The Perfect Soldier
Chapter 9: Catching Up
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Duo kept a close eye on Heero. As the six of them approached the address, he could see lines of strain etching deeper on Heero's face. They were still faint, sure. You had to really look to see them, but Duo knew they were there. The look in Heero's eyes revealed his tension and uncertainty as if he'd written a sonnet about it.
Duo edged closer to Quatre and kept his voice low. "I think we should be there when he sees her for the first time."
Quatre glanced at Duo in surprise. There was no small amount of concern in the violet eyes. "But I thought we'd agreed to give him some space. Do you really think it's a good idea to impose?"
He needs us with him. Just look at his eyes. He's lost. Duo said, "Well, I'm not suggesting we should break out the party supplies or anything. But, how would you feel if you were about to meet your sister for the first time? Who you never knew existed? And to top things off, she looks just like you. That alone is just a little too freaky. A girl that looks just like you." Duo shuddered. "I'm glad I don't have that problem. Yep. There's only one Duo Maxwell."
Quatre smiled at Duo's confidence but noticed how his gaze never seemed to leave Heero. "You're really worried about him?"
Duo seemed to wilt a bit. "Yeah," he said, his voice serious and a bit husky, "I think he's hurting."
"Then I think you're right, Duo. Let's stay with him for a while." Quatre glanced around him and consulted the map Rashid had sent him during the space flight. "We're almost there," he told everyone. "It's just past this intersection. The fourth building on our right."
Heero and Taki reached the building first. Heero didn't hesitate but pounded on the door, ignoring the fact that it was just after dawn. Taki stood out on the sidewalk, looking pale. As Duo and Quatre drew closer, she glanced at them, her eyes a little glazed. "This can't be it," she mumbled.
"Why not?" Duo asked. Behind him, he could sense Trowa and Wufei critically examining the building for anything suspicious.
Taki said, "Because she owns this building."
Quatre's head whipped back around to Taki. "What did you say?"
At that moment, the front door swung open. As one, the pilots and thief stared at the figure on the threshold. He was a giant of a man, his muscles bulging under his white T-shirt. His bald head and earring gleaming in the early morning glow. He raised his dark, bushy eyebrows and regarded the disturbance.
Taki's jaw snapped closed. "George?" she called.
His soft, brown eyes zeroed in on her. "T-taki? Is that y-you?" he stuttered.
She smiled. "Yeah, it's me. What're you doing here at Heero's?"
He shrugged. "I owed her a f-favor, y-you know?"
Taki tucked that away for later. She looked at Quatre. "This is the place, right?"
He nodded and folded up the map. This certainly was it.
Taki approached the step and informed George that these were the new tenants. By now, however, George had seen Heero and was studying him carefully. Taki grinned. "It's hard to believe, isn't it?" she said.
George nodded. "Ide-dentical."
Taki lead the way into the four-story house. "Remind me to tell you about the complete ass I made of myself when I fist met the male Heero, here."
George chuckled. "I c-can't w-wait."
She made herself comfortable in the furnished living room of Heero's first floor apartment. Taki knew that when her friend was on L2 this was where she stayed. And the room definitely reflected her style. Reds, greens, golds, and black was the main color scheme. All of the walls and furniture were solid, bold colors; the only patterns in the room were woven blankets from Native American artists. Heero had expensive, expressive taste.
Taki watched as the gundam pilots shuffled into the room. She watched Heero take it all it with a sweep of his eyes, storing the information away to be analyzed at a later date. Trowa's gaze lingered on the things that revealed Heero's personal taste the most efficiently. The blankets, the small but quality assortment of ancient swords in their display stands. Quatre repeated Trowa's technique. Duo looked at everything, even the ceiling, which pleased Taki; she'd painted it for Heero. It was a scene from the African Savannah. Lions and giraffes and gazelle. Stuff like that. It wasn't the Sistine Chapel or anything, but Taki was proud of it. Wufei swept the room as Heero had and upon glancing at the ceiling, he sniffed contemptuously, forcing Taki to grab the armrests of her chair or be tempted to spend valuable energy beating him instead of her bestest buddy.
"So, George," she said, distracting herself from the sudden desire to kill Wufei. "What favor are you performing for Heero?"
"H-house sitting," he lied.
George was a terrible liar. Taki smiled, she'd come back to this later. For now, she'd play along. "Well, the place is in good hands, then."
