Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Gundam Wing Ghost Story I & II ❯ Findings ( Chapter 5 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Terrenis-chan 
Duo finds out the truth about Wufei...
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery / Martial Arts / Horror / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.25.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 230 | Status: Work In Progress
Duo finds out the truth about Wufei...
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Mystery / Martial Arts / Horror / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.25.2002 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.5K | Visits: 230 | Status: Work In Progress
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A Gundam Wing Ghost Story I
5. Findings
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When the storm started to break away, Heero was in his own part of the old temple, watching the forest. As the wind was getting stormier, the Japanese felt the creepy aura again, which he had felt very often for the last years, since he lived here.
(The ghosts are on their way again.)He thought.
Then he grabbed his things and his sword and ran into the forest. At the same time he yelled:
"This time I get you all!"
*
Duo also was running through the forest, searching for his beloved Chinese boy. He didn't care what the other had said. He didn't believe it. All, the braided boy wanted, was to be with his onyx-eyed beauty. Forever. And that was the reason why he had to find him. Where could Wufei just be? Duo was going further into the dark wood. But Wufei's words were playing on and on in his head...
"...you must know I'm not human..."
Such a nonsense. Why shouldn't he be human? Well, maybe he was uncommon in his own way, but still...
Duo stopped walking when he recognized a figure standing in the undergrowth before him, with its back turned to him. The braided boy could recognize dark long hair and a white robe and then nothing more, because it was too dark. Was that Wufei? Without thinking Duo ran to the figure.
"Wufei, is that you?"
When he got closer, the figure turned round and Duo jerked back. On no account it wasn't his Wufei, but a woman with an ice-cold glare, which let his blood freeze. It was Une, who had been waiting for him.
"Sorry, I've mistaken you for somebody else. Sayonara!" he said and turned back just wanting to decamp as fast as possible.
But Duo didn't expect that Une would follow him. After all he was her next prey.
"Not so fast, pretty boy!" she snarled.
Within a few moments her expression turned into a devilish grimace and with a piercing scream the ghost woman raised up in the air. Then she threw herself onto the poor Duo, who started to flee panicky.
She probably would have caught him if Wufei hadn't appeared and thrown her out of the way with one aimed kick of his foot. Cursing Une hit the ground hard.
"Wufei. Thank Kami-sama!" Duo said and embraced the Chinese.
"Come on. She'll recover in a moment!" Wufei replied and grabbed Duo's arm.
Then Une got herself up and Wufei recognized another figure coming nearer from another part of the forest. This time it was Heero, ready to finish all kinds apparition off. Wufei had to react quickly and so he dragged the braided boy with him.
Une, who had gotten up and was now really mad, started to chase them. But at the same time she was in the air, Heero noticed her. And with a loud scream and a big somersault while jumping the Japanese came up to the ghost woman and cut off her head with his sword (x.X).
"Got you!" he grinned.
But Une wasn't dead yet. The rest of her ghost body still staggered across the area and fought with the Japanese swordsman. But Heero took quick care of it. In a split-second he drew a red Yin/Yang sign on his left palm and shouted quickly some magical words. The sign began to glow and the Japanese flung the arising energy against the ghost, who was finally destroyed in a big explosion.
"And one troublemaker less...!" he smiled satisfied.
*
Meanwhile Duo and Wufei still were fleeing through the forest until they reached the place where the braided boy's horse was waiting. Both young men stopped.
"Duo, what are you still doing here? I've said yet it's better for you to leave this place." Wufei finally spoke.
"Don't dare think that I'll leave you alone here! I don't care what you've said or done! Just let us disappear from this place. Okay? Or haven't you seen what this Japanese had done with this woman? He cut her head off with his sword." The braided boy replied after that.
"I know. She was my sister, somehow!"
"Really?" Duo asked incredulous.
He couldn't believe that the woman had been Wufei's "sister". But Wufei only nodded.
"Don't worry! I really didn't like her." He said.
Duo stared at Wufei aghast. But now he had to do something. This Japanese swordsman simply couldn't get away with this murder. After all it had been a crime und the swordsman had to be punished for it. And so Duo got up on his horse and also pulled Wufei up, so that the young Chinese man was sitting behind him.
"What are you doing, Duo?" Wufei stammered.
"We have to go to the police. After all he killed your sister!" the braided boy grinned and rode off.
"But I cannot..." stuttered the Chinese.
