Don't Push Me Away - Chapter 6 (4xR) AU
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2003 9:22 am
Don't Push Me Away
by Neon Fantasy
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters from Gundam Wing.
Chapter 6
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" --- " - Speaking
' --- ' - Thinking
As Duo made his way to the usual table where he and the rest of his friends sat, he was thinking of how great his hot dog was going to taste. He had ordered the lot with it and just the look of it was making his mouth water. Sitting himself down next to Mueller he rubbed his hands together and licked his lips at the look of his food. He had gotten himself more then just a hot dog but compared to everything else, his hot dog was the most eye catching sight, everyone else would agree with that but not in the same way he sees it.
"What the hell is on that thing?" Hilde asked as she stared at the sight of the hot dog.
"Hehe, this is my lunch, that's what it is," Duo replied as he was about to pick it up, "Nothing can compare to this hot dog, I double checked to be sure everything was added to it.
"That's a hot dog!? You have got to be kidding," Mariemaia said when she looked over at it as well.
"Geez, don't just judge food by the way it looks, you would be surprised how good it tastes."
Going back to eating their food again, Duo couldn't hold back the urge to just make it sit there any longer. Lifting it up to his mouth, he was just about to take a large bite out from it, until he caught a glimpse of Quatre, he didn?t seem as cheerful as what he usually was. Quatre looked to be so lost in thought; he had not spoken a word to anyone yet. All he was doing was just playing around with his food with a blank expression over his face.
"Your foods not going to eat it self up you know," Duo said to him as he kept hold of his hot dog.
Quatre glanced up at him and gave him a weak smile in response as he slowly started taking in small servings of his pasta. Quatre couldn't even taste the food in his mouth, it felt like chewing on rubber from all he was getting from it.
There was silence at the table ever since Duo had spoken. What Quatre didn't notice was that everyone was watching him.
"Hey Quatre, are you ok?" Alex suddenly asked him as he patted him over the back.
When Quatre lifted his gaze, he was surprised to see everyone looking at him with concerned expressions. This was making him feel even worse; he didn't want anyone worrying over him. Wanting to put their worries to rest he forced a smile at everyone and said, "Yes, I'm fine, I'm just tired that?s all." As he got up from his seat he noticed that everyone still looked worried so he added, "Sorry to make you all worry. I just have a bit of a headache. I'm just going to go to the toilets ok?" And with that he left the table and started making his way to the toilets. He really didn't want to trouble anyone over such small matters; maybe washing his face will cleanse away his thoughts and help him keep a straight face.
While looking about the cafeteria though, his sights came to a rest on Relena. She was by herself as normal and was writing in her book once again. Before leaving the cafeteria he watched her for a moment before whispering, "Miss Relena, I'm so sorry."
Duo didn't take his eyes off from Quatre as he left the table, while observing him he noticed Quatre pause as he appeared to be looking at something briefly before heading out.
"What could be troubling him? He has been so quite and so withdrawn since this morning," Hilde said sadly, "He is usually so cheerful, it makes me so upset just looking at him like this."
"Yeah, I tried talking to him about it at one stage but he kept shrugging it off saying that he was fine," Mariemaia mentioned.
"Could something of happened to him last night?" Alex suggested. This got everyone's attention.
While they talked about the possibilities of what could have happened to Quatre, Duo knew all too well what might have happened. The thought of it made him lose his appetite. Pushing away his food, he looked over to where Relena was sitting. He knew that Quatre was with Relena last night and he knew that something like this was going to happen. 'You can never pass up the opportunity to hurt who ever comes near you, huh Relena?' Duo cursed to himself as he narrowed his gaze on her. It was bad enough that Quatre was upset because of her, and she had just spoiled his lunch as well.
Sighing to her self, Relena closed up her book and rested her face in her hands, she hardly got any sleep last night and it was really taking its toll on her today. She couldn't believe her attitude last night; things were beginning to turn in the right direction for her too. And it would have remained that way if she wasn't so arrogant.
******Flashback******
As Relena made her entrance back into the lounge room, expecting to see Quatre and her mother getting along like a house on fire, she noticed that the room was completely empty. Before anything could register to her she heard the front door close and watched as Mrs. Darlian made her way into the room.
Upon seeing Relena, Mrs. Darlian couldn't keep in the frustration she was feeling at the moment, "Oh so NOW you decide to come in and make your entrance. It's too bad but your guest has already left. Excuse me, I used the wrong terms, with the way he has been treated here, I doubt that he could be considered a guest."
Relena could easily see that for herself that Quatre had left but what she wanted to know was why Quatre had left without her, wasn't he suppose to be helping her with her studies?
"Where did Quatre go?" Relena asked her. Looking at her, Relena could see the murder in her gaze as she stared Relena down. It almost seemed like a stupid question to Mrs. Darlian as if Relena were suppose to know the reason why he had left.
"You never change do you Relena? To be honest, I can't see why Quatre even considered coming here to help you. You are THAT arrogant that you don't even care about anyone else?s feelings do you? I mean, here he comes being the sweetest gentleman that one can expect of him, and so what do you do? You treat him in the most disrespectful behaviour. Is getting him something to eat and drink really THAT hard for you!?"
Relena couldn't reply back, she was so shocked and upset over her mother's words that it was taking her all of her dignity to not break down right here and now in front of her. Did Quatre really leave because of her? She was only annoyed at her mother at the time she was serving them food, did Quatre think that that was directed at him? 'What have I done...'
"What I wouldn't give for a child like Quatre, at least he has manners and treats people with respect. Not to mention, he actually listens to you when you are talking to him," with that she brushed past Relena, feeling content with herself as she left her alone in the lounge room.
Relena didn't remain in the lounge room for long, running up the stairs she burst into her room and leaned against the closed door, letting the tears flow down her face as she started sobbing. Was everything that Quatre said to her at school a lie? Did he fill her up on false hope just to make her feel like this? She might not have shown this to Quatre but every time he paid her any form of attention, she couldn't help but feel happy knowing that at least someone cared. Even hoping that he would help her made her happy, she admitted that she did everything she could to make him change his mind but deep down she didn't want him to. 'Nothing good ever seems to happen to me, is trying to be happy over any little thing a crime?' Clutching her chest she cried out louder in agony over the twisted fate she seemed to live. How could she blame Quatre for anything, everything was her fault, her mother was right, she was an arrogant person, ignorant and selfish too. It was her fault from the beginning that everything is like this for her now; she had no right to blame anyone but herself for her pain. ?Nothing good will ever happen to me because I deserve it, it?s my fault, it?s my fault.? Damning herself for everything she started crying out even more tears of shame upon herself. And she continued for around an hour before suddenly falling asleep.
******End of Flashback******
Feeling tears swell up in her eyes once from the memories of last night, she picked up her things and headed out the cafeteria. With the amount of times she cried, she wondered how it was possible that her eyes haven't dried up yet. As she took a few step away from the cafeteria she suddenly heard her name being called, "Stay right there Relena."
She froze in her steps when she heard that voice. She was in trouble now; there was no other reason why this person would want to talk to her again. With what had happened between them anyway.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she slowly turned around to come face to face with the person she had never been on good terms with ever since they basically met, "Hello Duo," Relena softly said.
"Don't say 'hello' to me you bitch, what exactly did you do to Quatre last night?" He asked her as he kept glaring at her. He was just going to be straight to the point with her, he would never talk to her unless if it involved something important, like his friends. Especially with the kind heart Quatre has, he couldn't believe anyone would want to hurt him like 'she' did.
"I...Um...I-"
"We don't have forever for you to make up some excuse Relena! Doesn't it occur to you why people don't want to associate with you? The first person to even take note of your existence for a long time has been Quatre, if anyone else with a heart was in your position they would feel happy that at least someone was talking to them but what do you do? You use him for what ever it was you needed from him last night and crush him in the process. Oh hang on, let me rephrase that, if anyone in your position actually HAD a heart, they wouldn?t be in your position at all."
"Duo-" She didn't have time to even up a word in before he suddenly grabbed her by the arm, squeezing it with the force of his hatred over her, which was making Relena whimper and squirm under the pressure. Her mouth opened slightly as she let out a cry of pain, kneeling on the ground by Duo's feet, his grip on her arm was unbearable, she couldn't even feel it anymore, "Duo, please I-"
"You deserve whatever?s thrown at you Relena! Now are you going to answer my question or-"
"DUO!" Quatre yelled as he ran up to him, grabbing hold of the arm which held Relena's, "LET GO OF HER!"
