Like anybody is surprised by this, but I don't own these characters. Just
the mess I put them into.
Just a minor note at this time. Well, at least it's the only one I can think of. I know I've said there would be a sequel to this..well, I've changed my mind. But before you panic, let me explain. I got to thinking after I read Sailor Emerald's comment about bringing Zechs in, and I realized that the story will flow better if the planned sequel is just incorporated into the story. So what once was the sequel will now be part of the story, meaning that I'm not as close to the end as I thought I was. Also means that there might still be hope for other sailor/pilot pairings. Oh well.I hope you all will continue to read and enjoy it!
"Heero!" Lita called out, running across the courtyard, all but knocking Heero over.
"Somebody's in a hurry," he said, a hint of smile on his face.
"Of course you dummy! I haven't seen you for four months after all."
"Only four?" he frowned. "I could have sworn it was longer."
"Oh really? And why is that?" Lita asked. "Miss me did you?"
"I guess you could say that."
She raised an eyebrow. "Fine. See if I talk to you." She turned around and marched back into the shrine in mock anger.
Rei looked on, puzzled. For two people who were getting married, they sure didn't seem to be that close.
Following in Lita's footsteps, Heero passed by the priestess, but not before making a declaration of sorts. "Lita will not be joining you for breakfast this morning. We have business to discuss, so I'd like you to make sure we aren't interrupted." Without waiting for a response, he continued on his path to the inside.
"Well, well." Rei said, putting her hands on her hips, glaring at his retreating back. "Just who does he think he is?" she muttered under her breath.
Heero poked around for a few minutes, until he found Lita. "Come on, we have business to take care of."
"Heero," Lita frowned. "I was just getting ready to have breakfast. Can't it wait?"
"No."
She sighed, knowing better then to argue when he used that particularly demanding tone of voice. "Alright." Grabbing some toast and putting on a plate and a glass of orange juice, she led him back to the room she was staying in. "Now what's so important that it can't wait?"
"Relena," he answered.
Grumbling, Lita set her breakfast down on the desk. "You just got here.."
"I know that," he said, sliding the paper door shut behind him. "But this needs to be done, and soon. Besides, you were the one that sounded so desperate on the phone."
"I know...and I do wanna talk about it, but does it have to be now?"
"Yes it does," Heero said, digging out his laptop from his bag and going about setting it up.
Frowning, Lita munched her toast while watching him.
Soon, everything was up and running and Heero was tapping away furiously on the laptop's keys.
"What are you doing?" Lita asked, finishing the last of her toast.
"I'll tell you in a minute. First, I want you to tell me everything that happened the night it happened."
So Lita relayed the whole story to him. How she had gone out shopping, run into Relena, and wound up shooting her. "I didn't mean to, honest! But using the gun you gave me was the only way I could see to defend myself. Well, besides transforming but I didn't think that was such a good idea."
Heero nodded, still messing with his laptop. "You told me on the phone that you called the police."
"Yeah. I just kind of freaked out after it happened, so I ran straight back here and called the police. I went to the station that night to answer some questions. I told them my name, where I was staying, how I happened to find the body and what the area was like when I got there.you know, the usual stuff. It was probably silly, but I thought that if I turned her in, they wouldn't look to me as a suspect."
"It makes logical sense. Most normal killers wouldn't report their victims."
"Oh, so I'm an abnormal killer now.."
"Frankly, from these files I'd have to say that you couldn't have picked a better time to kill somebody."
"Heero! I didn't want to kill her! And what files?"
He pointed to his laptop where he was currently scrolling through some police documents. "I did some.searching.into files connected with Relena's death."
"You mean hacking don't you?"
"It's all the same," he shrugged. "And yes, I know you didn't want to kill her. All I meant was that circumstances were quite favorable to avoid your incrimination in this."
"Oh?" she asked.
Heero nodded, sitting back from his laptop. "First of all, there were no fingerprints on her or her gun except hers."
"Well I would hope so. I didn't touch her."
Ignoring her outburst, he continued. "There were no footprints at the scene, or any other evidence that could be traced to anybody. Relena's gun just happened to be the same model as mine, so the bullets are identical. Not only that, but one bullet was missing from the clip and it had been recently fired. Which leads to the conclusion that Relena took a practice shot somewhere not long before you ran into her, since you said she didn't fire at you and there were no other bullets found at the scene." He shut down his laptop, putting it back in his bag.
