Coming Through the Rye
By Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

~ Part XIX ~
Live and Let Die

It was about an hour's worth of paperwork, a quick costume change, two vanilla milkshakes and a walk across town riddled with red lights later that Heero and Duo made it back to school. It really did not matter much to either of them; they were in no rush to get there. As they walked back up the long driveway towards the front doors of the school, Duo let out a heavy sigh, like he was returning to prison after only tasting freedom.

"You act like this is a pain in the ass," Heero commented, sucking on the red straw of his milkshake, slurping up the last of the frozen treat. "You really don't want to be back here, do you?"

"No I don't," Duo admitted with another halfhearted sigh as he straightened his skirt and bent down to pull up his drooping knee socks. "And it is a pain in the ass. I got what I wanted from this mission and now I want out. I could care less about stupid OZ or whatever. I'm done with that kind of thing."

It was Heero's turn to sigh. He had always known that Duo had never been keen on missions of any kind, even way back during the war. At least then he had his reasons for fighting, but now that he had his revenge, there just seemed to be no point to it all except as a means to keep his mind from darker places. And that had been when Duo's depression over their separation had been at its worst. Now that that was all out of the way, he could see why Duo was so willing to just say 'Fuck it.'

Nevertheless, on the other hand, a mission was a mission, and whether he wanted to complete it or not, Heero never let one go unfinished. One of Heero's pet peeves was leaving unfinished business, no matter how big or small it was. It was one of those few things that grated on his nerves. And whether Duo wanted to finish the mission or not, Heero wanted to see it through, and they were not about to leave that school until he was satisfied they had done so.

"Well," Heero said, chucking his empty Styrofoam cup into a nearby wastebasket on his way up the front steps. He turned to face Duo, who was just a few paces behind him. "I'm not done with it. You know how I feel about unfinished business."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Duo sighed, kicking the step with the toe of his boot, hands jammed in pockets and staring at the ground. "But it's not like this is a war. We don't have to fight if we don't want to. No one is relying on us to save the world anymore."

Heero walked back down the two steps that separated him from his koi. He reached out and laid a hand on each of Duo's shoulders, forcing Duo to look up and meet his eyes. "But we do have to fight, Duo. People like us, we always have to fight. Look at what happened to D.B. Is that not something worth fighting for? Is that not something worth dying for? Would you lie to Sora and tell her that you just said 'Screw this, I'm happy now so to hell with everyone else.' You're not that selfish Duo."

"But I was always 'To hell with everyone else,'" Duo protested, though the look in his eyes betrayed that he realized that Heero was right.

"If that were true, then why fight at all in the first place?" Heero asked him. He pulled Duo close and enfolded him in a tender hug. Placing a tiny kiss beneath Duo's jaw, he whispered, "Don't run away from it Duo. Just finish this last one. Just one more, and then we can go wherever you want to."

Duo could feel the blossoms of heat flowering beneath Heero's lips as he laid more kisses upon his slender neck. He let out a little laugh as he said, "Well I guess I couldn't just let him walk off with ruining my bike and causing some serious injury to not only my precious Heero, but to Preventers' budgets as well."

Heero laughed against Duo's neck and cuddled him close. "That's the Duo I like to hear."

Suddenly, a not-so-discreet cough interrupted their embrace. The two boys whipped around to see the dean standing in the doorway, flanked by the school guidance counselor and the head master. She was tapping a ruler in a very annoyed fashion against her thigh, hidden beneath a dark blue business skirt that was just a few sizes too tight. "Mister Yuy, Miss Hoshi," she started off, her voice dangerous and stern, a ton reserved for stingy angry adults who had been trapped in the school system for way too long. "Nice of you to return to school. Come with me. We've been waiting to have a little discussion with the pair of you."

Heero glared violent bloodcurdling death and Duo shot the trio his classic rebel look. It was not until the dean and the guidance counselor stepped down and grabbed each of them by the arm, dragging the pair behind them into the belly of the monstrous hell known as school.

"You do know why you're in trouble, don't you?" the dean said over her shoulder, looking down upon the male student she was currently tugging down the hall towards her office. Her prisoner just snorted and stared darkly at her like he wanted to kill her slowly. She would never admit it out loud, but it was that stare that frightened her into looking the other way. She turned to his female cohort, who was currently being forced along by the guidance counselor. "You know what you two did, don't you Miss Hoshi?"

