Hand of Blood, Heart of Death

by Cartouchebag

Duo's past is revealed when he is attacked by an old foe and he isn't exactly all that he makes himself out to be, nor is Heero's 'Perfect Soldier' guise all too perfect. 1x2 w/ some semi-nasty violence. Not one for the kiddies (hence the rating)

Hand of Blood, Heart of Death

The weary teen walked slowly along the dimly lit streets of the L2 Colony with his hands in his pockets. Glancing up every now and again, he caught sight of couples making their way home. Probably coming from bars, he thought tiredly.

A movement behind him caught his eye. Duo turned his head slightly to peer over his back and saw three men, clad in denim and leather, all carrying chains of some form or another.

Duo thought it best if he kept walking back home at a faster pace. The L2 colony was known for its collection of roughnecks and local gang wars. The three promptly sped up also.

Taking a deep breath, Duo prepared his body for flight.

And bolted.

The men took off after him and, being older, easily caught up to him. The larger of the men grabbed him by the throat. Duo slipped from his grasp and his cross was taken instead, leaving a glistening trail of blood around his neck. The other two grabbed Duo's arms and dragged him, kicking and screaming into the nearby park.

The larger man delivered a swift punch to Duo's stomach knocking the wind out of him as the others let him drop to his knees on the ground. The other one, probably the leader, took a step forward and grabbed Duo by the chin, tilting his head back to meet his eyes.

"It's been nine and a half years Duo Maxwell," he said with an evil smirk.

Duo forced his eyes to focus again, still straining to breathe. "Who..?"

The leader stood up and laughed loudly. "Come off it. As if you don't know the guys who raised ya!"

Duo's eyes went slowly wider. "St-Strife! McGillan Strife!"

Strife knelt down as the two others restrained Duo. "You know…we don't like it when our members leave us."

A lump formed in the boy's throat and he swallowed visibly. "Dammit Strife! You know why I left, so just leave me the hell alone!"

Strife shook his head. "Such bad language from a preacher. Well we'll just have to fix that, now won't we?" He laughed and reached into his jacket.

He withdrew his hand and produced one very large, full needle. It's green liquid sloshed around the inside as Strife waved it in front of Duo's nose.

"Keep him still boys."

Duo squirmed around in vain as the two guys held him tightly. Strife just rolled up the pilot's sleeve and inserted the steel tube into his shoulder. A strangled gasp escaped Duo's throat as the liquid entered his body. The needle was removed and thrown behind him.

Strife smiled again, meeting Duo's now trembling eyes. The boy breathed in short, sharp gasps as the liquid travelled around his body.

"Come on boys, let's leave those other pilots a message." The three men laughed as they stood up and walked off with a semi-conscious Shinigami.

***

Heero sat quietly on the lounge, legs folded under him, fingers flying over his laptop. Quatre and Trowa sat opposite him, the former reading a book, and Wufei was in the kitchen cleaning the dishes.

Without looking up from the screen Heero asked. "Trowa, what time did Duo say he'd be coming back?"

Trowa looked over at Quatre then at Heero. "Around six-ish. Why, concerned?"

Heero stopped typing and his eyes narrowed slightly. "A little."

"Don't be Heero," Quatre said placing his book on the table. "Duo grew up on the streets, he knows how to take care of himself. He's not going to come back dead you know."

"Give him time," came a voice from the kitchen.

Heero glared at Wufei who glanced up at the Wing pilot with a smirk.

The blue-eyed boy turned back to his laptop, his reflection staring back up at him with the same look of anxiety.

*…Duo…*

The distant roar of motorbikes passed the house slowly before returning louder than before.

"Hey pilots!" Came a barely audible voice from outside. "We got a pressie for ya!"

There was a loud and rowdy chorus of laughter as the four pilots looked at each other and headed for the door, Heero reaching it first.

He peered carefully through the peephole, gun cocked. He watched as the bikers – around fifteen or so, he counted – sped off, but not before leaving a very limp figure behind.

Heero felt his chest tighten as he tucked his gun away and hastily unlocked the door, running outside and kneeling down next to a very beat up, unconscious Duo.

"Shit…" He murmured as the others ran up behind him.

His bangs were stuck to his forehead with blood; his hair caked with dirt and more blood. There was a noticeable bruising over various parts of his arms and face and his right arm had an obvious break in it.

Heero brushed Duo's hair out of his eyes as his eyes softened. He scooped up the unconscious Shinigami and turned around to face Trowa.

"I need to borrow your motorbike Trowa, I'm taking Duo to the hospital." He said in a sombre voice. Trowa nodded and walked off to the back of the house.

"Quatre, phone the hospital and tell them that I'm coming. Tell them it's an emergency. Wufei, I'll need you to come with me. I can't steer and hold Duo up at the same time."

Trowa came jogging back with the bike idling. "Be glad I filled it up yesterday."

Heero nodded and seated himself on the fuel tank, leaving enough room for Wufei and Duo.

"We'll meet up with you there," Quatre said as he pulled out his mobile phone.

Heero revved the engine as Wufei sat Duo into a bear hug with him. "Go!" The Chinese boy ordered.

The Wing pilot slammed it into gear and released the clutch, spinning the wheel before the treads grabbed the pavement and they sped off.

"Slow down!" Wufei yelled above the roar of the engine.

*Not on your life…* Heero thought with a growl and sped up.

"I said slow down dammit!" Wufei's words echoed into the night.

***

Heero paced back and forth in the waiting room, Wufei sitting on a nearby chair looking at the can of cola in his hand.

"I don't know why I'm drinking this after you and your maniacal ride," he murmured.

Heero just strolled over to him and took his cola, giving him his trademark death glare.

"Then don't drink it." He said simply.

It was at this point that Trowa and Quatre came rushing in. Trowa looked between the two.

"Has there been any word on Maxwell yet?"

"I'd say we're just about to find out…" Quatre said as a nurse walked towards them.

She gave them a practiced smile; Heero just narrowed his eyes at her. "Well now that you're all here, the doctor would like to have a word with you," she said.

The pilots walked off behind her and she opened the door to the doctor's office. "They're here sir."

"Good, send them in." Came the reply.

The four walked inside and the doctor smiled at them all. Each took a seat, save Heero, who stood in the corner with a look of pure malevolence about him.

When the door clicked shut, the doctor sighed. "I'll be frank with you boys, it's a miracle that your friend is still alive after the state he came in like." He stood up and removed three x-rays from the drawer, walking over to the viewer.

He flicked the machine on and stuck them up. Quatre gasped while Trowa and Wufei's eyes just went wide. Heero swallowed as his lips parted in a silent gasp. They were prepared for the worst but this was too shocking.

"This here is Mr. Maxwell's left ankle," he said pointing to the first one. "He has extensive ligament damage and also a hairline fracture at the base of his tibia."

Heero's eyebrows knitted as the image of Duo lying on the ground sprang back into his mind.

"He also has, as far as we can tell, lost all use in his right arm. Nearly every bone, save the scapula and a couple of his fingers are broken. Mr. Maxwell also has a few broken ribs but they'll heal over faster than the rest of him."

He pushed up his glasses and turned off the machine, walking back to his chair and sitting down again. Trowa put a comforting arm around Quatre, who had begun to cry.

"But something good has come out of it and I'm at a loss to explain how it happened." He said leaning back.

The pilots gave him puzzled looks as he continued.

"When he came in, the internal bleeding was extremely severe. We were just about ready to write him off on site. However, as our job depicts, we don't stop until the patient does or doesn't breathe. He was taken into surgery and when we opened him up…nothing."

"Nothing?" Wufei asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that doctor?" Trowa asked, comforting Quatre still.

"There were absolutely no signs of bleeding, internal or otherwise and half of his injuries had started to heal over partially."

Zechs and Quinze could've come in performing the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies and no one would have noticed them. Heero took a sip of the cola he took off Wufei.

"There's something else puzzling me, it's actually quite amusing given the circumstances. His incisors have grown to more than twice the average length they should be at. I'd accuse him of being a vampire but of course there are no such things as those." He said with a smirk.

Heero coughed and nearly choked on a mouthful of the liquid, quickly smacking himself on the chest to stop himself from gagging.

All eyes turned to stare at Heero who was now wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry…" he said before clearing his throat. "Can I talk to you guys in private for a second?"

The doctor smiled at Heero and got up, walking over to the door. "Go right ahead, I need to check on Mr. Maxwell's progress anyway."

Heero watched the doctor step out and the door shut. "He's telling the truth whether he believes it himself or not." He mumbled.

***

THREE MONTHS EARLIER…

***

Duo vaulted himself onto the bed, landing with a soft thud as his loose hair splayed around him like an extra sheet. "Hey Hee-chan, watcha up to on that thing now?" he asked, propping his head onto his hands as he rolled onto his stomach.

Heero sighed and stopped typing. "I asked you to stop calling me that." He turned to face the braided one, who now had a large grin on his face. "What is it?"

Duo grinned even more. "Man, your parents must have been strict on you. You're so anti-social!"

Heero just turned back to his monitor. "The only parent I've known is Doctor J. Besides, soldiers don't need family to tie them down."

Silence fell over the small room. Heero couldn't help but feel like Duo's eyes were boring into him. He sighed once again. "So what were your parents like?"

Duo burst out laughing at Heero's question. "You…you wanna know…what my parents were like?" he said between giggles.

Heero sat there confused. There was nothing wrong with his question, it was perfectly normal.

The Deathscythe pilot calmed down enough to talk. "My mother was a whore who died giving birth to me, my father was a fighter who got slaughtered and my grandfather who ran the church shared the same fate as him."

Heero stared at him in horror. Perfect soldier or not, the way Duo talked about his family was vile. Before he could talk, Duo had continued.

"My real family was with a guy called McGillan Strife, him and his gang," he sighed. "Yeah, there was something different about us alright…we called ourselves the Clan of Kain…"

Heero listened transfixed as Duo weaved the story of his past. When he finally turned away, he felt a swelling desire to hug the boy next to him.

*What?* Heero mentally slapped himself. "So…so you do this behind everyone's back? As a professional or for revenge and your own blood lust?"

Duo was taken aback. "I have to do it in secret Heero, what would the others say? And yes you are right," he stood up and walked over to the door. "No one gets away with murdering my grandfather…no one."

Duo stormed outside, slamming the door shut behind him.

He eventually came back, a few hours later once he'd let off steam. He ran back inside and practically begged Heero not to tell anyone – not a soul – about his secret past.

Heero looked into his violet eyes. A warm feeling filled him, causing him to smile and nod. Duo responded by throwing his arms around him and thanking him profusely.

***

"Heero? Heero, you've been standing there just looking off into space. Hello?" Quatre waved a hand in front of the other pilots' face.

Heero blinked at Quatre before gazing around the room at everyone. He lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I was lost in thought for a second," he looked back up at them. "Forget everything you know about Duo, it's all a lie, whatever you've been told."

Trowa looked at him, puzzled. "How can you say that Heero? What makes your accusations so-"

"I know Trowa, he told me himself." Heero cut him off.

Wufei snorted and folded his arms. "So what's the deal Yuy? What's so special about him?"

Their eyes met. "That doctor was telling the truth. Duo is a vampire."

Everyone gaped in shock and Quatre fell off his chair with a yelp.

"He told me around three months back. He got so ticked at me afterwards; he stormed out and didn't come back for hours."

Heero sighed and walked over to the desk, half-sitting down on the edge. Quatre got back up on his chair. Heero began his story.

"When Duo was born, he was a vampiel. That is, a half-breed. His mother was a vampire who was killed shortly after his birth and his father was fully human. His father, fearing what his son would become…attempted to kill him. He didn't have the heart to kill his newborn son, so he abandoned him.

"A gang of outcasts took him in and cared for him. They called themselves the Clan of Kain and a guy named McGillan Strife was their leader. Of course, they knew what Duo was. They were also of that breed. Duo lived with them until he was seven, learning how to harness his abilities." His eyes sparkled at the memory of Duo telling him. "One of his favourites was his increased speed. He could move so fast that it looked like he'd disappeared and re-appeared somewhere else. Duo had other abilities, regenerative qualities, enhanced strength and agility.

"He finally realised that what he was doing was wrong when he saw them attacking a young girl, so he just up and left the Clan of Kain. There was word on the streets that a church nearby was taking street urchins in to help them. Duo wanted to reform himself so he thought the ideal place for it would be a church. He found out upon arriving that his grandfather ran the church and that his father taught under him with around twenty or so other guys.

"Duo also discovered that his grandfather had once been a great vampire hunter-warrior in his day, but had since retired from the profession. His father now teaches the other men there in the art. Duo begged them to let him in, saying that he'd be more of a help than a hindrance because of his enhanced abilities. They did, only because Duo's grandfather told them to give him a chance."

Heero narrowed his eyes. "By the time he was nine, his abilities as a kenshi (swordsman) were unsurpassed. And by the time he was eleven and a half, he had grown to such a level of fighting that his father and grandfather combined couldn't match him. He was just…too good."

Heero shook his head. "This message came through that two vampire gangs were going to have a street war soon if something wasn't done quick, so Duo and a few guys went to have some 'serious negotiations' with them. It only took them a few hours to take out over one hundred and fifty of them, Duo doing most of the carving.

"They got back to the church…only to find it had been leveled, it's remains still burning. Duo ran inside to find his father dead and his grandfather dying. With his last breath, the old man said that one word…Strife. Grief stricken, Duo took his grandfather's cross and sword and vowed never to stop until all the vampire scum had been eradicated. Since he was the leader of the hunter-warriors by default, he ordered everyone to do the same, even if it meant dying from their own blade.

"Duo left L2, heading over to live with his uncle, Professor G. He made a formula for Duo so his human side would take total control, annihilating his vampire side completely. He lived with him, learning how to pilot his stolen gundam, while still performing his duties as a hunter-warrior. He managed to face Strife two more times after that, killing him on both occasions."

Trowa furrowed his brow. "Killing him twice?"

"How'd he manage to do that?" Quatre asked, raising an eyebrow.

Heero shook his head. "Strife is the root of all the vampires, he's not going to die too easily Quatre. He's over two hundred years old plus he has to be killed by another vampire."

The room fell into silence. Heero shivered, this was looking too much like it did three months ago. Quatre looked down at the ground, hiding his eyes from the others. Probably going over it all, Heero thought. Trowa just sat there with his arms folded, nodding to himself as he collected his thoughts.

Heero looked up at Wufei. He sat away from everyone and had his arms folded across his chest. He didn't have a scrap of sympathy about him, just pure anger and hatred. Heero frowned at him, his lips pressing into a thin line.

"Bullshit," Wufei said simply. "Yuy, next time you want to tell fairytales, tell them to someone who's going to believe you."

With that said, Wufei stood up and stormed outside mumbling as he went. "I'm going home."

Quatre looked up at him in shock. "Wufei! Heero, Wufei didn't mean that. Wufei wait up!"

He quickly got up and ran out after him. Trowa stood up and sighed.

"His past does seem a little hard to swallow Heero," he said quietly.

Heero nodded. "I know, it took me a while to believe him too."

Silence fell between them. Trowa shook his head, still in thought. "I should go and catch up with the others."

"Sure, I'll stay here…in case Duo wakes up." Heero replied, still remembering that damn image of him lying there.

Trowa stopped at the door, something nagging at him. "Heero…" their eyes met and Trowa smiled. "He's going to be alright…don't worry about it."

Heero looked down, closing his eyes. "Thank you…" he whispered.

Trowa walked out, leaving Heero alone in the room. The Wing pilot sighed heavily as he closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip. He wanted Duo to be all right, wished it beyond anything. He just knew that something was going to happen to him, and Heero hoped it would be for the best.

He sighed again and walked out of the room and back over to reception. The others having already left, Heero walked over to the nurse and asked where Duo was. She gave him a complex set of directions and, after repeating herself twice, she finally wrote it down and gave it to him on a piece of paper. He nodded his thanks and walked off.

Heero's brow knitted. Why hadn't he been able to remember them the first time? He raised his left hand up to his chest. And what was with this damn tight feeling he had?

He shook his head and kept walking, arriving at Duo's room after getting lost three times. He marked up his absent-mindedness to worry as he opened the door and walked in.

Heero strode over to the bed and pulled over a nearby stool, seating himself down. He looked over Duo's frail form; his long hair had been tied loosely into a ponytail and he breathed softly through his slightly open mouth.

His eyes twitched as he dreamed. Heero's hard facial features softened and he placed his hand on the boy's forehead, brushing the hair from his eyes.

*Sleep sweet, Duo…I'm here for you, don't be afraid.* Heero looked at him in worry. *I only wish I were as strong as you, dear friend.*

***

Heero's eyes fluttered open as sunlight streamed onto his face, warming him awake. A movement under him woke him up fully as he sat up, staring at Duo's sleeping face.

*Was last night…just a dream?* he thought sleepily to himself. *How long have I been asleep?*

A nearby wall clock gave him answer – 7:23 in the morning. Heero blinked at it in shock. He'd been in the room for over ten hours!

Duo shifted as he slowly opened his eyes, staring straight up. Heero looked at him warmly.

"Welcome back, it's good to see you're awake finally," he said softly.

Duo didn't respond; he sat up fully, still not looking at Heero. *He must still be feeling the effects of the drugs,* Heero thought.

The long-haired boy turned slowly to look at Heero, his now pale violet eyes staring straight into Heero's cobalt blue one's. Duo moved slowly forward, placing his left hand on Heero's shoulder.

The Wing pilot tied to move back but Duo held him firm.

"Duo, what…" he murmured.

The boy moved towards him – no, his neck – and opened his mouth slightly, as if to kiss him.

"Duo what the hell are you doing?" Heero said just below a yell.

The Deathscythe pilot froze just a hairs breadth from Heero's skin; his voice had snapped him out of whatever trance he was in. Duo immediately backed off, putting a trembling hand to his mouth.

"No…Lord, no…" Duo whispered as he stared into Heero's confused eyes.

Duo jumped off the bed and ran over to a mirror that hung on the wall; his breath coming in short gasps. He pulled his top lip back with two fingers while another one ran around his teeth. He let out a yelp as he pulled back his finger.

There was a clean slice across the end of it and a drop of blood formed instantly. Duo wiped it off on his shirt and felt around the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He needed to know for sure…

Duo felt what he never wanted to find again. He dropped to his knees as his back heaved with sobs. He felt Heero's arm around him, but he didn't care. He wasn't human anymore; that's all that mattered to Duo.

"Heero, I'm not…my teeth…I've…I've been changed back…" Duo cried as his words came out and Heero just cradled him on his shoulder.

"Duo…the others…I was so scared you weren't coming back…they know about you…your past." Duo's pleading eyes looked up at Heero. "I had no choice Duo…the doctor had already seen your mouth and then he told us."

Duo shook his head as he whispered. "But…but I'm not human anymore…"

He threw his head back and screamed; a long, high feral sound. The mirror shattered from the pitch of his voice and then all was quiet.

***

ONE WEEK LATER

***

Duo stared hard at the ceiling from his place on his bed. Since his encounter with Strife, he had been fully healed and was allowed to go home. The doctor was stupefied as Duo walked out when he should have still been in a coma. He had hardly spoken two words to anyone since returning, even Heero. He tried to remember how long it had been since he was last like this. Was it five years? Six? He couldn't remember. All he remembered clearly was the image of his dead grandfather…and Strife.

