DISCLAIMER: I do not own Vandread or any of the Gundam series, but you already know the rest of what I do own, now don't ya?

CONFESSION

After the battle on Anpathos, Taiho continued his training with Hibiki on mastering their Ki, along with mastering the ways of the School of the Undefeated of the East. But unlike Hibiki, Taiho has been having trouble with his training. The reason being was that his thoughts were now focusing on a certain blue haired woman. He just couldn't get her off his mind after all the close encounters and contact after the battle on Anpathos. Even when he is allowed to actually sleep, he gets dreams of both of them being with each other. (Not in the perverted way…okay, maybe one or two of them were, but he's a dude, what can ya do?)

Unbeknownst to him, Meia was also having trouble with her work, because she too was having the same train of thought as he did. She just wanted to feel the close warmth around her body just like when they were in the Wing Zero, which Taiho dubbed as the new combination for when they get their machines combined. It wasn't helping that she too were having the same type of dreams he was having of her; it was as if they were both connected by some unknown force (COUGHmeCOUGH) and it was starting to affect their daily routines.

Taiho was now going through his katas to keep his mentality in check,' I wonder if I could use the Hyper mode like the fighters off of G Gundam do,' he thought as he went through his kata,' if I could, it would help against the Dark Gundam. I think I should make it a priority to obtain my true serene state of mind, but I need something to trigger it. The only problem is what would be the source of my true serene state of mind,' he thought, but made a misstep as a image of Meia flashed in his mind,' uuhh, man, this is tearing me apart,' he groaned as he stopped his kata.

"Got a lot on your mind sensei?" Hibiki asked as he saw the look of distraction on his sensei's face,' he hasn't been really focused since Anpathos, what could be distracting him,' he thought as he looked at Taiho.

"You could say that," Taiho said simply as he took a big breath to try and get the images out of his head. Not that he didn't like them, they were just distracting when he doing something important or something that would benefit him in the near future," why don't we stop for the day, okay?" he said as he went to go clean himself up.

"Sure, besides, their seems to be something about a holiday going on tomorrow, I just don't know what it is," Hibiki said as he walked off to clean himself up in the showers.

"Hm?" Taiho then checked his watch to see what the date was,' oh, I see,' he thought as he found out the next day was Christmas Eve,' I wonder if I should get Meia something,' he thought as he tried to think up of something.

He kept on thinking on what he should get his leader and the woman he fell in love with. These thoughts continued on through the rest of the day and the night he slept. When he woke up the next day, he still hadn't thought of what he could give to her. There were many things he could give her, but he felt none of them would amount to what he felt for her,' man, and I thought my love life was dead after Patricia. I've been out of the game for too long,' Taiho thought with a sad chuckle.

He continued in his thoughts as he went to the bridge to see what everyone was doing. When he got there, he froze in place,' I've seen on the show, but seeing it in person kind scares me,' Taiho thought as a he looked at old lady Magno in a Santa costume that should be for males. He felt a shiver go down his spine as everyone was saying she was making a good Santa,' they don't know how wrong they are.'

He looked over to where the old lady usually sat and saw Meia with a small smile on her face as she looked at the scene. Taiho just seemed to stare at her for a minute or two until she turned her head to look at him. Once they look at each other, a small blush came up on both of their faces and they both quickly avert their eyes away from each other.

Taiho quickly thinks of something and walks up to her," h-hey Meia," he says with a little nervousness in his voice. She acknowledges him with a small nod," umm, I was wondering, you aren't busy later on tonight, are ya?"

Seemingly trying to think of what to answer, she shook her head," no, I'm not, why?" she asked curiously.

Trying his best to be his usual mood, he gave a little smirk," now where would be the surprise be in that if I told you, Meia?" he then gestured his hand down below in the garden," meet down by the stream, between midnight and one O'clock, okay?"

Seeing no harm in meeting him, she nods," sure, I'll be there, but you should know I keep myself busy," she said, hoping not to ruin whatever plans he had for the meeting.

"I know, that's why I said between those times," he said as he turned his back to them," I'll see ya later Meia," he said as he went up to the group of men that were hanging out to see what the women were doing, while Meia herself went to get some things done on the ship.

"What's all the commotion about?" he heard Bart ask his fellow males, as they all look down to see what the women setting decorations for Christmas.

