Chapter 9:
Heero opened his eyes painfully. They ached from lack of sleep, and his body showed its distaste at having to get up. So comfortable. Such warmth. Suddenly a hand moved along Heero's back, which woke him up. The hand of reality slapped him harshly, and he looked down at Blaze, who was still asleep. They hadn't changed much from their position an hour and a half ago. At the most, their legs were entwined. What surprised Heero was that he had actually slept. His biological clock automatically woke up him on time; he realized that from the light of early morning that filtered through the blinds.
Blaze shifted against him, reminding him of the task at hand. He didn't want to wake her. At least not with the two of them in the position that they were in. Heero held his breath as he slowly pulled away from her. Unfortunately, there was no room on the bed to pull away. Heero lost his balance and nearly fell over the edge. His quick reflexes told him to brace himself against the nightstand, and he took in a sharp breath as Blaze shifted in her position. She rolled onto her stomach and outstretched her arms, taking up all of the bed space.
Heero's legs were still trapped amongst Blaze's. He was able to get one free, but the other was caught in between Blaze's legs, and for some reason he couldn't get it loose. 'I don't want to have to move her…' Heero thought. Still, it was to no avail. Miraculously, and to Heero's misfortune, Blaze had a tight hold on his foot. He placed his hand just above her knee, and loosened the vice her legs had on him, all the while trying to ignore how high her nightshirt had skirted up her thigh through the night.
Heero took another breath, this time a sigh of relief. He was free! He looked at the clock. It was 7:10 a.m. They were going to leave around 8:30 to 9. That gave him just enough time to wake up, take a shower, gather together his things, and to make sure that Blaze does the same. He wasted no time in his preparations.
Blaze batted away the hand that shook her, interrupting her peaceful sleep. A voice soon followed the hand that bothered her. "Come on, Blaze… Get up." Heero said.
"Buzz off!" she said crankily. Blaze put her head under her pillow.
Heero snatched the pillow off of her head. "You need to get ready. Don't waste my time." He demanded.
"Heeeerrooo!!!" she whined. "Leave me alone!!" She rubbed her eyes. "Get ready for what, anyway?"
"You're coming with us." Heero reminded, as he pulled the covers off of her.
Blaze stood up groggily. Heero backed away from her, giving her room to start to get ready. Instead, and much to Heero's annoyance, Blaze crawled into his bed and pulled the covers and pillows over herself. "I'm not going." her muffled voice said.
"Yes you are." Heero said icily. "I don't have time for this." Heero ripped the covers off of her and removed the pillows from her grasp.
He immediately grabbed a nearby duffle bag and threw it on top of her. Then he proceeded to throw all of Blaze's belongings on top of her and the duffle bag.
Blaze grumbled a few choices words to herself and sat up. "You're such an ass." she accused grumpily. Heero ignored her, and left the room.
Heero went down stairs where the rest of the pilots were gathering together their belongings onto the large cargo planes. Quatre supervised everything, while Wufei stood next to him to keep an extra pair of eyes on things, particularly the progression of the gundams. They were usable, but their productions weren't quite complete. There was still more to add and adjust. More work was to be put into them once they got to their destination. Right now, the Preventers at the base were helping to place the gundams into the planes' cargo bay.
Heero watched as one of the cargo planes left. It headed off into the air, eventually leaving Heero's view as it turned around and flew over the base, heading south east. Deathscythe and Heavy Arms were gone, which showed what exactly the cargo plane was carrying. As expected, Duo and Trowa left with their gundams.
Heero immediately went to check on his own gundam Wing Zero lay silently, like a dangerous beast in hibernation. A small smile crept onto Heero's stoic features. If there was one thing he understood, it was his gundam. He immediately began to load Wing Zero into the cargo plane that was reserved for him. His gundam was the only one that none of the Preventers touched.
Quatre watched some men place the gundanium parts into the cargo plane which would be holding Wufei's gundam. His brow furrowed with worry, as he thought of all of the civilians that lived where they were going. Their secret base and village was underground, just as before. It was close to a small Arabian city, where there were tunnels that connected the two. The tunnels were deep underground, underneath the sewer systems, and difficult to discover. The place that they were to stay at had a limited number of rooms. Even aside from that, Quatre believed in safety in numbers. So did Rashid, his trusty Maguanac bodyguard. So, as before, they'll have to share rooms again. The order is yet to be decided, but Quatre was to make sure that it wasn't going to be a problem. His only concern was the ordeal between Heero and Blaze. The two were nearly already at each other's throats.
