These are my first Gundam Wing fics. So if they suck, please tell me (nicely!). This is only part one of a multiple part story line. I don’t know how many more there will be. I was just sitting around and this popped in my head. If there are any discrepancies with the story, sorry. Just ignore it. This takes place when everybody is 18. Fighting has ceased, but there are still OZ loyalists running around, still wishing to take control, giving our favorite boys some work. I don’t own Gundam Wing. I am broke, so the only people who would gain anything would be those who wish to expand their pocket lint collection. Ok, Ok. I am an absolutely horrible authoress. I haven’t written in months. I apologize. Being a senior in high school has far too many responsibilities. But now, I am going through this story again. There were problems with the uploads, the text was all messed up, blah blah blah. I am cleaning up the text and adding new chapters. For those of you who have already read this, thank you for your reviews, and there is new stuff! So keep reading! For the new people, I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review. I love hearing them. The story is going to get graphic, so if you are disturbed by rape or abuse and the like, don’t say I didn’t warn you! And if there are any inaccuracies about rape and rape victims, I apologize and will take all input to fix it. And now that all that junk is out of the way, time to get down to business! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tough Love Prologue~ Mission Accomplished Relena dropped the note on Heero’s bed and ran from the room. She always knew she wanted to tell him, but she never thought she would tell him like this. She ran as fast as she could to get away from the scene of the crime. All she could do now was hope and pray that Heero would understand. And that he would show up. As Relena entered her room, she shut the door behind her. Her hair swung wildly about her. She leaned against her door, thinking hard about what she had just done. "Mission Accomplished," she thought wistfully to herself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter One~ The Letter Heero entered his rented room with a sigh. He threw his shirt off and was heading to the bathroom when he noticed a slip of white paper on his bed. Curious, he walked over to the bed and picked up the paper. Carefully unfolding it, he read the contents, his face not showing any expression, but his eyes telling all. Heero, I know that this probably doesn’t come as a shock to you. You have probably picked up on it a long time ago. I just didn’t know if you knew, and I felt I needed to tell you. Please don’t hate me because of this. I just have to do this. Sorry, I am rambling. I am a little nervous, can’t ya tell? Heero, ever since that day I saw you on the beach, I felt something for you. You were so mysterious. It intrigued me. Then I met you, and you became even more intriguing. I like to think I have seen something beyond your perfect soldier outside. I have seen something in your eyes, a spark of life, if you wish. I love you, Heero. And I always want to be with you. I know you probably don’t reciprocate. Hell, you’ve tried to kill me more than once. But you have also saved me. Saved me from death, and saved me from myself. I owe you my life. Please, meet me at the beach where I found you at midnight tonight. I want to talk to you in person, even if you don’t feel the same way. Please. Love Always, Relena Heero stood there, staring at the letter. Suddenly, the letter began to shake violently. Heero looked at his right hand, watching it tremble. He crumpled the letter and closed his eyes. "This can’t be happening," thought Heero. "It just can’t be." "But it is," a little voice told him. "This is your opportunity. Go tell her you love her too." Heero opened his eyes when the voice responded. "I can’t do that. I WON’T do that," Heero thought back to the voice that sounded vaguely familiar. He sat down on the bed. "This just isn’t happening. It can’t be. I hate her. I really really hate her. I need to kill her. She’s messed up EVERYTHING!" "You can’t kill her and you know it," the male voice inside his head shot back. "What has she messed up?" "Everything I trained for, everything I sacrificed my childhood for," Heero thought back, still struggling to figure out who the voice sounded like. "You mean your stature as the perfect soldier? Your lack of emotions? Is that it? You are just afraid, Heero. Yes. Heero Yuy is afraid. Afraid of love. That’s a normal thing, you know." "Not for me," Heero grumbled aloud. "You’d better get used to it. That’s why you couldn’t kill her. That’s why if she was here in front of you, you wouldn’t kill her. Do you know what you would do, Heero?" Heero closed his eyes again, not wanting to see anything. But closing his eyes only made it worse. He saw Relena in front of him, in his room. Her beautiful blonde/brown hair lay half on her shoulder, her blue eyes boring into his Prussian blue ones. She looked so beautiful. Almost like an angel. Heero reached out with his hand to touch her; he wanted to hold her so badly. Suddenly, the image shattered and the voice returned. "Now you know what you would do," said the voice. "Duo," thought Heero. "The voice is Duo’s." And it was. Heero’s best friend (with Heero’s odd definition of friends) was giving him advice. Shaking his head, Heero looked at the clock. 9:40. He still had plenty of time to get to the beach. "NO!" he shouted. He shouted to Relena, to Duo, to the moon outside his window, to the empty room, and to himself. His whole body shook as he lay down in his bed. He wouldn’t go see Relena. He couldn’t. "And why not?" Duo’s voice floated back to Heero. "I will kill her. Anything I touch, I destroy, whether I mean it or not. I can’t hurt her. I just can’t." "You are protecting her. She makes you crazy. She drives you mad. You can’t think about her without losing it. There’s a simple explanation for that. You love her." "Yes," whispered Heero, as he fell asleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter Two~ Midnight Eyes Relena looked at the watch on her left wrist. 11:52. Sighing, she walked towards the water. She was hoping Heero would show up. If he didn’t, she would have to force herself to move on. She didn’t know how, but if Relena was anything she was determined. She’d have to get through this. 11:54. Relena put her bare feet in the cool water. A gentle breeze blew her simple white dress around her ankles. Her hair flew around her face, covering her eyes. Goosebumps rose on her bare arms. She didn’t know if it was the breeze or the anticipation of Heero’s embrace. Probably a little bit of both, she though as she hugged herself. She looked up to the moon and waited for her perfect soldier to come. Heero raced out his door, forgetting to put his shirt back on. Somehow, he had fallen asleep as soon as he had lay down on his bed. Probably due to his long day. Duo’s mystical voice inside his head had woken him up at 12:05, screaming at him to get his lazy butt out of bed. He knew he wouldn’t be at the beach on time, but he hoped Relena would wait. Heero finally made it. He stopped short of the beach and hid behind a large board propped against the fence. He could make out a lone figure, all dressed in white, wandering alone the beach. "I can’t do this," he thought. "I just can’t. Even if she DOES love me. I can’t love her back." Heero struggled to close his mind to the situation. "Everyone thinks I am cold and cut off. No one knows what goes on inside my mind." "No one but Relena, you mean," said Duo’s voice. "GAH!" Heero yelled back at the voice. "I feel nothing. I am the perfect soldier. I do my job. That’s it. No place in my life for love. I was not trained for it." "No, but you were born for it. It is your right as a living, thinking creature. You CAN love. And you do," replied Duo’s voice. "No, I don’t," Heero whispered. He watched as Relena walked slowly up towards him. She walked right past him. He could have reached out and touched her like he wanted to. He watched her retreating form head for home. "I don’t," repeated Heero. Sadness flickered across his eyes. In an instant it was gone, but it was there. Heero sat down, no longer hiding behind the board. He put his head in his hands, waiting for Duo’s voice to start yelling at him. When Duo didn’t say anything, Heero started yelling back at him. "Why you, Duo? What are you doing inside my head?" he shouted aloud. "Just a voice I know you listen to, even though you’d deny it to everyone," Duo’s voice said. "I am just your other thoughts. The ones you hide from yourself. Those emotions you deny you have." Heero thought about that for a moment. Yes, he did listen to Duo. He wouldn’t admit it to ANYONE, but Duo was his friend. He never told him, and probably never would. And the voice was right; he was listening. The voice in his head had Heero’s attention. Duo’s voice continued. "You once told Trowa that humans live by their emotions. You claimed you did the same. But are you?" Heero’s heart inside broke. No one would know, though. He buried his pain deep, just like he always did. His life was full of emotion; he buried it or ignored it. He couldn’t hide his eyes anymore, though. He may not have been there at midnight with Relena, but his eyes were. He admitted love to himself, and his eyes would forever reflect the change. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter Three~ Heero Wakes Up Relena threw herself onto her bed. She grabbed at the purple silk sheets and buried her face in her pillow, preparing herself. A scream rattled in her throat that turned into a cry of anguish. Tears began to flow from her big blue eyes in streams. She couldn’t believe Heero had stood her up. If only she had known he was there, watching her from behind a board. If she had known he sat there, hiding, arguing with himself and his emotions, she would have known that he cared for her too. But she didn’t. Relena tried to stifle her heart-wrenching sobs. She stopped crying only because she couldn’t breathe. After regaining her breath, she sat up and looked out her window at the moon. "I can’t do this," she thought. "I gave him one last chance. It’s over. I can’t torture myself any longer. He doesn’t love me, and never will. It is time to move on. But how?" She closed her eyes and felt the moonlight on her face, hoping for an answer. But it never came, and she fell into a troubled sleep. "Heero!" Duo shouted. "Wake up, sleeping beauty!" Heero groggily opened his eyes. He looked at the God of Death and gave him his own death-glare. Duo backed away. "C’mon man! Wake up. Since when do you EVER sleep ‘till noon? You never need that much sleep!" Heero swung wildly at Duo, missing him by far. Duo’s eyes opened wide. "Something happen, Heero?" Duo knew something was wrong. When Heero swung at someone, he always connected. Something had to be unnerving this guy. Duo knew it was time to stop fooling around. He sat next to Heero on his bed, looking at the back of the boy’s head. "Man, you can tell me what’s wrong," said Duo. "Yeah right," Duo thought. "Heero, talk? About a problem like that? Crazy. He’d never do that." But Duo was wrong. The situation with Relena was out of Heero’s realm of knowledge, and he knew he needed help. Hell, there had to be some reason that when he was arguing with the voices in his head, the voice happened to be Duo’s. But Heero didn’t know where to start. He just groaned and buried his face in his pillow. Duo sighed and looked around the room. His eyes came to rest on a crumpled ball of paper on the other side of the room. Curious, Duo walked over to the paper and picked it up. He carefully uncrumpled it and read the words Relena had written in such a fury of emotion the night before. "Wow," said Duo, before he realized he was thinking aloud. "She really likes him." Heero’s head shot up at Duo’s voice. He flew out of his bed and grabbed the paper from Duo’s hand. Duo backed up a bit, apologizing. "I’m sorry, Heero. I just saw it on the ground and…well…uh…did you go to meet her?" asked the ever-nosy Duo. Heero growled, still giving Duo his death glare. His glare, however, was getting weaker and weaker by the second. Duo noticed this. "You wanna talk about this?" Duo asked softly. He knew better than to push Heero, but it looked to him that Heero was dying to talk on the inside. So he took his chances as Heero’s friend. And he was rewarded. "I swear, Duo Maxwell, if ANY of this gets to the other guys, I will personally sew your lips shut." An odd threat, but whenever Heero made a threat, there was no doubting it. Duo nodded slowly, waiting for Heero to continue. Heero told Duo everything, from getting the letter to hiding from Relena on the beach. He even told Duo about his voice representing his emotion’s voice. "I always say to follow emotion. I have never had emotion lead me astray before. Why is it doing so now?" asked Heero. "It isn’t," said Duo solemnly. "Love’s like that. When I first met Hilde, I was so lost. Feelings do that to you. You think you are lost, but you really aren’t. Just ignore your head, follow your heart and those emotions, and you will come out all right. Just like me and Hilde." Duo studied his friend as he let this information sink in. He saw Heero swallow hard and close his eyes. Heero was jealous. Duo and Hilde were a couple attached at the hip. They were totally and completely in love. They were perfect for each other. They fed off of each other; there was no way there would ever be Duo without Hilde, and vice-versa. Duo continued to watch Heero until he was certain Heero absorbed all that he had said. "That’s enough serious talk. I can’t do that for very long." Duo changed the subject. "Now, if you don’t git your butt outta this room and come with me, the rest of the guys are gonna eat our lunch. And I’m HUNGRY!" Heero sighed and swung his pillow at Duo. This time, he connected. He decided to do something very un-Heero-like. "Thanks, Duo. Thanks for waking me up." Duo looked at him and knew exactly what he meant. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter Four~ Party Night Relena looked at her reflection in the large, full-length mirror in her bedroom. She had really outdone herself this time. Her hair was full of beautiful waves that flowed around her bare shoulders. The sides were picked up and held in place with a silver barrette on each side of her head. The bodice of her dress was form fitting, held up by two very thin spaghetti straps. The neckline dipped dangerously low; that, along with the tightness, showed off her upper body quite nicely. The dress came to her waist and fell straight down to the floor, showing off her slim waist. "It’s the same forest green as Heero’s trademark shirt," Relena thought sadly. But she pushed all thoughts of Heero out of her head. Tonight was the night. It was her birthday, and she was determined to get her mind off of Heero. As much as she didn’t want to, Relena knew that she would go crazy if she didn’t move on. The Sank Kingdom needed its pacifist leader, and she was it. No backing down now. No room to go crazy. There was a knock at the door. "Come in," said Relena. The door opened and an incredibly handsome man walked in. Zechs, Relena’s brother, always managed to pull off looking good, especially when he was around Noin, who followed him in. Zechs looked at Relena, his mouth opening and closing a few times before any sound came out. Noin looked at her husband, then at Relena. Zech’s face was turning red, and his classic big brother expression began to show. "You don’t like the dress, do you, Milliardo," said Relena. "I…you…" Milliardo stuttered. He saw a shawl on a nearby chair, grabbed it, and wrapped it around Relena, covering her *ahem* neckline. Noin rolled her eyes and grabbed away the shawl. "You are so horrible Milliardo. She’s 18 and can do what she wants and WEAR what she wants." Noin turned to Relena, who, in spite of herself, was laughing. She could always count on her friends to be there for her. "Lemme drag this stuffed-shirt of an older brother away. We just came up to tell you the guests will be arriving soon." Noin grabbed a very dumbfounded Zechs’ ear and dragged him out of the room. "She’s not allowed to look that beautiful," he mumbled as he was dragged out of the room. Relena chuckled under her breath as she watched her brother leave. Noin turned to shut the door behind them, but stopped. She walked into the room and shut the door so Zechs couldn’t hear. "Is there something bothering you, Relena? You have not been yourself today." Relena just shook her head slightly. Noin walked up to her and put her hand on Relena’s shoulder. "You can talk to me, you know. I am your sister now. I am supposed to help you out." Noin looked into Relena’s sad eyes. Relena backed away and sat on her bed. Refusing to cry, she swallowed hard and told Noin the whole story of her letter of confession to Heero. Noin sat down next to Relena and put her arm comfortingly around Relena’s shoulder. "Love is a tricky thing, Relena. Look how long it took before I snagged your brother! I know you are tired of waiting. So don’t wait. It obviously isn’t working. Try moving on. I know you probably don’t want anybody else right now, but just try it. You may learn something about life and about yourself. And if you and Heero are meant to be, well, fate will have her way." Relena looked at Noin. "Thank you for being my sister," Relena said, hugging Noin. Noin hugged her back and stood up. "Now, Miss Relena, it is time for you to come downstairs. It is your 18th birthday. Enjoy it." Noin turned and walked out of the room. Relena sighed and looked over her bed. She saw the teddy bear that Heero had given her. She ran her fingers over the bear’s little face, then stood. She walked out of her room to join the party. A figure snuck into the room quietly, but not quiet enough for its inhabitant, sitting on the bed, to not notice. "EAHHHHHHH!!!!" yelled Duo as he jumped onto the bed. "I am the God of Death, hear me roar!" He jumped up and down on Heero’s bed, almost stepping on Heero. Heero looked up at Duo with his death glare. Duo plopped down on his butt next to Heero, who finally got a good look at Duo in the moonlight. He was dressed in dark dress pants and a dress shirt. How anyone could jump around dressed like that he didn’t know. But this was Duo, and he defied almost all natural laws. "What’s with the clothes?" Heero asked Duo unemotionally. Duo