Relena made a moue of frustration when the computer search came up with nothing. Where in the world could he be? She had been looking for him for practically forever, and yet she still came up with nothing! Even the professionals she hired hadn’t been able to find a single clue of where Heero was! An indulgent smile touched her lips. But then again, why would they? Heero was a professional himself, and obviously her Heero was better than anyone else was.

Relena got up and walked over to her desk. She reverently pulled out a photo album and quickly skimmed through a few pages. Then, she got to the part that had Heero’s images. She lingeringly traced a finger over his icy features. Relena cherished the moments captured on the film.

There, where Heero was scowling at the camera. Not that that was anything unusual, but he happened to be holding a frilly hat of hers. The wind had snatched it from her head and she had futilely tried to catch it. The thing had kept on evading her efforts until she had landed in a sprawl as she grew frustrated and tried to tackle it. She had been sulking on the ground, and she had heard Duo laughing in the background. How dare he laugh at her! She had haughtily gotten up to reprimand Duo just in time to see him take a snapshot of Heero with the hat. She had forgone the lecture to instead ask Duo for a copy of the picture. She had been so happy when he agreed, she hadn’t noticed his hard stare at her.

This one, where she was wearing a princess dress and Heero was her escort in a dark tuxedo. Scowling yet again, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had agreed to be her escort at the embassy ball. She quickly brushed aside the thought that maybe he did it because he had been ordered to protect her. Whatever. He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t want to, wouldn’t he?

Of course not.

And another picture, this one had Heero playing basketball with Duo. He had been making a jumpshot and Duo had been knocked to the ground. Relena had gleefully taken a picture of that moment. Not only did it have Heero’s hard, graceful body in it, there was the added bonus of *that* boy eating dirt. That ought to teach him to laugh at her. Yes, she carried a grudge. Why wouldn’t she?

And... Relena faltered as her eyes rested on a certain picture. That one... that one had Heero hugging a drowsy Duo. The look in his eyes was... not precisely loving, but... but as close to the emotion as Heero ever let out. But... the two of them were friends, weren’t they? So why wouldn’t Heero care about his friend? ~I want him to look at *me* that way...~ Relena thought wistfully.

~He will. He will look at *me* that way. Eventually...~ Relena reassured herself. She sighed and flipped through her album again. She smiled gently. Her onii-san was in the picture. Heero was in the shot as well. ~How nice that they’re getting along so well,~ she thought, willfully blind, then her smile faded. ~Whom am I kidding?~

Mirialdo... No, Zechs now... was parrying a sword blow from Heero and his knee was in the middle of being raised to slam into Heero’s stomach when she had taken the picture. After the camera had clicked, Heero had stoically taken the hit, and twisted his elbow to smash Zechs in the face. It was a true anything-goes fight. No rules, except for killing your opponent. You weren’t allowed to do it on purpose. And even then they probably would have ‘accidentally’ given each other a fatal injury.

Relena had tried to stop them, but she hadn’t succeeded. Relena remembered that she had ended up frowning at them. She had invited Heero over so that he would *see* just how good of a life they would have together after they had gotten married. She had winced as Heero smiled ferally after his fist barreled into Zechs’ shoulder. That one had to have hurt.

How was she supposed to know that her brother and Heero *still* hadn’t gotten over things? You’d think that after working together... well, almost, anyways... in that last mission against Denkim Barton, they’d have finally reached a truce. To let go of the rivalry. She had really expected them to reconcile their differences and give up their extremely childish competitiveness. Albeit grudgingly... reluctantly... unwillingly...

She had been getting worried that maybe they really *would* kill each other when something had stopped their fight instantly. Duo had turned a hose on them and cranked the pressure up as high as it would go. He had carefully avoided their eyes, but had gleefully sprayed the two of them indiscriminately. Relena had scowled in Duo’s direction, but he hadn’t noticed. He had been too busy drowning Heero and Zechs.

Relena had inwardly fumed when Heero had shown up at the mansion with Duo in tow. Her invitation had clearly *not* included Duo, but Heero had merely stared blankly at her when she had subtly hinted that she wanted to spend some time with him *alone*. Lord only knew that the last... debacle... hadn’t really given them much opportunity to really get to know each other.

