30 Ways to Conquer Mars
#004 キミとボクのキョリとアノコ
A.C. 197, February 29, 15:49: 「Counting Teeth」
Gundam Wing © SOTSU AGENCY - SUNRISE - ANB
This is a work of derivative Fanfiction. No claims are made towards the ownership of intellectual rights pertaining to the metaseries.
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It was a simple matter to turn off elevator security in the Preventer building; it was one of Une's insistences. Sometimes one could almost forget that the proud, yet understanding, Lady Une is also Colonel Une, insidious right hand of the late Trieze Khushrenada.
"They've frozen all my assets," Noin reported with a calm that would drive most to a panicked exit.
"Take the Adler." Zechs suggested, in much the same tones. "My temporary key-codes are still active. How's the piggy-bank?"
Noin's mouth twitched. It could have been hearing him use the word 'piggy-bank', as much as anything else. Noin had always preferred 'super-secret stash fund'.
"No-one else knows of it," she replied, turning her laptop towards him, "but I wouldn't put it past Lady Une to find out."
He nodded, making mental note of the account balance on screen. He has never questioned the details regarding that sum. It was set up a long time ago and was what Noin dipped into to indulge his agendas and clean up after him; that was all he cared to know. The world needed some mysteries.
The laptop is snapped shut. The doors opened.
The hanger bay was unusually deserted, considering the time of day. "They're all upstairs, at Lady Une's debrief," Preventer Water said, standing in the afternoon light. Zechs hand went to his side-arm. Noin took a step towards her.
"Sally?"
"Don't worry, Noin, I'm just here to keep the pair of you from eloping." She replied, shaking the noble blonde braids that were the sign of her mixed heritage. "We all want to be there when the two of you are finally dragged to the altar."
"Why would we…?" "What makes you think…?"
Sally glanced from one to the other. "Aren't you?"
"No," Zechs frowned. A glimmer of amusement unfolded in Noin's eyes.
"But Relena's been planning your wedding since Christmas!"
"Noin?" Zechs turned to her, in case this was some manner of female conspiracy. She was just as bewildered as he was, although she seemed to be taking the news of their secret engagement in better humour.
Sally was still suspicious. "All this time you've known him and let him kick you out of your own bed, you weren't ever…?"
"Tell her what happened the one time you tried to kiss me, Lightning Count." Noin smiled.
"You put me in the infirmary missing an incisor and a molar, and my arm broken in three places." He remarked, clearly not as fond of the memory.
Under a sea of stars, the little boy in the silver helmet that hid his face from the world cupped the little girl's face in his hands, delicately but firmly, like how he was taught to hold a dove. He could feel her trembling, which was normal, according to all the books and all the other boys. Girls are expected to be nervous at this point, even when they're told not to be. It is considered polite. "Noin," he whispered, his own face barely an inch from hers. "Can I be your prince?" And he kissed her, so softly that he could not be sure if he really did, or if a girl's lips were truly so sweet and soft as they say.
The ringing blow she delivered across the underside of his exposed jaw and the salty-sweet taste overpowering the back of his throat was not described in any of the romance novels he had ever read.
"Two."
"Two breaks and a crack," he conceded, then added, "we were eleven."
"It was my first kiss!" She protested.
"It was still excessive force."
If he had not grabbed hold of her, he might have gotten away with it. But the pride of Zechs Me… Milliardo Peacecraft, would not allow him to receive such a slight. He caught the closest part of her and tugged, digging his eleven year-old fingers into her ankle. "Hey!" He tried to yell at her through mouthfuls of blood and teeth. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Let go of me!" The little girl cried, stomping on his arm and showering kicks on his shiny head with deadly precision. "My prince is like the Prince of the Stars, not a metal-plated idiot like you!"
"Sorry, Sally," Noin was genuinely apologetic as she ran towards the Adler, after Zechs. "Your bridesmaid dreams will have to wait for Relena to get Heero before the altar."
"This is her plan to get Heero," Sally sighed. "It was going to be a double-wedding."
Big brother winced, hiding his face behind the space cruiser. Noin chuckled and waved her one-time partner girlishly good-bye.
"Heero Yuy is a psychopath." He told Noin firmly, strapping himself into the pilot's seat. "I was quite explicit regarding your instructions to protect Relena in my stead."
"Your sister just tried to marry us off to each other. They are well-matched," she replied unsympathetically, hooking her laptop up to the Adler's secondary and co-pilot systems. "She thinks he is her 'Prince of the Stars'. The last time I spoke to her, she wanted to know how difficult it would be to make him a Grand Duke on one of the colonies."
"Do you think Une still wants us to go on the Mars mission?" He asked instead, eyes fixed on the nose of the craft, unsullied white against a clear, silvery-blue sky, to avoid meeting hers.
A bleep from her lap demanded her immediate attention. When Noin spoke again, she sounded completely unfazed.
"Judging by this latest transaction on the stash, I'd say yes, Zechs. She's just given us the Preventers' entire stand-by budget."
"She must really like you. Whatever have you been doing for that woman, Noin?" He leered, his first schoolboy expression in far too many years.
"We're not kids anymore, Zechs." She replied with all her adult airs. "This time, if you lose your teeth, you're stuck with dentures."
...