Blissful Ignorance

A/N : It took a long time but finally this chapter is out. I just want to thank everyone who’s reviewed and told me to go on.. And, I’d like to thank angeldreams for her wonderful beta-reading services. The idea of writing a dream was hers. So, all in all, let’s see how it turned out. ^^

Sissi

Dark Side

Chapter Four : Clues

He was sitting on the grass, watching the sun set and hearing the birds sing their lovely and lively song. The sunlight was almost fading, the tingling sensation it had created on his skin disappearing along with the warmth it offered.

He wasn’t alone. No sooner had he been staring at the sun set then he heard soft laughs from his right. Turning his attention to the beautiful woman sitting beside him, all coherent thoughts left his minf, for he kept silent watching her smile and laugh.

“Heero?” she asked shyly, unsure if he would pay her any attention. He nodded in her direction, receiving a smile from her in return.

“The war is finally over and peace has finally been set. Aren’t you happy?”

He pondered over her words. Yes, peace was now tangible, and if people continued like this, the future would not hold any more threats of a meaningless and bloodshed war.

“So...now that you don’t need to fight anymore, what will you do?”

He watched her face, trying to find any clue as to what she wanted to tell him. Her cheekd were pink; she was blushing. He found out that it made her look even prettier than her usual.

“I don’t know” was his simple reply. She nodded in acknowledgement, turning her face away from his.

“Would you...stay on Earth?” she asked. This time, it was his turn to look the other way, avoiding her expressive eyes.

Earth.

What a beautiful word and place. He could feel his heart beat in harmony everytime the word was mentioned. Yes, he would like to live on Earth, live and watch all the beauty it possessed, all the different and exquisite kinds of lives inhabited on it.

And mainly...because Relena lived there.

Relena...

Once again, his thought drifted back to her.

During the Eve Wars, she had been present in his mind, either physically or mentally. It wasn’t only her looks that tainted his mind. It was also her fiery eyes, so full of determination...besides, of course, her naivet?. She was so pure...the total opposite of himself.

He remembered the day he promised he would protect her, no matter what. She was far too precious to him and to the world to be lost. He’s protect her from everything, even from himself. Why from himself?

Because his sould was dirty. Dirty with blood and sins.

His hand...so full of blood spilt from the thousands of soldiers he had killed...No, he could never be with her. She was too pure, too good to deserve something as him. She must forget about him. He doesn’t deserve her time nor a place in her heart, as she held for the other gundam pilots. No, he’s better leave her life forever. She shall never face the encountless deaths he’s watched in fron of his eyes, either by his own hands or by someone elses.

“No. I’ll leave to one of the colonies.” Was his sharp reply. She flinched at his cold retort. He could feel her sadness.

How he has changed since he met her he cannot say. She modifies him to an extreme that he felt the urge at that moment to hug her and tell her that it wasn’t what his heart truly yearned for. But, it was for the best, though.

And because of this firm resolve, he left her the next day, leaving a sad and sobbing Relena on Earth.

It was for the best, right?

Suddenly, everything started to blur, and Relena’s image started fading. Heero tried unsuccessfully to reach out for her, but when he tried catching her wrist, he found air, pure and simple air. She was disappearing right in front of his eyes, and he couldn’t stand it.

“Relena!” he screamed with all his might, but she couldn’t to listen him anymore.

Heero snapped up from his sleeping position, sweat covering his entire and trembling body. His heart rate has increased considerably and his pupils were wide, due to the nightmare mixed with the memory of their last encounter.

He shook his head, it was not the appropriate time for reminiscing the past. But, he couldn’t help but feel a slight shiver run down his spine every now and then, whenever he thought about this odd
dream.

Walking to the kitchen, Heero grabbed a mug and poured some coffee into it. It was cold, but it didn’t matter to him. All he wanted was something to keep his eyes open. He still had a mission, and damn him if he ever fell asleep again.

Drinking all the coffee with one quick gulp, Heero wale=ked in the direction of the living-room. It was dimly lit by the lights, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. The curtains were drawn, prohibiting outsiders to know his movements. Neighbourhood could be a pain in the ass, especially if they were gossipers, as Heero believed they were.

Managing to sit on a comfortable black leathered couch, Heero looked over the tape he had previously taken out of the television. It was still hot beneath his palm.

