Sally sat down easily at Relena's bedside, smoothing the lank, sweaty locks of hair away from her face with a careful, gentle hand but Relena hardly stirred but for a brief twitch of her brow and a low whimpered moan.

"Relena," Sally murmured coaxingly, and when the younger woman didn't respond, she whispered, "Aya kikyo. It will be all right, Relena." Quickly, with a healer's efficiency, she stripped the pus-stained bandages from the arm, washing it gently to loosen the stubborn stick of the bandages to the skin. The wound seeped, an ugly yellow color that mingled with the red blood and it was plain to see that some piece of infected material had gotten into the wound or perhaps it had not been thoroughly cleaned. Sally bit her lip thoughtfully; the cut would have to be reopened to pry out the foreign object and she knew from experience that it would hurt like Istall's hell.

The door burst open to reveal a heavily disheveled Duo who was balancing a small black-iron cauldron full of well-water precariously in his arms and without looking up from her patient, Sally ordered sharply, "Put it over the brazier to boil. Duo, what herbs have Lady Dorothy administered to Relena?"

"Um...krisanth and bloodsbain. She might have used ca'liran to try to stop the fever too, but I'm not sure." Duo hovered briefly, "Do you want me to ask her?"

"No. The woman is sick with ril overdose; don't disturb her." Sally set her small, healer's blade across the candle and the metal edge burned a light sheen of gold and carefully, she uncorked a small bottle and dribbled a capful of the liquid between Relena's parched lips, massaging her throat slightly with two fingers until Relena swallowed. "Keep the rest of the Preventors from the room. For the record, I've given Relena a dose of kan'yak, Duo. It will stimulate certain centers in her brain so she will wake soon after the operation, but she is not to be given any other kind of drug, not even an ordinary pain-killer afterwards! Do you understand? She is not strong enough to deal with anything else."

"Hai." Duo confirmed. He smoothed his fingers restlessly through the coiled plates of his braid before asking, "Is she going to make it through this?"

Sally's lips tightened grimly but her fingers never stopped in their work as she replied, "I don't know. Just trust me and get out of here."

She heard Duo snap to attention with a succinct, "Ma'am!" and the soft footfalls indicated his retreat out of what was now her domain so she shifted her entire attention to her patient. She sponged of Relena's face and neck with a soft cloth, waiting for the kan'yak to fully take into effect before finally, she lifted the small dagger from the flame, cooling the now-disinfected blade in clean water.

With a mental apology to Relena, Sally took a steadying breath and prepared to cut...just as a strong fist caught her wrist. Her eyes flew up in startlement at the tousle-haired, Dominion warrior that had escorted her party back to the city and a shiver of dread ran up her spine as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her, his fingers tightening warningly.

"What are you doing?"

"I am, as you can see plainly, opening the wound, Lord Yuy, in order to ascertain the cause of this infection." Sally's voice trembled slightly but her gaze was steady and her own amber eyes slitted angrily although she made no motion to remove her arm from his grip. "If this...whatever it is...is allowed to stay, the wound will fester and the flesh will begin to rot and we will have to remove her entire arm." When he still said nothing, she snapped, "Lord Yuy, do you want to do this?"

There was a brief flicker of revulsion in his ice-cold patrician's features and he shook his head slowly, dropping his hand to his side. Nonetheless, his voice was low and ominous as he stated bluntly, "If she dies, your life is at forfeit."

Sally's brow rose as well and her voice was just as clipped as she said coolly, "I am her liege woman, her House's medic," she clarified when all she received was a blank look. "My family has served hers for more generations than yours has been alive, Lord Yuy, so you need not fear. Now leave! I must work or she will die."

His features did not change in the least as he countered, "I'll stay." The blade buckled at his belt gleamed like molten lava as it reflected the fireplace's glow and Sally's eyes hardened until they were chips of granite as she took in the implication of his words.

"By all means," She said, her lips moving stiffly over the words, "But stay out of my way. If I should be distracted and cut too deep..." Heero nodded in understanding and sat down in one of the scattered chairs, his eyes intent and brooding but he was true to his word and said nothing else. Sally stared at him for a little longer as if measuring his worth, then added albeit grudgingly, "Hold her hand." before she began cutting through the neat sutures of the threads.

Heero made no response to her sharp order, but out of the corner of her eye, Sally saw his fingers wrap gingerly around Relena's unhurt hand, smoothing across her palm awkwardly, but gently.

