Silent Waltz by Comet~Princess

Disclaimer: I own me, that´s it. Now, go away!! (Unless you´re not going to sue me. ^_^)

AN: Do you guys know how much it sucks when ff.net is down? I was so deprived of reviews during that week. (or is it two?) Anyway, I got bored, so I started writing this before I got feedback, which usually doesn´t happen. Your reviews are my source of inspiration for the following chapter. Anywho, if this chapter is worse than the norm, you now know why!

Warnings: Some mushiness. One line of Relena-bashing. And OOC-ness for Heero! OOC-ness for Heero! OOC-ness for Heero! Now you can´t say I didn´t warn you.

zgurl: Gomen nasai. I said at the beginning of AiD that I´m not writing anymore to TGIFY and I haven´t changed my mind.

StarGazer: Heh heh. Thanks for the information, I´ll keep that in mind. Demo, I did say I knew nothing about them. ^_^ Well, it WAS Wufei that got hit. . .soooo, let´s just say Wufei-kun is strong enough to take it. *sweatdrops*

Purr: Ah! I meant to say that you were the only person who caught on to the gun hint, but ff.net wouldn´t let me access my reviews and I couldn´t remember who it was! Gomen! Anyways, congrats for catching on! ^_^

Timeframe: I bet you all forgot. *sigh* 2 years after the end of EW. Guys are 19, Usagi and Minako are 18.

Oh yes, thanks goes out to Himiko-imouto-chan and SilverRay-chan for keeping me sane when ff.net was down! *tackle glomp* See you on ICQ!! ^^

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Chapter 4 - Forget Me

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I almost wish I can forget myself, Heero thought to himself as he and Usagi continued their staring contest. He didn´t even divert his gaze. He could spend the rest of eternity looking into the pure sapphire blue of her eyes. Usagi stared back, captivated by his intense gaze. Sitting there, staring at him, the six months they spent apart almost vanished into thin air. . .almost. Her hand tightened around the gun unconsciously. She could still remember the day he´d left as though it had been yesterday.

**Flashback**

The school bell rang, signaling the end of the day. All the students ran out of their classrooms. Usagi ran out of her last period class with Minako in tow.

"Are you going home now, Usagi?" Minako asked her cousin.

Usagi smiled. "I always do, don´t I?" she replied.

Minako sighed. "Yes, you do," she answered. "That´s why I´m worried about you. For the past year and a half, you´ve abandoned all after-school activities to go home early. Is something wrong?"

Usagi shook her head. "What could be wrong?" she questioned with a grin. "Just because you miss having someone to check out the guys on the sports team with doesn´t mean something´s wrong. By the way, who´s the crush of the week?"

"I´ll have you know that it´s not a crush this time!!" Minako huffed. "I think it´s meant to be."

"Sure," Usagi teased. "That´s what you said last week."

Minako scowled. "You know, one of these days, I´ll be right!!" she declared.

Usagi laughed. "I´ll see you at dinner, alright?"

Minako nodded and walked off to volleyball practice, leaving Usagi alone to head out of the school gates. Once she was sure no one was following her, she took off skipping in the opposite direction of her house. Reaching a modest two-story cottage, she took out the extra key he gave her and let herself in.

"Heero! You want to go for ice-cream before you teach me-" Usagi paused, noticing that the foyer was devoid of all furniture. She shut the door quietly behind her and took a few more steps inside. All of a sudden, she heard a soft click on her left. Instinctively, Usagi put her hands in the air. She sensed the figure approaching her. When it was close enough, she swung her schoolbag at its arm, knocking the gun to the floor. Without thinking, she did a low sweep kick. The figure back-flipped into a crouching position. Quickly, Usagi took a few step to the side and stepped into a fighting stance. Making sure that the gun was underneath her foot, she looked at her opponent.

Usagi blinked. "Heero! You scared me!!" she yelled at him, dropping the stance and picking up the gun.

Heero kicked the gun out of her hand and pinned her to the wall in one swift motion. "Don´t assume I´m your ally just because you know me," he warned her.

"Considering it´s you, that´s kind of hard," Usagi replied dryly. "I know you wouldn´t hurt me."

