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The Road to Kindness	By : shinigamiinochi Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 7934 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The Road to Kindness

Chapter 8

Part 6
　

　

　

　

Duo stood in front of the doors that led outside, all by himself in the hallway. His book bag was slung over his shoulder, the carefully counted bus fare in the same pocket that his cell phone was in, and his heart was beating wildly. This was stupid, he told himself, being afraid to take that first step out of the school all by himself. But the fear, though not necessarily logical, was a physical, living thing in his chest, making it nearly impossible to step over the threshold. That fear kept chanting at him �stupid, stupid, stupid�. Why had he decided to do this? Wes could be out there right now, waiting to take him away� he stuck a hand in his jeans pocket and curled his fingers around his cell phone tightly. If that happened, he still had the GPS, Name would find him. But still, that fear was there� that terror of seeing those cold, grey eyes again, with that tiny part of him that yearned to see them, that sick part of him that he was quite happy to deny existed.

Duo closed his eyes and imagined Heero�s face. It was a welcome image, a balm to his heart that was missing him so much. He imagined those deep blue eyes and that comforting smile, the one that always told him that everything would be ok, that he was strong, that Heero believed in him and most of that fear melted away, went back into hiding , cowering from the warmth that the vision had brought with it. Duo opened his eyes again and pushed open the door. No matter what, Heero had faith in him. It was up to himself, and only himself, to prove to Heero that that faith was justified.

No one grabbed him as he took that first step outside of the school. In fact, nothing significant happened at all. Wes wasn�t waiting for him. He couldn�t see the black car that the blonde owned, or even Chris� car. The sky was clear, not stormy or foreboding, just a nice powdered blue and a few clouds. He could hear sparrows chirping in the bushes surrounding the parking lot that nested there and when he walked by them, they flew off like a pack of dogs. Watching the tiny birds scatter as one, immense entity, it reminded Duo of the gulls he had chased on the beach with Heero. There were still a few kids and teachers loitering by their cars, which made him breathe in relief. There was no way Wes would try something with this many people around. If he just kept close to people, stayed in the crowds, he would be perfectly safe.

He followed a group of teenagers that was walking to the public bus stop, too. For a moment, he was afraid they would recognize him and whisper, thinking he couldn�t hear them, but they were too busy chatting with each other or on their cell phones to even notice that he had joined their group, which suited him just fine. There were six of them, all, he heard them say, catching the bus to go to the mall, which was in the opposite direction of Duo�s home. His street was one of the first stops on the bus� route, Quatre had checked during gym using Duo�s phone. It made him feel relieved that people his own age, some of whom he recognized as being in a few of his classes, and therefore not complete strangers, would be on the bus the entire time. He definitely didn�t think that Wes or someone he knew from that old life would be on the bus at the same time as him and would try something, but it was comforting to know that he wouldn�t be all alone with strange people.

There weren�t many people at the bus stop, just a man in a business suit, a woman with two small children, and an elderly woman sitting on one of the benches. It was warm out, but Duo remembered curling up under similar benches during the winter when he was a child. All bus stops were built with overhangs, making them adequate, if somewhat pitiful, shelter from snow and rain. Both of the benches were currently filled with people, but Duo was content to stand to the side of the covering, basking in the bright sunlight as he checked his cell phone for any messages from Heero or Name. The warm sunlight hit his hand, making his skin look paler than usual. He wondered if he might get a tan this summer and stop looking like a corpse. Probably not. His skin usually just burned when he was out in the sun for too long.

It was after ten minutes had passed with all of them loitering at the stop, the other teenagers still chatting with each other and on their phones as the adults read newspapers, books, or just stared off into space, that Duo started to worry. After twenty minutes of waiting, he finally glanced at the bus schedule that was hanging off a pole next to the bus stop. Sure enough, the bus was late. Really late. He sighed heavily as he resumed playing solitaire on his phone. It was going to be one of those days, he could feel it in his bones. Heero was gone, Zechs was acting weird, and now, if Quatre and Trowa decided to call him at home, they would think the worst. Hopefully they would have the common sense to call his cell phone before they completely freaked out.

Soon, the other would-be passengers started to grumble and complain about the bus taking so long. The woman with the kids had to get them to various sports events, the teenagers wanted to shop and go to the movies, the man had a meeting to be at� Duo easily tuned them out until the grumblings turned into very real concern another ten minutes later. One of Duo�s classmates who had been talking on her cell phone with her mother the entire time put the phone down and stood up to address them all.

�There�s been an accident,� she announced, �A garbage truck hit the bus and totaled it. My mom just saw it on the news.�

A panicked murmur fell on the tiny crowd.

�Well, are they going to send another bus?� the woman with the kids asked urgently.

The girl shook her head.

�My mom says it sounds like there�s a huge delay. There might not be another bus for hours,� she said.

Everyone seemed to groan as one.

�This is just great!� the man in the business suit ranted, �And they couldn�t have sent a notice to people waiting for the damn bus?! This goddamned town��

Duo shook his head to himself. It really was one of those days. If there was a god, He clearly hated him, or had a really bad sense of humor. He never should have talked himself into doing this. Now, he had no way of getting home safely. It would take longer to walk to the nearest bus stop than to just walk home, not to mention walk through some areas of town he really shouldn�t go, not alone anyway. One by one, people started to get up and wander off, probably in search of other bus stops and calling for taxis, a luxury that Duo didn�t have. He didn�t have enough money on him to afford one and even if he did, his frugal nature refused to pay that much when his house was in walking distance.

He took a deep breath, suddenly finding himself alone at the bus stop. This wasn�t a big deal, he told his frantically beating heart as he glanced around each way, keeping an eye out for any moving figures. In reality, there were only two things that he could do. He could call Wufei and ask his parents to pick him up, or he could keep going with his original plan to go home on his own, just on foot instead of the safety of a bus. He ran a hand through his bangs, a gesture that Heero often did when he was frustrated, only Duo�s hair was much finer than Heero�s thick, dark hair and it made his bangs fall into his eyes. He brushed it back in irritation. If Heero were here right now, he wouldn�t be standing in the middle of an abandoned bus stop, debating the safest choice, scared just because he wasn�t in a crowd anymore. He would act. He would walk home, not because it was the safest, but because it was the easiest choice.

But, he wasn�t like Heero. He wasn�t brave like him. He had lived a life of fear, fear of the dark, fear of the light, and now, fear of his past. He was tired of being afraid. He wanted to be like Heero, he wanted to be able to walk down a deserted street on a whim without looking over his shoulder, without wondering where Wes was, if he was watching him, if he was going to make a move. And why couldn�t he? Even if he was afraid of what might happen, why couldn�t he take this first step towards being like his best friend?

