Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Shinigami Zutto ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 12 )

This chapter has taken a slight `Matrix' turn… well, it seems that way to me. All the stuff about mental images. Ooh, lets see who can spot the music reference!! (Cryptic Clue: School of Rock)

 

Tsuzuki blinked as he was dragged down the corridors of the Sanq JuOhCho by an extremely determined Chang Wu Fei. The last time Duo had seen that particular expression had been when a reporter had tried to waylay the man on his way to the Preventer's main office. The feed had been broadcast all over Earth and the Colonies, and he and Heero had laughed about it, commenting on how some people never change.

“Uh…. Wufei?”

“Hn.”

Seems like someone's been hanging out with Heero too much.

“Where are we going?”

“To see someone.”

Well, that was informative.

“Who?”

“Hm?”

“Who are we going to see?”

Instead of answering, Wufei screeched to a halt outside a plain, unadorned door. He tapped twice, then pushed it open. Tsuzuki was immediately reminded of Watari's lab. Whoever worked here had the same sense of humour.

“Ah! Chang! What can I do for you?” Asked an extremely tall African woman, her short hair braided tight against her head.

“Desi. My… friend here used to have long hair when he was alive. It was cut off before he died. Can you get it back?”

Desi nodded thoughtfully. “It is likely. We are merely memories of how we used to be after all.”

“What… what do you mean?” Tsuzuki asked.

She looked at him in surprise. “Don't you know? We are merely spiritual energy given form, and the form that we take corresponds to how we see ourselves. Chang, here, in his own mind never aged after 25, and that is why he looks the way he does.”

“So…. If I think I have my braid back, it will be back?”

“Something like that…. The trouble is that you know that your hair was cut.”

“So how do we fix that?” Wufei asked impatiently.

“I use hypnosis to convince… what was your name again?”

“Uh… Tsuzuki Asato.”

“Tsuzuki that his hair was never cut. Do you have any old pictures? They would help.”

Wufei hesitated, then pulled a folded A4 sheet(1) out of his pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it, and Duo leaned over to sneak a peep. He gasped, and pulled it away from her, staring from the paper to Wufei and then back to the paper in shock.

“Wu… wha… why? When?” he gasped.

It was a colour shot, that only showed Duo from the knees up. He was standing in a park, his face turned up to the tree showering purple blossoms down on his upturned face. The sun was shining, highlighting his features and casting golden highlights all the way down his long chestnut braid.

“Heero took it,” Wufei said softly. “He gave it to me when my hair was first long enough to braid properly.”

“Wufei…”

“Mine's never been as beautiful as that… mine was just a tribute to yours.”

Desi coughed softly. “Do you want to get started?”

“Hai. Gomen nasai…” Tsuzuki said without thinking.

“What?”

“He said yes and apologized,” Wufei translated.

“Oh. Lets get started then.”

 

*

 

Relena screamed when Duo walked back into the room.

“Duo! Your HAIR!”

“Yeah,” he said with a grin, leaning over to hug her. “Wufei managed to get it back for me.”

“How?”

Duo grinned impishly, violet eyes sparkling. “Magic.”

“Oh, don't you give me that, Duo Maxwell.” Relena lectured, her smile turning her face into a mass of wrinkles. She sighed, running a hand along the length of his braid, her expression turning wistful. “Duo.”

“Yes, ma'am?”

“I'm dying tonight. Can you do one thing for me?”

“Sure, Relena,” Duo said, sniffing a little. “What is it?”

“Let your hair down for me. I've… I've always wanted to see it.”

Heero stood up. “We should leave,” he said to the other pilots. Trowa nodded, and pulled Quatre to his feet.

“Wufei can stay,” Duo said quickly, a blush spreading over his face. “After all, he was the one to get it back for me.”

The Chinese Shinigami nodded, and moved to sit by the head of the bed, a position previously help by Heero. Once the door had closed behind Heero, Duo took a deep breath and pulled off the band at the end of his braid. Despite all his time without, his fingers quickly worked their way through the thick, wavy chestnut mass, unweaving the traditional braid.