"Oh, have no fear! We'll make it."
Both were riding through the pitch-dark forest. But Wufei knew he couldn't stay with Duo. And for the second time in this night he did something, he didn't want to do. He left Duo silently. When the braided young man turned to check on Wufei, the Chinese was gone. Missing.
Sadly and confused he looked around, but didn't see a single soul. Where was his Wufei?
*
Somehow Duo managed it to reach the next village. There he shooed the responsible judge out of his bed to tell him what had happened.
*
A drum sounded. Two men lighted fire in a bowl to lighten up the courtroom. Then several guards came in and took their positions. Then the judge appeared, his assistant following him. The older man was looking very grumpy. But who wouldn't if someone would shoo him out of bed and that in the middle of the night?
The judge sat down into his judgment seat and looked at Duo who was kneeling before him. Meanwhile the judge's assistant was whispering something about the costs for this late engagement in whose ear. The judge only nodded agreeing.
"What do you want from me at this late hour, stranger? Why do you disturb my precious sleep? Guards, give him 30 blows with the whip." The judge complained, still very drowsy.
"No, 60 are much better!" his assistant doubled.
"Please don't, Your Honour. Otherwise I'll forget everything!" Duo lamented.
He only had come here to tell the judge, that he had seen the man on the "wanted" poster. And because of that he should receive 60 blows? Okay, maybe it wasn't his wisest move to wake up the judge in the middle of the night.
"He must get his punishment or we'll never get our money!" the assistant whispered again. The judge nodded again and sipped at his drink, which a guard had brought him.
"Give him the 60 blows!" the assistant ordered to the guards.
These ones just wanted to execute the order, but Duo interrupted them.
"B...but I just wanted to say that I've seen that man, who's called Scarface Liu."
The judge almost choked on his drink at these words. But his assistant could prevent the worst just in time.
"What does he mean with that?" the older man whispered to his assistant.
"Scarface Liu is a criminal, Your Honour. A high reward is offered on his head. But fortunately we arrested him this morning." The younger man whispered back.
"So why does he claim that he has seen this criminal?"
"I know only one possible reason! He wants to have the reward for himself!"
"WHAAAAT? I mean I'm known for my greediness for money, but you are much worse. You won't get any money from me. Rather I'll let you beat to death. GUAAAARDS!!!" the judge shouted angrily.
"Just do it!" the assistant repeated.
The guards lifted their heavy woodened sticks and started to beat up the poor Duo. This one protected his head with his hands as good as he was able to.
"But I really have seen him. He murdered a woman in a wood!" he stammered.
Immediately the beating stopped.
"Is anyone able to tell me who's really in the jail now?" the judge asked impatiently.
"Oh well, Scarface Liu, Your Honour!" the assistant replied.
"But maybe you've caught the wrong guy!" Duo threw in.
"He could be right!" the assistant whispered in the judge's ear.
"Alright, get this Liu guy! Immediately!!!" the older man ordered and the younger man at his side repeated it to the guards.
Duo sighed of relief. At least he finally had some minutes of peace. Hopefully. Meanwhile something came to the assistant's mind, which could be very interesting for the judge.
"But when this stranger is right, we have to give back the reward!" he said.
"NAAAAANIIIIII? No Way! BEAT HIM UP!" the judge roared.
And everything seems to start all over again. But this time Duo was lucky and escaped his beating. Suddenly out of the blue a voice rang out. It was a voice, which sounded really familiar to Duo.
"STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!!!"
And with an enormous leap Heero jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor in front of the judge's desk. Immediately the guards turned against him, while both men, the judge and his assistant, were hiding under the desk.
"Please don't do anything to us. We didn't do anything bad!" both lamented.
But Duo also retreated from him.
"That's him! He's the murderer!" he screamed and retreated again, until he reached the judge's desk and squatted onto the table.
Finally the assistant decided to take a closer look at the Japanese and suddenly recognized the young man.
"But that's Heero Yui, the famous Heero Yui."
"Heero Yui?" Duo asked puzzled. Was it possible that he had been wrong?
The assistant got up from his hiding place and went towards Heero. There he shooed the guards back.
"Don't you know Heero Yui? You ought to be ashamed of yourself! He's famous for his fight against crime and corruption! So, can we help you with anything, Yui-san?" the assistant said friendly.
Heero snorted and then pointed at Duo, who was still sitting on the judge's desk.
