Secrets Veiled and Revealed
Uh, don't take the title seriously here, it's just supposed to waken your interest in the story, but I admit, it sounds way off. So, focus on the story instead.
Thanks to my sister *cuty_cat* for editing my last chapter (and this one), and of course to all my reviewers!
*********************
There was an eerie silence about the school, as if it had suddenly been deserted. Heero's footsteps were the only thing heard as he snuck down the hallway, gun at the ready.
The night was really the only time that he could do his investigations without some idiot noticing, he thought grimly. This was not going to be a fun mission.
Heero stopped when he reached the office door. He expertly examined the code system, figured out how to crack it, and typed in the code to enter the office. He went straight to the computer and scanned through the school files. There had to be SOMETHING on the gundanium alloy being kept in the school!
'Ah, here we are', he spoke quietly to himself as he opened a file labelled GUNDANIUM ALLOY: PRIVATE. His eyes first widened in amazement, then narrowed in menace as he studied the information.
'So it's even worse than any of us expected', he said blankly. 'It's not just a storage of gundanium alloy, it's a -'
He was cut off in mid-sentence as his sensitive ears had picked up noise in the hallway outside the office. Immediately, Heero shut down the computer and, opening up the window, slipped without a sound onto the window sill, and closed the window almost fully, but left a little crack. He hoped to discover who was roaming about the school this late at night.
No sooner had he done so, the handle on the office door moved, and a dark figure snuck into the room. Heero couldn't tell who it was, or see the person's face, but it was somebody around his size and age. Probably a student, but what was he doing in the office in the dead of night?
The dark figure switched on the office computer, exactly as Heero had done. It proceeded to look through the school files, less expertly than Heero, but still with practiced skill. The Gundam pilot watched tensely from the window sill as the figure inside the room scanned through various files.
Then, suddenly, he heard an infuriated shout from inside the room, and knew in an instant who the voice belonged to.
'WHO THE HELL IS DOING THIS?!'
Heero immediately opened the window and jumped lightly off the window sill and into the office room. The figure spun around, and Heero could see that his estimate was correct. The maddened but surprised face of Wufei Chang was before him.
********************************
A few minutes later, Wufei had calmed down, and both boys had discovered that they were on the same mission once again: to find out what the great amount of gundanium alloy was doing at an ordinary high school.
'Why couldn't I have been given your mission?' Heero asked Wufei sullenly. 'Instead of having to go through the great pretence of being a school kid, you just investigate at night. How come I have to do both?'
'Why? Aren't you enjoying it?' Wufei asked sarcastically. The other pilot just looked at him with disdain.
'Enough of this. We need to find out where this 'gundanium alloy' of theirs is being kept.' Wufei went on.
'It's no use looking in the file. There's no hint about a location in it.' Heero informed him, as Wufei had reached for the computer again.
'Then we'll have to search the school. I won't rest until this thing is found!' Wufei's eyes flashed dangerously.
'Look at reason. There is no way they would put a thing like this in a place anybody besides them go to, and it's too big to fit in the normal rooms anyway. There's probably a secret room that doesn't show up on the blueprint of the school somewhere, and we won't find it by walking around the school.' Heero stated.
Wufei paced the floor, enraged again. He stopped in front of Heero and glared at his invisible enemy.
'I want to fight', he told him blandly. 'I want to see this enemy and be able to shoot him down! I can't stand this sneaking around and investigating!'
'You think it's any different for me?' said Heero shortly. 'But if we can' destroy our enemy's weapon, we must create our own.'
Wufei glowered. 'The sooner, the better.' he stated. 'You counsel Professor J on the matter. I will continue to seek out any hints as to where they have stationed it. We can meet again here tomorrow night.' The Gundam pilot turned to go, but stopped to ask: 'By the way, are any of the other pilots aware of this?'
'Duo knows my mission, but isn't onto it himself. I have no idea where the others are.' He glanced at Wufei pointedly. 'I would have preferred to fight this out on my own, but now that you're involved anyway, it might be sensible to warn the rest of them.' he concluded.
'We can decide that later. Right now, the most important thing is for you to report what we have found to Professor J, and counsel him on our need of weapons.' said Wufei and slipped out of the room as noiselessly as he had entered.
