Sabotage Backfire... An Apartment?

By Andrea Sinisterra

Humor/Romance

PG-13

Brief summary: Relena lives at the Manor (with Milliardo, Lucrezia, Pagan, the servants, etc). But she decides she wants to live on her own and be independent... be free. Until Heero refuses saying that it would endanger her, and make it more difficult for him to protect her (He's a Preventer, and her personal bodyguard). So every time she goes to visit or see a new apartment, Heero sabotages the place (with rats, water filtering, fire (¬_¬), supposed death of previous tenants, etc)... Until he decides to move in with her... My, my, I wonder what will happen...

Author's Note: I would like to dedicate this fic to Kari (Hiyaa, MeliGoof!!!!), who did as I said and wrote her first fic. You see? People did like your fic!! Now, <takes same club from behind back> how's it going with that other idea?... and to Caliborn, for her input, her great ideas and comments, and of course, her spelling and grammar corrections, without that, I'd be out of business.

* * *

Part 1

"You what!?" Milliardo Peacecraft barked, his voice making several heads turn around in concern, before closing the door to the Minister of Foreign Affairs' office.

Relena Peacecraft only smiled, the ease in her smile only further irritating her brother. With a sigh, she plopped back on her seat. "I want to move out." Relena arranged the heap of manila folders into a pile, and buzzed her secretary into the office.

Milliardo sighed, his temper cooling, as he sat on the sofa at one end of the office. "I just don't see why you have to move out."

"I don't have to move out... it's not like you're kicking me out-" May Richards, a middle aged woman with dark brown hair and brown eyes, smiled at Relena, flushing lightly when she spotted Milliardo lounging on the sofa, who was sipping his steaming cup of mocha.

"May, come in. I went through these files, and I don't see why there are problems or why, exactly, Vice Minister Thompson is 'refusing' to follow my orders. Call him, and tell him that I'm not asking him to do it; it's not a favor he's doing to me... I'm telling him, ordering him to go to that summit, and see to get that riot in L3 solved... now." Relena exhaled deeply. "The last thing we need right now is people on the streets disturbing others and protesting for something we can't do anything about." Relena rubbed her aching temples. "I already forgot what the strike was about."

"Connor's metallurgic declared bankruptcy." May walked into the center of the room, a frown creasing her brows. "Seventeen percent of the workforce is unemployed." She gathered the files, balancing their weight on her hip. "What about your meeting with the Minister of Immigration and Refugees?"

Relena groaned, resting her forehead against the desk's edge. "I forgot..."

May smiled. "Miss Relena, you should really take some time off. Maybe go abroad, visit the colonies; or to a spa, get a relaxing massage; go shopping..." May laughed, her voice tinted with mirth.

Relena smiled warmly at May; she was such a nice woman. "You know... I should do just that." Relena glanced at her brother. "Milliardo will take care of everything." Firmly ignoring the cough and subsequent splutter of coffee coming from the far corner of the room, Relena began gathering her things. "Get me the number to a Real Estate agency, and tell them that I'm looking for an apartment or a house. Spacious, with a view of the ocean, a responsible landlord, you know, the basics." Relena was almost through the door, when she stopped and looked at her speechless brother. "I love you, thank you so much for doing this for me. Read the files on my desk; Minister Dawson is a very busy woman, and she doesn't like to waste her time."

* * *

There was definitely a world of difference between the saying and the doing. Relena found herself glaring back at the Prussian depths of Heero Yuy's eyes. This was just great. Definitely what she was missing: an unnecessary confrontation with her bodyguard. Not to mention the man who haunted her in dreams every night. But she would be damned if she was ever to tell him that. Not surprising was the fact that it had been years since she had stopped pursuing him, years since she gave up on him... although it didn't keep her from fantasizing about him. About time, she thought, I was turning into a masochist.

