The True Enemy Author: Cynthia E-mail: aznangel_hitori@yahoo.com Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sunrise, and I think some other companies out there that I can never remember. Notes: This story begins near the beginning of the series, when Heero wants to assasinate Relena. Summary: It is the year A.C. 195, and the tyrannic Earth Sphere Alliance faction called OZ is ready to make it's bid for total domination. In retaliation, those in the colonies who would fight have sent to Earth, six Gundam mobile suits disguised as shooting stars. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~Part 1~ "I am Kazuki, Kazuki North-Seikage." the girl introduced herself to her class at the elite Saint Gabriel's Institute. "My name is Heero Yuy." the boy standing next to her said in a voice completely lacking of emotion. For a moment, Kazuki North let the real world fade away as she contemplated the boy standing next to her. This Heero Yuy... he intimidated her. Kazuki prided herself on being an excellent judge of character, she always knew who to trust and who she couldn't. That was why she was still alive. As a pilot of the rebellion movement centered in the colonies; the pilot of the Gundam mobile suit she called the Pheonix, life was dangerous. Of course, to most people she was the nearly nonexistent daughter of the prominent, very wealthy businessman Edward North, his only, often ignored child, not the ace pilot of the Pheanix Gundam, the one that had just yesterday destroyed an entire Oz-controlled base without any assistance. One would have to recall, though, that she would rather not fight, that she loathed killing and chaos. She had cried for those she killed... *War is pain...* she thought, but now wasn't the time for that. The two new students must have presented quite a contrast to each other though. Heero Yuy, a cold-eyed, expressionless boy with frigid eyes of Prussian blue, whose powerful aura came from only him alone, not from social prestige or money. Kazuki North-Seikage, a girl who, without the prestige of her father would appear rather normal to anyone. She was a little short, at about 5'1'', and her appearance, that of a pretty airhead made her seem even more dimiunitive. Her deep eyes were a nice shade of blue green, and her gold-blond hair was tied in two unbraided pigtails. In two weeks she would be 14 years old. She was not at all intimidating, and appeared even more bright and cheery than usual while standing next to the serious- faced Heero Yuy. By the worst bad luck, Kazuki would be seated next to Heero. He was now sitting between two girls, Kazuki herself and a girl she knew to be Relena Dorlian. Meanwhile... Heero was here to eliminate his target. His mission was to kill Relena Dorlian. Now, he found himself with what could be another threat. What had been her name? Kazuki North. To all other eyes, she was just another spoiled rich girl, but he saw and felt things no one else would notice. That Kazuki girl, he sensed than her cheery demeanor was false and fabricated, no more real than the records he had falsified to get close to his target. Those bluegreen eyes had glanced at him many times, assessing him as he had been assessing her. What was her true personality probably like? He now had her down as the quiet, soft- spoken type. Why was she probably a threat to his mission here? Heero didn't know why he thought of her like that, the gut reaction just came to his mind, without any truly sound reasoning. But... He trusted his instincts, if there was something not quite right about her, he would find out. *Also, if she is truly a threat to my mission here, I will eliminate her too.* he swore to himself. As he stared at the teacher, appearing to be listening to his lecture, though not processing a word he said. He was forming in his mind, a plan, it accounted for every possibility he could fathom. In a fight hand-to-hand, that Kazuki girl will most likely keep away from my blows, feigning some strikes, but only striking when she knows it will hurt, he calculated. He was sure this knowledge, this estimate, would be useful later, that they would fight. His own instincts said so, that soon they would most likely have a comfrontation, and he was almost always right. "I'll destroy you..." Heero Yuy whispered to Relena Dorlian. Or... that was what it looked like he was saying, anyway, but Kazuki had found in the past that reading lips was not her strong suite. What she had just seen confirmed her fears, no person belonging in a place like this reacted this way to any invitation, that was for sure. Most of the boys she had come to know at spoiled-kid schools like this were reasonably polite, and if they wished not to attend said gathering, would refuse the invitation in a more eloquent, subtle way. Her green-blue eyes narrowed in a glare as cold as his had been So there was something different about him... *It's not like you're the average spoiled rich kid yourself, though.* a nagging voice commented in her mind. Kazuki had chosen to observe this event with a pair of binoculars from the window of her room at the institute. It was reasonably far from the balcony on the main building where Heero was, and no person would have sensed being watched from so far away. Her computer blipped, and Kazuki was shaken out of her thoughts. A message, from a familiar source. She clicked the cursor on it, and read the message, a slight but sincere half smile of sorts twisting at the corners of her mouth. ~*~*~*~ Someone had been watching him, and Heero had a sneaking suspicion of who it was. Well, if his suspicions were justified, he would know soon enough. Upon reaching his room, he clicked it on, then searched, though, and he was not surprised... Nothing could be found on Kazuki North-Seikage on the more conventional sources. Of course, that didn't deter him either, other, less public sources were easy for him to access too. An while later, he was well rewarded for his efforts. He read the extensive file he had found in the database of some small rebellion