Love Letter
Chapter Five
Sendai, AC
198
Sendai, AC 205
"And then what happened?" Relena asked.
Ni got up to get another cup of coffee. "I returned the book and he
left for Tokyo. When our yearbooks came out at the end of the year,
some girl got every one to sign it and mailed it off to him."
Relena rolled her eyes. "I think I would know about that, I was the
girl who organized it."
"Seriously? Why didn’t I know that?"
"I don’t know, I told you when I got the idea. You probably weren’t
paying attention. So what did you sign?"
"I didn’t sign it."
Relena looked surprised. "Why not?"
Ni shrugged, a small frown forming at the corners of his mouth. "I
don’t know."
"Ni," Relena begin, leaning against the table, "how come nothing ever
happened between you and Heero?"
"He never called me or anything before he left, and then... well, he
just left. Face it, Relena, he never liked me all that much, or else he
would have found some last way to tell me."
"Well, why did he go all the way to your house to give you the book?"
"He wanted me to return it- it’s not like he had any other friends he
could ask."
"He could have asked practically any girl in our class. Any way, he
lives on the other side of the town. You know, he has to pass by the
school to get to your house. Why didn’t he just go to the school and
drop it off himself instead of walking an extra half hour to your
place?"
Ni stared into his coffee mug. "I never really thought about that. You
know Heero was kind of weird like that."
"You know, I still have his Tokyo address somewhere, maybe he still
lives there. We could call him or something. Or we could ask this Duo
Maxwell- I’m sure he knows."
"No," Ni pushed his mug away slightly. "I guess I forgot to tell you.
According to Duo, Heero died several days ago."
"Oh." Relena really didn’t know what to say to that.
"Ni!" a voice called from the front of the house. "We could use some
help with the groceries!"
"I guess I should go help Father Maxwell," Ni said. "It was nice seeing
you again, Relena."
Relena smiled. "Yeah, we should do this more often. I’ll call you some
time, okay?"
"Sure."
Relena and Ni got up and walked to the foyer, quickly hugging before
Relena sprinted through the cold and snow to her car and drove away. Ni
grabbed his coat, walking through the falling snow to meet Father
Maxwell halfway up the walkway.
"Why don’t you take these in," Father Maxwell said, "and I’ll go back
for the rest."
Father Maxwell deposited the bags he was carrying into Ni’s arms and
turned to go back to the car. He had just gotten to the driveway when
he heard a loud thud behind him.
"Ni?" he said, turning, not seeing the small boy any where in sight. He
walked closer to the front door, stopping to collect the various
groceries he found along the way. There were the clementines he had
just bought, and a carton of milk... when he got to the front door he
dropped everything he had collected on the floor again, and they rolled
over to resume their previous positions in the snow outside. Ni’s body
lay prone on the foyer floor, grocery bag discarded next to him. Father
Maxwell kneeled down next to the body and placed Ni’s head in his lap.
The boy was unconscious, and burning up with a fever.
"Ni, wake up," Father Maxwell prodded. He was rewarded when Ni’s eyes
opened to tiny slits.
"Hmmmm? What happened?"
"You passed out," Father Maxwell explained. "Come on, let’s get you
upstairs and into bed."
Ni, who was only barely conscious, leaned against Father Maxwell as
they made their way up the stairs. When Father Maxwell came back
downstairs he found Sister Helen, who had been talking with the
neighbors before, cooking dinner in the kitchen. She turned around when
she heard him approach.
"I brought the groceries in from the car," she said, "and picked up the
things from the snow and foyer. What happened?"
"Ni passed out."
Sister Helen’s eyes grew into little o’s. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah. He’s running a slight fever. I called the doctor, and he said as
long as the fever doesn’t break 106 he’ll be fine."
"And if it does?"
"Then we get him to the hospital."
Sister Helen looked out the window, into the rapidly falling snow.
There was already about two inches on the ground, and the weathermen
were predicting at least four more before nightfall.
"We should check on him every few minutes then," she said.
