Leave Me Breathless     by Hikari-chan

Disclaimer: I´ve run out of intelligent things to say. If you plan to sue me, go away. I haven´t got a cent.

AN: I´m honestly relieved. Heero´s behaviour was an experiment for me. I didn´t know how the scene will turn out, and I didn´t know how you guys will react. I´m glad everything turned out alright, and the story will now trudge along. LOL. On a side-note, I can´t believe I´m updating this often. I haven´t written like this since "Angel in Disguise". It´s a miracle. . . .

Ice Blue Eyes: Unless something drastic happens, this will probably keep flowing. I´ve already got the ending worked out, so it should be okay. As for SW, I have a writer´s block. After those cliffhangers, I´m not sure how to make it climatic anymore for the finale. Mamoru won´t show up again till the last few chapters. I have enough characters to deal with as it is. -.-;;;

Hima Tenshi: Yes, when I know what to write as a continuation.

Lilaclight: I love Judith McNaught too. ^^ Whitney was good with darts and she could hit the petals of a daisy with a slingshot at seventy-five paces, something which amused Clayton greatly. XD Her friend´s name is Emily. As for how this fic will turn out, you´ll just have to keep reading. And I think it´s obvious now that there isn´t any Valentine´s Day fics from me.

the Desert Fox: That would be a good reason for Michiru and Setsuna to not show up. ^^ I think you´ll soon realize that there aren´t really any Duo/Usa moments, unless we define "moments" differently.

Vixen: I had a hot dog and milk the morning I wrote that scene in particular. ^^ Thank you for your kind comments. And yes, I agree that Usagi is entitled to hate Heero for the moment.

WindRider-Damia: I´m glad you´re better now. ^^ It´s nice to have brothers that care. Long time coming? This is seriously the fastest I´ve updated since my first chapter fic. -.-;;; No, I haven´t read your fics, at least, not that I remember.

dreamertwin: The bet will be resolved at the next meeting. XD

Aeolus: He does. XD But it just might be explained.

MysticAngel: I want to finish SW too. But like I said to Ice Blue Eyes, I´m not sure where to go after that whole climatic thing. If the end´s not more suspenseful than that near-death experience, the whole ending will just be anti-climatic and come out really crappy. I don´t want to do that to my poor fic or my readers.

ebony: Uh. . .I think you´d better check again. There are mistakes. I reread it afterwards and caught a couple. Oh well, I´ll just pretend that the content´s so good you missed the grammatical errors. XD LOL. Yes on the "punish by attack" thing, but Clayton was a whole lot more unforgiving.

kimeno-pebols: I´ve read "Until You" too. ^^ But I liked "Whitney, My Love" a lot more. I didn´t develop a love for Sheridan like I did for Whitney. Besides that, I thought Clayton was hilarious.

DarkKnight: Why he´s doing this to Usagi? Because he´s jealous and has issues. XD

Haruka-hime: If you sound like a soap opera, then I must sound worse. -.-;;; Since I´m the one making you think that and all.

Minna-san: Thank you again for all your comments. I´m very touched by them and your continuous support. Many of your comments made me laugh, I´m both surprised and relieved that you took the last chapter so well.

Warnings: AU, OOC-ness galore, possible addiction induced by reading (Happy now, Chibi Shamps? =P)

And we´re moving. . . .

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Chapter 8 – Some Things Don´t Change

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Usagi tugged the small brush through her hair, wincing as her violent pull removed some strands from her scalp. Yet, she felt like she needed something, even if it was pain, to remind herself of what had happened. What should she do now? She wasn´t about to just forgive and forget, but she couldn´t work while hating him either. She didn´t want to stay here. Who knew when he was going to have a mental breakdown again?

She frowned slightly. Now that she thought about it, why was he so angry that she might have gone out with someone else? He had enough women around him as it was.

Usagi was so deep in thought that she never noticed a new presence until the man coughed lightly to get her attention. Her head snapped up quickly to find herself looking into the piercing green eyes of Trowa Barton.

