CHAPTER V- Smoke and Steam

A/N: This fic is going to be different than the others you've experienced. You won't know who the enemy is, you won't know what they're thinking. All you'll know is what the characters learn. This is a writing style I'm messing around with, let's pray it works!

It was a small discreet coffee shop on a small discreet street corner in the colony L1. The service in this store was not very good, nor was the décor, but the coffee was the stuff of legends. One didn't know exactly what made it so wonderful, the sweat and smoke of lower class life, the stirring emotions and broken dreams of those workers on the lowest rung of the ladder of success, pouring pain and heartache into small white espresso cups.

It was here where the Snake and the Dragon met. There was an exchange of information, the passing of money between hands, and much sipping of espressos with reverence. There was no room for small talk in this world, no time or care for ideals or beliefs, just facts. Cold, hard, unrelenting facts twisted in with the steam from coffee as they wove the fabric of life.

A train clacked overhead, drowning out all sounds as the middle class people enjoyed life trapped in boxes, living in a box, travelling in a box, and working in a box, while the people below lived and traveled without such security.

The Snake took one last sip from the cup and disappeared beneath the train tracks while the Dragon remained, his eyes burning with concentration and focus as he rose his arm to order a second cup.

Tyrone was walking home even more slowly than usual, dragging his feet as he approached his home.

Part of him was eager to return, to see the woman Heero was hiding, to listen to her chew him out and feel cared about. The other half of him was sullen and rebellious, angry that yet another someone could appear in his life so suddenly and try and turn it upside down.

He only knew that her name was Relena, and that she was very special to his guardian.

He decided that he had better show his anger- that would probably get her to respect him more. On the playground, showing your anger made everyone appreciate you. No one questioned him anymore. No one defied him. The teachers didn't know, they were never there.

On the playground, anything went.

But did he like it?

He never really thought about it as a matter of liking it. It was something you did.

Tyrone slammed the garden gate quite loudly and then slid open the door quickly so that it rattled. He cheerfully noted that Relena was in the hall. She stared at him with cool eyes.

She was indeed very beautiful, he noted.

He tilted up his chin and went up the staircase, making a point not to say a word of greeting to the woman. He paused at the top of the staircase, confused. She hadn't yelled at him yet. His eyes met hers again.

"You didn't have lunch," she said, "Come down to the kitchen, I saved you some of what we had."

Her voice, so sweet and kind, was threaded with a subtle command. He found himself complying against his will.

Glumly, he sat at the kitchen table and she put a plate of fish and rice before him.

"Afterwards," she said, handing him his chopsticks, "I suggest you go clean up the garden. You knocked over a potted plant when you swung open the garden gate."

There was no biting anger in her voice, no hint of blackmail, just a calm tone.

She left the room silently, but the battle was clearly hers.

Tyrone finished his meal and went out to check on the garden gate.

Heero opened his front door to the unfamiliar sound of the television set.

"Tyrone, no television until your homework is done!" Heero called out, loosening his tie as he entered the living room.

He was not expecting it to be Trowa on the couch, cracking peanuts with his teeth and munching on them as two women fought in a talk show, speaking rapid and angry Japanese.

"Trowa."

"Hm?" the mysterious young man looked up at Heero distractedly and then turned his attention back to the blaring set, "Sorry, Heero, it's not often that I get a chance to watch TV uninterrupted. You know the kind of work we do."

"Hn," Heero said gruffly, "Just don't let Tyrone watch with you until his homework is done."

"Sure."

"What is the status of Relena?"

"She's okay, I guessshe felt bored so she decided to cook again. I think she feels like she has to do something in return for your hospitality."

Heero sat down next to Trowa and watched one of the screaming women on the screen pounce on the other, clawing at her angrily.

"Relena cooks?" Heero asked after a while.

"Quite well."

"Oh."

There was silence once again, spare the cat fight on the TV.

Tyrone ran in and jumped onto the couch next between Heero and Trowa. Heero looked over at his ward, cocking an eyebrow, "Did you finish your homework?"

