Just two things to say before I beg forgiveness for my lateness:

1. No, Tomizawa wasn't modeled after my sensei. (She actually really nice, which is why we were scared when she gave us her 'kind' opening words.)

2. Tomizawa is so not married. lol. The 'Mrs.' thing was just a typo. (Who could cope with that thing?)

OH! And I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the lateness, guys! What's it been now? Two months? More than? OH, the shame! Can I use school as an excuse? No? Fine then. Laziness! I admit it! :P

(***NOTE TO ALL FANS OF THINGS FROM JAPAN,  PLEASE READ THE NEXT PART. HEHEHEH…***)

Just try and guess who will be going to JAPAN on exchange at the end of the year!!! If you said me, you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!! Wheeeee Heeee! I'm going to Japan! Home of anime, final fantasy, manga and sushi! Birthplace of my beloved PS2! Japan! Japan! Japan!

Key:

Bold        = emphasis

Italics     = thoughts

Awaiting Good Fortune

*******Chapter Ten: Just a White Lie

                She slid into the room quietly, however, she did not escape his notice. He spun quickly, his ready stance precise and well practiced, his blade gleaming in the almost sufficient light. His eyes were narrowed and his mouth drawn into a thin line as sweat shone on his brow.

                She walked into the middle of the room, allowing the smooth white silk wrapped around her weapon to fall to the ground with a flutter. Her head was held high and her face set with determination. His eyes never left her once, and his blade never shook or fell.

                "Now we fight for the title," he said stonily, turned his blade over, then narrowed his eyes as he jumped impossibly high in the air, lunging at her with his sword.

                She dodged it quickly, skirting to the side and bringing up her katana to deflect his as a loud twang of metal echoed through the room.

He growled softly the sprung at her again, landing a few feet in front of her, ducking, and swinging his katana around and knocking her feet out from under her.

                She was not defeated that easily, though. She curled her body and rolled backwards, jumping back to her feet with her sword ready.

                "You're better," she said with a wise grin, "But you know what you're lacking." Flames surrounded her as she began her attack. Her routine seemed completely random, but to the trained eye of any martial artist it was actually a brilliantly calculated pattern. She executed wild jabs, clean swipes and rough blows in a precise array that in normal circumstances, would have mortally harmed or killed her opponent.

                However, she only managed to land a handful of blows.

                Without his fighting essence missing, her opponent was indeed a force to be reckoned with. He was efficient in both his offensive and defensive, and found every loophole in her attack and exploited in ruthlessly.

                The fires around them grew as the two of them began to pant with the effort of constantly blocking and attacking.

                This isn't going to work, she thought, then immediately decided on a change of tactics.

                She sidestepped, ducked and swirled around behind him, using the force of her twirl to bring down the blunt edge of her blade on his back. He grunted as pain exploded where the steel had come into contact with him, but immediately regained his composure.

                An opening, he thought as he pivoted and brought his blade around to smash into her shoulder. She cried out incoherently as her arm twitched and she collapsed sideways.

                He pointed his blade at her then flipped it over.

                "End."

                She used her free hand to clutch her shoulder as she looked up at the victor of their duel. Flames surrounded him mightily and his eyes glowed with a kind of angry sadness as a samurai's would.

                Was it her imagination, or did she see a dragon weaving through the flames that surrounded him?

                "What I lack cannot be replaced."

                *

                She sat up in her bed swiftly, her long, raven-black locks clinging to her arms, neck and face.

She brought up her right hand to wipe the sweat off her face, only to find her katana locked inside it in an iron grip.

                She looked at her hand -- she was holding the metal part of her sword.

                She stared on in wonderment and shock as blood began to seep out of her palm and slide down her arm. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

                "So I will lose to him."

                *

                Usagi lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling.

She didn't know how long she had been staring at it, or why, all she knew was that she had been staring at it for a long time and that a whole lot of thoughts and junk where flying through her head.

                "You probably have a really nice Heero Yui inside you."

                "He's a pretty lonely guy."

                "That was really nice of you before."

                "You should really give Heero a try, you know."

                "He must have a personality underneath."

                "You'll be asking 'Mamoru who'."

                "UGH!" She grunted then rolled over, blocking the thought-inducing ceiling from her sight. The blackness of closed eyes, however, only created more thoughts. However, those were coupled with visuals of herself and Heero on dates, arguing, sitting on couches, eating dinner, and just about anything else that any normal human being would do.

