Disclaimer – I don't own GW or any of the characters

Disclaimer – I don't own GW or any of the characters.  I just play with them.  I make no money so don't sue.  Thanks and Enjoy

Warnings – AU, Violence, Death/Suicide, Angst, Language, Shonen Ai, possible yaoi.

Pairings – 4+3, 1x2/2x1

            This was done as part of a fanfiction challenge on the page Emerged as one (http://www.geocities.com/yaoi_romance/fic_challenge.html ).  I hope I get it finished in time ^_^;

Dueling Kingdoms

Chapter One

He swung the long sword before him, feeling the pull of its weight and letting its momentum carry him forward to strike. His foe staggered back just narrowly avoiding the crushing blow. The sword swing followed through and the smaller boy threw himself to the side as he neatly dodged the counter attack levied at him. Cold hard steel met cold hard steel again and again. The metallic ringing echoed through the courtyard. After a time the boy's foe fell backwards and dropped his sword.

"No more, I give in my Prince. You're skills have quite improved since the last time we sparred." The man laughed and sat down on a bench. The boy lowered his own sword and smiled in a self-satisfied manner. He had not been able to defeat Duke J the last time he had come to see him. Young Prince Heero was rather pleased with himself.

"Don't complement him too highly your lordship." A Chinese boy walked out from beneath the arches that led into the main entrance halls. "Or else he will be unlivable. Its bad enough that he has that perfect soldier complex."

Heero snorted, "I do not have a complex. You're just mad that I beat you the other day." The duke laughed at the two boys. Despite the tension between their kingdom and the neighboring Sanq kingdom they were happy children.

"But where is Prince Trowa? I don't see him out here playing at warrior." The Duke questioned.

"I'm not sure, he isn't much of one for sparring, though he can beat up on us if he chooses. He is most likely reading or studying somewhere out in the arbor." Heero informed the Duke.

"Ahh I see, the more studious type. Couldn't pick a better day for it." The boys agreed.

~*~

The screech sounded throughout the entire estate. Dogs whined and put their tails between their legs and cats hissed. The servants winced and went about their business, they had gotten quite used to the screeching, living with Princess Relena required such endurance. A black clad blur screamed past the servants in a whirlwind. They leapt back with surprising agility, not one dropping the things they were carrying. They had also gotten used to the whirlwinds, living with Prince Duo also required such skills. Adding both the whirlwind and the screech together the servants made themselves scarce. They all knew that the Prince and Princess were arguing again. It was all those two seemed to do. It often fell to the youngest of the three, little Prince Quatre to smooth things over in the household. It was only his diplomatic nature and a seemingly infinite amount of patience that allowed him to soothe the savage beast, his sister, and placate the spastic critter, his older brother.

Today was no exception, Quatre was scrambling after a red faced Relena who all but had smoke pouring out her ears as she charged down the hallway. The small blonde boy was trying to talk sense into her.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it… whatever he said… or did… I'm sure he was only kidding!" The small boy cried in vain.

The Princess spun on her heel and glared down the smaller boy. Prince Quatre winced and took a step back. He was no match for Princess Relena when she was this mad. She gave him a shove and he fell backwards and bit his lip pitifully.

"You're so pathetic Quatre! You're a disgrace to our family name and our parents didn't even want to have another child! You were a MISTAKE!" She turned back and continued storming down the corridor intent on murdering her older brother.

Quatre rubbed at his eye and picked himself up carefully from the floor. A servant rushed to assist him.

"Are you alright Prince Quatre?" He asked

Quatre nodded, rubbing his eyes to hide tears. His sister was constantly belittling him, you would think he would have grown used to it by now. "I'm fine Rasid, thank you. I'm… just going to take a walk I think…" Quatre scampered off down the hallway nursing hurt feelings. Relena always knew just what to say to make him feel the worst. He headed down the long curving spiral staircase and out towards the side door. He grabbed a cloak and wrapped himself in it. He slipped to the side gates of the castle where someone would let him outside the walls. Its not safe out there Quatre… you must stay within the walls… never leave. Quatre knew that King Zechs and Queen Noin would be angry if they knew of his wanderings in the forest outside the walls but he went anyway. Sometimes he just had to get away from the almost constant chaos of the castle. If it wasn't his siblings arguing then it was some kind of horrible battle with the neighboring Oz kingdom, or if it wasn't that it was some kind of trade problem. Little Prince Quatre longed for the peace and quiet he could find only in the woods outside the walls. It was there he went.

