Gundam Wing: The Never Ending Waltz Between

War and Peace

Fandom: This is a Gundam Wing fan fiction

Disclaimer: I do not own this great show, Gundam Wing!

Ratings/Warnings: This is a NONYAOI fan fiction rated 'T' for teen. It will have some violence, slight sexual contents, and very mild profanity. Action/Adventure/Humor/Romance

Beta read by Chibi Rose Angel

Chapter 7

The crowd applauded as the Traveling Circus finished their show. After it was over, Trowa rested in the tent next to his favorite animal, the lion. It nuzzled against his back as Trowa smiled and said, "Hello to you too." Trowa turned around and placed his hand in the cage as the lion nuzzled against his hand. He turned around and thought to himself, "The circus has been really packed the last few weeks. Maybe people have been really bored and looking for other sources of entertainment."

Trowa and the lion were enjoying each other's company when suddenly the tent flap flew open and Catherine barged in. She was beaming as she said, "Trowa! What a great show tonight! I have a…"

The lion growled and lifted his head while staring at Catherine, stating that she was too loud. Apologetically, she placed her hand behind her head and said, "Woops sorry. I must have been too loud." Smiling, she sat next to Trowa and said, "Well anyways, Trowa you have some mail."

Surprised, Trowa raised his one visible eyebrow and repeated, "Mail?"

"I know." Catherine beamed. "You never get mail." She placed the envelope in his hand and said, "Well, read it. See what's inside."

"Ok." Trowa said, calmly opening the envelope. He looked up at Catherine through his bangs as she sat down next to him. She was more excited than he was.

Finally, he opened the envelope. It was a letter from Quatre. It said:

Hello friend Trowa!

I haven't heard or talked to you in ages. How are you doing? Fine I hope. I have a birthday coming up and I was wondering if you would like to attend the ball that I'm throwing. Also, I was wondering if you could stay for a week as well. I'm sending out invitations to Wufei and Duo too. Hopefully they can attend. If you like, you can invite Catherine. She is more than welcome to come. Write me a letter or leave me a video screen message stating whether you will be able to attend or not.

In the meantime, take care of yourself Trowa.

Sincerely, Quatre Raberba Winner

P.S. Tell Catherine hello for me!

Trowa looked at the two invitations that were in the envelope. They had Quatre's signature on them. They also stated where the ball would be and what time it would start. He looked up at Catherine who had a serious expression on her face. She usually got like that when the other Gundam Pilots were involved. It's not that she disliked them. It's just that when they were involved, usually trouble was too. But things are different now. There is peace in the world and colonies. So everything should be ok. Trowa placed his hand on top of Catherine's and said, "Catherine, times have changed now. Everything is ok. Nothing will happen if we get together again."

"So I guess that means that you're going." She said crossing her legs and staring down at her shoes.

Sighing, Trowa said, "Well I plan on it. Of course it's all up to the ringmaster."

Catherine placed her hands in her lap and said, "Well the tour just ended for this season. And we have nothing planned for a while, so I'm sure he'll let you go."

"Perhaps." Trowa said while looking at her. "Catherine, you know Quatre invited you too. He said you are more than welcome to attend. Why don't you come with me?"

A slight smile appeared on her lips as she said, "I know. That was sweet of him, but well…..I can't go."

"Why not?" Trowa asked, confused by her answer.

"Because, I…." She began looking away, "I'm not good enough to be around those people."

"Catherine, what are you talking about?" asked an alarmed Trowa.

"They will just look down on me."

Confused, Trowa turned around to face her and asked, "But how can they look down on you when they don't even know you?"

"They can easily look at my clothes and tell what social status I am."

"Catherine, I don't think you have to worry about…"

"OH TROWA! YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She blurted out. Tears streamed down her face as she said, "Trowa, all of my life people have looked down on me. Because of who I am. I just can't put myself in that position, I just…" She placed her face in her hands as she cried.

