Disclaimer: All that usual stuff.

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. School hard.

****

To Dance Beneath the Diamond Sky
by Kristen Elizabeth

****

"Dance til the stars come down from the rafters. Dance, dance, dance til you drop." -WH Auden

"The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure." -Mikhail Baryshnikov

****

"I don't know, man. I still think something is missing," Duo mused, scratching his clean-shaven chin. "Oh!! I know. More eyeliner." He reached for a black kohl pencil.

"Maxwell..." Heero stood up from the padded chair in front of one large, light-framed mirror. "Go fuck yourself. You're not getting that thing near my face again."

"If you hadn't twitched, it wouldn't have gone in your eye."

"If you had a steadier hand, I wouldn't have twitched."

A stagehand wearing a head-set peeked into the boys dressing room. "Heero! Duo! Five minutes was called two minutes ago!! Get in places or it's my ass!!"

Duo followed Heero out into the dark wings. The pleasant whine of the orchestra warming up almost drowned out the buzz of anticipation permeating the backstage area. "Aww, damnit," Duo cursed. "Now I'm getting all worried. Always happens right about now."

"Are you going to throw up?" Heero asked, flexing his palms.

"I don't think so."

They stopped to the side of one teaser curtain. "Then shut up."

Duo sniffed. "You're mean when you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

"Of course you're not. Nerves are a sign of weakness." Duo dropped into a grand plie all of the sudden, giving his legs a final warm-up. "And it's not like you're going to mess up or anything."

Heero shook out one foot and then the other. "I never worry when I'm dancing with Relena."

"That is just about the sweetest thing ever." Sally Po, one of the company's prima ballerinas playing the part of Prince Sigfried's mother, the Queen, that night, came up behind them, decked out in her elaborate costume.

"Heero? Sweet?" Duo flashed the older woman a devious grin. "Don't be fooled; it's a passing thing."

Across the stage, seemingly miles away, Heero could see Relena waiting in the wings. His girlfriend stood out from the other dancers who milled around her, a pure snow angel amongst brightly-colored court dancers. She hadn't noticed him yet, as her leg was currently lifted up to her face and all of her concentration was on maintaining her balance. But when she let the leg down after a moment and turned her face, their eyes met.

Relena smiled at him, the glitter on her lips twinkling in the light of the ghost lamp behind her. He swallowed hard. Those same tempting lips started moving, mouthing a silent message meant only for his eyes.

"I love you," he said aloud.

Duo's arms around his neck broke the magic of his moment with Relena. "I love you too, man!"

"I take it back," Sally said as the lights on the stage went down and the noise from the house died away. "*That's* the sweetest thing ever."

After throwing Duo's arms off, Heero glanced back across the stage. It was too dark now to make out her face. All he could see was the white from her costume. A moment later, the music started and the dancers playing his royal court lept onto the stage.

"Break a leg," Duo whispered as Heero prepared to make his entrance.

"Break everything," he shot back just before he and Sally stepped out of the wings and into the spotlight.

****

"Well..." Treize move into the crushed velvet seat beside Millardo, empty now that Lucrezia and Anne had gone to fight the line in the ladies room before the second act began. "How do you think it's going?"

"The Danse du Prince was incredible." Millardo shook his head. "The kid's got talent, pure and simple."

Treize nodded. "Picked him out of the group in the first few minutes of his audition four years ago. Thank God Chevalier dropped all that lawsuit shit."

"Yeah," his friend mused. After a second, he glanced around. "I haven't seen him yet. Come to think of it..." Millardo craned his neck, looking around the mezzanine. "My mother hasn't shown up yet either. And Relena's on in ten minutes."

"Helen doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who has a lot of time for her daughter."

Millardo snorted softly. "She doesn't. It's not Relena she'd be coming to see. Just the vicarious thrill of watching her succeed." He settled back into his seat. "She had better not be shacked up with that bastard. In my house!"

"Maybe she's just passed out," Treize said, not entirely comfortingly.

"Who's passed out?" Both men stood up upon hearing Lucrezia's voice, as she and Anne made their way down the crowded row. "Mother Helen?"

Millardo took her hand and guided her into her seat. "I don't want to be there when she wakes up and realizes she missed the show."

The house lights flickered once, then twice. "Is this Yuy boy going to make the company, Millardo?" Anne asked, fanning herself lightly with her program. "He's not bad."

