Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Childhood Reborn ❯ Diamonds in the Rough ( Chapter 12 )

Unknowing to Trowa or the rest of the pilots in her house, Jacinda was still awake. She was sitting up in bed and in deep thought.

 

`Jeez, Quatre Raberba Winner, of THE Winners and sitting in a Gundam fighting OZ. He's so young and yet so much is on his shoulders.” He seemed so sweet and innocent and yet she knew he was aching from fighting OZ. She knew in this boy, he didn't like what was going on and as much as he wanted to help, it came with a price. Jacinda only hoped that that price wouldn't hurt him too much in the end.

 

She was also curious about Wufei, what secrets lay in his heart. He had been so brief with her about himself, but she could obviously see there was more than meets the eye.

 

`He's a little critical of everything, but he's got a good heart. He's definitely got his own reasons for fighting OZ, that I am sure of, but for what exactly I have no idea and I doubt he would tell me. He's definitely a lone wolf, hell he reminds of a wolf sometimes.'

 

Trowa was a complete mystery to her. He was so quiet, yet he has this protective streak over Quatre. `He would always want to be there by Quatre's side when something was wrong, always watching him and then that dog today and yet he's a circus clown? Should I even believe that? Of course I can't blame him if he is lying to me. I wonder what life was like for him on L3, he didn't give away much detail, maybe I should ask about the circus more, maybe that is how he was brought up.'

 

Now her two other diamonds in the rough, Heero and Duo. She knew Heero would be the hardest to get to know, no doubt about that. Out of all them, his life seemed to be all soldier. He had reacted with the same soldier like instincts she had been tested with when he first opened his eyes from his injuries, he was always quiet, sullen almost. But when she got a glimpse into those cobalt eyes her heart fell. They were steely cold, yes, but she saw it, he was a soldier yes, but in the end still had a heart of a child. A heart that probably never got to come out. Emotions were something she and her comrades in OZ had been taught not to have and if Heero had been some test subject for OZ or whoever during a long period of his life, then coming out of it would be the most difficult.

 

`He wasn't born that way.' Jacinda thought to her as she recollected watching Heero react when Duo would act strange or something funny would happen. He would smile, even laugh a little, but then quickly seal his lips and steel his eyes once more, back to being the little soldier. She knew that Heero's upbringing didn't have a parental background or if it did the parents were soldier bound to the point of psychotic.

 

`There is a smile in that soul and a voice full of laughter.' She thought sadly. `I don't know who taught him not to, but it's not right. Using a child like Heero to be some puppet; using all of them to fight a war. They shouldn't be doing this even if it was their choices; who the hell train children to be soldiers!”

 

Jacinda's mind then wandered to Duo and she smirked. She was thankful that he still looked to the bright sides of life. He was always cracking jokes, always wore a smile, and had an appetite that craved not just food, but life.

 

“Christ and a boy of L2, the lost colony.” She and many others had dubbed it. She knew that L2 needed some serious help economically and socially, but elitists just took donations for themselves, mentioning the more they grow their corporations, they more they can help L2. Lies of course, and the colony had become a mess of corruption, homelessness, drug abuse, you name it.

 

`I wonder about that father and sister of his.' Jacinda thought remembering how Duo had been in a fever induced fog his first night in her home and was mumbling in his sleep. `Is that what he is fighting for, to help his family? To stop what's happening to his colony?'

 

However, there was something unsettling about Duo. She didn't know what it was and kept trying to put her finger on it. The boy himself was fine, but the fact that he was from L2 frightened her a little. L2 was notorious for its large number of abandoned children. She knew about the illnesses, the street violence, abuse that children of L2 were prone to, had Duo experienced these?

 

`If he has, then he has kept it well hidden.' Jacinda thought.

 

Though it did amaze her that out of all the boys Duo's wardrobe was interesting to say the least. Their clothes had remained intact from the battle with OZ and they had brought their bags in that day so Jacinda's villagers wouldn't have to keep supplying them with the oversized shirts and pants. When they had come downstairs for dinner she was surprised from Wufei's choice of pants to Duo's combo of a black over a white shirt and of course his braid and cross. Quatre was well dressed while Trowa and Heero both looked like regular teens in their shorts and pants, tanks and turtlenecks.

 

Jacinda chuckled.

 

`I definitely got an odd group staying with me.'

 

She finally curled up in her bed and drifted off to sleep deciding that tomorrow she would find some way to tackle Duo and Heero on their lives.

