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A Million Ways to Slay a Raven

Jessenia

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Chapter Two: The boy rode the bus

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"Duo!" The voice startled him and he spun around quickly, eyeing the woman suspiciously.

"What?" She finally caught up and snatched his arm, waving a bunch of papers at him and dragging him into an office. She tossed him easily into a chair.

"We've got a lead!!" Duo sighed and propped his feet up on the desk.

"Great! We've been needing one." He snorted. "Now a lead in which case? We have over fifty that we've been waiting for exactly that." She tossed the folder of papers at him.

"On the assassination attempt. Last year or so. Remember? That wealthy family that was making a political name for itself?" Duo leaned forward excitedly.

"No shit, Sal, that's great!! The Yuys, wasn't it? Holy shit! So I was right? It was an assassination attempt? Kick ass!! Man! What's the lead?" The woman nodded, equally excited.

"It's all in the folder." Duo flipped it opened, scanning the written document that greeted him, frowning slightly.

"I don't remember a son. I only remember the daughter and that stupid petition to ban all firearms." He flipped the page and stared. "Holy shit!" Sally Po frowned at him.

"What? You look like you've seen a ghost." Duo shook his head, raising the photograph of the supposed youngest son of the Yuy family.

"I saw him." Sally smiled.

"No kidding, where?" Duo looked dumbfounded.

"At a coffee shop, last night with Wu." Sally smirked and shook her head,

"You were checking him out, weren't you." Duo blushed.

"What's it mean to you?" She shrugged.

"He is kinda cute, isn't he?" Duo leaned back as if shocked.

"Kinda? Honey, we're not gonna argue about what is 'kinda' attractive around here. This guy's a fucking God. But then, I'm talking to someone who has a crush on Mr. Justice." Sally blushed and Duo snickered. "Yeah, serves you right. Now what are we going to do about him?" He indicated the photo. Sally sat down on the corner of her desk.

"It's hard to decide. As far as we know, he should be safe. But I think some reconnaissance is in order. He has two other siblings. One sister, two years older, Relena. And an older brother, Zechs, I'm not sure of his age, at least five years older than Heero."

"I thought they were all killed in the crash." Sally shook her head.

"Heero was the only child on the plain. Relena became ill and had to stay home, and Zechs had never had an intention of going. It was just Heero, his parents and his grandparents." Duo sighed.

"This calls for Wu-man, too. Sorry, I'm gonna have to be stealing him from you." Sally rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Duo, sometimes I just feel like smacking you silly." Duo bounded over and blew her a kiss.

"Ooh, I always liked kink!" He winked and closed the door.

"He's such a nut." Sally muttered to herself, before returning to her work.

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"Are you going to return to school after Christmas?" Heero turned his head towards Trowa's voice. He wasn't sure. There was so much he wasn't sure of these days. He survived each day by making sure that he did whatever his heart told him was right, but school was somewhere in the distance, neither bad nor good. Just grey.

"I haven't decided."

"We miss you." Quatre said. Heero nodded, pushing open the door to his loft. "Hey, Heero?" Heero stopped by his door and looked at where he thought Quatre was standing.

"What?"

"Maybe we'll bring our homework over on Monday. You know, hang-out for a bit?"

"Monday? Sure."

"Good-night." Trowa patted him on the back, and Quatre said good-bye. Heero just listened to their retreating footsteps before he sighed and opened the door, groping for lights before remembering that it wouldn't make a difference. He grunted at the habit and shut the door. Kneeling down, he found Shinigami and fumbled to undo her harness.

"Ready for bed?" He asked, and she licked his nose. "Me too."

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"Stop bouncing around, Duo! Sit still, the point is to be inconspicuous!" Duo settled down and leaned over, watching as Heero stopped in front of his building and turned. Two boys came up to him.

"Okay, who are they again?" Wufei frowned, squinting at the two new figures and then taking a sip of his coffee.

"Quatre Rabberba Winner. The son of that ridiculously wealthy family." When Duo nodded emphatically Wufei looked at the other one. "Trowa Barton. Also the son of a wealthy family. They both have known Heero for a long while."

"Friends." Duo stated and nodded approval. "They seem nice enough." He said when he caught Wufei looking at them suspiciously.

"We don't know anything about them, Duo. Anyone could have fixed the plain. But someone close to the family had to know about it. It was completely secret." Duo rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but look at them. Honestly, Wu, you can't read people for your life!" Wufei snorted.