"Be careful my young Prince." Whispered the servant who let him out. Quatre nodded and reassured the man of the time he would return. With that done he slipped into the trees and vanished.

~*~

Prince Trowa was out riding that day. He preferred to spend time in quiet solitude instead on constantly sparring with his more aggressive brothers. He donned a short cloak and saddled the mount himself so as not to attract attention. He was not supposed to leave the estate grounds on his rides. He had been scolded on the dangers of leaving, but nothing short of being tossed into the dungeons would dissuade him from his solitary rides out in the forests. He had not been out too long when he heard the sound of another nearby. He stilled the horse and slipped down. He kept low and pulled his cloak up over his face to hide his features. It could be anyone out here. It could be a simple peasant or it could be a soldier of the Sanq kingdom. He was not about to let himself be caught by surprise if it was the latter. He stayed low and tried to get a closer look at who was out there. He was surprised to see a boy of about his own age. He was sitting on a small patch of moss and, he squinted, was he seeing correctly? The boy was in tears. He hugged a bundled up cloak in his arms and it was dampened with tears. The boy had blonde hair and fair skin. He looked so alone that Trowa felt bad for the boy and stood up.

"Are you alright?"

~*~

Quatre heard a voice and he scrambled to his feet in terror. Had a soldier from the Oz kingdom found him? He'd be in trouble if he had. He rubbed at his eyes with the cloak, trying to dry them… but they were so rimmed in red by now that it was a lost cause. He looked around nervously.

"Who's there?" Quatre bit his lip he could be in for it now… a youth who looked to be around his own age stepped out of the trees.

"It's just me, I was out riding and I heard you crying. I wondered if you were hurt… are you all right?"

Quatre looked him over, he didn't seem to be dangerous and he was asking if he was all right. Quatre sat back down. He dropped the cloak at his feet. "I'm okay…" The young boy lied.

"You don't look it…" Trowa sat down next to him. "You sure?"

Quatre turned a tear stained face towards this stranger and his brow was furrowed with indecision. He wasn't sure he should tell this person anything… after all he had no idea who this was in the least. He couldn't just go telling his life story to every random person he met. Quatre's eyes sprang wide as he felt the brush of cloth on his face. He looked up at the strange boy. Trowa was gently drying his tear with a handkerchief he had produced. Quatre almost cried again. This complete and total stranger was being kinder to him than his own sister.

~*~

After a short hesitation Trowa found himself with his arm around the smaller boy as he cried and related to him all about his sister and how she treated him, and about his never being as good at anything as his older brother was… how his parents had only wanted three children really and he had been a surprise fourth child. Trowa felt his heart go out to the sad boy as he listened. His family obviously didn't appreciate the wonderful person hidden inside this boy. Trowa told him exactly that.

The small boy looked up at him with confusion on his face. "No one has ever said anything like that to me… at least not said it and meant it…" He looked down at the crumpled handkerchief in his small hands. "Thank you… it means a lot to me. I mean here I am… I don't even know you and you're listening to all my life's problems and telling me that its okay…" The blonde boy looked up at him with a slight smile. "Thank you." The small boy looked upward at the sky and suddenly gasped, he leapt up. "I have to go!" He exclaimed, "I'll be in trouble if I'm out later!" He pulled the cloak around his shoulders hastily and made to leave.

"Wait!" Trowa called after him. "Ummm… I…" he was suddenly unsure of what he had wanted to say. "Do you want to meet out here again sometime… its nice to get away from it all once in a while… well I mean if you can." Trowa offered a bit shyly.

