Just a Shadow

Disclaimer:- I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters!

Chapter 5: Heero's Progress

You know what? This really is a bit crappy! I got 523 hits for this fic so far and only 12 reviews! 204 of those hits were for chapter 4! Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm grateful to the people that took the time to review this fic. I'll keep updating for you.

Krage: Thank you so much. You really don't know how much your review meant to me! I hope you continue to review and update your fic! I'm looking forward to it! I'm so glad your enjoying the fic!

Nolwe the Lady Dragon: Thanks for your great review! I'm glad you like the way I made Heero!

Ms Son: All of your support is the reason I go on! All of your encouragement and support s a great help! Thanks for the compliments on the transition between POV - Normal and Past - Present.

Normal – Present day

Bold Italics – Past/Flashbacks

Duo looked at Quatre feed one of his best friends, and tried to smile, but it faltered.

"He didn't deserve this" Duo stated suddenly

Wufei turned towards the braided man and sighed, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Out of all of us, Yuy deserved it the least … but we all deserve to be punished for the countless innocents we have killed … provoked and controlled or not"

Duo opened his mouth to argue but was silenced by the quiet voice of the ex-Heavyarms pilot.

"To this day, I don't think I will ever understand Heero's mind"

Quatre turned towards him then.

"Why not Trowa?"

"He is so kind, and yet, he asks for nothing in return, he expects nothing"

Heero's eyes focused for a moment and he frowned. A strange noise emitted from his throat similar to a growl, but still nobody seemed to notice him. Unconsciously the man's hand curled into a fist. He wanted that yoghurt and he wanted it now.

Quatre took the yoghurt away.

BAM!

All of the pilots sat there stunned as Quatre picked himself up off the ground, holding his throbbing cheek. Duo was the first to react and dashed out o his chair to assist the Sandrock pilot.

"Oh man Quatre! I am so sorry!" Duo apologised quickly "I should have warned you not to keep him waiting!"

"W-why did he do that?" the young blonde asked, still obviously stunned

"You took his food away man" Duo explained "He can get violent when he doesn't get what he wants"

Trowa eyed the dark look in Heero's eyes and tried to suppress his anger towards the young man at striking his friend. The room fell silent and stayed like that for what seemed like forever.

All of sudden Wufei burst out laughing, and four angry pairs of eyes tuned in his direction.

"I-I'm sorry Quatre!" Wufei gasped between laughs "But th-that reminded me so m-much of Yuy it's unreal!"

Duo sniggered a little, but quickly covered it up with a cough, though not very successfully, as two angry emerald eyes focused in his direction.

"I'm sorry Quat!" he laughed, giving up on hiding his laughter "But Fei's right!"

Quatre looked from Wufei, to Duo and then finally to Heero and shrugged, sighed and then gave in to laughing himself. Trowa visibly calmed as he saw the blonde was not hurt in any way and the mood lightened. He was very protective of Quatre.

Everybody in the room seemed to brighten, that is except for Heero. His deep blue eyes darkened further and he glared at the laughing pilots. They had all wandered to talk at the other end of the room, leaving a good four metres of space between him and them and he was not happy about it.

Quatre still had his yoghurt.

Heero began to thrash in his wheelchair, rocking it from side to side. The men hadn't seemed to notice yet, which only fooled his anger. He grunted and groaned as finally the wheelchair toppled over and he fell to the side.

Duo spun around and his eyes widened as he took in what had happened.

"Shit!" he cursed, and ran to Heero's side who was still thrashing and shouting on the floor.

"C'mon Heero bud! Don't do this!" Duo pleaded "We'll get you another yoghurt, you've been so good today, don't spoil it!"

None of Duo's words helped as the thrashing intensified resulting in the American having to hold him down. Quatre eyed the yoghurt in his hand guiltily.

Eventually, Heero calmed down, but every time Duo tried to help him up, he would somehow find a way to prevent it or make the braided mans life hard. Eventually he gave up and stormed out of the room, leaving a very angry Heero lying on the floor and 3 wary pilots staring in disbelief.

"Fine! Be like that!" Duo yelled before storming out of the room "Just ignore him and he'll calm down guys!"

Wufei followed, leaving Trowa and Quatre behind with Heero.

"Maxwell! Maxwell!" Wufei called, but Duo didn't stop "MAXWELL!"

"MY NAME IS DUO! D-U-O! DUO!"

"Duo" Wufei tried "What are you doing?"

"What the hell does it look like!" Duo snapped "I'm cooling off and giving him time to cool off!"

"Why bother?" Wufei replied curiously "He will have forgotten within 5 minutes"

Duo spun round and Wufei quickly found himself pinned against the refrigerator.

"Shut. Up." Duo ground out though gritted teeth "Heero is not some baby, you got that? He is a grown man and can understand things better than you think!"

