Chessmen, Chapter 1: White Queen and Black Knight

A Gundam Wing fanfic by Scheherazade

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. It and its characters are the property of Bandai, Sotosu, and Sunrise. I am not making any money off of this work.

Warnings: Sap for this part, but you know me, there will be much angst to come. There will also be Yaoi to come, but not in this chapter.

Pairings: R+1 (more to come in later chapters), anything you may suspect is probably there as well *grin* (betas: I think this needs another pairing noting... if you see it and think so, I'll put it in. If not, I'll leave it out)

Archived: www.angelfire.com/anime2/scheherazade <- my site. Anyone else who wants it, please ask!

C&C: will be heartily welcomed and greeted with warm beaverglomps

E-mail: alicit@aol.com

Notes: Um, this is a look at a common fanfic plotline from a different perspective. Relena-haters beware!

//thoughts//

~*~

Relena smiled softly as she leaned into the touch of Heero's hand on her cheek. Her eyes closed lightly, and the rough pad of his thumb traced the bridge of her nose before falling back down to gently brush her lips. His other hand raked through her hair, making her scalp tingle. She could hear her heart beating wildly in its cage, seeming ready to burst with anticipation. Her breath was held in shallow pants as she felt the warmth of his lips near hers. The tingle of the inevitable kiss made the air seem to spark with electricity.

"Miss Relena, Mr. Yuy is calling from L-1." The voice of one of her maids came from behind the oak door to her room.

Slowly, she opened her eyes again. She was cradling her head in one hand, the fingers of the other ghosting on her lips as she daydreamed. She was seated at the padded stool in front of her vanity, the highly polished surface of the mirror reflecting her solitariness back to her.

She slowly got up and walked to the door, as if she had just woken up from a dream. When she opened the door to speak to her servant, however, she appeared to be back to her normal serene and composed self. "Thank you, Marie, I'll take it in the study." She smoothed down her dress and moved smoothly towards the study.

The study was furnished with mahogany furniture and a deep red Oriental rug that covered most of the floor, but what it left bare could be seen to be an inlaid pattern of dark cherry and teak. The com unit was set up on a large and imposing desk in the corner of the room, to allow for privacy in calls.

Relena sat down in one of the heavy chairs that almost dwarfed her and turned on the unit to the specified channel and smiled in greeting. "Heero! It's so nice to hear from you."

His face, as usual, did not have much outward expression, except what could be read in his eyes, which were mostly obscured by his shaggy bangs. "Relena. What is this Christmas party you are holding?"

"Oh, don't tell me you tore up my invitation again!" Relena smiled wider and teased him a bit. He did not seem to get the joke, but she knew that he remembered what she was referring to. At his non-response, she went on, "It’s a party to honor the one-year anniversary of peace. One year since the Mariemaia incident."

He shifted positions slightly and asked, "Why am I invited then? I don't fit in with those aristocrats that always attend these sort of things."

"Because, Heero, you were the one who made this peace possible. You and the other Gundam pilots. They will be coming as well, so it won't be just you and the aristocats." Her eyes shined with a plea for him to relent, just this once, and grant her request.

"I know." He was curt, as always.

"Oh, have you stayed in touch with the others?" Inquired the princess.

"Only Duo."

"Oh, yes, I remember that you were good friends with him when we went to that boarding school together. He has already RSVPed. So have the other Gundam pilots. Will you come?" She leaned into the screen, as if that could make her closer to the dark-haired boy.

Heero looked off to the side, as if he were conferring with someone else beyond her line of vision. After a moment of this unknown contact, he shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back to Relena. "Yes. We'll be there. Goodbye Relena." And with that he promptly cut off the connection before she got a chance to say 'thank you.'

"Goodbye, Heero," she said longingly to the screen, "I love you."

~*~

Well, that was five for five.

Quatre had been the first to call, naturally, as he kept in frequent contact with the princess. He had smiled and said, "did you really have to ask?" and asked if she wanted him to arrive early to help with preparations. She said no, knowing that he would anyway. He was caring in that way, as to even take off from work to be able to make it.

