[NON CANON] Stories From Cassadia

"Your Highness, do please tell where are we going?" asked a raven-haired male dressed in a sharp black two-piece suit, on his coat, a badge hanging from his breast pocket, which had the Fire Phoenix, and a crimson red ring going around the coat of arms itself, below is inscribed the words in golden letters "Королевска Касадскай Гвардия".

Royal Cassadian Guard.

The young woman turned to look at the man whom she brought so enthusiastically into the woods, her deep blue eyes gleaming in the light of the full moon.

"Heero, you've asked me this over a hundred times already. It's somewhere special to me, and you won't be told why until we get there."

Heero sighed. He and Relena had been walking in this dark forest for nearly half an hour. He was surprised that Relena hadn't stopped walking.

Relena stopped suddenly, causing Heero to run into her.

He glared at the back of her skull. "Pardon me Your Highness, but do tell me when you're about to stop. I'd rather not be bumping into you every five minutes."

The blue-eyed young woman said nothing, but she pulled back some braches and gestured for Heero to go through. He eyed her and the area in front of them suspiciously, before making his way through the brush. He was surprised when he saw what Relena had wanted to show him.

They were now in a large clearing in the middle of the forest. You could look up and see the full moon and all the stars perfectly. The grass was long, thick, and dark green.

He whispered to himself, "Beautiful…"

Relena came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Me and my siblings with mom, used to frequent this spot, back when we were little. My mother used to take us here whenever she wanted to take our studies outdoors among nature. If it was not our studies, then she would find a way to bring us out here to spend time outdoors, to gaze at the stars....."Relena sighed miserably when mentioning it, nostalgia filling her voice." I miss her so much, it was a time when most of us were young and innocent and had not been stained by court politics or me having to run the country and having to take, before now and in the future decisions that can be at times, morally bankrupt, especially when it comes to foreign affairs"

Heero blinked but said nothing. He glanced up at the sky. "Don't pity yourself, Your Highness. How about we just watch the stars for now. Excuse me, if I assume that it has been a while since you've seen them so clearly like this."

She nodded in agreement. "As you wish, my loving Knight."

They both sat down in the grass next to each other and watched the sky.


Relena looked at him and sighed. She thought back to the day she had met this raven-haired boy, at that graduation ceremony of Cassadian Royal Guard cadets, the dark-haired man being one among them. If she were told back then that they would be watching stars like this, she'd simply laugh. Now, Relena was glad she was here with him.


Heero looked at Relena. She was the daughter, of Lady Marianne. A woman with a notorious reputation, partly due to the lack of royal or blue blood not coursing through her veins, and another being her penchant for picking fights in court with ladies of the aristocracy...


Relena grabbed Heero's hand without thinking about it. She stared at him, her expression, in the same way, the stars were illuminating the night sky—to which Relena looked up into the night sky.

"I'll miss my sisters and baby brother so much, now that he has married off as well, Heero. In two months he'll be married off to that widow, Anastasia. Don't get me wrong, she is a prim-and-proper woman, and well-mannered court-lady from what I observed of her presence when she frequented the Court with her husband, God rest his soul, but..." Relena stated worryingly to her knight, distraught.

"You sound very distressed about this, Your Highness."

"I AM! What if they won't love each other. I've been so preoccupied with running a country. All of it is all just so stressful, attending those briefings that go over so many things. Not to mention several times a day, and often having some of them last well into the night." The Empress exclaimed in frustration as she explained to Heero her predicament.

"As you can see, I haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time to spend with my siblings, especially now that my baby-brother is to be married to that old hag," Relena added.

"In any case Your Highness, you've made the right decision. Maintaining good relations with the Aristocracy is paramount, especially since your father often ignored and neglected their issues and petitions." Heero said, trying to soothe his Empress off her worries.

"I pray you are right Heero, my lovely knight...You know, I am glad I have you in my life."Relena shyly muttered, her cheeks slightly reddening prompting a similar reaction from Heero.


Heero smiled albeit with slightly reddened cheeks also, a rare occurrence for a man of such a cold character. "I.I... am also glad,....that I have you, Your Highness."He stuttered something which made Relena to laugh about, warmly.

"Heero do not address me as "Your Highness", right now I am just Relena."


