RoboticCity, Poetic Love
Chapter 19: Why can't We be Together

After Wufei leaves, Duo gets back into the lab and checks on Heroo. Heroo is still typing on the computer totally focused, not noticing anything around him. The Japanese boy looks so serious and dedicated, Duo doesn't want to bother him.

Duo stands there and watches Heroo. The Japanese boy looks so handsome. Every time when Duo watches Heroo, Duo feels like the luckiest boy in the whole world. And today, seeing how much Wufei misses Nataku, Duo feels even luckier.

After watching Heroo for a while, Duo goes back to work on his own computer. Duo is sorting data on the computer when he hears the lab turns to complete silent. Heroo isn't tying on his computer. Heroo has stopped working.

The American boy turns around to look at his Japanese lover. "Are you hungry, Heroo?" Duo asks.

"A little bit." Heroo says. It's late afternoon already and Heroo has skipped lunch because he has a lot of work.

"I will go and get you something to eat." Duo says.

"Thank you very much." Heroo says.

"I'll be right back. I love you." Duo says before he leaves the lab.

Heroo relaxes his fingers. All the tying on the computer is cramming Heroo's hands really bad. His shoulders are very stiff, too. Heroo lets out a frustrated sighs as he pounds himself on the shoulders.

Duo comes back in with the green tea and rice cake. He sees what Heroo is doing and grabs Heroo's fist. "Hey! don't hurt those shoulders. I happen to like to put my head on them." Duo says as he rubs Heroo's shoulder.

Heroo breathe out comfortably as Duo rubs his shoulders. The tension on his shoulders is gone. "Feeling better?" Duo asks. Heroo nods.

Duo's hands go lower to give Heroo a back rub. Heroo takes a piece of the rice cake and asks, "where did you get rice cake and green tea? We didn't buy this last time we get groceries."

"Wufei brought them in today. He comes to visit earlier; but you're busy so he doesn't want to bother you." Duo says.

"You two should have call me. He comes all these way and I don't even say hi." Heroo utters, trying to talk and drink his tea at the same time.

"Wufei wanted to quit being Quatre's bodyguard now that Trowa is here. Wufei wants to go out and open a dojo on his own." Duo says.

"A dojo sounds nice. That's what he always wanted, right? Open a dojo? He talked about it all the time." Heroo says, eating his rice ball.

"No, MEIRIAN always wanted a dojo. Wufei is doing it for Meirian; and he is doing it all by himself. It's going to be hard for him. You know how much work it is to open up a dojo?" Duo asks concerned.

Heroo stops eating and says, "Don't worry. We'll be there for Wufei. He will not be by himself. We're all gonna help him."

Duo hugs Heroo tight and says, "Heroo, please don't ever leave me…I won't know what to do if you leave me. I don't want to be alone without you."

"Don't be crazy, why would I leave you?" Heroo says.

Duo smiles. He sits down on Heroo's lap and says, "would you like another rice cake?"

"Sure." Heroo smiles. Duo picks a rice cake next to Heroo's mouth.

Heroo smiles and bites on the rice cake while kisses Duo's fingers lightly. Duo chuckles and kisses Heroo on the lips.

"Duo, Not that I don't want your kiss, but I need to work on the weather control system. I need you to get off me." Heroo says. Yet the Japanese boy doesn't make any attempt to get his American lover off him.

"Hmm…I love it when you talk about your work. It make you sound so sexy." Duo whispers heatedly in Heroo's ear. Heroo smiles.

Heroo kisses Duo and says, "I want to work on the Toledo prevention system too…and the rain creation program…"

"What about this…" Duo randomly points to an icon on the computer and asks Heroo, who is kissing Duo's neck. Duo doesn't really care what that icon is, he just want to hear Heroo talking.

"That's the air filtering system of Future City. I programmed it to be totally automated. The robots changes the filter every month so the city had clean air…" Heroo says as he click on the icon to show Duo the program.

"Wow, look at all the numbers…you're so awesome." Duo says impressed. He continues to kiss Heroo. Heroo looks at the screen.

