[Gundam Wing] [Blood and Tears: Reunion] (Ch 1 - Coincidence?)
Disclaimer: As usual, GW isn’t mine, and suing me would get you nothing. Well, maybe just a bunch of Anita Blake novels. Never mind, you’d get zilch. Those books are going nowhere.
A/N: People asked nicely, so I’m continuing ‘Blood and Tears’...besides, I really wanted to anyway. *grin*
Warnings: Um, angst, maybe OOC, (I hope not) implied yaoi, not much of a timeline to speak of, a vampire (there should be more later), and probably blood. I think that’s it. Maybe. Oh yeah, it’s AU, but I’m sure you already knew that. :)
Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4x3, 5x?
‘Blood and Tears: Reunion’ by Manic Grasshopper (4/16/02)
Chapter One: Coincidence? (1/?)
The school sucked.
Duo yanked on his tie, trying to loosen it. He was late for class, again, but that didn’t bother him. What bothered him were snotty students with holier-than-thou attitudes, rotten cafeteria food, and teachers that believed in giving you enough homework to keep you busy until the colonies deteriorated. Heero, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and himself were on a mission, and this was their temporary base of operations, as Heero liked to put it. Duo just liked to call it a glimpse of hell. They’d been here three weeks already, and were scheduled for another two. Duo wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand it before he pulled a Zero and blew up the school - preferably with everyone in it.
As he hurried down the hall, he passed a few stragglers, mostly couples who were enjoying one last grope before they made their fashionably late entrance into class. Duo scowled. God, he hated this place. He was still messing with his tie when he stopped dead in the hallway. Something felt incredibly familiar all of a sudden, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Slowly, the feeling began to clarify itself. Something didn’t feel familiar, someone did. He glanced up and found himself staring at a girl standing in the middle of the hallway, almost twenty feet away. She had shoulder-length black hair, blue eyes that almost seemed to glow, and appeared to be about fifteen years old. She was staring right back at him with something like disbelief on her face.
“Kiara...?” Duo whispered. It couldn’t be, but he’d know her anywhere, even after nine years.
She remained where she was as he began to move towards her. Finally, they were only two feet apart.
“Kiara? Is it you? Really?”
“Duo. Oh my god...” She reached out and grabbed him, pulling him into a hug that he gladly returned. When she finally let go and pushed him away, he saw that her eyes were wet.
“Look at you...You grew up.”
Duo grinned. “What’d you expect me to do?”
Kiara didn’t answer, just shook her head. It was only then that Duo noticed she was wearing the school uniform.
“Hey, I didn’t know vampires went to high school.”
Kiara looked around. The halls were totally empty now except for the two of them. She smiled wanly.
“I was bored.”
Duo snorted. “I doubt it. You’re - wait, you never told me your age. How old are you?”
Now she grinned at him. “I was ninety-seven when I met you. I’m a hundred and six now.”
Duo whistled. “Shit. That’s old.”
Kiara scowled at him. “It’s not old. I’m actually pretty young compared to some other vampires I had the misfortune of knowing.”
Duo snickered. “Will you tell me about them sometime?”
“Maybe.”
“You told me that once before, when I asked if I’d ever see you again. Does ‘maybe’ mean ‘yes’ for you?”
She shrugged.
Duo smirked. “Doesn’t matter. Look, I’m so late for class now I don’t see any point in going. My friends all have study hall first period, which they usually take in the cafeteria...or rather, the Intestinal Torture Chamber. Wanna join us?”
Kiara appeared uncertain. “I...sure. I missed class too, anyway. Got here late.”
“Your first day?” He asked as they headed to the cafeteria.
“Yes.”
Duo reached out and grabbed her hand. “I’m really glad to see you again, y’know.”
Kiara smiled. “I’m glad to see you too, Duo.”
They arrived at their destination, and disappeared through the swinging doors.
* * *
The cafeteria was pretty empty too; most of the tables still had their chairs stacked neatly on top. Duo pulled Kiara over to the small line of students waiting to order their breakfast...or their case of indigestion for the day, depending on how you looked at it.
“See anything you want?” He asked.
Kiara shook her head. “It all looks pretty disgusting. Besides, I ate before I got here. That’s why I was late.”
Duo eyed the so-called scrambled eggs being cooked for another student and blanched.
