Chapter Nine: They Didn’t…

*“This, this can’t be! They wouldn’t! Of all the… no, it’s impossible, they didn’t…”

“Serena.” Hiiro simply stated when she was done spitting all of her denials at him.

“Hiiro…” She whispered.

“And I thought you were engaged.” He dropped the smirk and tried to keep a straight face- which he was finding considerably harder to do each time he was around her. “You’re cheating on your fiancé with me. I feel so…”

“Shut up!” She hissed. “I am doing no such thing! I am not engaged!” She fervently denied everything. “Not yet anyway…” Hiiro heard her mumble after her denouncement.

“Hnn. So you’re the ‘date’ J set up for me? Hnn.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asked, close to looking hurt.

“I wasn’t expecting you. I was expecting anyone but you.”

“Well, how do you think I feel? I was blackmailed into coming tonight by Mina, of all people, my dearest friend, and I find you!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t you dare mock me now you bloody weasel! I’m in no mood!” She sighed and took the stool across from him. Folding her arms on the table, she put her head down in them and sighed frustrated. “How do I get myself into these awful messes?” she moaned.

“I don’t know. How do you?” He asked stoically.

“Don’t you dare patronize me Hiiro Yui!” Serena told him firmly. “Well. Now that we both already know how this date is going to end, I am going to take it upon myself to end it here and now. Good night Hiiro.” She got up and turned to leave.

“Stop. Stay.”

“What do you think I am, a dog? I am not your personal slave that you can order around whenever you feel like it! I don’t do tricks or behave, especially not for men like you!”

“Are you housebroken?” She glared at him so hard that he was suddenly made very happy of the fact that looks couldn’t kill.

“I ought to slap you for that!” She cried.

“Why don’t you?” He teased, still with his face as passive as ever. She gasped and her jaw dropped.

“How can you be so rude! I have never met another person as crude and downright vulgar as you! I didn’t even know it was humanly possible!” She snapped.

“I’m not the one making the callous insults towards my date.”

“Oh? And comparing me to a dog doesn’t count?”

“You started the analogy. I simple added on. All I really wanted was for you to stay.”

“And why, in the entire world, would you want me to stay? I hate you!”

“And I’m not very fond of you.”

“Well then!”

“But you can’t leave.”

“Why not!”

“Because my mission was to go on a blind date. Parameters stated I would not be able to ‘dump’ my date until she had eaten dinner and I had made sure she had gotten home safely.”

“You sound like you’re in the military!”
“I was for almost sixteen years.”

“But you’re only twenty…” Her voice dropped to a somewhat softer tone. Hiiro picked up on it and was pleased for some reason.

“I was raised by military personnel, trained from the age of four. I never knew any other lifestyle. Now. Sit, stay.” Her eyes narrowed again, but they were somewhat softer.

“I am not a dog to be ordered around.”

“Fine.”

“Good.”

“Ok.”

“Hnn.”

“Look, are we eating or not, because I haven’t eaten all day, and I’m going to faint if I don’t eat something soon.” She finally sat back down.

“Sure. Pick what you want.”

“You’re such a gentleman.” She sneered.

“Huh?” Hiiro blinked.

“You’re supposed to, oh, I don’t know. Call the waiter over and ask for the specials, or give me a menu, or decide for me, I don’t know. But you’re supposed to do something. Not just tell me to pick what I want. If I had my way, I’d be eating a takeout burger.”

“Sounds good.” Hiiro conceded. A woman who knew her food! At least they had one thing in common.

“What?” She looked at him blankly.

“Takeout burgers.”

“You’re not going to make a big fuss over me wanting to get the heck out of this place?” She asked him skeptically.

“No.” She watched him shift uncomfortably.

“You don’t like the fancy stuff, do you?”

“Hnn.”

“So the great Hiiro Yui, the murderer of the war, has a weak point after all. Stop the presses! Some one alert the gossip column!” She giggled. Then realized he was watching her and his mouth was drawn tight.

“Let’s go.” He told her curtly.

