Chapter V --"Men blindly follow you, as they follow me. I need that kind of power on my side."

Pain. A fiery lace work of scorching heat danced across Heero's eyelids. He let out a low wounded groan as shifted on the bed and opened his aching eyes. He found himself surrounded by the bleary faces of his teammates. He sighed.

Status: Alive...barely.

He slowly brought himself to a sitting position on his bed and tried to recall what happened. Someone had attacked him. Who? Did he kill them? Where was Relena?

And then, the icy hand of foreboding gripped his heart. What if he had killed her?

"Where..." he coughed desperately, "Where is Relena?"

Shinigami's face broke into a cheerful grin, "Worried about your girlfriend? No sweat, pal. She's in the other room with Sandrock. I think they're cleaning up."

Heero lifted a hand to push himself up and found it covered in blood. The electricity he had gathered in his hands had left a web of cuts on his palms.

Shinigami butted in again, "We'll find you some band-aids, Heero. You just slap some on and we can leave for patrol."

Before the band-aids could be found, Relena had entered the room with a first aid kit she had recovered from Heero's bathroom. Quatre followed close behind, smiling nervously at Heero, who was angrily staring at his new roommate.

"He should get some medicine on those cuts beforehand," Relena suggested.

Heero's eyes widened at this. He shook his head and pushed Nataku out of the way to stand up, "I'll need neither," was all he said. He walked to the bathroom alone and washed the blood away. All that remained were faint scars that covered even older scars from the times he had gone berserk before. When he returned, Relena demanded to look at his hands, and officially agreed that no treatment was necessary.

"If that's all then, princess," Duo said cheerfully, "we'd better be on our way."

And with that, masks were slid into place, gloves were pulled on, and the five masked fighters for justice slid out of Heero's bedroom window and into the dusk.

It would be early morning by the time Heero returned to his apartment to sleep before school. He slid in quietly through his living room window and stopped when he noticed a figure curled up on the couch. He frowned as he stared at Relena Darlian, with her hair in a mess, her face softened with sleep, and her body twisted up in a blanket she must have stolen from his closet.

He could have killed her if he hadn't been stopped in time. He still could kill her if he didn't learn how to better control himself. He sighed and stumbled into his room for a nap.

"It's so gosh darn romantic! They look like a couple walking to school together like that," Duo swooned melodramatically from the window of his homeroom class that overlooked the main entrance to the school and Heero and Relena strolling through it.

"You are so mature, Duo," Wufei said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I say Heero is just biding his time to kill her."

Trowa arched an eyebrow, "And if he doesn't voluntarily kill her, he'll get her when he goes berserk."

Duo turned to the grim pair, his dark blue eyes wide and incredulous, "You two are the most pessimistic people I know."

Quatre walked over the pair and sat on a desk, "And that coming from the self-proclaimed God of Death is pretty serious, guys."

Duo pressed his face against the window. "Relena spotted us!" Duo waved enthusiastically at her, accidentally whacking Wufei on the back of his head in the process. Below them, Relena was waving back just as cheerfully, much to Heero's agitation, who became torn between glaring at her or Duo.

Duo cupped his hands against the cool windowpane and shouted out to them, "Come on up, you two!"

Trowa shook his head, "I don't like this, guys. She doesn't need to know our identities."

"Nevertheless," Quatre added carefully, "she does. Besides, I like her. My intuition tells me we should keep her around for awhile. For some reason, I can't help but think she knows us for a reason."

"Why Newport City, Treize?" The man known as Zechs Marquis was asking his friend.

Years of petty theft and drug dealing had evolved into a empire of illegal doings known as the Romafellar Organization--and Treize Kushrenada was its sole ruler.

He cut a dignified figure standing as he was beside the window in his downtown office. As he stood there silently, dozens of his employees were working to set up the office building for Treize's puppet company called OZ Manufacturing.

Zechs stepped forward and forced his friend to turn around, "I asked you a question, Treize! Why here? The Gundam Five protects Newport City with an iron fist."

"Not for long," Treize murmured softly.

"What?" Zechs hissed.

"I said they won't for long, my friend. Don't you trust me?"

