Disclaimer: Hi, as always I own nothing but the plot and the original characters.  I will also state once again that I think that Zechs and Noin r the most obvious pair in Gundam Wing and I love the couple.  However Zechs also pisses me off sometimes with the way he treats Noin and that plus a discussion with my best friend lead to this fic. Note this is not a death fic so don't worry, despite the start it's not ^_^ also  I hope you like and review. 

Watching Over Her

Noin watched him go and bit the inside of her lip hard to keep herself from saying anything as he left her standing there, strolling away casually and without falter.  The taste of blood, her blood in her mouth barely registered, her head lowered ever so slightly as she watched him leave from under her dark lashes.  He was always walking away it seemed.  Noin had loved Zechs Merquise or Milliardo Peacecraft for years, could barely remember a time when she hadn't.  He was everything the perfect guy would be; handsome, intelligent, athletic and good.  But he could also be cold and unthinking of others, as he had been moments before when he'd casually canceled another date, one of so many to do something or another, not even have the courtesy to tell her what.  She'd bought a new dress, had an appointment with the hair dresser and had planned a romantic evening that now lay in a heap at her feet, pointless.  But what really got to her was that he had expected her to fall in line, to simply accept it and move on like the date had never been planned.  He hadn't even really apologized for it and she knew why.  She had been letting him do it for so long why shouldn't he treat her like that, like her feelings didn't matter.  Perhaps they hadn't come to mean anything to him anymore, so caught up was he in politics and becoming the man he thought he was suppose to be.

She'd become like a pet to him, Noin thought with blades sharp and numerous cutting through her heart at the thought.  He played with her, gave her presents and patted her on the head for a job well done but she could be replaced if need be and when she wasn't wanted she could me ignored.  She'd become no better then a plaything to him, Noin thought as she looked up in horror, backing up slowly until her back hit a wall.  And he wasn't even doing it on purpose, that wasn't the role he'd set out for her to fill but that's the role she'd taken in order to try and break through the ice that surrounded his heart.  But she'd been trying since the war to do it and that was seven years ago and she was still trying.  She was twenty six years old and had never wanted or sought out anyone else.  Now that she realized what she'd become she realized with the final shattering of her heart that all she had to show for it was years of waiting and defeat.  Shattered completely  now Noin stumbled blindly away from the wall, not really seeing anything at all as she headed down the hallway on autopilot, a small part of her brain thankful that it was late in Preventers and that basically all but the night staff were gone for the evening.  She'd stayed late to do paperwork so that she could go on her former date without having to worry about it, Noin thought with grim humor.  Eyes locking on a door blindly Noin opened it up and walked through, the room lights coming on automatically.  Blinking at the sudden brightness Noin stared around her with a morbid fascination as she looked at the collection of weapons on the walls around her.  She'd wandered into the fencing and shooting gallery, Noin thought as she walked into the middle of the room, her feet not even feeling the mat under her as her dark eyes looked at the shelves on the walls holding the fencing swords as well as a few real ones she knew Wufei had added for those who wanted to learn the real thing.  The fencing room connected into the indoor shooting gallery through a door and beside that door was a collect of guns and rifles as well, temporarily in the fencing room as the shooting gallery was being given a much needed face lift. 

So many weapons in this room, Noin thought almost dreamily as she looked at them, now not even really seeing them.  Zechs had taught her now to fence though they hadn't faced off against each other in a very long time.  She probably forgotten most of it and wouldn't last more then a few minutes at most against anyone who knew what they were doing.  Of course fencing had become an outdated sport, usually reserved for the privileged who had the time to spare and the need to show off and look tough doing it.  A gentlemen's' sport, Noin thought with a slight smirk as she thought of all the dignified idiots she'd seen participating in the sport thinking they were so bad ass striking at a person with their basically harmless weapon.  Ha, they knew nothing of  weapons and what it took to use one against another with the intent to harm and not gain points.  To take a blade, Noin thought as Noin's eyes were drawn to the real ones once more, that were made to harm..made to kill.

