Disclaimers: I have nothing but a strange yet amusing brain, I guess.
Archived: Yume Maxwell-Yuy (www.geocities.com/maxwell_yuy2002/)
Warning: OOC, Weirdish, Yaoi 2x1, 3x4, meant be slightly humorous, long chapter, and that's about it.
Note: I was bored! Enjoy!
Arigato to the reviewers, good motivation. ^_^
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Haunted
Part 15
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"Let's go now."
"Five more minutes."
"It's been twenty."
"...so?"
"Heero, come on. We gotta see what the other guys are up to."
"Hn."
"Yes. Besides, I can't feel my arms."
Heero looked up at Duo and Duo returned the gaze. "I don't wanna." Heero wrapped his arms around Duo's neck.
"You're such a baby!" Duo said.
"I don't wanna." Heero repeated and glared.
"Fine, don't get up."
"Hn." the dark haired boy replied. Duo lifted Heero and carried him to the door, "Where are we going?"
"Where ever other people are." Duo said, seeing that the halls were vaccant, he headed downstairs with the precious bundle in his arms.
The two entered the living room area only to see Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre sitting on the couches, "Well look who's here, Heero." Duo said, he noticed that Quatre had an extremely troubled look on his face, "Quat, why so blue?"
Wufei turned to the couple's direction, "Maxwell!"
"Nani?"
"Will you explain why you're carrying Yuy like that???"
"He wouldn't get up." Duo shrugged, "What happened Q? Looks like someone's out for your head, or somethin'."
Quatre looked at Duo, "Someone *IS* out for my head, and yours, Heero's, Relena's, and Wufei's."
"Nani?" Heero and Duo asked in unison.
Quatre tugged on Trowa's sleeve, "Tell them, koi." Trowa nodded and explained what had happened in the room. "His solution is to kill us..."
"Except you." Heero added. Reluctantly, he lowered himself to the ground from Duo's arms and glared.
"Excuse me?"
"He won't kill you, will he? You're immune, aren't you?"
Trowa looked down, "Immune I am, he said that he couldn't..."
"That's what I thought." Heero threw his glare at Wufei, "Did I not instruct you not to let anybody in?"
"I-"
Heero snorted. Duo grinned, "Maybe he should sit in the back with us on our way home, ne Hee-chan?" Heero nodded, that was a great idea.
"Injustice!"
"Shut up." Heero ordered, bossy lil thing, ne?
"How should we handle this?" Quatre asked.
Heero thought for a moment. What was the best way to take care of the matter? "We don't."
"What do you mean, Hee-chan?"
"We don't do anything. We return the girl and her uncles, and retreat to head quaters."
"What about Setsuna?" questioned Wufei, they were just going to ignore his presence, they didn't know him, save Trowa, but that was different, he hadn't seen him in a while. Who knew how leathal this one man could be. He even said that he had been training to take them on.
"What about him?"
"Are we just going to leave him while we figure out the ghost thing?" Duo asked wondering the same thing as Wufei, "I mean, what if he escapes or something and tries to kill us while we're off guard?"
"Then stay on guard."
"..." Duo gave Heero a half-lidded glare, "It's not as easy as it sounds..."
"Hn, by the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be very approachable." Heero said, "Let alone get close enough to do anything with him..."
"I agree with you on that, Heero," Trowa said, "In the past he's been uncontrollable. It would indeed be difficult to do anything to him at the time now. It's best to just leave him where he is."
"So we just leave him hangin' up there?"
"Une said that she wanted us to bring him back for further interrogation, didn't she?" Heero reasoned, "Therefore, we leave him as he is and take him in later...we're taking Relena with us anyway, so if he wants to kill us, he'll have to find us. I don't see why we shouldn't leave him up there, out of our way for now...unless you have something else in mind you would like to propose."
"What could *I* possible have in mind?" Duo asked, actually, he wanted to hit Setsuna over the head with a pipe, but that was considered very 'unprofessional' he supposed.
"Hm, I don't know what *could* you possibly have on your mind? Perhaps...Heero?" came the reply from Trowa, Quatre snickered in Trowa's grasp.
Duo thought for a moment, "That, sirs, I find very true. But which one should I think of now?"
Wufei cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean? There's only one Yuy, Maxwell."
"Ah, yes, but with one Heero comes many variations. Such as at Christmas, you can have a Santa Heero or a Heero Reindeer. Or on Easter, you can have an Easter Bunny Heero, and on halloween, you can have a Pumpkin Heero--if I'm lucky, I'll get a Satan Heero or Angel-- On 4th of July, you can have an Uncle Sam Heero. Thus brings us to St. Patrick's Day where Heero can be in several shades of green or a leprechaun. Then you can have him as a Turkey or a Pilgrim--OH! He could be a native! Fun! Yes, he can be a native on Thanksgiving. When April Fool's comes, yeah well, he's in for a surprise. On the new full moon day, August 15, he can just walk about butt naked thus displaying his cute full moon to anyone who walks by. I assure you, it's a cute ass. Sometimes we just play plain dress-up and dude, whoever knew Hee-chan could be so spontaneous! And I never know what he's going to for our anniversaries, he always keeps that a secret, which is always fun. As much as I like his anniversary things, Valentine's Day is by far the BEST! Ribbon Wrapped Heero is so SEXY! I mean he-MUUUHHH!"
"Duo!" shutting his lover up, Heero clamped a hand over Duo's mouth. He would of done it sooner if he wasn't so shocked that the braided baka just told his comrades most of his treats for him. Most of them at least.
"EEEeeeEwo! NnnnaaaaaaMIII???"
"Shut up!!!"
Duo let out an exasperated sigh under Heero's hand, "Oogaayyogaayyoogggay!" Heero uncovered Duo mouth, "But you haven't seen Heero unless you see him in a bubble bath! But the bubble baths are so hard to choose from. See, you have the orange bath, apple, grape, berry mix, kiwi, pear, pineapple, banana, mango, melon, lime, lemon, papya--mmm, but the best is strawberry. I mean Heero with pink bubble suds in his--"
"Omae o korosu!"
"Okay, I won't say anymore."
"Yeah right." Wufei interjected. Trowa and Quatre silently agreed.
"Hn."
"Hee-chan! I'm soooorrrrrrryyy! Gomen ne!"
"Hn." Heero turned away from Deathscythe's pilot.
Duo's mouth nearly dropped to his knees, "I said I was sorry! You don't mean that!"
"Hn."
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroooooo!" Duo whined, "Next time, I'll buy all the chocolate fudge and whip cream you want!"
"Duo...!"
"Oh my gods Heero, you're such a *baby*!"
Quatre giggled politely, "I agree Duo, have you ever seen a Lion Trowa before? And I swear he makes the sexiest clown!"
If Trowa had water in his mouth, it would have been sprayed everywhere, "Quatre...!"
"Ahem!" a muffled noise in Wufei's direction. All eyes on Wu-man who was pinching his nose tightly, "Can we get back to the mission?"
"Oh yeah..." turning to Wufei, Duo said, "Gomen, didn't mean to get sidetrack." the braided boy gave the others a sheepish laugh. Heero just glared holes into the idiot's back.
"Anyway, what about Relena?" picking up where they left off, Quatre asked concern for the girl's sake. "He said that he had intended to kill her as well...and we all know that she can't protect herself. What are we going to do with her?"
"Pair her up with Wu-man!"
"NANI?!" Wufei shouted, "No, no, and NO!"
Heero glared, "Then what do you think we should do Wufei?"
"I don't know. Give her to Maxwell!"
