Breaking Through Re-edited

by stefani teee

Fear is something that Heero has never known, but when he meets Relena again, he is caught up in her own personal fear of a shadow that contiually haunts her ever step. R/R.

Breaking Through (Re-edited)

By: stefani teee a.k.a. Koneko ^Å^

© Tale Spinners inc.

Koneko-chan says!

First before you read this, none of the Gundam Wing characters belong to me. Heck, if they did, I would be going out with one of the guys! Unfortunately they don't so you can simply read and (hopefully) enjoy. About the story, I make up mine as I go along so almost none of it follows the story line of the show. You can recognize some things from the show though. Oh, yeah. Cathrine is so *NOT* Trowa's sister! Anyway, this is my first Gundam Wing fan fiction so please don't hate it *that* much!

If you've already read this thing before, you might notice changes. Firstly, because I did this story a while ago, if you're quick, you can catch some of my more… (dare I say) humorous phrasing. Hey, times change, people change…

It was a normal occurrence… or at least it had been. Relena Peacecraft, age 17, blonde, blue-eyed, with Heero Yuy, age 18, (just 'cause I want him to be) brown hair, dark blue-eyed, with a gun aimed the wrong way between them. Relena watched as the young man's Prussian blue eyes stared at her coldly. He held a gun pointed directly at her, but she didn't seem to notice it, all she could do was try to concentrate on her reeling thoughts. 'I've been just a nuisance to him all this time'…? Her thoughts became angry at his quick statement and she clenched her fists tightly, not letting her anger show. My GOD! He doesn't even know me anymore! This is the first time I've seen him in like… forever! Damn that man. Damn him, damn him, DAMN HIM. She shook her head slightly to try and clear her thoughts, knowing her anger was uncalled for, knowing that… he hadn't meant it. He hadn't meant to hurt her at all, he was just scared. She knew. She'd known him enough to know that much. Heero… stop it! Just stop acting like you don't care about anyone! I know you do… I know you… And I hate you for it. Look what you've done to me!

She kept staring at Heero, mentally begging him to say it wasn't true… she knew it, but… if it came from him… She saw nothing in his face, no anger, no fear, no holding back. He could do it, and he could do it without ever having anyone, his eyes were dead cold, the eyes of a trained killer… but he'd promised not to kill ever again! What had happened?! He won't! Her eyes widened as this fact hit home. He wouldn't, no matter what. He would do whatever else it took, but he would complete his mission. She tore her eyes away from Heero to look around her. The hulking, gray steel walls vaulted high above her and she could hear guns firing in the distance. "Heero, why? Why the hell do you want to kill me?! You've got what you've wanted! I gave you your anonymity! Why can't you just stay out of my life like I wanted?!"

There was no answer.

Heero himself could only wonder why he hadn't pulled the trigger. She was standing there, looking at him, no fear, no panic, just… anger. At him. He listened to her words and he could feel something stir within him, something that had been there, dormant since the time he had left on a plane with Dr. J, a scientist that had molded him into the Perfect Soldier that he was now. It's not true is it? She doesn't hate me as much as she says… he could always tell with her, she was feigning it. She was angry, yes, but dammit, who wouldn't be after what he'd did to her? He shook it away mentally. Pull the trigger! The Perfect Soldier yelled in his head. His hand tightened on the gun… even after he'd promised himself-and her-that he'd never kill again. But she was standing there, without fear, waiting for whatever he would do, even including killing her. She didn't seem to care. His hand loosened then.

Suddenly above them, a huge explosion shattered the relative quiet of the scene. They both looked up to see a huge part of the walls crumble and plummet towards them. She reacted quickly and threw herself at Heero, pushing both of them onto the ground and out of the way of the falling stone, she cried out as a jagged shard broke off on impact and imbedded into her leg. Blood quickly stained the plain blue denim of her jeans, and she winced. He was on his feet in an instant; gun aimed at her again. She looked up at him, "I'm not afraid anymore Heero… Thanks to you." He was a little startled with her words but he didn't show it. Her voice was almost… final?

A voice erupted from the wall above them, "Aren't you even a little ashamed at yourself, Yuy?" They both looked up and saw a young woman standing there, pointing a gun at Heero. "I won't let you kill Miss Relena!" Relena gasped. "Miss Noin?!" The woman glanced at Relena. "I told you that I'd always protect you, even when everyone else thinks we're dead. And that means even from him if he's going to attempt any harm on you." She cocked the gun ready to fire. "NO! Wait!" Noin stopped to hear what she had to say. "Wh—" Relena was cut off as Heero grabbed her round the waist, and covered her mouth. HEY! I'm saving your life here! LET ME GO! She thought, not to mention yelled… or at least tried to yell it as she was completely muffled by his hand over her lips. He ran off into the shadows, just as a group of soldiers came rushing out of one of the doors. Lieutenant Noin grinned, and she spoke into a walkie-talkie as she slipped into the shadows. "Hey Duo? Phase One, of Mission RP/HY complete." A crackling sound overtook before Duo's voice full of disguised laughter. "Good work, now it's our turn. Over and out."

~*~*~*~

Relena was royally pissed off. One of the reasons was that Heero first of all was carrying her without the foggiest clue that his shirt (a very scratchy shirt too) was scraping against the gash in her leg (don't know how) and it hurt like hell. The second was that her mouth was clamped shut by his hand. WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?! She tried to yell "let go of me" but it came out more like a muffled, "Mmmmfff mmf mf mmm!" Heero sighed, this was getting him nowhere. "I told you once before, Relena." He ground out, "You are nothing but a nuisance to me and I am only taking you with me because I was ordered to. Now shut the hell up or I'll make you." He kept his mind safely blank of all the times he'd felt her psyche reach out to him from wherever she was to wherever he was. He didn't know how or why… it just seemed as if he could feel her searching for him, a deep hope that he'd see her again. But to remember those thoughts now after what he'd just said to her were dangerous and he ignored them.

Relena glared at him over his choice of words and if she could have used her hands at that moment, there would have been a red handprint on his face. He stopped running as they were far enough to avoid being found. He slowly removed his hand from Relena's mouth, and his hand felt immensely cold as he did so but he ignored it. "WHAT THE—" she began to yell before he covered her mouth again. "Relena… be quiet." She glared at him. "I want to check on your leg but I can't do that if you're going to scream. And I don't want to knock you out." She closed her eyes and nodded her head in submission. He slowly removed his hand again and pushed the pant leg up to her knee, exposing her calf, and he looked at the wound her leg. The shard of stone was still there and the gash was pretty deep. He took the shard of stone and pulled it with infinite patience until it was out of her leg. He quickly tore a piece cloth away from his shirt that he had worn as a disguise over his green tank top and bandaged the wound quickly and efficiently so the bleeding would stop. Behind him, he could hear more guns firing. He picked up Relena once more and ran away into the surrounding forest where he knew the other Gundam pilots were awaiting him.

He soon found the secret underground base that they had, and pounded the entry code in the disguised security monitor and ran in the entrance with Relena still in his arms. Duo, a tall guy with his long brown braid swinging, he ran up to him and stopped short when he noticed Relena in Heero's arms. Inwardly he was jumping up and down yelling "YES!! SUCCESS!!!" but outwardly… he was more like, "Wha-ohhh, Heero, you really DID bring your girlfriend…" Heero simply gave him his tried-and-true Death Glare and continued on his way to one of the rooms where he placed her on the bed, removing the bonds on her hands, letting her rub her wrists to regain circulation. "Can you tell me why the hell I'm here?!" she yelled at him as she stood up. "No."

"And why (censored) not?!"

Heero was amazed at the more… colorful words that the princess of the Sanq Kingdom could use. "Because, I barely know why myself."

