Here With Me

By Mystical Star

A Kitty-Chan Production

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing (darn it!!). However, I do own Anya Katsumi so if you plan on using her, please ask J thanks.

Author's Note: Unless you enjoy being very confused, go read Gundam Wing: Desecration before you read this. I'm going to be using a lot of Japanese words from now on, so see the end of the chapter if you want to know what they're saying.

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Chapter Three Sunday, Three days after chapter two…

Duo awoke to the synthetic colony sun peering through the window of Katsumi's bedroom. He slowly propped himself up and looked down beside him to see a mess of crumpled, empty, bedding.

"Kat?"

The young American sprung out of bed and into the main room of the apartment, where he found his companion in the kitchenette, making breakfast.

"Kat! There you are!" He stated, walking up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist.

"Ohayo Duo-kun!" Kat greeted as she flipped a pancake.

In the past three days, the two had become very dependent on each other's presence. Duo had begun to live with Kat so they could keep each other company. They always ended up sleeping in the same place, whether it was the couch or Kat's bed, so neither would be alone.

"Smells good," Duo commented as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"Thanks," Katsumi smiled. "Heero called while you were asleep," she added nonchalantly as she took the finished pancake off the grille.

"What was he calling about?" Duo asked.

"Relena's been invited to a fundraiser gala for some charity and she wants to go." Kat said.

"So?" The violet-eyed pilot inquired.

"Lately, there have been threats from some civilian against Relena. Heero wants to increase her security. We'd be undercover in plainclothes."

"I thought the war was over," Duo sighed.

"I thought so too," Kat said.

Noon-Preventer HQ

"Howdy, Heero!" Duo greeted as he and Kat waltzed into the office building of the Preventer complex. Heero nodded in greeting.

"Come with me," He said plainly as he led them down the hallway to meeting room seven. The three entered the room. Kat and Duo sat down in the chairs that were around the table while Heero walked to the front where there was an overhead projector ready for presentation.

"Relena has been invited to a fundraiser gala for the Children's Hospital Organizations on Earth. The event is going to be this Friday evening at seven o'clock PM in Tokyo." Heero explained.

"Alright! Tokyo!" Katsumi cheered. Heero looked at her curiously as he turned on the overhead projectors.

"This is a layout of the ballroom in which the fundraiser is being held. It has an upper floor that is open to the main floor, so you have to be watching both floors. Zechs will be escorting Relena, so their shouldn't be too much to worry about, but he wanted to be sure," Heero explained.

"You'll both have handguns with tranquilizer darts in them, so you'll need to wear appropriate clothing so you can conceal them,"

"What do you mean 'appropriate clothing'?" Kat asked.

"You're going to be undercover at a fancy dinner thing, Kat. You have to wear a dress," Duo pointed out, with a hint of humor in his voice.

"WHAT?!" the young woman exclaimed.

"You haven't worn one before?" Duo nearly laughed, thinking she was joking

"Not since I was little! I hate dresses!" Kat huffed, crossing her arms. Duo did laugh this time, realizing that his companion was not joking. She glared at him.

"Too bad for you," Heero said, shrugging and continuing on with the mission outline.

"You will both be equipped with communication devices. You must keep the lines open at all times in case of developments. You have to stay on opposite sides of the room at all times for maximum security."

"But-" Duo began to protest, but before he could get another syllable out of his mouth, Heero gave him the infamous icy glare and Shinigami gave up.

"I think that's it. Any questions?" Heero said, taking his eyes off Duo.

"Do I really have to wear a-"

"Yes,"

Heero cut in on Kat before she could finish

Later at Kat's apartment…

As scheduled, it began to rain that afternoon. Duo had just walked in the door after a quick jaunt to the corner store for what he deemed as life support: pizza. He set the sack down next to the mat on the floor while he removed his shoes. The apartment was abnormally quiet. Usually when he left, Kat would turn on music and sing at the top of her lungs because she was rather timid about singing in front of people, not to mention the involuntary dancing that usually accompanied it.

