Chapter Three
Resurrection
When Tai knocked Kieko answered with a large Cheshire cat smile. "Hi Tai," she said with a superfluous amount of enthusiasm. Tai groaned inwardly. "Julie's in her room. You can go on back. I'm actually leaving right now, but I should be back later. Have fun." Then she winked and squeezed his shoulder and walked out. Tai banged his head against the door frame. What have I gotten myself into?
But then he put his usual placid face back on and walked in. He could hear Julie typing away in her bedroom, stopping, swearing, then starting again, punch something random Tai had a hunch that Julie needed a break--not help. She'd probably be so irritable that she'd bite his head off if he said a word.
"Julie..." he called softly as he knocked at her open bedroom door, alerting her of his presence. Huy had told him on numerous occasions that he made no noise when he walked and it was just eerie. So naturally he continued to "sneak" up on Huy but let everyone else know when he was around so he didn't startle them.
Julie jumped slightly and let out a small squeak. She turned to Tai with a surprised, but worn smile. "You scared me!"
"Sorry."
"Kieko just left so we're on our own," she told him.
"I know. I ran into her as I came in."
"Oh." Julie looked shyly down at her hands that were gripping the back of her chair at the computer desk. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"So how's your paper going?" Tai asked.
Julie looked up and shrugged. "Okay I guess.'
"So that wasn't you swearing that I heard?" Tai asked half jokingly.
Julie blushed a mild Fuchsia and bit her lip. "Okayso maybe not that great," she said slowly. "But there's really nothing you can do. Besides, it's boring."
"But that's why I'm here. To help." Tai immediately regretted his last comment. He knew that she liked him and that she was probably hoping they'd do something fun together. But then again, wasn't it worse to allow someone false hopes? Tai rationalized that he was just letting her know right here and now what was going on. It sounded okay in his head, so why did he feel like such a jerk?
Julie looked a little abashed. "Right." And she turned back to her computer and scooted the chair back. Then she got up and disappeared for a moment bringing back another chair. "Here," she said softly.
Tai felt even worse. But he wasn't sure what to do to salvage the situation. "Okay," he began, "umcan I just look at your paper to begin with to see what you're writing about?"
Julie nodded and scrolled her paper to the top. "Here." Then she sat back to let him read.
"After Colony 195: A History of the Gundam Pilots and Their Exploits by Julie Hawbaker" the title page reported. Tai just about choked. First I get weaseled into this, second I insult this perfectly nice girl, and thirdshe writing about my LIFE! ACK!! Tai began to go in panic mode but kept his eyes firmly on the computer screen hoping that Julie wouldn't notice anything strange while he frantically tried to decide what to do. After a couple minutes he calmed down and decided it was best just to read it and help, but keep his face as passive as possible and prepare himself for many insults to himself and his friends. He must stay calm.
"Uh, Tai, you've been staring at the title page for three minutes. Are you okay?" Julie suddenly interrupted his racing thoughts.
Tai's eyes focused suddenly so that he could see the computer screen clearly. "I'm fine. Just zoned out there for a minute. Sorry."
Julie looked at him strangely. "Okay"
Tai shook himself and began to read. He was about half way through the ten pages of what Julie had already written when he began to think that he'd escape alive. It was fairly well written, but naturally it had lots of little things that needed to be tweaked. Mostly it was okay, much better than Huy's writing anyway. Most of the time he just pointed out a little mistake to her and she fixed it right then. Only two paragraphs needed to be entirely rebuilt. The facts were solid, and she was sticking to history book ideas and perceptions. But then she began personal profiles of each pilot, beginning with pilot 01. Tai kept calm as he began to read what the world knew and thought of him.
Heero Yuyunknown parentagepresumed age 15computer hacker.yadda, yadda, yadda WhewI'm saved Tai thought. Then he read about the "skilled, very focused and driven Duo Maxwell".
"That's a load of crap!" Tai said loudly before he realized what he'd said.
"What is?" Julie asked. She sounded offended. Again.
