Intruder at the Gates3; "Goin' Home, But Not With a Parting Gift"
"What? Duo... I can't leave. I don't belong in any other world; I don't {exist} in any other world." Setsuna said quietly.
"So, you've never left this place before?" Duo said dejectedly. He tried to hide his disappointment, but it was evident.
"No, I have... but only on a need-to basis. I can't just leave this place for pleasure, it is my duty." Setsuna said softly as her eyes fell deeply and irreversibly into Duo's eyes. She hated to see him so sad. It looked wrong on him, that only a smile should be there. And oddly, Duo's eyes brightened as he thought.
"But you can leave then, right? I mean, you would feel it if something was going down here, wouldn't you? Yeah? If you can return anytime, then come back with me. Please?" Duo watched her violet eyes change from soft, unsure, to void.
"All right, I'll go with you." She said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. Duo smiled, assuring Setsuna of her decision. His smile was warm as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. To that, she loved, resting her head against his chest. Standing in his arms, listening to Duo's rhythmic heart beat, Setsuna began to feel stronger in her decision. Something about listening to the life of his heart, knowing and feeling another life... was such a comparison to all the bleak death that was the Time Gates. It was comforting to know her life wasn't alone. Duo was right; she didn't have to be alone anymore. And to him Setsuna felt she owed him her heart. Breathing in Duo's sweet metallic scent, she lifted her gaze to his; a single, unsure tear fell. Duo's large hand gently touched her cheek, caressing the tear and worry away.
"It'll be all right, trust me." He said softly.
"When will we leave...?" She asked, smiling.
"Now's never the better!" He said, always happy. Setsuna nodded and left the safety of Duo's arms, walking over to the gate. She lifted here staff and placed the end in a key hole, turning the staff. The doors slowly creaked open as Setsuna pulled away her garnet staff. Duo walked up behind her and looped an arm around Setsuna's waist. Such a perfect fit.
"How will we find your dimension?"
Duo laughed. "I found this place on accident, I'm sure I can "accidentally" find our way back!" Setsuna laughed with him as the Gate shut behind them, locking. Standing deserted, a hollow wind blew through the gate.
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"Heero, it's been four days and Duo still hasn't come back from the grocery store! Something must have happened!" Quatre fretted as he paced behind the couch that Heero placidly sat on. Heero's eyes briefly flickered from his lap top to Quatre, then back again.
"He must have been captured by the enemy." Heero said flatly. Wufei, sitting alone in a large red armoire chair, polishing his katana, snorted.
"Wake up Yui, tha war is over. He wasn't captured; Maxwell must have simply been robbed by a couple whores and dumped by the side of some road. He'll find his way home eventually. Don't worry." Wufei grunted. Quatre's attention was then snagged by Trowa's silence.
Trowa sat in silence in a separate chair, eyes focused on the newspaper in front of him. Trowa's eyes didn't move, his mouth didn't open, but still the platinum haired man nodded in acknowledgment.
"Yes Trowa, I agree. Duo is a bit more responsible than that. He would actually be more likely to bring the prostitutes home." Quatre said.
The four pilots heard a door downstairs open the slam shut. Duo was home. The four all turned their attention and gaze to the door, waiting for it to swing open and their cheery friend to poke his head through the door. Just as predicted, the door creaked open, and Duo's head made and appearance.
"Hiya! I'm back guys, and you won't believe who I have with me!" His excited voice chirped at them. They rolled their eyes at the redundancy of the conversation not minutes earlier.
"Duo, we've told you before, no more prostitutes! This isn't the place for that!" Quatre said, trying to sound firm. Duo leveled his eyes at them in a steep glare.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. I mean, really. Noooooo, she's not a hooker, she's far more important than that. Guys, may I introduce you to Setsuna!" Duo almost sang as he opened the door the rest of the way, revealing a slightly uncomfortable guardian of time. Quatre naturally greeted her warmly; Trowa nodded to her, Wufei grunted and Heero ignored her. It was Duo's turn to roll his eyes. He then took Setsuna by the hand and led her to his room.
"Aight', let's get you out of that Senshi fuku and into normal time cloths!" Duo said as he rummaged through his dresser drawers. He pulled out a red silk blouse, then left the room for a moment. When Duo returned he carried a pair of black jeans that had once belonged to one of Quatre's sisters. Setsuna then thanked Duo, taking the cloths and changed in a bathroom. When she came out Duo beamed. The pants fit perfectly and the blouse looked great.
