Heero - the High School Kid
I know this title is a contradiction in itself. I mean, who ever heard of Heero as a kid at high school? Well, in this chapter, he really earns that name. Hopefully. Btw, I hope none of you are going to be creeped out by the - uh, drug-related instances in here. Other than that, just keep reviewing and I'll be at a hundred reviews soon! Just imagine - me! *falls over in a faint*
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When the two boys reached the trap door, Heero once again took out the steel rope and fastened it at the top.
'This time I trust there won't be any unpleasant surprises at the bottom,' he told Wufei with a slight smile, and began his descent, sliding through the darkness. The situation reminded him uncannily of what had happened earlier on in the day.
Wufei was coming down right after him, and got out a strong flashlight. In its light the two Gundam pilots began inspecting the cave. It was bigger than Heero remembered it, with a very high ceiling, sloping walls, and - a light-switch.
It came as a surprise when Wufei discovered the little trigger on the wall and flicked it simply to see what would happen, and a brilliant light shone from the ceiling.
'That proves that this cave is definitely man-made,' stated Heero, gazing up at the installed lighting system overhead.
'Yes, and I wonder why,' murmured the other pilot, feeling the walls for hidden cracks or door-joints. 'Big as it is, it's still not nearly large enough to hold all that gundanium alloy.'
'I know,' agreed Heero, 'and there doesn't seem to be another outlet except for the one that leads up to the school grounds.'
'And who would hide weaponry in an educational facility?' questioned Wufei. 'The kids who go to school here are no more than that - kids.' He spoke the word with disdain. 'They have no conception of what kind of a world is out there.'
'You're telling me. If Tekkan is the fighting champion of the school, they sure aren't tough.'
'WAS the fighting champion of the school, you mean,' corrected Wufei, examining a little crevice in the wall, close to the floor. 'We'd better check this out.'
Heero joined him, crouching on the ground. He felt its jagged ridge thoughtfully.
'No, I don't think it means anything,' he said slowly. 'I can feel the stone through it.'
'So?' Wufei was not convinced. 'That might be a cunning decoy.'
Just as Heero was about to argue, there was a loud slam and the steel rope slipped from the trap door and fell to the floor. The Gundam pilots had their pistols out in a second, staring rather disconcertedly at the coiled rope, lying on the floor like a destructive omen. They could just make out the rims of the trap door overhead. It was closed.
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The next day, Heero wandered into the school, hoping to reach class early and still have a moment to think. After the frightening interruption, he and Wufei had decided that it wasn't safe to continue their investigations for the night, and had left through the 'back way' - the tunnel under the boulder.
Heero had stayed up longer than that, sending updated information to Doctor J and practising for when the weapon was ready. It had been a long and tedious night, just like this mission was turning out to be, thought Heero wearily.
He had expected to be able to reach the classroom without attracting any attention, but found this was not the case. Two girls walking past him shot him their most dazzling smiles, and one of them addressed him silkily with: 'Hi, Heero.'
After giving them his death look, Heero marched on, but soon met a group of guys - some of which he recognized from various classes - obviously his age.
'Hey, look, it's Heero Yinkomoto, the champ!' called out one of them. And they all quickly had him surrounded. Heero automatically backed away, narrowing his eyes. What did they want, a fight?
But one of the guys pressed a coke into his hand, another one slapped him on the shoulder, greeting him in a friendly manner, and one boy shook his head at him and said in an awed voice: 'Man, I'd like to have your cool. You pull the most amazing job beating up Tekkan, rescue Relena, and then come to school the next day looking as if nothing had ever happened.'
Heero's mind took in the information rapidly. Apparently they were impressed with his fight against Tekkan, and had somehow got wind of that he had saved Relena. But in what situation? Did they know about the trap door, or were they referring to the fact that he had knocked out Santio?
All four guys were looking at him expectantly, and he guessed he had to say something. What would a normal kid say in this situation, he wondered. What would Duo say?
'It was no big deal,' he finally told them, shrugging casually. If the impression they had of him was that of the cool fighter, he would play up to their expectations.
The others were obviously impressed. 'And is it true that Tekkan was cornering Relena with a knife?' demanded one of them in a hushed voice.
So that was the rescue they meant. Heero frowned. They had gotten it all wrong! It had been Quatre who had saved both him and Relena. And how did they know about it anyway?
'Yeah, but like I said, it was no sweat,' acknowledged Heero, gulping down some of the coke he had just been given to wash down the guilt at taking credit for Quatre's work. 'He's just a big coward, no matter what he might seem like.'
'Yeah, I think so too. I mean, does it take a knife to control a girl, or what?' the boy who had slapped his shoulder remarked.
'For him it does,' grinned another of the guys, and the group laughed. Even Heero pulled a wry smile, though more out of the feeling that it was expected of him than out of real amusement. He felt only contempt for Tekkan.
'By the way,' announced one. 'I'm Ryan, he's Damon, and that's Leat.' He waved a hand at his friends. 'Oh,' he added quickly when another boy glared at him. 'And this is Jiran, but he's not important.' More laughter and a fist-fight followed this remark.
While Ryan and Jiran still had each other caught in a head-lock, Damon turned to Heero. 'So, what's your next class?'
The Gundam pilot thought for a split second, then remembered. 'History,' he said dully, disliking the thought of meeting Relena and Tekkan again. Though for very different reasons.
'I know how you feel,' said Leat cheerfully. 'History must be the most boring class in the world. You never learn anything.'
Heero bit back the comment he was thinking of. If only humanity paid attention to history and was careful not to let it repeat itself, history would be very valuable. But with the people closing their eyes like they had done for centuries, nothing would change. Just when one thought there would finally be peace, that all war was over - something like this happened.
'Heero?' asked Ryan timidly, interrupting his thoughts. 'You still there?'
'Oh. Just thinking,' Heero replied quickly and without a change of emotion in his voice or in his face.
Because Ryan was still looking at him curiously, he racked his brains to say something that would rid him of his suspicion. Something normal.
'So, uh, what are you guys doing this evening?' he asked casually. Not that he was interested in whatever party or club they were going to, but it seemed appropriate in his situation.
Jiran's eyes lit up, and he started talking at top speed. Obviously, he was in his element. 'Tonight? There's this really huge party at the Lab - the hottest place in town - and what's more, they're hosting the Cool Cucumber as DJ - this'll be one great night, I can tell you that. We're going, right?' He looked around at his friends expectantly.
'Yeah, whatever,' sighed Damon. 'Anything to keep you happy.'
'What about you, Heero? Want to join us?' Ryan asked eagerly.
Heero's thoughts had been wandering off again when Jiran had been describing the party, but now he began calculating which choice was wiser. Go to the party? Everything in him was repulsed by the thought of it. But what would the others say if he made an excuse?
'C'mon, Heero, it'll be lots of fun,' put in Leat. The 'perfect soldier' was confused. He had almost never been asked to go anywhere - always ordered. Who knew? It might help him with his mission. Then he shook himself mentally. Was he trying to come up with an excuse to go to the party? That was pathetic.
'Don't think so,' he said monotonously. Then he was incredulous at the way Leat's and Ryan's faces fell. Did it mean that much to them that he came with them to a stupid party? Obviously. Heero's emotions were more mixed up than ever. What on earth did they want him for? Was it a trap? This thought put him on his guard even more. His muscles tensed, and he was about to walk away from the group when Jiran calmly stated: 'You could bring Relena Peacecraft.'
Heero actually turned around and stared the smaller boy full in the face in bewilderment. He felt the blood rushing in his head. It was as if Jiran had stripped off Heero's entire disguise and pretence to expose something hidden and uncomfortable. Something forbidden. He responded in just one word that hung in the air like a challenge.
'Why?'
'Well, you're probably the only person she'd go with,' shrugged Jiran, unaware of how tense Heero was. 'She's not into partying much.'
'And since you're the one who saved her, I bet she'd go with you just out of gratitude,' remarked Damon, giving Heero an awed look.
'So?' Heero spoke harshly, and started to walk down the hallway. 'Why would I want to take her?'
'Don't you have eyes?' asked Leat impatiently, following him. Heero felt a stab of annoyance at noticing that the whole group was moving along as well. He had actually wanted to be alone.
'I mean,' Leat added, 'her looks alone would be enough for anybody to feel privileged if he got to take her anywhere.'