Lita sighed in relief. "So that's why they called it a suicide. I mean, with all that evidence you can't really call it anything else."
"You're not clear yet you know," Heero said.
"What do you mean?"
"Relena was in a position of power. She worked with influential people and I highly doubt that any one of them is going to believe that she killed herself. Especially her brother."
"Brother.?"
"Milliardo Peacecraft, better known as Zechs Marquise. He's a gundam pilot too, but he's an enemy of us all."
"Are you saying then that these other people.and her brother.they could have this case reopened?"
Heero nodded. "I'm sorry to have to say it, but it's true. And I remember your sternness the last time I withheld information from you."
"So.so what do I do now?"
"Go on as if everything is normal. I'll be staying here and the other pilots will be joining me when they're done so all five of us will be here to protect you. Speaking of which, I'm taking possession of that gun."
"Why? You gave it to me! You aren't going to go throw it out are you? Cause if you do I'm going to have to get, well.bad tempered."
He shook his head. "A soldier would be expected to have a gun. A girl at a shrine wouldn't."
"Well, I guess you're right.." Lita sighed.
Just then they were interrupted by a rattling of the door, followed by Rei's voice. "We're supposed to meet the other girls at the mall in an half an hour. I'll be leaving at 11:40. If you're going."
Lita stood up and opened the door. "Of course I'm going. Heero too."
"I don't do malls."
"Oh come on Heero," Lita pleaded. "At least just come this one time? The girls have been wanting to meet you so much."
"Hn."
Lita smiled. "We'll be ready."
Rei gave a curt nod and left.
Lita slid the door shut again, leaning her forehead against one of the wooden frame pieces. "We never seem to get a break do we Heero? Relena interrupted us, then your mission..You've finally come back and what do we talk about? Relena.."
"Life is a series of interruptions.interrupted by living. But I promise everything will work out." He kissed her cheek, before grabbing his bag. "Show me the bathroom. If you're dragging me to a mall I'm not going like this."
Laughing, Lita showed him the way. "There you are."
Nodding his thanks, he disappeared inside, a change of clothes in his arms. A few minutes later he remerged dressed like he normally did when not on a mission, his uniform draped over his arm and the black shoes in his hands. "Some place I can hang it up?"
"My room," Lita answered. She grabbed the uniform, going back to her room. Pulling out hanger, she arranged everything neatly and hung it on a hook inside the closet door. Sneaking a peek at her watch, she saw it was almost time to leave. Grabbing her jacket, she walked out into the hall, where Heero was waiting, and slid the door shut behind her. "Come on," she said, tugging on his hand and pulling him along.
Minutes later, they were headed into the mall. Mina was the first one to spot them as they walked in the front entrance. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving from her spot in front of the large fake tree they met at every week.
Lita waved back. "Hey everyone. I brought a visitor.hope you don't mind."
"Visitor?" Ami asked. "But all I see are you and Rei."
Lita looked around. "Alright, where did you go? I know you're here somewhere.."
"Are you so sure?" came an answering voice.
She laughed. "I can hear you talking. Isn't that proof enough? Now where are you?"
"Behind you."
Lita turned around just as Heero stepped out from his "hiding place" next to a pop machine.
Serena's eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights. "Heero! You're Heero aren't you?" she said, with a big smile on her face.
The young man nodded. "You must be Serena." He scanned the other two. "Ami, Mina," he nodded in acknowledgement.
"Hello," they chorused. "Have you met Rei?" Mina asked.
Again, he nodded. "This morning."
"And you didn't tell us?" Serena gasped. "Rei! You're so mean!"
Rei waved her arms around. "He just got here this morning and then he holed up with Lita! Geez.."
"Oh really," Mina said, giving Lita a sly look. "And just what were you two up to?"
"Mina!" Ami exclaimed.
Lita blushed. "Not that, that's for sure. But if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it." She abruptly changed the subject, in order to direct their attention elsewhere. "It's Saturday, our shopping day. So let's do some shopping!"
"SHOPPING!" Mina and Serena yelled in unison, before running off in a race to see who would be the first one to get to their favorite shoe store, currently have a huge sale.
