Growing Hearts

By: Lady DeathAngel

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or it's characters and I'm making no money off of this, so please don't sue me.

Warnings: None for this chapter either. ^.^;

A/N: I am sooooo sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I've had this chapter done for a long time but I was just too lazy to post. ^^; But, to make up for it, I'm posting two chapters! We'll get this thing done yet.





Relena stared at her reflection in the mirror and fingered the bruise forming on her cheek. It stung. She sighed and rested her head in her hand, and just stared at herself.

It was all her fault. Anna was packing at that moment and being sent away because of her. She couldn't stand it. The thought of causing someone else pain or suffering made her feel horrible inside.

She heard a soft sound and turned to see her brother Milliardo and his friend Lucrezia Noin coming through a secret door in her wall.

"So, I heard that old biddy is being given the heave-ho." Her brother said.

Relena nodded and sniffed.

Lucrezia raised an eyebrow. "Are you . . . are you *crying*?"

Relena nodded again and wiped her eyes.

"Why ever for?"

"B-because it's a-a-all my fault!" She stuttered before starting to sob loudly.

Both Lucrezia and Milliardo made their way to her. Lucrezia patted her on the back while Milliardo knelt beneath her so he could see her face. He let out a low whistle when he did and then turned her around in her seat and lifted her face to the mirror.

"See that?" He asked, pointing to her cheek. "She gave that to you didn't she? She *hit* you. How could you possibly want a person who would hit someone younger and weaker than them in this castle?"

"She didn't mean to hit me. She meant to hit someone else."

Milliardo shook his head and turned to Lucrezia. "See that Lu? She thinks it's better that that woman wanted to hit someone else instead of her." He turned back to Relena. "Listen, you know father doesn't approve of violence that isn't necessary. He hated the idea of me becoming a page two years ago. But that, well, *that* couldn't be avoided because he needs good soldiers. This though? This was uncalled for and not provoked. And to hear you tell your side of the story . . ."

"You were listening in?" Relena asked indignantly.

He waved a nonchalant hand. "Never mind that. It's just that if someone were to have accidentally overheard you explaining things to father, well, they would know she wasn't being very nice anyway."

Relena looked down at her hands. "She wasn't."

Milliardo patted her on the shoulder. "Well, that settles it then! I wouldn't want my little sister around not nice people. It could make her even more not nice than she already is."

Relena glared up at him in mock anger. "I *am* nice." She said.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh?"

She nodded. "Of course. Otherwise, father wouldn't like me best."



~*~

Hilde wasn't sure how long she'd been wandering around town. She was more than a bit disoriented. Her head throbbed and her chest was nothing but a map of sharp, searing pains. Every single step she took was pure torture.

For one so young, it was scary to be out alone at night. She knew no one would harm her, for some reason she just knew it, but that thought didn't help much. She didn't know what she would do in the morning. Or the next day. Or the day after that. She was afraid she would become homeless and poor and have to steal out of peoples pockets and from food vendors just to stay alive.

Of course she knew that she could always stay with Sally. But that was the first place her parents would look if, and when, they decided they weren't going to let their daughter get away. Hilde needed somewhere safe to go. Somewhere where no one, most of all her parents, would ever think to look for her.

But how to find that place?

Hilde must have walked for hours. At least that was how it seemed to her. She passed small homes with windows lit. The soft sounds of laughter and general familial happiness drifting from them. She passed darkened houses with no lights on at all. She sprinted past those, as much as it hurt, because she felt as if someone would grab her that she couldn't see.

Eventually she couldn't walk any longer. Her little legs were too tired, her body too bruised, and her mind too pained for her to go on. She lifted a heavy head and saw a large building in the distance. She took carefully measured steps toward it.

She wanted to run. The dark alley she was in frightened her. But she couldn't because she hurt too much. She got closer and closer, and the door loomed nearer and nearer. Lights were lit in some of the windows and she could hear the laughter of children. It sounded like heaven. Or at least a safe haven. She made it to the door and lifted a hand to knock.

One small fist connected with the solid wood of the entrance, and then she fainted dead away.

~*~



A young boy had been running around the church, trying to avoid getting caught by his friend.

"I'm sorry Solo! Really! I didn't mean it!"

"What're you talkin' about Duo? You said I smell like Father Maxwell's breath in the morning!"

"I meant it in the nicest way possible!"

A frazzled looking nun was trailing them. "Boys! Boys please stop this instant!"

Duo glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry sister Helen, but I can't. If I do, Solo'll catch me!"

Sister Helen sighed. But didn't order them to stop. Instead she settled herself in a chair and watched. She knew that eventually Duo would get caught. His braid was too long and Solo too fast for that to be avoided. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she watched the evasive maneuvers he used.

He stopped suddenly and Solo, who hadn't had any warning knocked into him.

"Hey Duo? What happened?"

"I heard a knock on the door." He said. "Hey Sister Helen, can you go check and see who it is?"

She stood up and nodded with a weary look at Duo. Sometimes his senses proved to be uncannily accurate. And though she hadn't heard anything, she could be sure that if Duo had, someone was at the door. Still, his ability to hear and know things others didn't was almost . . . unnatural.

Duo followed close behind Sister Helen, with Solo on his heels.

"What's wrong Duo?" Solo asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I don't know." Duo answered. "I just have a weird feeling is all."

