Pairings: 3x4/4x3 (not yet)

Disclaimer: Yeah, I guess you could say I don't own them. The GW characters belong to their rightful owners and that's not me.

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Miscellaneous Heirs - Part Two

by Orerinia Shaydrin

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Trowa watched as the white dragon--who's name was presumably Wufei--stared at the two hysterically laughing boys. Something that Trowa had been doing until a few seconds ago until he had decided that it would be best to pay attention to the dragon, since he had been about to kill him more than a few moments earlier. It was definitely a good idea to watch the dragon.

Wufei started to swing his head back and forth, a deep rumbling growl sounding from his throat. Trowa tensed, his hand creeping to his side within easy reach of his sword. The dragon's black eyes glittered and faint whisks of smoke were wafting from his nostrils. "Magic?" The word was said in a soft whisper and the laughing boys could not hear it, but Trowa could. The dragon drew back his head, his next words much clearer. "Is he controlling him with magic?"

The dragon's head lurched closer to Duo--who didn't notice even with his excellent hearing or sight since he was in the condition of being bent over double in giggles. Trowa's hand was on his sword and pulling it out as he lurched forward to keep Wufei from hurting his friend. He couldn't allow that to happen! "Duo, get out of the way!"

His sword shining gold in the sun, he swung it towards Wufei's neck intent on cutting his head clean off. The dragon caught sight of him and swung his neck out of the way, barely avoiding the sword's blade. The laughing boys stopped laughing.

The dragon retaliated, once again using his long neck and deftly avoiding Trowa's sword to open his mouth wide attempting to bite Trowa's arm off, if not his head. It didn't work for Trowa was on the ground rolling in a flash. He stood up, dirt dusting his green tunic and both hands clenched tightly to his sword. He narrowed his eyes, the dragon was going down!

Wufei lunged forward at the same instant as Trowa. Dagger-sharp teeth glistened and a sharp-edged sword rushing forward to meet each other. That was until a black raven imposed itself between them, claws grasping Trowa's sword, yanking it out of his grip and the blond boy--Quatre--jumped in front of the dragon, throwing himself to the mercy of the giant beast.

Thinking that it would be the end of Quatre, Trowa's breath caught in his throat. Then the wind picked up and there was no longer a dragon approaching, but a boy in white who tumbled down on top of Quatre. They landed with a soft 'whump' and lay there for several seconds. The screeching and ranting of the raven directed everyone's attention to it.

The raven wasn't too far away, it couldn't carry the sword a long distance. It stood on the ground, hopping up and down in agitation, pointedly looking at Trowa. The green-eyed prince glared and slowly walked towards, trying to see if he could get his sword from it. One particularly loud call made him cover his ears and glare at the black bird. "I did not start the fight, Duo! That dragon was going to try and eat you!" The dragon . . . it would be in his best interests to keep on eye on the boy in white.

He did so, seeing that both Quatre and the dragon-boy were now standing and staring at him and the raven with wide eyes. The black-eyed boy glared, eyes unforgiving and Trowa had the distinct feeling that the only thing keeping him from turning into a dragon was Quatre's hand resting on his arm, holding him back. He snorted, throwing his head back, seemingly insulted. "I was not going to eat him! He smelled like he was using magic and I thought he was practicing it on Quatre, but it seems he is magic." The raven let out a loud defensive sounding squawk.

Wufei shook of Quatre's hand and raised his fist at Duo. "I wasn't talking to you bird-brain. I was talking to your moron of a friend here." The raven cackled something and he stiffened. "I did not start that fight! He did! I had a right to fight back!"

The blond boy turned towards Trowa, blue-green eyes darkening. "You tried to kill Wufei when he wasn't doing anything to you? How could you?"

Trowa glared back, "I thought he was going to try and eat, Duo. He did try to kill us earlier."

