Heero POV

Hours later, I opened my eyes and stretched. I had to get started if I wanted to get all my work done. Carefully, as not to wake Duo, I untangled myself from his grasp. I was almost free when his hand suddenly tightened around my wrist and his eyes opened.

"Where you goin'?" he asked groggily.

"I have to get to work," I whispered back to him

"Silly," he said, pulling me back into the bed, "You work for me now."

"But I have so much to do. Master J will be angry if I don't do anything," I said, starting to struggle. I had to pull my weight or Master J would retrain me...

"J isn't your master anymore."

"But I have to..."

"No buts, Heero. You have to get a good night's sleep, it doesn't seem like you've had one of those in a long time."

"Master please..."

Duo's tail came up and smacked me on the forehead with a loud "thwack!" It didn't really hurt so much as it startled me and I jumped.

"None of that!" Duo growled, the grogginess gone from his eyes replaced by a glare, "You are not to refer to me as Master. Just Duo. I'm not your owner, I'm your friend. I'm still the same Duo I was yesterday. I'm still...Shi."

Where all of Duo's other comments about being the same person failed, that one got through. I didn't want to lose Shi... Duo. It was time for me to admit that my injured, helpless Shi was also the intelligent, powerful Duo. I trusted Shi, so I trusted Duo. He made me feel... safe.

I stopped struggling and allowed Duo to pull me back into bed. Even though I was anxious about not doing my work, the warmth of Duo's body wrapped around mine and the sound of his steady breathing were too much, and I soon drifted off to sleep.

Duo woke me hours later. It felt weird to be fully rested, I couldn't remember the last time I hadn't felt groggy. Duo looked like he felt better. I reached up to touch his forehead and found that his fever was completely gone. He smiled at me, then sat up and tugged me out of bed.

"Come on, sleepyhead. You can't lay in bed all day," he teased gently.

"Yes mast-... Duo," I said, trying to hide my mistake. Duo gave me a blinding smile, stretched, and opened the door.

"Hey! You there!" he called out into the hallway. A timid, "Yes?" was replied in a voice I knew as one of the young female servants.

"What's your name?"

"Sara, sir."

"Alright, Sara, me and my friend here are gonna need some new clothes. Think you could help me with that?" he asked, keeping his voice light. I wasn't sure what to do, so simply remained quiet. I could just barely see Sara, a timid smile on her face. I didn't dislike Sara, I barely knew her. All I knew about her was that she was hired as extra help when Mas-... J had guests.

"Umm... I can go get the seamstress and ask her to give you an appointment."

"That would be helpful. Could you also ask if another room has been prepared for me and see when lunch is? Oh! And where is the washroom?" Duo asked, still smiling at her. Sara's smile became less timid and she seemed to relax.

"Of course, my lord And the washroom is just down the hall. Go down six doors and it will be on your left."

"Thank you. I hope I'm not bothering you."

"No, of course not. I get paid to do help Lord J's guests."

Then she trotted off down the hall and Duo came back into the room and pulled me down the hall to the washroom. I, like most people at stronghold, usually used the outhouses out side and the river to bath in. The normal people living at stronghold weren't allowed to use the indoor baths and didn't even know how they worked. Some of the kitchens had water that came from pipes, so that wasn't so strange, but most of the water had to be carried in from the well or stream. From my training I knew that the baths worked by a system of heated pipes, but no more than that.

It seemed odd to go to the bathroom inside. When we got there, Duo automatically disappeared behind one of the doors into a small room. I wasn't sure what to do, but I knew what people did in the rooms so I found something resembled an outhouse and did my business, then washed myself in the sink. Even though I knew that the water in these rooms was heated, it was still a surprise when the water came out of the pipe hot.

I finished before Duo did, so I took some time to look around my stall. I found a cupboard with various rags, towels, and soaps. I also found another, smaller stall inside my stall. It had a pipe leading out of the wall close to the ceiling. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I turned the knob and little droplets of water sprayed all over the place. I hurried to turn it off and went to wait for Duo in the main room.