Trowa sympathetically placed his hand on her shoulder. He tilted her head up and said, "Hey, don't cry. There is nothing to worry about. No matter where you go, there will always be people who will look down on you. But that's because they are so dissatisfied with themselves, that they have to bring someone else down to lift themselves up." He wiped a tear away and said, "Catherine, you are very kind hearted and you really care about people. Don't let them get to you. Don't let anyone get to you. Or else they will control the way you live, because you will be so worried about what other people think. Be the strong Catherine that I know……and love."

Catherine was shocked as she looked up at Trowa. He'd never been so open about his feelings. She smiled and threw her arms around him, "Oh, I love you too Trowa. You're like the little brother I never had." She kissed him on the cheek. Then she stood up and began wiping her tears away. "You always know what to say to me to make me feel better. Well, if I plan on going to this party, I better go and try to pick out a dress. See you later Trowa, and thanks again."

Trowa just nodded his head and smiled as he watched Catherine leave. Over the years, they had grown extremely close. Now they were just as close as if they had known each other since birth. She was one of the few people that he actually opened up to.

He decided now would be a good time to go and ask the ringmaster if he could go. He knew the answer would be yes, so afterwards, he planned on what he would say to Quatre in the video screen message.

A great thud echoed across the training center, as Wufei flipped one of the trainees over his back. Grinning he said, "You've gotten much better in offense. But you still need to work on your defense. You should never let your guard down."

The trainee looked disappointed as Wufei helped him up. Wufei noticed this and said, "But still, you are one of my best students here."

The trainee brightened up and said, "Thank you Master Chang! You are the best." They both did the proper bow to end their training session and everyone applauded. You could hear mumbles and murmurs of students complementing Wufei and his teaching abilities.

"Wow! Master Chang is so awesome!"

"I know, right! One day I hope to be just as great a fighter and Preventer as him."

"Yeah, me too!"

Wufei walked passed the students as they all smiled and looked up to him with big eyes. He grinned slightly and picked up his towel. He wiped his face and threw the towel over his shoulder as he began heading for the exit. He saw Sally waiting there for him. She had a huge smile on her face. She was very proud of Wufei and what he was doing.

Once he approached her she said, "Good job Wufei! Your students are getting better each day."

Wufei nodded his head in agreement and said, "Yes they are."

As he and Sally walked down the hallway, he noticed the changes they'd been going through. Since he was now 21, he was much taller than she was. He remembered when he would have to look up at her when they talked, but now she was the one looking up at him. And since they were ranked similarly, thanks to Lady Une, there was another big change in their relationship. Not only does he go out on missions but he was now responsible for training the students in various areas such as martial arts, self defense and weapons. But still when Wufei's temper arose, she could still put him back in his place. As they continued to walk, he also noticed how much more beautiful she's become. But he put those thoughts aside as he said, "What are you doing here?"

Pouting, she said, "Can a woman just check on her favorite Preventer?"

Blushing and looking away, Wufei changed the subject, "So what really brings you here?"

"Well, I just haven't seen you in a few days. And so I wanted to stop by and see how you are doing."

"Well I'm doing just fine." Wufei said while stopping in front of his mail locker to see if he had any mail.

"Well I can see that." Sally said rolling her eyes, "I was just wondering if you wanted to go and get lunch or something."

"Hmm." Wufei said sorting through his mail. He saw that he did have some and so he grabbed it. "Well I am rather hungry."

"Good. So can we go and grab some lunch?" Sally asked, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Wufei looked at her, and gave in. He couldn't say no to that. "Sure." He said, and headed towards his room. "Give me about 10 minutes to freshen up and I will meet you at the cafeteria."

"Ok." She said smiling, "And don't be late!"

"Alright." He said while heading into his room.

Once he was in his room, he took a shower. When he was finished, he came out of the bathroom with his towel around his waist. He opened a window to let out some steam and a gust of wind blew in. It blew one of his letters on the floor. Wufei, being a neat freak, picked it up and saw that his name was written on the envelope in a foreign style of writing. Only one person he knew would do that and it would be Quatre.

He sat down on the bed and opened the envelope. Sure enough, it was a letter from Quatre. He was inviting him to a ball and even asked if he could stay another week. Wufei had to check his schedule, but he was sure that he could attend an old friend's birthday ball. He had to think about the week vacation though. He didn't want anything to interfere with his work.

