28-Jan-2001
Murasaki's approach to fic-writing: when unable to finish a fic in progress, start on a bunch of new ones >.< Oroooo.....Anyways, here's me trying my hand at a supernatural-involving ficcie. Enjoy, minna-san and remember: C&C are begged for!
Disclamer: Not mine, no $ made.
Duo flung his suitcase on the floor and sprawled out on the bed, sighing happily.
"I'm exhausted," he announced to no one in particular.
"Hn," his roommate's laconic response was.
"Heero, are you afraid you'll run out of vocabulary if you talk, or something?"
"Duo, I'm busy. Go amuse yourself elsewhere."
Duo made a face at his partner's back, then sighed again. Duo liked the silent boy more than he was willing to admit, but damn if he didn't want to strangle Heero in frustration sometimes. The guy didn't have a clue! Every once in a while Duo seriously pondered the possibility that Heero was just an elaborately made robot -- so devoid was he of any emotion whatsoever. Giving Heero's back another glare, Duo got up reluctantly and started to unpack. Behind him, soft clicking of the laptop keys provided a soothing background noise.
Heero was bent over his desk, presumably doing homework when Duo bounded into their room, slamming the door shut behind him. Heero, Duo noted in satisfaction, actually started a little at the noise. Maybe there was some hope after all.
"Heero, do you know they found another body this morning, just next to the school grounds?"
"Aa."
"It's another student, the guy from 10B who had gone missing a couple of days ago. Isn't it weird?"
"Hn." An acquiescence, in Heero-esque.
"People think it's some sort of animal," Duo said, taking books out of his backpack, "The strangest thing is, there were bite marks on all those bodies that have been found, on the neck. And most of the blood's gone. What kind of animal could have done something like that?" Duo kept talking, oblivious to the intense expression with which Heero was now listening to him.
"Heero, do you think we should look into these deaths?"
"No." Said too quickly, perhaps.
"But, Heero, people are dying! Surely it won't jeopardize the mission to shoot some rabid dog... "
"I said, no. It's none of our business. Let the authorities deal with it. We have a mission to carry out." With that, the Japanese pilot turned back to his work, leaving Duo to gape at him open-mouthed. The braided boy was in no small way shocked by the vehemence in Heero's voice. He blinked slowly, shaking his head.
"Uh, sure, Heero, if you say so. Jeez, you don't have to yell at me to get your point across. Man... " Still grumbling, Duo plopped down on the bed and opened his physics book. If he'd looked at Heero closely, he'd have noticed some peculiar things. Heero's teeth were clenched, as were his fists and there was a cold fire dancing in his eyes. In fact, if Duo had looked he would have seen a gentle glow radiating from Heero's irises. But Duo was too absorbed in his homework for the moment, and so the change Heero's features escaped his notice.
During the night, Duo woke up to hear Heero rummaging in his dresser drawers. A look at his wristwatch told the American it was the middle of the night.
"Heero, what the hell are you doing? It's two a.m.!"
"Just looking for something. Go back to sleep."
"OK."
Duo was asleep again in a moment, so he didn't hear the door open and close quietly as his partner exited the room. In the morning, everything was as usual.
A little over a month passed since the two boys first came to this boarding school. Their mission this time was to gather intelligence about the nearby OZ base, which they did. Nothing much happened, except six more people had disappeared and were later found dead, with bite marks on their necks. The six victims had all been students in the school, but Duo heard a rumor that some civilians in town who had nothing to do with the school had met the same demise. Despite Heero's words the American kept thinking about these mysterious deaths. It was very strange – if an animal was indeed to blame, why hadn't it been exterminated, or even seen, by now? And just what sort of animal would regularly bite its prey on the neck and drink its blood, but leave the rest of the body untouched? Those were the questions floating in Duo's mind and they came up to his consciousness every time another disappearance was announced. Slowly, terror began to spread among the student body. Duo had an idea as to the identity of the killer, but he discarded it as pure nonsense. He knew what sort of animal would leave such a trail, but surely vampires were nothing but a childish myth! When the eighth victim was found – this time a boy who lived down the hall from Duo and Heero's room – the teenager wasn't so sure anymore.
