This episode turned out to be longer than I expected, but hey, it's on time, so you won't see me complaining about the amount of typing! =^_~= It also carries slight warnings for violence, mild language, and slightly adult-ish themes. Go to it.

Disclaimer: It seems that children everywhere are conning their parents into thinking that a laptop and a cell phone are now required elements of back-to-school shopping. I tried to convince my mother that a matching set of five Gundam pilots were necessary items for back-to-FFN-shopping, but she didn't fall for it. =¬_¬= Darnit, ma...

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Episode Twenty-One: Certain Conditioned Responses

"This is the first punishment, that by the verdict of his own heart no guilty man is acquitted." ~Juvenal

October 9th, 1901

The days were growing shorter as winter approached, and the sky grew a little bit darker each morning when the servants arose to do their work. Even so, it was just light enough to read an alarm clock at 5:30 am, and to look up and see frost on one's bedroom window; this was all Heero was capable of, given his very unusual situation, which he pondered for the third morning in a row. Having just awoken, he glanced over at his old bed, now home to Anna-Maria and her kittens, all of whom were sleeping comfortably, and was surprised that he wasn't more envious of them. In fact, the transition to sharing sleeping quarters with Duo had been relatively easy.

He knew for a fact that Duo was sleeping extremely comfortably, as evidenced by the odd position he'd taken up while unconscious, also for the third morning in a row. Duo began each night lying well away from Heero, but sometime around two in the morning, he started to scoot closer to him in his sleep until by four-thirty, he was snuggled up quite close to Heero's side with his face nestled into the other boy's shoulder. Eventually, it woke Heero up and he realized what was going on, but he couldn't decide on a course of action. Three months previous, he would have smacked Duo upside the head, called him at least three kinds of idiot, and as a last resort, glared at him until he volunteered to take the floor instead. Now, Heero wasn't sure if he wanted that.

Of course, this is only the third morning I've noticed. He might have been doing this all week and I just didn't realize it. He looked down at his shoulder and saw the tousled chestnut head right where it had been the two mornings previous. If Lord Jeffrhyss could see me now, he'd have ten thousand fits, Heero thought, positive that his master would disapprove of their friendship, however deep.

Duo stirred; Heero froze, opting to use the tactic that had worked twice before, lie still and let Duo think he was still asleep. Invariably, the chef would wake up, gently uncoil himself from his partner, and bashfully retreat to his own side of the bed, but for now he simply muttered something to someone in his dream and settled back down. Heero let out his held breath and looked up at the window, at the thick layer of frost that had accumulated during the night, and then back down at Duo. Having slept alone his entire life, this took some adjusting to, but Heero's practical nature pointed out that while it was just a notch above freezing outdoors, his entire left side was toasty warm thanks to Duo being draped all over it, so it must have been a good thing.

Some time later, as the sun began brightening the morning sky, Duo stirred again, this time for keeps. Heero remained still and quiet, pretending to be asleep, and sure enough, Duo realized where he was and quickly removed himself from Heero's person, shimmying down to the foot of the bed. He got up and padded across the wooden floor, glancing at Heero and then turning his attention to the kittens.

"Rise and shine, campers," he whispered to them sleepily. A couple of the kittens were wiggling around, but the rest were asleep, including their mother. "Hey, c'mon guys, Sally said to keep you warm. Quit throwing the covers off, will ya?" Duo tucked their blanket in a little closer around the pack and started to shuffle out to the bathroom. Pausing, he looked over his shoulder at Heero again, sighing gratefully to see that he wasn't aware of anything. It was the most wonderful thing in the world to wake up next to his best friend, but he was terrified that if Heero caught him snuggling up, the other boy would be spooked by it and their partnership would end. Can't hardly blame him...I gotta stop doing that.

As he heard Duo quietly slip away, Heero slowly opened one eye, then the other. He was unpleasantly cold all of a sudden. There was really nothing to stay in bed for now; like most of the rest of the household, Heero sat up, rubbed his tired eyes, and contemplated getting up to start the day.

**********

Dorothy found it very difficult to be pleasant, given the harsh treatment she was suddenly receiving from some of the staff. She rang for an early cup of coffee and forty-five minutes went by before anyone came, and when Heero finally brought the coffee to her, it was stone cold. Then she wanted to take a shower before breakfast, but there was a mysterious absence of fresh towels in her ensuite bathroom, and she had to call for Hilde three times before the girl answered; even then, the one towel she received was stiff, scratchy, and smelled of moth balls.

Wondering if the entire staff had gone on some sort of strike, she made a mental note to discuss their efficiency with Relena at breakfast. She joined her Ladyship in the conservatory as usual, though they would soon have to move their morning meals further indoors, as the chilly weather was beginning to make the glass-enclosed room at the back of the house cold and inhospitable.

"Good morning, Dorothy!" Relena sang, chipper as always. "Sleep well?"

Dorothy scowled in a ladylike manner. "No. Something in my room smells like horses, and I don't know what it is."

Relena looked up, surprised at the complaint. "Oh dear! I'll have to have someone look into that." She fell off the subject entirely as she heard the clattering wheels of the dinner cart rolling down the hall, undoubtedly with their breakfast on it. A moment later, Heero appeared with the silver cart and began setting the table for their meal.

"If your people can't find out where the smell is coming from, I shall have to ask to be moved to another room, because the atmosphere in there is absolutely horrid!" the Baroness whined.

Heero fought not to flinch at that statement as he set out the covered plates and other assorted breakfast table accoutrements. When Trowa had suggested in a secret staff caucus that he hide a smokey old horse blanket from the singed stables under Dorothy's bed as a form of silent comeuppance, nobody had protested; in fact, there was much giggling and snickering throughout the land.

"Oh, of course. Heero," Relena said regally, "the Baroness is having a problem with her guest suite. Something about an odd smell. Will you look into it for me, please?" She flashed her sweet-as-golden-syrup smile.

