Growing Hearts

By: Lady DeathAngel

Disclaimer: don't own them, don't sue me.

Warnings: violence, slight language

A/N: Well, here's another chapter. You know, the one I should have put up last time I updated instead of putting up the same chapter twice. :p Anyway, I'm really sorry that updates are so few and far between, but even during the summer I don't have enough time. ::Sigh:: Anyway, please read, enjoy, and review!

Five Years Later

Hilde, Duo, and Solo were a very happy trio indeed. They had been knighted only a few days before, and were very excited about it. Especially Hilde, not just because it mean that she was finally strong, smart, and grown up, but because she'd done it with no one being the wiser about her true gender.

Granted she still felt a little guilty. After all, a knight's code did entail honesty at all costs. But how else could she have achieved her goal? And besides, it wasn't as if she'd lied to hurt anyone. Only good things had come of it.

"So, where shall we head now?" Solo asked.

Hilde glanced at him and shrugged. "I don't know. We aren't anywhere near home so we can't go there. We should probably just find an inn in the next town and bed down there. We can figure out where to go after that."

They nodded. "Right. Besides, I don't think I could travel anymore if I wanted to. I'm exhausted."

Hilde grinned. "Weakling." She said.

Solo glared at her in mock anger. "Weakling am I? This coming from the girl who screamed last night when a big bad beetle crawled into her shirt while she was sleeping."

"It scared me." Hilde said, turning forward in her saddle, nose high in the air. "And besides, you wouldn't have liked it a bit, had you thought someone was running a finger over your . . ."

She glanced behind her to see both Duo and Solo staring at her with interest.

"Oh don't mind us." Duo said waving a hand when he noticed she'd stopped talking. "Go on. You were saying that that beetle was like a finger that was . . . where?"

"You're insatiable Duo." Hilde said with a hmph.

He winked at her. "Of course. What kind of knight would I be otherwise?"

"Probably a homosexual one." Solo said, answering Duo's question.

"And that," Duo said. "I am definitely not."

"I would argue that." Hilde said, glancing behind her. "But the fact that you and Solo are regular customers at every whorehouse this side of the Nitoo River wouldn't agree with me."

"Speaking of whorehouses . . ." Solo said, with a pointed look ahead of them.

Hilde turned her gaze forward again and sighed. "Do you ever think of anything else?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Not really." Solo answered as both he and Duo clicked their tongues and kneed their horses forward at a faster pace.

Hilde shook her head but sped up as well. "I hope you both know that your lust addled brains are going to be the death of you someday. And when you're both dying and in pain because you couldn't stop thinking about some strange woman's breasts I'll be staring down at you feeling no pity at all."

Duo and Solo shared a look. A look that Hilde didn't like one bit.

"What?" She asked wearily.

"Oh nothing." Duo said as he and Solo looked away quickly. "Nothing at all."

Hilde nudged her horse forward a little more until she was in between Duo and Solo. She glanced first at Duo on her left and then at Solo on her right.

"Oh no you don't." She said. "You can't share a look like *that* and then tell me that nothing is going on. Now, tell me."

"Nothing is going on. Honestly." Duo said. But really, who would believe Duo when he finished a thought with the word 'honestly'? It made him sound all the more suspicious to Hilde.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm . . ." Was all she said.

Solo sighed. "Fine. We'll tell you what that look meant. You're jealous aren't you?"

Hilde halted to a stop her eyes wide. "Jealous?! Of what?!"

"*You* know." Duo said pointedly, stopping as well.

"You're jesting!" Hilde said, genuinely shocked. "You think I'm jealous of a bunch of . . . of . . . wide hipped, ample chested, gap toothed *whores*?!"

"Now wait a moment Hilde," Solo started. "We didn't mean anything by it . . ."

Hilde just clicked her tongue and started forward again at a trot.

"Hilde, don't be this way!" Duo called.

She didn't stop. "I'm going ahead." She called over her shoulder, her voice calm and steady. "There will be a room waiting for you at the inn. Have fun though, with your little friends. I *won't* be awake when you return, so take your time."

