Title: Gomen nasai, Hee-chan. Pt 2: Gomen nasai, Duo-chan.
Author: Ibolynn
Pairing: 1x2
Rating: R
Warnings: Dark. DARK. Angst. Deathfic. Language, yaoi.
Spoilers: Spoiler for first chapter.
Disclaimers: Whaaaaa...? These guys aren't mine, or I'd be making this into an episode instead of a fanfic, don'tcha
think? Go 'way! :)


Heero pulled the body of his lover into his arms, holding him tightly against his own body. He buried his face against the hair he loved so much, but was too scared to say anything. But now it's too late.. He'd never be able to say those three words to Duo. His body shook softly with the force of his tears.

Duo....

Duo.... I love you...my koibito...

**************************

Quatre Raberba Winner frowned as he stepped out of the car with Trowa Barton and Chang WuFei. Something just didn't feel right, like something was missing. What, he wasn't sure. He shook it off, and headed towards the dark safehouse. He guessed that Heero and Duo would already be in bed and asleep. It was past midnight, and there's not a whole lot of nightlife in the small town where they're currently located.

Quatre opened the door, which was unlocked. How unlike Heero, he thought to himself. He noticed a light burning in the living room. He motioned to Trowa and WuFei. Trowa nodded to the blond pilot, and disappeared into the kitchen, to approach the livingroom from that way. Quatre and WuFei slipped up to the doorway, and as a team, they slipped into the living room, with their guns drawn and pointed inwards.

Quatre blinked and stood up as he saw Heero sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead, with Duo draped across his lap, his arms holding the other boy tight to his chest, his hands wrapped securely around the braid. Quatre put away his gun, and moved to touch Heero's shoulder. "Heero?"

Heero slowly looked up at Quatre, Prussian eyes meeting auqamarine eyes. The sheer desolation that filled those normally ice cold eyes shocked Quatre to the core. He's never seen so much...emotion in Heero. He turns his eyes to Duo and gasped, his hand covering his mouth as he finally noticed how pale and still Duo was. "W-what happened, Heero?!"

Heero tighten his hold on the body of his lover, his cheeks no longer wet from his tears. He'd already used up his tears sitting here alone with Duo's cold body, listening to the memories, to the laugh he always pretended to hate. "He..went to the store, I think. He came back, and wanted to tell me something. I snapped at him, and told him to leave me alone. I told him to wait, Quatre. All he wanted was help. Instead, he sat out here and waited, slowly bleeding to death because I was too selfish." He bowed his head and buried his face in the still sweetsmelling hair.

The other three pilots stood in shock as they listened to Heero's tale, his normal monotone voice was gone, replaced by a hoarse one, hoarse from crying for hours it seemed. Quatre slowly sank down next to Heero, tears sliding down his cheeks as he reached out with one hand and carefully pushed away Duo's bangs. WuFei knelt before Heero while Trowa moved to place his hand on Quatre's shoulder. All of them gazed down at the still body of the one person who tried to make their lives full of joy, even in the middle of a war. A day never went by when Duo hadn't made one of them laugh, to relieve the stress of battle.

WuFei angrily brushed away tears that were falling endlessly from his sole eyes, before looking up at the other pilots. "Justice must be served! We have to find the person responsible for this!"

Quatre nodded, but didn't speak. He wrapped his arms around Heero, who had started sobbing again, this time without the actual tears. "I...I never told him, Quatre. I never got to tell him I loved him. I yelled at him when he needed me! I failed him, Quatre.. Gomen nasai, Duo-chan."

Trowa shivered slightly at the pain that filled Heero's voice. "We'll start tomorrow. We'll ask around town and see if we can get any witnesses. Quatre, can you put in a call? We need to make arrangements for...Duo's body."

Quatre looked up at Heero, then at Trowa. "H-he wanted to be cremated, Heero."(1)

Heero just tightened his hold, almost crushing the body to him, nuzzling his face against Duo's hair. "Alright...but not the hair." He stroked his hands down Duo's long braid, smiling softly. "Not yet."

WuFei nodded and stood, walking towards his room. He returned, carrying his katana, and a length of string. He looked down at Duo, and tied the string around the braid towards the nape of Duo's neck, then carefully sliced through the thick tail of the braid, then offered it to Heero, who clutched it like a lifeline.

Quatre looked away as Duo's now shorter hair flowed around his face, unable to look at his best friend without his precious hair. He stood and placed the call to Rashid, who took over the details.

Trowa moved to take Duo's body from Heero, but he clung to Duo tightly. "Heero, you have to let go, and get some sleep. Please. He wouldn't want you like this, Heero." Heero looked up at Trowa, then nodded slowly, letting go of Duo's body. He stands up after the taller boy takes Duo, and walks slowly towards his and Duo's room, the braid safely grasped in his hand.

Heero stepped into the room, and the first thing he saw when he closed the door was his laptop. He snarled in self-hatred and picked up the machine and threw it against the wall as hard as he could. It was all his fault. He should have listened to Duo. Now it's too late. Heero turned away from the wreckage on the floor and without bothering to remove his clothes, climbed onto the bed and burying his face into Duo's pillow, smelling his scent. He clutched the braid in his hands, against his chest. He closed his eyes, and could clearly hear Duo's singsong voice, asking him what he was doing; his laughter at one of the other pilots; but mostly, Heero could almost feel Duo laying against him. Heero's shoulders shook as silent tears came from nowhere once more, until he cried himself to sleep.

*********************

Quatre sighed and leaned against Trowa's chest, his eyes closed. "It's so unfair. Why Duo? Why now?" He shook his head. "We didn't lose one pilot today, we lost two pilots. Two friends. I don't know if Heero will ever recover from this, Trowa. Did you see his eyes?"

Trowa nodded, his chin resting on the top of Quatre's head. "I understand how he feels. If anything were to happen to you... I don't know how I'd react." Quatre tightened his hold on his own lover and nodded his agreement. "Have you checked the weather forecast?"

Trowa nodded and smiled. "Yes. We have four days to be ready."

Quatre smiled and sighed softly. "I hope Heero's ok. I wonder what that crash was earlier.." He reluctantly pulled away from Trowa and walked towards Heero's door. "I'm just going to check up on him. I can't help but worry." He opens the door and blinks... "Well, that explains what the crash was."

Trowa walked over and peered over Quatre's shoulder, looking down at the broken laptop. "Ouch. I wonder if Heero'll regret doing that?" he whispered in Quatre's ear. Quatre pointed to where Heero was curled up on Duo's side of the large bed, clutching Duo's braid. "I don't think he will, Trowa."

Trowa nodded and pulled Quatre from the room and shut the door.


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1. I know some people think that it goes against the Catholic belief to be cremated, but I've found that that's not necessarily the case. I found an article here: http://www.nfda.org/pubs/aug98/catholic.html. Besides, I figure that
Duo's not really had all that much exposure to Catholic regements, and there's a reason why he wanted to be cremated, but that's in the next few parts. Ok? :)


A.N: Why cremated? What's in four days? And how do the guys plan on finding out anything about Duo's killer? Stay tuned!

TBC.....