I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters, but I enjoy using them for my own evil purposes. Like writing fan fiction for example. Ok just kidding, get on with it. I don't own anything. Nothing. Nada. Absolutamente nada.

Chapter 5

Relena sat at the edge of her bed; she had just come back from putting Heero's clothes on the washing machine. Nonchalantly she looked towards her bathroom; she could see a light from underneath the door and the sound of water running reached her ears. Heero was still taking a shower.

It was then that it really hit her. Heero Yuy was really there. In her bathroom. In her house. Back in her life; though for how long, she didn't know.

It didn't matter at the moment anyway.

She was overwhelmed by the knowledge that all that had happened in the past half-hour had not been a dream. All throughout it she had been in a sort-of trance, so she hadn't really paid attention to her feelings.

Now that everything had calmed down and her mind was able to think she felt tired; overwhelmed by the fact that he was actually back.

Thousands of questions ran around her mind at the moment, but out of all of them, a single question stood out: Why?

Why was he back?

She really couldn't think of a good enough reason for his sudden return. If you thought about it they really didn't know each other very well. They had just met several times during the wars and he had "rescued" her from Mariemaia. I mean, why exactly would he come to see her?

She wasn't the Vice Foreign Minister anymore, so if there was the chance of a revolt or war she wouldn't be able to do anything to help. The Gundam Pilots didn't have a use for her anymore. He didn't have to protect her either, as he had promised he would two years ago. And it seemed too much of a coincidence for him to have suddenly found her house, in the middle of a storm no less, for it to be an accident.

Maybe he did it to get out of the rain, she wondered, but quickly dismissed the idea. Heero Yuy was never one to run away from things like rain. He had proved it to her by stubbornly refusing to take a bath; still, no one was more stubborn than herself.

In a part of her wistful brain appeared the idea that maybe he had come to just see her, but she quickly dismissed it, refusing to let hope take hold of her tired heart. It would just hurt her more.

She looked around her room, looking for something that would distract her mind from sad thoughts.

Wait a minute, where is Zero? she thought, remembering about her loyal companion. She hadn't seen him since she had gone downstairs to find her "intruder". She looked around the room, wondering where a 3 months-old kitten could disappear to.

Her mind reminded her of how Hilde's last "spontaneous" visit had gotten Zero to hide under her bed in shyness. So Relena scrolled across her bed to the edge, holding onto the bed's posts, securing herself from falling head-first into the floor. She lifted the bed's covers from the floor and peeked underneath her bed's mattress.

And sure enough, from between the darkness a pair of big green eyes blinked back at her. Relena smiled at her discovery; glad her kitty wasn't lost.

Now all she had to do was get him out of his hiding place. This could take a while. But, as was mentioned before, she was stubborn. And persistent.

"Hey there little Zero, come here baby, come with your mommy" she cooed, her voice so sweet and alluring that she could have gotten a Tiger to purr. Zero however, looked very comfortable in his spot; and he was known to be as stubborn as his "mom". The mom however, was not giving up so easily.

"Oh come on Zero, come here little one" she even flashed him a smile. But Zero didn't move.

"Come on, you know you want to". Blinking eyes were her only response.

Giving a frustrated sigh she decided to use her last resort. She took out one of her dangling earrings (a gift from her late mother) off her ear and started to swing it in the air in front of the green eyes.

Zero blinked and started taking awkward steps in her direction, while she continued swinging her earring, half her body over the bed.

It was like this that Heero found her, except that the first thing that his brain registered was the nice, round butt hovering over the bed.

He fought the sudden urge to run back into another cold shower.

Forcing his eyes to skip the jean-clad butt, he tried to see what exactly she was doing. Half her body, up to her chest, was resting on the bed, while her head and arms were…leaning over the carpet it seemed.

He suspected she was trying to get something from under the bed; what he didn't get was why was she talking and whispering, alone.

He was ripped out of his thoughts at Relena's enthusiastic "Gothcha!"

"Uh, Relena, what are you doing?"

Startled by Heero's deep voice, Relena's cheeks were tinted a light pink at the embarrassment of being found in that awkward position, and she lifted her head to look at him.

"Uh…Zero wouldn't come out" she said, embarrassment evident in her voice.

Zero? Heero's mind screamed in confusion. As in his gundam? As in the zero system?

Just who the hell was Zero!

He got his answer when Relena's body righted itself, coming up with a dark bundle in her arms, a pair of big green eyes looking timidly back at him.

Noticing his gaze, Relena decided to explain, "Duo gave it to me a few weeks ago, to keep me company".

Though Heero knew Duo was very much in love with his girlfriend Hilde, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Duo.

Ok, very jealous.

He knew Duo was best friends with Relena, and that he saw her as a sister, but still, Heero couldn't help but feel envy to Duo's close relationship with Relena. He knew he shouldn't, after all he also kind-of considered Duo his best friend.

But he just couldn't help it.

"Why Zero?" he asked in his typical monotone.

"His eyes" she stated in a calm voice, "they're green, just like…" she trailed off, not wanting to open an old wound. She didn't need to say it anyway, it was kind of obvious.

"…Just like Gundam Zero's eyes" his voice held a tint of pain, but it was barely noticeable.

"Mhmm, Duo wanted to name it Deathscythe, but it was too long" she said fondly, chuckling at the memory of Duo, pouting because she wouldn't name it like his late gundam.

"Zero fits him better anyway" Relena said, smiling at her cat, and warming Heero's chest.

She looked at Heero then, and noticed he was wearing the clothes she had given him to change into.

