"Where is that baka hurrying off to?" Wufei said, mentioning to the front door, which Duo and Misako just went though.

"I’ll give you one guess." Quatre said, smiling to him self as he turned to go. Duo, my friend, you have got it bad!

"Any more questions?" Trowa asked. Hearing no response, he too, turned to leave. Now there's only Wufei and Heero left in the room. After a moment of uncomfortable silence with only the sound of fingers clicking on keyboards, Wufei spoke up. "What do you think of Misako?"

The clicking of keys stopped, for Heero had turned around to face the 05 pilot. He was surprised that Wufei had tried to start a conversation, and about a woman too. "I don’t trust her."

"I didn’t ask you if you trust her or not," Wufei snapped. "I asked what you think of her."

She’s mysterious, unemotional, and rather familiar looking. Came to mind, but instead Heero answered, "I don’t know enough about her to judge her." Then he turned back to what he was doing before he was interrupted.

Sighing, the Shanglong pilot moved from his position around the kitchen table and walked out the room. Leaving Heero alone to his work.

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

It's another beautiful midsummer night. The cool, refreshing night air blew though the hot desert, cooling off everything it touched. Countless stars shone in the night sky, glittered and danced around the full moon. The moon's brightness, though weak, nevertheless provided comfort for the girl who's lost and confused of this night. She was dressed in navy blue shorts and a black tank top. Her hair was left flowing around her like a river in the comforting, cool night air. The girl walked noiselessly down the path leading out to the Gundam hangar from the garden, seemly in deep thought. The moon smiled sadly upon this lost and confused soul as she walked into the large hangar, and paused in front of a massive mobile suit. The girl looked up at the metal giant, taking in its every detail, and then she reached out a hand as if to touch it.

"Hey there," The girl whispered to the gundam standing before her, touching its gundaminum feet ever so softly. "Did you miss me?" Not expecting an answer, the young girl climbed on to the shoulder of the suit with relative easiness and just sat there, leaning back against the head of the gundam, her gundam. This girl is no other then Misako Otain.

After that horrifying dream, she didn’t get much sleep. Whenever she drifted into sleep, the demons from her past would hunt her to no end. To escape from those dreams, and her room, for it suddenly became too small and air tight for her liking, Misako decided a short walk was in order. It’ll give her time to calm down, to think. To think about her motive for fighting, the purpose of the ongoing war, everything.

As she sat there, doing nothing but stare at the horizon, she let her thoughts wander. Something that she didn't do often. Misako’s mind reflected involuntarily on the past few years of her life. Thought about how drastically her life had changed during the curse of the war. How her adopted father’s sudden death had turned her world upside down. At that thought, the goddess of Hell gave a bitter laugh. She could still remember that dreadful day as if it was yesterday.

~ Flashback ~

I was planning a massive attack strategy with few of my subordinates, when the phone rang. Not wanting to waste any time on meaningless phone calls, I instructed one of my subordinates to answer it for me.

"Hello? Yes, she is Sir. Colonel Otain, phone call." The Private informed me.

"Who is it from?" I asked impatiently.

"I didn’t ask ma’am."

"Then ask!"

"Y..Yes ma’am. Might I ask who is this?" After a moment of silence, the Private turned to me and siad, "It’s from the military hospital, ma’am. Something about Commander Otain."

Immediately, I took the phone from the Private. "Colonel Otain here, you said something about my father?"

"Yes, Colonel." The person on the other end said. "As you might have heard, you father has returned from his last assignment, and…"

"No, I didn’t know that. Has something happened to him?" I asked, trying my best to suppress the fear from my voice.

"Well, when he arrived here, he was severally injured, both external and internal. He has lost a lot of blood, plus th…."

"Just tell me how he is." I said in a surprisingly calm, but threatening tone. This caused all the people in the meeting room to look at me, but went back to what they were doing after I gave them a glare.

"Y..Yes, Colonel. Well, you see, your….your father, he’s, well, he’s…" The person stumbled, her tone full of unspeakable fear.

"Just say it already!" This time I did yell. I can almost see the person on the other end flinch at the tone of my voice. I have full knowledge of what kind of effect my tone has on people.

"Well, ma’am, he’s, umm, he’s…dying ."

At that moment, I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t do anything but stare at what was in front of me. My father is dying. My father is dying. I kept repeating that in my mind until reality set in. Suddenly, I felt a sense of dreadfulness, helplessness, and unimaginable pain. My father is dying? That can’t be true! Can it? I mean I have always been told that he is the best soldier in the military. How's dying? How can that be? I was lost in my senseless thoughts until someone calling my name on the other line and pulled me back.

"Colonel? Colonel Ling? Are you still there?"

Snipping out of my thoughts, I said as calm as before. "Yes, I’m still here. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, ma’am. Commander Otain, I mean, your father requests your presence."

"I see. Tell him that I’m on my way." I said, hanging up the phone not waiting for a reply.

Without a word of explanation, I rushed out of the meeting room to my car at break neck speed, and drove to the hospital at top speed. All the while, my mind repeated madly of the dreadful news. Your father is dying…Commander Otain requests your presence…. Father is dying…requests your presence…Dying…presence. God! Father! Hang in there! I'm coming! Mie is coming!

