Short note:
Yes, it's been ages and I'm sure more than a few of you have given up on my sorry ass, but for those of you who are sticking around (or just joining us) I have a new and hopefully satisfying update. I would give you a long list of excuses as to why this took so long, but I respect you all more than that. Truthfully I'm a procrastinating bitch. Forgive me?
...yeah, I didn't think so...

Name: Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon a Cross Dresser
Author: Nataku's Child
Archive: I give up...
Feedback: Yeah! Shininikki@hotmail.com

Couples: 1+5 ('cause there just isn't enough) 2x3x4 (feel the love)

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing... I didn't make up the story of Cinderella, nor did I write Ever After... but this story has swung kinda far from both of those... so do I even need to say that anymore?

     Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon a Cross Dresser
         Chapter Eleven

~~~
The wind blew cold against his skin, carrying water droplets that were too small to see but could be felt as icy pin pricks across his face. The smell of the ocean was familiar and, mixed with the soothing sound of waves against the shore, helped to calm his racing pulse and nervous stomach.

"Hisoka?" Tsuzuki's voice called from behind him.

Hisoka turned, brushing away a wind-blown strand of hair from his face. He didn't answer the call but waited until Tsuzuki caught up to him before turning to once again watch the rhythmic ebb and flow of the ocean.

After a few minutes Tsuzuki's patience ran thin. "Did you say you wanted to talk to me?"

Hisoka tore his eyes away from the comforting ocean to look at his partner. He froze at the concerned expression Tsuzuki wore. What makes his heart race every time his fellow Shinigami shows him kindness? Why does he lose his speech every time Tsuzuki smiles at him?

"Is something wrong?" Tsuzuki asked, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

Hisoka's face warmed and before he could think twice he was leaning closer...
~~~

"Duo?"

Duo jumped and spun his chair around, reflexively covering the computer screen. "Q-Q-Q-Quatre! Wh-what's up?" he laughed nervously, edging into a better hiding position.

The blonde was looking at him oddly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Why would something be wrong? Does something seem wrong? How are you? What's that you got?!" Duo's voice had steadily risen with each question until he nearly shouted the last one.

Quatre blinked and looked down at the laundry basket held to his hip. "Oh..." he shook his head and went to Duo's closet. "I washed your shirts...they were getting...um..."

Duo laughed. "Offensive in odor?" He grinned. "Thanks. Just dump 'em on the bed."

Quatre frowned and looked at the empty-except-for-random-useless-items closet.

Duo rolled his eyes and jumped up to grab the basket away from his disapproving roommate. "They're just shirts Q. My 'Are you there God? It's me, Satan' shirt looks better all wrinkly anyway." He explained as he upended the basket onto the bed he hadn't made since they moved in.

Quatre shook his head with a small smile and had turned to leave without further comment but his eyes flicked to the forgotten computer screen. He cocked his head to the side in confusion. "What does YnM TxH PWP mean? Is that English?"
[1]

Duo's eyes widen and he jumped to cover the screen. "Uh... it's code... for work..." he held his neck and waved his hand. "It's nothing really... Hey! Let's go find Trowa, kay? I'm dyin' for more Once Upon a Cross Dresser!" He blindly shut off the computer—inwardly shedding tears at being unable to finish reading at such a crucial part—and ushered Quatre out of the room before more questions arose.

"But my basket!" Quatre tried to get back into the room but was blocked by a grinning Duo who seemed to grow a few extra hands.

"We can get it later! Let's go, let's go..."

~

Trowa hummed quietly along with the woman singing from the stereo on the kitchen counter. Her words cried to a deceased lover, her voice growing and fading in passionate mourning. He stirred at the lazily bubbling marinara sauce without attention, letting the music carry him away as though he were the lover she yearned for.

With a loud smacking sound, Duo placed a sloppy and over exaggerated kiss on his lips.

Trowa blinked awake and stumbled back a ways.

Duo laughed and shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest. "You two are so weird..." he said, tossing a look over to Quatre who was setting the table in a sort of trance, much like the one Trowa had been in.

