Between Love and Hate
Disclaimer: Yeah, you know it already, nothing has changed, so i still do not own Gundam Wing.
A/N - I am so sorry guys, can't do any personal shout outs to my amazing reviewers, cause i'm going to Salou in a few hours and must pack my bags lol. Yeah, so i'm sorry this won't be updated for more than a week.
But yeah thank you SO MUCH for reviewing, you guys rock... and i have more than FIFTY reviews... i'm astonished, i truly didn't think you gus would enjoy this, but you do... and i'm so happy... HAPPY, happy, happy...
As for my holiday, i am taking a notebook with me and therefore making notes and plans for the next few chapters, so don;t worry, it shouldn't hold me back too much.
Love you guys soooooooooooooooooo much... enjoy!
Chapter six: Unconcealed wounds
Relena woke up, still exhausted from the tiring day that she had strained through yesterday. Although, it was a great relief for her not to wake up in her own house, in fear of what was to come.
Yesterday, as promised, Quatre had showed the group around the mansion; it had been a wearing tour, for the mansion was larger than it had seemed which was saying a lot. It had really been quite an uneventful time, apart from meeting the rest of the group and seeing their reactions to Heero's new girlfriend, not much else had happened.
When meeting Nikki, everyone had been shocked, stunned, and perplexed. Asking them if their eyes were deceiving them, but they had taken to her quite easily. Duo had at first, muttered something under his breath about Heero, and seemed to stay clear out of the way of Nikki. However, he soon took to her quickly enough when she had found his many humorous jokes highly amusing.
Even Relena, who was most likely, the most reluctant to talk to her, found that she couldn't help herself liking her just a tiny bit. Although, she would never admit that to anyone, why she wouldn't she didn't know, but she was pretty sure that it had something to do with the mixed emotions her body brewed when around Heero.
'I really need to sort myself out,' she thought, climbing gradually out of bed. She glanced towards the curtains and noticed that they were drawn.
'I don't remember closing the curtains… or the window for that matter…' she stared at it for a few seconds longer before brushing it off as being her overactive imagination.
Relena started, and jumped quickly out of her bed as soon as she had heard the heavy knocking of knuckles, hammering against the elegant oak door.
"Umm… who is it?" She asked, curiously, draping her dressing gown across her shoulders, before stumbling, still sleepily, to the door.
"It's me, Trowa, are you ready for your breakfast," his voice was soft and calm as Relena opened the door to stare at him from the two small gaps between her eyelids that she had eventually managed to pry open. The brightness of the house was truly astonishing; there must have been half a dozen windows in her room, and it had blinded her as she had woken, even though the curtains had been drawn.
"Yeah… sure, I'm ready," she told him drowsily. Trowa chuckled at her and her eyes snapped open to glare at him in wonderment.
"Do you know what you're wearing?" He asked her, "I doubt that there's much on under that dressing gown of yours, do you really think that it is wise to walk around this place like that?"
Relena glanced down at herself, and sighed inwardly, he was right, as always. Suddenly, she noticed the tray that Trowa was holding in his steady hands.
Trowa, noticing the direction of her confused gaze, also looked to the tray.
"Your breakfast…my lady." He told her, bowing down to her slightly without losing his grasp on the tray.
Relena gasped and taking a step back into her room, she let Trowa inside. He acknowledged her actions with a polite smile – well as much of a smile as you could get from Trowa – and walked in, setting the tray down on her dresser.
"Trowa, you didn't have to… bring it up here," she told him, biting her lip.
"Well, I tried knocking on your door earlier, when breakfast was being served, but you were out cold, and I figured you would be hungry. So I asked the chefs if I could have a tray to bring this up to you."
"Thanks Trowa, that was very… kind of you," she felt like she was stumbling upon her words. Why couldn't she speak…? It was only Trowa.
Trowa's lips curved slightly into a smile as he set himself down upon her unmade bed.
Relena made herself over to the tray and lifted a piece of the toast, taking a bite out of it.
"Good?" Trowa asked upon seeing the delighted expression on her face.
"Mmm hmm… Quatre sure is getting his moneys worth with those chefs." A silence settled amongst the young pair as Relena finished off her remaining breakfast.
Once finished she walked over to her bed, and settled down beside Trowa, laying on her back and staring at the ceiling.
"What are you thinking about?" Relena asked him after a short period.