They both made to stop her, but she suddenly disappeared in a small cloud of dust, her trot turning quickly into a gallop.

Duo and Solo sighed and then stopped their horses outside of the whorehouse and tied them up. It was probably just her monthlies, they thought. She was given to violent moodswings during that time. Still, they couldn't help but wonder if she'd been so upset because she really *was* jealous.

Of course that couldn't be true. Hilde wasn't one to give in to romantic or sexual feelings. She was practically a man herself, not a woman. Why would she be jealous? It was an annoying bugger of a thought though, that didn't go away all night. A thought that plagued all three minds of the newly knighted knights.

~*~

"Excuse me, but you must leave while we dress Her Majesty."

Relena glanced over her shoulder just as Heero walked into her borrowed bedchamber. He leaned a shoulder against the wall a few feet away from the door and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't mind me." He said in his deep, monotonous voice.

"But it isn't at all proper . . ."

Relena held up a hand, turning her back on her bodyguard.

"Don't try to budge him Min, he won't move an inch."

"Oh, but Your Majesty, what will be *said* about you?"

Relena smiled softly, a completely humorless smile. "Nothing that hasn't already been said, believe me."

Min glanced skeptically at Heero and then nodded. "Well, if Your Majesty insists . . ." She motioned to three other girls who had been kneeling in the back of the room, their heads lowered nearly to the ground.

They all stood up and crowded around Relena, tugging at her hair, removing the robe from her shoulders and slipping a body hugging piece of silk over her body in its place. As they worked, Relena was keenly aware of Heero's eyes on her. Not that the sensation was new. She'd become quite used to knowing when he was staring at her.

When they were finally done, Relena's head ached. They'd pulled her long, honey blonde tresses back from her head into an intricate twist at the nape of her neck. It was secured by two long, jade sticks, both adorned with white pearl dragons on the very top.

Her dress was traditional of Chinese culture, fitting her curves like a second skin. The silken dress was a soft pearl color, almost the same as the dragons in her hair, and it was sprinkled with jade green lotus blossoms. She felt so different in it, compared to her usual low necked dresses with their long sleeves and bulky skirts. She felt freer, and more alluring. Almost ethereal.

As soon as Min and the other hand servants were gone Heero made his way toward her. She smiled at him as he approached.

"Well, how do I look? Quatre thought it would be best if I tried to fit in here, instead of proclaiming to all of the Eastern lands that I am Queen Relena of the Sanq Kingdom."

"His logic is well placed." Heero said. "You could be targeted easily, should any stray OZ soldiers still be in the area."

"The blonde hair is still a dead give away." Relena said softly before turning away to stare out of the small door in her room at the courtyard.

"Tell me again, why I'm here." She said.

"Because, you believe firmly that Sally Po is his son's last chance. You also felt that it was your duty to personally extend your condolences to Wufei and Quatre for their losses to OZ."

Relena nodded. "Yes, but, I feel so out of place here." She sighed and was silent for a moment before she spoke again. "I still remember the first time I met Wufei and his wife Meiran. It was embarrassing, to say very little about the experience. They didn't respect me because they thought that I defiled their customs and traditions, simply by bowing to Master Zhing Shin. I realize now that in a way they were right. It wasn't right for me to act like them when I knew nothing of the background of their customs. I was just copying them with no real knowledge of them. I feel as though I'm doing that now. It isn't a pleasant feeling."

"It's a natural one though." Heero said. "And it just proves that you have a veritable amount of respect for these people."

Relena turned toward him with an almost pained look on her face. "Don't say things like that." She said. "It makes me sound a far better person than I am."

He opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as Min returned.

"Master Chang Wufei will see you now." She said.

Relena nodded. "Right. Shall we go?" She asked Heero.

He nodded and fell into step behind her as she made her way to see Wufei for the first time since that fateful night so many years ago.

~*~

"Jealous! They think I'm jealous!" Hilde cried, sitting on the small bed in her inn room. "Well that just goes to prove how stupid men actually are."

She fell back against the pillows and laid an arm over her eyes. "Or maybe they aren't stupid. God's bones I can't be jealous. Not of some two-bit, town whores! That's absurd!"

