A/N: It's Heero! And he was very hard for me to write. . It was an intimidating challenge, trying to get into his head. So please don't be too unhappy with me if he's out-of-character here.

Oh, as a side-note, last chapter Duo broke his arm and got dosed up with pain-meds. He was not ill.


I like the rain.

I have been hopping from colony to colony for as far back as I can remember. Colonies are so artificial, even the weather. The rain there is not real rain, just water. But here on Earth, the rain is real. It smells different, feels different. Fresher, somehow. So much more real. So I walk home in the rain, without an umbrella. My jacket is thick enough. The streets are deserted, empty of all but the most urgent of travelers. I have no place to be but home, I guess. That is a strange feeling. For so many years I never had a home. Not two months ago, that little two-bedroom apartment here in Sicily became home. It just...did, somehow.

The rain is warm, because the weather here is always warm. And I like walking in the rain.

I hesitate, several feet from the apartment complex. I heard an odd noise. Mind, there are often many noises here, and the hissing of the rain distorts sound. But I heard...something. I shrug the one good shoulder, set my bag down, and venture down the little narrow alley. I have no fear of being attacked, not here. The war is long over.

The noise is tiny, quavering. I poke among the bagged trash in the alley, before I find what I am looking for. It is a tiny wad of wet fur, tri-coloured calico. I squat down in the rain and peer at the thing. The tiny, tiny kitten looks at me with watery blue eyes, opens a very pink little mouth, and mews at me. I look around. I can see no nest among the trash that this little creature could have gotten away from, and I see no larger mother cat at all. Carefully, I reach out to touch the little thing. It bumps its little wet head against my hand, and mewls again. I look around again, and spot the answer to the mystery.

A wet paper sack is nearby. A second, tiny little kitten is half-in, half-out of the sack. This one, however, is not moving. I scoot sideways and peer into the sack. Five little bodies in all, cold and stiff. I go back to the tiny calico. It is tiny and wet and shivering. Awkwardly, with my one hand, I pick the little thing up. It could sit in my hand. It can't be very old at all. It mews at me, cold and shivery.

After a moment of thought, I tuck the tiny thing into my sling, under my jacket. It is warm and dry under there. The little kitten wriggles a bit, but stays put. Either it is too small or too weak to go far. I stand, wince a little at the twinge in my shoulder, regather my bag, and walk up to our apartment.

I am home two days early. There was a minor disturbance at the peace conference in the Vatican City, and I got caught in the crossfire. My collarbone is cracked, my humerus broken near the head, and a rib cracked. I had to be given a blood transfusion, a few stitches, and was sent home. I doubt any of them at home have listened to the news today, however, and I doubt they will have heard about it. I take the old elevator instead of the stairs, and arrive on the second floor in almost twice the time I would have had I taken the stairs.

It is a little after three in the afternoon. Everyone should be home, unless Wu Fei's shift changed. The door is unlocked. It smells like double-chocolate-chip cookies in here. Trowa must be baking. "Tadaima!"

Quatre pops out of the kitchen, smiling. "Heero! You're home early...you're hurt!"

Trowa comes out of the kitchen as well, hotpad in hand.

I fend off Quatre with my good hand. "I'm fine."

"You're soaked. I'll go get some towels." Quatre trots off down the hall. I hear him call something to Wu Fei.

Trowa wanders up to stand near me. "You get shot?"

"You heard?" I reach into my sling, and am strangely relieved to feel that the tiny kitten is still warm. Carefully, I pull it out, only half-hearing Trowa's assent. I hold the little thing against my chest, lacking a second hand to steady it.

"Is that a cat?" Trowa asks, leaning over.

I shrug with my one shoulder. No use in stating the obvious.

"Heero, what have you got?" Quatre queries, bustling up with several towels in his arms. "What is that?"

Trowa tucks his hotpad into his back pocket. "Quatre, go check the cookies," he requests, taking a towel from the blonde. He reaches over and plucks the little ball of wet fur from my hand. I let him. Trowa is good with animals.

Quatre hands the other towels to me, and trots away. I start drying myself off with only one hand. By the time I shed my damp jacket and shoes, Trowa has dried off the little fuzzball and it is mewing again. It is surprisingly loud for such a tiny creature.

"Where did you find it?" Trowa asks.

"In the trash-alley. There were five others, but they were dead." I hesitate, then reach for the little bundle. To my surprise, Trowa hands it back to me. "I..."

"It's young. Maybe about three weeks," Trowa says. He turns and goes into the kitchen.

I follow, lured by the smell of the cookies. Trowa bakes astoundingly good cookies. I generally don't like sweets, but I can't really resist these cookies. Quatre is stacking a cooled batch on a plate. His monkey is hanging onto his pants leg, chattering away to him. Quatre lets the thing run loose everywhere, even in the kitchen. He dotes on the annoying creature. I think he's the only one who likes it.

Trowa shoos Quatre and monkey out of the kitchen by popping Quatre on the shoulder with the hotpad, then pointing at the monkey. Quatre grins sheepishly, collects the monkey, and goes out. Trowa starts doling out drops of dough onto the waiting pan. "Go get a sock and bring it in here," he says.

Though puzzled, I do as he says. I pass the main living area and see Duo passed out on the couch. His left arm is in a sling, and his cast is gone. My bet, however, is that he is still on drugs--it's the only reason he would be sleeping now. I meet Quatre and his monkey in the hall: Quatre has another towel under one arm and the monkey on the other. We squeeze past each other in the narrow hall. I open the door to the room I share with Wu Fei.

