Just a Shadow
Disclaimer: - I don't own Gundam Wing or any of its characters!
Chapter 12: Hamsters!
Sorry people, there's no room for comments in this chapter, and I'm too busy, but hopefully they will be back next chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Thank you:-
Milharu
KentouKurige
Silversilence0
Sky
Whimsy007
Mite Mite
Charlie00
El Terrible Fizzy
Duette-Chan
Carrot
Krage
Nolwe the Lady Dragon
Ms Son
EquineAngel
Kira May Maxwell
Normal – Present day
Bold Italics – Past/Flashbacks
Normal Italics – Flashbacks whilst in the past
Bold – Flashbacks in the Present
Heero sleepily stumbled into the room. The plots held their breath as he walked in rubbing his eyes and then froze as he walked straight past them without a word. They stayed in that same position as they head the fridge door open and close, and even remained still as he stepped back into the room, walked back past them with a sandwich and stumbled back out of the room.
The pilots stood there for a moment before a chuckle escaped Trowa's lips. A few seconds after that, Wufei also snorted lightly followed by a giggle from Quatre, Duo of course was the first to burst out laughing.
"He … he didn't even notice!" he shouted in between his hysterical laughter
Trowa fell to the floor, holding his aching sides and Quatre tried to wipe the tears from his eyes as they laughed with the braided man. Wufei had propped himself against a wall to stop from falling also and tried, without much success to smother his laughter.
Heero snuggled down into his satin sheets with a content smile on his face as he chewed and swallowed the last of his sandwich. He let out a satisfied sigh and was just drifting off when his eyes shot open.
Quatre smiled as he watched Heero's meal heat in the microwave. His smile widened into a grin as he entered the lounge with it and sat next to Heero. Two days had passed since Heero's computer message and it was only 3 more to go until his operation. Ever since Heero's performance, Duo had been trying to coax him to walk or speak. They were making great progress.
When Quatre had come down this morning, he had had to do a double take. He had walked in to Heero sitting on the couch trying to flick through a photo album. Once he had noticed Quatre in the room, he had immediately tried to tell him something, but had failed miserably. With a little patience, Quatre coaxed Heero into trying again and managed to conclude from his babble that he was hungry.
Now the blonde watched with sadness as his friend struggled to turn the pages of the photo album, but revelled in Heero's joy when he succeeded and was able to look at the photos on the next page.
"Heero?" Quatre called, and was surprised when the man turned towards him "Do you remember when we did this?"
Quatre gestured to the walls ad Heero gazed distractedly around the room. He was starting to lose his focus again, but not completely. Heero nodded slightly and a grin spread across his face. Quatre beamed as he saw his friend grin. They had all seen the creepy and sweet smiles from Heero since they had come to see him in the last 5 days, but this was the first time he had seen him grin.
"I missed that grin!" Quatre exclaimed "The first time I saw that grin was when we did this!" he said, gesturing to the walls again
The pilots had finally calmed and were cleaning up any mess left over from their decorated when a loud thump caught their attention. They looked at the ceiling before staring at each other quizzically.
"Do you think he's okay?" Trowa asked after a short moment of silence
"He might have fallen out of bed" Quatre stated with a worried look "Do you think we should check on him?"
The others were about to agree when all of a sudden a series of loud and fast thumps sounded in the hallway.
"Oh God!" Duo whispered "I think he just fell down the stairs!"
The pilots were about to investigate when suddenly Heero burst in the room. He stood there in silence and looked around the room in awe. His mouth opened and closed as if he were trying to speak, but no sound escaped his lips. The other pilots shared a worried glance, taking Heero's silence as disapproval of their actions.
"Heero" Quatre began "We can get rid of it if you want, we just-"
"NO!" Heero shouted and the young Arabian jumped back in surprise "Please no!"
Heero ran to Trowa's corner of the room and ran a hand across the wall and gazed at the circus scene.
"Trowa…" he whispered "This is … and Wufei!"