It took longer than I expected for Duo to come out, so I ended up waiting for him on the floor in front of the door. I don't know where he managed to find a brush, but when he came out of his own little bathroom stall he was brushing his hair. I was a little disappointed to see him quickly braid it and tie it with a string, I liked having his hair down. It was nice to burry my face in it while he was sleeping and sniff his scent.

However, he did let me help him dry his wings. He told me while I was toweling off the feathers that he usually went flying to dry them off, but he wasn't quite feeling up to that just yet. I thought that flying must be wonderful, but didn't say anything. Once I finished, Duo and I headed out to meet Sara and get some new clothes. I could understand why Duo would want new clothes, all he had on were my shorts which, with his tail, barely managed to cover him.

Which also reminded me that he said something about getting a new room. I wondered if I'd ever see him again. I knew he had taken me for his slave, but who would want to keep someone like me around all the time? Maybe I'd get to see him when I was cleaning the rooms or something. Then again, he didn't want me working for Lord J anymore, so maybe he had his own jobs for me to do.

Sara led the way to the seamstress and Duo pulled me after him. I had never been to the seamstress before, all my clothes had been second hand. I could use another set of clothes, but there was no need to make another set. I could just get some hand-me-downs from the discard pile. I wanted to tell Duo this, but we were at the seamstress before I could put the thought into words.

Duo got along fine with the seamstress. He hopped right up on the little stool she used to measure and turned anyway she asked, joking with her all the time. I was amazed by how precise the measurements had to be for a simple set of clothing.

Once that was done, Duo hopped down and walked into the hall to speak with Sara. Then the seamstress turned to me.

Unfortunately, when it came to be my turn, I froze. What was Duo thinking? I wasn't one of them, I didn't need all this. To hide my anxiety, I put on a mask of indifference and coldly told them, "This is unnecessary."

The seamstress frowned, probably thinking I was being stubborn, and I wondered how mad Duo would be at me. Would he want to get rid of me already?

"Unnecessary or not, if you want new clothes you have to get them through me, so hop up here and let me get to work," the seamstress said in an angry tone. Everyone in the room turned to look my way, wondering what had gotten the seamstress so upset. All those eyes on me, I hated being the center of attention. I felt that they all wanted something from me and, since I couldn't give it, they'd know I was... a monster.

I was about ready to bolt, although I would have hidden my fear by glaring and walking calmly out of the room, when Duo came over and stood in front of me, folding his wings around us both so we couldn't be seen. He put his hands on my shoulders gently and I felt some of the panic leave me. Absently, I wondered how he knew what was going on.

"It's alright, Heero. There's no need to be nervous. They're not going to hurt, I won't let anything happen. All you have to do is stand on the stool for a few minutes and we'll head back to the room, alright?"

Duo made it sound so easy that I was ashamed at my fear. I must have looked like such a coward. I nodded and Duo smiled gently, then ran his hand through my hair.

"You're so brave," he said and had us turned back around to the rest of the people in the room before I could do anything but gape in disbelief.

Cautiously, I stepped up onto the stool and allowed the seamstress to measure my arms, and my shoulders, then my height. It was decidedly not a comfortable thing when she started to measure my waist, legs, and thighs, but I managed to keep from jumping. All in all, it was an uncomfortable thing, but not as horrifying as I had originally thought. By the end, I was feeling decidedly stupid about my whole earlier outburst.

With the seamstress's dismissal of, "The clothes will be finished by nightfall," Duo and I headed back to my room. Duo flopped down on the bed the instant we got there, but didn't go to sleep. I knew he was waiting for Sara to return with word of where his new room would be and something clenched in my gut. I almost felt like crying, something I hadn't done since my retraining.

Duo didn't notice. He was looking around absently when he asked, "Heero, is there anything in here you'd like to take with you?"

"Take with me?" I asked in stunned confusion.

"Yeah, I think we should get a bigger room. This one's a little small. I mean, if you'd really like to stay here, we could, but I think it would draw less attention if I were staying in a bigger room. Peasants get kinda antsy when a demon is creeping around them, they like to have people like me where they can keep an eye on us. But, it doesn't matter to me. I could just tell them we decided to stay here for... defensive purposes or something."

