Chapter 4: Hard Foul
The Prussian eyed teen hopped off the bus, beginning his walk back home. He noticed a crowd gathered around a spot on the block. He saw cop cars and red and blue lights shining brightly. He wondered what all the commotion was about so he began to approach. It was in the same direction to his house anyway. He saw people moving, trying to get a better look at whatever was causing the whole scene. As he got closer, he recognized a familiar face.
Duo was a part of the crowd and he turned around and noticed Heero approaching. "Yo, what's good buddy?" Heero knew Duo would be around. He texted him earlier in the day while Heero was in school, saying he would meet him around his place after class wrapped up.
Heero nodded toward the scene. "And this?"
"Oh that?" Duo pointed a thumb back to the point of interest. Heero got close enough to see a body covered in a large white sheet. That pretty much told him everything. Duo and Heero kept a safe distance from the crowd to keep from being overheard. "Looks like someone owed Treize a good amount of cash." Duo muttered over to Heero.
Heero's eyes narrowed and motioned Duo to keep on moving. "Someone we know?"
The braided teen nodded as he walked away with Heero. "It was Trant. Remember him?" Heero just nodded. "Yeah, I heard a few weeks ago that he had been avoiding Treize's collectors for a few months now. Talking about how he owed Treize a little over 10 grand."
The new St. Gabriel Academy student had heard the same thing, too. To owe that much money for that amount of time was impressive in it's own weird way, Heero thought. Though it seems like Trant had abused Treize's leniency for just a bit too long.
Duo continued. "I asked around and people said they saw him walking around like he was waiting for someone. A few guys came up to him, it seemed like he knew them. They chatted for a while before some unmarked car pulled and let off a few shots. The bullets got their man and the car sped away."
"The guys that met up with him?" Heero inquired.
"I heard they skated off just before the shots were fired. Sounds like a set up if you ask me." Duo was sure of that and Heero had to agree. "Been a while since we had a body on this block, guess we were overdue for one."
"Hn." Heero kept his eyes focused and continued on.
"Anyway, onto something lighter." Duo switched subjects. "How was school? Looking real good, my man. Uniform got you looking all high class!"
Heero shook his head. If getting home excited him for anything, it was that he would be able to take off this whole get up.
"I'm serious. You already look like you're moving on up. Proud of you, bud." Heero looked over at Duo with a skeptical stare. Where was all this coming from, he wondered.
"Just doing what I set out to do." Heero shrugged.
"I know, the suit and tie look says it all." Duo chuckled as they got to Heero's building. They entered and saw people moving up and down the stairs. Heero and Duo greeted them all before they entered Heero's apartment. "What's up, uncle?" Duo addressed the old man sitting at his usual spot in the living room.
"Duo." he simply replied while waving his hand at him.
"Been good?" Duo asked.
"Always am." Uncle J grinned. "Would you look at that… Heero, you're already looking too good for this neighborhood. Heh heh." Uncle J commented on Heero's appearance. It was always hard to tell whether he was taunting or complimenting.
"Hn." Heero replied as he and Duo walked off towards Heero's room. Heero threw his bag on the floor. "Gonna change, give me a second." He dug out his usual attire and went to the bathroom to go change while Duo sat at Heero's desk, fiddling with the handgun that sat there. A few minutes passed before Heero reentered the room, taking a seat on his bed.
"Everything at school all you could have hoped for?" Duo crossed his arms as he looked over at his friend.
Shrugging was Heero's response. "It's what I need, I guess."
"Guess as long as it works out…" Duo's eyes looked up at the ceiling. "Same old shit in my school. I don't think I need to tell you that. There were like two fights that broke out and like 3 kids already got suspended."
'Same old shit indeed…' Heero's thoughts went. As weird of a first day as he had at St. Gabriel, he would much rather have to deal with that then possibly getting into fights or arguing with hate filled teachers and staff. Hell, he didn't have to worry about kids bringing weapons like they did at his old school. He didn't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times he saw that before.
