Chapter Thirteen: Denial Isn't Just Some Damned River
*Both Quatre and Hiiro stood perfectly still as they took time to savor the words that had just tumbled from Serena's rouge stained lips. No, she didn't really just say… did she? She couldn't possibly have…
"You are supposed to marry him? Marry Odin?" Quatre asked very carefully.
"Yes." Serena sighed. "I'm not feeling too well." Her stomach felt very uneasy.
"Here, sit down." Quatre ushered her to a chair. As he helped Serena sit, he looked up at Hiiro, who had a dazed look on his face. It was the oddest look he'd ever seen on Hiiro before. The normally non-emotional boy was in a state of pure wonderment.
"No… it's just not possible…" Hiiro muttered slowly after a few minutes.
"Why not Hiiro? Jealous?" Serena smirked slightly, still clutching her stomach. Both Hiiro and Quatre could see through the false attempt to make the serious situation funny.
"I can't be jealous." He smirked back in an attempt to save face. "I don't know how to be jealous to begin with."
"That's right, you don't know much of anything."
"I know enough."
"You didn't even know how a date should go, give me a break!"
"I had never been on a date!"
"Exactly!"
"Well then, I'm sorry I can't live up to your expectations!"
"That's alright, I'm sure whoever this Odin fellow is, he will. After all, my parents always did have good taste." She smirked. Hiiro's jaw dropped. It was too funny…
"Really? So Odin will be perfect then?"
"I imagine so."
"And you know you can't back out of this agreement, no matter how badly your expectations are wounded when you find out what he really is." He watched Serena gulp.
"I gave my word."
"This is too creepy…." Quatre muttered. "It's as if someone played with fate."
"How did it say to contact Jay?" Hiiro asked Serena suddenly.
"Why? Want to find out your competition Yui?"
"Simply curious. From the way you speak, I already know by now that I'm no match for Odin Lowe Jr. and his vast knowledge of how to date." Hiiro smirked.
"Right in one. Here, his number is on the invitation." Serena handed him the invitation. He curled his lip.
"It's so… gaudy." He gulped.
"My Mother." Serena shook her head. "She always has to be flashy. I like things simple."
"Serena, while Hiiro is examining the invitation, tell me. How do you know Hiiro doesn't know how to act on a date?" Quatre grinned as he asked. He saw Hiiro shooting him the infamous death glare and figured some tings would never change.
"Oh, Hiiro's Doctor and my best friend set us up on blind dates- and when we got to the date, it turned out it was us. Our evening was…"
"Hand me the phone." Hiiro cut Serena off. Quatre looked at him and did so without question.
"You trust him with your appliances?" Serena asked in mock awe. Hiiro smirked at her.
"I'm better with them than you are. At least I don't break my computer every three minutes."
"It's an old computer!" She defended herself. "It breaks down easily because the hard drive need more memory!"
"Sure." Hiiro grunted as he dialed. Soon he got the phone ringing and he tuned everything else out to hear it. It didn't take much, though, because both Serena and Quatre wanted to hear as well, so they kept quiet. The phone rang four times, and on the last time, a machine picked up.
"You have reached the residence of Doctor James Owen Jay. I am sorry, but I am not available to speak with at the moment. If you wish to speak to me directly, please call after nine o'clock this evening. If you wished to reach my son, Odin Lowe Jr., you may either wait and call me after nine o'clock, or wait and call me after nine o'clock. Thank you, good day."
"His son?" Quatre's eyebrows shot up. "Odin isn't his son though…"
"Son, beneficiary, same thing to him." Hiiro clarified. But still… that old man had no right to interfere with his life like this! Marriage! Even to Serena? They still fought like cats and dogs! It would never go through. She would faint first.
"Well? He won't answer the phone…" Serena trailed off. Hiiro grunted.
"He won't answer because that isn't the right number. If you want to speak with the old coot, you need to go through the right method."
"And just how is that? Big, bad, Gundam pilot killer going to show me?" Serena asked haughtily.
"Maybe I will, just to prove you wrong."
"You can't. There's no way." She countered, fairly confident. Then she thought again. Hiiro was a Gundam Pilot… he was good with electronics and knew how to do more than she gave him credit for… maybe she was taking him too lightly…
"Hiiro, even I have to admit… the only way to contact him is to call at the right time, right?"
"Wrong." Hiiro was frustrated. He needed to get this worked out. This wasn't right, something didn't add up… so he did the only thing he could do. Picking up the phone, he re-dialed the number, adding an extra three numbers on the end.
"Hiiro, no phone number is going to have that many numbers on it…" Serena was cut off as the phone rang.
"Doctor James Owen Jay. How can I help you?" Hiiro silently smirked at Serena and her jaw dropped.
