The woman who stood at Hiiro's shoulder was yet another blonde, Rei noted, having been plagued with the…blondeness… of her friends Usagi and Minako for long years. However, this woman's hair lacked the golden sheen of her comrades, Rei thought to herself with some measure of satisfaction. The raven-haired fighter held the advantage at that moment, having known some female was hidden by Quatre's office door; on the other hand, Relena had been clueless to the presence of any women within the almost entirely exclusive group. So while Relena stared with some jealousy at Rei's lithe form, Rei herself found the composure to speak.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met before."

The words were polite enough, but both Hiiro and Relena could feel the not-quite-malice banked within them.

"Oh, Rei," Quatre spoke up, a little panicked, "This is Relena Peacecraft, the"

"I am aware of Madame Peacecraft's position," Rei interrupted, too concentrated on becoming angry to be astounded at meeting the most powerful woman in the world.

"Well then, Relena, this is Rei Hino. She… is…now a member of our group." Quatre saw no reason to explain anything else, especially the existence of six more women living in close quarters with Hiiro. If she and Hiiro happened to encounter any of the other girls on their way out, then, it would fall to Hiiro to explain. When Quatre's eyes met those of the perfect soldier, the blonde merely gave the other man a "you-would-have-done-it-to-me" look.

"Well, then," Relena said, giving Rei a very chilly look, "let's be going, Hiiro. Ms. Hino, it was nice to meet you."

"The pleasure was all mine," Rei replied, drawing each word out through gritted teeth, seemingly trying to strain out the hard edge of her voice – failing miserably, of course. Relena brushed past Rei, who turned slightly in the door to accommodate the other woman, followed by Hiiro who turned his head as he went, letting his eyes linger on Rei, before turning his attention back to the demanding blonde.

As soon as Hiiro and Relena could've been described as 'gone', Rei turned to Quatre, fixing him with a penetrating glare. Quatre sighed, sinking into a chair before mustering up an answer for the impatient soldier of fire.

"She's liked Hiiro for a long time. Always wanted him, from the moment she laid eyes on him, at the beginning of the war. God. We were only children then, but then again, I suppose none of us were really children at all."

"Yes?"

"I don't know. It seemed often that there was something between the two of them, but Relena is a woman who goes after what she wants, and if Hiiro was interested, I'm sure by this point, we'd have little perfect soldiers coming to visit 'Uncle Quatre' and be annoyed by Duo."

Rei could tell that Quatre was trying to mollify her, and at this point, there was nothing, technically, she could be mad about. But she still had cause enough to glower silently, and glower she did.

Before Quatre could say anything, the door burst open.

"Have you seen-?" A cloaked man demanded before he was even entirely in the door, stopping short when he saw the girl he considered his sister standing in front of him.

"Good God! Will you people just leave. me. ALONE?" Quatre growled, so greatly in contrast to his usual manner, that the other two people in the room immediately took a step back. After they thought about it for a second, they took another.

"Er…I was just looking for Rei, and if you two aren't doing anything important, I would just like to speak to her for a second," Aendmon spoke nervously

"No, Quatre and I are done here. Let's go," Rei was equally as nervous, as she edged slowly towards the now open door.

"I'm sorry, it's not your fault, at all, really. It's just been," Quatre paused, his thumb and index finger stretched over his eyes, "a very long day. You two can stay in here, if you'd like. I think I'll just take a walk."

Rei and Aendmon both edged out of the man's way as he closed the door behind him.

"You wanted to talk to me then?" Rei was calmer now, her anger having been cowed into submission by Quatre's outburst. It was true that he and she had barely spoken two words after the affectionate hug-and-kiss she had received in the streets a few days ago.

"There are several things I'm concerned about. The first is that scar."

Rei rolled her eyes; leave it to a man to be hung up on one stupid superficial mark.

"I got in a fight. I hardly see how that's important," she eventually replied, her tone clearly implying that it was one subject she was not going to discuss.

"Ok, then, I also heard you almost broke Wufei's jaw. With your bare hands."

"I lost my temper."

"Raia, usually when you lose your temper, you scream or stick your tongue out. I have a hard time believing that intending to maim someone has become general practice for you. Speaking of which, Serenity tells me that you met Hiiro because you were being paid to kill him."

"Well, obviously, I wasn't really being paid to kill him, I was being sent to be killed so Usagi would be vulnerable."

"Assassin is hardly an appropriate job for a princess of –"

"Oh, give it up, Mamoru! This is not your world. It's a little more violent than the one you come from. I did what I had to, ok? To save your precious princess! Because, god knows, Usagi was about as helpful as a rock!"

"I'm sure you could've found some other way."

"It was assassin or prostitute, Aendmon. Now you tell me, which would you rather your 'little sister' do, kill people for money, or sleep with them? I know I was a bit out of line with Wufei, but I will not apologize for anything I had to do to keep Serenity alive."

For a moment they faced each other, the room incredibly silent. But after spending years as Raia's brother, playmate, and eventually friend, Aendmon assumed that although Raia and Rei were two different people, he would most likely have to back down.

"I'm sorry. It isn't easy, you know. You and Usagi are supposedly Raia and Sorenna, but you're not exactly the same. Yet not different enough to really matter. Then there's Mina, who is the same girl I've ever known, but now is farther from me than any of you."

"Mina, eh? She's been following Wufei around."

"The loud one? Why?"

"Don't ask me. I don't analyze, just observe. I had cornered her when…"

At this remembrance Rei smiled and blushed a bit at their girlish response to the sound of the stranger's voice, but immediately frowned when reminded of the awkward confrontation that had occurred soon afterward.

"Anyway, about this Hiiro…"

"Add him to the list of things I won't talk to you about."

"I was just going to see that he did seem like the type of man you would like…"

Rei merely narrowed her eyes at him, sticking out her tongue in the process.

"Well, Aendmon, if for nothing more than to shut you up, I'm going to tell you this. In my universe, you and I were not related, and we once went on a date, which is a courtship ritual."

She smiled and sauntered out the door, leaving the poor man floundering in her wake, trying to get the thought completely out of his head.

A/N: Here you go. Awww, widdle Quatre-san is so cute when he's mad. What to look for in the next chapter? The surfacing of a new enemy, and a Hiiro/Rei confrontation. And lots of OOC-ness.

Just as a btw, I used to really hate Relena, but now I simply dislike her, but still kind of respect her, at least at the end of the series. Definitely not in the beginning. No respect there.