Chapter Nine: Slumber Catches the Perfect Soldier

 

            *Serena looked over at Hiiro for the fifth time since they had officially left the crime scene. He was still holding Ben in his arms. It seemed as if Ben had taken to Hiiro almost instantly. The small boy had fallen asleep in Hiiro’s arms before they had even gotten into the car. Deciding not to disturb either one of them, Serena had let them sit like that in the car. Now they were almost to her apartment and she was really not looking forward to having to wake Ben up and take him from Hiiro. She herself didn’t want to leave Hiiro.

            She knew he had friends to take care of his wounds. She knew he had food at his own home. She knew he had a warm bed in his own home. She knew he had his own clothes in his own home. But she still didn’t feel like leaving him would be like denying him something. She wanted him near her. She wanted to take care of him, to make sure he would be ok. But she was also very new and inexperienced with this protective feeling over a man.

            Darien had always seemed in control and forceful. He had seemed all-important and self-reliant. The only thing Darien had wanted her for was a good three to four one night stands and then to fly the coop with some other more beautiful, more experienced, and more exotic woman. Hiiro seemed in control most of the time. He seemed quiet, commanding, forceful and almost scary with his cold, harsh and emotionless manner. But when the day ended and he was left beaten and broken like now, he seemed like a child in need of some one to care for him. He already took care of so many other people, he deserved to have some one take care of him, at least this one night. And it wasn’t like his friends would do a bad job. She just felt that she should be doing it, that for some reason she would be able to take better care of him than they at the moment.

            Hiiro stared straight ahead. He could tell that every two minutes or so Serena was turning her head to watch him and Ben, who had fallen asleep in his arms. He liked the thought of her looking at him. He liked the thought that she remotely cared about him, even if it was only because her son was in his lap and not her own. Why did he like it?

            Serena made him feel things, strange things. He couldn’t place why she did or what it was exactly. It was more like a mix of things that slammed his senses. Well, that was ok with him. He thought. He wasn’t sure. Serena could be a tempest, a shrew with a temper that made most people’s blood boil. But he had also seen the softer, more gentle and caring side of her when she spoke about her son or when she had thanked him for saving her son. There was the inquisitive side of her when she had asked all the technical questions about infiltrating. And, of course, he had seen the seductive and mysterious side of her at the strip club the night before. What other personalities did this woman have that he had yet to see? She was like an onion, with peels and layers and degrees he had yet to see revealed.

            And now here he was, thinking about her. This was not good. She was burned into his mind, etched in with a branding iron. And he would probably never see her again after tonight. But he wanted to see her again. She probably thought differently, but he wanted more of her; and her son. He liked Ben, he was like a younger more hyper version of his mother, so full of hope and innocence. Serena acted tough. She acted strong and brave and on the surface appeared to be wise and more grown up. But Hiiro had seen the fear. He had seen the calm façade she wore when it was dropped. She was just as innocent as her son, maybe more so because she could chose between good and evil and seemed to always chose the good while her son still did not know how to chose. He stopped his introspection when Hilde, who was driving the car, stopped in front of an unfamiliar apartment building. He watched as Serena gathered her things. So this was her home. She lived here. With Ben. And no husband. He didn’t  want to leave her. It was too soon. He wanted to stay and protect her. Why?

            “Hilde, could you call my ‘boss’ and tell him…” Serena started.

            “I’ll take care of it Serena, just go. You and Ben need rest.” Hilde answered her smiling.

            “Thanks.” Serena shot her a beaming smile. No wonder Hilde was her best friend, she always so understanding. Turning to Hiiro, she wondered how she was going to do this. She really did not want to wake Ben up. But how else would she get him away form Hiiro’s arms?

            “I’ll carry him up for you.” Hiiro told her quietly. As much as she loved the idea, she had to object. Hiiro was the invalid, not her or her son. She would not make him climb ten flights of stairs in his condition. There was no way.

            “No way. You’ll stay right here. You’re hurt, and my apartment is up ten flights of stairs. I don’t care how you feel, you are not carrying him up.” She tried to sound stern, but she knew she had failed miserably when she heard her own voice falter and saw Hiiro was already standing and walking into her apartment building. The others in the car were laughing quietly at her for not seeing him leave. She blushed.

            “Don’t feel bad Miss. Serena. Hiiro is just stubborn. Let him have his way, arguing with him is impossible, none of us have ever won either.” Quatre told her through his laughing.