"Apologies for how my pals acted, they don't exactly know how to talk to people. I shoulda' briefed you on them before I introduced you to them. Heero is... well... I don't know, but Quatre is actually fine, Wufei is a sexist... something to do with a dead wife... and Trowa is just quiet. He doesn't use words anymore since we all understand what his silence means. I really thought I was psychic for a while. But... uh... I'm not."
Setsuna laughed. "It's fine Duo." She said. Her eyes then analyzed him for a brief moment. "They don't know you're Shinigami, do they Duo?" Duo seemed surprised, but then laughed.
"Heh, nope. I guess I like it that way though. How'd you know?"
"I would think that any mortal would have some fear or respect for the Grim Reaper, eh? I mean, from what I've heard so far." She said stepping over to Duo. She gently placed her hand on Duo's cheeks. "Why? How could you be happy with that?"
"Well", Duo said as he placed his hand over Setsuna's, "they're all so... tense, high strung and stiff. Before I met them, they didn't laugh, and after the war, they needed one. Something to relax them. Or someone to jest at or vent on. So why be another serious war vet? That's the last thing they need, aside form another war."
Setsuna smiled at him and removed her hands from his cheek as Wufei's angry voice summoned them to dinner. "Lead the way..." She said lightly. Duo smiled at her, took her hand and found the way to the dining room.
When they arrived, another woman was seated beside Heero. For a while they dined in silence, unsure of the new face. Quatre despised the lack of friendliness.
"So... Miss Setsuna... we never introduced you to Miss Relena. She's the queen of Earth. Miss Relena, this is Miss Setsuna." Quatre said timidly. Relena sniffed and raised her nose to the air. Setsuna scowled. No one could {ever} replace her Queen Serenity. This was just some politic. The two women exchanged no words. Dejectedly, Quatre tried again for more conversation.
"So... Miss Setsuna... what do you do for a living?" he asked. Duo quickly perked up form his meal.
"She's a—
"Fashion designer." Setsuna quickly interjected, cutting Duo off. Now Relena looked interested.
"Oh really? Could you make me an outfit for my next meeting tomorrow? Or better yet, you could make me an entire wardrobe!" Relena said quickly, suddenly smiling and taking interest and holding out her hand. Setsuna scowled at her, unable to see her fit to be queen of anything. She didn't meet Relena's hand, but instead gave her an icy stare.
"I have more pressing things to do than to dress you." Her voice was like steel. Relena was outraged at the impudence of this foreigner.
"Heero! How dare you let her address me like that! Shoot her, shoot her!" She squealed, adopting a high pitch, whiny voice. Duo glanced around nervously as he saw Heero's hand reflexively move towards his gun. Quickly standing up Duo pulled Setsuna up with her.
"Well, dinner was great Q-tip, we'll be off now." Duo said, his voice slightly panicky. He slipped an arm around Setsuna's waist and quickly escorted her form the dinning room to his bedroom.
"Hey, what's with the eyes of steel? Huh?"
"Relena is no queen. My princess Serenity is the only Queen of Earth. Relena is just a politic, not fit to be a leader."
Duo laughed. "Don't get all defensive, aight'? Yeah, Relena's not the world's greatest, but she's all we got. So make nice? Huh?"
Setsuna couldn't help but a little smile. "Sorry, I'll try." She leaned against Duo, placing her head under his chin, breathing in his sweet metallic scent. She closed her eyes as Duo wrapped his arms around her. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy. Managing the transition between the Time Gates and the time of a reality was a bitch.
Duo's heart suddenly began pounding in his head. Slowly, Duo lowered his head to kiss her, but stopped. Setsuna had drifted off into a slumber. He smiled, holding her to him. He could feel her breath against his heart. Her hand loosely gripped his shirt, her head to his heart. Setsuna's hair was falling out of it's bun. Duo let all of her hair down. He green hair swept in front of her face, emphasizing the pale colour of her skin. The moment was perfect to Duo, perfect in his arms. Sad to break the moment, yet sure she would wake up in pain, Duo swept her off of her feet and placed her on his bed. Almost hesitantly, Duo lay down behind her, draping an arm over her waist. Soon Duo's mind had wandered off into his own dreamland...
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Setsuna lifted her weighted eyelids, her bleary violet eyes gazing around the foreign darkness. She felt her warm long hair cascading around her. She pondered briefly that her hair was down, and then sat up. Duo's hand that had gone unnoticed then slid from her waist down her thigh. Her eyes followed the arm to Duo, sleeping peacefully behind her. Blushing slightly, Setsuna quickly stood up and left the room. Wandering aimlessly through the mansion she came to a closed door with a faint glow of light behind it. Gently wrapping on the door, Setsuna stepped inside the room.