Quatre recalled Heero requesting the least populated place, and he was sure that Heero wasn't going to agree with their new headquarters. Yes, it was highly populated with civilians. Still, compared to the other places, it actually had the *least* amount of people. The only difference is that the other hidden towns are larger, so the people are more spread out. It was the best that he was able to do.
His concern then fell on this Preventers base. Would ESUN find out about the pilots hiding here? What is going to happen to the people that are here? All of them support the colonies. This base is mostly populated by people from the colonies or with family on the colonies. Quatre didn't expect Hampshire to play by any rules. All is fair in love and war.
Relena stared at the long list in front of her. More and more rebellions against ESUN Preventers bases were occurring on the colonies. The news that was stated three weeks ago was still very fresh on the public, and even Relena herself. Though she had been through the unlimited amount of debates before the decision was made, it still surprised her that ESUN wanted war after peace had been established. Of course not all of ESUN's leaders wished for the war. But much to everyone's black reality, very few of them wished for peace.
Relena placed her head in her hands and held back her tears. What was she going to do? She, above all, felt responsible for this unhappy turn of events. She was assigned as the Vice Minister of the Peace Negotiations between Earth and the Colonies. But Hampshire was the President of ESUN's Preventers force, and he out ranked her immensely; in title and in age. The only hold Relena had was the hold on the public. She was the one they adored. Not old men. And when you have the public, you have the power. Still, Hampshire was beginning to take that away from her as well. He was very provocative, and he used his words well. That's why he always won the side of the men of ESUN when they had their meetings.
One thing Relena was able to do was the keep track on everything Hampshire did. Pagan, her squire and friend, always found a way to get all the information Relena ever needed or wanted. She never knew his secret or his connections, but he was always able to get the job done, giving 110%. Relena kept careful track of which Preventers bases were being changed into ESUN's military force. Many Preventers on record were leaving, unwilling to fight against the colonies. Still, more joined.
Hampshire was also getting the approval of many countries across the Earth. He went from nation to nation, giving his speeches and winning the governments there. Relena, was doing the exact same, of course for the opposite reason. She went where she was able to, stating the ideas of peace that had brought a calm for both the earth and the colonies. The peace negotiators of ESUN did all the could with Relena to maintain balance on the thin thread of war. Neither side has directly attacked yet, but that is to be expected with no mobile suits.
Still, that wasn't going to be a problem for long. As Hampshire began to win over the nations of the world, he began his mecha productions. The production has begun quickly, set up by rich entrepreneurs who plan to gain a high profit from the war. Prices will be especially high now that mecha productions came to a halt after the Mariemaia issue. 'People no longer have a conscience…' Relena thought miserably.
Blaze slept soundly on the cargo plane, catching up on some much deserved shut eye. Meanwhile Heero and Quatre piloted the plane towards their new safe house.
"How many civilians?" Heero asked, as he watched the ocean sweep past beneath them.
"958 all together, including the Maguanacs." Quatre replied.
"Hn…" Heero replied. "That's not that much… but it still puts plenty of lives in danger."
"It's the best we could find." Quatre replied. "There's a tunnel that leads to a small town nearby. You and the others will have plenty of time to check it out."
"That puts the town in danger." Heero point out.
"Not necessarily. We can blow away the tunnels in case of an emergency." Quatre replied with a smirk.
"Hn… good."
Quatre put the plane on auto pilot, and stretched back in his seat. He unbuckled his harness. "Heero, I might as well tell you in advance. There are a limited number of rooms where we're suppose to stay. We'll be sharing again."
Heero inwardly groaned to himself. Was he going to have to share his room with Blaze again? He recapped on the previous night, and got a stomach ache at the thought of how close they got. That was NOT suppose to happen.
"Heero, are you okay?" Quatre asked, concerned. "You're face is looking… A little red… are you blushing???"
"No." Heero replied through clenched teeth. He immediately turned his head away.
"Uh huh…" Quatre said, and rolled his aqua colored eyes. "Well, I was about to suggest… do you want me to share a room with Blaze this time? Trowa can stay with you. You're both quiet, so I'm sure it'll work out fine. You and Blaze don't seem to get along…"
"That's thoughtful Quatre…" Heero replied. It was tempting. Then he recalled Blaze having her nightmare. Dr. J. had put Blaze in his care, so he had to watch over her. Heero sighed heavily, accepting his responsibility. "I'll be fine. I need to train her anyway, so I'll have more control if I'm staying with her."
