Ai Shiteru, Quatre-kun
Part 6
I lied on my sleeping bag--the softest sleeping bag in the campsite--while Trowa bandaged my bare chest and back. Someone, presumably Heero, stood outside the tent, chewing Duo out.
"I thought you knew Quatre had fair skin!"
"I did, but I didn't know it was -that- fair!"
Trowa sighed and continued bandaging my chest and back. He had already done my legs, with help from Heero and Wu Fei holding me down, because I was still in pain and I was writhing around too much to stay still enough for Trowa to apply the bandages.
If there is anyone I care about more, it's Trowa.
Well, maybe my father. Or my sisters.
Hmm...
*****
I sat near the fire, nothing on the upper half of my body except the bandages. Hey, the cool night air felt good on my burns. Only logical to soothe your wounds best as possible. Right.
Trowa looked at me. "You feeling alright, Quatre?"
I smiled. "Yeah, I feel a little better." Totally fake. I was still in pain. It felt worse than sunburn.
"That's good," Heero commented. He shot a glare at Duo, who cowered behind a rock.
I winced as a small gust of wind hit a sore area of my back. Trowa glanced to me and shot me a sympathetic half-smile that no one but me could see.
Heero got up and walked to the rock Duo was hiding behind. "We all know you're back there. You can come out now, Duo," he joked. Heero, joking? This is an event to mark in the calendar. Duo crawled out from behind the rock. "Now, didn't you have something to say to Quatre?"
"Ano..." Duo stood up and walked to me. "Quatre, gomen nasai." He bowed. Wow. Heero's Japanese customs must be rubbing off. Either that or Wu Fei's Chinese customs. Either one would work.
"It's alright, Duo. It was an honest mistake." I smiled at him, and he returned to his rock, completely satisfied. He had seemed to had gotten over what Trowa said to him at the tanning salon pretty quickly as well.
Trowa turned to me. "Quatre, why don't you get some sleep? It'll help your wounds heal faster." /Yeah,/ I thought. /Just look at Heero. He was on the brink of death, but after sleeping for a month, he recovered./
"Alright." Trowa helped me up and walked with me to my tent. Duo had recently switched places with Trowa so Trowa could stay with me. Duo was sharing Heero's tent now.
Trowa helped me lie down. He leaned down to my ear. "Are you hungry?" he whispered.
"Hungry?" I whispered back. Then I remembered what I was, and my veins began to scream out at me. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Alright. I'll go hunt something down after everyone else goes to sleep." He lied down on the sleeping bag next to me. I soon fell asleep.
*****
"Quatre? Hey, Quatre." Someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes just a little, and I could see Trowa's face above my own.
"Trowa?" I sat up. "What is it?"
"I got us some dinner. Follow me." He opened the tent flap, and a chill came over me. I grabbed a dark-colored sweater and pulled it over my head, then followed him.
Trowa led me into the woods, but not as far as the first time. He led me to a dark form lying on the ground that appeared to be bound by the wrists and ankles. I could make out little details about the form, like that it was wearing clothes. "Ano...Trowa?"
He looked at me. "Quatre, you'll never be able to develop your powers correctly if you don't have human blood. Just, please...do this for me."
He hung his head.
God, how could I resist that face? "Oh, alright." I sighed and walked over to the form, who was unconscious. By his uniform, he appeared to be an OZ soldier. "Hey, how'd you manage to salvage this guy?"
He laughed. "He was patroling nearby. I'm assuming there's an OZ camp somewhere around here."
"Oh great, that's all we need." I kneeled down to the man. "Sorry," I whispered. [1] Then I let my fangs grow out and I pierced his neck.
"Oi, is that you, Quatre and Trowa?" Oh no. That voice...it sounded like...Oh no...it wasn't...it couldn't be...
"Quatre, hurry and drag him into the underbrush, then get yourself in there as well." He made a shooing motion, then spun around. "Oh, hello, Duo."
Damn. It /was/ Duo after all. I drug the soldier into the bushes nearby, then went to get under cover as well, when Duo blurted it out. "Oi, Trowa? Why is Quatre hiding in the bushes?"
Dammit! I climbed out and stood up. Trowa was shaking his head no, and was frantically trying to tell me not to come out, and that he would create a distraction or an excuse or something. Too late. "Ano...ni hao, Duo."