His eyebrows knitted. The guy was more trouble than Duo was usually. He'd run into him several times during his rounds over the years, why would he choose now to attack him?

Duo sniggered. "Probably thinks I'm more fun this way."

He sighed and swung his legs off the bed. *Well I'm no use to anyone in this sorry state, might as well try to be sociable.*

He strode out into the kitchen, rummaging around in the cupboards for anything considered edible and instant. He frowned after finding only coffee and two-minute noodles. Duo sighed and shrugged; they might fill him up at least.

Duo went about boiling the water and dumping four teaspoons of coffee into his cup, he needed to wake up. Quatre walked in and smiled at him.

"Morning Duo!" he said cheerfully. Duo just nodded his hello and went about pouring the boiling water into his cup.

Quatre accidentally bumped him as he reached for the tea, causing Duo to spill the liquid across his hand.

"Ah shit!" Duo exclaimed as he put the jug down and shook his hand violently. Quatre must've yelled sorry more times than Duo could count.

"It's alright Quatre, It's stopped hurting now. See?" Duo said holding up his hand for the Arabian boy to see. Quatre watched in pure fixation as Duo's red skin slowly turned back to its usual flesh colour.

"How..? Duo, your hand…there's no burn mark!" Quatre exclaimed as he grabbed Duo's hand and turned it over this way and that looking for something to prove him wrong. The Deathscythe pilot just sighed and went about making his coffee. He managed to down half of it before Quatre had finished his inspection and walked out.

Duo shook his head and poured the remainder of the water into a saucepan. He tossed in a few spices along with the noodles he had found in his previous search.

He managed to cheer himself up by humming to himself as he stirred the noodles around. After they were done, he dumped the contents into a bowl and grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the drawer, moving into the lounge room.

Everyone looked up to see Duo enter the room. He sat up on the windowsill and downed a chunk of the stringy food.

"Maxwell," Wufei said as their eyes met. "What the hell are you still here for?"

Duo coughed and spat out the food he had in his mouth. "What?"

"You heard me, why aren't you out doing your duties as a hunter-warrior?"

The braided boy sighed; he thought Wufei was about to rile him about being a monster. Wufei was always ready to criticise the young teen in every way possible. Duo was just glad that he had somehow learned to respect what Duo was and did.

Duo put the bowl down next to him. "Well I…I was going to go out tonight actually. I've been thinking about it for a few days…and I want to see if I remember how to fight like this."

He sighed again and picked up the bowl. "I'm sorry if I'm not what you guys expected…"

Trowa shook his head. "It doesn't matter Duo. We couldn't care if you were Treize Khushrenada's son; you'd still be the same guy."

Quatre nodded. "Exactly Duo, your past doesn't make who you are. Only you can make who you are. You're still the same Duo we know, it's not like you've become evil overnight or anything."

Duo smiled at them all. He may not have been human at that moment, be he felt more human than he'd ever been. Trowa and Quatre – especially the latter – always tried to cheer him up whenever he was down. Wufei said a good word about him now and again, not very often but he usually tried. Heero, well, Duo had always thought of Heero as his best friend.

*Hell, I trusted the guy enough to tell him my life!* Duo thought with a warm smile.

Heero kept his eyes down, not meeting Duo's. He mumbled something about sleep and walked off to the room he and Duo shared, taking his laptop with him.

Everyone just looked after him, slightly stunned. Heero had just completely ignored Duo for the first time since arriving on L2.

Quatre blinked. "Well, that was unexpected."

Wufei just sighed. "Duo…you said you were raised by Strife," he looked up at him. "Do you know any special laws or languages from back then?"

Duo thought for a moment. "Well there is the Tome of Shyranisk, I know a bit of that." The others all looked at him blankly. "It's like a book of prophecies and legends…nothing too exciting, I assure you."

Trowa frowned. "Then tell us what you know."

Duo blinked at him, then smiled. "Sure! Just gotta remember the bits first…"

He frowned and looked at the ground, putting his bowl down again. *Dammit…what was that part again? God damn-mit! Hang on!*

"I think I got it now, well…part of it anyway." The others looked up at him expectably.

"Um…part of the Tome writes about a legend of death, it was one of the first I learnt. It goes:

Grave dangers await those who dare

For the Shyranisk trails offer dispair

Enduring the nests of the creatures unrest

Is the task for those seeking the test.

Brave beware for the old have told

That only one shall be so bold."

He sighed. "The second part is a little better:

Single small hands

Shall bear the brands

And unleash the power

To destroy false lands

Shyranisk ministers will fume in alarm

As Shinigami awakened

Halts the flesh farm."

Duo cleared his throat. "Basically, that translates into the legend of Shinigami, or in english, the God of Death."

Wufei nodded. "So…this Shinigami is a legend to your kind?"

Duo flinched. "Well, I wouldn't exactly say my kind. More of a complete screw up on His part." He pointed upwards. "But then again, I don't blame the Lord for this, no one can. It was just fate that I happened to be born like this. I'm not blaming anyone for my existence, I am who I am and I can't change that. It all comes down to acceptance Wufei. It's…something that comes naturally to me, always has. I'm not out to change anyone's faith," he glances at Quatre, "or their beliefs on anything…I just want to lead a normal life among my friends."

Quatre smiled at him. "Duo…I may not believe in the God you do but Allah would definitely be proud of you." It was well known among the others that Quatre was Muslim.

The braided boy smiled back, whispering. "Thank you Quatre, I appreciate it." He sniggered. "Well I suppose I should go get my stuff for tonight's rounds. With Strife in the area, I'm gonna need to start earlier." He pushed himself off the ledge and walked back into the kitchen, downing the rest of his noodles and placing the bowl in the sink.

Duo brushed a stray lock of hair from his eyes and walked into his room. Heero sat cross-legged on his own bed, fingers flying over the keyboard of his laptop.

*Probably going over those damn mission statistics again…he never stops reading those until he can say them word for word from memory…* He thought as he fell back onto his bed.

He pulled a loose board away from the wall next to him and removed a long duffel bag. He slowly pulled the cord loose and slipped its contents out, placing them onto the bed carefully.

Heero glanced up, expecting to see Duo reading his hentai (pervert) mangas again. His eyes widened and he gasped as he saw Duo carefully running a rag up and down the length of a metre long katana blade. Duo looked up and grinned at him.

"You've never seen this before have you? Guess I hid it pretty well then…" he tossed the rag on his pillow. "This was the sword my grandfather owned. I try to keep it in pretty good nick."

Heero pushed his laptop to the side and placed he feet on the floor, moving towards the blade to inspect it closer.

"It's…Duo, it's beautiful." He said in a whisper.

Duo's grin grew larger. "Here, have a hold if you want."

"N-no, I…I'm no good with swords, I might drop it."

The other boy rolled his eyes. "Heero, this thing's been embedded in steel, concrete and just about any other harder-than-hell substance you could think of. I don't think dropping it on the floor will do it any harm."

Heero carefully took the long katana in his hands, letting his fingers wrap slowly around the handle. The material there had been pressed flat from years of use and felt smooth and flat against his hands. He brought it up to look at the hilt; an ornate piece of bronze work. The centre of it was decorated with cherry blossoms and ivy leaves and the edge was carved into the shape of a long dragon.

Heero turned the sword so it pointed straight up. The blade shone from the reflection of light in the room. He had a strange urge to run his fingers along its edge and he looked up at Duo. The braided boy nodded, somehow knowing his question.

He held it horizontal again and placed his thumb gently on its razor edge. Heero began to slowly slide it along, keeping no pressure; just feeling the blade with a feather touch was all that was needed. He reached the end slowly and, reluctantly almost, pulled his hand back and handed it back to Duo.

"Thought you might like it. The sheath has it's own goodies too. See the two bits sticking out at the top? Pull one out." Duo said as he held out the black sheath for Heero.

Heero slowly moved his hand forward to touch the cold metal. He carefully tightened his grip and pulled up, revealing a six-inch knife.

"Nice…" he mumbled.

He slid the knife back into the sheath and looked up at Duo, who was looking straight at him. Duo swallowed and turned away. "Say Heero," he asked picking up the rag again. "Do you…do you want to come with me tonight? To see what it's like?"

Heero's breath caught as the same tight feeling in his chest return. God yes, screamed his head. He wanted to see the Deathscythe pilot in his true form, to see him slice cleanly through the flesh of another as their blood tainted the blade's edge. Ever since hearing Duo past three months ago he had dreamed of this day.

"Sure, the mission stats can wait until tomorrow," he said with a brief smile.

Duo smiled at him. "Great! Um…I have to get changed so…"

Heero nodded and stood up, stealing a last quick glance at the sword. He walked out of the room and slowly clicked the door shut behind him. Heero looked the corridor to see if anyone was coming. He saw no one.

Heero closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, slowly sliding down the face of the door. What was it about Duo's smile that made him feel so…so safe? Intoxicated almost? Heero swallowed and relaxed into a sitting position. He knew where his thoughts on Duo stood – he regarded the boy as his best friend in a crazy world full of war.

He just wish he knew how Duo felt…

The Wing pilot felt strangely sleepy and calm as he stood up again and brushed himself off.

*I mustn't think like that…I'm a soldier with my own missions to attend to dammit, and that baka (idiot/stupid) is just going to get in the way of them.* He seemed satisfied with the answer his brain gave him and walked to the bathroom, he needed a shower.

***

Heero sighed as the almost too-hot water pounded his back, relaxing his muscles. A wraith-like vapour of steam danced around the base of the glass shower stall and flowing out into the rest of the room. He reached a hand up behind his head to scrub his shoulder blades. An involuntary gasp escaped his lips as his shoulder caught.

Around a month ago, in a particularly hard battle, Wing suffered a blow to the chest, snapping Heero forward into the harness and tearing the muscle there. It had healed over with time, but it still grabbed once in a while to remind him never to leave the harness so loose.

He sighed to himself as he turned off the jet of water and opened the door, fumbling for a towel. Heero brushed his wet hair down, along with his arms, torso and legs. He wrapped the thin cloth around his waist and walked back to his room. Duo should be out by now.

Finding the door still closed he knocked twice. "Duo, you still in there?" Hearing no reply, he stepped inside and went about getting dressed.

***

The two teens walked slowly down the street, hands in pockets, side by side. Duo had already taken out nine vampires that night and was hoping to meet a tenth one soon. Heero smiled as he remembered the look on the other boys' face as he'd struck the final blow. Duo had been so totally in control that Heero felt no fear as they faced the enemy. It was like all he was doing was toying with them – like a cat with a fallen bird.

Heero reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. Why had he chosen to wear this damn halter-neck shirt? He knew how it itched his skin. Still, it was warm, and the nights here were somewhat cold, given the fact that L2 was the most neglected colony out of them all.

Duo yawned and stretched his arms up, pulling his hands out of his black leather jeans. "Man, I love this job!" He yelled out in childish glee.

Heero laughed softly. "So I see," he replied. "Hey Duo…if you're a vampire, doesn't that mean you…well, you know."

Duo looked at him blankly. "Drink people's blood? Yech! Don't be disgusting Heero!" He laughed at Heero's embarrassed expression. "Why do you think I ate sushi for about the past week? Raw meat is enough for me to survive off. It just needs to be in a form that people will recognise as 'normal'."

Heero took it as a good enough answer and shut up. Duo saw something flicker from the corner of his eye and whizzed around, amethyst eyes slowly scanning the empty street. Heero peered after him.

"What is it? Another one?"

"Hee-!"

Heero was grabbed around the head and thrown violently into and alleyway, landing hard against the side of a dumpster. He saw stars for a second as he groggily got to his feet and leant weakly against the cold metal, looking up for his attacker.

He saw, as Duo had hoped, that it was another vampire, and he was walking slowly towards Heero.

"Hey!" a voice behind the vampire made him stop and spin around. Duo stood casually with his hand resting on the end of his sword. "Why don't you wanna play with me? I'm much more fun!" Duo said with a half-evil, coy smile.

The big guy laughed. "Kid, what the hell do you think you're gonna do with that toy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know…" Duo muttered.

The vampire charged at Duo, fangs bared. Duo stood calmly at the mouth of the alley waiting for him.

At the last moment he drew his sword and attempted to block the punch aimed at his thin waist. Duo succeeded; his sword made an audible slicing sound as he carved a line neatly up the vampire's arm.

"You little bastard!" he yelled. His cut began to close.

"Ah, so you're a regenerative one too! This should prove interesting." Duo smiled, then shimmered from sight.

The vampire blinked. "What the…? Where'd the little brat go?"

"Right in your face, sucker." Said a voice from above.

The vampire turned around to the direction of the sound and instantly got a fist in his face. He staggered back, fingering his jaw muscles.

"You little shit! How the hell did you do that!?" he said just barely avoiding a low kick to the knees.

He moved back just as Duo performed a jumping roundhouse kick that swished by him. He then jumped over him, and as the man ducked, he landed on his hands behind him and mule kicked him in the back. He flew through the air and landed on the ground, ten feet away with a small 'oof'.

Now the vampire was mad, he had been holding back because he underestimated this boy but he wasn't hesitating at all, the moves that he pulled off were incredible! He gritted his teeth as he turned around. Duo was already flying towards him; his sword aimed at his head. He reached up and grabbed it by the end, throwing it away as he knocked Duo to the ground.

Duo's sword went sailing through the air, aimed straight at Heero's head. Heero hastily ducked to the side as the blade embedded itself three inches from where his head was.

Duo was now forced to spar with the vampire in hand to hand combat. The vampire stalked into the centre of the alley as Duo flipped himself up. The man jumped at Duo who raised his right leg for a side kick. He caught him hard, square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He then followed by punching the vampire full in the face, knocking him backwards. Duo then walked over to him, breathing hard. The vampire snarled and lunged at him again.

A punch to the head was deflected at the same moment a kick to his ribs was blocked. Duo's legs fell out under him and he caught himself just in time to deliver a sweeping kick to the vampire's ankles, knocking him down also. The two stood back up and breathed hard. Duo laughed.

"This is what I've been missing…this is how to fight! I like you pal!" He wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. "Damn…are all you guys who work for Strife this tough?"

The big guy laughed. "Kid, I'm just warming up."

He disappeared in an instant. "What the…?" Heero mumbled.

Duo's eyes looked around desperately for the missing vampire. Heero looked up and around.

"Duo! Behin-!"

Heero never finished as Duo was smacked hard at the base of the neck in a double fisted punch, sending him crashing to the ground unconscious.

*Oh SHIT!! Now what are we supposed to do!?* Heero's mind screamed.

His soldier instincts kicked in and he reached inside the jacket tied around his waist to pull out his Desert Eagle. He aimed at the vampire's chest and pulled the trigger, releasing his entire clip into his him.

The vampire smirked and kept walking. "Too bad…"

Heero couldn't move. Partially from being paralysed with fear and also because he was still groggy from his collision with the dumpster.

The vampire placed his hands either side of Heero's head. "Consider it an honour I'm going after you first." He said as he slowly leaned forward.

His eyes suddenly widened and a large blade protruded from his forehead. It withdrew and the monster slumped to the ground. Duo stood behind him, flicking the excess blood off a wickedly curved and pointed dagger. He gave Heero a grin.

"Hey Hee-chan, sorry about taking so long. Had to pull that guys' leg for a bit," he noticed a wet, red mark under Heero's hand. "Ouch…nasty landing."

Heero glared at him. "Wouldn't have been if you'd have been quicker."

"Hey, I might be quick but I'm not psychic! Cut me some slack!" Duo retorted.

The other boy sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry Duo…"

"No problem!" Duo smiled and slapped Heero over the shoulder as he walked past him.

Heero gritted his teeth – Duo had hit his sore shoulder. "Let's…just get back home Duo. It's already around one." Duo nodded and started walking beside the other boy.

***

Quatre lay quietly on the lounge, his head resting in Trowa's lap as he began to nod off. Trowa had his arm resting softly on the boys' shoulder and was stroking his hair softly. They had been up for hours waiting for Heero and Duo to come home. Quatre shifted his head slightly to peer at the door.

"That sounds like they're home…" he said sleepily.

Trowa nodded and soon the sound of keys could be heard twisting in the lock. The two strode proudly into the lounge room.

"We're ba-ack! Did you miss us?" Duo said in a sing-songy voice before laughing.

He walked past them and into the bathroom to clean his teeth; Heero just stood there watching him go.

"He's…a little hyper," he explained. "He took down about a dozen or so single-handedly so it's going to take a while for him to calm down."

Trowa nodded and looked down at Quatre; he'd finally fallen asleep. "I should get the little one to bed, he stayed up, determined to see you return home."

Heero laughed softly. "When he wakes up tell him we're alright."

Trowa slowly stood and scooped up the sleeping Quatre in his arms. He turned to look over at Heero, who was now looking towards his room. He smiled and shook his head.

"Try and get some sleep tonight Heero," he said walking into Quatre and his' room. "We'll see you both in the morning…daylight I mean."

Heero nodded and watched him go. He frowned as Trowa shut the door, clenching his fists. What was this extreme feeling that had just overwhelmed him? Heero's eye twitched as he struggled to figure it out. He'd felt it when Trowa had called Quatre 'little one'; it was like his pet name for the Arabian boy. So why was it annoying him so much?

Heero sighed and shook his head in defeat. Maybe he should try and get some sleep; staying up until the early hours of the morning reviewing mission statistics wasn't such a good idea when you have to be up at six that morning.

He walked off to the bathroom and brushed his teeth and his hair; it was short but it was still prone to tangling. Heero stared hard at his reflection in the mirror.

*Did I really get annoyed by Trowa and Quatre back there?* He asked his cobalt eyes. *Yuy, no…you've had this talk with yourself before. They are who they are and that can't be changed, you know that. Besides, it's now two in the morning and you're having a conversation with your reflection. That's not a sign of complete sanity Yuy.*

He splashed his face with cold water and wiped away his thoughts, along with the water, onto a towel. He walked into his and Duo's room and saw that the other boy was just pulling the covers around him. Duo gave him a grin as he walked in and Heero couldn't help but smile back at the boy.

Heero peeled off his clothes, leaving his green boxers on as he climbed into bed. He rolled over to face the wall and sighed, eyes half closed. Why did he have this stupid feeling of being safe again? Heero closed his eyes fully. It was because of that idiot's smile again…

Heero clenched his eyes tight and grimaced. *What the bloody hell is wrong with you Yuy!? Just forget about that braided baka and stop being such a sick bastard!* His throat released an irritated growl.

There was a soft rustling of sheets behind him. "Heero?" Duo's voice cut through the silent room. "Are…you alright?"

"Yes. Shut up and go to sleep baka," Heero responded coldly, still frowning.

Duo was hurt. He'd been on more missions with Heero than he could count and he'd learnt more about Heero during those times than what most people probably cared to know. Duo knew all about Heero's irritable moods and expressions. But this time, his voice held a cold edge to it, one he'd never heard before. He filed it under 'severely pissed off' and turned around again, facing the wall.

"Night Heero…" he whispered meekly.

Heero swallowed. Great, Duo was upset now.

"Hn…g'night."

Duo brought his knees up to his face, curling into a ball. He wished he knew what went on inside that soldier's head of his. Maybe then he'd get an answer to why he ran hot and cold with his emotions towards him. A childish grin broke over his face.

