Chapter Three: Encore Encounters

*The long walk to the newly rebuilt government building only took him five minutes. As soon as he walked into the lobby and was blasted by a cold breeze of air, he froze. The entire room to him was a safety hazard.

The fact that he had even been admitted into the building without being carded or checked for ID worried him. No wonder these idiots needed experienced bodyguards for their new Vice-Foreign Minister- they were pathetic greenhorns. He could have easily been a terrorist ready to blow the building sky high, or an assassin to blow the sickeningly sweet mouth off of Relena, or even a stalker obsessed with her that wanted to rape her.

And on top of all the safety issues, it was too cold for his liking. Hmm. Hiiro unslung his jacket from his shoulder and with practiced grace pulled it on. Stepping up to a desk, he cleared his throat.

“Excuse me sir, can I help you?” A perky voice echoed through his ears.

“I have a meeting with Ms. Peacecraft Darlian.” Hiiro spoke in his usual monotone voice.

“Oh!” Exclaimed the bubbly blonde in front of him. He gave her a look over, eyes searching for any trace of possible enemy. Long blonde hair and watery blue eyes accompanied by a medium sized frame. She looked like Quatre in his mind- with a few more feminine attributes of course. In fact, she looked slightly familiar at the same time…

The girl from the street! She resembled the girl he had had the run-in with earlier on the street. But there was no way… This girl had on different clothing and a much-improved attitude. She wasn’t the same woman. Hiiro shook his head- his mind was playing tricks on him. Why did he still remember that woman from earlier? A soldier’s mind was not meant for such trivial thoughts and memories. He needed to be alert at all times, not daydreaming over a gorgeous blonde spitfire.

“Sir?” Hiiro blinked and realized the woman in front of him was speaking again.

“Yes?”

“Relena is expecting you. You can go right on up. It’s the thirteenth floor, last door. Tell them the code word, Wing, and they’ll let you in. Then her personal secretary will tell you when she’s ready for you.”

“Hnn.” He grunted. The woman before him gasped, narrowed her eyes, and drew back.

“Well.” She muttered. “Of all the rude boys, I never…” As she kept talking, Hiiro tried to drown her out, but the scorn in her voice somehow kept his attention. No guilt, simply attention. Then the woman stopped and sighed.

“No, never mind. It isn’t worth getting upset over. I’ll let Serena do it when she finds out how rude you are.” Hiiro stopped and faltered. Serena?

“Serena?” He was compelled to ask.

“Never mind, you aren’t worth my anger.”

“Serena?” He tried again, his voice much darker than the first time.

“Never mind, never mind.” The woman muttered.

“Hnn.” That name… it was so familiar to him. Why did everything seem to keep feeling familiar to him today? It was a curse. Now who had that name that he knew? No one… Serena. The woman on the street earlier? ‘No!’ His mind groaned. ‘Not her again!’ He had to find a way to get rid of this memory. She, after all, had just been another woman in the middle of a world and galaxy of a million other women. Serena was a common name; it was probably just another one, that was all.

A moment later Hiiro snapped himself out of his reverie and wanted to smack his head against the wall for allowing something so trivial to deter him. As he stepped into the elevator, he drilled his mind. All that mattered was his new job of protecting Relena. That was all that mattered: protecting Relena.

Those words were full of so much meaning. In the beginning Hiiro had found her beautiful, he wasn’t about to deny that. It had been her voice, perhaps. It wasn’t high and screechy, but a little more mature. It did crack every once in a while, but that was part of it’s charm, the fact that she looked so flawless but still you could hear the strength and fear at the same time. Nothing about her front gave away her emotions until she was ready to let them be known, only her voice.

But that had been three years ago. After the Eve Wars Hiiro had left on purpose to get away. Not just from his life as a soldier, but his life with Relena. A relationship would have been too complicated for him to handle at the time, he had known that much. But he also knew he had been ready for a relationship for a while now. He knew how she felt about him, so why hadn’t he returned sooner? Maybe it was just his change in taste. As much as he had been attracted to Relena when he was younger, he now found himself knowing that she wasn’t what he needed, what he wanted.

And now he was back to guard her. Would she still be the same? Would she still have her feelings for him? He hoped that she would be able to contain herself, because he just couldn’t face her yet. Why had he returned at all then? Sometimes his mind confused him so much that he wanted it to just explode, that way his ideas would stop plaguing him and leave in peace for a short time.

The elevator ding cut his thoughts off and he stepped into a heavily guarded hallway. Good, at least they had tightened security around her office. Maybe he wouldn’t have to do too much work. Then again, no chances could be taken. Relena was an important figurehead in maintaining peace at the moment, and the world could easily break into chaos without her.

“Password?” One of the guards stopped him.

“Wing.”

“Let him pass!” The guard yelled. The other guards nodded and let down their guard. Hiiro frowned. They shouldn’t have done that. But he would need to think on this after he spoke with Relena. He found the last door on the right, office thirteen. Hmm. He had to smirk. Thirteenth office on the thirteenth floor- how very ironic.