"SERENA!" Rei took off after her. "YOU KLUTZ, YOU'RE GONNA TRIP!"
Ami sighed. "They'll never learn. Excuse me for leaving, but I best go and facilitate..again." Shaking her head, Ami began walking in the direction the others had taken.
"Hey Ami, wait up!" Lita called, dragging Heero along behind her. "Can't leave us out."
Ami smiled back, and the three made their way to the store.
Three hours and four stores later, Serena and Mina were carrying a mountain of bags and boxes each. Rei had also done a fair bit of shopping as well. Ami had a few books and some other small things. Lita had tried not to go too out of control, but her enthusiasm at being out with her friends proved too much and she would up carrying only a slightly smaller mountain then her two over-zealous companions.
For his part, Heero was silently hoping they would take a break. Three hours of watching girls try on shoes and babble about clothes and what color earrings went best with this shirt and which shirt went best with what length skirt were more then enough to drive him crazy. Even worse was when they tried to ask him his opinion on something. Heero was definitely no fashion expert. He said nothing though, knowing that this was good for Lita, taking her mind off her worries. His thoughts were shortly interrupted.
"I'm hungry."
"Serena, you're always hungry."
"But Rei..." she pouted. "All this shopping works up an appetite!"
"Yeah," Mina said in agreement. "I move we adjourn to the food court for a snack."
"You mean 10 course meal," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.
"Rei!" Serena sniffled. "I can't help it if I'm a growing girl."
"Whatever."
"Alright you two," Ami said. "I think that's quite enough, especially in front of our guest. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to sit with us."
"I hadn't planned on it," Heero said. "I have other business to attend too."
"Oh, well in that case.." Ami's voice trailed off.
"Heero, you're not bailing are you?" Lita asked sternly.
"No. I have business. I'll meet you at the food court in a while." So saying, he turned and headed off.
"No offense Lita, but Heero's kinda.rude." Mina said. "Ami was trying to be nice to him and he just gave her the brush off."
"Rude isn't the word for it," Rei said as the small group headed for the food court. "He's as prickly as a porcupine!"
Serena giggled. "His hair's the right color for a porcupine anyway."
"But seriously!" Rei continued. "When he showed up this morning he just started giving me orders that he didn't want to be disturbed. I mean really.it's my shrine after all. I didn't have to let him stay."
"If you didn't want him coming, then why'd you say it was ok?" Lita asked, a bit harshly.
"I didn't know you were engaged to a bucket of ice water!"
"That's not fair!" Lita exclaimed. "You hardly know him!"
"Well." Mina said. "You have to admit he hasn't been very nice to us. I mean, he's hardly said two words to us all afternoon."
"That's better then being threatened isn't it?" Lita retorted.
"Threatened?" Mina gulped.
Lita nodded. "He threatened to kill me once."
"Are you nuts?" Rei cried. "He threatened to kill you and you're engaged to him?"
Lita frowned. "That's just how he is. He threatens people all the time, but they're always idle threats. Don't worry, he won't hurt you guys."
"I don't care," Rei said. "He rubs me the wrong way. He's got no personality, doesn't talk, and is rude when he does."
"He is cute," Mina said. "But gee, that's the only reason I can think of for you marrying him."
"Please," Ami said softly, glancing at the hurt expression on Lita's face. "He is a soldier after all. That might not excuse his behavior, but I'm sure he's not doing it intentionally."
"Maybe not, but that doesn't change my opinion," Rei said, moving away to get in line at a frozen yogurt stand in the food court.
"Sorry Lita, but.I agree with Rei." Mina went and dumped her bags at a table, getting in line behind Rei.
"I'm sorry Lita," Ami said softly. "He does come across as rather.bristly.but I'm sure he has his reasons for being that way."
Serena nodded. "Don't listen to Rei. She's just being a sourpuss because Chad has taken up karaoke to practice for his rock star career." Setting her bags down, Serena stretched her arms a little. "Mina is right though, he is cute," she said, giggling, before becoming serious. "I know how hard things have been for you.how much you've wanted someone to love. I also believe that you wouldn't have agreed to this marriage unless you were sure. A relationship is one thing, but a commitment like this is something totally different, so I'm quite sure that your love can't be one sided. Besides, I saw the way he looked at you when he thought nobody noticed. He may be a man of few words, but I can tell he loves you."
