Chapter Two

Given what he knew about Electra Cameron, Heero Yuy had to admit that her safe house came as something of a … well, shock.

He had been expecting, given her status and such, something along the lines of a small fortress. With fences and dogs and guards-wasn’t that the sort of protection the rich bought? None of it really did any good. If someone really wanted to kill you then they probably weren’t going to be deterred by any amount of dogs or fences. And as for guards… Well, it all depended on whom you trusted your life with. A lot of rich people tended to confuse quantity with quality; one good marksman was worth twenty average ones. A bunch of guards were nice if you wanted to show off but in the long run they probably weren’t going to help a whole lot.

Electra Cameron’s safehouse had none of the aforementioned things. It wasn’t even a house really. It was a small apartment complex in a neighborhood that had quite clearly seen better days. The brownstones that lined the street were plain and in need of several coats of paint. Still, the neighborhood seemed reasonably safe enough. Kids were running up and down the street tossing a ball back and forth between themselves while a couple of women were hanging their wash to dry on clothes lines that ran from the windows of one apartment to another.

"Not what you were expecting?" Cynthia breathed in his ear. He frowned, edging away from the woman’s sudden closeness.

Cynthia had spent much of the trip over here either ignoring him or treating him with barely concealed disdain. When she spoke to him at all it was usually curt or to make some snide dig. Her attitude had made the car ride over nearly interminable and Heero hoped against hope that he wasn’t going to be saddled with her for the rest of the mission. If Electra Cameron was anything like her… Heero rolled his eyes, once again assured that the universe had decided to make him the butt of some colossal joke.

"Hn," he grunted noncommittally in response. Damned if he’d give her the satisfaction of knowing he had been surprised. He scowled at her. "It isn’t my job to expect anything. If Cameron enjoys slumming then who am I to judge?"

Cynthia crossed her arms, giving him a matching scowl. "Let’s get one thing straight, bucko. I don’t like you. It’s nothing personal. I just hate everything you stand for. And if Electra’s life weren’t in danger…"

"You wouldn’t be caught dead in my company?"

"Precisely. Part of the problem these days is that there are too many people like you and J. "

"You don’t even know me," Heero replied, staring out the car window at the children playing. His heart clenched at the sight.

"I don’t have to know you. You soldiers-you’re all the same. You all think fighting is the way to solve every problem. You’re a relic of a more barbaric time. The future is going to be one built on peace and non-violent resolution to conflict. Humanity is outgrowing people like you and when it does, I wonder where you’ll be, Heero Yuy," she said nastily, raking a hand through her light blond hair and looking down at him over the tops of her sunglasses.

"We have to get to this brave new world of yours first," Heero said dryly.

Her shoulders stiffened and she opened her mouth to retort but he cut her off by turning the door handle and stepping out of the car. A breeze lifted his hair, teasing his face with it. Ah, it felt good to be up and about again. He stretched, feeling his muscles tense then flush with relief as they loosened. It was good to be out in the fresh, unstifled air again.

"Heeeeeeeey! Catch me if you can!"

Heero glanced out of the corner of his eye towards the direction of that laughing shout. A small boy of about six or so was rushing down the sidewalk towards them, his chubby face not paying any attention to what was in front of him. Instead, his focus was on a figure just behind him. On a girl, about Heero’s age, with her red-hair slapping back and forth as she chased after the giggling little boy. She was laughing, too, although her face was flushed pink, almost as if she wasn’t used to this kind of exertion on a regular basis.

It was a charming scene, one that might have made Heero smile once. Once but no longer. Instead, he coolly watched as they drew closer.

Behind him, Cynthia was stepping out of the car. He felt, rather than saw, her freeze up. Then she bit off a nasty oath, pushing past him and onto the sidewalk. What’s all this about? He wondered.

The little boy saw her first, visibly slowing up. Heero didn’t blame him. Cynthia was perched in the middle of the sidewalk like some great stone gargoyle. She even has the evil look down pat, Heero noted. Slowly, her arms rose up and she crossed them, putting more ice behind that stare of hers than Heero had seen anyone do in a while. A half-guilty, half-fearful look crossed the boy’s face and his run all but died. The girl caught up to him easily, still laughing, her attention focused on the tiny boy now clutching her legs. A look of concern flitted across her face and she knelt down, brushing a few locks of hair off his babyish features, asking, "Manni? What’s wrong?"

