Title: The Akai Manor
Fandom: Gundam Wing (anime)
Notes: An Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe. A little tricky. Around when this was written, a friend and I were writing an AU starring two females who were brought back from the dead and trained to be the sworn protectors of Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell. These were Tenn-goku Sugoi and Jigoku Kutsu who were loosely based on my friend and I. Now where the AU of that universe comes in is when we brought in the clones (little siblings) of the characters. [Perth-Tenn, Sydney-Ji, Logan-Heero, Calvin-Duo, Royce-Trowa, Brandon-Quatre, and I believe it was Thomas-Wufei.] Perth and Syd's names were picked at random by stabbing at a map of Australia. :D
If I recall properly, Akai is japonese for Red.
The Akai Manor
Father Frost swept through the stone corridors of the Akai Manor. His icy breath hissed down passages and met with the tender feet of young Perth Sugoi. This only pushed her already quick pace into a run. Padding without shoes, Father Frost chasing her the way until she reached the scarlet carpets of Mistress Kutsu's hallway, her best friend and princess. How unexpected of the pompous princess to become the best of friends with a common peasant. Princess Kutsu had insisted that Perth and her older sister Tenn were moved into the palace. Normally, this would have been rejected; bringing peasants into the palace was... it was unheard of. But Princess Jigoku, Little Kutsu's older sister, was a woman of many talents and talked her way through the hearing.
Perth paused at the foot of the carpeted stairs. It felt like she had forgotten something. Something that involved one of the Princesses Pages... Logan! Tenn had made arrangements earlier that day that Perth was to run errands for Wufei, the head cook. Perth was to report to Wufei and help Logan, another commoner saved by the royals, unload a carriage of poultry, which was to arrive soon.
She slapped her forehead for forgetting something so important. Perth's memory had escaped her when she received a message from the young Princess saying she wanted to see her. Lifting up her skirts, Perth flew down corridors, across the courtyard and down a long stairwell to the kitchen.
Wufei looked up at the young girl's entry. "You're late," he said. "Logan was sent to the Gates to wait for the meat. When it arrives, you unhitch the team and stable them." The Chinese man's face softened. "Don't forget to give the ol' cook a kiss now." Perth smiled. Wufei was one of her favourite grownups because he treated her like an equal, unlike everyone else on the palace grounds. She lightly kissed the cook's cheek, grabbed a sugar biscuit from Wufei's secret stash, and raced out to the Gates to find Logan.
***
Sydney Kutsu sat on a feather pillow under her windowsill, basking in the afternoon's sunlight. The castle grounds were so busy today. Everyone was scurrying about trying to prepare for the Ball that her sister Jigoku would be hosting. Sydney didn't understand all the rush. The ball was next week.
"Dear Sydney," Jigoku had told her, "everything must be made from nothing. And creating something beautiful as a Ball takes time. Rome wasn't built in a day."
"I understand. It's just that the courtyard doesn't look as beautiful as it should after all these people trod through it. They're crushing your roses! And what does Rome have anything to do with this?" The raven-haired girl scowled at the ignorance of those people.
"They are simply going about their business, dear Sydney. Once this entire bustle is over and done with, we will deal with the roses." Jigoku smiled at her sister. 'She's trying so hard to comprehend,' Jigoku thought. "Perth will be here soon, so you don't have to worry about moping around for much longer." Jigoku opened the heavy oak door and let herself out.
Standing outside the door was a soldier. He stood straight with a look on his face that could match any musket's fire. He didn't look at Jigoku when she passed. Her silken robes, the same scarlet red as the roses outside, didn't strike the attention of this young man as they did every other soldier in the manor. He looked at her with his usual expressionless expression as she stopped in front of him.
"Hello Heero," she said. "You're relieved if you wish. It's quite beautiful outside today. Why don't you take Tenn out for the afternoon? I'm sure she would like it." Jigoku smiled softly.
Heero answered in his deep voice, "You needn't dismiss me. I am here to guard the Princess, milady, that is my duty."