Crapwhy couldn't I have kept my mouth shut?!?!?! Tai continued to silently curse the stork that brought him as he studdered an answer.
"N-nothing. I meanI was just reading about Maxwell the other day and someone said that he was a goofball," he told her pointing to the sentence he had exclaimed about. "Sorryit just came out. But nobody really knows, do they? I mean, no one knows where this Maxwell is any more to talk to him and find out, right?" Tai hoped he sounded convincing.
Julie looked thoughtful. "Aaaactually, what I wrote wasn't in any book. It's just the conclusion I came too after reading about him. 02 is the most interesting one to me. I mean, I understand 01 and 05, being soldiers and all. One disappears, one works for the Preventors. And 04 makes sense too, he had to take care of his inheritance. But 03 is a little odd–he switched off between a circus and fighting and now he's settled on the circus. Those things just don't go together. But the strangest is 02. He's the most friendly and readily agrees to TV interviews, and he's so funny. He could almost do stand-up. But at the same time, he's the least likely to talk about the war and how things were done. Actually none of them talk, but you'd think HE would. But he doesn't. He's just really skilled at evading questions so he makes you think that he's answered them. But he never really does. Also it makes him less mysterious so the media leaves him alone, but none of the others. Especially not 01. Media is always talking about him. And I think that's because he's the MOST mysterious. No one even knows what he looks like and the few who do know aren't talking. But in light of all this, I think 02 must be very intelligent."
Tai shrugged. "That makes sense," he agreed. And it did. Unfortunately, being out in the open wasn't a choice for everyone
"I just wonder WHY 01 disappeared. He could have had anything and been anything. He was the leader, the most skilled–heck, he even beat Zechs Marquis! And then he runs. Why would he do that?" Julie asked.
Tai shrugged. "Sometimes people just want to escape their past and the easiest way is to disappear."
Julie scrutinized Tai's face. "You sound as if you know from experience."
Tai raised an eyebrow. Does she suspect? Then he looked at her suspicious face. No way. She suspects something, but not that. Not in a million years.
"Doesn't everybody?"
"How so?" Julie asked.
"Well, aren't there things you wish that you'd never done, never even thought about? So you try to fix them but just dig yourself in deeper. Finally, the only thing you can do is just drop everything, don't think about anything. Just let yourself go blank and forget about it. And it becomes a type of repressed memory. It's always there, but most of the time you don't think about it. That way you can go on living," Tai explained. Julie looked a little blank. "You haven't ever experienced what I'm talking about?"
Julie shook her head. "I've never experienced or done anything THAT bad."
"Then you are very lucky," Tai said, slight disbelief evident in his voice.
"But that still doesn't account for his disappearance!"
"Yes it does. What he did was so bad that he dropped his entire life and gave himself a new one."
"But what could he have done that was THAT bad? Tons of other people fought and killed during the war. What was so different about him?" Julie asked, more to herself than to Tai. She seemed to have accepted his explanation.
Tai shrugged again and went on reading. But then he stopped. He was tired. It was too difficult to read and fear that he'd get caught. "Why don't we take a little break. My eyes are going in circles now," Tai said decisively.
Julie smiled. "Okay. I've been doing this since this morning so I could use a break."
Tai nodded and they both got up. Julie threw on some shoes and a jacket and they left.
They walked through campus until they got to the play ground outside of a local school. It was away from the road and very peaceful. Tai sat down on a swing and began to pump himself up high. He hadn't done this sincethis past summer with Yachi. Okay, so it hadn't been that long since he'd swung.
Julie kept closer to the ground, playing with the dirt under her shoes. She was very quiet.
"Hey, what's on your mind?" Tai called down from his swing.
Julie looked up at him and smiled, but then looked shyly down again. Tai slowed his swing down to a stop to look at her on eye level. "Come one, what's go you so serious?"
Julie was fiddling with her hands. "I can't stop thinking about 01 and everything we talked about. AndI was just wondering somethingbut I don't think that I should askit's kind ofintrusive."
"If it's something that I don't want to answer, I'll tell you so. What are you wondering?" Tai wondered if he'd regret telling her that.
