CHAPTER IV- A Civilized Discussion

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get these chapters out to you! Thank you for the TWO people (Yes, TWO people|) who sent me such lovely comments. Please follow their excellent example. Summary: Relena mourns and our "perfect couple" have a huge fight. Oh, and Ariel Yuy is scary. For those of you who wanted interaction between our main characters...well...this is your chapter. Arigatou gozimasu! ~ML

He was dead.

The old man that had been Relena's sole companion for years was dead! They had come suddenly as she was working, stabbing Pegan when he answered the door and then looking meaningfully to Relena. She had held her ground, head high, refusing to resort to violence to defend herself. She would not let the corpse of her dear companion to unnerve her. Words were, after all, far more effective than the most deadly weapon. Didn't her healing of Heero Yuy prove that? She frowned slightly as her attackers approached, black cloth leaving only their eyes revealed. It was very ironic that she always thought of that former Gundam pilot whenever she had death on her mind.

Her death wouldn't be so bad a thing. The sympathy gained from the assassination would force the senators to pass the Governmental Reconstruction Act or else put themselves on the list of suspects to have caused her death. It was, in fact, almost a guarantee of success. She closed her eyes, expecting that she was breathing for the last time. Good-bye, Heero-

Heero pulled the safety catch on the gun.

"Can you really kill your own sister?" Ariel snarled, "Can you even spare the time to make me dead me when your unprotected subject is in a far more compromising situation?" He said nothing. She didn't need him to. His heart was crumbling in his eyes, just as she had expected. "Go to her now, brother, before it's too late."

He ran.

-But Relena did not die. The men pointing their guns at her merely stood there....laughing.

The burliest of them all shoved his bloody knife into his pocket, signaling to the others to put away their weapons, "Don't worry, love, we're not after you this time." He looked down at the corpse of the old man on the carpet, "Next time that will be you." He stepped forward and slapped her across the face, "And that's for living." He grinned again, "I will relish the day I am told to stop your breath!"

She did not collapse until they left, did not let any sound escape her cold lips until she was certain they were completely gone, "Oh, Pegan...."

Heero rounded the last corner to the drive where the Vice Foreign Minister lived, desperate feet pounding the pavement, furious heart beating in his chest. If they had harmed her, he would.... he would even kill again.

Just a few more steps, just a few more moments of agonized anticipation. The front door was wide, exposing Relena's home to the cold outside. He did not think, only ran in. In the darkness he tripped over a body and fell onto the carpet. Was it....was it....hers? He scrambled up and felt unimaginable relief. It was Pegan, her butler. There was still hope....he turned at the sound of her voice, a relieved sigh escaping him involuntarily.

"Heero?"

"When do we get to kill her, Miss Yuy?"

"When I say you can." Ariel Yuy was brushing through her hair carefully, the warm yellow lights in her room softening her features into that of beauty.

"Why are we waiting?"

"Right now it would not be profitable to kill her. Besides, we now have a threat to pull against my half-brother." She giggled lightly, the sound wafting through the room like perfume. She arched her head back, eyes half closed, "It's such a hilarious coincidence, don't you think? I've been tearing through the files of every colony and here he is, protecting my latest target, using the same name of his grandfather, no less."

"What do you want with him, anyway, ma'am?"

"I want control, that's all." She sighed, "There's no way to get at Relena with out destroying him. Today's meeting has proven that. Despite what I told him, all I want is her. But him not knowing our true motives is exactly how we can capture him"

Her acid yellow eyes suddenly seemed very, very dangerous.

The heavyset man in black shuddered.

Relena shuddered in the gloom of the room, and Heero felt his stomach flip. She took a deep breath and rubbed the tears on her cheeks. For someone who had witnessed murder, she seemed very composed. But then, he supposed she had seen worse, "I always thought you were still following me, Heero, but I guess a little part of me still didn't believe it. Do you know who did this?"

There was no tremor in her voice, no sign of the fragile pain that was shaking her body, "I have a lead." His voice was rough, but, as always, she felt no fear. He saw that there was a ruddy mark on her cheek. Had she been hit? Why was he concerned about it?

"Why did you keep on protecting me?"

"Because-" He choked on his words. Words were never really his department.

"Because I'm spoiled? Because I'm petty? Because I obviously can't take care of myself?" the distraught diplomat finished hastily. Anger flashed in her eyes, but her face was terribly pale. It seemed as if all of the bones beneath her skin had become more pronounced, "Yes, that must be it. I'm the 'pampered princess' after all. I haven't forgot our promise, you know. If you kill me now, I wouldn't care. Sheltered or not, I knew pain. A different sort than yours maybe, but I endured it all the same." She looked down at Pegan's corpse and felt her body betray her and allow tears to course down her cheeks once more, "But Pegan was always there to help me. I know he was manipulating me, like everyone else, to replace my father....my fathers, but I didn't really care. Pegan is....Pegan was....the only one who was there for me."

