A/N: Another chapter! Yay! THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR REVIEWS. Really does make me write. In fact, I'd have stopped this silly train wreck ages ago if it weren't for you guys!

I normally don't reply to reviews here (and I hope y'all dun hate me for that fact) but shevaleon brought up something that piqued my interest. Their question was: 'One thing that I don't like though - you're writing an AU, which is post-Wars series, then why do you keep mentioning the current place-names?' Why you ask? Well because I am an uncreative lazy bastard who likes current Japan and hopes to high heaven the place never changes.
BUT, if I must be reasonable, I do have an adequate answer: when does Gundam ever show us that planet Earth has changed? The most they show us of planet Earth's culture is that in the form of military bases and the occasional Victorian mansion belonging to Trieze or happenstance Relena's school. So, I took me some artistic license and played off on this lack of depth in Earth. I certainly can't say it's like the colonies, that'd be dumb, so I just took current time and put it there. Sure, I coulda made up new places or such, but why do that when I can use current places now and put you further into the situation? It just makes it easier to relate to, s'all.

As for other questions, I think they're all kinda spoilertastic. I'm hoping this chapter answers a few questions and opens some new ones! And again, THANKS SO MUCH GUYZ.

OH: TITLE CHANGE PENDING. Don't be confused if it does happen!!!

xxxxxxx

CHAPTER THREE; see this through

"I know it's not enough to say I'm wrong
You know that I will miss you now you're gone
I know it's not your life to see this through
Just know that in my heart, it beats for you
So leave a little note for me behind
I swear I have to know the reasons why
This won't survive"

Amber Pacific – Fall Back Into My Life

xxxxxxx

"Where are we going?" Duo whined, rubbing temples as they sat in one of the many train cars on the Tokyo subway. The jittery movements of the train and the constant roar of the tunnel they traveled through were doing nothing to quell his aching brain matter.

"Secret."

"You said that before," he groaned.

"And I'll say it again," was Heero's logical answer.

'Stupid enigmatic ,' Duo thought sullenly, crossing his arms petulantly and sulking spectacularly. And if that snort from his unfortunate, on his part that is, Japanese companion was intended for him some serious was gonna go down. An unhappy Duo Maxwell was one thing, but an insulted, hung-over Duo was a whole different story.

In all actuality, despite his cross attitude, Duo was quite giddy at being able to spend the day with Heero; a prospect he would have never of seen coming. The effect was slightly ruined by his encounter with Wufei the day previous and his not-so-appropriate reaction to it involving alcohol and one of Tokyo's wildest clubs, but hey, he was human. Thoughts drifting elsewhere, he shifted in his seat, leaning backward in an attempt to get comfortable in the uncomfortable plastic chair that also happened to have been adorned with the most atrocious shade of orange he had ever laid eyes upon. Really, what was train décor coming to these days?

The train came to a slow and steady stop, few people standing and apparently the odd couple made by two Gundam pilots was among them. A warm hand clamped tightly on his wrist and Duo glared up at Heero about to protest but was unable to as he was pulled quickly off the train. The car doors slipped shut, nearly on Duo's shin, as they stepped out to join the many people milling on the platform. Barely anyone paid them any attention and the two returned the favor, Heero preoccupied with getting them wherever they were going and Duo preoccupied with trying to transfer the pain in his head to Heero's with only his mind.

The minute they stepped from the shade of the platform, Duo was assaulted once again by how bright and beautiful a day it was. Groaning, he pulled the ball cap further down over his eyes, ducking his head and staring futilely at the slightly darker pavement.

"This is the Komagome station," Heero said as if Duo would care and smiled at the irritated grunt he got in response. "We were going to go straight there, but I think we'll make a stop along the way."

"Whatever!" Duo exclaimed in an exasperated explosion of breath, pulling out the sunglasses he just realized he had from his coat pocket and glaring heatedly at Heero from behind the dark shades.

