Chapter 4: Clichés and Confrontations

Five minutes later, and a few awkward stares from some of Heero's neighbors, Relena was no closer to getting entrance into his apartment than the hare was closer to beating the turtle in their fabled race.

Pulling her fisted hand away from the steel door, Relena sighed. Cradling her sore hand with her other, she turned it over and examined the damage. Sure enough, her knuckles were blood red and close to becoming raw. She winced at the sight; when she got back to the mansion, she'd have to make a detour through the kitchen for an ice pack. But sore knuckles weren't going to keep her from her mission.

She snorted. Her mission? Hilde was right; she had been subconsciously taking lessons from Heero Yuy. The blasted man had wormed into her life, leaving small pieces of himself behind--pieces that were now growing and making an appearance in some of her actions. Growling at the steel door, she fisted her injured hand and began to knock again, this time using the side of her hand.

"Heero, I know you're in there. Open the door." She wasn't shocked when there was no answer. Taking a step away from the door, Relena looked up at the peephole. Her fingernails bit into her hands as she clenched them and brought them down on the steel door on last time.

Again, there was no rattling of a chain or turning of the deadbolt. Glaring up at the peephole, she knew he was watching her, using the door as a safe barrier between them.

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play..." Muttering under her breath, Relena spun the flat heels of her sandals and started back down the hallway, but not before flashing his door her middle finger.

Her angry stride ate up the distance through the hallway and hurried her down the stairs of his apartment building. When she hit the ground floor, Relena pushed her way through the glass doors and back into the sunny afternoon. She stalked along the sidewalk in front of the building, debating on her next course of action.

Frustration got the better of her, and she ended up kicking the trunk of one of the bare cherry trees planted along the sidewalk. The soft leather of her sandal did little to protect her toes. Pain throbbed through her big toe, and she hobbled over to the side of the building. Propped up against the brick structure, Relena pulled off her shoe and looked at her toe.

Between her raw knuckles, throbbing toe, and sore hand, she couldn't stop herself from laughing. "I'm a complete mess." Bending down, she carefully tucked her foot back into the sandal. But as she was leaning over, Relena caught a glimpse of Heero's truck parked in the resident's parking area.

Anger resurfaced with his truck sitting in its parking spot, mocking her, knowing that its owner was upstairs. Unable to stop herself, Relena strolled over to his truck, contemplating on letting the air out of all four of his tires instead of running her office key down the glossy finish. When she was close enough to his truck, she caught the reflection of something in the front window.

Turning around, a smile appeared on her face. Attached to the side of Heero's apartment building was an old fire escape. The metal bars shone in the sunlight, looking more valuable than the Hope diamond itself. Taking hold of the strap of her purse, Relena flipped it over her head, allowing the bag to hang diagonally across her body. Swift steps carried her over to the metal ladder, which hung just a few inches out of her reach. It took only a few jumps for her to wrap her hands around the lower rung and pull the ladder down to the ground.

She was about to take an old cliché and turn it around on the man she loved, and right now, hated the most.

****************

Heero pulled his right eye away from the peephole and slumped against the sturdy frame of the door. After what seemed to be a lifetime, Relena had turned away and strode down the hallway, but not before telling him what she had been thinking.

The corners of his mouth threatened to turn upwards into a smile. The Princess of the World had flashed him the middle finger. Others would have been aghast by such an action coming from a high political official, and to admit the truth, he would have been shocked too; if he hadn't read her dream journal and learned that flipping the middle finger was the least shocking thing that Relena thought of.

Shaking his head, Heero returned to the living room, to find Chaos playing with the scraps of paper that he had torn from the journal. The small pile of paper that Heero had begun to collect had been scattered to the four winds, hanging off of pieces of furniture and stuck to the bottom of the kitten's paw. He cringed when he sunk back down to his haunches and started the cleaning process all over again.

"No wonder Hilde wanted to get rid of you. She has enough problems dealing with Duo and his tiny clone."

