Zechs Merquise slipped inside the beaded door, feeling the beat thrum through him. He flipped his long, silver blonde hair over his shoulder, gliding over to the bar. He only came to this place occasionally, when he needed a drink and some release from the stress of having to see that screeching woman Lady Une so often. He could remember Treize Khushrenada's suggestion that had brought him to this nightclub for the first time, one month ago.

"Milliard, you need a break. You work nonstop, you might get sick," Treize had said, seeming almost affectionate. Then, to cover up for his slip, "And that would affect your work. Why don't you find somewhere you can relax?"

And here he was. He never joined the dancers, just observed. He enjoyed watching as people found each other, and their dancing became as one. He thought of Treize Khushrenada. 'Milliard, seriously!' He shook his head as he corrected himself. 'No, you are Zechs now. Milliard Peacecraft died the day you betrayed your country.'

Zechs slid into a bar seat and gestured to the bartender. He supported his chin on the wrist of his left arm, which rested on the Formica bartop. He watched the girls twirling and swaying to the music, wondering whether he'd take any of them home that night. He knew he could have any girl he wanted, and not because of his powerful status in Oz. Girls stared at him often, especially as the colored lights gleamed off his long, silky blonde hair. While his sister was pretty, it was clear that he had inherited the family's beauty, not to mention the brains. Smirking slightly to himself, he contented himself with watching the dancers. He watched for a while before he caught a glimpse of a long, chestnut braid swaying and snapping as its owner strode to the dance floor.

Oo-~~~-oO

Duo ran out of the apartment the five pilots were sharing. All curses evaded him as he just ran blind. he couldn't believe he had walked in at that moment. It was like a situation from a soap opera, not real life. In real life, you just don't enter your apartment in time to see the rich, beautiful girl tackle the man you love. It just doesn't happen! 'But it did, you baka...' he thought to himself. The vision of Relena pushing Heero down to the couch with her lips so near his ran over and over in Duo's mind. He knew it wasn't right, what he felt for Heero. 'Boy's shouldn't lo... be attracted to other boys,' he chastised himself. The thought didn't change anything, not as two glittering tears slipped down his cheek.

He finally stopped, slightly winded, and observed his surroundings. He was standing outside a shop. He blushed as he looked in the window, seeing all kinds of leather outfits, half of which he didn't think could actually fit on the human body. A few others, consisting of many leather straps, didn't look like they even covered the essential parts. Duo started to walk away, then stopped. He needed a relaxed evening, where he could forget the wrenching pain in his chest. He needed to go dancing. Looking down at his clothing, he decided that his outfit wasn't exactly club material. A glance was cast at the door of the leather store.

Duo finally found something that didn't look like it was straight out of a porn movie. It didn't help that the salesgirl kept leering at him and suggesting cuts of leather that didn't look comfortable at all. He found some tight leather pants and a deep blue silk shirt he couldn't take his eyes off of. 'Prussian blue...' he thought, silently mocking himself. 'What could possibly have attracted you to this color?' He pushed the little voice in his head away and purchased the clothing, glad he had his wallet out on his walk before returning to the apartment.

"Do you mind if I put the clothes on here?" he asked the salesgirl.

"Not at aaalll," the girl drawled, staring at him, and then the clothes. Duo blushed slightly and began walking to the dressing room to the sounds of the girl getting the attention of all the other salespeople. When he left the changing room, everyone was staring at him. He blushed again under the intense stares of both men and women, who clearly approved the way the pants clung to him and the shirt hung from his shoulders, billowing slightly at the bottom. He hurried as casually as he could to the door.

The wind on the street was chill, and Duo walked briskly towards his favorite club two streets down. The minister clothes ended up in the dumpster. 'I have at least sixteen other pairs of them,' he reasoned with himself. 'And right now, I don't give a damn about some stupid clothes, or how ridiculous the prices of my current apparel were! Damn Heero! Damn Relena! Why does it have to hurt so much?' The neon sign marking the nightclub rose ahead of him, blinking in silent answer to Duo's silent question. Duo took a deep breath and entered.

Oo-~~~-oO

Zechs Merquise gave a small sound of frustration as the tip of the braid disappeared into the crowd. Shifting over into the adjacent seat, the braid came back into sight, as well as its owner. Zechs's sharp blue eyes took in everything about the person in mere seconds. Just looking at the profile of the dancer showed that this was a boy, with no doubts. A young man, Zechs's guess put him at about fifteen or sixteen. He admired the tightly clinging leather pants with thick belt included and the soft, early nighttime blue silk shirt, buttonless to show the chest. As nice as all that was to look at, he kept coming back to the braid.