"I'm here because of him. He's my brother and he thinks I've murdered someone. But he always was a little odd yet. You know, what I mean!" the Japanese spoke.
"Well, I see what you mean!" The assistant nodded agreeing.
"Don't believe him! He's not my brother! I saw him murdering that woman......And I'm not strange!" Duo screeched.
At the same moment two guards brought a man and the assistant compared his face with the face on the "wanted" poster.
"It's the same face and so the same man, Your Honour!" he finally said and let the prisoner lead away again.
"Very well!" the judge said satisfied and settled down on his seat again, after he had shooed Duo down from his desk.
"Okay. So what's up with this murder now? And where should it have happened?" he asked.
"Ahem...it happened at the Nataku - Temple!" Duo answered.
But he hardly had mentioned the name, when a gusty wind gathered and let the flames go out. Scared to death the guards scattered and the two civil servants also looked ready to flee.
"D...Did you say Nataku - Temple?" the judge stuttered.
"Ahem...yes!"
Both men looked at each other. Of all places in the whole wide world it had to be this haunted place.
"I'm sorry, but then I can't do anything! This place is outside my jurisdiction. The meeting is closed. Good night!" the judge said and then both men disappeared quickly.
Heero and Duo stayed behind. And the braided boy suddenly got nervous. What would the Japanese do with him?
Heero slowly stepped closer to the braided boy. This one bit his lip nervously.
"Please...please don't kill me!" he stuttered fearfully.
"Why should I? Just listen to me! I'm not a murderer, even if you think so about me!" the Japanese replied.
"But I saw you and that woman in the forest!"
Heero rolled his eyes.
"This woman was a ghost and no longer a human being. Or why do think she attacked you! You would have become her next prey." He said.
"A...A ghost? Are you serious? But Wufei, this woman...I know she lived behind the temple." Duo stammered. He simply couldn't believe what Heero was talking about.
The Japanese looked at Duo with seriousness in his eyes and finally sighed.
"No one lives behind the Nataku - Temple. There's only a mass-grave!"
"A mass-grave?"
"Yeah. There aren't many people in this area. Most of them moved away after the riots some years ago. The noises, you can hear at night, come from ghosts or monsters. But I believe that still a mightier creature lives there. I live there for one year and a half now.
And almost every night I've heard screams from the young men that stayed overnight. The other day they were dead, their bodies without any liquid. Maybe it was a demon or a devil. I don't know yet." The swordsman explained.
"G...Ghosts? M...Monsters? D...Demon? You're kidding, aren't you?"
"Do I look like I am kidding? Come with me and I'll prove it!"
Duo didn't know what to do. Should he go with Heero or not? Then he nodded, although he still didn't believe in something like ghosts. The braided boy would wait if Heero really was right. At least he wasn't afraid of the Japanese anymore. And shortly afterwards both were riding on their horses back to the Nataku - Temple.
*
It already was daylight, when they reached the temple. After getting up from the horses, Heero led Duo to a place full of gravestones. Most of them had been fallen over or were standing oblique. And almost every stone was overgrown with weed. Heero and Duo forced their way across the cemetery.
(So that's this burial place he had been speaking of. So he really was right. But why do I have this strange feeling about this place. It's really sinister here.) Duo thought, trying to block out the uneasy feeling in his stomach.
But the high point of this little excursion should be coming yet. When Duo saw a gravestone several meters before him, he walked towards him. The braided boy didn't know why, but somehow this single stone caught his attention. Slowly Duo pushed the weed aside and started to read the inscription.
But suddenly his eyes got wider and bigger.
(Oh my God...what's the meaning of this?) Were his thoughts, when he read the inscription before him, which run as follows:
'HERE LIES OUR BELOVED SON.........CHANG WUFEI'
Duo couldn't believe it. The beautiful Chinese boy he loved was dead. He had fallen in love with a ghost.
*
Heero had been looking around and then for Duo. He found the scholar sitting in front of a single tombstone.
"Do you believe now?" he asked.
Duo turned his head and stared at Heero with a stunned expression on his face and nodded. Heero frowned and looked at the gravestone. Chang Wufei. Yes, he remembered the Chinese boy who died a year ago in one room of the Nataku - Temple. And since this time the deaths of young men had increased.
Heero wondered if this really was just accidental. And why was this scholar staring at the tombstone? Did he know the boy?
"Why do stare at this gravestone?" Heero asked.