'Leave off, Leat,' instructed Damon, who had caught up with Heero and was watching the Gundam pilot with worry. 'Can't you see he doesn't want to talk about it?'
Heero didn't know whether to feel grateful or embarrassed at his comment. It was true that he didn't want to 'talk about it', but putting it this way made the whole thing look ridiculous.
'Hey, Heero, wait up a sec,' Ryan called out behind him. Unwillingly, Heero turned around. The other boy came to an abrupt stop in front of him. His freckled face looked at him uncomfortably.
'We're not trying to force you to do anything with us. But, well, it would be cool. I mean, you just seem kind of lonely and - you know, we thought you might like to find some new friends. And a big party is really the best thing for it.'
While Heero gave him the impassive stare, he was thinking hard. Was Ryan offering him charity? But he remembered the crest-fallen look on his face when Heero had declined his invitation. He wouldn't have been so disappointed if that was the case.
Jiran joined them again, and he was still gazing hopefully at Heero. Why was it so important to them that he came with them? The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a trap. And a Gundam pilot never let himself be trapped.
But they couldn't do anything to him, he thought contemptuously. Unless they were planning to kidnap Relena . His stomach knotted up. Fine, he bargained with himself. He would see if Relena had any intention of going to the party, and if she had, he wouldn't trust his 'new friends' or come with them. If she didn't, he could check things out. Act normally.
'Maybe I'll go,' he said brusquely, starting to walk again. The hallways were filling up with students laughing, talking in excited voices, and banging locker doors shut. And, once again, awed glances came his way. What was it about beating up Tekkan that made him so special?
'Maybe?' repeated Damon, his serious face cracking into a smile. The whole gang was following Heero, which he wished they'd stop doing. 'Does that mean more yes or more no?'
'Well, I have a, uh, math test on Monday,' Heero said quickly, turning the last corner to his History classroom.
Their answer surprised him. 'SO?' they all shouted impatiently. Puzzled, Heero hurried on. Did grades and tests mean nothing to them?
But a moment later, he had stopped worrying about that. He halted so suddenly that Leat, who had had trouble catching up with his fast pace, bumped into him.
Relena was just entering their classroom, when she caught sight of Heero and stopped short. Her long golden tresses hung down her back, shimmering on her soft lavender blouse. The glittering blue eyes he knew so well regarded him sadly.
Heero was as taken aback as he had been the first time he had seen her at this school. She looked like a melancholy angel, reflecting both the sorrow and the hope of humanity in her eyes. His well-trained sense seemed to switch off while he gazed at her, expecting no reaction, just wishing fervently that she would not disappear from his view; that he could still look upon her celestial beauty.
Something in him pounced upon that word and dragged it into his real conscience, sneering cruelly at him. Beauty, he thought with bitter hatred, since when has that meant anything to me? Beauty was something dream-like people built up around them to shield them off from life's danger and misery.
Remembering his bargain, he hurried up to her before she could enter the classroom and drew her aside, determined not to feel anything when he touched her.
Relena looked up at him in wide-eyed surprise and, again, fear. Heero wouldn't speak to her this openly if there weren't pressing danger.
'Are you going to a party at the - Lab tonight?' he asked her, lowering his voice so Ryan and the others couldn't hear.
'I didn't know there was one. I don't go out much,' Relena answered, startled. But around her shone the faintest glimmer of hope and wonder.
'Good,' was all Heero said, relieved that there had been no trap laid for her so far. But as he turned away from her - again - she caught his arm in a rush.
'Aren't you going to give me an explanation?' Relena asked impatiently. 'What's happening?'
'Just stay out of trouble,' Heero ordered stonily. 'As long as they don't have you, there's not a lot they can do to us.'
And he rejoined Damon and Jiran (Ryan and Leat had left) as quickly as he could, trying unsuccessfully to keep his heartbeat steady.
'Is she coming?' the two guys asked at the same time.
Heero shook his head, eyeing them warily. It would not be the first time that stupid, innocent high school kids turned out to be deadly adversaries.
'Tough luck,' Damon said sympathetically. 'Did she at least have a good excuse?'
'School work,' Heero answered vaguely. As the other two took it for granted that he had just asked Relena to go to the party with him, he would play along with their game. But it surprised him how kindly Damon had spoken. Was he nice to everybody or - did he really want to be Heero's friend?
Jiran looked devastated. 'So I guess that means you're not going?'
The Gundam pilot shrugged. 'Why not? I might as well check it out.'
But even as Damon and Jiran started talking excitedly, he shut out their conversation. For once, he just wished he could hide away in a deserted place and let himself act as miserably as he felt.
For once, he wished he could care less about his mission.
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'Ah, Miss Relena. How nice to see you again! Can I help you with anything?'
The librarian, who was cross and resentful towards everyone else, was beaming at the young girl.
Relena sighed. She hated being treated better than other people. It wasn't right. Still, she forced herself to smile in a pointedly sweet way.
'Good day, Mrs Narwen. I was hoping you might be able to aid me in the distressing situation I am in,' she said in a suffering voice, inwardly disgusted by the pretence.
'You see,' she went on, 'In my arts class, we are doing architecture at the moment. And our teacher has given us all assignments to create authentic maps of certain places. My topic is our school, but as I was ill for a few weeks, I'm having a hard time catching up on my work. It would help me enormously if you had any maps, blueprints, or suchlike of the school.' She paused and turned her innocent eyes expectantly on Mrs Narwen.
For a fraction of a second, Relena was almost sure she had seen a flash of suspicion and distrust flit across the librarian's face, but the next second she was sure she must be wrong, for Mrs Narwen was smiling at her with genuine pleasure.
'Oh, of course I will check our school files immediately for maps. I'm sure we've got some in the filing cabinet.' She wandered off, still muttering to herself, while Relena leant back against the wall and closed her eyes, relieved to be out of her range for a minute. If there was one thing she hated, it was acting as if she were something better than the other pupils. Many teachers, councillors, and even pupils treated her as exceptional, and left out no opportunity to praise and marvel over her. And she loathed it. She hated it as much as she hated the image of Heero lying on the floor in pain and humiliation, all so that she, Relena Peacecraft, would be saved.
'Miss Relena! Are you feeling alright? You look rather pale. Maybe you haven't fully recovered from your illness?'
Blinking rapidly, Relena hastened to assure the agitated librarian that there was nothing wrong with her. But Mrs Narwen was ranting on: 'And it is really most injust of your teacher not to see to it personally that you receive all the help you can get! It is extremely uncomfortable to be sick for a long period of time and then come back to classes finding there is a huge work load waiting for you.'
While Mrs Narwen continued to lament how some teachers nowadays didn't respect star pupils anymore, Relena's gaze was drawn to the file containers she was carrying. She couldn't make out the labelling, but her fingers itched to just snatch them out of the tedious librarian's hands. No, she told herself. Bear it. Think of the mission. Think of the danger. Think of Duo and Quatre. And, when Mrs Narwen started talking about the 'better society' Relena came from, and the urge to cry out her protest was unbearably strong, she instructed herself, as a last resort: Think of Heero.
He was the reason she bore this. For him she would go against her principles and ideals. If only he would appreciate her for what she meant to him, instead of for her name and what she stood for.
'Well, do you need anything else, Miss Relena?' asked Mrs Narwen, peering at her inquisitively.
'No, thank you.' Relena forced herself to smile. 'It's very kind of you to help me like this and I won't forget it. I'll take these file cases now - they must be very heavy for you.' And finally, though not without a touch of reluctance, the librarian handed over the thick files.
Relena breathed a sigh of relief. She knew exactly where she would take these first thing after school - to Hilde.
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As soon as the bell signalling lunch break rang, Quatre headed out of the classroom he was in and down the hall toward the cafeteria. He had had a hard morning, interviewing giggling sixth-graders, who all seemed to say the same thing, about their school.
Just as he was reaching the cafeteria doors, he was stopped by a young girl who caught his arm. Quatre glanced at her in mild surprise, not really paying much attention. Brown eyes . Hazel curls . An impudent smirk on her face .
He froze. This was Tekkan's conspirator! Jerking away from her, he stared suspiciously at the folded paper she held out to him.
'Hi,' she said brightly. 'A friend of yours told me to give this to you.'