Whoa… the great Perfect Soldier doesn't understand… okay… "Armageddon's gonna wipe us out any moment right?" she asked sardonically as she looked at the sky through the (barred) window. "Well… we'll have to tell you later… but I do know you're staying here until this all over… Duo would've said it was because you were simply 'too hot to keep away'." Relena grinned mentally… here was the perfect revenge. Ooh… he's gonna find out that it's more like 'too hot to handle'. She groaned softly, refocusing his attention back onto her as she slowly pulled up her pant leg again, holding the bandaged wound. Instantly, he was all, "What is it?" and "What happened?" and "Does it still hurt?" What the heck did I say that for?! Why would she be in pain if it didn't hurt?! He berated himself for worrying over such stupidity on his own part and knelt down to examine the aforementioned leg.

"It hurts so-o much." She murmured as she probed it with the pads of her fingers, wincing at the pain it caused. Heero gulped almost inaudibly (K: but in an empty, silent room like that… it's a little easier to notice) and looked down at it, seeing the blood already seeping through the white of the cloth make-shift bandage. By now Heero was ten times uncomfortable and Relena wasn't helping, she smirked internally. "It hurts…" Getting up, he took the medical case from the shelf, opened it, and pulled out the surgical bandage. He removed the blood-soaked fabric around Relena's leg and slowly wrapped the bandages around it, tying it tightly. She smiled, forcing her eyes to go soft, wide, and innocent. "Thank you…" she breathed, fluttering her eyelashes. Now, were it any other girl, Heero would have returned the flirtatious gaze with a disgusted one. But it wasn't any other girl, it was the same one he'd saved every time she'd been in danger. And god, she wasn't helping. She REALLY wasn't helping when she reached up and traced his jawbone with her hand, making him shiver at the touch of the cool, smooth skin.

"Relena…"

"Mmhmm…?" Almost there… he's gonna go insane ANY moment now… It was the finally kicker when she sat up a little more, seemingly to get some weight off her injured leg, and all the while pressing herself a little closer to his chest. He groaned, giving in at the sudden warmth of her body, and pulled her closer, kissing her roughly on her lips. A feeling of triumph swept through her before she was swept off her feet at the intensity of his kiss. After a while, she knew it had gone on longer than decency allowed, but a little voice inside her stomped that thought down shrieking, "I DON'T CARE!" It was Heero who wrenched away from her, pulling away from the bed and her. "You little minx!" he gasped, staring at her, his eyes widened. "I finally found you…" she whispered as if in a daze, never noticing his astonishment.

He looked at her once more, half hidden in shadow, half in red sunlight from the sun's last dying rays, before rushing out of the room.

Quatre Raberba Winner was just outside passing by when Heero stepped out. "Who were you talking to?" he asked Heero betraying his curiosity. "The princess of the Sanq Kingdom." Heero replied shortly before stalking off in the opposite direction. Quatre blinked, "Relena?" Heero nodded curtly and stalked down the hall. Quatre sighed, but continued on his way. He had learned from experience not to try and drag everything out of the stone-faced Japan native.

Duo, however was different, he never seemed to learn from his encounters with Heero and usually ended up being slammed into a wall or facing a gun pointed straight at his face. This time was no different. He was following Heero and he stopped only for a moment to shoot a wicked grin at Quatre who sighed as Duo disappeared after Heero. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1." He counted out loud, and sure enough, Duo came flying out the doorway at break-neck speed, smacking against an opposite steel wall. Quatre sighed, walked over and assisted the American back on his feet.

Trowa Barton who was checking the radar looked up to see Heero. "Did you complete the mission?" he asked in a monotone voice similar to Heero's own. Heero nodded and held up the key to Relena's… cell. "Where was she?"

"In the middle of an enemy base."

Trowa's face knotted into a look of veiled confusion, "Why would she be a place like… that?"

"I have no idea." The Japanese left the control room, and towards the dining hall. The Latino standing there had to hide a soft smile, he typed in the keys to vid-link him to Lieutenant Noin. The screen exploded into color, showing a huffing and puffing Noin, and a gagged and hog-tied Milliardo Peacecraft, who was looking quite bewildered at why he was there. Trowa had to smile, Milliardo was concerned about his sister, yes, but surely not enough to come running? Not enough for Noin to have to resort to physically keeping him put? Maybe. Noin grinned, "Hey Trowa. How's everything over there coming along?"

"Perfectly fine." Milliardo made a muffled noise around the gag and Noin waved a hand at him, dismissing him from the conversation. "So, he arrived safely then?"

"She was hurt. I think you know how."

Noin nodded sighing, "It was a stupid thing to keep away for that long, I shouldn't have waited… but I was afraid to scare Heero off. I don't think I should have bothered even thinking of that." Trowa nodded, "Nothing would have come between him and fulfilling his mission or there'll be hell to pay." Noin groaned, "Don't remind me of a certain husband that I know." She said turning an effective silencing glance at Milliardo who was still trying to escape his bonds. Trowa shrugged, "I'll have to go check on them. The girls are coming back soon." Noin raised an eyebrow, "Any important reason… other than the obvious?" Trowa, bravely tried to keep the blush from creeping onto his face and Noin laughed. "All right then, we'll see you—MILLIARDO, don't move an inch, I'm not done with you!" before the screen exploded back into static again. Trowa shook his head. Whatever they were doing, he didn't want to know.

Relena was lying on the bed, curled into a fetal position. The sun had set and the moon had risen, filling the room with the cold white light. She'd always hated the night. It was too dark, too cold, too frightening. Everything seemed deadened, silent. And she hated the dark, being alone… Small wonder after what'd happened to her all her life… "Someone… don't let me be alone… in the dark…" she whimpered cowering against the wall, afraid like a small child. The lock clicked and she tensed, imagining the worst. The door eased open and a flood of artificial light flowed over her. Relena sighed in relief. It wasn't… HIM.

"Come on." Said the one-syllabic pilot as he walked over to her. He noticed her still-wide eyes and looked at the window, the cold white light still glowing softly. He sighed, sitting down at the edge of the bed. "Are you afraid of the night?" Relena shuddered and nodded, "He always came in the dark…" she murmured softly as she hid her face behind her hands. He gently, but firmly pulled her hands away. "Why didn't you tell me?" she shook her head, "Because I didn't want anyone to know." She whispered and he looked down at her awkwardly. Having never felt fear, he didn't have a clue of what to do. Relena noticed his obvious silence and hid her face again. He would probably mock her, now that he knew. Heaven knows how much he hated her. He'd walked away from her that day, a long time ago… And he'd disappeared off the face of the Earth apparently. Literally. She guessed he'd gone to one of the colonies.

It was then that she was shocked beyond reason when he physically hauled her up, and into his lap where he simply held her against him in a hug. It was a little awkward, but considering what each thought the other thought of them, it wasn't entirely unexpected. And then of course, the fact that Heero hadn't really ever experienced any compassionate contact made his comforting embrace seem slightly rough. And the fact that it even hinted he cared made the embrace seem even warmer and safer to the girl. Heero was quiet… he remembered this girl's touch, the last time ever had been when she had been the one holding him, that time after the 'Marimaia' incident.

~*~*~*~

Flashback…

Relena had brought him to her own 'house'. It wasn't her multimillion-dollar mansion, it was a pretty little house at the side of a beach, perfectly angled to watch the full sunrise over the treetops, and the sunset over the water. He'd woken up to a heavy lump on top of him and he'd tensed as the lump moved. He was surprised when it turned out to be an adorable little golden retriever puppy. It yipped to see him awake and a louder bark echoed from the side of the bed. He sat up, with the puppy licking at his face to see a large silver wolf dog standing there. A hint of what might be a canine smile flashed across its face before it stood up and walked out of the open door, and through the hole in the screen door outdoors. A quick look around the place showed that Relena stayed there often. It was a small place, basically one-room with the bed on one side, the kitchen on the other with several doors, probably leading to the bathroom and a closet. The basket of laundry in front of the last door made him suspect that what lay behind that door was her laundry room.

