Trowa nodded. "That's all I could ever ask of you," he said. "Just remember what you just said the next time that she tries to talk to you."

Heero grunted quietly.

Somewhere I Belong
Chapter 8
Journey
By: Miguela

Heero lounged on Relena's bed yet again, listening to reports from Duo, Quatre and Wufei as they came in, but not taking much interest in them since they didn't come up with any useful information on the new group of terrorists. His stomach was aching and the fact that Relena kept asking him what he was going to do about the new threat was starting to grate on his nerves.

"Heero, the fact that you're hurt is understandable, but why aren't you guys doing anything about the Black Wolves?" she demanded, dressed in pink flannel pyjamas that were decorated with blue flowers that were scattered around on the material. She was sitting at her desk pouring over paperwork and talking to Heero on the side.

"Because we don't have any leads," Heero said impatiently.

"Don't snap at me," Relena said, as she signed her name on the bottom of one of the treaties and set it aside. "We're all stressed, Heero. You don't have to snap at me." In Heero's opinion, she seemed to be exhausted as her comebacks were becoming childish and dark circles started to form under her eyes.

"Why don't you go to bed, Relena?" Heero suggested. There wasn't any hint of sarcasm in his tone, just a polite suggestion.

"Not yet," she said. "I'm almost done my sanction of these treaties and trade agreements between colonies and countries. They need to be done before I go back to the office."

"I'm sure that they can wait one night while you get some sleep," he said. "No one will know that you took a break to take care of yourself, for once." Relena shot Heero her own glare that she seemed to have perfected in the years they had been apart. A shiver coursed down Heero's spine as he sat up slowly, feeling his stomach twinge in pain. "Don't glare at me, it's true," he said. "You're always so busy with your work that you're not taking good care of yourself." He patted the bed next to him. "Come and sleep, and try going through those when you're awake."

He could see Trowa smirking behind his curtain of hair, and Heero scowled at him, but as he turned to fix Trowa with a 'death glare' he found that the Heavyarms pilot had taken an interest in the doorframe.

Relena yawned widely, causing Heero to turn his attention back to her. "Maybe you're right, Heero," she said quietly. "I need a vacation."

"Exactly, now come to bed," he said, willing himself not to blush at the words that he had unintentionally just said. They were no longer lovers, but he was still sleeping in her bed. He slipped off the bed and slowly stretched out his stiff muscles, turning so that Relena couldn't see the blush that had inadvertently crept over his cheeks.

"Aren't you going to stay with me?" Relena asked. "I thought your job was to protect me."

"I'll be over here," Heero replied, sitting on the widow sill, a hand protectively placed over his wound.

"But what if an intruder comes from that window?" Relena asked, pointed to the window closest to her bed and farthest from Heero.

"Trowa's sitting right there," Heero said, waving at his comrade.

Relena pouted sweetly. "Why don't you come and sit over here?" she suggested, patting the bed next to her. "I could use some company."

He sighed, and sauntered over to her, sitting at the foot of her bed. "Happy now?" he asked impatiently. Relena's smile was bordering on a smirk as she snuggled under the blankets. Heero's scowl was deepening as he lay back across the foot of her bed. "I'll be here," He said to her simply as he closed his eyes. The bed was comfortable. The puffy comforter was soft and welcoming. He closed his eyes and stilled his breathing so Relena would think that he was sleeping. He didn't want to get close to her, but, at the same time, he did still have feelings for her. He heard Trowa shift with the rustle of material and settle once again. He expanded his senses, listening to the timed rain fall outside the hotel, hearing the guards cough just outside the door. There was nothing but silence for a stretch and Heero felt himself relax the tense muscles in his body and just enjoy the stillness.

The time to head to Colony 6 came too swiftly for him as Trowa roused from his seat and touched Heero's shoulder gently, the stoic pilot opening his eyes and peered up at his friend in annoyance.

"Time to go," Trowa said simply to him as he left Heero wake up on his own.

Heero yawned as he sat up slowly and grabbed his jacket. There were four Preventers' officers in Relena's sitting room, looking alert as they stood guard at various intervals around the room. Heero caught a glimpse of one of them as Trowa opened the door a crack to peer out and confer with one of them. While Trowa wasn't looking, Heero bent over Relena, who was sleeping peacefully under the covers, and kissed her lips tenderly. She moaned in her sleep, which caused Heero to jerk away from her and Trowa to turn and look back at the two of them. Heero shrugged sheepishly and pulled on his jacket as he moved to follow Trowa out of the room.

