Chapter 7

Wufei and Heero made their way back to the Preventer's building. Hopefully the fire was fully put out by now. The two walked in silence, each to their own thoughts. One thought kept repeating itself in Wufei's mind. Would they be telling Maxwell their secret? Did he already know about Yuy's transformation? And if so, was he fully accepting it?

Wufei eyed Yuy out of the corner of his eye. If one didn't know Yuy well, very well in fact, one would never know that something was on his mind. It took three guesses to figure out what it was, and the first two did not count.

The curse.

Deciding that it was best to just get it out in the air, Wufei asked his question straight out. "Does Maxwell know?"

No flinching, no pausing in mid step, no outward sign at all showed that Heero heard the question, but non the less an answer was given. "No."

"Does he have any suspicions?"

"No."

Turning the corner on the sidewalk, the Preventer's building was now in sight. All the employees were still loitering in the street and parking lot. But on a happier note, there was no more smoke rising from the building and the last of the firefighters were leaving the building with their materials.

Then there was Duo holding an audience of almost half of the Preventer employees, talking animatedly with his hands fly all around. Upon walking closer, they could hear that he was retailing his experiences with Trowa at the circus and Trowa's lion.

"I swear, he treats that lion as a three month old kitten. And the lion? He acts like a big pushover until T leaves the tent, then he's back to being the most furious lion there is in the universe!"

The gathered group laughs at Duo and his antics.

"Baka," Wufei mutters just loud enough for Heero to hear.

"Hn," Heero agrees before calling "Duo."

Duo looks up from what he's doing. "Hey Hee-kun, Wu-man! Where'd ya go?" Duo made his way from the group to stand by the other two pilots. "Did ya bring me anything?"

"What's the news?" Wufei asked, motioning towards their work place.

"N'thin yet. We're all just wait'n around to find out if we can leave or not," Duo answered.

"No leads as to how this fire started?" Heero asked.

Even though all three of them knew how it started, Duo trying to make hot cocoa and all, most of them didn't want it traced back to Duo.

"None," Duo confirmed.

That night Duo, Heero, and Wufei were all sitting in Wufei's apartment, watching the news. Currently, the announcers were talking about how the Preventer's building had caught fire earlier that day and that it was still under investigation. Also, if anyone knew anything, they were to call the Preventers.

"Man, I'm hungry," complained Duo from his spot next to Heero, on the couch.

"You're going nowhere near my kitchen, Maxwell," said Wufei. "And if I ever catch you thinking about it, Yuy will never have to worry about your safety anymore."

Heero's eyebrow rose.

"Are you threaten'n me man?" Duo asked.

"Yes," was Wufei simple reply.

"Just checking," Duo seamed to wave it off. "So, who wants pizza?"

"We had pizza two nights ago," Heero informed.

"What do you suggest then?" Duo asked.

"Mexican."

"I agree," Wufei added.

"Takeout Mexican it is. What'd ya want?" After Duo got all that, he called in the order before leaving to pick it up, leaving the two cursed Zodiac members alone.

Silence reigned for a few moments before it was broken by Wufei. "Do you plan on telling Maxwell about the curse?"

Heero looked at Wufei before changing his view to the TV. He didn't know what to answer. He would like to share this bit of information with Duo, but he didn't know how Duo would react, or if it would even be wise to.

Wufei knew that Heero's silence meant that he didn't know what he wanted to do. It was all new to him. After all, just earlier that day, Heero found out that the reason he turned into a cat when hugged by the opposite sex was because of a curse. And what more, he wasn't as alone in the world as he thought.

Come to think of it, did that mean that Heero was Sohma? Or did his family break off from the clan like his had? All that he knew was that they were distant cousin, very distant cousin in fact. After all, his clan left the Sohma's over 500 years ago, and obviously, Heero wasn't Chinese.

But the thought did pose a question. Did Yuy want to find out about his past with the Sohmas? Did he want to find out how closely he was related to them or did he want to leave his life as it was?

"What do you plan on doing now?" Wufei asked.

Heero quickly looked back at Wufei, not sure how to take the question. "What?"

"Do you plan on tracking down the Sohmas to find out where you belong with them? Or do you plan on keeping your life as it is now?"

"What do you know of the Sohmas?"

"Not much," Wufei admitted. "Just that they live in Japan and that they are placed under a curse."

Silence reigned once more.

"Look Yuy, I know that this is a lot to take in. I rebelled when I found out that I was part of the curse. There's a reason why I'm a scholar. My parents never let me out to play with my peers. I never once interacted with the other sex until I was married. It was then I found out. All I'm saying is that I'm here if you want to talk."

The front door slammed open with Duo carrying in the Mexican takeout. "Honey, I'm home!"

ยงยงยงยง