"Hell no!"
"Hn."
"What are you saying Yuy? You want to endanger the mission?"
Heero folded his arms and glared, "If being Relena's baby-sitter is what it takes, then yes I will do it for the mission."
"Heero!" Duo pouted pulling Heero into his arms, he turned to Wufei, "Omae o korosu!" Duo snapped.
"Bring it on Baka!"
"Justice freak!"
"God of Crap!"
"Dishonorable Nataku slave!"
"Heero Fuc-"
"You guys, we shouldn't be fighting at all!" Quatre interjected, "You sound like children!" The blond had a point. Wufei and Duo ceased their bickering, for now.
"I'm not leaving Quatre." Trowa said with a tone that reeked 'no argument'. He possessively wrapped an arm around his koibito's slender waist, "I don't care what anyone says." Quatre stood on his tippy-toes and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Hee-chan's mine." Duo claimed.
Wufei groaned, that leaves him to baby-sit the former Queen of the World...again. He could only wonder why there wasn't a sixth Gundam Pilot. Well there was, but it was another Peacecraft, so it still didn't help.
"You better go check on that princess, Wu."
"Shut up, Maxwell." Wufei said and left for the girl's temporary room. Why him? Why is HE always tortured? Walking up the stairs, Wufei shouted the only word that described his mood, "Injustice!"
The four of the remaining pilots slumped back on the couch waiting for Wufei's return. Moments later a grumpy Asian and refreshed Vice Foreign Minister trotted down the stairs.
"Hi Heero!"
Heero folded his arms, "Hn."
"Well, now that everyone is here, shall we call the spirits and get this over with?" Quatre suggested.
Duo grinned, "OI MAROU! HIKAGE! LITTLE GIRL AND HER DOG! COULD WE SEE YOU FOR A SEC???" Duo yelled as the others covered their ears. They waited. Nothing happened. "Anou, didn't I yell loud enough?"
"That's not what I meant by 'call the spirits'..." Quatre said, "Perhaps you were being too literal."
Heero rolled his eyes, "Baka."
Duo shrugged. Suddenly, Marou, Hikage, and the little girl appeared before them, but no dog.
"Yes, Mr. Maxwell?"
"We're ready to help you return to the heavens."
"Excellent..."
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"Look what you got us into Maxwell." Wufei accused.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I don't know where the family cemetary is!" The six had been told to head for the cemetary for a starting point. The ghost didn't know what they would do once they found the burial ground. They just thought it was a good place to begin. 'Whatever floats your boat,' they said.
Heero was sure that they were all heading in the right direction, but he didn't see any tomb stones.
The boys (and girl) had been hiking through tall weeds, roots, and rotting trees. It was about 3:10 in the morning, and everyone was fed up with this crap.
"Well now we're lost!"
"Would you just leave me the hell alon-ITAI!!!"
"What now?" Trowa asked hand in hand with Quatre.
"I stubbed my toe!" Duo whinned and pointed to the source of his pain.
Heero took a closer look at the area..., "Duo, it's a head stone."
"So now I'm walking on a grave?"
Heero nodded.
"Oh great." Duo bent down and shined his flashlight on the rock as Heero brushed dirt and weeds off the perfectly straight stone, "Ash Katchem...age twelve...deceased due to electrical shock while bathing pet..."
Everyone sweatdropped, "Oooooookkaaaaaaayy..."
"Poor Ash..." Quatre sighed, "So young, how awful."
"Yeah, betrayed by a loved one...tsktsk." Duo shook his head and moved on to follow his lover who really didn't give a rat's ass for the grave. He was looking for one thing, actually four; Marou's grave, Hikage's, Mary's, and the little girl's...
The rest of the group continued walking.
THUD
"OW! SHIMATTA!" Wufei shouted. All eyes on Wu-man. Wufei was laying face down on the ground.
"What cha doin' down there, Wu?"
Wufei glared, "I tripped over something." Quatre helped the Asian to his feet. The onyx eyed boy located the cause of his fall. "A shovel?"
"Shovel?" Heero repeated.
"Yeah, it was just laying here...-"
"Bring it." the Japanese boy ordered, "It could come to use."
Wufei nodded and picked up the rusted tool.
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A half mile and fifty graves later...
"Well, so far we passed Misty, Brock, Sarah, Sakura, Jesse and James from Team Rocket (blast off at the speed of light), Professor Oak, St. Tail, Tsukino Usagi, Tsukino Rini, Akira, Rin, Shukaido, Alice, Haruka, Fred Luo, Yuriko, Aya, Ceres, Shota, some Mikages, Gohan, Goku, Chi Chi, Vegeta, more unknown dudes, and Joe. No offense to them or anything, but where the hell are the one's we're looking for???" Duo complained, "There aren't even graves in this part! Why are we even checking this place out?"
"Shut up, Baka. They said that they were distrubed. Who is to say that they aren't scattered out here?" Heero asked.
"I'm tired! My feet are killing me and I just took a bath too!" Relena said, "Can we take a break?" the girl didn't wait for an answer, she plopped down on the nearest thing, "Ouch!" Relena cried and jolted up.
"Relena-san are you alright?" Quatre asked.
"I sat on something." Relena replied. She brushed her fingers over her rocky seat. "It's a grave."
"What's it say?" Quatre asked.
"Um...who's Maaaaa..." Relena paused, "I can't make it out."
Trowa walked over to the stone and moved Relena aside to read it. "...Maro--. The last name and letters are worn off." Trowa concluded.
"Well I'll be damned..." Duo smirked, "That's the second time she found something for us on accident."
Relena threw a sideways glance at Shini-Whatever's direction.
"What are we going to do with it now?" Duo asked. Heero looked at Wufei, "Dig."
"Nani? Why me?"
"You have the shovel." the Japanese boy reasoned. Wufei sighed and pushed the shovel into the soft dirt tangled in weeds.
Duo, hand in hand with Heero, wandered off not too far to see if they could find anything else. And just to be alone and away from everybody else.
"Never thought I'd be takin' a midnight stroll with my koibito out in a cemetary, ne?"
"Hn."
"I don't know, this place isn't too bad..." Duo suddenly changed the subject, "How do you think Relena is takin' us?"
"Hn."
"Really? I didn't think about that, but she seems okay right now, I mean either she has noticed our touching or she just gave up caring, ya know?"
"No."
"Well, I wouldn't expect someone like you to..."
"What are you implying?"
Duo chuckled and brought Heero's hand to his lips. He embraced the boy holding him tight. The braided boy pulled Heero under a tree and claimed his lips. Oh, he loved his Hee-chan. As he and Heero were occupied, Duo caught something from the corner of his eye.
"Nnnnn...chotto matte Heero..." Duo said breaking the kiss. Fingers entwined, Duo showed Heero what he had seen. "What the hell is this?" Duo asked picking up the round yellowish object. They took a closer look. "Oh gross! I'm holding someone's head!" dropping the skull, Duo shouted.
"Duo wait. Don't-" Heero caught the bone.
"Heero, put it down, that's sick!" Duo said not wanting his koi to have dirty hands.
"What if this belongs to one of the three people we're trying to get back home?" Heero asked shaking the head infront of Deathscythe's pilot.
Duo made a disgusted face, "That's even more distrubing!" he said, "What makes you sure isn't anyone's???"
Heero looked up at Duo and pecked him on the cheek, "I just...have a feeling."
"Just don't touch me with that..."
"Nani? Like this?" Heero rubbed the cranium against his arm making it tingle all over.