The butler quickly finished setting out the breakfast things before answering. "As you wish, m'lady." He would keep his word, naturally; all he had to do was look at the horse blanket, note it's location, and walk away. Relena said nothing about fixing the problem. With that self-satisfying thought, he swivelled the cart around and wheeled it out of the room.

"There you are, Dorothy, everything's under control," Relena said cheerily as she uncovered her breakfast.

Dorothy looked at her with whimpering eyes; somehow, the Baroness wasn't quite so sure. Shaking off a layer of suspicion, she took the silvery domed cover off her own plate and looked over the contents, then frowned in distaste. She looked over at Relena's plate and saw a beautifully laid-out meal of scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, French toast with powdered sugar and strawberry jam on the side, and a slice of some exotic melon, proof of Duo's constant struggle for aesthetic perfection in his cuisine. On her own plate was the same food, only in a state of disarray that suggested that someone was juggling with her plate between the kitchen and the conservatory. The toast was in the eggs, the jam spilled onto the cold, soggy bacon, and the melon looked and smelled as if it had been dropped into frying pan full of stale grease. Not at all up to scratch.

Dorothy sat back with a superior air and looked menacingly down at her plate. The servants were turning against her, now she was sure of it. Relena was already stuck into her scrambled eggs and toast and really wasn't paying attention until Dorothy stood and picked up her plate, balancing it on her right hand at eye-level.

"What's wrong?" Relena asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"Will you excuse me a moment?" Dorothy replied curtly. She walked elegantly out of the room carrying her plate and headed for the kitchen, determined to find out why she was being black-balled by the staff all of a sudden. Sailing down the stairs, the first people she saw in the kitchen area were Heero and Hilde, stacking clean dishes in a tall wooden cabinet. Looking past them as they only half-glanced up from their work, she spotted Duo standing at the kitchen table, already chopping vegetables for dinner. With a meat cleaver.

One step below seething, Dorothy marched to the kitchen table and held out the plate of disorganized food. "And what do you call this!?"

Duo paused his chopping motion and looked at the haphazard breakfast innocently. "Performance art?"

"It's disgusting! It's not even edible!" the girl shouted. "I demand that you take this putrid, mangled excuse for a meal back and fix me a proper breakfast, right now!!"

The chef cradled the cleaver's handle with both hands, gasped dramatically, and looked sympathetic. "How careless of me! Just put it down there and I'll get to it in a minute, okay?" He gestured to a spot right in front of the cutting board with the cleaver and went back to his chopping.

Dorothy blinked, unable to tell if she was being casually dismissed or not. Hesitantly, she reached forward to set the plate down by the cutting board while Duo hacked away mercilessly at a carrot. At the exact moment when Dorothy's hand was closest to the cutting board, Duo swung the cleaver up high and brought it down hard into the tabletop with a loud thunk, barely missing her fingers. The girl gave a short screech and jumped away, clutching her endangered hand with wild, startled eyes and gasping breaths.

Duo's gaze slowly lifted up from the cleaver to Dorothy's powder-pale face. His brow lowered evilly and he wore a smile that was miles beyond devious and halfway to satanic. "Oops."

Dorothy staggered back, hyperventilating. She looked desperately across the room at Heero and Hilde. "Did you see that!?"

Heero shrugged. "See what?"

"Sorry, I wasn't looking," Hilde said.

Dorothy squeaked. It was becoming evident that she was most unwelcome in the presence of the servants. If she had taken the time to really think about it, she might have connected this to her shameful treatment of Quatre several days earlier, but as it was, her adrenaline was out of control and she couldn't think of anything but making a quick escape. Throwing frightened rabbit glances all over the room, she backed up as far as the west stairs, then turned around and ran up to the main floor.

Hilde walked over to the kitchen table, annoyed. "She's got some nerve, showing her face down here!"

"If she does that again, we're having lady fingers in Devon cream for dessert," Duo growled with a note of sarcasm.

"I wouldn't suggest damaging her permanently," Heero scolded with the tiniest of smirks. "For Quatre's sake, letting her know that we control a significant portion of her comfort and happiness is enough for now...but we'll also have to pull double shifts guarding him."

Duo nodded. "I'm ready."

"Me too," Hilde agreed. It would be long, hard work now that there were forces already inside the house that wished harm upon the gentle gardener, but he had been a good friend to each one of them, and not one of the servants involved could turn their back.

**********

Several days earlier, Trowa realized that all was not well with his fair-haired friend, and he began working on Quatre to tell him what was wrong. When the truth about Dorothy's actions came out, Quatre practically had to sit right on top of the hot-tempered Latin boy to keep him from storming upstairs and dislocating a few of her teeth. By then, Trowa could also put the pieces together regarding the horses, and since he couldn't keep a secret from Quatre for all the tea in China, he had to tell him.

Now, more than a week since the incidents, they were still absolutely fuming with rage, but running to Relena and making wild, unbelievable accusations would get them nowhere. The intense frustration at being so helpless in the face of such treachery led them to bolt the door to the bedroom and work off the tension in a more constructive manner. They sat at a rickety round table with two sour expressions, venting their anger on a pack of cards rather than each other.

After the first few hands of rummy, Trowa had calmed down, but his opponent seemed to get angrier and angrier the more he ranted about his situation. "How did I end up like this? It's not as if I've ever done anything to anyone that would even remotely merit this sort of treatment, have I?" He drew a seven and discarded a Jack.

Trowa shook his head. "I know. None of this is your fault, and something needs to be done, but there's no way Relena will believe our word over Dorothy's. We just have to find a peaceful way around it, that's all." He picked up the Jack, set down a group of three Jacks, and discarded a two.

"But it's not fair!" Quatre yowled. "If I do nothing, Dorothy will think she can have her own way whenever she wants! And Lady Une is in on it too, you know. How can lowly servants like us compete against the likes of them?" He drew a Queen, discarded a five, and slapped down three sets of cards. "Gin."