            “You guys are so funny.” She said with her voice dripping with sarcasm. “But honestly, thanks. You guys have been awesome. I really hope to see you all again soon.” She grinned.

            “Don’t worry Serena. With Hilde here as my girlfriend and you as her friend, I think we’ll be seeing much more of you. Besides, I think the Perfect Soldier wouldn’t like not seeing you again.” Duo told her grinning. The group snickered and Serena became confused.

            “Whose the Perfect Soldier?” She asked. They laughed again.

            “Don’t worry babe. You’ll get it some day, I promise.” Duo told her laughing.

            “I’ll wait here with the car. Send Hiiro down when you’re done.” Hilde told her.

            “Sounds good.” With that, Serena went to join Hiiro in the poorly lit lobby of her apartment building.

            “Duo?” Hiiro asked when she met him.

            “Yeah. Some thing about a Perfect Soldier. I didn’t understand, but he said I’d get it some day. He’s strange. Nice, but strange.”  She shrugged.

            “Hn.” Hiiro grunted. Inside he was smirking. So she didn’t know his ‘nickname’ yet huh? 

            “Anyway, Hilde’s going to wait for you. Are you sure you’re up to carrying him up ten flights of stairs? I mean, I can do it, I don’t want you to over exert yourself, you’ve had a pretty rough day.” She asked him in a concerned tone.

            “It’s fine, let’s go.” He grunted and began to climb the stairs.

            As they climbed they were silent. Hiiro was having some small problems breathing. It hurt to breath, even when he didn’t move  it hurt him, right through to his very bones. He assumed he had been right when he had thought he had broken a few ribs. Of course, he couldn’t stop now, he was in the middle of a job, and he never left anything unfinished.

            Serena saw Hiiro wince as they reached the ninth floor and knew she had been right about not wanting him to climb the stairs, especially carrying Ben. But he didn’t say anything, and after that one small affair there were no others, so she said nothing as well. Finally they reached her apartment door. Fumbling for the key, she found it and locked the door. Opening it, she let Hiiro in and closed it behind him.

            “Here, let me take him. Why don’t you get yourself a glass of water or something? The…”

            “Where’s his room?” Hiiro simply asked her. He was going to see this through.

            “Hiiro, let me just take him. I know you must have some kind of pain.” She saw his eyes cloud over and empty all emotion as if they had just dumped a bucket of water out of them.  She knew he was going to become stubborn. Well, better not to argue.

            “Room?” He repeated. He could barely think straight. Maybe she was right, maybe he was going to over stretch his boundaries…

            “This way.” She led him into the first room on the right of a short hallway. He lay the sleeping boy on his bed and stood back. He watched from over her shoulder as Serena carefully removed his shoes and jeans. Then she put on his favorite pajama pants and looked at his shirt. Deciding she could remove it without waking him, she unbuttoned it and slipped it off. Then she replaced it with the matching top to the pants and lay him gently back down on the bed. Covering him and kissing his brow gently, she gave him one last loving look and then turned to leave the room.

            Hiiro watched as Serena redressed her son in his nightclothes and then covered him up. He wished he had had such a loving mother. Then he watched her kiss his brow and look at him with such love in her eyes. Her look only deepened his theory that she was just as innocent as her son. No one without innocence could pull off such a loving look without it looking fake and cheesy. But the look suited her. As he followed her out into the hall, a sharp pain over took him and he let out a groan.

            Serena heard Hiiro groan and switched her gaze from her son to him instantly. She caught his pained expression and saw him clutch his upper stomach and lower chest. Immediately she moved to help support him. She moved him farther down the hall towards the next door down and opened it.

            When the door opened, Hiiro saw a cream colored room with a white queen sized bed in the center of it. He allowed Serena to sit him down, but refused to lay down. That is, until another surge of pain shot through his body. He lay down and allowed Serena to lift his shirt. What she found was not pretty. Big black bruises were beginning to form all along his stomach. Hiiro too, saw the bruises and wondered where he had gotten them. Surely he hadn’t landed that hard… the giant man! Before that giant man had made him dangle off the stair railing he had gotten in a few good, solid punches.  He must have done the majority of the damage, and then the land on the floor probably made it worse.