It was the kitchen much to Setsuna's stomach's pleasure. Over to her left were cabinets, a sink, refrigerator, and a table. To her right was a fluffy red armoire and a couch, a low glass coffee table between the couch and chair. On the couch sat a placid Trowa, reading a book, a small porcelain tea cup perfectly balanced on his knee. His gentle green eyes looked p and met hers.
"Hello." He said simply. Setsuna gave him smile and nod, then walked over to the stove.
"May I make some tea?" She asked, not wanting to intrude upon their home.
"Of course, I've already made some Yerba Mate if you're interested. Join me." Trowa said, his voice tone warming up a bit. Pouring herself a cup of tea Setsuna took a seat on the chair and crossed her legs. A comfortable silence passed between them. Something did plague each of their minds though.
"You care strongly for Duo, don't you?" Trowa said, ending the silence.
Setsuna thought for a moment, then answered. "Well... I've been around many people... no one I have ever met is like him... no one has ever before made me feel comfortable. Like for a moment, I can forget who I am, or the things I have to do or have done. And he makes me laugh... laugh at nothing at all sometimes. Though... he was never the type of person I saw myself spending the rest of my life with... if ever at all." She said finally.
"Who then?" Trowa asked. Setsuna looked away fro a moment, then back at him.
"Well, maybe this is bold of me to say, someone like you. I mean that with no implications, of course."
Trowa's eyes flickered with surprise for an instant, then returned to monotone. Nothing more was said as the two finished their tea, again lapsing into comfortable silence...
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Duo's eye twitched, then he rolled over to an empty space. His eyes then finally opened remembering the spot where Setsuna used to lay. He got up, his mind still fuzzy form sleep and wandered down the hall. Hearing a clang of metal Duo began in the direction of the noise that obtruded the silence of night. When Duo came to the closed door he could hear Wufei grunting as more metal sounded. Grinning, Duo barged in, taking the angry pilot by surprise. Wufei was practicing with his katana against a positioned manikin.
"Hey Wufei, what's goin' on?"
"Hello Maxwell, why are you here—did you really just call me by my full name?" Wufei said wide eyed, setting down his katana. "What's wrong?" Duo blinked, surprised with himself.
"Well, I did just wake up. Write it off as sleepiness then. Nothing's wrong, have you seen Setsuna?"
Wufei furrowed his brow and analyzed Duo for a quick moment. "Duo, how much does this mean to you?"
Again Duo blinked. "I dunno really. I mean, when we first met I had no idea who she was. But soon, as she talked to me, her eyes opened up and I saw her life in them. And... as I stayed with her, I knew, no, I know, all I wanted was to dry her tears and hold her forever. Make her steel face smile. But... she's not the person I saw myself spending the rest of my life with. I never even imagined loving a person after Hilde. I thought I would always be with someone already happy and bubbly, already smiling. I don't know now..."
"I too thought I would never fall in love with a woman like Nataku. I wanted a placid wife, not some woman running around in battles. And though I haven't fallen in love with anyone else yet, that doesn't mean I never will. My love for this new woman will just be a different love than my love for Nataku. But... you are second guessing yourself Duo. Never do that or you'll live in regret. Be careful Duo... I... I'm... here for you." Wufei said, spitting out his last sentence as thought it pained him to say.
Duo smiled. "Thanks Wu-wu, I'll see ya 'round." Leaving Wufei with his training Duo wandered down the hall towards the kitchen. {"Either love... or not... I don't know... maybe I'm scared to love after Hilde died. Maybe I still miss her bubbly personality."} Duo thought as he walked. And while lost within his thoughts, Duo suddenly bumped into some one. He saw a flash of blond and immediately thought Quatre, but then Quatre never wore his platinum hair in two odangos. And Quatre wasn't a woman either. Say, who was this?
A scared girl with long golden hair pulled into odangos looked up at him with large blue eyes. She let a sound that resembled the noise "eeep" and backed up a bit. Duo blinked for the third time in confusion.
"Um... can I help you?" He asked. The girl looked down, scuffled her foot over the dark carpet, then looked up at him with big, innocent eyes.
"Um... I'm looking for Setsuna. I was told by... Diana... that she would be here... ................