The boy started to move, at first a tentative swaying, becoming more of a decisive rocking, with a roll of the hips each turn. His arms lifted above his head, his wrists rubbing together. Mental pictures began flowing through Zechs's mind, placing the boy in a very similar position, lying on crimson sheets, his wrists tied above his head... He took a swig of his drink to shock his body into forgetting the not-so-unwelcome thoughts. 'But that *braid*!' he stared. The rope of hair switched behind the boy, completing the same sway, just inches after the rest of the boy.

Even as he watched, he tried to give reason to the fascination with this boy, growing with each swing of his hips. 'I shouldn't be feeling this, I'm just getting lonely. I think I'm in love with Treize. Not with this boy, whom I've never seen before, much less know his name. Besides, he's far too young! He's five years younger than I am, at the least.' Another part of his mind, the one that was going wild over this boy was insistent. 'Five or six years aren't so long! And if he's willing...' Zechs couldn't help but give into the thoughts.

Reality came back in a rush to Zechs as the sound of a girl's voice took center stage in his consciousness. She sounded like she was repeating herself.

"Mister! I said, do you want to dance with me or not? There's a slow dance next! I mean, if you don't, give me time to find someone else!" the girl insisted, about to give up. Zechs resumed his aplomb and smiled, taking her hand as the music changed to a slow dance. He winced slightly. Even the slow music could register on the decibel scale. However, this was a chance to get closer to the angel out on the dance floor. With expert dancing skills, Zechs carefully tried to guide the girl to where the boy was now dancing slowly, his arms wrapped around himself and his eyes closed. Thanks to his excellent upbringing and the fact that this could barely be called dancing, he could dance perfectly and manage to keep the boy in his direct line of vision at the same time.

The music blended into a much faster paced beat and the girl in his arms dissolved into the crowd. After four jostles, three elbows in his ribs, six butt-gropes, and one proposition had been imposed on him, he made it back to his seat and drink. He checked his drink for any foreign substances and sat back in his seat to watch his chestnut-haired vision. 'Jesus, Zechs, you're already thinking of him as *yours*!' his mental voice laughed at him.

The boy's hips were swaying again, with a small twist at each turn. His braid snapped back and forth, and the mixture of motion was hypnotizing. Zechs's view was blocked momentarily as someone brushed past his angel. When he could see again, the black hairtie had been pulled away, the braid starting to unravel with the boy's rocking. Zech's eyes widened slightly as the chestnut waterfall became looser. If the boy noticed that his hair was coming undone, he showed no sign. Finally, the entire rope was unraveled, and his hair swished from side to side. No longer able to just watch the halo of hair, Zechs started for the boy.

The boy was turned just slightly away from him. As he neared, the boy finally opened his eyes, looking at Zechs from the side. Zechs stopped still where he was. Dizziness descended on him, gripping him in its soft claws. 'I cannot believe those eyes. So violet... I've never even dreamed of that color.' Everything in the world stopped for Zechs, and his entire vision went that impossible shade of purple as blood roared in his ears.

Oo-~~~-oO

Duo Maxwell glided into the club, giving a quick overview of the perimeter and area without thinking. Shaking himself, he laughed silently at his paranoia. 'Oi! Hanging around Heero a little too much, ne?' That thought brought a small sob to his throat and he hurried to the dance floor to banish any thoughts of the spandex-wearing psychopath.

Getting in to the swing of the beat wasn't as hard as Duo had thought it would be after so long. He sighed happily to himself, glad to have the freedom of dancing. 'It's been far too long since I've been here. I really need to get Wufei in here! It's so relaxing!' He chuckled to himself, closing his eyes. 'He's so uptight! He could use some dancing. Not that he probably knows *how* to dance...'

Some couple jostled him and he opened his eyes. A glance around showed the offending couple, a few other single dancers, and two more couples. Another glance at the bar showed mostly typical patrons, so the unusual man caught his eye. The man was very handsome, from what Duo could see, with his platinum hair turned purples and greens and blues by the colored lights. A sigh seemed to escape the man's lips and he switched to the next seat over, seeming to look for someone. Duo lost interest and continued to dance.

The song ended and a slow one started. Duo's hands glided down to rest around him, on his shoulders. His swaying slowed, and the afternoon's events began playing in his mind again. The park, so beautiful, bringing him almost to a high. The bounce in his step on the way back to the apartment, knowing Heero would be there. Opening the door to hear Heero's voice. Watching as Relena pushed on Heero's chest, bringing her lips unbearably near Heero's as they fell almost in slow motion to the couch. Leaving the door swinging open and dropping his jacket on the floor. The leather shop with the drooly girl. The club itself. The man at the bar. The man at the bar? Duo shook his head. The man was so familiar but Duo couldn't quite place his face with a voice or where he had been seen before.

Once more the song changed. Duo's hips sped up, and he caught up to the beat quickly. he felt a light tug at the end of his hair, but ignored it, unalarmed. Someone had once tried to cut off his braid, probably to sell for a wig, but Duo had taught him a quick lesson. Since he had done so in the middle of this very club, he figured no one would try that again anytime soon. The spill of hair over his shoulders, back, and rear confirmed that the tug was merely the removing of his hairtie.

