The Unnatural by Anidee

Genre: AU, Supernatural/Suspense

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warnings: Again, graphic violence + a little profanity here and there.




Chapter 3


Relena panicked as the three bullies approached. She could care less about herself, but she wanted to protect Heero. Instinctively, she stood in front of him and raised her arms to stop Wufei and his cronies from advancing any further. "Stop! Can't you guys just go away?"

Wufei glared at her actions. How could she possibly have the nerve to protect that insolent fool! He motioned for the others to stop while he walked on. "You have a crush on the new boy don't you, Relena?"

"What?..." Cheeks turning pink, Relena looked away from the others. "I d-don't. I just don't think it's right that you pick on him on his first day."

"You're a liar!" Trey glared at her while his hand moved slowly to his pocket. "Don't you know you go to hell for lying?"

Trey's actions didn't go unnoticed by the mysterious boy. A smirk formed on his lips as he vigilantly watched the dumb boy's movement; a stubby hand reaching into the pocket and withdrawing what looked like a small box cutter.

"You can't have that around here, Trey!" Duo exclaimed, his tone filled with alarm. He slowly tried to back away, tugging Relena''s sleeve. "Relena, let's just go over there."

"I don't think so," came the voice of the other bully. Jim curled his hands into a fist, smacking them together as he glowered at the four kids standing before him.

"Relena..."said Hilde as she combed the area looking for a teacher. There were none.

"Leave them alone. Your fight is with me."

All turned to look at Heero, who seemed visibly calm. His eyes gazed lazily at the small crowd before him. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and started humming. His actions startled the fearsome gang. Wufei arched an eyebrow as he watched the new kid with incredulous eyes.

"What does he think he's doing?" spat Jim.

"Obviously he doesn't know his place yet. We'll have to teach him a lesson." Trey calmly walked forward, twirling the box cutter in the air causing gasps to leak out from the three frightened children. Heero however, looked numbly ahead.

"No Trey!" Relena jumped forward trying to grab Trey's arms. Her sudden lunge threw the tall kid by surprise, but he quickly recovered and shoved her to the ground. In the process, the knife had been slightly revealed and the sharp metal perused her smooth skin, creating a slight cut in her cheek. Falling hard on the cement ground, Relena let out a short cry of pain.

"Relena! Are you alright?" Hilde knelt by her side, taking her handkerchief out to clean the blood that trickled down her friend's cheek. "Relena....your cheek...."

"Relena..."Wufei murmured. He fixed a death glare at Trey. "You idiot! You weren't supposed to touch her!"

Heero's fists were balled so tightly that his knuckles turned pale. He darted his eyes on his surroundings, finally coming to a rest at Duo. Peering down, he saw a small sachet fastened to the boy's belt. Reverting his gaze back to Trey, he narrowed his eyes at the sight of him.

"You're gonna die now."

His fearsome tone caused everyone to look at him. Heero stood rigid, his cold stare sending shivers down Trey's spine. To thwart the fear that threatened to envelop him, Trey let out a sneering laugh.

"You're a fool! You think that you can beat me? Ha!"

"Come closer." Heero calmly replied, never taking his eyes off Trey.

"Hmph.." Trey took a step forward, revealing his box cutter once more. This time he fully exposed the sharp metal, which shone brightly against the hot sun.

Duo watched in horror, wanting nothing more than for this game of terror to stop. If he only possessed the courage that Relena had to go up against Wufei and his friends, he would put an end to this. He turned to look at Heero, who seemed uncannily calm. Although he felt sorry for Heero, he couldn't help but feel as if Heero was bringing this unto himself. If only he didn't provoke Trey, Relena wouldn't have been hurt. Duo gazed into Heero's eyes and recoiled, yet he couldn't look away. His eyes were no longer Prussian blue; they glowed eerily and seemed to intensify by the minute.

Trey stopped in his tracks, growing fearful with every step. There was something different about the new boy. Something unnatural about him that seemed to shake Trey from his very soul. A slight nudge from his side woke him from the fright. Trey looked to see Jim staring at him.

