Damn, it's been a while since I posted ANYTHING here. Terribly sorry for the delay, I really am. I hope there are still people reading this story and all, even though it's been months. Real life suddenly assaulted me and decided I shouldn't have any time left to write, so I haven't been able to write very much recently. And I've been letting some of my original stuff take precedence over my fanfiction.

Well, enough excuses. I hope this chapter's good; please point out any grammatical mistakes if you find them though, since I haven't gotten my beta to read this.

Chapter 3

The new apartment was much larger and much cleaner than my old one. I mean, this one had a den, a dining room, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a kitchen! I walked around the space in amazement, marveling that there were no major leaks on the ceiling, that there was little dirt in it or otherwise almost permanent grime from the last owner. Sure, the place wasn't upscale, but it was a huge jump from my previous living conditions. In that same vein though, it meant I had to have all payments on time, but I had little doubt that with my new increase in salary, there would be no problems there. It was about the second or third floor up, which by now I was regretting, since the landlord had told me that I needed to use the stairs to move all of my belongings inside the apartment, not the elevator. And, marvel of marvels! the elevator worked and was in passable condition, didn't rattle when it went up and down! I inspected each crevice of the apartment, noting that it did need some work, but that with only a little time it would be cleaner. I grinned and flipped my hair out of my face.

And stopped grinning.

I reached up to my hair, the silky strands collecting around my shoulders in a ponytail. I had no more bangs, instead just a few shorter pieces in the front. It was all I had left of the triumphant braid from before. My back felt so bare, my head so light, without the braid there, brushing my legs, swaying back and forth as if it were my own tail. I was the insane braided Shinigami, a street child, growing up in a poor orphanage church, on the streets once the church was gone, becoming a Gundam pilot, fighting in the largest war the colonies or earth had ever seen. My braid had seen all of that. Heero had run his hands through that braid professed his love into the strands over and over, in the dead of night.

"And now I'm Duo," I said. I turned around and set off downstairs, in hopes to find among all of my belongings a vacuum cleaner and some other supplies to tidy up the apartment before I started moving boxes in.

I found the small moving truck (I didn't have many belongings) where I had left it, which was quite a miracle. Back in the slums, someone would have taken off with it and the contents inside. I dug around until I found some cleaning supplies and trudged back upstairs. It didn't take long to finish cleaning the apartment, and before long, I was at the task of moving boxes upstairs and unpacking.

That evening, one of my old friends from the slums came to help me move the furniture upstairs. He was a good fellow, talkative, grinning; his name was Jack. Jack and I had been acquaintances for a while over those years. He and I, I hated to admit, had even tried dating for a while. It lasted a total of three days, before I told Jack I wasn't ready for someone else. I had told him a story about Heero and me, not lying, just leaving out the part of him being married to Relena Peacecraft and me having not seen him for five years and us being Gundam pilots. Jack understood and let the relationship drop.

"You're damn lucky, you know that Duo? I mean, you move from nothing to this place! All I can hope is that you haven't overdone it." I laughed and shook my head.

"Nah, I'll be keeping this place for a long time. This job, hopefully, will be close to permanent, and I'm planning of never coming back to the slums." Jack patted me on the back, grinning.

"I see what you're thinking. I hope that sticks as truth; the slums have their way of bringing back their stray fledglings. All right, you get on the other side of this thing." We lifted up the sofa and toted it up the three flights of stairs. It was the last piece of furniture, and I was beginning to feel the strain of lifting all of this. Before, it would have been a piece of cake to lift these things up the stairs. I was getting weak.

The next few hours passed blissfully without any thinking on my part. Jack chattered in my ear the whole way through, and his talk created a nice background hum to blank my mind from all else. No thoughts of Heero, of my past, only brief talk about my work as we unloaded boxes and I sent Jack to organize my kitchen. I was unloading the books on to my bookshelf when I heard Jack approaching me. I had just pulled out the newest book in my collection: a year book the school gave me so I could "familiarize myself" with the students. Jack pulled it out of my hands before I could stop him. He let out a long whistle.