Duo stared at me for a few minutes. /What? do I have something on my face?...Oh God./ I dabbed around my mouth, and sure enough, there was blood on it.
"Ne, Quatre, you ok?" Duo asked, looking completely clueless. I sighed in just a bit of relief, and smiled.
"Hai, I'm alright, Duo."
Duo stretched. "Well, I'm going back to camp now. You guys take care!" He turned around and ran.
Trowa turned to me. "Quatre, I'm really sorry about this morning. You're lucky I was right across the street from that tanning salon."
I smiled. "Trowa, that's the fifth time you've apologized to me. Don't worry about it."
He put his hands on my shoulders and drew me close to him. We stood that way for a few minutes, then he pulled back. "Quatre...I have something for you."
"For me?" Yay! A present.
"Yeah." He pulled out a small box and in it was a silver ring with a deep blue stone inset in it. "This will protect you from bright light, so if Duo tries to pull the tanning salon stunt again, you won't get hurt."
I took it and put it on. "Thank you, Trowa."
"No problem." His lips quirked. "Now, we should be getting back to the camp."
"Hai." Then we began the short walk back.
*****
The next morning, we all sat around the fire, Wu Fei in a lotus position, everyone else on logs, eating breakfast. [2] It had been unusually quiet, since Duo always talked during, breakfast, dinner, anything. But today, he didn't say one word during breakfast. He's a strange boy.
"Duo, you're so quiet today," Wu Fei commented. "Are you sick?"
"Nah. Just thinkin'." He shoved a spoonful of Frosted Flakes in his mouth.
"About what?" I piped in.
Duo looked at me. "Like maybe what you and Trowa were doing last night in the woods?"
I blushed. Hey, wait a minute...I blushed! Naturally! Wow. I don't have to try anymore. "Um...well...we were just--"
"Taking a walk," Trowa cutted in.
"Yeah, we were taking a walk." I eyed Duo suspiciously. "What were /you/ doing in the woods?"
Now it was Duo's turn to blush. "Well...I had to go to the bathroom /really/ bad..." Everyone started laughing.
Heero popped into the conversation, ruining the little moment of comedy. "We have to get back to figuring out what we're gonna do about Quatre's kidnappers."
Duo yawned and stood up. "Let's just forget the whole thing, ok? I don't really think there is much of anything we can do against them."
Trowa glared at him. "Yeah, but will you be saying that when Quatre gets kidnapped again?"
Duo blushed. "Um..." He slumped back down on his rock.
"But really, if you guys are gonna take a course of action, you better be hurrying up about it," I said. "The moon's nearly full, and they might come for me again. That's when they came for me before, remember?"
Everyone sat in silence for a while, thinking. Then Trowa stood up. "How about this? We could all stay up on the night of the full moon and make sure no one outside of our camp gets near Quatre. Then, once we have fended off their henchmen, we can go to the castle and get rid of the threat."
"It might be a good idea, Trowa, but school is gonna restart soon. We've already been out here a week longer than we planned. We should be heading back," Heero muttered.
"Yeah. We should be heading back. Tomorrow, probably." Wu Fei crossed his arms. "They shouldn't be able to follow us there."
"You're right. And if they do, we'll get rid of 'em, ne, Quatre?" Duo poked me in the side.
I just stared off into space.
*****
The next morning, we all began to pack up our belongings. Duo was kissing goodbye to the tree he had spent many a night in. That was his punishment for tormenting Heero. I laughed as an acorn fell on his head. "Looks like your tree loves you back, Duo!" I called. I expected him to glare at me, but he laughed as well.
Trowa put a hand on my shoulder. "Looks like your feeling better. You're cracking jokes now." He smiled at me as I looked up at him.
"Yeah, I am feeling better..." I trailed off. Trowa looked concerned.
"Is something bothering you, Quatre?"
I looked at the ground. "Well, actually--"
"WHERE'S MY BACKPACK?!?! MAXWELL!!!"
I laughed. "Sounds like Wu Fei is mad at Duo again." I looked over to Duo and saw him going through a small green backpack that strangely looked like the one Misty carries around in Pokemon. He was pulling out all sorts of things out of the tiny bag: a Chinese cook book; several different packets of flavored green tea; revealing pictures of Zechs and Treize; a special issue of OZzies Magazine that covered OZ generals and lieutenants, and had some pretty revealing photos, too; several PokeBalls; a stuffed Pikachu...I pretty much looked away about then. Too disturbing...
