Variations on a Theme: This Much I Know
A Gundam W fanfiction
by Nikholas "Katana" F. Toledo

����� Hello again to everyone out there, it's the "Kissing Author" and
I'm back with a vengeance!� I'm supposed to be working on a great big
fantasy-"Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing" crossover, titled "The Keystone
Quest", in which Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei take their places as
spellcasters.� The thing is, I got the idea for this story from the song
"Runaway" by my favorite Irish family band, The Corrs.� And it simply
couldn't let me go once it hooked its claws into my subconscious... so
here I am.

����� Sh�nen ai, sh�nen ai!� I'm sorry, minna-san, it must be the full
moon getting to me.� That and the fact that May Day Eve, the 30th of
April, on which I worked out the last part of this story, is supposed to
be a very good night for spells and charms and all those otherworldly
doings.� Not that I believe in that sort of stuff, mind you.� And no
yaoi, which is good for my peace of mind, as at the moment I can't work
with citrus and similar fruits yet.� Oh no!

����� In any case, I hope you enjoy this tale.� Comments and criticisms
are very welcome.

����� Again, Sunrise owns this, people!

����������������������������� ~ end notes ~

����� Duo sighed and braced his hands behind his head, allowing himself
to drop back into the soft, springy carpet of grass.� Starlight and tears
filled the clear-violet eyes that saw not the spring constellations but
the faces of the few people that mattered to him in his life.

����� Father Maxwell and Sister Helen headed the list, of course.� Small
wonder he'd taken the holy man's surname for his own, and considered the
nun his true mother.� It was the least he could do for those brave and
forsaken souls, lost to him forever, taken away by the war that raged
across the stars even till now.

����� There was Solo, too.� Once again, the war had taken him away, new
biological weapons and the harsh conditions imposed on refugees exacting
their full toll on the slightly older youth's energy, his body, and
finally his life.� Solo had been the first person he'd learned to love,
even though he still had no idea of what the word actually meant.

����� The other mobile suit pilots took their places as well.� He had to
tip his hat off to those four other guys, who did exactly what they'd
been sent to do, yet still remained people like him, somehow retaining
their souls in one way or another.� Sweet and gentle Quatre, lonely since
his family had been torn from him, but happy now that he had found his
one true love.� That could only be Trowa, strong and steadfast and every
inch the soldier, who loved the blonde back with all the force of a
convinced heart.� He could also sympathize with Wufei, who had once been
married, had lost his wife to the war, and now fought in her name.

����� And, then, there was Heero... but what about Heero?

����� He shook his head and shifted around restlessly, suddenly finding a
rock in his green couch.� A very hard and cold rock... so much for trying
not to think about the Japanese pilot who haunted and yet eluded him,
every single time... he was locked up tighter than the wall safe he'd
spotted in the Winner heir's study.

����� Duo risked a look to his left, where Heero was sitting, cross-
legged and completely still, eyes fixed impassively on the very same
firmament he'd been looking at.� It was a cool night, and he wondered how
the other pilot could survive the weather in that loose green tank top
and tight spandex shorts, whereas he dressed in black from head to toe
and was still shivering.

����� Trowa in his turtleneck or Quatre in his shirt and vest or Wufei in
his long-sleeved tunic were dressed better for this sort of mountain-air
chill, and they looked cold, too.� Why else would Trowa and Quatre be
spooned together on the grass, so close together that there wasn't a
space between their bodies?� Why else would Wufei be balling himself up
like he was, as if he was trying to occupy as small a space as was
humanly possible?� And why else was he himself shaking so badly, his
teeth were chattering in his head?

����� "Ne, Heero."

����� There was no answer, only a smothered grunt as Heero heaved himself
to his feet after a moment and returned to the interior, the patio-door
curtains whispering softly as he slipped through the gauzy streamers.

����� The brown-braided pilot blew out all of his breath in a resigned
exhalation, turned onto his side and curled himself up into an even
tighter knot of muscle and bone, hoping to ward off the high-altitude
cold.

����� <I'm never going to get through to him... never going to know
him... the problem is that *he's* gotten through to me and how!>� He had
to admit, he had wanted Heero from practically day one, even though it
hadn't exactly been a friendly meeting.� <And if it weren't for that
hell-spawned Relena-girl defending him when she did, I'd have killed
him... damn it, how'd I ever get to be in that blasted person's debt?>

����� Duo closed his eyes tight shut against that memory, against the
others that rose up to his mind's eye, all of them clamoring for his
attention...

��������������������������������� ~ * ~

����� "Ne, Duo?� Duo-kun, we're going back inside..."