Trowa smiled and checked the sauce for any sign of burning due to his lapse of... Reality. Thankfully, it was fine.

Duo shook his head and went to the fridge. "Geeks..." he teased as he shuffled through the various jars and containers, looking for a beverage that contained at least one ingredient that he couldn't pronounce. "If it wasn't for me, Quatre would join a men's choir and you, my green eyed koi," he closed the door with a bump of the hip, a Dr. Pepper in hand, "would be playing flute for the London Symphony Orchestra." He finished by taking a rather cheeky drink from his soda.

"What's wrong with that?" Quatre and Trowa asked at the same time.

"Nothing dears..." Duo said with an endearing smile and a kiss to the top of Quatre's head. "Nothing at all..."

Unsure of if he should be offended or not, Trowa didn't comment. Instead he threw the pasta in to boil and started for the living room. "It should take about ten minutes or so to boil."

"Sex?" "Story?" Duo and Quatre asked at the same time.

Trowa couldn't help but laugh, just as Quatre couldn't help but blush. "I was thinking more along Quatre's path of thought..."

Duo sighed. "Fine... I like my idea better though."

~()~

Emptiness. Calm. Clarity. Peace. Touch?

Wufei blinked his eyes open to see Heero closer then he was when they started meditating... a lot closer.

Wufei glared. "Oi! We're supposed to be-"

Heero kissed him quickly to shut him up, and did so quite effectively.

Wufei's anger was gone as quickly as it rose as Heero's lips drew his body back into the reality that Wufei was previously trying to leave behind with meditation. A week after their first kiss, and already their training was suffering.

Wufei shifted closer and into a more comfortable position, his lips never leaving Heero's. He rested his hand against the back of Heero's neck as the other boy's hands roamed his body.

And then two, very bad things happened: 1. Heero's hand gravitated towards Wufei's fake breast and, even worse, 2. Wufei started to feel a stirring in a place that the character he was playing should not have.

Wufei's eyes shot open wide with terror. He jumped back and stumbled to his feet, only to fall back down, quite ungracefully to his backside.

"Are you okay?" Heero asked quickly, leaning over the fallen and frightened Wufei.

Wufei couldn't answer. He pushed Heero away and stood unsteadily before leaving the room without an explanation.

"Wufei! Wai-" Heero didn't even finish the word before the door was slammed in his face.

~()~

Duo was laughing so hard that he waved at Trowa to hold off on speaking.

Quatre had his hands clasped at his chest. "Oh poor Wufei! What is he... I mean, how can he... well what if..." Blushing, he shook his head and stopped trying to speak.

Duo wiped his eyes and motioned at Trowa to continue as he caught his breath.

~()~

Once again the sand-bag-breasts returned to the forest floor, as the dark blur that was a furious Wufei tore through the trees in a blind rush to escape. Again, he was running away. Again, he was afraid. Again, he was escaping from the first person he'd ever-

Wufei's foot caught on an unforeseen root and he fell in a jarring and very awkward way. He hit the ground hard. In his distraction he hadn't even put out his hands to break the fall.

"Shit!" he yelled in his natural voice. It sounded odd to his ears, which unsettled him even more then his previous train of thought. He stood slowly and winced as pain shot up through his leg. He doubted it was broken, but it still hurt like hell.

He trudged on through the foliage, slower this time and with the distraction of pain so that he was no longer thinking of... What had he been thinking anyway? It most likely involved Heero...every thought did, nowadays... And with that thought he was inevitably brought back to the reason for his sudden break for solitude.

They were both problems, but keeping Heero from trying to touch his breasts—while it was unsettling to think about—wouldn't be hard to manage... Then there was that other little—well, he wouldn't call it little—problem.

Wufei stopped and took a deep breath.

Of course, it wasn't the first time it had happened. He may dress as a woman, but he was still a man for God's sake. But never had it been because of Heero. And he hadn't really thought about it until that shocking moment but... They were both male. Well, Heero didn't know they were...but Wufei did...so did that mean Wufei was...? Well, was it just Heero that made him feel that way? Or could it be any man?