"I am not feeling sympathy for you. What ever would have made you think that?" she said, all the while still smiling, "I feel sympathy for Tenn. She's all alone in her chambers, with nothing to do but sew and make damned doilies."
Heero nodded. "As you wish." He offered Jigoku an arm and they descended the stairs. "Now where would you be going at this time of day, Ji? All the servants are working for another straight week. You are supposed to be relaxing in your rooms."
Ji smiled. "If you must know," she told her friend, "I'm going to see Duo. He's been up in the towers for days now working on something he says will save humanity. I think it will bring us to war, but that's Duo for you."
Heero snorted and looked off. "He's crazy. I don't know why you let him do those things by himself. He could blow himself up, the baka..."
She laughed. "Oh Heero! How can you think him still a friend the ways you insult the poor thing! I almost feel sympathy for the man, but Duo is so light hearted he probably doesn't care that you call him stupid."
They reached Tenn's chamber door. Ji called through he thick wood, "Tenn-goku, dearest! I have a visitor for thou!" She opened the door with a creak and slid herself though the opening. She motioned with her hand for Heero to follow. "Te-enn! Sweetums! Come on out Pootsy Poo!"
"Pootsy Poo?" Heero whispered. Ji smiled back at him.
"She's in the back room." Ji held up the soft layers of her skirts and tiptoed through the dark chambers seeking her friend. Heero, just as quietly, followed her. Ji grabbed the young Soldier's elbow and pointed into the dark. "She's sleeping. This is perfect! Go!" She pushed him into the pitch-black room.
"Am I supposed to be able to see anything?" he asked, slightly annoyed. Turning around, the room became lighter and more detailed as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. A bed against the wall took shape. On the bed under a mass of quilts was Tenn. A few steps and he was looking down on her. Heero sat on what must have been at least a dozen blankets, sank a couple inches, then toppled over onto the sleeping woman.
Ji snorted from the doorway. "Not as graceful as we used to be, ne?"
***
The familiar sound of the harpsichord sifted into the courtyard. A merry tune had again found it's way out of the Bard, Winner. All the music that made it's way out of the young man's kindred soul was cherished by all that witnessed it.
A small, dirty-blond haired boy peeked into his Master's rooms. He pushed the well oiled door open carefully as not disturb the "good vibes" as Master Maxwell called them. The boy clad in dark green robes, the colour of a Maple's leaves in the spring season, slipped into the sound-melodic suite. His knuckles were turning white due to the grip he had on the tray in his hands.
"Come in Brandon. There's no need for such secrecy." Quatre Winner spoke flippantly, not distracted from his music. He wrote down a couple chords on a sheet of pulp paper with an ink-dipped feather and turned on his stool to face the young Page.
"Sir, I 'ave some tea. 'Twas sent to you from the cook. 'E says 'tis already flavoured to your liking." Brandon, who couldn't have been any older than eight, set the sterling tray down on a low table close to the gleaming oak of the harpsichord.
"Thank you Brandon." Quatre took a cup and held it in his hands. Again Wufei had sent tea for him, some of his Chinese Tea, which he only keeps for himself and the Bard. He knew that Quatre disliked the slightly bitter taste of the tea, so he added fresh honey to flavour it. Quatre took a sip; indeed, it was smooth and relaxing. "Would you care for some yourself?"
"N-no Master Quatre," the boy stuttered, surprised by the question. "B-but if I may, sir..."
"Yes Brandon?" The Arab asked with a friendly smile.
"Sir, may I go now to join a friend of mine? We were to go berry picking in the fields today." He looked down at his feet waiting for disapproval then an order to go to his chambers and pray.
"Why of course you may Brandon. I am terribly sorry for taking so much time from your day. It is quite a long walk from the kitchen."
Brandon looked up at his Master. "T-thank you sir! I shall bring you a pouch of berries for yourself!"
Quatre smiled after the young boy as he ran down the stairs to join his friend, Trowa's cousin Royce, he believed it was. "Trowa, now where could he be this time of year?" Trowa was one of the King's Musketeers. He traveled the countryside as a marshal, a controller of the law, the King's law, which Quatre didn't approve of. Louie was too young to understand his importance of being King.
