Waking up after being knocked out was not something Heero Yuy liked to do, ever.
This was certainly no different. He was groggy, disoriented and somewhere in a warm bed. He looked around, trying to gain a common ground when he saw Relena lying in a bed beside his. Ah, so he was in the infirmary. That explained the sickly smell. He sat up in bed, and looked at the only other occupant in the room. He sighed and reached out to tug on the long brown braid.
"Ow! Hey man! 'Ro, you're awake! Finally! I leave for one day and look at all this excitement!" Duo was full of energy as usual and couldn't stop talking. "When we found you there was blood everywhere, and most of it was from a woman. A woman tried to kill Relena! Wow, never thought I'd live to see the day when someone of her own sex wanted to kill her! Damn, if I could have seen her! But she was gone man, like there was no trace of her ever being here other than her blood and a note that was in your jacket. Man she must be one sick chick, I mean she had the perfect chance to kill you, after knocking you out, but she just left you there! So, tell me what happened."
Heero stared at him for a moment, before shaking his head and frowning, "I don't remember what happened after I went into the maze. Its just a blank." Why am I not telling the truth? That I know exactly who she is, and that she kissed me before knocking me out? Am I protecting her?
As Heero thought about this situation, Duo was trying to wake Relena up. He managed to succeed when he poked her with a vase. She mumbled something, and after opening her eyes to look at Duo, she sighed. "What do you want? Have you come to annoy me?"
"Nope, just wanted to tell you that Heero is up, and he doesn't remember anything about what happened after entering the maze. Seems the blow to his head was pretty bad." Duo shrugged, "Maybe he'll remember in a few days? Who knows?"
"Fine, get me the second in command. No, have him meet me in my office in twenty minutes. I need to speak to him about security." Duo frowned, but did as he was told and walked out of the infirmary. Relena turned to look at Heero, who had lain back down, and was staring at the ceiling.
"I should fire you. You could have gotten me killed. Maybe I will fire you, after all you let my would be murderer get away! I thought you were supposed to be the perfect soldier! Now I see you're not, and if you can't handle protecting me on my birthday, maybe you shouldn't protect me at all. Do you understand?"
Heero turned to her and nodded before speaking. "I understand perfectly, Miss Relena. You will have my resignation papers the moment I am fit to leave. You never have to worry about incompetent protection again." He turned away from her, obviously showing that this conversation was over. Relena nodded, and slid off of her bed.
Heero heard her walk to the door, but did not look at her. "You could have done so much more Heero, if only you had loved me enough." The door closed behind her and Heero sank back into the bed. "Have I really lost my touch as the perfect soldier?"
Miles away, Kristen Norton tapped away at a keyboard, an IV in her arm, and a heavy bandage around her waist. The bullet had missed her major organs, but had torn through muscle and had almost gone through her. She pulled up the video screen of the past few hours. She watched as doctors rushed the princess in, diagnosed her with shock and then gave her a mild sedative to help her sleep.
What she was looking for happened hours later, Yuy was wheeled in, and while doctors checked his vitals, an American stood behind them playing nervously with his braided hair. She paused the tape, and looked though a file on her desk. "Duo Maxwell, 21 years old, lives with current girl friend, steady job as mechanic. Hmm, best of friends? Ah they knew each other from their days as Gundam pilots. That explains everything." she continued to watch the tape, pausing to note their reactions when her note was read.
"If at first, I don't succeed, I'll try till I finish the job. Kris 3"
Sadistic, yes of course, but she had to make a point. That Relena bitch had it coming to her, so did many of the other politics out there. If only there were more hours in a day.
"Kristen! Come help me with Annie and Joey, please?" Kristen stood up shakily, and walked her IV into the main area of her house. She looked around at the door locked itself behind her. She continued down the hall to see her older brother struggling to hold the twins and heat their bottles at the same time.
"Here, give me Annie, and we'll get the bottles started. Where's Carrie? Not feeling well?"
Her older brother smiled at her, "No, she thinks she has the stomach flu, I hoped to take her in today, but since you seem to have failed at your mission, it can wait."
"I did not fail all of it! We now have eyes and ears in almost every room in the damn mansion. Hell there's even one in her bathroom! Now don't you get any ideas, I was asked to kill her, remember? They never said when or how it had to be done, only that they wanted her dead. We might have a problem though."
"Oh? What kind of a problem?" she watched her brother test the bottles before taking one and feeding the baby girl she held.
"Well, you see I kind of maybe told someone who I was, after they had seen my face. And I may have left my gun there. Plus all the blood I lost, they may be able to track me down and arrest me. I think I can handle it though, it wouldn't be too hard to make the files go missing, could you do it bro?"
Kristens' older brother sighed before nodding, "Yeah, I could probably make them disappear by tonight. My main question though, what are you going to do about Yuy? You said he knows who you are, right? So why hasn't someone come barreling down the door by now?"
Kristen shrugged, "I don't know. Well, I'll need to relocate anyways, I'll start looking for an apartment tomorrow. Whatever happens, I am going to make sure that Relena never turns twenty two. Mark my words, the bitch is going to die by my hands."
Heero glanced around his now empty office, he had already packed everything away and was just waiting for Relena to sign his resignation papers when Duo came into the room. "Hey man, I wish there was something I could do! Like anything to help you out, did you want to crash at my place for a few days, till you find one of your own?" Duo sat at the now empty desk, "Heero? Do you really not remember anything?"
Glimpses of chasing a purple dress flashed behind Heero's eyes. Watching her slide down to the floor, blood on her hands as she held her gun to him, the feel of her hand on his cheek, the whispered name, and the kiss.
Blushing, Heero shook his head. "I don't wan to talk about it here, but I do remember what happened. Don't talk Duo, just listen. Something happened in the gazebo, something even I don't understand, but I want to figure this out on my own, before I bring the information to the authorities. I think I am going to try and find her, I don't know how, but I will."