Author's Note: Why hello! This has become one of my ways to vent at the end of the school day. (Sorry!) I will keep it brief, though. I hate to say it, but we're near the end! I am now accepting ideas for a new fic, so sock 'em to me! (Oh yeah, disregard Endless Waltz if you've seen it, this takes a few things from it, but not much.) Arigato!
"Hmm," Wufei said as her came in the door. Usually he could smell Manrui's favorite perfume from the other side of the garden, but there was barely a trace. Had they stopped by and then given up? No, that was wishful thinking. They'd be back. He noticed the phone's message light was blinking at him and he pushed it. Manrui appeared with a nice hotel room behind her.
"Hi! I just wanted you two to know that I'm planning to stay with an friend for a while, I can pick my stuff up tomorrow. Bye now!" Wufei frowned. Just Manrui? Then that meant…
"Wufei? I thought you might be Manrui," Ayeka said as she came into the room. Wufei arched an eyebrow.
"So you didn't come here to see me? Here I thought there was something important that couldn't be settled over the phone." His bland tone and expression made Ayeka's temper quick to rise. Well, quicker.
Her red eyes flashed. "There are some things that can't be settled over the phone, including the way you failed to inform me that you were leaving."
Wufei took off his outer layer and sat on the couch. Unlike his master's home, Wufei seemed to have decorated with a more modern style. Stranger still, was how he looked perfectly comfortable in it. Ayeka couldn't help but give his body a quick glance. Nice muscle tone, strong bone structure and a face any sculptor would be proud of. He deserved to be carved in marble.
Then she chided herself for her thinking such things for a man whose heart seemed to pump liquid ice and put her hands on her hips. "Well? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"
He looked at her and closed his eyes. "I don't believe you have any right to tell me what I can or can't do, Onna." Ayeka didn't hesitate, in a very un-princess like display she gave him a slap.
Wufei became fully alert instantly. He had a tough time trying not to stare at the flushed woman in front of him. Her hand was still in the air, paused to come down on the opposite cheek. "Don't call me that. I'm the one teaching you sword fighting, and therefore I'm due some respect. Such as informing me when you decide to discontinue the study so I don't find myself waiting for over an hour."
He had never expected her to hit him. With her strictly pacifist views, she'd only ever struck at someone during practice or at one of the few competitions Manrui got her to enter. Wufei got to his feet. Because she'd been standing right in front of him, their bodies were now brushing against each other as Wufei glared down at her with hard eyes. Ayeka did see a hint of wonder in them as well.
Ayeka's hands dropped from her hips to hang by her sides so she could concentrate on the staring contest. Then Wufei took a breath and said, "Very well, Ayeka. I guess from now on you'll be Ayeka instead of just 'onna' with a capital 'O.'"
She felt her anger ebb and, as it went away other things came to her attention. Like how close she was to Wufei. He seemed to see the change in her mood in her eyes and he felt his own tension drain. As they became more and more aware of each other's proximity over the following moments, a slight blush started to creep into Ayeka's cheeks that had nothing to do with anger.
What came next was just what seemed natural. Wufei's lips came down as Ayeka lifted hers up and they met halfway. Her arms slowly came up to grip his shoulders as Wufei reached out and pulled her closer. It was quite a beautiful sight, and with the couch right there and no company expected, your imagination can fill in the rest.
Washu stopped typing and sighed. Last week Wufei had informed her that Ayeka was doing just fine and could now handle herself. He then cared to mention that he'd moved into a completely different colony cluster earlier and wasn't planning on seeing the princess again. The terseness of the message led Washu to believe there had been some kind of confrontation or friction that had made Wufei leave, but she had no way of knowing. Then she got one of her well-meaning ideas and started typing with renewed vigor. Yes, maybe she'd pay Ayeka a visit.
Fate would have it that Washu arrived just outside Master Long's home. She waltzed right into the garden and didn't seem to notice she'd interrupted a training session. "Hi! Oh now isn't this nice. Could any of you tell me where to find Ayeka?"
Master Long came forward and said quietly, "Miss Ayeka has left to go to colony N0354. We aren't expecting her back any time soon."
Washu blinked. "Isn't that Wufei's new…" Master Long was nodding. Washu's face broke into a wide grin. "Well then, I'll be on my way! Nice meeting you!" She turned and marched out to her portal. "To N0354!"
Wufei woke up and yawned. He looked around and noticed he wasn't in his bed, and there were sounds coming from his kitchen! The initial disorientation passed as he remembered why he was lying on the couch with just a blanket over him. Wufei sat up and looked around for his clothes.
A few minutes later he walked into the kitchen, and paused. Ayeka was playing around with something on a frying pan and there was a thin layer of flour on the counter next to her elbow. She picked up the handle of the pan and tossed the pancake onto a stack with the ease of long practice. Wufei came up behind her. "Good-morning," she said. He paused. How did she know he was there?
She set the frying pan aside and turned around to face him. Wufei reached up to brush some flour off her cheek. "I find that flour becomes you, Ayeka," he said. She smiled and he gave her a quick kiss.