The young man rose and stood by his windowsill, looking out onto a little brook outside his window. Quatre's suite was in a lightly forested area of the palace grounds. He insisted that the wildlife be left to grow naturally. The grass was above ankle length; the roses were wild and grew like vines. To everyone else it looked like a shamble with a suite in the middle of it all. People didn't visit the Bard much because of the state the land was in. Royals other than the Kutsu's found it insulting that there was a place in such disrepair on the grounds. But Quatre found it beautiful and inspiring. To seemed to him that the melodies in his heart found their way out while he was admiring the beauty of the wildlife around him.
A robin floated jovially in the breeze and landed with a splash in the water of the brook. Quatre smiled and went back to his harpsichord.
***
Perth brushed the last fleck of dust of the magnificent beast's rump with a flick of her wrist.
"There we go. You're all cleaned up now." She tossed the brush into the stable alley. "I've got to go clean your tack now, so *be good*." Little Perth shook a finger at the large gelding that was almost asleep. She turned around and almost ran into Logan. "Ack! Logan! You startled me! Why do you always sneak up on me?"
Logan smiled. A soft, knowing smile. He definitely knew something Perth didn't know. "Do you know what your sister is doing?"
Perth was confused. "She's in her chambers, resting after recovering from the Sickness. Why? Logan is there something wrong with Tenn?"
Logan smirked. "Nothing *wrong*."
"What do you mean by that?" Perth's hands rested on her hips.
"I mean," Logan replied, "that your sister and my brother were last seen in her bed together."
Perth's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Who told you this?"
"Why, Princess Jigoku herself. She was there, standing in the doorway when Heero Yuy, Mr. Perfect Soldier, always solid on his feet, toppled head over foot... okay, so he lost his balance and landed on top of Tenn, who was fast asleep." Logan finished his story by crossing his arms in front of his chest and smirking at Perth.
"And for some reason you think that's funny?"
"But it is."
Perth considered punching Logan square in the jaw, but Wufei had told her that hurt you more than it hurt the person who got punched, so instead the kicked his shin. "If you have nothing else to do than stand around and spread rumours about our older siblings, then could you be so *kind* so help me clean this horse's tack?" She picked up the brushes she used, the bridle and several of leather straps. She left the heavy stuff for Logan. He could take it. Perth was sitting on a barrel of molasses when Logan came limping into the tack room dragging the larger part of the harness behind him.
"Thank you Logan," Perth said, smiling to herself.
Logan dropped the heavy leather and sighed. "I'll clean this, Perth. Sydney wants to see you. You go. If someone yells at you, tell him to see me."
Perth smiled. "Thank you Logan! Thank you very much!" She hugged him quickly then ran out of the stables headed for Sydney's rooms.
***
There came a rapping on the door. Sydney flew from her perch on the windowsill bench and flung open the door. There stood Perth, slightly out of breath and smelling of horses. But still, she was THERE!
"PERTH!" Sydney hugged her friend.
Perth greeted Sydney with the same vigour. "SYD!"
"Where have you BEEN?"
"I am so sorry that I've kept you waiting. I had to brush off these two horses that were more like mountains than horses! They were HUGE, Syd! I have to show them to you before someone has to take them back." Perth stepped back and curtseyed. "That is, my princess, if you wish to."
Sydney turned red and grabbed Perth's shoulders for support. She buried her face in Perth's shoulder and laughed her heart out. Her voice was muffled when she spoke, "P-Perth, You KNOW... **giggle** You don't... call me... /Princess/. It completely... breaks me..." Perth outright laughed at Sydney's elated state. Sydney regained enough control over her laughing to be able to stand on her own. She wiped away a few stray tears and smiled at the redhead before her. Perth's robes weren't half as eye-catching as hers were, and this bothered Syd. Why shouldn't her friend, who was forced to be treated like royalty, have to wear skirts in such disrepair? She fingered Perth's patched plaid skirt. "This shaunt do. We've got to find you another one my dear."