Heero ran to the walls painted by Wufei and stroked it, taking in the beautiful view. He carried on walking around the room, never taking his eyes away from the wall. His eyes narrowed in thought as the scenery changed when he got to Quatre's wall. He read the writing and looked at Quatre with such emotion, the young man couldn't name them all. As he gazed at the pilots, his eyes trailed to Duo's wall where all the Gundams were painted and Heero gasped and ran over. He ran his hand across his Gundam and whispered it's name as the pilots watched him. Then he noticed the ceiling. He stood there as his arms dropped to his sides and he stared at the earth wide eyes. Then he pounced.
"OH MY GOD!" he screamed and glomped the person nearest to him, who just happened to be Trowa.
The quiet man smiled and returned the hug, but soon Heero detached from him and ran to Wufei, the next nearest victim, catching him in a vice like grip. The Chinese man aughed as Heero lifted him into the air and swung him around slightly.
"Yuy!" he protested, still laughing "Put me down!"
Heero complied and set Wufei down, running over to Quatre. The young blonde gladly accepted the affection of his friend and wrapped his arms around the Japanese man. Duo didn't give Heero the chance to free himself from Quatre and instead caught Heero in a hug from his other side. Trowa and Wufei joined the huddle and when they pulled away, for the first time, they saw Heero's grin. It was the kind of grin that makes other people smile when they see it.
"You guys are so great" Heero whispered "I mean … I just … it's so …"
"Calm down man!" Duo chuckled "It's nothing really!"
Heero spluttered for a little while longer trying to explain what he was feeling, but n the end gave up, settling for a simple thank you and another hug.
"Hey guys?" Heero called as they ate dinner
"Yeah?" they answered
"We had our first group hug today" he smiled
The others looked at each and shared a smile before continuing with their meal. The rest of the day continued as normal, the pilots spent most of the day telling stories of what had happened in the years gone by and their outing the other day to the zoo.
"Hey!" Duo suddenly piped up "You didn't tell us when you learned to cry!"
"Yeah!" Quatre shouted in realisation "Tell us Heero! How did you learn to laugh and cry and grin?"
"I too am interested in your stories" Trowa added
Heero sighed in defeat and made himself comfortable.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you" Heero submitted "You ask about an emotion and I'll spill … but only before bedtime and only one a day!"
The pilots groaned like children who had been told they had to go to but Heero would not relent.
"Those are my demands, take them, or leave them"
"Okay" Duo sighed in defeat
"Okay then" Heero smiled "What emotion do you want me to start with?"
"Well" Duo grinned "You said you'd tell us how you learned how to cry the other day, and you did just say one emotion a day, so I think you should tell us two emotions!"
"But-"
"Maxwell has a point" Wufei smirked "Spill Yuy"
"Alright, but you're going to laugh!"
"What could be funny about crying?" Quatre asked
"I cried when my pet hamster died"
"What?" Duo asked disbelievingly "No way! What's so bad about that?"
"Well, in the garden I have a hamster hutch with a lot of hamsters in, and I named them all after you guys – there's even a Zechs!"
"You're kidding me" Duo stated "Why do you have hamsters?"
"I have a lot of pets; they're all in for their check over with the vet this week"
"Oh"
"I started collecting hamsters as they were easy to take care of and I could practice showing them affection"
"But why would a rodent dying upset you Yuy?" Wufei asked, still shocked at the fact Heero had cried over a hamster
"Well, I wasn't hysterical, with sobs or anything if that's what you mean … I haven't been like that yet"
The pilots released a sigh of relief. Heero becoming hysterically upset very a hamster was just too far different from the Heero they had once known.
"So tell me" Trowa asked "What was so special about this hamster?"
"Well, they're all special, you see I only buy hamsters that remind me of people and once I'd started my collection I wanted to finish it"
"So you're telling me there are hamsters that acts like us?" Duo questioned sceptically "I'd have to see it to believe it!"
"I'll show you then!" Heero replied walking out of the house.