Duo was shocked to see Quatre stopping him, not to mention surprised by his outburst. He still had things to say to Relena but by the look on Quatre?s eyes, he decided to do what he said. Slowly letting go of Relena's arm Duo removed his grip on her but noticed that Quatre still had a hold of his arm. Looking up at Quatre he noticed that his eyes showed nothing but pure rage at him, he was angry, no, he was above angry. Duo couldn't help but feel slightly shaken by the way Quatre looked, he never seemed like the type to get angry over anything, he had never heard him yell in such a rage either.
"Quatre, I was jus-"
"Duo! You had NO right to hurt her like that, what is your problem!? No one deserves to be treated in such a manner!" As he let go of his grip on Duo's arm he pushed him aside in the process, causing Duo to be thrown a few steps away from him.
"I was just trying to find out what happened to you. You weren?t talking or anything so I figured for a fact that she must have done something to you and-"
"SO THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO HURT HER LIKE YOU WERE DOING!?" Quatre yelled back at him, Duo looked at him wide eyed, as did Relena.
People who were around the area started taking attention to the outbursts Quatre was having, expecting a fight, they started gathering around, even people from the cafeteria were starting to come out and see what the commotion was about. Quatre wasn't paying attention to the people gathering around, he kept his focus on Duo and continued, "Duo, you know NOTHING about what happened last night, why are you so quick to judge that Relena would be the one in the wrong? Because she has a bad reputation? Did it ever occur to you that maybe 'I' could have been in the wrong??
Hilde and the others started coming out from the cafeteria at that moment, noticing the people around Quatre and Duo they couldn't believe their eyes.
Sylvia's group and Heero's group started heading over to the gathering where many students were rushing to get to. Standing above a hill they all looked down and noticed Quatre and Duo mouthing off at each other.
"Wow, I never knew Quatre had it in him," Meiran commented.
"Hehe I hope he knocks Duo's block off, GO QUATRE!" Sylvia called out.
Dorothy eyed the situation critically, looking down at her younger brother she couldn't believe what she was seeing. 'This can't be right? Ever-so-gentle-Quatre? In a fight!?' Looking down at Duo she noticed Relena on the ground not too far away from them, watching them with a frightened expression over her face.
Heero had no idea what was going on but by the look of Relena being there beside them he could tell that this some how revolved around her. About ready to join in with the fight he suddenly felt a hand grab his shoulder, glaring at the culprit he noticed that it was Trowa.
"Don't meddle in other people's affairs. I doubt if anything serious will happen anyway, especially if it involves Quatre."
Heero was not convinced, he knew Duo longer than he knew Quatre and he had been having his suspicions about Quatre ever since he started school. He was almost positive that he is the cause to Relena being on the ground like that. As much as he wanted to help Duo out, he kept his ground but never pulled his eyes away from the situation.
Midii wasn't caring much about the fight, leaning on Wufei's arm she suddenly became surprised at how tense he was. Looking up at him she noticed the anger in his eyes, much the same as Heero's. Midii knew all too well what was making him so annoyed so she tried snuggling up to him further so that he could pay her some attention. Wufei had no interest in Midii at the moment, if it wasn't for her keeping him pinned to where he stood he would be down there right now joining in the fight.
Duo was shocked by the words coming out of Quatre's mouth. He was only trying to help and here he was mouthing off at him like he had just killed someone. He was in a bad enough mood as it was and with Quatre adding to his annoyance he wasn't thinking anymore, "What is YOUR problem Quatre! I only want to help you! It was a fair enough assumption to think SHE did something to you. YOU don't know her like most of us here do, I'm only trying to look out for you. YOU WERE THE STUBBORN ONE TO NOT TELL ANY OF US WHAT YOUR PROBLEM WAS SO I COULD ONLY ASSUME IT WAS HER WHO DID SOMETHING TO YOU!"
"Just because I didn?t want to talk about my problems with you doesn't give you the right to try and force them out of Miss Relena. It had nothing to do with you so don't sick your nose into other people's business."
Duo couldn't take it anymore, if Quatre wanted to stand by Relena's side and be hated by everyone then that's just fine with him. But if Quatre's going to be a prick about it then he will consider him being no better then Relena. He meant no harm to Quatre and this is the way he treats him, he was a concerned friend, if he didn't want him to 'stick his nose into his own business' then fine, Duo had other friends to stand by him. If his friendship with Quatre means nothing to him then so be it.
"Is that the way you see it Quatre? I'm of annoyance to you because I was worried? Well I'm SORRY FOR CARING! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN RELENA! YOU WILL BE GOING DOWN IN NO TIME FLAT!"
Now that wasn't a good move on Duo's behave, in fact, he just made a BIG mistake to say something like that, "...What did you say?" Quatre asked him, almost tauntingly. He DARED him to try and say that again, it was bad enough that Quatre was tripping off his own guilt about what happened last night that he was saying things which he didn't mean, but Duo had no right to insult Relena like that. He quite liked Relena and saw no problem with her, she as going through enough pain as it was, so he didn?t need to hear this sort of thing from someone who held a grudge. Quatre actually thought highly of Duo, he seemed like the type to not hate someone just by appearances or reputations but by hearing his words now, that thought on him was completely thrown out of mind now.
"You heard me Quatre! You and Relena are both the same, you?re both so full of yourselves that you think you have a right to push around anyone you want. I was convinced to start off with that you were completely different from her but now I can see that manipulating people for your own benefit is all that matters to yo-" Before he could even finish Quatre made a dash towards him and punched him in the gut, causing Duo to double over as he clenched his stomach.
Looking at Duo on the ground as he was holding his stomach, he couldn?t believe what he had just done. He got so angry that he just couldn?t hold it in anymore, he didn?t deserve that, he was only concerned about him. 'Oh no! What have I done?' As Quatre was about to apologize to Duo for his foolish actions Duo took this opportunity to punch Quatre in the cheek, causing him to stumble a few steps away from him.
As Quatre was rubbing his cheek Duo got up from the ground and rushed for him again, pulling his fist back to take a stronger strike at Quatre. Quatre had his head off to the side at that moment as he rubbed his cheek, he didn't even notice that Duo was going to have another crack at him.
'No... NO!' Relena yelled in her head as forced herself off the ground to come to Quatre's aid, she was not about to have Quatre seriously hurt because of her, she would never forgive herself if she just allowed it to happen.
Hilde and the rest of the group went into shock when they saw Relena dash to Quatre as Duo was about to punch him again, they could see what was about to happen, "DUO STOP!" Hilde yelled as she started dashing towards him, she had to get by the crowd quickly or she wouldn't be able to stop him in time, Mariemaia and everyone else started rushing after her.
Heero and Wufei went into sudden shock when they saw Relena dash for Quatre as well. "DAMMIT!" Heero yelled as he dashed towards the fight. Wufei wanted to do the same but Midii was holding him back, "LET GO WOMAN!" Wufei yelled as he pushed Midii off his arm. With her off him Wufei sprinted towards the fight, he was right behind Heero as they started to try and push people out of the way. Trowa went after them as well, not wanting them to do anything foolish but could understand their concerns for Relena's safety.
Midii pouted when she watched Wufei ran off, she cursed herself for not pulling him away sooner. Meiran on the other hand smirked as she watched what was about to happen to Relena. Sylvia grew angry at Duo hitting her Quatre like that and couldn't wait for Heero and/or Wufei to go and knock his block off. Dorothy on the other hand just watched it as it was coming, if anything she should be jumping for joy that Quatre got whooped in the face and should be begging for Duo to smack him out again but for some reason, she was feeling nothing, nothing at all. Instead, she was processing the verbal fight with in her mind, what Quatre mainly said was what she was mainly focusing herself on.
Everything came in slow motion from here. Quatre was beginning to turn his gaze to Duo and noticed that he was about to hit him again but what worried Quatre even more was the fact that Relena was rushing for him as well. His eyes widened at what he knew was coming but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move, he was frozen, with the rush of anger that came over him ever since he saw Duo grab Relena he had the overwhelming shock of guilt run over him, it just froze him solid.
Duo didn't even notice Relena come towards them, he was too focused on hitting Quatre that he didn't care what was going on around him. Pulling up all of his strength Duo swung his fist to connect to Quatre's stomach but what he didn't realize until it was too late was that Relena was shielding Quatre and took the blow in the stomach for him.
