Progress: 3 of a proposed two digit number
General Notes: I tried to integrate some plot into this chapter. Needless to say I failed somewhat miserably. I did get manage to bring the spotlight back on Duo being a vampire again, though only briefly, and I brought in a small dash of angst, which is good because this story is seriously lacking grit. I haven't done this before, but I suppose I should show my appreciation openly, so thank you all those kind people who reviewed. What can I say, I adore the attention (smiles meekly). So, um, yea, here's the third chapter folks, so you don't need to pout, Ms Trick. And you don't need to go insane Duet. Well, once again, read and review folks!
And let's hope this stupid thing doesn't eat my grammar, I'm still waiting for answers to my small grammar massacre problem!
Music: All the Small Things – Blink 182; Stairway to Heaven – Led Zepplin; Chou – Tsukiko Amano; Slaves to Rome – Gladiator Soundtrack; Only Time – Enya; Thank You – Home Made Kazoku; Runaway – Linkin Park; A Knife in the Dark – Lord of the Rings Soundtrack; Coin Song – Reiko Nomura; Fall on You – Yuki Kajiura; Everyday's Last Moment – Hikaru Nanase; What's it For – Emily Curtis

o0o indicates a change in time/place. I must say, I am not all that into random patterns, and actually wanted to use the equals or plus signs, but they were eaten by damn the damn upload process

Aeternitas

By Assassin

Chapter Three

The night air was cool, and zephyrs blew by at random intervals, ruffling their hair and clothes. The moon was full, barely hidden behind a thin veil of clouds, and stars shone down brightly, lighting their way.

Of course, Duo did not see any of that.

'I feel horrible.' He grumbled, his left arm slung over Heero's shoulder as the Japanese boy hauled him slowly home. Heero made a small comment about eating too much, and Duo grumbled about not being able to refuse when Mrs. Yuy looked at him with such a kind look. Heero snorted, but did not make another comment as they trekked down Surgite Boulevard, using the stars and the moon overhead as guidance more than any of the dull streetlamps around.

Duo chanced a small glance at Heero as they turned right at a fork. He looked absolutely normal, and had more than enough strength to half carry Duo home. He wondered dully just how Heero managed that, having not eaten any less than himself, but still managing to walk without fuss. The violet-eyed boy suspected that Heero's anatomy was probably significantly different from that of normal humans, which was why he could consume three bowls of rice, four plates of various dishes, two bowls of soup and still have enough space in his stomach to eat two apple pies and a bowl of chocolate fudge ice cream. But then again, it was not as if he was a normal human himself.

They reached Duo's house just as the moon disappeared behind a particularly thick patch of cloud, leaving the streets in almost absolute darkness. Duo complained about the quality of the streetlamps, but Heero just shrugged. They both entered through the backdoor, with a key that Duo removed from behind a crack in the wall. Heero commented that it was extremely unsafe to keep keys in such places, but Duo just snorted, commenting all the while that not everybody had as brilliant a memory as Heero Yuy, such that they never misplaced their keys (or anything else for that matter). Heero just snorted.

Perhaps if either paid any attention to their surroundings, then they would have seen the figure crouched on a nearby tree, watching their every move carefully through oddly luminescent eyes.

Nobody was home, although that was hardly surprising. Howard was often away for large amounts of time, and knew Mrs. Yuy was definitely reliable where feeding Duo was concerned, so rarely even bothered to tell Duo when he was going to be out of commission. Not that Duo minded. There was just something interesting about having the house all to oneself, even if Duo was not the party type of person. Well, perhaps he would have partied if Heero did not dislike loud noises and alcohol so much. Parties were just not fun when Heero Yuy was out of the picture.

They settled down on Duo's king sized bed, opposite the television. Duo did not need such a large bed, so to speak, but Howard had a thing about comfort where sleeping was concerned. "We spend so much time sleeping, so why not sleep on something comfy" he always said. Duo had no qualms about that either, with the exception that he could not fit anything into his room with that massive bed in the way. He did convince Howard to take down a wall for him, so that he could join his room with the next spare bedroom, so all was well.

