Chapter Seven: Prolonging Life- Moral or Amoral?

*Something was not right. He had told J he would not acknowledge any more missions. So why would the old coot bother sending something if he already knew that? Calmly Hiiro clicked on the email and let it load. And then he began to read.

“01: I know you are no longer accepting missions, but this one is perfect for you. It does not involve killing or maiming in any way, nor will you need to leave your job. In fact, it will help you regain your humanity better than Relena will. I know you and Relena felt you had something years ago, but I also know you no longer return her feelings, which is why this mission is perfect for you. Accept or decline?”

No… Hiiro read it three more times. Through all that mumbo jumbo not once did the old coot mention what the real mission was. How was he supposed to accept or decline the mission when he knew nothing about it?

Why was he even thinking about it? It should be a natural thing for him to simply decline it. He had told the old man: he no longer accepted missions. Would he allow himself to become that easily swayed? But what if the world depended upon his taking this mission? Wait right there. J had said that it didn’t involve killing or maiming. Didn’t that mean it wasn’t a life or death mission?

Then again, if it wasn’t a life or death mission, why shouldn’t he accept? Was he that scared of a small mission? And besides. If this mission was going to help him regain more of his humanity, that would be a good thing. He needed all the help he could get. He wanted that security. He wanted to show his friends he could live a normal life. He wanted to be wanted. Was that so difficult? He might have made mistakes in the past, but now he was determined he would not make anymore. Why was this so difficult? And why was his brain clouded with so many damn rhetorical questions!

Wait. That was it! He didn’t acknowledge any more missions, so he had a right to question them. He would simply email J back and ask for more details regarding the mission! Why hadn’t he thought of it before? Most likely because he was so exhausted from the day.

Quickly typing an email back to J, Hiiro nodded with grim satisfaction and then yawned- a very uncharacteristic thing for him to do. Making his way back to the couch, he collapsed once more onto the soft cushions, happy to fall into the dark abyss of sleep.

As he blinked away the sleep in the corners of his eyes, Hiiro stretched and shot up. What the hell was that piercing noise? It was like air raid sirens, or the sound of an ambulance… no, wait. It was an ambulance! He grabbed the gun he had placed on the table by the couch and ran to the window. Carefully, he poked his head around the corner and looked out to observe the scene.

On the streets below were two blaring ambulances and three cop cars. What was going on? He scanned as much as he could with sticking his head out too far into the opening. He could see where the focus of all of the action was- three apartments over and two stories up. There was a man standing on the ledge of the apartment building, and a woman behind him, obviously begging him to get down.

A suicide attempt was it? Didn’t the man know that if he didn’t jump in the first ten minutes, he most likely wasn’t going to jump? And it had obviously been over ten minutes- it took at least five for the ambulances to get there. What about that man’s life could be so bad that he would want to kill himself?

Hiiro put his gun in his waistband and stepped onto his balcony. Even if he didn’t know this man, he still felt responsible for getting him down. Hiiro scaled the balconies up and by the time he had reached the man there were large spotlights on both him and the man.

“Hey.” Hiiro said as he got to the man and his wife. “Christ, you’d think they wanted to blind you, not save you.” He said under his breath.

“You’re telling me.” The man grumbled. The wife, who had backed up when Hiiro had reached their balcony, now stepped forward.

“Are you with the police?”

“No.”

“With the medics?”

“No.”

“Fire department?”

“No.”

“Then who the hell are you?” The woman screamed, her voice hoarse from crying. The curlers she had set in her hair were beginning to fall out, and her left foot was missing its slipper. He robe billowed behind her as she frantically paced back and forth yelling and crying.

“I live two floors down and three over, just moved in last week. I saw you and decided to come up.” Hiiro told the man, now ignoring the woman.

“Why would you do that? I’m going to kill myself you know.” The man told him in a sad but proud fashion.

“Why’s that?”

“My life is a living hell.”

“Try me.” Hiiro offered.

“I lost my job.”

“Get a new one.”

“My wife had an affair.”

“Divorce her.”

“Hey! She is right behind us! Speak well of her! I love her!” The man argued.

“She loves you too, otherwise she wouldn’t be behind you. Obviously she’s sorry she had the affair. Keep going.”

“I’m being evicted.”

“Get a new apartment.”

“I disowned my son.”

