Part Thirteen

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Lord Heero Yuy read the delicately scrawled kanji message once more before carefully shutting the white moon-shaped fan it was printed on and tucking it back into the sash of his hunter green robe. He had found the small fan lying on the floor of his chambers when he returned from the bath house that morning, attached to a silken scarf drenched in his Hilde's scent, sweet and pungent. He had kept the scarf, placing it inside his private chest of belongings, and taken the fan with him to the Spanish commander Treize's house for his audience there. Her message intrigued him; he expected he would see her tonight but perhaps there would be something else this time. A shudder of erotic anticipation passed through his body then and he felt himself harden at the thought of his beautiful courtesan.

"How is the Lady Relena doing, Lord Yuy?"

The commander's voice shook the lord from his thoughts and he looked up at the other man across the low wooden table. "Hai," he said, touching Hilde's fan once more before turning his full attention to the European. "My wife is doing fine. The pregnancy is coming along well."

Treize nodded and smiled. "I am glad to hear of it," he replied. "She has been a friend of mine for some time... It is comforting to know that she is in such good hands."

Lord Yuy gazed at the commander pensively, taking note of the condescending look in the azure eyes and the sarcastic quirk in his smile. He decided to contemplate it later. "Gunshou Treize," the Japanese man continued. "Now that you ask of my wife, I believe we should get to the matter at hand." A servant boy entered with a pot of spice tea and refilled the men's cups. Treize thanked him politely and took a sip of his own before answering the lord.

"Was my negotiation not satisfactory?" he asked, his brows furrowing in concern. "I have already promised that the Spanish will only have control of the port and the surrounding village. The rest of the land is yours, as it always has been."

Lord Yuy shook his head. "No," he replied. "The port is extremely important to the well-being of the people here, and of my own well-being. My wife is with child now... Soon she will have my son and he will be in control of the port and this land after my death. This place has belonged to me since I was a child. I will not let anyone take it so easily. Your negotiation is invalid, Gunshou Treize." The lord inclined his head, as if challenging the commander to respond back, and took a sip of his own tea.

Treize faced the other man evenly and smiled. "I understand," he said. "So you are willing to battle for this land then?" The Japanese man didn't respond. Treize smiled again. "So it shall be."

Lord Yuy set his cup back down on the table. "You have said that my wife has been a friend of yours," he began slowly, wrapping a hand instinctively around the hilt of his sword, squeezing it comfortingly. "Will you not leave here in peace for her sake?"

Treize laughed softly. "There must be sacrifices in war, Lord Yuy," he replied, his eyes growing serious once again. "I am sure you understand that. Lady Relena is a strong woman; I know she will understand the reasons for this battle as well."

Lord Yuy tightened his hand around the hilt once again, the sharp edges of the carved wood cutting into him through the leather glove. He closed his eyes, the set of his strong jaw conveying his carefully controlled anger, every muscle in his body tensed. "Hai..." he whispered. "So it shall be." Opening his eyes slowly, the lord rose to his feet, not bothering to bow out of courtesy as he exited the house.

Treize watched the slender, wiry man leave and smiled to himself as he heard the shoji screen close behind him. The Lady Relena would not suffer during this battle, he thought as he sipped the rest of his tea. He would make sure of that himself.

~*~

The winter had made the days grow shorter, the pale sunlight clinging to the edges of the shadows as they grew, consuming the cold day into frigid darkness. The sky was cast in a wintry gray-blue that matched the brooding shade of Lord Heero Yuy's eyes as he climbed the small steps of the veranda and entered the house after returning from the village that night. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the commander Treize and his insistence on winning over Okinawa for the Spanish; war had officially been declared between them. He would have to think about moving his wife and Hilde soon. Hilde...

Lord Yuy walked quickly down the long hallway, passing the closed screen of his wife's chambers. A soft orange glow emanated from behind the thin painted fabric and he could hear Lady Relena's voice as she talked with her attendants. He passed silently, glad that she was busy. He would have to talk to her about the situation sooner or later, but he couldn't bring himself to disturb her tranquility. Tomorrow was still another day. Hilde awaited him.