            “Hiiro…” Serena breathed lightly. There was no way he would be able to walk down the ten flights of stairs to get back to the car. She looked at his face. It was tense. Not pained, but tense. He shuddered as another jolt of pain traveled through him and she almost panicked. The she saw his face relax. The rest of his body, too, relaxed and she knew he had blacked out.  In a split second decision, she decided he would not be leaving her apartment tonight. Quickly making sure he was out off it, and then making sure Ben was still asleep, she left her apartment and flew down the ten flights of stairs.

            Hilde saw her friend race down the stairs and run out to the car. She wondered where Hiiro was and why he wasn’t with Serena. Somehow she had thought Hiiro would be more protective over Serena.

            “Hilde, Duo, Quatre, everyone, Hiiro can’t come down.” Serena breathed out.

            “What do you mean?” Duo asked her.

            “He, ah, well, he kind of…”

            “Out with it woman!” Wufei said annoyed.

            “He fainted.” The car became silent again. Duo broke into a smile, then laughed.

            “He fainted? No really, where is he?” He asked.

            “On my bed, out cold.” Serena’s face was dead serious. Duo stopped laughing.

            “You’re serious.” Trowa remarked.

            “Hmm. He was standing, then he just sort of moaned. I moved him to the closest thing to sit on, which was my bed. I made him lay down and lifted his shirt. He has really dark bruises all up and down his stomach. It looks like someone just held him and continually punched him.”

            “Do you think he’ll be ok?” Quatre asked worriedly.

            “I’m not sure. But I do know he is not leaving my apartment tonight.” Her face stood firm, and the rest of the group could see it would be useless in talking to her about it, her mind was made up.

            “Do you need any help with him?” Trowa asked her.

            “No, I don’t think so. He’s probably just exhausted, plus the bruises. I’ll make sure he rests and eats. He’ll be fine soon enough.”

            “Serena, you sure?” Hilde asked her.

            “Positive.”

            “Alright then, if you need us, just call. You have Hilde’s number, and Hiiro can give you ours.” Quatre told her.

            “Right. We’ll be fine. I’ll see you all soon. Go home and sleep, you guys could use it too!”

            “Bye Serena!” They called as Hilde pulled the car away. Serena sighed, then climbed back up the stairs. Checking on her son and finding him still asleep, she entered her kitchen. Taking the biggest bowl she could find and a wash cloth, she filled it with warm water. Then she found a roll of cloth bandages from the year Ben had gone as a mummy for Halloween. After that, she looked in her medicine cabinet for antiseptic. Finding a large bottle, she entered her room and surveyed Hiiro.

            Before she could do anything for his wounds she needed to remove some of his clothes. Beginning with his shoes, she removed them, then his socks, and then his jeans. Though he was completely blacked out, she still blushed while she was folding them. Averting her gaze from his bare legs, she set upon removing his shirt. Pulling the forest green tank top over his head, she folded it too and was finally able to set to work.

            Starting from his feet and working up, she searched for any cuts and bruises. He only had two new cuts and a few new bruises. Nothing major. Moving up, she made her way to his bruises. Rubbing them gently with her wash cloth, she cleaned away the soot and grime that had accumulated on them from the explosion. Sitting him up, she began to wrap the bandages around his waist and up to his lower chest. As she finished with the bandages, she found a giant nasty cut on his shoulder. She shuddered. He had been through so much to save her son and the others in the building…

            When she was finally done cleaning and bandaging all of his cuts and bruises, she cleaned up her supplies. The only thing bugging her were his clothes. There was no way he could put them back on, they were too torn and dirty. Digging through her closet she scrounged up a bunch of Darien’s old clothes. The sight of them brought tears to her eyes, but she held them back. They would do her no good now. Picking the largest shirt she could find out of the pile, she struggled to dress Hiiro in it. Because of all the trouble the shirt had caused her, she didn’t want to risk jogging him awake while she was putting on a pair of pants, so she simply covered him with her covers and looked at him.

            He seemed to shrink under the covers. His peaceful face was completely relaxed. She liked this new look, he was so helpless and child-like. Despite knowing the fact that he had killed, not just once, but many times, she was blown away by the sincere innocence he revealed while he slept. She grinned slightly and leaned over to kiss his forehead before she closed the door behind her and let him sleep.

            Entering her small living room, she sat down on her couch and sighed. It had been such a long and harrowing day she didn’t know what to think. Checking the clock, the digits read one thirty. It had taken them over three hours to get from the school past all of the crowd and the security all the way to her apartment building. And then, with Hiiro passing out and worry over both him and Ben… she was so tired. Just laying down for a minute, she fell asleep.*