Japan Air

By: SukiNora

Summary: On the way back from an art gallery showing in Japan, Duo misses his flight only to find that the next one departs in a week! He's stuck in Japan with nowhere to stay, no way to communicate, and no way to get home. Until the rest of the gang comes along.

Disclaimer: I don't own em…just play with em.

Warnings: Future 1+2/1x2, 3x4, 5xS. Relena bashing.

A.N. I don't know much Japanese, so here's the deal. "Hi!" Means spoken in English. And 'Hey' Means spoken in Japanese. Unless someone wants to help me out eh…But anyway, I know a few travel phrases so there will be a few thrown in, but for the most part it's "." and '.'

Chapter One

The man had been standing in that line forever He was tired, distressed, confused, and wanted nothing more than to be on a flight to go home. He had a long chestnut colored braid trailing down his back, reaching a little past his waist and resting on top of a long black trench coat. With his ticket in hand he finally approached the desk. Dropping his small carry-on to the floor, he placed his ticket on the counter and slid it over to the cashier.

"Listen. My name's Duo Maxwell. I've been here for over four hours. I was supposed to be on a plane, five hours ago. A plane to go back home. To AMERICA. I was only supposed to be here one day. Just one! Just one day to do an art show! I was on a plane, not twelve hours ago to get here. I just want to go home. Can you please, please, help me out here?" He said, adding particular emphasis on the second please.

The little japanese woman behind the desk sat up a bit to get a better look at the crazy man talking to her. For the life of her she had no idea what he was saying. He had obviously gone to the wrong department. On the other side of the airport was an area for people new to the country, and didn't necessarily understand Japanese fully yet. The woman had friends who would tell her about all sorts of mishaps they'd encountered with people who ended up in the wrong department, so with this knowledge in hand she tried to direct the American in the right direction.

'Just wait one minute sir. I'll try to locate someone who can take you to the correct department so they can help you.' She began to pick up the receiver to the loud speaker only to have the cord ripped out by a very unhappy American.

"No! You will not ignore me!" He screeched, waving the cord around in front of her. "You don't understand! I just want to go home! I was supposed to be a quarter of the way home by now! I'm tired! I'm hungry! I have a very, very important meeting in two days! I can't afford to lose anymore time! I have to get home right now!"

All around the area people started to turn and stare at the enraged American who threw the phone cord down and slammed both his palms on the counter.

'Sir! Please do not cause a scene! I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable! If you'll just wait and be patient I'll have someone escort you to the nearest translator!' The woman hissed, resting a hand on the counter in between the two larger ones of the male who now, although quiet, continued to glare at her.

Sighing the woman tried again slower. 'Sir…please just be patient and I'll try to have someone with you as soon as possible.' Duo stood glaring at the woman who was trying to fit the broken cord back into her phone. Slowly, he folded his hands across the desk.

"Why do you think saying it slower will help us out here." He said in a calm voice. "I just want to get home. If you can't help me, then please find someone who can!" Punctuating his words by slamming his hand on the desk after every syllable, he stood with his eyes wide and menacing, staring into the terrified ones of the smaller woman who was beginning to re-think her career.

'Oi, Heero!'

Heero looked up from his paperwork and leaned back into his desk chair. Today was Friday. Friday, was his day off. Unfortunately his partner at securities wife, Sally Chang-Po, decided to have her baby about three hours ago so Heero had been called into work by his frantic partner, Wufei.

'Quatre, I have a lot of work to get done.' He called to the blonde man running up to his desk. Actually, he didn't really have much to do. The day had been relatively slow and he didn't really need to do anything unless there was a distraught customer somewhere. 'Don't make this harder on me. I wasn't even supposed to be here today…' He thought to himself, cringing at the thought that with only a few more minutes left in his shift he might have to subdue a customer.

Looking back down, he jumped when two hands were slammed onto his desk and he found himself staring into soft blue eyes. 'Nani?'

The blonde stood hunched over the desk, taking in deep breaths of air trying to regain some of the oxygen he'd lost from running across the airport.

'Heero…you speak English fluently right?'

Though a tad skeptical, Heero nodded. He found it to be a strange way to begin a conversation and feared that the said conversation would inevitably end in a favor.

'Great!' Grabbing a hold of his hand, Quatre proceeded to rip Heero from his desk and took off running out of the office and down the hall. They were running so fast Heero was certain the people they were bumping into could see the smoke trailing off their shoes as they flew past him. 'There's a problem down at the ticket counter for Japan-Air! The cashier said they needed an English translator ASAP!'

'Huh?! Wait a minute!' Heero cried as he dug his heals down against the tiles.

'Don't you speak English?!' He said, frantically pushing away at the smaller man. 'What do you need me for?!'