sighed. "Relena’s 18th birthday party tonight, duh. Geez man, sometimes I doubt you know WHAT is going on around you unless you are in battle or something. Why aren’t you ready? I don’t think you want to show up in your green tank top and spandex tonight, buddy." Heero groaned. He had forgotten about Relena’s party. Now he had to face her, even after what he had just done. Duo was watching Heero think. He knew what was on Heero’s mind. "This is your chance to fix things," said Duo as he stood up. He walked over to Heero’s closet and pulled out Heero’s semi-formal suit that hung in the back. He threw the clothes at Heero. "Get dressed. I will be up here in 10 minutes. If you aren’t ready, there are 3 guys and their dates downstairs willing to hold you down while me and Hilde dress you. Got it?" Heero nodded and Duo left the room. He sighed and began to get dressed, surprised that he was letting Duo bully him around like that. A huge white limo pulled up in front of the Peacecraft mansion. "It was so nice of Relena to send her limo for us," said Hilde as Duo helped her out. "Yeah, at least it isn’t pink!" said Duo. Trowa got out next, helping his sister Catherine out. Quatre and Dorothy got out next, followed by a grumbling Wufei who turned to Sally, who was still in the limo, struggling to get her dress unhooked from the underside of the seat. "Hurry up, woman," growled Wufei. Sally sighed. "I am stuck, Wufei. Learn some patience!" Sally shot back. Wufei sighed and stuck his head into the limo. Carefully, he helped Sally get her dress free, then helped her out of the limo. "Thank you Wufei," said Sally. The rest of the group just watched. They all knew that Wufei was head over heels in love with Sally. He just wouldn’t admit it to anybody. They were tired of his procrastinating, and were waiting for him to just tell Sally how he felt about her. "The Wu-Man in love," whispered Duo to Hilde, who giggled. Finally, Heero exited the limo alone. He sighed and nervously pulled at the sleeves to his jacket. He really didn’t want to be here. He didn’t want to face her. He was ashamed at his cowardice. But he kept going. The large group stepped into the mansion. They were all greeted by Zechs and Noin. Relena, however, was no where around. Quatre and Dorothy went off to dance. Sally grabbed Wufei’s hand and dragged him towards the dance floor. As much as he’d deny it, Wufei loved the opportunity to get his arms around Sally. Trowa and Catherine went out to mingle and dance, leaving Heero with Duo and Hilde. They made their way to the buffet table. Heero just continually scanned the crowd of diplomats and other assorted persons, looking for one in particular. Finally, he spied her walking down the stairs. The sight of her took his breath away. "She’s so beautiful," he said to no one in particular. Duo turned to his friend. "Indeed. Now go git her!" Heero looked at Duo and nodded. He began to head towards Relena when he noticed something. Relena had reached the bottom of the staircase, and was no longer alone. She was smiling and holding onto some young man’s arm. There was something odd about her smile though. It didn’t light up her face like it usually does, Heero noticed. Her eyes weren’t smiling. It was like that for the entire night. Relena danced with countless young men. Some wanted her because of her prestige. Some people wanted her for her body. No one wanted her the way she needed to be wanted; for herself. But she danced anyway, trying to get her mind off of Heero. She had seen him come in, and noticed that he made no attempt to come see her. Well, two could play that game. The night was proceeding slowly. Relena wanted nothing more than to just escape her party, but the strong arms around her wouldn’t let her leave. She racked her brain for a name. "Brian, I think," she thought to herself. Finally, the song ended. She tried to pull away from Brian, but he held her tight. "Going so soon?" he asked her. He began to play with her hair, staring deeply into her eyes. She opened her mouth to answer him, but he covered her mouth with his own. He stuck his tongue down her throat, catching her by surprise. She began to kiss him back, but realized that this passion just didn’t feel right. She began to pull away, but not before Heero saw them kiss. Heero turned and hung his head. He decided it was time to leave the party, but he didn’t want to go to his empty house. He walked out the door and headed out into the night. Relena managed to extract herself from Brian’s arms and mouth. She was flushed. "I can’t do this," she said. That’s when she spied Heero leaving the party. She had never seen Heero look so down before. Relena left Brian and headed towards the door, where she was stopped by a group of diplomats. After 15 minutes of politely trying to break away, she told them that she had some urgent business to tend to, and walked out the door. Heero was no where in sight. Relena sighed. "I guess there’s only one thing left to do," she thought, as she set off to look for him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Part Chapter~ Paint it Black There was only one place for him to go. Slowly, Heero trudged along to the beach where he was supposed to have met Relena the night before. He couldn't believe his eyes. How could that man kiss her like that, right in front of him…? but it didn't really matter. Heero wasn't an issue anymore. Relena had moved on, like she said she would. Something about Brian bothered Heero, but he just brushed it off as jealousy, another one of those odd emotions. Heero half-expected Duo's voice to come and bother him again, but it never came. Heero sighed as he sat down on the sandy beach. A car pulled up to the fence surrounding the beach. Heero turned quickly, one hand on his ever-present gun, his heart praying it was Relena. He saw a solitary form in the car. "Relena…" said Heero. But it wasn't. As Heero watched the figure, he noticed that it was another young man who seems to be depressed by the way he hung his head over the steering wheel. Heero couldn't help but wonder what had happened to this guy. The driver of the car never noticed Heero. He reached over and turned on a song. He turned up the volume, thinking he was alone. It was a very old song, but very appropriate for tonight. I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors anymore, I want them to turn black. I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes. I have to turn my head until my darkness goes. Heero looked out onto the ocean, thinking about Relena and how beautiful she looked in her dress. He lowered his head, fighting with the emotions trying to surface on his face. I see a line of cars and they're all painted black. With flowers and my love, both never to come back. I see people turn their heads and quickly look away. Like a newborn baby it just happens everyday. Heero scoffed at the lyrics to the song, but realized how true they were. He really felt as if his whole world was turning black. Even war hadn't depressed him this much. I look inside myself and see my heart is black. I see my red door and I want it painted black. Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black. Heero felt like his heart really was black. It was that realization that had previously kept him from going to Relena in the first place. He managed to push it aside and admit his love for her, but now his fear was coming back. Relena painted the world for him. Without her, his whole world was black. Heero turned behind him at the faint sound of feet. This time, it was a girl, but she wasn't heading for Heero. She headed straight for the car. Heero watched as the girl touched the boy in the car. He looked up at her, and then they kissed. The girl jumped into the car and continued to make out with the driver. Heero sighed, wishing that he could be as lucky. He turned away from the happy couple and looked back out to the ocean. No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue. I could not foresee this thing happening to you. If I look hard enough into the setting sun, My love will laugh with me Before the morning comes… The radio was shut off abruptly as the car sped away with the two young people in it. Heero thought about the last lines to the song. "Before the morning comes…" he said to himself. "Heero!" he heard a voice shout. No, it couldn't be… "Relena!" he cried as he jumped up. Relena came through the fence and started down towards him. Just then, hands came out from behind the same board that Heero had been hiding behind the night before. The hands grabbed Relena by the shoulders and jerked her back. "Heero!" she cried out in terror. Heero started to run to her, but didn't make it. The hands, attached to an entire body, hit Relena on the back of the head. Her body went limp, and the man pulled her into a large black van that Heero never noticed arriving. Heero made it to the van just as it drove away, but he managed to get a good look at the guy who had grabbed Relena. "Brian," he said bitterly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter Six ~ Where’s Relena? Heero watched as the black van drove off carrying Relena. For once, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. When he finally regained mobility, he ran off to the Peacecraft