"Was I right though? Were those schoolgirl uniforms looking good?" Duo said with a smirk on his face. Heero remembered their uniforms having this burgundy color with skirts that reached well below the ankles. Heero didn't really care what the girl's uniforms looked like, but he knew that what Duo was thinking about probably didn't match the reality.
"Nothing I was concerned about." Heero muttered as he sighed, leaning over as he sat on his mattress.
"Well yeah, I figured that. But I was!" Duo shook his head. "You're no fun." Heero grunted at him. "You're my boy, it's normal to talk about chicks with your friends."
Heero gave him a funny look. "Aren't you spoken for?"
"Doesn't mean I can't still talk about chicks. I'm no cheater, but I can still admire." Duo chuckled. "So no ladies caught your attention? Not one?"
That's when that scene played out in his head again.
'Hello there, my name is Relena Darlian'
"Here, this is an invitation to my birthday party this weekend'
'I don't understand…'
'Please, stay away from me'
Heero hesitated before answering. "No, not one." he shook his head.
Duo thought he saw something weird about him when he answered but decided not to pry any further. "Alright, well for your sake I'd like to see that change."
Heero raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh don't give me that look. Last thing you want is to end up like Wufei. Constantly complaining about women. Both of you would do well getting a girl, it would help you guys relax a little."
Heero wasn't buying that. He didn't need a girl in his life. Not right now, not when he had a mission to accomplish. "No need."
Duo sighed. "Alright, I know better than to try and convince you. But you should still give it a thought. No one really likes being alone. Just makes life harder, especially when it's guys like us living how we live."
Heero watched his friend intently as he spoke.
"I mean yeah me and Hilde ain't perfect, but I still wouldn't trade in what we have for anything in the world. I'll tell ya, life would be a whole lot more miserable if she weren't around. She keeps me grounded and isn't afraid to call me out and knock me down a peg or two. Men like us need to be humbled every now and then." Duo laughed as he thought of all the times he and Hilde got into it. "As much as we'd like to think we have all the answers, it's always good to be reminded that we don't. We need to know when to reach out for help, and because we're guys and have that silly thing called pride that blinds us, we never know when to suck it up and just accept a helping hand. That's what Hilde taught me anyway, hope you can find someone who can do the same for you."
Heero wasn't quite sure how to respond to his friends words. Heero didn't think that he had all the answers, but he wasn't convinced that having a significant other would do him any good either. Besides, he had already made up his mind about that. Complete the mission, no distractions allowed. And girls definitely fell into the category of distractions. "Not interested."
"Yeah I figured you'd say that." Duo slumped into his seat, disappointed to not get anything out of Heero. "Well at any rate…" Duo stood up. "Trying to hoop?"
"Money involved?"
"Always is." Duo smirked.
Heero and Duo always made a nice pair running two on two basketball games for money at the local courts. They've hustled many men out of their funds.
"Okay, let me get my shorts."
Elsewhere across town, in a much much less downtrodden area, Relena Darlian sat by her window, overlooking her wide open backyard. It looked like you could fit a football field and a half out there. That wasn't even counting the space beyond the mass of trees that acted like a border. She needed to look out there. She sat huddled with her arms hugging her knees, mind still thinking about earlier that day.
It was silly for her to be so distracted about the actions of some boy, but it wasn't like anything she ever experienced before. Almost everyone tried their best to make a good impression on her, or they all wanted to be her friend. This was the first time she really faced this kind of rejection before.
Not that Relena felt entitled to people's kindness, she just never expected anything like this. But now that she had a little more time to let it all sink in, the more she thought about his side of things.
Heero Yuy. That was his name.
She would admit, not to Dorothy, of course, that yes Heero Yuy was a very handsome boy. His striking features is what caught her attention in the first place. But what caused him to react so strangely to her? Did she offend him in any way? She didn't think she did anything wrong, but maybe Heero saw something about how she approached him that didn't send the right signal.
