Notes: Enter the cat! All the Japanese words used in this chapter are correct to my knowledge, using freedirect.com, so if they are wrong, don't yell at me. Enjoy and review!
Duo slept until ten o'clock, and even then it was only because I woke him. I was loathe to do so, but knew that we couldn't just spend the day in bed. It took him a few minutes to wake up, and when he finally did, he looked at me with the sweetest, sleepy little smile.
"Thanks for listening," he whispered, and placed a soft kiss on my lips, before getting up and getting changed. He dressed in some loose black jeans and a black tee shirt.
I saw him reach for his other bag, the one where he kept the majority of his weapons, and then stopped, hand hovering in mid-air. I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do. The moment seemed to last forever, before he slowly withdrew his hand and left his weapons where they were. He sighed, and his head fell forward, shoulders slumping.
Silently, I slid out of the bed and knelt down behind him, embracing him gently. "It's alright, Duo," I whispered.
He clung to me like he had been doing so much lately and I felt a tremor run through his body. "I'm sorry, Heero."
"There's nothing to be sorry for, Duo. You've done nothing wrong."
"Why can't I do this, Heero? Why can't I be strong?"
"You are strong, love. You're the strongest person I know. All this doesn't make you weak."
"It... it doesn't?" I could hear the uncertainty in his voice, hear the desperate need for my respect. Didn't he know that he'd had it since the moment he first shot me?
"No, it doesn't." At a slightly lame attempt at humour I added, "Wufei would be the first to tell you if you were being weak."
Lame attempt or not, I got a laugh, and I felt him relax. "Thank you, Heero."
"You're welcome, love." Kissing the back of his neck, I stood up and quickly dressed in some jeans and a tank top, and then hesitated. Duo didn't like me being armed, but I didn't like being unarmed. What was more important to me: Duo or being armed? The answer was obvious, and I walked downstairs with Duo.
We found everyone in the kitchen. Trowa was washing the dishes, Quatre was drying, and Wufei was helping fold the laundry with Marianne. Marianne looked at us and smiled.
"Well, you two seem a lot better than yesterday. I'm afraid we've already had breakfast, but you're free to make yourself some cereal or something."
"Uh, I'd rather just have a coffee," Duo muttered, and I frowned at him.
"Duo, you need more than that. How about some toast?"
"Yeuch."
"Oatmeal?"
"Yeuch."
"Fry-up?"
"Yeuch."
"Duo, you say yeuch one more time and I'm gonna get pissed. You have to eat something. Now what would you like?"
He frowned and then sighed. "Apple?"
"And something else."
"Potato chips?"
"Duo."
He sighed again and was silent a moment before saying, "Piece of toast, dry."
"Thank you." I rewarded him with a quick kiss, and then moved to the breadbox. I got out three pieces of bread and put them in the toaster, before turning to find that someone had already made a pot of coffee. Getting two cups out of the cupboard, I made two black coffees, handing one to Duo before sipping my own. It was nice and strong, and I welcomed the slight caffeine buzz. While my genetic enhancements make it virtually impossible for me to get drunk-it would require pretty much every drop of alcohol in any given pub-it doesn't mean that I can't get a nice caffeine buzz from coffee or Coke. While I sipped my coffee and waited for the toast to cook, I thought.
Duo hadn't eaten a whole lot since he 'woke up'. I mean, a bag of potato chips, some toast, and a couple of apples, and I was really worried about his lack of appetite. He hadn't eaten much when he was catatonic, and while he was used to hunger and could ignore it if he had to, he preferred to eat when he could. He'd always been small, but it used to be wiry muscles, and now he was just getting... thin.
"Heero, the cup," Quatre said quietly, and I blinked at him to find everyone watching me curiously. I glanced down to find that my grip on my coffee cup was tight enough to break it if I wasn't careful. Letting out a breath, I relaxed my fingers and forced my thoughts away from Duo's health. Well, at least enough to not accidentally shatter my cup.
"So, what's everyone doing today?" Duo asked, and I was oddly pleased to see him speaking without it being necessary, maybe because of his awful silence the past couple of days.
