Duo's POV:

I just sat there staring at the screen. There�s no freaking way. I read the mission over a few times, willing it to change, to just go away. It doesn�t. Go figure. So I kept on staring at the screen, not blinking, mouth hanging open in disbelief. I must look like an idiot right now. I don�t really care either.

I hear footsteps and the door opens. It�s Quatre.

�Duo?�

I tear my eyes from the I just sat there staring at the screen. There�s no freaking way. I read the mission over the screen and just look at him.

�Umm...Are you coming to eat?�

He�s concerned, I can tell. Not that it�s that hard to tell. He�s probably also worried about one of us. �No, I�m not hungry.� He gives me a look but leaves. I pull my gaze from the door and fix it on the screen again. It�s still the same.

Objective: Terminate Heero Yuy
Must be completed in 2 hours.

No matter how many times I read it I still couldn�t believe what it said. Why on fucking earth would they want me to kill Heero Yuy, �The Perfect Soldier�? I get up and start walking around the room I share with Heero, just glancing around at everything but nothing really. I notice a paper sticking out of Heero�s damned laptop. Being the curius person I am I walk over and pull it out. A smile sneaks across my face despite my �mission�. It�s a picture of me and Heero the night we came back from a mission together. Quatre had taken it when we weren�t looking. now this is no ordinary picture. Why, you ask? Cause Heero�s smiling. It was the night we voiced our feelings about each other.

*Flashback*

"Baka! If it wasn't for me, you would have been dead at that place!" Heero grumbled to me.

"Hey, I didn't ask you to save me or anything!" I said with a grin. "Nobody asked you to play knight in shining armour. Maybe you saved me because you like me, huh?" I smiled slyly. I was just joking but suddenly the ever emotionless Perfect Soldier had this pained look that marred his perfect features.

"Yes, I do like you," he whispered as he looked downcast. "No, I love you - that is why I can't stand to see you get hurt. I know I'm not supposed to have any feelings in this war but I can't help having this funny feeling in my heart ever since the first day I met you."

"Uh, huh. And Quatre's a bunny waitress at a gay bar [1]," I said. "I know I'm not smart like you but did you really think I was that dumb? I'm the practical joker around here. You can't expect me to fall for you amatuerish jokes."

"But I wasn't joking," said Heero seriously.

And before I could comprehend what was happening, his lips was on mine. They were warm and soft just the way I had known it would be. He kissed me softly at first but then he was kissing me with a growing passion. And I kissed him back.

"Wow. You really do like me, huh?" I said after that dizzying star-bursting kiss we shared.

"I..I think I should be going. Gomen. I shouldn't have done that - I know that you like Hilde a lot.." I pulled him as he was starting to walk away.

"Who says I like Hilde?" I grinned. "She's like my sister for Chris sakes! It's you I like Heero ever since the first time I laid eyes on you. But I never told you that because I was sure you hated me and thought I was a nuisance and - "

Before I could continue another second with my babbling, his lips were on mine again. Suddenly, there was somebody coughing near us and we broke apart. And there was Trowa looking at us with a raised eyebrow and Quatre was holding a camera and before we could run off and hide somewhere, the little devil had snapped our picture.

I thought Heero was going to go bonkers for sure but to my surprise he didn't, as Quatre took more pictures of us with me blushing like an exploding tomato. Heero was too busy smiling and looking genuinely happy to be angry.

I think that was the first time I saw him really smile. I like it. It makes him look sweet.

*End Flashback*

I stuffed the picture back into his laptop and walked over to the box that held our guns. I pull one out and look it over.

*click*

The door to our room closes and I jump. Heero�s back. Closing my eyes for a minute I think about what I need to do. I think he can tell something is wrong and he walks over and wraps an arm around my waist from behind me.

�What�s wrong, Duo?�

I smile and lean back in the embrace, letting his warmth comfort me. Turning in his hold I look deep into his eyes.

�I got a mission today....�

�When is it?� He asked while he kissed my neck.

�I have to be done in a couple of hours.�

He looks at me.

�Baka! How long ago did you get it?! You better go!�

I shake my head. He doesn�t know what he�s telling me to do. I think about it again. What it would be like without him. I can�t do it. There�s no way I can do this. I shake my head at him. No....I won�t do it!! I kiss him just to remind myself he�s really is here.

�I already failed my mission, Heero.� I don�t care what he thinks of me, as long as he�s still here. I�m not going to tell him that the mission was to kill him, he just might kill himself.

�What?! Did you even try?!� He looks mad. If only he knew.

�No.� Hey, I can�t lie remember? I know he�s gonna be really mad now.

�WHAT?!� He lets go of me. Yep, he�s pissed.

�I couldn�t Heero. That�s it. That�s all. End of story. I could *NOT* do it.�

He blinks at the tone of my voice. Sensing there�s more to the mission than blowing up a normal OZ base.

"What was the mission Duo?� I blinked. Is he calm??

�I....I can�t tell you.....� He looks like he�s getting mad again.....