"What can you tell about any of this."

"I can tell you one thing. Sitting in a car or following them around isn't going to get us anywhere..." Wufei looked at his partner nervously.

"Duo, you're not going anywhere near him." Duo raised an eyebrow. "No, Duo. You're not going undercover." A mischievous grin spread over the American's face, "No, Duo. No way! Absolutely not!!"

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The boy rode the bus.

One hand grasped the pole by the door, the other rested on the head of what looked like a German Shepard mix. He was yummmy. Shaggy brown hair lying unruly in front of his face. Hints of what might have been bright exotic eyes were misted slightly.

Duo smiled and watched the blind boy pull the cord requesting his stop, and followed him out. He was looking for an opening, some reason to introduce himself. He vaguely noticed that the brunette had by-passed his home and was walking down the street. Duo flicked a wave at the Chinese boy who was watching the house from his car across the street, and kept moving.

It was cold.

Fall was giving way to winter. Duo pulled his battle-jacket closer around himself. As much as he loved his job he hated the waiting that it so often entailed. If there was one thing Duo Maxwell couldn't stand, it was waiting.

He watched as his target moved into a dense crowd and picked-up his pace, wanting to maintain a visual on the boy, for admittedly more than one reason. He smirked as the shaggy head moved back into view. Then, all at once, it wasn't there.

Duo squinted at the crows then smacked himself in the head, running up to the boy who lay sprawled on the side-walk, shocked and stunned expression written on his face, as the dog barked loudly. "Watch where you're going you asshole!" Duo shouted at whoever it was who had shoved the boy to the ground. "You okay?" He asked as he ran-up. He looked at the German Shepard and ran-through his knowledge of guide-dogs. He vaguely recalled something that said he had to... "Do you need help?"

The boy paused and patted the dog's head. "Please." Duo was surprised, he had been expecting a rebuff, and was already working-out how he could explain the same stranger from the street being...about everywhere the boy went. He caught the hand that was tentatively held in mid-air and pulled the boy gently up. The dog's tail was wagging and Duo chuckled.

"She's beautiful. What's her name?" Here the boy blushed and patted the dog's head again.

"Shinigami." Duo looked up into the soft features of Heero Yuy. Up close, he was stunning.

"Death." Heero shrugged and took hold of her harness, preparing to walk-off. "Wait. Would you and Shinigami want to get a cup of coffee?" The boy paused, a little stunned, no doubt. How often did a complete stranger stop you in the street and ask you to go for a cup of coffee with him.

Shinigami looked at her master questioningly, and Duo got his second surprise for the day, just as Heero was opening his mouth to speak, a voice called out, startling them both.

"Heero! What are you doing here? How are you?" It was the blond, Duo noted, and frowned. "I was just going out for lunch. I can't stand the cafeteria sometimes!" Duo smirked at the petit blond who had a mammoth fortune, and was still eating the crap at the school cafeteria. He mentally reconfigured his opinion of the boy. "Oh. I'm sorry." This was directed to him, and Duo was surprised. "I didn't see you there. I'm Quatre Rabberba Winner." Duo looked at the outstretched hand.

"Duo. Duo Maxwell." Quatre nodded and glanced at Heero, a puzzled look on his face before smiling broadly at Duo.

"How did you meet Heero?" Duo shrugged.

"I didn't, really. Some idiot bowled him over on the street and I came over to see if he was okay." Quatre looked at Heero with concern.

"Are you okay, Heero?" It seemed to Duo that the blond was not asking if he had been hurt in his fall, but of something else. He caught a slight flush to the pale features of the brunette and filed this away. Heero nodded. "Well. I think you should be rewarded for you good deeds. How about some lunch with us?" Duo looked at Heero, wondering if the boy would protest.

"Sure."

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"I don't know how the hell you did that." Duo smirked at his friend.

"Do what?" Wufei scowled.

"Work your way into their group. Within a week, no less." Duo shrugged.

"They're really friendly. Well, Quatre's really friendly. Trowa's extremely protective, and Heero's extremely shy. It was actually pretty easy. Me being extremely outgoing and all." Wufei snorted.

"That being the understatement of the year." He got a punch in the arm for that. "Well, here's your stuff." He passed a small case to the braided boy who looked at him questioningly.

"What stuff?" He looked at the case. "No. No way. I'm not wearing a bug." Wufei looked at his friend with uncertainty.

