Perfection

Chibi Tsuki

N/A: Yeah, I know I've left this story for quite a while and the only reason I wrote this chapter was because I felt like it. I'm sorry to say it doesn't mean that I'll be working on it as much as the others, but when I feel like it. Oh yeah, a mention of thanks for the encouragement to Chibi Noin. Thanks buddie!

Chapter 12

Fast Friends

Sinking into her chair, the youth let out a groan as the pain in her lower back ached. The day right after she had returned from her five day trip to London where her sister lived with her new husband, her friends had dragged her back into her 'how to be well-mannered' lessons. She had been practising how to curtsey properly for the past hour and learning how to 'titter' for the hour before that. Of course, that didn't include the two hours her tutors had used to explain what type of clothes were suitable for this and that occasion. They spoke so quickly that barely gave her time to jot it down in her notes. It had been painful. Lucretzia could still hear Hilde and Sally's voices ringing in her mind. Transferring from the chair and onto her bed, she buried her face into her pillow, and closed her eyes. A few moments later, a little black ball of fluff jumped up onto her bed and curled beside her neck. It snuggled closer to the hot breath of air and promptly dozed off.

Lucretzia felt herself drowning, her throat rasping for air. Her eyelids jerked open, she gasped for a air and then coughed. Short black hairs were stuck to her lips which she made an attempt to spit out. "Midnight," she groaned as the sleep cat head lifted up slightly. Rushing out of the room, she went to the bathroom, filled her mouth with water and spat out the filth. She had rinsed her mouth for the fourth time before wiping her face dry with a towel. Cats had a habit of having a like to sleeping next to warm air, and that included a hot breath. Lu made her way back into the room and took a glance at the clock standing on the bedside table. It was already six o' clock, which meant that she had slightly less than thirty minutes to take a shower, get changed and then head down to the dining hall. Wondering where Sally was, she absent-mindedly selected a pair of cargo pants, a white sleeveless top and a blue and black chequered flannelette shirt from her wardrobe. These she draped over her shoulder, grabbing a clean set of underwear, her towel and some soap and shampoo on the way out. She liked the fact that there was no one to complain to her singing in the shower or protest that she had left her swimming costume hanging on the rails to dry. Life at boarding hadn't ever seemed better.

Although she was early to arrive to the dining hall, she was even more startled to see a few extra students having returned from their vacation sitting at the dining tables. A thought immediately pushed all the others away. Why is Zechs here? And since when did Louie get back? Lifting an eyebrow she looked at the tension between the two teenagers even though they were sitting two tables apart. It seemed that they were having a staring competition of some sort since neither blinked once. "Louie?" Lucretzia uttered, almost uncertain whether she should've said anything. The effect on the duo was in fact, quite surprising. The anxiety simmered down and so she casually walked over to the dark-blond headed boy and took the opposite seat.

"Lu," he greeted enthusiastically. "How have you been?"

"Alright I suppose. When did you… return?" she asked, having paused mid-sentence to change her choice of words.

"Two days ago. I was quite disappointed that you were away. I thought that I would keep you company."

Slightly surprised, she frowned and said, "Then how come I didn't see you yesterday?"

"He was having a shoot-out competition with Merquise over there," Heero muttered as he sat beside her, a thumb pointing over to the loner diagonally behind him. "They were at it for the whole night." After the short basketball match between Heero and Lu, they had become fast friends and even sat with her group although he seldom talked. Louie was personally quite astonished that the famed solitude teen was even sitting with them, nonetheless talking with them.

"Did they?" Before her manners ran off like they usually did, Lucretzia took the initiative to formally introduce the two to each other. "Louie, this is Heero Yuy. Heero, this here is Louie Erans." While Louie held out his hand, Heero gave him a curt nod to acknowledge him instead. More and more people joined the table, and even Noin was slightly surprised that Relena was sitting with them. The whole group had to introduce themselves again, seeing that Relena and Louie had joined them.

Relena stifled a giggle and stood up from her chair and gestured for her brother to join them. Sitting quite alone was Zechs Merquise who seemed rather thankful that Relena had invited him to sit with them, perhaps for a number of reasons. He sat beside his sister and Louie, rather grudgingly though. But then there was a good aspect to it – at least he could sit with Lucretzia. "Ah, the food seems to be ready," Lu announced, standing up from her chair. He studied her sense of fashion with he thought was quite boyish, including her hair. As Zechs watched her from behind, he could almost believe that she was a boy if he hadn't known otherwise. Lu made a very pretty boy indeed.

"Aren't you coming brother?" the honey-blond haired girl asked, nudging him as she followed the others. He nodded and headed up to the serving area.

