Exaustion in All its Glory 2/?

[Elyn Yuy]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, Bandai, or any afililiates that are similar to Gundam Wing.

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Swearing is involved. Sorry.

Chapter 2
Mall crawling-at your own risk

Sunday Noon

Heero glanced at the clock on the wall for the hundreth time as Relena made her selections at Burnes and Noble's bookstore. She had the tendancy to look at the first chapter of Every book she thought was interesting. The count was up to 16. '...Bookworm. I had to guard a bookworm.'

Rubbing his eyes to keep awake, Heero looked in the non-fiction section and did a doubletake. In Bold letters, a book stated "THE WAR IS OVER! Thanks to several young men known as the Gundam Boys!"

'What the Fuck?' Looking around to make sure there was no people or surveilance cameras nearby to watch him, Heero knocked the books off the shelf and kicked them under the moveable bookcase. 'What were they thinking? Gundam Boys, my ass.'

"Heero? what were you doing?" Relena asked, trying not to laugh at his slightly guilty flinch. She had seen him kick some books under the bookcase, but not what kind of book.

"*grunt*Nothing. Are you ready?" 'Shit. She will bring it up with Duo when I am not there.' Heero then mentally hit himself. 'What the hell? Why am I being paranoid about that stupid book?'

"Yep. I got enough books to last me a lifetime. Or at least another month. ...Say, Heero, are you ok? You seem, I don't know, out of it." Changing her attitude and grinding her teeth slightly,"Or are you suspecting an assassin is around every book shelf?"

"What?" Heero looked at her funny as he tried to figure out if it was a joke or an actual angry accusation. Relena relished in her power over him, no matter how slight, and decided to give him another shock.

Dropping her books, Relena did something most people would have died if they attempted such a thing. She poked him in the gut and jumped him. "Relena!?" Heero yelled as he quickly prevented her from falling. 'What the hell?!'

Relena laughed as the other book buyers watched him turn a slight shade of pink. "You should have told me the truth, Heero. At least that would have prevented this." She giggled as he glared furiously at her.

"What has gotten into you?"Heero shook his head as he let her down. Relena still laughing gathered her books and went to the cashier. When she passed the money to the man, Heero's vision started to blur. 'Crap. Just what I need.'

Relena thanked the cashier and walked over to where Heero was leaning against the wall, eyes closed. "Heero? Come on, you aren't going to hold a grudge are you?" Heero opened his eyes slowly and shook his head in the negative. Opening the door for her, Heero offered the helmet, and got on the bike himself as she put her books in her pack. Smiling at him impishly, she hopped on after him and held on as he drove down the highway back towards home. "Heero! Thanks for taking me here today!" She shouted as they careened down the pavement.

"Welcome." Heero said as he turned off the exit. Glad that he knew the way by heart, he took the quickest way to her house. He blew past the security gate. The guards fell out of their chairs and spilled their coffee and doughnuts.

"Heero, just to warn you, the dogs are out." Relena whispered jokingly in his ear. "I hope you bought some milk bones." She didn't know why she was acting like such a mall crawler lately, but she enjoyed her outings with Heero as her "escort". Relena laughed as he inwardly sighed exasperatedly in front of her.

Heero cursed, as he pulled the bike to a stop at the door step. The dogs, as if on cue came bounding out from behind the hedges. "I have to go back to Hq. Don't let those mutts trample you." He commented as he started to drive off.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Heero!"

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Sunday 2:30pm

Phone rang again and Heero habitually picked it up laying down on the couch with the pillow and arm over his face. This time he checked who it was on the cell. 'Wufei.'

"Yeah?" He mumbled through the thin comfortable pillow.

"Zechs needs you at HQ. Where are you?"

Cursing, Heero looked around. He didn't remember going back to his apartment. Let alone falling asleep on the couch, when he knew that he needed to go to HQ. 'Subconscious has more sense then I do.' "I'll be there in 10 min." Hanging up on Wufei, he shook his head to clear his sight and opened and closed his door without a backwards glance at Wufei's parting shot.

"Injus-!"

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HQ 10 minutes later...

"Where the Hell have you been?!"Zechs yelled into Heero's office as he put down his keys on the desk. Heero grimaced inwardly, knowing that Zechs had heard from the guards about the speed by the station.

"...Had to get something."

"For 2 Hours!? The Guards said that you came back in a hurry, dropped Relena off at 1:00, and left at 1:03pm!"Zechs resembled a leaky stove top water boiler after that and Heero imagined him singing "I'm a little tea pot."

