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"Ringu"Written By: iniq Disclaimer: Ringu is not my story. The original storyline was developed by Koji Suzuki who wrote the book "Ringu" in 1990. Later, this book was adapted by Takahashi Hiroshi, slightly altered and put on screen in Japan in 1991. The movie "The Ring", which was aired in the USA in fall 2001, is also a cast off of that book, though – again – with a slightly different plot. The idea for this fanfic is not mine. I merely mixed plot elements of the book with plot elements of the two movie versions and altered the storyline where inconvenient. Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing and its characters are copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. I make no money with this fic. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: OOC, yaoi, horror, AU, fusion Pairings: 3x4x3, 5x?, 1+2+1 (get together) Summary: After watching a video tape people begin
to die and it is upto Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell to find out why. "Ringu "
+
Heero watched his new partner disappear into one of the empty meeting rooms. As soon as he had entered the room, Maxwell turned around and looked at him fiercely.
"Yuy, we have to solve our problem, or at least declare a truce until this case is over. I apologize for whatever grudge you hold against me and I forgive you for being a bastard, okay?"
Maxwell didn't even wait for an affirmative, apparently assuming he wouldn't get one – which only pissed Heero off more. How come he became the bad guy here? It wasn't like he wouldn't accept this childish truce. He approached the other man and as Maxwell turned, his hand reached out to meet its counterpart.
"Okay. A truce, because we're mature enough to be able to work together despite our differences." Heero saw with contentment that Maxwell met his hand halfway and they shook hands awkwardly. "Let's concentrate on the case."
"Right." Maxwell separated two chairs from the table and sat down on the left one, immediately opening the manila folders before Heero even had time to settle down in the right seat.
"What do we have?" Heero was all business now. No more personal banter would distract him from the case. If Maxwell was too dumb to help him, so be it. He wouldn't let this idiot keep him from accomplishing the mission. Despite what Lady Une had told him about Maxwell, he had to see for himself whether the other man was worth his agent's badge or not.
"Aside from the dead teenagers? Not much." Heero heard the snort and ground his teeth. He almost wanted to react harshly, but held his temper in check.
"I mean, there must be a connection- yes!" Heero was startled by the sudden exclamation and watched as his partner pointed at some lines in each profile, while continuing to explain his observations. Heero decided something as soon as he saw Maxwell's eyes flicker with interest, hungry for more information. It wasn't clever to intervene when Maxwell made a snotty remark, because even though he was sarcastic, he didn't give up easily. He listened attentively as Maxwell continued. "They obviously knew each other. The girls went to an elitist all-girls boarding school and the boys to a high school very close to the girls' school. That's it, same classes even. Yuy?"
When Maxwell waited for his comment, for any sign of approval that the theory could be held, Heero nodded and watched with interest as the other man continued searching for connections. By now, Heero was more interested in working with the American if only to get a better idea of how Maxwell's brain worked.
"We should divide the investigation into two parts. The girls, Midii Une and Haruko Tsuji, and the boys, Shuichi Iwata and... what's the other guy's name?"
"Takehiko Nomi." Heero helpfully supplied the information quickly to let his current partner finish his train of thought. Une said he should trust Maxwell's evaluations and until he had proof that this was a bad idea he would do so.
"They were obviously close. Otherwise they wouldn't have watched the video together – that is, if they really watched this ominous video, which is still a shabby theory on its own." Heero rolled his eyes when Maxwell rubbed his left temple in a circle - as if the motion would help the gears in his brain run faster.
"Right. You take the girls, I'll take the boys." Heero flipped through the pathologist's information and raised his eyebrow. "What's that? Maxwell, two of them were more than close. Tsuji and Nomi were found dead in Nomi's car, their pants down to their knees."
"A nice way to go at least." Maxwell chuckled, but got serious again as he cast a look at the photos of the dead. "No, I take that back." Heero saw his partner shudder and concentrated on the task at hand when Maxwell continued with his observations. "This is Japan, which probably means that their parents didn't know. We have to check that."
"Maxwell, you're a gaijin. What would you know about Japanese culture?" Heero didn't like the way Maxwell spoke about 'his' country and decided he would not tolerate such behavior, even though they had declared a truce. He waited for another snide remark, but none came. Maxwell just nodded, obviously deciding that it wasn't worth the fight.
"Anyway, we have to check on that." Maxwell looked at him expectantly, again waiting for confirmation. "I want to visit the Une family first. If you visit the Nomi family first, then I can call you so that I don't say anything wrong toward Haruko's family. Same goes with Midii."
"All right. You'll have to discreetly search Midii's room for information on her relationship with Iwata. If the other two had something going, then maybe search them too. If necessary, ask Une. She might know more."
The other agent seemed to agree, checking the folder in front of him once more. He hummed slightly as he thrummed the pencil on the pages as if searching for something special. "I'll hop by the morgue to check their bags. At least two of the three of them that were found outside their houses must have had their wallets with them. They had to have been driving."
Heero nodded as Maxwell stood up. "Don't forget to ask the parents if the girls had any sleepovers in the past week."
"You're not ruling the video-theory out either, huh?" Maxwell twisted his mouth in a sickly grin and was relieved when Heero shook his head.
"No. Their deaths are too strange. I'm not ruling anything out yet."
"Good, because I have a bad feeling about this." Heero was rather surprised when his current partner subconsciously bowed to him before he left the room. Apparently, the other agent did have some manners. Before he could reply, Maxwell was already retreating. Heero wondered slightly about this, for an American unusual behavior and sat back down. He wanted to take some notes before visiting the two boys' families.
While Heero was looking through Iwata's folder, he caught a glimpse of Chang talking to a secretary, obviously searching for someone. Heero sighed when the woman pointed toward the room he was in, and the Chinese man opened the glass door, greeting him.
"There you are, Yuy. Une called me in to make sure you two didn't kill each other." Heero looked up to find the other man smirking at him. Apparently he had expected to find his regular partner here, because Chang looked around the room curiously.
Heero didn't like Chang. He was Maxwell's partner, and therefore bound to be subjective. At least that's what he had convinced himself of. He didn't know why he felt uncomfortable in the other man's company. Maybe it was because Chang was too observant and too insightful for his own good. "No. That won't happen. We reached a truce."
"A truce? Interesting."
"Yes, we both want to solve the case and we're mature enough to le-" Heero found Chang snorting at that, and raised his eyebrows curiously.
"You two agree on a 'truce' and you call yourselves mature? Must be Yuy-logic then."
"Maxwell doesn't have any logic. He follows some supernatural principle of world order that has nothing to do with logic. He is quirky, surely you must have noticed that by now."
"I see. I'm sorry." Heero wasn't sorry. He didn't like this psychological crap thrown at him. Feelings didn't fit into tables.
"No, Yuy, I should apologize." Chang suddenly seemed to remember why he had come here in the first place, so he looked up again, waiting for the inevitable. "Yuy, I came because I wanted to talk to you about Maxwell."
