Chapter 7 - Shopping
Rei and Wufei were wandering aimlessly through the shops, stopping to look at a few items of clothing, neither really that interested in shopping; they just wanted to waste time. Rei had other things on her mind, like Relena and hero. She couldn't figure out why exactly it was bothering her so much, maybe because she didn't know what had happened between the two and it was driving her bananas! Rei couldn't take her curiosity anymore and so tried to sound really inconspicuous when she asked,
"Hey Wufei, who was that girl today? The one who came up to us at lunch."
Wufei smirked widely stopping by the fountain in the middle of the shopping centre to sit on the edge looking up at Rei.
"I wondered when your curiosity would kick in. Relena is Heero's ex girlfriend four times over," Wufei revealed and Rei frowned in confusion. Four times over?
"What does that even mean?" Rei prompted him and Wufei rolled his eyes at her naivety.
"It means they got together and broke up four times so far," Wufei explained simply and Rei's eyes widened it surprise.
"Four times?"
"Yeah, like I said, a relationship with Heero isn't very stable, a girl thinks she can handle it, then a few weeks pass and she realizes she can't handle it at all, well Relena made that mistake four times," Wufei chuckled thinking of Relena but Rei didn't find it all that funny. Suddenly she was worried that Heero wasn't interested in her.
"Oh, do you think he really likes her?" Rei asked in a small voice and Wufei was serious when he heard the note of disappointment in her voice.
"I doubt it, he probably only dated her because it would make his father happy, Relena is from one of the richest families in the area, I hear tell she is distantly related to royalty," Wufei said trying to make her feel better, but Rei only felt worse. How could her lining compare to a relation with royalty? Rei could tell Relena was rich, she was beautiful, sophisticated, everything a young lady was meant to be, and Rei…Rei had been too busy fighting youma to learn about being a young lady. The closest thing she had gotten to being a lady was at the Princess School with the other girls, but that had ended with a youma nearly defeating them and turning Mako and Ami into wax forever. If it hadn't been for Minako, Usagi and Rei's clumsiness they may never have won the battle.
"I see," Rei said quietly and Wufei watched her pretty face droop and he folded his arms across his chest.
"I've never seen him look at her the way he looks at you," Wufei said his voice turning harsh, embarrassed at having to say such a romantically corny thing.
Rei blushed prettily appreciating his effort and she ruffled Wufei's hair affectionately much to his disgruntlement.
"If my friends were here they would know exactly what to do about this," Rei said a bit down heartened missing her friends and Wufei was surprised as she hadn't mentioned them at all until now. Rei had kept anything from her old life pretty much to herself.
"Friends?" Wufei repeated and Rei laughed at his expression.
"Yes Wufei, as unbelievable as it may be, the spawn of the devil has friends, good friends in fact, four of them," Rei enlightened him as she counted their names off against her fingers, "Minako, Usagi, Ami and Makoto."
"They will be coming to the wedding no doubt?" Wufei began to get this strange look on his face and Rei wasn't quite sure she liked it.
"Of course."
"Excellent," Wufei leered, a grin on his face as he imagined what Rei's friends would look like. Maybe he would find a girl himself from among Rei's friends and if she were hot and able to stand up to him, perhaps he would finally find someone worthy of being his girlfriend. Rei was watching his dazzled face of joy and screwed up her nose with distaste as she realized what he was thinking.
"Wufei, stop with that look, ugh," Rei felt nauseous at the thought that Wufei was contemplating hitting on her girlfriends.
"Fine sorry," Wufei said, although the grin never left his face much to Rei's annoyance.
Great, now she would have to protect her friends from her new letch of a brother. Rei was suddenly struck by the thought that already she had begun thinking of Wufei as a brother and to her surprise that didn't disturb her at all.
"We're late," Wufei urged Rei to hurry up as they scurried down their street towards the mansion on a hill. In the distance they could see Heero and Duo, right on time, and Quatre and Trowa were just arriving.
"Well if you hadn't stopped to look at that Sailor V doll…" Rei retorted and Wufei's ears burned red with the embarrassment.