"Yes, for 2 hours." 'Something is wrong...I can't focus clearly. Probably a blessing, considering his mood.' Heero decided then and there that he didn't want to explain anything to him, especially in this mood. He was tired, hadn't eaten since Starbucks, and that was only an espresso. "Zechs?"

"What!?" Zechs yelled as he stopped to pause for breath after a 5 minute rant.

"Fuck you too." Heero closed the door on him and locked it.

People in the hallway looked at the door as if Armageddon had been summoned. Zechs blanched and was about to start again when Noin came by the door. "Ah, Zechs. I need to talk to you." She looked extremely excited about something, but he was not in the mood to talk to anyone.

"I have to go out. We'll talk later." He gritted his teeth and stalked down the hallway, making the passerbys very nervous.

"But- what's gotten into him?" She turned away and was about to leave, when she saw Heero's door. "That explains it." Chuckling, she walked down the hall with a slight spring to her feet.

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Heero leaned against the door with his hands pushing it shut. It was already closed, but he didn't want anyone to enter at the moment. Sighing in relief when Zechs stormed off, he walked over to his desk and fell into the chair, thankful for once that Duo had made him get something from acquisitions, a reclining chair. As he looked at his computer, he cursed silently and started typing. Calendar, Tuesday, Relena. Reminder, Zechs is pissed at you. Fight if you must. He added that for a little humor. Humor that he didn't feel. "Another note: Get some sleep. Or face the consequences..." Checking the location of the other preventors, he recalled that Duo was off for the week, and that Quatre was in space checking on his family's affairs. Trowa and Wufei were there, but training new recruits. Shutting the computer off, he left the room and started getting down to business.

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Sunday 11:30 pm his apartment...

Heero walked into his room and could have collapsed if his stomach didn't remind him to eat. Opening the fridge, he snagged a box of ramen noodles and fixed up something quick. He also grabbed a cup of water to wash it down and sat down at the couch with a grimace.

The room would have been silent if it wasn't for the apartments across the street that were having a party. A loud, party. After finishing his meal, he walked over to the bed and fell asleep before he hit the covers.

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Knocking at the door woke Heero up slightly. "Who is it?"

"Heero? It's Noin. Can I come in?"

Getting up reluctantly, he walked out of his bedroom and nearly hit the door head first. Opening it, Noin looked at him curiously. "Heero, you look terrible."

"Comes with the job. What do you want, Noin?" He said trying to wake himself up by shaking his hair out of his face.

"Well, it's 10 0'clock, in the morning."

"...Shit. Why did you come here?" He asked suddenly. She seemed to be bouncing on her toes. "Usually someone calls if I'm needed."

"Well, I have to talk to someone but Relena and the others are busy. Zechs thinks I am trying to make him apologize to you. Heero, I'm pregnant."

"mussel toff." He remarked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Coffee?"

"No, thanks. Heero, are you alright? Lately you haven't been your usual self." 'Come to think of it, he looks like he hasn't slept or eaten anything in ages.' She thought as she stared at his back, making coffee.

"Fine." he replied as he gulped down the brew. "Congratulations on the kid. I gotta go." He started for the door.

Noin started chuckling and ended up full-out laughing by his kitchen table. Flabbergasted Heero pulled her a chair. "The question is, are you alright, Noin?" She stopped laughing and started crying. She was shaking so hard he was afraid that she would fall apart.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm here. I can't believe that this is happening to me and I try and i try," she gasped between sobs. Heero proffered her a towel as her sniffling stopped slowly.

'Just great. As if Zechs didn't hate me enough. Now he has something to really kill me for because of how much of an ass he is when we argue.'
"I don't know what to tell you, about this Noin. All I can say is that whatever you think is right, usually is. Stay as long as you want to here, but I have to get to work." He gently touched her arm and walked out the door. Just before he closed it, she whispered, "Thank you."

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10:30 am Monday

Heero had just sat down in his chair when Zechs came into the doorway in one of his rants. "You're late again Yuy! What has gotten into that Skull of yours that you can't show up on time for ONCE!!!" --This went on until he turned red in the face. Heero blinked once then turned on his computer, and started typing.

"Have you heard anything I've said!?"

"Yes." He replied as he stood up from the desk. He had a meeting with the new recruits. "Now will you get off my back and let me get some work done?" and pointedly pushed closed the door on Zechs's speechless face. Zechs opened it and would have went off again, but Heero beat him to it. "By the way, Noin is looking for you." Pushing past Zechs, Heero grabbed the print out from the printer and headed towards the meeting, leaving Zechs with the door in hand, stupefied.

