In the Silence 10 (CWxRP NC17)

[Jannbond]

In the Silence 10


~There
A whispered sigh, a drawn breath
Now
A touch, a glance
Here
The slide, of skin on skin
Then
The stars shatter, and fall~

~*~*~*~*~*~

Snow fell; drifting, spiraling, tumbling endlessly. Relena remained tucked against him, her fingers tangled with his and the weight of her head warm on his shoulder. Wufei absorbed the feelings, internalized them, and forced himself to accept the comfort that hung heavy in the silence between them.

When she spoke, her voice was soft, heavy with sleep. "I only have one bedroom. The other has my home office in it."

"The couch is fine. I've slept in the cockpit of a Gundam." There was a trace of humor there that might have been careless talk had it been anyone else. But Wufei guarded his thoughts so closely, she knew he offered what he wanted to and held the rest back. It would be some time before he let himself speak freely.

Still, she let the remark pass, knowing that they didn't need to relive old wounds.

"It's late," she reflected. "I suppose we should get to sleep."

"You have things to do." Not a question, but a surety.

She smiled, stretched. "I always have things to do. But I can make time for myself if I have a reason."

His eyes searched her face, but he didn't offer one. She hadn't expected he would. This was going to be a painfully slow dance.

"I'll get you some blankets."

Rising, she turned away. Strong fingers closed around her wrist, tugged, and she found herself tumbling into his arms. She had a brief glimpse of a smile before he put his mouth to better use. A willing participant, she gave with equal verve, uttering a protest when he dragged his lips away.

"You were saying something about sleep?" He teased, and the play in his tone drew the heat centered in her middle higher.

Arching a slender brow, she returned lightly, "Was I?"

"Hm." He leaned in, pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth, the slope of her chin where it smoothed into her neck.

"Sleep." She untangled herself, rolling from his arms to come up on legs not quite steady. While she was well aware of her strengths, it wasn't difficult to determine that had he not wanted to let her go, she wouldn't have moved at all.

It was there in the defiant tilt of her chin. Relena would come to him, or not at all. She was a woman who would not be trampled, or pushed aside. She had already shown him that she could walk away if need be, and stand on her own.

"After all, I have things to do," she intoned with that precise elegance he was growing accustomed to.

"Yes, you do." When he stood, his eyes held promises; but this was a decision she intended to make.

It wasn't a matter of virtue or fear. It was knowing what she wanted, and being strong enough to accept it.

Offering him a hand, she murmured, "I only have one bed."

The hesitation was a slight, barely discernable flicker across his face. Relena wasn't even certain she had seen it at all.

He slid his hand into hers. Soft, smooth, their fingers curled, and she led him.

When they stood together in her room, Wufei only placed either hand at her shoulders and gently drew her back. Melting into him, she slid her eyes shut when he pressed his cheek to the back of her head and left it there. It was her own hands that undid her robe and parted it, so that he could slip it from her. The fabric fell at their feet, unheeded.

Carefully, as if she would shatter, he stroked his hands down her arms, across her waist, beneath the simple cotton of her top. His fingers were warm on her skin, and she drew in a short breath as they skimmed the hem of her pants. Traveling, they flattened against her stomach, molded the flare of her hips, and withdrew.

The air was surprisingly cold when those same fingers deftly undid the buttons, stripping away the cloth so that her bare back was visible to him. Still, he didn't touch her. He knelt, pressing his lips to her spine where it joined with hips.

Heat and pleasure had her turning. The appreciation in his expression was unmistakable, and his eyes held her until he brought his lips to her again, using his tongue to lazily trace the circle of her belly button.

The tickle of his breath had her wanting to laugh. So she did, liking the feel of it in her throat and his hands on her skin.

Sinking, she drove him to his knees, and felt something tear away inside with the connection. Perfect, like being fused together with heat.

They fell back in a tangle of limbs, hands roaming and lips seeking. Fumbling in mutual anticipation, they pulled at clothing until there were no longer any barriers. Bare skin met, and it wasn't clear whether the murmured sigh was from one, both, or just a recognition of coming together, and an awareness of what a man and woman could create between them.

Her fingers weren't skilled, but they weren't clumsy either as they smoothed along his skin in wonder. She smiled when he sucked in a breath as she brushed them over his ribs, pressed her palms to the flat of his abdomen, and slid lower. Where her hands went, her lips followed, and still, she didn't think she would be satisfied. Wufei was giving her freedom touch him, to admire the beauty of him, and she wouldn't have stopped, had his hands not closed gently over her wrists and flipped her over in a single, painless move.