"Why the hell not?"

"I'm there! If something gets said, then I'll pass it on!" Wufei shook his head.

"Evidence, you dumb-ass!" Duo shook his head. "Look, Duo, I don't know what your problem is, so I'm going to ask you one more time in the hopes that you've just forgotten yourself. Please put-on the bug." Duo shook his head and Wufei lost patience. "These people are not your friends, Duo! You are an undercover agent working for Preventers!" Duo scowled.

"I'm going to say this one more time, in the hopes that you have just were too deaf to hear me." Wufei was startled. He had never heard Duo speak with such a low, calm and deadly voice. "I'm not wearing a bug. I'm not betraying their trust. I'm here to protect Heero, not gather evidence on him." Wufei sighed. The boy was right. Technically it was Wufei's job to do the reconnaissance and Duo's job to guard the boy. It wasn't as if the bug were completely necessary, he had already bugged the boy's house and tapped the phone. But somehow having Duo choose Heero and his friends over Wufei and his work hurt.

"Fine." He acquiesced. And Duo nodded once, before opening the car door and getting out. Stretching once before slamming the door closed and jogging across the street. Up to the familiar building that Wufei had basically been watching for two weeks.

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"You have a cat? Since when do you have a cat?" As Duo made his way into the loft, following Trowa who had let him in, they heard Quatre's shocked voice.

"I found him." Duo smiled. There was a defensive pout on Heero's face that was absolutely adorable. "He doesn't bother Shini-chan, and he had no place to go." Quatre chuckled.

"God, Heero. Using that mentality you're going to own half the animals in this city! Nothing bothers Shini-chan, she's an angel!" Heero flushed and continued to scratch behind the ear of his dog, whose head was resting on his knee. Duo smiled and caught Trowa's attention. "Camera?" He mouthed, and Trowa smirked, making his way to a dresser by the wall and pulled one out. Tossing it to Duo who happily took the picture.

"I heard that." Heero muttered. "I don't appreciate you snapping photos of me without telling me.

"Sorry Heero, but really, if I had told you that sweet expression would have left your face! And that's why I wanted the photo in the first place." Trowa shook his head. There was a quiet ping, and Trowa looked up.

"Dinner's ready." Duo watched Heero rise and make his way over to the table. He was startled out of his appreciation of the boy by a strange sinister call. "What the hell is that?" He called, and Quatre looked at the window.

"A crow?" Duo looked to where Quatre pointed and squinted.

"Nope. That's definitely a raven." There was a plunk and both boys turned to see Heero, flushed slightly and picking up his glass of water where he had dropped it. "You okay, Heero?" The boy nodded vaguely and Trowa came over to clean up the mess, brushing off the murmured apology.

"How do you know it's a raven? I mean, you don't see them around here that often." Duo shrugged.

"Trust me. When I was a kid my dad used to take me out all the time. We had this little cottage out in the country, and my dad loved birds. He would always take me into different places to bird watch. I've stared at so many of those things, close-up and at a distance I can definitely tell." Duo snorted. "Once there was this time when we were out hiking and we were looking for a penguin. Because penguins were my favourite bird and I've always wanted to see one. He didn't tell me that they weren't from this area, he humoured me. We were out walking for hours. I was sorta sad, cause I didn't get to see a penguin, and he says to me that one day, I will get to see one. And then a bird landed on his head and pooped on him." Duo shook his head. "That's supposed to be good luck, or so he said. But when I was fourteen, on my birthday, my dad gave me a ticket to fly to the arctic and see the penguins." He sighed, remembering that moment before he looked up to catch Quatre's eye, but realized the blond was staring at Heero. Duo, puzzled, glanced over and saw Trowa equally paused, looking at his friend with uncertainty.

When Duo finally looked at Heero, the boy was sitting still, but he was shaking slightly. "You okay, Heero?" He asked, seriously concerned. He had never seen that look on the boy's face. Heero shook his head slowly.

"Excuse me." He said, and calmly stood. He walked to the bedroom on his own, though Shinigami resolutely followed, and then he shut the door. Duo frowned.

"What did I say?" Quatre sighed, motioning that they should sit in the living room.

"Heero wasn't always blind." Quatre sighed, and rubbed his forehead. Duo tried to look shocked. In truth, he had never heard much about the Yuy crash. As far as he knew, everyone had died. He had never heard of the existence of Heero, and as far as he knew the boy could have been blind since birth. Rich families usually hid children that were viewed to be defective in one way or another.