"Glossy paper, fancy cover, color pictures: Duo, friend, this is one fucking classy establishment. Hey, so you're teaching sophomores?" He flipped through the book and found the class. "Any sexy guys in there? Most of them look too sophisticated...oh, wait one minute. Now that's a fine face there." Jack handed me the book and pointed to the face; it was Tonako. He glared at the camera; it was a picture from last year, I guessed, since he had short hair. But that short hair looked just like...

"God..."I whispered. Nothing could have prepared me for this. His glaring eyes, his hair, which looked dyed brown then, the set of his jaw. Jack grinned and said something I didn't catch. I couldn't tear my eyes away from that picture.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked. I laughed and shut the book.

"Oh, he was one of the students I saw in my tour yesterday; he read a poem to his English class, and he was an incredible poet, really." Jack raised his eyebrows, elbowing me in the side as I put the book on the shelf. He grinned.

"Are you sure it's only that he's a good poet? You know that fucking students gets you kicked out of school, and probably in jail." I must have turned bright red, because Jack doubled over in laughter then. "Ha, you do think he's sexy," Jack giggled. He stood and skipped back to the kitchen. "Bring him back here one time and invite me over! I want a taste of him too, you know." I sighed and kept unpacking the books, making sure not to open the photo albums, for fear of losing control again. My hands shook as the image of Tonako kept returning to me. Whoever he really was, all I could think of was Heero, but that was absurd. He looked like Heero from the war, not the new Heero of now, years later, with his wife and children on earth. I put my head in my hands.

"How could it happen?" I whispered. But then I stood again. "Nope, no more remorse. It's over and done with." Jack looked up from where he was putting food in cabinets.

"What'd ya say?" he called. I laughed and shrugged.

"Just thinking about my old boyfriend, you know," I said, causally enough. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, him. You going to get over him now then? Hey, you know Duo you look beat. You need to get out and relax for a while before you start this job. My friends and I were heading out tonight. Why don't you join us? I think you need something to get your mind off all of this." I shook my head.

"Nah, I shouldn't. I'm really tired, you know, after this long week, and want to rest for a while. Plus, I am going to be starting my new job next week and want to prepare myself for it." Jack groaned.

"That's next week, Duo!" He grinned and sidled up to me. "Some of my friends are really good looking, you know. Do you want to forget Heero? You should come tonight; who knows who you'll meet." I grumbled and helped him to get the last box unloaded in the kitchen. We then moved through the rest of the house together, while Jack attempted to persuade me to go with him. I kept insisting I had other things to do tonight (consisting of pondering Tonako, but I didn't tell Jack that). My pleas fell on deaf ears, and finally Jack commanded that I would go or he would drag me from the house and strap me to the back of the bus.

"I promise it won't be in the slums; you won't have to go back there. You see, we're throwing a party for one of my friends; he just got here to the colonies and we thought it would be good for him to have somewhere to meet some people. So you're coming."

My protests once more went unheard, and once we had most of the house finished, Jack dragged me outside and out to his party.

----------

I felt bad enough letting Jack drag me out with him tonight, but it got even worse once our group left his friend's apartment and headed into the city. The party for his friend went well; his friend was a little shy, and I think that Jack intended for me to loosen him up and help him enjoy himself, but I wasn't feeling very cheerful myself, so I was only halfheartedly joining in with the festivities. And there were festivities. More food and beer (or any other alcoholic beverage) than a person could ever want or need and plenty of loud music to liven it up. And this was only at the apartment!

Jack's friend (his name was Hyde) insisted he wanted to see this part of the town, go out and explore the colony. Jack quickly volunteered we head down the street a ways to the gay bar he frequented often. There were very few complaints about that (since they knew that Jack wouldn't have listened anyway), so we were headed now to the bar for the rest of the evening. Jack was currently explaining the bar to Hyde, hoping that Hyde wouldn't be so quiet, and I was with them, forcing myself to laugh and seem to be enjoying myself, even though all the while my heart felt so heavy. Jack pointed us down a side street and just as we were rounding the corner we heard a shout from behind.

