Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In a Child's Eyes ❯ Sunburn ( Chapter 6 )

 

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In a Child's Eyes

 

Chapter Six

 

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Sunburn

 

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The first thing Heero was aware of, as he slowly came awake, was how warm his face, neck and arms felt. Opening his eyes, he held his arm up in front of his face. His usually tan skin had given way to a dull pink color on the top part of his arm.

 

The young man gently touched his nose and cheeks and let out a small groan. He had never had a sunburn as far as he could remember. That was partially due to his complexion and partially due to the fact that he had never been one to spend large amounts of time out doors.

 

Well… people got sunburns every day. Not like it was that big of a deal…

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

After flipping on his computer, Heero started himself a pot of coffee. While he waited, the young man sat on one of the chairs at the table and laid his face against the cool wood. He wouldn't be caught dead doing such a thing in public, but in his own house, well that was different.

 

Besides… it helped.

 

He sat that way for almost five minutes, listening to the brewing coffee pot and the ticking clock before he realized something seemed off. Lifting his face from the table Heero scanned the kitchen and eating area. Turning in his chair, he let his eyes sweep over the living room.

 

The rooms were empty.

 

Heero frowned and looked at the clock. The kid was usually up pretty early, up before even himself usually and yet here it was, late Sunday morning and the house was quiet…

 

Heero got up from the table and headed toward Duo's room, dreading what disaster might be waiting for him. When he stepped inside the room he saw no sign of the long haired boy. The business man crossed the room and looked in the bathroom. There, where Heero had left him, was Duo.

 

Heero was alarmed to see that the usually pale skinned boy had turned an even deeper shade of pink during the night.(1) When Heero stepped into the bathroom to get a closer look at Duo, the boy's eyes opened slowly and his lips turned into a small frown.

 

“I don't feel very good Mr. Yuy…” The boy said faintly.

 

Heero knelt by the tub. He swallowed, then cleared his throat. “Well…” He began and stopped. He tried to think of what his parents had done when he was sick, but couldn't really come up with anything. He had never been one to get sick often, although he remembered being sick a couple of times the first and second year he had gone away to college.

 

However, those memories didn't really help him much. When he had gotten sick, which always seemed to be after finals, he had just stayed in bed until the sickness passed. Even when it meant being late coming home for the vacation period, his parents had never seemed to be very concerned about it…

 

Heero shook his head and tried to concentrate on the situation at hand. The kid was looking up at him as if he would know exactly what to do, which he didn't. Finally, an idea came to him and he said, “Well… You just stay there. I'll be back.”

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

“HELLO! DARLIAN RESIDENCE!”

 

Heero pulled the phone away from his ear until the loud voice was silent. Then he cleared his throat and said, “Is Relena Darlian available?”

 

“Um… Let me check.” Came the response. Then another yell. “MOM! MOOOOM! PHOOOONE!”

 

The twenty one year old blanched at the lack of phone manners. In the background he heard a faint return yell, “I'M BUSY. WHO IS IT?”

 

In a normal tone the girl on the other line asked, “Um, who is this?”

 

“Heero Yuy.”

 

There was silence, then, “Heero Yuy? Mom's boooooss?”

 

Heero frowned. The girl's tone had changed and now sounded very amused. “Yes, that's correct.” He said cautiously.

 

“Oooh okay, hold on.” There was a pause and then another yell. “MOM! YOUR BOSS IS ON THE PHONE! YOU KNOW THE ONE YOU SAID HAS A CUTE BUTT!”

 

Heero pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. He could feel heat coming from his face that had nothing to do with the sunburn. There was a loud squealing sound, then shrieks of laughter coming from the small speaker. Finally a voice sounded that he recognized and he put the phone back to his ear.

 

“Mr. Yuy?” His secretary sounded frazzled and a tad harassed.

 

Heero stoically chose to ignore Relena's daughter's comment to avoid further embarrassment, both for himself and the blonde woman, and got directly to the point. “Ms. Relena, I'm sorry to bother you at home on a Sunday, but I have a question…” His voice trailed off as he realized he could have checked the internet first and saved himself the humiliation of having to ask for help.

 

Now, however, he had her on the line…

 

“Mr. Yuy? Are you there?”

 

“Uh... yeah…” He replied lamely.

 

Another moment of silence.

 

“You said you had a question…?” She asked.

 

He took a deep breath. “Yes well, the kid…” His voice trailed off again. Asking her meant admitting he had forgotten the sunblock. Well, it wasn't as if she wouldn't have found out anyway he supposed. “… the kid… he, um, well, he's feeling sick… and…” The words came haltingly out of his mouth.

