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"Greeting Cards"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Yaoi, funeral practices, AU, fluff Pairings: 1+4, 1x2x1, 3+H, 5xH, 3x4, 6x9 Summary: Each chapter is based on Heero’s
greeting cards and Duo's mortuary. "Greeting Cards " Chapter 29 -- January Cheer, Part 4 To put my love in a better mood, I told him about my plan to get him a datatron. He was so pleased I knew it had been the right thing to say. I liked the skip in his step and wiggle in his ass, but I did warn him that Chang might not go for my idea. He was certain, though, that I was the man Wufei wanted on board and that Wufei would do anything to get my assistance. We would see. Wufei Chang stood by his chair speaking into his cell phone with irritable-sounding, clipped sentences. He shut it down as everyone reassembled at the table. I guessed that he was receiving more orders, ones he would have preferred to decline. "If we are all ready, I will explain some of Preventers involvement in these complicated cases." He swept a wayward strand of jet-black hair behind one ear. It made me wonder what kind of hair gel he used to keep it glued into that onion-skin tight ponytail. I am afraid I chuckled at the wrong time, and received a glare in reaction. "To begin, Lady Une heads the agency and hired me to look into this chain of murders--." "Not to mention she's a mole at the Zodiac Island resort and the Sanc hospital administrator," Duo put in. "Busy woman." "Yes, she is. Extremely so. And so is her other key agent, Lucrezia Noin." Duo's reaction was interesting. He began fiddling with the tip of his braid. Normally, he didn't touch his braid any more than I did my own hair. Every so often he would and when he did I found it terribly hot. I liked him to tickle me with it. I liked to paint on him with it. I wanted to play with his braid, now. "In the past, she has held several cover jobs, including one as the premier Public Relations agent for performers." Like Solo. Duo had mentioned that to me at one time. Noin. She had once been in public relations. Oh, she had been Solo's agent. Christ. Reminders of our pasts were at every turn today, it seemed. "She was here last night at the party, for only a short while," Zechs said. "She was called away." Oh yes. She was Zechs' girlfriend. How convenient. "She prefers to be addressed by her surname, by the way," Zechs went on to say. "She is a fine woman descended from Italian nobility. We met at the Lake Victoria Academy," he glanced around the table, gracing us with his smarmy smile, "where she got the second highest grade in the history of Lake Victoria Academy." "Let me guess," Duo said, "you got the highest, right?" Zechs looked more pleased than a cat who had dined on the palace rare-finch collection. "Well, yes, but that was only because Noin let me." Trowa choked on his toothpick, and Quatre had to pound on his back to stop him from laughing; that is, coughing. Zechs played through. "... She stayed on as an instructor and I entered the military." Wufei pursed his lips. I wondered how much longer his patience would last before he started screaming. With a resigned sigh, he left off glaring at Trowa to continue his address. "Noin's OZ contact is Shari Carlyle—" "Ah, ha!" Duo shouted, dropping his braid. I watched it swing against the back of his chair until it came to a stop, touching my leg. That was hot, too. "So that's how you knew where to find Heero and me at the airport! She knew which airport we landed at and told you. And here I thought you were psychic or something." "Or something," I whispered. Bloodsucker. Duo knew what I meant; he grinned at me. "What may come as a surprise to all of you," Wufei said in a raised voice, silencing the peanut gallery, "is that Lady Une killed Odin Lowe after he murdered another of her agents investigating OZ." I did not know that. Not at all. I never knew a thing. My eyes refocused moments later and Duo was staring into my face. "Okay?" he mouthed. I nodded. I was fine. Odin had been as close to a father as I'd ever had, and the head of the Preventers killed him. Who were the good guys? Who were the bad? Which was I? "...Looking into adopted son Tyler Keel's activities and searching for his foster runaway son. Chasing him from Zodiac Island to L1 until he surfaced right here in Sanc. We determined that Hiro Yuy was Heero Yuy." I heard my name and then Duo's angry retort. "Then you also know he's an innocent in all the Lowe and Keel crap and whatever the fuck's going on around that island!" Thank you, Duo, for believing in me. It was time for me to apply a little pressure of my own and get some answers. "Okay, Chang, if you are done exposing my messy past, how about telling me what it was we were doing in Une's house, your boss's house, collecting hair samples and medicine bottles." I think everyone took an interest in hearing what he had to say. "I was there at Noin's request, specifically to gather evidence to clear our superior." "And did you? Clear her?" "What is important is that Lady Une was in possession of the same stuff you collected