Warning: In case you didn't read the first warning, this
is an yaoi ficcie. That means male/male relationships kiddies. So if this kinda
thing offends you or your under 18 hit the back button on your browser NOW!
Also
I'd like to apologize to all you Hiro fans a head of time 'cause I know you'll
be flaming me for what happens to him. That goes for you Duo fans as well.
One
last thingie: The English lyrics are from the translation to Duo's 2nd image
song 'Kitto Ok!"
Enough
mindless blabber onto the story!!
Rapunzel
A Gundam Wing fairy tale
By Sakura
Once
upon a time, there was a couple, in spite of their huge age difference and the
public opinion the wife had a Shota complex, who wished for a child so much
that they tried everything known to science to have one. Alas nothing worked,
and the idea of a surrogate parent was
offensive to the husband, whose name was Wufei.
"Have
you no honor onna?!" he said when his wife, Sally, had once again
suggested the idea to him. "The child will not be ours and would be a
disgrace to the Dragon Clan."
Being
the sensible woman she was, she just sighed, shook her head, and let her
husband have his way.
Now
this loving couple lived on a colony in outer space not too far from the
annihilated L5 colony. Next to their combination house and clinic, was another
house with the most beautiful garden on New L5 and could only be seen from
their second story window since it had a large wall around it.
The
reason for the wall was because a certain 'witch' lived there and the citizens
of New L5 insisted she be 'imprisoned' lest she go gallivanting around
destroying other colonies. So the witch stayed at home and mostly tended to her
garden mumbling to herself about someone she called Treize-sama.
Mr.
and Mrs. Chang lived their lives with relative peace and happiness until one
day while gazing at the witch's garden, Sally got such a craving rosehip tea
that only her neighbor's roses would do for they were the most beautiful. She
craved them so much, that she began to pine away and get thin for she knew
Wufei would be angry with her.
When
he asked her what was wrong, she replied by saying, "I fear that if I
don't get some of those beautiful roses growing next door for tea, I may die
from the longing."
This
of course worried her husband greatly for he knew when Sally set her mind on
something, there could be no stopping her. "Onna," he said as gently
as he could, "I would not stoop to something as dishonorable and base as
to ask our neighbor to borrow food!"
"But
Wu-chan, I want those and ONLY those roses. You know those are the best ones
and don't we deserve the best," she cajoled.
Sighing,
Wufei relented, but not before adding his two cents. "Onna, you have no
honor and you fight dirty."
"And
you love me for it," she said kissing him.
*****
That
night, Wufei snuck over the wall, which was easy since he had been trained in
all kinds of martial arts, and picked some of the roses. Of course he had hated
every second of this 'mission'. Sally had reasoned since their neighbor was an
evil witch who destroyed his home colony, she deserved to be robbed. Besides
she had so many that she wouldn't even notice that a few were missing. Wufei
was certain there was something wrong with his wife's logic, but went and did
anyway just to shut her up.
When
he got home, Sally was so pleased that she hugged and kissed him before he
managed to get away, muttering something about women's' wiles and worshipping
Nataku or something like that.
Sally
immediately washed the pilfered flowers and made her rosehip tea. The tea was
so delicious and relaxing, that she began to make nothing else until the supply
ran out. Then she became obsessed with getting more.
*****
Wufei,
of course desperately tried to convince his wife out of her obsession with
their neighbor's flowers. But his usual chauvinistic attitude didn't help at
all. So here he was again sneaking into his neighbor's yard and 'borrowing'
some more her roses. Now stealing from the witch was bad enough, but what made
it worse was that the roses were her absolute favorite thing in all her garden.
As
he was about to climb back up the wall, he felt the cold hard metal of a gun pressed
against his back. An even colder female voice said in an even tone, "Don't
even think I didn't kill you on the spot because you're a kid."
Without
turning, Wufei said, "Onna, don't underestimate me because of my
age." He heard her click the hammer back. "Go ahead. Shoot me. This
is all my wife's fault so it would only be a proper punishment if I die. She'd
regret her dishonorable ways and regret not listening to me."
Had
he seen the witch's face, he would have seen her eyes go from the cold and hard
ones to those of those of a kind and lonely woman with a very kind heart. She
spun him around and slapped him. Hard, leaving a red handprint on his face.
"How
dare you! How dare you speak of your own wife like that! What kind of man are
you, if you'd be willing to die and leave her sad and alone?!"
Feeling
like a little kid who'd been scolded for sneaking a cookie, not to mention like
a total heel, Wufei hung his head in shame and said, "You are right. I am
not man enough to deserve a wife like Sally. I didn't even deserve my Nataku. I
have no honor and am very weak."
