Chapter Five

Everything was quiet inside the house. Only the occasional snores from the owner of the house broke the absolute silence that reigned in the house. Relena had been turning on her bed without being able to sleep.

She didn't want to think about what was troubling her. Unfortunately, her brain refused to shut down. Funnily enough, the fact that she had been attacked and that someone had wanted to kill her just for being white, was what bothered her the least.

Getting up slowly and trying to make as little noise as possible, she decided to go out and take a walk.

On her way out, she saw Wu Fei and Heero sleeping. The Chinese man was laying inside the carriage and Heero was sitting against a wall with a blanket half covering him.

Relena didn't know what possessed her but she felt compelled to pull the blanket up so it would cover him better.

She started walking till she found a small pond. It wasn't too dark because the moon was nearly full. She sat down on a rock and, folding her skirts carefully, she hugged her knees pulling them to her chest.

She still remembered Heero's body pressing on it. In fact, she couldn't stop thinking of what had happened just a few hours before. That had been the first time she had had a man as close as that and, the scary bit is that she had actually liked it. She had felt so feminine and…

'Stop! You're marrying Monsieur Barton…!!' she told herself off mentally.

That was what was bothering her the most. She had been trying to convince herself that it was the best for everybody but, specially after today, the small voice that kept telling her that she was not, had become more insistent and now was almost a scream.

Relena remembered Sally's comment about the children. She would have to carry Monsieur Barton's children, which meant…

Relena shivered at the thought. How could she go through that? She couldn't, she just couldn't do it…She started a silent weep.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She almost jumped out of sheer fear. Turning around she saw a pair of deep blue eyes staring at her.

"It's not safe here…" Heero said.

"I'm sorry…I couldn't sleep…I'm…" Relena said but then, something inside her gave up and she started to cry in an almost hysterical manner.

Heero took her in his arms and hugged her. For some reason that instinctive gesture from him, made Relena even more upset.

"Why are you crying?" she heard him asking.

"I'm scared…" Relena replied.

"Why?" Heero insisted.

"I…I'm not sure…" said Relena pulling from him slightly, only enough so she could look up at him.

"Then if you don't have a reason, you shouldn't cry…" he said.

"I have a reason…I have taken a decision and I'm not sure anymore about it…" Relena said not wanting to go into details.

"Somebody very wise told me once to live my life following my emotions…" Heero said. That was easily the longest sentence she had heard from him.

Then Heero, touched her cheek with his hand wiping her tears from it. Relena shivered because of the touch. Heero misunderstood it and said:

"You better go inside, you're getting cold…", with this, he broke the embrace and started walking towards the house. Relena started following him.

The next morning, as usual, they started their way to Hanoi. Relena looked at Heero but he was just as cold to her as every day. She was wondering where the Heero from the night before was.

As predicted by Wu Fei, a few hours after their regular stop for lunch, they arrived to Hanoi.

It was a crazy city with everybody speaking either French or the native tongue. Relena was glad she had taken all those French lessons so, for the first time during the entire trip, she understood what was going on around her plus she could translate everything to Sally who didn't speak French.

Monsieur Barton's plantation was very close to the city so they made it there just before dinnertime, Relena was about to get off the carriage when Monsieur Barton arrived followed by a red haired woman.

"Oh Mademoiselle Relena…je suis très heureux ! Please meet my sister, Catherine. She's been looking forward meeting you…" Monsieur Barton said shocking Relena again. How could he speak so much in front of people but be so quiet with her?

In any case, Relena accepted his hand and got off the carriage, he then helped Sally as well. Well, you couldn't say that Monsieur Barton wasn't the perfect gentleman.

"How do you do Mademoiselle Barton?" Relena said to Catherine, then, turning her attention to the red haired woman' brother, added trying to sound very enthusiastic but failing miserably, "I'm happy to be here as well, Monsieur Barton…".

"Oh, I asked you to call me Trowa…we're to be married soon…" Trowa said all the sudden almost making Relena wince.

"Ah but I see you've received my present…do you like it?" he added while walking up the stairs holding her hand quite possessively.

"Yes, I do. Thank you" she replied looking at her left hand. Then, remembering Heero and Wu Fei, Relena asked, "Monsieur Barton…pardon, Trowa, aren't we forgetting something, or rather, someone?".

Trowa gave her a puzzled look but, realising who Relena was talking about, he let go of her hand and said, speaking to the two men that had brought her there:

"I'm sorry…I forgot about you…you can't blame me with such a beautiful fiancée, can you? But please come in…you're welcome to stay for the night…" .

