Love Letter
Chapter One
Tokyo, AC 205
It didn't snow that day; the newscasters had thought that it might. He
had loved the snow. It had been what had killed him.
Duo pulled his coat tighter around his body, feeling the cold permeate
it nonetheless. He watched as the procession carrying his dead
fiancé's body came to a stand still. He watched as the
pallbearers laid the coffin down above the grave. He felt a hand run
through his short, chestnut brown hair and lay to rest on his shoulder.
He looked up, into a comforting pair of emerald green eyes, and he
smiled and nodded weakly to the unasked question. He made his way to
the casket. A photograph of his former lover sat at the head of the
cold, brown case, Prussian blue eyes forever glaring.
He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye.
* * *
"This was Heero´s room," Mrs. Yuy told Duo, leading him into a
small, quaint room. It was cluttered with all of Heero's mementos and
knick-knacks, but still held the meticulous
neatness Duo had come to love in the missing boy. The walls were
crafted from a rich, dark brown vaguely reminiscent of Heero's hair
color, a hue that matched the accompanying furniture.
"Would you like some tea?" Mrs.Yuy asked Duo.
"Yes, please," Duo replied softly, summoning a smile for the kind
woman. Mrs.Yuy walked out of the room, closing the door behind her to
reveal a picture of Takeshi Irie on its back. Duo smiled. A few months
into their relationship he had found out that Heero had something of a
crush on the pop idol.
Duo sat on Heero's old bed and ran a hand down the covers, feeling the
plush sink down where his fingers lightly touched it. He grabbed a
pillow and hugged it, inhaling the scent of cedar that lingered on the
case. He had never been in this room before- after all, he had only
been in this house two times. Once to eat dinner with Heero's parents,
and the other to help Heero move his stuff into Duo's apartment. Heero
probably hadn't been here himself in awhile. Duo placed the pillow back
on its spot on the bed, his fingers lingering on the soft cushion. He
remembered that Heero hadn't always lived here; he had lived in Sendai
up until his last year of high school, when he moved here. His old
house was demolished a few years ago to make way for a highway.
What Duo needed now was closure. He traced his finger along the binding
of one of the books on Heero's bookshelf, which was sandwiched between
the bed and the wall. Heero loved to read. His eyes caught on the
binding of a different book. Heero's old yearbook from Sendai? Duo
lifted the book from its place on the ledge, flipping it open to a
random page. The book opened to the beginning of a directory, listing
the addresses and phone numbers of the children attending the school.
Duo flipped to the back of the directory, where he hastily found
Heero's old address. He dug around in his pockets for some paper,
finding an old receipt. Grabbing a pen from Heero's desk, the cobalt
eyed boy quickly wrote down the address in Sendai. He had just put the
book back on the shelf when Mrs. Yuy entered, carrying a tray of tea.
"Is chrysanthemum okay?" Mrs. Yuy asked. "It was the only thing we had
in the house."
"Perfect," Duo replied, getting up to take the tray from her and set it
on a nearby table. He hesitated a little, lifting the handle of the
teapot. "It was Heero's favorite."
Mrs. Yuy eased herself onto the bed, content to let Duo take over the
role of host. "I know."
* * *
Trowa ran his hand in circles on the small of Duo's back.
"I'm not sure I see what this is going to accomplish," he said. Heero's
old house was demolished. Duo knew that. There was nothing at that
address now save for asphalt. Duo didn't answer his question, only kept
writing as he posed one of his own.
"Trowa, did you know Heero in Sendai?"
"No. We met in college."
"But you guys were best friends?" Here Duo paused in his writing to
look over at Trowa. Trowa had been there when Heero had died. He had
been in the lodge when Heero decided to leave for a late night ski
session. Duo couldn't have imagined how it must have been like for
Trowa, searching for his best friend after the avalanche. Duo didn't
think he could have coped during the search; he was enough of a wreck
after Trowa called the next day and explained what had happened. That
was after they had found the body.
Trowa nodded. They stayed that way for a moment, staring at one
another, Trowa moving his hand rhythmically in comforting patterns.
