A/N: Sorry it took so long. I rewrote it about a billion times and school work has been a constant down pour. Thanks to those that left a review! Especially Hououza, believe it or not you actually inspired something I had not planned to put in here. Enjoy the second chapter!

Chapter Two: Of All the Places to Hide

Rarely had Heero ever stooped to so such a low level as he had done that day. Not even his toughest missions could amount to his current situation. Trapped, and all alone, Heero felt the walls closing in around him. He had to get out. His only escape acted doubly as his shield. There was no noise, but he felt the peculiar presence of another man standing behind the barrier. There had to be another way.

"Heero," taunted Duo from the other side of the door. "You can't stay in there for ever. Even you have to eat some time."

Duo tapped his knuckles against the single line of defense, eventually he started to rhythmically follow along with an unheard song, and the constant noise echoed, threatening the still peace of the scenery.

Another knocking interrupted Duo's fun, but it was short and faint. Heero heard his feet shuffle away from the only means for escape to the door to the apartment. The clangs from the plethora of locks Heero had adorned his door with as a formality was now being tediously untangled and the door slowly creaked open to reveal the unseen trespasser.

"Relena!" Duo cheered as the guest entered the room.

"Oh, hello Duo," Relena greeted kindly. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Ah, that hurts, and I thought you came all this way to see me."

"Duo, please, where is Heero?"

"He's hiding."

"Oh." The two pairs of footsteps came nearer, and Heero followed the smaller, fainter steps with strained ears. The thought that he should simply yell out for her crossed his mind, but that would be a sign of weakness he would not grant his oppressor.

"You wanna know where?" Duo asked with glee. "Come on, you know you do!"

"Where?" Relena asked palyfully, she seemed to be enjoying his game. Duo lowered his voice, to Heero's distaste, and revealed the classified information to the women, who emitted a giggle from the sheer silliness of the situation.

"You can't be serious," Relena laughed. "Why would he hide there?"

"You go ask him yourself," Duo brought her towards the door. "I'm sure he'll grant special entry for you, of all people."

A soft knocking came at Duo's request.

"Heero," she called softly. "Are you in there?"

Heero reluctantly stood from his porcelain throne and leaped the small space to the door. His hand slowly turned the knob, but not enough to allow passage to the outsiders.

"Heero?" Relena started to back away, sensing this all to be one of Duo's infamous tricks.

"Relena," Heero responded immediately, eager to see her.

A moment of silence followed, and Heero suspected that Relena was glancing at Duo as if the world were to explode. With regained confidence, she spoke again.

"I was hoping to talk to you, can you come out?"

Heero didn't reply, listening carefully to see how close Duo was to the door. He couldn't blow his only defense because of her. Unless Duo learned magically how to fly, Heero estimated he must be standing right in front of the door. Perfect.

"Heero?" Relena tried the knob which Heero held firmly. "Is he okay?" she asked Duo.

"Oh, yeah, he's just lost a bit of his mem-oof!" Duo was cut of with a heavy door digging into his side.

Heero took advantage of the situation and firmly snapped onto Relena's slender wrist and pulled. A gasp of surprise escaped from her lips as her body was pulled forward into his sanctuary.

Making sure the door was securely fastened, Heero's eyes flashed to his new companion studying her utterly confused look. It was then she began to laugh uncontrollably. Her bell like sound rid the room of it's former tension, pulling at the corners of his lips, begging them to rise into a smile.

"Heero," Relena finally found her voice. "Why are you in the bathroom of all places?"

"It was the only escape," Heero replied as if the answer should have been obvious.

"Escape what?"

"Duo."

Relena nodded her head in understanding, but that didn't take away her inflated grin.

"I wish I had my camera," she whispered to herself. Suddenly, the reason she had come over in the first place struck her hard in the head, practically knocking her over into the small tub. "Heero, I came here to check up on you."

Heero's eye stared at her hard; he was only trying to read her, but she thought he was offended.

"Not that I think you were weak," she quickly defended. "It's just, Sally said you weren't feeling to great and-"

"I'm fine," he cut her off. Relena dropped her head as if ashamed, watching her hands wonder into his. Her cool touch melted his resistance, the graceful motions of their entwining figures seemed to absorb her conscious being as she stared harder. Heero knew enough not to back away from her unusual behavior towards him. Strange as it may be, he liked it.