A.N.: Woooohoooo! Finished chapter 3! Only two more to go! Sorry again this took so long guys, I hope you all are still interested. Well, good night, sleep now.............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
"What? Duo... I can't leave. I don't belong in any other world; I don't {exist} in any other world." Setsuna said quietly.
"So, you've never left this place before?" Duo said dejectedly. He tried to hide his disappointment, but it was evident.
"No, I have... but only on a need-to basis. I can't just leave this place for pleasure, it is my duty." Setsuna said softly as her eyes fell deeply and irreversibly into Duo's eyes. She hated to see him so sad. It looked wrong on him, that only a smile should be there. And oddly, Duo's eyes brightened as he thought.
"But you can leave then, right? I mean, you would feel it if something was going down here, wouldn't you? Yeah? If you can return anytime, then come back with me. Please?" Duo watched her violet eyes change from soft, unsure, to void.
"All right, I'll go with you." She said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. Duo smiled, assuring Setsuna of her decision. His smile was warm as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. To that, she loved, resting her head against his chest. Standing in his arms, listening to Duo's rhythmic heart beat, Setsuna began to feel stronger in her decision. Something about listening to the life of his heart, knowing and feeling another life... was such a comparison to all the bleak death that was the Time Gates. It was comforting to know her life wasn't alone. Duo was right; she didn't have to be alone anymore. And to him Setsuna felt she owed him her heart. Breathing in Duo's sweet metallic scent, she lifted her gaze to his; a single, unsure tear fell. Duo's large hand gently touched her cheek, caressing the tear and worry away.
"It'll be all right, trust me." He said softly.
"When will we leave...?" She asked, smiling.
"Now's never the better!" He said, always happy. Setsuna nodded and left the safety of Duo's arms, walking over to the gate. She lifted here staff and placed the end in a key hole, turning the staff. The doors slowly creaked open as Setsuna pulled away her garnet staff. Duo walked up behind her and looped an arm around Setsuna's waist. Such a perfect fit.
"How will we find your dimension?"
Duo laughed. "I found this place on accident, I'm sure I can "accidentally" find our way back!" Setsuna laughed with him as the Gate shut behind them, locking. Standing deserted, a hollow wind blew through the gate.
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"Heero, it's been four days and Duo still hasn't come back from the grocery store! Something must have happened!" Quatre fretted as he paced behind the couch that Heero placidly sat on. Heero's eyes briefly flickered from his lap top to Quatre, then back again.
"He must have been captured by the enemy." Heero said flatly. Wufei, sitting alone in a large red armoire chair, polishing his katana, snorted.
"Wake up Yui, tha war is over. He wasn't captured; Maxwell must have simply been robbed by a couple whores and dumped by the side of some road. He'll find his way home eventually. Don't worry." Wufei grunted. Quatre's attention was then snagged by Trowa's silence.
Trowa sat in silence in a separate chair, eyes focused on the newspaper in front of him. Trowa's eyes didn't move, his mouth didn't open, but still the platinum haired man nodded in acknowledgment.
"Yes Trowa, I agree. Duo is a bit more responsible than that. He would actually be more likely to bring the prostitutes home." Quatre said.
The four pilots heard a door downstairs open the slam shut. Duo was home. The four all turned their attention and gaze to the door, waiting for it to swing open and their cheery friend to poke his head through the door. Just as predicted, the door creaked open, and Duo's head made and appearance.
"Hiya! I'm back guys, and you won't believe who I have with me!" His excited voice chirped at them. They rolled their eyes at the redundancy of the conversation not minutes earlier.
"Duo, we've told you before, no more prostitutes! This isn't the place for that!" Quatre said, trying to sound firm. Duo leveled his eyes at them in a steep glare.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. I mean, really. Noooooo, she's not a hooker, she's far more important than that. Guys, may I introduce you to Setsuna!" Duo almost sang as he opened the door the rest of the way, revealing a slightly uncomfortable guardian of time. Quatre naturally greeted her warmly; Trowa nodded to her, Wufei grunted and Heero ignored her. It was Duo's turn to roll his eyes. He then took Setsuna by the hand and led her to his room.
"Aight', let's get you out of that Senshi fuku and into normal time cloths!" Duo said as he rummaged through his dresser drawers. He pulled out a red silk blouse, then left the room for a moment. When Duo returned he carried a pair of black jeans that had once belonged to one of Quatre's sisters. Setsuna then thanked Duo, taking the cloths and changed in a bathroom. When she came out Duo beamed. The pants fit perfectly and the blouse looked great.