"That's true…" Quatre replied. He didn't quite like the idea of Heero coming in every morning at 6:30 a.m. to wake up Blaze. But still… "Are you sure you can handle her? She's a fiery woman…" Quatre asked.
"I said I'll be fine." Heero replied stoically.
"I'm very familiar with girls, Heero…" Quatre said, slightly worried. He knew Blaze stripped Heero of all of his patience. Heero looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "I have 29 sisters…"
"Oh." Heero replied. "What's your point?"
"If you need help or something, I'm pretty sure I'll know how to handle her." Quatre said.
"Handle me how??" Blaze asked from behind him.
Quatre immediately began to blush. "Oh! Hi Blaze! How are you?"
Blaze raised an eyebrow at him as a grin started to cross her features. "Fine, a bit tired." An immediate silence fell on the three. Then Blaze spoke up. "Oh, by all means, don't stop conversation just because of my presence! Do continue with what you were saying…"
Quatre twiddled his fingers. "Well, it's just that I'm pretty sure Heero can't really tolerate you , whereas I am more cooperative than he is…" Quatre's voice fell as he realized that he really didn't know what he was saying.
"Nice one Quatre." Heero smirked. "You can really handle women."
"I can do just fine when I'm not taken by surprise!" Quatre huffed indignantly.
Blaze's grin turned into a full smile, and she ruffled Quatre's hair. "You're so cute!" she commented. Heero shot a piercing look at her, which Quatre picked up but made no mention of.
Many long hours later, while the stars studded the night sky and the moon followed them, they landed in the open hatch which led them under ground and into the hidden village. The other two cargo planes sat silently, and 3 of the 5 gundams already rested portentously. In the darkness of the bay.
"Where is everyone?" Blaze asked. There was a definite lack of a welcoming party.
"I'm sure their with the Maguanacs. They're probably waiting where we're going to stay." Quatre said.
Heero unbuckled himself and immediately got to business, specifically avoiding contact with Blaze. Blaze, being the oh so perceptive one that she was, noticed this. 'damn it!' she cursed to herself. 'he's really nervous about last night! It didn't mean anything… I don't even know why I let him get close. Here I am, trying to act like it didn't happen and let it blow over, but he's still caught up in it.' A frown started to darken her features. 'This is going to put a strain on things. And he's suppose to train me!'
Still, she wasn't motivated enough to confront Heero about it. He didn't seem to like confrontations over stupid stuff like this. 'It had better blow over by tomorrow…' she thought. She watched Heero exit into the cargo section of the plane. 'what an idiot…' she thought stubbornly.
"You coming Blaze?" Quatre asked as he walked by her.
"Uh, yeah…" she replied, snapping back to the present.
She walked into the cargo plane with them, and watched as they began to prepare to take their gundams out. She eyed the gundams with curiosity, as she always did. The large mechas laid on top of those very large moving trucks. They looked intimidating, but Blaze wasn't intimidated; only interested.
Suddenly a couple of men wearing desert colored clothing and Arabic hats (AN: Don't know what they're called, too lazy to find out) stepped in from the large platform. "Master Quatre! You're here!" They both said in unison.
"Hello!" Quatre replied with a wave.
"Blaze." Heero called. "Take the bags and go with them to our safe house. We'll meet you there."
"Alright…" she replied. The two men came up to her and helped to take the large duffel bags.
"Right this way. Good thing you guys just arrived! They're about to start the party!" one said as he pushed up his specs.
Heero narrowed his eyes. "What party?" He turned to Quatre.
"They're celebrating our arrival, Heero." Quatre replied simply. "It's going to be in the town."
"Wait! Party??" Blaze nearly shouted. "No! No party! This is unexpected! I have nothing to wear!!"
"Don't worry about that…" said the second Maguanac. He gave her a wink. "That'll all be taken care of."
"Uh oh…" Blaze and Heero muttered. They shared a brief glance.
Heero, Blaze, and Quatre walked down a dimly lit hall. The lanterns flickered on the red walls. They stopped outside a door. "Alright. Here's you're room… for the both of you." Quatre announced, unlocking it with the key.
