Haiku
Leviathan
Duo was having a hard time winning his battle to not fall asleep. English class was definitely not his thing. He glanced at the still form of his partner a desk ahead of him. Nothing fazed Heero Yuy, Perfect Soldier. Suddenly something the teacher, Ms. Matsu, said caught his attention.
"One of the traditional forms of Japanese poetry is the haiku, a small, three-lined poem." Wait a sec, Japanese poetry? Japanese as in Heero? Hm…maybe I'll pay attention for a bit…"The first line has five syllables, the second has seven, and the third has five. One of the most famous Japanese poets was Basho…" She droned on. Duo managed to pay some attention to her, but most of his conscious thought was focused on the dark-haired boy in front of him.
At the end of class, Ms. Matsu got around to giving them their assignment. "Now, I want all of you to try to write two haikus, I will not require them to have the traditional seasonal theme, or to be written in Japanese; English is fine. They'll be due tomorrow." The bell rang. The Shinigami pilot stood up slowly and ambled out the door, heading back to his dorm room because he didn't have any other classes for the rest of the day. Might as well get those haiku-thingys over with…He sat his books down on the desk, which was--for once--free of a laptop. They all had separate rooms this time, a fact Duo wasn't sure he was happy about. Separate rooms meant no seeing Heero sleep, no seeing Heero go into the bathroom to take a shower--Duo practically started drooling at the thought--no seeing Heero…do anything!
He plopped down in the chair and started to write.
Hm, lemme see, five syllables--he counted mentally. Yep…seven…uh huh…five again…okay, one down, one to go. The braided boy was just finishing as someone knocked on his door. "Coming," he called as he shoved back from the desk. He opened the door to find Quatre standing there, a piece of paper in hand and looking very frustrated.
"Duo! You have Ms. Matsu, right?"
"Um, yeah…" He moved aside so the blond could enter.
"I can't write these stupid haikus!" Duo tried to refrain from laughing, but couldn't. "It's not that funny, Duo," he said, looking faintly annoyed. "Have you written yours yet?"
"Heh heh, yeah, Q, they're over there," he pointed to the desk. "Why didn't you ask Trowa for help?"
"He doesn't have the same teacher. Mind if I read these?"
Duo gestured that he didn't care. "Whatever, I don't think I'll be a lot of help to you, though."
Quatre's eyes widened as he read the two poems.
Storm on the ocean
Lost in the depths of those eyes
Beautiful and cold
I do not exist
In your own secluded world
I want to be there
"Wow, Duo, these are really good," (Ok, minna-san, I KNOW they aren't, but play along, kudasai. ~Lev) Quatre said. "You miss rooming with Heero, don't you?"
"What?!" The violet-eyed boy yelped in response to both of the Arabian's comments.
Quatre ignored him. "I forgot we didn't have to do a seasonal theme…" At Duo's still-shocked expression he added, "What? Didn't you even read your haikus after you wrote them?"
The American snatched the paper from him and read through his own work again. Then he groaned. "I can't turn these in! Shimatta, I didn't even realize how pathetically love-sick they sounded."
Quatre grinned at him. "They may sound love-sick, but they really are good, Duo. Well, I have to go write mine now, ja!" After a little side trip to Heero's room, that is…He was out the door before Duo could say another word.
I can't turn these in! Duo thought in dismay, sitting down to try to write another haiku. Um…
Green frogs, a tan toad
He stopped. "That sucks. Maybe I will turn in the other two after all."
* * *
Heero sat at his desk, staring at his laptop, willing a message for a new mission to be there. Nothing. K'so.
He began to glare at the screen again, but was interrupted by knocking, so he glared at the door instead. The person knocked again. The Zero pilot got up and answered the door.
"Hi Heero! Hey, you have Ms. Matsu, right?" At Heero's nod, Quatre continued, "Can I see your haikus? I can't seem to get any ideas."
