All except Heero.

Duo stretched out on the violet blanket, his hands folded beneath his head, and studied the ceiling. Quatre and Trowa were still together, and their adopted daughter was turning six in a couple months. Wufei had married a lovely Chinese girl about four months after the war ended, and Duo tried not to mention the fact that she resembled Meiran. Their son and daughter were three and eight, respectively. All the former pilots seemed to be happy and prosperous, but Duo couldn't help wondering. What had happened to Heero? Where had he gone after the war? The last that anyone had heard from him was the teddy bear he'd left on Relena's seat. Relena herself had been quite successful. She was still single, but every Christmas she reported seeing "someone," and her speeches had been lauded throughout Earth and the colonies alike as being some of the most articulate and eloquent in recent years. Duo was pleased; Relena had been so young when she'd been called upon to lead, but she had performed admirably and had matured beautifully. He adjusted himself on the mattress and tried to keep his mind away from the knowledge that it was almost his birthday. Relena would probably either send a card or throw a party, and everyone would be reunited. Quatre, along with most everyone else, was itching to find out whether Hilde was truly pregnant, and if so, how she had gotten that way. Duo didn't expect to be the center of attention, not since the pilots were often separated by life.

But the gaps in his journals mocked him. Ten years of a life that was the most important to him, and it was blank space on a page. Duo wasn't even certain that Heero was still alive. He pushed out his lower lip and blew a breath upwards, trying to force his bangs out of his eyes. His long hair was a bit shorter now, reaching only to his lower back rather than mid-thigh. It was easier to care for that way, and instead of religiously braiding it, as he had done previously, he was fond of ponytails as well. Duo tucked some errant strands behind his ears and reached onto the bedside table for the remote. He clicked the T.V. on and tried to concentrate. His kitten wandered into the room and began to play with the little book on the floor, half-beneath his bed. Duo would have scolded her, but he didn't have the energy. His eyes dropped closed and the remote bounced onto the bed. Outside the window, sunset streaked the sky in a tribute to the advancing twilight.

The phone rang. Duo fumbled for it in the dark, realizing that the T.V. was still blaring and it had attained full-night while he'd been sleeping.

"Hello?" he mumbled into the receiver, which was only half against his ear. It was an old-fashioned phone retrieved from Hilde's salvage yard.
"Duo!" Relena's cheerful voice assaulted him. "Technically, it's already time here. I wanted to be the first to say it: Happy birthday! Oh," she must have seen a clock, "it's pretty late over there, though. Did I wake you?"
"Barely," Duo forced through sleep-thickened throat, "I've had insomnia of late and ordinarily would have been up. I guess I must have drifted off."
"I have news for you. Actually, that's the real reason I'm calling. One of my private detectives has finally traced Heero's whereabouts."
"No...no way," Duo sputtered dully, to shocked to do anything except roll onto his back.
"Unfortunately, he's not in his quarters. He appears to have joined up in the U.S. military on earth, but currently he's AWOL. His commanding officer did a full-camp search and he was unable to be found. No one is certain if he was one of the casualties in a recent battle -- they're still having issues in the Middle East, all these years later -- but his dog tags have not been turned in." Relena paused. "You okay, Duo?"
"I'm fine." Duo sat up and flicked the T.V. off. His curtains were still drawn open, but even the moon was faint. All Duo could perceive in the darkness was the warmth of his kitten sleeping at his side and the glowing buttons on the phone.
"He's probably just fine. After all, Heero ought to be able to take care of himself by now. Anyway, I have to go, but I thought you'd like that update, even as inconclusive as it is." She stopped again. "Goodbye, Duo. Love always and especially tomorrow."
"Bye, Rel. And thanks. Love you, too." Duo replaced the receiver on the hook. Relena had become a fantastic person in intervening years, and there was a great deal of affection between all of the former participants in the war. He stroked the fragile spine of his kitten, then nudged her awake. He stumbled out of bed, padded down the hallway to his office, and turned on his computer. As it booted up he went into the bathroom, flipping the lightswitch to "on," and tossed cool water onto his face. His eyes were shadowed and his hair needed to be washed. Shrugging, Duo tugged the ponytail holder gently from his hair and disrobed. He rubbed his backside, sore from the same position for so long, and climbed into the shower/bath combination. The warm water revived him and he began to sing under his breath. The news about Heero should have been surprising.

But it wasn't.

Duo finished his shower, threw on a towel, and went downstairs to cook some scrambled eggs -- one of his favorite snacks for the middle of the night. When the eggs were cooked he trotted back upstairs, the kitten batting at his heels the entire way. He went into his office and sat down at his desk, plate of eggs on top of his computer monitor, and the kitten scratching the legs of his wooden chair. Duo began to eat, checking his email first, as he always did.

And he dropped his fork in shock.

