Hi everyone, I'm finally updating...sorry for the long delay. ^^; Thanks for the reviews from the last time I updated, which was like back in August. Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters, but the characters of Celeste and William are mine.

Symee-Sama: Yeah, William is going to start creating more trouble in later chapters. (Oops, I said too much already. ^^)

Feelings Unleashed

~*~

Heero and Relena continued to stand in the shade of a tree on the summer afternoon, even though the shaded area slowly began recede from the two. The afternoon heat nearly dried the two from their swim. Relena looked away from Heero, as she felt his eyes looking towards her way. She felt like everything was coming too soon. It was just a week that she had learned the truth about William. Yes she liked Heero secretly, but she felt it wasn't the right time yet. She needed to think things through. She didn't know what to say to him or how to react, but she now knew his true feelings, which eased her conscience a bit.

"I need to get back home, it's getting late." She left the comfort of the once shaded area and back to her pile of clothes. The summer heat dissipated somewhat to a lesser degree. She quickly dressed herself in her riding uniform, which was just a simple plain blue dress along with her black riding boots. She still felt his eyes on her, but she then turned around and noticed that Heero had disappeared. "I still can't seem to figure him out." She felt a slight blush coming onto her face, but she quickly walked over to her mare and mounted into the saddle. With that, she left the friendly serene surroundings of the lake and headed back to her parents' mansion.

The ride home went uneventful as she watched the familiar surroundings being bathed in the familiar orange glow of the setting sun. The summer breezes were starting to pick up, blowing her hair from behind her. She continued to trot slowly until the familiar stables appeared before her. Before the entrance to the wooden structure, she dismounted from her horse and grabbed a hand-sized brush. "You like that don't you?"

The brown mare neighed in delight. She smiled and saw her reflection in her horse's dark eyes. "So what do you think about Heero Yuy?" She didn't know if the horse understood her question or not, but unexpectedly the mare nudged her. "I guess you do approve of him." Relena then decided to go along with the response, "What about William Bennett?" She watched her horse paw into the ground disapprovingly and laughed out loud, not knowing if anyone would hear her. "Are you trying to get an extra sugar cube from me?" She looked teasingly at her horse, but she handed her horse a sugar cube anyway and in less than a second, it was gone from the palm of her right hand. She continued to groom down the brown back and then gave the tail a quick brush, taking away stray grass clippings from the black hair. "There you go...all nice and clean now." She led her horse back into its stall and made sure that the feed was still plentiful for the night and early morning. She patted the mare and closed the stable doors for the night, even though there still was some daylight left.

She quickly traversed the large backyard and entered through the back. The minute she walked into the kitchen, she saw Trudy just preparing her dinner. "It's about time you came home. I was about to send out a search party for you."

"Very funny." She smiled to the woman.

"I see the fresh air did do some good for you after all. You're still blushing slightly."

"What?" She felt her cheeks flush slightly again.

"I wondered what happened on your afternoon ride. Would you care to enlighten me?" The woman gave a ponderous look towards her.

"Umm...where should I begin...well I went for an afternoon swim by the lake and then out of nowhere he came." She twisted her skirt slightly, which gave Trudy a hint that she was still hiding something from her.

"Who?"

"Heero Yuy...he's currently staying at the Maxwell residence."

"I see." The woman didn't look up from the pot that she was stirring, but a small smirk was appearing on her face.

"I was about to leave and he... kissed me right there."

"Well it's about time."

"I beg your pardon." Shock was shown across her face, not knowing why Trudy had said that.

"I've seen the look in your eyes...a woman in love. That Bennett boy, he wasn't your type to begin with."

"And how do you know?" She looked questioningly at her maid of five years.

"He always carried a strange aura around him. The first time I ever saw him was at the dance that your mother hosted. He seemed to be an uptight fellow at times."

"Are you sure you're not confusing Heero with him?"

"I am quite sure." Her statement was filled with confidence. She had remembered the day when Heero had first appeared in that early dawn of that summer day. She saw Relena leave earlier with her chestnut mare, as she was making her way to the residence to start her morning chores. She didn't say a word to her employers because she knew that Relena needed time to herself. And as luck would have it, just when she was on the front steps leading towards the mansion, she saw another rider with short brown hair was heading towards Relena's direction. She noted the youth in him, as he sat straight in his saddle, keeping in perfect unison with his black horse. She smiled to herself knowing that something was beginning to form right before her very own eyes.

Relena then brought Trudy out of her memory that she was reminiscing about. "Oh sorry dear, I was just thinking about something. That's all. At my age, you always look back and dote on the little things that happened." She quickly stirred the thickening pot of cream of rice soup. "I think this is about right." She lifted the wooden spoon from the hot creamy abyss and watched the liquid slowly fall back into the pot. "Dinner is served." She quickly filled two large soup bowls with generous servings of the pale yellow soup filled with rice, chicken, and a variety of vegetables. Relena then helped her with one of the bowls and sat at the kitchen table.

She couldn't help but wonder what the older woman was thinking about. With a perplexed look on her face, she asked her directly, "What were you thinking about a moment ago?"

"Oh nothing, just nothing. Now eat your soup."

~*~

"I see that you're back from your afternoon ride as usual," smirked Duo. He saw his friend sit at a chair at the kitchen table. "You seem to be in happier spirits than normal."