"Did you take any photos of your stay in London?" Sally asked her friend beside her between small mouthfuls.

Lucretzia nodded and replied thoughtfully, "Yes, a few, but the negatives are still waiting to be developed. My sister's most likely going to send them to me once they're done." She turned to look at Zechs who had been the only one silent throughout dinner. "Zechs, did you and Relena go anywhere during the time you were away?" Happy that she had asked, Zechs nodded, although not as enthusiastically as he felt.

"We did. We went on a cruise for a few days," he replied as he politely placed his fork down. "The boat we were on was quite impressive."

When he didn't elaborate, Relena continued for him, "It was really nice out there on the sea. The weather had been perfect too."

"I guess that explains about the tans you two have," Hilde commented with a chuckle. Beside her Quatre was chewing quietly while absorbing every single word they said.

"We had wanted to go scuba diving as well, but since the area wasn't safe enough, I had to be happy with swimming in the pool while Zechs went fishing on the boat."

"Did you end up catching anything Zechs?" Noin asked, with a hint of it being a joke.

Zechs, being modest replied with a sigh, "Absolutely nothing." When his sister began to laugh at him, he protested. "I tried and that's what counts." Even the others around them grinned at the affectionate display of brother-sister love in the form of a teasing. Louie couldn't help but break a smile. He had let his prejudice blind him. Zechs seemed to be an easy-going guy, ready to make friends with most people. If Heero had a different side to him, even Zechs could have one.

At breakfast, Sally had suggested playing tennis since holidays were soon coming to an end. Nobody had any other planned activities and so they all agreed to the suggestion. Most of the girls were wearing tennis skirts, with the exception of Lucretzia and Sally donning shorts and collared t-shirts. Lu stood out the most among the girls; her blue knee-length shorts with white hems contrasting against the pale coloured skirts and shorts the girls wore. Unlike them, the guys were wearing assorted coloured shorts, standing out against their white school sport t-shirts. Their numbers were perfect – there were eight people in total and that meant they could play two matches at the same time as pairs. Sally had them draw paddle pop sticks, with two having the same number. Separating the paddle pop sticks into two groups, she handed one bunch to Quatre for them to pick and the others they picked between themselves. Since the groups were ready, they were about to separate onto the two courts when Zechs and Louie demanded, pointing at each other, "Why am I with him?" It was a simple mistake in which Sally had accidentally put the wrong stick in the bunch. They reselected their numbers and set off finally to start their games.

"I hope you're as good as tennis as you are at basketball," Lu muttered to her partner as they were about to receive the first serve.

Zechs glanced at her and with a smile said, "You'll see when we start." Even though she had seen him play before, she was simply being friendly.

On the next court, Louie frowned as he watched the pair. His protective feelings towards Lu were still there, especially when Zechs was around her even though he had accepted him somewhat as a friend. "Louie, are you going to serve yet?" Hilde asked, subtly urging him to start. Noticing the waiting he was inflicting on the others, he apologised rather shamefacedly and began the serve.

They played three rounds before taking a break and sitting down on the benches. The sun had been relentless and didn't hold back its heat. Zechs wiped the sweat off his face with a small white towel, leaving it hanging around his neck while he took a mouthful of water. His wrist guard proved to be heavily saturated as he placed the thing beside him. "I must admit Relena, you and Heero make a difficult pair," he exclaimed as he attempted to fan himself with his hand.

"Of course, we have yet to show you our true abilities, right Heero?" Relena boasted jokingly, and gave her partner a nudge. Looking mildly amused, the boy simply shrugged as if he didn't care.

Zechs covered a smirk. "And yet you still lost."

"So much for being a gentleman," Louie said as he and the others approached them. From his tone, it almost sounded as if he was teasing him. "For what reason do the girls flock you? Care to give us some advice?" Stretching his tired arms, Louie plonked down beside him.

"You seem to underestimate yourself dear friend," Zechs replied. "I've seen many girls watching you."

With a less than dignified snort, Louie muttered, "It sounds as if I'm some sort of bird."

"Think of yourself as a beautiful parrot instead," Lucretzia suggested with a chuckle. She bent down to pick up something from the ground. "How did you get out here Midnight?" The night coloured animal crouched on her owner's lap and lovingly purred at each of the caressing strokes on her back.

"It's a cute little kitten," Zechs asked, reaching over scratch it behind its ears. The kitten continued to purr happily, loving the attention everyone was giving her. She didn't seem to mind Zechs, and animals were very good judges of people and things. "So her name is Midnight?" It was more of a statement than anything else. After chatting for another fifteen minutes, the group started their second match, swapping opponents. They played the entire time until lunchtime.