"Th-thanks, T-taki."
"So... Have you seen Heero lately?"
George blinked. "S-sure. Sh-she was by earlier."
"Oh yeah? What's she up to? She left me a note. Something about a project and you'd be good enough to explain."
The pale, hairless bear-man looked a little uncomfortable. "Sh-she s-said that did sh-she?"
"Uh-huh."
"W-well, this project sh-she's got is r-really hard."
"How so?" Taki was silently congratulating herself on repressing her bloodlust.
"It involves a k-kid."
"A kid? That definitely isn't Heero's style."
George tilted his head to one side in contradiction to Taki's words. "Actually, sh-she helps a lot of k-kids. This k-kid is different, though."
Heero has been helping kids? Why does she never tell me these things? Am I really the last to know? And why is George stalling? Her knuckles turned white as her fingers gripped the armrests tighter. "George, I know you're not house sitting. What're you really doing here?"
When George hesitated, it hit her. Slowly, she rose from her chair. "She's here, right now, isn't she?"
Before George could look guilty, a door opened behind Taki and Heero made her entrance.
And what an entrance.
Taki had only ever seen Heero decked out like this twice. Both occasions had been when Heero had lost a bet with Taki and as payment Taki had dragged her to a rave. Heero's black leather boots made barely a whisper of noise on the carpet. Her pants, which were more like chaps the way they laced up the sides, revealing skin all the way up to her hips, slapped gently against the boots. Her black leather halter top laced up the front, but the edges didn't come together and the high collar was turned up at the back of her neck. Her hair was spiky and emphasized the size of her eyes and mouth. Taki stared in amazement at the mascara, eyeliner, and silver-gold glitter that framed the blue eyes. The silver-gold lipstick and, when she moved her head, the glitter in her hair, were a shock. But it was the silver-studded dog collar that shook Taki from her state. She'd been looking for that thing for months.
The first person who broke the silence was, surprisingly, George. "How is she?" he asked, concern in his voice as Heero closed the door behind her.
"She'll recover," she replied.
Well, Taki thought, at least her voice is the same.
Heero surveyed the gathering in the room, expressionless. Finally, she said, "You're late." And then she strode into the bathroom to wash the blood and sweat off of her body.
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Heero wondered at his strong reaction to seeing his double. He had been amazed, at first, that she really did look just like him. With her arms bare, he could see her smoother, although not necessarily weaker, muscle tone. The tight leather pants had revealed the slight curve of her hips, and her top had emphasized a minimal bust. It was easy for Heero to imagine her in a pair of comfortable jeans and a loose shirt. No one would be able to tell them apart. But after this initial discovery had worn off, a second—more disturbing—realization asserted itself. It was one thing for him to look at her, but he discovered it was quite another for the others to do the same.
What was the matter with him? He'd wanted to strangle Trowa for the frank appreciation Heero had read in his eyes. And he still felt like slapping Quatre who was currently still staring into space even though Yokaze had left the room a good ten minutes ago. In fact, he could still hear Taki's voice; she'd followed Heero into the bathroom to have a talk with her. The talk was still one-sided with Taki all but yelling at her.
Heero tried to hide his concern for Yokaze. He'd seen the blood on her arm. It had dried to a dark rust color and he couldn't shake the feeling that she was injured.
What was wrong with him? This woman wasn't his sister. Could not be his sister. But he was behaving like an over-protective brother. What the hell was wrong with him?
The opening of the bathroom door jarred his thoughts and his double appeared in a fuzzy robe, toweling her hair dry. Taki was right on her heels, demanding to know if Heero was finished. Had she had her fun yet?
Yokaze said nothing and disappeared into her bedroom. Again, Taki followed her. Again, the sound of Taki's voice could be heard over the noise of a blow dryer. George passed around coffee and started breakfast in the kitchen. Quatre made a half-hearted attempt to help the large fellow, but was sent back out into the living room to rest. And so Heero sat in silence with the others, anticipating, dreading, disbelieving.
And when he felt his calm begin to slip from him like a towel fluttering to the floor, he opened up his mind to the dream and let it hold him close until this storm had passed.
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Duo was in shock. That was the only way to put it. He could have chalked it up to finally seeing Heero's double and realizing that they really were identical. Although her body had been a little more softer-looking than Heero's and she'd had a little more curve to her, they were mirror reflections of each other.
