Leave Me Breathless     by Hikari-chan

Disclaimer: I own everything! Bwahahahahahaha! No, I don´t. I don´t own anything. Now, let´s move on.

AN: Wow! How fast can I write when I´m inspired? *laughs* I´ll just bet people are waiting to kill me for not writing Silent Waltz like this, so I apologize. I´m on a streak. You can all thank serenity5685 for the early posting. I was going to wait until SW was done and post them together. Oh well. Of course, your guys´ unbelievable amount of reviews helped as well. *glomp* Thanks so much!

Celestial Dreamblaze: I enjoy this kind of story too, which is why I got so tempted to write one. =D

Ice Blue Eyes: You´ll find out soon enough. ^^ I´m glad you told me what you didn´t get though, because I can make it clearer in coming chapters.

Lilaclight, Sunshine Fia: Now! *laughs*

John Steppenwolf: I´ll bring in Heero´s own language later, but I thought it´d be nice to establish a bit of personality for the characters, seeing as they have different roles. ^^

dreamertwin: You´re like. . .the only person who noticed Wufei had a wife!! *huggles* I congratulate you!

Hima Tenshi: Luna and Artemis actually didn´t occur to me. But now that you´ve mentioned it, I´ll definitely consider them.

Akiko-chan: Call me whatever you like. ^^ I don´t mind, as long as I know you´re referring to me. *laughs* Go write another chapter!! Even though I should be talking because I haven´t update SW in months. ^^;;;

Warnings: AU, OOC-ness galore, Relena-bashing (possibly, but I made her pretty. It´s a start. . .)

Moving on. . . .

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Chapter 2 – Welcome to Tokyo

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Taking out the checklist she had made earlier that day and a pen from her desk, the young woman deftly put a checkmark next to all the things she had already packed into her medium-sized suitcase. There were her necessities, of course, some pieces of clothing, and other mementoes that her friends had given her at her farewell party last night. She picked up an elegant silver picture frame sitting on her nightstand. All her friends, old and young, were in the picture. She sighed softly, briefly questioning her decision to leave her beloved hometown. However, she knew that her parents were right. She would never find a job that she enjoyed here.

A knock on the door startled her from her reverie, and the blonde quickly called out, "Come in!"

The bedroom door opened, and she was greeted with the smiling faces of her two best friends.

"Hotaru! Mamoru!" she greeted with an enthusiastic smile as she stood up and ran to hug them both tightly.

The black-haired girl laughed and returned the hug while the man beside her merely chuckled at her behavior.

"You´re acting like you´ll never see us again, Usagi," the man teased her.

The blonde turned her mocking cerulean eyes at him, stepping back to let them into her room. "Would you care to make a bet on that?" she asked.

"Oh, Usa, you can´t possibly mean that you´ll never come back for a visit," Hotaru replied with a soft smile. Her violet eyes twinkled with mischief as she added, "So maybe my brother should make a bet on it."

"Taru, you know that if we do, I really won´t come back, just to make sure I win," Usagi commented good-naturedly, walking back to her bed to snap her suitcase shut.

"Which is why he should make the bet," Hotaru answered. "That way, when I visit you in Tokyo, we can have our girl talks and he would never be in the way."

Usagi laughed as Mamoru shook his head at his sister. "Does anyone else feel the beauty of sisterly love?" he said sarcastically, making Hotaru grin at him.

"I really am going to miss you guys, all this bantering and laughter," Usagi said suddenly, sitting down on her bed to study both of them.

Hotaru Tomoe was the same age as she, and the two had grown up together, through thick and thin, through laughter and tears. She was even the same height as Usagi at five feet three, which was really quite small. However, their similarities ended there. Where Usagi had knee-length sunshine-kissed blond hair, Hotaru had chin length raven-coloured hair. Usagi´s laughing, expressive sapphire eyes contrasted with Hotaru´s silent violet ones. Yet, whenever they were together, both girls would suddenly gain a mischievous glint to their soul´s windows, which of course, drove their parents insane, trying to figure out what kind of disaster the two would create next.

