Basic Instinct, Part 2

Chapter 11

"Nothing important," she said quickly. Then she rubbed them off.
"It wouldn't of worked anyway."

Quatre figured he probably shouldn't pry so he just answered with
a simple, "alright."

"Did you find anything to eat, I'm starving," asked Relena, for
the past few hours she had been listening to the beat of her stomach as
it rumbled some odd tune.

"A couple plants, thats it though, there wasn't as many plants
as I thought there would be around here." Seeing the worried look in
her eyes he quickly added, "but I'm sure theres more that I didn't see."

Satisfied Relena nodded. A sharp growl from her stomach brought
a smile to both their faces. Quatre reached into his pocket and pulled
out two of the dandelions and handed them to her.

Looking at them for a moment, Relena finally said, "gee Quatre
that was really sweet. You actually picked some flowers for me while
you were getting food, thats really nice of you." To her amazement he
started laughing.

"Well, you can keep them if you want but I thought you might want
something to eat," he said, and then started laughing again.

"Eat a dandelion?" Relena gave him a weird look. Finally getting
control of his laughter he answered her.

"You can eat the greens of dandelions. I'm not sure if you can
eat the flower though so I wouldn't try it."

"Oh," feeling quite foolish Relena quickly turned before he could
see the red flush that was inhabiting her face. She picked up the one
dandelion and started nibbling at the end.

Quatre discreetly watched her. She had turned bright red and
it was all he could do not to laugh. Now she was trying the dandelion.
Soon as she took a bite, a look of disgust spread across her features.

"Blech," thought Relena to herself. If she wasn't so hungry she
would have thrown that dandelion right out. It was horribly bitter and
tasted like something that had been in the trash for a few days.

Fighting not to instinctivly hold her nose she bit off another
piece. Again that rush of bitterness invaded her mouth.

"Maybe if I think of steak or something it will taste like it,"
grumbled Relena. "Anythings better than nothing."

Quatre started laughing.

"What," asked Relena, who was a little peeved since he was obviously
laughing at her and she had no idea why.

"What you just said is all, honestly steak," he said, a huge smile
spreading across his handsome face.

"Oops, I didn't think I said that out loud. I don't mean to sound
selfish or anything Quatre," she said, mentally kicking herself.

"Its not a problem. I was thinking along the same lines myself,
but I was thinking more like a salad then a steak." He gave her one of
his big smiles.

More at ease, Relena slowly eat the rest of her dandelion, not
even minding the taste. Her mind was on other things, like why was she
having this infatuation with his smile? And why did she think his laugh
was the happiest thing she had ever heard?

"Stop it Relena, if he knew what you were thinking you would lose
him as a friend forever," she thought to herself, this time in the vicinity
of her own mind instead of out loud.

About fifteen minutes later she finished her dandelions. They
took some getting used to for sure. But finally she had been able to
ignore the taste, and her stomach wasn't rumbling as much as before.

Quatre had finished his off long ago. The cool breeze whipped
through the trees and ruffled his hair, reminding him that it would be
dark in another hour. And it was his turn to stay up and watch the fire.

He grimaced at the thought, but it was better than leaving Relena
up alone.

Chapter 12

Night fell shortly and the woods were filled with erethal silence.
Occasionaly an owl's hoot would break the silence, but in between there
was no noise whatsoever.

A slight chill caused Relena to shake. Her teeth chattered and
she pulled herself into a ball. The fire wasn't doing that much to keep
her warm and this night was the coldest yet.

Noticing her shaking Quatre stood up painfully and hobbled over
to her. Sitting down beside her he pulled her into his arms. When she
stiffened in surprise he pulled her tighter.

"Relax Relena, hopefully this will keep you warmer." He was right
of course, her heart had started beating rapidly when he did that and
his body heat was flowing into her, warming her. She snuggled in closer.

In minutes she was asleep. Her breath was rasped in pain because
of her arm. But Quatre noticed she had not complained about it once.

"She certainly is full of surprises," he thought to himself. He
was just glad that she was peacefully resting for once. He himself was
warmer with her near him.