Trowa looked at the cards, added 20 points to Quatre's score and dealt another hand. "We've got Heero on our side, remember? He's smarter than both of them put together. He'll figure something out for us." He drew a nine and discarded an Ace.

"It just makes me so mad. I'm tired of being weak. I'm tired of being taken advantage of." Quatre drew a three and discarded a King with such force that he nearly bent one of the corners.

"I know..." Trowa said in a soothing voice, trying to calm him down. He picked up the King and laid down the Jack, Queen and King of spades, then discarded a six.

"Why am I always the one that gets picked on!? It was the same back home, exactly the same! I didn't stand a chance, being the youngest and smallest of such a huge family...I never got my way and I always had to do what the group wanted. I've been controlled by women my whole life!" Quatre picked up the six and slapped down another three sets of cards angrily, discarding a ten. "Gin."

Trowa looked at his own cards, looked at the cards on the table, blinked, and added another 20 points to an already crammed-full scorecard. He realized just then that the angrier Quatre got, the better a card player he became. The thought occurred to him that if they took Dorothy to Monte Carlo and let her off her leash, Quatre would be livid nine-tenths of the time and just might clean up at the Blackjack table. He quashed the thought quickly and dealt another hand. "Calm down..."

"I am calm!" Quatre hollered as he watched Trowa set down a group of three sevens. "If I weren't calm, I'd be throwing things! And that's another thing, why does everybody expect me to be perfectly pleasant all the time!? Aren't I allowed to get upset about anything!?" Trowa discarded the eight of diamonds, but before his hand even made it back to the rest of his cards, Quatre snatched up the eight and smacked down two large runs of diamonds and clubs, discarding a two. "Gin."

Trowa's free hand stopped in mid-air. This was getting scary.

Quatre set his elbow on the table, leaned his chin on his hand and looked away. "I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't think I should stand for this. If I'm a pitiful weakling, I've got nobody to blame but myself. There's got to be something I can do..." He trailed off and stared into space, thinking intently.

Uneasy about what direction the gardener's thoughts might be taking, Trowa tapped the deck of cards into a neat pile and set them in front of Quatre. "It's, um....your deal this time..."

Quatre slapped the table with one hand, making the cards jump. "Fencing!"

Trowa blinked. There was only one fence around the property; what did he plan to do to it, and why would that help? "Beg your pardon?"

"Back home when I was little, I used to play with swords!" Quatre proclaimed triumphantly, turning to face Trowa again. "When Rashid saw me taking an interest, he and my other guards took it in turns to teach me some fencing moves, y'know, just for a few laughs. Nobody ever thought I'd really need to pick up a sword in order to defend myself, not even me! But I'll bet if you and I worked on those old skills of mine, we could improve them! What do you say?"

Trowa folded his arms and thought. It was a sound idea on many levels, but he couldn't imagine Quatre carrying a sword around with him all day to do the gardens. On the other hand, it was getting colder outside and soon most of the yard work would be finished for the season, then he would be relegated to more indoor work than outdoor. It was actually feasible to just keep a sword in the room with him, wherever he happened to be. Trowa slowly smiled. "That is a pretty good idea, actually."

"You really think so?" Quatre squealed. Without waiting for an answer, he leapt out of his chair, grabbed Trowa's wrist and started yanking him towards the door. "This is great! Nobody's going to have Quatre Winner to push around anymore! C'mon, I know where we can get some fencing foils!" In a flash, the boys were out of the room and heading upstairs on a peculiar adventure that Dorothy and Une weren't going to like one bit.

**********

Treize and Dorothy were keeping a low profile in the house, for a variety of reasons, and they took lunch together in the Count's private study on the second floor. Each thought the other was becoming distracted from their original purpose, the real reason they came to Bridlewood, but they also understood each other's secretive natures, and knew that discovering the cause of their distractions would be next to impossible. Still, they continued to peer suspiciously at each other over their tea and scones.

"And where's Relena this afternoon?" Treize asked cordially.

"Overseeing the decorators," Dorothy replied with no small amount of distaste. "Sooner her than me. I despise workmen..."

Treize raised one of his peculiar forked eyebrows. "Is that why you're in here hiding?"

Dorothy blinked innocently. "Hiding? I don't know what you mean!" she admonished him, sipping her tea delicately. "And what about you, hmm? How long have we been here? Two months or more? What have you accomplished to earn the right to sit up here and stare out the window all day? Unless you're holding out on me, you haven't found any of the things you were looking for. Go on, deny if you must!"

"I can hardly conduct my...investigation while her Ladyship is still living here," Treize said, surprisingly calm. "Convince her to go on holiday and take most of the staff with her. Then I might 'discover' something while she's away. Until then, I have other matters to attend to."

Outwardly indignant but inwardly humbled, Dorothy let the subject drop, knowing far better than to challenge the man while he appeared to have a plan in place. All was serene again until a faint clanging drifted up from the main floor--the telephone.

They both looked up at the sound. Dorothy hoped it was Lady Une returning her rather irate calls at long last. Ever since the plan to capture Quatre on a fundemental level had fallen through, badly, the crafty brunette seemed to be avoiding her. Treize simply looked at his pocketwatch and smiled, knowing that his lunch would go undisturbed.

The call was for Heero. Downstairs in the main hall, Bethany set the earpiece down and went to fetch the butler with moderate haste, and soon a very suspicious lad was walking slowly towards the elegant Chippendale table on which the phone was perched. Very few people outside the house even knew he was there, and Lord Jeffrhyss always communicated through written word or live messenger, so the call was a bit of a mystery. Not knowing what to expect, Heero picked up the earpiece and the receiver, and began the conversation.

"Yes?"

A long pause. "You wish for information about Khushrenada?" A man's voice, very well articulated, but with a thick middle-European accent. Completely unfamiliar.

