Sapphire Eyes
Chapter 7: Matters of the Heart
By: Liewe
Standard disclaimers apply, Yanisha is the only personality I claim to own, and even then she is based on my late Great Aunt.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Quatre sighed, running a hand through platinum bangs. He couldn't understand what Midii and Trowa were getting at, they had to be mistaken.

"I'm confused," Quatre said falling back into a nearby chair.

"Matters of the heart generally are," a soft voice, answered him.

"Yanisha, I didn't hear you enter," Quatre said, indicating for her to take a seat.

Yanisha smiled softly before settling her aging limbs onto the canvas chair.

"Quatre dear," Yanisha began, "you have to let your heart guide you from time to time."

"I know that, why do you think I became a Gundam pilot. My heart told me it was the right thing to do," Quatre said with exasperation, a bronzed hand brushing back his bangs.

"Well then you have experience with this sort of thing." Yanisha said with a smile, as she leaned forward, her glasses hanging from delicate fingers yet to be touched by the sands of time.

Quatre stared at her for a moment, his expression blank as he tried to decipher just what exactly she meant by her words. What sort of thing did he have experience with?

"Matters of the heart dear. And don't look at me like that, I have my own skills, plus you do think rather loudly when you're startled. And right now, you are rather startled," Yanisha said with a knowing look in her eye.

Quatre stared at Yanisha with incomprehension, his taxed and sleep-deprived mind confused.

"You love my new friend Noin, and she obviously has feelings for you, but you're unsure," Yanisha continued on, a smirk replacing the grin.

Quatre shook his head, was his entire family set on meddling in his life? First his sisters, setting him up on blind dates left, right, and center. And now his dear old Aunt was trying to set him up in a relationship with Noin? And then the man he thought of as family was trying the same thing!

Things were turning upside down!

"Quatre dear, if more than one person sees the same thing, then surely there is some fact behind it right?"

"Of course," Quatre replied, gathering his wits about him.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the call you just received was from Trowa, and his wife Midii, right?"

"Yes," Quatre answered hesitantly.

"I'm sure I overheard them telling you the same thing I'm telling you now," Yanisha said softly.

"Yanisha, it isn't polite to eavesdrop on someone else's conversations," Quatre admonished slightly, repeating the advice Rashid had imparted on him the night before.

"That's beside the point Quatre dear, sometimes someone needs a shove in the right direction, and you need one! Now get out there, and speak with Noin, nothing is more important than love," Yanisha said as she rose from her chair and gently pulled Quatre from his own reclined position before pushing him out the tent.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Noin gazed at the canvas, which protected her from the harsh sun. Idly she swung her legs back and forth as she twirled a strand of midnight hair. She was lying on her soft mattress, allowing her body to relax and to heal.v
"It's funny," she whispered. "Rest can heal your body, but it can't heal your heart."

"That's not entirely true," Quatre whispered in response, from his position near the tent flap.

"Christ! Quatre! That's the second time today that you've nearly given me a coronary," Noin said breathlessly, not bothering to rise from her prone position.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly.

"Come, sit," Noin said patting the mattress beside her as she sat up.

"We need to talk," Quatre said softly.

"You know, those aren't exactly words anyone wants to hear," Noin whispered her gaze suddenly melancholy.

"But they don't always mean bad news," Quatre responded.

"I know that, but generally, those words are associated with bad outcomes. When a girl wants to break up with a guy, she says, we need to talk, and vice versa," Noin said with a sigh.

"But I don't mean to say anything like that," Quatre stated softly.

"Well it wouldn't make sense for us, because we aren't a couple, not yet at least," Noin blushed as the last words she had uttered registered in her mind.

They were right, Quatre thought.

"Quatre?"

"Well that's what I wanted to talk about, what are we?" he asked, shuffling his feet.

"I don't know, what do you want us to be?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zechs stopped to squint at the small gathering of tents barely visible on the horizon.

“She has to be there,” he said to the wind, as he used a dusty rag to wipe his brow.

Without a thought, Zechs moved back into his Jeep. His mind set on one goal. Noin.

His heart and mind were ravaged with guilt for the way he had treated her over the years. The women, the cruel words, and even the cold shoulder, which he had often given her. All she had ever wanted was his love, but he had been too scared to give it to her. He had feared rejection, and in the end he had brought it on himself. Their apartment was so cold without her. Her very presence was enough to brighten his darkening world.

“Noin, please don’t let me be too late,” he whispered to the rushing wind as he put the Jeep in gear and raced toward the clump of tents.
He remembered times past as he neared the encampment. He remembered her smile most of all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was his sixteenth birthday and his was attending the military academy, preparing himself for revenge. He didn’t hear the soft tentative nock on his door at first.

Slowly, he lifted his lanky frame from his bed as he padded over to yank open the door to be greeted with the shy smile of his fellow classmate. Lucrezia Noin.

They were vying for the top position in the academy. And she like himself was an orphan, but unlike him she didn’t have friends in high-places. She didn’t have a Treize Khushrenada to guide her.

“Happy Birthday,” she said with a shy smile as she handed him the homemade cake. “I hope you like chocolate.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, his fingers brushing hers as he accepted the offering. “Chocolate is my favorite.”

His response was met with another shy smile as he motioned for her to join him.

“This is too much for just one person.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rashid glanced towards the horizon. The growing dust cloud marked the arrival of someone. But who?

“Abdul? Are we expecting anyone?” Rashid asked, his sunglass wearing comrade.

“Not that I know of. Afmad? Do you know if we’re expecting anyone,” Abdul asked turning to squint at the growing dust cloud and the Jeep creating it. With a calloused hand he lifted his sunglasses to get a better look.

“I don’t think we’re expecting someone, maybe it’s one of Auda’s admirers?”

“Nope, no one today,” the Maguanac said with a carefree smile.

“Maybe we should tell Master Quatre?” Abdul asked, with a cheeky grin. “Or do we want to interrupt him?”

“They’ve been interrupted enough today boys,” Yanisha called from the shade as she moved to stand beside them. “We’ll wait till the Jeep comes closer, and then maybe we’ll tell Master Quatre.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Of course, Mistress Yanisha.” Rashid replied.

“Then that’s set, just keep a look out,” Yanisha said softly, before returning to her tent. Her graying hair billowing in the wind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~ To be continued…