ZT: Okay, last chapter before the party! I don't own Gundam Wing. Enjoy!

Review Responses:

Ruby-Jaganshi-2040- Well, you never know…you might just have to wait a few more chapters to see if that's true.By the way, what's your guess on Night Star?

Dark Devotions- Erm… actually, the guy's kinda an OC, it's something or someone else that Heero is reminded of when he sees this guy. I'm not giving away who or what and why for awhile… But I will say that this guy does play one BIG role in the story!

angelofdarkness38- Yeah, there is a lot going on… and it is kinda vague because I'm trying not to give anything away…

Calli Maxwell- All I'm gonna say is that one of your suspects IS Night Star!

Gundam gurl()- Well, you have to read and find out about the pairings. I thought I was spelling Relena wrong! Thanks for the heads up.Yeah, LAVA does act a lot like the g-boys, but they have their differences too. Give me your guesses on who Night Star is once you get up to this chapter. Or better yet, the NEXT one…

Fate Sucks

Chapter 19

It was really quite interesting. How could it be that someone so alert could not notice someone so close? Sure the shadows aided him in hiding, but still, she was a mere four feet away. Perhaps she had something to do… Yes, with that look, there was no doubt she was a woman with a mission. Probably to deal with one of those Gundam pilots who were always trying to interrogate her. Oh yes, he knew who they were. He knew what they wanted. Now it was a question of letting her say, or bringing it out into the open himself. As Sai disappeared from view, the man slipped from the shadows and went the opposite way. She didn't need to know he was here…not yet anyway.

Heero rubbed his temples as the big bold word "Denied" popped up on his laptop screen. He had been trying to crack the codes New Oz had protecting its information ever since they got back to the Sanc kingdom. However, it was much harder than he had expected. Everything he tried failed miserably. It was pushing him to the point of wanting to pull out his gun and blow out his computer screen.

But there were three things stopping him from doing that. 1) He was in the Sanc Kingdom and a gunshot could cause a countrywide panic. 2) He liked his laptop too much to destroy it over a stupid disk. And 3) His shooting arm still hurt like bloody hell thanks to that shoulder!

Heero internally winced. He hadn't exactly gotten around to taking care of the gunshot wound properly. All he did was quickly wrap it and be grateful that he decided to leave his dark jacket in his Gundam when he went into the base. The guys didn't even know he was injured. And it was going to stay that way. The guys had better things to worry about than his petty injury.

A knock at the door brought Heero out of his thoughts. He quickly tossed his jacket on, "Hn."

"At least you don't give the silent treatment while answering doors!" he heard Sai's voice say from the other side. What was she doing here? "Are you decent? 'Cause if not, here's your ten second warning!"

"Come in," he said, before returning to typing; it's not like she would talk about what she saw if he did happen to crack it while she was there. He heard the doorknob click as Sai opened the door. A second later, he heard another click of it shutting.

"Hey, Duo told me to come and give you social lessons," she said, walking up next to him.

"Hn," Heero grunted. Leave it to Duo to be worried that he doesn't talk enough. He glared at the computer screen as the codes rejected him again.

Sai looked at the big bold words, "Having difficulties?"

"Hn," he replied, trying again. The disk rejected him again.

"Need some help?" she offered.

"Hn," he grunted.

"Y'know, I'm fairly decent at hacking," she offered again.

"Hn."

"Hn?" Sai grunted.

"Hn."

"Mmhm," she replied

"Hn."

"Hm hm."

"What are you doing?" Heero finally asked.

"Ah ha! I got you to talk again!" Sai declared victoriously. She grinned impishly at the look on his face, "Hurt pride?"

"You could say that…" Heero grumbled, contemplating if problems one through three were worth blowing thecomputer up as it denied him...AGAIN!

Sai's blue eyes went from the computer to the young man, 'In more ways than one it seems…'

Heero must have sensed that she was staring at him, because suddenly his Prussian blue eyes were locked with her sapphire blue ones, "What?"

Sai folded her arms stubbornly, "You know exactly what!"

"I don't have times for your games, Moonblaze. Sit still and be quiet or leave. I have work to do," he growled, turning back to the computer.

Now it's one thing to ignore Sai when she's in a good mood. But if she knows something's up, and she has just stated that she knows something is up, do NOT brush her off! She grabbed the arm of his chair and swiveled it around so that Heero was facing her. She placed each hand firmly on both arms of the chair so that Heero couldn't turn away. Her angry face was a mere few inches from Heero's surprised face, "Don't play stupid with me Yuy. I've been around more than enough soldiers to know when they're hiding something. Particularly INJURIES!"