Heero tried not to be too obvious about his disinterest. "There's nothing to talk about. Don't worry. I won't harm him."
"Oh, Yuy, you misunderstand. I'm not afraid of you hurting him physically. I know he can defend himself. I just don't want you to hurt him otherwise." Heero put his pen down and cocked his head, wondering what the other man was up to. He had no intention of hurting Maxwell on this assignment – he was not a complete asshole.
"Whatever happens - if that video really kills people or not, if you two find the murderer, if there is one, or not - it doesn't matter. The only thing I want you to know is that you can trust Maxwell with your life, and he won't let you come in harm's way no matter how mad he might be at you just moments before."
With a grunt Heero waved his hand. "That's all you want to tell me? Thank you, but I think I can decide for myself whom I can trust with my life." This was becoming ridiculous. Angry with Chang for assuming petty things about his person, he gave the other man a sharp look. He had no intention of doing more with Maxwell than was necessary, and the limited contact warranted no 'special warning' from Maxwell's regular partner.
He watched Chang sigh and excuse himself. When the other man had left the office, Heero concentrated on the files again. This was ridiculous. What about the bratty American made everyone love him so much? Heero had no respect for someone who started affairs on assignments he wasn't even skilled enough for. There was no way he'd let this Maxwell close enough for the other man to get dirty ideas about him.
+
Duo left the unit's building through the garage. First he would check the morgue, then the two girls' rooms. He would find that video, for he believed it was the key to the whole case. Even if it didn't kill the viewer, it had to show something that somebody would kill for. If the kids had seen it and someone didn't want them to tell somebody, why wait seven days to kill them? It didn't make sense. Duo rubbed his temple again, a futile attempt to draw a mental picture that he could use. Why leave the video so that anyone could watch it? It was essential to find it. Too late, Duo realized that he had already walked three cars further than he should have, so he turned around. He had unconsciously ruled any other theory out. What if there was no video? Unlocking the door with the device on his key ring, he climbed in and started the engine. The deaths of the four teenagers were strange--same symptoms, same time, exactly the same look of sheer terror. What if it was a virus? Duo pondered the idea while driving the car out of the parking lot up into the street.
His first stop would be the morgue. He'd have to prepare some questions for the pathologist. If the teenagers showed the same symptoms, they wouldn't be able to rule out a virus. He had to call Yuy, and if they found the video they'd have to be careful. Continuing his drive, he dug out the cell phone of his pocket and called his partner. He'd had the number memorized for a long time, when he had still held childish hopes that they could become friends. He could only hope Yuy still had the same number.
"Yuy." Short but clear. Duo had to chuckle. Somehow he liked the Japanese man, even if the other hated him vehemently. Yuy was, after all, just misguided by the gossip he had head in the break room. Duo secretly wondered if Yuy thought him capable of copulating with livestock as well, but then, it was probably for the better that he didn't know the answer to that.
"Maxwell here. When you check out the rooms, be careful. The video, if there is one, might contain a virus or something. Check the parents for symptoms and ask if the kids had any in the week before their death."
"Why do you think it might be a virus?" Yuy obviously wasn't content with the warning, so Duo would have to prove that it was a reasonable conclusion. He sighed; of course Yuy would need more proof. The only problem was that he didn't have any.
"Because of their deaths. No apparent foreign influence, same looks; it practically screams 'virus'. I just don't know which yet. I have to talk to the pathologist first." He didn't want his partner to contract the deadly disease. "Listen, all I want is for you to wear gloves when you go through the room, okay? See you later." He'd stressed the words without raising his voice, something Wufei had taught him. Again he was glad for his Chinese partner's patience. Annoying Yuy further would only hinder the investigation and yelling definitely would've wound him up.
Driving through the inner city demanded all of his concentration and he quickly threw the mobile onto the seat when an elderly woman suddenly crossed the street in front of him. He let out a string of curses. Tokyo was a driver's hell, and the fact that the morgue was in the basement of the hospital in the inner city didn't help Duo at all. When he finally arrived, his nerves were shot and he had to calm himself down before finally grabbing the mobile and entering the morgue directly through a separate entry in the back of the hospital.
+
"Ah, Mr. Maxwell, I presume?"
"Yes. Dr. Takashi?" Duo smiled at the man, feeling thankful for working with a cooperative pathologist - he hadn't met many of them. When the doctor nodded, he added quickly, "It's a pleasure to meet you, even if the circumstances aren't the best."
"I’m glad you could find the time to come earlier.”
"No problem. Did you have a chance to determine what killed the four teenagers? I saw the report, but it didn't tell me much."
Dr. Takashi shook his head. "No, I'm sorry. We can rule drugs out. There was no evidence whatsoever that they were murdered, also considering the fact that they all died at the same time on the same day."
Duo nodded and made mental notes. That had been clear to him since he'd looked at the files the first time.
"What about a virus?" He had been waiting to ask that question because it seemed like it was the only answer left - aside from a mysterious green mist or aliens. The last two he hadn't even spared one thought, but sometimes it helped him to go after completely ridiculous theories to make sure he hadn't ruled anything out.
"I won't discard the idea, but it's not very likely. The exact time of death, the expression of their faces, it just doesn't fit."
"May I see the dead, please?"
"Are you sure?"
Duo didn't care if Dr Takashi wanted to spare him. He had to see them anyway. He waited patiently as the other man wheeled Haruko Tsuji's body out, and he felt curious eyes on him when he observed the dead body. When the initial shock at the horrible sight had worn off, he rubbed his temple and began to voice his thoughts.
"What if they saw themselves in a mirror? The two people in the car saw each other with horror, Haruko was on a motorbike, probably near a shop window, and Midii was in the kitchen, where they had a glass front in the living room." He paused after he remembered that he wasn't alone. "Doctor, what virus would supply the victim with hallucinations? Hallucinations or something that made them look different?"
"Hm... I can't think of any right now, but I will ask my colleagues and call you back tonight. Maybe the dermatologists have some ideas."
"Yeah, that would be a great help. Thank you. One more question. Can I have the possessions you found with the dead?"
"Of course. If you would please come with me to my office? I have the new reports there as well as the box containing their valuables." He led the way to a small bureau at the far wall of the pathology lab and turned to see if Duo had followed him.
"Did you empty their pockets?."
The doctor nodded and answered Duo with a smile. "Of course. Here, all you have to do is sign the release forms and there you go." He offered a pen and waited patiently for Duo to sign the dotted line.
A short time later, Duo left the hospital with the possessions of the victims. Quickly searching through the wallets, he didn't find much that could clue them in on what had happened to the teenagers. The only interesting thing seemed to be a membership card of an exclusive holiday resort north of Tokyo in Iwata's wallet. The name of the person who signed the card wasn't Iwata but Nagayama. They would have to search for this youth as well. He had probably loaned Iwata the card for a trip. That could be the solution.