"I'm going shopping with Marianne, and Wufei and Trowa have some chores to do, other than that, we can do what we like," Quatre asked, putting a plate in the cupboard.
"This is meant to be a nice little holiday for you boys, so I won't have you on a strict work schedule or anything," Marianne said, smiling. "I expect you to do your chores and such, but other than that, you can do what you want."
"Hm, been a while since we relaxed," Duo murmured, and again, I was pleased that he was speaking. "Our lives tend to be a bit... stressful."
"Which is why you're getting a holiday. Don't worry, poppet, there isn't any stress in this house. If you want, you can go out and see if you can find my cat."
"You have a cat?" There was a spark of interest in Duo's violet eyes, and I held my breath, hoping that it would stay.
"Mm-hm, she doesn't have a name, but she hangs around here sometimes, and then she'll disappear into the woods for weeks before returning."
Something besides interest seeped into Duo's eyes, something... sad. "Why doesn't she have a name?"
"Well, I didn't know what to call her, and she doesn't belong to me, so...."
"But... she should have a name. She shouldn't be nameless."
"Well, why don't you name her then?" Marianne suggested gently, and Duo bit her lip.
"I want to see her before I give her a name, make sure it fits."
"If you go out and wander in the woods, she'll probably come to you, to find out who's invaded her territory."
He nodded and stood up, looking at me. The need was plain to see, and I smiled at him, putting down my coffee and holding my hand out to him. He grabbed it tightly and smiled at me shakily, and that smile made me feel so good, just because he could smile again.
"Let's go find us a nameless cat and name her, shall we?" I asked him, and he smiled again, a bit stronger this time.
I saw Quatre smiling that beatific smile of his, and knew that I was not the only one pleased with Duo smiling. Curious, I glanced at the other two. Trowa, of course, was unreadable, but I detected a glimmer of joy in his green eyes, and Wufei didn't seem quite so... stern. He was almost smiling. Guess the whole family was happy.
The woods behind Marianne's house weren't all that special, but then, we weren't really there to look at them, were we?
Using our acute stealth and tracking instincts, we searched for the nameless cat, and it was a few minutes before Duo stopped. I looked at him curiously, to find him with an odd, kind of rueful expression on his face.
"What?" I asked softly, and he smiled.
"We're walking silently, and if we want to get this cat to come to us, we should be making noise, because unless she's really close, she won't be able to smell us."
"Oh."
"We're idiots." He smiled at me and then continued walking, swishing his feet to make noise. I copied, and we fell into silence again. He'd smiled three times, and spoken without being prompted, he was willing to eat.... He really was getting better. Oh, willing to eat. He never actually ate. I should take care of that when we got back to the house. He's not looking after himself properly at the moment so it's up to me, and I can't be forgetful important things like food.
"Hey, Heero," Duo whispered after a while, stopping, and I frowned, stopping next to him.
"What?"
"Look over there."
'Over there' was off to my right, behind a small tree, where I could see a pair of pale green eyes watching us curiously.
Moving slowly, Duo moved around me to be nearer the cat and crouched down, extending one hand, relaxed and half-curled, so that he was more offering the cat his knuckles than his fingers. He began making those little clicking sounds people frequently make when calling cats, punctuating them with soft reassurances. I just stood there and let him, because me and animals... not good.
After a moment, the cat slowly came out from behind the tree and I saw that it had short grey fur that looked very soft, large ears, and a long tail. It was quite a sophisticated looking cat, to my eye. It, sorry, she, sniffed Duo's fingers for a moment, before rubbing her cheek against them, purring softly.
Laughing softly, Duo sat down on the ground and patted his leg. The cat walked onto his knees and settled down in his lap, closing her eyes and purring. Duo stroked her behind the ears, expression thoughtful.
"She's a beautiful cat," he murmured after about a minute of silence. "Very... dignified. Sort of regal, like a queen. Hm, what name should we give you, huh, queenie?"
"Maybe something along the lines of royalty," I suggested hesitantly, not wanting to say the wrong thing. This seemed very important to Duo, naming the cat, and I didn't want to ruin it. But he just smiled up at me, and I think he was glad that I'd suggested something.