"Damn straight," Duo sneered, his tongue peeping out from between his plush lips. "And I'd do it again if I could! School's the biggest waste of time." Heero could not help but commend Duo on his amazing acting abilities. He really had that dean going on a leash.

"However, it's something that every child needs to go through," the dean reprimanded harshly, realizing that this was going to be a very long day. She could not help but notice the low scoff of the boy connected to her arm, muttering something about how not every child was lucky enough to suffer something as mild as school. The tone in his voice almost sounded like he was bitter about something that had happened to him in his past.

"A necessary evil," Duo snarled at the dean as they were led into her office at the end of the hall. "Please. You just really have no idea, do you?"

"Just sit down, both of you," the dean said, ushering the headmaster and the guidance counselor out into the hall and closing the door on them. She gave Heero a little jerk in the direction of the pair of chairs that sat in front of her large desk and walked over to sit behind it. "Look," she sighed, collapsing into the chair, "I understand that neither of you are really pleased with this place, but you have to understand that taking off in the middle of the day is just not acceptable."

"It's not like I'm planning on graduating anyway," Duo shrugged at her. When she stared at him agape, she looked over at Heero, who only nodded his head in silent agreement.

"Not graduating?" the dean seemed absolutely appalled, particularly towards Heero. "But Mister Yuy, you are easily one of the brightest students here, not to mention that I hear your writing is absolutely outstanding. You could get into any school you wanted to! And Miss Hoshi, you're artistic skills are beyond compare, even if you have a snide mouth and impulsive tendencies. I could see great things for the pair of you!"

Heero leaned forward in his chair, elbows resting on each knee as he said in a perfectly frank voice; "I've seen and done enough great things for one lifetime."

"What do you mean by that?" the dean wondered, clearly confused. Heero refused to say any more and leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other and folding his arms over his chest, eyes closed in quiet defiance. "I guess I'll never know."

"Guess not," Duo retorted with a snort.

"Well are you going to at least stay for the rest of the year?" she asked, seeming to be at a complete loss.

"Depends."

"Maybe."

Deciding that it was time to switch tactics, the dean jumped to another topic of discussion. "Well, as for these past two days, we have to decide what we're going to do about all this," she said, folding her hands atop the desk as she looked at the two students opposite her. She could not help but notice that they seemed totally lost in their own thoughts, Heero off in his own private world whilst Hoshi stared aimlessly out the large bay window of the office. "Since this is the first time either of you have really done anything serious, I think we can let you off with just a week's worth of detention."

"Sure."

"Whatever."

"I called your grandmother, Hoshi, and told her of the situation. She seemed to be very cool with everything for an old woman" the dean went on, riffling through a stack of papers that was just to her right. "And I spoke to your… cousin… Chang… something, Mister Yuy…. Your last living relation, yes?"

Heero smirked in Duo's direction a small laugh escaping his lips. "Yes, ma'am," he answered, sending a dark glare that shone with some strange kind of glimmer in her direction. "My elder… cousin…."

"I don't see what's funny about that, Miss Hoshi!" the dean snapped at Duo, who was reveling in his own cloud of amusement at the notion of Wufei being Heero's cousin. Duo waved it off and sniggered. "You're well on your way to getting more than just a week's detention, Miss!"

"Fine with me," Duo snapped. "The only thing I'm sorry for here is that I got caught!"

Heero smacked his forehead. Leave it to Duo to not have any tact whatsoever. He grabbed Duo by the sleeve and dragged him close, whispering harshly into his ear. "If you keep a filter between your mouth and your brain, koi," he tempted with that seductive Yuy charm that he only used for one person, "I'll make sure that you have a very good night's sleep, if you catch my meaning, love."

Duo let out a low purr, reaching over to gently massage Heero's thigh. "I think I'd like that."

"Save your flirting for another time," the dean sighed. Though she was trying to act the part of a responsible adult, she was pleased to see that Heero seemed to have grown attached to someone. For all his brilliance, she had always noticed how depressed Heero had always seemed to be for the past year and half or so. "Go ahead and get on to class. I don't want to see any more trouble from either of you two, alright?"