There was no light behind the screen enclosing Lord Yuy's chamber. He began to wonder if Hilde had forgotten their engagement as he stepped inside, sliding the screen closed gently behind him, and found the room empty. He soon found that he was wrong. A single screen of red fabric dotted with white magnolia blossoms was positioned near the window, a long rope of white scarves much like the one he had found attatched to the small fan trailing out from behind it. At the end of the rope nearest his feet, a tiny scrap of paper was attatched, printed with a single kanji symbol: Irassharu. Come. Lord Yuy smiled.

Tearing the message off and picking up the fragile rope, Lord Yuy followed the trail behind the dark screen, his body tensing with expectancy and his own repressed lust. The breath was stolen from his body as he finally found her.

The Lady Hilde Schbeiker lay sprawled on the floor against red silk beddings, her smooth, naked body glowing almost transulcent, ivory contrasting with crimson. Her hair was loose and straight, brushed to a luminescent blue-black sheen that imitated the dark glint in her eyes, an unnatural cerulean under the thick lining of ebon kohl and the dusky shading of black on her eyelids. Her lips were colored in with a cimmerian gloss of carmine that shone more black than scarlet, her pout more defined. It wasn't until she stretched seductively, arching her back and hips forward, that Lord Yuy could see the gossamer silken ropes laced across her limbs, crossing in intricate patterns up her slender legs, her arms, across her midriff and haltering her tiny breasts, pushing them up and out. He could see between her spread legs another transparent rope, bisecting the delicate, shimmering wet outer lips and continuing to tie in the back, past the tight, puckered entrance of her rear, her body entirely bound.

A hand laced with more of the sheer material moved down her stomach to toy with the rope between her legs, rubbing the fabric slowly back and forth over her hidden jewel. She cried out, a soft, high-pitched mewl of ecstasy. The dark, gleaming blue eyes met his, the crimson lips curving in a smile. Lord Yuy ached in his hardness. Throwing the rope down and falling to his knees beside the beautiful courtesan, the lord covered the hand between her legs with his own, pushing the delicate material harder against her sensitive femininity. She screamed softly once again, her eyes remaining on his, her smile widening. This couldn't be wrong.

He had entered the room and stood at the edge of the painted screen to watch her, a sweet, lazy smile crossing his face. He leaned against the wooden frame, arms crossed across the front of his black robes, the violet eyes catching the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains and glittering almost mischeiviously under his tousled bangs. The braid that fell down his back was loosened, bound only halfway until the silky chestnut strands fell freely in a long ponytail to his waist. The set of his jaw through his smile was determined; it was then that he came to her, one large, elegant hand covering her own and making her touch herself harder.

Hilde smiled up at the beautiful man before her and gently removed his hand from between her damp thighs, raising herself up to a kneeling position. She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed it softly, tonguing the fingers gently and tasting herself. He moaned, a deep, sensual sound. Hilde shook her head with another smile and held a finger to her own lips to silence him. She ran a hand through his bangs, uncovering more of the gorgeous face, and held up a wrist to show him the bindings trailing from it. Taking the end of one thin rope in her teeth, she pulled it loose and held it up to him, as if in offering. He only stared at her, caressing her beautifully bound breasts lovingly. Lord Yuy clenched his teeth to keep some semblance of control as he watched her.

Hilde reached up to unbutton the restrictive black robe, her fingers finding the stoic white ministerial collar and pulling it free. Lord Yuy held his breath as her slim, practiced fingers unstrapped the sword holster across his chest and gently parted the folds of his heavy silk robe. He sighed huskily as she claimed his neck with her mouth, her tongue flicking across the pulse that throbbed there, her hands continuing to free his body of the robe.

Hilde slid the rough material down the strong, lightly tanned shoulders, baring his naked upper body. His chest was broad and powerful, more than she had ever dared to dream behind the long, concealing robes, ridged with muscles that caught the shadows and clearly defined their depth. Her breath caught as she raised her eyes to his once again, the beautiful face twisted in a look of almost feral desire, long strands of hair falling over his shoulders and into the dark eyes, his chest heaving with each labored breath. Lord Yuy's control was gone.