The little boy sniffled, glancing behind him, then hiding his face against the girl’s shoulder. Puzzled, the girl lifted her gaze and blanched. Heero knew he wasn’t imagining the apprehension slipping across her features. Unconsciously, she raked a hand over her mussed hair. "Um, Cynthia… Hi?" she waved tentatively.

Cynthia nodded, her dark eyes flashing. "Hi? Is that all?"

The girl attempted a bright smile. "Nice day?"

"No."

The girl’s shoulders slumped and she nodded. Then she turned back to the little boy. "I think you’d better run home, Manni. I think I’m about to be scolded here," she gave the boy a kiss on his teary cheek, "We’ll finish playing later, okay?"

"No," Cynthia replied decisively.

"Okay!" Manni positively glowed, glomping onto the girl in a brief hug. Then he trotted back down the street, shooting Cynthia a nasty glare before disappearing.

Have I missed something here? Heero thought. A few suspicions began forming in his head at this point.

As soon as the child was out of sight, Cynthia marched over to the girl slowly raising herself off the sidewalk. She looked like she wanted to give the girl a good shaking instead she stopped short, hissing, "Have you completely lost your mind?"

The girl cocked her head in thought. "No, I don’t think so. Then again we were playing hide and seek so one never knows."

He fully expected Cynthia to haul off and slap her and was surprised when the aide restrained herself. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was-"

"We were just playing a game," the girl said quietly. "Relax, okay?"

"Relax?" Cynthia’s voice rose impressively. "You could have been killed! Or kidnapped or…"

"But I wasn’t," the girl replied, "I just got tired of being cooped up inside. Nothing happened except the end of a fun afternoon."

"But-"

"Cynthia." The girl didn’t raise her voice. Then again, she didn’t have to. There was enough steel in the way she said the aide’s name to silence the woman. "I’m all right. I was careful."

Heero wasn’t too sure about that, remembering the way she hadn’t noticed Cynthia until she was right on top of the woman but he sure as hell wasn’t going to throw his two cents in. Not help Cynthia at any rate.

Apparently satisfied that the matter was settled, the girl dusted some of the dirt off of her knees. Then she went still, turning and lifting her head towards Heero. She straightened, wiping her hands against her denim shorts as she strolled towards him. She gave him a real, welcoming smile (quite unlike the one she had given Cynthia earlier) and stuck out her hand. "Hi, I’m-"

"Electra Cameron," he finished for her. "So I gathered."

Her expression was faintly puzzled but her cheerful expression didn’t falter. "Oh, you mean because of Cynthia? Yeah, sorry about that. She’s too bossy for her own good sometimes. Still, she means well."

"Hnn."

"So, you’re from Doctor J?" Electra asked. He stared at her, studying her up and down before jerking his head in a short nod. "You don’t talk much, do you?"

"No," Cynthia replied for him, "Fortunately for you, he doesn’t. "

"Cynthia!" Electra reproved but the aide ignored her. There was a smirk on Cynthia's face that Heero didn’t like in the slightest.

"Electra, I’d like you to meet Heero Yuy."

The girl’s animated face stilled, her large brown eyes going blank. Cynthia stood behind her, grinning like the cat that had eaten the canary and had a side dish of cream to boot. Heero tensed, waiting for the tantrum or offended silence he was sure would follow. If Cynthia had reacted as she had earlier, then how could he think that Yuy’s, the real Yuy, granddaughter was going to react any more favorably.

"What a coincidence," Electra replied slowly. "There was someone with that name in my family, too."

Then her face relaxed and slid back into her smile from before. "You must be tired from your journey. Come on, I asked for tea before I left earlier. It should be ready by now. And sandwiches perhaps. If you’re hungry, that is."

***

Electra clutched the tea tray as she attempted to skirt through the narrow doorframe and around the cook who stood just beyond, helpfully holding the door for her. She flashed the woman a grateful smile accompanied by a brief word of thanks. Mrs. Whitlow had offered to help her but Electra preferred not to be waited on. After all, she was hardly helpless; she did have two hands of her own despite what Cynthia thought.