Getting antsier by the minute, Quatre grabbed onto Heero's wrists with both hands and began to pull him forward using his body weight. 'There's no time! Does the words enraged American mean anything to you?!' Suddenly it all fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Enraged American + Airport + Japan Air A job for the head security guard.

It was an odd fact, though true, that Americans who spoke little to no Japanese in the airport were trouble. Heero would know. He'd seen many strange things in the four years he spent working as the head security guard at Tokyo National Airport, and at least three fourths of them had something to do with an American. What was even more shocking was that almost every incident also occurred at the counters for Japan Air.

For example the man who decided to institute a naked mile run in the middle of the winter, or the transvestite who would not leave until he was formally escorted away from the ticket counter. To this day Heero didn't fully understand the term "man-handled."

There were numerous other incidents, most of which were not supposed to be under any kind of discussion after what had happened during them. And they were all Americans, and almost always at Japan Air. Heero let out a sigh and started running again.

After all these incidents, all Americans in the Japanese airport were automatically targeted as strange, crazy, or disruptive. And Heero thought, while descending to the ticket counter, the person standing there looked as crazy as they come. He made the streaker look sane.

Quatre's partner, in work and love, stood backed up against the ticket counter with his arms up as the American proceeded to scream obscenities in his face. Under different circumstances Heero and Quatre may have let out a laugh due to the differences in height of the two men.

While Trowa was a tall, muscular individual, the disruptive customer was a short, lean man. Heero decided right away that this was another case of American Napoleon Complex, or ANC.

'Trowa!' The man in question turned his head away from the red-faced American towards to sound of his name to see his two comrades running up to his rescue. Letting out a deep sigh, Trowa thanked the gods above they got there quickly.

Duo turned to the approaching men and backed away from Trowa, putting his hands on his hips. "Let me guess!" He yelled, lifting his hands up into the air and then letting them fall to his sides. "More people who can't understand me or provide me with any type of help."

"I was trying..." Trowa started, beginning to lean away from the wall.

"You shut up, tree!" Duo yelled while quickly turning around to point a finger in the taller man's face.

This was definitely a job for Heero. While the other two security guards did speak English, they didn't speak it quite as fluently as Heero, thus making it harder to help a distraught customer.

Taking a deep breath Heero stepped forward. "My name is Heero Yuy. Is there something I can help you with?"

Duo gave him a skeptical look. "You speak English?"

Heero nodded.

"Like, you honestly speak it? You're not going to randomly stop understanding what I'm saying and turn me over to someone else?" The American said hopefully.

Heero shook his head while giving the young man the up and the down. He looked very familiar to Heero. His chestnut hair was frazzled and coming out of the braid it was in while his blue eyes stared up at Heero. No matter how much he tried, Heero couldn't put his finger on where he could have met the young man.

"No. Now what seems to be the problem." The man gave a sigh of relief. Duo looked Heero straight in the eye then and gave him a small smile while holding out his hand.

"My name's Duo. Duo Maxwell." He said, firmly shaking Heero's hand. "My flight to L.A. got cancelled about 5 hours ago and no one will tell me why, or when the replacement flights going to take off."

Heero let go of Duo's hand and looked over at the flight board next to the Japan Air ticket counter.

Heero let out a long sigh. "Didn't anyone tell you?"

Duo raised an eyebrow, almost afraid of what the older man would say. "Tell me what." He said slowly.

"The Japan Air pilots went on strike earlier today. That's why all the flights got cancelled."

Duo felt like screaming and tearing his hair out. All he was trying to do was get home and it seemed like the entire universe was against that very action.

"Great." He mumbled to himself. "Fucking great." He ran a hand over his face, trying to make any type of sense of his jumbled thoughts.

"So when are the flights getting rescheduled." Duo whimpered out to Heero. "I have to get out of here by tonight if I'm going to make my meeting."

Heero tried to think of something to tell the American while Quatre began fidgeting behind him. All three of the security guards knew that the Japan Air pilots would probably stay on strike for at least a week but none of them knew exactly how well the American would take that news.

"It really depends on how long the pilots stay on strike. You could always try to find a flight with another airline, sir. I can escort you to another airline if you wish." Heero said while patting the smaller man on the back, hoping to keep the American calm.

Duo scoffed. "Yeah right. There's a reason I was flying on this stupid airline. There aren't anymore flights to California for another week!"

Duo started rubbing his face again. "God I'm going to be in so much trouble."

He began pacing across the area, once again gaining the attention of the many others standing in line trying to get another flight. Heero let out a sigh watching the other man pace. He genuinely wanted to help him but he knew there wasn't anything that could be done.

Flights had been very scarce since the Eve Wars, especially in international travel, and Heero knew that there was absolutely no way the young man would be able to get a flight tonight.

Looking down at his watch, Heero saw that he had been off his shift for exactly three minutes. Turning to Quatre and Trowa, who had been standing behind them, awkwardly listening to the two men, Heero waved them away, letting them know that he had everything under control. The two nodded and began backing away from the pair.

