Chapter 33: Honesty
Wufei pauses on
the threshold of the break room. He’s
well aware of things beings rather... strange around here lately, but this tops
them all. He blinks as his co-workers,
male and female alike, swarm Taki, credit cards held aloft. Does he really want to know? Perhaps, not.
But, on the other hand, he will probably seriously regret not
investigating.
“What is going on in here?” he growls and the agents,
secretaries, and maintenance workers scatter.
Wufei’s eyes narrow on Taki who stands in the center of the room, her
expression an equal mix of relief and shock.
“Taki?” he demands, instantly suspicious despite her apparent
innocence. He’s known her too long to
categorize any instance of her being at the center of attention as harmless.
“Dude,” she tells him, blinking. “You work with some seriously weird
people. Psych exams aren’t exactly a
high priority around here, are they?”
“What are you doing here?”
She holds up a brown paper sack. “Got the munchies, pookie?”
He glares at her.
“You’ve been bringing me lunch for the last two days, Taki.”
“Yes, I have,” she confirms.
“Why?”
She looks offended.
“I can’t do something nice for my sweetums?”
He gives her a long look.
She’s not fooling him in the slightest and he makes sure that she knows
it. He grunts and checks his watch. “I have a vid
conference in ten minutes.”
“O~kay,” she sings, “don’t expect
me to save you any chili cheese fries.”
He makes a face and heads for his office. As he approaches his desk, he frowns at the
blinking message light. Wufei presses
the playback button and listens to no less than twelve hang-ups. Until a few days ago, he’d never gotten more
than four or five messages a day and the callers had actually had something to say. But twelve calls? And no messages? What the hell is going on around here?
He shakes his head and gathers all of the data he intends
to transfer to the Preventers headquarters he’s
contacting on Earth. The call comes
through and the exchange is brief. Then,
just before he’s ready to transfer the data he’s complied on Heero Yuy, Yokaze
Yuy, and Trowa Barton, his phone rings.
With a frown, he excuses himself from the conference and scoops up the
receiver.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the office switchboard operator says, “I
know you asked not to be disturbed, but I’ve a call for you from a Mr. Barton.”
“Put him through.”
Wufei waits for the line to connect then barks, “Where the hell are you,
Barton?”
“Good afternoon, Wufei.
So nice to finally get through to you.”
“Barton...”
“Yokaze and I are on our way back to L4.”
“Did you find Heero?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And you’ll just have to talk to Yokaze about it when she
gets there.”
“Barton, I’m in the middle of a vid
conference briefing the local authorities on your description. You’d be wise to quit being a pain in the ass
and—“
Trowa laughs. “Oh, I
don’t know... I think you’ve got bigger
problems than me at the moment.”
“Like what?”
“Well, if I were you, I’d be checking my voice mail
recording.”
Click.
Wufei frowns at the phone.
He hesitates before turning back to the conference. Trowa’s suggestion is just going to have to
wait. He transfers their descriptions
and passes along the information Trowa had just given him. When, finally, the comm. window goes blank,
he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and dials his office phone
number. After four rings, the voice mail
message clicks on.
Yokaze slides onto
the bench beside her brother and throws an arm across the back. He glances at her and growls, “You should be
resting.”
She grins. “No
worries. Trowa’s calling off the hounds
and arranging transportation back to my hospital bed as we speak.”
For a long moment, they study the lush park before
them. And then she tells him, “Thank
you, Heero.”
Thank you for trying
to protect me, for wanting to save me this pain, for caring. He nods.
“One for one,” he replies with a small grin.
“Yeah,” she agrees.
Silence descends once more and they simply sit. And then Heero draws a breath and tells her
what she probably already knows, “I have to go away for a while.”
With a nod, she says, “Okay.”
The sounds of the Earth—the wind in the trees, the birds
arcing through the sky, the trickle of the stream—soak into the pair on the
bench.
Not looking away from the extraordinary view before them,
Yokaze says, “You know he’ll take it the wrong way. Both of them will.”
Heero’s mouth twists into a wry grin as he produces a plain,
white envelope from within one of his jacket’s many pockets. He doesn’t have to ask which ‘he’ she’s
talking about. There’s only one that
matters. Only one who deserves an
explanation. And he, in turn, will be
able to help Jaspien understand. “You
know us so well.”
“Lucky you,” she counters with a kind grin.
Heero stares at her for a moment, remembering. For
luck... For us... He hands her the envelope and leans back
against the bench. “Yeah. Lucky.”
That thought gives birth to another and after a pause Heero
is wondering at how unlucky Yokaze’s
life has been. Wonders at the supremely
sick twist of fate that had landed her in the General’s path.
