Took me longer to get out this chapter ; But... I beat FFX, and am fully
prepared for FFX-2 :9! Wai... Cried at the ending... ;_; So sad... But
everyone says that X-2 has a very happy lil ending, so ^^;... I'm too cheap
to order the import, so I'm stuck waiting with everyone else.
So... O_o;; You may have seen the review from Des, my beta... Yes, that's him. -_o; Should I kill him? Hm...? Oh, and for anyone interested, I posted a short lil 3x4 ficlet, just one of those ten-billion molecule sized little Quatre/Trowa ficcies that are barely even shounen ai at all ;; But I couldn't resist the plot bunny, so...
Well, uh... On with the chapter! :D;
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Heero had woken up unusually late that morning. At first, he had panicked - the thought of being captured or drugged quickly aroused him from his slightly drowsy state. He grunted, senses fully alert, but relaxed when he realized that he had simply fallen asleep at the computer. He sighed, but started once more when he glanced at the clock.
According to his alarm, it was nearly nine in the morning. A quick glance out the window confirmed its accuracy. He hadn't slept to late since... Well, since never - or as far as he could remember, anyway. It took him a few seconds to recall when he had fallen asleep, and was surprised to recall drowsing off around 1ish - not long after his meeting with Duo.
The perfect soldier shook his head. He had never slept so long or so late; it was considered irresponsible by Doctor J and completely against every single bit of his training. It was weird, and rather it was a good or bad sort of weird Heero couldn't quite put his finger on. However, in the end he decided it could wait - he was hungry, and needed a shower after being asleep so long.
After dragging himself in and out of the shower he became much more awake, and by the time he had reached the kitchen was fully alert and ready for any of Duos pranks - on himself, or on Wufei. Unfortunately, Wufei, after having been a victim of one of the rather notorious tricks, had been known to recruit Heero as an establisher of justice. However, upon his approach Heero could sense no sign of either of them - no constant chatter or occasional irritated growl. From what he could tell, the room was empty. He opened the door cautiously and noticed a small piece of paper on the table, lifting slightly in the breeze from an open window. 'Heero,' the note read, in surprisingly legible English, 'I'll be gone for a few hours... Remember, noon at midnight. - Duo M.'
It didn't take any time at all to decipher Duo's meaning; at noon, he was to meet him at the Purple Nights Motel. The first part shouldn't have surprised him, but it did nevertheless; it hadn't quite occurred to him that whatever the Shinigami had planned might actually need a few hours preparation.
If he had been anyone else, he might have shivered.
He ate a bowl of Cheerios (Duo had bought them, saying they were 'healthy! Yumyum!' - though all of them knew it was just to give him an opportunity to go 'Hey, Heero! Guess what? I lowered my cholesterol!' every time he ate breakfast), and then realized that Wufei had disappeared as well. However, he had a pretty good inkling as to where the Chinese boy could have disappeared to; neither of the Gundams were missing, and he hadn't been in his room...
That left only one other place.
Heero stood up, stretched, and silently set his dishes in the sink. He then made his way outside into the 'backyard' and to the woods, following a seemingly invisible path. He paused, though, at a small clearing, surrounded by trees and a calmly flowing brook. It was a peaceful, content little setting... Including the young man, sitting silently next to the stream in quiet meditation.
Heero approached on noiseless feet; Duo had concluded that there were two strategies to entering any of Wufei's private training dojos. The first was to speak to him directly from a short distance away, as one might approach a horse or other large animal. The second was to approach completely unnoticeably and arouse him from his meditation gently.
There was one other way that all the pilots shied from if they could avoid it; one could simply stand right next to him and startle him by stepping on a twig, kicking him, or anything equally ignorant. As with a horse, the penalty for startling Wufei could be rather high.
Heero himself preferred the first option, as did all the pilots. The second one took far too long, and even he didn't like to startle the boy if at all possible. He stopped a half dozen meters away, and said in a clear, emotionless voice, "Chang."
