Disclaimer: I do not own Shin Kidou Senki Gundam W or any of its characters. Welcome to the wonderful world of Fanfiction!

Warning: This fic contains at least SHOUNEN-AI (guys kissin' and cuddlin') and possibly YAOI (explicit sex scenes between guys), it also contains PEDERASTY (erotic practices between adult males and adolescent boys) because Wu Fei is 15 almost 16.

Author Note: compared to the other chapters this is rather short, but I think will make people happy. Happy Reading!

-Na

Of Ghosts and Swords, Words and Wars

Chaputa-san: Swords

Three days, that was how long it had been since Wu Fei had raised his katana against Treize. But as he sat in his quiet apartment on the third night, he had come to realize that measuring such sleepless night with the normal terminology of time would simply not do.

When he had still spent most of his time devoted to the scholarly aspects of life he found when one had asked him how long he had sat in that field and read, he would simply state that he had sat there long enough to read what he had.

And now a few years later Wu Fei was finding that 'three days' was once more not an adequate form of telling time. He had preformed his tàolù (kata) too many times that he had lost count, practiced each punch and kick on his cracked-corn punching bag one hundred times, and meditated long enough to stop the bleeding. (1)( 2)

The prior night Duo had dragged him to a disco tech since Duo was old enough to actually go he found the music, and crowds to be rather pleasant. That was a grand total of 38 bodies male or female pressed against- dancing with the braided baka, and four invites for his person and 23 glares before the Chinese youth, with his fake id (which no one but himself and Treize knew was fake), left. (3)

Onyx eyes starred at the blank wall in front of the boy and the sofa that Sally had insisted that he get. His katana resting simply across his lap, like a true swordsman he was never without it. A particular notion left over from practically ancient days when the stars were one of the greatest mysteries. Someone like Duo would never understand why Chang hung onto such an ideal. So occasionally it was easier to explain the need for the katana to be much in the same as Heero's gun always on hand, always there.

Suddenly- for it really was never a conscious thought in the youths mind- Wu Fei stood and was walking out the front door, not even stopping to put on his long-sleeved shirt, but he did have enough sense to grab his bike helmet and katana. Although he did lack a destination, his tireless mind was momentarily sedated with the prospects of an evening ride.

Chang, Wu Fei, a scholar for many of his young years, a Gundam pilot the year following- an assassin, a spy, and now a Preventer. He should have seen that his once destination-less mind would give over to muscle-memory and he would find himself at the gates of the Peacecraft estate.

Sighing dishearteningly letting a shiver run through his body in the chill of the surprisingly cool June evening, the dark featured boy was beginning to curse forgetting a long-sleeve anything. Although to no one would this be said. And so it was decided that Wu Fei would go ahead and duel Treize, the secondary purpose of which to get warm.

Like many evening before, found one of the worlds leading men in infiltration being closely, if not giddily followed by Count. He moved swiftly and easily along the familiar route, only slightly less known then his tàolù now to his muscle. He easily swung his body up into the branches of the tree under the window that belonged to Khushrenada, Treize. It did not escape the youth that someone had been recently working in the garden that ran along the side of the building.

Once more having pulled himself up onto the terrace, Wu Fei dusted himself off, before raising his eyes to the room and what should be open glass doors. Obsidian orbs went wide in shock to see not only the glass mostly closed but also for there to be a growling dobermann his dark brown eyes trained on the Chinese youth. Taking a deep shuttering breath the Chinese youth resolved that there was a barrier between him and the dog and if Treize didn't come soon with his accursed German, Chang would simply leave.

"Ruhige dich Charlemagne," came the muffled German from deep within the dark recesses of the room. Something seemed off about the voice to the boy outside of the house, but the dog had stopped growling at him, and Wu Fei could now see that he was grey around the muzzle and as the dog backed away from the glass he moved rather stiffly.

Stepping cautiously into Treize's sleeping quarters, instead of meeting the dark blue eyes of the rather tall German-Russian bred, black eyes seemed to be traveling a few more centimeters to meet with the pale blue eyes of the even taller platinum blond. Scowling deeply Wu Fei was about to speak when a pale finger was placed at the elder's lips and his kind eyes turned towards the bed and the sleeping Treize. Motioning for the younger to follow him away from the sleeping man for an explanation, the two men left the room, trailed by the old dog.

