Silent Waltz      by Comet~Princess

Disclaimer: I own my Fushigi Yuugi DVD and my Weiss Kreuz tapes. Alright, let´s move on. ^_^

AN: *peeks at readers from behind Heero* Hi! ^_^"" I know I should have gotten this out a long time ago. And I will make no excuse for my laziness to get started. But I hit a point where I knew what I wanted to happen, but I couldn´t put it down on paper. Then, the writing mood hit me this last week before Christmas, so I managed to produce this!! Along with the second episode of WOALM! O_O I´m so erratic in my habits. Anyways, I worked hard on this, so I hope you enjoy! ^_^ Happy holidays, minna!

Warnings: Possible Mamoru-bashing?

Himiko-imouto-chan: Gomen that I didn't write the extra Christmas fic, but I've got to uphold my sanity. There's no way I can finish it for Christmas time. Sumimasen! Maybe for another holiday, okay? ^^""

Netnut: Nope! *evil grin* You´ll find out the past as the story keeps moving forward. That´s the style I´m experimenting with here. ^_^ If anyone is familiar with the Final Fantasy series, you know what I´m talking about.

V-Babe: That´s a good idea. ^_^ I´m do a bit more of that in this chapter. Reading you guys´ reviews made me realize that I´ve hardly developed Minako and Duo as a couple and as individuals, so I´ll try to remedy that. Thanks!

Midnight Lady: I´m flattered that you like my writing so much ^^"" demo, I´m not sure my parents would be happy if I did that.

Uranus2000: I think it´s a word. And you´re right. But don´t blame me for taking your suggestion. . .

Thanks to SilverRay-chan and Purr-chan for continuously reminding me to write. Trust me, if it wasn´t for them, this would take another half a year, and I´m not exaggerating.

Timeframe: Heck, I forgot. *sweatdrops* You wouldn´t mind checking the last chapter if you really wanted to know, right? ^^""

Alright, moving on. ^_^

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Chapter 5 - Sharing the Past

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Usagi tiptoed around the mansion, not making a single sound as she made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. She was surprised to find Trowa already there. It was, after all, rather early in the morning. He sat with a cup of coffee and some toast, unaware of her presence, for now.

"Good morning, Trowa," she greeted him.

He glanced up at her, and although he was unnerved that she had managed to make it downstairs and into the kitchen without him noticing, he didn´t show it. It had been a long time since someone had been able to do that. As far as he remembered, not even Quatre and Duo could. He gave a brief nod to her, and watched thoughtfully as she grabbed herself a cup of milk and looked to see if there´s anything better than toast for breakfast.

"Say, you wouldn´t happen to be able to cook, would you?" Usagi started, holding up a carton of eggs for him to see and giving him a pleading look.

Trowa continued to study her without a word. There was definitely something not quite. . .well, right, with her. At least, not the way Lady Une had portrayed her to the pilots. He stood up quietly, taking the carton from her and turning on the stove.

Usagi grinned. "Thanks Trowa, I owe you!" she exclaimed happily.

"Usagi," Trowa said without turning to look at her.

"Yea?" she replied. She knew what he was about to ask her, but she wasn´t ready to answer him, especially after what happened last night.

This time, Trowa turned to face her, and she noticed a brief glint in his eye before he spoke. "Who are you?"

Usagi blinked. "Usagi Tsukino," she answered carefully.

"That´s not what I meant, and I think you know that," Trowa replied quietly. He didn´t speak anymore, merely staring at her, not curiously, not menacingly, merely staring, waiting for her answer.

Usagi plopped down into a chair, playing nonchalantly with the handle of her mug. She stared into the white liquid, thinking about what she should tell Trowa. She knew she could trust him. He was Heero´s comrade in the war. Plus, if she was ever to confide in someone, she knew that he was probably the best choice. Still, she was reluctant to reveal anything.

Glancing at Trowa from the corner of her eye, she let out a small sigh, barely noticing as Trowa turned around to make sure he didn´t burn the eggs.

"What are you wondering about?" she asked finally, hoping he wasn´t going to demand for much.

Trowa brought her the omelet and sat down beside her. "What are you willing to share?" he returned.

