* Burning Roses. *

A Beauty and the Beast story.

Rating: R.

Pairings: ::Snorts:: Do I really have to say it? I mean, is it not obvious? Eh, yeah. But, if you have to have it in writing, fine with me. Whatever floats the merry little boat, which hopefully wont sink. My Dad has that problem. Er, right. Trowa/Serena.

Disclaimer: ::pulls a Lina and hides under a pyramid while wailing at all the mummies to get the f*** out of her hiding place. Yeah, you too King Tut. Jerk. ::

Summary: :: Twiddles thumbs.:: Well, I happen to have a few extra peashooters in stock. They're in the back room if you want one or two.

I've heard that beavers are kinda chewy, and that they have a sort of musky taste, but hey, who knows. People eat snails and call it fine dining.

I know that the last chapter was way too short, but it's kinda hard now to keep up the humor and still write a meaningful chapter. I have to think it all over, fix and re-fix it, instead of winging it like I had done earlier in the fic. So, I will have to plea that you have shnit load of patience for me, K?

By the way, seeing as how Sarah was so very clever as to figure out who the shadow death man thingy was, this chapter is dedicated to her. Sank-you. (Also, it gave me the idea for the whole chapter and it otherwise would have sucked bad without the short snippet of inspiration. Heh. Schools wiping me out….)

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Chapter Twenty-two.

Duo was confused. And ticked off. Not that this was a rare occurrence, but at the moment it was quite the pissed off confusion. You see, Quatre had just pointed out something very important to his diabolical plan. A flaw, if you will. And the reason Duo was confused was because….

" But…But…But…"

 He just did not get what Quatre was saying! But, but, but what? As far as Duo was concerned his plan was the most perfect thing ever concocted on the back burners of his mind. Even though he didn't know what back burners were.

" BUT WHAT?!" Duo belted out, quite annoyed.

Quatre jumped, " You can't toy with human emotions Duo!"

This paused Duo in his tracks and he pouted, looking muck like the petulant child.

" Last time I checked, Trowa wasn't exactly human." He cursed again under his breath; so much for his beautiful plans. Wait….

Quatre was very nervous. Nervous because of the way Duo was looking at him. Much like a hungry alligator would look a dumb zebra foal getting a drink. It was a very predatory look.

He gulped.

Duo grinned, baring tiny little needle sharp fangs that served no real purpose other then to itimidate the hell outa Quatre which was working quite well at the moment and lifted a finger to point at the blonde fairy.

 " Ah hah!"

Once again, Quatre jumped. And sweat dropped, as confusion set in like a gray fog, clouding his bright blue eyes.

Duo jumped up and down, crowing and hooting like a maniacal villain that had just won a war .

 " I knew it! I knew it!" At about this time, it would be sufficient to say that Quatre was panicking. He looked left and right, seeking a route of escape, preferably speedy and when he found none, he turned to face Duo who was still caterwauling at the top of his lungs.

He began to feel a headache coming on. And that curdling feeling in his stomach couldn't have been a good omen either.

Finally, irritated by Duo's shout's and antics, Quatre snapped out a, " What!?" It worked well enough.

Duo rant froze in his throat, half born as he fell over and choked on it.

" Cough, cough, gasp, wheeze yikes."

Quatre breathed an involuntary sigh of relief then swallowed it when Duo started cackling, his face still resting in the carpeting of the castle's dining room floor. Ohhhhh. Not good.

Thus deciding the only way to get out this was to whine like there was no manyana, Quatre did just that. "Why are you laughing at me???" Oh, but he sounded pitiful.

Duo's answer came in the form of a sweat drop. "God, you're a fruit."

Talking to oneself was a fine way to amuse oneself as well as pass the time. Reading aloud was also a wonderful way to check your form. Singing was handy dandy and fine as candy as well. As was reciting poems from memory.

All of which Serena had tried, and abandoned, in her boredom. Not that it had been so long. Minutes actually, maybe an hour. But, let it be known that she was never a patient person, and insomnia was taking its toll on her sanity. Whatever that word meant.

She was currently arranged in such a way on the bed that her feet were resting on the head board as she slanted towards the side of the bed where her pale gold head was hanging off just slightly.

