A/N: Standard disclaimers apply. Thanks so much for the kind and encouraging reviews! Hopefully, this chapter will be enjoyed just as much. Um, to answer a question posed by WolfCry17...I was always under the impression that Relena's hair was blond, but I have read stories describing her as a brunette as well, so it's kind of difficult to say which hair color is more accurate. However, for the purpose of this story, Relena was a blonde but is now a brunette. Hope this helps and that you guys continue reviewing. Enjoy!
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Entry 210599: I have noticed he does not like having his picture taken, even if it's for identification purposes, and so his request for permission to leave from today's photography session was not entirely unexpected. But these photographs are kept for security purposes, and serve as reminders of our past, and I'm concerned by his seeming inability to grasp the sense of how important one's past can be to those with and without one.
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two: ignorance is bliss
"Hey missy! Missy! You wanna buy sum special potions, yah? Make him fall fer you, kay? Or mebbe get dis purty glass dinghy? Fer you, I give special deal...everyting half off! Hey missy!"
The shopkeeper's harsh cries were impossible to ignore and her wares did look interesting. The amnesiac brunette meandered toward the small wooden stall and smiled warmly at the seller's enthusiastic response.
"Hello. I couldn't help but notice that you're selling potions. Um, do you perhaps have something for bad memories?"
The old woman looked at her customer with calculating eyes. The woman's Italian shoes were handmade and her clothes woven from the finest silks; there was no doubt about it—this was one rich goose just begging to be plucked clean.
But the eyes...it was the eyes that made her stop and reconsider. They were warm and friendly and didn't look at her with the contempt or condescension she was used to seeing. Clearing her throat, she dropped her "ignorant seller" act and met the younger woman's eyes.
"Is there something you wish to forget?"
No Name looked at the shopkeeper curiously before idly picking up a beautifully detailed ceramic sculpture of a Chinese dragon that managed to appear both fierce and proud, holding a snow globe made of frosted crystal. Shaking it gently, she watched as the tiny white flecks swirled around inside before settling once again to the bottom.
"We-ell, I'm not quite sure anymore. The only things I am sure about don't make any sense at all." No Name laughed suddenly and gently placed the sculpture back onto the table. "That sounds silly, doesn't it? But you see, I can't quite remember who I am or even if I'm real!"
No Name stared into the old woman's pale eyes and saw her reflection staring back at her, and suddenly, she felt...safe. Strangely enough, the need to run wasn't as strong anymore, probably because she had run far enough and long enough to escape from Him. Her smile widened and laughter began to bubble forth from her lips, but whether it was from relief or hysteria, No Name refused to decide because for the first time in what she felt was a long time, she was safe.
"I don't have any magical potions for you, sweetie, but since I've got a couple of years on you, let an old woman offer a few words of advice. The path you are now on will offer nothing but misery and a lifetime's worth of doubt. But once you've reached your journey's end, you will know your life's purpose, which I assure you will be worth everything in the world."
No Name smiled at the woman's words and wished there was some way to thank her. Patting her pockets, she was unsurprised at what little she found, but suddenly remembered the delicate gold chain that hung around her neck. Reaching behind her, No Name unhooked the tiny clasp and handed it to the older woman, slightly taken aback when the shopkeeper refused and pushed her gift away.
"Just remember this... The obstacles you face and the memories you create from this point on, no matter how much you may doubt them, they are the things that assure your existence is important."
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The blinking red dot began to move across the screen again. Eyeing its progression, Aku leaned back into the high-backed leather chair, fingers steepled just below his chin, and smiled happily.
"Even without her memories, she instinctively runs toward him...and the Heart of the Universe."
A steaming cup of herbal tea appeared before him, and the flowery scent of chrysanthemum wafted up to his nose. Turning, Aku saw 01, his new manservant, quickly shift his eyes to avoid his master's stare and swiftly scurry out the room. Chuckling softly to himself, he delicately picked up the lacquered teacup and blew gently, relishing not only the tea but also the fact that he was one step closer to claiming his prize. Humming in a low tenor voice, Aku looked up at the computer's screen once again and took a sip...