'No kidding,' Quatre's voice was sarcastic. 'What a coincidence that the exact same thing happened to another guy here yesterday.
'Isn't it?' she replied, winking cheekily. 'But never mind about that. This is probably a love letter.'
'And how would you know that?' Quatre raised an eyebrow, heart thumping, because the first thing he thought of when he heard those words was Dorothy Catalonia.
'Trust me,' she said, opening her eyes wide. 'She instructed me to give it to you personally.'
'Who is she?' asked Quatre, to win time. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell her off, but she couldn't get away with this one. Another fake note. How stupid did she think they were?
'I think you know that already,' smirked the girl. But then her grin faded as she held out the piece of paper again. 'So take it already!'
'Do you still have that bump on your head?' Quatre asked suddenly. His eyes were uncharacteristically hard.
The girl's face turned into a twisted mask of forced calm. 'Look,' she smiled falsely. 'You can trust me. This is from Dorothy.'
Quatre's heart beat faster, but he refused to show his excitement outwardly. 'Nobody's seen Dorothy for ages,' he said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. He hadn't seen her since the war was over. 'It must be easy to write a note to me and say it's by her.'
The girl's mouth opened in surprise and she faltered. Clever actress, Quatre thought scornfully.
'You mean - you don't believe me?' she questioned, looking crestfallen. 'What have I done to you?'
At this, the Gundam pilot just snorted. 'Please,' she begged, catching his arm again. 'I'm not in league with Tekkan or anything. It was just a mercenary job, giving that note to Heero. Dorothy trusted me specifically to bring you this. It's important.' Her eyes were wide with meaning.
Quatre wasn't fooled. 'That's what you say,' he retorted shortly. But he took the folded piece of paper. It couldn't do any harm. But he was not going to take anything it said seriously. He was not going to fall for any of that girl's tricks.
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Heero finally entered the cafeteria, still grimacing. It seemed to him that the whole school was filled with girls who wanted to sidle up to him and talk, or bashfully congratulate him for being the new school champion. All he wanted now was to get some peace.
But at that moment, he saw Leat and Damon sitting at a table and waving him over. Sighing, he sat down beside them. Better keep up his high school kid cover.
Leat was mashing up his hamburger; Damon was puzzling over his maths homework.
'Hey, Heero, you know how to solve this? I've got math next class and my teacher is gonna kill me if I don't have my homework again,' he complained.
'So what?' put in Leat. 'Math is something for intelligent idiots.'
'Thanks, pal,' Damon made a face at him, and showed Heero his school work.
Heero pretended to study it, even though he saw at a glance what the answer was. He was just about to say he didn't know the answer, but something in Damon's desperate face expression stopped him.
'You're right,' he said slowly, wondering how to tell him the answer without revealing any cleverness in the process. 'This is hard. But I think we did something like that in math yesterday, so.' he trailed off uncertainly.
'So you know how to do it?' Damon had been hanging onto his every word.
'Maybe,' answered Heero casually. 'See, I think first of all you have to put down this equation.' His pencil flew across the unmarked paper.
'What?' asked Damon, looking frantically between his math book and Heero's sheet of paper. 'What is that?'
Patiently Heero explained. 'It's the area of the rectangle equals the area of the square minus the areas of these four triangles.'
'You guys are so boring,' complained Leat. 'I'm off to find Jiran. See you after school then! And Heero,' he turned around expectantly, 'I'll see you at the Lab tonight, right? 8:00 pm!'
As soon as Leat was out of ear-shot, Damon sighed. 'He's crazy,' he informed Heero. 'And when he's together with Jiran, all hell is on the loose.'
The Gundam pilot stoically went on explaining the math problem to his 'friend', when suddenly he stopped. Damon was staring at him curiously.
Heero raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to say something. At long last, he did.
'Heero? What's up with you and Relena?'
'What do you mean?' Heero narrowed his eyes. He felt backed into a corner, and he didn't like it. As long as he could keep Ryan and the others at a distance, he wasn't troubled. It was when they started asking seemingly innocent questions that he started fighting them off.
Obviously, one glance at Heero showed his suspicion and unease, for Damon sighed. 'Never mind,' he told him. 'It's none of my business, okay? I'll never ask you that question again, okay? I should know by now that you're sensitive about that topic.'
Heero froze. That didn't seem like regular high school kid behaviour to him, so he played it down. 'Oh, it's nothing,' he told Damon in as light a voice as he could muster.
'So why do you nearly get a heart attack whenever anyone mentions her? You do like her, don't you?'
The Gundam pilot's eyes were focused on the sheet of math work; he could see every line on the paper and every smudge of the pencil as clearly as if it had been magnified. He didn't know what to answer.
If he said he liked her, he was just asking for trouble - especially from Tekkan. But there was no real excuse for acting strangely around her if he didn't like her. And the truth would be telling too much. Plus, Damon would never believe it.
'No,' he replied in a voice that seemed distant to him. 'She just reminds me of someone I knew once .'
Damon glanced at him quickly. 'Hey, I don't want to pry. Let's get this math done, okay? I still don't get it.'
As in a dream, Heero finished the quadratic function and gave the paper and book back to Damon.
'Thanks, buddy,' he grinned. 'You're lucky, there aren't many people around here who are any good at math.' Then he added, in a more serious tone: 'I won't even ask you if you're alright; I can see you aren't. But I didn't mean to upset you or anything, just so you know.' And with that, the bell rang and he was gone.
Heero looked after him without one change of emotion. What did he know? He was nothing but an innocent kid.
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After school, Quatre cornered Duo outside the gate. When the latter cheerfully asked him what was wrong, he yanked out the note he had received earlier on from the girl with the hazel curls and wordlessly handed it to Duo.
He skimmed the dramatic writing in a second.
Quatre Winner,
Remember me? It's taken me a long time to find you, but I'm near you. I wouldn't be writing to you except that I have suddenly found myself in danger, too. We must meet. With combined forces, we may be able to find a solution to this pressing problem. Come with the bearer of this message tomorrow after the last class to where I am hiding. I beg it of you.
Yours truly, Dorothy Catalonia
P.S.: I have news that might interest you.
'Dorothy?' Duo's eyes were wide. 'How did she get here?'
'I'm pretty sure she didn't,' Quatre answered, smiling a little sadly.
'You mean this is a fake?' asked Duo, rereading the short note. Quatre shrugged.
'I think so. After all, guess who the 'bearer of this message' is.'
Duo shook his head. 'Tell me.'
'That girl I stunned when I came down after Heero and Relena Peacecraft. The one who gave him the message that was supposed to be from Miss Relena, but was, in fact, from Tekkan,' Quatre sighed. 'I'm surprised she actually expected me to believe her.'
'Those girls are crazy,' scoffed Duo. 'But how did they know about Dorothy anyway?'
'They know I'm Quatre Winner. It isn't that hard to connect my name to hers,' he answered.
Duo nodded. 'So what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna go?'
'And find myself in the same fix as Heero was in?' Quatre's voice was sharp.
'I could back you up,' offered Duo.
'It's still too dangerous.' Quatre shook his head. 'I'm not going. That girl can't trick me.'
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'How did you know I was here?' gasped Hilde, as soon as she had gotten over her first surprise at finding Relena Peacecraft at the door to her hotel room.
Relena smiled. 'Catherine let something slip and I persuaded her to tell me the hotel you were staying in. After that, it was easy.'
'I don't believe it,' Hilde muttered, tossing her short hair out of her face. 'I'm going to kill Catherine.'
But she let Relena into her room without another word. Actually, she was glad to have company.
When they had both sat down, Relena looked at Hilde seriously.
'I know you won't change your actions just by hearing me say something. But you should at least listen to my words and understand what I'm saying.' Hilde cocked an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt Relena's speech.
'There is danger in this area, Hilde. I know that word doesn't mean anything to you, and that you've already met death first-hand. But only yesterday, a knife was held against my throat.' Relena touched her neck instinctively, then went on, the emotion expanding in her voice. 'Now I'm afraid. Afraid of what might happen to all the people who go to my school. They don't know what's happening. I don't know either; the Gundam pilots won't tell me anything. But I'm warned. As soon as something out of the ordinary happens, I know I should run. The others don't know that. Do you know the guilt I have had to carry around with me ever since Heero first warned me of danger? There are moments when I just want to scream at the top of my lungs at everybody to get out; get out of this cursed place and survive. But I can't. It would mean death for the Gundam pilots, and I can't betray their lives. There is one thing I can do, though. I can warn you. I can get as many of my friends as possible away from here, even if I can't do anything for my classmates. You must leave. It would be an insult to all the innocent people going to that school if someone who knew their fate still remained here. If you won't do it for me or yourself, do it for those that are innocent.' Relena stopped speaking and looked at Hilde.