Trowa loved this. He loved looking into Duo's eyes, getting lost in
that strange shade that was neither blue nor violet, but some ethereal
mix of both. That's what Duo was- ethereal. Trowa had been Heero's best
friend. In college he had always looked up to Heero, who was first in
his class and excelled at everything he did. And Trowa had mourned
Heero, almost as much as Duo, maybe even more so than Heero's immediate
family. But at the same time, Trowa couldn't help but feel that Heero's
death was a blessing. Heero's death was what bought Duo to him. And he
loved Duo, so much. He felt guilty for it.
"Closure."
Trowa was suddenly broken out of his reverie. "Hmmm?"
"It's for closure."
"I see," Trowa said, even though he really didn't.
"It's symbolic. To say good bye to Heero, one last time. It doesn't
matter if his old house isn't there any more. I'm sending this letter
for me, not him."
Trowa nodded, and read the letter over Duo's shoulder. He sighed. "Duo,
I don't see the words 'good bye' written anywhere on that paper."
* * *
Sendai, AC 205
Heero Yuy looked out his peephole, groaning when he saw his mailman
Wufei on the other side. Couldn't the guy take a hint?
"Heero, I know you're in there! Why don't you open the door to get your
mail?" He winked at the peephole.
"Why don't you just slide it through the damn mail slot?"
"But that would be denying you the pleasure of my company," Wufei said,
smoothing his hair back.
"Umm... that's okay. Any way, I'm sick. I wouldn't want you to catch a
cold." Heero pulled his blankets closer to him, as if stressing the
point, though he knew Wufei couldn't see him. Looking through the
peephole, he saw Wufei think about it, then acquiesce.
"Very well," he said indignantly. "But tomorrow I will be back. With
chicken soup."
Heero gave a sigh of relief and turned around, sliding into a puddle by
the door as envelopes started coming through the mail slot. He picked
up the bundle and made his way to the kitchen, where he plopped them
down and started to make some herbal tea. The phone rang just as he was
getting settled at the table with his teacup.
"Hello?" he asked, picking up the telephone and an envelope at the same
time.
"Ni!!" called an excited voice, calling Heero by his middle and more
familiar name. All his friends called him that.
"Quatre!" he said, recognizing the voice. He looked at the return
address on the envelope. Duo Maxwell...Tokyo. He didn't think he knew
any one in Tokyo, and he was sure he didn't know any one named Duo
Maxwell. "So how's life been treating you?"
"Great!" came the enthusiastic reply. Ni only half listened as Quatre
filled him in on what he had been doing recently. Curiously, he opened
the envelope and slipped out the letter. "So, how's Sister Helen and
the father?"
"Oh, they're great," Ni replied, unfolding the letter. "They're in
Chiba helping with an orphanage opening or something like that, though.
I'm stuck here alone."
"Poor baby. You know, I think I heard about that..."
Ni completely tuned Quatre out as he recognized the start of one of
Quatre's ramblings. He drew his focus to the letter instead.
Dear Heero,
Even though I know you will never see this letter physically, I like to
think that my words will reach you nonetheless. I never thought that
you would leave me like this... I always imagined it would be over a
torrent of emotional words, and even then I could hold onto the notion
that you would come back to me. But this way, I have to admit that you
never will. Just do me a favor, and wait for me? I love you, with all
my heart.
-Duo
Ni hadn't realized that the telephone conversation had gone silent
until a few moments after he finished the letter.
"Hello? Ni? Are you there?"
"Yeah, Quatre, sorry. I was just going through my mail."
"Oh! Anything interesting?"
"No...I think some one's playing some king of weird joke on me."
"Uh huh. Well, let me know how it turns out...I kind of have to go now.
I´ll talk to you soon!"
"Okay. Bye, Quatre."
After Ni hung up the phone he reread the letter. Though it had unnerved
him at first, the logical portion of his mind was thinking it over.
Maybe this Duo had been trying to reach another Heero Yuy.. .god knows
that had happened before. He decided to contact Duo and set him
straight. He noticed Duo's name and a phone number and address
imprinted at the top of the stationary. Maybe he should give him a
call. Ni picked up the phone and begin dialing, getting an answering
machine after letting the machine ring about five times.
