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Kyuuketsuki Duo
Segue 4:3
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	It was just one of those lazy days that seemed to encourage 
sloth, and Duo was taking full advantage of it.

	Heero, of course, was not.

	It was another one of those times.  Duo periodically decided to 
liven things up a bit and change their regular routines in an effort to 
bring some variety into a rather long existence.  Otherwise, it could so 
very easily become so very boring.  Today, he was fiddling with his 
hair, seeing if the addition of a shadowsilk ribbon to his braid would 
make a more striking impression.

	Heero certainly made a striking impression.  It was his job to 
look menacing and mysterious, and he accomplished that admirably and 
effortlessly in his traditional mask, cloak, and cowl.  Duo thought he 
looked even more striking now, however.  The guardian had finally 
convinced Heero to spend some time in the sun improving his skin tone, 
and, if he did say so himself, the lightly bronzed skin was looking much 
healthier than before.

	Heero, not one to sit idly sunbathing, was therefore currently 
taking advantage of the fresh air, bright sunshine, and wide clearing, 
to practice the katas he had picked up so very long ago.  It was nothing 
his teachers had ever insisted he learn.  Rather, he himself had made 
the decision to see how it was the humans fought, and through keen 
observation, he learned, but it had been a very long time since he had 
applied his knowledge, and his concentration was caught up in the 
ancient forms.

	Duo, not one to waste the opportunity, was taking advantage of 
the fresh air and bright sunshine to watch his companion taking 
advantage of those same things.  He abandoned his ribbon project, 
deciding that perhaps a splash of color would make more of a statement 
than just another spot of black -- red, perhaps; he'd need to pick one 
up next time he went through a town (shadows didn't come in red, after 
all) -- and instead abandoned himself to being entranced by Heero's 
smooth movements.  The Duo-approved black sleeveless top hung loosely 
from Heero's slender frame, flowing with him as he gracefully 
transitioned from one stance to the next.

	Something stirred within Duo.  The feeling had been bothering 
him all week.  It felt as if there were some new facet of his power that 
was just coming out of hibernation from deep within him.  It wasn't 
uncomfortable.  It was just a tickle along his senses that threw 
everything just a tiny bit off, and every once in a while, it would give 
him a good kick, like a baby in the womb, just to let him know it was 
going to get out eventually.  He sighed to himself.  The last time he 
felt like this, he found himself falling out of bed every night until 
Heero took to holding on to him.  Of course, once he got the floating 
subconsciously out of bed and being dumped on the floor part over with, 
he discovered the wondrous power of being able to levitate, to some 
degree.  He wondered what it would be this time.  He had stopped 
wondering where it was all coming from.  The current working theory was 
just that his power had a very extended maturation period -- reasonable, 
considering his extended life -- and it just had some awkward growth 
spurts once in a while.

	He studied his partner's motions, trying to learn through 
absorption as Heero had done, but eventually his eyes wandered up to his 
face.  He would have thought that with such serenity of motion, his 
friend's face would have glowed with an inner peace, but it didn't.  It 
reflected tranquillity and calm, but still managed to convey that 
particular seriousness and rigid control that was characteristic of the 
warrior.

	Duo decided he didn't like that.  As he contemplated what to do 
about it, a wisp of an idea whispered to him.  Hearing himself voice no 
objections to the suggestion, he stood, brushed the grass from his 
posterior, and carefully inserted himself into the middle of Heero's 
field.  As expected, Heero sensed his proximity, and automatically 
adjusted to flow around the guardian, until his set finally came to a 
close before him.

	Prussian eyes opened, inquiring.

	Cobalt eyes met the gaze, calculated, judged, decided.  Feet 
closed the distance.  Arms lifted to rest on tanned shoulders.  Hands 
met behind a familiar neck and tangled in the short hair.  Lips pressed 
to lips, remained, lingered, withdrew.  Eyes looked again into the 
unblinking blue, judging once again.

	'Hmm,' Duo thought.  'No reaction.  Guess I'll just have to try 
another approach next time.'  His arms and fingers silently removed 
themselves, and he turned around to walk back to his seat, mulling over 
his other options.

                              ************

	One second.  Recovery.

	Two seconds.  Wondering.

	"Duo."

	The guardian stopped mid-contemplation and turned his head back 
over his shoulder at the sound of the calm voice stating his name.  
"Hmm?"

	"... Why did you do that?"  He is not an enemy, Heero reminded 
himself.  He is Duo.

	The braided one turned around completely to face his friend, the 
sunlight behind him catching on his stray hairs and glinting in a slight 
halo effect.  Duo shrugged once, negligently.  "You looked like you 
could use it."

	His brow crinkled a bit.  "Why?"

	Another small shrug.  "You looked so somber just now.  I thought 
you could use a little happiness."

	"That was supposed to make me happy?"

	"I've heard that a kiss can do that to people."