When I finally got to the hospital, what I saw made me want to go back to the meeting. But I thought better of it. My father was lying in a bed with all kinds of tubes going in and out of his body. Machines surrounded him, an oxygen mask covering half of his face, helping him to breathe. There wasn't a spot on his body that wasn’t bruised or bandaged up. His face was as pale as the sheet that covered him up. His lips were turning any ugly color of blue from too much blood loss. He looked no more then a dead corpse, the only sign that he’s still alive was the constant beeping of the heart monitor.

I desperately try to hold back my tears as I look on, but to no avail. As I walked closer to the bed where he laid, I felt hot tears escaping my eyes, and flowing down my cheeks. The sight of him lying there, dying, ripped my heart into a million pieces. I had never thought that I would see him like this; he had always seemed so strong. Although I had always knew deep in my heart, that something like this would happen sooner or later, him being a soldier and all. However, I had never expected to be this soon.

While I was lost in my thoughts, my father had slowly opened his eyes. I didn't even notice this until he had taken off the oxygen mask and called my name ever so softly. Immediately, I snapped to attention, looking down at the pale man on the bed. Choking back a sob, I put both of my hands around one of his, and uttered the name that I have called him for the last seven years, knowing full well that this might be the last time that I’ll ever say it again. The knowledge brought more tears to my eyes as I sunk down in the chair next to his bed.

"Father. Don’t say anything. You need your strength."

"Mie, don’t cry." My father whispered hoarsely as he reached out a hand to wipe away my tears. "Perfect Soldiers don’t cry. See I’m fine." He said, trying to smile but only managed a wince. Resting a hand under my chin, he lifted up my head a little so that my tearful eyes meet his gaze, he said again, but this time in a more ordering tone. "Don’t cry."

That had did it, all my holed up emotions were like a river with a broken dam, rushing out along with more of my tears, and I broke down sobbing uncontrollably. All the pain was just too much for a 13-year-old to handle. I had loved my father so much. Even though I had known from the very beginning that he was not my biological father. But he was the only father that I had ever known, and the only one that I had ever loved. It was he who had took me in after the L1 Colony Massacre rose me and given me all the love that one can possibly have. And the thought of losing him was simply too much.

After my sobbing had calmed a little, I lifted my head to look at father. He seemed worse then before. Seeing that I had stopped sobbing, he reached out a hand to cradle my cheek while the other wiped out the remaining tears. "You have grown so fast, begin to look more and more like you mother everyday."

"Oh, Father!" I said, putting my hands on top of his, caressing it gently. "Please don’t try to talk. You’ll need your strength to live."

He laughed bitterly, then said, "I’m dying, Mie, you and I both know it. So stop giving me false hope."

"No, I won’t have it! I will not let you die!" I cried, tightening my hold on his hands, not wanting to let go, ever.

"Mie, this is something even you can’t stop, this is destiny." Father voiced, he was losing strength fast. "You should be happy for me, this way, I’ll be with your mother soon. And I can watch over you, forever."

"Father." I tried to say more, but somehow my voice had left me, leaving an unbearable pain in my chest. I shook my head, burying my face in his two large hands as I cried some more. Using a hand, my father lifted my face and stared into my pain filled eyes. "Mie, darling, don’t cry any more. I’ll always be with you, in there." Letting go my face, he put his hand on top of my heart to emphasize what he meant. Then continued, "Just remember, that no matter where I am, I’ll always, always, love you, with all my heart." With that, my dear father breathed his last.

The only person who had ever loved me in this whole world is now dead, but somehow through all this pain, deep in my soul, I feel happy for him. He had left this cold, unjust world for a much better place in heaven, where my dear mother is. Leaning down, I kissed my dead father’s forehead softly. "I love you too, Father. Always and forever."

Wiping away the remaining tears on my face, I walked out the room oblivious of all the doctors and nurses running around me, I put my impressive mask back in place once more. However, this one is different than the one I had before. This one is devoid of emotion and expression. I won’t let my grief show, I won’t let people see that I’m hurt, I won’t let them see my heart and soul are shattered, I won’t let them see my weakness. Like my father said, I’m the perfect solider.

~ End of Flashback ~

Unconsciously, a solitary tear had made its way down Misako’s cheek at the memory. Wiping away the tear forcefully, nearly bruising her face in the process, the ex-OZ soldier scolded herself for showing so much emotions so openly. Good thing that no body is around here. Just then, a rather familiar voice ringed though the gundam hanger, calling her name. I stand corrected.

"Misako! Are you in there?" A worried voice cried out.




Tsuzuku.....................


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I want to thank Mike, The Jackal, Space Cadet, Dragon of the North, and Peygan for reviewing. You guys are the best! Keep on reviewing!

My standard disclaimers: First thing first. I don' t own the G-boys. Although I wish I do. However, Misako Otani ^©is copy righted by me. Any illegal use will be take to court. Same goes for any part of this story. So, ask me first if you want to use anything from this story. You have been warned. Thank you for taking the time out in reading this Gundam Funfic, I hope you like it. Any comments, even bad one, Please send me an Email. Thank you again for reading.