Heero frowned, victim to mixed emotions. Even though it might prove very handy to have Wufei around, he yearned for solitude. After just being smarted so painfully by Relena, he did not welcome company very readily.
He remembered suddenly that he had forgotten to inform Wufei that Relena Peacecraft was going to this school. But then, what was the use? A guy like Wufei would not think a girl was of much importance to anything, and he himself did not want to think about Relena, or he would just find himself with agonizing emotions again.
********************
Relena Peacecraft entered the school, looking around for any signs of Heero, but in vain. She had to talk to him, no matter how much he had stressed the fact that she shouldn't communicate with him. That horrible look of having been betrayed and wounded on his face when she had last seen him had haunted her all night, and she had to tell him she had not meant a word of what she had said in the cafeteria!
Ignoring the crowd of admirers and so-called friends that was beginning to form around her, Relena continued to search frantically for Heero, knowing that just to see him again would help to relieve her of her guilty conscience.
She started when a pair of arms encircled her waist, but then sighed wearily as she recognized whose they were.
'Santio, please leave me alone for a while. I'm very busy.' she told the boy, trying to unsuccessfully to slip out of his embrace.
Santio's wide, round eyes reproached her, looking hurt. 'Relena, I thought I was your friend. Friends don't just push each other away.' he accused her, while at the same time stroking her honey-coloured hair, which hung freely down her back as she had been to worried to put it up, in a soothing manner.
To Relena, the gesture was anything but soothing. It irritated her, as did his over-protective embrace. Even though Santio was what she could regard as a friend, there was simply no call for this behaviour. She was suddenly reminded of what had happened the day before, when she had taken his hand and he had jerked away. Had he felt the same annoyance as she felt now? Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of it, but she blinked them down bravely.
'I don't think my being your friend includes this!' she argued hotly, still trying to push him away.
Anger flashed up in Santio's mild eyes, only for a second, but its intensity was enough to frighten Relena. He looked as though he was able to do anything to her, and she was caught in his now anything but tender embrace.
Now fighting in earnest to get free, she felt repulsion shivering through her body when Santio, locking her securely in his grip, lowered his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. And she couldn't get away - he had her imprisoned - his eyes looked positively murderous - her frightened mind couldn't think properly -
Then, in one burst of disgust and fear, she called out desperately: 'Heero!'
*********************
Heero froze at hearing the familiar cry. Relena - was she in trouble? But how could she? Relena, who always kept her head and found a solution; how could she be in trouble?
Either way, he had to find out. But he was afraid that he would show his emotions again. He had done it once in her presence already, and he was not planning on letting it happen again.
While he was torn between seeing what was the matter or not, dreadful images of what could be happening to her at this very moment floated around in his head. He knew he had to go after her, for if anything at all would harm her in any way, he would -
Heero shook his head hastily, trying to rid himself of these thoughts. He didn't want to imagine what the end of his thought would have been. He had no right to think about her, especially in this way.
Pushing his way roughly past a group of students, he raced along a hallway to where the cry had come from.
When he sped around the corner, he stopped abruptly, feeling the blood rushing to his face. Relena was in no need of help; that was obvious. Wrapped in the arms of another boy - the one who had made her laugh yesterday in the cafeteria, Heero noted bitterly - and seeming to lean against his chest, Relena looked far from being in trouble.
Cursing himself silently for being such a fool, Heero hoped to slip away unnoticed, when a sudden movement from the girl caught his attention.
Relena was struggling! Her arms had been temporarily pinned to her sides by Santio's crushing grip, but now her right arm shot out, and tried feebly to push away from the boy.
Battle shone in Heero's eyes, and the searing loathing he felt for Santio wiped all rational thought from his head. In a second, he had knocked Santio with such force that the boy flew across the hallway before hitting the wall with a dull thud, and grabbed the freed Relena in his arms in a protective gesture.
'You scum', he snarled in ultimate rage. 'You dared hurt her! I'll kill you!'
*******************************
Relena felt as in a dream. Heero was holding her; finally, she was safe, as safe as she had not felt in her life since her father died. She could feel his strong arms around her, but the contrast between his embrace and Santio's was as great as that between heaven and hell. At first, Santio's had been over-protective and sickly-sweet, then, it had been crushing, imprisoning. But Heero's was indescribably gentle, and yet so strong that she could feel comfort flowing from him into her. And it was such inconceivable happiness, to be held by Heero at last! THIS, she realized, IS WHAT I HAVE WANTED EVER SINCE I MET HIM.