"Yah… I'd like that… How bout in three days… round the same time?" Quatre smiled gently.

"Alright… three days from today. I'll see you then. Take care!" With that Quatre ran off into the night.

Trowa smiled as he turned to go. It had lightened his heart that he had been able to cheer up the boy. He looked much better with a smile on his innocent face than the tears and frowns. Trowa got up onto the horse and hurried back home again, before they sent search parties to find him.

~*~

Quatre slipped quietly through the gate and crept back towards the estate. He had nearly reached the door when someone stepped out of the shadows. Quatre stopped dead in his tracks. Towering over him was the very disapproving figure of his eldest brother Zechs. And Zechs was in full disapproving parent mode… he had raised his younger siblings after their parents had died years ago and he had taken over the throne.

"Quatre where the hell have you been?! I've had then entire palace looking for you! Don't you know how dangerous it is out there! What if you had run into some Oz soldiers! You could have been captured or killed… or worse! I'm very disappointed.  Do you know how worried I was!?"

"But Zechs… I…" Quatre was cut off but his older brother.

"Get inside now… if I have to I'll have guards with you at all times so keep you safe if you insist on this foolishness. Now get inside and get to bed… it's late and its getting dark." Quatre knew better than to argue with Zechs and he hung his head and slunk inside. No one would understand how he felt. He had met someone that he could finally talk to… but no one here would understand. Quatre slowly climbed the stairs and allowed himself to be escorted into his bedroom. He sank down on his bed and sighed heavily.

After a fashion he heard sounds coming from behind a tapestry and slid down off the bed to open the hidden door behind it. A braided head popped through, followed by shoulders and the rest of his older brother Duo. He shut the door behind him and then flopped back onto the bed.

"You look really down there kiddo." His brother commented as he bounced onto his little brother's bed. "What's eatin' ya? And where did you sneak off to today? Zechs got really worried about you. He always suspects the worst… you know… you in shackles being tortured by those Oz bastards." Duo frowned as he propped his chin in his hand and lay on the bed. He had never seen his younger brother look so down as he did right now. "Seriously… all joking aside… are you okay?"

Quatre lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. "Relena hates me… and I was a mistake anyway… maybe I'd be better off dead." When Duo began to interrupt Quatre lifted a hand to silence him. "I just had to get out of this place for a little while Duo… I can't stand it being cooped up in here… and I just felt so bad that I had to get out or else I was just going to snap. I just went out into the woods a little ways… I've been doing that for a while now… when I just need some space. Well today I ran into someone… another boy about my own age. He saw how upset I was… and we just talked… I really connected with him… he seemed to know just how I felt without my even having to say a word. I've never had that kind of connection with anyone before… well except for you. You always listened to me… but this… today…was different. I mean you're my brother… this was a complete and total stranger… and it just felt good to have someone else to talk to."

Duo frowned a bit, "Quatre that could have been really dangerous… what if he had jumped you and robbed you and killed you." Duo began

"I don't want to hear it!" Quatre raised his voice a bit… then he quieted. "I'm so tired of everyone saying that… I can take care of myself… and damnit… maybe I want to get hurt… I don't want to live inside a bubble anymore Duo! At least you get to go out on occasion, Zechs takes you with him when he goes on trips, and he's even taken Relena once or twice. I've never been outside of this damnable place. I can't live like this… everyone treats me like I'm glass… And I really hate Relena… I hate that she can make me feel so bad with just a few words… its monstrously unfair!"

"Well Relena only says those things because she is jealous… she was the baby of the family until you came along and stole the spotlight from her. She was supposed to be the last baby. But when you came along mom was in love with you and you were always her favorite. Relena just hates you because of that. She cannot bear to be upstaged. You just have to learn to ignore her." Duo paused, "Are you really feeling that bad here? I never realized that you felt like that Quatre…"

Quatre sighed… "I don't know… I just feel so… out of place all the time. I used to think it was a phase… but I never seem to grow out of it. I just wish I wasn't a prince… because then I could just go wherever I wanted… and not be so trapped here." Quatre felt on the verge of tears again and he didn't want to cry, especially not in front of his brother Duo.

