Chapter 6: Stupid
"Oh, Ryo," Relena murmured looking at the open velvet box in her hand. "It's a beautiful bracelet, but it must have cost a fortune."
"Don't worry about it." He smiled into her eyes, and she could feel herself melting. "I'd do anything to make you happy."
"Thank you," she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his. Aiden froze in the doorway. His nerves had already been bothering him, and Quatre's insistence that he go up to check on Relena for the night had not set well.
Clearing his throat, Aiden effectively broke the embrace, and both blushed, then gave him odd, nervous glances.
"Quatre asked me to make sure you were settled for the night." They knew that the blonde aristocrat came to check on Relena every night, so nodded their understanding, both wishing that he would go, but for different reasons. For Relena, it was too painful to see the wildly tousled young man, his intense eyes giving her nothing to grasp or hold on to in the way of hope for anything between them. For Ryo, the golden man felt that Aiden was spoiling the lovely mood he had had with Relena.
After Aiden left, he went down for his night shift beneath her balcony. Relena did not know of this vigil, and that was probably why she went through with what she did next. Relena lay on her bed, having asked Ryo not to stay with her that night. They had never been physically intimate, but Ryo often stayed in her room because she wanted him to, in case she had one of her nightmares about the war – or about Heero.
But tonight, she was confused. She knew Ryo wanted to ask her to marry him – he had practically said so as they got off the plane! – but a part of her still belonged to Heero, and she was not sure if she could ever get that piece back.
Relena rolled over, moaning in frustration, then swiftly got up, a defiant light having taken possession of her eyes as she locked the door and marched over to her closet, pulling out a dress Hilde had made her buy. It was dark, almost black, and indecently short. The material was light and floated over her skin as she slipped it on, pulling a pair of nude stockings over her long, slender legs before going to her makeup table and putting on the makeup that Catherine had helped her buy but she had never worn. The blonde locks went up into a slightly disheveled style on her head, and strappy black heels adorned her delicate feet.
Relena stood in her closet and looked at the entire effect in a full-length mirror. The dress fell to show the tops of the creamy mounds of her chest, tightening on its way down to fit her slim waist, then flowing into an immodestly brief skirt. Her legs beneath it seemed as long as Noin's, shimmering because of the sheer fabric clinging to them. Mysterious eyes watched from behind iridescent lids, lips laid heavy with dark crimson, parting slightly with indrawn breath. She did not recognize herself under the disheveled silken hairstyle. It surprised her.
Grabbing the small black bag she'd prepared, Relena turned out all lights and waited for her eyes to adjust before slipping out onto the balcony. Aiden blinked when he saw the almost invisible figure climbing down Relena's balcony and dangling for a moment before dropping to its feet. Standing, the slender figure adjusted itself, checked its clothes, and cast a hunted look around before trotting across the garden toward the compound's outer wall.
Aiden followed out of the compound, frustrated. What was she doing? Was she suicidal?
He continued to follow her along sidewalks until they reached a street lined with clubs.
"Go on," a broad, heavy man nodded, obviously approving of her, and Relena sent him a flirtatious glance from beneath dark lashes before she went into the club. Heero, eat your heart out, she thought wildly, brushing against people as she moved about. A young man with a bare chest gave her an appreciative once-over, and she returned the look, heaving caution to the winds.
Relena refused to think about what she was doing as she followed the guy through the mass of twisting bodies, her purse slung across her body and bouncing uncomfortably against her hip as she moved, the music loud and insistent in her ears. The guy stopped and she bumped into him. She forced herself to relax as he slipped his hands onto her hips and led her in the dance. It was wild and free, and Relena was able to let herself go, her arms lifted above her head and eyes closed as she moved, the shifting lights playing havoc upon her closed lids.
After what might have been hours or moments, she felt herself being transferred to a new partner, but didn't open her eyes right away to see who it was. She brushed up against him a few times, then raised her eyes to the man's face, shock flaring as she saw Heero in front of her. Then, angry, she turned her back against him, moving against him, the beat of the music taking control of her limbs as she taunted this young man cruelly and without a second thought. Finally, after a longer period of time than she would have imagined he'd let this go on, Heero put her away from him, disentangling the slender hand that had unconsciously woven itself into his hair, and led her out of the club with a firm grip on her elbow.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked when they were on the sidewalk and away from the crowds.
"Living," she shot back, her eyes daring as she leaned forward and challenged him.
He ignored the amount of skin he could now see and glared back into her face. "You're just lucky no assassins tried their luck on your way over here."
"What do you care?" her voice held a wild careening note. "Is your precious mission going to be jeopardized?"
Aiden felt a twinge, but refused to back down. "You're being reckless."
"I'm human!" she yelled, keeping the tears back by sheer will, "I can't help it that I need something more sometimes!"
"Isn't that what Ryo's for?" he replied, dark blue eyes unconsciously narrowing.
