Honor and Justice

Chapter 6

By Aryn

Nari picked up the book she had finished and stared at it worriedly. She had finally fought her way through it and gained victory. Now, she had to return the Jane Austen novel to Trowa.

Quatre watched as his wife stared down at the book and went through an inner turmoil.

"Would you like me to return the book?" he offered.

"No, I'll do it." Nari replied. "I just need to prove to myself that you're right, it was just a dream and nothing to be afraid of."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

Nari smiled and shook her head. "I'll be fine."

Quatre kissed her on the cheek and watched her walk out of the room. He hoped Nari could conquer this fear she had of Trowa before they left for the mission tomorrow. He also hoped Sally would be able to turn the computer chip in Nari's brain off. With that thought in mind, Quatre set out to find Sally.

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Nari took a deep breath and knocked on Trowa's door. It didn't take long for the door to open. Trowa was slightly taken aback at seeing Nari at his door.

"Hi Trowa." she greeted, forcing herself to smile.

"Hello." he replied, opening the door further. Nari stepped into the room and Trowa shut the door behind her. Immediately warning bells went off in her mind. Trowa never shut his door when she came to borrow books. It was always pass the book off and grab another, end of business.

"I just brought your book back." she stated, handing it over to him.

"Did you enjoy it?" he asked, taking the book from her and placing it on the shelf.

"No, not really." she answered honestly.

"I'm sorry. Would you like something different?"

"No, I think I'm going to take a break from reading for a while." Nari said, backing up towards the door. She noticed his flute case in the corner and an idea to prove her fears came to mind.

"Trowa, I haven't heard you play the flute in a while. Why don't you come over tonight and Quatre can play with you." she suggested.

"Just as you've decided to give up reading, I've decided to give up music for the time being."

"Oh." Nari said, still skeptical of his answer.

"Besides, I enjoy hearing you play the piano." he told her.

Things were beginning to get slightly uncomfortable and Nari headed for the door. "I need to get going." Nari said.

"Are you happy?" Trowa asked suddenly.

Nari's hand froze on the door.

"What do you mean by that?" she replied, swallowing a lump of nervousness that had come to her throat.

"Are you happy," he repeated, walking over to her, "with Quatre?"

Nari felt extremely threatened by Trowa's personal question and his close proximity.

"Of course I am." she answered, backing away. Panic shot through her when she felt the wall against her back and her retreat was halted. Being cornered only caused her temper to flare. "Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"You haven't been yourself lately." he answered, moving forward slightly. "I've been worried about you."

"Well don't be." she retorted, stepping off to the side and around him. But Trowa reached out and grabbed her wrist in his cold hand.

"I can't help it." he answered.

"Let me go." she ordered firmly, pulling her wrist from him.

"Nari, listen to me, please."

"No!" she shouted, yanking her hand free. Before he could do anything else, Nari bolted for the door and quickly made her way to her quarters. Once inside, she made her way for the bathroom. As she splashed cold water on her face, she realized her hands were shaking almost uncontrollably. She didn't realize Trowa had frightened her that much. Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself. Drying off her face, she went into the bedroom and laid down on the bed, trying to collect her thoughts. She had always considered Trowa a good friend, mainly because he was such good friends with Quatre. But she definitely did not like this sudden change in him. Maybe Quatre was wrong, maybe it wasn't a dream. And how was she going to explain this incident to Quatre? Perhaps she was just over reacting once again. Sighing in frustration, she pulled his pillow over from the other side of the bed and laid her head down on it. In a few minutes, she had fallen asleep.

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Hana watched her mother intently as Mei kept pulling odd looking devices from a bag.

"What are those things?" Hana asked.

"Well," Mei said, "they're a lot of different things."

"Are they toys?"

Mei laughed. "I guess some people think so. Point to them and I'll tell you what they are, but don't touch them."

Hana walked carefully over to her mother and climbed up into her lap. "What are they?" she asked, pointing to the round-like metal objects in a bag.

"Those are bombs. They make things blow up."

"Like fireworks?"

"Kind of."

"What are these?" Hana pointed to the various weapons laid out on the coffee table.

"Well, these two are pistols, this bigger one is a sniper rifle and the smallest one is a derringer. And that is a dagger." Mei explained, pointing to each weapon. Hana just looked up at her mother in confusion.

