Disclaimer: Nope, nothing has changed since last update. I have not recently won the lottery and bought Gundam Wing or Sailor Moon. I'll notify you of further updates. ^^;;;

Thanks go to Ashika for editing! Ah! You're back! Huggles. ^^ (that is such a cute word … huggles. ^^;;;)

Chapter 15: Shadow in the Night

Quatre stared blankly at the large legal-sized folder marked with the dark, bold letters, "confidential". His hand slowly reached for it and carefully, almost reverently, he broke the protective seal and breathed in deeply. Innocence's fate rested in the documents the folder contained.

"Mr. Winner, you have a visitor. She insisted on coming in." His secretary looked more than a bit miffed at having been disobeyed by said visitor but ducked her head obediently as he nodded his consent. Relena Darlian strode into the room, face drawn and weary, the same look of apprehension and anxiety on her face as he was positive marred his.

"Quatre," she stated simply, nodding her head cordially before seating herself opposite of him. She knew what she was there for and so did he. No words passed between them as he slowly flipped through the substantial stack of papers from the folder. None were needed to express the matter that would result depending on the results and conclusions drawn from the private report.

His heart thudded in his ears and the ticking of the clock seemed to drown out almost all other sounds in the room. He could feel her gaze on him as he searched for the words he wanted and dreaded the ones he feared.

Quatre broke into a smile.

"Innocence's allegations refuted," he read aloud, voice hoarse but proud.

Instead of seeing Relena's joyful expression, as he had expected, Quatre looked up to see Relena looking down, troubled.

"Miss Relena?"

"What does this spell for Innocence? How would the ESUN possibly believe this?"

Quatre paused and stared at her. "Listen to yourself, Miss Relena. You don't sound at all as you should. Remember, you," he fixed her with a sharp gaze though she still refused to look up, "are the Vice Foreign Minister. You are one of the most highly trusted government officials. Are you backing out now? Is this the girl who, at age sixteen, stood in front of the world and accepted her position as its Queen?"

Nothing disturbed the pause that followed except the faint, faraway clicking of his secretary's keyboard and the distant sound of a TV outside, turned to CNN all day long.

"Y-you're right." He leaned back in relief as Relena smiled and nodded determinedly. "But what might we do with Innocence?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Innocence doesn't pose as a threat to the government and the ESUN knows that. Therefore, unless our government is really far more corrupted than I had imagined, there is nothing to fear. The ESUN has nothing to hold against Innocence, especially since Artemis is so good at hiding his tracks."

"Innocence will remain … intact?"

Quatre mirrored Relena's smile as both took in the literal and connotative meaning of the statement. "I see nothing wrong with it. Artemis Danilo is a stubborn man, deadly even, if he wishes to be. We should be glad he is what he is. His purity of belief might save Innocence and our world, after all."

"There is only one problem left…"

"Problem?"

"Tsukino Usagi."

…………………

Artemis had always been famed to be a willful man and through the past two days, Hiiro realized how much of this characteristic had rubbed off on Usagi. For a moment, the thought of the silver-haired man unleashed a vague sense of unease at the pit of his stomach, and he unconsciously clenched his jaw in annoyance.

Artemis had everything. He was pursuing his dream and attaining it fairly efficiently, as easily seen through the quantitative records of Innocence. He was in charge of his life, following the path he wanted to, and didn't regret anything. And he had … Usagi…

Hiiro Yui's life had always been a mess, and even he knew that. Every good thing that had ever happened to him had been a mishap, an accident. Relena was first. Duo, second. Usagi, third. But every planned step in his chosen path had led to disaster after disaster.

Artemis Danilo was twenty-two, in the prime of his life, and ready to go beyond his dream and step into life.

Hiiro Yui was twenty-two, in the prime of his life, and ready to die.

…………………

Tsukino Usagi. Relena's utterance of the name still echoed in his mind as he stared at the number on the post-it note in front of him. He had heard of Treize Khushrenada, a relentless man who rose quickly to second-in-command, Chief of Deputies, in the FBI. He also had heard glowing reports of the man as he climbed the ladder to success and had to admit that Treize Khushrenada fitted the job description almost perfectly.

