Tap-a-tap-a-tap. The sound of gunfire....
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Outside the window, rain pounded on the roof, along with the dangerous hail that tapped on
the window.
"Oi, Heero.........." said a soft voice from underneath the covers. "Do you think that its
gonna stop anytime soon?"
The slight boy sitting at the computer turned to look at the huddled mass under the rumpled
bedsheet. Duo was stretching his limbs after waking up from a long sleep. His long braid was
undone and the silky strands fell across his chest in a honey brown waterfall. Heero stopped typing
and watched Duo more closely with softened eyes. "The hail?" said Heero softly, his voice
resonating through the silence which had been only previously marred by the tapping of the hail.
"That....and......" Duo began. He had stretched out and crossed his arms behind his head
and stared up at the ceiling. "Well....... nevermind." he sighed, closing his eyes.
Heero turned back around to the computer and stared at the letters until the words began to
run together. His new mission had been received while Duo had napped, the dark mission of killing
OZ soldiers fitting with the air of darkness permeating the room... no, the world. He knew what Duo
meant, his offhand comment reverberating with each smack of a hailstone against the window. The
sound of gunfire, the pain, the blood, the endless forced separation of himself and his emotions.
Heero sighed again in the darkness and turned once again to look at Duo. The boy's thick bangs
and long eyelashes had drawn a heavy veil over his half closed eyes, the large violet irises semi-
obscured but peaking out from their cover.
"Duo...." Heero began, and stood up from the computer. His bones creaked as he did,
and he felt the tightness in each joint that he had set himself after it had been broken, in every tight
muscle that had been bruised. He groaned and stretched, forcing his tired limbs to keep moving.
"We have new mission orders."
"Aa... I thought so." Duo sat up, his chest frightfully pale in the darkness. Heero looked at
with fascination. Duo's body was so pale, whiter than death itself. His long hair shone dark in the light
from the computer, and he looked like a ghost. "Do I have to go out in that mess??" Duo asked in a
small voice, with a hint of mischief.
"Only if its still like this tomorrow." Heero sighed. The look that passed over Duo's face was
one of sheer glee, if only for a second. "For now, its best if we just stay in here and not go out in
that storm."
"Hai...." Duo chuckled. "It's good that we have a hanger for the Gundams. Not that they'd
get hail damage, but that I wouldn't want to have to polish it after it got rained on!" Duo didn't want to
continue babbling. He turned his face to the window and looked out. As his face moved out of Heero's
field of vision, the look of mischief and glee slid off his face and revealed a sad, almost frightened
visage. The hail was increasing in frequency, and it had begun to sound remarkably familiar, like the
sound of gunfire. Duo suddenly felt a pressure on his shoulder.
"Duo." Heero said in an emotionless voice. The braided boy didn't turn from the window,
so Heero squeezed harder on his friend's shoulder.
"ITAI!" Duo wailed as Heero's hand squeezed hard enough to let his short fingernails to dig
in enough to draw blood. This would form a large purple bruise later and was already swelling now.
Tears that had already come to his eyes fell hard onto his chest, leaving little rivers that dripped down
across his abdomen. "Heero, ya' didn't have to go that far to get my attention." Duo said in a shaking
voice.
Heero looked down at the little droplets of blood that were mingling in with Duo's tears. So
tempting to move down there and brush them off. But what both of them needed was not a lover, but a
friend who understood what they were going through. "Hnh." Heero grunted in apology as he grabbed
a handkerchief from the nightstand and began wiping the rivulets off of Duo's stomach. "I know what
you mean..." Heero said softly.
"I figured as much." Duo assented. "That's why I stopped talking."
"You talk too much anyways."
"Humph." Duo sighed in resignation as the pain of Heero's inflicted injury settled on his
mind. He was tired of pain.
"I'm trying as hard as I can to make it stop." Heero said in his own monotone that here had
a faint trace of frenzy. Heero looked out the window at the hail that was being blown against their
window more and more violently. The wind was howling as though death was walking towards both of
them.
"Aa, we do what we can, don't we?" Duo said with a smile. He knew that death was coming.
He was shinigami, and he knew when death would claim him. "Ano..." Duo closed his eyes and held
his breath, hoping that he could do this. Before he could let the breath out, he felt warm arms
surround his body and hold his head close to their chest. "Heero?" he said, the name breathed out
as a sigh and a question at the same time.
"Shhh..." Heero stopped the braided boy from continuing, he just held him in his arms. It
felt so right for some reason. Connected by their dark task, held together by intense need. "Listen."
Duo's ears pricked at Heero's command. And then he noticed.... the hail had stopped.
There was only the sound of a soft cleansing rain falling like a sheet in the darkness.
"I'm tired, Duo." Heero sighed. "Tired of being the perfect soldier. I want my emotions
back."
"Me too." Duo sighed. He then chuckled. "Ya know what, Heero?? I think that's the longest
sentence I've gotten out of you for a while." he said with a muffled laugh into Heero's chest.
The dark haired boy let his defenses down and smiled down at Duo. "Humph." Heero grunted.
He gently let his hand run through Duo's soft tresses and absentmindedly fall to his face and begin to
trace the contours of his jaw. A warm hand clasped his hand and Duo brought Heero's hand to his lips.
"Maybe..." Duo said against Heero's hand, his words slightly muffled, "Maybe we'll make it
this time." Heero's hand squeezed his and then let go. Duo looked up to protest but as his chin lifted,
he felt his lips taken in a soft kiss. They sat there, silhouetted against the darkness, until Duo fell back,
breathless. Heero laid back beside him and brought his lover to his own body. Duo reveled in the
warmth of his lover's embrace and fell asleep, a soft snore betraying him. Heero smiled, and let
himself be consumed by his lover's cousin, Sleep...... and the rain fell outside like a curtain.