He says, “Yo?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sorry?” He
looks at her. “About the General?”
She sighs and gazes up at the sky. “Yeah.
I am. I don’t remember our dad. So, in a way, I guess the General took his
place. For everything he took away, he
also believed in me. For a long time, I
was too busy hating him to see that. He
pushed me to be a stronger person. For all
the wrong reasons, of course. But still...
it was something.”
Heero observes her for a moment, thinking that no human
relationship is purely good or bad, but a strange mix that complicates the hell
out of life. He says, “I’m sorry, Yo.”
She rolls her head toward him and smiles. “It’s all good, bro. I’m ready to move on.” She leans into him and he wraps and arm
around her waist. “I’ve got plenty to
look forward to,” she assures him.
He rests his cheek against her hair and just breathes.
“It’s going to be all right,” she tells him.
He smiles. Although
he hadn’t told her what is on his mind, she senses its presence
nonetheless. “You always know the right
things to say.”
“That’s what older sisters are for.”
“I thought they were for annoying their little brothers
until said brother’s ass twitches.”
She snorts. “Oh,
yeah. That, too.” She grins fondly. “And man have I gotten some serious twitchage out of your ass.”
He doesn’t deny it.
They remain thus, counting each other’s heartbeats until a
motion along the path draws Heero’s attention.
Softly, he says her name.
She nods. Trowa has
arrived. “Time to go?”
“Yeah.” His arm
tightens around her and hers around him.
“Take care of yourself,” she mumbles into his chest.
He leans away and, meeting her gaze, he trails the tip of
his forefinger along the line of her scar.
“I’ll see you later.”
She smiles for him as he stands. His fingers whisper along her shoulder and
arm until their hands clasp, briefly. She
does not watch him walk away. Nor does
she watch the brief exchange she knows he’s having with Trowa. She gazes out at the park and turns the
envelope over between her fingers before carefully sliding it into one of her
coat’s interior pockets. After a time,
Trowa’s shadow falls across the bench and he sits down beside her.
“What time is the shuttle?” she asks.
“We have a while yet.”
She nods and then, as a thought occurs to her, she
grins. “So where was Wufei?”
Trowa’s lips curve into a small smile. “In a vid-conference,
briefing the local Preventers here on our
descriptions and possible objectives.”
She chuckles. “Poor
Wufei. Just a step behind.”
“You should let him catch you some day, just to soothe the
guy’s ego.”
Yokaze laughs.
“Yeah, it can’t be easy living with Taki.” And then her humor abruptly dissipates. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“The mess. The
missions. I...” She can’t look at him as she forces herself
to say this next part. She doesn’t want
him to see what this offer is costing her.
“I don’t have to do this
anymore. I can stop—“
Gently, he lays his fingers over her mouth. The contact draws her gaze before she can
shield her emotions from him. He tells
her, “Don’t, Yokaze. You need to do
this.”
She blinks at him.
Slowly, his fingers slide from her face. “You need to know that all of the pain your
training caused wasn’t in vain. You need
to know that despite what their intentions were for you, you have the ultimate
say in when and how you use that training.”
“How long have you known?” she inquires, not having
expected him to understand so completely.
His smile is a little sad.
“You’re not the only one who feels that way.” He looks down and requests, “Just let me
help.”
Yokaze holds her breath.
Is he asking...? She must be
sure. “What is it you want, Triton?”
He meets her gaze and tells her, “To be your partner.”
She looks away. “You
know how I live. My life is hardly
stable. A mission can come up at any
time, last for any duration...” She
sighs. “You’ve lived that life
before. You deserve... more than that.”
He watches her for a moment. “I have
lived that life before.” He reaches for
her hand and threads his fingers between hers.
“So I know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Are you sure?”
Trowa offers her his expression, unguarded and
sincere. “Yes.”
She stares at him.
She has no other arguments with which to dissuade him... not that she
honestly wants to. “Okay.”
“That’s it?” Wufei
demands, incredulous.
Yokaze grins ruefully up from the hospital bed at her
audience. “Yeah, that’s it.”
Wufei resists the urge to sigh with exasperation. “So Heero tailed the wrong man?”
She nods. “Yup.”
“And then you came back?”
She nods again.
He glowers at her, still in a pissy
mood from discovering Taki’s little ‘joke’
yesterday. He’s still debating on if he
should tell her he found out, or simply prepare a payback... Payback,
he decides. Definitely payback. “If I find out that any—and I mean any—part of your story is fictitious—“
Yokaze regards him calmly.
“Look at me, Wu. The guy got
away. From Heero and me.” She shrugs. “It shits.