Ah...so that is how the trade winds blow. Sally stifled a wayward smile before dismissing him entirely from her mind as her knifepoint encountered flesh. She could feel the instinctive contractions of the small muscles of Relena's arm and bit her lip in concentration as she forced the blade to remain absolutely steady, slicing away the putrefied, swollen tissue. Beads of sweat stood out of her forehead as she felt Relena's tiny tremors shaking against her steadying hand, almost as if she was too exhausted to fully recognize the unmistakable pain. Her fingers twitched convulsively and then relaxed in intervals as Sally probed deeper into the wound, and once, she moaned quietly before falling silent again.

Minutes ticked by restlessly as Sally alternately cut and then blotted the extra blood and pus from the wound with a brandy-drenched cloth, and then-

"What the hell is this!?" Sally jerked her head up to glare at Heero as if it were all his fault before the lines on her face gentled slightly in response to his questioning gaze. He was cradling Relena's hand protectively in both of his and there was a flicker of tension in his impassive face that spoke of more emotion than this warrior was obviously willing to let show. Quietly, she explained, "A part of the armor was pushed into her flesh by the sword thrust. It was missed in the initial cleaning and has imbedded into her muscles."

Carefully she pried away the offending chain mail link, tossing it angrily onto the bloodied cloth before resuming her cleaning of the wound. Finally, clear red blood flowed and Sally sighed gratefully, sitting back on her heels with an exhausted, but satisfied smile on her lined face and delicately, she wrapped a loose bandage across the wound. For a moment, she stared quietly at Relena then nodded her head once, bringing her weary eyes back up to glance at Heero.

"Barring any future developments, she should be fine. I don't want to stitch the laceration closed right now; her blood needs to circulate and clean the wound on its own. Tomorrow, I'll bind the arm with fever moss to draw the infection, but all she needs now is sleep. Sleep and rest, which are two very different things." She rubbed a hand across her forehead wearily, unconsciously leaving a bloody smear across her skin.

Rising to her feet, she went to the steaming water and quickly washed her hands of the gore, rubbing vigorously at her face before she tossed the mangled scrap into the cauldron. She took all her tools, bloodied cloth, and apron and put them in as well, adding over her shoulder, "Don't let anyone touch this. They need to be boiled then washed with alcohol before they can be used again or else they will not be clean. And if they are not clean, they are of no use to me."

She hesitated, then walked to the doorway before she turned and looked into Heero's eyes, her features firm. "I go to check on Lady Dorothy. Stay here. I will get Duo and Odin to guard the door so that none may enter. But you," Sally jabbed at the air between them with one long, well-callused finger, "you make sure no one disturbs m'Lady. Or else." She smiled deliberately and twirled one of her tiny herb-cutting knives with surprising skill before ducking out the door, calling quietly for her chosen Preventors to play guard duty.

Heero dropped his unemotional façade as soon as he established the fact that the medic had indeed left and intently, he listened for any suspicious sound, but nothing stirred except for the soft breathing of the woman whose hand he still held. Her color was still pale, as if the color had been purposefully bleached from her skin and hair as an unwanted pigment. Her hand was lax in his and the fingertips were cold and clammy to touch, even against the continued warmth of his skin and she shivered, instinctively moving further under the heavy woolen coverlet.

Careful not to disturb her injured arm, which was propped on the stool that Sally had just vacated, he tucked the edges of her quilt in, gently pulling the top up towards her chin, his fingers straying to smooth a silken tendril of hair from her cheekbone. She murmured gently, turning her face so that her cheek was cupped in the palm of his hand and a small, almost imperceptible smile touched his eyes mingling with silent...relief?

He frowned, a small furrow developing between his eyes. Why did he feel...anything...for this woman? He was a warrior, one of Trieze's elite guards and a Dominion to boot. And she was...she was...

His lips tightened as he withdrew his hand, watching her broodingly beneath his tumbledown bangs as, unaware of his scrutiny, she sighed softly in her sleep, the tightness easing from around her eyes. He no longer knew what she was. He had assumed that she was like any other woman, a chattering, interfering "onna", as Wufei had once described all females. He had expected her to be spoiled, haughty, completely absorbed in having men fawn over her, without a wit of original thought in her blonde head. After all, it was...or had been...a known fact that all women were good for was breeding and decoration and perhaps sometimes useful for their 'feminine touch' in the household. They were unsuited to battle, unsuited for any academic profession...except now, these Sanq warriors, these female warriors, were forcing them to completely reevaluate these known dogmas; they were the antithesis to everything that the Dominioners had thought they would be.