"No, thank you. We've got alternative accommodation in the city…" Wu Fei replied.

"Ah…then, I will see you tomorrow so we can sort things out…I don't like talking about money in front of the ladies…" Trowa added and, considering the conversation over, turned his attention back to Relena.

The girl, took a good look to the two guides, specially at one of them. Sally caught that look and made a mental note to talk to Relena about it.

The four women and Trowa went inside the house and, after freshening up a bit, Relena and Sally were taken to the dinning room. There they found two more people.

"Relena chéri, meet my best friend Monsieur Quatre Winner and his lovely wife Dorothy…they're here to welcome you…" Trowa said introducing the couple to him.

"How do you do Miss Relena…" the man said in perfect English. He had blond hair and blue eyes.

"Oh…don't be so conventional Quatre dear…Hello my darling, I'm so happy Trowa has finally decided to tie the knot…did you have a safe trip?" Dorothy asked getting up from her chaise longue showing the magnificent length of her platinum blond hair.

"Well, yes and no…we got attacked near the Mekong river but our guides were very effective…in fact we've made it here in one piece…" said Relena trying to minimize the whole affair.

"What? I cannot believe it! You're alright, aren't you?" Trowa sounded almost alarmed. Sally tried to hide a smile but it disappeared when Trowa said:

"I'm telling you Quatre… we need to conquer that territory soon…I'm so fed up to hear about attacks on white people there…" Trowa said almost losing his normally neutral tone of voice.

"I know Trowa I know…is just that, we've just got hold here in Tonkin, let's not rush too much…We could, for once, enjoy some peace, couldn't we?" Quatre said.

"I guess you're right…" Trowa said. It seemed as though as he was going to add something else but he did not get the chance…the servants came in with their dinner.

After dinner, Catherine, Dorothy, Sally and Relena stayed there in the dinning room chatting while Quatre and Trowa went to smoke.

Dorothy was Scottish but her father had been in the army and had been sent to Saudi Arabia. Dorothy had met Quatre there and, during the many trips the couple had done, she had fallen in love with Indochina and, Quatre, a man that apparently would do anything for his wife, had given up part of his business, and leaving his homeland, had bought a plantation near the Barton's, that had been before Trowa's grandfather had died so Trowa had helped Quatre settling down and learning about how to administrate a plantation. They had helped each other during the difficult times of the war. Relena was shocked to hear that Trowa had been called to fight for France and he had just come back from the last conflict.

Relena sensed that the subject was a bit touchy for Catherine so she started talking about the weather so they would direct their attention somewhere else.

The following three days, Catherine and, whenever he could, Trowa, showed Sally and Relena around. Relena found out that most days Quatre and Trowa would go together to check on their plantations so Dorothy came every time that it happened.

Dorothy was a very interesting woman. She had the most strange ideas regarding the facts of life, specially regarding politics. According to her, what either France or Britain should do was to conquer the entire South East of Asia, this way, she said, it would prevent any more problems.

She seemed to have a keen interest in battles and she was very upset that women could not take part in these conflicts other than assisting as nurses. Sally was totally scandalised and so was Relena.

Catherine just said nothing at all. It seemed that Trowa's sister was used to Dorothy's extravagant behaviour.

One night, when everybody was sleeping, Relena woke up thirsty. She tried calling the maid but no one came so she decided to go herself to the kitchens.

She got up and put her dressing gown on. For some reason, wandering around in the dark, reminded her of the last night she had seen Heero. She missed him a lot more than she was prepared to admit.

'Stop it Relena! You're engaged now…!' she told herself off. She had to stop thinking of Heero, Trowa would be very upset if he ever found out so she made a point of removing Heero from her memory before her wedding day.

Walking towards the kitchen meant that you had to go through the dinning room. She was about to open the door when she heard some strange noises.

At first, an innocent girl like Relena did not recognise them so she opened slightly the sliding door. Through the small gap, Relena saw something that made her feel sick.

On the table where they all had their meals, a blond girl was laying naked near the edge of the table with her legs spread and a man between them. Even being as naïve as she was, Relena realised that those two were obviously having sex but, as if that wasn't enough to shock her, Relena saw that the man having sex was no other than her own fiancé, Trowa Barton.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

A/N: Fans of Trowa Barton, please don't flame me for making him such a bastard. Everything will have a reasonable explanation, just hold on and be patient!