"Last time you asked me to trust you, Relena ended up--"

"An accident, I assure you," Treize cut in briskly, "Where is your charming sister, by the way?" he said, swiftly diverting the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go in.

"Staying with friends," Zechs ground out, "When you move out of my place, I'll tell her she can come back."

"I didn't think Relena had any friends here, seeing as you only just moved."

"Apparently she does."

"Who?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you who her friends are," Treize repeated, catching Zechs' eyes with his own.

"Why do you want to know? Are you trying to blackmail me through her?"

"Just concerned for the sister of my friend. Romafellar has no interest in Relena Darlian."

"Fine. What is it you called me over to do?"

The head of the Romafellar Organization strode away from the window and settled himself in front of his desk. He expected Zechs to follow, but he did not.

"We've begun recruiting some locals for our more...physical work, and I need you to lay down the law for them."

"Why me?"

Treize stood up again, "Look at yourself, Zechs. You have a powerful and commanding presence. Men blindly follow you, as they follow me. I need that kind of power on my side."

Zechs narrowed his ice blue eyes but nodded, "If I do this, am I done?"

"Come along my friend, done? While the Gundam Five still prowl the streets?" he grinned, "I think not. Une will give you the details on your assignment. You may go."

The two weeks of living with Heero passed slowly for Relena. Living with a withdrawn and reserved person takes getting used to, and Relena was no exception. First of all, she had to get used to living on her own most of the time, because Heero was rarely there. Then she had to learn to live with Heero while he was there, which was by far even more difficult.

Yet, somehow, she began to adapt to it, even enjoy it. She liked the way Heero would try to ignore people, but would act considerate if caught off-guard. She liked the way he would hold a needle with his large hands as he attempted to mend his costume. She even grew to enjoy the silences that stretched between them while doing homework in the afternoon before he went on what he called 'patrols.'

Heero had grown to like a lot about Relena as well, and they lived together with comfort and ease, although Heero often found himself making up excuses to leave the room whenever he caught her bending over in front of the fridge in tight shorts. Relena was a victim of this as well, and had long ago decided that waking Heero up in the morning to go to school was well worth the effort for the view she got of the defined muscles on his chest and arms when he tossed and turned in bed.

It was nighttime when a scream woke Relena from her sleep. She was jolted out of her comfortable position on Heero's sofa and ended up on the floor in a jumble of arms and legs.

"Help!" the strangled voice screamed, "Not again! Please!"

Relena was shocked to find that the screams were coming from Heero's room. Confused and concerned, Relena went to the room and, through the gloom, saw Heero struggling in his sleep.

And what surprised Relena even more was that the emotional screams were coming from Heero, who normally spoke in a cold and emotionless monotone.

She did not even hesitate to run to him and grab his wrists desperately, "Heero, wake up! You're dreaming!"

He struggled for a few more moments before he managed to open his eyes, "Relena?"

Was she dreaming or did his voice sound surprised? She seated herself on the edge of his bed and released her grip on his wrists. Carefully, ever so carefully, she brought a hand to his forehead and brushed his bangs away from his face.

Then, quite suddenly, he gasped and rolled away, "Relena, get out of here right now."

"Heero, I'm your friend and I'm worried--"

"It's not that," he said in a voice harsh with pain and fear, "I'm..."

He turned his face back to her and she could see his eyes flickering from blank to normal and then blank again, "I'm shifting again."

The air around them crackled with electricity as he struggled against it. Relena bit her lip and struggled with her fear.

"What are you doing?" he growled, "GO!"

Relena shook her head and leaned forward again, "Heero, I trust you to control it. You've got to. I believe in you."

And with that, she gently placed a kiss to his temple and watched his eyes return to normal. He stared back at her as she lowered herself onto the bed beside him and smiled weakly, "See? You can do it. You can control it."

"Relena, you are the most stupid person I know," he spat angrily, all vulnerability gone from his voice and face, "I could have killed you."

"Friends don't let friends go berserk," she said dutifully, "Just relax and go back to sleep. It's okay now."

She stretched out beside Heero, not quite touching him, and fell asleep on her own.

Heero stayed up for a long time afterwards, watching her and wondering at what had just occurred.