Trowa looked away from the madness as well. "So, what were you about to tell me?"
"Oh, yeah, that..." I looked towards the woods. "It's a little too private to discuss out here...let's go for a walk, ok?"
Trowa looked down at me. "Sure. Ok." He turned to Heero. "Heero, we're going for one last walk in the woods. We'll be back soon." Heero just grunted and continued packing up the van.
*****
"Oi, Quatre? I think we've went far enough. What was it you wanted to tell me?"
I stopped and turned around, letting go of Trowa's hand. "Well...um...I..."
"You what? What are you trying to say?"
I looked up at him, tears almost coming to my eyes. "Trowa...I don't wan't to be a vampire anymore. It scares me, and I've been having nightmares and seeing things and my father appears to me from time to time..." I started gasping for breath and I sank to my knees.
"Quatre!" Trowa knelt beside me. "Quatre, daijoubu ka?"
"Aa..." I managed inbetween gasps. "Dai...joubu..."
"You're hyperventilating. Try to calm down." He hugged me to his chest, and I heard the rhythmatic beating of his heart. It was very soothing, and soon I calmed down to where I was breathing normally.
He pushed me away from him gently. "Are you alright now?"
"Yes, I'm fine." I looked down to the ground. "Is there any way you can change me back?"
Trowa thought for a moment. "There...is a way..." he said thoughtfully as he tapped his index finger on his bottom lip.
"Please, Trowa! By any means possible, turn me back again..."
Trowa turned to me. "Any means possible?"
I looked at him quizzically. "Yes...why do you ask?"
"The only means of turning you back that I have is this little pill here." He held up a red capsule that looked kind of like a Tylenol or something. "It will change you back, but your insides will be rearranged again, only it will hurt like all hell, unlike when I changed you. Are you sure you're up to it?"
I slowly nodded. "Yes, Trowa. My decision last time was hastily made, and I payed for that by these visions I'm having. This decision is well thought out."
"Very well, then." Trowa handed me the pill. "I will go with you to the creek. You need to take that with water."
"Alright."
Part 6
I lied on my sleeping bag--the softest sleeping bag in the campsite--while Trowa bandaged my bare chest and back. Someone, presumably Heero, stood outside the tent, chewing Duo out.
"I thought you knew Quatre had fair skin!"
"I did, but I didn't know it was -that- fair!"
Trowa sighed and continued bandaging my chest and back. He had already done my legs, with help from Heero and Wu Fei holding me down, because I was still in pain and I was writhing around too much to stay still enough for Trowa to apply the bandages.
If there is anyone I care about more, it's Trowa.
Well, maybe my father. Or my sisters.
Hmm...
*****
I sat near the fire, nothing on the upper half of my body except the bandages. Hey, the cool night air felt good on my burns. Only logical to soothe your wounds best as possible. Right.
Trowa looked at me. "You feeling alright, Quatre?"
I smiled. "Yeah, I feel a little better." Totally fake. I was still in pain. It felt worse than sunburn.
"That's good," Heero commented. He shot a glare at Duo, who cowered behind a rock.
I winced as a small gust of wind hit a sore area of my back. Trowa glanced to me and shot me a sympathetic half-smile that no one but me could see.
Heero got up and walked to the rock Duo was hiding behind. "We all know you're back there. You can come out now, Duo," he joked. Heero, joking? This is an event to mark in the calendar. Duo crawled out from behind the rock. "Now, didn't you have something to say to Quatre?"
"Ano..." Duo stood up and walked to me. "Quatre, gomen nasai." He bowed. Wow. Heero's Japanese customs must be rubbing off. Either that or Wu Fei's Chinese customs. Either one would work.
"It's alright, Duo. It was an honest mistake." I smiled at him, and he returned to his rock, completely satisfied. He had seemed to had gotten over what Trowa said to him at the tanning salon pretty quickly as well.
Trowa turned to me. "Quatre, why don't you get some sleep? It'll help your wounds heal faster." /Yeah,/ I thought. /Just look at Heero. He was on the brink of death, but after sleeping for a month, he recovered./
"Alright." Trowa helped me up and walked with me to my tent. Duo had recently switched places with Trowa so Trowa could stay with me. Duo was sharing Heero's tent now.