"Hai."

"Yup."

She had never seen two kids move as fast as those two did to get out of her office. She could only trust that they made it to their classes without taking a detour to some broom closet on the way to have a little necking session.

"Look at that," a tall preppy looking cheerleader with brown hair tied up in a bright yellow ribbon said to one of her lemming friends who was sitting just next to her in anatomy class. The professor had just announced an in-class assignment that was to be finished and turned in at the end of class, therefore leaving the duller of the students to waste their time with idle gossip.

"Look at what?" Her blonde friend wondered, smacking a fat wad of mint chewing gum between her glossy lips.

"That," the brunette hissed, jerking a thumb underneath the desk at Heero, who had just walked into the class late, his punk-looking partner in crime, Hoshi, glued to his arm as they wandered towards the back of the room where their seats were. "It's not fair. He's too good looking to be with that demon worshiping little Goth princess. If he could just get enough taste to choose a girlfriend with like, some real class, he could be very popular."

"She's the good looking one," the boy sitting behind them threw into their conversation. The two girls looked over their shoulders at him disdainfully, wondering how some plebeian boy dared to try and infiltrate their elite little circle. "I think I was ready to die when I found out they were together."

The blonde twisted in her seat, just in time to see Heero slide into his chair, dropping his bag with a dull thump on the wooden floor. He was dressed neatly in the typical school uniform, fine dress pants, slim black necktie and lightweight waistcoat and looking devastating as always, especially in comparison to the ratty mishmash of an appearance carried by the longhaired Hoshi. "Since when were they like, an item?" she whispered back to her friend in an accusing tone, smacking her gum again. "Did you leave me out of something?"

"I heard from someone that they saw 'em kissing underneath the stairs up to the guys' dorms," the boy behind the two preps informed them, leaning over his desk so he could whisper into both their ears. "I didn't believe it—I heard a rumour that the crazy son of a bitch was gay—but when I was watching 'em in history class a few days ago, I couldn't help but notice the way Yuy had his one hand up her skirt the whole period. I never thought I'd live to see the day he'd be so…."

The two cheerleaders had turned completely around in their chairs by this point, and were listening to the gossip with a renewed ferocity. The social lives of others—especially those who they thought to be under their 'station' in the school class system—was what ruled their conversation. "What else did you hear?" the blonde probed her new information source. "Anything really juicy?"

The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, tapping his index finger against his chin as he racked his brains for something impressive. "Oh!" he exclaimed almost a bit too loudly with a snap of his fingers. He leaned closer and whispered. "D'ya know that they're sacking up together?"

"No joke?" the brunette gawked. "How did you hear that?"

"My best friend's other friend has a dorm up on that attic floor and he says he's seen Hoshi sneaking into Heero's dorm around curfew." The boy gave a little shrug. "I don't know much more than that. It's not like he's sat there with a glass at the door pressed to his ear, but I think those two are pretty involved. If I didn't know better, I'd say they've been going at it for a really long time."

"Whoa," the brown haired cheerleader breathed, stealing another glance in Heero's direction. Sure enough, there he was, leaning over towards Hoshi and whispering something secret into her ear that was making her cheeks red and her lips curve upwards. And, not to mention the hand that was casually sneaking up her thigh and toying with the hem of her skirt. She had never known him to be such a romancer and she secretly fumed that it was not her sitting in that chair beside him.

"You know what else I heard?" the boy went on. The girls snapped their attention back his way, ready for more gossip. It was like oxygen to them. "I heard," he dipped his voice really quiet, to make sure that no one else would hear above the low buzz of the mild chitchat rising through the air around them, "that Yuy keeps a gun under his pillow, and that he really was a soldier during the war."

"A gun?" the blond smacked her gum yet again. "Like, a loaded gun with bullets… for killing?"

"Yeah," the brunette affirmed with a nod of her head. "I heard that too. My friend's cousin's best friend is been good friends with that redhead girl—Sara or something like that—who hangs out with them all the time. She said that she heard from her cousin's friend, the redhead, that he keeps a loaded gun and all kinds of other crazy illegal things like heroin and pot. I also heard that he's a wanted hacker or something online and that he cheated his way into school here… that he's really poor and homeless and he's just using the school as a place to live."

