To Lost-Remembrance: Wow, I really love your "name!" When I first read your review, I was like "Oh my god I shouldn't have posted that chapter!" And then I read it again and I was so relieved! Nyahaha! I'm SO slow on the uptake sometimes. I adore Greek and Roman (Norse too, but their gods DIE!) mythology and I still do (and I always will). Ehehehe, it's good to know that a lot of people out there adore it too. The part with the rose? Oh... eek. 'Nyways, yup, your hunch is correct; Heero and Duo in this part. I hope you like the extra something in this final chappie (it's way down at the bottom). Thanks so much for reviewing chapter 3! (n.n) Err... Nope, Heero isn't Quatre's brother. He's... someone more. Yeah, Norse mythology IS okay, and I'm really hooked in with their fairly weird names. I also like Indian myth, although their beliefs are... well... Strange. You think it was okay! Thanks SO much! Thanks too for the wonderfully LONG review! (huggles)

To IchigoPockyThank youfor stating the obvious.

Okay, this is the last segment to this fic. This part is actually the one where the original Roman myth happened, the true events of Pomona and Vertumnus's (love) lives. Argh. It's finally over! Nyahaha! I want to apologize in advance for the very un-ancient-Roman-like attitude of Duo. I cannot make him talk the way I want to, darn it!

Pomona and Vertumnus

(Gundam Wing Style)

By Ninetails

Part 4: Melting of the Heart of Stone

Duo was worried. Quatre hasn't come home yet and it was quite late. 'That adventurous brother of mine must have gone off into the woods, probably trysting with animals again.' He decide not to wait up for his brother, quite assured that he knew his way through the forest and would go home, fairly unscathed. He turned in for the night, not bothering to bolt the door of the cottage.



Heero was worried. Trowa hasn't returned from his nightly sojourn from the woods. He would normally tell him when he was going to take long in the forest, but tonight was an exception. 'Hn, he could take care of himself anyway.' After a last visit into his garden, he slept.



A few days later, Heero and Duo knew of the budding relationship of their brothers.

Quatre took Trowa for a visit in his cottage. Duo immediately liked the silent boy. He and his brother looked right for each other. "Humph, you bad boy, you're probably gonna leave me all alone in this house and I would probably pine away and die from the sheer boredom. You, Trowa, are taking a very special person away from me so ya better take care of him… sheesh, I'm getting into the habit of talking like a mother."

Amid Quatre's laughter, Trowa said, "Don't worry. He's the most precious thing to me. I love him and I care for him." His slight murmurs caused Quatre to blush deeply and give him a radiant smile.

"Brother, you won't loose me! I'll visit you everyday. You could come and visit us too, you know. It's just a few miles away into the forest," he chastised his brother, who gave him a sheepish smile.

The lovers shared loving looks and secret smiles that conveyed their feelings for one another. Duo smiled, happy for the perfect couple in front of him. Oddly, he felt a deep envy for the lack of love in his life. Oh well, someone will come, sometime.



One day, after much cajoling on Quatre's part, Duo decided to pry away from his beloved garden to visit Trowa and Quatre's estate deep in the woods. He now knew that the story of the brothers who lived in a beautiful garden deep in the forest was true. Trowa was the animal-lover, and his brother was the garden-tender. Duo was quite curious with the garden of Trowa's brother. "If it's as beautiful as people say it is, then I will visit you everyday!" he enthusiastically said. Bouncing from the excitement, Duo trailed the lovers deep into the forest.

He first saw the towering wall. "Whoa, dude, you took guarding this garden seriously, didn't ya?" Duo said, eagerly opening the gate. Suddenly, he was confronted by blazing cobalt blue eyes.

He stared. 'Such beautiful eyes,' Duo mused as the owner of those eyes glared at him with an intensity fit to melt a mountain.

"Heero, it's okay. He's Quatre's brother, the one we told you about." Trowa hurriedly interjected, opening the gate and pushing his brother aside.

"Good morning, Heero. I like you to meet my brother Duo. Duo, this is Heero, Trowa's brother. Heero, my brother loves gardening too," Quatre enthusiastically said, giving both of them a playful smile.