*He probably got his period this morning!*

Duo couldn't help but snicker and he quickly raised a hand to his mouth to stop from bursting out laughing completely.

*Ok…enough screwing around Duo…time to get some sleep. You know what you have to do tomorrow…* He sighed smiled to himself sadly.

Vampiric power or not, he didn't want to snap and lash out at his friends. Duo never wanted that to happen again…especially to lose Heero that way.

*…Heero…sweet dreams bud…*

***

Duo awoke with a start, eyes wide and breath short. He swallowed through a dry throat and slowly remembered his nightmare. He moaned and sat up, holding his head.

He looked over to see Heero still asleep. Duo smiled. He looked so innocent…so childlike…when he slept, no one would ever guess he's a trained assassin.

The image from his nightmare returned and he shook his head. From what he remembered, he stood in a completely white void, no one around him. Three voices – Quatre, Wufei and Trowa's voice – had told him that Death…would consume him?

Duo scratched his head in confusion and tried to remember the rest.

The void suddenly flashed with lightning and was covered in an inky darkness A large gargoyle-ish figure loomed over him and smiled warmly, calling himself the 'light in the darkest hour' or something.

Duo shook his head and sighed. "Well shit…" he smiled. "It's been a while since that one popped in to say hello."

He snorted and threw back the sheets, standing up and throwing on his priest garb once more. Duo finished adjusting the neckpiece as Heero stirred. He sat up and rubbed his head, much as the braided boy had earlier.

"Morning sunshine!" Duo said cheerily. "Are we to be severely pissed off with me now or later today?" He laughed.

Heero frowned. "Yeah, well…I'm sorry about last night. I was…thinking…about something and you disturbed my train of thought." He shook his head. "I also had this weird dream about some stupid black-winged angel and me. It really disturbs me now that I think about it."

Duo blinked at him, slightly shocked. A black-winged angel…? Did Heero have the same dream as him?

"Uh…maybe you should go have a bath this morning instead of a shower Hee-chan," Duo smiled at him. "'Bathing cleans the mind and soul'. Well…that's what Sister Jocelyn used to always say."

Heero shook his head. "No, it's alright…I never dwell on dreams anyway. What's the point? If they were meant to tell us the future or whatever they'd make it a lot more clearer, don't you think?"

Duo blinked at him. "You must've smacked into the dumpster pretty hard last night man…"

Heero glared at him. "I'm still blaming you for it…" he mumbled.

Duo laughed and whipped the sheets off Heero's bed, leaving him sitting there in his boxers. Heero cursed at him in Japanese and threw his pillow at the other boy. Duo ran out laughing and hid in the hallway.

Heero muttered something about strangling Duo with his braid and went about pulling on his usual tank top, omitting his shorts for jeans instead. He sighed as he walked out of the room.

And was promptly tackled by Duo.

Heero and Duo rolled squarely into the wall and Heero flipped over the braided boy, straddling his waist and pinning his arms with one hand, the other in a tight fist ready to punch him.

"Not in the face! Not in the face!" whined a helpless Duo.

Heero leaned in closer. "If you ever do that to me again," he said into Duo's ear. "I will make it a personal duty to see that you never have children…"

Duo swallowed visibly and nodded meekly as Heero let go of his arms and stood up. Duo rolled into a sitting position and looked at the ground.

"I was only tryin' to cheer you up Hee-chan…" he murmured.

Heero knelt down and put a hand on Duo's head, smiling warmly. "Duo no baka…I know that. Just try and think of something that doesn't involve slamming us both in to wall next time."

Duo smiled back at him, a little uncertain of what to make of the situation. Yeah…he thought, Heero was his best friend in this crazy warring world.

"Come on," Heero said standing up. "The others should be up by now and we should get some breakfast."

Duo jumped up and grinned. "Yeah, I smell Trowa's blueberry pancakes! Let's eat!"

***

Wufei blinked at Duo in shock, who was now finishing off his third stack of pancakes. "So, how did you go last night Maxwell?"

Duo looked up at him and mumbled something between a mouthful of coffee and pancake.

"This time Maxwell, swallow first, then speak." Wufei growled.

Duo shrugged and made an audible swallowing sound as he licked his lips. "I said, I think I did pretty good. I took down about a dozen or so in an hour."

He sighed and looked down at his plate. "But I didn't like it…"

"What do you mean Duo?" Quatre asked.

Duo looked up at him for a moment before casting his eyes down again. "I…the feeling I get…when making the kill…it's different from what I remembered, say, six months ago." Everyone looked at him confused. "What I'm trying to say is, last night was the first time I've enjoyed the feeling of the kill…it scares me."

The room fell into silence. Duo was seeing more and more of these scenes every time he talked, he thought with a smirk.

*You won't anymore soon, though…well, that is if he'll help me again.* He thought with a frown.

"Um…guys…" He met their eyes. "I've been thinking…if I can go and see my uncle again…um, maybe he can help me turn back to the way I was before Strife changed me."

Quatre and Trowa were shocked. "But the last time you heard from him was over a year ago Duo!" Exclaimed Trowa.

"How will you know where to find him? Or to even begin with for that matter!" Quatre said as he placed his hands on the table.

Duo smiled and closed his eyes. "I'll know…trust me, I lived with him for around four years so I got to know the guys' quirks and codes."

Wufei sighed. "And while you're away Strife will run havoc through L2. You'll return with no powers whatsoever Duo." He looked up at the boy. "Yuy said that you've faced him a couple of times before, once when you had your powers right? Well what makes you so confident you can beat him without them?"

Duo shook his head, smiling. "I'm not sure I could beat him even if I were a fully-blooded vampire Wufei. Strife may just be…invincible." He looked up at Wufei, his eyes conveying a hidden message. "As a hunter-warrior, it's my duty to fight even if it means dying at the hands of my enemy, Wufei."

Heero looked down at the table, deep in thought. He worried about his friend sometimes.

*Duo…you talk about death so casually,* he glanced up at the braided one. *Why are you so eager to face Strife without keeping your vampiric abilities? Do you really want to die that quickly dear friend? The God of Death should never talk about his own funeral before his time…*

Duo laughed at them all. "Oh come on guys! You're acting so damned gloomy! I'm just carrying out the dying wish of my grandfather by eradicating the vampires from L2. And judging from the amount I got last night, the averages the other guys send me and the rate at which Strife turns people…we should have them down to a nil by about…oh say…AC 200-ish."

Heero laughed; a rare sight for the others. "Well at least we know we've got five years left to live if you fail Duo."

Duo frowned at him. "Omae o korosu Heero…(I'll kill you Heero)"

He pushed his chair back with a scraping sound. "Well if I'm going to leave, I'll have to check Deathscythe to see if he's space worthy."

With that, the braided boy turned on his heel, collecting his plate up and dumping it in the sink before heading outside to the large warehouse they kept their gundams in. Duo pressed the entry code on the large roller door and it slowly rumbled upwards, revealing the five gundams in its depths. He heard the others moving inside and then Heero's voice silenced them. Duo walked casually up to his Deathscythe Hell, placing his hands on his small hips as memories of old battles popped fresh into his mind.

*Yeah ol' buddy…we've had some good times haven't we?* He thought with a smile. *Shit Duo…this is no time to be getting sentimental.*

He crouched slightly before springing lightly up to the open cockpit of his Deathscythe. He smiled as he heard Quatre gasp – he'd just leapt ten metres straight up with total ease. Duo went to work checking the diagnosis report on his gundam before a voice broke his thoughts.

"Duo! Is there room in that gundam of yours for one more?" Duo looked over the edge to see Heero standing there, his jacket tied casually around his waist.

Duo smiled at him, Heero was always a good friend to him, probably his best.

"Sure! You can make it up can't you?" he yelled down.

Heero gave him a thumbs up. "Easy."

Duo shook his head before turning back to his work. He frowned as he looked over Deathscythe's self-diagnosis report.

*Why has that damned thirty-second coupling come loose again? It was checked just last week!* He scratched his head in confusion. *Shit, at this rate…I'm gonna have to fight with one arm.*

Duo scanned the rest of the report, his brows knitted. He stopped and stared, mouth opening slightly in complete surprise. "What the…? A six point zero twenty-five hydraulic lock on the coupling?" He slapped his forehead. "Moron! What the hell was I thinking!?"

Duo began to type furiously on the console. *And we put you in there…and you can go here and…voila!* He threw his arms in the air in triumph. "Ha HA! Fix-ed!"

Heero by this time had managed to climb up onto the open cockpit door and sat down heavily, his jacket tied loosely around his waist. "What is?" He asked out of breath.

Duo turned and grinned at him. "The shoulder coupling hydraulic lock on his left arm had been screwing up for about a month now," he patted the console. "But I fixed it good as new!"

Heero smiled at him. "Congratulations…" he looked up at Deathscythe's unfurled wing-like armour. "We should get going soon though."

Duo gave him a thumbs up. "Gotcha, the report's complete so we should start heading off now."

Heero nodded and followed the boy into the cockpit. Duo seated himself in the chair and threaded his slender arms though the leather harness, pulling it tight.

"You're gonna have to sit next to me for the take-off," Duo said pressing a few buttons to feed power into Deathscythe. "Sorry, no second harness."

Heero nodded and crouched next to the pilot, holding onto the side of the seat for support. He'd never actually seen the inside of Deathscythe when its cockpit was fully functional and enclosed before. He swallowed as he gazed around the tiny space. It was darker than he expected it to be. Heero frowned to himself. It was just any other mobile suit, so why would it interest him so much?

*…It's Duo's…* his mind registered softly. *Yes…that's it…it has to be.*

Duo sighed and closed his eyes. "You're gonna want to close your eyes for a sec Heero."

Before he had a chance to ask why, all three monitors were flicked on, flooding the cockpit with an immense wash of light.

Heero squinted as his eyes adjusted slowly. Duo grinned at him. "Heh…guess I'm used to it, eh?"

The massive Deathscythe groaned in protest as it was slowly walked out into the open. Duo flicked on an open channel to the house. After a few seconds, Trowa's face appeared.

"Hey Tro! We're gonna be heading off now, so we'll see you when we see you ok?" He waved as he cut off the connection, seeing Trowa's stunned look for a second.

Duo flicked several switches and buttons on the panel hidden under his right arm. He returned his hand to the grips of the controls and slowly marched the immense Deathscythe forward. A shudder was felt throughout the gundam as the massive white-blue jet of energy launched them upwards and towards the closed bay doors of the colony.

Duo smiled as he quickly overrode the lock and opened the hatch, landing neatly in front of the gaping hatch. He motioned the gundam into the large bay and quickly closed it again.

"Air lock's next…get ready for stale air central Hee-chan!" Duo winked as he activated the air lock on Deathscythe.

He flicked one more button, overriding the air lock on the colony and quickly floating outside, shutting the hatch once more.

"Ok…now we run a search on Dr G to see where he's at…" he scanned a list of complex algebraic symbols. Too complicated, thought Heero. "Ah! Got him! He's residing in…Colorado." He locked the coordinates into Deathscythe's autopilot and they took off into the inky blackness of space.

"Um…it should take us around…" he looked at his watch. "Two and a half hours to get to where he is."

Duo sighed and sat back into his seat. He squirmed uncomfortably as he tried to remove the harness. It was caught again, the right shoulder always did, he thought with a growl.

Heero stood up and moved over to the boys' side. "Need a hand?"

Duo nodded. "It's this damn shoulder strap, it's always catching on something and jamming up!" He said with another growl.

"Here, let me…" Heero said as he sat down on the right armrest and inspected the strap closely. "There's your problem, this corner here? It's too tight so when you pull forward or anything it'll catch on whatever you're wearing. Lean forward while I fix this."

Heero gave the offending strap a hard tug and Duo gave a yelp as it suddenly came loose and he fell forward, collapsing onto Heero, who cried out in surprise too and they both fell onto the floor of the cockpit with a resounding thud.

"Ow…" Heero said as he lay there.

Duo pushed himself up onto his arms and smiled nervously at Heero. "Sorry…my bad."

Heero just lay there staring up at Duo with his mouth slightly open in shock. They both sat up, Duo cross-legged and Heero kneeling and both sore from the fall. Heero's gaze wandered over Duo's face…his amethyst eyes, his long chestnut bangs and his smiling lips.

Heero swallowed. He slowly moved towards Duo, softly cupping his face in one hand as he awkwardly kissed him on the lips. He had never kissed anyone before and the other boys lips felt strange pressed against his.

Duo squeaked softly as Heero pressed his face to his. Heero closed his eyes and immersed himself in the bliss of the moment, still pressing forward. Duo's mouth parted slightly, and Heero did likewise, feelings the other's hot breath mingling with his own.

"Mm…Heero," the braided boy moaned, allowing Heero to push him down onto the floor. His legs uncrossed and Heero settled in between them, still kissing him. Heero felt Duo's tongue slide into his mouth, and then all his self-control vanished.

"Duo…I…" Heero murmured between kisses. Duo pushed him away and both stared into each other's eyes.

"I've been waiting for you to do this for a long time Heero…" Duo interrupted, his voice low. "I was afraid you'd never…"

"Shut up," Heero growled, pressing against him for another kiss. He felt Duo's hands run up, over his sides and he couldn't stop the groan from erupting from his throat. This was what he wanted, soldier or not.

*Aren't soldiers allowed to feel love? Then maybe I'm not a soldier, but a human instead. I never thought of that before…* Heero's mind whirled.

The Wing pilot ran his hands over the other's body, pushing up his shirt and running his hands over the flat muscles of Duo's chest and stomach.

Heero moved his attention away from Duo's lips and began to kiss his neck and chin. Duo twisted away, exposing his tender throat to the other boy.

Heero's tongue ran over his soft skin, tasting the residue from his sweat mixed in with his cologne. "I've been wanting to do this for such a long time…" Heero moaned. Duo shivered.

"But, Heero…don't you…oh God that feels good…don't you…uh…" He couldn't get the rest of his sentence out. Heero pulled back, calmly waiting for him to collect his thoughts.

"Don't you think this is too fast?" Duo finally panted. Heero smiled at him.

"Perhaps," he responded as he moved in for another kiss. "But I know damn well that you're liking this as much as me…" he mumbled meeting the other's mouth.

Heero shifted his weight and Duo suddenly gasped, shuddering beneath him.

"Oh shit!" Duo nearly yelled, arching his back. Heero rolled off him, eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" Heero asked suddenly. He prayed he didn't hurt him. Duo rolled onto his hands and knees, panting.

"Oh shit, just be…just be glad we…stopped there, Heero." He looked at him through half-open eyes.

Heero's face flushed as he looked over the other boy. "Um…sorry…I…I don't know what came over me."

Duo shook his head. "Don't apologise, it'll only make you feel guilty."

Heero felt something strange come over him and he found himself sitting next to Duo and putting his head on the other boy's shoulder, sighing deeply.

"Hey Heero…you've changed in this last week or so." Duo noted. Heero nodded.

"It's your fault."

"My fault?" Duo squeaked. Heero grinned, sighing.

"Yeah, it's your fault. It's your fault for being you."

"What'd I do?" Duo asked, grinning.

"You rubbed off on me," the Wing pilot murmured. Duo snorted and then began snickering madly.

"What?" Heero asked, surprised.

"This is about the only instance where you haven't called me baka at the end of a sentence or threatened to kill me! Dammit Heero, I must be affecting you in more ways than I thought!" Duo laughed at him before becoming serious again. "You know Heero…it's not too late to change. Sure, you can be focused on your missions and all, but you can learn to loosen up when you're not blowing shit up."

Heero smiled. "Duo…do you feel anything for me? I mean, like I feel for you?"

Duo laughed. "If I didn't, I would've punched you when you kissed me. Like I said earlier, I've been waiting for you to do that for a long time. Do you know how long I've waited for you to put the moves on me? Hell, do you know how long I thought I was a sick bastard for wanting you to put the moves on me?"

Heero shook his head. "No…how long?"

"Since I met you."

The soldier felt his jaw drop. "Re…really?" he stammered. Duo laughed as he nudged his shoulder.

"Yes, really," the braided one said, sighing. There was a pause as both pilots sat there watching the inky blackness of space drift by. Duo liked this; he had finally admitted his feelings to Heero and got the baka to smile, he thought with a smirk.

"So…what about you, Heero?" Duo asked softly, staring at the Wing pilot's face.

Heero sighed and looked down. "Duo…I…" his brows knitted slightly. "I don't know what love is. I have nothing to compare it to. But I…I just want to protect you, hold you, care for you, make you happy…Is that so wrong?" he asked looking up into Duo's eyes with worry.

"Sounds like love to me…" he mumbled and shook his head. "Why would you think that's wrong?"

"Like I said, I have nothing to compare it to. I've never actually been shown how to love someone," he smirked. "It doesn't exactly come under the requirements of a terrorist."

Duo smiled at him. "Well it doesn't really matter now does it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well…if you believe in what you just said, it shouldn't matter that we're both together from now on, should it?"

Heero shook his head. "No, I don't think so…"

Duo smiled at him, leaning his head against Heero's. "You see? Loving someone isn't all that hard after all, ne?" Heero laughed. Duo glanced down at his watch.

"Dammit…that only killed twenty minutes…" he mumbled. "We've still got around another two hours to go before we get to where Professor G is."

Heero twisted his head up to look into Duo's amethyst eyes. "We could just talk for a while if you want."

Duo smiled down at him. "Sure…" His brow knitted for a moment. "Hey Heero…how come you've always told me shut up constantly before and now you're giving me an invitation to talk?"

Heero turned away from him. Duo swore he saw him blushing. "I…I was afraid that if I heard your voice for any longer I might've done something that would have been to early for either of us."

Duo nodded, blushing heavily. "So, um…what do you want to talk about?"

Heero shrugged. "I don't mind…I just like hearing your voice."

"Ok…uh… *Great Heero, be specific…* I know. Deathscythe needs a little cleaning, I don't want to do it, it takes forever…why can't they just make car washes for gundams? It's just not fair, because then I have to go and work my ass off just to keep my mech cleaned, while all the normal people can just take a bucket and some suds. But nooooooo, I have to drain a fuckin' lake!"

Heero laughed at Duo's little venting session. This was going to be a quick two hours, he thought with a grin as he began to succumb to sleep.

***

"…never been able to beat that damn bastard on the ocean floor."

Heero carefully stifled a yawn, not wanting Duo to know he had been asleep. He slowly opened his cobalt eyes, already adjusted to the dark. Duo looked down at him.

"So what do you think is the best strategy Hee-koi?" He asked with a smirk.

Heero's eyes snapped open fully and he stared up at Duo. "What'd you just call me?"

"Um…Hee-koi…as in, uh, koibito right? I'm not sure that's right though, my Japanese has been a little rusty since I left my uncle's. I never was good at-"

"You called me koibito?" Heero asked, silencing the boy. Duo nodded meekly.

Heero smiled at him, resting his head on his chest again. "Thank you…" he whispered.

Duo blushed again. *Great Maxwell…Yuy's getting all mushy on you because you said something you can't even remember the meaning of,* he sighed softly. *I wish I could remember what it mea…OH!* It finally dawned on him, eyes going wide. *I just called Heero 'lover'!*

Duo stared down at the teenage soldier, eyes softening. *Well if that's what makes him happy…I won't go stopping it.*

"We've got twenty minutes left." Heero's voice broke into Duo's thoughts.

