Chapter 7- Reconnaissance

"Sarian,"

Ladae, or X221L, breathes the name as he leaves butterfly kisses on your neck.  You two have been seeing much of each other for the past two weeks.  You cannot explain the feelings you have for each other, only the knowledge that the Compound was not able to stamp this feeling out of your system:  love.

"Kiss me again, Ladae," You lean in and catch his small, yet sensuous lips again, and again, and again.

It is late at night, and Ladae had snuck into your private barracks as the guards were changing shifts.  If he was caught out of bed after curfew without orders, he could be terminated.  But, he says it is worth the risk if he could see you and be with you.  You don't care either, when you sneak into his room.

"If they catch you, they will murder you," you run your fingers through his dark hair, looking into his blue eyes.

"I don't care," Ladae holds you close.  "As long as you are with me in the afterlife,"

"I'd stay with you forever," You are about to kiss Ladae again, when suddenly, the door bursts open, and about five guards storm into the room, followed by the Head Instructor, your father, Helix.

"X221L," He says, his voice strong and clear. "You are out of bed in the middle of the night, and alone with a female Captain. Guards, seize the boy!" With lightening fast movements, the guards surround Ladae, and pull him off of the cot, and twist his arms behind his back. "Are you aware that these actions are punishable by termination?" Helix's green eyes sparkle in the darkness.

"Yes, sir," Ladae looks at the man with defiance. "And I'll do it again!"

"Ladae!" You gasp, surprised at his words.

Helix scowls, "Guards, take him away!  I'll deal with him myself!"

"LADAE!" You scream, jumping off the cot, only to be caught and held back by your father.  The guards lead Ladae out of the room, kicking and screaming down the hallway.

Helix back fists you across the face, and you land hard on the tile floor, blood steaming from your mouth.  "This is all for the best, Sarian," he says as he slams your barracks door shut.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sarian screamed at the top of her lungs as she awoke from the dream. "LLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEE!"

Then, it seemed as if all of the houses occupants filled her bedroom.   Trowa rushed to her, and put his arm across her shoulders, his eyes etched with worry and concern.  "Sarian, what was it?"

"We heard you screaming in your sleep," Duo sat down on the bed. 

"What was it?" Heero sat down as well. "Was it about the Compound?"

"Yes," Sarian said, her voice shaking slightly.  "But, I don't want to talk about it."

"Talking about it makes everything better," Quatre stood near the wardrobe. 

"Yeah," Mika agreed. "Talking gets everything out of your system,"

"And I want to know why I was woken up by screaming.  So, spill it," Wufei crossed his arms as he stood in the doorway.

"It was about one of my generation brothers.  He got caught doing something he wasn't supposed to, and they took him away.  We never saw, or heard anything of him again.  Not even what they did to punish him," Sarian was grateful Trowa was there.  She leaned her head on his shoulder. "It was horrible,"

"If that's it," Wufei spun around and headed for his bedroom. "I'm going back to sleep."

"Yeah," Duo yawned. "I for once agree with Wufei on something.  Guden nacht!"

Only Trowa remained as the others filed out of the room.  He brought over the wooden chair by the door, and sat down by the bed. "I'll stay right here," he said. "Until you fall asleep,"

"Okay," Sarian held out her hand and Trowa, looking a little surprised at this gesture, took it. "Good night,"

* * *

"Okay, class, listen up!  We're going to run the obstacle course today," This announcement from the gym teacher, Coach Ryan, was met by groans and muttered curses. "Now, I don't want any of you complaining!  It's not that hard now that we've taken the snake pit out of it *whispered* stupid administration, *back to speaking normal* but I still feel it should test you on your own personal goals."

"This man's nuts.  The whole program is built on whether you can do the sport or not.  Not on how much effort you put into it." Mika whispered her complaint to Sarian and Relena.

"Yes," Relena, still snappy, even in her P.E. uniform of a white T-shirt and green shorts, agreed. "And this whole obstacle course, it's what you would use to train soldiers. I think it should be . . ."