Her friend hung her head, but when she lifted it, Relena could see tears in her blue eyes.
'Nice try, Relena,' she said softly. 'But you spoke of not being able to betray the Gundam pilots, and neither can I. I promised Duo I would stay here, and I won't give up that promise. Never.'
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In the apartment he had rented, Heero sat in front of his lap top, contacting Wufei about tonight. It seemed a shameful waste of a whole night to spend it partying, but that couldn't be avoided now. He could imagine Wufei's response and knew that the hot-blooded warrior would see it as a personal insult. That was just one of the negative consequences he had to take for his actions.
Heero leaned back in his chair and frowned at his watch. Almost seven. What did one wear to a party like this, anyway? His school outfit - jeans, green tank top, black jacket - would have to do. He couldn't be bothered with fashion when there were so many other important things he had to work out.
Was it right to go through with this? What were Tekkan and his conspirator planning? Could he trust Ryan and the others? Was Relena safe? How was the work on their weapon going? Where was the gundanium alloy? Why was it hidden in the school? Did the crack he and Wufei had discovered in the cave really have an outlet? How had Tekkan disappeared that day when Quatre had turned up just in time? Who was the enemy who was hiding the gundanium in the school?
And - something that had nothing to do with the mission - what had made him kiss Relena?
Heero rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. There were just no answers to all the questions.
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'You find anything?' Hilde asked Relena, shuffling through the many stacks of paper on her desk.
'No,' sighed Relena, frowning at an intricate blueprint. 'This even says where the toilet paper should be stored, but nothing about a hidden cave.'
Hilde giggled, commenting: 'How stupid! Who would need to know where the school's toilet paper store is?'
'You're positive there's gundanium alloy at the school?' Relena heard the disbelief in her own voice.
'Vast amounts of it,' replied Hilde. 'Believe me, Duo wouldn't lie to me like that. Besides, I saw the gundanium detector satellite photo.'
'Then can't you detect the exact location?'
'I wish it were that simple,' Hilde said, reaching for another sheet of paper. 'The detector can give us no more than a rough estimate, and it points to the school. We can't trace it any more accurately.'
But a smile was twitching Relena's lips. 'Actually, this is really strange,' she told Hilde, grinning widely now. 'The toilet paper storage is right on the ground floor, in the most deserted spot.'
'So?' Hilde was not impressed. 'That's not strange. I wouldn't like to innocently open a closet and find - bang! - toilet paper rolls raining down on me!'
'True,' Relena agreed, laughing, 'but the bathrooms on the ground floor are all in one place, and it's far away from the storage closet.'
Her companion shrugged, tossing her short black hair in a characteristic way. 'So the person who designed the school was a bit stupid when it came to toilet paper,' she concluded, when the absurdity of the situation overcame her and she exploded into peals of laughter. 'Here we are,' she gasped, grinning at Relena, 'on a dangerous and important mission, and what do we discuss? Toilet paper!'
But Relena had glanced sharply up at the window and exclaimed: 'It's already dark! I have to get going.'
The laughter on Hilde's lips had died, but she just smiled reassuringly. 'Hey, don't get in a flap just because you have to go home in the dark!' she advised, tidying the stacks of paper into the file containers.
'I'm not, I was just surprised that it was already so late,' corrected Relena. She waved goodbye to Hilde and left the hotel still feeling the light of laughter inside her.
**************************************
Heero could see the neon lights and hear the rhythmical pounding before he reached the club.
As he entered, the noise became deafening, and the flash of the lights nearly blinded him. Dozens of people crowded the dance floor, grouped irregularly into pairs or groups. Their shadows loomed up against the walls in the colourful lights.
Heero kept his head down, pushing mechanically across the crowded dance floor to the tables he had glimpsed on the other side of the enormous room. Hot, sweaty bodies pressed up against him and someone nearly spilled beer on his jacket.
His conscience was jeering at him. How could he have ever hoped to learn anything about his mission here?
'Heero!' someone suddenly yelled in his ear. Instinctively, he spun around and looked sharply into the grinning face of Leat, who had one arm slung around the waist of a girl and was holding a bottle of liqueur in the other hand.
'You've come at a great time,' he hollered, so Heero would be able to understand him. 'Everyone's dancing, except Jiran. He's over there, cooling off!' Leat waved his drink in a vague direction, then turned away again before Heero could say anything.
Shrugging, he pressed on and soon reached the table Jiran was sitting at. The small boy's face and hair was dripping wet, and his eyes were over- bright. He grinned ecstatically when he caught sight of Heero, and waved him over.
'What happened to you?' the Gundam pilot asked nonchalantly, looking at Jiran's wet hair and face. He slid in the seat next to him and cast a wary eye at some other guys also sitting at the table.
'No idea,' answered Jiran brightly. 'Can't remember a thing.'
Heero nodded, not surprised in the least. Jiran did seem like the kind of person who would get so drunk he couldn't remember why he was wet all over.
'We put him in the sink in the washroom,' smirked one of the guys at the table, puffing cigarette smoke into Heero's face. He didn't flinch, but gave the guy his death glare.
'I'll have to go soon,' Heero told Jiran, who just laughed.
Wanting to get away from the guy, who was leering unpleasantly at him, the Gundam pilot left the table and stood in the line in front of the bar to get himself a drink.
When he finally turned away, glass in hand, he ran into Damon, who greeted him happily and appeared to be sober.
Damon led Heero over to the table again, but shortly afterwards, Jiran left, punching all the other guys before he did.
'I still think it really amazing that you beat Tekkan,' Damon yelled over the pounding music.
'What's up with that guy, anyway?' Heero asked him.
'Well, he used to live on the streets before they sent him to our school and before that he's rumoured to have been kicked out of military academy for murder or something.'
Heero whipped his head around and glanced at Damon intently. 'Tekkan was at military academy?'
The other boy shrugged. 'Nobody knows for sure. You can't trust anything Tekkan says about himself or his past, but this is a pretty definite rumour.'
That would explain Tekkan's quick reflexes, Heero mused. But he can't have been there for very long or he'd have had a better chance fighting with a Gundam pilot.
While he was still processing this information, someone whacked him on the back forcefully.
Heero whirled around, muscles tensed, glaring at the enemy he was expecting to see. But in front of him stood Ryan, holding up his hands as if to surrender, a shocked expression on his face.
'Cool it!' he yelled. 'I wasn't attacking you or anything.'
The blood still pounded through Heero's body, but he forced himself to grin and slowly sank back into his chair, watching Ryan warily. He didn't trust him.
He didn't know that in those few seconds when he had been distracted two small pills, ground to powder, had been dropped into his glass and dissolved instantly. He picked up his drink and downed it in one gulp.
**********************************************
So, we're finally at the end of another chapter. Tune in four months later to see if this slow-poke writer has decided how it goes on. Or, more correctly, has managed to type the decision into her ever-annoying computer. Till then, try to find an answer for these so MYSTERIOUS *j/k* questions!
The show's sponsors:
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JOan - you'll be getting an email from me, sorry the chapter took so long .
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Blade Griffin - that's Heero, yes. Very dense.
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And to the anonymous reviewer whose name got deleted somehow - hey, this story will have a happy ending, don't worry!
Also featuring thanks to fallen pheniox (mentioned above) and my editor, cuty-cat, with hopes for a lot of future works together. (But I still won't forgive you for leaving a review under MY name to my own story! Talk about *erased*)
Creater of series Shooting Jewel
I know this title is a contradiction in itself. I mean, who ever heard of Heero as a kid at high school? Well, in this chapter, he really earns that name. Hopefully. Btw, I hope none of you are going to be creeped out by the - uh, drug-related instances in here. Other than that, just keep reviewing and I'll be at a hundred reviews soon! Just imagine - me! *falls over in a faint*
******************************************
When the two boys reached the trap door, Heero once again took out the steel rope and fastened it at the top.
