Leave Me Breathless     by Hikari-chan

Disclaimer: If they´re mine, I wouldn´t be freaking out over being accepted by universities right now.

AN: First, I´m sorry for the tardiness of this chapter. I didn´t do any writing over the March Break, as I thought I would. I went to see university campuses and out to celebrate a friend´s birthday, and I did some homework. Anyways, the first scene in this chapter came out unusually long. I hope you don´t mind.

SilverRay-chan: Short? >.< It was 17 pages!

Sailor Grape: Ami shouldn´t get together with Minako. LOL. Minako´s actually being active, but Ami´s more passive. She observes more than interferes.

SuperMoo: LOL. It´s really not a cliffhanger, especially as compared to what I put people through with SW. ^^;;;

Angelight: My brain can only handle so many unusual couples at once. LOL. Actually, I originally planned only Heero/Usa. Then once I added Duo, Minako came along, and everyone else just grabbed themselves a seat. >.>

Serena Yuy: Relena probably won´t show up again for a few chapters.

Vixen: I like that! XD I think I´ll use that somewhere. LOL.

fireangel: Really, that wasn´t a cliffhanger, by my standards at least. I didn´t leave you with Heero taking her into a bedroom. =P

SerenityLNguyen: I don´t have a mailing list. Sorry.

miz: Hotaru and Mamoru will come back in later. As for the outers, I have a thought for Setsuna, but that´s it. We´ll see if they want to show up.

Minna-san: Thanks so much for your thoughts and comments. They really brighten my mood when I read them. ^^ I hope this chapter is to your liking as well. Enjoy!

Warnings: AU, OOC-ness galore.

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Chapter 11 – Raging Emotions

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Her mind slowly came out of the fogginess of sleep, to be replaced by a throbbing pain somewhere in her head. Out loud, she let out a soft groan. She wondered briefly what she had hit herself with. Snuggling under the unusually warm and heavy covers, she rolled over to her side and peeked open one eyelid to catch sight of the clock sitting on her nightstand.

Her vision was a little blurry, but she could distinctly tell that there was no clock on the night table. She frowned. She didn´t remember moving it before she went to bed the night before. Well, now that she thought about it, she couldn´t remember going to bed at all.

She opened her eyes wider, and saw a room heavily decorated with furniture that looked as though they were from the Victorian Era. Blinking sharply, she sat up quickly in bed, and found that to be a very bad idea. The throbbing in her head got worse, and she muttered under her breath.

Where was she? Fighting the headache, she took the time to look around the room. It was at least the size of her apartment if not bigger, with a lavender décor. She now noticed that she was in a queen-sized canopy bed, with fluffy blankets and pillows filled with down.  The curtains were drawn, keeping the sunlight out of the room. There was a coffee table, along with two chairs and a love seat upholstered with velvet in the middle of the room. A dresser, a desk, and a closet were also visible from where she sat.

She noticed that the beautiful white dress that she had worn the night before was on a hanger hooked to the top of the closet door.

Frowning, she looked down at herself. Her eyes widened, and letting out a soft squeak, she practically dove under the covers, blushing madly. Whoever chose the nightgown was going to hear an earful from her when she found them. Getting over her initial shock, she slowly removed the covers to examine the piece of clothing a little better.

Actually, she wouldn´t call it a nightgown, she would say it was closer to lingerie. It was a very pale pink and made of silk so fine that it was translucent. The top was held up by spaghetti straps, but cut straight across. The material covering her breasts was made of soft lace in a matching pink colour. All in all, it showed off just enough, and hid just enough, to drive any sensible male insane.

Usagi sighed. This day just started wonderfully. She couldn´t remember how she got there last night. She didn´t know where she was. She had the biggest migraine. And now, she discovered that she was wearing something most people would see fit for seduction.

Just then, the door clicked open, and she made a mad dive for the covers.

"Are you up, dear?" a soft feminine voice asked as the door shut behind her.

Gingerly, Usagi peeked out to see a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length red hair, half pulled back with an elastic. She was a little on the plump side and wore a black and white maid´s uniform.

"Yes," she squeaked in reply. "Where am I?"

The woman walked to the windows and drew them open, letting so much sunlight into the room that Usagi had to shield her eyes.

