Quicky 'for note:
Some of the italics and such refuse to work! I'm sorry my formatting is crap! Please enjoy despite my incompetence!

Name: Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon a Cross Dresser
Author: Nataku's Child
Archive: Not up yet...
Feedback: Yeah! Shininikki@hotmail.com

Couples: 1+5 (he he he...) 2x3x4 (Yum!)

Disclaimer: Yes, yes... Don't own, don't own...

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

"Great perfection seems incomplete,
But does not decay;
Great abundance seems empty,
But does not fail."

Scratch. Mew. Purrrr…

"Great truth seems contradictory;
Great cleverness seems stupid;
Great eloquence seems awkward."

Purrrr... Paw-paw. Mew.

"As spring overcomes the cold,
And autumn overcomes the heat,
So calm and quiet overcome the world."
[1]

Wufei's eyebrow twitched as the most annoying thing ever conceived by...whatever it was conceived by, finally plopped down on his lap after ten long minutes of preparing the space for its rest. Wufei put down his old and battered copy of the Tao Te Ching and glared at the furry hell spawn known simply as Kobi. He wasn't sure why this "Kobi" had chosen to follow him around for the past few hours, batting at his legs and mewing incessantly. Either the kitten liked him and didn't realize it was incredibly annoying, or hated him and was trying to slowly kill and/or drive him insane.

Wufei glared for a few long moments. It was sort of cute... All fluff and innocence... It purred louder then one would think something so small could manage... Wufei cautiously touched the curled up ball of fluff with a single finger. Well, it didn't explode. He stroked it a little, still only willing to touch it with one finger. Kobi seemed to like it seeing as he leaned into the touch. Wufei, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had been afraid of a kitten, started petting him normally. Apparently this angered Kobi. With a tiny hiss he scratched Wufei's hand and darted under the couch.

"Damn cat!" Wufei shouted, holding his assaulted hand.

Insanity was the goal... Yes, that cat was out to destroy his mind...

Wufei glared grumpily at the couch for a few moments before turning his anger to his hosts, who had disappeared immediately after dinner.

~~Earlier that night~~

Wufei was speaking to Trowa about the latest funding problems for the Preventers when Quatre and Duo finished with the dishes.

"Well that's that! Time for bed!" Duo announced, grabbing Quatre by the wrist and dragging him across the kitchen.

Wufei's eyebrows arched. "It's 7:30..."

Duo yawned loudly. "Yup. Long day. I'm beat. To bed!" he dragged poor Trowa out of his chair.

"But Duo..." Trowa started to protest.

"No buts! Early bird gets the worm and all that crap... G'night Fei-chan!"

Before Wufei could argue, they were gone.

~~Back to the present Wufei~~

Wufei crossed his arms angrily. Something wasn't right, but he didn't really want to think about it. In the back of his mind he had some suspicions, but they brought on unwelcome visuals. It wasn't that he was homophobic, he was uncomfortable with any form of intimacy. On top of that, he had known them for so long that the thought of them together... Well, he would rather not think about it at all.

'They were tired... They were just tired...' He told himself.

He looked at his watch. 'I suppose I can go to sleep...' Then he remembered the previous night. He had been so disgusted with the condition of the room that he opted for the floor rather than the questionable bed. 'I'm not sure I want to do that again... maybe I can just sleep on the couch…?' He then remembered that Kobi was somewhere under there and immediately changed his mind. He sighed and grumpily made his way to Duo's room.

On the way however, something caught his attention. From one of the rooms came the sound of muffled voices... No, it was only one voice... Wufei, stopped walking and leaned closer to the closed door. 'It's Trowa,' he recognized immediately. He was speaking in a low but clear voice. He was about to turn away when out of a line of words he didn't pay much attention to, he heard one that sparked his interest: His name.

~~Earlier~~

"That wasn't very nice..." Quatre complained in worry as he was pushed into Trowa's room.

"Trowa's fault." Duo said with a nod, walking past Quatre to make a dive for the bed.

"How so?" Trowa asked, closing the door behind him self.

"You decided to jip us on the last story telling, you gotta make up for it now." Duo explained as he spread his limbs across the bed. He motioned for the others to join him.

Quatre reluctantly accepted his silent invitation. "But we've hardly seen Wufei at all. Besides, it's rude to leave someone all alone the whole night!"

Duo smiled and wrapped his arms around Quatre's waist. "We'll make it up to him, don't worry. Now stop complaining, you know you want more Cross Dresser just as much as I do."

Quatre looked guilty. "But..."

Trowa smiled. "We can take the day off tomorrow to spend catching up with Wufei. I'm sure Une will understand." He joined them on the bed, reaching across Quatre to lay his hand on Duo's hip.

Quatre sighed. "Alright..."

Duo grinned at Trowa and winked.

Trowa's lip curled slightly in response. "It's settled then. Now let's continue..."

~()~

The night had grown unusually cold.