Heero regarded her with his emotionless eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He cared too much about her, and that was a weakness. One that his past enemies will use against him very soon. He released her and picked up the gun from where it fell. Without looking at her, he spoke, "I´m leaving."

Usagi blinked. "I´m sorry, Heero. That wasn´t supposed to be offensive," she stated, confusion in her eyes.

"I don´t mean I´m leaving this room," Heero clarified, gesturing to the now empty house. "I mean I´m leaving this town."

Usagi grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. "What?!" she cried out. "But why?"

Heero shrugged. "Personal reasons," he answered in monotone.

By the way he replied, Usagi knew she would get no more than that out of him. She averted his gaze, instead choosing to look at the floor. "But you promised to teach me," she said quietly.

Heero caressed her cheek lightly. "I did, and trust me, you´re better than the average soldier," he responded.

Usagi tried not to cry, but without success. He´d been a constant in her life for the past year and a half. When she told Minako that she was going home, she was really here, with him. Most of the time, he trained her, at her request. Once in awhile, she´d convince him to go out and do something else. It was hard to believe he´d be leaving, that she might not see him again. "You won´t even think about staying?" she asked softly.

Heero gently kissed her tears away before capturing her lips in a kiss so light, she thought it might not have been there at all. "Don´t cry," he told her. "I´m not worth your tears." He didn´t know why he had agreed to teach her in the first place, just that no one should be close to him. He was supposed to be completely emotionless, and most of the time, he was. Unless he was with Usagi. She made him feel, and it made his loneliness leave. He liked it, but if any of his old enemies ever found out that he cared about her in such a way, they would surely come after her to get to him. She might have learnt how to defend herself, but he didn´t want her to have to use those skills at all, especially now, when the world was supposed to be at peace. She shouldn´t be involved in his dangerous past.

He kissed her again, hungrily and fiercely this time, seeking the warmth he always felt when he was with her. Usagi responded eagerly, melting into his arms and holding him to her as though she´d die if they separated. When he finally pulled away, she felt a piece of cold metal being pressed into her palm. She looked down to find his gun, the one he always kept on him, in her hands.

"Last gift to you," Heero answered her unspoken question.

Usagi smiled knowingly. "And to protect myself," she added for him.

"Hopefully, that wouldn´t be necessary," Heero muttered, more to himself than to her.

Usagi stared at the gun, clicking the safety on and off a few times. It was a familiar feel. It was, after all, the gun he taught her how to shoot with. Slowly, she looked up into his Prussian blue eyes, which, for once, flickered with something akin to sadness and regret.

"Promise me we´ll meet again," she whispered.

Heero looked away from her. "I don´t know if I can keep that promise," he answered quietly.

Usagi tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. "Just promise me?" she pleaded. She wanted some hope of being able to see him again, no matter how small.

Heero was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it was not what Usagi expected at all. "I promise, but only if you promise me something too," he replied.

"Anything," she stated.

Heero tipped her chin up and looked deep into her eyes. "Forget me."

"What?!" Usagi blurted out.

"Don´t try to find me. Don´t remember me. The moment you leave this place today, I cease to exist in your memory," Heero responded.

**End Flashback**

"I regret it," Heero stated bluntly after another couple of minutes of staring.

Usagi blinked. "You regret teaching me?" she asked.

"All of it, meeting you, teaching you," he replied. Getting attached to you, he finished in his head.

Usagi stood up from her bed and stared at him in shock, pain and hurt flashing through her eyes, making Heero wince internally for saying what he did out loud. "You. . .you regret. . .meeting me?" she stuttered out in a whisper.

Heero looked away from her. His heart twitched. He didn´t know what he wanted to do. He could lie to her and have her hate him forever, but he didn´t want that. He wanted her to care about him. No one had ever cared about him. She was the first. He wanted to protect her and keep her safe. She would never be safe if she was with him though. However, he knew she´d be hurt more if he lied to her. Before he realized what he was doing, he answered, "No, I don´t regret meeting you. I regret that you met me."

Usagi shook her head. "I don´t regret meeting you, Heero," she proclaimed.

"You should," Heero retorted.

Usagi crossed her arms stubbornly. "Why should I?" she questioned. "I happen to like spending time with you."

"You should regret meeting me because you were innocent before," Heero replied.

"And clueless, not to mention helpless," Usagi added.