"Poor?" the blonde cocked her head, as if the word had no meaning to her. "How could he be poor and pay to get in here?"

"You clod," the boy rolled his eyes at her stupidity. "If he's a hacker, he doesn't need money to get in. He can just fake an account or something." He too stole another glance in Heero's direction. "He sure is a strange guy. I wouldn't be too surprised to find out if all those things were true."

"Me too."

"Yeah…"

"You know what?" the boy added, beckoning the girls to lean closer with his index finger. "You know how they've been missing since about noon yesterday?" When he saw the two girls nod their head vigorously in agreement (the story had been prime gossip the day before), he kept on with his story. "Well, I was in the office last night because I had to turn some forms in, and I heard the dean on the phone last night. She was talking to some relation of Hoshi's about what had happened. Apparently, they were in a big motorcycle accident and Yuy got landed in the hospital."

"So that's where they were?" the brunette asked, her hands flying up to her lips in horror. She glanced back over to the object of her lust. "Poor dear. I hope he's like, okay."

"The dean was saying that he was really beat up, but somehow Hoshi made it out not too bad off," the boy explained, happy that his prying ears and information was getting him audience with such pretty girls. "That guy just doesn't want to die. You know how he's tried to kill himself a bunch of times?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded, pulling her gum out of her mouth in a most sickening display. "That was so freaky. He's really messed up, you know?"

"You know what else I heard?" the brunette suddenly piped up, waving her hands in excitement. "I heard that he's the one who did that kid in a week or so ago. Now that's messed up."

"Maybe he shot him with that gun!" the blonde interjected. "We should turn him in for fraud and murder."

"You can do that," the boy commented with a low whistle, "but as for me, I don't want to mix myself up with guys like him. What if he found out and then he came after us? I mean, think about it, he transferred in mysteriously in the middle of the term two years ago, kept to himself for most of that time, is friggin' suicidal and not to mention, an ex-soldier. I really wouldn't take the chance, but maybe it's just because I like being alive, thank you very much."

"You're just chicken," the blond accused, popping her gum rudely with the statement.

"Oh yeah, well let's see how chicken I am when I tell you that I heard he wasn't even a soldier for OZ," the boy argued back. "Someone told me he was collaborating with the rebel colonies."

"Excuse me!" a new voice interjected. The huddled trio looked up to see the very frightening picture of their mad professor staring down at them with a dark expression painted upon his face. His arms were crossed and his lips were pulled in a tight angry frown. "Do you mind my interrupting your private conversation?" he asked cruelly. "Because I couldn't help but notice that you happened to be carrying on your little meeting in the middle of my class. But I'm sorry if I'm cutting you off. Perhaps whatever you were discussing, you would be kind enough to share with the rest of us, or maybe we aren't dignified enough to hold a seat in your private circle."

The three gossiping kids slunk back into their chairs, moodily flipped open their science textbooks and went about the assignment, the professor's little speech frightening them out of any more illicit conversations. Every now and then, one would peep over his or her shoulder to steal a glance at Heero and his girlfriend, who were still practically making out in their seats a few rows back. And then memories of those wild rumours would reenter their heads and they would snap back to attention, pretending like they had never looked in the first place. The blonde got a particular scare when she was caught staring by none other than Heero himself, who proceeded to glower angrily at her, arm possessively wrapped around Hoshi's waist until the prep turned away and left them alone.

"They were talking about us, you know," Duo whispered to Heero as he followed Heero's gaze towards the cheerleader sitting near the front of the classroom, just across the aisle. He could feel Heero's one arm tightening around his waist as he hugged him closer. Duo went on, "It's weird how all of the sudden, you're like front page news around here."

"Well someone getting near suspended around here is like the highlight of the century to these snot nosed assholes," Heero murmured back, placing what seemed to be the millionth kiss of the period upon Duo's neck. "Forget them, koi," he went on. "We've got bigger fish to fry."

"Amen to that," Duo replied, cuddling closer to Heero.