"Wha…? Oh, until my uncle's place. How do you know?" Duo blinked at him.

Heero snorted softly. "Baka…there is a clock on the view screen you know…I took note of when we left."

Duo mouthed an 'oh'. *Damn…we're within G's radar range now…only enough time for one quick kiss before he contacts me…* He smirked, tracing a finger around Heero's jaw line. Heero looked up at him and place his hand softly on Duo's cheek.

*He really is beautiful…my beloved Shinigami,* Heero thought pressing his lips softly onto the other boys', closing his eyes.

Duo moaned softly into Heero's mouth, running a hand up the back of Heero's neck and into his hair, teasing the short tresses. Heero responded by moving his hand up Duo's side and over his back, rubbing small circles with his fingers.

A rapid beeping snapped them out of their little kissing session and Duo snapped his eyes open, tearing his face away from Heero's.

"Dammit! That bastard would have to pick now to contact me!" He yelled at the blinking message. Heero sighed and shifted back into his place next to Duo's seat.

"Guess this means we can pick up where we left off later?" Heero grinned wickedly at Duo, who had a wide grin on his face. Heero just laughed.

Duo stood up and sat back into his seat, attaching the harness once more and leaning back. He tapped a button on the armrest and Professor G's face appeared on-screen.

"Uncle G! It's been too long!" Duo grinned. *Damn that bastard…damn him…just smile Duo.*

G just nodded. "Yes indeed. And what is the purpose of your little visit, might I ask?"

Duo's face froze, unable to talk. "I…" his head lowered. "It's Strife…he…he attacked me and changed me back."

G's shock was clear. "What? But why now, after all this time and opportunity?" Duo shook his head; he didn't want either of them to see the tears that had begun to sting his eyes.

"I…I don't know." He looked up at his uncle. "Professor G…Uncle…I came back to you for a reason. I don't want a repeat of what happened three years ago. I came to ask you if you'll make the serum you made for me back then."

The bowl-cut scientist nodded. "I see…" he glanced over at Heero. "I can guess that you've probably told him?"

Duo smiled. "Good guess…pilots three through five also know. I was taken to hospital after the attack and Heero had no choice but to tell them after what the doctor saw."

G lowered his eyes, lost in thought. He nodded to himself and looked back up at Duo. "I'll start the preparations right away nephew." He smiled. "It's still the same, isn't it? One part 10-W-40 to two parts machine oil?"

Duo laughed; that was his concoction for the polish he used on his sword. "Bingo…see you in ten Uncle!" Duo laughed again and ended the connection.

He sighed and tilted his head back. *That felt almost human again…then again…I will be soon enough…I hope…*

***

The two teens walked slowly up the path towards the front door of Professor G's home. Heero looked worriedly over at his new love.

Duo walked casually with his hands stuffed into his pockets, braid swinging playfully behind him. Heero looked into the other boys' eyes; they held a slight twinge of pain in them. Strange, he thought.

*Why would Duo be so pent up about going to see his uncle?* Heero thought as he turned his head away, looking up at the high windows of the house.

Duo sighed and turned to him, a look of hurt about him. "Heero…I…" He stopped and grasped Heero by the shoulders. "Look, I don't want you to get mixed up in this business with Strife. It's between him and me."

Heero shook his head. "I can't do that Duo, you might get-"

"Hurt? Hell yes, that's a given…" Duo dropped his arms and looked at the ground, sighing again. "Please…I don't want you to get hurt because of some stupid jerk from my past."

"No, Duo." The Wing pilot said firmly.

"Heero, don't make this any harder than it already is."

"I will not stand around while you go off to get yourself killed. Strife will pay, either through you or through me."

"No!" Heero flinched at Duo's tone. "Dammit Heero, promise me you won't get involved."

Heero's eyes softened as he looked at Duo's pleading face. Duo had been going through so much in the last week and a half; his memories of a past he wished to forget had flooded back with a vengeance. Maybe disagreeing with the boy was going to end up with both of them being killed sooner than expected. Heero smiled as he looked at the ground.

"Duo, I…I promise I won't interfere."

The braided boy smiled warmly at the other pilot. "Thank you…" His usual grin came back in a flash. "Come on! My uncle's waiting for us!"

He grabbed Heero by the arm and dragged him up the remainder of the pathway. Duo released the boy and banged his fist loudly on the door.

"Prof-essor! Hey uncle! Open up!" Duo called through the large wooden door.

A series of clicking and beeping could be heard from inside as the door opened up to reveal Professor G standing there. He smiled at the sight of his nephew and drew him into a hug.

"It's good to see you again Max-chan…" he said happily.

Duo's face was bright red as he was released. Heero raised an eyebrow. "Max-chan?"

The young Shinigami rubbed the back of his head and looked at the ground. "Uncle…you know I don't like that name…" he said shyly. Heero blinked at him in surprise. He'd never seen Duo act so meek before.

G laughed at his nephew's state and invited the two of them in, leading them through a series of hallways and rooms until they came to stop at a closed door. The bowl-cut scientist opened the door and stepped inside, motioning for the other two to follow. He stopped in front of a large bench covered with countless beakers and test tubes filled with liquids of every colour imaginable. He lifted up a small narrow-neck beaker.

"Here it is…" He handed it to Duo, who twisted it around in his hands. "It's an exact replica of the one you took four years ago."

Duo stared at the clear aquamarine liquid, awed by it completely. "That…was fast!"

G smiled. "Well not being one to brag, but…at least I'm better than that Master O."

Heero laughed softly. G's face was covered in complete shock as he stared at the teenage soldier. He cleared his throat and blinked several times.

"Well, I guess my nephew has finally taught you how to be human." He said, still stunned.

Heero just smiled, taking the statement a different way. Duo put the beaker back down.

"Um…uncle we're kind of tired from the trip over here, so…" he said warily.

G raised a hand. "Say no more m'boy, I had a feeling you would be. You remember where your old room was?"

Duo's face lit up. *He kept my old room?* He nodded, understanding.

"Thanks uncle!" He said and scooted off to reminisce in his old surroundings.

Heero watched him go then shook his head. "Professor G…where will I stay?"

The man blinked and put a hand to his chin. "Hmm…there's no couch anywhere, the spare room's filled to the hilt with books and reports. You don't mind being in the same room as Duo do you?"

Heero shook his head. "That's alright, thank you." He turned and walked out of the room, leaving G to his work.

After wandering around for a few minutes, getting lost and finally managing to find Duo's room, Heero stepped inside, spotting the braided one sitting on his old bed cuddling his pillow. Heero's eye twinged when he saw Duo not moving. He looked at him; eyes full of concern and sat down next to him with a squeak from the bedsprings. Duo didn't look up at him, just smiled, eyes failing to force back tears.

"I used to sit in exactly the same place when I was still living here…" he said, barely above a whisper.

Heero's face fell. "Duo…"

Duo shook his head. "No…it's alright Heero." He sighed. "I thought that I'd finally grown up when I left L2. I thought that I could put my past behind me. But even now…I'm still a child."

Heero gently wrapped his arms around the boy, cradling his head on his chest. Duo dropped the pillow and wrapped his arms around Heero, tears slowly trailing hot lines down his cheeks.

"All this shit is happening because of my stupid lies," he said softly, voice cracking.

"What do you mean 'lies', Duo?" Heero asked.

"Come off it Heero, as if you don't know…I've lied to everyone I met; you, the other pilots, everyone! They all believed that I was pure and innocent as a child, living my life in a convent as the boy-priest they all thought of me as." Duo looked up at Heero, eyes filled with anguish and suffering. "Do you know what it was like? Saying that over and over again to people I didn't even know? It became so repetitive that I began to believe it myself, wanting to forget my past so badly. My life was so screwed up until then because of who I am, nothing else. It all boils down to pure self-hatred; I wanted to…I…I was ready to kill myself Heero."

Heero closed his eyes, realising he had tears in them. Duo's remarks had hit him so hard; he had never heard the boy talk with such pain and passion in the same instant. Heero sighed and opened his eyes again, meeting Duo's.

"Your past just makes you all the more special Duo. Do you think Wufei could fill your place as a hunter-warrior? Or Trowa pull off some of the stunts I've seen you do? And Quatre, do you think he could have gone through your life without ending up the cheerful and beautiful person you've become?"

Duo shook his head slowly. "But…but you're the strongest person I've ever known." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "God, I'm pathetic! Just look at me. I've reduced myself to a crying, selfless bastard! Heero…please…I don't want you to see me like this."

A low growl came from Heero's throat as he held Duo closer. "Duo…I've told you a thousand times before; shut up. I won't have you talking about yourself like this. You are THE most wonderful person I've ever met. Why the hell do you think I chose you in the first place? Do you think all those missions together were just for the sake of practising our terrorist skills? No, it's because I've always been drawn to you by some strange force I can't explain other than you make me feel safe." Heero took a well-earned breath.

"It was always your smile that made me feel that way. Your always being happy was a like a ray of light in the darkness for me." He sighed. "You call yourself the God of Death, yet you talk about killing yourself as if it were a casual thing. Please don't do this Duo…I can't stand seeing you cry because it hurts me so much…"

Heero now had tears streaming down his face also. He felt so horrible now, almost as if he was sharing Duo's pain. Duo sighed and hugged Heero closer. What they shared was so special, he thought sincerely. Heero's lips flickered into a smile for a brief second.

"I'll tell you what," he whispered into his ear. "I'll kill you later if you like. Would you like that?"

Duo laughed and nodded, reaching up to wipe his eyes. "Yeah…that'd be great Heero."

Heero sighed and pushed himself away from the boy, staring into his bright violet eyes. "Your uncle is right Duo, you should try and get some sleep tonight."

Duo smiled at Heero. "I know," he glanced at the clock that sat on the dresser. "But it's only ten past nine Heero…and I'm not…" he was cut off by a yawn. "I'm not tired one bit."

The Wing pilot laughed at him and ruffled the other boys' hair. "Baka…you are so, go to sleep."

"Am not!" Duo poked his tongue out at Heero in protest.

"Of course, Duo. I'll take your floor for the night, so could you hand me a pillow?"

Duo pouted and threw it in Heero's face as the other boy just laughed and intercepted it midway, kneeling down on the floor. Duo threw himself back onto the bed and pulled the covers up around him as he squirmed around into a comfortable position, not bothering to undress. Heero just knelt there; clutching the pillow and watching the other boys' chest rise and fall as he breathed softly, the only sound in the room.

"Night Heero." Duo said sleepily.

"Goodnight Duo." Came the reply as Heero laid himself down and pulled his jacket around him for warmth. "Sweet dreams koi."

Duo mumbled something incoherent as he finally drifted off to sleep. Heero smiled as he found his mind wafting into the thresholds of a drowsy happiness.

*I just wish you knew how wonderful you really are in my eyes Duo…* his mind whispered softly as his eyelids closed.

***

Heero glanced up at the clock, it's neon red numbers showing 3:26 in the morning. He groaned softly and closed his eyes again. He'd drifted awake over an hour ago and now, couldn't get back to sleep.

*Dammit…I need…sleep…*

Duo shifted in his sleep next to him and Heero's head immediately fell onto the pillow, feigning sleep. He heard the boys' feet pad slowly outside and he carefully opened one eye, already adjusted to the darkness. A light came on from the hall and a tap was turned on, rushing water for a few seconds, before being turned off again.

Heero closed his eyes again as Duo returned. He obviously couldn't sleep either, Heero thought. Duo's footsteps came closer to Heero and he heard a soft thud next to him, a soft puff of wind pushing his bangs back into his closed eyes. Heero carefully opened his eyes again, and surpressed a gasp.

*Duo must have been sleepwalking…!* Heero's head yelled as he stared at the boy next to him.

It was true – Duo had walked back into the room and laid heavily down, just centimetres from where Heero was. The Wing pilot stared at Duo's sleeping face and noticed that he had been crying again.

*Oh Duo…you keep up such a strong front, yet on the inside you really are still a child.* Heero thought sadly as he reached his hand up and rested his palm on Duo's face. Duo smiled slightly in his sleep. Heero swallowed quietly and moved towards the other boy, carefully shifting his weight so as not to wake him.

Duo shifted in his sleep, rolling onto his side and stopping mere millimetres from Heero's face. Heero found that he had been holding his breath and let it out slowly. He wrapped his arm protectively around the other boy.

*I'll keep you safe from now on…I won't let anyone try to harm you ever again…I promise you Duo…* Heero placed a soft kiss onto Duo's nose, sealing his vow as his body finally succumbed to sleep.

***

Heero awoke to a loud crash from downstairs and a string of Japanese curses mixed with other obscenities. He sat up slowly to see that Duo had obviously gotten up before him and gone downstairs. He stifled a yawn and slowly got to his feet, stretching his arms upwards and hearing his vertebrae crack from sleeping on the hard floor.

"Ouch…" he mumbled as he massaged his neck. "Damn idiot could've at least given me another pillow…"

He shrugged into his jacket and walked downstairs to find out what had woken him up so suddenly. As he neared the base of the stairs, he heard another cursing session ending with another crash.

Which resulted in more swearing.

Heero smiled as he peered into the kitchen and saw Duo, standing in front of the stove with a wooden spoon in one hand and dressed in a jade green apron with Taz on the side. Heero forced himself not to giggle; Duo looked absolutely cute in his outfit, his face and hair caked with sugar and flour stains made him look even cuter in Heero's opinion.

Duo stared between a recipe and the spoon in disgust. "Wooden spoon…recipe says so…it's gonna take me forever with this stone age piece of cookery."

Heero was thoroughly enjoying the show and nearly burst out laughing as he watched Duo attempting to cook. Duo was trying to pour the dough-like substance into a frying pan and ended up with a few bits stuck to his elbow.

He writhed around in frustration for a few minutes before screaming and throwing the remainder into the air towards the ceiling. It hit with a hard thunk and stuck. Duo blinked in amazement and put his hands on his thin hips.

"Well I'll be damned…" Heero grinned, knowing what would come if Duo didn't move. Duo stared up at the dough, which had slowly begun to make its decent back to the floor by the force of gravity. With a sticky plop the mixture released itself and fell atop Duo's forehead. The braided one only sighed and began pulling the sticky dough from his face, cursing all the way as he placed it into the frying pan.

Heero shook his head, a smile playing on his lips as he walked silently towards the self-appointed chef. He quickly wrapped his arms around Duo's waist, causing the boy to yelp and drop the spoon.

Duo whipped his head around and stared into Heero's cobalt gaze. "Dammit Heero! Don't do that! You scared the absolute crap outta me!" Heero just smiled and rested his chin on Duo's shoulder. Duo's look softened and he relaxed into Heero's arms.

"Hee-chan…if you wanna eat breakfast you're going to have to let me go." Duo said calmly.

"What if I'm not hungry?" Heero said as he nuzzled the other boys' neck, kissing a soft trail down his neck.

Duo blushed and tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the spoon. "Dammit…seriously now Heero. I don't think my uncle would appreciate another burnt roof because of me."

Heero stopped and looked at Duo, sceptically raising an eyebrow. Duo just shrugged.

"Um…it's a long story," he said simply, turning away again. "Hey! Pancakes are done!"

Heero laughed and picked up the spoon for Chef Duo. The braided boy started piling the pancakes onto a plate and they both made their way towards the lounge room, forks and syrup in tow.

Duo fell heavily onto the couch, grinning his head off and nearly dropping the pancakes in the process. Heero rolled his eyes and sat down next to him, taking a large bite from his stack of pancakes.

***

"It was great seeing you again uncle. Sorry it wasn't under the greatest of circumstances though." Duo drew Professor G into a tight hug, squeezing hard.

G patted the boy on the back. "It was good to see you too nephew." He bent down to whisper in his ear. "Be careful around Strife, I fear he's gotten a lot stronger."

The bowl-cut scientist stood upright again and moved over to Heero, extending a hand out towards him. "It was good to see you too Heero Yuy. Try not to get killed in the line of duty."

Heero shook his hand and looked behind them, uninterested. G turned back to Duo.

"Take it easy Duo, that formula has the same properties as the previous one; you should remember the side effects."

Duo grimaced. "I'll keep that in mind. See you when I see you Unc!" The boy waved and began to walk down the path with Heero next to him.

Heero watched the skyline as they neared the place where Deathscythe had been hidden. Duo looked at him from the corner of his eye.

*I wonder what he's thinking? Probably how to take out Strife…baka…I told him not to get involved.* Duo shook his head, sighing.

Heero blinked and turned to look at him. "Duo, what's wrong?"

Duo faltered. "Just…thinking. Would you like to add kenshi to your resume Heero?"

Heero's eyes went wide and his mouth gaped. Duo forced himself not to laugh at the sight.

"You…you're offering to teach me how to be…a kenshi?" his voice nearly squeaked.

Duo looked at the ground. "Well yeah…but just the basics, I mean…"

"I'd love that." Heero tried desperately not to yell out his answer.

Duo grinned at him. "Really? Great! We can start when we get back to our house!" His grin grew larger as he strolled happily towards his hidden Deathscythe.

Heero sighed and cleared his throat, looking at the ground. "Um…Duo?"

Duo blinked and looked over at him. "Yeah Heero? What's up?"

Heero fumbled for the words. "Why…why did you agree to being with me and not someone else?"

Duo blushed, he'd known this would come. He was kicking himself for not saying it earlier.

"Well I…I'd often wondered…if the Perfect Soldier would…" his voice trailed off as he mumbled something incoherent.

Heero turned to face him. "What was that?"

Duo turned away from his cobalt gaze. "I'd often fantasised about seeing you smile." He said quickly then sighed. "It's…always been a dream of mine Heero…you…you always seemed to interest me that way."

Heero smiled at Duo's words. He smirked and laughed softly. Duo looked over at him in worry.

*Great…now he's laughing at me…probably thinks I'm pathetic or something…* Duo thought dismally.

"Duo…I promise…from now on, we'll both be smiling forever." Heero said as he wrapped an arm around the other boys' shoulders.

The braided boy smiled up at the Wing pilot in relief. Duo had a feeling that the trip back was going to be a very quick one.

***

Duo heard the voice; he didn't want to get up though. He twisted his head away and swatted at the air in front of him.

"…Hrm…buzz off an lemme sleep…" he mumbled softly.

"Duo, get up now. Quatre's calling in." Heero nudged his shoulder.

The braided boy slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Heero for a moment. "Screw him."

Heero surpressed a laugh. "No, you have to answer it, he'll get the impression we've done something either indecent or gotten ourselves killed."

Duo grinned sleepily. "Now would we have done anything indecent Hee-koi?"

The Wing pilot smacked him on the head. "Just answer the damn call already baka."

The other boy laughed and pressed a button. "Hey Q-man! Long time, no see! What's up?"

Quatre smiled. "Just routine Duo. Hello Heero!" The Arabian boy waved at him.

Heero smiled back at him. "Hello Quatre."

The Arabian boy blinked at him in shock – he hadn't actually expected an answer from Heero, let alone see him smile.

"So um, you'll be docking in a moment right?" Duo nodded. "Well, we'll see you then alright?"

Duo sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes mother!" Quatre giggled and shut off the connection.