Relena gasped as his hair fell from his fingers, a shimmering golden brown waterfall. It haloed around him, sliding over his shoulders and down his arms. Duo self-consciously twirled a lock of it in his fingers.

“It's a bitch to wash and brush. It takes so much conditioner you would'na believe, so I wear it back. It gets everywhere, `n' if I sleep with it down it'd prob'ly strangle me,” he muttered, reverting back to his L2 accent.

“It's beautiful,” Relena sighed.

“There's so much of it!” Wufei exclaimed, his eyes tracing the length. Unbound, Duo's hair now fell to halfway down his thighs. (2)

Duo blushed again, and began to plait, his fingers moving quickly down the length of his hair. “Ok, show's over. Wufei, you can tell the guys to come in now.”

“Thank you, Duo,” Relena said. “I don't really know what to say.”

“The last person I let my hair down for was… hm. Sister Helen, voluntarily. She was the one who first braided it.”

“How old were you?”

“I dunno. Less than ten.”

“So, Heero's never?”

“No… I might have, eventually, if things hadn't gone the way they had.”

Relena's eyes filled with tears. “I asked a greater gift from you than I knew. I shall always treasure the memory.”

Duo smiled. “Now, Milady, I'm afraid it's time.”

Relena smiled back. “It is?”

“Yes. Do you want to call someone quick?” Quatre asked, sliding past Duo with his phone in hand.

Relena shook her head. “No… they would only fuss, and I might not have time to finish the call. I want my life to end here, with those who have protected me.”

“In life and in death,” Heero said, sweeping her white hair off of her face with gentle fingers.

“Duo?” Relena asked, turning her head to search for him.

“Yes? I'm here.”

“You're a Shinigami now?”

“Yes,” Duo said softly. Relena's strength was leaving her and he could hardly bear to watch as the light in her eyes faded.

“So… you've always been a God of Death.”

“Yes, I have.”

“I missed you.”

“I kinda missed you too, Ojousan.”

Relena's eyes drooped and she smiled weakly. “Haven't been called that for a long, long time…”

 

*

 

Duo said numbly on his bed, brushing out his hair for the first time in years. He didn't actually have to do it - it would stay clean and untangled with very little care now that it was strands of spiritual ether - but the ritual was calming and soothing.

There was a knock at the door, which he instinctively knew was Heero. He gave the hairband around his wrist a quick glance, then called “wait a minute!” and quickly braided his hair. He certainly wasn't ready for that yet.

Soon his hair was braided again, and Heero was standing uncertainly just inside the door. “Hi. Um… well, Relena is, uh, has moved on,” Heero began.

“Yes.”

“So, uh, I was wondering…” he tailed off.

Duo rolled his eyes. “You never used to have a problem saying what you thought, Heero! You want to know if you're still welcome to come back to Japan with me, correct?” Heero nodded. “Well, the answer is yes. Not as if I could stop you if you wanted to come anyhow.”

Heero smiled, and Duo's breath caught. He'd forgotten how beautiful Heero looked when he smiled, how his eyes lit up, little lines crinkling around the edges.

“Duo, arigato. Domo arigato,” he said, bowing slightly.

“Hey, you've never bowed to me before, don't start now!” Duo protested.

Heero took a deep breath. “Can I hug you instead?”

“I… I guess so,” Duo half whispered, refusing to meet Heero's eyes. He had a horrible feeling of being out of control, like driving a shuttle with malfunctioning thrusters. Heero moved hesitantly towards him, and he was in his arms, and if suddenly felt like only yesterday that they had been together.

But it wasn't yesterday, it had been more than 80 years, and they had both changed. Despite Heero's hug feeling exactly the same. So Tsuzuki drew back, reluctantly.

“Remember what I said. Dating first, ok?”

“People can hug on a first date. Some people kiss.”