The
witch placed a kindly hand on his shoulder and lifted his hand. "No, you
do have honor, Wufei-san. A dishonorable thief would have pleaded for me to let
him live or try to weasel their way out of this. You were willing to face my
judgment like a man." He could only stare at her in amazement. "For
your bravery, I will make a deal with you. Since your Sally likes my roses so
much, you can take as many as you like. However, when the time comes, you must
give me your firstborn child.
He
was shocked. He could never agree to such a crazy thing. Sally would absolutely
kill him if he did. Seeing his hesitance, the witch said, "You needn't
worry. I'd never harm the baby. I'm so lonely here by myself and I'd like a
little one I could care for. Or you could stay here and keep me company if
you'd prefer."
Something
pulled at Wufei's heartstrings and he began to pity the poor woman. He had
never seen anyone visit her the whole time he and Sally lived next door. He
himself even forbade Sally to go near her. He agreed to give up their firstborn
child, only because he believed that they would never have any kids.
The
witch thanked him for visiting and smiled as he climbed over the wall. He never
told Sally of the promise he made, for his wife would never let him live it
down.
*****
Nine
months came and went and a miracle occurred at the Chang household. Sally gave
birth to a bouncing baby boy with chestnut hair and sparkling violet eyes that
were already full of mischief. But their joy was not to last for long. The next
day the witch appeared on their doorstep demanding in the same cold, hard voice
Wufei heard nine months earlier, that they hand the boy over as payment for her
roses.
Now
Wufei was severely kicking himself in the head for forgetting the whole thing
and Sally was crying uncontrollably as the witch snatched the baby and vanished
in a puff of smoke.
When
Mrs. Chang recovered, finally, she bodily threw her husband out of the
house/clinic and immediately filed for a divorce, which she got. While Wufei
wondered off by himself, muttering he was weak and undeserving.
*****
The
witch took the boy to her house and named him Duo. She was originally going to
name the child Rose after her roses, but she hadn't expected it to be a boy. So
she named him Duo since there would be two people to care for.
As
the years went by, Duo grew into a very gorgeous bishounen with long hair and
very expressive eyes. Seeing that her 'son' would soon become the target of
many suitors and be asked to leave her, the witch moved away from New L5 to the
abandoned bell tower of Maxwell church on L2 colony. Once she had him settled
in his new home, she bricked up the only entrance into the tower. The only
other way in was a small window way at the top and she left that so her 'son'
would have air to live.
Duo
lived in that tower for three more years with the witch as his only contact
with the outside world. She would come to visit everyday. How'd she get in if
the only way was a window at the top? Each time she would go to where the
window was and call out, "Duo, let down your hair!" And Duo would
open the window and yell back to her:
"What's
the password?" Which was what he always said when he was in a mischievous
mood, which was quite often.
Of
course this would always annoy the witch and she would answer, "Duo! Let
down your hair this instant or I'll cut it all off!"
This
always worked since the boy was very proud of his long hair. He would then
shove his braid out the window and she would climb up it into the tower.
*****
When
Duo turned fifteen, a young boy came walking by and happened to hear singing.
He came to the abandoned church bell tower and realized he'd found the source
of the singing. Looking up he saw a longhaired boy sitting at a window.
Duo
often sang when he was bored, which was a lot these days. He kept feeling something was missing in his
life, but couldn't figure what it was. He would sing the songs he heard on his
Gundam Wing CD's, which were a present from the witch, to pass the time. Today
he happened to be singing a song called 'Wild Wing Boys'.
Hiro,
the boy who just happened to be in the neighborhood, took one look at Duo and
felt drawn to him. So he decided to find out why by going to talk to him. He
walked around the entire tower but saw no way in. Only the high window seemed
to be the only way in and he had forgotten his scaling equipment back at his
hideout.
Hiro
was about to go back and retrieve said equipment when he spied a woman with
graying brown hair done into braided buns and glasses approach the tower.
Curious, he remained where he had hidden himself and watched as the woman
called out.
"Duo!
Let down your hair!"
"What's
the password?" came the boy's reply when he finally heard her after she
repeated herself.
"Duo
Maxwell! Let down your hair immediately or I'll -"
"Yah,
yah. I know. You'll cut it all off," the boy retorted as he let his hair
fall out of the window.
The
woman climbed up the enormously long braid and climbed through the window.
"So
that's how you get in," Hiro said in a low monotone.
After
an hour or two of waiting, Hiro saw the braid once again fall out the window,
and the woman shortly followed. Once he made certain she was gone and wasn't
about to come back any time soon, he went to the tower window and called out in
a slightly nasal voice, "Duo! Let down your hair!"
The
boy in the tower opened the window and called back, "Oi 'ba-chan (Granny)!
You forget something?"
"Just
let down your hair!" Hiro yelled back.
"Yeesh!
Ok, ok no need to get your undies in a bunch," Duo said as he yet again
let his hair fall out the window.
Hiro
eyed the braid suspiciously and gave it a good hard yank. The boy above yelped.