Relena looked away from him, jumping slightly when something small, bright, and yellow flashed in her face. Heero began to laugh as Relena asked him what it was.

Heero looked at her, confused. "They're fireflies. See?"

He gestured out to the entire clearing and Relena saw many more bright yellow lights flashing in the night.


Relena closed her eyes. "I don't understand why you seek death so persistently.

He shook his head. "As your knight, it is required to sacrifice lay down my life for you, without hesitation, if the situation requires of me so. To protect you."

"But that is, wrong" Relena moaned in disagreement.


Heero chuckled. "No, it is not wrong. I am just doing what I signed up for."

He looked at her, a slight bit of sadness filling her eyes.

He looked worriedly and her and asked, "Why are you so concerned about my wellbeing, all of a sudden."

Relena looked away quickly, her long brown fair hair following her head's movement like ribbons. "I just like you better alive, that's all."


Heero stared at her, waiting for the punch line. Did Relena care now whether or not he lived or died? Impossible. She was an Empress, and he was just a simple bodyguard.

She let go of his hand and stood up. Relena made her way to the center of the clearing. She looked up at the moon and wondered again on the matter whether Rolo and his future wife-to-be would care for each other. Political marriages were not at their core agreed upon to be out of love, but of gain and people in these partnerships often had dynamics that were wholly different from what the marriage of a regular commoner was. With, the husband and wife being more of friends in the best of ones, rather than it resembling the purpose of what the sacrament of this life-long partnership was originally designed for by the creator.

Relena knew this from many of her friends, including her lady-in-waiting, Duchess Dorothy de la Catalonia. With the impression that Relena got from Dorothy's parents having they their matrimonial union resemble more to that of ''friends with benefits'' as they called. She knew the stories and hoped that at least Rolo and Klara would care and look out for each other.


Heero stood behind her and wrapped his arms around the girl's shoulders. He said, "Relena, are you worried that I will die, you know that's my duty as someone tasked with protecting you, right?."

Relena shook her head. "No. As a Royal Guard, it is your duty to obey your Empress, and I as an Empress order you that your duty to me is not to die."

He smirked. "Wrong."

She held her head high. "Say what you will, but we both know that your wish is to be loved."

Heero shook his head in disapproval with his Empress's answer. "I don't know where on Earth you were given that idea, but I wish to die."

"No. You've been an orphan yes? Someone who never had a chance to experience the love of a father and mother."

"Yes. But, what does this have to do with me?." Heero answered, bewildered by her statement

Relena turned to face Heero, her eyes meeting his as she leaned forward to whisper something in his ear to which Heero gasped. He looked at her, only for his lips to meet hers.

She seemed about as shocked as he did, but she leaned into the kiss anyway. Relena's mind flashed back to the last times they had kissed. Once when Relena thought that she might drown on Baikal Island and a second time to restore. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. His lean, muscular arms wrapped themselves around her waist and they stayed like that, the outside world completely vanishing from around them.


After what seemed like forever, but was two minutes, they broke apart Heero stared at Relena, blue eyes wide.

"I love you…" Relena whispered.

Heero gasped, wondering if she was just saying that or not. He looked deeply into her eyes, seeing that her emotions were true.

He gave Relena a small smile before telling her, "I know. I love you too…"

Relena smiled at him, holding her hands in his soft, yet firm, grip. She took her hands away from his and lay down on her back on the ground. He lay down next to her, only on his left side, so he was facing her.

They both stared up at the sky. Relena said, "Thinking about it, I lead a very small existence."

Heero chuckled. "The Diplomat Empress, who is on a quest to make Cassadia the regional hegemon, thinks her existence is small? How odd…"


Heero turned onto his right side, facing her. He wrapped his arms around the back of her head and her waist. He pulled her to him, resting his forehead on the top of her head. Her face was buried in his chest. She cuddled up to him, finding comfort in his touch as she embraced him back.


They both lay like that for the longest time. "When did you start loving me?" Relena asked him.

Heero shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think…It was after I realized how empty my life had been when I did not have you in my life."

"When was that?"

"A couple of minutes ago."

She chuckled. "As smart as ever, my loving knight."

He smiled, burying his face in her hair, which smelled of roses. "As witty as ever, Your Highness."


She hugged him, smiling, and said, "Of course. After all, who can refuse the advances of a beautiful Empress like me."