Heero shrugged and fished the paper out of his backpack, handing it to the Sandrock pilot. "They aren't very good." Quatre's eyes widened slightly as he read. Stealing this seems like such a good idea…o~oh Duo…guess wha~at! Snapping back to the present, he handed the paper back to Heero. "Um, thanks, Heero, I think I've got an idea now! Ja ne." He was gone in a flash. I won't tell either of them yet and see if they figure it out for themselves…
Heero shook his head. Sometimes it seems like Quatre has even more energy than Duo…
* * *
The next afternoon, Duo plodded slowly to English, trailing behind the Japanese boy.
"Duo, hurry up, we're going to be late."
The American started to grumble. "Oh, no, we're gonna be late for a stupid English class. The world is going to end." In reality, he was dreading handing in his haikus…he hadn't managed to write anything less sappy. Anything that was halfway decent, that is.
"Nani?"
Duo looked up to find cobalt eyes glaring at him. He swallowed hard. "Um, nothing."
Heero gave him a look that said 'oh, yeah, I really believe you,' but left it at that as they walked into the classroom three seconds before the bell.
Ms. Matsu was immediately clamoring for the students to all hand their haikus into her, to Duo's relief they didn't have to pass them up the rows--passing his up would involve handing the paper to Heero, which would not be a good thing.
"Well, class, I'll get your haikus back to you tomorrow. Now, today we're going to…" Duo tuned her out and spaced out, incredibly grateful that the woman hadn't mentioned anything about reading any out loud. In fact, the braided pilot was so lost in thought he didn't notice the bell ringing.
With a huff of frustration, Heero--who had almost been out the door--went back into the room and hauled Duo up by his braid. "Itai! Hanase!"
"Come on, baka, class is over."
The American turned an interesting shade of red. "Oh." He snatched his books up from the desk and followed Heero out. Smooth, Maxwell, real smooth. 'Oh, so sorry Heero, just daydreaming about you.' Oi. I need to do something to get my mind off of him!
* * *
"Well, class, it seems that we have two disguised romantics in our midst!" K'so! She better not be talking about the haikus! Duo held his breath. "I won't embarrass either of you, you know who you are. Both of your haikus were very well written." Thank god…
Ms. Matsu went on about the literary elements of a short story, giving them an assignment to complete in class. As they worked, she walked around the room, occasionally answering questions. As she was walking past Duo, she dropped a small note on his desk. Duo was too busy trying to figure out why she had done such a thing to see her give Heero a note, too. "See me after class." The chestnut-haired boy sighed. What have I done now? The bell rang and the all of the students filed out with the exception of Duo and Heero. I wonder why Heero's here…
"Thank you for staying, boys." The teacher flashed them a sunny grin. "Now, if you were paying attention in class, you'll recall what I said about the two people with exceptional haikus?" She looked pointedly at Duo when she said this. The American smiled innocently and nodded his head. Heero made some sort of affirmative gesture.
"I was wondering if either of you would be interested in submitting either of your haikus to a writing contest. Would you consider?" Duo's eyes grew very round as he turned to stare at the Japanese standing beside him. Heero had written something…something romantic?! "There's no need to give me an answer right away, I'll give you the weekend to think it over. I just thought I'd ask."
"Ummm, okay, I'll think about it…"
"Hn."
Duo rolled his eyes at Heero's patented response. There was no way he had written something romantic. Not Mr. If-you-don't-shut-up-I'll-kill-you. No way, no how.
"Here are your haikus," she said, handing the papers back to their respective owners. "Have a good weekend."
Duo grabbed his and shoved it in his book. If Heero saw it…he shuddered. If Heero saw it he'd somehow kill me with it. I'd die of paper cuts. He started to laugh, earning a puzzled look from the dark-haired boy as they walked to the dorm building.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothin'." He continued to laugh…Paper cuts! I'd die of paper cuts!
"Then why are you laughing?"