"I was not looking at the doll…I was looking at something else," Wufei tried to hide his interest in the short skirted female warrior and Rei chuckled at his expense.
"Yeah sure Wuffie, something else," Rei mocked him and Wufei suddenly froze where he stood, just at the driveway to the mansion.
"Onna! You do not call me Wuffie!" he growled at her, the joking brother she had been with all day was gone and replaced by a young man fuelled by anger, reminding her of how he had been yesterday at dinner.
"Why not Wuffie?" Rei asked sweetly fluttering her eyelashes and Wufei seemed ready to explode, and he did a few seconds later.
"Because I was given my father's name and I will not let it be slandered by a woman the way my father allowed his to be slandered by my mother!"
After his outburst Wufei stood there gulping deep breathes of air. Rei stood there open-mouthed not realizing there has been so much history and she felt absolutely terrible. She should have thought about that before she let her mouth open.
"Oh Wufei, I'm sorry I had no idea you felt so strongly…" Rei moved to apologize, meaning every word but Wufei couldn't control his anger so instead stormed off, back to their home.
Oh God, Rei thought a tear falling from her eyes, what have I done this time?
"She hurt him," a voice from beside her said and Rei didn't need to turn to know Heero was standing beside her.
"Mariko?" Rei hazarded a guess and Heero grunted to confirm she was right.
"Yes, he would have loved her if she had allowed it but her greed for power consumes her and forbade her to care for him. His father was not a rich man but he was proud and formidable much like Wufei, he was the head of a tribe of warriors, masters of the martial arts, and when Mariko and Wufei's father had met quite by chance one day, he had given up his duty and followed Mariko across the country to be with her. He loved her and perhaps she loved him and they married, but when she betrayed him not one year into their marriage, Wufei's father was too embarrassed to return to his people and so committed suicide, throwing himself from their balcony, Wufei was only a baby at the time," Heero revealed the story knowing that as Wufei's sister this was something Rei would have to know to be able to understand why Wufei was the way he was.
"That's terrible," Rei breathed and Heero bowed his head.
"Yes."
"She betrayed him how?" Rei asked remembering looking to Heero for an answer but his eyes were glazed over in pain, much to Rei's concern.
"Enough," Heero muttered softly, but firmly in a voice that held no room for argument and Rei was quiet as Duo, Trowa and Quatre approached them.
"Hey bro, where did Wufei go?" Duo asked curiously, having seen the young man stomp off in a huff, angry about something Rei had said to him.
"Home Duo, which is where you should be going too," Heero said giving Duo a steely gave when he pouted.
"But I thought we were going to work on the 'you know what's'," Duo made a show of whispering and in spite of her sadness Rei had to smile at his cuteness. For a young man only one year younger than them, he sure seemed like a kid most of the time.
"Another time Duo, its been a long day," Heero informed his younger brother who shrugged, eyeing both Heero and Rei suspiciously before smiling brightly.
"Okay," he agreed without further fuss and Trowa and Quatre nodded their heads agreeing although both had these silly smiles on their faces noticing that Heero had made no plans to move anywhere away from Rei.
"See you at school tomorrow Trowa, and you too Quatre," Rei said to the two boys forcing a pleasant smile and the two boys nodded towards her.
"Bye Heero, bye Rei," Quatre called out waving to them both as he joined Duo who had already started walking down the road.
Trowa merely waved his farewell and wandered down the street with Duo in the middle of Quatre and himself.
Alone with Heero, despite her worry for Wufei, Rei couldn't help noticing certain things about him. The way his hair brushed into his eyes, the way he looked at her with those intense blue eyes, and they way he gave her a half smile, reaching over to wipe away any remaining tears she might have had.
"I will walk you home," Heero offered and Rei was thankful.
"Thank you," Rei said and her heart nearly skipped a beat when Heero reached down and took her hand quickly and without any fuss.
"Are you okay?" he asked turning to look at her as they walked slowly side-by-side, hands held.
"I just feel so terrible," Rei told him, flooding of guilt flowing back to her.
"You couldn't have known," Heero told her and Rei shrugged.
