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by Lilinpo
"Here's your room. It's small, but it's better than ours. So don't complain."
Mick, a very short man, said coldly and headed up back to the deck.
"Uhh, thanks."
Duo waved his hand, but Mick ignored him completely. Duo shrugged and went in his room.
It was decent. A wooden desk at the left, a small bed at the right. There was a pen and dozens of paper placed on the desk.
The room looked as though it was for an important guest. Duo closed the door and dived on the comfortable bed.
"Well, I guess I am kinda important...... Until we reach the Treasure Island..that is..."
Duo giggled and turned face up to stare at the ceiling. The ship is headed east, which was exactly where Duo directed them.
Duo closed his eyes, his arms crossed behind his head. He listened to the little creaking of the ship and thought about his home.
"Uhh, sir?.... May I come in?"
Duo heard a knock on the door followed by a young frightened voice. He sat up on his bed.
"Sure, come in."
The door knob turned slowly and the door creaked as it gradually opened.
"I.... brought some clothes for you... And.. some biscuits.."
A small boy, probably around the age of 6~8, appeared with a tray full of biscuits and cup of hot tea and some clothes hanging on his arms. He slowly walked to the desk and set the tray down. He gently put the clothes on the chair and faced the door to leave.
"Woh. Hold on a minute, kid."
Duo spoke. The boy stopped short and turned his body to Duo, facing down. He never even looked up at Duo.
"Did... did I do... something wrong, sir?.."
The boy's voice was barely audible. He was shaking a little bit and still didn't look up to see Duo. Duo laughed.
"You didn't do anything wrong... except... you didn't introduce yourself."
The boy slowly lifted his head and saw Duo for the first time. For some reason, the boy's cheeks became pink and his heart was beating faster.
"My name is Duo Maxwell. I don't know who told you, but I prefer to be called Duo. Not master, sir, or anything else. Just Duo."
Duo smiled softly. The boy's face was red now and backed away. He wasn't scared of this new guest, but he couldn't figure out why his face felt like burning.
"I'm not gonna bite you kid. Come on, what's your name?"
Duo sat on the edge of the bed and smiled as though he was talking to a little puppy. The boy felt he could trust this new guest and knew he was different from the other crew. He has never seen a warm tender smile before.
"..... Micah..."
"Okay, Micah. I seem to notice you're a little smaller than most of the men on this ship. Are you here with your father or some relative?"
The boy looked down again. He shook his face slowly and replied,
"No... they... didn't want me..."
Duo was a little shocked at first, but he was used to seeing little kids in this situation. He just couldn't believe he would see them here aboard the WING Storm.
"... Do you know where they are?"
Duo carefully approached the boy, who stepped back. Duo continued to advance anyway and knelt down in front of him. He tipped his head to look in the boy's face and waited until he spoke again.
"They.... said they didn't have enough money to raise me... So they ....sold me to this place... but..."
"You ran away?"
The boy looked up at Duo, surprised. Duo sighed and smiled.
"I was no different from you, Micah... I don't even know where I was born and why..... I kept asking why my parents had me if they didn't want me�.. You must have thought the same, right?"
The small boy nodded. When he looked up at Duo again, tears started to fill up his eyes. He felt so.... relieved.
"Come here, kid..."
Duo held the back of boy's head and pulled him to his shoulder. The boy placed his arms around the kind stranger and started to weep like a little child, which was forgotten because of such hardships in his life. Duo patted the boy's back and held him until he let out all the tears.
"How did you end up here? Did they force you?"
After a while, the boy stopped crying and Duo sat him on the bed. The boy quickly shook his head to reject.
"No, no! Trowa brought me here. He is nice and gives me and the others food to eat and clothes-"
"Wait, wait. Others?"
"Yeah! There are five of us aboard this ship! Trowa brought us here and he's been taking care of us ever since."
"I see."
Duo nodded, thinking back when he first saw Trowa and how he gave bagful of money to the boy he met at the market, he was convinced the boy was telling the truth.
"I like Trowa and Hector a lot.... But some of the people here are mean.... They get mad when we make a noise, so we stay quiet..."
Duo sat in front of Micah. He was amazed Captain Heero would actually allow his ship to be a babysitting center. He always pictured him to be violent and cold-hearted, cruel and uncaring.
"... But then again.... I didn't picture him to be young as I am..." And he still couldn't figure out why his former master would give him up so easily to Heero. He was pretty sure he was well liked by him and that he wouldn't just give him to a stranger with nothing in return�
"Can I meet them?"
Duo asked the boy. The boy, surprised at first, nodded happily and stood up.
"Come on! I think they're all in the room!!"
The boy took Duo's hand and pulled him eagerly towards the door.
"I talk to Jane a lot, but the other kids don't talk much... But I think all that will change when they meet you!"
"Glad to hear it."
Duo laughed. He was happy to see Micah acting like a kid instead of a frightening servant.
"You have a magical gift, Duo. A magic to make every children smile."
"Jane!! I brought that new guest Trowa was talking about!!"
As soon as Micah opened the door to a small room, he rushed in, pulling Duo with him.
"His name is Duo!! Duo, that's Jane with the book. The two playing with cards are Robert and Michael... And... the little one in the corner is Mary.. She's the youngest...."
Somehow, Micah sounded a little uncomfortable introducing the smallest one. Duo looked in everyone's faces. They were all amazed and shocked to see someone other than Trowa in this room. Duo's attention was particularly on the little girl sitting in the corner of the room. She was about age of four at most and had long wavy blond hair. She was sucking her thumb and holding an old rag doll tightly in her small arms. Duo smiled warmly at her and she smiled back.
".. It's an honor to see you, Mr. Duo. My name is Jane. We heard about you from Trowa."
The girl named Jane politely bowed. She was the oldest of the group and was like a big sister to everyone. The two boys lost interest in the stranger and went back to playing their card game.
"Call me Duo, Jane. I don't want to be treated like some special guest. I understand Trowa brought you guys here?"
"Yes, he did. He is such a gentleman and we thank him so very much. We owe our lives to him and Captain."
Just as Duo was about to respond, the smallest child, Mary, ran up to him and grabbed his hand.
"Is it okay for me to go yet?"
The little girl smiled up at him and asked. Duo looked at Jane and the others and saw dark expressions. He turned to Micah who had the same frown, but he quickly giggled and stroke Mary's hair.
"Duo is not an angel! He is human, just like us."
Duo tilted his head in confusion while Mary shook her head.
"Then how come he looks like an angel? If he looks like an angel, then he is an angel."
The girl smiled and held Duo's hand again. Duo couldn't see the whole story, but knew it wasn't a happy one. Suddenly, the boy named Robert snickered.
"He's not an angel, Mary! Angels are girls and they have feathered wings."
"And halos."
Added Michael.
"Actually, angels are neither boy or a girl."
Jane corrected. Mary was still looking up at Duo with full of hope in her eyes.
"You are an angel, aren't you?"
Duo knelt down to level his eyes with the girl's and shrugged.
"I don't really know myself who I am. I don't know where I came from."
Duo brushed the tangled locks of hair away from the child's face and stood up. He looked about the room. It was only half of Duo's, or could be less. He was thinking while the kids stared awkwardly at him.
Duo finally nodded.
"You call this a room? Come on everybody, get your stuff. You're all moving to my room."
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Lots of original characters appeared in this one.
Hope it wont get too complicated.... Or else I'm in trouble. ^o^;
Lilinpo