Mamoru Tomoe was Hotaru´s older brother, and at twenty-seven, he was one of the most popular males in the town, being at the "right age for marriage." To Usagi, it was no wonder that he had earned that reputation, for he was good-looking with hair as dark as Hotaru´s and eyes so blue that they rivaled on a deep purple colour. He was five foot ten, and was obviously well-built.

"But you´ll get to see your sister again," Hotaru reminded her best friend with an attempt at a bright smile. "Surely, that´s something to be excited about."

Usagi smiled back. "Yes, I am anxious to see her again," she confessed. "She told me she had a housemate from university. It should be interesting to see how she puts up with my sister."

"She wasn´t that bad," Mamoru jumped in, remembering the beautiful blonde who was his age. Back in high school, everyone had thought the two of them would get together. Evidently, Minako´s departure from their town had put a nice stop to all the gossip.

"She wasn´t that bad if you didn´t have to do all the chores, clean up the mess she made with all her make-up, and somehow still agreeing to cover for her every time she was late coming home when she was a teenager. How I managed it at twelve years old will forever be a wonder to me," Usagi added dryly.

"You haven´t seen her in something like three years," Mamoru explained. "She could have changed."

Usagi raised and eyebrow and replied with amusement, "If I didn´t know any better, Mamoru, I´d say you have a thing for my sister. Should I encourage her to come home? I mean, since she´s changed in three years and all."

The two girls burst out laughing at the look on Mamoru´s face, which bordered on horror and disbelief.

"The only thing I´m going to say, Usa," Mamoru started flatly, "is that the men who come after you in Tokyo had better watch your tongue. It cuts better than the kitchen knife."

Usagi smiled sweetly at him and purposely fluttered her eyelashes to make herself look more innocent. "Don´t you mean if men come after me? Honestly, I highly doubt it," she responded. "I´m looking for a job, not a husband."

Hotaru and Mamoru exchanged a smile as they watched Usagi hurl her suitcase to the floor from her bed. As Hotaru had often said, her best friend was beautiful, but she lacked the incentive to make an effort around the male population. She saw no need to, and she didn´t want to.

Usagi walked over to her desk and picked up her laptop computer before turning to face the other two occupants in her room. "Shall we go?" she asked, masking her sadness through her bright smile.

"We shall," Mamoru replied, picking up Usagi suitcase. "Your parents are waiting downstairs, and Minako will be waiting for you in Tokyo this afternoon."

"You know, despite everything, I do miss her," Usagi admitted as the three strolled down the stairs of the Aino´s small home.

~*~*~*~*~

"But you will be at tonight´s party, right?" a blond haired man asked Minako as the model pulled her long tresses into a ponytail. "Because Dorothy is taking her leave, we´re behind in the paperwork, and I won´t be able to give you the schedule for the coming week until tonight."

"Don´t worry about it, Mr. Winner," Minako replied nonchalantly. "I´ll come by the office and pick them up tomorrow afternoon. I´d hate to have my manager work himself to death and gain gray hairs at thirty."

Quatre Rabarba Winner looked at his most popular model with grateful blue-green eyes. At thirty, he was a successful manager in the modeling industry. Although he was not tall and devastatingly handsome, he had a sweet disposition and sunny, friendly nature that made him approachable and well-liked among many people. Currently, however, he thought that no one could be as sympathetic and sweet as Minako Aino. She was by far the most easy-going model he ever dealt with, and time spent with her passed by quickly. She didn´t fret over the tiniest details and would offer alternatives that made his life easier.

"I´ll be quite alright," Quatre assured her, "though I can´t wait to meet your friend. You seem to hold her in high regard, and I would love a capable hand in the office."