mansion. Heero tore ass into the yard. He was looking for someone, but he wasn't sure whom. He ran away to the backyard and stepped on a lump on the ground. "Eahhh!" shouted a female voice. Heero looked down quickly and saw Hilde and Duo hiding behind the water fountain. Duo looked up at Heero and grinned sheepishly. "Hey, what’s the big idea, Heero? Cantcha tell I’m a little busy right now?" Duo looked straight at Heero with hazy eyes. Heero looked straight at Duo, his concern leaking through his usually emotionless eyes. "Relena’s gone. They’ve got her. Goddamn it Duo, they’ve took her!" Duo’s grin disappeared and was replaced by concern. He had NEVER seen Heero so unglued before, and lately it had been just getting worse and worse. "Who’s got her?" asked Duo, standing and dragging Hilde to her feet. "He took her! In a van! Gone! She’s gone! And I couldn’t stop him!" Heero grabbed Duo’s shirt collar and shook him. Duo got really scared. Heero was just full of surprises tonight. "Heero, calm down! We will get her back!" Hilde said, prying Heero’s death grip off the front of Duo’s shirt. She held Heero’s shoulders tightly. Heero fell from her grasp onto the concrete ground to his knees. *** Relena woke as she was thrown into a dark room. She crashed into a wall and was almost knocked unconscious again. She stood on shaky legs as a large, burly man slammed the cell door shut. She watched his eyes roam her body and shivered, realizing that she was still in her formal dress. She didn’t like being looked at like that by some strange man. Especially one who looked like he might go farther than just looking. Just as the man began to walk away, another man came by. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" the voice yelled. It was Brian. "Just putting her in a room, sir," the large man replied. "I said HER room, not this dump," Brian said. He looked at Relena. "Come, darling. Let me take you to your real room." Brian opened the door and reached for Relena, but she pulled back, afraid. Brain reached again, and she still resisted. "I am not playing games with you!" he shouted. He grabbed at her arm and dragged her from the room. She still fought back, until Brian hit her on the back of the neck and she passed out again. Brian lifted her and carried her out of the dark prison, past many empty cells. *** Heero banged on the table. In a world of technology, he wondered, why couldn’t they create a computer that wouldn’t crash every time you tried to do something important? He turned in his chair as he waited for his computer to reboot. "Don’t worry, man. We will find her," said Duo. "Not if every time I try to access personal information on this guy my laptop crashes!" Heero exclaimed. Just then, Hilde rushed into the room, waving some papers. "I got it! I got it!" she yelled. Heero jumped up. "Got what?" he shouted. "You said the van sped away, right? Well, I hacked the police mainframe. Numerous people reported a speeding van. Judging from the different locations of the sightings, we can figure out where the van went, which means we can figure out where Relena is!" "Hilde, you are a genius. Just one more reason why I love you," Duo said, jumping up and kissing Hilde. She giggled and kissed him back. Heero grabbed the papers from Hilde while she and Duo were occupied and began studying. "Shit," he said. Duo and Hilde stopped to look at him. "What is it, Heero?" asked Duo. "Relena is more than likely being held at 619 Red Lane." Duo looked confused for a second, then a light bulb flashed. "Shit," he whispered. Hilde looked at the two men. "What does that mean?" She asked. "Well," said Duo, "that mansion is the most protected building here. It is also the rumored site of an underground OZ Resistance." "Shit," said Hilde. "Yeah," said Heero. "We’d better get her out of there, and fast." He moved to the door. "Wait," said Duo. "We can’t do this ourselves. We need to get together everyone else. There is no way the two of us can do this!" "Three of us," corrected Hilde. "No way babe. I don’t want you getting hurt." "You need me on this, and you know it," she said, determined. Duo sighed. He’d let Hilde win for now, but there was NO WAY he was going to let her get hurt. Not like poor Relena probably was right now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter 7~Bad Love Relena awoke on a soft bed. A large woman stood over her, wiping away crusted blood from her face. She looked at the woman with questions filling her eyes. "No asking questions," the woman said as she finished wiping down Relena’s face. "You must clean up before Master Brian returns." The woman took Relena’s arms and pulled her into a standing position next to the bed. The whole room tilted for a second, then stayed still. Before Relena could even register what was around her, the woman had her sitting in front of a vanity mirror. "I must fix your hair now for Master Brian. He does not like seeing you a mess." Relena simply nodded and took in the whole room from the large mirror. The room was very large and painted blue. There was a large four-poster bed with blue satin sheets and many blue pillows. Next to the bed was a large window that was about a third of the size of the wall itself. The carpet was a very deep blue compared to the ice-blue look of the rest of the room. There was a large wardrobe, along with a dresser, all made from oak. The vanity she sat at was painted white with a large mirror. There were many drawers for holding any kind of beauty supply anyone could imagine. There was even a little sink attached to the side. "Where am I?" Relena finally asked the woman. "You are at Master Brian’s palace, Miss Relena." "Who are you?" "I am a simple servant, Miss Relena. Mrs. Whitman. I have worked in this palace for only a few years. Master Brian hired me at about the same time he became interested in you." Relena gasped. "What do you mean?" Relena asked. "It…its not my place to say, Miss Relena. All I can say is that you are headed for a lot of trouble, and I am sorry." Mrs. Whitman finished fixing Relena’s hair to its previous state of beauty. "Now, stand up," Mrs. Whitman said. Relena stood, and the servant brushed the dust off of her dress and straightened the neckline. Relena looked in the mirror and saw that she was restored to her original state, aside from the large bruises forming on the lower part of her neck and on her upper arm. "Master Brian will be in to see you shortly, Miss Relena. If you are in need of anything, please ring this bell and I will come." The servant curtsied a bit and left the room. Relena looked around at her surroundings and saw a small bathroom to the side. Relieved, she ran towards the bathroom. *** Heero was pacing across the room, waiting. Duo had forced him to wait until everyone else showed up. Duo and Hilde sat next to each other on one of the couches in the Peacecraft mansion’s sitting room. Wufei stood in the corner, glaring at the couple on the couch. Sally, who was standing next to Wufei, was also looking at the couple, but with sadness. She sighed. They were waiting to find Trowa and Quatre in the mass of people still at the party. Even though it was late and the guest of honor had run out, people were still there, celebrating. Their joyous noise only made Heero angrier. Finally, the doorknob clicked and Trowa and Quatre walked in. Trowa shut the door behind him in silence as Quatre walked up to Heero. Quatre saw the emotional look in Heero’s eyes. He put his arms around Heero in a friendly embrace. Heero stiffened, but didn’t push Quatre away. Duo’s eyes widened at the spectacle, but didn’t say anything. Finally, Quatre released Heero. "Everything will be fine, Heero. Trust me. I can feel it. The end will be all right." "But what about the middle?" demanded Heero. Quatre sighed and turned away to see Dorothy enter the room. She had been in the bathroom when Quatre was called for. "Noin and Milliardo are trying to send everyone home now. I am not sure how long it is going to take, though," Dorothy said. "It better not take too long," said Heero. "Who knows what’s happening to Relena right now!" *** Relena opened the door to the little bathroom and stepped out into the large room again. Someone had turned off the lights. However, there were large white candles everywhere. The setting would have actually been romantic, had she been there with… "Heero." Relena sighed the name off of her lips. Suddenly, strong arms grabbed her from behind and held on to her waist. "I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that," a low male voice whispered in her ear. Relena shivered in fear at the voice. She tried to twist out of the embrace, but the arms held her tight. "Now now, Relena. You wouldn’t want to go just yet now, would you?" asked Brian. He blew long and hard in her ear, trying to arouse her. It didn’t work, like her failed attempts to get out of his clutches. Brian began to softly kiss her neck. "What do you want?" Relena asked, her voice strong and sure. She didn’t know where her strength came from, but she knew that she needed it. Perhaps it was the thought of Heero that was still ever-present in her mind. It frustrated her that he would not go away, but if it WAS Heero who was giving her strength, she thought it would be best