A/N: Chapter 6! I'm sorry this one took so long to put up. Anyway, here we go! Today's warnings are: profanity, gender switching, yaoi, a special warning below, and the devil (again). And last time, I really didn't mean to do the cliffhanger. Sorry 'bout that... anyway... (Oh, and this is where the genre of the story finally fits, too.)

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART (NOT JUST RAMBLING!!!!): Here is the IMPORTANT WARNING. This one gets very, very serious, as in 'R' at a point, and not in a good way. You'll be able to tell where it is-I'm putting a warning in. If you can't handle it, DON'T TRY TO. I am NOT joking. Thanks for heeding my warning.

(ps the first entire bit's a lot more serious than normal...I don't have hardly any funniness in here...Sorry 'bout that...K, so, anyway...)

Disclaimer: yadda yadda yadda, I don't own it, don't sue, don't steal story w/o permission...

Dawn to Dusk

Chapter 6
Everything Goes Downhill

Duo was sick and tired of all this. He didn't care that Heero said nothing, or that Heero just took it while he beat him bloody. His hands moved of their own free will, and Duo just didn't care any more.

He was screaming, screaming profanity at Heero in his female voice. He hated being a girl, hated all the looks guys didn't even try to hide, and hated the damn panties! It was all Heero's fault, and he just sat there and took it.

Heero was up against the building's side, pinned down by Duo's flying fists. But, Duo couldn't see that. Tears were swelling up his eyes, making that shitty mascara streak down his face, and he just kept punching.

Finally, after god knows how long, Duo stopped. The sun would set in a bit, and he was already a mess. He felt better, now, as Heero slumped down to the cobblestone street.

As merely an afterthought, Duo looked down at the boy. His face was bloody, his shirt was bloody...he'd be a mess as soon as he regained consciousness. Duo had to respect the fact he'd never made a sound as he got the shit kicked out of him.

Duo called a taxi at a nearby phone booth for Heero, and soon the cab drove over.

"Holy shit, what happened to the kid," the driver asked as Duo opened the back seat's door and shoved Heero in. "Are you alright, miss? You've got blood on you." Duo looked down. It was only a sprinkle, really.

"I'll be alright," he said nonchalantly. "Really." And then the cab driver whisked Heero away to the dorms after being reassured Heero didn't need a hospital.

Afterwards, Duo looked up at the sunlight. It'd be sunset soon. He should probably get back.

But, the detachedness of Duo's mind made him feel...lost was the only way to think of it. He felt like he was looking in a mirror and all it showed was fog. No face, no reflection, just a sudden gray haze.

He found himself walking along the roads back towards his little room. By now the others would be swarming over Heero's wounds, being good friends and trying to wake him up. His $95 boots stomped on the new pavement, his skirt made a simple swish sound. Duo missed his normal outfit. He wondered if he should get his ears pierced, now. Would they even stay pierced, though? He was a block away from the building when he was interrupted.

"I thought we were friends, Dea," Sarah's voice echoed out. She stood on the top of a fence, dress torn in all the inappropriate places. "I didn't think you'd sink so low as to use me like that." One of the white shoes was chucked at Duo's head, and he dodged it easily.

"It's not my fault Quatre's gay," Duo said detachedly. "Just like you couldn't help but get embarrassed eventually. I'm sorry." The other shoe flew at his face, and he caught it.

"YOU did this to me," Sarah screamed. "YOU made him turn against me!" Duo didn't even bother to look at her. "COME BACK HERE, BITCH!" Sarah jumped down from the fence, barefoot, and approached him.

"Ever since I first met you, I've been nothing but kind," Sarah snarled. "And how do you repay me? You USE me, and set me up on a date with a boy you KNOW is gay! Just to get a chance at your own boy toy!" Sarah swung at him, but he caught her fist.

"I know what I did was wrong," he stated. "If it makes you feel any better, I beat my 'boy toy' to a bloody, unconscious heap." Sarah gasped, and backed away. "Now's the time you run away."

"You're a...you're a MONSTER," she shrieked, and ran the rest of the way to the now-visible school complex.

(WARNING! HERE'S WHERE IT STARTS TO GO BAD!!!!!)

"...a monster, eh," a voice whispered behind him. He turned around slowly, violet eyes almost black. Four men stood in front of him, now between him and the school. The leader, a young man with a red bandana tied around the top of his head, smiled wickedly at him. "I've never raped a monster before." The other three laughed.