Sliding the long-fingered hands up her thighs, the violet-eyed angel clasped Hilde around her waist and crushed her body to his, capturing her mouth with his own in a desperate kiss. She tilted her head back, allowing his questing tongue further access into the moist reaches of her mouth, and let her hands roam over the smooth, taut flesh of his back and shoulders, skimming her fingertips down and around to his well-muscled abdomen. A guttural, choked cry of pleasure escaped his lips through the kiss as she delved down the front of his close-fitting black trousers, feeling the immense organ there come to life beneath her touch.

Lord Yuy cried out as the girl's hand slipped inside the modest loincloth covering his nether regions, finding his agony and caressing it teasingly. He tightened his hold on her waist and pressed his body into hers, pushing her desperately towards the sheets. She stopped him abruptly, her hand disengaging from his sex and moving up with her arms to wrap around his neck once more. A thin band of fabric suddenly wrapped around the back of his neck, tightening firmly in the surprisingly strong, delicate hands, and he moved away to look back at the courtesan.

Hilde sensed the confusion behind the bright violet eyes and shook her head slowly to silence him before he spoke, rising up on her knees and pulling him closer, her hands winding around the rope and tightening it further, bringing the ends together to begin the binding. He pressed his face into her breasts, licking tentatively first at the distended pink nipples and then daring to suckle gently at her moan of pleasure. She lifted his face to hers reluctantly after allowing him to lave each breast, sinking back down on her knees to kiss his lips before whispering, "Kudasai, bishounen..."

Lord Yuy opened his mouth to question her strange endearment when the rope constricted once again and the lovely courtesan smiled seductively as she lowered her prey to the beddings, her hands working on unwinding the ropes from about her own body and securing them to his. Lord Yuy laid back and closed his eyes, relishing the feel of her deft hands on his body as she worked to bind him down, the question he had meant to ask disappearing from his mind, replaced by the anticipation of this foreign game.

Hilde's nimble fingers wove swiftly through the gossamer strands of rope, threading them in and out, over and under, in complex patterns across the magnificent body, binding his wrists tightly to the wooden posts securing the beddings to the floor and interlacing the binds that trailed from the wrists down his arms, attatching them to the carefully intermingled entaglement about his torso. The lower body was left untouched, still clothed in the immuring black trousers.

Lord Yuy's eyes flickered open slowly as he felt the familiar softness of Hilde's cheek against his thigh, rubbing gently upwards, towards the center of his tension. Closing his eyes once again, the lord clenched his teeth, fighting the urge to break free from her cruel bonds and take her completely. It was then that she finally touched his throbbing core; his wrists strained against the ropes, drawing blood where the material broke through the skin. She ceased to stop.

Hilde smiled to herself as the bound angel below her fought to free himself, a curse escaping his sanctified lips. She placed a hand soothingly on his thigh, caressing him slowly until his breathing slowed and he was calm once more. She nuzzled his still clothed crotch lovingly, brushing her lips against the hardness pushing up through the fabric. He cursed once again, his hips rising up, and she gave in this time, unbuttoning the heavy trousers and freeing his agony. The loincloth disappeared then and Lord Yuy felt soft lips encircle the sensitive tip of his maleness, suckling gently, teasingly, small fingers playing under the profound scrotum. He cried out behind clenched teeth and pushed his lower body further into her mouth. She held him down firmly, continuing to nip and kiss the moist apex, allowing more of him to enter her mouth only when he calmed.

Hilde lavished her angel's incredible organ tenderly, running her tongue agonizingly up and down the hardened shaft before continuing to suckle. He was like steel encased in the softest velvet, she thought with a soft sigh, taking his virgin cock all the way in then and increasing her tongue's movements around the thick sex. His grunts of pleasure urged her to dare further, consuming him completely. Lord Yuy had reached the limit of his endurance.

Feeling him begin to throb with orgasm, Hilde abruptly ended her worship, pulling away and sitting back up on her knees. The violet-eyed beauty stared back at her in confusion and hurt, the glittering amethyst orbs pleading silently for her. Lord Yuy watched in impatience as the girl shook her head slowly, putting one finger to the smiling ebon lips again to silence him. He struggled against the tight bonds once again, straining his lower body towards her. Her wet, pink sex glimmered faintly in the dark light, open and vulnerable. Beckoning, as her teasing smile did. She untied the heavy boots and slid the trousers completely off, her eyes on the saccharine virgin before her, his own face a mask of carnal desire.