Duo looked confused, but finally he managed to compose himself.
"You wouldn't believe it!" he said.
"Try it!"
"Okay, where shall I begin with? I met him first a few nights ago when I arrived here. He was so nice to me and so we met again and again until last night. But now I find out he's a ghost and I'm really confused. Do you understand?"
The Japanese nodded.
"I'm astounded that he didn't kill you!" he spoke then.
"Do you know why he didn't?" Duo asked the swordsman.
"I have no idea. Maybe he needs you yet!"
"What for?"
"Who knows! Ghosts are like people. They use each other to get what they want. There is no difference. It's for your own good if you go now, before it is getting dark! I'll take care of the ghosts." Heero spoke while he looked at the sky.
"But please don't do anything to Wufei. I still like him and he really isn't a bad person!" Duo said.
"Okay. Why not!"
The braided boy nodded thankfully and started to run through the undergrowth to his horse. But halfway he lost the painting from Wufei. It fell out of his back-basket onto the wet grass.
First Duo wanted to leave it behind. But the braided boy stopped and looked at it. No, he couldn't do that. Slowly he went back and picked it up. Perhaps it was a mistake to go now. Maybe it was better to help Heero and Wufei. Duo still didn't know how but he had to help Wufei somehow.
And apparently Heero had had the same thoughts, because the Japanese suddenly was standing right before him.
"I've thought about the whole matter and it's better when you come with me!" the Japanese spoke.
"I know. If I stay here, Wufei will come to me!"
"Exactly. Then I can take care of all ghosts at once. If this boy is coming to you, and I know he'll come, then take this and ring it. I'll come and rescue you. Do you still want to help?"
Duo nodded and Heero took a small bell out of his bag and gave it to the braided scholar, who looked at it carefully.
"So I'm going to be the bait for the ghosts!" he replied.
"Yes. Unfortunately the ghosts are angry with me and they are quite mighty ghosts."
"Can you beat them?" Duo asked again.
Heero only raised an eyebrow and glared at the braided youth.
"I guess that means you can! Alright I'll do it."
"Well, then come with!"
*
Several hours later it was night again. Duo and Heero were back in the temple again, where they were preparing themselves for the imminent battle. Heero gave Duo a book which was bound in leather and had strange, foreign signs on the cover. The scholar opened it and saw the same signs. But it was written in a language, Duo couldn't read.
"What's that?" he asked curiously.
"It's called a "sutra"(1). Just for the emergency case! Don't worry; it helps against supernatural powers like ghosts and other creatures!" Heero explained.
"OH! Thank you!" Duo said and clutched the book closer to his chest.
"Alright then, I'll be waiting outside for your signal!"
The Japanese swordsman went outside, where he climbed up a tree and started to wait. Inside Duo was getting nervous and hasty closed all doors and windows. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea yet. But he pulled himself together and also started to wait, holding the book and the bell tight and close to his body.
*
From a distance Wufei watched the temple. He knew that Duo was back, together with this swordsman. And now the braided boy definitely knew the truth about him. But it didn't matter now. Unaware the Chinese touched his bruised shoulder. Zechs had been furious, when he discovered the loss of Une and almost beat him unconscious.
And the demon had been nearly mad when he found out about him and Duo. Strangely Zechs renounced his punishment, but he had wanted to be Duo for his next prey. Nothing could have been worse than this. But it was the last chance, Zechs had given him. And now he was here.
"Okay, then let's go, Wufei!" the Chinese murmured to encourage himself.
*
Duo was nervously waiting, when it was suddenly knocking at the door. Frightened he stood up and slowly went to it. What would be there? Maybe it was a demon or something similar, who would try to kill him. Whatever it was, he had to open the door to find it out.
Slowly Duo took a shaking breath. He was afraid of whoever was standing outside and what would happen to him.
Then it knocked again and the braided boy reached for the door handle.
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Tsuzúku -> to be continued...
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BGM: Tsunami - Kodo; Mouth - Bush; Midnight Crow - /\ucifer; Nightstalker - GITS; In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins; In your Eyes, Silent Cruising - TWO - MIX; X - X Japan; Bataillon D'Amour - Silly
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So what happens next? How will Duo react to Wufei's appearance, now that he knows the truth about him? Just wait for the next part or just try to guess.
1) A sutra is an old Indian instruction in brief verses and they mostly occupy with religious rites, astronomy, grammar, worldly and religious law and versification.
