Symbol of Honor
Chapter 4:
By Lady Saffir
Rating:G/PG
DISCLAIMER:me no own...
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Relena stared at the palm of her left hand, unable to ignore the dark thoughts that were swirling about her mind. Three months had passed since the attack, and to Relena, it had been the longest three months of her life. Christmas had passed in a blur; which, she privately said to herself, had been because of the large amount of painkillers that were needed. Even now her hand hurt, a dull ache that seemed to spread through her arm, silently creeping upwards until blossoming into a migraine in her head.

The brisk March wind wafted through the garden, carrying on it the sound of a child's laughter. Relena had begun to spend a large amount of time with Alexis, because the small girl's laughter had pushed the shadows back, allowing life to be bearable. And realizing this, Iria had taken to inviting Relena over several times a week.

"Aunt 'Lena? Aunt Lena!"

Forcing a smile to cross her face, Relena stood, watching as Alexis skipped ahead of her nurse. Ignoring the warnings of the older woman, Alexis continued to skip and jump until she landed at her aunt's feet.

"Aunt Lena! Come on, I wanna feed the duckies!"

A genuine smile found its way onto her lips as Relena allowed herself to be pulled along.



Iria sighed, tiredly rubbing her eyes as the numbers began to blur. Quatra had asked her to look over a proposed take-over, and Iria was finding it difficult to pay attention. Spring had finally arrived, and with it came the urge to simply bask in the sun's warm rays.

'Hmm...not a bad idea...I could still look the papers over...'

About to stand up, Iria tensed when she sensed someone else in the room. Relaxing at the soft chuckle that filled the air, she turned to confront her smiling husband.

"And what's the big idea, sneaking up on me like that?" She questioned, laughing as he swung her through the air.

"I must not have surprised you that much if you could tell I was here," Trowa responded, bending down to steal a kiss.

Breaking apart, Iria smiled as Trowa frowned in disappointment.

"Glutton. You'll get more of that, later. But for now, how about having lunch with your extremely hyper daughter?"

Easily catching up to the older woman, Trowa had to smile. Alexis was nothing like him; instead, she chose to laugh and chatter like a squirrel, demanding attention and love from those around her. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Descending the stairs, Iria paused for a moment when she saw Sally and Wufei waiting at the bottom. Eyeing the couple speculatively, Iria had to wonder what was up. Sally looked normal, her twin braids casually slung over her shoulders, her Preventer's uniform immaculate. Wufei, on the other hand, appeared to have a case of the fidgets. Not that he was doing anything conspicuous like shifting from foot to foot. Still. Something was up.




Relena watched as Alexis threw another piece of bread to a duck, laughing in delight as he eagerly bit into the bread. They had been visiting the ducks now for fifteen minutes, and from experience Relena knew that they would probably be there another twenty.

Her attention shifted from the feeding birds to the child when Alexis gave a small cry of distress. Rubbing at a red mark on her arm, the toddler looked about, trying to spot the source of the pain.

"Sweetie, what's wrong? Did you get stung by a bee?" Relena questioned, bending down to have a better look. The red mark was beginning to puff up a bit, red streaks shooting across the lightly tanned skin. Placing a gentle kiss on the injury, she stood, saying,

"There! That should hold unti..."

Without warning something flew through the air, slamming into Relena's outstretched hand before skittering into the grass. Stooping to inspect the object, Relena bit back a gasp when she saw the rock.

Rocks don't throw themselves through the air.

Her attacker had never been caught.

Pulling Alexis into the relative safety of her arms, Relena began to run as rocks began to rain through the air. Most struck the fleeing woman's turned back, though some managed to find Alexis' head and arms as a target.



Trowa stuck his head into the living room, expecting to be attacked by an over-zealous two-year-old. When no such assault occurred, he blinked. The TV was blaring one of his daughter's favorite cartoons, and coloring books were scattered about various toys. He blinked again. It kind of scared him, that at two years and six months of age his child had already perfected the art of destroying a room.

"Iria, where's Alexis?" He called over his shoulder, grabbing the remote and switching the television off.

"At the pond, with Relena I believe," Iria answered, walking into the room, with Sally and Wufei in tow.

Trowa sighed, then headed out the door. If he knew his daughter, it would take an act of god to pry her away from her ducks.


The four adults took their time heading for the pond, content to enjoy the warm Spring day. Light banter passed between them, although Iria was dying to ask Wufei what was wrong. Grabbing hold of Trowa's hand while the other couple argued over something, she began to swing their twined hands back and forth, allowing herself a bit childish display. Grinning quirkily at her husband, Iria was about to say something when a sound cut into her conscious. It was the sound of someone being afraid, and it sounded like her daughter.

Trowa looked at his wife with mutual understanding before starting to sprint in the direction of the cries.




Relena stumbled as another rock hit her behind the knee, causing her right leg to buckle. With her cast and still healing left hand, carrying Alexis and running was difficult at best, and the child wasn't helping things at all. Desperate to flee whatever was after her, she had continued to struggle and cry, each time growing louder and more shrill when a rock scored a hit.

Huffing for breath, Relena ran two more steps before a large rock caught her at the base of her neck, another one finding home between her shoulder blades. Her balance, precarious to start with, began to waver, and with a small cry Relena felt herself begin to fall, unable to catch herself and maintain a firm grip on her squirming burden. Closing her eyes to the inevitable, Relena waited for the bone-jarring thud that would occur when she struck the earth.

