Disclaimer: I still don't own GundamW...

Chapter 6:
Keeping Your Enemies Even Closer

Quatre sat idly in the middle of the room, looking out to his right at the beautiful garden through the wide open shoji doors. The early morning air was crisp, filling the large room with the wonderful sent of moist earth. He watched as a few ripples quickly spread across the top of the small pond located directly in front of him, in the middle of the garden. The koi had claimed another unfortunate insect for breakfast.

The young man rose from his place and slowly made his way to the delicate doors. He stood leaning against one of the frames, his eyes dancing from one end of the garden to the other. A cool wind blew across the enclosure causing Quatre to tug at his haori. It was made of the finest silk the land could offer. It's rich, deep purple color contrasted his pale skin and clear eyes fiercely. The hakama and gii he was wearing were also made of the most extravagant materials, second only to that of the Emperor.

"What are you thinking?" a small voice fluttered to his ears.

Quatre turned to the source of the familiar, and ever annoying growing voice of Mariemaia. Again, she was outfitted in many layers of new kimono, behind her two young ladies-in-waiting. Ever since their arrival at the Imperial Palace, she had never worn the same lavish kimono twice. Every day, almost as if by magic, the young girl was covered with layer upon layer of brand new cloths. In Quatre's mind, she looked more like an overstuffed animal then some form of high royalty or goddess. It was strange to him that anyone need more then two layers of clothing to show their status. But who was he to say anything? He had seen many, far stranger customs throughout his life. If this was the way these people lived then there was nothing he could do about it. At least he didn't look like that.

"You do realize that we do have to return to our time and place, don't you?" he questioned her switching to English. He didn't want the servants or anyone else who might be listening to this conversation to understand.

"You're such a bore," the young girl responded switching languages just as easily. "Besides, don't you find it much more appealing here? Here were we live like gods? Where we are gods to these people!"

"Not really."

"Quatre, Quatre, Quatre..." the young girl strolled up to him, "why would you want to go back home? You're a god here! You can have whatever you want! And best of all, you don't have to worry about bankruptcy, ending up in the poor house, or even doing some stupid charity to save your family name from disgrace for the rest of eternity!"

"Bankruptcy?" Quatre raised an eyebrow, "saving your family name? Aren't you a little too young to even be thinking of things like that?"

"I lost practically everything because of you and all the other Gundam pilots. Because of you my father is dead, you robbed me of my title as Ruler of both earth and colonies in A.C. 195 and then again during Christmas A.C. 196. I got shoot because Relena was acting so stupid. Lost my grandfather, my only family, and whose murderer never received any criminal sentence at all! Nearly died of blood loss, lost some function of my right lung, and have an unsightly scar over my right breast. By the way, thank you for such a wonderful holiday memory!" Mariemaia batted her eyes and smiled angelically at Quarter before frowning and looking out the door in disgust. "You have no idea how hard it's been not living the life you were raised in. So you should be glad that I'm even offering you anything now. You should be glad you're still alive!"

"Mariemaia, please just stop. I don't want to deal with this anymore!"

The young girl's features twisted and the tender smile that had been on her lips only moments earlier turned into a frown. Her eyes narrowed. "Leave us," she spoke to the ladies-in-waiting. The two ladies-in-waiting whom followed the young girl everywhere bowed as low as they could as they glided backwards from whence they came.

"Oh, great..." Quatre muttered under his breath looking out onto the pond again.

"You know what?" Mariemaia began.

Quatre could already hear the nagging in his head as he continued to ignore the small girl. He had argued with her in private nearly every day and was well aware of how the she wanted to remain in this land where she had absolute power over everything. What was it about world domination and absolute power that everyone was so fond of? Hadn't history taught people over the ages that in the end, no matter how powerful and how much one controlled, it would all eventually disappear once you died? Or someone else would yearn for that prize you worked so hard to obtain and eventually wage some sort of a stupid and lengthy war to take it away from you. Or you would get backstabbed by your own administrators, like in ancient Roman times. And there was always a slim chance that-

Quatre stopped thinking for a moment and looked down at the girl again. She hadn't been talking to him in her usual manner. Quite frankly, she hadn't even said a single word yet. A puzzled look crossed his face as her small eyes analyzed him.

"What?" he finally questioned.

"Ohh, nothing," she brought her heavily draped hand to her face as she turned to look at the garden.

Quatre's aqua eyes continued to study the girl.