"Hn," Trowa answered, "Why do you want to know?"
"I don't know, you look… thoughtful I guess,"
"…" Relena was met by silence.
"I was just thinking," He answered after a while, "about how I could have prevented you from getting hurt,"
"Trowa-" Relena started. She glanced at him, to find him staring intently back at her, a mixed look of some anger and remorse, obvious upon his handsome features. It always surprised her when Trowa would do this to her, show her his feelings. She knew that he would never do it for anyone else, and she wondered, secretly, whether he knew that he was doing it, "You know that this was not your fault, it was mine mainly, I mean, I was the one who was stupid enough to stay with him that whole time. While thinking, 'he'll change; he's just going through a hard time'. I was so foolish."
"I was your bodyguard Relena, I, of all people, should have done something about it. Maybe I should have pushed you a little further to get the truth. I just kept thinking that you would come to me in your own time." Trowa frowned slightly, and averted his gaze away from her, staring pensively at the far wall.
"Trowa-" Relena started, but cut off, not knowing what she was going to say.
Trowa turned around to stare at her, and her eyes darted quickly from the ceiling to meet his. She held his gaze for a few minutes until Trowa suddenly moved forward on the bed, balancing his weight upon his right hand and leaning over, his left hand, hovering slightly above her cheek.
Relena gasped and held her breath, glaring up at Trowa's face that was merely centimetres above hers.
He gazed at her, but she noticed, faintly, that his eyes were directed, not on her eyes but on her cheekbone. Relena frowned confusedly. 'What is going on?' she asked herself.
"What is that?" Trowa asked, his tone rising slightly in sudden anger.
Relena released the breath she had been holding and nearly jumped up, but realised that she couldn't as Trowa was hovering on top of her, staring down at her cheek with such intensity. She clasped a hand over the area of her face that he was staring at, self-consciously, and slid herself from underneath him, climbing off the bed and scurrying over to the mirror situated on her dressing table.
As she glared at her reflection, she realised that she was wearing no make up. This, she realised, was a very bad thing. There was a dark blue bruise forming on her left cheek, where Matthew had kindly decided to take out his frustration on her with his powerful right fist.
Trowa walked up to her, standing behind her and stared at the bruise from over her shoulder. Relena turned away from his annoyed gaze in the mirror, only to face Trowa himself, 'that was smart'.
Relena had never seen Trowa like this before.
Ever.
His cool, calm and collected exterior had dissipated into one of anger and annoyance and his eyes glistened fiercely with an infuriated fire that she had never seen before.
She couldn't quite put her finger on just what was driving him so… well unlike Trowa. It was mystifying.
She didn't really believe that Matthew and his doings were pushing him to this limit. There had to be more to it. 'But what?'
"That must have been a hard hit." Trowa glared at her, "How could you hide this from me?" He growled, "How could I have been so oblivious?"
The last part, Relena figured, must have been directed towards himself, but all the same, she found herself grimacing in self-hatred. It was she that had caused this, Trowa now found that he was untrustworthy, unworthy of being her bodyguard and her friend. In addition, it was all her fault, for she had hid it from him for so long.
"Trowa, forget it," Relena snapped, taking her anger, which her self-hatred was powering, out on him.
"No, Relena I can't, I wish I could, but I can't." He sighed and walked away from her, towards the opposite side of the room, "Contrary to your belief, I do care about you. I don't see you as 'just my job', you're my friend, and I do care."
Relena watched him, pacing up and down the room; it must have been his way off releasing his anger. She sat down on the bed, hoping that he would calm down soon, and thought about what he was saying, 'what did he mean by 'I care' of course he cares, he's not Heero,' but for some reason she felt that there was something more to those two simplistic words, something deeper.
Trowa finally stopped pacing, and placed himself down on the bed beside Relena.
"We can get him for this you know. Together, all we need is your statement and some proof."
"No," Relena answered, "we won't do anything. You don't want to mess with him Trowa."
"Relena! We cannot let him get away with this."
"Trowa, we're not doing anything okay? We'll just leave it for now."
Trowa stared at her, and with reluctance, dropped the subject.
"I think that for today, we're all just relaxing here in the mansion and getting accustomed and settled down. Is that okay with you? I mean there's a beach only half a mile away-"
"Trowa," Relena silenced him, she had never known Trowa to be one to ramble. What was up with him? "It's okay, I'm fine with that, but maybe this evening, we could go for a walk somewhere?"