"Hey don't worry Quatre, things will work out… Maybe you should tell Zechs that you'd like to accompany him sometime… let him know you're feeling like a prisoner… you know he just worries about you. Just before mom died she asked Zechs to look out for you… you were just a tiny baby then… you weren't even one year old yet." Duo grinned a bit, "I was five and Relena was three. Mom asked Zechs to look after her baby after she had gone to heaven. I think he feels like he would be letting mom down if anything ever happened to you. Zechs was twelve when Mom died and so he remembers her really well. He took it really hard when mom died too."

Quatre listened to Duo in silence. He hadn't known these things. He'd never considered things from that perspective before. His brow furrowed and he felt so tired all of a sudden.

"Duo…"

"Yeah?" Duo stopped his rambling as he turned to look at his younger brother.

"Thanks… ya know… for everything… I know I can always count on you. Can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure Quatre… what do you need?" Duo asked as he stood to leave, Quatre looked pretty sleepy.

"Promise you'll say yes…" Quatre said.

"Yes to what?" Duo looked at his brother sideways with one eyebrow raised.

"To what I ask…" Quatre said enigmatically.

"Well how can I…" Duo began but Quatre cut him off

"Just promise… please?"

Duo sighed… what was his little brother up to? "Fine… I promise. Now what am I promising?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone when I sneak out again. Cover for me please." Quatre said.

"What! Quatre!! What if something happens!! Where are you going and what are…" Duo was cut off again.

"I promised I'd go meet him again in two days… please Duo… I need this… and I need your help." Quatre pleaded.

Duo made a pained face. He would be skinned alive if Zechs found out… but more pressing was the worry that something might happen to Quatre.

"You promised to say yes!" Quatre insisted.

"All right Quatre… but you have to promise me that you'll be careful… and you have to promise you won't go unarmed. You have to take some kind of weapon with you… I know you know how to use a gun. Take one with you just in case… promise me now." Duo frowned down at him.

"All right… that's fair." Quatre smiled up at Duo, "Thanks big brother." Quatre hated guns… he could use them… Zechs had seen to it that all of his younger siblings could defend themselves… but he still didn't like guns. When you got right down to it, neither did Duo, he had this crazy preference for a scythe… it frightened Quatre a little bit when he watched his brother with the scythe. He looked like death. Especially given Duo's penchant for black clothes.

"Now go to sleep, its really late." Duo chided as he made his way to the secret section of paneling that connected their rooms. Quatre smiled and climbed under the covers and was soon asleep.

Duo shook his head as he made his way through the dark corridor. Quatre… be careful… if anything were to happen to you… He shuddered… Just be careful little brother.

~*~

            Trowa walked into the stables and handed the horse over to a groom.  He pulled his riding gloves from his hands and was making his way back towards the castle when he saw his younger brother Wufei leaning against the door frame.

            "You've been gone a lot longer than normal today…"  Wufei dropped casually.

            Trowa shrugged, he didn't owe his brother any explanation for his actions.

            "You're acting strange too… what are you up to?"  Wufei questioned.

            "I'm afraid I haven't a clue as to what you might be referring to Wufei… how was the Duke?  I understand he dropped in today…"

            Wufei narrowed his eyes, he knew his brother was avoiding the question and he had a strong feeling that he was hiding something… but Wufei knew better than try and get something out of Trowa that Trowa didn't feel like revealing, better to try and talk a stone wall into moving.  "Yes he was by today… he will be staying for tonight's banquet… he was asking about you… but you were gone."  Wufei glanced sideways at his older quiet brother as they walked back towards the castle.

            "Well I had better be on my way if I am to be ready for the banquet tonight… I will see you later little brother.  Save some wine for me if you don't mind."  Without another word he turned away from his brother and mounted the steps to his chambers so that he could wash and change his clothes before greeting everyone at dinner. 

~*~