With Usagi Tsukino, Quatre had to admit that Treize was simply doing his job and doing a pretty damn good job of it had Hiiro not turned the tables. It would be hard to convince one so devoted to his work to let one of the ESUN's ten most wanted to slip through his fingers without a fight. But Quatre had trained for years in the art of persuasive speaking.

"FBI in New York City, what can I do for you?"

"I would like to speak with Mr. Khushrenada."

"Is Mr. Khushrenada expecting this call?"

"No."

"Mr. Khushrenada is not accepting any calls at the current moment. Might you call back at another hour?" The female voice at the other end now sounded bored, as if she had recited this line a thousand times and over, which Quatre didn't doubt.

"Tell him Quatre Winner is on the line and wishes to discuss with him the matters involving Tsukino Usagi."

The voice faltered and Quatre smiled to himself. His name had an amazing way of opening doors.

"B-but of course, Mr. Winner. I'll put you through right away."

"I appreciate it."

…………………

"Hiiro? Are you awake?"

He didn't budge, and she sighed to herself, easing her body through the doorway and tiptoeing to the seat she had moved beside his bed. She peered at him closely. "Hiiro?" she whispered in the darkness, just in case, and received no response.

Usagi sat down in the chair next to the bed and smiled into the darkness. "You know, you really scared me with that whole bleeding to death scenario. Especially since I couldn't speak enough French to even get the operator to get me a doctor." She laughed softly at this. "But those three hours together with help on the way … it suddenly seemed as if … everything around me changed. The things I cared about were forgotten and the things I couldn't care less about were more important than my own life."

There was a pause as she sat, blinking back tears, in the dark. "I told you my past. I tried everything I could to save you but … I guess you wouldn't know that. But it wasn't until this afternoon that I finally confronted my worries and realized that … everything I'd said was true. I…I do care about you Hiiro … maybe even to the extreme of love."

Another pause resulted as she let the words sink in, both for him and herself.

"But it's so difficult to believe in it. Every time you wake up, ordering me to bring you your cell phone so that you might call Treize … don't you realize that's what they want you to do? I worry about you, Hiiro. But I can honestly swear to you that I have enough power to make sure there isn't any danger until I say so." Her last words came out determinedly, in a short and vehement whisper as she stood up and stared a moment longer at him, lingering. Hesitantly, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his cheek.

"Sweet dreams, Hiiro."

The stripe of light upon the cream carpet thinned away to nothing.

………………….

"Hello, Mr. Winner." Treize's voice sounded syrupy-sweet in his ear and Quatre winced. It was another thing his name was particularly good at – attracting suck-ups and gold-diggers like a magnet.

"Mr. Khushrenada," he began pleasantly, "I would like to discuss one Usagi Tsukino if you don't mind. I believe she is on your ten most wanted criminals list…" He let the sentence waver and hang in the air.

Treize's voice instantly changed from saccharine sweet to forced as he barely squeezed out a grudging "Yes? What about Usagi Tsukino?"

Quatre frowned at the roadblock and looked up to his ceiling, trying to approach the question he was about to ask and realizing there was no nicer way of saying it. "What are the chances of her being acquitted of all previous crimes?"

The answer was as quick as the question was hesitant. "None." Treize's voice, by then, was tight and cold, the anger barely suppressed and only done because he was Quatre Winner. It was obvious that being second in command at the FBI didn't do much for Treize's chance of becoming easy-going and flexible.

"What is she accused of?"

"Mr. Winner, not to be impolite, but what are you getting at?" From Treize's tone of voice, it was clear that he didn't give much about being impolite or not.

"Curiosity. Though … suppose Innocence wasn't on Miss Tsukino's record. Might she have a chance at being acquitted? Hypothetically speaking, of course."

"No."

Quatre frowned and leaned forward in his seat. In a nonchalant and clearly self-possessed voice, he asked, "And what else might she be accused of?"

"First degree murder of Duo Maxwell."