"I think you were just trying to catch him off guard so you could murder him in cold blood. Then you could take his head and parade it around like some hero." Wufei and Duo were arguing in the background--something about minding the other's business--but Trowa didn't listen. He had a very irritated blond to take care of.

One that was wearing away his already thin patience.

"I wasn't going to do that!"

"Oh, really? I know your type. Some warrior who wants fame and fortune and thinks the easy way to get it is to slay a dragon." Quatre had his hands on his hips once more and a faint red flush was creeping up his face.

"That's not what I am!" Duo and Wufei had stopped fighting and were now paying attention to them, which was reasonable since he and Quatre had raised their voices until they were almost yelling at each other.

"Oh, then you must be one of those princes that will do his daddy proud if he brings home the head of a big, vicious dragon that he killed." The blond boy's eyes scanned Trowa up and down. "Yeah, that's what you are. I'd know your type anywhere."

"Aren't you assuming a bit much?"

They were stepping towards each other, both threatening in their walks, watching the other carefully as they approached. "Weren't you assuming a bit much when you came up here to kill Wufei?"

"Humph! My father ordered me to do it . . . And your dragon could have killed people!"

"Wufei is not my dragon!" Quatre tilted his head up for now he and Trowa were so close that the green-eyed prince's greater height was giving him and advantage on looking down at the blond boy. Not that it seemed to deter Quatre at all. "Huh, so you are one of those princes who will do anything for his father."

He started to turn away, his point made when Trowa grabbed his arm. "You know nothing about me!"

"Let me GO!" Quatre tried to tug his arm out of Trowa's grasp, but he tightened his hold, glowering at the blond boy.

"No." For the first time since they had raised their voices, Trowa lowered his into a deadly whisper. Quatre stopped struggling, blue-green eyes gazing up into his, searching for. . . something. Trowa became aware of how close the boy was, he could feel his warm breath on his neck and his heartbeat vibrating throughout the boy. By the gods was the boy beautiful with his pale skin, gold hair, and slender body.

For a few seconds time stood still . . . until Quatre sent his fist right into Trowa's jaw. The green-eyed prince's head turned to the side and he stumbled back a few steps, pulling the blond boy with him. "I TOLD YOU TO LET ME GO!!!"

Trowa couldn't say anything for the blond boy threw himself up against him, knocking him onto the ground with Quatre falling down as well. The green-eyed prince promptly found himself being straddled around the waist by the blond boy. Freezing, Trowa took a moment to enjoy the view. Quatre looked completely too exquisite in the position he was in, with cheeks flushed pink and pale-golden hair scattered across his forehead. Trowa enjoyed the image until he came to realize that the vision of beauty before him was trying its hardest to mangle his face with its fists.

Taking action quickly as soon as he realized this, he reached up and tried to restrain those flying arms. Unfortunately it didn't work and they were soon rolling on the ground, one good hit from Quatre across his jaw making Trowa forget where his thoughts had been before and finally making him lose his temper completely with the blond boy. Trying his best to gain some ground in their fight, he brought an elbow down into Quatre's side. The blue-green eyed boy let out a huge whuff of air, grimaced, and came back at him with a vengeance.

Fists flew, feet kicked, and curses were uttered. For being so much smaller than Trowa, Quatre knew how to put up a good fight. Their little battle would have gone on much longer had it not been for the interference of a certain boy with black feathers hanging from his brown braid. Duo jumped it, grabbing Quatre by the back of his shirt and hauling him away from Trowa forcefully. "Shit, you two! Stop it!"

Trowa regained his feet, still delirious with rage, and prepared to go at it with Quatre again. The blond boy appeared to be in the same set of mind, but what stopped them was the fuming Duo, who stood between them with a hand on each other's chest. "I'm serious! I can't have my two friends kill each other!"

Trowa stumbled back a few steps. "He's your friend?"

"He's your friend?" The same question was echoed by Wufei, talking to Quatre while holding him back at the same time, and pointing at Duo with a disgusted look on his face.