Trowa and Heero met up with the three others at the shuttle, which was being prepared for the short voyage from one colony to the other. Heero caught sight of the other three on board the ship already. Heero and Trowa were updated on the status of the trip to the sixth colony by the young pilot who would be flying them to the colony.

"We have already been informed that there is already a large carrier stationed right outside the colony at the moment," he said to Heero as they walked up the stairway to the small inter-colony craft. It was one of Quatre's, Heero noted, as he saw the Winner crest on the cockpit door. "We have been hailing the colony and have gotten no response. We think that it might be a trap."

"It's so obvious that this is a trap," Duo echoed from inside the cabin of the craft as Heero reached the landing. "The Black Wolves have probably already gotten to the colony and have taken everyone hostage," he added sourly as he flopped down in the padded arm chair.

"Duo, don't say such negative things," Quatre said in alarm as he sat beside Duo. "I don't think that the people of Colony Six would be so compliant anyway, it doesn't make a lot of sense either way." He crossed his arms across his chest as he thought. Duo toyed with the tip of his braid.

"Yuy, do we have a plan of action yet?" Wufei asked as he looked up at the stoic pilot as they boarded the craft. "We can't just walk in to their hands, especially if they're demanding that we surrender ourselves, can we?"

"I agree with Duo," Heero said as he sat down across from Wufei, "We can't just walk in blindly. We have about an hour before we get the Colony Six, so I think we need a strategy when dealing with these guys."

Duo was bouncing again beside Quatre, which caused Quatre to sidle away from energetic young man. "Duo, I don't know where you get your energy from, but you're either going to have to calm down or give us all some of what you're taking," Quatre said to his friend, a ghost of a smile on Quatre's face as he and Duo joked.

"This isn't the time to be making jokes," Wufei snapped at the two of them, which caused them to instantly sober and become solemn like the other three pilots. "Now then, I have the layout of the colony here. We should memorize the plans so that we know where to go if we get separated or something goes down while we're there."

Duo winced as Wufei unfolded the four large sheets of paper with the layouts and blueprints of the colony. "Since when is this colony so huge?" he demanded as he peered closer at the lines. "I thought there were only a cargo area and the control room?"

"It was for until last year," Quatre said as he picked up a second sheet of blueprints. "We've been building on to this colony over the last year and now there's a population of a small city living there as workers until the colony becomes more stable."

"Why would a bunch of refugees be demanding that we surrender ourselves?" Duo asked in confusion. "They can't have any weapons or anything on a work colony, it's against policy."

"That may be true, but when people feel like they are oppressed, they tend to rebel," Heero said to Duo calmly as he leaned back in his seat. He did not like the prospect of this colony one bit. There were too many unknowns in the equation.

Wufei seemed to have the same feeling as he looked at the young aristocrat and asked, "Quatre, do you still have that scout ship on board?"

Quatre looked surprised at the question, "There are two old mobile suites on board right now," he replied as he frowned, "Wufei, you and Heero can't be having the same idea…"

"I want to see what I'm up against," Heero said quickly, "I'll use one of the Leos to see what sort of forces they have."

"Won't that raise suspicion?" Quatre asked as he looked at the stoic pilot. "You can't make me believe that this will do more good than harm."

The little space craft jerked all five Gundam pilots back in their seats as the shuttle was aligned for take off from the colony. Quatre frowned, "And I don't like the idea that all five of us are going. What's going to happen to Miss Relena if something happens to us? Wufei, aren't you supposed to be her body guard?"

"If this turns out to be a hoax, we'll go back and Relena will be fine," Heero said to Quatre in a monotone, "If this turns in to some kind of ambush, Relena will still be fine. I've stationed some of the best guys we have to be her body guards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She'll be fine, Quatre."

Quatre let the argument slide though he looked apprehensive as they launched from the colony and out into space. Heero slouched in his seat as Wufei, Quatre, and Duo discussed ways into gathering information. They finally decided that Quatre would remain behind on the ship with Wufei and Trowa to monitor the colony while Duo and Heero went inside disguised as two new refugees looking for employment. Heero was groaning internally at the prospect of having to move from the comfortable stuffed arm chair in the shuttle to the colony. His side was throbbing with the constant reminder that there was still a hole there. He did his best not to show the others that his abdomen was bothering him, but Quatre knew.