He knew the way home from here. It was, what, twenty-five minutes, a half an hour�s walk? It was three in the afternoon, the sun wasn�t even setting yet and there were people walking the street all around him, doing chores, shopping, and just walking because it was nice out. If he stayed on streets with people, he would be just as safe as on a bus, right? Duo curled his hands into fists, uneasily coming to his decision. He shouldered his book bag and started to walk down the street.

Even if Wes was stupid enough to try something, there would be other people around to try to stop him, or call the cops. Never mind his confidence or how he thought about his new life, this was probably the biggest thing that had changed about him. In the past, he would have easily thought that, even in a crowded street, he would be in danger. Not because Wes was insane, but because no one would help him. How many times had he screamed for help, had he begged for a handout, thin and hungry and cold, only to be treated like a rat, like a diseased thing that no one wanted to look at? If anyone saw Wes try to kidnap him, just like before, back when Wes had found him at the abandoned hotel�s balcony, no one would try to help, no one would even care. Somewhere along the line, he had stopped believing that. Duo smiled to himself. Name and Heero had taught him that there were people out there that wanted to help, that would help. He just wished that he had met some of those people when he had been growing up. But was that even true?

Yes, there had been a lot of people in his life that had been quite content to pretend that he was invisible. There had been a lot of people that had hurt him. A lot of people who had let him down or abandoned him, a very long list starting with his parents. But it wasn�t fair, or true, to say that no one had ever helped him, had ever been kind to him until he had met Heero. It was just that the list was much, much shorter.

There had been Sunshine, his very first friend, who had helped him in small ways, but Duo was well aware that small didn�t mean unimportant. And there had been all of the rest, Alex, Aluxiel, Hi, Solo, Shi, Amaaya and Yuki. They had always been there for him, when he had needed to seek them out, without ever asking anything in return from him. Sometimes, they had helped him in huge ways, ways that he could never hope to repay.

Shi had saved his life, twice. Solo had bandaged his wounds on several occasions. Sometimes, they had helped in smaller ways, listening to anything he had to tell them, stories of Wes� cruelty, sheltering him from the cold, taking just that little bit of pain and hopelessness from his shoulders. It had been the same way with Sister Helen, just some hot food and a few fairy tales, nothing earth shattering, but it had been so important to him at the time. Then, she had died. Yuki and Sunshine had died. Maybe one day, he could come to terms with everything Wes had done to him, in some form or another, even if it was just enough to get by, but that was one thing he would never come to terms with for as long as he lived. The people he loved, the people he owed so much to dying, far, far before their time. Sunshine for daring to protect him. Sister Helen for trying to save him. Yuki, just because life was cruel and cold sometimes. The people he loved kept leaving him�

Duo stopped walking, forcing other people on the street behind him to walk around him. Cold sadness gripped his heart at his bleak thoughts. They kept leaving� even Amaaya, Alex, Aluxiel, and Hi. He could talk to Amaaya whenever he liked, but would they ever actually see each other again? He was even too much of a coward to see Shi and Solo. But, just like his past assumptions about people, that wasn�t entirely true was it? Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei hadn�t left him, and though Heero and Name weren�t here right now, they were coming back. He still had people who helped him, who still cared for him. So how could he possibly still believe that the world and the strangers around him were all as cold and cruel as he had believed before? If Heero and Name existed, then there had to be others out there like them. Maybe the enormity of Wes� apathy and cruelty had blinded him to how kind and wonderful other people could be.

He huffed a frustrated breath at himself and resumed walking. Everything would be fine again, as soon as Heero came back home. He believed that more than anything else. He held on to that as he walked through street by street, following his own mental map of the way back to his house. He stayed lucky for awhile, at least ten minutes worth. Every street he walked down had people in it, women shopping, teenagers who could walk home instead of taking a bus like him, couples eating lunch out in restaurants� outdoor tables, and he had even spotted a parked cop car once. Although, that hadn�t made him feel much better.

It was just like he had told his friends, Wes had all sorts of connections, and Duo knew that he was only aware of the few of them. He had serviced enough cops as �favors� for Wes to know that the police were far from reliable saviors if he ever needed them. That was why he had never questioned Name�s decision not to go to them, to tell them about Wes, they both knew how useless, and possibly dangerous, it could be. He had been wondering about that lately, too, and every time he thought about Wes� connection with the town�s police force, it made the panic in him rise even more. If Wes wanted him back so badly, why didn�t he just have the cops spirit him away or something? It wouldn�t be that hard, especially with Name gone. They could arrest him on some bogus charge, or, with his past, something completely legitimate like theft, assault, or prostitution. They could even arrest him for fraud, honestly, since he had been giving a false name and address for years. All they had to do was pull him out of class and take him to Wes and there wouldn�t be very much his friends could do about it.

So why hadn�t something like that happened? Why was the most Wes had done was send Chris and himself after him? If he had all these powerful connections, why wasn�t he using them to get what he wanted? He wanted to believe that it was because Wes was too scared of Name to fake an arrest, but he obviously wasn�t scared enough of her to stop trying to kidnap him himself. Duo no longer thought that Wes was afraid of anyone, even Name. But even if he wasn�t afraid of anyone, Wes had never trusted anyone, either. Maybe he didn�t want anyone, even his partners, to have that kind of power and leverage over him. Or maybe, and much more likely, Duo thought, Wes was simply so insane, had lost so much stock in reality, that this possibility hadn�t even occurred to him.

Duo thought that he would rather be taken in by one of Wes� cops than Wes or Chris. There was a chance he could reason with them, especially if he threw the Yuy name around, either for fear or a pay off. Although, given Wes� habit of killing everyone who double-crossed him, maybe not. Still, as far as Duo knew, Wes� �associates� weren�t nuts, mostly just desperate or� well, dicks, but perfectly capable of reason and negotiation. There was no reasoning with Wes or Chris. Wes was insane, somewhere between cold sociopathy and being completely controlled by his rage and vindictiveness. Trying to reason with him was like trying to reason with a rabid dog. Just the sound of your voice could make him bite, for no other apparent reason. Chris, on the other hand, was like the scorpion from that old fable where it stung the very animal that was trying to help it across the river, after promising that it wouldn�t, thus killing the both of them, only because it was in its nature. Chris would listen to your reasoning, he might even agree with it, but in the end, he would still hurt you, just because it was his way, because he liked it, even if it got him killed. Between Chris� sadism and his severe loyalty to Wes, he was just as dangerous.

