Duo left, locking the door behind him.

Somewhere I Belong
Chapter 6
The Morning After
By: Miguela

Heero and Relena were left alone after Duo left. When Relena wasn't looking, he took out the paper that Duo had left for him, pulling it open where, sure enough, there were a few kanji written in Duo's messy handwriting. He had to blink a few times to try and read what was trying to be said. In very broken Japanese, Duo had written what looked to be: 'the master will destroy all who oppose him' and 'beware the master's wrath'. Though with Duo's limited Japanese vocabulary and grammar, it was more like 'Master will destroy oppose' and 'beware master evil', though he got the message clearly.

Heero lounged on Relena's bed, staring up at the ceiling while Relena read one of her romance novels to herself, chuckling once in a while to herself or frowning, depending on what was going on in her book. He found it quite relaxing; lying near the foot of the bed as he usually did when they were in bed together. It was just kind of strange, being with her and all after so many years.

Finally, after a while of reading, Relena clicked off the lamp on the end table, announcing that it was time for bed. She pulled the covers up over herself and snuggled under them, sighing contently as Heero scooted up to take the empty spot nest to her, since he was still near the edge of the bed. He lay on top of the covers, staring up at the ceiling. It didn't take long for the two of them to fall asleep, though somehow during the remainder of the night Relena migrated over to his side of the bed, laying her head on his bare chest like she used to do when they were together. He woke up to her gentle breath tickling his cheek, her body pressed tightly next to his while the blankets were thrown on the floor beside her. He was still in the same place he had fallen asleep, though she had somehow managed to tear the blankets out from under him as well.

There was some smothered laughter coming from the corner of the room where Duo sat on a chair, fiddling with the tip of his long braid. His face was red with the effort to keep his laughter contained, though he was failing miserably at it. He burst out laughing after Heero glared rather menacingly at him.

He finally calmed down, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "Sorry Heero man," he said between gasps, "You two just look too cute for words is all."

Heero glared at him with all the strength he could muster. "You're lucky that I can't move that fast Duo," he said menacingly, "Or I would strangle you with that braid of yours."

Duo clutched his braid to his chest. "To Hell you will!" he shrieked, which caused Relena to wake up. She rubbed her eyes blearily while Duo ranted on. "That would be a horrible way to die!"

"Well then shut up," Heero said lazily, "I'm sore enough without having to get a headache listening to you."

He slowly inched his way to a sitting position using his hands and elbows; his side had cramped sometime during the night, making it extremely painful to move, though he did so anyways. Relena was sitting up under the covers, rubbing her eyes blearily, by the time he had managed to get himself somewhat sitting up.

"Good morning Heero," she said, brushing her hair back from her face. "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Yeah…"

Duo was laughing again. Heero glared at him, more forcefully than the last time.

Relena smiled at his look, "How are your injuries this morning?"

He shrugged, "Not to bad, I guess…"

Relena frowned now. "Why don't you try to make an effort to make conversation with me?" she demanded. "Here I am trying to be nice and you give me the cold shoulder." Her tone was reaching a wailing pitch, almost a desperate tone, though he knew that she was trying to make him feel bad.

Again he shrugged. "You didn't want to work on our relationship three years ago, so why start now?" he demanded.

"Because what I said before was selfish, and I want to try and mend things between us," she said, almost pleading. "I don't want things to be this way between us."

He snorted. "You should've thought of that before you said that," he replied and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "I've already tried to mend things with you and you didn't want to, so I've given up."

Her expression, which he caught out of the corner of his eye, was shocked. "You don't mean that," she whispered. "You can't…"

"I sure as Hell can," he snapped, though it was starting to pain his heart and soul for saying such cruel things to her, even if it had been how he felt back then. "I may have had feelings for you before, though I sure as Hell don't have any now." Heero 3, Relena 2.

Her face fell and she looked away. "If you don't care, then why are you still here?" she asked quietly. "I thought that you didn't care what happened to me…"

"I never said that I didn't care what happened to you," Heero retorted, "I said that I don't have any feelings for you; the world needs you to continue your efforts with the peaceful resolution to problems, since you're the only one who can do so without causing another war."

She frowned deeper, "I see, then I had better get ready for my morning meetings then." She slid off the bed, still with her usual grace and confident movements that had convinced so many to follow her cause. Her confidence dispelled everyone's doubts, filling their hearts with the hope needed to live in a peaceful world.

He sighed at slowly attempted to stand up, though he had more difficulty than he originally thought that he would have, his legs not as strong as he would have thought. His knees buckled and he had to grip the end table before he fell face first to the floor for the second time in two days. The world spun as he held on for dear life, becoming nauseous again. He felt a soft hand on his back as he slid to the floor, trying to control his urge to throw up right then and there.

"Maybe you should lay down again Heero," Relena said gently. "You're not well at all…"

He shook her hand off, "I'm fine," he said stubbornly, but just as he said it, a chill coursed through his body, raising goose flesh on his bare arms and chest.

"As if!" she replied angrily, "You're sick! Lay down before you hurt yourself more than you already have!"

She grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him up on the bed, with little success; he would not budge for her, and she finally gave up when his shoulder joint cracked loudly. She gave a frustrated sigh, letting him slump against the end table for lack of strength. "You're hopeless!" she cried in exasperation. "You wont even help yourself!"

He groaned at her high pitch. "I would if I could, but I can't, so I wont…" he muttered, closing his eyes as another wave of dizziness overtook his senses. He felt strong hands grip his arms, hoist him to his feet, and helping him sit on the edge of the bed.