Swiftly he dug the cell phone out again to call Yuy. After punching in the numbers, he waited for an answer and flipped through Midii's wallet with one hand.
"Yuy."
"Hey, it's me again. Where are you?"
"Still at the unit. I searched the Internet and databases for information or any unusual deaths similar to our case. If we can't rule out a virus, there might have been more people infected already."
"So?"
"Yeah, one other case. A small boy. No sign of foreign influence, no suicide, no drugs either. His heart just stopped and he looked like he was scared to death."
"I've had a talk with the pathologist, but they were healthy. He's looking into the whole virus thing, but so far, we're still left without a clue."
"Well, there's something interesting. A membership card for Holiday Resort Pacific in south Hakone. Belongs to a Yuki Nagayama. If you check the family of the deceased boy, make sure to see if they had been there on vacation a week before his death. Same for the two teenage boys. They might have called it sleep-over or whatever. I'll call you again later."
He pondered his theories again. What if the resort was the connection between the five deaths? If the kid Yuy mentioned had seen the video at the resort and the next who had watched it were the four teenagers, the resort would be the place where they could solve the mystery. Duo sped up the car. He had to go to the families and see if the teenagers really had been at the hotel seven days before September 5. He could then check the video out, and if it really killed the one who watched it, there was no point in them both risking their lives. If the video had suggestive messages or odd pictures, he'd have to trust his own skills to find out what the connections were and describe the facts in detail to Yuy so he wouldn't have to watch it. The idea that a video could kill was ridiculous, but after seeing the four teenagers' very real bodies, he had no doubt that something horrible had caused their death; something he wouldn't even wish on his worst enemy.
+
Heero quietly knocked on the door, trying to think of a way to tell the parents that he'd have to search their dead son's room without upsetting them too much. In the three years he had been working for the Crime Investigation Unit, Heero had learned one thing: there was no such thing as calm parents. He'd had to tell a lot of couples that their kid had died, especially in his first year when he had worked on the drug addicts' cases. Back then he had thought that nothing would be able to shock him. Now he looked back with a sad smile and thought about how naive and arrogant he had been. Heero shook his head and knocked again, a little louder this time. A voice was raised inside and he heard a faint "I'm coming!" before he heard steps on creaking floorboards and a scraping noise as someone removed the hook from the security lock. Shortly after, the door opened and a man looked at him with skepticism, if not out right hostility.
"What do you want?" The angry tone made Heero wish for his Arabian partner who usually dealt with this kind of people. He tried to remember how Quatre acted in such awkward moments and did his best to imitate him. A smile here, a nice touching gesture there combined with a little introducing sentence, and he'd have Mr. Iwata wrapped around his finger.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Iwata. I'm agent Yuy and I work for the Crime Investigation Unit. Due to the investigation of the death of your son Shuichi, I have to ask you a few questions to help-"
"Aren't you a bit young?" Heero inwardly sighed as Mr. Iwata interrupted him, especially since the question was as well-known to him as was his response.
"I assure you, Mr. Iwata, that I am very experienced and confident that if you answer a few questions we can solve the case in no time." The little edge, the reprimanding tone - Heero had perfected the answer to the last detail and hated himself for it. He had seen more cruel things than most of his colleagues, but the men in uniform still got more recognition at what they did than anyone in Lady Une's team. The solved cases didn't count, neither did the number of arrests. What counted were the print media's articles about 'a bunch of kids' playing detectives in the police force's backyard. Mr. Iwata must have recognized his slight frown and bowed slightly.
"Sure. Come in, please." Mr. Iwata moved aside, and Heero stepped into the apartment, politely leaving his shoes at the foot of the step before walking into the living room, where a grieving woman sat on a cushion.
He bowed to her, silently paying respect to the dead son. He looked at the couple seated on the cushions in the living room, and knew what they thought. He had seen those forlorn looks many times. In their own self-scrutinizing observations, they had committed the worst crime of all - they had survived their child. The father probably thought about his family's future, about the loss of his heir while the woman was plagued by more 'what-if' questions than any history professor. They would blame themselves until assured that it had not been their fault and even then they would be weighed down by guilt for the rest of their lives. Heero waited another minute before beginning to ask his questions.
The family had gotten a visit from a police officer, telling them that their son had died whilst riding his motorbike. While waiting at a crossing for the green light, he had suffered a heart attack and died before the ambulance could save him. The devastating news was followed by the request to identify Shuichi, something the father had done alone to spare his wife the hard task, especially since the police officer had taken him aside and told him that this would not be something he would want his wife to go through. In the end, he was glad that he had gone alone. The dead body, the twisted features didn't look like his son at all, but the cross around his neck and the telltale scar on his chin finally left no doubt that it was his son lying on the cold, impersonal examination table. Mr. Iwata had thrown up in the morgue, ashamed that he couldn't take the sight of his own flesh and blood.
From what the parents could tell him, he learned that Shuichi had been on a little vacation in a holiday resort somewhere north of Tokyo the weekend before he died a gruesome death. He had borrowed his cousin's membership card to get a cheaper room. He had shown no signs of a viral infection and nothing in his room shed any light on the reason for his sudden death. A few magazines with oddly scratched faces were the only out-of-place things Heero could put a finger on.
Thanking the couple, he left the apartment - hoping that his partner had found something more valuable to their research. Before reaching his car, he had already dialed the number on the calling card Duo had left for him and waited patiently for the other man to pick up.
"Maxwell?" Yuy shook his head; the traditional answer to a phone call was too familiar. This was not the behavior he would have expected from his supposedly American partner. While waiting for the other one to talk, he walked toward his car and opened the door.
"Oh, hey Yuy. Found something out?"
"Yes. Iwata was indeed in the holiday resort one week before his death with his friends Nomi, Une and Tsuji, using his cousin's membership card. The resort would've been too expensive otherwise." Heero sat down in the driver's seat and placed the mobile into the car's internal com system. A crackle interrupted Duo's answer, but not for long.
"-oo expensive huh? That could imply that the family of the young boy had a membership too. Do you have his name?" Duo's voice broke through the speakers, leaving Heero with the feeling that his partner sat right beside him. Resisting the urge to turn his head to look at the passenger's seat, he responded quickly.
"Of course. One moment." Heero grabbed his bag from the backseat and flung it onto the empty seat next to him. He quickly flipped through his notes and finally came up with the requested name.
"Takuto Matô is the name of the father. The boy's name was Itsumi. I'm going to visit the family now. If there were no deaths before then, the boy might have recorded the video."
"Of course! I hadn't thought of that." Duo paused a moment. Heero could hear the hooting of a car and Duo cursing slightly. Obviously he was caught in traffic. "I'm done with Haruko Tsuji. Don't bother asking Nomi's family about the relationship of their son. They wouldn't know a thing because the kids kept it a secret. I doubt even their friends knew what was going on."