Duo was the one who answered. "Yes, he is." Trowa wasn't too certain to who his words had been directed at; it could have been Wufei, himself, or both of them. It was most likely the third option from the way he was glancing from him to the dragon boy.

Trowa spent a moment under Duo's critical eye before he gave a slight nod--obviously determining that he had his temper back under control--and swaggered over to Quatre's side, throwing his arm across the blond boy's shoulders and taking him away from Wufei's grasp. The dragon boy blinked, looking surprised and then sent Duo another glare.

"Quatre and I here met when I took one of my little trips." Trowa blinked and stifled a moan. Duo telling about one of his 'little trips' could take forever since the braided boy believed that he had to put in every little detail he could in the story while he was telling it, and today one of Duo's stories was the last thing that he wanted to hear. But he kept his mouth shut, knowing that this was the only way he was going to get any information on how his best friend knew Quatre.

"It was near this desert--well it wasn't really a desert, but it was close enough to one--and there stood this castle--one of those old, ancient things, like that ruined one who showed me, Trowa--and on top of the roof of this castle was a little girl dressed in a frilly pink dress, crying her eyes out." Trowa's eyes flickered to Quatre and found the blond boy narrowing his eyes at Duo, his ire redirected from himself to another target. Wufei's expression had changed to one of annoyance and faint amusement. "I was in raven-form then so I thought why not and go see if I can see what she's crying about, but when I got closer I realized that it was a boy. So I flew down to him and transformed back into my human shape to see if he was all right-"

Duo was cut off by Quatre, who had shaken off Duo's arm and was now standing several feet away from him, with his arms crossed and his eyebrows raised indignantly. "That's not how it went, Duo." He turned and Trowa watched as the blond boy tried to explain to his dragon friend what had really happened. He paid no attention to the green-eyed prince, but he heard the story all the same, and gave silent thanks that Quatre told it straightforward with no long winded descriptions.

"It was seven years ago when I was nine. My sisters decided to play dress-up with me and I had just escaped when Duo found me--or when I found him." The braided boy opened his mouth to say something, but Quatre cast him a glance that made him shut it. "A big wind had come up and Duo--being in a raven at the time--wasn't prepared for it and was rammed into one of the towers. He fell down nearly on top of me and transformed into a human."

The blond boy grimaced, "The first thing he asked me was if I was a princess. He had hit the tower wall so hard that he had a concussion and a broken arm. It took two weeks for me to convince him that he could trust the healing-mages and let them fix his arm. Then he stayed for another two weeks before he flew off. That was the last time I saw him. Until now that is." He glared at Duo. "I'm surprised he knew who I was."

"Hey, how could I forget one of the kindest people I had ever met?" The braided boy tugged on one of the feathers hanging from his hair, something he only did when he was nervous, and Trowa heard him mutter under his breath, "'Cept you're not very nice right now."

Trowa filed that in his memory for further investigation before commenting. "That's why Duo asked if you were a princess then?"

He mentally winced as furious blue-green eyes locked onto him and he acknowledged the fact that Quatre didn't like him. Not that he liked Quatre, either. "Yes."

"Exactly how did you end up here with lizard-breath anyways, Quatre?" Wufei's chest puffed up and he scowled at Duo for that remark.

Quatre shrugged and all of the anger seemed to slip away from him. "With all of my sisters' dowries combined there was no land left for me to inherit. So I was mostly an unwanted prince and people were afraid that I would fight my sisters' husbands to get back the lands. When a dragon appeared in the kingdom it was decided that a sacrifice was needed to appease to it before it started attacking villages. I was the sacrifice and Wufei was the dragon."

The dragon-boy shifted uncomfortably and shook his head, staring angrily at the ground. "They left Quatre tied to a stake for a night before I decided it was time to investigate. When I came, I found out that it was a trap, but they didn't care if they killed their prince in the process of trying to kill me."