"Duo, tell me what the mission is about," said Heero, in a voice so cool and the way he spoke them, you knew that it was more of a command than a request.

"I told you I can't tell you!" I burst out. How could I possibly tell him about it??

"Who gave you this mission? Is it important?" he persisted. Looks like he would never give up, huh?

I sighed a long suffering sigh before answering. "The scientists gave this mission," I said slowly, not wanting to meet his penetrating eyes. "And as far as I'm concerned, I can't see how this mission could be of any importance to them - if I carry out this mission, they'll be losing something that would be crucial in future missions!"

"What is it?" Heero asked, pressing for more details; details I did not want to say.

"You, Heero," I whispered. "They want me to terminate you."

There was a moment of dead silence. Then suddenly Heero was strangling me with my braid.

"Let go of me, Heero!" I choked out.

"Hn. That shows you not to tell stupid lies," said Heero with a snort.

"I wasn't lying!" I yelled.

Suddenly the door to our room flew open and we saw Quatre standing in the doorway with his hands on his hips. "Wouldn't it be better if you guys be a bit quiet?" he scolded. "I know that you guys don't want to eat but there are some of us who would like to have our meal in peace."

With an eyebrow raised, Quatre just stared at Heero who was still trying to strangle me with my braid while I was struggling like a dying goldfish.

"Lack of food really makes some people crazy," he muttered under his breath as he unwound the thick braid from around my neck and proceeded to drag the both of us by our hands towards the dining room. I hold back and he looks at me with a look that clearly said, "You're gonna have to eat - or else." Yep, Quatre really seemed like our mother sometimes.

"I'd like to have a word with you for a sec, that is, if you don't mind," I said. Quatre thought about it before agreeing and he pushed Heero into the general direction of the living room.

"What do you want to tell me?" he asked.

"Is it OK if we go somewhere more, uh, private?" I asked. He nodded but he had this confused look as if he was wondering why all the secrecy. He pulled me into the study and locked the door behind us.

"OK, so now can you tell me whatever it is that's so important?"

"Yeah, um but I don't know how to say this." I guess I sounded sort of miserable cos he was suddenly looking at me with a concerned expression. "Um, I have this mission that I have to complete in two hours and - "

"Two hours?! That's not much time!" he exclaimed. "Do you have to destroy a whole OZ base or something? If you want, I can help you on this mission."

"That's nice of you, Q. But I don't want your help. I don't even want to complete this mission," I said and laughed harshly. "Let's just consider this mission as a failure."

"What's your mission actually?"

"I'm supposed to terminate Heero."

Heero's POV:

Hn. That Duo has all the nerve, making up some stupid story about how his mission is to terminate me. Hah! I should have strangled him harder. I thought he was talking about a real mission and found out he was just playing one of his usual dumb jokes.

Really. He shouldn't go around playing tricks like that. What if he had some really important mission next time and I thought that it was nothing but another one of his jokes? That would really jeopardize our cause to fight for peace and justice.

Which reminds me. Maybe I should get Wufei to give that baka a lecture about the boy who cried wolf or something like that. Well, whatever it is I'm sure Wufei would have plenty of stuff to rant about. >Duo's POV:

"What! Duo, you're just joking, right?" asked Quatre anxiously.

"No, I'm not," I said seriously. "If you don't believe me, you can see the e-mail I got from the scientists."

The golden boy gestured towards his pc in the study room, and I took that as a permission to use the pc to access my e-mail account. After logging onto the internet and tapping a few keys here and there, I had accessed my account and I showed him the message I had recieved earlier.

"God. They really want you to do that?" he asked in disbelief. I think he was also finding it a bit queer that the scientists would want to get rid of one of their most important and useful 'tool'. "When did you get this mission?"

"Around half an hour ago.."

"There's not much time left."

Are you implying that I should go along with this mission and kill Heero?!" I nearly shouted. "Do you think I could do that? I love him, Quatre and mission or no, I am not planning on losing the most important person in my life."

"Gomen. I was not going to suggest that you terminate Heero - "

"Then what?" I cut in sharply.

"Maybe we could go visit the scientists and find out the reason for all this?" he suggested.

"Yeah, right," I snorted. "As if they're gonna give a whole bunch of reasons and explanations. They'll just say a mission's a mission. If we fail it, they'll just replace us with somebody more capable and competant."

"Maybe. But isn't worth a try?" I looked into Quatre's eyes, "We'll leave tomorrow." He nodded and we both silently head down for dinner.

~*Far off in space*~

A man sits infront of a computer. A door opens from behind him and a tall blond woman walks in.

"Master? "

*silence*

"The plan worked. The boy and his co-fighter are heading out to space tomorrow. Two of the others will be gone on "missions". We can take him back then."

The man turns around. "Very good, child. We will have him back yet."

"Yes, Master."

Duo's POV:

Dinner wasn't such a great idea. I thought that well, Heero would be in the bedroom, working on his dumb laptop or something but no.. he just had to show up at the dining table. And he just had to sit beside me like always.

Damn! Just when I was trying to forget about that goddamn mission to kill him.