Then Heero's contemptuous words pulled her out of her dream. She turned her face sharply to look straight at him. The angry fire that burned in his eyes told her that he truly meant what he said. How can he be this mad because of what some guy did to me? I thought he didn't care about me at all!
Slowly, the fire in Heero's eyes burned out, leaving only a tiny flame alight in them. He turned his head to look at her in surprise, as if noticing only now that he was holding her in his arms. Relena could feel his fingers slipping away from her waist. But, somehow she couldn't let that happen.
'Wait, Heero. Don't run away again', she begged him softly, and then, feeling that he might still leave, threw her arms around his neck, to stop him.
Heero's dark eyes widened in uncertainty and astonishment. 'Why should I stay?' he asked her gravely, his eyes never leaving hers.
'Because I need to tell you that I didn't mean a word I said yesterday to Tekkan. I was just trying to convince him. I know that you don't fight for attention, but for justice, and I owe you too much to ever hope to repay you. You didn't only save my life, you saved ME. I was dying inside; and only you could keep me alive. And I am your friend -' she ended in a whisper as she tried to keep from crying. 'I just thought you didn't want me to be your friend.'
Heero gazed at her wide-eyed, and his features softened in deep gratitude. 'Relena. Thank you for what you said, but you do me too much credit. You stayed alive because of your own courageous strength; I had nothing to do with it.' he told her in a gentle voice.
Tears were coursing down Relena's cheeks; from what, she could not have said. Relief, gratitude, or the unexplainable happiness that had engulfed her the moment Heero had taken her into his arms.
Her breath stopped short when she felt Heero's warm hand leave her side; the loss seemed to hurt her physically. But then she could feel his fingers, tentative and reverent, wiping the hot tears off her face.
A sudden, inexplicable desire washed over Relena, and she wanted so much to reach out to his face and - she did not let herself finish the thought in her head. But her mind did not control her actions.
She found her hands pulling his head down to hers, and raised her face so she was staring into his eyes, that seemed more vibrant than she had ever seen them, with an entirely new emotion expressed in them.
Their lips were so close now, that Heero could do nothing else but touch his to hers.
A warm fountain of feelings gushed through Relena, she felt as if she was being lifted off the earth and into the skies, where the only emotion that existed was joy and - she thought it before she could stop herself - love.
'Well, would you look at that. Who would've ever expected it. Don't the two of them look sweet together?' A voice interrupted her blissful feelings.
***********************
Finally! I was wondering how soon I'd get the chance to put some real H/R into it! Whew! For those of you who thought it was too long or sappy, well - that's the kind of person I am. Romantic and sappy. Now you know. Uh, well - *hurriedly changes the subject to the weather and then disappears from view*
These are all the good people who bothered to mention something about the story:
Mara - thanks for leaving such long, interesting reviews; and even though I know this chapter will definitely not meet your expectations, hopefully you'll review again!
Lady Saturn - well, it went a bit downhill there, hope you don't lose faith in it altogether!
apol - yup, poor Heero is feeling something (took him long enough!)
Pink Sakura - definitely, I believe in totally happy endings!
Bunny - this was anything but soon, sorry about that! I don't believe you really cried, you're just making that up, right?
Ellona Hylaeon - I agree, he's being tortured; I'll stop that soon!
Christine aka Pink Cloud - yeah, someone who likes my boring details! Thanks!
Reiku-chan - sorry you had to wait so long!
Meio-chan - *sigh* I know, I'm the meanest author on earth *cackles evilly before promising to reform*
Sonydjsnmix - I'll try to.
EyRieya - Uh, this chapter is short, came out late, and is totally stupid to top it off! Sorry if I disappointed you!
cuty_cat - thanks for reviewing twice, oh honourable editor! *j/k*
Celestial Prodigy - You're kidding, right? As if I could ever write as well as you do!
That was all - *gets out her tissue and sniffs audibly* - but hope there'll be lots more for this one (even though they'll probably all be flames)!
