A Promise Between Souls

By DragonMage

Chapter 4

Relena tapped her fingers against the conference table and growled angrily. The growl startled a few of the representatives giving their speeches. She hated these meetings. They were senseless and she saw no point in them.

"Is there something wrong, Ms. Dorlian?" one of the bald ones asked.

"I have a meeting elsewhere, gentlemen, and I believe you can do this without my presence," Relena said coldly as she abruptly stood up and walked out of the conference room. She didn't care if they were offended, she had more important things to do than listen to their stupid complaints. Ooh, she wished she could whip out a gun and shoot them all. She could take care of affairs like these on her own. She didn't need these stupid, sniveling bastards.

She had never been so furious in her life! They had wasted her precious time and for what? Peace?? Ha! She really didn't give a damn for world peace right now. The only peace she wanted as peace of mind! *Her* mind!

<I have far more important things to do. Much more important.>

Relena brushed past more officials and workers in the hallway as she made her way to the limo waiting outside for her. It wasn't her usual pink limo but instead a black one. She got inside and sat there for a moment.

"Where to now, Ms. Dorlian?" the driver asked, a bit surprised Ms. Dorlian had appeared sooner than expected. Had the meeting been dispersed earlier? Of course. Ms. Dorlian was never known to be someone who walked out of a meeting.

Relena was silent for a moment before giving an address. "Take me there and leave me. I'll call you when I want to be taken back to the estate."

The driver nodded and pulled out of the parking space.

~*~

When Wufei walked out of his bedroom he found Heero in the kitchen pouring some tea into one of his china cups. The Japanese man had a thoughtful expression on his face as he poured and Wufei noted his style. <Very...Japanese,> was the only thing that came to mind. Wufei almost smiled. The Japanese and Chinese were so different. He had always found that a bit amusing.

"How do you feel? Are you up to drinking tea?" Heero asked when he noticed Wufei's presence. He almost smiled when he saw Wufei had comb his hair but left it down. He had also changed into a loose, cream colored silk shirt and baggy white pants that hung on his hips. He looked very, very inviting in Heero's mind.

"I'm always up for tea," Wufei said, nodding as he walked into the kitchen. Heero noticed he was bare footed.

"Here." Heero handed him the cup and Wufei accepted it with a degree of respect. Heero watched as the Chinese man lifted the cup to his lips and took a tentative sip of the burning liquid.

Wufei lifted his eyes and nodded at Heero. "It's almost perfect. You make very good tea."

"It's probably a gift," Heero half-joked. "I've never had to make tea until I met you and Quatre."

Wufei looked thoughtful. "Really? But the way you serve the tea..."

Heero shrugged. "I'm not completely ignorant of my culture." And he left it at that.

Wufei drank half of the cup before he couldn't drink anymore. He slowly placed the cup down and stared at it. The drugs were still working through his system and he didn't feel all that bad. He also felt drowsy and subdued but that was normal. How many days have he lived in a half-wake reality because of the drugs? They were pretty strong because of his condition. Usually, they weren't supposed to put people into a half-wake reality but his case was different.

<No matter how many-head doctors I go to, no one can help me. What am I going to do when this gets too much? When the drugs don't help me anymore?> he wondered absently as he traced the rip of the china cup. <Am I going to die? Will it kill me?>

"Do you feel any better?" Heero asked.

Wufei looked up. "You sound like you're actually concerned."

"I am, Wufei."

Wufei actually looked surprised. "You...you do?"

Heero nodded slowly. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"We are," Wufei agreed, nodding.

"So, do you feel any better?"

Wufei looked thoughtful for a moment as he thought over Heero's question. Did he feel better? He played with the cup before looking and meeting Heero's eyes. "Maybe."

"What's wrong?" Heero asked, trying to sound casual about it so Wufei wouldn't immediately put up walls and shut him out. He didn't want that. He wanted Wufei to open up to him.

