Consciousness 6/?

Gin Ryo no Nari

Standard Disclaimers

The wind was promptly knocked out of her at impact and further crushed from her lungs as Heero fell onto her, but she didn’t have time to register that sensation as she simultaneously felt an explosion in the back of her head and saw a great flash of white.

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Heero quickly glanced around. He saw Quatre sitting up from the spot where he had landed. Trowa was putting his weapon that he had fired back into the holster. Duo was moving out from behind a pillar also holstering his drawn weapon and Hilde was behind him holding his hand. Up in the balcony Wufei was standing, presumably, over the assassin with his weapon drawn. He moved from his protective tackle and saw that Relena was very still. He was about to check her pulse when she took a deep shaky breath and opened her eyes.

Relena’s chest hurt badly, had she stopped breathing? ‘Why can’t I breathe?’ All of a sudden her lungs filled with air, much to her relief, and she forced herself to open her eyes. She was greeted with a fuzzy image that she presumed to be Heero, her vision cleared quickly and she saw that she was correct in her assumption. “Heero-- is anyone hurt?” She looked him over casually and saw a red stain slowly spreading down his arm, “I see you are.” She sat up and felt a wave of dizziness. Heero reached out to help her, she cringed as he lightly brushed over her arm, which had minor scraping on it from the close call with the bullet.

“No one else seems to be injured, I think the bullet must have gone through the window.” He gestured to the window near them. “Now, Relena, how many fingers am I holding up,” he queried as he held up three.

“Two,” Heero’s eyes filled with concern, “two fingers--and your thumb.” Relena finished with a smirk that changed into a wince when her head began to throb again. “Now let me see your arm,” she reached out and felt a burning in her arm that quickly reminded her of her injury and she dropped it to her side.

“I think we should go see Sally,” he stood and then helped Relena to her feet and kept an arm secured around her to aid her balance. Heero turned his attention to Quatre who was now standing up, “ Quatre pass on instructions to the others. Tell Trowa to continue to sweep for any other problems we may have missed and tell Duo to help Wufei with the prisoner and you can manage the crowd, if you’re feeling up to it.”

Quatre smiled at Heero, “Not a problem I can handle it. But--it’s kind of evil what you are doing to Wufei.”

Heero simply smirked before heading off with Relena. He pushed easily through the crowd and found Sally Po and together the three of them went to the medical lab of the palace.

Quatre moved to the balcony stairway where the other three pilots and the prisoner, who had been rendered unconscious and was wearing a sort of hood, had congregated. “Well Winner is here, so Yuy must be with the woman,” Wufei said.

‘Maybe he does deserve it,’ Quatre thought.

“Quatre, are Relena and Soldier Boy ok?” Duo asked.

“Yes, They both have minor scrapes from the bullet, but I think they are ok otherwise. Now, I’ve been asked to give you three instructions. Duo, you are to go with Wufei to take care of the prisoner.”

“Injustice! Why must it be Maxwell?”

“Heero’s orders. He wants Trowa to continue a sweep for any other problems and I am supposed to do crowd control.”

“Fine.” Wufei muttered, “Come on Maxwell and don’t talk!”

“What’s the matter Wu-fie? Don’t you like me?” Duo queried as the pair each grabbed an arm of the prisoner and proceeded to drag him down the hallway next to the balcony stairway.

A “Shut up Maxwell,” could be heard faintly echoing down the hallway.

In the Medical Lab in the Palace

Sally was shining a light in Relena’s eyes, “Relena, did you black out at anytime?”

“No Sally. No blackouts, no spots, no lights,” ‘Liar,’ “I just got the wind knocked out of me, hit my head really hard and was grazed by a bullet. I’m a little bit banged up but I’m fine, just set me up with an ice-pack and an aspirin or two and I’ll be good as new in a few days.”

Sally narrowed her eyes in skepticism, “Ok, if you say so. I’ll have to get an ice-pack from the kitchen though, the ones that are supposed to be in here are missing.” Sally went to the sink and filled a small glass with water and went to a cabinet drawer and fished out a couple of painkillers. She handed the items to the younger woman and cleaned her scrape with an alcohol swab and put an antibiotic and a band-aid over the minor injury. Sally then went to Heero and began to clean his arm, the wound was a bit deeper than Relena’s had been but it was still just a minor gash.

Sally spoke softly to Heero, “Be aware of any odd behavior or mood swings on Relena’s part. It is possible that she has a concussion”

“Sally, I swear I’m fine,” Relena responded, “I wish everyone would just stop fawning over me. I’m not a delicate flower who’ll wilt if I get stepped on. I’m human. I’m resilient,” She continued exasperatedly.

