Destiny of the Heart


Chapter Five

Lucrezia walked out of the bathroom that was adjoined to the bedroom that she and Millardo were sharing. She stopped when she seen him sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked up at her then returned his gaze to the floor. She crossed the distance to the bed and climbed in, resting her back on the headboard with a pillow behind her she pulled the blanket up to her lap.

"Noin, it's been almost two weeks now and nothing. Not even releasing the information to the press has helped. Not even a tip."

"Zechs, I'm sure that a break will come soon. Who knows, maybe Heero has managed to get them out of the situation and they are on their way home now."

"And then there is the possibility that no one survived."

She reached out and placed a hand on his back. "Don't set your mind to those thoughts."

"It is only going to get harder with Winner and Barton leaving in the morning." He rested his head on his hands.

"Quatre stayed as long as he could. And Trowa's vacation is over." Noin moved some of the maps and charts off of the bed and sat them down on the night stand.

"I know. I'm grateful that Winner stayed another week. And Barton has a life to get back to also.

"Zechs, I asked for Sally and Wufei to be assigned to help out. They will be here by the end of the week."

"The end of the week!" He turned and looked at her.

"I know that it cuts our search area down until then, but that was the best that they could do."

Zechs laid back on the bed next to Noin. "What bothers me the most is the possibility of Relena being alone with Heero."

Noin chuckled. "Oh."

"The girl is madly in love with him, and Heero only sees her as a mission. I'm just worried that they will end up doing something and Relena will be the one that gets hurt."

Noin smiled at him. "I don't believe that Heero would do anything to hurt her Zechs."

"He better not lay a finger on her if he's not serious about it." His anger started to build. The thought of Heero, being a nineteen year old man, finally deciding to act on his hormones with his sister bothered him.

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Heero laid against the newly snow covered ground watching what he was after closely. He had been there most of the day and was starting to feel the effects of the cold. He knew that he would have to leave soon or risk getting hypothermia. He yawned and looked up at the sky. It would be getting dark soon and he was physically tired. He turned his attention back to where he was staring earlier and held his breath when he finally saw what he was hoping for.

The rabbit that he had been watching for the past hour was finally approaching the trap that Heero had made. 'Come on you little...' The rabbit hopped under the trap and Heero pulled the string trapping the rabbit. He quickly jumped up and ran toward the trap covering it with his arms so the rabbit didn't manage to knock it over and escape. Heero waited until the rabbit quieted down in the trap then he quickly reached in grabbing the rabbit by the neck and squeezed snapping its neck. He pulled it out and laid it on the ground. He got up and walked back to the spot where he had been laying earlier and grabbed his bag and went back to the rabbit. He quickly bundled it up and placed it in the bag then packed up his trap and headed back to the small cave that he and Relena found when they reached the mountain two days ago.

Once reaching the cave he place the bag and trap down outside and walked in, taking his jacket off and throwing it down near the entrance. The cave was lit up by the fire that was burning in the middle of it. Heero looked around and didn't see Relena. 'Must still be out collecting firewood.' He stripped off his extra layer of clotting and laid down on the bed that they made out of pine needles for cushioning and a blanket on top. They used the other blanket to cover up at night. Heero smirked as he thought about the look on Relena's face when he recommended that they share the same sleeping space. She looked bewildered and had blushed but agreed. Heero placed his arm over his face to cover his eyes, he needed a small nap before he made dinner.

Relena made her way back to the cave. She came to the entrance and took notice that Heero was back early. She walked in and saw him laying down. She smiled glad that he was back before dark for once. She carried the firewood that she was carrying to the side of the cave where the rest of the wood was located. She threw the sticks on top of the others and turned to look at Heero again. She obviously hadn't disturbed him. She took off her jacket and also started to peel off her extra layer of clothing. Once she was done she folded up her clothes and placed them out of the way so no one would trip on them. She then picked up a few pieces of wood and placed it in the fire.

Heero had lifted his arm slightly to watch her. She walked around the fire and picked up his clothes. She then folded and placed them next to hers. She glanced over at him and smiled when she saw him watching her.

"I didn't wake you did I?" She asked him.

"No. Are you getting hungry?"

She shook her head and walked over and sat down next to him.