"Yes."

"Truthfully?"

"No."

"What do you have left?"

"Some stuff for English class. It's boring."

"Finish it now."

"But Heero."

Heero turned to the little boy and lifted an eyebrow, "But what?"

Tyrone blew out an angry breath, "Nothing."

"Then go."

The boy stood up.

Relena suddenly leaned it, "Tyrone, before you get to work, could you help me in the kitchen?"

The former princess was awarded a glare from both Heero and Tyrone.

"Please?"

She had that expression on her face, the look that neither of them could resist.

"Fine."

Heero turned his anger towards the television screen, upon which the women were subdued but still yelling.

Tyrone sat up on the stool and leaned his elbows on the counter, watching Relena stir the spaghetti sauce on the stove.

After a minute of silence, Tyrone finally decided to speak up.

"What do you want me to do?"

Relena shrugged, grinning, "Actually, that was just an excuse to get you in here. But I guess while you're here you can test the sauce."

She cupped her hand under the wooden spoon and held it up to his mouth. He gave her a look that said, 'I'm too old for this,' but complied anyway.

"Good?"

"Better than the stuff Heero makes, but it needs more salt."

"Tyrone, would you mind if I asked you something?"

The little boy shook his mop of curly brown hair and blinked. He wanted to be angry with Relena, he really did, but there was something in her voice that stopped him, a soft and loving undercurrent that was so strong, it pulled him in, forcing him to like her even if she infuriated him.

Perhaps it was the fact that she treated him as a person instead of a child, forcing him to take responsibility for his actions yet still trying to comfort him- and he had only known her for a day.

"What do you want?"

"Do you still remember Russian?" she asked in the language she mentioned.

"Yes." He replied, using Russian as well.

"Would you mind if we talked in Russian? I'm sick of English and Japanese."

"How many languages do you know?"

"Just the three, and a bit of Spanish and French, but very, very little."

"Why?" He was trapped in the beauty of her spirit. He wanted to hear more about her. He wanted to know everything. He wanted to stay in the small kitchen, breathing in the smell of spaghetti as she moved around in front of him, speaking so fluently in his native tongue.

"I was raised speaking Russian, but I took English classes at an early age." She explained, opening another pot and poking at the vegetables steaming, "It wasn't until I was fifteen that I learned I was a princess, and that I was being taught all of those things to prepare me for my birthright."

"Are you still a princess?"

She laughed at that, replacing the lid to the pot and moving to the sink, "Come help me dry, please."

He nodded and went to help her, drying very carefully and putting them away in their respective places. Finally, he asked again, "Are you still a princess?"

She shook her head, wiping her cheek with a wet hand, "Nah, I was only one for less than a year, and then a queen for a couple weeksbut then it all got sorted out and I became a vice-minister."

"Like a priest?"

"No, officially I was the 'Vice Foreign Minister.'" She grinned at the title, "I settled disputes between Earth and the coloniesbut I retired."

"Really? Why are you here now?"

She looked away, "I can't really tell you now, Tyrone, for security reasons. People might try and approach you and ask questions about me. I ended up with a different job and some people didn't like me."

"Did they try and hurt you?"

"Yes, but Heero helped me out."

"YesHeero likes you."

Relena suddenly said something in English that Tyrone did not understand. He switched back to Japanese.

"What did you just say?"

She giggled and took out a straw from the draw next to the sink, "I guess you'll only be able to figure that out after you learned English."

Tyrone smiled at her trick, "I see."

She unplugged the drain of the sink and looked down at him, "Tyrone, Heero can try to tell you to do your homework, and so can I, but if we force you to, then you aren't really learning. What's important is that you understand why you need to learn things and take responsibility for learning it." The mood was soon shattered by the pot of water boiling over. Relena quickly moved to lift the lid and let the bubbled simmer down.

Tyrone left. He had a lot of things to think aboutand English homework to do.

Relena certainly had a knack for getting her way.