Perth looked down at herself. These were her work clothes. "Syd, I just didn't have time to change after coming from the stables, that's all. You don't need to waste money on me." She hated when Syd insisted on having things made for her, it made her feel inferior.
Perth shook her head, looked up and smiled at Sydney. 'Well, what shall we do today?"
***
The sound of crashing glass traveled down the spiral tower staircase to meet Jigoku's ears. It was followed by an exasperated cry, then silence, then the fast-paced music would start up again, and sounds of tinkering would resume. Duo had an odd way of working. When he botched up something real good, he would moan over it for a minute, then resume whatever else he was doing. He had an easy-going self-conscience. That's why Ji loved spending time with "that braided baka". He found ways to take the stress of her day off her shoulders and throw them out the tower window.
Ji stood on the last steps of the tower, before the large metal door that led to Duo's rooms. She leaned against the door listening to the sounds of the American tinkering with something and singing badly. The door creaked loudly as Ji gave it a mighty shove. Suddenly, the "well kept" hinges kicked in and Ji flew forward into Duo's suite. She stood in a room where you could write your name in the dust. Smiling, she scrawled "J
"Hello?" Duo called from another room. "Who's there?" He entered the room like the King himself. Duo was a proud man. He was honoured to have been noticed and given a chance to straiten his life out. Before Duo came to the castle, he'd lived in the Maxwell Church. When it, and all it's occupants had died from the Sickness, he'd ended up living on the streets. He was eight when that happened. He was now eighteen, and was as wise as an elder, but still quite immature at times.
About six months ago, Jigoku and Sydney had been visiting an Old Uncle or Aunt, went he'd tried to rob their coach. Finding the Lady Jigoku asleep inside her carriage, he couldn't continue with his previously set plans. He was so betrothed in watching the sleeping beauty, that the carriage had left the Old Uncle's mansion and was headed for the Akai Manor before he came to his senses. Duo was sitting on a violet cushion staring dejectedly out one of the curtained open windows when Jigoku woke up. At first she just blinked at the strange figure sitting opposite her, looking quite disappointed in himself. In one of her moments as a hopeless empath, she was completely oblivious to the fact that this young man was a pickpocket; she rose to sit next to him.
From his line of work his hands were quick, but not as quick as his ears. The instant she shifted to sit up, his head was snapped in her direction. He panicked as he found the door locked and the windows to small to climb out of. His eyes widened and he backed heavily into the bench seat. He knew he was being silly. It was only a girl--no, a woman, and a beautiful woman at that. A beautiful woman crawling towards him. To any other man it would have been a dream come true, but something made the whole situation wrong; she was the Princess, his High Lady. Spinning in his mind, the thoughts of how a hot and heavy escapade with the Princess in her carriage would turn out. He would be beheaded. And that was not good. In fact, that was bad. Very bad. If Father Maxwell, Sister Helen and Solo had still been alive, he might have gotten away with it. They would have fought for him. They would have argued that he was mentally unstable, Duo could certainly act the part at times. He might, just might have made it out. But not now. Not that they, the people he had been closest to, his family, were gone. Straight to the guillotine for 'lil Duo Maxwell. The image of his head rolling away from his body completely obliviated any thought of a jaunt with the Princess.
He curled up into a tight ball, hiding his face in his knees; murmuring into his thighs, pleading for the Princess not to have him beheaded. Please milady, have mercy on me, I shaunt do wrong again. You'll never see me again. I'll disappear forever. I might turn up in the river a couple weeks later when the Carpenters find a dozen of their prize swines missing. Oh no, milady! It wasn't I! I was set up to be made guilty! Oh please! I don't want to die... I don't want to die... no... ple...ase...
Ji placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Duo flinched at the touch. "What's so terrifying?" Ji asked tenderly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, darling."
"You know I was trying to rob you, right?" He asked in trepidation.
The Princess smiled. "Everyone deserves a second chance. Why shouldn't you?"
A blithe light lit up his eyes and shone, staging his