"I am so beautiful…" He tilted his face up and gargled water. "To~o me!" Turned around so that the water splashed on his back. "I am so beautiful…" Reached for the soap. "To~o me! [1]." He paused and tilted his head, trying to identify the sound that had wafted through the walls to his ears. He turned off the water, stepping out of the spray onto the thick rug that lined the shower stall. He grabbed a towel from the rack, and wrapped it around himself, covering his body from chest to upper thigh. "Coming!"

He paused, catching his reflection in the mirror. With an eye roll, and a smirk, he lowered the towel so that it rode low over his hips, leaving his chest bare. The person at the door knocked again.

"Damn impatient people!" He mumbled, stumbling through the flat as he made his way to the door. If Duo had been thinking, he probably would have grabbed his robe, but in his irritated state, he may have decided that the other person's modesty be damned. He certainly had nothing to be ashamed of. He swung the door open, and grinned. "What?"

Blue eyes blinked at him, and then glanced down his mostly nude body. "Is this how you always answer the door?"

He grinned. "Actually, I usually let the butler get it. However, he's currently for a family to which I don't belong. Come on in." Heero strode into the room, walking past him stiffly as if expecting to be groped at any moment. Duo smiled at his discomfort. "What can I do you for?"

"Hn."

"Right." He drew the word out to express his displeasure in that response, but he didn't push it. "Make yourself at home. You probably have as good of a guess as I do where anything is, so have fun." He walked back to the bathroom, slipping on the wet floor twice. "And watch where you walk." The boy grunted at him again in response.

He dried off quickly, toweling his hair. He grabbed the comb, two clean towels, and his hair-tie, and walked out. The floor was dry, and he looked around expectantly, but couldn't see the boy who had cleaned up his mess. Then the smell of cooking food wafted by him, and he grinned. While none of the other rooms were sectioned off, the kitchen was in the alcove created by the bathroom and exterior walls.

"Smells good." Blue eyes peered at him wordlessly for a moment, and the boy resumed cooking. He was frying eggs and sausage, and there was bread waiting to be put into the toaster. "It's nice that you cook, because I can't. I'm a disaster in the kitchen." He paused, frowning slightly. "Not that I was ever really given a chance. We always had a cook."

"You were spoiled?" It was meant as an insult, and he could tell that the boy was trying to heckle him.

"Yes." He admitted truthfully. "And I would still be today if it weren't for you." He smiled at the boy, enjoying the confused look in his eyes. His face was blank; something that he could guess had taken many years to perfect. "Of course, dying can change a person's perspective."

"I read the paper yesterday. You were in an accident, and knocked unconscious, but you weren't dead." His voice was flat.

"Heero, would you believe me if I told you that I never lied?" The boy shrugged. "I never lie, and that's my promise. I will evade a question, and ignore it, or go off on a tangent that is entirely unrelated, but I will not fabricate an answer, not to appease anyone."

"I believe you." The boy admitted, looking at him for a moment before reaching into a cupboard for plates.

"Good, because what I want to tell you is something that I don't think I would believe, if I hadn't gone through it in the last two days." Duo sighed, leaning against the counter as he watched Heero serve breakfast. "Thank you." The boy leaned against the far counter, keeping a wary eye on him. "I died the night before last, I was hit by a drunk driver who didn't have his headlights on. Shortly before I was killed, a young boy with a funny accent held me up. I gave him a fur coat and all of my belongings, and sent him on his way."

He waited for that information to sink in. "She was female."

"Duet Carswell. Five feet, four inches tall, and weighing one hundred and forty pounds. A sweet, chubby little thing with long brown hair and purple eyes." Violet eyes met blue, and he could read the understanding, fear, and confusion that it was causing. "My last thought before death was pure and selfless. I died thinking of the boy, and wishing that the world could love all of its children. The last feeling in my heart was wishing that you would be loved. By anyone."

"Hn." He chewed his food mechanically, keeping a weary eye on Duo as he continued.

"I died, and I went to this place, and this…person, called Shinigami, told me that I had a choice. I could prove that I was right, and that certain things didn't matter, or I could go on, and have an eternity of bliss and happiness."

"Why would you come back?"

"Because I hadn't found the one thing in life that makes it all worth while. I loved my family, and I adored my friends, but I had never found my soul mate. And I don't want to spend the rest of forever in a heavenly party, being a wallflower because my mate is down here, looking for me. I think that eternity would be very lonely without love, without that kind of love, and I don't want to take the chance of missing out."

"Hn." He put his empty plate down. "Fanciful, romantic, and highly impossible."

Duo sagged against the counter as the boy walked by. "You don't believe me."

"Sadly enough, I do." He looked up sharply. "I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"You were a girl, and you liked guys, and you are still the same person you were the day before yesterday."

"Correct."

"Does that mean that now, in that body, that you are gay?"

