Title: Crystal Tears and Joyful Smiles

Author: Liewe

Disclaimer: standard apply

 

She was a princess, and he was a pauper, more than that a grunt, a soldier, how could her ever wish to win her heart.  Men fell at her feet every day, every hour of the day, just begging to do her biding, all he could do was stand by and protect her.  His angel, the dove of peace, all he could do was protect her from those who wished the world to return to a war ravaged state, a state of upheaval.  He would never be looked at with those adoring eyes of hers; he would never know what her soft lips felt like brushing against his own.  He didn't even know if she knew his name, a self given name, but a name nonetheless.  He knew that some people found his joking nature annoying, some who would go as for as to threaten him with death.  Did she enjoy his jokes, did they take her mind away from the world around her, the world that imprisoned her, held her away from him.  He didn't know, and he would never know, all he did was stand in the shadows to guard her, to guard her from herself, from her admirers, from the terrorists, which cried out for her death.  No one knew these thoughts swirled around in his mind, chasing one another, no all they saw was the mask of the joker, always laughing, always smiling. 

He couldn't remember the last time he had smiled sincerely, maybe it was when he first saw her, or was it when he was a child, he wasn't sure anymore.  All he knew was that he wanted her, he wanted her badly, he yearned for her, each passing day the wanting and the longing growing.  His heart would twist and turn, tearing at the seems each time she would lean in to whisper something in her current companions ear, or giggle at someone else's jokes. His fingers ached to caress her face, to touch her soft ivory skin, to run through her honeyed locks.  His eyes devoured her figure every time he saw her, the way she danced, the way she walked, he yearned for her, he yearned for something he could never have. 

 

He continued to hang in the shadows of her life, watching her wearing down, collapsing on the great Heero Yuy's shoulder a man who was soldier like himself, but one who had been dragged into the light, into the very center of her world.  Somewhere he wished to be, something he would gladly sell his soul to the devil for, yes it taunted him.  Her life, her world, he wanted her, he wanted her enough to kill for her, and he had.  He had killed many a man who dared to look at her the wrong way, to touch her the wrong way, to think about her the wrong way.  His hands forever stained in the blood of those who he had vanquished for his laughing princess, the woman who held his future in her hands, she could destroy him with a word, but he knew she felt something the way her eyes would seek him out at times. 

 

He didn't know what she thought but she thought something of him, he didn't go entirely unnoticed by his angel, as he believed her to be.  Heero held her heart that was one thing he knew, at least he thought he knew but none could be sure with his princess.  She was a complex puzzle, pieces seemed to fit together but then further down the line you would find piece that fit into a spot previously filled, better than the original piece.  She was confusing, but he loved her for it, he loved her with everything he possessed, his heart, his soul, and his mind.  He was the devil though, he could never wish to be with her, he would taint her with his crimes, the crimes he had committed for her, but they would taint her and he didn't want to destroy her purity. However, he knew that night would forever change his life, that night was when he would confront her, tell her his feelings, and ask for her love.

 

***

 

She watched him hiding in the shadows of her life, lurking on the fringes of her world.  His aloof nature irked her at times, they way he made that life was a game for him to play, that it wasn't real.   The Princess wasn’t as perfect as people believed her to be, she had her faults like everyone else, they were just hidden from the public view, she only fell apart in the confines of her private chambers.  She lavished the love on Heero because she was starved for the emotion herself, her tired mind saw that as the best alternative to feeling the emotion directed towards herself by someone sincere.

 

“Relena we have to go,” Heero’s monotone voice broke into her reverie, shattering the thought process.  The world spun back into focus for the tired Princess, the reality crashing back in on her, the thoughts of Duo and her failings pushed to the side for another day, another time.

 

“Yes, you’re right,” she said meekly, bowing to his will, her backbone missing.  The only time she was ever truly in command of a situation was when she was spouting on about her political ideals. The ideals which weren’t really hers, they were just borrowed, she knew that pacifism was just a dream, but she gave everyone hope, they needed her to regurgitate the same tired old views again and again.

 

Duo watched the scene, his mind seething at Heero’s proximity to his Princess, the girl who held his heart and didn’t know it.  He knew she was tired, but his love for her always made her appear so perfect in his mind, he had watched her for 6 years now.  She was 22, he would be 23 in a few months, things had changed after the war but they had remained the same.  Relena was frail, she always had been, she wasn’t some Iron Maiden fighting for the peace with brute strength, she fought for it with words.

 

“Duo, we have to go,” came an insistent voice from his elbow, a fellow Preventer one of his teammates was dragging him away from his favorite past time.

 

“Yeah, yeah I know,” Duo, replied with a fake grin plastered on his features, he didn’t want to go, but Relena was leaving, there was no point in him staying.

 

Duo pushed himself from the wall; his tall form moving from its cramped position, as he unfolded his limbs.  His long braid swinging in front of him as he jogged over to the open doors, eager to leave the oppressing ballroom.

 

Relena sat in her limo alone, for once; Heero had left her to her own devices, a royal guard being her only accompaniment. 

 

“What have I done to deserve this life,” she whispered to herself.

 

“Miss Relena,” Pagan asked as he overheard the slight sigh that had accompanied her whispered words.

 

“Yes Pagan,” she replied to the devoted chauffer, he had always been there for her, through good times and bad.

