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Things Change and Don't

Twenty-one year old Keyda Yamachi pushed a few stray hairs away from her face and leaned back into her seat. "She'd better be all right." She muttered as she rubbed her neck. Her best friend had a habit of running herself ragged if given a chance and she was notorious for her habit of driving herself to exhaustion. That is if she was really in trouble. Though peace had finally come six years ago to the earth and colonies there were still many who sought to destroy and thanks to her grandfather's political views some of that need to destroy and gain revenge on Oz had spilt off onto her. But if this was such a threat then they were doomed to failure.

"We're almost at the address, Miss Yamachi." Matt, her father's old driver said as he turned down a dirt road into the country.

"Thank you, Matt." Keyda said as she crossed her legs in front of her. Matt had been her driver for so long Keyda wondered what she would ever do when he retired. He'd always been there when she needed him anyway, more so then any one else in her life besides the other Guardians. All the money in the world and I'd trade it all in for a real family, Keyda thought with a touch of self-pity.

"We're here, Miss Yamachi." Matt said as they pulled into a driveway. Keyda pulled off her dark sunglasses and stared at the cabin emerging from behind the trees and thought it was a very strange setting for a fight if that's what it would come to.

"Well she picked a good place to collapse anyway." She said to Matt as they came to a slow stop. Keyda watched as Matt got out of the car then accepted his hand out as she smiled at the beautiful land and wished that she could stay. The cabin was small but had a welcoming nature to it, unlike its owner according to Eve who claimed the man Wufei was even more serious then her grandfather was crazy.

"Hello there!" Keyda turned to see a young man with long brown hair tied back in a braid walking towards her with what could only be termed a swagger. Seeing the grin that took over his handsome face Keyda slipped her shades back over her eyes and walked up to meet him halfway taking in every little detail as she did. If this is some kind of trap boyo, she thought mentally to the man smiling down at her then he'd better be prepared to leave here in a body bag.

"Are you lost?" The man asked as he grinned at her with the devilish charm of a seasoned Romeo used to charming females. Well I'm equally talented at wrapping men around my little finger blue eyes so you can just save the routine for someone stupid enough to buy it, Keyda thought as she shook her head at his question.

"No, I'm here to pick up someone?" Keyda said as she allowed herself to grin back at him. He was obviously harmless and slightly slow she though as he continued to stared at her, he'd be easy to overpower if necessary. If this is all they have left to throw at her she had nothing to worry about.

"Really? Come on in." The man said as he gallantly held out his elbow. Raising her eyebrow Keyda accepted his elbow and followed him up the stairs and into the cabin.

"Sally, Wufei, Keyda's here." The man called as they entered the main hallway. "I'm Duo Maxwell by the way." The man who's name was apparently Duo added as he led her into a small bedroom where she found her long time friend looking at her in relief.

"Thank God." Eve said as she smiled at her friend. "What took you so long?" At first she'd been worried but luckily she'd had her contacts in and no one had taken them out. Otherwise they'd have gotten a shock, Eve thought with a small smile.

"You look like hell, girl." Keyda said as she pulled shades up onto her head then and with a shake of her head walked over and bent down to take in the damage. "Well at least you're in one piece this time."

"Yea yea lets go okay." Eve said already reaching for her jacket and shoes.

"You're, Keyda?" Keyda turned and was met by a pair of dark black eyes. Warrior to warrior they took each other's measure and with a slight smile Keyda acknowledged that here was someone worth her attention. Unlike the brunette this man was a born warrior and not a trained one. Chinese obviously and with the pride and confidence that went with it.

"Yes I am." Keyda said giving him a slight bow of acknowledgment as she stood slightly in front of Eve, just in case. "And you are?"

"Chang Wufei." The man replied with a slight bow, his eyes never leaving hers.

"One of the last. I'm sorry for your loss, I knew several of your clan and called them friend."

Keyda said as she relaxed her stance. She had heard about this pilot from Trowa and knew he wouldn't have called her here under false pretenses, his sense of honor wouldn't have allowed it.

"Thank you for your words." Wufei said as he accepted her condolences. She hadn't been what he'd expected and he found she caught his interest. She'd arrived here like a queen with her limo and designer clothing yet she came jokingly to her friend's bedside and stood like a guardian angel over her. An enigma, Wufei thought as he watched her watch him. Her eyes revealed nothing and Wufei wondered if that was her usual face or if it was just for him.

"Wufei?" Wufei turned to see Sally in the doorway and realized that he and the girl had been staring at each other for almost a minute without speaking.

"Sally this is Keyda. Keyda this is Sally Po." Duo said who was quite confused. He didn't think Keyda or Wufei was interested in the other romantically but then why had they been staring at each other like that? Heck Duo couldn't remember any female looking at Wufei romantically once they'd met up with his personality. What gives he wondered as he watched Sally and Keyda look each other over.

