Very short part today. But sorry, I'm just not in the mood to figure out how many parts I should put in. It will get longer, I promise.

Part 2 of ?

Duo was sitting quietly in front of his Gundam as Wufei Chang walked into the hanger. He was looking off into the distance, his face solemn and a little worried. Wufei frowned slightly. That was not an expression that was common to the braided pilot's face, and he did not wish to see it there any more.

"Maxwell," Wufei said softly.

Instantly the mask dropped back down. Duo looked up with a lighthearted grin. "Yo, Wu-man, what'cha doing out here? Come to worship Nataku?"

Wufei's frown became more pronounced. The expression on Duo's face was more familiar, but it was fake. That was obvious from how quickly it came once the pilot knew he was there. At least he had been sure the other expression was real, as little as he wished to see it.

"Do you often feel like smiling?" Wufei asked intently as he settled down next to him.

"N-nani?" Duo asked in confusion. "What do you mean? I smile all the time!"

"But how often do you actually *feel* like smiling?" Wufei stressed the word feel even as he stared straight into confused violet eyes.

Duo glanced away. The confusion in his eyes was nothing to what was going through his head. Wufei was actually asking him something about the him behind his mask? What brought this on? What did it mean? Why did he want to know? And most important, what should he say? After all, just because he didn't lie, didn't mean he had to tell the truth. But this was Wufei, and he seemed interested in knowing him. Did he dare to take the chance of baring part of his soul? Did he dare not to?

"Mostly," Duo said quietly, letting the smile fall from his face, but still facing away from the Chinese youth. "There's always something to smile about, if you look hard enough. Life can be an amazing thing, you know. And enjoying it is a lot more fun than moping about."

"But you call yourself Death, and you seem to love it," Wufei kept his voice quiet and unaccusing, just stating a fact. Duo was actually opening up to him and there was no way he was going to give up this chance to know him better because Duo took his words the wrong way.

"Of course," Duo said easily. His smile was back on his face as he turned and looked at the other. "How can I not? It's a part of life. If I love one, I've got to love the other. They can't exist without each other you know. If there was no Death, why would you need to appreciate life? And as long as there's a reason for the death, then it truly is a wonderful thing. A rabbit dies to feed a wolf, a wolf dies and his body becomes compost to feed the plants, plants die to feed a rabbit, who dies to feed a wolf. Why mourn the rabbit, when you know what all will come with his death?"

"The circle of life," Wufei murmured.

Duo's eyes flew wide open and he whipped his head so quickly towards the other boy that his braid made a whooshing sound through the air. His mouth opened and closed in disbelief for a moment before he finally managed to get it out. "You... you've seen 'The Lion King'?" His voice almost squeaked at the end of the question he was so shocked.

"What are you talking about Maxwell?" Wufei's eyebrows almost met his hair.

"You know, the circle of life is from that old American movie, 'The Lion King'. How else would you know it?"

"For your information, 'the circle of life' is a term used to describe the food chain. It's especially used by African and Native American primitive tribes. All people who lived off of or close to the land used that term or a similar one. If your movie used it as well, then it likely received the idea from research of ancient tribal groups."

"So you're saying you've never seen 'The Lion King'?" Duo asked.

"No, Maxwell, I have not, as you said, seen 'The Lion King'." Wufei sighed.

"Well then come on! I think Quatre's got a copy around here somewhere. You'll love it, I promise." Duo jumped to his feet and grabbed Wufei's wrist, dragging him inside.

The Chinese pilot gave a token protest but let himself be dragged. It looked like he wouldn't be getting any more insights into the other boy right now, so he might as well give in. How bad could it be? He

looked at the manic grin of the boy in front of him. Did he really wish to know?