'But it's true, isn't it?' A little voice inside of her whispered.

Hilde sat up and ran a hand through her hair. Of course it wasn't true. Was it? Maybe it was. But what if it was? What did that make her?

She stood abruptly and walked to the small window across from her bed. She opened the shutters and leaned out, breathing the cool evening air in deeply. She supposed that maybe she was a little jealous. But what girl wouldn't be? It seemed that she shared her two best friends with countless numbers of faceless women.

She didn't think it was at all fair, really. Hilde had been deprived of so much, all because of some stupid, asinine promise she made to her parents when she was too young to understand what it entailed. She would never marry. Never know a lover. Never feel what it was like to be wanted as a woman, or be looked upon as if she were the most beautiful creature on the earth.

So yes, she was jealous because at least whores knew what it was like to become as physically close to someone else as possible. Hilde would never know that.

She sighed. What was she thinking? It didn't matter that she'd die a virgin. At least she wouldn't die in a convent somewhere with a chastity belt locked tightly around her waist, right? She wasn't going to live to be a shriveled up old maid who hated children and flowers and the pure exhiliration being happy brought a person. She was at least going to die knowing that she had kept that promise. She was going to die knowing she'd protected innocent lives and had done all she could to defend her cause.

She was going to die a virgin all right, but she'd be damned before she died a worthless, prune of a virgin.

That thought in mind, she closed the window and pulled on a pair of boots. She opened the door, left her room, locked the door, pocketed the key, and strolled down the stairs.

She wandered through the inn and out into the streets. She was hungry, but she didn't want the food they offered at the inn. She rather missed being able to just stroll up to a street vendor's cart and swipe an apple with him none the wiser. She wasn't going to steal, obviously she had no need to do that. But she did miss eating an apple or any other kind of food really, straight off a vendor's cart.

As she walked she heard a soft cry in an alley. She stopped and craned her neck in the direction of the sound. She didn't hear it again, and forced her heart to stop beating so hard. But for some reason her hackles were raised like those on a dog, and she sensed danger.

She heard the cry again and took it as a sign to see just what was going on. She walked across the dirt road and into the darkened alleyway. She glanced around, all senses alert, but saw nothing except shadows and scurrying rats.

"Someone help me! Please!"

Hilde's head shot up at the calls for help, and she started running immediately.

The sight she was greeted with made her stomach turn. A woman with curly brown hair was being held down by two men, while another grabbed her dress and was about to rip it down the middle.

Hilde, who had been searching for her voice finally found it.

"Let her go!" she cried.

The man holding the woman's dress let go of the fabric, leaving it still in tact, and looked up at Hilde with a smirk.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me." Hilde replied.

"Oh come now." He said, standing up. "You're a man, you know of a man's needs. This wench here was just pleasing us. She likes doing things this way."

He eyed Hilde and then stepped to the side and inclined his head in the direction of the woman.

"You could join us."

Hilde's lip curled in disgust. "You make me sick." She said. "You lie to me as if you think me the town idiot. I know what you're doing to her! Now let her go!"

The man's eyes narrowed and flashed.

"What kind of man are you?" He asked loudly. "Here we are, giving you a whore for *free* and you turn us down!"

"I'm the kind of man who doesn't need the village pigs to hold a woman down in order to pleasure myself." Hilde hissed.

He growled and took a menacing step toward her.

"If you think I'm frightened," Hilde said, her voice softly threatening. "You're sadly mistaken. I've faced down men twice your size and had them at my feet begging for mercy within minutes."

The man sneered. "Yes, I know that." He said.

Hilde's eyes widened. "What?"

He took another step toward her. "We know all about you." He said, signaling to his friends to release the woman. She scrambled to her feet and ran, but none of them noticed.

"We know where you used to live, we know of your allegiance to Queen Relena of the Sanq Kingdom, we know of that night so long ago when you and your two other knight friends murdered one of our own. We also know what a bleeding heart you happen to be."

"And you used that woman to get me here."

He nodded.