The figure stirred, and within less then a second Heero found himself with a sharpened katana at his throat. However, he didn't have the title 'Perfect Soldier' for nothing... The stoic pilot didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Yuy," Wufei acknowledged as he slowly lowered his weapon. "Something I can do for you, or are you perhaps here to train as well?" Heero shook his head.
"You seemed rather anxious, so I checked with Doctor J and Instructor O. You're all clear for Thursday, however..." He eyed Wufei carefully, who seemed to be growing slightly paler by the second. "O sounded curious as to why you asked. I told him I knew nothing, of course, but I do agree that he was right in asking."
Wufei gave him a level stare. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm afraid that as Maxwell would say... That's none of your beeswax." Without even realizing it, Heero could imagine Duo finishing with 'So get you of my damn hive before I kill you. Bastard.' He smiled imperceptibly to himself.
Heero sighed. "Listen, Wufei," Wufei looked slightly surprised at the use of his first name, "At the request of Doctor J, I'm supposed to be relatively civil and sportsmanly to you and the other pilots. I simply want a clear, straightforward answer in order to confirm the safety - and I use the term loosely - of one of my comrades. Therefore, I'd like to know where you're going." It was a relatively unusually long answer for him, particularly since under normal circumstances he was breathtakingly direct.
Wufei shot him a dark glare and muttered something in Chinese under his breath. The black eyes rose to meet Heero's cobalt blue, and the other pilot thought he could see a slight bit of apprehension floating in them. "I am not on a mission concerning any of you, and that's all you should be worried about. Besides, you're not quite one to talk about telling where you're going or what you're doing anyway, so I see no reason for me to be any different. Now, either stay and spar or go back to the safe house."
Heero sighed to himself. He hadn't really expected to learn anything particularly useful from the encounter; Wufei, at times, was far more direct than any of the other pilots - himself included. Not to mention the fact that Wufei had a sharp yet graceful tongue, a remnant of his former days as a scholar. Duo had commented that Heero, Treize, and Wufei should all get together for a 'Big Words Meeting' over a cup of tea... Not mentioning, of course, the fact that when needed he could be incredibly quick-witted and perhaps outmatch any of the other pilots in a debate. Still, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Duo oftentimes chose to appear ignorant; probably, Heero guessed, another part of his many sided mask.
He turned back to the house and started walking silently towards it. However, after getting out of Wufei's line of sight he quickly turned and began to walk to the left. The ground, still damp from the previous nights rain, didn't make a sound.
After a few minutes of walking, he reached his destination; an apparently empty clearing in the woods, surrounded by trees and a rather rocky hill. A quick voice command instantly revealed the hill for its identity; Wing Zero, Heeros own little private clubhouse and most reliable partner.
Well, he though, frowning slightly, one of his two most reliable partners. When it came down to the wire, Duo could actually be pretty useful.
He hoisted himself up and into the cockpit effortlessly and closed the hatch. A few more voice commands, and the system sprung to life and up into the atmosphere. He slowly leaned back and absorbed the view engulfing the Gundam - he had always found an odd sort of freedom in watching the trees shrink, the safe house they were assigned to disappear, and the moon and sky growing all around him. It was peaceful there, in the high reaches of the sky, where no one would go and nothing would interrupt. It was a place that seemed to exist strictly for him, or others like himself... People who didn't seem to quite know where they were going, or why. People... Who were lost.
Lost and wondering... Why?
Why was his programming, so carefully and delicately monitored since his birth, all the sudden springing leaks and coming apart? Why did Duo, his best friend, suddenly discover some sort of... Of schoolgirlish crush? And on someone like HIM? For that matter, why did Duo even put up with him in the first place? Plus, he suddenly wondered, why did he put up with Duo?
Well, because it was DUO. That one could at least be answered, though not quite with an answer that made sense. Oh well.
Why..
Why was everything so confusing, just when his life seemed to be on a fairly steady path?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo sighed to himself as he wandered through aisle after aisle of weird, pointless electronics. All he wanted was a audio/video player, especially after his had suddenly decided to break. But nooo, nothing could be that simple, eh? All he had wanted was a nice 'Aisle 392, next to the cameras and stereos' not a "Well, um, they're like over there somewhere next to the photo thingies in the electronics place with the boomers..." At that point, he had simply walked away from the 'helpful' teenage employee, and settled on finding the item by himself.
