A/N: Here's ch.7! Thanx for the reviews! Not a lot happens in this chapter, it's more of a bridge. I really liked reading this chapter with the song "Amen" by Jewel, so if you have some kind of sad/haunting song, listen to it while reading. I just think it helps with the mood. Anyway, only Duo, Heero, Relena and Hilde are in this chapter. Quatre, Dorothy, Lucretzia, Heero, Duo, Hilde, and Relena will be in the next along with some more Gundam characters....but I'm not telling you who and what their role is yet! You'll find out in the next chapter! I think you'll be surprised too! Now on with the fic!!
Intrigued By Innocence
Chapter 7
Confusion.....Intrigue.....Innocence....
Relena was asleep, he didn't know how she could sleep after all of the pain that had happened to her today. Where was he? He scanned the room he was in, taking in what was around him. The whole room sent a chill down his spine. So many mirrors, antiquities, and one large window. Heero looked outside the window, darkness. He couldn't see anyone. Not even movement, it was so dark.
He turned around and found him staring at....the window. The window.....he was staring into a mirror, and all it showed was the window. Heero took in a deep breath, not breaking his gaze with the mirror, anger filling the pit of his stomach. Mirrors.....he always hated them.
Movement from the bed interrupted his thoughts, causing him to shift his gaze to the girl. Still asleep....
Hatred. He had hatred for this girl. THIS GIRL! And why? She is the one that made him think, she made him wonder, she made him confused. She made him different.
But she was indeed beautiful.....STOP IT! His mind screamed. STOP IT!
Heero watches Relena sleep, his mind debating with itself. Why he was here?.......He didn't know. He just felt that....that.....HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE FELT! This girl, this damn intriguing beautiful girl, has a power over him. He was the moth and she was the flame, slowly pulling him.
" .....Brother.....dear brother...."
The vampire's eyes widened. Was she awake? Quickly he glanced at the girl's face. He found only tears and closed eyes, she was having dream. In fact, he should leave, before he gets too close to the flame.
Heero picked up his coat that he left on one of the chairs in the room, and glanced at Relena one more time, before quietly walking past her bed to the door.
" MILLIARDO!! NO!! DON'T LEAVE ME!! PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE!!"
Heero froze, he literally couldn't move. Glancing at Relena, he found that she was still asleep. He let out a breath of relief. So if she was asleep, than he should go. He still didn't move, only stared at the sleeping girl. GO! Still, Heero didn't move.
And then, something unexpected happened. Relena shot up in her bed with half opened eyes. She quickly noticed a presence was in the room, and she stared into Heero's eyes with sorrow and sadness, new tears were forming. And Heero? Heero's breath quickened at an amazing pace, and he just stared back with surprised eyes.
" Milliardo?"
Silence. Heero looked down upon the girl who stared up at him. Silence. He turned the knob on the door. Silence. He walked out. He walked out and once again beat himself down for being there in the first place. He can't get too close. He can't get too close to the flame.
* * * * The Day After * * * *
" Heero?"
Heero was silent. He just stayed silent on the old victorian couch under the tapestry. Duo watched him closely, he was seated in his usual chair across the room.
" Heero?"
Silence.
" I saw you."
Heero stared at nothing in particular, listening to Duo. He didn't answer, just listened. Listened while yesterday's events replayed in his mind. Duo continued.
" I was walking away from the house, and I saw you through her room's window watching her."
A sigh escaped Duo's lips as Heero didn't say anything.
" Your intrigued by her, aren't you Heero? Your fascinated and you don't know why. Don't think I didn't see you watch her sleep. Does Lucretzia know?"
"....No."
Duo let out a little smirk. Finally, something Lucretzia doesn't know.
Silence.
" Why do you watch over her? Are you feeling guilty? Are you feeling doubt in Lucretzia, your love? Are you feeling....are you feeling real sympathy, real regret, real attraction?"
Heero looked up. Duo stared back and saw....saw something, something in Heero's eyes....was it sadness, confusion?
" Heero....you're different someho-"
Before he could finished his sentence, the door burst open to reveal a smiling Hilde.
" DUO!"
She called out his name excitedly as she jumped onto the chair with him. Duo looked at her, and gave her his wide smile, weaker than it usually was. He glanced at Heero, who was staring at the floor.