Relena closed her eyes, clutching him to her tighter. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She thinks there is nothing better than moonlight. It takes away too vivid scars and gives shadows instead, hidden places filled with secrets and a gentle covering of sweet silver to wash away the daytime. It dusts his hair with star sprinkles and makes his skin glow pale and smooth, cool beneath the touch of her slender fingers. It fills the valleys of their rumpled sheets and paints the crests with shine, bringing illusions of faraway landscapes. She can barely feel herself, sometimes, in the moonlight, as if she has become Selene dancing among moon craters whilst dreaming of a man dreaming of her.

She thinks there is nothing better than watching him sleep, his face turned towards her, dark hair falling over the bridge of his nose and obscuring his eyes. He is gentle in repose, one arm curved over her stomach like a wayward thought, the ends of his fingers tangled in a fall of muted sunshine. She wonders what he sees at night if he's himself or someone else. She knows, though, that the night is his most precious time, a moment in the stillness that he captures with her, to be put in a glass jar like a handful of fireflies. The day was for war and hate and soldiers, but the twilight lay in the circle of her arms, a respite for the heart.

She thinks that one day there will be no more comings and goings, breezing in and out of each other lives like whispers, flicking drops of hope, and determination towards each other as they pass. She wishes for a time when she won't have to stare at the sky and imagine him when he could stand with her and count the constellations and know he no longer had to fly among them. She wants to show him how the world could be, should be. She wants to fashion that world and paint it, spinning it on its axis like an ornament.

She thinks it's very difficult to be in love with Heero Yuri.

She supposes it's not much easier to be in love with her. He has not said the words but she can feel it in his touch, the way he comes to her of an evening, the smoldering depths of his cobalt eyes as he looks at her. There is a weary gentleness in his hands, in the same fingers that grip guns and end lives. She doesn't know how he does it but he sometimes gazes at her as if she were something new, bright, untarnished in a smudged galaxy. She would never tell him that she was not so innocent, not so shining. Inside her soul, she feels the weight of a broken kingdom and shattered ideals hides them so he won't cut himself on the edges of her heart. He has seen enough blood, most especially his own.

She thinks there is nothing better than dreaming. Dreams keep her afloat when everything else threatens to pull her under. She hopes she is his dream, holding his head above the water, keeping him from the depths. It's silly to crave that, but she does. She needs to be needed by him. Without it, there was only loneliness and empty nights and cracked ethics. He is her heartbeat.

She smiles in the dark at the irony. A bringer of death is her pull of life. A man raised to kill, to smite all enemies no matter who was the one man who could bring peace to her. Did he know it? She doesn't think so. He doesn't think of things in those terms. The arena of words belongs to her and so she makes of them what she wants, twirling them about whimsically until some hidden truth comes unraveled. She does it for all those who depend on her, who look to her, but most of all, she does it for him.

There is a smoky remembrance of hazy images when he opens his eyes, the only moment when she is sure that he is himself, the other-self, the one before all the training and ruined battlefields. Then, in an instant, the blue irises clear and he stills, sleep and dreams gone and only cold reality left. She smiles at him, the barest of expressions, and doesn't touch him. His mind is still waking and there are other things in his memory beside her.

"It's not morning yet," she tells him, knowing he already knows it but needing to remind him anyway. The sunrise brings absence and she wards it away with denial. He doesn't mind.

"You're not sleeping," he remarks, his voice so low it's more a sensation than a sound. Her bones tingle with the vibrations.

Finally, she touches him, stroking a line down his jaw. "You're here," she says in answer, widening her smile. There's so little time and she won't share him, even with dreams. "And I don't want to miss it," she continues, watching a flicker of a question dance its way across his face. No one else but her would have noticed.

"Miss what?"

"Anything."

And she kisses him, gently, tempting him from the paradise of oblivion to another heaven altogether. He follows her and the night turns from cool to hot, the stars spinning dizzily overhead as the moon goddess closes her eyes. For this moment, there is no dawn or dusk, just a brief interlude of passing comets giving into gravity.

When the world lies quietly again, she moves tumbled locks away from his face softly, her gaze on the ceiling, knowing he has already left her. He's somewhere in the blank dreamscape of the exhausted and she's happy about it. Nightmares do not come to those who have no energy to fear them. He will sleep soundly.