Sighing softly in bewilderment, he placed the tape on the nearby table. Rubbing his eyes and pulling his bangs away from his eyes, Heero thought about her. Yes, he could still remember his grief when he first saw her on the screen. She had not changed much, but still, she was different. No less beautiful, he decided, but she looked sadder.

‘No, I shouldn’t be thinking about this. Yuy, get a hold on yourself.’ He scolded silently. Slumping more into his couch, Heero closed his eyes once more, concentrating hard on his mission. Opening them again, he was focused and ready for action. Better saying, he was prepared for one more boring day watching tapes incessantly, at least until he found some clue. So, with this in mind, he inserted one more tape into the machine.

Most of them had already been carefully watched and discarded. No useful information could be found in them. The tape he was watching was already one of the last ones. It was from the camera outside the door to a Relena’s office room, recording precisely Relena’s secretary’s every movement.

Heero watched the secretary babble on the phone, while she had nothing to do. Then, she received another call and answered it. Her eyes widened for a fraction and she went hurriedly to the Vice Foreigner’s office. She stayed there for some minutes, though. Then, she quickly packed her things and left.

‘That’s strange...’ Heero mused. He continued to watch the tape, sure that something would happen. But, to his dismay, nothing happened. The camera recorded that no one had approached the place for the next two hours, during the period of time the e-mail had been sent to him.

He was already discarding any assumption that the strange incident could be useful when the same secretary appeared on the screen, a frown marring her face. She cursed heavily to Lord knows who, and sat with a tired face.

Grabbing the list with all Relena’s workers’ telephone number, he dialed her secretary’s one. He waited patiently for the woman to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Are you Helen Douglas?” He asked. The woman on the other line seemed to tremble when she told him that she was.

“I’m a preventer and I’d like to ask you some questions.”

“Okay...” she replied.

“On March 13th, you received a call about something urgent. You left your work and then, some time later, you came back with an annoyed expression. What was it about?” He asked, in a somewhat threatening tone.

“I-I was told my mom had fell ill and that I had to go to the Hospital St. Michael. When I arrived there, they said I was mistaken and that there was no patient called Mrs. Douglas being treated there. It was such an awful trick! People shouldn’t play with such important and serious matters!” the woman yelled. Heero tried to calm the enraged woman, who kept cursing and yelling about kids that didn’t know about the seriousness of it.

After some time, Heero finally managed to say his apologies for the waste of time, which she accepted. Now, what this Helen told him was odd.

He grabbed the tape and rewinded it. There must be some little clue, something different in it. All he had to do was to be more careful.

He watched the scenes carefully. Okay, the secretary grabbed the phone. She’s talking, a worried expression plastered all over her face. She grabs her purse and leaves. And...Nothing.

Heero sighs in defeat. Nothing strange happened! How could it be. He left his gaze return to the screen when something called his attention. He clicked on the pause button. It was possible to see some icons on the secretary’s computer. The icon that was shadowed was the icon named “Internet”.

‘I was sure that it was the icon “My Computer” that was selected, not this other one’ he mused. He rewinded the tape and zoomed the image. Yes! There it was! A second before, the icon “My Computer” was the one the secretary had selected. But, a second later, it was the internet one.

“I got you.” Heero told to himself. So, the person must have frozen the camera with the main computer. The only people that could have done that were four men, the ones who were related to the camera security.

After finding the list with the four names he desired, he called Une. She’d be sure satisfied with this. All they needed now was to make a ‘little’ interview with these four men and find out who the traitor and spy was.

Heero could already imagine the tortures he would inflict on the man responsable for Relena’s kidnap.

‘Relena, wait for me.’

* * * * * * * * * *
The four men were sitting uncomfortably on their respectives seats. They had nervous and worried eyes, which made preventer Chang and preventer Yuy more and more suspiscious.

Colonel Une entered the reserved room, handling a paper to Heero. He scanned quickly through it and told two of the four men that they were released of the interview. The two men sighed in relied and bowed in their direction.

Heero calmy but threateningly walked till he was in front of the two men that were left behind.

“You were the ones responsable for the security on March 13th.”

Both men nodded, the fact undeniable. Heero continued.

“Maybe both of you are working together, maybe not. So, if you are innocent, say it.” Heero didn’t even introduce the matter he was talking about. He just thought that the innocent one would quickly start talking about the other’s movements.