The door opened to his side and he whirled to face Relena standing there in a light pink sundress and sandals, the silver dog padding in behind her. "Good morning, Heero." She said softly walking towards him, discarding her sandals at the door. She walked over to him, "Are you alright now?" He made a barely perceptible nod. She smiled, "Good." Laughing lightly, she reached out her hand and stroked the puppy (who still hadn't stopped snuggling against Heero) softly. "Looks like Lovah's found something to love in you too…" Not that I haven't found anything not to love about him… I just can't hate anything about him. What a fool I am… she thought a trifle sadly.

"Lovah?"

Relena smiled, "Yeah, that's what my friend Michi called her when she gave her to me… it was her way of saying "lover". The little puppy was so friendly to everyone… and the way she said her name kind of stuck." He patted the puppy's head absently, making it wriggle in delight, "I never knew you liked dogs." Relena laughed, "Are you kidding? Come on over Romeo, I know you're dying to be introduced." The silver-haired wolf dog stood up and padded over to the bed, leaping up. "This is Romeo… a wolf with enough dog in him to love me as a human." The large dog lay its head in her lap and she hugged him smiling.

For once in his life, Heero Yuy felt at home. But then the quiet happy moment was broken when he finally got up out of the bed and almost tripped over the several blankets on the floor. He realized he'd occupied her only bed for… god knows how long. "How long was I out for?"

"Three days." He whirled to see if she was joking but she had become completely serious and the two dogs still on the bed were quiet. Romeo had gotten to his feet and was watching him warily. Relena immediately pulled him back down onto the bed, "You can leave… whenever you want. But you're also welcome to stay." She said softly as she got up as well. For a moment, he almost relented. But what he said decided his path, "All I want in this world is for everyone to forget about me, Relena. To forget what I've done to all those people… to that little girl and her dog…" and he'd walked out the door.

"Heero! Matte!" he turned at the unexpected Japanese when she normally used English. "What?" Relena ran up to him, "I just want to…" She said breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around him for a moment whispering, "say… goodbye, Heero…" before pulling away. He turned and continued walking away, even though he could still feel her standing in the same spot, watching him.

End Flashback…

~*~*~*~

Of course, all wonderful little moments must come to an end because both Heero and Relena heard the footsteps in the hallway outside the door and Heero pulled away from Relena. Duo's head suddenly popped out from behind the doorway. "Hey Lena! How're ya doin'?" Heero glared at Duo. "I thought she was here because of a mission?" he said slowly and lowly, ready to murder him if it turned out to be one of his practical jokes.

"She is! But she isn't a prisoner around here, she's a guest. We're basically hiding her here with us, to protect her."

Relena looked baffled, "From who?"

Duo shrugged, "Can't tell you now lil' lady. But let's head over to the dinner table, I'm starved and a half."

"Isn't 'half-starved' the appropriate saying?"

Heero was the one who answered, almost growling it out, "Not where that idiot's concerned."

Duo rolled his eyes, "So sue me. I'm hungry. Come on, let's EAT!" he whined as he literally dragged both of them along the hallway. They only complied to the treatment because a) they were friends and b)(for Relena at least) it wasn't polite to deck him for wanting to eat. "With any other person, it would have been introduction time. But as we know each other, we will simply commence eating. And eat he did… or at least, if you like understatements. Shoveled it in would be more appropriate. Quatre had been sitting at one end of the table, drinking his tea slowly, and in not much of a hurry. He looked up and smiled politely at his longtime friend. "Hello Miss Relena." He said politely.

"Just Relena please, Quatre." She said quietly, "You know me well enough to call me that." Heero never looked up from the table where he was eating slowly.

Trowa stood in front of her and he smiled, though it came out a little solemnly. "You're welcome in our quarters for as long as you wish." Relena sighed looking at Heero who had unconsciously tightened his grip on his fork. "From the look that Heero's giving his innocent fork, I'd say I should be leaving soon." Heero finally looked up. "No. You're welcome to stay. The terrorists are embarking on a mission to destroy the Peacecraft family and you'd be the first they'd be after."

Relena stared at Heero. Impressive. Our resident Perfect Soldier can say more than a normal "Hn". An alert siren rang suddenly, and the guys jumped to attention. Relena, having nothing else she could do just sitting around, followed them towards the 'main' entrance. When they reached there, all they found were four girls, already berating each other for the false alarm.

"Hilde! I *told* you that you hadn't punched in the stupid code in right!" yelled a woman with long blond hair and light blue eyes, also known as Dorothy Catalonia.

Sally Po with her military uniform on was rolling her eyes, tapping a finger steadily on thigh as she watched the female mayhem surrounding her. Hilde Shiebecker dodged just in time to avoid being skewered on a small dagger-like knife. Cathrine Bloom was chasing after her, (K: the knives were properly blunted obviously.

Quatre smiled a little shyly. And he was the first to speak, softly. "Dorothy?"

The blonde stopped and turned. "Quatre! Um, yeah, about all this… sorry for the false alarm…" She glared at the giggling black-haired girl who was whispering in Cathy's ear, but loud enough for everyone else to hear. "She's dead gone on the guy isn't she?"

Dorothy managed to keep her face in the expression of the normal "Ice Queen" while Quatre's face could've been her exact opposite, his face flaming.

Wufei, who'd evidently grown tired of chasing Duo rolled his eyes. "Just like a woman." Sally immediately knew who'd said that, even though she hadn't seen him say it. She turned and glared at him. "WOMEN ARE WEAK!" she bellowed in his ear.

"Whatever woman."

Duo was grinning at his girlfriend. "Hilde! You're going to be in worse trouble than I am!" Hilde focusing on a point above Duo's shoulder smirked, "I sincerely doubt it." Duo had a blank look. "Huh?"

WHAP

He was hit on the head by Wufei who'd 'accidentally' had smacked the hilt of his katana against the back of Duo's head.

Wufei looked at Sally, feigning innocence while the woman had to hold back a smirk. He, Quatre and Duo (who had sufficiently blinked away the solar system of stars from his eyes) left the room. Each with a girl either leading the guy like a dog on a leash (Dorothy and Quatre), making out as they go along (Hilde and Duo) or yelling at each other at the top of their lungs (Sally and Wufei). (K: *shrug* Someone's whispering opposites attracts somewhere… I just know it.)

Trowa, Heero, Relena and Cathrine were left. Cathrine smiled at Relena, "Hey Relena… haven't seen you around lately…" Relena smiled softly, "I couldn't seem to get away… I had to take off on a flight to L1 that day when you came to the Sanq Kingdom." Cathrine smirked softly, tsk tsking her while shaking a finger. "Tsk, tsk, tsk… you're too busy all the time now… where were you?"

Relena looked confused when she answered her, "I was in a suspected enemy base. I mean, the war's over and everything and still they keep coming… Noin wanted me to come with her to 'find more ideas' for my speeches. A lame excuse I might think, but I went along anyway to find out what would happen… I don't know why I ended up here…"

Cathrine was about to speak again when Trowa smoothly grabbed her shoulder, shook his head saying, "Come on… don't start the Grand Inquisition on her… let's go eat." Cathrine shrugged and followed him, with Heero looking at both of them suspiciously before stalking after them. Relena, not knowing what else to do, followed slowly.

She found herself in the dining hall, the others already cramming themselves at the one long table there. Hilde shifted over, (K: closer to her boyfriend obviously…) to make room for her. Relena sat down slowly, and in a little part of her, she was glad to be back with all of them… surprisingly, she'd missed them so much since she'd last seen them all. "So… you kidnapped me… to keep me safe?" Duo smiled and nodded, "Yeah, just about…"

"Did it every occur to you that I might have just agreed to come along without the added kidnapping?"

"It would've attracted too much attention."

"And kidnapping wouldn't?"

"The others were in on it, it went fine."

"I can see that."

The conversation lapsed into silence as the metallic sounds of silverware clinking against plates filled the air in conversation's stead. "So… how have you all been all this time?" asked Relena trying to start another conversation.

