Between Love and Hate

Disclaimer: Ugh... I'm getting bored of this... I don't own Gundam Wing thing... blaa blaa blaa...

A/N: Agghhh... it's so late, i should be in bed, but because i have left this chapter on hold for so long (i was on holiday, give me a break) i promised myself that i would update tonight.

To let you guys jump quickly to the story, i will save you all from the reviewer comments, however i have to say that i LOVE you guys, i know you've heard this quite a lot from me, but i honestly do, you guys rock my little fictional world! Over SEVENTY reviews... like whoa... really whoa... I'm speechless! For ONCE!

And without further interruption from the annoying author...

Chapter seven: Small talk and long walks

Relena walked, beside Trowa, through the large picturesque gardens of Quatre's mansion. As she stepped on each new patch of grass, it crunched lightly under her weight, flattening and leaving small footprints on the lawn.

"Do you think that maybe we should be walking on the paths?" Relena asked Trowa. They had been silently walking for ten minutes before she had decided to voice her thoughts and break the silence. Although the silence was rather comfortable, she felt that it had dragged on a little too long.

"Maybe," Trowa answered, "But I don't think that Quatre will mind too much if one of his many gardens isn't completely perfect."

"Hmm, okay,"

Once again, a silence settled and Relena decided to leave it be, as she saw no point in pressing it further, it was apparent to her, that it had just ended.

She glanced around her slowly, enjoying and admiring the beauty of the many foreign and expensive plants that scattered the perimeters. She wondered, briefly, how much money Quatre had spent on developing these large gardens. There had to be approximately thirty gardens with many expensive plants, not to mention the wages of the gardening staff and the cost of the equipment.

"So…" Trowa said, tugging Relena out of her muses with a start.

"So what?" Relena asked him, turning her head to stare up into glittering, emerald eyes. She felt her heart pace increase as she saw the way that he was looking at her, and had to turn away suddenly in order to drown her sudden impulse to kiss him.

'What is up with me? First Heero, now Trowa?' she thought, silently.

"What are you thinking about?" Trowa asked her, not bothered by her actions.

Relena was silent as they walked further away from the mansion, not daring to trust her voice.

"Come on," He said, grabbing her arm, but still walking, "it's only fair…"

"Huh?" Relena, forgetting herself with his confusing words, shot her head up from the ground to stare at him. Her face and eyes showing her bewilderment.

"I told you," Trowa said, grinning slightly. Relena recognised this grin and knew instantly that he had something up his sleeve, "What I was thinking earlier, it's only fair that you tell me what you're thinking now, right?"

"Fine," Relena answered, reluctantly, letting out a heavy sigh, "I was just thinking about how stubborn Heero is."

"Hmph," Trowa snorted, "I thought that you of all people would have known that by now."

"I do, of course I do… it's just that… I thought that he would be over this by now."

"He is," Trowa answered, "He's just not over you."

"Huh?"

"Never mind." Trowa answered quickly, ending the conversation.

"Um…" Relena started, staring up at Trowa's face rather confusedly, "…okay."

The silence, yet again, settled between the two young adults, as they walked towards the dark forest ahead of them.

Once reaching the edge of the forest, Relena stopped in her steps to turn and stare at Trowa, who was staring strangely into the darkness that developed underneath the tall canopies of the trees.

A few stray strands of light, from the setting sun, shone down in small single rays, through the gaps in the leaves, casting peculiar red and orange patterns across the leaf littered floor of the forest.

"Are we going in there?" Relena asked him, hoping that they were not; she didn't like the look of it in there. It was a little too eerie for her liking.

"Why not?" Trowa answered, before turning around to look at her, "Unless, of course, you don't want to."

He had said it somewhat tauntingly, and Relena felt the strong impulsion to say 'yes', even though, she knew, that she really didn't want to. However, he was teasing her, and she felt that throughout the previous events that had occurred recently, she had become weak and timid in his eyes. She had to prove him wrong.

She straightened up, putting on a brave face, and frowned at him.

"Of course I want to. Why would you think that?… I'm not scared or anything." She answered, and without waiting for a reply from him, she sauntered into the darkness of the forest.

She followed the feeble path that had been made out by the feet of many people trampling through the area, and didn't stop until she felt Trowa's strong hands grasp around her upper arm.

She glanced down at the long muscular hand that had her bound in its hold, before staring up at its owner, questioningly.

"Not so fast Relena, we don't know our way around this place. It's best to make out our bearings first." He told her, tightening his grip on her arm, as if he thought that she would run away if he were to let go.