She blushed, then quickly stuffed the brush into her purse. Wonderful, she thought to herself. She had only met the head of the research department once, and that one time, she had been in a rather compromising situation with Mr. Yuy. Afterwards, she had insulted the man. This time, Mr. Barton had found her sitting at her desk, brushing her hair. His opinion of her was probably slowly getting worse.

"I´m sorry, Mr. Barton," she amended quickly, hitting the intercom button before Trowa could stop her.

"Yuy speaking," came the voice.

Usagi took a deep breath. "Mr. Yuy, Mr. Barton is here to see you," she informed him.

Silence came from the other side, and Usagi wondered briefly if there was something wrong with the equipment. She was about to repeat the statement when he answered, "No, Miss Aino. He´s here to see you."

Usagi was confused. She glanced up at the man in front of her, who smiled a little.

"If I was here to see Heero, I would have walked straight in," he stated.

"A fact he´s particularly proud of," came the dry reply from the other side. "Miss Aino, I hope you enjoy your new line of work."

The little red light on the telephone turned off, obviously meaning that he had hung up on the other side. Usagi looked back and forth between phone and Trowa.

"Does he mean that. . . ?" her voice trailed off.

Trowa stuck out his hand. "Welcome to the research department."

Usagi was struck dumbfounded. On one hand, she should be elated. She would finally get to work where she wanted, for a big company like Aegis to boot. Mr. Yuy had granted her that, she knew he did. On the other hand, she was a little confused. Why did he change his mind so suddenly? Some part of her mind told her that he was trying atone for his earlier sin, and this was a way he knew of. Perhaps it was, but it wasn´t enough for her to forgive him. Still, at least this was one good thing that came out of her entire morning experience.

She stood up and firmly shook Trowa´s hand.

"I´m happy to be part of the team," she replied, smiling genuinely.

~*~*~*~*~

"Okay, so her favourite flowers are roses. That´s easy enough," Duo said as he bit into his club sandwich.

Minako nodded. "It´s one of the few normal things about her, and even then, she´s not that normal in the flower aspect," she stated.

The two of them were currently sitting in a booth in the back of small café, discussing strategies for impressing Usagi. Duo had started filming his a new romantic comedy, but since this was day one, he did not have as much to do as he usually did. As for Minako, she was due for a lipstick ad in the afternoon, and got to sleep in. It was one of those rare days for her.

"What do you mean?" Duo asked, his mouth still half full. "A lot of girls like roses."

Minako smiled. "I know," she replied. "I like roses too. What I mean is that Usagi is weird."

Duo nodded at her to continue, taking a big gulp of his soda.

"She likes this particular kind of rose called Eden," Minako explained. "The colour´s a mix between white and a pale pink. It´s pretty and all, but I thought it was weird that she could tell between different kinds of roses."

"So she only likes that one type of rose?" Duo asked, finishing up his drink and putting the cup on the table.

Minako giggled, then reached across the table to wipe his mouth with a napkin. Duo smiled sheepishly.

"No, but it´d definitely impress her. It´s just one of her favourite ones. The other one she really, really likes is called Desert-something. The inner petals are yellow, and the outside ones are white and magenta," she told him.

"Desert-something?" Duo echoed.

Minako shrugged. "You don´t really expect me to remember the names of types of roses, do you?" she stated rather then asked. "I only remember Eden because it was short."

Duo grinned in agreement. "Okay, so let´s recap," he began. "She likes archery, chess, computers, tinkering with electric equipment, and astronomy, none of which I know anything about, but that´s okay. She´ll eat almost anything except for carrots, and she particularly likes sweets. Her favourite colours are pink, lavender, and white. Her favourite book is Gone With the Wind. I´ve only seen the movie version and fell asleep for about half the film, but that´s not a big problem. Her favourite flower´s the rose, Eden to be exact. What´s her idea of a perfect date?"

Minako tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You know what? I have no idea," she answered. "I think she went on something like three dates, that I know of, and she wasn´t big on sharing the details."

"How about dinner and a movie?" Duo suggested.

"It could work," Minako replied, "but I´d try something more original. Like I said before, my sister is one of a kind."