Hilde, Heero and Wufei had just broken through the hysterical crowd as Duo struck Relena in the stomach. "MISS RELENA!" Quatre screamed as he finally snapped himself out of the state he was in. Relena had the wind knocked out of her as she started collapsing to the ground, she wanted to scream out in pain but it was just so unbearable that her lungs seemed malfunction. Everything started coming to her like a blur from her on, the blow to the stomach caused her to start falling to the ground, but before she hit it she felt a pair of arms wrap around her as she fell within someone?s body. Looking up at the person who caught her she saw that Quatre was looking down at her with sadness and shock written all over him. Duo went into sudden shock at what he had just done, as much as he hated Relena he would never go as far as to hit her! Before he could do anything more Heero rushed to Relena while Duo was thrown to the ground by a furious Wufei, "YOU BASTARD!!!" Wufei yelled as he started thrashing Duo.
"Let him go!" Hilde yelled as she tried pulling Wufei off from Duo. Mariemaia and the others had made it at this moment; Mariemaia went over to check on Quatre while Alex and Mueller went over to help Duo. "Get off him!" Alex yelled as he and Mueller started fighting Wufei when suddenly Trowa appeared and joined in, trying to stop them but failed miserably so he tried to reason with them with his fists. Although the fight mainly revolved around Wufei and Duo.
"Relena..." Heero said as he approached her, kneeling beside her as he pushed a few loose strands of her hair off from her face. She coughed up some blood at that moment and moaned in the pain she was feeling.
Mariemaia kneeled down beside Quatre and looked at his cheek, ?Are you alright?? She asked as she gently stroked it.
Heero didn?t know how to react; he was both angry and upset with what had just happened.
Allowing his emotions to take over he grabbed Quatre by the jacket and yelled, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
?HEY! Let him go!? Mariemaia said as she grabbed Heero?s arm, but as much as she tried removing his arm from Quatre, his vice-like grip on him wouldn?t budge.
"Please, help Miss Relena first! You can hurt me as much as you want after but please take Miss Relena to the school nurse!" Quatre yelled hysterically at him.
Heero looked at him blankly as he said that but what shocked him even more was when Relena lifted her arm to make Heero loosen the grip he had on Quatre's jacket. Looking down at her she shook her head at him as she removed his hand from Quatre. 'Relena?' Before he could do anything more, Mr. Walker, Mrs. Baker and the school principal made their appearances to the fight scene. Moving past the cheering crowd the principal yelled, "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"
Mr. Walker went into the fight where the boys were still thrashing at each and started to try and separate them. When they were all off the ground Duo tried starting at Wufei again but was stopped by Hilde holding him back and Mr. Walker standing in front of him. Wufei was stopped by Trowa, while Mueller and Alex stepped back from them.
"ALL OF YOU, TO THE OFFICE NOW!" The principal yelled as Mr. Walker motioned for the boys to follow.
Wufei and Trowa followed him without any problems but that wasn?t the case for everyone else.
Mariemaia walked up to Alex and Mueller to look over their injuries, sighing in relief that they didn?t inflict too much damage upon themselves, she wrapped her arms around Mueller and looked over to see if Duo was ok. He was a mess, since Wufei was a black belt at martial arts; he didn?t exactly take it easy on him when they fought. Hilde lifted one of his arms over her shoulders but had a bit of trouble trying to support his weight. Alex and Mueller decided to take over for her as they both went to each side of Duo to help carry him.
?Get him taken to the school nurse, I will call up his parents to get him taken to the hospital,? the principal said as they adjusted their glasses.
Alex and Mueller nodded and started carrying Duo over to the infirmary while Mariemaia went over to hug Hilde for comfort, noticing her crying over Duo?s injuries.
?Let?s go follow them ok? Duo is tough, he will be ok, I just know it,? Mariemaia said as she started to bring them both to a walking pace to follow the others.
Mrs. Baker went up to check on Relena, looking over her she looked up at the principal who examined Relena from where she stood as well, "Heero, take Relena to the school nurse. Quatre, you come with me."
Heero didn't need to be told twice, bringing Relena into his arms he and Mrs. Baker started heading to the school infirmary. Looking out at the crowd that had sat back and watched the entire thing the principal yelled, "There is nothing more to see here! Get yourselves ready for class; the bell will be going any minute now!"
The crowd started to pout and shrug at the performance just held. Everyone was already beginning to gossip over the fight, this was the new chat topic of the week for everyone now.
As the crowd started dying down the principal looked back over to Quatre and said, "Come on now, you will be the first to explain yourself."
"Yes Ms. Une," Quatre said as he followed the principal to the office.
********************************
Relena started stirring in her sleep as she was suddenly started to regain consciousness, she didn't even realize that she had dozed off. Slowly opening her eyes she found herself in the school infirmary, lying down in one of the beds. Looking around the room she noticed Heero was sitting by her bed, "Heero?" She asked in question, coughing again in the pain of her stomach muscles were giving her.
"Don't talk," Heero said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Your parents will be coming to pick you up soon, don't try moving too much, they will be taking you to the hospital when they arrive." As he stood from his seat Relena grabbed hold of his hand and asked, "Is Quatre alright? Please tell me he's alright." She started coughing again when she said this, making the pain in her stomach more unbearable then what it already was.
"I told you not to talk," Heero said as he removed his hand from hers.
"Is he alright!?" Relena said in a louder tone, causing her to upset her stomach even further. Tears were streaming down her face at the pain she was causing herself, making Heero sit beside her again. Lifting his hand to caress Relena's cheek to calm her down he said, "Relena, you have to relax or you?re just going to make yourself feel even more pain then what you already are."
Rising up from his seat once more he was about to walk off until he felt his jacket being tugged at. Turning his gaze to hers he noticed her eyes pleading with him to answer her earlier question or else she wasn't going to let go until he did. Not wanting her to hurt herself any further he sighed in defeat and nodded to her, "He was here earlier on to have his injuries check at. He is fine."
Relena sighed in relief as she let go of his jacket, nodding her thanks to him she closed her eyes to try and get some rest. Watching her reaction to hearing that Quatre was alright, he wondered why she had such a soft spot for him. As much as he hated him he couldn't bring himself to punch him for what happened when he came into the infirmary, the conversation they had earlier made him question his beliefs on him.
******Flashback******
Heero was sitting by Relena's bed, he had been asked to go to class several times since he had brought her in but he refused to leave her side until she regained consciousness. He was not letting her out of his sight with the condition she was in; he cursed himself for not going down to her earlier. From the corner of his eye he watched as Duo?s parents help guide Duo out the front door of the infirmary to take him to the hospital. Mariemaia and Hilde followed them out as they watched Duo being put in the car. His parents didn?t stay for very long; exchanging a few words to the two girls Duo?s parents got into their car and was off in a shot. He could understand why though, with the look of Duo?s condition, he might be away from school for a while. Hilde and Mariemaia reentered not too long after they left, as they started heading for the back door to get to class Quatre suddenly entered.
?Is Duo gone?? Quatre asked as he looked at them both.
?He just left for the hospital,? Mariemaia answered.
Hilde didn?t say anything; instead she walked up to him and slapped Quatre across the face. She hit him where Duo punched him, causing him to flinch at the extra pain, ?HOW COULD YOU HIT DUO LIKE THAT!? LOOK AT WHAT?S HAPPENED; LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO HIM!?
?Hilde! Wufei did that to him, not Quatre,? Mariemaia said as she tried standing up for Quatre.
Hilde didn?t listen instead she turned her murderous gaze to Mariemaia and said, ?Oh, so your on his side of it then!?
?Hilde, I didn?t say that, I?m just saying that-?
She didn?t even get time to finish before Hilde brushed past them both and stormed out the infirmary without looking back at them once.
?I?m sorry Quatre, she?s just angry but I?m sure you can understand why she?s like that. Let?s try sorting things out later when things cool down a bit. I?m sure it?s just a misunderstanding right??
Quatre nodded at her in response. Nodding back to him she rushed out the door to try and catch up to Hilde.
Heero watched as Quatre walked up to the counter where the school nurse was working. The nurse looked over his injury and gave him an icepack to help sooth down his cheek. Accepting it he put it to his face and flinched a little at the coldness of it but kept it there knowing it will help reduce the swelling.
Wanting to see if Relena was alright it didn't take him long to spot her on a bed in the far corner of the room, along with Heero sitting by her. Quatre knew that he had better stay away but as stubborn as he was he just had to see her; it was his fault that he didn't prevent her from coming near them.
