Timeless Obsession

Duo was in a quiet mood.  His friend's body was being shipped off to his home, and now the dorm room was left with only one occupant...himself.  It gave him the creeps.

He mentally laughed.

The Great Shinigami, afraid to stay in a room by himself.

He felt Heero shift next to him as they walked towards the lonely dorm room.

"Duo..."

"Yeah?"

"You could move into my room," the Japanese ex-pilot offered.

Duo gave a small smile.  "Thanks."

Few words were exchanged as they finished their journey.

Duo stepped into the room and looked around.  Everything just sat there, and suddenly, he found it hard to breath.

It's only my imagination, he tried to tell himself.  

"Heero, can you just, uh, help me grab some of my stuff?"

Heero glanced around, then moved towards the dresser.  He began to pull out clothes and stack them up neatly on Duo's bed.

Duo moved to his closet where he pulled out the clothes that were hanging and began to toss them to the foot of his bed. Moments later, he dragged out a couple of suitcases.

Everything was done in silence, and within a half an hour's time, everything that belonged to Duo was packed and ready to be moved.  

The two young men hauled out the cases and locked the door to the dorm, leaving it ready for some new occupant. X Duo was early for once.  No one was hanging around the entrance to the class yet, which meant he could pick any seat he wanted. Of course, him being early had nothing to do with spending the night in Heero's room... no, nothing at all.

Yeah, right, started the voice again.  You could have requested a cot or something but Noooo... nuh uh... let's sleep in Heero's bed again.

Duo could feel his face growing hot.  Waking up in Heero's arms was pleasant... but unexpected.  And he extradited himself as quickly as possible without waking up the obviously tired ex-pilot.  He was positive that Heero would wake up and glare at him.  But no... everything went soothly.  

He was about to enter class when he was hit with the feeling that something was behind him.

Duo dropped his books and whirled around, fists raised in the air.

Before him stood Clarence, an amused grin on his face, hands up in a placating gesture.  "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Duo sighed and dropped his hands, heart still pounding against his chest.  "No, I'm sorry, man.  Don't know what put me on the edge like that."

Duo leaned over to pick up his stuff.

Clarence knelt down as well, helping him pick up a few of the scattered papers. "Well, I heard about your room mate.  I think that's reason enough.  Are you going to stay at your dorm or do you need a new place to crash?"

Duo smiled at him.  "I have a new place already, thanks."

Clarence's smile faltered. "Yeah? Who?"

Duo paused, the tone of Clarence's voice troubling him.  "Uh, one of my buds.  I mean, we're all practically family, it's not like they'd leave me hanging, you know?"  Clarence's face was one of genuine concern... but the words sounded rather hostile.

Clarence smiled again. "Right.  That's cool, having family like that."

Duo nodded, a small smile back on his face.  Maybe he was wrong?

"So, you wanna go someplace to eat after class?"

Duo glanced at his class, unsure.  Clarence did seem like a nice guy, in an antisocial way... but... it didn't seem like the others liked him.  It made him feel. . . well. . . weird being Clarence's friend.  Of all people, why did this guy chose him to talk to?  If only he smiled more, then girls would have been flocking to him.

Then again, he's just like Heero.  And he looks as good as him, too, only, older.

As good as Heero?

Hey, I can look! Doesn't mean anything.

"Well?"

Duo chuckled nervously.  Maybe it was time to look into seeing a shrink.  "Sure, why not? I didn't have any plans."

"Great." Clarence softly patted Duo's cheek before tucking a stray strand of hair behind the small boy's ear, then walked away.

Duo stared after him, touching his cheek.  What had that been all about? If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that Clarence had actually asked him out on a date.

"Nah..." he said, shaking his head and walking into his class X Shido was looking over some files on the computer when Sally came into his office.

"Aren't you working a little late?" she asked, teasingly.  "Sun's almost at it's high point."

Shido smirked.  "As long as I'm not roasting," he said.

"At least she's broken the habit of opening the shades," quipped Guni, peeking out from under Shido's hair.

Sally winced.  "That was only once."

"Ah, but the memory still has it's sting," chuckled Shido.  "No permanent damage done, so everything's fine."

Sally walked behind the desk and checked the screen.

"What is it that you're looking for?"

"It's been a good while, but I know Keith Summers started out in this town.  I'm trying to find any records that might still exist and figure out where he might go.  The difficult part will be trying to find his most likely targets."

"For murder or possession?"

"Both."  Shido pulled  back and looked up at Sally.  "Fifty years ago I had accidentally run into him in one of the colonies.  I managed to free the boy under his control, however...the boy was  mentally too far gone to help.  Summers is obsessed with trying to keep relationships, turning extremely vicious when the partner wants to break things off."  He sighed. "And as each year passes, his hunger for flesh and blood also increases, and that's when the random attacks take place."

"So what was his story?"

"The typical one of a broken guy who makes a pact with the devil," said Guni, flying out of her hiding place and sitting on the desk.

"Summers was a loner, coming from an abusive home.  Old records stated that he really had no friends until he met a girl by the name of Clarissa.  They started dating, and people said that he treated her pretty well, always smiling and talking to her.  But then he started getting really jealous and possessive when friends of Clarissa tried talking to her."

Guni floated up to Sally's face.  "Yeah, and like all smart women, she didn't like it one bit.  Tried breaking it off and all that, went and fell in love with another boy."

Shido nodded.  "He found them together and brutally killed them, although he spent a lot more time on the girl.  Then he disappeared when the police came looking for him.  Apparently, he ran into a nightbreed who promised him eternal life if he allowed him to take control of his body.  Summers agreed, and the two remained together long enough to meld.  Something unusual, really."

"So you're telling me that Summers is still part human?"

Shido gave a humorless grin.  "I doubt anyone would have called Keith human prior to the possession.  But yeah, it's still Keith and it's the demon.  Both of them were so alike that their thought patterns became one.  That is who I've been chasing all this time."

Sally frowned.  "Does he still look like he did back then?"

Shido shook his head.  "His form has mutated throughout the years, and he has become more powerful.  He can take solid and vaporous form.  And the ability to take possession is a bonus for him."

Sally sighed.  "If I knew I would be doing this after the war, I don't know if I would have accepted my first case from the Preventors."

"But then you'd be missing all the fun!" chirped Guni.

"A murderous ghoul? Fun?  I'm afraid to know how much more fun it can get.  This one seems fun enough as it is.  Do we at least have a picture of what he use to look like?"

Shido clicked on a file, and Sally gave a start.

"My reaction exactly when I saw your ex-pilot."

"You don't think he'd attempt to, you know, possess him, do you?"

Shido shrugged.  "Summers tends to go after loners.  People that had something in common with him."

Sally narrowed her eyes.  "Well, Heero was a loner during the war, but he was far from being obsessive.  Well, maybe he was a little bit with Relena.  He had this need to protect her and kill her at the same time.  Protection always won out though. Now he seems to be protective about his friends, but I hardly see it as becoming violent."

"Well, here's the other reason why I think we should keep an eye out on your pilots."  Shido clicked on another link.

The picture of a girl filled the screen, and Sally's eyes widened.  "My, god," she whispered.  "She almost looks like..." X Duo felt someone touch his braid as he exited class.

Whirling around, he was a  bit disconcerted to see Clarence standing there, a small smile on his lips.

"Hey," he greeted.

Duo gave him a small wary smile as his hand immediately pulled his braid to the front, holding onto it like a life line. "Hey.  Um, where to?" Duo shifted his bag on his shoulder.

"There's a little cafe down the street.  Great desserts, too."

"Sounds cool."

Both young men turned and walked down the hall way.

Duo gave a start when he felt Clarence snake an arm across his back.  And he felt his jeans pull down on one side when Clarence actually looped his thumb into his belt loop.

"What are you doing?" Duo asked, looking up at Clarence, clearly troubled.

"Just making sure no one whisks you away.  Things get pretty crowded.  It's easy to lose someone."

"Oh..."

It sounded like a lame excuse, but for once, Duo felt like it would be a bad idea to dispute it. X Heero watched as the clock slowly ticked its way to the end of the period.  

He  had arrived to class barely on time, having slept through most of his alarm.  Duo not being in his bed also surprised him, as he should have felt the boy when he got up.  Maybe he was just really really tired.

The teacher signalled that the class had reached its end and he stood up, rushing to the exit.  He really didn't want Wufei catching up to him as he had already found out that Duo was permanently sharing a room with him and teasing him.  Who ever knew that Wufei could really be a pest.  And for some reason, Heero found his heart beating a bit faster at the thought of seeing Duo again. X "Wouldn't it be easier to meet up with him at the dorms?" Wufei called out to Heero, trying to catch up to him.  He couldn't help but smirk at the annoyed look he received.

"Duo's usually hungry by now.  He might want lunch before the next class."

"Like I said, wouldn't it be easier to meet him at the dorms?  He usually heads over that way after classes."

Heero stopped and waited until Wufei was by his side.  "Today he usually bums off meals from friends."

Wufei's eyebrow quirked up.  "Right." Heero's got all of Duo's personal quirks memorized.  Can someone say, obsessive?

Wufei kept the thoughts to himself.

When he first realized that Heero had some type of obsession with Duo, similar to the lines of that as Relena, he had been a bit wary.  But then he noticed that little by little, Heero became a lot more approachable, and Wufei found out he didn't care too much.

Things got interesting when he realized that Duo seemed to be feeling the same thing.

There were times when he wanted to break down like some weak woman and shout "Go get a room and just fuck each other."

However, it was a lot more amusing watching them flounder about.

If Heero and Duo did get together in the near future, he was sure they would kill him when they found out he knew all along.

But the laughs were still worth it.

Heero had started walking again.

Wufei shifted his book from his left arm to his right.  These books were heavy!

Next thing he knew, Heero had stopped so suddenly, that Wufei didn't have enough time to stop.

"What the hell are you doing?!" snapped Wufei, having crashed into him.

Heero didn't answer.  Instead, his eyes were focused straight ahead.

Wufei followed his line of sight and was stunned to see what he was seeing.

Duo was walking next to Clarence.

And Clarence was standing awfully close... and... were those his fingers looped through one of Duo's belt loops?

Heero abruptly turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Wufei was pissed.

No one stole his friend's boyfriend away just like that.

Well. . .

Future boyfriend... or something....

Oh god... now I'm acting like some woman!!

But at the same time, he couldn't help but notice that Maxwell didn't seem to happy about the situation.  Wufei hurried off after Heero.

tbc...

A/N: Decided not to do the comic adaptation of Living Hell... Received no comments on it and I had enough on my plate.  I think I posted a preview page on my live journal... but I'm not sure.  Too tired at the moment to look and I'll probably forget to come back and edit this. So, blah...  Anyhow, this is the last of my original chapters... no more re-edits... meaning that the following chapter will actually be a honest to god real update.  I started this fic years ago and then stopped when ff.net banned NC-17 fics and just never bothered to re-edit.  If I was going to, it was to make it more horrifying... not to tone it down.  So thanks aff.net for giving me that privelege. ^^