Every piece of paper that he tried to collect was knocked away by the playful ball of fluff, scurrying around his knees. Heero tired his best to keep his cool, but the kitten was slowly wearing away the last thin line of his patience. After a few failed attempts to clean up the mess, Heero sat down on the carpet and admitted defeat to the small demon cat.

As he sat there and watched Chaos run through the scraps of paper, Heero tried to come up with a plan of attack. Relena knew, or at least had a good suspicion, that the journal was in his possession. But she didn't know that his 'pet' had managed to destroy part of the leather book. Even then, he had read every single one of the entries and most of them were engraved in his mind. How could he look at her and not start to remember everything she had written? Sleep would elude him for a long time, with images of Relena lying on the beach, suntan oil in hand, rubbing it all over...

"Meow."

Lifting his head, Heero glared at the cat sitting in front of him, his head cocked in a questioning fashion. Heero rubbed his hands over his face. When had he reverted to daydreaming? With a disgusted sigh, Heero pushed off the floor, grabbing hold of the cat in the process. Chaos looked up at him with wide green eyes as they walked across the living room.

Heero glared at the kitten as he pulled open the doors and stepped out onto the stone balcony. "I'm putting you out here until I can clean up the mess." He set the kitten down. "Don't get into..."

The speech was cut off when something smacked him in the back of the head. He automatically reached for his gun, and only then did he remember he was standing out on the balcony in his underwear. Turning slowly, Heero looked down towards the floor and noticed a small white sandal. Rubbing the bump on the back of his head, Heero lifted his gaze and into the aquamarine glare of the young woman balanced on the ledge of his apartment building.

"A little help... please."

Heero continued to stare at her, his head slowly tilting to the side. His brows came together in a puzzled look. "What in the hell are you doing?"

The tone of her voice surprised him. "What does it look like I'm doing?!" When he refused to answer her, Relena sighed. "I'm scaling the side of the building in order to sneak onto your balcony and get you to face me man to... woman." She took a tentative look over her shoulder and visibly swallowed. "Heero, if you plan on offering me some assistance, I suggest you quit gawking and do so before I plummet to my death."

He couldn't help the muted smirk at the comical scene taking place in front of him. Like times before, when faced with a life or death situation, Relena would revert back into her stone-faced political shell. The only show that she was scared out of her mind was the literal shaking of her knees. Leaning over the edge of the stone balcony, Heero extended his hand toward her. "Take my hand, Relena."

Some of the initial anger that flared in her eyes had dulled giving way to uncertainty. "I won't let you fall." When her hand was securely grasped in his own, Heero decided to spark her temper again, to get her mind off her predicament. "If you did, it'd just make more paperwork for me to file in the morning."

She lunged at him, and using her momentum, Heero was able to get her to the safety of the balcony without incident. Though he'd never admit it aloud, seeing Relena perched on that tiny ledge had scared a few years off his life. Her scolding voice broke off the thoughts of her lying on the ground surrounded by blood.

"... I can't believe it... actually, now that I think about it, I can believe it," Relena threw her hands up in the air before they settled on her hips. "Only you would tear down the only way to escape your apartment if there was ever an emergency."

Heero watched as the rush of adrenaline faded from her body and her shoulders fell forward. Unsteady hands moved from her hips, to smooth away the non-existent wrinkles in her outfit. The move was unconscious, something she always did when she tried to calm her nerves and put her defenses back together. Relena moved over to the edge of the balcony and peered over the side.

"They make it seem so much easier in those romance novels. Not once did I ever read about the hero faltering to reach his destination because of a cut down rose trellis or fire escape."

Pushing away from the stone wall, Relena strode over to her discarded sandal and picked it up. With one hand supporting her, she slid her foot back into the leather shoe. "We need to have a talk."

Her voice threatened impending doom. Heero knew that he had been caught, and she hadn't allowed him enough time to formulate a plan or even a reason for why he picked up her journal, other than the fact he was curious what she dreamed of at night, and whom.

Relena straightened up and tossed her loose hair over her shoulder in the process. The simple action brought forth a wave of images that were all inspired from her journal entries. And as each one drew him deeper into his fantasies, he squeezed his hands, hoping that the pain of his small fingernails biting into his skin would keep him in reality.