* * *
Ni opened his eyes.. .there was so much light. It was all blue,
enveloping him, and then it faded and he realized it was the walls that
were blue. The light was white, coming from flourescent panels on the
ceiling. He sat up, realizing his feet didn’t touch the floor. What was
he sitting on? It was so silent here. He realized that this place was a
hospital, but the nurses and orderlies didn’t seem to notice his
presence. He got up, walking on bare feet across blue-white tiles. He
walked without knowing his destination, his mind leading him there all
the same. He came to stop in front of a curtain, his hand pulling it
back before he had a chance to notice. A figure in black and white lay
on a cart, blanket pulled up to the neckline of a dress shirt. Ni
walked forward, running his fingertips over the familiar face.
"Otousan?"
* * *
Father Maxwell and Sister Helen were frantic. Although Ni’s fever
hadn’t gone up yet, he was unconscious, and this time they couldn’t
wake him up. Father Maxwell had called the doctor again, who in turn
had called an ambulance to come pick the boy up.
"It will never get here on time," Father Maxwell said, rubbing the
bridge of his nose.
Sister Helen tried to calm him down. "It will. We just have to wait a
bit."
Father Maxwell shook his head, his voice cracking as he spoke. "No.
This is almost exactly like what happened to Ni's father... we have to
get him to the hospital now."
"How? There’s three feet of snow on the roads right now. We can’t drive
our car out there. Father, you’ll just have to be patient."
Father Maxwell stood up suddenly. "Go dress Ni in warm clothes, I’m
taking him to the hospital."
Sister Helen didn’t know how Father Maxwell was going to accomplish
that, but she went upstairs to get Ni ready anyway. She frowned as she
dressed him, noting that his fever had risen. When she was finished she
brushed his bangs out of his face, surprised when he was lifted away
from her touch. She looked up to see Father Maxwell holding Ni over his
shoulder. He turned, rushing down the stairs, Sister Helen following
him.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m taking him to the hospital."
Sister Helen grabbed Father Maxwell’s arm as he stumbled and almost
fell down the stairs. "How are you going to do that?"
"I’m going to walk to the hospital."
"You’re kidding! It will take you an hour to walk there in this
weather."
Father Maxwell opened the front door, letting in a gust of cold air and
snow. "It will take the ambulance even longer to get here."
Sister Helen followed him outside, watching as he fell onto the snow,
Ni landing beside him. "You can’t! You’re over fifty years old, you
can’t carry Ni all the way into town."
"I have to." Father Maxwell got up, picking Ni’s body from off of the
snow. "There’s no other way."
Sister Helen watched as Father Maxwell’s figure disappeared into the
snowstorm. She hesitantly walked back into the house. Closing the door
behind her, she prayed that they would both come home safe.
* * *
Hakuba, AC 205
Duo looked out the window of the resort, waiting for Trowa to finish
talking with the concierge. It was so beautiful outside. Everything was
covered in freshly fallen white, the ski tracks crisscrossing the
ground covered up almost as soon as they were made. He felt a hand on
his shoulder, and looked up smiling.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey," Trowa replied. "Are you okay?"
Duo nodded, taking Trowa's hand as he led them outside. Duo’s boots
made crunching sounds against the snow. Powdery white flakes fell down
gently around him, catching on his bangs. It was like walking in a snow
globe. Trowa led him past a small area of pine trees, into a large
clearing. Surprisingly, it was free of skiers and their criss cross
tracks. Trowa let go of his hand.
"This is where we found him."
Duo looked around, walking forward into the clearing.
"It really is beautiful here," Duo said, turning around to look at
Trowa.
But not as beautiful as you, Trowa thought. He looked at Duo,
snowflakes whirling around him. He thought this would be good for Duo,
confronting this place and laying Heero’s memory to rest once and for
all. It was the closure Duo needed but hadn’t been able to obtain. And
Trowa had his own personal demons to kill here. He had come here mostly
for Duo, but also in part for himself, to ask for forgiveness from his
late best friend. He hoped Heero would understand his feelings towards
Duo. Because he loved Duo, so much. He just didn’t think Duo would ever
love him back.
"Heero," he whispered, low enough so that Duo couldn’t hear, "I’m
sorry."
Duo had walked into the middle of the clearing. His head was flung back
to catch the snow flakes. When he looked back Trowa was standing next
to him.
