(I do not own Gundam Wing, blah blah blah)

"Devoted Dexterity"

~*~

"Ne, Duo!"

Duo stopped what he was doing- dusting one of the windows of the church.
The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He didn't dare turn
around.

"How come you didn't tell me Treize gave you a new mission? I was looking
all OVER for you!"

Duo grinned nervously, though he was still facing the window. Quickly, he
began dusting it frantically, in hopes of ignoring the smaller demon that
stood behind him, her wings present and her hands behind her waist.

"Duo? Are you listening to me?"

Still ignoring her, Duo forced himself to hum some miscellaneous tune while
he cleaned the window. Though it was already clean, he acted as it
weren't.

"Duo!!" the smaller demon yelled, "pay attention to me!"

Duo flinched at those words, hesitantly setting down the feather duster.
He slowly turned around to the demon, the nervous grin apparent on his face
as he did so.

"Hilde, why, what are you doing here?"

Hilde glared at the shinigami, soon before folding her arms stubbornly over
her small chest. She huffed, turning her head to the side. Duo stopped
grinning and tilted his head at her.

"I've been looking all over for you, and here you are, playing some
PRIEST," she said with disgust, "in some small church! If I never asked
Treize himself where you were, I'd STILL be looking for you, both in
Gehenna AND this world!"

Duo's nervous grin returned. He turned away from her and grabbed the
feather duster again, casually walking up to the next window. Hilde turned
her head back to him, and then glared as he moved away from her. Quickly,
she leapt over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Duo, I'm your student! You're not supposed to leave me behind!"

The shinigami paused before he began working on the next window, and
instead, slowly turned towards Hilde once more.

"This is a pretty big mission, Hilde. You're still too green to take this
one on," he said. Hilde pouted as she looked up at him, her arms still
wrapped tightly around his waist.

"I thought so. When I heard from Treize that Milliardo and his two angels
were involved, I kind of got worried..."

Duo shook his head and went back to dusting the window. Hilde buried her
face in his shirt.

"I know that you're one of the best shinigami out there, but... But what
about Heero? I mean, you knew each other when you were both living, ri-"

At the smaller demon's words, Duo turned around quickly, pushing her back
from him instantly. He glared dangerously at her.

"What did I say about bringing things up from our past lives, Hilde?!"

Hilde stared at Duo, shocked by his sudden reaction. She pouted once more,
casting her eyes down to the floor. She drew her hands behind her back
once more, locking her fingers into a tight hold to each other.

"That the past is the past and now is what we should be worried about..."

"Good demon," Duo said, turning back to the dirtied window.

"I'm sorry, Duo... Can I help you on this mission?"

"No."

"Why not?" she asked, turning her gaze back from the floor to the braided
demon's back.

"I can handle this one on my own. You're too green for this kind of
thing," he replied. Soon after, he finished dusting that window.
Casually, he walked past her and he approached the next window, right away
going to work on it.

"Besides, if you're going to be inside a church, remove your wings. If you
don't, you'll scare the nuns."

~*~

Quatre sighed leisurely, gathering up his supplies form his locker after
school. The crowding mass of students once more filled the hallway, making
it almost impossible to see the floor. Trowa hadn't been in school all
day, and the only time Quatre saw Wu Fei was at lunch, though it was only
briefly. He was beginning to wonder if the Asian boy had other plans than
what he was letting on, but he decided not to be too nosey about it and let
the boy get on with his business. What about Trowa, though?

He closed his locker loudly, just about slamming it shut. He began pushing
his way through the crowd of students quickly, not wanting to have an
encounter with Ian or any of his lackeys. He didn't know where Wu Fei went
after school. Perhaps he rode on the bus, or had his own, private ride?
Quatre still wished he had his own ride. Why his father wouldn't allow
that, he did not know.

Walking out of the two, big front doors of the school, Quatre began walking
down the stone steps. The sky above had gathering clouds covering the sun,
hiding it face from the people below it. The wind was beginning to pick
up, though not too much- just enough to send a quick chill down Quatre's
spine. He gripped his school bag tightly, and then proceeded his way past
the school church, where Duo and his student were.

"There you are."

Quatre froze in his tracks. Ian and his three friends stood before the
blonde.

"And where're you going, little faggot?"

Quatre bit his lower lip, looking for any means of escape. The first place
he saw was the church. He glanced at it, then to Ian and his friends, then
back to the church. Abruptly, he began making a dash for it. One of Ian's
friends, Mike, sprinted after him.

Unfortunately, just as Quatre made it to the steps of the large church, he
was tackled from behind by Mike. He grunted as his school bag fell before
him, landing on the steps of the ancient building. Just then, Ian, Wyatt,
and his third friend made it over to Quatre and Mike, smirks on all their
faces.

"Because of you, you little shit, I got detention," said Ian as Mike got
off of the blonde. The four students surrounded the smaller boy,
disallowing him an escape route. Quatre swallowed as he forced himself to
look at Ian, hopeful to make his way out of the situation without getting
hurt.

"Look, I just want to go home..."

Just then, Wyatt pushed Quatre towards Ian. Before the blonde could
collide with the taller boy, he felt a strong fist slam into his face. He
stumbled back helplessly, but just then, he felt another fist implanted
into his stomach. He whimpered loudly in pain as he was pushed forward
again from behind, only to meet another one of Ian's fierce punches to the
face. The slight metallic taste of blood was instantly detected in his
mouth, though he could to nothing to change it at the moment.

Suddenly, Quatre was being attacked from all sides. Pain coursed through
his body with each punch, or kick that impacted his body. He didn't even
notice that he had fallen to the ground and was curled up into a tight
fetal position, trying to block himself. Ian and his friends laughed and
continued to beat him.