Women with strength and honor...is this what they were? It was an old Dominion saying that women could not be trusted with horse, blade, or honor; the first they would kill, the second break, and the third ruin. But this woman, Relena Peacecraft-she obviously cared for the first two, dare he trust her with the third?

He sighed, closing his eyes. That question would not be answered today and it was unwise of him to think of her as more than a fellow fighter to a common weal. With the Mid-Land threat so close at hand, he had to focus only on the upcoming battle, for there would be one, and hope that the Dominion would survive this newest attack. This fair-haired Sanq Preventor should have no position in his mind except as a potential ally and if not that, a threat to the Dominion security. It was that simple.

Yet, albeit reluctantly, he found himself cautiously hoping that maybe...perhaps...she could be more than that.

A small noise jolted him out of his contemplation and he glanced quickly at Relena. Her eyes were still shut, but she wore a pinched look around the skin of her mouth and her fingers were clenched so hard that the nails drew blood from her palm. Her body trembled with unhidden tension and she let out a low, inarticulate moan, helpless and anguished as she reached toward some haunting phantom in her dreams.

"No...don't..."

"Relena?" Heero queried softly, half raising to his feet. But there was no response...or at least, there was no response to him. Instead, she curled even further into herself, tucking her legs to her stomach in a semi-fetal position and she sobbed once before a mask of anger stole over her features.

"How dare you??" Her voice was shrill, furious and clogged with pain, and she began moving restlessly, "My mother...!"

Quickly, Heero went to his knees by her bed and grasped her shoulders gently, shaking her out of sleep. "Lady...You are dreaming."

"No no no no no! Why the fire, why is there so much...!!!" Relena cried out, almost flinging herself up, her eyes wild and half-crazed with fear as she looked around, her golden hair whipping around her shoulders. Her injudicious actions jarred the injured arm from it's resting position and she stifled a gasp, as white hot pain shot through her in a spear of ice. Weakly, she bent over until her head was resting on her knees and she closed her eyes, waiting until the lance of agony subsided into a dull ache. It was then that she felt someone pushing the heavy locks of her hair away from her face, sure hands smoothing circles across the center of her spine and she allowed herself to be soothed, leaning into his touch.

After a moment, she raised her head and tried to speak, but her voice was rusty from weeks of disuse and it came out more as a cracked cough than any word. She made a face and swallowed hard once before she whispered hoarsely, "Lord Yuy?"

"Lady Relena," was the brief acknowledgement. Then, as if he anticipated her next question, he answered monotonously, "You have been sleeping in fever-dreams for two weeks now. Your medic, Sally-"

"Sally? Here?" An inscrutable look flickered over Relena's eyes and she sighed heavily, putting a shaky hand to her forehead. "She would be, wouldn't she? Two weeks? It has seemed much...longer...than that." She fell silent then, shadows stealing across her open azure eyes, taking away the sun with remembered nightmares and Heero urged her back into her pillows, pulling the sheet back up to cover her again.

"You must rest."

"But..." Relena bit her lip and shook her head, rejecting the rest of her statement.

Heero raised an eyebrow and studied her haunted face pointedly before he asked softly, firmly, "But?"

An expression of self-disgust crossed Relena's face and she pressed her lips together before admitting, "I'm afraid." The words seemed to be pulled out of her unwillingly, almost challengingly as if she defied him to scorn her for that remark. But beneath the bravado, her voice quivered slightly and her one good hand clutched at the coverlets until whitish yellow showed against her knuckles, straining skin against ridged bone.

Heero looked quietly at her before reaching out a hand, gently dislodging the mangled sheets from her numb fingers, before answering impassively, "I will stay here."

Relena looked at him, her eyes begging reassurance even as her lids began to droop again, her moment of lucidity already draining her. Comfortingly, he brushed his fingers across her face, smoothing the lines of pain away with the feather-light brush of his fingertips. "Rest, Relena. I will protect you."