'This time I trust there won't be any unpleasant surprises at the bottom,' he told Wufei with a slight smile, and began his descent, sliding through the darkness. The situation reminded him uncannily of what had happened earlier on in the day.
Wufei was coming down right after him, and got out a strong flashlight. In its light the two Gundam pilots began inspecting the cave. It was bigger than Heero remembered it, with a very high ceiling, sloping walls, and - a light-switch.
It came as a surprise when Wufei discovered the little trigger on the wall and flicked it simply to see what would happen, and a brilliant light shone from the ceiling.
'That proves that this cave is definitely man-made,' stated Heero, gazing up at the installed lighting system overhead.
'Yes, and I wonder why,' murmured the other pilot, feeling the walls for hidden cracks or door-joints. 'Big as it is, it's still not nearly large enough to hold all that gundanium alloy.'
'I know,' agreed Heero, 'and there doesn't seem to be another outlet except for the one that leads up to the school grounds.'
'And who would hide weaponry in an educational facility?' questioned Wufei. 'The kids who go to school here are no more than that - kids.' He spoke the word with disdain. 'They have no conception of what kind of a world is out there.'
'You're telling me. If Tekkan is the fighting champion of the school, they sure aren't tough.'
'WAS the fighting champion of the school, you mean,' corrected Wufei, examining a little crevice in the wall, close to the floor. 'We'd better check this out.'
Heero joined him, crouching on the ground. He felt its jagged ridge thoughtfully.
'No, I don't think it means anything,' he said slowly. 'I can feel the stone through it.'
'So?' Wufei was not convinced. 'That might be a cunning decoy.'
Just as Heero was about to argue, there was a loud slam and the steel rope slipped from the trap door and fell to the floor. The Gundam pilots had their pistols out in a second, staring rather disconcertedly at the coiled rope, lying on the floor like a destructive omen. They could just make out the rims of the trap door overhead. It was closed.
************************************
The next day, Heero wandered into the school, hoping to reach class early and still have a moment to think. After the frightening interruption, he and Wufei had decided that it wasn't safe to continue their investigations for the night, and had left through the 'back way' - the tunnel under the boulder.
Heero had stayed up longer than that, sending updated information to Doctor J and practising for when the weapon was ready. It had been a long and tedious night, just like this mission was turning out to be, thought Heero wearily.
He had expected to be able to reach the classroom without attracting any attention, but found this was not the case. Two girls walking past him shot him their most dazzling smiles, and one of them addressed him silkily with: 'Hi, Heero.'
After giving them his death look, Heero marched on, but soon met a group of guys - some of which he recognized from various classes - obviously his age.
'Hey, look, it's Heero Yinkomoto, the champ!' called out one of them. And they all quickly had him surrounded. Heero automatically backed away, narrowing his eyes. What did they want, a fight?
But one of the guys pressed a coke into his hand, another one slapped him on the shoulder, greeting him in a friendly manner, and one boy shook his head at him and said in an awed voice: 'Man, I'd like to have your cool. You pull the most amazing job beating up Tekkan, rescue Relena, and then come to school the next day looking as if nothing had ever happened.'
Heero's mind took in the information rapidly. Apparently they were impressed with his fight against Tekkan, and had somehow got wind of that he had saved Relena. But in what situation? Did they know about the trap door, or were they referring to the fact that he had knocked out Santio?
All four guys were looking at him expectantly, and he guessed he had to say something. What would a normal kid say in this situation, he wondered. What would Duo say?
'It was no big deal,' he finally told them, shrugging casually. If the impression they had of him was that of the cool fighter, he would play up to their expectations.
The others were obviously impressed. 'And is it true that Tekkan was cornering Relena with a knife?' demanded one of them in a hushed voice.
So that was the rescue they meant. Heero frowned. They had gotten it all wrong! It had been Quatre who had saved both him and Relena. And how did they know about it anyway?
'Yeah, but like I said, it was no sweat,' acknowledged Heero, gulping down some of the coke he had just been given to wash down the guilt at taking credit for Quatre's work. 'He's just a big coward, no matter what he might seem like.'
'Yeah, I think so too. I mean, does it take a knife to control a girl, or what?' the boy who had slapped his shoulder remarked.
'For him it does,' grinned another of the guys, and the group laughed. Even Heero pulled a wry smile, though more out of the feeling that it was expected of him than out of real amusement. He felt only contempt for Tekkan.
'By the way,' announced one. 'I'm Ryan, he's Damon, and that's Leat.' He waved a hand at his friends. 'Oh,' he added quickly when another boy glared at him. 'And this is Jiran, but he's not important.' More laughter and a fist-fight followed this remark.
While Ryan and Jiran still had each other caught in a head-lock, Damon turned to Heero. 'So, what's your next class?'
The Gundam pilot thought for a split second, then remembered. 'History,' he said dully, disliking the thought of meeting Relena and Tekkan again. Though for very different reasons.
'I know how you feel,' said Leat cheerfully. 'History must be the most boring class in the world. You never learn anything.'
Heero bit back the comment he was thinking of. If only humanity paid attention to history and was careful not to let it repeat itself, history would be very valuable. But with the people closing their eyes like they had done for centuries, nothing would change. Just when one thought there would finally be peace, that all war was over - something like this happened.
'Heero?' asked Ryan timidly, interrupting his thoughts. 'You still there?'
'Oh. Just thinking,' Heero replied quickly and without a change of emotion in his voice or in his face.
Because Ryan was still looking at him curiously, he racked his brains to say something that would rid him of his suspicion. Something normal.
'So, uh, what are you guys doing this evening?' he asked casually. Not that he was interested in whatever party or club they were going to, but it seemed appropriate in his situation.
Jiran's eyes lit up, and he started talking at top speed. Obviously, he was in his element. 'Tonight? There's this really huge party at the Lab - the hottest place in town - and what's more, they're hosting the Cool Cucumber as DJ - this'll be one great night, I can tell you that. We're going, right?' He looked around at his friends expectantly.
'Yeah, whatever,' sighed Damon. 'Anything to keep you happy.'
'What about you, Heero? Want to join us?' Ryan asked eagerly.
Heero's thoughts had been wandering off again when Jiran had been describing the party, but now he began calculating which choice was wiser. Go to the party? Everything in him was repulsed by the thought of it. But what would the others say if he made an excuse?
'C'mon, Heero, it'll be lots of fun,' put in Leat. The 'perfect soldier' was confused. He had almost never been asked to go anywhere - always ordered. Who knew? It might help him with his mission. Then he shook himself mentally. Was he trying to come up with an excuse to go to the party? That was pathetic.
'Don't think so,' he said monotonously. Then he was incredulous at the way Leat's and Ryan's faces fell. Did it mean that much to them that he came with them to a stupid party? Obviously. Heero's emotions were more mixed up than ever. What on earth did they want him for? Was it a trap? This thought put him on his guard even more. His muscles tensed, and he was about to walk away from the group when Jiran calmly stated: 'You could bring Relena Peacecraft.'
Heero actually turned around and stared the smaller boy full in the face in bewilderment. He felt the blood rushing in his head. It was as if Jiran had stripped off Heero's entire disguise and pretence to expose something hidden and uncomfortable. Something forbidden. He responded in just one word that hung in the air like a challenge.
'Why?'
'Well, you're probably the only person she'd go with,' shrugged Jiran, unaware of how tense Heero was. 'She's not into partying much.'
'And since you're the one who saved her, I bet she'd go with you just out of gratitude,' remarked Damon, giving Heero an awed look.
'So?' Heero spoke harshly, and started to walk down the hallway. 'Why would I want to take her?'
'Don't you have eyes?' asked Leat impatiently, following him. Heero felt a stab of annoyance at noticing that the whole group was moving along as well. He had actually wanted to be alone.
'I mean,' Leat added, 'her looks alone would be enough for anybody to feel privileged if he got to take her anywhere.'
'Leave off, Leat,' instructed Damon, who had caught up with Heero and was watching the Gundam pilot with worry. 'Can't you see he doesn't want to talk about it?'
Heero didn't know whether to feel grateful or embarrassed at his comment. It was true that he didn't want to 'talk about it', but putting it this way made the whole thing look ridiculous.
'Hey, Heero, wait up a sec,' Ryan called out behind him. Unwillingly, Heero turned around. The other boy came to an abrupt stop in front of him. His freckled face looked at him uncomfortably.
