Disclaimers apply here: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.


The Encounter


~*~


It was the day that Relena dreaded, within hours she would meet her suitor if all goes well at her mother's weekend dance.  She quickly walked over to her open window and looked out.  The land was still shrouded in a light layer of fog and mist.  "Perfect," she whispered.  Within minutes, she quickly dressed herself in her riding outfit and slowly crept down to the first floor.  She headed out the front door, being careful not to have it slam against the doorframe, which would cause her parents to wake from their sleep.


Once she was outside, she made a sharp left and walked on a gravel road leading to the family's stable.  The white building stood in simplicity as contrasted to the family's vast mansion.  Before long, Relena slowly opened one of its large doors and pulled it to the side.  Inside, dust floated freely about in the musty room, but she was looking around to find her favorite horse.  She noticed a familiar pair of eyes staring back at her and headed over to the back of the stable.


"Hey girl, you missed me?"  She held out her right hand that concealed small sugar cubes.  The horse quickly licked the small token from her hand and nayed in response.  She led her chestnut mare out of its stall and prepared for her morning ride.  "Its look like a nice morning for a little ride.  I bet you can't wait to get out and run a little."  She gently patted its forehead and groomed it before placing the black saddle onto its back.  "Alright, girl, here we go," and with that, she gently nudged her horse to move forward.


The two slowly trotted across her family's vast estate on the calm cool morning, admiring the terrain with its morning dew.  The sun hadn't risen from the eastern horizon yet, but Relena rode her horse to a small hill overlooking the lake below them, the fog slowly lifting up from its waters.  Right before them, the golden orange rays bathed the two of them in its warm light.  "I think it's about time for a canter." She then urged her horse back down and before long, hues of green passed before her, as she felt her horse move faster.


Right then, Relena allowed herself to be caught up from the previous night's events as her mother's voice boomed over her conscience,  "I found a nice suitor for you."  The thought continued to sicken her and she continued to urge her chestnut mare to run even faster.  With that, she felt the winds blow through her blond hair and the adrenaline rushing through her veins.  At that moment, she dropped all of her worries and felt relieved in a way that her mother was not near her for the time being.


She then tugged lightly at the reins and guided the mare to a grove of trees.  Once there, she ordered her mare to a canter again, in which the pair dodged in between trees.  It was a game that the two enjoyed, but suddenly a black horse appeared in front of her out of nowhere. Relena had only a few seconds to respond before the two horses would collide into one another.  With that she pulled back the reins as tightly as she could.


~*~


"Relena, where are you?"  Her mother called out over endlessly, but she didn't hear a response from her daughter.  She kept on walking in the darkness and every so often, fog clouds enveloped her, as she began to become frantic.  "Relena, where are you?"  The echo from her plea continued to resonate in the background. Eventually, she heard waves crashing against a rocky shore, which she recognized.  She screamed in frustration that she couldn't find Relena anywhere and collapsed onto the jagged shoreline.


"What's wrong, Katrina?  You woke me with your scream of yours."  He looked towards his wife, who was pale and her forehead was dotted with small sweat drops.


Her voice was shaky at first, "Where's Relena?"


"I think she's still in her room.  It's only six o'clock in the morning right now."


"You sure?"


"Don't you think she might still be sleeping in her room since we arrived here yesterday and that she wants to avoid everyone still because of your evening ball for tonight?"


"I guess your right."  She lightly kissed him on his cheek.


"Now let me sleep for a few more minutes, please."


"Alright dear."  With that, Katrina closed her eyes, but a feeling kept surfacing in her thoughts about her daughter.  It was a nightmare that wasn't going to go away any time soon.


~*~


"Calm down girl, I'm right here. Easy now."  Relena continued to hold a firm grasp on the reins, as her horse began to panic. Before long, her horse became agitated and threw her onto the ground and she lay on left side with her left arm extending above her head.


The horse continued its rampage among the trees and with that, the bystander look to where Relena laid.  He quickly ran over to her side and noticed that she was unconscious.  He was about to lift her up when the chestnut mare ran towards the two.  His eyes narrowed and let out a sigh of frustration towards the horse.  Her eyes were filled with rage and fright at the same time and this time, she had her front legs up in the air, ready to trample the two on the ground.


He quickly stood up and spread his arms to the side of him, in hopes of calming the mare down.  She held her front legs up into the air again and this time, he dodged the attack being mindful of keeping the mare away from Relena.  With that, he grabbed hold of the reins that dangled in front of the mare and calmed it down, by staring into its black eyes.  In an instant, the mare quieted down and began to graze near a small patch of grass at the base of one of the trees.