"Okay. What are you going to do now? Check on Midii's family?"
"Nope. I got enough information from the boss about her niece."
"So what are you going to do?" Heero asked. The long pause irked him. If Maxwell didn't tell him right away he had to feel uncomfortable about the topic, obviously so because he usually was very forward.
"I'm going to look for the video."
Something inside Heero wanted to yell 'No!' but he kept his cool façade and voiced his assent. The only question left he would have to ask would have been a simple one if the positive answer didn't imply a death sentence.
"Are you going to watch it?"
The pause at the other end was uncomfortable, but firm, "Yes. If it exists, yes. I'm not sure there exists a video yet, so either way I'll be back tomorrow, whether I find the video or not. I might need our media tech lab, so make sure I have an empty room by tomorrow at about three P.M."
"Maxwell, if there is a video, don't watch it there. Wait until you're back and we have the lab for research." Heero didn't know why, but somehow he feared that their videotape-theory wasn't only a theory anymore. He had to trust Maxwell not to do anything stupid, but if he watched the thing at the resort, he would lose half a day.
"Okay, okay. You don't do anything stupid either." Heero's eyes widened at the response. He had not just voiced his concern aloud, had he?
"Duo, I'm serious."
"Me too. I can't promise that I won't watch it because someone has to and I don't want you to risk your life because of a stupid theory of mine that might or might not be true."
After he had disconnected the line, Heero immediately called Mr. Matô to get more information on his son's death. He couldn't get much data on the boy's autopsy report but his father surely had more information, especially if the boy had watched a video. After a few rings, a female voice finally picked up the receiver.
"Matô. Sayami speaking."
Heero was instantly discouraged. If the parents had divorced after the boy's death, something that was not uncommon after the loss of a child, he would have to deal with the mother because he didn't have Takuto's telephone number.
"Can I speak to your husband, please?"
"Of course. Wait just a minute. I'll get him for you." Heero's shoulders slumped in relief. A hysterical woman sobbing in his ear was the last thing he'd wanted to hear. Hopefully the father would provide him with useful information.
"Takuto Matô speaking."
"Hello, I'm agent Yuy. I work for the Crime Investigation Unit and we are currently researching a case that might have a connection to the death of your son. If you would please answer a few questions for me it would be very helpful."
"Of course. Please, go ahead."
Heero was glad that the man seemed to be emotionally strong enough to go through the details with him. " Is it true that you were on a vacation at the Pacific Holiday Resort in south Hakone one week before his death?"
"Yes, how did you-"
Heero's breath hitched. Could it be true? "Did your son watch a video while you were at the resort or did he record anything?"
"Yes, indeed, he did record something."
Heero let out a deep breath. This was both good and bad news. He would have to decide later which one exactly. Good news because it was a definite lead, bad news because it lead to a very mysterious solution. If he was right, Duo was currently signing his death sentence.
"Did any of you watch this video and when exactly did he watch it?"
"He was the only one, because we were all out to play tennis. He watched it on our last day, must have been six or seven days before-" Matô choked on a sob.
"I understand, Mr. Matô, and I appreciate your help, I know it must be hard for you to-"
"You have no idea what it's like to lose your child, agent Yuy. Those words aren't as consoling as people are led to believe.”
"I didn't want to imply anything. I apologize. A few more questions, then I'll leave you alone again." He paused to let Mr. Matô voice his consent, but nothing happened. Heero only needed one more answer. The answer as to who had started the craze. "Did your son bring the video himself?"
"Yes, he did. He brought an empty tape to record his favorite show. He did so, and the next day he watched it. Why are you asking all these questions? Is his death somehow related to that video?"
"I am currently restricted and can't tell you exactly what I am researching, I'm afraid. I am very grateful for your help. If we find something out, we will tell you before releasing the information to the media. Good day."
"Wait! Mr. Yuy? Mr. Yuy!"
Heero didn't reply. Right now, getting to this holiday resort was more important than answering Mr. Matô's questions.
While Takuto Matô was still wondering about the connection between the death of his son and the video, Heero was already on his way out of the city, following his partner to keep him from watching the video. He opened the line and requested a call to 'Maxwell, Duo' via voice command. A minute later, a female voice expressed her regret.
"Caller could not be located. Please try again later."
"Shit." Heero grumbled and sped the car up. He had to warn the other man, or else they wouldn't have enough time to solve the case. Suddenly, the mobile beeped and the monotone voice announced an incoming call. Before the caller's name had been transmitted, he had already picked up.
"Duo! Don't wat-" His exclamation wasn't lost to the caller and he was interrupted by Wufei's calm voice.
"Yuy, it's just me. I gather you had no luck reaching Maxwell either, did you?" If Yuy's tone hadn't been so urgent, he'd have made fun of him, trying to banter with his friend's current partner, but the concern in Heero's voice had chased away any wish for jokes right now. He realized that Heero was worried for Duo and if Heero was worried, then Wufei didn't really want to know what his friend had gotten himself into.
"No. You've tried to reach him too?"
"Yeah. I wanted to ask him about the case. How's the investigation going?"
"We're currently trying to find out more about a video that might or might not kill people."
"Yuy, don't be ridiculous. Don't tell me you believe that too." Wufei waited for the quick rejection he was sure would follow, but none came. "Yuy?" Now he was worried. "That's a bad joke, right?"
"No, I'm afraid it isn't."
"So, you have proof that it was really a video that killed those four teenagers?"
"And a little boy." Heero added dryly, but calmed down quickly. "If it really kills, we're going to see in seven days."
Surprised, Wufei's eyebrows shot up at that last statement. "Why?" Suddenly, realization dawned on him. Heero had desperately tried to warn Duo, of course, and it fit that Duo would do such a stupid thing. "Don't tell me that-"
"-Duo is about to watch it. Yes. He's heading for Holiday Resort Pacific in South Hakone and obviously the signal is too weak there. Since I can't reach him, I can't warn him about the new information I just received." Wufei didn't like Heero's defeated tone at all and hissed angrily.
"Don't even think of giving up. You have to find out how to prevent that curse from implementing itself! The solution must be on the video itself. Trust yourself, and trust Duo. I will have your ass if you let my friend die."
"I-" Heero paused. Trust Duo? "I won't disappoint you." He finally managed to say it. He didn't want Duo to die either.
"Good."
Heero thought about it. Did he trust Duo? Trust was never given freely; it was something to be earned, and he didn't know the other man well enough to trust him. He didn't even like Maxwell. Duo. He wasn't sure why he had suddenly started using the American's first name instead of Maxwell. Probably because it was shorter and easier to pronounce. Suddenly, he became aware that he had never bothered to look into the other man's personal files. He didn't even know what had caused the severe dislike between them. Of course, the fact that Duo seemed to have half the unit against him had to play a part in that. He had heard the rumors that the other man had slept his way up the departments, even though now that seemed a little unlikely.