"Hello." Keyda said as she held out her hand to the blonde woman. She was quite beautiful and Keyda wondered which one of the males she belonged to. If she were to lay down money she'd guess Wufei, she looked too smart to be interested in the playboy however good-looking he was.

"Nice to meet you." Sally replied as she shook the other woman's hand. "You'll be the one take care of her?" she asked as she watched her patient struggle to get her shoes on without help.

"Yep, I've had a lot of practice doing it." Keyda said wearily as she turned back to accept the bag Eve had thrown at her while her back was turned. To everyone's surprise the girl not only caught it easily but also slugged the obviously heavy bag over her shoulder as if she did it every day.

"Your friend's completely exhausted and needs her rest and a lot of liquids. I've given her some medication if she can't get to sleep, make sure she takes it." Sally said as she smiled at the younger girl. There was something familiar about her but she couldn't place it. It would come to her later.

"No problem. So how come you're not sleeping stupid? Last time I checked you could sleep any time, anywhere at the drop of a hat." Keyda said as she watched her friend sway slightly before making it to stand by her side. The medicine would be of no use but she doubted the blonde would believe her if she said Eve's system would chew it up and spit it out.

"Oh shut up, brat." Eve said as she scolded down at her. Sticking out her tongue at the term brat Keyda held back the urge to whack her upside the head. That could wait till she was in good enough condition not to collapse dead if she did.

"Thanks for taking care of the moron here, what do we owe you." Keyda said reaching into her purse for her checkbook, wondering what they would charge her.

"You owe us nothing." Wufei said as he held the door open for them to pass through making it quite clear he'd accept nothing for his hospitality.

"Thank you." Keyda said knowing that his pride would only be more bruised if she insisted. "And she'd say thank you to if she wasn't such a moron."

"I was getting to that stupid. Geez what was God thinking when he invented you anyway? Nothin but trouble." Eve said with a peeved look. "Thanks for your help..all of you. "You did good Ms Po."

"No problem." Duo said as he grinned at them. "You're sure you don't want to stay for lunch?"

"Thanks but we better be going." Keyda said with a truly sorry smile. What ever was cooking smelled good but her grandfather's men would send the soldiers after her if she was late getting home. "Maybe another time." Once again stating their thanks Keyda and Eve made their way to the limo without trouble. Sighing Keyda gave Eve a warning look then slid in after her. "Thanks again for your help."

"We never got your last name." Duo said thinking that maybe he'd call her up later on to see how no name was doing.

"Yamachi." Keyda said and judged by their faces when they made the connection Keyda doubted Duo would be calling her or looking her up someday. Unless of course it was to blow her to kingdom come that is.

Trowa Barton wished that the lion would just shut up and listen. He didn't have all day and this guy was being particularly trying on his patience.

"Trowa, phone." Catherine Bloom said as she walked into the ring where Trowa was working with the latest addition to their family. "It's Duo."

Shaking his head Trowa grabbed hold of the Lion's leash and led him back into its cage with the rest of the lions. "What does he want?" Trowa asked as he made sure that the lion was going to behave before turning to face his sister.

"He didn't say." Catherine said as she shrugged her shoulders. Seeing as Duo normally talked the ear off of anyone he happened to be talking to Trowa wiped a hand across his brow then with a small salute headed out of the ring to the nearby trailer. Putting his key in Trowa opened his door then headed straight for his computer system. Keying in several numbers Trowa hooked up to Duo's communicator. Seconds later his friend's smiling face appeared before him.

"Hey, buddy. How's it going?" Duo asked as he grinned at his friend.

"I'm fine, what's up?" Trowa said cutting to the chase. He was sweaty and irritated and all he wanted to do was take a break and play his flute a bit in peace.

"Well you know how we've been trying to track down Sako Yamachi?" Duo said as he grinned at Trowa. Boy was Trowa ever going to be surprised.

"What about him?" Trowa said. They'd been trying to track him down for years to bring him in on suspected terrorism in the colonies and on earth. He just won't accept that the war's over Trowa though and wondered if Keyda thought the same. Keyda.

"Well I ran into his granddaughter Keyda and she owes us a favor!" Duo said excitedly as he watched Trowa's expression go from nothing to surprise then to an emotion Duo couldn't read it was so fleeting before Trowa's face reverted to its usual mask.

"What kind of favor?" Trowa said carefully as he kept his face blank at the mentioning of her name. No one could know.

"I saved a friend of hers so now she owes us." Duo said but with slightly less enthusiasm and a lot more curiosity. Something didn't feel right here and he'd bet his new car that it had to do with Trowa's reaction to Keyda's name. Trowa had shown emotion when he'd said her name, why was that?