The conversation, if it could be considered that, last a grand total of one minute and after its immediate termination they were once again off. Heero led a once again and Duo found nothing more to do than to follow, something he found himself surprisingly skilled at. Maybe it was the after-effects of alcohol on his system, either way it was a new thing to him.

To say the braided man was pleased when Heero's destination turned out to be a drug store would be foolery for the expression on Duo's face spoke volumes otherwise. "A convenience store," Duo said in obvious disbelief.

"We're picking something up."

"Really."

Heero gave him a look, which Duo returned, and Heero again countered. It didn't get them anywhere, besides somehow blindly navigating down an aisle, but felt good just the same. Heero looked away, Duo considered his victory but was soon faced with a new adversary: a bottle of liquid. What this mysterious concoction was could not be discerned as, unfortunately for him, Duo lacked in all things reading Japanese. Frowning and blinking, he looked up at his companion who was holding said bottle before his face.

"Whut."

"We're here for this, its Eki-Kyabe," Heero answered, retracting the bottle and heading to the cashier.

"Oh," Duo said, standing there and not really believing that his knowing 'oh' was all that knowing. Shaking his head at this strange Japanese man he'd decided to devote a day to, he followed the other out of the store.

Once outside and soon seated comfortably on a bench, Heero dropped the vial of eeky-ke-yuhbay or whatever in his lap and firmly instructed he'd consume it. Duo again found himself repeating, "Whut."

"Drink it, baka."

"Why should I?" Duo asked, picking up the cool glass bottle and holding it up. The sun reflected through the liquid, casting a golden hue on his cheek. It didn't make it any more appetizing.

"Eki-Kyabe is used to cure hangovers," Heero explained patiently, taking the bottle from the braided man and popping open the green cap. Holding it out for his friend he reiterated, "Drink."

"Fine, fine!" Duo took the bottle and downed it in one fluid movement, head tilted fully backward, the muscles in his neck fully exposed as they worked the liquid down his throat. Making a face, he shoved the bottle back into Heero's waiting hand and made a show of attempting to remove the taste from his mouth. "Gross!"

"Well, if you drink shots like you drank this, its no surprise you're hungover," the taller Japanese man said, standing up and twisting the cap back on the empty bottle. "Shall we be off?"

"What, didn't take me half across Japan to get me Eki-whatever?" Duo snarked back, standing to his feet, ready to follow the other despite his words. At the lack of dizziness or nausea at his sudden jump to his feet, he blinked, noticing that the headache was not nearly as bad as before as well. Frowning, he hurried to catch up with Heero, realizing that the medicine really had worked.

At Heero's lack of response to his attitude, Duo quietly said, "Thank you."

"Its no problem."

Duo wondered if it really was.

xxxxxxx

"I never thought that I'd find crepes in Japan," Duo said, sitting down in one of the many benches of the Rikugien gardens, munching happily on said French dessert. He and Heero had both gotten strawberries to top there, something that the braided man thought they'd have in common. "Or that I'd be eating them, here, with you in such a beautiful place."

He smiled, sitting back in the old wooden bench, and looking down at the still water that reflected the brilliant blue sky above. There was such peace in this gorgeous place. Who would have thought that such a piece of beauty would be found in the concrete jungle that was Tokyo? It was like Central Park of New York, only with sakura trees and far more teahouses.

This had been the destination Heero had had in mind for them to spend their day, and Duo had gone and messed that up as always. However, it seemed all fixed now, or at least as best as it could be. In truth, the braided man could think of no better way to spend the third day of his vacation.

Taking a bite from his crepe he glanced at his companion, finding that he was the center of Heero's attention. An odd thing that. A habit that Duo had either never noticed before or was only reserved for himself: this staring thing Heero did. Then again…Duo had seen that look before and knew it was better suited for a queen.

Swallowing, he licked the cream off his lips and turned to fully face Heero, seemingly breaking the other man from his daze. "Sooo," Duo started, picking at the napkin wrapped carefully around his crepe, something Heero had so tenderly done for him. "What's been happening with you?"