From this point, there were two ways he could go to get home. He could keep going straight, take a left, cut through a restaurant, go behind the movie theater, and attempt to cross four lanes of traffic, or he could go through a long alley coming up on his left, which connected to a very long back street that passed by his street and would take him home in half the time as the other direction. He had promised Trowa that he wouldn�t take any back streets, but then again, he had also promised Name he wouldn�t go anywhere without his friends. There went that vow. He didn�t necessarily want to go through some dark alley, all by himself, but right now, all he wanted was to be home. The other way wasn�t necessarily safe, either. The area behind the movie theater was just as bad and while being hit by a car wasn�t high on his list of worries, it was definitely a high risk crossing that one area of the street.

Duo stopped in front of the alley. Even though it was bright out, he could still only see impressions of things, some trash cans and a graffiti covered brick wall. He could also see the light and smoke from a few cigarettes and here a few male voice talking loudly somewhere ahead of him. He wasn�t sure if that was a good thing or not. He had been thinking that the more people around him, the safer he would be, but if they were the wrong sort of people it would be just as bad. He chewed on his lip for a second. At this point, the only thing he cared about was how fast he could get home. How could he really judge what was safe and what wasn�t anymore anyway? He and his friends had taken the alleyway home before, more than once, and he had never really been scared of it before now.

He slipped one hand into his pocket, curling his fingers around the tazer and trudged forward. He walked into the alley enough to see the people that were loitering there. They were a group of three boys, around Trowa�s age, maybe a little bit older, leaning against the wall of the alley and chatting loudly. Two of them were smoking from cheap cigarettes and Duo wrinkled his nose at the smell. He couldn�t tell if they were in a gang, or just a bunch of teenagers with nothing better to do, but for a brief moment, they reminded him of his early childhood on the streets, being terrified of boys just like them. He hadn�t had that fear when he had lived with Wes. Everyone who knew his name had been scared of him, especially street gangs that had any drug or prostitute connections. They all knew that you didn�t fuck with Wes, he fucked with you and if you crossed his path and survived it, that was all the reward you should expect. He hadn�t needed to be scared of street gangs back then, all his fear had been directed at the man that he had lived with.

His eyes strayed to their arms, even though he knew that they couldn�t possibly have strips of white tied there, just out of habit. Now there was something from his past that he hadn�t thought about in quite some time. It was strange how such a little thing like living in a proper house on a street with mowed grass, where cops would actually come minutes after you called them made things like street gangs seem so far away. He wondered if that was how the rest of the world worked, when you were born into a family that loved you, when you had a real home, a real job. Did you get a sense of security, this illusion that your four walls and nice neighbors made the nastiness of the world like an alternate reality? That your orderly little life kept you separate from all that? It must be nice. And every now and then, he fell to those illusions. He let that nice, big, white house be like a tortoise shell. But he never really forgot that he was about an hour walk from Wes� apartment, that that world was still out there and so close by.

As Duo walked by the boys, he kept his head down, his long bangs hiding his face, and hunched his shoulders until he was nearly slouching, trying to look as non-descript as possible. His hand clenched around his tazer tightly. He realized, all of a sudden, that he had never actually used the thing before. Sure, Name had taught him how to turn it on and off, but he had never shocked anyone with it, he had dropped it when Wes had attacked him at his job. He wondered if he could shock someone, if it would be as difficult as hitting someone or holding a gun. Two things that he couldn�t do. Just hitting Wes with that damned tree branch to save Wufei�s life had left him feeling weak and shaky. Could he� electrocute someone if he needed to? He knew that you couldn�t actually kill someone with one of those things unless they had a heart condition, but that was just a small part of it.

He didn�t think he could cause someone pain, even if it was to protect himself. He had lived with pain for most of his life, he knew how devastating it was, how it felt. Getting shocked was nothing like getting slapped or punched or kicked. It felt sharp, ran through your entire body no matter where you were shocked. It overwhelmed you. It didn�t matter how big you were, it affected you just as much. He remembered the ache in his muscles after being shocked by Wes� baton, how hard it was to move. In some ways, his tazer was more dangerous than having a gun. Knowing how it would feel, could he use it on someone? Duo heard the boys stop talking as he walked past them and hunched in further, trying to seem like he didn�t even notice him. It didn�t work.

�Hey, sweetheart, where you goin�?� one of the boys called out.

Duo blushed hotly and he felt a chill go down his spine, along with quite a lot of embarrassment. Dammit, they thought he was a girl! That was even worse than them trying to mess with him out of boredom. The last thing he needed was a bunch of dumbass boys who had nothing better to do than hit and harass on anyone they thought was a cute, defenseless girl. And why shouldn�t they assume that he was a girl? With his head bowed, his bangs in his face, and his body hunched, all they could really see was his back which had his long braid trailing down. What he should have done, instead of hiding his face, was tucking his hair down his shirt. Sometimes, his long hair made him feel self-conscious, but more often than not, he forgot it was even there unless he was combing or washing it. He had had long hair for most of his life, it was just a part of his body, like his legs and hands. So when he was in a situation like this when he was reminded that his hair was unusual, it startled him, when someone pulled his hair or mistook him for a girl.

But he knew that if he ever cut his braid off, it would drive him mad. He would reach behind him constantly, trying to grab it, or feel the tip of it brushing against his backside, only to find emptiness would feel so wrong to him. Old things, things that were a part of you, even if you saw them as flaws, were like that, he thought. It was just like his past with Wes. As terrible as it had been, it�s absence had left a hole in him. He had felt wrong. That didn�t mean that it�s absence was bad. Maybe it was always feel wrong, but he bet that if he chopped his hair off, his head would feel a lot lighter. And no one would mistake him for a girl anymore. But he would still miss it. Maybe he would get used to having short hair after awhile.

Little by little, he was getting used to not having Wes in his life, or he had been, until he had shown up again. At the very least, he hadn�t been dreaming about him as much. Now, it was all he could think about when he closed his eyes, that past which was trying to catch up with him. If he thought about it hard enough, his life was completely reversed from where he had been when Heero had first moved here. Back then, his life with Wes had dominated everything. Everything he did, all his lies and actions, had been because of that life. But all that while, there had been his friendship with Heero. Going to his house, playing video games with him, lying to Wes about what he was doing while he had been lying to Heero about his �family�. So many lies. He had yearned for that friendship with Heero, a normal life, so much, but Wes and whoring had been his reality. Now, it was that old life that seemed distant. Going to school, hanging out with Heero, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei, helping Name with the chores, going to work, these things made up his new life. Little, ordinary, boring, wonderful things. It was like suddenly finding yourself on the other side of the mirror.