It was making it hard for him to stay awake. The rythmic sound
of her breathing and the body heat kept making him have to shake his head
in order to stay awake. His eyelids felt like they had five ton weights
on them and it was all he could do to keep them open.

Finally, hours later, morning came. The sun was starting to shine
through the branches of the trees and the temperature had gotten warmer.

Relena opened her eyes and was startled to find that Quatre was
still holding onto her. He looked tired, there were bags around his eyes
and Relena suddenly felt guilty. He had stayed up all night so she could
get some rest. Quatre was always that way though, always sacraficing for
others and not worrying about himself. What was sad though was that no
one else worried about him either.

"I'll worry about him," she thought to herself. Looking at him
she smiled.

"My turn to stay up, go to sleep for a bit."

"No, thats ok, I'm not tired." She knew he was lying though, he
looked exhausted. She pushed him down.

"You are going to sleep whether you like it or not," she stated.

"Relena, come on be serious."

"I am serious Quatre, you are going to sleep or I'm going to stay
awake until you sleep again."

"Fine," he grumbled and let go of her. Laying down he closed
his eyes, in moments he was out like a light.

"Thats what I thought," said Relena smiling. Since Quatre was
asleep she could take a bath in the creek without worrying about him.

"Not that he would look or anything though, Quatre is a gentleman
unlike most guys," she thought to herself.

She stripped down to her underclothes and sat down in the water.
It was freezing but felt good on her aching body. The cool water rushed
over her, numbing everything it touched. She bent back and washed the
grime out of her hair.

Soon she had scrubbed off and was drying in the sun. After a
couple minutes she was dry. Pulling on her clothes she noticed that Quatre
was just beginning to wake up. "What timing," she thought.

She shivered as a light breeze went through her hair. Her long
blonde hair was still wet and was chilly against her neck.

"How did you get your hair wet?" asked Quatre, rubbing the sleep
from his eyes.

"I just washed it in the creek," she answered.

"Oh, ok." He rose to his feet and went over to where his jacket
was laying. Ruffling through the pockets he pulled out some chicory.

"Here, usually its for tea, but I'm sure we can eat it with no
problem."

Relena shuddered looking at it. If it was as horrible as the
dandelion greens, she wasn't sure she wanted to stomach it. But a sharp
growl made up her mind for her. Reluctantly she reached out and took it
from him.

Raising it slowly to her mouth she took a little nibble and braced
herself for the worst. Then a sweet sensation went in her mouth, it was
a little like candy. Smiling, she ate the rest of it, taking her time
to savor the taste.

It was a little after noon and the sun was high in the sky. Quatre was
working with his communicator. Poking and prodding with sticks. They
had been out here for almost a week and he really really wanted to get
home.

Coming over to sit beside him, Relena watched as he tinkered with
the tiny machine. It had become water logged and after a few days in the
sun, it was finally dry.

As he worked the sky darkened. A great boom of thunder was heard
and it began to get colder. Cursing under his breath Quatre limped over
to the shabby shelter they had made.

Relena quickly followed, shrieking occasionaly when the thunder
boomed.

She sat down and curled up. The rain started and came in through
the cracks, soaking the two people inside. A large clap of thunder rang
out and Relena jumped into Quatre. Subconsciencly he put his arms around
her and held her tight.

She took his hand and when the next clap came she almost wrung
it off. Quatre didn't mind though. The fear in her eyes kept him from
feeling the pain in his hand.

The storm lasted for less than an hour.

"What a shelter we made," muttered a very soaking Quatre. "We
might as well have stayed out in the rain."

Relena looked at him in surprise. Usually he wasn't so negative.

"Everything must be catching up to him," she thought, and rubbed
a tear away hoping that it just looked like a raindrop to Quatre. She
didn't need him thinking she was weaker than he already did.

She turned and looked at him.

Chapter 13

His eyes were closed, and raindrops were running down his cheeks.

"Wait a minute, those aren't raindrops. Those, those are tears,"
Relena thought. "The poor guy, he has had the worst time of us both."