~*~

"Okay, how about this, you go and kill the people that are on my schedule
while I continue to do this mission alone?" Duo suggested, just about
finished with all the windows except the one that he was working on. Hilde
pouted.

"You have a couple of lives scheduled to take this afternoon. If I take
those for you, will you let me help on your mission?" she asked. Duo
paused for a moment, before removing the feather duster from the window and
turning to her.

"Maybe. It depends on-"

They both heard students laughing by the entrance of the church. Duo
shrugged it off, and then continued.

"It depends on how well of a job you do, okay?"

The laughing wouldn't stop. A muscle in his brow twitched. Damn kids.

"I know you have a tendency to-"

Before he could continue, he grunted in annoyance. The laughing wouldn't
stop. Irritated, he walked up to the entrance of the church and jerked the
doors open, ready to yell at whoever loitered there.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID-"

Ian and his friends suddenly stopped. All were crowded in a circle as they
stared at Duo like a deer caught in headlights.

"Shit!" Ian yelled. Suddenly, he and his friends dispersed as quickly as
possible from the scene, leaving a beaten Quatre behind on the ground. Duo
looked down at the blonde and bit his lip again.

"Shit..." he whispered to himself, quickly approaching the blonde. He
kneeled down beside him.

"Hey, Quatre! You okay? It's me, Duo."

Quatre whimpered through his tears as he still lay on the ground. As Duo
laid a hand on him, he twitched. At his words, though, he peeked out from
his position, looking up at Duo, his vision blurry through the tears.

"D-Duo?" he said, before slowly looking up. Duo nodded. Suddenly, Quatre
leapt up and threw his arms around Duo, holding onto him tightly. Duo,
still kneeled on the ground, stayed there as he let the blonde cling to him
and cry. Hilde walked to the entrance of the church, stopping in her
tracks as she saw Quatre clinging tightly to Duo. Though she was beginning
to feel jealous, she didn't say anything.

***

"Thanks for taking me home, Duo..." Quatre said, he and Duo standing in his
room. Duo performed his teleporting trick that he used on Quatre before.
He nodded to the blonde.

"Sorry 'bout what happened," he said. Quatre shook his head, wiping his
eyes.

"Don't apologize... You don't have reason to," he said. Duo nodded, though
he still gazed at Quatre, concerned.

"You're gonna be okay, right?" he asked. The smaller boy nodded slowly,
sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah... Thank you so much for bringing me home..."

Duo shrugged, "No problem."

There was a pause between the two boys. Duo scratched the back of his
neck, and then walked over to Quatre's large window.

"I should be going now. Got things to do, people to kill, y'know?" he
said, opening it up. Quatre nodded slowly. Duo nodded also in reply, and
then stepped up to the window sill, taking a hold of it steadily. Before
he left go, though, he turned back to Quatre.

"If you need anything from me, you can find me at the church, or just wait
for me at our little sanctuary, okay?"

Quatre looked up from his bed, suddenly confused. Wasn't Duo supposed to
kill him?

"Our... little sanctuary?" he asked, his voice soft. Duo nodded.

"Yeah, y'know, the place where we first met. Nobody knows about it but
us," he paused for a moment, "and those damned angels, but I doubt they'll
be there again," he finished with a grin. Quatre stared at him confused,
unaware of the slight blush that was returning to his face. Duo waved, and
then leapt out of the window, his braid the last thing visible.

"Aren't you... supposed to kill me?" Quatre whimpered, lying down on his
bed. 'Trowa, why didn't you save me...?' he asked himself. He felt his
eyes filling with tears again.
'Trowa... I don't know what to think...' he though, an image of Duo coming
to mind. His cheeks flushed once more. He then buried his face in the
pillows, almost clinging to them in frustration.

~*~

"Aren't you supposed to kill him!?"

Duo raised his hands. He was inside the church once again, where an angry
Hilde stood.

"Heeeey, it's all good! I'm not supposed to kill him just yet," he said,
lowering his hands. Hilde eyed him suspiciously, her arms folded over her
chest.

"Whaddya mean? I thought Treize's orders were to kill him?"

"Not yet."

Duo and Hilde turned to the sound of the voice, where Heero stood, a stern
expression upon his face. Duo growled, silently.

"Both angels and demons are only to keep an eye on him, though you demons
are trying to kill him from us," the angel said. Hilde glared at Heero,
quickly unfolding her arms and standing beside Duo.

"That's what I don't get about you demons. You're so irrational. You kill
without giving matters a second thought," Heero continued. Duo narrowed
his eyes at him. Before he could speak up, Hilde stepped up.

"What's that supposed to mean?! We're not the ones killing innocent people
for some stupid prophecy that you angels believe in!" she said, suddenly
pointing to the glass stained window high above in the church- the one with
the angel with the black wings. Heero stared at the smaller demon.

"And we don't kill innocent people just because we feel like it."

At that, Hilde suddenly charged at Heero. The angel stood still, watching
her every move. Before she could reach him though, Duo grabbed her from
behind.

"Idiot! Don't be so rash!" he yelled as he yanked her back. Hilde gritted
her teeth as Duo pushed her back, looking back to the angel.

"Look, Heero, I don't know what's so special about Quatre, except that he's
got something to do with some kinda 'Holy Prophecy'," the shinigami said,
his voice thick with sarcasm at the prophecy remark, "but it's -my- job to
make sure he doesn't live up to that prophecy!"

"And it's my job to make sure he does," said the Japanese in a monotone.

"And if he isn't who you angels think he is?" Duo asked. Heero continued
to stare at the shinigami with a stern expression.

"Then we kill him."