"Mr. Maxwell?" Duo stopped his pacing and turned to look at the security guard. "I'm actually off work now..."

Duo glared and cut him off in mid-sentence. "So that's what it's like in this damn country? If you don't speak English then you leave as soon as you get off work even if a customer needs some fucking help?!" He screeched.

Heero threw his hand out and grabbed onto the shoulder of the American, who was frantically trying to walk in the other direction.

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" Duo halted and turned to face Heero. "I wont lie to you, Mr. Maxwell, you aren't going to get a flight out of here tonight. I was just going to suggest that you get a hotel room before all the rooms get filled. It looks like there's going to be a lot of people in your situation." He said, pointing to the growing line at the ticket counter. "I could give you a ride if you'd like."

Duo gave him a questioning glance, weighing the pros and cons of the offer. Granted, he was in a new country and could use a a guide to help him get into a new hotel, but this guide also could be a homicidal maniac. Duo thought about this for a while and decided the pros outweighed the cons.

"That would be great." He decided.

"Good." Heero said. "Now, if you'll just follow me to my office so I can clock out then we can be on our way."

Duo picked up his carry on bag and started following the security guard. On the way Duo couldn't stop himself from observing the older man. Duo guessed he was about 30, with a seemingly simple life style. He didn't seem to have the stature of a married man with kids like Duo had seen so many times on his older friends.

"Thanks for doing this, by the way." Duo remarked while increasing his pace to match Heero's. "I'm really sorry about earlier. I get a little moody when I haven't eaten anything."

Heero looked over at the smaller man standing next to him. He only looked about 20 years old, and was very skinny. In fact, he was so thin Heero thought if he missed another meal he might just disappear.

"That's understandable. When was the last time you ate something?" Heero questioned.

Duo placed his pointer finger under his chin in thought as the two walked towards the security personals office.

"I'm not sure." He mumbled, still deep in thought. "I think yesterday..." Duo trailed off.

Suddenly his eyes widened and both Heero and himself looked down at Duo's stomach. There was an intense growling sound coming from the neglected tummy and Duo listened intently to the story it told.

"Yes. Definitely yesterday." He said, with a slight nod.

Heero gave this strange American an incredulous look. "Would you like to get something to eat first?"

The smile Duo gave almost made Heero's heart melt. Never before had he seen such a look of pure joy and gratitude on someone's face.

"That would be amazing!" He cried. "But only if you're sure. I mean, you're probably busy or something. You can always just drop me off at some place." Duo said quickly, trying not to seem to pushy.

Heero, however, shook his head at the idea. "I'm not busy."

The two arrived at the security office and Heero slid his pointer finger over a little metal plate next to the metal door. After a few seconds of confirmation and whirling noises, the door unlocked and Heero opened it, holding it open so that Duo could walk in.

"Wow!" Duo exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like that! That's really cool. I always assumed it was like how they show it in the movies. You know, with the codes and stuff."

Heero couldn't help but give a little smile towards the younger man. He was talking a mile a minute.

Heero was staring intensely at Duo who was rambling on about all sorts of things he was seeing inside the office. There were certain attributes Heero was certain he had seen before, but couldn't for the life of him imagine where he could have met the boy. But still, even though it seemed impossible Heero continued to think of where he may have encountered him as he began packing up his briefcase.

"Man seriously, Mr. Yuy, fingerprints! That's so hardcore!"

Heero couldn't help but raise his eye brows a bit and smile. "Well it's not really new technology." He chuckled out. "We can't use the key pads because someone could steal the codes. Finger prints are much more efficient."

Duo nodded but still kept his smile. "Yeah I guess that's true." Duo laughed. "But it's still insanely hardcore!"

Heero looked over at Duo as he led him out through another door which led to a long hallway. "What is hardcore?" He questioned.

As the two walked down the hall they came upon an elevator. Heero pushed the down arrow and waited for Duo's response.

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting that you aren't American." Duo mumbled, slightly embarrassed by his outburst.

Heero let out a chuckle as the two entered the elevator. "I don't think it's so much a problem of nationality so much as age."

Heero's comment caused Duo to blush even more. "Yeah... It basically means really cool..." He trailed off, looking down at his shoes as the elevator started to take them to the underground garage where Heero had his car parked.

The elevator dinged, breaking Duo was from thoughts and the two exited the elevator and began walking towards Heero's car in silence.

"I'm kind of surprised you drive in Tokyo. Seems like there is a ton of traffic." Duo commented as he opened the passenger side door and got in the car.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, it gets bad sometimes but I live pretty close to the airport so I don't have to go too far."

"Oh." Duo responded. "I didn't mean to put you out of your way." He added nervously.

Heero dismissed Duo's comment with a slight wave of his hand as he pulled out of the parking garage. "Think nothing of it. It's the least I could do."

