Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Sanctuaire ❯ Devoted Dexterity ( Chapter 5 )

(I do not own Gundam Wing, blah blah blah)

"Devoted Dexterity"

~*~

"Ne, Duo!"

Duo stopped what he was doing- dusting one of the windows of the church. The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He didn't dare turn around.

"How come you didn't tell me Treize gave you a new mission? I was looking all OVER for you!"

Duo grinned nervously, though he was still facing the window. Quickly, he began dusting it frantically, in hopes of ignoring the smaller demon that stood behind him, her wings present and her hands behind her waist.

"Duo? Are you listening to me?"

Still ignoring her, Duo forced himself to hum some miscellaneous tune while he cleaned the window. Though it was already clean, he acted as it weren't.

"Duo!!" the smaller demon yelled, "pay attention to me!"

Duo flinched at those words, hesitantly setting down the feather duster. He slowly turned around to the demon, the nervous grin apparent on his face as he did so.

"Hilde, why, what are you doing here?"

Hilde glared at the shinigami, soon before folding her arms stubbornly over her small chest. She huffed, turning her head to the side. Duo stopped grinning and tilted his head at her.

"I've been looking all over for you, and here you are, playing some PRIEST," she said with disgust, "in some small church! If I never asked Treize himself where you were, I'd STILL be looking for you, both in Gehenna AND this world!"

Duo's nervous grin returned. He turned away from her and grabbed the feather duster again, casually walking up to the next window. Hilde turned her head back to him, and then glared as he moved away from her. Quickly, she leapt over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"Duo, I'm your student! You're not supposed to leave me behind!"

The shinigami paused before he began working on the next window, and instead, slowly turned towards Hilde once more.

"This is a pretty big mission, Hilde. You're still too green to take this one on," he said. Hilde pouted as she looked up at him, her arms still wrapped tightly around his waist.

"I thought so. When I heard from Treize that Milliardo and his two angels were involved, I kind of got worried..."

Duo shook his head and went back to dusting the window. Hilde buried her face in his shirt.

"I know that you're one of the best shinigami out there, but... But what about Heero? I mean, you knew each other when you were both living, ri-"

At the smaller demon's words, Duo turned around quickly, pushing her back from him instantly. He glared dangerously at her.

"What did I say about bringing things up from our past lives, Hilde?!"

Hilde stared at Duo, shocked by his sudden reaction. She pouted once more, casting her eyes down to the floor. She drew her hands behind her back once more, locking her fingers into a tight hold to each other.

"That the past is the past and now is what we should be worried about..."

"Good demon," Duo said, turning back to the dirtied window.

"I'm sorry, Duo... Can I help you on this mission?"

"No."

"Why not?" she asked, turning her gaze back from the floor to the braided demon's back.

"I can handle this one on my own. You're too green for this kind of thing," he replied. Soon after, he finished dusting that window. Casually, he walked past her and he approached the next window, right away going to work on it.

"Besides, if you're going to be inside a church, remove your wings. If you don't, you'll scare the nuns."

~*~

Quatre sighed leisurely, gathering up his supplies form his locker after school. The crowding mass of students once more filled the hallway, making it almost impossible to see the floor. Trowa hadn't been in school all day, and the only time Quatre saw Wu Fei was at lunch, though it was only briefly. He was beginning to wonder if the Asian boy had other plans than what he was letting on, but he decided not to be too nosey about it and let the boy get on with his business. What about Trowa, though?

He closed his locker loudly, just about slamming it shut. He began pushing his way through the crowd of students quickly, not wanting to have an encounter with Ian or any of his lackeys. He didn't know where Wu Fei went after school. Perhaps he rode on the bus, or had his own, private ride? Quatre still wished he had his own ride. Why his father wouldn't allow that, he did not know.

Walking out of the two, big front doors of the school, Quatre began walking down the stone steps. The sky above had gathering clouds covering the sun, hiding it face from the people below it. The wind was beginning to pick up, though not too much- just enough to send a quick chill down Quatre's spine. He gripped his school bag tightly, and then proceeded his way past the school church, where Duo and his student were.

"There you are."

Quatre froze in his tracks. Ian and his three friends stood before the blonde.

"And where're you going, little faggot?"

Quatre bit his lower lip, looking for any means of escape. The first place he saw was the church. He glanced at it, then to Ian and his friends, then back to the church. Abruptly, he began making a dash for it. One of Ian's friends, Mike, sprinted after him.

Unfortunately, just as Quatre made it to the steps of the large church, he was tackled from behind by Mike. He grunted as his school bag fell before him, landing on the steps of the ancient building. Just then, Ian, Wyatt, and his third friend made it over to Quatre and Mike, smirks on all their faces.

"Because of you, you little shit, I got detention," said Ian as Mike got off of the blonde. The four students surrounded the smaller boy, disallowing him an escape route. Quatre swallowed as he forced himself to look at Ian, hopeful to make his way out of the situation without getting hurt.

"Look, I just want to go home..."

Just then, Wyatt pushed Quatre towards Ian. Before the blonde could collide with the taller boy, he felt a strong fist slam into his face. He stumbled back helplessly, but just then, he felt another fist implanted into his stomach. He whimpered loudly in pain as he was pushed forward again from behind, only to meet another one of Ian's fierce punches to the face. The slight metallic taste of blood was instantly detected in his mouth, though he could to nothing to change it at the moment.

Suddenly, Quatre was being attacked from all sides. Pain coursed through his body with each punch, or kick that impacted his body. He didn't even notice that he had fallen to the ground and was curled up into a tight fetal position, trying to block himself. Ian and his friends laughed and continued to beat him.

