Chapter Eight.

By

Uplifted

Authoress's note: I'm so sorry for the delay! I had a lot of things happening. I broke up with my long-time boyfriend, my dog had to be put down, and then my sister was forever banging on my door about updates. This is a filler chapter, but I'm hoping that people will enjoy it enough to review! I love all the responses that I get. So, enjoy!

Sally Po decided that lectures could come later. For now, Beast needed medical treatment, and Hiro needed god-knew what. After the mutant Red Tail had come and informed her of the fight, and the fighter's, she had immediately rushed passed the gaping hole that was her doorway, and sprinted to the gym. Wufei, seeing the normally calm and collected doctor running across several hallways to one of the gyms, had to wonder just what was coming to this school to make annoying women run like that.

Relena sat next to Hiro, her hand slowly stroking his forehead, and brushing away spikey tendrils of hair. Her worried face peered into his unconscious one, while a crowd of anxious friends were already gathered around Beast.

"Alright everyone, move away now!" She commanded, rolling up her sleeves and getting to it, motioning for the teacher of the class to come over. A telepath, luckily, was brought, who managed to lift up the two heavy bodies, and walked with Sally at the head, levitating the two to the medical bay. Relena walked with them as well, knowing she was in trouble, but not caring. She jogged to keep up with Hiro's floating form, and stayed with him as he was positioned onto an examination table. Beast suffered lacerations and a mild concussion, aparently, while Hiro seemed to be in a self-made coma.

Relena stayed with him while Sally saw to Beast's injuries. Halfway through tending them, the blue creature woke with an enormous headache.

"What happened?" He asked groggily, staring out at the grey and sterile white of the medical room.

"You lost." Sally said with a grin, and finished sticky an adhesive bandage to his arm, his fur making band-aids look uncomfortable enough. But the bandage would help the blood clotting, and stimulate the natural healing in one's body. Beast sighed, and started to get up, only to be pushed down by the doctor herself. Relena watched quietly in slight curiousity, but most of her attention was drawn to Hiro. She didn't know when she had grown attached to the mutant, and didn't even know if that was a good thing. But he had helped her, and she would help him, through whatever she could.

While Sally argued heatedly with Beast, Hiro's brainwaves picked up, and his eyes fluttered as he returned to consciousness, instantly on alert.

"Rah!" he growled as he was instantly up, claws out, expecting to see Beast looming over him. Instead, he saw Relena looking torn between backing away from him, and beaming. She smiled hesitantly, as both Sally and Hank McKoy (the Beast) stopped their argument and watched. Sally bustled over and instantly began check up on Hiro's injuries, scrapes that weer mostly healed by now.

"Fascinating." She said under her breath, staring at Hiro in delight. His claws disappeared, and Relena sighed in relief that no one was going to be hurt. Her heart squeezed tightly at the sight of Hiro, awake and ready, and she had to catch her breath before she started coughing. Hiro watched her, a bit weirdly, but it didn't matter to her.

"Well, this has been a few interesting days for you two, hasn't it?" Sally asked, knowing full well that it had only been a week since Treize had kidnapped them, and a day since they had been going to lessons. "You two should just go rest. I'll keep Hiro here, and Relena, you can go back to your room. I assure you that your teacher's will not mind in the slightest. Just get some sleep."

Relena looked back at Hiro to see if it was alright, but his monotonous face gave nothing away. Smiling sadly at him, she made her way out of the room, and began her journey to her room.

Hiro let out a tense sigh, and relaxed, somewhat. He was perfectly fine, he knew, but his body could use a few hours of sleep. He carefully laid back against the cool metal of the table, and fell into a deep, almost dream-less sleep. Unfortunately, a few hours into his sleep, the nightmare began.

It was a dark place, and green light flashed sporadically at the doctors assembled. Medical instruments were arranged on tables, and a naked body was strapped to a flat table, hovering above a pool of green liquid. Faceless beings came forward, buttons were pressed, long, glinting needles hovered, then sank, metallic bubbles, and the glub-glub of a thick liquid all were drowned out by an ear-piercing scream of pain and desperation. Hiro's eyes shot open, and he clutched the area of his shirt where his heart resides. The organ was pumping abnormally, blood coursing through his veins at an excelerated speed, contrasting with his oxygen flow. Charts began bipping slightly as he strained to calm himself, to remove the nightmare from his consciousness.