"Why, you´re at the Yuy estate, of course," the woman answered, obviously surprised. "Several people stayed after the ball last night."

The ball? Oh yes, of course. Ami had a charity ball, and she had attempted to set up Mr. Maxwell with her sister. Then, she went to get some punch. And after that. . . Usagi drew a blank. What happened after that?

The headache came back full force, and Usagi let out a soft moan of pain, touching her temple gingerly.

"Are you alright, dear?" the woman asked, rushing to her side in concern.

Usagi smiled. The woman, who she assumed was a maid, reminded her of her mother, who she realized with a start that she was missing very much.

The redhead started mumbling to herself. "I told Mr. Yuy that you might want some rest after you woke up, but no, the man decides he wants to see you, so he told me to come in here and bring you to him."

Usagi startled. She was in Mr. Yuy´s house. She couldn´t remember what had happened the night before. She woke up in what was practically lingerie, and he wanted to see her first thing in the morning. Oh God, what in the world had happened? Now she was worried, and scared, and angry.

"Are you well enough to walk, dear?" the woman asked kindly, helping her out of the bed. "His office is just down the hall, outside the guest wing."

"I´m alright," Usagi replied softly. At least the nightgown was so long that it reached the floor.

The redhead nodded and showed her the bathroom, where Usagi had just enough time to brush her teeth before the woman insisted she couldn´t keep Mr. Yuy waiting and started to lead her out the door. Usagi resisted by pulling back. "Uh, do you have anything else I can wear?" she asked. "This is sort of . . .inappropriate."

"Oh, not at all," the woman replied breezily, pulling her out the door and down the hall with surprising strength. "It looks just fine, better than a lot of things other women wear nowadays. Those aren´t clothes. They´re pieces of cloth!"

Usagi laughed softly, deciding that she liked the lady very much, even if she was a little eccentric, at least in Usagi´s book, if she thought her current get-up was fine.

Before she knew it, the maid was knocking on a set of large wooden doors. A voice that Usagi now deemed familiar said, "Come in" in complete monotone. The maid pushed the door open and led her in.

The office was huge, and much to Usagi´s amazement, decorated artistically. Massive bookshelves lined the walls, and each one was filled with thick volumes of books. The walls held paintings from the Renaissance. In the middle of the room, a heavy oak desk sat along with a computer, piles and piles of papers and folders, and three armchairs. In the easy chair behind the desk, Heero was sitting with his laptop next to the computer, clicking away while his eyes were glued to some papers on his desk. He wore a light, white shirt with the first couple of buttons undone, contrary to his immaculate look in the office. Usagi felt a wave of foreign emotion crash into her at the sight he made against the floor-length windows behind him.

"Mr. Yuy, I´ve brought the young lady. She just woke up," the elder woman said a smile.

Heero nodded in acknowledgement, never looking up from his work. "Thank you, Naru. You can leave now," he muttered.

The woman turned and left, shutting the door quietly behind her. A few seconds of absolute silence followed before Usagi opened her mouth. "What did you do to me?" she demanded in a tone of voice that was not very pleasant.

"Good morning to you too. . . ." his voice trailed off when he made the mistake of looking up at her. Her blond hair, not yet straightened from yesterday night´s ringlets and curls, tumbled freely around her shoulders. Her sapphire eyes were flashing dangerously at him, and combined with the nightgown she was wearing, she looked like a temptress bent on his seduction, not he on hers.

Usagi blushed, knowing that he was staring and having examined the piece of clothing herself just a few minutes ago, she knew exactly what he saw. She could literally feel his eyes wander down her body. "Stop looking!" she snapped.

He smirked at her. "I´d have to be blind to stop looking," he pointed out, "but if you´d like, I can stop staring."

"You can stop stripping me with your eyes," she retorted.

"Now why would I do that," he started dryly, leaning back in his chair, "when the light from the window seems to be doing a fine job of it?"

He made a mental note to strangle Naru, who he had asked to take care of Usagi once he had escorted Ami back to the ball the night before. He had no doubt that she had changed the petite woman into the nightgown. Plus, even if she hadn´t chosen the clothing, she had gone to get Usagi. Could his housekeeper not make her put on something less revealing? If he didn´t know better, he´d say his chibi-chan was doing a fine job of either trying to seduce him, or trying to kill him.