“Maybe I’ll just skip breakfast for today...ask Trowa to run to a fast food place or somethin’ during lunch. What'd ya have for breakfast?”
Kiara lowered her voice. “A couple OZ soldiers.”
Duo blinked and turned to stare at her. She was smirking.
“Damn, but it’s easy to forget what you are sometimes.”
Kiara sighed. “That can get you killed.”
He frowned, confused. “You’re not threatening the kid you saved, are you?”
She shook her head, and it suddenly hit him how tired she looked. Not sleepy tired, but tired like...He remembered the look Quatre sometimes got, when they were constantly doing missions and moving to different safe houses to avoid detection. Tired of running. Tired of hiding.
He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong, but she was pulling him away from the counter and pointing to a long table under a window at the far side of the room.
“Are those your friends?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Magic.”
“Bullshit.”
Kiara smiled. “I’ll explain later. Are you going to introduce me?”
He grinned back “You bet. They don’t know what you are though...I didn’t tell them everything about my life during the plague. They know I had a friend named Kiara, but that’s it.”
She nodded. “All right. Let’s go.”
She and Duo headed over to the table. When they got within throwing distance, Heero glanced up and glared at Duo.
“You’re late again.”
Duo shrugged. “Ran into an old friend of mine, Heero. Sue me for wanting to talk.”
“If we could get something other than that Gundam of yours, we might.” Wufei muttered, too low for anyone human to hear. Kiara caught it, but remained silent.
“Anyway, this is Kiara. Kiara, that’s Heero, Wufei is next to him, Quatre’s the blond, and Mr. Lanky over there is Trowa. Guys, be nice and say hello.”
Everyone did - well, in his own way. Quatre was positively sunny about it, and offered Kiara a seat. She slid into a chair across from him. Trowa said hello quietly and went back to reading a small paperback. Wufei inclined his head, and Heero just muttered his usual “Hn.” He’d seen Kiara and Duo holding hands and he wasn’t pleased about it.
Duo plopped into an empty seat on Heero’s other side and grinned. “So, what’s the topic of conversation this morning?”
Wufei smirked. “We were just discussing how blissfully quiet it is without you around.”
Quatre appeared mildly shocked. “Wufei! Duo, we weren’t. We were just...” His voice trailed off as he noticed Heero steadily glaring at Kiara. She was busy watching Trowa read, and didn’t seem to notice. Duo became aware of it, though. He stood up and grabbed Heero’s arm.
“We’ll be right back,” He informed the others, and pulled Heero across the room and into the bathroom. After checking all the stalls to be sure they were empty, he pushed Heero into the handicapped stall and followed him in, locking the door behind himself. Heero leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Duo planted himself firmly in front of his lover.
“Heero, what the hell’s the matter with you?”
“An old friend?”
“Yeah. You remember, I told you about her. Met her when I was six.”
Although he wouldn‘t admit it to Duo, he was jealous. “How long were you with her?”
Duo knew what the problem was, and groaned. “Just the day I met her, Heero. Then we went our separate ways. This is the first time I’ve seen her in years. You can’t seriously believe that I’m lying to you about that. You should know me by now.” Duo was hurt, and Heero looked unconvinced. Time to quit avoiding the truth and just come out with it. Kiara had told him it was okay anyway, all those years ago.
“Hee-chan...I’m gonna tell you something, and I want you to be open-minded about it, okay? I told you about the plague, and Solo dying, and the kids. Remember? There’s somethin’ that happened in that period that I didn’t tell you about. I had the plague too, and that was when I met Kiara.”
Heero frowned. “You said you had gotten lucky and that you never caught it.”
Duo winced. “That was the one time I did lie, and I’m not proud of it. But I had a reason, Heero. That plague was 100% fatal once you got it. The cure wasn’t being given to a bunch of street urchins, so what would you think if I told you I got sick and then recovered, all on my own?”
Heero shifted against the wall slightly. “Where exactly does Kiara come into this?”
“After Solo died I wandered away and collapsed in an alley. Kiara found me and...” He trailed off, unsure about how to phrase the next part. “She’s a vampire, Heero. She gave me enough blood to wipe out the plague, and I left. The fifteen year old girl you saw out there is really a hundred and six.”
Heero blinked a couple times and then let out a slow breath. “Duo,” he said quietly, “How much caffeine did you drink this morning?”
