29-Apr-2000
Title: Hisashiburi: a Sylvia Noventa fic
Author: Mobiusklein
Notes: Hisashiburi is a word that very roughly translates to something like "Long time no see." I liked Sylvia Noventa. I just think that she was pretty cool not to put a bullet through Heero's head and here's a small possible rationalization of her decision. A pretty rough fic in terms of polish, I think.
Warnings: No real warnings just serious
I think the women also have neat stories to tell.
"Heero? Heero Yuy?"
Heero turned around to see a rather pretty woman in a summer dress with a small floral pattern. She seemed familiar, but nothing really came to mind.
"Yes... "
"I'm Sylvia Noventa. Hisashiburi, neh?"
"Sylvia Noventa?" Hisashiburi, indeed, he thought. It's been ten years since the first and last time we met. It's not as if I could forget.
"Do you want to talk over coffee?"
Heero gave her a little smile and said, "Ah."
Sylvia sipped her cappucino. "The last thing I heard was that you'd gone off to join the Preventers. I didn't hear much of you after that."
"I still work with them. And what happened to you?"
"I lead a quiet life. I work as a teacher."
"I see."
"How's Relena?"
"All right, I suppose."
"Oh, I thought you two were... had been... " Then she let it trail off.
"What did you think?"
"I thought you might be with her."
Heero blinked. "Why did you think that?"
"Last time I saw her ten years ago, she was frantically looking for you. She asked me and my mother where you were, because she said that she had something important to tell you. She really seemed concerned about your safety. Well, it was quite a while ago."
Heero shrugged. "That's not how it worked out."
"Are you still in contact with Trowa?"
"Yes, I am."
"How is he?"
"He's fine. He's visiting a friend of his on L4. He also works for the Preventers."
Sylvia took another sip, then said, "I'm glad that we could meet like this. I'm so relieved."
"Relieved?"
Sylvia frowned. "After all, you handed me a gun and asked me to kill you! The way you were... well, anybody would worry about you."
"Sylvia, why didn't you kill me that day?"
Sylvia looked down at her cup and said, "I came really close. You have no idea how close I came. My father... He was a real father to me. He wasn't the type who just dumped you with mother, then ran back to the battlefield. I still think about him, even today. But I think what kept me from shooting you was that you were just waiting for me to do so. You didn't run away from your guilt, you didn't blame someone else. You came to me and handed me the means to your execution. You told me that it was a mistake that you had made, that you wished you hadn't done. I just couldn't bring myself to do it."
"I got really angry that I couldn't hate you enough to do it. But my father had told me before he went that a lot of people were against him. I remember him saying that he remembered a time when the government actually had ideals, when he could be proud to be a member of the army. He said that time was now long past and now he was surrounded by people who were capable of doing anything to remain in power. He told me that something might happen to him but that it was a risk that he had to take."
Sylvia continued, "If I killed you, I'd just be doing the people who sent my father on that shuttle to die a favor. I would've been as much of a pawn as you. It got me angry that you didn't get it, that you were asking me to be your murderer."
"It was the only way I could think of to make it up to the people I had hurt. I tried to self-destruct because of my failure. It took me a while afterwards to figure out how wrong that was."
"You tried to self-destruct?"
"Yes."
Sylvia looked away. "How cruel you were to yourself."
"Those were cruel times."
Sylvia put her hand on top of his. "But now you look a lot better than you did last time. You looked so beaten and resigned. You look so much more... what's the word... genki, I guess."
Heero smiled at that. "I do feel much better. There's lots more to feel better about."
I didn't think he could smile like that. I wonder if he... Then she started, then looked at her watch. "I'm supposed to meet a friend of mine at the hotel in half an hour!" She pulled out the hotel card and said, "Call me at this number. I want to know all about who's been putting the smile on your face!"
"Ah."
With that, Sylvia waved goodbye and ran to hail a taxi. Heero put the card in his wallet.
"Oi, Heero, you nearly missed my world famous lasagna!" said Duo, poking his head out of the kitchen.
"I saw someone today," said Heero, walking into his apartment..
"Who?" said Duo.
"Sylvia Noventa?"
"Seriously?"
"Ah. She's been doing well. She wants to see me again before she leaves to go home."
"So that's where you were all afternoon. The way you pick up women, it's really quite amazing," Duo said, rolling his eyes in amusement.
"Baka."
The End
(:./mk/hisashiburi)