The door swung open and he briskly stalked in. Standing at the empty secretary’s desk, e wondered where she had gone. Then he heard rustling papers from a closet behind the desk and new she was sorting files. Finding a bell sitting on the countertop, Hiiro rang it in hopes of catching the woman’s attention. Briefly Hiiro wondered what poor sucker Relena had gotten to do all the hard work. Probably an old woman who didn’t have anything better to do.

“Coming! Hold on!” A sweet voice filtered through the room. Hiiro’s mind registered, but did not make a complete connection. That voice!

“Hiiro?” Another voice, deeper and more experienced with emotions rang out.

“Hello Relena.” He said turning to face her. She must have heard the ding and known it was him.

“Hello Hiiro.” Relena smiled brightly. He looked almost the same as when she had last seen him. Maybe his face had thinned out, and any boyish features were now gone, but other than that, he was the same man she had known so long ago. The real question was, had his character changed any?

“It looks like I’m your new bodyguard.” He tried to make he speak. Even if he didn’t care about her in the romantic sense, he would always love her voice.

“It looks like it. It’s been a long time Hiiro. I’ve missed you.” Relena looked at him, almost sadly. Somehow, she knew. He had changed.

“Yeah.” Hiiro shifted. This was awkward.

“Miss Relena? I thought I heard…” The previous voice became louder. Hiiro’s idea that it was an old woman was shattered. No old woman could have that soft and sweet a voice with such energy built into it.

“Oh! Hiiro, you have to meet my secretary. I trust her completely, so please don’t feel worried about her. Serena, come out here!”

“Coming!” As the woman appeared, Hiiro’s eyed narrowed, then went wide. “Relena, I finally found the files on the Truer Case in AC 193. Did you want…” The woman’s voice trailed off. There was no way… Relena’s eyes flickered between both her secretary and her bodyguard.

“I’m sorry, do you two know each other?”

“No.”

“Yes.” They replied simultaneously.

“I see. Serena?”

“This is the man I was telling you about this morning, the rude one I ran into after Darien and I broke up.” Relena looked at her blankly for a second, then blinked and looked at Hiiro.

“You were rude to her?”

“She started it.” He grumbled. Relena, who hadn’t known whether to be angry with Hiiro or laugh at Serena, decided to laugh. Hiiro had changed!

“Oh Hiiro! You were both to blame, how is that?”

“Miss Relena, is this your new bodyguard?” Serena’s eyes opened wide.

“Yes. Serena, this is Hiiro Yui. Hiiro, this is Serena Kennington. Now that you’ve been properly introduced, you two shouldn’t have any problem working together.” Serena started to say something, but thought the better of it and closed her mouth.

“Relena, I would like to begin by running a full evaluation of your security system, then an overhaul on personnel, and finally safety precautions with you.” Hiiro jumped right in. There was a lot on his mind regarding Serena, but he pushed it out for later thought. Not now. Not now.

“Yes, yes Hiiro. I give you permission to do what you need to to make things safe. Just promise me you’ll take time out of your schedule to come in and talk to me. What good will it do if you don’t know anything about me?” Relena smiled.

“Fine.” Hiiro agreed. After all, it wasn’t that he didn’t want any contact with her. She had been his very first friend as well, even before Duo Maxwell. He wanted to regain some of that. It would be hard on her to understand that though, he could already tell.

“Miss Relena?” Serena asked after she had re-composed herself. “The Truer Case files?”

“Oh yes! I’ll take them now, thank you Sere.”

“Anytime.”

“Sere, I’m going to ask you to make sure Hiiro knows how to get around and learns the ropes.” Relena didn’t notice the hesitation in Serena’s answer.

“Of course Miss Relena.”

“Wonderful! I’ll see you both later then.” And Relena turned and went back into her office, leaving Serena and Hiiro alone. Serena took one more look at Hiiro and then turned and went back into the storage closet. Hiiro followed.

“… And of course it’s the rude jerk from the streets. What she sees in a killer I’m working on learning, but what she sees in that killer I know I’ll never know.” He heard her mumbling under her breath.

“Hnn.” He cleared his throat. She spun around, long blonde pigtails whipping him in the face.

“Yes? Did you need something?”

“Personnel list and map of the building.”

“Didn’t you ever hear the word ‘please’? No, I don’t suppose that word ever entered the vocabulary of a murderer.” Hiiro felt like growling. She was beautiful but deadly with those poisonous barbs. He knew that she was the one kind of woman he could never love.

“It did. But I didn’t feel like wasting it.” He decided to get a little of his own back. Her jaw dropped. *

~~~NOTE: I do have two things to say that are rather important:

1) I don’t want to Relena bash. I do like Relena, just not as much as I like Serena. So Hiiro will have a closer relationship with her. I think that it’s more believable that way anyway.

2) I am having a bit of writer’s block with this, so updates may take a little more time. School and college apps… *Pray Vixen gets into ASU! Or U of A! * Anyway, I have all of that at the same time as this, and the writer’s block. I know where I want it to go, just not how to get it there. PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME! Don’t leave and never review! It hurts! Much love, Vixen. ~~~