Relena sighed; she was getting tired of this. It was now Saturday, and she had intentionally made herself busy, trying to avoid any confrontation with the man. Between visiting apartments, going to the Gym & Spa, and shopping with Hilde and Lucrezia, she had thought she would have no time for Heero. Of course, she knew he would trail behind her wherever she went; he was her bodyguard, after all... What she didn't expect was having him corner her in one of the changing rooms at Carven.

What was even more infuriating was that she was shirtless; though she tried to ignore the fact that HE was ignoring the sight. So yes, he was definitely an impassive and heartless "human being"... and even THAT could be submitted to debate. Here she was, flushed and embarrassed beyond belief, and he stood there, unblinking, his eyes straight to her head... Aloof. God, she hated him. Hated him just as much as she loved him.

"We have to talk." The tone in his voice inquired that the talk would definitely be one-sided... not in her favor, of course. "You're being irresponsible. And this whole issue is useless."

Relena sighed, dropping the shirt from covering her chest, her anger making her oblivious. He blinked, but kept his mouth shut. Relena grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him out of the changing room, closing the door firmly. "It's not irresponsible." She started, grabbing one shirt from the bunch on the chair, "and it certainly isn't useless."

She could clearly hear his mutters through the door, his voice loud and clear when he spoke. "There's no reason why you have to move out, Miss Peacecraft."

He bit out the last part, and she just knew he was taunting her. "You know, Milliardo said the same thing." She muttered something about all men being the same, and being stuck with two particularly thickheaded ones. "I don't have to move out. No one's making me. I want to do it. 'Want' being the key word, of course." She reached for another piece of clothing. "And it's not irresponsible, either. Almost every person, when reaching adulthood, moves out to live their own private lives. I would like to have some privacy and independence."

There was silence from the other side of the door, and Relena briefly thought that maybe he had left her speaking to herself. But, after a long pause, his deep voice rang out, hoarse, charged with menace. "And why would you want privacy and independence? To do what, exactly?"

Relena paused, about to stutter in indignation, when a little thought fluttered through her mind. Wouldn't you love to know. She smiled, pleased with herself. "What I do is none of your business, Mr. Yuy." She snickered to herself. "Especially if it's behind closed doors."

"So," Heero began, the strain evident in his voice, "what you're telling me is..."

"I want to be free and independent, with the liberty to do what I please with my time and my space. With whomever 'I' please." She smiled to herself, immensely enjoying the situation. "And I can only do this by moving out."

Unexpectedly, she flung the door open, dressed in her street clothes (khakis and a black cotton turtle neck), taking him by surprise. "I'm not asking for your permission, Mr. Yuy." The taunt had hit home. She knew how much he hated being called Mr. Yuy... especially by her. "I'm telling you I AM going to move out. So you can work out your schedule and the shifts... You'll still be my bodyguard, of course."

* * *

Although she had not expected it to be an easy task, Relena had never, ever, in her life thought that looking for a place to live would be so... life threatening. It had been nearly a week since that day at the store, and two apartments had come and gone from her list. There was definitely something wrong with these agents. She would call May in the morning and tell her to contact a new agency.

The second house she had visited had been a dream. With a beautiful view of the Mediterranean, the coastline clean and empty, it provided just the kind of beauty and privacy she wanted. The house itself was beautiful, with expensive marble, wooden floors and high ceilings, three stories, five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The kitchen was a wonder of modern technology and rural comfort, with French windows, and white-yellow walls...

She had noticed that the base floors creaked a lot when stepped on, but she hadn't paid much attention. Basically because she was trying to ignore the brooding presence of her bodyguard trailing behind her everywhere they went. Relena sometimes would catch him glaring at the RE agent, a man in his late twenties with fair hair and green eyes, tall and lean, a display of muscles clearly visible beneath the thin white shirt he wore. Relena could only smile to herself as she moved closer to the man, maintaining distance, but clearly making "a move"... a move that did not go unnoticed by Heero.

