Trowa had been assisting Quatre with paperwork with Duo, bored out of his mind, pestering both of them, when Hiiro and Wufei and had burst into the room, radiating anger and resentment. Well, Wufei burst into the room, radiating emotion. Hiiro only followed him in and looked as if he might be slightly disturbed by something, though, Quatre thought to himself, that could be considered basically the same thing in Hiiro standards.
"What do you want?"
"It's time for them to leave."
Quatre raised his eyebrows in quiet surprise, as Hiiro lashed out first, not Wufei. However, the Chinese man seemed happy to continue.
"They're interfering with our work, flooding every corner of this place with their silly talk. Are we a motel? It would be dishonorable to throw them out on the street, but this is certainly not the place for them. They have to leave, Quatre."
"I will address that in a second, Wufei. Hiiro, do you have anything to add?"
"Quatre, it is our mission to…get rid of people like that, not give them shelter and food. You see how they're affecting our work. Look at what Duo did, bringing a gundam out in broad daylight. They threaten the success of what we're trying to do."
Quatre gritted his teeth, thinking that Hiiro probably had actually convinced himself of what he was saying – blind, stubborn, fool.
"Hiiro, our mission, is to keep the peace, in order to prevent revolution. In our compound we can keep a close eye on them; also, there's the small fact if more of those monsters keep appearing, we're nearly defenseless against them, excepting perhaps the use of mobile suits. Duo has been reprimanded for his actions, and you won't say anything more of it. Am I understood?"
It was at these times that Quatre felt most uneasy. Hiiro was the superior soldier, and Quatre was commander by convenience only, it seemed. If the perfect soldier were to throw down a challenge…well, it didn't matter, Hiiro was leaving, and Quatre knew that without Hiiro's support, Wufei would not choose to press the matter.
"Hiiro, I'd like a word with you. Alone."
The other three knew Quatre was rarely this confrontational, and while at another time, one or the other might linger to just, at this point, each got up and walked briskly out of the room.
"I'm disappointed in you."
Hiiro responding silence did not surprise Quatre, so he continued.
"You're letting your feelings get in the way. There is nothing I've said to you today that you probably haven't figured out on your own. You let your own emotions convince you of an alternate conclusion that you evidently find easier on yourself."
Meanwhile, the slender brown-haired man had chosen to sit, hunched slightly forward – a position so lacking in the perfect soldier's usual fierce dignity that Quatre lost the heart to chastise any further.
"Hiiro, do you love her?"
"That's not the point."
"Then what is? Hiiro, I know you've never really had a normal relationship—"
"And Rei is no exception," Hiiro interrupted.
Quatre remained undaunted, continuing further.
"—But people who love each other…still hurt each other. A lot. And that doesn't mean they're better off apart. Not all the time at least."
"Quatre. You sound like my father. Theoretically."
The blonde still had no idea whether or not his words had any effect on the other man, but was relieved at the sight of the small, wry grin that now graced Hiiro Yuy's normally cold mouth.
"Oh Hiiro. I've been meaning to tell you all along."
Prussian blue eyes met Quatre's own baby blues with the most solemn glare imaginable on a human face. Quatre manfully attempted to keep a straight face, but failed quickly, Hiiro rising as his comrade gradually started to let the laughter out.
"I'm…going to leave now."
However, when he opened the door, all semblance of a smile drained from his face.
"Hello, Hiiro."
At the sound of that familiar voice, Quatre quickly spun around, taking a breath before replying.
"Uh, W-welcome, Madame Peacecraft."
Lita was about to slam both of them into the ground until they'd just see sense. It's not like they were fooling anyone, with their covert glances. Covert, angry glances. Covert, angry, wounded glances. Alright. She could go on. She noticed that Hiiro and Rei both seemed to pride themselves on secrecy, except as far as each other was concerned, neither did a very good job. From the second she stepped into this cold, silent place, she had known something was going on, and it wasn't because she was particularly perceptive. And there was one of the perpetrators herself, crouched down behind a corner, peering around it as if waiting for someone to pass.
"Rei, I'd like to have a word w—"
"Shut up, Makoto!"
