Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.... Damn... Song "From The Sun" Maroon 5 and "Cold" by Annie Lennox

Pairings: Eventual 121, maybe some 343.

Warnings: Eventual Shonen Ai, maybe violence, and Rock n' Roll baby.

Notes: Standard as all the others, only this one is going to be different. This one is going to be special. You'll see why. Don't worry, Heero and Duo will talk their "Feelings" out here. So don't go postal on me, they'll talk things out in this chapter as well as the next one, I have a couple of things I want to sort out, and this is how it's gonna be. Ja ne!

Also wanted to say a very Happy Birthday to Katlin. I hope you had a good one!

In The Valley Of The Diamond Dogs

By Black Dragon62

Chapter 17: Shadow on the Sun

"What are you doing here?" Duo asked incredulously. Am I dreaming? Heero held up a piece of paper, a card, and a ticket. Duo blinked, wide eyed for a good two minutes. "I need a drink."

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The pair of them walked in awkward silence down the silent streets of Tokyo, it was fairly early, it was only 9pm. Duo looked at his feet nervously, he needed something to calm his nerves, so they both had agreed to go to one of the local bars/ restaurants. They walked uneasily for what seemed like an eternity, until finally, Heero stopped and looked up at a neon blue sign that read, 'The Blue Raven' on the wall. Walking in, they noticed a thin fog of cigarette smoke, and an aroma that could only be liquor. They sat in a booth in one of the four corners in the joint, but hadn't and didn't get a chance to say or order anything.

On stage, a band was finished setting up, and the lights dimmed even further. Both looked at the empty stage in wonder as well as curiosity. The stage was dark, but one could make out a thin figure walking onto the stage. The figure took it's positions behind the mike with it's head bent down. One spot light illuminated the stage on the figure, and it was a woman. A tall, thin girl with jet black hair the length that rivaled Duo's. She looked up through her black bangs and had the audience lost in her dark gaze. She was clad in a white tank top and black denim vest, with form fitting black jeans and combat boots. Her child like face gave the impression that she was about 18 to 19 years old, but her eyes looked centuries older. She moved her head back to look at the band, and as she did, her long hair, which was in a French braid but only half done; glinted white in the fluorescent light. Her thin hand grasped the mike and a jazzy song started to play, and she began to sing in a velvet like voice.

"After school
Walking home
Fresh dirt under my fingernails
And I can smell hot asphalt
Cars screech to a halt to let me pass
And I cannot remember
What life was like through photographs
Trying to recreate images life gives us from our past

And sometimes it's a sad song"

Her honeyed voice poured from her lips through the speakers, and had the audience captivated in her song. Her body swayed and moved to the rhythm like a snake and it's charmer. Duo stared in fascination at this girl, who had him caught between dreams of sun and rain with reality. Her soft tones and words wafted to his ears on unseen breezes, words which were like water to his thirsty ears.

"But I cannot forget
Refuse to regret
So glad I met you
Take my breath away
Make everyday
Worth all of the pain that I have
Gone through
And mama I've been cryin'
Cause things ain't how they used to be
She said the battles almost won
And we're only several miles from the sun

Moving on down the street
I see people I won't ever meet
Think of him, take a breath
Feel the beat in the rhythm of my steps
And sometimes it's a sad song"

Heero looked from the girl to Duo, then back again. And he smiled.

"But I cannot forget
Refuse to regret
So glad I met you
Take my breath away
Make everyday
Worth all of the pain that I have
Gone through
And mama I've been cryin'
Cause things ain't how they used to be
She said the battles almost won
And we're only several miles from the sun

The rhythm of a conversation
The perfection of his creation
The sex he slipped into my coffee
The way he felt when he first saw me
Hate to love and love to hate 'im,
Like a broken record player
Back and forth and here and gone
And on and on and on and on"

As the chorus repeated, both men looked at each other, and for a small eternity, everything disappeared, all they could hear, was the siren's song, and the beating of their own hearts.

"But I cannot forget
Refuse to regret
So glad I met you...."

Purple eyes drank in cobalt blue.

"Take my breath away
Make everyday
Worth all of the pain that I have
Gone through..."

