Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Photo Kano or any of its characters. I wrote this fanfic for my own pleasure and purely entertainment.

Chapter 1 – One Fateful Summer Day

The day was bright and sunny. The sound of birds chirping, cicadas buzzing and rustling of green leaves filled the air. The skies were packed with cirrus clouds that seemed to have been swept by a gigantic broom across the entire atmosphere. A light yet cool breeze blew steadily, balancing the early morning temperature with the natural warmth supplied by the current season. It was truly a perfect day to bask under the sun.

The southeastern park was a wide expanse landscaped with various shrubs, trees and well-trimmed grass. Scattered across its stretch were well placed lamp posts, concrete benches and trash bins to help maintain the park's cleanliness. On such a beautiful day, it was expected that the square would be filled with people from all walks of life. Such as families, lovers, friends, various groups, even acquaintances across all ages and both genders.

It was summer.

The crisp warmth provided by the sun and smoothly flowing gale completed the ideal backdrop for the season.

Today was a weekday. It was only 730am in the morning and most of the adults are on the way to their respective workplaces. Save for a few joggers, a pair of women walking their pets, a trio playing Frisbee and a couple preparing for picnic there wasn't much activity yet inside the park.

"This is Red One, status report on all units." A cold and calculating voice spoke through the commlink.

"This is walker team lead, we're taking another lap, no activity yet on the area." One of the joggers replied through the barely visible mouthpiece of his walkman's headset.

"This is tracker unit two, all looks pleasant from here." A woman walking her dog responded.

"This is the observer team, all clear on our perimeter." Another man reported while sitting on a laid out blanket across the grassy area underneath one of the trees beside a woman who was handing him a tetra pack juice.

"This is gate watcher three, no activity on the north entrance."

"Gate watcher one, we're all good on west entrance."

"Sniper lead reporting, east entrance is empty."

After the various teams finished giving updates to their positions, Red One, the overall operations team leader pushed his ice cream cart to his designated vantage point and surveyed the area.

They had cordoned the park to the best of their resources. Roving units had redirected the few possible civilians that may happen to enter the area by leading them to believe the park was closed due to maintenance on its sprinkler systems.

'Everything is so wrong on this setup. Knowledge of this exchange was so limited we are forced to conduct a morning operation and inside a common park of all places.' He mused while his cobalt blue eyes keenly scanned the surroundings.

The Preventers Special Response Team had no choice on the matter. The operation was highly critical as it would be the only opportunity they had to crackdown a business meeting between a radical arms dealer and an extremely dangerous assassin.

Ideally, it was hitting two birds with one stone. Apprehending both of them takes out two major pieces off the board in the raging and ongoing silent conflict of preventing another full-scale war. He was especially contracted for this operation after intelligence reports learned that the supposed target on the bargaining table would be the chief representative anchoring the peace talks.

Relena Peacecraft.

An attempt will be made on her life if the deal is successfully brokered between two very elusive criminals. One desired to resume hostilities between the Earth Sphere and Colonies once the prime advocate of peaceful relations have been taken cared of. While the other would become a hot commodity when chaos ensues and sides are taken. The arms dealer would obviously benefit as his business will profit greatly. The assassin meanwhile gets more contracts once another armed conflict occurs.

Everything on this operation rests on his shoulders.

No one was better suited for the job other than him.

The ever consummate and perfect soldier, Heero Yuy.

"Red One, this is Grey Two, I'm seeing a convoy comprised of a black sedan and black SUV entering from the north gate. No doubt they'll be proceeding to the parking area before leaving their vehicles." A braided young man reported, holding a bundle of strings with lots of multicolored balloons attached on each end.

"Everyone hold your positions. We are still waiting for another mark before we commence with the operation." Heero answered.

"Roger that group lead." Duo Maxwell replied which was followed by confirmations from the other teams.

'Knowing the background of these people, we'll have to use suppressive force if necessary.' The brown haired boy pondered as he resumed pushing the cart while peddling his ice cream.

Haruka Niimi was a bright young woman at the tender age of 17. She had chestnut brown hair that fell past her shoulders with a pair of white hairclips tying her left bangs. Her expressive amber eyes could easily capture anyone's attention while a small light smile always graced her thin lips. She was active and outgoing while possessing a kind, cheerful personality. It doesn't even include her natural beauty and gentle aura that seemed to hover around the young woman. Considered her school's current idol and tennis ace, many boys and girls had since been enamored to her beauty and qualities.

