Aishiteru
Chapter Seven
Meanwhile. . . .
11:13 PM Local Time, Winner Mansion, L4-A01
The house was silent once again. Relena had made a private phone call and then joined Hope in bed. Relieved from his post, Wu Fei had returned to the library alone. Quatre was still secure in his room for the time being. Zechs and Noin had been given a room together on the other side of the estate, and after escorting them there, Duo had gone to bed as well. The few servants still on the premises had all been accounted for, and the light guard posted around the property's perimeter was in place and on the alert. They had already had all the unexpected visitors that were expected.
Satisfied with his assessment of the grounds, Trowa redirected himself through the dining room to the closest entrance to the servants' hall. He navigated his way easily through the deserted bowels of the mansion until he found the back elevator. Punching in the authorization code, he descended to the security room. Framed by a vast array of surveillance monitors displaying every room, corridor, window, and garden, the silhouetted head did not turn to look at him. He shut the door behind him with a light click.
"I thought you'd go to Quatre first."
"Duo indicated that he wasn't ready for company."
"Wasn't ready to worry about reassuring other people, I'd guess."
"Is he still awake?" The man at the console responded by tapping a few buttons, rearranging the images until Quatre's room replaced the front gate on the main screen. Trowa seated himself in the chair beside the dark man and studied the image of Quatre lying on his stomach across the length of his bed, his hands moving indiscernibly a few centimeters from his face. "What's he doing?"
"I'm not sure. He picked something off the dresser when he came in, but he's been like that since."
"You've been watching him?"
"A precaution on the off chance he tries to do something rash."
"I don't see that as a threat."
"Can never be sure. It wouldn't be the first time his mental stability proved tenuous."
"How long have you been here?"
"Longer than you. All things considered, Quatre's security is certainly lacking."
"It's effective. He deliberately chose to leave within the system the holes the rest of us are capable of slipping through. He considers it an open invitation."
"He doesn't even monitor his surveillance."
"If you were here with intent to kill, he'd have felt you out by now, and you know it."
"Hn."
"Are you planning on letting anyone know you're here?"
"Hn."
"Why are you here, Heero?"
"I thought I could talk to Quatre. It is very hard to act on your emotions when you can't understand what they are. He would know what I'm supposed to be feeling."
"He would tell you that you aren't supposed to feel a certain way. You're emotions are always right. It's how you act on them that makes the difference."
"She should have told me. It's inexcusable."
"Maybe. You left her with no way to contact you."
"She could put out a message for me easily, without needing a shuttle code or a phone number."
"Or you could have stayed in the first place. You felt fear, and you acted on it as you saw fit. Relena acted as well. Now it's your chance to act again. You should consider your options carefully." Trowa rose again, knowing Heero would say no more for now, and turned back towards the elevator.
When he stepped off this time it was onto the second floor. He didn't bother returning to the domestic part of the house, instead continuing behind it through the servant's hall. It was in this manner that he managed to bypass the locked door and let himself into Quatre's room.
The young man was stretched across the bed just as he had seen minutes before, and he didn't bother to raise his head to Trowa's entrance. He could see, now, that Quatre's hands were immersing themselves within a small box, toying with the contents still beyond Trowa's view. For all he had grown up in the last years, for that moment, the lithe form lost against the enormous bed seemed just as childish and fragile as it had the first time he had seen it emerge from a Gundam.
"It's true. I'm an idiot. I never guessed. I never even suspected. And no one ... no one ever told me. . . . How could I be so stupid and careless. . . ?"
"It's harder to spot treachery, the closer it is to your heart. That's what makes the heart a liability to a man in jeopardy. If everyone had a heart like yours, peace would have been realized a long time ago."
"These were in my father's will ... I never understood why he left them to me ... or what they were..." He raised his hand high enough that Trowa could see the glint of a jewel in his palm.
"It's a necklace." Quatre finally turned his head to shoot him a glare. Trowa merely shrugged his shoulders lightly.
"I know it's a necklace ... I know they're necklaces and rings and earrings and bracelets. I ... I was just told they were heirlooms."
"Then that's what they are. No more, no less."
"It's true, isn't it...? What Zechs said...? There was a Quatrine Winner."
"Yes."
"And you knew."
"Yes."
"You always were a thorough soldier. . . ." Quatre murmured quietly and without bitterness. He pulled himself up from the bed, leaving the box on the coverlet and crossed to the glass paneled balcony doors. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't my place to know. How could it possibly be my place to tell you?" Quatre made no response, his eyelids fluttering shut even as he kept his face tilted up towards the artificial night sky. Slowly, his arms moved up his sides until he was hugging his bare chest. In a few long strides, Trowa caught up to him at the window, and in the same manner he used to soothe an agitated animal, cautiously slipped his arms over Quatre's own, pulling him back against his chest. Quatre's eyes snapped open as he automatically struggled to throw off his attacker.
"Why are you doing this?!" He hissed as he pulled against Trowa's unyielding grip. Trowa's response came as if he were speaking to a child.
"Because you thrive on human contact." As he expected, Quatre's straining fell away into mild indignation, and finally comfort as he relaxed into Trowa's embrace and surrendered to the sense of calm he was being enveloped in.
"Bastard..." he murmured halfheartedly.
"Yes," Trowa agreed, sounding suspiciously close to cheerful, "I'm sorry, but yes." Quatre was silent a few moments.
"How did you find out?"
"When you brought me back to your desert base. I took the liberty of examining your computer system."
"And checking out my background. So it was in my father's database ... I could have hacked into it at any time..."
"You had no reason to go looking."
"Why wasn't I ever told...?"
"That I can't answer. Your father must have had his own reasons to keep it a secret."
"What happened to her, Trowa...?"
"She died."
"Of what?"
"When you were born..."
"Ah. It all makes sense now, doesn't it. No wonder I could never be the pacifist my father wanted ... I was a murderer from the day I was born..."
"I don't think so." When Quatre remained silent, he continued. "Considering the medical records, she had to have known the pregnancy would be fatal. You didn't kill her, she made the choice herself. She thought your life more important than her own and she died to let you live. You heard what Zechs said; she went out of her way to give you life."
"To give my father his damned heir..."
"Because she loved you."
"You don't know that."
"But I believe it. It's the sort of choice you'd make yourself." For this, Quatre had no response. Without protest, he allowed himself to be drawn away from the window. He watched idly as Trowa moved the jewelry box to the bedside table and drew back the blankets. Exhausted both emotionally and physically, he let Trowa guide him back into the sheets. He was mildly grateful when Trowa climbed in beside him, enshrouding him with the calm security of his presence once again, and fell quickly asleep with only an annoyed mutter of "Ena be hib'bec, ya Trowa."
Alerted by the sounds of voices, Relena slipped away from Hope's body and padded to the doorway. She hadn't wanted to disturb Quatre, but apparently someone had. As quietly as she could, she cracked open the door and peered through. She was startled to see Quatre in much the same position with Trowa that she had been in with him just two mornings ago.
"He's alright." Trowa answered her unasked question. She blushed lightly, and then stepped further through the door.
"Are you going to stay the night?"
"He'll sleep better this way, with someone's emotions beside his own to comfort him."
"Goodnight, then."
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