"I see they fit" she said, gesturing with her chin towards his body.

He looked at himself, and remembered the question that had been nagging at his mind ever since he had seen the masculine clothes; especially after they had fit so well.

Relena saw Heero frown at the clothes he wore; gray cotton sweat pants and a large white t-shirt, and she chuckled, knowing exactly what was going on in Heero's head.

Heero looked up in question from the offending clothes when he heard Relena's chuckle.

"Duo insisted the clothes stayed here, what with him and Hilde coming here so often and him being so distracted".

The pilot of 01 felt quite stupid, he should have known better. Still, the pang of jealousy hit again. Duo came to sleep over at Relena's house? Often? This was just too much.

Relena chuckled, once more guessing what was going on at the pilot's mind, "Duo and Hilde are attached at the hip; wherever Hilde goes, Duo is there too, so that's why there's a guest room in this house specifically for Duo".

"Hn"

After that, a weird silence was set upon them. Heero looked at the princess in front of him; thought at that moment she looked more like a ghostly angel.

The moonlight hitting her hair made it look like Relena had a white halo around her head, and she had rotated her body enough so that the light coming from the window wasn't exactly behind her, but flooding her face and body with light and giving her an ethereal look.

Instead of their natural sky blue, her eyes appeared like sapphires under the moonlight. Her smooth skin glowed and her round lips reflected the light with the moistness they held.

Mesmerized with how impossibly beautiful she looked, he was ripped out of his reverie by Relena's voice, which sounded slow and smooth, when actually she was very nervous.

"Why are you here Heero?"

Heero's heart pounded loudly in his chest. He had been expecting that question all night, but it didn't make it any easier when the moment of truth actually came.

He diverted his face to look at her bed, her carpet, her cat, anywhere but those inquiring, sapphire eyes.

Relena saw Heero squirming and was surprised when she realized that the Perfect Soldier didn't know what to say. What made Heero nervous? What had he really come for?

While Relena wondered, Heero had finally summed up the courage to answer Relena's question honestly.

"I-I came here to…" he gave a nervous sigh he hoped she took as frustration.

"I came here to see you".

This time he looked directly into Relena's eyes.

Relena took an intake of air after Heero's declaration, her eyes widening at his words, and her heart beating so loudly she thought it would jump out of her chest, hope fueling it.

But life's hard experiences had made her a pessimist, and she convinced her heart to stop pinning for a love that she would never be given.

There had to be a reasonable, non-romantic explanation behind Heero's words.

It occurred to her then, that maybe he still saw her as the Vice Foreign Minister and wanted something out of her from her late position. Highly unlikely, but it was the first thing that came to her mind.

"I'm not the Vice Foreign Minister anymore Heero" she said in a monotone, unconsciously clutching harder the kitten sitting in her arms.

Heero raised an eyebrow at her reply.

As she said this another idea came to her mind, filling her heart with anger and, strangely, feeling betrayed.

He wanted to take her back to her job.

That had to be the reason.

She frowned, anger apparent in her expression.

So that was why he had come, he still saw her as a peace beacon, a stupid symbol to the world.

He came to convince her to return to her job, to have her strain herself again for a selfish world that saw her as nothing than a symbol, an object to be admired.

Well, there was no way in hell that she was going back. Not even Heero Yuy was going to make her go. Not even if he threatened her. She cursed herself for leaving the gun downstairs. But still, with or without gun, she wasn't going to step back.

"I'm not the Vice Minister anymore, and you can't make me take the job again Heero" she said, anger and hate dripping from every word.

Heero was certainly surprised. If there was a reaction he had been expecting, it definitely hadn't been that. Hugging and kissing he had secretly hoped for, a blush in her cheeks he wouldn't have minded, hell even rejection had been in his list of expected reactions.

But he hadn't imagined Relena getting angry and believing he would command her to work herself out again.

It would have even been amusing hadn't Relena been fuming at him. Hell, even the cat seemed to be glaring at him.

"I didn't come to take you back" Heero contradicted her, eager on bringing Relena into the light of the situation. "Actually, I'm glad you resigned".

The anger left her body, surprise stepping into its place, along with the always-present confusion. If he hadn't come to take her back, then why did he want to see her?

"Then…then what did you come to see me for?" she asked, her voice smaller and calmer than before.

"I'm…I'm not sure" Heero said, his voice filled with rare emotion.

"I- I guess I came to find out why".

Relena blinked at that.

Heero needed her, he needed her help.

Relena smirked.

This was going to get interesting.

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AN: Ok that was chapter 5. I really hoped you liked it. I tried to make it longer, though I'm not sure if I succeeded. I'm very sorry for not updating as soon as I promised I would, but a lot of things happened. Besides, I'm on finals, I got sick and there's a constant war going on between my brother and me for the ownership of the computer. But now that vacations are coming I'll be able to finish posting this story and I may even start posting the other stories I've been working on.

I really appreciate the people who have reviewed my story. You're all really nice and supportive.

Sonkist: lol yeah I'm probably crazy. Don't worry you're not the only one who thinks that; but I promise I'm harmless. Except if you're a cockroach, which I doubt hehe. Mmmmm…mutual friends telling their stories. I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it…it could be described like that. I hope that isn't a bad thing.

Hieiashke: hahaha lol Heero smothered in pink towels…I would pay to see that. I'm glad you thought my chappie was nice, makes me wanna be better. And I'll do my best to make more chappies you'll like.

CrimsonDragon010: wow, and here I thought they couldn't get more OOC. So glad you think they're perfect, it makes my day brighter. And I'm not just talking mush in here. I'm serious.