Feedback is thankfully appreciated. Just write me an e-Mail to:
Terrenis@web.de or terrenis-chan@gmx.net
Ja ne!
^-^ Terrenis-chan ^.^
A Gundam Wing Ghost Story I
5. Findings
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When the storm started to break away, Heero was in his own part of the old temple, watching the forest. As the wind was getting stormier, the Japanese felt the creepy aura again, which he had felt very often for the last years, since he lived here.
(The ghosts are on their way again.)He thought.
Then he grabbed his things and his sword and ran into the forest. At the same time he yelled:
"This time I get you all!"
*
Duo also was running through the forest, searching for his beloved Chinese boy. He didn't care what the other had said. He didn't believe it. All, the braided boy wanted, was to be with his onyx-eyed beauty. Forever. And that was the reason why he had to find him. Where could Wufei just be? Duo was going further into the dark wood. But Wufei's words were playing on and on in his head...
"...you must know I'm not human..."
Such a nonsense. Why shouldn't he be human? Well, maybe he was uncommon in his own way, but still...
Duo stopped walking when he recognized a figure standing in the undergrowth before him, with its back turned to him. The braided boy could recognize dark long hair and a white robe and then nothing more, because it was too dark. Was that Wufei? Without thinking Duo ran to the figure.
"Wufei, is that you?"
When he got closer, the figure turned round and Duo jerked back. On no account it wasn't his Wufei, but a woman with an ice-cold glare, which let his blood freeze. It was Une, who had been waiting for him.
"Sorry, I've mistaken you for somebody else. Sayonara!" he said and turned back just wanting to decamp as fast as possible.
But Duo didn't expect that Une would follow him. After all he was her next prey.
"Not so fast, pretty boy!" she snarled.
Within a few moments her expression turned into a devilish grimace and with a piercing scream the ghost woman raised up in the air. Then she threw herself onto the poor Duo, who started to flee panicky.
She probably would have caught him if Wufei hadn't appeared and thrown her out of the way with one aimed kick of his foot. Cursing Une hit the ground hard.
"Wufei. Thank Kami-sama!" Duo said and embraced the Chinese.
"Come on. She'll recover in a moment!" Wufei replied and grabbed Duo's arm.
Then Une got herself up and Wufei recognized another figure coming nearer from another part of the forest. This time it was Heero, ready to finish all kinds apparition off. Wufei had to react quickly and so he dragged the braided boy with him.
Une, who had gotten up and was now really mad, started to chase them. But at the same time she was in the air, Heero noticed her. And with a loud scream and a big somersault while jumping the Japanese came up to the ghost woman and cut off her head with his sword (x.X).
"Got you!" he grinned.
But Une wasn't dead yet. The rest of her ghost body still staggered across the area and fought with the Japanese swordsman. But Heero took quick care of it. In a split-second he drew a red Yin/Yang sign on his left palm and shouted quickly some magical words. The sign began to glow and the Japanese flung the arising energy against the ghost, who was finally destroyed in a big explosion.
"And one troublemaker less...!" he smiled satisfied.
*
Meanwhile Duo and Wufei still were fleeing through the forest until they reached the place where the braided boy's horse was waiting. Both young men stopped.
"Duo, what are you still doing here? I've said yet it's better for you to leave this place." Wufei finally spoke.
"Don't dare think that I'll leave you alone here! I don't care what you've said or done! Just let us disappear from this place. Okay? Or haven't you seen what this Japanese had done with this woman? He cut her head off with his sword." The braided boy replied after that.
"I know. She was my sister, somehow!"
"Really?" Duo asked incredulous.
He couldn't believe that the woman had been Wufei's "sister". But Wufei only nodded.
"Don't worry! I really didn't like her." He said.
Duo stared at Wufei aghast. But now he had to do something. This Japanese swordsman simply couldn't get away with this murder. After all it had been a crime und the swordsman had to be punished for it. And so Duo got up on his horse and also pulled Wufei up, so that the young Chinese man was sitting behind him.
"What are you doing, Duo?" Wufei stammered.
"We have to go to the police. After all he killed your sister!" the braided boy grinned and rode off.
"But I cannot..." stuttered the Chinese.
"Oh, have no fear! We'll make it."
Both were riding through the pitch-dark forest. But Wufei knew he couldn't stay with Duo. And for the second time in this night he did something, he didn't want to do. He left Duo silently. When the braided young man turned to check on Wufei, the Chinese was gone. Missing.