Whether it was a bad omen or the simple fact that the forest got colder than the rest of the kingdom was something Heero had no time to contemplate. With the weak light of his lantern, Heero desperately tried to decipher the trail Wufei had taken. It was faint, but the path was there. Wufei had apparently used it before...many times, in fact. But in the dark it was hard to keep track of.

He was probably being foolish. Light, a proper search team and maybe some less expensive clothing that wouldn't be torn to shreds by the foliage... All of these could have helped the search. Even as he thought this, however, it was dismissed. Any discomfort he was experiencing, Wufei had endured for several days. And for a female, it was probably ten times as worse...

Heero's lip twitched in an unexpected smile. Wufei was unquestionably the toughest woman he had ever known, and he couldn't imagine her being so delicate as to be afraid or even discouraged by a dark and dangerous forest. She was like no other woman imaginable... That was what drew him to her. She had strength in spirit as well as body that could never be matched by any other woman he had met, and probably most (if not all) men. She was different in every way that she could be, and he had fallen frighteningly fast for her.

Heero snapped to attention as the light from his lantern fell on something different: empty space. There seemed to be a clearing ahead. Heero sped up at the promise of a place to rest a moment to recollect him self. The lantern light spilled past the barrier of trees and into a space of nothing but long grass as far as it could reach. Heero felt a small flush of relief at seeing a temporary safe spot. He sat down at the edge with the lantern placed at his side. The oil in it was running low. If he didn't find Wufei soon, he would have to wait until daylight anyway.

With a tense sigh, Heero leaned against a nearby tree and closed his eyes. He already felt drained of energy and helplessness was seeping into his mind. What if the trail wasn't really there? Or he had lost it in the darkness and taken a wrong turn? How did he expect to find-

Nearby, something made a noise.

Heero stopped breathing. His eyes darted in the darkness but saw only that. He strained his ears to hear the noise again. It was there... Something was in the darkness, so close that he could hear its breath rattling in its throat. Heero slowly rearranged his body until he was in a tense crutch, ready to defend himself against the hidden threat.

Then it coughed.

Heero's eyes widen as he recognized the noises as human. He grabbed the lantern and rushed towards the raspy breathing, his heart pounding with hope and fear. The light fell on a fallen figure wrapped tightly in damp and dirty cloth, its body shaking with troubled breath. The clothes he knew, but even more familiar was the black silken hair that fell to cover the figure's face. Heero fell to his knees and desperately pulled the hair from Wufei's face. Her cheeks were ice cold and deathly pale in the flickering light of his discarded lantern.

"Wufei? Wufei, wake up!" He cried as he pulled her into his arms, cradling her face in hopes of warming it.

~

Out of the stretches of cold and silence, pain and insanity, came something clear and warm...

No... There was something clear and something warm...

Wufei broke out in shivers as he woke from his fog filled dreams. Something was bringing him back... Someone was calling his name...

Wufei...

It was frightened... That wasn't what was warm... His face was warm... He hadn't been warm for an eternity, why now?

Please... Wufei...

He felt his body suddenly struck with tiny pinpricks on every inch. He attempted to cry out but his voice wouldn't work. He tried to move but his limbs didn't respond. What was happening?

Wufei? It's Heero... Open your eyes... Please?

Open...?

He tried once, but they didn't stay open... Why was it so bright?

"Wufei!!" The voice was stronger now, and he could feel hands on his face, callused but warm. "Wake up!"

Wufei had to blink rapidly at first, but eventually his eyes stayed open and focused.

'Heero...' He tried to say it but the name held no sound other than in his head. What was wrong with his voice?

His vision blurred and he tried to call out again, but nothing sounded and blackness took him again.

~

Quinze had gone to collect a search party.

'Though it is probably to find his prince, rather then my son.' Mr. Chang reflected.

The old man stood a few feet from the mouth of the forest path, his eyes fixed on the space between the trees. He waited, just as his wife had waited for days previous, for his son to return. His son and that boy.

That boy... The Prince who had taken an uninformed liking to his Wufei... Who was he? Since the day Quinze had taken Wufei from their home, the family began seeing less and less of him. 'The boy who stole my son.' He thought with weary sorrow before reprimanding himself. His son was not stolen, but had grown. He was now a man, separated from his family by time not circumstance. Though Mr. Chang had known the day would come, it didn't make it easier to let go, especially under such conditions.

Mr. Chang frowned deeply. 'What does this Heero know of Wufei? He thinks my son is a woman! And yet...'

         "I'm going to look for her."
         "It is dark! I can send a search party in the morning. Please, it is far too dangerous."
         "I don't care."

'He cares for Wufei...' he thought with resignation. 'Does he care enough, though? Will it change when he learns the truth?'

Faintly he started to hear the crunching of feet coming from the forest... Two feet... There was only one coming.

Mr. Chang strode up the path's edge and peered through the foliage, but could not see anything. No light shown through, he could only hear the footsteps. Tense moments passed before he saw the person, but when he did the first joy he felt in years was granted him.

Heero came through the path, Wufei held tightly in his arms. Heero looked up in surprise at Mr. Chang. With amusement, he guessed Heero had not realized where he was going. That amusement quickly extinguished when he laid eyes on his only son, sickly pale and unconscious. Before he could lift a foot toward the couple, the door behind him burst open and out ran his wife.

