The Shoot  (Part 3)

By the time the three of them left the arcade, it was already dusk. For the sleepless town, the bustling night life had just begun.

Although Heero's expression remained unchanged after he continuously defeated Duo in the game five times in a row, Duo could tell that the Wing Gundam pilot was feeling smug inside. Was that why Heero challenged him? Just to feel self-satisfied? If it wasn't because Duo wanted to keep his identity hidden, it would have been more of a contest.

"Don't you feel too pleased with yourself. You only won because I didn't feel like winning just now." He did not like the idea of Heero having the impression that he was incompetent.

"Why didn't you feel like winning?" The question was asked nonchalantly.

"Why? Uh .... because the game was getting boring and I wasn't in a mood to play."

"Oh." Heero's eyes, which had appeared strangely hopeful a moment ago, became downcast after hearing Duo's reply. "I thought .... Never mind."

The reason for that transformation in his eyes was lost to Duo. "What do you want to say? Speak up." Heero was never a person who was afraid to voice his thoughts. He could be mercilessly frank when he had a mind to. Duo had lost count of the number of times Heero had used the words ‘Shut up’, ‘Get lost’ and ‘That's none of your business’ on him in the past.

Heero sighed, which was highly uncharacteristic of him. "I thought you are aware that the terms are still the same."

"Terms?"

"The bet."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in and make sense to Duo. So that was why Heero wanted to play against him! No .... that couldn't be it. Heero Yuy would never want to do a thing like that. But then, what else could he mean? Duo became increasingly flustered. Heero was now a total stranger to him.

Doyce chose to speak during that momentary pause. "You should honour the agreement, Katherine. You lost five times, so that means ...."

"Don't either of you be mistaken!" His retort came out a touch breathy and shrill. "My bet was with Shang. No one else!"

Heero's body suddenly became more rigid than usual - if that was possible. "So you preferred to do it with Shang." Heero's voice could have sent chills down the spines of penguins in Antarctica. This was the Heero Yuy he knew. Heero had not used that tone with Katherine for so long that Duo had forgotten how it felt like to be a recipient of his cold remarks. Cold remarks that cut his heart like shards of ice.

"Will you stop seeing me as some doxy who plasters her lips on every guy she meets! Jeez!" Duo was positive that his face was as crimson as a beetroot, judging from the rise of temperature up there. "And that ... bet never existed between us! So I don't have to honour any agreement."

"Not to me, it isn't." Heero was determined to have his wager fulfilled. Duo's desperate attempts to wriggle out of the commitment were fruitless.

"Who cares what you think?" Duo was beginning to lose his temper. Why, oh why, is Heero being so difficult? "I don't have time to argue with you anymore. I'm going back now. Doyce, are you coming?" He stalked off without waiting for Doyce to answer him.

Heero, however, was not letting him off so easily. In the blink of an eye, Heero had seized his wrist in a vice-like grip. His grip was not painful but Duo had no doubt that only a steel crowbar could pry those fingers open. He spun sharply to affront his captor. "Look buster, I ...." Duo stiffened. He had inadvertently brought himself closer to Heero. Their noses nearly touched and he could feel Heero's warm breath on his face.

Doyce, who had been waiting impatiently for the enactment of this scene, decided to lend a helping hand.

While Duo was busy calming down the frantic palpitation of his heart, he suddenly felt a pressure at the back of his head which propelled him forward. That small space separating him and Heero which he was extremely grateful for a moment ago was no longer there. It was a dry peck, nothing more. But it was enough.

Duo shivered uncontrollably, anticipating the goose bumps, the queasy stomach and the revulsion which would inevitably overwhelm him ... Strangely enough, he felt none of those. A sensation was spreading from the pit of his stomach, but it wasn't nausea. It was warmth - diffusing slowly but surely to the tips of his fingers and toes. Warmth? His body was not responding in the way he expected it to. Wait a minute! How can this be? He should be repulsed - that is the normal and 'decent' reaction one should have when kissed by another person of the same gender. His experience with Shang was evidence enough for that fact. It was already considered abnormal for him not to dislocate Heero's jaw in reflex. Duo's free hand hung limply at his side. His brain refused to send out the signal to strike Heero. Did this mean that he was 'revelling' in his present situation? No! One part of his mind screamed in denial. I am a 100% normal, growing teenager - with healthy tastes and desires! I'm not gay! However, he could not explain the sweet feeling of intoxication coursing through his veins at that moment.