Heero hid mild curiosity under a coldly indifferent tone. "Perhaps."

"We should talk," the tinny voice said through the ear piece. "Tonight. I have much information to share about the Count and his...business dealings."

The butler rolled his eyes slightly. Oh please. Next he'll be telling me to meet him at the docks and to come alone. Heero wasn't buying it, but decided to humour the man. "Go on."

"Meet me at St. Catherine Docks near the Red Lion Brewery," the voice said, "and come alone. After dark, if you please." Then the phone went dead.

Heero gave the earpiece a sour look, then put the phone down with a clunk, wishing that Treize wouldn't try so hard to be so juvenile. With no intention of going through with the meeting, he walked swiftly away and went back to his work. Treize must think I'll swallow anything.

**********

After showing off his fuzzy little neighbours to Arthur, Duo led the carpenter back downstairs and poured him a cup of tea. "Aren't they the cutest?" he crowed enthusiastically, handing over a mugful of the steaming hot brew with a smile.

"Aye," Arthur consented, amused at the boy's excitement. "Pity it had to happen where it did."

Duo poured himself some tea and shrugged, hoping that his delight at the new sleeping arrangements didn't show. "We're coping." He took a sip and decided to take brief advantage of Arthur's age and wisdom. "Why do you think Anna-Maria picked Heero's bed in the first place? I'd've thought she'd be a lot happier in a box next to the furnace. I mean, it's starting to get cold in that room of ours! Will they be okay?"

"Oh, ah 'spect so," the Scotsman said, "wi' animals, it's all in what they're used to. Wha'ever they grew up with, that's what they seek out in adulthood. 'Tis the same wi' people, really." He poked the air between them to punctuate his remarks. "Put any livin' thing, man or beast, in an environment they're not comfortable with, an' they'll either reject it or change it to suit. Anna-Maria might've been born under the same circumstances, so that's what she's comfortable with. It's all in what you're used to."

Duo nodded, but as soon as Arthur turned away and started roaming the kitchen with his tea, he looked dreadfully forlorn. Am I making Heero uncomfortable? If I am, one of us will end up leaving that room. I really don't want that, but judging from what Artie says, it's unavoidable...

"Still, the cat knows what she's doing," the carpenter continued as he walked to the back door. "If it gets too chilly for her brood, she'll let you know in no uncertain terms, and then you'll 'ave to..." Arthur trailed off strangely as he saw something odd through the kitchen window. "Aw heck, what's all this now?"

Duo dashed to the window over the washbasin and gazed out at what appeared to be a swordfight between Trowa and Quatre, in the back yard next to the patio. Each wielded a fencing foil scavenged from an oak display case in the den, and were weaving back and forth across an invisible line, blades clinking together hesitantly several times with every step.

"It looks like a real bloodmatch!" Arthur chuckled warmly. "Ah'd bett'r go referee 'em."

As the carpenter sauntered outside with his tea, Duo looked a second and a third timd, but still couldn't believe it. Two of the most docile, peace-loving creatures he had ever met were out on the back lawn having a fencing match. Duo was slowly learning to accept anything odd that happened in or around the house as normal activity. He blinked and turned away, then froze with a start.

Heero was suddenly in his field of vision. The butler had crept down the stairs silently and must have been waiting for Arthur to leave, Duo thought. He looked as if he had something of grave importance to say. "Well, let's have it," Duo declared, sticking his hands in his pockets, "what does Her Royal Releness think my punishment should be for annoying Dorothy?"

Heero shook his head slightly and pointed to a chair. "Sit down." Duo raised an eyebrow, but obeyed without question, taking a chair at the kitchen table. Heero sat next to him, and they scooted their chairs around to face each other instead of the table. "I've had a telephone call from someone claiming to have information about Treize."

Duo's remaining eyebrow lifted to join the other one. "Oh yeah?"

"Don't get too excited," Heero said with another shake of his head, "I strongly suspect it's a trap. It was painfully obvious and smacked of Treize's over-confidence. One of his cronies expects to meet me at the docks after dark tonight, and I was inclined not to go at all."

Duo nodded. "Good." He started to get up and go back to preparing dinner, then paused and sat back down. Heero didn't move, as if expecting him to have something more to say on the matter. "Wait a minute...what do you mean, 'was' inclined?"

"The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a rare opportunity this could be." Heero leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, anxious to pitch his idea perfectly. "This person will probably be lying in wait around the docks and try to leap out and surprise me, but if I could capture him instead, and force whatever information he might have out of him, it could go a long way towards furthering my mission."

Duo leaned back, looking dubious. "I don't like this..."

"I understand your apprehension, but this man couldn't have picked a worse place to try and ambush me in. I spent months training around those docks at night, in all sorts of lighting and weather conditions, and I'd easily go so far to say that I know the terrain better than any lackey of Treize's," Heero insisted. "I might even know them better than you."

Duo sat up in his chair. "Forget it, I'm coming with you, obviously!"

"No."

"Don't be a brat, Heero! Let me help you!" Duo yelled. He quickly checked himself and lowered his voice in case there was anyone about listening to them. "I don't want you walking into a trap by yourself, even if you know it's there. Remember what happened the last time you thought you had a potential ambush under control?"

"Treize tried thugs, and it didn't work. He's not going to waste time using the same flawed tactic," Heero pointed out. "Most likely, it will only be one person, a professional this time."

"Oh, and that's supposed to make me feel better?" Duo scoffed.

"...Duo-nezu, listen to me..." Heero leaned in close and put a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "I'm a professional too, remember? And I won't be travelling unarmed. I know you want to be there to make sure I'm alright, but you don't know how to defend yourself, and I can't battle properly if I have to worry about protecting you. If this man were to somehow get ahold of you first, he'd have a hostage, and I'd have to give him whatever he wanted to keep you safe. If you stay here, I'd have a lot less to worry about." Duo looked down at the floor for awhile, then nodded sadly, knowing it was true. Heero took his hand back and straightened up, encouraging Duo to be brave and do the same. "I also have a small mission for you while I'm gone."

