Disclaimer: I do not own the GW boys, more's the pity. However, I do own the elephant, if only in my mind.
Warnings: There will be yaoi, although probably only of the WAFF type, I haven't decided yet. If it changes, I'll write it in big bold letters, no worries. So far no age restrictions though.
Chapter 1
Things were already not going according to plan. Just two days before the he was to set off for India, Duo's manager and best friend, Quatre Winner, got a call through saying that they wouldn't be the first to the site.
'It's some guy who says he needs to be there,' Quatre said with his hand over the mouthpiece, 'yes… oh of course, I'm sure he will… mmm, mmhmm… oh ok then, if you're sure, nice talking to you, Mr… ah, Mr Yuy, of course. We will be arriving within the next week.' He hung up the phone, smiling. 'it's ok, no need to look so stroppy. I've never heard of the man, so he's not going to steal your spotlight, and he said something about a family curse, so he's probably not even an actual archaeologist.' He grinned at the look of horror; the mere thought of some rookie rooting around in the very valuable artefacts was more than Duo could stand. 'Hey, chill out – he promised not to go near anything until we arrived.' As always, Quatre's words had a quieting effect on his friend.
The journey passed like a dream, it always did, and the locals were friendly towards them, they always were, and Duo began to expect that this was going to be just an average dig, nothing special, regardless of where he was. The shrine was a two day hike from the village that they had started from that morning, and they stopped for the overnight in a large clearing near a lake.
Near the clearing were some caves, and as soon as camp was set up and Quatre started subtly bossing people around, in the way that he did without making it seem anything more than a suggestion that you just had to do, Duo dived off to explore.
How lucky he was to have a friend like Quatre, Duo contemplated. The small Arabian man was so quiet and softly spoken, looking at him brought images of angels and cherubs on fluffy white clouds, you physically couldn't imagine him doing any wrong. This made him an excellent businessman. The two had been travelling together since time immemorial, and were like brothers.
He was creeping through, trying not to disturb any of the echoing quiet that these places possessed, when he saw it. A skeleton was sitting against a wall, in a foetal position, its limbs and ribs forming a cage protecting something. He called out, before running back to camp for some equipment. One thing about him that you either loved or hated was his stubborn need to do things his way. This was the case now, as people just beginning to relax for the evening were suddenly called upon to dig through bags and stores looking for things, because he simply couldn't leave the body where it was.
When he and Quatre took the full beam torches back up along with the other things to look, three things became instantly obvious:
The body was very old, but the person wasn't. He guessed that the person would have been under 25, although this was more the area of expertise of Trowa, whose father had been curator of the Natural History Museum for thirty years, and who had an unhealthy fixation with death, born from a childhood spent among skeletons and ancient mummies.
Aside from the rough age, it was impossible to tell much like this. It had been resting there for a very long time though – any trace that it was there nearer the mouth of the cave was long gone, and the whole thing was covered in a thick layer of dust. The body was that of someone wealthy – scattered around were random jewels and gold rings, evidently body jewellery that had fallen out as the flesh rotted away to nothing. It was untouched – this must have been here at least 100 years, and yet the joints still held some semblance of what they were, you could still make out the knees curled up, arms wrapped around, in desperate protection of what it was hiding.
And what WAS it hiding? As they took the body apart and bagged it, piece by piece, it revealed itself to be a magnificent carved elephant A/N – YAY!. It was beautiful, a deep rich black colour, with a gold rug across its back and jewel encrusted gold over the litter on its back. Inside the litter sat two very perfectly carved people, a man and a woman, looking at the long curtain down one's back. He gave his own long hair a pull and smiled; this piece dated back to the early Victorian period – he doubted there were many guys with hair like his then.
He put his hand out to brush a spec of dust that had caught in the corner of the elephant's eye. As his finger lightly brushed the ornament, he was suddenly flooded with a strange emotion, more powerful than anything he had ever experienced in his life. He felt joyful and excited and enthusiastic, totally in love and that warm, mushy feeling when you know someone feels the same way about you, his mind floated away and he was light headed, truly feeling the expression 'on cloud nine'. And yet in the same instant he felt anger, loss, betrayal, and an utter lack of hope, an aching depression that ripped through his body and soul, the bottom of his stomach falling through and he was falling too, tumbling through the air, in utter terror, as an icy wind whipped around his heart. Duo had never had more than the casual flings in his life, and such an unexplainable rush of emotion staggered him for a second.