~*~

"Okay, how about this, you go and kill the people that are on my schedule while I continue to do this mission alone?" Duo suggested, just about finished with all the windows except the one that he was working on. Hilde pouted.

"You have a couple of lives scheduled to take this afternoon. If I take those for you, will you let me help on your mission?" she asked. Duo paused for a moment, before removing the feather duster from the window and turning to her.

"Maybe. It depends on-"

They both heard students laughing by the entrance of the church. Duo shrugged it off, and then continued.

"It depends on how well of a job you do, okay?"

The laughing wouldn't stop. A muscle in his brow twitched. Damn kids.

"I know you have a tendency to-"

Before he could continue, he grunted in annoyance. The laughing wouldn't stop. Irritated, he walked up to the entrance of the church and jerked the doors open, ready to yell at whoever loitered there.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID-"

Ian and his friends suddenly stopped. All were crowded in a circle as they stared at Duo like a deer caught in headlights.

"Shit!" Ian yelled. Suddenly, he and his friends dispersed as quickly as possible from the scene, leaving a beaten Quatre behind on the ground. Duo looked down at the blonde and bit his lip again.

"Shit..." he whispered to himself, quickly approaching the blonde. He kneeled down beside him.

"Hey, Quatre! You okay? It's me, Duo."

Quatre whimpered through his tears as he still lay on the ground. As Duo laid a hand on him, he twitched. At his words, though, he peeked out from his position, looking up at Duo, his vision blurry through the tears.

"D-Duo?" he said, before slowly looking up. Duo nodded. Suddenly, Quatre leapt up and threw his arms around Duo, holding onto him tightly. Duo, still kneeled on the ground, stayed there as he let the blonde cling to him and cry. Hilde walked to the entrance of the church, stopping in her tracks as she saw Quatre clinging tightly to Duo. Though she was beginning to feel jealous, she didn't say anything.

***

"Thanks for taking me home, Duo..." Quatre said, he and Duo standing in his room. Duo performed his teleporting trick that he used on Quatre before. He nodded to the blonde.

"Sorry `bout what happened," he said. Quatre shook his head, wiping his eyes.

"Don't apologize... You don't have reason to," he said. Duo nodded, though he still gazed at Quatre, concerned.

"You're gonna be okay, right?" he asked. The smaller boy nodded slowly, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah... Thank you so much for bringing me home..."

Duo shrugged, "No problem."

There was a pause between the two boys. Duo scratched the back of his neck, and then walked over to Quatre's large window.

"I should be going now. Got things to do, people to kill, y'know?" he said, opening it up. Quatre nodded slowly. Duo nodded also in reply, and then stepped up to the window sill, taking a hold of it steadily. Before he left go, though, he turned back to Quatre.

"If you need anything from me, you can find me at the church, or just wait for me at our little sanctuary, okay?"

Quatre looked up from his bed, suddenly confused. Wasn't Duo supposed to kill him?

"Our... little sanctuary?" he asked, his voice soft. Duo nodded.

"Yeah, y'know, the place where we first met. Nobody knows about it but us," he paused for a moment, "and those damned angels, but I doubt they'll be there again," he finished with a grin. Quatre stared at him confused, unaware of the slight blush that was returning to his face. Duo waved, and then leapt out of the window, his braid the last thing visible.

"Aren't you... supposed to kill me?" Quatre whimpered, lying down on his bed. `Trowa, why didn't you save me...?' he asked himself. He felt his eyes filling with tears again.

`Trowa... I don't know what to think...' he though, an image of Duo coming to mind. His cheeks flushed once more. He then buried his face in the pillows, almost clinging to them in frustration.

~*~

"Aren't you supposed to kill him!?"

Duo raised his hands. He was inside the church once again, where an angry Hilde stood.

"Heeeey, it's all good! I'm not supposed to kill him just yet," he said, lowering his hands. Hilde eyed him suspiciously, her arms folded over her chest.

"Whaddya mean? I thought Treize's orders were to kill him?"

"Not yet."

Duo and Hilde turned to the sound of the voice, where Heero stood, a stern expression upon his face. Duo growled, silently.

"Both angels and demons are only to keep an eye on him, though you demons are trying to kill him from us," the angel said. Hilde glared at Heero, quickly unfolding her arms and standing beside Duo.

"That's what I don't get about you demons. You're so irrational. You kill without giving matters a second thought," Heero continued. Duo narrowed his eyes at him. Before he could speak up, Hilde stepped up.

"What's that supposed to mean?! We're not the ones killing innocent people for some stupid prophecy that you angels believe in!" she said, suddenly pointing to the glass stained window high above in the church- the one with the angel with the black wings. Heero stared at the smaller demon.

"And we don't kill innocent people just because we feel like it."

At that, Hilde suddenly charged at Heero. The angel stood still, watching her every move. Before she could reach him though, Duo grabbed her from behind.

"Idiot! Don't be so rash!" he yelled as he yanked her back. Hilde gritted her teeth as Duo pushed her back, looking back to the angel.

"Look, Heero, I don't know what's so special about Quatre, except that he's got something to do with some kinda `Holy Prophecy'," the shinigami said, his voice thick with sarcasm at the prophecy remark, "but it's -my- job to make sure he doesn't live up to that prophecy!"

"And it's my job to make sure he does," said the Japanese in a monotone.

"And if he isn't who you angels think he is?" Duo asked. Heero continued to stare at the shinigami with a stern expression.

"Then we kill him."