Relena sat on the window seat; her cerulean eyes fixed disdainfully on the looming clouds, the bleak gray horizon dragging her spirit down. She shifted her position and sighed, drumming her nails on the windowpane; a clear layer of glass the only thing separating her from the outer world. With her head resting carelessly on the wall and her long slender fingers tracing the mahogany woodwork between the panes she let out another long breath turning to face the only other person in the room.

Taking this as a sign to speak the brown-eyed woman asked, “Prithee princess why art thou so glum?”

“That’s not funny.” Relena tossed a throw pillow at her and adding her answer to the question said, “This is my last day of freedom.”

“Ah yes, the servant of peace must return to her official duties,” Mouse sat next to the princess and said in a more serious tone, “I though you didn’t have to go back until the day after tomorrow.”

“I’ll have to spend most of tomorrow getting ready for the State Dinner,” she looked out again, “I wanted to do something fun. It’s our last full day together and the weather is horrible.”

“I’ve had lots of fun since I got here. It’s okay I really don’t need to be entertained and remember I’m grounded,” the brunette stated with a grin. “Official orders of Preventer Chang.”

Relena snickered at the memory of yesterday. The two women had ventured to the nearest city without an escort; upon their return Wufei had almost exploded, lecturing them about why Mouse was there. To her recollection, he had never said that much at one time.

“I doubt that would stop you.”

“If Wufei wouldn’t stop me why would the weather?”

“It would be real easy to get away right now,” Relena added, “I haven’t seen any of the boys for a while.”

Mouse smirked at this tempting offer, “Is it worth it?”

“You have an idea,” her face lit up, she thought about the prospects of the brunette’s notion. “What is it?”

“We don’t have to leave to have some fun.” She started to walk out of the room, enjoying the puzzled looks from Relena.

Eager to find out what Mouse had in mind Relena walked briskly after her, when they reached the hall they were almost running. At the stairs the brown-eyed girl started sprinting, the other girl at her heels.

The five boys only half-questioned what the two girls were doing as they darted past the study. Inside, the former pilots had gathered in a conference, shutting the door before they started to talk.

“What’s this about?” Duo asked, lazily dropping into a cushioned chair.

“I don’t know,” Quatre offered, “we’re doing this at the request of Lady Une.”

“She should contact us in a few minutes,” Wufei added from his position near the door.

“Has anything serious happened?” Trowa questioned.

Chang answered, “Not since the threat on Une’s life.”

Concerned, the blond asked, “Are Noin and Zechs all right?”

“They moved base and since nothing has happened,” the Chinese man stated.

The video screen flickered on and Lady Une accompanied by Zechs and Noin appeared.

“Is everyone here?” The head of the Preventers started the proceedings, pausing for a slight nod from the other end, “Fujihara has disappeared again, he might be going after Mouse.”

“What makes you believe that?” Heero inquired, for the first time voicing his opinion.

Maxwell asked, “What reason does he have? He couldn’t know she was the one who contacted the Preventers.” The possibility of someone finding this out never crossed his mind; they had only caught her by a strange coincidence.

“That is the only reason for our concern,” Une lied in answer to Duo’s question and fell silent.

“The Preventers base on Earth received an encrypted file late yesterday,” Noin started to explain. “With it came a message. We haven’t been able to break the code on the file.”

Une interrupted, continuing to give them the information, “It stated that we should deliver the file to Mouse and was sent from the same offices where she was apprehended.”

“Can you be certain it is from Fujihara?” Heero asked.

“No,” Lady Une answered. “I’m sending you the file. Heero do you think you can break the code?”

“It might take some time,” he answered flatly.

“We will contact you later to see if anything develops.” With that she terminated the connection.

“Should we tell Mouse?” Quatre asked.

“No,” Wufei said, thinking about how she still didn’t know of the attempted assassination.

“I agree,” Heero added, taking a seat at the computer and looking at the file Lady Une had just sent.

“Why not?” Duo blurted out.

“Lady Une gave no orders to deliver the file to Mouse,” Chang gave one of his reasons for not wanting the girl to know.

Trowa leaned on the desk next to Heero, arms folded across his chest, looking at the opposite wall and addressing no one he said, “She didn’t send the message.”

Prussian blue eyes turned up to look at Barton, perceiving why he pointed this out.