Both the men looked at each other and started to plead with him, telling him that they knew nothing. Wufei quickly was beside them, a gun aiming at their heads. “Be quiet.” He ordered, which made the men stop and stare wide-eyed at Heero.

“Tell me what you did from two till three o’clock in the afternoon of March 13th .

The blond man, called Charles, was the first to start telling them his movements.

“Two o‘clock is the time we return to our work after lunch. I went to the room with my companion here. We were sitting there, chatting about nonsense when I left the room to go to the bathroom. When I returned, he wasn’t there. He arrived some minutes later, and told me that he went to the cafeteria to buy something, a candy I think.”

“Was he eating something?”

“I didn’t notice, sir.” Heero shook his head. And they were the ones responsible for the security...

”Can you prove your story?”

“No, there was no one in the bathroom” Charles admitted silently. Heero raised his eyebrow, his smirk widening. Maybe this was their man.

“It is your turn” Heero directed his direction the the brown-haired man called Andrew. He closed his eyes, took a breath, and started his story.

“As Charles said, we got at the camera room at two. We were talking about girls, when he said that he had to go to the bathroom. I sat there, with nothing to do. I decided to buy some food, so I went to the cafeteria. I bought some candies and returned to my work. Charles was already there when I returned.”

“Did you meet someone?”

“Well, yes. There’s this girl, Melissa. She works as the cashier in the cafeteria.”

Heero gave Wufei a meaningful look, which in turn he gave a nod of understandment and Wufei left the room. The two secutity guards waited in silence, uncertain of what to do. Wufei returned with a tall beautiful brunette. Her green eyes showed fear towards the men in the room.

“Is your name Melissa?” Heero asked blatantly. She nodded and Heero moved to the side so she could sit on the chair he was occupying some moments ago. She took the seat and patiently waited for the next question.

“Do you remember ever serving this guy here?” He pointed at Andrew. She nodded. “Do you remember the people you served on March 13th?”

She shook her head. “It’s impossible, sir. There are too many people there everyday. I can’t remember who was in the cafeteria in an exact day.”

Heero sighed impatiently.

“Calm down, Yuy” was all Wufei told him. But Heero couldn’t help but feel stressed. It must have been one of them, but who? He couldn’t take his eyes off of them. Une had also her eyes glued on both of the men. She was frowning, an idea suddenly forming in her mind.

She rose from her place and told two guards of her trust to watch them while she talked to Heero and Wufei. Both men were dubious whether they should leave the room, but after seeing Une’s serious look, both men agreed.

“Heero, Wufei, any idea of who the traitor is?” she asked. Heero almost laughed at her question. Shouldn’t he be the one asking her this? After all, she was the one who wanted to talk to them.

“No,” was all they said. Une simply watched her surroundings, silently wondering about the possiblity of spies. They used to believe that they had the best security in the entire planet, but with Relena’s kidnap, everything was possible, even the existence of enemies among their staff.

“What if both of them are spies?” she proposed.

“It’s impossible. Why would one say the other left the room then? Shouldn’t they cover each other?” Wufei asked. Heero was almost going to agree with him when the idea started to take form in his mind.

By what they said, it was impossible to say who was lying. There were no witnesses, it could have been either of them. But, if they couldn’t prove who the spy was, they couldn’t accuse any of them...

“I think you are right, Colonel Une. But, even if it true, how will we prove this?”

Une eyes him and simply replied, “With a trap.”

Heero watched Une, her eyes focused on the pen she was holding with her right hand. She tilted her head to one side and then looked at him again.

“But for now, we will have to let them free. We have no evidence that they have cooperated in Relena’s kidnapping.”

Heero growled, feeling the urge to protest, but he knew it would be futile. After all, she was right. They couldn’t arrest them. Besides, their idea of them working together was a mere supposition. They could be wrong after all.

“Fine.”He turned and walked away, leaving Wufei and Colonel Une behind.

“What a temper...” She commented to the other preventer.

“Feh, you should be used by now” was all Wufei replied. Colonel Une shook her head.

“Let’s enter the room and get over with this. Wufei, when we are done, I want you to put hidden cameras in the security room, along with microphones. Trowa is the one who is going to watch them from now on. Understood?”

Wufei nodded. Finally they have made some progress.