CHAPTER 4: GIFTS
After Hito left, I had closed the door, but I hadn't moved yet, still observing the small stone in
the palm of my hand. It was, as she claimed, an odd rock, special in its creation and
appearance. I thought of removing the nylon string and replacing it with a silver chain, but
changed my mind. It looked better this way, more fitting. A silver chain would take one's
attention off of the stone, and that was the real gift here. I thought of how difficult it must have
been for Hito to part with this treasure that had been a part of her family for decades. She had
given it up for Quatre, had only given it to me first because she did not want to hurt my
feelings. She actually wanted Quatre to have it, but she wanted me to give it to him. Maybe
she believed he would see more importance if he got it from me, but then she wouldn't have
known Quatre as well as I thought she did. I knew that he would value it no matter where it
came from.
I looked up at the door through which Hito had left. It was lucky for us that she had still been
here. If I had been even a minute late that night, the girl would have checked out already, and
we would have had to make do without her services. I hated admitting it, but she was rather
useful. And as an ally who would keep a secret, I knew for sure she could be trusted. And I
knew also that she would always look out for me and Quatre. I knew she didn't care much for
the other pilots, although if Duo had been more proper around her, she would probably have
been attracted to him too. Heero and Wufei, though, they had somehow put her off. She may
have sensed that they were capable loners, whereas the rest of us couldn't make do for very
long. I just hoped that she knew I was thankful for her support.
I heard a noise in the living room and stopped, straining my ears towards the area. Again I
heard it. This time I could tell it was a cough. My mind brightened; Quatre was awake.
I rushed in to find the blonde painfully curled in a ball, trying to stifle his coughs but failing. I
saw tears when I bent down beside him and pushed his hair back, out of his eyes. He opened
them, and I was overjoyed to see that Hito had been correct yet another time. When held up
to the light, the stone did in fact resemble Quatre's eyes, marvelously similar that I had to
look down one more time at the pendant to confirm it for myself.
"Trowa," he raised his head and called out. Quatre's voice, scratchy and arduous from all the
coughing, still sounded like a thousand little bells in my ears.
"Hai, little one?" I said. Even in his weakened state, he was still my darling Quatre. He
lowered his head again and closed his eyes so that perhaps I thought he had fallen asleep yet
another time. But his breathing was irregular. "How do you feel?"
"I'm okay," he said, and I knew he was lying. Just as I had lied to the maintenance crew at the
Landing, Quatre didn't want me to fret over him any more than I already had.
"I bet your chest really hurts, huh?"
He bit back the sardonic laughter, for that would have succeeded in only causing more pain.
"Yeah, it does."
"And your head?" I decided to ask specific questions, since broad generalized ones tended to
make him avoid the subject.
"I feel like an elephant stampeded me."
"Would you rather rest up then?" I made a move to get up, but Quatre shook his head. "No,"
he said. "I've slept too much already. What has it been, four, five hours already?"
"Seven and a half, actually."
Quatre stared at the ceiling for a moment before he turned on his good side and faced me.
"Yeah, I'd say that's time to get up." With some effort, and amazingly no help from me, he
pushed himself up and swung his legs around so that he was sitting up. He smiled in triumph
and bent forward, clutching at his chest in pain. "...Ouch," he gasped.
"No, you're not going anywhere." I pushed him against the back of the chair and watched his
eyes for a response. He defied me and tried to get up, but only managed to jar his ribs. After
that, he offered no resistance. "Just sit here; you should be hungry by now." He nodded, blue
eyes lighting up at the thought of me cooking him breakfast; it was a little before six in the
morning.
"Make me some scrambled eggs, Trowa!" he called out, momentarily forgetting about his
injuries until he again relapsed into a short fit of coughing.
I got up and headed for the kitchen. My smirk was hidden from the blonde. "Sure, Quatre.
Whatever you want."
After breakfast, which was a delightful combination of scrambled eggs and buttered toast, I
was explaining the early morning events to Quatre: after the battle, at the Landing, the truck
and the kind people who helped us out. It seemed that a nice, home-cooked meal, hot off the
stove, was all the boy needed. He seemed much better now. His headache was gone, and he
could even laugh now without coughing. His broken ribs were still painful, of course, and they
would be for another week or so.
Since room service was not an option at this motel, we had to prepare the food and clean up.
As we were clearing the table away, Quatre stopped in front of the sink. He washed the
dishes mechanically, without the usual chatter and jokes that we usually exchanged after
dinner. I looked to see if he was feeling okay, but he only seemed distant, not in pain. "What
are you thinking about?" I asked.
