Hi all! I promised a HirdexRelena lemon, but Tekka here got a little carried away ::glares at muse:: and started insisting on weird things like plots. So this is the beginning of what seems to have the potential for a HirdexRelena EPIC, if you can believe it.
Cutter: Tekka, you're scaring me.
Tekka: You'll thank me later.
So, here's the prologue. I already have other scenes written, and notes for at LEAST one yuri lemon, but consider this an appetite- whetter. And thanks to Emily, there may be a double-date with Heero and Duo in the cards as well. ::winks:: ;)
Warnings: This will be yuri very soon, and in later chapters there will be LEMON. So if girls having ::cough:: "fun" together--and loving each other--is not your thing, then this is not for you. But I'm actually enjoying writing it even more than my first fic, Bunkai.
Disclaimers: Standard.
When Hirde first showed up in my formal office, escorted by Noin, I didn't really know what to make of it. I didn't know her well at all, and couldn't think of a single reason she'd come visit me. All my mind could summon up on looking at her, actually, was that seemingly long-ago question, "Do you know a Gundam pilot?"
But somehow, I knew I couldn't ignore her or whatever her request would be. And so I asked her what I could do for her, and she spoke the four words that were destined to change everything I'd ever thought about myself, or the world.
"You need a vacation."
"What?" I ask, surprised.
"Relena, I've been talking to Noin, and she says you've been working way too hard. The war is just barely over, and you haven't given yourself time to recuperate. You're really stressed, and any time now you're going to have a breakdown. And then there's--" She stops, belatedly realizing that there are still several staffpeople in the room. But my mind finishes her sentence for her. /And then there's Heero./
At that thought, there's a familiar twinge of pain in my chest. Then I register that she has addressed me as "Relena," with no title, honorific, or even last name! I am momentarily angry, but immediately remember her sacrifice in the war. And I realize that the girl--woman--before me is a soldier, and she is not used to fearing anything. Least of all pacifists. I see an inner strength, strength that allowed her to fight on even in the face of her own death. I don't have the heart--no, I don't have the *nerve*--to correct her.
"Well, anyway," Hirde continues, a little flustered, "it's all taken care of. Noin's arranged for you to take a few weeks off, and she's found a place for us to stay, and I'm going to be your companion. It should give us both a chance to rest up and relax and work through... things."
I don't think she's taken a breath in the last minute. She reminds me so much of-of Deathsycthe's pilot, the way she can talk and talk and... Duo. I knew that Noin was worried I'd been mooning too much over Heero after he... left... with Duo, but now I realize that she must've told Hirde... and Hirde must have offered to be my companion. Because she has just as many "things" to work through as I do--things with a long braid and a penchant for maniacal laughter. And in a weird way, I guess it ties me to her. But there is no way I am going to sit in some remote "vacation spot" for two weeks with nothing to keep me company but thoughts of my thwarted love and the would-be girlfriend of my thwarter.
She *is* like Duo. Two days later, I am on a plane, headed for a cabin in Minnesota.
I remember all the ridiculous things "Shinigami" has coerced his fellow pilots into, as Hirde happily chatters with me about the view from my private jet and lists all the things she wants to do on this rare break from her salvaging job on L2. I sigh. /I wonder if this is how Heero feels./
End Part 1
(:./cutter/fire1)