He remembered the first time he had seen the American on a rescue mission to get Wufei's team out of a hairy situation. An insignificant mission, where the American seemed to be too stubborn to give up his place at the shooting front when he wasn't even properly armored against fire. That was the first thing Heero could hold against Duo. Ridiculous stubbornness, when there had been better men to take the job.
He had not really recognized Duo's presence back then, even though they had worked on the same floor in the CIU, in the same department, and occasionally on bigger missions on the same team. Duo had seemed almost invisible, letting Wufei do all the talking for him. Heero himself had been good friends with Chang, always listening to stories the Chinese man told about his partner, admiring the changes his friend's partner had brought about. Wufei had started to be a little more open and outgoing, something Heero hadn't thought possible. He had always assumed Duo gave private, unwanted therapy, something Wufei clearly didn't need. To him, Duo seemed like any other meddling psychology student playing agent.
The time that had brought the big change in his view of Maxwell was when Relena had started accusing Maxwell of using her brother for getting a better position in the CIU. That was when he'd started to see the other's behavior as unprofessional. Heero wondered why Maxwell had never justified himself. He also wondered why his and Wufei's friendship had ended one of these days. Was it his own fault? Wufei had taken sides with Maxwell and accused Relena of being a liar. Heero had secretly assumed that the poor woman was just shocked about her brother's sexuality, but the fact that Maxwell's behavior was unprofessional remained. One simply didn't have sexual relations with superior agents. Merquise should have known that too.
When his mind went back to the conversation he'd had with Wufei, he realized that the call had been disconnected from the other side. He didn't even know what Wufei had said afterwards but obviously it hadn't been very important. Heero had long since left the city of Tokyo behind him and was now on the highway to south Hakone. He didn't want Duo to go there alone. He didn't want Duo to go there at all.
+
Wufei entered the room and was immediately greeted by his commander's cool voice. "Chang, am I ever glad to see you. What do we have?" Lady Une leaned on the edge of the desk outside of the press conference room. Quatre Winner sat in one of the chairs in front of her, holding a manila folder. Wufei took the scene in and had a hard time trying not to smirk. As always, Winner prepared the conference, marking what Lady Une could and couldn't say without worsening her reputation as the dragon of Tokyo.
"Not much, I'm afraid." Wufei closed the door behind him and looked at the display of the video phone on the desk. The ten-second delayed video of the security camera showed that a hungry crowd of reporters was waiting in the conference room and he almost pitied his commander for having to deal with them. "I talked to Yuy, but he couldn't say much." He paused, waiting for his commander to sigh or bite her fingernails as she always did when she was nervous and didn't have enough information. She showed a calm outer posture, but inside she was fuming, something that easily showed in the nervous habits she had picked up over the years.
Suddenly, Quatre's voice interrupted the silence politely and calmly as ever. "What did Heero say?"
"Basically he's afraid that Duo will watch the video."
"No!" Commander Une interrupted. "Don't tell me Yuy believes that impractical shit too!" Her voice was desperate and she quickly shoved her hand back into the folded position her arms had had before she had started biting her nails again. She had hoped that with Yuy's down-to-earth thinking and Maxwell's brilliance, they would be able to solve the case without stating that there was a killer video out there somewhere.
"Yes, I'm afraid so."
"What did Maxwell say to all this?" Lady Une sighed. This was not good if her elite was hunting after supernatural explanations. She hoped that at least Maxwell had a <I>theory</I> of what might have happened without using aliens somewhere in his explanation.
"I didn't have a chance to talk to him because his phone was out of range or something. Couldn't reach him."
Lady Une grabbed the folder out of Quatre's hand and straightened herself. She had one last question for the Chinese agent. "Do you believe them?"
"Yes. Yes I do."
"Ah. Well. Let's hope we're wrong then, right?"
Silently, she watched the two men nod, each of them worrying for their partner. She saluted sloppily as she always did before facing the press and braced herself for the verbal battle in the upcoming conference. She had almost wanted to throw Winner out to the lions, but it wouldn't have been fair. One look at his face and she had been discouraged to do so. After all, this was part of her job as head of the Crime Investigation Unit and she would not cower in front of a few reporters. Licking her lips, she snarled and entered the conference room. As soon as she was out of the room, Quatre and Wufei started to chuckle.
"She's precious, isn't she?" Quatre managed between two breaths.
"Yeah. She's great." They quickly calmed down, each of them thinking about what could happen to them if Lady Une found out that she was the source of their amusement.
"We have to do something, Wufei. Help them with the investigation or something. If Duo really watches it, he's in deep shit and, personally, I don't think Heero will keep away from it either. He will watch it, if only to prove to himself that he's not a coward."
"That's something he would do, wouldn't he?" Wufei sighed as he saw Quatre nod in confirmation. Enough to lose one of their team, but two? Their team fit together so perfectly now, he didn't want a new partner.
"Stop thinking like that." Quatre interrupted Wufei's thoughts, already knowing what went through the Chinese man's head. "Heero and Duo will know what to do and we're going to help them. Before they're back, we can search the newspaper clips of the past years for any peculiar things that happened in the south Hakone area. Anything that happened there since we don't know the connection yet. I won't let them die."
"You're right." Wufei watched Quatre stand up and took in the calm posture of the other agent. He had never asked Winner why he had chosen Tokyo as his department, but then he decided it wasn't really his business. Right now, Quatre Winner looked like a predator, intimidating and determined. "Let's go hunting." He smiled slightly, winking at his partner.
Quatre looked at Wufei, clearly puzzled; but then smiled. He remembered how Duo had once told him that he wouldn't want to be the prey if Quatre Winner was on the warpath. His smile widened and ended in a hearty laugh. Obviously he really looked dangerous when determined. Laughing, he went for the door, expecting his current partner to follow him. They would have fun working together, and if Lady Une's somewhat evil plan to make the other two agents something like friends worked, he would be paired with Wufei permanently, so it was a good thing they understood each other. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his partner follow him, swinging his car keys on his finger. An unspoken request and Quatre nodded to himself. Yes, they did understand each other.
+
The car raced through the rain, heading toward the Holiday Resort Pacific located in south Hakone. On the inside of the vehicle, a CD with modern rock was blaring out of the speakers, and Duo sang along while speeding the car up. By now it was six P.M. and the night had already settled. He hadn't even seen the sunset because of the dark clouds in the sky.
He had a hard time trying to read what was on the sign that was above his head because of the frantic windshield wiper movements but when he slowed the car down he identified the kanji: south Hakone, only 29 miles.
He looked at the map again and tried to find the street to the holiday resort. It had to be a small road, because the line was hardly visible on the paper. When the CD had finished the last song, the car became silent, a silence that was eating at Duo.