Wufei's stomach churned and he leaned against the nearest tree.

It had been something imbedded in his mind for as far back as he could remember: One day he would get married and have children and carry on the family's tradition and style of martial arts. It was just that way. Always. Now... what? If he was attracted to men... but then Heero...

Wave after wave of black thoughts, worries and shame washed over Wufei. He slowly sunk to the ground and covered his face in his hands.

Their first kiss had been exciting, even fun and fun was something Wufei hadn't really experienced since he was a child. He had done it without thought of consequences and-Oh God! What was he doing?!

Without thinking he was standing and blindly moving in a direction that wasn't his home.

What about Heero? What if Heero found out what he really was? He had to eventually, right? What would happen then? Would they stop seeing each other? Their friendship could be ruined... Wufei could even be killed... His mother had known. She had worried and warned him to keep his distance, but what had Wufei done instead? He had fallen-

Wufei blinked in surprise as it suddenly became bright around him. He looked around to see that he was out of the forest and behind a house that he hadn't seen in years. His shoulders fell but he knew why his subconscious had brought him here. With a defeated sigh, he approached the back door to knock.

~()~

"Wa-wa-wait a minute!" Duo waved his hands. "What was that you said back there?"

Trowa looked blankly innocent. "Hm?"

"The thing about Wufei falling or something! He's in love with Heero?!"

"I didn't say that."

"You almost did, right?" Quatre asked, joining sides with Duo. "That's what you were going to say, right? He had fallen in love?"

Trowa frowned in faux-thought. "I don't remember what I was going to say..."

Duo threw down his hands. "Bullshit!"

"What he said!" Quatre said with a nod.

Trowa just smiled.

~()~

Sally glared darkly at the newest stitch she had placed. With an angry grunt she cut the thread from her needle and searched for her seam ripper. She was supposed to be one of the best tailors within miles –second only to Mrs. Chang, who had been her teacher– but here she was on her fourth mistake in twenty minutes.

"Must be a bad omen..." she mumbled as she found her seam ripper... only to be pricked with it as she picked it up. As if on cue, someone knocked at the door. "Noin dear? Can you get that for me?" she called before sticking the wounded digit in her mouth.

As she settled back down she heard the door open and someone saying something that she couldn't hear before a puzzled Noin popped her head into the room. "Sal? It's Wufei... he wants to talk to you."

Sally lifted an eyebrow. "O...kay... let him in."

Noin hesitated a moment before her head disappeared and she mumbled something, presumably to Wufei before going back to whatever she had been doing. Wufei came in a moment later, looking cross and, well, half-naked.

"Your lover should learn some manners." He grumbled before taking a seat near her on the floor. His voice was odd...a little unsteady and awkward.

"I don't think she's used to topless young men calling on me." Sally said with quiet amusement.

To her surprise, Wufei didn't come back with a witty retort...he didn't comment at all, in fact. She frowned and put down the shirt she had been making. "How is your family?"

"Fine." Wufei answered automatically, but by the sudden thoughtful look the question sparked, Sally doubted he even knew.

"I hear Meiran is seeing a palace Doctor..." Wufei seemed to darken more at the remark and Sally's heart quickened. "Is she alright?"

"I...think so..." Wufei looked genuinely troubled with not knowing.

"Alright then, what is this all about?" Sally asked.

Wufei took a deep breath and with a deeply troubled expression, told her the whole story, ending with his sparring sessions with the prince. His voice was horse by the time he finished.

Sally's mouth hung open slightly in shock. There were too many things that she just couldn't believe. Wufei's parents—who were nice, but very traditional—had not only let Wufei dress like a woman, but had actually come up with the idea? And Wufei—who had always been so 'macho' that he wouldn't even play with her after his 6th birthday—had actually agreed? Of course, she had seen him in his dress... when Quinze had come to her for directions to the Chang house... but she had dismissed it as some kind of joke or... something... she had pushed it to the back of her mind and tried to forget it, which isn't an unusual thing to do when someone is faced with something so utterly incomprehensible.