"I taught you to use a computer; I taught you to fight; I taught you to use weapons; I taught you to break in and out of places," Heero listed, clenching his fists at his side until his knuckles turned white. "I made you into another soldier."

Understanding finally dawned onto Usagi. Slowly, she walked towards him until he was only a few inches away. "No," she said softly, looking him straight in the eye. "I chose to learn how to use a computer; I chose to learn how to fight; I chose to learn how to use weapons; and I chose to learn how to break in and out of places." She reached up to caress his cheek. "You never made me into a soldier," she continued. "I chose to become one."

"You shouldn´t have to be one," Heero responded. He caught the hand stroking his cheek and pressed a kiss into her palm. Dropping her hand, he walked to the balcony.

Usagi blinked and stared at her hand, caught off-guard by Heero´s sudden display of affection. By the time she snapped out of her reverie and looked at the balcony, he was gone.

(AN: Why didn´t he use the door? *sweatdrop* I don´t know. Old habits die hard? You know, he would have been trained to find odd ways out of places? Whatever. ^_^)

~*~*~*~*~

Minako stood up from her position in Duo´s lap and tugged on his shirt. "Come on!" she hissed into his ear.

Duo grinned and stood up to follow her.

"You don´t want to watch the movie?" Quatre asked when he noticed Minako standing up.

"Oh, that´s not it!" she replied, smiling at the blond haired boy. "I just need to go to the bathroom, and since Duo´s my bodyguard, I figured he´d need to follow me."

Quatre nodded, smiled, and turned back to the movie while Trowa eyed her before shrugging and turning back to the television screen.

Minako dragged Duo to the staircase before she spoke. "You think there´s something going on too, right?"

Duo snickered. "Are you talking about taking me to the bathroom with you or Heero and your cousin?" he asked sarcastically.

Minako smacked Duo in the arm. "In case you didn´t notice, I don´t have to go to the bathroom!" she replied. "You want to know if there´s something going on between them too, don´t you?"

Duo broke into a grin. "If there is, I am going to tease Heero until he goes to his grave," he joked.

Minako wrinkled her nose. "Are you sure he won´t shoot you?" she asked, remembering the many times when Duo had found himself face to face with the barrel of his friend´s gun.

Duo shrugged nonchalantly. "Nah, he wouldn´t really," he replied. "Now, come on. Time for some stealth lessons."

He silently crept up the stairs, pausing to teach Minako a few things about sneaking around. She made a couple of noises, but it wasn´t too bad, since Usagi´s room wasn´t near the staircase.

"Usagi´s room or Heero´s room?" Duo whispered to Minako as they crept through the halls.

"Usagi´s," Minako answered just as quietly, following Duo´s lead. "He followed her, after all."

The braided boy gave a nod and crept towards her room, being careful to be as silent as possible. When he reached her door, he motioned for Minako to be quiet. With skills that he had developed over the many years, Duo slowly opened the door just a crack and peered into the room.

"I taught you to use a computer; I taught you to fight; I taught you to use weapons; I taught you to break in and out of places. I made you into another soldier," they heard Heero´s voice say. For once, it seemed to be slightly strained instead of its usual monotone.

Duo blinked and looked at Minako. From her puzzled expression, it was obvious she didn´t know what Heero was talking about either.

Then, they heard Usagi´s voice answer, "No. I chose to learn how to use a computer; I chose to learn how to fight; I chose to learn how to use weapons; and I chose to learn how to break in and out of places. You never made me into a soldier. I chose to become one."

"You shouldn´t have to become one," Heero´s voice replied.

What Duo saw next made his jaw drop. He closed the door and ushered Minako to her own room before bursting into laughter.

"What´s so funny?" Minako demanded. "I thought it was so sweet!"

"Sweet?" Duo commented incredulously. "There´s one word that I´d never use to describe Perfect Soldier Boy."

"What do you think they were talking about?" Minako asked, pondering over the small bit of the conversation they had overheard.

"Hmm. . ." Duo murmured, thinking about it as well. "Well, obviously, Heero taught Usagi those things he listed."

"But when? He didn´t even speak today in training," Minako answered.

Duo shrugged. "I don´t really get the soldier part," he muttered.