"If you were intelligent, you wouldn't try it," Duo stated. But then, he remembered he didn't have his gun. Or backup. Duo slowly began to regain consciousness. Oh, shit. "Let me by." The four men began an agonizingly slow advance, and slowly Duo remembered how short his dress really was, and how low the neckline really went. And the only way he could stop these men, was to kill them. Duo couldn't kill, not right then. Reality came crashing down on him.

Oh, shit.

"Such pretty hair," one muttered, and grabbed a handful of Duo's unbound hair. He wrenched on it, and Duo yelled. "Oooh, she's a squealer." The others laughed.

Duo kneed him in the groin.

The man fell down, sputtering, and Duo glared at the other three, wrapping all of his hair in a ponytail protectively. "You can't get away, Monster." They lunged at him.

(LAST CHANCE TO GET OUT!!!)

Duo kicked out, but one had grabbed his leg in the motion. His right boot went flying, and the man rubbed his leg. Sarah had waxed them that afternoon. The second man had grabbed his left arm, and Duo punched him straight on the nose, hearing the satisfying crack of a break. But, he held on. The third man-the one he'd kicked in the groin- got up, looking very, very vengeful, and pulled out a knife. The leader stayed a good four feet away, watching. The man with the knife sliced open Duo's left foot within the boot, and he screamed. The blade traced up his leg and up to his thigh. Duo tensed, and the blade sliced through the black fabric of the 'borrowed' dress. It fell in tatters to the sidewalk.

Duo was restrained completely. Broken-nose had both his hands together above his head, the other held his right foot, and knife boy traced patterns across his stomach with the blade, touching just enough to feel the sharpness. His left foot was bleeding heavily and useless, the tendon severed. The only thing unrestrained was his head. He resorted to the only thing he could think of.

"HEEELLP," Duo screamed, over and over. "HEEEROOO!!! QUATRE!! TROWA!!! WUFEI!!! ANYONE!!! HEEEEELLLPPP!!!" Then, he just screamed wordlessly as the leader approached, pulling the red bandana off his head. Knife boy moved aside, and handed the leader his knife, which he accepted with a calm "Thanks."

The knife's blade slid under the middle of his bra. "You know, I've always loved this part," the leader muttered. Knife boy held his bleeding foot, and Duo kept screaming. The knife's blade slowly turned vertical, and he slashed upwards. The thing fell off like a vest, or Duo's shoulder holster he REALLLY wanted right now.

Oh, god. Duo closed his eyes, refused to listen to what he said, refused to feel the man's hands, and the knife going further down, and the cold air against his body. He started to count, to do trigonometry, to go through every mission he'd been on so far, to estimate how long it'd take until sunset, until he woke up and this was all a dream...The underwear was cut off, and Duo screamed and screamed, and whimpered, and screamed.

Something wrenched the men away, but Duo kept his eyes shut, screaming until his voice was gone.

Someone was saying his name as he fell to the pavement, whimpering.

(BAD PART DONE NOW!!!)

Duo woke up quietly in his own black bed, hair re-braided, thanking whatever divine power there was that he was back to being himself. He was a boy again. But, boys don't cry.

But they can do a hell of a job sniffling.

"...Duo," Quatre's voice asked cautiously behind his back. "Duo, we have Sally here for you and Heero..." Duo didn't look up, he just kept sniffling.

"How bad is he," Duo finally asked, and silence filled the room again.

"I'll be fine," Heero's voice said further back than Quatre's.

"Wufei heard you," Quatre's voice came out of the dark. "I've never seen him so angry in my life." Quatre paused. "He has yet to come back. He was muttering something about justice after he dropped you off and ran back out the door." At the word door, said object opened. Duo brought himself to turn in the bed.

What he saw was Sally Po entering the room and looking over Heero's cuts and bruises, but constantly looking back at him. Heero's swollen and black eyes stared straight into his own violet as he sat on his own bed, and Quatre stood in the corner, Trowa's arms around him protectively. Wufei was nowhere to be seen. Finally, Duo's eyes went back to Heero.

"I'm sorry," he said, still sniffling. "I shouldn't have hit you." Silence erupted again.

"...You did that to Heero?" Trowa asked cautiously, and Duo blushed.

"Well, it's not like he was putting up much of a fight," he muttered, and then stood up very quickly and ran into the bathroom, locking the door again. He threw up for fifteen minutes straight and then jumped into the shower for a very, very, very long time, jumping out to vomit again occasionally.