The little grey kitten nibbled enthusiastically on the eggs that had fallen, but Duo didn't notice. He couldn't: he was felt frozen to his chair. For days his body had been vibrating with tension, almost as though he had known -- somehow -- that Heero was going to get in contact soon. The email was torturously short, just three lines:

"Duo: It has come to my attention that you've been searching for me. It was never my intention to disappear permanently; I rather hoped you'd understand that...Anyway. Something to keep you entertained: 'sunset sitting on my bed/ like a lazy, overfed kitten.' -- Heero."

Duo had no idea what to make of the cryptic, almost nonsensical message. What was he supposed to do with those poetic lines at the end of the missive?

The next morning dawned rosy and golden, the cool air breathing on the dew in Duo's garden. He'd spent the rest of the night trying to puzzle out the meaning in Heero's message, but he had been thus far unsuccessful. Duo lounged on a chair in his backyard, sunshine resting on his thighs, the gentle breeze wafting through his hair. It was a beautiful morning, one where the sky looked like a sapphire up close: it was that blue, and sparkled like a gemtone under the sun's onslaught. He held a book in his lap, the kitten rubbing the underside of his knees from beneath his lawn chair, sunglasses pushing up his bangs. He wasn't reading, however. It was comfortable outside, and Duo loved being outdoors -- now that it was a safe place to be. He wore no shirt, and his shorts were nothing more than an old pair of boxers. He followed the movement of the only clouds in the sky, just about to fall asleep again, when he heard a noise from around the front of his house. As he turned, the mailman called out, "Letter for you! Comes all the way from the war."
Duo stumbled out of his lawn chair, banging his shin in the process, and walked around to the front of his house, where he found the letter deposited in his mailbox. The return address was a military one, and stationed on Earth -- in Iraq to be more exact. He tore into the envelope, and moisture from the trees above sprinkled onto his naked back. The letter inside was no more than a piece of yellow scrap paper, but it said slightly more than the last communication had:

"Duo: If I don't miss my guess, you'll probably be somewhere outside today. I hope this letter reaches you in time. Happy twenty-sixth birthday, and your present should arrive soon. If you haven't solved the riddle of the email yet, here's another clue: 'puzzled but pretty enough; I lounge / listlessy on the colored counterpane...' All the best. -- Heero."

Duo sat down upon the soft, still damp grass. He had no clue what Heero was getting at, or why. But he realized he was going to have to figure it out soon, or else Heero would probably lose interest and disappear again. He allowed the letter to flutter to the grass, then stretched out next to it, the dew cooling the heat of the sun against his bare skin. His kitten ambled up the slight hill and began to play with his toes, and Duo looked down and smiled. She still needed to be named, but he'd only just adopted her, and he was looking for the perfect thing to call her. The trees above him rustled and patches of sky were visible, and Duo sighed contentedly and watched the beauty of Earth as it performed above him. Occasionally he missed his colony, but nature was lovelier than anything that could be replicated. He hoped Heero was all right, fighting yet another war. He sighed and sat up, retrieving the letter as he stood. As he began the trek back around to his backyard, he heard the phone ring again, and he ran inside the house as quickly as he could, grabbing for the receiver just in time.
"Hello?"
"Happy birthday!"
"Trowa! It's really nice to hear your voice. How are you?" "Well, it's interesting that you should ask. I'm befuddled, actually. I have a package here for you: I'm not sure why it came here, but I'm going to have one of Quatre's servants bring it over, is that all right?"
"Sure. Listen, it's great to talk, but I have a mystery to solve and breakfast to cook for the kitten. I'll call you back soon as I can, 'kay?"
"Have a beautiful day for a beautiful person, Duo. Talk to you soon." Duo hung up and grinned. Trowa had become a part-time college professor -- English -- and his daughter was always complaining that he never spoke understandably anymore. She was a sharp one, even at such a young age. Duo began to wander through his house, tidying up the rooms, tripping on his kitten, and snagging his hair repeatedly on picture hooks in the walls that he still had not gotten around to removing. The doorbell rang, there was a thump as of something being dropped on the front-porch bench, and then the sound of a car revving up and driving away. Duo went to the front door, threw the bolt back, and picked up the brown-paper package that had been left. The sticky note on it was in Trowa's handwriting, so Duo knew that Quatre's servant had arrived.
"He must have burned rubber to get here that quick," Duo mused, and tore off the wrapping. It was a book of poetry, and Duo grinned again, even wider.
"Trowa," he said to the house, empty but for sunshine, "are you sure this isn't my gift from you and Kat?" The book was black with a velvety cover, and it was titled "Selections of Early Poetry: from today's modern poets." Duo carefully lay the book on his dining table, then went into the kitchen to get some iced tea and a cheese sandwich. As he did so, he noticed that the voicemail light on the kitchen phone was blinking. He pushed the play button and nearly dropped his sandwich when Heero's authoritative voice rang out into the room.

