No, he couldn’t let his mind drift. He had to focus on the task at hand. He had to keep his mind rea---

Splash!

‘Oh, great, why don’t you make a little more noise while you’re at it? Way to help him out… baka.’ He scorned himself in his head as he shook the water off his boots. That was the second puddle he’d splashed through while trying to escape pursuit. This one seemed twice as loud and deep as the one that he had fumbled into after jumping the fence.

Of all the nights it could have rained. It was bad enough that running through puddles made an abundance of noise, much more than needed, but on top of that the hill he had been running up earlier was covered in rain slicked grass. Scrambling up the sides through mud and gunk was not his ideal way of spending a Friday night.

‘At least the rain finally gave it a rest.’ He attempted to lighten his somber mood. Rest. Now there was a past time he could gladly partake in at this moment.

Of course, he could stop running. He was tired after all. His joints ached and his side throbbed from the extended amounts of nonstop flight. Yeah, he could stop. But then he would lose. It would all be over for him. 'I give up.’ is a sentence he never believed in saying. The only thing worse than a quitter was a coward. He didn’t care to be branded either. Not in this lifetime or the next… well, if there is an afterlife.

A small opening in the forest caught his eyes as he looked away from the brightly lit star he had been navigating by. It wasn’t that worn down and traveled so he decided it was best to make a mad dash to the forest. He had been scurrying out in broad sight through a field of plain sight. Furthermore, in the forest he knew he could mesh and blend quite superbly into his surroundings. Blessed be the color black. Except it didn’t help much when you were trying to pace your get away through an open field.

Yes, a get away. In addition, he wanted to get away as fast as possible. Right before breaking out over the hill a few miles back he could have sworn he heard his pursuer splash in the same puddle of water he had landed in when jumping the fence. That meant he couldn’t be too far behind. That meant he was hot on his trail. That meant… danger.

Nimble fingers raised the handgun closer to his face in a ready position as he entered the forest. You never know, the enemy could be waiting right beyond the brush line. After all, this enemy was very clever and extremely quick. Who’s to say the chaser hadn’t cut him off at the hill and beat him to the forest trail completely? If there was one thing he had learned after all these years, it was take every necessary precaution… and even some that weren’t that necessary.

No sign of his pursuer.

He swiftly ran past the trees and the bushes with the agility and grace of a jungle panther, leaping majestically over fallen logs and shrubbery. He seemed to meld into his surroundings all too easily. The splash of his black clothing against the dark green vegetation was the perfect camouflage and he took advantage of that, sticking to the darkest shadows of the canopy. He looked like a carnivorous beast quietly stalking his prey… except in this case, he was the prey… the one being hunted.

A branch tore deeply into his shirt, breaking the skin of his shoulder and pulling harshly at the hair securely fastened in a braid. He merely cursed in his head and trudged onward. That small scratch was nothing compared to the amount of damage that would be dealt upon his capture.

Snap!

He froze. Every muscle in his body tensed and flowed with anticipation. His heart beat rapidly against his chest and the adrenaline surged through him at light speeds. He had been found. The enemy had mindlessly stepped on a twig, alerting him of just how close he was to being captured. Too close.

He took off the safety of his handgun with his thumb and clicked the hammer into position. Quietly he backed up against a tree as his violet eyes scanned and searched every nook and cranny of the surrounding foliage.

Snap!

Another limb… where had the noise come from?

Then his eyes grew wide in understanding… above him! The pursuer was in the tree above him!

Duo swiftly rolled his body away from the tree and pointed the gun upward in anticipation, expecting a body to plunge at him from atop the tree at any moment. He worried his bottom lip as his eyes focused in on the very top of the tree, searching for the target. The gun extended from his hands followed every direction he looked, aiming at unseen objects. He was prepared for the worst. He was hoping for the best. This was it… this was the point where he had to give his all. Damned if he was giving up without a fight.

Duo Maxwell never gave up without a fight.

Suddenly, something swooped down low at Duo’s feet, knocking him off balance as he fell face first towards the forest floor. Duo struggled to brace himself for the fall, locking his elbows and never releasing his hand off the trigger on the gun. The only thoughts that ran through his head as he caught himself on his elbows and palms was how stupid he was for letting the enemy sneak up behind him and catch him off guard. What an idiot he had been, and now he would pay the cost.

Before Duo could even think of rolling over into an attack position, he felt the cold barrel of a gun laid against his temple. His breath caught and he halted all movements. Any methods of escape he had proposed to use now were futile. He felt a body hunch down over his own into a squatting position, straddling Duo’s hips. Duo closed his indigo eyes and smiled deeply to himself.

"I lose, eh?" He said with a sadistic chuckle.

Slowly, so as not to arouse any doubts, he dropped the gun to the ground and rolled over to look at his assailant face to face. As he moved, the gun remained securely pinned at his temple.

"Looks like I’m dead." He opened his eyes to look up into the other boy's face.

"Yes…" there was an extended click of gears turning as the other boy slowly pulled back the hammer of the gun pointed at his forehead… "you are."

The boy crouched over him agreed in a tone to match his face, devoid of all emotion. His brows were pulled taught and his lips were plastered into a thin line. Duo heard the safety of the gun switched off.

Duo’s smile widened at the sound of his oncoming death. Well, he had given it his best… hadn’t he? Cobalt blue eyes met amethyst and seemed to tell him otherwise. Duo fidgeted his fingers that were aching for that shiny weapon he had dropped to the forest floor. He noted mentally that his palms were sweaty. Hell, his whole body was. When had he begun this nervous sweat? Nervous? Why should he be nervous at all? Hell, he was Death; he was Shinigami. Shinigami doesn’t get nervous.

Duo closed his eyes and lightly shrugged one shoulder, leaning his head closer to the barrel of the gun.

"So what are you waiting for, Heero. Finish it."