"It's because it's Christmas time. Women get like this every year around twenty-fourth of December, that's just the way it is," Pyoro answered as he looked at the activity down below. But then a thought struck him," you guys don't know what Christmas is, do you?" he saw them look at each other for a second, excluding Taiho of course because he had not made his presence known yet. When they shook their head, Pyoro face faulted," it's a festival for crying out loud, don't they have those on Tarak?" he asked as he looked at the men with a comically sad look.

"I don't about Taiho, but us guys from Tarak…" Bart said as he trailed off as he remembered the strange festivals that were more like rituals or something, but these things didn't fit what they were all seeing now," But the festivals we had were anything but enjoyable, were they guys?" he asked his fellow Taraks.

"Yo," Taiho said finally as he made his presence known to the group.

"Oh, hey sensei, do they have Christmas on your planet?" Hibiki asked as he was curious about this holiday.

"Yeah, they do. It's a time of giving and sharing gifts with one another. A holiday of spending that day with those you consider family, or with that special someone, or both," he said as he went over to see what they were looking at and whistled," man, these girls know how to get busy when it comes to decorating."

Just then the door to the bridge opened to show Dita," Ah-hah, there you are Mr. Alien," but seeing the redhead made Hibiki make a beeline out of there," huh? Hey, wait a sec, where you going?" she asked as she chased after the short man. They two Tarak men just look at them curiously.

Seemingly having enough of the look curious, he started to walk forward," well, come on, we don't want to be left behind," Taiho said over his shoulder, which made the two snap out of their thoughts and follow the Gundam pilot.

When they get to a storage room, Hibiki starts to complain," Man, just what do you want me to do in here anyway?"

"Help find the lights to put up on the Christmas tree," Pyoro answered as he started to rummage through some boxes.

Dita seemed to look at the room curiously," I didn't know about his room," she said as she truly didn't feel familiar with this room.

They all then hear a crash happen and see that Hibiki seemed to have fallen through a week wall," ow," he said as he rubbed his head of the pain it had on it.

They all go into the new room that was opened because of Hibiki's clumsy mistake," wow," Dita said as she looked at all the old item in the room. (Which for us, our present time items)

"What is this stuff?" Hibiki asked as he looked at all the old junk in the room.

Duero then ran a finger across a very dusty table," hmm, it would appear these are items from the colonization era," he said as he looked at the various items throughout out the room.

"The colonization era?" Hibiki parroted as he looked to the doctor.

"Yeah," he said simply.

"Hey, look at this," they all then look to see Dita pull out a DVD box," this looks kind of weird doesn't it?"

"Here, give that to me," Taiho said as Dita gave the DVD box to him, he then looked around the room for a certain item," ah-hah," he said as he went up to a DVD player," Pyoro, make a connection to this and give it some power."

"Aye, sir," Pyoro said as he pulled out his wires and made the necessary connection," done."

"Alright, if this is what I think it is, you may get a look what my planet is like," he said to them as he turned the DVD player on. This made them cock their head in confusion, but just shrugged, they would find out what he meant by that in a moment.

When all the video screens on the ship came on, everyone's attention was diverted to the screen to see what was going on. At first they see a fireplace, but the camera moves to a mother, a daughter and a baby within the mother's arms. This didn't surprise them, but what did surprise was the man coming in and giving his daughter a hug and put his arm around the mother.

Most were shocked to see this, with the exception of those who knew Taiho personally. Various thoughts were about when everyone saw this as they all continued to watch the family go on about their Christmas Eve.

'So that's how men and women looked like when they with each other, if Taiho hadn't told me about that, I would have thought this whole thing was just some prank,' Barnette thought as she looked at the family on the video,' somehow, it just seems right,' she then got a little smile on her face.

'I remember Taiho had gotten a silver cross for his Christmas,' Meia thought as she remembered receiving some of Taiho's memories when they were both in her mindscape,' I wonder how it would feel to be like that,' she thought as she looked at the married couple before her in the video. But then she caught herself and blushed,' what am I thinking?'

"Amazing, amazing, amazing," Dita said as she looked at the family enjoying their Christmas. But Taiho didn't hear anything else as he went back to looking around the old storage room.