"Apologies for how my pals acted, they don't exactly know how to talk to people. I shoulda' briefed you on them before I introduced you to them. Heero is... well... I don't know, but Quatre is actually fine, Wufei is a sexist... something to do with a dead wife... and Trowa is just quiet. He doesn't use words anymore since we all understand what his silence means. I really thought I was psychic for a while. But... uh... I'm not."
Setsuna laughed. "It's fine Duo." She said. Her eyes then analyzed him for a brief moment. "They don't know you're Shinigami, do they Duo?" Duo seemed surprised, but then laughed.
"Heh, nope. I guess I like it that way though. How'd you know?"
"I would think that any mortal would have some fear or respect for the Grim Reaper, eh? I mean, from what I've heard so far." She said stepping over to Duo. She gently placed her hand on Duo's cheeks. "Why? How could you be happy with that?"
"Well", Duo said as he placed his hand over Setsuna's, "they're all so... tense, high strung and stiff. Before I met them, they didn't laugh, and after the war, they needed one. Something to relax them. Or someone to jest at or vent on. So why be another serious war vet? That's the last thing they need, aside form another war."
Setsuna smiled at him and removed her hands from his cheek as Wufei's angry voice summoned them to dinner. "Lead the way..." She said lightly. Duo smiled at her, took her hand and found the way to the dining room.
When they arrived, another woman was seated beside Heero. For a while they dined in silence, unsure of the new face. Quatre despised the lack of friendliness.
"So... Miss Setsuna... we never introduced you to Miss Relena. She's the queen of Earth. Miss Relena, this is Miss Setsuna." Quatre said timidly. Relena sniffed and raised her nose to the air. Setsuna scowled. No one could {ever} replace her Queen Serenity. This was just some politic. The two women exchanged no words. Dejectedly, Quatre tried again for more conversation.
"So... Miss Setsuna... what do you do for a living?" he asked. Duo quickly perked up form his meal.
"She's a—
"Fashion designer." Setsuna quickly interjected, cutting Duo off. Now Relena looked interested.
"Oh really? Could you make me an outfit for my next meeting tomorrow? Or better yet, you could make me an entire wardrobe!" Relena said quickly, suddenly smiling and taking interest and holding out her hand. Setsuna scowled at her, unable to see her fit to be queen of anything. She didn't meet Relena's hand, but instead gave her an icy stare.
"I have more pressing things to do than to dress you." Her voice was like steel. Relena was outraged at the impudence of this foreigner.
"Heero! How dare you let her address me like that! Shoot her, shoot her!" She squealed, adopting a high pitch, whiny voice. Duo glanced around nervously as he saw Heero's hand reflexively move towards his gun. Quickly standing up Duo pulled Setsuna up with her.
"Well, dinner was great Q-tip, we'll be off now." Duo said, his voice slightly panicky. He slipped an arm around Setsuna's waist and quickly escorted her form the dinning room to his bedroom.
"Hey, what's with the eyes of steel? Huh?"
"Relena is no queen. My princess Serenity is the only Queen of Earth. Relena is just a politic, not fit to be a leader."
Duo laughed. "Don't get all defensive, aight'? Yeah, Relena's not the world's greatest, but she's all we got. So make nice? Huh?"
Setsuna couldn't help but a little smile. "Sorry, I'll try." She leaned against Duo, placing her head under his chin, breathing in his sweet metallic scent. She closed her eyes as Duo wrapped his arms around her. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy. Managing the transition between the Time Gates and the time of a reality was a bitch.
Duo's heart suddenly began pounding in his head. Slowly, Duo lowered his head to kiss her, but stopped. Setsuna had drifted off into a slumber. He smiled, holding her to him. He could feel her breath against his heart. Her hand loosely gripped his shirt, her head to his heart. Setsuna's hair was falling out of it's bun. Duo let all of her hair down. He green hair swept in front of her face, emphasizing the pale colour of her skin. The moment was perfect to Duo, perfect in his arms. Sad to break the moment, yet sure she would wake up in pain, Duo swept her off of her feet and placed her on his bed. Almost hesitantly, Duo lay down behind her, draping an arm over her waist. Soon Duo's mind had wandered off into his own dreamland...
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Setsuna lifted her weighted eyelids, her bleary violet eyes gazing around the foreign darkness. She felt her warm long hair cascading around her. She pondered briefly that her hair was down, and then sat up. Duo's hand that had gone unnoticed then slid from her waist down her thigh. Her eyes followed the arm to Duo, sleeping peacefully behind her. Blushing slightly, Setsuna quickly stood up and left the room. Wandering aimlessly through the mansion she came to a closed door with a faint glow of light behind it. Gently wrapping on the door, Setsuna stepped inside the room.