Relena had quickly come to the conclusion after Heero’s non-response that he actually *wanted* Duo with him. She hadn’t understood why, but she had received the message. For some inexplicable reason, Heero would only stay if Duo did as well. And so Duo had stayed. Which had probably been a good thing, since if he hadn’t been there, who would’ve broken up the impeding murder...? She had watched resignedly as Duo laughingly taunted the pair while assaulting them with cold water.

Finally, Zechs had managed to throw his sword on the hose, severing it a few feet away from where Duo held it. The spray went in another direction, *away* from them this time. Duo was left holding the cut end of the hose and smiling unrepentantly at the two. "You shouldn’t have been fighting in the first place." Duo had tensed up then, "You aren’t any good at it. After all, you were beaten by a *garden hose*." He had taken off running at that point.

Heero had growled and chased after him. Zechs had looked torn to do the same, but had instead gone to stand next to his sister. "Are they always like this?"

Duo had run by yelling back to Heero, "Wait until the others hear about this! You’ll never live it down!"

Heero had subsequently put on a burst of speed and tackled Duo. They had quickly rolled out of sight down the hill and the faint sound of Duo’s protests were heard.

Relena had sighed. "Sometimes they’re worse."

Relena flipped forward a couple of pages, then blushed furiously at a picture. She had been... *slightly* intoxicated, and Duo had ended up carrying her home. Of course, not until he had gotten somebody to take a picture of the moment. He had sent it to her afterwards with a note. {You shouldn’t drink, Relena-san. Even if you miss him. Especially if you miss him. Maybe one day he’ll leave forever and what will you do then?}

Relena gave a Heero-esque snort. She held up a hand near her mouth, startled that *she* had made the sound. Then she dismissed it. ~It’s all Duo’s fault.~ Imagine. Insinuating that Heero might not be there for her. Impossible. He’d *always* been there for her.

He’d always *be* there for her.

...

Wouldn’t he?

...

Of course he would.

Relena went to check her computer again. Still nothing. ~Where is he?~ She sighed once more and retrieved another photo album. It was worn and faded with age, but the simple collection was still one of her most cherished possessions.

The book held pictures of her otou-sama. Not the carefully prepared public shots, but those of their unguarded moments, where family was all that mattered. She knew that the Vice-Minister Darlian wasn’t her biological father, but still...

He was the only father she had ever known. When she had been revealed as the long-lost princess of the House of Peacecraft, she had felt... nothing. The hereditary title didn’t matter, so much as having being appointed Vice-Minister after her father. Both were legacies from people who could be considered her fathers, but the emotional tie was stronger to the one she had grown up with, the one who had watched her mature into a young lady.

She sighed yet again, and opened the book.

A single picture caught her eye.

~Okaa-san looked so happy...~ Relena thought wistfully. Her mother was staring into her father’s eyes and the candlelight softened their features and made them look so young. She wasn’t supposed to have taken the picture, she wasn’t even supposed to be there, but she had, and so she did. She had wanted to keep a memory of how much her parents had loved each other.

She wanted an example of how she wanted her own life to be. No matter how busy her father had been, her mother had always known that she was loved and had loved him in return. Relena had wanted that kind of simple, fairytale, ever-after love.

She still did.

She took a glance outside. ~When had it gotten so late?~ The full moon was shining gently, bathing the outdoors with an ethereal light that fit her almost melancholic mood so well. She could almost see Heero outside. She could almost hear her prince give her verses of love while she dreamily stood at her balcony.

She could almost touch his hard figure... Her hand unconsciously stretched out yearningly, her blue eyes half-closing dreamily...

She could almost believe that Heero did love her -- would only love her -- forever...

~I’ll wait.~ Relena felt sleep calling to her. She changed into a flowing white nightgown, and hummed a soft tune under her breath. She curtsied and waltzed around her room whimsically. She could almost feel Heero’s arms around her, just like when they had danced before he had saved her with his Gundam’s hand from the falling building...

She twirled elegantly and pretended to draw in her partner closer. ~I love you, Heero.~ She ended the waltz gracefully, and curtsied again. ~I’ll always love you...~

Relena drowsily crawled into her bed. Tomorrow was another day, and surely -- *surely* -- by then she’d at least receive a clue where Heero was. Surely. She snuggled her teddy bear close, and dreamt of her dark prince. ~I’ll love you forever...~

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