At the silence that ensued (Duo was still busily staring at Heero) Trowa and Quatre both sweatdroppped. "Err, Heero, would you mind showing Duo around the garden? He would so love that, I presume," Trowa said, giving the distracted Duo a slight smirk. Fortunately, Duo was busily trying to avert his eyes away from the wonderful sight of the man's blue eyes so he failed to see the glint of mischief in his brother's lover's eyes.

Something was up with his brother, Quatre knew it. He looked quizzically at his brother's adoring expression, and knew that he has found his first love.

Heero, meanwhile, was looking off to one side, quite unused to formalities… and visitors. He spied a bush that needs trimming and a vine that needed to be propped up. But to the insistence of his brother, he reluctantly agreed to show Duo around.

"These are my roses. Over there are my fruit-trees. We are passing through my lilac patches," Heero narrated in a monotone. He somehow felt proud, bragging about his beautiful garden.

Duo in the meantime was busy taking in every detail of the lovely man. He had deep pools of blue, blue eyes that turned him to jelly whenever he looked at him. He ached to run his fingers through that tousled brown hair of his. He looked around at the garden. It was truly beautiful and well tended. Every tree, flower and plant was designed to follow an overall pattern that was quite ingenious. Heero's skill far surpassed his, but he didn't mind one bit. Unable to articulate any thoughts, he furiously thought, 'Hell, I think I'm in love with this unfeeling creature! Madly so. What am I to do now? I'm in big trouble. God, I want to kiss those full lips of his. I can't restrain myself. Oh well, here goes nothing. Even if he kills me, I'll die happy.'

They were now in the middle of the magnificent garden, sitting on the marble benches situated around a small stream. "Hey, thank you and all for showing me around. You have such exceptional skills in the art of gardening," Duo cheerfully stated.

"…"

After a few minutes of silence, Duo again tried to converse with Heero. "Hey, um, Trowa and Quatre look good together, don't they? I mean, they really are made for each other. I envy them.. don't you? But if I do this right, maybe I would have what they do…"

'Couldn't this man ever shut up? He's starting to irritate me. How could sweet Quatre ever live with a brother like this?' Heero was suddenly startled out of his thoughts when Duo blurted out a very passionate, "I love you," grabbed his face, and kissed him.

Heero's lips were soft and delicious, Duo noted. Suddenly, he was rudely shoved back. He blinked confusedly a few times, looking at Heero's enraged expression. "How dare you! You don't have the right to do that! I don't ever want you to set foot anywhere near my garden ever again or I will kill you!" Heero then proceeded to kick Duo out of his garden (not literally!) and rudely slammed the door on his face.



Duo didn't give up his love for Heero. Often, he was able to enter his presence in disguise, now as a clumsy herdsman, or a vine-pruner, with the expert help of Trowa's powers and Quatre ideas. At such times, he had the joy of looking at his love, but also the wretchedness of knowing that the other would never look at such a one as he seemed to be. At last, the three of them made a better plan.

Duo came to Heero disguised as a very old woman, so that it did not seem strange to him when after admiring his fruit, 'she' said to him, "But you are far more magnificent to behold," and kissed him. Still, 'she' kept on kissing him as no old woman would have done, and Heero was quite annoyed. But since his mother taught him to honor elderly people, he let 'her' do it. Perceiving Heero's irk, Duo let him go and sat down opposite an elm tree over which grew a vine loaded with purple grapes.

'She' softly said, "How lovely they are together, and how different they would be apart the tree useless and the vine flat on the ground unable to bear fruit. Are you not like such a vine? You turn from all those who desire you. You will try to stand alone. And yet there is one – listen to an old woman who loves you more than you know – you would do well not to reject Duo. You are his first love and will be his last. And he too cares for the orchard and the garden. He would work by your side."

"Why do you tell me about this, old one?" asked the contemplating Heero. The old 'woman' had a point. Maybe he was too engrossed on his garden that he wouldn't let anyone else in his life in.

"I tell you this to remind you how exalted Venus had shown many a time how she hates cold-hearted beings. Do you know of Anaxarete, who had disdained her suitor Iphis, until in despair he hanged himself from her gatepost, whereupon Venus turned the heartless girl into a stone image? I beg you, be warned. Escape the wrath of the mighty goddess of Love. Yield to your true lover." With this, the 'woman' dropped 'her' disguise and stood before him, radiant and a sight to behold.

