Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Murder and a Music Box ❯ The Woman in Black ( Chapter 7 )

Author's Notes: Thanks to Sailor Firestar for reviewing. I hope you had a nice trip : ) Also, thanks to Duo Maxwell Esquire. I'm glad you like it! See? A chapter 2 days early! You lucky people you! Please review!

Disclaimer: Duh, I don't own Gundam Wing. If I did I would have a lot more money.

Warning: Shonen ai, but if you're reading this fic you already know that. I guess I should mention there is a little 2x4, he wishes, 4x1, maybe a little 3x2? Man, Duo gets a lot of action. Oh, and past Rx5xR.


The Woman in Black

The next thing I remember something cold and wet was being rubbed on my face. There was a hand too, stroking my brow. My head was still ringing a little, and I felt sore but I was alive. And that was good enough for me.

"Ahhh," I said and tried to flutter my eyes open. Hey, I wasn't exactly coherent yet.

"Duo," a voice said, soft and slow. "You'll be all right."

I tried opening my eyes again and this time I got a little farther. "Where am I?" I asked as I continued to open my eyes. It was bright and the light really hurt.

"You're safe. I brought you back to my place. Someone really did a number on you." The voice was familiar and not all at the same time.

I brought my hand up to my face and rubbed my head. I had a good number of bumps and my face hurt. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing myself in a mirror. Then I felt the hand that was stroking my brow. The fingers were somewhat long and soft. I opened my eyes again and finally things came into focus. So, I bet you're wondering who my rescuer was. Was it an angel? Ummm, not quite.

"Heero?" I said. His chocolate bangs hung in his eyes, like they had before. He also wasn't wearing a shirt, but that was Heero for ya.

"Here, drink this," he said and held up a mug. I sat up and took it, noticed my clothes had been removed, and looked at him.

"My clothes?"

"You were soaking when I found you and covered in garbage. I won't be surprised if you get sick. You must've been out there for a while," he explained and wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.

"Well thanks," I said and took a sip of the drink. It was warm and sweet. "Hot cocoa?"

"I thought you could use it after what you went through," Heero said and gave me a small smile.

"How long have I been out?" I asked after I drained the glass and wiped my mouth.

"I found you at about two a.m. so I guess it depends on when you were left there. So, who did this to you?" he asked and took my glass.

"Cobra," I said and touched my lip. It was definitely swollen and so was my right eye.

"Hmm," was all he said as he washed out my mug.

I glanced at the clock, it was already eight in the morning. I had been out all night. I lied back on the couch and shut my eyes again. "How come I always feel like shit when I'm at your place?" I asked.

I heard him chuckle. "I don't know, Duo. I guess we always run into each other at the wrong time."

"Right," I said and thought about him the night before, kissing Quatre. "So how's he holding up? I haven't seen him in a week."

"Who?" Heero asked innocently and sat on the coffee table in front on me, a fresh wet wash cloth in his hand. But I can tell you this, whatever Heero was, innocent is not one of them.

"Quatre Winner," I said and opened my eyes to look at him.

"He's doing well," he answered slowly and rubbed the cloth on my face.

"I'm just asking because I saw you together last night at Calamari," I said as calmly as I could and tried to keep the accusing tone out of my voice.

"Oh, we had a good time."

Well, I really tried not to do it, but I ended up making a little hmph huffing sound anyway. "What made you decide to take him to dinner?"

"You've seen him," he said and gave a small smile. "But I didn't take him to dinner, he took me."

Well, that was worse than I imagined it. All my ideas about Heero being the seducer flew out of the window. "You had sex with him then?" I had to know, you know how curious I am.

"Yeah," Heero said and rubbed the cloth gently on my lip. "I didn't know you would care so much."

"I don't," I protested.

"Not about me," he said and ran the cloth over my eyes, "about him."

"I should get going," I said and bolted up right. My head didn't thank me for it, but it was getting a little too touchy feely in there. Plus, I didn't want to think or talk about Quatre Winner. And I didn't want to look at Heero anymore.

"All right," Heero said and handed me my clothes, washed and dried.