Lita smiled, hugging her friend. "Thank you Serena."
Ami looked on, smiling herself. "Well done Serena. You may sill fight with Rei like a child, but you are definitely growing up. You're mother the queen would be proud of you."
Smiling broadly, Serena picked up her bags. "Now let's go have our snack!" Laughing, the other two girls followed Serena to a table where she deposited her bags. Then she led them over to a stand selling ice cream.
When Heero finally arrived, he was treated to an interesting sight. Mina and Rei were sitting at one table, and Serena, Lita, and Ami at another. Even from the distance he was from the two groups, he could sense the tension between them, knowing on instinct something was wrong. Shifting the box under his arm, he walked over to the table where Lita was, sitting down in an empty chair next to her. He nodded briefly at the other girls before turning his attention back to Lita. "Have a few other things I have to take care of. I'll meet you back at the shrine ok?"
"More business? But Heero, what about.." Her voice trailed off, seeing the look he was giving her.
"I'm doing this for you," he said. "Excuse me," he said, looking at Serena and Ami before getting up and leaving again.
Lita tried not to show her nervousness. She could think of only one reason he'd be in such a hurry to do anything for her and she most certainly couldn't explain it to her friends.
"Say Lita," Serena interrupted her thoughts. "I should be going home here. I promised mom I'd help with dinner tonight..um, ok I have to help with dinner because I flunked my English test last week.but anyway, you could come over and hang out with me for a while."
"Thanks for the offer, but I better not. I don't know how long Heero will be gone, so I'll just wait for him at the shrine. If he came back while I was gone, I don't think he and Rei would be able to be civil to each other very long."
"Hmm.didn't think about that. Oh well, maybe some other time."
Lita nodded. "Say Ami, could I possibly get a ride back to the shrine with you? I'd go back with Rei, but.I don't want to do or say anything that I might regret later."
"I understand," Ami said kindly. "Of course it's no problem for me to give you a ride."
"Thanks Ami."
Upon her return to the shrine, Lita carried her bags to her room and put the contents away. Not sure when Heero was going to get back, or if Rei had "cooled off" yet, she went out into the courtyard and climbed up in one of the trees to think. It seemed like she'd just gotten settled in when she found herself blinking her eyes open at the sound of footsteps. Peering down from her limb, she got a clear view of the intruder. "Heero!"
Heero looked around, looking for the source of the voice.
"Over here," Lita said, hopping down from the tree.
He turned and looked at her. "What were you doing up there?"
"Um.I don't know. I went up there to think, but I guess I fell asleep."
He walked over to where she was standing. "Want to tell me what's wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"You came out here to think.and you and your friends had rather odd seating arrangements when I met you guys this afternoon. Logic dictates that something's wrong."
"Hit the nail on the head, as usual." She sighed, leaning back against the tree. "We kinda had a fight.some of them think you're rude and don't seem to like you much. I mean, all of them are like a surrogate family to me, but now you're part of my life too and I really wanted all of you guys to get along."
"They are entitled to their opinion after all. I'm not the friendliest person in the world I admit. But I don't care what any of your friends think about me and you shouldn't either. I'm a soldier here to help his fiancé, not a guy running for class president."
She laughed. "That's one thing you're definitely not. Speaking of which, I've hardly seen you this afternoon. What have you been up too?"
"Business."
"So you say."
"I said I was doing it for you, and I am. A lot's happened in the last four months and I think that there is some business that needs to be taken care of.like packing. How soon can you be ready?"
"Ready? Packed? For what?"
"Just tell me how long it will take you to get packed for one night."
"Um, well...about 15 minutes or so I guess."
"Good," he nodded his approval. "Go do that, and bring my bag out with you when you come back. Meet me here."
"Ok," Lita answered, wondering just what he was up to. She disappeared into the shrine, only to come out about 15 minutes later with the two bags. "There we go. Now do you mind telling me what's going on? And what happened to that box you had earlier?"
Heero grabbed his bag from Lita, guiding her down the steps of the shrine. "You'll see the box soon enough."
"Well, can you tell me at least where we're going?"
Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, a hotel key.
Just a minor note at this time. Well, at least it's the only one I can think of. I know I've said there would be a sequel to this..well, I've changed my mind. But before you panic, let me explain. I got to thinking after I read Sailor Emerald's comment about bringing Zechs in, and I realized that the story will flow better if the planned sequel is just incorporated into the story. So what once was the sequel will now be part of the story, meaning that I'm not as close to the end as I thought I was. Also means that there might still be hope for other sailor/pilot pairings. Oh well.I hope you all will continue to read and enjoy it!
"Heero!" Lita called out, running across the courtyard, all but knocking Heero over.
"Somebody's in a hurry," he said, a hint of smile on his face.
"Of course you dummy! I haven't seen you for four months after all."
"Only four?" he frowned. "I could have sworn it was longer."
"Oh really? And why is that?" Lita asked. "Miss me did you?"
"I guess you could say that."
She raised an eyebrow. "Fine. See if I talk to you." She turned around and marched back into the shrine in mock anger.
Rei looked on, puzzled. For two people who were getting married, they sure didn't seem to be that close.
Following in Lita's footsteps, Heero passed by the priestess, but not before making a declaration of sorts. "Lita will not be joining you for breakfast this morning. We have business to discuss, so I'd like you to make sure we aren't interrupted." Without waiting for a response, he continued on his path to the inside.
"Well, well." Rei said, putting her hands on her hips, glaring at his retreating back. "Just who does he think he is?" she muttered under her breath.
Heero poked around for a few minutes, until he found Lita. "Come on, we have business to take care of."
"Heero," Lita frowned. "I was just getting ready to have breakfast. Can't it wait?"
"No."
She sighed, knowing better then to argue when he used that particularly demanding tone of voice. "Alright." Grabbing some toast and putting on a plate and a glass of orange juice, she led him back to the room she was staying in. "Now what's so important that it can't wait?"
"Relena," he answered.
Grumbling, Lita set her breakfast down on the desk. "You just got here.."
"I know that," he said, sliding the paper door shut behind him. "But this needs to be done, and soon. Besides, you were the one that sounded so desperate on the phone."
"I know...and I do wanna talk about it, but does it have to be now?"
"Yes it does," Heero said, digging out his laptop from his bag and going about setting it up.
Frowning, Lita munched her toast while watching him.
Soon, everything was up and running and Heero was tapping away furiously on the laptop's keys.
"What are you doing?" Lita asked, finishing the last of her toast.
"I'll tell you in a minute. First, I want you to tell me everything that happened the night it happened."
So Lita relayed the whole story to him. How she had gone out shopping, run into Relena, and wound up shooting her. "I didn't mean to, honest! But using the gun you gave me was the only way I could see to defend myself. Well, besides transforming but I didn't think that was such a good idea."
Heero nodded, still messing with his laptop. "You told me on the phone that you called the police."
"Yeah. I just kind of freaked out after it happened, so I ran straight back here and called the police. I went to the station that night to answer some questions. I told them my name, where I was staying, how I happened to find the body and what the area was like when I got there.you know, the usual stuff. It was probably silly, but I thought that if I turned her in, they wouldn't look to me as a suspect."
"It makes logical sense. Most normal killers wouldn't report their victims."
"Oh, so I'm an abnormal killer now.."
"Frankly, from these files I'd have to say that you couldn't have picked a better time to kill somebody."
"Heero! I didn't want to kill her! And what files?"
He pointed to his laptop where he was currently scrolling through some police documents. "I did some.searching.into files connected with Relena's death."
"You mean hacking don't you?"
"It's all the same," he shrugged. "And yes, I know you didn't want to kill her. All I meant was that circumstances were quite favorable to avoid your incrimination in this."
"Oh?" she asked.
Heero nodded, sitting back from his laptop. "First of all, there were no fingerprints on her or her gun except hers."
"Well I would hope so. I didn't touch her."
Ignoring her outburst, he continued. "There were no footprints at the scene, or any other evidence that could be traced to anybody. Relena's gun just happened to be the same model as mine, so the bullets are identical. Not only that, but one bullet was missing from the clip and it had been recently fired. Which leads to the conclusion that Relena took a practice shot somewhere not long before you ran into her, since you said she didn't fire at you and there were no other bullets found at the scene." He shut down his laptop, putting it back in his bag.