Quatre stood from his chair and went to the small first aid kit that they had at the front of the cabin. He returned with the kit in hand and sat down beside Heero. "Let me see, Heero," Quatre said kindly, "I can try and numb some of it."

"I can take care of it myself," Heero said to Quatre as he sat up slowly and accepted the first aid kit. Quatre didn't fight Heero as he took out some aspirin and took 3. "Thanks," he said quietly as he handed back the first aid kit. Quatre smiled kindly and replaced the first aid kit.

Duo stared in curiosity, "Man, you really have changed," Duo noted as Quatre sat back down beside him. He didn't say much else as Heero shot Duo a fierce look.

"I don't know what you mean," Heero said simply as he sat back down.

"Well, you wouldn't have taken anything back four years ago," Duo said to him as he thought, "It just seems strange that you're so accepting all of a sudden."

Heero shrugged, "I'm not in the mood to argue with you Duo," he said simply as he tilted his chair back a bit. He had twenty minutes to rest some and let the pain relievers kick in. "These aspirin won't last long so we'll have to move fast and scout out the whole colony in just under two hours."

"A rushed job eh?" Duo said with a smirk, "All right, just don't lag behind."

"Last I checked, you were the one who was always late," Heero reminded him as he made sure that the bandages over the stitches were snug. "Quatre, I want you and Wufei to be ready in the Leos in case something goes down. I don't want us to be caught in there with no way out. You guys will be our way out if this goes sour."

Quatre nodded, "Trowa, you can stay here and keep an eye out," he said to the silent Heavyarms pilot. "Uh… Trowa?" Quatre asked curiously after no response. The silent pilot was slouched in his seat, chin on his chest, and was fast asleep. Quatre smiled softly, "I guess he'll sit this one out," he said to the others apologetically.

"He should've gone to bed," Wufei said as he poured over the blueprints to memorize them. "His arm won't heal if he's always running around like this."

"We'll let him sleep," Quatre said as he grabbed Trowa's Preventers' jacket and draped it over him. "No sense in waking him, we'll be fine on our own."

It took not nearly long enough for Heero for them to reach the colony. It was on the outermost orbit of earth and because it was so far out of the way, most people didn't bother to travel to the forsaken little colony. It was close to a large asteroid field that was used to mine rare minerals. The colony itself was rather shabby on the outside, but was brand new on the inside. They had completely stripped away the old hardware on the inside but had left the outside as it had been over twenty years ago.

Heero had only travelled once to this colony, and it had been about a year or so ago. He had found several homeless and jobless men on L1 and had suggested to them that they work at the mining colony to try and build up their skills. He believed that they were still on the colony to this day, earning their way through mining the minerals so they could pay to eat every day.

They docked the shuttle with the shabby colony and Quatre and Wufei disembarked, leaving the pilot to watch over a sleeping Trowa in the cabin of the craft. Duo and Heero donned their disguises of old jumpsuits that were the standard gray color. Duo tried to tuck his braid up under his hat, but it always managed to spill out one side or the other. Heero finally got Duo to remove the braid from his hair and put a hair net over his mess of hair. There were strands that managed to spill out, but they made it look as though his hair was shaggy and shoulder length. Wufei assumed the role of their escort as the ship docked. Wufei exchanged words with the foreman, explaining that Heero and Duo were to start work that day, despite the arguments from the foreman.

"We're over staffed here as it is," the large balled man argued with Wufei. "The Preventers think that they can do whatever they want with our mining operation, including force men on us at any point."

"My orders come from Lady Une herself on this one," Wufei said as he shrugged, "You can argue with her all you want, but for now, they're staying here."

The foreman grumbled as he snatched the paper work from Wufei that Quatre had forged while they were in the shuttle. "You can bet your asshole that I'm going to be having some words with Miss Une about this one," he grumbled to Wufei threateningly.

"I'm sure you will," Wufei said to him, though all five Gundam Pilots would be long gone from the colony when that time came.

The foreman scowled at Wufei as he turned to Duo and Heero, "You two, come with me," he barked as he spat at Wufei and turned on his heel.

Duo looked at Heero in a side-long glance and the two of them followed the burly foreman deeper into the colony. Wufei turned back to the shuttle with Quatre and Trowa. Heero knew that from here on out, they had to stay and act in character or else they would be in trouble.

Sorry I haven't written in so long. I now plan to finish this story in the next month or so. Hope you guys enjoy.