Minako twirled around and grinned at him. "I´m sure you´ll love Rei. She doesn´t have the best temper in the world, but she´s resourceful and very responsible. A little on the serious side, if you asked me. She´s been working as the personal secretary of the most eligible bachelor in all of Japan for a whole month, and she doesn´t make a move on the man."

Quatre raised an eyebrow. "It seems sensible to me," he interjected.

Minako sighed. "Exactly," she replied. "Too sensible. Live life to the fullest! What´s the worst that could have happened? She´s quitting her job anyway, and would probably never see the man again."

"If you don´t mind my prying, Minako, why did your friend suddenly decide to work here?" Quatre asked. "I´m sure her pay as Mr. Yuy´s secretary was very high, much higher than what she would get working under me."

Minako smiled. "You have to realize that Rei isn´t all about money. She wants to enjoy her work. And to quote her, Heero Yuy is ‘the most insufferable man [she´s] ever had the displeasure of knowing.´ She´s only said it to me four times a week for the past month."

Quatre managed to laugh at the description. "I suppose his work habits are different from his social ones."

"You´re talking about his undeniable indifference to which woman he shows up with to these social events," Minako responded with a grin. "I bet he can´t even remember them all."

"Although lately," Quatre added thoughtfully, "he seems to have taken a liking to Miss Peacecraft."

"Maybe he just needs someone to warm his bed and Miss Peacecraft was ready and willing," Minako retorted tonelessly, not bothering to hide her contempt for the one model who rivaled her in the industry.

Quatre shook his head. "I wouldn´t be surprised, but what I mean is that he might show up to the party tonight, seeing that he´s been accompanying her everywhere lately," he said, trying to placate Minako.

"Oh, that´s right!" the model suddenly exclaimed. "I will get to meet him!"

"Don´t be too happy about that, Minako," Quatre sighed. "We both know his history with women."

"I don´t mean I´ll lose myself to him," Minako answered with a grin. "I just want to know if he´s as hot as everyone says he is. In person, that is."

Quatre smiled again. "You just may get your wish, then," he replied. "By the way, why do you need to leave so early today? Surely, it´s not to get ready for this party. There´s another six hours before it starts."

"Oh no," Minako assured him, waving her hand as though to dismiss his assumption. "I need to go down to the train station to pick up my sister. She´s coming out to Tokyo to look for a job."

Understanding dawned in Quatre´s eyes, and suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. "Minako, why don´t you bring her to Dorothy´s party? I´m sure many of us would love to meet her, and she could use the party as a chance to be acquainted with some friends of yours," he suggested.

"That´s exactly what I had in mind, Mr. Winner," Minako grinned. She pulled a short, yellow, spring jacket over her stylish blue sundress before grabbing her purse from the dressing table. "I´ll see you tonight!"

And with a jaunty wave, she was gone, leaving Quatre smiling in amusement. He wondered what kind of woman Minako´s sister would be, and if she might be interested in becoming part of their company´s models. Surely, the sister of a beauty like Minako would be gorgeous in her own right, and if she was interested in the modeling business, two sisters appearing in the same pictures could be a new endeavor.

~*~*~*~*~

"Mr. Yuy, here are the finalized copies of the contract with Global. I just need your signature here and here," Rei informed her employer, pointing to two lines on a couple of sheets of the heavy paper used especially for contracts.

Heero nodded absentmindedly, not even bothering to lift his gaze from the computer screen, where he was looking over a new prospect for another business deal. "Just leave them on my desk," he muttered.

Rei sighed mentally. "I´m sorry, sir, but you told me yesterday that this contract needs to be sealed and a copy of sent to Global by the end of today," she replied.

"I know that," Heero answered, still not looking at her. "Now just leave it on the desk."

Rei clenched her teeth and glared at him. "Mr. Yuy," she bit out, "I have to leave in fifteen minutes, and the seal and sending cannot be done until you´ve signed this."

"Working is more important than going to a party," Heero responded monotonously.