"Taken off the syllabus," Sarian droned. "And this particular obstacle course wouldn't be used to train soldiers.  They would have replaced the snake pit with one of alligators,"

"Pipe down, you three.  Don't think I can't hear you. Just for talking in class, I'm giving you the privilege of running the course twice." Snickers issued from the ranks of unpunished students. "Now, the course is as follows:  You will sprint one hundred meters to a cargo net.  You will climb the cargo net, and propel down the zip line on the flying fox to the bottom.  You will then have to unscramble a puzzle.  Once you unscramble the puzzle, a key will pop out of a drawer in the puzzle table.  Take this key, and use it to unlock the door to a cage full of bungee cords.  You will climb to the top of the cage using these bungee cords, and from the top of the cage you will use a robe to swing across what used to be the snake pit and is now a sand pit.  After crossing the sand pit, you will navigate across a rolling beam, grab the flag at the end of the beam, and sprint back past the entire course, and finally drop the flag into a stand by the finish line.  Two of you will run the course at a time.  The record is 10 minutes and 45 seconds set by Heero Yuy.  Pair up!"

"I'm going with Relena," Mika said. "No offense, but, I don't want to be publicly humiliated."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sarian wondered aloud as the two girls set off towards the starting line.

"It means that Relena and Mika both suck at physical activity, and she doesn't want to be stood up by the new girl," Duo said as he past by with Trowa, who was going to run the course with him.

"Don't take offense to it though, Sar," Trowa said smiling. "It just means you're really good."

"We'll just see if she can beat me," Heero said. "Come on, Sarian, let's set the pace for the others,"

The twins walked up of the Coach, who had already figured out Heero was most likely to run first.  They stood at the ready for the starting gun.

"Let's just see if one of two bioweapons can outdo the other," Heero whispered and smiled at his sister.

 "I have ten years of training on you," Sarian returned his grin. Adrenaline was already pumping in her veins. "Let's see if I was diligent, or if I slacked off,"

"Runners on your mark! Set, *BANG*." Coach Ryan set off the starters pistol, and looked to see how the runners were doing.  His jaw dropped.

Sarian was already fifty meters in front of Heero.  She climbed the cargo net with effortless ease, and flew down the flying fox just as Heero reached the middle section of the cargo net.  She ran and knelt on the ground next to the puzzle table.  It was voice activated, and the key would pop out if you voiced the right answer.  The riddle read:

The place where stars reside, and angels sing,

The place where one thing could be real one minute than completely different the next.

The place where all things created and all things that always were meet.

The place where it's hot and feeds off of the first place.

Sarian gritted her teeth. Where stars reside and angels sing, the sky, no wait! Air! Real one minute, then different, solid than not, water! I get it! "The four elements: air, water, earth, and fire!"

"Correct," answered a computer voice, then, a small key popped out in a drawer just as Heero flew down and landed next to Sarian.

"See you at the finish line, brother!" She called as she ran towards the cage of cords.  She fitted the key into the lock and began to climb.  This was the hard part.  Sarian had done things like this before, but not for a long time.  She was out of practice.  About halfway up, Sarian heard the puzzle table affirm Heero's answer and he unlocked his door into the cage of cords.  This made Sarian climb faster, and she reached the top so fast that Heero was barely three feet into the air when she flew down the robe across the sand pit.  She saw the rolling log, and saw why it took so long to complete the course.

A natural waterfall was what was making the log roll, and the water made it slippery. Since the pool in which the water flowed into was overfull, it had leaked out, and formed a mud puddle under the log. Sarian lowered her eyebrows and sprinted towards the log.  She ran faster than she had done in a long time.  Her chest burned and felt hollow, and her legs begged her to stop.  A few feet from the log, Sarian jumped into the air.  She sailed across the log almost effortlessly, and even managed to grab the flag as she dive rolled to safety on the other side of the log. 

Immediately after, Sarian took the path right beside the course, and sprinted. Her heart and lungs felt tired, but Sarian reminded herself of one of the few good lessons Helix had given her.

* * *

"You have so much energy left, and yet you complain that you've had enough," Helix leans in, and looks at you with his cold eyes. "You must never give in to pain, sickness, cold, wet, snow, anything! The human body was designed to overcome these natural occurrences.  And, given your added "gifts", you should hardly ever feel tired." Helix picks your twelve-year-old self off of the cold floor. "You have so much potential, so much power!  You can use it, if you tax your body, and make use of its efficiency.  Only when you have done so, will you ever be a good soldier. And only then will you be worthy as my daughter."

* * *

This memory drove Sarian to her limits. She sprinted the last four hundred yards fast, faster than she had ever done at the compound. I'm not tired, she reminded herself. It's all here, in my head. I am worthy, Helix! Watch me! Sarian heard cheers from her classmates as she finished up the last hundred yards.

"Come on, Sarian! You can do it!" Trowa shouted at the top of his lungs, which was quite a shock for some of the other students to find out he was capable of speech.

"Faster Sarian!" Duo cried.

"Can she go any faster?" Mika asked Quatre, unsure.