 

The next morning Jacinda was up at the crack of dawn making breakfast. She knew those pilots would be up early to work on their Gundams and she wanted to make sure they were well fed and cared for. Before she could debate on whether or not to bring the meals up to them, she was greeted by Heero who came down the stairs.

 

“Well good morning Heero.” She said cheerfully. “I hope you slept well.”

 

The boy just grunted. Well it was a start.

 

“I was deciding on whether or not bring your breakfast upstairs, but it looks like you have other plans. You want to eat down here instead?”

 

Heero just shrugged.

 

“Alright then, do eggs sound good to you? I made some vegetable omelets and I made sure to put plenty of cheese in them so Duo doesn't complain about the veggies in them.”

 

Heero cracked a little smile and nodded gently.

 

“Okay then, why don't you have a seat?”

 

Heero however decided it against it and began pulling out dishes from the cupboard and placing them on the table.

 

“Oh you don't have to do that Heero…” Jacinda said.

 

“I'd like to.” He said. “They need to get up anyway, Duo especially or else he'd stay in bed all day if he had his way.”

 

Jacinda laughed.

 

“That sounds like something he might do.” She said then she decided to make a move on another observation she had been making rather than pry into his life immediately. “You know, you and Duo seem close. Are you two best friends?”

 

Heero just grunted as he placed some glasses down on the table, but Jacinda could see the faintest hints of red on those tanned cheeks.

 

“I'm glad you all seem to be good friends and can confide in one another.” Jacinda continued steering the subject a little way to make it easier on Heero. “That's an important thing to have especially in a time like this, friends and people who can be there for you.”

 

“I take care of myself just fine.' Heero said quietly. Jacinda handed him some silverware.

 

“I don't doubt that for a second honey.” She said. “But even the toughest people in the world need shoulders to lean on and someone to love and take care of them. You and your friends do that for each other and I really admire that.”

 

Heero said nothing as he continued to set the table.

 

“I see it a lot in Quatre and Trowa too.” She said. “They seem to have…I dunno a bond with one another…I kind of see you and Duo having the same…in your own special way.”

 

The blush came on again.

 

“Why do you keep pairing me with him?” Heero said. “He is just a comrade, an annoying one at that.”

 

Jacinda laughed.

 

“He has his quirks.” Jacinda said. “Everyone has quirks, even you.”

 

“Quirks?”

 

“Uniqueness, things that make them special, even if the whole world doesn't always agree with them.”

 

“I do not have…quirks.”

 

“Yes you do, you have them, I have them, and everyone has them. They are what set us apart from one another, and…it's what attracts us to one another too.”

 

Heero just glared at her.

 

“You call them quirks, I call them annoyances and I detest them.”

 

Jacinda just laughed.

 

“You'll see one day, but I'm not as blind as you think I am Heero Yuy. You smile sometimes when Duo does something a little out there and you have your own special ways that makes him smile and you two bicker constantly with one another…in a nice way…if that's not a good friendship…I dunno what is. And as far as you go with the other three, I know you hold a great amount of respect for them as well.”

 

“I respect them yes.” Heero couldn't argue with that one.

 

Jacinda began pouring Heero some orange juice and then let him take the pitcher and pour the other glasses.

 

“So don't be afraid to show that respect to them once in awhile.” She said as he sat down. “You're not a machine Heero and I know as tough as you are, you got even more inside of you than just being a Gundam pilot. Don't let that one thing dictate your whole life when you have so much more to offer.”

 

Heero looked at her feeling slightly stunned. For most of his life he had been reminded that he was a solider and a pilot. Now this woman who hadn't known for awhile was saying that he was more than that? What did that mean?

 

Another thing that plagued Heero was the fact that Jacinda had brought up Duo. It had been something that had been bothering him for quite awhile now. For some reason, every time Duo did one of his silly antics or said something out there or just…was there…Heero felt his body heat up and his heart race a little. He actually felt…dare he say it…pleased when Duo was around.

 

`No, no, absolutely out of the question.' Heero thought nervously to himself as he placed out some napkins. `Duo Maxwell is nothing more than a soldier, a Sweeper…that's it. I don't have friends. I respect him and the other pilots and that's as far as it goes!'

 

“Hey what's cooking guys?”

 

Duo bounded down the stairs and Heero felt that warmth creep up again, much to his dismay. Little did he know that Duo himself was feeling a little heated when he saw that Heero was helping set up the kitchen table. He just led himself to believe that Jacinda kept the heat a little too high in her house. He would talk to Jacinda about that later.