Chapter 6 - These Are the Nights

Usagi was no longer alone. Her friends and she had always been able to overcome anything. It didn't matter that air and sea and miles separated them. Together, and together, they were still connected in this world, and nothing could stop them from coming for her; granted, a good deal of time had already passed since her capture, but that was to be expected. They had no idea where she'd been taken, after all.

Heero, in short, had lied- and Usagi was beginning to learn that twisted words and half-revealed truths weren't to be taken at face value. Nothing was certain, unless it was directly stated, and even then she knew to now be wary.

The invisible weight that had been pressing down upon her chest, around her throat, over her mouth, smothering her... it had been lifted, when Wufei brought her a shard of clarity in this otherwise bleak existence. Aside from the more obvious revelation he had afforded her, there was something else she came to understand because of his words.

Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei were not cold-blooded murderers.

The moon princess wasn't foolish enough to believe they weren't capable of killing; the way they handled their guns and had executed her capture and subsequent relocation to this remote mansion was proof enough of that fact. Taking further into consideration Trowa's promise that they would and could kill when needed, even one as innocently optimistic and trusting as Usagi couldn't actually think they were anything but professional and well versed in their chosen craft.

But, when it came down to it, there was only one shred of truth that remained after tossing out assumptions.

Everything that had been said pointed to Heero as the only contributing force behind this unexplained plan (minus the fact that they intended to somehow use her ginzuishou) to destroy the world. All that the four others did was a result of some order or command Heero had given, and he was the one directing their actions.

She'd seen it before, countless times in the past with the enemies that would do harm to those and that which she cared about...

Zirconia... Kisenian... Chaos... Wise-man, and poor, misguided Diamond...

It was unforgivable, to manipulate other people into conducting evil acts.

After returning to her room and peeling away the sand caked and sea soaked remnants of her socks and carelessly tossing them into a corner of the bare-boned room she had been living in, Usagi had fallen into the best sleep of her life- or, at the very least, the best sleep she could remember having in the past weeks.

There was no dream, there was no nightmare, only the blessed, blanket of calm that embodies the sleep of small children, gentle animals, and the innocent.

Such peacefulness was not to last, however.

At the first hints of stirring that marked the end of her wonderful rest, she rolled over and flopped her head down more deeply into the plush pillow. But, the nagging, unrelenting feeling that lurked at the edge of consciousness would not abate, and it was only so long before she lost the battle. Groaning, a balled hand rubbed at one sleepy eye, and it was mid-yawn that she came to find out what sort of disturbance had caused her sleep to end. Choking on the slow inhale that had snagged in her throat, Usagi gave a sharp cough before sitting upright, quickly drawing the covers up around her in an instinctive act of modesty.

The room was dark, for night had fallen as she'd slept the day away...

And unmistakable was the black shape that sat unmoving in the chair tucked into the corner of the room, the shadowy outline that of a thin, rigid, young man.

One of them were in her room, and had been watching her sleep.

Utterly creeped out by that realization, Usagi hunched down even as she pulled the covers up higher so that they were just under her nose when she finally got over the wave of embarrassment and shock to speak. "...Pervert."

For a moment, she thought he hadn't heard her, as nothing about his posture changed.

"Hn."

It was almost funny, how one tiny sound, one low grunt, could cause her to wish that he hadn't heard her, and that she had instead ignored his presence and feigned sleep; it was impossible to appear adequately dignified or challenging when the Head Enemy caught one in her knickers, hiding like a child under a tent of blankets. This was only the second time she had the displeasure of holding 'audience' with him, and again the engagement had her at a clear disadvantage.

"I bet you do this alot, huh? Kidnap girls, and spy on them while they sleep," Usagi goaded, making a show of tucking the covers more tightly around her hips and across the width of her torso, chin peeking out over the top and firmly pinning down the edge of the duvet to her chest while her hands worked. "What a.. What a loser."

"I don't make it a habit of kidnapping women, Princess," Heero responded monotonously from his place across the room; his dark outline never shifted, and the voice sounded almost disembodied.

"So you kidnap guys?" Bold, her words were, and she knew it- Usagi gave a flippant trill of laughter, nervousness thinly veiled beneath the off-key sound.

"...Do not test my patience." The temperature in the room seemed to drop five or ten degrees, with the way he said that.

"Where were you today?" she blurted out abruptly, so that it came out more like a whine and less like a demand for an answer.

Either way, Heero indulged her, his response short and as quickly given as her quesiton had been. "Tokyo."

Home. Ami-chan. Rei-chan. Mamo-chan. Her heart clutched, and she forced herself to remain staring into the dark and at the darker shape that lacked any real detail due to the absence of light. "Why were you there?"

"Reconnaissance."

"Reconnaissance..?" Usagi echoed softly.

"Trowa, Quatre, and I were there to gather information to better formulate our attack plans against the city." At that explanation, there seemed to be some emotion present- a quiet sort of smugness, that had Usagi's brows pinching, and her tiny hands fisting around the covers.

"I'm going to get my ginzuishou back before you have the chance to use it," she said with an upward inclination of her face, though she was fairly certain he could no better see her than she him. "I just thought you should know that."

There was the gruff grunt again, followed by low, blunt undertones of, "You aren't." Heero's denial of her claim was tactless.

Usagi leaned forward, inspired by thoughts of her friends, and by the determination that once again lived within her. "Uh, yeah, I am," she retorted with more than her share of sarcasm.