Duo's expression brightened considerably. "Really?"

"I want you to get inside the area where Wufei is working and find out anything you can about what he's up to," Heero said. "I haven't had the chance ever since he arrived, and I don't like knowing that he's probably planning something that I can't see because of my obligations to Relena."

"You can count on me!" Duo declared cheerily, saluting.

Heero nodded and stood up. "I'll be leaving after dinner."

"Yeah, okay..." Duo stood and hesitated a moment. They both seemed to be waiting for the other to do or say something, but neither knew exactly what. Duo had a mountain of confidence in his friend, but something about this whole deal felt bad to him. Nevertheless, this time the little brown mouse was determined to follow his orders and make his teacher proud of him. Before the moment got away from them too quickly, Duo took a timid step forward and swept his arms around Heero, hugging him tightly. "Be careful."

Hesitantly, Heero used his left arm to lightly return the gesture. "I'm always careful."

They broke apart and looked at each other for a few extra seconds, like a younger brother sending the older one off to join the war. Finally, Duo's smile fell back into place. "Well, go get ready for dinner then. Relena won't like it if you're out back doing target practice instead of serving whatever it is I'm feeding her tonight. Haven't exactly decided, but I hope for Dorothy's sake that she'll be willing to share, 'cause Dot won't like what she's getting!" He grinned proudly at his own deviousness.

Heero shone a small portion of the grin back at his friend, then turned and went back upstairs meditate for awhile. If he was really going to meet an agent on par with his own abilities as he expected, he didn't have long to prepare.

**********

Well after sunset, Heero was prowling around dockland as planned, remembering clearly the countless nights he had spent lurking about and being chased by Lord Jeffrhyss' common labourers as a training exercise. He had undergone a long series of seek-and-destroy simulations which were partly used to gauge his progress, and at the end of the sessions he had achieved a stunning 98% success rate.

If my training hadn't ended so early, I might have pushed it to 100%, Heero thought bitterly.

As he neared the Red Lion Brewery, all was quiet. Most of the workers had gone home for the night, leaving a few evening staff and the expected hidden element of robbers and ruffians that always populated the shadows, only showing themselves when it was opportune to do so. Heero expected no trouble or interference from any of them, as they would never approach a fight as a third party unless they heard the sound of coins falling to the ground and clinking aganst the wet cobbles.

The moon was partly hidden by fast-moving clouds, and a high wind was kicking up the freezing, salt-drenched air around him. The last time he had visited under such conditions was months ago, but he remembered well what he had learned about stalking prey amongst swirling winds and along slippery streets. Already he could feel eyes watching him, but few of them were a threat, and he would know the gaze he was waiting for as soon as he felt it.

Then, the tell-tale click of a revolver behind him alerted Heero that his contact had arrived. He turned around and got his first look at the man Treize had selected to dispatch him. It was a slight but muscular figure, a few inches taller than Heero, and with at least a thirty-pound weight advantage. He wore black from head to foot, mantled by a long overcoat, and small round spectacles perched across a pinched, rodent-like face.

"Greetings, Mr. Yuy," the man said plainly. "The Count sends his greetings also."

Heero studied his thick, multinational accent, as well as the revolver pointed at his chest. "Greetings are generally for social occasions, and this doesn't seem like the time or the place."

"It is always the time and place for politeness, Mr. Yuy," the rodent-faced man continued, "therefore I am simply being cordial."

"It's not very cordial to point a weapon at someone, now is it?" Heero asked melodiously, walking slowly towards his opponent. He stopped with the barrel of the gun an inch away from him, daring the other man to pull the trigger at close range. "I suspect you never intended to provide me with any information, but it would be careless of me not to try and change your mind."

They regarded each other carefully, judging expressions and measuring risks. The wind kicked up another notch, and Heero began making furtive glances to either side of him, looking for his imaginary backup. Naturally, the rodent-faced man picked up on it, and began to suspect, quite falsely, that Heero had not come alone as instructed. As the wind gained even more power, a particularly strong gust flew through the alleyways behind the brewery where they stood, and knocked over an empty beer crate.

The sudden clunk triggered the man's razor-sharp reflexes; he swung his arm around and shot in the direction of the box, and a half-second later, Heero had grabbed the arm and was trying to wrench the revolver out of his hand. They struggled briefly for control of the weapon, but it flew out of their grasp and skittered down the street into the shadows.

Treize's assassin assumed, also falsely, that if Heero wanted to get his hands on someone else's weapon, that meant he didn't have one of his own. "That was not a clever move, Mr. Yuy." He gave his coat sleeves a slight jerk and produced two shining daggers, which he brought up before his face and tapped together with a clink.

Heero raised an eyebrow. This was entertaining, but not much of a threat, especially not while he still had his own revolver safely tucked away. He wanted this gentleman alive anyway.

The combatants circled each other smoothly, and every few steps, the rodent-faced man would take a swing at Heero with one of the blades, which he easily dodged. "I hear you have a way of being a thorn in the side," the man said. "You may have already guessed that I have been sent to prune you."

Heero winced at the bad pun, but said nothing; his mission of capturing the man for questioning required that he waste no more energy talking, only knock him out and drag him to one of the many places he knew around the docks where one could hide until morning, if necessary. Showing for the first time how serious he was, Heero charged at the man and ducked in between the daggers to land several well-placed blows on his opponent, then stepped back to judge the result.

The man appeared winded at first, but then stood straight up and smiled. Accepting the challenge, he held the daggers in an oddly eastern fighting position and came at Heero quicker than expected, throwing kicks, punches and swings in the boy's direction that clearly marked the man as being a student of martial arts. He slashed with the knives almost faster than Heero could see, and it became painfully apparent that he may have misjudged Treize badly; the original thugs who were sent after Heero must have described his combat technique to Treize, who had then taken his skills into account when planning his next assault.