Trowa helped me lie down. He leaned down to my ear. "Are you hungry?" he whispered.
"Hungry?" I whispered back. Then I remembered what I was, and my veins began to scream out at me. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Alright. I'll go hunt something down after everyone else goes to sleep." He lied down on the sleeping bag next to me. I soon fell asleep.
*****
"Quatre? Hey, Quatre." Someone was shaking me. I opened my eyes just a little, and I could see Trowa's face above my own.
"Trowa?" I sat up. "What is it?"
"I got us some dinner. Follow me." He opened the tent flap, and a chill came over me. I grabbed a dark-colored sweater and pulled it over my head, then followed him.
Trowa led me into the woods, but not as far as the first time. He led me to a dark form lying on the ground that appeared to be bound by the wrists and ankles. I could make out little details about the form, like that it was wearing clothes. "Ano...Trowa?"
He looked at me. "Quatre, you'll never be able to develop your powers correctly if you don't have human blood. Just, please...do this for me."
He hung his head.
God, how could I resist that face? "Oh, alright." I sighed and walked over to the form, who was unconscious. By his uniform, he appeared to be an OZ soldier. "Hey, how'd you manage to salvage this guy?"
He laughed. "He was patroling nearby. I'm assuming there's an OZ camp somewhere around here."
"Oh great, that's all we need." I kneeled down to the man. "Sorry," I whispered. [1] Then I let my fangs grow out and I pierced his neck.
"Oi, is that you, Quatre and Trowa?" Oh no. That voice...it sounded like...Oh no...it wasn't...it couldn't be...
"Quatre, hurry and drag him into the underbrush, then get yourself in there as well." He made a shooing motion, then spun around. "Oh, hello, Duo."
Damn. It /was/ Duo after all. I drug the soldier into the bushes nearby, then went to get under cover as well, when Duo blurted it out. "Oi, Trowa? Why is Quatre hiding in the bushes?"
Dammit! I climbed out and stood up. Trowa was shaking his head no, and was frantically trying to tell me not to come out, and that he would create a distraction or an excuse or something. Too late. "Ano...ni hao, Duo."
Duo stared at me for a few minutes. /What? do I have something on my face?...Oh God./ I dabbed around my mouth, and sure enough, there was blood on it.
"Ne, Quatre, you ok?" Duo asked, looking completely clueless. I sighed in just a bit of relief, and smiled.
"Hai, I'm alright, Duo."
Duo stretched. "Well, I'm going back to camp now. You guys take care!" He turned around and ran.
Trowa turned to me. "Quatre, I'm really sorry about this morning. You're lucky I was right across the street from that tanning salon."
I smiled. "Trowa, that's the fifth time you've apologized to me. Don't worry about it."
He put his hands on my shoulders and drew me close to him. We stood that way for a few minutes, then he pulled back. "Quatre...I have something for you."
"For me?" Yay! A present.
"Yeah." He pulled out a small box and in it was a silver ring with a deep blue stone inset in it. "This will protect you from bright light, so if Duo tries to pull the tanning salon stunt again, you won't get hurt."
I took it and put it on. "Thank you, Trowa."
"No problem." His lips quirked. "Now, we should be getting back to the camp."
"Hai." Then we began the short walk back.
*****
The next morning, we all sat around the fire, Wu Fei in a lotus position, everyone else on logs, eating breakfast. [2] It had been unusually quiet, since Duo always talked during, breakfast, dinner, anything. But today, he didn't say one word during breakfast. He's a strange boy.
"Duo, you're so quiet today," Wu Fei commented. "Are you sick?"
"Nah. Just thinkin'." He shoved a spoonful of Frosted Flakes in his mouth.
"About what?" I piped in.
Duo looked at me. "Like maybe what you and Trowa were doing last night in the woods?"
I blushed. Hey, wait a minute...I blushed! Naturally! Wow. I don't have to try anymore. "Um...well...we were just--"
"Taking a walk," Trowa cutted in.
"Yeah, we were taking a walk." I eyed Duo suspiciously. "What were /you/ doing in the woods?"
Now it was Duo's turn to blush. "Well...I had to go to the bathroom /really/ bad..." Everyone started laughing.
Heero popped into the conversation, ruining the little moment of comedy. "We have to get back to figuring out what we're gonna do about Quatre's kidnappers."