Duo wanted me to go with him?

"I would not mind moving to a bigger room," I told him. I had never held any attachments for this room, I had hardly been in it at all and it was not only small, but drafty and dirty too.

The blanket on the bed, however, had been with me as far back as I could remember. In my mind, it connected directly with memories of my father, Odin. It was old and had faded so much that even I couldn't remember what color it had been. It had holes all through it and the edges were tattered. But still...

"I- Could I keep the blanket?" I asked, a blush rising to my face.

"Of course," Duo replied, still smiling. "Anything else?"

There was nothing else in the room except the bed, the mattress and an old dresser. We were wearing all the clothes I owned and Lord J didn't believe in personal possessions. He didn't want me to form any emotional attachments.

"No."

"Alright then, come 'ere."

I approached the bed from where I was standing near the door. Duo reached a hand out and tugged me onto the bed, allowing me to curl up on his chest like I had the past few nights. There was no way I could go back to sleep, so I simply closed my eyes and enjoyed in the heat of Duo's body, listening to the sound of his heart.

It seemed like only minutes later when a light nock sounded on the door, loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to be ignored if we were sleeping. I half wished we were.

Duo opened his eyes and sat up, sliding me off onto the bed. Gently, before heading to the door, he squeezed my shoulder and gave me a small smile. Then he opened the door and the moment was lost.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, milord," Sara commented, curtseying, "But your room is ready if you'd like to go there. And lunch will be served in an hour."

Duo's stomach chose that time to protest loudly.

"Heh. I don't think my stomach wants to wait that long. Perhaps you could have a snack taken up to the room?"

"Certainly, milord."

"And you might want to have lunch delivered there, too. I don't think I have anything proper to wear to lunch, if you know what I mean."

Sara stifled a giggle and said, "Certainly, milord," before turning out the door. Turning to me, Duo took my hand and grabbed my blanket before heading out after her.

The first thing I thought when I saw are room was, "Which lord is staying here?"

The second was, "Duo."

The room was different from the one the ambassador got, for that I was grateful. Instead of a canopy bed it had a regular one, with purple satin sheets. It made me a bit embarrassed about my own dirty blanket, however I was glad to have it, since it was the only thing in the room even remotely familiar, save for Duo.

I examined the room further while Duo waited for Sara to come back with a snack. The room was about twenty times the size of mine. It had a thick, burgundy carpet and a large open fireplace. It also had a huge window leading to a balcony where you could oversee the activity going on in the courtyard. There was a bookshelf in one corner, with volumes of professional looking books stacked on it, their red-brown bindings all lined up in neat rows. In front of that was a chess board, the little chess pieces all in their designated spaces.

Duo came back with a tray laden with fruits. I continued to wander around the room and stumbled upon another door in our room.

"Heero," Duo called before I called open it, "Come have a snack."

"But I usually don't eat until later..."

"Come eat. You don't look like you've ever had a good meal. We need to put a little weight on you before you blow away," Duo teased. Blushing, I walked over and picked up a piece of fruit from the tray.

I managed to eat what amounts to half an apple in various fruit slices. Duo didn't seem pleased, but didn't comment.

"Heero, can you read?" he asked me once we had finished eating. I had never seen anyone put away that much food that quickly!

"Of course. It was necessary when I was trained to be a..." I trailed off, realizing what I was about to say. Duo must have noticed something was amiss.

"To be a what, Heero?" he prompted.

"To be a killer," I finished in a whisper, hiding my head in my knees. Duo moved from where he sat on the bed beside me to wrap an arm around my shoulders.

That confused me. I had just confessed that I was a killer, a monster, and he hugs me?

"It's okay," Duo whispered, "We both have some blood on our hands. I've killed people too. You don't mind, do you?"

I shook my head without saying anything and he smiled.

"Then we're even. We both kill. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

I tried to find a way to contradict his reasoning and couldn't.