Then again, if it were up to Cynthia, she’d be swaddled in cotton every day of her life except those times she was needed for negotiations or rallies or the like. Sometimes, Electra felt like a doll in a China cabinet. She was there for all the world to see but she wasn’t allowed to participate in it. This afternoon with Manni was a perfect example. All she had wanted to do was be with other people. People who weren’t interested in hearing what she thought the about the latest set of accords from the Alliance or wrangling over this or that clause in a damned treaty that would probably lose all meaning five minutes after it had been signed. None of the older kids in the neighborhood would have anything to do with her-they’d already had a taste of Cynthia and her ‘security’ measures. She sighed. An outcast at fourteen, that’s quite an accomplishment.

She had hoped that by employing a Gundam-or rather soon to be Gundam pilot, to serve as a bodyguard would have placated the woman. Instead, it had infuriated her aide beyond measure. Not that Electra had sought out protection-that she approved of. No what Cynthia was having a hard time dealing with was where she got that help from. Cynthia didn’t approve of Doctor J or his cohorts. What Cynthia failed to grasp was that they might be the Colonies only hope in the days to come. How could she deny her people the right to fight? Cynthia believed in peace without reservation. Nothing could move her to go against her ideals of pacifism. It was better to die, her aide had said time and time again, than to fight back like some savage.

Electra didn’t agree. She believed in peace. She believed that the Colonies and Earth could move beyond the trap of hatred that they were locked. She believed that humanity was moving towards something better and that there would come a day when all weapons would be placed aside. However that day was not this day and no matter what she hoped or prayed for, Electra also realized that sometimes peace was nothing more than an excuse to roll over and play dead while a superior force overpowered you. And that idea she could not abide. She loved the Colonies; they were the blood in her veins and the air in her lungs. They were already second-class citizens and if factions on Earth had their way, soon they wouldn’t even have that. It was better to risk it all and die fighting for their freedom than to hide behind the name of peace and become slaves. As abhorrent as the idea of fighting was to her, she would fight for her people if needed but first she was going to do everything in her power to avoid that, to find peace without it having been purchased in blood.

I just have to live long enough to do it, she thought grimly.

She pushed her way into the living room, juggling both the tray and the door unsteadily. "Tea’s here. I hope you like egg sandwiches…"

Electra trailed off, her brow knitting as she found Cynthia alone in the room. The older woman was standing near the window, hands tapping anxiously at her sides. Probably dying for a cigarette, Electra thought sympathetically. Even though she'd die as soon as admit it. For Cynthia, coming off of cigarettes was a control thing. She knew Electra couldn’t abide them and with them now living in this small apartment, there was really nowhere she could go for a smoke except outside and these days she was afraid to leave her young charge alone for any significant amounts of time. So she had volunteered to give them up. Electra half-wished she hadn’t-sure, they were smelly and were more than likely to turn her insides to charcoal but Cynthia had been so much more…manageable with them or at least less cranky. And they had given Electra some respite from her aide’s more …overwhelming maternal and protective instincts. And kept her from prying into my life all the time, the girl sighed.

"He’s roaming around the house," Cynthia answered before she asked. "Something about ‘securing the perimeter.’"

"Oh." Electra set the tray on the coffee table and shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "I’ll go fetch him then. Why don’t you go ahead and help yourself, Cyn."

She snuck out of the room before Cynthia could reply. As she slipped into the shady recesses of the apartment, she rubbed her arms uneasily. The rooms surrounding her were silent despite her straining ears and she had the uncomfortable feeling of eyes watching her. Should…should she call out to him? Or should she head back and just wait for him to make an appearance? As unappealing as the idea of playing cat and mouse games in her own home was, Electra kept moving forward. She would not be intimidated in her own home. She-

"Looking for something?"

