Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Pieces of a Puzzle ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

**A short intro:  This story is very loosely based off of Bleach. If you've never seen nor read Bleach, don't worry. I only used the ideas of Hollows (bad spirits who devour wondering souls or people's souls who have high spiritual energy), the Soul Society, and Shinigami. Other than that it's just an original story with the Gundam boys in it. Enjoy!**


Warnings: Strong language --that's all for chapter one--
Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, and others.


It was supposed to only be a surveillance mission. I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Stupid useless feelings getting me caught up in this human's life. This is why I hate humans. I only took the job because my captain had recommended me to the Center 46. I didn't expect to react this way when a Hollow attacked him. I never meant to jump in and interfere. I was only ordered to observe, even if a Hollow got near him, I was only to observe. But here I am . . . giving my life to save his sorry rear. I'm wounded now and he's staring at me with those bright blue eyes of his, worry gleaming strongly within their depths. Damn him!

"I have to give you some of my power."

Duo looked at the Shinigami, who just a few hours, or was it moments, ago had jumped in through his second story bedroom window and had thrown him across his room to save him. His bottom was still sore from that. Now he was just talking crazy, but then again there was a large hideous monster rampaging through Duo's neighborhood, not something you see every day. "What the hell are you talking about?! First this monster shows up . . . attacks my dad, then you show up out of nowhere and tell me that you are a Shinigami--oh but before you even tell me who or what you are, you throw me across my room. Don't get me wrong I'm thankful for that, but it really hurt! Oh and not to mention that you then yelled at me, because you weren't supposed to help me in any way. And you kept going on about my hair and my eyes." Duo's face scrunched up into a puzzled expression. The Shinigami groaned inwardly.

Duo took a breath, he looked as if he was about to launch into another long tirade about the Shinigami's bad habits. The Shinigami jumped in before Duo could say anything. "You talk too much."

"I get that a lot." A movement to his left alerted the Shinigami that the Hollow had found their hiding spot and was going to attack any second. He grabbed Duo around the waist and used their combined weight to throw themselves out of harm's way. "Now!"

"'Now!' What!? I don't know what the hell that thing is, or do I know how this so-called 'taking your power' works, or how it'll help me!? I don't know anything about what's going on! And that thing’s coming back!" A note of panic had reached into Duo's voice.

The Shinigami tried to ignore how close he was to Duo, instead he focused his attention on pointing his zanpakutou at Duo's heart.

"Wha--what are you doing!?"

"Giving you some of my power." With that, the Shinigami plunged the sword into Duo's chest.

A bright light engulfed both men and as it receded, Duo stood before the stunned Hollow, his own zanpakutou--which was twice the size of the Shinigami's own--in his lean hands.

"Hey--ugly!" Duo grinned mischievously. "I think you need a lesson in manners. First thing you should know . . . is that you should never-ever drop in unexpected at night."

The Shinigami rolled his eyes. "Hey, Duo! Kill it! Now! Stop wasting time!"

The Hollow tried to squish Duo with its large hand. The boy deftly dodged the attack. "Oh yeah--sorry." He chuckled softly and then began to attack the Hollow.

"You'll never kill it if you don't aim for its head!"

"Gotcha!" Duo jumped gracefully into the air and brought the zanpakutou down onto the center of the Hollow's skull. The skull shattered and then a bright light enveloped the creature. Its scream faded as it disappeared.

The Shinigami stared at the back of Duo, clothed in the traditional black garb of the Shinigami. It was then that he noticed that his own clothes had changed from black to white. He slowly raised his gaze to Duo's strong back, and then passed out.


-----


Duo stared down at the young man who was out cold. A swift poke on the cheek confirmed the Shinigami was still alive. Duo grinned at the grimace slowly molding itself on that chiseled and darkly handsome face.

The Shinigami blinked a few times before the young man with the infuriatingly smiling eyes came into focus. A grunt emerged from his chest as he sat up.

“So--question, why am I now dressed like you?”

The Shinigami groaned inwardly. He wasn’t sure how it had happened, but somehow his powers had completely transferred into Duo. “I don’t know.”

“Hmm...” Duo crinkled his nose up. The Shinigami felt a strong urge to punch it so it wouldn’t look so damn cute. “So, what now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, you can’t just sit here in the middle of the street. C’mon, I’ll get you something to eat and drink.” Duo stood up and turned in the direction of his house. “You do eat?” He tossed a grin over his shoulder at the disgruntled Shinigami.

The two began to walk silently down the night covered street. Duo couldn’t take the silence for very long. He had to say something. “You don’t talk much.” Wow, what a conversation starter. He knew he could come up with something better, but there was something distracting about the man’s presence.

Duo’s question was rewarded with an affirmative grunt.

“Ummm...” Duo desperately began to search for something to fill the empty space between the two. Anything that would make the Shinigami converse with him. After a few frustrating moments, a small smirk shone upon Duo’s round face. The Shinigami took note of it, and mused that the braided-boy must have figured something out. “What’s your name?”

That was what that triumphant grin was for? “It’s Heero...Heero Yuy.”