                With a squeak she rolled back onto her back and narrowed her eyes at the evil ceiling.

                "Oh, I'm going to have a very forceful word with Minako," she said determinedly. Even though she knew that her thoughts had nothing to doing with her golden-haired friend, she had to blame someone.

                *

                Usagi lifted her head off her desk sleepily, trying in vain to concentrate on the words being scrawled across the white-board. She had an excuse for not concentrating though; she had, after all, not gotten a wink of sleep the night before.

                Focus! She mentally slapped herself.

                Concentration, however, was too far out of Usagi's reach, and before she knew it, the wink of sleep that had escaped her last night invaded her body with a whole other army of winks that caused her to instantly fall into a slumber.

                Not quick enough, nonetheless, for her presently sluggish brain to register a small slip of paper fly from somewhere in the classroom, smack her in the nose and land neatly on her desk.

                *

                For the second time in her Thursday History lesson, Usagi raised her head off her desk. She gazed around the room tiredly for a few moments, and then let her eyes drop to her desk. There were several slips of paper lying there. She smirked a little, realizing that she must have been asleep for quite a while, then pulled out the slip at the bottom, which she assumed to be the first. It was Ami's handwriting but it looked as though she had written it without actually looking at the paper.

                                Usagi, you should be concentrating! Lucky for you I'll let you copy my notes back at the house!

                                From Ami =)

                                She smiled. Good old Ami, without even being asked she was wiling to help. Usagi shot a gracious smile Ami's way, but, of course, she was paying all her attention to the teacher at the front of the class. She grabbed the next bit of paper.

                                Hey Usa!

                                Enjoying your nap? Lol.

                                Heero's looked at you a couple of times. It must be love! Haha! Just joking!

                                Love from Minako!

Usagi rolled her eyes and looked over at where Minako was sitting.

And grinning.

At her.

                She rolled her eyes again then picked up the next note closest to the bottom.

                                Hi Usagi! It's Duo here! Man, History is sooo boring! But I guess you agree too, huh, sleepy head? Just Joking :)

                                Hey, you should date Heero sometime! But, he does have that weird problem/phobia of---

                Usagi frowned as the writing ended there.

Heero? Phobia?

Iceberg? Fear?

No way, there couldn't be anything Mr. Monotone was afraid of.

She shrugged and picked up the next piece of paper.

                                Hehehe! Usa, Duo just told me something really funny! Apparently Heero's got some sort of problem with going out on the town for like, parties and dates and stuff. Duo didn't say much but he promised that we'd find out why soon!

                                Luv Mina

                                P.S. You'll help him get over his fear of going out on dates, won't you Usagi? *wink wink* JK!

                Usagi gave a sidelong look at Minako, but she was whispering to Duo and some other students, so she didn't notice. (Usagi didn't even want to think about what she was whispering about.)

                She picked up the second last note.

                                Hello Usagi, my name's Araki Kojiro. I'm in most of your classes and you seem really nice. I was going to ask you out after class but Duo and everyone say you're going out with Heero. Is that true? He seems pretty cold to me. Oh well.

                                ~Kojiro (On the left of the classroom, in sport uniform.)

Usagi looked around for the sender of the note, and soon spotted him.

He gave her a discreet little wave.

Usagi blushed.

He smiled.

And then suddenly his eyes widened, his back stiffened, and he quickly whipped his head forward and didn't look back.

What was that about? Usagi thought; a little hurt by his actions. She shrugged it off as just a weird boy thing then read the last note on he desk.

                                Duo again. Minako and I kinda accidentally just started a rumor about you and Heero. We were only joking but now everyone thinks you two are going out. Sorry!

                The writing then changed to that of Minako's hand.

                                I'm soooo sorry Usa! We were just having a joke but now they've gone on all serious on us! Now barely any guys are gonna have the nerve to ask you out… I'M SOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY, USA!!!

                Usagi read the note again.

                And again.

                And one last time.

                So that's why… that Kojiro boy must've thought Heero would bash him up or something… ah, Minako, sometimes you just let your mouth get me into trouble…

                Usagi sulked a little. So she wasn't going to get asked out by anyone until the rumor had vanished? That could be ages! Everyone would believe what they wanted to believe, and even if she denied it outright, they would think she was just trying to cover up a hidden romance!