She smiled sleepily at him in response and sighed, her eyelids fluttering shut again. Once she was well and truly asleep, Heero got to his feet and sat back in his chair, gaze fixed on the pallor of her face. He stayed well into nightfall, the promise whispering quietly past barely parted lips.

I will protect you.

***

From the doorway, Midii Une watched as the Dominion warrior they called Heero Yuy settled back against the chair, arms folded across his chest and she allowed the tense muscles of her own arms and shoulders to relax slightly. From her observations, he meant Relena no harm. Sally had told her beyond a doubt that he was trustworthy, but she had needed to see for herself the caliber of his integrity; she had never based anything on an off-hand chance. Relying on luck and the goodness of others got people in her profession dead, the first lesson that any spymaster had to learn.

Silently, she slid the door shut again, so softly that not even he noticed her quiet arrival or subsequent departure and she pivoted on a heel, walking down the narrow corridors of the Imperial Mansion as soundlessly as any feline. However for all her misgivings, Sally's instincts had been right about this man; there was an aura of gentle protectiveness and honor within him that made her instinctively trust him. And her instincts were usually good.

Except for that one time...the expression on her face hardened, becoming as revealing as chiseled marble before she ruthlessly pushed the thought away. That was the past. She would never make that same mistake again.

Restlessly, Midii walked aimlessly through the labyrinthine halls, absently taking note of the different turns that she had made so that she would not get lost. This, like breathing, was second nature to her and she did it with the same grace and careless ease as she did everything else. She knew that anybody else that passed her in the dark might well mistaken her for another flickering shadow in the candlelight or perhaps a brief touch of wind against his shoulder, and inwardly, she smiled slightly. It had taken her years to learn to move like this, liquid as water across a pebbled brook.

It was a skill that she took pride in...and one that had saved her life on more than one occasion.

She reached the door to the conservatory and curiously glanced through the portal, watching the cool, leafy greenery swaying to the gentle music of the summer breezes. A flicker of light softened her turbid gray eyes, bringing about hints of darker cerulean. It would be good to breathe cool air again without watching the shadows at her back. Quietly she slipped into the open gardens, enjoying the sun that threw dappled light against her face and arms, loosening the gloom of the dusty corridors. She let her gaze wander absently as she traversed the length of grass, almost losing herself in the quiet serenity of it all.

Almost.

The slight crunch of boot heels on grass told her that she was not alone and automatically, she whirled around in the direction of the approaching person-

-and felt her muscles tense as her eyes riveted on the all-to familiar figure that stood in front of her.

A single jade-green eye widened in surprise at her, extinguishing any belief she might have had that he had planned this. His face paled as if he had seen a ghost and instinctively, he reached out a hand as if to make sure she was real...or maybe make sure she wasn't. He was still as handsome as ever with his long mahogany hair and lean, spare body; time had been good to him, one supposed. Midii glared at him, gray eyes frosting over with glacial ice and she crouched slightly, hand curving around the hilt of her belt-knife. For a second, she spent a wasted moment to wish that she had not been so cavalier and left the sword in her room...it seemed she would need it today.

He seemed barely to notice her offensive position as he murmured disbelievingly, "Shibai Hitori?"

Midii's eyes narrowed as she recognized her former name and she jerked her head curtly, making ash-blonde curls of hair dance against her nape. A grim smile stretched her thin lips, complementing the deadly anger that burned within her wintry gray gaze. "Trowa Barton."

Tbc.

Hitorishibai means literally "one man show" in Japanese, a name that my beta, Kristine, helped me pick out for Midii...(you'll understand in the next chapter) We modified that into two words Hotori, Shibai, which would be how the Japanese would write her name, with the last one first and the first one last. *sheepish grin* it fits her; she's really a loner type of person more than anything else.

Shout outs go to:

Goldberry, angelic1090, Silver Wing, haemi, Meio-chan (gomen nasai!>.< I typoed last time!!), mama-sama, Kristine, Kenhime, Athame, Ley, and caveman, Crystal! You guys are the best...*grins sheepishly* gomen for the wait. I...um...*looks innocently at the sky* had a lot of homework so...yeah! ^_~ Hee hee, isn't Heero a jerky little chauvinist? Ah well, in your words Kristine, at least he's a sweet jerky chauvinist...Lol...hope u liked the chappy!

To my readers: if you would like to be notified when a new chapter is released, please leave your email address or email me at furiesofhell@yahoo.com. ^_~ k, cya!