They fell silent, watching Heero work at his task; the time passing slowly as he typed. Each keystroke brought him closer to unlocking the mystery of what the file held. The code was almost broken when a wrong command deleted everything he had done so far. Again he worked, getting a little further and again the wrong command put him back to the beginning; he cursed under his breath.

“Man, Heero, you must be losing your touch,” Duo said mocking the Japanese man. “It’s almost been an hour.”

“Do you want to try?” Heero asked in a harsh tone, glaring at Duo, daring him to say something else.

The dark-haired man turned his eyes back to the monitor, repeating his actions much quicker than the first two attempts; he made it to the same place as before when again all the work was lost.

“Let Mouse have it,” Trowa told everyone in the room.

Wufei scowled at the emerald-eyed clown.

“What’s she going to do with it?” Duo asked incredulously, adding with heavy sarcasm, “Even the perfect soldier Heero Yuy couldn’t break the code.”

“It was meant for her to see,” Quatre stated, “We should let her have it.”

“No,” Maxwell said, changing his earlier opinion, fearing what the file held, wanting to save the brunette from anything bad, sure that it contained something disagreeable.

“This man knows what he is doing. I will only get to this point again and again, I don’t know how many times before I can break the rest. We have to give her the file,” Heero reluctantly agreed with Trowa.

“If we do that we may never know what’s there,” Chang tried to reason with the other pilots.

“Wufei,” the tallest boy said, “try trusting her. She is the one who brought the organization’s activities to the attention of the Preventers.”

The muffled sound of uncontrollable laughter was heard seeping through the crevice between the door and its frame.

Out-voted, the Chinese man nodded his consent, the meeting adjourned and they followed the riotous noise of the girls.

“I don’t think I can do that,” Relena admitted between giggles.

“Do what?” the braided pilot asked cheerfully.

Mouse and Relena immediately stopped their laughing, biting their lips trying not to let the noise escape when they saw the solemn faces on the other four boys.

The only one truly curious about what they had been doing, Duo started to talk with Relena, begging her to tell him. Trowa walked up to Mouse; he carefully explained to her what had happened, his voice so low she was the only one to hear his words. She frowned and stepped out with him, a sinking feeling deep inside her, the feeling of falling, plummeting into the unknown. Close behind Wufei and Quatre followed. Maxwell paused for a moment trying to decide what was more interesting, the file or the girls’ activity; he left the room walking quickly to catch up with the others.

Relena walked up to Heero with an alluring smile.

“What were you doing before we came in?” he asked, knowing that’s what she wanted.

“Mouse was teaching me something,” she answered stepping closer.

“Oh, really,” he said, playing along, “What?”

“I’ll show you,” she pushed a button on the stereo, reaching over his shoulder and brushing his ear with her arm as she did so.

A faint sound filled his ears, a slow rhythmic drumbeat, one long low note on a wood pipe creating the familiar tone of a breeze, and a soft melody. Relena stepped back, her hips swaying with the music; she brought her hands up her side loosely tracing the shape of her body and extending them high above her head. Her cerulean orbs followed the motion, her delicate chin pointing upward, the smooth white creamy skin on her neck drawing Heero’s attention. As another instrument was added, making the patter of a light rain, she gracefully lowered her arms, the gentle movements of her wrists turning her palms to face her and then back out, slowly crossing them in an alternating pattern on their decent down the center of her frame.

Heero watched with interest as she continued her dance, his mind solely on the movements of her body as it told an unspoken story. Everything that happened earlier that day was forgotten, anything that might happen later didn’t matter; the only things that existed were the peaceful music and the girl standing before him. He stepped into a different position to better observe this dance, he noticed her golden tresses sweeping the small of her back with a hypnotic motion. The hem of her sky-blue wraparound skirt brushed against the calves of her long legs. With a stomp to accent the simple beat of the drum more of her leg peered out from under the overlapping folds of cloth, showing the area just above her knee. As her arm once again was lifted over her head the gap between her skirt and shirt widened exposing the flesh on her side. In a circular motion she shifted her shoulders now, holding her other hand higher and revealing the opposite side of her belly.