A smile, simplistic in its meaning, complicated in its beauty softened his features, robbing them of that remote, almost harsh expression he usually wore. It wasn't that she was anything so ridiculous as stunned, it was only that she had never noticed before quite how appealing he was.

Settling down next to her, unmindful of the roughness of the carpet, he rubbed his thumb across her lips and watched her with an all-consuming concentration. Relena didn't have an appearance that floored a man or made them stare after her in absentminded admiration. What she possessed, was an elegance, a confidence, and a loveliness that wouldn't fade the way physical gifts would.

"You are beautiful," he murmured, tracing the curve of her breast. She was soft and pale, the color and texture of silk.

Pleased, she laughed. "Had that come from anyone else, I would have labeled it useless flattery." Touching his face, she sighed when he turned his cheek and pressed his lips to her palm.

Drawing his thumb lazily across her nipple, he saw her eyes flutter shut as her mouth parted on another sigh, before he shifted and lowered his head. The taste of her was addictive. Sweet, with a hint of soap and a whisper of something female and secret. So this was what it was to truly want...

Using his lips only, he touched her here, on the underside of her breast, there, on the inside of her thigh. Behind her knee, the arch of her foot, the curve of her elbow. Places he was certain no one else had ever noticed. It was when the ache grew that he lay his head against her stomach to regain some composure, before kissing her and coaxing her to rise.

"Better not to make love on the carpet. Rug burns," he added against her lips.

She couldn't resist teasing. "Oh, is that what the bed is for?"

Wufei took her hands, pulling her to her feet, and they stood, the lines of their bodies blending with the shadows, with each other. It was Relena again who led, and they fell onto the mattress, quietly appreciative of what they felt and what they made when they lay together.

As he moved over her, she brought her arms up and welcomed the press of his weight. He didn't ask her if she was certain, and she didn't offer him the chance to pull away. Relena knew what she wanted. Wufei knew what he needed.

Still, they stayed as they were and there was something in Wufei's expression...

"What is it?"

"Protection," he answered, sedate.

Confused, she was about to ask him what he meant, when it came to her. "Oh! Well..."

"This is what happens when things are not planned."

"Don't lecture me, Chang Wufei. You were the one who showed up at my door in the middle of the night," she reminded him, but her tone lacked the heat and bite of an argument.

A flash of teeth, and a hint of mischief broke the severity of his expression. "I will walk to the store in the snow, if need be."

Touched, because she thought he was half-serious, Relena shook her head. "No, wait..." And she twisted out from under him, rolling onto her stomach to reach for the nightstand beside her bed.

Wufei followed the arch of her backside where it tapered into the slender lengths of her legs. Considering, he pulled himself closer as she rifled through a drawer and gave into the compulsion to touch. He was satisfied to feel her quiver beneath his hands.

"There!" She announced in triumph, waving a single foil package and shutting the drawer. But not before he saw that she had multiple boxes.

"Multiple boxes?"

Flushing, taking in his raised eyebrow and obvious amusement, she pressed her hands defensively to her chest. "I had to give a speech on safe sex. They were passing out bags full of products and someone shoved boxes of condoms in my hand. It would have been wasteful to throw them away," she added, scrambling up onto the pillows as she raised her chin in a way he was beginning to become familiar with.

His laughter was warm and irrefutably male. "Practical of you."

"Stop making fun."

"I apologize." He reached for her.

"I don't believe you." She went into his arms willingly, liking how his face went still with need for her.

"Hm." He touched her breast.

The package fell from her hand. He took it, opening it to slide what was inside on. It was an interesting sort of torture.

She opened her arms, accepting, and he shifted, pinning her beneath him.

The pain was there, a flash, and then gone with his lips on her brow, soothing, warm, and patient. The heat burned, built, and she became aware of everything. His skin, warm on hers; the feel of him inside of her; his eyes, his dark, endless eyes pulling her in.

His fingers settled on her hips. There was something inherently gentle in his face, in the touch of his fingers on her skin. Lost in the knowledge of that, she reached for him and he began to move; one careful, slow thrust. He pulled back, moved in, and filled her. Shivers, hot and cold tore across her skin and she spoke his name restlessly.

She couldn't have known what it cost him to be gentle. The need was such that it closed around his lungs like a tight fist, robbing him of air. When he could breath, she was all there was.