in the lab on Zodiac Island." "What we think those bodies were subjected to, the ones Duo and I found?" I asked. Chang and I stared into one another eyes, reading the truth there, then his shifted to Zechs. Now his eyes were hooded, as if he were signaling something, and a silent communication seemed to pass between them. It was Zechs who spoke up to answer. "Yes, but the drug was too complex for me to analyze, so I sent the trace powder from her medicine bottle to another lab. I have a dozen or more labels with the same fibers Trowa told us about, which mark them as from Voyate's labs, too. My guess was that the bottles contained chemical variations of one another. I swabbed out the residues, and sent those in for lab work with the others." "But what does it mean?" Trowa said critically. "I'm thinking." Wufei lifted his chin, looking defensive. "I can't say for sure, because I don't know, but we can make some educated guesses. Someone has been secretly creating drugs in the lab that are not part of Voyate's average offerings. Somehow, those drugs made their way to the Zodiac laboratories, where they have been testing them on subjects from the penitentiary and the asylum. As Zechs explained, we only have had time to trace a couple of the codes found on bottles in Une's cabinet to their corresponding match in the records on Zodiac Island." "But you found matches? That's incredible." Quatre was impressed. "So you think Une has been taking some experimental drug?" "Not just some drug." I wanted to make it clear that this was more than the common drug cartel. "They want to live forever, or at least stop aging, and create super people." Duo slapped the table top, excited. "We saw some of those super people, if they were people, in these tanks. Hundreds and hundreds could have been off in the stacks there." "Legions. A private army,' Zechs' voice sounded hollow. "I think Tsubarov was creating a 'perfect soldier' drug, and Khushrenada was building an invincible army for Dermail." "I don't think Lady Une was taking the drug," Wufei asserted. "I believe she was given it to take. I have yet to approach her about it. I was hoping she would come forward after discovering it gone." "And?" "She called me in and asked me directly if I'd taken it, and I admitted I had." "And what did she say? How did she get it?" Duo pressed. "While at the resort, she asked for something to take for her migraines, and this is what she was given." "Who gave it to her?" Zechs asked. "Who would have taken that chance with anyone outside of the labs, especially on Zodiac Island? "She wouldn't say. She said Shari was dealing with the contact. But... I've been wondering about that. Maybe they needed more test subjects, and she has medical lab contacts with the hospital here. That would have gotten her involved. Maybe someone made a mistake and gave it to the wrong person. I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Actually, Noin looking into it now." Maybe it was a good thing non-Preventer people were looking into all this. It seemed to me like the policing agency was in the thick of it. "Have you analyzed the data Duo and I collected?" If not, I could do that. Just hand me your toy. "Not all of it." "There was something about the ID numbers associated with the patients, a pattern. I noticed it at the time, but never had the opportunity to study them." But I could-- I wished I had time to study his datatronics mini. It had all the power of a 4K RAM laptop in the size of a paperback book. I had no real use for one, but I yearned to have it, and get one for the others. "It was decoded so you can see the date stamps." Wufei located the pages I wanted and handed me his electronic reader device, his sexy little datatronics mini. "You can scroll forward with this. Backwards is here." "Hn." Let me play with it! I nearly slapped his hands out of the way. I scrolled back and forth, up and down, paged forward and backwards, page, page, page... until I found what I was looking for. I was in love with a thing. There was a term in Japanese for that, which I refused to dwell upon. It was bad enough that I loved a device; it was ridiculous to give that attraction a name. I was so enamored that I missed Quatre rising and making his way around the table until he was looking over my shoulder. "Look at this, and this," he whispered in my ear. I could hardly pay attention to the rest of the conversation with Duo drooling on my arm and Quatre breathing down my neck. I looked up to see Trowa rubbing his forehead. "And my accident was linked to all this? Investigating what happened to Leia? Lots going one here. Okay, then, while you're answering questions, do you think we should check for bodies on Zodiac Island to prove that the drug testing was the cause?" I let Duo scroll and watched numbers and figures fly by. I think he said "cool," but he could just as easily have been commenting on Trowa's question with a "cruel." "Well, yes, in a way..." Wufei paused while he decided how much to say. "One body in particular." I glanced up from the data just as Quatre tapped the screen excitedly and Duo