After eating breakfast, she had left her house early to take a morning stroll on the park before going to the market area. Her mother had forgotten to buy several ingredients the previous day and asked her to do it instead. Obeying promptly, Haruka also wanted to visit a few stores along the strip mall once her given task was complete on her way home.

Wearing a white sun dress and a pair of slip-ons with her small brown shoulder bag, the lovely girl took in the morning air and exhaled in contentment. The warm weather and the light breeze made up for what was a perfect summer day.

"This day is really nice. I really love summer!" She cheerfully uttered to herself while gazing at the clouds that seemed to have been raked across the skies.

Walther Heinhzengard was a tall, lean man of European descent standing somewhere between 6'3" to 6'4". He was easily noticeable with his golden blond hair, clear green eyes and cleanly shaven oval face. A former member of OZ's Specials unit, he had distinguished himself both as an above average mobile suit pilot and a deadly marksman during the Eve Wars. The former OZ soldier was forced to take illegal jobs and accept contracts for shady organizations as means to support his way of living. Since the conclusion of the Eve Wars and the aftermath of Mariemaia's rebellion, it had been difficult to ply his trade with the current peace time.

Today, he will be meeting with a disgruntled arms dealer known only in the criminal underworld as Mister Ox. Based from the limited information he has gathered from his peers, the man was well built despite being already in his mid-fifties, balding, had a distinguishable large mole at the lower right side of his cheek, a pencil mustache above his thick lips and a pair of slanted eyes. Rumors had it that the man was a former Major of the now defunct Alliance military terrestrial forces, abandoning his post after the famous "Operation Daybreak" Coup d'etat toppled the governing United Earth Sphere Alliance military after Field Marshal Noventa's untimely demise.

The assassin casually spared another glance at the pair of dead bodies he had neatly stashed on the dense foliage surrounding the tree they were previously hidden before he easily took them out.

'Preventer agents, no doubt. It seems they're onto our business meeting today. If the potential for new possibilities along with the pay wasn't this good, I would never have acceded to the meet up. Well, for such a large expanse… they're pretty stupid to think they'll have enough men to cover every square inch.'

He carefully placed the small headset to his ear before carefully listening in on the channel. The frequency the Preventers were working on was dead silent, he dared not say anything as the assassin planned on using their communications against them.

'I'll just be a silent participant so that I can track your movements when you spring your supposed trap.' Walther mused before smirking as he went past the east entrance.

'Ahh… a peaceful early morning walk on the park sure is a good way to start the day!' Haruka ascertained after getting past the east side gates.

The cheerful young woman decided to pass by the park first and relax a bit before going to the market by exiting through the northern entrance. She sighed while breathing in the early morning breeze while mesmerizing the warm rays of the sun. The weather was definitely perfect. She could hear the birds chirping by the trees, rustling of the leaves and branches as well as witness the joys of the parks visitors.

There was a couple underneath one of the trees with the woman leaning lovingly at her man. She smiled after hearing the excited cheering from the group playing Frisbee at the open field. There was a pair of women walking their dogs while talking excitedly amongst themselves. While a trio of joggers were sweating extensively from their morning run.

At the benches was a middle-aged man wearing a sweatshirt and jogging pants while being surrounded by a group of burly men dressed in black.

'Rich people need bodyguards even during peace time.' The chestnut brown haired girl noted before shifting her glance at the passing vendor a good distance away from her.

The young man rang a small hand bell while pushing his ice cream cart. He was wearing a striped blue collared shirt and black pants. He has a lean and slender frame, but the way his shirt hung on showed his nice posture and chiseled yet toned muscles. He had cool Prussian blue eyes and a mass of chocolate brown hair with long bangs.

'Oh… he looks rough at the edges… but he's definitely a hunk.' Haruka observed before realizing that her feet was already moving towards his direction.

'Errhmm… I'm just going to buy ice cream. Oh… stop kidding yourself, Haruka. You just want to see him closer.' She thought, smiling foolishly at herself.