This, he then realized, could have been a mistake.
The stores electronics aisles were dangerous in their own right. They extended as far as the eye could see, and as Duo had never even been to that particular store before he had no idea of the layout. True, with most stores he could find anything within seconds, and then instantly tell if the price was right, or if the object was broken, but something about this particular maze of carts and shelves had thrown him completely off.
He sighed and looked at the next aisle, absent-mindedly scanning the people and products before swinging on to the next one. However, he paused - something on that aisle was different, something was..
"DUO!"
He blinked as a figure flung itself at him and squeezed him tightly. Recognition followed, and he tightly hugged the slim body in return.
"Hilde! Haven't seen you for a while, how've you been? You look great!" Hilde released her hold on him and grinned cattishly.
"Doing wonderfully! How about you, you and the other pilots and your Gundams?"
Duos grin lessened slightly. "We've been doing fine, same old, same old... Hey, why are you here, instead of in the salvage yard? Are you alright?"
She smiled, apparently finding something amusing in his concern, and shook her head. "Nope, the salvage yard and I are doing just fine, don't worry about it. I work here twice a week, that's it." Duo noticed the little pin on her shirt, reading, 'Hi, I'm Hilde, and it's So Nice for you to work at the Bila-bog Mart!' She glanced at his empty hands. "Looking for something?"
He smiled rather and chuckled rather sheepishly. "Ehe... Yeah. CD Player broke, and I'm too lazy to fix it. Jeesh, Hilde, this damned store is a labyrinth! How the hell do you find anything?" She grinned.
"All a matter of skill and practice, my friend. Observe." She strode confidently out of the aisle and into the large area, not even bothering to glance back and make sure he was following. Duo made a rather surprised noise and jogged to catch up, nearly knocking over several other customers in the process. Hilde passed nearly a dozen aisles without even a single glance, then halted in front of one marked '137 - Video and Audio Players'. Duo cursed at it, and she gave him a rather backwards grin before pointing at a set of shelves full of the same kind of player he had previously owned - the Vaud 194 - and selecting one. He felt a slight twinge of amazement that she still remembered, but then... They had lived together for quite a while, and knew each others habits nearly as well as Heero and him.
He glanced at the one she had handed him and grinned at her choice; a pure black one, with the silver kanji for death - the only symbol Heero had bothered to teach him, in order to use in case of an emergency for code - scrawled across the top. Shinu. Death.
Hilde shot him a glance and pointed at a pink one, covered with little flower stickers and happily displaying the word 'Princess'. Duo smiled grimly - he knew exactly who Hilde was thinking of. She had never been terribly fond of the Queen Relena, having met her once with Duo and Heero, and it had shown from the start.
She blinked thoughtfully. "Think if we send it to her, she'd squeal and send us big pink thank yous?" Duo frowned slightly and pondered for a second.
"No... She's not the type. She'd understand the joke, probably, but the Relena I've seen... I don't think she'd really like the bubblyness, or the pinkness, or especially the Princess. Much as I hate to say it, she's actually pretty damn smart - not to mention, she's super serious when working. 'Sides... We'd have to either track her down and mail it, taking weeks to track her down and probably losing her before it even arrived, or we could ask Heero to give it to her... He'd then want to know what was in it and wouldn't find it nearly as amusing, and chances aren't too bad that he might simply glare and blow it up." He shrugged nonchalantly; Relena didn't really bother him that much.
By that time they had reached the checkout line, and Duo had immediately begun to examine the random tabloids. As all the Gundam pilots and Hilde knew, he found many of them quite amusing, particularly if they related to them, the generals, or the war. The pride of his collection, though, was a little beauty he had picked up on L1 - 'Gundam Pilot impregnates General Khushrenada - Pilot yet to be identified, General declines comment'. Duo had bought over fifty copies, sending them to everyone he knew - including the generals Treize and Zechs, though it was unknown if they had ever reached their destination. The current tabloid headers, though, weren't nearly as interesting - 'Mobile Dolls disguised as watermelons spy on housewife', 'Martial Arts Instructor Believes himself Zeus Incarnate', 'Cows turn against fruit flies - War rages'... Nothing terribly new.
