Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Peonies
Hunt
"What do you mean, he's gone?" Heero snarled as he tossed aside his outer cloak and glared at the frightened old slave before him. After facing old men, who thought fit to lecture him while holding their hands out for bribes, he wasn't in a mood for anything more.
The slave wrung his bony hands, trembling as he admitted, "He seemed truly ill, master. I allowed him to take air in the open atrium, where it was cooler, instead of insisting that he attend his duties until your return. He's no where to be found, master." He dared to add, "A slave with such markings and hair will not have gone unremarked.. It should be very easy to find him."
"Then do so!" Heero ordered with fury.
The slave scrambled to obey, glad that he was being allowed to live, but Heero was left without an outlet to vent his frustration. The cost of the slave didn't occur to him, or the fact that he would face censure and humiliation for not being able to master his affairs and possessions. Instead, Heero could only feel a deep and abiding sense of anger and panic. He in no way wanted to lose the slave, but it had less to do with memories of firm flesh, and the tantalizing breech of virginity, than the loss of the young man himself.
Why had Duo so captured his attention? Heero wasn't certain, but that attraction was strong enough to cause him to snatch his cloak back up, and a sword as well, and take up the chase himself. He considered himself more intelligent than his slaves, and more bold about searching areas where his particular runaway slave might hide. A street child would most likely run back to a place that was most familiar, the back alley slums of the city.
Heero kept his hood raised, and his eyes on everyone he passed, as he left the realm of city guards and respectability. The stench was greater, the unwashed poor an uncomfortable press around him. He kept one hand on his sword, and another on his purse, as he searched for a long braid and a colorful tattoo.
A dog growled, a vendor tugged and pleaded for Heero to buy his wares, a man pissed against a wall while he cackled at what a companion was saying, and an old woman tossed refuse right into the street from a windowless hovel.
Heero grabbed a skinny arm passing him by and hauled a very young boy out of the crowd. Wide eyed and struggling, the boy was filthy and had rotten teeth. "Don't do that kind of thing!" he wailed. "Didn't do anything!" He was covering all bases, trying to make himself blameless and refuse anything Heero wanted at the same time.
Heero flashed a coin and the boy went big eyed. He snatched it from Heero and then looked resigned as he glanced around him and said, "Okay, but somewhere where no one will see."
"No," Heero growled and gave him a shake. "I want information. A young man, with a tattoo of flowers and a long braid. Have you seen him?"
The boy nodded. "Thesus's Inn. I do pot duty there when they let me. I seen him there."
Heero frowned, not sensing a lie, but uncertain all the same. He let the boy go and he was lost in the crowd at once. Duo hadn't been gone very long and he certainly hadn't possessed money for an inn. Heero could only assume that someone had taken up his slave and was making use of him in the nearest room. Determined to tear whoever had trespassed on his privilege, limb from limb, Heero shouldered through the crowd.
"Going somewhere?" Duo asked almost in Heero's ear.
Heero whirled, stunned, and saw Duo grinning and standing behind him, one hand caught in his cloak. His slave was dressed in barbarian trousers and a black tunic with a high, white collar. Relief was quickly replaced by anger.
"Did you think that you could escape me?" Heero snarled.
Duo laughed. "Yes, as a matter of fact." But then he shrugged and looked about them. "Come on," he said as he gave Heero's cloak a jerk.
When Duo had taken them to a less crowded street, he turned to Heero with his head cocked to one side and said, "I expected you to send your slaves after me, not to come yourself. I almost wish that you had."
"Getting soft?" a voice asked and an oriental man stepped out of the shadows. Black hair caught back in a pigtail, he wore a jade earing and a bold tiger tattoo along his neck and into his collar. He was dressed very like Duo, but he wore a wicked curved blade at his belt.
Duo gave him a sour look. "No."
The oriental man gave Heero a once over that was disdainful. "So, this is the man who made you tuck tail and run home?"
Duo growled, "That's not why! I explained! He was going to stick it to me. That wasn't the deal. I watch and listen, and then pass info to you guys."
Heero drew his sword. "I see now what vipers hide in our streets. You're subversives, traitors to the state. It's my duty to execute you."
Duo sighed. "Wu Fei, here, is a better swordsman than you. If you want to die very quickly, you can step forward."
"Isn't that what you want?" Heero demanded. "You are going to attempt to kill me, aren't you?"
Duo grunted. "As if I couldn't have killed you at any time? I'm trained, Heero, and I know how to kill using just my hands. The old senator was a good source of info, and it's too bad he died. Having you buy me wasn't in the plan, but they locked me and the other slaves up and put us on the auction block too damned quick for me to get away."
"And how quickly you ran after that," Wu Fei interjected sarcastically.
"I thought he might give up something important," Duo argued hotly. "It was worth some risk. I wasn't willing to pay for it with my ass, though."
"Now you will pay with your life." Heero promised. "They will know that I was murdered by you. They'll hunt you down like the dog-"
"Dogs, us?" Duo sneered. "I'm not the 'dog' who bought a slave just to fuck him."
Wu Fei's mouth pursed in distaste."The state has become decadent," he said, "and far reaching. We in the outer provinces wish to keep our autonomy and our own councils. We've needed spies to warn us of any troop advances towards us. As for traitors," he sniffed, "We are free men and only wish to remain so. That is not traitorous."
"I will kill you," Heero warned as he raised his sword, "and you," he said to Duo, "will be dancing for me again very shortly."
"Dancing?" a voice said from behind Heero just as something hard connected with his head. "When did you learn to dance, Duo?"
As Heero fell, swiftly losing consciousness, the last words he heard were Duo's.