"That's a good idea. Hm, alright, well, the name should relate to your parents, too, in some way, or the one who names you, which is me. So, what do I like? I like... Japanese, and I like mythology, and I like the supernatural.... Hm. How can I relate that to royalty?"
I frowned, thinking about that, and then said, "Maybe a queen from some myth?"
"Yeah, but none of the queens I can think of that I like would suit her. Hmm. Okay, I wasn't given an actual name, I was given a word, and so were Raven and Thistle and some other kids. Um, what's queen in Japanese?"
I had to think for a second before saying, "It depends on the context and stuff. There's joouheika, which means Her Majesty the Queen. Or simply the word queen can be kouhi, kisaki, kougou, ouhi, joou, kuxi-n or kui-n. Queen Mother is koutaigou." I thought about Duo saying he like mythology and the supernatural, trying to relate it to Japanese words, and remembered a long-forgotten word.
"There's a word for the Queen of Heaven, which is Tenkou."
"Tenkou, the Queen of Heaven. Hmm. Well, I like it. What about you? Do you like that name?" He bent his head to look at the cat, who blinked and looked at him, before flicking her ears and closing her eyes again. "I'll take that as assent. Nameless cat, I dub thee, Tenkou." He laughed suddenly, the kind of laugh I was used to hearing, full of delight and happiness, and it went straight to my heart.
Carefully nudging the cat back onto the ground, he jumped up and hugged me, arms around my neck.
"She's got a name, Heero," he said happily. "She isn't nameless. She's got a name."
"She does have a name, and you have a cat-child."
"I what?" he drew away to look at me, blinking in confusion, and I smiled.
"Well, traditionally, parents name their children, and you just named the cat, so wouldn't that make you her parent?"
He had to think about that for a moment before grinning. "Yep, and you have a cat-child, too, because you helped. Wow, we're kinda young to be parents."
"We'll manage," I assured him, barely containing my laughter.
"We sure will. We can do anything together." And suddenly, the mood turned to something more... serious. The laughter faded from his eyes and for a long time, we just stood there. I don't know what he was thinking or why he wasn't speaking, but I was afraid to speak, afraid of where we had gone.
"We really can do anything together, Heero," he said quietly. "Even... make me better. Right?"
There was something desperate in his eyes, a need to know that he wasn't beyond hope. My breath caught in my throat and I kissed his forehead.
"Yes, Duo, we can make you better," I breathed, and suddenly found myself on my ass with Duo trying to squeeze the life out of me. I didn't know what he was thinking, what had made him so... fearful, but I didn't really need to know. All I needed to know was that he needed me and that I would always be there. So I just hugged him tight and hummed some nameless tune.
After a few moments, his grip eased, and he drew away, sniffing and looking apologetic. I could see that he was on the verge of apologising for his actions, so I forestalled him by placing a finger on his lips.
"I'm not upset or angry or ashamed or anything, Duo," I said softly. "If you need to hug or kiss or talk or throw a temper tantrum or anything, I will always be there for you, alright? You never have to apologise for you actions or your emotions or thoughts. Well, unless you actually are wrong, but you aren't."
He just looked at me for a long time, I think searching for traces of insincerity, and I let him. Then he scrambled up and showed me his back.
"We should... get back to the house. I didn't actually eat breakfast."
"Alright." I stood up, brushing leaves off my jeans, and let him walk a pace ahead of me. Apparently, my reassurance helped, but didn't cure everything.
Quatre and Marianne had apparently already left to do the shopping, Trowa was vacuuming the living room, and Wufei was upstairs in his bedroom doing something unknown.
"Did you find the cat?" Trowa asked, turning off the vacuum so that we could hear him.
Duo nodded happily, though I noticed that there was still a hint of colour on his cheeks. "Yeah, we named her Tenkou."
"Tenkou?"
"Queen of Heaven. She has this kind of regal look, so..."
"Right. Well, good, nobody should be nameless."
"Right! I'm gonna go make myself a sandwich."
He didn't exactly run out of the room, but it was close, and once he was gone, I looked at Trowa with a raised eyebrow. I had a sneaking suspicion about his last sentence, which was confirmed when he gave me a shy smile and a wink. Then he turned on the vacuum again, which effectively stopped conversation. I gave him a grateful smile before I went to see about my own breakfast.