"Gross! Don't do that!!!" Duo swatted it away, "Stop!"
"Hn." Heero ceased his teasing and with that, the two went to find the others.
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ThumpThump
"I hit something." Wufei declared, "Wood." he continued to dig around. Pilot 05 was at the edge of whatever he had hit. He could feel the vibration under him from the hollow wood. A casket. It had to be, for crying out loud, it even had a stone to prove it!
Quatre's heart was pounding. Faster and faster it went with each scoop of dirt Wufei added to the pile he had just dug. The Arabian didn't know what to think, he couldn't think. He glued his eyes on Wufei, the shovel, and the grave...
Suddenly something hit his shoulder.
"Hey! How's it comin'?" shouting, Duo asked looking over Quatre's shoulder.
"Ahh!" Quatre jumped and turned around.
"Damn Quat, you yell loud enough to wake the dead!" he looked around and whispered, "No pun intended..."
"Duo, you scared me!" Quatre said, Trowa glared at the braided boy, "Leave him alone, Duo." he warned.
"Gomen, gomen." Duo said casually.
"Did you find anything on your trip?" Trowa asked not really expecting an answer, but a cocky grin and a blushing Heero. He was surprised when he got an answer with words.
"Sure did." Duo said and pointed to Heero. Trowa looked at the object in the boy's hand. Heero tossed it to him.
He caught it with ease and realized what he was holding, "A...skull?"
"Yep, found it under a tree." Duo said, "You?"
"Wufei's digging it up right now."
The Chinese pilot pried open the wooden casket, they all peeked in...
"Oh Budda!"
"Oh Allah!"
"Oh......"
"Oh Lord!"
"Oh Kami."
"Oh Gods," Duo said, "Does that thing reek or what?" Everyone stared at Duo, "Nani? It stinks."
Inside the cushion casket was a rotted away corpse. It was strange to see the dead in formal wear. Judging by the clothes, Trowa could tell that the corpse was none of the four contestants.
"This isn't any of them." he said. Duo looked up, "What makes you so sure?"
"Just look at it, obviously, this was a middle aged women by the dress and height."
Quatre peered down at the body again, "He's right."
"So I just did all of that digging for nothing?" Wufei asked wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Yep!"
"K'so!" Wufei slammed the coffin lid down, "Someone else can rebury her." the irritated Asian handed the shovel to the closest persin next to him which ever-so-conviently happened to be the braided baka, "Dig." he said.
Duo stared at the rusted metal hooked onto a piece of wood, "Why me?"
Wufei snorted, "Because you're the one with the shovel."
Duo glared at the Asian, "Omae o korosu..."
~!~!~!~!~
"Okay," Duo put the finishing pats on the fresh dirt he had just covered the mistaken burial site, "Shall we move on?"
Heero nodded as the rest continued their search for the four missing graves...
Duo lolled behind humming a tuneless song.
"Duo?"
Shinigami turned to the voice, "Oh hey, Ojou-san! Somethin' I can do for you?"
Relena shook her head, "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to apologize."
Duo eyed the girl, "You're not gonna try to sell me stupid gadgets from those catalogs are you?"
"No, no. I wanted to apologize for hitting you earlier in the tunnels. I admit, it was uncalled for and I regret I resorted to such warlike actions. Gomen."
Duo cocked an eyebrow, RELENA was apologizing to HIM? That was just too funny. He began chuckling.
Heero turned around at the noise only to see Duo laughing, he waited for Duo to catch up with him, "What's so funny?" he asked. What was he laughing at?
Duo shook his head, "Nothing." Heero latched on to Duo's free arm swinging freely from its body. The braided boy turned back to Relena beside him, "Gomen, I had to get that out of my system, I really do have awful timing. Your apology is accepted since you didn't bust my nose off." he said with a smile.
Relena smiled back and walked ahead of the couple leaving them alone.
"What was so funny Duo?" Heero asked sensing that Duo wasn't telling him the complete truth.
The braided boy had expected that, "She apologized for slapping me."
Heero frowned, "That's not funny..."
Duo shook his head again and kissed Heero's soft lips, "Don't worry about it."
"You have an odd sense of humor."
"Maybe you just have an odd sense of everything."
~!~!~!~!~
Twenty minutes later, the yard began fogging up.
"Great just great! Now we have to find them in THIS?!" Duo asked, shovel slung over his right shoulder and Heero on his left, "We're never gonna find them, we can barely see the person in front of us!"
"Calm down Duo, maybe in a few minutes it will clear up. Just stay together." Trowa said stil carrying the unknown cranium. All agreed since no one would want to be wandering off alone in the cemetary, that could cause some psychological neurotic damage. Quatre, holding Trowa's free hand, shuddered, Trowa squeezed his hand for reassurance. The blond smiled to himself and leaned into the other.
Wufei looked down at the ground, "Is it just me, or is the ground moving?" everyone else brought their eyes down to their feet. The fog slowly cleared giving them a good look below.
"Snakes..." Duo said.
"Snakes?" Heero repeated, Duo nodded as the Perfect Soldier held his arm at a circulation stopping grip. "Duo..."
"Aww! They're so cute!" Relena chirped, "Look, there's the mommy, and daddy, and the little children!"
Heero glared at the girl, 'I hate snakes...' he thought.
"Ahh!"
"Wufei!" the pilots called in unison.
Quatre ran over to his comrade, "Wufei what's wrong?"
"It went up my pants!" shaking his leg rapidly, the dark haired boy shouted.
"Well get it out." Duo said casually. Wufei kept shaking and finally, the snake fell out. "Hentai!" The Wu-man spat at the snake. Duo took a closer look, "Wu-man, it's just a harmless garden snake."
"That was in my pants! What if it bit me or something?! I could have lost all of my pride just then!"
"And you say Hee-chan and I are gross..." Duo mumbled.
Just before the snake slithered off, Heero swore that it had a bullet hole in its head, right where he had shot the other snake earlier. "Masaka..."
"Nanda?"
Heero shook his head, he was just imagining things, "Nothing."
"Look over there." Trowa said, he pointed to something protruding well over three feet from the ground at a 45 degee angle. The object was just as wide as what Wufei had dug up. It was also wooden with weeds and algae growing from the sides.
"Do you think--"
"Only one way to find out, Quat." Duo said and pulled Heero over to the unknown protrusion. "It's a coffin alright." claimed patting the wooden casket.
The Japanese pilot attempted to open it, but there was a nice well-built lock on the half way point. "It's locked." Heero declared tugging the iron weather resistant lock.
"Yes! FINALLY!" Duo cheered. Heero cocked an eyebrow with the others. "Do you know what this means?" pulling out a hair pin, Duo asked, the rest shook their heads, "It means I get to use my lock picking skills!"
Cobalt eyes glared, "Baka."
After about thirty seconds, Duo had the lock picked and opened, "Ta da!"
Heero lifted the half door to the casket. He studied the remains; the skull had dark black thin hairs remaining on the it, and seemed tall from the inside of the coffin, it was a middle aged male."...Hikage."
Duo smirked and began digging the coffin up, "One down, three to go."
~!~!~!~!~
Shinigami managed to dig up the casket and the whole to rebury Hikage in at a record time speed. He didn't know why, but he felt a strange comfort in the graveyard. Maybe it had something to do with that Shinigami thing.
"Should we put him in, or wait until we find the others?" Quatre asked.
There was a long pause.
"Bury them together," said Trowa.
"Why?"
Trowa shrugged, "I just think they would like to leave together."