Duo contained his laughter. "Heh heh, nothin' Heero. Just forget it. Hey, what'd you write your haikus about? Never thought you'd write something 'romantic.'" The indigo-eyed boy was shocked to see Heero slowly turn a light shade of pink.
"Nothing," he mumbled.
Hmmm, how responsive. I wonder if he's really that dead-set on not letting me see them…"Hey, if I can read yours I'll let you read mine!"
The Japanese shook his head and stuffed the paper deep into his pocket.
"Ple~ease, Heero?"
"No."
Suddenly a revelation struck Duo like a ton of bricks. "They're about Relena, aren't they?" Heero looked up sharply and glared at the American. "Jeez, you don't gotta get protective about it."
"They aren't about Relena."
Duo saw an opening and went for it. "Su~ure they aren't."
"They aren't."
"Uh huh…that's why you won't let me see 'em, isn't it? Gonna give 'em to Relena-san, huh?" He strained to keep the bitterness out of his tone, not quite succeeding and earning another sharp glance from the cobalt-eyed boy walking beside him.
"Duo. They. Aren't. About. Relena."
"So let me see them!"
"No."
"Why not?!"
Silence.
"Argh! I give up! Go give them to your little girlfriend for all I care!" Thankful that they had reached his room, Duo threw the door open and slammed it in Heero's face. Once safely inside, he slumped against a wall and slid to the floor, hugging his knees to his chest, silent tears coursing down his cheeks. Dammit, why am I crying? I knew he'd never return any sort of feelings for me! He scrubbed furiously at the liquid leaking from his indigo eyes. Then why does it hurt so much?
Unbeknownst to Duo, Heero was still standing in the hallway, staring at the closed door. Sighing, he took the poems and another small scrap of paper out of his pocket along with a pen. He quickly scribbled a note onto the small scrap and shoved both of the papers under the door. He walked away and went into his room.
The Deathscythe pilot looked up when he heard a slight scratching sound, spotting a paper that had been shoved under his door. Curious, he crawled over and picked it up, also picking up a smaller paper that rested on top of the larger sheet.
Duo-
If you really want to read them that much, they're on the other paper. You probably won't like what you see, so consider this a warning and an apology in advance.
-Heero
PS I did warn you.
With a growing feeling of apprehension, Duo looked at the other paper.
Warring violet-blue
Cheerful nature never fades
Smile to melt hearts
Total chaos reigns
When I feel a violet gaze
You are unaware
Huh?! Relena doesn't have violet eyes…who could he be talking about? (Um, sorry for making Duo sound so clueless…heh heh… ~Lev) Still puzzling over this, he started out into the hallway to give Heero back his paper. He stopped to look in the mirror on the wall next to his door to make sure his appearance didn't give away the fact he'd been crying and froze. Wait a sec, my eyes are violet!! What the hell?! He couldn't be talking about me, could he? Oh my god oh my godohmygodohmygod! Snatching his own haikus up from where they'd fallen to the floor, he raced out of his room and down the hall.
Skidding to a halt at Heero's door, he pounded on it, being careful to not just break the door down. As soon as the door opened a crack, Duo shoved his paper through it into the Zero pilot's hands.
Confused because Duo wasn't screaming at him about how disgusting he was, Heero glanced down at the paper and recognized it as Duo's haikus. Still wondering about Duo's seemingly calm reaction, he read through the poems. He looked up at the braided boy with a stunned expression, then read them again.
"D-Duo?" He looked back up into large violet eyes.
"Hmm?"
"Are these…are these--"
"Yeah, Heero, they're about you. And I really liked what I saw on your paper…" He pushed the door open more and leaned closer to the Japanese so that their noses almost touched. "I love you, Heero Yuy." He moved the final inch or so and brushed his lips against the stunned boy's.
The paper fluttered down from Heero's lax hands as he recovered and pulled the braided pilot close. "I told you they weren't about Relena," he whispered. "Ai shiteru."
~ o w a r i ~
