Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. Too tired to come up with anything beyond that.
Chapter 14: The Silent Wind is the Strongest
Treize was not usually a man to be provoked – he was too collected, too calm, and had too many connections to high places. But that day, it seemed as if the sky had fallen and everything, his entire existence, had all come tumbling down.
He was receiving a reprimand.
He knew it could have been worse, much, much worse. He could have been locked behind bars for a few dozen years.
The man that had shot Hiiro Yui was found and an autopsy was performed. The suspicions were primarily directed at him because he was head of the sector that agent was in and everybody knew the relationship between Yui and him had always been more than a little rough.
However, the autopsy revealed that the man had been drinking alcohol previous to the attempted murder and after Treize pulled a few strings and called in a few favors, the case was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
So close to having been convicted. There was so much circumstantial evidence against him. He had called the man into his office a few nights before. He had hated Hiiro Yui's guts. Everything pointed to him.
But he wasn't convicted.
And Yui had better watch his step from now on.
…………………
"According to Ami's instructions, I'm supposed to change your bandages every twenty-four hours." Usagi walked into the room, the list of things to do held in front of her face.
"I'll do it myself."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh c'mon, Hiiro. Quit being such a sissy!"
"A sissy?"
"What, are you afraid that I'll dab my hands in bacteria so that your wound will fester and you'll die of a 108 degree fever in a week?"
He stared at her. "I am definitely changing it myself."
"Haha. Stand up."
Reluctantly, he got up and tried to glare at her but it was too difficult to glare at somebody who was so intent on helping him.
Her expression turned serious as she gently unwound the strip of bandage and dabbed a cotton ball into a bottle of alcohol. Her cool, slender fingers brushed against warm skin as she inspected where the bullet had entered his body. She smelled faintly of antibacterial soap and for some insane reason, it and her proximity to him was maddeningly enticing. He groaned softly to himself and cursed his overworking sex drive.
She didn't seem to notice.
"This is going to sting," she warned him before carefully, almost apologetically, wiping the injury. "Does it hurt?"
He wanted to curse and growl, "Of course it hurts, damn it!" but instead settled with a simple, "No."
The gentle brushing against his chest stopped and he looked down to see why. Usagi shot him a skeptical look and laughed.
"You're such a bad liar, Hiiro."
"Shut up."
It only seemed to make her laugh harder.
…………………
Artemis sighed frustratedly and tried to concentrate on the new batch of missions his secretary just brought in for the week but found that he couldn't.
He was almost glad when the secretary opened the line between the two of them and said, "Miss Darlian is on line one."
"Put her through."
Relena smiled at him on the vid-com.
"Is this a secure line?" was her first question.
He looked at her in mock disbelief. "I'd think after working with Innocence for three years, you'd know that all of our lines are secure."
"You're not good at being egotistic, Artemis," she warned but smiled nevertheless. "I just want to keep in touch with Innocence despite-"
"Despite clear orders not to?"
She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah. Besides, I want to find out what's going on over there in Calais."
"I see. Are you going to be backing us financially?"
"And through my influence. Just like old times. Except I won't tag along with you guys anymore."
"About time," he muttered. "Well, the silent wind is always the strongest."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever." Relena shook her head and rolled her eyes but smiled. "Has Usagi or Hiiro contacted you in any way?"
When Artemis didn't answer, she frowned. "Are you okay, Artemis?"
"I don't want either of them to contact me because I don't want to know."
Relena blinked bemusedly.
"I saw something in Usagi's eyes when we first arrived … something more powerful than panic. Something that was directed completely to that bastard Yui."
Relena shook her head disapprovingly. "Give it up, Artemis. You can't keep on hating every fed out there."
"Watch me."
"Honestly! You men are absolutely impossible."
He arched an eyebrow. "And women aren't?"
"But truly … you can't keep on hating Hiiro Yui because that thing you saw in Usagi's eyes was … well-"
Artemis panicked. "If you say love, I'll have to kill you."
Relena grinned. "Give me a break, Art. You know it was love and so do I. If she knows it too then you're going to have to get along with Hiiro Yui if you want to get along with Usagi Tsukino."
"Why do you have to always be right?"
She beamed at him. "Stop being the overprotective older brother, Art. Usagi can decide for herself whether or not she's interested in Hiiro."
"But she's everything to me!" he protested and realized it was true.
"And that won't change even if she loves Hiiro. Her love for you won't diminish in any way, knowing Usagi."
"Are you sure?"
Relena laughed. "You look like a five-year-old like that, Art."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, yes. I'm sure. Since I'm always right, and all." She smiled at Artemis's indignant face and twinkled her fingers at him. "Talk to you later."
"B-bu-"
The screen turned black.
…………………
Fairly boring chapter. I skimmed the next few chapters and, personally, I don't think it gets particularly interesting until … ahhh … well … it never gets really interesting but … hopefully it won't bore you to sleep from next chapter on. Heh heh. As always, thanks for reading. Yours, Angel.
Firefly Princess: Ah … heh heh. Blushes. Don't worry about reviewing late! Better late than never! :D I meant for Hiiro to faint mainly because of his physical state but … I think your suggestion/speculation makes more sense. ^^;;; Usagi? Poor girl? Heh heh … wait until later.
Crazygurl70: Thank you so much! ^^ Heh heh … posh. :D Err ... rainbows…? Hahaha … niiiice. ^___~
Jemjols: You updated! I am so very proud of you … now when are you going to update again? Heh heh. :D I think the ending is happy! But … very often a lot of people don't agree with me on my idea of happy/sad. Odd, ne?
Naiad: It's okay about the chest tube. Heh … kind of relieved that you didn't know … heh. Genkai and the blue-haired guy a couple? Wow … But I'd heard a while back that Genkai was going to die (and she did in the episode on Wednesday) so I was kind of dreading it … But I'm fairly happy that she didn't die in an actual match of the tournament. So cool that she won years back though! I seriously dislike Taguro (sp?). Poor Yuuske … sigh. Genkai was pretty as a girl … the voice was a bit weird and she was half Taguro's height when they stood next to each other (heh ^^) but I think she is very cool. ^^;;; Anyhow … sorry for all this babbling.
Thanks to everybody who reviewed! ^^