����� "Ssh."� Trowa put one long finger to a surprised Quatre's lips and
shook his head fractionally.� "Don't you notice anything?"

����� The blonde pilot bent over his American friend and felt his eyes
widen further, almost to saucer-size.� "Asleep... in this weather?� But
how... he's going to catch his death of cold!"� He looked up at the one-
time circus acrobat, worry written clearly over his boyishly handsome
features.� "Shouldn't we wake him up and get him inside or something?
Trowa?"

����� "Leave him to me, Quatre."

����� The two of them looked at him in surprise as Heero came striding
out again with a thick blanket that spilled out from under his arm, which
he then unfolded over Duo's inert body.� He rolled the sleeper very
carefully onto his back, then hoisted him into his arms and went back
inside without another word.

����� "Well. I expected nothing less of him," Wufei commented dryly as he
got to his feet and dusted grass and dry leaves off his immaculate tunic.
"Didn't think Yuy would ever get around to doing it, though."

����� "Wakatta."� Trowa put an arm around a confused Quatre's shoulders
and led him inside, whispering something that soon placed a smile onto
his blonde lover's face.

��������������������������������� ~ * ~

����� Heero booted the door to his own quarters open, somehow managing to
keep it from making too much noise.� Not that the boy in his arms was
ever going to hear it, anyway - Duo was too far gone in sleep to hear it,
even if the world suddenly got blasted to bits in the next instant.

����� With a delicacy startling to see, Heero laid Duo gently down on the
great four-poster that dominated the room, tucking him into his covers
and making sure he was safely and warmly ensconced in the bed.� That
done, he toed off his shoes and socks, pulled on a pair of pinstriped
pajamas, and took his place beside him, sitting up in bed.

����� He regarded the sleeper's face for a long moment, a strange and
unfamiliar musing smile curving his lips upward.

����� He couldn't remember when it was that he'd stopped thinking of Duo
as an annoyance, and started thinking of him as a friend.

����� He couldn't remember when he had started to listen --- no, not just
to listen, but to hear, and finally, understand --- the things Duo said
and did.

����� He couldn't remember when the mere thought of losing Duo in one way
or another had begun to deal him almost physical pain, a searing-hot
flash of harrowing negative emotion that roiled up from the depths of his
soul.

����� His hands suddenly moved of their own accord, reaching out to brush
the jagged fringe of bangs away from the heart-shaped face, completely
open and unguarded now in sleep.� He picked up the end of Duo's trademark
braid, pulling away at the thin black band of elastic and running his
fingers through the rich chestnut-brown mass to untangle it.

����� Heero bent to whisper a kiss across Duo's mouth, then slid down
beneath the covers and gathered the sleeper into his arms.

����� <Duo, aishiteru, eien ni, aishiteru.>

����� <Honto ni, Heero...?>

����� In response, Heero tilted his face up, and then that completely
regular sculpture of a beautifully-wrought face blurred, as he moved in
to claim his lips with gentle force...

��������������������������������� ~ * ~

����� Duo opened his eyes and sat up.

����� Or tried to.� A pair of strong arms wound securely around his
waist, curving around to his back and cradling him against a firm and
comforting warmth.

����� His eyes crossed from the effort as he tried to look at who was
holding him so body-meshing close they were practically one and the same
person.

����� <Heero...>

����� "Unmasked" was the word to describe the Japanese pilot's face in
sleep: no tension to stiffen his jaw, no combat-awareness to harden his
cheekbones, no worry to furrow his brow, no single-minded anger to shadow
underneath his eyes.� He was human --- frail and needing --- for the
short eternity that he remained unconscious, and then suddenly he opened
his eyes, cobalt-blue fire doing a slow burn into Duo's soul.

����� Duo parted his lips in a tentative, worried smile.� "Heero...."

����� "Mmm... Duo...."� Heero pulled him in even closer by way of answer,
burrowing his face into the crook of Duo's neck with a contented sigh.

����� <Ohhh!>� Then, on the heels of that ecstatic exclamation: <How...?>

����� "Never mind knowing how," a voice murmured in his ear, so soft and
deep with emotion that he almost didn't recognize it.� "Stay here, with
me, let me be yours, until..."

����� <Forever, I want you to say forever - please heaven let him say
forever...>

����� "Until the end of time.� Duo."

����� The voice that answered back was choked with tears but strong,
defiant in the face of the war that threatened to tear them apart, giving
in the face of the love that bound their hearts together.� "I am yours
for the rest of my life... and even beyond - I swear this.� Heero...
aishiteru!"

����� "I know... and I love you, too."

������������������������������ ~ the end ~


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