Sorry! I really am! There was a death, and I'm kinda depressed, so please don't hurt me! This has actually been half done for a while, but I just couldn't finish it to put up. The same for school work. My bad! Yeah, anyway, finally got around to it, and changed my summary, 'cause it sucked. If any one has a good summary, tell me. I am no good at it.

Thank yous to Jessica White, gundam06serenity, anna may, Starlit Hope, Dark- One Shadowsphyre, Selena Wheeler, Fire of Phoenix, and laconic angel. You rule. You really do. Especially for being so patient with me.

~~

Chapter 5

"Chang Wufei! Where have you been?! I was worried senseless!" Wufei's mother bombarded him the moment he opened the front door to his house.

He had walked home, using the time to think; to think about how little of Heero he knew. When was his birthday? How old is he? What his favourite colour? His dreams? His favourite book? The colour of his eyes? It disturbed him to be in someone's class for five years and yet know as much about him as the day they first met.

"Wufei? Wufei! I am talking to you!" His mother followed him to the kitchen, where his sister was preparing supper.

Chang Meiran[1] spun around to face her younger brother. "Ah, did my lil' widdle broda get lost?"

"Shut up!" He snarled at her.

Meiran was the older female version of Wufei. Cocoa skin, sleek, black hair, black eyes. There were differences, though. (Besides the fact that they were of opposite sex.) She was more petite than him, taller by a few centimetres, and while Wufei's hair reached his shoulders, hers reached her knees. Both were in good shape; her from aerobics, his from martial arts.

His mother, on the other hand, looked nothing in resemblance to her children. Which makes sense since she was the second wife to Chang Sr., and was not the biological mother to the two. Her hair was brown in colour, and depending on her moods, was either loose, or in up in buns. Today, her hair was up, with her glasses perched upon her nose.

He gave them both dirty looks, and stormed past them to climb the stairs leading to his room, which was the last door down the hallway.

His room was his haven. Soft, muted colours on the walls, a thick white carpet covering the floor, and the smoke from burning incense hung in the air, leaving a relaxing scent. A bed pushed against the far wall, a dresser under a mirror on the left of the room, the closet on the right. The floor was spotless. Posters and drawings hung on the walls, of dragons and warriors. A single picture of his family sat upon his dresser. The room was peaceful, and soothed him greatly.

Wufei flung himself upon his bed. Why? Why was Heero so damn shy? Why was he himself too proud to have talked with the boy before? Why was he living alone, his family living clear across the province, or country, or wherever they live?

Why did he feel so strongly for a boy whom he had only just met? Well, technically, he had known who Heero was, but still... Really, what was there about him that stirred these feelings within? Of tenderness, caring, protectiveness. Protection from what, though?

~~

Wufei fidgeted in class all morning the next day. He totally ignored the teacher and the lesson. All he could think about was Heero and how lonely he must be. How Wufei almost longed to de beside Heero, watching him sleep. Even last night, he thought about Heero.[2]

The teacher called Wufei's name, but he kept his eyes on the clock. Ten o'clock. Five hours left.

A hand landed his shoulder. He turned, a snarl on his lips. The teacher glared back.

"Gather your books, Mr. Chang. You're going to the office."

Shrugging the hand off, Wufei grabbed his things and left for the office.

~~

"Oh, Heero, why didn't you tell us?" Relena paced the room of the hospital, eyes misty with unshed tears. "We would have come, to be here with you. And you know it!"

Heero shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Ever since he woke up, Relena had been lecturing him, the wrongs of this, the rights of that. She didn't understand. How could she? She had a real family, a place where she belonged. She never had that empty feeling inside her chest, a continuous ache for something unreachable. He sighed.

Relena stopped her dictating, gazing at Heero. He was still pale from the loss of blood, his eyes tired looking, as if it took inhuman strength to look upon the world. She walked over to him, placing her hand on one of his. "It's going to okay."

Milliardo stormed into the room. "Damn doctors! Want to put you on medication, they said!" Heero paled. "Don't worry, Heero, told them all to go to hell."

He sat down on the edge of the bed, head in his hands. He sighed. He felt torn, between staying with his younger brother to support him, or going to one of his board meetings about the importance of having a pacifist leader.

"Go."

"Pardon?" Milliardo looked up.

"Go. I can see how much the meeting means to you," came Heero's monotone voice, "so go. You can't do any more."

~~

A soft hesitant knock sounded on the door. Heero looked up from the fill-it-in puzzle book he was currently working on. "Come in."

Slowly, the door opened. Wufei stuck his head in, searching the room for anyone else. Satisfied that there was no one there besides Heero, he entered, closing the door softly behind him. Heero watched him, amused.

"Hey."

"Hn."

"I brought your homework for you," Wufei tossed a bag on the bed, "did not want you missing the exciting English essay on some dead author."

"I'm tingling with anticipation," Heero gave a little smile, to which Wufei returned.

Plopping himself in the chair beside the bed, Wufei regarded Heero. He seemed to have lost weight, still very pale in the face. Leaning forward, Wufei stretched out his arm to place his hand on Heero's leg.

"How are you keeping up?"

Heero started to reply that he was fine, but stopped himself. From beneath his hair, he locked eyes with the young Chinese boy. "I... I, don't know." He closed his eyes. "A, little hopeless, I guess. Despair."

The silence of when no one knows what to say or do, took hold in the small room. Wufei felt helpless, seeing Heero suffering so. He stood up and climbed into the bed with Heero, gathered him against his chest, wrapping his arms around Heero's waist, and gently rocked him. Heero sighed, and relaxed into the embrace, putting a hand on Wufei's chest. Wufei smiled and tucked to messy boy under his chin.

"It will be alright. Never lose hope."

~~

1. He needed a sister. She volunteered. :P 2. Not like that hentais!

Hopefully, I should get the next one up quicker. Reading week starts next week, so I'll post then. I swear!

Mistress