He was so absorbed with his lover, he missed the clunky sound of footsteps walking through the middle of the classroom that came to a stop right beside their desk. A hand suddenly slammed down onto the tabletop, startling Duo from Heero's embrace. He whipped around to find himself staring up at a very ill amused Professor Cawdor. "I don't know if you realize this, Mister Yuy," he snarled at Heero, totally ignoring the dastardly stare Duo was sending up at his teacher, "but this is a classroom. And while I'm glad you seem to have gotten over your past obsession with boys, I'd really appreciate it if you'd save your necking for another period."

Heero sneered and rolled his eyes. "Sorry Professor," he stated in that dangerous monotone of his. "Seems I forgot my place."

"Yes, it would seem so." Cawdor mused, crossing his arms as he straightened up to his full height. "You always did have a knack for stepping out of line, be it the exercise of that oh-so glib mouth of yours or just plain disobedience. What were they thinking when they trained you boy? You're the most haphazard excuse for a soldier I have ever seen. I would love to see my best worst student pick up the pace and climb back to the esteemed position he once held in my opinion. Get your hands off of her and get to work!"

Duo was about to open his mouth to say something snide about Heero teaching him about reproductive anatomy, but decided it would be in his best interests to keep his mouth shut. Heero was meanwhile silently fuming over the very personal jabs Cawdor had made at his character, deciding that digging up old and classified information would be the perfect way of going about doing so. As Cawdor walked triumphantly towards the back of the room on his scrupulous inspection of his students, Heero muttered under his breath to no one in particular, "If that bastard tried anything, I don't want to be liable for what happens next."

"Nor I," Duo hissed back sarcastically. "I'm not paying for any damage you cause, Heero Yuy."

"That's too bad; I could use the money."

More than a little pissed that his distraction for the next half-hour had been so rudely stolen away, Duo settled for sulking moodily in his chair, slouching low with crossed arms and an overly exaggerated pout. He settled for watching Heero from the corner of his eye as he bent over a spiral notebook and a thick anatomy textbook, scribbling away at the assignment. It was not until Heero leaned over from his work and hissed into Duo's ear that he looked just a little immature (adding that it was not very attractive at all, even with the skirt), Duo reluctantly went about doing a half-ass job on the homework like everyone else. School was still the biggest waste of time to him.

Suddenly, there was a whimpered cry from the row directly behind them. Both Heero and Duo simultaneously dropped their pens and whipped around to see what the commotion was. If either had been attached to some kind of device to measure their respective anger/shock levels at the sight they beheld, the readings would have been right through the roof. Cawdor was standing beside the seat their dear friend Sora occupied, her marble composition notebook in one hand, a purple grading pen in the other as he went over her work, announcing each and every mistake aloud the rest of the room as he slathered marks all over the page. Both Heero and Duo knew Sora to be a very thorough individual, and by the anal things that Cawdor was choosing to make a commotion about, they could both tell plainly that he was just picking a random target to exercise his cruelty on. By this time, everyone in the room had dropped whatever they had been working on and was now focused on their professor and his example.

"Some people should just not be allowed in a school," Duo whispered to Heero. A tight frown creased his darkly painted lips as he added, "I don't think I can sit and watch this. Can't I just arrest him and get this whole hell over with? I'm tired of running and hiding."

"No!" Heero snapped, grabbing Duo by the wrist and holding him fast. He could practically feel the itch in Duo's arm to reach for the small pistol tucked somewhere into all that unnecessary feminine lingerie Duo insisted on wearing underneath his guise. Using a good deal of his strength, his one hand still gripping Duo's firmly, he used the other to grab one leg of Duo's chair firmly, dragging him near. "Are you stupid, insane, or both? Have you forgotten everything anyone has ever taught you about stealth? I thought that was key to your mission here!"

"Well, it sure would be nice if that could hold out," Duo whispered back harshly, his eyes locked firmly on the disgusting display before him. "But I don't think I can sit here and watch this anymore."

"Duo," Heero tried to level, sounding very collected and reasonable. "He's not doing anything illegal right now. You have to catch him in the act or do it behind closed doors with more than enough evidence! That's why we couldn't do anything about D.B. because there was no proof! A big production in the middle of a science classroom will not do!"