'Please, let there be a game system with some good games somewhere in here,' he thought as he started to rummage through the boxes,' huh? Ah, hell ya, jackpot,' he thought happily as he found a PS3 with some PS3 and PS2 games, but then he noticed some music CDs that were with it. He then started to look through some of the CDs, some of them he really liked and some he just didn't care about. One did catch his eye though. He picked it up and looked at it for a second and finally made a decision on what he should give Meia as a present," I hope she likes what I'm going to give her?" he said quietly with a warm look on his face.

He then noticed that the others were just now leaving, so he got up and followed his fellow males to the doctors working area to process what they saw. When they got there, Duero took his usual seat, Bart took an extra chair and sat in front of the doctor, Hibiki sat cross legged in front of the two, and Taiho just leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You weren't kidding about men and women living together like that Taiho, remind me not to doubt you again," Bart said as he leaned back in his chair as he felt a headache coming. The doctor seemed to have felt his pain and gave him some aspirin, which the blond thankfully took.

"Yeah, well that was just one of your typical family Christmas. You should see the ones that have at least two or more cultures in it, it is utter chaos, but it's always fun though," Taiho said as he remembered the way his mom and dad tried to put all their traditional food up for Christmas, to say the least, they had leftovers for at least half a year. But he was taken out of memory lane as the ship shook.

They all stood up, ready to go to their stations if the enemy was attacking," what he hell's going on?" Hibiki asked, as he was broke out from his thoughts.

"False alarm crew, no enemies are attacking," BC's voice said over the intercoms on the ship, which made everyone relax, as they didn't want this Christmas to be messed up because their enemies couldn't wait to kill them.

After that, everyone in the room went about their duties, Duero started to check up on everyone's medical files, Bart was piloting the Nirvana safely through space, but Hibiki was just looking at the various activity going on around him. Taiho though was busy setting up his meeting with Meia,' I hope this works. It's just about the only kind of present I could think of at the moment.'

Once he was done, he checked if everything was in place and in working order. Just as he was about to finish, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He looked and saw Bart giving him a little bit of a pleading look," uh, Taiho, could help me out? I need some help on finding a gift for Jura?"

A bit taken back by this, he thought that the relationship wouldn't have made him want to do that, but he did point him in the right direction a straight male should go for. Taiho then put on a thoughtful look," hmm, how about you get her a ring, preferably, a gold ring with a nice design she'll thinks is 'elegant'," he said as he emphasized the word Jura usually uses.

"Hmm, like this," he asked as he pulled a gold ring with rose designs and a green jade in the middle of it.

"Well, I thinks this qualifies," Taiho said in a sarcastic that made the blond scratch his head a bit in nervousness," but where did you find this, I know there aren't any items like this on Tarak, and that the old room we were in didn't have anything like this?"

"Well, that's just it, it used to belong to an old friend of mine on Tarak. He gave it to me before he passed away, but I'd like to give that to her. Does that sound okay?" he asked, wondering if giving such a thing would be wrong.

"No, it's a good item. But even if it wasn't a good item, I think Jura would understand that it was the thought that counted," Taiho said with a smile on his face.

"Thanks Taiho, you don't know how much you've helped me," Barts said as he got up and left the Gundam pilot to his own devices.

In a hallway, Meia was making her way to the hangar,' I wonder what Taiho is wanting to talk about with me at our meeting,' she then started to ponder on what he could be thinking at the moment, she then stopped for second,' is he going to…no, he wouldn't, would he?' she thought as she went back to walking towards the hangar door with a small blush on her face. She then walks up to an elevator that starts to lift her up to her Dread.

"Hey Meia, aren't you going to the parade?" Meia heard, she looked down to see Gascogne trying to fit a new chair into Dita's Dread.

"At times like these, someone has got to be on guard. I'm going to survey the vicinity," she answered with a straight face on,' and also to clear my mind of these thoughts of Taiho for minute,' she thought as she hid a blush from Gascogne. She then took off. (Just so you guys know, the same things happen to her and Hibiki when they go into the comet, so I won't go into detail about it)

From his position, Taiho sees the flashes of light coming from the comet,' looks like Hibikia and Meia are taking care of the Harvester that was hiding in the comet,' Taiho just shrugged, he knew they didn't need help, so he just continued to make sure what he was setting up will go well with his meeting with Meia.

Seeing as everything was set and ready to go, Taiho got up and walked around the ship for a few minutes, until he came upon the doctors working area. When he looked in the room, he saw Bart and Duero were discussing something," hey guys, what's happening?"

