2 a.m.

He was watching an old movie. It was actually quite amusing…called ‘The Tingler.’ He had read about it before watching it- in its day it had been a B movie. Now it was just hopeless beyond belief- even Nanashi could find it in him to laugh. A little. The mad scientist had locked himself into a room now, and was performing some ridiculous experiment-

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK!

Nanashi stood and went to answer the door, wondering which of the others it was. This late, it wouldn’t be Quatre, or Wufei…he sincerely hoped it wasn’t Duo, but it might be…

Upon opening the door, he discovered Heero, dripping wet in the rainy night.

“Are you alone?” The ordinarily calm voice was seething. He merely nodded yes, wondering vaguely what the shadow behind his stoic comrade was.

“Good. Protect her.”

“Heero, what-?” A half-frozen body was shoved at him, into his dry, warm arms. Heero merely repeated himself, his eyes flaring brilliant blue with the impatience in his voice.

“Protect her. Consider it a mission, Trowa.” A bleeding, burned hand reached forward and brushed the shivering girl’s cheek, almost tenderly, and then quickly withdrew as though further burned. He could feel her shivering in his arms; she was going to catch a cold.

“Heero, I-“

“Please, Trowa.” The acrobat, thrown off by the unusual display of emotions merely nodded wordlessly, too confused to do much else. There was an eruption of thunder, accompanied by lightning, and Heero had disappeared. Nanashi didn’t bother searching the night for the furtive figure of his friend, because he knew well that he would find nothing there.

“Come in, miss.” The figure in his arms allowed him to lead her into the living room, where the movie still played on the forgotten screen. After making sure she was as comfortable on the couch as her present state would allow, he went to the bathroom for a towel and robe, bringing out both. Without speech, he dried her hair and handed her the robe, motioning that she should go to the bathroom. The girl turned terrified, empty eyes up to him, her lips parted as if to ask a question.

“Take a shower, and I’ll see if I can find some jeans and a T-shirt for you.” The terror there hardened into suspicious anger, and she forced out a low, icy word.

“No.” He blinked, confused, and shrugged.

“There’s a fire in the other room…why don’t you sit next to it and dry off, then?”

“No. Just leave me alone.” Nanashi sat down next to the girl- an act that made her more tense than before, which did not go unnoticed by the Gundam pilot- and ran his hands through his hair as he tried to find words.

“I don’t know who you are to Heero, but I do know that he trusted me to take care of you. That involves him trusting me not to hurt you.” Her gray-brown eyes narrowed as he continued, her teeth revealing themselves slightly in a snarl.

“That means you have to trust that I intend you no harm.” Now the boy looked up at her, his visible eye as emotionless as ever.

He was met by a well-placed punch that threw him down against the floor.

Nanashi pushed himself away from her, knowing that she was standing, coming for him in order to render him completely senseless. The feeling of his face swelling already was half his motivation- she knew what she was doing, and had the force to complete the job.

By the time he stood, she had him pinned against the wall, sending blow after blow into his stomach, intending only to knock him out. The thought of retaliation was fleeting and he dismissed it even further, since Heero had practically sworn him to the job of protecting her.

Lights exploded in the back of his eyes- the unconscious boy slid down in front of her, effectively taken care of. Shaking her knuckles in appreciation of the hard muscles she had met, she prepared to drag him outside when she remembered the pair of handcuffs she had brought with her.

No problem, then.

Swimming through oblivion, and swirling, no control…nothing…and then gradually, light and one or two soft, droning sounds. Not enough light to see very well, but enough to make out the stand next to the bed, and the shape of the handcuffs that kept him from rolling over onto his stomach.

Gleaming, pernicious handcuffs on his wrists, and he could feel heavy iron on his ankles as well.

No.

She had been nodding off when he finally jerked awake. The girl watched with a smirk of satisfaction as the eye on her side narrowed in concentration and then widened with realization, noting that the time between the two was miniscule. So, he was a smart one.

Nanashi swallowed the knot in his throat, forcing it away, and tried not to overreact. Maybe he was imagining things. Maybe he was dreaming. Even it was a nightmare that made him sleepless for a month, let him be dreaming.

No.

Not again. Never again.

I’ll show you what it feels like, She thought viciously, standing without a sound and walking over to him, crawling onto the bed and on top of him, straddling him and beginning to do what had been done before, taking sick pleasure in what she did. Tugging at the tight black turtleneck he was still wearing, rubbing her legs a moment on the jeans he wore. Her clothes were still wet, but she didn’t care.

You’ll pay for it, now, And he trembled under her, she could almost taste that he was afraid of her. You’ll pay with everything; I’ll make you pay.

He felt someone climbing onto the bed, sliding over him, someone who was breathing heavily, someone who had power.

Someone who hated him.

No, no- nononono…He didn’t cry out, speak, he tried not to tense when nails, broken and sharp, began crawling up and down his neck, tracing the lines of bones and other such. A tongue followed the hands occasionally, leaving a trail of crawling flesh. I promised myself, he thought, that this would never happen again…

Hot touches, burning and hurting and never going away, leaving burns everywhere. Hot tears, until there weren’t anymore left- or he thought there weren’t. Electricity running up his nerves every time there was a touch. It hurts, not again, where am I, what is happening to me, who’s touching me, why am I here, how did this happen, why are you doing this to me, just kill me, kill me, kill me, end it all and KILL ME NOW!