Duo slept until ten o'clock, and even then it was only because I woke him. I was loathe to do so, but knew that we couldn't just spend the day in bed. It took him a few minutes to wake up, and when he finally did, he looked at me with the sweetest, sleepy little smile.
"Thanks for listening," he whispered, and placed a soft kiss on my lips, before getting up and getting changed. He dressed in some loose black jeans and a black tee shirt.
I saw him reach for his other bag, the one where he kept the majority of his weapons, and then stopped, hand hovering in mid-air. I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do. The moment seemed to last forever, before he slowly withdrew his hand and left his weapons where they were. He sighed, and his head fell forward, shoulders slumping.
Silently, I slid out of the bed and knelt down behind him, embracing him gently. "It's alright, Duo," I whispered.
He clung to me like he had been doing so much lately and I felt a tremor run through his body. "I'm sorry, Heero."
"There's nothing to be sorry for, Duo. You've done nothing wrong."
"Why can't I do this, Heero? Why can't I be strong?"
"You are strong, love. You're the strongest person I know. All this doesn't make you weak."
"It... it doesn't?" I could hear the uncertainty in his voice, hear the desperate need for my respect. Didn't he know that he'd had it since the moment he first shot me?
"No, it doesn't." At a slightly lame attempt at humour I added, "Wufei would be the first to tell you if you were being weak."
Lame attempt or not, I got a laugh, and I felt him relax. "Thank you, Heero."
"You're welcome, love." Kissing the back of his neck, I stood up and quickly dressed in some jeans and a tank top, and then hesitated. Duo didn't like me being armed, but I didn't like being unarmed. What was more important to me: Duo or being armed? The answer was obvious, and I walked downstairs with Duo.
We found everyone in the kitchen. Trowa was washing the dishes, Quatre was drying, and Wufei was helping fold the laundry with Marianne. Marianne looked at us and smiled.
"Well, you two seem a lot better than yesterday. I'm afraid we've already had breakfast, but you're free to make yourself some cereal or something."
"Uh, I'd rather just have a coffee," Duo muttered, and I frowned at him.
"Duo, you need more than that. How about some toast?"
"Yeuch."
"Oatmeal?"
"Yeuch."
"Fry-up?"
"Yeuch."
"Duo, you say yeuch one more time and I'm gonna get pissed. You have to eat something. Now what would you like?"
He frowned and then sighed. "Apple?"
"And something else."
"Potato chips?"
"Duo."
He sighed again and was silent a moment before saying, "Piece of toast, dry."
"Thank you." I rewarded him with a quick kiss, and then moved to the breadbox. I got out three pieces of bread and put them in the toaster, before turning to find that someone had already made a pot of coffee. Getting two cups out of the cupboard, I made two black coffees, handing one to Duo before sipping my own. It was nice and strong, and I welcomed the slight caffeine buzz. While my genetic enhancements make it virtually impossible for me to get drunk-it would require pretty much every drop of alcohol in any given pub-it doesn't mean that I can't get a nice caffeine buzz from coffee or Coke. While I sipped my coffee and waited for the toast to cook, I thought.
Duo hadn't eaten a whole lot since he 'woke up'. I mean, a bag of potato chips, some toast, and a couple of apples, and I was really worried about his lack of appetite. He hadn't eaten much when he was catatonic, and while he was used to hunger and could ignore it if he had to, he preferred to eat when he could. He'd always been small, but it used to be wiry muscles, and now he was just getting... thin.
"Heero, the cup," Quatre said quietly, and I blinked at him to find everyone watching me curiously. I glanced down to find that my grip on my coffee cup was tight enough to break it if I wasn't careful. Letting out a breath, I relaxed my fingers and forced my thoughts away from Duo's health. Well, at least enough to not accidentally shatter my cup.
"So, what's everyone doing today?" Duo asked, and I was oddly pleased to see him speaking without it being necessary, maybe because of his awful silence the past couple of days.
"I'm going shopping with Marianne, and Wufei and Trowa have some chores to do, other than that, we can do what we like," Quatre asked, putting a plate in the cupboard.