Wufei's lips curled up in a sneer. "They were trying to kill an innocent and so when I took flight to escape those foul creatures that were called people, I took Quatre with me, for I was sure they would harm him. What they were doing was not honorable." He brought his head back up, gazing at the blond boy shaking his head.

Wufei sighed, "The idiots actually believed that dragons actually ate virgin sacrifices."

Up to this point Trowa had been intent on listening to the story, shocked at what had happened to the blond boy. Or maybe not so shocked. It sounded very similar to his own situation. However, the last sentence brought a small groan from the blond boy--prince--whose hands covered his face, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Wufei. . ."

"What?"

A small chuckle escaped from Duo's mouth, but the cause of it wasn't what Trowa expected. "This is too rich. Both of you are unwanted princes," he gestured helplessly between Trowa and Quatre, "whose families would happily see gone."

Quatre looked bewildered, glancing at Trowa. "What are you talking about, Duo?"

"He means I'm a healthy second-born prince to a throne that already has a very healthy first-born prince. I'm an heir that could cause trouble if I ever wanted the kingdom, so the best way to remedy the situation is for my father to send me on suicidal quests, hoping that I'll get killed and be out of the way." He frowned, "Duo, would you stop laughing? It's not that funny."

"S-sorry." Slowly the braided boy's laughter was brought under control and he was wiping tears out from under his eyes. "It's just so fucking ridiculous." Duo's violet eyes locked onto Wufei's white-clad figure. "Still, why are you traveling with the dragon boy?"

"I've got nowhere else to go. I have no money to buy anything. So why not stay with him why he's searching for a mate?"

"A mate? You mean he's looking for someone to get it on with?"

Wufei snorted softly, "Yes! Though I wouldn't put it in such undiginified terms. I've been searching everywhere to find one worthy enough to be my mate, but there is no one. Not even here. That's why we were planning to leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, huh?" Duo gave Trowa a wink and the green-eyed prince's heart stopped beating for he knew that look. That look meant his braided friend had a plan and most of Duo's plans were trouble. "Maybe we could join you on your journey then."

"WHAT?" His own voice and Wufei's mixed together in disbelief. Quatre seemed to be too stunned to talk.

"Oh come on, Trowa." Duo moved towards him and clung to his side, giving him big puppy eyes. "You know that if you go back home you'll just be sent on another damn quest that you aren't supposed to come back from. If you don't leave, you will get killed sooner or later and I really don't want that to happen." All of the braided boy's attention was on getting Trowa to agree with him. "If you don't return and Wufei's never seen around here again, your father will think the dragon killed you and you killed the dragon. It's the perfect opportunity."

Trowa lowered his voice to a whisper, knowing what his friend said made sense, but still wanting to put up a slight fight. Not that he had much to fight about. "Duo, they haven't even agreed to-"

"Don't worry." The braided boy beamed a smile towards Wufei and Quatre. "You two will let us join you, won't you?"

"I don-" Quatre had begun to speak, but Wufei's voice overpowered his.

"You have gold on you?"

"Yes. I do. Do you, Trowa?" Duo looked questionably at him and the green-eyed prince nodded.

"Good. Then you can come if you pay for lodgings at inns."

"What? Aren't dragons supposed to have vast mounds of treasure? Why can't you pay for your own lodgings?"

"That's another untruth about dragons."

"Oh."

Quatre narrowed his eyes at Wufei. "Why do you want to get rooms at inns now? We've been just fine sleeping outside?"

"Because sleeping outside all the time is wearing on you." Wufei scowled menacingly at Quatre, as if daring him to interrupt. "And since you're now my responsibility, I will not allow you to get sick."

His blue-green eyes flashed with fury and his lips were pinched, but Quatre didn't object.

Trowa bowed his head, his hand reaching out to grip onto the sleeve of Duo's black shirt. "What have you gotten us into?"

His braided companion flashed him a grin. "We'll see. That's the fun part."

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