"You should be resting man," Duo said, a sympathetic note in his voice. "You look like you're sick with the flu or something."

Heero snorted. "I never get sick," he replied matter-of-fact. "I have a very strong immune system…"

Duo snorted this time, "As if that makes any difference," he retorted. "You're injured and that causes anyone's immune system to become weak. Just relax for a minute or two would ya?"

Heero sniffed slightly, still very dizzy from his sudden movement from the floor to the bed.

"You could use a break from work anyways Heero," Relena said, tugging on his shoulders slightly, "Just lay back and relax, okay?"

He shrugged out of her grip. "I'm fine," he insisted through clenched teeth. "It's nothing…"

Wufei butted into the conversation this time, "Why do you have to be so stubborn Yuy?" he asked, "Just do as the woman asks; it's just that simple!"

Heero groaned. If only it were that simple… He sighed. "Did Lady Une call this morning?" he asked blearily, hoping to change the subject.

"As a matter of fact, she did," Wufei said quietly, "She called to send Trowa home and to tell you that you'll be taking his place until he's able to return to his regular duties."

Heero stifled a groan. Great, he thought, now I can't get away from her…

He nodded once to Wufei showing that he understood, and then asked Duo, "Could you hand me my jacket? I need to call Lady Une back…"

Duo hesitated for a second, then, after an approving nod from Relena as she went into the bathroom to change into her business suit for the morning's meeting with the press, he tossed the leather jacket to him, which he caught effortlessly. Heero dug into his breast pocket and pulled out the portable phone and pressed the speed dial that would connect him with the head Preventers' office. Lady Une answered the phone in her office with a curt 'hello?'

"Why am I staying here with her?" he demanded angrily, not even bothering to greet his superior officer.

"Nice to hear you're awake," she said tartly. "I figured you'd be the best man for the job since Trowa is no longer able work for a good while with that arm the way it is."

"But what about my place of administration back on L1?" he demanded.

"I've already found a suitable substitute for the time being from another branch on L2," Lady Une replied smartly. "He's already taken command so you might as well stay there to protect Relena." A devilish grin curled her lips. "And maybe you two could get reacquainted."

Heero growled into the receiver. "I'd much rather not."

"Well, I'm late for a meeting, so you're stuck there until this crisis is passed," she said.

Heero sighed. "Roger that," he replied, and promptly hung up in his superior's face. He knew that he would probably be bitched at because of that later, but right now, he really wasn't in the mood to be civil and understanding, besides, it just wasn't in his nature to do so in the first place.

He turned to Relena, who had reappeared from the bathroom. Heero was amazed at how sophisticated she looked in that outfit, a grey blazer with a knee length skirt. She sat down at her vanity and began brushing her long locks through.

"Will you be staying here longer than just to wish me well Heero, or do you have more pressing business elsewhere?" she asked, looking at him through her reflection in the mirror.

"Lady Une assigned me to keep an eye on you while Trowa recovers," he muttered.

Relena smiled slightly in victory. "That's good," she said. "That way you and I can spend some time together."

Heero frowned in annoyance. "Whatever…"

After Relena had gotten herself ready—and Heero had gotten a new shirt—Duo, Heero, Wufei, Relena, and a select few of the guards positioned around the room made their way down to the conference room on the first floor which was crawling with news reporters and journalists, all wanting a comment from Relena about this rumour and that rumour. The poor girl was overwhelmed by the vultures, and Heero just couldn't stand to see her this helpless. He whispered in her ear to ignore them for now until they get inside and they can be addressed one at a time. She nodded and pushed through the crowd to the conference room ahead of the sea of hungry reporters.

She took her position behind a podium at the head of the conference room on a raised section of the floor, straightening her suit and her hair somewhat nervously. She cleared her throat and reread her speech over and over under her breath as the reporters filed in, choosing the seats as close to the front as they could.

Heero, Duo and Wufei sat behind Relena as her personal guard. Heero slouched slightly in his seat to keep from hurting himself, what with his injury. He could tell by the way the morning had started that this session was going to be far from boring, with the reporters asking questions like how she considered the campaign to be going so far, whether yesterday's attack was going to hinder the progress of her tour of the colonies, whether there was any truth to the rumour that she had been attacked the previous night, etc… Who knew if the infamous question of their relationship would resurface or not, now that he was sitting behind her as a bodyguard; he had done so at her meetings when they were still going out.

The meeting started out as had all the other meetings that she had had on her campaign trail thus far, lots of questions regarding her plans to improve the life of the colony citizens with regards to health, the improvement of the shipment of goods to the more remote colonies and the building of new colonies for the growing population that was overcrowding the existing colonies.

Then it seemed to steer towards her personal life, with the assessing of his reappearance and the new threat that were being called the Black Wolves. She addressed them calmly, but when she was about to deny the fact that the Black Wolves were a threat to the precious peace that had been re-established, an arrow flew from the open window at the far end of the room, whistling straight for Relena. Heero, who was the first to notice the approaching missile, pulled Relena to the ground underneath him, covering her with his body, just in case a volley of them came sailing their way. There was a loud 'thok' as the arrow embedded itself in the wooden podium, from which Wufei removed it. There was a rolled up paper attached to the shaft, which he handed to Heero to look at. Scribbled inside was a note in Japanese demanding that the Gundam pilots surrendered themselves in the remaining eight hours or face the consequences. They were to meet in the control room of the colony at six that evening.

This chap was already posted, but it had some mistakes