“So, now I actually have something other than Shinigami to call you.” Duo grinned as if he now knew something no one else but the two of them knew. “That’s good, because Shinigami was a mouthful.”

An understanding grunt issued from Heero. Duo ignored the grunt and proceeded to ramble on about completely pointless things that no one in their right mind would care about -- at least that was Heero’s opinion.


After walking for about ten minutes, the two boys arrived at a small brown two story house, which was settled against a small grass covered hill. Heero followed Duo into the house and up the narrow stair case to Duo’s small and messy room. “I’ll go get some food for us. Just have a seat.” He flashed a bright smile at Heero and disappeared through the door.

Heero looked around the room. This was the first time he had been inside the room of the boy he had been observing for almost a year now. “He’s a slob.” He began to pick up the clothes which were strewn across the hardwood floor. “How can he live like this?” Heero mused quietly. “You can’t even seen the floor!”

“Oh, sorry ‘bout the mess.” Heero’s back went stiff when he realized that Duo must have overheard his talking to himself. “Here’s a sandwich. I’m a bad cook, so I thought that you would rather not be poisoned.”

“Thanks.” Heero mumbled as he took the sandwich. The two ate in silence.

“Are you going to stay here? Or are you going back to where you came from?”

Damn him, he looked sad at the thought that Heero would be leaving. Why was he sad, he was the most popular boy at school, and had plenty of friends. What difference would one quiet guy make? “I have to stay here.”

“Have to? You make it sound like a job.” Duo’s nose crinkled...again. “Wait! Don’t tell me you’re here to send off my Dad! H--he’s too young. And --”

Heero cut him off. “I’m not here to do that. The Shinigami’s don’t take the lives of living people. We merely help wandering souls find their way to the Soul Society. It’s like heaven for lost souls.”

“Oh.” Duo chewed on his lip for a moment. “So why do you have to stay here?”

“I was ordered to watch you. The council thought that there was something special about you. I wasn’t told what, but just to observe you. When the Hollow attacked I could’nt just sit idly by and watch you and your father get hurt or worse.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate your help.” Duo smiled at Heero. He looked haggard, almost as if all of his energy had left his body. “You look like you need to get some sleep. I’ll pull out my bed roll, and you can have my bed.” Duo walked over to his closet and began to rummage around in it to find said bed roll.

“You don’t have to do that. I can sleep on the floor, I don’t really mind.”

“No. It’s cool. Take the bed.” With a grunt Duo wrestled the bed roll out of the closet’s clutches. A small avalanche followed the extraction of the bed roll. “Oops.” Duo chuckled warmly. “I’ll clean it up later.”

Heero couldn’t supress his laughter. “Looks like you’ve said that about your whole room.”

“Well, you know. It’s work that doesn’t pay -- besides it’s not really bothering me.”

The two began to talk until they became tired. As Heero drifted off to sleep, he realized that he hadn’t been this relaxed since before -- well in a while now. He said a special prayer of thanks for giving him this opportunity to spend time with the young man, whom he believed he had grown very fond of in the past year.


------


One Month Later...


“Shit!!! I’m gonna miss the bus again!” Duo rushed around his room pulling on various articles of clothing while Heero sat calmly on the edge of the bed, fully dressed for school.

“I tried to wake you up. You swung at me and called me a dirty bastard. So I left you alone and got something to eat.” Heero held up the bowl of ramen he had fixed himself. Duo glared at him. Heero just grinned in return.

“Where the hell is my fucking sock!?”

“Under your shoe.” Heero pointed to the white sock tucked surreptitiously beneath Duo’s loafer.

“Thanks.” Duo slipped the sock onto his foot and grabbed his loafers. “Coming?” He asked halfway out of his bedroom door. Heero quietly stood and followed the still panicking Duo.

Every school morning had been like this since Heero decided to stay with Duo, instead of sneaking around and spying on the boy. Duo was a ball of energy, and he always amused Heero. It was in those moments of peace with Duo, that a memory of one special to Heero passed through his mind. In those moments of thought, Heero always changed demeanor. He wondered if Duo ever saw the change in him.

Heero couldn’t remember the person’s name, or even tell you the face of this person which Duo seemed to remind him of so much. It was almost as if it were just a moment of deja vu -- a misty daydream of a moment long forgotten. Happy to sit next to Duo on the bus, Heero quietly sat there, his leg just barely brushing that of Duo’s.

Heero mused at how nice it was to have contact with someone again. He had missed ... what was it that he had missed? Even Trowa, another quiet touch-me-not type of guy, had commented that Heero needed more contact with people. Heero was not the sort of person who liked being close to people.

He mentally sighed. It was nice of Treize to give him his Gigai, but it was coming at a price. In the past month, Heero had been having more urges than he could control. He was coming precariously close to throwing Duo down and ... well, Duo would probably scream at him and hate him if Heero were to go through with any of his fantasies. Besides, Heero wasn’t entirely certain that Duo liked boys ... that way.

Heero’s heart sunk at the thought that possibly Duo may not ever return his feelings. However, Heero reminded himself that he had a job to do, and Duo’s body was in no way part of that mission -- no matter how disappointing that fact was.