"Guns and a knife." Mei told her. Hana nodded her head in understanding. Before Hana could ask another question about the communication equipment, a knock on the door interrupted them. Mei had a feeling who it was. Hana jumped off her lap and ran to the door.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Don't you ever sleep?" an annoyed voice on the other side of the door.

The flew open with a yell of "Wu-Chan!" and Wufei glared in at Mei with Hana already stuck to his leg. As was custom, he picked the little girl up and shut the door.

"Don't call..." he started to say, but was met with happy expressive brown eyes. "Never mind." he mumbled.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Chang." Mei greeted, rising to her feet. Wufei took notice of the various artillery that surrounded her and was impressed in it's amount. Normally he didn't believe it was a woman's place to fight, but for some reason, Mei was an exception. She belonged among the hardware that surrounded her.

"What brings you to my humble home twice in one day?" she asked him. He tried depositing Hana in a nearby chair, but once again she hung onto his neck.

"Sit down!" he ordered. Obediently, she sat quietly in the chair. "And no, I don't want anything." he answered the unasked question. Mei smiled and sat back down on the couch. Wufei sat down in the chair across from Hana and eyed the girl suspiciously.

"I came to see if you had any questions concerning the mission."

"No, none. I have my weapons and I know what time we're time we're leaving. I've done my own terrorist work with less than that."

Hana waited till Wufei turned his attention to her mother before climbing quietly out of the chair. But Wufei's eyes went back to the chair before her foot touched the ground. Wufei sent her a death glare and she quickly returned to her angelic pose. Mei stifled a smile.

"Arys said she was going to stop by as well and give you a uniform." he told Mei. "If you run into any problems, you can ask-" he was suddenly cut off by a small bundle of energy that slammed into his chest when he wasn't looking.

"Can you stay for dinner?" Hana asked him.

"Hana, leave him alone. Come over here." Mei told her sternly. Reluctantly the girl climbed off the startled Wufei's lap and solemnly climbed up on her mothers.

"If I have any questions, I'll ask Arys. Thank you." Mei replied keeping a firm hold on Hana. Wufei couldn't come up with anything else to say, so he stood to his feet.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Hana asked excitedly.

Wufei looked at Mei briefly and was about to refuse when Mei interrupted.

"Well, maybe if you asked nicely, he would answer you." she told Hana, letting her get off her lap. Hana skipped over to him and gently tugged on his pants.

"Mr. Chang, would you please stay for dinner?" she asked. Wufei looked from the pleading eyes of the child to the amused ones of her mother. Giving up, he nodded his head.

"All right. What time?"

"How about six thirty?" Mei said.

"Fine." he answered, heading for the door.

"And if you come early, we can play before dinner!" Hana said, jumping up and down.

"I'm going to regret this." Wufei mumbled to himself as he shut the door.

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Quatre found Nari asleep on the bed by the time he got back from talking with Sally. She was curled up on his pillow, sleeping peacefully, for a change. He took that as a good sign that everything with Trowa went well. He glanced at his watch to see that there was a span of two hours before Sally came to their quarters to look at the chip. His own tiredness came to the surface as he watched his wife sleeping. He crawled carefully onto the bed and laid down gently next to her, and quickly fell asleep.

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"When's Wu-chan coming, Mom?" Hana's little girl voice was pitched high with excitement as she helped set the table for dinner.

Mei had to smile at Hana's anticipation. "In a few minutes, dear. He'll be here. Don't worry."

Hana smiled up at Mei. "I like Wu-chan."

Mei laughed aloud. "I know you do, Hana. I know."

Hana's smile was suddenly replaced by a small frown. She studied the fork in her hand thoughtfully.

Mei glanced at her daughter, wondering why she had become suddenly silent. Then, she saw the intense look on Hana's face. "Why, Hana, what's that look for?"

Hana seemed to snap out of her reverie and looked up at her mother. "Mom, does Wu-chan like me?"

Mei took the fork from Hana's hand and set it on the table. Then, she bent down to look her daughter straight in the eye. "Hana, sometimes Wufei tends to be rather harsh, but deep down inside his heart, I'm sure he likes you."

"You mean down here?" Hana pointed to her chest, her deep brown eyes wide.

Mei nodded.

The happy smile came back. She went back to the chore of setting the table, chanting as she did so, "Wu-chan's coming! Wu-chan's coming!"

Mei watched her daughter waltz around the table, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Oh, Wufei, I hope I'm right. Sometimes even I can't tell what you're feeling."

A knock sounded at the door, and Hana leaped away from the table, heading straight for the door.