Ayeka turned back to the stove and turned it off. "How about some syrup?" she asked. Wufei went to the fridge and winced.
"I haven't done much shopping, yet…" he said.
She appeared by his side at the fridge. "Hmm, this will do!" Ayeka grabbed some butter and went to get out some plates and the like. Soon they were sitting at the table, quietly stuffing their faces with buttered pancakes. Wufei stretched when he finished and picked up his plate. He dumped it in the sink and Ayeka joined him. They split the task of cleaning up the considerable mess Ayeka had made when the flour had allegedly "attacked" her.
Just as they were finishing up, there was a knock. Wufei frowned. "Who knocks anymore?" Ayeka said.
Wufei went through the living room to the front door and opened it. A girl with pink hair almost to her feet smiled up at him. "Hello! I thought I'd come and see how you were doing!"
"Who is it?" Ayeka asked, coming into the living room. Washu looked past Wufei at the former princess and ran in.
"You must be Ayeka!" she said. Ayeka nodded. Washu gave her old friend a hug and stepped back with a suddenly serious look on her face and walked around Ayeka as if doing a careful inspection. "Hmm…" she said. Then she looked at Wufei and said, "You've chosen well! Now let's see…here!"
Washu tossed an object at Ayeka. The young woman caught it and opened her hand to look at it. The strangely shaped object was a rather large seed. "I think you'll need to plant this when you find yourself a good enough house," Washu said with a wink.
Wufei finally got around to closing the door and came over. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.
Washu looked up at him. "Oh please, can't an old friend stop by to say hi? Anyway, I wanted to meet this lady you write to me about." Ayeka looked at Wufei in confusion.
The pink-hared genius bowed and said, "I must depart, see ya!" She ducked out the door, leaving Ayeka standing with Wufei like a stunned idiot.
"Umm, she's a friend?" Ayeka said after a while.
Wufei sighed. "Yeah, she's a bit of a science genius." Ayeka nodded. "What did she give you?"
Ayeka held out her hand. "It looks like a seed, but it's awfully large for anything I know of." She tossed it to him and Wufei caught it.
"Hmm," he said, eyeing it. Then there was another knock on the door, this one an insistent banging. Frowning, he went to the door and opened it.
Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and Duo marched in and surrounded Wufei as if they were going to herd him out the door. Heero held out a piece of paper and Wufei took it. He gave the guys another look before reading it. Then he turned to Heero. "You've checked this out?"
Heero nodded sternly, his Prussian blue eyes grim. "There's no doubting it. We found signs of the factory's existence a week ago, but they seemed to have found no outlet for their stock until recently. Originally we thought there'd be plenty of time, but this fire has found a new fuel."
Wufei looked at the paper again. "I guess you need the Shenlong to do this, right?" he said.
Trowa nodded, his face half in shadow from his hair just as always. "We sent our Gundams into the sun just before the last big fire. This could be as hard a fight to put down as the one on X18999, but it's on Earth."
Wufei crumpled the paper and reached back to open the door. He held it open and said, "I'll join you in a minute." The others walked out, even Duo and Quatre were silent. Wufei shut the door and looked up to see Ayeka looking at him.
"You're not going to fight, right?" she said.
He walked past her and started up the stairs. "I have to, it's so others don't."
She was at his side as quickly as if she'd just materialized there. Horror was in her eyes and she rested a hand on his arm. "No! You can't!"
Wufei used the arm she was holding to throw her against the wall. She hit it hard and fell to the floor, unconscious. He picked her up and said, "Maybe if you still had your memory you could have understood and joined the fight, but you're too fragile. Despite all of your strength, history has proved that even the strong minds can be shattered. Please, Ayeka, stay safe so I have something to come back to."
He took her upstairs and placed her on his bed. Then he set the lock system and airtight metal sheeting slid out form the windowsill and covered the window to the bedroom. He then locked the door. She wasn't going to get hurt, because she wasn't going to follow him and no one could get it.
Ayeka came to and moaned. Her head was pounding and bruised. Why had Wufei attacked her like that? Then she saw the covered window and leapt for the door. It was locked tight. She banged at it with her fists and kicked it and did everything she could to no avail. Why had he done this? Ayeka pictured him leaving, sword in hand. For a second, another picture flashed. It was another young man, with a sword and dark hair, but the whole scene had been off. The clothes and devastation weren't anything she recognized.
She felt something pulse in her pocket. Ayeka reached in and took out the seed. It was glowing. Acting on a hunch, she put it on the door. There was a click and she tried the knob. It opened. She didn't hesitate any more. Glancing at the clock she guessed she'd been out for several hours, but there was still time. Ayeka ran into the guest room she had taken and opened her bag.
One of the things that fell to the bed when she dumped it out, was the strange wooden headdress Manrui had said belonged to her. It was some kind of family heirloom. Ayeka saw it glowed like the seed. She grabbed it.
OOOO! Cliffhanger! Tune in next time for the conclusion (It is hoped) of Altron and Jurai!