"Alright, remember this site, and let's look for the others." Heero commanded, such a tough boy. That is, until he sees a snake. The reptile slithered through the tall grass and Heero clang to Duo.
"You're such a baby." Duo said.
Ten minutes later and Relena had managed to stumble (literally) over something leaving a hole where she had accidently kicked it with her shoe. Heero examined it and determined that it was the little dog, Mary. The pilots dragged the Mary's coffin over by Hikage's.
"Two down, two to go."
Thirty minutes later...
"Dammit!" Wufei cursed, Maxwell had just handed him the shovel and the temperamental Chinese boy threw it down into the ground and struck something. They quickly dug it up.
Heero pried open the casket, it was headless.
Judging from the remains, it had to be Marou, who else had long thin dark strands of hair left in the coffin besides him?
"Weeeeeelllllll, I guess we know who this belongs to." Duo said as Trowa handed Heero the skull. Skillfully attaching the head back on, they brought it back to Hikage's site.
"But then, if he WAS buried to begin with, why was he still on earth?" Quatre asked.
"I don't know. Must have lost his head!"
The pilots and Relena glared at Duo, this was no time for stupid jokes. "Baka." they all said in unison.
"Three down, one to go."
Heero didn't want to admitt it, but he was getting alittle nervous now. He didn't realize the bruises he had put on his lover's skin from his tight hold.
The last fifteen minutes of the search felt like hours for Heero, long, torturous hours. He didn't want to go through with it, this wasn't apart of the mission. All they had to do was take Relena and Setsuna back to Preventors HQ, not rebury people who had died during the war. He was on the brink of running away from the cemetary, pack up, knock Setsuna out, and leave for his nice, warm, comfy bed with Duo.
"Hee-chan, you're killing my arm." the chestnut haired boy said. Duo smiled at Heero, "You look troubled, koi."
"I don't want to do this." he whispered.
Duo frowned, "Oh c'mon, we're almost finished. Just this last one and we'll be home free after we take Setsuna in. You can't chicken out just yet." Heero found comfort in Duo's words. "You don't have to open the casket if you don't want to, I'm sure Wufei or Trowa, hell even Quatre or Relena will do it! You don't have to look either." said Duo. He bent over and kissed Heero. Duo was right. With the new confidence, Heero deserted all ideas of fleeing and continued looking for the last person.
The girl.
Relena watched the two lovers, namely Duo and Heero, hold each others' hands and make kissy faces. She felt a sharp twing of jealousy, but calmed it knowing that she was no competition against Duo. She had to say, they were cute together though. The girl couldn't help but smile at the boys. She averted her attention to Trowa and Quatre, they were so perfect for each other. So understanding, so innocent, so protective, so loved...She envied the love that they possessed.
She watched as Trowa bent down and planted gentle kisses down the blond's neck, even if they were two boys, it was certain that they were meant for each other...they looked...natural, if you could call it that. She sighed. Trowa wrapped his arm around Quatre waist and kissed the top of his head. Heero and Duo did things like that, but more playfully, not romantic. Either way, Relena wondered why she didn't have a love like that. She looked up at the sky as if could give her an answer, did she even like guys?
"Over here." Wufei called, he had found a smaller casket upturned from the ground. It was pretty beaten up, the weather had eroded away the lock and the door freely swang open before anyone touched it. The wind caused the hinges to creak with the movement of the door. It was held up but roots and rocks.
Duo took a deep breath, "Ya ready Hee-chan?"
Heero nodded and approached the coffin.
Inside was what he feared for many years, the source of his nightmares.
The girl who call him Oni-chan...
~!~!~!~!~
Sun hat and white dress is what Heero saw. Just as the girl's spirit was wearing now.
Heero was pained, the girl in the casket was rotting, her youth was taken away from her because of him. It was his fault, seeing the once beautiful youth dead, only made Heero feel worse. He had done it to the girl. It wasn't just a freak accident, it was all his fault! Heero blamed himself more and more as the guilt welled up inside him. He didn't know what to do, he had never felt like this before, the burning feeling was too much.
It hurt.
Heero turned to Duo who embraced the Japanese boy, "It's all my fault, Duo. It's all my fault." the boy said and buried his head into his love's chest. Strong arms supported the boy as his legs gave in. He was suppose be emotionless, he wasn't suppose to be engulfed with all of these new things. He didn't know whether to damn Dr. J for not trying him well enough or Duo for breaking the ice around his heart.
He damned both.
He wanted to break down and cry, he wanted to sob years and years worth of pain and suffering. He wanted to turn back time and save the youth. He wanted to do anything but look at the corpse before him.
But he didn't.
Feeling sorry, Duo kissed Heero's hair. Heero was just too stubborn to believe that it WAS a freak accident. He just flat out wouldn't accept it.
"Is it her?" Relena asked, Duo nodded as Wufei and Trowa walked over to the coffin to move it over by the others. The two working pilots dragged it over to the others. About a quater till six, they were ready to bury the victims.
Since they were ready, they lowered the caskets into their newly dug graves and applied the dirt. Nothing happened. Why hadn't anything happened?
Suddenly a bright light, coming from the bodies, blinded the pilots. Soon it faded to the point where they could opened their eyes. There before them were Marou, Hikage, Mary, and the girl all smiling at them as well as glowing in the light.
With Hikage at Marou's side, the man approached Duo very slowly, "Arigato." he said. Marou put his transparent hands on Duo's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek, assuming that he could kiss him, "You don't know how long we've wait for someone to return us to the heavens..."
Duo chuckled sheepishly and wrapped an arm around Heero, "Anytime..."
"Arigato..." Hikage said. Then, they walked into the bright light and disappeared having no intentions of coming back.
"Oni-chan!"
Everyone directed their attention to the little girl. Heero stayed silent.
"Oni-chan, why do you look so sad?" she asked, Heero looked away, it hurt to look at the girl. "You haven't changed ONE bit, Oni-chan." She smiled up at him and giggled, "Since, you're not really my Oni-chan, May I be told what is your name?" she asked politely.
The Japanese boy forced himself to look at the girl, and he did. It wasn't so bad. "...Heero Yuy." he answered quietly.
"Ah, so it's Heero Yuy," she beamed up at him, "what a nice name."
ArfArf
the girl turned around, "Mary!" she cried as the dog ran into her arms, "Oh Mary, where have you been? I've missed you so much!" she giggled while the golden puppy licked her face.
"Shouldn't you be going with your uncles?" Wufei asked.
"Hai!" the girl replied, smiling, she turned to Heero and his friends, "Looks like you're not lost anymore." the girl started for the light that her uncles had walked into and vanished, she turned around before she entered it.
"Thank you for playing my game with me Mr. Quatre, Mr. Trowa, Mr. Chang, Miss Relena, and Mr. Maxwell. Arigato, Heero Yuy...Oni-chan, don't be sad...nothing's ever your fault..." with that said, she ran into the bright light.
Heero stared wide eyed as the girl disappeared, suddenly his chest felt light instead of bogged down. He felt...better. The pain was gone! He was freed from the guilt! He didn't know why, but he was. He didn't care why, he was so...enlightened.
Soon the light faded and sun began to rise.
The house was no longer haunted...
~!~!~!~!~
TBC?
~!~!~!~!~
O~kay. Yeah, what did you think of this? I know, sappy, sappy, sappy. *shrugs* Wow, I think this is the longest part...it is. Whew, I hope that this chapter answered most of your questions. Tell me if they didn't, or if your even more confused as it is.