for him to stay for a while. "Many things, Relena. Many things. Why don’t we start on that list, shall we?" said Brian, still whispering in her ear. His hands began to travel up her waist to her stomach. He rubbed her stomach a bit and let his hands rest just below her breasts. "What do you want, Brian?" Relena demanded again. Brian whipped her around and looked into her face. "First of all, I want you!" he said. Relena’s eyes widened, then hardened. She tried to pull away again. "You get your hands off me!" she said as she wrenched her body from his grip. She backed away until she bumped into something. The bed. "I will put my hands wherever I want to, thank you very much," Brian said. He put a hand on her shoulders and pushed aside the spaghetti strap holding her dress up. The upper half of her left breast became exposed. Brian leaned down and began kissing her. Relena jumped onto the bed and jumped off the other side. "You are being very naughty, Relena. If you don’t be careful, I will have to take out the whip on you. And I don’t think you would enjoy that." Brian walked to the other side of the bed and cornered Relena. She began to tremble. "That’s more like it," said Brian. He pushed the strap back up on her dress, kissed her full on the lips, and walked over to the dresser. He silently plucked a white garment out of the drawer and shut the drawer. He turned to Relena and threw the article of clothing at her. "Put this on tomorrow night by 9 pm. Mrs. Whitman will come in and serve you meals tomorrow morning, afternoon, and night. Just ring for her when you are hungry. And rest up. Tomorrow is going to be a busy night, and I don’t want you too tired." With an evil smirk, Brian turned and left the room. Relena stared at the white garment in her hands. She held it up. "He must be one for ceremony," she thought. The dress was very long. There were silk laces that traveled up the front of the high-neck. She held out the flowing dress and sighed, wondering what exactly he was planning on doing to the dress. Or to her, for that matter. She stared out the window. "Heero," she whispered as a lone tear fell down her cheek. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter 8~The Mission Heero stared at the large mansion at 619 Red Lane. From what he could tell, it was just a regular mansion. However, he knew that beneath the mansion were some of OZ’s most powerful people, plotting to overthrow the peaceful world he and so many others had shed their blood to build. "Heero, are you there? Come in, Heero." Sally’s voice came over his headset. "I’m here. What’s up?" Heero asked. "Did you get those pictures?" she asked. Heero grunted, looking at the cheap digital camera he held in his hands. "Yeah, I did. Though this thing is horrible, let me tell you. I still don’t see why we didn’t break in and get better equipment from the Preventers office…" "You know damned well that we would have to involve The Preventers if we used their equipment, and that would be bad for Relena! If it got to the Preventers, it may get out that Relena is missing, which would put the world into shambles!" As soon as Sally snapped at Heero, she felt bad. It wasn’t everyday that Heero displayed emotion, especially love for another person, and she didn’t want to discourage that. "I am sorry, Heero. I didn’t mean to yell at you. We need to get those pictures back now for analysis, so if you’re finished…"her voice trailed off. "I am coming, I am coming," Heero said as he slunk off in the bushes towards the waiting Jeep. "Hang on, Relena. I am coming," Heero whispered, dreading the thought of what might be happening to her. *** Relena paced around her room. It was still hours before her and Brian’s "date", and she was trying to work out her nervousness before hand. She knew she would have to be strong to face whatever was coming. Suddenly, her room’s door opened and Brian stepped in cheerfully. "Hello, Relena. I think it is time we had a little chat," he said as he shut the door. Relena gulped and tried to stand tall. She was NOT going to let this man turn her into a pile of blubbering mess. No tears. No submissions. Nothing but coldness, she willed to herself. "What do you want?" she asked him monotonously. "You know better than to ask that question. You know exactly what I want. You asked me this before." Brian sighed and walked over to her, putting his arms around her waist. Relena stiffened, but Brian didn’t move. "But I didn’t come for that yet. I just want to chat with you right now," he said as he ran his hands up and down her back. Relena simply stood there, looking at a spot on the wall above Brian’s head. He waited for a response from her, but there was none. He sighed again and continued. "I also want to rule the world." Brian grinned. "That’s another reason why I need you. Those stupid Preventers don’t know how to "prevent" me from rising to power. I am going to use you, Relena, as my ladder." He traced a finger along her jaw line, then down her throat. Relena continued to stare at the wall, not allowing herself to break. "Don’t think I am going to tell you my master plan, Relena, because I won’t. But I can give you a quick view of your future. I am going to marry you, whether you like it or not. Then, using your social status, I will rise and resurrect OZ with me. We will take control of those miniscule colonies once again. I will rule the world, with you in my bed and OZ at my beck and call. And I must say, I will be a happy man. And you will be a happy woman, too. Out of the spotlight, with rich and lavish surroundings, what else could you ask for?" "Heero," Relena thought aloud. She bit her lip as soon as she said it. Brian pushed her away and slapped her face so hard she spun and hit the floor. "How dare you?" he howled at her. "I do want your beauty all to myself, but don’t think that I won’t punish you for your impudence!" Brian grabbed her wrists and pulled her up. Relena tried to turn her head away from him, but he grabbed the back of her neck and forcefully kissed her. He thrust his tongue down her throat like he did at the party. Relena bit down on him as hard as she could. "You bitch!" he yelled. "I will have my way with you whether you like it or not!" He began to suck and bite at her neck hungrily. Relena tried to wiggle out of his arms, but he only bit her harder. Finally, she stood perfectly still and let him proceed. When Brian realized she would offer no more resistance, he loosened his grip on her shoulders. Still gnawing at her neck, he roughly grabbed her breasts with his hands and began to massage them roughly, squeezing the hard little nipples through Relena’s clothing. She cried out in pain at his ministrations and lifted her arms to push him away. Brian pulled away first and looked at Relena, his face flushed. "I will be back tonight, like I promised. And you better behave from now on." "Or what? You’ll kill me?" she demanded. Brian laughed and rang the bell for Mrs. Whitman. "Of course not, Relena. I would never kill you. Hit you, yes. But I want you, just the same." Mrs. Whitman knocked on the door. "Come in," said Brian. Mrs. Whitman walked in and shut the door behind her. Brian turned back to Relena. "No, no, Relena. Killing you is a last resort. But, if you resist me…"Brian began as he walked over to Mrs. Whitman. He pulled out a gun and put it to the servant’s head. Mrs. Whitman’s eyes opened wide, but she knew better than to say anything. "If you resist," Brian repeated, "I will be forced to kill your servant. I will keep getting new servants for you, and each time you resist, I will kill them. So know that you will have the blood of many on your delicate little hands." Brian grinned sinisterly and put the gun away. He turned to Mrs. Whitman again. "Make sure she’s ready for tonight," Brian said as he walked out of the room. Relena’s eyes followed his back, then turned to the servant, who was nearly in tears from fright. Relena knew she couldn’t be the cause of an innocent woman’s death. She walked over to Mrs. Whitman and put her arm around the older woman’s shoulders. "Don’t worry. I won’t let him kill you," Relena said. The woman looked at Relena as though she didn’t believe her. "I will return shortly to help you prepare for your evening with Master Brian," Mrs. Whitman said hurriedly as she left the room. Relena sat down on her bed and sighed. *** "For heaven’s sakes woman, would you refrain from standing over my shoulder like a vulture!" Wufei barked at Sally, who straightened up from her leaning position. "I am so sorry, Wufei." Sally said sarcastically. "It just so happens, that a very dear friend of mine is missing, and I want to know everything that I can to help get her back!" "You and Yui are the same. If it isn’t one, it’s the other, pestering me for information. Well, I haven’t finished pulling up these old files. So, GO AWAY so I can finish my work!" Sally grumbled off, trying to ignore Wufei’s rudeness. She was used to it by now, and only the gods knew why she loved him so. And only then knew why he loved her back, and why they never said anything to each other about it. "Relax, Wu-man!" Duo said cheerfully. "We just wanna get Relena back, that’s all. You can’t blame us for being excited about this new information." "Well, we won’t