THE BREAK IN CHAPTER 3

Trowa stared up at the ceiling of a very feminine but warm room. He felt blissfully heated under piles of blankets...and he couldn't remember the last time he had slept in a bed. It was so soft. He also couldn't remember the last time he had felt so weak. Now that he was down all the malnourished weakness, all the aching limbs, all the sickness enveloped him reminding him just how tired and weak his body really was.

Because he knew his clothes reeked with odor he forced enough strength within himself to strip down to his underwear and upon realizing how long it had been since he had a bath, his own body odor sickened him even more. He had been in such a desperate state to rid himself of it that he had scuffed around in the room until he came to bottles of perfume. Not caring that it was definitely a woman's scent he sprayed himself massively with it. He wanted to shower SO MUCH, but knew he couldn't. It would be too noticeable. But the cleanness around him made him feel even more dirty.

The scent of the perfume was still heavy on him when he heard a female voice saying some thing and the door opening. In a rushed act he pulled the blankets over his head and tried in vain to make the lump his body made under the blankets as small as possible. He heard a thump, a mewing sound, and two bodies situate themselves on the bed. Peeking out from under the blankets, he eyed his unknown hostess and the cat curled around her.

Her hair was brown, she was thin, and wearing the color green. His eyes went wide when he realized she was taking off her socks and starting to unbutton her shirt. He went into alarm when she suddenly started to seem to look around her perplexed.

"Perfume... I don't remember putting any on"

Trowa bit his lip and held in a whimper when she reached to turn on her lamp. She turned the switch, there was a flash, a popping sound then darkness again.

"You gotta be kidding me! THIS light too!" She sniffed the air. "Maybe mom had to use it."

He exhaled slowly, relieved, and came out of hiding as she walked out of the room.

~~~*~~~

"My God! She's coming back! We gotta get out of here!" Duo exclaimed when he saw her come out of the room and pause at a hallway cupboard.

Wufei looked and made a beeline for the nearest open door to another room followed by everyone except Quatre. Quatre's shirt had gotten caught on the knob and he found himself having to hide behind the door as the girl came in.

With a bundle of towels and a washcloth in her arms that she had gotten out of the hallway cupboard, she closed the door and locked it, not noticing him there. Quatre was on the verge of freaking out. All she had to do now was turn around. He watched as she laid the towels down then turned on the water to the tub. His eyes widened when he saw her begin to strip. He had never had much of a chance to watch anything but the news on TV, and despite the fact that he had numerous sisters, it was the first time he had ever seen a naked woman. He felt incredibly terrible for watching, but horribly turned on by this little strip show he was watching. After all, she wasn't bad to look at. In fact, she was rather pretty.

He held in a yelp when in her flinging clothes about, her bra landed right smack in his hands. He let it drop to the floor as silently as possible. He wanted to cover his eyes, and also keep watching. In fact, he did cover his eyes but found himself peeking out at her from between his fingers. He watched as she daintily turned on the shower head and stepped inside, sliding the panel door behind her. Quatre took the opportunity to get out while he could. Gently, he quickly turned the knob, jumping when the lock popped off. He glanced at the figure behind the muted glass, opened the door, and popped the lock back on and quickly shut the door.

Vanda paused from washing her hair as she heard a popping noise and a sudden draft come into the bathroom. She walked to the end of one of the panel doors and slid it open just enough to peer out. Her brow creased. There was no reason for it. No one there to her relief. No Norman Bates episode waiting to happen.

"Weird..." She shrugged and slid the door back and rinsed the suds out of her hair.

~~~*~~~

"Man! What happened to you?" Duo asked when a red faced Quatre ran into the room they were taking refuge in.

Quatre didn't answer, his gaze just drifted back to the bathroom door. Perplexed, they all looked back at it with him.

"Okkkkaaay," Duo let out not getting it.

Wufei didn't get it either until he noticed a difference in a certain area of Quatre's jeans.

"I take it you got to see a strip show without going in to a bar," Wufei said with a smirk.

Quatre turned to stare at him as his blush deepened.

"Don't worry about it. So you liked what you saw. No big deal," Wufei continued shrugging it off. "I mean it's only natural. Besides you had no choice but to watch. What straight guy could keep himself from not watching that sort of display without getting a little heated up."

