finally! its finally finished! this fic just never wanted to end DX it WAS actually only supposed to be a one-shot, maybe a two-shot, but it just kinda didnt want to end, so i had to break it up into chapters...

well anyways, this i guess is a slight AU, like not really, but, well... you'll see.

so yeah. Duo POV, btw. i worked hard on this fic, and save for the end, i really like it. i hope you do too!

Disclaimer: If i owned gw, yaoi would be cannon and the series would still be going... somehow... 15 years later... XD also, the quote down there is from Rurouni Kenshin :D

Shadows of Death

. . .

Prologue

The Greatest Hitman of our Generation

"A relentless assassin, lurking in the darkness of the night..."

It's the year AC 200. The years had gone by so fast, yet it seemed like an eternity since I had last seen the other pilots, since the wars had come to an end. You see, I hadn't taken the same path as my four best friends... No, I found a career that was much darker than they had. Instead of joining Preventers, like many survivors of the war had, I had fallen into the shadows, becoming an assassin for the big men of the Underworld. I hadn't even so much as spoken to any of the other pilots since we last saw each other, and the only way I knew they were still alive and well was through a Preventers Information Dealer that I had ties with on occasion. He knew who I was, and would always tell me about my friends when I met with him. Sometimes, I wondered how I had ended up with a life like this, still killing many men and women mercilessly. And yet, I somehow enjoyed what I did. There was that near constant adrenaline high of sneaking into unknown territory, spying on the target, watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Looking at my job from a detached view, however, it really was quite strange. An ex-Gundam pilot doing the all the dirty work for men he had once despised, ending what could very well be innocent lives simply because I was ordered to. Sure, I didn't care much for the rules and restrictions I constantly had to follow, but I always got the job done perfectly. I was freelance, working for anyone who needed me—one hit I'd be doing for one guy, and the next, his rival. I never knew what I'd be getting myself into with each killing.

So here I was, crouched in the shadows of some rich dude's apartment. His name was Mitchell Coleman and he was a supposed 'enemy' of the man I was doing the job for, a man by the name of Reynolds. I shifted slightly, balancing my weight on my heels instead of the balls of my feet. I was anxious to get this over with and go back to my hotel room. At the moment, I was watching this Coleman guy flirt with what appeared to be his girlfriend. Sure he was young and handsome and she was blonde and beautiful, but if I had to watch them for much longer, I was going to have to finish the job sooner than planned. I wasn't exactly into girls, per se, and this was a total turn off. I wasn't into that kind of stuff.

Finally! The blonde stood up from where she had been sitting on his lap and left the room, beckoning him to follow her. He gestured that he'd be there in a minute. No, he wouldn't. Not if I had any say in it... and I most certainly did. Coleman stood from the sofa, his back to me, and fixed his ruffled dress shirt and tie. I watched in silence as he walked over to the large desk by the window. He checked a few papers before nodding in satisfaction; he turned to face the window. Now was my chance. I rose from my hiding place—which had been under a table, as undignified as it was—and stepped silently over to my target. I was careful to make sure he could not see my reflection in the window.

"Well, well, well, here we have the flirt and his oh so beautiful girlfriend. I wonder which one of them is about to die?" Coleman turned to face me in complete shock, his eyes wide and shining, almost haunted, in the low light. I grinned, drawing my gun and holding it loosely in my hand, as if it wasn't stained with the blood of so many lives.

"Who sent you?" he asked, voice just as low as mine—we couldn't be discovered by that girlfriend of his. His tone had been surprisingly calm, something I hadn't expected from a businessman not much older than myself. He stepped closer to his desk, reaching inconspicuously for the drawer.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said, raising my gun lazily to aim it at him. He stopped, "Go on, put your hands up." I licked my dry lips, watching as he raised his hands and put them behind his head—something told me he knew this routine rather well. Despite Coleman's actions, though, I could still sense the fear radiating from him, feel the tension in the air. After a few moments of simply staring at me, a sort of grim realization crossed his features. He just realized who I was.

"Y-You're..." the fear was finally vocalized. "You're that Gundam pilot... I've heard about you... Duo Maxwell, right? Supposedly the greatest hitman of our generation... I remember when you were on TV five years ago, when you got caught..." his voice darkened, as if he regretted his next words, "I actually felt bad for you." I scoffed at that, as if it didn't matter. And it didn't; this guy was so close to death that anything he said right now was really meaningless. He was doing nothing more than trying to prolong the inevitable. After a few minutes of me simply staring at him, Coleman repeated, "Who sent you... to kill me?"

I smirked, lowering my gun a bit so he could see my amusement, "Ah yes, the token question." My smirk became a malicious grin as I mocked him, "I know the routine by heart, 'Who sent you?' 'Please don't kill me!' 'I'm innocent, I swear!' ...yadda, yadda, yadda. It means nothing to me, so let's just get on with it, shall we? I'd like to go to bed at a decent hour tonight, if you don't mind." I raised my gun so that it was level with his eyes and took a step forward, "I will tell you though. It was your good buddy Reynolds who put out the hit. Now, any last words? Wanna leave a short suicide note for little Miss Blondie in the next room?"

Coleman shook his head in disbelief. He hadn't heard a word I said after I told him it was Reynolds that wanted him dead. "But..." he stuttered, "J-John was on my side...? Why would he betray me?"

I frowned, undoing the safety on my simple black pistol. With the silencer in place like it was, Miss Blondie in the next room wouldn't even hear the death of her lover. My finger tensed before pulling the trigger, and I watched in a sort of blood lusting trance as crimson spattered from Coleman's forehead as the force of the bullet pushed him back. I was surprised when his back hit the window and it cracked, shattering at his weight. The glass had been surprisingly thin and flimsy for such a high story building... The dead man plummeted forty stories, nothing more than a broken heap of flesh as his fall came to a very abrupt end.

"Oops," I breathed, wincing as I heard the sounds of panicked screams float up to the apartment. I quickly holstered my gun, blending back into the shadows just as Miss Blondie reappeared in the room. She screamed as well, staring in horror at the broken window and the blood on the carpet... now to make my escape. Silently, I edged to the front door leading out of the room and then proceeded to exit the apartment. My long black trench coat trailed behind me as I sauntered to the elevator at the end of the long hall. I took it down to the ground floor, then left the fancy building as inconspicuously as I had entered several hours prior. No one would suspect a thing, as always.

Once I was back out onto the street, I disappeared into the night, returning to the shadows until Shinigami was called upon once again...

Hey. dont complain that its short. its a prologue XD but did you like it? review please!

so yeah! i love duo's trench coat :D i'll post the next chapter tomorrow.

uhmmm oh yeah, now that this is finally done, i'm gonna try to work on the sequel to "Lips of an Angel" okay? heero really wants me to finish it, so i'll try.

-shinigami out...