"Is that what you called to tell me? What makes you think she'll honor her debt?" Trowa said as he watched Duo stare back at him with curiosity. I must have given something away in my expression Trowa thought.

"Well it might work." Duo said without any enthusiasm now. Something was up and he wanted to know what it was. "I'll call you back later with news. See ya." And with that hung up.

"This can't be good." Trowa said as he watched the view screen go blank. He'd worked far to hard to hide his encounters with Keyda and now it looked like Duo was set on bring it forward. "I can't allow that to happen. Keyda's life depends upon it."

"Then what happened?" Lady Une said as she crossed her legs behind her desk as she listened to the young ensign's report on the latest mission.

"They opened fire but by the time we got near them they were all dead ma'am." The ensign said as he stood as straight as possible.

"Any signs of who beat you to it." Lady Une said already partly knowing the answer.

"They left their calling card again ma'am. It was the Guardians." The ensign said as he watched his leader rub her eyes defectively. "I'm sorry ma'am."

"You're dismissed." Lady Une said as she watched the young boy walk out of her office. He was young and had never fought in the war. Lady Une wondered what that was like, to be free of the guilt and pain war caused to its victims no matter the side. Who are you? She wondered as she fingered the card that the ensign had left on her desk. Even before the war had officially ended the cards had begun to appear. She wondered who sent it, how many were there and most importantly whose side were they on. "They know everything we do." Lady Une said out loud as she stood up and walked to stand in front of the large window behind her desk. We have a leak Lady Une thought as she stared out into the darkening sky. "Who are you Guardian, and what's your game."

Eve smiled into the mirror. God I look so innocent I could puke she thought as she straightened her necklace so that it was perfectly straight against her suit. She'd decided on mousy brown hair and dull green eyes for this mission and Eve was quite sure that no one would be looking at her with anything more then pity. More importantly no one would think to wonder about her. "I'm all set for my first day as Eve Jackson, new assistant to the Vice Foreign Peace Minister Relena Peacecraft Yuy. Staring up into the Preventers building Eve pasted a sweet smile on her face and entered the building looking like a young carefree girl rather then a cold hearted assassin who was there to complete a mission. Looking around Eve took in the buildings main hall, checking to make sure it fit the blueprints she'd read over before hand.

"Can I help you? You look a little lost." Turning around Eve looked innocently up at the young man who had spoken to her. What a hunk Eve thought as she shyly looked at him. To bad you're a pacifist, Eve added as she recognized him as Quatre Winner, pacifist extrodinare.

"No I was just looking around." Eve said as she gazed around as though taking it all in. "A girl could get lost really easy around here."

"No kidding." Quatre said as he smiled at her. She was kinda cute in a bookish sort of way. "I'm Eve by the way. Eve Jackson." Eve said in a sugary sweet voice as she stuck out her hand with a fine blush on her cheeks.

"Quatre Winner." Quatre said as he shook her offered hand. "You're Relena's new assistant right?"

"That's right, Mr. Winner." Eve said as she smiled back at him. Just then the elevator across the room opened up and a young woman walked out. Careful to keep her face composed Eve inwardly thought how easy it would be to kill her now. One bullet to the head would be all it would take and you'd be dead Lady Une, dead like all of your victims. Deliberately looking back at Quatre Eve sent him another false smile then mumbling a good bye headed straight for the elevator. "Excuse me." Eve said as deliberately bumped into Lady Une, pressing a homing device to her as she went by.

"No problem." Lady Une said as she stared at the girl who smiled apologetically back at her.

There was something strange about her but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what it was that made her weary.

"Excuse me." Eve said as she walked into the elevator. As soon as the doors closed Eve allowed her false smile drop and the hatred to unleash in her eyes. So calm and cool she thought as she pictured Lady Une, completely at easy with the monster she is. Remembering the mission though Eve once again slipped on her false face on and prepared for act two and put all thoughts of killing Lady Une out of her mind, for now.

Meanwhile

"What are you up to Lady Une." Keyda said out loud as she read over the information Eve had sent her about an upcoming mission. "Why are you so interested in that particular building?" Pushing her chair back Keyda wondered how to proceed. Without knowing what her plan was Keyda was weary to send any of her soldiers to check it out. What should I do? came across her screen as Eve finished transmitting the information. Find out what it is about the building that's got her attention. For now we'll leave it alone Keyda typed in as she scanned the screen. Do you still want me to break into the Preventers office tonight to see what I can get a hold of? Eve typed back. If you think its safe enough proceed. Keyda typed back as she rubbed her hand over her neck. Understood. Eve typed back before signing off.