Hilde grinned, "A little bit of everything. Everything's gotten so peaceful you almost might have thought it boring."

"Excuse me?! All my work makes you bored?!" asked Relena pretending to be indignant.

"Uh… well…" stammered Hilde as she was at a lost for words. Duo laughed, "Hey, open your mouth a little wider Babe, you might stick your entire leg into your mouth… don't stop with your foot on our account!"

Hilde whirled and smacked him upside the head, knocking him and the chair backwards.

"OW!"

"And it serves you right." said the girl, huffily.

Duo returned to his food with a pout. That was enough, Relena had to laugh. It was strange, how much that one girl's laughter could affect the entire table. Trowa smiled, Duo was quiet, Wufei stopped ranting, Quatre drank something other than tea, (alright it was purely by accident but still) and Heero… Heero smiled too. It was little, little smile but hey, Duo is inquisitive. He noticed. Actually everyone noticed except for Relena who was pleasantly oblivious to whatever the people sitting at that table (minus Heero) were plotting.

Hilde began talking again, "So, Relena give me your opinion. Is it completely impossible to even hope that Duo here can get his hair cut? I swear he has hidden every pair of scissors in a twenty-mile radius."

"I told you Babe, you need some things, and others you don't. Scissors, are a definite don't."

Relena smirked, as impossible as that may sound. "I think you're fighting a losing battle there, Hilde. But… miracles do happen."

"Damn… why is everyone against me?!" whined Hilde at the world in general.

"Probably because they all know that it is impossible." Quipped Duo as he continued on with his interrupted meal. Hilde refrained from slapping him again, but she did shoot him a glare.

Heero stood up at that moment, and all eyes turned to him. "I'm going to turn in." he said uncomfortably as he saw everyone looking at him. "Heero! You can't just walk off when your guest is here!" exclaimed Cathrine who was also blinking her eyes tiredly. "She's—" he sighed. "Fine." He sat back down.

Relena quickly spoke up, "No it's fine. I don't need him to stay when he doesn't want to." Heero looked pointedly at the group who all fell silent. All but Duo. The thoughts, this is not working out like it's supposed to… kept going through his head. This was not how this story was supposed to go! He had to think of something that would keep the two of them together or Hilde would have his head! After Noin shot him through a couple of times, of course.

"Geez Heero, you've got to at least try and make her feel welcome!" Relena fidgeted nervously trying not to impose on them. Heero most of all. After all, she was already a bother to him as it was. Just as she thought that, the old anger appeared again. I don't care! I don't care what the hell he does anymore! She kept thinking with more and more strained conviction. It was not working.

"Well… Relena, are you still tired?" asked Hilde suddenly, aware of Duo's predicament.

"Um… a little—"

"Good! Then, since Heero's going to his room, he can show you to yours!"

"But—"

"Hey, no 'buts' about it, don't you want to get ready to sleep."

"Well, sure, but do you need help cleaning up?"

"Do you think we'd ask a guest to wait on us? No, go on ahead." Hilde grabbed Heero's collar wrenching him down towards her whereas she whispered, "The one beside mine." It took a lot from the Perfect Soldier to keep a hold on his dignity when he'd been unceremoniously dragged down to eye-level of his friend's girlfriend. He straightened and with a few monosyllabic words, led her towards her room.

Relena followed silently, never saying anything. Hey, if he wanted to be alone, this was the closest he would get right around now, she would bother him as little as possible. (K: Hey, don't blame me! I'm sure she's considerate of the guy's mood! She's not as b*tchy as some of you think she is. In fact I'd say she wasn't. Period.) He stopped at a door in the hall and opened it. "This is your room I guess." He was silent afterwards.

"Uh thanks… I guess…" managed Relena uncomfortably as she looked at the darkened room and shivered. He just about sensed what she was thinking and flicked on a switch, lighting up the entire room. "Better?" she nodded smiling. "A lot…" she looked uncomfortable again before she finally said, "So… uh, goodnight, Heero." Before walking in and gently closing the door. Heero leaned against the wall sighing and ran a hand through his unruly hair. God that girl was a mystery… she seemed to be of one way at one moment another way at another moment. Then, even though no one heard him, he said softly, "Goodnight… Relena."

"Heero." He turned to face Trowa, the other boy's eyes (well… one eye) seemed almost as if they knew something. But all he said was, "Heero… you don't hate that girl. You never did hate her. And if you ask me, I'd almost say you love that girl." Heero sighed, and with that sigh Trowa thought to himself, This is going to take a while… "Trowa, I don't know what love is, I've never felt it before and I doubt I'll be starting anytime soon." Trowa raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think so?" he asked mildly, "Do you really think that you've never felt anything towards that girl in there… or that you've never known what she feels for you?"

Heero growled in annoyance. "Trowa, I told you once to listen to what your emotions tell you, what your heart tells you to do. But how are you supposed to do that if you don't seem to have a heart?"

"I would tell you that I can think of only one person who'd be able to, and be willing to prove just the opposite." He told Heero, walking back towards the dining hall. "Now excuse me, but I need to get back to Cathrine." The tall young man loped off in long confident strides towards his girlfriend leaving Heero to think about what he'd just said.

Sighing he walked towards his own room… right beside Relena's. So that was why Hilde wanted to choose Relena's room. He grunted in annoyance before walking in thinking, Well, if the small possibility of her being attacked comes up, I can at least hear it. He walked in and closed the door behind him taking off his shirt and reaching for a clean white one when the door opened. Not the one he'd just walked in, but another one, beside his dresser. And standing in the middle of the doorway was Relena. Wearing a tiny, silky-looking fabric, nightdress. Or at least it was supposed to be a nightdress, it actually looked more like lingerie. Relena gasped when she noticed someone was in that room, which she'd thought, had been a closet and she suppressed a shriek. When she moved, a beam of light from behind her lit on his face (and his torso) and she saw who it was. Not that she was any the less embarrassed but she wasn't scared anymore.

"H-Heero!" she gaped at him. When she noticed his state of dress (or undress) she blushed red and with a stuttered apology closed the door and he could hear her feet pad quite quickly away. "I've got to install a lock on that thing…" he muttered to himself, even though he didn't think he ever would. Despite all his vows to remain indifferent, he had to admit… she'd looked hot standing there.

Relena sitting on the bed holding a pillow to her face as she felt all the blood rushing to her face. She'd thought that was a closet and instead she'd ended up almost walking into his room while he was changing! Despite herself, she blushed harder when she remembered seeing his bare torso. Yeah, yeah, she'd known he was hot. She frowned, but that didn't mean she was going to fall head of heels in love with him again. A knock came on the door and before she had even time to open her mouth, not to mention say "Come in." the rest of the girls had trooped in. Sally was still miffed at Wufei. "He is a sexist—" she was saying before Dorothy who nodded to Relena shut her up. "Okay, spill. What did you do to Heero?" Relena looked at them confused. "Huh?"

"Oh, come on! You know, I've never seen Heero this close to… you know smiling!"

"Then you've done no better than me. I haven't seen him smile either."

"Are you sure? How about when you barged into his room."

Relena felt her face flush again, "Uh, how did you find that out?"

Dorothy rolled her eyes. "I told you! You have too big a mouth." Hilde had the grace to blush. "Uh, sorry Relena, but, um, we kinda, have the security camera on… we turned it on after you changed because we only saw you apologizing to Heero and hiding under a pillow. And we were curious."

Cathrine smiled. "You know, I'm sure you've got something more to you than being a princess…"

"I wouldn't know about that. And I'm not Relena Peacecraft anymore… I'm just plain Relena Dorlian."

Dorothy nodded, "Yes, we all knew that… after you announced it to Mariemaia's troops, it kind of spread." She said smiling softly at her part in that war.

The conversation continued from there, and Relena was caught up on what happened with them all since that war when she'd last seen them. Even without her asking, they were brimming with information about what Heero had been doing all this time. Not that she was going to ask if they weren't going to tell her… right?

