see chapter 1 for disclaimers and warnings ***************************** Peacecraft Fallen Chapter Four: A Truce? **************************** Once again, the perfect soldier could not find sleep; his aching ribs buzzed the muted song of pain, and his thoughts once more centered on the fight. More than the fight itself, his thoughts were fixed on Relena Peacecraft. Or, more specifically, the new, improved,* competent* Relena Peacecraft. He tossed uneasily on his bed of sorrows, her appearance seared into his retinas to dance behind his closed lids. Duo growled at him irritably from the next bed over, woken for the umpteenth time by the 'perfect soldier's' contemplations. Heero snarled back, too sleep-deprived and obsessed to even approach rationality. He sighed, began to beat his head on the rock-hard pillow he shouldn't have noticed. "Hee-chan, would you stop thinking about that *girl* and LET ME SLEEP!?!?!" "Hn." Mission accepted, he rolled over and fell into a dreamless slumber. The next day he was forced to contend with Duo screaming 'Heero loves Relena' in a singsong voice every time he passed the Japanese pilot. As Heero was trying to repair his Gundam, he found it very destracting. After he burned himself with the spot-welder a third time, he launched himself at Duo's braid, a murderous glint in his cobalt blue eyes. Duo eeped, and ran for his braid's life, Heero hot on his tail waving scissors in a threatening manner. "Ne, Heero, you know you shouldn'y run with scissors, right?" Duo pant/screamed, throwing himself around a corner. His only answer was a thunk . . . sort of like the sound of metal sinking into flesh. Duo slowed, a feeling of dread beginning to creep over him. "Ne, Heero? Buddy? You okay?" He asked, easing toward the corner he'd just flown around. There was no answer. Starting to get really worried, he turned the dreaded corner --- and fell straight into Heero's arms! "Eep!!!!" Duo eeped, as he clutched his braid and began to babble mindlessly. "Heero, I'm sorry, I didn't mean a word of it I'll shut up please don'tcutoffmybraid!!!!!! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!" "Duo!" Heero growled, shaking his quarry roughly. "Eep?" "Shut up." "Gomen nasai." "And about this Relena thing . . ." "I won't ever mention it again, I swear, leavemyhairalone!!!!" "Get this straight, Duo. I don't love Relena." Duo just nodded fearfully, hand caressing his braid protectively. "So you didn't miss me?" Both pilots whirled towards the sound of the voice, Heero's gun pointing unerringly at the shadowed figure before his mind had registered her presence. "What are you doing here?" Duo asked nonchalantly, though his brow beaded with nervous sweat. "I came to see how he was feeling." She tossed her head in Heero's direction, and sauntered out of the shadows. She was dressed more formally, sort of, in a black leather suit jacket and matching pants. Her red hair clung tightly to her scalp, showing the shape of her skull and fringing her narrow, fox-pretty face. Heero glared at her through the sights of his gun, willing to believe her but unable to go against his training. She laughed lightly, as though reading his thoughts; she gestured to the skin-tight clothing, as though to show her lack of weapons. However, himself a master of concealment-in-spandex, Heero wasn't fooled by her act. Besides, those claws in her hands needed no concealment other than what nature had provided. Her icy blue eyes twinkled wickedly, and she tossed an extra torque to her hips as she walked across the bay floor. Heero swallowed, his nights of unrest coming back to haunt him. She couldn't be back for a fight, not so soon, he reasoned. His ribs were still tender and sore, and he couldn't let himself believe that she could've recovered so easily from their fight. Reluctantly, he lowered the gun; Duo stepped back, using him as a shield even though they'd been fighting minutes before. "What, no comment from the perfect soldier?" She taunted, flicking her gaze slightly to glare at Duo; Shinigami raised his head and glared back, violet light glancing off Heero's tank top. She nodded acknoledgement, and backed off. Heero just grunted. "Hn." "Oh, Heero, you never change." "Can't say the same about you." Duo countered, uncharacteristically serious and threatening. Heero wondered what had come over his partner, briefly. She stopped about three feet away, just far enough to give his arms room to hold the gun out straight, but close enough to knock it away had she wanted; she grinned. Heero stared at her, fascinated by her changed appearance now that he could really examine her up close; he slowly lowered his gun, willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. It was the same he'd have done for another Gundam pilot; she noticed, and winked at him. Duo eeped, Shinigami fled, and stepped back behind Heero, unnerved by the motion . . . and the glinting sharp canines visible through her smile. "It might be nice to . . . discuss . . . the similarities between our suits." She offered, tongue lingering suggestively over the word 'discuss'. Heero grunted agreement, putting away his gun. Duo stepped back, twisting his braid nervously. "I'll just be over here." He said brightly, and fled to Deathscythe before they could stop him. Not that either made any move to do so; Heero was lost in ice-blue eyes, and Relena was caught in his softened glare. "Where do you want to talk?" Heero asked, his slightly nasal monotone sounding vaguely interested; she quirked one blood-red eyebrow at him. "You mean, 'Your place or mine'?" She said tauntingly. "Hn." She threw back her head and laughed at his answer; not a homicidal laugh like his own, but a pure sound left over from the dead Relena, the Relena he'd destroyed. But the eyes that met his were anything but pure, and he found himself following her willingly when she turned to lead the way to her base of operations. Duo looked after them from a shadow, worry clouding his normally cheerful features. "I don't like this. Not at all." tbc ***************** okay, I don't have any idea where this is going. Reviews would help. :) And I'm sorry if the non-specific personal pronouns are confusing anyone else besides me.