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"SHADOWS AND LIGHT: AN UNBREAKABLE BOND" Written By: Stone Angel
Please see Prologue for disclaimer, ratings and explanations. ^_^ AN:
SHADOWS AND LIGHT: AN UNBREAKABLE BOND:
Heero heard an engine in the driveway and stepped to the door to open it and peek outside. A dark colored Mercedes turned off and the lights went out. He smiled at Wufei and Trowa who stepped from the car and walked towards the house. He stepped aside and let them in, following and closing the door. "Did you all go to the same place?" Wufei shook his head. "Iye." "So you don't know when they'll be back?" Trowa shook his head. "No. They'll return soon, however." Heero smiled wryly. "So what do you guys want to do?" Wufei grunted: "sleep", and walked out to the other room. Trowa raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?" Heero smiled. "I'm just bored." He liked Trowa. They had had a few conversations at the party and they had really hit it off well. He was still slightly afraid of the French vampire but he was by far more comfortable around him that he had been with the others. In the basement, Trowa had never once suggested what Wufei and even Quatre had. Trowa's visible green eye sparkled slightly with a hinted smile. "I can understand that. What did you have in mind?" He shrugged. "Whatever. There isn't much more than TV here. Or reading. But Duo mostly has Shakespeare and I can hardly make heads or tails of most the stuff." Trowa's lips quirked into a small smile. "Do you play video games at all? I have a Playstation Two at home. I can easily go and retrieve it. Shall I?" Heero grinned. "Sure. That would be awesome. I didn't think any of you guys would be into video games." Trowa's eye twinkled again with amusement. "Of course. I get bored as well." He turned to the door and opened it. "I will be back shortly." And with that he stepped out. * * * After half an hour, Heero heard another engine in the driveway and ran outside to the passenger side of the BMW, opening the door. Duo smiled up at him. "Oi." "Oi." He pulled Duo up by his good arm and walked to the house, supporting him as they walked. Duo already looked better. He didn't seem so gaunt, and, even in the pale porch light, Heero could tell he had regained much of his color. His steps were surer, the strides more confident and stronger and he didn't seem so fatigued. His eyes were still lightly shaded and the lids drooped slightly, betraying his weariness. "You look exhausted." Duo nodded. "Ah. I can think of nothing better right now than to go to sleep in my own bed. Sorry." Heero shook his head as they stepped into the house. "It's Ok, Duo-kun. You need your sleep. I took a nap while you were out so I'm not tired." He said as he led him to his room and helped him onto the bed. Closing his eyes, Duo lay back against the pillow. "Yosha, Hee-kun. I'm gonna pass out now." "Not yet, you're not." Heero said as he raised him into a sitting position. He carefully removed his lover's usual shirt, pulling it over his head slowly, taking extra care with his left arm. He looked over the bandage and saw that it had a small spot of blood on it. "I'll change that for you." Duo nodded silently. Heero leaned down and kissed his crown tenderly before walking to the other room to get the bandaging supplies. He nearly ran into Quatre in the hallway. The blonde looked confused. "Where is Trowa? Wufei is here but Trowa-kun and his car are not." Heero smiled. "He went home to get something. He'll be back soon. He left about half an hour before you got back." Quatre nodded and smiled in thanks before turning to walk away. Heero stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder, biting back the ridiculous emotional discomfort the contact brought. Quatre turned wide, surprised eyes to him. "...Heero?" Heero smiled brightly as he spoke. "Thank you for taking him hunting." He whispered. Quatre smiled as well. "Nandemonai." Heero brought his hand back and dropped it to his side. "Even so. Thank you." Quatre smiled brightly as he waved it off and walked into the kitchen where Heero saw him plug in the heater and punch some numbers, seeming to program the machine. He walked into the living room and got the bandaging tape and gauze off the coffee table, quickly returning to his lover's room to see him still sitting and fighting a losing battle with unconsciousness. Duo looked up to him as he entered. Heero smiled sweetly. "I'll make it quick so you can go to sleep, K?" Duo nodded and smiled tiredly. "Arigato, Hee-kun." Quickly but carefully, Heero removed the bandage, setting it upon the nightstand in such a way that it rested on the dry parts. He looked back to the wound. It was noticeably smaller and seemed to be bleeding even less. "Segoi. It already looks much better, Duo-kun." Duo nodded. "Ah. I'll be fine within two week's time. This will be gone within one." Heero looked down to see that the ugly and painful looking bruise that had adorned his