Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Completing the Silence ❯ Punishment ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

LSE // 7-19-02
(Completing the Silence - Chapter Eight: Punishment)
rated: PG13 - violence, language, content
shounen-ai/yaoi

Punishment



Monday's dinner appears to be roast beef reheating and transformed
into meat and some sort of potato product. Mashed, I think. The day
was a total waste, spent doing all sorts of therapy-happy things. An
hour with Doctor Ruini, another in group... I sigh.

I haven't seen Natasha since last night. She understood I wanted to
be alone when my friends left and kept her distance. I see her
approaching now, tray in hand.

Natasha sits next to me. I wonder why she sits beside me instead of
across, like last time. I realize she's in the same spot, and I sat
on the opposite side. She's watching the orderlies and nurses
carefully, but with such a practiced grace she makes it look casual.
I only notice because of my training.

"Switch plates?"

She shakes her head, "They know our plan and poisoned all the food,
not just my plate."

I look out at the other patients, "Won't that kill all of them, too?"

"Everyone got an extra pill, the anti-poison, before dinner.
Naturally I didn't get one, but you did. They must not want you
eliminated." Natasha scans the room, eyes lingering on one of the
nurses before returning to study her food.

I don't like the idea of her going without dinner. An idea occurs me
and I reach into my pocket, breaking off a piece of the candy-bar
Trowa gave me yesterday. "Here," I whisper, placing it under the
table between us. She glances down and her hand closes over mine.
"Since I'm immune, I don't need my pill, right? You take it."

"You don't take your medicine either? Good, good, you can't trust
them, Duo Maxwell. I knew you were smart," she smiles, looking proud
of me. She takes the piece of candy-bar and looks at it. "This isn't
a pill."

"Course not, I hid the pill inside it, so they wouldn't catch me.
Incase they checked to see what sort of contraband my friends slipped
me." I feel a little guilty supporting her illusion, but I really
don't want her starving herself.

"Smart, smart," she somehow manages to get the piece into her mouth
and still make it look casual. She chews happily and swallows. "Which
reminds me, who were those people that visited you yesterday? Your
generals?"

I pick back up my spork, the only utensil they've given us. No forks
or knives, not even a real spoon but a cheap plastic spork. Sporks:
harmless, docile, fork-spoon mutants.

"Just friends."

She studies me for a moment, blue eyes weighing me carefully. "Is one
of them your lover?"

I choke on a carrot, coughing and sputtering as my face turns crimson.
"What makes you think that?" I ask, staring at her.

"Well, you're obviously not interested in women, so I just assumed..."

"How do you know I'm not interested in women?" I demand, appalled
that it's so obvious I'm gay.

"Well, first of all I can tell just by the way you look at women. Not
once have you stared at my chest and not my face, and I haven't seen
you leer at any of the females here. I did see you checking out one
of the male orderlies." I blush. "And...well, I looked through your
stuff."

"You what?"

Natasha gives an apologetic shrug, chewing on a mouthful of food.
"When you went to shower last night I searched your stuff. I trusted
you, but I wanted to just double-check. Anyways, I found the picture
of you and another guy, and that sealed it."

I stare at her, impressed, "You're good."

She beams, intensely proud of the compliment. "Thank you. I'm not a
spy for nothing, you know."

I smile, picking up my empty tray and heading for the trash can.
Dumping the paper plate and everything else off the tray, I put above
the trash can. Natasha's behind me, her tray also empty. I shuffle
aside and let her dispose of it.

"So, what happened to the boy in the picture? Are you still lovers?"

Uneasy about discussing such things in front of the trash can, I head
back to the room. I don't really want to tell her about Heero. I
don't even want to think about Heero. I'm hurt he didn't come see me,
but I probably would have started screaming at him and thrown
something at him. Like my brush. Or a table.

Natasha goes to my bedside table and takes out the picture, studying
it. "How long ago was this taken?"

"Three years."

"What's his name?"

"Heero."

She sets the picture back in the drawer and closes it. "He didn't
come see you. Are you no longer together?"

