Day One
 

Heero rolled over again in an effort to get comfortable. However, his efforts were useless, for the couch cushions were stiff and unmerciful. Groaning, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. If he could see through that ceiling, he would see Relena sleeping peacefully (and quite comfortably) in the bed they usually shared in the bedroom just above the living room. Although Noin had tried to get Relena to let Heero sleep in one of the guest rooms, she wouldn't have it. Heero accepted his fate on the couch most grudgingly, and now he was paying for it.

Relena slowly opened her eyes as the first rays of morning light shone into her room. She stretched and yawned in complete contentment, then turned to see that Heero wasn't lying beside her.

She smiled and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. I wonder how Heero's night was. She thought. She looked over at the clock. 6:45 a.m. Nothin' like an early start after a great night of sleep.

She chuckled as she pulled the blankets off of herself and stood up, stretching again as her body and mind became fully awake. She walked over to the closet and pulled open the doors.

"Hmm..." she placed one hand on her hip and the other on her jaw, rubbing her chin with her thumb in thought. "I wonder what I'll wear today..."

An image of Heero's expression the day before when she told him to get acquainted with the couch crossed her mind, and she spotted the perfect outfit. She pulled the appropriate things together (shoes, clothes, hairbrush) and headed for the bathroom adjoining her room to take a shower.

Heero peeked out of one eye at the offending rays of light coming through the large window. The room was illuminated with sunlight, and Heero had just gotten back to sleep a few hours before. He sat up and immediately noticed that his muscles had stiffened from sleeping on such a poor excuse for a couch. Now he understood why aristocrats always sat up perfectly straight. He stretched his arms and legs to try and loosen his muscles. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, but today was different. Today was going to be hell.

He looked over at the clock. 7:15 a.m. Great. He got up off the couch and folded the thin blanket Noin had snuck down to him after Relena had fallen asleep. He walked over the tiny broom closed located near the stairs and figured Relena wouldn't find it there, thus, she wouldn't be able to yell at him.

Then he realized that she probably had other things on her mind.

He turned and started walking back towards to couch to sit and wait for Relena to come down. She never slept past seven and he wasn't going to get anymore sleep on that God-awful couch. Just as he got about three feet away from the stairs though, he heard the voice he was waiting for.

The sweet voice of an angel.

"Heero," he heard her say ever so softly. He turned around, expecting to find her coming down the stairs already, but instead he saw her standing at the very top of the stairs, looking like-

An angel of torture. Heero thought to himself.

Heero was staring a very brightly smiling Relena, who looked at him like nothing was out of the ordinary. But, her smile was the only thing on her that was not out of the ordinary. She was wearing the tiniest, tiniest little pale-colored dress. It was held up by two spaghetti thin straps and it was cut very, very low. Heero could see more cleavage than she had ever shown before, and the midsection of the dress clung to her perfectly, making her look something like a goddess to him. The dress came down to just below her little behind, ending somewhere between her knees and her thighs. She was wearing pale-colored high heels as well that made her legs look impossibly long, and very, very tempting.

Heero gulped. Even though she wasn't wearing any make-up, her face seemed to be glowing. He knew right away that she was well aware of what she was doing to him...and she was enjoying every second of it.

Heero's breath caught as she started coming down the stairs in small, graceful steps, so she could make sure he got a nice eyeful of her smooth legs and then her effectively accentuated hourglass figure. His eyes moved further up and once again caught sight of her cleavage before finally meeting her eyes just as she reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to him. He held his breath as she got closer, knowing she was probably wearing some enticing perfume as well.

Relena reached him and smiled sweetly, slithering her arms around his neck and placing a light kiss on his lips, teasing him. Heero couldn't help but slide his arms around her waist and he shuddered at what the slight contact did to him.

Yes, today was going to be hell.

"Good morning, Heero," she said calmly, as if everything was fine. As if she wasn't driving him crazy. "How did you sleep last night?"

Heero knew she was taunting him. She really was quite relentless when it came to getting what she wanted. But Heero couldn't let her win, not with such important matters on the line. Taking a deep breath he gave her a long, love-filled kiss and leaned his forehead against hers.

"I slept fine. What about you?" He figured that it was pretty much hopeless to just resist her, so he had to try another method.

Fight fire with fire.

"Oh me, I slept ok. I was worried that you might get lonely though..." she had that mischievous gleam in her eyes again and Heero immediately recognized the ploy. Without a second thought, he put his counter-attack into action.

"I was a little bit lonely, but not anymore..." he rubbed his hands along her back and kissed her again, getting the desired reaction from her in moments.

She gasped.