"What the hell? Someone is in here!" Heroo shouts as he looks at the numbers. The numbers looks normal to any lab technician. Even the computer checking program doesn't pick up any thing wrong. But Heroo isn't just a lab technician or a program. Heroo is, as Omi calls, 'The Ultimate Hacker'; and the ultimate hacker will know if other hackers are inside his computer.

"The numbers are too normal. It got to be a smoke screen. Someone is doing something inside the program and he built up a screen to cover his actions." Says Heroo as he moves toward the computer. Duo doesn't even asks, he gets off Heroo's lap at once so that Heroo can work.

"Whoever that is, he is gone." Heroo says.

"Did he do anything to your program?" Duo asks.

Heroo shakes his head and says, "no, we caught him before he did anything. The program is safe."

"How did someone get into your program? I thought your protection program is the best."

"It is the best. Omi wrote that program; and Omi is the best programmer slash hacker around. Whoever got into my computer really knows what he is doing…"

"Good thing we caught him. You can make your program better, right? So he can't come back?" Duo asks.

"Right." Heroo replies as he rewrite the program so the guy can't get back.

"Good! Than it's okay." Duo says in relief.

It's going to be okay for anyone, but Heroo can't just let it go. The ultimate hacker can't stand someone get inside his computer and poke around and leaves. Heroo has to find out who that person is. He keeps typing on the computer, trying to find out the doorway to his program.

"Oh, I don't get it! This is ridiculous! I can't figure it out. I have to find out how he got into my computer!" Heroo shouts.

"That was a good lunch! Thank you, Mr. Takuya." Hige and Blue say to Kiba's dad as they walk out of the Vietnamese restaurant.

"Yeah, thank you, Mr. Takuya. We better get back to the office. I still have a lot of things I need to take care of. I will see you guys tonight at your house." Tsume says.

"I'll go with you then." Blue says to Tsume. She then turns around and says to Hige, "I will see you later?"

Hige nods and says, "I'll call you when I get off from work." He then gives her a kiss on the cheek.

Tsume and Blue go back to work. Hige says, "I'm going back to Future Tech. Can I hitch a ride from you, Mr. Takuya?"

"Sure. I'm heading back to the office anyway." Takuya says to Hige. The father then turns to his son and says, "Kiba, you go home and get some rest, okay? Alfred will be there if you need something."

"I don't need to rest, dad. I have been lying down for so long. I want to move around a bit. I want to go back to Omi's lab and work." Kiba replies.

"But you're not fully recovered yet." His father says worried.

"I'm going to be fine. Tsume is walking around already, why can't I?" Kiba asks.

"Tsume was walking around the night when he was shot 3 times and ends up with 20 broken bones. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should." Takuya says.

"But I can't sleep anymore. You are going back to your work anyway, why can't I just go with you? Please?" Kiba says.

"Alright. Just for a couple of hours. Then you go back home, okay?" The father gives.

Kiba cheers, "thanks, dad!"

They get back to the Future Tech main building and Kiba heads toward Omi's lab. "Are you excited to see Omi?" Kiba asks Toboe.

Toboe nods happily. Kiba slides his ID card down the slot of the lab door. The door says 'welcome, Kiba' and opens up. Kiba walks in and feels something changes. "how come it's so quiet here?" Kiba asks.

Toboe looks around. The lab is all empty. There is no one in sight. No Ken, no Youji and no Aya working on the flowers. What's more, there is no Omi's voice. Omi isn't cheering BoA the way he usually is. The lively atmosphere in the lab has disappears.

It feels like a ghost town in Omi's lab. Toboe can't help but starts shouting, "Omi-chan! Omi-chan!!! Where are you?"

"Omitichi!" Kiba starts shouting too, but there is no answer.

"Please don't let anything happen to Omi and the others…" Toboe mutters.

"Omitichi!" Kiba shouts as he catches sight of the rosy blonde hair of the flower conjurer. Toboe and Kiba run to Omi.

Omi is sitting on the floor, covering in dirt and soaking wet. There is mud everywhere around Omi. All the shelves around Omi are caved and pieces of broken pots scatter around the ground.

"Omi-chan! What happen? Did someone attack you?" Toboe shouts in front of the soaked boy.