 

Luckily she saved him from the agonizing embarrassment of having to ask for her help. “Would you like me to come over?” She asked.

 

“It's not really… well if you… I'm sure we'll…” He stopped himself and started over. “I would be… deeply grateful… for any assistance you would be willing to provide.”

 

There.

 

He'd said it.

 

He felt mortified, but he'd said it.

 

The answer was instantaneous. “Okay. I'll be over in about thirty to forty minutes. I need to drop my daughter off at her father's house. He gets to have her for the week before school starts up again.”

 

“Alright.” He replied lamely. “But what should I do until you get here?”

 

“Have him lay down and rest until then, okay?”

 

Heero nodded, then realized she couldn't see him. “Okay.”

 

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

 

Relena folded her arms under her breasts. Her eyes became slits and she slowly turned her head in Heero's direction.

 

“You put him in the bathtub…?” Her voice was low and flat.

 

“Well… yeah. I didn't want him to get crumbs on the carpet.”

 

The blonde woman said nothing, only continued to stare at him. Heero was not used to being stared down by people, let alone his secretary, and was about to say something when she turned her gaze away from him and knelt beside the tub.

 

“He should be on his bed.”

 

“You can't put him on the bed with pizza grease all over him. It will stain the” Her glare cut off the rest of what he was about to say.

 

“Duo, sweetie, how about we get you into that nice soft bed of yours.”

 

“Okay…” Came the small boy's quiet reply.

 

Relena held onto the boy's hands and pulled him to a standing position. Before he stepped out of the tub, the blonde woman gently brushed loose crumbs off his pajamas. She turned her head toward Heero and with a slight widening of her eyes, gave him a look that said, `better?'

 

The kid was still greasy, but when he opened his mouth to say so, Relena's eyes narrowed. He wisely shut his mouth.

 

While Relena got Duo settled in his bed, Heero retrieved the burn ointment for her. He watched silently as she applied the ointment and when the long haired boy begged for a story, Heero stepped out of the room to get himself some coffee.

 

He returned to the room, coffee cup in hand, but stayed in the doorway. His secretary had a book open and was softly reading while showing Duo the pictures.

 

`Okaasan.'(2) A child's voice called from the recesses of his memory.

 

`Okaasan, hon wo yodekudasaimasenka.'(3)

 

Heero closed his eyes and rubbed them with his free hand.

 

`Takara you know I don't like that kid to speak that bird babble you call a language around me.'

 

`Okaa... uh... mother... would you be willing to read to me, please?'

 

`I'm busy now, Heero. Why don't you have your nanny read to you?'

 

“She was always too busy…” Heero whispered.

 

`But you're always...'

 

An echo of a slap sounded in Heero's mind. A phantom sensation made his cheek tingle.

 

`Shut up and get the hell out of here. Can't you see that your mother and I are trying to get some work done? There are more important things than you and your damn book. When you can stop acting like a child then we'll have time for you. Now go!'

 

Heero took his hand away from his face and opened his eyes. A small amount of moisture glistened on his finger tips.

 

He didn't want to think about these memories. He wanted to forget.

 

Slowly, he backed away from the doorway, took a drink of the coffee and headed for his office.

 

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

 

“Dinner?”

 

Heero looked up from the computer screen and stared dumbly at the blonde woman who stood before him. It took him a moment to remember where he was and why she was there.

 

“Huh?” He asked vaguely.

 

“Dinner. Do you want some?”

 

His eyebrows knit together and he turned in his chair to check the time. The small time icon at the bottom right hand corner of his computer screen declared it to be fifteen minutes past five o' clock.

 

The business man sighed and saved the document he had been working on. He couldn't believe he had spent almost all day working, and she had stayed there and dealt with the kid the whole time. It occurred to him that he was very lucky to have her for his secretary. He should probably do something nice for her… or pay her… or something… Heero guiltily pushed aside the thought that he had just pawned off his responsibility for the kid… just like…

 

He shook his head. He'd just gotten those memories to go away… he didn't want to start thinking about them again.

 

When he was finished with the computer, Heero turned his attention back to Relena and said, “Yes, dinner would be great.”

 

He got up and followed her to the kitchen. When he looked on the table he saw a plate with fries and some sort of breaded animal shapes…

 

“What's this?” He asked.

 

“Dinner.”

 

He looked back down at the plate, then back at her. “You're not serious are you?”

 

“What's wrong with it?”

 

“You know I don't eat this kind of stuff…”

 

“Well, it was in your freezer.”

