AN: Have fun everybody! That is all.

Chapter 9: Love Will Tear Us Apart

Relena headed to the patio in Quatre's backyard. There was a pool table set up where Trowa and Quatre had a game going on. Dorothy had her feet curled up underneath her on the couch they had set up there as she chewed on the bottom of her pen while looking down at a textbook, clearly thinking about some school work she had been going over. Quatre warmly greeted her while Trowa noticed she looked a little… down?

"Everything okay?" asked the owner of emerald eyes. He leaned over, taking a shot, sending a ball in the side pocket.

"Yeah…" Relena sighed, dropping herself beside Dorothy.

"You sure?" Trowa wasn't quite convinced. He adjusted himself to take another shot again, this time missing his mark. "Damn."

"I'm sure…" came a weary response. "Just a little tired."

Trowa watched Quatre go as he continued to analyze his friend. She did look tired, but also kind of… upset? He couldn't quite put a finger on it. "Tutoring take that much out of you?"

'Let's go with that.' Relena thought. "Maybe I used up too much of my brain power today." She wasn't exactly lying, the girl knew.

"Not bad Quatre…" Trowa complimented his best friend's shot. He returned his attention back to Relena. "Need me to bring you something to drink? You look like you could use it."

"Got something hard?" Relena half jokingly asked.

Trowa chuckled at the request. "I think you're forgetting who's house we're at." He moved over to a cooler they had at the side of the pool table where he grabbed her a bottle of water.

"Can we make an exception this one time, Quatre?" Relena continued to kid around. "Thanks, Trowa."

Quatre shook his head, grinning at her. "Even if I did, there's not a single drop of alcohol in this entire place."

"Believe him, I asked a long time ago." Dorothy added, eyes still focused on her school work. "What's got you so thirsty all of a sudden?"

Relena threw her head back, eyes pointed at the blue sky above. "Just feeling a little spent."

"Wow, no more after school activities for you." the platinum blonde moved her focus to the girl sitting beside her. She noticed her friend spacing out. Dorothy raised an eyebrow at this.

Relena took a sip of her water and then bit her lip, still trying to figure out what went so wrong. The frustration started to become visible and Dorothy and Trowa exchanged looks before looking back at their clearly distraught friend.

"I got a feeling this has less to do with school and more to do with something else." Trowa commented, setting up his turn after Quatre missed his mark.

"I agree." Dorothy concurred. "Since when does school exhaust you this much?"

'Since a certain new student arrived…' Relena kept that one to herself. "Third year in the same school, it can get old after a while." she shrugged.

Trowa watched his shot miss and smirked. "Didn't expect to hear that."

"Cynicism from Relena…" Dorothy put her books to the side and crossed her arms, wanting to know where all of this was coming from. "This is amazing. What really happened to you?"

"Nothing…" Relena wasn't going to discuss this.

Trowa analyzed her body language, continuing to give signals of a girl lost in her head. "Not sure I buy that." Quatre nodded along in agreement with his friend.

"Same." Dorothy piled on. "Will we be getting details or are we going to be left to speculate?"

"It's simple, sometimes you're just not having a good day. It happens." Relena said, trying to deflect from getting to the truth.

"You showed nothing all day that would indicate that you felt that way." Dorothy retorted. Trowa felt the same way.

Relena took another sip of her water and cleared her throat. "Maybe I'm just good at hiding it?"

"Maybe." Dorothy shrugged. "Still not buying what you're selling."

"Who says it was for sale?" Relena sent back at her. "It is what it is and that's all I'm going to say about it."

Trowa was surprised to see Relena be so dismissive. They all were really.

"My my, aren't we testy today!' Dorothy huffed.

Relena sighed, knowing she was coming off a little bitchy.. "Sorry… I'm just tired. Give me a little time and I'll be okay."

Everyone else looked at each other and shook their heads, though they all chose to back off and allowed their friend some time to regain herself.

Relena closed her eyes, going back to replay the events from earlier.


"Relena…" she heard him mutter.

She was ready.

Heero was ready to seal the deal, his lips got closer. And as he was about to make the space between their mouths disappear… thoughts from before flashed into his head.

'Remember, two different worlds and two different lives.'

'Never forget that.'

Uncle J's words crashed into his head.

'You better be careful with that girl.'

Heero froze, remembering what was said and who he was. From there, more images of everyday street life began to resurface. A slideshow played in the theatre of his mind of moments in his pathetic life. Drugs… Guns… Police… No biological family to speak of… Heero remembered now. This was who he was and all he could ever be.

A guy who had to take time off of school just to hustle hard.

And a person like that had no right to love a person like her.

This sad realization hit him and he grunted, closing his eyes and then pulling away. He slowly backed off, letting the honey blonde go. Relena's eyes opened as she felt Heero move. She blinked, confusion starting to set in as she gave Heero a curious look

"Um… is everything okay?" Relena tried to compose herself, smoothing out her uniform and suddenly feeling awkward. She watched him stand there, eyebrows furrowed and looking away from her. She noticed how he kept his fists clenched, giving the impression of anger almost.