Her eyes spitting fire, Rei slapped the folder with the contract in it onto his desk, successfully making him turn his eyes away from the computer screen to raise his eyebrow at her. "I have not neglected my work to go to this party, so don´t accuse me of something I didn´t do," she snapped. "Now sign this stupid piece of paper so I can get out of here! On time!"

"I don´t suppose you realize that employees are supposed to listen to their employers," he remarked coldly.

"Not if the employee is no longer working for the employer," Rei retorted.

"Meaning?" Heero asked, taking a pen from the classy, silver penholder on the desk.

"Meaning I quit," Rei declared. "I wonder now how I put up with you for a month, and it´s no wonder to me anymore why a high ranking position such as your personal secretary is offered to public." Her eyes openly shot daggers at him as she continued, "Now if you would sign this damn contract, I can stamp it, seal it, and send it away, and never see you again. My resignation letter is sitting on my desk, but I can leave it on yours if you would prefer."

Heero´s eyes danced with concealed amusement at her speech. He had started wondering how much longer it would take. Taking the folder with the contract, he signed his name in the two places with a flourish before closing the folder. As soon as his soon-to-be-ex-secretary stalked out of the room to finish her work, he opened the file on his computer which contained a copy of the reference letter he gave out to every person who had attempted the secretarial job. He changed the name of the employee, skimmed the letter to see if there was anything that didn´t fit, and printed it off. Signing that too, he walked out of to the office to see Rei packing her personal belongings into her bag.

"Miss Hino," he addressed her, making her look up. He handed her the letter and walked casually back into his office. He knew that as soon as Wufei found out, there would be another tally on the long list of resigned secretaries.

~*~*~*~*~

For the umpteenth time in her life, Minako was thankful for her height. At five feet eight, she was taller than most of the woman, and even some of the men, at the Tokyo Train Station. Looking around the station, she checked at the piece of scrap paper where she had written the train number that her sister had given her.

"Excuse me," a small, timid voice uttered behind her, making Minako turn around. "Are you Minako Aino?"

At the blonde´s friendly smile and encouraging nod, the girl, who looked no older than twelve lit up and held up a piece of paper and a pen to her. "May I have your autograph, please?"

"Sure," Minako replied cheerfully, taking the professed items and signing her name in the familiar motion of her signature. "Here you go."

"Thank you so much!" the girl exclaimed, then bowed quickly to thank her.

"No problem," Minako chirped. With a wave to the departing girl, she added, "Take care."

"If I had known I would be looking for you, I would have made you give me your coat number instead of telling you my train number," a familiar voice joked behind the blonde model, making her whirl around.

Minako stared at the petite blonde whose brilliant, laughing eyes were unmistakable. "Usa? Is that you?" she finally managed to choke out.

The young woman in front of her raised an elegant eyebrow at the question. "Nope," she answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I´m merely an illusion of this woman you call Usa and I will disappear the second you turn around."

Slowly, a smile crept across Minako´s face. It had been three years since she had last seen her younger sister, and the girl hadn´t even grown an inch. Besides that, she was still as sarcastic and witty as ever with her verbal skills. Quickly, Minako threw her arms around her sister as Usagi laughed. "You´re still short!" Minako commented as soon as she let go.

"You´re still tall," Usagi replied with a smirk. "and of course, you had to go wear high heels, which makes you even taller."

Minako grinned. "Well, first, let me welcome you to Tokyo," she announced, gesturing to the wide window panes which allowed Usagi to see the busy traffic and large skyscrapers outside. "Second, I can´t wait until you meet my housemate!"

"I can´t wait until I meet her either," Usagi jokingly answered. "I want to know what she got for agreeing to room with you."

Minako pouted. "That´s mean, little sis."

Usagi giggled, then gave the other woman a hug. "I´m sorry, but you can´t blame me after your teenage escapades, can you?" she asked.

Minako smiled sheepishly as she led her sister out the station to her white BMW convertible. "Well, I´m grown up and sophisticated now," she declared, helping Usagi put the suitcase into the trunk.