"We'll see about that Mister-I-Know-So-Much!" Duo growled dangerously. Heero could see Shinigami creeping into the pilot's seat behind Duo's eyes as the chestnut haired boy's skin grew colder and paler than usual, a wild sort of fire beginning to kindle itself in his heated stare. "I should have just killed him when I had the chance back when he did old D.B. in. that was a huge ass mistake on my part just letting him get away and running off like a coward. So, yeah sure, I got proof that he's a total scumbag on top of his past felonies, but that doesn't do anything for now. Oh God, Heero, when am I going to start dwelling in reality?"

"How about now?" Heero commented coolly, his grip not lessening on Duo one bit. If he was lucky, he would be able to slip that pistol out of Duo's possession before things got ugly and dangerous. A rampaging Shinigami could prove hazardous for both friend and foe. "Look, Duo, whatever you end up doing, you can't just rush into it. Think hard. What would a sudden 'Freeze! I'm with Preventers!' do for anyone right here, right now?" Heero made his point with the addition of a series of fluid motions with his free hand.

"A damn lot," Duo grumbled, though in his heart he knew that Heero knew what he was talking about. "A whole damn lot. It would get him off Sora's case at least." He added halfheartedly. "I don't like seeing her get whipped around for no reason."

"Oh, and I do," Heero retorted sardonically, rolling his eyes. He grabbed Duo fiercely by each shoulder, whipping him around to face his totally, not caring whether or not anyone noticed his stirring. Duo winced at the pain Heero's fingers inflicted as his dull fingertips dug madly into his skin. "Duo, get a grip. If he starts hit—"

He was cut off by another strangled cry from Sora. He snapped to attention just in time to see Cawdor raise the notebook threateningly over Sora's head, as if he meant to strike her. The man had a crazed look in his eyes like he had totally lost all grip on what shreds of sanity he had left. Perhaps the murder of D.B. had been eating away at him for these past weeks? Sora had her arms flung up over her head as if to protect herself, though the look in her one visible eye seemed as though she doubted anything her hands could do would save her from pain.

Heero's face became darkened at this sight. Hands still melted firmly upon Duo's arms like hot liquid steel, he snapped his head around to face the disgusting display and shouted at the offending ex-OZ officer. "What the hell is this? You're assaulting yet another student!"

"Keep out of this, 01!" Cawdor snapped, a vein popping on his forehead as his eyes burned with an almost insanity as he turned his attentions from Sora to the defiant Japanese youth. "You were always too damn nosy!"

The class let out a collective gasp at the name with which Heero had just been addressed. The code numbers associated with the Gundams and their pilots were no secret to the general public. Whispers of 'So that's why he's so fucked' and 'Oh my dear God' et cetera, et cetera, filled the room in a dull clamour.

Slowly, Heero released his grip on Duo and turned his chair around to face Cawdor, the legs screeching angrily across the wooden floor as he did so. Slowly, he rose to his feet, his head bowed, long shaggy bangs obscuring the expression in his eyes. Slowly, he raised his gaze to meet Cawdor's, his blue Prussian eyes shining with that wild anger that had been lost since the war had ended. The perfect soldier had returned.

Cawdor visibly paled and shrank back a few steps. He had never been faced with the perfect soldier before. Oh sure, he had run into Heero in places past, spied on him endlessly, knew every detail one could want to know about the boy, from battle tactics to personal traits and habits, but never once, had he ever stood face to face with the untamed and slightly crazed soldier of legend. And now for the first time in many years, he was slightly unnerved. However, he chose to mask his fear and started to laugh nervously. "Very cute, 01," he began, lacing it with those strange unbecoming chuckles. The tension in the room just burst through the windows through the ceiling. "You think that you can just crawl out of hiding and teach me a lesson, hmm?"

A very disturbing smirk found its way to Heero's lips. Even Duo paled somewhat at the sight of it. A few of the students near the door had starting to rise from their seats and slink discreetly towards the door. They were beginning to get seriously frightened by this new psychotic side of Heero Yuy, class reject, faggot and lone wolf.

"Oh I don't think," Heero was saying, that smirk growing more and more evident with each passing moment. "I know. I always just…" he trailed off a little, leaving a dramatic pause lingering in the air as his smirk reached its peak, finally lifting his head a bit higher so that the sun could glint in the deep blue of his eyes. "…Know…."