At the last minute a pair of strong arms encircled her, cushioning both herself and Alexis from the fall. Looking up into the concerned eyes of Trowa Barton, Relena could only sob in relief.




Heero fought his enemy viciously, determined to show the other soldier why he had earned the nickname 'Perfect Soldier'. Swinging about to confront the on-coming blow, Heero paused when he heard a footfall behind him. Stopping his sparring partner with an upraised hand, he turned to find Lady Une standing behind him.

Raising a delicate eyebrow, Lady Une merely waited until Heero had dismissed his pupil and grabbed a waiting towel from the bench. Gesturing him out into the hallway, they began to walk, each wondering what the other was thinking. Heero however, was content to wait until his commanding officer deigned to start talking.

Finally, Une could take it no longer. The stubborn man had the patience of saint. Stopping abruptly in the middle of the crowded hallway, Lady Une came straight to the point. She had never been one to mince words, and in the past three years she had found that the Gundam pilots had even less need of flowery speeches than she did.

"Relena's been attacked."

Heero paused from scrubbing his face with the towel, then slowly looked up.

"What did you say?" he growled.

Lady Une took a breath and began to explain.




Relena stumbled into the Preventer's Headquarters, her feet automatically carrying her in the direction of Heero's office. He really wasn't going to be happy about this, she reflected. Not even noticing the looks that she, along with Wufei and Sally, were receiving, Relena instead bent her mind to the task of convincing Heero that she was all right, and that the jerk that had done this would eventually slip up, and then he could have a field day taking out his frustrations on the unknown man. At least, that was how she hoped the conversation would go.

Reaching his office door, she silently opened it, bracing herself for his glare. Usually it didn't affect her, but in her precarious emotional state at the moment, Relena was afraid that she would simply break down, either in tears or in anger.

Heero was looking out of the floor to ceiling windows, observing the hurried pedestrians on the sidewalk. He didn't bother turning at her entrance, choosing to wait until she approached him. And she did.

Moving to stand by his side, Relena gently placed her head on his shoulder, wrapping her left and newly freed right arms about his waist. They stood in silence for a moment before Heero turned, pulling Relena into the protective shelter of his arms.

"What are we going to do, Heero? If he had just attacked me, I would understand. But he purposely hit Alexis! And I cannot allow that," she cried, the last part of her statement lost in the folds of his uniform. She just wanted to stay there forever, knowing that Heero would not allow anything to happen to her, drawing strength from his embrace.

Heero raised an eyebrow at the 'we', but wisely chose to leave that argument for a later date.

"We'll think of something," he said soothingly, absently running his fingers through her loose hair. Pulling her closer, he gently cupped her head in his hands, slowly tilting her head back to look at him.

"For now though, I propose that we concentrate on something a little bit happier, what do you say?" Heero asked, leaning in to place a light kiss on her nose.

"How, Heero? I don't think a stroll through the park, no matter how romantic you make it, is going to help," Relena stated, pulling her head out of his hands so that she could rest her forehead against his chest.

"Not even if it were the famous rose gardens in Tokyo?"

Relena's head whipped up at the last word. Giving him a searching look, she managed to croak out, "What?"

A smirk found its way onto Heero's lips as he looked down into her surprised face.

"I made the hotel reservations early this morning, and it seemed that I had a little bit of ESP, don't you think? Quatra's going to lend us one of his smaller planes, and your advisors and ministers have all ready been notified, as have Lady Une and your brother. The only thing that you have to do is pack and get on that plane with me tomorrow morning,"

"I...but...my work...." Relena's protests died a quick death when she paused to actually think about Heero's plan. Since the attacks she had been driving herself to complete her work, often not going to bed until the wee hours of the morning. Yes, Relena decided, she could definitely use a break.

"So, are you gonna help me pack, or what?"


Heero groaned under the weight of the luggage. He knew that Relena would pack a lot, but never in his wildest dreams (and his dreams got pretty wild sometimes, he thought) would she need this amount of clothes for two weeks. It made him kinda glad that he had managed to squeeze all of his clothes into one suitcase.

"Jeez, Relena! Are you planning on moving to Japan, or just visiting for a very long time?!"

Relena tossed a sly smile over her shoulders as she proceeded him down the stairs.

"You never know, I might decide that I like Japan more than Europe."

He could only gawk at that.




Heero settled back into his seat, sighing in relief. The take-off had went well, the good-byes had been brief but sweet, and Lady Une had promised only to call if something major came up. Life couldn't get any better. For now, he was content to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.

At that moment Relena breezed into the room, clad in only pair of sweatpants and tee shirt. Watching as his lover slowly made her way to his side, Heero couldn't help but marvel at how well his clothes seemed to fit her. He still couldn't get over the fact that Relena didn't own a pair of sweatpants. He thought that was standard lounging gear.

Plopping down into Heero's lap, Relena laughed at his expression. Curling up, she slowly ran her fingers through his hair before curling one hand about his neck. The other hand was content to draw idle patterns on his chest.

"Surprised? I hope you don't mind," she stated, planting a small kiss at the edge of his shirt.

Heero sighed, rubbing Relena's back, taking his turn in raining small kisses on her slight form. He was thankful now that Quatra had also provided a pilot with the airplane. It allowed him to concentrate on more...important matters. Like distracting a certain Vice-Foreign Ministers from dark thoughts.

Heero smiled, turning so that he could kiss Relena fully. He intended for this trip to be a vacation, and he knew the perfect way to start their trip off.
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