	The idea wasn't foreign to him.  Indeed, he knew much about lust 
and other sins of the flesh.  It was just part of his business.  He'd 
even been kissed a few times.  But everyone who had ever done so, anyone 
who had ever propositioned him or attempted to seduce him, had wanted 
something from him, so he had long since learned the meaninglessness of 
the act.  In his business, a kiss was a prelude to sex, and sex was a 
tool and a weapon.  Of course it was pleasurable; that's what made it so 
dangerous.  It was a distraction.  A vulnerability.  A means of 
manipulation and control.  A trade to barter, a base reward.  A price 
that could mean nothing more than a few minutes of your time, or as much 
as your life and soul.

	So what did Duo want from him?

	"Why would you seek to make me happy?"  He had to know.  Duo 
wasn't like the others.  He just wasn't.

	Duo smiled congenially, violet eyes shining in general good 
spirits.  "Because I just want you to be happy."

	Not good enough.  "Why?"  The intensity in his eyes turned up a 
notch.

	"Because...." Duo's voice trailed off as his face screwed up 
into a cute little pout of deep thought.  "Because I like it when you're 
happy.  Because you're really cute when you smile.  Because I'm happy if 
you're happy.  Because of all those little things that happen because I 
love you.  Because normally I'd say that life's too short to go through 
it all serious-like, but our lives aren't too short, so I don't want to 
spend the rest of eternity watching you be an old sourpuss.  Why should 
you when there are so many better options available to you?"

	Ah.  Heero picked the word 'love' out of that.  He was familiar 
with that as well.  Another meaningless word, when one took a moment to 
think about it.  He had seen people live for love, die for love, kill 
for love, hate for love, love for love, give for love, take for love.... 
It was obvious that love meant something different to everyone, and if 
that was the case, then the actual word 'love' became quite useless at 
expressing an idea.  But if it were this 'love' idea, then that might 
possibly absolve Duo from actually wanting anything from him.  'Love' 
was quite infamous for causing people to behave in irrational manners.  
However, love could also be quite demanding.

	"What precisely does that entail, on my part?"  At Duo's puzzled 
glance, he added, "Love, that is."

	"From you?"  Duo seemed almost surprised.  "Absolutely nothing.  
I make no demands on you.  If I did, then it wouldn't be love."

	Heero blinked.  This was a new definition of love.  He could 
tell Duo believed it, in which case he was relieved to know that Duo 
wasn't like all the others.  But now there was a new mystery to be 
solved.

	"What does it mean to you?" he inquired curiously.

	"Love?"  Duo paused a few moments for deep thought.  "It means 
that I actually look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you, 
whether you're an old sourpuss or not, if that's who you are.  I 
wouldn't want a future without you, but even if I were to lose you 
somehow, I would never regret meeting you, because the joy of knowing 
you would be worth all the pain in the world.  It means that I can spend 
a whole day just basking in your presence, and I wouldn't be bored for a 
second of it."  He paused briefly again before continuing.  "It means 
that I don't mind making a fool of myself in front of you, or breaking 
down in front of you.  That I like waking up in the morning and you 
being the first person I see.  That... that I love it when you hold me 
because it makes me feel so warm and protected...."  Heero could tell 
that by this point Duo was just making it all up as he went along, but 
that didn't in any way detract from its earnest honesty.  "...and I'm 
way past the point of caring whether you're real or not, as long as 
you're you, because I love whoever you are and you being you helps me be 
me and a great big thank you for being in my life would not in any way 
even nearly cover anything so I figure it's gotta be love...."  Another 
pause.  "Yeah.  That."

	Heero stayed silent, processing the information, as Duo shrugged 
to himself and sat back down.  Duo thought it was terribly ironic, Heero 
seeking answers from him, seeing as how he had hardly had a normal 
childhood.  His mind had been locked up for about fifteen of his 
formative years.  He hadn't interacted with most of the other children 
at the orphanage because they had all thought he was odd, and even 
Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, although they may have cared for him, 
had always still been a bit wary about him.  In fact, he was just making 
everything up as he went along, just like he assumed Heero was.  Only 
differences were, he had observed the doings of humanity from the inside 
rather than the outside, he had had the benefit of being inside a 
'normal' environment, even if he didn't truly participate in it, and he 
wasn't as far removed from it.  Well, and sometimes he got things like 
that random nudge in his head to do certain things, like the one that 
told him to kiss his guardian.  There were all sorts of other ways of 
cheering a person up, but that way occurred to him first.  Those things 
were usually subconscious suggestions, often information passed down 
through his bloodline.  But really.  He and Heero weren't truly all that 
different.

	But he wasn't about to tell Heero that.

_________________________________________
This piece of fiction is the intellectual 
property of the little turnip that could.  
The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, 
Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
of someone else.  The author can be con-
tacted at jchew@myrealbox.com.  This has 
been an entirely automated message.
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 6/23/2001 18:14:20 PST