"Well," she began, "there really is nothing we can do about it." She giggled.

"About..?"

"Well," she turned to look at him again. "For one thing, we have no idea how we got here... so, we have no idea on how to get back to 'our time and place.'" Quatre could feel his arms grow limp. She was right. "And if we can't get back to our time and place, then, there's no point in even trying, especially since we don't even know how we got here to begin with."

Silence fell upon the two on the veranda. Mariemaia's sly smile returned to her thin lips. Quatre was about to protest when the young girl began speaking again. "I'll make you a deal. If you can find a way back to our home and time, I'll gladly go. But until then, I guess I'll become the ruler of this place." Her smile widened as she turned to leave to her apartment in the palace.

Quatre watched silently as she disappeared behind a lavishly decorated shoji door at the end of the engawa. The two doors silently slid close, leaving the young Arab man alone in his apartment once more. A rippling sound coming from the pond caught his attention. He turned to watch a few koi fish fight for yet another bug on the surface of the water.

"Dammit!"

###

Mariemaia paced around her chamber. The decorations in her short red hair bouncing every time she jerked her head in the direction of the low table near the center of her room. On it lay an uncompleted map of the land. Her mind easily filled in the missing parts of the map as she recalled it from her geography class.

She strolled up to table and glance at the map once more. If she could move her forces to the east and invade the Kanto region of the small country and successfully conquer it, her name would go down in history! Not only that, but she would become the fist person in Japan's history to take control of what would later become the capitol of the nation. She could play a huge role in the development of the country! It was settled. As soon as her authority was even slightly greater then that of the Emperor, she would waste no time in disposing of him and declaring herself absolute ruler of the Japan. After all, she is the Goddess Mariemaia.

Mariemaia looked up as a faint knock drifted across the chamber.

"Mariemaia, I need to talk to you," Quatre's voice drifted in.

The young girl's features scrunched up as she made a face. What could he possibly want now? "Come in."

A stream of late afternoon sunlight poured into the room as Quatre entered. He quietly closed the door behind him and glanced over at the young girl before looking down. He hesitated as he made his way to the center of the room where Mariemaia stood overlooking the map. As he came to the side of the table he did something unexpected. He knelt down before the small girl and began speaking in an almost inaudible voice.

"I'm sorry Mariemaia." The words caught her off guard. "I want to go back home so badly that I overlooked the fact that we don't know how to get home. You are right. We might never find a way back to our home. I still don't believe that making ourselves rulers of this land will do us, or anyone else, any good. But, if we are to stay here our first priority is to find a means of living and a place to live. And that's what you did without knowing it. You gave us a home and a secure station in life, in a world were we would probably die in the blink of an eye. I'm sorry for being so rude and ungrateful." Quatre looked up, his light eyes locked onto the young girl. A sadden, almost desperate, expression crossed his face. "I don't agree with what you are doing, but I will protect you any way I can. I really am in your debt. Most importantly, I'm sorry for the way I've treated you recently." He lowered his head once more. "I'm sorry..." his voice trailed off.

Mariemaia stood stunned for a moment. Her mind buzzed still racing to take everything that was said to her. He was sorry. But, for what? Soon, she began to feel sorry for the young man kneeling before her. She had raised her voice at him many times within the last few weeks before others, belittling and publicly humiliating him. Yet, he could not say a single word about it. He had to obey her, remaining silent all the while. How much anger and pain could he be holding in? She felt a sinking feeling grow in her stomach. Worst of all she had constantly used him, making him abide to her every whim. Again, he had to obey her in every way. He had no say in the matter. He was, after all, a demi-god. And as she had put it before, her servant.

The young girl opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted before any word could leave her lips. "I really do owe you. You saved us both from death and for that I am grateful." With that, Quatre got up and made his way back to the door. He turned to look at the young girl before leaving. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Mariemaia. And truly, thank you."

With that he left the chamber, leaving Mariemaia with his thoughts. The small girl felt a ping of guilt wash over her. "I'm the one that should be sorry..." she said.

###

A smile curved Quatre's lips as he heard Mariemaia's soft words through the paper thin door. He pulled away from the shoji door as quietly as he could. He had accomplished what he had set out to do. He thanked God for blessing him with so many sisters.

A/N: I'm really awful at trying to keep up with updating this. It seems like I can't promise to try and keep this up. Anywho, here's to all whom still read and actually enjoy this. ENJOY!