I woke up with my head reeling, in a large cage in what appeared to be the bay of a cargo ship. Duo slumped beside me.

"Maxwell." I said shaking him,

He came to quickly, violet eyes peering up at my face under my hood. He paled.

-------------------------

Some prick was shaking me. I was lying on something cold and hard. My head felt like it was in a goddamn vice. I open and my eyes and who's hovering over me but one Heero Goddamn Yuy. Only, his eyes are wrong, they're gray, instead of blue, and my head starts hurting even worse, maybe I got the wrong guy, and then I look closer and realize the bastards wearing contacts.

"Du…"

"Take out those fucking contacts Yuy. Or I'll rip them out for you." I growled, ripping his hood down to reveal that permanently mussed hair

He nods slowly and turns, plucking out the contacts and letting them drop to the floor. When he turns back, those cobalt eyes are just as unbelievably blue as I remember.

"Duo… I…"

My fist connects solidly with his jaw.

My head just about splits in two with the effort, but the feel of his face beneath my knuckles is worth it. Heero rolls right back to his feet, the way he's moving, I can tell he's probably hurting same way I am. Good then. This'll be more even.

"Duo! I!"

My fist flies again, but he catches it this time

"Dammit Duo, would you take a look at your surroundings before brawling with me."

"No way! No FUCKING way Yuy! I've been waiting EIGHT GODDAMN YEARS to kick your ass you son-of-a-bitch! And I am NOT gonna stop to have a fucking conversation with you now!"

"We're in a fucking cage you moron! Now is not the time for this!"

He's getting pissed, and he drops below my right hook to sweep my legs out from under me, hitting me with an elbow to the solar-plexus on my way down, fucking prick.

I hit the floor hard, and I'm seeing stars but I'm too damn pissed to care. I flip back up and run back at him swinging,

"Eight fucking years Yuy! Eight fucking years!"

"If you'd stop trying to knock my fucking head off maybe I could explain!" he dodged a roundhouse to his head and tried to sweep again, but I saw it coming and dodged, catching his foot and flipping the reversal

"I don't want you explanations! I don't give a damn where you've been! Why the fuck did you show up now!" My fist slammed into the floor as he rolled out of the way, splitting my knuckles, "What is this some kind of game to you! You ditch out on all of us! ALL of us Yuy! The Princess! Everyone! And then you just come waltzing back in here like I'm supposed to be happy to see you! I didn't want to see you again! I was trying to forget! What the fuck Yuy!"

"I'm sorry Duo! Would you just shut up and listen!" Heero kept dodging my attacks, his head was clearing faster than mine it seemed, or maybe it was because he wasn't fighting back tears, or maybe it was just because Heero's always been better than me…

"I don't WANT to listen!"

"Hey! You two little bitches! Keep it down!" some fat ass 'guard' saunters over

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" we roared together, our fists flying between the bars to grab the jack-ass's shirt and simultaneously yanked, smashing the poor fuck right into the cage. He went limp and Heero grabbed his gun while I snatched his key card, and again, simultaneously, kicked his fat carcass away.

"Eight fucking years…" I grumbled to myself, "Eight fucking years and you just turn up again…"

"What about you." Heero glared, "eight fucking years and you still haven't grown up."

"Excuse me for living, asshole." I shot back

"Right, great Duo." he snarled as we let ourselves out of our little play-pen, "real fucking mature. Tell me, do all your nights getting plastered end up with you being sold in sex-trafficking?"

"Why the fuck should you care? I'm just a street whore from L2 aren't I? Use me for a one night stand and then adios!"

"I didn't use you for a…" Heero started

"Really? Cause I seem to remember you having bailed by the next morning." I glared, he couldn't argue with that one, it was true after all. I noticed with, no small note of satisfaction, the shiner beginning to develop around his right eye. But I grimaced as I realized I probably looked just as bad. I certainly felt it.

We stomped out of the cargo hold in silence, dispatching another 'guard' and procuring a gun for myself and a second key card.

"Duo, I…"

"Right. Fuck. Whatever. Where the hell are we?" I growled as we marched down the corridor towards the cockpit.

"Look, would you listen, I."

"Shut the fuck up Yuy! I got nothing to say to you!" I yelled, taking out some poor sap with a gun who happened to be walking towards us.

"Well maybe I've got something to say to you!" Heero blasted away another two poor bastards. The cockpit stood in front of us.

"Something that took you eight years to figure out!?" I barked a humorless laugh and slid the card through the reader, the door slid open, and the creepazoid from the night before, along with two other poor bastards turned to stare in shock.

"MAYBE IT DID!" Heero roared taking out the one on the left while I shot the jerk on the right. Both guns zoned in on Creepazoid, his eyes wide, he didn't even try to reach for his gun.

"Look, Duo baby…" he stammered as we stepped forward, "It's just a misunderstanding please." He swallowed hard, "I… I'm just in love with you."

"That's my line." Heero growled as our fists slammed into his face, sending him flying into the console and then crumpling to the floor without a sound.

I threw open a direct line to the Preventers office.

"Get me Chang, NOW!" I growled at the girl who answered

"yes sir." she said meekly, moving quickly to transfer the line

"This had better be…" Wufei's black eyes widened, "Duo! Where the fuck have you been!? Relena's been frantic! What the hell happened to your face?"

"Heero fucking Yuy happened." I glared, "One minute I'm happy, throwing a few back at a club, the next I've been sold in sex-trafficking with that goddamn son-of-a-bitch and…"

"Yuy's with you!?" Wufei's chair could be heard crashing to the floor

Heero moved into view of the vid-screens camera, "Nice to see you again, Chang." he said stoically

Wufei's face turned an amazing shade of red as he started screaming

"NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN CHANG! EIGHT FUCKING YEARS AND IT'S NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN CHANG! YOU DISHONERABLE PIECE SHIT YUY! JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! I CAN'T WAIT TO SERVE JUSTICE TO YOUR ASS YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH! DUO, IN THE NAME OF THE LAW PUNCH THAT BASTARD AGAIN!"

Somewhere in Chang's screaming I just sorta snapped. I was tired, I hurt, and listening to Wufei roar about justice and honor just made the fact that Heero was back seem… real… I didn't know how I felt. There was this huge gaping hole in my chest and it felt like it was being filled and emptied at the same time. I was so fucking pissed, but at the same time, I was so goddamned happy that I… I just slid down to the floor and started laughing. Laughing and crying at the same time.

It was so fucked up, but it was so fucking funny, Heero, getting his ass chewed by Wufei. It was like it was 8 years ago. Like nothing had changed. Except that everything had changed.

"Clear us a course home, Chang." Heero said sharply, "Yuy out." and he ended the transmission