Losing my Sight

Duo walked in, very nervous, but he tried not to show it. "Can I help you?" one of the stylists asked.



"Yeah,"Duo replied, "I need a style for the Emperor\'s Royal Ball tonight.



"Oh! I can do that! I could make you look like a goddess!"



"Really?" Duo replied.



"Yes, your hair is beautiful! Sit down!" she said to him.



"Wow, you\'re really nice," Duo complemented.



"So, who\'s taking you to this ball?"



"My partner. We\'re soldiers, we just realized we had feelings for each other."



"Now that\'s nice," the stylist said. "My husband was killed in a small riot. It\'s been five years since then."



"I\'m sorry to hear that."



"Yeah, I should be going to the ball. My cousin was the emperor\'s daughter, Mei Lan, but she\'s dead now," said the stylist.



"Mei Lan, you mean, Chang Wu Fei\'s wife?" Duo asked quickly.



"Yes, how did you know?



"I work with him," Duo said proudly, "What\'s your name?"



"I am Mei Wong," she informed him, " Your hair is done, tell me what you think." She held a mirror behind his head, showing him the back of his hair.



"It\'s lovely, thank you!" Duo smiled at her. "How much will it be?"



"No charge, but I need you to do me a favor. Tell Wu Fei that I heard that Emperor Xiao was going to be killed. Tell him to come and claim his throne. China needs him."



"Sure thing!" Duo said. But he was thinking the total opposite, "Doesn\'t she know that most citizens think that Wu Fei killed Mei Lan to get the throne? He\'s not really popular here. But, as the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. He is her family.



"Please do this for me," Mei asked, "It is all I request of you."



"I will do it," Duo said to her, "I won\'t let you down." Duo walked towards the door, rather quickly, trying to avoid anymore pleads or requests from Mei, but that wish was caught short.



"Wait, there\'s one more thing," Mei called, "Please tell him that he shouldn\'t care what the citizens here think about him, he should do what he knows is right."



With that, Duo left. That left him very confused, he didn\'t know what to think. \'Is Mei anti-Wu Fei? Why would she be so worried that he come and reclaim the throne? How does she know about the assassination? Is she with OZ?\' All these thoughts circled through Duo\'s head, and he decided to give Ling Pao a call. It was best not to tell Heero about this. He would become too worried about this suspect. Duo took his cell phone and dialed Ling\'s number.



"Hello," answered an unsuspecting Ling.



"Ling," Duo said calmly, "I found out something interesting that you might want to know. I got my hair fixed my a mighty interesting woman. Mei Wong. Do a background check. I want to know everything."



"Whoa, hold your horses here, Duo, what are you trying to tell me?" Ling asked.



"I\'m trying to say that Mei knows about the assassination. She mentioned it to me. She\'s Mei Lan\'s cousin. We got to talking about Wu Fei, and she says he needs to come back and reclaim his throne. She knows he\'s going to be killed."



"Ok, what did she say to you?" Ling asked.



"We talked about the ball, and she said she should be going. She said her husband died five years ago, and that Mei Lan was her cousin," Duo explained.



"You better tell Heero about this," Ling told her, "I\'ll do a background check and get back to you.



"Thanks, Ling," Duo said and hung up the phone. \'Whoa, this was way too much for comfort,\' he thought, sighing to himself. He continued to the hotel on foot, because he wanted the time to himself to think about what had happened.



As he walked, he thought about Heero and Mei. "Why would she tell me that? Did she know who I am? Did she want me to figure it out? Why would she want me to figure it out? I just don\'t understand.\' Duo stared at the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. He sighed slowly, continuing his walking. \'This could turn out to be a lot more dangerous than I originally thought. I hope Heero doesn\'t get hurt. But, I will protect him with my life.\' He looked up now, seeing all the hustle and bustle of L5. He gazed upon all the people with wonder. Did they all hate Wu Fei?



He passed by two people talking about the ball. Listening in to their conversation, he heard

things about the emperor, and that he was supposed to be naming the next emperor. Duo didn\'t think that was true. 



Just then, he felt a vibration in his pocket, and it scared him, because he was so deep in thought. He realized it was his cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket and answered it, "Hello?"



"Duo," Ling told him, "This is Ling."



"Oh, hi Ling, what did you find out?"



"This will be interesting to you. I found out she has been involved in lots of rebel activity. She started the anti-Wu Fei riots, and has been imprisoned twice for speaking out against the Imperial Family. The reason that she was family, she wasn\'t harmed during her imprisonment."



"That is interesting," Duo commented, "Is there anymore information?"