"Didn't I tell you? I just don't get enough sleep," Wufei said, shrugging carelessly. The shirt fell a bit and revealed more of his long neck and smooth shoulder. Heero suddenly wanted to kiss Wufei right there...

//"Ah! I'm ticklish there..."

"Really? Well, now I have another advantage over you, don't I?"

"Oh, you *are* evil!"//

It had only been for a brief moment but that "memory" shook Heero to the core. What was that? Ever since he had seen Wufei at the reunion party he had been getting all these flash "memories" and they were starting to drive him crazy. He had no idea where they came from and why they only happened when Wufei was around.

<There's got to be a logical explanation for this,> he reasoned with himself as he tore his eyes away from Wufei's bare shoulder.

"Do you want something to eat? It seems like all we've had is tea," Wufei said quietly as he noticed Heero drifting away into thought. He walked past the Japanese man to the cabinets and began to rummage through them as he searched for something to eat. He didn't keep much in his kitchen though since he didn't eat a lot to begin with and it'd be a waste if he bought too much food and they rotted because he never had the stomach to actually eat all of it. "I'm sorry if there's nothing in here... I'm not a big eater."

<That is kind of obvious,> Heero thought as he watched Wufei search for something akin to food. He could clearly see Wufei's small body underneath the thin clothing. It was almost all skin and bone, really. <Why doesn't he eat?>

Wufei finally found a box of cookies. "Ah, well, I suppose this will do." He pulled it out and turned around to face Heero with the box in his hands. He flushed slightly when he noticed Heero staring at him. "What?"

"Hmm?" Heero blinked and shook himself out of his reverie of thoughts. "What was that?"

"You're staring," Wufei said almost accusingly as he pulled out a plate from the dishwasher and poured the cookies on to it. He placed the box down on the counter and turned around. He walked over to the small table in the middle of the small kitchen and placed it down next to the tea cups. "Are cookies okay?"

"They're fine," Heero said as he reached out and picked one up. He bit into it. "And what's wrong with me staring?"

"You don't have to," Wufei muttered as he picked up his tea and sipped it. He swallowed the last of it and licked his lips.

"But what if I like to?" Heero asked, staring at Wufei with his intense cobalt eyes. He knew he was taking a risk saying these things but he couldn't help it. He wanted to say them, he wanted to see Wufei's reaction to it. And of all these things he wanted, he didn't know why he wanted them.

Wufei looked up sharply and met Heero's eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. <What is he doing?> he wondered almost frantically. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair--a nervous habit he picked up after the war--when his hand caught the chain of his necklace and broke it. He started as the chain and pendant fell from his neck and clattered onto the table.

Heero reached out and picked up the pendant. He knew this pendant, only where had he seen it before? "This belonged to your mother before it came to your possession, didn't it?" he asked as he fingered the pendant. <I know this. I do. But where?>

"Yes," Wufei said, nodding. He wanted his pendant back but he didn't want to be impolite. He couldn't just rip the pendant away from him. It would be childish. He could wait until Heero gave it back to him.

"It's beautiful." Heero reached out and picked up the chain. He strung the pendant and walked over to Wufei. He reached up and laced the chain around Wufei's neck and snapped it back on. It hadn't broke, the clasp just came undone.

Wufei stiffened as he felt Heero's arms around his neck. But he forced himself to relax as Heero snapped it back on and pulled away.

"You should get a stronger clasp," Heero advised as he deliberately brushed his fingers along Wufei's neck yet making it seem like an accident. "You don't want it to keep breaking on you like that."

"I've been meaning to but I keep forgetting," Wufei said softly, all to well aware of Heero's proximity. "I'll remember next time."

"That's good. We wouldn't want you to lose such a beautiful pendant," Heero murmured as he stepped just a bit closer to Wufei.