"Yeah okay, just Trowa?" she dropped her voice to a whisper, careful not to disturb the silent nature surrounding them.

"Yeah?" He asked her, also dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Could you let go of my arm, you're hurting me." She told him.

Immediately, Trowa let go of her and pushed her light jacket down, so that he could gain a clear view of her right upper arm.

He stared at the dark purple – almost black – bruise that was forming on her arm, and scowled deeply.

"Matthew?" He asked, angrily.

Relena nodded her head slightly, before dropping her gaze to the floor. The topic of her and her former abusive boyfriend was growing tiresome.

Trowa, getting the hint, dropped the subject and started scanning the area around him. After a while, he spoke up.

"Okay, so that way," He pointed towards an area, that seemed a lot darker than the area they were in now, "Is north. If we go that way, it will be easier to find our way back." He looked down at her enquiringly, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Relena shrugged, "You're the master at this, do whatever you think is best."

Trowa grimaced at her, before putting his hand on her back, and guiding her north. Relena shuddered once again, from the intensity of his touch and the effects that he was having on her. She also shuddered because, as she looked towards where they were heading, she wished she had protested against coming into there in the first place.

They walked 'north' for about fifteen minutes in silence before they entered the darkest part of the forest. It seemed that there were no gaps in the trees at all. The trees were so closely knit that the canopies blocked any light from emerging through the leaves at all. It was dark, very dark, in fact, too dark for Relena to be comfortable. She couldn't even make out her new shoes in the darkness that had swallowed the two of them.

A gentle rustling in nearby bushes startled Relena, as they were walking cautiously through the deep woods, so much that she grabbed Trowa's hand, tightly, most likely cutting off his blood supply, and wrapping her arms around him, snuggled her head into his chest.

Trowa, taken back at her sudden proximity, stared down at her small delicate form; he could just about make her out in the darkness, and his eyesight was perfect, in light and dark, proving how dark that it really was in there.

"Can we leave now?" Relena asked gently, her voice muffled, as she was pressed up against Trowa's hard chest.

Trowa pulled her gently away from him to get a good look at her face. Once he caught her gaze, he smiled as he noticed the faint blush across her cheeks. She obviously wasn't to comfortable with the close proximity either.

"Yes, of course. We didn't have to come in here in the first place. Relena, you don't have to prove yourself to me." He told her, as if he had known exactly what had raced through her mind earlier, "I already know that you are not weak. In fact, I think that you're very brave, you handled the situation with Matthew well." He smiled at her before adding, with a scowl, "But that does not mean that I am happy with you for keeping it from me."

Relena embraced him, no longer feeling as scared as she had been earlier.

"Okay. Let's just leave before we get so far into this place that we get lost." She told him.

"Hmm, you're right. I wouldn't want to be stuck in here with you." He answered swiftly.

It took Relena a few minutes to realise the full meaning behind the message, and once she did, she gazed up at him in shock.

"It was a joke Relena." He told her, reassuringly, yet still laughing slightly.

"Exactly, you, Trowa Barton, just cracked a joke." It was Relena's turn to laugh, as she faintly noticed, the irritated scowl that passed across his handsome face.

They continued to walk through the forest, this time in the opposite direction, in a serene quietness. Relena, feeling a little more secure than earlier and a little giddier, due to Trowa's joke, was able to walk, calmly beside her silent friend.

She stole a quick glance at him as they walked through a lightened area. In the moonlight, she could make out the strong planes of his face, and the one glittering, scintillating emerald eye that was not shaded in darkness by his unique bangs.

She could also make out the breadth of his strong shoulders, the vee where his black polo shirt fell open, revealing olive coloured, flawless skin and slightly revealing his well-defined abs.

Relena felt her face heat up and quickly tore her eyes away from him – which was surprisingly hard – and back to where they were headed. Upon noticing that they were once again, stumbling into complete darkness, she began to panic.

"Uh Trowa?" She started.

"Yes I know," Trowa answered her quickly. His face was one of confusion and puzzlement, as he scanned the area, "I don't understand. This is the same way that we came, why are we entering darkness again?"

Relena never answered for two reasons. One being that she didn't know the answer to his question, and two being that she had figured that he was mainly talking to himself.

"We may as well keep walking this way, I'm nearly one hundred percent sure that this was the way that we came," He told her quietly, "Maybe it's darker because the sun has set. After all, we have been out here quite a long time; the moon is already high in the sky."

"Okay," Relena answered worriedly, "If you're sure."