lover's ribs was gone. He gently ran a hand over the skin and Duo hissed through his teeth. "They're still broken, Hee-kun. They're just back into place now. But they still hurt." "Gomen, ne?" Heero took his hand away and began to bandage the smaller wound on his lover's breast. Duo looked like he was in pain but said nothing and stared forward. Heero did not miss the nervous tension in his lover's body but ignored it. After the wound was bandaged, Duo's eyes were drooping closed. Heero kissed his crown again before pulling the band from his hair and gently pushing him back to lie down. "Arigato, Hee-kun." Duo smiled slightly up at him before closing his eyes. Just like that, he was unconscious. Heero smiled and picked up the old bandage and the supplies, pitching the old bandage into the trash in the kitchen and putting the unused gauze and tape in the drawer in the bathroom so Wufei could have them at his disposal. He walked into the living room to see Quatre and Trowa locked in a kiss. He cleared his throat politely and smiled. The two parted guiltily and Quatre blushed as he looked at the floor. Trowa, as usual, looked passive but he had a faint smile. "Are you done?" As Quatre continued to gaze at the floor, Trowa nodded with a small smile. "For now." He said shamelessly as his eye twinkled. "I brought the Play Station. And the games I have." He gestured to the coffee table where Heero saw the gaming system accompanied by a small, gray trunk. "Can I?" Trowa's eye twinkled again and Heero knew he was laughing at him. "Certainly." Heero smiled and went to the trunk, opening it and looking inside. His jaw dropped. "Holy shit! I... I... ALL THESE ARE YOURS?!" Trowa smiled faintly. "Ah. Take your pick. I am skilled in each. I also bought some beer and popcorn." Heero grinned. "Alright! Thanks!" Trowa's lips quirked into a small smile while Quatre grinned. Heero looked over the games and selected one that could be played by two people at once. "How about this one?" Trowa smiled for real. "Yosha. IF you think you can beat me. I have been playing that game for a long time and have gotten good at it." Having no doubt heard Heero yelling, Wufei walked into the room with a curious expression warring with a scowl. The others in the room paid him merely a glance and Heero spoke. "I enjoy a challenge." * * * Duo was awakened from a lovely blackness by shouts, hollers and laughs from the other room. "What the hell?!" He carefully got out of bed and walked into the living room with the aid of the wall. He was not at all prepared for the scene that greeted him. His friends and his lover were all sitting on the couch or floor and watching the TV. No that wasn't right. They were playing a video game. As he looked about the room, he wanted to just go straight back to bed and pretend he hadn't. Empty beer cans, video games and their cases, stray kernels of popcorn that had escaped the bowl of the stuff on the coffee table, and various articles of heavy clothing that had been shed to better play the games with no distractions all lay strewn about the room. Four 'teenage boys', mortal or not, were either playing video games or hollering to the ones that were. Only four ‘boy’s. Only three hours. The place was a sty. "No! No! Trowa, look out for the divider!" Quatre yelled as he curled into a tighter ball and watched the screen through his fingers. Wufei shouted as he pointed at Heero when the blue car on the screen crashed head on into a tree on the side of the road. "You ate it so hard, Yuy!" "Oh, please, I'm doing so much better than you were. I had to take over. It was too painful to watch!" Wufei glared at him but the amusement in his eyes was plain for any to see. "People!" Four heads turned to him, all of them giggling like idiots. Heero spoke. "Hai, Koishi?" "This place is a train wreck! What the hell?!" Wufei scowled. "Maxwell, we'll clean up. Either take a seat or go back to bed." "Who could sleep with all this going on?" He grumbled. He looked to Heero and then the grandfather clock on the wall as he was unable to relinquish his hold on the doorjamb to check his watch. "Heero. You have school tomorrow. Isn't it late?" Heero smiled sheepishly. "I don't have to be up until Eleven." Duo looked at him incredulously. "It's Four in the morning!" "Aw, come on, Duo. We were just having fun. Just ten more minutes and then I'll go to bed. I promise, Koi. Ne?" He all but begged. Duo sighed and gave in to the puppy dog look Heero gave him. It was a mechanism rarely used. So he had no chance to build up an immunity to it. "Ok, Ok, turn off the water works." Heero grinned and the game resumed. "Trowa! No fair! You got a head start while I was distracted!" "You snooze, you lose, Heero." "Mou!" Duo smiled to himself as he watched the four of them interact. 