organization, which, surprisingly had taken a notable amount of effort to break into, some of his suspicions confirmed. Written in a brief, mechanical form, it nevertheless provided most of what he had needed to know. - Kazuki North Seikage - Age: 13 (14 by year's end) - Height: 152 cm - Weight: 39.5 kg Replacement pilot for Gundam-class mobile suit designated Pheonix, replaces deceased former pilot-in-training Ryan Starr. Noteworthy accomplishments include completing sufficient training to pilot 'Pheonix' in less than a year. Constantly accompanied by Hoshima faction 'Wild Strike'. Wild Strike is currently out-of-action after destruction of their mobile suits and 75% of their personnel. This subject is sufficiently resistant to physical pain, but is very suspectible to being controlled by her emotions when under stress. The Hoshima, or "Star Devils" were another rebel organization based in the colonies, like the one that had sent him. So she didn't work for Oz, but it was true that she was no normal girl either. Chances were, she didn't even know what he was here for, but if he was a threat to his mission here, Heero swore that she wouldn't get in the way, that would make her as much of an enemy as Oz was. For now though, those matters would rest where they were. If he didn't get ready now, he would be late for his next class here, although it wasn't on the top of his priority list to attend any of the classes here, he had made up his mind not to draw too much attention to himself. Right now he couldn't afford to be any more conspicuous, especially after that episode with his target earlier today. ~*~*~*~ That night... Kazuki was no longer dressed in the stuffy, impractical school uniform. A day's worth of fake smiles and bright cheeriness had taken it's toll on her patience. As a result, if she happened to run into anyone wondering what a student was doing out at 1:30 in the morning, chances were she'd just knock them out cold instead of trying to talk her way out, as she knew she should. Dressed in a long, black jacket, dark blue jeans and a white shirt instead of a purple and white dress outfit, she looked much more like what she really was, a soldier of the rebellion against the power-hungry organization known as Oz. "Sorry I'm late." she stated as she got to the lonely churchyard, seeing the three people she was here to see. Nagi Katsunami, Josh Starr, and Sara Jordan were the three remaining fighters in the 'Wild Strike' unit of the Hoshima faction, and Kazuki considered them her only true friends. Nagi was, at the age of 20, already one of the most capable mechanics in the entire organization. Sara was 18, an excellent fighter in all forms of battle, and also possessed of a notoriously cheerful attitude. Josh was 19, and more quiet and thoughtful than his teammates. "Shhhh..." Sarah mock-whispered, "Josh is thinking." What would have been a joke in another place wasn't as funny here. The plaque right in front of them, in a row of many other such commemorative markers held a special meaning to Josh, and he had good reason to contemplate things here. The plaque read simply: Ryan Starr A.C. 180 - A.C. 194 It was though, more symbolic than useful, and there was no body here. Ryan, another of Kazuki's friends that had been in "Wild Strike", the one who was supposed to be the pilot of the "Pheonix" had died in an explosion during an assignment. Josh had loved his little brother a lot, and the loss had hurt him badly. Then, Josh straightened up, silvery-gray eyes steely, "Kazuki, we're here to discuss your next mission, it's in two days, it's just explorative, I'll send the coordinates to the "Pheonix" tomorrow." he stated shortly, leaving no time for questions. "You know, you guys were supposed to be doing desk work back at HQ, weren't you?" Kazuki inquired suspiciously, remembering something. Nagi laughed, "Have we ever followed orders to the letter, the higher-ups just said not to do anything involving a comfrontation with Oz, and we're not doing any fighting." "Anyway, you should start giving me my missions by transmission instead of in person." she added. "So Kazuki doesn't like us hanging around all of the time like unwanted relatives." Sarah teased. Meanwhile, Josh went on, ignoring their conversation. "Something big fell into the ocean, and Oz is intrested in it. Intelligence thinks it's a Gundam." "Another Gundam..." Kazuki whispered, hardly able to let herself believe the thought. Nagi, getting more serious, was the one who explained the situation, "Well, our sensors back at headquarters detected five other really large objects falling down to the Earth, besides your Gundam, but including the one that dropped into the ocean." Sara nodded, adding, "We wouldn't have thought it possible, but Dr. Kang said that unless they were meteorites or something like that, which is very unlikely, those things could be Gundams like yours. All those objects we detected were the right size, so he said that they well, could be..." "Oh geez... This is getting re-" Kazuki broke off as she stopped speaking, coming up with a sleepy yawn instead. Rubbing her eyes; she continued, "It's all getting real complicated, but I don't want to think about it right now, I've gotten no sleep since yesterday. Transmit the details to Pheonix, 'k, Josh? I'm going back." Kazuki ran off, leaving the three other Hoshima soldiers standing in the lonely churchyard. Sarah and Nagi both started off, than turned back when they noticed Josh wasn't leaving. "Uh... Josh?" Sarah came back and poked him gently in the shoulder. "Oh! Sorry." he apologized curtly, than he also turned around and headed off in the same direction as Nagi. Oh, Josh... I know you miss him... We all do. Sarah thought becoming suddenly sad and silent for just a moment before she too headed off into the blackness of the 2:45 a.m. sky. ~*~*~*~ If both Heero and Kazuki had barely been listening or paying attention in their classes yesterday, neither of them were paying any attention today. While Heero was thinking out how to best complete his