Words slipped out of her mouth, but they didn't reach his ears. All he saw was the woman that had been haunting his dreams for years moving closer to him, the sway of her hips hypnotizing him, along with the sunshine dancing off of her hair. If something didn't give soon, he'd give into his baser needs and he'd make a few of her fantasies come true.

Whether it was divine intervention, or just a fluke, Chaos chose the moment to walk back through the sliding glass door, toying with a small fragment of paper. It didn't take Heero too long to figure out what it was. Scooping down, he picked up the kitten in one hand and the piece of paper in his other hand.

"What's that?"

He hadn't realized that she had gotten so close to him, until he realized that she hadn't shouted her question, but had asked it under her breath. Before he could respond, Relena had pulled the scrap of paper from his hand, and began looking at the familiar handwriting.

"Roses. It was all about roses..." Her voice grew silent, signaling the calm before the storm.

Heero tossed the kitten he held in his hands a dirty look before entering back into his apartment. "Turn coat."

Relena watched as he retreated back into the shadows in the apartment. She held the proof she had been looking for in her hands. Part of her wanted to slump down against the side of the building and sigh with relief. Heero had the journal all along. It hadn't fallen into the hands of the media that was always looking for someway to discredit her. Her fantasies were still safe, or were they? By the looks of the tiny scrap of paper from this morning's entry, Chaos had gotten a hold of her journal, which meant that Heero...

Her mind spun with too many questions. How much had he read? Had she reached him in time before he read her erotic dreams? Had he skipped right to the back, like readers unable to wait to find out how the story ends? What did he think of her? But the one that still stood out, was why had he taken the journal in the first place? Unable to delay the confrontation any further, Relena marched into the apartment, waving the paper in the air. "You did it. You took my dream journal!"

She found him hunched over a pile of paper, that she recognized as paper from the journal. Sinking down to her knees, Relena looked over the other scraps of paper, saying silent thanks when she found them blank. Her eyes fell on the journal, lying on the coffee table. Relena carefully picked up the leather bound book and began flipping through the pages. The only other damage found, except the torn up entry from early that morning, was a few missing pages out of the back, and the unmistakable indentations of kitten teeth on the corner.

"I can't believe you took my journal."

"I can't believe you had fantasies about a married man!"

Never in all of the years she had known him had Heero ever raised his voice, to anyone. His statement had caused her to jump back and look at him. She knew she was staring at him like he had sprouted two more heads, but she couldn't help it. "What?"

"You heard what I said." Pushing off the carpet, Heero rose to his feet, towering above her.

"Married man? Heero, I have no idea..."

"What is it about Maxwell's hair anyway?"

Relena felt the blush creep up her cheeks and her eyes grow wider as she remembered the one fantasy she had had about washing Duo's hair. It wasn't anything nearly erotic as most her of fantasies about Heero, but it was still a memorable one. Some how, the conversation had been turned against her, and she needed to find away to turn it back against him.

"The issue at hand isn't my fantasies, it's the fact that you stole my dream journal."

Heero continued to ignore her as he paced through the living room, muttering under his breath something about 'improper' and 'Maxwell.'

Placing the journal back on the table, Relena tucked her legs underneath herself and rose up, stopping him as he crossed the living room for the third time. It wasn't until she was standing in front of him, that his state of dress, or undress, finally registered. Many nights had been spent wondering what treasures he kept hidden under his uniform. And for all of her fantasies, she hadn't been able to portray him correctly.

The muscles in his shoulders were more developed than she original thought. His upper torso spoke of the hours he spent molding his body into the perfect weapon. It took sheer willpower not to reach out and trace the contours of his body with her fingers; to feel the warm, taunt skin flex beneath her touch. Her eyes wanted to drift down over his abs and memorize whether he was a boxer-brief guy, like she had always pictured him, but she stood tall and never let her eyes wander too far from his face.

His deep blue eyes narrowed, but Relena refused to move out of his way. She tried to mimic the same glare Heero was sending her, knowing that it didn't have half the power of his own. They were going to settle this one way or another.