But no, that wasn't what bothered Duo. If he were honest with himself, he would have admitted that it was the image of Heero standing there in black leather and laces. The glitter, the dog collar. Dear God... All too easily his mind insisted that the body inside of that outfit wasn't female.
He shoved his face into his hands. What was wrong with him? Heero was his friend, albeit far too serious for his own good, but where had this dark fantasy come from? And why wasn't Duo able to laugh at it? Instead, his heart was beating faster and his palms sweating. He'd handled space battles, near death experiences, and capture with more ease than he was dealing with this vision in his head. When had his desire to see Heero simply smile with him, laugh with him, changed into wanting to see another more erotic side of him?
What in the hell was wrong with him?
A motion to his left drew his gaze and immediately the fantasy was swept away. Once faced with the reality, it simply dissolved. Heero had gotten up from the couch and was walking over to the window. Duo recognized the tension in his body; it was the same way he'd been standing back on Earth, contemplating the damn driveway. Duo could easily see that Heero was hurting, lost, afraid, uncertain. But what could he do? Duo hung his head for a moment, fortifying himself against the inevitable rebuff. But he had to try. No one else would. And Heero so badly needed to be comforted. Everyone one did. But Heero was so alone. And it hurt Duo to see him like that.
Duo rose and moved to stand beside him. "So," he said, after a minute, "I guess now would be a bad time to apologize for taking a bath with Yokaze, huh?"
As if Duo's voice had somehow managed to take away some of his tension, Heero's head dipped an inch and his shoulder muscles relaxed a fraction. Duo observed all of this, hope opening up inside of him. Could it really be this easy? he wondered. After all this time of trying to make him smile, could it happen now?
He forged on. "I don't know what I was thinking when I asked Quatre if this place had a spa. I guess I wasn't. But hey, I've got a reputation to maintain. Can't be brainy all the time, you know; that's your job." It was late, or rather, early, and none of them had gotten any sleep. Duo was exhausted and trying to cheer someone up. As a result, his humor fell flat and rang closer to truth than to jest.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to gather the strength he needed to joke, to jest, to make a fool of himself in the hopes that Heero might not be so alone. His eyes snapped open when he felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into tired cobalt eyes. He could see how very thin that wall was at this moment, and an emotion Duo had never seen before in Heero eked out. "Thank you, Duo."
Duo opened his mouth to ask "For what?" but he already knew. Thank you for trying, for being there. Maybe he was reading too much into it, but he smiled anyway. He replied instead, "Somebody's gotta do it."
There was a curious shifting on the other side of those blue eyes. But before the emotion could be completed, the bedroom door opened and Yokaze emerged in a pair of faded jeans and a charcoal gray T-shirt. Duo was glad that the T-shirt was different color than the one Heero was wearing, otherwise he knew he'd be making an embarrassing mistake as the day wore on and he got even more tired.
Taki was quiet, either she had exhausted herself or Yokaze had managed to diffuse the situation. The Dragon Clan heir sat down on the arm of a chair to see what would happen next.
Yokaze took in the sight of the exhausted pilots and said, "I apologize for the wait. But, before any of us get any sleep, there are a few things that need to be said." George appeared in the living room and Yokaze suggested they have breakfast while they discuss the necessities. It was news Duo's stomach was glad to hear. Although he tried to ignore the fact that Heero's hand had quickly slipped from his shoulder, he told himself that he was making progress. Maybe someday in the not-too-distant future, he'd get a smile out of him.
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George had gone to culinary school; so breakfast was good, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, the tastes and textures of perfect omelets, strawberry muffins, and poached salmon were not fully appreciated. Both the exhaustion and the gravity of the discussion to be had made a dent in their ability to enjoy the meal.
"It's delicious, George," Yokaze said unnecessarily. "You've outdone yourself again."
George graciously accepted the complement and the silence was only broken by the sound of silverware scraping against porcelain.
Finally, Yokaze asked, "Where shall I start?" It was a question for Heero.
He replied quietly, "With your name."
She nodded and sat back in her chair. "I don't remember, honestly. The first name I ever knew was 'Zero-one.'"
Heero almost dropped his fork when the memory hit him.
"You must expect a few failures. After all, Heero Yuy is still relatively untrained, and the only simulation data we have is from Zero-one. It'll take time before he can defeat that."