"Hey Jack, wait up! Gosh, how could you forget to tell me you were going out tonight? I want to meet your new friend too!" A woman was running after us. Jack rolled his eyes and tried to walk faster, but she caught up with the group, stopping in front of him with her hands on her hips. "How could you do that Jack?" she cried. "You know I love coming to your parties!" I suppressed a laugh as Jack let out a long sigh.

"Well…I thought you had plans, Kristen," he said after a long pause. Kristen, yes…now I remembered her. She was Jack's roommate: loud, bouncy, always cheerful, and always eager to join Jack's lively parties. The problem was she was one of those people you just couldn't invite to parties. It wasn't that she would make a mess of them…it was just, well…for example, when she goes into any bar, the bouncer usually asks her soon after if she's had a bit much to drink. She'll turn to them and say, "I haven't had anything to drink yet!" And the scary thing was she hadn't. It was like she was in a constant state of happy drunkenness…or just on a lot of drugs.

"Nope, I was just sitting around the apartment all by myself with nothing to do because you deserted me!" She shook her head. "You're so mean, Jack!" She looked around the group of people as if searching for someone she didn't know. Her eyes fell to Hyde. "Hey, is this your new friend, Hyde? Hey, I'm Kristen, nice to meet ya!" Hyde let out a yelp as she suddenly hugged him. His eyes looked like saucers in his small face. I looked over to Jack, who was currently shaking his head.

"Um, Hyde, that's my roommate, Kristen," Jack said. Nothing else was said about it, and Kristen joined the rest of the group, providing enough conversation so that most others didn't have to say a thing. She often would turn to me during the walk and say something looked different. I pretended to not know what she was talking about; my changed appearance was something I didn't want to bring up, ever. So she would stare at me a while and shrug, going back to torturing poor Hyde, who was still frightened out of his wits (his wide eyes and almost perfectly white face were a dead giveaway) by Kristen. Luckily, the walk did not take much longer, and soon we headed down a small alley back to the bar.

----------

"So of course I wouldn't ever think about turning down this new job, you know. I mean, I'm working with some fucking fancy people here, and I'm getting paid a shitload more than before!" I said happily to Hyde. As Jack predicted, he had taken an interest in me and had finally loosened up a bit (though that might have been the many drinks he had). "I mean, going from the slums to this! It's incredible." I myself hadn't been able to stop Jack from forcing drinks on me, so I was a bit drunk. "And I want to start a new life." Hyde chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a job. But between you and me, I think that Jack's trying to hook me up with one of his friends here so that I won't need to look to hard anymore. I think he means for us to hook up." I leaned a little closer.

"Just between you and me, Hyde, I noticed." He laughed and looked over to where Jack was currently dancing with some random man he had picked up at the bar (who looked considerably younger than Jack). Kristen was nearby, seemingly lost in her own little world while she danced with herself. She looked up and saw us watching that way and bounced over to us.

"You two having fun?" she asked. "You should come and dance! It's a blast, you guys." Hyde shook his head, and I just shrugged. I was tempted to say "hn," but refrained from that old habit of…no, not thinking about that. This is my new life, without the past at all. "Oh, come on," she pleaded. "Just dance once. I'm sure Jack would be happy to dance with one of you sometime." I glanced over her shoulder back at Jack, but Jack seemed engrossed in dancing with his new partner.

