Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. :P

Thanks go to Ashika for editing. :D (Yes, this time it's for real! :DDD)

Warnings: It starts out horribly. :P And yes, there is a cliffhanger. :D

Chapter 9: One Way Street

"So! Anything good on TV?" she chirped as she sat down next to him, glancing towards the flickering screen.

"Mostly soap operas."

"Oh." The graceful lilt of French filled her ears before a raucous knock on the door jerked her out of her thoughts. "Yay! Food's here!"

After tipping the delivery boy, Usagi grabbed two forks and paper plates out of the cupboards and walked back to the sofa, handing Hiiro his share of the order.

She made a face as the woman on the screen suddenly went from laughing to sobbing. "What's her problem?" she muttered to herself before changing the channel … to another soap opera.

"I give up," she sighed and left the channel there. Silence consumed the two as Usagi munched on celery sticks. She shifted uncomfortably.

"You still haven't forgiven me for lying to you, have you?" She glanced sideways at him.

He didn't glance up, but she saw his right eye tic. "Is it that obvious?"

Usagi blinked and cracked a small smile. "Maybe I can just read you like a book."

A snort answered her. Again, silence filled the room, and the stream of gentle French continued, unperturbed.

"What do you want, Hiiro? How can I pay you back?" Getting the question out felt good. If he didn't answer, that was his problem – she had done what was expected of her.

The answer came much more quickly than she had thought it would. "Tell me your past."

Her answer shot out just as quickly. "Yeah right."

"Why?"

She shrugged simply, crunching on another celery stick. "I don't trust you enough." Her words sounded characteristically American next to the hushed flow of French in the background.

His face darkened. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really." She paused and thought out her answer. "I just don't think you should know."

"I'll find out."

A short bark of a laugh answered him. "Sure you will."

The flow of French resumed.

"What can be so bad about it?" he mused to himself and looked askance at her.

She rolled her eyes. "My life is not all jewels and intrigue, you know. I don't have a royal cushion waiting for me back at Innocence."

"It isn't as if my life is so much simpler," he argued tonelessly, arms crossed over chest, meal finished.

Her head jerked right, and her eyes sought his. "You're so naïve, Hiiro. You think your life as it was defines hell but … you don't understand the degrees of hell."

"Naïve…" The word tasted bitter in his mouth. "I killed innocents."

She laughed again. "Oh, back to that, are we? More than half the people in the war had killed innocents, Hiiro. Not just you. YOU'RE hated because you killed innocents but so did a majority of other soldiers. Very few people are guiltless in wars..." She sighed and looked aside.

"Very few people know what I actually do. They think I'm some conniving thief out to get her hands on some priceless jewels. Don't you see how much easier you've got it, Hiiro? Don't you see that I'M hated because I'm Usagi Tsukino?" The blonde stood up and slowly walked towards her door, as if waiting for a reply.

Finally, he turned and stared at her, eyes dark and intense. "I'll find out," he repeated.

"Sure you will, Hiiro." The door closed behind her.

…………………

Usagi swallowed hard, wishing the lump at her throat away. Up until the altercation with Hiiro, she had never quite realized that the path she had chosen was a one way street.

Her past would never be erased, and her name would forever be entombed in an archive of most crafty criminals. Her life would never be wiped clean again.

If she left the wing of protection Innocence provided, she would become a vulnerable target, a limping antelope at the end of the pack.

If she stayed with Innocence, her morals would never again be fulfilled, and she would spend her life hating herself.

Tears burned the corners of her eyes and the back of her throat. She laid her head upon her folded arms and welcomed the soft embrace of slumber.

…………………

He leaned back into the sofa as the TV clicked off with a small flash. Her eyes blazed in his mind, oddly serene and not at all angry. She had just admitted that her name would be forever blemished in the world's eyes yet …

And this past that she guarded so well, lashing out at every person who dared to come close … what exactly was so horrible about it?

He sighed. A week had passed since he picked up a blonde wonder in Calais, and the week had been filled with every possible temptation. He still had a month to go…and it'd be a miracle if he came out of this unscathed.

Glancing at her closed door, regret gouged at his heart, but he didn't know why.

…………………

One electric blue eye slid open in the darkness before lids covered it again and she sighed in her sleep, adjusting her position.

But comfort didn't come to her and with a frustrated groan, she sat up, arms numb from hours of inactivity and head heavy after hours of sleep. She looked blearily out the blinds, frowning. Night had already fallen.

But what was bothering her was … what had woken her up? She looked around her darkened room nervously before slowly getting up and carefully turning on the light. Nobody was there.