She shrieked in surprise, jumping away from the voice then turning around. At first, she was hard pressed to see anything. Then she saw him. He moved slowly out of the hallway shadows like he was made of them. He leaned easily against the wall, crossing his arms and studying her in that unnerving way of his. His blue eyes glittered, nearly black in the dim lighting and Electra froze, struck once again by that cold, expressionless face. Dear God, he was just a boy she tried to tell herself; a boy her own age-nothing to be afraid of. That was a lie. There was something fearful about Heero Yuy and something terribly sad, too. She found herself at a loss until it hit her-it was because he was a boy, a boy her own age and yet he moved with all the grace and ease of an assassin. That slender, wiry body had been trained to fight and he could easily kill her in this hallway and be out before anyone was the wiser. After all, she had known he was here but she hadn’t known where. Not until he had revealed himself. All it would take was just the slightest amount of movement and quick action from his hands for her to be dead. One quick snap and…

He smirked at her, obviously understanding the thoughts running through her head. It made her angry and ashamed of herself at the same time. "You shouldn’t sneak up on people," she was pleased to hear her voice so steady.

"Isn’t that what you hired me for?" He asked. "To sneak up on people so they can’t sneak up on you first."

She hadn’t thought of it quite like that before. "But there are no enemies here," she teased.

"Are you sure of that? You couldn’t find me."

No, that’s true, she thought. Still, he didn’t have to rub it in. "So am I supposed to be afraid to walk around in my own home? I can’t live like that. I can’t live in fear that someone is going to harm me. That’s not living."

"I won’t let anyone harm you. That is my mission." He pushed himself off of the wall with a grace that she envied.

She sensed that he meant for this to be the end of the conversation. And perhaps it should have been but something, some spark of feeling or intuition, caused her to press a little further. "And you always carry out your missions?"

She found herself riveted to the floor as his blue eyes hit her with a piercing gaze. "Always. There is nothing else."

Nothing else? Surely he can’t think that? How could anyone think that? "Of course there is," she insisted, greatly disturbed.

"Not for me."

"That must be a very lonely way to exist, Heero Yuy," she replied, slowly, "And very convenient as well."

"Convenient?" Never had she come across a more inscrutable, unreadable face. He should have been a politician, she thought wryly. With a poker face like that, he could have had the Alliance agreeing to sign anything he set before them.

"No feelings on the line. No responsibility. Nothing."

He bristled. So he did feel-he just chose not to. The knowledge made Electra feel a little better. "My responsibility is to the mission. Emotional responses would only cloud my judgment."

"Sometimes it’s better to follow one’s emotions," She countered hotly. "As a human being it’s the only way we can live, the only way to really live. And no matter what you may tell yourself, Heero Yuy, you are still a human being."

"Hnn."

There it was again-that same inscrutable look. Only this time Electra thought she detected a touch of confusion there. Or maybe it was just consternation. Probably annoyance, she thought. I never did know when to quit. That stubbornness came in handy at the negotiating tables but would it here? Why did she care anyway? What good was probing and pushing at this boy going to do? Besides proving to her that he really was just a boy, a human being with a heart and a soul and not some conditioned automaton.

"Where are your quarters?" he asked abruptly, startling her out of her musings.

"Excuse me?"

"Your sleeping quarters," he repeated.

Sleeping quarters, she found herself smiling. He was so stiff and military and coming from someone her own age, it was somewhat amusing. She bit her lip, realizing that any laughter would either not be appreciated or misconstrued. The last thing she wanted was for him to think that she was making fun of him.

"My bedroom?" she pointed to the room at the end of the short hallway. "That one."

He started towards it, ignoring her again. Electra raised her eyebrows and wondered just what the hell was going on now. "Um, your room is right over there, if you’re interested."

"Hnn," Heero grunted and continued in the direction of her bedroom.

Possessed more of curiosity now than she had been when they had first started speaking, Electra followed on his heels, wondering what possible interest he could have in her bedroom.

"Is there a reason you want to see my bedroom?"

"I need to be familiar with every room of your home in order to properly perform the duties of my mission. I need to be certain that your bedroom is secure."

"My bedroom is perfectly secure." Electra almost reached for his arm to stop his forward motion, but remembering the cold steel in his eyes, she thought better of it. Instead she hurried on in front of him, planting herself firmly in the doorway of her bedroom. She didn't know why she was so panicked at the thought of this boy going into her bedroom, but for some reason it felt like an invasion of her personal space and the only privacy that she could guarantee herself. "Wouldn't you rather check out your room?"