The born prince moved straight through Treize's chambers and moved swiftly across the hall and opening the door ushering the boy and dog within. Chang was surprised to find himself in almost an identical sitting room as Treize's own across the hall.

"Zechs what is the meaning of this? Why is Treize asleep at ten at night? And why was that dog not allowing me in his room?" exclaimed Wu Fei!

Standing next to the dobermann, scratching his head the ex-Lightning Count sighed, "Let me, first introduce you; Chang, Wu Fei this is Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor. I had had a feeling that you would show up tonight so I had asked Charlemagne to inform me of your arrival. There is a microphone on his collar so I can hear his growling. And to why Treize is sleeping, well he always seems to get a summer cold, a small 24-hour thing and well when he did not duel you the past few nights he insisted on doing some night gardening albeit the light rain we had last night and he got sick."

There was a moment of silence where the Chinese youth shifted the sword on his back and looked at the man in front of him. Not knowing exactly what to say or do to the man before him, he moved to walk by him back through Treize's chambers and back to his GSX-R 1000.

"Wu Fei," the voice of Milliardo Peacecraft paused the boy's retreat, "we're both insomniacs and our greatest source of entertainment in the moonlit hours is ironically sleeping. So I am inviting you for the evening, although I cannot offer you a duel, but if you enjoy poetry I have a book of poems by Xu Zhimo in Chinese of course." (4)

This defiantly caught the attention of young Wu Fei, and he wasn't sure whether from the fact that the blond behind him knew an early twentieth century Chinese poet, or that the man spoke Chinese, "I was not aware that you spoke Chinese."

"I don't," the blond paused watching the slighter form spin around and glare, "for diplomatic reasons I was taught to read Chinese, so I may deliver speeches when necessary. I am always given a copy of my speeches in English to go over before I give the speech."

"I see, but then why would you know Xú, Zhìmó? And if you cannot understand his poetry what is the point of reading it?" asked the dark haired boy now interested in the confusing man before him.

"I have read his work when translated; besides kanji was based off of Traditional Chinese so I understand a little. So can I presume you would like to join me then?" answered Milliardo.

The caramel covered head topped with tight black hair nodded. Milliardo let a small smile, before turning swiftly; his long silvery-blond hair swished catching the low light. The regal figure left the room through a set of doors that in Treize's quarters would have lead to the book filled study. And in some odd sense of déjà vu when pilot 05 did indeed find himself in a book filled study.

Milliardo quickly lit the room and then swept over to the nearby wall swiftly selecting the old leather bound tome before moving over to the bear-claw sofa and settling into the opposite arm as the younger man in the room.

Shifting his mass of hair over one shoulder so it would not pull when he moved his head Peacecraft peeled back the old cover of the book carefully, weary of the blackened edges and singed corners to prove the books life in the Sanc Kingdom.

The room soon filled with the slow and melodious words of the Chinese poet Xú, Zhìmó from the enchanting voice, which hit each foreign word with such precise tone, of Milliardo Peacecraft. For a man that knew little Chinese, he sure could have fooled many- Wu Fei thought, while listening to the familiar words of Chance, before he moved on to the next poem. (5)

"... ai-" Milliardo read, before Wu Fei cut him off.

"Zechs, wait you're pronouncing that wrong its ài."

"Hai, that is what I said, ai."

Wu Fei sighed and glanced around the room. Getting off the sofa he moved towards the desk and picked up a blank piece of paper and a pen before sitting back down closer to the elder blond man.

Glancing over he wrote out the second line of the poem, with the characters in question in thicker ink: '容不得恋爱，容不得恋爱！'underneath the line he wrote the kanji for ai: 愛.

"See Zechs this is what you said," replied the ravened haired boy pointing to the kanji on the page.

"Please Wu Fei call me by my given name and I'll ascent to your Chinese lesson," answered the blond moving slightly off of his reclining position on the arm of the sofa.

Wu Fei nodded, but as the light blue eyes scanned the paper the younger could tell he still did not see the difference, "I realize that it is hard when the zhèngtǐzì is so similar to the kanji. Here I'll write it out for you in rômaji and in pīnyīn," the young Chinese scholar then wrote next to愛: ai and than underneath that he wrote: 爱 ài; showing the paper again he said, "do you see now?"