Heero was enthralled by the man's beauty. He was so blind not to see the beauty right in front of him. Duo tentatively approached him, a questioning, hopeful look in his breathtaking amaryllis eyes. "Heero, I do love you. I love you with all of my being. Please, answer me now that I may never bother you again. Be my lover?"

He couldn't speak. A feeling clutching at his heart hurt at the other man's pained eyes. He tentatively stretched his hand to place it on the man's soft cheek, looking deeply into those endless violet pools. He smiled at the surprised expression emanating from the heart-shaped face.

"Duo, thank you. You have done to me an act of unselfish love. I am not worthy of it."

Duo, with a strained voice said, "If you still want to be my lover, you may. If you don't… I will understand. Thank you anyway for heeding my plea to listen…" He was suddenly and thoroughly silenced by a rough kiss from Heero. His eyes widened, searching the other's face, before gradually closing from the sheer bliss of the kiss.



Behind some hedges, Trowa and Quatre watched the unfolding scene. The latter had a huge smile plastered on his face, happy for both his brothers. Suddenly, he was dragged by his lover to another secluded part of the expansive garden and was thoroughly kissed. "I love you, my little one." "I love you too, Trowa." They smiled into each other's eyes.



The kiss was searing, full of sensations of ecstasy. After taking the breath out of each other, they finally broke the kiss. Heero was startled to find tears on his beloved's eyes. "What is the matter, Duo? Did I hurt you? Have I done something wrong?" he asked, pulling the braided man close and kissing the top of his head.

"No, love, it's just that I'm so happy that we found each other. We won't ever live incomplete again. The following years won't seem bleak for me anymore, because I have you," and he looked up at loving blue eyes and was again enveloped in a loving embrace. "Thank you, Heero," he whispered softly. Pulling him to the soft ground, Heero answered, "I love you too, you're mine now, Duo."

And henceforth, the famed garden now had two gardeners and two animal lovers.

Owari

9tails' Ramblings:July 26, 2002

(8:14 - 11:29 p.m.)

Hi one and all! No Japanese words, no sense, no anything! I know this fic is OOC, boring, chaotic, and downright crappy, but I don't care! I still love it.

The story of Pomona and Vertumnus is one of my most favorite myths. For those who know it, well, I added some things to the storyline since it's a very short story. There were originally only 2 characters. But I absolutely adore 3x4, so I couldn't resist putting them in. As for Heero loving gardening… well, let us just assume that he loves it as a… mission. That goes for Duo as well. Trowa and Quatre's love for animals is a little bit more justified. Trowa loves his lions, anyway. And Quatre DOES love furry, cute animals… right? Oh come on, bear with me! Please? (Sniff, sniff... You're so mean) I didn't join Wufei in this little entourage cause I couldn't think of a part for him in the story. The talking "Justice!" vine, maybe? … What's with all this ranting?

I'm so rusty at writing about admissions of love. Note the date at which I wrote this fic. … almost 3 years ago! (I was 16 then, and my maturity is apparent in this fic) To think that my imagination produces such mushy stuff is so humiliating! Ah, who cares! No one's gonna care to read this anyway.

Of course, I disclaim anything about owning Gundam Wing and characters, nor the story written about a 5,000 years ago, and I won't receive a cent, so everyone's happy, so there!

As a special bonus to the (few) people who do read this, here's a sneak preview of my upcoming (predominantly) 3x4 & 1x2 Little Mermaid-based fic "Midnight Pearls…"

Midnight Pearls

By Ninetails

"You've traveled far?" the boy with golden hair asked.

The other man laughed shortly. "Farther than you know."



Quatre stared at his pale fingers wrapped in the other man's. We must have come from the same place, he thought with growing excitement. "Are you my brother?"

"No, I'm not. We are not related."

"Good," Quatre answered before he could stop himself. He felt a blush rising to his cheeks and was grateful that the other couldn't see it.

The man with the strange auburn hair was rubbing the back of his hand with his thumb, and his skin tingled where his touched his own. Heero did the same thing to my hand two days ago and it felt good, exciting, but nothing like this… Something about him feels right, even though I don't know him.

Quatre was suddenly nervous; the silence around them felt like the air did when a storm approached from across the sea. He spoke just to calm himself. "You've been searching how long?"

"Thirteen years."

"How did you know it was me if you haven't seen me in so long?"

"… How does the whale know when to swim to warmer waters for winter? How do the fish know when a predator is near? How do you know when love is real? You just know."

TBC