Duo grabbed the remote and went through his nightly surfing of channels while Heero pulled out his PDA and began attacking it with his stylus. Duo wondered frequently what Heero had on his PDA that was so interesting. The Japanese boy never listened to music or watched movies on the device, and all Duo suspected he had on it were calendars, his phone book and possibly a few documents for school, none of which were particularly interesting. He sighed. He would never understand Heero Yuy and his fascination for anything technological.

'Hey Duo?' Duo grunted his response, eyes still fixed on the television. There was silence for a moment, and the braided boy turned to stare at his friend, indicating for him to continue. Heero looked slightly uncomfortable, which was rare, because discomfort was another one of those things that Heero Yuy did not like to show. Duo switched off the TV with one push of the remote, and devoted all his attention at his childhood friend, suddenly very curious. Heero squirmed, or at least did something that could be construed as a squirm, and Duo found himself very curious. Still, Heero did not speak a word, his eyes fixed firmly on his PDA.

'What's wrong buddy?' Duo asked quietly, urging the other boy on. Heero was silent for a moment more, his eyes still glued to the small device he held in his hands. Duo decided silently that he would burn that thing one day.

'Do you drink blood?' Duo was surprised. He was almost certain that Heero did not care for the topic at all. For a moment, both were silent. Then Duo leaned back into the pillows and sighed, a smile on his face.

'Nope.'

'I am afraid I do not understand.' Heero pocketed his PDA. 'You said earlier that some vampires do not require blood to survive. But is the definition of a vampire not a being which consumes human blood in order to survive?'

'I suppose…' Duo said thoughtfully. 'Well, if you think of it that way, then I'm more just a plain demon. I'm not actually completely sure on this subject, because Howard's knowledge on the subject is about as vague as mine, especially since he's just a regular human. Um…well, I was just told that I'm a vampire, but I don't really need to drink blood. They say that human blood allows vampires to heal faster or something, but it isn't good for us. Or at least, it isn't good for some vampires…ack, now you got me confused!'

'Sorry.' Heero squirmed slightly. 'This probably is not a good topic to talk about…'

'No, it's alright!' Duo sat up quickly. 'I'm actually glad you asked, otherwise I would have thought you just didn't give a damn! But this whole vampire business is a bit obscure for me as well. My mother was a vampire you see, and she was an only child. Apparently my mother's side had really strong vampire blood or something. Howard wasn't sure, he said that my mother was supposed to tell me all about it, not him. So…yea.'

'So then vampires aren't immortal?'

'Heero, do you just hide your curious side until you're firmly away from public eye?' Duo asked with a smirk. Heero was silent, his face suddenly impassive. The braided boy snorted, but continued. 'No, not all vampires are immortal. It really depends actually. Some vampires can only live for a couple of weeks, but Howard says those aren't really vampires at all. They're undead, he said, and mostly, they are just vampires that have been bitten by other vampires and lived through it. They're puppets, controlled solely by the vampire who bit them. But their bodies are dead, so they sort of die really quickly…or rather, they just sort of stop functioning. Then you have vampires like me, who live for as long as normal humans and die from normal causes. And then there are the weird vampires that can live forever. But all vampires can die. If you severe off a vampire's head, then it doesn't matter what kind he is, he's still going to just die. But apparently some can put themselves back together. I'm not sure how that works, since I'm quite sure if I chop off my finger, it's not going to attach itself again, so I won't try. But yea…'

'I see.'

'I hope I'm not scaring you Heero.'

'Heero Yuy does not do scared.' Heero smirked. 'We have a calculus test tomorrow, you should do some revision.'

o0o

Heero sighed as he made his way back home, eyes fixed firmly on the road before him. Duo was a vampire. That fact shocked him more than a little, and truth be told, he was slightly frightened. But he was not going to tell Duo that. Duo was a very important friend, and Heero did not wish to lose him because of his own childish fear. He had known Duo when he was younger had he not, and they had been reunited for two weeks, and Duo had been the same carefree idiot as always. Heero berated himself for being so curious earlier, he wondered dully whether Duo had grasped his fear.

He heard the arrow only seconds before it flew by, managing to swerve off the sidewalk just in time to see a silver arrow cut through where he had been earlier, and pierce the sidewalk as it finally fell to a halt. He turned quickly, eyes wide and searching for the person responsible for the arrow. But he saw only the quiet suburbia he had long since become accustomed to. Frowning slightly, he turned around to stare at the arrow, currently protruding out of the sidewalk. With shaking fingers, he tugged at it, releasing it from the concrete. It was a beautiful arrow, a result of brilliant craftsmanship. The point was sharp, and there was a strange pattern carved all the way from the tail to the tip which Heero could not clearly see. The entire thing was unusually light, and practically shimmering with some sort of invisible energy.

