Disclaimer: Sorry bout not updating in so long. I've been busy/not paying too much attention to the site. But I'll change! Honest! Also, lyrics in this chapter owned by the amazing Ashanti, the wonderful Amerie and one of the absolute best bands of all time, TLC!!!

Aqua

That night, the fun seemed to never end - at least for the girls!

Emptied bowls of ice cream circled the edges of the bed, along with dozens of chick-flicks. Hilde, Areina, and Relena sat in a circle at the end of the bed, each in their pajamas and with faces covered in lotion. They giggled jubilantly at each other's jokes.

Great, thought Heero blandly, just what I need: A slumber party.

"I know a game!" Hilde shouted above their chatter and laughter. "Truth or dare!"

"Oh no," Areina began. "I do not want to get into this!"

"Aw, is the new girl scared?" Hilde jeered. Areina glared back at her, and accepted.

Deciding that he didn't want to get involved in their childish games, Heero edged toward the back of the room. Suddenly noticing him, Areina pointed and yelled.

"Oh no!" she reprimanded as Heero winced at his revealing. "I'm not enduring this alone! Get over here this instant!"

Heero grunted irritably, and sat down with them. Might as well get it over with.

"First one is for Relena," Hilde began with a sick grin on her face. "Truth or dare?"

After weighing her options, Relena finally decided upon dare. Hilde grinned again; she must have learned it from Duo. "I dare you to...hug Heero!"

Heero winced at the mention of his name, and winced further when Relena gave him a strangling bear hug. He knew he'd puke.

"Okay, my turn!" Relena said, staring Areina down. "Areina; truth or dare?"

"Truth," Areina responded almost immediately.

"Okay," Relena said smoothly, sitting back with a smug look on her face. "Are you a lesbian?"

Heero couldn't believe she had had the gall to ask Areina what they were all wondering. He gazed slack-jawed at her.

Areina, however, was giving the blonde a perverted smile. She stared at the aggressor with a look of sleaze on her face. She took the whole thing as a joke, and grabbed Relena into a kiss that was full of mock- passion. Both withdrew from the kiss, gasping as though from pleasure.

The three girls giggled in unison at Areina's joke. Heero couldn't help but smirk a little himself. It was strange, how much of an affect Areina seemed to have on him. She was the only person in the apartment whose feelings he truly understood, to the point where he felt them with her.

The night continued until the four were far too tired to go on with the charade, and they retired.

* * *

The next day, Quatre couldn't decide on what to do. They all chose to stay home, and he sat on the couch in boredom. He was alone in the room, seeing as Duo was in the shower, Hilde and Relena were in the kitchen doing dishes, Wufei and Heero were training in the gym, Trowa was taking a nap, and Areina was preparing for her performance that night.

He was alone, and he hated being alone.

Areina walked in, he supposed to stop and take a break. She stood in a black sweat suit that outlined her figure. She, sweating in the doorway and staring at the floor, once again strangely took Quatre trying to memorize the dance steps. It was like a portrait.

As she glanced up, he quickly turned away, searching for something else to admire. She came to the sofa and drooped over the piece of furniture with a puff of exhausted breath. As she lay to his left, facing up with her eyes closed, Quatre felt a nervous sweat come over him. It was silly, really: Why should he feel so tense when around her? He was gay. It wasn't as if he had some sort of crush on her.

Or did he?

"What are you doing?" Areina asked in between gasps. He glanced at her, trying desperately not to meet her eyes.

"Not much. Just sitting here, waiting for Trowa to wake up," Quatre replied, a strange crack in his voice.

Areina sat up and stared at him. "It's not fair," she said finally after a long pause. "Why does everyone have love in this apartment but me?"

"But you do have love," he replied almost instantaneously. "We all love you. Even if we don't act like it, we're glad that you came into our lives."

Areina shrugged. More pausing occurred. This is stupid, Quatre thought. Why should there be such a strong silence between us? Almost like Relena and Heero...

Oh no, he thought, realizing what this must mean. She has a crush on me!

She finally broke the silence by giving him a warm hug, thanking him for his kind words.

Trowa walked into the room, with a grave look on his face. He shot a raging glare at Quatre.

"What's wrong, baby face?" Quatre inquired of Trowa. "You look like you just lost your best friend."

"Maybe I did." He opened the kitchen door, but Quatre stopped him quickly.

"What's wrong?" Quatre whispered, catching Areina staring at them both out of the corner of his eye.

"You know what's wrong!" Trowa whispered back harshly. "You and Areina. You two are getting nice and cozy, I can see it all. I can't believe you love her!"

"What?" Quatre accidentally yelled. Bringing his voice back to a whisper, he began once again. "Love her? But, Trowa, that's not true, I love you!"

"Frankly, Quatre, I don't know who you love anymore," Trowa sighed as he closed his eyes. "But I know that the way things are going now, we can no longer be in a sexual relationship."

With that, Trowa pushed past Quatre and slammed the kitchen door. Quatre stood in silence.