Shooting Jewel
Bottom of Form
Uh, don't take the title seriously here, it's just supposed to waken your interest in the story, but I admit, it sounds way off. So, focus on the story instead.
Thanks to my sister *cuty_cat* for editing my last chapter (and this one), and of course to all my reviewers!
*********************
There was an eerie silence about the school, as if it had suddenly been deserted. Heero's footsteps were the only thing heard as he snuck down the hallway, gun at the ready.
The night was really the only time that he could do his investigations without some idiot noticing, he thought grimly. This was not going to be a fun mission.
Heero stopped when he reached the office door. He expertly examined the code system, figured out how to crack it, and typed in the code to enter the office. He went straight to the computer and scanned through the school files. There had to be SOMETHING on the gundanium alloy being kept in the school!
'Ah, here we are', he spoke quietly to himself as he opened a file labelled GUNDANIUM ALLOY: PRIVATE. His eyes first widened in amazement, then narrowed in menace as he studied the information.
'So it's even worse than any of us expected', he said blankly. 'It's not just a storage of gundanium alloy, it's a -'
He was cut off in mid-sentence as his sensitive ears had picked up noise in the hallway outside the office. Immediately, Heero shut down the computer and, opening up the window, slipped without a sound onto the window sill, and closed the window almost fully, but left a little crack. He hoped to discover who was roaming about the school this late at night.
No sooner had he done so, the handle on the office door moved, and a dark figure snuck into the room. Heero couldn't tell who it was, or see the person's face, but it was somebody around his size and age. Probably a student, but what was he doing in the office in the dead of night?
The dark figure switched on the office computer, exactly as Heero had done. It proceeded to look through the school files, less expertly than Heero, but still with practiced skill. The Gundam pilot watched tensely from the window sill as the figure inside the room scanned through various files.
Then, suddenly, he heard an infuriated shout from inside the room, and knew in an instant who the voice belonged to.
'WHO THE HELL IS DOING THIS?!'
Heero immediately opened the window and jumped lightly off the window sill and into the office room. The figure spun around, and Heero could see that his estimate was correct. The maddened but surprised face of Wufei Chang was before him.
********************************
A few minutes later, Wufei had calmed down, and both boys had discovered that they were on the same mission once again: to find out what the great amount of gundanium alloy was doing at an ordinary high school.
'Why couldn't I have been given your mission?' Heero asked Wufei sullenly. 'Instead of having to go through the great pretence of being a school kid, you just investigate at night. How come I have to do both?'
'Why? Aren't you enjoying it?' Wufei asked sarcastically. The other pilot just looked at him with disdain.
'Enough of this. We need to find out where this 'gundanium alloy' of theirs is being kept.' Wufei went on.
'It's no use looking in the file. There's no hint about a location in it.' Heero informed him, as Wufei had reached for the computer again.
'Then we'll have to search the school. I won't rest until this thing is found!' Wufei's eyes flashed dangerously.
'Look at reason. There is no way they would put a thing like this in a place anybody besides them go to, and it's too big to fit in the normal rooms anyway. There's probably a secret room that doesn't show up on the blueprint of the school somewhere, and we won't find it by walking around the school.' Heero stated.
Wufei paced the floor, enraged again. He stopped in front of Heero and glared at his invisible enemy.
'I want to fight', he told him blandly. 'I want to see this enemy and be able to shoot him down! I can't stand this sneaking around and investigating!'
'You think it's any different for me?' said Heero shortly. 'But if we can' destroy our enemy's weapon, we must create our own.'
Wufei glowered. 'The sooner, the better.' he stated. 'You counsel Professor J on the matter. I will continue to seek out any hints as to where they have stationed it. We can meet again here tomorrow night.' The Gundam pilot turned to go, but stopped to ask: 'By the way, are any of the other pilots aware of this?'
'Duo knows my mission, but isn't onto it himself. I have no idea where the others are.' He glanced at Wufei pointedly. 'I would have preferred to fight this out on my own, but now that you're involved anyway, it might be sensible to warn the rest of them.' he concluded.
'We can decide that later. Right now, the most important thing is for you to report what we have found to Professor J, and counsel him on our need of weapons.' said Wufei and slipped out of the room as noiselessly as he had entered.