hooked a claw around the tiny viewer. "I said a long time ago that this would lead to a disinterment," I said with a fleeting look back at the data flashing on the screen. "Yep," Duo said, sighing contentedly. "I have a bad feeling that this has something to do with those DNA samples collected from all of us." Without lifting my eyes from the data stream, I pointed out, "A lot of samples have been collected." Duo wadded up a napkin and threw it at Wufei. "So, ah, tell me, what is the difference between DNA analysis on hair and on blood or semen?" Wufei stood an inch taller, maybe on his toes and smoothed back his hair. Now he was in his comfort zone. Lecturing. Good. Duo had just bought us a few more minutes with the toy. "Nuclear DNA comes from blood and tissue. Mitochondrial DNA is collected from hair and bone, and doesn't tattle on its owner's gender... blah, blah... Nuclear DNA testing is, however, the preferred method of DNA testing for identification purposes. It's basically the same as the analysis carried out for paternity testing, actually. Your DNA profile, or that of the questionable remains, is compared with the profiles of known relatives-- What is it Maxwell?" he asked uneasily. "So, why are we collecting hair, then, if it's not very useful?" Good attempt at diversion, love. "It's useful, just not the best," he commented acidly. "It's our back up in case my plans don't work out." Wufei cleared his throat, re-centering himself. Duo nudged me off base, too, but in a good way. I think putting our favorite agent in the same room as Duo Maxwell then adding a helping of pressure from his higher-ups, made for an unhealthy mix. "I have a DNA sample from Mariemara's body, from the autopsy. What we need is a sample for DNA analysis from her mother, Leia. To prove she died on the island, possibly even discover how she died." "And you are pretty sure her grave is on Zodiac Island?" "In the family crypt, I believe. I'm still trying to get a layout of the catacombs and access routes." "And when you get that DNA sample and it confirms she's her mother, then what?" Duo attacked with rapid-fire questioning. Wufei was in firing range. How would it end up? "Well, then we know a secret. With that knowledge, we should be able to discover, or pry the information out of someone, why it is so dark a secret. The question is," Wufei added emphasis by pounding on the table. I was pleased he had found an outlet for his Duo-anger. "Do you want to be part of the tomb raiding?" "Count me in," Trowa said. The man was too easy. Quatre ran his finger down the list of the body ID numbers, stopping on one particular page. "These were early test subjects, by the dates. But if I line them up this way... now look." That was a non sequitur that did not follow from what Trowa or Wufei had said. Go Quatre. But do not take the datatron. It was mine now. Oh, but Quatre Winner was sharp. I had found order in the midst of chaos. "I see that," I snapped a bit harshly. "These all end in sequential numbers: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, and 06." Quatre cried out, "That's us! Quatre is French for '04'. Duo, your name is Latin for two. You are '02'. Trowa--" "'03', yeah, I get it. Even Triton means three." "Zechs is 'six' in German. That makes Zechs '06'." Zechs cleared his throat to add, "'Milliard' is 'billion' in Italian and Swedish." "That's no help," Duo told him. "But Noin is "nine" in German," Zechs said. "'Wu' is Chinese for 'five'," Wufei commented. "I don't like this a bit." "But what about Heero?" Duo asked. "The one and only." Duo looked at me. "Huh? I mean, you're pretty special and all, but—" "The 'hee' part is Japanese for 'one.' My last name 'Yuy' is supposedly the kanji of 'Yui', which means only. In any case, both my first name and the last name have the connotation of 'one' and together 'the one and only'. Not only that, but my stepfather's name, Odin, is Russian for 'one.'" "So, we were all test subjects?" Duo asked. "That's impossible. Not all of you spent time living in a laboratory or you would remember," Wufei said. "There must be another explanation. A coincidence." "Well, I'm not a part of it," Hilde declared firmly. She had been remarkably subdued since our last break, for which I was grateful. For some reason her ire was particularly focused on my love. Women and their hormone-caused mood swings would always baffle me. "But while you've been playing with numbers, I've been thinking about how us all getting together hasn't been exactly a coincidence." She looked around at our blank faces. "Oh c'mon! Think! Duo, how did you meet Heero? You found a Valentine he dropped. What are the chances of that happening? Heero, why did you choose that particular coffee shop to hang at when there are others closer?" "I saw Duo go in once and followed." I smiled apologetically. "I sound like a stalker, but it's true. I would sit and sketch him..." "Yeah, you were a basket case. So there's an excuse for that, but Duo didn't notice you right off. Not until the Valentine card. And that card!" "Duo and I met when I was doing my waiter-stint," Quatre