Just slightly after dawn, Lucretzia had woken up with the desire of a good swimming session, especially since she had neglected it for the past week. Sally was still sleeping deeply when she had left for the swimming pool. Wisely she had left Midnight in her friend's care, not wanting the cat to drown at any point. As she entered the swimming pool, she greeted one of the pool staff, placed her towel on a chair and stripped off her clothes, revealing a one-piece swimming costume underneath. Diving into one of the lanes, she started off practising freestyle, doing ten laps of the fifty metre pool before switching strokes to butterfly. Although she kept a slow and steady pace, her strokes were powerful. It was half an hour later before someone else entered the swimming pool. She continued to swim, ignoring the newcomer, but soon her body felt desperate for a break and so she swam to the steps and climbed out. Water dripped from her body as she walked to sit down at the edge of the pool. Glancing at the other swimmer, she noticed him also climbing out, his familiar platinum blond hair plastered on his broad back. So it was Zechs Merquise. "Zechs," she greeted as he approached her. Also he was still in the early ages of growth, she could see the obvious hints of muscles especially in his biceps and calf muscles. On his naked torso, she noticed the faint lines of a six-pack.

"Good morning Lu," he said, with a brilliantly lit smile. "It's a pleasant surprise to see you this morning. Have you finished?"

With a shake of a head, Lucretzia replied, "No," and asked him why he had left the pool so quickly. It turned out that he had lost his hair-tie that retrained his hair from obscuring his vision and he was going to ask for a rubber band until he noticed her. "You shouldn't use rubber bands. They get tangled in your hair when you try to take them out."

"I know. But it'll have to do for now." Lu began to rummage through her bag of toiletries, having decided to take a shower before returning to her room. She was triumphant in her find, producing a thin elastic band from the bag. She handed it over to Zechs, insisting that he use it. They chatted for a moment longer before returning to the pool and finishing the rest of the laps. By the time they had finished, it was already close to eight thirty. They headed back to the dormitories with Zechs insisting that he accompanied her to the entrance of the girl's dormitories.

"Thank you very much for the use of the elastic band," he said as they walked down the corridor. "I'll return it later, once I've washed and dried it."

"Never mind, Zechs. You'll probably have more use of it than me. I used to have long hair, but now with my hair so short, I can't even tie it up."

"Are you sure?" He received a cheery nod as his reply. "Thank you." Allowing a short pause, he smiled and looked slightly down at her, "You're very talented in all different types of sports."

"I'm not really. I just like sports," she replied.

"Don't be modest." Before he could ask anything else, they had already reached the dormitories. "I'm sorry I can't walk any further with you – school rules. Well I'll see you at breakfast."

"See you then." She swiped her school ID card against the identification scanner. The glass doors opened automatically, allowing her to walk through before shutting behind her. This security system prevented outsiders, especially the male species from entering the female dormitories. Male relatives only could enter if they were with their female host or with one of the approved boarding school staff.

Zechs watched Lucretzia as she entered the door before making his way down to his dormitories. He was on his way to have a quick shower as well. As he swiped his card to go inside, he glanced at the security camera. Whenever he was going in, he had always felt that there was someone watching and that was because of the security cameras. As he headed to the bathrooms, he was thinking of the Lu. She was still fifteen, or possibly fourteen and her body hadn't fully developed yet. But he could see the soft, feminine curves in her body. The swimmers had emphasised that, in particular her hips, although he could still see that her chest was rather flat, but that would grow in a few years. Albeit he was brought up as a gentleman, he couldn't erase the male thoughts from his mind. He was still human like everyone else, except he tried to refrain taking glimpses of pornographic stuff. His relationship with Lucretzia was going smoothly and he had his sister's connections to thank. When he had tried to approach her before, she never seemed to notice him or was perhaps feeling awkward around him. He only hoped that that they would continue to communicate when school started and people from their groups returned. Aside from that, he had made quite good friends with Relena's friends, and was confident to say that she had acquired good steadfast friends who would be ready to support her when she needed it. He turned on the shower and stepped in, glad for the warmth that had settled not only on his body but in his heart. His reflection had brought his heart contentment. Pouring the peach scented shampoo into his hand, he mixed it with water into lather and smelled it. Creases of folds formed on his forehead as he wondered how one of Relena's favourite scented shampoo brand had gotten into his possessions, and could only shrug. He'd have to question her later. For now he'd have to cope with the stench of peach emitting from his long, glorious hair.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam W.