Lita sighed in relief. "So that's why they called it a suicide. I mean, with all that evidence you can't really call it anything else."
"You're not clear yet you know," Heero said.
"What do you mean?"
"Relena was in a position of power. She worked with influential people and I highly doubt that any one of them is going to believe that she killed herself. Especially her brother."
"Brother.?"
"Milliardo Peacecraft, better known as Zechs Marquise. He's a gundam pilot too, but he's an enemy of us all."
"Are you saying then that these other people.and her brother.they could have this case reopened?"
Heero nodded. "I'm sorry to have to say it, but it's true. And I remember your sternness the last time I withheld information from you."
"So.so what do I do now?"
"Go on as if everything is normal. I'll be staying here and the other pilots will be joining me when they're done so all five of us will be here to protect you. Speaking of which, I'm taking possession of that gun."
"Why? You gave it to me! You aren't going to go throw it out are you? Cause if you do I'm going to have to get, well.bad tempered."
He shook his head. "A soldier would be expected to have a gun. A girl at a shrine wouldn't."
"Well, I guess you're right.." Lita sighed.
Just then they were interrupted by a rattling of the door, followed by Rei's voice. "We're supposed to meet the other girls at the mall in an half an hour. I'll be leaving at 11:40. If you're going."
Lita stood up and opened the door. "Of course I'm going. Heero too."
"I don't do malls."
"Oh come on Heero," Lita pleaded. "At least just come this one time? The girls have been wanting to meet you so much."
"Hn."
Lita smiled. "We'll be ready."
Rei gave a curt nod and left.
Lita slid the door shut again, leaning her forehead against one of the wooden frame pieces. "We never seem to get a break do we Heero? Relena interrupted us, then your mission..You've finally come back and what do we talk about? Relena.."
"Life is a series of interruptions.interrupted by living. But I promise everything will work out." He kissed her cheek, before grabbing his bag. "Show me the bathroom. If you're dragging me to a mall I'm not going like this."
Laughing, Lita showed him the way. "There you are."
Nodding his thanks, he disappeared inside, a change of clothes in his arms. A few minutes later he remerged dressed like he normally did when not on a mission, his uniform draped over his arm and the black shoes in his hands. "Some place I can hang it up?"
"My room," Lita answered. She grabbed the uniform, going back to her room. Pulling out hanger, she arranged everything neatly and hung it on a hook inside the closet door. Sneaking a peek at her watch, she saw it was almost time to leave. Grabbing her jacket, she walked out into the hall, where Heero was waiting, and slid the door shut behind her. "Come on," she said, tugging on his hand and pulling him along.
Minutes later, they were headed into the mall. Mina was the first one to spot them as they walked in the front entrance. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving from her spot in front of the large fake tree they met at every week.
Lita waved back. "Hey everyone. I brought a visitor.hope you don't mind."
"Visitor?" Ami asked. "But all I see are you and Rei."
Lita looked around. "Alright, where did you go? I know you're here somewhere.."
"Are you so sure?" came an answering voice.
She laughed. "I can hear you talking. Isn't that proof enough? Now where are you?"
"Behind you."
Lita turned around just as Heero stepped out from his "hiding place" next to a pop machine.
Serena's eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights. "Heero! You're Heero aren't you?" she said, with a big smile on her face.
The young man nodded. "You must be Serena." He scanned the other two. "Ami, Mina," he nodded in acknowledgement.
"Hello," they chorused. "Have you met Rei?" Mina asked.
Again, he nodded. "This morning."
"And you didn't tell us?" Serena gasped. "Rei! You're so mean!"
Rei waved her arms around. "He just got here this morning and then he holed up with Lita! Geez.."
"Oh really," Mina said, giving Lita a sly look. "And just what were you two up to?"
"Mina!" Ami exclaimed.
Lita blushed. "Not that, that's for sure. But if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it." She abruptly changed the subject, in order to direct their attention elsewhere. "It's Saturday, our shopping day. So let's do some shopping!"
"SHOPPING!" Mina and Serena yelled in unison, before running off in a race to see who would be the first one to get to their favorite shoe store, currently have a huge sale.