"I know, but still, he seemed so hurt."
"Wufei is proud and strong, he will be all right," Heero said surely and Rei wanted to believe him so much. They had reached Rei's front door by that time and at the door Heero' dropped Rei's hand.
"Thank you Heero for telling me about Wufei, it helps me understand a lot of things better, especially my new brother-to-be," Rei said meaning every word and Heero gave her this lopsided grin, a half smile.
"You're welcome Rei," he replied softly, as his head bent down towards hers. Rei didn't move, wanting his lips on hers just as she had been dreaming about them the night before. When their lips touched, it was all Rei could do not to melt into his arms. His one hand had snaked around her waist and was pulling her body close to his, pressing her against him and the other hand had captured the side of her face gently stroking her cheek as they kissed. Rei's arms automatically encircled Heero's waist, and the two explored each other's mouths for the next few moments until hero finally pulled away breathing hurriedly, in quick breathes.
"Goodnight Rei," he bade her leaning forward to steal another kiss before striding off down the street, Heero's house was further down and it couldn't be seen from Rei's house but she stood there watching him go, until she couldn't see his imposing back any more and she floated through her front door.
Rei was lucky enough not to have to deal with her father or Mariko, as Grimsy was quick to inform her that they had been called to a previous engagement planned before her arrival. Not that Rei cared. Upon asking the whereabouts of Wufei, she was told she would find him where he always was, the basement.
"Wufei, I'm sorry," Rei said walking through the door to find Wufei sitting on the edge of the bench press, not working out, just sitting.
"I shouldn't have overreacted," he murmured a little embarrassed at his behavior and Rei laughed softly.
"I guess we were both wrong," she amended and Wufei gave her a weak smile as she came to sit next to him.
Rei stared at Wufei and noted that his face still wore the pained expression, speaking of his mother and what she had done had disturbed him greatly. Even now he wouldn't relax in Rei's presence as he had done earlier that day.
"You can't blame all women for what your mother did," Rei pointed out, not meaning to sound lecturing, but her comment caused Wufei more pain, as he stood up and started pacing, shaking his head.
"You don't understand Rei, how could you possibly understand?" Wufei asked more to himself than to her and Rei was frustrated with all the secrets. She had known there was something else, and it bothered Wufei something chronic.
"Understand what?" Rei enquired and Wufei took a deep breath shaking his head.
"Ask Heero Rei, ask him why I hate women so much," Wufei spat at her, not meaning to sound so hateful, but once the words were out of his mouth he couldn't take them back, even though one look at Rei's sad face made him want to.
"He told me already, because your mother's betrayal caused your father to kill himself," Rei replied softly, not wanting to get Wufei more upset than he already was.
"I hate her!" Wufei screamed with rage picking up the nearest weight and hurling it at the closest mirror, shattering the wall mirror so the pieces crashed to the ground making a loud sound. Rei froze not moving, suddenly feeling a little afraid of him.
"Wufei," Rei asked in a small voice and Wufei turned to her in shock realizing he had frightened her. But he wouldn't have hurt her, it wasn't her fault, it was his mother's.
"That's only half of it, the other half is the betrayal and all the damage it has done to my life, ask Heero about Mariko, ask him why he hates her as much as I do," Wufei urged Rei who sighed deeply .She had tried to get the information out of Heero but he wouldn't reveal anything.
"Why don't you just tell me?" Rei pleaded wanting so much to understand why they all hated Mariko so much.
"You really want to know?" Wufei asked and Rei nodded adding sarcastically,
"I asked didn't I?"
Wufei gave her a stern look as though deciding whether to tell her or not. Rei stared up at him proudly, her expression hiding nothing, just full of confusion. Wufei seemed to deicide it was all right to tell her and so began to tell her the long awaited secret.
"My mother, Mariko, is…"
The phone started ringing and Wufei broke off and pick up the phone off the wall of the basement hissing into the receiver, "what is it?"
There was silence on the other end for a few moments and then Heero's voice spoke, and his voice was shaky which was unusual.
"Its Duo, he's been hit by a car."