"Wait… OUR room??" Blaze said wide-eyed. "I don't get my own room??"
Quatre shook his head. "Sorry…there's limited space here."
"But… but…" Blaze stuttered. Couldn't they give her someone else to share her room with? "What about you, Quatre? You don't have a room mate, right??"
Quatre nodded. "Trowa."
"Wha… well…. Phooey!" she announced.
Heero raised an eyebrow at her. "That was intelligent." He stated.
"Shut up." she demanded. She glared at Heero accusingly. "From you there is no escape!!"
Heero shrugged. "Not my fault."
Blaze let out an exasperated sigh, and stomped into their new room. Quatre giggled over this. "You'll be fine! Someone will bring you two your clothes for the party."
"Don't worry, I'll take my time." Blaze replied.
Quatre shook his head and closed the door.
"I can't believe this…" Blaze muttered. "The irony!" Heero ignored her and began unpacking. Blaze eyed him. Suddenly her mind gave her a brief replay of last night. Heero's hands weaving into her own, and the feel of his breath on her ear and neck. A shiver went through her, and she mentally smacked herself. 'what the hell am I thinking?? Could it be…' she watched Heero some more, until he turned and glanced at her with his icy glare. 'nah… yeah right.'
Heero's mind was doing the same thing. It was giving him a wonderful recap of his previous actions. Some of the thoughts that came across him made him blush profusely, and he fought to regain control over his exterior. 'stupid thoughts stupid thoughts…last night won't happen again tonight, right? I won't let it. I won't let myself open up.' Heero lectured to himself. Heero forced himself to take away any meaning there may have been to what had happened, and he finally was able to become Heero again. 'It was nothing.' Heero inwardly smiled to himself, pleased at his self control.
"Blaze…" Heero started, as he began to put his clothes into their dark brown dresser.
"What??" she snapped. She hadn't quite collected herself yet. Her control wasn't as great as Heero's.
Heero stood up and turned to look at her. She looked up from her folded clothes, and then looked away quickly, color rising into her cheeks.
"Sorry…" she mumbled. "I guess I should be nicer to you. After all, you did take care of me last night. Thank you…"
Heero turned back to the dresser. "It was nothing." he replied.
Blaze took a sigh of relief. It was nothing. Good. That made everything much more bearable. After all, she didn't want either of them to get the wrong idea from a bit of comfort.
Someone tapped on the door and Blaze answered it. Heero listened as she thanked whoever it was and close the door. "We have our clothes. Are you going to go?"
"No." Heero replied.
"Yes you are." she grinned. "You don't want to insult anyone, now do you?"
Heero growled to himself. She was right. He turned and took the clothes from her. This was going to be a long night.
"I'm going to go change now." she announced. "I might be in there for a bit."
"I'll be fine." Heero replied.
When she entered the bathroom, she squealed with delight. She poked her head out. "Hey, Heero! This is cool! We get one of those bath tubs that are in the floor! You know what I'm talking about? The kind that has water come in like a spa? That's so cool!" she immediately shut the door to enjoy the luxury. Heero shook his head and let a small grin play on his lips. Blaze's voice called through the bathroom door again. "We also get a white fury rug! OOH! And also some scented bath stuff! You know, those cool little ball thingies that shoot out scented oil if you squeeze them?"
Heero fully smiled now, since no one was around to see. "Alright, Blaze. Just get ready."
A devious laugh ensued from the bathroom. "Go find another bathroom, Heero! I'll be having some fun in here tonight!"
"We still have to go to the welcoming party." Heero reminded. He changed into his given clothing, which fit surprisingly well. He glanced at himself in the mirror, shrugged, and left the room. The second he stepped foot outside his room, he was greeted by Duo's rowdy presence. Duo slapped him on the back.
"Hey, Heero ol' buddy! Nice to see you again!" Duo said loudly.
"We just saw each other this morning." Heero said with a glare.
"Yeah, well… ah, whatever." Duo replied aimlessly, as he started to walk down the hall with his arm around Heero's shoulders. Duo eyed Heero's clothes. "Hey, lookin' slick! That blue shirt is gonna attract a lot of ladies."
"I don't care." Heero replied impassively. Heero shot a glance at him. Duo was dressed in all black. Black slacks and a long sleeved black silk shirt. "You look good yourself."
"What's that I hear? Was that a compliment? Did my ears deceive me?" Duo said with mocked shock. "I'm proud of you, Yuy!"
