Waking up in those arms felt good, right even. Duo didn't like his partner that much in the beginning of the war but started to feel more for him. He had lusted after him only recently, even though he hadn't really realized it himself, thinking it was only the stress of the war getting to him. Heero was still asleep, the only time when his face was not swept into the negative emotions of guilt, pain, anger, and concern.
Wait what was that last one? Concern? Nah! Duo shook his head slightly to brush the thought away. Surely he had only imagined that one. Heero Yuy was the Perfect Soldier, trained since childhood to not feel and only fight. There was no room for a feeling as obscure as concern. And guilt. Heero had always felt guilt. For killing that one little girl...the most innocent of innocents...
Duo thought harder. Why had Heero even told him about that? It was such a personal matter that it shocked the Shinigami pilot that his partner even wanted to talk of these things. The past was the past, but each one of them were haunted by their own...never being able to leave their own personal hell. Duo shook his head again, gently so as not to awaken the boy he was laying against. Glad I wasn't you Yuy. At least my past didn't involve some smelly old guy saying I couldn't laugh and had to kill.
He sighed and snuggled closer into Heero's chest. At least he could do this now. Who knows what kind of revenge the Perfect Soldier had in store for him after this was over? He had to play it out to its greatest extent. Besides, he liked being Heero's koi.
The American's thoughts drifted back to more important matters, like taking a shower. His hair was a rat's nest at this point and it didn't really help that he had continually cried into it. Or was that Heero's shirt. Duo couldn't really remember. He just remembered that it felt good and something soft and gentle was stroking him then. Why the hell can I only remember half of what happened? He sighed. The exhaustion, Maxwell, that must be it...
Slowly, Duo tried to pry off Heero's arms from around himself. God dammit! Even when he's asleep he has superhumand strnegth! The struggling boy in his arms woke Heero and he smiled a faint smile at Duo.
"Ohayo."
Duo looked at him stunned. He hadn't expected him to wake up. "Ano...Ohayo." He chirped. "Oi, Heero would you mind letting me breathe? I couldn't pry off your arms."
The Japanese boy fought hard to fight off an impending blush and failed. "Gomen." He regretted having to loose his grip on the boy he adored. The boy he had been so close to losing just yesterday. But he did anyway so as not to get the American suspiscious.
But the again, the braided boy was always observant and smirked. "You know, you've been blushing _so_ much more recently. What's with that?" Heero was speechless. He hadn't thought that the braided baka had even noticed, much less would comment on it. "What s'matter, Heero? Cat got your tongue?" He inched up from where he was laying on Heero's chest to bring himself to eye-level. "Or is it me?" He breathed these words sensuously to Heero's ears, sending a shiver down the Japanese boy's spine.
Heero could feel himself begin to lose control. This is DUO. He's playing with you. He doesn't mean it. He let go of a breathe that he didn't know he had been holding and sighed. Oh come on, you know you wanna do it.
And who may you be?
Your hormones, at your service.
Go the hell away! I need to get in control. NOW!
Oh come on, Duo's throwing himself at you. Just take it.
It's Duo, he's playing with me. Heero kept repeating this in his mind like a mantra after quashing his body's attempts with it.
"Heero?" Duo was sitting on the end of the bed, with the soles of his feet clasped together and hands clutching them, looking very confused at his friend.
"Uh..." He damned his vocal cords for still not working. "I think I should take a shower." The short-haired boy pushed out of the bed and practically ran into the bathroom, slamming the door shut as he did so.
Duo gave a sly smirk as Heero ran and then sighed to himself. Damn Maxwell, you got more guts than you think. I was so sure he was gonna punch me. He sighed again. K'so! It's only a game Duo, it's only a game. He kept repeating this to himself in his mind, embedding it into every crevice. I don't like Heero. He's my best friend. This was only a game to get revenge for this whole dress thing.
Oh come on Maxwell. Stop lying.
I run, I hide, but I never lie. So I might as well just accept this. There's something between us, I just don't know what. Hopefully it's just lust. Then it'll just all blow over and I can get away with this incident with only a black eye.
But then again, there's just something about Heero...
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by his bathroom door flying open to reveal a somewhat flushed Wing pilot. "Oi, Heero, is everything okay?"