“Don't push your luck,” Tsuzuki warned, refusing to look at Heero.

He felt a warm, calloused hand slide around his own, raising it to a pair of flushed lips. “I wouldn't dream of it,” Heero murmured, brushing his lips over the back of Duo's hand and then turning to stride out of the room.

“Yare yare!” Tsuzuki exclaimed, falling backwards onto the bed with a thump.

 

The next person to knock on the door was Hisoka. Tsuzuki immediately felt guilty - he had been neglecting his partner somewhat on this mission.

“Konbanwa,” he said cheerfully, automatically pasting his normal cheery grin onto his face.

“Konbanwa,” Hisoka replied in his normal monotone voice. “Who do you persist in the act?”

“Hm?”

“I know that you aren't actually that cheerful.”

“Hisoka… I've been wearing this mask since I was about ten. It's as much a comfort for me as it is for those around me,” Tsuzuki explained, still smiling.

“Your hair is different,” Hisoka stated, changing the subject abruptly.

Tsuzuki shook his head. “No, it's back to normal. It was never my choice to cut it.”

Hisoka moved so that he could see the full length of the chestnut braid. “It's pretty long.”

“I know. I was growing it forever… it's actually slightly shorter than it was when it was first cut. I imagined it the way it was back at the beginning of the war - after a while it got so that I would sit on it without meaning to, which was annoying.”

“How did you get it back?”

“Apparently we are spiritual images of the way that we see ourselves. So all I had to do was be convinced that my hair was still there.”

“Goku kantan desu ka?”

“Hai, so da.”

Hisoka paused, frowning. Then he burst out with; “I missed you.”

“Huh?”

“I… I missed working with you.”

“You were captured,” Tsuzuki pointed out.

“Because you weren't there.”

Tsuzuki got a little annoyed. “If you're blaming Quatre-”

“Chigau!” Hisoka corrected hurriedly. “I… I just can't help thinking that when Heero comes back to Japan with us, you will partner him, not me.”

“Hisoka…” Tsuzuki muttered, dumbstruck.

“Betsuni. Ore no baka desu. Gomen nasai, Tsuzuki-san.”

“Baka ja nai, Hisoka. And you've never called me `san' in your life, uh, death, anyway: don't start now!”

“I…”

“No,” Tsuzuki interrupted him. “Shut up a minute. You're normally good at that. Heero… Yuy and I have history. But you are my partner, not him. And you will stay my partner, ok? Heero is not gonna replace you in my eyes unless Konoe says different. Understand?”

“Hai.”

“Good. Now, go get some sleep. You look like a panda.”

Hisoka managed to summon a weary smile. Tsuzuki gave him a hug, something which he did not do often, and ruffled his hair, before steering him out the door.

 

*

 

The next day they were on a plane home. Hisoka kept on shooting Heero guarded glances, which Heero pretended to ignore, and Duo felt like he was caught in the middle.

“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you,” he said mournfully to the tuft at the end of his braid. Heero and Hisoka snorted.

“Baka.” They said in unison. Then started and stared at each other in amazement.

“If I wasn't you wouldn't know what to do with me,” Tsuzuki retorted.

“I think,” Hisoka said carefully, “That we might be more alike than we first realized.”

Heero nodded. “We have him in common at least.”

 

*

 

The trio found a welcome committee waiting for them at the airport. Tsuzuki smacked himself on the forehead. “I forgot to buy presents! The boss'll kill me!”

“Don't worry,” Hisoka said in his normal monotone. “I figured you would, so I got them.”

Tsuzuki shot his partner a grateful glance. “Arigato, Hisoka.” He turned in time to catch Heero's amused look. “What?”

“You work well together.”

Duo signed. “Like we did?”

“Like we did.”

“Notice the past tense,” Hisoka muttered as he walked past them and received an enthusiastic hug from Watari.

“He's a little worried that you'll replace him,” Tsuzuki said in response to Heero's raised eyebrow. “Well, come and meet the gang.”