"Theoretically, yes, mentally, maybe, physically, no," Quatre was amazed the girl was able to go this fast.

"Time! What?!?" Coach Ryan was amazed at Sarian, who had slowed down considerably and was now slowly jogging, bringing down her body heat and heart beat. "New record, not only for the junior class, but for the school! Five minutes and fifty-five seconds! No one, not even Heero, has ever been this fast!"

Sarian was already surrounded by people, and being bombarded by questions.

"How did you do it?"

"Are you on steroids or something?"

"How is it possible?"

Trowa caught her, and lead her away. "They're just jealous." He told her. "So, how'd you get over the log so fast?"

"Jumped it," Sarian replied as Heero came sprinting over he finish line, and put his flag in the stand.  She moved away from Trowa and went over to her brother. "How'd you do?"

"Thirty seconds under my old record," he replied stiffly, and walked away to sit under a tree. Sarian followed him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting down and leaning against the hard oak bark.

"Nothing," Heero's eyes were stones.

"You're lying. Even with my training in lie detection, I would still be able to tell if you were lying. You're my twin, so just tell me what's wrong," Sarian stared at the boy.

"It's just that, if I had stayed, I would be perfect, like you," Heero stared at the sky. "You're faster, smarter, and more powerful than me." He looked at Sarian. "I still can't remember things, important things. Just people, like my group, Theo, but, I can't remember any lessons I learned there, nothing except that the mission must be carried out at all costs. I can't remember,"

Sarian stared back at her brother. "I'm not perfect. I'm not,"

"Yes you are. You're smart, powerful, and fast; just as a soldier should be. Perfect," Heero's eyes, so much like their mother's, bored into Sarian's forehead.

"Then, how come I was able to fall in love at fifteen? That's right, love. That dream I had last night?  It was about the man I loved; Ladae. Helix found out about us, and he had Ladae taken away by force.  I never saw him again. I'm not sure if he's alive or dead, but knowing our father, who said he'd deal with him himself, he killed him slowly and painfully. Probably by shooting first his ankles out, then his knees, then his thighs, then his hips, then his shoulders, his stomach, his chest, then, as Ladae bled to death, Helix would have finally shot him in the head.  It was always his favorite and most gruesome way to kill people. Ladae, why did I love you?" Sarian stare out into space, thinking of the tall, promising young man.

Before Heero could say something, Coach Ryan came up to the pair. "Miss McCarthy, since you did so well, I'm not going to make you run it again. And," the coach whipped out a piece of white paper. ", Will you please join the track team?"

* * *

"I can't believe that in only your first week here, you've managed to insult Relena six times, make up with Relena six times, break a school record, and join the track team as the starting sprinter. I for one am impressed," Duo leaned back in his hair, and bit into his slice of pizza.  It was lunchtime again, and Sarian was chugging down her milk with gusto.

"Don't take his opinion to heart," Wufei sponged up grease from his slice with his napkin with a grimace. "Duo is easily amused. Isn't this disgusting?"

"I am not! Heero, am I easily amused?"

"Seeing as you found a tennis ball with a string around it amusing for hours last night, I'd say yes," Heero poked a cling peach with his fork.

"Is anyone else besides me disturbed by the fact that the school is feeding us high amounts of saturated fat?" Wufei looked around the table.

"No not really," Duo answered.

"That was my tennis ball!" Quatre picked at his salad. "I was practicing with it for tennis tryouts."

"You're trying out for tennis?" Duo laughed. "That's a girls' sport!"

"No, it's not. And I happen to be quite good at it, so I think I'll make the team," Quatre fed himself more salad.

"Good luck," Trowa said.

"Are you aware that you could die from eating that slice of pizza due to the excessive fat dripping off of it?" Wufei asked Duo just as Duo took a big bite of pizza and began to choke on it.  Sarian took her hand, and slapped Duo hard on the back. A piece of crust flew out of his mouth and landed in Quatre's bowl of soup.

"Like pizza could kill me," Duo said, leaning back again.

"I'm not eating that," Quatre said, pushing the bowl of soup away from him.

* * *

"And class, a duke is always called Your Grace, never Your Excellency. And Earls, Marquis, Viscounts, and Barons are always to be referred to as My Lord. Now, who can tell me how you address the cousin, niece, or nephew of a sovereign?" Mademoiselle Violet was the etiquette teacher at Atherton-Wexel Academy. Though pretty, Mademoiselle Violet was exactly like her subject:  boring.