HAVE this new information if I don’t get a chance to finish retrieving it! And DON’T call me Wu-man!" Duo laughed. "Ok ok, Wu-FEI." Duo said as he walked away. Wufei sighed and returned to his work. After everyone had scheduled out the guard’s rotations and staked out every possible entrance to the mansion, the only thing left was to figure out how to navigate inside the mansion. Old building plans to the mansion were found in the databanks of some of the old OZ computers. After printing out the plans, they had to be analyzed, and Wufei was the lucky one who didn’t have anything else to do. Finally, he finished and gave his report to the rest of the group. "We can kill to birds with one stone," Sally said. "We can rescue Relena, and destroy an underground OZ faction at the same time!" Trowa looked up from the files he and Quatre had been analyzing. "I think it would be best to cut the power to the whole place. We wouldn’t have much time, but one person could sneak in undetected and get Relena out. Another could follow after a few minutes as backup. The rest should be divided up and should be setting charges in the underground rooms and inside the main part of the mansion," Trowa said. Dorothy stood up from her spot behind Quatre. "All the charges should be remotely detonated once everyone has vacated the building. Two people should stay outside and make sure NO ONE escapes," Dorothy said. "We should be able to scrounge up enough headsets so that everyone will be wired and can talk to each other. We don’t want to blow this place with someone still inside," said Quatre. "Now the only question is, when do we strike?" asked Duo. "Now," Heero said softly. Everyone turned to look at him; he hadn’t been talking at all through the whole meeting. "I don’t know if we should rush this, Heero," said Sally. "No," said Heero. "Tonight. This has to be done tonight. If we don’t act soon, Relena will be lost to us forever." "I agree," said Quatre. "I can’t explain it, but I know what he’s talking about." "I guess its decided then," said Sally. Everyone else nodded. "We leave at 8 tonight and hope we haven’t lost her yet." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The long awaited 9th part! A slight bit of a lemon, more of a tease than anything else. Maybe a lime. I dunno. Enjoy! Tough Love Chapter 9~The Battle Draws Near Mrs. Whitman knocked lightly on Relena’s door. "Come in," called Relena. She knew who it was; Brian would have just stormed in and probably tried to take off her clothes again. Relena shuddered at the thought. "Miss Relena, Master Brian insists that I begin preparing you now for tonight. He said that he didn’t want to wait until 9. I am so sorry…" Mrs. Whitman said. Relena frowned and looked at the woman. She rose and headed into the bathroom. Mrs. Whitman followed her. "How did you get mixed up in all of this, Mrs. Whitman?" Relena asked as Mrs. Whitman drew her bath. The older lady sighed. "I honestly didn’t mean too. My husband was some secret agent; I had no idea what he did. Then, he told me he could get me a job. So I started working here. I didn’t know what went on in the basement." Mrs. Whitman looked around nervously. "I am still not supposed to know. It’s some kind of OZ thing! I don’t know much about government, but I know they are up to no good. Master Brian…"she gulped and almost began to cry. "Master Brian executed my husband right in front of my eyes! Of course, they didn’t know I was watching. I was told it was a plane crash." She shook her head bitterly. "If I had known what was going on, I could have done something. Gotten out. But Master Brian knows where my grandchildren are. I KNOW he would hurt them, or even kill them if I did anything!" She turned to face the bathtub to hide her tears. "Your bath is ready, Miss Relena. Take your time. I am sure you don’t want tonight to come so quickly." Mrs. Whitman left the room hurriedly. Relena sighed and stripped. She climbed into the tub. "Pffft! Like I can relax here!" she said to herself. "This is insane! What is going to happen to me tonight? Where is Heero?" *** Wufei grabbed Heero’s ear and dragged him out of the kitchen. Surprisingly, Heero offered no resistance. "This is insane, Heero! If anyone ever touched you, you would probably rip their arm off! You can’t go into a mission like this!" Wufei yelled at Heero. Heero just stood there. "This is way out of character for him," Duo said to no one in particular. Sally, Quatre, and Trowa heard him and nodded in agreement. "Sit!" yelled Wufei. Heero sat on the floor. "Wu-man, take it easy on him! He ain’t himself, ya know," said Duo. Wufei just glared at Duo and shut the doors to the sitting room. "I don’t know what he is going to do to him, but I hope it helps!" said Quatre. Sally nodded. "Wufei told me earlier that he was going to try some Chinese meditation techniques on him. I don’t know how well they will work, but we shall see," explained Sally. "Oh, getting first hand information from the Wu-man. Gee Sally, what’s up with you two anyway?" ever-nosy Duo pried. Sally glared at him and left the room. Trowa rolled his eyes. "What? What did I say?" asked Duo, bemused. *** Relena dried off from her bath. It was far from relaxing, but she could think a little more clearly now. She had to plan something for tonight. There was no way she was giving up her virginity to this scum. But what was she supposed to do? Relena wrapped herself in the towel and walked into her bedroom. She threw on the silk robe hanging near the bed and sat down to eat the food on the tray that Mrs. Whitman had left for her. She had to gain her strength for tonight. *** Duo stretched. "I am going to go take a nap with Hilde," he said to the group in the kitchen. "Wake me up at 6:30 pm, no earlier!" "Umm, Duo, we have a mission to prepare for," said Quatre. "But Hilde gets to sleep!" "Hilde was up all night hacking into the security systems of the mansion. You weren’t." "I don’t care. I still need my sleep. The God of Death has spoken." Duo turned on his heel and left the room. Dorothy and Quatre just sighed. Trowa didn’t pay any attention at all. Duo walked down the hall to his and Hilde’s room. He still wasn’t used to palace life, but he couldn’t help but enjoy living in one. Carefully, he opened his bedroom door and saw Hilde sleeping on the bed. He grinned evilly, then ran and jumped on Hilde, who screamed. "Duo! What the hell are you doing! I was trying to sleep!" Hilde exclaimed. "I need some lov’ns before the mission tonight," he said grinning widely. Hilde rolled her eyes. "I don’t think I should help you out in that area," Hilde said smiling. "Yeah you are," Duo said. He grabbed the sheet and pulled it off of Hilde. She laughed at him. He grabbed her arms and held them over her head with one hand and unbuttoned her shirt with the other. Hilde squirmed underneath him. Duo snaked his free arm behind Hilde and undid the clasp on her bra. He looked at her and gave her a flashing grin. He let her hands go and kissed her with a surprising gentleness. Hilde kissed him back, then rolled him over on his back. She stripped off her shirt and bra, then removed Duo’s shirt. He reached up with both hands to hold Hilde’s breasts. She moaned as she began unzipping his pants. "Hilde, I love you," Duo said as he pressed his face in her neck. "I love you too, Duo." Quatre and Dorothy rolled their eyes as they walked past Duo and Hilde’s room. "The way they go at it, you’d think they were rabbits!" said Dorothy. "I guess you gotta appreciate it, though. Even in the worst of times, Duo can not only make things better for himself, but he can make other people happy as well," said Quatre thoughtfully. "I’d rather he didn’t make me that happy," said Dorothy as a screech came from the room. She sighed and continued down the hall with Quatre following. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter 10~A Night of Passion, Love, and Explosions (the fire kind) "Git outta bed. Or outta Hilde. Wherever you are, get out and get ready!" Sally yelled, banding on Duo and Hilde’s closed bedroom door. Sally could here a few muffled moans and the groaning of the bed as someone, probably Hilde, got out. The door slowly opened to show a flushed Hilde pulling on her robe. "S..Sorry about that, Sally. I guess we just got, uh.." Hilde said as she looked back to see the God of Death sprawled on the bed, "uh…distracted." Sally shook her head and walked away. She saw doors open down the hall and noticed as Wufei and Heero walked out of the room. Heero was looking better than he had in a long while. He could walk in a straight line and his eyes weren’t so glazed. "Hey, Heero’s back!" Duo said, tearing out of his room and down the hall to his friend. Duo raised his hand to hit Heero as a test, but Heero grabbed his wrist and held it behind his back. "Owww….Heero, I was just test…Ow! Stop that!" Heero glared at him, mumbled that he would kill him after his shower, and walked down the hall to his bathroom. "Glad to see he’s back to normal," said Duo, holding his very red wrist. *** Relena sat on her bed. She was breathing very hard, despite her attempts to relax herself. She’d just have to tell him no. But for Mrs. Whitman’s sake, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She tried to