Heero found himself at a slight disadvantage against the shining blades, but made no move to draw his gun, preferring to save that option for last. Blows were exchanged fiercely between them as they dashed around on the wet stones. The daggers missed their intended target over and over, but despite his speed, Heero wasn't gaining any ground either; the man seemed tireless, and almost as skilled as Heero was. A brief opening in Heero's defensive moves allowed the assassin to slip one dagger close to the boy's side, but it was seen a second too soon, and Heero used the man's arm as leverage to leap up, kick off from the man's collarbone, flip himself over backwards and land neatly on his feet a yard or two away. The assassin fell from the backlash but rolled back to his feet effortlessly. They stared at each other for a moment, mutually impressed.

"Treize chose well, this time," Heero remarked.

"A task he does not wish to repeat," the man spat back. Uttering his last and most vehement threat, he dove at Heero once again, flicking the daggers dangerously close to the boy's throat as he lashed out against one blow after another. Heero was starting to see that this battle wasn't going to end as quickly as he hoped, and he began making riskier moves to try and finish it sooner. He let the blades come closer and closer, waiting for an opening that would allow him to take control of the situation, all the while striking at the man's flailing limbs to deflect his rapid slashes.

A craftily-measured blow to the assassin's right hand divested him of one of the daggers, and it fell into the shadows, where the scuffling noises told them both that it had fallen into semi-innocent hands and could not be recovered. Heero thought it would have made the man weaker and easier to defeat, but he didn't rely totally on the daggers, and was able to continue fighting using a different method on each side of his body as if they were being controlled by two minds, not one. One properly-timed thrust with the remaining dagger forced Heero to dodge to his left, where the assassin grabbed hold of his arm with his unoccupied hand, twirling the boy around and securing him in one spot.

Heero instinctively reached up with his free arm and stopped the remaining dagger on its downward path towards his chest. They strained against each other fiercely, and the larger man's strength was beginning to win out as the dagger inched slowly down, shaking from their exertion against each other. Heero had one chance alone to escape now, and envisioned it several times before acting; with only a split-second to get the job done, he let go of the man's dagger arm and twisted clockwise out of his grip. The downward motion of the dagger continued, and the unfortunate man lodged the blade into his own belly with frightening force.

There was a sudden, awful silence as the rodent-faced man stood there, staring wide-eyed at the mere boy who had bested him. Heero staggered back, unprepared for how terribly wrong his mission had gone. The assassin gurgled and coughed up blood; his spectacles were still neatly in place after the fight, but soon it wouldn't matter. He dropped to his knees, clutching the knife at the point of entry, and fell backwards onto the soggy ground. He made not a sound afterwards.

Heero was stunned. This wasn't supposed to happen at all. The man had looked at him...looked right at him, at the very moment of his death when his eyes turned from glistening jewels to lifeless orbs. Heero had seen it. He had seen what no lad his age was ever meant to see. It shook him, but he didn't let it show to the darkness, as he had been taught over and over again.

The agent composed himself and walked away.

**********

Wufei stood back and admired his work on the once-pitiful drawing room, quite proud of himself. He had done a marvelous job updating the space with 'art nouveau' themes, and was sure that anyone who knew him and his profession would be very surprised. Spies didn't often have time to cultivate any artistic interests, but then again, he hadn't been in the business as long as most had, and particularly not as long as Heero.

The room wouldn't be unveiled until he had a little more time to pack some sensitive materials and tools into the secret passage he created between that room and the next, and so he allowed himself the luxury of examining his work with an artist's eye before it was turned into an assassin's command center.

He spotted a cluster of willow twigs that weren't arranged just as he wanted them, and walked over to that side of the room, with his back to the door. Nobody can tell me that I'm not tidy, he thought as he settled the twigs into a more harmonious pattern in their blue glass vase.

"Love what you've done with the place," a voice said behind him.

Wufei spun around and made a grab for a katana that wasn't there. Nobody had dared move past the roped barricade he created around his workspace, so he had carelessly gotten into the habit of not wearing his beloved silverware. He gaped at the intruder, then settled down and scowled upon recognizing him. "Maxwell."

"You know, I'm more than a little insulted that you haven't eaten any of my food since you've been here," Duo said with a half-joking tone. He folded his arms, crossed his legs at the ankles and leaned against the wall. "It's not like I'm gonna poison you or anything," he said with an impish grin.

Wufei looked at how far Duo was from the door with disbelief. How did he get so far into the room without making a sound!? This one could be more dangerous than I imagined.

Duo shoved himself off the wall and walked slowly and confidently towards the boy. "But then, maybe it's just as well. Ordinarily, I'd be glad to have another guest in the house, but you seem to have some problem with Heero, and Heero's my friend, which means you automatically have a problem with me. So maybe it's best that you keep eating somewhere else, or you might find yourself constantly getting the dried-out, burnt end pieces off the meatloaf."

Wufei put on his mask of indifference and took a step or two forward as well. "I think you should stay away from Yuy, for your own safety. If you really knew him, you'd understand that he's not the sort of person that normal, law-abiding citizens like yourself want to get mixed up with."

"Oh, I know," Duo said, "and I also don't care. If anyone should be keeping their distance from Heero, it's you, not me." An alarm sounded in the back of Duo's mind, telling him that Heero wouldn't approve of him divulging information about personal alliances, but he ignored it. "We've got you severely outnumbered in this house, buddy, and if you were half as smart with strategy as you are with wallpaper patterns, you'd see that and get the hell out."

Wufei turned with a laugh and walked towards a table with some of the food he'd brought into the house himself. "I didn't except a common little street rat to be so bold in front of his tactical superiors," he said haughtily, pouring himself a glass of rice wine. While his back was turned, however, Duo was quickly cataloguing the changes made to the room, looking for anything suspicious; the argument was just a ploy to buy him some thinking time. "And what makes you think I have any reason for being here other than beautifying someone's living space, hm? For all you really know, I could be totally innocent," Wufei suggested, turning around to face Duo again. "Isn't that one of the things you love about your country? Innocent until proven guilty?"