mission quickly, Kazuki was really just trying not to fall asleep. She was supposed to have, as part of her training, built up the endurance to go through at least two days of no rest without feeling the effects, but she had never really gotten herself up to that level. Sure, she could run farther and faster than she could have in the past, as well as do many things she couldn't do before the strenuous pilot training she had put herself through, but she still couldn't quite do some things right. Still, you did real great in ten months what took Ryan more than a year to accomplish, but some things can't be rushed. Kazuki reminded herself, even as she stifled another yawn. ~*~*~*~ That night, though, Kazuki's senses were on the alert, and she was prepared for anything, not that there was anything really important to do yet, anyway. Right now, she just thought that she would feel more comfortable if she knew that her mobile suit would be ready for her next task. Being out and about at 1:00 in the morning would be a difficult thing to explain, so she did know that she had to be alert and ready to hide, nonetheless. Her thoughts broke off as she heard something, no it was a person, she was sure of it, and it was someone trying to conceal their prescence, a possible threat. Instantly, her mental stance changed, and she felt all unnecesary thoughts filed away and all her mind devoted to calculating possible courses of action. "Show yourself, or I'll shoot." she called out in an expressionless tone of voice in the general direction of the other person in the forest. Making no noise at all, a familiar form stepped out, without a word. Kazuki found herself less than surprised at who it was. So he had been suspicious of her too. "Heero Yuy." she whispered vehemently. "Kazuki North... Or should I say, pilot of the Pheonix Gundam?" he replied. She sighed, she really didn't feel like a lengthy, difficult conversation right now, "So you know. Do you work for Oz, and will I have to kill you now? Or do you work for the colonies?" she demanded, pointing her gun at him. "I can't reveal that information." Kazuki felt a little despair rising as she realised she might have to kill him. Despite her emotionless expression, she was afraid to kill. Besides the one battle she had fought against other mobile suits, she had never killed another human, but those had been the enemy. This person could be innocent for all she knew, but she had no choice. War is pain, in more ways than one. You can't always be a weakling in all matters, you have to be strong, if not for yourself, than for the colonies. There are casualties in every war, but your survival is important to the battle. Do it, Kazuki, your should feel nothing. She lifted the gun again, at where Heero was, but he was gone... She was nearly too late to dodge his blow, if it had hit, it might have knocked her to the ground, and she had dropped her handgun. Where was it? If he got to it, then she would be in a real mess, but there was no time to think about that now. Kazuki quickly regained her footing, and struck, aiming a kick at his stomach; she had handeled many situations like this where her opponents' attacks came at her without warning. If the situation been less serious, she would have laughed, as this fight reminded her of her practice duels with Josh, Nagi, Sarah, and earlier on, with Ryan too. While Sarah relied on her own skills and instincts alone, she always struck fast and relentlessly, subduing her opponents quickly, Nagi and Ryan had no qualms about using dirty tricks, and Josh just went straight for a well-planned knockout, Kazuki had no unique style, and just used a little bit of everything, except maybe the dirty tricks, which she could never manage right anyway. It made for a very unbalanced and predictable fight for any person she faced. Again, ten months or so of training wasn't enough to learn some skills If you don't retrieve your weapon, you won't have a chance... She knew that, but where was it? She had less than a moment to scan the ground for it, and she couldn't see it. Once again, she and Heero exchanged blows, though both opponents managed to block those strikes. Unfortunately, Heero was still much faster, and the next time Kazuki went in to strike, he knocked her off balance, and she fell face-up onto the ground. In the next second, Kazuki found herself looking squarely at the barrel of her gun, pointed right at her face. But, she was no stranger to being at the losing end of a fight, and two seconds later, Heero was also knocked to the ground, when she kicked his leg hard. The gun dropped to the floor again, as both people got up. He could have killed you then, but he didn't. She puzzled over his hesitation as she faced him again, and, to her own surprise, found herself speaking out, "I'm not going to fight you again. Call me stupid, but I- I think I can trust you, I don't know why... not really, but I trust my own feelings." Then, in a moment of her false, cheery personality, she smiled, "I don't want to make enemies of those who are not fighting against me... Let's not fight." He remainded silent, his cold blue eyes as bleak and empty as ever. Heero Yuy remained silent as he turned and just walked off, startling her. As he walked off, Kazuki heard him say something like, "Don't interfere with my mission." If he had come to scare her, though, she was ashamed to admit he almost had. She sighed, scuffing her foot in the ground as she walked to the spot where she had left the Pheonix. There it was, silently sitting there in the moonlight, it's metallic 'face' blank yet comforting in it's familiarity. It was really odd to most others who saw the Gundam, and had lived to tell about it, that the "Pheonix" was made out of green, blue, and silvery colored metals, but Kazuki, Nagi, Sarah, and Josh had named it the Pheonix, because it had been reborn, in a way, with the training of a new pilot after the original one had died. "Well, Pheonix..." she whispered as she slipped into the cockpit, "It's been a really long day."