However, Hilde did notice his unusually enthusiastic attitude towards the rack of magazines and poked him with the CD Players box. He glanced over at her, rubbing the back of his head.
"Ow... Problem?"
"No, but since the subject came up... How IS Heero doing? I've seen you more recently then him, and it's been forever since I've seen you!"
He gave a decidedly noncommittal shrug. "He's okay, I guess... Still killing people, still occasionally threatening to kill me, same old same old..." He gave another shrug and went back to the tabloid.
She tossed him a Knowing Female Look, a look that irritated Duo to no end. He glared.
"What?" Another look this one with a bit of Severe Mother-knows-allness thrown in for good measure.
"First off, put the magazine down unless you plan on buying it, we're about to leave." He did so, and, after taking back his credit card, began to trot towards the door. Hilde paused a second before mumbling something to another employee, then flung off her apron and skipped after Duo.
"Now then," She resumed as soon as she caught up, "Secondly, when I say, 'How's Heero?' we both know that I a-want more than an okay and b- am asking how are Heero and YOU?" He nodded slightly; this was indeed true, and they were both completely aware of it. Hilde had been the only one so far that he had told his feelings to, in the hope that perhaps telling someone would dull the crush. It hadn't, but he was glad anyway - Hilde was remarkably helpful and sisterly, though she had originally seemed slightly disappointed for reasons yet unknown.
He sighed. "Well... Like I said, same old same old. He still has no idea, and is mostly the usual emotionless robot that he always was." Hilde blinked and leaned in closer, close enough he could smell Juicyfruit Gum on her breath.
"Usually..." She said, with the air of a college professor or scientist examining some particularly fascinating artifact. Duo shrugged and chuckled softly.
"Yeah. Usually. When he's around most other people, anyway, and a good bit of the time around me. Still... He's opening up, Hil', and he's seeming a lot more human every day. It's a tad amazing to watch, really." She nodded thoughtfully.
"He still has no idea?" Duo smiled grimly and shook his head.
"Just because he's opening up doesn't mean he's all the sudden become people-oriented - or people aware. Besides, Hilde, he's never even been around any normal human beings. He has no idea of anything of the sort and is therefore completely clueless about the whole thing, which is good, but... He'd have no idea what to do if he DID find out." Duo sucked in a breath and sighed, turning a street corner and towards the safe house.
"Oh well... I'll get over it, Hilde, and we both know I have to. I mean really, there's not anything I could do about it, eh? I can talk to you, and I can talk to Cat - you remember him, right? You met him with me at the clothing store - The blondie?" She thought for a second, nodded, and sighed.
"I suppose so... But I mean, still, it's kind of a sucky arrangement for both of you...." He paused.
"I figure... I'll be fine, and get over it, and we'll be best friends and nothing will have happened..." Hilde nodded and opened her mouth to say something. However, he got there first.
"And... he'll never have to know."
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Reviews
Muchacha - Er... ^^;; Gomen, but none of that :P As I said in my last rant, no Relena-bashing here. o.o; Thankies, though ^^
Shayde-Sailor Phoenix (cool name oo;): Well, sort of a cliffie. ^^;; But he fell asleep pretty soon after that, so not really. n.n;
Kuroi-game: *nodnod* Thankies, and yeah... That's another one of the plot devices I go for, the old 'Relena/Heero relationship of the past'ness... Sometimes, but not always, with WomensIntuition!Relena ^^; As she is in this story, along with Hilde :P Saves us the bashing, and makes us still love the charas.