Wufei glanced over and a bitter smirk itched at his mouth. "Close your mouth, you're starting to drool."

Sally closed her mouth and glared. She was glad that Wufei was at least a little more like himself, though she kept the thought to herself. "So... why are you telling me this?"

Wufei looked away and grudgingly mumbled: "I need your help."

~

"But Lady Hilde, it's hot out here!" Dorothy complained, trying to cool her face with a hand fan that was obviously made more for decoration then use.

"I told you not to wear all those skirts!" Hilde said. She stopped to get a look around while her friend took a painfully needed breather. "Honestly... You're going to draw attention when we get there..."

Dorothy put an overly decorated handkerchief on the nearest rock and daintily sat down. "I wasn't going to wear the ones you gave me... they were the ugliest things I've ever seen..."

Hilde laughed and spun around to admire her 'rustic' attire. "But they're so much more comfortable! And if we're going to a village, we can't look like nobility."

"God forbid they treat us with the respect we deserve... dirty smelly-"

"What was that?"

"Nothing, your highness!" Dorothy said with a charming smile that never seemed to have the effect she was hoping for with Hilde. "I'm just so happy you wanted me to come along with you!"

Hilde sobered. "Zechs wouldn't come with me... says he has more important people to do... or something." She sighed. "But this is for the good of my brother!"

"Such a noble cause!" Dorothy said with awe-filled eyes. "But what can we achieve there?" she asked, pointing to the far off beginnings of a village.

"We need dirt on this Wufei chick... I know she's odd, I'm just not sure how..." Hilde looked to the village with ambitious fire in her eyes. "I'll find out what that hussy is hiding!" She looked back at Dorothy with a sheepish smile. "It gives me something to do anyway, I've been bored lately..."

~

Wufei sneezed.

"Bless you." Sally smiled. "Someone must be talking about you."

Wufei glared. "Idiotic superstitions... So can you help me or not?"

Sally thought a moment, unfazed by his rudeness because she knew he wasn't happy with asking for help... especially the kind of help he was asking for. "I can design something that will be more... constraining..." She frowned. "But I think you should just tell him."

Wufei opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it and looked away in shame. "I know..."

"You really like him..." Sally commented, trying to keep the smile from her lips without much success.

Wufei stood abruptly and paced the room, his face bearing a troubled look. He didn't answer.

"What are you so afraid of?" Sally asked.

"I'm not afraid!" Wufei shouted. He realized that his over-reaction proved his guilt and he stopped his pacing to explain. "This doesn't take the kind of bravery I've trained for. I am ready to risk my body, my life... But my family? Their honor... My honor..." he laughed bitterly. "It wasn't supposed to be this way."

He was unsettlingly open and vulnerable. Sally hadn't seen such raw emotion in Wufei since he was a toddler. She was silent a moment, letting him try to sort it out on his own before interjecting a thought that she was almost sure would anger him. "You're afraid of losing him."

Wufei's eyes darted to her.

"You're afraid he will hate you. This isn't about your honor, your family's honor or even Meiran's health anymore, is it?" Sally asked, keeping her voice steady. It was important that he heard the words, but if they held any kind of mockery or even sympathy, he wouldn't listen.

Wufei stared at her for a long time, his jaw set but his eyes calm. She couldn't tell if he was looking at her, or past her into his own thoughts. She waited calmly, not even daring to move.

"It was not supposed to be this way!" He repeated. He sat down heavily on the floor and buried his face in his hands.

"What wasn't supposed to be this way? You aren't talking about this plan your parents had..."

Wufei didn't answer.

Sally breathed deeply and averted her eyes. "That's why you came here... You could have dealt with your other problem with a little brain storming... You didn't come here for a solution for that."

Wufei's hands fell from his face. He stared intently at the space of floor six inches from his foot.

