"Princess, please come out of that closet this minuet! Your flute teacher is here," the exasperated servant called out. The princess groaned loudly as she crawled out of the closet in which she had been hiding. She had to find a new hiding place soon or else she would have to see that sorry excuse for a teacher every day! In her opinion, she had far superior flute playing skills than that so-called teacher could ever hope to have.

"I’m coming, I’m coming," the princess growled.

"Good, now please fallow me."

"I know where the music room is!"

"Ah, but we are not going to the music room."

"What?"

"We are going to the main chamber. Your father and your flute teacher wish to speak to you there."

"Do you know why?" Now the servant had genuinely caught her interest.

"No, Princess, I don’t know why. All I know is that your father is in a very good mood."

***

"Her skills are incredible. I can’t believe how far she has come in just one year."

"Yes, though, I have been to told she is a quick study." The shogun sat there talking to Princess Relena’s flute teacher, with an impassive expression on his bearded face.

Just as the flute teacher was about to make a comment, there was a knock on the large wooden door and the female servant that was sent to fetch Relena walked in. Giving the shogun a very deep bow she stated,

"Your majesty, Princess Relena is here." The Shogun nodded and replied

"Good, send her in." Giving another deep bow she stepped out of the large very decorated room and Princess Relena shyly walked in, calmer than usual out of respect for her father and not wanting to dishonor him in front of his guest.

She quietly got down on her knees and prostrated her self before her well-respected father. In truth, her father frightened her. Everything she did never seemed to please him. Maybe if she was a calmer, less curious, more submissive girl she might be able to please him, or maybe it was her mother’s death that displeased him. Her mother died of too much blood loss shortly after Relena was born, so she theorized that he must blame her for the death of his beloved wife. But Relena didn’t see how that could be seeing as how her father married that witch only one year later.

Was her stepmother really a witch? Probably not, but she hated Relena, she was sure of that. She was stubborn and impatient, always trying to mold Relena into her vision of a perfect samurai’s daughter, submissive and humble towards all men. Ha! What did she know? All ready set in her ways, Relena would not let this women touch her much less mold her.

"You may sit up Relena." She complied with his command. Again not wanting to be disrespectful, she looked down into her lap. Her heart was beating as fast as a mouse’s heartbeat, but she managed to hide it from the on lookers. "Relena," saying her name softly, she could almost detect a hint of emotion, which one she was not sure. "We have some things to discuss."

***

"Let me OUT of here! I did nothing wrong." A boy with flaring violet eyes shouted. He was wearing raged, torn, dirty old clothing that quickly identified him as low on the social scale.

He was in a small room, on a boat; he summarized, that was dimly lighted. Only a few lanterns lighted the room out side. The whole room was made of wood except for the four iron bars that covered a five by five window on the door of his cell.

"QUIET! Stop making such a racket." The sailor who was keeping an eye on the captain’s prisoner yelled. He was the typical sailor people imagined when they heard the word ‘sailor’, a middle height, burly, muscular man with brown eyes and hair. "You’re giving me a headache. If you hadn’t tried to steal any of the captain’s merchandise, then you would not be here in the first place!"

"Well, I was hungry AND I have a hungry and ill mum waiting for me at home. If I don’t go home to her, she’ll die. She has NO one but ME to take care of her. What will she do when I don’t return home tonight?"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you thought of stealing from the captain." The sailor sighed, folded his big hairy arms and leaned back against the wooden chair. "Maybe you should have tried to get a job. That way, you wouldn’t have to steal from people."

The young man’s anger flared up. What did this man know of him? "Don’t you think I tried to get a job?" he hissed. "But what were we supposed to do while I was looking for a job? Hmm? Eat dirt?! When my father died he left us with no money what so ever and I had to care and provide for my mum ever since. No one seemed to want to hire me. The reason why, I don’t know. But I guarantee you that I am an honest person and would never steal from any body unless it was absolutely necessary, and BELIEVE ME, it was necessary."

"Listen, kid, I’m sorry, but you really should just shut up and stay that way. I’m only here to keep an eye on you, not to hear your life story. If you behave well, the captain may be a little more lenient. The last time some poor boy tried to steel from him a few years back, the boy got whiplashes twenty times on that same day every year. The captain made him scrub the decks till the boy couldn’t bend over any more, help prepare the meals for the crew, got little food himself, and one day when he got thrown over in a storm at sea, the captain let him drown."

"Thanks for the moral booster." He stated sarcastecly and slumped down in the farthest corner he could find in the small room, and silently cried for himself, his mother, and this damned situation he had gotten himself in. Little did he know he had a guardian angel that would soon save his life.

***

A young man was standing on the deck of a merchant ship while the sailors loaded the trading goods in the cargo hold. The wind was swimming through his platinum locks as his eyes, that were as deep as the ocean before him, wondered above the white puffy clouds. His pale skin was fare and his soft lips were curved up in a slight smile.

Someone placed a rough hand on the young man’s shoulder, a gentle touch, but enough to bring him out of his revere.

"The sea favors you my son." As many a times before, that was the start of their conversation before leaving different harbors or ports. It sort of became a wishing for good weather and strong winds between them.

The man had dark brown, bushy hair. Below his pointy nose lay a thin brown mustache and below that lay a soft smile.

"Father, who was that boy I heard yelling bellow deck?" The older man sighed.

"A little bastard that tried to steal from me, but I caught him."

"Oh… what are you going to do to him?"

"Same as before, make him my cabin boy."

"Be at least a little nicer this time, won’t you father?" His eyes pleaded.

"You are too soft and too kind. Shape up or you will die when you become captain of this merchant ship!" With those sharp words, he stomped away.

‘Father, you can’t change who I am. I think I’ll go see what the new "cabin boy" is like.’ With that, he walked below deck.

***

In the far away mountains of Japan, a small group of men met together. Most of them around 20 to 25 years of age, but one of them was 18. They wore dark clothing and didn’t make a sound when they moved. An older one, about the age of 47, spoke up.

"We have a new mission. Here is what it is, sixteen years ago; our clan murdered a Chinese emperor…"

***

Well, hope you have liked it so far. Don’t worry, more action will come in the next chapter. This chapter takes place 16 years later than the prologue, if you couldn’t all ready figure that out. The next chapter I’ll tell you a little bit about Wufei. But a certain somebody will remain more or less a mystery. Please review. I would LOVE ready your suggestions and criticism. Tell me what you want to read and I might incorporate it into the story. Thanks

Titan