Ninth Chapter, dun dun dun. These are coming quickly. Lucky people who is reading this story...

Disclaimer: I, Sutoomu(Storm), do NOT own Gundam Wing in any way. None at all. This fanfiction was made purely for fun and does not get me money in any way. Besides, it's not as though I have any money to be sued for...

Hiryonin Ichimei

Slave Life

Storm

Heero was woken slowly by a soft sound. It seemed to be a whimper, and he opened his eyes, looking in concern at Duo. Once again, Duo had opted to stay as far away from Heero as possible on the bed. Heero suspected he would have slept on the floor if it didn't get so cold at night. Duo was now huddled, his back to Heero, his braid flowing over his shoulder. He was shaking slightly, and sniff reached Heero's ears. Duo was crying!

"Duo," he touched him on the shoulder. Duo flinched away and sat up. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Heero," Duo sniffed, wiping a sleeve across his face, keeping his back to Heero. He sounded angry. "Perfectly dandy." He snorted and stood up, walking away from Heero and entering the washroom. Heero sat up and stared at the door, waiting. Heero wasn't sure how long had passed by when he stood up and followed, but he knew it was too much for an average bathroom trip. Putting his ear to the door, he heard soft sobs. He knocked softly on the door. "Duo?"

There was a moment of silence, and Heero repeated himself. Finally, Duo spoke, his voice muffled through the door. "Go back to bed, Heero, I'm fine."

"Duo, what's wrong?" Heero persisted through the door.

"I'm fine, Heero," Duo repeated a bit more firmly as Heero rattled the locked doorknob.

"Duo, you…," Heero began, only to be cut off by Duo's shout.

"I said I'm fine!" his voice cried, raised. "Now leave me alone!" Heero heard a sudden crash and Duo cursed fluently, along with a small grunt of pain. "Dammit."

"Duo what happened?" Heero asked, and Duo swore again, refusing to reply his question.

"Fine," Heero muttered, walking to his dresser. He withdrew a small brown box, and lifted a key out of it, then proceeded to unlock his bathroom door. He swung the door open and looked at Duo, who was currently holding his head with one hand and his leg with the other, which was bleeding. He sat in a pile of glass, obviously his mirror, and had a few visible other visible cuts.

"Damn stupid corner," he was muttering, then he noticed Heero and swore again at his discovery.

"What did you do?" Heero stared.

"Me?" Duo defended automatically. "I didn't do anything. All I did was kick the counter and the whole mirror falls on my head! Not to mention the counter retaliated and stabbed me! It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Everything's banding together to cause me as much pain as they can!"

"It's a counter, Duo, and a mirror," Heero pointed out. "It's not alive."

"So!" Duo replied. "They can still cause bodily harm, and look!" He waved his arm and exclaimed angrily to Heero. "Why couldn't you just leave me the hell alone!"

Heero knelt down and picked Duo up out of the glass, muttering something. Duo winced as he led the boy out of the room and placed him on a chair, looking for the aid case.

"Stupid rich boys!" Duo continued to snarl. "Can't keep their noses out of a good decent slave's life…" Heero came back with the case. "What gives you the right…?" He broke off with a small cry as Heero slammed the wooden case of bandages on the table, creating a resounding bang and the sound of splintering wood.

"I was worried about you, okay!" he yelled. "I was worried about you!"

Duo looked at Heero, who clutched the box with white knuckles, eyes closed tightly. "Why would a prince be worried about a slave?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Heero burst out, a hand flying to his head. "I don't know. I don't know why I'm worried about you being hurt or running away and not coming back! I don't know why I care if you're crying or hurting or sad! I've only known you for a day. Why? I never used to care…" Questioning came into Heero's eyes as he stared at nothing, then he abruptly turned and left the room, holding his head. Duo stood up to follow and grabbed the edge of the table just in time as his punctured leg flamed. He cursed as he realized it wasn't good to go after Heero until he was fixed up. Quatre appeared in the door, golden white hair disheveled. A sleepy eyed Trowa appeared behind him, looking down the hall where Heero was just vanishing around a corner.