...ack! Uh-oh, now da big bad scary Setsuna...-_-;
Archived: Yume Maxwell-Yuy (www.geocities.com/maxwell_yuy2002/)
Warning: OOC, Weirdish, Yaoi 2x1, 3x4, meant be slightly humorous, long chapter, and that's about it.
Note: I was bored! Enjoy!
Arigato to the reviewers, good motivation. ^_^
~!~!~!~!~
Haunted
Part 15
~!~!~!~!~
"Let's go now."
"Five more minutes."
"It's been twenty."
"...so?"
"Heero, come on. We gotta see what the other guys are up to."
"Hn."
"Yes. Besides, I can't feel my arms."
Heero looked up at Duo and Duo returned the gaze. "I don't wanna." Heero wrapped his arms around Duo's neck.
"You're such a baby!" Duo said.
"I don't wanna." Heero repeated and glared.
"Fine, don't get up."
"Hn." the dark haired boy replied. Duo lifted Heero and carried him to the door, "Where are we going?"
"Where ever other people are." Duo said, seeing that the halls were vaccant, he headed downstairs with the precious bundle in his arms.
The two entered the living room area only to see Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre sitting on the couches, "Well look who's here, Heero." Duo said, he noticed that Quatre had an extremely troubled look on his face, "Quat, why so blue?"
Wufei turned to the couple's direction, "Maxwell!"
"Nani?"
"Will you explain why you're carrying Yuy like that???"
"He wouldn't get up." Duo shrugged, "What happened Q? Looks like someone's out for your head, or somethin'."
Quatre looked at Duo, "Someone *IS* out for my head, and yours, Heero's, Relena's, and Wufei's."
"Nani?" Heero and Duo asked in unison.
Quatre tugged on Trowa's sleeve, "Tell them, koi." Trowa nodded and explained what had happened in the room. "His solution is to kill us..."
"Except you." Heero added. Reluctantly, he lowered himself to the ground from Duo's arms and glared.
"Excuse me?"
"He won't kill you, will he? You're immune, aren't you?"
Trowa looked down, "Immune I am, he said that he couldn't..."
"That's what I thought." Heero threw his glare at Wufei, "Did I not instruct you not to let anybody in?"
"I-"
Heero snorted. Duo grinned, "Maybe he should sit in the back with us on our way home, ne Hee-chan?" Heero nodded, that was a great idea.
"Injustice!"
"Shut up." Heero ordered, bossy lil thing, ne?
"How should we handle this?" Quatre asked.
Heero thought for a moment. What was the best way to take care of the matter? "We don't."
"What do you mean, Hee-chan?"
"We don't do anything. We return the girl and her uncles, and retreat to head quaters."
"What about Setsuna?" questioned Wufei, they were just going to ignore his presence, they didn't know him, save Trowa, but that was different, he hadn't seen him in a while. Who knew how leathal this one man could be. He even said that he had been training to take them on.
"What about him?"
"Are we just going to leave him while we figure out the ghost thing?" Duo asked wondering the same thing as Wufei, "I mean, what if he escapes or something and tries to kill us while we're off guard?"
"Then stay on guard."
"..." Duo gave Heero a half-lidded glare, "It's not as easy as it sounds..."
"Hn, by the looks of it, he doesn't seem to be very approachable." Heero said, "Let alone get close enough to do anything with him..."
"I agree with you on that, Heero," Trowa said, "In the past he's been uncontrollable. It would indeed be difficult to do anything to him at the time now. It's best to just leave him where he is."
"So we just leave him hangin' up there?"
"Une said that she wanted us to bring him back for further interrogation, didn't she?" Heero reasoned, "Therefore, we leave him as he is and take him in later...we're taking Relena with us anyway, so if he wants to kill us, he'll have to find us. I don't see why we shouldn't leave him up there, out of our way for now...unless you have something else in mind you would like to propose."
"What could *I* possible have in mind?" Duo asked, actually, he wanted to hit Setsuna over the head with a pipe, but that was considered very 'unprofessional' he supposed.
"Hm, I don't know what *could* you possibly have on your mind? Perhaps...Heero?" came the reply from Trowa, Quatre snickered in Trowa's grasp.
Duo thought for a moment, "That, sirs, I find very true. But which one should I think of now?"
Wufei cocked an eyebrow, "What do you mean? There's only one Yuy, Maxwell."
"Ah, yes, but with one Heero comes many variations. Such as at Christmas, you can have a Santa Heero or a Heero Reindeer. Or on Easter, you can have an Easter Bunny Heero, and on halloween, you can have a Pumpkin Heero--if I'm lucky, I'll get a Satan Heero or Angel-- On 4th of July, you can have an Uncle Sam Heero. Thus brings us to St. Patrick's Day where Heero can be in several shades of green or a leprechaun. Then you can have him as a Turkey or a Pilgrim--OH! He could be a native! Fun! Yes, he can be a native on Thanksgiving. When April Fool's comes, yeah well, he's in for a surprise. On the new full moon day, August 15, he can just walk about butt naked thus displaying his cute full moon to anyone who walks by. I assure you, it's a cute ass. Sometimes we just play plain dress-up and dude, whoever knew Hee-chan could be so spontaneous! And I never know what he's going to for our anniversaries, he always keeps that a secret, which is always fun. As much as I like his anniversary things, Valentine's Day is by far the BEST! Ribbon Wrapped Heero is so SEXY! I mean he-MUUUHHH!"
"Duo!" shutting his lover up, Heero clamped a hand over Duo's mouth. He would of done it sooner if he wasn't so shocked that the braided baka just told his comrades most of his treats for him. Most of them at least.
"EEEeeeEwo! NnnnaaaaaaMIII???"
"Shut up!!!"
Duo let out an exasperated sigh under Heero's hand, "Oogaayyogaayyoogggay!" Heero uncovered Duo mouth, "But you haven't seen Heero unless you see him in a bubble bath! But the bubble baths are so hard to choose from. See, you have the orange bath, apple, grape, berry mix, kiwi, pear, pineapple, banana, mango, melon, lime, lemon, papya--mmm, but the best is strawberry. I mean Heero with pink bubble suds in his--"
"Omae o korosu!"
"Okay, I won't say anymore."
"Yeah right." Wufei interjected. Trowa and Quatre silently agreed.
"Hn."
"Hee-chan! I'm soooorrrrrrryyy! Gomen ne!"
"Hn." Heero turned away from Deathscythe's pilot.
Duo's mouth nearly dropped to his knees, "I said I was sorry! You don't mean that!"
"Hn."
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroooooo!" Duo whined, "Next time, I'll buy all the chocolate fudge and whip cream you want!"
"Duo...!"
"Oh my gods Heero, you're such a *baby*!"
Quatre giggled politely, "I agree Duo, have you ever seen a Lion Trowa before? And I swear he makes the sexiest clown!"
If Trowa had water in his mouth, it would have been sprayed everywhere, "Quatre...!"
"Ahem!" a muffled noise in Wufei's direction. All eyes on Wu-man who was pinching his nose tightly, "Can we get back to the mission?"
"Oh yeah..." turning to Wufei, Duo said, "Gomen, didn't mean to get sidetrack." the braided boy gave the others a sheepish laugh. Heero just glared holes into the idiot's back.
"Anyway, what about Relena?" picking up where they left off, Quatre asked concern for the girl's sake. "He said that he had intended to kill her as well...and we all know that she can't protect herself. What are we going to do with her?"
"Pair her up with Wu-man!"
"NANI?!" Wufei shouted, "No, no, and NO!"
Heero glared, "Then what do you think we should do Wufei?"
"I don't know. Give her to Maxwell!"