“Relena, you are important to the human race, so you must be protected and “fawned” over when you’re injured.” Heero replied sounding as calm as ever.

“Thank you Heero for reminding me that I’m nothing but a figurehead. Thank you for showing you care,” she replied sarcastically heading towards the door of the room.

“This would be the mood swing I was talking about,” Sally muttered to herself.

“Relena, I’m sorry--but you’ve got to understand that the people look to you for guidance.” He stood up, “at least let me walk with you to your room.” ‘There could be other assassins and I don’t want anything else to happen to you.’ “You may lose your balance again.”

Relena knew she was behaving oddly and she didn’t know why and it frightened her. Her temper, however, was calmed with Heero’s apology. She couldn’t explain it but something inside of her softened instantly at his words. “Fine Heero,” she replied, her voice losing some of the edge that it had just moments ago.

Heero walked over to the chair close to him and grabbed his coat from it. The same coat that Relena had worn just a short time ago he realized when he put it on and smelled Relena’s perfume faintly. He hurried over to the door where the young woman stood, he took her arm and together they left the Medical Lab to go to her suite.

The pair walked through the wing that everyone lived and played in. The “Family Wing” as Duo had dubbed it once several years ago. It was a fitting term for it though, Relena lived in this wing, although up a flight of stairs, Milliardo and Lucretzia had a suite on the floor they were passing through now. Oddly enough each of the pilots and several of the girls had rooms in this wing, even though in some cases she saw them only 2 or 3 times a year, Relena thought it only appropriate since they were the people nearest to her heart. This wing was her mental and emotional refuge from her work and she offered it to those who helped to bring the gift of peace to humanity as her way of thanking them.

Heero watched Relena as they started up the stairs to the floor where Dorothy, Sally, Pagan and their suites were. Relena seemed to be ok, but there was something a little off that he couldn’t put his finger on. She was being unusually quiet he noted. He paused to look around for any signs of intruders into this part of the palace but he didn’t see anything so he decided it must have been the extra adrenaline in his system. He easily caught up to her towards the top of the staircase.

Usually Relena would have broken the silence between them but she remained silent as she thought about this attempt on her life. After a few minutes of silence, “Heero--,” she said softly, the pair started down the corridor towards her suite.

‘Finally,’ “Yeah Relena.”

“Did your first suspect tell you who sent them?”

“He said he and his partner were freelance. They were contacted by a stranger, who paid them cash to ‘drop you.’”

“Who took out the assassin?” Relena asked softly.

“Trowa. I saw him trying to get the assassin in his sights before I reached you.” They stopped in front of Relena’s door and Heero looked her in the eyes for the first time since they had left the Med. lab. She looked so worried, “Relena I will protect you. You believe me, right?” Her expression turned to sorrow as he spoke and she looked away from him.

“Heero I would never doubt you.” She stumbled for words, “But I--,” she looked into his eyes again and she felt so confused. Her line of thought was lost to her subconscious in her confusion, “Heero--I--I don’t remember what I was saying.”

“Relena are you alright?” Heero grabbed her uninjured arm gently and pulled her a little closer to him.

She swallowed, “Yes, I just lost my train of thought that’s all.” She smiled weakly at him, “It’s been a rough night. I think I need to go to bed shortly.” Heero let go of her arm and put himself between her and the door as he cracked the door open and listened for any peculiar noises. He opened the door further and pulled Relena in behind him as he flicked a light switch on. It was clear. Heero proceeded to check under her bed, on the balcony, in the closet and the adjoining bathroom before he was satisfied that it was clear.

While he searched her suite Relena went to her drawer and grabbed a clean pair of pajamas and her black silk robe. She saw the Japanese man go into her bathroom and snickered to herself as she heard him make an indescribable sound. She had forgotten that she had washed a few of her unmentionables-namely her bras. She didn’t want the house servants to do her laundry after all, and they had been left to drip dry in her bathroom. She moved to the bathroom door as the man emerged with a faint tinge of red staining his cheeks.

“You could have warned me about that,” he muttered just before a knock was heard on the bedroom door. He looked at her curiously and she shrugged her shoulders. He removed his weapon from it’s holster and aimed it at the door, “Come in.”

Sally opened the door, “I’m unarmed, with the exception of an ice-pack.” She peeked her head in and then held out an ice-pack, “See Heero,” she said with a smile. He ignored her jabs at his paranoia and she handed the ice-pack to Relena, “Here you go princess.” Relena rolled her eyes at the comment before going towards the bathroom.

“Thanks Sal,” she said before closing the door.

“Sally,” The blondish woman turned to Heero, “I want someway to contact you ASAP if something happens to Relena. I know you’re just down the hall…” Heero trailed off, but Sally understood his motivation.