Omi just sit there and not responding. Toboe shouts in Omi's face, "OMI-CHAN!!!!!!"

Omi looks with empty glances and says, "Oh, hi, Toboe-chan." Omi's face is dejected and cold. The bright, warm and friendly smile Omi always has is no where to be find.

"You scared the hell out of me! I thought something horrible happen to you! Don 't do that to me again! Why didn't you answer me when I call?" Toboe says as he hugs Omi.

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear you." The petite blonde apologizes.

"Don't be sorry. We're just worried." Toboe says softly. Kiba takes a towel and dries Omi off.

"What happen to you?" Kiba ask his petite boss.

"Nothing happened. I'm fine." Omi says as he stands up. Suddenly he yelps a loud 'ouch' and falls to the floor again.

"Toboe-chan! you twisted your ankle!" Toboe exclaims and checks on Omi's ankle.

"I'm so crumsy....twisted my own ankle..." Omi sighs.

"Don't say things like that. The important thing is you're not hurt badly." Toboe assures Omi.

Omi mutters, "I was just trying to put the pollens inside the flower... I can't reach the flower...so I try to get the ladder..but the ladder falls...and I fall...and I try to get up..and I hit me head at the table... and...and...all the muds on the table falls on me...and...and....I try to get away and hit the shelves...and the shelves fall on me...and all the pots are broken...and..and...one of the pots hit the water pipe... .and...and the pipe spray water at me...and...and...and...." Omi's voice is so broken he can even talk now.

"Oh, Omi-chan..." Toboe sighs and hugs Omi again.

"I'm so useless. I broke everything. I'm afraid to move. I don't want to break any more stuff..." Toboe says.

"Don't be stupid. It was an accident. You shouldn't be going up to such high places anyway, it's too dangerous. You could have seriously hurt yourself." Kiba says moving all the shelves away from Omi.

Toboe helps Omi up and check Omi, making sure Omi is not cut by all the sharp broken pieces from the pots. There are a couple of cuts and some bruises on Omi, but Omi doesn't seems to notice that he is hurt at all. Toboe set Omi down at a sofa and fixes Omi's ankle.

"I'm a good for nothing klutz." Omi mutters sadly.

"No, you're not. Stop acting like this. You're not a klutz and you're not usless." Toboe says to his blonde friend.

"You shouldn't be working here by yourself. There are a lot of things here that is unsafe for a kid. You're lucky the shelves didn't fall on you on their way down. How come you're alone alone? Where is Ken? and Youji? and Aya?" Kiba asks.

"Ken and Youji are gone." Omi says.

"Gone? Where did they go?" Toboe asks.

"I started a new project for them a gave them a new lab downstairs. They're working on reproductions of Fruits now. You don't think I will want them to work for me forever, right? I mean, Kiba got his own project when he comes here. Ken and Youji should have one, too; and fruits are more useful than flowers. Flowers has no use...just like me..." Omi says, still depressed.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could have come back earlier. You shouldn't be on your own. Someone should be watching over you." Kiba says.

"I am so useless. I can't do anything by myself. I can't do anything right. I'm always troubling other people." Omi says sadly. Toboe can't believe the person in front of him is Omi. Omi was always so happy and so cheerful. Nothing can keep Omi down. But now, Omi looks like he is a General who lose hundred of battles and he cannot fight anymore.

"Omi-chan, why are you so sad?" Toboe asks.

"Omitchi, where is Aya?" Kiba asks.

"Aya-kun resigned. I tried to call him, but he doesn't return my calls." Omi sighs.

"Aya resigned? When did that happen?" Kiba asks.

"The night when you guys were kidnapped. After he saved you guys, he told me he can't work for me anymore, and then he just disappeared. I told him to keep in touch, but he didn't call me or anything…It's over a week already…" Omi sighs. Toboe hugs Omi.

"I miss Aya-kun. I want to see him again. It's like he takes a piece of me away. I feel so lose without him. I can't even work, or eat, or sleep. I can't even think straight…nothing make sense to me…" Omi cries.

"Oh, Omi-chan..." Toboe says as he hugs Omi.

"Where can Aya-kun be?" Omi cries.

TBC...