*Three years ago*

The day started off as usual. Trowa and Quatra went into town for supplies and Wufei was in the yard practicing his form in the shade of a tall maple tree away from the safehouse. Heero only wished that he had someplace he could go. The break in the war they were in was driving everyone a bit insane.

"HHEEEEEEEROOO!!" came a howl through the house. Heero would have shuddered, but the object of everyone's torment came bouncing through the door to their shared room at that moment. Heero just kept typing.

"Oi Heero! What are you doing inside on a day like today!? The sun is shining, the birds are singing and you could definitely use some fresh air!"

"I have reports to send to J. Go away." It was true. Their last mission was about 3 days ago and he had fallen behind due to the distraction of one long haired, violet-eyed, beautiful bundle of endless energy. Not that he really minded, but he'd be dammed if he'd tell that to Duo.

"…so do you want to?"

"Nani?" the blue eyed pilot just realized that he missed what ever it was that Duo had said.

"I saaaaaid … I need to tinker on Deathscythe and I was…um wondering if you'd want to come outside and keep me company. And you can bring your laptop outside and finish those reports and all…."

If Heero didn't know better he would have thought Duo was blushing slightly, but dismissed the thought. /It's true we don't know how long this break in missions will last. And I would be with Duo. Why not?/ "Hn."

Duo looked up with a smile that looked too big to fit his face and ran out the door "Meet you there!!"

/Damn. How does he do this to me?/ Heero thought as he grabbed his laptop and went to the hangar to meet up with the energizer bunny of the pilots.

He perched himself on the landing in front of the open cockpit where Duo was already up to his elbows in wires and circuit boards. He couldn't stop the small chuckle that came from his slightly upturned lips. The slight sound must have been heard by Duo for said pilot stared open-mouthed at the wing pilot. "D…did you … just .. laugh?"

"Baka. Go back to work." He did, but kept sneaking glances at the stoic pilot as he began rewiring his Deathscythe again. The two pilots worked for a time, Duo chattering about everything and nothing at the same time while Heero typed. He couldn't help but look at the Deathscythe pilot as he tweaked his machine. Those long slender fingers so deft in their art, those violet orbs so focused on the task at hand. /If only those hands were on me right now./ He sighed to himself. It would never be. Though he himself was bisexual, he didn't know how Duo felt about dating other boys. It was that uncertainty that kept the blue eyed pilot from revealing his feelings to the other pilot.

"Um … Heero?" He was pulled from his thoughts by a strangely quiet voice. "Nani?"

"Uh … my necklace is tangled in the wires and I don't want to lose my place here. Umm…do you think you could, um … untangle it for me?" Heero didn't fail to notice the slightly panicked look that had made its way into Duo's eyes. /Why does he look so afraid?/

"Hai. Hold still baka." Heero couldn't understand why Duo seemed to be so edgy. He gently tried to untangle the thin chain, but it was no use. The chain was too wrapped up around the surrounding wires. "Duo, I need to unclasp the chain so I can untangle it."

Duo looked at him, sheer horror filling the violet orbs, and began to shake in what Heero could only assume was fear. Trying to calm down the braided boy, the wing pilot did something that should be written in the history books. He attempted to start a conversation. "Duo, what's the matter? Why do you look like a deer caught in headlights?"

Duo did nothing, but stare in shock at the wing pilot. Not a word or sound uttered. "Come on Duo. I know it's an old joke, but you've told worse and gotten at least a chuckle from Wufei. What's the matter?" At that last utterance he freed the chain. Never had he seen Duo move so fast outside of a battle except when there was a meal to be eaten. Only his years of training helped him pull the chain out of Duo's reach as he lunged for it. As Heero looked at the Deathscythe pilot's eyes he saw a look that said 'give me back my cross or I swear to all things holy I will think of the slowest, most painful way to kill you.' The perfect soldier actually took a step back. Having never seen Duo this way, he didn't know what to expect. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if that's what one of his own glares looked like.

Again Duo made a grab for the necklace Heero held in his hand. "Duo! What's the matter with you!? Just answer me and I'll give the necklace back!" He was mad. Something was wrong with Duo and he wanted, no needed, to know. /Talk to me Duo. Please./

He jumped off of the landing and onto the hangar floor followed quickly by a royally pissed off Shinigami. "You're not getting this back until you talk to me Duo. I want to help you. Please tell me."

Heero saw the beginning of tears in the beautiful violet eyes that he had come to love and he felt a knife pierce his heart at the sight. He couldn't dwell on that thought as he saw Duo's face twist to one of pain and he wrapped an arm around his midsection. Before he knew what had happened, Duo ran off into the house. Hesitating a few seconds out of pure shock as to what just happened, he followed Duo.

