skated ahead of Heero.

Skating close to the interior of the arena, she didn't notice, when she skated closer to an area of thin ice. As she slowly turned to face ahead of her, she felt the soft crack of the ice.. and upon closer inspection she noticed the fault on the smooth ice ahead.

"Oh no.." she said, her voice laced with worry, as she tried to stop.

Heero heard her, and thought, 'Oh no? What?'

Looking at Hotaru trying to skid to a stop, he blinks, confusion in his eyes.

'Why is she going to stop? She'll win if she keeps on going,' Heero thought.

Hotaru knew it was inevitable as the ice cracked under her weight, and without another thought, Hotaru was swallowed by the cold water beneath the slick ice.

She opened her mouth for air, only to have cold liquid rush in, choking her. She tried to swim up, but the weight of the skates made it difficult for her. She felt the cold like thousands of knives stabbing into her body mercilessly.

'Cold.. So cold..' was her only thoughts, as she frantically tried to swim up.

*~~~~* Heero's POV *~~~~*

His eyes widened in absolute dread as Hotaru's form disappeared under the ice. He skated up to the large hole she went through, and looked into the water, not even touching its freezing liquid form of ice.

"Hotaru!" he shouted, disregarding the fact that the water on the surface was freezing.

He heard the shouting voices of the princes and princesses, and continued to look into the water. His eyes flashed in pain, as he remembered the fatal event when he was younger. His soldier self fought with his human self, both arguing inside of him, before finally his emotions for the confusing princess won, and he slipped his skates off.

Not allowing his soldier self to take control, he dived in, and nearly froze from the cold water, but this time he continued his swim. He caught sight of her still form, and being stubborn, he refused to believe she was dead.

*~~~~* Hotaru's POV *~~~~*

She was losing breath fast, her air supply was running out, and she continued to lose her energy. She heard the voices of her friends above, and the cold finally consumed her body. She grew still, feeling too cold to move, to try and save herself… the last thing she saw before she closed her eyes was a dark figure swimming towards her.

*~~~~* Author's POV *~~~~*

Heero swam up to the senshi of death, destruction, and rebirth, and grabbing her around the waist, he swam up slowly, catching sight of Quatre's staff, which was emitting off a bright gold light.

He reached his free hand up, and grabbed Quatre's staff, gripping onto it with dear life, as he felt himself being pulled out of the water.

Cold air hit him as he felt Hotaru shiver in his arms, and he thought, 'At least she's not dead.'

Pushing Hotaru towards Usagi-hime, he nodded once to his friends before closing his eyes.
Heero slowly falls to the ground, but WuFei catches him, and sliding Heero's arm around his shoulder, he heads towards the Mahriana Castle.

"I need to teleport them to the Deahstar Castle.. They need to regain their power there," Wufei said.

The group nodded solemnly, and when they finally arrived in the castle Wufei instructed them to place Hotaru and Heero on the floor together. They complied, and Wufei kneeled between the two, and placing one hand each on their foreheads, he teleported to the Deahstar Castle, the castle of Saturn.

*~~~~* The Next Day *~~~~*

Hotaru felt cold for some reason, but finding warmth from another source, she soon unconsciously snuggled closer to it. And, again drifted into a somewhat strange dream…

*Hotaru's Dream*

Looking up she saw a man whose cape blew in the wind, being tugged by the ghostly fingers of the breeze. She was in her white dress, the one she only wore to special occasions at the court, and she looked up at his face.

Sadly, it was shadowed since the moon was behind him, she smiled kindly to him all the same. With a swift movement, he approached her, and once he was near her he wrapped an arm around her waist. His eyes were shadowed by his dark bangs, and the next thing she knew he kissed her on the lips gently.

*End of Hotaru's Dream*

Heero felt a something warm move closer to him, and unconsciously wrapped an arm around the bundle of warmth.

*Heero's Dream*

Looking up from the path he was walking, he saw a woman standing there in a white dress, her shoulder length hair being caressed by the unseen fingers of the wind, her face shadowed completely. He ran towards her, trying to catch up to her, but she seemed to be pulled away by something else.. By him?

No.. it was by his soldier self.. His self that felt no emotions for anyone. His eyes flashed dangerously as he watched the mysterious goddess be carried away by his war-trained self.

*End of Heero's Dream*

Hotaru slowly opened her eyes, the warmth of the sun casting down from the window in the room, filtering out the dark shadows of the night. Her vision still blurry with sleep, she moved closer to a warm body, and smiled at the protective position of an arm holding her gently….

'An arm?!' Hotaru thought, a look of confusion on her face.

Sitting up, she looked at the owner of the arm, and saw none other than Heero Yuy..the perfect soldier. Dark locks of unruly dark brown hair fell across his face, his breathing soft and quiet, and his eyes closed as he slept peacefully.