A hand tightens on hers and her eyes widen in surprise. "I thought you were asleep."

"I came back for you."

And this time it is she who follows, trusting him, fingers intertwined. He leads her through painted stories and temporary Edens and shows her the pathway through a clutter of useless thoughts. She leaves iridescent footprints on colorful imaginings and laughs because he can smile there.

Maybe one day they won't need their nighttimes. Maybe one day they'll have daytimes together and regret only the shortness of hours in the light.

Relena's beginning to think that dream is not so impossible after all.

Fin

The innocent eyes of Princess Relena flew open and she jumped up in bed. She looked around the large room and realized she was perfectly safe in her own bed, in her own room, in the palace where she lived.

"It was just a dream." She told herself as she saw a sudden flash of light and heard a loud boom of thunder follow it. Relena grabbed her fire phoenix plushie and was out of her bed, running down the hall to the room of her parents before she could even hear the sound of the rain beating against the roof and walls of the palace.

"Mama-Papa..?" Relena whimpered softly. The door was locked her parents were obviously asleep. Relena slumped down in front of the door, holding her fire phoenix close and hugged her knees. She started crying softly. When she heard footsteps approaching fast she looked up and wiped her eyes.

"Relena! There you are!" Cornelia cried out as she ran over next to her. The older sister kneeled down beside her so that they were at eye-level with each other. "When I heard the thunder I figured I should go check on you but you weren't in your room so I got worried."

"Corny!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I had a bad dream and then I…I woke up and heard the thunder. So I-I ran here but Mama and Papa's door is locked."

Princess Cornelia, rebellious, but nevertheless the spitting image of her mother..their mother, Empress Marriane. Cornelia hugged her back and helped her stand up. "Let's get back to bed, Relena." Cornelia, Relena's older and oldest sister took her hand and began to lead her back to her room.

"What about Euphie?"

"Euphie's a heavy sleeper." Cornelia reminded her, smiling softly. "Besides, she's not afraid of thunder like you are. Now let's go."

Little Relena followed her silently, but every time the thunder rumbled she would jump and hold onto Cornelia's hand tighter. In return, Relena's older sister would tighten her grip lightly on her little sister's hand, reassuring her that everything was okay. They stopped at the door of her room.

"Here we are, Relena. And I'm just down the hall, remember?"

Princess Relena nodded slightly and the thunder clapped again. Suddenly Cornelia found herself holding the honey-haired princess in her arms again. Cornelia whispered softly to her, "Shh, it's alright.."

"Oh, Corny, please…stay with me..just for tonight. I'm too frightened to sleep alone."

Cornelia sighed. "Well…I guess if it's just tonight…"

Relena's eyes brightened and she smiled at her big sister. " Oh, thank you, Corny!"

She couldn't help but smile at her as she opened the door and for Relena to lead her inside the room.

A few hours later Marrianne woke up to the sound of thunder. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "A thunderstorm?" Then she suddenly remembered: Relena's afraid of thunder. She got out of bed and rushed to the room of her third daughter. When she got there she was surprised to see Cornelia holding the sleeping princess in her arms. She seemed just as surprised to see her as she was to see her.

"She just went back to sleep. Relena's been up almost all night," Cornelia told her mother. Marrianne didn't reply but just stood there staring at her. "She went to your room but your door was locked so I brought her here and she asked me to stay."

"I see…" Marrianne straightened her posture. "Thank you for finding her, Cornelia."

Marrianne smiled slightly at her and nodded while yawning. Cornelia smiled back and then smiled at her little sister. "Goodnight." She said and shut the door, going back to her own room.

Cornelia yawned again and looked at the sleeping little sister in front of her again. "Goodnight Relena." She said and kissed her on the cheek. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep herself

A Country Estate Of The Royal Family
Somewhere in The Cassadian Countryside

The pale autumn sun gleamed sorrowfully through the brightly colored leaves not yet littering the lawn. A brisk breeze danced with the foliage, occasionally carrying off a leaf into a solitary waltz. A blond-haired woman walked slowly through her garden, occasionally marveling at the strength of a resilient flower. The familiar soft padding of following footsteps had returned to the house and for the first time in weeks, she was left unguarded.