The others followed him outside until they came to a large hamster run at the back of the garden. Heero beckoned them over to a corner or the hutch where four rodents lay snuggled up together, and sure enough, they did look like the people whose names they were given.
In the middle was a deep brown hamster with fur in all directions. Heero tapped the cage lightly and it opened it's eyes which were a deep blue.
"Oh my fucking God, it's Heero" Duo stated in disbelief
Heero nodded and the boys turned back to the sleeping hamsters. As little Heero started moving, the hamster at his side started to stir. It opened it's bluish purple eyes and yawned, stretching it's long fur.
"It's me" Duo whispered "Minus the braid, but the hair's there"
The Duo hamster fidgeted a bit, nudging the black hamster next to it, effectively waking it up and causing it to spin around and bite him. The two hamsters started squeaking at each other until Heero tapped on the cage lightly and they broke apart.
"Even in hamster form we fight" Wufei muttered
The hamsters walked in their different directions leaving one behind. It had a dark ginger fur with green eyes and stayed perfectly still.
"Is that Trowa?" asked Quatre "What's wrong with him?"
"Yes that's Trowa" Heero replied "He hasn't been the same since his brother died"
"Oh no" whispered Quatre as the pilots looked sympathetically down at the rodent "Poor Trowa"
"Don't worry Tro-man, it'll get better" Duo whispered
"It's okay Barton, we all have to suffer loss at some time"
The uni-banged pilot stared at the others with a raised eyebrow as they comforted his rodent self and cleared his throat lightly. Heero turned towards him and smiled a little. The silent man returned the smile and gave in to comforting the little hamster.
Heero lifted a part of the lid off and scooped the small creature out, gently holding him in one hand whilst petting him in the other. The small animal made no move to escape as Heero set him down on the grass.
"Will he be okay?" Quatre asked petting little Trowa's fur
"I think he might die soon" Heero replied sadly "He hasn't eaten in 3 days"
"When did his brother die?" Duo asked
"Last week" Heero replied
"Where is little me?" Quatre asked, looking around the cage
"You were his brother"
Quatre sun around to face Heero and gasped.
"I was the one that died?"
"Yeah" Heero replied with a sad smile "Little Quatre was my favourite, and the first I bought"
"I was your favourite?" Quatre asked
"Yeah" Heero replied "All of the other hamsters always nip me when I change the run or try to pick them up, but not little Quatre"
"So you weren't kidding when you said they were all like us?"
"No … Noin and Zechs ha their first litter a week or so ago, and I had to isolate them from the rest"
Heero pointed to a corner of the run where two hamsters lay surrounded by several other baby hamsters. The male was a very light blonde with long fur whereas the female had short black fur with a tinge of blue to it when the light reflected off of it.
"What did you call the babies?" Trowa asked with a sly smile "Zechs and Noin only have one child"
Heero laughed nervously for a second before pointing to each of the babies individually and naming them.
"That's Alex, and that's Alex 2, and that's Alex 3…"
Heero named a few more out loud and turned to the pilots, who were giving him 'what the hell?' looks.
"What?" he asked "I didn't want to name them fluffy or Blondie!"
"Come on Trowa" Quatre whispered "Here's a nice bowl of food pellets"
The little hamster remained motionless and Quatre sighed. Heero watched a she picked the hamster up in one hand and brought him to his face.
"Look Trowa, it's me, Quatre"
The little hamster looked up at the name his master had familiarised its brother with and straight into Quatre's eyes. They stared at each other for a few minutes before the small rodent began to quietly squeak. Quatre picked up a few food pellets for the animal and held it to its mouth. One by one, the rodent slowly nibbled on the pellets until they were gone.
Heero and the other pilots smiled down at Quatre as he continued to feed the hamster, when a fierce shrieking filled the air. The pilots turned to the cage where they saw little Heero literally climbing the walls for an escape with a dark blonde hamster on his tail squeaking loudly. Heero opened the cage and grabbed little Heero before quickly closing it again.