"Heero..."

"Who else did you dream about?"

His question caught her off guard, like a sudden gust of wind on a calm day. Blinking a couple of times, she took a step back and shook her head. "What did you just ask me?"

Relena knew her hearing was in perfect condition, but she had to hear him ask the question again. Had Heero Yuy just given her the first indication that he was jealous? Jealous of a mere fantasy? It took all of her control not to smirk at the thought.

Heero didn't answer her, he just stood in front of her, bearing down on her with the eyes that had haunted her fantasies for months. While losing herself in his stare, she remembered how, as a child, she had been fascinated with the red hot flames that danced in the fireplace in her father's study. On numerous occasions, Relena had been warned about the dangers of playing with fire. But this time, the flames weren't vibrant colors of red, yellow or orange. Instead they were a deep blue, springing from behind Heero's eyes. And for once in her life, Relena decided to play with the fire and be burned.

"You didn't get any further in my journal than Duo?" Trying to look as innocent as possible, Relena turned away from him and took short steps back to the discarded book. "You mean you didn't read about Quatre and the Arabian pillow beds? Or Trowa peeling off his Oz uniform? Or even Wufei..."

Her words were cut off when Heero grabbed hold of her elbow and spun her around. His hands encircled her wrists, pulling them around her body and pinning them against her back. The force of having her arms confined caused Relena to arch her back and look up into his hungry eyes. It wasn't meant in an enticing manner, but when her tongue darted along her dry lips, Heero caught hold of it with his teeth.

Even after the years, Heero still managed to amaze her with his quickness and stealth. But now he overwhelmed her even further with the desire he fanned in her with the simple scrapping of his teeth against the tender flesh of her tongue. A moan rumbled in the back of her throat as her eyes drifted closed, allowing the sensation to wash over her. With a teasing bite, Heero let go of her tongue and brushed his lips against hers.

Relena refused to open her eyes, fearing the wonderful dream would vanish. His hands slowly release their grip on her wrist and traveled up her arms. Breathing became harder as his hands massaged her fevered skin, causing chills to run up her spine and make her stomach flip. How could one touch start a fire and cause her skin to pucker at the same time? Any hope of answering the question was discarded the minute his hands reached the back of her neck and fisted in her hair.

It didn't take much persuasion on his part to get Relena to tilt her head back further and allow him access to her mouth.

Outside, a bird sang. In the kitchen, the ice maker loudly dumped another load of ice into the bucket. The sound of Chaos messing with the pile of paper drifted to her ears, however none of it seemed real. The only real thing was Heero's mouth on hers, his tongue invading her mouth, and his own scent assaulting her nose.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, another person took over control of her body. The hands that were lying limp against her back suddenly came alive and snaked out, grabbing hold of his lean hips. Her fingernails dug into the cloth of his boxer briefs as she urged him to press his body against hers.

When had the 'Perfect Solider' been trained in the art of seduction? That's what it was; seduction, pure and simple. Completely pushed against her, Heero used his entire body, rubbing his bare chest against hers until the friction from the material combined with his heat caused her nipples to pebble. The weight of his erection sat at the base of her thighs, and each time she nudged her hips forward, applying pressure to the sensitive spot, her confidence grew as a new groan escaped against her lips.

Heero released the hold of her hair, skimming his hands down the length of her back and finally settling on her hips. Taking hold of her curves, he crushed her to him, holding her in place long enough for Relena to feel his erection pulsing under the tiny barriers of cloth between them. She was burning hot with sexual frustration and need as he moved, time and time again, with subtle rolling thrusts. Arching her back, Relena's hands slipped up from his hips and wound around his neck.

Never had she imagined that her fantasies would come true. But here he was, the love of her life, stroking her body as if he didn't, the world would stop spinning and the air would disappear. Her entire being hummed like a tightened string on a violin, a string that if plucked too many times it would break. And that's what she wanted, she wanted to fall apart in his arms. The feeling was already building inside of her, all she needed was to feel him against her a few more times and then...