'We're not trying to force you to do anything with us. But, well, it would be cool. I mean, you just seem kind of lonely and - you know, we thought you might like to find some new friends. And a big party is really the best thing for it.'
While Heero gave him the impassive stare, he was thinking hard. Was Ryan offering him charity? But he remembered the crest-fallen look on his face when Heero had declined his invitation. He wouldn't have been so disappointed if that was the case.
Jiran joined them again, and he was still gazing hopefully at Heero. Why was it so important to them that he came with them? The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a trap. And a Gundam pilot never let himself be trapped.
But they couldn't do anything to him, he thought contemptuously. Unless they were planning to kidnap Relena . His stomach knotted up. Fine, he bargained with himself. He would see if Relena had any intention of going to the party, and if she had, he wouldn't trust his 'new friends' or come with them. If she didn't, he could check things out. Act normally.
'Maybe I'll go,' he said brusquely, starting to walk again. The hallways were filling up with students laughing, talking in excited voices, and banging locker doors shut. And, once again, awed glances came his way. What was it about beating up Tekkan that made him so special?
'Maybe?' repeated Damon, his serious face cracking into a smile. The whole gang was following Heero, which he wished they'd stop doing. 'Does that mean more yes or more no?'
'Well, I have a, uh, math test on Monday,' Heero said quickly, turning the last corner to his History classroom.
Their answer surprised him. 'SO?' they all shouted impatiently. Puzzled, Heero hurried on. Did grades and tests mean nothing to them?
But a moment later, he had stopped worrying about that. He halted so suddenly that Leat, who had had trouble catching up with his fast pace, bumped into him.
Relena was just entering their classroom, when she caught sight of Heero and stopped short. Her long golden tresses hung down her back, shimmering on her soft lavender blouse. The glittering blue eyes he knew so well regarded him sadly.
Heero was as taken aback as he had been the first time he had seen her at this school. She looked like a melancholy angel, reflecting both the sorrow and the hope of humanity in her eyes. His well-trained sense seemed to switch off while he gazed at her, expecting no reaction, just wishing fervently that she would not disappear from his view; that he could still look upon her celestial beauty.
Something in him pounced upon that word and dragged it into his real conscience, sneering cruelly at him. Beauty, he thought with bitter hatred, since when has that meant anything to me? Beauty was something dream-like people built up around them to shield them off from life's danger and misery.
Remembering his bargain, he hurried up to her before she could enter the classroom and drew her aside, determined not to feel anything when he touched her.
Relena looked up at him in wide-eyed surprise and, again, fear. Heero wouldn't speak to her this openly if there weren't pressing danger.
'Are you going to a party at the - Lab tonight?' he asked her, lowering his voice so Ryan and the others couldn't hear.
'I didn't know there was one. I don't go out much,' Relena answered, startled. But around her shone the faintest glimmer of hope and wonder.
'Good,' was all Heero said, relieved that there had been no trap laid for her so far. But as he turned away from her - again - she caught his arm in a rush.
'Aren't you going to give me an explanation?' Relena asked impatiently. 'What's happening?'
'Just stay out of trouble,' Heero ordered stonily. 'As long as they don't have you, there's not a lot they can do to us.'
And he rejoined Damon and Jiran (Ryan and Leat had left) as quickly as he could, trying unsuccessfully to keep his heartbeat steady.
'Is she coming?' the two guys asked at the same time.
Heero shook his head, eyeing them warily. It would not be the first time that stupid, innocent high school kids turned out to be deadly adversaries.
'Tough luck,' Damon said sympathetically. 'Did she at least have a good excuse?'
'School work,' Heero answered vaguely. As the other two took it for granted that he had just asked Relena to go to the party with him, he would play along with their game. But it surprised him how kindly Damon had spoken. Was he nice to everybody or - did he really want to be Heero's friend?
Jiran looked devastated. 'So I guess that means you're not going?'
The Gundam pilot shrugged. 'Why not? I might as well check it out.'
But even as Damon and Jiran started talking excitedly, he shut out their conversation. For once, he just wished he could hide away in a deserted place and let himself act as miserably as he felt.
For once, he wished he could care less about his mission.
**********************************
'Ah, Miss Relena. How nice to see you again! Can I help you with anything?'
The librarian, who was cross and resentful towards everyone else, was beaming at the young girl.
Relena sighed. She hated being treated better than other people. It wasn't right. Still, she forced herself to smile in a pointedly sweet way.
'Good day, Mrs Narwen. I was hoping you might be able to aid me in the distressing situation I am in,' she said in a suffering voice, inwardly disgusted by the pretence.
'You see,' she went on, 'In my arts class, we are doing architecture at the moment. And our teacher has given us all assignments to create authentic maps of certain places. My topic is our school, but as I was ill for a few weeks, I'm having a hard time catching up on my work. It would help me enormously if you had any maps, blueprints, or suchlike of the school.' She paused and turned her innocent eyes expectantly on Mrs Narwen.
For a fraction of a second, Relena was almost sure she had seen a flash of suspicion and distrust flit across the librarian's face, but the next second she was sure she must be wrong, for Mrs Narwen was smiling at her with genuine pleasure.
'Oh, of course I will check our school files immediately for maps. I'm sure we've got some in the filing cabinet.' She wandered off, still muttering to herself, while Relena leant back against the wall and closed her eyes, relieved to be out of her range for a minute. If there was one thing she hated, it was acting as if she were something better than the other pupils. Many teachers, councillors, and even pupils treated her as exceptional, and left out no opportunity to praise and marvel over her. And she loathed it. She hated it as much as she hated the image of Heero lying on the floor in pain and humiliation, all so that she, Relena Peacecraft, would be saved.
'Miss Relena! Are you feeling alright? You look rather pale. Maybe you haven't fully recovered from your illness?'
Blinking rapidly, Relena hastened to assure the agitated librarian that there was nothing wrong with her. But Mrs Narwen was ranting on: 'And it is really most injust of your teacher not to see to it personally that you receive all the help you can get! It is extremely uncomfortable to be sick for a long period of time and then come back to classes finding there is a huge work load waiting for you.'
While Mrs Narwen continued to lament how some teachers nowadays didn't respect star pupils anymore, Relena's gaze was drawn to the file containers she was carrying. She couldn't make out the labelling, but her fingers itched to just snatch them out of the tedious librarian's hands. No, she told herself. Bear it. Think of the mission. Think of the danger. Think of Duo and Quatre. And, when Mrs Narwen started talking about the 'better society' Relena came from, and the urge to cry out her protest was unbearably strong, she instructed herself, as a last resort: Think of Heero.
He was the reason she bore this. For him she would go against her principles and ideals. If only he would appreciate her for what she meant to him, instead of for her name and what she stood for.
'Well, do you need anything else, Miss Relena?' asked Mrs Narwen, peering at her inquisitively.
'No, thank you.' Relena forced herself to smile. 'It's very kind of you to help me like this and I won't forget it. I'll take these file cases now - they must be very heavy for you.' And finally, though not without a touch of reluctance, the librarian handed over the thick files.
Relena breathed a sigh of relief. She knew exactly where she would take these first thing after school - to Hilde.
*******************************************
As soon as the bell signalling lunch break rang, Quatre headed out of the classroom he was in and down the hall toward the cafeteria. He had had a hard morning, interviewing giggling sixth-graders, who all seemed to say the same thing, about their school.
Just as he was reaching the cafeteria doors, he was stopped by a young girl who caught his arm. Quatre glanced at her in mild surprise, not really paying much attention. Brown eyes . Hazel curls . An impudent smirk on her face .
He froze. This was Tekkan's conspirator! Jerking away from her, he stared suspiciously at the folded paper she held out to him.
'Hi,' she said brightly. 'A friend of yours told me to give this to you.'
'No kidding,' Quatre's voice was sarcastic. 'What a coincidence that the exact same thing happened to another guy here yesterday.
'Isn't it?' she replied, winking cheekily. 'But never mind about that. This is probably a love letter.'
'And how would you know that?' Quatre raised an eyebrow, heart thumping, because the first thing he thought of when he heard those words was Dorothy Catalonia.
'Trust me,' she said, opening her eyes wide. 'She instructed me to give it to you personally.'
