Chapter 7: Like a Drug

Jade loudly exhaled in the cockpit of the Winged Angel. The Winged Angel was a big spaceship/cruiser the Preventors had sent, that the gang was taking to the L2 colony cluster.

There they planed on setting up a base of operations. They could then begin the work of figuring out what the scientist's were up to. But, Jade didn't care about any of this now.

At the moment Jade had a splitting head-ache, and her arm had been throbbing since the wound had re-opened the day before.

She closed her eyes blocking out the blinding light, and hoped desperately that the chip would turn on soon, just so the pain would stop. This is what she desperately hated about the chip. It drove you crazy when it was on, but slowly it seemed to become worse when it was off. It was like a drug. Jade hadn't dealt with the chip being off that often when she was still with J. He would only turn it off to remind her of the good it did her when it was on, how she still needed him.

She shuddered remembering the first few months after she had left J. First had come the head-aches, then the violent shaking, and finally her near brush with death. But she had survived, and after lying in a hospital bed for weeks, and dealing with the grief of having no one, she had begun to make a life for herself.

Jade gulped back tears as the pain in her head continued. It was hard to believe that the pain had increased this much in one day. At this time yesterday the dull throb had been easily thrown from her mind when she had been messing around with Duo. But no, today was bad, which was why Jade was sitting alone in the cockpit with her brother, whom she knew wouldn't bother her.

A sigh of relief escaped from Jade's lips as she felt the chip switch back on. She had never been happier. "What's wrong with you?" she heard her brother ask her.

"Nothing," Jade answered him with a cocky smile. She had never told anyone about the "withdrawals", that was between her and J, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"If you say so," he shrugged. Another thing about her brother she liked, he would drop the topic and leave it alone. It was nice to have him around again. "I am glad to see you though," he continued, referring to her first showing up.

"Maybe, but you sure have a funny way of showing it. You know, yelling at me and all."

"You know it was nothing personal."

Jade shook her head, "Of course it was personal. I remember you telling me how I was stupid, had always been stupid, and would always be stupid."

"I didn't mean any of it. I was just scared you would be found. I don't think I could lose you three times."

"I'm sure," Jade said showing indifference. She got up and walked to the door.

"So you don't believe me then?"

Jade turned back to face him, "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't care. It doesn't keep me up at night." With that she turned and walked out of the door into the hallway.

She shuddered, trying to wipe off all of the sentimentality. She would have much rather her brother be the heartless soldier, that Sally had described for her the night before, than the over-protective older brother he was in there. It just didn't seem natural of him. As a family Jade and Heero had never been sentimental towards each other. Hell, she had punched him before when he got her mad! Even when they were kids Heero had been pretty much indifferent to her feelings. The only thing that had held the two together had been the strong bond that two siblings had.

Jade continued walking down the hallway. She was heading down to the mini-gym. Along the way she passed Duo, and flashed him a quick smile when he waved to her.

Walking into the mini-gym, Jade realized that she wasn't the only one who had taken this time to exercise. Wufei was also present.

"Good Afternoon," she greeted him. All she got in return was a pissed glare.

Jade didn't worry about it though, she wasn't about to let some stupid man ruin her day. So, she jumped on a treadmill and began to run. Running was mindless and one of her favorite activities.

However, after about 5 minutes Jade had become bored and her mind began to wander. She started watching Wufei and she worked out with the hanging body bag. He had skills, that was evident, but something just didn't seem right. There was a weakness staring her strait in the face, if she could only figure it out.

After watching him for a few moments more, it dawned of her. He was over-exerting himself on every move. Most people wouldn't be able to stand this repetitively(which said something for him), and although he was withstanding it, she could see from the look in his eyed that it would hurt him later, even if he wouldn't tell anyone.

Jade watched him a few more minutes, and finally found it impossible to keep her mouth shut. "You're going to hurt later if you don't stop over-exerting yourself like that."

"Who asked you?" Wufei sneered at her continuing on with his work out.

"No one," Jade shrugged still running, "I just though you might like some advice."

"Why would I want advice from some stupid little girl?"

"I'm hardly a 'little' girl, or maybe you just hadn't noticed." Jade watched as his eyes flicked to her chest, and then he turned away blushing furiously. "That's what I thought," Jade laughed.

This last comment seemed to add insult to injury for Wufei, because he stopped what he was doing and stormed over to Jade's treadmill to confront her. "Look I only just met you, and I'm sick of you already. I'm tired of seeing your face, and I am fed up with everyone talking about how strong you are. As if you would ever be able to deal with what we went through in the war. You nailed out, and in my eyes that makes you a weak little girl. So why don't you just go play with some dolls or something."

Jade laughed and never stopped running. "Normally, I would get upset over what you just said, but I understand that you're upset because you know I could kick your ass, so just this once I'll let it go."

"Don't, because I meant everything I said."

"You don't want to fight me."

"And what if I do?" he challenged.

Jade stopped the treadmill, got off, and went to stand in front of him. "Then make your move."

They both stood there staring at each other, in a standoff, for a few seconds. Then Wufei lifted his right arm and punched her across the left side of her face. Jade had to control herself so she wouldn't laugh. The hit didn't even sting. The chip was on, not that he knew it.

Jade swung back at him, and soon they were in a hand to hand fight. Punching, kicking, tripping, jumping, everything went.

Neither of the two could seem to get the upper hand, although Jade did see him wince at a few of her punches. Wufei used an uppercut punch to the jaw to send her flying backwards, but as soon as she regained her balance she round house kicked him in the gut, sending him backwards this time.

Jade felt the chip switch off as she suddenly realized how much her jaw hurt. What the hell? she thought. It hasn't even been an hour. I normally get a good day and a half out of it! But oh well. She continued on with the fight.

Wufei jumped up on the balance beam, and Jade followed. He wanted to test her footing, and she was game. They went at it for awhile more, one blow after another. Wufei would kick Jade, and she would land a punch on him.

Suddenly, just as Jade was planting her feet on the beam she realized something wasn't right. Oh no, she thought as she felt her legs wobble. She looked at Wufei desperately before she fell off the beam hitting her head on the floor, shaking violently.

Shit, was the last thing that passed through her mind before she passed out.