Sadly and confused he looked around, but didn't see a single soul. Where was his Wufei?
*
Somehow Duo managed it to reach the next village. There he shooed the responsible judge out of his bed to tell him what had happened.
*
A drum sounded. Two men lighted fire in a bowl to lighten up the courtroom. Then several guards came in and took their positions. Then the judge appeared, his assistant following him. The older man was looking very grumpy. But who wouldn't if someone would shoo him out of bed and that in the middle of the night?
The judge sat down into his judgment seat and looked at Duo who was kneeling before him. Meanwhile the judge's assistant was whispering something about the costs for this late engagement in whose ear. The judge only nodded agreeing.
"What do you want from me at this late hour, stranger? Why do you disturb my precious sleep? Guards, give him 30 blows with the whip." The judge complained, still very drowsy.
"No, 60 are much better!" his assistant doubled.
"Please don't, Your Honour. Otherwise I'll forget everything!" Duo lamented.
He only had come here to tell the judge, that he had seen the man on the "wanted" poster. And because of that he should receive 60 blows? Okay, maybe it wasn't his wisest move to wake up the judge in the middle of the night.
"He must get his punishment or we'll never get our money!" the assistant whispered again. The judge nodded again and sipped at his drink, which a guard had brought him.
"Give him the 60 blows!" the assistant ordered to the guards.
These ones just wanted to execute the order, but Duo interrupted them.
"B...but I just wanted to say that I've seen that man, who's called Scarface Liu."
The judge almost choked on his drink at these words. But his assistant could prevent the worst just in time.
"What does he mean with that?" the older man whispered to his assistant.
"Scarface Liu is a criminal, Your Honour. A high reward is offered on his head. But fortunately we arrested him this morning." The younger man whispered back.
"So why does he claim that he has seen this criminal?"
"I know only one possible reason! He wants to have the reward for himself!"
"WHAAAAT? I mean I'm known for my greediness for money, but you are much worse. You won't get any money from me. Rather I'll let you beat to death. GUAAAARDS!!!" the judge shouted angrily.
"Just do it!" the assistant repeated.
The guards lifted their heavy woodened sticks and started to beat up the poor Duo. This one protected his head with his hands as good as he was able to.
"But I really have seen him. He murdered a woman in a wood!" he stammered.
Immediately the beating stopped.
"Is anyone able to tell me who's really in the jail now?" the judge asked impatiently.
"Oh well, Scarface Liu, Your Honour!" the assistant replied.
"But maybe you've caught the wrong guy!" Duo threw in.
"He could be right!" the assistant whispered in the judge's ear.
"Alright, get this Liu guy! Immediately!!!" the older man ordered and the younger man at his side repeated it to the guards.
Duo sighed of relief. At least he finally had some minutes of peace. Hopefully. Meanwhile something came to the assistant's mind, which could be very interesting for the judge.
"But when this stranger is right, we have to give back the reward!" he said.
"NAAAAANIIIIII? No Way! BEAT HIM UP!" the judge roared.
And everything seems to start all over again. But this time Duo was lucky and escaped his beating. Suddenly out of the blue a voice rang out. It was a voice, which sounded really familiar to Duo.
"STOP IT IMMEDIATELY!!!"
And with an enormous leap Heero jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor in front of the judge's desk. Immediately the guards turned against him, while both men, the judge and his assistant, were hiding under the desk.
"Please don't do anything to us. We didn't do anything bad!" both lamented.
But Duo also retreated from him.
"That's him! He's the murderer!" he screamed and retreated again, until he reached the judge's desk and squatted onto the table.
Finally the assistant decided to take a closer look at the Japanese and suddenly recognized the young man.
"But that's Heero Yui, the famous Heero Yui."
"Heero Yui?" Duo asked puzzled. Was it possible that he had been wrong?
The assistant got up from his hiding place and went towards Heero. There he shooed the guards back.
"Don't you know Heero Yui? You ought to be ashamed of yourself! He's famous for his fight against crime and corruption! So, can we help you with anything, Yui-san?" the assistant said friendly.
Heero snorted and then pointed at Duo, who was still sitting on the judge's desk.
"I'm here because of him. He's my brother and he thinks I've murdered someone. But he always was a little odd yet. You know, what I mean!" the Japanese spoke.
"Well, I see what you mean!" The assistant nodded agreeing.