"Oh, doc here is just having a problem with trying to find out what gift he should give to Parfet," Bart answered, but then looked thoughtful for a minute before he turned to his fellow Tarak male," hey, maybe you can ask Taiho what you should give Parfet, he helped me out."

"I just don't know what to do," Duero said as he turned to the Gundam pilot," got any advice?" he asks simply.

"Hmm, why don't you paint her something, something that she likes, but is combined with your own idea," Taiho suggested, as he tried his best to describe in his own way what the doctor made for Parfet in the series,' hopefully, he got the message.'

He was answered as the doctor took a glance at the canvas that were in the were room," maybe…" he trailed off as he got up and picked some painting equipment. From the looks of it, he was trying to make snow.

Taiho quickly got out of the room and went in search of Barnette, because he felt he should at least get her a present, seeing as how they both combine to make a Gundam and how she's been a real good person to him after being on the ship for so long.

It only took sometime before he saw her with Jura. He then took a quick glance at the corner and saw Bart with the ring in his hand,' I guess I could help you out, man,' he thought as he went up to the pair," yo, what's up you two?"

"Oh, hey sub-leader, how's it going?" Barnette asked with a lot of happiness in her voice,' I should be hating this guy, but I guess with someone like him, I can't really hate him that much at all really.'

"I was just wanting to give you something, but you have to come with me, ALONE," he said as he emphasized with the 'alone' part.

"Sure," she said as she took a bit of time to comply with his request," I'll see you around, okay Jura?" she said as she went to catch up with Taiho.

Jura just sighed, now what was she going to do. Without Barnette, things would only get dull. But unbeknownst to her, Bart was beginning to prepare to give her the ring he got for her as a gift.

"So, what is you wanted to give me?" Barnette asked as she was curious as to what she could receive from the Gundam pilot.

"Oh, you'll see and I know you'll love it," he said as he continued to walk ahead with her not being far behind. Once they get to his room, he motions her to follow him. Once they get inside his room, he walks over to an object covered in a brown cover," this is what I'm going to give you," he said as he quickly threw off the cover.

What she saw made her go wide eye and gasp," is that what I think it is?" she asked with a tone of utter happiness. She looked towards him and saw him nod," I can't believe it," she called out and ran over to pick up the object.

"Yup, I found it in another part of the ship that seemed to be abandoned. What you have in your arms is a mini-gun, or gatling gun if you prefer, anyhow it's not loaded, but the box beside it has all the ammunition made for it," he said as he saw her put a strap over her should and held the gun to test the weight on it.

"This is just too cool," she said as she put it back down, ran over to him, and gave him a big hug," thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you Taiho."

"You're very much welcome Barnette," he said as he gave her a warm smile," now, I have to go and meet Meia, I promised her that I would meet her at the garden," but before he left, he turned his head a bit to her," now be careful carrying that around, we don't want the crew going crazy just because you have a new toy to play with."

"I will, don't worry, now go and meet Meia," she said as she pushed him out and went to get her new present,' thank you Taiho, you seem to know what makes us happy and for that, I am thankful.'

As Taiho stepped into the garden, he saw that it was snowing,' good, this should make the what I have plan even better,' he thought as he looked up see Jura and Bart on one of the ledges that see that garden,' so you're putting on the moves are you Bart?' he thought as he saw him bring the ring into view and slip it onto Jura's finger. Jura, in a moment of happines, pounced him with a fierce hug. Even from that distance, Taiho could see that nervous, but really happy look on Barts face,' good job, now it's up to you two to make that relationship grows into something,' he thought as he went to where he was going to meet Meia.

Meia was now quickly trying to make her way to the garden. When she got there, she saw Taiho standing over by the stream," hey, I'm here, so what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, how about we dance a bit first," Taiho said as he turned to with a warm smile on his face.

"Why? There isn't even any music playing," she said as she looked at him oddly.

"Because I want to and as for the music…" he trailed off as he took out a controller and pressed a button. She then heard a piano being played from a stereo that was nearby. She then saw him extend his hand to her," will do me the honor of dancing with you?"