"Don't get mad," she began, and Tai groaned. She hesitated.
"Go ahead and askI can take it" Tai said with dramatic emphasis.
Julie giggled. "Okay then. It's justKieko was telling me something Huy told her about you."
"Oh, I think I know where this is going," Tai said.
"She said that you werewell, she worded it really funny, but basically you were lost then you were three and found again when you were 17. I was just wondering whatyou don't have to answer if you don't want to!" It looked as if Julie had been thinking about this for some time.
"When did Kieko tell you about this?"
"I don't really remember. A couple months ago, maybe. Something like that anyway."
Tai nodded. "It was during a colony uprising and I managed to escape from my mom's grasp and was lost in the crowd. And my senior year in high school, I was transferred to a new school and Huy was there. That's how I found out who I was."
Julie looked as him with large eyes. "That's so sad."
Tai shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. I found my family. That's all that really matters to me. I'm happy and safe."
"Safe?"
Tai wished he'd chosen another word. "YahI wasn't exactly living...the usual lifestyle of a child."
Julie was staring at her shoes again. "Sowhat happened during those years? Could youremember your old family?"
Tai looked carefully at the open sky. "I have vague memories, they feel more like a dream and I didn't know they were real until just a little while ago. But it doesn't really matter what happened to me between then and now."
"It must have been hard, growing up not knowing who you really were," Julie said sadly.
"As I said, I'm fine. And your past doesn't really determine who you are. Your personality and how you carry yourself and how you act determine how you are. Family just helps you along. I never worried about who I was. I justlived."
"Sorry. I probably shouldn't have asked that."
"It's okay. I don't mind."
"You are such a strong, kind person, Tai."
"Not nearly as much as some" Tai said thoughtfully. Then he sighed and stood up. "We better get going on that paper of yours. Maybe we can get it finished."
Julie was busily fiddling with her coat sleeve, hiding her face. She's crying.
"Okay, I'm coming." Julie's voice was shaky.
"What's the matter?" Tai asked.
"Huh?" Julie said with false ignorance.
"You're crying. What's wrong?"
"I was just imagining how I'd feel if my sister was lost for that longI'm sorry, I can't help but think about it. It seems so sad"
"It's very happy to me. I learned a lot," Tai said firmly. "Now lets work on that paper."
Heero. It has to be him.! Deirdre couldn't believe what she was seeing. He was playing basketball at her school. He was supposed to be dead.
The cheering crowd was only a shadow in the back of her mind, in a deafening quiet. She felt her throat grow dry and her stomach began to churn.
Deirdre turned and climbed over everyone, ignoring the annoyed protests of the people she was climbing over for the second time. Then she raced up the concrete stairs of the arena to the nearest girls' bathroom. She threw open a stalldoor and locked it with a resounding click and turned to the toilet. Everything in her stomach promptly deposited itself into the toilet.
She continued to vomit until it was just dry hieves. She felt numb and dead inside. Get a hold of yourself, girl! It can't be him. It just looks like him. You are fine. Heero is dead and you have moved on with your life. Everything is okay. You are okay. Now get UP!! Deirdre continued to fight with herself, trying to get her limp body to move and go back to her friends so that they wouldn't be worried. But all that she could manage was to flush the toilet and rest her head against the cool porcelain.
"Deirdre, you in there?" Amada was knocking at the stall door.
She tried to answer but all that came out was, "Amarugg"
"That didn't sound too good" Ianthe said, also right outside her door.
"Maybe it was something she ate," Maryanne suggested.
Greatall three had come. Finally she forced herself to answer in clear words. "I'm fine."
All three girls laughed sardonically. "Yah right Deir. A person doesn't just take off running and upchuck for five minutes straight if she's fine!" Amada yelled. "Now open that door and let us in!"
Amada began to pound of the door. It gave Deirdre a horrible headache. "Don'tplease don'tthat hurtsmy head." Her voice was so weak she even surprised herself. Her head was swimming forcefully.
"Okay, forget this. I'm climbing over," Maryanne said. Deirdre just clutched at her camode and groaned.
