Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Taki Nobori ❯ Himitsu no akiraka ni suru. ( Chapter 7 )

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Taki-Nobori: Chapter 7 - Himitsu no akiraka ni suru.

By: Kochiyami

"I think our time is coming to an untimely end,

Where the stars are dim, forever hidden."

Heero's sister, much to his dislike, was here once again to conquer and claim the household. Moreover, as much as he loved her (as if he would ever tell her that and let himself live) he would not live one more day under her rule. Oh sure, she might look nice and polite, but all you have to do is misplace her favorite CD and she'll try to skin you alive, he shivered at the memory.

His sister looked like the female vision of himself. She had long chocolate hair with suitable unruly bangs; he eyes were a darker blue than Heero's but still held the same fascinating charm. She was about three inches taller than Heero though, taking that characteristic from their father's side. She was about three years older than Heero and was the favorite of their parents, but to her, she didn't care what their parents thought, as long as he had Heero to take care of.

"Ano, Taiji-chan," Heero cringed inwardly at the honorific his sister used with his middle name, "Who else is here? I think I heard some noise that seemed to come from upstairs."

Heero widened his eyes at his lapse. How could I just forget about her like that? In a rush that was purely out of character for him, his sister noted to herself amusingly, he dashed up the stairs taking two at a time and nearly threw himself through his bedroom door. As he looked at his bed, expecting to see that chestnut haired girl asleep and didn't, he nearly panicked (A/N: is that even possible for Heero?).

"Why am I here?" he heard from behind him. He turned abruptly and nearly, nearly sighed in relief. There was Duo, that exquisite person that just irked Heero to no end; at least, the person that has been plaguing Heero's mind ever since he lay eyes on her, him… What exactly was Duo really?

Matte yo… is Duo really a girl? Heero's mind was whizzing with thoughts he never considered before. Duo is short, slender, almost fragile looking… and, and that hair! What person would have hair like that? It seemed Heero's mind was have a field day on this rare occasion. One question reign supreme as it almost seemed to divide and conquer over other thoughts in Heero's head like a determined onna is when she is on a mission to buy shoes on a sales day of 70% marked off on everything. Does Duo have breasts?

"Did you hear me?" Heero could hear a distant voice filtering through his thought riddled mind. Almost immediately, if someone was to watch closely, Heero jolted out of his reverie with a silent surprise.

"Why am I here?" Duo exclaimed in confusion. "Heero, is the name right, the Heero Yuy that is in my first period." Duo didn't even pause to let Heero confirm his conclusions on whom Heero was. "Then Heero please tell me why, in hell's name, am I, Duo Maxwell, in your house, no, in your ROOM of all places?" If it were ever possible to say thirty-seven words in 1.2 seconds, Duo Maxwell would win the contest without a sweat.

Heero, the master of conversation, had absolutely nothing to say.

"Well…?"

The master of conversation, had absolutely nothing to say, need it be said again?

A sigh of aspiration erupted forth from Duo's lips as he walked over towards the rumpled bed and flopped down. Looking around him in boredom and slight curiosity, Duo noticed that the room decor was mostly black and green as the paint and bed accessories with collections of anime figurines carefully displayed all around the room. As he turned his neck to one corner of the room to get a better look, Duo hissed in pain as the bruises he had on his neck, but did not recall being there became apparent.

"Ice pack?" Duo heard and he turned his head facing forwards again, his eyes meeting sapphire blue. Where did that color look familiar?

"Thank you," Duo said, taking the offered ice pack from Heero's hand and pressed it against his bruises, "I thank you for your help, Heero. I must've been a burden, troubling you and all." Duo said this while looking at Heero with a thankful smile. A simple yet wonderful smile and in Heero's eyes, that one expression would make anyone unconsciously yearn for more.

"What time is it?" Duo asked, hoping it wasn't too late. Kyomi would most likely skewer him alive if he came home past his curfew.

"Just a quarter past ten." Heero dutifully answered. To his surprise, he saw Duo stand up so quickly, his braided companions plait whipped violently through the air to whack him unceremoniously in the face. A surprised grunt left Heero's mouth as he touched the area in which he was hit.

"Sorry!" Duo said in apology, immediately bouncing to Heero's aide with concern, "I didn't mean to hit you with my braid, honest!"

