Potential

By: Moonkitty Liafle

Rating: PG-13 (for graphic images and death-related issues)

Pairing: HyxRp

A/N: A little break from Masquerade. Something I randomly thought up and wrote in one day. I didn't really think I'd finish it, but here it is. If you want a sequel, tell me. Other than that, bon apetit!

They had worked out a friendship of sorts, both understanding that progress in their relationship would have probably ended up in them hurting each other, for they were both too scarred by war and death and abandonment to understand much about how to love or live.

One, was a man with blood stained hands, a person with no past. The other was a woman who was admired and brave enough to face the world. Both were manipulated and used throughout their entire lives. They were both too afraid that they would try and exploit each other to try and be together.

Heero Yuy didn't look up from his computer until she threw the file on his desk.

"Good morning, Relena." He said with out a hitch, "Where to today?"

"Central America. I'm going to have a discussion with colony L452 and Nicaragua today. Apparently they can't work out a trade agreement without trying to cheat each other."

"When are we leaving?"

"One hour. Is that to soon?" At his nod, she winced, "I couldn't help it. This suddenly came up. Nicaragua made a joking threat and now L452 is up in arms and prepared for battle. It does not look good."

"I'll manage." She never once flinched away from his cold voice, never felt any fear in the way he carefully kept his face and posture devoid of expression, how his eyes were cold and fiercely blue.

She smiled, "You always do."

She moved and walked out smoothly, with an unconscious, powerful grace that spoke words she did not need to say: I will do anything to succeed in what I think is right. She looked so innocent and reliable, that it was understandable why so many people could follow her. Her languid self-assurance was merely a cover, for he knew that somewhere buried deep inside of that strong young woman, there was a great deal of pain.

"Caffeine is not good for you, Heero," Relena said over the whine of the plane. Heero had strapped himself in a seat near the window, coffee cup in one hand as he typed with the other. Grinning at his lack of reply, Relena shoved her bag in the overhead compartment and settled herself in the seat opposite him.

The private jet was very fast, and of the topmost quality, one of Heero's many demands for her safety. She had laughed and waved her hand in compliance. He muttered something about lack of concern.

Relena rested her cheek in her palm, idly watching the plane mechanics scramble around on the landing like black ants.

"What are you thinking, Relena?" Heero didn't really ask personal questions, but for some reason, he liked to ask this one whenever she spaced out.

"Just about our situation. You know," she was grinning as she spoke, and not making eye contact, "when you said you would protect me, I was certain it would be from the shadows, not as a bodyguard."

He took a sip of his frappaccino, "That would have been illogical. Taking care of threats and keeping myself hidden from you would be a waste of effort."

"Ah yes, that makes sense," she did not seem affected by his words, "Why didn't you just break your promise though?"

He looked up from his laptop, a touch of froth on his upper lip from the coffee. His eyes were death serious, "I never break my promises, Relena."

"How much longer, Heero?"

Theyt had been on the plane for quite a while, and Relena was exhausted from the effort of keeping awake. She hadn't had much sleep the night before, having had lots of paperwork to do, and her tiredness was apparent.

"Get some sleep, we still have an hour."

She shook her head. "Oh no, I want to be alert when I step off that plane, not sleepy eyed."

He looked at her over the top of his computer, "Get some sleep."

"What are you typing?"

"I'm arranging security measures for when you arrive in Nicaragua."

"Oh." She snuggled her head on the side of the seat and closed her eyes, "I suppose shutting my eyes for a little while will be alright..."

She was instantly asleep.

Heero continued to type, but after a while his hands seemed to stop themselves, and he found himself closing the computer to look at the woman he was protecting. Her hand curled around the slope of her cheek, and her hair tumbled about her in seemingly arrange disarray. Her pale face had a sort of peach fuzz that softened her features. She was an untouchable goddess.

Untouchable, he mused, no matter how much he longed to.

He could not see the future.

No one really could, at least not that thoroughly.

He couldn't, for instance, perceive the engine going critical. He couldn't foretell the explosion on the left wing, sending the plane careening, ugly black smoke polluting the clear, peaceful sky.

She was awake just as quickly as she had fallen asleep, "Heero?"

He looked out of the window nervously, "Relena, fasten your seatbelt. We're going to crash." How could he sound so calm?

Her eyes were wide, that vivid, passionate glint he loved so much was gone. But there was something in them he had never seen before, a sort of acceptance, "I thought as much."

"Well then what the hell are you doing talking to me?! Get yourself ready!" He was fit to explode. Heero was never out of control. Ever. Except when he was around her. Damn it! Damn it all!

"It's okay, Relena. I know we're both going to survive."