They continued walking in the pitch black darkness for a short time before another rustling in the bushes startled Relena. The rustling had been so close, and as she couldn't see what it was, she jumped, straight into Trowa, and they both staggered back a few steps.

"Sorry," She told him, in a rushed whisper.

"It's okay," He threw an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to him.

Although slightly anxious about their closeness, Relena was comforted by this single action, but as they walked further along, she could still here the faint rustling, which seemed to follow their every move. But she ignored it, passing it in her mind as being her paranoia.

After a while, she tugged Trowa sharply to a halt. The rustling followed on for a few seconds before too, coming to a stop. Trowa glanced down at her swiftly, having also noticed the strange noise following them through their trail.

He pushed Relena on, his arm firmly gripped around her, as if the tighter he held her, the more secure she would feel. He was even more alert now, than he was a few minutes before, as he had now realised that he wasn't the only one hearing the noise.

He stopped again after a few more paces, and upon hearing the rustling still going, he peered deeply, into the area that the sounds were coming from, silently cursing the darkness for rendering his perfect vision useless.

This time, however the rustling never stopped.

It continued.

Nearing the pair, faster and faster. Trowa glanced around him furiously, making a plan in his head.

He quickly shoved Relena to the forest floor, hoping that he wouldn't injure her in the process, before ducking and diving forward towards the sounds.

Relena gasped in shock, as she felt his strong arms force her to the ground, she stumbled a few steps forward, before colliding head first into the floor. The decomposing leaf litter beneath her luckily cushioned her fall, but she had unfortunately collapsed on her arm, pressuring all of her weight upon it. She heard a loud snap, and realised that she had mostly likely fractured a few bones in her arm, and lay still, tensing up with the throbbing pain that was now coursing rapidly up her arm.

She heard a loud grunt come from someone beside her, she recognised the voice to be Trowa's, and suddenly felt adrenaline rush through her body, enabling her to push herself from the ground and up onto her knees.

A thud from behind her made her spin around, and she heard a cry of pain clash with the sound of two very solid objects colliding with each other.

Relena hoped to god that neither of the two objects had been Trowa.

As she stood, her eyes gradually became focused with the darkness. She made out the form of a body, lying, extremely still on the ground.

She crouched down, and to her horror, found that it was, indeed, Trowa who was lying on the ground. She gasped as she noticed the very alarming wound on his head, and the crimson red blood, pouring, non-stop, from the gash.

Her heart seized up in fear, as her eyes widened and her hands immediately darted to hold his face.

"Trowa?" She asked, frantically, "Trowa…" she called again, trying to wake him from his unconsciousness.

"No… no, no, no, no, no…" She repeatedly whispered, still holding Trowa's face in her hands.

She faintly noticed the warm tears that trickled their way down her face and a quiet sob escaped her mouth. Her hands started shaking furiously as she lent in closer to Trowa, his dark -silvery in the moonlight -blood staining her pale hands.

"Trowa please… please… no…" She pleaded in a terrified whisper as she shook him, "Don't be dead," She shook him harder, and harder, until her brain had realised that he wasn't going to wake anytime soon.

She sunk back onto the ground, staring silently, at Trowa's motionless limp body.

She started having a hard time breathing, as the shock settled in.

Never in her life, had she seen so much blood, and she had seen a lot of serious injuries. She started hyperventilating as she sat staring at the man, who was just two minutes ago, holding her tightly to his body.

She reached out, touching his face and noted that it was cold. Running her hand down to his pulse, she wondered why she hadn't checked it sooner, and upon finding a slight, yet very unsteady, beat, she sighed in some form of relief.

He wasn't dead. But he soon would be if she didn't get him out of there.

Feeling very hollow, Relena pulled his heavy body closer to her, before once again, hearing that unnerving rustling from the bushes.

She looked up, to see the dark form of a burly man, hovering over her.

Upon noticing that he was holding an object in his hand, her eyes fastened on it. Noting the fact that the object was glistening in one small patch of moonlight, Relena jumped to her feet.

And screamed.


'I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.' -- James Baldwin

Thank you for reading, and i apologize for the wait, however this chapter is slightly longer than the rest and i hope that this chapter, overall, makes up for the wait.

And yes, it's a cliffie, and i am SERIOUSLY sorry for that... please don't hate me!

And if you can find it in your pure beautiful hearts to forgive me for that, please tell me in a review!

Love ya'll

Allura

(p.s. glad you like the quotes... it takes AGES to find half decent ones!)