"Well, you two are just sooo entertaining, aren't you?" she said. "Hey, I heard a joke just now. What do a cymbal and a snare drum say when they fall down a cliff?" I wasn't paying attention though. That guy Jack was dancing with looked very familiar. Where had I seen him before? "Well, do you know?" I shook my head, and Hyde said nothing, instead watching me while I watched Jack and his partner. "'Ba dum tch!' That's the sound they make. You get it? That the little thingy for bad jokes you know?" She was giggling hysterically by this point. Hyde laughed nervously, and I managed a chuckle. "You two just don't laugh, do you? Gosh!" She continued laughing and sat down next to Hyde. Jack's partner…he was a little short, long, messy hair, if only they weren't dancing in a shadow! Jack was getting closer and closer to him, their bodies almost flush now. The song ended and another one, more fast paced, replaced it. I saw Jack run his hands down the boy's thighs, the glint of black leather under his hands. The boy didn't seem to mind when Jack's hand came to rest on his backside while Jack danced. I suddenly stood up and looked over and Hyde.

"You wanna dance?" I asked. I thought I saw Hyde flush red under the dim lights, but he stood anyway. Kristen gave him a shove and clapped her hands together when we onto the dance floor. Hyde looked around at the other dancing figures hesitantly, but I pulled him farther into the crowd and told him to dance.

"How?" he whispered. I laughed and shrugged, brushing against him, ever so slightly, with my hips. He blushed even brighter.

"However you want, Hyde." He started dancing, clumsily at first, and then as I guided him along with more confidence…and abandon. All the while, I was guiding us closer towards Jack and his mysterious partner. Jack had sense moved his hands off his partner; I had seen the boy finally realize what Jack was doing and quickly lift Jack's hands away. That hadn't stopped their dancing, though. Finally, I was close enough to see the boy's face. Hyde was moving closer and closer to me in the dance, and suddenly I pressed my hips flush with him. But I was distracted by the feel of the bulge in Hyde's pants, and felt my own pants tightening. You fool! You're actually enjoying dancing with him? Well, he is attractive, and he's a good dancer, and he's…really nice looking and can dance, but still! But Hyde had put his hands around my waist now and was dancing frantically. He pulled us away from Jack and the still mysterious partner, and I cursed Hyde and all of his stupidity. I wanted to see that boy's face! That's all I wanted. Then, my luck changed again, and Jack turned also, so that I could get a closer look at the boy. I saw a corner of his face. His eyes were closed, his mouth partly open. His hands were under Jack's shirt, and Jack was slowly rubbing his hips against the boy. A surge of jealousy ran through me, which surprised me, since I didn't even know who this partner was. Why should I be jealous that Jack was the one dancing so intimately with him? The boy opened his eyes though, and he turned just his eyes to look at me. They widened at the sight of me, and I turned away, embarrassed at being caught. But, but where had I seen those eyes before, that stare? Dammit, why was that boy so familiar? Then Jack bent down to the boy and tried to lick the boy's lips. The boy broke away. I saw Jack try to chase after him, but his former partner shot him a glare and shouted something to him that I couldn't understand. Strangely, I felt a sudden pleasure at that.

The song changed once more, and Hyde broke away from me also, although reluctantly. He smiled, shyly, and hurried back to our table. Kristen had since left there, going to talk with a group of cross-dressers, and Hyde and I had the table to ourselves. Jack's friends had dispersed around the room to who knows where. I sat down next to Hyde, and we didn't say anything, didn't even look at each other, really. After a few minutes Hyde finally asked if I wanted another beer. I nodded and he left to get us more beer, just as Jack was coming to sit down at the table. Jack watched him go and grinned.

"Nice ass he's got," he said. "Hey, Duo, you see that other boy with me! Some Japanese kid, didn't catch his name. Hot damn he was nice." Jack nodded to himself, a smile on his face. He was swaying slightly in his seat, and I saw Jack wouldn't make it much longer here. "Wish he would've stayed longer." Jack looked around. "Hey, you seen Kristen?"

"I think she left, taking some of your friends home, the ones that were too drunk themselves."

"She wasn't?"

"The bar put a 'no drinks under any circumstances to Kristen, Jack's roommate.' Remember?" Jack scrunched up his face, thinking, and shrugged.