Duo also noticed another disturbing pattern emerging. Heero would find an excuse to leave the dorm late at night nearly every night recently. Sometimes he'd sneak out when he thought Duo was asleep. When his roommate was obviously awake, Heero would inevitably come up with a reason to go out. He always refused Duo's offer to go with him. At first, Duo thought the other boy was simply sneaking out to see a girl. As unbelievable as that notion might be, and despite the pangs of jealousy the idea gave him, Duo almost wished that it were indeed the case. But then, the American noticed that Heero's disappearances very often coincided with disappearance of some one who'd be later found dead. That was when Duo began to seriously wonder what the hell was going on. He absolutely hated spying on his friend, but after Heero's night outings happened simultaneously with deaths of people three times in a row, Duo decided he had to investigate. Next time Heero went out, Duo would follow him. As luck would have it, though, Heero stayed in for the next two weeks. Nothing unusual happened, no one died, and Duo started to question his theories. Because he spent the nights waiting for Heero to make a move, Duo suffered from a constant lack of sleep. He became inattentive and irritable. After over two weeks, the braided teenager was about to give up when one night he heard his roommate creeping around the room in the dark. As soon as Duo heard the door click shut, he jumped out of bed. Pulling on a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt took mere seconds. At the door Duo paused, considered, then fished his gun from under his bed and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. Opening the door, he peered out and saw Heero's silhouette disappearing in the far end of the hallway, dark against the dim hallway lights. Relieved that he hadn't lost his quarry, Duo slipped out, making sure not to be too visible.
The next several hours had Duo wondering whether the whole thing wasn't an elaborate joke on Heero's part. He led the American around the school campus a few times, ducked in and out of several blind alleys, and passed by a nearby cemetery twice. Not for the first time Duo asked himself whether Heero knew he was being followed. It was about that time that Duo lost sight of him. Heero had walked into a dark narrow walkway between two houses and – vanished. Annoyed, Duo quickly checked around the other side of the building, but the street was deserted in both directions. Even more annoyed now, Duo went back into the walkway to see where Heero could have gone. The mystery was resolved almost immediately. There was a gate in the wall of one of the houses and it was ajar. Duo considered for a moment, than stepped through the gate.
It turned out to be a passageway running through the building. Duo estimated that it would come out several blocks away from where he was standing now. Blinking sleep and fatigue from his eyes, Duo moved on resolutely, unwilling to give up just yet. He was about halfway through the \passage, when a piercing shriek made the walls of the building vibrate with the echo.
The scream had come from the direction Duo was heading. Grabbing his gun, he continued on. He could hear sounds of a scuffle going on beyond the gate at the other end of the passage, then feet running away. Finally, he was at the gate. He opened it and stepped out cautiously, gun at the ready. The scene that opened in front of him froze Duo in place.
Under the streetlight, in the pool of dead white light, a girl was lying supine, unmoving. Someone was crouching next to her, with his back to Duo. The teenager must have made a sound, for this crouching person suddenly turned to face him. Duo couldn't contain a scream. The person was someone Duo knew -- or at least he thought he did. The same dark unruly hair, the same chiseled features. Except Heero's eyes were glowing blue and Duo could see fangs in his mouth, bared in a snarl. As Heero rose to his feet, Duo slowly aimed his gun, hands shaking violently.
"Duo, I told you to stay out of this." With that Heero made to approach his partner.
"Stay right where you are! I _will_ shoot you. So it _was_ you, Heero!"
"Don't be ridiculous. You think I killed all those people?"
"What else am I supposed to think? Just what the hell are you?"
"Duo, there are things going on here that you will never understand... "
"So why don't you explain them to me right now. I don't have anywhere to be in a hurry, and neither do you." Duo waved his gun a little.
"Do you really think you can kill me with that?" Heero sneered contemptuously.
