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


Impressions


~*~


As promised, William came to see Relena on various occasions, sometimes he would join the Peacecrafts for a cup of afternoon tea, while at other times Katrina insisted that he should stay for dinner.  During those times, William created a great impression on Katrina, and even on Mr. Peacecraft himself.  William noticed that he kept a close eye on him and whatever he did with Relena, but he knew that Mr. Peacecraft was protecting his only daughter in a fatherly way.

On one night after dinner, William was left alone with him.


"It seems like you have been visiting here, quite often, William."  Mr. Peacecraft sat at his usual black leather chair in the living room.  He heard Relena and Katrina in the kitchen.  He looked back at William, who stood nervously in front of the elder.


"Yes, sir."


Mr. Peacecraft gestured for William to sit in a couch that was situated beside his leather chair.  "Would you care for a cigar?"  He held an oak box filled with at least 10 of them.  He noticed William refused.  "I never really cared of smoking, even though I had a few of these lying in this box, just in case, some guests arrived.  Anyhow, I just want you to know that you're a fine lad and that you've been treating her with respect.  You better keep it that way or I'll have my hound dogs track you down."


Right then, William's face turned pale at the slight remark.  He looked at the elder, who held a slight smile on his face, a sign that he was just playing.


Relena appeared at the doorframe of the living room and noticed that her father gave his final approval of him.  " He's a keeper."  She slightly blushed with that remark.


"I don't know what I would do without him."


The young couple then walked out to the front porch.  "Good night, Relena."


"Good night."


~*~


On the following morning, Relena was left all to herself minus the fact that a couple of maids were dusting around the vast residence.  For the morning, most of the household had cleared out to attend a picnic that was being hosted nearby.


A knock was heard on the front door.


Relena looked at a small clock that was set on the fireplace mantle.  The white face showed that it was two o'clock in the afternoon.  "I don't recall my mother having any guests coming so late in the afternoon.  So much for afternoon tea."  She placed a book down next to her and smoothed out her white afternoon dress.  "I wonder who could that be."  She headed into one of the vast hallways on the first floor and eventually came upon the front door.


"Hello, Relena."


"Hello, William.  What brings you here?"


"These are for you."  He handed her a small bouquet of red roses.


She gingerly took them into her hands.  "These are lovely.  Thank you."


"I was wondering...would you care for a horseback ride right now?  I know it may seem abrupt, but I figure that your mother isn't around to pester you."



She paused in her response, "Alright then, just give me a few minutes to change into my riding attire.  You can come in and wait in the foyer if you like."


William decided to come in, "You have a nice mansion here."


"Thank you...I'll be right back."  She walked upstairs and entered into her room.  Within five minutes, she reemerged with her white blouse and a riding skirt.  "Thanks for waiting."


"It was no trouble at all."


The two walked out onto the same gravel road that led towards the family's stable and in there, Relena showed him her chestnut mare.  She quickly placed on the black saddle and before long, the two were riding their horses.


Relena being an avid rider started to strike up a conversation, "You have a nice Appaloosa."


"Thank you.  My father bought if for me as a going away present for college."


The two continued on with their slow walk through the countryside.  It has been three weeks since their first meeting at her mother's dance.  "So how are you liking Winfield so far?  It seems like I never get the chance of having a conversation without my mother leading the actual conversation."


"The sights are interesting...but nothing as compared to you."


She slightly blushed at his remark.  "Should we now start a canter?"


He then used his right index finger and pointed in the direction ahead of them, "The fastest one to that oak tree wins.  On my mark, one...two...three."  With that, the two horses bolted into their canters.  At times, Relena was in the lead, while at others, William was overtaking her.  The two continued with their neck in neck race and the two riders noticed that they were closing in on the acorn tree was standing in the middle of the open pasture.


Relena urged her horse to go more faster, while at the same time, William did the same.  When the two had reached their intended target, it was hard to tell who actually won the small race.


"It looks like we tied for the race."


"I guess you're right, William.  I think our horses need to take a break a little."


He quickly left his saddle and went over to Relena's side.  He grabbed her by the waistline and gently placed her on her feet.  "There you go."