"Hell no!"
"Hn."
"What are you saying Yuy? You want to endanger the mission?"
Heero folded his arms and glared, "If being Relena's baby-sitter is what it takes, then yes I will do it for the mission."
"Heero!" Duo pouted pulling Heero into his arms, he turned to Wufei, "Omae o korosu!" Duo snapped.
"Bring it on Baka!"
"Justice freak!"
"God of Crap!"
"Dishonorable Nataku slave!"
"Heero Fuc-"
"You guys, we shouldn't be fighting at all!" Quatre interjected, "You sound like children!" The blond had a point. Wufei and Duo ceased their bickering, for now.
"I'm not leaving Quatre." Trowa said with a tone that reeked 'no argument'. He possessively wrapped an arm around his koibito's slender waist, "I don't care what anyone says." Quatre stood on his tippy-toes and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Hee-chan's mine." Duo claimed.
Wufei groaned, that leaves him to baby-sit the former Queen of the World...again. He could only wonder why there wasn't a sixth Gundam Pilot. Well there was, but it was another Peacecraft, so it still didn't help.
"You better go check on that princess, Wu."
"Shut up, Maxwell." Wufei said and left for the girl's temporary room. Why him? Why is HE always tortured? Walking up the stairs, Wufei shouted the only word that described his mood, "Injustice!"
The four of the remaining pilots slumped back on the couch waiting for Wufei's return. Moments later a grumpy Asian and refreshed Vice Foreign Minister trotted down the stairs.
"Hi Heero!"
Heero folded his arms, "Hn."
"Well, now that everyone is here, shall we call the spirits and get this over with?" Quatre suggested.
Duo grinned, "OI MAROU! HIKAGE! LITTLE GIRL AND HER DOG! COULD WE SEE YOU FOR A SEC???" Duo yelled as the others covered their ears. They waited. Nothing happened. "Anou, didn't I yell loud enough?"
"That's not what I meant by 'call the spirits'..." Quatre said, "Perhaps you were being too literal."
Heero rolled his eyes, "Baka."
Duo shrugged. Suddenly, Marou, Hikage, and the little girl appeared before them, but no dog.
"Yes, Mr. Maxwell?"
"We're ready to help you return to the heavens."
"Excellent..."
~!~!~!~!~
"Look what you got us into Maxwell." Wufei accused.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I don't know where the family cemetary is!" The six had been told to head for the cemetary for a starting point. The ghost didn't know what they would do once they found the burial ground. They just thought it was a good place to begin. 'Whatever floats your boat,' they said.
Heero was sure that they were all heading in the right direction, but he didn't see any tomb stones.
The boys (and girl) had been hiking through tall weeds, roots, and rotting trees. It was about 3:10 in the morning, and everyone was fed up with this crap.
"Well now we're lost!"
"Would you just leave me the hell alon-ITAI!!!"
"What now?" Trowa asked hand in hand with Quatre.
"I stubbed my toe!" Duo whinned and pointed to the source of his pain.
Heero took a closer look at the area..., "Duo, it's a head stone."
"So now I'm walking on a grave?"
Heero nodded.
"Oh great." Duo bent down and shined his flashlight on the rock as Heero brushed dirt and weeds off the perfectly straight stone, "Ash Katchem...age twelve...deceased due to electrical shock while bathing pet..."
Everyone sweatdropped, "Oooooookkaaaaaaayy..."
"Poor Ash..." Quatre sighed, "So young, how awful."
"Yeah, betrayed by a loved one...tsktsk." Duo shook his head and moved on to follow his lover who really didn't give a rat's ass for the grave. He was looking for one thing, actually four; Marou's grave, Hikage's, Mary's, and the little girl's...
The rest of the group continued walking.
THUD
"OW! SHIMATTA!" Wufei shouted. All eyes on Wu-man. Wufei was laying face down on the ground.
"What cha doin' down there, Wu?"
Wufei glared, "I tripped over something." Quatre helped the Asian to his feet. The onyx eyed boy located the cause of his fall. "A shovel?"
"Shovel?" Heero repeated.
"Yeah, it was just laying here...-"
"Bring it." the Japanese boy ordered, "It could come to use."
Wufei nodded and picked up the rusted tool.
~!~!~!~!~
A half mile and fifty graves later...
"Well, so far we passed Misty, Brock, Sarah, Sakura, Jesse and James from Team Rocket (blast off at the speed of light), Professor Oak, St. Tail, Tsukino Usagi, Tsukino Rini, Akira, Rin, Shukaido, Alice, Haruka, Fred Luo, Yuriko, Aya, Ceres, Shota, some Mikages, Gohan, Goku, Chi Chi, Vegeta, more unknown dudes, and Joe. No offense to them or anything, but where the hell are the one's we're looking for???" Duo complained, "There aren't even graves in this part! Why are we even checking this place out?"
"Shut up, Baka. They said that they were distrubed. Who is to say that they aren't scattered out here?" Heero asked.
"I'm tired! My feet are killing me and I just took a bath too!" Relena said, "Can we take a break?" the girl didn't wait for an answer, she plopped down on the nearest thing, "Ouch!" Relena cried and jolted up.
"Relena-san are you alright?" Quatre asked.
"I sat on something." Relena replied. She brushed her fingers over her rocky seat. "It's a grave."
"What's it say?" Quatre asked.
"Um...who's Maaaaa..." Relena paused, "I can't make it out."
Trowa walked over to the stone and moved Relena aside to read it. "...Maro--. The last name and letters are worn off." Trowa concluded.
"Well I'll be damned..." Duo smirked, "That's the second time she found something for us on accident."
Relena threw a sideways glance at Shini-Whatever's direction.
"What are we going to do with it now?" Duo asked. Heero looked at Wufei, "Dig."
"Nani? Why me?"
"You have the shovel." the Japanese boy reasoned. Wufei sighed and pushed the shovel into the soft dirt tangled in weeds.
Duo, hand in hand with Heero, wandered off not too far to see if they could find anything else. And just to be alone and away from everybody else.
"Never thought I'd be takin' a midnight stroll with my koibito out in a cemetary, ne?"
"Hn."
"I don't know, this place isn't too bad..." Duo suddenly changed the subject, "How do you think Relena is takin' us?"
"Hn."
"Really? I didn't think about that, but she seems okay right now, I mean either she has noticed our touching or she just gave up caring, ya know?"
"No."
"Well, I wouldn't expect someone like you to..."
"What are you implying?"
Duo chuckled and brought Heero's hand to his lips. He embraced the boy holding him tight. The braided boy pulled Heero under a tree and claimed his lips. Oh, he loved his Hee-chan. As he and Heero were occupied, Duo caught something from the corner of his eye.
"Nnnnn...chotto matte Heero..." Duo said breaking the kiss. Fingers entwined, Duo showed Heero what he had seen. "What the hell is this?" Duo asked picking up the round yellowish object. They took a closer look. "Oh gross! I'm holding someone's head!" dropping the skull, Duo shouted.
"Duo wait. Don't-" Heero caught the bone.
"Heero, put it down, that's sick!" Duo said not wanting his koi to have dirty hands.
"What if this belongs to one of the three people we're trying to get back home?" Heero asked shaking the head infront of Deathscythe's pilot.
Duo made a disgusted face, "That's even more distrubing!" he said, "What makes you sure isn't anyone's???"
Heero looked up at Duo and pecked him on the cheek, "I just...have a feeling."
"Just don't touch me with that..."
"Nani? Like this?" Heero rubbed the cranium against his arm making it tingle all over.