                Great. So now what am I supposed to do?

                Before Usagi had time to answer the question, the lunch bell rang.

                *

                "PLEEEASE FORGIVE ME USA! I meant it as a joke, I swear!!!" Minako pleaded as she walked next to Usagi in the corridor.

                "It's OK, Mina. I'm sure everyone will eventually get the picture that we're not going out. It's pretty obvious, anyway," Usagi said nonchalantly. Minako sighed in relief.

                "I'm glad you're taking this so well, Usagi," Minako said, a lot more relaxed than she was during her previous outburst. Her expression then turned sneaky. "You know, Usa… you could probably use this to your advantage."

                "WHAT?!" Usagi asked, choking a little as she stopped walking suddenly. Makoto, Ami and Rei noticed Usagi's odd behavior and joined the two blondes.

                "Usagi, are you OK? You look a little pale…" Ami inquired with her concerned doctor-like eyes on the prowl for any sickness in her.

                "Not really!" Usagi exclaimed hysterically. "Minako and Duo accidentally spread a rumor that Heero and I were dating! And she suggested I use that 'to my advantage,'" Usagi through her hands up in the air, as if pleading 'why me?'

                "Well…" Makoto began, "Maybe you can use it to your advantage. Going on some dates and getting a boyfriend would help you forget about Mamoru."

                "Yeah, and as annoying as you are, Usagi, you always bring out the best in people. Ice-boy can't have absolutely no emotions, can he?" Rei said with a glance down the hall at said boy.

                Usagi smiled at her friends. She knew that they were being only extra-extra-nice so as to avoid a Mamoru-induced tear-fest, but it felt good to be complimented anyway.

                "See? You didn't have go weird; I was only thinking about you!" Minako said with a cheerful grin.

                "Suuure you were; you're a matchmaker Minako, always have been, always will be," Usagi said and poked her friend shoulder.

                "I'm not a matchmaker… I'm the Goddess of Love!!" Minako exclaimed, striking an odd pose.

Her friends slinked away quietly.

                *

                "Heero, you seem a bit edgy. Do you want to tell me about it?" Quatre asked, slightly concerned for his silent friend. He got a glare for an answer. "Yes or no?"

                "No," Heero said rather bluntly.

                "So, there is something that's making you edgy, but you don't want to talk about it because ot's a secret. Is that it?" Quatre asked, opening his locker and stacking his Geography books inside.

                "No."

                "OK then. Now we're getting somewhere. Something happed during your History period, right?" Quatre stated rather than asked as he cleaned up the small stacks of loose sheets that had fallen out of a couple of folders and had begun to collect at the bottom of his locker.

                "No."

                "Did Duo say something? We all know how frustrated you get when he's talking his mouth off. Is that what happened?"

                "No."

                "A combined effort then. Between Duo and… Minako, right? I'm guessing more were involved, though. It was a group of students, wasn't it?" the blonde asked as he picked up the small bag containing his lunch.

                "No."

                "Well what did they say? Did they start a rumor?" Quatre opened his bag of goodies and peered inside.

                "No."

                "So they started a rumor about you and somebody. About you and a girl?"

                "No."

                "Which girl? Was it Usagi?" Quatre asked excitedly, forgetting about his lunch for the moment.

                "No."

                "Oh my Gosh! They said you and Usagi were dating?!" Quatre started to laugh. "Maybe you really should go out with her. Give them something more to talk about! Oh well, I'm meeting Ami and the rest of the gang for Lunch today. Bye!" He called as he whizzed down the hall towards the quad.

                Heero glared at his back with as close to confusion as he had ever experienced in his life.

                *

                Two very normal --and not suspicious at all-- students sneakily, but not noticeably, creeped towards the far corner of the quad. Said corner was a particularly shady corner and a very good place for plot-makers to meet and hatch their schemes.

                "Part 1- White Lie : Complete!" The not-suspicious and totally not-diabolical person with the braid said.

                "Now for stage two!" The not-at-all-suspicious long-haired blonde said excitedly.

                "Part 2a: Initiate Melting Point! Remember what to do!"

                After a quick nod they both departed casually, thinking how clever they both were.