'Who is she?' asked Quatre, to win time. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell her off, but she couldn't get away with this one. Another fake note. How stupid did she think they were?
'I think you know that already,' smirked the girl. But then her grin faded as she held out the piece of paper again. 'So take it already!'
'Do you still have that bump on your head?' Quatre asked suddenly. His eyes were uncharacteristically hard.
The girl's face turned into a twisted mask of forced calm. 'Look,' she smiled falsely. 'You can trust me. This is from Dorothy.'
Quatre's heart beat faster, but he refused to show his excitement outwardly. 'Nobody's seen Dorothy for ages,' he said, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. He hadn't seen her since the war was over. 'It must be easy to write a note to me and say it's by her.'
The girl's mouth opened in surprise and she faltered. Clever actress, Quatre thought scornfully.
'You mean - you don't believe me?' she questioned, looking crestfallen. 'What have I done to you?'
At this, the Gundam pilot just snorted. 'Please,' she begged, catching his arm again. 'I'm not in league with Tekkan or anything. It was just a mercenary job, giving that note to Heero. Dorothy trusted me specifically to bring you this. It's important.' Her eyes were wide with meaning.
Quatre wasn't fooled. 'That's what you say,' he retorted shortly. But he took the folded piece of paper. It couldn't do any harm. But he was not going to take anything it said seriously. He was not going to fall for any of that girl's tricks.
*********************************************************
Heero finally entered the cafeteria, still grimacing. It seemed to him that the whole school was filled with girls who wanted to sidle up to him and talk, or bashfully congratulate him for being the new school champion. All he wanted now was to get some peace.
But at that moment, he saw Leat and Damon sitting at a table and waving him over. Sighing, he sat down beside them. Better keep up his high school kid cover.
Leat was mashing up his hamburger; Damon was puzzling over his maths homework.
'Hey, Heero, you know how to solve this? I've got math next class and my teacher is gonna kill me if I don't have my homework again,' he complained.
'So what?' put in Leat. 'Math is something for intelligent idiots.'
'Thanks, pal,' Damon made a face at him, and showed Heero his school work.
Heero pretended to study it, even though he saw at a glance what the answer was. He was just about to say he didn't know the answer, but something in Damon's desperate face expression stopped him.
'You're right,' he said slowly, wondering how to tell him the answer without revealing any cleverness in the process. 'This is hard. But I think we did something like that in math yesterday, so.' he trailed off uncertainly.
'So you know how to do it?' Damon had been hanging onto his every word.
'Maybe,' answered Heero casually. 'See, I think first of all you have to put down this equation.' His pencil flew across the unmarked paper.
'What?' asked Damon, looking frantically between his math book and Heero's sheet of paper. 'What is that?'
Patiently Heero explained. 'It's the area of the rectangle equals the area of the square minus the areas of these four triangles.'
'You guys are so boring,' complained Leat. 'I'm off to find Jiran. See you after school then! And Heero,' he turned around expectantly, 'I'll see you at the Lab tonight, right? 8:00 pm!'
As soon as Leat was out of ear-shot, Damon sighed. 'He's crazy,' he informed Heero. 'And when he's together with Jiran, all hell is on the loose.'
The Gundam pilot stoically went on explaining the math problem to his 'friend', when suddenly he stopped. Damon was staring at him curiously.
Heero raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to say something. At long last, he did.
'Heero? What's up with you and Relena?'
'What do you mean?' Heero narrowed his eyes. He felt backed into a corner, and he didn't like it. As long as he could keep Ryan and the others at a distance, he wasn't troubled. It was when they started asking seemingly innocent questions that he started fighting them off.
Obviously, one glance at Heero showed his suspicion and unease, for Damon sighed. 'Never mind,' he told him. 'It's none of my business, okay? I'll never ask you that question again, okay? I should know by now that you're sensitive about that topic.'
Heero froze. That didn't seem like regular high school kid behaviour to him, so he played it down. 'Oh, it's nothing,' he told Damon in as light a voice as he could muster.
'So why do you nearly get a heart attack whenever anyone mentions her? You do like her, don't you?'
The Gundam pilot's eyes were focused on the sheet of math work; he could see every line on the paper and every smudge of the pencil as clearly as if it had been magnified. He didn't know what to answer.
If he said he liked her, he was just asking for trouble - especially from Tekkan. But there was no real excuse for acting strangely around her if he didn't like her. And the truth would be telling too much. Plus, Damon would never believe it.
'No,' he replied in a voice that seemed distant to him. 'She just reminds me of someone I knew once .'
Damon glanced at him quickly. 'Hey, I don't want to pry. Let's get this math done, okay? I still don't get it.'
As in a dream, Heero finished the quadratic function and gave the paper and book back to Damon.
'Thanks, buddy,' he grinned. 'You're lucky, there aren't many people around here who are any good at math.' Then he added, in a more serious tone: 'I won't even ask you if you're alright; I can see you aren't. But I didn't mean to upset you or anything, just so you know.' And with that, the bell rang and he was gone.
Heero looked after him without one change of emotion. What did he know? He was nothing but an innocent kid.
**************************************************
After school, Quatre cornered Duo outside the gate. When the latter cheerfully asked him what was wrong, he yanked out the note he had received earlier on from the girl with the hazel curls and wordlessly handed it to Duo.
He skimmed the dramatic writing in a second.
Quatre Winner,
Remember me? It's taken me a long time to find you, but I'm near you. I wouldn't be writing to you except that I have suddenly found myself in danger, too. We must meet. With combined forces, we may be able to find a solution to this pressing problem. Come with the bearer of this message tomorrow after the last class to where I am hiding. I beg it of you.
Yours truly, Dorothy Catalonia
P.S.: I have news that might interest you.
'Dorothy?' Duo's eyes were wide. 'How did she get here?'
'I'm pretty sure she didn't,' Quatre answered, smiling a little sadly.
'You mean this is a fake?' asked Duo, rereading the short note. Quatre shrugged.
'I think so. After all, guess who the 'bearer of this message' is.'
Duo shook his head. 'Tell me.'
'That girl I stunned when I came down after Heero and Relena Peacecraft. The one who gave him the message that was supposed to be from Miss Relena, but was, in fact, from Tekkan,' Quatre sighed. 'I'm surprised she actually expected me to believe her.'
'Those girls are crazy,' scoffed Duo. 'But how did they know about Dorothy anyway?'
'They know I'm Quatre Winner. It isn't that hard to connect my name to hers,' he answered.
Duo nodded. 'So what are you going to do about it? Are you gonna go?'
'And find myself in the same fix as Heero was in?' Quatre's voice was sharp.
'I could back you up,' offered Duo.
'It's still too dangerous.' Quatre shook his head. 'I'm not going. That girl can't trick me.'
***************************************
'How did you know I was here?' gasped Hilde, as soon as she had gotten over her first surprise at finding Relena Peacecraft at the door to her hotel room.
Relena smiled. 'Catherine let something slip and I persuaded her to tell me the hotel you were staying in. After that, it was easy.'
'I don't believe it,' Hilde muttered, tossing her short hair out of her face. 'I'm going to kill Catherine.'
But she let Relena into her room without another word. Actually, she was glad to have company.
When they had both sat down, Relena looked at Hilde seriously.
'I know you won't change your actions just by hearing me say something. But you should at least listen to my words and understand what I'm saying.' Hilde cocked an eyebrow, but didn't interrupt Relena's speech.
'There is danger in this area, Hilde. I know that word doesn't mean anything to you, and that you've already met death first-hand. But only yesterday, a knife was held against my throat.' Relena touched her neck instinctively, then went on, the emotion expanding in her voice. 'Now I'm afraid. Afraid of what might happen to all the people who go to my school. They don't know what's happening. I don't know either; the Gundam pilots won't tell me anything. But I'm warned. As soon as something out of the ordinary happens, I know I should run. The others don't know that. Do you know the guilt I have had to carry around with me ever since Heero first warned me of danger? There are moments when I just want to scream at the top of my lungs at everybody to get out; get out of this cursed place and survive. But I can't. It would mean death for the Gundam pilots, and I can't betray their lives. There is one thing I can do, though. I can warn you. I can get as many of my friends as possible away from here, even if I can't do anything for my classmates. You must leave. It would be an insult to all the innocent people going to that school if someone who knew their fate still remained here. If you won't do it for me or yourself, do it for those that are innocent.' Relena stopped speaking and looked at Hilde.