Hmmph. Not fun. Not fun at all. And to think, a big, creepy, gothic but otherwise perfectly romantic castle was supposed to have more going on in it. Big going on's. Like vampires…no, wait, they had those already.

Speaking of which, where was the blazing, blood-mooching bugger anyways?

Had said vampire been alive, or undead as it were, he would have sneezed. But he wasn't so that was a moot point. So anyways…

He hadn't come after her yet.

Weird.

Hence she called out in the typical Ima-weak-little-girl-and-a-stupid-one-with-eat-my-blood written on her forehead way. " Yuuu-whoooo! Fresh blood, right here, come and get it while it's hot, and…er, fresh…? Yeah, you know you want it!" She frowned, listening carefully for any screaming mice, as was the sound that she associated with the vamp.

There was nothing. Not even crickets.

" Heh, go figure."

Deciding that since she had nothing better to do at the moment, she might as well ghost about the castle to try and find Trowa as well as do a little snooping. All right, so she just liked being in his company. Was that a crime? Huh. Was it ? could she not enjoy the comforts of a male companion with out being judged?

Now, she was over reacting.

She slipped out into the hall, and fiddled with the golden strands of hair that had escaped her braid in a movement akin to nervousness.

Not that she was nervous mind you, just that, well it was dark and dreary in the halls at night. Night was very scary, Serena knew. For her night had been forever ruined for her by the men that had killed her mother. Men her father knew…..

Now, reader, I realize you are chewing your fingernails, toenails or what ever and cursing me for dragging this out further then what you feel is necessary. Well, that's not true. I'm doing it for tha drama. You don't get very far saying everything up front. No. So this is my way of keeping you around. Works like the charm.

It was very dark in the halls aside from the occasional lamp that threw the shadows back to the …shadows. Right. Well, they lit small fractions of the hall but not all of it. Which really rankled Serena, as she hated the darkness, but she loved the stars. Well, that was immaterial.

Anyways.

She found herself speeding through the darkness to the light and then snailing through the light.  Very tiring if you've ever done this before believe me, I know all about it. Though, I tend to do the opposite. I like the dark.

But, you probably care not a friggen whit for that so I'll get on with this.

Panting, Serena slowed in her sprint-skid-stop and go running to lean against the wall and shake her fist in the general direction of the shadows. Which was pretty much in both directions despite the fact that this was defying all laws of the physical nature.

Hey, what can I say? This is a fictitious tale after all. Pretend it's real though.

Anyways.

She was doing quite alright, leaning against the wall as she was, when from out of the darkness a spooky figure appeared sliding toward.

How spooky was he?

Spooooooooooooooky!

Serena did what any normal girl would do in her situation when a scary but otherwise reasonably hot guy comes out of the shadows at you. She screamed. Ran out of air. Took a deep breath then screamed again.  Deep breath, repeat.

At his own side of the castle Trowa looked up from his inspection of a dust pile with a startled curse of toe curling, sailor shaming, parent mortifying, ear burning caliber.

Ooooooooooh. I've never heard that word before. I think I'll look it up. Hmmmmhmhmhhhmmmm…. Oh my….goddess. That's bad. Very, very, very bad.

Ahem, anyways, aside from that, Trowa stood up from his crouch and took off in the general direction of the screams, vowing to the moon above that he was going to either stuff a gag in that girls mouth or kick whoever's arse that was making her scream from here to kingdom Come.

Or, maybe, kiss her silent. That would be so much better.

End Chapter.

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And there you go. Another less than great, but still good chapter. Im sorry for not being on the dot with this, and shirking my duties to you all as my readers but, I am writing a few new stories and I think y'all will like them when they come out. Anyways.

Joke for chapter: Crazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a little round room and told me to piss in a corner. That really bugged me. Bugs? I hate bugs. They drive me Crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a little round room and told me to piss in a corner. That really bugged me. Bugs? I hate bugs. They drive me Crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a little round room and told me to piss in a corner. That really bugged me. Bugs? I hate bugs. They drive me Crazy…….

Advice: Do not smoke. The cigarette does the smoking. You're just the sucker.