"You're such a gentleman, you know that."  The two were standing face to face.  She felt his breath running close to her face.  His mouth hovered near hers and he was about to kiss her.  She immediately moved away from him, "I don't think we should be doing this.  Not yet."


"Sorry about that then, I guess we should be getting back to your home then."  The feeling of hurt carried within him.


The two slowly trotted back to the Peacecraft mansion, and Relena could tell that William was somewhat crushed on his first attempt to kiss her.  "I really had a nice time, thank you."  The two were now in sight of the stable.  "I guess this is my cue to leave now.  Bye, William."


"Bye, Relena." He watched her ride to her family's stable, but in the distance he saw someone emerge from the shadows of the stable. "I wonder who could that be," he strained his eyes to see if he could pick up anymore details of the mysterious man, but then he remembered something else that was on his mind. He ordered his horse to trot back to his family's mansion, where someone else was awaiting for his arrival.


~*~


"Mind if I join you?"


Heero nodded his head to the left, gesturing that Duo could join him on the quiet afternoon.


"You seem to have something on your mind lately."


"Your point?"


"I'm just striking up a conversation here, that's all."


"Well, it's none of your business."


Duo lifted one of his eyebrows up in curiosity, "Oh really...is it about Relena?"


"It's not about her." His right hand gripped the arm rest of the patio chair.


Duo decided to change the subject, "About your New York trip...what really happened?"


Heero looked blankly in front of him, remembering the confrontations with his father, "My father kicked me out of the family."


Duo's face dropped slightly after hearing the news.  "I didn't mean to get all of the details.  You're welcome to stay here as long as you like."  He then decided to leave Heero for the day in hopes of allowing him to collect his thoughts and that he could sort through his problems.



Once Duo was out of his sight, Heero felt somewhat relieved that he finally told the truth to him, but something else kept nagging within him.  It was his recurring dream of his trip to New York intertwined with someone running away from him in a hallway.  All he could remember from his dream that there was laughter in the background and that there was a feminine voice.  Could it be in relation to Relena or someone else that he had met before?


"Why can't I remember?"  He closed his eyelids, but couldn't draw up any memories to help solve his nagging dream.


~*~


"Where have you been, Miss Peacecraft?  Your mother has been looking for you."  A pair of keen black eyes focused on her.


"And you're?"


"Answer my question first."  The man grabbed hold of her horse's reins by the teeth bit.


"I was out riding with William Bennett.  If you could please release my reins now, I would greatly appreciate it."  He let the leather reins go and allowed her to enter the stable.


"If you must know, I'm Wufei Chang."  He walked off somewhere to the back of the stable, clearing a pile of haystacks to be used for the horses' feed.


Relena got off from her horse and led it back to its stall.  She quickly unsaddled her horse and did a quick grooming down its back and main body.  Once everything was back in order, she resumed her conversation with Wufei.  "I was wondering, did my mother ask you to question me on my whereabouts?"


Wufei paid no attention to the woman that was standing behind him.  He kept using a pitchfork and lifted the hay into a small bin.  He heard Relena slowly walk out of the stable and with the feeling of uneasiness in the air, he decided to acknowledge her question, "To answer your question, yes she did.  I need to get back to work now, if you'll please excuse me."


She decided to leave Wufei alone and walked back to the mansion. With that, she heard other footsteps coming from behind her.


"There you are, my dear."


"Hello, mother.  Why did you ask a stable boy to question me about my whereabouts?"  Her mother suddenly stopped in her walk and right then, Relena decided to face her mother.


"I was just wondering where you went.  When I came back home, the house was entirely emptied."


"Unlikely story...you were waiting somewhere in the stable when I came back and when Wufei questioned me, you could hear the gossip firsthand."


"Are you accusing me for that action?"


"I just wish you could just let me be and stop controlling my life as if you were repeating yours through mine," frustration was heard in her voice.


It suddenly dawned on Katrina that something in that statement finally clicked in her mind.  She finally saw that she was molding Relena's life into a life that she witnessed as a young lady due to the fact that her own mother did the same exact thing to herself.  It was this society that kept laying out the guidelines to a proper way of life, the women were respected if they showed the proper etiquette and that if they had the money to host social functions, they couldn't be rejected.  Even though her husband was rich and well respected among his colleagues, she decided to use Relena in this game of popularity in hopes of attracting gossipers to her home.  With that, news of Relena being courted would spread like wildfire through the community and in someway, she could then get the recognition in raising a fine girl.
 