"Don't tell me!" Duo laughed
The pilots looked at each other and laughed before shouting.
"Relena!"
Little Heero began to panic again in Heero's lap, but the messy haired pilot soon calmed him again.
"I can't believe this" Wufei stated "You have everybody here!"
"I know" Heero smiled "It took me ages, I collected them over two years"
"Um … Heero?" Quatre asked blushing slightly "I know this is pretty stupid, but … how did I die?"
"Little Quatre caught a bad infection, the medicine didn't work and the vet recommended I put hi to sleep, he couldn't breathe, so I stayed with him whilst they injected him and then buried him in this garden"
"Oh"
Duo grinned as he opened the lid and lifted out little Duo. He handed the brown fuzzball to Wufei before catching little Fei and taking him out.
Wufei stared at the Duo rodent in his hands before smirking slightly and turning to Duo.
"Let's put them on the grass and see what they do"
The two men put the hamsters on the grass next to each other and bent down to watch them.
The hamsters looked at each other and then turned back to each other squeaking.
Hamster translation – "Lets watch them for a while and see what they do" Little Fei squeaked
"Okay" Little Duo squeaked back
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the many hamsters in the run and taking care of little Trowa.
"So where are the things now?" Zechs asked cringing
"Well, only 6 are still alive" Duo informed "Duo, Heero, Fei, Zechs and Noin"
"That's only 5" Noin replied
"Oh yeah, little Tro lived with Quat until he came back here so I forgot about him!"
"So what did you do that night?" asked Sally
"It was pretty ordinary, we ate pizza, homemade of course, taught Heero how to cook … you know the ordinary"
The place was a mess, a battlefield. Attacks flying from all directions. Fluids were spilled across the floor, but still they fought on. Heero fired another round, but the enemy retaliated with something far worse than what he had…
"Duo!" yelled Heero "I said no whipped cream!"
"I'm sorry mother!" Duo mocked and continued to spray the whipped cream al over Heero.
The orange and cranberry juice, were spilled all over the floor and pieces of pizza dangled from everywhere! Before long, the food fight ended and the pilots cleaned up the mess they had made before all having a shower and collapsing into their beds.
Okay, so there's the chapter. The results for the couples vote is posted below, and now there is a new vote. I have had several emails suggesting I have no couples in this fic as it would ruin the mood and plot. This time the vote consists of 3 things:-
Only friendships
Lots or couples
Some couples, but some remain just friends
Here are the couples results:-
Heero/Duo – 13
Heero/Relena - -3
Duo/Hilde - -1
Trowa/Quatre - 12
Quatre/Dorothy - -1
Wufei/Sally - 9
Heero/Duo/Wufei - 7
Wufei/Hilde - 0
Trowa/Quatre/Wufei - 1
Duo/Trowa - -1
Trowa/Midii - 0
Duo/Wufei - 1
Wufei/Relena - 1
Heero/Duo/Trowa/Quatre/Wufei – 1
No Couples – 3
I am now going to half all of the yaoi results and give 5 points to each male/female couple. It had been brought to my attention that there are more yaoi readers out there than normal, so to make the vote more fair, I will half the yaoi results. Final results (for now, not definite) are:-
Heero/Duo/Trowa/Quatre/Wufei – 0.5
Heero/Relena - 2
Heero/Duo – 6.5
Heero/Duo/Wufei – 3.5
Duo/Hilde - 4
Duo/Trowa – -0.5
Duo/Wufei – 0.5
Trowa/Quatre - 6
Trowa/Midii - 5
Trowa/Quatre/Wufei – 0.5
Quatre/Dorothy - 4
Wufei/Hilde - 5
Wufei/Relena - 6
Wufei/Sally - 14
No Couples – 3
As you can see the results are now more even, though the yaoi couples do seem to still have the lead, there are still some normal pairings. Remember, this is not the final decision. You must still vote as to whether you would like friendship or couples more.