"Don't believe him! He's not my brother! I saw him murdering that woman......And I'm not strange!" Duo screeched.
At the same moment two guards brought a man and the assistant compared his face with the face on the "wanted" poster.
"It's the same face and so the same man, Your Honour!" he finally said and let the prisoner lead away again.
"Very well!" the judge said satisfied and settled down on his seat again, after he had shooed Duo down from his desk.
"Okay. So what's up with this murder now? And where should it have happened?" he asked.
"Ahem...it happened at the Nataku - Temple!" Duo answered.
But he hardly had mentioned the name, when a gusty wind gathered and let the flames go out. Scared to death the guards scattered and the two civil servants also looked ready to flee.
"D...Did you say Nataku - Temple?" the judge stuttered.
"Ahem...yes!"
Both men looked at each other. Of all places in the whole wide world it had to be this haunted place.
"I'm sorry, but then I can't do anything! This place is outside my jurisdiction. The meeting is closed. Good night!" the judge said and then both men disappeared quickly.
Heero and Duo stayed behind. And the braided boy suddenly got nervous. What would the Japanese do with him?
Heero slowly stepped closer to the braided boy. This one bit his lip nervously.
"Please...please don't kill me!" he stuttered fearfully.
"Why should I? Just listen to me! I'm not a murderer, even if you think so about me!" the Japanese replied.
"But I saw you and that woman in the forest!"
Heero rolled his eyes.
"This woman was a ghost and no longer a human being. Or why do think she attacked you! You would have become her next prey." He said.
"A...A ghost? Are you serious? But Wufei, this woman...I know she lived behind the temple." Duo stammered. He simply couldn't believe what Heero was talking about.
The Japanese looked at Duo with seriousness in his eyes and finally sighed.
"No one lives behind the Nataku - Temple. There's only a mass-grave!"
"A mass-grave?"
"Yeah. There aren't many people in this area. Most of them moved away after the riots some years ago. The noises, you can hear at night, come from ghosts or monsters. But I believe that still a mightier creature lives there. I live there for one year and a half now.
And almost every night I've heard screams from the young men that stayed overnight. The other day they were dead, their bodies without any liquid. Maybe it was a demon or a devil. I don't know yet." The swordsman explained.
"G...Ghosts? M...Monsters? D...Demon? You're kidding, aren't you?"
"Do I look like I am kidding? Come with me and I'll prove it!"
Duo didn't know what to do. Should he go with Heero or not? Then he nodded, although he still didn't believe in something like ghosts. The braided boy would wait if Heero really was right. At least he wasn't afraid of the Japanese anymore. And shortly afterwards both were riding on their horses back to the Nataku - Temple.
*
It already was daylight, when they reached the temple. After getting up from the horses, Heero led Duo to a place full of gravestones. Most of them had been fallen over or were standing oblique. And almost every stone was overgrown with weed. Heero and Duo forced their way across the cemetery.
(So that's this burial place he had been speaking of. So he really was right. But why do I have this strange feeling about this place. It's really sinister here.) Duo thought, trying to block out the uneasy feeling in his stomach.
But the high point of this little excursion should be coming yet. When Duo saw a gravestone several meters before him, he walked towards him. The braided boy didn't know why, but somehow this single stone caught his attention. Slowly Duo pushed the weed aside and started to read the inscription.
But suddenly his eyes got wider and bigger.
(Oh my God...what's the meaning of this?) Were his thoughts, when he read the inscription before him, which run as follows:
'HERE LIES OUR BELOVED SON.........CHANG WUFEI'
Duo couldn't believe it. The beautiful Chinese boy he loved was dead. He had fallen in love with a ghost.
*
Heero had been looking around and then for Duo. He found the scholar sitting in front of a single tombstone.
"Do you believe now?" he asked.
Duo turned his head and stared at Heero with a stunned expression on his face and nodded. Heero frowned and looked at the gravestone. Chang Wufei. Yes, he remembered the Chinese boy who died a year ago in one room of the Nataku - Temple. And since this time the deaths of young men had increased.
Heero wondered if this really was just accidental. And why was this scholar staring at the tombstone? Did he know the boy?
"Why do stare at this gravestone?" Heero asked.
Duo looked confused, but finally he managed to compose himself.
"You wouldn't believe it!" he said.
"Try it!"
"Okay, where shall I begin with? I met him first a few nights ago when I arrived here. He was so nice to me and so we met again and again until last night. But now I find out he's a ghost and I'm really confused. Do you understand?"