Duo nodded, then signaled to a nearby waiter for the bill, which he paid for in full, despite Minako´s short-lived protests. "We could just say it´s for helping me with all this," he said. "Besides, there´s nothing wrong if I decide to treat a friend to lunch."

Minako accepted graciously. As they neared the exit of the restaurant, she suddenly turned to Duo. "I hope your efforts will pay off," she stated.

Duo grinned. "Me too," he replied enthusiastically. He gave a jaunty wave and hurried back to the site of the movie filming, leaving Minako staring at his back.

Sighing, she decided to head for the studio. She really did hope Duo´s efforts paid off. She couldn´t name a single man that she had dated who had put as much effort into impressing her as Duo was doing for her sister.

~*~*~*~*~

Rei printed off the reports she had just finished composing for Mr. Winner, smiling happily to herself. She was enjoying her new workplace. The atmosphere was a lot friendlier than she would expect from a modeling agency, and most of the people were agreeable enough. Mr. Winner was possibly the nicest man she had ever met. He was easygoing, cheerful, and amicable. As she waited for the printer to churn out the required document, her mind wandered back to the earlier part of the day.

Mr. Winner had been late this morning, which was unusual, according to Hilde. Then, when he had come in, he had been smiling a little sadly. This had worried Rei, and when she had asked about it, he had merely said something about resolving issues with an old friend, and she had decided to pry no more from him.

Hearing the noise from the printer stop, Rei picked up the document and, knocking briefly on the door, went into the next room.

"Why don´t you just come up? I need to finish a few things before I can go to lunch," Quatre was saying into the phone.

Looking up, he saw Rei and gave her a smile and a small nod of acknowledgement. The raven-haired woman gave him the sheets of paper and silently mouthed to him what they were. He skimmed the document and underlined the places where he wanted it to be changed or reworded.

"No, no, it´ll just be a couple minutes. I promised to treat you to lunch this morning, after all," he shifted to fit the phone in between his ear and his shoulder. "Right, just tell Hilde that you´re here for me. Great, I´ll see you in a few minutes. Bye."

"Your friend?" Rei asked.

Quatre nodded. "Just came back from France," he answered, giving her back the papers. "It looks great. There´s only a couple sentences that I want reworded."

"Alright, I´ll have that fixed before lunch break," Rei replied. "I´ve already sorted through most of the shoots and interview times, as well as tryout times for the models next week. Most of them should be easy to finish up."

"Have I told you that you´re a wonderful help in the office?" Quatre asked, a relieved smile on his face.

Rei grinned over her shoulder as she left the room. "Not since twenty-four hours ago," she responded lightly.

Quatre blushed. Rei´s muffled laughter could be heard as she shut the door separating their two offices.

Quatre continued to smile. He was very happy with Minako´s friend. Miss Hino was both helpful and hard-working in the office. Already, he had some male employees asking about her. The women also seemed to like her, and Hilde was one of the many that mentioned this to him. He was also told that she was friendly and kind after work hours, despite the fact that she appeared to have a short temper, according to a couple of men that he spoke to this morning.

Suddenly, he heard the door swing open, and he looked up to find Makoto standing there. Her hair was a bit windblown, but her casual sweater and khakis still managed to make her look pleasing to the eye.

"Ready to go?" she asked with a small smile.

Knocking came from the connecting door and a moment later, it swung open as Rei stepped back in, her head in the document that Quatre had previously edited.

"Mr. Winner, how do you want to me to change. . . ." her voice trailed off when she noticed another person in the office. She smiled politely at the stunning brunette in front of her. "I´m sorry, I didn´t know you had a guest."

Makoto eyed the beautiful woman with a calculated gaze. She wasn´t sure what to make of her. She was dressed in gray dress pants with a white blouse and black, striped jacket. Her violet eyes looked curiously at Makoto in return. From the looks of it, she worked in the office.

"Not at all, I´m just here to ask if Quatre´s ready to go to lunch," she decided to say.

"Oh," was Rei´s reply. So the friend that Mr. Winner had issues with was a woman. She had just assumed that it was another man. Of course, it wouldn´t exactly be surprising for someone like him to have a female friend, or even a girlfriend for that matter. To be quite correct, she wouldn´t be surprised at all if he had a wife. At that thought, Rei suddenly felt a little sad.