Quatre said nothing and he didn't even care if she saw him crying
or not. He was sick and tired of everything. He had been through war,
his father dying, plane crashes, and god knows everything else. He just
couldn't seem to have a normal life.

"Why me, why me, why me," his mind screamed and he tensed up, his
whole body quivering with muscles so taught they could snap. Relena felt
him tense and looked over at him.

His eyes were still closed and a look of anguish had devored his
whole face. He was stiff and Relena almost cried at the sight of him.
He could be a definition of miserable. Without thinking she pulled him
close and hummed, trying to loosen him up.

Quatre's conscience was broken by a soft sound, sweet and melodic.
A tune rang into his ears that he had never heard before yet knew all the
notes. It was peacefull and he could feel himself relaxing.

The soft murmur would rise and fall and Quatre could feel himself
getting sleepy. He snuggled more into the warm embrace and let himself
be slowly lulled off. Sleep was good, he couldn't think, couldn't remember
when he was alseep.

Relena felt him loosen and finally a soft rythmic breathing told
her that he was asleep. "Poor Quatre, so much for him when he was so young,
so much for all of us," she thought sadly. A tear beginning to roll down
her cheek as well.

Chapter 14

Relena had fell asleep shortly after Quatre and it was morning
before they both woke up. Quatre woke up first and found himself in
Relena's arms. He could remember only her soft humming and looked at her
with a new light. He always knew she cared about others, but he didn't
think that she cared for him out of the fact that he was a fellow human
being. But she cared about him more than that, or she wouldn't of soothed
him. She was the only one who had ever done that for him.

They had never really ever been friends. Their relationship was
more so of a business relationship than a friendship. But as he thought,
he had always looked forward to seeing her. To hear him laugh and seeing
her smile brighten her whole face.

"I'm in love with her," he whispered to himself. A burning red
flush creeping up his face.

"Quatre did you say something?" asked Relena opening her eyes.
She had awaken to an intelligable murmuring from him.

"Oh, nothing," he said quickly. "I was just thinking out loud."

"Oh, alright," she replied. She streached and stood up to look
outside. The rain had left the whole place virtually a soggy marsh, the
brook had run over and had carried their fire away. There weren't even
any ashes left.

"This is just perfect," she sighed. Their shelter didn't look
to good either, the storm had taken down a lot of the branches and swept
most of them away.

"Maybe we should move on, try to find some civilization, I think
I can travel now," suggested Quatre.

"Thats what I was planning the other day, those marks I had made
in the ground was my plans for where civilization might be."

"Why didn't you tell me about them then, you just said they were
nothing," asked Quatre.

"It was pretty stupid of me, thats why. I have no idea where
we are so what was the point of my plans." She hung her head down, she
was giving off the pretense of being defeated.

"Relena, at least it was an idea, I don't even have one. What
was it?" said Quatre.

"Well, I figured that at least 50 miles anyway there would be
civilization. But then again this is Montana so who knows?" she answered.

"Its a good thought, I think we can stick to it. You may have
something there. We can leave today if you would like." Inside Quatre
was amazed, Relena had a lot of logic, she just didn't realize it.

"Alright, if you're up to it," she said unsurely. Quatre may be
a Gundam pilot, but walking 50 miles was a long way for having a broken
leg.

"I'll handle it," he answered evenly. Rising he gathered what
few supplies they had; the airplane food, the first aid kit, and the knife.
He gave Relena the knife. Placing the food in the first aid kit, he tood
a vine and tied it to the first aid kit. Then he tied it onto the belt
loop of his pants, which Relena still had.

"I'd carry something, but you're the only one with belt loops, and
I'd feel better if you carry the knife," he told her apologetically.

"It's not a problem," she answered. Her arm was throbbing though
and she tried to hide the pain. She knew he would say they couldn't travel
if she was in pain.

Chapter 14

They headed out soon after. Chewing on some dandelion greens
Quatre had pulled out of his pocket, they began heading South. They went
at a slow pace. Relena, knowing that Quatre wouldn't take time to rest
and would push himself all out, kept her pace slow so he wouldn't upset
his leg too much.