"And what does Mister Yuy propose to do about it?" Cawdor taunted mockingly, deciding that the boy was all talk and no show, despite the damage that he knew he had caused during the war against OZ. Years of training were suddenly working against him; everything he knew was wrong, and he did not even realize it. "You don't have your precious Wing Zero Gundam, do you? You have no weapons. You are a waste now. There is nothing you can do to me."

Heero spread his arms akimbo, closing his hands into tights fists before slowly opening them again, flexing his fingers and stretching them apart. "Karate…. Empty fist…." He grinned sadistically. "I don't need weapons, Professor."

"Then show me what you're made of, puppet!" he jeered, one hand jammed in his lab coat pocket, the other out forward and curling in a beckoning motion. "Come at me!"

Duo winced a little, able to see what neither Cawdor nor Heero could not. There was nothing he could do though. By the time he had noticed the faint glimmer of the sharp scissors in Cawdor's pocketed hand, Heero had already launched himself forward at the man. The best he could do (because everything seemed to happening all at once, a zillion miles per second), was leap from his chair, knocking it over in the process, and try in vain to make a grab at Heero's collar in an effort to hold him back.

It was too late. Heero slammed into Cawdor, and inevitably, the malicious point of the scissors Cawdor had whipped from seemingly nowhere. Heero seemed to freeze on the razor point, raised fist poised unmoving in the air, just inches away from Cawdor's face. Had Cawdor been a second slower, and the former Wing pilot would have smashed his face in. Cawdor drew the now bloody pair of scissors from Heero's side, wiping the hot crimson liquid upon his pristine white lab coat, a frightful glare lighting his eyes as he tossed the sheers aside.

"Holy shit, Hee-chan!" Duo cried, totally forgetting where he was as a biting fear enveloped him. His poor lover never seemed to get a break. Every time Heero seemed to have found salvation, something happened to drag him back down, like he was always destined to climb to the crest of the mountain and tumble back down before he could breath in the fresh air. Duo's distraught was so fast and sudden, he had forgotten to disguise his voice, and the remaining students lingering in the classroom were giving him a very odd stare.

Hands shaky, he fumbled for his collar, fishing around beneath his shirt for that pistol he had been saving for just such an occasion. Another collective gasp of fear overtook the remaining students in the room (save Sora, who had grown used to this sort of thing by now) as Duo drew the sleek silver handgun from under his shirt and panic ensued, though everyone seemed far too frightened to actually evacuate the room. It was his trusty Falcon, conveniently loaded with eight rounds and ready for action. He held it forward in his right hand, which was resting firmly atop his left wrist for support, not even bothering to peer through the gun's scope as he took aim at his new worst enemy. "No one," he growled dangerously in Shinigami's voice, "No one low blows my Hee-chan like that and gets away with it."

Cawdor was glaring at Duo with a look that mixed anger and understanding, now that it had finally dawned upon him just whom the mysterious transfer really was. "02, heh, typical. I should have known," he breathed threateningly, ignoring the bloody mess that was Heero Yuy at his feet. "Very, very clever."

That trademark grin shadowed across Duo's face. No, this was not the typical happy-go-lucky Maxwell grin that Duo liked to save for his friends; rather, this was the sadistic evil Shinigami grin Duo liked to save for his enemies. Anyone who knew Duo well would have turned tail and run by that point, especially since he happened to be holding a loaded gun at that particular moment. Duo happened to be a very good shot—one of the best in all of Preventers. He held the top score in both the shooting range and the cafeteria arcade. Yes, Duo Maxwell never missed a shot.

"Duo Maxwell here, undercover Preventer and spy, assassin, thief and crack shot," he said, that brutal yet carefree grin still plastered upon his face as he stepped out of his row and into the aisle that separated the two halves of the classroom. "I run, I hide, but I never lie."

"What are you going to do now, 02?" Cawdor asked, his voice condescending. "Go ahead and shoot me, why don't you? Go ahead. I dare you."

"I'll dare just fine, thanks," Duo growled, jamming the gun foreword a little bit as if to emphasize his point. "You've seen this bad boy before, haven't you?" he said, referring to the gun with a quick flicker of his eyes. "Yeah, that's right, you remember, that day you gave D.B. the old heave-ho. Too bad I didn't plug you right then and there. But you know, sometimes things just"—Duo gave the gun a little wave—"pass you by."

