Duo sat on a bench that faced the park. It was an ordinary Sunday, the kind that usually let him recall past events. But today was different, he had other plans to attend to, not including watching T.V. and acting like a couch potato. Yet he couldn't seem to get himself off the bench.

So he just let himself sit there, watching the children play. It was cute, he thought, all those years in the war, he had worried that his fight to keep peace wouldn't really help or come in handy at all. But now, he realized that it was worth keeping those smiles on the children's faces.

It reminded him of the time when he was a child, or better yet, the time when people called him, a "kid."

Sister Helen used to take him to the park every Sunday. He loved going to the park, cause he got to meet new people. That day 13 years ago, he met a purple-haired, skinny, frisky little girl. She, too, was an orphan just like Duo.

The first time he saw her, he felt a little weird, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He almost wondered if this strange feeling was some sort of intuition, like if in the future, this person would once again cross paths with him.

Finally, he decided to talk to her. He watched her run with some other kids, playing cops and robbers. It was strange, because girls her age usually played with dolls or had tea time, but she was different. She was the only girl playing with boys.

She ran and ran. It was logical that she was a robber. She moved so fast, trying her hardest not to get caught. But then she looked back at her chaser for a second, and suddenly tripped over a rock. She didn't see Duo standing there either, and crashed into him, causing both of them to stumble down. She quickly got up and brushed herself off, although she was already dirty. The girl looked down and saw Duo trying to get some sand off his mouth. She smirked and helped him up. Duo was surprised, he was about to thank her, but was cut off by her voice.

" You ok, kid?" She said in a cute way.

" Yeah. Thanks for helping me get up, but I could of done it myself, ya know." He said, a bit disappointed, but quickly replaced it with a smile.

The girl giggled.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"You got sand on your mouth, silly." She answered back, teasing him.

He turned red and quickly wiped the rest of the sand off.

"How do I look now? Is there still some more on my mouth ?"

"Nope, all gone"

Duo analyzed the girl standing in front of him. She acted so different from any other girl he had known. He walked around her to see if there was something else strange about her. He looked at her one more time when suddenly her voice cut the silence.

"Why are you staring at me like that, huh ?" She was a bit annoyed by his rude behavior, " It's not like if I was gonna bite you or something."

He on the other hand was smiling and asked, "What's your name?"

Politely she answered back, "Well, my name is Hilde. How bout yours?"

"Mines, Duo. Duo Maxwell. Just like Maxwell church."

"You mean the one just 2 blocks away?"

"Yep. That's the one."

Just as Duo was going to ask her something else, some boys behind the swings started to call Hilde. She turned around and waved to them, "Guys over here! I want you to meet someone!"

The children behind the swings came running towards where Hilde and Duo were.

"You're going to like them. They're very good friends." She said to Duo.

Duo didn't seem very comfortable, though, and he sensed something not right about the approaching kids. He didn't want to disappoint Hilde so he agreed, "Yeah."

When they all came over, they gathered together and looked at Duo in a funny way. As if they were looking at a strange bug. There was one boy in particular, the oldest of them all, that especially seemed to not like Duo.

Duo didn't really care, but waited for Hilde to introduce him to the other boys.

"Ok guys, this is Duo Maxwell. Duo this is Jeremy, the one with no shirt. That's Peter, the one with blonde hair. That's Hyoga, the chubby kid beside Jeremy. Lee meet Duo. Lee's the boy with glasses. And last but not least Alex. He's the oldest."

Duo examined all five boys that stood in front of him. All of them had suspicious looks on their faces. All except for Alex, who smiled wickedly at Duo.

"So this is Duo. Nice hair you got there kid, why don't you tie it up? It looks terrible like that. Or better yet why don't you cut it off!" Alex said meanly to Duo.

Duo looked angrily at Alex. He felt like kicking his ass. But he stayed calm and tried not to show his anger. "Cause I like it just the way it is. Got a problem with it?"

"You know what? Actually I do! And you know what else? I don't really like you..." He said pushing Duo out of his sight. "Come on Hilde lets go."

Duo was tired of hiding his anger and pushed Alex back even harder. It even made the boy fall to the ground. Alex stared up at Duo furiously. He gritted his teeth and shoved Duo to the ground as well and started to fight.

Hilde was terrified and tried to stop them both. The other boys just watched and started to cheer for Alex.

Alex was beating the crap out of Duo. It was easy since he was older and bigger. But Duo wouldn't let himself get beaten that easily.

He kicked Alex where it hurt the most. Alex dropped down in pain and grabbed his private spot. The pain was so immense, a tear dropped down his cheek. He didn't let Hilde see it cause if he did, it would show Hilde that he was a sissy.