Quatre trodded along, occasionally wincing from the pain that
shot up his leg. THe dandelion greens tasted bitter from being wilted
in his pocket and just added to his displeasure.

"Shame it wasn't Sandrock that had took the plunge, I could have
gotten it right out," he thought to himself.

"You know what," said Relena suddenly.

"What," asked Quatre, only half interested.

"I'm going to kill Lady Une when we get back." Quatre just started
laughing. The way she had said it and the fact that she was a total pacifist
had made the statement absolutely hilarious. Relena broke into a smile
although she really did feel like killing Lady Une right then.

After a few hours they came to a tiny field. "Why don't we look
for some plants or something here, we definately need some food," stated
Quatre.

"Sounds good, we need to find some water too, what little we were
able to carry isn't going to last that long."

They slowly started to work their way through some brambles to
get to the field. But just as they were going to break through Quatre
stopped.

"What is it?" asked Relena.

"I think the berries from these brambles are ok to eat. In fact
I'm pretty sure they are."

"Great," said Relena happily. She began picking some and sticking
them into her mouth hungrily. They had been close to starving for a
couple of days. Quatre followed suit. The berries were delicious. Most
bramble berries are not, but there were a couple out there that were and
they were fortunate to come across one of those.

After a while, their stomachs which had shrunk were full. Sitting down
Relena started to pick some to take with her.She laid down some leaves
in the first aid kit box and placed them on top. Soon she had the box
filled to the brim.

Quatre filled his pockets with them, at least it would last them
a couple of days.

Walking through the field he stopped once again.

"What did you find this time," asked Relena curiously. He pointed
to the bush in front of them.

"Bearberry, they aren't the greatest, but they're edible." He
bent down and picked some, he had a couple pockets left and they were
quickly filled.

Finally they left the field, having wasted an hour there. Night
would come soon and they needed to find some water before they did.

Walking they heard nothing. After a while though, Relena's delicate
ears picked up the sound of some running water. She motioned towards
what direction it was coming from and Quatre followed.

Thinking it was nearby, Relena smiled. But as she walked it only
got louder, but it still wasn't in sight. It took them another hour to
get to the source of the water, it was a huge river that tumbled down
in rapids.

"Quatre, where do you think this river leads," asked Relena.
Thinking for a minute Quatre told her what he thought.

"Somewhere along it has to be some civilization, maybe even a river
rapids touring group or something."

"Great, we are riding this river to civilization," said Relena
firmly.

"Uh, Relena, these are class five rapids, and what are we going
to use to go down them?"

"We'll build a raft," she answered simply. Quatre just stared
at her, thinking she had gone stark raving mad. But as much as he tried
to convince her no, that it wasn't safe, she wasn't budging on the subject.

Chapter 15

They stayed the night by that river, and by the time Quatre woke
up the next day, Relena was already working on her raft. Something had
just exploded in her head and she wasn't even acting like the Relena he
knew.

At the moment she was currently working on a dead fall to trap
who knows what.

Back by the river she had large logs lined up and some vines layed
out. How she managed to drag those large logs, Quatre had no idea.

Whatever had went off in her mind, she wasn't speaking about it.
In fact, she wasn't even talking. Quatre had tried to talk to her, but
there was just a glassy look in her eyes and she didn't reply.

"Relena you've snapped," he said incredously. He had been trying
to get her to talk to him and had tried everything. Even saying she had
just gone psycho hadn't worked. He was running out of ideas.

Finally he just sat back and watched her work. She wasn't tiring
and she had been working for three hours straight. Her energy was amazing.
And he never knew she knew how to do all these things, especially make
that deadfall.

She checked it periodically, so far the only thing that had fallen
in was a chipmunk. She had jumped down into a part where the sharp sticks
weren't sticking up and had beat it across the head with a stick.

Quatre had watched with sick fascination and horror. Relena
had taken it out and was now roasting it on the fire. Finally she pulled
it out and started chewing on it.