Unbidden, a vision came to his mind, calming his breathing, and his heart rate. His eyes slow drifted down, and he fell asleep, to forget about the nightmare that had haunted him his entire known life.

In an entirely different area of the globe, a group of people had gathered, and were discussing what could possibly be a plan to destroy the world. The world of homo sapiens.

"It comes down to this, cousin." A pale blonde said, motioning to the large holographic screen in front of her, waving a perfectly manicured hand, "we absolutely need Hiro Yui. Obviously he won't just walk up to us and demand into our wonderful group," she paused as she took in the grumblers in the background, "So we need something to persuade him to come to us." A deadly smirk shifted across her features before her skin slid smoothly into a different form, with dark gold hair fluttering around her shoulders.

"To get to Hiro Yui, we need Relena Dorlian."

A shadowed figure lazily brought a cigarette to dark lips. Grey smoke circled the air gently, and the mysterious smoker exhaled elegantly with a sigh. Looking past the cigarette to the blonde speaker, the smoker inclined his head. Taking it as a cue to continue, Dorothy smiled greedily. Her time would come, soon enough, where Treize would be the one presenting possible ventures to her. But for now, with Une around, Dorothy would simply play her role to perfection. Her hair lightening back to her original color, Dorothy continued with her scheme, one that had taken nearly days to fully think out. After flying away from Hiro Yui in fear of her life, she had come to the conclusion that he needed to be brought over. To the dark side, if a pun could be used.

"You already have the reports of Relena that I stole. Relena would be ridiculously easy to take, and we should. I think your original plan would be an excellent way to goad Mr. Yui to coming to claim his 'ward'. The fact of the matter is, Hiro is a mutant we need, if not for his enormous strength, the secrets locked in his memories. Those plans could give whoever had them the ultimate edge in the war." The blonde said, enjoying her role as speaker, and finishing elegantly, with a bow in the direction of the shadowed beings.

The being stayed in the shadow, and idly traced a line on his cheek, wondering at his cousin's motives. Certainly it was a decent, even brilliant plan, but what and who would it need? Hiro Yui was a hard man to contain. Next time, he would not be rooming with an accomplice. But the plans to win the war, the chance to end the reign of the pathetically normal humans? This was worth any chance.

"Who do you need, Dorothy?" came his deep voice from the dark shadow. Une frowned in disapproval, but other than that, remained silent. The shape-shifter smirked.

"That depends. Do you want me to take out Zech's school for humanity's dogs?" There was a hush. No one had ever dreamed that they could attack the school itself. It had always repelled everything from alien attacks to police investigation. Some looked uneasy among the group, while other smiled darkly.

"No."

"Then what, cousin? You want me to simply take Miss Relena, and have her brought back her to the fruitation of your original plan? So be it. I need the Colonol. And that is it." The shadowy form nodded, and waved a hand, indicating for Une to follow Dorothy's already leaving form.

And the meeting was concluded.

: :

Morning touched the school, and students began to noisily get ready for a day of fun. It was a free day for the students, and a day of reprieve for the staff, who had to deal with young mutants on a constant basis. People needed to have a break now and then. Most of the students were planning a trip to the nearby city of New York, as it was a gloriously sunny day. The Professor was addressing most of the students in the courtyard, and Relena, who woke later than normal, had no idea what was going on when bunches of students raced past her on the hallways, dragging people and being dragged to the courtyard.

"I want you all on your best behaviour. If I hear of anything untoward happening, you can be sure to expect someone waiting for you here. Staying here is a priviledge." Many of the students knew this, and feared expellsion. Everyone nodded, and as a group, the students swarmed the gates, prepared to walk to the inner city. Milliardo did not provide transportation, and they only lived a few blocks from the city.

Hiro woke to a crowd of people clamoring around Beast to wake up. Pushing his hair out of his face, he stood and stealthily walked away from the heckled doctor, and out into the hallway.

Only to be swamped by a waiting crowd of female students, some of which looked rather resigned, as if they had been dragged to this spot. Hiro's eyes widened, then narrowed as the group descended on him, a blonde named Silvia in the lead. Another girl, the sparrow one, was closely behind Silvia, and more were behind them. Black-haired, blonde-haired, red-heads, all swarmed the poor animalistic mutant, until Duo appeared with a delayed Pouf! and quickly dragged Hiro to his side, before teleporting to the hallway in front of the courtyard.

As Hiro stepped away from the braided mutant, and was about to offer his belated thanks, he came face to face with a laughing Duo, who was busy making a fool of himself by rolling on the floor. Resisting the urge to kick the annoying mutant, Hiro looked beyond the idiot to see the rest of the Mutates, assembled in a variety of street clothes.

Blankly, he saw Relena among the students in the courtyard, wearing jeans and a black tee shirt, looking befuddled. Quatre smiled as he saw the feral's gaze go to the courtyard, knowing full well that Relena was already out there, dragged by a senior boy with a pyro mutation.

"Today's a free day. Students do what the want, as long as there's no trouble." Trowa said quietly, watching Hiro intently. "Want to come with us to New York?" Trowa knew that the chances of Hiro saying 'yes' were either very good, if Relena was going, or very bad, with his recent issues and injuries. So the uni-banged one was slightly surprised when Hiro simply nodded.

The group began to walk out, and most paused to wish the teacher's a good day. Trowa remained respectfully silent, while Wufei simply stalked on, muttering under his breath of the wasting of one's time. The group merged together with the rest of the students, and walked on, Trowa starting a quiet conversation with Quatre, and Wufei starting a shouting match with Duo, who were arguing about one of their lessons. Hiro kept Relena in his sights, but was wary of everyone.

It seemed that his old feelings were going to be hard to dissuade, and Hiro wondered bleakly if he even wanted his old, soldierly training to fade. He could take care of himself now, and any who fell under his protection. If he let himself fade, what would happen? Would he fail her?

Would he fail himself?

The students reached New York none the worse for wear, but some of the girls were already complaining about their strappy sandals that arched their heels uncomfortably. Wufei rolled his eyes at this, and began another debate with Duo, on the subject of women. It became apparent, halfway through, that Wufei was ranting about a particular woman, and from there the debate dropped into an argument, as Duo began trying to piece together just who Wufei was talking about.

Trowa smirked and shook his head, while Quatre plainly smiled. It was blindingly obvious, but Duo was never very good at picking up things like that. Statistics for basketball players, and an ingenious stealth mission, maybe, but not on picking up passion vibes.

And then they were in the bustle of the city. Vendors shouted their wares, hecklers badgered people, and flith crowded the streets. People raced to and fro, children played in the streets and sidewalks, and restaurants shoved hungry people in, and stuffed people out. All the noise, smells and feels reached Hiro at once, nearly making him double over. Welcome to chaos.

From there, students began splitting into groups. A few loners ignored the others and made their way, alone, to the alleys or to restaurants and stores. Many went to the malls and chain stores to stock up on illegal goodies. Candy, girl magazines (for the older teen boys) and soda were all bought readily, along with books, gifts, and school supplies. It was a regular holiday, though many of the passerbys watched suspiciously. And when a cloaked boy (obviously physically mutated) had his cover blown, a telepathic friend had to create an illusion for him.

But all in all, many of the students were enjoying themselves, out in their uniforms without teacher supervision. Hiro stayed with the Mutates, a newly-bought dark blue beanie over his hair, with dark jeans and a black tee shirt, he blended in well. Quatre took some time looking at the flower display, explaining to Hiro that his sister's owned a florist shop, and were expirimenting with buds. Trowa remained near the group, always the silent, comanding prescense of a leader. Wufei bought a brand of particular soda, and paid for it to be kept in the store's freezer until he came back for it, the bulk being cumbersome and unwiedly. Duo dragged everyone into a book store, and wouldn't rest until he'd had the latest mecha manga. Hiro confined himself to buying the hat for himself, and simply watched everyone.

After exiting the book store, a friendly young boy accidentally bumped into Wufei. With a squeeky 'Sorry!' he zipped off, and Duo chased him, screaming about pick-pockets. After coming back, dragging the boy in tow, and finding Wufei's wallet securely in his pocket, he laughed good-heartedly, and gave the kid a fiver. Glaring, but clutching the money, the kid raced off. The group picked on Duo in their own way, until the braided boy was walking with a somber expression on his face, and a wallet in hand.

Of course, it was Wufei's wallet, and the Chinese mutant gave chase, hollering for his hard earned money back. It was his next wage to be sent to his family, and he was afraid Duo would lose it.