Duo flinched. Something about Wufei's tone of voice was unsettling. "What do you mean?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"You went to America with Yuy, didn't you? That's why I didn't see you around, wasn't it? Why would you do something like that? Did he ask you to come, or did you volunteer? Do you know why he was there?" Wufei's tone was even and accusatory, and he delighted at the way Duo stepped back and squirmed at the barrage of questioning. "You're in no position to threaten me, Maxwell. My organization has far too many reasons to get rid of meddlers like you."

"If you wanna make things a thousand times worse for you, go ahead and try!" Duo snarled. "Heero and I look out for each other, and if anything happens to either one of us, whoever's left behind won't rest until the person responsible is put away for good!" Before Wufei could counter the challenge with one of his witty remarks, Duo turned and was out the door in a flash. He had seen enough of the room to draw a few conclusions anyway.

The chef stalked down the hall in a huff, thinking hard about exactly which room Wufei was working on; the memories were still rather fresh from when he measured nearly every room in the house by hand, and suspicions were suddenly becoming very clear in his mind. He walked quickly to the back of the house and up the west stairs to check on something.

Duo crept into his and Heero's room and shut the door behind him, lit the lantern, and pulled the dusty blueprints of the house out from under Heero's bed. Anna-Maria regarded him curiously, then turned her attention back to her offspring, who were on the verge of opening their eyes for the first time. As quietly as he could manage, Duo unfurled the sheaves of paper on the floor of the room and scanned the print of the main floor carefully.

I know I saw it here somewhere...okay, the front door is here, then you turn right...there! That's it! His eyes sparkled as he discovered something fascinating and potentially awful about the room Wufei was working in. One of the spaces in the walls is right between the drawing room and the games room. Ten to one he's found the secret passage, and--

He froze as he heard footsteps slowly plodding up the stairs. The possibility that Wufei had followed him loomed darkly in his mind, and he weighed the value of spending his remaining seconds alone hiding the blueprints versus looking for Heero's gun. Remembering that the butler had taken the gun with him when he left, Duo chose to hide the blueprints, and quietly shuffled them back under the bed as the footsteps grew louder. Determined to defend the kittens at all cost, he placed himself between Heero's bed and the door, picking up a rolling pin without wondering how it got there. He raised the rolling pin to ear level as the door slowly opened.

A shadow stumbled in, then squinted at the orange lamplight, holding up a weak hand to shield his eyes. It wasn't a Wufei-shaped shadow by any definition. Duo's eyes went wide and he quickly stepped forward, setting the rolling pin down on the writing desk. "Heero! You're back already!"

The butler looked decidedly unwell, pale and dark-eyed like Death himself. He gazed morbidly at his partner and staggered towards the double bed. "I need to lie down."

Duo quickly helped him to the bed and sat next to him, propping him up with a firm arm around his shoulders and chattering madly. "Did you get any information from the guy? Was it a hoax like you thought, or was he telling the truth on the phone? What did he say?"

Heero sulked. "Not much."

Duo paused. "Why? What happened?"

Grimly, the butler let out a long, slow breath, staring straight ahead at the cozy nest of sleeping kittens, so innocently unaware of what a horrible world they had been born into. "I killed him."

They absorbed the reality of it in silence for several minutes. Finally, Duo leaned forward and reached under his bed, pulling out a secret stash of cooking sherry and a clean goblet wrapped in a tea towel. He poured Heero some of the pungent liquid and forced the goblet into his limp hands. "Drink that," he said quietly.

Heero obeyed, downing two large gulps and wincing as the cheap wine seared his throat. He reached into his shoulder holster and took out his gun, then with a quick jerk of his wrist, flipped open the chamber to show that all six bullets were safely inside. "I didn't even need it," he commented.

"Forget about that." Duo took the gun away and put it back in the desk drawer, then sat back down on the bed. "Tell me what happened." Without much prodding, Heero recounted the events of the evening in mechanical detail, all the while having more and more sherry poured down his throat by the worried chef. At the end of the story, the bottle was nearly empty, as Duo had also needed a few swigs to steady himself.

"He might not be dead," he suggested, fiddling nervously with the end of his braid. "Maybe you just stunned him a little...maybe he got up and ran away after you--"

"Duo, the man had a knife between his ribs. He wasn't moving when I left." Heero seemed to sink a little further into the mattress; he ran a shaking hand through his ragged hair and swallowed. "I don't understand. I didn't mean for him to die, but I've trained for this sort of eventuality all my life. I was bred to be a killer...so why...do I feel so......so sick??" He wrapped his arms around his middle and hunched over as if his stomach was reeling. "I've never killed anyone before..."

Duo put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close to his side. The wine wasn't calming him down any, but Duo was quite sure it wasn't making him ill either; he had looked about ready to fall over since he walked in the door. "He would have killed you if you hadn't stopped him," he said softly, rubbing Heero's back. "That's exactly what he showed up for. What else could you have done?"

"I could have called someone," Heero murmured, "I could have sent for a doctor...I didn't have to leave him lying there for the street filth to empty his pockets while he bled to death."

Duo cringed; this didn't sound anything like the Heero he'd come to think of as a steadfast rock that wouldn't flinch no matter what the provocation. Something had changed drastically in the boy, and it was clear that the emotional convulsions would not ebb for quite some time. Duo wanted to tell him about his confrontation with Wufei, tell him that the Chinese boy knew they had gone to America together, tell him that he was remodelling a room next to one of the hidden wall niches they had found in the blueprints, but it would all have to wait, at least until morning. For now, he was just grateful that Heero made it back alive.