"Relena-"

"What are you waiting for? Me to beg you for mercy?" She her fury had forced out all reason. The shrewd politician was a husk of her former self, and she felt like a trapped animal being hounded at all sides, "What do you want?!"

"I want to-" He paused. Protect you, his mind said, but the words got jumbled on their way out of his mouth, "-wait until peace has been attained before I kill you as promised." He drew a deep breath, "If you are killed after harmony is established between every nation, people will grip harder for that peace so no sacrifices such as yours will be necessary anymore. Now, it would be pointless."

She had a sort of smile on her face, as if she was trying to hold back sobs. He wanted to hold her, comfort her, to do anything to stop that furious desperation not to cry from marking her face. He would kill them. He would kill Ariel!

"Heero!" She ran forward, tripping over the carpet and grabbing his arms, "I know that look! What are you planning?" She tried to shake him, "You're not going anywhere until we talk this out!"

"Talking is your job, Relena, killing is mine." He said coldly, using the one bullet that could never miss its mark.

His words wounded her more than he could imagine. He released her gently and walked to the door, but she ran out in front of him, "Oh no you don't. I won't let you walk out like you did on Libra to fight Treize and my brother. I trust you, I believe in you, but I also know that I have a part in this battle as well!"

Heero glared at her. She did not flinch, but he hoped it would have had at least some affect on her, "It will not be advantageous to your career to be seen with me right now."

She slapped him. Hard. It didn't hurt him of course, but it got his attention since she rarely used violence, "Since when have I cared about my career?! Since when have you cared about my career? We're talking about someone killing a dear friend and threatening me, not starting another stupid, pointless war!"

He shoved her against the wall next to the door, Pegan's body mere inches from their feet, "What did they say to you?"

She made no move to struggle, but her eyes were cold with anger at the disgrace, "They said I was next."

"Where were your guards? I know your whole detail, and they are not incompetent." He was furious. She had never seen Heero truly furious before. His rage was not outward, there were no flushed cheeks or a raised voice, just a sort of deadness that chilled her to her very bones.

"The intruders left and then you came several minutes later, I haven't checked yet. Will you release me now? You're hurting me."

He let go and avoided her eyes. Instead, he looked the room up and down, imprinting every detail to his memory. He had to leave her soon. He didn't like how exposed he felt when speaking to her. He didn't want to do anything besides slaughter whoever her assailants were. "I want detailed descriptions."

She gave him the best portrayals she could manage, swallowing several times against a heavy ache in her heart that was more painful than tears. He gazed across the room again, ferocity bright on his face. His eyes were the color of a stormy sea, hers the sparkling waters of a safe harbor. But the pain in both of them was too deep to make such metaphorical comparisons, and they felt like they were living on the edge, unable to think or move beyond the present.

"I don't know what to do." She finished, voice broken. "Somebody really wanted to scare me. I beg you, Heero, do you know who did it?"

He grimaced, attention returning to her pale face and disheveled hair, to that pleading expression, "A demon of my past. Call the police and the Maxwells. You need some soothing. You aren't in the condition to reason right now."

"And neither are you!" She screamed as he walked out into the night, out of her life once more. With an anger that would have shocked many, she punched in the numbers of the vidphone for the police, knowing it was pointless to chase him. Instead she muttered to herself furiously, "I may be a pacifist, Heero, but right now, I really want to kill you!"

"Relena, what have you done to yourself?" A young woman yelled through the device before her, blue-black hair as wild as her eyes, "How...."

Relena's face was stiff. She had made this call expecting to be able to confide in her close friend, but it was not working. "Hilde....I'm sorry for troubling you. There was a break in, but its all been taken care of now. I thought I should tell you, in case you or Duo pick up any rumors at L2." She gave her friend a strong smile, further fracturing the closeness between them and replacing it with a cold mask, "Thanks for your worry. Say hi to Duo for me."

"Relena, wait-"

The young woman briskly severed the connection. She thought of Pegan and flinched, but was surprised that she felt no pain. The policeman that barged into her house found her like that, head slightly lowered over the vidphone, and it was the most lonely image he had ever seen. He didn't want to tell that broken lady that her entire squad had been found slaughtered in the guardhouse just past her house, for then her face would be even more marked with the sadness that haunted her features.

Several blocks beyond, a section of an abandoned fence was found beaten to pieces. No suspects were reported.