Usagi shrugged. "I´m not sure of what´s going on myself. I know you know that I´m not what Lady Une, or even my dad for that matter, thinks I am.," she answered. "But I´m not going to confirm or deny that."

Trowa ran through their conversation quickly in his mind as she started to devour her breakfast. He knew that she´s really said nothing at all, but she does know what he thought of her, which is more than what he suspected she could do. The question, however, wasn´t what her abilities were. He had no doubt in his mind that she knew more than she let on, but he wondered what she would do with that knowledge.

Seeing the look on his face, Usagi took a sip of her milk and swallowed her food. "I´m not dangerous in the sense you´re thinking," she informed him.

Trowa looked at her sharply, causing Usagi to smile in amusement.

"Prove it," he commanded quietly.

Prove it? Usagi thought. How was she supposed to do that? Materialize a crystal ball and show him the future? She herself didn´t know what would happen in her life next. The only thing she knew was her past. Past. . . of course. She reached into waistband and pulled out the gun she had decided to keep on her since yesterday night. Immediately, she found herself staring into the barrel of Trowa´s own weapon. She shrugged.

"No need to jump to conclusions. I would have been faster if I wanted to try something," she stated with a slight smile. "Here." She handed him the gun across the table, making him glance at it precariously, and then back at her before lowering and putting away his weapon.

"What´s this supposed to prove?" he asked her.

Before she could answer, the only eye she could see under his thick brown bangs widened a fraction of an inch. "This is Heero´s old gun," he answered himself.

Usagi nodded. "Is that good enough?" she questioned, holding out her hand to take it back.

"How´d you get it?" Trowa asked.

Usagi winced as she remembered. "I´d rather not talk about that. It shows that Heero trusts me. Is that good enough?" she repeated with a sigh.

Trowa handed the gun back, hoping his judgment wouldn´t fail him. As far as he knew, Heero would give away even less information than Usagi just did. But she did have his gun, and he hadn´t threaten her when she came. In addition, thanks to Duo, he also knew that Usagi most likely had Heero´s gun before the Perfect Soldier himself arrived. That only left him with the conclusion that the two must have known each other before. Heero´s appearance at the Preventers´ Office wasn´t an accident.

Usagi shifted uncomfortably under Trowa´s gaze. She could almost see the wheels turning in his head, trying to put together what he knew of her, and most likely, what happened to Heero when he went missing.

"If there´s nothing else, Trowa, can I go back to my room now?" she asked.

Trowa gave a nod as she almost ran from the kitchen. Under normal circumstances, he would have been required to follow her, to make sure she got to her room safely. But he doubted that he was needed, after the conversation they just had.

~*~*~*~*~

Usagi walked quietly down the halls back to her room. Just as she was about to open her door, the sounds of someone else´s door reached her ears. She glanced up, and found herself staring into a pair of familiar blue eyes.

"Good morning," she said quietly, after she had somehow managed to find her voice back.

"Hn," he grunted.

After a moment of silence between them, he added, "We need to talk."

He´d thought about a lot of things last night after Duo had left him alone. He had also considered the options available to him. There was only one that would satisfy all the conditions he set. Now, he just needed to put it into action.

Usagi nodded, wondering what he wanted to say. She signaled for him to follow her into her room, and shut the door after him. He remained silent, staring out her balcony window. Instead of waiting for him, she decided to speak up. "Heero, last night-"

"Didn´t happen," Heero interrupted.

"What?" Usagi asked, confusion clouding her eyes.

A pause followed her outburst. And when Heero turned to face her, she could read nothing in his eyes. They had gone as blank and as emotionless as the first time she saw them.

"Nothing I did or said last night meant anything," he clarified.

Usagi stared at him, unable to find the reply she wanted. "What do you mean?" she questioned him, slightly confused, and slightly hurt at the same time.

Internally, Heero wanted to smack himself for hurting her, yet again, but on the exterior, he showed nothing. No matter how much it hurt now, it wouldn´t be as bad as if he left this until they were truly attached to each other. He would do anything to keep her safe. She was the sole most important person in his life, and he was willing to suffer if it would give her a chance to find happiness in the future, the happiness that he could never bring her.