"SERENA!" Rei took off after her. "YOU KLUTZ, YOU'RE GONNA TRIP!"
Ami sighed. "They'll never learn. Excuse me for leaving, but I best go and facilitate..again." Shaking her head, Ami began walking in the direction the others had taken.
"Hey Ami, wait up!" Lita called, dragging Heero along behind her. "Can't leave us out."
Ami smiled back, and the three made their way to the store.
Three hours and four stores later, Serena and Mina were carrying a mountain of bags and boxes each. Rei had also done a fair bit of shopping as well. Ami had a few books and some other small things. Lita had tried not to go too out of control, but her enthusiasm at being out with her friends proved too much and she would up carrying only a slightly smaller mountain then her two over-zealous companions.
For his part, Heero was silently hoping they would take a break. Three hours of watching girls try on shoes and babble about clothes and what color earrings went best with this shirt and which shirt went best with what length skirt were more then enough to drive him crazy. Even worse was when they tried to ask him his opinion on something. Heero was definitely no fashion expert. He said nothing though, knowing that this was good for Lita, taking her mind off her worries. His thoughts were shortly interrupted.
"I'm hungry."
"Serena, you're always hungry."
"But Rei..." she pouted. "All this shopping works up an appetite!"
"Yeah," Mina said in agreement. "I move we adjourn to the food court for a snack."
"You mean 10 course meal," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.
"Rei!" Serena sniffled. "I can't help it if I'm a growing girl."
"Whatever."
"Alright you two," Ami said. "I think that's quite enough, especially in front of our guest. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to sit with us."
"I hadn't planned on it," Heero said. "I have other business to attend too."
"Oh, well in that case.." Ami's voice trailed off.
"Heero, you're not bailing are you?" Lita asked sternly.
"No. I have business. I'll meet you at the food court in a while." So saying, he turned and headed off.
"No offense Lita, but Heero's kinda.rude." Mina said. "Ami was trying to be nice to him and he just gave her the brush off."
"Rude isn't the word for it," Rei said as the small group headed for the food court. "He's as prickly as a porcupine!"
Serena giggled. "His hair's the right color for a porcupine anyway."
"But seriously!" Rei continued. "When he showed up this morning he just started giving me orders that he didn't want to be disturbed. I mean really.it's my shrine after all. I didn't have to let him stay."
"If you didn't want him coming, then why'd you say it was ok?" Lita asked, a bit harshly.
"I didn't know you were engaged to a bucket of ice water!"
"That's not fair!" Lita exclaimed. "You hardly know him!"
"Well." Mina said. "You have to admit he hasn't been very nice to us. I mean, he's hardly said two words to us all afternoon."
"That's better then being threatened isn't it?" Lita retorted.
"Threatened?" Mina gulped.
Lita nodded. "He threatened to kill me once."
"Are you nuts?" Rei cried. "He threatened to kill you and you're engaged to him?"
Lita frowned. "That's just how he is. He threatens people all the time, but they're always idle threats. Don't worry, he won't hurt you guys."
"I don't care," Rei said. "He rubs me the wrong way. He's got no personality, doesn't talk, and is rude when he does."
"He is cute," Mina said. "But gee, that's the only reason I can think of for you marrying him."
"Please," Ami said softly, glancing at the hurt expression on Lita's face. "He is a soldier after all. That might not excuse his behavior, but I'm sure he's not doing it intentionally."
"Maybe not, but that doesn't change my opinion," Rei said, moving away to get in line at a frozen yogurt stand in the food court.
"Sorry Lita, but.I agree with Rei." Mina went and dumped her bags at a table, getting in line behind Rei.
"I'm sorry Lita," Ami said softly. "He does come across as rather.bristly.but I'm sure he has his reasons for being that way."
Serena nodded. "Don't listen to Rei. She's just being a sourpuss because Chad has taken up karaoke to practice for his rock star career." Setting her bags down, Serena stretched her arms a little. "Mina is right though, he is cute," she said, giggling, before becoming serious. "I know how hard things have been for you.how much you've wanted someone to love. I also believe that you wouldn't have agreed to this marriage unless you were sure. A relationship is one thing, but a commitment like this is something totally different, so I'm quite sure that your love can't be one sided. Besides, I saw the way he looked at you when he thought nobody noticed. He may be a man of few words, but I can tell he loves you."