But the only sound was the pounding of rain on the glass of the windows. The young American man stuck the make-it-yourself pizza in the freezer before he set out on his Kat-hunting mission.

"Kat?" He called out, peeking into the bedroom. Rain was all that answered. Duo scratched his head in puzzlement as he walked back into the living area. It was then he noticed that his companion was standing out in the pouring rain on the balcony, soaking wet. Duo chuckled to himself and slid the sliding glass door open.

"What in the world are you doing out here?" He asked lightheartedly.

"I love the rain," Katsumi answered indirectly.

"You're soaking wet, Kat," Duo noticed, putting his arm over her shoulders.

"I don't mind. Rain always makes me feel calm, even if it isn't real." She said quietly, not looking away from the droplets of water falling down from the colony sprinklers. Duo watched for a moment and smiled.

"Yeah, it is," He noticed. "I haven't watched rain like this since…" Duo's voice faded off, somewhere in a memory that stung his heart.

Kat felt a tremor run through her companion's arm and she looked up at him to see the pained expression on his face.

"Duo," She whispered, embracing him. She didn't question what made him feel this way; Kat assumed it was best not said as she felt his sobs. The young woman touched Duo's face that was cold from the rain.

"Let's go inside, you'll get sick," Kat advised, opening the sliding door and leading him in to the couch, where the two plopped down. Katsumi took Duo's hand in hers and leaned close to him.

"Sometimes I think I just can't go on after all that's happened," He murmured, stifling a sob. His words stung Kat's heart.

"I have the same thought sometimes," She said, letting him lean on her. "But we have to keep going, we're all each other has," Kat whispered, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"I'll be there for you," She said, wiping the tears from his face. Duo couldn't help but smiling.

"And I'll be there for you," He said, hugging Kat close.

The next Friday, the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo…

"Kat?" Duo gasped, coming into the security room. Kat was standing next to Zechs and Relena, listening to the updates about the threats against the Vice Foreign Minister. Kat was wearing a long, dark blue, strapless dress with a long cape that attached to the back of her dress and her finger. It was equipped with a pocket for concealing a weapon.

Kat blushed. "Hi," She said timidly, crossing her arms in embarrassment. Duo walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"You're beautiful," He whispered in her ear. Kat turned slightly more pink in the face as she smiled back up at Duo.

"You're not too bad yourself," She complimented him.

"Well, I know that!" He joked. Kat laughed.

"Duo, you're assignment is the west side of the room. Try to keep your eye on Relena all the time." Heero said, "Katsumi, yours is the east. Keep to that side and never let Relena or Zechs out of your site," He instructed. Duo and Kat nodded.

"Noin and I will be at the north and south ends of the room. We will all be connected by these," Heero took out communication devices that fit around one's ear. "Try not to be obvious." He said, handing out the devices. Everyone nodded as they fit the communications to themselves.

"Relena, you are to be with Zechs all of the time, do you understand?" Heero asked, facing the Vice Foreign Minister. Relena blankly nodded, still looking off to the right. She was still blind from her attempted assassination four weeks ago. Though her vision was slowly returning, she could only vaguely see movement, and even then it was very dark. Relena, much to her dismay, had to be led everywhere.

"Brother, please, I should just save you the trouble and use my cane. I would be fine," She tried to protest one last time. Zechs shook his head.

"No, Relena. It's safer if I escort you anyway," He said. Relena sighed noticeably.

"Alright," She said, holding out her arm so Zechs could take it in his. By now she was used to this. Either Heero or Zechs would escort her to a car, to a pulpit, to a meeting. She hated not being independent anymore.

Zechs took his sister's arm and led her out of the room to the Imperial Hotel's basement ballroom for the fundraiser gala. Kat, Duo, Heero, and Noin followed five minutes afterward, spreading out immediately after they left the security room.

Kat walked into the room and began to search the room for Preventer Wind's conspicuous white hair. "Gotcha," She muttered to herself as she spotted Zechs and Relena being greeted by an older man and woman – probably the host and hostess.

