By KatiKat
"Children!" Sister
Helen called to get the children’s attention as she stepped into the big
playroom in the Maxwell Orphanage. She pushed a small boy in front of her
dressed in blue pants and blue sweater and white tennis shoes. He had dark
brown hair, cobalt blue eyes and a sullen expression on his face.
The children gathered around her
watching the boy curiously. "This is Heero. He is five and he will be
living with us from now on. I hope you will be good to him." The children
nodded vigorously. Sister Helen turned Heero to face her and crouched in front
of him. "I hope you will like it here, Heero. If you should need
something, anything at all, just come to me, all right?"
The boy just looked at her, not
even blinking. She sighed. She feared that this one would be really difficult.
She read his file and what she saw she didn’t like at all. The boy’s parents had
gotten killed when thieves had broken in their house. Since then he had lived
with his uncle, some scientist or something. Nobody had known that he was
abusing the child until his teacher in the kindergarten saw the bruises on his
arms and torso. The social worker immediately took him away from his uncle,
bringing him to the hospital first. As soon as he was in a better physical
state they called her. The nun managed the small Maxwell Orphanage together
with Father Maxwell and she loved the children with her whole heart and soul.
She just hoped that Heero would be okay here.
"You can now go and play,
dinner will be in approximately two hours so you have a lot of time to make
some friends here," she said to him, caressing his shoulder lightly. She
sighed when she saw that the boy didn’t move at all and looked around for help.
A little boy with long rope of chestnut hair and big violet eyes clutching an
old wooden doll caught her eyes. He was standing nearby watching the newcomer
with sad eyes. Duo... the child who had been here the longest time. He had been
brought here as a newborn and sadly nobody had wanted to adopt him since then.
A couple of pairs tried to take him in but they thought him to be too exuberant
and always brought him back, never finding out how much that hurt the bright,
lonely boy. Duo greeted every new child first, trying to make them happy, to
make them smile. But he himself always had a sad look in his eyes,
understanding that another child had been left alone in this world.
"Duo," she called. The
braided boy dressed in violet sweats and brown softies trotted over to her,
clutching the wooden toy tightly to his chest. "Duo, would you take care
of Heero? Show him around, where everything is?" she asked him.
Duo nodded excitedly. "Will
do, Sis’ Helen."
Helen smiled and got up. Yes, Duo
will take good care of the boy. She turned around and walked out of the room.
The braided boy turned to Heero
and smiled brightly. "Hi, I’m Duo. What’s your name?"
The other boy didn’t bother to
reply; instead he turned around and went to one of the big windows leading
outside to the small garden.
"Hey, you didn’t answer me
and that’s rude." Duo skipped alongside him. "Your name is Heero,
right? What do you like to do?"
Heero frowned. Couldn’t the boy
just go away? He just wanted to be by himself. But the loudmouthed idiot was
following him around the room, talking about all and nothing. Heero sat down on
the carpeted ground under the window and pulling his knees to his chest, laying
his arms on them. He still couldn’t believe that they took him away from his
uncle. Yeah, life wasn’t peachy with him, but he had had a stabile point in his
life. But now... And the braided fool was still talking to him.
Duo dropped next to Heero on the
ground. "You don’t talk much, huh?" he asked when the boy didn’t
bother to acknowledge him at all. He looked down at the wooden doll in his
arms. It was a simple toy. A hard trunk with long dangling limbs. But what
brought Duo the most comfort was the smiling face of the toy. The doll was his
only real friend - he called him Shini - and it’s smiling face had always been
able to cheer him up. ‘Maybe it would be able to cheer the other boy too?’ He
thought to himself. Caressing its face he offered the toy to Heero. "Would
you like to play?"
The longhaired idiot - what was
his name? Duo - was still bothering him and his cold attitude didn’t help Heero
in getting rid of him. Maybe it was time to take more drastic measures? He
looked at the battered old wooded doll Duo was offering him. What a stupid toy.
He took it from him and didn’t even bother to look at Duo’s bright smile. But
instead to play with it he threw it away with all his might. He watched the
doll slam against a wall and fall down to ground - broken. That brought him out
of the uncaring coldness that surrounded his heart and mind. He didn’t... he
didn’t mean to do that. He didn’t mean to break it...
Duo watched his doll drop to the
ground broken in two pieces - and he couldn’t believe it. His toy... His
friend... Heero had broken it... He crawled over to the shattered doll and
picked it into his arms. The head... the smiling face and carved hair... the
doll’s neck was broken and the head had fallen off. He clutched both of the pieces
to his chest uncaring about the other children chasing each other around the
room or playing with the other toys. His friend, Shini, was dead...
With a clenched heart Heero
watched the braided boy embracing the toy he had destroyed. Duo’s big violet eyes
filled with tears and his shoulders shook with tiny sobs. Heero could feel his
eyes burning too. He didn’t mean it... He didn’t mean to do it. He just wanted
to be left alone. He didn’t want to hurt the boy.
Heero embraced his bent legs,
pulling them tightly to his chest. He didn’t mean it... He didn’t...
***
Helen yawned as she made her way
down the hall from her room to the big sleeping room the children shared, the
moon light her only source of light. She always checked on them a couple of
times during the night just to make sure they were alright.
She was worried about Duo
tonight. She had found out that Heero had broken Duo’s doll. Helen knew that
the toy was Duo’s most precious possession. Father Maxwell had given it to him
on his first Christmas here. Even as a toddler he had always been dragging the
doll with him everywhere. She knew that it brought him comfort when even she or
Father Maxwell couldn’t help. But now...