They created a rhythm. They murmured words tangled, lost, and not understood. Blankets weren't needed as skin, slick and hot, slid over skin. Lips met, pulled away, and met again. And they climbed together, reaching for something felt, but not known.

It was later in the night while Relena slept beside him, that he pulled sheets across them and folded her to him. Content, he watched the swell of her breast as it rose and fell beneath the white of the cotton, closed his eyes, and slept with her.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Clasping her gloved hand in his, Wufei helped Relena up the steep incline. They walked together across what might have been a path, disturbing the untouched snow and a few wandering birds. Relena liked the quiet of the afternoon and the ease with which Wufei drew her into the pocket of his shoulder when they stopped.

"Have you ever wanted to come back?"

Memories, fragmented whispers, came to her as she stared down at the place of her birth, a kingdom she had once been forced to give up in order to save.

"Sometimes. But not to rule. I took over the Sank Kingdom to begin with because it had been Relena Peacecraft's heritage. I was the Queen of the World because I had no other choice. I became Vice Foreign Minister Darlian because it was where I could do the most good. Most people think it was to honor my adoptive father only..." Here, she shrugged as if to say people would think what they would.

He nodded. "That was why I became a Preventer."

"We're fighters, even after the wars are gone."

"The wars are never truly gone," he disagreed.

Relena touched her hand to her chest. "Not in here."

Silently agreeing, he looked out over what the Sank Kingdom had become with her support, but not her leadership. He doubted the people would forget what it was like to watch their world collapse around them anymore than he would the explosion that had claimed his colony. Some things stayed with you without regard for passing years.

Relena's eyes were shadowed and removed when he turned back to her face. She was lost in her own private memories, ones he would never have asked to be a part of. There were also some things you kept to yourself, no matter what it cost. Still, he wondered if in time, they would stand this way with memories between them that they had created together. And he wondered as well if he wanted it to be that way.

Nine years had passed. Thoughts, feelings, wishes but mere tokens of a youth gone since she had first looked into Heero's determined eyes as sharp as glass, hard as flint, and filled with a maturity that had, at that moment, been beyond her. Perhaps she might have hoped for a different outcome on several levels, but what came before molded what was now. She knew she wouldn't have given up the effort and pain it took to reach it.

All parts of it made her the woman she was, and had given her Wufei. So she would look back, but she wouldn't regret and she wouldn't waste her time.

"Why are we here?" She wondered, her tone hushed.

"To remember."

"I don't need to remember. I've done enough looking back, and I think, so have you."

"I know I have," he admitted. "I can't promise I won't again."

"I don't need your promises. They're easily broken."

"Then I won't give you the words."

Slipping from his arms, she took his hand. "Then, come on. We have other places we can be."

She hurried them down the slope and lost her balance. It was Wufei's waist she grasped for an anchor, finally taking them both down, though she privately thought Wufei offered less resistance than he should have. He teased her about her lack of coordination. She bullied him into making snow angels. It made her laugh to see a grown man so flustered over waving his arms in the snow, and he retaliated by kissing her until the cold no longer troubled her.

It was, Wufei considered, the least aggressive mark either of them had made and even he was hard pressed not to admire the simplicity of their forms in the snow. Hers small and light compared to the bulk of his.

Snow angels. The irony wasn't lost on him, but Relena held his hand again, and her expression was forgiving, innocent, much like the snow, as if she too were as untouched by everything she had seen. It didn't matter that she wasn't. He only cared that she offered him the chance to have what he hadn?t been unable to understand before time and experience had aged him.

The peace and stillness in his face when he turned to her was enough to lay to rest some private fear, some tiny ache that maturity, responsibility, and age hadn't smothered. Whatever he chose to move on to when the time came, she at least knew that he would be with her for now. It would be all she could have. Not reaching for the impossible, asking for forever.

Who wanted forever? Life was bound to keep on, and people to grow old and pass away. Together, or apart, that wouldn't change.

But it couldn't hurt to dream.

~Fin

[kmf]

Beautifully written story. I like how the pairing comes across as so natural and loving. They suit each other perfectly. The last lines are wonderful - yes, it might not be forever because everyone changes but the moment that they are together is perfect.

Lovely!

[SimplyTurquoise]

It took me awhile to get through all these chapters... but this was beatifully written and wasn't hurried like some stories are. I really enjoyed this and I love your writing style... I'll have to see if you've written other stories...

[Dark Deity]

It was wonderful. Great job, and well writeen. i like your style. I look foward to another alternitve pairing! )may i suggest a TBxRP? heheh

again, wonderful!

-Dark D