The Japanese boy just nodded and quickly sat down next to Duo. "Is it okay if I leave for a second? I need to get some things from my room so that I can stay in here for a while." Reluctantly, Duo nodded.
"I guess I'll just eat the food that Umi-chan brought back before. She should be back soon anyway. Class is almost over."
"Hai. I'll hurry back okay Duo? Just promise me that you'll stay put." Duo nodded. He got up and placed a chaste kiss on Duo's cheek before leaving the room. The American just sat there, surprised at the turn of events.
K'so! Why the hell did I just do that? Oi, Kami-sama, help me! What the hell is going on with me all of a sudden? He sighed and continued his walk down the dorm halls. Heero's room wasn't that far from Duo's, only a few hallways down. He quickened his pace so that he could return to his Duo as soon as possible. And even though he was making good time, Heero's luck was never that good.
"Yo, Oda. Wait up." Tasuki and his cronies. Heero groaned mentally. They didn't sound very glad to see him and he quickened his steps even more so than before.
"He said, wait up!" An arm grabbed the Japanese youth's shoulder, only to be shrugged off. "Oh so now you're too good to even talk to us, huh, Oda?"
The Wing pilot stopped and turned to face them. No one ever got in the way of a Gundam pilot. Ever. "Look. If you wanna talk so much, talk to someone else. I've got places to go." Heero turned again and started to walk away, then was stopped by an arm grabbing his shoulder and a blow connecting with his left jaw bone. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He was furious. Not only were these five idiots in his way but they dared to punch him.
"Hey, you don't wanna talk so we'll just skip right to assumptions and punshiment." Another blow. And another and another. Heero blocked most of them but some still got him. There were just too many and it was too sudden. He managed to hit down two of them but then got hit hard in the gut and slammed his head against the wall. Slowly, he dropped to the ground, his vision blurred, and he was out cold.
Umi walked into hr dorm room and found her roommate, not only out of bed but pacing frantically. "Hellen-chan, daijoubu ka?"
Duo turned and faced her, fear clearly etched into his features. "No. Everything's _not_ okay. Hee-chan's been gone for too long that I'll bet something happened to him. And it's all my fault!" He threw his hands up in the air exasperated and sat back down and began to cry.
"Oh...Hellen-chan, I'll go look for him okay? Just stop crying. I'm sure Heero-kun would not like for you to be crying." The American nodded and wiped his tears away quickly. "I'll be right back." She sauntered out of the room and closed the door quietly behind her.
When in the hall, she looked frantically for Heero. She even asked a few people and none said they had seen him anywhere. Eventually, she got to the boys' dorm hall and found him there unconscious. Shocked, she ran over to him and began to carry him back to Duo.
"Hee-chan! What the hell happened?! Who did this to you? I swear to God that I'll kill whoever it was!"
"He can't hear you. I think he's unconscious." She laid down Heero onto Duo's bed. "I think I should get the nurse. It was too far from where I found him so I just brought him back here. I'll be right back." She left Duo alone to grieve for the time being and to spread the horrible news.
The long-haired boy clutched Heero's hand tightly. He throughly checked Heero for injuries, like he would usually after missions. He found a concussion, couple of bruises, and a few broken ribs. He could feel the tears begin to well up in his eyes.
"God dammit Heero. Why do you always do this kinda thing? Why do you always get hurt because of me?" He choked back a few sobs. "God, why do I always hurt the ones I love?"
Duo began crying again but a soft touch on his face made him open his eyes again. They fluttered in amazement as Heero wiped away the tears that marred the pale face. "Don't cry Duo. I hate it when you cry."
"Heero! Who did this? I swear I'll get revenge." The conviction in his voice was clear.
"It's great to hear that you're not as scared anymore but I don't think revenge will get you anywhere. We're already fighting a war outside of this school. Why cause one in it?"
"God...Heero, don't say that..."
The door flung open revealing some not so happy girls, all friends of the beautiful Hellen-chan. Duo quickly wiped away his tears, not wanting to reveal his infinite sorrow.
"Oh my god, Hellen-chan, daijoubu?" One of the girls walked over to Duo and hugged her tightly. Duo nodded, not once lifting his gaze from his once again silent friend. There was only one thing that burned in his mind at that moment. Revenge.
From Shinigami himself.
End Part V