"Nothing really, just living a life," was Heero's vague reply. Intense eyes had focused elsewhere now, making Duo feel a bit empty inside.

"Sounds exciting," snorted Duo dryly, eyes rolling towards the sky as if to ask it whether it could help him move this conversation along. "Anything particular besides breathing, eating, and involved?"

The look the American got for that wasn't as amused as he had hoped. He wondered, absently, why whenever they got off the topic of literature or current logistics of shuttles and on to things like personal life Duo found himself running face first into a brick wall. It hurt.

"Nothing more that matters."

"Nice," Duo said, sighing heavily and looking at his crepe that had become far less interesting in the last few minutes. "So, you just spend your days reading about dead guys, eating crepes, and walking around gardens. Damn lucky ."

Standing with a mumble of finding a bathroom, he wandered off, following the pond around until he found a trash can to drop his unfinished crepe in and then off to look around without a reclusive Japanese around. Tugging on his braid uncertainly, he wondered, just wondered, what he had done to deserve such defensiveness from the other man? Did the things he was asking fall under the category of what they had already agreed on not talking about? Duo was sure this was not the case.

It made no sense! None of these people who he once considered friends, who all consecutively decided it was time to with Duo, were making any sense! Quatre, Heero, Relena, Wufei, all of them! Now all they needed was Trowa to run up and started blabbering off about bunnies and then everyone would be perfectly out of character!

The mental rant hadn't gotten him anywhere, only angrier and even more confused and lost under a willow tree in the infinite garden. It didn't work on those who weren't there to hear it and didn't make him feel any better. Collapsing onto a bench at the base of the looming tree, he buried his face in his hands and just breathed. It was the only thing he could find to do that made much sense.

Maybe he should just get a shuttle ticket and get off the god-forsaken planet, get away from all these crazy people. A relaxing vacation had turned into a test in futility for him and Duo was definitely failing it. Dropping his hands, he shook his head and leaned back against the bench, looking out across the pond again and watching the willow leaves trail against the still waters.

Out of the corner of his eye, his attention drew to the glimmer of the sun reflecting off something. Turning his head that way, he squinted at it, wondering just what it could be. Warning bells went off in his head and he hurriedly got to his feet, despite realizing the slim chances of a sniper being here of all places to get at him, he still trusted his instincts. Giving it one last curious glance he turned to leave the canopy of the willow and ran smack dab into Heero.

"Ow!" Duo exclaimed clutching the nose that had just been rammed into a chest of pure man-steel. "Watch where you're going!" he said loudly and nasally, glaring up at the other man.

Heero snorted and then laughed outright at the sight of Duo, which only made the American grumble further. Duo rolled his eyes and pushed past the other man, storming off to wherever he could most easily make an excuse up for going to. Footsteps soon told him that Heero was following and he made an irritated noise.

"I thought you were going to the bathroom," Heero ventured.

Duo contemplated taking the bait. Cursing himself a fool, he did. "What are you talking about, I did."

"No, you wandered off to that willow and have been sitting under it for the past half hour."

Had it really been that long? Jeez---Wait. Duo stopped mid-step and turned to look incredulously at Heero. "Are you implying that you followed me?" he demanded.

Heero looked embarrassed, averting his blue eyes elsewhere. "No…"

"Sorry! Wrong answer; don't collect two hundred dollars, don't advance another space," Duo exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Heero. "You're a damned liar, you know that? I went too far for you to watch and yet you have the nerve to take me for a fool who wouldn't notice."

"Oops."

Duo made a loud very agitated noise, throwing his arms up in the air and exclaiming with vehemence, "ASIANS!"

xxxxxxx

Duo opened his hotel room door and walked inside, barely sparing a glance to the space around him or to the man who followed. Heero watched amusedly as Duo plopped down on the bed and kicked off his shoes, still ignoring the Japanese man pointedly. Heero sighed as if pained and sat down beside Duo.