"Yup. That's the long and short of it. This is the form that I will have for the rest of eternity. If I die now, I'll take this one into the afterlife. In the life before this, I made the challenge that gender didn't matter, as long as two people were in love. And I mean it. Love is love, and the only thing that matters is that you do love. Everything else, all the little details, are unimportant. The world can suck an egg for all that it will influence what I think and feel."

"Could you fall in love with a girl?"

"Probably. If I'm destined to love a girl, I will. Although, I think that my reactions are much more prominent now, and I still react very strongly to the male of the species." The boy nodded.

"Eat." Duo smiled slightly, obeying as Heero walked around the apartment, taking in the unpacked boxes on the far wall, and the opened door to the bedroom. "Do you know how to do anything for a living?"

"Not really. I haven't had a chance yet to look through all of the stuff in here. There's probably a job in the city that I'm missing right now, but I can try to find another one later. I don't even know if Duo Maxwell graduated from high school."

"Do you have a computer?"

"Bedroom."

"I'll look later, and see if I can't find anything on-line." He turned back to face the young man. "Are you attracted to me?"

Duo choked on his food, washing it down with a drink of water. He eyed the boy for a moment, trying to decide on the best answer. "Yes. But you're safe with me. I won't try anything with you, Heero. You have my word."

The boy nodded. "Come here and sit down, and I'll comb out your hair."

"Thank you!" He moved quickly, flopping down on the couch and curling his legs beneath him. He spread the blankets out, one on his back, the other over the couch. "I don't want to ruin my furniture. Can you braid, too?"

"Hn."

"Thank you, Heero."

~~~~~_____~~~~~~

"You're hopping." Duo stopped, and looked at Japanese boy. "Try walking with less energy, and less swoosh." They had spent the morning going through all of the things that Duo did in an effeminate way, and were in the process at this point of trying to teach him how to walk.

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

"If you were a boy, a child, it would be fine. However, for a grown man, it looks ridiculous. I doubt that even Duet would have been proud of hopping around like a bunny." He blew a frustrated breath, making his bangs lift over his eyebrows for a moment. Heero simply waited for him to listen. He took a deep breath, and walked forward, resisting every urge he had to swish his hips. "Perfect." Heero nodded. "Now make four laps around the apartment, and I'll watch you. Get a feel for how that feels." Duo nodded, and obeyed the order.

"How old are you?" He concentrated on his steps, being careful to control the swing of his hips.

"I'm seventeen. Stop sashaying!" Duo made an effort to correct his steps once again.

"Do you have parents?"

"Concentrate on what you're doing, and not on holding a conversation with me." His voice was cold, unfriendly. Obviously, he wanted the subject to be closed. "That's better."

"Talk to me, Heero."

"Hn." Duo stopped and looked at him. He sighed and spread his hands wide.

"I just want to be your friend, Heero. You're the only one that I have right now, and I don't want to push you away. I want to know you better. I need that. I knew everything before. There were few secrets between me and my friends."

"My life is different than yours. You do not want the details." His voice was final. Duo sighed.

"Fine." He turned around and stalked toward the kitchen, intent on making breakfast.

"That's perfect." Duo simply rolled his eyes. He'd finally gotten the walk down.

~~~~~_____~~~~~

"Hey, look at this!" Duo held up a picture frame, and pointed to the document inside. "I guess that I did graduate." He grinned. "Second in my class, too. Duet was a good student, but she was only, like, eighth. Not bad."

"Why do you refer to that part of yourself in the third person?" Heero was sitting a few feet away, going through another box.

Duo shrugged. "I'm not her anymore, and that's something that I can't help. This is my chance at another life, something a little more true to the things that I've always preached. Duet was a hypocrite, and I don't want Duo to be that way."

"So you distance the way you were and the way you want to be?"

"Right." He lifted up another picture frame, and his eyes widened at the newspaper clipping that was inside. "I think I figured out what I do for a living." He held it out to Heero.

"Winner of the state lottery? Thirty-three million dollars?" He looked up. "What does that make? Seven million after everything's said and done?"

"Something like that. Cool. Let's see. I can live off of a million for the rest of my life, so that makes six million to charity. You want some?"

Heero shook his head, handing the frame back. "I wouldn't know what to do with that much money."

"Like I do know?" He shrugged again, this time to relieve some of the tenseness in his shoulders. "What do you say to going out for dinner? That way you don't have to cook, or suffer with my cooking."

"Hn."