A string quartet began to play and Katsumi was immediately bored. It never fails, I get a job as boring as this and slow music plays and I'm gone, She sighed, already feeling her mind wander off into space.

Across the room, Duo had spotted Zechs and Relena himself and began to skim the room for any suspicious looking characters. None, as he had suspected. He had, however spotted Kat. He waved to his friend, and she waved back happily. Almost immediately an annoyed voice hissed across the communication lines.

"Don't attract attention to yourself," Heero snapped.

The two immediately lowered their arms and said in unison "Sorry, Heero,"

Some laughter over the lines was heard from Noin to which both Duo and Kat could imagine Heero's disgusted look.

In the middle of all of the action, Relena was becoming incredibly fidgety. She wanted to let go of her brother's arm and wander around by herself. The young woman suddenly had an idea.

"Milliardo, could we go get a drink, please?" She asked as pleasantly as she could.

"Alright. Pardon us, please," Zechs said, nodding his head to the founders of the children's hospital.

"Pleasure talking to you," The elder woman said, smiling. Relena smiled and nodded her head, assuming that she should.

At this same moment, Katsumi began to zone off looking at one of the paintings on the west wall.

Heero suddenly lost his sight of Zechs and Relena as they moved in towards the refreshment table. Someone stepped in front of his line of sight.

Noin, in her attempt to keep an eye on her husband and sister-in-law ran into a man who appeared to be headed towards the bathroom. She quickly apologized, but by the time she looked up again, she could not find Zechs and Relena.

Duo was lucky enough to be sidetracked by a woman who was inquiring about his position. Since he didn't feel like telling the whole world that he was security detail, he was making up some fancy sounding job while trying to change the subject and get away at the same time.

Relena and Zechs approached the refreshment table. Preventer Wind took his arm from his sister for a moment to get a glass of champagne for himself and Relena. She took this opportunity to take a few steps backwards and attempt to walk without running into anything. When Zechs turned around, Relena was gone.

"Relena?" The white-haired Preventer frantically searched the room. "Damn it," he cursed, putting the champagne glasses back.

"She slipped away, where is she?" He asked quietly into his communicator.

"Lost her?! Zechs!" Noin snapped.

"Where is she?" Zechs reiterated.

"I can't see her,"

"Duo?"

"Neither can I," Duo responded.

"Kat?"

"Shit, where'd she go?" Kat cursed as she was dragged from her daydream. Zechs grunted in frustration as he began to push through the crowd to find his sister.

Duo looked up nonchalantly just before he was going to begin his search for the missing Foreign Minister and noticed a man in a trench coat put his hand into his coat and pull something out. Curious, he watched as the man pulled out a small black object and aimed it at the ground. Duo looked down and saw Relena.

"Shit!" Duo exclaimed as he took off for the floor to fetch Relena. As soon as he was within jumping range, he heard a shot and leapt from the floor, plowing into the Vice Foreign Minister just in time to knock her from danger.

Immediately, Heero had his weapon out and shot the sniper with his tranquilizer and nailed the perpetrator in the neck. The man in the trench coat fled. Zechs and Noin were already on the case and headed him up at the stairs.

People screamed and instinctively headed towards the doors, making the Preventer's job easier.

"Duo!" Kat shouted running through the panicked crowd towards the chestnut-haired young man, who was picking himself up off Relena.

"You okay, Relena?" He asked.

"I'm fine, what happened?" She asked in a confused tone.  Just then, Heero arrived on the scene.

"Duo, is everything okay?" He asked, helping a trembling Relena up. "Yeah," Duo said in a husky voice, still sitting on the ground.

"Duo!" Kat called out again as she fell down on the floor next to him and hugged him.

"I'm fine, Kat," He assured her.

"Are you sure?" He asked, helping him up. Just as he began to nod, something caused him to grab his right side and wince. "Duo?"

The young man pulled his hand out from his side and examined it.

"Oh my God," Kat gasped.

Duo's had was covered in red. Blood.

