Fate, Love, and a Very Loud Kitten

-----part 1-----

Heero closed his eyes, trying to shut out the pain and the tears. "Why did they have to take you away from me?" he asked, looking down at the grave which sat in the back yard of the Winner Estate, near the family plots, in that area reserved for departed friends. "I was going to ask you to marry me, Duo. They knew it, too. That's why they killed you. I killed him, Duo. I put a bullet in him. Lots of bullets. But it wasn't enough. He didn't suffer like you did. He wasn't tortured to death the way you were. I still have nightmares about it, Duo. You must've suffered terribly. We tried to save you, but the doctors said the damage was irreparable and it didn't matter because you were already dead when we got you to them. "

He placed the flower he'd been holding on the grave, then stood up, and turned back to the Winner Estate. As he walked, a tiny, shortfurred, sleek black kitten with a long slender body, largish ears, and almond shaped eyes picked up the flower and trotted along behind him.

Quatre was playing his violin when he heard the door open in the next room. He put down the instrument and ran to see who it was.

"Heero!" he called, cheerfully, to the other boy. He missed Duo, too, but his grief had long given way to happy memories and the pain, though still there, did not dominate his life.

As Quatre hugged Heero, the kitten that had followed watched them, then suddenly leaped into action. In less than three seconds, both boys' clothes were shredded, leaving their bodies deliciously exposed, and the kitten, having tripped up Heero and causing him to fall on top of Quatre, was repeatedly jumping onto Heero's head, trying to make the Perfect Soldier kiss the blond pilot.

The kitten was meowing loudly as it pounced repeatedly.

"I think it wants us to kiss." Quatre noted.

"I can't kiss you. I still love Duo." he stood up and grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck. "You hear me, kitten?" he asked. "I love Duo."

//Get over me already!// 

Heero dropped the kitten and stared at it in shock. "What?"

//Heero, I'm dead. You're alive. We'll be reunited when you die, just as Quatre will be reunited with Trowa...//

Heero blinked. "Trowa?"

Quatre paled. "What about Trowa?" he asked Heero.

"What about...?" Heero began.

//I heard Quatre's question, // Duo's voice said in Heero's mind, //Trowa died two minutes ago in a circus accident. So they think. But I know better. I know someone deliberately compromised the tightrope he was walking on. //

"I'm sorry." Heero told Quatre. "Trowa..."

Just then, the phone rang. Quatre raced to it and picked it up. "Winner Estate. Quatre speaking. Yes," he went ashen. "No. Please, no... " he dropped the phone and fell to his knees.

Heero picked up the phone. "Can you call back later?" he asked. "Quatre's very upset. He needs to calm down. Thanks." he hung up and knelt by Quatre, putting a comforting arm around him, the way Duo had taught him. 

"How did you know?" Quatre asked, through his tears.

Heero didn't answer. Quatre needed solace right now, not the supernatural. 

//Duo,// he thought, looking at the kitten.

//No.// the kitten answered.

//You sound just like him.// Heero was confused.

//We shared the same soul.// the kitten explained. 

//Nani?//

//Duo and I met two weeks before he died. I felt it when it happened, that's why I went away. It hurt so much, and I was so scared. But he made me come back. He wanted you to be happy so he sent me.//

//I don't understand. Why would he send a mere pet to...//

//I am *not* a pet!//

//You're his kitten, aren't you?// Heero asked.

The kitten suddenly ran across the path of the departing Quatre, tripping him and causing him to hit his head on a table, knocking him out.

"Quatre!"

//He'll be fine.// the kitten assured Heero, //But keep an eye on him, he was about to kill himself.//

//You call that fine?!//

//I meant from the fall he just took.//

//If you're not Duo's pet what are you, some stray he's been feeding?//

//No, I was deliberately chosen. My unique traits make me a viable candidate for the job.//

//Hn.//

//I'm Duo's familiar.//

//What?// Heero was stunned. //What are you talking about?//

But the kitten had nothing more to say.

Heero went back out to Duo's grave and stood there, impatiently. "Duo, if you can hear me, we need to talk."

"I'm right behind you."

Heero turned and saw Duo standing there amidst the moonbeams, part of them and yet separate.

"Duo, the kitten..." Heero barely managed to say. 

"He was my familiar, Heero. Be kind to him and he will keep you safe."

"Your..."

"It happened six weeks before I died." Duo explained. "And it was what ultimately caused my death. I was in love with you. I sought a way to rid myself of the curse that had killed all those with whom I had shared any kind of love. After exhausting the more 'normal' means of achieving this goal, I turned to the supernatural. This was all after we'd first met. Then, six weeks ago, I completed a task which was to help me in completing my ultimate goal. It should've happened years from now, but my teacher was dying and he had only me to pass his abilities to or they would be lost forever."

"Duo?" Heero whispered.

"I became a warlock," Duo explained. "My teacher's familiar had given birth, and her kitten became my familiar."

"But if you're a warlock, how did you...?"

"My goal was to stop my loved ones from dying." Duo told him. "I knew very little, my teacher had died before my training was complete, remember. Nevertheless, I found a spell which would protect a person from a death curse and I cast it upon you one night as you slept. In my haste to save you, I failed to read everything through. Had I done so, I would've seen that the spell caused the curse to be reflected back upon its point of origin."

"Baka."

Duo smiled. "Heero, Quatre needs you now. Trowa and I want you and he to be together. We want you to be happy until we can all be reunited."

There was a moment of darkness, then Heero found himself beside Quatre, who was lying on the sofa.

"What happened?" Quatre asked. "Oh!" he looked at the kitten who'd tripped him up. "Did you know I was going to. Thanks for stopping me." he hugged the kitten which purred contentedly for a moment, then began to meow loudly at Heero.

"Okay, okay." Heero grumbled. He lifted Quatre into his arms, leaned forward, and pressed his lips to those of the virginal blond Arab.

-----TBC-----