"As I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul will take."
Heero listened to Duo mutter his prayer quietly. The Japanese youth lay in the bed, on his side, pretending to be asleep. Duo got off his knees beside the bed and stood up quietly. He slipped under the covers and was just about to fall asleep when he felt Heero rise up on one elbow.
"Why?" Duo felt his eyes spring open. He turned to face Heero.
"Why what?"
"Why did you do that?" Duo sat up, puzzled. He looked down at Heero, trying to think about what he could have done.
"What? Pray?" Heero sat up. He nodded.
"Why do you do that? You pray every night. Isn't once enough?" Duo gave Heero another puzzled look. He was slightly unsure of how to answer that question.
"I don't know..I just do. I mean, I feel like I need to. Father Maxwell, Sister Helen..They taught me to pray.." He let his voice trail off. Heero nodded, as if he understood.
"Oh, you pray because they told you to." Heero turned over to go back to sleep, but Duo grabbed his arm.
"Nnn-n-oo.." Duo sputtered. Heero raised his eyebrow and sat back up.
"What do you mean, 'No.'? I thought you said that's why you pray." Duo shook his head.
"Well, yes.." Duo shrugged, almost bashfully. "But, Its more than that..." Heero gave him a weird look.
"But what?"
"Well...I believe..that's why I pray." Heero seemed really confused a minute. He stared down at the sheets, trying to piece it together in his mind.
"But I thought you only believed in Shinigami." Duo looked down at the sheets this time, trying to figure out how to explain it all.
"Well, I do..but..its a different kind..I mean, I believe in Shinigami because..I am Shinigami. I can believe in death because I see it. Its like, You can believe in something because its a fact. That's why I believe in Shinigami."
"But then, why do you pray?" Heero stared at Duo for a few seconds while he tried to answer.
"Because I believe in that, too. I mean, they taught me to believe..but...I finally started believing too, ya know?" Duo hung his head for a sec. "That, and I figure it can't hurt in our business to try to ask for a good eternity...." Duo suddenly stopped in his train of thought to look up at Heero in astonishment. Heero gave him a weird look.
"What?"
"Don't you..believe in anything, Heero?" Heero looked over to Duo, and sadly shook his head.
"No." Heero stared up at the ceiling. "I don't believe in anything, Duo."
"You have to believe in something Heero..." Heero shook his head.
"No God. No religion. I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't know what will happen when I die...Or while I live, for that matter." Duo shook his head.
"No, Heero. In anything. You don't have to believe in a god..just.." Heero looked over at Duo, questioning him.
"What?"
"Anything, Heero. Do you believe in anything?" After a few seconds of deep though, Heero softly smiled. He gave Duo a light kiss on the forehead and lay back down to go to sleep.
"Go to sleep, Duo." Duo stared down at Heero for a sec, before finally lying down. He turned over, his back facing Heero and tried to sleep. Heero's breath slowed so that Duo thought he was asleep. Duo was almost asleep himself, when there was a light touch on his back. He rolled over to face Heero.
"What?" Duo asked softly.
"I believe in love, Duo." Duo smiled and turned back over to go to sleep.
"So do I, Heero."