recall some of the meditation techniques Wufei showed her one day before a huge diplomatic meeting. It worked then, and it was slowly working now. Relena knew that she had to be calm for this. Going knowingly into a rape situation was bad enough. Going into it hysterical was even worse. Suddenly, her door banged open. It was Brian. "Hello there, Relena," he said seductively. She just looked away. Brian groaned. "Listen, Relena, there is no way out for you. Why don’t you just relax and enjoy this! It will be better for both of us if you do." Relena hung her head and sighed. She was determined not to give in without a fight, but now she thought she might have a chance if she went along with him. Without realizing it, her shoulders relaxed a bit. Brian noticed. "That’s much better, baby." Brian walked towards her, flipping off the light switch as he went. "Sorry there are no romantic candles this time. I thought the availability of a weapon was a bad idea." "A weapon!" Relena thought. Mrs. Whitman was ordered to remove all the sharp objects from her room earlier, including her toothbrush. Brian was afraid she’d try to blind him with it. Not that it would have helped. She’s probably be naked very soon and have nowhere to hide it anyway. Brian took her shoulders gently and stood her up. Relena started at a spot behind his head. He began kissing her neck slowly. Then he began sucking on her neck harder. He let his hands roam down her back, then moved his right hand to the ties on her nightgown. He suddenly grabbed her right breast so hard that she cried out in pain. "If you don’t become more responsive, I will make everything hurt," Brian threatened. For good measure, he bit the side of her neck, almost puncturing the skin. "You are sick, you know that?" Relena said. Brian smiled and pulled on the laces on her neck. He began kissing her on the mouth, almost as gently as a lover would. Relena couldn’t understand it. He was rough and tough one moment, and gentle the next. He was truly crazy. Brian began to unlace Relena’s nightgown slowly as he kissed her. He pushed the nightgown off her shoulders. It landed on the ground in a puddle at her feet. Brian paused enough to rip off all of his own clothing, then pushed Relena onto the bed. He grabbed her breasts and began kneading them while kissing her. He paused for just a moment and looked at her. "So much for foreplay," he said as he positioned himself at her opening. Relena winced, waiting. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion outside that rocked the mansion. "Whaa?!" yelled Brian. Relena took her chance and kneed him in the groin. He yelled in pain. She got up and raced for the door, but Brian caught her wrist. "You bitch!" he yelled. He reached quickly under the mattress to find the knife he had hidden there earlier. Relena saw the glint of the metal in the flames from outside and screamed. She pulled away from Brian, who cut her arm when she fell. Brian quickly rolled off the bed and grabbed the gun he had kept in his clothing. He aimed it at a very scared Relena. "Lemme guess. This is the first time you have ever stared down a gun barrel, right?" asked Brian. "No, not really," said Relena. Brian frowned. He started to pull the trigger. Relena heard two guns going off at the same time. "Relena!" Heero shouted. Relena and Brian fell to the floor at the same time. Luckily, Heero got the first of the two shots. He flicked on the lights and looked over to see a very naked, bloodied Relena. Heero ran over to her. "What did I do?" he cried. He rolled Relena off her face and onto her back. He couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, but the renewed warrior inside him kept him from being distracted. "Heero…you came for me…" Relena said, opening her eyes. Heero grabbed the sheets off of the bed, wrapping one tightly around the bullet wound on Relena’s arm. "You’re going to be ok, Relena. I am going to get you out of here. Can you stand?" Relena nodded and rose, but she fell onto Heero. Heero held her up as he wrapped the other sheet around her naked body. He picked her up and carried her out of the room and down the hall. "Don’t worry, Relena. The rest of the group is setting charges around the mansion. As soon as we get out of here, the whole place is going up in flames." As he said that, there was another explosion near the south end of the house. "Wait! Mrs. Whitman! We have to get her out alive!" said Relena. Heero looked down at her. "Who’s Mrs. Whitman?" Heero asked. Just as he did, he heard a pounding on a door. "Help me! Please!" Mrs. Whitman’s feeble cry came through the kitchen door. Heero opened the door to see the very frightened old woman. "Follow us," he said gruffly. Relena was finally able to look around at her surroundings. She heard shouting and gunfire from what seemed to be way below the house, in the OZ underground offices. "I’ve got her," Heero said into his headset. "We are coming out now." They neared the back door. Heero kicked open the door and the three people practically flew out of the house. "Blow it!" shouted Heero into the headset. "All right man! It’s about time! Yippee!" shouted Duo. "Just do it!" yelled Heero back at Duo. "The God of Death strikes again!" yelled Duo as he hit the detonate button. The whole house exploded with a huge bang. The smoke was tremendous. "How many explosives did you use?" Sally yelled at Duo through the headset. "Umm, well, I didn’t think we used enough before, so I doubled it!" Duo replied sheepishly. "You baka!" shouted Wufei. Duo and Hilde laughed together under the bushes. "You love me ‘cause I never do anything small!" said Duo, flashing Hilde a grin. Hilde laughed and leaned in to kiss Duo when Heero came running up. "Knock it off you two! Duo! Go grab that old lady back there. She can’t run as fast as I can." Duo nodded and ran back to carry Mrs. Whitman, who was considerably far behind Heero and Relena. Hilde looked at the blood soaked sheets surrounding Relena and gasped. "I think she will be all right. We just need to get her out of here," Heero said to her. Hilde nodded and the two headed for their van. "Hang on, Relena," Heero said, stroking her hair. "We are almost outta here." Relena sighed and passed out from the exhaustion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tough Love Chapter Eleven ~ The Beginning Relena lay asleep in her bed back at her mansion. In order to keep her involvement in the whole OZ affair out of the public eye, Sally had been attending to Relena at her mansion. She was both physically and mentally worn out. She had been sleeping for 3 days already, which gave Heero time to think. Heero loved her, he knew that much. There was so much he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t know how. He stared at her pale form on the bed. "Just tell her," said Duo as he walked into the room. Heero turned around to look at his buddy. "Tell her now. She may not be awake, but I have no doubt she will still hear you. And if not, think of this as an opportunity to practice." Heero looked at Duo. "You know, Duo, why are you always giving me advice? Even when you aren’t there, you seem to haunt me." Duo gave Heero a strange look, then grinned. "Maybe you should listen to me then, Heero." Duo grinned again, then left the room. Heero turned to the bed again. "Relena," he said. Then he stopped. He walked over and shut the door. Then he returned to the bed. "Relena, I am sorry that I didn’t go to the beach like you asked. I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but," he said, kneeling besides the bed, "I was scared. I have never been in a situation like this before. Plus, I haven’t had much luck in the friend department. Everything I touch dies. Look what happened to you! At least you made it out alive." Heero reached for Relena’s limp hand and squeezed it. "You probably aren’t going to want to see me after this, but I still have to tell you. I love you, Relena. I guess I always have. I just never knew what love really was. I needed someone to explain it to me. You and Duo showed me. Wait, that sounds wrong. Duo yelled at me, and you kindly showed me." Heero’s eyes began to fill with tears. "I know you will wake up soon. You are very strong. When I tried to push you away, you managed to find something good in me. You stared down the barrel of my own gun. You managed to keep yourself, even though so many people; Oz, Brian, your kingdom, and even myself, tried to change that. I am sorry, Relena. I am not much for words or flowery poetry. But I guess you knew that already. I really am at a loss for words here; I can’t say all the things my heart feels. But I know one thing: I love you." Heero stood up and brushed Relena’s bangs off her forehead. He leaned over and kissed her head gently. Then he turned and left the room. *** A day later, Heero and Duo left for a mission. Some of the OZ Resistance members escaped the bombing of Brian’s mansion, and Duo and Heero were the lucky ones to go after them. Three hours after they left, Relena awoke and looked for Heero. "He’s not here, Relena," Hilde said, holding back her tears. "They had to go on a mission. Some of the OZ men escaped. Heero said he refused to let them hurt you, so he went with my Duo to find them." Relena stared at