Seeing the mild tension, Quatre spoke up. "Miss Hino, this is my old friend, Makoto Kino. Makoto, Miss Rei Hino, my personal secretary."

"It´s nice to meet you," Rei stated softly. She stepped forward to shake Makoto´s hand, whose grip was very strong.

"Likewise," Makoto smiled. On the spur of the moment, she decided to ask, "Do you play tennis, Miss Hino?"

Rei stared back dumbly. "A little," she answered. What a strange question to ask someone the first time you met them.

"See," Makoto decided to explain, "I love tennis, but I don´t know anyone who plays. And I´ve lost touch with most of my high school friends. So how about a game this coming weekend? I´ll provide lunch. I thought I could use some time with another female."

"Uh. . .sure," Rei replied a little uncertainly. "Where do you want to go for this?"

"You can use my house," Quatre cut in. "Makoto´s staying with me anyways."

Rei blinked. First this strange woman and her boss were on a first name basis, then she finds out that they´re living together, at least temporarily if not permanently. What else was there about Mr. Winner that she didn´t know?

"And yet, you can´t play," Makoto responded with a grin.

Quatre blushed. "My sisters had it put in," he amended. Standing up, he turned apologetically to Rei. "We have to leave. Otherwise, the reservations will be cancelled."

"Alright, then we´ll see you this Sunday, Miss Hino," Makoto waved cheerfully as she and Quatre left the office, leaving Rei staring at their backs.

As they took the elevator down to the lobby, Quatre commented, "You still make friends easily."

"Some things don´t change," Makoto replied. "She looked a little bewildered. Do you think I was too straightforward?"

Quatre laughed. "Are you ever not straightforward?" he asked. "I think she thought that you were a little strange, but otherwise, she probably accepted that you´re just trying to be better acquainted with people."

"Ever the optimistic," Makoto mused. "You like her, don´t you?"

Quatre gave her a funny look. "I´ve only known her for a couple days," he told her.

Makoto shrugged. "Doesn´t mean you can´t like her," she replied.

"I have you," Quatre breathed. "I don´t want or need anyone else."

Makoto looked away. "You still want to try this, after the whole fiasco with my parents´ death?"

"If it´s okay with you, I´m ready to take the second shot," Quatre admitted. "You know, I´ve dated one other woman after high school, and she had brown hair and green eyes."

Makoto sighed. "I haven´t dated since high school," she confessed.

"Then don´t you think we owe to ourselves to try this again?" Quatre asked, his eyes pleading for something, Makoto wasn´t sure what, but it wasn´t just the rekindling of their relationship.

"Fine," she decided. "But Quatre, just remember, it won´t be the same. People change over time, and I speak from experience when I say that memories are sweeter than reality."

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi hung up the phone in frustration. It was three days after her switch into the research department. She had adjusted well, and many of the older workers were impressed with both her hard work and her knowledge, as well as the flair she appeared to have for working with electronics. Just at the end of the day, one of the senior programmers had even asked if she would like to be part of their new project, to which she had heartily agreed. A couple of minutes after her enthusiastic agreement, she had found out that the project was to create a new security system for the company, something she found rather amusing.

However, her personal life was not proceeding as well. She had given up counting the number of times Duo Maxwell had called her. In fact, she was seriously debating changing her phone number altogether. If she did, she would be sure to threaten Minako with her life should her sister give it out. It wasn´t to say that she didn´t appreciate her sister trying to help her, or that it didn´t flatter her to know that Mr. Maxwell liked her a lot. She just didn´t feel ready for any relationship.

No, she corrected herself. Even if she wanted a boyfriend, she wouldn´t choose Mr. Maxwell. The last time they had had a relatively intelligent conversation, it was about Gone With the Wind, and Usagi had even been thinking about giving him a chance.

Then she had mentioned one of the major character´s death, and he couldn´t even remember who the character was.

Usagi sighed. She had no doubt that Minako had given the famous actor all the information about her, ranging from her stats to her preferences to what she did in her free time. What her sister wasn´t aware of was that her interference ruined part of any relationship she may consider having with Mr. Maxwell. It was Usagi´s personal opinion that learning about the other person was part of the fun a developing relationship, whether it was friendship or romance. Still, that wasn´t something she could fault Minako for.