Slowly walking over to the bed he noticed Heero getting angrier and angrier with him but didn?t flinch until Heero rose up from his seat. He was a couple of steps away from Relena's bed before Heero approached him, "I haven't had my crack at you yet, so you better leave now before I decide to kill you right here and now."
"I'm so sorry Heero, I-I didn't mean for this to happen. It's all my fault, I saw her coming towards me but I couldn't bring myself to stop her, I was so shocked at how I had been behaving that-"
"I don't need your excuses Winner! You?re going to be sorry you ever set foot in this school! If you think that punch by Duo hurt, wait till you feel what I can do, I can hit you ten times harder than what Duo ever could."
"I believe you when you say that, and I will gladly accept anything you throw at me Heero, it might knock some sense into me."
Heero didn't say anything when he said that, Quatre's eyes were so filled with sadness, guilt and regret that he looked about ready to cry. Heero wanted so badly to just knock him out right here and now but looking at Quatre in such a pitiful state he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't all his fault after all, Duo was the one who hit her.
He didn't move from where he stood and waited for Quatre to get the idea and walk off but he still stood there as if he were waiting for Heero to shrug it off and let him see Relena, that wasn't going to happen. "Do I have to spell it out to you!? Leave Quatre! You?re the last person I feel like looking at, at the moment."
"Heero, Relena is very important to you isn't she?"
That wasn't a question Heero was expecting to hear, as much as it took him off guard he made sure not to let Quatre notice, he kept his narrowed gaze at him and remained silent.
Quatre did notice the question surprise him, it was only there for a second but he noticed it. Heero was always watching over Relena when ever she was near but what Quatre couldn't understand was the fact that he hardly ever talked to her and didn't even sit with her in classes or anything. Heero never showed any emotion at school but until this accident, he couldn't believe the mix of emotions he saw in Heero's eyes at the look of Relena on the ground like she was when she was punched in the stomach.
"This will be something I will always regret, she didn't deserve this. All because of me..."
Heero watched as Quatre allowed a few tears to slide down his cheeks, brushing them away as quickly as they fell but they didn't seem to stop falling. Quatre knew that he must look like a total loser to Heero right now but he didn't care, he regretted what had happened and wasn't ashamed to show it.
Heero didn't know how to react; he had never seen a guy be so open with his emotions before. Any guy would want to put on the macho act to never show a sign of weakness to anything, especially tears. Tears were something you hardly ever saw from a guy, and as much as Heero just wanted to laugh at him he felt pity for the boy, which was something he hardly felt for anyone. He remembered Quatre's face as he was calling out her name. Even when Heero grabbed him by the jacket he saw the sorrow in his eyes and somehow the pain that Quatre was feeling at that moment started flooding into him as well. Heero admired him in a way for having such a kind heart, as much as he hated the guy, he had to admit that at times, he wished he had the strength to show emotions so openly like that, he could feel, but he would hardly ever show it.
Taking a few steps back, Heero slowly made his way back to his seat and watched for the boy's reaction. Expecting him to suddenly brighten and walk over to the bed to check over Relena he just looked at him and started heading for the door, much to Heero's surprise. Before the blonde exited he looked back over Relena's sleeping form then back up to Heero and said, "Please look after her Heero." And with that, he was gone.
******End of Flashback******
Heero had no idea how to judge the boy anymore, when ever he thought he had him figured out he ends up doing things which Heero never could expect him doing, the way he kindly greeted him when he first met him and suddenly walking out the infirmary when Heero accepted to let him come closer to Relena. He was usually able to determine someone's objectives upon meeting them and he thought Quatre was just playing the innocent act just to become the envy of any guy and to draw girls to him like a magnet. Since he was Dorothy's brother he had to expect the worse from him, which he did, up till now. Maybe he won't punch him as hard as he promised, he at least deserved that, there was no way that he was going to shrug off what happened today without doing anything at all.
Watching over her for a little longer he noticed that she was fast asleep now, so he figured that he better get back to class. Caressing her cheek softly as to not wake her he his expression softened a little as he started leaning closer to her. Looking over her features briefly he closed his eyes and gave her a peck on the cheek. Leaning his forehead against hers he silently begged, 'Relena, why can't you open up to me? Why do you persist on carrying this pain on your own? You know I will always be here for you, not the way we were, but that doesn't mean I don't care.' He wanted to say this to her but he couldn't bring himself to opening his mouth to say it. He had a feeling that she knew that anyway, but she continued to keep her distance from him. Opening up his eyes again the thought about why she stayed away suddenly hit him, it made perfect sense, there was no way she would stay away unless... Suddenly he heard the door to the infirmary open again. Looking over his shoulder, Heero noticed that it was Wufei.
As Wufei entered he looked over to Heero and nodded his greeting to him. Heero did the same as he got up and made his way over to him.
"How did it go?" Heero asked as he approached him.
"I got suspended," Wufei answered as he walked up to the counter of the infirmary.
"What about the others?"
"Quatre and Duo got suspended as well while everyone else got detentions."
"I see, shouldn't you be leaving then?"
"I was told to treat my cuts before leaving."
Heero watched as Wufei waited around the counter where the school nurse usually did her work but she didn't appear to be around at the moment. Heero noticed that the only injures Wufei acquired from the fight were a cut lip, a cut on his left eyebrow and a couple of little bruises around his face, hardly anything serious.
"Heero..." Wufei suddenly said after a few moments of silence.
Heero looked blankly at Wufei, waiting for him to continue. He had a feeling that he knew what Wufei was about to ask, with his voice being a lot softer than what it usually was when he said his name, it wouldn't take a psychic to figure out what he was going to ask.
"...Is... Is Relena alright?"
As expected Heero didn?t decide to answer, instead he pointed over to the far side of the room and said, "Go have a look for your self."
Wufei looked in the direction Heero pointed and noticed Relena sleeping on one of the beds. Nodding to him he slowly made his way over to her.
Heero raised an eyebrow at him when he watched him sit by her; he could never understand what went through Wufei's mind. If anything he was surprised to even hear him ask if Relena was alright. Heero started getting second thoughts on leaving Relena alone now, could he really trust Wufei with her alone? Wufei did have his bad moments, most of the time he hardly gave a care about anyone or anything around him, as long as he was happy he didn't care. But as much as Wufei tried to hide it he did notice every now and then times when he showed some emotion to things, Heero was the same so he wasn't one to criticize, but the difference with Heero was that he wasn't afraid of his emotions.
Opening the door he made his decision to leave Relena with him, but hoped that she will remain asleep while he was there, she was already physically hurt, she didn't need to be emotionally hurt either.
When he heard the door close he gave out a sigh of relief knowing Heero was finally gone, it always put him on edge when ever he felt Heero watching him. He could understand why he was like that though; if he was in his position he would be doing the same. Watching Relena sleep he marveled at the way she looked so at peace with everything. At least while sleeping she could tune out from the world that has hurt her so badly and go to her own world where she could be happy. For a long time now he had never seen her smile, not once, ever since things started going bad for her. Brushing his fingers through the ends of her silky hair he breathed in her strawberry fragrance. He didn't feel so angry anymore knowing that she was alright, he was even more content knowing that Duo will be feeling more pain at the moment than what she was, he made sure of that.
"Relena, I-I," Before Wufei could say anything more the school nurse finally made an entrance and noticed him as she walked into the room. Recognizing that it wasn't the same boy from before she said, "Sorry to keep you waiting, you must be another one of the boys who got into a fight earlier on today?"
Wufei nodded and stood up from the chair.
"Please come with me so I can treat your cuts," the nurse said as she walked to the other side of the room to get her things.
Wufei looked over at Relena once more before walking up to the nurse patiently waiting for him.
Relena moaned a little as she stirred in her sleep a little. As she touched her cheek, she flipped over to her side and breathed out someone's name. The name hung around the air before her, causing her to stir a little but then a tear suddenly escaped from her closed eye lids as it skimmed down her cheek and onto the pillow.
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Author's Note: This chapter was going to be heaps longer
but I decided to put it in the next chapter. 
Ohh, nothing seems to be going right for Quatre or Relena huh? But don't worry, things will start looking up for them in from here on out (hopefully 
) I admit nothing much happened in this chapter but like I said, it was going to be longer but I decided to add it to the next chapter, so Chapter 7 is in the workings already 
What did you think? Liked it? Hated it? Please send in some reviews, your support is what makes me continue with this.