Delicately, Hilde unwound the ropes binding her breasts, taking time to make sure he noticed her light caresses. Once free, she tightened the silken cords around her hands, snapping them almost menacingly before smiling once again and bending forward to begin tying his ankles to the posts at the foot of the beddings. So resistance was futile, Lord Yuy thought, the corner of his mouth lifting in amusement as he watched the beautiful courtesan remove the ropes laced between her legs and begin winding them around his own sex. She pulled tightly then as she secured the bonds to the abstruse ropework across his abdomen, fixing his maleness in a state of perfect erection and making him cry in pain. The lush, shimmering lips curved once again, the unnaturally blue eyes admiring her work under the heavy black lining.

Hilde smiled benevolently at her fettered angel, his eyes still imploring her behind the long strands of chestnut hair. It had completely come loose from the braid now and was splayed behind him, making him seem even more defenseless despite the bonds, his face flushed and his sex cocked. Hilde reached down one hand and gave the exquisite organ a long, teasing stroke as she crawled onto his prostrated form, silencing his groan of pleasure with a deep kiss. She straddled the slender hips, locking him between her thighs but not allowing him entry yet. Her wetness drove Lord Yuy to madness.

Feeling his hips lift below her in protest, straining to enter her, Hilde pushed back against him with all her weight, tightening her thighs around him. She would have him when she was ready, as Lady Dorothy had taught her. Pulling back and fixing him with her most intimidating gaze, Hilde wrapped one hand around a lock of his hair and pulled firmly, watching in delight as the violet eyes widened in surprise and pain. She leaned back down and brushed her lips against his cheek, whispering huskily, "Warui, bishounen." Bad. He smiled.

The soft pink tongue caressed him before she pulled back again, reaching behind her. Lord Yuy was in a paroxysm of both love and hate. He pushed against her once more but was stopped abruptly when a hard, blunt, icily cold object touched his sensitive scrotum. He cursed as the object began a slow, threatening upward motion, moving over his erection and circling his toned abdomen before trailing back down, probing the susceptible skin gently. He closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists under the tight bonds, sighing softly as she continued to tease.

Hilde ran the sharpened tip of the bamboo stick over her angel's taut sex, watching as he grew even harder at the cold touch. She had wrapped the stick in a large plaintain leaf filled with hard-packed snow, letting the iciness sink into the wood for just this torture. It was something Lady Dorothy had shown her and tormented her with as well, having penetrated her with two of the frozen sticks at once during one session when she had still been a novice. Now she was the tormentor.

She knew of a secret place on the man's body, a soft spot at the base of the male sex that could initiate perfect satisfaction within seconds of stimulation. Hilde kept her eyes trained on the beautiful face, eyes closed in tense anticipation, the teeth clenched, as she slowly slid the tip of the bamboo stick back down the shaft towards the sensitive area. He cried out her name even before she had touched it, straining against the bonds and almost ripping free if she had not pushed her weight back down on him to hold him in place. The blue eyes narrowed into sapphire slits as the courtesan pulled back, scraping the bamboo stick across his sex and leaving a long red trail as she readied her hand to punish him.

Lord Yuy glared back at her, the set of his jaw defiant, a small smile playing across his lips even as the pain in his nether regions from her accidental scrape began to set in. He had always enjoyed a good fight, he thought, his smile growing as the nubile girl ran her tongue over her effulgent crimson-black lips and reared back with the bamboo stick. Adrenaline coursed through his body as Hilde's arm swung sharply down, the blunt edge of the wooden stick striking the muscular flesh of his inner thigh nearest his sex. The energy racing within his veins masked the cutting pain, giving way to the most exquisite pleasure he had ever felt. Lord Yuy closed his eyes and grunted loudly as the stick came down once again, lifting his hips to receive the blows eagerly now.

