Title: Tainted Conviction – Chapter Two

Author: Sita Seraph

Genre: Angst, Religious relatings

Pairing: 1x2, 3x4 eventually.

Rated: R

Warning: Gruesome treatment, stigmata, sixth sense, and a whole lot of shit.

Note: Longer chapter!  Enjoy!  I’m having so much fun writing this! *evil gleam*

 

 

Duo slowly opened his eyes, the darkness ceasing away to show him the light blue sky of night.  Specks of white littered the dark blue, twinkling every so often.  Duo watched curiously as some stars moved around quickly, indicating a satellite on the rise.  The braided boy smiled as the satellite moved out his viewing range and the stars grew still once again.

He was alive.

Slowly, Duo raised his head and looked down at himself.  He gave a low chuckle as he found himself back on the road, completely unharmed and unscathed.  But unfortunately, he was motor less.

“Go figure,” Duo grunted as he slowly rose himself into sitting position.  It was going to take him hours to get back to the estate.  Duo slowly grinned though.  At least he was alive and well to make the trip.

“Better get these legs movin’,” Duo said to himself and slowly got up.  Looking around to see which way he should go, since he never really did pay attention to the scenery ever, Duo slowly shrugged and started jogging.  This would give him plenty of time to think up a good enough excuse of what happened to his beautiful red motorcycle.

 

*****

 

Duo slowly unlocked the front door with his key and peeked inside cautiously. He was thankful that it was late at night for even after the long run, he still hadn’t thought up a really excellent excuse for his missing bike.  After successfully looking over the empty and dark living room, Duo sneaked in and closed the door gently behind him.  After locking it back up, for Wufei’s paranoid state, Duo crept across the wooden floor.  Behind him wafted his sweat, as he had jogged all the way back to the estate.  It felt good at the time to restart stiff muscles, and some he didn’t even know he had, but now he stank worse then a pig.

Time for a serious shower, Duo thought with a smile, thinking about the wonderful warm water on his achy muscles.  Showers were good.  Showers were great.  Duo liked showers.

Moving across the living room, while dodging matching chairs, a love seat, and a couch, Duo silently walked up the stairs that rose to the second floor behind the long couch.  Taking it two at a time on the carpeted staircase, Duo successfully dodged any creaks and cracks that he knew existed at certain parts of each stair.  Maybe when he had time, he would fix all those annoying groans in the stairs.

But right now: Shower.  Walking up on the second floor, Duo slowly opened a cabinet door and took out a white fluffy towel.  Smells of holy cleanliness wafted into Duo’s nose and the boy smiled, thinking of Quatre and how he just lived to clean…most of the time.  Taking the towel and leaving the cabinet door open, Duo walked to the bathroom, thinking blissfully about warm water. 

Duo closed the door behind him and immediately started stripping, humming.  Throwing his clothes and towel to the side, Duo reached over and started the water to the shower.  While waiting for the water to get warm, Duo turned to face his reflection.

“God, I look like shit,” Duo chuckled.  His hair was a frizzy mess from the run and the crazy motor ride, escaping from the ties that bound themselves in the braid.  Grinning at himself, Duo start to unwound his messy hair, watching the dirty specks on his cheeks that were so grounded into his skin, they looked like bruises.  With his hair free, Duo leapt into the shower eagerly and turned the pouring water onto the shower faucet.  Immediately he was sprayed with warm, hot water, coursing over his body like waves.

It was kind of funny that even after such a close call to death, that he barely even thought about it.  Hey, he was alive, who cared about anything else?  But still, he wasn’t trying to get the memory out of his head nor was he eager to think about.  He died and then he came back.  That is an everyday thing, right?  Facing death was normal for him; he had accepted that fact that death was coming after him, ever since he had taken the job of piloting Deathscythe.   That was the reason why he had become the God of Death, Shinigami.  If he was going to die, he might as well be it at the same time.

But…even during the war…he had fooled himself into thinking that he WAS the God of Death and that he would never die, not without his consent.  But tonight’s proceeding proved false, as he cannot give the willing choice to die right then and there.  There was no detonation switch in real life; one mistake could have cost him his life…and it did.  He always thought that if he wanted to die then he would do it, freely.  But it had seemed that someone else had controlled his hands and steered him over that high cliff, throwing him to his doom.  He had no choice to die; the real God of Death did.

Duo stopped the scrubbing of his sweaty body and went completely still, biting his bottom lip.  He suddenly felt very, very sick.  Spinning around, Duo fell to his knees as they gave out beneath him and started throwing up over the drain.  Water poured over him like rivers, drowning out his hearing and eyesight.  He just kept puking everything up, continuously.  Even when he knew that his stomach had to be empty, he just kept going.  He couldn’t control his body…

Faintly, Duo tasted blood in his mouth.

 

*****

 

Heero opened his eyes in the middle of the night, staring at the dark ceiling above him.  Lifting his head, the monotone pilot listened to running water, coming from the bathroom across the hall from him.  Duo must be home, he thought, pushing himself up into sitting position and leaning back on his hands.  Heero had been waiting for the pilot to get home and it was odd; he didn’t wake up to the roar of the engine of Duo’s motorcycle. 

“Hmm,” Heero said, listening as the running water switched to the sound of water beating against the walls – he’s taking a shower.

“Baka,” Heero said aloud.  “You didn’t wear a helmet did you?”

With a huff, Heero kicked back the blankets tangling themselves around his legs and looked at his nightstand where red glaring numbers shone through the dark.  3:00.  Why was the baka out so late when he left at 11?  Narrowing his eyes, Heero turned back his blank gaze to his closed door.

And that’s when he heard the sound of throwing up.

Immediately, Heero reacted, throwing himself up from his single bed and stealthly made his way to the door. Throwing it open, Heero walked to the closed bathroom door.  Light from inside seeped along the ground where it escaped under the door, the only light in the silent and dark house.  Standing outside the door, Heero pondered about Duo’s condition.  He had never seen the baka sick before…and he didn’t know what to do with a sick person either.  He had never been sick in his life.   Maybe I should get Quatre for this…he thought, pausing his hand that lifted to the knob.  But as Duo inside kept hacking up whatever that was in his stomach, Heero’s hand closed around the knob.  Duo was more than sick; he couldn’t have ate that much while he was out.  Turning the knob, Heero pushed open the door.  Duo sounded like he needed medical attention.

As the door moved aside for Heero to see, the stoic pilot paused and his eyes grew wide in complete shock.  On his knees was Duo in the bathtub, completely naked and the water pouring over him relentlessly.  Locks of curling brown hair cascaded over his back, hiding the pale flesh from Heero’s watchful gaze.  Spiky bangs hid Duo’s violet eyes completely.

But all of this didn’t shock Heero at all.

It wasn’t the hair, or the pale flesh that looked more dead then alive.

It wasn’t the way Duo’s body trembled as another round of puke pushed up into his throat.

Nor was it how beautiful Duo looked when he would pause to catch his breath before he began puking again.

It was the gallons of blood that kept erupting from the happy-go-lucky pilot’s mouth.  Rivers of it broke through red lips and into the tub.  Some splattered across the wall from the force as it escaped.  Some soaked Duo’s beautiful hair.  Some of it began to fill the tub…

Duo’s head jerked up as the door hit the side of the wall and opened his mouth, wide violet eyes the only color left on his body.  But as he started to say something, blood escaped his throat and shot across the tub and against the lower cabinets under the sink.

Heero’s eyes grew wider.  Duo kept throwing up more and more blood.

“QUATRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”