Chapter 12: Scared of the Dark?

Jade pursued the shadow. At first she had thought that the shadow might be her brother, but she had quickly realized that she was wrong. This shadow was leading her somewhere. It was deliberately waiting for her to follow it. Heero would be heading to his own destination; he would not be out here leading her around town.

Still this shadow had a very Gundam way of moving. Who is it?

The shadow slowed down again to see if she was following. She smiled to herself as she ducked out of sight and made a dash to cut it off. She was good at this game.

Relena stood at the window looking out at the colony. They had worked so hard to achieve peace, why were people so determined to keep fighting? What ideals were left to fight for? No one was being suppressed. Every one that wanted a say in policies had a say in them.

Why did Jade appear now? Relena wondered. She had always wondered about the dark cloud she thought was following Heero. Why couldn't he just live a normal life?

Now Relena was starting to realize that Jade was the only thing following Heero. The dark cloud that she saw was really following Jade. What kind of urgent war was Jade bringing with her? It had to be important if it had all the Pilots scrabbling for space again.

Relena down as a car drove past. There were so many things she wanted answered, but she knew that she just had to be strong and trust Heero. Heero could take care of it, just like he said; it was his sister after all. Relena heard Trowa enter the room behind her.

"I really don't like her," Relena commented.

"Who? Jade?"

"Yes. I don't trust her. I'm still convinced that she has her own agenda with this all. She never fought in the war! She didn't fight for the peace. She could just be trying to stir up trouble!"

Trowa shook his head walking up to the window, "I don't think so. She seems genuine. Heero trusts her, and I figure, given the situation he would know best."

"I'd have to disagree. She seems to have the worst affect on Heero. Ever since she came around Heero has clamed up and refused to share anything voluntarily. Nothing she says makes sense. If she was such a great fighter why would she completely abandon the fight at the brink of war. She had nothing to lose at that point. Earth was almost destroyed for gods sake! If she is better than Heero, then why does she need him to save her?"

"Relena, you analyze it to much. Jade is barley older than we were during the war. She could have been scared. We were barley old enough to deal with the pressure. I blocked it out for awhile even! What could you expect from her, when she had already been out of the game for awhile.

Besides, I see a lot of myself in her. She is a great fighter, but she lacks emotion. She has nothing to protect. If anything, that would be the reason why Heero could still beat her. We should help her with that! She needs to know that she doesn't need to have the all soldier attitude anymore."

Relena frowned, "I don't think that's the problem. It seems to me that she has just grown up never having to think about anything but herself! First thing that goes wrong she runs for her brother, whether she needs him or not!

I don't like how she's hanging around Duo either. I'm almost certain that as soon as she gets whatever fixed, she'll take right off again. I don't think Duo can handle that! You saw how broken up he was when Hilde called it off. It took him months before he could even talk to her again, and she is his best friend."

"I don't think you have to worry about Duo," Trowa said shaking his head. "He can handle himself. I think we should worry more about the new enemies ahead, rather than the new ally we have gathered."

Relena nodded, she understood. "I just can't help but feel uneasy."

"We'll be fine. Trust me!"

Wufei stopped again at the corner of a building so that Jade could catch another glimpse of him. She was good at keeping up with him. He had been running his hardest for a few blocks now, and she never once fell behind. He took off again.

Wufei had set out to find Jade after Heero had inquired about her whereabouts the 3rd time that night. It was obvious that Heero did not like the idea of Jade and Duo being near each other at all. If this continued Heero would get angry and start taking it out on other people.

Wufei wasn't happy about Jade hanging out with Duo either. There was something about this girl that just didn't sit right with him. She was a woman parading around as being stronger than she was. It made him sick.

Besides, Wufei knew Duo. Duo got attached to people easily. If Jade turned out to be as bad a Wufei feared, then it would be hard to break Duo away from her. Duo was always excited to have new friends. It was like he was just collecting lost puppies.

Wufei stopped to let Jade see him again, but she wasn't there. Had she given up? He jumped over to the next rooftop anyways, and was surprised to see Jade standing there.

"Wufei, tisk tisk, now why would you be hiding in the shadows from me?"

"Who said anything about hiding?" Wufei asked. "It seems to me that we're standing face to face and no one is running."

Jade laughed. "Wufei I have better things to do with my time than listen to your ego trip."

"What like hanging on Duo?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about."

"Just know, Heero has taken notice, and he's not happy about it."

"My brother doesn't matter. I'll deal with him later. Somehow though, I doubt that you searched me out just to let me know that. Why are you here?"

"You still owe me a fight," he said taking a ready stance. "You said that you could take me on even though you're just a woman. I wasn't done with you. So let's go now."

Jade smirked and nodded, "Ok then."

Wufei watched as she dropped her right foot behind her and moved into the ready stance. A split second later he watched as her entire body involuntarily shivered. What was that about?

Jade looked panicked for a second, but quickly regained her composure. "You know what?" she asked. "I don't think I will. We'll do it on my terms, when I want to."

"Jade, you can't take me on if you keep passing out when we fight! What kind of super pilot are you if you can't even make it through a fight with me without falling to pieces?"

"I hardly fall to pieces," she retorted. Her entire body shivered again. "But I would be a damn good pilot." With that she took off running full speed in the other direction.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was wrong with Jade. Sally had gave him some half ass excuse about her being dehydrated. He had only accepted it because he didn't want to spend anymore time talking to Sally than was necessary at the moment.

Wufei wanted the truth this time! He was going to get it out of her. He ran after Jade, right on her heals.

Authors note: What do you think? I didn't get any feed back on my last chapter ( I've found new inspiration for this though, so hopefully I can knock these chapter off a bit easier from now on. Review do keep me motivated though –Hint Hint- lol. I'm kidding though, don't review if you don't want to. Peace and love 'til the next time.

Andy