 

He looked at her for a moment, then it dawned on him. The shopping trip with the kid. That night he had just wanted to get out of the store so he had just bought whatever the boy pointed out.

 

“I'm not eating this.”

 

The European woman made an exasperated sound. “Fine. Starve.”

 

Heero folded his arms. “Why don't you just feed this to the kid?”

 

“Duo already ate.” Irritation was written all over her face. “Duo is sleeping now.”

 

The Japanese man couldn't think what he could have said to upset her… “What? It's too early, that kid doesn't fall asleep until midnight at least.”

 

She closed here eyes and exhaled. He cast his mind about trying again to think of what he could have said that was wrong.

 

She pulled out a chair and sat down. “Why don't you take a seat? We need to talk.”

 

The dark haired man looked at her cautiously before sitting. We need to talk? He thought. When a woman said something like that, it was never a good sign…

 

“Mr. Yuy.” She paused, then continued. “I think part of why Duo isn't feeling too well today is because of all the sun he got. It might be a good idea, in the future, to be sure he has sunblock on. His skin is just too light to go without it.”

 

Heero frowned. He could tell she was being diplomatic; trying to say what was needed without offending him.

 

“Another reason he might not be feeling well is all the junk food you've been feeding him.”

 

“You were the one who said to order pizza for him.” Heero said defensively.

 

“I didn't know you had been feeding him fast food all week.”

 

“How do you know I've been feeding him fast food all week?” He countered back.

 

“I took your garbage out for you.” She said flatly.

 

The young man stared at her blankly, then said, “Oh…”

 

“Another thing may be the stress of adjusting to living here.”

 

His eyes widened and he said, mockingly, “He's stressed from adjusting?”

 

Relena pressed her lips together. She looked as if she were about to say something, but thought better of it. “Mr. Yuy, you're the one who chose to take in this child. You…” another change of direction. “It might be good for you to think on what I've said.”

 

So diplomatic... Heero thought.

 

“If he still has a fever tomorrow you should take him to see a doctor, but I think he'll be alright. Just be sure to have him put on the ointment until he heals up.” She looked at him for a moment. “You might want to use a bit too.”

 

He touched his face and nodded.

 

She stood up. “Well, it's getting late. I think I'm going to take off.”

 

He followed her to the entry way, then asked her to wait a moment before going into his office. Heero fished in his suit pocked for his money clip and pulled out all the bills. He wasn't sure how much cash he had on hand, but he was sure however much it was would be enough.

 

“Miss Relena.” He said after he returned to the entry way. She looked at him with a questioning look. Heero held out the fold of bills. “I'd like you to take this, for your trouble.” She stared at him for a moment, as if trying to decide something, then took the bills; stuffing them in her pocket.

 

“Thank you.” She said simply.

 

“No. Thank you.” He replied.

 

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

 

When Relena got into her car, she sighed.

 

What a mess he's gotten himself into... She thought to herself.

 

There had been so much she had wanted to say, but he was still her boss, and she had no desire to lose her job. She would just have to help out from the sidelines, for Duo's sake.

 

Remembering the money her boss had given her, she sat up straight and pulled the wad of bills from her pocket. As she started counting, her eyes began to grow large and at one point she looked around nervously.

 

What was he doing with this much cash? She asked herself, and thought that maybe she should go back and return some of it.

 

Then she let her eyes run over the man's expensive house, remembered his expensive car, and the thousand dollar suits he wore to work each day.

 

Naaa. She thought, and turned the ignition.

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1 1)“… the inflicted harm is often not immediately obvious. After being burned, skin may turn red 2 to 6 hours later. Pain is worst 6 to 48 hours afterward. The burn continues to develop for 24 to 72 hours after exposure. Skin peeling begins 3 to 8 days after the burn occurs. Common outcomes include tenderness, pain, edema, red and/or peeling skin, rash, nausea and fever Also, a small amount of heat is given off from the burn, giving a warm feeling to the affected area. Sunburns may be first- or second-degree burns.” (Obtained from Wikipedia under category `sunburn')

 

2 2) Mother (polite)

 

3 3)Mother would you please read this book [to me]. (this is very polite, Heero is using the honorific form of yomu [to read]. I'm making the assumption that Heero's mother would have tried to get him to speak politely whenever he spoke her native tongue, and to avoid baby talk whether Japanese or English. Also I'm making the assumption that the family wasn't very close and quite formal. Actually having him be this polite is probably a little over the top, but I wanted to show just how distant the family members are with each other.)

 

 

Thanks to:

*MasamuneReforged for betaing for me.

*shevaleon for making sure my Japanese sounds more colloquial