The more she tried to reason it out, the more frustrated she got. What was that kid's deal? Whatever it was, she just had to find out. She didn't care if that meant it would ruin any chance of them being friends, the important part was that she at least understood him. It's one thing to be hated, it's another thing to be hated without knowing why. She could only hope that things would work out well for the both of them.
Relena never went into anything with bad intentions. She wanted Heero to know that, even if it meant he would like her even less. She sighed, deciding to get back to going through some school related assignments. She couldn't let her head be dominated by thoughts of a boy all night.
Though in this situation, that was going to be a tall order.
She went back to her papers, all the while fighting off visions of intense Prussian eyes.
The next day came and school filled up with eager students once more. As usual Relena and Dorothy led the pack and went on to start the day with their first class. Which they both knew was one they shared with a certain now-infamous member of the student body.
When Heero entered, everyone looked at him with great contempt. Heero felt the hate but he didn't let it get to him. Relena sucked in her breath and looked down at her desk, not wanting to make any eye contact at that moment. Heero gave her a quick look before taking his seat and focusing his eyes forward.
Relena exhaled and heard everyone in class as they muttered their curses in relation to Heero. Dorothy didn't hold back either, as she just shook her head at his presence. "Can't believe we have to share a class with this creep…" Relena heard her say.
She heard even more meaner words and taunts. She looked over at Heero's sitting figure, wondering if this affected him in any way whatsoever. It seemed like it didn't, but even so, regardless of what he did to her it wasn't right to have all of this abuse piled up on him. He was a loner, she could clearly see and that meant whatever he faced here he faced it on his own. That would be hard for anyone their age.
"Can we see if we can get him transferred to a different class or something, Relena?" she heard a girl whisper from behind her.
Relena looked back and shook her head. "It's fine, no need to be so drastic. I'm over it."
The girl was a little taken aback at what Relena said but begrudgingly accepted it. The class went on and everything resumed. She still heard her classmates cursing Heero's name and she hoped that Heero would be fine. She really disliked the idea of people piling up on him because they were trying to defend her honor.
A couple more classes passed by, and it seemed like with the exception of the first period, she didn't have any other class with him. Maybe PE, but they hadn't gotten there yet. Relena was running a little late to her next class, she had to pick up some things from the library and was now rushing downstairs to her next class.
That was when she turned down the staircase and saw him.
As she was about to descend, he was heading up. She froze. Heero looked up and noticed her when he heard her gasp. His head snapped up and he hesitated, his eyes narrowed, knowing he did not want to see her of all people. They had a bit of a staring contest before anyone did anything. Blue eyes clashed with blue eyes. One pair looked on with a hardened glare, while the other pair was cautious and unsure.
Eventually, Heero sighed and began moving on up, eyes now looking past her. Relena swallowed hard as he came walking up the stairs.
"Um, hey Heero. Look, I'm sorry if I offended you or made you feel uncomfortable yesterday… it wasn't my intention." This caused Heero to stutter step for a second. She was apologizing to him? That didn't make any sense. He shook it off and kept walking up. "I'm hoping that we could start all over again. A clean slate, is that… all… right…?" Heero just walked past her as she spoke, continuing up the stairs. "Um, Heero?"
The brown haired boy just looked back down at her. His piercing stare causing her to shudder. "I told you already, stay away." Heero turned and continued upward.
"But… why? Tell me, Heero!" Relena begged. She got no response and heard as he went through the doors. She sighed and looked down at her shoes. "I just… want to know what I did..."
On the staircase below her, a kid with green eyes and one half of his face covered by his hair leaned on the stair railing. He heard everything and knew the context. "Hm, interesting. I might have to meet this Heero guy myself." He put his hands in his pockets and descended the stairs.