"This is meant to be a nice little holiday for you boys, so I won't have you on a strict work schedule or anything," Marianne said, smiling. "I expect you to do your chores and such, but other than that, you can do what you want."
"Hm, been a while since we relaxed," Duo murmured, and again, I was pleased that he was speaking. "Our lives tend to be a bit... stressful."
"Which is why you're getting a holiday. Don't worry, poppet, there isn't any stress in this house. If you want, you can go out and see if you can find my cat."
"You have a cat?" There was a spark of interest in Duo's violet eyes, and I held my breath, hoping that it would stay.
"Mm-hm, she doesn't have a name, but she hangs around here sometimes, and then she'll disappear into the woods for weeks before returning."
Something besides interest seeped into Duo's eyes, something... sad. "Why doesn't she have a name?"
"Well, I didn't know what to call her, and she doesn't belong to me, so...."
"But... she should have a name. She shouldn't be nameless."
"Well, why don't you name her then?" Marianne suggested gently, and Duo bit her lip.
"I want to see her before I give her a name, make sure it fits."
"If you go out and wander in the woods, she'll probably come to you, to find out who's invaded her territory."
He nodded and stood up, looking at me. The need was plain to see, and I smiled at him, putting down my coffee and holding my hand out to him. He grabbed it tightly and smiled at me shakily, and that smile made me feel so good, just because he could smile again.
"Let's go find us a nameless cat and name her, shall we?" I asked him, and he smiled again, a bit stronger this time.
I saw Quatre smiling that beatific smile of his, and knew that I was not the only one pleased with Duo smiling. Curious, I glanced at the other two. Trowa, of course, was unreadable, but I detected a glimmer of joy in his green eyes, and Wufei didn't seem quite so... stern. He was almost smiling. Guess the whole family was happy.
The woods behind Marianne's house weren't all that special, but then, we weren't really there to look at them, were we?
Using our acute stealth and tracking instincts, we searched for the nameless cat, and it was a few minutes before Duo stopped. I looked at him curiously, to find him with an odd, kind of rueful expression on his face.
"What?" I asked softly, and he smiled.
"We're walking silently, and if we want to get this cat to come to us, we should be making noise, because unless she's really close, she won't be able to smell us."
"Oh."
"We're idiots." He smiled at me and then continued walking, swishing his feet to make noise. I copied, and we fell into silence again. He'd smiled three times, and spoken without being prompted, he was willing to eat.... He really was getting better. Oh, willing to eat. He never actually ate. I should take care of that when we got back to the house. He's not looking after himself properly at the moment so it's up to me, and I can't be forgetful important things like food.
"Hey, Heero," Duo whispered after a while, stopping, and I frowned, stopping next to him.
"What?"
"Look over there."
'Over there' was off to my right, behind a small tree, where I could see a pair of pale green eyes watching us curiously.
Moving slowly, Duo moved around me to be nearer the cat and crouched down, extending one hand, relaxed and half-curled, so that he was more offering the cat his knuckles than his fingers. He began making those little clicking sounds people frequently make when calling cats, punctuating them with soft reassurances. I just stood there and let him, because me and animals... not good.
After a moment, the cat slowly came out from behind the tree and I saw that it had short grey fur that looked very soft, large ears, and a long tail. It was quite a sophisticated looking cat, to my eye. It, sorry, she, sniffed Duo's fingers for a moment, before rubbing her cheek against them, purring softly.
Laughing softly, Duo sat down on the ground and patted his leg. The cat walked onto his knees and settled down in his lap, closing her eyes and purring. Duo stroked her behind the ears, expression thoughtful.
"She's a beautiful cat," he murmured after about a minute of silence. "Very... dignified. Sort of regal, like a queen. Hm, what name should we give you, huh, queenie?"
"Maybe something along the lines of royalty," I suggested hesitantly, not wanting to say the wrong thing. This seemed very important to Duo, naming the cat, and I didn't want to ruin it. But he just smiled up at me, and I think he was glad that I'd suggested something.
"That's a good idea. Hm, alright, well, the name should relate to your parents, too, in some way, or the one who names you, which is me. So, what do I like? I like... Japanese, and I like mythology, and I like the supernatural.... Hm. How can I relate that to royalty?"