Wufei simply stood there and let his friend vent his anger on him.

"If I treat him normal it helps you know?" Duo explained, calming "And then when they fix this machine, it gonna, well, things can get back to normal and we can pretend it never happened"

"But it did"

Duo dropped Wufei and turned away.

"Why are you so ashamed to let people see you cry Maxwell?"

Wufei's question was answered with nothing but violent, but silent sobs from his friend. His body jumped with the force of the sobs, but no sound eve escaped his lips. Wufei rested a hand on his shoulder and waited until he was ready to go back.

Meanwhile…

"Could you please get me a towel from the cupboard upstairs Trowa?"

The silent man nodded and left. Quatre hesitantly approached Heero and knelt by his side. He still looked angry and for a second, the blonde man through that nothing was wrong with him.

"Heero?"

The fallen man gave no reply.

"Heero, I'm going to help you up now okay?"

Still no reply came so the ex-Sandrock pilot tried to lift his comrade, but as soon as hey started to move, Heero started thrashing again.

"Heero, if you don't let me help you up, you can't eat the rest of this yoghurt"

Quatre produced the yoghurt and a light of understanding entered his eyes. The next time Quatre tried to lift him and the wheelchair he didn't struggle. Trowa walked in the room as Quatre finished lifting Heero and handed him the towel. Quatre cleaned up and spills on Heero an himself before feeding him the rest of the yoghurt. One question was still nagging at his mind though.

"Heero?" Quatre asked, and was surprised as the Japanese man turned to face him "Can you … can you understand me?"

"You know he can't Quatre" Trowa replied in Heero's place, but was hushed by the blonde as he went to continue

Heero's mouth opened and closed as he tried to form words, but didn't succeed. He turned fully to face Quatre, a look of determination on his face as he slurred out a recognisable word.

"SSSsmmmmmtttmmmmssss" he drawled before his eyes adopted an unfocused look and he turned to look at the wall once more.

"Smmtmms?" Quatre pondered for a while before his eyes widened in delight and he shouted out "Sometimes! DUO!"

Duo and Wufei rushed in the room and stared from one plot to another before an angry look flashed across their features.

"Quatre!" Duo scolded "What the hells the matter with you? You scared me to death! Why'd you call me like that!"

"He spoke!"

"Wha?"

"He spoke! He really did!"

"W-what did he say!"

"I asked him if he understood me and he said sometimes!"

"He actually said that!"

"Well, actually, he said smmtmms in a kind of slur, but I swear he meant sometimes!"

"Aww man Heero!" Duo grinned, jumping at the chocolate haired boy "You always show off when I'm not around!"

"Duuuuuu" Heero slurred and fidled with the braided man's braid.

"That's great Heero!" Duo praised "Do you remember who these are?" he asked, gesturing towards the other pilots.

Heero had a concentrated look on his face before trying to speak again.

"This is so great guys!" Duo cheered "He hasn't made this much progress since he first started talking!"

"Wooooooofff" Heero slurred, but then shook his head, looking angry and disappointed

"It's fine Yuy" Wufei comforted with a smirk "Maxwell calls me Woofy sometimes anyway!"

"T-T-Trowaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

"GREAT HEERO!" Duo shouted "You said a full word!"

"Ka … kaaaaa"

Heero's eyes glazed over and he suddenly fell silent again not managing to complete Quatre's name. Duo's grin faded, leaving a small smile lingering on his lips.

"What happened there Maxwell?" Wufei asked, still watching Heero in awe "I thought he had no speech abilities other than grunts or noises"

"I know, I took him to the doctors when it first happened and we were recommended to a specialist!"

"And?" Quatre asked eagerly "What did he say?"

"He said that Heero's problem was like an elastic band"

"What?"

"He said that the link between Heero's mind and actions was like an elastic band and it was snapped in the accident"

"So why can he talk?"

"The elastic band is swinging back and forth, but failing to connect. Sometimes, rarely, the elastic band is connected again when it swings, but only for short moments"

"I see" Wufei replied knitting his brows together in thought "So this machine and operation will fix that problem?"

"Don't even mention the op Fei" Duo cringed "I hate the thought of that!"

"You know he has to have it"

"I know" Duo sighed "I'm just worried something will go wrong … ya know?"

"I know what you mean" Wufei replied

"He's been through enough already" Trowa added quietly "He's too good a…"

"…friend…"

All of the young men smiled as they said the word at the same time. Heero had called them many things in the time they had known him – and not always good things! But when they found him and he had invited them to stay, that's when he had said it.

"What?" Heero asked, rather shocked

"Why did you do all of this for us?" Duo echoed the question

"Because … because you're my … friends …"

Okay, that's it for this chapter so I hope anyone who is reading this liked it.

Until next Time!

Clarobell