He headed over towards Relena's location and noticed that she was still unconscious.  He walked over to where his horse was and grabbed a canteen from his saddlebag and carried it to where Relena was.  He uncapped the circular container and poured the cool liquid onto his hand.  With that, he dropped the liquid onto her face, hoping to wake her, but it proved useless, so he thought.  He then bent down on his knees and was about to give her a breath of air.  His lips hovered an inch away from hers, but then he felt a sharp pain near his groin and reeled over in shock.


"What do you think you are doing? Get away from me, whoever you are."  She slowly got up from the ground and made sure that she kept her distance from the stranger, who now stood up against a tree.  She noticed that his eyes were filled with shock and frustration at the same time.


"You fell off from your horse and I protected you."


Relena's defenses slowly dropped and she then realized her mistake of attacking her savior, "I'm sorry about that...thank you for your assistance."


He then went over to where her horse was and grabbed the reins.  "You should handle your horse more carefully."  He continued to give a cold gaze towards her.


Relena decided to change the subject, "What is your name?"


"Heero Yuy."


"I'm..." She was cut off before she could finish her sentence.


"I know who you are.  You should be more careful, Ms. Peacecraft."  He went over to his horse and climbed into his saddle.  Before long, he disappeared into the trees, only leaving Relena and her mare behind.


"He seems to be cold sometimes."  Relena patted her horse's face and led it by the reins to a shaded region of the meadow.  She watched her horse graze for a couple of minutes.  She kept thinking of Heero's cold stare, which mesmerized her for no apparent reason.  Maybe this was the excuse she needed to break apart from her mother's grasp in her marital life.  She role played the thought of how her mother would react to her news of finding someone else and imitated in her mother's voice, "Relena Peacecraft, what on earth do you think you are doing!  I bring you into this world and this is how you repay me!"  She continued to muse to herself unaware that Heero was watching her from a distance.  Her horse then nudged her, alerting her that the two should get back to the stable, before all hell breaks lose in the Peacecraft household.


~*~


Katrina decided to head over to Relena's room to inform her that breakfast was ready.  She gently knocked on the door being mindful of not to intrude too much on her daughter.  "Relena, dear, breakfast is ready."  She stood outside the bedroom for a couple of minutes.  "Relena?"  She decided to take matters into her own hands and entered her daughter's room.  Once she was inside, she noticed that her bed was already made, but Relena was nowhere in sight.  "Where could she have run off to now?"


"What, mother?"  She was standing right behind her.


"Don't you dare scare me like that!  You know how I can't stand it, it just makes my heart skip a beat."


"Maybe I should do this more often, then?"


Katrina decided to change the subject, "Look at you, where have you been?  Your hair is a mess along with your dress.  You know what today is, right?"


"Yes I do, mother.  And for your information, I was out riding today and I was thrown off from my horse, and thanks for asking."  She watched her mother's mouth drop slightly and waited for her next response, which would most likely refer to the evening ball instead of her accident.


"Well, breakfast is downstairs in the dining room.  You'll have to prepare for the night's festivities soon."


"Yes, mother."  With that, she watched her mother leave her room and Relena soon followed after her for breakfast.  "This is going to be a great day."  She could already hear the servants and maids scramble around the mansion in preparing for the evening ball.


~*~


The hours seemed to mesh within each other as Relena prepared for the night's festivities.  Her mother was in her room helping her get dressed.  She was standing by her dresser with her right hand firmly grasping an edge of the dresser, as her mother made the finishing adjustments to her corset.  She could hardly breath nor move in it, since the fabric squeezed her small frame and lifted her chest upwards.


"I think you're tightening it, a little too much, mother."  She heard the laces looping through the holes on the back of her corset, as her mother tightened them even more.


"I think it's just fine.  Besides, you do want to look your best in front of our guests and for your suitor.  I mean he is from a well respected family."  She then went over to Relena's closet and chose a light pink chiffon dress that had a scooped neckline with puffy sleeves that would serve as her evening gown.  She handed her the dress and within minutes, Relena was dressed in pink.  Her hair was then divided into three long strands that were intertwined into a knot, which formed fluffy ringlets.  With that, her coiffeur was then adorned with a satin pink ribbon to complement her dress.


"Now don't forget to wear your full length white gloves."


"I won't mother."  She went over to her dresser and pulled out the pair, just to show her mother that she wouldn't forget.  Her mother then left her in the room and with that, she quickly locked the door behind her mother, just in case she wanted to get into the room again.  She walked to one of her open windows that blew the lace curtains around her, the sun was already setting into the west and soon it would be nightfall, which meant that the carriages from the surrounding areas will be here for her mother's dance.  "Here we go again, the endless sounds of gossip." She looked blankly at the setting orange sun and thought about the morning's events that kept playing over and over again in her mind.