"I told you he was hurt, Trowa," Quatre said. He moved over to Duo and looked at him in concern. Trowa looked at the two slaves, then out at the hall again. He walked away, going after Heero.

"Duo, what happened?" Quatre asked softly.

Duo rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed sadly. "I..I had a nightmare, and I wouldn't tell Heero and he kept asking me and I got mad. I kicked the bathroom counter, and it stabbed me and the mirror fell on my head," Duo explained, pulling a sharp piece of glass out of his hand. He sighed. "And now Heero's mad at me, I think. He ran off, and I can't follow him because of my bloody leg!" Quatre took the bandages and began to clean up Duo's leg quietly, smiling at his choice of words. Duo groaned and set his head in his hands. "I don't understand, anymore, Quat," he whispered. "He's not a normal slave owner. I can't deal with him, I don't know how!"

"It's okay, Duo," Quatre consoled, calming the Draeid's heart. "It'll all be alright."

"I've never had a master that didn't beat me or hurt me or treat me like shit," Duo continued. "I knew how to deal with them. Either a quick knife on the throat or a long piece of rope. Hell, I even strangled one master with my own slave chain," Duo moved the collared hand so the thin yet strong silver chain made a small shink. Quatre hadn't wanted to hear this, so he tried to close his ears, but, of course, that was physically impossible. "But Heero…he hasn't done anything, and I don't understand why not? I'm not servient, or humble, or meek. I don't listen half the time and I shoot my mouth off. I disobey all the time. In fact, I rarely ever obey at all. I've killed my past masters and men and I'm not pure or anything like you, Quat." Duo moaned into his hands. "I can't hurt someone who has done no wrong. AndI can't run away from a place as nice as this!"

"Maybe not all slave masters are cruel," Quatre said softly. "Trowa isn't. He's the nicest person I've ever known. And I don't think Heero is cruel, either."

"But…if they weren't cruel, they wouldn't even have slaves!" Duo protested weakly.

"From what I recall, they said their father ordered them to," Quatre replied. He finished fixing Duo's leg and moved to his cuts from the glass. "So they didn't ask for personal slaves. Myself, I'm thankful that I'm Trowa's slave. I…I think it could be a lot worse…" Quatre trailed off in his sentence and met Duo's eyes solidly. "I was scared, Duo. One moment I was just wandering in the woods, angry at my father, and the next I was in shackles, captured like an animal. My captors told me I was a slave and some of the things slaves do, and I was terrified. I stopped speaking, I was so scared, and…and then Trowa came along, and…well, I'm glad I have Trowa as my…master, and not someone else. I think…I think I love Trowa."

"You love him?" Duo asked with wide eyes.

Quatre didn't answer his question, just continued talking. "And you should be happy that Heero is as nice as he is."

"I will never be happy to be a slave," Duo growled, and Quatre flinched.

"I…I didn't mean that…I just…"

"Sorry, Quat," Duo apologized sadly. "I'm not mad at you, I'm just mad at my life right now. Okay, Heero's a good guy, but he's still a slave owner, and I've been a slave since I was twelve. I can't like someone who owns slaves…"

"But you do."

Duo blinked and looked at Quatre. "What…?"

"You do like Heero," Quatre said. "You don't want to because you think you have to hate all slave owners, because they've treated you bad in the past, but you still do inside. And you're scared because you like him."

"Like…Heero?" Duo repeated. Did he? Did Duo, the wild Draied, the thief, the outcast, the assassin and killer, actually like Heero Yuy? But he couldn't. It was wrong, all wrong. He can't like a master, a prince none the less. He can't…"…Can I?" he whispered. Heero was different. He had been worried that Duo was hurt, worried that he would run away and not come back. Why would he care if Duo ran away?

"Do what I do, Duo," Quatre smiled warmly, placing a hand on his chest. "Follow your heart first, your head next." And he placed one last bandage on a long cut and stood up, walking to the door to leave Duo to his thoughts with a smile.

Review! Constructively critisize! NOW! Heheh, srry, I'm going a little wacko...please don't flame me...I don't want to burn!

Storm