Usagi stepped back from his desk, blushing. She knew that he was right. The material was translucent, so the window behind him didn´t help make it any less modest. "Don´t you think shutting the window will be a good thing then?" she asked flatly.

"I happen to be enjoying this," Heero replied, smirking at her rosy cheeks and modesty. Most women he knew flaunted their figures by wearing as little clothes as possible without ending up walking around naked.

She glared at him. "I, for some reason," she answered sarcastically, "am not. If you´re not going to close the curtains, then I will."

"Are you sure you want to let everyone outside my window see you dressed like this?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You are absolutely infuriating," she stated, frustrated with her lack of control over the entire situation.

He chuckled at her outburst, then got up, taking the navy blue suit jacket off the back of the chair and walking up to her. She was glaring at him, but the closer he got, the less she glared. Instead, she was delicately touching her temple.

He wrapped the jacket around her shoulders, holding it tightly across the top and covering her upper body. "And you, chibi-chan," he murmured softly, "are too tempting to be good for me."

Usagi looked up to find him a little too close for comfort. She reached up to clutch his jacket tightly across her chest and carefully took a step back. "You make me sound like some sort of bad medicine," she replied, wrinkling her nose.

"Also known as a drug?" he suggested, his eyes mocking her.

Usagi rolled her eyes. "Your choice of compliment amazes me," she bit out. "It will forever be a mystery to me why so many women flock to you like starving geese to fresh bread."

"It is continuously a mystery to me as well," Heero responded, amused. "If my compliments are so bad, why don´t you suggest a few?"

"I´ve never been quite as good as you," Usagi stated dryly. "However, I especially liked ‘your eyes are as blue as salty seawater´."

Heero raised an eyebrow. "Seawater is naturally salty," he commented.

"I know," Usagi replied. "That´s what I said too. The man looked at me blankly, then changed it to ‘your eyes are as blue as non-salty seawater´."

Heero laughed. "Someone compared the colour of your eyes to seawater," he recapped.

"What? You don´t think it´s as original as comparing me to a drug?" Usagi asked, giving him a teasing smile.

"I give the man who came up with the seawater compliment an eight out of ten," Heero replied, giving her a lazy smile.

Usagi opened her mouth to ask why, when the migraine pounded her head again. She grumbled and rubbed her temple with her free hand. Heero, seeing her suffer from what he knew was a hangover, gently led her by her elbow to an overstuffed armchair. He made her sit down, then knelt down in front of her, touching her temples gently with his fingers.

Usagi closed her eyes at the feeling of his cool fingers massaging away the pain. As it slowly subsided, her eyelids fluttered open again, and she was met by his Prussian blue eyes. Staring into those pools of endless blue, she almost forgot about the pain entirely. They captured her so completely and utterly that she was almost afraid of her own feelings.

"A little better?" he murmured, letting his fingers come to a stop and slowly trailing them down her velvety cheek.

Usagi felt an involuntary trembling at the feeling of his fingers against her skin. She blushed a little and nodded. "Now would be a good time to tell me what you did to me and explain why I´m in pain," she suggested.

"I didn´t do anything to you," Heero answered. "At least not what you think. Naru changed you and took care of you for the night after I found you drunk at the ball last night. And that leads to the explanation of your migraine. Chibi-chan, meet what we like to call a hangover."

Inwardly, Usagi breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder the elder woman thought she looked fine. She was the one who picked the nightgown. Processing the rest of Heero´s words, she frowned. "You can´t get drunk if you don´t take in alcohol," she pointed out.

Heero smirked. "The punch had vodka in it," he informed her.

Usagi sighed. "Go figure," she muttered. "Um. . .I didn´t do anything, did I?" She was feeling just a trifle uncomfortable not knowing what she had done between the time she drank the punch and the time she was put to bed.

"You´re sure you want to know?" he asked.

"No, I only asked because I don´t want to know," she replied, rolling her eyes. "It couldn´t have been that bad."

"It wasn´t bad for me," he answered with a small smile, making Usagi´s eyes widen and stare at him.

"Okay, maybe I don´t want to know," she stated wryly.

Heero shrugged. "Suit yourself," he stated. He felt a little disappointed that she didn´t even want to know what she had done once she found out he was somehow involved with it, but at least, they were having a relatively civilized conversation.