"I have my secrets," Duo snapped back, but then, "Nobody kills him. He might see our side of things yet."
Heero woke with a pounding headache and a parched throat. A window let in light,
but it wasn't very bright, blocked by other buildings. Rolling onto his side,
he blinked gummy eyes and tried to orient himself. He was surprised to see Duo
seated near him on a bench, his back turned, his hair loose, and a golden haired
boy combing it patiently. Blue eyes regarded Heero warily, but this boy didn't
need to warn Duo, Duo was already aware that Heero was back among the living.
"Don't try anything," Duo said without turning. "There are others outside who will take revenge if you try violence against us."
Heero grunted sourly as he discovered that he was chained to the floor by one wrist. "You hardly needed to say that, considering."
"I think you're stronger than you appear," Duo replied. "I felt that when you were trying to take me."
The blonde blushed and the comb paused in making it's way through Duo's hair. "Duo," he questioned. "Why did you allow him to-"
Duo made an annoyed sound. "I didn't want to blow my cover," he explained.
The blonde gave him a look. Heero did too, arching an eyebrow and saying, despite his uncomfortable position as a prisoner, "Is that why? You seemed unwilling to stop me, even when I-"
"Shut up!" Duo did turn then, to glare, and he made a motion that made Quatre back up with his comb, as if he were a prince and the blonde his servant. "You think too much of your skill."
"You are my slave," Heero told him firmly, "bought and paid for."
The blonde glared now too.
"Then we are all slaves," Duo chuckled, but it was dark sounding. "Quatre, here, was sold into slavery when his father ran out of daughters to pay his debts. I freed him. You, I bought and paid for to save your life. There were men with us who wanted your blood, but they liked money more. Are we all slaves, then? Does the exchange of metal from hand to hand buy our self worth, our freedom, our souls? Maybe I should sell you to an old pervert of a senator, so that he can watch you 'dance'?"
Duo was naked, Heero suddenly realized, lithe limbs almost hidden by his fall of hair. As he turned even more to face Heero, the flower tattoo caught the light from the window. The bright flowers moved with the play of muscle as if they were swaying in some breeze.
Quatre bent to take up a white tunic and a pair of black pants. He handed them to Duo the way that any proper slave would have, folded neatly across one arm as if asking for approval of his choice. Duo took them and put them on, eyes never leaving Heero.
"Is he free?" Heero said with contempt as he nodded at Quatre.
Duo frowned as he belted his tunic. "He's grateful to me, but he comes and goes as he wishes. If he wishes to help me with my bath, it's not because I ordered him too."
Quatre gave a nod at that and smiled at Duo as he said, "I don't see how you will convince him with such ingrained prejudices."
Quatre sounded so cultured that Heero blinked. It wasn't the voice of a slave, but of a senator's son. Duo frowned and replied with the accent of the street, "Maybe not, but he's worth a try."
Quatre gave him an appraising look that seemed to make Duo uncomfortable. "For yourself, or for the cause?"
"Witch," Duo grumbled sourly. "For that, you can leave now."
"Because I want to," Quatre snickered, but then he was back to a proper slave attitude, as if it were ingrained. Standing straight, and bowing correctly, he left them to face each other.
"Who's son?" Heero wanted to know.
"Winner," Duo replied. "The man loved to help the poor far too much and ran afoul of the senate. You know what happens when a man gets their displeasure? He gets taxed and blackmailed into oblivion. Quatre was the last payment he made. It killed him, the guilt, handing his son over to some hard handed politician. He trained Quatre very well, so well, that he can hardly keep from..." Duo made a broad motion of disgust, "...serving."
"You take advantage of that, though," Heero pointed out.
Duo reached back and braided his hair. He was very limber, bending and reaching easily to twine the long hair together. "He thinks he owes me... and he's good."
"So you take advantage," Heero persisted.
"That's what you do on the streets," Duo said thoughtfully. "Maybe me and Quatre both need to unlearn some habits?"
"I believe that makes you a hypocrite, " Heero told him, "and not fit to sit in judgement over me."
"I'm not the model of the perfect citizen, no," Duo replied as he finished the braid and tied it off with a metal clip."I do try, though."
"Enough of this," Heero said, making a slashing motion with his hand. "Tell me why you've kept me alive. Tell me who you really are."
"I'm nobody," Duo said as he stood and faced Heero. "A street orphan. That doesn't make me blind, though, or not caring about what happens to my fellow citizen. I feel the same way about my city than the richest senator. I want to keep it, and the people, safe from becoming slaves of the Emperor. We are free states. We are a free people."
"That doesn't explain anything," Heero protested.
Duo snorted. "What do you want? My life story? Why should it matter?"
"You are a boy, tattooed with flowers, and with incredibly long hair," Heero retorted. "How does this fit with what you're telling me?"
Duo's eyes gleamed. "You don't look close enough. No one does." He lifted up his tunic, and pulled his pants down, exposing the tattoo and moving close. "Look. You think a fat old senator gave me this? Look closer."
Heero looked, squinted, puzzled, and then slowly began to pick out things within the beautiful pattern. What he had thought were narrow black vines within the green leaves were, instead, symbols of darkness, demons, and death.
"I am Shinigami," Duo whispered, as if it were a great secret. "I am death behind the sunshine and the beauty. It follows me and I deal it to those deserving when I must."
Heero swallowed and looked up at his slave."I-I don't understand."
"Do you want to?" Duo asked in all seriousness."Do you want to know about the darkness beneath your Emperor's golden glow?"
Heero nodded slowly and said, "Tell me."
TBC
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