"How much for an ice cream? I'd like to buy one." The tennis ace opened while smiling kindly at the young man.

The ice cream vendor was startled when she spoke. She noticed though that there was an alarmed look in his cobalt blue orbs after carefully checking her.

"Only three gils for a triple layered chocolate." He tersely answered cautiously throwing another look at the man surrounded by his bodyguards.

"I'd like that. I'll take one please!" She cheerfully replied.

The young man opened his cart and soon enough he was already handing her the triple layered chocolate ice cream. She gave him a twenty gil bill out from her shoulder bag in return.

'Well… he definitely is rough. But I think that's his innate quality. He has that air of mysteriousness though for an ice cream vendor. But… well… he certainly is cute.' She pondered while eating her ice cream.

"Here's your change, miss. I don't want to sound rude but please leave the park premises immediately." He curtly responded while giving her the change.

"Huh? You can't be an ice cream vendor if you're like that. You'll scare the children away." Haruka kindly replied while looking at the young man questioningly.

He did not respond to her but instead began pushing his cart away from her.

'My assessment was right, but he doesn't have to be snobbish.' She thought while counting her change.

"Hey mister! You got my change wrong… there's an extra ten gil here!" Haruka called out before moving towards the ice cream vendor's direction.

"Ok, Heero. I'll go make a quick check on them. They're probably following your last order on radio silence." Duo replied to him using a separate frequency as he took another discreet glance at the group of men.

'No doubt, the guy wearing jogging outfit is the arms dealer. But I'm more concerned on the assassin. He has yet to show himself for their meeting.'

The Perfect Soldier counted four bodyguards on black suits surrounding the man he surmised who should be the arms dealer. They have maintained radio silence after detecting the arrival of the group. All in all, there were a total of ten targets including the arms dealer and the assassin who has yet to appear. The other four guards had remained on a defensive perimeter around their vehicles. Heero had since been deeply disturbed after missing the status update from the sniper team placed by the eastern gates prior to his call for radio silence. The rest of their team was on alert and playing their covers while waiting for his queue to proceed with the mission.

The anticipation was killing him. Time seemed to move very slowly as the waiting game between them, the arms dealer group and the assassin lingered.

He was quite startled after hearing someone call out to him coming from the direction of the east entrance.

"How much for an ice cream? I'd like to buy one."

Heero turned and was undoubtedly alarmed after seeing that the voice belonged to a young woman whom he easily recognized was not part of his team. The girl was somewhere around 17 or 18, standing between 5'3" – 5'4" and had chestnut brown hair that dropped past her shoulders with a pair of white hair clips tied at her left bangs. The young woman was wearing a white sundress and a small shoulder bag was at her side.

'Could she be the assassin? No… the intel though very limited, clearly stated the guy's quite tall and already in his early 20s.'

He felt his heart was gripped with dread upon realizing that the girl was… an unknowing civilian now caught in the middle of their operation.

"Only three gils for a triple layered chocolate." He tersely answered, cautiously throwing another look at the man surrounded by his bodyguards.

An innocent civilian.

'Damn, we might have to abort. Despite the opportunity, another innocent might die here.' He pondered before his earlier musings were confirmed by another transmission from Duo.

"This is bad, Heero. The sniper team at east gate has been dispatched and their bodies were neatly concealed underneath some foliage here." The braided haired pilot reported as the young woman replied.

"I'd like that. I'll take one please!"

He opened the cart's lid where carefully stored underneath it was his own sidearm. He then scooped and prepared the girl's order before throwing another discreet gaze at the arms dealer's group and switching back to the young woman.

'Could she be an accomplice? No matter how I look at it… she doesn't have a weapon that she could conceal with her clothing.'

Soon as he handed her the ice cream, the girl gave him a twenty gil bill out from her brown shoulder bag.

"Here's your change, miss. I don't want to sound rude but please leave the park premises immediately." He curtly responded while giving her the change.

Ascertaining that the young woman was indeed just a civilian, Heero was about to give the order to abort when he saw another individual appear from the edge of his periphery.

It was another jogger wearing an all grey hooded tracksuit. The man had approached the arms dealer and was now discussing things with him while pretending to make preliminary stretches.

'Damn it! The cast is complete! But with the way things are going, we have no choice but to stand down.'