Heero shook his head. "Sometimes I worry about that boy."

"Sometimes I worry about you…" Duo mumbled.

"I heard that!" Duo laughed at him as he avoided another smack on the head.

Heero frowned in thought. "Hey Duo, what did G mean by 'side effects'?"

Duo sighed. "Basically, I get nausea so bad I usually collapse, cramping so intense it feels like I'm about to be torn in half, a fever popped up last time so whether it will this time is beyond me. Oh and I'll probably start to babble in Shyranisk while I'm unconscious."

Heero raised and eyebrow. "Uh…what?"

"Well Shyranisk is the technical name for the vampiric language." Duo explained as he swung Deathscythe back into the colony.

Heero looked down at the ground. "So…do you know any of it consciously?"

Duo grinned. "Nope, not a word!" he laughed.

Heero thought it best if he stayed quiet for the remainder of Deathscythe's landing. Duo brought the hulking mech to a stop by walking him back inside the huge warehouse and switching off the power.

He leaned back and sighed. *Well now Strife…let's see if I really am more fun this way, ne?*

***

"Hey guys, we're back! Did you miss us?" Duo laughed and hugged the three other pilots.

Trowa raised an eyebrow at the teen. "You were only gone for less than two days Duo."

Duo grinned at him. "I know. But I still missed you all!"

Wufei just rolled his eyes and Quatre laughed softly. "Well come back inside, you can tell us about the trip after you've relaxed a bit."

Heero nodded, mumbling. "A long shower would be great after a trip like that."

Duo leant in next to him and whispered something into his ear, causing the Wing pilot to blush slightly. Duo grinned as he watched Heero straining not to burst out laughing as he walked off into the house. The other three looked on in bewilderment.

"Um…what was that all about Duo?" Trowa asked pointing to the disappearing form of Heero.

Duo just laughed and walked off with the other pilots. "I'll tell you all one day…right now though, I am starving!"

Wufei snorted. "Maxwell, you never stop eating. How can you be hungry?"

"Easy, I think about being hungry then I am." The Chinese boy shook his head.

Duo reached up and wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead. "Damn…is it me or is it hot in the colony today?"

Quatre shrugged. "Last check it said a constant twenty-seven Celsius…it could have gone up a bit though."

Duo frowned and thought hard as he walked into the house. *It couldn't be because the colony heating system is on the fritz. Even if this is L2, the thing should be running just fine.*

He shook his head and headed for the kitchen, planning on a long, hot cup of coffee. He rummaged around for a few minutes, opening cupboard doors and peering inside as he shuffled the contents around.

"Hey Quatre!" he called out into the lounge room. "Do we have any coffee left?"

"Sorry Duo, all out!" Came the reply. "No more shopping until next week."

Duo sighed and frowned. "Dammit…" he mumbled.

A bolt of inspiration hit him and he moved over to where Trowa had stored the tea bags. He reached into the jar, pulling out two of the small parcels. Duo twisted them around in his hand, reading the labels.

The first rosehip; the second lemongrass.

Duo shrugged, they usually made a good combination when mixed in with some honey, so the braided boy settled for that as he opened the pantry door and retrieved the jar of golden goo. He placed them all onto the bench top and went about boiling the water, putting the bags into a mug. Duo grabbed a spoon from the drawer and unscrewed the lid of the honey, taking a sniff of the sweet aroma before dipping the spoon in and scooping out two spoonfuls and scraping them off into the cup.

Reaching for the jug, Duo poured the boiling water into the cup, watching the swirling water slowly change to a pinkish-brown. The tea filtered the light in the kitchen and Duo stood there, both hands around the mug, staring into it, captivated by how the colours were melding together.

A loud sneeze snapped him out of his gazing mood and he began to sniffle as he reached for a tissue, blowing his nose with one hand as he held his tea.

*Damn…must be a cold or something…* He shrugged, taking a sip of the nearly scolding mix. *I need a shower…I need to wake up…*

***

Duo stood, eyes half shut, letting the, almost too hot, water pound over his entire body. A steamy mist swirled inside the glass-enclosed shower stall. The humid fog seeped into every pore melting away, at least for the moment, any troubling thoughts of Strife that might invade his mind.

A stiff soreness, that could very well come from pulled ligaments, made the already tiresome job of shampooing and rinsing out his unbraided hair, a considerable task in itself, that much more difficult. Although the shower's moist heat had soothed his muscles, Duo's shoulder and arm, all the way to his elbow, ached from the strain of reaching up.

*Damn…I must've taken a bad hit from that guy the other night after all…*

Shutting off the water, Duo pushed the glass door aside and stepped onto the cold tile floor. Reaching for a towel, he winced as his right side reacted to his injury. Drying the best he could his almost yard long hair, Duo slipped on a pair of cotton pants. Once again his shoulder grabbed as he slid his arm into his shirtsleeve.

Walking down the hall to his room, the unbuttoned shirt flapped open exposing his shiny chest where tiny beads of water had not fully dried away. A towel hung around his neck to keep some of his hair's wetness off his shirt. But nothing could stop the continuous droplets dripping off the ends, leaving a clear path in the hallway. He entered the room to find Heero already sitting on his bed and scanning the screen of his laptop once more. Heero's eyes glanced up at him.

"You clean up nice." Heero proclaimed letting his sight run Duo's full length from head to toe. "At least you don't smell like your Gundam anymore." He added with a coy grin.

Duo pivoted about quickly. Now his eyebrows centred above his nose. "Like my Gundam, what's that suppose to mean?"

"You know. Dust. Stale air. Old, spoiled food. The usual smelly stuff."

"And I guess your Gundam smells like a spring day after it rains?" Duo shot back throwing the towel at his housekeeping critic.

"At least I try to be tidy." Heero declared intercepting the towel before it hit his face.

Taking a comb from the dresser, Maxwell decided to ignore his koi's critical review. Once more his shoulder caught. A completely involuntary moan sounded in the quiet room.

Heero shivered slightly in an empathic response to Duo's pain. Having just recovered from his own battle wounds, he knew what it was like to hurt every time you moved.

"You must have been hit hard to be bruised so badly. You're lucky it wasn't worse, you could have broken something," he said sympathetically. "Come here, let me help."

Duo dragged a straight back chair to the bedside turning it around backwards. Straddling the seat, he left nothing to get in the way of Heero's hair combing. Resting his elbows on the back, Duo's chestnut tresses almost touched the chair's bottom rung.

Heero began at Duo's crown. Slowly, carefully he moved the comb through. By its sheer length alone, Duo's hair was prone to snarling and tangling. That was one reason he often washed it without undoing the braid. But after the hard fought battle, he felt it was too sweaty and grimy to get it clean any other way.

Duo could relax with Heero. His gentle touch, stroking the length over and over again, always put Duo in a tranquil mood. Often even made him sleepy.

Working one section at a time, Heero gradually guided the comb to the bottom strands. Lifting them over his leg, he finished smoothing out the ends. Laying the comb on the bed, again his fingers started at Duo's temples, gliding slowly over his ears, gathering the silky mane in his hands. Duo sighed enjoying the attention. And with each stroke, Heero made sure his fingers brushed warmly against Maxwell's neck.

Yuy separated Duo's hair into three divisions and began folding one side over the other. As the braid pulled inwards, exposing the nape of Duo's neck, Heero leaned over planting soft, moist kisses on his ears. A shiver ran through the Deathscythe pilot as Heero's mouth traced sensual patterns all the way to his shoulders. A playful nip brought on another quiver.

The braiding continued. When it reached halfway, Heero held the braid securely in one hand using it to pull Duo backward against the bed. Heero's free hand slipped inside his partner's shirt while his lips met the others. Flat palms pressed down dragging slender fingers over Duo's firm chest. Fingertips circled around taut muscles and paused to give his fingers time to feel the other boy's warmth under them.

The wandering fingers slid down over Duo's stomach, over skin damp, not from his shower, but from the excitement of Heero's tender touch. Duo bowed his back leaning into Yuy's caress and softly breaking contact with his lips. A soft moan, not from pain but pleasure, escaped from his throat. One more light kiss on Duo's cheek and Heero's wandering hand pulled out, back to its task.

"Don't stop now." Duo pleaded panting softly.

"Don't worry." Heero whispered close to his ear, "You know I never break a promise."

All to soon the last of the braiding was done. The loose ends were tied with an over-wrapped and knotted cord. Then much to Duo's disappointment, the job was complete.

"There." Wing's Master sighed studying his work. "Perfect." he added with a satisfied smile.

Duo stood long enough to turn and sit as he should. "Thanks." he said pushing his bangs back from his eyes. Heero leaned forward accepting Duo's kiss of gratitude. Then a second because the first kiss tasted so good. "Come, you should rest for awhile." Heero invited moving to the bed's center.

Duo let his head flop on the pillow. *The coverings smell fresh like Heero's shampoo, not like my smelly Gundam…* he thought as a strange smile crossed his lips.

Heero snuggled closer, lying his head against Duo's shoulder, careful to stay below the sore bruising.

Duo took his hand. Turning several stands of Yuy's dark hair, so opposite Maxwell's reddish-brown braid, Duo let himself become lost in the loving gaze of Heero's deep blue eyes.

Heero's finger lifted tousled bangs. Running lightly over Duo's cheek it slipped under his chin until it raised Duo's mouth to his, kissing him one final time before leaning back with a sigh.

"Now…you should really get some rest," Heero said softly. "The formula could take effect anytime now and I don't want you to be tired when it hits, it'll make you feel even worse."

Duo smiled warmly at him. "Hee-koi, I have dealt with it before. I will know what to do when the time comes around."

Heero grinned and pushed a loose strand of hair from his eyes. "Still…"

Duo laughed. "Alright, alright! I'll go to sleep now…I was kinda tired anyway."

"I'm not going to say I told you so."

"Don't push your luck."

Heero laughed and rested his head back against Duo's chest, yawning softly. Duo looked down at the boy's dark hair; his eyes already half-closed. His fingers barely touched Heero's skin as they ran tiny circles over his back, soothing him to sleep.

"Sleep sweet my Wing Angel…" Duo whispered softly.

Duo let the smile fall from his face. A soft look of concern afflicting his features as he sighed softly.

*…I've backed myself perfectly into a corner; the ball is now in Strife's court and I've lost what little advantage I had to begin with. Maybe I was wrong in going to see my uncle… It's a possibility that I'm going to wind up dead before I even lay eyes on Strife again, I should have told the guys that. Course that would mean that I've been playing with their trust again; I don't think that they could take anymore of that from me, especially Wufei and Heero.* He sighed and narrowed his eyes. *Shit…what am I going to do about you Strife…?*

***

SIX DAYS LATER

***

Heero let out a loud yell as he brought his sword down hard to meet Duo's with a loud clang.

"No!" Duo snarled and sidestepped under Heero's right arm and swung hard. Heero ducked as he twisted his body around, connecting the blades again. He hadn't allowed himself enough time to get ready and his sword went cartwheeling out of his hand, sticking into the ground with a sharp thud. Heero now felt the tip of Duo's sword lightly touching his throat.

Duo sighed and pulled back. "Sorry Heero," the other boy stood up. "But if you want to beat me you're going to have to be faster than that!"

Heero laughed and walked over to the sword that was sticking out of the ground, pulling it out with a hard tug. Duo sheathed his own sword and reached up to adjust the zipper on his red leather high neck before smoothing down his black jacket.

"I know…even without your enhanced abilities you still managed to beat me fair and square." Heero looked down at the ground. "What was it this time?"

Duo smirked, a hand running up to push his bangs out of his eyes. "Your reaction time was great, couldn't fault it. You're manoeuvrability was better than last time. But this time…it was your footing…even though I was coming at you that quickly, you still should have had time to position yourself right."

Heero looked down at the ground, considering his friend's words. He looked up at him again.

"Should we continue?" Duo shrugged.

"Depends on you, this is just practice for me. You're the one who's getting any benefit from it."

Heero smirked and shook his head. "Well since you put it that way, let's stop. You're probably hungry again right?"

Duo grinned and flashed him a V sign. "Bingo Hee-chan!" He laughed and bolted off towards the back door, performing two cartwheels and a round off before landing neatly at the back door. He stood up, slightly out of breath.

"C'mon Heero! Food awaits!" he said cheerily and disappeared through the door. Heero laughed at him and followed him, less energetically, into the house. Heero went to their room first, leaving the sword he had borrowed on Duo's bed, before heading back into the lounge room.

He noted that the other three pilots were all sitting in the room. Wufei was engrossed in some fighting game while Quatre was trying unsuccessfully to brush Trowa's hair. Eventually Quatre gave up and realised that he would never understand why his friend wore it in such a strange fashion.

Heero smiled at the sight. They weren't just five teenagers thrown together in the mad panic of war; they all treated each other like family. That made Heero feel happy. They were just one big happy family with the closest ties anyone was likely to come across. Sure, Wufei always seemed like he wanted to kill Duo on sight most of the time, but he respected him like an older brother would. Most of the time, however, Wufei was only protecting the braided baka from getting himself killed when he was off on a mission.

The other two, Trowa and Quatre, were easy to understand. They didn't have any ulterior motive to why they liked everyone else; they were just like Duo. The two of them were always trying to cheer everyone up, make them all happy. Heero smirked; Quatre was the most emotionally unstable person he'd ever seen, yet he always loved his life and every aspect about it. Trowa? Heero nearly laughed. Trowa was like Heero in a lot of ways – withdrawn, quiet…there were too many for Heero to list.

He shook his head and sat down next to Wufei with a sigh, trying to make sense of the rapid pace he kept in the game.

"No! Injing tou!" Wufei swore in Chinese at the screen as his character slumped to the ground in defeat. "Dammit, I was on the second last level too…"

Heero laughed this time. "Poor Wufei…not golden glory for you today."

Wufei growled as he hit the restart button. "…Kuso tare…" (stinking son of a…) he muttered under his breath.

The loud smashing of glass and saucepans burst into the room. Everyone jumped to their feet, Heero walking towards the kitchen expecting to see a sheepish looking Duo cleaning up the mess. He gasped as he rounded the corner.

Duo's limp body lay sprawled on the floor, a saucepan lid and red tainted glass shards lying around him. Heero ran forward and knelt next to him, lifting up his shoulders. Duo was out cold, beads of sweat clinging to his clammy skin as he breathed raggedly in Heero's arms.

"Guys! Duo's unconscious!" he called out, voice cracking in a panic.

The three others ran into the room and crowded around him. Heero stood up with Duo in his arms.

"We have to get him to a hospital!" Quatre cried.

Heero shook his head. "No, they already know too much than they should about Duo. We're going to have to keep him here." He stalked quickly out of the room and into the bathroom, laying him down gently in the bathtub.

"Trowa, get me the antiseptic and some warm water. Wufei could you hand me that small towel?" He ordered, not taking his eyes off Duo as he pointed.

Quatre was crying by now. "Wh-what should I do Heero?"

The Wing pilot sighed as he took the towel off Wufei. "You can go and get me that Gundanium thread you have, and a small needle as well. I'd say Duo's going to need stitches."

Quatre nodded, swiftly turning on his heel and leaving. Trowa returned and placed a small container of the sterilising liquid next to Heero. The soldier nodded his thanks. Heero took in a deep breath – this was going to take all of his concentration.

He slowly and gently ran his hand up Duo's arm, feeling for any noticeable shards of glass under the boys' skin. One was caught under the soft edge of his palm; another in the soft nape of skin that covered his wrist and a tiny piece was lodged just below his cheekbone. Numerous other tiny ones ran up his arm and under his clothing from when he had fallen on the broken glass.

Heero grimaced. *My poor Duo…you told me that something like this would happen to you. Now look at you, your perfect skin has another scar to add to it.* The Wing pilot swallowed, taking in another deep breath. He grasped the largest one he could see carefully between his fingers, giving a slow steady pull.

It came out with a wet slippery sound, revealing it to be over three inches long. Heero winced as he carefully dabbed a corner of the towel into the antiseptic and lightly touched it to Duo's skin, wiping away some fresh blood.

Quatre promptly returned with the needle and thread, seeing Duo and handing them hastily to Heero. The boy took them and skilfully threaded the thin wire through the tiny loop, pulling it taut. Heero took it in a shaky hand and frowned, forcing himself to calm down. He managed to do so and carefully began to stitch up the red opening in the other boys' skin.

Heero continued his way up Duo's arm and then onto his hand, removing the tiny shards and stitching up the wounds.

He stood up and found that his bottom lip had begun to tremble slightly. He shook off the feeling and picked up Duo in his arms again, turning to the others who had been watching carefully.

"This…is all we can do for him right now. Without his regenerative ability he won't be able to heal as fast, so…all we can do is…watch over him." Heero said, voice unusually shaky.

The others nodded and let him pass, following him to their shared room as Heero placed Duo gently onto his bed and pulled the sheet up over his still body. Heero sat down on the bed next to him, brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. He let his fingers run over the stitches under his eye. Heero had made certain to take extra care with those ones.

"Heero, Quatre and I will go out and buy some more antiseptic. There was only a tiny bit left when I found the bottle." Trowa said with a small tug on the Arabian's shirt.

Wufei looked down at the ground. "I should go and call Sally to see what she can suggest."

Heero nodded still not taking his eyes off Duo. "Thank you…" he whispered.

The three pilots left, leaving Heero sitting next to Duo's frail form. Heero bit his bottom lip and tried to force back the tears he knew were coming.

He failed.

Line after warm, wet line traced their way down his cheek, stopping at his chin before dropping lightly onto Duo's hand. Heero brought his koi's hand up to his face.

"I'm sorry Duo…" he whispered. "You knew this was going to happen, yet you didn't say anything because you knew it would hurt me and the others."

Heero sighed, wiping his tears away with his free hand. He knew what he had to do. Swallowing away the rest of his sadness, Heero stood up and quietly slipped out of the room. He could hear the others in the lounge room, listening to Wufei's conversation with Sally. Heero carefully stepped outside and went to the large warehouse for their gundams. He punched in his entry code and quickly stepped inside, not wanting the others to know where he was.

Heero let out a short breath; he was on the home stretch now. *Wing ZERO…must access the Zero System.* He jogged over to where his gundam was and quickly scrambled his way up to the cockpit, stepping inside and sealing the hatch tight.

The Wing pilot stretched himself into the harness, closing his eyes and letting his long fingers coil around the controls of the large suit. The familiar yellow-white light circled his body as the Zero System activated. Heero opened his eyes, now a bright yellow colour as the system took control of his every sense and neuron.

*Strife…* he let his mind wander.

The person responsible for Duo's pain.

The one needed to be destroyed.

The man who had hurt Duo.

Heero snapped his eyes shut and grimaced as the images raced through his head, faster and faster. *…ZERO…* he barely heard his mind. "…ZERO…Show me…show me the right path!" Heero yelled.

The light went completely white and Heero screamed from the intensity of the invasion of his mind. The light died and all that was heard was Heero's shallow breathing. His back heaved as he forced his lungs to take in more air. He smirked shakily.

"Damn…is that all…?" he whispered.

He groaned and shrugged out of his harness. He smiled. *Good thing I have a strong harness…I hate using the Zero System for such extreme measures, but…I guess this would call for it.*

He slowly opened the cockpit door and climbed down the massive gundam's legs, nearly falling in a heap onto the floor from sheer exhaustion. Heero gathered up the rest of his strength and managed to walk back into the house, not bothering with subtlety as he went straight through the kitchen and into his shared room. Duo still slept soundly, no emotion on his face.