She was somewhat bored. No one was around to torment by tripping and almost falling into a rose bush as they dove to protect her; no one to annoy with ceaseless prattle about nothing of importance; no one for her to subtly imply they were gaining weight. It was a game to see which Knight-Agent would quit first, and she was sure she was wearing a few down to bitter distaste for their job. She would do anything to spite (and in truth, to get the attention of) their boss, of whom she hadn't seen in two months, a week, three days, and a number of hours.

The carefree feeling of freedom was quickly overlaid by a surprising sensation of utter loneliness. She did not wish to dwell on her solitariness, and briskly left the secure confines of her private garden and continued onto the vast lawn of her estate. The wide patch of grass between the house and the trees was not only a lovely view, but also a nuisance to maintain and a primitive, yet effective, form of security. It was more difficult to sneak across a large vacant field without detection than it was a forest. Her lawn got the Heero grunt of approval.

Which was fine and dandy for her lawn, but when you got down to it, being jealous of some grass wasn't very healthy.

A chilling breeze created a wave effect through the grass, curling around her legs, and wafting her hair. Relena paused for a second to feel the brisk draft tingle on her fair skin, trying to numb her nose with a hint of frost. Her breath condensed into puffy little clouds, giving her the urge to shiver, but also giving her hope for the first snowfall.

The grass was crisp beneath her feet but still neatly manicured and raked with pride. Winter was coming and soon it would all be covered in a thick layer of snow. The forest beckoned her with its shady secrets and fallen foliage. She needed the dangerous fun of jumping and shuffling through leaves hiding threats of rocks and sharp branches. It was the closest thing to a hazard she'd find on her property, and such a childish amusement. She needed to prove that Relena Von Peacecraft, Empress of Cassadia, was still young in her heart.

It was too easy to slip into the forest. She hurried the first few feet, trying to lose herself amid the bare trees. The forest was thick enough to enable foliage cover after a dozen meters, and she stopped dead to listen to the sounds of the forest. Leaves rustled, a distant dog barked, and her controlled breathing was low and shallow. There was nary a whisper of sound in the peaceful woods.

She followed a natural path, created by branches and roots years before she had been born. Occasionally, she would go out of her way in order to shuffle through a mound of dampened, yet crisp, beautifully hued leaves. It was slightly warmer in the forest, the trees a barrier to the wind, but no longer stopping the sun from shining on the exposed woodland bed.

Relena swung around a supple tree, laughing in surprise when she almost tripped over a root. She came to a stop and stared when a scratching noise sounded on her right. A few feet away stood a patchy dog of a chocolate color. She felt her heart melt at its thinness and raggedy coat and she wondered if she could find someone to take care of a slightly-worn dog.

It growled nastily at her, drawing her attention to its mouth. The blissful atmosphere changed. Sickly white foam drooled from snarling lips, and her heart almost missed a beat. Rabies. The dog eyed her, remaining surprisingly calm and lulling her into a false sense of security. It barked sharply.

Relena screamed.

The dog attacked.

She automatically took a step backward, tripping over a root in her frantic haste. The dog was practically on her already. Quickly, she brought her arms up to protect her face. The dog pounced on her stomach, snarling and snapping at her. She could feel claws ripping at her thick sweater, and the teeth sank into the fabric of her sleeve, narrowly missing flesh. She had to use all willpower she possessed not to try to buck it off and aggravate it more. She couldn't remember what to do when faced with a rabid animal, but the thought that it didn't need to be provoked in order to attack kept taunting her as she waited for the pain of splitting flesh that would signify the passing of the virus.

The dog suddenly collapsed.

Blood sprayed in a violent art over the mossy ground and roughly barked trees. It splashed in her hair, marring gold with deep red. She could feel the warm liquid seep through her clothes, and she didn't know whether to feel horror or relief. The dog had been shot down expertly, but she still retained the utter fear that coursed through her veins due to the attack. She couldn't breathe, trapped, sprawled beneath the body as if she was the chalk delineation at the scene of a murder. She was suffocating to death on the smell of fresh blood, a surprisingly familiar stench.

As suddenly as the initial attack ensued, the warm body was roughly grabbed from her inert form and viciously tossed aside. She felt herself being gathered into gentle arms, cradled against the uncontrollable shivers wracking her frame from the inside out.