"Wait until you see him dance with Relena." Lucrezia winked at her fiancee "If they don't make it in together, I'm considering leaving you, sweetie." He shot her a look which only made her laugh.

"No offense, Millardo, but I heard that your little sister had some...troubles initially. With her dancing." Anne's smile was laced with the cool venom of competition.

He threaded his fingers through Lucrezia's. "No one starts out perfect, Anne. But at the risk of sounding corny, you'd be amazed what time and work can do to help even the most imperfect of dancers. And Relena started out anything but imperfect."

"And love," Lucrezia added. "Let's not forget how much that helped her."

"Love," Millardo repeated, scowling. "I'll stick to time and work. Less unsettling where my little sister is concerned."

****

"He is wonderful, yes?"

Trowa flipped through his program with casual indifference, only partly stemming from the fact that he could not read it. "Relena's Heero? Eh...he can dance."

Quatre shook his finger at his lover. "We do not compete with him, my love. All we have to be is friends."

"I am here only to see our Relena," the taller boy replied, taking Quatre's hand and lifting the back of it to his lips. "And to be with you."

"Excuse me."

The request turned both of their heads. It was the girl who had been sitting next to them for the entire first act. Quatre and Trowa both immediately rose to allow her by.

"Can I be of helping you?" Quatre asked her.

Shaking her dark curls, the girl moved past them down the row, her shuffle slowed down even further by the heavy walking cast that encased her entire left leg up to the knee. "No. Thank you." She took her empty seat next to Trowa just as the house lights flickered for a second time.

Quatre found Trowa's hand in the dark; their fingers laced together as darkness engulfed everything but the stage as once again they were thrust into the world of *Swan Lake.*

****

"Heero..." Relena's breath came in short, ragged gasps. "We did it."

The roar of the crowd filtered through the heavy curtains. Beside her, Heero swallowed back his own pants and grasped her hand. All around them, the other dancers were hurrying into curtain call places. "You amazed me tonight."

She had no time to respond. Without warning, the barrier between them and the audience lifted and Heero led her out into the spotlight. After two deep curtsies, the house lights came on. As Relena straightened up, the thousands of people packed into the Lincoln Center all began to stand. The applause, the myriad of approving faces...it was almost too much for the girl who, only a few months earlier, had resigned herself to a life in the anonymity of the corps.

Fortunately Heero's hand kept her anchored. And when the curtain dropped for the final time a few minutes later, not a second passed before he had enfolded her into his arms entirely. Relena closed her eyes and leaned into his chest. "We did it," she repeated.

There were cheers and whoops of joy and release from their classmates, but Heero and Relena simply held each other for a long time, too exhausted to do much else. They had laid out their hearts and souls in the performance and it had paid off. "Flawless" was one word people would later use to describe their pas de deux. Exquisite. Passionate. Gorgeous.

Finally, Heero lifted his cheek from its resting place on her tightly woven bun. "I knew you could do it," he said in a low voice as he lifted her chin up for a soft kiss.

"Only with you," Relena replied a moment later. "Thank you, Heero."

"There's no reason to..."

"Can I get in on this?" Duo stuck his face in between his favorite couple. Sweat dotted his temples and the impression the mask had made was clearly visible across his forehead. "You two were fucking awesome!"

Relena smiled at him as much as her tired body would let her. "You too, Duo." She glanced back at Heero. "I am so ready for a hot shower."

Duo's grin turned mischievous. "Save water...shower with a..."

Heero cut him off. "Don't finish that sentence." He took Relena's hand again. "Come on. We'll be expected at the publicity party."

"Yeah...you don't want to be all smelly when you get asked to join the company." Duo winked at them as they moved off the stage together. He let out a small sigh and scratched the red mark on his brow. Just when he was about to follow them to the locker rooms, he caught sight of something...someone out of place, standing just beyond the reach of the lights in the wings. Staring at him.

Squinting, he walked forward a few steps. "Can I help...."

His question trailed off as the person stepped into the light. The first thing he noticed was the thick plaster go-go boot on her leg. No, not a boot...a cast. His eyes moved up the rest of the person's body. Slender, but supple....with what were still the most perfect breasts he had ever seen. Dark curls, pale complexion. Button nose, cornflower eyes.

"Hey," the girl said when he failed to say anything. "Congratulations, Duo. You were wonderful tonight."

Duo licked his suddenly dry lips. "Hilde. What the hell are you doing here?"

****

To Be Continued