"Nope, I just remember that kid's ass. Speaking of ass, hey Hyde." Hyde threw a beer into Jack's hands (to keep them busy and away from Hyde's body). He handed me mine and sat down once more beside me. Jack looked between us when Hyde's hand lingered on my shoulder.

"So you two…heading back soon?" Jack asked. He drained almost half of his beer and choked on some of it. He gave another lopsided grin. "Head back home…we should probably. But I want that guy's ass. Hey, he's leaving now. Let's go!" Jack tried to get up but ended up tripping on his feet. Hyde sprang up and caught him before he could fall, and I was up soon afterwards. We supported Jack between us, while he mumbled about the boy and his body. I looked over Jack and met Hyde's eyes. He raised his eyebrow and smiled weakly.

"Hey, buddy, let's get on home," I said. I glanced around, wondering if any other members of the long since broken up party were still lingering. Hyde saw one in a corner and rushed to get him, tell him that we were leaving. Hyde came back with him. The man looked a little nervous, probably meaning he was one of Jack's straight friends, but he was the only one of us left in here. He walked beside me while Hyde and I balanced Jack between us. Jack was singing to himself and trying to dance around into the street. I tightened my grip on Jack.

"Damn, Jack," I said. "You're going to have one hell of a hangover!" Jack just giggled to himself and kept on singing.

We finally reached Jack's apartment and handed him back over to Kristen. She grinned and invited us in for a drink or two, but Hyde declined. He glanced over at me and brushed his fingers against my arm. I tried to keep a straight face, but in the haze of my drink, my eyes must have widened. Kristen just laughed again, said goodnight, and shut the door. I heard Jack singing inside and then a loud crash. Shaking my head, I turned away with Hyde following.

"So, where are you staying?"

"Oh, at a hotel only a few blocks down." I nodded, and felt a knot growing in my stomach. Hyde looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders. I turned away from him; I knew exactly what he was planning in all of this, and felt I couldn't escape from it easily enough. I mean, Hyde just seemed so…lost in all of this, anyway. Suddenly, I stopped, looking around me. I think I might have let myself smile just slightly, because Hyde looked puzzled.

"Actually, my place is back the other way. I have to catch a bus down there as it is, but I'm going in the wrong direction. And I'm pretty beat." Hyde's face fell. I stepped towards Hyde and put my hand on my shoulder. "I had a great time tonight, but I have to go now."

"Won't you at least walk back to the hotel with me? I…might get lost, you know," he said. He was searching for some excuse, and though it was a pathetic excuse, I smiled and nodded. He smiled then and we started down the street. "Thanks, I really don't want to get lost here." I was inwardly beating myself for doing this, but another voice whispered in my head that I was trying to start on a new life, right? What better way to do that than to go back with Hyde? I shook my head. I didn't want this type of new life.

It's a good start though, right?

No, no, no it's not!

Of course it is, Duo, and you know it. So have fun tonight, get your life together afterwards, and start on a new path away from the past. I looked over at Hyde, who was in turn watching the street. For a one-night fling, he wasn't too bad of a choice. Of course, I wondered what he would think about it after it was all done. And then my thoughts turned back to Jack's partner. What about a one night fling with him? Sure, he seemed much younger than I was (and much, much younger than Jack), but, as Jack so eloquently put "nice ass he's got." Still…the boy looked so familiar. If only I could think about where I had seen those eyes before.

"Here's the hotel," Hyde said. He walked into the building. It wasn't the nicest place, but nice enough. In other words, the lobby still had paint on the walls, and carpet without too many stains, the elevator worked, and the place didn't stink of sex and whore's perfume. Hyde turned around at the elevator.

"Well, I guess goodnight Duo," he said. I saw his pleading eyes, and remembered our dancing, the way his hips swayed against me, the strong feel of his legs, his hands wrapped around my waist. The little voice telling me yes took hold, and when the elevator opened, I pulled him inside.

"Not yet," I whispered in his ear when the elevator closed. Hyde blushed again and looked at the number pad on the elevator. His hand lingered above it, and he seemed unable to decide what floor he was on. He laughed nervously.