Heero only "Hnned" in response as he was too absorbed in the fact he did not notice how Duo had a variety of tattoos covering his body. This just made Heero's curiosity about Duo all the more prominent.

……………

"Thank you for everything," Duo murmured, slightly worried about what Kyomi might do to him, "I hope I wasn't an inconvenience for you today…"

"It was nothing, I felt like helping, Trowa felt like helping and that's that." Heero interrupted.

"Trowa?" The mention of Heero's tall, brown-uni-banged, green-eyed friend immediately caught Duo's attention.

"Hnh, he helped me out with taking you to my house and caring for you while you slept." Heero said nonchalantly. "He left about an hour or two before you awakened."

"Oh…" Duo looked out the car window quietly; totally out of his usually feign self. As Heero neared closer to Duo's home, they lapsed into an eerie silence. Neither talked until they reached the driveway of Duo's home, finally breaking the deafening quiet.

Then Duo got out of the car and collected his stuff from the back seat, pausing near the car door after he closed it.

"Thank y-" But Duo was unable to finish his words of thanks as Heero, for the second time that evening, interrupted him with a sigh.

"You don't need to thank me so many times, one thank you is enough." Heero sounded almost tired as he said this, almost as if he had lost all his energy in one fell swoop.

"Uh, okay." Duo then backed away and started to walk towards the front door, turning around briefly to wave a good-bye to Heero, who nodded slightly in recognition. Duo, who did not hear the front door open while he had his back turned, turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise. There stood Kyomi, dressed casually in khaki jeans with a blue tank and slippers leaning against the door frame in supposed amusement. If you could say that…

"Duo," Kyomi started calmly, eyeing Duo, "why are you late?"

Kyomi did not want to get mad. She figured, as it was her first time dealing with a teenager, that first, you act calm, next you still remain calm, then you stay calm, finally you explode if needed, if not, let it slide and they'll forever remain faithful.

Kyomi's Teenager Strategy, Section A, paragraph four, lines two, three, four and five. It's in the testing stages.

"Well, I um- kind of got into a fight at school, but it was not my fault!" Duo said hurriedly. "The kid was trying to… hit on me and well, I pissed him off, he tried to choke me, then I was saved by some kids in my AP classes. That's all."

Kyomi, who expected something less serious, widened her eyes in alarm. Someone tired to choke him! Those bastards!

"Bastard, you want me to go to the office and straighten this out? On the other hand, maybe track that damn brat down and give him a piece of my mind! Maybe I'll stick the police on the bastard…" Kyomi madly ranted, positively fuming from her ears in anger at such an outrage. Duo, who was thinking she was overacting a bit too much, was desperately trying to get her attention.

"Ah, sorry about that Duo…" She said in apology "I, well- I think of you as a son, y'know, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you…"

"It's okay Kyomi," Duo quietly said. He was somehow overwhelmed with a happy emotion at having someone who cared so much for him. He never had someone care about him that much before… not since… "It wasn't that horrible, I was saved and I'm not really injured or anything."

Kyomi, who had fallen silent while Duo talked, sighed and stood straight in the doorway, no longer leaning against its frame. With a quite nod, she motioned for Duo to come inside and to close the door, and whispered something about dinner being on the stove if he was hungry. Then, she disappeared inside her room at the end of the corridor that continued passed the kitchen. She stopped, however, when she still felt confused violet eyes boring through her very being.

"I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed at the fact people are picking on you, that's all. I think I'll start to work on that new volume I have to have ready in six months." She turned her head slightly, showing that she held a sincere smile on her face. "I probably won't come out, so, good night."

Her smile widened when she heard Duo response, and entered her room, closing the door softly behind her.

Duo turned away from his view of Kyomi's bedroom door, and made his way into the kitchen to make himself a plate of food. He was starving!

………………………

The next day, Duo walked contently down one of the school corridors towards his zero period class, or to put it plainly, his first class of the day a full thirty minutes early. When he turned down one of the last hallways to his destination, he failed to notice the two pairs of eyes that watched him at the distance. The moved towards him and blocked his path.

………………………

"Duo?" A deep, calm voice said.

Duo, hearing his name coming from his far right, quickly searched the voice out, and to his, confused, relief, he smiled lightly.

"Trowa, right?" Duo quickly noted the shorter upperclassman standing to Trowa's left, who was slightly hiding, from what Duo could see, behind the his taller friend. Duo's smile broadened. "And Heero."