Wu Fei is sitting on his bed, reading. He looks up at me with a little surprise. "Heero. What have you got?"

I set the towel-bundle down next to him and turn away to rummage through my dresser drawers. There are always loose socks without a mate in there. I think it's a universal law--socks can never go through the wash and come out in pairs. I retrieve the sock and poke it into my sling. Slings are very handy for carrying light objects. I've worn them enough to know. I return to Wu Fei's bed and collect the little kitten in the towel.

"It is very young," Wu Fei says, closing his book and rising. He walks across the bed and off it, following me. "Where did you find it?"

"In the alley." I dislike having to repeat the story, but I will probably have to tell it at least twice more, to Quatre and Duo both. I return to the kitchen, with Wu Fei in tow. Quatre is in the hall, by the front door. Likely he is drying off my pack.

Trowa is leaning on the counter. He looks up as I come in. "Sock?"

I debate my bundle. "Sling."

Wu Fei leans around me and plucks the sock from my sling. He tosses it to Trowa. Trowa catches it with an easy gesture, and rummages around in the cabinet behind him.

"Heero!"

I turn to Quatre's scolding tones. He is standing in the kitchen doorway, monkey on his shoulder, a sheaf of papers in his hand. Oops.

"Do you mean to tell me you have three broken bones and minor surgery since yesterday and you haven't gotten the prescriptions filled? What were you thinking? You at least could have gotten the antibiotics right away, let alone the pain-killers! You didn't say you were hurt that badly!"

I can't help it. "You never asked."

Quatre practically vibrates with irritation and spits out something in Arabic. I try to hold back my grin. Teasing Quatre is actually quite amusing, especially when he gets wound up enough to forget to speak in English. He launches into a tirade that would be far more effective if I understood a word of it. Behind me I can hear Trowa sniggering, very quietly. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Wu Fei smirking, just a little.

Though I was raised speaking Japanese, I can speak English with ease. Over the years I've picked up a little Chinese from Wu Fei, but Arabic escapes me. I'm starting to get a handle on Italian, though, which is a good thing because that is what they speak here on Sicily. I don't think any of we five know less than three languages. Of course, most of what we know is not considered polite conversation, not by any stretch. The curse words are the easiest to learn in any language.

Quatre winds down eventually, recovering enough to break into English, though mid-sentence. "--with Trowa. You stay here and keep an eye on Duo. He gets another pill at six, though I don't think we'll be gone that long. Trowa?"

"Where am I going?" Trowa asks, amiably enough. He seems to be busy with the microwave.

I wish my hands were free. The last batch of cookies is cooling on the pan, and they look perfectly tempting. Wu Fei has one already in hand, munching with a small grin. Trowa's cookies are the best.

"To the pharmacy with me, so we can fill Heero's prescriptions. I know he won't do it." Quatre sighs. "I'll go put Qerd up and then we'll go." He leaves with the monkey.

Trowa turns around, a shallow dish in one hand and the sock in the other. The sock seems to have been knotted into a small sack, and is full of something. He nods. "When the sock cools down, warm it up again, but not too hot. I'll get something for the kitten, but in the meantime see if it won't take a little of this." He moves the dish a little. "It's warm sugar-water. Don't give it too much, though."

I nod. Trowa hands dish and sock to a surprised Wu Fei. "Good. I'm going now."

I turn to Wu Fei, who has his cookie stuck in his mouth. He shrugs, puzzled. I turn and head for the living room. He follows.

Duo is on the couch, but he has knocked off three pillows and half his blanket. I am tempted to put the pillows back on the couch, but I have no hands to do it with. I sit down beside the couch, on a pillow, and set the towel-bundle into my lap. The little kitten within mews pitiably. Wu Fei kneels beside me and hands me the warm sock. It feels like it's full of rice. I tuck the sock next to the little kitten. Wu Fei sets the dish beside my knee and leaves. I ponder the little kitten. After several tries, it becomes clear the tiny creature has no idea how to drink out of the dish. After a few more minutes, we both work out that if I dip my finger in the sugar-water, the tiny kitten can lick most of the stuff off. It's not good for a long-time arrangement, but it works for now.

Duo moans and moves. I half-expect him to roll off the couch onto me. Instead, his cheek brushes against my hair. I twitch. Drugged or not, he knows I don't like being touched. "Nnn, whatchya got, Heero?" he drawls.

The kitten mews. It's very loud for such a tiny creature.

"Cat?" Duo asks. " 'Kay. G'night." He rolls back over.

I doubt he will even remember that later.

Quatre and Trowa come back in good time. Trowa has an interesting assortment of items, ranging from an eye-dropper to a pan to be used as a sand-box for the kitten. Quatre has three bottles of pills, and promptly confronts me with the first dose in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. Protesting is now futile. So I just take the pills, leave the tiny furball in Trowa's more experienced care, and go hunt down those cookies.

It's good to be home.


A/N: So Heero reveals that the boys now reside on Sicily. o.o Which is the island off the tip of Italy, for those who need reminders in geography.

The kitten here was very much inspired by my sister's cat, Cricket, who was found around three weeks of age. I can tell you, at three weeks kittens aren't cute--their heads are too large, as are their ears and eyes. At that point they're mostly little furry stomachs that need to be fed at four in the morning.

Next in line is: Wu Fei! And what will he have to say? Find out Wednesday.

Tadaima -- I'm home (Japanese)

The chapter title is koneko, which means "kitten" in Japanese.