24 Aug 2000
Warnings: And again, angst! In wet shoes, no less. Yet more 2+R, in re: 1x2
Disclaimer: I don't own these delightful people (Sunrise and the Sotsu
Agency do, and Bandai gets to pass them around), nor do I intend to infringe upon the rights of their owners. I don't own the song, either, obviously.
<denotes thoughts> (forgot to put that in on the last couple of
sections -- ulp)
/In doorways and rain
I run to you/
It was a bad idea, as it turned out, because the sky chose that moment to open up and pour. Halfway across the quadrangle, Relena had to dart for cover under a tree. Cursing under her breath -- the uniformity of the leaden sky indicated that the rain had settled in for the duration, and Pargan would be picking her up half a mile away at the main gate, as per her strict orders -- she decided to skip her next two classes and find a place to hide from the downpour. It wasn't as if she'd be able to concentrate on the lecture, anyway. Maybe she could even make it to the gatehouse before the rain got worse; there didn't seem to be any lightning, so she wasn't risking death from above if she stayed out here.
Darting from tree to tree wasn't keeping her all that dry, so halfway across the lightly-wooded grounds she gave up and just let herself get drenched. Her shoes started to squelch with each step, but the ground was rough enough that she didn't want to risk taking them off. From time to time, she paused to squeeze some of the water out of her hair -- she had to keep wiping the rain out of her eyes, too, or she wouldn't have been able to see a thing. Not the easiest walk in the woods, but it felt good to stop caring about the important things for a little while. In fact, she decided, why not walk the rest of the way home? If she climbed the next fence, it would be a straight shot across the heavier forests of the parkland.
The going was rougher once she left school property; the trees were closer together, and the dripping undergrowth caught at her legs. Twice she had to stop and convince brambles to let go of her skirt -- the third time, she changed her tack altogether and decided to follow the gravelly edge of a nearby stream instead of fighting with the bushes. If she hadn't been looking around very carefully, trying to identify landmarks for use in case she got lost and had to work her way back, she probably wouldn't have seen him.
He'd changed out of the school uniform, and was wearing the familiar black. <Which means he must be on his way to kill somebody, since he hasn't had time to be on his way back from a mission.> Except that he wasn't on his way anywhere, as far as she could tell, but sitting motionless on a rock, head down on his arms, arms resting heavily on his bent knees, letting the rain run off him in streams.
She made sure to splash audibly for the next few steps -- she knew better than to sneak up on a trained assassin. He looked up sharply, but otherwise he didn't move. There was something -- dead -- about his eyes.
He also didn't say anything, which was a very bad sign.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked, squelching up the slope of the creek bank.
"Sunbathing."
"Hm. Looks like you're about to burn."
He laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Too late for that warning, oujo-san. I'm pretty well scorched already."
She had reached him, now, and stood just below the rock looking up at him. "Won't you talk to me? Or are you determined to sit here till you dissolve?"
"No offense, Relena, but you are absolutely the last person I want to talk to about this."
Dissolving didn't sound like such a bad idea, though. Heero's attempted explanation still rang in his head from that morning: //'I didn't know this was going to be a big deal. I thought you were the kind of person who just -- did that -- all the time. It's not like I held a gun to your head, Maxwell.'//
Funny -- he'd thought getting shot was the worst kind of pain. He'd been wrong.
She watched him uncertainly, knowing only that she had to do something. The rain had slackened a bit, but now a breeze was blowing, making her shiver. She sneezed.
"Go home, Relena."
"That's where I was walking to. But I think I'm a little turned around."
"For the love of -- Come on. I know where you live."
He slid down from the rock, and moved off uphill. She followed, still squelching. He led her between the trees in silence, but did hold back a branch or two to keep them from smacking her in his wake. She concentrated on his back, as if staring alone could will him into speech. The rain had completely stopped by the time they reached the low wooden fence that marked off the villa's grounds, and it was starting to get dark.
"There you go, princess. Home sweet home."
He was obviously about to head back into the dripping quiet of the woods, but she stopped him, forcing him to look at her. His violet eyes looked bruised, miserable. Without even thinking, she wrapped both arms around him and held on. He was warm under the wet clothes, and she listened for a moment to his heart beating against her cheek.
"Please. You don't have to tell me. Please, just be all right."
Almost in spite of himself, his hands came up to rest on her shoulder blades, and he laid his face against her wet hair. "That's going to take a little while." With that, he turned her firmly toward the house and gave her a push. "Go get warmed up before you catch pneumonia," he directed, and watched her for a few paces before turning back to the trees.
She looked over her shoulder after going only a few steps more, watching him go. "Oh, Duo. Don't let him hurt you like this."
End of Part 8.
(:./lilias/beauty8)