"Gross! Don't do that!!!" Duo swatted it away, "Stop!"
"Hn." Heero ceased his teasing and with that, the two went to find the others.
~!~!~!~!~
ThumpThump
"I hit something." Wufei declared, "Wood." he continued to dig around. Pilot 05 was at the edge of whatever he had hit. He could feel the vibration under him from the hollow wood. A casket. It had to be, for crying out loud, it even had a stone to prove it!
Quatre's heart was pounding. Faster and faster it went with each scoop of dirt Wufei added to the pile he had just dug. The Arabian didn't know what to think, he couldn't think. He glued his eyes on Wufei, the shovel, and the grave...
Suddenly something hit his shoulder.
"Hey! How's it comin'?" shouting, Duo asked looking over Quatre's shoulder.
"Ahh!" Quatre jumped and turned around.
"Damn Quat, you yell loud enough to wake the dead!" he looked around and whispered, "No pun intended..."
"Duo, you scared me!" Quatre said, Trowa glared at the braided boy, "Leave him alone, Duo." he warned.
"Gomen, gomen." Duo said casually.
"Did you find anything on your trip?" Trowa asked not really expecting an answer, but a cocky grin and a blushing Heero. He was surprised when he got an answer with words.
"Sure did." Duo said and pointed to Heero. Trowa looked at the object in the boy's hand. Heero tossed it to him.
He caught it with ease and realized what he was holding, "A...skull?"
"Yep, found it under a tree." Duo said, "You?"
"Wufei's digging it up right now."
The Chinese pilot pried open the wooden casket, they all peeked in...
"Oh Budda!"
"Oh Allah!"
"Oh......"
"Oh Lord!"
"Oh Kami."
"Oh Gods," Duo said, "Does that thing reek or what?" Everyone stared at Duo, "Nani? It stinks."
Inside the cushion casket was a rotted away corpse. It was strange to see the dead in formal wear. Judging by the clothes, Trowa could tell that the corpse was none of the four contestants.
"This isn't any of them." he said. Duo looked up, "What makes you so sure?"
"Just look at it, obviously, this was a middle aged women by the dress and height."
Quatre peered down at the body again, "He's right."
"So I just did all of that digging for nothing?" Wufei asked wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Yep!"
"K'so!" Wufei slammed the coffin lid down, "Someone else can rebury her." the irritated Asian handed the shovel to the closest persin next to him which ever-so-conviently happened to be the braided baka, "Dig." he said.
Duo stared at the rusted metal hooked onto a piece of wood, "Why me?"
Wufei snorted, "Because you're the one with the shovel."
Duo glared at the Asian, "Omae o korosu..."
~!~!~!~!~
"Okay," Duo put the finishing pats on the fresh dirt he had just covered the mistaken burial site, "Shall we move on?"
Heero nodded as the rest continued their search for the four missing graves...
Duo lolled behind humming a tuneless song.
"Duo?"
Shinigami turned to the voice, "Oh hey, Ojou-san! Somethin' I can do for you?"
Relena shook her head, "No, I'm fine. I just wanted to apologize."
Duo eyed the girl, "You're not gonna try to sell me stupid gadgets from those catalogs are you?"
"No, no. I wanted to apologize for hitting you earlier in the tunnels. I admit, it was uncalled for and I regret I resorted to such warlike actions. Gomen."
Duo cocked an eyebrow, RELENA was apologizing to HIM? That was just too funny. He began chuckling.
Heero turned around at the noise only to see Duo laughing, he waited for Duo to catch up with him, "What's so funny?" he asked. What was he laughing at?
Duo shook his head, "Nothing." Heero latched on to Duo's free arm swinging freely from its body. The braided boy turned back to Relena beside him, "Gomen, I had to get that out of my system, I really do have awful timing. Your apology is accepted since you didn't bust my nose off." he said with a smile.
Relena smiled back and walked ahead of the couple leaving them alone.
"What was so funny Duo?" Heero asked sensing that Duo wasn't telling him the complete truth.
The braided boy had expected that, "She apologized for slapping me."
Heero frowned, "That's not funny..."
Duo shook his head again and kissed Heero's soft lips, "Don't worry about it."
"You have an odd sense of humor."
"Maybe you just have an odd sense of everything."
~!~!~!~!~
Twenty minutes later, the yard began fogging up.
"Great just great! Now we have to find them in THIS?!" Duo asked, shovel slung over his right shoulder and Heero on his left, "We're never gonna find them, we can barely see the person in front of us!"
"Calm down Duo, maybe in a few minutes it will clear up. Just stay together." Trowa said stil carrying the unknown cranium. All agreed since no one would want to be wandering off alone in the cemetary, that could cause some psychological neurotic damage. Quatre, holding Trowa's free hand, shuddered, Trowa squeezed his hand for reassurance. The blond smiled to himself and leaned into the other.
Wufei looked down at the ground, "Is it just me, or is the ground moving?" everyone else brought their eyes down to their feet. The fog slowly cleared giving them a good look below.
"Snakes..." Duo said.
"Snakes?" Heero repeated, Duo nodded as the Perfect Soldier held his arm at a circulation stopping grip. "Duo..."
"Aww! They're so cute!" Relena chirped, "Look, there's the mommy, and daddy, and the little children!"
Heero glared at the girl, 'I hate snakes...' he thought.
"Ahh!"
"Wufei!" the pilots called in unison.
Quatre ran over to his comrade, "Wufei what's wrong?"
"It went up my pants!" shaking his leg rapidly, the dark haired boy shouted.
"Well get it out." Duo said casually. Wufei kept shaking and finally, the snake fell out. "Hentai!" The Wu-man spat at the snake. Duo took a closer look, "Wu-man, it's just a harmless garden snake."
"That was in my pants! What if it bit me or something?! I could have lost all of my pride just then!"
"And you say Hee-chan and I are gross..." Duo mumbled.
Just before the snake slithered off, Heero swore that it had a bullet hole in its head, right where he had shot the other snake earlier. "Masaka..."
"Nanda?"
Heero shook his head, he was just imagining things, "Nothing."
"Look over there." Trowa said, he pointed to something protruding well over three feet from the ground at a 45 degee angle. The object was just as wide as what Wufei had dug up. It was also wooden with weeds and algae growing from the sides.
"Do you think--"
"Only one way to find out, Quat." Duo said and pulled Heero over to the unknown protrusion. "It's a coffin alright." claimed patting the wooden casket.
The Japanese pilot attempted to open it, but there was a nice well-built lock on the half way point. "It's locked." Heero declared tugging the iron weather resistant lock.
"Yes! FINALLY!" Duo cheered. Heero cocked an eyebrow with the others. "Do you know what this means?" pulling out a hair pin, Duo asked, the rest shook their heads, "It means I get to use my lock picking skills!"
Cobalt eyes glared, "Baka."
After about thirty seconds, Duo had the lock picked and opened, "Ta da!"
Heero lifted the half door to the casket. He studied the remains; the skull had dark black thin hairs remaining on the it, and seemed tall from the inside of the coffin, it was a middle aged male."...Hikage."
Duo smirked and began digging the coffin up, "One down, three to go."
~!~!~!~!~
Shinigami managed to dig up the casket and the whole to rebury Hikage in at a record time speed. He didn't know why, but he felt a strange comfort in the graveyard. Maybe it had something to do with that Shinigami thing.
"Should we put him in, or wait until we find the others?" Quatre asked.
There was a long pause.
"Bury them together," said Trowa.
"Why?"
Trowa shrugged, "I just think they would like to leave together."