Hilde. "He…he…he told me that he loved me!" she exclaimed. "I was asleep. Suddenly, I found myself floating in the stars. I heard his voice. He said he loved me and didn’t think I loved him anymore!" Relena began to cry. All of her traumas just pounded down on her. She couldn’t help it. Hilde walked over and held her. The two girls cried together. *** Five months later, Duo showed up on the mansion’s doorstep. Hilde ran for him and hugged him. Relena instantly looked for Heero. Duo noticed and frowned. "I am sorry, Relena. Heero and I got separated. I don’t know where he is. I spent the last month and a half looking for him. I never thought this mission would take this long. I didn’t think he did either." Relena nodded calmly at Duo, then retreated to her room. "She took that well," Duo said. Hilde shook her head. "She’s practically dying inside," said Hilde. "Ever since you two left, she has become a shell of a person. Oh, she carries out her duties wonderfully, but she isn’t living. I don’t know what to do for her." She sighed and fell into Duo’s arms. "Let’s not let that bother us tonight," said Duo. "I want to enjoy being back with my Hilde for a few hours; then we can worry about life." Hilde nodded as Duo shot her one of his grins. *** Relena stared out of her bedroom window. Just one year ago, she was kidnapped by Brian. One year ago, Heero told her that he loved her. And one year ago, he left her. They said she took it well. After the first couple months, she managed to heal from her ordeal at Brian’s mansion. After all, almost being raped is a difficult thing for a girl to deal with. Unfortunately, she couldn’t heal from Heero’s departure as easily. Now she was 19, and spending her birthday alone. Granted, all her friends gave her presents, and Duo somehow got Quatre, Trowa and Wufei to help bake her a birthday cake (even though Wufei mainly just stood around complaining about being forced to do "women’s work"). She had had a nice day, in spite of Heero’s absence. She had learned not to depend on anyone else for happiness. She had really matured since she first met Heero. But she still felt like hunting him down. She sighed and continued to stare at the moon. "Happy Birthday, Relena." Relena gasped and tried to turn around, but a strong pair of arms stopped her. "Heero," she said breathlessly. His touch was like fire on her arms. He let go with one hand and held a red rose in front of Relena’s face. She took the rose and inhaled. "It’s beautiful, Heero. But where have you been?" She tried to turn around again, but Heero wouldn’t let her. "I had a lot of business to take care of. That’s all." He sighed. "I will still have to keep leaving you, Relena. It’s my job. But I will never leave you for as long again. I no longer feel compelled to do everything myself. I will never take a mission so long again. I don’t know if that is enough for you, but that’s all I can give. Maybe, in the future…"his voice trailed off. Relena spoke up. "As long as you come back to me every time, I don’t care." Heero smiled. "I will try my hardest not to have to. As of right now, I have a year’s worth of vacation before I have to go back." "Then lets enjoy the year, and not think about this again until then," said Relena, still facing out the window. "I love you," Heero whispered into Relena’s ear. "I love you too," said Relena. Heero slid his hands from her arms to around her stomach. He began to gently kiss the back of her neck. Relena relaxed into his arms. Heero began to slowly rub his hands on Relena’s stomach as he continued to kiss the back of her neck. Relena began to breathe heavily. Her breasts began to itch in anticipation as his hands slowly worked their way up her stomach. His fingers slowly grazed her breasts and she moaned lightly. "Should I stop?" asked Heero. "I mean, I feel a little forward." Relena turned to face him for the first time. As she looked at him, emotion after emotion hit her. She knew how much she truly loved this man. And how much she wanted to be his. She could see nothing but love in his eyes. "I want you to be mine," said Relena. "I want to be yours," said Heero. "Then lets make that happen. Tonight," Relena said forcefully. Heero nodded. As much as he felt the burning in his groin, he knew he would respect her wishes. He was just really glad that she wanted the same thing that he did. Relena looked into Heero’s eyes. "This is it," she thought. She brought her hand up to his neck and pulled his face down to meet hers. Their lips clashed together in a passionate, needful kiss. Relena entwined her fingers in Heero’s unruly hair as she deepened the kiss. Any second thoughts either of them had flew out the window with that one kiss. Relena let go of Heero’s hair long enough to pull his shirt over his head. They continued kissing as Relena ran her fingernails over his hard chest. Heero shivered slightly as she flicked his right nipple with her nail. He began running his hands up and down her back as he deepened their kiss. Then he began to push her body closer to the bed. Relena slowly sat down and pulled Heero on top of her. Heero stopped kissing her and looked deep into her eyes. Without saying anything, he began to slowly unbutton her shirt, leaving a little kiss every time he undid a button. He sat Relena up to remove her shirt and quickly unclasped her bra. He tossed her clothes into the small pile that was forming on the side of the bed. Relena lay back down. Heero just stared at her. "You’re so beautiful," he said to her. Relena blushed. Heero bent down and began kissing the sensitive skin of her stomach. Relena’s breathing became louder and she began letting out multiple little sighs. Heero slowly reached up with his right hand to cup one of Relena’s breasts. Relena’s skin tingled at the sensation. She had no idea this could feel so good. Heero moved upward and took her nipple in his lips while he played with the other nipple. Relena gasped as he slowly suckled her breast. The sensations were driving her wild with excitement. Heero switched breasts to give the sufficiently hardened nipple a break. Relena kept moaning and moving beneath him, which aroused Heero to no end. Relena grabbed his head and slowly brought it away from her chest. She looked into Heero’s eyes, then flipped him over on his back. She began kissing his chest and stomach while slowly rubbing Heero’s straining erection. Heero gasped at her ministrations. He had planned on pleasing her that night, but it looked like it was going to work both ways! Relena unbuttoned the button on Heero’s jeans. He kicked off his socks and shoes so she could slip his pants off. While Relena kept kissing his neck, he slowly slipped off her pants. Relena captured his lips with hers again as he flipped her over. He rid himself of his underwear quickly, then removed Relena’s. Heero slipped a finger around her clit, then into her opening. He noticed how tight and wet she was. Relena gasped at his touch; it felt like a million fireworks going off everywhere in her body. "Heero," she moaned. Heero rubbed her a little bit longer, then removed his finger. Relena whimpered at the loss of touch. Heero looked at her in the eyes. "Are you sure you want this?" asked Heero. "I want you more than anything in the world," said Relena. She leaned up and kissed him slowly as Heero positioned himself at her opening. "I love you, Relena," Heero said as he thrust into her. Relena yelped in pain, and Heero ignored his desire to move inside her. He held still, waiting for the pain to pass. He saw Relena cry in pain. "I am so sorry, Relena," Heero said, wiping away her tears. "No, I want this," she replied. After a little while, the pain passed, and Relena began moving her hips against Heero. Heero took his cue and slowly thrust in and out. "Oh…Heero!" Relena said. As Heero sped up, Relena’s breathing got faster and faster. Heero’s breathing matched Relena’s, and she thrust against him. Heero felt himself begin to come. He couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He shouted Relena’s name. Relena felt his throbbing manhood inside of her. The feeling pushed her over the edge. As Heero dumped his seed into her, she began to feel explosions all over. Her heart felt like it was on a roller coaster ride. She screamed Heero’s name as her orgasm over took her. Her body began to shake as she yelled Heero’s name over and over again. Heero collapsed on Relena. Their sweat-slicked bodies lay trembling together. After a few minutes, Heero propped himself up on his arm and looked at Relena. "I love you," he said as he brushed her hair out of her face. "I love you too," she replied. Heero rolled onto his back. Relena moved and placed her head on his shoulder. Heero held her tight as the two lovers slipped into slumber. A few hours later, the sun began to rise, issuing the beginning of a new day. As Heero looked over on his sleeping love, he knew he couldn’t ask for anything else. This was the beginning of his new life, and nothing would ever drive him away. The Beginning. That’s it! I hope you enjoyed my first fanfic ever! I enjoyed writing it. I wanna hear your opinions! My first lemon ever too, so I need constructive criticism! But no unnecessary flames, please.
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