Marryanne landed softly behind Deirdre and unlocked the stall. Then she picked up Deirdre from behind under her arms and dragged her away. Deirdre was too weak to protest.
She felt a cold, wet paper towel pressed against her forehead as she laid on the cold concrete floor. She hoped it had been mopped it recently.
"Deirdre, what happened? Do you know?"
Deirdre just shook her head feverishly. "I don't knowI don't knowI was fine until just a couple minutes agoIt's not possibleI don't understand" She began to rant feverishly and her three roommates just looked on. They had no idea what to do for a delirious girl.
Suddenly Deirdre shook herself, rolled over, reached up with shaky hands, and pulled herself up by the water faucet. Ianthe ran to support her little body as she splashed cold water on her face.
"I'm sorry I scared you guys. I'm okay now. I just need to find a water fountain. I'll just get a drink." She stepped unsteadily away from Ianthe to the door.
The moment she opened it she felt strong arms around her, supporting her. "Are you okay Deirdre? You look like you're about to break," Marcus told her.
MarcusI'd forgottenhow funny. Deirdre laughed softly to herself. "I'm fine. I just need a drink of water"
"And don't let her go, Marcus. She ran off on us, but she shouldn't be left alone," Amada told him firmly.
Deirdre tried to ignore them and carefully took a drink from the fountain. Her head was till spinning and her throat was on fire.
"Well, what should we do now?" Maryanne asked.
"I'm taking her home!" Amada said.
"That sounds like a good idea," Marcus agreed.
Deirdre leaned up from drinking. "No." They gave her the you-must-think-we-are-all-high look. "I'm serious. Just let me sit down and I'll be perfectly fine in a bit. Just let me sit."
"Okay, but I'm taking you to first-aid," Marcus insisted. They all walked down to the first-aid station and had her sit on a bed. A nurse checked her eyes and throat and gave her some advil. Deirdre leaned back against the pillows and let herself relax but she insisted that everyone else go and watch the game. They all refused, naturally, argued a little and finally she got the girls to go and Marcus stayed with her.
They sat there quietly. Deirdre, trying to think and calm herself, and Marcus just the quiet shadow protecting her. Shortly after the half-time buzzer Deirdre got up. Marcus looked at her, surprised, and started to force her back down. Deirdre looked at him with steady clear eyes. "I'm fine now. I want to go and watch the game."
Marcus knew her well enough to realize that it was no use to fight her. And she did look much better. So they went back to their seats and all the girls looked extremely relieved, except Ianthe, who was practically on her date's lap and looking at him dreamily and hadn't noticed that Deirdre was even back.
"How do you feel?" Marcus asked her for the twentieth time during the fourth quarter.
"I'm fineand if you ask me one more time I'll sucker-punch you," Deirdre threatened. She was focusing on the Heero look alike. She had figured out that his last name was Iwasato and apparently one of the best players on the other team. But Deirdre HAD to find a way to talk to him. He just looked too much like Heero to ignore it. Maybe he was Heero. Maybe Heero had given himself a new identity. She had to be sure.
Just before the game ended Deirdre got up. "I'm going to the bathroom before it gets packed with everyone leaving. I'll be right back." And before anyone could protest she was sprinting up the stairs. She ran around the concourse that circled the arena and threw open the back stairway door. There were six flights of stairs to the bottom and she ran the entire way. She exited the stairway confidently so that no one would be suspicious and walked around the carpeted concourse that circled the arena floor. Then she saw a door labeled "Swinson Locker Room." She passed it up and stood about six feet away and waited.
About five minutes later the buzzer rang, people began running through the hall and tall, sweaty players started filling up the room. Deirdre kept her eyes peeled for the Heero imposter. All the players were now in the dressing room and she still hadn't seen him. She was getting worried. She couldn't figure out where he would have gone. She was about to run amuck, panicking when she saw him coming down the hall slowly, talking on a cell phone.