"Hana!"

Hana had been about to throw open the door but when she heard her mother's reprimand, Hana shouted loudly, cupping her hands over her mouth, "Who is it?"

A gruff, low voice came from the other side of the door. "Who do you think?"

Hana threw open the door and immediately latched onto Wufei's leg.

"Wu-chan's here! Wu-chan's here!" Hana's chant changed slightly.

"You don't have to tell me, Hana." Wufei attempted to get her off his leg as usual, but as usual, she clung to his leg. Wufei finally gave up and gave Mei a helpless glance. "Hi."

"Thank you for coming, Wufei." Mei smiled at the Chinese boy. "Hana! Off, now!"

Hana scrambled off Wufei's leg and headed straight for the table.

Wufei stood next to Mei. "That girl has too much energy."

"I know." Mei waved toward the table. "Have a seat and we'll get dinner started."

Wufei looked at Mei. "Do you need help with anything?"

Mei stared at him in surprise. Help? Wufei asking her if she needed help? "Um, no... everything's all set. I just have to bring everything out to the table."

"I can carry a few dishes for you. I'm not weak, you know."

Mei had to stifle another gasp of surprise. Wufei was completely serious! "Well, everything's on the counter in the kitchen."

"Sit down. I'll get it." Wufei disappeared into the kitchen.

Mei sat down at the table and smiled helplessly at Hana. She grinned back brightly.

Soon, Wufei had everything set on the table and they began eating. Most of the dinner was spent in silence with Hana occasionally popping up with a question for Wufei. Of course, the question was shortly answered and silence would hit the table again. Mei found herself watching Wufei. He sat next to Hana and every so often, she would catch him glancing at the little girl affectionately when Hana wasn't looking. Mei smiled inwardly. She was right. Deep down inside, Wufei did care for her daughter in his own way.

"Mom, can Wufei put me to bed?"

"No, dear."

"I'll do it, Mei."

Mei glanced at Wufei in shock. He was full of surprises tonight. He had no smile on his face, but there was something in his eyes that was different.

"You don't have to, Wufei."

"Hana, go on to your room. I'll be there in a minute."

Hana practically jumped away from the table. "Okay! Good night, Mom!" Hana gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek and ran down the hallway to her room.

As soon as the little girl had left, Mei turned to Wufei. "Wufei..."

"Mei, I want to do it. Let me."

Mei looked down at the table, played with the lacy tablecloth for a few moments, and then looked back up at him. She nodded. "I'll have some tea ready when you're done."

Wufei stood to his feet, his gaze intent on Mei's face. "Thank you."

Mei shook her head. "No, Wufei. Thank you."

Wufei looked at her a few moments more and then walked down the hallway to Hana's room. Mei cleaned off the table and brought all the dishes to the kitchen, keeping an ear out for what was going on in Hana's room. Quickly, she washed the dishes and put water to boil on the stove. While she waited for the water to boil, she leaned back against the counter and stared blankly at the wall above the sink. That look on Wufei's face before he had gone to Hana's room. It had been almost... kind. Mei shook her head. No, she could not... would not... let herself fall for him.

"Your daughter is a hard case."

Mei turned toward the doorway where Wufei was leaning against the doorjamb. The teakettle whistled and Mei jumped slightly. She chuckled nervously as she turned off the stove and picked up the teakettle.

"I know. What did you have to do?"

Wufei instinctively seemed to know where the tea was and opened up a cabinet. He pulled out a box of tea bags and followed Mei into the dining area.

"Read some story."

"Was it the Little Lost Dragon?"

Wufei made a face. "Yes."

Mei laughed as she turned over the teacups she had set out earlier. "That's her favorite story."

"I could tell. The book was well-worn."

Mei's hand paused over the teakettle, a pang running through her as a memory suddenly surfaced. "Deshi read it to her every night before he died." Mei picked up the teakettle and poured into the two teacups. "He loved reading to her."

"I'm sorry."

Mei set down the teakettle and tried to smile at Wufei. "What for? It's not your fault..."

"No, not for that, although I am sorry that your husband died, as I am sorry that my wife died. No, I'm sorry that I've been so harsh, especially to Hana." His eyes softened slightly.

Mei motioned Wufei to sit down and she sat down across from him. She blew on her tea, cupping her hands around the cup. "Thank you, Wufei."

Wufei looked confused. "For what?"

Mei smiled at him, a real one this time. "For your kindness."