Duo stared at the ceiling, his braid tangled with stray brown hairs wondering around his head looking somewhat like the hydra from Greek mythology. His normally pristine black shirt was ruffled and unbuttoned halfway. Heero turned on a lamp nearby the table, causing light to spread violently around the small apartment kitchen. Duo buried his face down into his hands. Quatre walked into the room, wearing a somber look and sat down across the table.
"Duo we're your friends, you know we're here for you?" He pleaded and reached across to take one of Duo's hands in his own, Duo jerked it away.
Heero sat down next to Quatre and stared blankly. Wufei walked into the room carrying a small blue box and handed it to Quatre. Quatre stared at it silently.
"Duo, can you here me."
Dou shrugged.
"Duo, all we want to know is how it happened, we're here to help, we've always supported each other, but this, we'll none of us expected this, it's just we need to know what your up to."
Duo glared up at Quatre, his eyes were red and blood shot.
"You really want to know?"
"Yes Duo, for all of us and you."
"I guess" he sniffled and wiped his nose with the corner of his shirt.
"I guess I should come clean, it's best you know, to come clean." he paused and smashed his hands into his eyes rubbing them vigorously.
"Dou follow your heart." Heero said methodically.
Dou sighed. "It began about a month ago. It started with just one, a once a week thing, you know, every Saturday for about half an hour. Than it started happening on Mondays, and you know, since I was doing it than, might as well sit and take in everything else. Then you know, it just isn't fast enough and you gotta get more, know more, to have that full experience." Duo stared down at the table and sighed.
"So then what?" Quatre asked.
"Well," "you have one, then you gotta have another, and since it's so easy to start that one, you just get another one, and pretty soon I couldn't stop." Dou wiped his nose on his shirt again.
"So when did it come to this" Quatre said laying the blue box on the table in between them. Duo looked down at it, and reached forward tentatively, brushing the box with his fingers, tracing the words imprinted on its surface SAILOR MOON.
"Are you ready to come clean," Quatre asked.
Duo stared at the video case and nodded his head.
"I'm… I'm…. an…" Duo took a shaky sob, "An anime junky." He throw his head into his hands sobbing and rocking. Trowa stepped out of the corner of the kitchen and handed him a multi colored handkerchief which Duo blew wildly into.
"It's okay duo" Quatre said "we'll get through this."
"NOO!" duo yelled, "you don't understand it's not just this, I'm all out. I have the full series of Escaflowne stashed away, I have all the Inu Yasha, I can quote The DBZ series" he leveled his eyes with Quatre's "Word-for-Word."
"It's okay duo, calm down." Quatre reassured.
"Okay, Okay, do you know what okay is, I'm not okay!" Duo said jumping up.
"We can see that" Wufei mumbled.
"I've had cable boxes installed into every single room of this apartment including the bathroom to insure that I do not miss a minute of toonami, I've been taking nodoz to stay awake for every second of Wolf Rain and Witch Hunter Robin, I have no friends because I took their copies of Full Metal and Evangelion. I've maxed out five credit cards on every manga I could find and when they ran out of books of CHOBITS and Cowboy Bebop, I got on-line and wrote my own fan-fics on them."
"My God?" Heero said aghast.
Dou sat down and flopped his head against the table, utterly depleted.
"It's okay Duo" Quatre said calmly, "There is a solution."
"There is?" Duo asked apprehensively.
"Wufei." Quatre nodded toward Wufei who stepped in behind Duo. Duo looked up at him hopefully.
"Knock him out."
Duo barely jumped an inch when Wufei's hand whipped forward and smacked him between the eyes; Duo's eyes rolled up and he flopped against the floor.
"That felt so good." Wufei smiled.
"Okay, we have to work fast everyone" Quatre began, "Trowa, search the bathroom and under his bed for all the manga, Wufei, you take the living room for any tapes, Heero, call the cable company, make sure they never supply service again, and make sure these videos never come back, I'll take all the other rooms.
When Duo came to he was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He turned his head to see Quatre and Wufei standing in the doorway.
"Where are the others?" he said, his voice dry.
"Don't worry Duo, you'll be fine they just went to the movie store…"
"You…NO!" Duo interrupted sitting up, "You Returned them." he reached frantically under his bed, losing his balance and falling underneath. He jumped up and slammed open the closet digging out all the contents, and finally pulling up a lose board. He groaned in anger then ran to the other side of the room, jerking lose the heater grate and flinging it across the room, searching up to his shoulder inside.
"NO" he screamed turning angrily to Quatre who only stood as he charged like a raving bull. Wufei stepped forward and whacked him between the eyes again.
"Nataku," Wufei smiled blissfully, "Today is our day!"
When Heero and Trowa returned Duo was sitting calmly at the table drinking tea with Quatre.
"How'd it go?" Heero asked.
Duo smiled "I'm doin' fine now."
Trowa nodded "It's good to have our friend back."
"So you sure you won't need to stay at my house tonight" Quatre asked with concern.
"Please," Duo put his hand in front of Quatre's face, "I'll be fine, I've got Hilde to help me."
"Okay then," Quatre stood up "I guess it's time for us to leave then.
"Okay, bye!" Duo smiled as they left back into the quiet air of the colony.
Duo shut the door and watched them walk down the street until they were out of sight. He stepped out of the kitchen and turned out the glaring light. Slowly he stepped over to the television and placed his hand softly on it.
"It's okay little buddy," he whispered into the screen, "They may have slowed us down, but we'll come back, just you wait, we'll have the largest anime collection the world has ever seen!"