But she really didn't care, and was already gone to get help.

Duo was still on the ground, with a bloody nose, a black eye, and a pain in his stomach causing him to clutch it tight to hold off the pain.

Hilde then came running with Sister Helen, who also became terrified at the scene before her. Two young boys lay on the ground, beaten and obviously in much discomfort. Quickly and carefully, Sister Helen decided to take Duo to the nearest bench. She then took Alex and laid him on a bench next to Duo.

Duo woke up in his bed. The pain had gone. He stood up and went to go see Sister Helen. She was in a Chapel praying a Hail Mary. She heard little footsteps behind her and quickly turned around. She smiled and let Duo sit by her side. She stopped her praying and started a conversation with Duo.

"It's about time you woke up. How are you feeling?"

"Fine. But where's Hilde? And what happened to Alex? Where did they go?"

"They're right here."

"Where? Can't see them."

Sister Helen chuckled and smiled back.

"Back in the orphanage."

"Why ?"

"Because their orphans just like you."

"Oh..." He said a bit disappointed.

"There is no reason for you to be disappointed. It's not your fault they're orphans. Besides, Hilde will be staying here for a long time, isn't that great?!" She said happily to Duo, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"Yeah! That's great! I'll play with her all the time!"

"Who knows, you'll probably even end up getting married with her."

Duo didn't like that idea, "YUK!!! Me end up getting married!? Never gonna happen."

Sister Helen laughed softly and gave Duo a kiss on the forehead. She let out a hand and walked out of the chapel with Duo.

Duo leaned back on the bench remembering that day in his childhood. He had been daydreaming so long, he forgot all about what time it was. He looked at his watch and his eyes widened at the time.

"Oh shit! 5:15. Gotta hurry!"

As soon as he got home he could smell the sweet aroma that came out of his house. Actually their house.

He opened the door and saw that the T.V. was on. He took a peek and saw that it was ' I love Lucy '.

He knew that it was one of Hilde's favorite shows.

He smiled and crept quietly through the kitchen. The smell was great. She was making one of Duo's favorite foods: steak!

She was so busy cooking that she didn't realize that Duo was behind her. Duo suddenly wrapped both his hands around Hilde's waist, surprising her.

She jumped a bit, and turned her head to see him. As soon as she saw his face, she relaxed, but then scolded, "Duo don't ever do that again, I could of gotten burned!"

"Sorry, babe. You ok?"

"Yes I am. Just don't do that again ok?"

"Ok."

"Cross your heart hope to die?"

"Yep. Next time I'll warn you with a kiss."

"Better than scaring the Hell out of me."

Duo gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and sat down on the dinner table.

"Almost done?"

"Yeah, here. Hope you like it."

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"Nah. Not hungry."

She took a seat beside Duo and watched him eat. Duo was kinda uncomfortable, but he really didn't mind.

"Duo?"

"Yeah babe?"

"Where were you all this morning? I was worried about you. I thought something bad happened to you. You know how I am when ever you're not around, I feel unsafe. You're like my bodyguard or something like that."

Duo smiled. It felt good to hear those words. He took a sip from his water and started to tell Hilde where he had been.

"I was uh...out."

"I know that. But where exactly were you ? You're not going out with someone are you? Are you seeing some girl?"

"No wait, you're misunderstanding. It's not what you think, I went to the park."

"You? Please! You never go there, but anyways tell me."

"Hey... Don't tease, I was remembering about the day I got to know you. Remember?"

"Of course I do. How could I forget?"

He was about to say something else when the phone rang. Hilde got up and went to go answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hilde, is that you?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"Heero," He said with a very worried voice.

"Heero, how are you?"

"I'm fine... Um, is Duo there?"

"Yeah. Hold on."

Hilde walked over to Duo and told him that Heero was on the phone.

"Duo, it's Heero."

"What?" He said a bit surprised.

He picked up the phone and answered it.

"Yo Heero what's up?"

"Duo, we need to talk to you. Meet us at Peer 39."

"Wait Heero, what's going on?

"Tell you later." And with that he hung up.

Duo was shocked he never heard Heero sound so worried. He didn't waste any time as he got his coat and went out the door. He told Hilde that he'll be back.

Hilde on the other hand was just as confused and worried.

She softly spoke Duo's name and said the word she feared most:

'DEATH'

To Be Continued...

Hope you liked the first part. I'll keep writing more later. E-mail me if you have any comments or flames. Oh yeah and I don't own "Gundam Wing"... OK ... So don't sue me for something I didn't do.