"Alright, remember this site, and let's look for the others." Heero commanded, such a tough boy. That is, until he sees a snake. The reptile slithered through the tall grass and Heero clang to Duo.
"You're such a baby." Duo said.
Ten minutes later and Relena had managed to stumble (literally) over something leaving a hole where she had accidently kicked it with her shoe. Heero examined it and determined that it was the little dog, Mary. The pilots dragged the Mary's coffin over by Hikage's.
"Two down, two to go."
Thirty minutes later...
"Dammit!" Wufei cursed, Maxwell had just handed him the shovel and the temperamental Chinese boy threw it down into the ground and struck something. They quickly dug it up.
Heero pried open the casket, it was headless.
Judging from the remains, it had to be Marou, who else had long thin dark strands of hair left in the coffin besides him?
"Weeeeeelllllll, I guess we know who this belongs to." Duo said as Trowa handed Heero the skull. Skillfully attaching the head back on, they brought it back to Hikage's site.
"But then, if he WAS buried to begin with, why was he still on earth?" Quatre asked.
"I don't know. Must have lost his head!"
The pilots and Relena glared at Duo, this was no time for stupid jokes. "Baka." they all said in unison.
"Three down, one to go."
Heero didn't want to admitt it, but he was getting alittle nervous now. He didn't realize the bruises he had put on his lover's skin from his tight hold.
The last fifteen minutes of the search felt like hours for Heero, long, torturous hours. He didn't want to go through with it, this wasn't apart of the mission. All they had to do was take Relena and Setsuna back to Preventors HQ, not rebury people who had died during the war. He was on the brink of running away from the cemetary, pack up, knock Setsuna out, and leave for his nice, warm, comfy bed with Duo.
"Hee-chan, you're killing my arm." the chestnut haired boy said. Duo smiled at Heero, "You look troubled, koi."
"I don't want to do this." he whispered.
Duo frowned, "Oh c'mon, we're almost finished. Just this last one and we'll be home free after we take Setsuna in. You can't chicken out just yet." Heero found comfort in Duo's words. "You don't have to open the casket if you don't want to, I'm sure Wufei or Trowa, hell even Quatre or Relena will do it! You don't have to look either." said Duo. He bent over and kissed Heero. Duo was right. With the new confidence, Heero deserted all ideas of fleeing and continued looking for the last person.
The girl.
Relena watched the two lovers, namely Duo and Heero, hold each others' hands and make kissy faces. She felt a sharp twing of jealousy, but calmed it knowing that she was no competition against Duo. She had to say, they were cute together though. The girl couldn't help but smile at the boys. She averted her attention to Trowa and Quatre, they were so perfect for each other. So understanding, so innocent, so protective, so loved...She envied the love that they possessed.
She watched as Trowa bent down and planted gentle kisses down the blond's neck, even if they were two boys, it was certain that they were meant for each other...they looked...natural, if you could call it that. She sighed. Trowa wrapped his arm around Quatre waist and kissed the top of his head. Heero and Duo did things like that, but more playfully, not romantic. Either way, Relena wondered why she didn't have a love like that. She looked up at the sky as if could give her an answer, did she even like guys?
"Over here." Wufei called, he had found a smaller casket upturned from the ground. It was pretty beaten up, the weather had eroded away the lock and the door freely swang open before anyone touched it. The wind caused the hinges to creak with the movement of the door. It was held up but roots and rocks.
Duo took a deep breath, "Ya ready Hee-chan?"
Heero nodded and approached the coffin.
Inside was what he feared for many years, the source of his nightmares.
The girl who call him Oni-chan...
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Sun hat and white dress is what Heero saw. Just as the girl's spirit was wearing now.
Heero was pained, the girl in the casket was rotting, her youth was taken away from her because of him. It was his fault, seeing the once beautiful youth dead, only made Heero feel worse. He had done it to the girl. It wasn't just a freak accident, it was all his fault! Heero blamed himself more and more as the guilt welled up inside him. He didn't know what to do, he had never felt like this before, the burning feeling was too much.
It hurt.
Heero turned to Duo who embraced the Japanese boy, "It's all my fault, Duo. It's all my fault." the boy said and buried his head into his love's chest. Strong arms supported the boy as his legs gave in. He was suppose be emotionless, he wasn't suppose to be engulfed with all of these new things. He didn't know whether to damn Dr. J for not trying him well enough or Duo for breaking the ice around his heart.
He damned both.
He wanted to break down and cry, he wanted to sob years and years worth of pain and suffering. He wanted to turn back time and save the youth. He wanted to do anything but look at the corpse before him.
But he didn't.
Feeling sorry, Duo kissed Heero's hair. Heero was just too stubborn to believe that it WAS a freak accident. He just flat out wouldn't accept it.
"Is it her?" Relena asked, Duo nodded as Wufei and Trowa walked over to the coffin to move it over by the others. The two working pilots dragged it over to the others. About a quater till six, they were ready to bury the victims.
Since they were ready, they lowered the caskets into their newly dug graves and applied the dirt. Nothing happened. Why hadn't anything happened?
Suddenly a bright light, coming from the bodies, blinded the pilots. Soon it faded to the point where they could opened their eyes. There before them were Marou, Hikage, Mary, and the girl all smiling at them as well as glowing in the light.
With Hikage at Marou's side, the man approached Duo very slowly, "Arigato." he said. Marou put his transparent hands on Duo's shoulders and kissed him on the cheek, assuming that he could kiss him, "You don't know how long we've wait for someone to return us to the heavens..."
Duo chuckled sheepishly and wrapped an arm around Heero, "Anytime..."
"Arigato..." Hikage said. Then, they walked into the bright light and disappeared having no intentions of coming back.
"Oni-chan!"
Everyone directed their attention to the little girl. Heero stayed silent.
"Oni-chan, why do you look so sad?" she asked, Heero looked away, it hurt to look at the girl. "You haven't changed ONE bit, Oni-chan." She smiled up at him and giggled, "Since, you're not really my Oni-chan, May I be told what is your name?" she asked politely.
The Japanese boy forced himself to look at the girl, and he did. It wasn't so bad. "...Heero Yuy." he answered quietly.
"Ah, so it's Heero Yuy," she beamed up at him, "what a nice name."
ArfArf
the girl turned around, "Mary!" she cried as the dog ran into her arms, "Oh Mary, where have you been? I've missed you so much!" she giggled while the golden puppy licked her face.
"Shouldn't you be going with your uncles?" Wufei asked.
"Hai!" the girl replied, smiling, she turned to Heero and his friends, "Looks like you're not lost anymore." the girl started for the light that her uncles had walked into and vanished, she turned around before she entered it.
"Thank you for playing my game with me Mr. Quatre, Mr. Trowa, Mr. Chang, Miss Relena, and Mr. Maxwell. Arigato, Heero Yuy...Oni-chan, don't be sad...nothing's ever your fault..." with that said, she ran into the bright light.
Heero stared wide eyed as the girl disappeared, suddenly his chest felt light instead of bogged down. He felt...better. The pain was gone! He was freed from the guilt! He didn't know why, but he was. He didn't care why, he was so...enlightened.
Soon the light faded and sun began to rise.
The house was no longer haunted...
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TBC?
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O~kay. Yeah, what did you think of this? I know, sappy, sappy, sappy. *shrugs* Wow, I think this is the longest part...it is. Whew, I hope that this chapter answered most of your questions. Tell me if they didn't, or if your even more confused as it is.
...ack! Uh-oh, now da big bad scary Setsuna...-_-;