'You move quickly.' Heero's head snapped up quickly, eyes quickly finding the speaker. It was a teen no older than he, dressed in a heavy black cloak with a hood pulled over his head. The voice was definitely masculine.

'What do you want?' Heero bit sharply. The boy did not respond, did not move. The large bow he held was scraping on the floor, and a large pouch of silver arrows hung off his back. Heero eyed it nervously, unsure what he was supposed to do. Arrows were long distance weapons, he could fight this boy if things got out of hand. He did not wish to fight, but he would if the need for it became necessary.

'Keep away from the vampire.' The boy's voice was cold, colder than even Heero's on a bad day. The Japanese boy snarled, grasp tightening around the arrow he held. And then the boy was gone, running off and disappearing into the shadows with a speed Heero did not believe was possible for humans. There was silence again. A light breeze blew by, and a dog barked in the distance. Heero's legs finally gave way under him, and his knees his the ground with a dull thud.

o0o

Duo yawned, feeling remarkably tired. It was lunchtime again, and Heero was sitting opposite him as usual, eyeing the cafeteria food with a look of complete distaste. He was poking at the jelly again, and Duo hoped dully that Heero would not say the jelly was inedible again. No matter what the Japanese boy said, Duo liked jelly, even if it was just a bunch of chemicals made into the shape of an elastic blob. The jelly was even violet today! Duo adored the color violet, coming only a close second to black, which was not a color anyway.

'Don't eat the jelly Duo.'

Snap.

'Why not?' Duo asked irritably, grabbing his jelly possessively and holding it desperately out of the Japanese boy's reach. 'I happen to like jelly, thank you very much!'

'It bounces.' Heero answered, tipping his jelly onto the table as a demonstration. The purple blob bounced happily across the table, and almost fell over the edge when Heero collected it on his plate again and set it neatly back on the unsanitary cafeteria table. There was silence for a moment while Heero proceeded to inspect the main course of the day, which was what the cafeteria lady said was meatloaf, but looked more like gravy. Duo released his plate of jelly next to Heero's, his eyes twitching.

'On second thought, I think I'll pass on the jelly today…' Was all he said.

Heero smirked.

English literature was their next class, and possibly the most boring subject Duo had. Sure, he enjoyed reading and writing a great deal, but the lit. class was just plain boring. Today, the teacher was ranting about some book written by some Russian guy about gooseberries and somehow linking that back to happiness. Duo felt like he would be the happiest man in the world if the teacher would just shut up about the gooseberries. What made it worse was that gooseberries were not even nice…

Duo found his mind wandering, and his gaze slipped from the teacher to scout around the class, taking in all the students from the bored to the diligent. The girl sitting in front of him was typing a text message on her phone behind her book, and the guy next to her was eating a chocolate bar. In fact, the only person who ever paid attention to these classes was probably Heero and a few of the literature nerds. But Duo was in for a shock when he looked to his right and saw Heero staring absent-mindedly out the window, his pencil spinning so quickly in his hands that it almost appeared a blur. Ripping out a corner of his exercise book, Duo scribbled a small note and threw it at Heero. It hit the Japanese boy on the arm, and he jolted, eyes wide for a moment before registering what was happening. Duo felt his frown increase. Heero read the note quickly, gave Duo a sharp glare, scribbled a reply and tossed it over. Duo unfurled it eagerly, but was disappointed with Heero's reply.

Are you okay? It's unusual to see you so absent-minded…

I'm fine, don't worry. Concentrate on the gooseberries.

At least the Japanese youth had attempted a joke, even if it was somewhat lame. Duo drew a picture of a gooseberry being impaled by a sharp toothpick and threw it back at Heero. Heero snorted, threw the piece of paper into his pencil case and gave Duo an amused glare. The braided boy stuck out his tongue.