"You can yell as loud as you want," Trowa said, "The concierge said the
snow’s stable right now."
Duo nodded before taking a huge breath.
"Heero Yuy!" he screamed, his voice echoing around them "I loved you,
you know! And you had to go and get killed..."
Duo stopped, feeling the tightness in his eyes and fighting back the
moisture. "Damn you, Heero!"
Trowa wrapped his arm around Duo’s waist, hoping to calm the boy
somewhat. Duo looked up at Trowa, and decided that this was it. This
was goodbye. "So this is sayonara, Heero! Not ja ne, not see you later,
this is it!"
Duo took another deep breath, yelling as loud as he could. "Goodbye,
Heero Yuy!"
The words echoed for a little bit, and when they had died out Duo
turned and buried himself in Trowa’s arms. Heero Yuy was gone now. It
was time for him to move on.
"What now?" Trowa asked, rubbing up and down Duo’s back in soft strokes.
"Now? I guess, now, we go on with our lives."
Trowa nodded, pulling Duo into a tighter embrace. He whispered again,
words lost in the snow.
"Good bye, Heero."
* * *
Sendai, AC 205
Ni opened his eyes, his senses bombarded by bright lights and loud
noise. He looked up to see a face looking back down at him.
"How are you feeling, Mr.Yuy?" he asked.
It took a moment before he could respond. "I’ve felt better."
The doctor gave a small, hearty chuckle. "I can imagine. You’ve been
unconscious for almost twenty-four hours now. Your had a fever of 110
at its highest, and that broke a few hours ago. I’m glad you’re up and
among the living."
Ni smiled. "Where are Father Maxwell and Sister Helen?"
"The Father’s in his own room nursing a case of pneumonia right now. He
had to walk an hour in a snowstorm to get you here, you know. But don’t
worry, he’ll be perfectly fine in a few days. And Sister Helen’s
driving down here as soon as the snow is completely cleared."
Ni nodded and mumbled an okay before he closed his eyes and sank into
his pillow. When he woke up again Sister Helen was there to take them
both home, where he found flowers waiting for him from Quatre, Relena,
and Wufei.
A few days later the snow was completely gone. Ni was sitting in the
kitchen reading his mail and drinking coffee when there was a ring at
the door. He got up to answer it, surprised when he saw who it was.
Standing on his front porch were the three girls he had met at the
school library on his recent visit.
"Hi, Mr.Yuy!" exclaimed one of the girls. "I hope you don’t mind our
visit, but we looked up your address in an old yearbook. It’s just that
we found something that you just have to see!"
Ni smiled. "I don’t mind at all. What exactly did you find that’s so
interesting?"
One of the girls pulled out a book and handed it to Ni. It was Great
Expectations, the book Heero had wanted him to return. He looked at the
girls quizzically.
"Look at the card!" one of them said.
Ni flipped the book open to the back, not surprised to find Heero’s
name written on the card. "Yeah, Heero wrote his name in a lot of
books. You girls know that."
The girls giggled. "Turn the card over!"
Ni slipped the card out of its pocket and flipped it over. He looked at
the image he found there in wonder. It was a pencil sketch, depicting a
boy of maybe eighteen years sitting at his desk, wide eyes facing
front, long braided hair trailing behind. It was a portrait of Ni,
signed Heero Yuy, January of AC 198. Underneath the signature, in
small, precise writing, was a Sendai telephone number, and a message,
written in small, precise kanji.
"suki da"
The girl closest to him grabbed the book, leaving the card in his hand.
"You can keep that, Mr.Yuy, we can always get a new one."
Ni nodded as the girls left. He went inside, slowly running a finger
over the graphite sketch. So there was a sign all this time, he just
hadn’t bothered to look for it. He thought back to that last week Heero
had spent in Sendai. Heero had expected him to call. Maybe he had spent
the whole week waiting for that telephone call. Ni sat down at the
kitchen table. It didn’t matter now, none of that mattered. Heero was
gone. Ni didn’t know how he felt at that. He tucked the card into his
pocket and went on reading his mail.
Heero would have to wait for him.
~owari~