"Yes okay."
They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Relena realised she was still sitting in only her dressing gown and underwear.
"Uhh… Trowa?"
"Yes?"
"Would you mind leaving so that I can get changed?" Trowa turned around to face her, a small smirk crawling across his face, before nodding and leaving the room.
Relena glared at the door, trying to analyse her own thoughts and Trowa's abnormal actions.
Sighing, she walked over to her closet and pulled out a casual outfit, after changing, and applying a small amount of make-up – mostly to cover her bruises – she left the room in search of her friends.
Relena found her way, through the strange house, to the main living area, were all the pilots and her friends were lounging peacefully.
"Lena, you're up early!" Duo cried as she stepped through the large heavy oak doors, winking and grinning at her, he helped himself to what looked like chocolate on toast.
Relena grimaced at the toast and after noticing this Duo glared at her.
"What? It's nice, you should try it… some stuff called 'Nutella'," He laughed gently and after finishing his last bite, licked his fingers clean.
"Actually Duo, usually I never sleep in till this time. It's atrocious. I wish one of you had have woken me." Relena told the braided man.
"I tried to," Trowa said entering the room with that mysterious new smirk of his.
"Hmph. Well you could have tried harder then." She replied, huffing slightly, and placing herself on the sofa where Trowa was currently resting.
"Morning Lena," Hilde greeted as she bounced into the room – literally - and threw herself into her husband's lap - again literally – laying a big kiss onto his lips. Duo grinned manically and winked at her, before licking his lips.
Relena sighed, 'Them two are so cute together and look how much they love each other.'
Duo pulled Hilde further towards him.
"Duo, did you know that you have a little bit of chocolate on your lips?" Hilde told him and then, grinning mischievously, added, "Let me help you clean it off," she leant in, and licked Duo's lips tenderly. Duo, who was shocked at her sudden action, relaxed and then pulled her into a long passionate engrossing kiss. Hilde's hands wrapped around his neck hastily whilst Duo's tangled themselves in Hilde's short dark blue locks.
Relena blushed and then diverted her eyes away from the fervent couple.
"Eww guys, get a room," Quatre told them, scowling humorously, as he entered the room, an irritated Dorothy following close behind.
As everyone settled into the room, Heero walked through the door, his Spanish girlfriend giggling and holding onto him tightly. Heero smiled at them, and placed himself on a sofa opposite Relena, Nikki settling down very close to him.
Relena glared unknowingly, and Quatre, sensing the growing tension, cleared his throat.
"Okay, did everybody have a good sleep?" He asked, everyone nodded, "Great, today we don't really have an itinerary, so you may all do as you please and just relax around the house. However, for this week, we have a packed schedule, I will tell you more about it tomorrow, but I can say that we are taking a trip down to the beach, which I daresay will be great fun. But for now, you are free to do as you wish." After noticing the devilish glint in Duo's eyes, he added, "Just please… don't trash the house."
Relena chanced a quick glance at Heero, only to find that his eyes were directed towards her.
Once catching her gaze, Heero's eyes hardened, becoming stony and dead. He got up, and interlinked his hand with his girlfriend's, pulling her closely into him, and kissing her forehead.
Relena glared, coldly, at him until he had left the room. 'To do god knows what with his stupid Spanish sweetheart'. She faintly wondered what they would actually do to amuse themselves for the day. But once stumbling upon unwanted, repelling thoughts and images of them… in bed… she grimaced, and pushed the thoughts out of her head, looking to Trowa who was still sitting beside her.
"Actually Trowa, can I take you up on that offer to go for a walk now?" She asked. Trowa smiled gently at her before standing up and pulling her kindly to her feet.
"Of course, let's go." Trowa slipped his hand down to the small of her back and pushed her slightly, towards the door.
Relena shivered as an intense spark made its way through her body, flowing rapidly through her veins and warming her body. 'How could I have gotten that feeling from a simple touch from Trowa?' She asked herself as Trowa guided her towards the large oak double doors.
'Hatred comes from the heart; contempt from the head; and neither feeling is quite within our control.' Arthur Schoperhauer (what a mouthful)
Thank you for reading my beautifulicious peoples... and please do review!
Love ya'll
Allura