It was a while later when Duo appeared in the door. "What are all of you girls doing up? Even Trowa's getting ready to go to sleep… uh, and I guess his girlfriend is too…" they all turned to see Cathrine and Sally sleeping curled up on the (it was a big) bed. Relena was falling asleep too and Hilde was blinking rapidly.

Dorothy didn't seem to care and she said. "Looks like you're going to have company. You do NOT want to wake up Wufei or Trowa when they're asleep. They always have a gun next to them and believe me, you don't want to end up on the wrong end of it." Relena smiled. "Well, guess you can make yourselves comfy…" she trailed off as she noticed everyone had basically fallen asleep except Dorothy who turned and gave Relena a wink.

"You'll get used to it." She said and lay down and fell asleep on the (did I mention) HUGE bed. Relena smiled and curled up into a comfortable sleeping position and fell asleep. She wasn't afraid of him that night… Duo, who had been watching unnoticed shrugged and turned off the light before shutting the door.

The next morning, Relena woke up early like she always did. She sat up and almost giggled at the sight. During the night, there must have been a rough and tumble game since she had somehow been pushed off the bed and all the blankets were under her. She walked quietly out and she immediately bumped into Trowa. "Uh… Good morning. Is there a shower here?" Trowa smiled slightly. "We've got pretty much everything. The bathroom is at the end of the hall. I advise you to hurry and get in before Wufei, somehow he takes a long time. That's why I wake up early." Relena smiled. "Thanks Trowa."

She ran back in the room, grabbed a simple white T-shirt and black shorts, along with a towel before following Trowa's directions towards the bathroom. After getting out, and saying good morning to a grouchy Wufei who seemed to really need a morning coffee, she went back to her room to find all the girls awake and talking again.

"Relena! I'm so sorry, we fell asleep!" cried Cathrine when she caught sight of her. Relena grinned. "Yup, and I ended up with the blankets so I wasn't that uncomfortable on the floor where I apparently landed." Everyone laughed along with her. They were settling in for breakfast and everyone was there… Except of course, Heero just had to be missing. Duo looked around and sighed. They would never complete Mission RP/HY! Noin wouldn't be happy that all her planning had been for nothing!

"Where is Heero?" he asked suddenly as if everyone didn't know where he was. "He's already late for breakfast… and we have an assignment for him too today!"

"I'll go and get him… if you want." Relena offered quietly. She wanted to help as much as she could when they were all being so nice to her. "Would you? Thanks, you know, why don't you bring the breakfast for him?" Relena flushed slightly at his intended point which she (obviously) got and then shrugged. "Sure…" She grabbed the stuff on the table that was next to her.

"Uh, I think you should bring some for yourself Relena… Duo eats like a cow. There'll be none left for you if you come back here in say two minutes." The response was exactly as everyone thought it would be.

"HEY!"

Relena laughed. "I guess I should." She picked up the now full tray and walked off in the direction of the bedroom. As soon as she left, the people at the table turned and glared at Hilde. "Good going! Can you be any more obvious?" whispered Dorothy vehemently. "Hey! She didn't catch my point did she?" shot back Hilde as she gave her own glare to Duo.

As she neared her destination, Relena began to feel nervous. By the time she got to his door, she could feel her hands gripping the tray starting to become clammy. Balancing the tray on her hip and one hand, she knocked. There was no answer. Blinking, she knocked again and called, "Heero, are you awake?" but still there was no answer. She opened the door cautiously and looked in. "Heero?" she noticed the large lump in the bed and she smiled in a little relief. He was still sleeping. She walked closer and set the tray on the dresser before going a little closer.

As she leaned closer to look down on him, she let out an involuntary gasp when he'd suddenly felt her presence and whipped out his gun at her face. It was a few seconds later before he recognized her and dropped the gun to the floor. It was then that she realized that the safety was still on. Not something you'd expect from the Perfect Soldier. "Relena, what are you doing here?" he asked, a little muffled because he'd slumped back into the pillow.

"Uh well, they told me to wake you because you have a new assignment or something…" Heero groaned. "I'll be up in a minute." He said wrenching himself up from the bed. He sat up shaking his head clearing his thoughts. Relena watched him carefully before stepping forward and pushing him back on the bed without another word. He landed back with a soft "TWUMP". He looked at her in shock, amazement… (just pick one) She didn't answer and instead, sat down beside him, and felt his forehead. Sure enough, his skin was burning hot. She smiled softly as she lifted her palm. "You know what? I take that back, you're not going anywhere today." He looked at her seriously. "I can still fight with several broken bones, gunshot wounds, cuts and bruises. Do you think a fever will stop me?" With a soft smile that could even be considered a smirk, she replied. "Perhaps not, but I certainly will."

He raised an eyebrow. "Was that a challenge?" he asked bluntly.

"Take it in whatever way you will."

"I am not sick." He said bringing the conversation right back to where it had started. Relena sighed. The guy was living in denial with a capital D. Shaking her head, "Prove it to me." It wasn't what she would usually have chosen to say to anyone with as high a fever (as far as she could tell) as Heero, but he being an ex-gundam pilot, she knew very well that he'd never just listen to her.

And just as she'd knew he'd do, he got up again and tried to walk away, but the room tilted at a crazy angel, making him fall to the ground. "Heero? Are you alright?" asked a more composed Relena. She did not say, "I told you so." Which would have been a little too much for Heero at the moment. This was ridiculous, he was going to be taken down by the flu bug?! (K: I know, I know, a little egotistical, but you all know it's true…) "I'm just fine… Relena."

The girl smiled. "No you're not. You're sick."

"I am not sick…"

Relena shook her head, silencing him. "Yes you are Heero. Get back to bed. You can eat there." Heero stubbornly refused and instead tried to get up. However, once he was on his feet, he found himself being pushed by a slender hand on his chest back onto the bed. He growled in annoyance before he found Relena actually laughing! At him… "What, may I ask, is so funny?"

She shook her head, and didn't answer. Instead, she wrestled the blankets from under him and covered him quite warmly as despite himself he was shivering. After setting him in a sitting position with plenty of pillows, she finally picked up the bowl of soup and sat down beside him, holding it out towards him. He ignored it. She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, eat!"

"Do not tell me what to d—GLOUP!" for she'd shoved the spoon of soup into his mouth. His eyes widened but he swallowed as Relena reloaded her spoon with another spoonful. Muttering under his breath, he took the soup and spoon saying, "I can feed myself." The girl smiled unrepentantly. "I know."

She reached over to the tray grabbing her own bowl of soup and commenced eating it with all due enjoyment. So they sat there in silent companionship… on Relena's part anyway. She was ever the smiling Princess/Ex-queen/Vice-Foreign Minister. And Heero was ever the silent, ignoring-everything-else-in-the-world soldier. And so, they finished breakfast in each other's company, and considering the circumstances, you might say that it was quite a nice way to eat. For example, no guns, explosions, yelling, screaming… the works.

This is how Duo found them both as he came by to snoop, just as they were finishing off breakfast. He was ecstatic to find Relena sitting on the bed beside him. It was a start at least, wasn't it? He was about to say something but his first look at his best friend knocked the comment right out of the galaxy. "Heero! Whoa, buddy, what's wrong with you?!"

"He's sick."

This, Duo stopped short at. "Whoa, hold on a moment. Heero. Sick?"

"Yes…"

Duo burst out laughing. "HEERO?! SICK?! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the American never learns does he? (K: This has no offence to any Americans whatsoever. This is just a comment made to this particular American. Not that I hate him either, he's just so fun to pick on!) But this time, Relena, doing her best to keep Heero from getting up again (and breaking a few bowls while he was at it) got up, grabbed Duo by his collar and dragged him out (being unable to pick him up).