"Hey, I told you I'm sorry! They just changed it! I couldn't help it Kieko YES, I remember. Well, it doesn't really matter does it because Tai's gonna kill me when I get home!" His voice was almost exactly like Heero's too. Just a little higher pitched, but Deirdre wondered if it was because he seemed to be a bouncy, up-beat person, not apathetic like Heero.
Deirdre shyly grabbed at his shoulder as he passed and he turned to look at her, eyebrows raised. "I need to talk to you," she said softly so that the person on the other line wouldn't be able to hear her.
He nodded and held up one finger to signal that he'd talk to her in a minute.
"Yeshey, babe, I've got to go." Then he held the phone away from his ear as shouting came from the earpiece. He gave Deirdre a goofy look and said, "Oops. She doesn't like me calling her babe."
Deirdre nodded and pretended to understand what he was talking about.
"Yah, okay" He had the phone to his ear again. "I'll talk to you laterLove you toobye." Then he turned toward Deirdre and rested his hands on his knees and pretended to pant with exhaustion. "My fianceeshe likes to get carried away sometimes." Then he stood up and looked at Deirdre's less-than-amused face. "So" he began. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Deirdre decided the best thing to do was ask her question quickly and get it out. "Do you know Heero Yuy?" She figured that he must because his face grew serious and he looked at her suspiciously.
"How do you know Heero?"
"He'san old friend. You're not him then?"
"No. I." He looked as if he wasn't sure what he should say.
"Please. I need to talk to him. Can you tell me how to reach him?"
Then the young man got a sly look on his face. "You aren't an old girlfriend are you?"
That was randomDeirdre thought. "No," she said a little too forcefully. She wasn't going to talk about her feelings to this stranger. "Look. I'm a friend. I'm not trying to get him to kill anyone for me or blow anything up. I promise. Can you just have him contact me? I can give you my name and number."
Iwasato looked thoughtful. "No, I think it would be better if you contacted him. Give me one second." Then he ran into the locker room. A few minutes later he was back with a piece of paper and a pen. He put it against the wall and jotted a few things down. "If you want to talk to Heero call this number and ask for Tai. He'll be able to help you. I've got to go so the other guys don't beat me out of here. Hope it goes well!" He winked and left her in the hall.
As Deirdre walked back up to the top level to meet her roommates and their dates, her mind began to swirl again, but not from being ill. This boy looked just like Heero, but he was nothing like Heero. He knew Heero and gave her a way to contact him. Why was she so scared?
Huy cackled to himself as he climbed to stairs to his dorm room. He'd had TONS of people mistake him for Tai over the past few years, but it had never been a beautiful girl whom he didn't know before. He was going to tease Tai to no end
As he opened the door, he was greeted by an angry glare about two feet from his own face. "Hi Tai! Did you miss me?"
"Terribly." He's normal Huy thought. "But I can't help but think of evil things to do to you and Kieko, I don't know why," Tai said sarcastically.
Huy grinned uneasily. Maybe now wasn't the time to tease Tai about that girl
"I take it a night with Julie didn't go too well."
Tai glared again. "You know I'm not interested in her. But you guys forced me into it anyway."
"Oh come on! She's not that bad! She really is a nice girl," Huy said as he walked over to his side of the room and began to put things away.
"I didn't say that she wasn't a nice girl. But I'm not interested, she is. That's not fair to her. And do you know what her paper was about?"
Huy suddenly got very worried. "No I don't. What was it about?" His voice was almost trembling.
Tai turned to the opposite wall and spread out his hands as he quoted. "After Colony 195: A History of the Gundam Pilots and Their Exploits." Then he turned and glared at his brother. "Do you have any idea how awkward that was!?!?!?!"
Huy laughed uneasily. "But you survived didn't you?" Tai glared. "Hey, listen. I'm really sorry. And I had no idea what her paper was about. I promise. I wouldn't have gone along with Kieko's plan if I'd known. You've got to believe that!"
Tai breathed in heavily. "Yes, I believe you. Justdon't try and force me into a relationship with someone. If I want one and need help I'll let you know. Just don't try and make me do these things," Tai pleaded. Tai sat down on his bed and let his arms fall limply down. "I felt like such a jerk going to see her."