The drumbeat steadily grew faster, stronger, louder, and with it the rhythm of the girl's hips. Relena turned to face Heero again; her eyes focused on his face, she no longer paid attention to the movement of her arms. Forgetting the motions Mouse had taught her only moments before she improvised one of her own, moving her hands in front of her with an almost beckoning manner. The same long low note was heard again and the drumbeat quelled, leaving the soft melody and another patter of light rain. Once more the note was played as the melody faded away; then slowly the sound of the breeze vanished.

With her performance finished she walked up to Heero, standing face to face, she said, “That’s what we were doing.”

“Nice,” was all he said in a tone that was barely audible.

“I think so too,” she whispered.

He leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips, pulling her closer to him, feeling the heat radiate from her body. They broke off and she gazed into his eyes, his arm lingering around her waist.

“I should have learned that a long time ago,” Relena said, another smile playing on her face as Heero kissed her again.

For the others in the room down the hall things weren’t as pleasant. Mouse sat at the computer mechanically typing, trying to crack the code; with amazement the boys watched her move with almost the same speed as Yuy. Her fingers moved as if programmed to do this, her eyes gazing at the screen seeming to see nothing. The sound of fast drumming wafted down the hall reaching the ears of everyone in the room, as soon as they noticed it the sound ceased. Maxwell inched out the open door, his movements undetected by the others; he ventured to peek through the door where they had left Heero and Relena.

More time passed; the code still unbroken. Mouse wrinkled her nose when she reached the same spot where Yuy was repeatedly blocked. In thought she closed her eyes for a brief moment; opening them again, an unknown emotion displayed in the brown orbs, she returned to her typing. Slowly now, with great caution, she continued to enter the commands that would unlock the file.

With one more keystroke to finish she turned to face the men in the room. “Could you leave please? I want to see this alone.”

Wufei was about to refuse her simple request when glares from the other two men stopped him.

“Okay,” Quatre said, leaving the room.

“Why are you letting her do this?” the Chinese man growled as Trowa pulled the door shut.

Mouse drew her hand away from the keyboard, rubbing her first two fingers with her thumb before taking a deep breath and entering the last command. A scared face appeared on the screen: a man with graying dark brown hair, his shoulders squared, a mocking presence carried throughout his entire personage.

“I see your skills have not diminished?” He grinned widely. “Do you think you are safe? The Preventers can not protect you. Quit playing your little games; they are futile, you are only building a false hope. They can’t stop me, you can not stop.” As if adding on a second thought he continued with, “I will find them and I will find you.” She punched more keys quickly trying to see if there was any more of the message, a small hint on where this man could be. Another face appeared on the screen, a younger man with jet-black hair, azure eyes, and a smooth complexion.

“Squeaker,” he started.

Mouse looked at the screen and said, “You fool.”

“Don’t look at me like that,” the prerecorded message continued to play. “I found the file he sent and attached this to it. Don’t worry; he can’t trace it back to me.” His face changed to a more serious expression. “I’ll keep it short. Stay where you are, his threats are empty; he will never discover where you are.” He turned his eyes away, “Someone has been trying to find you though; recently a person has been searching for your past. Bye.”

“Take your own advice,” Mouse whispered. “Don’t do anything?”

The girl continued her search, sitting there, forgetting about the boys waiting in the hall.

“What are you doing?” Trowa asked Duo, whose head was in the crack of the slightly opened door as he watched Yuy and Darlian still wrapped in each others arms, talking and exchanging kisses.

Maxwell didn’t respond; Barton lightly rapped on the wall with his knuckles and at the sound the couple inside stopped what they were doing. Duo glared at the back of his friend as he walked away; quickly the American decided to leave before Heero found out he was watching.

“So, has anything happened here?” he asked grinning and holding his arms behind his head in his typical fashion.

“She should be done,” Wufei snorted.

They heard a noise from inside the room and a voice exclaim, “Damn it, why won’t you work?”

Curious, Duo opened the door just a little and peered through, he saw her head go down to the desk as she mumbled, “Where did you go?”

He stepped inside. “Did you lose something?”

“Only my sanity,” she answered, lifting up her head to look at him.

Mouse’s hair fell over her face covering her eyes; she blew a quick puff of air upward, sending the locks flying, only to come back down in the same place and stick to her moist glossy lips. She tucked the disorderly tresses behind her ears; they curled around circling the lower part of her ear.

“Yelling at the computer doesn’t help,” Duo said smiling and taking a place behind her chair.