Lita smiled, hugging her friend. "Thank you Serena."
Ami looked on, smiling herself. "Well done Serena. You may sill fight with Rei like a child, but you are definitely growing up. You're mother the queen would be proud of you."
Smiling broadly, Serena picked up her bags. "Now let's go have our snack!" Laughing, the other two girls followed Serena to a table where she deposited her bags. Then she led them over to a stand selling ice cream.
When Heero finally arrived, he was treated to an interesting sight. Mina and Rei were sitting at one table, and Serena, Lita, and Ami at another. Even from the distance he was from the two groups, he could sense the tension between them, knowing on instinct something was wrong. Shifting the box under his arm, he walked over to the table where Lita was, sitting down in an empty chair next to her. He nodded briefly at the other girls before turning his attention back to Lita. "Have a few other things I have to take care of. I'll meet you back at the shrine ok?"
"More business? But Heero, what about.." Her voice trailed off, seeing the look he was giving her.
"I'm doing this for you," he said. "Excuse me," he said, looking at Serena and Ami before getting up and leaving again.
Lita tried not to show her nervousness. She could think of only one reason he'd be in such a hurry to do anything for her and she most certainly couldn't explain it to her friends.
"Say Lita," Serena interrupted her thoughts. "I should be going home here. I promised mom I'd help with dinner tonight..um, ok I have to help with dinner because I flunked my English test last week.but anyway, you could come over and hang out with me for a while."
"Thanks for the offer, but I better not. I don't know how long Heero will be gone, so I'll just wait for him at the shrine. If he came back while I was gone, I don't think he and Rei would be able to be civil to each other very long."
"Hmm.didn't think about that. Oh well, maybe some other time."
Lita nodded. "Say Ami, could I possibly get a ride back to the shrine with you? I'd go back with Rei, but.I don't want to do or say anything that I might regret later."
"I understand," Ami said kindly. "Of course it's no problem for me to give you a ride."
"Thanks Ami."
Upon her return to the shrine, Lita carried her bags to her room and put the contents away. Not sure when Heero was going to get back, or if Rei had "cooled off" yet, she went out into the courtyard and climbed up in one of the trees to think. It seemed like she'd just gotten settled in when she found herself blinking her eyes open at the sound of footsteps. Peering down from her limb, she got a clear view of the intruder. "Heero!"
Heero looked around, looking for the source of the voice.
"Over here," Lita said, hopping down from the tree.
He turned and looked at her. "What were you doing up there?"
"Um.I don't know. I went up there to think, but I guess I fell asleep."
He walked over to where she was standing. "Want to tell me what's wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"You came out here to think.and you and your friends had rather odd seating arrangements when I met you guys this afternoon. Logic dictates that something's wrong."
"Hit the nail on the head, as usual." She sighed, leaning back against the tree. "We kinda had a fight.some of them think you're rude and don't seem to like you much. I mean, all of them are like a surrogate family to me, but now you're part of my life too and I really wanted all of you guys to get along."
"They are entitled to their opinion after all. I'm not the friendliest person in the world I admit. But I don't care what any of your friends think about me and you shouldn't either. I'm a soldier here to help his fiancé, not a guy running for class president."
She laughed. "That's one thing you're definitely not. Speaking of which, I've hardly seen you this afternoon. What have you been up too?"
"Business."
"So you say."
"I said I was doing it for you, and I am. A lot's happened in the last four months and I think that there is some business that needs to be taken care of.like packing. How soon can you be ready?"
"Ready? Packed? For what?"
"Just tell me how long it will take you to get packed for one night."
"Um, well...about 15 minutes or so I guess."
"Good," he nodded his approval. "Go do that, and bring my bag out with you when you come back. Meet me here."
"Ok," Lita answered, wondering just what he was up to. She disappeared into the shrine, only to come out about 15 minutes later with the two bags. "There we go. Now do you mind telling me what's going on? And what happened to that box you had earlier?"
Heero grabbed his bag from Lita, guiding her down the steps of the shrine. "You'll see the box soon enough."
"Well, can you tell me at least where we're going?"
Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, a hotel key.