Heero frowned, victim to mixed emotions. Even though it might prove very handy to have Wufei around, he yearned for solitude. After just being smarted so painfully by Relena, he did not welcome company very readily.
He remembered suddenly that he had forgotten to inform Wufei that Relena Peacecraft was going to this school. But then, what was the use? A guy like Wufei would not think a girl was of much importance to anything, and he himself did not want to think about Relena, or he would just find himself with agonizing emotions again.
********************
Relena Peacecraft entered the school, looking around for any signs of Heero, but in vain. She had to talk to him, no matter how much he had stressed the fact that she shouldn't communicate with him. That horrible look of having been betrayed and wounded on his face when she had last seen him had haunted her all night, and she had to tell him she had not meant a word of what she had said in the cafeteria!
Ignoring the crowd of admirers and so-called friends that was beginning to form around her, Relena continued to search frantically for Heero, knowing that just to see him again would help to relieve her of her guilty conscience.
She started when a pair of arms encircled her waist, but then sighed wearily as she recognized whose they were.
'Santio, please leave me alone for a while. I'm very busy.' she told the boy, trying to unsuccessfully to slip out of his embrace.
Santio's wide, round eyes reproached her, looking hurt. 'Relena, I thought I was your friend. Friends don't just push each other away.' he accused her, while at the same time stroking her honey-coloured hair, which hung freely down her back as she had been to worried to put it up, in a soothing manner.
To Relena, the gesture was anything but soothing. It irritated her, as did his over-protective embrace. Even though Santio was what she could regard as a friend, there was simply no call for this behaviour. She was suddenly reminded of what had happened the day before, when she had taken his hand and he had jerked away. Had he felt the same annoyance as she felt now? Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of it, but she blinked them down bravely.
'I don't think my being your friend includes this!' she argued hotly, still trying to push him away.
Anger flashed up in Santio's mild eyes, only for a second, but its intensity was enough to frighten Relena. He looked as though he was able to do anything to her, and she was caught in his now anything but tender embrace.
Now fighting in earnest to get free, she felt repulsion shivering through her body when Santio, locking her securely in his grip, lowered his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. And she couldn't get away - he had her imprisoned - his eyes looked positively murderous - her frightened mind couldn't think properly -
Then, in one burst of disgust and fear, she called out desperately: 'Heero!'
*********************
Heero froze at hearing the familiar cry. Relena - was she in trouble? But how could she? Relena, who always kept her head and found a solution; how could she be in trouble?
Either way, he had to find out. But he was afraid that he would show his emotions again. He had done it once in her presence already, and he was not planning on letting it happen again.
While he was torn between seeing what was the matter or not, dreadful images of what could be happening to her at this very moment floated around in his head. He knew he had to go after her, for if anything at all would harm her in any way, he would -
Heero shook his head hastily, trying to rid himself of these thoughts. He didn't want to imagine what the end of his thought would have been. He had no right to think about her, especially in this way.
Pushing his way roughly past a group of students, he raced along a hallway to where the cry had come from.
When he sped around the corner, he stopped abruptly, feeling the blood rushing to his face. Relena was in no need of help; that was obvious. Wrapped in the arms of another boy - the one who had made her laugh yesterday in the cafeteria, Heero noted bitterly - and seeming to lean against his chest, Relena looked far from being in trouble.
Cursing himself silently for being such a fool, Heero hoped to slip away unnoticed, when a sudden movement from the girl caught his attention.
Relena was struggling! Her arms had been temporarily pinned to her sides by Santio's crushing grip, but now her right arm shot out, and tried feebly to push away from the boy.
Battle shone in Heero's eyes, and the searing loathing he felt for Santio wiped all rational thought from his head. In a second, he had knocked Santio with such force that the boy flew across the hallway before hitting the wall with a dull thud, and grabbed the freed Relena in his arms in a protective gesture.
'You scum', he snarled in ultimate rage. 'You dared hurt her! I'll kill you!'
*******************************
Relena felt as in a dream. Heero was holding her; finally, she was safe, as safe as she had not felt in her life since her father died. She could feel his strong arms around her, but the contrast between his embrace and Santio's was as great as that between heaven and hell. At first, Santio's had been over-protective and sickly-sweet, then, it had been crushing, imprisoning. But Heero's was indescribably gentle, and yet so strong that she could feel comfort flowing from him into her. And it was such inconceivable happiness, to be held by Heero at last! THIS, she realized, IS WHAT I HAVE WANTED EVER SINCE I MET HIM.