                *

                "I've got a great idea! Let's all go out on Friday and party! I know heaps of great clubs, and we can tell the school that it's just to introduce the new boarders to the city around here," Duo said with a grin.

                "Yeah! That sounds awesome!" Minako agreed, already planning outfit options.

                "Are you sure the school will allow it?" Ami asked timidly, a little frightened by the prospect of going to 'clubs' and 'partying.'

                "Sure! Us guys at the boarding house do it all the time! I don't know if the other guys enjoy it, but they come along anyway. I mean, Heero's a bit hard to…er… convince to come along but eventually we all get there," Duo said laughingly and looked slyly at Heero. He got a glare and a 'hn' for a response. That didn't faze Duo Maxwell, though. Never really did and never ever will.

                "It sounds fun. But what kind of clubs would we go to?" Usagi asked excitedly as she, too, began to mentally view clothing options.

                "Duo usually takes us anywhere and everywhere. It's a bit of a mystery as to why he knows the area so well, but it's fun anyway, so we don't ask," Quatre said, then took a bite out of his sandwich.

                "So who pays for everything?" Rei asked with a raised eyebrow.

                "Oh, Rei. The man always shouts," Makoto said with a matter-of-fact smile that faded into a grin.

                "Uh… Alright. Guys shout --But only this one time!-- Who's coming along? All of you? OK. I'll go inform the principle on our 'Introduction Excursion.' Bye!" Duo said and sped off before anyone had time to say anything.

                They all then resumed talking, but if anyone had taken notice, they would have realized that Heero's face was a little paler than usual.

                *

                "Yes! Art last period! It doesn't get any better!" Usagi exclaimed as she gathered her things from her locker and walked bouncily to her class. She loved Art. She wasn't terribly good at it, but she loved it because it didn't require a lot of hard thinking and helped her relax a bit.

                She walked into the classroom with a smile, picked up her canvas from the drying rack and took a seat in front of an easel near the middle of the classroom. She was one of the first students to arrive --which she found rather odd-- so she sat around waiting for the teacher to arrive and open up the paint cupboard.

                "Hi." She heard from next to her. She looked up to see the face of Kojiro, the boy who had sent her the note in her History class. "Is this seat here taken?" He asked with a small smile, indicating the seat next to her.

                "Not at all. Go ahead," she said with a smile.

                "Oh, no, wait… you'd probably be sitting next to Heero, wouldn't you? Sorry," he then shuffled off quickly and hid behind an easel and canvas near the back of the room and in the corner. Usagi looked at him, a little confused.

                As if on cue, that was when Heero decided to enter the room. He scanned the area, soon realized the only available seat left was next to Usagi, grabbed his canvas and sat down. The teacher entered soon after.

                Usagi had always thought it was weird that Heero did Art. It wasn't a core subject, so he must have chosen it himself, but… why? He didn't seem at all to be an arty person. In fact, he seemed to be the polar opposite to an arty person. What was even weirder was the fact that he was really good at it, too.

                "Wow, that's absolutely wonderful," Usagi breathed as she looked at his painting.

                "Hn."

                If any other person had responded to a compliment like that, Usagi would have been thoroughly insulted. It was the standard response from Heero though, so she only felt mildly insulted as she continued to stare at his painted canvas.

                His painting was, indeed, amazing. It was bordering on perfect. Heck, it'd passed the border and was beginning to look like a photograph.

Their flaming-red-haired teacher then started to address her noisy students.

                "Class, your paintings need to be finished in time for the test in four weeks, so you have to work efficiently. I've gotten some questions about this; if you don't finish before then, then you will just have to use your unfinished painting. Only minimal marks will be deducted for an unfinished painting," she said sweetly as she began to waltz around the room and look at her students' artworks.

                I'll never be finished in that time!! Usagi moaned to herself, picking up a plastic palette and walking over to the paint cupboard. A queue was already forming.

                She decided to just zone out for a while and listen to everyone else's conversations while she waited for her turn.

                "--they just don't click. I don't get it. He always seems so reclusive and cold, and she seems really nice and smiley, you know?"

                "Yeah. I can't believe they're going out. How long have they been at this school? Less than a week? And they're already dating?"

                "Maybe they knew each other before then."

                "Yeah, maybe. Damn, that's a shame. I was going to ask her out next week."

                "Sure you were."

                "I was!"

