warning: Relena and Duo in a kind-of-compromising situation;)

„Mr. Maxwell, would you stop fiddling around with my sleeve!" Relena angrily slapped away my exploring hand.

"Sorry, Miss. There was… a bug."

We were sitting on the waterfront, watching the fishing boats bringing in their catch while the sun made its languorous descent into the sea. The scenery had great potential for romance, unfortunately the company was wrong.

"Will you go back to Europe soon," Relena asked pensively, casting a dreamy look at the dramatic sunset. Probably fantasizing about her fashionable life in London or Versailles.

"Well, that's… difficult to say. It depends on— lots of things."

"Like what?"

"Oh, things like the weather," I hedged, searching for a suitably evasive answer, "the sea conditions and… and our… relationship." Which really was nothing but the truth. Our departure was only delayed because I still hadn't managed to get a look at the coordinates tattooed on Relena's shoulder. And the week was almost over. By now I was resorting to increasingly pitiable schemes to catch a glimpse of the tattoo - like pretending to fend off bugs...

"I'm glad that you finally address this topic," Relena replied happily. "I've been thinking, Mr. Maxwell!"

"Oh no..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"I've noticed that you're not completely… indifferent to my person, which shows that you have excellent taste, by the way. More than I've first given you credit for." The girl was self-confident, you had to hand it to her.

"I guess, you could put it that way," I replied cautiously.

"Oh, I knew it," Relena cried, bubbling over with sudden enthusiasm, and eagerly grabbed my hands. "Then, you'll take me back with you to Europe?"

"Erm, Miss—"

"Oh, let's skip the formalities!"

Now it was my turn to slap away her hands. "Mi-iss Relena—"

"'Relena,'" she corrected and rather forcefully tried to embrace me.

"I-I have to insist—"

"Oh yes, please insist—"

Clutching at straws, I cried: "I-I really can't take you with me!"

"Because?"

"Because… because—"

"See? There's no reason not to!"

Good God, why didn't Heero have a shred of her pushiness? Here goes nothing... "I-I'm in love with someone else!"

"Doesn't matter."

"It doesn't?"

"I don't want to marry you either!"

"You don't?"

Suddenly, I was no longer sure who was taking advantage of whom in this relationship.

Relena calmed down a little and reluctantly released me. "Once I get to Europe I'll have my choice of men – dukes, counts, a king or two – I can't possibly settle for a pirate, Mr. Maxwell. But (and here her eyes glinted a little dangerously) we might have… a 'business arrangement.'" Well, the two siblings were obviously more alike than they imagined. Another business arrangement…

"What do you have in mind, Miss Relena?"

"You'll take me back with you to Europe, to the royal court of England or France or Spain - I don't care which – and in return…"

"In return," I said, boldly seizing the opportunity, "I get to see you naked."

Relena accepted my unusual request with admirable serenity ("That *all*? You could've gotten that for free."). Then again, she'd grown up in a pirate's nest and probably didn't expect subtlety. We agreed to meet again later that night and then quickly said our goodbyes. Now that we had dropped all pretence of mutual affection neither of us saw the need to behave any more amorously than we actually felt. Our ill-fated relationship had already transformed into a promising business partnership.

We were just about to part ways, only a few steps away from the makeshift hut that served Heero and me as a distillery, when we saw the door of said hut burst open and none other than Zechs rush out, looking distinctly put out and clutching a rather dishevelled bunch of flowers to his chest.

"You forgot your wallet," a voice – Heero's – called after him. Shortly after, a leather pouch flew through the open door and almost hit Zechs on the head.

"Still haven't given up," I asked dryly when he bent down to pick up his pouch.

„Well, I see you have," he drawled, casting a meaningful look at Relena, who was still standing right next to me.

"Ah, that's—"

"— exactly right! Mr. Maxwell happens to have excellent taste," Relena shot back and demonstratively grabbed my arm. I heaved an internal sigh, count on Relena to muddle things up. "*I*'ve never understood what everyone sees in my half-brother, really, I haven't. He's skinny and dirty and horribly dressed! I'm far more beautiful, and sociable to boot. Don't know why nobody notices these things..."

Zechs looked at us pensively. "I see."

There was something in his look that made me distinctly uncomfortable. Time to get out of here, I thought.

"Well, it sure has been nice talking to you both buuut I've got to get back to work!" Winking at Zechs, I added: "Don't want to keep Heero waiting."

Zechs grumbled something, but regained his composure fairly quickly. Flashing Relena a rather charming smile, he said: "In that case, why don't I take Miss Relena back to the Inn? It's on my way. How about it, Miss?" And when he went so far as to offer her his arm, she all but swooned and quickly released me to cling to Zechs instead.

"Goodbye, Mr. Maxwell. I'll see you later!"

"Yeah… later."

Heero was quiet for the remainder of the evening. I didn't know if he had overheard our brief conversation, but fervently hoped he didn't. No one likes to be insulted by family, even if said family consists of Relena. We worked till close to midnight. Heero seemed determined to work the whole night, but I still had to meet Relena to finally get those elusive coordinates. I didn't have the slightest idea how I'd explain the whole situation to Trowa, Quatre and Wufei, or if we should really take Relena with us, too. Our band of fellow adventurers seemed to be expanding daily. At that rate, I thought, our ship might actually get a little crowded once we'd finally set sail again. But there was no turning back now. I was determined to get the whole thing over and done with, once and for all.

Through excessive yawning and exaggerated clumsiness I finally brought Heero to call it a day. We left the distillery together, but halfway back to the Inn, I suddenly stopped and excused myself, claiming that I'd forgotten something and needed to go back to get it.

When I reached the distillery, Relena was already waiting for me...