"Omae o' korosu." Heero hissed.
"Never mind…"Duo grinned. He removed his arm from the shorter pilot, and put his arms over his head. "Too bad Hilde's not here…" His violet eyes sparkled at the thought of her.
Heero snorted and rolled his eyes at the God of Death. Duo's attachment to the lively girl was only going to weaken him in this war. They couldn't afford fondness. Having something always ended up in losing it.
Heero stood around, quite bored. He talked to no one, as usual, and only observed. The pilots grouped together, talking to one another about a range of topics. They all had yet to go through the tunnel to get to the city. The fiesta was up on the land, underneath the stars. About 10 Maguanacs stood with them, one of whom was Rashid. He was a large burly man, putting all of the gundam pilots to shame with his height and bust. Aside from that, he was rather kind and gentle, taking away the coercion of his stature.
Who were they all waiting for? Blaze. Naturally. The woman was taking forever.
Wufei growled in extreme annoyance. "Yuy! Go up and get that onna of yours! She's wasting all of our time!"
Heero gave him his death glare. "She's not my woman, Chang."
At that moment, Blaze came out. "Yeah, Wuffie! I'm not his woman!" she glared blue flame at him.
"Could have fooled me." Wufei replied as he crossed his arms.
Quatre looked Blaze over checking her outfit. "Wow, Blaze! I'm glad that suited you so well!"
Blaze looked down at the red dress that she was wearing. The straps rested off of her shoulders, and it went down to just above her knee, where it was cut in a zigzag pattern. "Eh… I never thought red was my color."
"It doesn't matter. Let's just go." Wufei said.
"Yes, Oh Impatient One." Blaze shot back.
"That's enough." Heero said quietly. "Let's go, we don't want to make them wait any longer."
"Oh, I'm sure they've started by now!" Duo said. "Come on, I don't want to miss all of the great Arabic food!"
"Americans." Trowa commented quietly, as they entered a jeep.
"How are we going to all fit in here??" Wufei demanded. He gave the driver an accusing eye, as if it was his fault that there was no room.
"It'll be a tight squeeze…" Quatre replied. "My other friends, those Maguanacs, are going to be taking another jeep."
"There will definitely be some lap sitting here." Duo announced.
"Oh no there isn't! I refuse to sit on anyone's lap!" Blaze announced. "Wufei, get in the trunk!"
"ONNA!!" Wufei snarled.
"I was kidding." Blaze said flatly.
"Now, now, Blaze!" Duo said overly-kindly. "I wasn't referring to you! Come Heero! You shall sit on my lap!"
"Nani?!" Heero shouted. "Omae o korosu!!!"
Blaze erupted into laughter.
"It's times like these that I question you Maxwell…" Wufei muttered. Quatre snickered behind his hand.
"Now, Heero." Duo soothed. "You're the lightest out of all of us! Maybe you can sit on Wufei! Or even better, you can sit on Blaze!"
Blaze pouted. "But I bet his butt's all bony!"
"Don't bring me into this Braided Weakling!" Wufei snarled (as usual).
"There is no way, whatsoever, that I will ever do that!" Heero replied. Then he crossed his arms stubbornly. "I'll walk if I have to."
"Will you stop pestering Heero for once Duo?" Quatre demanded. "We have to get going, so we have to figure out how we'll fit!"
"Why don't we just have more vehicles??" Blaze demanded.
"Because that's too logical." Duo responded.
"Enough complaining you weaklings!" Wufei yelled. "Can we just GO??"
"Keep it up and I'll show you how fast you can have a face lift!" Blaze shot back.
Meanwhile, Trowa, Quatre, and Duo began to get into the jeep. The three of them filled the back seat, and scooted over, making room for Heero to fit. Wufei rolled his eyes at her threat and got into the passenger's seat. Blaze eyed this position of people warily.
"Choose quickly, Blaze, we have to go." Heero said stoically, while inside he was hoping she wouldn't pick him. It wouldn't do him much good if she sat on his lap on the way there. In fact, it wouldn't do much good if she sat on his lap at all.
Blaze weighed her options. 'NOT Heero. That would be a bit weird. Not Duo, because he's a typical American. Nothing clean would come out of sitting on HIS lap. Um… hm…. Trowa or Quatre?' Blaze quickly decided. "Better make some room for me Quatre…" she announced. "You're the unlucky winner!"