They walked towards the cheerful group of people together, Tsuzuki hurriedly whispering identities as they went.

“Blond guy in the lab coat is Watari, our genki scientist. The old guy who looks like he's been sucking lemons is Kanoe. The fluttery owl thingies that look like plushies are GuShoShin, our records keepers. Tall brunette with glasses is Tatsumi, the secretary you do not wanna mess with. The girls are Torii and Fukiya. Ok? Oh, and the floating gloves and mask is the Count. Hm, wonder what he's doing out of his mansion?”

“I think I can remember that.”

“Okairi, Tsuzuki-san!” GuShoShin chirped in unison.

“Tadaima,” Tsuzuki responded with a smile. “Jumping the gun a little there, weren't we?”

One of the floating Gods shrugged. “Whatever it takes to make you feel welcome.”

“Why, Tsuzuki, your hair!” Watari exclaimed in surprise. “It's longer than mine!”

“Oh, um, long story I'll tell you later?”

“Does it have anything to do with this young man you seem to have brought back with you?” Torii asked.

Heero tapped Duo on the shoulder. “You mean you didn't tell them I was coming?” he asked.

“Ano… iie?”

“Baka.”

“Hai, baka desu. Gomen, Hii-chan.”

Heero growled and Duo ducked before he even started his casual swing to clip him on the back of the head.

“You two look like you know each other,” Tatsumi observed. “Our transport is this way.”

“Old acquaintances,” Heero said easily as they walked.

“Old? How old?” Watari asked, stepping backwards so that he could join in the conversation. 003 faced forwards and cheeped when there were people in the way.

“Back from when we were both alive,” Tsuzuki said.

“That's old,” Fukiya muttered to Torii. “Tsuzuki's been working here since the Feudal Era, I should think.”

“Not quite that long,” Tsuzuki corrected her with a grin. “Since a few years after the Barton Uprising though.”

“The what?”

“It only lasted a few weeks, if that,” Heero pointed out. “They probably wouldn't know about it.”

“Heh, but infiltrating that base sure was fun! Particularly when we got there and found Trowa already inside.”

“You have a strange definition of fun, Du- Tsuzuki.”

“Du-Tsuzuki?”

“Uuhh… I guess I'll let you guys in on a little info when we get back. Otherwise you might get confused, and probably very suspicious.”

“Tsuzuki, I can easily call you by your current name,” Heero protested. “You do not have to-”

“Heero, buddy, I've worked with these people for the best part of a centaury. They deserve to know a little of the truth. Besides, they're curious now and you know I hate lying.”

“Some things never change,” Heero commented as he sat down.

“Be glad for that.”

 

*

 

Once JuMoCho was reached, Tsuzuki, Hisoka and Heero were herded into the conference room to hand in their reports, and, as Heero quickly discovered, to be interrogated on every little important detail. However, important depended solely on the questioner.

“Are the Barton couple very cute?”

“What kind of food do they have in Sanq?”

“Did you see Princess Relena?”

“Yes,” Tsuzuki said, causing a sudden hush to fall.

“Tsuzuki-san, you really met Relena Peacecraft?” Tatsumi asked incredulously.

“Yes, we're old acquaintances.”

“Now, this story I gotta hear,” Watari said, with a huge grin on his face.

“Ok, sit tight and listen, cause I'm not gonna repeat myself.”

Heero was amused to see that the other Shinigami immediately shut up and looked attentive. Duo sent Heero a questioning glance, and Heero smiled at him. Duo smiled back, then turned to his audience.

“Ok, I haven't been completely straight with you guys. Tsuzuki Asato wasn't the name that I was born with. I don't know the name I was born with. The name I used for most of my living life was Duo Maxwell. I was born in AC 180. I died in 206. Let me tell you a little of the world that I grew up in. Ok?”

There were nods around the table.

