Trowa levered his lean and lanky form out of the warm scented waters of his bath, shrugging into a voluminous bathrobe that awaited near by. Grabbing a towel to rub the moisture from his hair, he padded out in bare feet to his bedroom, hmumming a mozart concierto softly under his breath.

*THOK!*

Only instinct saved him. The knife landed within centimeters of his head.

What in hell...?

Duo leaned against the door seal, watching him out of the corner of his eye while he seemed to idly clean his finger nails with the tip of a black-bladed knife. The thing was wickedly sharp, the well-oiled blade glistening with a dark rainbow sheen.

"Duo..." he began, caution and confusion in the soft utterance.

"Trowa-man." Duo pushed him self away from the door, stalking into Trowa's room with the purposeful stride of a hunting cat intent on prey. He stopped a few feet a way, hands on hips, head tilted at a cocky angle. "How's it been? Long time no see?"

Truly a long time. Not since Duo had been imprisoned by OZ while Trowa was undercover.

"What are you doing here?" He kept his voice neutral,gaze flickering between the face of the other colonial and the glittering blade in the boy's hand.

"Well," Duo began, taking on an expression of mock- consideration, tapping the point of his blade against his chin."I guess that is a fair question. I mean I *am* here, in your bedroom, throwing knives at you..."

"Been spending time with Catherine, have you?" he threw out casually.

Duo snickered, "Totally cool chick, your Sis. She's almost as handy with the sharp, pointy things as I am."

"Duo...tell me what you want." Trowa kept his voice calm, emotionless.

"Ok, ok." Duo said with a little sigh. "T-man, I figured I owed you one."

Trowa's eyes widened.

Duo continued,nodding vigorously."Yep. I do. For what you did to Deathscythe. You blew him to fucking pieces, man!"

Oh, Trowa thought to himself, I get it now. He felt himself relax minutely.

"It was part of the mission, Duo. part of the role I was playing. You are a soldier. You would have done the same." He resumed toweling his hair dry, intent on making his way to the the bed,which incidentally would bring him within disarming range of the other boy. "Besides, Duo, Deathscythe was a machine. Just a machine."

*THOK!THOK!*

He had taken two steps; a third would have cost him at least a toe and if step number two been any bigger--he looked down at the blade that had landed squarely on the floor between his legs--well he might have had to take up singing soprano in the opera. His head snapped up at Duo. The other boy was grinning, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Oh man, Trowa. You'd better pretend we're playing, "Mother may I". Don't move unless I say "Yes, you may." I mean, you might startle me and then my aim would be all off...that would be bad."

Trowa was a man of action and quick decision. Analysis of the situation showed it to be dangerous and therefore, it needed to be diffused and quickly. He leaped, adding an arial twist that brought him close enough to the other pilot to disarm him a hard side-kick to the shoulder. Duo, grunted, stumbling slightly as his knife went scuttling across the floor. Trowa lunged, taking him down. Duo recovered quickly, a well-aimed fist catching Trowa in the jaw, rocking the older boy slightly. Trowa countered with a blow of his own to the side of Duo's head, causing his vision to erupt in sparkles. Trowa sat up slightly, breathing heavily, preparing to drag his opponent to his feet when Duo's legs came up, his feet catching him in the gut, and with a grunt hurled him up and back, sending him flying to the dressing table. Duo Scrambled to his feet, persuing his advantage, giving Trowa a hard kick in the side. Trowa, hissed, feeling the sharp agony of a rib cracking. Duo prepared to kick him again; Trowa caught the foot in his hand and with a sharp twist, overbalanced the other boy, bringing him to the floor. But that left one foot free which caught him in the face. He again launched himself at Duo, delivering a sharp cross that split his lip, and grabbing a hank of braid with a hard tug. With a howl of pain, Duo countered with a blow under his chin. They rolled, Duo ending up Trowa's back. Trowa reared back for a head-butt but at that moment Duo jabbed hard at the base of Trowa's neck. Trowa colapsed like a limp rag, aware, but feeling his body go lifeless from the neck down.

Panting, Duo staggered to his feet wavering slightly. With a foot, he rolled Trowa onto his back, then crouched down next to him.

"Bastard." He began almost conversationally. "Asshole." He dabbed at his split lip, wencing at the pain. He glared at Trowa through the one eye that wasn't already swollen and begining to bruise. "DeathScythe wasn't just a 'machine'. He was my partner. My other half. And when you...destoyed him...I thought I was dyin'. It hurt..HE hurt...so much."

He smiled just a little.

"And you couldn't even muster up an 'I'm sorry.'"

"Duo..." Trowa began, grimacing at the pain from his broken rib, "I didn't know. I'm sorry..."

"Too late now!" Duo said, almost brightly. He reached behind him, pulling out another one of those glittering, ultra sharp black blades. He waved it slightly under Trowa's nose. "Smell that...It's oiled, and sharp enough to split a hair." To prove it, he yanked a single hair from Trowa's head and did just that. The Heavyarms pilot twitched.

Oh hell...

"Trowa-man, I think I owe you just a little pain, owe Deathscythe just a little blood, for what you did. Don't you?"

Duo pushed the folds of Trowa's robe aside, dancing the blade over the smooth, muscled chest. He made a sharp, delicate movement downward. Trowa felt the warmth of welling blood from the shallow cut moments before he felt it's burning sting. He blinked pain-tears from his eyes.

"Sharp...indeed." He panted.

"Mmmmmmm..."Duo responded, his tongue flicking out reptile like to moisten his dry lips.

"Duo..."

"Hush, Trowa. You'll ruin the mood." He leaned forward, intimately close, to whisper in his ear, "What say we call Catherine and tell her to find a new partner for her act since you are planning to be...shall we say..indisposed?...for a time?"

"Duo. You're nuts." Trowa muttered. Psycho, really, he thought to himself. He tried to move; His body still couldn't respond with more than a twitch.

"Yep!"

Damn...

--The end!--

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