"I guess I had a little too much to drink. What floor am I on? Oh yeah," he laughed again, "seven, that's right." He pressed the button and the elevator was moving again. "This isn't the nicest hotel, I know, but it's the best place I could find that was close to some of my friends. And plus, this was the one I could afford." I shrugged.

"I've been in worse places," I said, "but let's not talk about that now. I don't like thinking about those." Hyde looked puzzled, but didn't say anything.

His room was somewhat small, but not dirty; both beds were made, all his clothes still in their bag; even the small bathroom looked orderly, with all of his toiletries neatly tucked into a small bag. I could tell though that when we entered Hyde suddenly turned very nervous. It was like he had it all planned out in his head what we would do but he wasn't sure exactly how to start it. He turned around to look at me, once more, and inched closer. He pressed his body to me and looked up into my eyes (I realized then how short he actually was, to me shorter than I was). Then, without hesitating, he pulled me down into a kiss, tongue and all. I gasped, but he was pulling me to the bed and lowered me down upon it. He didn't stop his kisses, barely even pausing for a breath. I closed my eyes and let myself flow into the moment, though my mind was turmoil. One half of me told me to keep going with all of this (I think that was the lower half), but the other half, still clinging to my old life, told me to stop this, that I didn't even care at all for Hyde.

While I fought though, Hyde was stripping off my clothes, rather quickly, I thought. He was busy fighting to get my pants off when I put my hands on his.

"Hyde, wait," I said. Two replies shot into my mouth at the same time, but only one got to my tongue first. "Slow down a bit. You're not used to this, are you?" Hyde shook his head.

"I know what I'm doing," he mumbled and continued to take off my pants and boxers. He had already stripped himself of clothing and began once more his frantic kisses. Once more I pushed him away, trying to stop him, and two replies sprang into my mouth. The other side won over this time.

"What if I don't want this?" I asked. Hyde stopped then. But he grinned and ground his hips into mine; I let out a gasp.

"Sure feels like you do," he said. He bit the base of my neck, his tongue darting along my collarbone. I shook my head and held up my hand again.

"Hyde, really, let's stop this. I…I…just let's stop." Hyde sat up and looked down on me, still lying there on the bed, looking back up at him. He looked so hurt, and torn all the same. I reached up then, running my hand down his chest. "But…" I sat up too and turned him around so our positions were reversed. I smiled as he tried to stammer out some words and silenced him…

…probably giving him the greatest blowjob he had had in a long time. Once it was done, I sat back and watched him, as he gained control of his senses again. Before he could say anything though, I stood and rushed to the bathroom. I washed out my mouth, gagging on the large lump of…tears forming in my throat. I looked at myself in the mirror, that frame of short hair around my face, and let out a short, strangled sob. You whore, I scolded myself. You fucking whore! I rinsed out my mouth again and went back into the room.

Hyde had found more clothes and was sitting with them in a pile with him on the bed. He had since crawled under the covers and had the TV blaring now. I gathered up my own clothes and slipped into them. He flipped through the channels idly, and didn't look up when I sat down on the other bed. The channels passed by, the trash TV that almost every hotel has, junk channels that come free simply because of their stupidity. He paused briefly on a news channel, and I turned away, blocking out my ears to the sound. Relena's picture was in the corner of the screen that twisted smile frozen on the picture, her honey-blond hair I had come to despise. I heard, before I could fully block out the sound of the newscaster's voice, something about "four years since…" Afterwards, I heard nothing. My throat tightened again as I glanced at Hyde. I'm an awful, sick whore! Heero…I heard the remote click again and my hearing kicked in as the channel changed. I watched the screen once more, not really thinking about what was there, but just seeing moving blobs on a colorful background. Hyde looked over at me.

"I…guess you're leaving soon, right?" he said. I nodded and stood.

"I should be going now, actually." I stood and Hyde followed me to the door.