He stared at her. Stopping directly in front of her, he simply stared at her. It was quite possibly the most unnerving, unsettling look she had ever been given. The stare was emotionless and devoid of anything with any traces of humanity; if he had glared with anger and frustration, or he had even appeared a tiny bit annoyed with her, it would have been something . . .familiar. But Heero didn't do that. He showed no emotion as his eyes simply locked and held onto hers, as though he was silently willing to her simply stand aside . . . before he moved her aside.

Unconsciously, Electra found herself responding to that empty stare. Or perhaps, it was just a desire to avoid looking at him any longer. Whatever the case, she squared her shoulders and stepped forward, into her bedroom forcing him to follow on her heels. It was a small victory, but it made her feel like she had at least won that battle.

Heero walked a slow, deliberate path around the perimeter of the room, not saying a single word. He would stop occasionally, open a drawer or rattle a door knob and then continue his leisurely stroll. Electra couldn't shake the feeling that he was doing it purposefully, hoping to provoke her and get a reaction. However, she knew that had to be foolishness; that was giving Heero credit for having emotions and drive beyond his mission and he'd already stated that he avoided those.

"Suitable," he acknowledged when he completed his cursory inspection. He stopped at the door which adjoined to Cynthia's room and turned the knob,"This would lead to my quarters?"

Electra blinked at him. "Um...no. Your quarters are down the hall."

"Down the hall?" For someone who prided themselves on being able to show no emotion, it was remarkable how much emotion Heero managed to convey with those three words. Incredulity, disbelief, amazement, pity and more than a little bit of condescension marked the words. Coupled with the way he looked at her, making her feel like she was no older and no wiser than a small, ignorant child, it was more than a tiny bit insulting.

She felt her hackles begin to rise, if only a little. "Let me guess. This would be a problem?"

"My assignment is to protect you at all costs. I don't see how I can possibly fulfill the parameters of my mission when obstacles are placed in my path. If someone wishes to come into your room and slit your throat while you sleep, I have a far lesser chance of preventing this if I am down the hall." Heero answered her as though he was answering a deposition, or giving a debriefing, yet the undercurrent of patronization remained. "I'll need this room."

"Well, you can't have it." Electra was a bit disturbed by how easily and carefully he chose his words, namely the imagery of her having her throat slit in the middle of the night. She hadn't had a good nightmare in a while, so she supposed in the morning she would thank Heero for the one she would certainly end up having tonight. "That's Cynthia's room."

"Maybe I did not speak clearly enough. If I am to protect you, I will need to have quarters in closer proximity."

"I'm sorry, you'll just have to settle for the room down the hall. There is no way Cynthia is going to give up her room to . . . you."

If she expected him to be offended by that, she was disappointed. Heero didn't even flinch.

"Hnn." He gave that grunt that was already becoming familiar to her. "Then, I'll just have to make a pallet on your bedroom floor and sleep there."

"Excuse me?!" She was not hearing him correctly. There was no way he could be saying what she thought he had just said.

"Since the quarters next door are currently occupied and as there are no other rooms save that one adjoining this one, then I must make do."

"By sleeping on my bedroom floor?!"

"If that is what is required to ensure your safety…" he trailed off with the slightest of shrugs. "Where may I find spare bedding materials?"

Oh my God, he’s serious, she thought in alarm.

***

Heero Yuy found himself smirking at the rather dumbfounded, nay, disbelieving expression the girl in front of him was wearing. Although the feeling was beneath him, he found himself enjoying Electra Cameron’s discomfort. After the unsettling encounter in the hallway, Heero felt it was the least the girl deserved. Her questions and responses had bothered him more than he would let on. Bothered him because he suspected that she had hit the mark a few more times than she had missed it.

Most people tended to be so unnerved by him that they didn’t even try to figure him out. Or they dismissed him and paid him as little mind as he paid anything not crucial in someway to his mission or training. Either response he could handle but this girl was different. She had actually stood out there trying to analyze him. For what purpose, he was as yet unsure of. Perhaps to test his resolve? If she was worried that he would be incapable of performing his mission, he could more than amply demonstrate his skills.

His instincts told him that she was looking for something more than that. What that was, he did not as yet have enough data to speculate.

"You can’t sleep in here!" she exclaimed. Her pale face was suddenly suffused with color-most of it red.

