Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ❯ Part Nineteen ( Chapter 19 )

Part Nineteen

Duo felt warmth on his face as he came too in soft grass.

His eyes shot open and he realized he stared up at the bottoms of...trees.

Yet...? How could this be? Shouldn't he be staring up at the stone of the Academy?

Then all the images came flashing at him.

Everything that happened last night....

All the blood, all the people he'd killed....

He moaned and found himself retching painfully, tears running ramped down his cheeks.

He sniffled and wiped his mouth and his eyes on the back of his arm, which was covered in dried blood, and looked up to find Heero sitting naked in front of him.

"Am I in...Heaven?" he whispered, mostly to himself, then turned his head and saw the others and blushed furiously.

"Don't worry," Quatre murmured from where he was wrapped in Trowa's embrace, both of them also naked. "The only person who didn't get humiliated was Heero and that's only 'cause he woke up first."

Then Duo noticed they were all *clean* and was jealous.

As if Heero could read his thoughts, he grabbed him by the hand and helped him up.

"Come on. I'll help you get all that blood out of your hair."

Duo followed him to the side of a river and was obviously hesitant before stripping down and jumping in. Heero took his pants and disappeared momentarily before coming back with a few different looking fruits.

He broke them open and weaved a few threads into them, mixing it all.

"Quatre taught me how. He said it would help to clean, like Autria Soaps. It actually works."

With that he hoped into the water, grabbing what looked to be like a brush made out of a flat stone, and making his way towards Duo, who was by this time thoroughly soaked.

He brought him to the edge of the wide river and began to lather on the mixture he had previously created, using his hands more than the brush to clean his hair.

Duo stood content, soothed by the rhythm of Heero's hands.

"Okay," Heero announced. "Go under now." And he rinsed out his hair.

Heero then climbed out and watched, chewing on grass, as Duo bathed the rest of himself, trying not to get too turned on by the spectacle.

Now that they were free....

But no.

Freedom had nothing to do with that.

He got so selfish.... Too selfish....

If Duo loved him, which couldn't be possible, they were only fifteen. It was so easy to fall in and out of love....

What would he do if Duo fell for someone else?

Heero realized all his thoughts were foolish as he lay over on his back and closed his eyes, the feel of the sun once more on his body making him smile.

It was so cold in there....

So barren....

He could just see it now....

He was going to settle down in a little village somewhere, maybe in a forest near a village. A small river close by.... Flowers.... He'd use his talent to make little metal and wood figurines and go into town every so often and sell them for money to buy food with when he wasn't hunting himself. Duo could--

No.

He was keeping Duo *out* of this vision.

He would--

"Heero," he heard the voice call and turned to look over at Duo, who stood before him, dripping wet. Water trailing down his body, sliding over it, in every delicate curve of his frame....

'NO!' his mind screamed at him as he looked away. 'Not while your NAKED!'

"Do you think you could make a bit of string to bind my hair with?"

"Sure. I'll think of something," Heero agreed, wondering why he had offered to come with Duo to wash and secretly knowing the reason which screamed 'NO KIDDING' at him like a flashing neon sign.

He wanted to check the other out.

Heero stood and made to walk back, but suddenly Duo had wrapped his arms around his neck and was hugging him close in fear.

"Duo...?"

"I'm scared.... I don't know what it's like...to be free...anymore.... I'm scared of it...." he whispered, his voice shaking with shame.

Heero pet his long wet hair. "It's okay to be afraid of what you don't know."

"Are you?"

Heero was quiet for a long time before softly answering "no."

"Then how is it okay?"

"Have you ever seen yourself, Duo?" Heero asked suddenly, trying for a quick change of subject.

Duo was taken aback by this and immediately replied "no."

"Come then." Heero walked forward, leaving Duo left to follow in curiosity.

Heero bent down before a pond and motioned for him to come down too.

Duo sat down and looked over the edge, gasping and drawing back.

"Wha...?"

Heero sighed. "Don't you have any interest to what you look like?"

Once more Duo popped his head back over the edge, but got a better look at himself.

Large purple eyes, petite nose, long bangs that fell strikingly across his face, thin, slender shoulders, and a heart shaped face.

Suddenly, he giggled and pointed to himself.

"I *do* look like a girl!"

Heero cracked a small smile and thought of many assorted sappy replies that, even if Duo was his...lover, he wouldn't say to him.

"So does Quatre," was his reply. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Yeah.... I bet when you look at my face, you can almost see a woman.... Then you remember I'm not.... And you lose all interest.... Right?" Duo asked, turning to him, his delicate eyes a little pained.

But before he could get an answer, he slid into the cool depths of the pond, his mind overwhelmed.

Heero was pinned with shock. What did he say now? What did he do?

He sat there and watched as Duo resurfaced.

Duo stared at him, and he returned the gesture easily.

Heero's mind raced for something to say, as did Duo's.

Finally, Heero spoke.

"The other's are probably getting worried."

Duo nodded and swam to the edge, climbing out, and once more Heero had to turn away his head quickly.

If Duo thought he had no interest, he was off the mark by a couple hundred thousand furlongs.

They returned and Duo fell into the soft grass next to Quatre and turned his head to look at his friend.

"Duo. Here." Quatre picked up a piece of ribbon from the ground and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Duo replied, surprised. "Where did you get it?"

I pulled it out of the belt in my pants before I made to wash them. Come here. I'm going to fix your hair."

Quatre settled down and began to weave his hair together in one complicated braid.

Heero watched as his eyes drifted shut. He was still tired.... So tired....

Before he slipped into sleep, he felt something press up against his back and turned over to see that it was Duo, hair completed, laying with his head to his back, arms under it, staring at the sky.

"I've never seen so much blue before...." he murmured.

"Get used to it, you'll be seeing it all the rest of your life."

Duo smiled. "I don't want to get used to it. I want to wake up every morning and have it be something new to me."

Heero yawned behind a hand and replied: "that's going to be hard to accomplish."

Duo shook his head. "That's nothing compared to what we did last night."

~Til Then~