"I'm…sorry," he said. I shook my head.

"I'm the one who has everything to apologize about." With that, I opened the door and left. I heard Hyde throw himself back down on the bed once I was gone. With a sigh, I left the hotel and made my way back home.

The apartment was just as I had left it: almost unpacked. I stepped over some boxes left and collapsed on a couch; the bed didn't have any sheets, and I was far too tired to put them on now. I closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep, without even changing my clothes.

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The week passed all too quickly, and I found myself once more standing at the gates of the school. Students bustled around inside, and I took a deep breath. I had spent the week preparing myself for this, putting the finishing touches on my new home, avoiding Hyde (who left only yesterday to return to earth), and trying not to think too much, as I found myself doing so much in the hours of tedium. Now, I walked down the pathway under the trees and hurried into the building. I checked my watch and cursed; I had a class first period to teach, and had almost no idea where it was. I rushed through the halls of students, hearing mumblings behind me. Supposedly, it was quite rare to have a new teacher here. I saw the room Hikari had pointed out, outside it a group of students, among them…Tonako. I paused a few feet away and watched his back. He had a girl latched onto one of his arms, a pretty thing with short blond hair and a pale face. I felt something stirring in my heart once more and stormed towards them, opening the door to the classroom. The girl moved back when I opened the door almost on her and stormed into the classroom. I set my things down, overhearing her speaking to Tonako.

"Gotta go, silly; see you later." As he was walking into the classroom she pulled him back and gave him a long kiss. I looked around the room, seeing that some of the students were still milling around, talking, and paying me no attention. I shrugged and watched Tonako enter; he sat down in the back of the room, alone, glaring at me. I looked down and pretended to be sorting through my things to avoid those eyes. They looked blue in the lighting, and gorgeous. I found a sheet I had written a few things down on and set that out, then looked at other information sheets sent to me last week. I glanced up and saw Tonako's eyes had not moved from me. I cleared my throat and moved away from my desk, trying to control myself and hide my nervousness. I smiled at a girl in the front of the class who was watching me; she blushed and turned away, and also sat down.

"Yes, I think it is time we start now, as much as we all probably don't like that," I said loudly, to the rest of the class. They turned towards me, still chatting, but at least in their desks and for the most part paying attention. "Yeah, so, I'm your new teacher. The name's Duo Maxwell. I'm not exactly sure where to start, you know; I've looked at what you guys were doing before I came, but there wasn't really wasn't much to look at. What were you doing?"

And so went the first class as people tried to explain what the teacher had been doing, and ended up getting very off track. I figured out most of the students quickly; in other words, most of them were dead wood. They did very little to help the class in any way, I would just have to drag them along to give them a grade. A few students showed promised. And one students said nothing that whole class: Tonako. He stared at the ground, sometimes looked up at me, watched me warily. I found myself watching him too during the class, always sending glances back at him. But the bell rang, and all too soon he got up from his chair and leave with the other mass of students. A few said goodbye to me as they left, but still no words from Tonako. Well, why should I expect any? About all Heero said at first was that I was an annoyance, so maybe silence is…

"Why are you comparing him to Heero?" I grumbled. Tonako turned around. "Oh, sorry, just talking to myself." I laughed nervously and started collecting my materials. He smirked and shrugged.

"So we've got a crazy for a teacher," he said, leaning on the doorframe. I shrugged.

"It happens. Think about having to teach people like you for years." He kept his face straight, but I could see the glint behind his eyes, that little spark. He stood up slowly from the door, unfolding it almost seemed. "But anyway, don't you have class to get to?"

"Not really," he grumbled. "Don't have a class this period. Why, you want to get rid of me? Think I'm going to drive you insane?" I laughed, sitting back down at the desk.

"All students drive a teacher insane." I started to flip back through some of the materials the schools had given me. Tonako was still standing in the door, and I waited for him to respond. But I could see him out of the corner of my eye; he had not taken his eyes off me the whole time and probably had no idea I was watching him. Then he glanced down the hallway. I heard him say something in Japanese to a girl down the hallway, did not hear what the girl said, but soon saw that girl from before standing next to Tonako.