"You seem to look much better then how we found you yesterday." Trowa said, somehow sounding amused yet serious in one interesting combination.

"I uh, thank you for helping me out yesterday," Duo said, somehow within that few seconds of pause, he had become nervous, "I really appreciate what you guys did."

Trowa nodded his welcome at the thanks and took a few big strides towards the small freshman.

"Duo," he started, "we've thought and assumed ever since we've seen you, which we could've sworn you were what we thought you were. That is, what I mean to ask is…are you…are you really a girl?"

Duo nearly had a heart attack, he sputtered, he coughed on his saliva and he changed from a nervous boy to an infuriated 5'1, braided boy who could turn from happy-go-lucky to pissed off beyond recognition Shinigami (as Kyomi nicknamed him when she first witnessed him becoming extremely angry once).

"What did you say?" Trowa and Heero immediately became alert at the calm expression on Duo's face that, besides feigning the effect of the braided teen being calm, it showed that underneath, Duo was infernal mad!

An `Uh… oh' seemed to echoed within both of the minds as Duo stomped forward, easily closing the rest of the distance that remained between himself and the two upperclassmen.

"Well…?" Duo asked, waiting patiently until one of them spoke up, just so he could blow up.

"Duo," Trowa started to say, "We made a mistake in our observation, we're both sorry about this misunderstanding, we should have guessed at the obvious a lot sooner." Duo, who listened intently at Trowa's words only nodded and yet said nothing, silently forgiving them.

"I think, if you would forgive us, we should all be friends?" The voice surprised Trowa as he looked to his right and down, seeing Heero intently looking at Duo with an expression he could not see. A pregnant silence enveloped them all as Duo stared at them and they stared at him. They weren't kidding with him. They wanted to be friends with him, even after all the unwanted attention he has been receiving, even with his already established friendship with WuFei.

"Maybe, WuFei has to approve of you guys first, no guarantees though," Duo said seriously, "I guess it would be nice if we get to know each other and stuff!" He smiled at them brightly, all anger and seriousness forgotten.

Duo, with his demeanor a lot more pleasant and lighter, bounded up even closer to the other two, throwing an arm around each. It actuality, Duo was unable to throw an arm around their shoulders since he was too short and was unable to throw an arm fully around either's waist. Therefore, he did the next best thing, just grab an arm from each and looped his arm around theirs instead.

"Let's go!" Duo cheerfully said as he started on his path towards his first class of the day, happily pulling along his newfound friends. Forgetting in the process that they might not like to be dragged around in such a way. However, if they ever did feel like that, they never said anything about it.

Once they reached Duo and Heero's class, Duo immediately let them both go and quickly went inside to put his stuff at his desk and rejoined them once he did so.

"Eh, Trowa?" Duo asked the taller boy anxiously. "What class are you supposed to have for zero?"

"Marching Band, why?"

"Can you do me a small favor?" Duo asked with enthusiasm. He waited until Trowa nodded his yes before he continued. "Can you look for my cousin?"

Trowa seemed surprise at the thought of Duo having a cousin at the same school. Nevertheless, why did he want him to look for said cousin?

"What's your cousin's first class, are they a he or she, what does said cousin look like, what's your cousin's name and what grade are they in?" Trowa asked, wanting to help Duo out.

"His first class is Business, he's almost same height as me, pale skin and blonde hair, and he has that kind-of angelic look to him, tenth grader and his name's Quatre Winner."

TBC…

A/N: I am sorry once again for such a long wait. I swear every single time I want to update, I either have writer's block, have tons and tons of h.w., busy with extracurricular activities or am just to freakin' tired to do anything! I have already started chapter eight while I finished this chapter up, so please forgive me! Well, finally Trowa and Heero know Duo's a boy, Quatre's coming into the picture and Trowa and Duo are finally getting to a friendship level! Woohoo! Thanks for reading and waiting!

R & R: Flames or Reviews, whatever rocks your boat!

ano: something like "umm…"

-chan: one of many honorifics used to show a form of relationship or respect for a person, -chan is usually used between girls as a sort of friendship nickname at the end, or sometimes with boys.

Matte yo: basically saying, "wait…"

Shinigami: used by Duo in the manga and anime, means "God of Death"

Himitsu no akiraka ni suru.: I'm not sure I said it correctly but it's supposed to mean "Secret revealed." or "To reveal a secret."