The two drove in silence. Both were encased in their own thoughts and were unsure of what to say. Heero had never done something like this before. Everyday after work he went straight home. He never offered to give anyone a ride home, especially someone who he met just a few minutes ago. However, there was something about this young man that made Heero feel warm inside. This feeling alone let Heero know he had to keep this young man in his life.

Duo on the other hand was looking out the passenger side window trying hard not to bother Heero or say anything stupid.

After a few moments Heero pulled into a small parking lot and drove into a parking place.

"I hope you like noodles." Heero said with a smirk.

Duo licked his lips. "I could eat anything right now and be happy." He said getting out of the car.

He almost skipped along side Heero as the two entered the small noodle bar.

As they were seated Heero made japanese small talk with an older waitress.

"Do you mind if I order for you?" Heero asked.

Duo looked down at the menu, which was completely in japanese, and laid it down in front of him.

"I've gotta get out of this country. I'll never survive here. I'd starve if it wasn't for you, Mr. Yuy." Duo hated being some place where he didn't feel in control. He had only been in Japan for one art show so he hadn't even studied a few travel phrases.

"Call me Heero. Mr. Yuy makes me feel really old." Heero responded, fidgeting a bit in his chair. Discreetly, he looked over his shoulder at the other people in the restaurant and wondered what they thought of the situation. For all he knew they could think he was out for a nice dinner with his half American son. Heero blushed when he thought of the other option.

"Are you okay, Heero? You look really red?" Heero gave himself a mental kick in the pants and tried to hide his face.

"Oh, yes. I'm fine..." He trailed off, signaling the waitress that the two were ready to order.

"I ordered us beef udon. I hope that's okay."

"I wouldn't know the difference. I'm sure it'll be delicious." Duo was leaning on his palm, resting his elbow on the table. Heero could see how tired the younger man was and decided talking might help keep him awake. However, Duo beat him to the punch.

"So, Heero." He said, straightening his back. "Tell me about yourself."

Heero looked up, desperately thinking of something to say.

"How long have you worked in security?" Duo asked, seeing that Heero couldn't think of anything to say.

"Almost my whole life, really." Heero said without thinking.

Duo gave him an odd look. "Your whole life?" He questioned.

"Well, see, my father was a general and my mother died in childbirth."

Duo shifted in his seat. "Oh, I'm sorry." He said, feeling like he had pushed too far for information.

Heero shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, I grew up in a very militaristic setting, so when the Eve Wars started I joined the army."

"Wow, you must have been really young." Duo had his head resting in his palm again, but this time was listening intensely to Heero's story.

Heero nodded. "Yeah, 18. So after that they shipped me off to L2..."

"I'm from L2!" Duo cut in.

"I thought you were American." Heero questioned.

"I am! See, when the Eve Wars really got started I was about 6 and I was an orphan on L2."

Heero's eyes widened, and suddenly it was immensely clear where he had met the younger boy.

"So when I was like 5 I was running around with this street gang. But when they started using chemical warfare against L2 most of them died from the plague and I was kind of on my own."

Duo smiled.

"Actually, it was a solider who took me to America. I was in an alley one night, really cold and stuff and he came and gave me some of his rations."

Looking up at Heero, his smile widened. "Thank God for people like you, huh?" He said. "If it wasn't for a young solider like you I'd probably be dead."

Heero couldn't help but stare intensely at the boy sitting across from him. He actually wasn't the reason Duo was in America. Heero could remember that night in the alley as clearly as he could see Duo in front of him.

He was hiding from the colonist forces and had literally stumbled across the little boy, half naked and freezing. He literally looked like he was being starved to death. Heero looked across the table at Duo's small frame and wondered if his current size was a result of his time on L2.

That night he did indeed feed the boy with his rations, and the boy fell asleep against his chest a few moments later. When Heero woke up in the morning the child was gone. He had always thought he had just left with some gang or something.

Heero had always wondered what happened to that little boy, and here he was, sitting in front of him 12 years later.

"Duo." Heero said, clearing his throat. "Would you like to stay at my apartment tonight? I have the room, and I'm right by the airport. At least you wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room."

Duo was speechless. "I don't know, I mean, we just met each other."

Heero could tell he was making the other man uncomfortable by being so forward.

"Well, I mean, granted you don't have to if you're uncomfortable. I just wanted to offer."

Staring at Heero, Duo couldn't really find a reason to distrust the man. He had been a complete gentlemen so far, and being in the army meant for a high level of moral.

"I mean, are you sure? I don't want to put you out. I feel like I've already inconvenienced you."

Heero shook his head. At this point all he wanted to do was make sure Duo was alright. Something he'd wanted to make sure for 12 years.

"Not at all."

"Well, then." Duo said with a slight smile. "I guess that settles it."