Hiiro Yuy could not believe this. The encounter had been breathtakingly normal, find, query, shoot the intruder. But then she had pulled some sort of torch out of thin air, and now he was in a stalemate with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Scratch that thought, 01. You can't afford thoughts like that, not now, when it's shoot and get torched, or wait until your gun gets hot enough to burn your flesh. He wasn't afraid of the pain, but the perfect soldier could not risk third degree burns on his right hand. In a single fluid movement, he stuck his gun back in his belt, and grabbed her wrists instead.
"Fine, then. If what you say is true, why have you been tracking me in here for the last half an hour?"
"There was a man, he offered me ten grand, just to kill you. But I realize now, that I can't do that without getting myself killed."
"You said someone was after you."
"Obviously, someone was trying to get me killed, if they sent me after you. They never told me you were so silent, so quick." Rei felt shameless, stroking the man's ego in this petty way, but her goal was to stay alive, and that she would do.
It was at this point, Hiiro took another look at the illuminating flame, and realized she carried no torch, the fire erupting straight from her palm. He dropped her wrist, started and scared.
"What are you?"
"A...well, a sorceress. That's what you would call it, magic. It's not me I'm asking for. It's a friend. She's helpless, and I can't protect her well enough. I can pay you."
"Drop the fire." She did so immediately. He took out his gun again. He should shoot her. Kill her now before she turned on him, and his friends. But the image of the fire licking her fingertips still dazzled his mind, and he did something he had never done before.
"Now, come with me."
As they briskly made their way through what Rei could only guess was a hallway in the complete darkness, Rei couldn't help think that this, if nothing else was a sign of how the times had changed her. Before the...accident, she would've fought, and probably gotten herself killed, but now showing some of that negotiative patience that Minako had but was rarely forced to use, she realized that getting herself killed would only leave Usagi defenseless.
Rei's train of thought was interrupted when a door flew open, flooding all the surroundings with a painfully bright light. With much effort, she managed not to blink, or turn her head as her pupils shrunk to miniscule proportions.
"Quatre, I found this one in the entrance sector, and she managed to follow me into restricted sector D. I would've shot her, but, well, she's quite persuasive." Quatre blinked. It didn't surprise him that Hiiro had found the secret entrance to his office and disturbed his work, but he had never in his association with the man once heard Hiiro be so elusive with words.
"What do you mean, persuasive?"
"Show him that trick, fireyes."
This time all three occupants were astounded, and anyone else in hearing would've been equally so. Hiiro himself could not believe what he had just said. God, he had the most powerful woman, no human, in the earth sphere throwing herself at him, and he was faltering because of some half-trained assassin, with beautiful eyes that took the flame and made it their own. Wait, no, dammit! Bad, bad thought. You can't do this, 01, it's much too dangerous! His eyes narrowed in anger and resolution, his teeth clenched quite as hard as the grip on his gun.
"Just do it!"
Rei would've found the time to laugh, but she was much too confused. In her torrential whirlwind of thought from the time she had found the nerve to threaten the perfect soldier until now, she had always thought of his as ice-eyes, that emotionless Prussian blue. She cringed at herself as she made a small flame emerge from her palm. Was this another 'gift' from Minako, or Makoto? Dreaming needlessly over guys at the worst possible times? She purposefully didn't hold back the emotion from her face or voice as she attempted to plead with the softer, more vulnerable looking blond, Quatre Winner, she assumed.
"Please, I'm not from here. I was stranded here with my helpless friend, and I've only been trying to protect her. You protect your world, and so do I. When she dies, my being will be useless, for I was born merely to make sure she lives."
"So you are her guard?"
"That's right."
"And you want us to help protect her?" A compassionate look filled his eyes as he walked towards her. "Bring her here. We'll do what we can. Alright? I assume you can get out on your own."
"Thanks. I'll be back soon."
"Fine, then." He patted her arm reassuringly, and Hiiro's look of suspicion and anger turned to one of almost amusement. Rei nodded to both Quatre and Hiiro, and took off through the same passage through which they had entered. Hiiro's eyes followed her path until he was fairly sure she was out of hearing.
"Tracking device, Quatre?"
"What can I say? I was curious."
"You get more like me every day."
(end of chapter)
A/N: Wow, I finished a chapter. I'm not very good at writing in chapter format, but I'll live. Thanks for the reviews (wow, three!) And, when I said maybe, I did mean that maybe the other senshi'll be in here. I wasn't planning on letting this story get away. Alright, there will tend to be a good deal of OOC here, but I think I've justified that. I don't like stories that portray Quatre as an outright wuss anyway. He's kind, but not dumb. Also, having SM characters in the GW world is bound to stir things up anyway, right?