"Yes, now, she lives a quiet life, after her husband was killed in an anti-Wu Fei riot that she started. She\'s a beautician now. She hasn\'t been arrested for any rebel activity since the accident, but there have been rumors that she started a secret rebel faction in the slums. Duo, be careful, this is the reason Sally sent you on this mission."



"Ling," Duo said, rather surprised, "I will be careful."



"Oh, one more thing, tell Heero," Ling demanded. "You have to, if you don\'t, he could be caught off guard. Heero needs to be prepared just like you do."



"I understand, Ling," Duo said sadly. "I\'ll try, I just don\'t want Heero to be too worried."



"Ok, call me if you get any more leads," Ling informed. "I will get in touch with Sally and let her know. This will get dangerous, be on your guard."



"I will, Ling, goodbye," Duo said as he hung up the phone. He felt really bad now. He wanted to tell Heero, but he knew if he did, he would be worried about this mission; and when Heero worries, bad things generally tend to happen. The last time Heero worried, he was almost killed. 



Almost back at the hotel, Duo realized that he no longer was sure about this mission. Why did he accept when Heero did? He accepted because it was a chance with Heero that he might not have had otherwise. He shook the thoughts out of his head, and approached the hotel. He entered and took the elevator to his floor. He turned the doorknob and entered slowly.



"Heero?" He called softly into the dark room. "I have something to tell you." The room stood in silence. "Heero."



"I\'m in the shower," Heero replied, the sound being muffled by the sound of the water.



A sigh of relief came over him, he had a feeling that Heero wasn\'t there. "I\'m just gonna watch some t.v.," Duo told him. \'How can I tell him that I love him? Should I just go up to him and just tell him? But how? In what way? Oh, God, what am I going to do about Mei Wong? I know she has something to do with this, but what? What does she know?\' Duo sat down on the bed, and put his hands on his knees. \'There is just so much to deal with, I hope I can make it through this. I hope there\'s not a rebel faction that spoils the ball. I hope it\'s just one assassin. Just one.\'



Heero emerged from the bathroom, wearing a small towel around his waist. Duo\'s eyes instantly met his when he exited the bathroom. There was a great deal of lust in that look that they gave each other.



\'This is it,\' Heero thought, \'I hoped this wouldn\'t happen. Look at that look in his eyes. I can\'t say no to them, but I have to maintain control. I\'m just going to walk back into the bathroom.\'



\'Look at his body, all wet,\' Duo thought, \'I can\'t stand to look. Maybe I should close my eyes. Here I go...I can\'t! I can\'t draw my eyes away from his gorgeous body. His muscles glisten...he\'s so built.\' Duo licked his lips, wishing to devour the treat the was just feet away from him.



Heero quickly went back into the bathroom. He wasn\'t doing that again. His want for him was way too strong and he was so vunerable just sitting there, looking at him. He was panting, and nervous for once. He, Heero Yuy, the Perfect Soldier, had just had an emotion that he never dreamed of feeling before. He felt nervous. He\'d never felt nervous around him before, of course, he\'d never been almost naked in front of him before. \'How could I forget that he was out there? Very smart, Heero, you could\'ve revealed your secret!\' 



Duo sat back on the bed, being careful not to mess up his hair. He happily sighed. He had seen Heero without a shirt before, and in a tight wetsuit, and in his black spandex shorts, which leave nothing to the imagination. He immediately dissmissed the thoughts from his mind. He had a mission to think about, and to dwell on his personal matters right now was not a good thing. He glanced at his watch. It read 14:00, still time to get ready for the ball.



Heero emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, well fully dressed in his bathrobe. He was brushing his hair. In the midst of this all, he thought about the previous incident very carefully. He had acted careless, but he didn\'t need to think about that now, it was almost mission time.



"Duo," Heero said, running the brush through his hair, "We need to start preparing for this mission."



Duo was sitting on the bed in deep thought about Mei. "Heero, I found out something, when I was getting my hair fixed today. I met a woman named Mei, who is Mei Lan\'s cousin. She told me to tell Wu Fei to come back here, and claim his throne. She told me that Emperor Xiao was going to be killed tonight. Then, when I called Ling, he did a background check, and she is the leader of a rebel anti-Wu Fei faction that will stop it nothing to see him killed," Duo explained, now looking into Heero\'s eyes again.



"So, why kill Xiao?" Heero asked.



"So that Wu Fei will ascend the throne and they can kill him. If Mei takes out the emperial line, then she can take the throne," Duo informed.



"So, let me get this straight," Heero breathed deeply, "You went in to get a hairstyle and you came out with a shit load of leads, correct?"



"Hai," Duo says quickly, acknowledging Heero\'s guess.