During lunch time, Heero walked around the empty hallways. He didn't feel like eating so he strayed from the cafeteria and away from other people. He didn't want to be outside either. He knew a lot kids would be out there as well. The more alone time he could get here, the better. He especially didn't need that girl to come over bugging him again.
She was a strange one, Heero thought to himself. Why on earth would she feel the need to apologize? He was the one that disrespected her. It was such a bizarre concept. Were the roles reversed then there would be no way that Heero would be telling anyone he was sorry. He didn't get it at all.
Again, she invaded his thoughts and again it irritated him. He grunted and kept moving. As he kept walking down the halls he noticed a guy leaning on the lockers. Arms crossed and looking ahead. Heero didn't remember seeing him before. His face was half covered by his unique head of hair. They were the only two in the hallway.
Heero raised an eyebrow at this but kept it going. Eventually he passed the kid and as he got about 7 feet away from him, he heard him speak.
"So, you're Heero Yuy. You've made quite a name for yourself here already." the emerald eye kid started.
Heero stopped but didn't bother looking back.
"Heard about what happened yesterday from Quatre." the kid continued. Again, Heero didn't bother looking back at him. "Kind of a mean thing to do don't you think? Relena is a nice person. You could've just said you didn't want to go and be done with it."
Heero finally looked over his shoulder, glaring at the kid with eyes telling him to leave him alone. The other student wasn't phased one bit.
"My names Trowa Barton. Just wanted to introduce myself to the most infamous person at school."
Heero looked away again. "Are you done?" Heero kept walking on.
Trowa shrugged. "I guess. Though make sure you treat Relena with a little more respect next time." he said with a calm demeanor. "She's a really good friend and I'd hate to actually have to do something more drastic later if your questionable actions continue."
That got Heero to stop once more. He turned around with a grin on his face. "You would go that far huh?" This annoyed Heero, but at the same time he was ready to throw down if need be. And this Trowa guy looked like he might actually pose a challenge. There was something about him that demanded a little more, say, respect then the other guys in this school.
"I don't really want to." Trowa continued. He got off the lockers and started heading towards Heero's direction. "But like I said, I consider Relena close and for my friends, i'll do what has to be done."
Heero watched him approach. "She your girlfriend or something?"
Trowa paused for a second with an amused smirk. "No, nothing like that. A lot of people here get that idea about us. Honestly, I can't see her as nothing more than a friend. Always have."
"Hn." Heero's eyes were trained on him as he moved next to him.
"I don't know where you come from or why you're here, but it also doesn't matter. None of that is my business." Trowa said, standing next to Heero. "I'd like you to do your best here though. So, I'll wish you the best of luck this year. And again, be nice to Relena. She just wants to know you better and be friendly with everyone. It's really easy to hurt a woman's feelings, you know." Trowa finished as he looked into Heero's wild glare. 'Quatre was right' Trowa thought. 'There's something about this guy's look that feels heavy. I wonder where that comes from…'
"Hn." Heero grunted. He wasn't sure what to do with that kind of information.
"Well, maybe we can be on good terms, too, someday." Trowa added as he started walking off. "See you around, Heero."
Heero watched him walk off. He would give him credit, it wasn't often some guy would try to confront him one on one. Trowa didn't come off as threatening, but he did give off the vibe that he would change if the situation called for it. Heero sighed and turned around, heading towards the opposite direction this time.
"So Quatre told me that Trowa spoke with Heero." Dorothy spoke as they finished getting changed for PE.
Relena turned her head quickly to hear what else Dorothy had to say. "Really?"
"Yup." Dorothy smirked. "Guess they met during lunch time."
"Well what happened?" Relena really wanted to hear about this meeting.
"I guess nothing crazy, or else we would have heard about it by now." Dorothy and Relena finished changing and head out. They were in the gymnasium, on the second floor specifically overlooking the basketball court downstairs. "Quatre told me he just introduced himself, wanted to get to know him a little better. He didn't get much out of him, but said they reached some kind of understanding."