Hilde allowed herself a smile as she watched her prey's ardent invitation of the sensual punishment she continued to inflict upon him, lashing him closer and closer to his aching core. The blows were not meant to injure or cause pain, although they gave the illusion of such in the form of the most intense pleasure- she had been taught to strike at such an angle that the blows touched off pleasure centers and not sensitive nerves. Her angel welcomed the cruel stick, his cries and grunts of enjoyment clearly conveying his satisfaction. Lord Yuy felt himself begin to tremble at the edge of orgasm.

Suddenly, as quickly as the punishment had begun, it stopped. The lord opened his eyes, his loins numb from the indulgence, and gazed up at the courtesan. Hilde stared back, the bamboo stick gone from her hand, as she mounted his body lithely once again, this time positioning herself over his erection. He could feel the heat emanating from her; he held his breath, awaiting her engulfment.

Hilde reached down to smooth a lock of chestnut hair away from his forehead. He was damp, hot. The violet eyes flickered open then, the full lips parting. He licked them slowly. Hilde felt her control slipping, a soft, wet sigh escaping her lips, her breath tremulous. A hand suddenly touched her skin, tracing the curve of her hip teasingly before moving up to cup one small breast. A male hand. She heard the other rope snap; the other hand forced her hips down, impaling her sex on his cock.

Surprise soon gave way to passion as the strong male hands, trailing with the broken silken ropes from the wrists and fingers, wrapped around Hilde's neck, pulling her down to kiss moist lips while his lower body rose and fell in the familiar erotic rhythm to meet her fierce downward thrusts. She tangled her fingers in the long sorrel hair, her lips bruised, her tongue battling passionately with his as he continued to strain into her. His cock filled her, consumed her, pulsating deeper and deeper with each thrust.

The lips left hers then and Hilde broke away, rearing up and grinding her body harder into his. The male hands slid up to fondle her breasts; she cried out and threw her head back, her long hair sweeping down to her waist, the ends brushing the curve of her small rear. His name, Maxwell-san, died on her lips as she bit down hard to keep from crying it aloud. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth. His mouth was on her breasts, biting and suckling until the sensitive pale flesh turned a bright scarlet. His teeth snagged on a nipple as he gave one last thrust, a curse escaping his lips as she sobbed with ecstasy, her muscles clenching around his shaft. Hilde lifted his face to hers to brush her mouth against his in a pre-orgasmic kiss before they toppled over the edge together.

They lay shuddering and gasping in the aftermath, limbs entangled underneath the damp covers of the beddings, the lord stroking his courtesan's hair tenderly as she drifted to sleep against his chest. Outside the snow began to fall softly once again, bathing the room in a tranquil, ethereal light. Hilde caressed the hard pectoral muscles absently, her eyelids beginning to grow heavy. Her mascara had begun to run, blurring her vision. She sighed.

Maxwell-san...

Far beyond the fence of Lord Yuy's private estate, in the tiny, cramped chamber above the main hall of the Catholic church, Father Duo Maxwell awoke in a cold sweat, his breath coming in orgasmic gasps, his body throbbing with energy. Shaking the grogginess from his mind, Maxwell pushed himself to a sitting position in the small bed, concentrating on slowing his heart and breathing.

What is wrong with me? he thought, his brows furrowing in confusion as he threw the covers off to allow the cold night air to cool his sweaty body. He felt as if he were on fire. Suddenly he became aware of a sticky feeling on his hands and in the region of his thighs. Looking down reluctantly, Maxwell found his left hand covered in a creamy, sticky fluid. He felt his face flush with embarassment and shame and he quickly wiped his hand on his trouser leg, mentally cursing himself.

Hilde...

Standing up with the beginnings of "Our Father" on his lips, Maxwell walked over to the small chest at the foot of his bed and pulled the long whip out.

It would be another long night. Part Fourteen

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"...Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen."

Father Duo Maxwell closed his prayer book and crossed himself, shifting slightly to mask his grimace of pain as his robes rubbed against the still-abraded flesh of his back and shoulders at the motion. The children sitting on the floor before him followed his action and then closed their own prayer books as well. The young priest smiled.

"Well done! You hardly had to glance at the text today. I can see you all have been practicing." The children glanced at each other, doing their best to hide smiles of triumph. Maxwell's own smile widened.