Reluctantly they broke their gaze to look at the girl who sang her soul out for anyone that was willing to listen. As the song slowly ended, she gave a smile and stepped off the stage. The patrons of the joint gave her cheers and applause. She smiled sweetly and headed behind the bar. A soft piano song made it's presence known and soft conversations stirred up again.

Duo looked at Heero with a solemn gaze. He was about to speak when another person stood next to their table. He looked up to see the young songstress looking at him with bright brown eyes. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Hello boys." She said in flawless English, she gave Heero a smile with a pixie like gleam in her eyes. "What's your poison?" She punctuated the question by putting her hand on her hip as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Heero looked at Duo, and then spoke for the first time that evening.

"Beer." She smiled and looked at Duo.

"Same." Duo spoke in an even tone, never letting his gaze waiver from Heero.

"Very good sir." She said in mock humor. "I'll be back in a sec." She walked towards the bar, and not two seconds later turned and headed back to their table with two beers in hand. She set one beer down in front of each man. "Right, there you go. Enjoy." She said as she turned to walk away, but was stopped by a question.

"What's your name?" Duo asked the waitress. She turned to give him an elfin smile. She seems so..... familiar...

"Name's Jade." She said as she gave a gracious bow. "Pleasure."

"Duo Maxwell." He said in a soft voice. One that made her smile wider.

"I know." He looked at her startled.

"You did?"

She snorted derisively. "Who doesn't know who Duo Maxwell is? You'd have to be dead or crazy not to know." She watched as his cheeks gained a little color. "Anyway, have to get back to work." She turned to leave when he stopped her again.

"I'm sorry, but you," He stopped and looked into her young pixie like face. "you just seem so, familiar. Have we met before?" He saw Heero give him a strange look.

She smiled. "And here I thought you had forgotten me." Both men looked at the mysterious girl. She laughed at their confused stares. "Ok, look, we have met before, but a long long, time ago." Seeing as how that statement did not get through to them, she decided she might as well start from the beginning. She grabbed a chair from a near by table and straddled it. How very un-lady like of me. She thought sarcastically. "Hey Keisuke!" She yelled at the bartender. "I'm on break!"

"You can do that?" Duo looked at her with a grin.

"You can when your brother owns the bar." She threw a glance at the tall handsome bartender, with brown eyes and almond colored hair. Both looked at him, and then back at her. You could tell they were brother and sister, both had those big bright eyes, and same mischievous smile. "Anyway, you want to know where I'm from right?" She saw Duo nod. "Me too. I know that I'm from L2 originally, but how I ended up where I did was always a mystery to me." She crossed her arms over the back of the chair, and leaned her chin on her wrists. "I met you when you were with Howard. My brother and I were part of the sweepers for a while." Something clicked in Duo's mind, and the clarity that he got was blinding. "We had to join them, we had no other alternative. I was 13, and Keisuke was 17, we were all we had left. We figured if we joined the terrorists, we could get a sort of revenge, our parents and whatever else of our family, were killed when OZ soldiers invaded the colonies all those years ago." She smiled a sad little smile. "Anyway, I met you right before operation Meteor took place, I was one of the technicians working on Deathscythe, I built the control panels and shit like that. They thought that I did a good job too." Duo looked at the girl.

"If it wasn't for you, I could have died. Wait, you were that greasy little kid that was even more active than I was?" Duo looked at her incredulously.

"Yup!" She smiled like a fairy on speed. "But, after operation Meteor took place, we had nothing left to do, but pray that it succeeded, so I guess my brother and I came to Earth, and been here ever since." She looked off someplace. "This one came in one day few years back." She jerked a thumb towards Heero. "Tall, quiet, handsome, and a sociopath if I ever saw one." She laughed, and Heero gave her a death glare. "But a decent guy, saved my butt a couple of times. I tend to get into a lot of fights." She looked at Heero with a innocent gaze, but he just snorted and grinned. "Him an' Keisuke sometimes have late night Go games, sometimes Shogi if I hide the Go board. But he's a good guy, I've gotten him to talk once in a while, and he always mentions you for some reason." She said with a nonchalance that betrayed the gleam in her eyes. "Anyway, I've taken more time off work that I care to, so I'll let you guys finish your beers in peace. See ya later guys." She said as she got up and pushed the chair back into place, and began taking, as well as barking orders around the bar again. She headed straight to the stage and jumped on, she looked out on all of the people in the establishment.