"Give me that phone!" She lunged over Hiiro's lap and pulled the phone from his vice-like grip. Lying on her stomach across Hiiro's lap, she began her conversation. "Hello, hello? Doctor James Owen Jay?"
"Yes?"
"My name is Serena Tsukino…"
"Ahh, yes! The daughter of Kenji and Ilene Tsukino, am I correct?"
"Yes!" Serena said excitedly.
"I thought you were supposed to call after nine o'clock. Odin does not know about the arrangement yet."
"He doesn't?" Hiiro countered. While Serena had been on the phone, Quatre had pushed the speakerphone button and now all three of them could easily hear the old man as he spun his web of lies to Serena.
"Hi, Hiiro?" The old man seemed to do a double take.
"Jay. No new missions I suppose?"
"A final, closing mission."
"Mission denied."
"Come now Hiiro! Think about it! What woman would ever love you? Just do it and get it over with!" Hiiro's heart felt as if it had been pricked by tiny pins all at once. No one would ever love him… J was right. What woman, especially a woman such as Serena, could ever possibly love him?
"Mission denied." But he still had his Goddamned pride!
"Hiiro Yui! It will leave you learning more about humanity than anything. Think of it as training experience."
"Training is complete."
"But life is not, and your last mission was to live, if you recall." Hiiro winced. His mind traveled through time and space to his apartment. It made it's way directly for a little black box on the coffee table. The lid opened and a few loose dollars were pulled out. Then a white piece of paper, slightly worn and folded, came out. He mentally unfolded the list, and read the title: "Things to Do" Near the dead center of his list his mind read the word 'Marriage'. Marriage…
"Mission accepted on one condition." He told the Doctor, his mind flash-forwarding to the present place and time once more.
"What is that?" The old man's voice echoed over the phone.
"She agrees, knowing full well who and what Odin Lowe Jr. truly is."
"Done!"
"Stop! Hold everything!" Serena screeched, getting their attention. "You think you can just plan things without me? I demand to know what is going on? This Odin Lowe is my fiancé, regardless of who he is, I don't think you should be having this discussion without him!"
"Serena dear?" Jay humored her through the phone.
"Yes?"
"Do you know who Hiiro Yui is? What he was during the war?"
"Yes." She whispered, looking up at Hiiro. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"Quite a lot actually. Serena, there is only one person who can reach me at this number, my son, Odin Lowe Jr. Well, I do believe I've said enough. Good bye to you both." And the other side of the line went dead.
"What?" Serena asked confused. "But the only one who knew how to reach that man was Hiiro here, and…" Serena's mind clicked. The wheels began to turn overtime, and the gears shifted into puzzle solving mode. And then, like a train wreck, it slammed into her.
"No… they wouldn't… they didn't… No! No!" She screamed, rolling off of Hiiro's lap onto the floor and bringing her knees to her chest. She looked up at Hiiro with the most rancid eyes he had ever seen. They held so much hatred and revile…
"Doctor Jay raised me. Before I left in the Gundam, he changed my name from Odin Lowe Jr. to Hiiro Yui in honor of the dead pacifist. Hiiro Yui and Odin Lowe are one in the same." Hiiro grunted out for Serena. She shook her head in horror.
"No…"
"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt Serena." Hiiro growled, his face dead serious. He didn't find this funny in the very least. In fact, this was crazy. Now he was engaged to marry the woman he loved, who hated him, and that he fought with constantly.
"Thank you, Odin! How dare you just sit there and let me defend 'Odin' while you knew it was you! How dare you! You and Quatre, the two murderers, having a grand old time patronizing the innocent. I should have known!" Two strings of beaded water drops fell from Serena's sapphire eyes as she broke down.
This wasn't happening. She wasn't engaged to Hiiro… she hated him! He ruined everything! She had thought that, even though she was giving her life over to a stranger, she might at least learn to love him. But she could never love Hiiro Yui. He simply didn't know what this meant to her. Hiiro was a killer! And now she had to marry him…She wondered if fate had wanted her to withstand verbal abuse for the rest of her life.
She felt sick. Physically, her stomach was beginning to lurch. He had so much blood on his hands, so very much blood… and she had to marry him… Oh God, the blood…
"I'm going to be sick!" She held her hand to her mouth. Quatre noticed she really meant it and hurried to point out the bathroom. Serena stood and ran for it, slamming the door behind her.
"She hasn't eaten all day- she has nothing to throw up." Hiiro mussed.
"Hiiro, she just found out she was being forced to marry. It isn't you; it's the fact that she gets no choice in the matter. She's bound to project her worry and grief somehow- physically getting sick is the way she has chosen to deal with it."