I frowned, thinking about that, and then said, "Maybe a queen from some myth?"
"Yeah, but none of the queens I can think of that I like would suit her. Hmm. Okay, I wasn't given an actual name, I was given a word, and so were Raven and Thistle and some other kids. Um, what's queen in Japanese?"
I had to think for a second before saying, "It depends on the context and stuff. There's joouheika, which means Her Majesty the Queen. Or simply the word queen can be kouhi, kisaki, kougou, ouhi, joou, kuxi-n or kui-n. Queen Mother is koutaigou." I thought about Duo saying he like mythology and the supernatural, trying to relate it to Japanese words, and remembered a long-forgotten word.
"There's a word for the Queen of Heaven, which is Tenkou."
"Tenkou, the Queen of Heaven. Hmm. Well, I like it. What about you? Do you like that name?" He bent his head to look at the cat, who blinked and looked at him, before flicking her ears and closing her eyes again. "I'll take that as assent. Nameless cat, I dub thee, Tenkou." He laughed suddenly, the kind of laugh I was used to hearing, full of delight and happiness, and it went straight to my heart.
Carefully nudging the cat back onto the ground, he jumped up and hugged me, arms around my neck.
"She's got a name, Heero," he said happily. "She isn't nameless. She's got a name."
"She does have a name, and you have a cat-child."
"I what?" he drew away to look at me, blinking in confusion, and I smiled.
"Well, traditionally, parents name their children, and you just named the cat, so wouldn't that make you her parent?"
He had to think about that for a moment before grinning. "Yep, and you have a cat-child, too, because you helped. Wow, we're kinda young to be parents."
"We'll manage," I assured him, barely containing my laughter.
"We sure will. We can do anything together." And suddenly, the mood turned to something more... serious. The laughter faded from his eyes and for a long time, we just stood there. I don't know what he was thinking or why he wasn't speaking, but I was afraid to speak, afraid of where we had gone.
"We really can do anything together, Heero," he said quietly. "Even... make me better. Right?"
There was something desperate in his eyes, a need to know that he wasn't beyond hope. My breath caught in my throat and I kissed his forehead.
"Yes, Duo, we can make you better," I breathed, and suddenly found myself on my ass with Duo trying to squeeze the life out of me. I didn't know what he was thinking, what had made him so... fearful, but I didn't really need to know. All I needed to know was that he needed me and that I would always be there. So I just hugged him tight and hummed some nameless tune.
After a few moments, his grip eased, and he drew away, sniffing and looking apologetic. I could see that he was on the verge of apologising for his actions, so I forestalled him by placing a finger on his lips.
"I'm not upset or angry or ashamed or anything, Duo," I said softly. "If you need to hug or kiss or talk or throw a temper tantrum or anything, I will always be there for you, alright? You never have to apologise for you actions or your emotions or thoughts. Well, unless you actually are wrong, but you aren't."
He just looked at me for a long time, I think searching for traces of insincerity, and I let him. Then he scrambled up and showed me his back.
"We should... get back to the house. I didn't actually eat breakfast."
"Alright." I stood up, brushing leaves off my jeans, and let him walk a pace ahead of me. Apparently, my reassurance helped, but didn't cure everything.
Quatre and Marianne had apparently already left to do the shopping, Trowa was vacuuming the living room, and Wufei was upstairs in his bedroom doing something unknown.
"Did you find the cat?" Trowa asked, turning off the vacuum so that we could hear him.
Duo nodded happily, though I noticed that there was still a hint of colour on his cheeks. "Yeah, we named her Tenkou."
"Tenkou?"
"Queen of Heaven. She has this kind of regal look, so..."
"Right. Well, good, nobody should be nameless."
"Right! I'm gonna go make myself a sandwich."
He didn't exactly run out of the room, but it was close, and once he was gone, I looked at Trowa with a raised eyebrow. I had a sneaking suspicion about his last sentence, which was confirmed when he gave me a shy smile and a wink. Then he turned on the vacuum again, which effectively stopped conversation. I gave him a grateful smile before I went to see about my own breakfast.