Here you go, hopefully not a cliffy this time.

Chapter Nine

Once the five pilots were in Heero's room, Wufei started giving orders again. "Quatre shut and lock the door, then start the filling the tub, cold water, as cold as you can get it." He led the others through the living room into the bedroom, and slowly lowered Heero to the floor in the bathroom.

Heero's thrashing had calmed considerablely, mainly due to the constant stream of foreign words Wufei was almost singing. "Trowa take off his boots, will you? Duo, you can let go of his tail now." He said as he removed the shredded remains of Heero's shirt.

The black clad teen pouted a bit. He didn't want to let go! While at first, the sight of Heero with a devil's tail had freaked him out, he had discovered while walking to his room that it wasn't so bad. In fact, his tail felt smooth and warm, it was nice to have it wrapped around his left arm, right even. Like his tail was meant to be there. Heero seemed to feel the same way, because as he tried to remove his tail, it wrapped tighter around his arm. "Hey, Wufei? I can't get his tail lose enough to let go."

The Chinese pilot looked up, "What? Shit!" was the response when he caught sight of Heero's tail. He had been so worried about getting Heero out of sight, he hadn't paid attention to what arm his tail was wound onto. "Myrca? Tej-ko byq, mak l'wo Dajhal sicyi." His tail loosened in response. Sighing, Duo unwrapped his tail from around his arm.

Trowa and Quatre were now thoroughly confused. Duo seemed to be in his own world, just looking at Heero. Heero himself seemed to be sleeping, though the skin covering the bulges were flaking away and bleeding lightly. Wufei was currently removing Heero's pants, and Duo's eyes were following his every move.

The blond haired teen was lost. He could feel the pain wracking Heero's body, feel the dryness of his skin, but he also felt his contentment. Why was he content? Frowning, he tried to puzzle it out. He was thrashing about before, and he seemed to stop when Wufei started speaking in that hissing language. And he calmed even further when the black haired teen ran his hands over his chest after removing his ruined shirt.

Speaking of which, Wufei was removing his own shirt, and was removing his pants when Duo snapped out of his trance like state. "Wufei? What are you doing?!"

"What does it look like, baka?"

"But, but why?!" (think someone's a bit panicked?)

A sigh seemed to be his only answer as Wufei picked up Heero and stepped into the freezing water in the tub. "Skin to skin contact will keep him aware of his surrounding, and stop him from slipping into a coma."

"How do you know all of this?" Trowa finally spoke the question that had been plaguing him.

"Yeah, Tro's right. How do you know all of this? And why does Heero have a tail? Why does he seem only to calm when you are talking or touching him? And what's happening to his back?" Duo asked in quick secession.

"I think, I think the better question would be: what exactly is Heero?" Quatre said bluntly, throwing all his diplomacy out the window.

A small smirk found its way onto Wufei's face. "It's not my place to answer that. Duo, remember to breath, and Trowa, I know all of this because I know the answer to Quatre's question."

A small moan brought their attention back to Heero. Wufei was sitting on one of the steps, the water up to chest. Heero was cradled on his lap, his head resting on his shoulder. "wu...wufei?" came the soft whisper.

"Hai, Heero. What is it?"

"My...my back. Itt itchess."

Duo looked confused. "Itches? Your back is bleeding and it looks like bones are about to rip out of your back, and you say it itches?!"

"Hush Duo." Wufei scolded, still speaking softly.

"Bleeding? I knew itt was coming, but I didn'tt want itt tto come this ssoon. Ryttalusssss, help me, pleassse?" Heero spoke slowly, and his words were all run together, slurred.

"Of course, Myrca." Wufei lifted his hand and placed it above one of the bulges.

Suffice it to say that the others were completely confused. What the hell was going on?!

End chap

I wonder how long I can end these chaps in cliffhangers without being murdered.