It happened more often than he liked, people mistaking him for a girl. He had gained some weight since Name had took him in, and if he was being optimistic, had grown an inch or two, so he quite so thin and light as he had been, plus most of his classmates knew him, so that didn�t happen as often as he had. In the past, it had mostly been stranger or new, potential customers that had mistaken him for a girl. Sometimes, when those men had found out he was really a boy, they had been disgusted and had left him alone. But sometimes, they hadn�t cared at all. That was what he was worried about, that these boys might try something, only to not care when they figured out he wasn�t a girl, or worse, got pissed about their mistake. He never really understood that, that guys got offended just for making a dumb mistake like that, just like he didn�t understand why guys like that got offended by the mere presence of homosexuals.

The thing was, he wasn�t really all that feminine. Sure, he had long ago accepted that he would never have Heero or Trowa�s wide shoulders and above average height, or Wufei�s dominating personality and exercised body, but he couldn�t put on a skirt, go out in broad daylight and expect everyone to think he was a chick. His hips were thin, not curvy, his chest was flat, not �small�, and as thin as his neck was, he still had an adam�s apple, he just happened to have facial features that weren�t overly masculine, long hair, and didn�t have much in the way of body hair. So, it frustrated him when people saw his braid and thought �girl�. At least he wasn�t as feminine as Alex, Aluxiel, and Yuki who actually could put on a skirt and not have any trouble.

Had, Duo admonished himself, Yuki had been able to do that. Of the three of them, he had always felt sorrier for Yuki. Alex and Aluxiel liked to cross-dress, especially Alex. They had all had their �thing� as whores. Of the seven of them, Hi had been the most vanilla, mostly because of his age, sex, size, and the fact that he had only become a prostitute in the first place to give his kids a better life, better things, a better education. He had been the only one of all of them that had had a job besides prostitution, not just one, but two. Sure, he had only been a cook at some sleazy, cheap restaurant and a janitor at a local office building, which had barely given him enough money to keep his two bedroom apartment, let alone take proper care of his twins, but knowing a whore who actually had a job had always been something magical.

Hi was nearly the same height and build as Wes, a tiny bit thinner, maybe an inch shorter, so he hadn�t been picked up by the same men that had bought for the rest of their time, especially Yuki, the twins, and himself. Shi, with his height, aggressive personality, and toned body had had the same problem. Even though Shi was younger than Hi, he didn�t look like it and a lot of guys didn�t want to be with a man that could easily overpower them if they pissed him off. Of course, there had also been customers that had gotten a thrill off of dominating him. Hi, for some reason, hadn�t gotten many customers like that. Maybe that was because Hi and Shi had always stood on the corner together and Shi had a more forceful presence, or perhaps the two men had made a deal with each other because Shi didn�t seem to have a problem with those kind of men, while they made Hi uncomfortable.

Money had always been too tight among them for their individual sexuality to have any importance with their job. In a way, Duo, Solo, and Shi had been lucky. He and Solo were gay, so having male customers wasn�t a big problem. Yeah, being paid for sex at all wasn�t exactly ideal, but it was better for them than for Hi, who was straight, and while he did have male customers, it was hard for him sometimes to do his job. Duo hadn�t understood this concept until he had been old enough to define himself as gay in the first place, but Solo had had a boyfriend before become a whore and Shi was bisexual. The tall blonde didn�t seem to care much about who his customers were, male or female, as long as they paid him and didn�t try anything they weren�t allowed to. It had always mystified Duo when Hi and Shi had gone away with women customers, Wes having taught him that only men bought whores. But the two men had shown him that sex for money applied to everyone.

Amaaya and the twins hadn�t been as lucky. Duo knew that Amaaya was a lesbian, Shi had told him that once offhandedly, and she had always spent more time with her sparse female customers and when she came back from one of those sessions, she didn�t seem as on edge as with the men. And as far as Alex and Aluxiel were concerned, they had only ever had eyes for each other, so they hated having to have sex with other people. It got even worse when a customer forced one to watch the other have sex, especially if it was Alex having sex and Aluxiel watching. The red and green haired twin was incredibly possessive of his slightly older brother. But, typically, when their customers learned that the identical twins were hot for each other, they just wanted to see them screw each other.

Yuki� Yuki had had it the hardest, Duo thought. He didn�t even know what sexuality Yuki had been, if he had had one, and that lack of knowledge sent a metal stake through his heart. There was just so much that he didn�t know about the Japanese boy, so much he would never know. Yuki had always been so quiet, so hesitant to talk about himself. But with his white skin, dark brown slanted eyes, thin, small body, and ebony, perfectly straight hair, Yuki had been gorgeous, like a Geisha from a Japanese painting and had been very popular with the same men that liked Duo and the twins. They had loved to dress him up as a girl, or in traditional Japanese clothing. Although Yuki never really talked about his experiences with these men, they all could tell that this tendency to treat the black-haired boy like a porcelain doll had pained him greatly. If there had been any of them that had been ill-suited to that life, it had been Yuki.

Duo felt like he was still lost deep in the grief of the one thing that haunted him more than what Wes had done to him, the one thing he couldn�t stop thinking about, even as he tried to bury it deep because he knew that he couldn�t deal with it. Maybe, one day, he might put the abuse behind him, but he didn�t think that he would ever stop thinking about that night, stop wondering what might have happened if he had been there. What if he hadn�t run away from Wes because of that stupid wish to see Heero again, even knowing that he was too much of a coward to try to talk to him? What if he had been there that night when Yuki had been murdered?

He knew, very much, how useless it was to think on such things. He didn�t even know exactly what had happened, only what Solo and Shi had told him, only that Yuki had been killed, and his hair cut as some kind of gruesome trophy. Had it been one of his customers, or just some guy that had been enamored with him? Or maybe Yuki had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had to have been close by to their corner, if Solo and the others had found him. If Duo had been there that night, when all the others had been with their respective johns, would he have heard his friend scream, could he have gotten there on time? Or, more likely, would he have been killed, too?

Duo remembered with a heavy heart what he had been like back then. All that darkness and hopelessness like a weight, holding him down, covering him in a fog. Before he had met Heero, he never thought of his future, because he had known that he didn�t have one. Yet, when he had thought he wouldn�t ever see Heero again, his future had been all he could think of. The inevitability of it. Every day filled with strange men and Wes� cold apathy, Chris� brutality. For a very short while, he had had something better, had seen what his life could have been like and that had left a crack in his heart. A good crack, but one he never could have repaired, no matter how long he had lived with Wes and away from the Yuy�s. It would be there until he died.

