Kuinonayami (Pain of Love)
The sound of a slap rang throughout the safe house. Only Quatre looked up. Again, the sound echoed through each room. Again, again, again. The sound rang in each pilot's ears. A door slammed. Footsteps thudded down the hallway. No one looked at who it was. Heero walked out the door. Quatre looked up when the door slammed behind the wing pilot. He sighed. This was a daily routine now. No one said a word. A half an hour later, Duo walked into the room; Quatre looked up and gave him a smile. He was used to faking them for the Deathscythe pilot. Duo gave his best usual grin, which fell short, then turned and walked to the kitchen. Duo grabbed some bandages, ice, and a glass of jack and coke, and went back to the room he and Heero shared.
Trowa looked back up as the braided boy walked passed the room.
"It gets worse and worse." Quatre said, looking at Trowa, who gave him a nod in return; Wufei didn't look up from his book.
---------------------------------------------------
2:00. The green numbers flashed in his face. Quatre couldn't sleep. Heero hadn't returned, and Duo's sobs echoed through the small house. With a sigh, the Arib pilot got out of his bed, and walked to Duo/Heero's room. He knocked. The sobs stopped instantly.
"Y-yes? H-Heero is that y-you?" the pilot stuttered.
"It's me." Quatre replied, then opened the door. The light from the hall revealed a broken room, and a broken boy. Duo sat by the end of the bed, His shirt open and showed bandages all around his waist and arms. Around him lay broken glass, torn clothing, splintered wood and ripped paper.
"Q-Quatre you shouldn't be here." The American said, his eyes blank and lifeless. Quatre walked to the boy and kneeled down next to him. Blood soaked through some of the bandages, and bruises dotted his body.
"Duo-" The other started, but stopped as Heero's voice rang though the silence.
"What are you doing?!" Heero demanded, looking, not at Quatre, but at the Deathscythe pilot.
The wing pilot looked at trespasser. "Out!" He demanded.
The Sandrock pilot looked from Heero to Duo, who gave him a pleading look. Quatre stood up and left.
Back in his room, he could hear Heero hitting Duo again, and the soft wails of Pain.
----------------------------------
It was not until a week later, when Heero was gone on mission, that the braided boy came out of the room. When Quatre saw Duo, he gasped.
The Deathscythe pilot's cloths hung loosely from his nearly skeletal body. He had numerous deep cuts and dark bruises on his face. His hair hung around his body, matted and tangled with blood. He was deathly pail, his lips chapped and bleeding, his clothing torn, and his eyes lifeless.
The Arib hurried to him. "Duo! My god!"
Both Trowa and Wufei looked up. The Chinese boy helped Duo to the couch, and the Sandrock pilot got some wet towels and fresh bandages. Wufei took them.
"I'll give him a bath, clean him up."
"I'll make some soup." The Heavyarms pilot said.
"I'll call a doctor." Quatre said.
"N-no. N-no doc-tor." Duo said. "H-H-Heero...." The blond understood. Heero would be mad.
"Alright. No doctor."
--------------------------------
As Wufei bathed the other Pilot, he couldn't help asking.
"Duo, why do you let Heero hurt you like this?"
Duo looked at him and smiled weakly. "Because. I love him. Even if he uses me to vent his anger, fear or anxiety, I'm just glad I can help him some way.
Wufei suppressed the tears.
----------------------------------
Two days later, Duo looked worse. He still couldn't eat, his cuts weren't healing, he was stuttering constantly, and his left eye was swollen closed. Quatre and Trowa took him to a doctor.
Duo needed stitches, and a cast on his arm- the bone was broken
------------------------------
The next day, Duo left the hospital on his own. He knew he couldn't be there when Heero came back. He knew the Japanese pilot was expecting the room to be clean, and him to be there.
When Duo opened the door, he nearly fainted in shock. A not formed in his stomach and he felt like he had to vomit. There, in the hallway, Heero was screaming at Quatre. As Duo entered, the wing pilot slapped him across the face. Again, again, and again. He threw him into the wall, hit him with all his force. Duo fell to the ground, and Heero still continued to kick him. He stepped on his arm, the sound of bone cracking was easily heard.
"Heero!" Quatre yelled, but Heero turned around and pointed his gun at him. Trowa held his lover back. He would not let Quatre be hurt by this beast.
(Wufei was out looking for Duo)
Heero went back to beating Duo.
Seven minutes or so later, Heero walked away, Duo lay in a heap on the floor, blood staining his cloth, hair and the carpet. Quatre was in tears, sobbing in Trowa's arms. Trowa could only stair at the mangled body. No one needed to call an ambulance. Duo was Dead.
------------------------