"You´re my mission," he answered in his famous monotone, forcing himself to harden his heart. "Nothing more, nothing less. When this is over, you´ll never see me again."

Before Usagi could say another word, he turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Usagi sank down on her bed, gripping the sheets in one hand. She didn´t understand him, not at all. He could turn his emotions on and off as though they were a lamp attached to a switch in the wall. She couldn´t. No matter how much he tried to pull away from her, no matter how much she knew he was hurting both himself and her, she couldn´t stop caring for him. She knew that a lot of people would tell her that such a heartless person wasn´t worthy of her. But she also knew that Heero wasn´t heartless. In fact, she had been able to see sides of him that probably no one else had ever seen. And she didn´t hate any of him, not the sweet and concerned person, not the indifferent, laptop-obsessed, slave driving teacher, not even the cold, emotionless soldier. She was trapped in his web, and she couldn´t get out of it. She couldn´t stop. . .loving him.

~*~*~*~*~

Heero walked past the other pilots´ rooms as quickly as possible. He slipped into his own room and shut the door, leaning against it. He couldn´t get the picture of Usagi´s pained eyes out of his head, and it was making it harder and harder to do what he had planned to. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. She did something to him, and the unfortunate thing was, he liked it. He didn´t want to like it. It would be a whole lot simpler if he disliked her. Mentally, he groaned before stalking over to his laptop.

Turning it on, he entered a few codes. Plans of a satellite cannon filled the screen. He had been secretly keeping track of anything that looked like military plans, because this time, he wanted to stop any war before it had a remote chance of happening.

Quickly, he ran through the well-laid-out plans for this cannon. Although it looked like a defense weapon, he felt that any possible threat needed to be examined carefully. This looked like it came from the head of a genius, someone who had the resources to build something like this, and having found it after hacking into a personal computer had made it worse. That was why he had arrived at the Preventers so quickly after he received their email. But considering that he found out it came from Usagi, he suspected that Lady Une didn´t know the existence of such plans for a cannon. And he didn´t want to bring chaos into their already busy world until he was sure it was a threat.

After a couple of hours of studying it, Heero gave a mental sigh. He had the plans if the cannon was ever put into action, but he didn´t know what to do with it at this point. He closed his eyes for a second, letting his thoughts drift for once. They seemed to refuse to cooperate with him and his plans, for they kept coming back to the person he currently wanted to forget.

He sat up straighter in his chair and reached out to enter a few complicated passwords into the laptop.

A compartment on the side of it gave a gentle click, and Heero pulled out the tiny drawer. Inside lay what looked like a journal. He flipped it open. There was no writing inside. No name, no pencil markings, nothing. The only thing in the book was pressed between its pages. The first was a marigold, the one that a little girl gave him when he was on a mission. An accident had occurred, and she had ended up dying in the explosion he caused. To this day, he couldn´t quite forgive himself for the mistake.

The second and only other object pressed between the pages, was a single white rose.

~*~*~*~*~

Duo woke up to the smell of fresh flowers, which was unusual. He frowned slightly in his sleep, no quite wanting to open his eyes yet.

A soft giggle was heard, and before Duo knew it, something, or rather, someone leap onto his bed and him, shaking his sleeping apparatus and making him bolt upright.

He found himself staring at a very giddy Minako, and when he looked at her, a little confused, she burst out laughing.

"Morning there, Duo!" Minako greeted cheerfully.

"Yea, morning Princess," Duo grumbled, rubbing his eyes a little. "Strange wake-up call."

Minako smiled wistfully. "Sorry," she answered softly. "I used to do it all the time to my parents, back when I was a kid. . . and when they were still here."

Her sudden change of attitude, combined with her words, fully awakened Duo. "When they were still here?" he echoed, hoping that she didn´t mean what he thought she meant. He hadn´t heard anything concerning her parents being. . .in the afterlife.

Minako nodded, raising her eyes to meet his. Strange, she had never ever talked about her parents to anyone, not even Usagi, and the two were as close as friends, cousins, and sisters could get. She just didn´t feel comfortable enough to talk about them with people. Then, why was she here, talking about her dead parents to a guy she met a few days ago?

