Chapter Two

Heero woke up to an intense throbbing in his head. Carefully, repressing the urge to groan, he sat up and looked around. For a moment, he wondered why the world seemed to be upside down. A moment later, and it all came back to him.

"Shimatta!" At that heated curse, the seat which he seemed to be strapped to tilted violently. Heero fell silent instantly, taking in his surroundings. He was still inside the same black van, though how it managed to be upside down was beyond his fuzzy, pain wracked mind. At least for the moment. Looking over to the passanger seat, his heart jumped into his throat.

Releena Peacecraft lay slumped against the side of the door, eyes closed, mouth slightly open, head lolled to one side. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her face, which was an alarming shade of white. Heero felt his insides twist painfully as he looked at her still, prone form. She was motionless; her slender, gloved hands limp at her sides.

"Releena..." Hesitantly, he reached out for her, and felt the van give another violent lurch. Peering out the window, he was stunned to see the floor of the gorge still a few hundred feet down. The van had not tumbled all the way down the gully after all; it's decent had been abruptly halted by the trunk of a sturdy tree, nearly halfway down the gully wall.

'Still, that's a long ways down in itself,' Heero mused, craning his neck to look up at the edge of the gorge. 'If we had rolled all the way down, I doubt even I could've survived.' He tried unbuckling the seat belt and winced at the sudden pain in his ribs. 'Broken, no doubt.' Fumbling with the straps, he finally released them and let them fall away. His mouth curved in an ironic smirk as he realised the seat belt was probably the only thing that had kept him alive.

Moving as lightly as he could, Heero disentangled himself from the van's interior and quickly moved around to the passenger seat. Releena still hadn't moved, and Heero's normally steady hands trembled a bit as he opened her door and felt for a pulse.

'Please, don't be dead.' His heart was hammering wildly, and he didn't understand why. Death was something he encountered on a regular basis; something he delivered on a regular basis. He didn't know why his stomach was turning so hard it hurt, or why his hands were shaking as he pressed strong fingers to the girl's neck, suddenly terrified of what he might, or might not, find.

'Please, let there be a pulse, a heartbeat, anything. Don't let her be dead, God. Not another innocent by my hands. Not again. Please.' He started suddenly. Had he just been praying?

"Dammit, Releena..." his voice trailed off as he felt a thin beat of life under his fingers. Another one, a little stronger, followed the first, and Heero let his breath out slowly, raking a hand through his hair. It came out warm and sticky, but the boy didn't notice as he carefully undid the girl's seat belt and eased her limp body out of the van.

For a moment, he cradled her to him, burying his face in her hair, feeling the faint thump of her heart against his chest. He told himself he was relieved simply because this girl was the only person standing in the way of another war; that she was important to the future peace, and nothing more. But that was a lie, and he knew it. Holding her in his arms like this, feeling her soft breath against his neck, he felt something stir inside him. Something was gently probing the edges of his stone heart, making his stomach clench with worry and his chest tighten, until he was forced to sink to his knees, cradling the limp body in his lap. He brushed strands of chestnut hair out of her eyes and gently wiped away the blood and grime that smeared the innocent face. His thumb lightly brushed across her lips, and the girl sighed, sinking deeper into his lap but not waking up.

Heero swallowed hard, his blue eyes bright with anguish. "Don't die on me, Releena," he whispered.

An earsplitting groan was his only answer, as the van abruptly lurched to one side and finished it's downward decent, rolling all the way down the hill in a din of grinding metal and breaking glass.

Heero gathered Releena in his arms and stood up. 'Well, I guess we walk it.'

"What do you mean they can't find her?!"

"Colonel Zeches, please--"

Miliardo Peacecraft glared daggers at the cringing, pompos little man in front of him and resisted the urge to fling him out the open window. "You mean to tell me that no one has seen a trace of her since the assassination attempt? When was the last time anyone saw Foreign Minister Peacecraft?"

"R-right after the terrorist attack, sir!" the unfortuanate man stuttered. "She was seen in a black van driven by a dark haired youth, heading out of the city. There appeared to be two vehicles chasing them."

Miliardo swore, but kept a tight rein on his temper and rising concern. "Who are these Red Fang bastards, anyway?" he asked in a very calm, controlled voice.

If anything, the messenger turned even paler, seeing the quiet rage in the colonel's ice blue eyes. "I-I'm just a messenger, sir," he squeaked. "You'll have to ask someone better suited than me."

"Very well. Get me Lucresia Noin. And I want a search party combing every inch of this city until they find Releena Peacecraft. While you're at it," he added as an afterthought, "Get Sally Po and Chang Wufei on the line. They'd be at the Preventer's headquarters. Hurry up!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

As Miliardo watched him scurry for the door, another thought entered his head, one he really didn't pay much attention to until now.

"One more thing," he said quietly, but it was enough to make the other man turn in wary trepidition. "The person she was seen with; the one driving the van--what did he look like?"

"I think the eyewitness said he was young, about Miss Peacecraft's age. Short brown hair, blue eyes maybe? I'm not really sure, sir. She only got a split second glance."

But, for Miliardo, that was enough. He knew exactly who his sister had been with.

"Heero Yuy. If you hurt my sister in any way, I swear I will kill you."

******************

"Releena..."

