school adversary

Part 20

I left school that afternoon and headed back to Quatre's house, as per usual. I noticed that Heero also seemed to be going to Quatre's house, and so I picked up my pace slightly, determined to be there first so that I could offer Duo some measure of support. He slowly dropped behind, and after a twenty minute walk through some of the classier neighborhoods, I reached my goal. I opened the door and went inside, only to be smacked in the face by yet more delicious smells. What was Duo trying to do, put on a bake sale single-handedly? I walked into the kitchen to see him bending over the stove,
pulling out some gingerbread men, ladies and various animals. Spread over the kitchen benches were cooling cookies in triple chocolate, cinnamon oatmeal with apple, and sprinkled sugar. There were also a batch of vanilla cup cakes with icing and smarty smiley faces on them. Duo looked like he was preparing for a flock of heroine addicts to swoop down on him!(1)

"Duo what on earth are you doing?" I asked him, gazing around the newly made baking center with slight shock.

"Well, Relena's still not back from her friend's house so I decided to get some baking done before she comes back." He grinned at me, happily transferring gingerbread creatures to another bench.

"Duo, she's 4." I replied. "She can't eat that much." He adopted a slightly more thoughtful look.

"Well, I had to keep busy doing something. I've finished all the work you gave me and I thought that this would be a challenge, you know, with the cast and all." He waved his cast a little to emphasize his point. He looked so gorgeous standing there in his torn black jeans and old black shirt, streaks of flour smeared down his front, that I couldn't stop myself from kissing him. I held him close to me, feeling his warm body against mine. We were both really getting into it when the doorbell rang. I silently
cursed as I tore my mouth away and went to answer the door. Heero stood before me, shifting nervously from foot to foot. For some reason, I felt a smidgen of guilt that I had just been kissing Duo.

"Is Duo here?" Heero asked, looking past me hopefully. I moved aside and let him in.
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I finished laying out all the ginger bread creatures and turned to see who had rung the doorbell. I froze completely as I saw Heero. A maelstrom of emotions rose within me. Love, hope, anger, fear, hurt, happiness, shock. I tried to deal with them all at once, but my mind seemed to have momentarily shut down. All I could do was stare in shock, my mouth slowly losing it's smile and forming a small 'o'.
Heero was here. What the?

"Hello Duo." He said quietly.

"H-hey." I replied shakily. Heero's eyes moved to my arm before coming back to my face.

"I'm so sorry Duo" He whispered, coming towards me slowly. Wufei still stood in the doorway. I let Heero come closer, then he reached out to touch me, to caress my face, and I flinched from his hand. It was an involuntary action, I couldn't have stopped it if I tried.Heero dropped his hand hurriedly and stared at me like a kicked puppy.

"Please Duo, please try and forgive. I love you, I love you so much, I couldn't bear it if you left me. I'm so sorry that I hurt you, I'll never do it again. Please?" A single tear ran down his smooth cheek, and I noticed how hollow they had become. He also had dark circles under his eyes, and they were slightly blood shot. He had taken this hard, and I knew that I would forgive him. In a little bit.

"I don't know Heero." I said, glancing down at my arm.

Heero moved to hug me, holding me in his arms like I would break. "I love you. All I ask is a second chance. I know I don't deserve it, and I probably don't have a hope in hell of getting it, but I have to ask. To beg, to plead. If you love me, or if you ever loved me, isn't it worth giving me another chance?"

He looked into my eyes, love pooling in his. I looked down at my cast again. "But what about last time, you said you loved me but..." I broke off then, and stared down at the floor. His hand tilted my head up gently and he looked straight into my eyes.

"I was scared Duo, so very scared. You evoke emotions inside me that I have never felt before, and I didn't want to deal with them. Didn't want to have to wade through them. I was scared that they
would overwhelm me and sweep me away. But now, I realize that I wouldn't lose myself, I would gain you. And I want that badly Duo. I want those emotions again, I want to be submerged in
them. Please Duo, give me another chance?"
I looked at Heero, his love for me shone from his eyes. "I love you Heero, of course I forgive you."

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"I love you Heero, of course I forgive you." The words rang through my head. I knew that Duo would forgive Heero, knew it somewhere deep within me. It was still a shock to hear it out loud. A betrayal of my trust. Hadn't Duo loved me? So I ran. I couldn't think, I wouldn't think. I just had to get away from there and find a place to be alone. "I love you Heero, of course I forgive you." The words in my mind repeated themselves like a litany. "I love you Heero, of course I forgive you." What about me? I wanted to scream. Do you love me too? Why can't you love me too? Why does it have to be him? Inside, a part of me was glad. Duo would be happy now, and I cared for Heero. I don't know why, but I did. I didn't like the dark circles and bloodshot eyes. Even though he deserved more, I knew I could never be the one to give it to him. I got out of the house and met Relena being dropped off by her friend's mother. I ran past her, across the road, not bothering to look where I was going.

"Wufei!" Someone screamed my name, and I turned. Relena was running across the road to me, her short legs moving quickly. But she fell, fell in the middle of the road. She got up, looked towards me and started forward again. Then she stopped, mesmerized by the car that was speeding towards her. Time seemed to slow at that point, moving sluggishly and I was frozen in place. I saw the car bearing down on my little sister, then I saw a flash of chestnut hair and Relena was flying forward. The car tried to brake, but the loud thump of a body hitting it, then the ground, was audible. I noticed Heero
on the opposite road, and the long braid strewn over the road.

Time stood still. Then, it seemed like everything was sped up. Suddenly there was an ambulance
and I was kneeling over the prone figure of my Duo, Heero next to me. He was so still and pale, stark against the dark tarmac of the road. Somewhere, a little girl sobbed, and I barely registered a woman saying she would take of Relena until things calmed down. Then, the ambulance officers were
taking Duo, placing him on a stretcher. He did not move.