He gripped the fork a little tighter and shook off the memory by asking another question. "Who trained you?"
The look on her face was mellow, but George and Taki could tell Heero had surprised her. "You don't remember," she observed. There was a beat of silence before she moved on. "I was trained by Dr. J... among others."
Again, a memory arced through him like electricity.
"Why is this one so slow? Zero-one took to these programs much faster."
"Yes, well, we must remember that Zero-one was a little younger when we initiated the training program. And then every time she was retrained, the new skills were adopted quicker."
"I still don't understand why we can't use Zero-one."
"Don't be stupid. Zero-one was meant to test the effectiveness of the training program. Zero-one is a lose cannon; we cannot trust the child to carry out a mission reliably. There is no way to predict the outcome since she's been trained to adapt to almost every combat style you created. There would be chaos."
This time Heero put down his fork. "I remember," he told her. "Dr. J spoke of you." Again the silence. "What happened?"
Somehow she knew he was asking about her absence at the base. "I left. Dr. J had trained me too well. When I decided to leave, I did."
"What was your role during the war?"
She almost smiled. "I was Heero Yuy," she told him. "Your shadow."
His eyes narrowed. "Why?"
A look of sorrow flickered over her face before she could almost smile again. "I wanted you to succeed. I could do nothing to stop the war from starting, but I knew you would be the one to finish it."
"Why me?"
This time she really did smile. "I didn't have a gundam."
"So what did you do?" Duo couldn't resist demanding.
She looked Heero in the eye and told him, "I was an officer... for OZ."
The silence was complete. She could feel the gazes of everyone. She continued, "Although I've never flown a mobile suit, I can design one, build one, fix one, destroy one. OZ had a use for me, just as I had a use for OZ. It was easy to design flaws into the mobile suits they manufactured. It was easy to miscalibrate those that came in for repair and blame the malfunctions on the seriousness of the initial damage. In time, I was able to gain access to OZ's database. I could erase transmissions the computer automatically recorded before they were discovered. I could transfer myself to another base before an attack. No one looked at the lowly mechanic and saw a threat. People tend to look up to find corruption."
Taki poked at her eggs. She hated to admit it, but she was learning a lot about Heero. And she was beginning to understand the thankless risks she had taken over the years so that her brother (or whoever) would be alive today. Although she didn't state it explicitly, everyone knew that the transmissions she had erased were from the gundam pilots. Everyone knew that the bases she had fled were ones that she had doomed by leaking information and preventing OZ's discovery of the attack. In all of their years together as friends, Taki had never suspected any of this. She supposed it was a tribute to Heero's training.
"And now?" Heero was trying to assess how much damage Yokaze would cause to the tentative peace.
"Now I uncover pasts," her gaze slid from Taki to Wufei and finally to Trowa as she spoke, "and return them to their rightful owners."
"A dangerous line of work," Heero observed.
"Maybe so, but it's also necessary."
Duo was making eyes at Wufei's untouched muffin. With a sigh, the young man simply handed the item to an astonished Duo. A slight smile touched Yokaze's mouth at that; she recalled the toast incident at Relena's clearly.
Finally, Heero asked the one question that had been foremost in everyone's mind. "Are you my sister?"
Yokaze didn't look at him; she heard the wariness, the censure in his voice. "I must apologize, Heero. I should have been able to find more answers for you before you ever believed I existed." She looked up. "The truth is that I don't know. But, honestly, I don't think we are siblings. It would be too much of a coincidence. And I know that the face and the body I wear aren't the ones I was supposed to have. I can remember at least eight surgeries, but I know there were more."
She could see the questions in their eyes, so she continued. "Heero Yuy was to be the perfect soldier. Two children with the same face, the same name, the same identity, the same training could be in two places at once. Perfect harmony. Just think of the war we could have caused." She took a deep breath. "Dr. J fought it, but the others would have none of it. It was brilliant. And, apparently, they didn't want to waste my skills. And our physical appearance, aside from the sex differences, was very close.
"I didn't find out until all but a few of the surgeries were completed what they were going to use us for. I couldn't let them turn operation meteor into a bloodbath. I left." A tiny, speculative smile creased her lips. "I think Dr. J was proud of me for that."
Heero looked down at his plate before turning his gaze back to her. At last he said, "I know he was."
The two Heeros looked at each other. There were more questions. But for now, this was enough.
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~End of Chapter 9~