"AND STAY OUT!" she yelled at him before slamming the door. She leaned against it for a moment, never noticing Heero's wondering gaze before opening again and smiling nicely down at Duo. "Oh and can you get Sally down here, please?" Duo was up with a leap and racing down towards the dining hall yelling something along the lines of "HELP!!!!!!!!! THE PRINCESS HAS GONE INSANE!!!!!!!" Relena bit her lip to keep from laughing before closing the door.

Facing Heero, she grinned. "Bet you don't see that everyday, huh?"

He looked at her raising an eyebrow, firstly wondering why there were two of her, and then secondly… well, just as an unspoken answer to her questioning look. "Around here? Quite a lot."

Relena shrugged, "Have it your way." The room was silent until a down-to-business Sally Po came in. Relena immediately explained to Sally what was wrong with Heero. Sally wasn't a professional. (K: And that's true you know. She's a military field doctor, you know, splint a broken bone, remove a bullet… that type of stuff.) But she knew enough to tell Relena just what the girl would've done anyway, give him his medicine and put him back into bed, except Relena didn't know where they kept the medicine cupboard.

"So… I'm supposing he won't be able to make his assignment?" asked Relena tentatively. Heero was glaring openly now. "Nothing like the flu bug is going to come between me and the completion of anything I set out to do." Sally looked at Relena with a raised eyebrow before winking and saying in a sorrowful voice. "Oh no… then I guess, you can go ahead and take Duo's assignment since you don't like your own…"

"… What… what was my assignment to begin with?"

"Well, you wouldn't expect us to leave the girl here all by herself the entire day unprotected now would you? Your assignment was to stay here with our guest, who just so happens to have enough assassins after her to send anyone into shock." Relena shuddered violently at the thought, only half-acting.

"You expected me to babysit." He stated and the tone of his voice showed his angle on the subject. Which was to say he disapproved. Extremely.

"We expected you to know this girl more than we have. We want to keep her safe… and, well, she was always safe around you."

He sighed, mentally knowing something no one else did. No one's safe around me, everything I touch literally falls apart. Relena was eyeing him quizzically, with such understanding hidden in her face that he wondered whether or not she could read his mind. "What was Duo supposed to do?"

"Something about finding someone in a strip joint I think…" Now, if you were looking very closely (which both of them were but still couldn't see) you would've seen Heero's coloring redden just the slightest bit. "So you're saying that if Duo takes my assignment…"

"He'll be begging her to pole-dance for him." Relena wrinkled her nose in disgust. "That line of work doesn't appeal to me…" Sally shrugged, "Knowing Duo, he'd be kinda disappointed about this though. You don't want to know the God of Death when he's deprived of his pornography." (K: Don't get me wrong, I love Duo to bits but… well, hey blame SexyAngel^Å^ for that! Not me! She made me! And as elementary school as that sounded, it's true… that girl is scary when she starts begging!)

"He's got a girlfriend, it's doubtful he'd come on to Relena."

"You know, I heard that." said a voice at the door, and Duo appeared in the room looking about to explode at Sally. "Are you ruining my rep?"

"Nothing more than rumors say about you."

"WHO said that?!" he asked dangerously. Sally's eyes were flashing dangerously at him as well. "A certain someone." She said meaningfully. Duo blinked before grinning slyly and then stretched an arm around Relena's shoulders, baiting Heero (discreetly) and smirking. "Yeah, we'd have a fun night wouldn't we Babe?"

"Knowing you? Not likely." Relena retorted grinning and then shrugged his arm off, ignoring his advances. "Well, it looks like it'll still happen, Heero here seems dead set on killing himself."

For it was true that Heero was wondering why the room was slowly beginning to spin around him and why there were first two, then three, than one of each person… "Fine… I'll stay." He said finally, slumping against the headboard. Duo managed to look excited and disappointed at the same time… "Sorry Babe, can't make it tonight… but you can drown your sorrows on this guy's shoulder," he said jerking his thumb towards Heero, "and I can offer my shoulder to some chick down at the club!"

Sally rolled her eyes, "You realize this is for business right?"

"I can still have fun while I'm at it." he ran past her and out into the hallway, probably to inform Hilde of their success. Sally followed suit, leaning back for long enough to toss Relena a pill bottle (which she caught after fumbling only once) and say, "We'll be gone for the day and… it won't be long. Don't worry, we'll check on both of you on the vid-phone."

"Go ahead, good luck on your… assignment." Sally nodded, "And yours too… ah, Heero." Heero did nothing but grunt to show he'd heard and waited silently until she was out of the room. Relena immediately walked to the bathroom, and filled a glass of water and came back holding it and two of the white tablets. Heero at first refused to take them, muttering that he was "just fine" when she finally began (seemingly) to lose patience. "Oh come on Heero, even Lovah took her medicine better than you!"

"Lovah… you mean your dog?"

"The puppy." She confirmed before holding them out again. "Come on…" she coaxed before he took them quickly, proving to her he wasn't a child and didn't need to be cooed at. Relena grinned as he swallowed both of them and the glass of water, and he was unaware of the pouty grimace his face took on afterwards that made him look like a little kid after taking that disgusting cherry chalk-like syrup.

"Now… that wasn't so bad, huh?"

"…"

"Very well then." She listened carefully, before getting up and walking towards the window, where she saw a person's feet run past. She felt a twinge of fear before she recognized Hilde's gold anklet and relaxed. "They're gone." She reported and then got down to business. Coming closer to the bed, she never said a word but grabbed one of the pillows propping him up away and then pushing his chest so that he landed in a more or less horizontal position. "What are you—?"

In response, she said, "Since I'm the only one capable at the moment, I'm going to play nurse." Heero made no objection as the spinning in the room had began to lesson. "Good, so you agree. Now go back to sleep for a little while, okay?" Heero looked at her disagreeing vehemently. "I'm supposed to be the one looking out for you." He told her. Relena raised an eyebrow and gave him a friendly smile. "I'm perfectly capable of reading a book by myself… if you'll tell me whether or not you guys have a library."

"It's down the hall."

"I see. Now, come on, go back to sleep." She told him softly setting him back down as he'd risen up, balancing on his arms, and pulling the covers up to his neck. Kissing him lightly on the forehead, she walked out of the room, leaving the former 01 pilot in shock. What… what just happened there?

He had half a mind to get up and run after her demanding an explanation. But the more rational half of his mind (or at least… he hoped it was the rational part of his mind, he really couldn't tell anymore…) told him to just follow her advice… for now at least. He'd question her later. With that thought in mind, his head fell back and he went back to his well-needed sleep. There was only so much a computer could handle before it ended in a system crash.

Relena reentered the room soon, holding a damp cloth, wiping the sweat off his heated forehead. She was quite happy to find that, even to her (relatively) inexperienced hand, his fever had lessened. He'd be fine soon enough. Okay, she'd been telling lies to him when they'd met earlier the other day… she didn't hate him, hate was too strong a word. She… disliked what circumstances had done to them. Sure, they'd both were too young, fifteen still might be too young for anyone to profess their life-long love to one another, but she was sure they could've been friends with different circumstances. Right now, it seemed that might still be able to happen.

And then, for another thing, most of her work that she'd ever done in the political world brought peace, and in that world of peace, the age-old gundams and their pilots faded into obscurity, and Heero was given what he'd asked for, his anonymity. So no, she definitely did not hate him. She was watching him languidly as she thought and he slept. He looks like a little boy… she thought idly as his eyelids flicked slightly. She brushed away his hair from his face where it persistently fell into his face and then got up and left the room silently.

Heero, still deep in REM still noticed the disturbance around him, he turned in his sleep, beginning to dream.