“Why?”

“He…”

“So you’ve disowned him. Who cares why.” Hiiro cut in. “The point is, people make mistakes. But you can always take him back.”

“But my pride…”

“Damn your pride. If you really cared about your pride you wouldn’t be making such a scene with the cops and such.” The man looked up at Hiiro.

“My life was a living hell. Nothing could be worse.”

“I’m a murderer. I broke a woman’s heart today. That in itself is a horrible life. You think you’ve got it bad? Do you know how many nightmares I’ve had?”

“A lot?”

“Yeah.” Hiiro sat silently for a moment. Then he stood up and brushed his pants off. “Let me give you one piece of advice before I go: dying hurts like hell. Trust me, I’ve tried it.”

“You’re a very troubled young man.”

“I’m not the one sitting on the ledge.” Hiiro pointed out. The man stood up.

“I don’t think I’m going to jump.”

“I didn’t think you were going to either.”

“Why’s that?”

“If you don’t jump in the first ten minutes, it means you won’t. Night.”

“Night!” The man called as he stepped back over the balcony and hugged his wife. “Hey! Come over for coffee sometime!” The man shouted. But Hiiro ignored him. As he got back to his own balcony, he sighed and slipped back in. He knew the cops would be coming to question him soon, so he didn’t bother in going back to sleep. Instead he washed his face and changed.

As he stepped back into his living room, a new loud beeping noise went off. But this time, he recognized the sound instantly. Flipping his computer open, it was only by his training that he could withstand the curiosity of what J had said. Opening the email, he read it.

“Hiiro: It is most unlike you to request additional information regarding a mission, but the fact that you’re even considering it is a good sign. My boy, the other night I met a nice couple who have a daughter. Their daughter is your age and single, and they have been most worried she will never wed. They, and I, thought it would be ideal for you two to get together, go out, and talk. It would be a good way to begin to regain your humanity. Accept or decline?”

Hiiro reread the message twice and nearly deleted it when he was done reading it the second time. As much as he was still monotonous and stoic, Hiiro knew he had already made progress on his own regaining his humanity. Otherwise, he would still be following Doctor J’s orders. Otherwise he would not have left Relena. Otherwise, his sarcastic sense of humor never would have developed.

But if all the old coot wanted was for Hiiro to go on one blind date, he didn’t really see the harm. Well, yes, he could potentially pick out everything that could and probably would go wrong on the date, but after all was said and done; the date would have little impact on the rest of his life. At least he wasn’t engaged to get married to an unknown person, like Serena was.

Hiiro stared at the computer screen a little longer, inwardly torn on what he should do. When the doorbell rang, he knew what was coming. Sighing, he broke his current train of thought and went to answer the door. Three policemen in blue uniforms stood in the doorway, the first with his badge out. Two of them looked like they had been in the business a while, seen and done things that had given experience on the field. He knew how they felt. The third, the foreman, was young- too young for his liking. He was cocky and inexperienced, something Hiiro despised.

“Hello sir, we’re with the police department, do mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?” The young one asked haughtily.

“Ask from the door.” Hiiro stated coolly.

“We’d rather come in…” He sneered.

“You cannot come in.” Hiiro opened the door widely then. “Come in.”

“Thank you…” The young one said as he began to enter.

“You cannot come in.”

“But you just said…”

“Not you, them.” Hiiro had the urge to roll his eyes, but he held it in. That would not be a good tactic at the moment. No emotions, no weakness. He needed to show the young one who knew what around here.

“Well…” The young officer stated. He really didn’t know what to say. The man in the door had effectively insulted him, but he could do nothing about it.

“Come in.” Hiiro repeated. The two old cops nodded and told the younger one to just wait outside as they entered. Hiiro shut the door behind them.

“Sir, would you mind stating your name for the record?” One of the cops asked politely. They had seen enough to know that if they were as rude as their partner had been, they would get nowhere with the boy in front of them.

“Hiiro Yui.” Hiiro grunted. He disliked giving his name out; it was, after all, still a habit to want to keep his identity a secret.

“And Mr. Yui, were you the man on the ledge earlier this evening?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. Did you previously know Mr. Charade?”

“No.” The cops blinked slightly.

“Then why did you climb up there in the first place?”

“To stop him from jumping. Not that he was going to.” Hiiro sighed inwardly. This might take longer than he had expected.