Though, apparently some of Sarian's other classmates didn't think so. Quite a few hands shout up into the air, including Relena's. She was called upon by Mademoiselle Violet. "You always address the niece, nephew, or cousin of the sovereign by Your Highness."

"Very good, as always, Relena." Mademoiselle Violet passed around a sheet of paper:  a test. "Now, this is a quiz on how well you know the place setting at a formal dinner. The Cherry Blossom spring Ball is coming up, and formal dining is a given.  You will want to have memorized this by now."

Sarian received a paper, and put her name on the top of the page.  There were about twenty questions, and they were all fill in the blank.

The meat fork is to the left of the - - -.

The fish knife is to the right of the - - -.

The oyster fork is beyond the - - -.

And so on. Sarian sighed. This was going to be a very long day.

*  * *

Sarian hit the punching bag as hard as she could without dismantling it from the ceiling. Stupid test, who cares where the fish knife goes?  All I'd want to do is eat the food, not wonder as to what I should eat it with! Stupid etiquette! Can't do this, can't do that, it's so stupid!  Sarian roundhouse kicked the bag, and made it swing dangerously.  She countered this move with a hook heel, and then resumed punching.  I'M SO SICK OF ALL THESE RULES! Sarian stopped and leaned against the bag to catch her breath. I'll just sit down, rest for a bit. I'll be fine after a rest. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

* * *

"Come on Sar, it'll be fun," "No Taxen.  This is not what we are supposed to be doing,"

"We're supposed to be pretending to be man and wife so we can pass our test.  Husbands and wives have fun at night,"

"No. As your Captain I order you to leave this room," "Come on, I'm sure you'll be good; real good. Like you were with Ladae,"

"Ladae and I never did this. And I don't want to do it with you, good night. Go to bed, that's an order,"

"I'm only going to go to bed with you," "Taxen, get off," "No," "Taxen, get off of me!  Get off of me!" "Not yet babe, I have something I want to do first,"

"TAXEN! NNNNOOOOO! GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME!"

"SHUT UP! *groan*"

"TAXEN! TAXEN GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME! NNNNNOOOOOOOOO! SOMEBODY! HELP!

* * *

"HELP ME!" Sarian jolted out of sleep, trashing on the floor. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Sarian was still not aware that she was awake, or that Trowa had rushed out of his room and was now cradling her in his arms.

"Sarian, stop, it was just a dream," Trowa tried to calm her down. "Sar, please stop, it's over now. It's over."

"Taxen, " Sarian shuddered. "He . . . he,"

"You don't have to talk about it," Trowa held her close to him. "You don't have to talk,"

"He raped me," Sarian shuddered. "He raped me,"

"It's over now," Trowa reassured her.

"They came in too late.  They couldn't get the door unlocked they said.  But there was something sweet about it.  They let me terminate him myself.  They let me make him suffer far worse then how he had made me suffer.  I can still remember him screaming, crying for it to stop.  I told him the tables had turned on him, and that I'd have the last laugh.  But, no matter what they did,"

"It still hurt to think about what happened," Trowa finished for her.

"I just can't believe he was able to do it.  I was his Captain, I was leader of A group, and I was the best in the Compound! I could have been able to, should have been able to fend him off.  But I couldn't!"

"If it makes you feel any better, men are always physically stronger then women," Trowa hugged her.

Sarian turned to face Trowa. "Now you know why I don't trust men,"

"Sarian, I would never, ever hurt you," Trowa looked into her big green eyes that always seemed to glow when she was upset. "That's a promise."

"And I don't want to hurt you, so why don't we just not," But she was abruptly cut off by Trowa kissing her full on the mouth.  Sarian was shocked, but she did not pull away.  This is nice, was Sarian's last thought before Trowa's kisses wiped her mind blank.

AUTHOR'S NOTE- Sad chapter, yet nice chapter.  More character development. What a shock.

School for me and DAY starts in exactly two weeks (today's the fourth).  She is going to be really busy and all (so am I but not as busy as DAY-san) what with her schedule. And she's taking honors math. No offense DAY, but yuck.  I DON'T WANT TO GO! I DON'T WANT TO GO! The only good thing is I'll be taking Drivers Ed.  And I'm already a pretty good driver (live on a country estate).

I also just broke up with my boyfriend, so I'm sorry if I sound a little crabby.  And DAY injured my ribs last might at judo practice, so that sucks too.

Hiei: Oh, quit your whining. If I was your katana sensei, you'd be dead from exhaustion by now

Suri: Probably.

Reviews are appreciated!  See you in chapter 8!