Next had been a brief call from Duo, who smilingly reminded her to have the cooks make extra food for him. Then Trowa had left the message that his circus would be on vacation for the holiday weekend and he could come. Sally called from the Preventers office to RSVP for herself and Wufei, "Even if I have to drag him there by the ponytail." The other Preventers, Une, Noin, and other high-ranking officials would be in attendance as well.

Then there was the eagerly anticipated call from Heero. She had known Heero would come. The feeling that he must return the love she felt for him stuck deep in her heart, even though they were so far away from one another. Heero had always proved a puzzle to her. He seemed to say one thing, do another, and feel yet another way completely. She didn't know exactly why she felt that she loved him, but only that she did. He made her feel more alive than she ever could otherwise.

~*~

"Relena! It's great to see you!" Quatre dropped his bag on the marble stair and took the three steps necessary to wrap his arms around her in a warm hug.

"Quatre!" Exclaimed Relena in surprise "You're early!" Well, she had expected him to be early, but not three days early, considering that taking even one day off from work was a huge sacrifice to him, not to mention five. Actually, it would probably end up being six, as he would stay around to help her 'recover' after the event. She had also not expected him to be dressed to the nines, in a full tuxedo even. "Why, you're dressed like a gentleman!"

He laughed softly and took a sweeping bow. "Thank you, milady." He grasped her hand and brought it to his lips breifly and smiled up at her.

She laughed gently and hugged him again. "Thank you, Quatre, for coming early. I was already getting stressed out."

He grinned, "I know the feeling. That's why I'm taking you out to dinner tonight. In fact, right now would be good."

She looked at him with minor reproach. "You didn't make reservations for tonight, did you? I'm not at all ready to go out..." He didn't seem willing to say that he hadn't, so she rolled her eyes and told him that she'd quickly get ready.

~*~

She looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a pale blue velvet dress the same shade as her eyes that had shortened sleeves that tapered as they traced her arms. The dress fell fully to the floor, completely covering her feet. She wore elbow length gloves to go with it and a chain of small pearls on her neck. She had her hair pinned up to a twist at the back of her head that made her look much older than she was. Just before turning quickly to leave, she entertained the passing fancy that she was dressed up for a romantic candlelit dinner with Heero as opposed to the friendly meal with Quatre.

~*~

Quatre was the most polite person Relena had ever met. And that's saying a lot. He not only did chivalrous things like opening doors for her, helping her out of the car, and pulling out her chair for her at dinner, but he always held polite conversation, never speaking harshly of anyone and avoiding subjects that were a little bit sore with his companions. But if they brought them up, he would listen sympathetically, and in some ways empathically, to their stories. Which was probably how he came to be sitting across from Relena at the end of the night at the end her discussion of a certain other Gundam pilot.

"...but, he is coming to the party." Relena sighed.

Quatre nodded slightly, "That's good. I'm glad you'll get to see him again.... I'm glad *I'll* get to see him again, for that matter."

Relena furrowed her brow, "So you Gundam pilots really haven't seen each other since the end of the war?"

Quatre shook his head. "No, besides when I run into Wufei at random functions the Preventers force him into attending, I haven't kept in touch." He frowned slightly, "I always meant to, but work and other things always got in the way." He smiled apologetically at the now empty tablecloth where there meal had once been.

"You always kept in touch with me."

Quatre looked up for a minute, "Yes. Well, let's get going. I don't know about you, but space to earth travel always throws me off... I need to sleep."

"Me too," Relena agreed, "I'm rather tired and I know I have to wake up early tomorrow."

~*~

That night, Relena fell asleep on her feather bed between pale pink sheets, imagining a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, and dreaming of Heero's kisses in her sleep.

~*~

(end chessmen 1)

(AN: AH! Quatre! you weren't supposed to show up yet!!!! Fool! You screw everything up and make my writing sound stupid *gets mad at her own obsession with q-man*)