So, not returning to school, never seeing Heero again, and having to deal with Wes every day, with no reprieve, it had been utterly painful thinking of a lifetime of that. Hell, one more year of that. It had been the worst kind of torture. That night, if he had come to Yuki�s rescue, only to realize how powerless he was, Duo believed he would have welcomed death. If he had been able to trade his own life for Yuki�s, he would have done it without a second�s hesitance. His useless, constantly worthless life for his kind, sweet friend�s� what sort of choice was that? Yuki had had a family once, he had had people who loved him, Duo had seen that in his eyes, every time he had gone with one of his customers. He had always seemed hesitant, in a way that none of them had been. Even if they hated what they did, none of them had been as disgusted as Yuki had been.

And none of them had seemed as� deeply ashamed as the Japanese boy. Duo didn�t know if Yuki�s family had been very traditional or what kind of life he had lived before he had ended up on the street, but he had clearly hated himself for the way he had lived. Duo and Solo had grown up on the street and hadn�t had much pride in themselves to begin with. They had grown up among prostitutes, men, women, and children alike. By the time he had met them, Duo had already gotten used to being a whore, as much as he ever would anyway, and Solo had accepted his lot in life with more grudging annoyance than a feeling of tragedy. Alex and Aluxiel had never seemed bothered by their profession, as though they were just happy they were together. Hi had approached prostitution like a martyr, he, unlike the rest of them, had been doing it for other people and not himself, so he hadn�t been very ashamed of it. Amaaya had always seemed more disgusted than anything else.

However, Duo had seen a glimmer of Yuki�s shame in Shi�s eyes every now and then, which he had always found strange when he had been younger. From the moment they had met, whether it had been the night that he had saved his worthless ass from that gang leader or the night when one of his customers had tried to kill him (now that he thought about it, Shi had this really weird habit of coming to his rescue, kind of like Heero), Shi had always seemed like this ferocious, strong guy, confident and capable of tackling anything that got in his way. But, every now and then when he went with some man, he had gotten that look on shame in his eyes, this distant look like he knew he shouldn�t be whoring, like he knew there was something better that he should be doing with his life. Like he was letting someone down. Only whores that had once had families, mothers, fathers, siblings, people who loved them and a home of their own got looks like that.

Duo thought that it was so much more painful being around people like Yuki and Shi, boys who had had a good life at some point, but through no fault of their own had fallen into the gutter and had resort to things that weren�t in their nature to survive, than people like him and Solo who had never known any other life. It had always made him wonder what Shi and Yuki�s lives had been to make them get that look. He called them all his friends, but, really, what did they know about each other?

He knew that Solo was a street kid, like him, and had been in a gang, but that the rest of the gang had died. He knew that Solo had had a boyfriend once, someone that Duo reminded him of, but that he had died, too. He knew that Shi�s family was dead and that he had been abused by his grandfather, resulting in Shi running away from home. He knew that Hi�s kids had had a proper mom once, not some girl he had just knocked up, but his wife, and that she had died. It was funny� it wasn�t poverty that had brought them all low, not really, but death. The loss of something, something changing that none of them had been able to get back. All he knew about Alex and Aluxiel was that they had decided to run away from home together, and he knew nothing about Amaaya and Yuki�s past, but he knew they had left something behind, too. And wasn�t losing the way you used to live just like dying, like losing someone?

After Sister Helen had died, he hadn�t moved around from street to street like he usually did, like he should have. Maybe it was because it was nice to have a good memory, to remember her warm meals and kindness, or maybe he had just lost a little bit more of his will to survive, like someone lost in the cold who had caught hypothermia. They knew they should keep moving, to try to stay warm, but it was so much easier to just stay still and let the cold take them. Or perhaps he had been in denial and some small, childish part of himself had believed that if he stayed there, she would show up, like the angels she had told him about. Whatever the case, he had stayed. He had caught Wes� notice.

If he had moved after her death, after White Fang had threatened her, would Wes have found him, would he have noticed him? Or by then had it been already too late? He didn�t want to accept that something so small as leaving that alley could have saved him, because that would mean that his being raped was Helen�s fault, that her dying and having the White Fang attack him had resulted in Wes� kidnapping him. He didn�t want to point the blame at her, a woman that had been more motherly and loving than his own absent mom. And really, what would moving have saved him from? A life as a whore? It wasn�t like his other life had been much better. Hungry, alone, always cold, always barely existing. Either way, his life had been shit until he had met Heero. That was something that was hard to account for, too, that maybe his meeting Wes and living with him had led him to this better life. He didn�t like how that thought made him feel, that he had had to go through all those years of hell for this grace period, or lived the rest of his life on the streets.

So, if he had been there the night Yuki had died and his murderer had offered Duo a choice, his shitty life for Yuki�s, would he have taken it? Of course, in a heart beat. Would he take it now? If he could go back in time and save Yuki, knowing that the life he had now would never exist, could he do that? � � He didn�t know. And that made him feel guilty. He should want to do anything to save his friend�s life, especially with the agony the grief still gave him, but the truth was that he no longer had any urge to die. For once in his life, he didn�t wonder if death might be a better alternative. He liked his life. Sure, it wasn�t anywhere near perfect, but it was better. He was better. He didn�t want to throw that away, maybe not even for Yuki�s life and that thought made feel like crap. Wasn�t he worth it? Just because he had started his life as nothing and Yuki might have belonged to something better, did that mean his life didn�t deserve to be spared?

Wasn�t that what he hated people for, for so long? Because of the way they had looked right through him as a child, like he was nothing, like he wasn�t even worth the time to notice? Now, for the first time in his life, he felt like if he died, people would care. Not a large group of people, but people that actually mattered. Fuck the rest of the world, fuck his classmates and his teachers, fuck this whole town, Name would care. Quatre and Trowa and Wufei would care. Heero would care. And that was what it all boiled down to, wasn�t it? If it meant never seeing Heero again, he didn�t think he could sacrifice himself, even for someone he cared for. He had done that, being without his best friend, and it had hurt. It had been hell. He couldn�t go through that again, especially not come out the other end of it still intact. He hadn�t come out the other side intact.

This life might be better than his other one, but what Wes had done to him after he had run away, all those weeks without Heero reminding him that there was someone in the world who cared, he had lost something. He had come out of that dark room hollow. Shattered. That day, when Wes had unlocked his cuffs, something inside of his heart had died. Duo didn�t know what it was, couldn�t really put the sensation into words, but he had felt it. It wasn�t so bad. That hole in his soul had since been filled up to the brim with love and family and hope, but he could still feel it sometimes, could still remember looking at himself in the mirror afterwards and not recognizing himself. Dead violet eyes had looked back at him. He had been a zombie, a bit of reanimated flesh, nothing more. It hadn�t been until Heero had found him that he had started to breathe again.