"What did I do?" Usagi asked again suddenly, looking at him curiously.

Heero stared back levelly. "You asked me to do what you think I did," he answered evasively.

A long moment of silence followed as Heero sat back into his chair, waiting for her reaction.

"But you. . .didn´t?" Usagi finally returned uncertainly.

"No, or you´d have pains somewhere other than your head, assuming you´re a virgin," he replied, not bothering to be discreet.

Embarrassed, Usagi blushed and looked away. She couldn´t believe that she had wanted him to do that, even if she had been drunk. She stole a glance at him from her lowered eyes. For some reason, she believed him, and she was truly thankful. Perhaps he wasn´t quite as horrible as she had thought. "Thank you," she mumbled the first thing that came to mind.

"You were drunk," Heero stated, as though in explanation for his actions. Attempting to move into a more comfortable subject, he asked, "Would you like some breakfast?"

Usagi smiled. "No, I´d rather have the dinner I missed last night," she joked, curling up into the chair.

Heero hit the intercom on his phone and Naru picked up on the other side a moment later.

"Would you like something, Mr. Yuy?" she asked.

"Can you bring some breakfast for Miss Aino, Naru?" Heero replied.

"Of course!" was the cheery answer. "What would the young miss like to drink? We have milk, orange juice, apple juice, peach juice, English tea, Chinese tea, green tea, black tea, coffee, expresso, cappuccino, and mocha."

"Cappuccino´s good," Usagi answered, raising her voice so Naru could hear on the other side.

Heero raised an eyebrow at her. Didn´t she say that she didn´t like coffee?

"How do you like your eggs done? Scrambled, omelet, sunny-side-up, hardboiled, benedict, fried, or poached?" Naru continued.

"Um. . .omelet," Usagi decided.

"And on the side? Apple, orange, grapefruit, peach, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, bacon, ham, sausage, fries, toast, or waffles?"

Usagi glanced at Heero, who only mouthed "she likes to cook". "Strawberries, please," she answered.

"Alright, dear, I´ll have breakfast there in a few minutes," Naru´s voice rang out before the intercom was cut off.

"I think ‘she likes to cook´ is an understatement," Usagi commented, smiling. "You´d think there were fifty people in the house."

"She´s been the housekeeper for as long as I can remember," Heero confessed. "Eccentric woman, but very nice and does her job well."

"Definitely eccentric," Usagi agreed. "She told me I looked fine when she dragged me in to see you earlier."

"You do look fine." At her scornful look, he smirked and added, "If you were planning on seducing me."

"As if you need encouragement," Usagi retorted.

A knock on the door interrupted his response, and Naru came in with a silver tray and Usagi´s breakfast. She chatted a little about having nobody to cook for in a house that was practically empty for eleven out of twelve months, to which Usagi replied amicably and sympathetically. Heero watched her interact with his housekeeper.

After Naru left, and as Usagi started cutting her omelet, he spoke up. "How come you´re so nice to Naru?"

Usagi looked up at him. Thinking that he meant to ask why she was treating his hired help so kindly, she replied, "It makes no difference to me what people´s status are in life. If she was a stranger on the street upset about her family, I´d be nice too. People are people. They don´t deserve more respect because of what their job is."

"I meant, how come you´re nicer to Naru than to me," Heero clarified.

"She doesn´t pick fights with me and she´s nice to me. Besides, you didn´t cook me breakfast," Usagi laughed. "I have an appreciation for food."

"I´ll remember that," Heero commented with a smile, leaning back in his chair to watch her. She created such a breathtaking image, curled up in the armchair with her feet tucked gracefully underneath her, draped in his jacket which was at least a few sizes too big for her, eating breakfast while her hair spilled luxuriously over her shoulders. It took all of his self control not to shove aside both his desk and that tray, then going over there and kissing her senseless.

It wasn´t until she had finished eating and was quietly sipping her drink that he remembered his earlier question. "I thought you didn´t like coffee," he remarked.

She glanced up at him and smiled. "Ami ordered it at lunch yesterday," she explained. "And it wasn´t too bad."

A brief knock on the door was followed by the entrance of Wufei, who didn´t bother to wait for Heero´s reply before coming in.