"What are ya waiting for, Trey? Get it him!"

Jim's encouragement diminished the fear growing within Trey. It was just a momentary lapse-- nothing to get worried about. He would teach that new boy a lesson; nobody messed with Trey Johnson. He was feared by all and he would be damned if he was defeated now. Replenished with arrogance once more, he took long strides towards Heero.

Duo wanted with all his heart to stop this. Nothing good would come out of this and two more kids would get hurt. Too fixed with his desire to be a peacemaker was Duo that he didn't realize the knot from his sachet that was fastened to his belt loosening. Suddenly, the sachet was freed from its restraints and flew up in the air. It was hurled back to the ground with a tremendous force, releasing the content inside. Gushing forth were colorful marbles scattering the floor in every direction.

Trey was unaware of it until it was too late. Slipping from the marbles beneath him, Trey teetered back and forth forcing himself to stay balanced. A desperate bird furiously flapping its wings to stay on air, the chubby boy yelped as he began to tilt. With a final flap, Trey skidded to the ground, face forward. In an effort to break his fall, he stretched out his hands not realizing the sharp knife he was still grasping. With a loud thud, Trey crashed on the hard cement, thrusting the sharp object into his right eye. Like a water filled balloon that popped sending its content everywhere, blood splattered all over, smearing the ground and the surrounding kids. A moment of silence hung in the air as everybody became aware of what just happened. It was a moment that soon faded as Trey slowly rose from his prostrate position, red dark blood oozing from his eye. It's stark and vivid color followed by Trey's murderous shriek ushered a wave of screams from the children nearby. Chaos quickly ensued.

Wufei and Jim were too stunned to move. All color drained from their faces as they watched their friend, drenched in blood with the box cutter still in his eye, violently shaking. Relena, Hilde and Duo slowly back away, speechless by what they just witnessed.

Heero look on at Trey, an ever so faint of a smile playing on his lips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Class..."Dorothy let out a sorrowful sigh before continuing. "Today, we witnessed something horrible. Your classmate, Trey Johnson, suffered from a horrible incident this morning." She paused letting the words sink in. "Trey stabbed himself in the eye today, and was quickly rushed to the hospital. I''m not sure what his condition is right now, but I'll hope for the best. It was very unfortunate and I hope this serves as a lesson to all of you. Never...NEVER bring knives and other weapons to school. Trey disobeyed school regulations and as a result, this has occurred. Let's learn from his mistake and prevent a future incident like this from happening. Now I know some of you were very close to him, but this will be the only time that we're going to talk about this. I don't want to hear any of you talking about this incident. Is that understood?"

The class nodded.

Dorothy fixed her gaze on Heero. "Heero, can I see you for a moment privately? Class, I'll be right back so I don't want to hear any talking. Take out your workbooks and finish pages nineteen through twenty five."

She led him out of the room and quietly shut the door behind her. Dorothy looked at him with sympathetic eyes. It was his first day of school and it looked like it was turning for the worse.

"Heero, are you ok?"

Heero looked up at her with an emotionless face. "To tell the truth, I'm fine."

Taken back by his words, Dorothy eyed him suspiciously. Nobody would feel fine after witnessing such a horrible scene. However, Heero probably felt protective and didn't want to reveal his true sentiments. Dorothy nodded in understanding.

"It's ok, Heero. You don't have to tell me your true feelings. I just wanted you to know that I'm always here if you want to talk. And if you ever have trouble with anybody again, you can come talk to me about it."

He simply nodded.

"Well, ok. Let's go inside." As Dorothy turned to head back to the classroom, Heero's hand lightly grabbed her arm.

"Miss Catalonia, can I please go to the bathroom?"

"Sure." With that, Dorothy walked back inside the classroom and closed the door behind her.

Heero slowly walked down the hallway, his emotionless face dissolving to reveal one of pure bliss. "Ah, that was fun."