"I see yes but I don't hear, if that makes any sense."

Nodding Chang thought a moment and then next to his pīnyīn for love he wrote in large letters: AI, "Try saying it like this than."

Milliardo looked at the paper and then at the youth next to him, raising an eyebrow he watched Wu Fei for a moment noticing that the boy was covered in goose bumps, "Ài?" (6)

"Hai," replied Chang, Wu Fei a large smile on his face. He found that he enjoyed having a pseudo-student for once, or at least someone to pay some inkling to his scholarly side.

The prince-of-old settled back against the arm rest, "Shall I continue?" when the younger nodded, the ex-Tallgeese pilot snaked an arm around the ex-Nataku pilot and pulling the slighter form flush against him.

"Milliardo!"

"I noticed you were cold and this will warm you up a bit. Treize isn't one to cuddle, unless he is in bed, but I don't mind. I mean unless you completely object to this?" replied the blond shifting a bit to become a little more comfortable, "You're a dragon right, a Drache, a lóng; they are reptilian right? And therefore prefer to be warmer then normal. You're like a dragon right Wu Fei your body a few degrees colder then normal. So let me help you."

"How did you know that my body ran colder than it should?" asked the younger.

Blue eyes sparkled, "In a game of chess Treize is always two moves ahead of his opponent that he sometimes forgets the present, but he would have seen this eventually. I tend to live for the next move and fear every pawn and therefore I noticed how cold you seemed, the rest was a guess."

There was a moment of silence, "Could you finish reading 'This is a Coward World'?"

The blond nodded tightening his hold on the Chinese youth and brushing a stray hair from his eye, before returning to the poem at hand.

Author's Note:

1 Chang Wu Fei is from China and therefore wouldn't know Karate (a mainly Okinawan but Japanese Martial Arts) or use words like kata (which is Japanese).

2 Cracked-corn Punching Bag: when the bag is punched or kicked it breaks down the corn more which settles on the bottom. Not before long is the bottom of the bag as hard as cement. And will make hands and feet bleed with use. It is good so you are not always used to hitting soft things, and bleeding in a real fight won't deter you.

3 Disco Tech: Are at the very least a European thing (in this decade). They are like dance clubs, of which you must be sixteen to enter for in most European countries beer and light alcohol is allowed to be drunk at that age. I personally no matter the country refer to clubs as disco techs unless it is something like 'goth club' or 'gay bar'.

4 Xú Zhìmó 徐志摩 (1896---1931): Poet and essayist from Zhejiang. Studied at Peking Univerisity, in the United States, at Clark and Columbia universities, in England he studied at Cambridge University. He taught on the faculty of Peking University. Died in an airplane crash near Mt. Tai, on his way from Shanghai to Peking. He left behind four collections of verse and several volumes of translations from various languages.

5 Chance: is the name of a Xú, Zhìmó poem. I could only find two of his poems in English and Traditional Chinese at this site: http/ www. translatorscafe. com/ cafe/ MegaBBS/ thread-view. asp? threadid 225&start81 (remove spaces).

6 When my friend at college was practicing Chinese for his girlfriend (who is from China) I asked if ai was the same in Chinese as in Japanese and that is exactly how they explained it to me. If you don't understand written out it is as if you were speaking normally and than (since love is so grand) your voice raises a couple octaves and 'shout' it out. If it is wrong sorry. If you bring the font for the Chinese character for love and the kanji up to about 22 then you can see how similar they are. The loveliness (or not) of screwing up Chinese pronunciation the subject ai: āi (哀) means sorrow, pity, or grief while ài (爱) means love. It is like mā (媽) mother and mǎ (马) horse.

German Dictionary (I learned German in Switzerland and what I learned as High German there is sometimes not actually High German):

Ruhige Dich: calm yourself (calm down)

Drache: Dragon

Chinese Dictionary:

Tàolù: Forms in Martial Arts commonly referred to as kata

Zhèngtǐzì: Traditional Chinese Characters

Pīnyīn: Romanization of Mandarin Chinese; As Roumaji is to Kanji in Japanese

Lóng: Dragon

Anyway I hope you enjoyed it. Please review no matter what.

-Na