While Duo was busy cleansing himself thoroughly, Wufei slunk in the door, white clothes now stained red from blood. He looked like murder.

"How's Maxwell," he asked calmly, and the sound of him retching once more could be heard over the shower. The toilet flushed again.

"He's not singing," Heero muttered, and all four pairs of eyes snapped to his bruised body. "Duo sings in the shower." Quatre nodded. Duo seemed like the type to sing in the shower.

"Did you kill them," Trowa finally asked Wufei, who shrugged, looking down at his washed katana.

"Two of them I killed, one has his foot sliced, and the other I left unharmed for Duo," he stated coldly. "I didn't want to take his entire vengeance away. Truthfully, I shouldn't have killed any of them. It was not my place. I got carried away." Then, Wufei noticed Sally, and blushed. Sally smiled at him, and the two left the room.

"So what happened after dinner," Quatre asked. Heero looked down at his clean, bruiseless hands for a moment.

"I walked out, and he followed," Heero began. "We talked. He explained his...affliction. Then, he explained the double date." Heero's hands clenched. "Duo wanted me to choose. I couldn't, so I just suggested we come back here before sunset. And then, he yelled I wouldn't get away with that, and hit me. Repeatedly. I didn't retaliate, as he had more than enough reason to hit me."

But, while they spoke, Duo got out of the shower and dressed. Then, he walked out into his own room. The three within looked at him, but Duo just kept walking. He put on his shoes, and walked out the door. With barely a grunt, Heero followed.

"Heero, I-" Quatre began, but at the look he received from the bruised boy, wisely shut up. Heero put on his own shoes and a jacket, his gun with him as always, and followed Duo out.

Duo was just walking, as far as Heero could tell while shadowing him. He'd walk up some stairs, then down the adjacent one, go out into a courtyard through one door, then out another door. For almost a half hour, this went on, Duo walked, and Heero followed. Finally, he stopped in front of the entrance to the girls' dormitory.

"I need to go talk to someone," he said calmly. "You can follow, but stay cautious. She might get violent." Heero nodded, and Duo opened the door for him.

Sarah was ripping up her dress when someone knocked on the door.

"Go away," she growled, but the door opened anyway. "Didn't you hear me? I said go away!" A boy who looked an astonishing amount like Dea entered, a battered Heero behind him.

"Who the hell are you," she demanded, and Heero sat down in the corner as the boy closed the door. The boy sat straight in front of her, violet eyes staring into her own.

"I'm Duo Maxwell," he stated very clearly, and Sarah screwed up her eyebrows. That was familiar...but, that was Dea's name as a typo...

"Oh my god, get away from me," she yelled, scooting backwards. "What the hell are you?"

"I'm a boy that turns into a girl in the daylight," Duo stated relatively calmly, but Heero could tell he was getting mad. "A girl named Dea, who you said some rude things to this afternoon." Sarah's eyes widened, and Duo smiled. "Some rude things that I can get over, normally."

"I don't want to know how the hell you switch into a girl," Sarah whispered, seriously freaked out, and then she smiled. "Ohhh! So it wasn't just the pants that was painful! I get it, now!" Duo chuckled.

"Well, I just want you to know, I'm really a guy, and I'm sorry," Duo said, standing up. But, after a look backwards at Heero, who sat exhausted and about to pass out on one of Sarah's purple chairs, chuckled. "Well, is it okay if we sit around for a bit before we leave? I think Heero will pass out if we walk anymore. I kinda took the very, very roundabout way to get here..." Sarah giggled. 'Quatre hadn't been that cute, anyway...' she thought.

"Gee, Dea, I didn't know you were serious when you said you beat him to a bloody unconscious heap," she giggled, and Duo shook his head. "And, I'm sorry, too." She blushed a little. "See, I think I met this other guy...His name's Trowa..." Duo gave her a very strange look.

"He's gay, too," he said quickly. "And, he's practically married to Quatre, anyway. Sorry." Sarah threw her hands up in the air.

"What the hell! Is EVERYONE gay?! What happened to heterosexuals? God...We're a dying breed..."

"Ummm...Wufei's straight, but he's out with Sally right now," Duo said, scratching his head. "Hmm...Wow. Practically everyone I know is homosexual. Kind of makes a guy think...Well, if you ever want to meet a nice GIRL, I could help you out. OOO! I could loan you Heero's stalker! If you're in to that kind of thing, at least." Duo turned around to the bruised Heero. "Isn't that right, HEE-CHAN?"