As if he was sensing the rising tide in her, Heero pulled his rigid body away from hers, far enough to break the contact but not enough to keep his warmth from bathing her. Relena let out a moan of protest, which quickly turned into a hiss when his hands drifted up her sides and his fingers started undoing the buttons along the front of her shirt.

Tilting her head to the side, Relena silently followed Heero's order. From her lips, he trailed hot, wet kisses along her jaw line, leading the hollow of her neck, while his fingers deftly undid the finally button, pushing the blouse off her shoulders. She could feel his mouth form a small smile against her neck as her knees started to shake once his fingers stroked the swells of her breasts.

His hands wound around her rib cage, his fingers tracing the delicate bones, until the fastener at the back of the bra let go, making the fire that started between her legs spread to the rest of her body. Through heavy lidded eyes, Relena watched him scrape his rough palm across one breast. Breaking contact with her neck, Heero sighed, then it felt like they were both holding their breath as his hands wrapped around her breasts and gently squeezed. The cry wasn't one of pain, but of pleasure as his hands continued to massage, his fingers pinching the tips ever so slightly. Relena gasped as his tongue began to trace a path from her neck, down between the valley of her breasts. Her head fell back when Heero landed on his knees in front of her, his heated breath tickling her skin. He nuzzled the underside of her breasts, licking along the curves and sucking her nipples until they were reddened and tight. Unknown to either one of them, but as Heero continued his torment, his tongue flicking across the sensitive skin, Relena would take an occasional step back, trying to give herself a chance to recover from the response of each assault, only to have him advance on her again. She knew she had run out of room, when her back touched up against the wall of the living room.

The cool wall did nothing to stop the fever running through her body. Heero planted kisses down over her stomach, causing the taunt muscles to contract as he traced his tongue along the edge of the material barrier. The hands that had been lightly dancing along her sides, slide over her hips and were now toying with the hem of her skirt. Unsteady breaths escaped between moans when Heero slipped his hands under the skirt, hiking the material higher along her thighs, until his fingers reached the edge of her silk thongs.

Relena felt the damp material as it was gently pushed aside. Opening her eyes, she looked down at the top of Heero's head as he lavished more attention on her breasts, with her skirt hitched up around her waist. His fingers brushed against the inside of her thighs, in a touch as soft as butterfly wings, before his hands rested on the outside of her thighs and rode up to the waistband of her panties. Hooking his thumbs into the elastic band, Heero tugged them down to her ankles.

His kisses worked their way back up her body as he stood his hands running up the length of her legs, stopping to cup her behind and pull her closer to him. He laid his forehead against hers; his eyes closed and his breathing erratic. Relena drew in a deep breath, and stared at the man in front of her. He was giving her a choice; the choice to stop now or continue. Gathering all the built up passion and strength inside her, Relena stood up on her toes and planted her lips on his.

She had given him his answer.

With his coaxing, Relena wound her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her legs, coiling them over his hips. It wasn't the way she pictured her first time, but nothing was going to make her stop him. His knuckles brushed between her legs as he pushed the cotton boxer briefs off his hips, letting them pool at his feet before he kicked them away. She caught her breath as the cloth barrier between them had been pulled away, and she was able to feel him pressed against her. Uncertainty and pleasure at the contact, coursed through her, making it harder to decide what to do next.

Heero hitched her a little higher to adjust her position. Relena looked at him with wide eyes, eyes that told him not to stop, but eyes that shone with her fear. An incredible sense of pressure took over the initial sense of pleasure, as he eased his support and let her own weight sink down on to him. At first her body resisted, but then as she relaxed, it became easier and easier, until he hit the last barrier.

"Relena?"

It was the first time either of them had said anything since he first kissed her. His voice had been low, almost low enough that she hadn't heard him. Blinking, Relena looked into his eyes and saw them as she had never seen them before, dark and clouded over with desire and concern. Words escaped her, so Relena did the only thing she could do; she nodded.