Huy looked thoughtfully at the dirty shorts he was holding. "I'm sorry Tai. I justit's just that I'm so happy and I want you to have that too. I feelkind of guilty for leaving you alone like this"
Tai looked up at his brother. "Huy, I'm a big boy. I can handle myself."
"But if I leave, I'm afraid that you'll never get out to meet anyone and just bealone all the time. I guess I just want to make sure that you're happy and safemaybe I feel responsible for you in a way."
"Why?"
"Well, I was the one who first ran into you, and you are my twinmy younger twin," Huy said with a slight grin.
"I hardly think that counts enough to make you my elder brother who needs to look out for his innocent, naïve little brother."
"Yahit should probably be the other way around. But stillI can't help but worry. What if you grow old and never meet people--just some old codger in your room cursing the noisy children downstairs. I don't want to see that happen to my brother."
Tai smiled at his brother. "Thank you for thinking of me, Huy. But, as I said before, I'm a big boy. And I'm not as antisocial as you think. And about girls, I honestly haven't met one that I like enough to pursue. Don't worry about me."
"You've never liked a girl enough?" Huy asked slyly.
Tai narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at?"
"You never liked a petite girl with red hair and green eyes? Very pretty in a quiet, elegant type of way?" he asked mischievously.
"Huh? What are you going on about, Huy? I don't know anyone like that, or if I do, I sure don't remember them."
"Really?" Huy looked disappointed. "I ran into a girl at the game who thought I was "Heero Yuy." She looked like that."
"That's odd.how old was she?"
"About our age I'd say. You really can't think of anyone like that?"
"Nope."
"Weird. Well, I gave her your name and our number so if she was serious about wanting to talk to you she'll call."
"Yahthat's juststrange."
Later on Huy went to dinner with Kieko and Tai stayed at home combing his brain for a small girl with red hair and green eyes. The only red-head he knew was Trowa's sister Cathy, but she had gray eyes and she was older. How odd
Zechs marched down the hall of the Preventor headquarters. His stomach was in a bit of a mess. Half of him was furious with Heero Yuy and the other half was, surprisingly, happy. It was some how comforting to know that leukemia hadn't defeated the Gundam Pilot. Besides, maybe they could have another duel sometime. It was nice to practice his skills with a worthy opponent. But now he had to tell everyone else the truth. It could be messy. He was suddenly wishing that he could have brought Heero so that everyone could maul him as he so deserved instead of yell at him as he expected.
He opened the conference room door and several people inside stood up as he entered.
Lady Une was the first to speak. "Zechs, what's going on? You called all the Gundam Pilots? And it's something I don't know about? This isn't about anything you've been doing on the side is it?" she asked suspiciously.
"It's nothing like that. Don't worry yourself Lady Une. We just need to wait for the rest to arrive. I only want to explain this once." Zechs took a seat at the end of the table facing everyone who was already there. Trowa and Quatre were sitting across from Lady Une. Sally and Wufei still were not there. "We'll wait a few more minutes and if they aren't here I'll have them paged." The others nodded.
Suddenly muffled yells started advancing down the hall, and they grew louder. Then the door opened as Sally yelled, "Oh, don't be such a pain Wufei. It was only a little joke. Don't take everything so seriously! They didn't mean it!"
"Seriously? Don't take things so seriously, she tells me! Those stupid little beginners think they got the best of me Hah!"
"Oh, it's just your pride they hurt?"
"If you two would take a seat, I'd like to begin," Zechs said loudly so that they could hear him.
They looked up and quietly sat down, Wufei fuming and Sally laughing slightly. Still the mature one, Sally is Zechs observed silently.
"Well, I don't mean to worry you all by calling you but there is something that Duo told me not too long ago that I felt you should be aware of," Zechs began.
"I was wondering why Duo wasn't here" Wufei muttered.
Then Noin came running through the door carrying a file folder. "Sorry that I'm late. I got tied up."
Zechs smiled at his wife. "Thanks." Then he cleared his throat and began again. "Heero's alive."