Then Heero's contemptuous words pulled her out of her dream. She turned her face sharply to look straight at him. The angry fire that burned in his eyes told her that he truly meant what he said. How can he be this mad because of what some guy did to me? I thought he didn't care about me at all!
Slowly, the fire in Heero's eyes burned out, leaving only a tiny flame alight in them. He turned his head to look at her in surprise, as if noticing only now that he was holding her in his arms. Relena could feel his fingers slipping away from her waist. But, somehow she couldn't let that happen.
'Wait, Heero. Don't run away again', she begged him softly, and then, feeling that he might still leave, threw her arms around his neck, to stop him.
Heero's dark eyes widened in uncertainty and astonishment. 'Why should I stay?' he asked her gravely, his eyes never leaving hers.
'Because I need to tell you that I didn't mean a word I said yesterday to Tekkan. I was just trying to convince him. I know that you don't fight for attention, but for justice, and I owe you too much to ever hope to repay you. You didn't only save my life, you saved ME. I was dying inside; and only you could keep me alive. And I am your friend -' she ended in a whisper as she tried to keep from crying. 'I just thought you didn't want me to be your friend.'
Heero gazed at her wide-eyed, and his features softened in deep gratitude. 'Relena. Thank you for what you said, but you do me too much credit. You stayed alive because of your own courageous strength; I had nothing to do with it.' he told her in a gentle voice.
Tears were coursing down Relena's cheeks; from what, she could not have said. Relief, gratitude, or the unexplainable happiness that had engulfed her the moment Heero had taken her into his arms.
Her breath stopped short when she felt Heero's warm hand leave her side; the loss seemed to hurt her physically. But then she could feel his fingers, tentative and reverent, wiping the hot tears off her face.
A sudden, inexplicable desire washed over Relena, and she wanted so much to reach out to his face and - she did not let herself finish the thought in her head. But her mind did not control her actions.
She found her hands pulling his head down to hers, and raised her face so she was staring into his eyes, that seemed more vibrant than she had ever seen them, with an entirely new emotion expressed in them.
Their lips were so close now, that Heero could do nothing else but touch his to hers.
A warm fountain of feelings gushed through Relena, she felt as if she was being lifted off the earth and into the skies, where the only emotion that existed was joy and - she thought it before she could stop herself - love.
'Well, would you look at that. Who would've ever expected it. Don't the two of them look sweet together?' A voice interrupted her blissful feelings.
***********************
Finally! I was wondering how soon I'd get the chance to put some real H/R into it! Whew! For those of you who thought it was too long or sappy, well - that's the kind of person I am. Romantic and sappy. Now you know. Uh, well - *hurriedly changes the subject to the weather and then disappears from view*
These are all the good people who bothered to mention something about the story:
Mara - thanks for leaving such long, interesting reviews; and even though I know this chapter will definitely not meet your expectations, hopefully you'll review again!
Lady Saturn - well, it went a bit downhill there, hope you don't lose faith in it altogether!
apol - yup, poor Heero is feeling something (took him long enough!)
Pink Sakura - definitely, I believe in totally happy endings!
Bunny - this was anything but soon, sorry about that! I don't believe you really cried, you're just making that up, right?
Ellona Hylaeon - I agree, he's being tortured; I'll stop that soon!
Christine aka Pink Cloud - yeah, someone who likes my boring details! Thanks!
Reiku-chan - sorry you had to wait so long!
Meio-chan - *sigh* I know, I'm the meanest author on earth *cackles evilly before promising to reform*
Sonydjsnmix - I'll try to.
EyRieya - Uh, this chapter is short, came out late, and is totally stupid to top it off! Sorry if I disappointed you!
cuty_cat - thanks for reviewing twice, oh honourable editor! *j/k*
Celestial Prodigy - You're kidding, right? As if I could ever write as well as you do!
That was all - *gets out her tissue and sniffs audibly* - but hope there'll be lots more for this one (even though they'll probably all be flames)!
Shooting Jewel
Bottom of Form