Wufei was sick of paperwork and was seriously considering stuffing what remained on his desk down Lady Une's throat.  Stupid onna, always shoving and wanting more and more paperwork done instead of allowing them to spend that time in the field doing something worth while.  He'd joined Preventers to make a difference, not be a stupid paper pusher.  Grumbling under his breath Wufei headed for the fencing room to loosen up a bit before he headed home to bed for the night.  Opening the door Wufei blinked at the sight of someone standing in the middle of the fencing room in a Preventers uniform, especially at this hour.  Wufei was about to bark at the boy for doing so in shoes not meant for the mat when he realized that despite the short haircut and rather boyish figure it was not a boy but Noin standing on the mat in her shoes.  What on earth was the onna doing? Wufei wondered as he realized she didn't even seem to be aware of his presence despite the fact that she was a soldier and trained for this kind of thing.  Scowling he looked to see what held her gaze so fiercely and raised a curious eyebrow when he realized that her gaze appeared to be centered on the shelves containing the real swords he'd managed to get.  Now why on earth..was what Wufei was thinking until all of a sudden Noin seemed to collapse in front of him, falling to her knees with her hands out to brace her.  Moving forward he stopped when he heard a faint sound of someone weeping and realized with a start that it was  coming from the form that made no effort to rise.  Backing up a couple of steps Wufei was all set to get the hell out of there before she realized he was there when he was stopped in his tracks as her head rose and seem to fixate once more on the blade case.  Feeling a cold shiver go down his spine Wufei looked from the case to the broken form on the mat and felt flash of dread as a possibly reason why entered his head.

He was aware of the fact that she'd had a date with Peacecraft planned for the following day from Sally's useless chattering as he was aware that he'd heard the man talking to Relena about a meeting that same night.  Being the partner of Noin's best friend he'd had to listen to constant complaints from Sally about how Peacecraft was always taking Noin for granted and that he hurt Noin so much with the way he was always treating her like she didn't have any feelings.  Being a guy those complaints had constantly been aimed at him leading him to let her rant since he didn't care for Peacecraft overly and therefore saw no reason to defend the older man.  Not to mention he agreed that Noin deserved to be treated better not that he'd ever say anything along those lines.  He and Noin had always been civil but not much more, there first meeting along with their characters leading to an unspoken truce that meant being civil, nothing more or less.  He'd never approved of women in the military or in any situation where they could be hurt, something he'd made Noin aware of the first time they'd met when he'd spared her life because of her sex and for no other reason.  And here was that woman who had faced him without fear and such fire practically lying on the floor broken and defeated.  But not by any weapon or because of any physical injury.  She'd been broken by the callousness of another who had used her then broken her, probably without even being aware of having done it.  His eyes on her completely now he saw her attempt to rise but fall back onto her knees quickly, still quietly weeping with her head again coming back only to stare at the blades.  He couldn't leave her like this, in this state she was libel to do something stupid.  Though she appeared weak and useless now he knew she had a great deal of strength within her and she could call upon that strength if need be.  And if she did that he feared she might very well make her way to those blades and use them not on any enemy but to end the pain.

He knew what it was to be without anyone, to find yourself without meaning or purpose.  Though he'd never thought of ending his existence at all seriously or with any serious attempt he could understand wanting to do so.  Were it not for his upbringing and the fact that he was the last of his clan, of his line he might very well have contemplated such an end.  As she contemplated it now he feared.   Stepping forward Wufei wasn't even aware of himself moving forward or what he would do when he reached her.  Suddenly a thought came to mind and he knew what he would do, how he would snap her out of it.  Perhaps Peacecraft had destroyed her heart but he was going to count on her still having some of her pride and stubbornness remaining.  "Onna, what do you think you're doing in here at night, this isn't a place for you to sleep." Wufei said in his most impatient and annoyed voice.  "And you're wearing your shoes on the mat, you'll get it filthy."

"Wufei?" Noin finally said, his words taking several moments to process having not even heard the younger man come into the room.  He was behind her so she couldn't see him but she could picture him easily enough, sneering at her with that look in his eyes that said women were useless things.  What was he doing here?  He wasn't supposed to be here and she didn't want anyone, least of all him seeing her like this.  He was always talking about how weak women were, he'd gloat if he saw her like this.  Damn if she would, Noin thought sucking it up so that her quiet sobs halted and her voice was relatively steady when she answered him.  "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here, baka?" Wufei said as he sneered at her, hoping that he was going about this the right way.  What the hell did he know about emotionally distraught females anyway?  "I came here to use that mat as it was intended and practice with my sword before going home.  What are you doing here?  It's not like a weakling like you could ever be handle anything in this room with any skill. Where you thinking of actually trying to use something in this room?  You'd only end up hurting yourself in the attempt."

"Oh shove it, you sexist idiot.  What do you know anyway." Noin said as she rose to her feet and turned to face him, her stance combative and tears staining her cheeks though no more fell from her red rimmed eyes. "You think you're so tough but just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't kick your ass."

"Ha, the only ass you could kick that was male would be if the individual was crippled, blind and stupid." Wufei said as he deliberately got in her face having finally reached a height so that she had him beat only by a mere half an inch which she loved to shove in his face.  "Face it, Noin, you couldn't stand a chance against me in combat of ANY kind."