Email: neon_fantasy@hotmail.com
by Neon Fantasy
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters from Gundam Wing.
Chapter 6
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" --- " - Speaking
' --- ' - Thinking
As Duo made his way to the usual table where he and the rest of his friends sat, he was thinking of how great his hot dog was going to taste. He had ordered the lot with it and just the look of it was making his mouth water. Sitting himself down next to Mueller he rubbed his hands together and licked his lips at the look of his food. He had gotten himself more then just a hot dog but compared to everything else, his hot dog was the most eye catching sight, everyone else would agree with that but not in the same way he sees it.
"What the hell is on that thing?" Hilde asked as she stared at the sight of the hot dog.
"Hehe, this is my lunch, that's what it is," Duo replied as he was about to pick it up, "Nothing can compare to this hot dog, I double checked to be sure everything was added to it.
"That's a hot dog!? You have got to be kidding," Mariemaia said when she looked over at it as well.
"Geez, don't just judge food by the way it looks, you would be surprised how good it tastes."
Going back to eating their food again, Duo couldn't hold back the urge to just make it sit there any longer. Lifting it up to his mouth, he was just about to take a large bite out from it, until he caught a glimpse of Quatre, he didn?t seem as cheerful as what he usually was. Quatre looked to be so lost in thought; he had not spoken a word to anyone yet. All he was doing was just playing around with his food with a blank expression over his face.
"Your foods not going to eat it self up you know," Duo said to him as he kept hold of his hot dog.
Quatre glanced up at him and gave him a weak smile in response as he slowly started taking in small servings of his pasta. Quatre couldn't even taste the food in his mouth, it felt like chewing on rubber from all he was getting from it.
There was silence at the table ever since Duo had spoken. What Quatre didn't notice was that everyone was watching him.
"Hey Quatre, are you ok?" Alex suddenly asked him as he patted him over the back.
When Quatre lifted his gaze, he was surprised to see everyone looking at him with concerned expressions. This was making him feel even worse; he didn't want anyone worrying over him. Wanting to put their worries to rest he forced a smile at everyone and said, "Yes, I'm fine, I'm just tired that?s all." As he got up from his seat he noticed that everyone still looked worried so he added, "Sorry to make you all worry. I just have a bit of a headache. I'm just going to go to the toilets ok?" And with that he left the table and started making his way to the toilets. He really didn't want to trouble anyone over such small matters; maybe washing his face will cleanse away his thoughts and help him keep a straight face.
While looking about the cafeteria though, his sights came to a rest on Relena. She was by herself as normal and was writing in her book once again. Before leaving the cafeteria he watched her for a moment before whispering, "Miss Relena, I'm so sorry."
Duo didn't take his eyes off from Quatre as he left the table, while observing him he noticed Quatre pause as he appeared to be looking at something briefly before heading out.
"What could be troubling him? He has been so quite and so withdrawn since this morning," Hilde said sadly, "He is usually so cheerful, it makes me so upset just looking at him like this."
"Yeah, I tried talking to him about it at one stage but he kept shrugging it off saying that he was fine," Mariemaia mentioned.
"Could something of happened to him last night?" Alex suggested. This got everyone's attention.
While they talked about the possibilities of what could have happened to Quatre, Duo knew all too well what might have happened. The thought of it made him lose his appetite. Pushing away his food, he looked over to where Relena was sitting. He knew that Quatre was with Relena last night and he knew that something like this was going to happen. 'You can never pass up the opportunity to hurt who ever comes near you, huh Relena?' Duo cursed to himself as he narrowed his gaze on her. It was bad enough that Quatre was upset because of her, and she had just spoiled his lunch as well.
Sighing to her self, Relena closed up her book and rested her face in her hands, she hardly got any sleep last night and it was really taking its toll on her today. She couldn't believe her attitude last night; things were beginning to turn in the right direction for her too. And it would have remained that way if she wasn't so arrogant.
******Flashback******
As Relena made her entrance back into the lounge room, expecting to see Quatre and her mother getting along like a house on fire, she noticed that the room was completely empty. Before anything could register to her she heard the front door close and watched as Mrs. Darlian made her way into the room.
Upon seeing Relena, Mrs. Darlian couldn't keep in the frustration she was feeling at the moment, "Oh so NOW you decide to come in and make your entrance. It's too bad but your guest has already left. Excuse me, I used the wrong terms, with the way he has been treated here, I doubt that he could be considered a guest."
Relena could easily see that for herself that Quatre had left but what she wanted to know was why Quatre had left without her, wasn't he suppose to be helping her with her studies?
"Where did Quatre go?" Relena asked her. Looking at her, Relena could see the murder in her gaze as she stared Relena down. It almost seemed like a stupid question to Mrs. Darlian as if Relena were suppose to know the reason why he had left.
"You never change do you Relena? To be honest, I can't see why Quatre even considered coming here to help you. You are THAT arrogant that you don't even care about anyone else?s feelings do you? I mean, here he comes being the sweetest gentleman that one can expect of him, and so what do you do? You treat him in the most disrespectful behaviour. Is getting him something to eat and drink really THAT hard for you!?"
Relena couldn't reply back, she was so shocked and upset over her mother's words that it was taking her all of her dignity to not break down right here and now in front of her. Did Quatre really leave because of her? She was only annoyed at her mother at the time she was serving them food, did Quatre think that that was directed at him? 'What have I done...'
"What I wouldn't give for a child like Quatre, at least he has manners and treats people with respect. Not to mention, he actually listens to you when you are talking to him," with that she brushed past Relena, feeling content with herself as she left her alone in the lounge room.
Relena didn't remain in the lounge room for long, running up the stairs she burst into her room and leaned against the closed door, letting the tears flow down her face as she started sobbing. Was everything that Quatre said to her at school a lie? Did he fill her up on false hope just to make her feel like this? She might not have shown this to Quatre but every time he paid her any form of attention, she couldn't help but feel happy knowing that at least someone cared. Even hoping that he would help her made her happy, she admitted that she did everything she could to make him change his mind but deep down she didn't want him to. 'Nothing good ever seems to happen to me, is trying to be happy over any little thing a crime?' Clutching her chest she cried out louder in agony over the twisted fate she seemed to live. How could she blame Quatre for anything, everything was her fault, her mother was right, she was an arrogant person, ignorant and selfish too. It was her fault from the beginning that everything is like this for her now; she had no right to blame anyone but herself for her pain. ?Nothing good will ever happen to me because I deserve it, it?s my fault, it?s my fault.? Damning herself for everything she started crying out even more tears of shame upon herself. And she continued for around an hour before suddenly falling asleep.
******End of Flashback******
Feeling tears swell up in her eyes once from the memories of last night, she picked up her things and headed out the cafeteria. With the amount of times she cried, she wondered how it was possible that her eyes haven't dried up yet. As she took a few step away from the cafeteria she suddenly heard her name being called, "Stay right there Relena."
She froze in her steps when she heard that voice. She was in trouble now; there was no other reason why this person would want to talk to her again. With what had happened between them anyway.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she slowly turned around to come face to face with the person she had never been on good terms with ever since they basically met, "Hello Duo," Relena softly said.
"Don't say 'hello' to me you bitch, what exactly did you do to Quatre last night?" He asked her as he kept glaring at her. He was just going to be straight to the point with her, he would never talk to her unless if it involved something important, like his friends. Especially with the kind heart Quatre has, he couldn't believe anyone would want to hurt him like 'she' did.
"I...Um...I-"
"We don't have forever for you to make up some excuse Relena! Doesn't it occur to you why people don't want to associate with you? The first person to even take note of your existence for a long time has been Quatre, if anyone else with a heart was in your position they would feel happy that at least someone was talking to them but what do you do? You use him for what ever it was you needed from him last night and crush him in the process. Oh hang on, let me rephrase that, if anyone in your position actually HAD a heart, they wouldn?t be in your position at all."
"Duo-" She didn't have time to even up a word in before he suddenly grabbed her by the arm, squeezing it with the force of his hatred over her, which was making Relena whimper and squirm under the pressure. Her mouth opened slightly as she let out a cry of pain, kneeling on the ground by Duo's feet, his grip on her arm was unbearable, she couldn't even feel it anymore, "Duo, please I-"
"You deserve whatever?s thrown at you Relena! Now are you going to answer my question or-"
"DUO!" Quatre yelled as he ran up to him, grabbing hold of the arm which held Relena's, "LET GO OF HER!"
