Love is Never Forgotten

Relena squeezed past the bustles of people in the crowd to a small stall at the end of the market. She was on a very rare vacation to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Though noticed because of her position, she wasn't hassled because of it, and found what she had not been able to have for years: freedom. It was the third day of her vacation and decided to spend it exploring the city. Thankfully the country of Vietnamese was mostly Buddhist, which meant, no over-zealous men trying to look for the nearest tourist. Well, mostly, but you'll find perverts like that anywhere, was Relena's thought.

The woman at the small stall smiled and accepted Relena's money for the hand-sewn dress, colored brightly in red, orange, green, yellow, blue, and quite a many different colors. She smiled, and quickly turned around and into the sea of bodies. Hurriedly stuffing the dress in it's bag into one of her larger bags carrying many other various items, she scoured the market for a place to rest. Not possible in any case. She was considering heading back to the Foreign Relations Estate, but decided against it. Even though her feet hurt, she felt she could take the pain, even if she was wearing high-heels.

But, that thought didn't last long. About an hour later, she was ready to collapse from the pain.

Never should have worn heels Relena. Relena gave a mental sigh, and began walking in the direction of the estate. But she stopped. A small gasp escaped her lips.

That hair... She thought. She broke off in a run, going as fast as she could to get to the figure she saw some distance away in the market. Well, actually, it was more of just the back fo the figure's head, and hair, but that was all she needed.

"Excuse me,...pardon me,...sorry..." Relena repeated in a hurried tone as she moved and angled herself around the patrons.

"Heero!" She yelled in a vain attempt. The crowd was far too noisy to hear much, even in a short distance.

Then she stopped. She had lost the figure.

"Dammit!" She cursed in despair. But, then seemingly, the figure found her again. And once again she broke off in a sprint, trying to close the gap of space between her and the figure.

It has to be him, it just has to be. She thought, clinging to her fading memory of the Gundam pilot she fell in love with.

Three years. Three extremely long years since she had seen him. He had disappeared after the war. Duo and Quatre had said they had seen him once or twice since the war ended, but that gave little comfort seeing as she never saw him. Wouldn't have made a difference in any case. After the war, tension was still high between earth and the colonies. And with her position as Foreign Minister, time was reserved for matters of peace and diplomacy. She hadn't even vacationed in those three years. Not that she did that much before. Sleep was hard to come by on some nights, and stress happened, but wasn't helpful. And none of that helped to cope with not seeing Heero. At least the war gave her somewhat of a reason to see him, but after, she really had none. Zechs and Noin, then recently married after the war, were understanding and supportive, but really unable to do anything.

She turned around a corner into a long alley leading into another market on a parallel street. The figure had stopped, and turned to face her the moment her heels were heard on the ground. Not only did the things hurt, they made a considerable amount of noise (down with high heels!).

"Oh, Heero..." She spoke wistfully as he raised his head, and acknowledged her with, what she thought to be, the first surprised expression he'd ever given in her presence.

"Relena...?" He said, the slightest bit of sadness in his voice.

"Hello Heero." She smiled, the first true smile in years. She slowly began pacing forward. Her light-weight blue-green skirt swished around her ankles, and the high-heels clacked on the ground.

"Hello Relena." He replied, the slightest bit of upturn at the edge of his mouth. He also began to step forward. Once close enough, he surprised Relena, by enveloping her in a tight hug. Some might say his death grip was being put into use.

"Heero..."Relena whispered into his ear.

"Hmmm?" he answered, voice muffled by his head in her coat and hair.

"Air..." She gasped.

He quickly let her go, and she chocked on her rapid in-take of breath. He said nothing, but his eyes showed the slightest bit of concern. He patted her back as she went into a brief coughing spasm, his hand never leaving hers. It soon subsided, and she straightened from her crouched position.

Once again, Heero surprised her by collecting her bags, and leading her by the hand, back to the market, and through the sea of people to a small park sparsely populated at this time of day. The walk there was silent, void of talk between them. But there wasn't really much to say. They both knew after many years each others feelings, and nothing could have been heard anyways; the crowd too loud to give any sort of chance to talk until in a more quiet area.

He slowly led her to a spot under a tall tree. They sat down, and Heero wrapped her into his arms, fitting his hands around her waist. She merely leaned back and tipped her head into the crook of her neck. They sat like the for some time, but Relena broke the silence when she could no longer contain her curiosity.

"Where have you been?" She asked.

"On missions. Here, there." He replied shortly.

But that was the last said between them on that day. They stayed there for hours, engrossed in each other's company. As day slowly began turning into night by the faint sunset, they rose, and disappeared into the streets, hands linked with one another's.

Relena Peacecraft slowly set down the magazine as she looked-up to her daughter's callings. Her husband's head in her lap, moved slightly in his doze. Heero's book slipped from his hand, and landed onto the grass as he fell into a deeper sleep, pillowed by his wife's lap.

"Mama! Come play with us!" He daughter, Blanca insisted, as her twin brother ran up beside her.

"Yeah Mama!" Miliardo insisted.

"Not right now dears. I'm sure Duo or Quatre would like to play if you asked." She smiled at her twin children.

"Oh, riiiiiiiiiight, Duo..." Miliardo smiled wickedly and whispered into his sister's ear.

She giggled and they ran off to a tree near, under which Duo and the very pregnant Hilde were sitting. Duo laughed, and ran after the two children, past Wufei and Sally's, whose then toddler, Hwa, ran after. They proceeded past another tree where Catherine, Trowa, and Quatre were seated, conversing.

Relena laughed, and stared down at her husband. She slowly began stroking his hair, to which he rose from his doze, looked at her, and fell back asleep. The wind rustled the leaves above her of the tall tree in the small park home to Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam. The same tree they had re-discovered each other under, 7 years ago.