"Hey, is that the new teacher?" she said in Japanese. "Heya…Mr. Maxwell, right?" I nodded. "Well, come on Tonako, we've gotta go. Nice to meet you, Mr. Maxwell." She grabbed Tonako by the arm and dragged him from the room. Tonako followed her without a word. I stared at the door for a while before shaking my head.

"Don't even think anything. You have a good job, don't lose it," I mumbled. "And I really need to stop talking to myself."

I worked for a while and found nothing more to do, waiting for my next class. It was not until the last period. I got up and stretched; maybe now would be good to wander around the school and get to know the place. I knew that it was a huge building, and was ready to figure it out. I headed down towards the entrance of the school again, past closed doors of classrooms. A new class had just started so most of the students were working behind those doors. Occasionally I would pass an open classroom; there might be a few students chatting in there, or using it to work on class work, during their free time. I passed by one room, what looked like a science lab, with the door slightly closed. Curious, I peeked through the crack and saw a couple in the room, propped against one of the desks and quite oblivious. I smiled and left silently. I should have, as was my duty as a teacher, walked in and ended their little foray, but I could not bring myself to. I always had a soft spot for the couple trying to sneak a few kisses in when no one was looking at school; I would have most likely done the same if I had attended school.

Well, I still could now, but only if…

"No, no, no," I muttered, hurrying away from the room. No more thinking. I needed just to make it through today, and the next week or so, and it would all be normal again, no more of these absurdities, just another job to get through to get through these months and years. I pushed open the big double doors to the front of the school and stepped into the courtyard. The air was pleasant out, and I took a deep breath to clear my head. A few students lounged under the trees, as it was not yet too cold to enjoy the outdoors. There was a path to my left that I took along the side of a building. It went past perfectly manicured gardens, which, in a pleasanter time, would have been brimming with flowers. Now the leaves covered most of them in their own vibrant hues. There was no one else on the path; it bent around the other side of the building, and I guessed it went all the way back around. There seemed to be a large grove of threes on the far side of the building, and I hurried to investigate it. Not only was this one of the more prestigious education institutions, but they also had enough funding to have their own grounds, and well kept grounds at that! The path soon abandoned it's pavement for just a dirt path and I found myself immersed beneath the boughs of the trees. Just peeking through the twisting branches above me I could see the skyscrapers of L2, but that world seemed so far removed in this paradise.

"A little touch of earth," I said out loud. "God knows this colony needs it." And I need it. As much as earth was a painful memory for me, I could not help but want to make my way back to earth. There was still a little piece of me saying I had unfinished business there, even though I knew my business with earth, and all its inhabitants, was long ago finished. I glanced up at the trees again, the colony sloping above me. I thought I could smell rain on the way, most likely some time tonight. I rounded another bend and found myself back on the other side of the building. There was a door leading inside here, a janitor's entrance, it appeared, and I slipped inside there, hoping it would get me at least somewhat close to my own classroom. The building was a maze to me. When in doubt I had found most hallways led back to the main entrance, but that helped only a little bit. Luckily, my room was not far from the main hall. The walk around the building had taken longer than I expected, and the classes were just changing. I pushed my way through the mobs of students and back into the main hall. I turned down my corridor and found myself back at my classroom. All the students for my last class were already inside; I took a deep breath outside the door, put a grin on my face and walked into the room. Enough of this dreaming beneath the trees. It was high time I got back to reality.

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Just to point out the character Kristen is actually based off of my wonderful friend and beta Kristen. She wanted to be in one of my stories, so I decided to throw her in here.

Now, what would be really nice is if you would review, so that I know that people are still reading this story and checking up on it. Please, please! It will make me want to write it faster if I know that people are reading. It helps, a lot.

Once again, sorry it took so long to post! And please review!