"Huh? You can't be an ice cream vendor if you're like that. You'll scare the children away." The girl kindly replied while looking at him questioningly.

Heero decided to ignore her and slowly pushed his cart away from her direction.

"This is Red One. Abort mission. I say it again, abort. Mission is compromised we have a civilian in the premises." He uttered under his breath through the private channel before hearing the young woman speak once again.

"Hey mister! You got my change wrong… there's an extra ten gil here!" She called out to him while moving towards his direction.

'Shit!'

He turned his head at the group's location and accidentally locked eyes with the assassin.

A malicious glint appeared on the eyes of the hired killer as they stared at each other for what should be no longer than three seconds.

He saw the murderer utter something at the arms dealer causing the middle-aged man to convey a set of orders to his bodyguards.

Within a split-second the assassin was already pulling out a pair of pistols and the bodyguards of the arm's dealer readying their submachine guns at them. The Perfect Soldier quickly opened the cart's lid and drew out his sidearm within before diving at the young woman.

"Get down!" Heero yelled.

A spray of bullets washed over their direction, shredding his ice cream cart into pieces.

"This is Red One, take them down! I repeat, take them down!" The former pilot of Wing Gundam ordered as he covered the young woman underneath him with his body.

"Affirmative Red One this is the observer team, preparing to follow orders!"

"This is walker lead, engaging the enemy!"

"Tracker units are moving to intercept, Red One!"

Bullets whizzed past them. Fortunately, they had landed behind some bushes and a concrete bench which provided them some shelter as the assassin and the gunmen rained bullets at their area. Shortly after, he heard another barrage of fire answer, this one coming from a different location.

The Preventers were already responding to his orders. The two agents pretending to be a couple were the first to respond followed by the trio of joggers from the walker team. The two female agents that comprised the tracker team completed the assault.

Two of the bodyguards were immediately cut down from their counterattack.

However, the assassin was quick to retaliate. He instantly shifted his sights at the two agents acting as lovers before killing them with precise shots from his pair of pistols. The arms dealer showed skills and experience from trained military personnel as the middle-aged man shot down one of the joggers with decent accuracy.

Heero quickly glanced at the young woman underneath him and found that her eyes were glazed while she was also hyperventilating. Her breathing was sharply drawn, showing the strain, difficulty and raggedness.

"Look at me! Calm down, ok? We will get out of this alive!" He gravely said to her, hoping to calm the young woman down.

"But we need to get out of here! Don't worry, I will protect you!" Heero guaranteed at the chestnut brown haired lady to which she nodded repeatedly in response.

Once he was certain that the enemy fire was drawn away from them, the Perfect Soldier quickly stood up and aimed at one of the body guards who was returning fire against the Preventer agents.

He took the man down with two bullets before pulling the still shaking amber eyed girl up on her feet.

"Come on, let's go!" The cobalt eyed young man beckoned as he led the civilian towards the eastern exit.

Fighting has erupted on the parking area with Duo dispatching two of the sentries posted to protect the arms dealer's vehicles. Another Preventer agent had gone down, this one was a member of the gate team watching over the northern access point. The arms dealer had separated with the assassin at this time and was now rushing towards his vehicle while being covered by the remaining bodyguard from his group at the park. The trio comprising the Frisbee players was hot on pursuit as the other surviving Preventer agents from the earlier exchange were tending to the wounded and securing the bodies of their slain comrades.

Meanwhile the assassin had gunned down two more Preventer agents, one from the joggers and the other from the pair of female agents who were pretending to walk their dogs earlier. Seeing the situation desperate as the park will soon be swarming with more agents, the man was also attempting to make a break out using the eastern exits.

Heero held the young woman's hand tightly while straining to balance his pull on her to the best of his abilities. The female civilian whizzed and huffed as she struggled to keep up with him. He wanted to slow down but with the situation at hand, it was more dangerous for them each second they linger within the park's premises.

However, his keen instincts alerted him that someone was trailing them and also attempting to get out of the park through the east gate.

A gun shot narrowly flew past them.

'Damn!' Heero cursed in his thoughts as he was forced to tug at the young woman harder so that she'll be placed behind him.

The moment the chestnut brown haired lady was at his back, he was able to get a clear view of their pursuer.