Suddenly, she pulled away, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"No way, Heero!" she said, angry and flustered. "You're not going to beat me at my own game! I know what you're trying to do, and you can just forget it!" She stopped for a moment to study his face. His expression was a mix of frustration and amusement. She figured it would probably be a few more days before she got him to submit to her. She needed him to be blind with lust before he would ever let her win. And even then, it was iffy. But still, this was her only chance, and she refused to live in a house with barred windows.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Heero's deep voice.

"Relena, this is pointless. All I want is for you to be safe; you mean the world to me. You know that, and you know that I would never deprive you of anything you asked of me. But living in house without so much as a motion detector by the back door is out of the question."

Relena saw the determination on his face and realized she was right about waiting a few more days. But still, it never hurt to rub it in, right?

"Heero, this is not pointless. I want to be safe too, but not without being comfortable. I know I mean the world to you, you mean the world to me too, but just this once, Heero, can we not have an armored guard on standby just outside the front door?" Upon seeing his face soften while she spoke and then harden once more when she mentioned an armored guard, she came up with another reason for buying a house that wasn't constantly being watch. She moved back up against him and ran her hands up his chest. "It would be worth it..."

Heero felt his head starting to spin. Damn, the things this woman can do to me. Feeling his resolve starting to weaken he shook his head and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her just far enough away so that she couldn't continue her devilishly tempting caresses. He looked into her eyes to try to convey his feelings to her without the use of words, but it didn't seem to be working. He allowed his face to soften so that she would know he was sincere in saying what he was about to say.

"Relena, you know how much I care about you, and that's why I want to keep you safe. I will keep you safe, Relena," he paused, determined to say this but finding it very hard to do so, "no matter what it costs me."

Although Relena was deeply touched by the fact that he was willing to put up with all this sexual frustration for her sake, her more devious side decided to show its face. "Heero, I appreciate that, I do. But I cannot yield on this; my heart is set on it. And since you're not willing to compromise with me, I'm afraid it is going to cost you."

She gave him a chaste kiss and went upstairs to change. She didn't like dressing that skimpy, she just wanted to make sure that her plan was working on Heero. She got to her room and pulled the dress over her head, throwing it across the room in frustration and heading for the closet to find something less revealing. She frowned the whole time she was changing.

She never expected him to try and seduce her.

Heero shut his eyes tightly and rubbed his temples. What was he going to do? She just wouldn't listen! He finally admitted that he might need some help on this, so went over to the vid-phone and made a few calls.

When Relena came back downstairs, she found Heero sitting on the couch reading a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. Heero usually wasn't one to drink anything with caffeine in it, so she figured that he really hadn't slept well last night.

She felt bad for a moment, but that feeling was quickly washed away when she saw what he was wearing.

Relena never imagined that black slacks could look so good on someone, but the way they clung to the muscles on his legs made them look like impenetrable armor. His shirt was dark blue, and looked shiny from where she was standing. It was probably satin, or maybe even silk, she considered. The shirt's wrist cuffs weren't buttoned, and neither were the top two buttons where the shirt was held together on his chest. He looked rugged, dangerous, and...

Sexy.

Relena walked into the living room and stood beside him, looking over his shoulder to see what in the paper had interested him. It was the page that listed all the houses that were for sale in the area, and he was looking at one in particular: a cute, two house with a six foot tall chain-link fence and a top-of-the-line security system already installed.

She frowned.

Heero was trying his hardest not to look at Relena. He dreaded what she might be wearing, but by the blush on her face when she walked into the room, the clothes Duo had told him to wear were working perfectly. If she can be a tease, then so can he.

When he finally put the paper and coffee down and looked up at her, he was relieved. She was wearing black pants that flared out at the ankles, and the amount of flare was adjusted by a black string that ran through about a dozen holes in a straight line about halfway up her calf. As he looked further up he noticed the same style had been used to hold the pants on as well. Instead of a zipper, there were about eight little holes through which a black string was tied into a single bow. She had a thin white blouse on as well, and Heero wondered how easy it would be to pull that little string and rip open that little blouse...

Shaking his head, he stood up, noticing that she, too, had left the top two buttons undone along with the wrist cuffs. He pulled her close and gave her a nice little whisper of a kiss before speaking.

"From what I remember," he began, hoping she wouldn't try anything for he didn't know how much more he could take that morning, "you said I could have it my way if I went celibate..."

He paused to see if he was getting any reaction out of her. If he was, she was definitely determined not to show it.

"And since I slept on the couch last night, that means we get the house of my choosing."

He watched as Relena's eyes widened; she definitely got the picture now.

"So," he began again, trying to hide his triumphant smirk, "we're going to go look at this house," he paused to pick up the paper and point to the house she had just frowned at. "Right now."

Relena knew it was pointless to argue because she didn't have a good point to counter with, so she moved away from him, heading for the door. She stopped with her hand on the handle, already forming a plan in her head.

She turned and faced Heero, who looked surprised that she hadn't put up a fight.