* * *

Areina had heard it all: The break-up between Quatre and Trowa. Quatre stood at the door, and began giggling quietly to himself. A tone of rage was in his high-pitched giggles, and his gaze slowly met Areina's.

He began suddenly. "I can't believe you! He yelled as he advanced on her. "See what you just did?" He towered over her small form on the couch.

She stood up to meet his eyes. "Excuse me?" she yelled back, even louder than he had. "What did I do?"

"You just threw away the only hope I had left in life!" he screamed back. "It's all your fault!"

"It's not my fault at all!"

"Yes it is!" he retorted with a look of insanity upon his figure. "If you hadn't hugged me, he wouldn't have done that!"

"I didn't mean the hug in any sort of sexual sense!" Areina argued. "It was just a thing between two friends!"

"I hate you!" Quatre shouted as he brought up a fist. In a flash, his hard knuckles crashed into her face, jabbing her lip in fury.

She brought her face back to look into his. She could feel tears sting lightly at her eyes, not from the pain of the blow but from the pain of his anger upon her. She glared into his eyes.

As soon as the rage had begun, it ceased once more. Quatre's eyes became soft, and he looked at Areina apologetically, staring at her swollen lip.

"Oh, is your lip bleeding?" Quatre said quietly, with a tone of sensitivity in his voice. "I'm sorry. Here, let me see..."

He touched her lip softly with his hand, and she flinched under his fingertip. He stared into her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

To examine the wound better, he opened it slightly with his fingers. She knew that she was bleeding. He wiped some of the red liquid of hurt from her lip, and peered more at her wound.

His aquatic blue eyes trailed up her face, and their faces were drawn close. Half in an effort to cleanse her cut, and half out of desire, Quatre brought his lips onto hers.

They shared a slow kiss, their lips lingering. Soon, Areina could feel Quatre's arms embracing her in a warm grasp.

They quickly pulled away from each other, both gasping out of shock. Areina turned slowly, and sprinted back to her room.

* * *

Sally had to leave just before Areina's performance was about to begin. Hilde wasn't surprised that Wufei was now on the verge of tears. She earnestly hoped that Areina's performance would not be as sad as it was last night.

The curtains opened yet again, to reveal Areina standing in a tank top with the wor "Independence" printed on the front and black jeans. Her hair was simply straight, and she stood alone onstage.

"I think I've found my strength to finally get up and leave," she began with a tone of anger in her voice. "No more broken heart for me.

"No more telling your lies to me," she sang, walking from one side of the stage to the other. Oddly enough, the audience did not cheer nearly as much as they usually did on fast songs like this.

"I'm looking like I got my head on right so now I see," she sang, looking ginto the audience in worry. She looked as if she was searching for something, but couldn't find it. "No more giving you everything."

She forgot about whatever she searched for and continued with her look of anger. "There's no more taking my love from me.

"See my days are cold without you, but I'm hurting while I'm with you," she sang loudly into the microphone - which Hilde thought she really didn't need for the whole audience to hear her.

"And although my heart can't take no more, I can't keep running back to you," she sang, no appearing more sad than before. Hilde became worried that the performer would turn to another sorrowful song.

"You must be used to me crying, while you're out bumping and grinding, but I'm leaving you tonight."

The music turned to a cooler, smoother feel of soul. "My friends say that they just can't see," her voice rang, with the background singers echoing her. "How a love unspoken can be so deep."

The audience simply didn't get into her singing tonight. They were beginning to lose interest. "And every time that you look my way, I see what your heart wants to say to me."

She began rolling her shoulders and shaking her hips to the music. "Every time our eyes meet, be talking talking talking talking to me, talking talking talking talking to me." She sang now with a suave tone that was quite captivating, although the rest of the audience didn't seem to think so. "Cause every time be talking talking talking to me, be talking talking talking to me."

The music stopped once again, and she froze with it. A new melody came, and although Hilde had thought she heard it somewhere before, the audience obviously hadn't, and lost interest entirely.

"A lonely mother gazing out of her window staring at her son that she just can't touch," she chimed with a sense of aching on her tongue. "If at any time he's in a jam she'll be by his side but he doesn't realize he hurts her so much."

Hilde could feel the character in the song pictured in her mind, and for some reason she thought of Heero, a young boy who doesn't understand what he has done with his life. "But all the praying just ain't helping at all cause he can't seem to keep his self out of trouble. So he goes out and he makes his money the best way he knows how.

"Another body laying cold in the gutter, listen to me," she hummed with tragedy in her throat. "Don't go chasing waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to. I know that you're gonna have it your way or nothing at all."

She stared at Heero as she sang. He looked back, with his usual look of disconcern. But Hilde sensed something else in his eyes.

"But I think you're moving too fast," Areina finished with a bow. The room was silent.

Suddenly, shouts rose from the crowd - angry shouts? Yes, angry shouts! The crowd was booing Areina offstage.