Heero's breath came in shallow gasps almost as he could almost feel the fiery drug burning through his body, numbing anything that he would have felt. He longed for that feeling; to know the pain and know that he was real. Without it he was just a shadow, soon to vanish when the sun comes. The antidote as the doctor said was working its way through his body, trying to stop the overdose's effect on the young teenager aging sixteen.

He faintly heard the doorknob turn but he couldn't think. Everything was a blur and he felt as though he was rushing through his life as his eyes drooped with exhaustion. Why was he fighting the drug in the first place, didn't he want to die?

"Heero Yuy." Dr. Karnagy told the young Preventer who looked to be in her late nineteen's. "Yes, he's been my patient for a while." She told her almost quietly as the door swung open.

Sally stared at the person in the bed, a white linen sheet covering his blue, almost black faded loose jeans. He had bruise marring his torso and some on his face. His chest rose up and down unevenly, though he clearly was dead to his surroundings.

'Heero...' Sally's mind thought, yet it came out in a whisper as the doctor turned to look at her friend.

"Acquaintance?" She questioned, hoping for an answer.

Sally shook her head to clear the swirling thoughts that rebounded on her each time for an unanswered one. "I'm not an acquaintance." She told the young and highly trained doctor as she saw her pluck a golden stand and put it up into the loose bun she once again sported. "I'm an old friend."

The doctor raised a questioning eyebrow to this. "Friend, then you should have known of his condition." She muttered uneasily. This sort of situation she had never been trained to experience in Medical school. It wasn't every day that a Preventer knew one of her patients personally.

"I haven't heard from him or the other's for a while." Sally said moving from the spot she positioned herself in.

"It looks like he's coming to, the drug I gave him should have counteracted the effects of the drug he was given." Karnagy said softly as she saw Heero wince in some sort of pain. She spoke his name softly, urging him to come to so that she could talk to him.

"Heero." Sally tried and saw his gorgeous prussain blue eyes open as he cleared his vision.

"Huh..." Sally noted that he sounded utterly exhausted. Karnagy turned to the Preventer. "Maybe you should leave, I have to talk to him privately.

Heero blinked the exhaustion from his eyes as he was met face to face with his doctor. His heart skipped a beat. 'What happened?!' His mind raced. 'God no, no no no!' A look of hidden fear now immerged and a look of worry crossed over her features when she saw this,

"Heero, are you alright?" He slipped on his emotionless mask and the doctor blinked, wondering if she imagined it. He nodded his head stiffly almost.

"Heero, how did you get those bruises?" She questioned.

Heero looked at her and stared at her eyes to show he wasn't lying. He had been practiced in the arts of lying and people believing truth. "Football." He said simply. Being on the football team did earn you a lot of bruises, specially since our Heero got tackled so much since he was one of the MVP and the other teams wanted to get him out of the season.

"F..oot...ball..." The doctor said slowly, not getting the answer she was expecting. Abuse, that was the only way to describe it. Obviously, the wonderful doctor was proven wrong.

"Yes," Heero told her pointedly. "After being tackled so many times into the ground I would expect you to get bruises also."

"If that is so, then why did you have that drug in your system?"

"Well, some of the bruises hurt a lot so my mother got a type of drug that would help numb the pain so I wouldn't miss football practice tonight. It's the night game after all."

"Oh yes!" The doctor exclaimed. Her and Heero were almost good friends. "I'll be going tonight, not that you'll need anyone to cheer you on." She joked. He slightly blushed, though deep down he was faking. Everything in his life was a lie.

"Yeah, tonight's the first night game of the season." He told her.

"Then why were you wearing cover-up?" The doctor inquired. He couldn't dodge this one, definitely not!

"It was picture day. Mother didn't want me to have the bruises from getting my head banged into the mud a couple times show in the picture she was gonna buy so she used her makeup on me." He told her quietly.

She sighed inwardly. Wrong again. "All right then, I'll let you go to practice for tonight's game." She told him, helping him grab his shirt. "And Heero," Heero turned to look at her, his hand just above the door handle.

"Yes?"

"Remember, I'll always be here when you need me no matter what happens." She told him in a silent promise that not even blood could break.

He nodded and opened the door, not even noticing the Preventer Sally Po that was eyeing his 'mother' with a bird's sharp eye.