Sally's eyes softened as she looked into her past, and what she spoke next held the faded emotions left from their host memories. "When Noin came here, she was a wandering mercenary. This was…oh, four or so years past. She was in need of shelter and my family gave it without hesitation. I was a shy around her at first, though I couldn't understand why. It wasn't a trait I had possessed before then... I remember, I would watch her practice from my window in the mornings. She was so strong... I had never before seen that in a woman." She laughed. "Other than Meiran of course, but I thought that was because you...well, she was...different. Anyway, eventually I got the courage to speak to her... We became quick friends, and even later..." She laughed. "Well, I wont speak further on that." Sally's face fell. "When my parents found out..."

Wufei turned from the small patch of floor and looked closely at his childhood friend. So many years he had known her, yet he had not once heard this story.

"They were so angry..." Sally went on. "They threw Noin out of the house and locked me in my room. I had always been an obedient child and the thought of doing something they disapproved of filled me with so much shame..." There was a long pause. "Noin visited me again," she started, her voice a notch tighter than before, "late one night a few days after she was exiled. But I couldn't stand the sight of her. I pushed her away, called her names, told her I never wanted to see her again... This was only because of my parents. Their hate became my hate, it was the only way I knew how to cope."

Wufei frowned. "Then how...?"

Sally smiled brightly. "She isn't one to give up, not my Luci."

Wufei was taken back by the sudden mood change and use of Noin's pet name. He doubted many others knew of it.

Sally laughed, her eyes shining as she recalled the rest. "She came to my window every night and we fought in the fiercest whispers we could manage. She was adamantly claiming that I loved her and I was stubbornly denying it of course. I remember my last argument..." her face saddened. "I shouted at the top of my lungs: 'I'm not sick!' I said, 'I'm not twisted like you'. The look on her face... My parents came running into my room and when I turned to blame my outburst on her, she was gone." She fixed her eyes solidly on Wufei. "At that moment, I realized that I did, of course, loved her. Every doubt I had was not my own, but my mind trying to stop something my heart had already decided. I didn't care if my family disapproved, that I would most likely be homeless and lose any chance of a comfortable life because of it." Sally smiled sadly. "I loved her, no more excuses."

Wufei waited a few long moments before he glared. "Are you going to keep me in suspense? Damn it woman, what happened?"

Sally laughed. "I ran away, simple as that. I searched every house for her. And eventually...well, I found her here." She looked around the house. "An old woman took her in the day my parents kicked her out. She said she needed a strong man around the house... Noin was desperate and didn't argue," Sally said with a suppressed smile. "I moved in and when the woman died, she gave the house to us... On her death bed she said we should raise a family here." Sally smiled. "We didn't have the heart to tell her why it wasn't possible."

Wufei actually laughed despite himself. "Tricking a senile old woman out of her house... shameless," the words held no venom, but were spoken almost with almost friendly lightness. "That was a long and pointless story." He said dryly.

"It had a point." Sally defended.

"Which was?"

Sally shook her head. "You would put your mother to shame... The point is that your heart has already made its decision, it's your head that's holding you back."

Wufei was silent for a long while but Sally didn't push a response.

After a few minutes he stood and dusted off his clothes. This was an odd gesture since they were a more than a little torn and he was still shirtless. "Well, you aren't any help." He complained. He glanced up and their eyes met. In a breath's time he apologized and thanked her without a word between them.

Sally smiled with fake bitterness. "Ingrate."

Wufei smirked with a familiar bite of fire in his eyes that Sally had missed since their meeting began... and even longer than that, though she wouldn't admit just how much she had missed their loving rivalry.

Wufei puffed his chest a bit. He was already rebuilding his lost dignity...or arrogance, rather. "I must be going. Sorry to disappoint you, but I have more important things to do than sit around and chat with you."

"I'm crushed that you find wearing dresses more enjoyable than visiting with those who deserve to wear them in the first place."

Wufei laughed. "I cringe at the thought of that masculine female you call your lover in a dress. I have more grace at four in the morning than that woman has all day."