Quatre's stomach was growling but there was no way he was going
to eat that thing after seeing it killed so brutally. He just snacked
on a couple berries that he had gotten out of his pockets, not even
appreciating their sweet taste.

After Relena had finished her "meal" she went back to work, gathering
logs and carrying them to the rest was her prime object at the time.
She did it with superhuman strength, strength she shouldn't have.

Finally she must have decided that she had enough. Using the
vines she tied them together. Over and over and over the vines went, each
being tied tightly.

Quatre just watched the whole thing. Puzzled and worried. It
was getting dark and she was showing no signs of letting up.

Suddenly a sharp bellow was heard. Relena sprang to action, a
primal look in her eyes. She ran to her deadfall and looked in. Quatre
followed close behind her, limping along as fast as he could.

Inside was a deer, a buck with at least a five point antler. He
was a big one. Relena gave a horrible smile. The poor deer was thrashing
around, his leg speared straight threw by one of the sticks. It had been
stuck straight threw its shoulder. Blood poured out and stained its
beautiful coat. Quatre started to cry for the poor animal.

Relena picked up a stick nearby and taking it, she jammed it
through the beasts neck. Quatre gave a sharp cry. The deer still thrashed,
but after a minute or so a glazed look came over its eyes and it grew
still.

Relena hopped down and picked up the head, she went to her foot
holds that she had placed in the side and started to climb up. But then
a growl of frustration startled Quatre and made him look at her. She had
fallen back in the hole, the deer was too large for her to drag up.

Trying once more she again slid back down. The deer was just
too heavy, and she was just too small. Sighing Quatre went in and tried
to help her push it up. Without even acknowledging that he was there.

She pulled and this time with Quatre's help got it out. Sitting
there and panting she rested for a few seconds, then she started to drag
it back to camp.

Quatre pulled himself slowly out of the hole and sat there for
a moment. What happened to the Relena that he thought he loved.

When he finally got himself back to camp, Relena was already there
and skinning the deer. She finally pulled the last of the muscle off the
hide and then flapped it out across the raft to dry. Taking a vine she
tied it to one leg of the deer and then raised up the log and brought
it under, then she tied it to the opposite leg. She then did the same
with the other set of legs.

After she had finished she grabbed some water from the river
and soaked the skin. Finally satisfied she leaned up against a tree trunk
and went to sleep.

Quatre himself couldn't sleep. He kept invisioning her killing
the deer. How bloodthirsty her actions had been and shuddered. But
finally exhaustion made him sleep.

Once again when he awoke she was already at work. She was testing
the skin on the raft. It had hardened over night and pulled the logs
close together.

Satisfied she sat down on it. He walked over and tried to talk
to her. She didn't respond. He was getting desperate, he didn't like
her like this.

Finally he leaned over and kissed her. A muffled shreik invaded
him.

"Quatre what are you doing?" she screamed. She looked around her.
"Where are we, where did this raft come from?"

"We are still at the river, you made the raft and killed the deer
whose skin you are sitting on, and I kissed you because I've tried everything
else and you still wouldn't talk to me."

"You can't be serious," she said with some panic noticable.

"I am dead serious."

"Can we use the raft?" She looked down at it, scarecly believing
she had done such a thing and made this sturdy raft.

"I don't feel that great about it, but its worth a shot."

"Well, what are we waiting for then," asked Relena.

"Nothing I guess," he answered. Gathering their supplies he
tied it onto the raft with a vine. Then he pushed it to the side of the
river with Relena's help.

Jumping on he said a quick prayer to Allah. The raft started
out slow and then started to pick up speed as it got farther out into
the water.

Chapter 16

The raft had been lolling down the river for some time and Relena
just watched the scenery. It hadn't changed much, it was still mostly
pine forest.

They had left the deer at the camp, the fact that she had killed
it had made her sick to the stomach and she didn't want to even look at
it.

Suddenly she heard a gushing sound. Quatre heard it too and picked
up the stick he had been using for steering. Coming around a bend in
the river they came across an expanse of rapids.

"Oh, no," he said with a sense of doom. Bracing himself he prepared
to steer as much around them as he could. They hit them with a splash
and the raft bobbed up and down in the water.