Bracing her against the wall, Heero thrust into her, catching her cry with a kiss. A few salty tears pooled at the corner of her eyes, but they never made it down her cheeks. She arched her hips and tightened her legs around Heero's waist when she felt him begin to pull away. Soon the pain faded away and together they found a slow, steady rhythm; one that lived through the test of time. Relena felt the pressure building up inside of her, and just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore; the dam broke, flooding her with a variety of new and wonderful sensations that no poet could put into phrase. Only then did Heero press his face into the soft hollow of her neck and allow himself to follow.

Relena was quiet for a long time after she had calmed her breathing. Heero refused to lift his head from her shoulder to look at her. There was a solid lump of shame lodged in his throat. What had he been thinking? First things first, this wasn't what was supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to make love to Relena, let alone allow her first time to compare to using her like a... He couldn't even bring himself to complete the thought.

Crushed against him, Relena stirred and winced when she tried to move her legs. Taking a few steps away from the wall, Heero helped unwrap her legs from around his waist and held her steady until she was able to stand by herself. Even when he held her up, she had kept her face hidden under the veil of her blonde hair.

And still the silence dragged on between them.

He watched as she moved away from him, and retrieved her pair of discarded thongs. After quickly pulling them on, Relena pulled the hem of her skirt down from the bunch at her waist and smoothed the wrinkles out of the material the best she could. She continued to move silently as she picked up her bra and blouse and began to put her outfit back together, all the time avoiding his eyes.

Sighing, Heero ran a hand through his hair and bent over to pick up his boxer briefs. He had just pulled them over his hips when she finally broke the awkward silence that was screaming throughout the room.

"Why'd you do it, Heero?"

That simple question was like a hangman's noose; all it needed was time until it killed you. Turning around, Heero saw Relena standing by the door with her dream diary clasped in her hands. The only visible signs to what had happened between them moments ago were her swollen lips and the fading afterglow. He had never thought she looked more beautiful.

"Why did you take my dream diary?"

Her question shocked him. She wasn't questioning what had happened between them? Why not? Didn't she want to know why he'd finally broken down and gave in to his wildest fantasies? That he was tried of living with the bedtime stories he'd made up and ready to make them real?

Straighten his back, he began heading toward her. "Curiosity."

"Curiosity?" She looked back at him puzzled. "This whole thing was about your curiosity?" Shifting the book from both her hands to one, Relena placed on hand on her hip and glared. "I think I deserve a better answer than just your curiosity got the better of you."

Heero could only think of one thing that would appease Relena, and that would be the whole truth. But for someone who had never been direct with their emotions before, how was he supposed to tell her, that he wanted to know if he had been on her mind as much as she had been on his?

His eyes drifted to the diary propped against her side and Heero knew he had the answer. "Wait here." Leaving Relena even more dumbfounded than before, he strode down the hall and into his bedroom. His laptop sat on the desk, already humming with life. It only took a few minutes to copy the information to disk but in that time, he was afraid that Relena had left the apartment. As soon as the transfer was complete, he marched down the hall, to find Relena right where he left her.

Moving forward, Heero cleared his throat and held the disk out toward her. "Take it."

Relena bit her bottom lip before pursing them together. She looked at the disk he held in his outstretched hand as though it had teeth. Finally, after seeing his annoyed look, she took hold of the diskette flipping it over, trying to make some sense out of what he had just handed her.

"Consider us even."

One side of her mouth lifted in a smile of understanding. Nodding her head, Relena slipped the disk into her purse, took hold of the diary in her left hand and pulled the door to his apartment open with her other hand. Half way through the door way, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. "Heero?"

"Hn."

Tossing her hair back over her shoulder, she said. "I lied about the other fantasies." Before he had a chance to nod in acknowledgement, an impish look crossed her features. "The one with Quatre had silk scarves and not Arabian pillow beds." With that, Relena closed the door behind her, leaving him to stare at the space she had just occupied.

Heero turned his attention away from the door and looked at the kitten sitting on the floor beside his feet. "She was joking, wasn't she?"

If Chaos knew the answer to the question, he didn't seem too inclined to let his owner know.


The End