"Yuy, have you seen Usagi? Ami´s looking for her but she´s not in her room," Wufei said, not bothering to look around the room.

Heero nodded curtly in Usagi´s direction, which made Wufei aware of the third presence there. He looked surprised to see her curled up comfortably and finishing up breakfast in Heero´s office, of all places, but quickly regained his composure.

"Ami was wondering if you wanted a ride back to the city," he said.

"That´d be great, Wufei," Usagi replied with a grin. "But I need to find where my clothes are."

Wufei looked back and forth between Heero and Usagi, the question on the tip of his tongue but finding it just a bit tactless to ask. Despite the silent question, both of them sensed it.

Heero was the first to reply. "Yes," he said lazily, watching for Usagi´s reaction from the corner of his eye.

"What?! No!" she retorted, blushing.

"No to what?" Heero continued.

"Yes to what?" Usagi returned.

"When you sort out this husband-wife argument," Wufei interrupted flatly, "you can find me waiting in the garage."

He left quickly, not wanting to be on the receiving end of what he knew would be horribly biting remarks from both of them. Heero was very much against marriage, and even if Ami had mentioned that Usagi wasn´t against marriage, Wufei had a feeling that she wasn´t exactly dying to marry Heero, of all people.

"He´s going to get an earful in the car for that," Usagi decided, setting aside the tray and standing up.

Wufei´s comment hadn´t even fazed Heero, who completely dismissed it as a tendency to compare everything to married life now that he himself was married. Instead, he commented, "I didn´t know you were on a first name basis with Wufei."

Raising an eyebrow at what she could swear sounded like jealousy in his voice, she replied, "I didn´t know you were on a first name basis with Ami."

"Point taken," he noted, walking around his desk and up to her.

"That reminds me. I can cheerfully murder you for saying that to Wufei," she bit out, glaring at him.

"I´d come back to haunt you," he replied, pulling her into his arms.

"Your ghost, at least, won´t be as shockingly straightforward as you, Mr. Yuy," Usagi responded, pushing against his chest and looking up.

The next moment, her voice was smothered by his lips pressing against hers. At first, she resisted, refusing to kiss him back, but his lips were gentle, probing softly, and soon, Usagi found herself surrendering to the passion. His arms were warm and strong around her slender waist, and she could feel the security of being his embrace wash over her like a tidal wave.

Coughing from the doorway made Heero lift his face from hers, glaring murderously at the housekeeper, who was standing there and smiling brightly. Usagi turned her head and blushed deeply.

"Don´t mind me, dear," Naru stated, walking into the room. "I´m just here to pick up the breakfast tray."

"Not at all, I was just leaving," Usagi replied quickly. She tightened the jacket around her and almost ran from the room, only pausing in the doorway to look back briefly at Heero. His eyes met hers, and for one eternal moment, she lost herself in them. When she came back to reality, she knew that, despite her reluctance, she was developing feelings for him, and quickly, much too quickly. Scared at the revelation, she turned and ran down the hall to her room.

~*~*~*~*~

If the scene that greeted Rei in the living room wasn´t downright bizarre, then the one in the kitchen definitely convinced her that something was wrong with Minako. The living room had been dusted and vacuumed, the normally scattered belongings now put neatly in order, and a copy of "Chicken Soup for the Soul" lay on the coffee table. Minako was sitting demurely in the kitchen with a cup of English tea, flipping through a car magazine while noodles were being cooked on the stove.

Rei checked the calendar. It wasn´t April Fool´s Day. There was no blue moon, and no doctor´s appointments were marked in. She looked skeptically at Minako.

"Is this sickness contagious?" Rei blurted out.

Minako looked up from her magazine. "What sickness?" she asked, obviously confused.

"You cleaned the living room; you´re cooking; you´re reading a magazine related to technology," Rei listed. "Something has to be wrong."

Minako pouted. "You´re so mean, Rei!" she exclaimed, slamming the magazine shut and slouching in her chair. "I give up. I´ll never understand this stuff."

Rei helped herself to some of the tea Minako had made, not bothering to make her usual morning coffee. "Why are you trying to understand mechanics?" she asked, sitting down across the kitchen table from her roommate.

Minako sighed loudly. "You´ve ever been in an emotional dilemma?" she questioned.