He didn't answer. Dropping the dishrag, I walked over to him and passed a hand over his
eyes. He didn't react at all, so I put a hand on his forehead; maybe he had another fever. This
time, he blinked, starting at the touch. "Trowa?"
"I asked what you were thinking about."
He looked puzzled. "Hito. What happened to her?"
I was silent as I picked up the dishrag again and started drying plates. "She left."
"Oh." He didn't sound disappointed, only worried. I sneaked a look at him out of the corner of
my eye and saw that he indeed looked unhappy, but only because she had returned his favor
without him being able to thank her.
"She said to tell you goodbye," I said consolingly.
"Yeah, but I wanted to thank her personally."
"She knows," I said, now totally convinced that, at her departure, Hito had known we were
grateful to her. Quatre looked at me, an inquisitive expression on his face.
As I returned the gaze, an idea came into my mind, and I felt that the time was right to
express it. "Be right back," I muttered as I exited the kitchen. I headed straight for the
bedroom, where on my nightstand sat the blue stone pendant. I picked it up, warming it in my
palm before holding it up to the window at the rising sun. It looked so beautiful, but I didn't
need a rock to remind me of that beauty. Now was the time to give it up.
Quatre was still in the kitchen when I returned. The stone was securely in my right hand, and I
took his right in my left, minding of my own injured wrist, which didn't actually hurt too badly
now. He looked at me expectantly, placing his other closed hand at his chest. "Trowa? What
is it?"
I struggled to remember what Hito had said to me before she left. Finally believing that I had
the general idea, for words never came easily to me, I opened my Quatre's hand and
delicately dangled the pendant in front of him. He reached up and took it with both hands, the
light glinting off of it and making it seem even brighter than before. "It's a pendant!" he said in
wonder.
I took a deep breath, and thus began the longest improvisation speech I had ever made:
"It's not just any pendant. It's very special, Quatre. It came from a far off place under the sea
and belonged to someone for almost three generations. It's spent the rest of its life
underwater, surrounded by a blue that's darker than anything we've ever uncovered, darker
even than this small piece of aquamarine." I couldn't explain in as much detail as Hito had,
but the less I thought about eloquence, the more the words just poured from my mouth.
Encouraged, I continued. "Someone once said of this stone, 'It's like a window to the heart:
dark and hidden when alone, secrets untold, but clear and beautiful when there is light to
shine in its path.' That same person saw the importance of this pendant, and passed it on to
me.
"But I have no use for it. This gift came from a stranger, whom I cared nothing for. And this
stone," I lifted the pendant by its nylon string up towards the window, "This stone, Quatre,
reminds me of you, your eyes, everything about you...the real you. People can be fooled into
the false you, but those who seek to find the real you are soon revealed your identity. None of
us are who we seem, little one. You know I am not whom I appear to be on first glance. You
know my secrets, and I know yours. There's nothing to be hidden between us, because we're
perfect that way. I know you'll always be here."
The blond nodded, cheeks rosy in the sunrise. His eyes were fixed wondrously on the blue
stone, and I knew I had his full attention. "Quatre, though you'll always be around, I know now
that I can't take you for granted." Quatre turned around, shadows falling across one side of his
face, "Oh, Trowa..."
"I've been starting to take you for granted, Quatre, and I've realized that I can't do that. Just
last night, I feared I would lose you to that girl, Hito." Quatre's eyes flashed with some hurt
emotion, but it was gone in a second. "It's been hurting me inside, little one, thinking that I just
expect you to be there and you're there. But while you were unconscious, I really felt lost. I
had to go through the motions without you by my side, and it made me scared. I tried to do
what you would have done in such a situation, but of course it wasn't the same. You deserve
better, and I promise I'll make it that way."
"Trowa," he said quietly. He grasped the stone pendant in one hand and cradled my chin with
the other. "I don't think you've take me for granted." A half-smile was playing across his face,
and the sun had risen a bit to illuminated his silhouette in a glowing outline. "I don't think that
at all. In fact, I think you've mistaken that for being comfortable around me." My eyes
brightened at the idea. Quatre smiled. "That's it, I'm positive! I know you, and you're not one
to just accept things the way they are. You make a difference, and your promises truly are
genuine. But, my dear Trowa, I'm happy with the way things are. I don't want you to change; I
just want to live out my life by your side. You don't have to alter anything to make me love
you. I'm already in love with you."