Her friend hung her head, but when she lifted it, Relena could see tears in her blue eyes.
'Nice try, Relena,' she said softly. 'But you spoke of not being able to betray the Gundam pilots, and neither can I. I promised Duo I would stay here, and I won't give up that promise. Never.'
**********************************************
In the apartment he had rented, Heero sat in front of his lap top, contacting Wufei about tonight. It seemed a shameful waste of a whole night to spend it partying, but that couldn't be avoided now. He could imagine Wufei's response and knew that the hot-blooded warrior would see it as a personal insult. That was just one of the negative consequences he had to take for his actions.
Heero leaned back in his chair and frowned at his watch. Almost seven. What did one wear to a party like this, anyway? His school outfit - jeans, green tank top, black jacket - would have to do. He couldn't be bothered with fashion when there were so many other important things he had to work out.
Was it right to go through with this? What were Tekkan and his conspirator planning? Could he trust Ryan and the others? Was Relena safe? How was the work on their weapon going? Where was the gundanium alloy? Why was it hidden in the school? Did the crack he and Wufei had discovered in the cave really have an outlet? How had Tekkan disappeared that day when Quatre had turned up just in time? Who was the enemy who was hiding the gundanium in the school?
And - something that had nothing to do with the mission - what had made him kiss Relena?
Heero rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. There were just no answers to all the questions.
*******************************************
'You find anything?' Hilde asked Relena, shuffling through the many stacks of paper on her desk.
'No,' sighed Relena, frowning at an intricate blueprint. 'This even says where the toilet paper should be stored, but nothing about a hidden cave.'
Hilde giggled, commenting: 'How stupid! Who would need to know where the school's toilet paper store is?'
'You're positive there's gundanium alloy at the school?' Relena heard the disbelief in her own voice.
'Vast amounts of it,' replied Hilde. 'Believe me, Duo wouldn't lie to me like that. Besides, I saw the gundanium detector satellite photo.'
'Then can't you detect the exact location?'
'I wish it were that simple,' Hilde said, reaching for another sheet of paper. 'The detector can give us no more than a rough estimate, and it points to the school. We can't trace it any more accurately.'
But a smile was twitching Relena's lips. 'Actually, this is really strange,' she told Hilde, grinning widely now. 'The toilet paper storage is right on the ground floor, in the most deserted spot.'
'So?' Hilde was not impressed. 'That's not strange. I wouldn't like to innocently open a closet and find - bang! - toilet paper rolls raining down on me!'
'True,' Relena agreed, laughing, 'but the bathrooms on the ground floor are all in one place, and it's far away from the storage closet.'
Her companion shrugged, tossing her short black hair in a characteristic way. 'So the person who designed the school was a bit stupid when it came to toilet paper,' she concluded, when the absurdity of the situation overcame her and she exploded into peals of laughter. 'Here we are,' she gasped, grinning at Relena, 'on a dangerous and important mission, and what do we discuss? Toilet paper!'
But Relena had glanced sharply up at the window and exclaimed: 'It's already dark! I have to get going.'
The laughter on Hilde's lips had died, but she just smiled reassuringly. 'Hey, don't get in a flap just because you have to go home in the dark!' she advised, tidying the stacks of paper into the file containers.
'I'm not, I was just surprised that it was already so late,' corrected Relena. She waved goodbye to Hilde and left the hotel still feeling the light of laughter inside her.
**************************************
Heero could see the neon lights and hear the rhythmical pounding before he reached the club.
As he entered, the noise became deafening, and the flash of the lights nearly blinded him. Dozens of people crowded the dance floor, grouped irregularly into pairs or groups. Their shadows loomed up against the walls in the colourful lights.
Heero kept his head down, pushing mechanically across the crowded dance floor to the tables he had glimpsed on the other side of the enormous room. Hot, sweaty bodies pressed up against him and someone nearly spilled beer on his jacket.
His conscience was jeering at him. How could he have ever hoped to learn anything about his mission here?
'Heero!' someone suddenly yelled in his ear. Instinctively, he spun around and looked sharply into the grinning face of Leat, who had one arm slung around the waist of a girl and was holding a bottle of liqueur in the other hand.
'You've come at a great time,' he hollered, so Heero would be able to understand him. 'Everyone's dancing, except Jiran. He's over there, cooling off!' Leat waved his drink in a vague direction, then turned away again before Heero could say anything.
Shrugging, he pressed on and soon reached the table Jiran was sitting at. The small boy's face and hair was dripping wet, and his eyes were over- bright. He grinned ecstatically when he caught sight of Heero, and waved him over.
'What happened to you?' the Gundam pilot asked nonchalantly, looking at Jiran's wet hair and face. He slid in the seat next to him and cast a wary eye at some other guys also sitting at the table.
'No idea,' answered Jiran brightly. 'Can't remember a thing.'
Heero nodded, not surprised in the least. Jiran did seem like the kind of person who would get so drunk he couldn't remember why he was wet all over.
'We put him in the sink in the washroom,' smirked one of the guys at the table, puffing cigarette smoke into Heero's face. He didn't flinch, but gave the guy his death glare.
'I'll have to go soon,' Heero told Jiran, who just laughed.
Wanting to get away from the guy, who was leering unpleasantly at him, the Gundam pilot left the table and stood in the line in front of the bar to get himself a drink.
When he finally turned away, glass in hand, he ran into Damon, who greeted him happily and appeared to be sober.
Damon led Heero over to the table again, but shortly afterwards, Jiran left, punching all the other guys before he did.
'I still think it really amazing that you beat Tekkan,' Damon yelled over the pounding music.
'What's up with that guy, anyway?' Heero asked him.
'Well, he used to live on the streets before they sent him to our school and before that he's rumoured to have been kicked out of military academy for murder or something.'
Heero whipped his head around and glanced at Damon intently. 'Tekkan was at military academy?'
The other boy shrugged. 'Nobody knows for sure. You can't trust anything Tekkan says about himself or his past, but this is a pretty definite rumour.'
That would explain Tekkan's quick reflexes, Heero mused. But he can't have been there for very long or he'd have had a better chance fighting with a Gundam pilot.
While he was still processing this information, someone whacked him on the back forcefully.
Heero whirled around, muscles tensed, glaring at the enemy he was expecting to see. But in front of him stood Ryan, holding up his hands as if to surrender, a shocked expression on his face.
'Cool it!' he yelled. 'I wasn't attacking you or anything.'
The blood still pounded through Heero's body, but he forced himself to grin and slowly sank back into his chair, watching Ryan warily. He didn't trust him.
He didn't know that in those few seconds when he had been distracted two small pills, ground to powder, had been dropped into his glass and dissolved instantly. He picked up his drink and downed it in one gulp.
**********************************************
So, we're finally at the end of another chapter. Tune in four months later to see if this slow-poke writer has decided how it goes on. Or, more correctly, has managed to type the decision into her ever-annoying computer. Till then, try to find an answer for these so MYSTERIOUS *j/k* questions!
The show's sponsors:
fallen pheniox - *sigh* I noe . glad you like my theory about Heero and Trowa, I was worried about that. Don't worry, u're special enough without spelling your name differently! Here's to an absolutely great friend, Catherine's nothing compared to you!
JOan - you'll be getting an email from me, sorry the chapter took so long .
Kai's Asian Angel - yup, I'd have to agree. H/R is about the best thing . And there will be more of it in the next chapter.
Tabiku Tab Iakkin - Honoured.
Blade Griffin - that's Heero, yes. Very dense.
ice eyes - yea, we can't let Heero suffer too much. I'll do my best!
Ladybug - Soon? Don't know that word!
Callisto Nicol - thanx so much, I love long reviews! Like I said, Heero is dim about stuff like that. And yes, you did have to wait another four months. *big deep sigh* just can't seem to manage to update quickly .
Pink Sakura - I totally agree!
And to the anonymous reviewer whose name got deleted somehow - hey, this story will have a happy ending, don't worry!
Also featuring thanks to fallen pheniox (mentioned above) and my editor, cuty-cat, with hopes for a lot of future works together. (But I still won't forgive you for leaving a review under MY name to my own story! Talk about *erased*)
Creater of series Shooting Jewel