"Hn," he said, about ready to pass out.

"He has about a four word vocabulary in public," Duo confided, smiling brilliantly. Finally, after hearing Heero stand up, Duo got up as well and opened the door. "See you tomorrow, and if you don't let it slip I'm a guy, I won't let it slip you've got a thing for gay men!" Sarah giggled, and the two slipped out the door.

"Now where are we going," Heero asked, and Duo grinned evilly. Heero could tell this wouldn't be good.

"Well, I think you need a little more healing, first," Duo said absentmindedly, but then cheered up. "Don't worry, it's only, like, ten at night! We can go kill people at three or so." Heero nodded, and the two turned around and went back to their room. Duo was surprised at how meek Heero was today. Meek and Heero weren't something he ever expected to put in the same sentence, audible or not.

But, as soon as Heero's hand touched the doorknob, time stopped. Again. Damn, Duo hated the Devil.

"Don't you just hate humans," he asked semi-metaphorically. "They're so easily corruptible. I just hate that free will, don't you?" Today, his coat was back on as he jumped out of nowhere (as in, literally jumped.).

"Can you just take off the spell, already," Duo groaned, and the devil gave him an astonished look.

"But, it's what you asked for! For the first time in five hundred years, I give a FREE gift, and you don't want it! I didn't even put any curve-balls in! It was just straight requested. You said, 'I want to be a girl.' I say, 'But you're a cute guy.' You said, 'Just do it, damn it!' So, I complied. And now, you just want it gone? Ungrateful..." The devil actually looked ruffled.

"Yeah, well, I changed my mind," Duo said angrily. He was sick and tired of all this. "You can take it away, and leave me alone." The devil smiled. And a smiling devil is NEVER a good thing.

"What'll you give me for taking it off," he said deviously, and Duo sighed. Damn the devil. "Oh, don't get all moody with me young man! You brought this upon yourself, you know! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk to strangers?" Duo glared at him. "Fine. I like you, kid. My kind of style. How 'bout this? Give me someone else's soul. You don't even have to get one of your best friends' souls. Like...Sarah, for instance." The devil's smile widened. "For Sarah's soul, you can be a full-time male again."

"How about a price that's cheaper? Like, more around the range of nothing," Duo snapped. "I got it for free, you get rid of it for free! It's a lousy gift, anyway! Shouldn't you know not to listen to drunk people?!" The devil looked at him sternly.

"You listen here, young man! You've already gotten the sweetest gift in three millennia! Either you give me Sarah's soul, or you stay a temporal transvestite," the devil yelled, and then got a thoughtful look on his face. "Or..."

Duo sighed. He hated ors.

"...Or, you become the devil after me," he said with a smug smile. "I'm getting tired, anyway. Besides, like I said, I like your style. Hey, you're already Shinigami. Just a bit of a jump to the devil! You'd get to stop in on hell whenever you wanted, and you can make all your friends live down their with you! It's guaranteed fun!" The devil noticed Duo's glare finally, and sighed. "I'll come back later. Have fun killing the rapists tonight!" And with that, the devil jumped like a diver into the floor, and disappeared...

...And Heero opened the door, only to see a very angry Duo behind him.

"I HATE THE DEVIL," Duo yelled upon entry, and kicked his shoes off. Unfortunately, the tiny window was open, and both flew out with a stereotypical descending bomb cartoon noise.

Duo plopped back into bed after retrieving his shoes, and went to sleep really, really mad.

------

A/N: That's chapter 6. If you're wondering, the bad stuff will be more plotness later. Sorry this took me so long...

And, just so you know this too, I'm going to post Ch. 7 very quickly (like tomorrow), and then I'll be on vacation for two weeks, so sorry 'bout that...

Well, thanks for reading! Please review, I'll love you if you do!!!

Ahem and now, something I should have done a VERY long time ago: REVIEWERS!!!!! These spectacular people are (In order of appearances...):

REGINA!!! (A super-duper 5 times!!!)

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GUNDAMZERO!! (A happy 2 times!!)

ATHENA SAGARA!

PRETTY PILOT!!! (A happy-go-lucky 4 times!!)

CPFEB!

MAEDHROS!

Sorry if you have a problem with all-caps lock. You guys just get me so excited! tear