"You're right Heero, I did say that. Now let's go." She sounded more frustrated than she really was. They were, after all, just looking.

And the game wasn't over yet.

Inside the main sitting area of Quatre's large estate sat six people, all of them silent in their deep thoughts. Their names: Quatra Winner, Quatre's girlfriend Nelana, Trowa Barton, Trowa's girlfriend Livia, Duo Maxwell, and Duo's girlfriend Hilde. They were all in deep contemplation of how to help their friend, Heero Yuy, for he had been damned to suffer the worst kind of torture a man can take: having a hot wife, and not being able to have her.

Duo had received a call from Heero earlier that morning, informing him that the task of resisting Relena was more than he thought it would be. When asked for advice, Duo requested some time to consort with the professionals. He knew, though, that they didn't have much time. A man can only go so long with a wife like her.

Every once in a while, one of them would gasp suddenly, thinking they had an idea, and all eyes would turn to them. But, they would soon go back to their own silent consideration, once the owner of the thought had discarded it without sharing it with the others.

When one of them finally spoke, everyone else jumped at the sudden noise.

"What has he tried so far? Does anyone know?" Hilde asked, her voice startling them like the loud ringing of church bells in the silent room.

"Yeah," Duo spoke up, frustrated that he couldn't figure out a way to help his friend. He couldn't imagine what he would have done if it was him. "He said he tried the three basic types of resistance already: straight-up resisting, tryin' to use her own tactics against her, and then he tried the honesty routine, but nothin' helped him any."

Everyone looked at the floor again. It seemed like there was just nothing they could do.

Then all of a sudden, all six heads shot up at once.

"THAT'S IT!" They all yelled in unison, except for Trowa and Livia, who merely spoke the words rather than yelled. Then they all said in unison again, "What's it?"

They all looked at each other questioningly.

"Did you think that-"

"Maybe if we-"

"If we can just-"

After a moment of dumfounded looks, four of the six faces had mischievous smirks on them.

"We shouldn't-"

"But we have to-"

"We've got to help him-"

"Heero doesn't deserve this! And who knows how much he can take! You never know what Relena has up her sleeve...she is a politician, you know..."

Trowa and Livia looked at each for a moment, then turned back to the group.

"What can we do?" Trowa asked, not totally interested but willing to help since Heero had helped him once with Livia.

The four scheming faces turned to Trowa and Livia with devilish grins.

"You're gonna take point..." Duo started.

Heero and Relena stepped through the front door of the small, plain looking house, quickly followed by the real-estate agent trying to sell it to them. After the tall, very talkative man had given them a thorough tour, he left to give them some time to think whether or not they wanted to buy it, saying he would wait out front while they talked about it.

They were currently standing in the master bedroom, Heero leaning against one wall and Relena leaning against the opposite one. Their eyes were locked and Heero thought he could feel his victory coming to him.

"Just say it Relena." He said, his face not changing any.

"I will not." Relena said back, determined that she hadn't yet lost the fight.

Heero scowled. "You said you'd take the security if I took the couch, and I took the couch. Now all you have to do is sign the paper and this will all be over."

Relena stiffened. Why did she give him that stupid ultimatum anyway? Then she remembered the plan she had when they were leaving the mansion. She gave him a sultry smile.

"Oh, I don't know, Heero," she said in a low, seductive voice, "As soon as I sign the paper, you'll be on the couch forever..." she started walking toward him in a slow pace as she reached up and undid two of the buttons on her blouse, "But if I don't sign the paper, then you don't have to be on the couch anymore..." she left the rest of the buttons alone and reached down to the string on her pants, tugging on it slightly, "You can come up to the bedroom with me..." she reached him and lifted his hand up, placing the string in it, and noticing with the utmost glee that he was trembling. "You can come with me to the nice, big room in the nice, normal house, with no one watching us, and no need to check and make sure the security system is activated..." she pushed on his hand, causing him to pull the string a little more, "no need to ever leave our room..."

Heero fought with all his might to try and stop pulling on that string, but his hand wasn't cooperating. Dammit, she's too good at this. He thought in frustration. He tried summing up what was left of his control but she then leaned forward and gave him the shortest, sweetest kiss...

The shortest, most torturous kiss he'd ever endured.

In that moment, he was tempted to let her have her house. She would be happy, and she deserved to be happy. Not to mention that he would be a lot happier in that house with her since he wouldn't be sleeping in the living room every night. Maybe he could give that house to her. Maybe he could give his precious little wife the house that she wanted.

Or maybe, his mind yelled at him, you could keep her alive!

Heero looked into her eyes, trying to find what was more important. Her happiness? Or her safety?

"Well...?" Relena asked in a voice just above a whisper. Heero froze. "What's your decision, Heero?"

Once again, all Heero could think of was one word.

Shit.

~~ja ne~~