The trembling under her was strange- she was sure men didn’t fear women this much. She could hear that his breath was hitching on tears, that he was almost gasping for air, and after caressing his face, being cautious of the bruise, she felt the wetness on her hand, quickly cooling in the night air from the hot tears to cold, salty water. He was crying. Why?

Kill me.
Why is he-?
Kill me.
Did he-?
End this.
Am I just…?
Just don’t hurt me anymore…

Hot touches, bruising kisses, struggling and being pushed down, and used like a bottle of beer, emptied of its use all too quickly. A shameful, pitiful little boy who couldn’t stand up for himself, shivering in his bed, covered in other people’s sweat and smelling the breath and the beer and-

Ropes and rapes and no control, and burning things inside that confused her so much. How was it supposed to work? Was she supposed to like it? Men who followed her, and finally stole her, and got what they wanted- night after night after night after night…

No one to talk to, no friends to cry with, nothing, nothing, nothing but a scared little weakling who didn’t scream and was only worth the minimal effort for a night of fun.

No parents left, no brother at home anymore, no one to take care of or to depend on, tricks and games that hurt a little girl and she was just useless now…

Just useless…
Used…
Old…
Dying…
Empty.

Kill me, he wanted to cry. Just kill me, don’t do this to me. The hands were moving slower, with more trepidation than before. Whoever it was had gotten down to his lower back and had just about reached the area which most used. Fear was spiking through him, no, no, please, stop…

And she stopped.

Nanashi’s eyes opened, and he felt someone getting off of him now. But there had been no sex, no pain, as though…Now a body crawled in under him, until a face was next to his, just out of his line of sight. Even so, he knew who it was.

The girl.

She turned her head to him, and those eyes trapped his, holding him in a death grip. They stared into each other, and would have for hours had he not been so close to collapse already. His previously labored breathing degenerated into violent sobs of bitter loss, and he could feel her crying into him too. Finally she regained enough control to whisper into his ear,

“I know you, I know you” before drawing back, leaning against the bed to better see him. He watched her with a bruised and battered feeling, physically and psychically, wanting her to finish what she had started to say.

“I know you,” She said once more, before leaning forward and burying her face on his shoulder. “You’re me,” came a disjointed whisper, from one or the other of them.

And she knew that he was…
He knew that she was…
There was sunlight.

Heero didn’t come back for about five days. Towards the end of the week, there was a soft knock on the door; Nanashi went to answer it.

There stood a bandaged Heero and (as always) smiling Duo, the most amusing sight to most casual observers. The former snarled at the latter, who cheerfully asked if he could bring his patient in.

“Feel free,” Nanashi moved aside to allow them access to the safehouse. The Japanese boy glared around the place, looking for something. Nanashi knew what.

“Trowa, where is she?” Without words, and subconsciously tugging down the ends of his sleeves to hide the bruises that were still there, Nanashi went to retrieve the girl, knocking on her door and refusing to call aloud. There was a soft reply, and Duo could have sworn a slight smile tugged at the boy’s lips.

“She’s coming Heero. Don’t worry.” With that, Nanashi sat down in a chair across from the couch where the others sat and stared through a wall as he thought.

Duo glanced at the still glowering Heero, the now-spacing Trowa, and the door the latter of the two had knocked on. The desire to know whom this girl was burned in him- Heero cared about her so much, and Trowa obviously knew who she was. He could ask the acrobat, but he might not get an answer…

The door opened, and a girl stepped out, her gray-brown eyes filled with mirth and her lips smiling at the sight of Heero. The bandaged boy stood, a smile crossing- and consequently, softening- his features.

“Ani.”

“I’m so happy to see you!” She cried, giving him a strong hug and beaming at him afterwards.

“Hello, Ani.” Duo looked puzzled, and Trowa was grinning at the scene unfolding before him. The American spoke up, finally deciding to just ask her what the fuss was about.

“Er…Ani?” She looked at him, the expression on her face showing him that she probably hadn’t noticed him before.

“Who are you, anyhow?”

Heero began to glare again, but somehow it wasn’t the customary death glare. Ani just laughed, embracing Heero once more, leaving the boy to explain.

“She’s my sister, Duo.”

Duo gaped, and the other three took that as their cue to dismiss him from attention. Heero turned to the green-eyed pilot, still with that soft smile on his face, forgetting about the Perfect Soldier enough to leave him behind.

“Thanks for taking care of her, Trowa.” Nanashi merely nodded his head; Heero got the feeling that he was smiling too.

“Thank you, Trowa,” Ani began, echoing her brother and somehow eliciting a much more pronounced response. “Thank you for everything.”

The acrobat physically smiled at her, nodding again. “Of course, Ani.”

There was sunlight.

~Fine~

Hmnnn....nice....
~Lena