Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The One-Eared Neko ❯ THE NIGHTSWIMMER ( Chapter 9 )

Part 9 THE NIGHTSWIMMER

Heero's lanky fingers scratched across the paper and his right arm served as a curious bohemian reflector as he spilled scribbled line after line in rapid succession, while the sun crawled toward its daily death on the horizon, causing darkness to creep in. Duo was happy enough to leave the traveler well enough alone during a rare bout of inspiration, and instead tagged along to the songs pouring at ear-bleeding volume out of the radio. Few cars within a ten-meter radius could not recite a few lines of the latest throbbing sound. Every so often, the flurry of Heero's writing hand would pounce upon an error and furiously scribble it out as if time were slipping away faster and faster with each newfound mistake. Curious bohemian eyes of violet flickered his way, then smiled slyly in their own personal glow. The notorious criminal watched the profile of his traveler, bent over in pure concentration as he tried to pin each precious word down before it floated away with his own hand. Duo's smile grew for a moment, before dark thoughts began to clash in his brain, and it grew distant and cold.

It was simple enough to dodge the authorities in these sleepy districts. Due to Duo's uncanny sense of navigation and keen key for police cars hiding at the sides of roads with their speedometers, the news of Duo Maxwell's most recent insidious scams still had yet to pollute the cities they were passing.

All the while, they crept closer to their final destination of Cinq. When an hour or so had past, and the rock station had mercifully relented to commercial, Heero finally sighed and collapsed against the seat. He kneaded the painful cramps in his writing hand, staring vapidly out into the rapidly darkening, cobalt skies. Stings of clouds scattered the horizon, glowing pink as the sun slowly drowned into the earth and tinted the sky a deep maroon-tinted purple. The traveler rested his chin in his elbow as he gazed off, deeply entranced in thought, before a familiar velvety voice snapped him away from his reverie.

"Hey, Heero," he asked warmly, jabbing one of his thieving fingers at the radio. "Ever hear this one?"

The Japanese man, slightly irritated that he would be disturbed while obviously thinking about something important, simply graced him with a soured look and obediently listened. Though the volume was still sufficiently set at ear-bleeding, the soft, melodic tones that seemed to flitter through the dimness in the cabin were low until a second acoustic guitar strummed in, casting a haunting lull over top. Moments later a low, whispery voice cue in, gently releasing poetic lines of regret and memoirs, and Heero turned to Duo, who was consumed by a charmed bohemian smile.

"No," he said plainly. "I don't-"

Duo beamed in response, quickly hushing him with a finger against his own lip. "Just listen."

'And even though the moment passed me by / I still can't turn away / 'Cause all the dreams you never thought you'd lose / Get tossed along the way / And letters that you never meant to send / Get lost or thrown away'

Heero admitted he liked the ambiguous, haunting song. It strayed from the harsh distortion sounds seemingly so delicious to Duo's ear and was starkly honest and emotional and littered with beautiful metaphors. His eyes shifted from the glowing green display to the side of the criminal's face, now highlighted in dim blue-gray light, with exotic violet eyes closed and losing reality in the lyrics and chords. Something twisted in his stomach as the brunet man promptly chorused in with the stirring refrain.

'And now we're grown up orphans / That never knew their names / We don't belong to no one / That's a shame'

Duo matched note for note with the half-raspy vocalist, flashing his teeth, belting along.

'But if you could hide beside me / Maybe for a while / And I won't tell no one your name / I won't tell 'em your name'

Struck with momentary loss of reality, Heero had to sift through hazy thoughts to finally discover he was staring at the bohemian, his expression darkened and mildly confused. The criminal, turning to flash him a shameless smirk, noticed and titled his head while leaning jauntily on the steering wheel. "Sorry, it's nothing. I just really love this song," Duo said, while the swinging chords sang in the milieu, bursting through a stirring interlude. Suddenly, a curious eyebrow arched. "You know, throughout this trip, you've done nothing but ask questions of me. I think it's time that I shifted the limelight."

"There's no need to," the Japanese man argued flatly, propping his black-scratched notebook on his knee and looking off into the glittering darkness of metropolis lights.

"Now, come on!" A stubborn smile burned at the back of his head. "You know practically my life story-well, come to think of it, you really don't-but from you've told me about yourself, I couldn't even tell if you had a mother."

"You know I'm a vegetarian," Heero pointed out.

"Powers of observation. They're different than friends confiding in friends."

The traveler leveled an even, nearly inhospitable stare at Duo, who effortlessly drove with the guidance of his knee propped against the wheel, while still carefully gazing at Heero. "Don't give me that look," Duo said uneasily. "It's creepy."

"We're friends?" Heero drawled flatly.

"Well, if you were crushed under a burning building, I would save you."