"Of course." His words were breathed than rather said. He didn't know what Heero was planning to do but it was making him nervous. He wasn't exactly *okay* right now and he wasn't sure how he would react if Heero did anything right now that went past the 'friendship' line. <I like him a lot but...Gods, I am *not* okay.> He swallowed hard and reached out to pour himself more tea, distracting Heero from whatever thoughts he had been having.

"You're thirsty?" Heero asked. He took the tea cup and pot from Wufei and poured the tea himself.

"Ah, pills always made me a little thirsty afterwards," Wufei admitted as he took the cup from Heero and drank the warm liquid. It had cooled perfectly. He held out his cup and Heero poured him some more. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"I'd love that," Heero replied sincerely. He didn't want to leave Wufei alone, especially with the other man looking ill as he did.

"Wonderful. Should we get take out? I don't have anything here substantial enough for two people to eat," Wufei said, tucking a lock of hair behind his ear. "I'm sorry. Like I said before, I'm not a big eater."

"You should, you know. You're painfully thin," Heero said with a trace of concern in his voice. "How have you kept up your energy at all?"

"Ah, I manage," Wufei said with a slight shrug of his somewhat bony shoulders. He picked up a cookie and bit into it. "Besides, when I eat I always make sure to get something with a lot of protein and carbohydrates."

Heero nodded. "Why don't we go into the living room? It's more comfortable there." He reached out and grabbed Wufei's hand without really thinking and tugged the other man into said room. Wufei, on the other hand, were stunned at Heero's sudden affection. He allowed himself to be tugged over and pushed down on to the couch. Heero turned on the TV and sat down beside him. He stared at the Japanese man who seemed oblivious to what he had just done. <He's never like this. But...in a way this *is* him. Why am I feeling so strange?> Wufei wondered as he watched Heero channel surf.

"Are you okay with this?" Heero asked, looking over at Wufei.

"This is fine. We can get food later," Wufei said, nodding slowly.

Heero smiled and made himself more comfortable and continued to channel surf until he found a movie that they both seemed to like. Sometime during the movie Wufei had moved until he was resting comfortably against Heero. They curled up against each other and just watched the movie. There was nothing romantic about their touching, they were just friends and it was a comfort to both of them, especially Wufei who eventually nodded off against Heero.

<He's so beautiful,> Heero thought to himself as he reached out and brushed Wufei's hair from his face. He turned off the TV and lifted Wufei into his arms, worried at how light Wufei really was, and carried the sleeping Chinese man into his bedroom. He tucked Wufei in and pulled the covers up under his chin. Then he left the room and ordered some Chinese take out. As he hung up the phone, he wondered what he was going to do until the food came.

Smiling slight, he acted purely on impulse and walked back into Wufei's room. He took off his jacket and slid into bed with the other man. Wufei immediately turned around and pressed against Heero before settling back to sleep. Heero wrapped his arms around Wufei and decided to take a short nap until the food came.

~*~

*ding dong*

Heero woke up immediately, his old instincts causing him to become immediately aware through the haze of sleep. He blinked and untangled himself from Wufei without waking the man, and went to answer the door before the ringing woke up Wufei. He paid for the dinner and bided the delivery boy good-bye before moving to the kitchen. He placed the food and change down before walking back into the bedroom. He leaned over the bed and whispered in Wufei's ear, "It's time to get up, sleeping beauty. The food's here."

"Mmm...dun't wanna get up," came the sleepy response.

Heero almost laughed as he bent down closer and called to Wufei to wake up and get something to eat.

There came a loud sigh and velvet dark eyes opened to stare balefully up at Heero who was smiling wickedly. "I was asleep, Heero. Why did you wake me up?" There was an old familiar tone of the voice that warmed Heero's heart unexpectedly.