And maybe that was why he hadn�t tried to find Shi and Solo after all this time, even though he missed him more than he could describe, because he wasn�t the same person anymore. Would they still call him his friend if they knew that he would have let Yuki die, rather than trade places with him, just because it meant he would be able to see his new family? He wouldn�t be the same, didn�t want to be the same, and would they hate him if they discovered that-

The boys behind him laughed sharply as they continued to cat call at him, still not realizing that he wasn�t a girl, rousing Duo roughly from his disturbing thoughts. He walked faster, the street kid in him wary that the boys were going to follow him, but he didn�t look back. The best thing he could do was ignore them entirely and get to the next street as soon as possible. He never should have zoned out in the first place. He was loosing his touch, getting lost in his thoughts like that when he was out in the open like this, exposed. Why was he even thinking about all this anyway? Why couldn�t he just leave the past behind, why did he have to let his memories haunt him like this? After all this time, he still couldn�t let go of his ghosts. After all this time, Wes and the consequences of his hold over him still had such power. Why couldn�t he just let himself be happy?

The second Duo got out of the alley and onto the back street, he glanced back briefly, but the boys hadn�t moved at all, more hot air than anything. Duo sighed at his own paranoia. He needed to get home, now, before he gave himself a stress-induced heart attack. Since he had left school, he had gone from happy relief to anxiety to fear to sadness and now he was back to a mix of anxiety and fear. He looked around the street, only to find, to his dismay, that it was empty of people. There really wasn�t anything on this street but a few apartments, storage buildings, and a lumber yard so there was never many people walking around or cars.

�I should turn around and take the long way around,� he thought.

He really, really should. Even if it was in the opposite direction and it was a lot longer than he wanted to take. An empty, back street was definitely not where he wanted to be, it didn�t matter at all that there was a busier street just an alley away from him. He was about to go back the way he came when he noticed that one of the cars that was parked on the side of the street further up the direction he needed to walk in had someone inside of it. He looked around shakily, but there was no one else around, no sinister shadows that he could see.

As he walked towards the car, he kept his fingers hovering over the buttons of the tazer until he could see the back of the person�s head. It was a man, but he was shorter than both Wes and Chris, an older man with thinning, grey hair. Even just from the back, the guy didn�t look that imposing at all. Duo seriously doubted he was one of Wes� men. Best of all, the man was on a cell phone. If something did happen, he could call for help. It was just a street, Duo chanted mentally, just a street, not a dark alley, not a dead end. All he had to do was walk down it, turn to the right, and he would be two blocks away from home. That wasn�t so scary, was it?

Duo took a deep breath and kept walking, though he kept his hand clenched around his tazer and kept scanning the street ahead of him. It was Friday, he kept telling himself as he walked past the car, and Heero might be back tomorrow morning. He would get home and do all the stuff he had joked to Trowa about. Once he got to his street, he would be safe. Their neighbor, whom Duo didn�t know any of their names, from across the street, was always lounging by her garden in the front yard, and the man next door to them walked his Newfoundland around this time, a beast that Duo had started to warm up to because, although it was an enormous dog, was incredibly sweet and affectionate, the first time Duo had met it, he had had Sammy in his arms and though the cat had hissed at the dog, the canine had just laid down at Duo�s feet, it�s tongue rolling out of its mouth happily. He didn�t hate dogs, it was just that living on the streets had taught him to be wary of them. A stray had attacked Shiva�s mom once, had gotten its jaws around her leg and probably would have killed her if he hadn�t been there to get it off her. Still, he liked dogs, he just could never have one with his cats, even a sweet one like his neighbor�s since most of his cats, especially Toby, would try to claw a dog�s eyes out if it got too close to them.

Thinking about his neighbor�s dog, maybe seeing it on his way home and giving it a pat on the head, maybe letting it lick his face, made a bit of his fear ebb away. It was just part of that vision of normal. They used to call it the �American Dream�, having a mom and dad who loved you, a white picket fence, nice neighbors, and a dog. Like something out of an ancient sitcom. They didn�t make shows like that anymore because no one actually lived like that. Well, Duo had a sort of mom who loved him and a white picket fence, and his cats were just as good as dogs, so that part was pretty close. And as soon as he got into the house, he was taking the blanket off of Heero�s bed, wrapping himself in it so he could smell the boy he loved, even if he couldn�t see him, sit on the big red couch in the living room and watch bad horror movies, or maybe a nature program, if it was something he hadn�t seen before.

He was going to get a cold root beer from the fridge, make some pop corn, just lay down and do nothing that required any thought whatsoever, just pretend like there wasn�t a monster out there that was stalking him, that all those bad thoughts that kept plaguing him were just white noise in his head. He�d call Trowa, just to let him know he was ok, and Name, too, if she didn�t call him by six o�clock, just because it would be really, really nice to hear her voice. He�d wait up for Quatre and Trowa, they�d chat about their date and maybe play some video games before going to bed. Everything would be normal and good and he could sleep with the hope that when he woke up in the morning, maybe Heero and Name would be there, though that was unlikely. Though, he was really starting to get into this illusion of denial. It was kind of nice, actually.

Duo�s mind went completely blank, all thoughts of home leaving him as he felt something hard, something made of metal being shoved into his lower back and he became aware for the first time that someone was right behind him. Why hadn�t he noticed that?

�Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!� his terrified mind screamed at him.

This was stupid, why had he done this? He should be home right now, with Trowa and Quatre, not out here�

�Zechs,� he thought desperately.

He had been spending this entire time reflecting on what Wes would do to him if he ever got a hold of him and he had forgotten all about the silver haired boy that had been acting strangely all day. His mind clung desperately to that, and wasn�t it ironic that he refused to give up that possibility out of hope? Because, really, Zechs wasn�t that bad. Compared to the alternative, Zechs wasn�t that bad at all. He still scared him, but not like Wes did. Never like Wes. And yet, though he wanted to hope, he knew that it wasn�t Zechs behind him, there was that smell, that familiar smell, and the feeling of heat coming off the man. How could you tell a person�s identity from something so small? And yet, he knew. Just like how he knew that the piece of metal the man was pushing against him was the muzzle of a gun.

Duo�s fingers spasmed tightly around the tazer. Could he do it? Could he get him before the gun went off? Did he dare to risk it?

�Don�t even think about it,� a voice that made Duo�s knees go weak and his stomach feel as though it had turned to sludge growled and Duo, automatically, reflexively, let go of the tazer, �Get your hands out of your pockets. Now.�

Duo did as he was told, without so much as thinking about it. Just obeying an order. Just like always. He hated himself. Had nothing changed. A single order from this man and he jumped. Where was his pride now, he thought bitterly. Could he electrocute Wes before he shot him? Not a chance. Not when just the act of standing seemed so hard all of the sudden.