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11:00 am same day

Heero leaned against the wall as the new recruits filed into the gym. Glancing up as they quieted down, Heero began their class and paired them off as they worked on certain moves preassigned against the other partners defensive moves again preassigned.

One pair of students stood and glared at Heero as the others started their work outs. "...Excuse me, Sir? What is the point of this?"

Heero stood up and replied, "To learn the techniques you will use against your opponent."

"No, I mean this. No one would fight with only so many set of moves against someone else...When do we get to the action?"

Heero remembered the student's name but frankly the kid was annoying. "Action requires you to be prepared, Carlton. Learning the moves would be a good start before you go into a brawl."

His partner tried to get him to let it go but Carlton ignored him and said, "Well I think I know enough dancing. How about you actually teach me something, Pilot?"

Silence. He'd felt it before but he never got this annoyed by it before. All the students were standing, watching Heero for his answer to Carlton's challenge. They all knew about the Gundams. They knew what he had been. Carlton's challenge was one of many but Carlton was one of the most arrogant. "Then attack me and find out, Carlton."

Carlton scoffed and watched his buddies for a moment with a smirk before he tried his first attack. Heero dodged it without pulling his arms from his sides and evaded the next follow up blow. Frustration on his face, Carlton tried to kick, trip, punch, feint, and any other combination of blows but Heero blocked with his shoulder or evaded his attacks. "Enough." Heero said and kicked Carlton's feet out from under him making him land on his butt. "...How did I defeat you, Carlton?"

Groaning, Carlton got up and glared, "By showing off."

"Wrong. You let your center of gravity stretch past your balancing point. Practice would stop that from occurring if you used the necessary moves to compensate. To do this, you need to learn the moves that move up to that point. To be blunt, Carlton, you need to shut up and learn before you talk back against someone who learned these moves a long time ago."

Clapping at the door made Heero dart his gaze briefly at Trowa's appearance but he re-focused on Carlton in moments. Carlton huffed before he stood up and nodded to Heero sulkingly then Trowa and went back to his partner without another word. Heero stared the rest of the class down without telling them to continue until they did so as Trowa walked toward's him. "Having fun with the rookies, eh, Heero?"

"What do you want now?" Heero asked with a sigh as he turned to face him. Trowa blinked, and Heero mentally chided himself for snapping.

"Problems?" Trowa asked in reply. One word asked a thousand questions.

Shrugging, Heero tried to blow it off but Trowa saw the tiredness in his eyes. Something no one else seemed to see save for Relena. "What brings you to HQ?"

"Une called, said she needed to talk to me about a temporary assignment." Trowa answered then said, "She also said she needed to talk to you before you went to Relena's." 'Dead tired more like. When did he last get any sleep?'

Heero was about to reply when his cell phone rang. Flipping it open, Heero looked at the Text and blinked a few times until he could read it before shutting it closed. Looking at Trowa, Heero smirked. "Guess who's asking for you?"

Chuckling a little, Trowa said, "Make sure you get some coffee. Before you pass out." Walking out of the gym, Trowa paused and stared at the door window briefly. Heero was in a corner of the room watching the class with a bored expression but he rubbed his eyes tiredly before calling them to attention for the end of the class. '...'


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More soon

[perfectpeach]

aaaw. short! you write it straight onto the site don't you elyn? bst thing to do is do it in word then paste it when its complete. but, interesting like i said before. I like to seee where this goes. keep it up.

[WingZero2118]

y'd u have to stop? its getting really good by the way. cant wait to read more. uve got me readin quite a few of ur storys and everyone of them is great. keep up the good work but dont spread urself to thin.

[Elyn Yuy]

thanks for the compliments!

I am already spread too thin
My eyes are popping out

anyway, I will get it done soon

[Elyn Yuy]

I edited it a bit... more soon, promise!!!
i can't get on the computer until later in the day, usually at night...

my eyes are popping out of my sockets because I was staring at the comp too long

hope you enjoy

[Aristale Wolf]

me want to see where this is goin 2....very curious....very curious.....and very intriging....cant wait till the next chapter...hope its soon......

[Elyn Yuy]

this is almost done...there's a certain point that i am getting to in the next chunk that i will do.

[lildragonfly]

really like it, hope you update soon

[Elyn Yuy]

I am so sorry it has taken me this long to finish this chapter...Reality set in and I was lost in translation.,,,