He stared down at the boy's heart-shaped face, leaning in closer and taking his hand. "I…I know you told me not to get involved, but you don't know something…that night, at your uncle's…I promised I wouldn't let anyone hurt you. Heero Yuy is a youth of his word, Duo…did you know that? I'll help you defeat Strife…no matter how much you tell me not to…it's my nature as a soldier to help the innocent. ZERO has just shown me something koi, he said it was the right path…I intend to follow it."

Heero suddenly felt full of purpose as he pulled back from the other boy's hand and stood up again. He didn't feel raw hatred or anger at the man who had done this to Duo, just purpose. The Wing pilot knew what it meant, he'd felt it often before in his earlier life.

McGillan Strife was to be destroyed by Heero Yuy.

Tonight.

***

Duo groaned softly as his eyelids strained to open. He felt drained of all his strength, just lying there as an unmoving doll. He eventually opened his eyes carefully, snapping them shut again as the harsh fluoro light of his room streamed down onto his face.

*What…? My room?* He carefully tried again. *How did I get here?*

Duo carefully opened both eyes, light still stinging them. He groaned again, suddenly aware of a presence in the room. He let his head roll to his left side, seeing the blurry forms of Quatre and Trowa sitting next to the bed. He cast his narrow-slitted eyes around the room. Wufei stood at the door, arms folded across his chest.

"Duo! We're so relieved you're-" Quatre started.

"Turn…off…the friggin…light…" Duo murmured.

Wufei flicked the switch and Duo's eyes immediately adjusted to the darkness. He sat up shakily, still propping himself up on one arm for support.

"Duo, you shouldn't move," Trowa warned. "You collapsed in the kitchen onto some broken glass."

The braided boy reached carefully up to gingerly touch the neat row of stitches on his cheek. He felt more pulling up his arm and he cast his weary eyes down to look at them.

*Damn…seventeen lots in all, huh? Must've been a really bad fall…* he nearly laughed at himself. A thought occurred to him.

"Hey, where's…Heero?" The other pilots looked at each other before turning back to him. Wufei walked over towards him.

"He said for us to tell you that he was going out to 'save your life', or something to that end." The Chinese boy said. Duo was immediately awake.

"He what?"

"The fall affected the idiot's hearing…great…" Wufei remarked.

Duo twisted around and ripped the loose board from his wall, casting it aside for the moment. He thrust his hand inside the hole and began to ferret around frantically.

"Shit! That bloody moron!" Duo yelled. "He took my fucking sword!"

Quatre blushed. He knew Duo swore but even that from a Christian; it was bad. "He also mentioned something about the twenty-third warehouse in the black district."

Duo's body froze. He began to breathe more quickly. "What…did he…say?" he almost whispered.

"Why? Is something the matter Duo?" Quatre asked quickly.

Duo turned to face them all, his face slightly pale. "That's where Strife is based."

The other three pilots gasped. Wufei snarled. "That idiot! Thinking he could go out and be the hero yet again!"

Duo never heard his words; he was too dumbfounded to even respond. *…Heero…you fool…you damn fool…* Tears welled up in his eyes and nearly rolled down his cheeks. *You really do love being the martyr of the play don't you…baka…*

He shook his head and mumbled. "No…I won't let Strife take anymore lives. Especially not my best friend's!" He stuck his hand back into the hole in the wall and pulled out a small, wide bag.

Duo scowled to himself as he pulled open the cord and spilled the contents out onto his bed. It was a short sword – very much like his other one. Duo threaded it though his belt, tightening it slightly. He crawled off his bed and walked over to the door, stopping under Wufei's glare.

"You of all people should know why I'm doing this," he said simply. "Don't try and stop me."

Wufei frowned even more. "I'm not going to," he held out a fist, pressing something into Duo's and. "Yuy trusted me with this, he said to read it as you leave."

Duo swallowed as his eyes darted to his hand. It was a note. *Shit…Heero don't do this…* He nodded.

"Duo please let us come with you!" Quatre begged.

The braided boy sighed. "No…"

"And why not?" The Arabian nearly whined.

Duo smiled and turned to him. "Because you'll get in the way? I don't think so," he sighed. "This…is personal Quatre. Heero knew that and now he thinks he can help me by going out and killing Strife. I don't know how he got that idea but he's going to fail, Perfect Soldier or not…Heero's just not capable of this mission…because it's my mission."

Quatre avoided Duo's eyes. Trowa frowned. "We still have weapons training Duo."

Duo laughed. "So? I hate to say it but even if I were in my half-vampiric state, I could still dodge bullets with ease."

The room fell into complete silence. Duo sighed, scowling again. "Strife will be killed by my blade alone. So if you'll excuse me, I have to go save my Hee-koi."

Duo turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. He reached the front door before hearing a very audible 'what' from the other three pilots. He twisted the doorknob and quickly slipped outside, breaking into a flat run towards the north side of the colony.

He unfolded the note as he ran, holding it in unsteady arms as he moved swiftly between buildings and warehouses. His chest tightened as he read:

Duo,

I'm sorry for my weary life, I know I'm not perfect but I can smile. I hope you see this heart behind my tired eyes. If I had told you before, you'd have said that I can't, but I will. I know I can be afraid but I'm finally alive. I'm no Angel but please don't think that I don't cry and I don't try. And if I say I'm coming home, I know I'll probably meet you soon…

I know I'm no Angel, but that still doesn't mean that I can't live my life…and I won't fly some day…

Itsumo Koi…(Always my love)

Heero Yuy

He stuffed the crumpled up note into his pocket as he ran even faster. "Heero! Please be alive!"

*I'll never forgive myself if you aren't…*

***

Heero screamed as he felt the man's fist strike him over and over again. He felt his body hit the floor in a heap, but it didn't matter, he was already feeling the incredible pain of being beaten for over an hour straight. He couldn't even force his body to moan, as he lay there, ravaged completely, stolen sword long forgotten.

"Pathetic!" The man yelled. He walked over to the boy; he was mouthing something he couldn't make out. "Eh? Speak up you useless human!"

He grabbed Heero by the neck and pulled him up next to his ear to listen. He was barely whispering. "…duo…tasukete…! (help)" He coughed weakly. "…gomen…koi… (sorry)"

The man's eyes widened. "Duo huh?" He smiled and pulled his arm back; fingers shaped to a knifepoint like position. "Too bad…it's a shame he's not here to see you squirm!" He thrust his hand down towards Heero's chest in a violent jab.

"Stop it!" a voice yelled. The man did; just centimetres from Heero.

He whizzed around to face the angry glare of Duo Maxwell. The man grinned, letting go of Heero and standing up.

"Well, well, well…" he said with a smirk. "If it isn't my old pal Maxwell. How are you doing lately? Feeling ill?"

Duo narrowed his eyes. "Up yours Strife. And leave him out of this."

Strife threw back his head and laughed. "Why should I do that? Please Duo!" he laughed again. "You're pathetic, you send a human to do your dirty work for you? So immature of you…" he waved a finger at Duo.

"He came of his own accord. To stop you," he walked forward slowly. "He knew he was taking a gamble with death by coming here."

Strife kicked Heero's limp form. "So he was saying the truth" he mumbled. "Stupid humans never learn, do they?" he laughed when Duo stopped.

"Don't do that Strife." He said in a low growl.

The white-fringed man smirked. "Why? You going to attack me with that overgrown steak-knife of yours?" He kicked Heero again, as if taunting Duo.

Duo growled, nearly reaching for his sword. "Enough! I said leave him be Strife!"

Strife stepped back, arms outstretched. "He's all yours Maxwell…"

The braided boy never took his eyes off Strife as he backed off. When there was a sufficient gap between Heero and the older man, Duo took a tentative step forward.

"Oh and by the way…" Strife said folding his arms. "You might want this back. Was getting tired of seeing His damn face anyway!" Strife pulled something from his jacket and threw it at Duo.

Duo's hand shot up; eyes still on Strife as he caught it. He gasped as he felt the shape. Duo pulled his hand down to look at the object in his palm.

It was his Grandfather's cross.

Duo snarled and clenched his fist around it, glaring up at Strife as he pocketed the sacred item. "You bastard! You stole this off me!"

The man yawned. "Well shit boy…thieving should come naturally to you…"

This time Duo whipped his hand back and unsheathed his sword in one clean movement. Strife grinned.

"Ah, so you do still have that toy of his!" he laughed. "I was wondering about-"

"Oh for the love of God, will you shut up Strife! Shit, you talk more than me!" Duo interrupted with a growl. Strife glared at Duo.

"Now that wasn't nice at all…" he mumbled.

Strife shimmered from sight in a second. Duo crouched down, knowing what would hit him if he weren't careful. He closed his eyes, focused all his energy on listening, hearing any sort of sound that would give Strife away.

He snapped his eyes open and swiftly jumped to the left, rolling to a stop. He cast a quick glance to where he was; the concrete there was smashed beyond recognition, dust still hung in the air.

*Shit, shit, SHIT!! That was too damn close Duo! Step it up!* He yelled in his head.

The air shimmered in front of him and Strife appeared, face to face with him. "Hey there." Duo's eyes registered a swift movement and he felt an immense pain in his stomach. He looked down in painful shock to see Strife's fist planted firmly there, just below his ribs.

The man backed off and Duo fell onto his hands and knees, straining for his lungs to work again. A strange metallic taste filled his mouth and he managed to spit it out, looking at it feebly.

Blood.

Strife had drawn first blood.

The man laughed. "You're just as pitiful as I've always remembered you Duo," Strife knelt next to him and grabbed him forcefully by the shoulder, digging in hard.

Duo gasped weakly in protest as Strife picked him up and violently threw him into the wall, watching him fall to the ground in a heap.

"Get up preacher."

The braided boy gritted his teeth and crawled to his knees. A stabbing pain at the base of his neck told him that there was a deep cut there. Duo growled and stood up shakily. He narrowed his eyes at Strife and widened his stance, breathing hard as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Good to see…we're still playing fair…" Duo grinned.

Strife laughed. "Yes, after all this time our game is still proceeding. Ah, the fun of the chase! I've missed it Duo…"

Duo smirked. "Whose turn was it?"

"Hm…I seem to recall it was yours." Strife folded his arms across his chest.

The braided boy raised his sword to his left hand, pointing it straight down. In one quick movement, he thrust it downwards, slicing a clean score into his thumb.

Duo knelt down, his eyes closed. He raised his left hand, palm up. He muttered something barely audible even to Strife's ears.

"Lord God Almighty, the one who is and the one who was,

The heathen were filled with rage.

Because the time for your anger has come,

The time for the dead to be judged," he paused to trace a line of blood under his left eye.

"The time has come to reward your servants,

The prophets, and all your people.

All who have reverence for you, great and small alike," he marked his other cheek. Duo snapped his eyes open to meet Strife's cold ice-blue gaze.

"The time has come to destroy those who destroy the Earth!" he yelled (Revelation 11:17).

He stood up with a look of pure purpose around him. He drew his sword in front of him and held it out; it's length running directly at Strife's neck.

"To the death," he whispered.

Duo let out a feral scream as he charged at Strife. The man just laughed as he dodged the blade aimed at his head.

"You'll have to do better Duo!" He laughed again.

Duo snarled as he slashed over and over again at Strife in frustration; the man simply wouldn't take a blow!

A movement distracted Duo and he quickly jumped back and looked behind him. His heart seized when he saw Heero sitting up.

"Hee-!"

"Look out Duo!" Heero yelled.

"-ro!"

Strife shimmered from sight and appeared behind Duo, grabbing both his arms and twisting them up behind his back. Duo cried out in pain as he thought his arms were about to be ripped off. A sharp line of pain shot across his back as he felt the warm, wet feeling of blood seeping though his shirt. Strife leapt back as Duo arched his back in pain; Strife had just rammed the edge of the boys' sword into his back. The boy collapsed to his knees in pain. Duo's body froze as he felt soft movement on his back and a small wisping sound alerted his ears.

His breathing quickened and his eyes widened as he looked slowly down to the ground. He moaned in horror as he saw the end of his braid lying limp on the ground.

"S-Sister Helen…no…" he whispered. He reluctantly reached out with a shaky hand to touch his once proud tuft of hair, a small glint of light coming from inside.

"I…promised you…never…"

***

EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

***

"Here Duo," Sister Helen smiled warmly at him. "It's my special treasure, put it somewhere where no one can ever take it off of you."

The child giggled happily as he took the small bundle from the woman. He opened his tiny hands to see a single gold thread coiled up messily. He looked up at the woman with large amethyst eyes.

"Please Sister, would you put it in my braid? As a keepsake of you? It'd mean so much if you did!" He smiled expectantly up at her. "I'll never take it out, I promise!"

Sister Helen folded her arms, smiling back at him. "You really promise to keep it in your hair as a memory of me? Why Duo…you really are a gentle soul. God's angels will be merciful to you, I can tell."

***

Duo blinked back the tears that streamed down his cheeks. His promise…destroyed in a single score. His back heaved as his sobs took control.

"I'm sorry…God…I'm so…sorry…" he whispered.

He clenched his eyes tightly as he clenched his fists. *I've let too many people down in my life. They all depended on me and now look at what's happened! They're all dead Duo! DEAD!! And you can't even keep a single promise! I'm not going to take this anymore; my hand shall cast no more lives away! Forever!*

Duo threw his head back and screamed. Strife blinked in amazement. Duo's body began to faintly shimmer with an aura that bent the air around him. He felt an immense power rip throughout his body and Strife took a step back as Duo's scream faded.

The boy opened his mouth and breathed hard. He opened his eyes slightly, staring straight at Strife; they had turned an intense ice blue, much like the other man's.

"What's the matter Strife? You look like you've seen death himself…" Duo murmured.

He slowly raised himself to his feet and stood straight up. He was a few inches taller than before, and his form was more slender. Heero had managed to struggle to his feet somehow, despite the pain from his numerous injuries. Duo turned away from Strife and walked over to Heero's unsteady form. He wrapped his arm around his shoulders, supporting him.

"Ne koi…will you be alright?" He said, voice strangely a touch deeper. Heero nodded weakly.

"Sure…it's…just a flesh wound…" he smiled feebly.

Duo raised a hand to the boys' chest, leaning in closer to him. "I'm fully changed Heero…"

Heero's eyes widened in surprise as he stared up at Duo's. Duo smiled and nodded.

"But…how…?"

"I'm not quite sure…I think the intensity of the moment changed me back somehow. Here…I will heal you."

Duo closed his eyes as a strange blue-green glow encompassed his hand. It was gone in the blink of an eye and Heero felt much the same as he had before. He blinked and looked down at himself.

"I don't…feel any different…" he murmured.

"No, my healing powers do not work that way. They restore health and seal wounds, they do not restore energy."

Strife growled impatiently; he didn't like being ignored. By Duo no less. "You're still as ignorant as ever Maxwell! Come over here and fight me like the pathetic human you are!"

Duo turned his attention back to the man, eyes burning with rage. "Hee-koi…are you alright to stand?" Heero nodded and Duo let him go gently.

"Face you like a what Strife?" Duo suddenly shimmered from sight.

Strife cried out in alarm; he hadn't expected this. His eyes darted around in wild frustration as they searched for Duo in the warehouse. Strife just smiled; Duo's eyes had held that same steely gaze as his, a cold and restrained power just begging to come out if the man pushed the boy far enough.

Heero, by this time, had managed to stumble back to the wall, leaning against it with a thud as he slid down in sheer exhaustion. He panted raggedly as he carefully opened his eyes. Heero snapped them open in shock – Duo was gone from sight completely!

"Hn…Duo…?" He whispered meekly.

A quick movement from Strife caught his attention as a flying black shape flew back at an incredible speed and smacked roughly into the wall, sliding down to a stop. Heero winced as he saw that it was Duo, trying to stand up again before Strife could come over and thrash him again. To both Strife and Heero's surprise Duo started to laugh.

"Is that the best you got Strife?" He stood up fully and laughed again.

Strife fell out of his fighting stance. "And? Am I supposed to say something like kid, I'm just warming up? Please…"

Duo's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Strife smiled at him. "You don't remember? Come on Duo…Garret said the exact same thing to you eight days ago."

Duo's eyes widened slowly in realisation. "You've been watching me this entire time…"

Strife smirked. "Correct Maxwell! And wasn't it fun! I've never seen someone handle a sword quite like you," he paused. "Not even your father could match your skill. And what's gonna happen to you now? Probably you'll end up sharing the same fate as them." He pointed behind Duo.

The boy whipped around to see Quatre, Trowa and Wufei running through the door towards Heero. He turned back to face Strife, a look of pure malevolence about him as he bared his teeth.

"Don't even think about it Strife. Just like Heero you leave them alone." He smirked, eyes narrowing slightly. "I want you to fight me alone Strife." Strife just laughed.

Duo heard the others talking to Heero as if it were as plain as day. Quatre knelt down next to Heero as he watched to the two combatants standing there, unmoving.

"What's happened Heero? Duo woke up and took off like a shot when we-"

"You told him, didn't you?" Heero cut him off. He growled. "I wanted you not to tell him for a reason…"

"One we already know Yuy," Wufei said with a glance to Duo.

Strife smirked. "Cute little conversations those boys have aren't they?"

"Feh…I wouldn't know, I'm not an eavesdropper."

Strife laughed. "Satetu-kei hur bah-tek taiu, hesu!" //Come flirt with death, boy!//

Duo smirked. "Maa xeru-nef em behen-ka Satetu-kei sebau!" //Death is already dancing with you!//

The two flew at each other and shimmered from sight a second before they met. The other pilots gasped.

"What…where'd they go?" Wufei stammered. "It's inhumanly possible!"

Heero laughed. "They're not human…"

Trowa stared at him. "You mean Duo…?"

"Yes…he's fully changed now…" Heero said closing his eyes as he stood up slowly. "We should get out of here soon, their battle will be short but very brutal. This whole place could come down on top of us." The others nodded, following Heero as he made his way to the door.

The wall near them suddenly exploded as Duo buried Strife into the thick concrete, somersaulting neatly in the air as he jumped back before landing in a crouch, breathing hard. Heero met his gaze.

*…Duo…*

Duo growled. "Get the hell out of here now! That shot barely phased him guys, get it!?"

He let out a cry of surprise as Strife suddenly leapt directly at him from the rubble, tackling him backward with a yell. Strife rolled them to a stop, him kneeling over Duo. He grabbed the boys' arms in one hand, pinning them to the ground, and began to pound him repeatedly with his free hand curled into a fist.

Heero froze, brows knitting in pure rage. "Guys…you go on, I'll catch up with you."

Quatre grabbed his arm. "No Heero, you'll be-"

"Shut up and don't argue with me! Get out of here now!" he yelled, pulling away from him.

Wufei nodded and kept walking; Trowa only paused to grab Quatre and pull him along, his protests growing faint as they all left the warehouse. Heero's eyes never left Strife as he bent down to collect Duo's sword that lay nearby.

He grasped the handle in two hands and let out a feral snarl as he ran at Strife's back. Heero swung with all his might as he brought the sword down at the man's neck.