At that, I felt an intense relief in my mind, that I hadn't really taken Quatre for granted. He
always knew the parts about me that I never even knew myself, and when I thought back on
it, I felt he was accurate. More and more words formed in my mind, and to concentrate on
them, I scrutinized the floor tiles, brow furrowing from thought as I dimly noted the neat and
plain way in which the linoleum grout intersected. "There's something else. 'Quatre', 'little
one'--these are the given names I am free to call you by. You, on the other hand, know very
well that I have no name, only this one that I've stolen. It's not mine though I use it, yet you
accept me anyway. And now, it has come to my attention that you should be called 'angel,'
simply because you look and act like one. And in all honesty, it is what you are to me, an
angel."
"Oh," he gasped, "Trowa...you--" But he was unable to go on. I looked up from my
examination of the floor to see Quatre looking at the pendant, now in his hands. When side
by side, I could now see that the stone was only a bit like Quatre's eyes, which were full of life
and much ,much brighter, especially now when tears were threatening to spill forth. From the
stone, Quatre looked up at me, wet-eyed and bleary. "That's so beautiful, Trowa. You really
feel that way about me??"
"You know the answer to that, angel."
Quatre smiled warmly and jumped at me, wrapping his arms around my neck. The move
didn't seem to pain him in the slightest, and I bent down to accommodate him, for he was still
injured. "I love you, Trowa." He tipped his head forward very invitingly, and I found myself
incapable of resistance. I closed my eyes and let my senses take over, leaning down so close
I could feel Quatre's warm breath on my lips. Unable to wait any longer, I dipped the last
centimeter and claimed the blonde's lips for my own. He was soft and yielding under me, and
I felt myself getting light-headed from lack of air. It wasn't like I wasn't breathing, because I
was; it was just because I was lovestruck, that was all.
After a rather unwavering moment and an even stronger kiss, I chuckled, knowing this was
the response I'd get, but enjoying it nonetheless. "I love you too, Quatre."
* * *
After sleeping the rest of the day, we were finally ready to return to space.
I had looked up the phone number in the M99-01 Phone Directory and had called the Landing
during late afternoon. To my relief, they had received an early shipment of MS parts
yesterday and had been able to finish repairs just after noontime today. "Thanks," I said. "I'll
bring the truck back, like I promised." The guy on the line had laughed, "Sure, we'll be
waiting."
"Quatre!" I called. "Are you ready?"
There was a stifled answer from the bedroom which I took to be a sign of agreement.
Seconds later, Quatre emerged, having put everything in the motel back in its place. "Okay,
let's go." We rode the elevator downstairs four floors to the lobby. Quatre waved courteously
at the main receptionist, who looked rather bored.
Before we left, however, I placed a hand on his shoulder and led him back to the front desk.
"Ay there, 'ow can I help ya'?" the man asked in a wheezy voice that made him seem more
like a boorish yokel than a motel receptionist.
"I'd like to leave some money here for a woman."
The man stared at me as if I was crazy, his eyes grotesquely bulging out of the emaciated
sockets as he studied me. Quatre too had turned to gape quizzically. I ignored them both and
said, "Her name is Hito, and she'll be back here next Friday. Deliver the money to Hito." I no
longer asked him but demanded that my order was met.
"Ay, now, whet's all this talk o' money? Whet's all this 'bout?" His tone was questionable.
Quatre piped up. "We owe her for a lost bet, and we're just trying to pay it back, that's all."
The man looked from me to him, still dubious about us. I said, "You'll be tipped, of course."
His smile was slow but sure. "O' course," he said. "Jus' lemme write tha' down." He took his
time scribbling on a motel notepad, then looked up. "An' how much can I say is bein' deliver'd,
Mr.--"
"Trowa. My name is Trowa." I looked towards Quatre, who carried the wallet between the two
of us. By now, he had understood my goal of helping Hito get back on her feet. "Uhm," he
said, "How about four hundred? Is that enough, Trowa?"
"That'll do," I answered, observing the distasteful way the receptionist had goggled when
Quatre volunteered the amount. "Do you take cash?"
The man quickly recovered, closing his mouth and putting a greedy smirk on instead. "Cash'll
do nicely," he said. Quatre was pulling out four crisp, one-hundred-dollar bills when I put a
hand on his arm, gesturing for him to wait. "How do we know you'll get it to her? Can you
guarantee that she'll get it all?"
Stunned, he put a hand to his chest in mock pain. "Ya' disgrace meh! 'Oo do ya' think I em,' a
robba'? I run a respe'table bui'ness 'ere, ya' keep thet in mind."
"No offense intended, sir," Quatre said. "We just want to be cautious, that's all."
"Eh, well, t's okay. Jus' don't do 't 'gain, got it?"
I nodded. "Thanks." As we turned to leave, the man yelled, "Hey, what 'bout my tip?"