Quatre blinked as the line went dead. He was surprised that Treize's ego allowed him to have even lasted long enough to tell him the accusation but the last bit of news transcended the meaning of surprising.

…………………

Hiiro blinked up at the ceiling and slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position. It was dark outside and even darker in the room. The curtains fluttered as a breeze blew through the open window, chilling the air around him. He didn't know what had woken him up and scanned the shadowed room suspiciously, peering into the dark corners and moving as silently and slowly as possible.

He vaguely remembered Usagi coming into the room while he pretended to be asleep. Her words and the raw emotion bleeding through them remained fresh and vibrant in his mind, and the shock at her thinking she was in love with him would not fade for at least another few days.

Hiiro remembered looking up at her through slitted eyes as she talked and remembered the otherworldly effect that the single ray of artificial light from the kitchen outside had on her dark golden hair and half-shadowed face. Her light blue eyes were so shaded that they almost looked black, and at her promise to keep danger away, Usagi looked much more intimidating than he had remembered.

But now the house was quiet with the clock the only sound, but only if he listened hard. There was not a single sound; no cars passed by. So what had woken him up?

A shadow twitched and his eyes flew to it. A tendril of fear crawled up his spine, something that he wasn't too familiar with. His wounded and weak state was frustrating and for the first time in his life, Hiiro Yui feared that he might die. Though Heaven knew why he cared.

The shadow leapt forward as Hiiro scrambled out of bed. Before he could move another inch, the figure was out the window. Hiiro rushed to the ledge and stared outside. A dark figure was already yards away, sprinting to the nearest gathering of shadow.

He vaguely remembered a figure dressed in all black with bright eyes that flickered to him. Hiiro returned to bed, shaken, and decided he couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. Instead, he tried to sort through his memories of what had happened and what it might have meant. The only thing he had been sure about that night was that not one word was to be said about any of this to Usagi.

…………………..

Ahh … the phone call was so off. I can almost definitely say that that is not how the FBI handle their phone calls. Heh … ^^;;; Someone a long time ago had mentioned that they wished to see a certain character in this fic and … only in the middle of March (when I wrote this chapter …heh heh. ^^;;;) did I extemporaneously decide to throw that character in…it's not that much of a surprise, I don't think. You'll see! ^^ Thanks for reading! Yours, Angel.

Mogui: Ah! I'm so flattered! Those comments … especially coming from you! ^^;;;

Serena Yuy: Lol … "Heero. Safe." ^^ I think Treize's role in this kind of diminishes from now on … however … in the future I hope to delve more in his character instead of using him as a pure and simple bad guy. Lol. Ah well…

Firefly Princess: Your reviews always make my day! So sweet! ^^ But if I wanted to become a professional writer, first I'll have to at least pass Callie-chan. Heh heh.

Naiad: Hiiro a sissy … heehee. It made me want to laugh so I threw it in there. ^^;;; Usagi has been very abusive of him in this fic … lol … first naïve and now sissy. ^^ Too much homework? Hmm … school is almost over over here (by this Friday) … but I think our school system finishes a bit earlier because we start early. Heh … that was completely pointless. ^^;;; Ack! I was so disappointed when they restarted YYH without my watching the last episode they broadcasted … did Yusuke and co finish the final round? Did Kurama fight yet? (Heh ^^;;;) I'm assuming they didn't finish the Dark Tournament completely because it couldn't possibly take just two eps (or three … I missed all of the ones with them at the finals. ) to defeat Taguro and co. Hmm … this was such a long note. Heh. ^^;;;

Jupiter Angel: I didn't bother to include a lot of people. Heh. Hopefully they'll come in later if I decide to go ahead and do a sequel … I'm not sure. And I promise I'll find time to go through your stories! Summer's almost here so I'll be able to do it soon. ^^

Princess2000204: Hmm … Rel/Art … what an interesting theory. Well … it was either that or Rel/Quatre but really … I didn't have any couples planned besides Usa/Hiiro and, in the beginning, Usa/Duo and Usa/Mamo. ^^;;;

Thanks everybody for reviewing! ^^