Gone was the flippant behavior from earlier and his mind was racing again. If the boy had forgotten the video in the room, and the four teenagers had been the next guests, the room they had stayed in was probably one of the cheaper ones. He would take the same room, just to be sure that he didn't miss anything important.
Duo's eyes left the road for a moment as he searched the seat next to him for the mobile he had dumped there earlier with his wallet. He wanted to talk to someone, to call Wufei to get an unbiased view on the case or at least to hear his voice. He hoped he wouldn't interrupt Wufei's quality time with his wife but, knowing the other man, he was probably still in the bureau doing some paperwork Duo had left before disappearing. As Duo straightened again, he realized with a shock that the car had swerved dangerously to the middle of the road. Jerking the steering wheel back, he almost lost control on the wet street. Quickly, he stepped on the brakes and tried to slow the drifting car down. Another car sped by, honking like mad. Duo muttered a few curses and picked up the phone only to discover that it was obviously broken. The crash to the floor hadn't done any good to the battered old mobile. Desperate, he closed his eyes and revved the engine back up. He would not let this incident irritate him. Focusing on the wet street, he sped the car up again, continuing on his way to the resort.
Half an hour later he sighed in relief as the toll gate of Hakone came up. He slowed down, glad that he finally saw another human being again, as the long silence in the car had gotten on his nerves. While he searched for his money, he bantered with the officer, who was much nicer after he had declared that he was a CIU agent on a mission rather than a bored businessman. Before he had left again, he had asked for the way to the resort and the officer was happy to inform him.
The driveway to the holiday resort was nothing more than a small alley on the left side of the road. He would've missed it had the man at the toll gate not given him excellent directions. Duo slowly drove through the wilderness and wondered if this wasn't the backdoor of the whole resort, since the road wasn't exactly something one expected from a club that was almost not affordable if one wasn't a member of the exclusive society. The officer at the gate had probably thought he was on a secret mission and recommended going in from the back. Duo involuntarily had to chuckle. He enjoyed the respect and awe he saw in the eyes of some people as soon as he told them whom he worked for, even if not many appreciated 'Lady Une's Kindergarten' as the media denounced them.
Lady Une, the dragon of Tokyo. That's what the criminals told their children at night when they were too old to believe in the boogeyman, an informant once had confided to him. Duo didn't think of her that way. Since the embarrassing incident with Zechs two years ago, he considered her a good friend. After another curve in the road, he saw the floodlit parking lot of the resort. Still smiling, he parked the car in front of what looked like the main building and shut the engine down. He stayed in the seat a few minutes, calming his mind as he watched a few people walk by. He saw two women with tennis rackets chatting excitedly as they walked to their room, a family heading toward what had to be the restaurant, and several other people he gave no attention to. Sorting out his mind and getting rid of the trash that had been dumped there was necessary for him to be able to work at one hundred percent, which he intended to do.
As a trained profiler, he could slip into the mind of other people with ease and right now he could almost feel the presence of the four teenagers. They had joked and laughed, some of them glad to have tricked their parents into believing that they spent the night at their friends' houses. The resort, with its surrounding woods, must have looked like the perfect place to spend the weekend. They would have bantered, thrown innuendos around and hoped the card would be up to date so they didn't have to pay the full price.
This in mind, Duo exited the car and walked up to the bureau, a nice, big house that looked American if he had any say, even though he didn't really know what led him to believe so. He had never been to America, but from the tales about the cowboys his father had told him, he had the image of a farm house burned into his mind, and this looked like one. Pushing his own memories aside, he concentrated on the task at hand. He entered the building through one of the large glass doors and was greeted by an empty receptionist's desk. Loud voices could be heard from a room in the back and the flickering of the television told him that the receptionist was watching a video. Duo didn't mind because it provided him with the opportunity to go through the last entries in the guest book without asking.
Calculating the date the teenagers had been here, he flipped the book open. On August 28, a certain Yuki Nagayama had signed in, but the signature was obviously faked by Shuichi Iwata because if he remembered right, the signature didn't look like the one on the membership card he had found in Iwata's wallet. He had expected that though. It was no surprise. They hadn't taken a room in the hotel building, but a little hut. On the wall, he could see multiple pictures of the resort, including one of the huts at the edge of the woods. Number 14 wouldn't be too hard to find. It was near the parking area. They had probably taken that one because it was cheaper.
Out of curiosity, he followed his instinct and went back in the book's entries and soon found Matô's entry who had taken the same hut. Silently he wondered if Heero had found the same things out. This was the connection they had searched for! His train of thought was interrupted by a cough. Startled, he looked up and found the slightly annoyed face of the receptionist in front of his. Locking eye contact, Duo tried his flirtiest smile to cover his slip. That the receptionist seemed straight and certainly not interested in him, didn't count. A flirty smile looked nice, no matter what the situation. He just wanted to get to the room and start his investigation.
"Hi!" Duo cut back his exuberant smile a bit and spun a story about how long he had driven and how he longed for a good night's sleep without sounding too suspicious. The receptionist threw him an odd glance when he announced that he wanted to take a hut all alone, and an even more curious look when he specifically requested hut 14. Duo quickly told him about his friend's recommendation and hoped to ease the receptionist's suspicion.
"There is everything you need in this hut, including a little kitchenette, a fully equipped bathroom, and a TV set." The receptionist didn't believe Duo's reasons, but the hut was more expensive and who was he to complain about singles taking family rooms.
Duo pretended to be surprised and his eyebrows shot up. "You have video recorders here?"
"Yes. In fact, it's the only way to watch TV here because we're in a static hole. We can't get any frequencies in. If you want to use the TV, you'll have to borrow a video from the library. You'll find it when you walk out that door, turn to the left and enter the first door you see. You can’t possibly miss it." The receptionist sounded like a recording. Duo was sure the poor man had had to explain the situation thousands of times before.
"Thank you very much." Duo smiled and waited for the receptionist to prepare the form for him to sign. He searched his pocket for a pen and flipped the book open to sign it. Before he even knew what to write, he had already signed and filled in the information on room and date of his visit. Duo Imotoya-Maxwell, September 15, Hut 14. He quietly wondered if he would live to see September 23, but then discarded the thought as unprofessional. He had a case to solve. Still, he couldn't stop wondering if he had just signed his death sentence. A shudder wracked his body and he looked up at the receptionist who eyed him with a skeptical glance. Duo put on a smile again and gave the man his credit card.
After they had taken care of the formalities, Duo left the bureau and went to his car. Before backing up and leaving the lot to park the car closer to the hut he would be staying in, he took a look at the door the receptionist had pointed out. He would search the TV set in the hut first in case the kids had left it in the room before looking for it in the library. Maybe he would find the solution to the whole mystery in the hut, so he wouldn't have to take the existence of a Killer-Video into consideration.