"Alright, I feel like another song is comin' on. This one's for Heero and his friend. Hope you like it." She said as a sad solemn melody began to play out through the smoky bar.

"Come to me
Run to me
Do and be done with me
(Cold Cold Cold)
Don't I exist for you
Don't I still live for you
(Cold cold cold)
Everything I possess
Given with tenderness
Wrapped in a ribbon of glass
Time it may take us but God only knows
How I've paid for those things in the past

Dying is easy it's living that scares me to death
I could be so content hearing the sound of your breath
Cold is the color of crystal the snowlight
That falls from the heavenly skies
Catch me and let me dive under under
For I want to swim in the pools of your eyes

I want to be with you baby
Slip me inside of your heart
Don't I belong to you baby
Don't you know that nothing can tear us apart
Come on now come on now come on now
Telling you that
I loved you right from the start...
But the more I want you the less I get
Ain't that just the way things are...

Winter has frozen us
Let love take hold of us
(Cold cold cold)
Now we are shivering
Blue ice is glittering
(Cold cold cold)
Cold is the colour of crystal the snowlight
That falls from the heavenly skies
Catch me and let me dive under
For I want to swim in the pools of your eyes"

As the song ended, she stepped off the stage and bowed to her public, but not before giving Duo and Heero a wink. She walked behind the bar and resumed her role of barmaid. Duo gave Heero a soft glance, and noticed that the young man in general was busy nursing his beer. He thought that the silence was deafening, so he thought he should be the one to break the ice.

"So, how's it been living in Japan so far? What have you been up to?" Duo asked uncertainly.

Heero looked up from his beer to stare into dark violet eyes that seemed almost black in the light. He put the glass down and sat back comfortably. "It's been alright I suppose." He started, The most he's said all night, I'm finally making some progress. Duo thought. "I've been teaching at a local high school, mostly computer classes, then I work for the Yoshika company when I'm not at the school." He looked off for a moment. "I've been ok."

"Got a wife? Kids? Since you never married Relena like she wanted." Duo automatically regretted saying it. Oh shit! Fuck why did I have to say that?! God, now he'll think I'm trying to pry into his life. Well, that's what I want isn't it?

"No. No. And I never thought of Relena that way. You know that, she was more of an ideal for me, a symbol for peace, not a symbol for love. At least not to me. Dr. J always said love was inconsequential to the mission, the mission came first, and that human emotions were to be ignored if not completely erased for one's psyche. So, I never thought about it. For all those years, I fought for peace for the colonies, for the Earth, but along the way, I forgot about myself. I always thought I would die in the war. I wanted to die in that war."

"But you didn't." He looked at Duo then. "I worried about you, you know? When you self destructed, I almost-" Duo caught himself, before revealing himself. "I just, didn't understand your logic. And that's all you are, a logical person. I just didn't understand why you would do something so stupid."

"You worried about me?"

Duo looked away as he crossed his arms on the table top. "Of course I did." Duo took another gulp from his beer. "I Always did, Heero." With that statement left hanging in the air, Heero looked decidedly uncomfortable in his seat.

"Let's go get some fresh air." He said as he got up from the booth and made his way to the door. Duo, was more than inclined to follow. He laid a few yen on the table and nodded a good bye to Jade; the headed out into the night behind Heero.

To Be Continued...................

Author's Note: Ok, I know it's 4 days late, but it's only 4 days! I wrote it inbetween tests and I hope you like it. And the character Jade, well that's me in a nutshell. My friend Jana wrote the description, and I sorta worked around it. I hope you liked it! Leave Reviews! Next Episode should be a real doozy!

Heero: You had to make an appearence didn't you?

Me: Of course, I'm the author, i do what I want. Sticks tongue out.

Heero: Child.....

Me: What did you say? Don't you want to know, I control you in here! Do you want to be a hamster?!

Heero: No ma'am.

Me: Thought so. Smug smile.