"Well, at least we know there´s something going on between them," Minako mused.

Duo snickered. "That reminds me, I have to go tease a certain friend of mine now. You going to be okay?" he asked.

Minako nodded. "Yep, go ahead. But don´t get yourself killed," she responded with a smile. She had to tease someone too, but at least she didn´t have to fear being shot.

Duo smiled back. He took Minako´s hand, gave her a mock bow, and kissed the back of her hand. "See you tomorrow then, Princess," he declared, and left the room.

Minako blushed a little at the unexpected gesture before heading over to Usagi´s room.

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi curled up on top of her covers. What are we, Heero? Friends? Or something else? she wondered silently to herself. She knew he still felt something for her, something more than friendly concern, but what was she supposed to do? He was acting so detached, like he never knew her before the day he showed up in the Preventers´ office. Well, except for the odd time when they were alone, and even then, it was nothing that truly indicated how he felt about her. She knew he cared, but that wasn´t exactly what she was looking for. She already knew that. Usagi sighed. All this thinking was slowly giving her a headache. She sat up when she heard knocking on her door.

"Come in," she called out.

Minako breezed into the room and grinned at her cousin. "So, what´s going on?" she asked, not bothering to be discreet.

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" she returned, honestly confused by Minako´s question.

Minako smiled innocently. "What´s going on between you and Heero?" she answered.

Usagi blinked. "What makes you think there´s something going on?" she questioned at last. Unless she had to, she didn´t want to tell Minako about Heero, because if she did, she´d have to tell about the training parts too.

"Um. . ." Minako stuttered. "Promise you won´t be mad?"

Usagi nodded, and Minako quickly spoke, "Me and Duo were curious, so we snuck by your room and peeked in and caught Heero kissing your hand."

Usagi froze. "Did you hear anything?" she asked cautiously, remembering what she and Heero were talking about just prior to that.

"Yea, we heard all this weird stuff about training. Hey Usagi! Heero didn´t even talk today in training. How could he have taught you anything? Unless you read minds," Minako babbled.

Usagi sweatdropped. "Minako, there´s some stuff you don´t know about me," she began, watching as her cousin regarded her curiously.

Minako smiled. "Well, I always knew there was more to you than you let on," she said quietly with a sign. "But I promised myself that I´d never pry into your family´s stuff."

Usagi reached over and enveloped Minako in a bear hug. "Thanks," she responded softly. "I promise I´ll tell you everything once all this danger stuff is over, if not sooner."

Minako hugged back. "Well," she drawled, "there is a way you can make up for keeping secrets from me."

Usagi pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "I´m not sure I want to know," she replied dryly.

Minako grinned. "Do you like him?" she questioned.

Usagi smiled in amusement. She was silent for a moment, thinking about what she should tell Minako. "Depends on what you mean by ‘like´," she answered. Deciding that she had better change the subject before she told her cousin more than she wanted to, she added, "What do you think of him?"

"He´s hot, but he´s a weirdo," Minako commented, wrinkling her nose. "I haven´t even see any emotion other than. . .uh. . . now that we´re talking about it, I don´t think I´ve seen emotions on that guy at all!"

"Irritation?" Usagi offered, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"I guess," Minako answered, smiling mischievously. "Well, at least I know you´re not a lesbian now."

Usagi scowled and chucked her pillow at Minako.

~*~*~*~*~

Duo muttered some curses under his breath when he found that Heero wasn´t in his room. He wanted to tease the Perfect Soldier badly, but if he couldn´t find the guy, then he couldn´t do anything. The braided boy grumbled a little before heading to the gardens. So Minako thought Heero was sweet, huh? Duo shook his head slightly. I wonder what Minako would say if I showed up under her window with a guitar? he thought to himself, remembering some ancient chick flick that his good friend Hilde had made him watch with her. Then, he remembered how the guy had sung in the very next scene and quickly scratched out the idea. The guys would no doubt kill him for it. Well, at least Wufei will.

Duo snapped out of his train of thoughts when he realized he had stumbled into Quatre´s garden. . .and the Perfect Soldier. He grinned and was about to call out when he decided to see what Heero was doing in the garden first. He peered over the bush curiously and watched as his best friend bent down to one knee in front of a white rose bush and picked one off, staring at it as though he was in a trance.