"Sure," she answered in a low tone with a light blush on her face. As they started to dance, the lyrics started to play. (Just so you guys know, it's Selena singing dreaming of you)

Late at night when all the world is sleeping
I'd stay up and think of you
And I'd wish on a star
That somewhere you are thinking of me too

Cuz I'm dreaming of you tonight
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Then here in my room,
Dreaming about you and me

At this moment, they didn't care if someone was watching them. They felt the music was singing what they felt and were content to continue dancing.

Wonder if you even see me
And I wonder if you know I'm there
If you looked in my eyes
Would you see what's inside?
Would you even care?

I just wanna hold you close
But so far, all I have are dreams of you
So, I wait for the day and the courage to say
How much I love you(Yes, I do)

That last line made Meia get out of her trance and look at him with a curious gaze. Her curious eyes met his warm eyes. She wanted to ask what he wanted to say to her, but his smile and warm eyes kept her mouth shut and continue to stare at him.

I'll be dreaming of you tonight
Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Then here in my room,
Dreaming about you and me

As the music turned to the singer saying things in Spanish, Taiho chose this moment to speak," I've wanted to talk to you, about you, about me…about us. I know that you feel the same way as I do, but if you don't, that's fine," he then took a bit of a breath," I…I…"

'What, what, WHAT,' she screamed out in her thoughts as the word she was secretly hoping for came out of his mouth right at that moment.

He then had enough and said," I love you."

Tears started well up in her eyes, but nonetheless she smiled and hugged him affectionetly," I…I love you too, I don't know how, or when it happened, but I don't care, I love you too Taiho," she said as she rest here head on his chest.

Late at night when all the world is sleeping
I'd stay up and think of you
And I still can't believe that you came up to me
And said, "I love you; I love you too"

Now I'm dreaming with you tonight
Till tomorrow, and for all of my life
And there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be
Then here in my room,
Dreaming with you endlessly...

They both then stopped dancing and looked at each with love in their eyes. For a moment, Taiho looked up and smirked, which confused her bit," guess what I found, look up," a little bit more confused, she did as he said and gave a bit of a giggle.

"I see, well it is tradition to kiss under a mistletoe," she said with a warm smile on her face. She saw him nod with his own warm smile.

They both looked at each other for a moment before they started to lean towards each others faces. They could feel the anticipation of feeling each others lips. This time, they'll do it, no matter what, they will. Even if someone were to see them, or if some emergency occurred, they'll do it. What felt an eternity for them, was only a second as they both of their lips met each other.

'Her lips are so soft, and they taste sweet,' Taiho thought as they both continued to passionately kiss her. This went on for a few minutes, until they both stopped to get some air. Once they did, they couldn't deny now what they felt for each other," you know, that wasn't the only present I had in mind for you."

"What else could you give me now?" she asked with a little smirk on her face.

"This," he said as he pulled out his silver chain and silver cross from under his shirt. He then took it off and put it on her.

"Taiho, your mother gave you this, I can't accept this," she protested, because she didn't want to take something so valuable and irreplaceable that was his.

"But I want you to have this. Look Meia, this is my decision and I want you to have my cross. Because where ever you are, I'll find you because you have that with you, no matter what, I'll find you," he said as he hugged her in a warm in embrace.

"Taiho…thank you," she said as she returned the hug. For a reason almost unknown to her, she felt her heart and spirit feel a whole lot lighter,' whatever it is, I won't let go of it, not ever,' she thought happily.

'I will always protect you Meia,' he thought as he continued to hug her under the falling snow.

"Pai-check," they both head as a sound of a camera flashes.

They both then look over to the bushes to see Paiway with a big smile on her face, which meant she was their the whole time. This piss the both of them off, because they wanted to be alone in this meeting, so they ran over to her to get her, but made a beeline out of their when she saw them coming for her," GET BACK HERE PAIWAY," they both yell out as they chased her.

"Na-na, can't get me," she said as she stuck her tongue at them,' I know it's not normal for me to say this, but I hope you two have a happy life with each other...always,' Paiway thought happily as the two gave chase to her.

A/N: well, that's CH.9, I hope I made this chapter good for you guys. If you want to know why I put the song on this, well, it seemed to be the only song that would fit the mood and situation, so I put it on there. As for those who think I'm making Barnette having much of the scenes in my fic, don't worry, in later chapters she will get a more active role if I have anything to say about it. It's just that now, she doesn't seem to have much of a role right now, now that the pairing is MeiaxOC. Well, if anything else, PM me, or post it on the reviews, ja ne.

ShadowDragonGX