"Hey, this is Duo Maxwell, a.k.a. Shinigami!! Bwahahaha!! If you wish
to leave a message for death-"
"or his significant other," interjected a calmer, slightly nasal voice.
"-do so at the beep, and we will return your call as soon as possible!"
"Duo, you barely let me be in any of the mess-"
The voice, which struck Ni as oddly familiar, was cut off by a loud
beep. Weird. "Umm... hi. This is Heero Yuy. You recently sent me a
letter at my place in Sendai... umm... I don't think you meant to write
it to me, though. I just wanted to let you know, so you could send the
letter to whoever it really belongs to, it seems pretty important. Ja
ne, then."
Ni hung up the phone, wondering where he had heard that voice before.
* * *
Tokyo, AC 205
Duo replayed the message.
"Can you believe this?" He asked.
Trowa didn't know what to make of the situation. "Are you sure you
copied down the right address?"
"So what if I didn't? This person claims he's Heero Yuy- don't you
think that's kind of weird?"
"Hold on," said Trowa, "Mrs. Yuy dropped by some of Heero's things- she
felt you should have them. Maybe his old yearbook is in there. C'mon,
let's go sort this out."
Trowa grabbed Duo's hand and led him to the living room, where he had
left the two boxes Mrs. Yuy sent over. After a few minutes of
searching, Trowa pulled a hardcover book from the larger of the boxes.
"Is this the right one?"
"Yeah," said Duo, kneeling beside Trowa. He took the book from Trowa's
hands and opened it, flipping through the pages until he got to Heero's
class picture. "There he is."
Trowa noticed something to the side of the page. "Look, under the
names...there are two Heero Yuys. You must have copied down the address
of the other Heero."
"How odd." Duo looked at the names column and saw that Trowa was right.
He looked back at the pictures, his eyes coming to rest on the
photograph beside his Heero's. There, in black and white, was some one
who could have been Duo's exact double. Duo gasped. "He looks...just
like me."
Trowa nodded, dumbfounded. He didn't know what to say, except for the
most obvious thing that came into his mind. "But his hair is a lot
longer."
Duo looked at his twin, and saw that he did have very long hair. It was
pulled back in a braid, and reached down past the bottom of the
photograph. Duo started. "Do you think- since he went to school with
Heero- he could maybe tell me about him? You know, what he was like in
high school?"
"I'm sure he could, Duo. We can try and get in touch with him tomorrow
morning. Now let's just go get something to eat and go to sleep."
Duo nodded, before following Trowa into the kitchen for dinner.
* * *
Sendai, AC 205
Ni was happy. Father Maxwell and Sister Helen were back, he had slept
through Wufei's daily visit, and Sister Helen was in the process of
making him chicken noodle soup. He snuggled into the mountain of
blankets he had made himself, trying to sink down into his mattress
even further. He was sighing contentedly when the phone rang. When the
Father and Sister didn't make any attempt to get it, Duo reached his
hand out from under the blankets and grabbed for the telephone.
"Argh," he shivered. "Cold."
He pulled his hand back into the warmth of his blankets. "Hello?"
"Hello? Is this... Heero?"
The voice seemed to stumble on his name.
"Yes, yes it is. And who might this be?"
"This is Duo Maxwell."
Ni was momentarily shocked, then relaxed and started twirling the
telephone cord around his finger. "Oh. Hello. I wasn't expecting this."
"I'm sorry… it's just, well, I was trying to mail something, so to
speak, to a former classmate of yours. I was looking in the yearbook,
and I accidentally wrote down your address. Instead of his."
"I see," said Ni, understanding dawning on him. "Don't worry, this
happened all the time in high school. But the Heero Yuy you're looking
for doesn't live in Sendai anymore-"
"I know," Duo replied. "Heero's... Heero died, just several days ago."
"Oh. I'm sorry." Ni pulled his blankets closer to him, suddenly feeling
colder.
"Thank you."
There was an awkward silence during the next few moments, until Duo
broke the somber mood.
"I was wondering, if it wasn't too much trouble...if you could tell me
what Heero was like, in high school."
Ni nodded to himself. He remembered everything that had to do with
Heero with such clarity, and he might as well share it with Duo. Its
not like he had anything better to do.
"First of all, you should call me Ni. It's what every one else does."