"Well then we'll just have to see about that." Noin said as she walked over to the case she'd been eyeing early and punched in the code for the casing.  The thick glass shifting Noin took one sword in one hand and another in her other hand, the weight unfamiliar thought that didn't really register.  Punching the close button with her elbow she strolled over to Wufei with fire in her eyes, the need to lash out and draw blood taking over so that there was nothing but blood in her eyes.  The emptiness had been replaced with uncontrollable rage, all directed at Wufei. Holding out the blade in her left hand her eyes dared him to take it.  When he took it with a smirk her lips curled into a smile that was anything but nice.  Both understanding without speaking they took up positions similar to fencing on either side, holding there blades carefully though Wufei with a superior hold and posture since he had learned on swords while Noin had never wheeled such a weapon before though she was too filled with rage to see it.  Charging at him with the sword she slashed at Wufei though she was easily deflected.  Blows going back and forth, most by her though neither was wounded thanks to Wufei's skill and pure luck in his opinion.  It was as if she'd lost her mind and had completely shut down every thought but causing him the pain she must be in, Wufei thought as he deflected blow after blow with ease wondering when she'd clue in that he could have killed her hundreds of times already as she was trying to do now.  Foolish girl, Wufei thought as he attempted to look like he was on the offensive and not playing with her which was what he was doing really, letting her think that she was displaying even a remote amount of skill which she was not.  Going on for ten minutes Wufei thought that he needed to wind this down before she was hurt accidentally.  With expert skill he used his sword to nick the blade out of her hand sending it flying into the air to drop with a clatter nearby.  His sword at his side Wufei was all set to see if she was calm enough now for him to go when she charged at him, tackling him to the ground in his surprise. 

Wufei's face blurring so that she wasn't even seeing him anymore Noin straddled Wufei and began beating at him with her fists, trying her best to make him bleed the way her heart was bleeding.  A small part of her mind stood back in horror in shock of what she was doing, of how she was abusing Wufei for simply being Wufei.  But so taken over with grief and anger she couldn't seem to stop as she let loose her anger.  When hands finally wrapped around her wrists, preventing her from continuing Noin struggled against the hold before giving up with a sob, falling against the victim of her wrath, drained of energy to the extent that all she could do was lay there and cry against him.  Of course now the little voice in her head was pointing out that she was crying all over Wufei of all people but she didn't hear the voice, crying until she simple passed out from exertion and the need to sink into oblivion beyond the pain.

Blood spilling from the cut on his lip Wufei tasted his own blood in his mouth and wanted very much to yell at the idiot.  But since she was crying into his shirt he doubted she could hear him and if she did she might start swinging again.  She'd landed the first couple due to his shock at her actions which were so out of character for her and then he'd simply been overwhelmed with the strength and the rage behind the punches.  He'd managed to block most of them but those that had landed had done so and hard.   His ribs aching like hell Wufei blinked when she suddenly went limp against him, apparently done doing anything.  Laying there for a minute or so to make sure she was done Wufei got up carefully and with effort, leaving her to lay on the mat while he collected the discarded swords and return them to the casing.  Walking back to her Wufei stared down at her then with a groan leaned down and picking her limp form up into his arms carried her out of the room and into the hallway.  Stopping at his office he got his jacket and putting it on her for protection against the night chill managed to get them both out of the building without anyone coming across them.  Getting her into his car he headed off and drove to the apartment building she lived it with his mood as dark as the bruises that were forming on his face and chest.  Thankfully a couple was already just coming into the building so they were happy to hold the door open for Wufei and to direct him to her floor and room.  Fishing around in her pocket Wufei found her collection of keys and trying them out finally found the one for her door with a sigh of relief.  Opening it Wufei carried her in and turning the light on walked in and finding the bedroom placed her on the bed, removing her shoes, removed his jacket and then unbuttoning the top button on her shirt so that she could breathe better.  That done he quickly tucked her covers around her then headed out of the room and locking the door behind him slid the keys under her door.  Heading back to his car Wufei drove home and wearily mounted the stairs to the door and finding his own keys let himself in.

Walking into the house Wufei hung up his coat wearily on the peg beside the door and winced having a feeling his right eye was going to be swollen shut shortly.  Bending over with grinched teeth he removed his shoes then looked up to see Quatre holding a cup of tea and a shocked expression of his face.

"Wufei, what happened to you?" Quatre said as he set the cup on the nearby table as he hurried over to his friend who looked like he'd been in a fight and lost badly.  "You look like you were in a fight, how badly are you hurt?"

"I fell down a hill and hit a tree." Wufei said with a dark look.  He would go to his grave laughing before he'd admit a woman had done this to him.  "And I'm just fine."  Were the last words Wufei said before he pitched forward, hitting the ground with a thud as he hit the wood, unconscious before his body had caused itself added damage in the fall.