NOT FORGOTTEN

"Hello Heero," his voice sounded odd, distant to his own ears, cut off from reality. He couldn't believe he was talking to Heero fucking Yuy.

"Duo?" came the hard voice of his former lover, with the barest hint of a question behind his name.

"That's me, Hee-chan." was the falsely bright answer.

"Why are you here?" growled Heero softly, his quiet voice coldly emphasizing the dangerous edge behind his question. An accusation flamed in his usually frozen eyes.

"I--" he wasn't sure why he was here, but Heero was staring at him and he obviously expected an answer. "I came home for a while, to… you know… check up on things…" he said lamely.

That threw Heero off, but he only grunted and turned to go into his room abruptly. "You should go." he called back over his shoulder, ignoring Duo's outraged shout behind him. "This isn't home anymore, Duo."

"Yeah, I can see that." 'you bastard!!!' he glared contemptuously at the beer bottles, but he refused to leave now. It was so much farther than he'd gotten before. "Why should I leave?" he was afraid for Heero, though he'd never admit it. The drugs, the hard set of the other man's jaw, it just made him want to scream. It was so familiar. He'd played out this little scene so many times before. "Why do you want me to leave so soon? I don't have anywhere else to go."

"That's not my problem, now is it? You should have thought of that before you came here. Did you think I'd take you back like that, without question?" The words were scornful, and hurt. "You're leaving because I have… company coming over." Heero shivered slightly, eyes going harder and blanker still. It took Duo a moment to recognize the drained voice, and when he did, he wished hat he hadn't. It was like Wufei all over again. He looked like Wufei had when they'd found him lying there on the OZ building floor, beaten and unconscious. He hadn't spoken for weeks. Even when he'd started talking again, it had been a long time before he'd told anyone what had happened in there. "What kind of company?" Duo asked stubbornly.

"I… just go damnit! I don't want you to get hurt." he willed with his eyes that Duo understand him and leave him to handle it on his own. He couldn't afford to let Duo get involved in this mess. The stakes were too high.

Duo nodded , looking a little frightened, and made his way to the door. He caught Heero's gaze forcefully, and in fierce whisper said, "Alright, I'll leave, but I'm not walking out on you again. I'll be back. We have to talk, Heero Yuy." At Heero's barely-perceptible nod, Duo stepped outside, closing the door gently behind him, fear for his one-time lover making him numb.

Crouching silently behind a bush, Duo had the perfect vantage point from which to watch Heero's door. It surprised him that Heero could so easily fall prey to the dangers of the real world when nothing could have touched him during the war. It shocked him that someone so perfect could do something so stupid as to not realize how tantalizing a target he made on his own. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to explain how these things worked, but Heero could be a stubborn fool sometimes. Peering through the dusk he watched with narrowed eyes as a leather-clad young man, brutally handsome, made his way towards the house Heero was living in. His black trench coat flared out behind him as he walked, revealing skintight pants and a mesh shirt, spikes glittering wickedly off of his throat and wrists. Black nail polish, lipstick and heavy kohl finished off the effect, and Duo realized exactly what kind of attention Heero had been drawing. 'Damn Yuy, got yourself in some deep shit this time, huh?' He shivered. He had known people like that, and all of them were bad news, especially for someone like Heero. He wished guiltily that he had prepared Heero better before he left him. But at the same time a little voice was shouting about how unfair it all was. He had left Heero because he was going slowly insane. The other boy didn't show him any affection what-so-ever outside of bed, and it had been getting harder and harder to deal with the loneliness living with his lover was causing him. Duo had craved love above all things when he had been a pilot, and Heero knew it. His treatment of Duo had hurt the other boy beyond belief after he'd gone out of his way to show how much he cared. How much he loved, for that matter.

Still, all things considered, he felt responsible for the threat on Heero's doorstep. To people like that, Heero's silent attitude was a blatant challenge. One that couldn't be ignored since it happened to have the added bonus of a pretty new face.

Duo saw the dark figure open the door without knocking and enter, closing the door forcefully, like a warning-bell. He crawled along beside the house and stopped under a window. Listening with his breath held he winced as a crash and then an angry voice filtered through the open window. He heard Heero say something softly, but couldn't make out what it was, and then the sound of Heero getting beat up. He almost breathed easier, because if Heero was getting beat up, at least he wasn't getting raped. But then the sounds he'd feared most; "Slut," said a rough voice that made his skin crawl and burn. Heero landed on the bed heavily, right under the window where Duo was crouched. A low whimper turned into a moan and then Duo heard a broken litany of begging. He didn't know how long he'd been crouched their, listening, but it hadn't been that long, he was sure, and it scared him that Heero broke that easily. He'd never heard him beg before and it was terrifying. "Stop… please… I won't do it again…. No… ahhh! I promise! I… please… yokereba... Suru no o yameru sore… yokereba… Itaiiii!!! Ahhh!!! Chikusho!!! Aitsume baka!!!"

"Shuddup, you stupid whore!"

"Itaii!!!" Heero screamed in Japanese, and Duo knew it to be an exclamation of extreme pain in Heero's native language. Not that he really needed to translate. He winced as he heard the sound of something ripping and another scream, cut off abruptly. Now all he could hear was a low keening whimper that made him cringe. He realized belatedly that Heero must have been gagged. It hurt to know what was going on and that he could do nothing but wait until it was over. He listened carefully, until he heard the satisfied sigh as the other man climaxed. Then the sounds of him getting dressed over the top of quiet sobs coming from Heero, who was closer to the window. Duo silently wished the man a happy stay in Hell when he got his hands on the bastard. He heard the heavy thud of the man's boots as he retreated after getting dressed. The smell of blood made Duo want to be sick. The memories almost overwhelmed him. He remembered the smell of blood, more than anything else. And he remembered the broken pleading and the sobs afterwards, just hoping the pain would go away soon, happy at least that it was over for now. Afraid that if he breathed the pain would return again. Hoping that maybe he could just stop breathing, let it all disappear. Nothing could erase those scars, those memories from him, no matter how much he tried to forget.

Moments later the man reappeared out the front door and went the opposite direction he had come. Gritting his teeth Duo stood slowly and went into the house.

Hesitantly he stood outside of the bedroom, but when he didn't hear any movement he pushed the door open and entered hurriedly, before he could lose his nerve.

"Bloody fucking hell, Yuy!" was the only thing his fogged mind could come up with.