“The governments on Earth were suppressing the colonies. Then the colonies fought back, using Gundams. Everyone know about that war?” Everyone nodded. “I was on L2 when it started. I grew up there. There were a lot of plagues on L2, and one of them wiped out pretty much my whole gang, including Solo, the leader. That's when I became Duo. The rest of us got taken in by Maxwell Church. The church got blown up by the Alliance. I ended up back on the streets. That's where I got my second name.”

“Um, Tsuzuki-san?”

“Yes?”

“How come you've ended up in Japan then?”

“Well, after the war I was wandering around with a buddy, when I got captured by Muraki's Grandfather. You all know the outcome of that little scenario. The friend I was with was a Japanese colonial. So, I stayed here, where I died.”

Watari looked confused. “Tsuzuki, that still doesn't explain how you know Relena Peacecraft.”

“I'm getting to that, Watari. I just wanted the background out of the way first.”

“Duo,” Heero said softly. “You're stalling.”

“I know I am, Hee-chan. Want me to add in about you?”

“Iie, I imagine by the time you're done they'll have a pretty good idea who I am. You always were the best at talking.”

“And you always told me to shut up. Until you admitted that you liked my voice.”

“It added to the silence.”

Tatsumi cleared his throat softly and Tsuzuki turned back to the story. “Ahem. Yeah. I've known Ojousan for a while now… she used to stalk Heero here. Jeez, no matter how many times we switched location, and how many times he threatened to kill her, she would not give up!”

Heero grinned. “You should have let me shoot her when we met.”

“I was too busy shooting you. I didn't expect to get and earful from her, then have her bandaging your damn wounds! And then you torpedoed my Aibou!”

“Mine too.”

“Yeah, but you never loved Wing the way I did Deathscythe.”

“You got me out of the hospital though, and pulled Wing up from the bottom.”

“Then you stole my parts!”

“I thought you forgave me for that?”

“I forgave you for a lot of things when you had your tongue-”

“Duo! Audience!”

Duo blushed. “Oh yeah. Sorry.”

“Uh, Tsuzuki-san?” Tatsumi questioned, politely as always. “I'm not quite sure I understand. You shot Yuy-san here?”

Heero rolled his eyes. Didn't these people know their history? “Yes, he did. Haven't you put it together yet?”

“Put what together?” the others chorused.

GuShoShin looked smug, but kept their beaks shut. Next to them, Hisoka was carefully keeping silent, a faint smile hovering around the corners of his mouth.

“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Duo Maxwell, I may run and I may hide but I never tell a lie. During the war I was known as 02, the Pilot of the Gundams Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell. Oh, and Wing Zero for a short while, but we don't talk about that.”

“Heero Yuy, Pilot 01. Wing, Epyon and Wing Zero. I've also piloted Heavyarms, but that didn't turn out so good.”

“We don't really talk about that either.”

“Hey, Fei was the only one who piloted his own Gundam the entire time.”

“What about Altron?”

“That doesn't count, that was an upgrade.”

Tatsumi turned to Watari with a dumbstruck look on his face. “Tsuzuki was a Gundam Pilot? A terrorist?”

“Freedom Fighter,” GuShoShin corrected. “They were fighting for a cause and for a lot of innocent people who were suffering. They are classified in the records as Freedom Fighters.”

“Ah, so da… Waitaminute! You knew?!”

 

(1) That's a paper size for all you Americans. I can't find a ruler right now, but it's the size you can fit into a folder.

(2) That means that braided tightly it'll be around about his butt. Just short enough not to sit on when he sits down. ^^

 

Ojousan = girl (respectful)

Arigato/domo arigato = thank you

Yare yare = good grief/oh my God

Konbanwa = good evening

Goku kantan desu ka = It's so very easy?

Hai, so da = yes, it is.

Chigau! = you're mistaken/wrong

Betsuni. Ore no baka desu. Gomen nasai, Tsuzuki-san = It's nothing. I'm an idiot. I'm very sorry, Mr. Tsuzuki.

Baka ja nai = you're not an idiot.