"I guess I didn't notice," He chuckled to himself as he felt himself loosing his breath.

"Zechs, get an ambulance up here, Duo's been hit," Heero snapped into the communicator, still holding Relena. The Vice Foreign Minister's unseeing eyes widened. All she could do was listen and infer until Heero had said something.

"Oh my God, Duo," Kat was suddenly frantic as she felt Duo's breaths becoming more labored. She laid him back down on the ground and ripped his tuxedo off to reveal his blood-soaked shirt. Heero observed the wound.

"Looks like it hit a lung," He diagnosed. Kat's heart nearly stopped beating when she heard that.

"No! No! Duo!" She said, ripping the cape from the back of her dress and tying it about Duo's wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"Kat, ssh," Duo whispered, holding his hand up to Kat's lips to try and calm her down. Tears began to well up behind Katsumi's eyelids. "It'll be okay," He assured her before closing his eyes and trying to think away the pain.

Katsumi's tears poured over her cheeks as she leaned down and kissed Duo's lips, praying for his life.

Bokuto Hospital - the next day

Severina and Quatre had no sooner arrived in Tokyo then they were at the hospital to find Kat and Duo. Heero met them in the lobby.

"How is everybody doing?" Quatre asked, a sounding a little flustered. It was winter in Japan, and a three-inch blanket of snow on the ground was being added too by flurries, making things rather cold.

"Duo's been stabilized, but he's still in critical condition. He has a punctured lung." Heero reported. Severina bit her lower lip.

"We couldn't get Kat to leave his side last night, Relena and I brought some clothes and a blanket. She stayed here last night, although, it doesn't appear that she slept much," He added.

"Can we go and see them?" Severina asked, gripping Quatre's hand. Heero nodded and led them down the hall through a set of doors labeled "I.C.U." in Japanese Kanji and Standard English. A nurse stopped Heero in the halls.

"Only family is allowed to see ICU patients," She said sternly.

"They are family," Heero said in a gruff voice. The nurse regarded Quatre and Severina carefully before sighing and nodding. Heero nodded back to the woman and continued to lead Severina and Quatre down the hall to Duo's room. Yuy carefully opened the door and peeked in to see Kat pacing around the room, running her fingers through her hair and tears spilling over her cheeks.

"Kat?" Severina asked as the three walked into the room.

"I can't get him to wake up," Kat muttered in a semi-conscious voice, still pacing around Duo's bed.

"He's still under the anesthesia," Heero tried to do his best to comfort her (as far as comfort goes for Heero), but her paces only quickened.

"It's my fault, I should have been watching. I shouldn't have looked away, he wouldn't have been hit. It's my fault," Katsumi continued to ramble almost psychotically. Severina grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

"Kat!" She raised her voice, trying not to be too loud. Katsumi blinked and stared at Severina as she shook the cobwebs from her head.

"I….Severina? Quatre? When did you guys get here?" She asked.

Severina looked at her friend with concern. Kat's eyes were hardly staying open from exhaustion and they were red and puffy from crying.

"You need some sleep," She said.

"Can't," Kat answered simply, looking down at the ground and nervously messing with the strap to her watch. Suddenly, Duo sputtered in his sleep and Kat was instantly at his side.

"Duo!" She called out as his face contorted into a pained look. He coughed a few more times before his fit was over, but his face continued to convey that he was experiencing pain. "Please open your eyes," She whispered.

Quatre and Severina looked at each other in concern for their friend. "Kat, maybe we should go get something to eat?" Quatre suggested.

"No!" Kat yelped falling to her knees at the bedside. She continued to watch Duo, her red eyes hardly even blinking.

Suddenly, Heero's pager beeped and he looked down at it. "I have to go. Interrogations," He stated plainly. Quatre and Severina nodded as Heero left the room. Kat didn't say anything.

"Kat, come on. There's nothing you can accomplish by sitting here and worrying. You need some sleep," Severina said sympathetically as she sat next to her friend on the floor.