It was the woods all over again. He couldn�t think. Couldn�t breathe. Terror filled him and wrapped around his heart. Duo didn�t realize that he was shaking slightly.

�He said he loves me,� some stubborn part of him argued.

And if that was true, then he wouldn�t shoot, even when Duo tried to shock him, right?

�He shot me before,� the bitterness was back, that feeling of betrayal that never really made much sense, but reared its head every time that Wes hurt him, �Just to prove a point, he shot me.�

That realization stopped any thoughts of using the tazer on Wes. Even if he could gather the courage to do it, even if he could ignore all those ancient thoughts that demanded he just submit to his past abuser, he wasn�t fast enough. Wes didn�t even have to shoot to kill, just hit his hand. And Wes was a very good shot. How had this happened? How, after all this time, was he still powerless here?

�My phone�s on,� he thought, his mind starting to go white with hysteria, �As long as my cell phone stays on, they can find me. The GPS software� no matter where I am, they�ll find me.�

But would he be in tact when they did� no, he couldn�t think about that! He couldn�t just� just give in like a good little dog the second Wes showed up! He had had the strength to defy him when Wufei�s life had been in danger, so why couldn�t he find it now, to save himself? He felt frozen. He couldn�t do anything. Why hadn�t he heard him coming up behind him? But, if he thought about it, even if he had heard Wes behind him, what would he have done? If he had run for it, he probably would have gotten shot. But if he had run, the man in the car would have seen it, he would called the cops. Did he see what was happening now? Duo didn�t dare look back. He knew Wes would do something if he did. Hit him, shoot him, who knew? That had always been the worst part of living with him, not knowing when the blow would come, but knowing that it would, eventually. He had woken up every morning and had wondered �how will he hurt me today?� It had been a constant question since he had been seven years old and to have it reappear after all these months of� well, bliss was physically and emotionally painful. All he could do was hope that the man in the car had seen Wes pull the gun on him and wasn�t just sitting there wondering why the two of them were so close.

�Y�� Duo tried to speak, but his voice was weak, his throat was dry and it took him a few seconds to get any real words out, �You can�t do this. No matter what you do, you�re going to get arrested for this. Heero will find me-�

The mere mention of Heero�s name seemed to piss Wes off enough to retaliate to shove Duo forward. In a way, the second the words had come out of his mouth, Duo had realized it had been the wrong thing to say, but since he couldn�t see the blonde man, he hadn�t seen it coming and he stumbled, just barely keeping himself from falling and hitting the pavement. An almost lifetime of being shoved, kicked, and tripped by this same man had forced him to learn how regain his balance quickly or end up with a lot more injuries than he could afford from the easily violent pimp.

�You let me worry about that,� Wes said in an obviously threatening tone, �Just shut up and keep walking.�

Duo let out a shaky breath and kept walking. This couldn�t be happening. He had to be dreaming or� or something. But this was the very thing he had been having nightmares about ever since that night in the woods and by now, he knew the difference between reality and his nightmares, even if it took him awhile sometimes. As they walked a few feet, Duo feeling like he was going to jump out of his skin, his skin tingling like he was standing near a live wire, or a snarling grizzly bear that he couldn�t actually see, but knew was there, he saw where Wes wanted him to go. Though this was a back street and wasn�t really a residential area, it was well kept and there were small tress growing out of squares of mulch in the pavement. Those trees had blocked his view of Wes� car, parked further up the street.

�I can�t go in there,� his panic brain protested.

�And I don�t have a choice,� the more rational part of him summed up neatly.

What could he do? Fight back and hope that he didn�t die? How could he possibly escape? Maybe only a part of it was his overwhelming fear of Wes, how impossible it had always been to defy him, but he also, logically, didn�t see a way out of this. If he didn�t get into the car, Wes would probably shoot him and drag him into it anyway. The man was too crazy for him to try to find some logical way out of this, some way to get home safely. He didn�t even know what he had planned. As they got to the car and Wes reached around him to open the passengers� side, it finally hit Duo like a tidal wave. Even if that man had called the cops, they weren�t going to come in time. He was going with Wes and no one was going to save him this time. Even if Wes just had five minutes before someone found him, it was too much time. Every second was too long.

�Get in,� Wes ordered.

Panic overwhelmed Duo. Not again, not ever again� Name and Heero and all his friends had promised him that. So why, why couldn�t Wes just leave him alone? Why couldn�t he ever be safe? In that moment, Duo didn�t know what he felt more towards the man, fear or rage. No matter how far he tried to run, no matter how much he tried to make his life better, Wes was always there, turning everything to hell. Would he always be there, even if he got away from him now, the constant dark shadow haunting him? He knew� he had always known that he could never move on from his past as long as Wes was around. He had thought that all he really needed was Heero and Name, showing him what love and family was supposed to be like, but without giving up everything Wes had made him feel, all that fear, making him feel worthless every single day, without finally moving past those dark memories, he couldn�t hope to try to make anything better. And how could he let go of any of that when Wes wouldn�t let go of him?

�No,� he protested, half in anger and half in frantic panic, �I�m not going-�

Wes grabbed his braid by the base near his neck and shoved him forcefully into the car. Pain shot through Duo�s head as he hit it against something hard. The steering wheel, the dash board, he wasn�t sure, but it dazed him for a second. He nearly laughed hysterically then. He had forgotten. After all these months, he had forgotten what it felt like, this feeling of violence, of being tossed around like a rag doll. It was so familiar, like going back to a place you had frequented as a child. When you tried to remember, it was hazy, but when you actually went there, all the details were so vivid, you wondered how you could have forgotten at all.

He had spent too much time with the Yuy�s. He had forgotten what it had felt like to be treated like a thing, an animal, instead of a human being. He had dreamt about it constantly, but as soon as he had woken up, Name had been there with kind smiles and hugs when he needed them and that feeling, those memories always faded. Every day that went by with him in that house had been one day away from his life with Wes. Even if it had haunted him, it was hard remembering exactly how it felt to have your bounced off something hard until someone actually did that to you. It was like returning home, even though it hurt, it was familiar to him. He had just forgotten how familiar. As the fog in his head started to dissipate, he looked down at his hands and felt the equally familiar sensation of a needle going into his arm. The last thing he saw and realized was how badly his hands were shaking.
*****
　

�Never mind, Sylvia,� Charles Noventa said into his cell phone as he watched the longhaired brat that Name Yuy had taken in being led down the street by a strange man holding a gun to his back, �I think that I�ll be coming home very soon.�

Noventa smirked and hung up his phone, his pale blue eyes watching the scene on the street with cold glee. It turned out that Name�s precious charity case wasn�t as perfect and innocent as she claimed. You couldn�t take a rat out of the gutter and expect it to not wallow in trash for very long. Ever since that little freaky-eyed shit had made a fool out of him and Name had chosen that same shit over him� him, her business partner, someone she had had known for years! Maybe he wasn�t as rich as her, or have her spotless reputation, but compared to this piece of trash, he might as well be a king! Such a person didn�t deserve to kiss a Yuy�s shoes or look a man like him in the eye, and yet, not only had he turned his offer down, Name had struck him over it!