Duo was shocked to see Quatre stopping him, not to mention surprised by his outburst. He still had things to say to Relena but by the look on Quatre?s eyes, he decided to do what he said. Slowly letting go of Relena's arm Duo removed his grip on her but noticed that Quatre still had a hold of his arm. Looking up at Quatre he noticed that his eyes showed nothing but pure rage at him, he was angry, no, he was above angry. Duo couldn't help but feel slightly shaken by the way Quatre looked, he never seemed like the type to get angry over anything, he had never heard him yell in such a rage either.
"Quatre, I was jus-"
"Duo! You had NO right to hurt her like that, what is your problem!? No one deserves to be treated in such a manner!" As he let go of his grip on Duo's arm he pushed him aside in the process, causing Duo to be thrown a few steps away from him.
"I was just trying to find out what happened to you. You weren?t talking or anything so I figured for a fact that she must have done something to you and-"
"SO THAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO HURT HER LIKE YOU WERE DOING!?" Quatre yelled back at him, Duo looked at him wide eyed, as did Relena.
People who were around the area started taking attention to the outbursts Quatre was having, expecting a fight, they started gathering around, even people from the cafeteria were starting to come out and see what the commotion was about. Quatre wasn't paying attention to the people gathering around, he kept his focus on Duo and continued, "Duo, you know NOTHING about what happened last night, why are you so quick to judge that Relena would be the one in the wrong? Because she has a bad reputation? Did it ever occur to you that maybe 'I' could have been in the wrong??
Hilde and the others started coming out from the cafeteria at that moment, noticing the people around Quatre and Duo they couldn't believe their eyes.
Sylvia's group and Heero's group started heading over to the gathering where many students were rushing to get to. Standing above a hill they all looked down and noticed Quatre and Duo mouthing off at each other.
"Wow, I never knew Quatre had it in him," Meiran commented.
"Hehe I hope he knocks Duo's block off, GO QUATRE!" Sylvia called out.
Dorothy eyed the situation critically, looking down at her younger brother she couldn't believe what she was seeing. 'This can't be right? Ever-so-gentle-Quatre? In a fight!?' Looking down at Duo she noticed Relena on the ground not too far away from them, watching them with a frightened expression over her face.
Heero had no idea what was going on but by the look of Relena being there beside them he could tell that this some how revolved around her. About ready to join in with the fight he suddenly felt a hand grab his shoulder, glaring at the culprit he noticed that it was Trowa.
"Don't meddle in other people's affairs. I doubt if anything serious will happen anyway, especially if it involves Quatre."
Heero was not convinced, he knew Duo longer than he knew Quatre and he had been having his suspicions about Quatre ever since he started school. He was almost positive that he is the cause to Relena being on the ground like that. As much as he wanted to help Duo out, he kept his ground but never pulled his eyes away from the situation.
Midii wasn't caring much about the fight, leaning on Wufei's arm she suddenly became surprised at how tense he was. Looking up at him she noticed the anger in his eyes, much the same as Heero's. Midii knew all too well what was making him so annoyed so she tried snuggling up to him further so that he could pay her some attention. Wufei had no interest in Midii at the moment, if it wasn't for her keeping him pinned to where he stood he would be down there right now joining in the fight.
Duo was shocked by the words coming out of Quatre's mouth. He was only trying to help and here he was mouthing off at him like he had just killed someone. He was in a bad enough mood as it was and with Quatre adding to his annoyance he wasn't thinking anymore, "What is YOUR problem Quatre! I only want to help you! It was a fair enough assumption to think SHE did something to you. YOU don't know her like most of us here do, I'm only trying to look out for you. YOU WERE THE STUBBORN ONE TO NOT TELL ANY OF US WHAT YOUR PROBLEM WAS SO I COULD ONLY ASSUME IT WAS HER WHO DID SOMETHING TO YOU!"
"Just because I didn?t want to talk about my problems with you doesn't give you the right to try and force them out of Miss Relena. It had nothing to do with you so don't sick your nose into other people's business."
Duo couldn't take it anymore, if Quatre wanted to stand by Relena's side and be hated by everyone then that's just fine with him. But if Quatre's going to be a prick about it then he will consider him being no better then Relena. He meant no harm to Quatre and this is the way he treats him, he was a concerned friend, if he didn't want him to 'stick his nose into his own business' then fine, Duo had other friends to stand by him. If his friendship with Quatre means nothing to him then so be it.
"Is that the way you see it Quatre? I'm of annoyance to you because I was worried? Well I'm SORRY FOR CARING! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN RELENA! YOU WILL BE GOING DOWN IN NO TIME FLAT!"
Now that wasn't a good move on Duo's behave, in fact, he just made a BIG mistake to say something like that, "...What did you say?" Quatre asked him, almost tauntingly. He DARED him to try and say that again, it was bad enough that Quatre was tripping off his own guilt about what happened last night that he was saying things which he didn't mean, but Duo had no right to insult Relena like that. He quite liked Relena and saw no problem with her, she as going through enough pain as it was, so he didn?t need to hear this sort of thing from someone who held a grudge. Quatre actually thought highly of Duo, he seemed like the type to not hate someone just by appearances or reputations but by hearing his words now, that thought on him was completely thrown out of mind now.
"You heard me Quatre! You and Relena are both the same, you?re both so full of yourselves that you think you have a right to push around anyone you want. I was convinced to start off with that you were completely different from her but now I can see that manipulating people for your own benefit is all that matters to yo-" Before he could even finish Quatre made a dash towards him and punched him in the gut, causing Duo to double over as he clenched his stomach.
Looking at Duo on the ground as he was holding his stomach, he couldn?t believe what he had just done. He got so angry that he just couldn?t hold it in anymore, he didn?t deserve that, he was only concerned about him. 'Oh no! What have I done?' As Quatre was about to apologize to Duo for his foolish actions Duo took this opportunity to punch Quatre in the cheek, causing him to stumble a few steps away from him.
As Quatre was rubbing his cheek Duo got up from the ground and rushed for him again, pulling his fist back to take a stronger strike at Quatre. Quatre had his head off to the side at that moment as he rubbed his cheek, he didn't even notice that Duo was going to have another crack at him.
'No... NO!' Relena yelled in her head as forced herself off the ground to come to Quatre's aid, she was not about to have Quatre seriously hurt because of her, she would never forgive herself if she just allowed it to happen.
Hilde and the rest of the group went into shock when they saw Relena dash to Quatre as Duo was about to punch him again, they could see what was about to happen, "DUO STOP!" Hilde yelled as she started dashing towards him, she had to get by the crowd quickly or she wouldn't be able to stop him in time, Mariemaia and everyone else started rushing after her.
Heero and Wufei went into sudden shock when they saw Relena dash for Quatre as well. "DAMMIT!" Heero yelled as he dashed towards the fight. Wufei wanted to do the same but Midii was holding him back, "LET GO WOMAN!" Wufei yelled as he pushed Midii off his arm. With her off him Wufei sprinted towards the fight, he was right behind Heero as they started to try and push people out of the way. Trowa went after them as well, not wanting them to do anything foolish but could understand their concerns for Relena's safety.
Midii pouted when she watched Wufei ran off, she cursed herself for not pulling him away sooner. Meiran on the other hand smirked as she watched what was about to happen to Relena. Sylvia grew angry at Duo hitting her Quatre like that and couldn't wait for Heero and/or Wufei to go and knock his block off. Dorothy on the other hand just watched it as it was coming, if anything she should be jumping for joy that Quatre got whooped in the face and should be begging for Duo to smack him out again but for some reason, she was feeling nothing, nothing at all. Instead, she was processing the verbal fight with in her mind, what Quatre mainly said was what she was mainly focusing herself on.
Everything came in slow motion from here. Quatre was beginning to turn his gaze to Duo and noticed that he was about to hit him again but what worried Quatre even more was the fact that Relena was rushing for him as well. His eyes widened at what he knew was coming but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to move, he was frozen, with the rush of anger that came over him ever since he saw Duo grab Relena he had the overwhelming shock of guilt run over him, it just froze him solid.
Duo didn't even notice Relena come towards them, he was too focused on hitting Quatre that he didn't care what was going on around him. Pulling up all of his strength Duo swung his fist to connect to Quatre's stomach but what he didn't realize until it was too late was that Relena was shielding Quatre and took the blow in the stomach for him.