"I need to be here with him," Kat said.

"Kat-"

"He was there for me! I need to be here for him!" She cried.

"I'm positive he doesn't want you going on like this though," Quatre said.

"I…we…we've become so close in the past few weeks…I can't sleep without knowing that he's alright. I won't go, I can't sleep, or breathe, until I know he'll be okay," Kat whispered with the utmost sincerity as more tears rolled down her face. 

Severina suddenly understood. "Would it be okay if Quatre and I brought some lunch up here for you?" She asked. Kat shrugged.

"Sure," She said. Severina smiled and patted her friend on the back.

"We'll be back!" She assured Kat as she took Quatre's arm and pulled him out of the room.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Quatre asked once they were clear of the room.

"The bond that she shares with Duo runs deep. They both have suffered big tragedies in their lives and felt very much alone. That's why she won't leave his side." Severina explained.

"But she's not totally alone, we're here, along with Tom, Li, Trowa, and everybody else," Quatre noted.

"She knows that, but I can understand where she's coming from. All of us SIA victims remember losing our families, but mourning for their loss is almost a little easier in a sense, it's easier to accept that they're dead since we have been without them for so long," Severina explained, a little lump rising in her throat as her own memories came back to her. "But Kat has just lost someone in the present and she has to deal with it now and there's no way for her to forget."

"And Duo has lost so much in his life, it's only natural that they draw strength from each other," Severina said, trying not to think of her own experiences. Quatre smiled at her and embraced her.

"We can all draw strength from each other," He said, kissing her hair.

Back in Duo's room, Katsumi had finally quit her pacing and looked out of the window onto Tokyo Bay. Despite the snow and freezing temperatures, it was still unfrozen, waves softly lapping against the shore.

"I've never been on Earth and had time to notice how beautiful it is until now," She said to herself. "You always told me that we needed to come here and see how beautiful the stars are from Earth."

No response.

Kat moved closer to the window and leaned on it, watching the small flakes of white powder float through the air and silently fall to the ground.

The room was quiet for a few minutes as Katsumi finally got her mind off of Duo for the first time since she had awakened at two in the morning after sleeping for three hours. Though she knew she needed to sleep, she just couldn't. She and Duo had been sleeping together since her "housewarming" party. Kat didn't realize just how much she depended on him until she couldn't hold him in her arms.

"I don't ever think I've ever seen snow before, Duo. Have you?" She continued as though Duo was actually awake. "It's beautiful, Duo," Katsumi whispered.

"More beautiful than rain?" A voice whispered.

"More beautiful than-"

Katsumi suddenly realized that she was not the only person in the room and whirled around to see Duo, awake, smiling at her from his bed.

"Duo!" Kat cried happily, running over to the bed and falling down at the side of it again. "You're awake," She said as tears spilled over her cheeks.

"Kat, why are you crying?" Duo asked as he reached up to her face and touched her cheek. Katsumi took his hand.

"I'm just so happy that you're here," She said. "But my tears won't stop," Kat laughed at herself, feeling a little embarrassed.

"You're crying for me?" Duo asked, flattered.

"There is always someone who will cry for you if you…If you…" Anya stopped, afraid of her own thoughts. Duo smiled, remembering the first time that he ever met Kat. She spoke the same words

"There's always someone that would cry if you died!"

"I love you too much to leave without you," Duo whispered, his lungs weak from the surgery of removing the bullet.

Kat smiled back into his violet eyes. "Duo," She said softly as Duo pulled her face closer to his.

"I love you," She whispered.

The two kissed tenderly as the snow gently outside the window.

Unbeknownst to the lovers, Quatre and Severina had re-entered the room just in time to witness the scene. The platinum blonde young man slid his arms around Severina's waist and held her as they watched.

"I don't think any of us will be alone, ever again," Severina whispered, leaning against her lover.

…I hope this feeling of peace carries all the way to the stars….

The End

Notes:

"Ohayo Duo-kun!"- "Good morning Duo!" the use of "kun" infers compassion or deep respect.