The rest of the afternoon went by without drama.

o0o

Duo stayed back after school for basketball practice, and Heero waited for him as usual from his place in the stands. Duo wondered once again why Heero did not play any sports at school, since he was obviously good at it. If he was going to wait after school every second day for Duo to finish practice, then he might as well join anyway, right? But the Japanese boy just sat in the second lowest row and busied himself with finishing off his chemistry homework. Duo shrugged, he would never understand him.

Practice was almost over when Duo spotted a girl with blond hair rush over to Heero. If he was not mistaken, then that was Relena Peacecraft, a sophomore. The only reason he knew her was because she was on the cheerleading squad. So why was she speaking to Heero? Duo watched them chat out of the corner of his eye, feeling his curiosity growing. He would definitely need to ask Heero about her as soon as practice was over.

By the time Duo had finished showering and changing out of his gym gear, Relena was already gone. Heero was still in his seat, but was busy packing up all his homework. Duo heard a couple of the other guys joking about Heero and his nerd-like behavior, and felt his anger brewing. But before he could do anything else, Heero had glanced over, having finished packing up his things, and sent the other jocks an icy glare. They shut up immediately, and Duo felt a smile creep on his face. Heero rose from his seat and left the gym, with Duo racing after, backpack slung awkwardly over one shoulder.

'Afternoon Heero.' He greeted when he finally caught up with the other boy. Heero nodded his response, and Duo took that as a cue to begin talking. 'The jocks are assholes.'

'You're a jock Duo.' Heero retorted, his voice deadpan. Duo made a face.

'But I'm not one of them.' Duo said impatiently. 'Anyway, was that Relena Peacecraft you were talking to?'

'Yes.' Heero's reply was as impassive as ever. 'Do you know her?'

'She's a cheerleader.' Duo answered.

'She told me.' Heero sighed. 'How did you go on your calculus test?'

'Don't go off changing the topic buddy!' Duo protested, giving Heero a playful punch. 'And I did just fine, Mr. Person-who-kept-me-up-till-two-to-revise-for-something-stupid.'

'I merely did not want a repeat of last time.' Heero quirked an eyebrow. 'I hope you remember how you whined about doing badly on your chemistry test?'

'That's chemistry, it's different from calculus.' Duo made a face. 'And how was I supposed to remember what the hell the Frasch Process was?'

Heero snorted.

'So, what was darling Miss. Peacecraft talking about anyway?'

'If you must know.' Heero sighed. 'She's in the debating team, and was asking for my point of view on the current situation between the Earth Sphere and the Colonies.'

'Is that all.' Duo pouted. 'Here I was thinking that perhaps you got yourself a girlfriend.'

Heero stopped and fixed Duo with a glare. The braided boy shuddered despite himself. When they resumed walking again, Duo had already committed to his memory that the girlfriend topic was not a safe subject around Heero, although he could not for the life of him figure out why. All the jocks talked about girlfriends, heck, some of them ever ranted about their boyfriends. If he had a girlfriend, then he would definitely share it with Heero. The idea that Heero possibly did not trust him felt like a knife in his back. But Duo smiled anyway, it would not do for Heero to see him sad, besides, there was probably a perfectly logical reason why Heero was so reluctant with the topic.

'So, come over to my place and beta my literature essay for me?' Duo asked cheerfully. Heero glanced over, blinked once and nodded, and Duo launched immediately into a detailed description of his essay concerning happiness.

The proverbial knife remained, and slowly dug itself deeper into Duo's body.

Endnotes:

Um…yes. Well, I hope that was at least somewhat interesting. Ranted a bit about vampires, and before you say it, yes I know it sounds somewhat similar to Tsukihime. Sorry, but I must say, most of the stories and anime concerning vampires all seem to come back to a very similar core, and try as I might, mine does not seem to be straying far enough from it. Hopefully I can shield this complete typical-ness by putting more emphasis else where (hint, hint). Anyway, hope the little bit of angst induced at least a bit of an "aww-factor" into your minds, and Relena…well, if it's any consolation, I really don't like her, and the 1x2 fandom has hardly ever been kind to her. My friend Mi-chan reckons I should kill her, but...well...what do you all think?

Anyway, you all know the drill. Review folks and encourage this caffeine deprived author. Perhaps your voices combined will make me write faster…heavens knows my mother's voice definitely pierces through everything I'm doing to make me sit at my desk and do homework, even when I really don't have anything left to do…