"If ‘grown up´ means your height and ‘sophisticated´ means your car, then I´ll humbly agree," Usagi replied, hopping into the passenger side.

"I´m going to hate living with both you and Rei," Minako muttered as she started the car and pulled onto the busy Tokyo streets.

"Your housemate?" Usagi asked. She stared in wonder at the many buildings and people, all looking busy and hurried.

"Yep. I´m wondering whether her temper´s worse than your comebacks," the model mumbled, shaking her head.

Usagi laughed, then she reached over to turn on the stereo, switching over to a local news station so that she had an idea of what was going on in the city. "So tell me how your life has been, Mina," Usagi requested as she kept one ear on the radio.

Minako grinned. "Now you´re talking!" she exclaimed, and quickly launched into the tale of how she had looked all over Tokyo for a manager, and finally made it to the photo shoots which made her as big as she was today.

Usagi nodded appreciatively. "That´s really impressive," she muttered, hoping to herself that she could mirror her sister´s success in the big city. She looked up when the car stopped suddenly, and blinked in surprise when she saw that they were in front of a shopping mall.

"Minako, I know you like shopping," she began, mirth lacing her voice as she spoke, "but I´m not going to believe you live here."

"Of course not, Usa!" Minako replied flippantly as she got out of the car. "We have to find a nice dress for you for tonight´s party. Seeing as it´s you, I doubt you brought anything remotely appropriate for this little gathering."

Usagi frowned as she obediently followed her older sister. Party? Little gathering? She brought skirts, isn´t that appropriate enough?

As soon as the two girls walked into the dress department of the department store, they were bombarded with salesgirls wanting to help "Miss Aino" find a dress. Usagi merely arched her eyebrows. Her sister was either really popular as a model, or she came to the store more often than she needed to.

It took Minako a whole ten minutes to explain that she didn´t need to buy a dress. She wanted to buy a dress for her sister, who was much shorter than her. And all of a sudden, Usagi was the one who had a handful of salesgirl studying her complexion and deciding what colours would suit her. She merely rolled her eyes and started to wander down the aisles herself, politely answering the questions they asked but not really paying attention to their suggestions. She didn´t really understand some of what they were saying anyways. They had funny sounding names for colours, such as "Cadet Blue" and "Lavender Blush." Plus, all the technical fashion names describing necklines and hems just flew by her head.

Finally, she picked up a knee-length, white satin dress that had pink cherry blossoms embroidered down one side. It had thick straps at the shoulder and a tight waist, which indicated that the bodice of the dress was going to be form-fitting. "Is this one alright, Mina?" she called out to the model who was browsing through the evening gowns.

Her sister looked at the dress and blinked. "You´re going to look really out of place with that dress," she told a confused Usagi. "Here, this one will be good! It´s a new style, but if you like that one, we can get that too."

She pulled out an ice-blue, Oriental-style dress with silver embroidery of butterflies and magnolia down one side. It was sleeveless and had two slits that went up to mid-thigh on either side of the dress. Checking to make sure the size was right, Minako signaled another salesgirl to pluck the white dress from Usagi and swiped her debit card through while Usagi stared in wide-eyed amazement.

As the two left the store after Minako had found her sister matching high-heeled shoes and a matching purse, Usagi shook her head as she commented, "Don´t you think this is a little much for a mere gathering?"

"Is that what´s bothering you, Usa?" Minako asked with a grin. "Trust me, not at all. You´ll thank me tonight."

"Yes, I will, for dragging me to this party without telling me about it," Usagi muttered under her breath. The only person who could get her into more trouble than Hotaru was Minako, and she had a feeling she wasn´t going to like this gathering Minako was so excited about.

~*~*~*~*~

A shrill ringing interrupted the silence of his office, and he practically growled as he stopped typing to look at his cell phone. The call display indicated that the call was from Relena. He glared murderously at the tiny cell phone as he pressed the "talk" button.