Relena caught Heero frowning, his gaze on the floor. That's when the odd sound finally registered in her dazed mind. Besides the creak and crack of the floors, which by itself was annoying, there was another sound... some sort of mewl, perhaps? Yes, like little, short mewls... almost intermittent... The sound intensified when they reached the den, the floors shook lightly when they approached, and Relena placed a hand on her heart, as if trying to hold it there.

That's when all hell broke loose.

There was a short pause, a little moment of silence that had her ears buzzing for a second, before the sound tripled and multiplied in intensity, the floors shaking. Rats. A display of every possible specie, colors, and size. Rats. With their annoying noise, creepy teeth, and long, disgusting tails. Rats. Rats under the floor, rats breaking free, rats approaching her feet. Rats coming to get her.

Rats.

Relena saw nothing, heard nothing, thought nothing; she was only fear. And when finally she kicked into action, jumping with a cry of fright into the nearest arms she could reach, she clung to the man as if her life depended on it, and in a way, it did. Her arms wound around his neck while he moved to a corner, curses leaving his lips. Her heart beat so fast that she found it difficult to keep breathing, her wide eyes following the trail of the smelly pest as it vacated the room and then the house.

"Rats. I. Hate. Them." Her voice was trembling, but Relena found that her breathing was so shallow, her voice came hoarse. When she looked around, trying to locate the agent, she suddenly froze when her eyes encountered the fiery blue gaze of Heero Yuy, a look of pure jealousy and a promise of murder in his eyes. Which meant...?

Her eyes slowly swiveled around, her arms unconsciously snapping back to her body, she unwounded them from around the agent's neck. There was a telltale blush on both their faces, as the agent started to stutter a useless apology. "Um, Miss Relena..."

* * *

Relena groaned, burying her head in her hands,. "Oh, God, that was so embarrassing!"

Heero kept his face averted from hers, his gaze firm on the passing scenery outside the limousine's window. The hint of a smile grazed his lips, though he refused to look at the flustered woman sitting beside him. He relished in the simple, innocent, yet subtle touch of her soft thigh against his, the long curvaceous legs displayed by a short skirt for his unique pleasuring view.

But he said nothing. He never did. Although the sight of her clinging to that 'agent' had heated his blood to such a boiling point that if she had not released the man, he would have shot him right then and there. Unconsciously, his eyes narrowed as jealousy seized him again. The soft, muted sound of her voice rang in the background, his focus directed entirely to the creamy skin in front of him. His fingers itched to touch her. To run his hands from the velvet of her ankles up to the equal velvet of her thighs. A silent sigh left his lips.

"... call him. I don't know. It's just that it was so embarrassing! Oh! But I just hate rats! What kind of place would ...?"

He just sighed again, his eyes admiring her legs reflected on the window.

* * *

"Rats?" There was just something hilarious about the way Milliardo frowned at the word, as if it belonged to a foreign dialect he had no knowledge of whatsoever. "Rats?" He asked again, a deep frown on his handsome face.

"Rats," Relena spat the word, trying hard not to smile at the same time.

Lucrezia Peacecraft put a finger to her lips, deep in thought, as she walked to the window. "Rats."

Duo Maxwell also frowned, hands on hips as he watched Relena with a look of consternation on his face. "Rats?"

Relena sighed, exasperated. "Yes, people, rats! You know, huge ugly, smelly 'things' with big poisonous teeth and tails the size of my freaking leg! Rats!!"

Milliardo was about to utter the damned word again, before he caught himself and the fiery look on his sister's face. But his frown still worried his brows. "It's just weird. How can there be an apartment in the list of such a prestigious agency... infested with rats?"

"I don't know." Relena's eyes flickered for a moment to her silent bodyguard, before returning to look at her brother. "It's strange. The other apartment I went to visit... I heard nothing but great news about it. You know, it belonged to a poet who used to live in L5, two decades ago... We went to see the place, and I tell you, it was B-E-A-utiful. But then, four neighbors come to tell me that there have been strange happenings and weird rumors about the sudden disappearance of the owner. They said he just vanished one day. One old lady said he never left the house, and that his body was probably buried somewhere in the backyard." A shudder went up her spine. And then she threw a furious glance over her shoulder at the snort coming from the far corner.