***Flashback***

She felt his breath cascading down her face, but she didn't dare to move, in case he tried to hurt her.  It was the closet encounter she had with any man before.  And with that, she waited for the right moment to "knee" him when he least expected from his victim.  She saw his eyes flash with intensity as she looked up into his.  His stare was calculating, yet it was filled with something that she hadn't felt before.  It was his stare that she kept daydreaming on.

***End of flashback***


A knock from the door brought Relena out of her daydreaming.  "The guests are now arriving in the main dance hall.  Your mother instructed me to come and get you."


"I'm coming Trudy."  She quickly slipped her white gloves onto her hands and unlocked the door.


"Your dress looks exquisite, Ms. Peacecraft."


Relena nodded a kind thank you towards her maid.  "Mother picked this dress for me."


"I see."  The two women made their way down the stairs and towards the dance hall that was connected to their Victorian home.  Trudy guided Relena towards the wooden doors that had glass windows engraved in them.  Relena peaked into a small section of the glass and inside the room, she saw couples already dancing on the wooden floor in their evening attire.  Some of the women wore feathers in their hair in a similar hairstyle like hers.  Their gowns were fashioned in a variety of styles, in which some of the dresses were decorated with fancy beadwork, while others were decorated with colored ribbons.  Overall, the usual puffy sleeves were the most prominent among the ladies that were dancing.  "Good luck," whispered Trudy.  She then left Relena's side and minded her own business during the night.


Relena continued to stare through the glass window and she noticed that her mother was already talking to a gentleman wearing a black tail coat that covered his white formal shirt that had a wing tip collar and a black bow tie.  She continued to strain her eyes to see his features, but all she could see was that he had blond hair neatly combed back.  Her pulse began to quicken and she immediately put her back to the wall, as her breathing became rapid.  She heard her mother calling from the room, "I'll have Relena meet you right now."  Right then, she quickly left and walked into one of the vast meeting rooms that the house showcased on its main floor.  She peeped through the doorframe with the oak door slightly jarred open and saw her mother emerged from the dance hall.  Her yellow silk chiffon dress seemed to engulf the space around her.


Footsteps were coming closer to the room, where Relena was hiding in, and she knew that she was trapped, since the room didn't have another exit.  Her heart began to pulse rapidly and she heard the oak door creak.  She immediately backed away from the door.


"There you are, I've been looking around for you."  Her mother gazed sternly at her.


"I don't want to meet him."


"Stop acting silly.  I mean he has been waiting anxiously for you in the dance hall.  You don't want to keep him waiting, it's not polite."


"Whoever it is, I don't want to see him.  I don't want to be used to secure your social status."  She looked towards her mother, who stood dumbfounded at her daughter's rebellious attitude.


"Relena Peacecraft," her mother said harshly, "I'm just trying to secure your future."


Relena then walked away from her mother and headed straight towards the door, where she was met by the gentleman.  "Hello, miss."  He bowed in front of her and she quickly stepped back.  But before she walked too far into the room, her mother led her back to the gentleman that stood in front of them.


~*~


Heero sat lazily in the library alcove of Duo's home for most of the afternoon and evening.  He was sipping more wine and contemplated quietly to himself.  The events from the morning played through his mind over and over again.  He remembered scaring her horse, which eventually threw her off from her saddle.  He realized that he could have killed her right then, if she had landed improperly onto the ground.  He somehow protected her unknowingly from her frightened horse, but at the same time, he used his cold gaze to distance himself from Relena.  What was this feeling that kept nagging within his conscience?  He finished consuming the rest of the wine in his glass and fell asleep in the chair he was seated at.


In his mind, flashes of his trip to New York began to occur within his mind.  Earlier in his trip, he had stopped by his father's law firm, telling his father that he wouldn't be joining him for the summer.  He then remembered his father scolding him for his poor judgment and his father then said his last threat, "You're no longer an heir to the family fortune.  Get out!!"  Then there was another scene, in which he was sitting at a local bar, drinking away his family problems.  But then a blurred face of somebody kept reappearing in his mind.  Who was it?  Before he could tell who it was, he was being shaken by somebody's hand.


"Hey there, are you alright?  You haven't been your self lately."


"I'm fine," he muttered.  He began to get up from his seat, when all of a sudden, the room seemed to spin around him.


"Well, I think I should lock up the wine stock for awhile."  He looked at his friend questioningly.  He decided to change the subject again, "I noticed that you got up early this morning."


Heero slowly nodded from his seat again.  "I took your horse out for a ride and I saw her this morning."


"You mean, Relena?"


He nodded again in response.


Duo sarcastically said, "So, you're already hitting on the ladies?"