Only to have it spew out of his mouth.
"What?!"
The blinking red dot had disappeared.
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She was running again. But this time, her running was not the mindless, frenetic kind she had indulged in earlier before. This time, she was running toward something, or to be more precise, toward someone.
After speaking to the old woman, No Name had learned of a man, of the professional soldier who never failed at anything...
A man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes...
The man she had remembered from before.
No Name had blinked once, twice, as the crafty old shopkeeper plucked something off her. When she had looked down, No Name saw that the old woman held a small microchip in the palm of her wrinkly, age-spotted hand. Even now, the perplexity remained.
"A—a tracking device? Who on earth would be following me?"
An enigmatic look had entered the old woman's milky blue eyes, which had surely once sparkled with youth and enchanted those looking into them. Averting her gaze from No Name's apprehensive face, the old woman clutched the small device so tightly, it left a small square-shaped imprint on the palm of her hand, before she dropped it to the floor and crushed it beneath her heel.
"In spite of your amnesia, or perhaps because of it, you must be important. Very important. And if you are, which I suspect is the truth, then that means you must be protected at all costs. So tell me, dear one, what do you plan to do now?"
No Name had been unable to answer, confused about the tracking device and more importantly, herself. What would she do now? Why was this happening, when she was still searching for the answers to her questions?
"Get yourself a bodyguard, a person who can protect you from anything... even ghosts. The person with the life that never runs out..."
"His name is Heero. Heero Yuy." She repeated his name softly, almost reverently, relishing the sound of a name, a real name with an actual face.
Unlike herself.
No Name slowed her run to a brisk, steady walk and pulled out the faded, wrinkled photo the old woman had held out for her to see. Although this would be only her second time seeing him, there was something about this man that intrigued her, made her curious about what went on behind the solemn, emotionless expression his face held. Tracing the lines of the eyes that fascinated her to an almost unhealthy degree, No Name was oddly comforted by the sense of familiarity she felt as she looked into his deep blue eyes.
Blue eyes?
Piercing blue eyes?
Could this man really be the same shadowy figure that flirted inside her head, taunting her in his dark, velvety voice?
You can't be so idealistic and trusting. There are bad people out there, people who wouldn't hesitate to gobble up a foolish little girl like you...
No Name laughed out loud. Somehow, the voice and words seemed to suit the image of the man whose picture she held. Tucking the photo back into the pocket of her now wrinkled ice blue silk suit, No Name reflected on her next course of action.
The shopkeeper had insinuated that finding the elusive and mysterious Heero Yuy was as impossible as achieving universal peace and that, more often than not, a person was likely to run across him when one's desire to avoid him was the greatest. But, she had added with a sly smile, No Name's best chance of finding Heero would be within the Sanq Kingdom, which lay north of her present location.
No Name pulled the picture from her pocket yet again, staring down at the handsome face, disturbed by the degree of her fascination with this seemingly paradoxical creature. Why was the shopkeeper so certain that this man, this Heero Yuy, would respond positively to her request for protection? From the fragments of information she had managed to glean from her conversation with the old woman, No Name believed that Yuy might be the type who thought only of fulfilling his duties as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
That being the case, how much time would pass before Heero Yuy grew tired of his responsibility? A woman such as herself, one with a faulty memory and voices that spoke to her from inside her head, would surely take up a great deal of his time and patience.
What if, one day, he left her behind under the guise of "protecting" her?
And what if she was to follow, only to discover he was never returning?
No Name hastily jammed the picture back into her pocket, her cheeks flushed with shame. She didn't know the man and yet here she was, judging him based on his picture!
But since it was all she had of the man, surely her concerns were valid? After all, if her fears were to be later confirmed as truth, by then it would be too late, and she would already have been led down the path to a quicker destruction, rather than the redemption she now sought.
And when one such as her could only dwell in the present without the shadows of the past to corrupt and influence her actions now, surely she was making the right decision in not seeking out this Heero Yuy.
Wasn't she?