"What happened?" He asked, both eager and hesitant to learn more.

"It was his eighteenth birthday and his parents had organized a trip to the Caribbean. They had been visiting L7, you know that colony where it's pretty much always winter? It was one of the first colonies made, so they didn't have the weather regulations totally prepared. Anyway, pretty much it's always cold, and in some spots, there is permanent snow everywhere. So you can imagine, it was a relief to be leaving that behind." Duo nodded. He hated the cold.

"When they were getting ready to leave, his sister, Relena, suddenly starts sneezing and she's beat red. It was the fastest anyone has ever gotten sick, but it was pretty bad, so she was going to stay home. Heero was going to postpone the trip, he and Relena were still pretty close at that point, but then Zechs..." Quatre clenched his fists and turned away. Duo was startled, there was actual anger in the blonde's soft features. Trowa saw it too and continued the story.

"Zechs, Heero's older brother by about six years, started a fight. He and Heero never got along." There was a snort from the blonde, which startled Duo because it seemed so out of place coming from the soft-spoken polite boy.

"Why?" Duo asked, filing this all away in his head.

"Both of Heero's parents favoured Heero. He wasn't spoiled like Relena or greedy and moody like Zechs. Heero was really...happy. And Zechs would always pick on him because he knew that their parents favoured Heero." Duo shook his head, wondering what kinds of things Heero had to put-up with from his older brother. "Mr. Yuy got so frustrated with Zechs, and Mrs. Yuy was so upset that Heero's birthday was essentially ruined that they grabbed him and left."

"It was the right thing to do." Quatre muttered. He was shaking a little. "It was the right thing to do, but it went wrong." Duo frowned, unsure if he wanted to hear more.

"It was a family trip, so Heero's grandparents were there. Before they even got out of the colony the plain experienced difficulties and it crashed. Everyone was dead. Everyone, except Heero. It was freezing cold, the plain had gone down on a mountain area where there was permafrost. In the middle of a blizzard no less. It took a long while for the rescue crew to find the plain, and when they did, they were pretty sure Heero wouldn't make it."

"It was awful." Quatre muttered, clutching the shirt by his chest as if he himself had experienced the pain. "They said Heero had been conscious after the plain went down. Just enough time to get free of the wreck. When we saw him there was blood all over him. He was probably trying to figure-out where he was, what had happened. But he couldn't see..." Duo sat back in his chair, wondering what that would be like. Freezing, alone, and blind. Shaking the corpses of your family, praying that one of them could be there for you.

"I should go talk to him." He walked over the bedroom door and knocked twice before letting himself in. Closing the door behind him.

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"Raven." Heero sighed and opened his eyes. Looking at her directly. "Raven." She called again and he frowned.

"What?" She smiled.

"You followed your heart." He looked away. "Keep following it. Don't ever doubt. Remember my gift to you." He frowned, wondering if she meant the necklace only. He nodded and she laughed. "Sweet child, you know I am here for you."

"But I don't even know who you are." She shrugged.

"Would it make a difference?" He thought about it, and shook his head. A label would be all she could give him, for that was, in a way, all that a name was. He knew that she had been there, always been there for him. And she would always be there for him. That was enough.

"You have questions." He nodded. "Keep them. Keep them inside and let them burn a little bit. Just enough. And don't ever doubt what your heart tells you." He nodded and she reached out a hand, stroking his cheek softly. It felt like coming home. He had missed this feeling of being loved absolutely.

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Duo sat on the bed and looked down at the sleeping boy. He had tried to talk to Heero, but it was clear that bringing-up the crash or anything about his family was far too painful, so Duo had settled for trying to tell him jokes, and Heero had fallen asleep to his constant prattle about too many things.

Duo smiled. "You are beautiful." He whispered, raising a tentative hand and stroking the pale cheek. To his surprise the boy sighed and leaned in to the caress. "Beautiful and too damn sexy for you own good. I'm going to go crazy before I figure-out your mystery." He stood and smiled. "But that sure as hell isn't going to stop me."



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TBC



Jessenia: So, comments? Anything? Please? If you have questions, please email them to me so I can give you a direct response because I've found that when I answer questions in this space, nobody bothers to look for their answers.

little_shaman29@yahoo.ca

I hope you're all enjoying!!