She chewed her lip silently, her stomach plunging as they fell towards the Earth, "I hope so, Heero. I hope so."

Status? Alive.

Condition? Negotiable.

Location? A forest. Correction: a rainforest. Correction: a rainforest in the middle of nowhere.

Status of Relena?

Status of Relena?

Status of Relena?

He scanned the wreckage, pulling himself out of his seat. Where was she? Then he saw it. A pale, outstretched hand under the blackened debris, fingers reaching to the sky.

Status of Relena?

He moved towards her, moving the sheets of metal with care.

Unknown.

He exposed her body to the daylight, eyes wandering over her with desperate fear. Her other hand was on her stomach. The impact of the seatbelt had torn into her, and she was gripping her belly as if she was holding in her guts with her hand. Her hair was sticky with blood, her clothing torn and ragged. Her eyes were shut, and she was mercifully unconscious.

"Relena..." Was that his voice?

He moved towards her carefully. He had to move her, for the remains of the plane were all still on fire. He had survived, miraculously. If she lived...if she lived...well, that was still to be decided.

She coughed, and blood dribbled out the corner of her mouth and down her chin. So she wasn't unconscious. When he bent down beside her, she opened her eyes slightly, slits of brilliant blue, "I look like shit, don't I?"

He sighed, "You've had better days."

"How long do you think I've got?"

He met her eyes seriously. She deserved the truth, "Not long."

She smiled grimly, "Not like this...I didn't want it to be like this." She spat up more blood. Blood. It was everywhere, "Oh well, I guess beggars can't be choosers."

"There's a chance. The preventers always track our plane. They'll know where we fell..."

She knew what he was thinking. She always did, "But there's no way they could make it in time, right?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay, I can deal with that."

She was trying to act brave for him. She always did.

He drew a deep breath, "Let's get you out of here, Relena."

"Sure, I wasn't exactly attached to this plane anyway."

He picked her up with careful arms, and couldn't help but flinch when she screamed in pain.

It had been the best spot for them, a quiet place by a stream, just out of range of an explosion, should the plane do so. He had tried to clean up Relena the best he could, but there was really nothing salvageable from the plane to do so, only bits of wreckage and the scorched skeleton of the pilot. The part of the plane they had been on had broken apart earlier, and they had been flung apart from the plane before things got really ugly.

It was a fluke, really. But then, everything in their lives had been accidents like that. She was looking up at him trustfully, and he only wanted to cry.

"Relena..."

"Shush, Heero." She waved away a fly that had been attracted to the smell of blood, "I have something to say."

Her words bubbled in her throat, and her breath stank of blood and her own organs. Her pallid skin was stretched tight across her face, her resplendent eyes the only sign that she was still alive.

He was annoyed. She was always talking too much.

"I just wanted...to make a guarantee with you, Heero." She said tiredly, "I know...we share a special connection...You were spared, Heero, don't you see?" she paused for a moment, her breath rasping in her throat, "I've done my job in this life, love...but your job...your role...it's only just begun." Tears were making her eyes shine even more, and she was letting them slide proudly down her ashen cheeks, "You can't die...with me. You have to promise...to live."

"You're delusional. You called me..." He pooled some of the water in his hands and eased it into her mouth.

She smiled slightly as understanding dawned upon him, "Yes, Heero. 'Love.'"

It took him a moment to get over her words. He had guessed at times, but never... "If you love me, Relena, you know I can never make that promise to you."

She raised a blood stained hand and pressed it to his cheek, "But you must. I love you. I don't want you to...end that precious potential for life...for nothing."

"Nothing?" he repeated huskily, "You call yourself 'nothing?'"

He stood up suddenly, waving away the encroaching flies, escaping the stench, "I'll build a fire, send out a signal."

"And burn down the rainforest?"

"If needed."

"Stupid."

"'Stupid?!'"

"Just stop delaying and promise."

"You need to rest, Relena."

"I will when you promise."

He looked down at her furiously, her head slightly crooked on the bad of leaves and crawly things, with an ever widening pool of blood spreading like a carpet of red beneath her. Her eyes. Her eyes were filled with so much intensity, so much love, that he could not refuse.

"I promise."

And Heero Yuy never broke his promises.

They came about an hour later, but she was so delirious, she didn't notice. Heero refused to leave her, enduring the painful helicopter ride to the field hospital with the endurance he was so well known for.

It was days before the doctor came up to him and smiled, saying there was a chance that she would pull through.

He looked over her carefully, watching her breathe in and out carefully, rejoicing in the fact that Earth's angel wouldn't have to return to heaven yet.

The future is undecided, but there's always potential. Good or bad, it's always there.

She made him realize that.

A/N: Boo! I scared yah there, didn't I?