Hilde, Heero and Wufei had just broken through the hysterical crowd as Duo struck Relena in the stomach. "MISS RELENA!" Quatre screamed as he finally snapped himself out of the state he was in. Relena had the wind knocked out of her as she started collapsing to the ground, she wanted to scream out in pain but it was just so unbearable that her lungs seemed malfunction. Everything started coming to her like a blur from her on, the blow to the stomach caused her to start falling to the ground, but before she hit it she felt a pair of arms wrap around her as she fell within someone?s body. Looking up at the person who caught her she saw that Quatre was looking down at her with sadness and shock written all over him. Duo went into sudden shock at what he had just done, as much as he hated Relena he would never go as far as to hit her! Before he could do anything more Heero rushed to Relena while Duo was thrown to the ground by a furious Wufei, "YOU BASTARD!!!" Wufei yelled as he started thrashing Duo.
"Let him go!" Hilde yelled as she tried pulling Wufei off from Duo. Mariemaia and the others had made it at this moment; Mariemaia went over to check on Quatre while Alex and Mueller went over to help Duo. "Get off him!" Alex yelled as he and Mueller started fighting Wufei when suddenly Trowa appeared and joined in, trying to stop them but failed miserably so he tried to reason with them with his fists. Although the fight mainly revolved around Wufei and Duo.
"Relena..." Heero said as he approached her, kneeling beside her as he pushed a few loose strands of her hair off from her face. She coughed up some blood at that moment and moaned in the pain she was feeling.
Mariemaia kneeled down beside Quatre and looked at his cheek, ?Are you alright?? She asked as she gently stroked it.
Heero didn?t know how to react; he was both angry and upset with what had just happened.
Allowing his emotions to take over he grabbed Quatre by the jacket and yelled, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"
?HEY! Let him go!? Mariemaia said as she grabbed Heero?s arm, but as much as she tried removing his arm from Quatre, his vice-like grip on him wouldn?t budge.
"Please, help Miss Relena first! You can hurt me as much as you want after but please take Miss Relena to the school nurse!" Quatre yelled hysterically at him.
Heero looked at him blankly as he said that but what shocked him even more was when Relena lifted her arm to make Heero loosen the grip he had on Quatre's jacket. Looking down at her she shook her head at him as she removed his hand from Quatre. 'Relena?' Before he could do anything more, Mr. Walker, Mrs. Baker and the school principal made their appearances to the fight scene. Moving past the cheering crowd the principal yelled, "STOP THIS AT ONCE!"
Mr. Walker went into the fight where the boys were still thrashing at each and started to try and separate them. When they were all off the ground Duo tried starting at Wufei again but was stopped by Hilde holding him back and Mr. Walker standing in front of him. Wufei was stopped by Trowa, while Mueller and Alex stepped back from them.
"ALL OF YOU, TO THE OFFICE NOW!" The principal yelled as Mr. Walker motioned for the boys to follow.
Wufei and Trowa followed him without any problems but that wasn?t the case for everyone else.
Mariemaia walked up to Alex and Mueller to look over their injuries, sighing in relief that they didn?t inflict too much damage upon themselves, she wrapped her arms around Mueller and looked over to see if Duo was ok. He was a mess, since Wufei was a black belt at martial arts; he didn?t exactly take it easy on him when they fought. Hilde lifted one of his arms over her shoulders but had a bit of trouble trying to support his weight. Alex and Mueller decided to take over for her as they both went to each side of Duo to help carry him.
?Get him taken to the school nurse, I will call up his parents to get him taken to the hospital,? the principal said as they adjusted their glasses.
Alex and Mueller nodded and started carrying Duo over to the infirmary while Mariemaia went over to hug Hilde for comfort, noticing her crying over Duo?s injuries.
?Let?s go follow them ok? Duo is tough, he will be ok, I just know it,? Mariemaia said as she started to bring them both to a walking pace to follow the others.
Mrs. Baker went up to check on Relena, looking over her she looked up at the principal who examined Relena from where she stood as well, "Heero, take Relena to the school nurse. Quatre, you come with me."
Heero didn't need to be told twice, bringing Relena into his arms he and Mrs. Baker started heading to the school infirmary. Looking out at the crowd that had sat back and watched the entire thing the principal yelled, "There is nothing more to see here! Get yourselves ready for class; the bell will be going any minute now!"
The crowd started to pout and shrug at the performance just held. Everyone was already beginning to gossip over the fight, this was the new chat topic of the week for everyone now.
As the crowd started dying down the principal looked back over to Quatre and said, "Come on now, you will be the first to explain yourself."
"Yes Ms. Une," Quatre said as he followed the principal to the office.
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Relena started stirring in her sleep as she was suddenly started to regain consciousness, she didn't even realize that she had dozed off. Slowly opening her eyes she found herself in the school infirmary, lying down in one of the beds. Looking around the room she noticed Heero was sitting by her bed, "Heero?" She asked in question, coughing again in the pain of her stomach muscles were giving her.
"Don't talk," Heero said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, "Your parents will be coming to pick you up soon, don't try moving too much, they will be taking you to the hospital when they arrive." As he stood from his seat Relena grabbed hold of his hand and asked, "Is Quatre alright? Please tell me he's alright." She started coughing again when she said this, making the pain in her stomach more unbearable then what it already was.
"I told you not to talk," Heero said as he removed his hand from hers.
"Is he alright!?" Relena said in a louder tone, causing her to upset her stomach even further. Tears were streaming down her face at the pain she was causing herself, making Heero sit beside her again. Lifting his hand to caress Relena's cheek to calm her down he said, "Relena, you have to relax or you?re just going to make yourself feel even more pain then what you already are."
Rising up from his seat once more he was about to walk off until he felt his jacket being tugged at. Turning his gaze to hers he noticed her eyes pleading with him to answer her earlier question or else she wasn't going to let go until he did. Not wanting her to hurt herself any further he sighed in defeat and nodded to her, "He was here earlier on to have his injuries check at. He is fine."
Relena sighed in relief as she let go of his jacket, nodding her thanks to him she closed her eyes to try and get some rest. Watching her reaction to hearing that Quatre was alright, he wondered why she had such a soft spot for him. As much as he hated him he couldn't bring himself to punch him for what happened when he came into the infirmary, the conversation they had earlier made him question his beliefs on him.
******Flashback******
Heero was sitting by Relena's bed, he had been asked to go to class several times since he had brought her in but he refused to leave her side until she regained consciousness. He was not letting her out of his sight with the condition she was in; he cursed himself for not going down to her earlier. From the corner of his eye he watched as Duo?s parents help guide Duo out the front door of the infirmary to take him to the hospital. Mariemaia and Hilde followed them out as they watched Duo being put in the car. His parents didn?t stay for very long; exchanging a few words to the two girls Duo?s parents got into their car and was off in a shot. He could understand why though, with the look of Duo?s condition, he might be away from school for a while. Hilde and Mariemaia reentered not too long after they left, as they started heading for the back door to get to class Quatre suddenly entered.
?Is Duo gone?? Quatre asked as he looked at them both.
?He just left for the hospital,? Mariemaia answered.
Hilde didn?t say anything; instead she walked up to him and slapped Quatre across the face. She hit him where Duo punched him, causing him to flinch at the extra pain, ?HOW COULD YOU HIT DUO LIKE THAT!? LOOK AT WHAT?S HAPPENED; LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO HIM!?
?Hilde! Wufei did that to him, not Quatre,? Mariemaia said as she tried standing up for Quatre.
Hilde didn?t listen instead she turned her murderous gaze to Mariemaia and said, ?Oh, so your on his side of it then!?
?Hilde, I didn?t say that, I?m just saying that-?
She didn?t even get time to finish before Hilde brushed past them both and stormed out the infirmary without looking back at them once.
?I?m sorry Quatre, she?s just angry but I?m sure you can understand why she?s like that. Let?s try sorting things out later when things cool down a bit. I?m sure it?s just a misunderstanding right??
Quatre nodded at her in response. Nodding back to him she rushed out the door to try and catch up to Hilde.
Heero watched as Quatre walked up to the counter where the school nurse was working. The nurse looked over his injury and gave him an icepack to help sooth down his cheek. Accepting it he put it to his face and flinched a little at the coldness of it but kept it there knowing it will help reduce the swelling.
Wanting to see if Relena was alright it didn't take him long to spot her on a bed in the far corner of the room, along with Heero sitting by her. Quatre knew that he had better stay away but as stubborn as he was he just had to see her; it was his fault that he didn't prevent her from coming near them.