She gave him a wrist communicator she had in her pocket, “I thought you might. This one is keyed to mine so you won’t have to do anything but push the ‘open line’ button.”

“Thanks Sally.” The woman simply nodded in return as she left the room. Heero decided to guard Relena’s room as a precaution, so he took up residence in a chair near her bed.

Meanwhile Relena tried to enjoy her nice hot bath. She soaked in the tub for fifteen whole minutes, with an icepack on her head, when she couldn’t stand it anymore; she wasn’t used to having time to relax at night. She toweled off, wrapped her hair up in a towel and grabbed her pajamas to put on. It was then that she noticed what she had grabbed-a navy blue silky nightgown, she blushed at the thought of Heero seeing her in it. ‘Oh well, maybe he won’t be in my room. --Yeah right.’ “Well at least I grabbed my robe--although it’s not much better.” She put on her nightgown and slid her robe on over it. She took her hair down and combed it out before she finished the rest of her nightly routine.

When Heero heard the door open he looked up and momentarily lost his breath. Relena looked stunning, her robe seemed to frame her body and draw attention to her physical assets. Heero’s mind managed to regain control before he embarrassed himself and he stood up. “So how was the bath?” ‘Stupid Idiot!’ Maybe his brain wasn’t working. “Are you relaxed now?”

Relena noticed he was fumbling for words, ‘This is a nice change,’ she smiled. “Yes.” However, when he approached her, she panicked and stood frozen in her place, ‘Is this what a deer trapped by headlights feels like?’

“How is your arm,” he queried softly, stopping only a short distance from her.

“Not so bad. It stings a little but isn’t bleeding now,” she smiled nervously.

He moved closer, ‘Heero don’t touch her. Don’t touch her.’ He didn’t listen to himself as he reached over and pushed the shoulder of her robe off her arm with his index finger. He wrapped his hand around her arm gently and pulled the injury closer to him. He was fighting a hormonal urge to pull her closer. He was barely succeeding. “Hnnn. It looks like it may not even leave a mark.” He could feel her gaze on his face, ‘If you look at her Heero, there could be problems. Just don’t look her in the eyes. You can still remain detached if you don’t look her in the eye.’ He looked anyway; it was like her gaze was a magnet to his eyes. Silence stretched between them as they regarded each other. His hand was still on her arm and his fingers were absently squeezing the flesh under them. “Cold?”

Relena cocked her head to the side and looked at him curiously as she crossed her arms in front of her, “What?”

“Are you cold Relena?”

“Why do you ask that Heero,” a blush started to creep up her cheeks as she hypothesized embarrassing clues he may have noticed.

“You have goosebumps on your arms,” he stated as he leaned down to her ear, “and your hair is wet,” he finished softly. He circled around her, his hand slipping from her arm, and took a look at the bump on her head that seemed to be a bit smaller now. His hand was about to touch her shoulder when the sound of the door opening startled both of them. Heero’s weapon was drawn instantly and leveled at the head of the intruder.

Zechs smiled at Heero as he entered the room, he saw the younger man shift his weapon to turn the safety back on and holster it again. Noin was just behind Zechs and smirked at the sight of the younger woman and her bodyguard, before she went over to hug her sister-in-law.

“Zechs, Noin,” Heero greeted the couple, before glancing at Relena again. A very faint smile touched his lips, “I guess I will leave for the time. Zechs, come and get me after you’re finished.”

“Sure Heero.” Heero nodded his thanks before he moved to the door, he glanced back at Relena one last time before he left her room to go to his own just next-door.

“Well dear little sister, guess what I’ve arranged for you,” Milliardo said as he embraced her in a hug.

“I’ve no idea, big brother. What?”

“You will be going on a two-to three-week long vacation.” He watched her face for a reaction.

“What?! I can’t do that!” Her voice rose in pitch quickly and her eyes were huge with shock at what her brother had done.

“Relena we don’t know who these people are. We don’t know about their resources. For all we know the people behind this could be here in the palace. If that is the case, they don’t want to be connected with the assassination so they hired out. So it makes sense to get you away from here and your job for a while.”

“Milliardo, I can’t just go on a three week vacation! The Foreign Minister would never approve.”

“Wrong. I’ve already talked to him. He has agreed to meet with your secretary to handle your meetings and look over your paperwork concerning the meetings he will be mediating on your behalf. Lady Une has agreed to look over the security issues that you were supposed to deal with between the colonies and Earth. So you have nothing to do.”

“How can the Foreign Minister take on my work? He has his own to keep track of!”

“He said he didn’t have anything scheduled for the next few weeks except for a few public talks which were easily rescheduled.” Her brother smiled at her confidently, “You are taking a break.”