"No, but it will probably hurt a lot. Shall we test it out?"
"Baka." Heero snorted. Then his manner changed, his voice becoming urgent, "Duo, listen to me. It's dangerous for you to stay out here. I will explain, just go home, please!"
Duo couldn't believe his ears. Heero was actually begging him to leave. His gun hand wavered slightly. He met Heero's intense gaze, its blue glow almost hypnotic. Duo shook his head to clear it, then lowered his gun. He took a step toward his friend when he felt, rather than saw, movement behind him. In the next instant, someone had grabbed Duo from behind, twisting his gun arm, making him drop his weapon, then twisting it further to the point where Duo's shoulder snapped out of socket. As stars began to appear in front of the boy's eyes from the excruciating pain, his head was twisted to the side rudely and something sharp bit into his neck. Then something whizzed past Duo's ear and hit his attacker with a sickening thwamp. As suddenly as the attack had come, it was gone, Duo's arm was free and the boy staggered forward a few steps, swaying drunkenly. Then he turned to look at the person who had jumped him. The sight made the American pilot shudder.
A man was writhing on the ground, a huge knife sticking out from his forehead. Heero's aim had been immaculate. Bu it wasn't the sight of the wound that horrified Duo. It was the man's face -- it was deformed, terribly so. In fact, that face reminded Duo of one he'd seen in a picture book Sister Helen showed him a long time ago. It was the face of a monster, with fangs and a strangely misshapen nose that was made even more surreal in the dead white light that flooded the scene. Then Heero was there, next to him.
"Who is that?" Duo asked in disgust.
"A vampire. Status?"
"I'll live," Duo said absently, then Heero's words hit him. "A vampire?! Heero, what in seven hells is going on?"
"Later. We should get out of here before his friends show up. Let's go."
Duo was in too much shock to resist Heero when the other boy started dragging him away, back toward the campus. They managed to make it back without any further incidents. Once in their room, Heero inspected his partner critically. "You've been bitten," he noted. Duo touched the still-throbbing spot on his neck and his fingers came away sticky with blood. Heero rummaged under his bed and tossed a first-aid kit at Duo. "Clean that up." Nodding, Duo disappeared in the bathroom, only to reemerge a moment later with an embarrassed grin.
"Heero, do you think you could lend me a hand? That punk dislocated my shoulder and it's a little tricky to put a bandage on one-handed. Please?"
Heero stalked over to him and Duo noticed that he kept his eyes averted from Duo's bloodstained neck. Instead of picking up the first-aid kit, he looked over Duo's injured shoulder. "Can you stand not to scream?" Duo nodded silently and clenched his teeth. The pain was almost unbearable as Heero grabbed his arm and pulled, twisting it slightly, guiding it back into socket. There was a pop as the bones snapped back into place. Duo released his breath and wiped beads of perspiration off his forehead.
"Are you capable of dealing with your neck injury now?"
"Uh, yeah, I think so."
"Good." With that, Heero left him alone in the bathroom.
Some half-hour later, Duo finally came out of the bathroom with a large piece of gauze taped in place over the bite. He still looked white and shaken. Heero was already hunched over his laptop, typing something. He didn't look up when Duo entered.
"OK, Heero, how about we have that talk now?"
"Duo, I'm busy."
"Well, that's too bad, because I don't fucking care if you busy, or not!" Duo came around the desk and slammed the laptop shut. Then he continued, "Your behavior is stupid and reckless. You nearly got me killed back in that alley, and God only knows how many times you endangered your own life. Your stubbornness is jeopardizing both our cover and our mission. I'm your partner, Heero, you must tell me what's going on."
The Japanese boy was silent for so long that Duo despaired to ever get him to talk. Then, shoulders slumped in defeat, Heero said quietly, "What do you want to know?"
"Did you kill all those people in the past month and a half?"
"No."
"Do you know who did?"
"I think so, yes."
"Heero, what exactly are you?"
End Part 1
::Rubs hands anxiously:: Feedback? Please...??
(:./murasaki/shdw1)