Duo's jaw dropped. "Well that's a harsh slap to the rest of us! I'm sensing a lack of trust here!"
"And rightfully so, you American!" she replied back with a grin, as she lifted herself into the jeep and fixed the bottom of her dress before sitting down on Quatre. Quatre blushed slightly. "I only trust Quatre because he has 29 sisters! I'm sure this isn't the first time he's had to do this…"
"Well it has been a while…" Quatre said.
The vehicle started bumping along the cobble-stoned street, and finally reached a large tunnel. All lighting of the underground village switched to white fluorescent light that surpassed them as they made their way through the tunnel. The Maguanacs were behind them, singing some Arabic song merrily.
They arrived at the town, coming out of the tunnel and being greeted by bright colors, loud music, and the crisp clear sky of night. The desert air was clean and fresh, and absolutely refreshing compared to the stale circulated air of the tunnel and village. Streamers twirled over their heads, and colorful lights lined the trees and poles. The town was utterly filled with people. Men in vests and loose pants, women in hi mid-drifts and long skirts tied at the waist, others in party dresses.
Blaze's eyes lit up, as did Duo's. Heero and Trowa seemed indifferent, and Quatre just smiled in amusement, since he had expected this. His people seemed to find every reason to celebrate.
The jeep stopped at the edge of the town square where there were long tables and benches of food, and people danced in the center. Blaze jumped out of the jeep quickly, her eyes lit up like a child at Christmas. Quatre followed, as did Trowa, and Duo. Heero got out on his own side, but took his time in doing so. He watched people dancing, and swallowed. He didn't like dancing. He knew he was eventually going to have to tonight. Why couldn't it be waltzing? That was easy. This… Heero watched women sashaying their hips…. This wasn't his style.
Quatre led them to their table. Once they got there, Duo left immediately to go and enjoy himself. His first destination… the food. Second destination… the dance floor. The rest of them went to get food as well. They eyed the selection of shish kabobs, middle eastern hot rice, luscious salads of hummus and bavaghanouj, and baklava desserts, among other things. They filled their plates with their selections and took it back to their table to begin eating.
Once the food was devoured, Quatre left to go dance with a pretty black haired girl that tugged at his sleeve. Trowa and Wufei were dragged along as well, despite their urge to stay at the table and remain wallflowers. Blaze watched with amusement, as the women and men around them began to teach them how to dance according to their culture. Group dances began, people twirling in circles and clapping. Blaze stood up to join them, after watching enough to get the hang of it. "Are you coming Heero?"
"Yeah right." Heero replied. Blaze rolled her eyes and left him where he was.
Blaze was immediately pulled into the flow, and she twirled, awkwardly. The girl standing next to her handed her a magenta colored silk scarf, and Blaze took one end, as the woman held onto the other. Other people brought out multi colored scarves and made chain, each person holding onto the end of a scarf, with a person attached to the other end. They danced in a train formation, turning into something like a figure eight.
Heero watched this silently, until a girl with dark red hair came up and put a scarf around his neck, and pulled him to his feet. Heero shook his head profusely, but the girl paid no attention to his defiance, and pulled him into the chain.
The chain of people and scarves turned around and around, until it was a circle, and the people at the end joined hands, forming a large circle. The women twirled inward and made a circle inside the circle of men, and turned as they danced, swayed their hips. The men, went in the opposite direction, stepping in unison, and clapping their hands.
Heero did not like this. He danced with the rest of the men, unsure of what exactly he was suppose to do next. He could see Duo struggling on the other end of the circle and then he spotted Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre as well. Quatre was the only one who was truly doing the dance correctly. Heero smirked to himself. He couldn't tell who was having a harder time getting down the steps: Wufei or Duo. Trowa was the best out of the four that didn't know what they were doing. Quatre twirled in a circle, and then the man to his left did the same, starting a chain reaction. Heero twirled accordingly, and he was suddenly faced by Blaze, who looked at him with surprise. They had no time to speak. Now each man and woman had a partner, and they were screwed. They HAD to dance with each other.
They watched others as they imitated them, their movements uncertain. They didn't touch… they only held on by the magenta scarf that Blaze was given. Blaze twirled under it and then spun in, sashaying her hips with her back to Heero. Heero then moved the scarf over her head, where she turned around and faced him again. Her hair whipped into her face, but Heero could see the flush in her cheeks from the dancing, and the fire in her eyes from the excitement. Heero pulled on the scarf, pulling her close to him, as all the other men did, and quickly put an arm around her waste. Blaze regained her balance on her stiletto heels, and her breath caught in her throat. She glanced into his eyes, and averted her gaze to the collar of his blue shirt.