Dream-Weaver: Thankies, and will do. ^^
Des: ...; Wow, I'm going to kill you, ya little perv. XD
And this story both has some humor and some angst, so deal with it, Dezzerz. XP! I'm trying not to completely warp all the characters (as most funny stories do, and some angst) so... *patpat* You'll live. ^^
So... I'll send it off to des, go to our band's little marchyness, and then it should be posted by tonight! ^^; (and if des hasn't betaed it, then I'll still post it tonight and then post the beta'd version tomorrow. ^^)
So... O_o;; You may have seen the review from Des, my beta... Yes, that's him. -_o; Should I kill him? Hm...? Oh, and for anyone interested, I posted a short lil 3x4 ficlet, just one of those ten-billion molecule sized little Quatre/Trowa ficcies that are barely even shounen ai at all ;; But I couldn't resist the plot bunny, so...
Well, uh... On with the chapter! :D;
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Heero had woken up unusually late that morning. At first, he had panicked - the thought of being captured or drugged quickly aroused him from his slightly drowsy state. He grunted, senses fully alert, but relaxed when he realized that he had simply fallen asleep at the computer. He sighed, but started once more when he glanced at the clock.
According to his alarm, it was nearly nine in the morning. A quick glance out the window confirmed its accuracy. He hadn't slept to late since... Well, since never - or as far as he could remember, anyway. It took him a few seconds to recall when he had fallen asleep, and was surprised to recall drowsing off around 1ish - not long after his meeting with Duo.
The perfect soldier shook his head. He had never slept so long or so late; it was considered irresponsible by Doctor J and completely against every single bit of his training. It was weird, and rather it was a good or bad sort of weird Heero couldn't quite put his finger on. However, in the end he decided it could wait - he was hungry, and needed a shower after being asleep so long.
After dragging himself in and out of the shower he became much more awake, and by the time he had reached the kitchen was fully alert and ready for any of Duos pranks - on himself, or on Wufei. Unfortunately, Wufei, after having been a victim of one of the rather notorious tricks, had been known to recruit Heero as an establisher of justice. However, upon his approach Heero could sense no sign of either of them - no constant chatter or occasional irritated growl. From what he could tell, the room was empty. He opened the door cautiously and noticed a small piece of paper on the table, lifting slightly in the breeze from an open window. 'Heero,' the note read, in surprisingly legible English, 'I'll be gone for a few hours... Remember, noon at midnight. - Duo M.'
It didn't take any time at all to decipher Duo's meaning; at noon, he was to meet him at the Purple Nights Motel. The first part shouldn't have surprised him, but it did nevertheless; it hadn't quite occurred to him that whatever the Shinigami had planned might actually need a few hours preparation.
If he had been anyone else, he might have shivered.
He ate a bowl of Cheerios (Duo had bought them, saying they were 'healthy! Yumyum!' - though all of them knew it was just to give him an opportunity to go 'Hey, Heero! Guess what? I lowered my cholesterol!' every time he ate breakfast), and then realized that Wufei had disappeared as well. However, he had a pretty good inkling as to where the Chinese boy could have disappeared to; neither of the Gundams were missing, and he hadn't been in his room...
That left only one other place.
Heero stood up, stretched, and silently set his dishes in the sink. He then made his way outside into the 'backyard' and to the woods, following a seemingly invisible path. He paused, though, at a small clearing, surrounded by trees and a calmly flowing brook. It was a peaceful, content little setting... Including the young man, sitting silently next to the stream in quiet meditation.
Heero approached on noiseless feet; Duo had concluded that there were two strategies to entering any of Wufei's private training dojos. The first was to speak to him directly from a short distance away, as one might approach a horse or other large animal. The second was to approach completely unnoticeably and arouse him from his meditation gently.
There was one other way that all the pilots shied from if they could avoid it; one could simply stand right next to him and startle him by stepping on a twig, kicking him, or anything equally ignorant. As with a horse, the penalty for startling Wufei could be rather high.
Heero himself preferred the first option, as did all the pilots. The second one took far too long, and even he didn't like to startle the boy if at all possible. He stopped a half dozen meters away, and said in a clear, emotionless voice, "Chang."
The figure stirred, and within less then a second Heero found himself with a sharpened katana at his throat. However, he didn't have the title 'Perfect Soldier' for nothing... The stoic pilot didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Yuy," Wufei acknowledged as he slowly lowered his weapon. "Something I can do for you, or are you perhaps here to train as well?" Heero shook his head.