"Is someone gonna . . . you know?"

"I don't know."

Solo bit his lip, wanting to ask his best friend more questions but knowing that he wouldn't want to answer any of them. That was Duo's problem though. For such a loud-mouthed child, he never opened up when it really mattered.

Sister Helen stopped at the door and turned around and looked down at the two boys.

"You two know the drill. If it's important business you need to skat."

They nodded dutifully and Sister Helen turned, confident that they'd leave if it was anything important. Unfortunately, whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been the little girl on the doorstep.

She quickly crossed herself and then knelt down. She held a hand a few inches away from the girl's mouth. A small burst of hot air greeted her palm, ensuring her that she was breathing.

Sister Helen breathed her own sigh of relief and then lifted the girl's slight form in her arms and rushed past Duo and Solo in search of help.

The two boys watched her go.

"Is she going to die?" Solo asked softly.

Duo's cobalt eyes filled with tears as he nodded. "Yeah."

Solo grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him. "You can stop it though, can't you? You can help her!"

"I don't know . . ."

"You have to! You can't just let her die!"

Duo noticed the somewhat panicked look in his friend's eyes and nodded. "Okay. I'll do my best."



~*~



Not many children were frightened of Duo. He was funny, kind, a bit annoying at times, but he was the kind of boy who got along with everyone. What they didn't know about him, what no one except Solo knew about him, was just how frightened of him they should have been.

As Duo walked into the girl's room later that night and knelt next to her bed, he was forced to recount that night he'd gotten lost in the forest on the outskirts of Dartslun.

It had been dark. And cold. And Duo had been so scared. His parents were gone, he had no home. He wasn't worth anything to anyone anymore. And that thought had scared him, especially since he'd only been seven years old. He'd wandered through the forest for hours and hours seemingly on end, until he'd reached the very core of the forest.

A part of him had known he should have been frightened. After all, all measure of murderous creatures supposedly dwelled there. But he was numb and death didn't scare him. The sooner he died the sooner he'd be with his parents again. What was wrong with that?

His bold thinking had led him straight to the god of death, a specter feared by many, but not by Duo. Duo had seen the shrouded figure holding the long, curved, scythe, and had merely laughed. An empty laugh meant to convey the emptiness he'd felt.

Death had turned his hooded head toward the chuckling youngster and had asked in a ghostly voice, "What are you laughing at Child? Are you scared?"

Duo shook his head. "No. You just aren't all you're made out to be, are you?"

"What do you mean?"

Duo had shrugged. "I'd just expected somebody big. I didn't think someone so weak would be the end of my parents."

There had been a moment of silence and then, "Why aren't you scared?"

"Should I be?"

"Everyone is afraid of death. Afraid of me."

Duo had merely sneered. "Yeah well, maybe I see you and I see the only thing keeping me from my mother and father. You're just another obstacle."

"Or maybe your friend."

"What?"

"I'm going to give you a gift." Death said. "And with it, you can sense when I'm approaching."

"What good'll that do if I can't stop you from coming?"

Death shrugged. "That's for me to know, and you to figure out."

Duo's look was skeptical. "I don't want your gift."

"Too bad." Death said. "It's yours whether you want it or not. It's your gift. It's your curse. I will be your shadow, and your companion. Your friend and your foe. I'll follow you everywhere and take all I can take. And by the end of it, you'll be able to call yourself the god of death as well. From this day on boy, you are my apprentice."

From that day on it was true too. Duo felt Death like a cold breeze drifting in and out of his body. He knew when it was coming. It was there, breathing down his neck and trying to take the girl before him away.

He closed his eyes and laid his hands over her body. His left palm above her eyes, his other above her heart.

'Where are you?' Duo called in his mind. 'I know you're there. Show yourself.'

There was a deep chuckle and then a cloaked figure appeared in the room.

"Why Duo," He said. "How nice of you to pay a visit."

Duo glared at him. 'Ha, ha. You know why I called you. Let her go.'

Duo could sense Death's amused gaze on him and then on the girl. "Why? She's nothing to you. No one. Why should I spare her?"

Duo glared at him. "What could she possibly have done wrong?" He asked. "She's as young as I am, she can't be bad."

"I didn't ask you that. I asked why spare her if no one wants her? Even her own parents didn't want her."

Duo turned to stare down at the girl. Her dark hair was a black so light it looked almost blue. Her eyes were closed, her eyelashes fanning bruised cheeks. She looked very thin and frail and not at all the kind of girl who had a loving family. She looked like he had the few months he'd been an orphan with Solo before Sister Helen had found them. No one had wanted them either.

"I want her." Duo said finally.

"What?" Death asked in surprise.

Duo looked over at him.

"I said I want her. I want to keep her."

Death's lifeless, black eyes narrowed before he started to fade away in resignation.

"Fine." He said. "I'll spare her."

He disappeared then, leaving Duo alone with the girl. He wiped a strand of hair away from her face and gazed at her.

"Well," He said. "I guess you're stuck with me."

The girl's mouth curved into a smile. "Thank you." She whispered, leaving Duo to gape at her for hours, until Sister Helen told him it was time to go to sleep.

A/N: so, what did you think? Please review and if you have any ideas (I've got an idea of what I'm going to do but I'd like to hear what others think) please email me. Thanks! Ja ne! ^.~