She sighed and brought the
bathrobe even closer to her body. With little money to spare, they couldn’t
afford to heat the whole orphanage up and mainly at night it was getting chilly
within the corridors. She stepped to the door leading into the children’s
sleeping room when she saw a light under the door of the small office where
Father Maxwell usually worked. She frowned, knowing that it wasn’t him in
there. Father Maxwell had to leave for a couple of days unfortunately. Now,
when Duo would need him the most.
She crossed the hall to the
office curious about whom it might be in there. She opened the door and peered
inside. Her eyebrows shoot up when she recognized Heero sitting on the chair
behind the table, dressed only in his blue pajamas with little red cars and
with the tennis shoes on his feet, working on something in the light of the
small table lamp. He was concentrating so much on his task that he didn’t even
notice her when she approached him.
"What are you doing,
Heero?" she asked quietly while peeking over his shoulder.
The boy jumped up in the chair
and looked up at her. "I... I..." he stammered and looked back at
what he had been doing.
The doll, she realized. He was
repairing Duo’s doll. With a paste and an adhesive tape he had found on the
table he had been able to attach the head back to the trunk. Helen had to admit
that he was quite skilful. Only the bright piece of tape covering the doll’s
neck revealed where the brake had been. "That looks good, Heero," she
praised him laying one hand around his small shoulders.
He lay the toy on the table
softly, his hands resting in his lap. "I didn’t mean to break it. Really.
I didn’t mean to make Duo sad," he admitted quietly.
Helen sighed and kissed the boy
on the top of his head. "I know, Heero. I know. But you must know that
this doll means the world for Duo. It’s something that belongs only to him
where everything else he has to share. He considers the doll his best friend.
You hurt him really badly when you broke it."
Heero was quiet but he hung his
head a little. "I’m sorry."
"You don’t have to say it to
me. Apologize to Duo. He will forgive you, I’m sure of it. But you should
really go to bed now. It’s late and you shouldn’t even be awake." She
helped him get down from the chair and laid the doll in his arms. She smiled when
she saw him clutch it tightly to his chest. With her hand on his shoulder they
left the small and quite messy office after she had turned off the light.
They stepped into the sleeping
room where rows and rows of beds on both sides of the room stood. In most of
them small children where sleeping peacefully. Heero scrambled up his bed that
was positioned next to Duo’s and Helen covered him up to his neck. She stopped
when she saw him still gripping the toy tightly in his left hand.
"I will return it to him in
the morning. I promise," he said seeing her looking at the toy.
She nodded. "Okay, I trust
you, Heero." She bent down and kissed him on his forehead.
"Goodnight. And no other night journeys, okay?"
He nodded and with a light caress
to his face she turned and checking on the other children she left the room
closing the door behind her.
"His name is Shini, ya
know."
The voice coming from Duo’s bed
startled Heero. He thought that the other child was asleep. He turned on his
side and looked over at Duo seeing his big violet eyes shining in the
moonlight. The braided boy was laying on his side too, one hand bent under his
head.
"I named him Shini and he is
my best friend," Duo whispered not wanting to wake the others.
"I didn’t want to steal
him," Heero whispered back. When he had gone to try and repair it he had
taken the doll from then small nightstand next to Duo’s bed where the other boy
had laid it before going to sleep. "I wanted to fix it."
"Did it go well?"
Heero nodded and sat up in his
bed. He raised his hand with the doll and offered it to Duo. The violet-eyed
boy sat up too and reaching over the small gap between the two beds he took the
toy back from Heero. He looked at the fixed neck, caressing the tape there.
Then he raised his eyes back to Heero. "Thank you."
Heero shrugged and lowered his
eyes to his blanket. Then remembering Helen’s words he said quietly: "I
didn’t mean to break it. I didn’t."
Duo only nodded, clutching the
toy to his chest.
"I... I’m sorry..."
There were tears in Heero’s voice. He felt so lonely. Even living with his bad
uncle was better than being all alone in the world like he was now.
After a moment of silence there
was a rustle coming from Duo’s bed and then the sound of bare feet on the
ground. When he looked up, Duo was standing next to his bed in his white
pyjamas with small green frogs. Some of his hair had escaped the loose braid
and he looked adorably cute. "You want me to sleep with you tonight?"
he offered. "You won’t feel so lonely anymore."
Heero blinked uncertainly. He
would like to but... Would Duo really... Would he do it for him after what he
had done? Heero couldn’t believe that Duo would be so forgiving even though
Sister Helen had told him that he was. "Would you?" he asked finally,
quite shyly.
Duo nodded, smiling brightly once
again. Heero lifted his blanket and moved a bit to the right, allowing Duo to
climb under the covers with him. They lay down on their sides facing each
other, the doll lying on the pillow between them. They were watching each other
for a while before Duo broke the silence with a whisper: "Y´know, Shini is
great, but sometimes... sometimes he isn’t enough anymore. Maybe... maybe we
could have each other," he suggested carefully.
Heero thought about it for a
while. It would be great to have somebody who would belong only to you. Just
like Shini belonged to Duo. If Duo would be his and he would be Duo’s they
wouldn’t be lonely anymore. Heero could feel a warm feeling spreading all over
him just thinking about it. To have somebody who would really care...
"Yeah, it would be
great," he answered, the longing evident in his voice.
Duo smiled brightly and reaching
over, he caught one of Heero’s hands in his own and squeezed it.
"Kay."
"Kay." Heero smiled
too, for the first time in years. He wasn’t lonely anymore because now he had
Duo. And he would never let him go...
The End