Rei nodded. God knows she knew what Minako meant. It seemed like every working day was an emotional roller coaster for her, especially as of late. Mr. Winner was the nicest and most charming man she had ever met. Rei knew that most likely, she was crushing on him, if it was possible to have crushes at her age. She had always been a straightforward woman, and had the clocks spun back about ten years, she would have asked the man out. But time kept going forward. She was a twenty-seven year old working for Mr. Winner, not a high school junior. Plus, Mr. Winner had a girlfriend, one that was awfully nice and charming in her own way. Rei knew she would feel horrible if they broke up because of her.

Sighing in acknowledgement, Rei spoke, "Yes. I´m assuming you´re in the midst of one?"

Minako nodded a little sadly. "Something must have been in the punch last night," she muttered.

"Vodka," Rei answered, sipping her tea.

"That´s not what I meant," Minako replied. She twirled a strand of her hair around her right index finger. "Duo was especially attentive last night. It almost felt like we were a couple."

Rei nodded again, waiting for the normally bubbly Minako to continue.

"And I thought that it wasn´t so bad," Minako finished softly. "I mean, I never thought we´d work out, but I felt like there was something between us last night, something different and special."

"So what´s the problem?" Rei asked. "You like him and he´s not attached. Go for it."

"That´s just it." A pained expression appeared on the model´s face. "He likes Usagi, and I agreed to help him hook up with her."

"I hate to say this, Minako, but I told you so," Rei pointed out. "Usagi and Mr. Maxwell aren´t perfect for each other, and you were the one who insisted on helping him."

"I know, I know," Minako replied, slouching further into her chair. "Wait, you don´t think they´d be good together?"

"Have I ever said otherwise?" Rei questioned, standing up and taking her cup to the sink. "Look, she doesn´t like him. Never has, never will. She humoured him. They could be good friends, but they´d drive each other insane. They don´t have similar interests, and they´re not on the same wavelength, literally. You´re the one who shares Mr. Maxwell´s interests, career field, and outlook on life."

Minako sighed. "Still, I can´t exactly tell Duo that I´m not going to help him anymore. What will he think of me then?"

"For a self-proclaimed goddess of love, you surely aren´t very accurate with your arrows," Rei replied wryly.

"Cupid´s the one who shoots arrows and he´s a guy," Minako retorted.

Rei laughed. "Good comeback," she remarked.

"Thanks. Usagi used that one on me when I said I shot arrows like the goddess of love," Minako giggled.

Rei picked up the car magazine. "So you were trying to be more like her, I´m guessing," she stated.

"I thought that if I was, then maybe he´ll notice," Minako admitted. "I want to try a relationship."

"Well, don´t try too hard," Rei commented, grabbing her purse from the cupboard underneath the sink. "I told you that I think Usagi and Mr. Maxwell´s personalities clashed, and if you started acting exactly like her, then you don´t have much of a chance in the long run either."

Impulsively, Minako jumped up from the chair and hugged her best friend. "Thanks Rei!" she said with her normal smile. "I´ll see how everything goes before doing something rash."

"I thought we just agreed you´ll be yourself," Rei teased. "Anyways, I have a lunch date with Miss Kino."

Minako nodded happily. "Anything you want, Rei, just ask," she stated.

Rei smiled and headed for the door, torn between dreading her afternoon at Mr. Winner´s or happy about seeing him away from the work environment. "Just be there for me when I need it," she whispered softly, quickly leaving the apartment.

~*~*~*~*~

Ami sat quietly in the passenger seat of the car, watching in amusement as her husband gripped, then loosened, then re-grip the steering wheel over and over again. The muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew from experience that this was a signal that there was something he wanted to say, but didn´t know how to begin.

They had just dropped Usagi off at her apartment. Throughout the ride, the young woman had alternated between chatting with Ami and giving Wufei a piece of her mind regarding his comment, one that Ami still hadn´t gotten the privilege to hear. She had been curious, but resisted the urge to pry. After all, Usagi was the only woman she´s met that could make Wufei speechless with her wit, other than Ami herself. Now, they were just "going for a drive", as Wufei had suggested.

Finally, Ami decided to put her husband out of his misery. "What is it?" she asked.