Hilde forced the fear she felt coursing through her body into remission. She couldn't afford to let terror cloud her mind. Instead she smirked.

"Well, you've got me here. Now what are you going to do?"

"I'm so glad you asked." He said with a smirk of his own.

A second later she felt her arms yanked behind her roughly by the man's two friends. She tried to wriggle away, but they held her in a vice like grip. A cry of frustration burst from her lips.

"Not too much now are you?" The man asked, leaning in a little closer.

Hilde glared at him and then realized what she could do.

She waited for the man to lean in just a hair's breadth closer and then she brought a leg up. Her heel clipped his chin, forcing his entire head to snap backward.

He stumbled and held his jaw before leveling Hilde with an evil glare. "Little bastard." He hissed. "You'll regret that."

"We'll see." Hilde said before pulling her arms out of the loosened grips of the two men.

She jumped back and crouched into a defensive stance. The other men chuckled.

"So, the little man thinks he knows Eastern combat styles, does he? Well then, give him a taste of what you know."

One of the quiet men stepped forward and tossed his cloak into a darkened alley corner. He crouched in front of her as well.

They both stood staring at each other for a moment before he flew at Hilde and made a jab at her chest. She dodged it easily and clipped him in the back of the neck. He went down and he went down hard. She sighed and shook her head. "That was too easy." She said.

The man tried to get up. "Oh no you don't." She said, kicking him in the back and then stepping on his wrist to keep him down.

"Let you in on a secret big guy?" She said softly leaning toward him. "I trained under Master Zhing Shin. I'm not going to be defeated by you. That would be an insult to him, and everyone knows you don't insult the dead. At least not if you want the god of death's favor."

"And you think you have his favor." The man grunted.

"I don't think so. I know so."

She hit him again in the neck, knocking him out instantly.

She turned to the other two, her eyes blazing.

"I don't know who you are," she said. "And I don't know how you know me, but I want some answers and before this is over, I'll have them."

"What makes you so sure about that?"

"I can be very persuasive when I have to be."

"Heh." Was his calm reply.

A split second later he uttered a word that caused a blinding flash behind Hilde's eyes. She cried out and rubbed at them, but even when she closed her eyes it was shocking white and it hurt just as badly.

"Oh yes, you're *very* persuasive." A mocking voice said from behind her.

She turned and struck out in the direction of the voice, but her pitiful blow was blocked and there was no way for her to defend herself against the fist that connected solidly with the side of her skull.

She crumpled to the ground with a groan which quickly turned into a yelp as a booted foot kicked her in the ribs. She barely registered the sound of laughter through the pain that was curling itself around and slithering through her body as he kicked her again and again, and was soon joined by the other man who repeatedly kicked her in the back.

She was finally lifted up by the hair. She still couldn't see the man, but she felt his hot breath on her face and fought the urge to recoil.

"You're a very pretty boy." He said in a low voice. "Despite your stubborn nature and pigheadedness you would make a good bed partner."

Hilde shuddered. "I'd rather die." She said.

"That can be arranged," the man said, Hilde sensing that he was moving closer. "After I've had my way with you."

He lowered his lips to hers. She jerked her head to the side, breaking off the contact, but he didn't want that.

He yanked savagely on her hair, turning her head back toward his, and then pulling it back until her throat was completely at her mercy.

Just when Hilde thought that the wet slobbery kisses would never end, just when she thought she'd not only be discovered but be taken against her will as well, there was a male cry of pain.

The man holding her, dropped her to the ground and turned.

"What the . . ." His words ended in a groan and Hilde felt his body fall on top of hers.

She shuddered. "Get him off." She said, near hysteria. "Somebody please get him off."

"Please calm down." Said a distinctly female voice. "I need you calm if I'm going to remove him."

Hilde immediately stilled and waited for her savior to move the man. It only took seconds, but it felt like hours to Hilde. And by the time he was off, she'd fainted dead away from shock.

A/N: So, what did you think? I'll work on getting chapters posted more frequently, but I can't make any promises. ^.^; In the meantime, please tell me what you thought in a review. ^.~