Relena caught something of the underlying emotion in his manner and moved close to him, looking up into his face with a purely reckless light. "Why? Jealous?" Her face was close to his and Aiden, for an impossibly lucid moment, stared at her lips. The color she had put on them was deep in the darkness of night, looking almost black and slightly wet.
Plump, ripe lips, perfect for kissing . . .
Aiden turned away, shaking himself mentally as he pondered her words.
"You need something else?" he glanced at her, and she nodded slightly, not really having expected any real response to that comment. Aiden grinned, shocking the girl, and grabbed her hand to race along the street with her, gaining a corner and signaling a cab. "I have just the thing." In the cab, he suggested she wipe some of her makeup off, and she complied with a tissue from her purse.
"Heero," Relena commented as they got out at a clean, respectable hotel. "I didn't really mean . . ." she stopped as he put two fingers to her lips, eyes shining with something she'd never seen in him before. Was it happiness?
"C'mon," they went inside and passed through the lobby, pushing the button to the elevator. The man behind the desk looked at them askance and started to come over.
"Excuse me, but do you have a room here? We really don't run that sort of establishment." the little weasel of a man looked Relena up and down in distaste, and Aiden stepped forward.
"Please tell room 105 that they have guests on the way." The weasel-man blinked, looked at Relena again, back at Aiden, and nodded dumbly. Thankfully, the elevator came before he could say anything else and Aiden pulled her onto it.
In the first floor hallway, Aiden stopped at door 105 and slid his electronic key into the slot. He opened the door a crack. "Wait here," he told Relena, and she stood out of the way.
"Hey!" a man's voice on the other side said, and Heero smiled again, a rare treat Relena was just getting used to, and whispered.
"Is everyone decent? I have a surprise."
"Yeah, yeah, the others are watching TV, and I was just reading. What's the surprise?"
"Her."
Relena came forward into the man's view as he swung the door open wider to let them in, and he blinked, then grinned. "Yamashi is going to love you forever."
Relena couldn't help staring at the man's familiar eyes, but didn't have the time to connect him to Heero as the latter mentioned young man led her inside with a hand on the small of her back. As they entered the hotel room's small living room, a petite body saw them through the open bedroom door as Heero peeked in, and then the child raced at them, flinging herself at Heero.
"NII-SAN!"
Relena found herself staring almost dumbly at Heero as he swung a fragile-looking child around in his arms, both of them seeming as happy as Quatre in a room full of kittens. (Or Dorothy in a room full of Quatres, but we won't go there.)
Nii-san? Big brother?
"Oi, Kia-chan, were you a good girl while I was gone?"
"HAI!" the child screamed.
"Re-re-re-re-re-re-heh heh heh heh . . ." Relena turned again toward the door, still not over her shock of finding out that Heero was a big brother, and found herself staring at a smaller version of Heero, looking much like he was when she first met him, but with brown eyes instead of blue. "Hi . . ." the boy stared, a look of euphoria plastered dumbly onto his face as he slumped against the doorjamb.
"Excuse Yamashi," a woman with long, wildly brown hair said, edging politely past her son. "He's been a fan of yours for a long time."
Aiden watched Relena's reaction to his family from under the cover of holding Kia. She was shocked, no doubt, but he saw her recollecting her wits. Her mouth closed, and she made an effort to smile.
"Pardon me," she shook herself. "I have been rude and not presented myself." Bowing as deeply to his parents as her skirt would allow (for they had to be his parents), she stated politely, "I am Relena Darlian."
Aiden noted his parents' smiles, and could tell they thought she was charming. He held his breath as they introduced themselves, then pretended to be playing with Kia's hand as Relena sent him a brief, curious glance.
"Have you eaten yet tonight?" his mother asked, noting her thinness, "We were just about to order something."
"I . . ." Relena thought for a moment, flushing because she was thrown off by the question and felt that she had to answer quickly. "No," she felt her face flame and wildly looked anywhere but at a person, her gaze darting like that of a trapped animal, "I . . . have not been up to eating lately."
Aiden watched his mother become concerned for her nutrition. "Then let us get you something. I'm sure no one would mind you eating with us for a bit."
Relena blushed again, "No one really knows where I am."
Aiden's mother shot him a look, but he was busy thinking about the possibility of calling Zechs. The wavelength could be picked up by assassins and tracked to where they were, if they had not already followed them there. Aiden cursed himself silently. I'm being sloppy. But he was pretty sure that he would have noticed someone following them, and a Preventer was staked out as a janitor on the first floor with orders to call up at the first sign of trouble, as well as the two in the rooms on either side.
Duo had kept his promise in being thorough.
"Then it's settled," Aiden tuned in to the conversation just as it was ending. "I'll get you your usual, Aiden," she was saying, "and some chicken lomein for Miss Darlian. Come on, Yamashi, Kia." Aiden watched in baffled alarm as his mother started to pull Yamashi out with them and Kia protested to leaving. But before he could think to do anything, Relena saved him.
"Oh, she can stay if she wants," Relena waved a negligent hand from where she sat on the small couch, and Kia grinned.