The atmosphere was sort of strained and Quatre was the only person who was trying to make some conversation but with three mute statues, even something as trivial as trying to make small talk was pointless. I didn't even have the heart to even utter a word. I just felt so down.

"Duo! Stop playing with your food!" Quatre scolded me, seeing that I wasn't eating but just pushing the food around on my plate.

"I'm not hungry," I muttered.

Wufei raised an eyebrow and gave me a look of disbelief. "Maxwell - not hungry? This is the most magical thing I have ever encountered!" he paused to smirk at me. "And the fact that he's being so quiet is even more magical! God bless the heavens above! Finally we have some peace around here."

Great. Just great. Of all the times in the universe, he just had to pick on me at the wrong moment.

"Har har de hardy har har," I said sourly but Wufei just continued to smirk at me. "You are so funny I feel like barfing."

"What's wrong with you?" Heero asked, giving me a piercing glance. "You've been acting weird since the last few hours."

"Nothing's the matter. Everything's fine. Just fine. You don't hear me complaining, do you?" I said. "Why do you wanna know anyway?"

"Because I care about you."

"You wouldn't anymore if you knew out what I had to do," Duo retorted. Then he paused for a while before realizing something. "Hey, actually you do know what I have to do! I all ready told you about it."

"Duo. Stop being an ass and quit the silly jokes while you're at it," Heero ordered firmly in a voice that clearly states that he did not want to hear Duo talking about the supposedly 'mission' in front of his face ever again. "Now, why don't you just tell me what is really bothering you before I lose my patience and start strangling you with your own braid."

"Fight! Fight!" Wufei cheered, his eyes laughing with amusement as he banged his fork and knife onto the table. The asshole! I think there must be something in the stars that dictates that my life be a living hell today especially with the presence of a certain Chinese guy whose initials spell CW. Damn. Maybe I should have read today's horoscope forecast so I would have been ready for all this.

God... I was trying so hard not to squirm around in my seat like I needed to go to the loo real badly. I mean, Heero was staring at me so expectantly with those piercing eyes of his, Wufei was looking every bit like the busybody reporter who was always on the hunt for exciting gossip and well, I couldn't say much about Trowa. I mean, he always looks like that with his arms folded and face showing absolutely nothing at all (makes me wonder how Quatre could like a guy like that but then again, Heero's like that also and I like him so..) but I can swear it on my life that I saw Mr. Stony Clown Pants leaning forward a bit just to listen to what I have to say like Wufei, too.

Then I caught sight of Quatre observing the situation nervously since well, he's the only other person beside's me who knows about my mission. OK, Heero knows too but he didn't and wouldn't believe me so he doesn't count.

So I gave my most pleading puppy-dog-in-the-rain look that I know most people can't resist at him and hoped that he understood what the look was for. He had to know! He'd be having a phony Uchuu no Kokoro if he didn't! And then I'll be strangled to death with my very own beautiful braid.

"Oh, um, I think I forgot to get something from the kitchen and I uh, need Duo to help me bring it here," Quatre said suddenly as he stood up. Thank God for his Uchuu no Kokoro! I could have kissed him right then and there... but Heero wouldn't approve of it surely.

"Well, you heard what the boy says," I said cheerily as I bounded out of my seat. "Now excuse us for a sec while we get the whatever it is thing Quatre forgot to bring from the kitchen."

I hurriedly dragged Quatre away from the dining table and as we turned into the hallway, I thought I saw a flash of disappointment come over the face of Chang Wufei.

"Man, I was ready to roll over and play dead back there," I told Quatre once we were in the kitchen. "Heero wouldn't believe me about the mission and he wants me to tell me what's bugging me but if I told him that it's the darned mission that's bugging me, he'll strangle me for sure! Oh why am I always stuck with this kind of mess?"

"You could just make up some story, you know." Quatre offered.

"Are you kidding? That would be like, lying and I would never lie to Heero," I burst out. I leaned against the kitchen counter and let out a sigh. "But at times like this, I wish I didn't have that stupid motto of mine so I could get out of this predicament."

"Well, hopefully we wouldn't have to worry about anything after we meet the scientists tomorrow," Quatre said. "I'm sure they'll be expecting a reply from you when the time's up but let's just hope that they thought that you all ready killed Heero or else... Well, I'm not sure what would happen."

"I wish I could just go to bed and when I wake up tomorrow, I'll find that this was all just some stupid dream," I said. "Anyway, maybe we should get back to them or else they'll be wondering that something's up. Let's just cross our fingers and pray that Heero and the others won't ask me about anything after this."

"Wait! I told them that we were coming here to get something and if we can't go back empty handed!"

"Just get something from the fridge."

"But there isn't anything left in the fridge except for some expired carton of milk!"

"Quatre, you should listen to your own advice: you could just make up some story, you know," I said with a grin as Quatre looked downright pissed.

~*~*~*~*~*

[1]*gives Duo a friendly slap* No silly! Wu-baby is! *Wufei comes out in a bunny suit, complete with ears and a tail* Wufei: ONNA!!! *giggles*