The song ended and another began, and they began to dance again automatically. This time, the dance was free style, making things much easier for everyone. This time the song was…. Samba?? Blaze looked around confused. "I thought they're all Arabian!" she yelled over the heavy steady beat and laughter.
"They are." Heero replied. "but they're also diverse." He put her arms around his neck, and began to sway to the music. He didn't look into her eyes, but just danced automatically. They swayed their way to the ground and came back up, the music telling them what to do.
Duo quickly worked through the crowd of dancing bodies until he reached Quatre and Trowa who were near each other. "Hey, guys!" he yelled. They turned their heads and gave him a look saying, 'what?!' Duo nodded his head to the far left. "Check out our friends over there! They're practically doing the lambada!!"
Quatre and Trowa looked through the people and saw Blaze and Heero… well, getting down, quite frankly. "I didn't know she could do that!" Quatre yelled, completely shocked.
"I'm more surprised at Heero." Trowa commented. "Who'd of thought??"
"They're definitely having too much fun!" Duo announced.
Quatre grinned. "Well, I suggest we don't … uh… interrupt them."
Blaze stared into Heero's eyes, and Heero into hers. 'what the hell is going on??' Blaze yelled in her head. At that moment the music ended followed by something slower of pace. Heero slowly lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers, causing Blaze's pulse to quicken and the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.
"Blaze!" Heero shouted, interrupting Blaze's sudden daydream. He merely stared at her with his cold eyes. She looked up at him, her face red from embarrassment. Luckily for her, he assumed that it was from their heavy dancing. Good thing he couldn't read her mind. Heero pulled away from Blaze and said, "I'm going to go sit down now."
"Uh… yeah… sit down… Good idea…" she stuttered back. She walked back to their table behind him, all the while mentally smacking herself. She just imagined Heero kissing her. What was she thinking?? She watched him walk ahead of her, the ends of his brown hair sticking to the back of his neck with slight sweat from the closeness of the bodies, and the way that his cobalt blue shirt clung around his muscular shoulders, and how his pants weren't to tight and weren't too loose… 'Ah… never mind.' Blaze thought to herself. 'That thought was completely understandable, considering how hot he is.' Her hands still tingled from the feel of his muscles under the shirt he wore when they danced. 'I should eat something. Yes. Eat. That's a good idea.'
Blaze immediately diverted her path towards the food, and quickly got some pudding and pie. She arrived at the table, noticing that Wufei was there as well as Heero. She quickly sat down and began to stuff her face with sweet desserts, in order to take her mind off of *him*. She didn't look or talk at him for the rest of the party. Well, at least she wouldn't look at him when he would be aware of it. Heero, as usual, had no reaction and may very well have not noticed Blaze's shyness. 'This is stupid!' she said to herself. 'Why do I act like such an idiot around him?!'
Later that night all of the pilots entered into the hall where they were staying. Blaze leaned tiredly on Trowa's shoulder, her eyes half open with heavy exhaustion. The party had gone well, and all were now stuffed and very, very tired. Duo yawned loudly and waved good night as he went into his and Wufei's room. Wufei grumbled a few choice words under his breath about obnoxious snoring braided bakas, as he scratched his head. Trowa quietly handed Blaze over to Heero, who took her somewhat reluctantly. Quatre and Trowa bid them good night, leaving the two in the hall.
Heero kicked open the door to their room, while trying to keep Blaze from sliding to the ground. "Come on…" Heero said with a little strain in his voice, as he lifted her into his arms and carried her in. He closed the door with his foot, and carried Blaze to her bed, and dropped her onto it. He then turned on their light, and looked at the clock. It was 1:30 a.m. He sighed heavily, and looked at Blaze who was now asleep, still dressed in her red dress and stiletto shoes. He scratched his head and then took off her heels and put her legs under her covers, then pulled them up to her shoulders.
Heero took a quick shower to wipe off the sweat that had dried onto his body from the heat of the party and the smell of Blaze's perfume when they danced. He let the hot water run down his back and pour off of his bangs, and he placed his head against the tiled wall, eyes closed.
Tomorrow they will start training.