Slowly driving in the near-complete darkness, he searched for the shape of the huts in the darkness. When he finally encountered one, he parked the car again and got out, taking his bag of spare clothing that he always carried in the trunk with him. It would be cold in there, and the shirt he wore underneath his CIU jacket wasn't exactly warm. After he had locked the car, Duo left the parking lot for hut number fourteen. He wasn't sure what he expected. He just knew that all leads led to this resort, and that the solution to the case would be found here, if he was still alive then or not. Maybe he would have to write his observations down so Yuy could finish what he had started.
Looking at the old wooden door, Duo sighed. This hut was the key to the whole mystery. Whatever the solution was, it would be found behind that door.
A hundred and twenty-eight kilometers away, Yuy cursed his car for being so slow. This was ridiculous, racing after his partner to prevent him from watching a video. Why? Why did he worry about it? He shouldn't care if Maxwell watched the video or not. It wasn't his problem!
+
Duo stepped into the darkness and searched for the light switch. He found it nestled behind the curtain and flicked it on. The room was decorated nicely, the red furniture being a nice contrast to the dark wood of the walls, floor, and ceiling. Somewhere in here, he thought, he would solve the mystery. With a thud, he set his bag down and began to analyze the room more closely. The TV set with the VCR was on the left wall in front of the couch. On the small TV table was a leather-bound ledger. Duo flipped through the pages, searching for the teenagers' entry. Matô's son wouldn't have left any sort of noteworthy entry, but maybe the teenagers had. The hut didn't have many guests this season. The teenagers, in fact, had been the last to spend the night there. He flipped through the book until he came to the last entry. "Only watch it if you don't have a weak stomach." Shaking his head, Duo suppressed a slight shudder.
He flipped through the pages, but there were no more entries that had anything to do with the video. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was already seven P.M. The long drive had made him tired, and he longed for a soft bed. He scanned the room quickly, but other than a strange photograph of a tree with red leaves that looked like they were on fire, there was nothing peculiar. He looked out of the window before closing the curtains and saw the strange tree on a hill nearby. He imagined the way the sun would look and was sure that the picture had been taken from the veranda of the hut during sunset. The tree looked like a Japanese Maple to him, but he wasn't sure. The room held nothing else even remotely interesting, so he went for the last straw. The video rental. If there was no video there, he would just show his CIU badge and search the whole place. There had to be something.
Duo left the room and went across the parking lot to the main building, where the library was located, to search for the video. The parking lot was flood-light, and he found his way easily to the door the receptionist had pointed out. The room wasn't even locked, which made Duo even more curious. He hated people who trusted too easily, simply because they were too suspicious. The room was lit, giving evidence to the theory that the housekeeper hadn't made his last round yet. The video rental cupboards were on the right, clearly marked as such. Duo flipped through the titles. 'Dancing With Wolves' gave way to 'Robocop' and a large number of Asian action movies. Shaking his head over the odd assortment of titles, he went for the more hidden boxes. In one of the lower cupboards, he finally found a video without any title or cover. The black cassette told him that it was for home recording purposes, so he picked it. Scanning the rest of the cassettes, he decided to take only this one, as it seemed the most likely. He hated the thought of having to go through all of them just to find the right one, or the embarrassment of having done all the work while the solution to the case wasn't in a video at all. He turned sharply and left the strange room quickly. It was only dimly lit and the strange feeling that had settled in his stomach as soon as he had entered the hut hadn't left yet. Nervous, and trying had not to show it, he jogged back to hut number fourteen.
Settling down in front of the TV, Duo shoved his glasses up onto his nose. He was naturally far-sighted and therefore a very good shot, but if someone gave him a menu at a restaurant he was helpless. Shaking his head ruefully, he took the video cassette and shoved it into the recorder. He picked up the remote control from the table behind him and flicked the TV on. The screen showed static, just like the receptionist had announced it would. The resort was in a static hole. This made Duo even more curious as to how the video had been recorded in the first place. It couldn't have been recorded here. He pressed play. At first he thought that the player wasn't working. Just as he was losing patience, he noticed that the static had changed slightly, more darkness or less white spots, something was different.
Suddenly, the screen went black and a white ring appeared on the display. The picture was slightly shaking, and the ring wasn't completely smooth but a bit smudged at the outer edges. The picture changed into water, or what appeared to be water. Somehow it was red. Bloody, red, angry, gurgling water.
Rapidly, the picture changed. It was clear that the rest of the video would mostly be black and white, because any color was absent from the scenes. A chair in an empty white room. Suddenly, the screen seemed black but thick white streaks moved from the upper to the lower half. When the camera moved farther away, the picture cleared up and it showed a woman brushing her hair in front of an oval shaped mirror, smiling at the viewer. Just as her expression changed into a more serious, almost shocked, look, the view swerved to the left and revealed the picture of the same mirror, showing a small figure with long black hair in a white nightgown. The first and the last image seemed to overlap and the woman turned, now smiling at what had to be a child in the left mirror. The video showed a grim-looking man watching the viewer from a first story house. The man suddenly vanished as the video cut. Only the traces of a slightly moving curtain showing that the man had stood there just a second ago. Next, the video showed a maritime scene, a shockingly realistic fly crawling across the screen, giving the viewer the compulsion to touch the screen to see if it was alive. The next scene was a horrible close-up of a monkey coughing something up. A calm, big eye relieved the terrible picture before. Another scene showed a finger, voluntarily breaking skin and nail by pressing a hard steel nail through it. Suddenly, the display was filled with maggots crawling over each other, changing into a mass of people writhing and crawling in a sea of mud. After that, the chair appeared again in the empty room, but this time, it was concealed by a table. The scene was followed by a tree, seemingly burning, sharply contrasted against an almost white background. The camera cut to an oversized bug crawled out from under the table, pushing the chair away with its impressively large body. After that, the woman was shown again, brushing her hair in the mirror, smiling at the viewer, a scene that was followed by a ladder leaning against an abstractly white wall. The video cut to the sight of bodies of dead horses swapping onto a beach at sunrise. Nearing the end, the scenes changed faster: a woman, obviously the same who brushed her hair before, jumping off a cliff, and the ladder falling onto an equally abstract white ground. The last scene showed an uncovered well in the middle of a meadow, surrounded by trees. The well was a circle made of white chalk stones about two feet high.
Then the video ended with more static. Dazed, Duo put his glasses onto the TV table and reached for the remote. He flicked the TV off and pulled the video out of the recorder. His mind was full of the pictures, each of them etched into his memory. What the hell had he just seen?