"I'm sorry Relena, I don't know what overcame me in the first place.  I guess with your brother's refusal made me more determined to find a suitor for you.  Can you ever forgive me?"  Tears were now welling up in her blue eyes.


Relena slowly walked over to her mother's side.  At first, she stood apprehensively in front of her, wondering if she lets her guard down, would the whole process of her mother intruding into her life begin again.  She then embraced her, "I forgive you...but you must keep your distance in my personal life."


"I'll try, but there's no guarantee."  A wry smile was seen on her face.


Relena felt uneasy around her mother and contemplated to herself, "Is this another game that she's playing?"


"So how was your ride with William?"


"It was pleasant."


A curious look was seen on her mother.


~*~


Duo walked on endlessly for over an hour.  His eyes focused on the ground rather than what lay ahead of him.  He was shocked that Heero's father had kicked Heero out of the family.  He mumbled something to himself, "Now I can see what predicament he's in.  If only I had known earlier."  He contemplated back to their first night when Heero arrived in Winfield, the signs were subtle, even though he knew that Heero kept most to himself.  He should have paid more close attention to his friend's drinking habits, he never thought that Heero would pick up the habit of drinking alcohol.  "There's something still wrong to this picture.  I wonder what it could be?"  He continued to walk down the main gravel road that led from his residence.


Right before him, a slender figured emerged from a side road with small packages in her hands.  She was busy juggling the packages, being careful not to drop them.  She stopped and readjusted her grasp on them, and with that, she continued to walk down the main road.


Unexpectedly, the two collided into one another, each of them falling onto the floor with Duo tripping over something in the process and ended up in a small patch of mud, while the female figure fell onto her knees.


"Watch where you're going, mister!"  She immediately picked the paper-wrapped packages that were strewn across the dirt path and checked to see their contents were still intact.  "You're lucky that none of these porcelain dishes broke."


"I'm glad that you're alright, too."  Duo slowly got up from his mud bath and nearly slipped in the process.  "I'm sorry about this incident, miss, I'm truly am." He then wiped away some of the mud that clung to his face and eyes, his vision was somewhat blurred for a while.  "Do I know you from somewhere?"


The lady immediately stopped in front of him with an appalled look on her face.


"I think you're the one from the Peacecraft dance that was held three weeks ago, if I recalled correctly."


"Duo?"


"You do remember me!  That's a relief."


"What brings you here?"


"I was just walking through the neighborhood."


She gave him a questioningly look.  "You sure about that?  I think you might be here for another reason."

Duo started to look guiltier.  "How can I put this...there was one thing that I need to ask you.  Do you remember a Grandfather clock chiming during our conversation at the dance?"


"Yes, but just get to the point."


He tugged at his shirt collar that was stained with the brown soil, "What's your name again, I somewhat didn't quite catch it."


"Is that what you came here for?"  She looked towards his face and he responded with a guilty look.  "It's Hilde.  That wasn't painful, was it?"


"No, not really."  She then brushed past him and a slender hand flashed quickly at him.  "Why did you do that for?"  He landed back into the mud puddle.


"I'll see you around, Duo."  She continued down a small dirt road, holding the packages still in her hands.


"It figures for her to be cunning."  He wiped away the mud that clung to his cotton shirt.  He then thought to himself, "But she sure is feisty."  He smirked and wandered off in the same direction that she had ventured just a few minutes ago.


~*~


Heero had left from his spot on Duo's front porch and decided to take a small walk.  It seemed to him that he had walked endlessly in the surroundings of Winfield.  Everywhere he went to, there were maples, birches, ash trees, and cottonwoods.  But once in a while, there were clusters of pine trees that dotted the landscape.  He pressed on further until he came across a newly cleared field and a few hundred yards in front of him, a small two story home stood in stark contrast from the land.  Its dark blue shutters looked repainted, while the boards looked like they were white-washed quickly.  The paint baffled him, considering the fact that most of Winfield residents were wealthy.