I hesitate, but I don't want to talk about Heero anymore, so I give a
fake smile and answer, "Yes"

Natasha suddenly nods knowingly, "He's the one who put you in here."

I gape at her, "What?"

"You're mad at him, but sad at the same time. But you still love him"

"What are you, a mind reader?" I'm shocked, blown away, completely
stunned. My mind is reeling.

"No. I can tell by the way you say his name. Plus he didn't come
visit you, and you hesitated before answering my question." She
smiles and taps me on the head. "I'm a great spy, Duo Maxwell. You
said so yourself."

I stare at her for a long time before finally admitting she's
spectacularly observant and grinning. "Well, you are amazing."

She laughs, "And I cheated. I looked into your file and Heero Yuy is
signature on the papers."

"When did you do that?"

"While you were with your friends."

I'm doubly impressed, "How?"

"I hid one of Janice's stuffed animals and waited for her to make a
scene and used that as my cover. When the nurses ran to subdue her I
stole into the office and peeked at the files."

"Wow."

Natasha is a complete enigma to me, and I want to know more about
her. She doesn't look old enough to be a veteran of the war, but,
neither do I, but I'm almost compltely sure Natasha is younger than
me. She can't be over twenty. Despite her youth, she's got a brain
like Heero's, maybe she was trained to be a Perfect Soldier, but
something went wrong and her brain snapped and now she's here, locked
up and labeled crazy.

Or maybe she's telling the truth and she really is a Russian spy.

Only I don't think the Russians have spies. I'm not sure Russia is
even a country anymore. I think it's the Republic of Moscow and
Siberia, or something along those lines.

And there's no way the hospital would poison everyone just to get rid
of one little girl.

If the food really was poisoned I guess I'll find out. Or Natasha
will, since she ate it with nothing but my candy-bar as a placebo.

"Do you play?" she asks, taking a deck of cards from her drawer.

---------------------------------------------------------- ------------

The shower feels good, like I'm somehow able to wash away the gray
darkness and depression of the hospital. The shower walls are white
tile, the floor is cement. It all looks clean. I gratefully scrub my
entire body with the soap, feeling the filth run down my skin,
mingling with the water and swirling down the drain.

As much as I'd like to spent time relaxing, I'm in a hurry. For the
moment the showers are empty, but I don't want to be around if anyone
else shows up. The showers run the entire length of the wall, with no
divider between them.

I get a good white foam in my hair, bundling the long locks atop my
head and feeling the lather build. Closing my eyes, I step directly
into the spray and work my hair free. It cascades down my back, all
the lather draining away.

Goosebumps run all along my arms as the shower beside me turns on.
Brushing aside wet strands of hair from my face, I open my eyes and
find Natasha standing there under the water.

Naked.

I've seen naked women before. Hilde was the first, but I had already
lost interest in women. She's just like a sister.

Natasha turns me with a smile, "Want me to wash your back, Duo
Maxwell?"

"Aren't the women's showers on the other side?" I manage to squeak.
Fortunately, my hair's so long it nearly covers all that it should,
but Natasha isn't looking anywhere by directly at my face.

"Yes, but they're so much smaller, and all the soap's gone." She
reaches across and takes the soap from the rest beneath my faucet.

Is this some kind of test? I force my eyes to stay firmly on hers.
Her hair is short and doesn't cover anything. The soap drops out of
her hand. My eyes start to follow it, but I quickly turn away under
the pretense of getting the last remaining suds out of my hair.

Wait, what am I doing? Naked women don't turn me on. To prove my
point, I allow myself a quick stare when she bends over to fetch the
fallen soap.

No reaction.

Excellent. I turn off my shower and start to step away, towards the
towels I put on the bench.

Natasha grins over her shoulder, "Aren't you gonna wash my back?"

I shrug and walk back over to her, taking the soap. Now that I've
proven to myself I'm not going to get anything over her nakedness, it
doesn't phase me to start scrubbing at her bare back. Nope, not
bothering me in the least.

We both freeze as the faculty door opens and two orderlies walk in
with fresh towels. Holy shit... I drop the soap. The orderlies just
stare at us for a moment, neither side able to comprehend the
situation.