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

"What a day..."Relena said, looking up at the clear sky as she was walking.

"Yeah, tell me about it," replied Duo. "I feel bad. If only I had tied my bag securely to my belt, my marbles wouldn't have scattered all over the place."

"It's not your fault, Duo. Trey shouldn't have brought that box cutter in the first place. It's all his fault."

"Still..."

"I hope Heero's alright. I mean, I'm afraid Wufei and Jim might get back at him, even though he didn't do anything."

"What are you talking about? It's you that got hurt. By the way, how's your cheek?"

"It's only a slight cut, it'll go away soon enough. But I can't stop worrying about Heero."

Duo stopped in his tracks. He felt conflicted; should he tell her what he saw in Heero's eyes? Perhaps he was hallucinating? A hot day can create all sorts of illusions after all. Or maybe it was real. He wasn't sure and wanted to confide in Relena. But should he? As if Relena saw through him, she nudged him in the ribs.

"You wanna tell me something don't you, Duo?"

"Uh, no. What makes you say that?" Duo looked away, fearing his eyes would betray what he spoke.

"Come on, Duo. I know you wanna tell me something. What is it?"

"I dunno. Heero just seemed really weird today, that's all."

Relena raised a brow at his comment. She turned him around so that he was facing her. "What do you mean he was acting weird?"

"I dunno. He just looked weird when Trey was coming towards him. His eyes...were kinda glowing..." Duo gazed at the ground but immediately looked up at Relena when she started laughing.

"It's not funny."

"Sure it is, his eyes were glowing! Man, get real." She started walking again. Duo quickly caught up with her.

"Ok. Maybe I'm wrong. But geez, you don''t have to laugh at me."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry," replied Relena as they approached an intersection.

"Ack! Whatever. Hey, it's a green light. You know what you're mother said-- you gotta hold my hand when we're crossing the road."

Relena made a face. "Duo...that's soooo third grade. I'm an adult now."

"Ha! I don't think so," With that, Duo grabbed her hand and they crossed the road. Just as they were about to step on the sidewalk, their joined hands were roughly cut off by somebody running between them.

"Ouch! What the heck..."Duo looked up to see hard blue eyes staring right back at him. "Oh Heero..."

"Sorry about that." Briskly, he turned to Relena. "Thanks, Relena. You helped me out a lot today."

Relena smiled. "It was nothing. I hope that you're ok. With what happened and everything."

"Sure. I'm fine." His hand touched her cheek, tracing the cut mark with his finger. "Is your cheek ok?"

A faint blush crept into Relena's cheeks. "Yes, it's ok. It was a slight cut anyways."

"That's good."

As they walked in silence, Relena couldn''t help but try to converse with Heero. But what could she say? She knew so little of him, yet she didn't want to give up. There had to be some way she could spend more time with him. Her eyes lit up when she found her answer.

"Hey...well...since tomorrow is Saturday.......do you wanna play with us?" Relena asked weakly. There was something about Heero that she couldn't resist. Perhaps she liked him after all. That could be the reason why she wasn't sure if she could handle being rejected.

"Ok." His response came quickly.

Relena beamed. "Alright! Well, give me your phone number and I''ll call you. Oh! And you get to meet my cousin who's coming to visit! He's our age!"

Duo silently trudged behind them. Heero seemed like a normal kid; so what was bothering him? He couldn't pin point it, but there was an uneasy feeling that coursed through his veins whenever Heero was nearby.

"Well guys, this is my house. I'll see you both tomorrow!" Relena happily skipped toward her doorway and soon was inside.

"Well, Heero, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye." Duo walked past him when he was grabbed by the arm and violently spun around.

"Don't do that again," Heero said through clenched teeth.

Eyes growing wide, Duo looked at him in disbelief. "What? Do what?"

"Don't hold her hand... Ever." He let go of Duo's arm, his statement changing as well. "I'll see you tomorrow, Duo. Bye." Heero walked the other way, leaving a confused boy standing by himself.

"What the heck was that all about?"