"Trowa usually tries to take the higher ground." Relena sighed, glad that nothing went wrong with their encounter.
"Not the road I would have taken, but oh well." Dorothy responded with a shrug.
Relena chuckled and nodded. Dorothy was not shy of confrontation at all.
"Wow, look at him go. I mean I heard he's an asshole but man he can really play!"
Relena and Dorothy heard this and looked down to see what that comment was about. That's when she noticed that there was a five on five basketball game being played down there. And it looked like Heero was playing.
And it looked like he was dominating.
Heero played with great ferocity. His dribbling and ball handling ability befuddled his opponents. It was almost as if he was able to get to the hoop at will. No amount of great defense played could stop him. He was on a mission. He took it to the hole, not finding it difficult to get a lay up. He got open shots and even created some shots for other teammates. He was unlike anything they had seen on the court before.
He started attracting a crowd the more the game went and that caused more students to spectate. Heero didn't want this attention but he also knew when he was in the zone. He knew he could play ball well, but never thought he was super great or anything. He just had a lot of experience playing with guys on the street. Guys who were really good but could never make it out of the neighborhood and the guys he was playing against right now just weren't as good as the street kids were.
This started to frustrate his opponents who didn't like him already. They were yelling at each other, irritated that nobody could stop him. All of them accusing each other of not playing defense hard enough or just not being good in general.
Heero ignored them and continued to attack, scoring long range shots back to back and getting oohs and ahhs from the crowd. Even the students who despised him were impressed. Relena came walking downstairs and everybody made way for her and Dorothy by the court-side.
Relena watched Heero play. She didn't know too much of basketball, but she had obviously seen it played before. And she had never seen anyone play harder than Heero. His ferocious playing style matched the intensity he gave off. She noticed how focused he seemed. Like he had no other objective than to get things done. Her eyes shook as she watched him, not knowing how someone could be so fierce and at that speed. Heero said he wanted her to stay away but when he made her look at him differently than anybody else at school, he kind of made that difficult.
It was then that one blonde haired kid on the opposing team noticed Relena watching. He thought about something he could do to get in her good graces and then an idea popped into his head. He would teach the guy who hurt Relena a lesson.
As Heero was walking the ball up the court he noticed a switch in defenders. It wasn't anything to worry about, he had been killing them all game long. Any strategy they had was useless against him. It was an arrogant thought, Heero noted, but it's not like he they were proving him wrong or anything. Heero just shrugged and noticed the blonde haired kid come up to defend him. Heero faked right but went left.
The blonde haired kid almost tripped but surprisingly recovered and ran quickly along with Heero. He knew Heero was about to run past him so he acted fast and hip checked Heero as hard as he could, sending Heero flying out of bounds and into a bunch of sports equipment. The foul was as flagrant as it could get and everybody looked on in shock.
Even the ones that didn't like Heero were questioning whether that had gone too far.
"Oh my god!" Relena exclaimed with a gasp, her hands raised to her mouth, hoping that Heero had been okay. Even Dorothy watched with raised eyebrows, very surprised that someone actually took action against Heero. She felt a little bad about that because she knew she was one of the people who wanted something to be done against him.
Heero grunted in a little bit of pain but was able to sit up. He should have seen that coming. He cursed his own incompetence for failing to see that. He sat hunched over looking at the crowd, hating to see him be such of a spectacle for everyone to watch. He felt a crawling sensation on his arm and noticed he had acquired a nasty cut and was now bleeding. He sighed, leaning his head back to look up towards the ceiling.
"He's bleeding!" Heero heard a familiar voice cry out. He looked and noticed her. Everyone was still, looking stunned. Except for her.
Relena ran to a nearby closet. People were confused as to what she was doing. That's when she ran over from that closet over to Heero with a first aid kit. Heero watched her, looking a little confused.