Heero shook his head. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done that."

"What do you mean?" Relena was lost. Why would he apologize? Relena was ready to return his… kiss. This entire past month since their initial meeting had pretty much been leading up to this moment.

"Taking… advantage of you like that… It isn't right." Heero reached over to squeeze his shoulder, a feeling of uncomfort starting to overwhelm him.

"Heero you weren't doing anything wrong, I was…. I wanted you to… you know…" As she spoke, she watched Heero start to shake his .

"You don't know what you're saying." Heero carried on. "This is wrong. I shouldn't have done this… I don't have the right to."

"I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, you're not making any sense." Relena was just not getting this turn of events at all. They were about to share their most intimate moment together yet and now Heero starts acting weird. At this point she started to feel self-conscious, feeling like something was wrong with her. "Is… it something I did? Something about me that you just realized you didn't li-"

"Stop!" it almost came off like a growl. Relena flinched and Heero immediately regretted taking that tone with her. "Shit… I'm sorry… forgive me." Heero walked over and grabbed his bag. "I'm not at all right for you." He kept his back towards her. He couldn't see her eyes shaking like they were right now. "I can only ask that we start again, this time as strangers." Heero began walking away, heading towards the exit.

"Heero, wait!" Relena grabbed her bag as well. Nothing was adding up, her mind was spinning and she had no clue was just happened. They went from damn near kissing to Heero claiming he wanted to be 'strangers'. There had to be more that he wasn't telling her. She began chasing after him. "Don't go yet." She continued, trying to catch up. "I don't understand anything you're saying. Talk to me, Heero!" She reached over to grab him by the arm.

Heero felt the contact and pulled hard away from her.

Relena gasped and stood in place as Heero gave her his signature glare. Heero saw the sad bewilderment in her eyes and felt too tired to continue staring her down. He shook his head once more and looked away.

"H-Heero…" she said meekly. "Why…?"

"Believe me… it's better this way." Heero explained. "You can do better than me. So for the good of both of us… leave me alone."

Heero didn't want to hear her anymore. He walked off and made for the exit like he intended… leaving a shocked, confused and saddened girl in his wake. Strange emotions started swirling up within her. She had no idea what just took place. She let him go.

She didn't follow. But that didn't mean she would not get an explanation. She had a feeling things were gonna get strange between them, but because of the weird things he started saying, there had to be more to the story then he let on. Relena rubbed her eyes, wiping away any moisture that threatened to fall. She felt drained all of a sudden. How they went from almost becoming an item to… this, she had no clue.

Though she wasn't going to give up. Relena sighed, thinking over his words.

'You can do better than me.'

'It's better this way.'

'I don't have the right to.'

She needed him to explain himself, and now it was just a matter of trying to get him to do that for her. Deep breaths came next.

Once she felt ready enough to leave, she began making her way to the still waiting Pagan. This was not how she envisioned ending her day. They had gotten this far. Why regress out of nowhere? The girl was terribly perplexed.

"Heero…" she whispered as she walked on. "Don't run away from me…"


The next day came.

It was off as expected. It seemed like Heero intentionally arrived to first period late, just so he didn't have to worry about Relena possibly greeting him in the morning like she had been doing. Relena noticed this and of course she expected things to get weird. She knew she would have to find someway to get him alone somewhere. They had to talk.

If Heero truly didn't feel anything for her, then fine. She could live with that. But after his bizarre actions from the day before, no way she would just allow that to go unquestioned.

His words though… they echoed in her head again.

'You can do better than me.'

'I don't have the right to.'

'It's better this way.'

There was some deep rooted self loathing going on with him. She could tell. And it actually hurt her to hear him say those things. It still stung as she remembered them. If there was something he needed help dealing with, then they could talk. Relena wanted to help if he would let her. But that would be the biggest issue. Heero wasn't the most forthcoming person in the world. She fully expected him to be evasive. Though before they got to that point, she had to get him alone first. Heero would most likely not want to be seen by her. She was going to do what she could.

Clarity was needed.

Lunch time arrived. Relena separated herself from her friends. She went on a mission to find Heero. He never really spent much time in the cafeteria, so she didn't bother looking around there. She looked around outside. There was a lot of ground to cover there. She ended up spending a lot of time looking for any sign of him… nothing. She spent whatever time she had left wandering some of the halls and staircases. She knew he had to be around here somewhere. She sprinted down from the third floor, trying to get to the first before it was time for her next class. Maybe she had missed an area, she thought. But as she descended, the bell rang. She sighed, knowing the search would be over for now.

"Where are you… Heero?" She looked down the staircase and headed for her next destination. At least she knew he would be at the bus stop. Maybe that would present a better opportunity, she mulled over that thought as she walked on.

Very carefully, Heero slid his way to the top of the staircase that Relena had just been in. He crossed his arms and leaned over the railing, watching her descend. He knew she would try and look for him. He could tell she wasn't the type to give up. So he turned the tables and trailed her. He watched from a distance as she had looked around outside and quietly followed her as she tried to look around the building for him.

