Author's note: Muahahah! This is it people, the moment y'all have waited for! Finally, Hee-chan's friends find out what is happening to him! Now, on with the show:
Innocence Taken:
"So where are we going to meet?" Relena questioned the bubbly teenager with a braid and the stoic teenager with brilliant blue eyes. "Sadly, we can't meet at my home." She said. "Une said that no one is suppose to know my location."
Duo frowned slightly as he looked deep in thought. "Can't go to my place." He said sadly as Heero heard this and tried to think of a way out of this situation. There was no way that they could go to his home. He didn't even want to think of what the punishment would be or if they found out. "My foster parent's strictly said no one was allowed to come over while they were away."
"And you would listen?" Relena joked with the braided pilot. "You didn't strike me as the type of person to follow orders, in war or peace."
"Nope," Duo said with a grin. "I'm not but these people are like friggin' CIA people or somthin'!" He exclaimed dramatically.
Both turned to look at Heero after their short little sidetrack was completed. "Heero?" They both questioned the quiet teenager at the same time.
Heero looked at them and shook his head. "We could meet in the library though after school. They'll have all the resources that we need." He suggested, hopefully they would buy it.
"Sure!" Duo said merrily as he patted the teenager lightly this time in return for the great suggestion. Heero sent a glare, diverting his mind from the pain to thinking of the many ways of killing a human with his bare hands.
"Well, good idea Heero." Relena said softly as she and Duo shared a secret worried glance at one another. Heero did his trademarked 'hn' and then waved bye to them all as they all split up in different directions.
'Something is definitely wrong with him.' Relena and Duo both thought and promised themselves to find out what was wrong with the perfect soldier.
The next day, just as promised the three partners met in the library and began their work slowly and tediously, Duo jabbering his mouth off half the time. Relena had smiled at times over his at-time annoying antics but found herself absorbed with Heero most of the time even though he didn't seem to acknowledge her stare.
After about thirty minutes or so of staring Heero lifted his eyes from the book her was skimming through and stared into her aquamarine eyes. She found herself lost in those eyes like so many other times. Then he spoke. "What?"
"Huh?" Relena asked with a sort of dumb look crossing her featues. She hadn't expected him to be the first person to speak. Duo stopped his mindless jabbering and then looked over at the two teenager's with a sort of quizical look in his eyes.
"You've been staring at me." Heero said as he continued to look at her. Relena bit her tongue, knowing she had been caught this time. She slapped herself mentally for her stupidity, he was the perfect soldier after all so why wouldn't he not notice her stare.
"Uh…" Relena was about to beginning before Duo luckily interrupted, stating his own worries at the same time.
"We're worried about you." Heero stared at Duo with eyes that expected an explanation. "You aren't yourself." He said thoughtfully. "Even more so than ever."
"Nothing's wrong with me." He said calmly as he looked back at his book and found the spot where he had left off.
"Like hell you are!" Duo exploded, yelling directly into Heero's ear and making him wince slightly at the sudden change of demeanor in his friend. Since the braided teen was sitting next to Heero, he pulled the stoic boy up to his feet by his jacket and got an angry glare like he had never seen before. "What the hell is wrong with you?! We're worried!"
Relena had a worried look in her eyes and got out of her plush chair and walked slowly towards them, arms outstretched as she prepared to pull the two apart.
"I said I was perfectly fine." Heero said coldly as he yanked Duo's hands off his jacket and glared at the teen. He got his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, preparing to leave before Duo pulled on his arm again.
The only difference was that this time the jacket fell off his shoulder slightly at the force Duo used. The black tee that he wore couldn't hide the few angry bruises on his upper arm. A gash ran along one, angry streaks leading to his heart, showing the signs of infection.
Duo's mouth hung open. There was no way that Heero would be able to do that to himself or get those types of injuries on a mission. There weren't any more, especially with Une keeping a "close eye" on their activity.
Relena felt tears well up in her eyes, she hadn't known that the man she loved was being abused. She wanted to kill herself for not noticing, for not helping. She put her hand over her mouth and stepped back slightly, a thin stream of tears marking their way down her cheeks.
"H-Heero…" She whispered as she took a step forward but stopped when he glared at them, grabbing the sleeve of the jacket and yanking it out of Duo's weakening grasp. He pulled it up over his arm and turned, biting his lip slightly as he walked away confidently. Inside his whole world was crumbling. He felt so sick to his stomach.
He was so weak, useless and pathetic. Duo looked at him after he got over his shock and lunged forward, grabbing the youth by both of his arms by this time only not pulling the sleeves down. He didn't think that he was ready for that, to see how worn out the perfect soldier really was. How could he let himself get so far down? Was he too far away for them to help yet?
"Where do you think you're going?" Duo nearly screamed at him, trying not to scare Heero or anything but only made the teen enraged.
"I'm leaving." He said through clenched teeth, eyes flashing dangerously. If Duo weren't so concerned for the soldier's health, he certainly would have gotten the hell out of there.
He heard Relena rush forward also, trying to help as best as she could. The tears were long gone, now replaced with a determined look. "Let us help you, Heero." He pleaded almost. He didn't even look over her and her heart sank at this.