"Thanks again," I muttered as I put them on.

"No problem, Duo," he said as I walked for the door. "You can come and see me, you know. If you ever get lonely."

I just turned slowly and looked at him. The cloth was still in his hand and he looked different from the last time I saw him. I couldn't really say why, but he did.

"Thanks," I said and left. I was relieved to get out into the fresh air. The walk back to The Blue Angel really cleared my head. When I got there I climbed into my car and drove home, thinking about anything but Quatre Winner and Heero Yuy.

Well, I got home and took a long shower. Laying in a garbage heap all night really did a number on my hair, so that took a while. After I got out I pulled on some sweats, grabbed Ignatius and lay on the couch with him on my chest. Hey, iguanas like to sit on warm skin, plus I needed some comfort.

It was hard to imagine that the day before I had been so happy about finding the music box. At that point I wished I had never found the music box. I wished I had never met Heero Yuy, and I really wished that a lovely and drippy Quatre Winner had never walked into my office on that fateful Thursday night. I wished I could have gone back to being lonely and solving cases all on my own. Man, I was a little depressed. But there was nothing I could do about any of that. So, I turned on the T.V. and Ignatius and I watched a Jeff Corwin special on Animal Planet about giant sea iguanas.

Yeah, so that was my Sunday. Actually I also thought about starting to smoke again, but thought better of it. Smoking is bad, I know. And I stared at the music box for a while and felt the slight vindictive urge to break it, but again I didn't. Who doesn't think I'm a nice guy after that?

Well, on Monday morning I got up and dragged myself to the office. I wasn't feeling up to it, but I had work to do and the sooner I got it over with the better. I was still pretty sore and my face wasn't looking too pretty since the bruises had set in. Oh well, I wasn't trying to impress anyone.

I was sitting at my desk and writing down all the hours I had worked on Quatre's case (including the ones I spent knocked out behind The Blue Angel) when my office door opened. That was unusual in itself. The last person that actually came to my office was Quatre.

"Detective Maxwell?" a female voice asked, and I looked up from my work.

"Relena," I said slightly shocked. Well, I really wondered what she was doing there. "How can I help you?"

"Are you all right?" she asked and her eyes dripped with concern.

"Oh," I said and self-consciously touched my face, "yeah, I'm great."

"Did you get into a fight?"

I gave a small chuckle at that, like it was a voluntary thing on my part. "I guess you could put it that way, but I'd just say I got my. . . . well I got beat up."

"I'm really sorry. I hope I'm not disturbing your work, but I wanted to ask you something," she said and took a seat opposite me.

"How can I help you?" I asked and tried to give her an upbeat smile, but with my fat lip it probably just made me look like Quasimoto.

"I would like to see Wu Fei."

"Okay, I can give you his work and home addresses if you like," I said and began to shuffle through my papers.

"That's the other thing, detective, I want you to come too," she said and held her chin up. "I just think it will be better if you are present."

"Okay," I said and put my papers away. "We can go now. He's just up the street and I'm pretty sure he'll be in his office right now." Yeah, that and there were a couple of things I wanted to talk to Chang about myself, namely Cobra.

So, we went down to Chang's Translation Services and knocked on the door. I didn't wait for him to ask who it was. Instead I just shouted. "It's Detective Maxwell, Chang. I wanna talk to you."

He opened the door and looked at me, a nasty smirk invading his lips.

"Hello, Wu Fei," Relena said to get his attention. And it did. He looked at her and the smirk disappeared instantly.

"Come in," he said and opened the door wider. We walked in and I let Relena take the chair in front of Chang's desk. I took a seat on the ratty couch in the corner.

"What are you doing here?" Chang asked Relena, but not in a mean, accusing way. His voice was actually soft. I'd never seen him like that before. It was like he forgot about my existence completely.

"I wanted to see you," she said. "I need to know why you did this."

Chang shook his head, the old normal annoyance was beginning to show again. Man, did that guy have a short temper. "It's not your business, Relena."

"Maybe not but I still want to know," she said and clasped her hands tight in her lap. Her lip trembled slightly, and I could tell she was really trying not to cry. "Does it have something to do with that other woman?"