The bus came to a stop a block away from the international high school which Duo attended. Duo’s father was from New York and had been working at a very large Japanese sister-company when his wife died in a car accident. Duo had been in the car with her, but he had survived the wreck ... albeit mysteriously, but survive he had. Duo’s father had decided to transfer to the parent company after his wife’s death. Like any ten year old, Duo was upset, but had to go along with his father’s decision. He had been in Japan now for six years.

Duo turned and smiled at Heero. “We actually made it on time. I think Oka sensei will faint.”

“Hmm.” Heero grunted in agreement. He looked up to see his rival, WuFei, running up to greet the two of them.

“Maxwell!” WuFei’s hair was down today, he looked as if he was actually becoming more aggressive in his desire toward Duo. Only Heero knew of WuFei’s affinity for him. Actually it was more like an obsession. “You’re actually here on time, I’m impressed.”

“Yup. It’s thanks to Heero. He found my missing sock that I had spent at least fifteen minutes looking for.” Duo grinned at WuFei. Damn the boy, he was flirting with him. Openly too. Heero could feel himself getting angrier by the second. “Hey, Wuf ... are we still on for Saturday? I mean, if you don’t want to go with me it’s cool.”

“Are you kidding!? I love art.” Heero rolled his eyes. WuFei may be a book worm, but he didn’t know the first thing about art. And damnit, Heero was the one who ... wait there was that fuzzy memory of his again. Was it Duo that Heero had introduced to art. No that was ridiculous. The boy had been painting and drawing since before Heero had ever been assigned to watch him.

Heero decided that the first thing he was going to do when he got back to Soul Society was to have his memory checked. He felt as if something very important to him was missing from his memory banks, either that or he was imagining things.

“Heero?” Duo waved his hand in front of Heero’s face, trying to get his attention.

“Hmn?” Heero looked over at Duo with glazed eyes.

“Are you okay? I’ve asked if you wanted to go with us to the gallery on Saturday three different times.”

“Oh, yeah. I’d like to go too.” Heero smiled softly at Duo, who in return was beaming. Heero just happened to glimpse what appeared to be a disgruntled glare upon WuFei’s round face, but he wasn’t certain.


The three took their seats and the school day proceeded as usual. After school Duo, Heero, and WuFei sat on the roof of the school building. Duo handed Heero a juice pouch. Heero examined it carefully, then looked at Duo’s. A straw had been inserted into the pouch, but Heero was uncertain as to how it got there. He located the straw on his, and tried to remove the plastic wrap. It fought him. He set down his juice pouch and glared at the offending plastic wrap.

“So, Duo, this artist is one of your favorites ... right?” WuFei shot a puzzled look in Heero’s direction, but then focused on Duo’s face.

“Yeah. I love his sense of movement in his paintings. All of them are so filled with emotion. He’s really incredible.”

Heero had finally successfully removed the wrap. Now the question was how did it end up in the pouch. Heero studied the pouch carefully. There was a slightly different colored circle on the front of the pouch. He glanced over at Duo’s and noticed this was where the straw was to be inserted. He looked at the straw, then at the pouch. He grinned mischievously as he began to try and poke the straw into the pouch. It wouldn’t go. Heero changed his hold on the pouch, so that there would be more support for the pouch so that it wouldn’t move when he tried to push the straw into it. He tried again. It went in this time, but came out the back side of the pouch. Heero now had raspberry lemonade on his pants. To make it worse, it was on the crotch of his pants. Heero growled at the pouch.

“Heero? What? --” Duo closed his mouth to hide his laughter. Heero looked as if he was going to murder the juice pouch. “Come with me. I think I have an extra pair of shorts in my gym locker.” Duo and Heero left the roof together, much to WuFei’s disappointment.


“What exactly did you do?” Duo questioned Heero through the toilet stall door.

“I was trying to put the straw in and I think I used too much force.”

Heero sounded wounded. Duo tried to perk him up a bit. “Well, at least you didn’t do what I did. In art class back in Junior High, I spilt water down the front of my pants as I was talking to a girl I had a crush on. She and the rest of the class laughed at me. Of course I laughed it off too, but I never had the guts to ask her out after that.”

“Oh.” Heero’s heart sunk. “So he likes girls, not boys.” He thought to himself. ”I guess it’s for the best, I won’t be here for ever.”

“What’s with the tone in your voice? I survived it. I’m still standing -- right? You can’t let things embarrass you, it just gets in the way of living. It’s best to shrug things off. Most people forget those types of things, so you should be that way too. -- At least that’s the way I look at it.” Duo’s words actually made Heero feel a little better, even though he wasn’t embarrassed. Well, maybe a little. Okay, Heero had been embarrassed, but mostly because he didn’t want to look like a klutz in front of Duo.

Heero opened the stall door and smiled at Duo, who smiled in turn. The two headed home, forgetting completely about WuFei, who was still on top of the school.

“They left together, I feel it.” WuFei stood and walked over to the fence surrounding the roof. “As Nataku is my witness, I swear that Duo Maxwell will be mine! Yuy will not have him.” WuFei began to laugh softly, but as the promise penetrated his mind, it grew in volume ... and wickedness. geovisit();