I know.”
He glares at her, knowing that there’s a hell of a lot more
to it than what she’s told him. But,
considering the fact that Taki, Quatre, Bisho, Duo, Jaspien, and Trowa are also
in attendance, he doubts he’ll get more out of her. But if there’s one thing Wufei Chang knows
how to do, it’s bide his time.
Reluctantly, he nods. “I’ll send
someone over later to get your statement.”
“Am I forgiven?” she asks with a sheepish expression.
Against his will, Wufei feels the corner of his mouth
twitch into an almost-smile. “I’ll think
about it.”
“Good enough for me,” she declares. “So... what’s new, guys?”
Bisho leans forward and grins wickedly, “I have finally convinced Quatre to go on an actual
date with me.”
Quatre blushes.
Duo looks amused.
Trowa hides a grin and offers to shake Bisho’s
hand.
Yokaze chokes out a “congratulations.”
Wufei arcs a brow.
Taki gapes. “When
the bloody ever-goat-loving hell did this
happen?”
Duo attempts to beat back his amusement. “Oh, yeah.
You and Wuffers were late to that breakfast.”
As Taki turns her formidable glare on her mate, Wufei
growls, drolly, “Thanks, Maxwell.”
“No problem.”
With a grin, Yokaze addresses their quietest member. “What about you Jas? What have you been up to?”
He sidles up to the edge of her bed and pulls a carefully
wrapped square of something edible and homemade from his pocket. “I made you some brownies yesterday,” he
tells her.
“Thanks, Jas. These
look really good.”
On the other side of the bed, Wufei glares at Taki. “You told me you made those,” he accuses.
She fidgets. “I helped.
Didn’t I, Jas?”
The boy raises a brow at her in blatant disbelief.
“Some friend you are,” she grumbles.
“How’s the project at Duo’s garage coming?” Yokaze inquires
with excellent timing.
Taki waves a hand in a dismissive gesture. “I’ve changed my mind.”
Wufei, completely unsurprised by this, rolls his eyes.
Duo stares at her, aghast.
“But you must have put a hundred hours into the thing!”
“Yeah,” she agrees.
“Good thing I decided I hated it before I finished it, huh?”
And since no one seems to know what to say to that, no one
says anything at all. Taki doesn’t seem
to mind.
“But you should see these new sketches I’ve done, Yo.” She rummages
about in her ever-present backpack for the correlating journal. “Now this
is the real deal... If I can friggin’ find it...”
Duo sends a sympathetic look at Wufei over Taki’s head.
Expression perfectly flat, Wufei mouths, You have no idea. And then,
with no small amount of fervor, thinks, Thank
God.
He watches and listens as Yokaze chats with Quatre,
reassures Jaspien, and evades Taki’s probing
questions. Idly, he wonders if he should
be offering Heero’s sister a job... but no.
With the Preventers’ resources at her
disposal, she’d be ruling the Earth Sphere before lunch. Still, Wufei notes, she’s only human. He takes in her pallor and slightly glazed
eyes. She needs to get some quality rest, he thinks moments before Trowa quietly
suggests that Yokaze be allowed to take a nap.
Slowly, everyone files out.
Quatre, Bisho, Jaspien, and Taki all demand hugs. Yokaze just smiles, not seeming to mind. But when Duo approaches her bed, she holds
out her hand to him. He clasps it and tells
her, “Don’t make me have to come back here and talk you to sleep.”
She chuckles. “Well,
if anyone could do it...”
“Hey, hey!” Duo protests with a grin.
Yokaze makes no attempt to reply. Duo watches as she leans across the pillows,
reaching for something amongst the flowers and Get Well cards on the
nightstand. His eyes widen as she holds
out a plain, white envelope to him. And somehow he just knows who it’s from.
Jaspien rolls over,
trying to get comfortable. Not for the
first time today he wishes Hero were here.
It’s hard to fall asleep without Hero sitting next to his bed, scaring
away the nightmares. He smiles as he
recalls when Hero had tried to tell him a bedtime story but it had actually
been Duo’s story and Hero had been
repeating it...
The boy gazes at the familiar, shadowed room and wonders
why Hero hasn’t come home. Had Jaspien
done something wrong? Had The Voice been
too strong? Was Hero hurt
somewhere? Jaspien bites his lip and
repeats what Yokaze had told him: if Hero weren’t okay, she wouldn’t have left
him alone.
But if Hero’s okay, then why hasn’t he come back?
With a sigh, Jaspien rolls out of bed. Intending to head for the bathroom, he’s a
little surprised to see the kitchen light on.