Duo yawned and stood up. "Let's just forget the whole thing, ok? I don't really think there is much of anything we can do against them."
Trowa glared at him. "Yeah, but will you be saying that when Quatre gets kidnapped again?"
Duo blushed. "Um..." He slumped back down on his rock.
"But really, if you guys are gonna take a course of action, you better be hurrying up about it," I said. "The moon's nearly full, and they might come for me again. That's when they came for me before, remember?"
Everyone sat in silence for a while, thinking. Then Trowa stood up. "How about this? We could all stay up on the night of the full moon and make sure no one outside of our camp gets near Quatre. Then, once we have fended off their henchmen, we can go to the castle and get rid of the threat."
"It might be a good idea, Trowa, but school is gonna restart soon. We've already been out here a week longer than we planned. We should be heading back," Heero muttered.
"Yeah. We should be heading back. Tomorrow, probably." Wu Fei crossed his arms. "They shouldn't be able to follow us there."
"You're right. And if they do, we'll get rid of 'em, ne, Quatre?" Duo poked me in the side.
I just stared off into space.
*****
The next morning, we all began to pack up our belongings. Duo was kissing goodbye to the tree he had spent many a night in. That was his punishment for tormenting Heero. I laughed as an acorn fell on his head. "Looks like your tree loves you back, Duo!" I called. I expected him to glare at me, but he laughed as well.
Trowa put a hand on my shoulder. "Looks like your feeling better. You're cracking jokes now." He smiled at me as I looked up at him.
"Yeah, I am feeling better..." I trailed off. Trowa looked concerned.
"Is something bothering you, Quatre?"
I looked at the ground. "Well, actually--"
"WHERE'S MY BACKPACK?!?! MAXWELL!!!"
I laughed. "Sounds like Wu Fei is mad at Duo again." I looked over to Duo and saw him going through a small green backpack that strangely looked like the one Misty carries around in Pokemon. He was pulling out all sorts of things out of the tiny bag: a Chinese cook book; several different packets of flavored green tea; revealing pictures of Zechs and Treize; a special issue of OZzies Magazine that covered OZ generals and lieutenants, and had some pretty revealing photos, too; several PokeBalls; a stuffed Pikachu...I pretty much looked away about then. Too disturbing...
Trowa looked away from the madness as well. "So, what were you about to tell me?"
"Oh, yeah, that..." I looked towards the woods. "It's a little too private to discuss out here...let's go for a walk, ok?"
Trowa looked down at me. "Sure. Ok." He turned to Heero. "Heero, we're going for one last walk in the woods. We'll be back soon." Heero just grunted and continued packing up the van.
*****
"Oi, Quatre? I think we've went far enough. What was it you wanted to tell me?"
I stopped and turned around, letting go of Trowa's hand. "Well...um...I..."
"You what? What are you trying to say?"
I looked up at him, tears almost coming to my eyes. "Trowa...I don't wan't to be a vampire anymore. It scares me, and I've been having nightmares and seeing things and my father appears to me from time to time..." I started gasping for breath and I sank to my knees.
"Quatre!" Trowa knelt beside me. "Quatre, daijoubu ka?"
"Aa..." I managed inbetween gasps. "Dai...joubu..."
"You're hyperventilating. Try to calm down." He hugged me to his chest, and I heard the rhythmatic beating of his heart. It was very soothing, and soon I calmed down to where I was breathing normally.
He pushed me away from him gently. "Are you alright now?"
"Yes, I'm fine." I looked down to the ground. "Is there any way you can change me back?"
Trowa thought for a moment. "There...is a way..." he said thoughtfully as he tapped his index finger on his bottom lip.
"Please, Trowa! By any means possible, turn me back again..."
Trowa turned to me. "Any means possible?"
I looked at him quizzically. "Yes...why do you ask?"
"The only means of turning you back that I have is this little pill here." He held up a red capsule that looked kind of like a Tylenol or something. "It will change you back, but your insides will be rearranged again, only it will hurt like all hell, unlike when I changed you. Are you sure you're up to it?"
I slowly nodded. "Yes, Trowa. My decision last time was hastily made, and I payed for that by these visions I'm having. This decision is well thought out."
"Very well, then." Trowa handed me the pill. "I will go with you to the creek. You need to take that with water."
"Alright."