"I'm sorry I told the old woman you were mentally disabled," Heero said plainly, not sounding apologetic at all. "She just wondered why you were yelling, and we all know that we all did. Besides, how was I supposed to know you had taken Japanese lessons before you came?"

Duo sat back, having removed his feet from their sneaker and sock prison, and gave Heero a look that spoke wonders for how much he forgave Heero. The Japanese man sighed again and shook his head, chuckling slightly.

"Y'see that?" Duo demanded, pointing at Heero's mouth. "That is the bane of my existence. Everything that leaves it either pisses me of or leaves me absolutely miserable." At Heero's confused look, the braided man just sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. It doesn't matter, just go on your way."

Heero nodded, stood slowly to his feet and made his way to the door. Half way there, he paused and turned back, an unreadable expression clouding his features. "I'm sorry, Duo," he said, softly. Duo made a show of ignoring him again, head turned sharply to the side and his eyebrows drawn tight over angry violet. "There are just some things out of my control."

And with those prophetically confusing words, Heero left Duo once again to wallow desperately in a torrent of unknowns. Little did he know he was tangled far further than either he or Heero had ever expected.

xxxxxxx

The next day found Duo Maxwell venturing back out into the expansive city streets of Tokyo. Thus far, his day had been going smashingly, he had nearly cleared his entire list, a select few remaining, and had enjoyed his vacation wonderfully. Gone from his mind were thoughts of anti-social Japanese asses, invading Chinese bastards, and whiney diplomats. Instead, he thought of what a nice day it was and how friendly Japanese people were, especially to tourists.

After lightening his load of shopping bags from all sorts of stores ranging from Ohayo-Koneko and Suny, he went out again. This time, however, in search of sustenance in the form of a late lunch. It was then; a relatively uneventful day took a turn into the shocking.

"Maxwell."

It was then that once again, Chang Wufei walked uninvited back into his life. Duo stopped in his steps and turned to the Chinese man, raising a brow and quelling the need to punch the other's lights out. "Wu-man," he said jovially, sparing a grin for the other though it didn't meet his eyes. "What's up?"
If the blatant disrespect of his name irritated Wufei in anyway, he hid it well, stepping away from the wall to bow slightly at the waist. "I've come to extend my apologies for my disrespectful behavior the other day," the ebony-haired man announced cordially.

Duo looked about, smiling nervously at the people who had stopped to stare at the odd interaction. Taking Wufei's arm and jabbing all protest out of the Chinese man with the sharp angle of his elbow, he said through a smile that was too much teeth, "Then why don't you make it up to me? I'm peckish, let's be off."

There was no obvious protest, so the braided man dragged his new companion off in a random direction, not even sure of where they could go. "I have a place in mind," Wufei said, suddenly, detaching himself from Duo's arm, which earned him a puckish flutter of lashes from the American, and waving for the other to follow. For the second day in a row, Duo found himself being led around like some lost pup.

The restaurant Wufei had been meaning certainly was classier than Duo had ever divined. Looking down at his meager outfit of jeans and a slightly wrinkled pale blue button down, he sent an incredulous look at Wufei. The Chinese man shrugged and the host seemed to pay no mind, and seated them anyway.

"I come here often," Wufei answered at Duo's unspoken question. They settled down into the traditional seating of the Japanese, tatami mats and all, on small square pillows that were more comfortable than they looked. The low table was awkward at first for Duo, but once he adjusted his legs enough, he sat comfortably before it.

Duo looked at the menu dubiously, before shaking his head almost amusedly and saying, "I'm having whatever you're having, Wufei," and setting aside the entirely Japanese thing. Wufei looked amused, a small smile stretching pale lips, before he nodded and set aside his own menu.

"It will be spicy," the Asian man warned.

"Bring it on," the American challenged.

