Author: Keiran

Title: A World in a Grain of Sand 7/?

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

***

The general spent the next two days thinking, mostly. He knew that Duo had been coming to the palace every week, and he would still come, probably, but to ensure that he wouldn't suddenly stop Heero couldn't start haunting his every step. That, of course, meant not seeing the violet-eyed man as often as Heero might have liked.

Stalking is never a good way to worm one's way into someone else's heart.

Since he had something akin to a schedule now (even if it was infuriating to the point of maddening), Heero started going out more. For an unsociable person such as himself, going out consisted of activities such as reading outside, walking and riding, and that was exactly what he devoted his time to. He usually spent his days roaming the nearby woods, in search for good places to read. If it rained, he'd spend the day haunting the library.

Roughly a week after Duo's return, on the presumed day of lessons, Heero found a cozy spot in a courtyard tree and spent all morning reading there. Around midday, he decided he needed a snack, so he jumped down from the tree and walked to the doors of the palace. Just as he was about to enter, he noticed that someone was sitting on the steps with a book on their lap. He recognized the person – it was the little girl who asked for books to read the other day. Her name was Sally, he recalled. And she was sniffling. He stopped and glanced at the girl.

"Why are you crying?" he asked carefully. Little kids were never happy when he was around. There was one occasion when he nearly gave one of the little monsters (a little duke from some faraway land) a heart attack. That didn't make him very popular with the nobles, but the servants were pleased that someone had finally shown the little buggers that being scared to death wasn't a pleasant experience. Apparently they learned, or so had he heard. The girl, however, rose her head.

"Other kids are making fun of me!" she wept, forgetting who was she talking to. "They say I'm a crybaby and not good enough to be a healer!" Heero rose a brow as the girl continued. "They say I won't be able to become a healer if I do not learn mathematics! But it's too difficult for me…" She started sobbing again.

The general frowned thoughtfully.

***

Duo walked to the palace in trepidation. He tried to tell himself that he had nothing to fear. After all, even if the general tried something – and that was a big if, considering the way he acted the week before and the fact that he hadn't been seen ever since – the healer would be able to defend himself. And they were never alone.

Nevertheless, being in the general proximity of that man made the young healer feel uncomfortable, and not only him. Rarely people felt at ease in the presence of the great general Yuy. It might have been what made him such an excellent soldier.

It was understandable that when Duo finally entered the courtyard and noticed the scene displayed there, he was speechless. None other than the 'scary lord' was sitting on a doorstep with a child at his feet, drawing numbers in the sand. The little girl's brows were furrowed in concentration, as she tugged at one of her honey-blonde braids.

"… and that's how you know that the equation is correct," the general finished underlining the solution. "Understand now?"

"I think so," the girl smiled brightly.

Heero looked at her rather skeptically. "So, what would you do if you had to multiply, say, eight by six?" he asked.

Sally frowned, bowed her head and begun to write sloppy numbers.

"Eight by six… so I need to add up six eights, right?" she said and without waiting for Heero to answer, she continued talking to herself. "Two eights is sixteen, three eights is…" she watched her fingers warily, "… twenty-four, and another one, so that would be thirty-two, five eights is forty, and plus the last one it will be forty-eight." She finished her calculations and gaped surprised. "I did it!" she exclaimed finally, "I counted!"

Duo smiled. His eyes darted to the general quickly, but they stayed glued to the man's face.

'He is smiling,' Duo thought, astonished. 'Smiling and not smirking.' In that moment Heero turned his head and looked directly at the healer, still wearing that tiny, soft smile. And for the first time ever Duo didn't avert his eyes and pretended he couldn't see him.

That short moment of silence was all Sally needed to realize that someone had come. She ran across the yard to throw her arms around Duo's waist.

"I counted! Did you see? The lord taught me to count properly!" she exclaimed. More children soon appeared, hearing the joyful cries, all running to greet the healer.

Heero watched as Duo led the group to the spot they occupied the previous week. He sat down and started to ask the children what they read since his last visit. They answered excitedly, speaking about stories they had learned and poems they'd found. The general tuned all of their voices out in favor of observing the person they were gathered around.

He watched, mesmerized, as one of the kids said something that drew a laugh from the man. It made him jealous a little. In all the time he knew Duo, he had never seen him laugh, not matter how hard he tried. He often wondered what the sound would be like. It blended perfectly with the voices of the children, being soft and tender, but energetic and strong at the same time.

***

The weeks passed slowly, each finalized by a visit of the violet-eyed healer in the palace. Heero spent every lesson sitting near the children, listening. Sometimes he would help children with mathematics or help them find books suitable for their age and abilities afterwards. He and Sally had become friends, the girl no longer scared of him.

He quieted some – his temper no longer flaring at each and every living being who dared to cross his path. The time spent with children contributed to that a lot. Of course, the week he spent getting the children to come near him without a pole after his first tantrum had something to do with it too.