Hotaru thought she was going mad, or seeing things, so she rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, and looked again. Sure enough, he was still there, the sculpture of near-perfection laying there in her bed, sleeping like a child. Hotaru was taken aback by how gentle he looked at that moment, but a part of her shouted at her for being so weak.

Suddenly, she saw him stir, as if he knew somehow that she was glaring at him. Opening one Prussian blue eye, he looked at her, and silence fell in the room like a thick blanket smothering out all sound. He opened another eye, and stared at her, emotions passing through dark blue pools as he watched her carefully.

The two sat there, Hotaru holding the dark blue covers up to cover herself, even though she was wearing a nightgown, she didn't want him to see her in light clothing such as that. Without warning, the blanket lifted with just the soft creak of the door opening, and the soft, yet authoritative, voice shattered the remainders of the glass piece of silence.

"Hotaru? Heero? Are you two awake?" the voice asked, stepping into the room.

"Yes, we are ma'am," Heero responded, and slid off the bed.

"And you, dear?" the lady asked.

Her straight black hair was held in an odango to the side of her head, and the rest fell out in a sort of ponytail on that side. Her Prussian blue eyes looked kindly at Hotaru, as she smiled warmly at her daughter-in-law-to-be .

"I'm doing well now, Queen Delina," Hotaru answered.

"Well, since it seems you two are doing fine, I assume you two would prefer changing," Queen Delina, the ruler of the Andromeda Galaxy, said.

"Yes, we would like to change," Heero stated, watching his mother and Hotaru.

"Very well. I'll get the servants, and Prince Quatre would like to meet you outside in the North Garden," Queen Delina told them, then left the room.

*~~~~* At the North Garden *~~~~*

Hotaru walked down the narrow garden path, her waist length hair, which was curled at the bottom, was basking in the golden sun light. A soft breeze blew stirring the sakura blossoms, causing the petals to swirl around her in a cheery greeting. She held out one pale hand, palm up and watched in delight as a sakura petal landed in it, like one always had when she was little.

Bringing her hand up to her lips, she blew softly, and watched as another breeze carried the petal away, away to some other place, to another little child maybe.

"Hotaru," a voice spoke up from behind her.

She turned around, a false smile already planted on her delicate face, and looked at Quatre.

"Greetings Quatre," Hotaru said, her voice light and casual.

Quatre bowed at the waist to show his respect, and Hotaru dipped into a polite curtsy.

"And, what may I ask brings you here?" Hotaru asked.

"I will tell as soon as Heero comes," Quatre answered, smiling gently.

At that moment, Heero calmly walked into the area, and looked at Quatre and Hotaru.

"I believe you called for us," Heero said, his voice keeping his usual smooth tone.

"Yes, I did. I hope you two are feeling better, and everyone came everyday to check up on you two," Quatre told them.

Another breeze blew the fingers brushing through Quatre's platinum blond locks, his aquamarine eyes sparkling ever so slightly.

"Quatre, what brings you here?" Hotaru asked again, she wanted to hurry up and train.

"I have come to invite you two to a formal dinner party tonight at the Sol Palace," the Prince of the Sun Kingdom said.

"Who is attending?" Hotaru asked, her eyes completely devoid of emotions.

"All the princesses of the solar system and my four friends are invited," he answered.

He held out an invitation to her, the gold engraved lettering on the small card catching the sun's rays. Hotaru gently took it, and let her hand fall to her side once more, not even bothering to look at it.

Quatre also handed Heero one, and Heero took it, staring at it and reading the information on it.

"That is your invitations. You'll need it in order to get in, but I suppose you two would have no problems getting in if you didn't have it," Quatre said, amusement in his eyes, and laughter laced around his voice.

"Well, I must be on my way," Quatre said, and turned to walk away.

Rays of the sun fell down on him and he disappeared, leaving the two rivals alone in the North Garden. Hotaru looked at Heero, who was wearing a dark blue long sleeved button up shirt and smooth black pants. She turned to leave, and began walking away, heading towards the training room.

"Would you care to test your fighting skills?" Heero asked, knowing where she was going.

Hotaru stopped walking, and without looking she answers, "Is that a challenge, Heero Yuy?"

"Yes it is. And, I will beat you this time," Heero answered, remembering their last encounter.

"And pigs will fly," Hotaru responded, and walked away.

Heero jogged up to Hotaru, and the two began walking back to their rooms, preparing to change into more suitable clothing.

Wufei stepped out from behind a tree, and looked in the direction of the two dark souls.

"I don't know which one is worse, Hotaru or Heero," Wufei muttered.

"Heero is. Men are such bakas," a female voice said.