"I shouldn't have watched."

"You had to watch to know if you'd be seen or not, and to know when you could get out of there," Heero paused, then a wicked grin came to his face. "It's the first time you've ever seen a naked woman isn't it?"

Quatre dug his foot into the carpet as he nodded.

"If we can please be done with talking about Quatre's lack of ah, sightseeing, can we please discuss how we're gonna get Trowa out of that girl's room, before she goes in there and freaks out when she finds him in her bed?" Duo exclaimed.

"We aren't gonna do anything about Trowa. He needs to stay where he is. The light to her room is burned out otherwise we would surely see the light coming through this vent." He kicked at the vent slightly. "She looked exhausted and will probably go to bed and fall asleep in no time, not noticing any details. I'm sure Trowa will figure out a way of keeping himself from being seen. And..." Heero stopped and ducked out of the light of the moonlit hallway when the door to the bathroom opened and the girl slipped out into the hall.

Out of no where the cat jumped out of the shadows. "DUCHESS!"

The girl picked the cat up when she recovered from her fright. But the cat literally flew out of her hands into the nearby room scratching her in the process. The cat screeched twice as she howled in pain. She dropped her clothes and ran back into the bathroom closing the door.

~~~*~~~~

From where he sat on the floor, Quatre all but screamed when the cat landed in his arms and fussed with a growl and a hiss. In shock and sudden fright he flung the cat away from him. The cat screeched in mid air, landing right on Heero's chest by the claws. Clinging to him like a tree the cat's claws dug deeper and deeper into his skin under his cleavage. Tears came to his eyes as he bit down the scream of agony it was causing him.

When they heard her run back into the bathroom cursing and shutting the door behind her, Heero tore the feline from him and bounded up to Quatre in a fury. Grabbing him by his shirt he lifted him out of his seated position on the floor and flung him against the wall.

In an angry and dangerous voice he said, "Don't ever throw a cat on me again, understand?"

Quatre nodded. They went back into hiding when she came out again.

"I don't know what has gotten into her..." Vanda muttered to herself walking into her room.

Bumping her hip on the corner of the doorframe as she entered she cursed , then found her way to her bed inside the blackened room. Sitting down on her bed she sighed and unwrapped the towel from her hair then the other from around her body. She found her way to her dresser and pulled out her nightgown and proper underthings and went back to the bed. Slipping the clothes on, she fumbled for the towel to dry her hair and dried it as best as she could. She'd have to cob it out in the morning. It was too dark to do much of anything else.

Throwing the towels in the direction of her laundry basket, she sighed again, got up and shut the door to her bedroom, went back to her bed and slipped beneath the covers of her most welcomed bed. She found the sheets wonderfully warm, but seeping with that perfume. However she didn't care. The perfume was to her liking and she LOVED how warm the bed was. Before she knew it she was drifting off to sleep. But just before sleep overcame her she was sure she felt something shift beside her. She could swear someone's arm had flung around her, and she was certain a warm body scented with that perfume was close to hers. Yet, she welcomed it. She never felt so warm, safe or .... home. She deemed it the nonsense of a person half between dreams and reality, for she knew those were the dreams that always seemed more real than all others.

~~~*~~~

"Well, I hope it'll be better tomorrow. I don't think I could take another night like this," Quatre commented.

"What's the matter? That chick upstairs still got you all worked up?" Wufei teased.

"No." Quatre said forcefully, punching the pillow to the couch. But he lied. She did still have him worked up. He wasn't used to the alien feelings of arousal. Even with all the things he'd read...

"Hey Quatre?" Duo's voice came from the floor.

"Yeah?"

"Your sister's diaries... did they have anything GOOD in them?"

Quatre blushed. "Let's just say I never had to take sex ed thanks to them."

He heard a chuckle."You know I can't figure out how a guy that can stand to read all the juicy parts of his sisters diaries without being ashamed of it ends up ashamed when he watches a woman get naked the first time, "Duo said in a whisper.

"Reading is one thing, seeing is another. Besides I think they knew I was doing it anyway."

Duo chuckled again.

"Quatre?" came Heero's voice.

"Hmmm?"

"Before you left you didn't by chance bring any of your sisters diaries with you, did you?"