Milliardo remained silent for a good minute, his eyes locked on his lap. "Maybe," he started, a small, suspicious smile playing on his lips, "maybe, it's a message."

"Huh?" was the unintelligent reply from Duo and Relena.

"Yes, a message."

Relena turned around at the sound of Heero's voice.

"You shouldn't move out--"

"--It's dangerous," Milliardo finished, coming up to stand beside her.

"Oh, for crying out loud." She rolled her eyes, looking at the silent Lucrezia with pleading eyes.

Lucrezia smiled, but a second later, it disappeared, replaced with a defiant, fiery look on her violet-blue eyes. "Guys, beat it."

An arrangement of mutters, grumbles, curses, and general complaining paraded to the door, two pairs of eyes in different shades of blue looking over tense shoulders, pleading and confused. But a look at the flames dancing in Lucrezia Peacecraft's eyes had them walking, almost in haste, through the door and out of reach of her warning gaze.

Lucrezia smiled at the smaller woman beside her. "They only mean good, you know that."

"I know." Relena sighed, slumping into a brown leather couch. "It's just hard to deal with possessive, thick-headed men. I don't understand why they won't get my point."

Lucrezia sighed at the edge of confusion in Relena's voice, a moment later taking a seat beside her on the spacious couch. "Well, they both love you." Lucrezia's brows curved into an amused frown at the tensing in the girl's shoulders. "You know, when I was around 16, something like this happened to me."

"Really?"

"Well, not exactly." Lucrezia snuggled deeper into the comfortable chair. "When I decided to enroll into the army. My dad went nuts."

"I didn't know your father..." The uncertainty left her without words about the delicate subject.

Lucrezia smiled fondly at the memories. "My father was a Colonel of the ESUN Air Force. He piloted for over two decades. Since I was little, I always wanted to follow his steps; you know, I was always fascinated with his work. And I wanted to belong to that."

"So, one day, when I was old enough to know what I wanted, I decided to do just that. And he went insane. I guess I didn't think about anything else beyond the Academy at the time. I wanted to become a Colonel, just like him." Her smile faded, her voice going soft, "and I ended killing hundreds of people, enemy and innocent."

The older woman smiled again. "It's the same in this situation. Just not as drastic, thank God," she laughed. "I can't tell you about Heero, but I know Milliardo. He feels guilty that he wasn't there with and for you during all those years. He doesn't want to lose you, and it's not just that he thinks moving on your own might endanger you, but, more like he won't be able to be with you as much as if you were living under his own roof."

There was a silence as Relena processed all the information about her brother. She had never known anything beyond parentage and militia from her brother; he never talked about his past, he was just business. Always business. He was such a reserved man. But she was beyond hurt, she had learned to just smile and wave. She had learned the hard way, in one hand with him, and in the other with Heero. Such silent, brooding men. And there she went, thinking about Heero. It was like he had some sort of grip on her thoughts.

"Moving out doesn't mean we won't speak anymore... I understand what you said, Lu, and I love my brother dearly. But I don't know him. He doesn't let me in. And I've tried--"

"I know. He's just... difficult."

"But he just talks about work and politics. Never about me. He doesn't know me. Sometimes I wish we could just go out for dinner or something and just talk, you know?"

Both women sighed, each comfortable with the silence.

"Anyway," Relena smiled brightly, moving towards the door, "I love him. It's all that matters. And I know he loves me, too, and I'm content with that."

"Well, about you moving out... I'll talk to him. Don't worry. There are ways. And about Heero... There's something going on, I feel it. I think he's in some way involved in all these troubles you're going through. I'll have someone check that out... Now, breathe, and be happy."

Relena laughed, waving her hand over her shoulder before closing the heavy doors behind her.

To be continued...