"You should have become a psychiatrist Quatre." Quatre smiled sadly at Hiiro.
"I once had that choice. But I chose a different path. And if I hadn't chosen it, I wouldn't be here to psycho-analyze you."
"Thanks then." Hiiro nodded stoically. Soon after that a very green Serena re-entered the room.
"Feel better?" Quatre asked her.
"No." She whispered, shooting a sad look at Hiiro. He shoved his hand through his hair and then rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm going home." He suddenly spoke. "Quatre, if you need me, I'll give you my number." He said, scribbling down a number on the pad of paper Quatre kept by the phone.
"Are you sure Hiiro?"
"Yeah." He glanced at Serena. After a long pause of silence, he began again. "Want a ride home?"
Serena looked at him as if she were sizing him up. "Yeah." She finally stated.
"Come on." Hiiro beckoned. Quatre watch in awe as the two people that had been fighting earlier quietly conceded to each other and fell into step beside one another.
"Thank you Quatre." Serena called as she left.
"Anytime." He called out. They did make a striking couple though; even he had to admit that much.
"Here." Hiiro handed Serena the helmet he carried with him. He watched her look at it, almost as if she were deciding something, and then give it back to him. "What?"
"You don't where one."
"I won't die in a crash."
"Says who? You're just as human and vulnerable as I am."
"I'm trained to…"
"You don't wear one, I don't wear one." Hiiro looked at her long and hard.
"You trust me not to crash?" He finally asked.
"I don't know what I trust in anymore. Somehow everything gets shaken- I almost don't see the point in believing in anything anymore. Let's go, I'm tired." Hiiro, unable to speak at her pessimistic words, simply nodded and got on. She climbed on behind him.
"Do you need anything at your parent's house?"
"No. Just drive." She told him, shutting her eyes tightly and trying to forget her problems. But she couldn't forget… they were engraved forever into her mind.
Hiiro turned around, and when he felt Serena's small arms wrap tightly around his waist and her head lean against his back gently, he started the engine. She was so warm, so sweet, and so hot-tempered. A true oxymoron in a world of irony- he reveled in the challenge she presented. Would he ever be able to make her care for him? Would he ever be able to make her see that there was more to him than his mercenary past? Perhaps. It would take a great deal of work and determination, but he was resolved that one day she would love him the way he did her.
It only took him a half hour at top speed to get back into the city, and only five more minutes to get to their street. As Hiiro pulled up to the curve and parked, he sat very still while Serena climbed off the back. But when she stood on the curb, staring at him, he cracked under the pressure.
"You coming to work tomorrow?" He asked.
"Late."
"Visiting?"
"Yes."
"Ride?"
"No."
"Cab?"
"Yes."
"Hnn."
"I hate you."
"I know." She threw her arms up in frustration.
"I just don't understand you!" She yelled.
"You hate me, why would you want to understand me? It might change your mind if you did." He smirked lightly at her.
"I won't be changing my mind anytime soon. But I would like to think I understood my darn fiancé!"
"I've known Quatre for nearly seven years, and he still doesn't understand me. You still want to try?"
"Yes." His eyebrows rose. She was willing to try and understand him? It would never really happen, he knew. But he wanted to think she might be able to.
"Alright. What do you want to understand first?"
"Why you think you can park your motorcycle outside on the curb in the middle of a city. Aren't you afraid it will get stolen?"
"I have tracking signal placed on it."
"So you think you'll just track it down?"
"Or self destruct it. Either way." He smirked at her horrified expression. "There is no self destruction button."
"You were joking?" Her eyes widened. "You have a terrible sense of humor."
"Too bad you didn't know me three years ago."
"Why's that?"
"Back then I had no sense of humor."
"Ha, ha, ha." She mocked him. "And you're so funny now…"
"Ask Relena and Quatre."
"I will."
"Good." Silence. Hiiro inwardly sighed. What did one say to a girl?
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Now would be the appropriate time for you to either invite me for dinner, or a meal tomorrow, or invite me up for coffee or tea, or something." She informed him.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry. Why don't you pick from all those things you just said I should do which one you want me to do?" Hiiro quite enjoyed her face going brilliant red.
"I hate you!"
"I know."
"Fine. Lunch, at your place, tomorrow." She told him hastily. "Bye then!" She left before he could object.
"But…" Hiiro was left on the street watching her run into her apartment building. Had she just invited herself over? For lunch? Tomorrow? Simply smashing! Nothing like the present to do a little cleaning- oh, and he might have to finish unpacking those moving boxes… *
~~~Anyone ever seen/read Who's Afraid of Vriginia Wolf? It's the dysfunctional cycle come back to haunt you! Lol. PLEAZ REVIEW! Much love- Vixen ~~~