It was the kitchen much to Setsuna's stomach's pleasure. Over to her left were cabinets, a sink, refrigerator, and a table. To her right was a fluffy red armoire and a couch, a low glass coffee table between the couch and chair. On the couch sat a placid Trowa, reading a book, a small porcelain tea cup perfectly balanced on his knee. His gentle green eyes looked p and met hers.
"Hello." He said simply. Setsuna gave him smile and nod, then walked over to the stove.
"May I make some tea?" She asked, not wanting to intrude upon their home.
"Of course, I've already made some Yerba Mate if you're interested. Join me." Trowa said, his voice tone warming up a bit. Pouring herself a cup of tea Setsuna took a seat on the chair and crossed her legs. A comfortable silence passed between them. Something did plague each of their minds though.
"You care strongly for Duo, don't you?" Trowa said, ending the silence.
Setsuna thought for a moment, then answered. "Well... I've been around many people... no one I have ever met is like him... no one has ever before made me feel comfortable. Like for a moment, I can forget who I am, or the things I have to do or have done. And he makes me laugh... laugh at nothing at all sometimes. Though... he was never the type of person I saw myself spending the rest of my life with... if ever at all." She said finally.
"Who then?" Trowa asked. Setsuna looked away fro a moment, then back at him.
"Well, maybe this is bold of me to say, someone like you. I mean that with no implications, of course."
Trowa's eyes flickered with surprise for an instant, then returned to monotone. Nothing more was said as the two finished their tea, again lapsing into comfortable silence...
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Duo's eye twitched, then he rolled over to an empty space. His eyes then finally opened remembering the spot where Setsuna used to lay. He got up, his mind still fuzzy form sleep and wandered down the hall. Hearing a clang of metal Duo began in the direction of the noise that obtruded the silence of night. When Duo came to the closed door he could hear Wufei grunting as more metal sounded. Grinning, Duo barged in, taking the angry pilot by surprise. Wufei was practicing with his katana against a positioned manikin.
"Hey Wufei, what's goin' on?"
"Hello Maxwell, why are you here—did you really just call me by my full name?" Wufei said wide eyed, setting down his katana. "What's wrong?" Duo blinked, surprised with himself.
"Well, I did just wake up. Write it off as sleepiness then. Nothing's wrong, have you seen Setsuna?"
Wufei furrowed his brow and analyzed Duo for a quick moment. "Duo, how much does this mean to you?"
Again Duo blinked. "I dunno really. I mean, when we first met I had no idea who she was. But soon, as she talked to me, her eyes opened up and I saw her life in them. And... as I stayed with her, I knew, no, I know, all I wanted was to dry her tears and hold her forever. Make her steel face smile. But... she's not the person I saw myself spending the rest of my life with. I never even imagined loving a person after Hilde. I thought I would always be with someone already happy and bubbly, already smiling. I don't know now..."
"I too thought I would never fall in love with a woman like Nataku. I wanted a placid wife, not some woman running around in battles. And though I haven't fallen in love with anyone else yet, that doesn't mean I never will. My love for this new woman will just be a different love than my love for Nataku. But... you are second guessing yourself Duo. Never do that or you'll live in regret. Be careful Duo... I... I'm... here for you." Wufei said, spitting out his last sentence as thought it pained him to say.
Duo smiled. "Thanks Wu-wu, I'll see ya 'round." Leaving Wufei with his training Duo wandered down the hall towards the kitchen. {"Either love... or not... I don't know... maybe I'm scared to love after Hilde died. Maybe I still miss her bubbly personality."} Duo thought as he walked. And while lost within his thoughts, Duo suddenly bumped into some one. He saw a flash of blond and immediately thought Quatre, but then Quatre never wore his platinum hair in two odangos. And Quatre wasn't a woman either. Say, who was this?
A scared girl with long golden hair pulled into odangos looked up at him with large blue eyes. She let a sound that resembled the noise "eeep" and backed up a bit. Duo blinked for the third time in confusion.
"Um... can I help you?" He asked. The girl looked down, scuffled her foot over the dark carpet, then looked up at him with big, innocent eyes.
"Um... I'm looking for Setsuna. I was told by... Diana... that she would be here... ................
A.N.: Woooohoooo! Finished chapter 3! Only two more to go! Sorry again this took so long guys, I hope you all are still interested. Well, good night, sleep now.............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz