Passions

By. Uplifted.

Chapter Nine

Tingling nerves were on fire, every last inch of his body was interupted in it's pattern of life to be enveloped in the scream of pain that was torn from his mouth. Shaking hands were pressed sharply to matted hair and sweaty skin, as dark blue eyes widened in recognition and horror, until they dilated to a dead black. Inwardly shaking, Hiro braced a hand against the wall, clutching his shread of humanity to himself. His heart began a dance of potential death, beating irratically, and forcing the mutant to stop. The other's in the group, especially Relena, looked to him with surprise and fear, but that was probably because they saw his spikey hair begin to rise, and a cold aura develop around his body. His mouth began to stretch, fangs elongating, claws snapping from their fleshy prisons.

"Damn..it!" Was all the group heard, before an animalistic growl forced itself out of Hiro's throat. He staggered forward, and a crowd began to from around the group.

"This can't be happening now!" cried Relena, who hurried forward to craddle Hiro's splitting head in her arms. The group had been walking around the New York area, when the had passed the pet store, and Duo had off-handedly spoken about animal cruelty. Then, Hiro had simply screamed. Everyone was surprised that Hiro was such a devout animal activist, but it seemed that his pain was another reason for the yell.

"Perfect, Mutates. I come looking, and here you are." Came an icy voice above them. Idiotically, every person gathered there looked up, instead of around, for the infamous Mutates. Therefore, they didn't see Trowa, Quatre, Duo and Wufei strip their streetclothes off, to reveal their costumes beneath. Wufei, who hadn't bothered wearing his uniform, simply froze himself, and ripped away his shirt. The sound of ripping cloth brought the attention of the crowd, and the enemy, back to the small group of fighters, who had circled around Relena, who was calmly tending to Hiro, and said mutant.

"I've come to collect. You owe us many a team-mate for our cause. You've disrupted how many retrievals?" Une said in a mocking voice, easily floating forty feet above the heads of the average person. Her costume was covered with a long cloak, that whipped and drapped around her to the wind's dictation.

"What do you mean, Miss Une?" Called Quatre, ever the polite one. His scowl, however, never left his face. Hiro's voice ripped through the area with a high-pitched keen, and his muscles began to bunch. Une watched, a bit warily, before lifting her arm, and easily firing a psionic pulse at the annoyingly loud mutant. It hit his cerebellum, and instantly knocked him into unconsciousness, away from the staggering amount of pain being inflicted on his body. Relena shifted herself so that she was covering Hiro, and glared at Une. Trowa fired off rapid pulses, Quatre began charging large balls of energy, and Wufei incased Relena and Hiro in an ice dome, before adding as he sealed it, 'watch how much you breathe.'

Students from the university had gathered, many anonymously watching the battle. Most of the students were shocked, and in shock, at the obvious-ness of just who the mutates were. Shinigami, with his long tail, was already swinging up the buildings, 'Poof'ing up behind Une, and pummeling her. Hilde watched with narrowed eyes. So Duo was lying to her the entire time, not telling her anything, treating her like a child! A large fire-cracker rose from the crowds and hit Une's telepathic shield, causing crackles of energy to flit across the sphere of mental power.

"Damn you, Shinigami!" Une cried, as she twisted about in mid-air, trying to find her opponent. Her back ached from the multiple hits, and she tried fruitlessly to catch at something on the other mutant. While Duo's hits annoyed her, Trowa's beams steadily ate at her shield, trying to find a way through.

"What are you doing here!" Called Quatre, throwing the first of three energy spheres at the shield. Instead of bursting at the impact, the energy collided, and resisted, morphing around the shield and eating away at the mental telepathy. Une's horrified gaze swept over the cannibalist energy, fighting the energy of her enemies with deadly force, until her power built to such a degree that is exploded outwards, catching an unwary Duo just as he 'Poof'ed into thin air. With a harsh yell, he was sent sprialling to the ground below, where a short-haired girl ran to bring him to safety. With a triumphant yell, Une turned around after watching Shinigami hit the ground, to find Trowa calmly watching him with a tight-lipped look. Her gleeful cry faded in her throat as she was hit with the power of the sun, through Cyclop's optic beams.

She let out a pained scream, flying high into the air, aware that Quatre had fired another energy beam, and that it was following her every move. Suddenly, she dove straight down. Quatre, already realising what she would be doing, ran straight for the ice-dome that protected Relena and Hiro. Wufei was already there, his slanted eyes brimming with a cool fire, facing a falling Une.

"You Mutates don't realize Treize's dream shall be a reality, with you, or without!" she cried, and swung upwards sharply. The energy ball that had been following her crashed right into the ice dome, enveloping it in a shield or iridescent yellow. Or, it would have, if Quatre hadn't absorbed it back into his gauntlets as it went past him. His face shone with perspiration, and Wufei watched warily.

"Quatre. You are strong, and the weak perish before the mighty. This woman is challenging us. You owe it to your friends and yourself to do your best." And away Iceman went, sliding on a beam of ice right up to Une, where he began firing shot of deadly icicles at the caped woman.

"Yeah." Quatre whispered, glancing at his energy gaunlets, then to Cyclops, who gave him an encouraging nod.

"Hiro, I don't think you should wake up. There's not enough oxygen in here for the two of us if you're in such pain." Relena was whispering softly to Hiro, trying to abate her fears for the two of them. What would come from this battle? She was tired of being some inanimate prize to be fought for, at least according to that dreary school professor. Relena heard a conversation close by shortly after that, but had resigned herself to being locked in a cold prison for a while.

Light lanced through the ice, and small cracks formed as a hand collapsed one part of the ice shield, a calloused hand reaching in to grab one of Relena's. She gasped, relieved to feel fresh air, but the look on Trowa's face frightened her.

"What's going on?"

"Leave him," he said shortly, glancing at Hiro with unmasked amusement, "we need you." Relena hesitated, frowning at the look she had seen Trowa give Hiro. The two supposedly had nothing up respect for the other. What would have changed that to Trowa laughing at him?

"No, Trowa." She said softly, "I have to stay with him. Besides, I'm not useful for much."

"You're useful to me." Trowa said softly, before reaching in, and hauling her out physically.

"Trowa! Trowa, stop it. Let me go!" She said, fighting the Mutate's leader with all the force she possessed. Trowa was unmoved, walking casually away from the fighting, and the crowds, until he had walked into an alley.

"Your noise is most unbecoming, Relena. Now, be quiet." He spoke, before tightening his grip on her wrist painfully. What was he, a robot? But Relena was hauled into a building without further ado, and saw nothing of the fight that was ravaging New York.

Wufei, who had caught the psyionic mutant with an ice dagger twice, was being cautious now. Something had changed about the evil mutant, and Iceman had no clue what it meant for the team. Abrubtly pulled from his thoughts, he was flung into a nearby sky scraper by a whirlpool of psy force. Forcing his head to the side, so it wouldn't be crushed, he saw the other Mutates in similar prediciments. And, he saw, that his ice-sphere that had protected the two who wouldn't be able to fight, was broken, crumbling, and leaving Hiro open. Forcing a wall of ice between himself and his opponent, Wufie staggered away from Une, falling down an ice-chute to kneel in front of the unconscience feral mutant. His eyelids were fluttering, and he needed medical treatment if his pain was an indicater of trauma. Quatre, sensing Hiro's muddled feelings, and Wufei's weariness, threw a casual energy sphere at them, enveloping both of them with light green. Slowly, the energy suffused through their beings, until Wufei was as pumped as when the fight began, and Hiro as healthy he was going to get, without a doctor.

"Wait." Wufei said suddenly, looking through the ice shards and wreckage of his protective shield, "Where's the girl?"

At that, Hiro's eyes snapped open. His nose was pressed back into his skull, and his eyes were flattening, darkening. His face was changing, shifting into something animalistic and violent, and Wufei, who was not a weakling, suddenly found himself wanting to back away from this mutant.

Gutteral growls and snaps came from Hiro's throat, and he turned his chilling gaze to Une, who was steadily beating back Trowa. And then, he leapt into action, his claws outstretched, a sadistic grin of bloodshedding glee stretched onto his face.

Quatre cried out then, a yell of pain and fright, as his friend's thoughts entered his brain, and tried to override them. There was nothing even vaguely 'Hiro' in those thoughts. It was a completely different entity.

Trowa suddenly found himself face-to-face with a crazy mutant, who had begun to savagely attack Une.

"Hiro!" Trowa called, before swearing under his breath. Duo was down, probably getting a tongue lashing from Hilde, Quatre was going into emotional-overload, and Wufei looked like the last thing in the world he wanted to do was cross a dangerous savage mutant. Trowa strode forward, eyes furrowing as he saw Hiro slash into Une's cape, removing some skin with his claws. She shrieked, and flew out of Hiro's reach. Trowa tackled Hiro from behind, and held on furiously, even as Une flew away.

"Seer!" He bellowed, almost saying Quatre's name out loud. Even though most of the students probably already knew who they were, it would not help matters to have the entire city of New York know the young mutant's name. "Get a handle on this!" He struggled against Hiro, and even as he did, he felt new muscles growing beneath the ripped clothing Hiro wore. "What the…?" He said out loud, and squeezed tighter against the mad-mutant.

Quatre hurried over, clutching a hand to his head, and quickly dove into Hiro's consciousness, finding the wall that had been breached, and quickly building it up with a mental shield. As he built the foundation, brick by brick, so did Hiro's conscience return to him. His face morphed back into it's original shape, and his claws faded back into his bloody hands, and he grew lax in Trowa's hold.

"Good Lord." Whispered Trowa, slowly dropping Hiro to the gravel ground. Rubble and smoke dotted the scenery, and a few pockets of flames were disturbing what looked like a war-zone.

"Just what we need," sighed Quatre, "more negative publicity." He motioned for the students who were still visible to high-tail themselves back to the mansion, and then turned to the remaining Mutates.

"The girl is gone. It drove him over the edge." Wufei suddenly said, and Trowa nodded.

"If this is true, then we need her now, more then ever."

"Even if she's homo sapian? She's not a mutant." Quatre said, shocking them all. Hiro, most of all.

'…Protect her, I didn't protet her, it's my fault, she's gone, protect her…'

TBC

Even though Hiro wasn't conscience for most of this chapter, I still hope you'll tell me how it's been, after so long. I sincerely apologize for all mistakes, and the delay.

-With Love,
Lif