Warning: There is a good chance of shounenai (or slash, whatever) later on in this story. If you’re still here, I should also warn you that I’m not a detail oriented person, and have a tendency to ignore any canon details I dislike or am unsure of and will most likely twist events to fit my whims.

Steps

Chapter One

Just A Start

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. I don’t even own my soul or various parts of my body anymore.

 

Commander Une tapped her foot impatiently, glaring at the paperwork sitting on the desk in front of her. Starting the Preventers had seemed like such a great idea when she had come up with it. Create an organization to protect the peace and Treize’s ideals – perfect plan!

Of course, she had known it would be work. Lots of work. She had been prepared to do anything to make it work. But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t resent the number of papers she had to go through every single day.

And to think that the Preventers still hadn’t even gotten into full-swing yet. So far, until they were accepted as a peace-keeping organization there hadn’t been much to do yet. Une almost dreaded the day they were officially given the responsibility.

Relena was proving to be very helpful in the battle to get the Preventers accepted. The advocate for peace had given her support for the Preventers, which was having a large say in what many people felt.

Une sighed and wondered if attacking the paper in a fit of hysterics could be classified under “mood swings” as her subordinates so delicately called them. Or at least, the subordinates that weren’t the slightest bit wary of her killing them, which successfully narrowed it down to only the annoying Maxwell brat anyways.

“Hey Commander!”

She groaned and resisted the urge to hit her head very hard against something. Instead, she looked up from whatever claim someone was making against the Preventers this time to give her visitor a wry smile. “Speak of the devil. Close the door Maxwell, and sit down.”

Maxwell was only too happy to oblige. He closed the door with uncharacteristic care, then flounced cheerfully over to Une’s desk and flopped into a chair and proceeded to sprawl comfortably all over, propping his feet on Une’s desk. “You called for me?” He asked, far too cheerfully for a boy—man, Une corrected herself—that was treading her fine line.

“Yes,” she said, and shoved his feet off of her desk, uncaring as he tumbled off his chair from the sudden upset in his balance. When he repositioned himself in his chair (with his feet well away from her desk, Une noted with grim satisfaction), she fixed him with a serious look. “I understand that you have requested a job away from the field?”

Maxwell nodded. “Yeah.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “You do know that means a desk job, right?”

“Yes.”

“And that means sitting still – for hours on end – and dealing with paper work?” Une pressed.

Maxwell gave her a rather amused look. “Yes,” he shrugged, a rueful look coming over his face. “I kind of tired of fighting, you know? I risked my life over and over for peace, and now we’ve got it. I don’t really know what to do with myself now that the war’s over.”

“And you think that taking a job doing mind-numbing paperwork is going to help you with that?” Une asked disbelievingly, unable to believe that Maxwell of all people was taking a boring desk job here at the Preventers of his own free will.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I just want to stay away from fighting for a while, you know?”

“Alright,” Une sighed, “It’ll be a loss for our field units though. You could contribute so much to that area, but if it’s your decision, I won’t force you to do it.”

“Thanks,” he said with a grateful nod.

“Yeah, yeah,” Une said and made shooing motions at him. “Now get out of here, I need to at least make a dent in all this crap.” She glared at the papers, and Maxwell grinned.

“Yeah, good luck with that. I bet the amount of work I have to do won’t even compare to that mess.” Maxwell left, with a bounce in his step.

“Don’t bet on it,” Une muttered darkly, and leaned back, gazing at her work thoughtfully. She had been surprised by Maxwell’s decision. When she had gotten notice of his request, she had been shocked. She had expected the energetic former Shinigami to jump at the chance of being a part of their more dangerous missions, even demanding the challenge.

Une supposed she shouldn’t be surprised now though. She should have known that Maxwell would have done the opposite of whatever she, or anyone else, expected of him. “Staying consistently inconsistent” was what Wufei had described him as once, to Maxwell’s delighted agreement.

Grumbling, Une bent over to get the papers done.

As she worked, she thought about Wufei. She had also been surprised by Wufei’s decision. He had come to decision to be partners with Sally Po in the field. Considering his character and background, she had thought he might take a desk job, but, like Maxwell, surprised her by doing the opposite.

Heero was currently Relena’s head of security, at the peace diplomat’s request. Une had been reluctant to assign him to Relena, since Heero would be a very valuable asset to the Preventers. However, Relena was still in considerable danger even in these times of peace, and her assassination might push war back into existence, and that wasn’t a chance Une was willingly to take after so much bloodshed. Heero had assured her that after he perfected Relena’s security, he would join the Preventers.

Trowa had joined the circus, to Une’s astonishment and dismay. He said that he wanted to spend some time unwinding as well, and that eventually he would come to work at the Preventers part- or full-time.

Quatre had been forced to turn down her offer to join the Preventers. He would like to join, he had said wistfully, but he had obligations to his family, and to his late father. He was taking over as president of the Winner Corporation, and that was a job that was quite time-consuming. Of course, Quatre added, ever polite and sweet, that if there was anything else he could do to help, he would be happy to.