The Japanese nodded.
"I'm astounded that he didn't kill you!" he spoke then.
"Do you know why he didn't?" Duo asked the swordsman.
"I have no idea. Maybe he needs you yet!"
"What for?"
"Who knows! Ghosts are like people. They use each other to get what they want. There is no difference. It's for your own good if you go now, before it is getting dark! I'll take care of the ghosts." Heero spoke while he looked at the sky.
"But please don't do anything to Wufei. I still like him and he really isn't a bad person!" Duo said.
"Okay. Why not!"
The braided boy nodded thankfully and started to run through the undergrowth to his horse. But halfway he lost the painting from Wufei. It fell out of his back-basket onto the wet grass.
First Duo wanted to leave it behind. But the braided boy stopped and looked at it. No, he couldn't do that. Slowly he went back and picked it up. Perhaps it was a mistake to go now. Maybe it was better to help Heero and Wufei. Duo still didn't know how but he had to help Wufei somehow.
And apparently Heero had had the same thoughts, because the Japanese suddenly was standing right before him.
"I've thought about the whole matter and it's better when you come with me!" the Japanese spoke.
"I know. If I stay here, Wufei will come to me!"
"Exactly. Then I can take care of all ghosts at once. If this boy is coming to you, and I know he'll come, then take this and ring it. I'll come and rescue you. Do you still want to help?"
Duo nodded and Heero took a small bell out of his bag and gave it to the braided scholar, who looked at it carefully.
"So I'm going to be the bait for the ghosts!" he replied.
"Yes. Unfortunately the ghosts are angry with me and they are quite mighty ghosts."
"Can you beat them?" Duo asked again.
Heero only raised an eyebrow and glared at the braided youth.
"I guess that means you can! Alright I'll do it."
"Well, then come with!"
*
Several hours later it was night again. Duo and Heero were back in the temple again, where they were preparing themselves for the imminent battle. Heero gave Duo a book which was bound in leather and had strange, foreign signs on the cover. The scholar opened it and saw the same signs. But it was written in a language, Duo couldn't read.
"What's that?" he asked curiously.
"It's called a "sutra"(1). Just for the emergency case! Don't worry; it helps against supernatural powers like ghosts and other creatures!" Heero explained.
"OH! Thank you!" Duo said and clutched the book closer to his chest.
"Alright then, I'll be waiting outside for your signal!"
The Japanese swordsman went outside, where he climbed up a tree and started to wait. Inside Duo was getting nervous and hasty closed all doors and windows. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea yet. But he pulled himself together and also started to wait, holding the book and the bell tight and close to his body.
*
From a distance Wufei watched the temple. He knew that Duo was back, together with this swordsman. And now the braided boy definitely knew the truth about him. But it didn't matter now. Unaware the Chinese touched his bruised shoulder. Zechs had been furious, when he discovered the loss of Une and almost beat him unconscious.
And the demon had been nearly mad when he found out about him and Duo. Strangely Zechs renounced his punishment, but he had wanted to be Duo for his next prey. Nothing could have been worse than this. But it was the last chance, Zechs had given him. And now he was here.
"Okay, then let's go, Wufei!" the Chinese murmured to encourage himself.
*
Duo was nervously waiting, when it was suddenly knocking at the door. Frightened he stood up and slowly went to it. What would be there? Maybe it was a demon or something similar, who would try to kill him. Whatever it was, he had to open the door to find it out.
Slowly Duo took a shaking breath. He was afraid of whoever was standing outside and what would happen to him.
Then it knocked again and the braided boy reached for the door handle.
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Tsuzúku -> to be continued...
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BGM: Tsunami - Kodo; Mouth - Bush; Midnight Crow - /\ucifer; Nightstalker - GITS; In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins; In your Eyes, Silent Cruising - TWO - MIX; X - X Japan; Bataillon D'Amour - Silly
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So what happens next? How will Duo react to Wufei's appearance, now that he knows the truth about him? Just wait for the next part or just try to guess.
1) A sutra is an old Indian instruction in brief verses and they mostly occupy with religious rites, astronomy, grammar, worldly and religious law and versification.
Feedback is thankfully appreciated. Just write me an e-Mail to:
Terrenis@web.de or terrenis-chan@gmx.net
Ja ne!
^-^ Terrenis-chan ^.^