"You seemed rather anxious, so I checked with Doctor J and Instructor O. You're all clear for Thursday, however..." He eyed Wufei carefully, who seemed to be growing slightly paler by the second. "O sounded curious as to why you asked. I told him I knew nothing, of course, but I do agree that he was right in asking."
Wufei gave him a level stare. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm afraid that as Maxwell would say... That's none of your beeswax." Without even realizing it, Heero could imagine Duo finishing with 'So get you of my damn hive before I kill you. Bastard.' He smiled imperceptibly to himself.
Heero sighed. "Listen, Wufei," Wufei looked slightly surprised at the use of his first name, "At the request of Doctor J, I'm supposed to be relatively civil and sportsmanly to you and the other pilots. I simply want a clear, straightforward answer in order to confirm the safety - and I use the term loosely - of one of my comrades. Therefore, I'd like to know where you're going." It was a relatively unusually long answer for him, particularly since under normal circumstances he was breathtakingly direct.
Wufei shot him a dark glare and muttered something in Chinese under his breath. The black eyes rose to meet Heero's cobalt blue, and the other pilot thought he could see a slight bit of apprehension floating in them. "I am not on a mission concerning any of you, and that's all you should be worried about. Besides, you're not quite one to talk about telling where you're going or what you're doing anyway, so I see no reason for me to be any different. Now, either stay and spar or go back to the safe house."
Heero sighed to himself. He hadn't really expected to learn anything particularly useful from the encounter; Wufei, at times, was far more direct than any of the other pilots - himself included. Not to mention the fact that Wufei had a sharp yet graceful tongue, a remnant of his former days as a scholar. Duo had commented that Heero, Treize, and Wufei should all get together for a 'Big Words Meeting' over a cup of tea... Not mentioning, of course, the fact that when needed he could be incredibly quick-witted and perhaps outmatch any of the other pilots in a debate. Still, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone, Duo oftentimes chose to appear ignorant; probably, Heero guessed, another part of his many sided mask.
He turned back to the house and started walking silently towards it. However, after getting out of Wufei's line of sight he quickly turned and began to walk to the left. The ground, still damp from the previous nights rain, didn't make a sound.
After a few minutes of walking, he reached his destination; an apparently empty clearing in the woods, surrounded by trees and a rather rocky hill. A quick voice command instantly revealed the hill for its identity; Wing Zero, Heeros own little private clubhouse and most reliable partner.
Well, he though, frowning slightly, one of his two most reliable partners. When it came down to the wire, Duo could actually be pretty useful.
He hoisted himself up and into the cockpit effortlessly and closed the hatch. A few more voice commands, and the system sprung to life and up into the atmosphere. He slowly leaned back and absorbed the view engulfing the Gundam - he had always found an odd sort of freedom in watching the trees shrink, the safe house they were assigned to disappear, and the moon and sky growing all around him. It was peaceful there, in the high reaches of the sky, where no one would go and nothing would interrupt. It was a place that seemed to exist strictly for him, or others like himself... People who didn't seem to quite know where they were going, or why. People... Who were lost.
Lost and wondering... Why?
Why was his programming, so carefully and delicately monitored since his birth, all the sudden springing leaks and coming apart? Why did Duo, his best friend, suddenly discover some sort of... Of schoolgirlish crush? And on someone like HIM? For that matter, why did Duo even put up with him in the first place? Plus, he suddenly wondered, why did he put up with Duo?
Well, because it was DUO. That one could at least be answered, though not quite with an answer that made sense. Oh well.
Why..
Why was everything so confusing, just when his life seemed to be on a fairly steady path?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo sighed to himself as he wandered through aisle after aisle of weird, pointless electronics. All he wanted was a audio/video player, especially after his had suddenly decided to break. But nooo, nothing could be that simple, eh? All he had wanted was a nice 'Aisle 392, next to the cameras and stereos' not a "Well, um, they're like over there somewhere next to the photo thingies in the electronics place with the boomers..." At that point, he had simply walked away from the 'helpful' teenage employee, and settled on finding the item by himself.