He strained his eyes to see what other details he could muster, but the dust slightly irritated his eyes.  He wasn't used to the open rural settings, since most of his life, he spent it in New York, while occasionally, he would spend some of his time in Winfield.  He continued to walk on the gray gravel path until he heard a horse sprinting his way.


"Out of my way!"  The rider cantered right in front of Heero.  A blur of white and brown was seen, along with a faint trail of white dust.


"What an uptight fellow."  He noticed the rider steered his horse into the field that lay ahead of him.  At the spur of the moment, he decided to follow this "rude" rider.  With that, he stealthily walked closer to the home and hid behind a shed that was situated to the side of the house.  Overall, Heero could still get a bird's eye view of what was happening and that he could listen into the conversation, as well.


A woman was waiting patiently for someone at the front door.  Her sandy blond hair was neatly braided and it was adorned with a light green ribbon that was tied at the end.  As for her summer dress, it was the same light green color and a white sash was tied around her waist.  He showed a puzzling look on his face and his mind pressed for an answer, "Something is not right here."


A man's voice was heard in the distance, "Sorry to keep you waiting, my dear.  I was out riding."


"It's quite alright, William.  I see you renovated this home."  She went over to him and gave him a long desired kiss.  "So, how are the residents treating you around here?"


"To be quite frank, they've been warm and welcoming to me."  Giving off a slight smirk, "What brings you here to Winfield, Celeste?"


"To see you." She gave him another kiss.


He smiled back to her and lifted her up in his arms. "Where shall we begin?"


"Aren't you the naughty one?" She melted into his arms.


A couple of minutes later, the front door slammed.  With this as a signal, Heero looked from his hiding spot and once everything was cleared, he quickly ran out from the grove of trees and headed back onto the main gravel road.  The conversation from William and Celeste role-played through his mind, along with the community's gossip network that has been relentlessly in relaying juicy details of some residents.  One of the names that surfaced in his mind was Relena Peacecraft.  The name, William, triggered a tensed feeling within Heero and his fists clenched at his sides.


~*~


"I know you're back there, Duo, are you stalking me?" yelled Hilde.


"How did you know that I was here?"


"It's my little secret. Well...are you stalking me?"


He quickly caught up to her and sheepishly replied, "Partially yes and no."  A brief pause came into their conversation, "Can I just walk you home?  It wouldn't be right for me to have you walk all by yourself.  You never know who's in these woods."


Hilde paused in her walk and directly looked at him, "Alright then."


A wave of relief washed through Duo and he contemplated to himself, "It looks like I still have a chance with her."  He then said out loud, "Sorry about this afternoon's collision."



"It's fine."  She still struggled with some of her packages.


"Let me take those for you."


"Thank you, Duo."  The two continued to walk up the now broaden dirt path.  "So, you really didn't know my name from the dance three weeks ago?"

"Can we just change the subject?"  Duo continued to stare straight ahead of him, he didn't want to trip over small branches and smash the delicate packages that he was carrying for Hilde.


"Poor thing."


"Very funny."


"Well, here we are. It's not as elegant as the rest of the homes in Winfield." The house was a two-story structure with three windows on each floor, but otherwise it's white color softly stood out amongst the greenery. In addition, there were a few nooks and crannies that needed to be fix, but nothing too serious. "My family and I can never get into the habit of fixing this place up, it seems that we never have enough time."


He walked Hilde to the front door and helped her in with all of her packages.  He quickly peaked through the door and saw that the inside of the house was completely furnished with traditional wood frames and small oriental rugs.  In addition, each room looked like it had a particular theme.  For example, one room was painted yellow, which meant that it was the morning room, in which tea and breakfast would be served. While in another room, it was painted blue and it looked more like a guest receiving area.


"Looks can be deceiving," replied Hilde.  "Thanks for your help, Duo."


"It was my pleasure, Hilde.  I'll see you around then."


She smiled in response and closed the door.  She watched Duo walk down the same dirt path that the two had walked on earlier.  "I think I'm in love," she whispered.  She then looked away from the window and looked into the kitchen, where her mother was baking chocolate chip cookies.


TBC