"You really need to stop, Relena…" Heero told her to leave him alone. He wasn't sure how much clearer he could get. He did start to wonder if he had hurt her with his rejection. He definitely knew he had left her confused by it. As he watched her disappear, his arms stiffened at the idea of him hurting her. It wasn't something he wanted to do, but if that's what needed to be done, then so be it. "I'm doing this for both of us." Heero continued, speaking to no one. "So please, let me keep you safe."

He got up and moved along to his next class.


Classes finished and Heero quickly rushed out to get to his stop. He would have to keep his eyes open. If that pink car of her's decided to drive past him, he would have to find a way to hide. Knowing her, she might have her driver pull up on him again.

With that thought floating around, he put his head down and carried on.

"Mind if join you?"

Heero looked over his shoulder to see that Trowa kid pop out of nowhere. He gave him his usual glare before continuing to walk off.

"I'll take that as a yes." Trowa followed.

It most certainly wasn't a yes, Heero thought, getting annoyed. "If Relena sent you, don't waste your time. Go away."

Trowa smiled. "No she didn't. But that does answer something I was gonna ask you about."

"Hn." Heero grunted. What was this kid's goal?

"Something happened between the two of you."

Heero stopped and turned to give him his full attention. Trowa noticed that Heero was clearly not happy to see him. "What did she tell you?"

Trowa shrugged. "Nothing really. I can just tell. She was acting weird yesterday and wasn't at lunch today. Very unusual. At first I thought it might have something to do with her father, but since I see you everyday I thought I would approach you. And considering how you've reacted to me so far, I think it's safe to say you're the cause of this strange behavior."

Heero should have never responded. He should've just kept on walking.

"Want to let me know what's up?" Trowa asked, wanting to see if he could get anything at all from Mr. Yuy.

"No." Heero said flatly.

Trowa chuckled. "This is my friend we're talking about."

"I don't care." Heero did like this guy's nosy attitude. "It's none of your business."

"Again, this is my friend we're talking about. My friends are my business."

"Then ask her. You're starting to piss me off." Heero snarled. Trowa was really aggravating him now.

Trowa sighed and stepped to Heero. "You know what, since I already know that you're the issue, I won't press you for more information. Sound good?" Maybe he can get Relena to slip and find out through her.

"Are we done here?" Heero didn't bother waiting for an answer. He began walking off again.

"How did you pay to come here?" Trowa wanted to get to another topic that was bothering him.

"What?" Heero's head snapped back, once again having to look at him.

"This may not come off the right way, so please pardon my rudeness, but I know you don't come from money." Trowa explained his reasoning, telling Heero what he knew about him. "The North End isn't an especially nice part of town. No offense."

"How the hell do you know where I'm from?" Heero might have to drop this kid right here right now. His fists balled up. This guy was really digging up information on him.

Trowa grinned. "Don't get so worked up. I haven't been checking up on you or anything. The information just sort of came to me. I wasn't looking for it."

Heero wasn't sure he believed him. "Don't bullshit me."

Trowa waved him off. "I'm doing nothing of the sort. It's just… this is a pretty expensive school. I don't think there's anyone who's ever attended this place with your background."

"Your point being?" Heero's eyelids began to lower. What was Trowa after?

"Just want to know how you managed to get into St. Gabriel. I realize that it seems a little too personal a question, but I think it's important to know this stuff if you're gonna get close to Relena." He once figured Relena would get the full scoop on Heero Yuy, but right now seemed to be a good a time as any to ask these questions.

Heero looked away. "No ones getting close to anyone."

Something about how Heero looked away when he replied made Trowa curious. "Weird, from what I can tell, she seems to be really taken with you."

Heero clenched his teeth before responding. "It's… one sided. I assure you." Just bringing her up started to throw him off. He trembled for a second there.

"Are we sure?"

Heero nodded. 'Yeah…"

Trowa wasn't sold. Let's try this approach, he thought. "Well okay, so you don't mind if I go after her then?"

Heero's jaw tightened, he returned his glare back to him. "At this point, she's better off with you than me."

Trowa tilted his head at him. He was being weirdly vulnerable all of a sudden. What went on between them? "That's an… interesting response."

"Can I go now? I'm honestly not feeling well." Heero ran a hand through his head before rubbing his eyes. This topic exhausted him.

Emerald eyes scanned the boy with untamed brown bangs. He seemed a little sapped of energy all of a sudden. He was honestly getting a little tough to look at. He noticed Heero's shoulders even started to slump. "I guess you can go."

Heero nodded. He gave Trowa one last look before turning away, heading for his bus.

"Well that was something." Trowa stated once Heero was far enough away. The kid seemed very tortured about something, he observed. It made him think about Relena's role in all this. Trowa shoved his hands in his pockets and watched the kid go, noticing less confidence in his stride.

"I was right, this is going to be an interesting year." Trowa chuckled.

AN: Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"

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