Her twisted paper clip clinked lightly as she jiggled it in the lock. The door slowly swung open.

She froze.

A shadow flitted.

A slight scrabble of fingernails on plastic echoed.

The cold metal of a small firearm made contact with her left temple.

…………………

Treize yawned tiredly as he looked out at the nightscape of New York City and smiled thoughtfully to himself. In about an hour, his problems would be over.

There was nothing he despised more than disobedient underlings.

…………………

"Don't move," a masculine voice whispered. She could barely make out his figure in the dark.

Good. That means he can barely make out mine, too.

Panic didn't register in her mind as the man led her towards the open window. Her hand dug into her jacket pocket for the Glock she had stolen from Hiiro, and her heart started thumping erratically when numb fingertips brushed against the sleek metal.

Her eyes made out the form of the couch, and she purposely tripped over its corner. The man beside her muttered a curse.

"Get up."

She fumbled the gun until it was hidden behind her hunched form. Crouching, she piteously whimpered, "I think I twisted my ankle."

The man beside her sucked his breath in nervously and shifted from foot to foot. Finally, perhaps in a less harsh than he wished for tone, he said, "I don't care. Get up."

Her knees still bent, she got up slowly and strove to straighten them. She collapsed again, lying against the floor…

And shot up at the man.

He slumped onto the couch without a sound.

…………………

Relena rubbed her eyes tiredly and blinked down at her work, trying to decipher the symbols that Spain passed as its language.

"I really should have demanded a translator," she muttered darkly to herself, cursing her diplomatic ways.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do had always been one of her most used adages. Prior to this conference, she had crammed to remember the high school Spanish she had trudged through. It was proper and very impressive for a politician in her field of work to try and make the target think she was one of them. In this case, it had worked out nicely…

Until now.

The onset of a headache waited at the back of her mind like a coiled cobra as Relena flipped the Spanish dictionary open once again.

…………………

Her eyes roved around the room again to make sure there were no other people. To be on the safe side, she didn't turn on the lights and walked over to the man, flipping through his pockets to look for ID.

A wallet fell out of one jacket pocket and flipped open in front of her. Her breath stuck at her throat, and her mind raced.

The man was part of the FBI.

She crept to the open window and dropped her twisted paper clip out, hoping if the man had any accomplices, they would show up.

Nothing.

She dropped the man's wallet.

Still nothing.

A small sigh of relief fluttered past her lips before a sudden, puzzled thought struck her – where was Hiiro?

She walked back towards the middle of the room and stumbled over a body. One that wasn't of the man she had just shot.

"Hiiro?" she whispered, bending down onto one knee. "Hiiro … wake up." She shook his shoulder but jerked her hand back when it brushed against something wet.

No movement.

Nothing.

Her hand shakily reached over to the light switch and flipped it on.

Usagi screamed and jumped back.

…………………

Tenshi_Chikyuu: You noticed! :glomps:

Ashika: Lol … you didn't. ^___~ But I was too lazy to go back and change it. :D

Alexz: Thanks! :D

Celestial Moon: Here's the next chapter! :D (and the next cliffhanger. )

Obsessed: Lol. Didn't you mother ever tell you that suck ups go places in this world? ^^;;; But thanks anyway. :D I'm actually not so sure it'll be as dark as it was going to be … more like … angsty. And a little more political, I guess. :D

Ishtar: I'm really sorry. I dedicated it but then I didn't realize it wasn't in the beginning of the chapter until after you reviewed. I've changed it! But I'm really sorry. Personally, I think that was very disrespectful of me.

Li-chan: I guess this is what he meant … right? Hmm … :D Nope … no more good things for Hiiro and Usagi for a LONG time. :D I love this… ^^;;;

Serena Yuy: Lol. I just threw the Relena Darlian part in because I felt like it. Lol. And Relena is going to be somewhat important in this fic and I wanted her to be in you guys' minds. :D LOL. "hope not, cause I don't think it's possible to have a relationship with a dead guy." LOL. Have you ever tried? ^____~ I'm saying nothing. :D

Jupiter Angel: The day I write a fic that doesn't have Hiiro and Usagi fall in love … will not be this year. :D Or at least … this month. Lol. The senshi aren't really part of anything … I changed the prologue because I didn't want to complicate the fic even more. I should've told everybody but … it was only one sentence and I didn't feel like it. :D But lol. You have this fic planned out better than I do! O___o

Thanks everybody for your support! Now it's just down to this, Picture This, Shards of Truth, and the Bachelor! Yay! ^^ Happy reading! Yours, Angel.