Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai and Sunrise. Not me. Please don't sue.

Undercurrents

By Cinpii

Chapter Three: Doubt

Heero nodded in reply to Relena's greeting. "Come in," he said almost brusquely as he bent down and grabbed her heavy suitcases. He was clad in baggy faded blue jeans, his messy, wet mop of chocolate colored hair dripping onto the towel that was hanging around his muscular shoulders. It was obvious to Relena that he just stepped out of the shower when she rang the bell.

"Thank you," Relena replied. She tried not to stare at the muscles flexing on his back as she followed him inside. Or notice how lithe and lean his powerful body looked.

"You're Heero, Mason's son, right?" she asked brightly, trying to dispel the heavy quiet. She was beginning to get the feeling that Heero Yuy wasn't much of a talker. At least not if he could help it.

"Yes. Let me finish getting dressed and then I'll give you a tour of the house."

"Oh, sure thing," Relena readily agreed, the light fading from her eyes in response to his cold demeanor. She tilted her head to watch Heero swiftly climb the stairs, his long legs easily taking two steps at a time, and turn right, to what she presumed was the direction of his room.

Once he was out of sight, the pretty blonde heaved a despondent sigh. He didn't look very friendly. She wasn't sure how she was going to be able to spend a year living in the same house with him.

Heero was in his room, shrugging on a knit navy cable sweater over his bare torso. She's cute, he thought idly, thinking back to the way her jacket molded itself to her soft curves and how her ruffled, feminine skirt gave him a teasing view of her smooth calves. Her long hair glinted in the sun, softly framing her perfect face, and Heero was so stunned with the vision before him that he forgot to greet her properly.

Baka. She must think you're a stoic with the amount of warmth you showed her. She just flew a couple thousand miles; everything's sure to be strange and foreign to her. Don't freak her out, he chided himself.

As she waited in the living room, Relena looked around and walked to the mantle above the fireplace. A tiny smile tugged at her lips. As a young girl, she loved campfires. Roasting marshmallows and hotdogs, exchanging scary stories. Sleepovers in her backyard brought back some good memories.

Relena whiled the time away by inspecting framed photographs of the Yuy family. The oldest picture was displayed in a heavy elaborate gilt frame, obviously the most cherished. In it, toddler Heero was encased in his mother's arms. Mason had his own arm slung around his wife. They looked happy.

Finished with the contents of the mantle, she stepped back to see what else she could look at. The room was notably masculine, but tastefully interiorized. Spacious, yet comfortable. Very Zen, Relena mused, but then again, the Yuys are Japanese. There was a marked absence of feminine touches like candles, cute figurines, and potted plants. Relena surmised it was because Heero's mom passed away when he was little.

However, there was something that didn't fit in with the interior at all. Above the mantle, just slightly out of her reach, rested a large shiny shotgun. Relena was expecting a sheathed katana or some such, but firearms?

It made her uneasy. She wondered why they needed something like that, surely not for ornament's sake? What other unpleasant surprises would she find during her stay?

She was staring at the gun hard, morbid thoughts raping her mind. Relena didn't hear when Heero came back, and gave a start when he tapped her on the shoulder. Her heart jumped out of her chest and she didn't breathe for a good two seconds. "I didn't even hear you..." she wheezed after a large inhale of air. Air that stuck in her windpipe when she turned around to face him.

Turing around was a mistake. The blonde teen suddenly found herself pinned between the mantle and Heero's intimidating figure. In the small enclosure, his presence grew prodigious. Relena gulped. As if unseen forces were imposing their will upon her own, her chin rose so her eyes could meet his. Piercing Prussian blue orbs stared straight through her, and Relena felt as if he was staring into her very soul. She trembled slightly, feeling naked and vulnerable.

His hand rested on her shoulder, and she felt the skin underneath burn from his touch. He was saying something, but her heart was pounding too hard for her to hear anything else. All that Relena could register was the movement of his lips, the intensity of his eyes, and how close he was towering over her. She swore she could feel the body heat radiating from him. The heady scent of his soap invaded her nose, and she couldn't draw herself away from his eyes. He was surely weaving a spell to keep her entranced; the pull of his gaze was too strong to fight. She felt feverish and edgy, but hypnotized into place.

Looking into his eyes, she could see herself in them, and it was such a foreign, intimate feeling that–

Then Relena blinked, and it was all over. The spell dissipated as if it never was. Heero continued talking, oblivious to the emotions of the shaken girl before him, although slight tremors continued to wrack her body. Her reaction to him was so violent; she wasn't sure how to control the flux of emotions washing over her system.

Get a hold of yourself, girl, she fiercely admonished herself, but it was too late. She could already feel the heat rising up her cheeks. Ducking her head so he wouldn't notice and to avoid having to look into those intense blue eyes of his, she quickly stepped sideways and away from him, breaking the contact of his hand on her.

She careened her neck and pretended to be interested in the gun. "Does, does that thing still work?" Relena stuttered slightly, still flushed from his nearness. Through the layers of clothing, the hairs of her arm stood on end where they had inadvertently brushed his body.

Heero paused, slightly surprised at the abrupt change of topic. When he arrived, he noticed that she looked faint, yet when he inquired by placing his hand on her, she starting shaking so hard that it concerned him to no small degree. She seemed to be over it now, whatever it was, and the color had returned to her face.

Thinking better than to question his guest, girls never made much sense to him anyways, Heero answered her. "Yes. It's for the wolves. They hang around in the winter when the food is scarce. They're dangerous when they're hungry, but you'll be safe as long as you don't go outside alone or wander too far from the house."

Whatever she was expecting, it was not that. Relena's eyes widened. Dreading the answer to her next question, but having the morbid urge to know anyway, "Have they ever attacked people?" she whispered, because she didn't have it in her to say it any louder.

Heero didn't hesitate. "Yeah. A couple years back, a classmate of mine, Julie." Heero's dark bangs fell over his eyes as he looked down at his hands, clenching them. His voice was slightly on edge, as if he was angry about something. "There wasn't enough left of her to identify, it was that bad. The cops had to use her DNA."

He wanted to warn her to be careful when she was near the forest. People got lost in the forest. Some never came back. Bad things happened there, and it was only common sense to caution this newcomer. But Heero didn't want to scare her. She would high-tail it home, and he couldn't have that.

Good one, Yuy, freak her out, that'll get her stay, Heero berated himself when he looked up and saw how Relena's eyes widened.

Relena felt a shiver run down her spine. Now she knew staying here was going to be a huge mistake.