“You knew he wasn’t going to jump, even though you’d never met him?”

“Ten minute rule: you don’t jump in the first ten minutes, you aren’t going to. Anything else?”

“We are interested in how you talked him down. We’d like to know for future reference. Our methods don’t seem to be helpful anymore. People would rather take their lives than fix their problems. How did you fix him?” One of the older cops asked sighing. Hiiro had to smirk.

These men, so worried about life… it seemed so futile almost. Everyone died anyway, but theses men were trying to stop it from happening prematurely. The question was, did they have that right? Of course they did! Otherwise, why had he stopped the man from jumping in the first place? It made slight sense.

“I asked the man to tell what his problems were- he lost his job, I told him to get a new one. He was being evicted, I told him to find a new house. His wife had an affair, I told him to remarry. Then I told him my problems were worse, explained them, and told him if he had any pride he wouldn’t be causing such a fuss.”

“And that worked?”

“You’re not scrapping his body off the street, are you?”

“No.”

“Then it worked.”

“Very ingenious Mr. Yui. Thank you for your help in the matter and the time for answer the questions.”

“Hnn.” He said as he opened the door for the officers. As they walked out and Hiiro looked at the young cop, he smirked.

“Oh, two more questions Mr. Yui.”

“Yes?”

“How old are you?”

“20.”

“And your current occupation?”

“None of your concern.” Hiiro stated uncomfortably. He didn’t want to really say he was Relena’s bodyguard.

“It is our concern!” The young officer, who had been looking over the other two’s notes, barked. “We need to know for our reports! Now give the information or come down to the station.” Hiiro narrowed his eyes.

“Threat?” He muttered.

“If I need to play bad cop, I can and will.” Hiiro wanted to growl. But this was not an OZ soldier… this was man, an idiot, trying to do his job. But intimidation never hurt any. Hiiro reached behind him and pulled from his pocket his wallet.

“I’m Preventer Zero, Relena Peacecraft’s personally bodyguard.” He told the men as he flashed his ID. Then he slammed the door in their faces.

As he walked away from the door, he could picture the men, still staring at his door. So sad that most humans were either sheep, lemmings, or pigs. Taking his seat in front of the computer once more, he stared at the email, still sitting open, white screen and small black text blaring in his eyes. Reading it for a third time, Hiiro brought both his hands up and rubbed his face with them, running them through his hair and then letting them fall to his sides. Once again he stood up and walked around the room for a moment.

What was wrong with him? He was making this so hard. All he had to do was say yes or no to a simple blind date! What was so hard about that? Nothing. Yes, or no? Yes, or no? He just couldn’t decide. Finally he grunted. Walking over to a little black box he had placed on the coffee table in the center of his living room, he sat on the couch and opened it. He pulled out a few dollars, then a folded piece of paper. Opening the paper, he stared at it.

‘Things to Do’ was the title of the list. He had made it three years ago when he had left to find himself. In fact, it had been the very first thing he had done to begin to try to regain his humanity. On the list were things that he wanted to do before he died, whenever that may be, and he hoped that in doing them he would gain a sense of who he was. The first few things on his list, ‘leave Relena for a while’, ‘leave Doctor J for a while’, and ‘return’, were crossed off. But the rest… he had yet to do much else. Near the center of the list he had written ‘date’.

Well then, that settled it. He needed to do the things on the list, so in going on this blind date, he would be able cross it off his list. Refolding and replacing the list in the black box, he stuffed the cash back in on top and closed it up. Then he went back to his computer and clicked the ‘accept’ button at the bottom of the screen. Well, it was done; he had sealed his fate.

As Hiiro walked into his bedroom and pulled off his shirt and pants, he breathed deeply. Air in, air out. Falling onto his bed, he pulled the covers up over his head. Maybe one day dating wouldn’t be needed. Maybe one day he would fall in love with a woman who he would marry, and they would have children, and a house, and a family… And he was asleep with a blonde haired, blue-eyed temperamental shrew visiting his dreams. *

~~~How was this? A reviewing told me my writing was getting choppy, so I’ve been working on trying to smooth it out, but I can’t tell anymore! Lol! This was an odd ch, I admit it- but hey, it will make sense eventually! PLEAZ REVIEW! Much love, Vixen ~~~

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