"Hello, Duo. Yes, I'm very much alive, and not as AWOL as Relena informed you. One final clue and then perhaps you'll comprehend: 'my computer glowing in the room / beneath a shivering drifting twilight.' I'll be hearing from you, -- Heero."

Duo quickly punched the save button and sat down on top of his table. Those words...they resembled lines out of poetry! He tossed the plate and half-eaten sandwich onto the table and went back into his dining room. Opening the book, he flipped pages as rapidly as he could, stumbling onto the index. He ran his finger down, not at all certain he would recognize what he was looking for, when out of nowhere he found it: 'sunset sitting on my...' The index gave page forty-six as the one that the poem appeared on, and he turned to it. There, on a full-page, was the entire thing:

"Hazy Ruminations and Recollections

sunset sitting on my bed
like a lazy, overfed kitten
puzzled but pretty enough; I lounge
listlessly on the colored counterpane
My computer glowing in the room
beneath a shivering, drifting twilight
loneliness is my bedfellow
as my recently-spoken prayers float
around me; a chill seeping through my pillow
my heart is barren, over-cleaned

his voice is sticky honey coating my ears
streaks of pink and golden don't upset me anymore
the sheets on my bed are blue
but always warm; because
as I fall into slumber
he lies beside, arms twined around me
I call him love
because loneliness is not his name --"

The poet's name was actually only a set of initials: "H.S.Y.," but there was a web address below that. Duo stared. The poem was very pretty, and oddly familiar somehow. Heero's message on the voicemail replayed in his head, and something clicked. Taking the book with him, cat sharp on his heels, Duo stormed into his office, heart thudding with trepidation. He typed the web address into the search bar and waited. After a couple moments, the page popped up. It was a pale shade of lavender, with a message inscribed directly into the middle:
"I'd like to thank my greatest inspiration. He's going to be a year older soon. Please feel at home, and use the buttons to navigate the site. Thank you."

Duo fell back against his chair. It was his imagination, it had to be. As the kitten scrabbled against the chair, trying to climb it and into his lap, Duo's email made the haunting bird-call that meant he had new mail. Checking it, he opened an anonymous message titled only: "congratulations," even though it was most likely spam. And shock nearly stopped his heart again.

"Duo: spectacular. You solved the riddle -- well, most of it anyway, right? Well, your birthday present should be arriving in exactly --"

...and the doorbell rang. Duo tore down the stairs as fast as he could, still garbed only in cerulean boxers and his unbound hair, and threw open the door.

On the stoop stood Heero, a rare smile on his face, and a bouquet of lilacs in his arms.

"Happy twenty-sixth birthday, Duo. I'm sorry it took so long to get in touch, but I hope it was worth it. Here." Heero handed him the flowers, and an envelope. Inside the envelope was a card with a kitten on it, and it read:

"Duo: This is the last cryptic note. I've been watching you for ten years now, and I finally feel ready to say what I've wanted to since just before the war ended. I want a chance to be with you, a time to play and relax. I've spent seven years of my life with the C.I.A. -- it's okay to let you know, my clearance has been revoked -- two with the Preventers and one in the military. Colonel Une was instructed to keep my whereabouts secret and she has done a commendable job. As for the poetry, I've been writing that off and on throughout, all of it because I --"
the uneven writing broke off there and Duo glanced up, a tear lubricating his eye. Heero smiled more shyly and finished the sentence.
"I love you. You are the inspiration I spoke of on my page, and that poem was written and published for you only. Would you let me take you out tonight, for your birthday?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Duo squealed, happiness settling into his heart. He dropped the flowers onto the bench and threw his arms around Heero's neck. Heero's warm lips touched his, and for the first time, Duo experienced a real kiss, one borne out of love. They stood that way under the eaves, pressed together, in a halo of sunlight.

The next few weeks were filled with such activity that Duo could barely find time to breathe. Heero and he did everything together that they could think of: swam in the ocean, played miniature golf, ate out every night and made love under both starlight and sunsparkle. All of the pilots, Relena, Hilde, and others gathered at Duo's house to welcome Heero home, and Duo welcomed him by moving him in. After two months of near-marital bliss, Duo looked up at Heero as they lay in their bed together. "My kitten hasn't been named yet, but because of you, I know what to call her." Their lips touched and tangled again, sweet and tender, and Heero stroked the curves of Duo's spine.
"What's that?"
"Sunset," Duo replied, a wicked grin spreading across his face. The kitten scratched and mewed at the door, and Heero pressed Duo ever closer.
"I love you, Duo. I hope you understand why I --" "I understand," Duo answered, and quieted his lover with another kiss.