"You'll be fine after you take postexposure prophylaxis." A gruff, formal, and oh-so-familiar voice informed her.

"Oh, do you think so, Mr. Doesntcareabou…" She started bitterly, picking a fight to get rid of the bitter tang of fear empowering her senses.

He cut her off and pressed a kiss on her forehead. It was a motion so uncharacteristic of him she forgot about everything, if only for a moment. "Yeah, I do." He helped her to her feet, supporting most her weight as they twisted through the surprisingly deep forest of her estate. "You'll have a new project to keep you company."

"Making sure I don't turn into a werewolf on the next full moon?" She muttered sarcastically, trying to find out what he knew that she didn't. He just smirked and set to work getting the rabies antidote into her system.

It wasn't until much later, after he disappeared like a wisp of fog in the heat of the day, that she found the note he left her containing one insignificant name. She stared at it, realizing this was as much of an invitation as she'd ever get into his life, an invite to come to visit him.

She smiled, wanly touching her forehead, and went to sleep with an allowance to dream of the future.

Royal Palace Of Ilopirt

Heero stood on the foot of the balcony ready to make his move. The night seemed to be calling him to this very spot. Gazing into the unlit room above his head, Heero made his move toward the vines that traveled upward to the balcony window. With his the two hands covered with cut-up gloves, Heero began making his way up the wall, pulling his weight and bringing his foot up he managed to get to the balcony's edge without little effort. The trick was to get in unnoticed and that was the one thing he wasn't sure he'd be capable of doing.

Heero picked his left leg up and pulled his weight up along with it bringing him sitting in a straddled position on the top part of the balcony's hand rest. Then with after silent ease of breath, he pulled the rest of his body over and landed quietly on the platform. Taking a good look at his surroundings Heero walked quietly along towards the window. Taking a look inside he saw nothing much but his own reflection staring back at him. In order to complete this personal mission he knew he had to get inside one way or another.

Pulling the window open was an easy task; he knew too well that ever-loving Empress was still naïve when it came to leaving things unlocked. Heero smirked at the thought of her lying there unaware of the solider coming towards her without the slightest clue. She was in La-la Land while he was in heaven seeing her beautiful face again. Heero couldn't wait much longer he entered without looking into the dark still room.

Heero made it without even looking where to put his footing he knew exactly where to place his feet and hands to get into the woman's room. He had a triumphant smirk on his face when he heard a grunt coming from behind him. Heero's heart stopped mid-point and just didn't want to pump any more blood to his body making him motionless.

He tensed knowing he was caught. Slowly he turned to see the blonde head of his affections or his objective whichever he looked at it standing up looking at him and tapping her foot. Relena looked at him squarely with a sharpness that could match the trademark Yuri's death glare that everyone talked about. Heero began thinking of a logical way to explain his midnight stealth trip to her room.

Of course, thinking of something and actually doing it are to different things and in this case, he did exactly the opposite of what he was thinking. Heero had begun to move around fully take in the full look of his princess when his foot caught hold of the carpet that which made him trip straight into the girl with the deer-headlights-look-coming- straight- at- her. Poor Relena laid sprawled about the floor with an unknown enormous wait upon her.

Opening her eyes she could clearly see Heero looking flushed too efficiently towards her. She figured he was showing his true colors of love or embarrassment, and then Relena thought about it or both. Heero wasn't himself at all he stuttered "wrong timing I guess" and got up of top of her. Then helping Relena up said plain and simple I love you then without permission or warning kissed Relena hard and long. But in the back of Relena's mind wasn't confusion, just the thought of 'about time.'

Fin

A Long While Ago...

Swift footsteps echoed through the Preventor building as a young Cassadian man, lean both in body and muscle, swerved through the hallways at a rapid pace. His eyes were focused, steps firm, to stand in his way now would mean getting run over.

He moved through the corridors, a scowl hanging heavy on his face. In his hand, he held a scrunched up paper. Something that, in his opinion, had been completely misplaced. And he was now aimed to find out why.

He reached his destination, knocking on a door's entrance to a richly ornamented room, with expensive furniture and an interior adorned with marble, with only the smallest hint of his arrival. His great force sent the doors flying shut behind him, alerting the person seated behind the leather chair, a young girl, almost a woman, dressed in a long immaculate white shoulderless dress whose silky garment ran down a little below her nubile legs.