So he got up and checked his monthly planner. Nothing was going on in that week span, so he figured he could take that week off. After he got dressed, he pulled out his laptop and left a video message for Quatre.

"Hello Quatre. It's me Chang Wufei. I just received your invitation to the ball and I would be more than happy to attend. I can also take off for that week vacation you planned for us. Well, I will see you soon Quatre and thank you for inviting me. I'm looking forward to it all. Goodbye."

That was Wufei for you. Short, sweet, and to the point. After he closed up his laptop and put it in its designated spot, he looked down at the watch on his wrist. It had been 15 minutes. He was going to be late. "I'm sure that woman will never let me live this down." He muttered under his breath as he headed out to the cafeteria.

Breakfast the next morning was surprisingly pleasant. Hilde must have yelled out everything she had to at Duo last night. In the middle of his research, Heero could hear Hilde's anger and Duo trying to run away from her. After about an hour, everything calmed down and they talked the situation out. Duo informed him that they came up with a solution. Hilde would help him find a new job. In the meantime, he would have to search really hard for extra parts in his back yard that he could sell of for cash.

Duo told Hilde about the ball and she was very excited since she could go. She talked about how she had to go shopping to find the perfect dress and how she had to find Duo and Heero the perfect suit.

Duo, in mid bite said, "Oh, don't worry about us. I'm sure Quatre will have something we can wear."

"Duo!" Hilde gasped and frowned at him, "Don't be such a moocher and assume that Quatre will have a suit ready for you."

"Hey!" Duo said defending himself, "Quatre won't mind. Besides, the guy's loaded anyway. He's got to spend his fortune before he croaks you know."

"Oh my God, I can't believe what I'm hearing." Hilde said.

Those two bickered on, when Heero finally said, "I'm leaving tonight."

Everything went dead silent. Duo and Hilde both stared at Heero. Already they had both gotten used to Heero's company and were going to miss his presence.

"Oh." Was all Hilde said as she stared back down at her plate.

"But how are you going to get the invitations and the letter from Quatre!" Duo shouted.

"Yeah." Hilde began, "If you're going traveling again, then how is the letter going to reach you."

"Yeah!" Duo repeated.

Heero calmly looked at the two of them and said, "We have exactly one month before the vacation starts. So I will return in one month."

"So basically," Duo began, "You are going to leave here, do whatever it is you have to do, and come back the day before we leave And in that day, you can get your invitation and all of that."

Heero nodded as he continued eating his breakfast.

"Wow." Was all Duo had to say to that.

That night, after Heero had finished packing with his new traveling pack, he was set and ready to go. He was wearing his new pair of jeans, one of his white tank tops, his new boots, and his brown coat.

Hilde looked up at Heero, smiled and said, "Well it was great to have you here with us for this short amount of time. I really enjoyed your company."

Heero looked down at her and nodded his head, "Thank you for having me."

Hilde smiled and then looked over at Duo. He was surprisingly very serious as he looked at Heero. "You are really coming back in one month, right Heero?"

"Of course." Heero said, "I already promised Quatre I would come."

Frowning, Duo said, "Well I'm going to hold you to that promise buddy. And in one month, I'm going to be waiting here for you all day. So there better be no excuse for you not to show up. You got that!" He ended pointing his finger at Heero.

Heero nodded his head. He looked at Duo and Hilde and said, "Goodbye." Then he turned around and walked out the door.

Duo and Hilde watched as Heero disappeared yet again. After he was out of eyesight, Duo looked down at her and smiled saying, "Well it's just you and me now kiddo."

"Yeah." She said snuggling against him. "It is."

Everything was silent for a moment when Hilde said, "You know, I'm really going to miss that guy."

Duo squeezed her close as he said, "Me too babe. Me too."

Author's Notes: Wow, finally some other Gundam characters besides Heero, Duo and Hilde. Yeah, so I think after almost 7 years of being with Catherine they would be really close and he would be very open with her. As I said in my earlier Author Notes, I think Trowa would go through some changes like the ones that Heero are going through. He would be more open ( to selected people), and I think he would actually smile from time to time.

I'm working on Chapter 8 now, so it should be uploaded very soon. Thanks guys.

Chao!