"Why?"

The question seemed to pull her up short. Her auburn brows knit and she looked as if she couldn’t believe he was asking her that question.

"Because…because it isn’t proper," she stuttered.

"Why?"

"Why?" She seemed genuinely at a loss. "Surely…Heero, you’re a guy and I’m a girl and… It just isn’t done, okay?"

"Ah," he nodded understanding her at last, "You mean that it is conventionally unacceptable."

"Yes," she appeared relieved, "Exactly."

"That’s unfortunate but it cannot be helped. I will do whatever is necessary to complete my mission," he stated.

Her face fell again. "But-but you need a bed -" she tried valiantly to recoup.

"The floor is sufficient. I’ve slept on worse," he shrugged. Which was true-far more true than she would ever know.

Electra’s mouth opened then shut again uncertainly before she straightened. "Look, you can’t sleep in here and that’s all there is to it."

Heero stared at her quizzically. Did she actually think that was all there was to it? "I can see there is no point in arguing with you further-"

"You’re damned right there isn’t."

"-in that case, I will simply remove the bedding from the room you so kindly gave me ‘down the hall’" his lips curled around the words, "And bring it back in here."

"The hell you will. You cannot just come and go as you see fit," she snarled. "This is my bedroom, not a public lounge."

She had backbone. He approved of that. At the same time, he realized that his mission had just become a great deal more complicated. This girl was willful and probably not inclined to follow orders. He would have to remedy that if they were to get on. Heero took one step and then another until he was nearly nose to nose with her. She didn’t back down but he could tell his sudden closeness made her distinctly uncomfortable.

"I will do whatever is necessary to fulfill my mission," he said evenly. "If I have to remove your door out of the frame to assure that you won’t try to lock me out, I’ll do it. If I have to, I will lock you in this room and sit guard over you until it’s time for the negotiations. Whatever it takes, Electra Cameron, to ensure the successful completion of my mission, I will do it. Do you understand that?"

"And will you be going to the bathroom with me as well?" The moment the girl said the words, Heero watched her face suffuse with color.

It was as though she spoke without thought, in the heat of her passion and was now wondering if maybe she hadn’t planted a thought in his head.

"If need be," he replied.

She glared at him, fists clenching and unclenching at her sides. Some part of his mind pointed out that perhaps this was not the best way to start off their working relationship. After all, it would help if the girl was, well …cooperative. I can make sure she’s cooperative, the soldier part of his mind responded. She doesn’t have to like it. She doesn’t have to like me, she just has to do what I tell her.

"You know, I’m not some soldier you can order around."

Heero blinked drawn from his internal debate back into the here and now. "Hnn?"

"I’m a human being, Heero," her voice was suddenly quiet but no less firm for the drop in volume. If anything, it had grown even more steely than before. "And you can’t treat human beings as objects or means to an end. I have thoughts and feelings, if you’d stop and consider that."

He stared at her blankly, uncomprehendingly. "Why?"

Her brown eyes grew large, then grew soft with some emotion he didn’t understand. "Oh, Heero. You really don’t understand, do you?"

"There is nothing to understand. I have a-"

"A mission, yes," the girl’s voice and eyes were soft, a sudden and inexplicable contrast to her earlier fire, "But have you ever dealt with real people before, Heero?"

"Real...people?"

"People who aren’t on a mission of any kind. People who don’t have an agenda."

He stared at her stonily. "Everyone has an agenda."

Not true, part of him thought. That little girl, she hadn’t had an agenda when she gave you that flower. She just wanted to see you smile. Yes and she died because of it, he shot back. Real people, as Electra called them, were much better off without people like him in their lives.

"You don’t really believe that, do you?"

The tone of her voice bothered Heero. It wasn’t a tone that called for argument or debate, but rather he heard something in her voice that he was unaccustomed to hearing. Pity. Heero heard the unmasked touches of pity in her voice, and he knew for whatever reason, that pity was directed at him.