He heard a door slam and ran straight to their room. As he approached the now locked door he heard the soft sound of groaning. He made quick work of the door and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight. Duo was doubled over on the floor arms clenching around his sides. Heero didn't need to ask to know that Duo was in no small amount of pain. Quickly he ran over and kneeled beside Duo, starting to rub comforting patterns on his back.

"Duo!! What happened!?" He didn't even try to hide the concern and worry for his partner. All he got was a moan of pain in response. Throwing care to the wind, he gently scooped up the groaning pilot and settled him in his lap, softly whispering soothing words into the shaking pilot's ear. It seemed to help and Heero noticed that he was starting to relax in his embrace. In fact, he seemed to be trying to bury himself further into the wing pilot's arms.

"Duo? What happened? Are you hurt? Please. Please tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if you don't tell me." As he spoke his soft words, he felt the slender boy shudder and heard a soft sniffle.

"I'm so sorry Heero." Heero leaned back in surprise and stared into the heart shaped face that he knew so well. The face was the same, it was the voice that stunned him. "Duo?"

The shaking boy bowed his head and stared at his hands in fascination as he began to speak. "You know the reason I never lie, Heero? It's because I've been living a lie my entire life, why add more to the pile? Growing up on the streets, one does anything they can to survive. Even give up their identity. Life is hard enough for young boys, but nearly impossible for young girls." Duo looked into Heero's eyes, looking for understanding. He didn't see it in the blue eyes.

"Duo, what are you saying?"

"Solo found me and saw that I had potential to become a great thief, but no matter how good at running or hiding I would be, they wouldn't protect me forever. Because I was a girl. If any of the gangs found out I was a girl, I'd have been dead long ago. Solo taught me to act like a boy and how to steal to survive. Later after the plague and G found me in the cargo ship, he told me to keep up my disguise, once again for my protection."

Heero couldn't help but sit there numbly as Duo told him her long held secret. Everything he knew about his partner just crumbled to tiny pieces. He didn't know what to feel, what to say to the 'girl' still in his arms. "H…how?"

"How did I pull this charade off?" Heero just nodded dumbly. With that Duo got off the Japanese boy's lap and took off her shirts. Under them was what appeared to be a thick ace bandage wrapped around her entire torso. She began to unwrap it when Heero suddenly stood and stopped her. "Please. Let me…"

She must have seen something in his eyes because she allowed him to finish removing the long bandage. Under the bandage was a soft, thin shirt. "What's that for?"

"Well, I have to make sure that the bandage is tight enough to hide my breasts. As you can see, they aren't THAT big, but they give me enough grief enough. The bandage makes me sweat and the whole thing begins to itch."

"So what does the shirt do?"

"It cuts down the itching and the chafing…" Suddenly Duo burst out laughing. From what he knew of the violet-eyed pilot, he could only speculate that it was a release of tension. Heero just stood staring at her, his face more relaxed than he ever remembered. Her laugh, so genuine, so full of life. /Wait…that laugh./

"What about your voice, Duo?"

"Oh. That." Duo walked across the room and picked up the cross that was forgotten on the floor and put it on. "The cross has a chip that alters my voice waves and makes my voice a bit deeper." she said in her familiar male tenor. Duo took the necklace off and stuck it in her pocket.

"And what the hell happened to you before when I found you?" Duo blushed, a deep crimson coloring the usually pale skin.

"Um, well …. I had cramps. Very nasty cramps."

"Cramps?" Heero's eyebrows raised in obvious confusion. "You had cramps."

"See, what happens is when girls go through puberty, we get extra estrogen which gives us hips, breasts and um … periods. G has me on this drug that keeps me from 'maturing' so I wouldn't have to worry so much about hiding myself. Thing is, my body is fighting the drug due to nature and so I get these really bad cramps. I need to go back to G to get off of this or at the very least find out if there's anything else I can do about these things. He told me to be there in 4 days."

Heero absorbed all that he could about this whole situation and found that he was totally lost. He didn't know what to think. Abruptly he got up and left the room. Had he turned around he would have saw the hurt and pain written in Duo's eyes. /How could this happen? Things were so clear to me this morning. What happened? Why? Why did this have to happen? I don't understand this./ His thoughts came and went as he walked. He didn't even know where he went, but as he finally broke from his thoughts he noticed that the sun was setting. Knowing that the other pilots would be gathered for dinner, he returned home.

Four pilots greeted him as he entered the kitchen. Quatra and Trowa sitting on one side of the table, Wufei and Duo on the other. He noticed that Duo was dressed in her usual manner and had her necklace on. No one was the wiser. So the meal, consisting of Chinese take-out, was eaten in silence, except for Duo who kept up enough chatter for the whole group. When dinner was over Heero met up with Duo in their room. He had a secret to share as well and he wasn't going to back out of it.

"Duo?"