Duo could feel someone coming toward him, the approacher's gaze felt heavy on him. Resisting the urge to run that comes with being a paranoid gundam pilot surrounded by potential spies or Oz soldiers, he opened his eyes, looking in the direction of the watcher. The platinum blonde man from the bar stopped and stared back at Duo. Still moving to the music, he held the stare, refusing to be the one to flinch away.

His gaze was torn away, however, when the wall behind him came crashing down. Instinctively, he leapt away from the falling plaster wall-bits. To his dismay, he connected with a human body, whose arms closed around him and pulled him away from the soldiers entering the huge room. Duo ignored the chaos as he saw one person he recognized. Lady Une led the units into the riot.

Oo-~~~-oO

Zechs Merquise cursed as the wall exploded, realizing that the roar in his ears was not imagined. To his great pleasure, his angel jumped backwards, right into his arms. Zechs pulled him away and focused directly on Lady Une, who was surveying the room and screaming people. For some reason, he didn't want to be recognized by her in the middle of all these people. It could be because he didn't want to be associated with the imminent loss of life coming. It could also be because he didn't want the trembling angel in his arms to know that he was on the wrong side of this riot. Or it could be for both reasons.

Oo-~~~-oO

Duo Maxwell cursed in chorus with the man holding him. He was too near the front, Une would recognize him at this short a distance. His gun was in his jacket pocket. His jacket was currently on the floor of his apartment... He began shaking with rage as he watched a soldier kick a young girl on the ground who couldn't have been older than he was. 'As soon as I get in my Shinigami, so help me God, you are going to feel more pain than you've ever inflicted, Une!' Duo meeped as he was pulled by the platinum haired man away from the soldiers. Une's voice echoed through the room, somehow managing to get above the terrified screams.

"One of the five Gundam pilots is in this room. We don't know who it is. If he doesn't show himself in the next twenty seconds, we will kill everyone in this room. The doors are all locked. There is no escape. Unless, of course, you want to risk trying to sneak past these soldiers. Now, twenty..."

Oo-~~~-oO

Zechs Merquise pulled the chestnut-haired boy away from Une and her squadrons. Killing would ensue, and the boy was far too close to the front of the crowd. He pushed people aside as Une counted down.

"Fifteen..."

Zechs reached the far corner of the room, searching for a place to hide the boy. He didn't think the pilot would show himself. The boy in his arms was struggling to get free, but Zechs did not let go, instead clamping a hand down over the boy's mouth.

"Ten..."

The farthest door, behind the bar looked like a likely exit. Zechs cursed himself for heading in this direction. Gripping the boy's wrists to keep the struggles under control, he shoved his way towards the door.

"Five..."

The boy's struggles became more frantic as Zechs neared the door. Nails raked down his arm, drawing blood. He could forgive the boy, seeing this from the abductee's position. But he was too deep in his obsession with this angel to let go now.

"Zero. These deaths are on your head, Gundam pilot. Let that be your last worry." The shooting began just as Zechs reached the far door. Taking his gun out, he shot it at the lock. Dragging his writhing and sobbing prisoner, he burst out into the night air, heading for the nearest alley.

Oo-~~~-oO

Duo Maxwell shook from side to side in his captor's arms. Biting and clawing, he tried to get free. 'Dammit! I need to help these people, hafta give myself up, so let go, you bastard!'

"Five..."

His nails made contact with skin and he dragged them down. The man kept going, pulling him as if he were a sack of potatoes. Duo thought of all the death that would be caused by his inability to protect himself from getting carried away and began to cry. Sobs wracked his body. He didn't even notice when he was hauled outside, haunted by the screams and gunshots.

Oo-~~~-oO

Zechs Merquise slumped against a wall, letting go of his angel's body, but still holding his wrist. The boy whirled to face him, eyes wild and hair floating around him. Even through the sounds of the massacre going on two streets down and the police rushing to the scene, Zechs could not help but stare at the fire-lit, impossibly violet eyes, or at the chestnut cloud, or at the slightly upturned nose, or at the delicate mouth with such a full lower lip...

"What the hell did you do?" the boy whispered, too shocked to shout, but clearly wanting to. Zechs stared at him, surprised.

"I saved your-" he began, but the boy cut him off.

"You just let all those people die!" he shouted.

"No! I'm not responsible for-" Zechs started, confused, but the boy interrupted again.

"I could have saved them..." the boy returned to whispering, sliding down the wall of the opposite building from Zechs. "All I had to do was walk over to that bitch..." Realization began to dawn on Zechs. He was staring at, lusting after, obsessing over a Gundam pilot.

End of part one!

Author's notes: This story is loooooong. If you're reading it to pass the time, you're in the right place --Kitsune-chan