Lucretzia, who had stood there and watched the two siblings bicker back and forth decided to draw attention to herself by clearing her throat. “Relena, you are the only family he has, other than myself. He loves you, you’re his sister. You are also way overdue for a break, so you are taking one and that is final.” She smiled sweetly, “Ok, now that business has been taken care of--how about some bonding with family.”

The three of them sat and talked together for twenty minutes when Milliardo said he was getting tired, so he left to get Heero. Noin gave Relena an appraising look, “Relena, you are very, VERY, lucky you had that robe on when we came in. Even though your brother thinks Heero is a decent and honorable guy, I think he would have killed Heero if he tried anything with you wearing this.” Noin said gesturing to Relena's attire.

“I didn’t grab this on purpose, it was the first thing in my drawer,” she replied defensively.

“Sure Relena. Admit it. You were trying to seduce him,” Lucretzia prodded.

“I would never. --And even if I were…” Relena started but when she heard a knock on the door she stopped short.

“Relena, it’s me,” Heero’s muffled voice came through the door.

“Come in Heero,” she called. Lucretzia gave her a quick look that said ‘we will finish this later,’ and smiled at Relena before she went to the door to leave.

Meanwhile, Heero was standing outside Relena’s door and he could hear her and Noin talking quietly. He decided that he shouldn’t eavesdrop on their conversation and he knocked on her door softly. He heard Relena’s voice start to rise in pitch and volume and knocked again, louder this time, and announced himself. “Relena, it’s me.” He could hear her slightly muffled voice invite him in. He opened the door and saw Noin give Relena an odd look before she left the room. Relena was standing by the time he had entered and closed the door behind him.

“Good evening Heero,” Relena said with a slight smile.

“You sound like you’re in a better mood than you were in earlier. Is this change in mood due to the attempt on your life?” He moved further into the room and went to the seat near her bed. He nodded at her and she sat back down on her bed, he noticed that she sunk into the dark green feather-bed top slightly.

She smiled, not looking at him and her hands fidgeting in her lap, “I guess you could say that. Although I was very reluctant at first--it seems that I will finally be taking a vacation.” She turned her head slightly to look at the man before her, “I assume my brother told you about it.”

“Yes, he did. I offered to go along and he said I was welcome to.”

“You really don’t have to go along on this trip. I mean--well, the girls are coming along, Hilde and Dorothy. Maybe Sally just as a precaution. And we’re probably going to stay with Quatre, he offered, and then Duo will be going along too.” Her eyes had slowly moved away from his while she spoke and her hands were still fidgeting in her lap.

“Relena.” She wouldn’t look at him, growing a tiny bit frustrated he reached over and raised her face, “Relena, I want to go with you. I want to make sure you’re safe.” His fingers slipped from her jaw, down her neck to rest on her shoulder. “You always have worked too hard,” he said softly.

When Relena looked into his eyes she saw a look of tenderness there, her mind commented that, that look, was becoming a bit more common when he was around her. “Recent history has seemed to indicate that I must work hard to preserve peace. You’ve said before that my presence is necessary to maintain it.”

Heero nodded slightly. “How is your arm,” he inquired changing subjects.

Relena eased the body part in question out of her robe and showed it to him. “It isn’t too painful. A little burning and tingling in the area, but nothing serious.”

Heero’s finger had been lightly tracing around the wound. He stopped when she mentioned the sensations and looked up at her apologetically, as he reminded himself that everyone did not and could not ignore physical pain as well as he could.

Relena smiled at his chagrined expression and started to say something to him when she stated to feel dizzy. She blinked her eyes a few times, as her vision became fuzzy, hoping to clear them.

Relena started to sway slightly and Heero’s hand, which was resting lightly on her arm, curled around it and tightened its grip on her. “Relena?” The color was rapidly draining from her face and her eyes took on a glazed look. “Relena?”

“What--Heero?” She could barely find the strength to breathe out those two words. Relena could barely hear him, his voice sounded so far away. Everything sounded so far away, muffled really. “Wraleana,” his voice called again. He sounded panicked, was she dying? She had never heard him sound panicked before. She wanted to look him in the eyes and try to reassure him that she was still there, but her vision grew darker and she could barely make out his figure holding onto her. She could barely feel him holding her. It felt more like a blanket was wrapped around her than the arms of a man who had piloted one of the most deadly mobile suits in the planet’s history. She heard him bellow for Sally and beg her to hang on before she fell into a black void.

“Sally!” Heero yelled loudly, before remembering he had a communicator. He fumbled impotently with it, while trying to hold onto Relena, “Hang on Relena.” Finally succeeding to activate the communicator he spoke into it. “Sally! Get in here now!”

to be continued…

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