Smirking, Wufei looked up as the waiter arrived and placed their orders in fluent Japanese. As soon as their server had departed, Duo turned a critical gaze on his dining companion. "So, if you're on a mission to find Heero, yet come here often," Duo said slowly, as if putting two and two together. "You've been on this 'find the Gundam pilot in a hay stack' mission for a while then?"

Wufei shook his head, sighing softly as it was obviously a subject he had not wished to speak on, however, realized he had no choice. "No, I only recently was assigned," Wufei said, sitting up a bit straighter in response to Duo's visual inspection. "I have been under the charge of protecting Miss Darlian as of late and she has recently been attending business here in Japan. As such, I have spent much time in the area, it is also a reason behind my having been assigned this mission."

"I see," Duo said; glad to have had something cleared up for once. "I found Heero pretty damned easily, as you know, yet you obviously are failing," he tried not to smile at Wufei's wince, "wonder why that is."

"It is my belief, Maxwell," Wufei responded, that old fiery anger showing true and making the American man grin in pleasure. "That Yuy chose to show himself to you and it was not that you yourself found him."

"Oh?" Duo said, nodding to the waiter who brought them a bottle of sake and the small drinking glasses to drink them in. "Are you saying that not only were you, Wufei, following me, but Heero Yuy as well? Damned popular I am!" He poured himself a glass of the rice wine and sipped at it, nose crinkling slightly at its bitter flavor.

"That is what I'm saying," Wufei repeatedly plainly as if Duo was hard of hearing and understanding. "I have been looking for Yuy for nearly a month now. You've only complicated matters," the Chinese man paused, sipping his own sake, and then continued, "it seems that since your arrival he has not only shown himself publicly for the first time in gods know how long, but has also gone further into hiding. I have no idea how that man does it, but before I had nearly caught him. Now? Bah!"

Duo nodded, realizing that now this whole dinner-with-the-Chinese-man-who-talks-a-lot-when-provoked-idea was brilliant and wonderfully executed. He deserved a medal. Sipping thoughtfully at his drink and playing his role well, he looked contemplatively at Wufei. "So you're saying that I've both brought him out and made him disappear even more? Kind of contradictory, wouldn't you say?"

"Very," the Chinese man said, nodding and sighing. "It's certainly very strange, as before he seemed entirely nonchalant about the prospect of his identity being discovered…with you, though, its like he knows more than we do."

Duo blinked at that, canting his head to the side. "More about what?"

Wufei's eyes went a little wide and he made a funny little coughing noise and Duo knew he'd pushed a little too hard. The American could almost see the red warning lights and the 'evasive maneuvers' sign flashing in his companion's head. Luckily dinner arrived and all conversation was a thing of the past, left to Wufei sending scrupulous, or so he thought, glances at Duo and the braided man cursing himself silently for having not been subtler.

"That was delicious," Duo said in obvious pleasure, almost wishing that he had a chair to lean back in—he was stuffed!

Wufei nodded in agreement, wiping his mouth carefully with his napkin before placing it on the table. "As good as the company, Maxwell," was the Chinese man's response and Duo felt something in him get a little sad.

"Duo."

"What?"

"Call me Duo," the braided man instructed, giving Wufei an open smile. "We should do this again."

Something flashed in Wufei's eyes, and he too, seemed to have let his defenses drop. "I agree, Duo."

They stood to leave and made their way to the exit, speaking of dates where they could meet around their own busy schedule when Wufei looked as though he had forgotten to say something very important. Outside the restaurant, he stopped Duo by placing a hand on the other's arm and pulling a small card from his jacket pocket.

"Relena has invited you to a dinner party she's hosting tomorrow evening," the Chinese man said as Duo took the card. "I hope to see you there."

To be continued…

A/N: There you have it! Made it up to Wuffers pretty good and, HOMIGOSH, plot happened. What has gotten into me? I'm a fiend, a complete fiend. Anyway, this will either be the second to last or the third to last chapter. Haven't decided yet! WE SHALL SEE. I haven't exactly reached my quota of twenty-five thousand words, so if next chapter is last, it will be very, very long!