The others walked in, including Heero, whose previous activities were interrupted.

“Did you survive the fall?” Duo asked, tickling the nape of her neck, making her jerk her shoulders up to protect the vulnerable area.

“I finished,” she said getting up and tapping a few keys.

Mouse left as the file began to play again.

“That’s it?” the braided boy exclaimed as the man finished speaking.

“Be quiet, Maxwell.”

They discussed the fate of the girl, carefully weighing the options of what to do now. While Trowa and Heero talked with cool calm level heads, Duo and Wufei bickered, voices rising to a shouting level. Quatre played the message again carefully listening to every word, judging for himself what this man was capable of.

The ground was wet from the quick burst of a heavy summer rain. Lying by the pool in a padded lawn chair Mouse covered her eyes with the thick black lenses of her sunglasses. Alone she reflected on her choices of what to do; the same thing the boys were doing inside the house. The thick gray clouds were shutting off the sun’s rays, the extreme quiet allowing her to concentrate. Suddenly she became aware of a body hovering over her.

“You’re blocking my sun,” she said.

“What are you doing?” he asked, looking at the gray horizon.

“Tanning. You don’t expect me to go back without looking like I’ve been to Earth?”

“You still think you’re going back,” Wufei said, thinking about another discussion they had had.

“Eventually.”

He knew she meant ‘soon’. “You shouldn’t be out here.”

“Why?” she asked, standing to face him. “Are you afraid someone might see me? I’m not.”

His mind went back to the video of Fujihara, the threat the man had made, the fact that no one was sure where this man could be.

Inside the others were still talking, Relena joining the conversation with sorted details of what was happening. A call interrupted their discussion; Quatre left and came back after a few minutes.

“That was Dorothy,” he said upon entering the room, a puzzled expression on his face. “She said something came up and she can’t attend the State Dinner with me tomorrow evening.”

Unsure why this would puzzle the young Arabian man, Relena asked, “Did she say what happened?”

He shook his head; “She only said that she was feeling a little under the weather.”

Still not satisfied, Heero asked, “What else did she say?”

“Dorothy asked if it would be possible for me to bring Mouse.”

“You did tell them that you would have a companion at the dinner,” Relena added.

“I can’t ask her to do that,” Quatre stated. “And now I don’t think it would be wise for her to go out.”

Chang and Mouse walked in, everyone looked at them not only surprised that she had come in just when they were talking about her but also the fact that she came in with Wufei.

“What happened?” Wufei asked, seeing the way they were all staring at the brunette.

“Dorothy called to say she couldn’t attend the Dinner with Quatre tomorrow,” Trowa informed him.

Seeing the predicament, Wufei said, “Take Maxwell.”

“Can’t,” Yuy simply stated, starting to leave the room.

“Why?” Chang called after him. “If you unbraid his hair he could make a convincing onna.”

“It’s not that,” Heero said turning to smirk at Duo, “His idea of a fancy dinner is taking the food out of the box before eating it.”

Maxwell winced at the low blow.

Long after the sun had set Heero sat at the computer, spending yet another night digging through files from the L1 colonies; more specifically the colony where Mouse had come from. He had no luck locating what he wanted, the changing screen casting a cold glowing light on his face. The shuffle of feet on the floor caught his attention, a noise no other person would be able to hear. He spun around, pulling his gun out and standing to meet the intruder.

“Nice way to greet people,” Mouse said finding herself face to face with a gun barrel. She touched his hand, her hands were warm and the long loose sleeve of her shirt slid down her arm. “You really don’t want to do that.”

He lowered the weapon, “What makes you so sure?”

“Did you find what you’re looking for?”

He glared at her and sat back in the chair. “Does anything shock you?”

“I was warned about the gun.”

“Don’t tell Relena,” he stated, still facing the monitor.

She glanced at the computer over his shoulder; “You won’t find it there.” Mouse leaned over the man and with her one hand quickly typed something in; several documents appeared on the screen and she said, “Try here.”

He glanced through the words, picking out a few things to look at as she started to leave.

^_^ Hmmm did she give Heero the information he wanted? We’ll find out soon *crosses fingers* I hope. As always questions and comments are welcome.

Oh you need my address well here it is: timidtigress@hotmail.com

Toodles.

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