His mother stood up, giving a smile which under hid the nasty glare she was giving her and left with her son. Sally looked for a while and then turned around. Une wouldn't let her follow the two people, even if it was Heero Yuy. Besides, Une would scold her if she didn't finish the work that she had come to do.

"What did you tell them?!" His mother hissed at the teenager as soon as the door to their home was slammed shut and locked. Obviously she wasn't taking any chances.

"What you told me to tell incase this ever happened." Heero spoke softly so as not to infuriate her, yet his calm demeanor quickly got rid of that small hope.

"Bull, you worthless piece of crap!" She shouted as she picked up her heavy purse and hit him repeatedly as bruises formed. Soon, her anger getting the better of her, she reached for a lamp and with a cry struck him down.

There was only so much pain someone could take and that certainly crossed the line. His body was still weak from the other beatings and he just didn't want to heal at all. All he remembered was a white hot flash of pain coarsing through his veins and then darkness swallowing him.

"Hey!" Duo cried merrily to Relena Peacecraft. "Have you seen Heero? He should be back a while ago. He's got football practice and Trowa wanted me to fetch him!"

"No, Duo." Relena told him quietly and a little worried. Maybe he was sick, but the perfect soldier didn't become ill, did he? "I haven't seen Heero since when he left."

"Oh." Duo said downheartedly. Heero didn't seem to be all right, not that he ever was in the first place being in a category of his own, yet it seemed that the young teenager was even more different.

"Tell Wufei that I hope his strategy works and I wish all of you good luck." She said with a smile, her cheerleading uniform showing beneath the coat that she wore.

Relena was captain of the cheerleading squad, giving her almost instant popularity. Duo was on the basketball team, Quatre in the Musician's Club, Trowa and Heero on the football team, and Wufei was a lower level of the coach, much like an assistant coach.

"Thanks, you too. Hope that the cheers go all right for you!" Duo ran off again, trying to think of anything but his concerns for the perfect soldier. He grinned inwardly when he remembered that he had been paired with Heero Yuy himself for a science project.

As the night sky began to fall on the field, all the players minus one lined up as the coach's took role; "Renalds, Walker, Friedman, Ilkmar, Barton," The coach paused at the number '01' jersey. "Heero Yuy?" He questioned, noting that the boy wasn't there.

'Odd, that boy barely misses any practices and when he does he makes it up by doing a lot of stuff.' The coach wondered. "Heero Yuy?" He repeated again. Wufei raised an eyebrow and looked at Trowa who looked just as worried. Trowa shrugged but looked around still, waiting for the young teen friend of his to come rushing up.

The coach checked the name, making a mental tab to call his parents and see what was up. It was a Friday night but still, almost everyone was home around this time or ready for the game.

'Where is Heero Yuy though?' Karnagy wondered as she noted all the people playing in the game tonight. She was positive that he mentioned going out to play, there was no way in hell he would miss the first game! She furrowed her eyes with worry as she glanced around. Something was terribly wrong. A young boy with long chestnut hair tied in a braid sat down next to her, wearing the same look.

She glanced at him and he at her. They seemed to understand one another with that glance and looked away. Something didn't feel right about all those bruises, about football being the reason, the numbing drug...so many pieces didn't fit.

Where was Heero Yuy?

Author's note: Wow! I feel so special with all sorts of people reviewing my work! . I'm loved! Alright:

-A Minor Pentatonic: Heero's foster family is influential, but that's not the reason why he is stuck with him. N fact all the Gundam pilots who don't have a legal family (Duo, Trowa, Relena, and Heero) have foster families during their stay at the high school. All will be understood in good time.

-dostil: I hope this was as fast as it is, whether short or not!

-BlackX- I don't know about the pairing yet; might not have any like you suggested. I really suck at romance. Heero is resistant to drugs. I should have gone more in depth with that one; Heero's foster mother has his medical records and if he needs medicine, they give him a stronger prescription thus enabling her to adapt almost any drug past his tolerance so he's affected.

-Lockea Stone: I'm deeply honored by your complement! I'll try to update as much as I can between school and other events. If you like drama, then your gonna like this chapter I think. My readers please remember; nothing is as it seems! Muahah!