Author: Keiran
Title: A World in a Grain of Sand 6/?
Pairings: 1+2, minor 4x5x4 and 3xD (don't ask .)
Rating: It probably doesn't deserve an R, but let it be so. Just to be safe and all.
Genre: Romance, mild angst, historical sort of fantasy.
Warnings: Shounen-ai. Mild bastardisation of the pilots minus Duo. Smart and nice Relena.
Archive: my site: the URL is on my profile page. If you want it, drop me a line. ^_^
Big thanks to Sundaire, for betaing this fic. bows
***
Time does
not pass quickly when one eagerly awaits it's passing. The great general was
finding that statement more and more true, as he stayed in the palace, scaring
the living daylights out of everyone who ventured too near. The only good thing
about the situation was that he achieved the opinion of being such a zealous
legalist with a bad temper that no bailiff dared to step out of line anymore.
The summer was coming to an end, the leaves turning slowly from green to
yellow, orange and red. Harvest was almost finished, and the adjoining villages
had already started preparing for the nearing winter. In those surroundings –
with golden trees in the background – Heero had met the source of all of his
anxieties once again.
Four weeks had passed since Heero arrived at the palace. Each and every day he
woke up hoping that the violet-eyed healer had returned to the temple. And
finally his patience (as figurative as it was) had paid off – on a warm, sunny
afternoon he spotted the person who had haunted his sleeping and waking hours
for the last months. It was something of a coincidence that he managed to
notice – he had just finished with some recent reports and stood up to stretch
looking out of the window, when he noticed a group of children gathered around
a slender person with golden-brown hair. Heero ran out immediately, leaving
three dazed servants along his way. He slowed when he neared the children, not
wanting to interrupt their lesson. He leaned against a wall, watching as Duo
read and corrected simple sentences written on a flat stone the children were
gathered around.
"See, it isn't that hard," the healer said to one of the youngest children who
had just written his name correctly. "You just need to concentrate a little.
Now, Sally," he addressed another handing her a book. "Read the opening
passage."
The girl began to read slowly, with Duo correcting her once in a while. The
book then traveled through all of the younger children's hands, so that all of
them could read a couple of lines. After they were finished they gathered
around Duo in a tight circle and the healer proceeded to tell them a piece of
history of Sanq. When he finished he smiled at the children and stood up.
"That would be all for today. Should any of you have time, go to the library
and find some books you could read."
"But we don't know if we can," said Sally. "There is a lord in the palace now,
we almost never see him. He is scary," she finished in a whisper.
Duo blinked at her surprised. "Well, I could talk to mister Annelli." Heero
recalled dimly that was the name of the major-domo. He smiled inwardly – there
was something that Duo needed his help with after all. "I'm sure he'll allow
you to…"
"I'm sure I'll allow them to borrow books." The scary lord appeared from behind
the wall. "If you ask me to."
The long-haired man froze seeing him. The children watched the couple not
understanding.
Sally tugged gently at Duo's sleeve. "Ask him, please? I want to learn to read!
I want to be a healer too."
The man looked into her blue eyes and closed his own for the briefest of
moments. There was silence.
"Would you be so kind, general, and allow the children to read books from your
library?" the healer uttered finally.
The other man smiled sadly, seeing the closed expression on Duo's face. "They
are free to borrow whatever they like. As long as someone is notified which
book they have," the general replied instantly.
Duo was somewhat surprised. He didn't expect that. Well, he wasn't about to
question the general's good mood.
"Thank you, sir!" the children chorused happily and ran to their parents and
chores. Duo seemed to stop noticing the general as soon as the children stopped
expressing their thanks.
"Tom!" he called. Heero recognized the stable boy he talked to when he first
arrived. "How is Deathscythe doing?"
"'e is good, 'ealer, just bored. I was wondering when will you come and take
'im for a ride, sir."
Duo grinned. "I can do that now, if it's possible."
"It is, sir. Follow me, sir, I'll prepare 'im," Tom said, leading the young
healer to the stables. However before they could move more then ten steps Heero
called to the boy.
"Prepare Wing too. I want to talk with the healer."
It took all of Duo's willpower not to freeze again.
"Yes, milord." The boy rushed forward, leaving the pair alone for the first
time in five years. Duo avoided looking into general's eyes.
"Is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about, general?" he asked
softly.
"No," Heero replied. He didn't say anything more, he just continued staring at
his companion. The uneasy silence reigned, until Tom returned leading two
horses, one of them grayish, the other black. The black one neighed happily
seeing the healer. It trotted over briskly and nuzzled his face.
