ChibiMe: Well, it's been a while. There's been a lot of stuff going on back here, for both of us…and with that damned author's attention span, it gets progressively harder. Maybe this chaptered thing is better than it seemed at first…

The World's In Your Eyes, by Kaoru Saotome

The day wore on. The Bowie disc ended, and neither of them was the type to listen to the same piece of music twice in close succession. They turned off the radio and talked, in fits and starts. Then in starts and fits, until Heero noted pointedly that the sun was going down.

"You think we should stop for the night?" asked Sylvia in response. Heero nodded, deciding to feign fatigue from his recuperation. Privately, however, he just wanted to get the manic girl off the road before it got too dark. She was a nightmarish driver by day; after sundown she was probably unstoppable.

Sylvia pulled off the road and up to a copse, on a hill a few hundred yards away from the road.

"We'll be safe here," she explained. "You still get weirdoes at night sometimes."

Heero believed, again quietly, that hiding in the woods after dark in the middle of nowhere wasn't the best way to avoid any nearby psychopaths. However, he didn't feel like having an argument; on one hand he couldn't be bothered, and on the other he felt quite strongly that it would be a very bad thing to annoy someone like Sylvia when she was his best hope of reaching Quatre quickly. So he simply shrugged and got out of the truck.

"Did we bring camping stuff?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," smiled Sylvia. "I keep that kind of thing handy in case I get stranded. There's a little stove, some food and a tent, and…oh, no…"

"What?" asked Heero, keeping the resigned tone from his voice. He was fairly sure of what was coming.

"There's only one sleeping bag…"

Yep. He'd been right.

"You take it," he said without missing a beat. "I'll sleep in the woods."

"What?" Sylvia blinked. A man, turning down a chance to share a sleeping bag with a woman? That settled it – Heero was definitely not an average male.

"I'll sleep in the woods," elaborated the pilot, either missing of ignoring her incredulous outburst. "I can find somewhere easily. I've slept in less comfortable places."

"Oh, no you don't," said Sylvia adamantly. "What if I get attacked during the night? What if you get lost? What if you get lonely? What if you catch a cold and it turns into pneumonia and you die a horrible, painful, scratchy-lunged death?"

What if you get real, thought Heero irritably. Thankfully, his time around Relena had taught him a few manners – and blunted some of his almost trademark stoicism – and he relented. Shrugging, he strode to the truck and unloaded the gear marked 'camping'. "Then I'll sleep outside the tent."

"It's a big bag," said Sylvia, in a small voice.
"What?"

"You'd get cold."

"I'll turn the stove on."

"And leave us with nothing to cook with in the morning?"

"I…" Heero blinked. There were few people who could derail him when he was like this. Apparently the Noventa bloodline had granted Sylvia the excellent arguing skills of her grandfather. "I'm going to end up in there with you anyway, aren't I? I'm not going to win this."

"Heero, you can stay outside the tent if you want. But I'd sleep a lot better with you closer by." It wasn't really a lie, she reflected.

Heero's eyes glinted faintly as his mind worked. Finally he shrugged. "Fine. If you feel that strongly about it, I'll share the bag." He crouched and began setting up the tent. It was a spring-loaded one; once the pegs were down, it decompressed at the pull of a cord into a three-man – or woman – tent.

"Just don't try anything funny," warned Sylvia, half-jokingly. She wagged a finger at him, and carried the bag inside. "Do you want something to eat? We may not have time in the morning."

Heero gave her a look. She was beginning to recognise it. It was the look that said, I know you're fully aware I know what I'm doing.

"All right, fine," she said, dropping the sleeping bag inside the tent and stepping back out. "But I'm hungry. Hand me a can of tuna, would you, please?"

"Sure," replied the pilot flatly, picking up one of the little tin containers and throwing it to her. She flicked the tiny stove on, placed a tripod and gauze over the top, opened the tin and put it on top of the newly-fashioned heating array.

"That'll be really nummy in about five minutes," she smiled, looking at the tin contentedly. "Now, I'm guessing you'd want to go to sleep now. So the bag's in there."

"No. I'll keep watch." Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked off. He melted into the trees after about eight paces.

Sylvia sighed and sat watching the tuna begin to steam slightly. Men. There was no escaping them, even when you wanted to.

Later that night, Heero turned at the sound of a muffled scream. He blinked as he realised his obvious mistake. He'd been watching the road instead of the camp, presuming any threat to have to use it to reach them. Stupid, stupid, baka Heero, he cursed himself as he sprinted between the trees and saw the tent deflate, a struggle going on within. There was a snuffling sound, like heavy, rapid breathing, and Sylvia was shouting and yelling his name as she beat her attacker over the head with something oblong.

Heero dived into the tent head-first, grabbing hold of the first thing he could.

"HEY!" shouted Sylvia, blushing.

"Sorry," he grunted, removing his hand quickly and punching the other shape as hard as he could. It flew backward, rebounded off the inside of the tent and struck him in the face, knocking him over before leaving the tent…on four legs…

Heero got up and glanced out of the door.

"What happened?" asked Sylvia breathlessly, struggling upright. "Did he run away?"

"It," corrected Heero. "Sylvia, you just made me punch a badger."

"That was a badger?" wondered Sylvia. "I thought it was just a really hairy guy with a big nose…"

Heero sighed, and turned his attention to the girl. He averted his eyes immediately, going slightly pink. She'd changed into some nightwear; silk, Chinese-style pajamas that would normally keep her completely decent. However, the struggle had rendered that idea null.

"Sylvia," he murmured. "Your clothes…"

"You like them," she smiled.

"You're overflowing."

She looked down. Then she squeaked, hid under the sleeping bag and rearranged her top. Peeking out, she blushed heavily and scowled at him.

"What're you looking at me like that for?" he asked flatly, staring her in the eye. "I didn't do that to you. And I looked away."

She opened her mouth, then shut it again when she realised he'd made a better point than she could counter.

"Sorry," she finally said, her blush cooling from furious red to shameful pink. She opened the neck of the bag and climbed inside, then looked at him. "You still wanna stay?"

Heero was about to say no – in fact, he didn't know whether he could stand a repeat of the view he'd had a minute ago, and he'd probably get one by accident in there – but he caught the pleading look on her face. The badger had shaken her, despite its - obviously - merely curious intentions.

"Okay," he said, closing the tent entrance behind him and turning off the little fluorescent lamp before climbing into the bag and closing his eyes. Sylvia shifted a couple of times, lying primly with her arms at her side while he lay with his back to her. He closed down his conscious functions and slept dreamlessly, as usual, within about half a minute.

Sylvia listened to the deep, slow breathing next to her and sighed. She was ambivalent about sleeping next to a man, especially one like this. He had a body that most of the girls in her old school would have died to touch, but she hadn't been like them and had left men alone her whole life. Now, at eighteen, she was beginning to feel the strain. While Heero could be a complete hole at times, she felt attracted to him. Who wouldn't, after all?

She sighed. This wasn't an affair of the heart. Like most women, Heero's presence affected some very different parts of her.

Her brain's anger centers, for a start, she thought as he pulled more of the bag over to him. He was obviously used to having a bed to himself, like her…but he'd pulled her right up against his back. She disengaged herself as stealthily as she could and turned her back on him…and slept.