Heero didn't respond to his question.  Instead he looked towards the window, where a cool breeze was filtering through.  The sounds of violins were heard in the background among the chirping crickets.



"Well, there's the music from the Peacecraft residence, which I told you about."  For some odd reason, Duo knew that Heero wasn't paying attention to what he said.  "I have an idea, let's join in on the party.  I mean we both have our evening attire in our rooms and you might be able to see her."  He looked over to his friend again to see if there was any reaction and he noticed that he became a little more alert.  "Well what are we waiting for then... a personal invite."  The two men then left the library alcove and headed towards their rooms to change.


Within minutes, the two were ready to walk over to the Peacecraft residence, each sporting the black tail coat with white collars and black bow ties.  After the two had walked for nearly a quarter of a mile, they finally reached the front doors of the expanse mansion that loomed before them.  A butler greeted them at the door and presumed that the two were invited by Mrs. Peacecraft, "Good evening, gentlemen, the dance hall is just down this hallway."  He pointed to the right side of him, where the music was resonating within the hallway.  The two stepped in and made their way to the dance hall.


Before long, the two were standing in front of the doors leading into the dance hall.  "Well, here goes nothing."  Duo pulled back the brass door knobs and the two were met with a rush of cool air that came from the back of the room.  To their amazement, the hall had two main chandeliers situated equidistantly from each other in the center of the room.  Their lights glowed brightly against the golden surfaces of the chandeliers.


"I don't see her," replied Duo.  He was already catching the eyes of a couple of ladies.  He smiled back to them.


Heero nodded in response and decided to stand off to the corner of the room, just trying not to attract too much attention.  Right then, a lady in red satin walked over towards him and looked admiringly towards him to get his attention.  She fanned herself with a fan decorated with a red ribbon.  At first, Heero bowed to her, "Excuse me."  He then left her standing by an empty table in the corner of the room, her eyes filled with shock at his rejection.


~*~


"I'll leave you two alone now."  Right then, she saw her mother leave the room with a smile on her face.


Relena walked over to a blue couch that was situated by a window and looked out towards the night sky.


"They are lovely tonight, aren't they?"


"Yes."  She felt someone sitting next to her, which made her feel even more uncomfortable. She immediately got up from her seat. "Sorry, I'm just a little nervous."


"Same here."  He looked towards her with pleading eyes.  "I'm guessing that your mother put you up to this."


She nodded in response.


"Same here.  I'm glad that I got that confession out into the open."


"Didn't we meet last year at one of my mother's weekend dances?  You look familiar."


He nodded in response.  "I'm Quatre Winner."


"So that's who you are, I knew I recognized you from somewhere."


The two became silent again, each of them hoping that this arrangement would somehow fall apart.  Quatre sensed that Relena was hiding something from him.  Yes, he was attending Yale to become a chemist, but he was also good at reading someone's feelings.  It finally occurred to him that Relena's heart was with someone else perhaps.  "I don't know if I should go into your personal life, but it seems to me that you like someone else rather than me."


Her eyes then widened a little, since she knew that Quatre was close in his statement and theory.  "How do you know?"


"It's just a guess of mine."  Another brief moment of silence washed across the two, "Can we just be friends, instead?  It seems that our mothers placed too much pressure on the two us and it doesn't seem right, at all."


The question was painless and straightforward, but she felt a burden lift from her heart, "I can agree to that…thank you."


"You're welcome."  The two then walked out of the drawing room together.  "Do you think our mothers will suspect that their plan didn't go out as planned?"


"I wouldn't care, but they'll probably force us to reconsider our decision."  She saw her mother appear from the corner of the hallway, "Sorry, mother, but we've decided to be friends only."  The two parted at the entrance of the dance hall with Quatre entering back into the room, while Relena went towards the back patio to avoid her mother's wrath.


Her mother stood in the hallway infuriated with her daughter's decision.  "Now, now Katrina, our daughter has made a decision on her own.  You can't take that away from her."  Her husband stood next to her, trying to calm down his fretting wife.


"Nineteen years of my life raising her to be a lady and this is how she repays me."


"I'm glad that she has made her own choice."  The two stood silent before he had the courage to speak again, "Now come my dear, your guests are waiting for you to make another appearance."  He held out his right arm towards her and she slowly accepted it as with Relena's decision not to court with Quatre to a certain degree.


~*~


The door silently closed after her, as she stepped out into the summer night air.  The fireflies flew sporadically throughout the backyard.  "I'm glad that's over."  She let out a soft sigh under her breath and walked out into the night.  She was a few feet away from the dirt path that led towards the lake, but she felt like she was being watched.  "Who's there?"  She decided to turn back and when she did, she bumped into a familiar person.  She noticed that his eyes pierced the darkness. "Oh...it's you again."


TBC