"This is Yuy," he answered in monotone.

"Heero!" the greeting on the other side made him wince. He wondered briefly why she couldn´t act like a normal human being and reach him via the company phone.

"What is it, Relena?" he asked, half-heartedly listening to her complain about her hairdresser doing everything wrong as he continued to type out his business document with one hand. What did he care about whether her manicure was ruined or not?

"And just when are you going to pick me up?" the supermodel finished.

"An hour," he muttered in reply. "I still have work to do."

"Well," the woman on the other side huffed, "I do hope you mean an hour this time. The last time you said you´ll pick me up in two hours, you didn´t show up until five hours later!"

"I´ll be there. Now let me finish this. Otherwise, I won´t show up at all," he warned her, his voice taking on a note that wasn´t the least bit pleasant.

"Alright, then I´ll see in an hour!" the cheery voice replied, but all she heard was the dial tone.

~*~*~*~*~

Rei resisted the urge to scream her frustration as she stomped into the apartment´s kitchen and poured herself a cup of her usual black coffee. She cannot believe the man. He had walked out of his office, handed her a reference letter that was probably the same as every other reference letter he had written and calmly walked back into the office. It was as though his ego assured him that he´ll be able to find another secretary with no problems at all, one that was better than her, even.

Rei growled lowly in her throat. She glanced at the clock, then sighed. The party Minako had invited her to was going to start in a little more than an hour. Wait a second. . . . Rei groaned out loud as she remembered Minako. Or, to be more precise, Minako´s sister. How was she going to introduce her into the company if she herself no longer worked there? She let out a sigh and rubbed her temples. Her contemplation for a solution, however, was cut off when she heard the front door open.

"So precisely why did you get yourself two beds in your room again?" an unfamiliar female voice mocked as the thump of a suitcase was set onto the floor in the foyer.

"Because I have foresight and I knew you would someday need to come," came the haughty reply from her housemate.

Rei rolled her eyes at the answer. It was such a Minako thing to say.

"If that is so, then I´m afraid it is your memory that´s going, dear sister. How is it that you could forget to remind me to bring a nice dress for this party of yours when you conveniently foresaw years before that I could come to Tokyo?" came the laughing question.

Rei´s irritation quickly dissolved into amusement, and she managed to let out a smothered giggle. She stood up from her chair just as Minako walked in with a much shorter woman. Minako had said she was twenty-three, but the child standing next to her could pass for eighteen!

Minako grinned at her housemate, obviously taking great pleasure in the apparent shock on her face, which indicated she couldn´t believe that Usagi looked so different from Minako herself. It was obvious that Rei had been expecting another tall, somewhat clumsy, lazy blonde.

"Rei, this is my sister Usagi. Usa, meet Rei Hino, my housemate and best friend from university," Minako said quickly.

"It´s nice to meet you," Rei recovered quickly, bowing in respect.

"Likewise," Usagi bowed in return, then the formalities ended. "So, Miss Hino, tell me how my sister convinced you to share an apartment with her."

"Usa!" Minako practically whined in horror.

Rei laughed, seeing that Usagi was joking by the look in her dancing eyes. "You know something, Usagi. I think I´m going to enjoy having you around," she stated, watching Minako look back and forth between them. Rei smiled internally. She was no longer worried about not being able to introduce Usagi into the office. This girl was going to be just fine on her own, wherever she was going to work. Rei could feel it like a premonition.

Taking Rei´s cue as her permission to call the other woman by her first name, Usagi grinned. "I have a feeling I will enjoy your company as well, Rei."

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End of Chapter 2.

AN: Okay, so now, you have a little bit of knowledge of Usagi´s personality in this. ^_~ I´m aware that there are characters that haven´t shown up yet, but don´t fear, they will. I just need to find a natural place to put them. I´ve been good by updating, so please be good too by reviewing. ^_~ Thanks a lot!