“Fine.” She grumbled. As they walked out the door, she continued mumbling under her breath; quite sure he couldn’t hear her. “I can never find a man with a good sense of humor. Why would I? After all, I’m destined to be an old maid. What’s the point anyway?”

“What is the point?” Hiiro asked as they entered a burger restaurant.

“You heard me?” She screeched.

“I have good hearing.”

“I was barely breathing!”

“Oh, and I can read lips.” He smirked. She looked at him incredulously. “You want everything on that burger?”

“Just mustard and ketchup- no cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, or pickles.”

“You like it plain.”

“I like my men that way too.” Hiiro raised his eyebrows. What had she just said? She was teasing him! Not fair, that was his job! He was supposed t be annoying her! Especially since she was the one who hated him!

“Go get seats.” He clipped tersely.

“Well! Fine then.” She snapped. Oh yes, this night was so fun… Hiiro could just see it now: ‘Perfect Soldier and Pacifist Monger Kill Each Other’. Sounded just great to him, so much fun…

As Serena sat down, she sighed frustrated. Hiiro Yui was the most confusing man she had ever met. He was a murderer… but he didn’t seem the type. Well then, neither had Darien. But after she had found out about Darien, his eyes had seemed different to her. They had been colder, harder, more evil and power hungry.

Hiiro had beautiful eyes, regardless of the fact that he was a killer. They were so very blue, so blue… she could drown in his eyes and lose herself forever. They could be so empty, so devoid of emotion; or they could be vivid and full of life. He seemed to express everything through his eyes. But as much as she loved his eyes, they made her uncomfortable.

He was someone she wanted to stay away from. She knew his past, and it was one full of disgusting activities and amoral habits. The very thought disgusted her. She didn’t understand how people could take anther human being’s life. Life was breathing. It was a person with warm, red blood flowing through their veins. It wasn’t simply some animal that didn’t know what was happening, or something they needed to survive, it was cold-blooded murdering for no reason. And Hiiro was one of them. He was a killer. The very thought sickened her.

Still. Something he had said earlier was bothering her. He had been raised by the military since he was four years old. Did he really know what that meant? It meant he had never experienced a normal life. He had never done most things normal children did. She wondered if he had even had a chance to decide whether of not being in the military was the lifestyle he had wanted to lead. If he could go back, change things, would he?

“Here.” Hiiro monotonously handed her the bag of burgers. He sat across from he in the sticky booth and took a sip of the drink.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“I don’t know. Aren’t you going to give me the burger?”

“I thought you wanted to do it.”

“But it’s… never mind. It’s like I’m speaking to a brick wall when I’m with you!” She sighed angrily as she pulled her own burger out of the bag and set it in front of herself.

“What?” He asked innocently. Had he been supposed to do something more?

“I don’t know. You didn’t even hold the door open for me when we walked in here!” She told him.

“I was supposed to?”
“Yes! Didn’t you know that? Is chivalry really dead? I’ve heard rumors but…”

“This is my first date. I don’t know how to act.” He finally blurted out. Anything to stop her from criticizing him more.

“You’re first date?” She looked at him surprised. “Ever?”

“Ever.” He confirmed.

“But you and Relena! You loved her and she loved you. She told me you two had dated for a little while, and then you had to leave, what about that?” Serena countered. Hiiro sighed. If he had to tell her.

“We never went out, always stayed in her house. They made us food and we ate dinner there, end of story. Never had to take her out or anything.”

“You’re a real romantic.”

“I don’t know what love is. Of course I’m not romantic.”

“How can you not know what love is? I’m sorry, but you certainly don’t seem to know much. What, they just hired a brainless git to murder all those innocent people out there? Was that it?”

“I wasn’t hired.”

“Chosen, raised, hired. After a while it all blends together.”

“You’re one to talk. You can’t even get a date.”

“Then what is this?”

“Blind date set up by Mina and my Doctor.”