"Kono yogore shine!!" (Die you worthless piece of…) He screamed.

The sword hit Strife's neck with a hard thunk, embedding itself into his skin. Strife turned slowly around to lock his gaze with the boy, snarling softly. He released Duo's unconscious form and stood up slowly to tower over Heero. Heero swallowed. He took a step backwards from the monster in front of him.

"Children shouldn't play with knives…" Strife whispered as he reached up and removed the sword with a slick sound.

Heero's body was nearly shaking with fear as he swallowed again. His instincts took over and he lunged at Strife with a yell, fist aimed at his stomach. It hit him squarely below the ribs – a direct hit that would have severely winded any normal man. Strife smirked at the boy.

He grabbed Heero's wrist tightly, causing him to gasp in pain. Heero grimaced and swung with his free hand, this time aiming for his head.

Strife easily ducked to the side and grabbed the boys' wrist as it sped past, squeezing it hard also. He laughed as he nearly crushed the Wing pilot's wrists. Heero fell to his knees in pain as he cried out loudly.

"Who's going to save you now boy!?" Strife laughed maniacally.

He stopped suddenly as a sharp pain drove itself into the base of the man's neck. A choked sound came from Strife's throat as he released Heero, letting his arms drop to the floor. He swung with all his might with a closed fist to the location of his pain. Strife connected squarely with something as the pain instantly stopped.

He reached up and grabbed his neck, pulling his hand angrily away to reveal it covered with blood. Strife snarled and whipped his head around.

Duo stood behind him, panting hard as he wiped the blood from his open mouth; his long white incisors bared. He grinned.

"Thought so…that's what a heart of pure evil tastes like…" he spat out a mouthful of blood. "You're soul is so tainted that Hades himself would reject you!"

Strife snarled before calming himself down and smirking at Duo. "Really boy…would you ever stop casting away people's lives if you had the chance?" Duo raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Forever is such a long time Duo…imagine the fun you would miss out on!"

Duo stepped back as if he'd taken a blow. Strife had read his thoughts! Duo always thought he knew every ability that the man possessed; he never knew he had psychic powers!

Strife smiled evilly and shimmered from sight before Duo could react. "If you're so eager to stop the killing then let's see it Duo!" the man's voice echoed around the warehouse.

He suddenly reappeared behind Heero, twisting his arms up behind his back with one hand and positioned his other hand in front of the boys' chest; fingers shaped like a knifepoint. Heero cried out in pain and clenched his eyes tightly closed. Strife smirked as his fingernails suddenly shot out an extra two inches, stopping them to touch lightly with Heero.

"Heero! No Strife! You mustn't!" Duo nearly begged.

Strife just laughed at him. "So what if I do?"

Heero squirmed in vain under Strife's grasp but the more he moved, the more his arms felt like they were nearly being wrenched from their sockets. He carefully opened his eyes and looked over painfully to Duo, smiling slightly.

"…Duo…don't worry…ngh!" He winced harshly. "…Hah…I promised…we'd both be smiling…forever…"

Duo let out a moan of horror at Heero's words. "No…Heero…"

Strife rolled his eyes. "Shut up you!" He tightened his grasp on Heero, hearing him gasp loudly. "If you really want to save him…then come on Duo…"

Duo took two steps forward; Strife smirked. "Too slow saviour!"

He thrust his hand swiftly into Heero's chest with a slick thunk, as his hand sliced cleanly into the boy's soft flesh. Heero's eyes widened as a strangled gasp rolled from his dry lips.

Duo thought he heard the Wing pilot scream, then realised it was himself, calling his friend's name in dispair. Heero made only a small gasp as Strife's hand impaled him, stiffening with the impact, then wavering slightly as it was withdrawn. Strife disappeared again, though neither of the two saw where he reappeared. Heero knelt motionless for an instant, fighting against the shock of the killing blow. Then his eyes clouded his arms lowered, and a great weariness settled over his proud features.

"…duo…" he whispered dryly as his limp body was released and he slumped forward, hitting the ground with a soft thud.

Duo didn't hesitate to bring out his incredible speed as he covered the distance between him and Heero in less than a second. Kneeling at the boys' side, he lifted his head and shoulders, cradling him gently in his arms.

"Heero!" he breathed in a whisper.

The Wing pilot's eyes opened. "…Duo…koi…watashi no…gomen…" (I'm sorry) he said softly in Japanese.

"No!" Duo shook his head violently in denial as tears streamed down his face. "Koi…Shinigami…has failed…"

Heero's eyes opened ever so slightly. "Iie…" (no) he took in a shaky breath. "…Duo…?"

Duo pulled him closer, willing to say or do anything that would ease the other's pain, desperate to save him. "Yes Heero?"

Heero's breathing quickened. "…promise…promise me…" he gasped, smiling painfully. "…I'll get to see you smile…once more…"

Duo let out a choked sob as he smiled shakily at Heero, tears blurring his vision. Heero's eyes locked on Duo's and lost focus. His breathing stopped. And then strength and life went out of him. Duo's eyes widened slightly as he clutched Heero's lifeless form.

"He…Heero…?" he barely whispered.

He gently shook the boy. "Please Heero…this isn't funny…dammit! Wake up!" he screamed at him as tears spilled down his cheeks.

Heero made no response whatsoever. Duo threw his head back and screamed for what seemed like forever. All he felt was the incredible loss of closest person he'd ever come to. His feral scream ended; his hair finally slipping loose and spilling over his flushed cheeks. Duo's sobs were the only sound in the large warehouse as they echoed around its vast walls. His back heaved as he fought to draw more air into his already aching lungs.

Duo felt a warm hand resting gently onto his shoulder and he turned around to look into the tear-streaked face of Trowa. He and the other two had come back against Heero's wishes. Wufei knelt down on the other side of Duo.

"Ano…it's alright…to cry Duo…just let it go." Wufei said as he fought back the tears he knew would come.

"But…" Duo said in a raspy whisper as he shook his head slowly.

*I…I failed…again…* he thought as more tears ran down his face. *And now…God…why Heero?*

Duo swallowed as he stood up, still holding Heero. He turned to face Strife who had reappeared over in the far corner of the warehouse, scowling evilly at the man.

"Please guys…I'm not sure I can control…" his eye twitched in rage.

Wufei knew what he meant and pulled the other two back behind some crates. Duo walked slowly forward, a great feeling of strength beyond anything he'd ever imagined lapping at his consciousness.

"Strife…I've always kept my word as a warrior…you've always kept yours as an adversary." He stopped to stare hard at Strife. "You betrayed that trust today…even a scum sucking bottom feeder like you should still follow the warrior's code of honour."

Strife laughed at the boy. "You talk about honour yet you let your rage blind you like the fool you are!"

Duo knelt down, gently resting Heero onto the ground. *This incredible power…Wufei…you know don't you…I always have…I have to…let it go…I can…*

Duo's body suddenly felt like a switch had been hit. A surge of energy ripped throughout his being, causing him to draw a sharp breath as his back arched in a spasm.

*I can…feel it…slipping!* Duo shot straight up, letting out a yell of such intensity that his back arched and the walls shook violently.

His body rose off the ground as he continued to scream. Duo's hair was lifted up with by unseen force. It shimmered and was suddenly restored to its original length, this time a pale silvery-white. His preachers' shirt was shredded as two pairs of enormous wing-like shapes shot out of his back, intensifying his feral scream. The tattered remains of his sleeves slipped off his slender arms, leaving only his collar still intact. Duo's wings began to bear their shape; the first pair were two large, pitch-black gargoyle wings, and the inner pair were beautifully pale silvery-white angel wings that arched over his head.

He slowly returned to the ground, hair still mostly flying upwards behind him. The boy didn't stand on the ground at all; he hovered a few centimetres above it instead. He slowly opened his eyes, testing them. Strife and the others all gasped at the sight, Strife especially. He was the only one to see Duo's eyes.

The boy lifted his head to look directly at Strife, a feeling of tranquillity around him. His once ice-blue eyes were now a pale greyish-mauve, almost white it the light. Strife stared at him in terror; eyes wide as his mouth gaped open in shock.

"Y-you…you're…!" Strife pointed a shaking finger at the boy. "Sh-Shinigami!!"

The boy nodded, a strand of silver falling over his face. "That which you speak is true. I am the flesh manifestation of the one you call Death." He tucked his black wings behind him.

The three pilots stared at each other in shock. That wasn't the way Duo talked - not even when he was serious! Quatre swallowed.

"Ah…guys?" he glanced back at Shinigami. "What Duo said…the Tome of Shyranisk. It's come true!"

Trowa stared back at Shinigami in realisation. "Brave beware for the old have told, that only one shall be so bold. Now I understand…"

Wufei nodded. "There was another part…Single small hands, shall bear the brands. And unleash the power, to destroy false lands. It was talking about this very moment…the legend of Shinigami's awakening…Duo really is the God of Death…"

The three of them stared in awe at the demonic angel. His large angelic wings still stretched out over his head gave him the appearance of being some sort of saintly figure, yet the gnarled black demon pair were what truly gave him the name of Shinigami.

Shinigami knelt down slowly; his wings lowering to trail behind him like a large cloak. He lowered his head and raised his left arm straight up, muttering some arcane words. There was a moment's pause before the walls of the large warehouse groaned in protest, as they seemed to bend inwards. All at once, shards and fragments of the broken steel began to circle the boy's hand. A soft green-white glow came from his palm and the steel pressed together into a white-hot ball of molten metal.

Shinigami muttered one final sentence and the ball began to bend into a massive L shape. It began to take form; a large blade was being pressed into one half of it while the other stretched out into a long handle that bent inwards at the centre. A second smaller blade formed under the first one, just as sharp as its twin.

Shinigami stood up to glance over his new scythe; the handle alone was taller than what he was. He looked over to the tattered remains of Duo's shirt, eyes shining for a second.

Something moved inside and freed itself from the constraint of cloth. It was Duo's cross. It hovered in the air for a moment before flying over to Shinigami. The boy held the massive weapon horizontal and the cross flew over to the end of it.

"Thou who hast given me shape…your wish shall be granted…" he whispered, closing his eyes.

A tiny shard of metal circled the cross, attaching itself to the top of the symbol and melting into a small chain, binding the other end to the end of Shinigami's scythe.

He twirled the scythe around to stand upright at his side. Strife blinked at amazement at what he had just witnessed. He began to laugh to himself.

"Maxwell really thinks he has won because of a new look and new toy?" He mumbled.

Shinigami smiled. "Maxwell does not physically exist in the mortal realm any more than the Lord himself does." Strife yelped, he had heard him from across the warehouse! "The spirit of Maxwell resides within me…you shall not reach him there McGillan Strife."

Strife threw his head back and laughed. "God of Death! If you truly are who you are, then why haven't I seen you for over two hundred years?"

Shinigami sighed. "Be that as it may Strife, believing you shall elude me this time will not be what saves you…if you concede defeat by my hand, your punishment shall be less than if you had of lashed out with anger in your heart."

Strife smirked. "And Maxwell said I talked! At least I make sense when I speak!" He shimmered from sight and appeared behind Shinigami.

The boy never even flinched as Strife swung with all his might at his back. His hand suddenly went through an after-image and Strife snarled in frustration. He whipped his head around and cried out, hastily ducking back as a massive blade swiped the base of his fringe. Shinigami spun around and smacked Strife back with his black wings, causing him to collide with a nearby wall. Shinigami tucked his wings back behind him as he landed neatly without a sound, moving upwards to hover above the ground once more. Strife growled and stood up slowly, shaking his head as he looked back up at the demonic angel of death.

"Thou who hath lived a full life…your time has now come to depart from this plain!" Shinigami called out to him.

Strife growled in protest. "Never!!"

He ran at Shinigami, fangs bared in a feral snarl. Shinigami unfurled his massive black wings to their full size, watching as Strife ran at him. At the last second, Shinigami whipped his wings forward to wrap Strife into an unbearably tight embrace, squeezing the very life out of him.

"I am truly sorry…may the Lord have mercy on your soul…" he whispered into the man's ear.

Strife's eyes went wide. "N-no…! Wait! You can't!!"

The three pilots moved from behind their hiding place to watch the final blow. The only saw Shinigami's back. Protest from Strife was followed by a blood-curdling scream from the man as they saw Shinigami's head move downwards.

The boys' wings twitched slightly, slowly unfolding and returning to tuck neatly behind his back. He sighed and lay Strife's body down onto the ground, a large gash showing on the man's neck.

"I truly apologise…" he whispered. "Father…judge his soul well…"

Shinigami slowly stood back up, turning to face the three pilots. Quatre swallowed, taking a step back. The demonic angel smiled warmly at him.

"Why do you fear me? I shall not take any life with me to the next world if their time has not yet passed…" he spoke softly.

Quatre glanced at Trowa and Wufei. "I-I know…it's just…well…" he stammered.

Shinigami laughed, a light, cheerful sound. "His time was passed what he was allowed…Gabriel has been looking for him for a long time now."

Wufei walked passed Shinigami and over to Heero's prone form, kneeling down next to him. He scooped him up in his arms and brought him back to Shinigami, scowling.

"And what about him?" He spat angrily at the angel. Wufei's eyes had started to well up. "For someone who governs who lives and dies in this world you certainly didn't do anything to help him!"

Shinigami turned to face him, that same blank look on his face. He looked down at the ground as his brow furrowed ever so slightly. He raised a hand to his chest, revealing a small golden ring that the others had not seen.

"Maxwell tells me that this person once meant a lot to you…you considered him your brother, your leader…" he said softly.

Wufei growled at him. "Damn right he was you arrogant son of a-"

"Wufei!" Trowa snapped at him. "There's no point in getting angry at Shinigami. He was…just doing his job." His eyes narrowed. "No matter how much it hurts us…"

Shinigami shook his head as he turned back to Trowa and Quatre. "I had no part in Strife's deed. His ties with me were severed a time long since passed."

Wufei and the others fell silent. Shinigami sighed and placed his scythe on the ground, moving over to where Strife's body lay.

"Place him on the ground, would you? Gently though, please…" Shinigami instructed as he knelt down next Strife's body and placed his hand over the man's gaping wound. He pulled back his hand, now covered with blood and stood up again.

Shinigami turned to face the others, smiling warmly as he moved back over to them. He stopped in front of Heero's body as his eyes glowed a pale blue and the boys' body suddenly floated upwards. Shinigami moved closer to the boy.

"Maxwell wished this beyond anything…and I dare not go against the wishes of my host." He mumbled.

Shinigami drew Heero's body closer, wrapping his large black wings around the pair of them, his large angel wings arcing high above his head. He closed his eyes and both their bodies began to glow with a pale green-blue light.

"Thou which have been slain unjustly…" he whispered softly. "I have divided heaven, I have passed through the horizon, I have traversed the earth upon His footsteps. I am, behold, the god, the Lord of the Underworld, so may there be given to thee that which is everlasting…"

The two figures began to glow brighter as they slowly floated upwards. The light surrounding them extended, a blinding light filled the warehouse. The three other pilots covered their eyes as it intensified. Shinigami called his scythe into his right hand, holding the long blade under both of them. He smiled down at Heero, a single silvery tear slipping down his cheek.

"Your time has not yet come little one…" he whispered to the other boy.

The salty drop stopped at the boys' chin, beading momentarily before dripping softly onto Heero's forehead. The Wing pilot's body shimmered with a white glow then the light faded to nothing.

Heero moaned ever so softly as he carefully opened his sore eyes. He blinked in the intense light. Heero suddenly noticed he was suspended in the air and gasped as he clutched Shinigami tighter. He felt the familiar warm waves of hair under his hands and looked up at the angel.

"Wha…? …Duo…?" he mumbled.

Shinigami smiled down warmly at him. "No child…but you shall see him soon enough…"

Heero smiled back at the demonic angel. "Thank you…" he whispered softly.

The light faltered and died as if it was never there. As the two floated slowly to the ground, Shinigami began to change. His hair slowly returned to a chestnut brown and his wings began to be absorbed back into his body. His scythe glowed brightly and melded back into his body, taking Duo's small silver cross with it.

They landed on the ground both collapsing next to each other. The last remnants of his wings disappeared and he was returned to being Duo Maxwell. Heero rolled slowly onto his hands and knees, staring down at Duo and smiling warmly. Duo grinned weakly back.

"…Hah…my wish came true…" He said barely audible. Heero nodded, brushing a stray lock of hair from the boys' face.

"What was that Duo?" Heero said softly.

"That…I'd get to…see you smile…" Duo whispered before finally losing consciousness.

Heero smiled down at him, scooping him up in his arms as he stood, wavering slightly under the boys' awkward weight and his own fatigue.

"He-Heero!" Quatre yelled.

"Yuy!?" Wufei cried in shock.

"But…Strife killed you!" Trowa pointed at him.

Quatre blinked and walked over to Heero staring at him like he were a bug in a test tube. Heero screwed up his nose and frowned.

"What?" he shot at him.

Quatre backed off in a hurry. "Uh…nothing! It's just…well…you were dead Heero…"

Heero's look softened as he nodded. "I know…" He glanced down at Duo. "Enough about me, we have to get Duo to a hospital. We don't know what type of injuries he has from all of this."

"If he has any Yuy," Wufei pointed out.

Trowa shook his head. "Hang on…a few hours ago you disagreed vehemently to taking Duo to a hospital, and now you're saying that we have to?"

Heero scowled at him. "Do you have a problem with that?" Trowa shook his head. "Good, because I was going to take him to Sally…she'll be able to keep his records clean and keep him away from any OZ troops that happen to pass through."

Wufei muttered something the others couldn't hear, a tint of red crossing his face. He walked out of the warehouse abruptly. Quatre shook his head.

"Poor Wufei…" he said sympathetically.

"Yeah…too bad he hates women so much," Trowa added.

Heero blinked at them. He didn't have the faintest idea of what they were talking about. He shook his head, a serious look crossing his features.

"Hey! We're taking Duo to a hospital, not discussing Wufei's love life!" he shot at the two remaining pilots.

Quatre and Trowa looked at each other before turning back to Heero. They all nodded and ran out of the empty warehouse, easily catching up to Wufei and heading for the hospital.

***

Heero tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest. It had been over four hours since Duo was admitted and Sally was still doing her examination of the teen.

*For once Wufei is right…women are useless…I've never seen anyone take so-*

The door to Duo's room swung open abruptly and Sally stepped out, holding a clipboard. She closed the door softly behind her and walked over to them. She looked up at the pilots expectantly, sighing.

"Well as far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with him." She frowned. Heero scowled.

"I sense a 'but' coming up…" he mumbled sceptically.

"But…he's in a comatose state…and we're not sure when he's coming out of it." She paused for a second. "It could be hours or even weeks…it all depends on him…"

Heero swallowed and forced himself not to scream in frustration. His lips were pressed into a thin line and he stared straight ahead, the whites of his knuckles showing as his fingers dug into the armrest. He heard Quatre crying again and sighed; that boy cried too much, he thought grimly. Trowa sat down on the chair next to Heero with a heavy thump, leaning forward to stare at the ground. Wufei just stared at Sally in shock.

"So…he might not wake up yet?" Heero rolled his eyes. Sometimes Wufei had the mentality of a three-year-old.

Sally shook her head, her sandy hair moving with it. "He might not wake up at all…all we can do is wait and see."