 

“May I ask what’s bothering you,” he asked politely, his fathering nature getting the best of him.

 

“I’m just tired Pagan, just tired,” she said, tired of my life she said to herself, there was no need in worrying to poor man.

 

“You need to take it easy Miss Relena,” the old Chauffer replied before he gracefully moved to open her door, the ride now over as they had reached the palace.

 

Relena stumbled from the limo her fatigue catching up with her as she quickly made her way to the suit of rooms she had been assigned by her brother.  She didn’t see the shadow waiting near the balcony; she didn’t hear the soft footsteps until a pair of hands worked their way around her waist. The Princess jumped, stumbling back into the muscular form of her “captor” the urge to scream overwhelming her.  Her cries of protest were muffled by a hand covering her mouth, a calloused hand.

 

“Shh, Rellie it’s me,” Duo whispered into her ear as he slowly removed his hands from her mouth and waist, as she turned around to get a better look at her so called “captor.”

 

“Duo you scared me,” she said exasperated at the braided man’s antics.

 

“I needed to talk to you privately but Heero’s always within arm’s reach,” he said grinning like an idiot.

 

“Ok, just hold on a minute, I need to change, you stay right there,” she said with a smile when she saw the naughty grin on his face.

 

Relena disappeared into the adjoining bathroom of her suite, a silk robe and matching pajamas in her hand. The ornate oak doors sealed her from the world’s prying eyes.  The heavy dress fell to the floor with an audible swoosh, a ten-ton weight lifting from her shoulders.  The silk slip glided to the floor to join the dress as Relena swiftly exchanged the formal clothing for her comfy sleepwear.  She pulled the clip from her intricately styled her letting it fall in waves to the middle of her back, the pins failing to the ground.  With an expertise born from years of practice she removed the layers of makeup before returning to her room and Duo. 

 

“So Duo what did you want to talk about,” she asked as she emerged from the bathroom, the light silhouetting her figure, giving her a glow.  At that moment, Duo’s heart filled with love for her, her innocence, her spirit, and her inner beauty.

 

“I needed to talk to you about some stuff, I actually needed to ask you a question,” Duo said nervously, his hand going behind him to grab his braid as he grinned pleadingly.

“Ask away,” Relena said completely ignorant to Duo’s distress, as she plopped herself into a plush armchair, her feet pulled underneath her. Relena was busy fighting with her mind, telling it to stay, to stop jumping at the handsome picture Duo made standing there fidgeting nervously.

 

“Well there’s this girl, and I really like her, but there’s no way she could possibly like me,” Duo said, missing the look of depression in Relena’s eyes when he mentioned another girl. She was silently yelling at herself for the feeling, her emotions in turmoil.

“How do you know there’s no possible way she could like you,” Relena asked her eyes downcast.

 

“It’s just we’re from two totally different classes,” he said sheepishly.

 

“That shouldn’t matter to her Duo, class shouldn’t matter to love,” she said vehemently.

“I…I…umm,” Duo said at a loss for words.

 

“Hmmm, the great Duo Maxwell, the man with constant verbal diarrhea at a loss for words,” Relena, giggled as she tried to ease the tension in the room.

 

Duo stared at her blankly for a moment before letting out a soft chuckle. Her joke had surprised him, caught him off guard.

 

“Would it matter to you,” he questioned earnestly.

 

“No it wouldn’t matter to me,” she said softly the same pang in her heart as before.

 

“Why,” he asked softly, his mind begging for the answers to his questions.

 

“Love isn’t fussy, when you find it, hold on to it with all your might, you don’t know it you’ll get another chance,” she replied after a moment of thought.

 

“Do you really believe that,” he asked again, his serious demeanor slowly getting to Relena, she wasn’t use to this side of the comical joker.

 

“With all my heart, but I also believe that if you love something you should let it go, and then if it was meant to be they’ll come back to you.”

 

“Oh,” he said quietly preparing to leave, her next words stopping him.

 

“I let Heero go, and he didn’t come back to me, not the way I wanted, it made me realize that me and Heero. We weren’t meant to be, it was only a delusion, my love for him, it was only a school girl crush,” Relena said.  “But you didn’t come here to talk about me, you came to talk about your problems,” she said with a small smile.

 

“Relena, now don’t interrupt me,” Duo warned, “I care for you, deeply, I think I may even love you.  Now I understand if you don’t feel the same way for me, but I thought you needed to know,” he said as he prepared to be forcefully thrown from her room.

 

“Duo, look at me,” she ordered softly, “look at me.  I feel something for you as well I don’t know if it’s love, maybe one day, but you are very important to me, more important than Heero.”

 

“What,” he asked completely surprised, she cared for him.

 

“I care for you, you big dolt,” she said once more.

 

Without warning Duo lifted her from her seat and twirled her around in the air, her laughter bubbling forth, tinkling on the cool night breeze. He felt complete now, time would tell if it was meant to be, but right now he wasn’t completely alone in the world, he had someone who cared for him.  Someone who he was important to, his life would no longer be dreary and full of fake smiles, real joy would find him now. He laughed as crystal tears of joy fell from Relena’s eyes, his lips brushing them away before he moved to seal their confession’s with a light kiss, the first of many.

 

-The End

 

AN: Just a short little Duo and Relena fic, please tell me what you think.