"Hai?" Duo wasn't even trying to sound cheerful and Heero didn't blame her.

"I wanted to um … apologize. For before … when I walked out." Duo didn't seem convinced. Heero expected as much. "I didn't know what to think. To have the one stable thing in this crazy world turn upside down and backwards … Gomen nasai Duo."

Duo got off of her bed and stalked over to the Japanese pilot, eyes looking intently at him, looking for something. She must have found it because the grin he got in return was the most beautiful thing he would ever see, he was sure of it. "Forgiven and forgotten, Heero!" The japanese boy found his arms full with an American bundle of energy in his arms as Duo gave him a huge hug.

/Well Yui, it's now or never./ "Duo? I need to tell you something. It's a kind of secret that I've been keeping for a while."

"What is it?"

"First of all … take the cross off. When you're with me I want you to be yourself." Heero took a couple deep breaths to clam his nerves as she took the cross from around her neck. "Um … well. How do I say this?"

Heero could see Duo fidgeting with the chain in her hands. /Is she nervous? What if I'm wrong about this? … Just go for it Yui!!/ Who was he kidding? Words had always failed the emotionally lacking pilot, why should now be any different? Before he could lose his nerve, he raised Duo's face and brushed his lips oh so gently over hers. After a moment he broke that whisper of a kiss and lowered his head, waiting for the rejection he knew would come. When nothing happened, he slowly looked up and met those large amethyst eyes. Instead of hate and rejection he saw love and compassion. Then he noticed the huge smile plastered on her lips. "Duo?"

The only response he got was in the form of Duo attacking his lips with her own for something more demanding and passionate. Heero was lost in the sensations Duo was evoking in him. To finally feel her soft lips on his, suckling gently. He never imagined that something as simple as kissing could be so wonderful. Heero ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to welcome the invasion. She tasted so sweet and he knew that he would never feel the same way for anyone else in the world.

"Duo, I …"

"Shhh …. It's ok Heero. I know. Let's just let it be for now. Just … hold me?" Heero did one better. He picked her up and carried her to his bed. They stripped down and quickly fell asleep, safely within each others arms.

The next few days went by quickly. Wufei was the first to notice the change of behavior and gave his congratulations along with an 'it's about damn time you two finally got together. Maybe now, Yui, you can shut him up!' Quatra and Trowa seemed just as happy, but refrained from adding any other comments. Soon the day came that Duo had to go to G for a physical.

"You're sure you don't want me to go with you? I don't have anything going on right now."

"It's OK Heero. I'm a big girl, I can make it. Besides, G has been like a father to me and I want the chance to catch up on old news." The braided girl bounced around the room packing her bag with the meager belongings she had. Heero couldn't help but to watch his love and smile.

"I saw that Yui!"

"Hn."

"OK. I'm all ready to go! Ya gonna miss me, Hee-chan?" If anything the Wing pilot's smile grew at the sound of his pet name.

"Hai."

"And remember your promise. Don't tell any of the guys about this, k?" Duo's eyes were almost pleading him to agree with her. How could he ever refuse those bright eyes.

"Hai."

"Well I'm off! BYE WUFIE!!!" Duo tossed a grin and kissed Heero good-bye as a shout came from somewhere in the house.

"My NAME is WuFEI!! Get it RIGHT MAXWELL!!"

Duo just shrugged her shoulders and started walking toward the park. Sparing one last glance at Heero she said, "I love you, koi!" and ran the rest of the way. Leaving a dumbfounded Japanese pilot standing at the doorstep.

That was the last anyone had seen of the braided American. Professor G had called two days later demanding the location of his pupil. The following realizations that Duo was missing sent everyone into a frenzied search. The pilots and the professors looked everywhere they could think of during the war. When the Preventers were formed, the search was renewed with a force, but to no avail.

RIIING! RIIING!

Heero's reminiscence was interrupted by the phone, but he didn't move from his place in front of the door. Knowing that in a few more seconds the machine would pick it up. He really didn't want to talk to anyone anyway.

'Yui. Not home now, leave a message.' … BEEP!

"YUI! I know you're home. Pick up the damn phone!" How could Heero possibly refuse the charm and politeness that Wufei had over the phone? He ran to pick up the phone.

"What do you want?"

"Where were you?"

"Did you want something?"

"Hai. Quatre and Trowa just returned. I know I told you to rest, but I think you should get down here."

"What's going on?"

"Quatre received an interesting piece of information, but refuses to say anything until the four of us are here. Can you make it?"

"Hai. Be there within the hour." Heero stood in his living room with the vid disc in his hand. "I have something as well. Yui out."

The brown haired teen eyed the vid closely. "Duo. If you're alive, I will find you."

He quickly got dressed and sped through the streets to meet up with his fellow ex-pilots at Preventer headquarters. /This will be a night of revelations…/