Duo briefly wondered what his friend was doing. He shrugged and came out from behind the bush. "Hey Heero!" he called out with a goofy grin.

Heero didn´t move from his position. He merely demanded, "What do you want?"

Duo walked up behind him. "So," he began innocently, "who´s that for?"

Heero stood up abruptly, knocking Duo in the chin with his shoulder. He dropped the rose back into the bush. "What the hell do you want?" he asked again.

Duo grinned. "Oh, not much. Just wondering how possible it is for the Perfect Soldier to have a crush," he said nonchalantly.

Heero´s face remained expressionless. Duo shrugged it off, used to his comrade´s lack of reaction. "Did you go for anything more than kissing her hand?" Duo prompted suggestively, making Heero whirl around and glare at him.

"Ooh! Reaction!" the braided boy continued to taunt, which was a bad idea, considering he found himself staring into the barrel of Heero´s gun in the next moment.

"Omae o korosu," Heero threatened.

"So what else is new?" Duo returned sarcastically. "Seriously though, what´s up with you and Usagi, huh?"

"Nothing," Heero growled. "Now, leave me alone."

"Give me a break!" Duo muttered. "I´m not that stupid. Like there could really be nothing going on. Hello? This is you we´re talking about. If you taught someone anything, there´s something going on!"

"You were eavesdropping? How much did you hear?" Heero inquired slowly.

"Just the bit about you training her," Duo answered. "Which reminds me, when did that happen?"

"That´s none of your business," Heero replied.

Duo broke into a grin. "I get it. You trained her in secret today because you have a crush on her and you don´t know any other way to get closer to her," he guessed.

If Heero wasn´t the Perfect Soldier, he would have facevaulted. Despite the wild guess, Duo was actually kind of close. It was more the other way around though. "Duo, just stay out of my stuff," he commanded.

"Hey, I´m just trying to help," Duo admitted. "Trust me. Giving your gun to a girl is not exactly a turn-on. . .unless you count that psycho Relena." (AN: Duo´s just randomly saying things. He doesn´t know that Heero really gave his gun to Usagi. And no, it wasn´t meant to be a turn-on. He just gave it to her so she could protect herself.)

"I don´t want your help," Heero stated, trying not to sound irritated.

"Ah ha! So you do like her!" Duo concluded, breaking into a grin so wide, it looked like his face might crack. "Oh boy, wait till I tell the other guys this! The Perfect Soldier has a crush! Who would have thought?!"

Heero clicked the safety off his gun, which was still pointed at Duo. "Say a word and I swear I´ll kill you," he warned.

Duo shrugged again. "Like you´ll really shoot me. We have a mission!! Plus, Minako would be mad if you shot me, then Usagi will be mad because Minako´s mad," he reasoned with an innocent smile. "You wouldn´t want your girlfriend to hate you, right?"

Reluctantly, Heero put the gun back. He glared at Duo. "If you say a word, I´ll hold you down the next time Wufei decides he wants to chop off your braid," he rephrased.

He didn´t notice that he hadn´t refute Duo´s statement about Usagi being his girlfriend, but Duo did. Unfortunately, the former pilot of Deathscythe was a little busy hugging his beloved braid to make a comment about that. "You wouldn´t do that to my baby, would you?" he squeaked.

Heero crossed his arms and gave his famous death glare, letting Duo know that all he had to do was mention what he found out to the guys, and he´d get one free haircut. Duo gulped and nodded.

Heero started to walk back to the house, inwardly smirking with satisfaction. Duo finally gained enough of his mischievousness back to follow Heero and open his mouth. "Hey Heero, you never told me if you did more than just kiss her."

Heero glowered and slammed Duo into the wall beside the door before walking inside. Even if he couldn´t shoot Duo, he could still hurt him for the provocative comments.

"A simple no would have sufficed," Duo mumbled into the wall. "Violent people these days."

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End of Chapter 4.

AN: Alright people! No cliffhanger type ending! ^_^ But here´s the deal. School´s starting, and that means I´m going to have A LOT LESS time to work on fics. I´ll keep writing but updates will definitely slow down. Gomen for taking a long time with this chapter, but ff.net was down and all. Anywho, please review! I need them for inspiration!!