What's Really In The Dark Of Night

 

Chapter 4: Heero POV

 

I glanced over at where Duo was walking away and then back at the three apparitions in front of me. I did NOT like seeing this sort of thing and watching them pop out of the ground had unnerved me to say the least. I bowed my head a little at the three umm… ladies… in front of me and mumbled a “Pleasure to meet you.”

 

I then turned and ran after Duo, catching up to him just as he was getting on his bike.

 

“Hey!” I called to him. He paused and looked at me though his helmet visor. “Do you think I could talk to you for a minute?” Duo flipped up the visor and looked at me for a few moments as if he were listening to someone else, blinked, then nodded at me.

 

“Sure,” he laughed.

 

“What’s so funny?” I asked. This guy was weird to talk to, even if I DID know his secret.

 

“Willow is yelling at me that if I don’t, I’ll be sorry… and Rain and Sunny think you’re cute too.”

 

I blushed a little, but waved at the three ghosts behind me as I got on Duo’s bike and we sped away.

 

 

We stopped at a nearby park shortly after that. The place was pretty much devoid of people at this hour so it made a great place to talk. Duo parked the bike then went and sat down on a marble bench at the base of an old tree. I followed, looking around the place. It was quiet and peaceful and I found myself liking it.

 

“I don’t here any voices in this place,” he said as he played with the end of his braid.

 

“Oh.”

 

“So,” he began, “What did you want to talk about?”

 

“Well… I wanted to know when you started hearing the voices,” I said, rather lamely, I might add.

 

Duo looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged, “I’ve heard them as long as I can remember. What about you?”

 

I wasn’t expecting things to turn to me so quickly, but I answered anyway, “I’ve seen them since I was little. Actually, I didn’t even know a lot of them were spirits to begin with.”

 

“Really?” Duo looked interested. “What do you mean by that?”

 

“Well… it’s going to sound dumb…”

 

“Try me.”

 

“Well, a lot of times, they look so real, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between them and a live person.”

 

“Care to explain further?”

 

“Well, that lady in the art room, I only just figured out that she was …well… dead… only recently. Her image is so strong that I can’t see through her at all. In fact, I thought she might have been mute since she seemed to respond to what was said out loud, but no one ever seemed to notice her… except you. The weirdest part about that though is that you never really looked at her, just looked in her general direction…I don’t even know if this makes any sense…”

 

“Wow… you really did see her?” Duo asked, I nodded. “Then the reason that she’s so clear is probably that she died in the art room closet when she got locked in and inhaled too many fumes. She’s one of those spirits that are confined to their place of death, after all.”

 

“Did something similar happen to that boy, Solo?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, actually. He died in the gym… why? Did he look like he could have been alive too?” 

 

I nodded, “At first I thought it was strange that Quatre would ignore someone like that to their face, then I saw his mouth move, but no sound came out… and that’s when I noticed his feet weren’t touching the ground at all. It still creeps me out when I see those things. I doubt I’ll ever get used to it.”

 

Duo smirked, “Sure you will, Hee-chan! They just want a little attention. From what I’ve heard, being dead is awfully lonely.”

 

“Yeah, well, I may be able to see them, but I still can’t hear them,” replied.

 

“Ever heard of lip-reading?” he asked me.

 

I smiled, “Sure, but with some of them, it’s kind of hard to see if the mouth is even moving.”

 

“Touché.”

 

“Hey, Duo… do you mind if we walk around?” I asked. “It isn’t often that I get some peace and quiet from my fan girls, what do you say?”

 

Duo smiled at me and hopped off the bench, “No prob, Heero.”

 

We walked in silence for a few minutes just enjoying the peace and quiet for a while. I was letting my mind idle around in my head for a bit and was caught completely off guard when Duo started talking again.

 

“You know, Heero, you really aren’t as cold and distant as you make yourself out to be in school,” he said.

 

I had to laugh, there were very few people who knew me outside of school and I was pretty sure they all thought me a bit callous to say the least.

 

“Actually, I am as cold and distant out of school,” I told him.

 

“I don’t get it. You don’t seem to be that way right now,” he looked a little confused. “I mean, I know I’m the school nut, but come on, there is a significant difference between the way you act in class and the way you are now.”

 

I shrugged, “I don’t know what the difference is… except that you know my secret. I’ve never told anyone because I’ve always known that if I say something, I’d be sent to a psychiatrist and be labeled crazy for the rest of my life like-” I stopped myself short. I can’t believe I just said that…

 

“Like me, Heero?” Duo asked, looking at me with those big, bright, violet eyes.

 

“Duo, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Gomen, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were-”

 

“Crazy?” Duo spat out. “Look, you don’t have to talk to me if you think I’m that much of a nut-job-”

 

“No, I do like spending time with you, it’s just that I don’t know if I could take it if I had to live the life you do…” I have to admit I sounded very lame and was kicking myself right about then.

 

“It’s okay Heero, if it’s any consolation, I’d be going crazier living your life.”

 

“My life?” it took me a second to figure out what he was talking about.

 

“Yeah,” he blew his bangs out of his eyes, “with the stalker chicks going through your personal stuff, snapping pictures of you in the guys locker room, in your shower, and in the pool then posting them online and in the girl’s locker room. Man! I’d be so paranoid by now that I’d rather live in a padded cell just to get away from them. Did you know that your jock strap sold for ninety-eight dollars on e-bay? It did!”

 

Too many thoughts were going through my head at that moment. Had the girls gone that far?

 

“… oh, and last week,” Duo continued on his rant, “your old toothbrush, you know the blue sparkly one with the angel wings on it? Well, that one sold for fifty, and-”

 

“Wait, stop!” I said, resting my hand on the bark of a tree for support.

 

“Huh?” Duo said as his chatter faded and stopped next to me.

 

“How do you know all of that? Are you some sort of stalker too?” I was beginning to fear for my well being if what Duo said was true, even more so if HE knew all of that first-hand.

 

“Oh!” Duo began playing with the end of his braid and kicking at the dirt path we were on with his cheeks flushing softly, “Well… I hear more than I should, you know. There’s always someone watching and umm… I get to listen to the prying eyes.”

 

“Oh,” I felt relieved, “that’s good to hear. I was starting to think that you were one of Relena’s spies or something.”

 

“Speak of the devil,” Duo said as he peered across the park, “look over there, Heero.”

 

I turned my head in the direction he was looking at to find a couple of Relena’s top annoyances pointing cameras at us.

 

“God, I hate it when they follow me,” I grumbled.

 

“So why don’t you do something to get them to not like you any more,” Duo said, trying to be helpful.

 

“I did,” I said as I ducked behind a tree, “I ran out of the school with the school crazy, hopped on his bike, and skipped the rest of the school day.”

 

“Well do something else then!” Duo cried as he ran after me. It was obvious he hated getting his picture taken as much as I did when it came to the PINK school tabloid.

 

“Will you help me, then?” I asked him just as we ran into a clearing that led back to his bike.

 

“Sure, whatever… anything to mess with that pink prissy princess!”

 

“Good,” I stopped short and turned, causing Duo to crash into my chest, I leaned down and kissed Duo squarely on the lips while holding his face with one hand and catching him around the waist with the other. We broke apart and he blinked at me a couple of times. I flicked my eyes towards the camera girls and saw them gaping at us doing what looked like an impersonation of a fish out of water.

 

“Thanks, Duo… I think we’ve stunned them long enough to make a get away,” I said as I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bike. I’d have to apologize later, but for now, we had managed to fry a couple of neurons in our stalkers’ minds.