Heero didn't reply at all to his friend's curious statement. During his afternoon rendezvous with Relena, he felt a burden was lifted from him finally. But, what was this feeling he was starting to have? All the thoughts and emotions in him were starting to conflict with one another. His afternoon kiss with Relena was short, and yet he felt something come to life. This feeling was driving him crazy. He looked at a small candle in front of him. The flame slowly ebbing away along with the wax that melted under the intense flame.

"Not going to have your daily drink?" Duo looked worriedly at his friend.

"No, not tonight." Heero continued to stare into the flame. Memories from his recurrent nightmare flashed in his mind again. The maze of hallways teased his every move as he made his way from the one end to another. The floorboards creaked underneath his weight as he walked. In the background, a constant mockery of laughter echoed along his darken path. And then finally, he made his way into a room, where he finds her...standing by an open window with a light gown on. He noticed that she was looking out towards the night sky, but then she turns to him with a soft smile gracing her face. The two embraced one another and he was just about to kiss her...

"BANG!"

Heero suddenly came out of his reverie and his body immediately tensed up.

"Sorry about that Heero, I just dropped a pan in the kitchen. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He slowly calmed down his breathing again. He didn't know why he was having these recurrent nightmares. In one of them, he saw William with a gun his in hands, and in others, he fantasizes about Relena. But lately, they have been showing the signs of death more frequently than ever.

Duo resumed his place in the kitchen. Thanks to Hilde, he has been learning to cook other meals instead of cooking fried chicken practically every week. But the majority of his meals, turned out to be something else more atrocious at times than he had planned originally.

"What are we having for dinner this night? I hope it's not fried chicken."

"Hah, very funny. For your information, I think its meatloaf from what it looks like." Duo took the burnt meal out of the oven and stuck it with a fork. "I think it's done...a little too over done though." He saw Heero walk into the kitchen, eyeing the new cook cautiously.

"Are there any leftovers in the ice box?"

"I'm pretty sure." Before he took his eyes off the meatloaf, he noticed that Heero wasn't there at all. "He has no confidence in my cooking skills whatsoever."

"I heard that," a voice called from the dining room table. The sounds of plates and silverware filtered towards the kitchen. "I have the chicken here."

Duo sluggishly walked towards his dining room and noted his friend already chewing on a leg. "It figures." He then grabbed a thigh and started to chew on the cold piece of meat. "There's nothing like fried chicken." After taking a couple of large bites, he then mentioned something that interested Heero, "I heard that Martha Grant will host some kind of party this coming weekend and that a certain someone will be in attendance." He saw a slight pause in Heero's chewing from where he sat at the dining room table.

~*~

"You look like you could use a drink." A bartender in his early thirties donning a black curled moustache quickly filled a shot of whiskey for the poor man, who looked like he had been through hell.

William sat lazily at a bar. His eyes were filled with circles from previous drinks that he had from the days before. The ride from Winfield was too much for him. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of his breakup from both Celeste and Relena.

"So what brings you here to this small town of Western Springs?" The bartender capped the bottle to the whiskey he had opened just a minute ago.

William swirled the cool liquid in his glass, "Just visiting. That's all."

"You sure? It looks like there's more to your story."

"Hmph." He pulled out a couple of loose change to pay for his shot of whiskey. "Thanks for the drink."

"Whatever you say." He then resumed back to the cleaning of his glasses that littered the countered. "That boy has some serious issues to deal with."

Outside, William staggered his way back to his lodgings. He had picked a small inn, where he knew he wouldn't know anyone and vice versa. The building from the outside had cracked boards that needed to be fixed, while in the inside, it housed simple furniture and the front desk donned a marble table with a small brass bell.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Bennett." An old man wearing thick glasses appeared at the front desk. "So how are you today?"

"I'm fine, Mr. Holman," he replied curtly. In truth, his mind raged with revenge for his break ups from Relena and Celeste. "I'm heading back to my room now. Good day now."

"The same to you too."

He then saw the old man resume his record keeping in a leather-bound ledger that was located by the side of the marble front desk. He slowly walked up the steps and walked to his room, which was just a door away from the staircase. After he had fumbled with the keys, he staggered into his room and collapsed onto his unmade bed. He laid there for several hours for the remainder of the day.

For the weeks that had passed since his breakups, he slowly drowned the memories of Relena and Celeste in a variety of drinks, hoping to suppress the burning words from the two women. At times it had worked, but the thoughts of Relena resurfaced over and over again in his mind. Eventually his feelings of her became an obsession, which needed to be fed. That was when he saw him...the man with the Prussian eyes and brown hair kissing her.

The scene of the two young lovers burned in him as he seethed at the thought. He muttered several incoherent curses under his breath as he laid in his bed. It was nearly nightfall. "One day Relena...you'll be mine." He smiled and a flash of evil was seen in his hazel eyes. "We'll meet again...you can count on that." Sleep eventually overcame his body, rendering him unconscious for awhile, but a plan was beginning to materialize in his mind. The elimination of Heero Yuy...

~*~

TBC

Well, how was that for chapter eight? I know...an evil cliffhanger. :) Please review, I would greatly appreciate the feedback. Until then, take care everyone and have a happy new year!