"Does she like Yuy?" Wufei replied as bluntly as he could. He had little patience for trivial things like tact when he was talking to someone as close to him as his wife.

Ami laughed softly. "I think you should have asked her," she stated.

"And get my head bitten off for the rest of the week?" Wufei answered blandly.

Ami smiled. "I don´t know if she likes Heero," she said. "She never said anything to me."

Wufei proceeded to explain what he had walked in on this morning: the comfortable atmosphere, the relaxed bantering, the sparks literally flying through the air. Ami´s grin widened. It seemed like her hunch was right.

Wufei noticed her change in expression. "It´s not going to happen," he predicted.

"Hmm?" Ami murmured, glancing over at him.

"It won´t work out between Usagi and Yuy," Wufei clarified. "So stop hoping."

Ami frowned. "He´s changed in the past week, you know," she replied.

"She doesn´t know anything about him and his background," Wufei pointed out. "Plus, please tell me you´re more realistic than thinking Yuy can actually fall in love with a woman. His opinion of them is harsher than mine."

"You were the one who told me she affected him," Ami argued.

"She does," Wufei admitted with a shrug. "And Barton and I think it´s amusing. But we don´t think he could actually love her. More likely, he wants her. I didn´t think he was her type, but now, I´m not so sure. I´d hate to have a hurt friend and an angry wife."

Ami looked away. Her husband was wrong. He had to be. She saw the way Heero looked at Usagi. That tender, affectionate gaze couldn´t just be generated from lust, could it?

~*~*~*~*~

"Quatre, Miss Hino, this is Mr. Trowa Barton," Makoto introduced. "I met him last night at the ball and it turned out that he plays tennis, so I invited him. I hope that´s okay, Quatre."

"Of course," the blond replied, internally gritting his teeth. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Mr. Winner," Trowa answered, giving Quatre´s hand a firm shake. "You have a nice place."

"It´s empty too often," Quatre returned politely with a smile. So his girlfriend had walked off and met another man last night. Nothing to be angry about. After all, he was the one who neglected to include her in the conversation. It was his fault, not hers. Plus, Makoto had lots of male friends back in high school. This was nothing to get worked up over.

"I understand the feeling," Trowa stated. He turned to Rei, who had been rooted to her spot beside Quatre since he walked in. "Nice seeing you again, Miss Hino. How are you?"

"No longer wanting to blow up everyday after work anymore," Rei stated dryly.

Trowa´s green eye twinkled. "You still hold the record for the longest lasting secretary," he informed her lightly, a bit of amusement laced through his voice.

"I´m so honoured," Rei replied sarcastically. "How are everyone at Aegis? I get some news from Usagi, but she works with different people than I did."

Trowa was surprised. "You appear to know the latest addition to my department," he remarked.

Quatre seethed internally. Not only does the brown-haired man know his girlfriend, but he knew his secretary too? This wasn´t going over too well with him. Both of the women in his life had no problems conversing with this stranger, and he wasn´t too happy about that. Suddenly, he frowned. Both of the women in his life? He had an explanation for Makoto. She had been the woman he thought about day and night and pined for all these years. He had no doubt they would eventually marry. But he had no hold over Miss Hino. She was just his secretary, and perhaps his friend. There was nothing he could do even if she was dating this Trowa Barton.

Makoto coughed lightly, breaking the conversation between Trowa and Rei. "I´m sorry, but could we move to the court?" she asked, smiling. "I haven´t played in the longest time."

The small group followed Quatre to his tennis court. Rei was still telling Trowa about some of the things Usagi had said to ward off men when they had gone apartment-hunting about a week ago.

Makoto, once again, felt left out. She had met this Usagi, but she didn´t know her like her two new friends. She could see the slight laughter in Mr. Barton´s eyes as he chatted with Rei, and a strong surge of jealousy ran through her. Instantly, she shook herself. She already had Quatre. It was just wrong to chase after another man when she was already dating one, especially one as wonderful as Quatre. Still, as she glanced at Trowa Barton out of the corner of her eye, she couldn´t help but wish he´ll notice her.

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End of Chapter 11.

AN: The next chapter won´t be out for awhile. I´m sorry. I have a Classics ISP due at the end of the month, one that I haven´t started on. Still, please review! I appreciate them. ^^