"Alright, alright," he said with an exaggerated sigh. "Let me see your hands." The children obeyed with groans of defeat, holding up small hands sheepishly. There, written in tiny, delicate kanji, were the words to "Our Father." Maxwell shook his head in mock disappointment.

"And here I had thought I had done a good job teaching you all!" he moaned unhappily, giving the guilty children his most hurt look.

"Gomen nasai, Shinpu Maxwell!" one little boy cried desperately, jumping to his feet. His face turned a bright red as the rest of the children turned to look at him, and he looked down quickly, bowing apologetically. "...But haven't /you/ ever had trouble learning your prayers?" The little boy finished abruptly, bowing again, and sat back down. The others giggled and turned their attention back to the priest.

Maxwell smiled, remembering how he had used the old hand trick on the elder Father Maxwell back in England when he was a boy himself. The child /did/ have reason.

"Well-" he began, but was immediately cut off by another small boy.

"Baka! Of /course/ Shinpu Maxwell never had trouble learning his prayers! He is a priest chosen by God! He was probably born knowing /every/ prayer by heart, right, Shinpu Maxwell?" The child stared up at him, eyes wide and imploring.

"That's right, he isn't at all like us human people!" another child piped up. "He's an /angel/!" The rest of the children breathed in amazement and gazed up at the priest in awestruck admiration.

Maxwell grinned and shook his head, reaching behind him to toy with his braid, a habit he had grown fond of when he was nervous. He cleared his throat loudly.

"I do not think I would say that-" The bell chiming midday interrupted him this time. The children didn't wait for him to finish. Instead, they picked up their prayer books and Bibles and scampered out of the church doors in a flurry of winter overgarments, schoolbags, and excited chatter.

Maxwell sighed heavily as the doors thudded shut, alone once again. Chosen by God, he thought with an almost bitter smile, pushing himself up to a standing position. Father Maxwell had always told him that. He wished he could believe it himself. He knew that no matter what, he would never truly know if the priesthood had been right for him, if it /was/ right for him. He didn't know where he was going, but he was going, had always been going, and he knew that someday he would reach his destination: That deeper place, where everything was right and he would finally know it.

And for being human... Maxwell smiled as he climbed the stairs to his private chamber to study scriptures.

...He had the marks on his back to prove that he was.

~*~

Hilde was wakened from her sleep in the late afternoon by first a low, male moan and then a soft, female cry of protest. The deep azure eyes flickered open sleepily; the world was a dense white haze beyond the near-translucent shoji screen enclosing her chamber. Hilde's glossy violet lids fluttered shut once again. The female cry grew a bit louder.

Opening her eyes wider this time, Hilde sighed and sat up slowly, reaching for her dark amethyst-colored cashmere kimono and pulling it over her scantily clad body. So Lord Yuy had decided to visit his wife today, she thought with a smile. Now she understood how Lady Relena must feel whenever she and the lord visited one another. But still...

"I think you should leave." Lady Relena's voice- angry. Hilde fastened the kimono tightly around her waist and hurried as quietly as she could down the hallway to Lady Relena's chambers. She stopped just outside the screen as the male's voice finally became apparent- not Lord Yuy's.

"Relena, please." The voice was smooth, richly accented in French. "Why do you continue to oppose me?"

Hilde held her breath, pressing her back against the wall next to the screen. So it /was/ the Spanish commander, Treize. She slid the screen open slightly silently, allowing a sliver of the view in the room to reach her eyes, and leaned further back against the wall. Only if her mistress needed help would she impede, although the scene in the room almost caused her to withhold her position.

The Lady Relena stood with her back to the glass of the window, her face flushed and turned away from the man kneeling before her. Although the man was fully clothed, only the blue jacket of his uniform halfway unbuttoned, he had opened the lady's kimono skirt and slid down the soft ivory hakama trousers that had been covering her vulnerable sex. The commander's face was buried in the tender area, proceeding to kiss Lady Relena to orgasm and succeeding. Hot tears of shame slid slowly down her cheeks as a moan escaped her lips/ Hilde fought the urge to run into the room and tear the man away from her, silently reminding herself of the sword strapped to his side and his long, powerful arms. She stayed poised outside the screen.