+ time left: 167 hours 35 minutes +
Heero raced through the woods surrounding the hotel area, cursing himself for being too slow. He had asked the officer at the toll gate for the way, showing his agent's badge. The man had immediately remembered the American man he had seen passing through just short of an hour ago, and advised Heero to take the same entrance to the resort. Half an hour later, he found the little path the officer had shown him, and he followed it further into the woods. The alley didn't have a concrete surface, and Heero got thrown around in the driver's seat, wishing for a Jeep like Duo's. After another curve he suddenly found himself in the parking area of the resort. He could see the main building but didn't park there; instead, he searched for his partner's black Jeep while driving through the rows of cars. There weren't many, but the darkness didn't help at all. Heero had almost given up any hope of finding it when he saw the reflection at the far end of the parking lot where the dim floodlight didn't reach. A quick glance at his watch told him that it was already seven thirty. The uneasy feeling in his stomach grew, and he sped the car up, parking it neatly next to Duo's black menace, as he had once heard Wufei call it. He grabbed his cell phone and jumped out of his car. Surprising himself, he didn't even check the car's security lock, simply clicking the button on his key holder and not sparing it another thought.
Hut number fourteen was the only one lit. Heero decided that this had to be the one Duo was in. Running toward it, he tried to think of a way he could explain to Duo why he was so upset, but found none. Quickly, he crossed the few steps up the veranda and knocked.
"Duo!" After the warning that it was him and not some stranger, he opened the door only to see Duo sitting in front of the TV, captured by the static.
"I-" Duo began slowly, his ghostly face turning toward Heero. "I'm not sure what I just saw." Heero moved toward his obviously dazed partner and lay his hand on Duo's shoulder. The video lay on the ground, Duo's fingers still around one end.
"Come, sit on the couch and explain." Heero tried his best to not show the uneasiness he felt, but comfort instead. Duo let himself be lifted by the strong hands gripping his shoulders and stood up, only to sit down on the couch behind him. Suddenly, the telephone rang. Duo jerked his head violently toward the screeching sound.
"Duo? Does anyone-"
"No. Probably the receptionist." Confused, Duo picked the receiver up and listened. Heero watched his partner's eyes widen and suddenly the longhaired man yelled into the receiver. "Who the fuck are you?"
After Duo had put the receiver down on the hook, Heero looked at him questioningly. "Who was that?"
"Seven days" Duo stated flatly. "We have seven days to find that out."
"Duo, what did the caller say?" Heero's voice seemed to bring Duo out of his strangely shocked state and he continued analytically.
"A child's whisper. Give me a few children's samples we have at the unit and I can tell you if it's a girl or a boy. Only said 'seven days'. I assume that even means the same hour. Time is 7:34. Date, September 15. On September 22, 7:35 you have to take over the case if I don't make it." Duo paused and looked directly at Heero. "Don't look at me like that! It is possible." After composing himself, Duo continued. "I will have to analyze the cassette and watch it again a few times to get all the hints. It's very disjointed and I don't think I got it all. We'll go back tomorrow. I need some sleep and you don't look that awake either."
"Okay." Heero looked at the ground. What else could he answer to that determined speech? He looked at Duo closely and could almost see the gears going in the other agent's head. For the first time in their partnership, Heero saw the real Duo Maxwell underneath the young man's 'devil may care' attitude. A mastermind who had earned his place in the elite of the CIU. Heero realized something else. He was glad that he could work with Duo on this case, because that was the only way that they had a real chance to solve the case <I>before</I> the 22nd . He sat down beside Duo on the couch and just looked at him.
"What is it?" Duo didn't like the way Heero was looking at him.
"I- I want to apologize." Heero looked frustrated at his own loss of words, and the surprised look on Duo's face didn't help at all.
"What for?" Duo was puzzled. This behavior was strange for his partner, at least as far as he could remember, since he had never known the other man very well.
"- For my hostile behavior. I didn't trust you. I never have since the rumors started. Now, I'm not s-"
"It's okay Heero." Duo smiled, a bitter farce of the smile he usually wore. "I don't mind you having prejudices. As long as you trust in my skills to solve this case." Duo paused for a moment before continuing. "Trust in my skills as a CIU agent, that's all I ask."
Heero was surprised as he heard himself reply. "Yes, I do trust you. And not only because Lady Une told me to do so."
Duo smiled, this time a real smile, and Heero was astonished at the difference that little detail could make. Duo's whole face seemed to lighten up; the half-lidded eyes, the slight wrinkles around his mouth. Heero could only answer the smile with one of his own.
Duo's next words surprised him. "You look nice when you smile." Obviously he had stopped though, because the next words Duo uttered were of deep distress. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have- I'm probably really tired." Quickly, Duo stood up and moved away from Heero. "I'll see you tomorrow then, alright- um, are there even two bedrooms?" Duo looked around, searching for another bedroom door, but found none.
"There are two queen sized beds in this one, so may I invite you into my bedroom?" Duo smirked, and waved at Heero. "I'll go to bed. Don't watch the video. I want us to have at least ten hours, if possible more in between."
"How did you-" Heero mumbled and raised an eyebrow, surprising himself with the question. He had just betrayed himself.
"Because that's just the way your brain works." Duo offered with a smile. "I can't keep you from watching it, but try to wait until we're back in Tokyo. If I die and you die half an hour later, our deaths serve no cause. If I die and you can find the solution in the next twelve or twenty-four hours, then the deaths will be done justice. If that helps any." Duo yawned and walked into the bathroom to brush his teeth and change into his night clothes, as far as one could call his training sweater and sweat pants 'night clothing'.
When he walked out a few minutes later, Heero still sat at his spot on the couch, staring at the wall. Duo slowly approached him and nudged Heero's shoulder. "Are you coming? I'm tired."
Heero had almost wanted to smile at the, for their usual correlation, uncommon gesture as he felt Duo withdraw his hand quickly as if burned. He turned, but the other man had already turned his back and retreated into the bedroom. Left on the couch, Heero suddenly felt very alone. He quickly followed his partner who had already dived under the covers as far as he could in the dark of the bedroom. He watched from the doorstep as Duo turned in the bed to face the window, drawing the bed sheets and the cover blanket over himself while he did so. A long rope of hair lay on the pillow, almost draped over it to show off its beauty. Heero was stunned. He had never really watched his partner's hair before but if the fluorescent light from the hall could put that many different shades of red into it, he didn't want to imagine what it must've looked like unbraided in the living sunlight.
Quietly, he switched the lights off and crept into his own bed to sleep. Soon, he lay on his back and listened to Duo's shallow, if ragged, breathing. Yes, the other man was definitely asleep. So calm, so incredibly quiet even though he knew the date of his potential death. Heero had expected Duo to do anything, any vigorous, nervous, or immature thing that would come to his mind, but not that calm demeanor. Didn't he fear death? Didn't he want to live? Heero let his eyes wander over to the faintly illuminated figure in the other bed and couldn't help wondering what made Duo so... different from all the other people he had met. Irritated by his own train of thought, he tossed and turned toward the wall, his back to the window. He had to concentrate on sleeping, or else he would be tired in the morning. Angrily, he kicked and shuffled the quilts until they were down at his feet. It was too hot in this room! Why did Duo make it look like the temperature was below thirty? Finally, Heero fell asleep, caught by his dreams.
time left: 164 hours 12 minutes
+ End Part 1 +
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