"Food's here. I don't know what you like to eat so I ordered whatever sounded good from the little Chinese menu I found stuffed between the other take out menus," Heero told him as he pulled the covers off Wufei and pulled him to a seating position. Without really thinking--and acting on something more like instinct--he lifted Wufei into his arms and carried him to the kitchen. Wufei just snuggled closer and rested against him. Neither of them found something wrong about it. It felt too right to be wrong, really. [1]

They ended up on the floor of the living room in front of the TV, munching away at whatever Heero ordered while watching the last bits of the movie they had been watching previously. Wufei's appetite seemed to recover a bit and Heero was satisfied to see the Chinese man packing away the food at a healthy rate. They drank soda and talked about random things between the commercials as they got acquainted with each other's lives again.

"Are you still reading those books of yours?" Heero asked as he licked his fingers clean of the sweet and spicy sauce.

"Of course. The second bedroom in this apartment is where I keep all my books. You should see it!" Wufei laughed and wiped away at the sauce on his mouth. "It's amazing how many books I've collected over the years. I hadn't noticed until I took the time to put them all in one room instead of having them lie all over the place, tripping me."

"What kind of books do you like to read?"

"Oh, anything. From fiction to nonfiction to even romances." Wufei blushed a little and picked up another piece of chicken.

"Ah, so you *are* a romantic at heart, aren't you?" Heero teased. "I never knew, Wufei!"

"Oh, be quiet." Wufei threw a crumpled napkin at him but Heero merely dodged it and laughed. Wufei smiled and bit into the chicken he had in his hand. <Gods, I haven't felt this good in such a long time.> He had missed the companionship he had shared with the other pilots during the war and hadn't even realized it. But now, having Heero here, made him ache for the friendship that he had when they were together, fighting. He hadn't realized he needed friends until he met the four of them.

"Well, now that I know you're a closet romantic, have you had any real romances of your own?" Heero asked curiously. Wufei was a beautiful person and Heero wasn't exactly sure if he was single.

"No, no romances for me, thank you very much. I'd rather avoid them," Wufei said, shaking his head.

Heero cocked an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Wufei shrugged. "Because I'm not made for that kind of stuff. I've always been afraid of commitment and sharing a life with a person." <And I already did once. Look how that had turned out. She died in the end and me, well, I hadn't been able to deal with the grief and ended up fighting for her "justice" to make it up to her.>

Heero looked at Wufei. "Really? But surely there's nothing wrong *liking* someone..."

"Oh, what do you know, Heero?" Wufei said, rolling his eyes. "Don't tell me you actually went and started dating Relena Peacecraft? You know, I don't approve of her. She's...she's..."

"A total annoying, self-centered, stalker girl?" Heero supplied.

Wufei stared at him and laughed. "Exactly!" His dark eyes sparkled as his laughter faded and he unconsciously picked up another piece of chicken and started munching on it. He hadn't realized how much had eaten the last hour and a half.

"Well, she's *okay*, but she's not my type," Heero said, shrugging carelessly.

"Oh? And what is your type?" Wufei asked, smiling teasingly.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Heero said, looking for all the world like the cocky man he was.

"Tall, blonde and stupid?" Wufei guessed.

"I thought I just told you those are *not* my type."

Wufei snickered. "Okay...um...the small, usual Japanese girl?"

"Nope."

"Hmm...American? Loud, athletic and full of her own opinion of a 'woman's world'?"

"Ugh, no!"

Wufei stared at Heero for a moment. "What kind of girl *do* you like? I've never pegged you for a relationship guy to begin with, you know. What with your obvious obsession with missions--Oops." Wufei laughed at Heero's annoyed expression.

"Hey, just because I cared about missions--"

"Admit it, Heero. You were obsessed."

"We were in a war!"

"It doesn't mean you have to obsess over it," Wufei replied. He felt a sudden ache in his heart without any reason as to why. It just happened. "Life is short, Heero Yuy, you have to learn to stop caring for things that aren't important and for the things that are."

Heero picked at his food and sipped his soda. "And what is that, Chang Wufei? Do you know what's important in life?"

Wufei shook his head, his eyes suddenly painfully sad. "No, I don't."

