Disclaimer: Today, I might've seen a bug blow up under a microscope… but I never saw my name under the credits for Gundam Wing.
AN: Ah! So not fair! One more review before 60!! Oh man… so
close… on more!! I should have reviewed my own story for the fun of it… Aw
jeez, I'm guessing nobody really liked the cliff hangar, right? Oh boy, I know
Duck3 didn't… Oh, and the little section down below I've started to add in…
quite recently I've noticed a few questions and such that really shouldn't be
left unanswered, so I'm just replying to questions, comments, and/or remarks.
Note to Hououza: O.o that was intense? Or are you just in a guilty mood?
Honestly, I wouldn't of cared if you said you hated the chapters (honesty is
very respectful to me) so please stop fretting. You make it sound like you
committed some kind of crime or something. Really, maybe with others writers
you might have to apologize but that just makes it awkward for me. You sound so serious… but, a bad week is a
bad week. Hope you're feeling up this week!
Computer Geek Michelle: Hey! It's nice to see a familiar face! Heh heh, no,
cliff hangars suck but, you know, it makes the story all the more fun to write!
Queen of Shadows: Yup! You got it! Exactly what I was going for! I'm glad I did
it accurately. As for the sniper… *ducks for cover from her*
Duck3: Ow. Heh, couldn't resist.
Thanks to the rest of my reviewers! You have no idea how good it feels to open
your inbox and see some reviews. Let's see how far I get this chapter. Enjoy!
Black Hair and Gray Eyes
Chapter 14
Heero's first reaction was to run, but
he remembered the window behind him… and the children behind it. He couldn't
run, so he turned and braced himself, hoping he would still be able to move
after this. He knew that the distance would help the bullet pick up speed, and
the kids should not have to see the mess afterwards, but he could not let it
harm anybody else.
The bullet flew through the air, and
Heero swore that time slowed as it neared him, and then pierce the first layer
of his leather jacket. It thing went through the second layer, and into the
cotton layer, then the last, velvet layer. Although braced, he was taken by
surprise by the pain that made him fly into the window, and splattered some of
his shoulder across it.
He was alive, but could not move his
arm. There were screams from inside the building, and Heero hated the sniper
for making the kids see this. He hated them even more for handicapping him, so
that he could not go after them.
"Oh my…" Aki ran to Heero, and inspected
his wound. It was bad; a whole bit of his shoulder was shattered. Quickly, she
searched his waistband for his gun and two-way radio. "Someone get the manager
and find if anyone can treat his wound. Lee, you listen to Heero and Heero, you
tell Lee how to call for back up or whatever you need." She tossed the radio to
the older boy and stood up.
"What about you?" Someone from the crowd
asked timidly. Looking around, Aki noticed it to be Dawn.
"Sorry about this Dawn, but you have to
apply pressure to his shoulder, carefully, to try and stop the bleeding. As for
me…" She trailed off as she eyed the building the bullet had been shot from.
"Just take care of him." She ran across the street, not bothering to look for
an open spot to run through.
Aki could hear everyone calling her
name, but none came after her, which she was glad of. Determined, she skidded
into the building and ran up the stairs quickly. No one hurt the people around
her, and there was no way in hell she was going to stand around and wait for
other Preventers.
Bursting through the last door, Aki was
quick to shoot the sniper in the shoulder, disabling him from using his gun. It
flew across the rooftop where Aki picked it up and tucked the smaller pistol
into her waistband. The man looked at her with large, angry eyes.
"You little bitch! Look at what you
did!" Aki stepped up to him and aimed the rifle towards his leg, too far away
for him to strike, just like that day she had helped her mother escape.
"I know perfectly well what I did. And
you now know that I will not hesitate to shoot, so I suggest you shut the hell
up." Her eyes narrowed as she tightened her hold on the trigger.
"Who are you?" He began to back away,
but Aki did not take this as a sign of fear. He was either trying to get up or
get away.
"Stop right there. Don't move. And that
is none of your concern, whom I am that is." She took out another knife, from
her seemingly endless supply. "My, aren't you nice to kids. Isn't there some
kind of law against hitting a girl?" She unsheathed the blade and folded her
arm across her chest, before flinging the blade to her right. There was a
surprised gasp and a man fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. The man at
her mercy backed away, this time really in fear.
"I said don't move!" She shot the pistol
dangerously close to the man, causing him to freeze, then shot behind her,
hearing faint footsteps that undoubtedly belonged to yet another one of the
sniper's friends. The bullet hit the woman's inner thigh and she fell quickly.
"Why is it so hard for anyone to learn?"
"Aki! Enough of this." Relena stepped up
through the door with Wufei, Sally and a few nameless Preventers.
"Preventers, behind her." Two shots rang
out and another man fell to the ground. "The man has a knife in the stomach and
the woman has a bullet through the inner thigh. This man's the sniper that shot
Heero."
"Good work, but we can take it from
here." Wufei stepped up to the man and knocked him out with some sleep gas.
"Now… Aki, you may let go of that gun now." She didn't move.