"Relena," Heero dropped his volume, making his words almost impossible to hear unless she leaned closer. "What did Sally tell you?"

She seemed a little off set by his choice of questions, but answered none the less. "She said you were feeling a little sick, is all." A wave of welcomed relief drowned the fears that had been growing in Heero's chest. "I was wondering, are you going to be okay for tomorrow?"

Heero's mind cramped for a brief moment. Tomorrow. The gala. He connected the multitude of dots and assumed he must be escorting her.

"Of course," he replied, none to hasty.

"Don't strain yourself," her eyes rose from the basket of fingers. "You were acting so strangely this morning," her eyes met his, "I thought that, maybe..." their heads grew closer, the thought in the unfinished sentence was long banished from her mind by now.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Okay you two love birds," Duo's voice became target for many unkind thoughts. "Times up, put your pants back on."

Relena retreated towards the door, apologizing with her eyes as she disappeared behind his prison gate. The light from her smiling face faded as he listened as she said her polite good byes to Duo. All was quiet shortly after; she must have left. Heero leaned against the one spot of bare wall in the tiny excuse for a room and slide down until he was neatly scrunched. He would kill Duo one day.

The cool of the tiles lulled at the corners of Heero's mind, and his head slumped cautiously to one side. His eyes lost his vision as he was consumed by thoughts of the girl who thought he was hers. How he wished he could remember.

The memories of the conversation between him and Sally flashed into his minds eye. He shook his head.

How he wished he could forget.

Nothing hit him quite as hard at the two little words that had jumped freely from Sally's throat, sticking like burning knifes into his flesh.

"Temporary amnesia," Sally had informed him earlier. "Not uncommon after a head injury."

Apparently, according to her and all the ex-gundam pilots, he had simply "bumped" his head while extensively running. Of course, none of them actually witnessed his incident, except for Relena, but she was not to know about his condition, and asking her exactly what happened would be too obvious.

"This type of memory loss is more specifically called retrograde amnesia." Sally had explained while in the privacy of his own office. "It's when you forget past events that happened before a traumatic incident. In this case, before you bumped your head."

Heero didn't believe a word of it. He was not the type of person to run into walls, and his head has been more severely injured before. True, the damage done was great, which made him skeptical that such an innocent "bumping"could form such a wound. Unconsciously, his hand traced the newly formed scab around his aching forehead.

Most of the pain wasn't from the actual wound, but from the throbbing headache Heero had obtained by Sally's concern. She gave him strict orders to stay home, and had ordered Duo make sure he stayed there, which Duo eagerly accepted. Heero wondered how she could wish him such a terrible fate, and marveled how Hilde could stand the braided man. Sally could have trusted him; he didn't plan to stay too far from home. At least she could have pittied him.

As his thoughts grew deeper, he pressed his injured temple, allowing the pain to fuel his anger towards Duo. His eyes, on the other had, were occupied by the cabinet under the sink. Why hadn't he noticed it before?

Opening one cabinet door, he peeked inside. The a random bottle of mouth wash and a few spare toilet paper rolls had moved in during the time Heero lived there. The space under the sink was fairly large, as he expected, and pushing the stray objects to the side, Heero decided it was time for his escape. There was just enough room.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

"Heero, you can come out now, I promise I'll be nicer," Duo knocked on the door after a while, his voice clearly waving the white flag.

When Heero didn't respond, he knocked harder.

"Heero? I know there is no way you escaped, so stop faking it."

Again, silence.

"Heero?" Duo slammed on the door, not meaning for it to break the lock; the eerie sound of the door creaking opened left him speechless. A quick blur was barely visible passing behind him from seemingly nowhere. Duo whipped around just in time to witness Heero making his succesful escape through the front door.

Deciding against chasing his captive down, Duo sighed heavily and made himself comfortable on Heero's only couch. His mission had become abortive, but he figured he had tortured the poor guy enough for one day. Besides, he knew where he was going.

A/N: Sorry if it's a little slow, it'll get more exciting later one. I tried to end it with a cliff hanger, without making it sound too cheesy, but I guess you all know Heero enough to know where he's going. Third chapter might take awhile, I'm just warning you now. Please, drop a review before you go on your way!