Heero placed his soda down and scooted closer to Wufei. He pushed away at some of the food in his way and suddenly pulled Wufei into his arms. He could actually *feel* the sorrow coming from the Chinese man and it made his heart hurt. He breathed in the sharp scent of Wufei's shampoo and offered his comfort to the Chinese man.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly as he held Wufei.

"I just have this bad case of depression. I have pills but they only help for so long. Maybe I should go take some more..." Wufei closed his eyes and melted against Heero, needing the comfort he other man was offering him. He sighed shakily and felt somewhat better just having Heero there. He could feel Heero's desire to help him and it warmed his heart.

"Hey, you don't need pills. You just need to eat some more," Heero said as he pulled away and smiled crookedly at Wufei. "Come on. Don't think about bad things."

"It's hard," Wufei said uncomfortably.

Heero nodded and brushed his hand across Wufei's cheek, relieved the other man didn't jerk away. Daring it, he leaned forward and kissed Wufei gently on the lips. "I'm here for you, all right? You're not alone."

"Thank you," Wufei whispered as he managed a weak smile at Heero. "I think I needed that."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for."

"You're different, Heero. You were never like this before..."

"I'm learning." Heero smiled as he saw the life in Wufei's eyes return. <And it isn't so hard learning with you here. What is it about you that makes me warm up to a person without thinking? What is it about you that makes me want to protect you and hold you forever?>

"Learning is good," Wufei agreed. "I'm learning too."

"Would you mind if I stayed over tonight?" Heero asked, brushing Wufei's hair out of his face.

"No. But you're going to need another room and the spare is filled with books..."

Heero smirked. "Don't worry. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Why...why do you want to stay in the first place?" Wufei asked, looking absolutely perplexed.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Because I can see you're not okay and I want to help as much as possible." Heero paused. "I hope I'm not intruding..."

"No!" Wufei shook his head and smiled slightly. "I...I like you here."

"Good. I'll go back home and get a change of clothing and come back." Heero started standing up when he had a sudden desire to kiss Wufei again. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Wufei's lips before he got up and left the apartment.

Wufei sat there with his fingers pressed to his lips, looking dazed. But in his eyes were the beginnings of a path to healing the deep scars on his soul and mind.

~*~

Wufei had tried to sleep that night but it had been hard with Heero only a couple of feet away sleeping on the floor near his bed. He tried not to make too much noise as he shifted and turned, attempting to find a comfortable position to fall asleep in. It was a bit strange to have someone else sleeping in a room he had grown used to sleeping alone in. Even during the war he had always managed to get his own room one way or another and only a few times he did *have* to room with someone. It was strange to share a room again. Especially with Heero, who had kissed him a few times already that night.

<Why is he so nice? We never really talked during the first war, and I fought against him during the second war. He should be pressing a gun to my temple and asking me why I shouldn't be shot right now. But he's not. He's being nice, caring and...and he kissed me.> Pulling his blankets tighter around his body, Wufei thought back to the chaste, brief kisses Heero had given him and it caused his heart to lighten and soar just a bit. Those kisses were nice and he liked them a lot. But he wondered why Heero gave them to him in the first place. <I thought only people who like each other kiss each other.>

<Maybe he likes me...>

Finally giving up on his thoughts--for they were starting to scare him--Wufei turned away and pulled his blankets close. Then he closed his eyes and allowed the medication to take him over and pull him into the velvet depths of sleep.

When Wufei's breath evened out and deepened steadily, Heero sighed in relief. He had wondered how long it would take before the China man finally fell asleep. He sat up, causing his blankets to slide off his body and stared at Wufei's sleeping back. He stood up and leaned over Wufei. He watched Wufei's sleeping expression for a moment before pressing a kiss against his soft cheek. <My sweet China doll...> He then dropped back down on to the futon on the floor and finally gave into sleep as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah, they can't help but love each other...*grin* Comments please!!

[1] Obviously, their former selves are starting to surface, ne?