Aiden's father looked at her in concern, "Are you sure she won't bother you?"
"Of course not," Relena gave a warm smile that brooked no further argument, and the man realized why she was one of the best politicians on Earth and the Colonies.
"All right then," he followed his wife and son out the door, closing it behind him on the boy's protests.
"Yay!" Kia squirmed from her brother's hold and wiggled onto Relena's lap, shoving the short skirt up so that the young woman blushed and tugged at it as the little girl hugged her. Aiden, realizing her discomfiture with a jolt, looked modestly away until she had straightened it.
"Has something been worrying you?" Aiden finally asked, sitting in an armchair and crossing his long legs. "I have noticed your lack of appetite."
Relena looked away, uncomfortable. "Ryo's going to ask me to marry him soon."
Aiden went still at this, but forced himself to relax. "Do you love him?"
The painting on the wall suddenly seemed extremely inspiring to Miss Darlian, and Aiden had to ask his question again, more insistent. She transferred her gaze to Kia who was now on the floor with her Pretty Pink Gundams.
"In a way. . . ." Relena whispered.
"There's a problem," he asked, making it a statement.
"Yes," she held her chin steady by force of will, but the fog in her eyes refused to go away.
Aiden suddenly remembered Duo's words: You know she's still in love with you. She carries that damn teddy bear everywhere. His first impulse was to ask her straight out, but he forced himself to be discreet and gentle. "Is there someone else?"
She nodded tremulously, the Pretty Pink Gundams now the most interesting thing on the planet.
He started to ask who, but Kia got up and pulled herself onto the chair beside him, wrapping her little arms around his neck and asking him in a voice soft but just loud enough for Relena to hear. "Nii-san, is Relena-san going to be my new sister?"
"Um. . . ." was the extent of his eloquence as a blush rose up from his neck and covered his face, ears, and head.
He couldn't look at Relena just then, because he was so embarrassed, but he heard her half-giggling sob, and turned to see her laughing as the tears spilled over and made their way down her cheeks.
"Relena," he said, distressed, and went to put his arm around her, trying to make her stop crying. "Sh, sh, don't cry." He murmured nonsense, trying to do for her what he'd seen his mother do when Kia had a nightmare. "Don't cry. Come on, sh, sh."
"Your parents probably think I'm a slut," she got out into his shoulder mournfully, and he chuckled against her, assuring her otherwise. His words rumbled into her ear and she found herself wildly comparing this with Ryo's whispers to her. His had never made this thrill go down her spine . . .
Her face was against his shoulder as the rain of sobs finally softened, and Kia came up to sit on her lap and hug her too.
"I love you, Relena-san," the little girl said.
Relena hugged the child impulsively, more tears streaming down her face as she held the girl close. "I love you too, Kia." After a moment, she pulled back, and both looked a little rumpled, but pleased.
"And we all love Nii-san!" Kia threw herself onto Aiden, who caught her just in time from knocking him off the couch. "At least," the child squirmed around on his lap, turning to face Relena, "Duo-san said you did, and I know I do." She smiled brightly at her own logic. "So we all love Nii-san!" Kia kicked her feet, leaning against her brother's chest, and didn't see the startled blush rising up Relena's face.
"Kia . . ." Aiden started in a pained voice, but Relena interrupted him by standing.
"I should go," she hurried to the door and had opened and was out of it before he could even completely remove Kia from his lap.
"Stay here," he told his sister sharply, and she nodded, staring with wide eyes as her nii-san left to follow the pretty lady.
"Relena!" Aiden saw the elevator doors finish closing and could not get it to come back up, so he ran to the emergency stairwell and ripped the door open, dashing down the three flights and bursting into the lobby just as he saw a man level a gun at Relena – who was looking at him. "Move!" he yelled, rushing forward as the sound of a gunshot echoed in the room, and shoved her behind a potted palm tree, pressing himself to the plant behind her as he reached into the back of his waistband and got his gun. Crouching quickly, he stuck his head and gun arm around the side of the plant and clicked off two shots at the man, who managed to move before he was seriously injured. Just then, he caught sight of his family in the glass entrance doors, carrying bags and talking. But as Yamashi started to come in, his father noticed the bleeding janitor on the floor just inside and pulled the boy back.
Aiden hissed in pain as something tore the skin at his arm, just grazing him, and shot a few more times at the man who effectively hid behind the reception desk.
"Heero!" Relena turned, concerned about him, and stumbled into the open area of the room.
Aiden saw the assassin leveling his shot, and moved with all the quickness due a former Gundam Pilot. His body slammed into Relena as he brought her down under him, barely registering the pain that flashed through him as he twisted and pulled the trigger, hitting the other man dead in the chest.
"Aiden?" his mother's worried voice floated to him through the pain, and he looked up to see her in the too bright lights of the hotel lobby.
"Are you all right? You've been shot," he could hear Relena's now, but hers was less anxious. The last thing to register before he fell into the inky blackness was his father's question: "Where's Kia?"