As though sensing her confusion along with how sore the subject was, Duo reached out to her, and she went into his arms willingly. She felt so safe and warm when he wrapped his arms around her and held her. The steady rhythm of his heartbeat calmed her. It had been awhile since she had felt like this. Every other guy paled in comparison to the current moment.

"You don´t have to talk about it if you don´t want to," Duo stated quietly, serious about the situation for once.

"No, I should," Minako replied. "It´s good to let things out, but I just haven´t found someone that I feel comfortable talking about this to. I know Usagi will understand me, but she doesn´t really. Do you know what I mean? She. . .Her parents are still alive."

"Yes," Duo stated firmly. He remained silent after that, feeling that Minako needed a little time to sort through her thoughts.

After another couple of minutes, she pulled back slightly, and Duo released her.

"It was when I was about fourteen," she began. "I don´t remember all the exact details. My doctor thinks my mind´s blocking it out because it hurts so much. My dad was a soldier, along with Usagi´s dad. And my mom was a nurse at a military base. The base was blown up that day, and the next day, Aunt Ikuko received a letter that told her my dad was missing in action, presumed dead."

Minako paused, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. Duo reached to brush away the ones rolling down her cheek, and she smiled gently at him. "I . . .I lost . . .lost them both," she whispered, "within 24 hours of each other."

Duo held her again as she sobbed into his nightshirt. Minako didn´t know why, but it felt like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She had placed her trust in an almost complete stranger, but she felt that it was the best decision she had made in her life. Her instincts told that this young man in front of her would never abandon her.

"At least you have memories," Duo stated quietly when her sobs and hiccups had stopped. "You remember what they look like, what they sound like, what their love feels like."

"Duo?" Minako inquired, looking up at the braided boy, who seemed to be lost within his own memories. When he looked at her, she could see his eyes glistening slightly, but he refused to let the tears fall.

"I´m a war-orphan," Duo told her. "I was out on the streets when I was four or five, lived off picking pockets and things like that. My best friend died when I was about seven, and I was taken to a church, the Maxwell Church."

He paused and Minako gasped slightly at the name. Duo nodded in confirmation. "Yep," he answered her unasked question. "I have no idea what my name is. My best friend who died, his name was Solo. And when I failed to get him the medicine he needed for his sickness, he told me he´d always watch over me. So, I named myself Duo. Because of the war at the time, the people who took care of me at the church were killed by soldiers. Then, I picked up the name Maxwell."

He suddenly released Minako and got out of the bed, walking to the bathroom.

"Duo," Minako called out, "what´s wrong?"

Duo shuffled his feet at the doorway. He´d never been nervous around girls before. He had always figured that no one would want to be close to him anyway. He was Shinigami, the God of Death. Anyone he was ever close to ended up dying or leaving him, one way or another. But with Minako, he was unsure. He wanted to let her in, but he also wanted to protect her. Much like he had seen the chemistry between his best friend and Usagi, he felt something much like a spark between himself and Minako. If he let her in though, would she leave him too? And why did he trust her enough to tell her all that?

Suddenly, he felt her arms wrap around his waist from behind, and her head was pressed against his shoulder.

"I won´t leave you," she promised.

Duo blinked. "How did you know?" he questioned, turning to face her.

"Because I felt the same when my parents passed away," she answered. "I didn´t know whether I could call Usagi´s family my own, and I shied away from my friends for months. I was so afraid they´d leave me the way my parents did."

Duo debated quietly to himself. He had yet to tell her that he was one of the infamous Gundam pilots, but if she knew, she´d be in more danger than she already was for associating with him. But he knew his own emotions. He wouldn´t be able to push her away, the way Heero was able to. He took a deep breath. There was only one question left to ask then. "Minako, don´t you care that you know nothing about my past? That I know nothing about where I came from?" he asked, looking deep into her eyes to detect any doubt.

Minako shook her head, staring back at him. "I like you for you, not your past and what you did. As for your name and your childhood," she gave a shrug, "I couldn´t care less if you were named Humphrey Bob Smith Junior and grew up on a farm with the cows."