"Talk talking sense, boy!" Cawdor snapped, balling his fist and taking a defiant few steps forward. "The only thing that's going to pass you by is your life, because when it makes the papers that a Preventers agent had the common good courtesy to blow away an innocent old science professor, we'll see who's rotting away behind bars with nothing to do but watch the days go by."

"Oh innocent my ass," Duo growled, taking a few steps forward himself. He suddenly barked out a command in a deafening yell. "Don't you come a step closer you fucker! I'll only shoot you faster if you do!"

"Hey, level with me here, 02," Cawdor threw his hands up, as if in defeat, though his little advancing footsteps never really ceased. From his vantage point on the floor, Heero did not fail to notice this, though his current condition did not leave much room for him to do much. After a quick evaluation, he realized that though not in hurt in any vital areas, he had still been stabbed deeply enough to procure a very nasty and profusely bleeding wound in his side, just over his hipbone and narrowly missing his liver. All he could do was let out a small whimper of warning, which seemed to go unnoticed.

"I don't think you're in any position to be making demands!" Duo screamed, his voice the harsh deep tone of a soldier who had lost everything that grounded him in sanity. Duo was fueling himself off pure emotion now, and nothing was going to get in his way. He fired a warning shot, letting the bullet zoom right past Cawdor's cheek, just nicking the skin. Duo's voice had now become that unwavering scary tone once more. It was almost too calm to be sane. "Make another move, and I'll aim about three inches to the right so I can make sure to bury one of these suckers right between your beady little eyes you bastard."

When the shot rang out, the class was suddenly in motion. Every student (minus Sora, of course, who had fallen to Heero's side and was now examining his wound) jumped to his or her feet and made a wild stampede for the door. They were all too cowardly to stay. They were all afraid of death, not even realizing that each of them had looked Death straight in the face the second Duo Maxwell had made himself known to them.

"Do it, do it! Take a step!" Duo was chanting, still holding the gun out. His eyes were on fire. There was nothing left of the familiar Duo everyone knew and loved. Shinigami had taken complete control. "Do it and I'll kill you!"

Cawdor, who had been taking baby steps all this time, put a pause to his shuffling and waiting, trying to formulate a plan. He came to the conclusion that he would have to somehow get that gun from his adversary's grip if he wanted to give himself the upper hand. With a crazed and armed Gundam pilot on his hands, he did not want to take any risks, and he silently cursed himself for laying a finger on Heero Yuy, knowing full well that it had been his injury that had angered the Deathscythe pilot so.

After a slight pause, he decided that quicker was probably better and without a second to perhaps go back on that decision, he launched himself at Duo, surprisingly nimble for a man of his age. Duo was totally taken aback and fired two more shots, missing one shot completely in his haste and rage and managing to graze his enemy's shoulder with the other. Duo's eyes seemed to widen to balloons of deep indigo as Cawdor was suddenly looming high above him, preparing to crunch down on Duo's much smaller body with all his weight. Duo sucked in a breath of uncertainty, the gun finally dropping slack at his side as he lost all sense of reality.

And then, just like magic, everything stopped. Duo refocused his blurred vision to see Cawdor, still looming before him, poised to strike, but no longer coming at him. It took the former Deathscythe pilot a few moments to notice Heero, pressed against the back of his would-be attacker, one hand gripping the man forcefully by the collar, the other wrapped around a familiar pair of silver stainless-steel scissors that was at present buried deep into the professor's back. With a heavy breath, Heero let slip two words before he fell to the floor in a dead faint, the sound of police sirens ringing through the suddenly still and quiet air.

"Ninmu kanryou."

{A/N} Um, yeah, definitely not pleased with that, but it will have to suffice, because I'm too lazy to think of anything much better when yet another brilliant idea seems to have bombarded my mind! Yay! This should not be anything new people. Thanks for reading and wait for the end next week. If you're really into this though, I have a small prequel that I might post later. My friend and I have to finish slamming together our entry for that TokyoPop contest first! ^__^

PS: Everyone go check out Gundam Seed! I know it'll be hard to find fansubs now that Bandai has liscenced it, but if you can get your mitts on it, it's well worth your while. Definately my second favourite anime right after... gee... I wonder.... :)