'I'm glad he's not afraid of them. I guess this was a good thing. Even if he is tired during classes tomorrow. Not being terrified of friends is more important.' He grinned when Trowa's red car crashed into the divider and spun out of control with digital smoke coming off it and everyone either yelled or cheered. He wanted to stay and watch but he was still weak and standing took a lot of energy. So, regretfully, he made it back to his bed and fell asleep, smiling. 'All is right with the world.' * * * Duo heard Heero walk into the room and close the door behind himself quietly, quickly stripping to his boxers in the dark and nearly silently stalking to the bed to get in slowly. "So how was it?" Heero gasped. "I thought you were asleep." "Nope." He cast his eyes to the small clock by the bed before he grinned, though Heero couldn't see in the dark. He was able to make everything out perfectly in the darkness. Heero, on the other hand, was as blind as a bat. 'Blinder. Bats have Sonar.' "I woke up when the door opened. It's Five-thirty. What happened to 'ten minutes'?" He asked with a smirk as he put an arm around Heero when he got under the blanket. "Gomen, ne? We lost track of time." Duo chuckled and kissed his hair. "That's Ok. When I started to think about it, I realized that I am glad that you were comfortable enough around them to have fun. It was nice to see that." Heero nodded against him. "Ah." Duo rubbed his back with his good hand. He was in pain because he was lying on his broken arm and still sore shoulder but he ignored it. It was tolerable. He hummed low in his throat and Heero tightened his arms around him. "I'll wake you up at Eleven, ne?" "Ah. Arigato, Duo-kun." Heero pulled back enough to ghost a soft kiss over his lips before regaining his place at Duo's shoulder. He soon fell to sleep, lulled by Duo's humming. 'Baka.' He thought with a wisp of a smile as he kissed Heero's hair again. He called his eyes to glow, casting Heero's features in a violet light as he erected a shield in Heero's mind to protect against the nightmares he knew would come to haunt him in the night. He let his mind know he was there with him in his sleep to protect him and it kept the subconscious at ease. The nightmares would not be able to disturb his beloved's sleep tonight. He let his eyes return to normal, the room once again becoming dark as he snuggled closer to Heero, holding him tighter to himself, and kissed his neck where it met the shoulder. ‘"Oyasumi, Koi. Pleasant dreams."’ Heero moaned and cuddled closer to him, making him smile. His task of ensuring his lover's sleep was a peaceful one, he gave in to his exhaustion and slipped back into darkness. * * * "Alright, class. It's Three. I've kept you long enough." Heero picked up his backpack as did the rest of the students and began to pack his book and papers into it. "Mr. Yuy." 'Aw crap.' "Yes, Ms. Parrish?" He did not look up from packing his things. "I want to talk to you after the other students leave." He chanced an upward glance to see that she was scowling at him with stern eyes as she tapped her glasses against her upper arm. "Ok." The two waited as everyone left and he looked to his side to see Doug give him a sympathetic glance as he walked out the door. 'Oh, big help, Doug.' He couldn't blame the guy, however. NO ONE wanted to deal with Ms. Parrish unless they absolutely had to. 'Christ. HALF the class dropped within the first MONTH! How can they still be allowing her to teach?' He glared at a boy named Leo who gave him a snide look as he walked out the door. The boy was Heero's MALE human menace, tied with Relena for the tittle of "Biggest Pain in Heero's Ass". Once the classroom was vacant save for the instructor and himself, the repugnant twig of a woman spoke. "Mr. Yuy. I am sure you are well aware that you had a Fifty-three percent in this class." "Yes, Ms. Parrish, I know I ha... Wait. 'HAD'?" "Yes. You got a One Hundred percent on the last test and all the homework." She said as she glared at him. Without her glasses, her eyes seemed even beadier and colder. He blinked. "Oh. So what is my percentage now?" The woman's scowl deepened. "Seventy-two." Heero suppressed the urge to jump up and victory dance. "Really?" "Yes. And I am on to you." He blinked again. "Excuse me?" "I know you have help with this class. And I believe you have someone else do your homework." Heero wanted to laugh at her. "Ms. Parish, I do my own homework. I had someone help me with my study skills and things are much clearer now. And besides, how would I pass the tests?" She continued to scowl at him. "Mr. Yuy, you were doomed to fail this class. And suddenly you pass all assignments and tests with flying colors. That is not something a little help from a friend could do." 