He wanders toward it and hesitates before turning the corner. He sees Duo, sitting at the table with a
piece of paper in front of him on the table.
Jaspien watches for a minute, surprised that Duo is simply sitting. He doesn’t have anything to eat or
drink. He’s not talking. Not smiling.
In fact, he looks really sad.
Jaspien shuffles into the light but Duo doesn’t notice
him. It’s not until the boy is right
next to him and calls his name does Duo look up.
He tries to smile.
“Hey, Jas. Can’t sleep?”
Jaspien shakes his head.
Duo leans away from the table and offers the boy a hug. “What’s on your mind?”
Without invitation, Jaspien climbs into the chair next to
Duo’s. “How come Hero didn’t come home?”
Duo sighs. “Heero
had to go look for something. Something
important. He wants to come home, but
he’s got to do this first.”
Jaspien is silent for a moment. Digesting this. “So, it’s not because of me?”
“No,” Duo hurries to assure him. “No, it’s not because of you. He misses you a lot. He’s going to come back, Jas. He’s going to come back.”
Their gazes meet and Jaspien believes him. It’s not his fault. Hero will come back. Jaspien takes a deep breath, feeling much
better. “Hey, Duo?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I have some hot chocolate before I go back to bed?”
“Sure, dude.”
Duo stands and opens the refrigerator. Jaspien watches Duo heat the milk and mix in
the cocoa. Then he smiles when Duo pulls
out the bag of mini marshmallows and adds a fistful to each mug.
“It’s hot,” Duo says, handing him a cup.
Jaspien blows on the white, puffy surface of the drink and
smiles. This is why he likes Duo’s hot
chocolate way better than Hero’s. But
Duo’s pizza always turns out soggy on the bottom. “I miss Hero,” Jaspien says quietly.
“Me, too, Jas. Me,
too.”
They drink their chocolate and speculate on where Heero is
at the moment and what he might be doing.
Duo makes up several outrageous suggestions including but not limited to
‘rescuing a princess from a fire-breathing Math teacher’ and ‘on a quest to
find the legendary blue marshmallow.’
Jaspien giggles and grins.
But when their mugs are empty, Duo ushers the boy back to
bed and tucks him in. “Sleep well, Jas.”
As Duo leans away, Jaspien reaches out and wraps his small
fingers around Duo’s wrist. “Duo? Will you stay? Just for a little while? Until I fall asleep?”
“Sure, Jas. Do you
want me to tell you a story?”
Slowly, Jaspien shakes his head. “No.
Just stay. The nightmares won’t
come if they know you’re here.”
Duo hesitates as he sits in the chair. “Is that what Heero does?”
The boy nods, eyelids drifting shut.
He tries to swallow around the pain suddenly squeezing his
chest. “Well, I don’t know if I’m as
good at it as he is, but I’ll try, Jas.”
Jaspien smiles and rolls onto his side. Duo watches him curl up into a ball and
listens as his breathing slows. After a
few minutes, Duo is sure that Jaspien is asleep. He takes a deep breath, knowing that he’s run
out of excuses to stay; Jaspien is safe from his nightmares. So Duo leaves the room as quietly as possible
and gently closes the door behind him.
For a moment, he hovers in the hall, uncertain. He briefly considers taking a shower, trying
to get some sleep... But in the end, he
finds himself seated at the kitchen table again, watching the door.
He sighs and runs his hands through his hair. I’m
such an idiot for even thinking that’s door’s gonna
open. Despite what he’d just told
Jaspien, Duo isn’t sure that Heero’s absence isn’t someone’s fault. My
fault. But even as he thinks this,
he can’t decide exactly how it is his fault.
Had his anger driven Heero away?
Or had Heero somehow found out how Duo really feels? And why had Heero kissed him in the first place?
God, it’s so confusing.
Duo’s gaze returns to the tabletop and the single sheet of
plain, white paper.
God damn it,
Heero. What am I supposed to think?
Almost ten years of friendship... over. Or are they?
You didn’t give me
much to go on.
All Duo is sure of is that he can’t afford to hope. Hope hurts too damn much.
The night watches the long-haired young man sit as still as
a statue well into the early hours of the morning, kept company by the short
letter laying open on the table next to him:
My Friend,
I have
lived in awe of your generosity for years but have never taken the opportunity
to tell you so. For never giving up on
me, I thank you. You have never failed
to offer me your strength, your compassion, and your honesty.
It is
that unwavering honesty which compels me to do this for I find that I can offer
you nothing less than the truth. What
that truth is I do not yet know for sure.
I must
follow my emotions. I must discover
where they are leading me. Please
understand why I must do this, Duo.
For us.
Heero.
~End of Chapter 33~