Hilde is what you wouldn't call a common vampire. She clings to Duo, won't separate from him most of the time, and is always curious and excited with what is unfamiliar. She is fascinated with blood. The color, the thickness, the taste, how it pumps in the body. And Duo...Duo shields her and protects her, watches over her with a careful eye. So it was no surprise that she grasped onto him again as soon as she heard he was back from Darlain Manor. Hilde held onto Duo tighter with closed eyes, a happy look on her face.
" I'm going out for a walk."
Duo looked up to find Heero leaving. He didn't say anything, just let him go. And as the door was closed, Duo got up, causing Hilde to fall to the floor.
" OW! Duo! Where are you going?"
".....I need to think...."
Hilde watched with questioning and curious eyes as Duo left.
" What is going on?"
* * * * * * * *
Cold and dark, like her life. Relena's eyes were dull and tired. She had seen so much, so much pain. She needed time to rest. Time to think. Time to herself. And this was the one place she went.
So here she was, in the cemetery. Looking down upon her mother and father. Of course, they were six feet under, but it still gave a feeling to Relena that she couldn't describe. A feeling that everything is ok. That her life wasn't dark and lonely. ' Lonely....'
Relena felt as if her legs weighed a thousand pounds as she thought of the word. Lonely. She fell to her knees, staring straight ahead to the tombstones of her mother and father. All alone....
" I'm sorry....."
Relena's head whipped around, but her eyes didn't widen, they didn't moisten with tears, they just were empty....she was empty. There before her was the man....the vampire....that had taken a hold of her before she escaped. He was perched on a tombstone, the words Our Dear Mary scrawled on it, watching her like an owl. One leg was on the stone, while the other was dangling freely.
" About your parents that is."
"......."
" I understand that your afraid, I practically tried to kidnap you."
He let out a laugh, but Relena still watched his every move, watched him with eyes that seemed to burn into him.
" What have you done with my brother?"
Her voice was calm, she showed no fear. Her eyes were fainter, duller than before, and it seemed as if all emotions escaped from her delicate body. Duo stared at her, penetrating his eyes into her, analyzing her. She was different. She seemed....she seemed more haunting than before.
" .....I didn't do anything to him lady."
" I don't believe you."
" .........."
" ....Why? Why did you take him...away from me?"
She was staring at her parents grave again, reaching out and stroking the stone. Duo looked at her with wide eyes. What should he say?
"....I....I don't know..."
And it was the truth. He wasn't lying. He honestly did not know why Milliardo was so special. It was Lucretzia that wanted him....
" I see..."
Duo sighed shakily, he was getting intimidated....by her. She was so different, so empty. She wasn't even crying. Just staring at the grave. Maybe she had shed all the tears she could have, and now...now there were no more tears to cry.
" Is Heero one?"
His eyes widened a little at her question, surprised.
" One what?"
" You know what. A demon, a vampire."
"....Yes."
Relena took on a look of a daydreamer, thinking, soaking in what Duo told her. Duo glanced at her before jumping off of the tombstone, and landing on the soft ground. After he landed, he took a step toward the girl. She flinched at his movement, as if he would hit her. A reflex.
Strange she was. And it was indeed strange that a girl like her would emanate innocence. But she did. She seemed to have the aura about herself.
" How did it feel?"
" What?"
" To become a vampire?"
Duo's voice was caught in his throat. He just couldn't find the words that described what had happened to him, to his body, to his mind.
" I....I felt empty. Like a part of me died...."
He had never told this to anyone before, why is he telling her?
" But I also felt something new, something that filled up that part of me. Something I didn't like, but couldn't help to love. Power."
" I see....is that what....is that what Heero felt?"
Why was she talking about Heero so much? Did she know? Did she know that he watched her last night? Did she know?
" I don't know..."
She looked down again. Down at her parents six feet under.
" ......"
" He might be alive, your brother I mean...."
A single tear fell from her right eye, trailing down her cheek till it fell to her parents grave.
Duo looked toward the heavens, seeing it was getting dark. He turned around and started to leave silently, glancing back at Relena one more time.
" ....He...He'll watch over you...I'm sure of it..."
She didn't hear him, and if she did, than she would think he meant Milliardo. But he didn't....he meant Heero....
* * * * * * *
A/N: Another chapter done! YAY! Remember to review please! Till next time! See ya!
~Harlequin