The corridor fell into silence. Heero's eye twitched as he thought of Duo lying in there, helpless and all by himself. His throat uttered a low growl as he found himself thinking he could do nothing to help him once again.

He stood up fiercely, turning to the others. "Look, there's no point in staying here moping over that baka…he'll wake up, I know he will. I know he would never forgive himself if he failed a mission. And he's not going to lose this one…"

The others stared at him in stunned silence. Sally smiled at the Wing pilot.

"Heero is right, you shouldn't be here. OZ troops pass through here quite regularly and I'm going to have enough trouble trying to keep them away from Duo let alone you four," she paused to take a breath. "Whatever happens I promise I'll tell you, now go. You all look like you need a rest."

Trowa and Quatre stood up and walked over to Sally to say their goodbyes along with Wufei. Heero sighed.

*Sally, you don't know the half of it…* he mused with a tiny smirk.

"Hey Heero," Wufei stared at him in annoyance. Heero blinked at the Chinese boy.

"What?" he replied as he began to walk out with the others.

Wufei smiled. "What you said just now…you're right. Duo's the strongest out of all of us, he'll pull through."

Heero sighed as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked out of the main doors. Duo would be fine in there, he thought hopefully. He smirked. All Duo had to beware of now was hospital food.

***

THREE WEEKS LATER

***

Quatre chewed on the end of his pen as he sat at his desk, diary open in front of him. He scanned down the entries he had made over the past few days, sighing heavily. Basically they were all about Heero's increasing depression.

The Arabian boy groaned and massaged his temples. So many things had happened lately, how was he going to write them all down?

"The start sounds good Winner…um," he frowned in thought for a moment. "I know!" He said suddenly and jumped to attention, beginning to write furiously.

Entry Date: 31 March, AC 195

Everyone heard Heero again last night. He's cried himself to sleep since, well, three weeks ago. We all knew that Heero would eventually open up now that Duo and he are together, but to this extent? Well, let's just say that it's been a little shocking! Sure, he puts up a good front when he's around all of us, but he can't keep it up forever. Trowa thinks he could be on the verge of a breakdown. Personally I don't blame him. His best friend (yes Wufei, and boyfriend!) is stuck in a hospital in a coma and there's nothing he can do about it. It's all up to Duo, just like Sally said…

Something strange happened just the other week. This pure white cat turned up at our front door meowing and yowling like there was no tomorrow. Heero just opened the door and screamed blue murder at it until it ran away (meanie!). Then the silly thing came back the next day with a collar on. I suspected it belonged to someone so before Heero deafened it again, I took it inside to look for a tag or something.

Well what do you know…I look at the tag (which, incidentally, was shaped like a cross) and the name is what stunned us all I think. He was called Shinigami! Didn't Heero's attitude change after that! He insisted we keep it for obvious reasons…he's even started talking again because of the little fuzzball.

There was this one time when Shin-chan (Heero's pet name for him – 'scuse the pun) nearly barrelled into Heero and he sidestepped him only to run smack into the table, knocking one of the photos onto the ground and breaking. Heero's cursing has grown worse I'm afraid.

Well, he picked up the photo and checked it over. Of course, it just happened to be one of himself and Duo from last summer at my family's vacation home on Earth. Needless to say Heero ended up in tears after that and confined himself to his room for the rest of the day.

All we can do now is pray that Duo wakes up soon…for everyone's sake, especially Heero's…

• Quatre

The Arabian boy sighed and dropped his pen, leaning back in his chair and sighing deeply, stretching his arms back. Shin-chan promptly jumped up on the boys' lap, seizing the opportunity. The white cat turned around and lay down with a deep purring sound. Quatre smiled and stroked his back softly. The cat stared back up at him, his eyes shining.

"Hey, I never saw that…" he mumbled softly and picked up Shin-chan, walking into the bright kitchen.

He held the cat up and looked up into his eyes. Quatre gasped. One was an intense ice blue and the other was a pale mauve-grey.

"Well isn't that a coincidence…" he mumbled, putting the cat back on the ground.

Quatre smiled and shook his head, glancing at his watch. He frowned. It was only nine-thirty in the morning.

*Why did I get up so early? And why did I spend that time writing in my diary?* he screwed up his nose in disgust and made his way to the family room.

Everyone sat in there, watching the boy arrive. "Good morning everyone!" He said cheerily.

Trowa and Wufei both smiled back as the Arabian sat down. Heero just sat opposite him and stared out the window. The Chinese pilot scowled at him.

"Dammit Yuy, can't you at least try to be sociable these days?" He snapped.

Heero just sighed and took a sip of his coffee. Wufei growled at him.

"Why don't you just give up and stop pretending to be human! It might cheer us all up for a change!" Heero glared at him, slamming his cup down onto the table.

"Would you mind keeping it down over there? I'm trying to wake up in peace," he said calmly.

"You'll be waking up in pieces soon if you don't snap out of it!"

"That does it!" Heero yelled and slammed his hands on the table, standing so quickly that his chair nearly fell over. "If you really want a piece of me then come on Chang Wufei…" he muttered at the boy.

Wufei scowled at him for a moment, locking his eyes with Heero's. The Wing pilot met the other boys' steely gaze and Wufei snorted as he turned away from him. Heero sat down heavily and picked up his cup, taking another sip.

The phone rang out, breaking the silence. No one moved as it continued. Quatre and Trowa looked between the two of them and sighed. Trowa shook his head.

"I'll get it then…" he mumbled and stood up, moving into the lounge room. Heero listened carefully to the conversation.

"Hello, Trowa speaking…oh hello Ms Po," Heero's body froze. "Yes…um, yeah…hang on just a second…"

Heero heard Trowa's footsteps returning into the room and he turned to glare at him. Trowa cleared his throat.

"Heero, it's Sally," he said and sat down again.

The Wing pilot swallowed and placed his cup slowly down, blinking in a stunned silence as he stood up and moved into the next room. He picked up the phone, lowering his voice.

"Uh, hello?"

"Heero, hi. It's about Duo-"

"Is he alright? Is he still sick? What?" Heero's heart leapt to his throat.

"Calm down!" she sighed through the line. "He's doing fine Heero. In fact, he woke up just now and practically demanded to talk to you, no one else," she paused. "…Heero? Are you still there?"

The boy swallowed through a dry mouth, breathing quickly. Duo was awake. Duo was awake and asking for him!

"Give me five minutes, I'll be there!" He slammed the phone down and ran to his room, grabbing his backpack and shoving some spare clothes inside. He bolted from the room and tore off towards the door, ripping his jacket off the hanger as he dashed past. The others came running in and were left with the image of Heero disappearing through the front door. The revving of an engine was heard and Trowa yelped as he ran outside, and was nearly run over.

"Yuy! Dammit! Bring my bike back!!" He yelled at the dwindling form of Heero.

Heero's brow knitted as he sped up, weaving in and out of traffic. Images of Duo lying there helpless invaded his mind, along with many a troubled thought.

*What if I'm too late? He might already be back in a coma…No, Duo wouldn't quit! He's the strongest person I know! Dammit…!* he changed up a gear. "Stupid thing! Can't you go any faster!?"

He sped along as fast as the wheels would take him, screeching to a halt outside the main doors of the hospital and quickly cutting the engine. He nearly fell off the bike as he ran inside, clutching his bag and ramming smack into Sally.

"Ah! Sorry!" He apologised quickly. He blinked at her. "Where's Duo? Is he awake now?"

Sally held up her hands. "Heero, he's doing just fine now. If you'll calm down I can take you to him."

Heero eagerly nodded and bit his bottom lip. Sally smiled and the two of them walked off down the wide hallway. She talked to him about something but he wasn't listening well enough to understand her. All he was thinking about was sitting next to Duo and just smiling at the boy. The Wing pilot swallowed as they stopped in front of the door. Sally sighed.

"There is one thing you should know, Heero." She looked down at the ground.

Heero felt his chest tighten. "…What's that?"

"Duo's temporarily lost his voice. He was barely able to say just your name." She bit her bottom lip. "He'll be completely mute for about the next week or so, but we're not sure, it could be longer."

Heero felt his body sag in grief. He wouldn't be able to hear him speak…listen to those beautiful words of his…hear him say…just hear him.

Sally put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's only temporary. He won't be like this forever Heero."

The boy smiled warmly up at her. "Thank you…" he whispered.

Her pager beeped and she looked down at it. "I have other patients to attend to, so I'll see you around," Sally said with a smile. Heero nodded and watched her leave.

He took a shaky breath as he slowly opened the door and peered inside. "Duo?" he asked meekly. Heero saw that the boy was asleep again. He smiled and stepped inside, carefully shutting the door behind him. He stepped inside and pulled up a nearby stool, setting his bag down quietly and sitting down softly and resting his head on the cool metal of the bed head, staring at Duo.

Heero sighed. *Death doesn't die…* he clenched his eyes tight and groaned. "Death won't die!" he muttered in defiance.

***

The Wing pilot forgot to count the hours that came and went as he sat next to his koi. Time seemed to drift by him as he sat there and stared hard at the boy's heart-shaped face. The others had arrived some time ago, their appearances in the room a blur to Heero. He did remember faintly how Trowa had yelled at him though.

*Screw it…he would've done the same thing for Quatre…he should understand.* his weary mind registered.

"Ne koi…you sure are taking your time here…Deathscythe is getting cobwebs all over him, you're not gonna leave him there are you?" he laughed softly. "You wouldn't like that. You'd have to go and drain another lake and work your poor butt off, and I don't think the U.E.S.A. would like that." He considered his own words for a moment. "Nah, go ahead. Relena won't mind you borrowing a lake or two…never really liked her anyway, damn woman always got in the way of missions and things. I mean, there was this one time she nearly-"

Heero froze as he felt a hand cover his. He looked down in shock to see Duo smiling up at him, his violet eyes gazing up at him. A large grin covered the Wing pilot's face as he stared in relief at the boy.

"Duo, I thought you nevmph-"

Heero squeaked as a hand pulled his head down into an aggressive kiss from Duo's lips, crushing them against his, cutting off his words. Duo leaned forward and kissed Heero like he would never again, making the boy moan softly. When he finally pulled back, they were both breathless.

"Oh God, I missed that…" Heero breathed.

Duo grinned. He opened his mouth to say something but the words wouldn't come out. He looked away in frustration as he tried again. Tears stung his tired eyes as Duo clenched them tightly shut and opened his mouth in a silent scream, fists beating the mattress. Heero smiled painfully at him and wrapped his arms around the sobbing boy protectively.

"Hey…Duo…" he soothed and rubbed small circles on his shoulder blades. "It's going to be alright now, Sally said this would only last for a week or so." He pulled him back to stare into his amethyst eyes. "I promise, I'll look after you for the rest of my life, starting now."

Duo smiled up at him, eyes shining in response. He nodded as he swallowed the rest of his sadness away and wiped his moist eyes. Heero smiled warmly at him.

"Come on, let's go home koi…" he whispered softly.

The Deathscythe pilot nodded and his hand reached instinctively up to the base of his neck. He blinked and reached around for his cross, face turning to shock when he found it missing. He looked up at Heero with horrified eyes.

Heero shook his head sadly. "When Shinigami appeared…he fused it to the end of his scythe…" he sighed. "It was…absorbed…into your body when you changed back…I'm sorry…"

Duo blinked at Heero as a blank expression covered his face. His brow furrowed in thought as he looked down to the ground. He stared hard for a few minutes as Heero watched Duo's confusion grow.

"You…don't remember?" Duo shook his head. "Anything at all?" The same response followed.

Heero said nothing as he thought it over. *He can't remember anything from the fight? How can that be?*

The Wing pilot shook his head and smiled down at Duo. "Ano…let's just get you home, alright?"

Duo sighed and smiled up at Heero, a faint flicker of laughter in his amethyst eyes. Heero laughed for him as he walked towards the door. He stopped as his hand grasped the doorknob.

"Duo…" he whispered.

Expecting no response, he turned around to face the boy, who had a perplexed look covering his face. Heero smiled at him.

"I didn't think that you'd appreciate walking out of here in a hospital gown…so I brought some spare clothes for you. I'll just be outside while you get dressed ok?" The now short haired boy grinned at him.

Heero slowly stepped outside, never breaking eye contact with the youth. He quietly shut the door behind him and took a seat on a nearby chair, sighing softly.

*Koi…it doesn't matter if I might not hear your sweet voice again…I'm content in knowing that you're all right now…* Heero smiled and leaned his head back against the wall.

After a few minutes, Duo emerged, dressed casually in his red leather high-neck shirt and black leather jeans, clutching Heero's bag behind him. He smiled over at Heero, pushing his hair back behind him with a free hand. Heero smiled back at him, standing up and walking over to him.

"Let's go check you out of this place," he said jerking his thumb towards the front desk. Duo nodded and reached over to coil his slender fingers around Heero's. The Wing pilot smiled as he led his companion out of the building.

***

"Hey guys! We're back!" Heero called out as he swung open the front door and stepped inside.

Trowa stormed into sight. "Well?" he said curtly.

Heero blinked at him. "Well what?"

The Latin boy rolled his eyes. "Is my bike still in one piece? Or do I have to pick up its remains at the local scrap yard?"

Duo pouted behind Heero. *Figures, I come home after nearly dying three weeks ago and all Tro is worried about is that stupid hunk of metal he owns. I shoulda stayed in bed…*

Quatre came up behind Trowa and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, leave him be. It's Duo we should be worried about." Duo grinned. Quatre always did have a knack for stating the obvious.

"Well Maxwell, it looks like you're doing just fine." Duo blinked and turned towards the voice. Wufei stood casually with his back against the doorframe, smiling slightly. Duo smiled back at him, walking between them all as he made his way to his shared room. He stopped when he saw Shin-chan at his feet. Duo knelt down and stroked the cat along its back. The white feline began to purr loudly until Duo stopped. The boy looked down into his bright eyes and Shin-chan rubbed his face up against Duo's knee. Duo looked down at him, brows furrowing. He wasn't sure, but – was the cat smiling at him? Shin-chan yowled once and ran off out of the open door behind Heero.

Duo stood up and smiled, looking down at the ground as he sighed. *Thank you…for looking after them…* He shook his head and walked off into his room.

The Chinese boy raised an eyebrow at him after he went.

"He's unusually quiet…" he murmured, watching him go.

Heero cleared his throat. "Sally said…that Duo might be like this for about a week or so."

Everyone fell silent. "Hey, she said it was only temporary, don't be so down."

Quatre laughed. "Heero's right! Duo wouldn't want us to be depressed over anything, especially if it's about him. Being unable to talk isn't going to change him in one week, he'll be fine soon enough, you'll see!"

Heero smiled at him, as did the others. "Thanks Quatre…" the boy whispered. Heero began to walk towards his room and he suddenly felt dizzy as he steadied himself against the couch.

"Ne Heero? You alright?" Wufei asked in a worried tone. The Wing pilot nodded.

"Yeah…just a little worn out from all this running around, I suppose…" he mumbled.

Trowa and Quatre looked at each other. "You should get some rest Heero." The tall pilot said.

Heero nodded as he walked slowly from the room and into his and Duo's shared one. He saw the boy had taken up a place on his own bed, already asleep. Heero smiled warmly at the sleeping one as he quietly removed his jacket, draping it on his bed and kicking off his shoes into the corner.

He sat down softly next to Duo and brushed a stray lock of hair from the pilots' eyes. Heero sighed and swung his legs around to lay beside him, careful not to wake him as he snuggled up close to his love.

Duo stirred slightly. "Heero…" He whispered barely audible in his sleep. Heero blinked in silent shock. Duo had just spoken!

He felt a smile and a blush creeping across his face. He still had until next morning to enjoy this before he had to get up again. Heero wrapped his arms protectively around Duo, but was gentle enough so as not to crush him.

"Mm…Heero…" Duo moaned. Heero's cheeks were burning now. He lightly kissed him on his velvet lips, firm enough for him to feel his warmth, but soft enough as not to wake him. Duo's cheeks were flushed delicately as he smiled softly in his sleep. Heero smiled back through half closed eyes. This was too sweet to be real, but it was. Everything was real. Duo was real. The moment was real.

Heero held him until his alarm went off, never sleeping for a second in between…

***

Duo sat with his head in his hands, wheezing hard. Quatre sat next to him, rubbing his back softly. He'd just gotten over a massive coughing fit, nearly choking in the process.

"Ne Duo? Are you alright now?" The Arabian asked in a worried tone. Duo nodded wordlessly, still breathing hard. He could have spoken if he wanted to, but that's what had induced this latest attack.

Quatre sighed. He hated having to leave his friend like this, but the latest mission clearly asked for all of the pilots save Heero and Duo to attend. He shook his head sadly.

"We're really sorry about this Duo, we wish we could stay but we really have to go now…ano, don't worry, Heero's reviewing mission reports from last week in your room."

Duo nodded and patted the boys' hand. He mouthed a 'thanks' and watched them leave. The chestnut-haired boy sighed heavily and watched the door click shut. He looked down at the ground in thought…Heero was in his room. Duo sat up straight, deciding to go check on Heero to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep on his laptop again.

He found him sitting cross-legged on his bed and staring occasionally out the window before turning back and typing furiously on the keys. Duo smirked and walked silently up behind him, treading lightly enough so as to erase all sign he was there. He peered over to what Heero was writing.

It's been around four weeks now. It was during those weeks that I told Duo I loved him. It was easier to say those words then I expected, and when I told him, he stared at me with those clear amethyst eyes and smiled, saying "I love you too, Heero."

Soldiers don't feel love. Soldiers can't feel love. If that's the case, then I'm no longer a soldier. Duo once told me that we weren't soldiers- we were trained terrorists. He said it took obedience to be a soldier; passion to be a terrorist. And the beauty of being a terrorist was that we didn't have to wear uniforms or salute anyone.

Duo's taught me how to crack jokes, tease, and how to sit back and enjoy life. I owe him everything I am…

Duo blinked in amazement at what he'd just read. He smiled warmly down at the boy in front of him as tears formed in his eyes. In one quick movement, he flopped down next to Heero and wrapped his arms around the other's waist, clicking the screen shut.

Heero whipped his head around and stared into Duo's violet gaze. "Dammit Duo! Don't do that! You scared the absolute crap outta me!" Duo just smiled and rested his chin on Heero's shoulder. Heero's look softened and he relaxed into Duo's arms.

"Ano koi…the others have a very long mission…they might be gone for hours yet…" Heero whispered as he felt Duo nuzzling his neck. He laughed softly at the others' touch.

"I suppose this means you've read my little monologue, ne?" He said softly.

Duo stopped moving and craned his head over Heero's shoulder. He smiled back warmly, eyes reflecting a message Heero couldn't quite read.

"Well, what I said…it's all true…" the Wing pilot mumbled sincerely. "I do owe you everything that I am because that's all that my life is now. You've made it that much more special Duo."

Duo grinned and shook his head. "Iie…" he whispered roughly. "You have koi…by being who you really wanted to be instead of living behind your soldier's front for God knows how long."

Heero smiled back at him, kissing him softly on the cheek. "So…always?" he asked quietly. Duo nuzzled back into his neck, pulling him closer.

"Hai…forever Heero, my love…"

The End

11pm, a rainy June 18^th in 2001…waiting for my own love to return home.