"Weak onna," Wufei growled, turning his head to look at the lady.

She was wearing a royal blue dress that fell to her ankles, she had a white short sleeved shirt underneath, and a sun hat on her head. Her long raven hair blew in the breeze behind her, as she glared at Wufei.

"Why are you always around onna?" Wufei asked.

"I have a name baka!" the lady shouted.

"Onna, answer my question," Wufei commanded.

"I'm Rei! Not onna!" Rei shouted, her hands clenching into two tight fists.

"You are an onna and it makes no difference who you are!" Wufei retorted, crossing his arms over her chest.

His eyes were closed, which probably meant that he wouldn't have known Rei was powering up. Her hair was blowing around her wildly, a reddish glow surrounding her entire body. Her arms were extended out in front of her, her palms holding a small ball of red-orange fire.

The small orb grew to the size of a softball, and she thrust her palms forward to face him, the firey orb flew past his shoulder and disappeared before it could hit a tree.

"Bakayaro!" Rei shouted angrily.

"Weak onna!" Wufei shouted in return.

"Prove to me that you are strong!" Rei challenged.

"I do not fight the weak," Wuefei said.

"That sounds like a coward's reply," Rei said, her voice still carrying anger.

The Princess of Mars crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her back on him.

"Are you attending the dinner party?" Wufei suddenly asked.

This surprised the 'Serpent Warrior' as Wufei was called, and the 'War Maiden' as Rei was sometimes known.

"Yes, I am. Are you?" Rei asked, her voice and mouth suddenly having a mind of their own.

Wufei just simply turned and sliding his hands in his pockets, he walked away.

Rei grumbled something about men being bakas, and glanced once more at Wufei. She soon disappeared as well, a small flame floating in mid air, then disappearing, marking her exit.

*~~~~* Heero's Thoughts While Changing *~~~~*

'Who was that girl in my dream? It looked like Hotaru..but the lady had shoulder length hair and Hotaru would never cut her hair. She takes too much pride in it to just cut it short,' Heero thought.

'I wonder if she will be attending the dinner party. A part of me wants her to go, but another part thinks it would be best if she didn't. What is wrong with me? I thought I was trained to marry and be able to protect. I thought I was trained to learn how to love, even if I was forced to love. Love….gods…what is love?'

Shaking his head, he stepped out of the room, now wearing a green tank top, and black baggy pants again. It was something he usually wore when he was fighting against his comrades.

*~~~~* Hotaru's Thoughts While Changing *~~~~*

'I can't believe what I'm doing. I'm accepting another challenge… against Heero Yuy. Why is it that name makes me fidget so much? He always brings the dark side of me out, and I always feel like doing something bad or mean. I'm not like that! I'm supposed to be quiet and polite, like Ami, but I just can't around him. I swear the goddesses have put too much on the scale of dark,' Hotaru thought, letting out a small sigh.

She wore a purple spaghetti strap shirt and some loose black pants. Placing her earrings of Saturn (AN: You know… those ones she wears when she is Sailor Saturn… I think..) on, she stepped out of her room, and closed the door behind her.

*~~~~* Lunch Room *~~~~*

Hotaru and Heero sat in silence at a small low rectangular shaped table. They were sitting on a small mat in the proper sitting position, and each were eating a bowl of noodles. Hotaru lifted up the fine glass tea cup, and sipped at the hot tea inside. Placing the cup back on the table, she stood up and looked at Heero.

"Are you ready to train?" Hotaru asked, her voice was lined with a bit of eager.

"On your command," Heero answered, and stood up as well.

Hotaru nodded, and the two headed into the training room. As soon as they left, two servants came and picked up the bowls and cups, then hurried to the kitchen to wash them. Another servant came, and picked up the two mats to be washed carefully for their next use. As soon as he left, a maid came in and wiped the table off, then began to mop.

By the time the servants and the maid left, the wooden floor was sparkling with beauty under the afternoon sun's light. It only took them at least 15 minutes, since they were all practiced.

*~~~~~* To be continued… *~~~~~*

Author's Notes: Well.. I finished this! Sorry if it took so long. But.. It's a long one so… forgive me! OMG!!! I wrote a part with Rei/Wufei… hehe.. No romance though.. ^.~ Who wants the romance to take a while to settle? Who wants romance in the next chap? Lemme know!!!

Again.. Another duel.. Who is going to win? Is anyone going to even win? Is Hotaru and Heero going to the party? Is Rei and Wufei going to ever accept their feelings for each other? How about the others? Should I have more romance for other people.. Like Mina/Quatre… Lita/Duo… Ami/Trowa? Hehe!! LEMME KNOW!!!!! RIGHT NOW OR NO NEW CHAP…soon.