Heero tried to push the chair back, but Sai had a good grip on it. "It's just a flesh wound."

"Keyword: 'Wound'," she replied stubbornly. "You've been at this for how many years now? You should know that you need to treat your wound as soon as possible so that the wound will be fully healed for the next mission. If your opponents find a weak point, they will not hesitate to exploit it!"

"Why don't you go bother Duo? He has a bruise going straight across his shoulders," he growled.

Sai looked like she was about ready to growl back, maybe even bark and snarl. Instead, she shoved his chair straight over to the couch, "Lay there."

Heero did as he was told and leaned against the arm of the couch, not really knowing why but feeling quite stunned at her outburst. He watched as the blond put the computer chair back where it belonged and walked straight into his bathroom. She came out a few seconds later with a first aid kit. She set it on a coffee table near the couch and got on her knees between the couch and the table, "Jacket off."

Heero removed his jacket and Sai tossed it aside. She then began unwrapping his little makeshift of a bandage. Pulling some disinfectant from the kit and some cotton swabs, she checked the wound. "That went straight through," she stated the obvious, cleaning the wound on both sides, "I'm surprised you didn't let it slip in front of the guys…"

"I've been through worse," he replied, "I've had a lot of practice when it comes to hiding pain."

"Yeah, I guessed that," Sai sighed, "How long HAVE you been fighting, anyway? I mean I kinda know where the others' stories starts, but I never did get much on your past. You just seemed to always be there."

Heero thought for a moment, "To be honest, I'm not sure… Odin took me in when I was really young. I can't remember what age I was. I gave him a hand whenever I could."

Sai blinked, "'Odin'? You don't mean 'Odin Lowe', do you?"

"You know of him?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yeah, he was an old…acquaintance of my dad's. To be honest, it's kinda thanks to him that there is a Night Star at all. Him with that whole 'Do as your heart tells you' train of thought… it really influenced how Night Star AND I work."

Heero sighed, "If New Oz kills me, remind me to thank him for that."

"Oh that's a nice way to think! But really, knowing Odin, didn't he try to get you settled? Even though he was a mercenary, he still didn't like the idea of kids getting involved in the war…" Sai pulled out two patches and some new bandages and started applying them.

Heero smirked, "He tried. But he also taught me far too well how to be a killer. I didn't WANT to settle down."

"Odin died when you were just a little kid, right?" she inquired, paying attention to her task at hand.

"When I was eight," he admitted.

"Eight huh? Nice age to decide to throw your life away," she said.

Heero blinked at the comment. Throw his life away? "You're one to talk! You just said Odin influenced you! And you're no older than I am!"

"That's true. However, if I had an option other than being involved in the war at my disposal, I would have chose it…" she knew that the pilot was thoroughly confused by now, so she decided to explain, "See, my dad was one of the first and main undercover operatives Oz had. In fact, he was one of the men who helped plan Heero Yuy's assassination. He was really violent; the guy seriously just joined so that he could get away with murder. He often took his work home with him… he would get drunk and lash out in anger at my mother and myself. My brother was the only one spared, mainly because he was following in dad's footsteps. After awhile, my mother couldn't take it anymore and committed suicide, leaving me to fend for my little sister and myself. Dad gave us kids two options: join Oz or never be heard of again. If we tried to run away, he would track us down and- well you get the idea."

"What does Odin have to do with any of this?" Heero asked. Sai was finished with his shoulder, but he stayed where he was. To say the least, he was curious about Sai's connection with Odin and Oz.

"Well, Odin was an old comrade of my dad's. He would often come in to check up on us because he knew how much of a pinch the family was in with my father the way he was. He saw the signs of my mom wanting to commit suicide early on and knew my brother was all for my dad's views on things. So, he often came to me. He taught me different tricks to keep my sister and myself out of harm's way. He also drilled the 'do as your heart tells you' thing straight into my brain. Thanks to that, he opened up option three to me," her lip twitched a little at the thought.

Heero raised an eyebrow, "And that would be?"

She smirked, "I REALLY hated what my dad did, so Odin helped me get in touch with a mercenary who was working to thwart all of Oz's plans."

Heero put two and two together, "And that mercenary was Night Star."

Sai nodded, "Even if my dad HAD heard of my whereabouts, he didn't have the guts to fight Night Star for me. So, he left me alone. After awhile he messed with the wrong person and ended up getting himself killed."

He raised an eyebrow, "How do you know that?"

She shrugged, "Simple. He messed with Ness."

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