He looked at the clock. It was well past eleven, and they were both tired. Duo pushed himself off the bed and went to the chest of drawers, looking for Heero's pajamas. "C'mon, let's get you into..." When he looked back up, Heero was lying on his side with his feet still on the floor, eyes closed and clutching his pillow. The alcohol seemed to be taking effect at last.

Duo sighed and shoved the drawer back into place, then shut the door as quietly as he could. Letting his nurturing side take over, he sat back down on the bed, took off Heero's shoes for him, and lifted his legs up onto the mattress, adjusting his entire body into what he presumed would be a less awkward position.

Thinking it best if he didn't disturb Heero right away by climbing into bed next to him, Duo carefully sat on the other bed, after counting the kittens. He glanced down at them, all present and accounted for, and noticed that the little charcoal grey one had been the first to open its eyes. Duo tried to catch the tiny kitten's attention and then pointed to Heero, looking as sickly and wretched as he ever had in his life.

"You see that?" he asked the ball of grey fluff. "I don't ever want you ending up like that, so don't drink, and don't kill people. Have we got a deal?" He extended a hand to the kitten, who pawed at it lightly. Duo grinned. "Right on."

A rustling noise came from the other side of the room. Heero had a loose grip on the tea towel the glass goblet came wrapped in and was twisting it into a thick rope. Duo moved to crouch next to the bed, observing the motion curiously. "Heero? ...whatcha doin'?"

Heavy-lidded at last from the cheap cooking sherry, Heero wrapped the tea towel around one of the wooden posts that comprised the bed frame. "Can't sleep...can't....hang onto it," he mumbled groggily, demonstrating that he wanted to grab hold of the post with both hands, but lacked the coordination to do so.

Duo scrunched up his face in confusion, unable to fathom why anyone would want their hands suspended above their head while they slept. He watched as Heero kept trying vainly to tie his own wrists to the bedpost with the tea towel, in as bizarre a display of paranoid behaviour as Duo had ever seen. He tried to hold the boy's hands back down at his sides, but he kept fidgeting and whispering faint words Duo couldn't precisely make out, things about 'order' and 'harmony'. Finally, the chef gave in and granted to Heero what his subconscious seemed to want so badly; he twisted the tea towel into a tight whip and secured both of Heero's wrists above his head, knotting the fabric just snugly enough so as not to cut off his circulation. Heero went to sleep straight away.

Duo sat back on his heels, wide-eyed with immeasurable shock at how quickly the boy calmed down. It was unreal and unnatural, and it frightened Duo for reasons he couldn't understand. He stood up, turned out the lantern and carefully crawled onto the other side of the bed between Heero and the wall, but he was too wired to sleep. He leaned back against the wall and just stared at the figure in black lying on its side with its back to him.

This is too weird. What could make anyone want to sleep that way? He thought about it for a long time in the darkness, letting innumerable minutes tick by before a memory from earlier that day provided a possible answer. Arthur's voice echoed in his mind. "'Tis the same wi' people, really...put any livin' thing, man or beast, in an environment they're not comfortable with, an' they'll either reject it or change it to suit. It's all in what you're used to."

Duo looked at his friend in terror. All in what you're used to...how did Heero get used to this!? If he's really more comfortable being tied up like an animal...oh my God...

Arctic chills flooded his nerves as he came to the awful realization that for Heero to be so at ease with such horrid treatment, he must have been treated that way his whole life; trained to defy his humanity, beaten or brainwashed into submission, and tied down so he couldn't escape. Worse still was the implication that with his hands bound in such a Draconian fashion, he was forced to lie still and keep quiet, and could take no pleasure or comfort in the night, not even from his own body. The cruel anguish of loneliness he must have suffered brought tears to Duo's eyes.

Now was no longer the time to be timid, he decided; Duo was determined that even in sleep Heero should understand that he wasn't alone. Drying his eyes on his sleeve, he leaned over Heero from behind, slipped off his cravat tie, unbuttoned his waistcoat, and loosened his belt before drawing the covers up to his neck. He hastily got off the bed to change into his own sleepwear, then crawled back in and huddled under the blankets.

Before settling down for the long, eerie night before them, Duo propped himself up on one elbow and gazed down at the caged soul next to him, terrified of how unwell he might be in the morning after such a strange breakdown. It dawned on him, though, that Heero had been a broken man long before he ever appeared on the manor's doorstep, and now, with his warped upbringing and new-found freedom clashing in his brain, he would need someone's help to be put back together.

Duo brushed a few strands of deep brown hair away from Heero's face. "What did those bastards do to you?" he whispered.

He didn't receive an answer, nor did he expect one. Being overly gentle in the hope that he wouldn't wake his sleeping friend, Duo curled up close behind Heero, snaking an arm around his waist and pulling himself against the other boy's back. The warmth from a long night of physical exertion radiated from Heero's back through Duo's chest and evened off their temperature slightly. Duo buried his nose in the back of Heero's neck, as the chill in the room was becoming more noticeable, and went to sleep praying that whatever damage Lord Jeffrhyss' organization had done to his best friend wasn't permanent.


~~~~~~~~~~

Next, in Episode Twenty-Two: Treize gathers evidence to use in his next attempt to erase Heero from the playing field, and is not entirely pleased at how the last attempt ended. Dorothy finds the culprit responsible for Anna-Maria's disgrace, but reacts to the news in a far different way than the household expected. Heero is wracked with self-doubt, and Duo takes him on another thrill-seeking excursion to lift his spirits, but the phenominal luck he has always displayed while defying death may be about to run out.

*is evil* ...... *is damn proud of it* =^_~= Do you like? I know I like, 'cuz I worked HARD on this one. Heck, I try to work hard on them all, but this one took more out of me on an emotional level. I can't wait for October to get into full swing, because I've got a LOT of nifty, freaky things planned for the story that'll last until the end of the year, so hold on tight! =^_^= Next episode is due on October 17th! Ja ne!