It was the assassin.

'No other choice!' The Perfect Soldier quickly pondered as he got in between the hired killer and the girl.

Both of them fired at each other the same time.

It was instantaneous, leaving both combatants no time to dodge the attack.

The bullet from his sidearm plowed through the assassin's heart, immediately killing him.

But his opponent's projectile pierced through his shoulder injuring the brown haired boy.

As Heero staggered backwards he heard the thud of someone hitting the ground behind him.

The bullet went cleanly through her shoulder but the impact was enough to push her down the pavement. Blood flowed profusely out of the wound. Her heart was already overly strained from the ordeal as she struggled to maintain her breathing. The pain was excruciating, causing Haruka to instinctively look at her gunshot wound.

She felt her strength steadily diminish as she collapsed on the ground.

'Am I… am I going to die?' She wondered while her eyes started to brim with tears.

The young woman had long accepted that with her heart's quite fragile condition… her life would be limited as she would need to be taken care of at the slightest possible infraction. Though she played tennis to maintain a healthy lifestyle and ate the proper diet correctly, Haruka recognized that she still lived a restricted lifespan.

Would it end here?

Was it time now?

What will her family and friends feel?

Will they remember her?

A multitude of questions presented themselves in her mind before she heard the voice of the ice cream vendor who was actually a secret agent.

"Look at me!" He steadily and grimly called out to her as she felt being cradled into his arms.

His Prussian blue irises were intensely looking into her eyes, there was a mysterious and gentle twinkle emanating from them.

"Everything will be alright! Look at me! You'll be fine! I will take care of you!" He sincerely told her, his cool cobalt blue irises holding her amber orbs in an ever piercing gaze.

"P-promise me…" She uttered, her amber brown orbs looking deeply into his eyes.

Haruka didn't know what came into her mind as she spoke those words.

Was it her fear of dying? Was it brought upon her by impulse?

"I promise. Now… calm down, relax your breathing. You're safe now." The secret agent assuredly said to her with the gleam in his eyes telling her that he was speaking the truth.

She nodded softly at him.

"Look at me."

She nodded lightly again, yet consciousness was slowly escaping from her grasp.

"I will… hold you to that promise." Haruka gently replied before closing her eyes and losing awareness.

That one fateful summer day, forever changed Haruka Niimi and Heero Yuy's lives.

Their fates had been tied together… a boy with a cold, calculating heart and a girl with a gentle yet ailing heart.

Author's Notes:

First of all, welcome to my second work – "Look at me". I wasn't planning on releasing anything till Haruka's Wings gets concluded but while researching for related material on Amagami, I came upon Photo Kano, its supposed spiritual successor. I got deeply intrigued with its storyline and driven by intense curiosity, watched the recently concluded anime.

Same as Amagami and Kimikiss, Photo Kano also originated as a Visual Novel. For fans of the three series they could notice the similarities of the characters. While watching the anime though the heroine I got interested with happened to be Haruka Niimi primarily because of her health condition.

The question – "What would happen if Heero Yuy was paired with a girl hounded by an ailment?" Sparked a lot of ideas and offered a wide range of premise. I could not get it off my mind. From there a storyline presented itself to my imagination.

Haruka – OK, lots of similarities aside from the name with my first and favorite heroine from another anime who also happens to be the leading woman of my first fan fiction work. Both of them are considered as the campus idols of their respective schools. Big difference though, canonically Haruka Niimi is the main heroine for Photo Kano while it is Tsukasa Ayatsuiji for Amagami. Her romance with the original protagonist is the center of the VN and anime aside from the fact that their pairing is realistically possible (considering the main character's psyche as well).

Alternate Universe – No time travel here, all related material will be kept exclusively on my first story. Canon events, inclinations, character development and progression will revolve on incorporating elements from the two anime shows. It also gives me an opportunity to approach a story board differently.

Drama and Story Length – Content will not be as heavy and as intensely as Haruka's Wings. Story would probably run at less than half of the total chapters.

Rest assured that despite this release, focus and effort on my first work's completion will not change. I just really had to get this off my mind and on the table.

Thank you so much for reading and please review! Let me know what you think!

P.S. - The story will be moved to the Photo Kano category once it is approved and created by the site admins.