Rather then rise to her bait, the silhouette of the man simply moved lightly in his seat, before replying again in the nasal, inflectionless voice, "The ginzuishou isn't an absolute necessity for the world's destruction- it will simply provide a cleaner, simpler procedure once I discover how to properly harness the power. With or without it, I will still destroy everything."

"Not if I get it back you aren't!" Usagi argued, before one of her hands left it's position clutching at the material swaddled about her, to instead rise as a self-empowering fist in front of her, to better support her passionate words of resistance. "I'll use it to stop you."

Words never before held such deadly calm or lack of emotion, when spoken... nor had they ever before been stated with such contrasting conviction, that the small, bed-ridden blond actually shivered upon their utterance. "I'll kill you before you have that chance."

She.. She wouldn't let him intimidate her! "Th-they said that you want me here. That you want to keep me," Usagi insisted, somehow finding her nerve and mustering up the courage to speak.

"I do," Heero agreed, never missing a beat.

Her logic had now been assured. With that thought in mind, what she next said came quite easier, and the underlying victory was not so easily suppressed before she replied, "So.. That means you won't kill me!"

There was no forewarning, no snarl or vicious murmuring, no vocalization of whatever chord she'd managed to strike with that declaration, before Heero was upon her, all tight muscle and unforgiving, hard weight, terrible fury and pressing strength. He descended upon her as a demon upon an innocent, and Usagi hadn't even time enough to cry out in the fear she surely felt.

The covers were knocked aside when he attacked her, and all she knew was that he was atop her, around her, holding her down with hardly an effort- a knee was between her legs, the man's leaning form pinning down one of her thighs beneath his heavier one, marking the only real contact their bodies shared aside from the two large hands wrapped around her delicate, slender neck.

Usagi's own hands flailed, struggling to slip beneath the constricting sheath he'd formed around her throat, to alleviate the crushing grip that cut off any flow of air and began bruising her pale flesh with the first moment of contact. Her attempts faltered, and her eyes widened in absolute horror when she looked to the man strangling her with mute precision- at this distance, she could see his features for the first time in detail since their first meeting.

There was nothing upon that flawless visage that stared back down at her. There was no rage, there was no satisfaction, no sadistic pleasure derived from this murderous act, no remorse as his hands constricted and there eyes met, separated by no more than perhaps a foot. Heero was as an automation, his dark eyes showing nothing, other than a reflection of her own fear back down at her.

"Understand me," he said with a vast emptiness, as though there had never been any real belief that such was possible. His fingers dug more deeply into her soft skin as he squeezed all the harder, so that Usagi's mouth opened soundlessly, and her eyes pinched to near closing. "Life is cheap. It gets very old, very quickly. For that, I will not allow those undeserving to continue living. Understand me, understand this, Princess: my only purpose in this world is to kill."

Heero's vice-like grip again tightened, and Usagi felt the burning for lack of air and pain for the damage he was inflicting upon her neck give way to a light headedness that teased with the promise of unconsciousness that would relieve her of this torture... It was in that moment that she was on the brink of relief that he suddenly drew away from her, leaving her laying there, coughing and struggling to breath, trembling violently and choking on the flood of emotion that followed in the wake of his assault.

Weakly, Usagi lifted herself partially, looking to him through her tears as she fought for breath; his back was to her now, as though she were nothing but an abandoned play-thing upon the bed. "Why-" she rasped, shuddering, "Why are.. why are you doing this to me?"

She didn't think he would answer her; she'd called to his retreating form, had managed to wring out the words just as he was pulling open the door to her room.

Heero paused, however, and twisted in the elegantly simple manner that pervaded all of his motions, all of the motions of the men who resided there. The light from the hallway flooded her room, hallowed around the man so that he was entirely visible; and now there was something flashing within the endless depths of his eyes, something that seemed so familiar and so foreign that Usagi couldn't look away through her tear-clouded vision.

"No Computer, nor Flame of Revelation, nor Chronos' Eye will help them. They will not find you," he said evenly, as still as death. "The security measures I have taken ensure this-"

"Why..." Usagi whispered fervently, still trembling as she forced herself to remain propped up on her elbows, refusing to allow herself to be prostrated in his presence.

"Will you give yourself to the sea again, Princess?-" he continued, his voice low and droning, unrelenting.

"Why-"

"I'll accompany you-"

"Why-"

"And hold you down-"

"Why-"

"Beneath the waves."

"Why?"

Heero turned from her, breaking their gaze as he strode from the room.

"Why?" Usagi shrieked, her gentle voice cracking under the stress, shoulders still shaking as she cried.

Though he didn't move any further, the silence that followed her sharp call was almost unbearable- but his words were even moreso. "Because," the leader's shoulders tensed, and for some reason, Usagi was so desperately relieved that he was no longer looking at her, and that she couldn't see his emotionless countenance when he finally answered before leaving, "I hate you more than you'll ever comprehend... I hate you almost as much as I hate her."

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Oh... I had to update! I don't know when I'll next get a chance to, what with the moving I'm in the process of doing. ;.;

I don't know that this is the nicest place to leave you all off on... Things aren't looking to good for Usagi, the poor little odango-atama. -hugs on the heroine- And I think that Heero is just raising more questions than he's answering, at this point...

I'll try to finish the next chapter before the week's over, so I can leave you all with one more chapter before the big move.. But I don't know if that's possible.

I'll do my best! Those of you who review or just quietly enjoy the story are the best!

-hugs and cookies for everyone!-

- Zangai