"The Running Woman"
by: the archduke
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and this is a totally not-for-profit endeavor. And this also has nothing to do with the movie "The Running Man" other than I like the movie.
Chapter 3:
A jog was exactly what Relena needed that morning. The rhythmic pounding of her feet hitting the ground drowned out all of her thoughts, allowing her to concentrate on the present, which consisted of only her and the woods. There was no ESUN, no responsibilities to mankind, and definitely no Gundam pilots all vying for prime real estate in her mind.
As she passed a bend in the trail, the estate's pond came into view, reminding her that her t-shirt was soaked with sweat and sticking uncomfortably to her skin. Slowing to a walk, she gazed out at the pond. The blue water seemed to sing to her: "Come Relena, cool yourself in my crystal waters."
Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Relena paused a moment, and upon not hearing anything else decided that her sanity had failed for only a minute and that hearing the pond beckoning her constituted a good enough reason to take a break from her jog. She whipped off her shirt and knew that after a few splashes of water to her face she would be ready to continue.
Before she had taken even two steps a noise similar to a grunt had her turning around in time to see a person land on the ground underneath a good-sized tree. Not a second passed until realization struck and she made her way towards the unmoving form of Heero Yuy.
"What are you doing here Heero?" she said as a greeting.
She watched as Heero lifted his face from the ground and towards the sound of her voice. She saw him give a slight flinch as he met her eyes briefly, and her annoyance at his presence melted at the idea that he might be injured.
"Heero, are you alright?" she said in a much softer voice. When she made a move to touch his shoulder Heero seemingly came back to himself and stood up in a blink of an eye, arms crossed over his chest and his glare telling her that her assistance was unnecessary.
"I am fine. I landed on my head."
Knowing that her confusion clearly showed on her face, Relena made no effort to try to hide it in her voice. "Well, glad to hear it. Does that mean you were in this tree? What were you doing in the tree?"
"Preventer's business. Classified," he vaguely answered.
"Heero, I have the highest security clearance available. Considering that you were in my tree, on my property, I think I have the right to know what is going on." She hated to pull rank on anybody (well, maybe she hated it a little less when it was Mr. Perfect Soldier Heero Yuy) but the fact that Heero kept shifting his gaze away from her made her think that she was not going to like whatever answer he came up with.
Heero pointed up into the branches of the tree. "Camera was malfunctioning. It is now online."
That was a perfectly reasonable explanation. How strange.
"Once again, good to hear. It's heartening to know that the higher ups in the Preventer organization take the time to – Heero what is the matter? What are you looking at?"
Heero's constant eye movements made her think that ninja's were about to jump out of the surrounding foliage and the whole broken camera story was just a ruse so she wouldn't worry about her home coming under siege. With her life it wouldn't be surprising.
"Nothing is the matter." Upon seeing that his this did not pacify her, Heero cleared his throat and tried again.
"You are," he paused, and with his gaze focused on some point over her shoulder said, "inappropriately attired."
Not understanding, Relena attempted to decode his cryptic remarks.
"I was jogging. What do you wear when you work out?" She could tell by his halfway unbuttoned Preventers uniform shirt that he worked out. The visible skin was smooth and firm, and she imagined that it would taste salty from sweat and feel-
"Usually, a shirt," was his response and it jarred her from her mini-fantasy. She looked down at herself and then back up at Heero.
He was still not looking at her, and the redness of this face, which she had before attributed to the heat, upon closer inspection was actually a blush. She fought down a grin. This was too good an opportunity to pass up.
"Well Heero," she said as she moved a step closer to him, and in turn he moved a step back with a slightly panicked expression briefly crossing his face before his usually blank expression settled back into place. "I never before thought you such a prude."
Relena drew out the word prude and exaggerated the natural pout the word formed on her lips, and was quite happy to see Heero's Adam's apple bob as he gulped. Now she let her grin show.
A/N: I had to add a mention of ninja's to this story. I like ninja's.
Heero landed on his head a lot in the series. My thinking is that tries to land on his head to break his falls.