This, he then realized, could have been a mistake.
The stores electronics aisles were dangerous in their own right. They extended as far as the eye could see, and as Duo had never even been to that particular store before he had no idea of the layout. True, with most stores he could find anything within seconds, and then instantly tell if the price was right, or if the object was broken, but something about this particular maze of carts and shelves had thrown him completely off.
He sighed and looked at the next aisle, absent-mindedly scanning the people and products before swinging on to the next one. However, he paused - something on that aisle was different, something was..
"DUO!"
He blinked as a figure flung itself at him and squeezed him tightly. Recognition followed, and he tightly hugged the slim body in return.
"Hilde! Haven't seen you for a while, how've you been? You look great!" Hilde released her hold on him and grinned cattishly.
"Doing wonderfully! How about you, you and the other pilots and your Gundams?"
Duos grin lessened slightly. "We've been doing fine, same old, same old... Hey, why are you here, instead of in the salvage yard? Are you alright?"
She smiled, apparently finding something amusing in his concern, and shook her head. "Nope, the salvage yard and I are doing just fine, don't worry about it. I work here twice a week, that's it." Duo noticed the little pin on her shirt, reading, 'Hi, I'm Hilde, and it's So Nice for you to work at the Bila-bog Mart!' She glanced at his empty hands. "Looking for something?"
He smiled rather and chuckled rather sheepishly. "Ehe... Yeah. CD Player broke, and I'm too lazy to fix it. Jeesh, Hilde, this damned store is a labyrinth! How the hell do you find anything?" She grinned.
"All a matter of skill and practice, my friend. Observe." She strode confidently out of the aisle and into the large area, not even bothering to glance back and make sure he was following. Duo made a rather surprised noise and jogged to catch up, nearly knocking over several other customers in the process. Hilde passed nearly a dozen aisles without even a single glance, then halted in front of one marked '137 - Video and Audio Players'. Duo cursed at it, and she gave him a rather backwards grin before pointing at a set of shelves full of the same kind of player he had previously owned - the Vaud 194 - and selecting one. He felt a slight twinge of amazement that she still remembered, but then... They had lived together for quite a while, and knew each others habits nearly as well as Heero and him.
He glanced at the one she had handed him and grinned at her choice; a pure black one, with the silver kanji for death - the only symbol Heero had bothered to teach him, in order to use in case of an emergency for code - scrawled across the top. Shinu. Death.
Hilde shot him a glance and pointed at a pink one, covered with little flower stickers and happily displaying the word 'Princess'. Duo smiled grimly - he knew exactly who Hilde was thinking of. She had never been terribly fond of the Queen Relena, having met her once with Duo and Heero, and it had shown from the start.
She blinked thoughtfully. "Think if we send it to her, she'd squeal and send us big pink thank yous?" Duo frowned slightly and pondered for a second.
"No... She's not the type. She'd understand the joke, probably, but the Relena I've seen... I don't think she'd really like the bubblyness, or the pinkness, or especially the Princess. Much as I hate to say it, she's actually pretty damn smart - not to mention, she's super serious when working. 'Sides... We'd have to either track her down and mail it, taking weeks to track her down and probably losing her before it even arrived, or we could ask Heero to give it to her... He'd then want to know what was in it and wouldn't find it nearly as amusing, and chances aren't too bad that he might simply glare and blow it up." He shrugged nonchalantly; Relena didn't really bother him that much.
By that time they had reached the checkout line, and Duo had immediately begun to examine the random tabloids. As all the Gundam pilots and Hilde knew, he found many of them quite amusing, particularly if they related to them, the generals, or the war. The pride of his collection, though, was a little beauty he had picked up on L1 - 'Gundam Pilot impregnates General Khushrenada - Pilot yet to be identified, General declines comment'. Duo had bought over fifty copies, sending them to everyone he knew - including the generals Treize and Zechs, though it was unknown if they had ever reached their destination. The current tabloid headers, though, weren't nearly as interesting - 'Mobile Dolls disguised as watermelons spy on housewife', 'Martial Arts Instructor Believes himself Zeus Incarnate', 'Cows turn against fruit flies - War rages'... Nothing terribly new.