"Hello there. Did you miss me?" he said softly, stroking the horse's nose. He
mounted lightly, ignoring his companion totally. "I'll return him before
nightfall," he said urging the black steed into a light trot. Heero followed
suit.
The ride started rather uneventfully. Duo was stiff and silent, leaving any and
all conversation attempts to Heero, therefore putting him in a troubled state
of mind, since conversing wasn't one of his strong points. So he chose direct
approach.
"That boy told me you were visiting your family recently," he said, trying to
get his voice to sound soft and not commanding. The results weren't impressive
at all, but it was a start.
"Yes, I was," the healer answered curtly.
"You never mentioned any family," Heero continued. Duo seemed to relax a
little. Or at least he didn't appear so rigid anymore.
"What difference would it make?" he asked, his tone somewhere between sad and
hard. "Your friend obviously didn't care if I might be a noble. I would have
thought it was obvious that I was not a slave from the way I talk, don't you?
Even if I didn't have any other proof, that should be enough to check."
"Quatre didn't mean you any harm," Heero attempted to defend his friend.
"I consider being forced into someone's bed a harm. If you don't, that's not my
problem," the healer heeled his horse into a faster run.
"We had no way of knowing…"
"You might have started by listening. It would have taken maybe two weeks to
confirm my identity, and surely I wasn't the only available person in the
palace if you were that desperate," Duo said somewhat angrily, his temper
finally getting the better of him. He expected something drastic in return, a
hit or perhaps a yell. He was surprised when Heero bowed his head and took his
hand. So surprised in fact that he totally forgot to snatch it away.
"I am sorry about that," was all that the general had said. Duo looked at him
incredulously. Heero nudged Wing slightly to get closer to his companion. "I
never wanted to do you any harm," he said very softly, caressing the healer's
palm, bringing it to his lips.
As soon as he placed a soft kiss on Duo's palm, the man pulled his hand back
sharply, as if he suddenly remembered who exactly was accompanying him.
"Why are you here?" the long-haired healer inquired. Heero fell silent. He
didn't know what to say. Or more precisely, which answer should he give.
Finally he shrugged.
"Because of you," he answered. From the look on Duo's face he guessed that the
news were neither new nor shocking to him. Healer's voice sounded steely when
he answered.
"I told you, you can't have me. I am nobody's toy." With that said, Duo urged
his horse into a gallop, leaving Heero behind. The general didn't even try to
chase him, choosing to stay behind and watching. When he finally lost the sight
of the healer he blinked, as if waking up and looked around.
He was at the entrance to the village nearest to the palace. He could see
people going about their business, he could even hear their conversations if he
strained his ears. The realization of what the proximity meant stung him a
little.
Duo didn't trust him enough to talk to him where nobody could see them.
The general turned Wing and trotted lightly in the general direction of the
palace. At least he knew where to start now. He would need to get Duo to trust
him before anything else. He knew it was not going to be easy, but now he knew
that whatever effort he might decide to put in wooing Duo would be well worth
it. Of course the question of 'how' remained. Heero realized that despite the
length of time spent studying the man, he barely knew him as a person. What
could he possibly say when asked?
He knew Duo liked to read. He read a lot of things, from fiction through poetry
to historical books. Heero also knew that Duo liked horse-riding, swimming,
probably sailing and talking, which all suited him just fine, even the last
one, because against common opinions he enjoyed listening.
But all of this was not bringing him any closer to his goal. 'How do I get
someone to trust me?' he asked himself silently. That was one of the subjects
that never crossed his mind before. Plenty of people depended on him, but he
never had to earn anybody's trust. That was always Quatre's job.
"And now I'm supposed to succeed where Quatre has failed," he said to himself
aloud. Of course there was the obvious way of hiring someone to fake an attack
and then gloriously save the healer in distress, but that presented a whole
load of dangers Heero wasn't sure if he was prepared to face. Or if they were
worth the risk. Like the most probable one, Duo seeing through the spectacle,
or, the next in line, him beating the offenders up on his own. Option number
one would result in him loosing all possible chances, the other one would
achieve next to nothing.
About two hours after he left with Duo, Heero returned to the palace, still
without a clue as to how to seduce the long-haired man. He dismounted and led
his horse back to the stables, ordering Tom to care for the animal. He walked
slowly to the main door of the building.
'There must be a way to get him to want me,' Heero thought, stepping into the
palace. 'And I will find it. No matter how long it'll take. He will be mine.'
***TBC***