"I see that you went hunting again today."

Heero moved his arm to his chest and looked at her. "I'm tired of fish. I can't even taste it anymore."

"But if that was all there was to survive you would continue to eat it wouldn't you?"

"No I could always eat you, but the rabbit I have outside would probably taste better." Heero was teasing her.

Her eyes went wide. "Heero Yuy you killed a rabbit!" She punched him on the arm, the comment he made completely forgotten except for the fact that he killed a rabbit. "The poor little defenseless thing."

"That little defenseless thing is going to save your life, and besides I don't hear you defending the poor defenseless fish." He smiled at her to let her know that he was just kidding.

Relena playfully punched him on the arm again then laid down next to him and groaned. "What I would give to have a cheeseburger and fries about right now."

"Italian food." Heero was staring at the shadows dancing around the cave from the fire.

Relena looked at him. "You like Italian food?"

"I love Italian food."

Relena stared at him letting her mind replay his voice. 'Love...He said love! So that word is in his vocabulary after all.' She smiled at him. "I never knew that you loved Italian food. I guess there is a lot that I don't know about you."

Heero turned and on his side and looked at her. "Well, all this talk about food has made me hungry." He got up and walked over to where she sat his clothes and started to put the extra layer on. "I'm going to go down near the stream and clean that rabbit. I'll be back in a little bit." He pulled his jacket on and left.

Relena sighed. Two weeks with him and she had came to the conclusion that she is even deeper in love with him than before. He has shown her that he can smile and joke. She still has never herd him laugh, but if he is capable of smiling then she knows that he can laugh. She smiled and picked up one of the larger bowls that they had found. She had earlier filled it with water from the stream nearby. She placed it near the fire to warm the water up. Once it had started to steam she picked up a rag and pulled it away from the fire and tested it with he finger. She dipped the rag in the water. 'I wish I had some soap. He managed to find toothpaste rummaging threw the wreck but not a bar of soap.' She ran the hot rag up her arms trying to wash away some dirt that she had gotten on her from earlier.

Heero walked in the cave a short time later. His eyes widened when he seen Relena trying to clean her self. "Sorry." He looked away from her.

Relena smirked. "You have no reason to be sorry. It's not like I was in here with nothing on."

He let his mind drift for a second thinking about what she said then made his way over to the fire and placed the stick that held the rabbit above the flame. He then took off his jack and extra clothes and sat back down near the fire. He tried his best not to look, but let his eyes come to rest on her. She had unbuttoned the top half of her shirt and was running the rag across her chest. Heero hadn't taken notice that she was now watching him and smiling.

"Heero."

He quickly looked away from her so she couldn't see his face. He was embarrassed at the few thoughts of what he would like to do to her cross his mind.

Relena couldn't help but to smirk. She seen the flushed look on his face when he got caught looking at her. She so badly wanted to push to get another reaction out of him but she really didn't want to embarrass him further. She placed the bowl back where she normally kept it and buttoned her shirt back up.

"So how much longer before we eat." she asked.

"When it's done." he voice was once again cold. He was angry at himself for letting his mind wander. He felt uncomfortable with the feelings that he was experiencing. The past few nights he has had a hard time laying next to her at night. He couldn't sleep and was starting to regret even recommending that they share a bed so they didn't have to sleep on the ground. Some nights he desperately wanted to roll over, lay her on her back and kiss her. Then let things run their course from there. Because of those thoughts he purposely stayed away from her throughout the day afraid of the feelings that she stirred up in him. The less that he was around her the easier it was to control himself. But he was slowly wanting to loose that control, and to give in to the feelings that were slowly starting to overtake him.

They both sat in silence until the meat was done. Heero split it between them and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't be." Relena smiled at him.

They finished dinner in silence. After they ate they both then got ready for bed. Relena laid down first, laying on her side her back to Heero. He laid down and pulled the blanket over them.

"Goodnight Heero."

"Goodnight Relena." Heero watched her closely and finally come to a decision on how to deal with his feelings.



Ch 1/ Ch 2/ Ch 3/ Ch 4/ Ch 5/ Ch 6/ Ch 7/ Ch 8/ Ch 9/ Ch 10/ Ch 11/ Ch 12/ Epilogue