Duo's knees felt weak and he was breathing heavily as if he just ran a kilometre in a single breath. He mentally chided himself for reacting like some .... girl during her first kiss. It wasn't even a proper kiss. It was an accident - Doyce, being the usual busybody that she was, had smacked their faces together. After mustering sufficient courage, Duo lifted his head and his heart caught in his throat. He had never seen such gentle tenderness in those cobalt blue eyes before. Heero looked so much more good-looking when he smiled. Smiled? Another surprise.

Heero, his face displaying dissatisfaction, was not through with him yet. Duo's sensuous lips were conveniently parted. This time, it was not an accident.

* * * * * *

There was no mistake. Katherine Kane was the real pilot of the black Gundam. The person behind the killing machine which was the personification of death. The person who killed Cheng.

Shang stood on the roof of the highest tower in town, overlooking the neon lights and the people below him. This place was his refuge when he wanted to be alone. And he needed that solitude now more than ever.

Deep in thought, Shang absent-mindedly fingered his white forelock. His hair used to be entirely white - when Cheng was still alive. Now all that was left to remind him of his mental link with Cheng was this single lock of pigmentless hair. It also reminded him of the pain and loss accompanied by Cheng's death. The pain had been eating inside him like an insidious disease ever since, making him less humane with each passing day.

Cheng .... Cheng was his wingmate, and that placed him above anyone else in the world - be it blood relations or friends. Both Cheng and him were part of an OZ military experiment to produce more apt and capable fighter pilots. Unable to manufacture mobile suits which were superior to Gundams, the OZ war scientists had come up with the idea of linking the minds of the pilots to boost battle performance. An elite was chosen from the existing mobile suit pilots for that purpose. From those few people, fewer still were able to succeed in developing the mind link. Cheng and him were one of the few pairs who managed to bond fully with each other.

From the day the link was established, Cheng and him had been sharing thoughts and dreams. He could still remember the times when Cheng had entered his mind during his dreaming state to chase away his nightmare demons. As trust built up between them, the link also strengthened. It was not long before they began to share emotions and feelings. He was always the first to know when Cheng was hurt or unwell and vice versa. Emotion is a much more effective tool of communication than words can ever be. They were able to perceive each other's emotions and understand the reasons for those emotions. As a result, misunderstandings never occurred between them. Breakdown of communication has been one of the greatest causes of unsuccessful human relationships.

Cheng was everything to him. With him gone, Shang had lived no differently from a breathing, walking corpse. It was five months ago when the Gundam ambushed the OZ base near Salt Lake City. Cheng had fought alone during that battle where he perished - and Shang had never forgiven himself for letting Cheng down when he needed him the most. At that time, the flu epidemic was rampant in that region. Bedridden in the city hospital, Shang was spared from the massacre. Cheng, who was well enough to pilot his mobile suit, was not.

He was woken up from his drugged sleep by the image of a white, blinding cross. It was the last image that Cheng saw before the life force ebbed out of him. Shang had screamed and wailed when his link to Cheng had severed. Where there used to be warmth, comfort and love, there was now only a cold, dark emptiness. Cheng's presence in his mind had totally ceased to exist. Shang was suddenly alone in his mind – and that frightened him more than anything else.

Shang had no recollections of the two months following Cheng's death. The people who looked after him during that period of time had told him that he kept on repeating Cheng's name like a mantra, all the while staring into empty space. They did not hold any high hopes of him ever recovering his sanity and they were surprised when he did.

Shang was then posted to his present school by his OZ superiors for rest and recuperation. There was a secret OZ base directly underneath the school premises where he was required to report twice a week for the re-establishment of his mental link. Shang had the misfortune to have Sheila assigned as his wingmate replacement. They had undergone the mind-linking program at least a dozen times but not even a single strand of Sheila's hair had begun to turn white. He had known, at first sight, that he and Sheila were incompatible. He continued on with the program only because he had not yet found the person who could fill Cheng's shoes ...... who could fill the void inside him.

Shang brought his wandering thoughts back to Katherine Kane. He had never imagined the Gundam pilot to be a female. She had punched him during their first encounter and humiliated him during their second. It was not hard to believe that she was Cheng's murderer as well. Shang had decided his next course of action. It would have been easy for him to avenge Cheng, but that would do nothing to repair the damage that she had done. He needed a wingmate more than revenge. It was a pity that the pilot was a 'she' and not a 'he'. Shang never had much success in mind-linking with females. If he could not bond with her, she would not be of no use to him. If that was the case, he would have to kill her.

                                                                                                                             < To Part 4 >