With every hard landing Quatre feared that the raft would just
rip to shreds. They hit a large rapid and Relena was flung off the ramp.

"Relena!" cried Quatre. He scanned the waters surface for her,
but didn't see anything. Starting to panic he was about to jump in when
he saw her head bob up to the surface in front of him.

Quickly he steered towards her, the rapids were growing smaller
and he could control where he went. Finally he drew even with her.

Leaning over he grabbed her. Slowly he pulled her onto the raft.
Her soaked clothes made her heavier and tougher to pull up.

After he had pulled back he lay back and panted. When she didn't
say anything he leaned over her.

"Relena, you with me," he asked her. He got no reply. Scared
now, he leaned over and checked to see if she was breathing. She wasn't.

"Oh Allah," he muttered and bent over to give rescue breathing.
After a couple of breaths he checked her pulse, she didn't have one so
he started some compressions.

"Come on Relena, please wake up, don't leave me here alone, you're
all the sanity I have right now." He gave her a couple more breaths and
she still didn't breath.

Desperate now he began compressing harder. She sputtered and a
fountain literally sputtered out of her mouth. Coughing she sat up.

"Are you alright," asked Quatre frantically. He took her head
in his hands and looked into her eyes. She seemed unfocused but then
she cleared up a little.

"Ugh, I feel awful," she moaned. "Those were some rapids, lets
not do that again."

Quatre smiled in spite of himself, "I'm just glad your ok."

"Thanks." As they talked they drifted down the river. But there
was still no sign of civilization. All of their hopes were steadily
falling.

"Do you think we'll get out of this alive Quatre," Relena said
suddenly.

"I don't know, but I really hope so," he answered quietly. He
had been wondering the same things for days.

Suddenly he lurched over and crimson blood poured through his
fingers where he had covered his broken leg. The echo of a shot rang
out over the river.

"Relena duck!!!" he yelled and pulled her flat down on the raft.
"Actually, slip off into the water and get under the raft."

"But Quatre, a gun means people, we can be saved," said Relena
frantically.

"Not if those same people want to kill us," he answered. "I don't
think they thought we were bears, thats for sure."

Muffling her scream as a bullet hit the water beside the raft
Relena slid in. Quatre was right behind her but jerked as another shot
rang out and then he hit the water.

Relena had saw it and was screaming. But she went under the raft
like he had told her to. Much to her surprise Quatre quickly joined her.

"I thought you were shot," she whispered, tears pouring down her
face.

"I only acted like it," he replied. The raft had a little cavern
towards the middle so they were able to breathe easily. Relena was
thankful that the water was murky so the people shooting at them couldn't
see them hopefully.

They could hear more shots pinging into the water and splicing
near them.

Quatre took off his jacket and let it float outward. It was soaked
with blood from the first shot he had taken so it looked as if they had
gotten him.

"Relena, give me your pants or shirt or something." Without asking
why she gave it to him. He winces as he rubbed it up against the blood
on his leg he threw it out too.

"Hopefully that will make them think they got us," he whispered.

They heard more shots, but they were concentrated on one area,
most likely the area where the clothing had floated up.

Cursing Quatre swallowed a mouthful of water. They were approaching
some rapids. A look of fear came into Relena's eyes and she clung to
Quatre.

They hit jar after jar in the rapids, both desperately clinging
to one another and the raft. Hitting rocks Relena could swear every bone
in her body was being broken.

Quatre wasn't taking much of the brunt of the rocks. He tried
to though, but Relena kept hitting them instead of him.

Finally they were through the rapids. The shots rang out once
more. Obviously their oppresors weren't easily fooled. Quatre had knew
throwing the jacket and shirt out wouldn't work but anything was worth
a shot.

One corner of the raft splintered and Quatre knew they were now
aiming at it. Hoping to destroy anything on it or under it.



Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of its characters.

Well, this is the second chapter. Thanks to all of you who reviewed
the last, I really appreciate it. I hope this one is just as well liked.
Thanks for reading!