"What?" Chang shouted, more of a shocked shout than an angry one. "What woman?"

"A woman in black. I saw you with her about a month before any of this happened. You walked her to her car. Is that why you broke our engagement?"

Well, Chang looked completely confused, and I really can't blame him. For Relena to bring up something that happened that long ago and expect him to remember details was just downright impossible. Women, I'm glad I don't have to deal with them.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he finally said and sounded sincere.

"She had long blonde hair. Please, Wu Fei. Don't lie to me anymore," she said and I could hear the choke of uncried tears in her voice.

Chang actually looked a little lost, like he didn't know what to say. "That woman. Relena, I wasn't seeing her. She had something to do with my job."

Relena only nodded and pulled out a tissue to dab her eyes. "Why then?"

Chang shook his head again. "You shouldn't want to be with a man like me. I'm a disgrace, look at me."

"You left your job on your own accord, Wu Fei. But that's not the point. I really don't care what you do, I still wanted to marry you."

Chang gave a small chuckle at that, and I almost joined in. "So, Milliardo really didn't tell you? I thought he would have."

Well, Relena stopped looking distraught and starting looking confused and a little angry. "Tell me what?"

"I was brought in to Mr. Winner's company to clean up. He'd made a lot of bad investments, and I had to sort everything out and figure out how to make a profit again. Well, I did, and then I was let go. That's all you need to know."

"So you were fired? Why would I care about that?" she asked trying to grab some sort of lifeline. Man, she must've really loved him.

"Please, Relena," he said and his tone changed again. This time he really sounded like he was pleading with her. "Stop asking questions. It's dangerous. Just leave and forget about me."

She sat there and stared at him for a moment, but she didn't ask any more questions. "I'll be outside, Detective," she said and stood up.

After the door shut behind her Chang reverted back into his old, asshole self. "I see you met Cobra?"

"Yeah," I said and walked toward him. "We had a real nice chat. Who is he?"

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you?" he asked and glared at me. "Why did you bring her here?"

I shrugged. "She wanted to see you. I think she has a right to know why you dumped her."

"You're an idiot, Detective Maxwell."

"Well, that's not the first time someone's said that, Chang. Now, who is Cobra and what does he have to do with any of this?"

Well, he glared at me for a minute with his dark eyes, and I was kinda expecting them to turn red, but they didn't. "He works for the woman that helped get Mr. Winner's company back on its feet."

"How?"

"She loaned him some money," he said.

"So, what did you have to do with Mr. Winner's death?" I asked that to catch him off guard. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

"I didn't have anything to do with it," he answered and looked me in the eyes. Damn, I really didn't think he was lying. "I already got my revenge on Mr. Winner, long before he died."

Well, I hadn't expected that. "What do you mean?"

"I introduced Quatre to Heero Yuy," he said and smiled. "Do you think he was pleased to find out his only child was gay?"

"I guess not," I said through gritted teeth. The fact that some people can be so closed minded really gets on my nerves. "So who is Cobra? And who is this woman?"

Chang shook his head. "That's all I'm going to tell you detective."

"Fine," I said and walked toward the door. I knew there wouldn't be much of a point in arguing with him, the stubborn bastard.

"Make sure she's safe," he said as I reached for the handle. I looked back at him for a moment, but he was looking at some paper work on his desk. I didn't know what to say, so I just left.

Relena was standing at the bottom of the stairs. She looked up and gave me a forced smile when I reached the bottom.

"You feeling okay?" I know it's a stupid question, but I'm not good at comforting people.

"Yes, I think it was a good idea to come here. Thank you, detective."

Well, I walked her back to her car and watched her drive away. Then I went back up to my office and sat for a moment. I really wasn't gonna find out anything just sitting there. I knew what I had to do. It was something I'd been avoiding for a while. It was time I gave Quatre back his music box.

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More Author's Notes: Okay, so I didn't reveal who Cobra is in this chapter, sorry. It was kinda sadder than the others, but that's just how it came out. Please let me know what you think! Thanks!