Quatre laughed, then pulled out a fifty dollar bill. "Sorry, I forgot." He put the bill in the man's
hand, but the man still looked ready to object. I glared at him, "That's enough." I pulled out
the handgun that was hidden in my jeans near the hip pocket. As soon as I pointed the
weapon at the man, he held his hands up in surrender. "You're lucky my partner's in a good
mood. Just deliver the message, got it? Our friend had better get the money." I switched the
safety off.
"Okay, okay! I swea' to Gad on high, I'll git ya' frien' her damn money!"
I leered at him. "Good. And tell her that Quatre and Trowa send their love, got it?"
He nodded so fervently that I thought his head was going to nod off his shoulders. "Great.
Now, Quatre, what say we get out of here?" From beside me, the blonde just looked at me
skeptically before smiling. "Sure, Trowa."
Knowing that our wishes would be followed, we beat it out of there fast, and jumped in the
truck that was on loan to us. "I'll have to thank the maintenance men also," Quatre said of the
crew, apparently thinking the same thing I was. We drove the half hour to the Shuttle
Landing, Quatre fooling around with the radio and talking to me the entire way. I listened
wholeheartedly, but also thought of Hito's words. I too felt the power of Quatre's voice, and I
took special care to memorize its resonance and rich quality. It was the first time I had done
that, but by the time we arrived, I was exhilarated that I had retained every tone and pitch his
voice could cast so that I could pick him out of any crowd, large or small.
"Hey, kid! You came after all!" The head of maintenance jogged towards us. Seeing Quatre
up and around for the first time made him gape. "You Gundam pilots amaze me," he said,
inspecting the blonde carefully. "Last time I saw you, you were out cold with a concussion!
How do you feel now?"
Quatre blushed. "My concussion is mostly gone, sir. My ribs still hurt a little, but only
sometimes."
"Eh, you're a strong lad. You'll heal in no time. Anyway, nice to see you again," he said to me.
I nodded and asked, "Where are our mobile suits?"
He laughed heartily. "It's in the underground hangar waiting for you, of course. We were
gonna take it back outside, but I figured you probably wanted it inside and out of chance's
way, right?"
On the way to the hangar, he told us of what they did. "Your suits are impressive, real sharp.
The red one wasn't that damaged and basically only needed to be refueled and reloaded. The
white one, well, that took a little more work." Quatre stiffened at the mention of Sandrock, and
I remembered that he hadn't actually seen what it had been through after the space battle.
"We had to reroute some of the circuits in the engines and build onto the shell of the Gundam
to make up for the chips in the suit. We also had to draw up diagrams of 04's weapons so we
could make a whole new pair of heat shotels. After that, it was easy to fuel it up. Now they're
both ready for fighting."
The doors opened and we turned around to see Heavyarms and Sandrock looming up in front
of us. They looked almost new, except we knew they weren't. "Thanks for helping us," Quatre
said, not taking his eyes off his suit for more than a second. "We really appreciate us."
"Heh, well it was nothing for us actually. I'd like to thank you, kid. After seeing you like that, all
hurt after the battle with OZ, it made me awful mad. This was just another repair, son. But
you two are out on the front line, fighting for the rest of us. We should be the ones thanking
you guys."
"But still, we appreciate the kindness," I said. "I'm afraid we've been a threat to this place long
enough, so we'll be leaving now."
"Back to space?" he asked, undaunted by our determination.
"Yeah."
"Well, I wish you two luck. I know you'll fight to the best of your abilities. And if anyone can
beat OZ, it's you guys. Take care."
"We will."
"Goodbye!" Quatre waved farewell to the man as we made our way to our respective HLV
carriers. I bent near his ear and whispered, "Are you sure you're able to pilot this thing so
soon?"
He nodded. "It doesn't hurt much now, Trowa. I'm sure it's well on it's way of healing, so you
don't have to worry about me. Thanks anyways, though."
I soon found my way into the cargo carrier that held Heavyarms. My mind switched to
autopilot as my body routinely followed all the steps in preparing for launch. Through the main
control pad, I radioed Quatre, who had also settled down in his shuttle. "You okay?"
He smiled. "Of course. You?"
"Ready for take off."
"Roger."
We left that night, at six o' clock, for outer space. I made a note to myself to call The Nexus
Motel on colony M99-01 next Friday, and check to see if any further developments had
occurred.
I hoped that Hito remembered my part of the deal. I had followed her orders, quite
successfully I might add, fulfilled my part of the contract in good faith. Thanks to her, I would
have something to remember on this colony.
Now the rest was up to her.
* * *
what will happen next? TBC...