The entire room went into an uproar.
"ALIVE!"
"That JERK! Why didn't he tell us!"
"And I was so worried!"
"That JERK!"
"Didn't he have the decency to tell any of us!"
"Why did he only tell Duo? And how on earth did Duo keep it quiet? How long has he known?"
"That JERK!"
"Everyone please calm down and I'll tell you what I know," Zechs said over the ranting. Everyone calmed down and looked at him impatiently. "About four years ago there was the incident with a boy who looked just like Heero."
"Yes, we all know about that so get on with it!" Wufei said angrily.
"I'm getting there. As I was saying, the incident. Lady Une, you went to the colony to get help from Heero about the case and you found that he was dying of leukemia, am I correct?"
"Yes. And I now recall the Duo Maxwell was also there," Lady Une told him. "But I didn't stay too long. He was very ill, near the end the doctors said. I had to leave and shortly thereafter I received report that he died."
"Yes, that's about what I'd heard," Quatre said. "So what did happen?"
"I think Heero managed to recover, somehow, and changed his name. Gave himself a new identity. In order to complete that transfer however, he would have to give Heero Yuy a death certificate so that no one would look for him and he could live quietly with his new identity. I think that Duo stayed with him the entire time and that's how he knew that Heero had not died."
"Wow" Sally said softly. "But he'd have to have a bone marrow transplant or something to live"
"I'm not sure about this, but I think that the boy who looked like Heero was his identical twin brother. I think that that's where he got the bone marrow. But I don't have any information to confirm these suspicions."
Noin coughed and everyone looked at her as she opened her file. "I decided that I should do a little research on that boy who looks like Heero and I found some very interesting things. He's apparently a senior at the Swinson University on one of the colonies. He's on a basketball scholarship and majoring in History teaching. His name is Huy Iwasato. And he's rooming with his twin brother, Tai Iwasato, a neurological science major. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?"
"Neuro-science, huh?" Sally whistled. "I always knew that he was a smart kid."
"So now what do we do?" Trowa spoke up for the first time. "Does Relena know?"
"I don't plan on telling her. If Heero wants her to know he's alive, I figure that he can do it himself and face her anger himself. Duo defends Heero saying that Heero didn't even know that we knew about his illness. Thus, Heero's been assuming that well all thought he was fine all this time," Zechs explained. "Personally I find that a little hard to believe. And despite everything, Heero should have been in contact with us."
"Maybe he figured Duo knowing that he was alive was enough to keep us all informed," Quatre suggested.
"Which means that he might have asked Duo not to speak about it as Duo managed to keep quiet for four years," Trowa put in.
"Which means he deserves a good butt-kicking and head bashing" Wufei muttered.
"Okay, so maybe it was rude of him to do that, but do you all really think that Heero is that cold?" Noin asked. Everyone gave her a dumb look. "Oh come on! Heero's not that bad! I'm sure that he just wanted to get out of our lives and let us alone. I'm positive that he wouldn't be that rude and inconsiderate on purpose. He probably wasn't thinking"
"Heero Yuy? Are we talking about the same cold, calculated Heero here? The one who doesn't do ANYTHING unless he's thought about it first?" Wufei asked.
"I agree with Noin. Give him a break. I'm sure there's an explanation for it," Sally said.
"I too think that perhaps there is more to this than meets the eye," Trowa agreed.
"Well, how are we going to find out?" Lady Une asked.
"I think that I'll e-mail Duo and see if he'll tell me how to contact Heero and just say hi," Quatre offered. "Then I'll get back to you all."
"That sounds good to me," Noin answered. "Zechs?"
"Okay. That's okay with me," he said grudgingly.
Wufei managed a cough that sounded suspiciously like "prick."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N Shini, the 80 in Heero's "name" is for his birth year. Too many other people had that name so he used the number on the end. It's just easy to remember. Nothing else to say really. Just hope that you are till liking it! And thanks sooooooooooooooooooooo much for the reveiws!!! Toodles, Tygerlilee =^,^=