Sally laughed. "That is an interesting thing to boast about. Are you going to compare breast size next?" Sally retaliated with a triumphant smirk. Oh how she had missed their verbal duels. Wufei stalled a second, searching for something to come back with, but Sally didn't give him the chance. "You had to be going?"

Wufei glared but eventually gave a curt nod. "Yes..."

~

Hilde looked around the village and started to feel regretful of her decision to leave Quinze behind... And for not writing down his directions.

"Um...Hilde-sama... Where is her house?" Dorothy asked cautiously.

Hilde laughed nervously. "Um... either west or east of town... or was it north? It's not south! ...I think..."

Dorothy flinched.

"Ah!" Hilde exclaimed with a bright smile. "I know it's not east! We came from there!"

Dorothy just barely kept her groan from escaping. She was beginning to regret this little outing, even if it gave her time with Hilde.

Her highness was still trying to remember what Quinze had said when a nearby door opened. Hilde and Dorothy turned to see a half-naked boy walk out of a small house on the town's edge.

Hilde was about to speak up to ask directions when a blonde woman came to the door and called out to the boy. "Wufei wait!"

Hilde's eyes widened. 'Wufei? No... It can't be...' even as the thought formed in her mind, Hilde had Dorothy by the arm, dragging her to a nearby house to hide behind.

"Highness?"

"Hush!"

The boy—Wufei?—turned to the woman, his face undeniably familiar.

The woman smiled warmly. "Give my love to your family. Especially Meiran.

The boy nodded gravely, his long black hair falling over his face. He didn't brush it away, even as he started walking out of town.

Hilde stared, even after his half-bare figure disappeared into thick forest surrounding the town and the woman had gone back into her house, until Dorothy tugged at her sleeve, demanding her attention.

"Hilde...what just happened?" Dorothy asked, dropping her formality in shock.

"That was Wufei..." Hilde said quietly.

It couldn't be... of all the terrible secrets she had thought up for her brother's... friend... this was most definitely not on the list. Did Heero know? If he didn't, should she tell him?

"Then she really is..." Dorothy trailed off.

As they walked home in silence, the same thought marched through Hilde's mind. Pounding, echoing, repeating...

'Wufei is a man...'

~()~

"Oh. I got carried away... the spaghetti is probably done..." Trowa informed his openmouthed listeners. "I should go-"

Duo and Quatre, who were sitting on the floor in front of him, grabbed his pant legs simultaneously. "You stop, you die." Duo said darkly.

Trowa frowned but didn't protest.

~()~

Wufei passed silently under the forest roof, the shade cool on his bare skin. He walked slowly, his mind thick with thoughts and worries.

So the truth was love? That's what Sally had said... And though he dreaded the idea, he knew it was true. He was in love. It sounded so wrong though! He had never really planned to fall in love. It wasn't that he didn't want to, he just didn't think it was in his character, he didn't think it was possible that there was something in this world that he couldn't control or destroy. In the back of his mind, he had always believed love was a dysfunction that would be ineffective on him. He would never allow himself to be so vulnerable. Was this ignorance or arrogance? It didn't mater, the result was the same, he was in love despite himself.

He wanted to blame Heero... or his parents, or even Meiran... but the thoughts were just thoughts. He had no conviction. He was in love with Heero, and it was his own fault. Now he had to live with the consequences... and in the most realistic of possible scenarios, they weren't very good.

Wufei was kept company on his trek home by these imaginings of the future. Possibility after possibility played through his head, a ceaseless stream of alternate endings and probable climaxes to this awkward and shameful drama. In one such scene, Heero was furious and threw him out a convenient fifth story window... In another, Heero was incredibly happy, saying that he liked men better anyway...

Some of these he denied immediately like the impossible scenarios where everything was easy and light-hearted. Those were far too idealistic. Telling Heero would be hard, harder even than the unavoidable conversation with his parents. On the other side of the spectrum, were the worst endings he could create. These, instead of being discarded, buried themselves deep in his heart, seeding doubt and fear deep in his unconscious mind. Despite all this, was determined to tell Heero. He had to. This he had known for a long time, but had pushed it back with the truth about his feelings.