Duo burst out laughing, and soon, Minako laughed along. When they were finally able to control themselves, Duo grinned. "Well, I´m going to take a shower now. . .unless you want to join me?"

"No thanks. For some strange reason, it´s not appealing to me right now," Minako answered sarcastically with a smirk. Then, the smirk turned into a genuine smile. "Thanks for listening, Duo."

First, it had been a friendly flirting game, played on both sides by people with masks of happiness and air-headedness. Now, it was much more than that. They had found an understanding with each other.

She left the room, and Duo grinned. "Anytime, Princess. Anytime."

~*~*~*~*~

A man with jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes sat in front of his desk, scanning the Preventers´ files on his computer.

"Well, what do you know?" he drawled out. "So you´ve reappeared, Perfect Soldier."

He hacked through more of the files, smirking slightly to himself. The Preventers had good security, he´ll admit that. With the Gundam pilots themselves working for the organization, it would disappoint him if their passwords and codes were easy to crack. Then again, nothing was impossible to hack into, especially for him.

"Stolen plans for a cannon, huh?" he muttered. "A cannon would be of great use."

He brought up two pictures from his hard drive. One was an emotionless-looking boy with brown hair and Prussian blue eyes. The other was a cheerful girl. Her blond hair was tied into strange pigtails, but the man couldn´t care less what her hairstyle was. What was important was her relation to the boy.

He hit a switch on the phone on his desk. "The plan shall be put into action now," he announced.

A chorus of "yes, sir" answered him, and he smiled internally with satisfaction.

"The games starts now," he whispered, raising his glass of expensive wine to the pictures on the screen. "Don´t go soft yet, Heero Yuy. I have yet to see your skill."

~*~*~*~*~

"Yes," Lady Une answered through her transmitter. "I got them the best bodyguards there are. I told you that already, Kenji."

The man in the vid-com frowned. "I know that," he answered, rubbing his temple, "but I´m still worried."

"What is it that went wrong with your experiment anyway?" Une finally asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time. "I know you said that you think someone found the records to a defense weapon you´re working on, but you haven´t told me what it is."

Kenji thought for a minute. She was protecting his daughter and niece. He knew she had a right to know, but what would she say when she found out? He looked into the vid-com and through her eyes, he knew that if something happened, he should be held responsible for this, not the other Preventers, not his wife, not his daughter and niece.

"It was a satellite cannon, a defensive one. The plans were almost complete. I thought that with an automatic system in place, our job would be easier," he told Lady Une.

The former colonel of OZ let the information sink in. At this point, she knew there was no reason to blame the weapon developer. It wouldn´t make the situation better. Their primary concern, then, was to find out who had the information, and eliminate any copies of such an advanced weapon.

"We need to find out who has this information," she said to Kenji. "There is no reason I should blame you right now."

Kenji nodded. "I understand, but it is my fault. Any rectification that needs to be done though, I will do it," he stated firmly.

Une nodded. She had not chosen her weapon developer wrongly. He was a responsible man, willing to suffer the consequences of his actions. He was also a genius in his field of work. His only quirk, Une thought with a smirk threatening her lips, was his daughter and niece´s love lives. And she had assigned five men to be their bodyguards. The irony of the situation amused her slightly, despite the fact that the situation itself was very serious.

"Would you like to come down to headquarters?" Une asked. "I think we need to analyze the details of your cannon. That way, we´ll have a bit of a head start on a counterattack, should an enemy decide to use it."

Kenji frowned. "Are you sure my presence in the Sanq Kingdom would not endanger my daughter and my niece´s lives?" he questioned.

"Not at all," Une replied. "As I´ve told you, we have the best bodyguards we can find for them. Plus, we may need you to explain some of the more complicated things in your plans."

"Alright then," Kenji answered with a smile and a nod. "My wife would be ecstatic to see Usagi and Minako again." 

Une smiled back. "Your flight takes off early tomorrow morning," she informed her employee. "See you later tomorrow afternoon."

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End of Chapter 5.

AN: Review!! PLEASE!!! I worked really hard to get this chapter done. Please review! And a very happy holidays to everyone out there! See you next year!