Slowly walking over to the bed he noticed Heero getting angrier and angrier with him but didn?t flinch until Heero rose up from his seat. He was a couple of steps away from Relena's bed before Heero approached him, "I haven't had my crack at you yet, so you better leave now before I decide to kill you right here and now."
"I'm so sorry Heero, I-I didn't mean for this to happen. It's all my fault, I saw her coming towards me but I couldn't bring myself to stop her, I was so shocked at how I had been behaving that-"
"I don't need your excuses Winner! You?re going to be sorry you ever set foot in this school! If you think that punch by Duo hurt, wait till you feel what I can do, I can hit you ten times harder than what Duo ever could."
"I believe you when you say that, and I will gladly accept anything you throw at me Heero, it might knock some sense into me."
Heero didn't say anything when he said that, Quatre's eyes were so filled with sadness, guilt and regret that he looked about ready to cry. Heero wanted so badly to just knock him out right here and now but looking at Quatre in such a pitiful state he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't all his fault after all, Duo was the one who hit her.
He didn't move from where he stood and waited for Quatre to get the idea and walk off but he still stood there as if he were waiting for Heero to shrug it off and let him see Relena, that wasn't going to happen. "Do I have to spell it out to you!? Leave Quatre! You?re the last person I feel like looking at, at the moment."
"Heero, Relena is very important to you isn't she?"
That wasn't a question Heero was expecting to hear, as much as it took him off guard he made sure not to let Quatre notice, he kept his narrowed gaze at him and remained silent.
Quatre did notice the question surprise him, it was only there for a second but he noticed it. Heero was always watching over Relena when ever she was near but what Quatre couldn't understand was the fact that he hardly ever talked to her and didn't even sit with her in classes or anything. Heero never showed any emotion at school but until this accident, he couldn't believe the mix of emotions he saw in Heero's eyes at the look of Relena on the ground like she was when she was punched in the stomach.
"This will be something I will always regret, she didn't deserve this. All because of me..."
Heero watched as Quatre allowed a few tears to slide down his cheeks, brushing them away as quickly as they fell but they didn't seem to stop falling. Quatre knew that he must look like a total loser to Heero right now but he didn't care, he regretted what had happened and wasn't ashamed to show it.
Heero didn't know how to react; he had never seen a guy be so open with his emotions before. Any guy would want to put on the macho act to never show a sign of weakness to anything, especially tears. Tears were something you hardly ever saw from a guy, and as much as Heero just wanted to laugh at him he felt pity for the boy, which was something he hardly felt for anyone. He remembered Quatre's face as he was calling out her name. Even when Heero grabbed him by the jacket he saw the sorrow in his eyes and somehow the pain that Quatre was feeling at that moment started flooding into him as well. Heero admired him in a way for having such a kind heart, as much as he hated the guy, he had to admit that at times, he wished he had the strength to show emotions so openly like that, he could feel, but he would hardly ever show it.
Taking a few steps back, Heero slowly made his way back to his seat and watched for the boy's reaction. Expecting him to suddenly brighten and walk over to the bed to check over Relena he just looked at him and started heading for the door, much to Heero's surprise. Before the blonde exited he looked back over Relena's sleeping form then back up to Heero and said, "Please look after her Heero." And with that, he was gone.
******End of Flashback******
Heero had no idea how to judge the boy anymore, when ever he thought he had him figured out he ends up doing things which Heero never could expect him doing, the way he kindly greeted him when he first met him and suddenly walking out the infirmary when Heero accepted to let him come closer to Relena. He was usually able to determine someone's objectives upon meeting them and he thought Quatre was just playing the innocent act just to become the envy of any guy and to draw girls to him like a magnet. Since he was Dorothy's brother he had to expect the worse from him, which he did, up till now. Maybe he won't punch him as hard as he promised, he at least deserved that, there was no way that he was going to shrug off what happened today without doing anything at all.
Watching over her for a little longer he noticed that she was fast asleep now, so he figured that he better get back to class. Caressing her cheek softly as to not wake her he his expression softened a little as he started leaning closer to her. Looking over her features briefly he closed his eyes and gave her a peck on the cheek. Leaning his forehead against hers he silently begged, 'Relena, why can't you open up to me? Why do you persist on carrying this pain on your own? You know I will always be here for you, not the way we were, but that doesn't mean I don't care.' He wanted to say this to her but he couldn't bring himself to opening his mouth to say it. He had a feeling that she knew that anyway, but she continued to keep her distance from him. Opening up his eyes again the thought about why she stayed away suddenly hit him, it made perfect sense, there was no way she would stay away unless... Suddenly he heard the door to the infirmary open again. Looking over his shoulder, Heero noticed that it was Wufei.
As Wufei entered he looked over to Heero and nodded his greeting to him. Heero did the same as he got up and made his way over to him.
"How did it go?" Heero asked as he approached him.
"I got suspended," Wufei answered as he walked up to the counter of the infirmary.
"What about the others?"
"Quatre and Duo got suspended as well while everyone else got detentions."
"I see, shouldn't you be leaving then?"
"I was told to treat my cuts before leaving."
Heero watched as Wufei waited around the counter where the school nurse usually did her work but she didn't appear to be around at the moment. Heero noticed that the only injures Wufei acquired from the fight were a cut lip, a cut on his left eyebrow and a couple of little bruises around his face, hardly anything serious.
"Heero..." Wufei suddenly said after a few moments of silence.
Heero looked blankly at Wufei, waiting for him to continue. He had a feeling that he knew what Wufei was about to ask, with his voice being a lot softer than what it usually was when he said his name, it wouldn't take a psychic to figure out what he was going to ask.
"...Is... Is Relena alright?"
As expected Heero didn?t decide to answer, instead he pointed over to the far side of the room and said, "Go have a look for your self."
Wufei looked in the direction Heero pointed and noticed Relena sleeping on one of the beds. Nodding to him he slowly made his way over to her.
Heero raised an eyebrow at him when he watched him sit by her; he could never understand what went through Wufei's mind. If anything he was surprised to even hear him ask if Relena was alright. Heero started getting second thoughts on leaving Relena alone now, could he really trust Wufei with her alone? Wufei did have his bad moments, most of the time he hardly gave a care about anyone or anything around him, as long as he was happy he didn't care. But as much as Wufei tried to hide it he did notice every now and then times when he showed some emotion to things, Heero was the same so he wasn't one to criticize, but the difference with Heero was that he wasn't afraid of his emotions.
Opening the door he made his decision to leave Relena with him, but hoped that she will remain asleep while he was there, she was already physically hurt, she didn't need to be emotionally hurt either.
When he heard the door close he gave out a sigh of relief knowing Heero was finally gone, it always put him on edge when ever he felt Heero watching him. He could understand why he was like that though; if he was in his position he would be doing the same. Watching Relena sleep he marveled at the way she looked so at peace with everything. At least while sleeping she could tune out from the world that has hurt her so badly and go to her own world where she could be happy. For a long time now he had never seen her smile, not once, ever since things started going bad for her. Brushing his fingers through the ends of her silky hair he breathed in her strawberry fragrance. He didn't feel so angry anymore knowing that she was alright, he was even more content knowing that Duo will be feeling more pain at the moment than what she was, he made sure of that.
"Relena, I-I," Before Wufei could say anything more the school nurse finally made an entrance and noticed him as she walked into the room. Recognizing that it wasn't the same boy from before she said, "Sorry to keep you waiting, you must be another one of the boys who got into a fight earlier on today?"
Wufei nodded and stood up from the chair.
"Please come with me so I can treat your cuts," the nurse said as she walked to the other side of the room to get her things.
Wufei looked over at Relena once more before walking up to the nurse patiently waiting for him.
Relena moaned a little as she stirred in her sleep a little. As she touched her cheek, she flipped over to her side and breathed out someone's name. The name hung around the air before her, causing her to stir a little but then a tear suddenly escaped from her closed eye lids as it skimmed down her cheek and onto the pillow.
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Author's Note: This chapter was going to be heaps longer
but I decided to put it in the next chapter. Ohh, nothing seems to be going right for Quatre or Relena huh? But don't worry, things will start looking up for them in from here on out (hopefully ) I admit nothing much happened in this chapter but like I said, it was going to be longer but I decided to add it to the next chapter, so Chapter 7 is in the workings already What did you think? Liked it? Hated it? Please send in some reviews, your support is what makes me continue with this. Email: neon_fantasy@hotmail.com