However, Hilde did notice his unusually enthusiastic attitude towards the rack of magazines and poked him with the CD Players box. He glanced over at her, rubbing the back of his head.
"Ow... Problem?"
"No, but since the subject came up... How IS Heero doing? I've seen you more recently then him, and it's been forever since I've seen you!"
He gave a decidedly noncommittal shrug. "He's okay, I guess... Still killing people, still occasionally threatening to kill me, same old same old..." He gave another shrug and went back to the tabloid.
She tossed him a Knowing Female Look, a look that irritated Duo to no end. He glared.
"What?" Another look this one with a bit of Severe Mother-knows-allness thrown in for good measure.
"First off, put the magazine down unless you plan on buying it, we're about to leave." He did so, and, after taking back his credit card, began to trot towards the door. Hilde paused a second before mumbling something to another employee, then flung off her apron and skipped after Duo.
"Now then," She resumed as soon as she caught up, "Secondly, when I say, 'How's Heero?' we both know that I a-want more than an okay and b- am asking how are Heero and YOU?" He nodded slightly; this was indeed true, and they were both completely aware of it. Hilde had been the only one so far that he had told his feelings to, in the hope that perhaps telling someone would dull the crush. It hadn't, but he was glad anyway - Hilde was remarkably helpful and sisterly, though she had originally seemed slightly disappointed for reasons yet unknown.
He sighed. "Well... Like I said, same old same old. He still has no idea, and is mostly the usual emotionless robot that he always was." Hilde blinked and leaned in closer, close enough he could smell Juicyfruit Gum on her breath.
"Usually..." She said, with the air of a college professor or scientist examining some particularly fascinating artifact. Duo shrugged and chuckled softly.
"Yeah. Usually. When he's around most other people, anyway, and a good bit of the time around me. Still... He's opening up, Hil', and he's seeming a lot more human every day. It's a tad amazing to watch, really." She nodded thoughtfully.
"He still has no idea?" Duo smiled grimly and shook his head.
"Just because he's opening up doesn't mean he's all the sudden become people-oriented - or people aware. Besides, Hilde, he's never even been around any normal human beings. He has no idea of anything of the sort and is therefore completely clueless about the whole thing, which is good, but... He'd have no idea what to do if he DID find out." Duo sucked in a breath and sighed, turning a street corner and towards the safe house.
"Oh well... I'll get over it, Hilde, and we both know I have to. I mean really, there's not anything I could do about it, eh? I can talk to you, and I can talk to Cat - you remember him, right? You met him with me at the clothing store - The blondie?" She thought for a second, nodded, and sighed.
"I suppose so... But I mean, still, it's kind of a sucky arrangement for both of you...." He paused.
"I figure... I'll be fine, and get over it, and we'll be best friends and nothing will have happened..." Hilde nodded and opened her mouth to say something. However, he got there first.
"And... he'll never have to know."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Reviews
Muchacha - Er... ^^;; Gomen, but none of that :P As I said in my last rant, no Relena-bashing here. o.o; Thankies, though ^^
Shayde-Sailor Phoenix (cool name oo;): Well, sort of a cliffie. ^^;; But he fell asleep pretty soon after that, so not really. n.n;
Kuroi-game: *nodnod* Thankies, and yeah... That's another one of the plot devices I go for, the old 'Relena/Heero relationship of the past'ness... Sometimes, but not always, with WomensIntuition!Relena ^^; As she is in this story, along with Hilde :P Saves us the bashing, and makes us still love the charas.
Dream-Weaver: Thankies, and will do. ^^
Des: ...; Wow, I'm going to kill you, ya little perv. XD
And this story both has some humor and some angst, so deal with it, Dezzerz. XP! I'm trying not to completely warp all the characters (as most funny stories do, and some angst) so... *patpat* You'll live. ^^
So... I'll send it off to des, go to our band's little marchyness, and then it should be posted by tonight! ^^; (and if des hasn't betaed it, then I'll still post it tonight and then post the beta'd version tomorrow. ^^)