He stood there, with the heat of the noon sun on his bare neck and shoulders. He was in a light, beautiful, dreamy field with green grass and a vaulting blue sky. Everything seemed to lack substance, like it was just colored smoke, he couldn't see a definite line where one thing ended and another began. For example, when he looked down at his feet, he could see the motions of the grass moving in the wind, but he couldn't see a separate blade of grass anywhere in the field. He continued to walk across the field, where there seemed to be a tree high up on a hill. He saw the other ex-gundam pilots standing there, running around and… seeming to be trying to catch butterflies. He walked quicker towards them, trying to see if they were as delirious as he thought they were. They looked up as they neared him. "Bonjour mon ami!" they called over at him. "Les papillons est belles, non?" Heero blinked. He walked quicker, away from them, when he saw other acquaintances, the girls, that he'd lived with for the past year and something. They were wearing red and white cheerleading uniforms and building a human pyramid… while shouting a cheer… IN SPANISH? Heero quickly walked past them and this time he hurried trying to get away from the strange sight. Getting far away from them, he breathed a sigh of relief. That was too weird to handle.

Looking straight ahead, he saw a honey-gold blonde. Knowing who it was, he mentally prepared himself to see her dancing and singing in… like what? Russian maybe? But instead, she stood there. "Heero!" she cried running towards him waving. Two dogs followed her, a huge silver wolf-dog running easily, and a golden little puppy frolicking behind. He automatically caught her in his arms and hugged her close, without even realizing it as she laughed. She was the same as in real life, an anchor in a strange sea. But as soon as he touched her, the sky darkened and the girl looked up in sudden fear, as the darkness seemed to close around them. The silver dog began growling and the puppy whimpered hiding between the forepaws of the bigger dog. "No… not him…" she whispered before breaking free of his grasp and running. He was about to run after her when a man, clad in the military uniform of the old OZ soldiers, appeared, his face hidden in shadow, and grabbed her disappearing as suddenly as he'd appeared. What he saw next was a vision of a dead brunette child, and another image, Relena, thrown from a high balcony… All he could do was hear her scream…

"NO!"

He jerked awake to see Relena at the door. "Heero! Are you alright?!" she cried softly as she came swiftly towards the bed. He couldn't help himself, for the first time in years, he was shivering and it wasn't from cold either. She instinctively bent down and hugged him tightly, trying to soothe him, whatever he was… (was he scared?) yelling about. He stopped moving immediately, was this part of his dream? "Are you okay now?" she stopped talking as she saw the wild look in his eyes. She let go and stood up again, turning to grab the cloth still in its bath of ice water. She gasped loudly as he sat up and grabbed her in a hug. "I'm so sorry Relena… I could've saved you…" he gasped out. Relena noticed the glassy eyes and the flushed face. "You're still sick Heero. And I suspect you're delirious as well."

"I am not delirious…" he said slowly. "I saw him, that guy, in that OZ uniform… I saw you fall… I heard you scream…"

Relena's eyes narrowed and she pulled away from him. "Who have you been talking to?!" she hissed at him readying herself to run. "A dream… everything was so different, unbelievable at first, but then when you appeared, you were normal, everything was right… this guy just grabbed you, disappearing, then this dead girl with brown hair… and then you were falling from a balcony… and you were screaming…"

"Trista." Relena bit her lip to choke back a sob and she wiped the sparkles around her eyes angrily. "He killed her just because she got too close to me."

"Who's he?"

She shook her head, "He's dead." She said in a clipped voice, signaling she was going to say nothing else. Heero nodded, a little understandingly. She shook her head, visibly gathering herself up. Feeling his forehead, she smiled. "You're fever has gone down quite a bit, you'll be fine by tonight, I'd say… but then, I'm not a professional." Pushing him down onto the bed, she smiled down at him. "Now, go back to sleep and I'll come back soon enough—hey!" For Heero Yuy had grabbed her and she'd fallen onto the bed beside him. "H-Heero!"

"I'm not trying anything. But I'm not falling asleep just to hear you screaming in my head." Relena raised an eyebrow. "Fine. But first of all, you are getting back under those blankets before… before…"

"Before what? You'll lecture me to death?"

"Not funny… and no, I'll think of something." As soon as she made sure he was well covered, she lay down on top of them. It didn't take long for Heero's hypnotic breathing to make her fall asleep.

And, as always when you are expecting to do 'nothing'. Shifting during sleep does occur, and it didn't take long for Heero's arm to wrap around Relena, holding her against him and her head to fit comfortably on the base of his neck, her hands lying flat on his chest.

And this was how the rest of them found them in their *ahem* compromising position. Duo, being Duo, immediately ran for his Polaroid and snapped several (million) photos of the admittedly cute couple. Trowa had discreetly disappeared as to contact Noin to relay the message, Operation RP/HY was just about complete.

Now, back in Heero's room, Duo had used up several rolls of film already, and he wanted everyone to be able to see how cute the couple looked sleeping there on the bed. So… "YO! QUATRE!!! QUATRE, COME OVER HERE AND SEE THIS!" Hilde dived at her boyfriend just about the same time that Heero, who'd always been a light sleeper woke immediately. Relena followed soon after, and finding their positions slightly different from when they'd fallen asleep, Relena yelped. "We didn't do anything!"

"Oh god PLEASE tell me that you at least used protection!"

"NO!" yelled both of them, Heero glaring at them for suggesting such a thing. None of them realized how that sounded until a few moments later and a collective gasp had echoed through the room. "I mean…" murmured Relena.

"RELENA!"

"HEERO!"

"You GUYS!" she yelled back in the same *gasp* tone. (K: You know what I'm talking about.) "Would you listen to me?" she asked them huffily crossing her arms. As they quieted to listen, she didn't say a word for a few moments but she leaned over and placed her hand on Heero's forehead. "His fever's gone." She reported before starting in on her defense. "Firstly, we did not do anything."

"Mmmhmm…"

"Uh huh…"

"Suurrreee…"

"SERIOUSLY!" Relena exploded and they all looked at her in surprise. Heero's glare backed her up and those with bigger mouths were shut up. Relena sighed, "Heero was sick." Heero turned away at this point a little embarrassed for her to be so blunt about it. "And then, I was taking care of him… we both fell asleep. We did not do anything."

"And the fact that he was hugging you?"

She glared at Duo. "And how did you end up waking up dangling by your foot off your gundam?!"

Duo turned red and he muttered, "Don't change the subject."

"Oh but I am…" A slight toss of her head made her challenge clear. Heero was smirking at Duo, at being overcome so neatly by the politician. Duo just looked away.

Dorothy slipped silently over towards Sally who was smirking oh-so-innocently. "They're so meant to be." Sally nodded, never taking her eyes off the couple (who still hadn't gotten off the bed).

"Heh, well, when I woke up, I was—"

"Can it Duo, just admit she's got you beaten."

"Just shut up."

Relena grinned evilly, "Well Duo, I have the perfect revenge on you at least!" she leaped at him making him fly backwards onto the floor. "SOMEONE HOLD HIM DOWN FOR ME!" she yelled as she held the struggling (mildly actually, he was still shocked) and many of them jumped to comply. "HEY! You guys, you're supposed to be on MY side!"

"Not when you're being a prick!" Hilde yelled back at him (which was quite unnecessary as she was right beside his ear).

Just when things were beginning to wind down and everyone's spirits were on the verge of reviving… The alarm siren blared so loudly that Relena had to cover her ears. "Is this really necessary? I mean, you could still be able to hear that thing without it being louder than a troupe of elephants!"

"Actually, it's a lot louder." said both Cathrine and Trowa at the same time. Relena raised an eyebrow before nodding, "You would know." All present then stood up and ran out of Heero's bedroom, towards the control room and towards the monitoring division. They took their positions quickly, and the screens flared up. "Scanning for heat sources… scanning… scanning…" muttered Heero in full soldier-mode as he watched for any sign of movement or energy… anything at all. But there was nothing, a strange thing when the alarm had been triggered. "Second security systems been breached… damn whoever's in here's fast!" Relena was becoming nervous, as she was any time someone was coming, it could always have been HIM… A slight movement behind them suddenly caught Hilde's eye and she whirled, whipping out her gun and clicking off the safety in one swift movement. "Get out here where I can see you!" she ordered.