Heero's feet stopped right in front of the mahogany table, and his hands threw the spiky ball of paper onto the desk. The blonde Royal looked up at her bodyguard, eyes showing no change in emotion. But inside she was smiling sheepishly at his stern look.

"May you be so gracious and kind as to explain this, Your Highness."

His voice was dead serious, something he would usually speak within crucial times when something was wrong.

She picked up the all too familiar paper and unfolded the very creases she had made.

It didn't take her 2 minutes to read through the document. She put the paper back slowly on her table and raised her eyes to meet his.

"I'm sorry but no."

"Wrong answer."

He pulled out a pen and pounded it on the paper before her.

"Sign it."

"Heero, I said no."

"I'm sorry but you don't have a choice."

"I don't have a cho-?"

She clenched her fists tightly, trying to maintain her temper with the oh so stubborn Knight-Agent.

"Heero...the answer is no. Now leave."

"I'm not leaving until you sign this paper Your Highness."

"Well then take a seat, you are going to be here for a quite a while."

She waved annoyingly at the couch on the sidewall of her office. He watched her with a deathly glare as she reached to pick up her ringing phone.

His hand covered hers as she lifted the phone off its hook, bringing it back down to its previous location.

"Hey! That could have been an important call!"

"Not as important as this."

"Uhh! You're impossible. Listen, I am NOT signing this form."

"Your Highness, It's for your own good."

"And HOW is it for my own good?"

"It covers all security weak points that may ser-"

"HEERO WE'RE GOING TO A SPA THAT'S ONLY FIVE MINUTES DRIVE, AWAY FROM HERE! HOW MUCH OF A SECURITY HAZARD IS THAT?!"

He was slightly taken back by her outburst.

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

"UKKKHHHH!" She groaned in frustration and got up from her seat. It was her lunch break, thank God! She headed for the door in a quick walk, but Heero swiftly placed himself before the exit, blocking her escape.

"We're not done yet, Your Highness."

"Oh no, I think we're plenty done."

She moved to pass beside him, but this time he grabbed her by the upper arms firmly, eliminating all her means of escape.

"Heero! Let go of me! Let go before I call security."

"I am the security."

"Heh. With your protection detail, there are bound to be a hundred Knights lined up outside. I'm sure one of them will be willing to help. Hey!"

He grabbed her and flung her over his shoulders, bringing her onto the soft couch. He sat beside her, still clasping her arms tightly. She stopped squirming when he brought his face right up to hers. His eyes softened slightly.

'Oh no, don't tell me he's going to do that. No no no! Must look away!'

"Your Hig...Relena look at me!''

She turned her head towards him hesitantly, knowing there was no other way out.

"I'm only doing this to protect you, you know that. You know how much you mean to this country...to me. What would your father or mother think when they find out you have sneaked out without proper security outside the estate."

He touched her forehead with his own, inching closer to her.

"Please, I know it's your day to relax but at least take one Knight-Agent with you."

She sighed, feeling slightly sorry that she was making him suffer like this. It was long since she had found out his true feelings for her, found out that he protected her out of love...

"Oh...alright. But only one! And it better be not Artesh, the last time he came he dove into the jacuzzi with us claiming that he thought he saw a mine down there."

He smiled. A true smile meant just for her that made every part of her body melt. Bringing his lips down to hers, he kissed her gently. A way of saying thanks, and a way of showing his love for her.

Relena could never have enough of him, and her heart sank as he pulled away. She looked at his handsome face. and giggled lightly.

"Your welcome." She said, giggling.

He grinned, pulling her into his arms. She snuggled into his embrace and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"So who do you want to accompany you on your visit." He asked as he stroked her hair.

"Hmm...well. I'll certainly need someone capable of handling me. An expert in his occupation, and willing to accompany me back to my humble manor afterward." She looked up at him and smiled. "Do you know anyone suitable for the job?"

He watched her lips as they formed a teasing smile.

"I think I have just the man for you. But I have to warn you, he may stay a little longer than necessary once dropping you off at your home."

"Hm...Did I mention my staff is off for the weekend?"

An evil smile spread across his face.

"Perfect." And with those final words, he captured her lips once more, engaging in a more passionate kiss that before.