“Doctor? Your Doctor set this up for you? What, did he want to see if you needed viagra? Was that it? Did he think your lack of a love life meant you needed a little more persuasion?” Hiiro growled at her sexually charged joke.

“At least I wasn’t blackmailed by my best friend. Some friend.”

“Mina can be an airhead occasionally. What’s you Doctor’s excuse?”

“The fact that he raised me from the time I was four.” Silence befell them. Serena really didn’t know how to respond. So his Doctor had raised him since he was four? That would mean the Doctor had been part of the war effort as well, or at least part of the military. Interesting.

“Done?” Hiiro finally asked her. It had, after all, been nearly fifteen minutes.

“Yes, I’m finished. Now can we say good night?”

“I need to get you home safely.”

“Call me a taxi then, I got here in one.”

“Come on.” He told her, inwardly sighing. She was so difficult. Still, this night had been interesting. A lot more wearing than he had expected, but all in all it wasn’t so bad. They stood to leave, and Hiiro made sure that he held the door open for Serena as they were leaving. She even managed a thank you in return.

“Cab?” She asked him.

“Car. Follow me.”

“Just call me a cab.”

“Car. Come on.” And he grabbed her hand. Her warm hand had the single effect of both making him feel warm and sending cool shivers up his spine at the same time. He pulled her along through the cool night air until they reached a black convertible. Hiiro stopped and took out his keys.

“Your car?”

“Rental.” He told her.

“So what do you usually drive? A beaten up old station wagon? A hummer? What?”

“It’s in the shop.”

“But what is it?”

“Get in. Directions?”

Circumventing the question is so very polite. I’m in an apartment building on Kansas and Twelfth Street.” Hiiro did a double take.

“Kansas and Twelfth?”

“Yes. Know it?”

“Which apartment building?”

“Why?”

“Which one?”

“I don’t like you not answering my questions! I live in the Gardens, all right? Are you happy? Just take me home Hiiro, I’m tired, and being in an enclosed space with you isn’t helping much.”

“Which floor do you live on?”

“The tenth.”

“And on which side, north, south, east or west?”

“Hiiro! I live on the east side looking at it from the street. Can you stop with the annoying questions please? I didn’t sleep very well last night- I didn’t even get home if you recall. I just want to go to sleep.”

“Ok.” Hiiro told her. Within seven minutes they had arrived in front of the apartment buildings and Serena was getting out. Hiiro, too, got out and locked the car door.

“You know, thought it would be proper date procedure, I really don’t want you walking me to my door. I’ll be fine from here.”

“Alright then.”

“Well? You can get in your car and drive home now.” She told him rudely.

“I am home.”

“What?” She whispered.

“I live in the building next door. Night.” And he turned around and left her, completely stunned.

“They didn’t… they really didn’t…” She moaned again. “I didn’t. I did not just have a date with a man I knew was a killer. Ok, so I did. But I had no fun. In fact, I hate him.” And with her new concept, she quickly made her way to her apartment, reciting it the whole way there.

Hiiro once again walked into his apartment so tired that he simply wanted to crash. There was something about that woman that made his blood boil. She aroused a sense of temptation he had never known before, but she was so aloof and unattainable that it burned in his chest to think about it. She was a beautiful brat. He felt incredible around her, but hated it at the same time. What did that mean? He sighed, completely confused.

He had only felt this was once before- for Relena. And even then, the feeling had only been the one time after Marimeia had attempted her coup. That was the only time he had ever felt this feeling before, and it had been for Relena. But he had loved Relena. Did that mean… he… loved… Serena?

No. He could never fall for a girl like her. She had everything, honestly, she was too harsh. But for some reason, the thought of love wouldn’t leave his mind. As Hiiro dragged himself to bed, he sighed. It looked like he wouldn’t have peaceful dreams tonight- he knew they would be filled with Serena instead. *

~~~This was an interesting ch in my opinion. A lot of ups and downs, but I can’t decide whether I only want to do Hiiro’s view point, or both his and Serena’s. What do you all want? PLEAZ REVIEW! Much love, Vixen~~~