Lady Relena's hands moved down from her sides and came to rest on the top of Treize's head, pushing him further into her sex. Hilde watched, her eyes widening in disbelief. She had wanted this...

Suddenly, the slender, gentle hands tightened around Treize, tangling in his gold-brown hair and pulling fiercely, pushing him away at the same time. The commander cursed loudly, stumbling back onto his hands and landing on the floor. Hilde covered her mouth quickly with one hand to stifle a giggle.

Lady Relena pushed her undergarment up haughtily, retying the delicate strings at her hips and pulling the ivory skirt of her kimono shut over her long legs. She stared down at the flustered commander through aquamarine slits, her lower lip trembling at her concealed anger.

"I do think you should leave," she nearly spat in French, pointing towards the screen that led back outside to the veranda. "Now."

A slow, defiant smile crossed Treize's face as he easily climbed to his feet and reached for his hat, which lay on Lady Relena's chaise lounge.

"I will leave because I am a gentleman," he finally spoke, his voice still smooth and assured. "But I know that soon you will come to me of your own volition." He pulled his hat on and smiled again.

Lady Relena shook her head. "When will you understand that I am married, Treize?" she replied wearily, as if telling him for the hundredth time. "I am married, I am having a child, and you and I do not exist anymore."

Treize laughed, the sound carrying a definite sarcasm. "Yes, of course," he said. "To the illustrious Lord Heero Yuy. And I suppose you love that pagan bastard as well?"

Lady Relena closed her eyes, her hands tightening into white-knuckled fists at her sides. "I love him," she replied evenly, her tone one of forced calm. "Now please." One arm raised, pointing towards the screen once again. The jeweled fingers snapped. "Go."

Treize nodded, the smile still frozen on his lips, and bowed as he made his way out to the veranda and away from the estate. Only when the shoji screen finally slid closed behind him did Hilde enter the room. Lady Relena's face was deathly pale and her body trembled. Hilde ran to her mistress, gathering the taller woman in her arms and gently sitting with her on the chaise lounge.

"Are you alright, Mistress Relena?" she asked worriedly as the blonde woman continued to tremble in her arms.

The lady nodded slowly and forced a smile. "Hai, Lady Hilde, I will be fine," she replied. "It is all my fault anyways."

Hilde turned to her mistress, confusion clouding her bright blue eyes. "What do you mean, Mistress Relena? Are you in love with Gunshou Treize?"

Lady Relena smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, not at all," she replied, her voice soft, almost dreamy. "I only love my Hee-kun..." She placed a hand on her stomach as if to remind herself of his child. "I am his unto eternity. No, I do not love Treize."

"Then how can it be your fault that he loves you now, my lady?" Hilde asked, smoothing the long skirt of her mistress's kimono absently.

Lady Relena sighed, her eyes fixed on a point in space Hilde couldn't see. "Because I did love him, at one point," she finally answered. "At least I believe I did."

Hilde smiled and pushed a lock of golden hair behind the other woman's ear. "So how did you come not to love him?" she pressed, curious to know more. She had known there was a connection between her lady and the Spanish commander from the beginning, when she had noticed the pained expression that crossed the lady's face whenever his name was mentioned.

Lady Relena turned to the pretty girl beside her with a smile and took her hands in her own. "I will tell you the story, if you like," she said, and with an enthusiastic nod from the other girl, she began.

"It was strange at first- not love at all. When I first met Treize he was a grown boy of nineteen and preparing to enlist in the French militray with my brother. I was only ten, a mere slip of a child, and of no interest to him. But I was taken with him at first sight. He was always so beautiful, and so charming.

"He and Milliardo left for training soon after that and I did not see Treize again until I was thirteen and he was twenty-two. He was even more handsome then than I had remembered, fully a man." The lady sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, remembering. After a long silence, she continued.

"This was when he finally began to take notice of me. At thirteen I was already endowed with a woman's body, all long legs and breasts." She smiled and blushed slightly. "Treize certainly noticed, and soon he would always be at the palace for me, and not Milliardo.

"One of our favorite pastimes was fencing; we could fence for hours, Treize and I. He loved to teach me new moves and I loved just being near him. It was during these fencing lessons, though, that it began... The love, or something like it, at least." She paused for breath.