She rushed to his side and opened up the kit. "Just stay still, okay? I'll take care of this." Relena applied disinfecting wipes and alcohol on his wounds, she wiped up the blood that had trickled down on his arm. She could feel Heero pull back, clearly not wanting her help but she kept a strong grasp on him. "Please, let me help you!" Her eyes matched his and she had a fire in them that he didn't know she was capable of producing.
For whatever reason, Heero felt himself give up the struggle and just watched her as she took care of him. "Are you hurting?" She asked as she was wrapping up the wound.
"I'm fine… not sure why you're doing this." Heero responded. "It doesn't hurt."
"I'm sure you're tough and all but we can't have you bleeding all over the place." Relena explained. "There, can you stand?"
Of course he could stand, that was a ridiculous question. And without letting go of his arm they both rose to their feet. The people were confused as they watched them interact. Not getting why Relena would do that for someone who embarrassed her the day before.
They both looked at each other, eyes locked. They didn't know how to continue and as Relena felt herself getting lost in his blue colored gaze, her cheeks burned for a second. She turned away. Heero also felt a little awkward, rubbing the back of his neck.
She looked away from him but something about her made him want to see her eyes once more. He wanted to know why she would do this. Her kindness was irrational, he thought. But he needed to see if her eyes held any answers for her strange behavior.
At least that's what he thought he wanted.
After a few more seconds of uncomfortable silence. Heero began to walk away. "Thanks…" He didn't get far though. Her grasp was still on his arm and she didn't let go. Heero looked back at her. He just looked at honey blonde hair. "You can let go now…" He looked at her confused.
Relena took a deep breath before turning to face him. "Let me take you to the nurse's office."
Heero shook his head. "Unnecessary." Heero responded, trying to get away again. She didn't let go. Heero could easily tear his arm away from her, but something about this situation kept him from being rough with her.
"You have to let me do this." Relena replied. Her eyes were wide and genuine. Heero flinched at her look.
"I'm fine, seriously. You're being ridiculous." Heero tried again.
"No, i'm not. That was a nasty cut and I want to make sure you're alright."
"Why does that matter to you?" Heero shot back.
"Because…" Relena didn't know exactly how to answer that. She knew she wanted him to be well, and that maybe she could talk to him a little more and get the answers she wanted from the beginning. But maybe there was more that she wasn't letting on. "It just does, Heero." Her voice took a softer tone.
Heero flinched again at the sound of his name coming out of her mouth. He felt weak almost. What in the world was happening to him, he wondered.
He noticed people were still watching them. They were making a scene and both of them just realized that. Relena blushed while Heero grunted. They both wanted to get out of there.
Dorothy was looking on with great amusement. 'Back on track.' the platinum blonde noted as she watched the pair.
Heero finally took his arm away from Relena and began walking away. Relena sighed, she guessed he wasn't accepting her help. She was very disappointed. But she knew he was tough, so she could at least be okay with him taking care of himself.
Heero stopped for a second and looked over his shoulder. "I… don't know where the nurse's office is."
Relena looked at him with wide blue eyes and smiled. "Well, I do."
"Can you… show me?" Heero looked away, not feeling comfortable in asking, but he couldn't stop himself. He felt like he would regret this.
Relena nodded and moved in front of him. "Sure. Follow me."
Heero nodded and took her lead. They walked out of the gym together and the kid who committed the flagrant foul was standing there absolutely astonished. That plan backfired amazingly. That's when he was hit with a chorus of boos and jeers. His teammates even throwing their jerseys at him.
Trowa was hanging out on the second floor, he watched everything that took place from the foul onward. He chuckled and shook his head. "That was quite the show. Gonna be a fun year, I think."
AN: Maybe the quickest 4 chapters I've ever written. Just have to work when you have the inspiration I guess! Let me know how the story is going so far. I'm still not sure what to think of it, but I know I like writing it and want to continue. This fandom has long since died out but Gundam Wing deserves to always be remembered. So give some feedback if you want. I'm just having fun as always.