These thoughts were still clouding Wufei's mind when he stepped out of the sharp line of trees that surrounded his childhood home...

...Yet despite the sudden brightness of the late afternoon sun, cold like a bitter snowstorm passed through his body. His heart skipped a beat and then came back pumping with fear-induced haste. Something dark and indescribably frightening flooded into Wufei's soul, burning away any previous thought he had.

It was sudden, but absolute. This feeling...this knowledge... 'Something is wrong...' It was more of an emotion than a solid thought.

Panic quickly overcame him. He rushed to the house, feeling the air press against him the closer he got to the home he had practically abandoned. But even before he opened the door and released the sound of his mother's weeping from the house's stale air, Wufei knew what it was.

Wufei fell against the door's frame, his chest constricting in pain.

Inside, Wufei's mother was leaning heavily on her husband, her face buried in the old man's chest as her whole body shook with sorrow. His father stood as solid as he always did, but his face was set in a deep frown, and his eyes held back the threat of tears. As the orbs, black as Wufei's own, focused on the light rimmed figure of his son, a rogue tear broke away and streaked across his weathered face. No words passed his lips, as though he understood that Wufei already knew. He didn't move, but watched Wufei with the intensity of his crippling pain.

Wufei's mother finally pulled away from her husband's arms to look at him. The tranquil face Wufei had always known was stained with past tears as new ones flowed without hesitation. She brought a pale hand to cover her mouth as she shook with new sobs at the sight of her already grieving son.

Wufei's eyes burned as they flicked from his father to his mother. He couldn't summon his voice to ask the question, but he didn't need to. He already knew...he knew everything...

"Wufei..." His mother whispered. She reached out to him, her thin, delicate hand starting to shake as her tears fell faster.

As the first hot tear streamed down Wufei's cheek he took a step back, his body convulsing as he tried to hold in his pain. 'No... She was getting better! It was all for her... how could the doctors have failed? Why didn't anyone tell me?!'

"Wufei, please..." His mother pled, her lips shaking.

Wufei shook his head. He stumbled blindly backward, unable to tear his eyes from his suddenly frail mother. She cried out to him, jerking awkwardly away from his father to reach for him, but he turned and ran for the forest.

He ran, his mother's tears and the pain in his father's eyes burning into his mind's eye. The wind from his run made the tears streaming from his face burn like ice held too long, but he wouldn't slow. He ran because it was all he could do. The pain was greater than anything he could have imagined on his darkest day. It ate at his heart, his soul. It burned at his core with a blue flamed fire, somehow cold and hot at the same time.

She was gone. His strong, feisty, passionate, silently loving and beloved sister... The girl whom he had always tried to protect, despite her unwillingness to be protected... The sister for whom he would have given his life without a thought, had he only been given the choice... the sister whom he had taken care of since the day her illness struck...

...His Meiran was gone.

~()~

The last line was the last spoken between the boys for the rest of the night.

Trowa silently lead his crying roommates up to bed, lay beside them without a fuss, and held them long after their tears slowed. They didn't leave that comfort, only shifted closer and held each other tight as the night grew darker and their breath slowed.

Next Chapter:
In which Heero is shocked into delving deeper into his feelings for Wufei...

[1] "What does YnM TxH PWP mean? Is that English?"
To translate, this means it is a Yami no Matsuei fic about Tsuzuki and Hisoka that is more porn than plot. Yami no Matsuei (Or Descendants of Darkness) is an anime (and manga, though the manga isn't liscensed in America...yet) about a sort of afterlife detective agency… It's a good watch and it has yaoi overtones ^_^ good times for all.

Authors after note:
Heh...so yeah... all angry letters, rants and/or complaints can be sent to me Shininikki@hotmail.com ^_^;; if you want an explanation or anything, I can do that too...