"It’s a fact of life," Heero asserted, wondering why he doubted his own words. What was with Electra and her arguments and her convictions? She was only a child really, not much older than he, but he was a trained soldier. She was a girl, a girl with a vision and thoughts and ideas that… She was an enigma and he didn’t like it. He wanted to-correction, he had to analyze and put her in the proper category, but unfortunately, each time she opened her mouth she only reiterated the fact that for once, he didn’t know where to categorize her. It was no wonder she had such passion for her cause. It…was a disturbing realization. "Even you have an agenda."

"For peace, yes, nothing more. I’m not your enemy and I’m not just some mission. You can’t just analyze me and file me away until you need to use me. It doesn’t work like that."

There it was again, that uncanny way her words echoed his thoughts. How was she doing this? How was she seeing past his defenses and reading him so well? She must be, he found himself grudgingly admitting, one hell of a diplomat despite her age.

Still this little girl did not know everything. She couldn’t. Her world was clouded, clouded by visions and a hope for peace that might never come; clouded by unrealistic dreams that Heero had learned to give up long ago. What she thought she knew was far different than what she did know, from what the future would teach her.

"You’re wrong," Heero informed her. "You are as defined by your mission as I am by mine. In the end, there is nothing else."

A shadow fell across her face and he thought perhaps his words had gotten through to her when, very softly she asked, "Who are you trying to convince, Heero? Me or yourself?"

Heero crossed his arms and said nothing. It was pointless really for him to continue arguing. It was clear that she was not prepared to face the truth, so why waste the energy trying to convince her otherwise? He had more important matters to attend to. So why did he find himself feeling so vaguely unsatisfied?

"This whole conversation is irrelevant," he said firmly.

Electra looked as though she wanted to argue. She might have if another voice hadn’t cut in. "What whole conversation?"

Heero glanced over Electra’s shoulder and swore. Cynthia was standing in the door frame and he hadn’t even noticed until she had said anything. Sloppy, Yuy. Get your mind back where it belongs before you get another person killed.

"Heero and I were just discussing bedding arrangements," Electra replied brightly, after darting a quick glance towards Heero.

"What about them?" Cynthia asked suspiciously.

Heero brushed past Electra, headed out the door. Cynthia stared at him, as if daring him to try to get around her. He stared back until he had the distinct pleasure of seeing the woman blink and step to the side.

"I’m going to scout the rest of the apartment, then I’ll return with the extra bedding," he announced.

"What extra bedding?" Cynthia asked blankly. "His room is already set up."

"The quarters provided are not sufficient therefore I will be sleeping in here."

Cynthia’s startled "What?!" followed him out into the hallway. The aide rounded on Electra, demanding, "What's he talking about?"

"You ask him," Electra replied crossly. "I'm going to go take a bath."

She paused then raised her voice so it was clearly audible in the hallway. "Alone."

Cynthia's eyebrows knit but before she could ask the question Electra knew was coming, the girl flounced into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it with a sigh. Then she let herself slide to the floor, pulling up her knees and curling her arms around them. None of this was turning out how had expected. First the death threats, then someone actually trying to kill her, and now this. Why is this happening? Why now? She thudded her chin against her arms. She thought about Heero's earlier throat slitting comment and shuddered. She wasn't naive. She knew there were people who could harm her but to hear it put so graphically and coldly made her feel very small and insignificant indeed. What kind of person can talk about death as casually as another might pick a daisy? She chewed on her lower lip in thought. She didn't understand entirely Heero Yuy. Not yet. She wasn't sure she wanted to understand him.

It was cold. She hugged herself tighter to ward off the chill. Then she glanced at her wristwatch and swore. She crawled over to the sink, opening the cabinet underneath and removing a small leather pouch from underneath. She deftly untied the knot at the top of the bag and pulled out small rubber tubing, a clear bottle, and a syringe. She tied the tubing around her upper arm until the veins popped out, the blue branches and networking of her veins dark against her fair skin. Then she took a syringe, filled it with fluid from the bottle, and tapped the body of the syringe for air bubbles. Her breathing was harsh as she watched some of the fluid squirt out of the hollow end. She tried to quiet it. The last thing she needed was an audience for this. Forcing herself to breathe naturally, she struck fast. It hurt; it always did. Gradually, however the pain went away, her brow smoothing out as she removed the needle and pushed it aside, curling up into a small ball on the floor with only the sound of her breathing for company.

***End of Chapter Two