Stepping out of the shadows, the young man (he was maybe a year or two older than most of them present) as he turned out to be smirked at Relena, a small, sinister smile. All color left the face of the girl and she whispered, her throat suddenly dry, "No… not you…" Heero, who'd whirled and pulled out his gun as well, glanced at her. She was already beginning to shake and her feet didn't seem to be strong enough to hold her up. She was trying her best to keep herself in control though, despite her obvious fear. "So we meet again, Miss. Peacecraft." he said softly. "I-I'm not a Peacecraft anymore. I gave up that name." She managed the whisper just loud enough so that all present could hear. "So it's true than isn't it? All of King Peacecraft's work, all his hope for a wonderful future where there will be peace everywhere, shattered?"

Heero answered for her. "No. She's simply maintaining peace in her own way." The young man glanced at him.

"And I suppose you think that encouraging soldiers to battle is called maintaining peace?" Heero did nothing but continue to glare, "She chose her path and neither you nor I have any grounds to pass judgement on her."

He laughed derisively. "You must be joking. Her? She could not decide whether or not to save her best friend!"

At this she spoke up, "I was eight years old." He laughed, "And such a child you were, little Miss Peacecraft." Her face seemed to crumble and she stepped back, almost tripping over her own feet, but landing solidly against Trowa's chest. He looked down once to see if she was okay, before continuing to stare silently at the enemy.

As for Heero, he'd had enough. This man was an abomination. "You were the one who killed that little girl, weren't you?" the man laughed. "I suppose she told you about that Trista girl. That atrocious little brat decided to be Relena's little pet friend and followed her everywhere. I could never get close. So I killed her… she was only three years younger than me at that time." He laughed, harshly. Relena flinched. He was a monster, he'd only been eleven at the time and he'd killed her best friend in cold blood. "How did you escape?!" she whispered. He heard her. "There are ways to escape… especially if you pay half of them, and kill the other half." He laughed again. Heero, "And you end up the same, you're dead." He said, pointing his gun, hesitating only once, remembering a promise he'd made to himself… to everyone.

"No… you don't understand. I won't die by your hand. If anything, I know I won't die by your hand." The guy seemed to glance at his watch casually, but it was a calculated gesture, as soon as the watch beeped, he disappeared behind a screen of smoke that not even Heero's eyes could see through. A laugh echoed after him, "Don't worry Relena… next time I come after you, you won't have to be bothered with the security alarm." As soon as the smoke dissipated, as expected, the guy was gone. A quick check of the monitors discovered that he wasn't anywhere inside anymore. That didn't help because at that moment, Relena's feet gave out on her and she slid slowly to the ground.

"How come you didn't tell us you knew someone was after you? We might have prevented this!" They all turned to see Cathrine's worried face. The redhead (or is maybe a brunette?) was looking extremely worried and in her big blue eyes, there were already a glimmering of tears. Cathrine never really could disguise her emotions no matter how hard she tried. "I didn't know… I thought I was safe since he was sent to an insane asylum and was kept under lock and key."

"We should get you back to your room now, Relena. Come on." Hilde cut the conversation off as soon as she saw Relena's scared expression. She let the blonde out of the room, leaving everyone else to wonder how that girl, who had stared death in the face many times before, could be so afraid of this man that she could hardly even speak. "Heero… do you know who that guy is? How would you know he killed that girl?"

He shrugged and turned to a computer in front of him, bringing up several files at once. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He muttered under his breath. His fingers flew over the extended keyboard, sending in instructions. He needed more information on this guy. Like how the hell he was connected with both OZ previously and with Relena.

As Relena and Hilde walked through the halls, Hilde finally asked the question. "So… you like the guy, don't you?" Relena almost laughed at the bluntness, it was hardly even a question, more like a statement. "Did he tell you to ask me that?" Hilde did laugh. "Heero?! Are you kidding? Do you actually believe that Heero who can barely admit he's hungry, you really think that he'd ask me, who is a close companion of Duo, to ask you something that personal? He'd more likely put up the 'I don't give a damn' front." Relena sighed, "Don't I know it." she flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "So?"

"So what?"

"Do you like Heero, I'm asking."

"Yes." Hilde was a little surprised. Most people would say something along the lines of, "Well, uh… I don't know, um, maybe… I don't know…" with a lot of blushing and discomfort. Relena wasn't like that. It was just a statement. "How can you be so certain?"

"You asked me if I liked him. I do like him. I am just not going to say that I will pledge my everlasting, undying love to him, as he will a) freak out, and b) as crazy as it seems, I think myself still too young to make up my entire future." Hilde raised her eyebrows. "Whoa, deep…" Relena smirked, "And besides, I don't want to think of anything as far as what you have done, I'm sure."

"HEY!" Relena laughed, whacking the girl with a pillow. "Oh you've done it now!" Hilde snatched the other available pillow and smacked it against the blonde's head. "OW!" the pillow fight began.

Heero was getting annoyed. Now, to anyone in the outside world, this would be nothing particularly interesting, but with this guy… it could be the world was about to blow up… or something along those lines. The others had kept a thin line of silence around him and were all looking at him oddly. Also, Zechs had vid-linked him just a few moments ago, warning him 'not to try anything unless he wanted to be castrated'. He'd gotten the point across.

He headed for Relena's room. Behind him, a buzz of conversation started anew. He had a faint idea what or more accurately, who they were talking about. He opened the door just in time to duck a flying pillow and a feather landed softly on his nose, before another breath blew it away. Relena and Hilde were in the middle of a vicious pillow fight apparently, Relena was the victor at the moment as Hilde's pillow had just gone flying.

Relena looked up to see Heero staring at them both. "Heero? Is there something wrong?" Hilde made a hurried excuse to leave and Relena sat down on the edge of the bed, patting the bed next to her as an invitation. Heero sat down beside her on the bed. "I'm going to take a wild guess you want to know who that guy was, don't you?" she asked wryly. He nodded silently.

"Randall. Jason Randall, OZ army specialist, perfect undercover secret agent."

"How do you know all this?"

"My brother was in OZ, remember? He knew the guy briefly, although he never knew Randall was attacking me." Relena shuddered at just the mere memory of him. "What else did he do to you?"

"Stalking, breaking and entering my rooms, leaving disturbing notes, attempted rape…" She stopped bit her lip hard, trying her hardest not to cry, especially not in front of him. Heero was stunned at himself when he actually placed an arm around her (gingerly, it must be admitted) to try and comfort her. "I—I never wanted to go through that again. Especially not now when I was beginning to forget…" Heero wiped a tear that had trailed down her cheek, away. "You're safe as long as we're here."

She shook her head, "He's one of the best… he even pulled one when Brother was in the next room!"

"And Zechs didn't notice?"

"No." Heero looked serious. "We're going to do all we can to help you. And remember… I swore I'd always protect you." Relena smiled, "I know… I've always known I'd be safe with you." Heero looked at her awkwardly at the trusting words. "Don't think too much of me…" he began before Relena shook her head. "I trust you." She repeated laying her head on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long, long time.

~*~*~*~

Duo in the control room was talking with Noin. "I don't think we should go on with the Operation." When questioned, he said, "We've all got our lives ahead of us. If they end up together, great. But I don't think forcing them will do any good."

Noin sighed, "After all our hard work… but I suppose you're right. Let's leave it up to them. We've given them a push in the right direction anyhow."

Duo looked serious. "Now all we have to worry about is that guy…" Noin raised an eyebrow. "What guy?"

"Some guy after Relena." Noin looked serious, "Would he be a person who's been following her all her life?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I trust you all will protect her?"

"No duh! What do you think?!"

~*~*~*~

The End

~*~*~*~

Well? The revision is complete. I left it a little more open-ended than the previous one. I'm beginning to think that, even though I believe Relena and Heero are made to be, they really are still too young to proclaim their everlasting love for each other and make it a whole bunch of unreasonable sap. Anyway, you know my email. i_luv_heero_yuy@hotmail.com. Oh yes, and R/R. I like those things. ;)