"Before this day, the day Treize and I began our affair, we had already begun to share affectionate kisses and touches," Lady Relena continued, her heart beginning to beat faster at the memory. She squeezed Hilde's hand to ground herself, reminding herself that it was over. Hilde remained attentive, her eyes wide with curiousity. Lady Relena cleared her throat.

"Well, one day, these kisses and touches became much more. I remember we had been fencing, and I caught him with a surprise thrust and wrested him to the ground. But not before... before the blade of his foil slipped beneath the buttons of my uniform jacket... and cut it open..." Her breath caught sharply then; she squeezed the courtesan's hand ever tighter. She took a deep breath.

"I remember being shocked at first, my breasts freed and naked to his eye and touch. But then he smiled, so reassuringly, and then he bent his head and kissed the tips of my breasts, so gently. I died at that moment, grabbing him towards me and fumbling at the buttons of his own jacket and trousers. He was much faster." She sighed once again, regaining more of her composure. She was stronger when she began again.

"Treize made me a woman that day, and so much more. I knew what love truly was for the first time. We made love as often as possible after that, without Milliardo or my father learning of it. Then, when I turned fourteen, my father decided it was time for me to become married. Treize was the first to ask for my hand in marriage, first to my brother and then to my father. They both opposed him strongly- Milliardo because he knew what a womanizer Treize had been, and Father because he thought a foreign match would be best for the Cinq Kingdom."

"And so Lord Yuy?" Hilde asked, smiling shyly. It sounded so much like the romantic monogatari tales they sometimes read together- a beautiful princess and the two men she was torn between. Hilde almost began to feel sorry for Treize. And somehow, the story was almost strangle similar...

Lady Relena smiled back and nodded. "Hai. The young Japanese lord Heero Yuy: Handsome, passionate, and willing to sacrifice his life for me, as he had told me the night after we made love for the first time to consummate the match. I knew I would be his forever after that. And so now here we are." Her smile faded slightly then. "And Treize has found me once more..." She looked away, tears brimming in the aquamarine orbs once again.

Hilde stroked her mistress's long hair comfortingly. "Kudasai, Mistress Relena," she said softly. "Do you think his reason for being here is a personal vendetta then? Does he only want these lands because they are Lord Yuy's?"

Lady Relena wiped her eyes hurriedly to avoid ruining her makeup and raised her eyes to the courtesan's. "I do not know," she replied. "But I would not doubt it is a part of his reason. Lady Hilde."

One delicate, jeweled hand tilted Hilde's chin towards her, the eyes finding her own large blue ones. "Hai?" the girl whispered, keeping her gaze on the lady's with great effort.

"If there is ever a time in your life when you are faced with a decision between happiness and security, please, promise me you will choose happiness," the blonde woman said desperately, her eyes imploring the other girl's. "I know that I do love my lord, more than anything, but I also know that he is not my true love, and because of that I will always wonder whether I could have found true happiness with someone else."

"Treize..." Hilde closed her eyes and nodded. She understood.

"Hai," Lady Relena whispered, lowering her own eyes. "Promise me that you will make the right decision, Lady Hilde. When it is your turn..."

She understood everything now. Everything.

Giving her mistress a quick kiss on the cheek and her hand one last, affectionate squeeze, Hilde rose to her feet and hurried out of the room without a word, stopping only in her chamber for a parasol to shield herself against the steadily falling snow before continuing outside and onto the road towards the village. Lady Relena did not call after her.

Father Duo Maxwell had just finished sweeping the entire length of the aisle towards the altar and was preparing to take his straw broom back down to the supply room when the doors of the church banged open. He looked up, startled, as a small, slender figure in a scanty violet kimono entered and lowered a large white parasol painted with lilacs. The figure then tilted its head back, shaking a light dusting of snow out of its long, blue-black hair. Piercing azure eyes beneath feathery ebon lashes met his.

Maxwell held his breath as the girl approached him at the altar, crossing herself and dropping to her knees before him, taking his hands in her own. Petulant red lips touched his knuckles; the incredible, unusual eyes met his once again. The full, moist lips parted in a sigh.

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned."

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