Ever since that embarrassment, ever since he had vowed to Name that it wasn�t over, not by a long shot, he had been hard at work trying to get back at Name and her flea-ridden pet. He had been so righteous� so sure� Thanks to Yuy, his business was ruined, his good name dragged through the mud, all because she had been too weak and emotional in the way that women were to make her son marry his Sylvia. She had tossed away their entire relationship, and for what? Some sentimental notions? So what if her son didn�t love his granddaughter? This was business, not some dime store romance novel!

When that boy took over the company, women would be falling over themselves to marry him. Hell, they did that now! Just look at Relena Peacecraft. She had been prime meat, the perfect wife for any wealthy bachelor, now she was so obsessed with Yuy she wouldn�t look at any other man. Who did Yuy think her son was going to wed? Did she think that he was going to find anyone better than his Sylvia? With that attitude problem of his, he should be grateful Noventa was willing to wed her off! With that rage filling him, remembering the feeling of Name striking him across the face, Noventa had been set on paying them back, both Name and the squirt, but as the months had passed, he had quickly realized how hard that would be.

Name was bullet proof. Her business practices were perfect, both ethical and successful. The only things he could really use against her with the corporation were so petty, they wouldn�t leave so much as a dent in her reputation. There wasn�t really anything in her personal life he could use, either. Heero�s recent, shameful behavior and her taking in the homeless brat was public knowledge. None of it seemed to faze her at all and worse, the public and her business partners didn�t seem to care, either. All there was was the rat. If he brought him down, if Name cared as much as she said she did, it would destroy her. Even better, if the media found out that Yuy�s charity case had some dark secret, it would make Name look like a fool.

But finding dirt on the longhaired punk was almost as hard as finding dirt on the Yuy�s. He had thrown what little power he had left around to get the boy�s records, only to find that he didn�t have much. No birth records, no social security, no parents, no doctor�s records. All he had was some pay stubs from some quaint, local shop and grades from the public high school and middle school. Everything else surrounding him was either in a fake name or in Name�s. His address was a fake. His name was a fake. All the records he had for his job had been set up by Name herself. He couldn�t find any dirt on the kid because according to the government, he didn�t exist. He couldn�t even use that absence against him because he was sure that Name would spend a fortune making that sort of problem go away. The woman had set up a goddamn bank account and trust fund for him! Sylvia would be lucky if they had the money to send her the private college she had been prattling on about for a single semester and Name was showering money and security on some homeless brat who wasn�t even worth the air he breathed!

Noventa had spent the last couple of months trying to follow the boy, to try to catch him doing something that Name couldn�t possibly know about, but even that was difficult since Heero and those strange friends of theirs were always hanging around him, more like a guard detail than a bunch of teenagers. The brat didn�t go anywhere alone, ever! Noventa�s smirk grew. Wasn�t it convenient that the first time he caught him alone something like this happened? He had no idea who the man with the gun was, but the boy clearly knew him and Noventa doubted that the man was a cop. This was perfect. He didn�t even have to tape this and use it against Name, all he had to do was let it happen! He just wished he could be there when she realized that her �other son� had gone missing. He nearly wanted her to know that he had had a hand in it, but that would be too dangerous.

Noventa grinned as he started up his car and pulled into the street. He hoped that man kept the kid gone. He hoped it broke Name�s heart.
　

　

End Part 6

Author�s notes: Don�t kill me, ok? It was always heading towards this, from page one. Had to happen this way, so I hope everyone expected this to happen when Heero and Name left for London. I had a lot of different ideas for how Duo was going to confront Wes again. I thought about having some kind of rescue-smack down involving Quatre, Heero, Trowa, Wufei, Amaaya, Solo, and Shi, but I really thought that it wouldn�t be true to this story. Duo needs to face his own demons and whether he will be rescued will be seen, but for this kidnap scene, I really needed a contrast to what happened in Boston. Duo�s situation seems hopeless, just like it did back then, but this time, he�s all alone, like how this entire story started. In other words, it�s another revisiting of the beginning of the story. Heero�s in London, Duo�s with Wes, and who knows how any of it is going to be resolved?
Djargo: Thank you so much for the compliments. TRTK is hard because it is impossible, or at least a really bad idea, to have a story like this with no emotional growth. This is why Heero and Duo aren�t romantically involved yet. If they had gotten together back in chapter 3 or 4, their relationship would be textbook dysfunctional. The both of them are growing up and moving on from some of their problems, but they�re not all there yet. Duo still needs more confidence and understanding of what a normal relationship should be. But, more than anything, he needs to get some catharsis concerning the �other man� in his life. It�s hard to keep track of where these characters need to go sometimes. I was also very concerned about people taking Duo�s choice to walk home by himself at face value as him needing to feel confident about himself and not just a convenient plot point to get him alone and in a vulnerable spot. So, I really do thank you for mentioning that you liked it.
XBornxOfxFlamesx: Sorry to be confusing. As I�ve stated before, this story is definitely a 1x2, but it�s a very long story and it�s all about catharsis and two characters that are growing up and help each other to do so. As they are now, Heero is ready for a relationship. He�s coming to terms with what the loss of his father did to him. He�s aware that he�s in love with Duo, but he�s also aware that Duo needs him more as a best friend. Duo isn�t quite ready for that kind of relationship. He�s aware of his feelings for Heero, but is not entirely sure what that means. Quatre and Trowa�s relationship is starting to show him that having an intimate relationship is nothing like how Wes treated him, but he�s still insecure and is stuck feeling comfortable with how things are, so he�s too scared to say anything about it to Heero. Plus, he�s kind of pushing his feelings down right now because of his confusion over Wes� own confession of love. Will Heero and Duo get together? Yes, otherwise I would be an awful tease and a bad writer. Will they get together at the very end of the story? No. Again, the tease thing, but there are still some things that have to happen before either of these characters can admit to anything. And even when they do get together, it isn�t going to be automatic paradise for either of them.
As always, I want to thank everyone who took the time and care to review this story. For that reason, I�m sorry about the cliffhanger ^_^ I�ll try to post the next part as soon as possible! *runs away*

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　
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The Road to Kindness