"Get off of me!" Heero shouted, odd to his normal quiet and cold self. He was on the floor from the force of Duo on him and he flung him off, anger and adrenaline giving him new strength. How could he let this slip?
While Duo was still stunned by the sudden powerful action and Relena was crumbled on her knees with a wounded look in her eyes, he dashed off. He left his backpack. It would only slow him down.
He ran and ran, past the people as he clenched his eyes closed, not wanting to think about how he screwed up. Everything was so screwed up. His life, him, everything.
He pushed his way through the crowd and didn't stop even though his body was telling him to rest his aching body and mind. He ran right into the house, flinging the door open and rushing past his foster parent's who looked at him with disdain in their cold eyes.
He ran right through the hall and into his room, closing the door and locking it tightly. He fell to the ground, knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped tightly around them as he shook. They would tell the others, Duo and Relena.
He couldn't tell his foster parent's. These emotions that he had slowly gained made him slightly worried, he didn't know how to control them but they never affected him like this. Chippy squeaked and crawled out of the hole in the wall, stealthily making his way over to the slightly shaking teen. The chipmunk's sensitive ears picked up heavy breathing from the boy and knew something was wrong.
Heero moved, he walked and stumbled slightly towards his desk drawer and took a deep breath as he tried to slow down his racing heart and blood pouring through his veins. He opened the drawer and everything slowed slightly for an instant to him as he welcomed this feeling.
He picked up the object he was looking for, a small razor like the kind they used in the Tech. Ed. Department in their school. He had kept it hidden, silently waiting to help relieve the teen of some of the pain welling up inside his "hollow shell".
His hand shook slightly as he shut his eyes and made a shallow slash mark across his wrist and he bit his lip, wanting the feeling to never leave him. Relief flowed through him. He hadn't done this in so long, he had forgotten the feeling. It was like…a treat to him, something he did when he needed something to feel good about.
The chipmunk on his lap raised questioning black beady eyes at the slightly stained knife in the boy's hand. He had never seen this before and was very confused. He was bleeding but wasn't hurting?
Heero closed his eyes and then made another slash, the feeling leaving too quickly as he made another and another. He couldn't stop. He wanted this, he needed this. He took the blade and switched hands, making slashes again and again. He made another and another.
He couldn't stop and he didn't want to either.
TBC
Author's note:
Muahahah! Another chapter up finally! Thank you all reviewers and yes, when I reach a hundred reviews I guess that I'll try and do something special for my reviews. Suggestions for that are open.
Thank you everyone for the support and encouragement. I don't think I'll be doing anymore flash backs anytime soon. Also, Chippy was in this chapter for all the people who missed him!
Reviwer Responses:
bunch-o-Nuts: Yes, i did go back in time on Chapter 9 until chapter 10, this chapter was present day. sorry if it got confusing, i guess i should have be specific. I hope this chapter cleared up a few things! Thank you for the review by the way!
HeeroDuo4Eva: I updated (yeah!) and it was a kinda long update (wow!) Thanks for the review, HeeroDuo4Eva!
Lockea: Such a long review! Thanks for the spelling mistake, i did spell whore wrong. gr... thanks for catching that. I tried it on but it didn't work cause i typed it wrong >. anyhow, thatnks for catching that. if i knew what cyber cookies were, i'd say yes or no but i'm a simple-minded girl with an overly active imagination so i dunno. If i do reach a hundred though i'll be happy and jump for joy! . I tried not to call Heero Heero because it is indeed a codename so i called him boy or kid. Sorry if i got that mixed up O.O I really need toread what i write. Thanks for the review!
Clarobell: Thanks for the review! It's nice for encouragment every once in a while! . Hope that you liked this chapter also!
Skarlet Red: O.O Don't hurt me.... . I can't write romance for crap so i'm not gonna put any romance in this story. If there was and Heero ended up breaking up with the person, there could be possible suicide tendencies. That would be bad indeed. Despite the tirade, i liked the compliment! You don't see reviews like this every other day .
TARIGARMA12: Thanks for the review!
A Minor Pentatonic: Thanks for the review! Sorry that it didn't show up on the menu bar, sometimes that happens to me. Perhaps i just updated and FFN was uploading it still. But don't take my word for it, i know jack 'bout computers . and i'm damn proud o' it! Hope you liked the chapter!
artgirl150: Thank you for all the reviews you've written for me (in my other stories too), it's so cool to know that people like my stories! Well, this was the chapter where they found out about the abuse, so whatdidya think?
Yume Keki: Thankyou for all the wonderful reviews!
Lockea (again): You must update your stories! You never update them -- how are your reviews suppose to live without dying from a heart attack due to suspense?! Okay, sorry about that, i lost my composure. Anyhow, thanks for the compliment! . It was really nice of you!
Wow! ::wipes sweat off brow, okay just joking:: That was lot. Now i bet it's, like, four pages or something with the review responses. Anyhow, not that i mind. Sorry if i forgot anyone with the responses and i want to thank those who did review!
Reviews are nice and helpful and sweet! .
Red Tail