Here's another update. Standard disclaimers apply. R/R please and thank you!

Chapter Six

For one thing, Heero hated the rain. He never liked it and never will like it, no matter where he went. Today there was something different. Call it an intuition or a sixth sense, but he didn't like the feeling at all. From the moment he stepped outside from the bar, he felt the black cloud following him. He couldn't shake the feeling at all.

He returned back to Duo's place, hoping that it was just another assignment coming his way. The blank computer screen mocked back at him, and so did the empty inbox. That's when he decided to head back out into the downpour, seeing there was nothing else to do.

Outside, he felt a chill run through his bones and somehow he began his way towards the park. He pulled up his hood over his head, as the droplets pelted against the black windbreaker.

Ahead of him, sirens blared out in the distance, cutting through repetitive pings. His eyes focused in on a group of bystanders that were standing around a small water fountain. He made his way towards the crowd, and the moment he saw her he froze for a brief second.

Her skin was pale and her lips turned an ashen blue. Her teal short sleeved bloused clung to her wet body as her golden hair he used to know was matted on her face in a disarray of directions.

"Did anyone see what happened?" A couple of bystanders began to hover over her, sheltering her from the rain, as the sirens were closing in on their location.

Heero pushed his way through the crowd and kneeled beside her. He took off his windbreaker and rolled it up into a pillow, and placed it underneath her head. He couldn't say anything, but stood over her.

He felt for a pulse around her neck, and it was there. A little fast, but she was still alive. He let out a sigh of relief, "Hang in there," he whispered and pulled some of her wet hair off her face.

…

She heard the commotion around her, as an oxygen mask was placed on her. Voices blurred indistinctly, as heard random words coming from strangers. She felt a gentle caress on her face at the same time, but she didn't recognize the blurred image in front of her. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was fall back asleep. "Why did you wake me?" Her words were muffled beneath the mask.

For every breath she took, she felt like someone was still stabbing her in the back. The shock radiated down her back and she coughed reflexively. The pain became more excruciating, and she found a hand she clung to. Her petite fingers wrapped around the stranger's, and she felt reassurance after the gentle squeeze. The effect calmed her down as she tried to steady her breathing.

Her eyes closed once more as the sounds were drowned out by her deepening sleep.

"Heero? Where are you?" An eight year old girl's voice trailed in the darkness. Her blond hair caught fragments of light that came from one single nightlight. "Are you hiding from me?" She rubbed her eyes with hands, hoping to clear her vision. The floorboards creaked underneath her weight as she walked down the empty corridor. "Heero?"

She was tired of the emptiness she was feeling. How could he have left her? She crumpled in a corner of the hallway in disbelief. Her one true friend had abandoned her. This was all a bad dream. It had to be. He had promised he would be with her. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rocked herself.

"Here's a tissue," a large hand held the delicate paper.

Her hand received the flimsy object, but she didn't dear to look up at the voice. The next thing she knew she was at her current age, and she felt the figure sit beside her. She felt his shoulder brush against her arm, but she didn't flinch as he adjusted his weight. Her eyes focused at the other end of the hallway, where the pale moonlight slipped through the window.

"You can't be real," her words were numb and lifeless. "You just can't be."

He took the words as best as he could. "I'm here now."

She scratched at the back of her head, feeling the pain rippling through her back. She calmed herself down and looked towards the man, her former imaginary friend. "This is crazy."

"It's not," his monotone voice shattered the silence once more.

She got up from her spot and walked away from him, the discomfort in her chest diminishing somewhat. She wandered over to the window. Shadows were casted at oblong angles, and varying trees stood firm to the soil as a gust of wind washed over. "You know what I did when you left?" She waited for a response from him, as she heard him shift his weight on the creaky floorboards. "I cried myself to sleep for days wishing that you were coming back. Soon enough, it dawned on me. I began to pack away the things we did together. Through all of this, my parents saw the transformation. And there was one last thing from my childhood that remained." She bit the bottom of her lip, tasting metallic liquid as it ran towards her tongue. "I threw the teddy bear outside during a thunderstorm, hoping I would finally forget about you." Her eyes caught her own reflection staring back at her, "My butler brought him back and cleaned him. He knew how much that bear meant to me." She sighed and crossed her arms. "And to this day, he was right."

He looked over at her direction and saw her silhouette outlined by the moonlight that streamed through the cracked window. He wanted to say something but what words will fill the void he had created? Nothing seemed right. And yet, he was never one for words to begin with. How is it that he could talk to children easily and not to her? At that moment, he felt a heaviness grow in his heart. A feeling that he never took into account before, and maybe a feeling he had ignored from the very beginning.

The silence was deafening at this point and his eyes focused on a vase full of withered roses to distract his thoughts. The blackened petals sat on top of the dried stems. "I'm sorry." The words sliced through the distance between them.

Her back stiffened a little but it was enough for her for the time being. Sooner or later she knew she had to let it go. The toxic feeling she held for so long began to melt little by little. There must be a reason why he truly was here. "Me too." She rubbed her left shoulder, "I can never truly hate you."

The minutes that passed seemed more like hours to them, as they stood by the imaginary boundary that was drawn between them. Neither one knew what to say to each other. Relena focused her sight through the cracked window and watched the moon rise higher into the black night. Its pale moonlight highlighted her skin as well as her blond hair. She heard footsteps come from behind her until she felt his breath cascade down her neck. She turned around to face him and saw his Prussian eyes up close. His face still held the far off distance look that she knew all too well. "I still don't get it."

He shook his head in response in defeat. "Me neither." His hand trailed down her face. He was trying so hard to quench the feeling that was brewing inside his body.

She remembered one conversation with him during one of their regular afternoon tea sessions. Out of nowhere, she asked the question point blank, "Do you have a heartbeat?"

His eyes furrowed at the simple question. He never really thought about it until now, "I don't think so."

"Do you even have a heart?" as she raised her teapot pouring the imaginary liquid into the plastic teacup.

He looked questioningly at his young charge, wondering what she was up to.

She plopped the teapot back onto the table and went over to where he sat. Her tiny hands landed on his chest and she waited there for a few minutes. She squinted her eyes, trying to understand what she was feeling, which was nothing beneath her fingertips besides her own heartbeat. "I guess you're right." And she resumed her tea time as if nothing had happened.

…

Heero looked at her and there was a familiar gleam in her blue orbs. "Don't."

In matter of seconds, her right hand landed on his chest and felt through the white fabric. She closed her eyes to drown out her vision and she felt his chest rise slowly and up down beneath her fingertips. She honed in one specific feeling and she continued to have her hand rest on his chest. She moved past the feeling of her own heartbeats. And then there was faint flutter. A low beat picked up from her ring finger. It was faint but it was there. "You have a heartbeat," she whispered.

"I do?" Her reply sent a shockwave through his system.

"Right here," she guided his hand over to the faint beat.

"Hn."

The couple inched closer until she was nestled at his neck. Her hand still was on his chest. "Maybe you are becoming real."

"Maybe."

She looked back up at him. His Prussian eyes caught a sliver of the pale light and he inched closer to her. Their lips barely brushed each other. She felt her breathing rise and waited for him. There was no turning back now.

"Heero," her voice was soft. He held her in his arms, as he continued to stare at her.

All felt right for the moment as she relaxed into his embrace. She felt safe with him until she felt another stab wreak havoc on her tiny frame. Her loud scream broke the quiet between them as she collapsed in his arms.