The orderlies leer at Natasha and I feel outraged. I step around her,
blocking their view with my own body. Holding my arms out to further
impede their leers, I announce in my best casual tone, "Nothing to
see here folks."

One of the orderlies drops his towels in surprise, his eyes dropping
down... I blush a little. They'd thought I was a girl. I hate that. I
wonder how much trouble Natasha will get in for being in the wrong
showers. Maybe she can fake that she didn't know.

"What do we have here?" One of them says at last. The name tag sewn
into his shirt says Steve. The other's named James.

Natasha calmly steps around me and walks purposefully to the
orderlies, bending and taking the towels off the floor. one of the
towels off the floor. The girl has guts. "I was just leaving," she
announces in a clear voice, straightening and starting to walk away
from them, to the exit.

Orderly Steve reaching out and grabs her wrist, "I don't think so."
His eyes trail down the length of her, her curves still visible
despite the terry cloth shield.

I have no idea what he was going to do, and I have no intention of
finding out. I rush over, shoving him back as hard as I can. He lets
go of her arm in surprise, falling back into the door.

James reacts quickly, grabbing my arms and pinning me to the wall. I
let out a startled shriek and Natasha kicks him hard in the knee,
shouting, "Let him go!"

With a yelp from the orderly the knee gives way and James falls,
releasing me. The other orderly, Steve, is up on his feet again and
grabs Natasha's arm, gaining leverage and twisting. She drops to her
knees beside James, her face contorted with pain.

"Kisama!" I yell, darting forward to help Natasha, but strong hands
grab me from behind.

I can't think straight anymore.

Someone grabs me.

I will scream.

The alley, I can see the alley. Darkness. Everywhere I turn.

I will fight.

I'm struggling, I won't let it take me, I can't let it take me. I
strike out, I hit something yielding.

Someone hits me.

The pain shakes me back to reality. My cheek is pressed against the
cold cement, weight on top of me. I can't breathe, I can't move. I'm
trapped. It hurts.

Natasha's yelling, "Get off of him! Get off, he's hurt! You hurt him!"

There's a calmer voice trying to get order. "What happened here?"

"Get off of him, you're crushing him!"

"Just went completely nuts, doctor. Attacked us, the girl, too, both
of them. Solitary, I say."

"Get off him, James."

The weight eases and I can breathe again. A there's a sharp ache in
my middle, where they hit me, and my face tingles. Someone hauls me
upright and soft hands lift my head. Doctor Ruini stares at me
intently, then lets my head go and straightens. "Solitary. Two days."

"You're punishing him? He didn't do anything!"

"Twelve hours of solitary for ... Natasha. The women's showers are on
the other side, you know that. I'll not tolerate such violent behavior
in this facility, do I make myself clear?"

Whichever orderly it is, I can't see him, drags me through the
faculty door, taking the shortcut to whatever room they use for
solitary. God, solitary. It's probably small. Cramped. Alone. Silent.
Two days.

I struggle to gain my feet and the orderly, neither Steve nor James,
stops. He takes my arm and, instead of dragging me, leads me along.

I look over as Natasha sighs in relief. "Are you okay?" she whispers,
leaning over to peer at my face.

"Daijoubu..." Our guide stops, taking free a set of keys and opening
one of the doors. "See you in two days," I say, smiling weakly at her
despite my fear. It's dark inside. Darkness. Very dark.

"Arigatou, Duo."

The orderly pushes me into the darkness before I can respond. As the
door slams shut I realize it's the first time Natasha's used just my
first name.

I'm alone. In the darkness. It's so silent my ears ring. This can't
be right, they can't do this to me. It's like prison.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Author's Notes: Sorry I took so long to get this chapter out. I'll
try to have chapter nine at least written before I go to bed, okay?
Thanks for all the input everyone's given to me so far. It's all
going to start coming together pretty soon...

Kisama - bastard
Daijoubu - all right
Feedback/reviews greatly appreciated! More chapters coming.
copyright 2002 - Gundam Wing and characters copyright other people.
LSE - "Violet" (ManzokuBiscuit@aol.com)
www.geocities.com/manzokubiscuit/index.html