The phone rang again, and scowling, Usagi picked it up.

"Hello?" she said politely.

"Hi Usagi!" came the now really familiar voice. "I just got something in the mail."

"Great," Usagi answered with her usual sarcasm. "Call me again when you brush your teeth."

"Why would I do that?" Duo asked, his voice sounding confused.

Usagi groaned internally. Sarcasm was easily lost on the mentally challenged. "Never mind," she answered.

"Okay, anyways, it´s an invitation to this ball on Saturday, and I thought that it´d be really nice if you could go with me," Duo suggested hopefully.

Usagi sighed. "Listen, Mr. Maxwell, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I´m not interested."

"We could just go as friends," Duo tried again.

Usagi bit her lip. He was trying so hard that she felt almost bad for him. However, it wasn´t in her nature to lead people on, and she had a strong feeling that if she agreed to this "first date", she would no doubt lead him to believe that she was remotely interested.

"Friends don´t date," Usagi replied flatly.

"But they can go out," Duo pointed out.

"They can, but that doesn´t mean they have to," Usagi responded. "I have to go. Maybe some other time."

Quickly, she hung up, not even bothering to hear his enthusiastic "that sounds good". She really didn´t plan on dating him. Why not? She wasn´t quite sure why, actually. Anyone would tell her to give it a try. Duo obviously liked her, and he was trying hard to get a single date. He was funny, friendly, entertaining, good-looking, and all those things any girl could possibly ask for, but he wasn´t right for her. They didn´t have anything in common. He didn´t have broad shoulders and a frame that towered over her. He didn´t bicker with her and challenged her mind to work faster than it normally did. He didn´t irritate her. He didn´t have smothering Prussian blue eyes that threatened to drown her in their depths. He wasn´t. . . .

Usagi groaned aloud. She thought that she could get him out of her mind if she didn´t see him every working day. Well, she hadn´t seen him for three days now, and his presence still burned brightly in her mind. She couldn´t forget those fiery kisses in his office that day, and she couldn´t forget that last, sweet kiss either. It was almost a parting kiss.

I hate that man! she repeated to herself. And I desperately need something to do to keep my mind off him!

Suddenly remembering, she dug a crumbled piece of paper out of her purse. She picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"Hello," came a soft female voice. "This is Ami Mizuno speaking."

Usagi laughed. "Shouldn´t you be using Mr. Chang´s last name?" she asked good-naturedly.

She could almost hear Ami frowning on the other side. "Who´s speaking please?"

"I´m hurt, Ames," Usagi teased. "You don´t remember me?"

Silence came from the other side as the cogs inside Ami´s head started to work. "Ames" was a nickname from her closest friends, so that naturally narrowed down her choices to about five. A couple, she knew she´d recognize their voices on the spot. Another couple wouldn´t make her guess. So that left. . . .

"Usagi?" Ami almost sounded unbelieving.

"I´m famous!" Usagi joked.

"Oh my god! It is you!" Ami cried out from the other side. "I haven´t seen you in forever."

"That´s just a bit drastic, isn´t it? I haven´t fallen off the face of the planet yet," Usagi replied, laughing.

"Where are you? I was worried when the emailing stopped about a week back," Ami stated.

"I´m in Tokyo," Usagi informed her friend casually.

"That´s good. I thought you went missing," Ami responded. A pause followed, then a loud cry of "You´re in Tokyo?!" was heard when the information finally sunk in.

Usagi laughed harder. "Are you reading, Ames?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, it´s this patient´s information folder," Ami replied sheepishly.

"Some things don´t change," Usagi teased her friend. "So how about lunch on Saturday? We really need to catch up."

"We do," Ami agreed, "but I´m hosting a charity event Saturday. I suppose I could sneak in a couple hours of catching up time. Wufei can take care of it for a bit. Ah, speaking of which, why don´t you come?"

"Come where?" Usagi questioned.

"I´m hosting a charity ball for the hospital. Why don´t you come as my guest?" Ami clarified.