He recovered, and looked at the elephant with a strangely renewed interest. 'What odd eyes it has' he thought to himself, as he looked, one was clearly an amethyst, hell, he knew that colour well enough, the amount of hopelessly unoriginal girls who had compared his own eyes to the lavender blue gemstone, but the other was a dark rich blue…Sapphire, he thought. He picked up the elephant again, bracing himself for the emotional rush he was expecting, to put it in a bag, inside a padded box.
'Ai shiteru' he muttered, the words flowing through his mind from nowhere.
'…hmm?' asked Quatre, distracted with overseeing the labelling of bags. Duo had completely forgotten about his friend's presence, with his enthrallment with the elephant.
'I don't know, it just came into my head. I must have heard it in the village or something.'
--ooOoo--
That night, Duo couldn't stop thinking about the elephant, the fact that it had made him feel so powerfully, that it had made him feel at all. He tossed and turned for hours before sleep found him, and when it did, it was dream filled…
I am sitting on a veranda somewhere, a boy across from me, perhaps about 15 years old, and a table laid for tea between us. The boy is stunning to look at, well dressed in white linen, with dark messy hair framing his face. There's something about him that's not quite right though, he's not Indian, although I'm certain he's meant to be, but he's not, he can't be. But his eyes! They are the most incredible things I have ever seen. As far as a basic description goes, they're blue, which is striking enough in the Asian face, but what a shade of blue. They seem to draw light from around them with a hunger, as if they take nourishment from seeing. I'm staring at them openly, I've been sucked in, enchanted, but I don't care. They are ice cold and stern, and yet you could melt in them easily, if you let yourself fall under their spell. They sparkle with life, and seem to trap you; I can't help but follow them, to see what could entice them to hold their gaze on one object for any amount of time, and to feel jealousy burning me inside that it's not ME that entrances them so.
That was something peculiar for Duo's dreams too – he was totally conscious, and yet couldn't move. It was kind of like watching a movie, in first person, a memory almost.
I realize that the boy is speaking to me in French at the same time I realize I understand and am replying. What's up with my voice? It's so high pitched again, compared to what it sounds like to me. When I lift the teacup again and gaze into the depths, I can see myself. But it's not me, specifically. It's me how I was 10 years ago, when I was sixteen. No one around seems to understand what we say – they're all either servants or what look like Indian soldiers, dressed in the uniform they wore during the time of the British occupation. The time my family was out here. Suddenly I decide it might be an idea to listen to the boy opposite, he might know something of the Raja, of how to find him, to find out what happened to him.
'Did I tell you the story of my father?' the boy asks me.
'He died of malaria,' I hear myself reply in this alien voice.
'No, my real father! He was a Japanese man, a Buddhist on his way to visit a shrine near here. My mother had an affair with him, and fell pregnant. My official father agreed to cover for her since he truly loved her. And he did; even if people notice anything they still don't mention it, they don't dare now and they didn't then, when he was Raja.' So, this was my Raja, eh? I must admit I was expecting someone a bit more aloof, to say the least; he's merely a child. But at least he's pretty. the cotton shirt is thin, and beneath it I can make out the outlines of a muscular but slim body, obviously a cricket player in his spare time, straight away I pick up on the strong forearms. I noticed from the beginning that I was feeling warm to him, that he's obviously my friend, and I trust him. Is this just my dream warping my mind? I don't know him. But the person I am does…
The sharp trill of the alarm clock roused Duo from what turned out to be a very deep sleep. His first thoughts flew to the elephant, and he leapt out of bed with energy unheard of for this time in the morning. But he couldn't look at it yet, couldn't go near it, couldn't touch it and get that hit of emotion that was like a drug to him. He insisted that they trekked back down to the village, to put the bones and the elephant into storage somewhere safe. He wouldn't be dissuaded, even by Quatre, and nine o'clock that night found them finally reaching the village, slapping bugs from their necks and picking sweat soaked clothes from their backs. They simply collapsed as soon as possible; it had been a hard hike for them as they got further and further away from the temple. As soon as Duo closed his eyes, the dream pounced on him, not even waiting for him to be properly asleep.
--ooOoo—
So there we go. As always, mucho gracias for feedback
LaVerne x