Relena walked up to her daughter and
looked into her eyes. "What wrong Aki?" She nearly stepped back in confusion at
the conflict she had found. "Aki, honey…"
"I… I… What am I doing?" her grip
slipped and the gun fell. It rattled on the floor and Aki fell to her knees.
"This… this is bad… Mother… I need to be alone." She stood and walked down the
stairs, disappearing into shadows.
*~*~*~*~*
"Miss Relena?" The woman in question
turned away from the doctor she had been talking to so she could face the young
Preventer. "I'm sorry Miss Relena, we've checked all around the city but we
couldn't find your daughter." She nodded solemnly.
"It's alright Preventer Shot, if my
daughter doesn't wish to be found, she won't be." Wryly, she thought of someone
else she knew who was like that. "Go
home and get some rest." The young woman saluted and walked away. Sighing,
Relena turned back to the doctor. "So, how's his condition?"
"He'll be just fine, though the wound
was infected slightly and he now has a slight fever. Expect your bodyguard up
in about a month." He checked his clipboard again. "He also has lost quite a
lot of blood. Do you have any idea why?" Relena sighed again, embarrassed.
"After he was shot… he began trying to walk…"
"What?" he looked at her, inquiring an
answer. She sighed again and simply told him that it was easier if he did not
know. The elderly man allowed her to go into Heero's room, but told her not to
disturb him too much.
When Relena entered the room, she was
intent on staying exasperated with Heero, but the second she saw him laying
pale on the bed, all of her anger melted away. She gently pushed back some of
his unruly bangs and stroked the length of his face. Although the doctor had
said he would be okay, Relena still worried; she had only seen Heero this pale
after the Marimaia incident. Then, he had been knocked out for a week.
She sat down on the chair beside the
hospital bed and placed his hand in hers. Caressing the rough skin she found
there Relena remembered back to the days of the war, when she had first met
him. Back then, he had tried everything to kill her, now he protected her and
her daughter with his life. Back then, he had been an enigma, a mystery, and
Relena had been drawn to him by this. Her once regular life had just been
penetrated by this boy who was like none other she knew, so she was naturally
drawn to what she had not yet experienced.
That had dragged her straight into a
war, with both sides blind, and she had met so many new people. And through it
all, Heero had been what drove her to live, what had drove her to work for a
peaceful life, for she had already acknowledged what a horrible life he and so
many other kids her age had. And in the middle of it all, she had lost the most
important man to her at the time.
Looking back on those days, Relena
thought of how many times Heero had saved her. The Perfect Soldier… somehow,
that young boy had been turned into that, and so much had been taken from him.
He never had had a family, nor real friends before then, or even a real name.
Heero Yuy, the peaceful delegate that
had worked side by side with her original father. Relena thought back to all
the things she had lost, and realized
how much alike she and Heero were. They had both lived lies until the war. She,
had always believed that the Dorlain family had been her true parents, but were
instead once close friends to her birth parents. Heero had lived an entire life
of emotionless battles, never knowing what the people outside of the war lived
like, not even knowing there was a life outside of war.
They had both lived such lonely lives… Relena
wondered how it was that two different lives had produced rather similar
people. Then, after the war, she now realized, that their friends had seen
this, and had tried to show them that there was something… something more.
Relena couldn't quite figure it out, but there was something her friends had
been trying to show them.
Surely, it was not love, was it?
Looking down at Heero's peaceful face,
Relena realized that she felt happiness at the fact that Heero was at peace.
She had always felt better when she saw that Heero was content, and would
always strive to keep that look on his features.
Was it that she loved him?
Her mind went back to the day at the
tennis courts… when he had nearly kissed her. He would've too if she had let
them. Thinking back to that day, Relena remembered the feel of being normal.
What had Heero thought of those few, precious hours of being a normal young
man? Had he even thought about that day after coming back to the mansion? Had
he regretted his near-mistake?
Relena's thoughts were interrupted when
Heero stirred in his sleep, and awoke, rather dazed-like.
"Relena?" he bent his head to look at
her, and tightened his grip on her hand. She blushed, but kept her eyes on him,
a little disoriented. A smile tugged on his lips as he fell back to sleep.
Relena's other hand came up to her warm
cheek and waited for it to cool as she watched Heero's breathing even out.
There was just so much she wanted to ask… but that could wait.
Her head was lowered until it rested on
Heero's shoulder, and she slept.
*~*~*~*~*
Aki watched her reflection in the
hospital's bathroom mirror. She had watched them medical crew bring Heero into
the hospital, and watched as her mother went after him. She had even been
watching as the Preventer had reported to her mother about not finding her,
neither knowing she had been right there.
Her attention was brought back to her
reflection as she glared at her own eyes. Her locket flashed, as did her eyes,
and Aki closed them before leaning back on the wall next to her.
"Mother is finally starting to realize…"
*~*~*~*~*
How did you like that? Hope it made up for the cliffhanger! Ugh, big news, I've got to sing for a mark in school! *blinks* Yay, how fun. Oh, and to Fic Critic, you know that first review you sent me for this story? Well… I've just realized the song I'm going to be doing is from the Annie soundtrack. How interesting…