'You haven't met Duo.' He thought with a mental smirk. "What do you want me to say? I do all my assignments myself and I do not cheat on the tests. And I won't say otherwise." He said with a hint of a glare, telling her silently that he would not back down. She put her glasses back upon her nose and glared down at him from over the frames. "I have my eye on you, Mr. Yuy." He nodded and walked out of the room, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Doug was waiting for him outside. He looked up to him, not saying anything. "So what was that all about?" Asked his one best friend. Heero shrugged nonchalantly. "She was upset about me failing her class. Now she's upset because I'm passing." Doug chuckled. "She's just out to get you, man. That sucks." "Yeah." Heero pulled his soda out of is pack and took a sip as they walked to the parking lot. "So where have you been, man? I never see you anymore. The gang is getting worried. Matt's worried that you actually got laid. And we all miss your sorry, brooding, scowling ass." Heero shook his head. "Naw. I've just been really busy." "Sure. Buuuusyyyy." The boy poked his shoulder playfully. "Come on. You can tell me. It's a girl, isn't it?" Heero blushed. "No." Doug gave him a measuring look from the corners of his eyes. "Yuy, I've never seen you blush in... How long have we known each other?" "Eight months." "Eight months. I've never seen you blush and we've known each other for two thirds of a year. So who is she?" Heero stopped and turned to him. 'Should I tell him? Not that Duo is not human but that I'm in love with someone who is DEFINATELY not a girl. Doug's cool. He can handle it. He won't flip or anything.' "Um. Ok. Promise to keep a secret?" Doug crossed his heart and clamped his lips closed. Heero gazed at the ground, trying to figure out how to best word the sentence. "Um. Doug. You have to promise me not to freak out. Ok?" Doug nodded emphatically. "Of course. This IS me we're talking about, isn't it?" He grinned. Heero sighed and closed his eyes, speaking softly. "It... It's not a girl." Doug leaned closer, waiting for him to finish. "It's... A... .....Guy......" He opened his eyes and looked up to his oldest friend who had wide eyes. Doug made a slight surprised, choking sound. "You're kidding! Ha! I never would have guessed, Yuy!" Heero was surprised at the relief he felt that Doug had not gone postal at this little fact. "So... You're Ok with that?" Doug grinned. "What kind of friend would I be if I flipped over THAT? Please, Yuy, give me a LITTLE credit." He laughed again at Heero's relieved look. "My god, he has facial expressions after all. First a blush and now relief. Maybe someday, we'll move on to smiling. It's a big step though, so don't rush things." "Hn." Heero smiled inwardly as he began to walk forward to the parking lot again. "So how far have you gotten? Bases? I mean is it First, Second or ‘Ye Gads!’?" Heero blushed deeply again but spoke seriously. "Well THAT is none of your business." Doug grinned. "You dog!" He laughed. Heero wanted to smile at his friend’s antics. His friend calmed down somewhat. "So? He got a name? Or is he just 'Guy'?" Heero smiled slightly. "Duo Maxwell." The reaction was immediate. Doug stopped walking. Heero turned to him. Doug was very pale and staring at him with wide eyes. "Doug? What is it?" He had a bad feeling. Doug swallowed and stared at him for another moment before speaking. "....This guy.... Does he have a braid? And purple eyes?" Heero was just plain alarmed now. He nodded slowly. "How did you know that?" Wide eyed, Doug stared at the ground. "Yuy..." Heero growled. "Doug, I swear to god, if you don't cut out this suspense crap." He raised a fist. Doug looked back up at him. "What do you know about Duo?" Heero was taken aback by the question. 'What does HE know? I wish that mind reading stuff worked on people OTHER than Duo.' He decided to say something that would tell Doug everything but at the same time, reveal nothing. "Everything." Doug looked relieved AND more nervous. "Everything?" Heero scowled and approached his best friend, glaring up at the boy who was about six inches taller than he. "Doug. What are you getting at? Spill it. Now." Doug looked around. "Um. You might not know EVERYTHING, Heero." Heero knew what he was talking about but he was not about to say anything, just incase. He did NOT want to give anything away. "What do YOU know that you are not saying." Doug gave him a cautious look. "Um. I know he doesn't sunbathe." Heero stepped back. "Ok, Doug, this is creepy. What... How... Who...?" "Do you know what I'm talking about, Yuy?" The boy gave him a meaningful look. After a moment's pause, Heero nodded. Doug sighed. "Well that's good to know." "Ok. Stop." Heero glared at him anew. "Talk. Now." Looking around for listeners and finding no one close enough, Doug sighed again. "I know everything, Heero. You know I intern at the hospital. ...I supply that guy with blood." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ha! Ah the irony. Love it. I told you not to forget about poor old Doug. He’s another Key Player. He and the landlords are not prominent enough to be classified as Original Characters, but they are important. Did anyone else notice in Chapter 30 that Duo had thought about calling Doug to get another delivery? Well, did you? Ok, Ok. Go! No more suspense!
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