                Usagi sighed; it seemed that that rumor about herself and Heero had found wings and done multiple laps around the school.  She rolled her eyes and tuned in to another conversation.

                "Hey, did you guys hear about what that Wufei kid did today?" One girl asked.

                "I've heard of it, but no-one has any details or anything," another answered.

                "Yeah well, at the end of lunch some kids came in from the front gate and talked to him. They were pretty creepy, dressed in black. They had a sort of a gangster/street rat kinda feel about them. One of them suddenly pushed him and then BANG! He just went nuts! They all started attacking him as soon as he had knocked someone out," a new participant in the conversation said animatedly.

                "Yeah, I saw that too! There were about a dozen of those guys on him and he almost beat them all."

                "Whaddya mean 'almost?'"

                "Well I guess someone landed a lucky punch. Caught him off-guard then they almost beat the life outta him."

                "Where is he now?"

                "Probably at the Nurse. I've heard he hates hospitals," one of them said as the Art teacher walked up to them.

                "Girls! Stop chatting and move along, you have to be very swift if you want to get your paintings done in time!"

                Usagi shuffled through and squirted random dark colors on her palette. She walked back to her seat and sat down, beginning to blend some of her colors with the paintbrush she had grabbed on her way back to her canvas.

                The topic of their paintings in the first half of the semester was 'Obscurity.' They had to paint a dark painting but had to 'breathe life into it using a brush' as their teacher said.

                Usagi had a brilliant mental picture of a calm, serene lake at midnight, rippling slightly and warping the moon's reflection. Above the large pool were beautiful oak trees, completely black with the lack of light and casting shadows on the rippling surface on the lake underneath. And above it all was a beautiful night sky, black but ever so slightly purple and blue, and with twinkling stars spread over the sky, framing a perfect full moon.

                It was truly a beautiful picture.

                So why can't a I just paint it properly so it looks like it?! Usagi thought angrily, staring at her slightly sad-looking picture of mutated splashes of black, purple and white.

                She then looked over at Heero's painting and got even more depressed.

                His painting was of a large, gothic but still very beautiful church, casting frightening shadows everywhere due to the angle of the moon. Outside the church was a poor street urchin lying near the massive entrance, the light of the moon making the tears running down his cheeks glisten.

                The Art teacher bustled up behind Heero, practically gushing with excitement as she stared at his mini-masterpiece.

                "Heero dear, this is simply amazing! You have such talent! The detail is beautiful! And Usagi! Yours is…"

                Usagi scrunched up her face in distaste as she regarded her painting.

                "It's not very good. I'm sorry, Miss," Usagi said as she swirled paint around on her palette.

                "No, dear, don't say that. It abstract, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a… shipwreck in the ocean, right? It's very beautiful. Good work Usagi!" And with that, she scuttled off to another student.

                Usagi sighed and began to add to her painting, trying to make it look like a perfect lake and not a rotting shipwreck.

                *

                Rei walked quickly into the infirmary and walked up to the bed where Wufei was lying. Without any further ado, she launched into what she was about to say.

                "I assume this cancels the re-match," she stated, staring down at his ruined form.

                "…"

                "I had a dream last night. It told me you would have defeated me anyway, so you needn't worry," she said bluntly and a little too quickly.

                His head snapped around to look at her.

She grit her teeth as she felt her pride shatter; to admit to being less to a man in such bad shape was tearing at her dignity.

                "It is because of this that I request that after your recovery you…t…train… me."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth they didn't seem as bad as they had been when they were in her head.

                His eyes narrowed slightly, and he looking at her for a long while. Eventually he nodded.

                Rei walked out of the room quietly.

                *

                "Duo, did you get everything organized?" Minako whispered.

                "Yep! We're all set, all we have to do is wait until tomorrow night!"

                "Is it going to work though?"

                "Sure it is! Those two will be a couple before the end of next week or my name isn't Duo Maxwell!"

*******End chapter 10

Not much humor in this chapter. I'm sorry. I just thought I should get something out before everyone completely forgets about my story. =(

Big, huge, massive, enormous apologies go out to the one or two fans I have out there! I love you guys! I'm so sorry this is late! (Especially to Angelight, who ordered me to go and write this! ^_^)

*pretends to cry*

…soooo…. I'm forgiven then? Cool. Now you can all be the wonderful, lovely, beautiful people that you are and REVIEW!! ….please?