Duo kicked the toilet. “Goddamn it Heero, I’m not kidding! She saved my life! And just in case you’re worried something might happen between us, get over it. It’s more of a mother/son relationship, ya know?”
Heero reached out and pulled Duo to him. “I’m sorry...I believe you. Maybe I should thank her for what she did.”
“What for?” Duo’s reply was muffled against Heero’s shoulder.
“Baka,” Heero whispered. “If she hadn’t saved you, I wouldn’t be holding you right now.”
Duo closed his eyes and just let Heero hug him.
* * *
Back at the boys’ table, Quatre was speaking animatedly to Kiara, while Trowa looked on, amused. Wufei was studying Kiara quietly. He didn’t like the girl - and he didn’t know why. She didn’t appear to be a threat, but he of all people knew that appearances could be deceiving. She seemed to be a quiet, polite teenage girl...and yet just sitting across from her was sending chills down his spine. Something was definitely not right. He glanced over at Quatre’s smiling face and frowned. Sandrock’s pilot had been shown to be empathic on more than one occasion, and if there were something truly wrong with Duo’s friend, he would sense it. Wouldn’t he?
He focused on the conversation between the two teenagers when Kiara laughed. Quatre was still smiling.
“Duo mentioned you once, but he didn’t say much about you - just that you met on L2 when he was a child.”
Kiara nodded. “Yes - he was six. I was just passing through.”
Quatre suddenly frowned. “When ‘he’ was six? I thought you were both the same age.”
A corner of Kiara’s mouth lifted in a grin. “I wasn’t six then.”
“Oh, I see. So what brings you here?”
“The hope of a good education, maybe.”
“Not at this school.” Trowa replied quietly.
Kiara turned to Trowa. “That bad, huh?”
“Worse. The teachers are quite incompetent, and the homework is mostly busywork. It doesn’t seem to affect your grade much if you don’t turn it in.”
She smirked. “Speaking from personal experience?”
Trowa shook his head. “Duo’s.”
Kiara tried not to laugh. Wufei switched his attention to the subject of the discussion, who was just now emerging from the bathroom with Heero in tow. They had barely reached the table when the bell signaling the end of first period rang. Duo sighed.
“Damn...and I wanted to talk to Kiara more.”
She grinned. “You still can, you know; I haven’t gone anywhere. What’s your next class?”
A maniacal grin spread across Duo’s face. “Science. They’re lettin’ us use the Bunsen burners today.”
Wufei groaned. “Maxwell, not again...”
“What? I told you I had nothin’ to do with that.”
Kiara was intrigued. “What’d he do?”
Heero glared at his smirking lover. “Not much...just blew up the science lab.”
Duo scowled while Kiara chuckled.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Don’t you have any faith in me, Kiara?” Duo was feigning hurt.
She sobered. “You don’t know how much.”
Before he could respond to that, Kiara had risen from her chair.
“Walk me to my room, would you Duo? I need talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, sure. I guess I can miss class.”
“Thank the gods.” Wufei muttered.
Duo glared at him.
Kiara smiled at the others. ”It was nice meeting you all.” She headed towards the exit. Duo gave Heero a puzzled look.
“I’ll see you guys later, okay?”
Heero nodded, and Duo hurried to catch up to his friend.
Wufei watched them leave the room, somehow more convinced than ever that Kiara was hiding something.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, Duo and Kiara entered her dorm room. She gestured to the only chair in sight.
“Have a seat.”
Duo glanced around the room as he did so. It was pretty plain - just a bed, dresser, desk and the chair he was sitting in. No pictures on the walls, no knick-knacks on the dresser, just a pile of schoolbooks stacked neatly on the desk.
“Gee, a single. I thought they only gave these out to Upperclassmen.”
Kiara closed the door and took a seat on her bed. “I asked really nice.”
Duo frowned. “Kiara, what’s going on? This morning you looked really...I dunno, worn-out. Like you had been running too long. Ki, what are you running from?”
She sighed heavily, and that expression crossed her face again. “I...Duo, if I tell you, you’ll get involved. If you do, you might get killed. I don’t want...” She closed her eyes.
Duo stood up. “What d’ya mean? What is it? Ki?”
Kiara opened her eyes and gazed into his. “When I saved your life all those years ago, I broke a rule. I’ve been running ever since. When I came here, I never expected to find...” She trailed off for a moment, then spoke again, making a decision that would change everything.
“Duo...I need your help.”
TBC