"Wait, what?" But the brunette was quickly hushed by an angry violet glare and pulled down against the wall to the other girl's level. As a full minute passed, Lita was tempted to speak up once more, when she heard the footsteps accompanied by the mumblings of muted voices.
"It was reasonable at first, even though that one onna made an insufferable racket, but now there's eight of them, along with that damn wolf!"
Both Rei and Lita smiled at that. Although Mina's gigantic direwolf, uncoincidentally named Artemis, was curiously invisible to most people, all the senshi could of course see it. Strangely enough, the five men they had come to lodge with also saw the "4-foot mass of hair" as Duo affectionately named him. A fact which caused quite a stir among the entire group. Yet, in the end, the canine took up lodging with the rest of their ragtag team, despite the continued grumblings of a certain minority.
Eventually Wufei passed, still complaining, while Duo and Trowa walked beside him, paying very little notice to what the Chinese man said. When Lita guessed that they were far enough away, she tried again.
"Rei, what is all this about?"
"You'll see," was all the answer she got, as Rei rose, moving to stand in the middle of the hallway, facing the direction from which the boys had come. Obviously, Lita remained confused, but followed Rei anyway, turning to see a familiar blond girl walking their way. It seemed apparent that the avatar of Venus had not expected to encounter anyone, but she continued forward until she faced the other two girls.
"Mina," Rei began, "why are you following him? This has been going on for at least a day, I know, so don't try lying to me!"
Lita noticed some of the temper the Martian was known for, although a bit quieter than she remembered, but Mina appeared to take it in stride, her silence seeming to originate from a lack of words rather than being cowed by the other girl's attitude. In that pregnant pause, they all heard the same sound – very faintly; without their powers, they probably wouldn't have been able to detect it. Mina's gloomy expression broke into one of her famously bright grins.
"Rei, I do promise to tell you, but you heard it, too. There's a woman down the hall, who isn't, ah, one of us. I'm curious, you're curious, and I'll bet Lita is, too. Let's investigate."
Both smiling, the other girls nodded firmly, and the trio headed quietly back the way Mina had come.
Although Relena Peacecraft had given up any official positions of power, she still held an honorary one – main advisor to the world council – that held more real power than many people knew. She hadn't quite given up on Hiiro, either, though her pleas to him were slightly less pathetic, and much more direct. Lately, when Hiiro thought back on his old encounters with the young schoolgirl, he realized that in a way, he had enjoyed them. She was a test for him, one that proved that he was still the perfect soldier, still unswayable in the face of his mission. Not to mention the willpower it took not to kill her right then and there, a small voice in his head chimed in. Hiiro for the most part ignored this interjection, returning his thoughts to why the woman was here. It was true that the unnatural creatures who had been popping up around Rei and her friends were certainly a matter of global concern, he suspected that 'Madame Peacecraft', as the world had come to know her (though she insisted that Quatre call her Relena as soon as she stepped in his office), had other designs in coming to what one could technically call his home. Relena, in formal dress, stood up, and Hiiro abruptly realized that her discussion with Quatre was over.
"Hiiro, would you escort me out?"
Oh, she was a direct one, alright.
Being closer to the door, he moved to open it for her, but for the second time in ten minutes, was completely aghast at what he saw.
There stood Rei, in all her glory, sweet smile plastered tightly to her face, the hints of rage burning in her eyes.
A/N: Long chapter for me, neh? And once again, remember that I'm not necessarily trying to fit the actual gundam world. I basically took my view on things that could have happened. For example, I chose to have Treize still alive. Yeah. He's dead. But I like him alive, so he and the gundam pilots are working as semi-secret agents of the world government. Basically. Don't think about it too much. Could cause serious damage.
I wrote about 1/10th of this in five months and the rest in the space of a day. So…it might suck. I know I've left on a cliffhanger as well as with some (at least one) unanswered questions, and I will get to those. I also apologize for any major mischaracterization of gundam wing characters/ gross lack of characterization of Trowa. Like. At all. I'm pretty sure I haven't had him speak a single word in the entire story. I'm not sure I've even had him DO anything. Wow. I feel so neglectful. He's kind of hard to write though, in my opinion. Alright. Lovetoall. Out.