"Oi go easy will ya 'ba-chan!" Seeing that the 'rope' he was to use
was sturdy enough to support his weight, Hiro climbed up and entered the bell
tower.
Duo
eeped in surprise when a boy came through the window instead of the old woman.
The only boy he'd seen before was himself since the witch never allowed him to
go anywhere and never brought any other company with her. What fascinated him
more was that the boy who just entered his home was wearing only a dark green
tank top and extremely tight black spandex shorts, which left NOTHING to the
oversexed imagination of a fifteen year old.
After
introductions and explanations were made, the two boys began to hit it off. In
fact, they fell in love that very day. When it was time for Hiro to leave, Duo
told him of his plan to leave with him.
"Why
don't you come back each day with a piece of rope or something and I could make
a ladder and climb down outta here with you."
"Ninmu
ryoukai," was all Hiro said.
So
Hiro came back again and again, each time with a piece of rope. Duo would tie
the ends together making a ladder while waiting for either Hiro or the witch to
come. Weeks passed and the ladder was finished and the longhaired boy was ready
to 'elope' with his beloved Hiro.
Since
he kept Hiro's visits from the witch, he should have watched his mouth more
carefully around her when he blurted out one day, "How come Hiro's much
faster than you Une 'ba-chan? He's up here in five seconds while it takes you
minutes to get up here."
This
enraged her greatly and she pulled him by his braid. "You ungrateful brat!
I raised you! Protected you from the horrors of war and poverty, and this is
how you repay me?! By lying to me and letting anyone who comes around have
you?!" The witch immediately pulled out a pair of scissors and cut off
Duo's prized braid.
"Iyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaa!"
he screamed.
*****
The
next day when Hiro climbed up Duo's braid, he found only the witch waiting for
him, a gun aimed at his head. "Duo won't be seeing you anymore, boy. He's
gone where you'll never find him." She then laughed maniacally.
Not
even wincing when the bullet hit his shoulder, Hiro let his body fall off the
windowsill and land ten stories below onto some shrapnel that had been left
behind from the war of years ago. Instead of killing him, the fall only left
him with a broken leg and now blinded cobalt eyes. The leg he quickly set, but
his eyes were beyond help.
Despondent
at having the bad luck of surviving such a fall, Hiro wondered around in a daze
for years until he came to the abandoned ruins of L1 colony, which had been his
homeland, but of course he didn't know that since he was now blind.
As
he wondered through the colony, alone and sad, he thought he heard a familiar
voice singing at the edge of his senses.
"Chance
encounter change even the future
Believe
in miracles go on well
It's
gonna be OK!
There
is only one thing anyone won't hand over
Chances
come only once seize them tomorrow's too late
Forget
the yesterday
When
you only clutch your knees believe in yourself
Maybe
you can go on well so go on well
The
chance is right before you
It's
all right It's surely OK!
Maybe
you can go on well so go on well
For
the endless dream"
Thinking
he had completely lost it, HIro was about to walk on when the voice stopped
singing to call out. "Hiro?! Hiro Yui?! Is that you?!"
Seeing
it was indeed his beloved 'hero' from so long ago, Duo ran up to him and
glomped the now older Hiro "Thank Shinigami it is you!" he said
kissing all over his face.
Hiro
snapped out of his daze when he felt someone glomp him and the voice he thought
he'd never hear again speak. "Duo? Are you Duo Maxwell?" he asked.
"'Course
it's me, koibito. My hair may not be as long as before, but I'm still the same
Duo you fell in love with. What's wrong Hiro? Don't ya recognize me?"
Getting
a good look at his lover's face, he now understood why Hiro had walked by him
if he hadn't seen him. Hiro's eyes were
completely vacant and sightless. Weeping at Hiro's misfortune, Duo clutched the
man to him. "I'm so sorry, Hiro. Forgive me. If I hadn't opened my big
mouth when I that bitch wouldn't have-"
Hiro
hugged his beloved Duo back stroking the silken hair he had loved so much.
"It's not your fault, Duo. She didn't do a thing to me. I fell onto some
shrapnel."
As
Duo continued to weep uncontrollably, two single tears fell into Hiro's eyes
and miraculously washed out the shrapnel that remained embedded there. Shortly
afterwards, Hiro's eyesight began to slowly return. Hiro eventually got his
lover to stop crying and showed him the miracle, which only caused the
longhaired man in his arms to weep again. This time for joy.
Once
the two lovers spent some 'quality time' together, Hiro took Duo to Earth where
he had once shared a mansion with his friends Trowa and Quatre. They all lived
in Quatre's cushy estate happily ever after with the exception of an occasional
annoyance in the form of a girl known only as Relena.
~Owari~
C&C always welcome at Firia@linainverse.net. Come
on minna! You guys haven't been writing much. So pleeeeeeaaaaaaase tell me what
you think! I'd looooooove to hear from you. ^_^