She knew that voice anywhere. That same flat, emotionless voice that made shivers run up and down her spine. The same voice that she heard in her dreams; always stating the same phrase: Omae o korosue. The same voice that was calling her out of a deep, mind numbing blackness, calling her back to the living. She groaned as she fought against unconsciousness, dragging her eyes open through a sheer effort of will; anything to hear his voice again; to see his face.

"Hee...ro?"

Her vision swam as she opened her eyes, but was rewarded with the sight of 'him' bending over her. For a moment, the world went fuzzy and she was in danger of falling back into that pit again. But his gorgeous blue eyes held her, drawing her back, and Releena's heart lurched as she stared at them. Was that...worry? lighting those colbalt flames? He was 'worried' about her? The thought brought her completely awake, and she stared at him...in disappointment. Her fuzzy mind must've imagioned the Perfect Soldier feeling anything, especially for her. The beautiful blue eyes were as cold and depthless as they had always been, his face set in a grim line as he regarded her without emotion.

"Lie still," he ordered. But about that same time, the pain hit, and Heero's demand was wasted as Releena gasped outloud, arching her back against the ground as some demon tried clawing it's way out of her stomach, snapping several ribs in the process. Releena couldn't hold back a choked, strangled cry as a nauseating wave of pain wracked her whole body, bringing tears to her eyes.

"Oh, God, Heero!" she managed to sob around the agony. Her teeth were clenched tightly to hold back a scream, and her hands clawed the forest floor she was lying on. "Just kill me now, please! I would welcome it this time, I swear..."

"Releena!" Suddenly, Heero's arms were around her, pulling her off the ground and into his lap. Stunned, Releena almost forgot about the pain as the boy held her close and hugged her face to his chest. She could feel him trembling.

"I know it hurts," he whispered into her hair, and there was an almost desperate tinge to his words. "I'm sorry, Releena; I can't do anything for you. We have to get you to a doctor, but there's no time...no time. It's too late..."

Wincing, Releena pulled back, whimpering at the pain, and looked him in the face. "How...how badly am I injured," she panted, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. But she took comfort at the real concern in Heero's eyes; panic even. He was afraid. For her? But...Heero wasn't afraid of anything. Suddenly, she herself was very scared as Heero closed his eyes, holding her even tighter against him. She was afraid, now...because she knew....

"I'm...dying...aren't I?"

"I'm sorry, Releena." Heero's voice was husky, tinged with regret and pain. "I...I failed. I couldn't protect you."

"How....how long do I....have?"

"You're bleeding internally. You have several broken ribs, and I'm sure they've punctured a few organs." Strangely, reciting her injuries in such a professional manner seemed to calm the young pilot, though his eyes never lost their pain. "I don't think you'll make it through the night, Releena."

"So..." Despite the pain, Releen felt oddly at peace. Having Heero this close, holding her like he would never let go, seemed to dampen the agony a little bit. She looked into his gorgeous blue eyes and tried to smile. "This...is our last night together."

Heero ducked his head. When he lifted it again, his eyes were strangely moist. "Releena, I'm sorry..."

"No," she whispered, reaching up and trailing two fingers down his cheek. "No apologies, Heero. No regrets." She paused as Heero trapped her hand in his own, holding it to his lips. "The only thing I wish I could change is...telling you how I felt...much sooner than this."

"You shouldn't try to speak," Heero murmured. "Rest, Releena. Save your strength."

It was said a little too quickly, as if Heero didn't want to hear what he knew she was trying to say. That hurt a little, but Releena had always known he didn't feel anything for her emotionally. But, she was dying now. She had to get this one last thing off her chest before she could rest in peace. She had to let him know.

"Heero, please, I...have to say this." She paused a moment, gritting her teeth as a stab of pain took her breath away. Heero held her tightly as she cried against his chest and dug her fingers into his arm until the pain had receeded. When she could face him again, tears were streaming down her face, and Heero gently wiped them away. Briefly, she was reminded of that day at school, when he had ripped her invitation in half and then flicked the tear from her eye, muttering that familiar verse: Omae o korosu. It was then, at that first, tentative touch, that she had fallen head over heels in love with the dark, mysterious pilot. He had tried to carry out his threat several times after that, but somehow, through the changing of the times, his threat to kill her had turned into a promise of protection.

It was disturbingly ironic, she mused, that I am going to die here in his arms, after he has tried so hard to protect me.

"Releena, stay with me. Don't close your eyes just yet."

With a start, Releena realized she had let her eyes drift shut, and struggled to open them. A feeling of deep peace was stealing over her, making it hard to stay awake, and she gazed into Heero's eyes to keep her focus, finding him impossibley beautiful all over again.

"I.........I love you, Heero Yuy." There she had said it, the words spoken from the heart and hanging in the air between them. Releena sighed inwardly as she felt a huge weight lifted from her tired soul. She had finally told him. Granted, it had taken a fatal accident for her to gather the courage, but he would know now; he would know that somebody in this ravaged, hate torn world had loved him with all their heart. And, hopefully, it would be enough to heal his wounded soul and let him love as well.

"I love you," she whispered again as her eyes flickered shut, not seeing the myriad of emotion that flashed in Heero's eyes: surprise, anguish, guilt, pain and regret. Heero let out some kind of strangled sound and hid his face in her hair again. She thought she could feel moisture running down her cheek, but was too sleepy to care. The pain was fading rapidly, and all she wanted to do at the moment was fall asleep in Heero's arms. She was content now; she was at rest.

'Aishiteru, Heero. Remember me..........'