She darted past her husband without even a glance in his direction and gasped when she stopped in front of Heero. With one hand to her mouth, she placed the other to Wufei's face in a gentle and fearful way. Her shoulders slumped in relief as she felt warm breath from his lips, despite the deathly cold of his skin. She stepped back and bowed as low as her aging body could manage. "Thank you." Her voice shook.

Heero was taken aback a moment. Not because of the display, but of how much he felt for this woman with whom he'd never spoken to before less than an hour ago. He nodded uncomfortably. "Is there somewhere she can rest?"

Mrs. Chang straightened and nodded. "Of course."

Mr. Chang held back as his wife led Heero into the house. He looked once again to the barely visible path between the trees and frowned. 'He managed to find Wufei from a path that to most is invisible... This is far greater a danger that we have pushed our son into than I could have imagined.'

His heart heavy with foreboding, Wufei's father followed the others into the house.

~

When Quinze arrived at Chang House, the prince and Mr. Chang were sitting in silence in the main room.

Quinze dipped his head quickly. "Your highness, what happened?" he asked, clearly confused that the Prince wasn't in the middle of a forest freezing to death.

Heero blinked in surprise. Once again he had not noticed Quinze was there until he spoke. "She's resting." He replied.

Quinze frowned at the lack of information. Heero was there, however, which meant that Quinze had not lost the heir to the thrown and would therefore not loose his head. Happy to be alive, Quinze sat with the other men to wait until he could leave all this ugly business—and ugly house, he added to himself—behind him.

Ten or so minutes later, Wufei's mother entered from one of the curtain-separated rooms and with a relieved smile, assured them that Wufei would be fine. "She needs a warm bed to sleep in for the night, and she may have a slight fever for a little while, but she will recover."

Quinze was amazed at how learned she was. She spoke perfectly but for her accent.

"Can I see her?" Heero asked.

With a sad smile the woman nodded and gestured toward the door.

~

Heero stepped into a room that was small, but undoubtedly Wufei's. Various poles and wooden weapons stood in racks and a makeshift bookcase sat near them. More of the scrolls with odd characters on them littered the walls, filling everything except for a small picture above a rather large portion of empty space. Heero walked closer to the picture. It was sketch of two children, one about two and the other an infant. The older one was watching over the infant as it slept. Heero looked down to the empty space he stood in, so odd in a room so small...

Wufei shifted in her sleep, drawing Heero's attention away from the picture. He kneeled beside the low bed, which seemed to only be a thick pad on the floor. Wufei was asleep under many layers of blankets. Her cheeks were slightly pink as warmth returned to them. Her hand fell from the confines of the covers and Heero grabbed it as it dropped. It was still cold. He held it in both hands as he watched her sleep and, hopefully, recover.

~

In the other room a hushed argument was taking place.

"Mr. Quinze, please understand. We lost our daughter recently and just now almost lost our... other daughter. You wish to take her away from us so soon after we get her back?" Mr. Chang struggled to keep his voice down.

Quinze was stubborn. "I don't want to take your daughter from you, but you must understand that the prince is not going to leave her!"

"Please keep your voices low," Mrs. Chang urged, glancing at Wufei's room in worry.

"He can stay here then." Mr. Chang spoke with forced calm. "My daughter is not leaving this house."

Quinze's face contorted as though he smelled something horrible. "That isn't your choice Mr. Chang. I can remove her from here if I want to. However, you can choose to let her go with grace and avoid trouble."

Mr. Chang's voice turned dark. "Is that a threat?"

Mrs. Chang stepped between the two, placing a calming hand on her husband's arm. "Please, Mr. Quinze, my daughter isn't well, I must care for her."

Quinze straightened his gloves unnecessarily. "We have doctors at the palace. Professionals."

Mrs. Chang could feel her husband's anger at the insult, but her worries were elsewhere. "I would like to see to her myself. I beg you. She is my daughter."

Quinze was silent a moment. "Fine," he said finally. "You will come as well."

~()~

Wufei sat with his back pressed against Trowa's door for a long while after Trowa's voice faded and Duo's loud snores began.

Next Chapter:
Like a curse, Wufei's secret torments those who hold it and planning begins for Heero's birthday party.

[1] This translation was taken from Mr. Peter Merel's site...I wish I could give you the address but FF.net won't let me -_-

End Author's Note:
Greetings! I'm sorry this chapter took so long, only for it to be this short! But please understand that the next chapters are going to be longer. I know this is just a tiny plot step and I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner! On a different note, I realized a while after I sent the last chapter that I mentioned my Live Journal but FF.net removed the address (I didn't know they didn't like addresses) However you can find the link as my homepage on my user profile-y-page.
It isn't all updates, but any updates are marked specifically as such so you can just ignore the other crap! It's just me whining about how bad my really good life is ^_^;; heh. So check it out! Or don't! I'm just here to serve *bows*
-Me