"A ball?" Usagi echoed. "I don´t know. . . ."

"Oh, Usagi, you have to come!" Ami insisted. "How about this? I´ll help you with the make-up and hairstyling."

"Are you sure this is the same Ami that refused to go to prom?" Usagi asked incredulously.

"Well, people change," Ami replied. "I´ll go shopping with you after lunch."

"This whole thing´s going to take more than two hours," Usagi pointed out.

"Wufei will man the fort," Ami stated. "Won´t you, honey?"

Usagi pressed her ear closer to the phone. She could hear Mr. Chang´s confused voice. "What will I do?"

Usagi muffled her giggles. "Brush his teeth every night," she suggested.

Ami repeated her suggestion to her husband. An uncertain "sure" was heard from Mr. Chang, and Usagi burst into laughter.

"Then how about the restaurant on Main Street that´s opening tomorrow? Lune Argent, I think it´s called. Noon on Saturday?" Usagi asked.

"It´s a date!" Ami agreed happily.

Usagi said her goodbyes to Ami. Just before she hung up, she could hear Mr. Chang´s voice in the background asking suspiciously, "A date? With who?"

~*~*~*~*~

"That computer file won´t run away, Miss Aino," Trowa laughed from the entrance to the large room. It was filled with many desks and computer systems, as well as a large counter and stools at the back of the room. The counter was filled circuit boards and other ongoing projects while the desks were full of papers.

"Just because you haven´t caught one running away doesn´t mean they don´t," Usagi replied good-naturedly, her fingers still typing away.

"It´ll still be around on Monday," Trowa answered.

"There´s just another thirty lines of coding for this part," Usagi stated, her eyes on the screen of her computer system.

"You sound like Heero," Trowa remarked, watching her reaction carefully.

Usagi´s fingers stopped for a full five seconds. Trowa could visibly see her take a deep breath before she restarted her work. "Then either I have a really masculine voice, or Mr. Yuy has a very feminine one," she muttered.

Trowa allowed a small smile to cross his face. Shaking his head, he decided not to get into a verbal fight with her. The time was well past eight o´clock, and he had been very surprised to find the light still on in the lab when he decided to leave. Then again, he should have known that it would be Usagi.

"I have to close up the place, Miss Aino," he stated.

"Oh, I´m sorry," Usagi quickly apologized. "I didn´t want you to wait for me. Uh. . . is it possible to lock the door from the outside?"

"You´re not giving up, are you?" Trowa asked. "Yes, it´s possible. I´ll leave you to turn off the lights then, but be sure not to touch anything else." His voice held a slight warning note, and Usagi knew that he was placing his trust in her for the moment. If anything was missing when he came in for work again, or if anything was even out of place, she´d be in big trouble.

She nodded. "Have a nice weekend, Mr. Barton," she said with a smile.

"Good night, Miss Aino," Trowa replied, leaving the room.

The door clicked shut behind him, and Usagi turned her full attention back to the screen. Now that she thought about it, she might need a little more than thirty lines of codes. Oh well, tomorrow would be Saturday, and she could sleep in until at least eleven.

The room was silent except for the clicking of the keys as she typed. She didn´t know how much time had passed since Mr. Barton had left. It wasn´t until she heard the opening of the door that she glanced at the clock. It was nine-thirty. Naturally, she assumed that it was Mr. Barton returning for something. He had, after all, locked the door to the room, and no one else would be able to get in.

"Did you leave something behind, Mr. Barton?" Usagi called out, not bothering to look up from her monitor. In a joking voice, she added, "Your jacket? Your favourite cup? The keys to your house?"

"I´d hate to think the head of my research department has gone scatterbrained. Don´t you agree, chibi-chan?"

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End of Chapter 8.

AN: I think you can all guess who that is. Anyways, the next chapter really will be in March. I have an English ISP to finish and a biology one too. Now that I think about it, I have a couple projects for Classics that I still got to do. This chapter was somehow written in the few hours that I got on Sunday because I didn´t know how to do my biology ISP. =\ Thought you might be interested. Anyways, please review and leave your thoughts. ^^