"Oh, no!" Duo scrambled to his feet quickly, throwing his shoes on, and grabbing his coat before Heero could blink twice at him. "I have a lunch date. Let's go!"

~~~~~____~~~~~

"I'm so sorry, Officer Chang!" Duo slid into the booth, his best charming grin and pleading eyes. "We were unpacking boxes, and I didn't even realize what time it was."

Meiran smiled at him. "It's fine, Duo. And please, call me Meiran. Both of you." The smile included Heero, who was standing awkwardly by the braided man. Duo slid further into the seat, turning his grin to Meiran's companion as the boy took the spot next to him. "Duo, meet Hilde."

His grin widened, and he looked at Heero for a moment. The boy nodded, understanding his excitement without having to say anything. This was a friend of Duet's. "Glad to meet you. Hilde, Meiran, I would like to introduce you to Yuy Heero."

"Baka." Heero muttered under his breath, Duo's charm a loss on him.

"I'm not an idiot, so be nice." Heero sat down beside him, raising an eyebrow in response. Duo turned his grin to the ladies, eyes lighting up when they rested on the younger woman, a brunette with brown eyes. "So, how are you ladies today?"

"We're fine." Hilde blushed under his scrutiny, and he had to force himself to look away before he forgot who he was. Meiran simply smiled, turning her attention to her menu. Duo took her signal, and picked up his own menu, looking through the items quickly before settling on what he wanted. He licked his lips in anticipation as he waited for the others to decide. Heero gave him a look, and he grinned.

The waitress came to take their order. Hilde ordered a salad, Meiran a sandwich, and Heero ordered a small steak with potato side dish. Duo grinned. "One fourteen ounce porterhouse, a baked potato with sour cream and butter, coleslaw, and a root beer float [2]."

Meiran smiled at his enthusiasm, while Hilde and Heero looked at him oddly, trying to discern why he was so excited over a simple meal. He grinned at them all, shrugging his shoulders as if to say that he was always that way. The waitress left with a smile, and a flirtatious wink at Duo. Heero rolled his eyes, but both ladies missed the exchange.

"So, Hilde, what do you do for a living?" He resisted the urge to smirk, already knowing the answer, but wanting to appear as unknowledgeable about her as possible. It would be a bit hard to explain how he knew all of her little secrets if he didn't know her before hand.

"I'm a maid-cum-housekeeper at the Winner mansion. Have you heard of the Winner Corporation?"

"Yeah, I'm familiar with the company. The man has a good dozen children, doesn't he?"

She smiled and nodded, relaxing by degrees as they spoke about impersonal topic. "Actually, the count is closer to twenty. They have nineteen. The oldest fifteen are girls, the sixteenth is now a young man, and the last three are in their adolescence."

"Gosh. That's a lot of kids." His fingers tapped the table of the surface, the lack of nails making the sound muted, but annoying none-the-less. "How old is the son?"

"He's eighteen right now, but his birthday is only two months away." She paused as the waitress came by with their drinks. "I don't suppose you've heard?" Her smiled dimmed, and she looked at him with sorrowful brown eyes. "His best friend died a couple nights ago."

Duo nodded, his own mood turning somber as the conversation turned to his death. Beside him, he could feel Heero frowning as he put the pieces together. Meiran placed a comforting hand on Hilde's shoulder, smiling gently at her. She looked back up to explain to Duo. "Duet Carswell. She was the hit and run that Wufei's working on right now. Her family is prominent, so it's important to the department to leave them with as few questions as possible." Duo nodded in understanding.

"Did she have a lot of friends?" Heero spoke quietly, his eyes curious.

Meiran nodded, but it was Hilde who answered. "She didn't have very many enemies, but she only had a few really close friends. Quatre was one of them, and so was I." Her voice broke, and she turned to Meiran, who wrapped her arms around her comfortingly, holding her close as she sobbed out her grief.

"I'm sorry. I should have known to give her a little more time. She's been holding it in so well. I was hoping that lunch would help distract her for a time."

"Don't apologize. I can sympathize with losing someone close to you. If you wait here, I'll run and get her something to wipe her eyes." He made to slide out of the bench, but Heero didn't move. Instead, he held out a clean handkerchief.

"Please, use this." Duo raised an eyebrow as Meiran took it and pressed it into Hilde's hand. "I'm sorry for your loss."

~~~~~_____~~~~~

[1] Duo's version of "You are so beautiful (to me)". Everyone caught that, right?

[2] I'm thinking this: if an eighteen year old girl feels that she's overweight, she's probably going to try to change that. So, I'm thinking that Duet may have been part of the diet fads, eating grapefruit and nothing else, while downing fat burning pills and cursing the creation of chocolate.

End note: Here is where it gets difficult, people. For those of you who read this story, and didn't review, I'm telling you now, you don't play very nicely. For those wonderful people that did review, I have a slight announcement, and for those of you that WILL be reviewing after I finish this chapter, you may wish to know this, too. I have not decided yet, on a couple. I don't know if I want the traditional 1x2, or the more exotic 5x2, or even a sweet and fluffy 2x4. Hell, I'm even game to try a 2x3. However, I try, keyword here, to write for what the people tell me they want. Leave it in the review, and notice: I have 379 reviews as of 4:45, 02-04-02. The fifth hundred will have complete control over the coupling, unless I finish this before that time, in which case it will go by what the reviews tell me. I think it's 1 for a 1x2, and 2 votes for a 2x5. We'll see.

Anywho, the four hundredth review gets a ficlet all their own.