"That makes you a firefighter, not a friend," the Japanese man dismissed, his blue eyes dark. "Besides, it's critical that I stay objective to give a balanced portrayal of criminal behavior. Friendship clouds that; it candy-coats the truth."

"Or it unlocks previously locked doors. Did you ever consider that?"

Heero frowned in confusion at the dashboard, now scattered with dancing flecks of red dusk coloring and gleaming white industrial street lamps. He pinched his thin lips in distrust, before pinning sharp eyes back on the bohemian whom had shifted his profile to face the speeding blur of blacktop road and snorting to himself. "What do you mean by that?" he asked impatiently. Exhaustion was aching through his bones and as in stressful early mornings, tiresome evenings also drained him of most gracious charm.

Duo hooked his head around and professionally scanned the road, intermittently glowing brightly beneath the streetlights, imposing a great deal of cold shoulder onto the traveler. "Nothing," he muttered finally. "I should quit bothering you, anyway, since you've got a lot of work to do. A lot," Duo added sullenly at the end, hissing below his breath. The Japanese man pointedly considered him for a moment, before settling back to the rattle and hum of engine roaring steadily behind him and a raspy voice crooned, dropping out of the stirring interlude into a stark emotional place.

'I think about you all the time / But I don't need to sing / It's lonely where you are / Come back down / And I won't tell 'em your name'

Duo, chewing gum with a brash, smacking pattern in the shadows, expressed nothing on his neutral face as the engine cut and the cold keys were balled up in hand. Sufficiently dead for the moment, the Isuzu now sat retired at the side of the road, pulled past the white line onto the shoulder so that vegetation slinking down from the high-cut hills surrounding them leaped at Heero's window. The dark green tendrils clawed at the glass like tens of tiny demonic fingers. Sickeningly sweet imagery, the con man commented sarcastically in thought to no one.

He chewed loudly for a few more moments, just sitting in waiting, while his eyes remained glued to the titled profile of the traveler.

In a few moments, the dark-haired Japanese man felt that the truck had stopped moving and opened his eyes, blinking evenly once or twice to create an analysis of where he was. It spread a sly smile across the bohemian's face, his cunning violet eyes adapting a near glow in the darkness, and he snorted. Heero adjusted his eyes to the sound, still drained from the road and very quiet. He noticed that darkness of night had descended, reprieved only slightly by the full moon looming like a glowing boneyard overhead, dusting the land in dim blue tint. High, heavily forested hills crowded the precisely carved highroad. Again, he heard Duo smile at him.

"So?" Duo quipped, the intent hidden but the misechivious nature bold in his expression.

"So what?" Heero grumbled in return. Tiredness sunk through his bones and eaten away at his patience once again, so he stoically rested his chin in his palm and gazed out into the blue-tinted darkness. A split second later his jaws stretched in a yawn.

"Time for bed." He tawdrily pointed his index finger in the air, mimicking the smoking barrel of a pistol. "Whaddiya say? How 'bout an old-fashioned ten-step quick draw to decide?"

The Japanese man grumbled less-than-gracefully and rubbed his face with a clammy palm. "Decide what?" he slurred.

"Who gets the cot, of course!"

"Oh."

"My, you really aren't good with mornings, are you? Or just when the sun is down in general, huh? It's only midnight and you already look like you're about to drop dead," the criminal said smugly, relining his feline spine against the chilled glass window in imitation of Jimmy Dean. The devilish smile he flaunted was wasted as the dim blue eyes of Heero Yuy sank into oblivion and abandoned the world for dreams. "Okay, and now you're falling out of your seat!"

On lightning reflexes, the black-clad con man ducked forward and managed to save the sleeping man from rattling his brains on the dashboard. And sadly, Duo wondered if he would just keep sleeping if he had, the damn hyposominac. Flooded in almost mystical blue tint, magnified in Duo's acute night vision, the traveler looked rather peaceful and cute in an innocent, peaceful way, slumping against his wrist. For a moment, the notorious con man paused, unsure of what to do with him. Not just in the immediate sense, but an unsure wave washed over him. He wouldn't be able to kill him, would he? It was true that he was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that Heero was nothing more than a little innocuous, pretty thing, but Duo still had the logic of a true criminal. Trust no human, trust no one. And yet, with his thin little lips parted and hushed breath running over them, the angles of his face doused in a lethargic, beautiful shade of blue, he was-No!

A nerve in Duo's brain screamed alert and viciously slammed on the brakes of his mind and he released the Japanese man's shoulder as if it had burst into flames. Lolling to the side, Heero's face landed with a soft, bodily thud and remained wrapped in unconsciousness, while the glimpse of shadow that was the criminal's shoes disappeared into the dark safety of obscurity, running from the things he'd left in the front seat.

A short chapter, I know, but I promise the next one will be posted sooner. I have to thank all the incredibly encouraging people who review any of my work and all the people dedicated enough to keep reading my stuff when I lag behind on updates. Snaps for you.