Amazingly, the more time he spent with the kids, the warmer Duo's attitude became. Or more precisely, the more tiny bits of ice it lost. It was not nearly enough to become even casual friends, but it was a start. Duo was comfortable enough to actually converse, albeit coolly, with the man. The changes, however, were coming so slowly, that Heero barely noticed them. He kept thinking about the things he could do, and whatever he might be doing wrong.

'That way he would never trust me!' Heero kept thinking. 'All I'm doing is sitting there, listening, and occasionally choosing books for seven-year-olds! The only good thing about me being here is that the bailiff idiots are not making mistakes with their bills anymore.'

Some more time passed, and the first snow arrived. It covered everything, giving the earth an ethereal appearance, so different from it's normal one. With its coming, the lessons moved inside, into the warmth of the kitchen, which fortunately was large enough to accommodate everyone, even the grumpy lord of the palace. Heero gave orders to have Deathscythe prepared for the healer when he would go back to the temple after the lessons, to spare him from having to fight his way through the snow. The distance between the palace and the temple wasn't great, but the shortest way led through the forest, and going alone through the forest with snow lying all over the place was not safe, especially after nightfall. A few weeks after the snow fell, the children's lessons ended up being so long that when Duo got ready to leave, it was already dark outside, which naturally caused a commotion.

"You can't go out there alone!" Sally wailed. "It's dark!"

Duo merely smiled. "I'm not afraid of the dark, Sally. Nothing's wrong. Don't worry," he grinned reassuringly, packing the books he brought into a bag.

"But the child is right, healer. It is too dangerous now to go out on your own," one of the kitchen maids told him.

Heero stood up. "I'll go with you," he said. "I will take Wing, the snow is too deep for a carriage already. I'll prepare him on my own," he said, seeing the stable boy raise from his seat. Duo stiffened.

"There is no need general. I can manage going back by myself."

"Nonsense. It's dark," Heero said curtly and exited the warm kitchen.

Duo did his best not to gulp. Here he was thinking that the general had finally gotten the point and decided to leave him alone, but this stunt had reawakened all of his fears. Nevertheless, he smiled at the children and marched to the stables, where the general was preparing his steed.

"You really don't have to do this," Duo said softly, desperately.

The man stopped moving for a short while. "I don't want anything to happen to you," he said simply, and finished saddling his horse.

"That's why you are accompanying me?" Duo muttered under his breath. "Isn't that, like, defeating the purpose?"

The statement wounded Heero deeply. He knew that he couldn't count on any sort of cooperation from the object of his obsession, but the statement hurt, nonetheless. He whirled around and caught the slender wrists of the healer, pinning them to the wall with one hand, the other covering Duo's mouth before he could scream. He used his bodyweight to pin the healer to the wall.

Duo tried not to panic. At least outwardly. His eyes were tightly shut, his body tense, yet he forced himself to stay calm. 'Easy. I can break free. If he moves back a little…' he thought to himself. The general lowered his head a little, tracing the contours of Duo's face with the tip of his nose. He opened his mouth slightly, however what came out wasn't what Duo was expecting to hear.

"Why can't you trust me just this little bit?" he whispered softly. "I just want to see you home. Safe and sound. I'm not asking for more." 'Yet,' Heero added inwardly. He did understand, however, that he needed to earn more. "Why can't you see that?"

Duo's eyes were wide open. Heero's forehead rested on his shoulder, while his wrists were slowly released. The general stepped back slowly, raising his hands in the gesture of surrender.

"I swear on my life, that I will never again do anything against you," he promised looking at his stunned companion gently. "Will you allow me to accompany you now?"

Duo couldn't do much else but nod, still in shock.

After that incident, the ride itself was rather uneventful. The night was quiet and cloudy, neither star shine nor moonshine. Duo looked at the sky and frowned. 'It's going to snow, soon,' he thought. He said nothing to his companion, hoping that the storm would wait for Heero to get back to the palace.

Either it didn't hear or it chose to ignore him. The blizzard started as soon as the temple came in sight, though fortunately once the conditions were so bad that they couldn't see, they could still pinpoint the location. It was snowing so heavily that Duo had problems with seeing Deathscythe's nose. Not to mention the troubles with making out Wing's silhouette. Heero noticed this quite fast, and steered Wing closer to the healer, catching the rein.

He bowed his head and said directly into Duo's ear, "I don't want to lose you." Duo shivered. He knew that the man had only meant not losing sight of him in the storm. But the way it had been said… it has been filled with emotion. He couldn't remember anyone but Solo ever speaking to him like that.

Perhaps, it was that connection that caused him to suggest that the general stay at the temple until morning, and not leave as soon as the blizzard stopped. He averted his eyes when saying it, so he didn't notice the general's surprised – yet pleased – expression.

***TBC***