The group had arrived at Central Park, and children were there already, along with students, who had packed a lunch, and were cheerily eating. Hiro also noticed, with a pang that he couldn't pin down, that Relena was there, and eating with the pyro mutant.

: :

Relena had been spending the day with Pyro, or John. He was nice, in an oily way, but he wanted too much to show of his powers. Many times, Relena had placed a restraining hand for some slight that a non-mutant had caused him. But he would always smile sincerely, and simply shrug her, and the comment off. Eventually, her stomach had spoken for her, and they had made their way to the park, to grab a quick bite to eat, and a quick conversation with each other. He was flirtatious, he was a bit overly smug, but at least he wasn't a gropist. She smiled, stood, and said she'd be right back, and asked him for his trash.

"I'll go throw it away." She continued, and walked sedately to the trashcan. Behind it, a little girl was wailing at the top of her lungs, as two boys picked on her.

"Hahah! Pig tails are for dorky little girls!" They shouted as they pulled on her hair.

"Stop it, you two!" Relena said, wading into the fight and pulling the two boys away from the girl, who started snuffling instead of her wails. The two boys looked awestruck that someone had stopped them. They began screaming, as toddlers will. Relena looked taken aback, but she sensed that danger was coming. And it was. In the form of two large, irate mothers.

"Just what the hell are you doing to my little boy you tramp?" Cried one, and grabbed her 'snookie umpkins'. The other hastily pulled her boy a safe distance away, and glared sharply at Relena. But Relena had face master's of magnetism, Hiro drunk on mutant powers, and Duo with a gleam in his eye. Two mother's with bully sons didn't scare her. Much.

"Your two boys were picking on a defenseless little girl!" She cried, not noticing the crowd gathering at the disturbance, "You should be teaching them manners, not your language skills!"

The mother gasped. Then her eyes narrowed in fury, and she stepped forward.

"Listen you little hussy! My boy is one of the best in his class, he'd never do anything rotten. You on the other hand, are bothering children involved in harmless play! Where are your parents, that let you walk around and bully others?" She was working herself into a frenzy, and Relena was getting decidedly nervous. And then, her saviour came. Ironically, it was another mother.

"Susie honey? Are you alright?" a motherly woman came back from the ice-cream stand she had been standing at, and looked at the crowd. "Is something wrong here, or do I need to call the police?" she said, her voice turning steely. The crowd drifted away, but the two mothers, and two little brats stayed. Relena, in her defensive position in front of Susie, looked apprehensively at the mother, who simply smiled at her, and cooed to her young daughter, before handing her a mint chocolate ice cream cone.

"Susie, are these your daily playmates?" It was asked with a genial smile, but Susie must have seen something funny, because she giggled as the ice cream went into her nose, and nodded her affirmative.

"Well then. Thank you ladies, for coming over so that I didn't have to waste my time, not my energy going to your house and demanding an apology for the bullying my daughter has gone through at the expense of your little darlings. And you will apologize, or my husband will hear about this." She said, her eyes cold, and her voice cutting. The two froze, and nodded, before pushing their boys over hastily. The two little ones glanced at the ice cream, then rubbed their noses on their sleeves.

"Sorry," they mumbled, then sped away, followed closely by their complaining parents.

The mother sighed, and picked up Susie, who cuddled into her mother. "Thank you, young lady." She said with a kind smile. "I'm sure Mr. Kensington would love to thank you personally for the protection of his daughter, but my husband is over seeing the construction of his new building." Her face grew tired, but it still radiated a warmth. "Say good-bye Susie."

"G'by Susie."

Relena stifled a laugh, and waved goodbye to the two, and turned to see not John, but Hiro behind her. The rest of the Mutates stood a bit away, watching intently.

"What was that?" He asked, watching the two walk away with suspicion in his eyes, but a light Relena had never seen before.

She laughed out loud, and backed away from Hiro. "It was a farewell. Don't you know the word goodbye?" Her laughing tone, and the way she said the word 'goodbye' tripped something in Hiro, but he ignored it. John was gone, walking with another group of friends, and Hiro motioned for Relena to join the Mutates.

TBC

Reviews are welcome! Next chapter will not take so long, and I apologize for the delay! Again, any pairing suggestions? (Though it is kind of set.) And so far, I don't think anyone has guessed Relena's mutation.