said. "Yeah, I was there, too and nothing came of that. No, not until I took Duo to the Valentine's Day dance at the hospital, did things start coming together." "Are you admitting that you are the love-glue that binds us?" Duo asked. "No-o," she strung out with a definite wince, "but think about it for a second. Une drew your card, which led to her passing Quatre's number to you, and that one led to a date. Trowa met me at that dance and he met you, which led to him coming around to the coffee shop. Wufei was at the dance—" "And so was I. Relena and I spoke." Duo leaped to his feet. "O-okay. This is giving me the creeps. It's like we were all destined to get together or something." I repeated, "Or something. I've been telling you." "I'm pretty upset that we may have been test subjects for some dangerous drug," Quatre said in a ragged voice. "I-I was born in a lab, a test-tube baby. But I wasn't given to think it was on Zodiac Island." "I was born there," said Trowa. "I lived on the island, off and on," I said. "I grew up on the streets of the L2 area," Duo said. "Never knew my parents." Duo removed the band at the tip of his braid then teased the strands apart, raking through the long locks with his fingers. "So you don't know where you were born?" Wufei pressed. "No." Duo leaned his head back slightly and shook out his hair so it was straight. Wow. It looked so masculine, like a stallion shaking out his mane, and he did it in a public a place and situation where I could not react to it. That was one of the reasons it was such a turn on, I would have to wait to react. Wufei shook his head, which was not the same thing at all. "I don't believe I ever was on Zodiac Island or in a laboratory, but I do not think our associations are merely a coincidence, not anymore." I could wait to touch Duo no longer. "I request a break until dinner. A late dinner." There was a hand on my arm, not Duo's, Wufei's. "My device, please?" It was not mine? No, sadly, it was not. I handed it over most reluctantly. To my surprise, he smiled as he clasped it with both hands and held it over his heart. "Yes, it is wonderful. I named mine Nataku." His eyes took on a kind of glow of wonder and awe, and then he walked away. (o) "Not that it matters, but where are we going?" "I need you and fresh air." "Cool. Door out is thataway." "Not out. Up." "That's good. I wasn't excited about walking in the pouring rain." I led him to my room and marched straight to the window and opened it wide. The wind blew the curtains, ruffling them. It was dark out, although the sun had another hour until setting. The window sill was a slab of slate, quickly misting over with blown droplets. Duo took a turn looking out into the storm, his hair blowing, too. I touched it. His hair went on for miles. "Ah, this is about the hair. Am I right?" he asked. His smile was part jubilant part sly. "You untied it." "So it's my fault?" Instead of letting him draw me into a silly argument, I moved swiftly around him and into the bathroom. There, I opened the small window as far as possible and let in the storm. "Hey, 'Ro? Man, you weren't kidding about the fresh air part." "I was not in the mood to make love in the icy cold rain," I said. "I thought we could take a shower instead." But I had in mind more than just a shower. I twisted the faucet to get hot water running into the tub. I tore off my shirt, and Duo's smile widened. "Okay. I get this part. I take off my clothes." My nod was slow, mostly because I wanted to watch him strip. I tried to keep up so we would be naked at the same time, but Duo could whip off his pants like lightening. Still, it was close. After that, it was hard keeping my hands off him, so I stopped trying. The bathroom window was above the tub, making this perfect. Duo shivered as a blast of wind ripped through the room. "You've been thinking about doing this for some time?" "Yes." With the bathroom window open, it was as if we were outside. We danced about the bathroom. Lights off , the curtain all the way open—there was no one who could see in. "If it were light outside we'd have a view of all Sanc, I bet." "I like the view I have." Duo rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was pleased. I stepped into the water first then settled Duo between my legs, his back against my chest. "Ready for the next part?" I asked. "I've been ready since you licked the whipped cream off my lips." I laughed, because sex was not what I meant. Not yet. "Close your eyes." We lay there in the steamy, hot water, listening to the rain and the rhythm of our heart beats. "God, 'Ro, this is fantastic." "Rains fall, winds blow, the sun shines... it all comes naturally, just like loving you," I said. "Thank you for being the one who calms my inner fears." He twisted in my arms so he could look into my eyes. "Thank you for being such a romantic. I love that about you." I kicked a lever with my toes and the shower came on. Like being in the rain, except warmer. "Heaven," he murmured. And then we made love in the rain that was not the rain, but better.
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