Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A World in a Grain of Sand ❯ Prologue

The idea popped into my head after reading some of the prince Heero gets/buys/catches a little slave, whom he decides to keep because of his looks/stubbornness/fieriness. The slave naturally falls in love soon. Hey, why should he fall in love right away. ^_^ Let's see what would happen if he hadn't.

Author: Keiran

Title: A World in a Grain of Sand (prologue)

Pairings: 1+2, minor 4x5x4 and odd het pairing (that's a surprise ^_^)

Rating: … I always have a problem with that. Maybe PG-13, for the mental pictures.

Genre: Another tough one. There'll be romance, mild angst, now it's just historical sort of fantasy.

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Medieval medical help.

Archive: my site, which you will find at my author page, if you want it, drop me a line. ^_^

***

The mission had been long and difficult. Not many soldiers emerged unscathed. Yet it could have been counted as a success since only few had lost their lives.

"There's a temple not far from here. It's said to have the best healers the land can offer," said the king's general, Chang Wufei. He was one of the precious few who managed to remain unharmed. He looked at his lover questioningly when he heard a soft sigh.

"I hope so," Quatre Raberba Winner whispered. Heero was fine. Physically, the wound was nothing more than a deep and considerably nasty graze. He dealt with far worse previously, untreated. He didn't even lose his consciousness.

But it was obvious that he didn't have any will to fight for his life. He'd just protected the great general.

"Do not worry."

"I'm afraid all the healers in the world won't be enough."

"Quatre, do not worry. He will be fine," another of the generals remarked, smiling slightly.

"Easy for you to talk. Dorothy would have had our heads on a silver plate if you were brought back home with a scratch, Barton." Wufei remarked smirking slightly. Oh yes, lady Dorothy was indeed a dangerous individual. She put a sword through poor Quatre when he tried to woo Trowa some time ago. Which in turn led to hers and Trowa's engagement. This forced lord Chang Wufei to return home, after ten years of living with his parents as an ambassador of Sanq. He couldn't have missed his childhood friend, Trowa, being betrothed to someone other than his sword. Accidentally, he found a mate in Quatre, who had first arrived in the kingdom shortly after his departure.

But Heero Yuy was another matter altogether. The son of a great general, in the times of peace he traveled from one country to another, eventually becoming a great general himself after his father's death. He had very few close friends, among whom were Wufei, Trowa, Quatre and King Milliardo. And one princess, waiting for him to propose.

"Were you discussing me again?" the general's nasal voice interrupted the conversation.

"Heero! You shouldn't ride!"

"Hn. I'm all right."

"It doesn't matter now." Wufei took hold of Quatre's hand. "We're here." He pointed to the white building shining among the green trees. There was lots of movement in front of the temple - the generals and the advisor were following their army, since none of them required immediate medical attention and Heero refused to hurry. Gravely injured soldiers were taken inside to master healers, those less hurt waited for their turn while the other healers and novices worked on the lighter wounds.

But there was a commotion around one of the commandants and his injured friend. Wufei scowled when he noticed one of the healers being backhanded.

"What is the problem?" he asked the soldier advancing, followed by his friends.

"The healer refuses to treat Mueller's wounds," the man replied.

Wufei rose a brow. A healer, refusing to help?

"It is not true, general."

Heero started. The voice was hauntingly familiar. He snapped his head around to see two bright violet eyes beneath a white hood.

"This man's wound isn't serious so…"

"Can't you see how much he bleeds?!" The other man grabbed the healer's robe. Once white, now it was smeared with blood and dirt.

"Alex!" Wufei commanded sharply.

"But sir!"

"Back off!"

The man obeyed reluctantly.

"All scalp wounds bleed profusely. It is not serious. I called a novice to take care of it."

A young girl approached, carrying a tray with water and herbs on it. "Now, if you please excuse me, there are others I need to tend to."

"Wait. Our friend is hurt, could you take a look at him?" Quatre asked softly. The man hesitated, as if he didn't want to spend another minute in their presence.

"Alright. But if the wound isn't serious, he'll wait for Hilde to finish."

"If you assess the wound as light." Trowa helped Heero to get off the horse. The young healer skillfully undid the make-shift bandages on the man's shoulder. He gently prodded the flesh, what resulted in a sharp intake of breath.

"It is infected. Hilde! If you're finished, I need hot water and fresh linen."

"It will take a minute Duo, there are lots of people in need of a dressing."

"Just water than." Duo frowned. The gash didn't look good. It ran from the shoulder down to shoulder blade and didn't show any signs of curing. "The blade must have been poisoned. It is not good." He reached into his bag and took out a bottle with some sort of a potion.

Hilde returned with a small cauldron filled with boiling water.

"Light a fire, general, I will need the water hot." Duo commanded the other soldiers. The girl set the pot on the ground and went to help others. Duo uncorked the little bottle and poured some of the contents into the cauldron. Then he removed some leaves from his bag and handed them to Heero. "Eat them. They'll make you numb."

"I don't want to."

"I need to cut out the infected flesh. There is no other way."

"Then do it."

"It will be very painful."

"I can deal with that..." Heero took the healer's hand in his and looked straight into the violet eyes of his presumably dead ex-slave. "…Kirei." [1]

He heard surprised gasps from Trowa, Wufei and Quatre. They didn't recognize him. But they didn't know him like he did. They didn't spend their days roaming his slender body with their lips or watching him unaware.

The young man looked him straight in the eye with surprising calmness. "I didn't think you'd still bother to remember me. And please do not call me that. I am nobody's possession.

"Now, if you're really sure about those herbs…" at Heero's nod he took the sharp knife out of the cauldron. "Then your friends might want to hold you down."

Heero clenched his teeth as Duo set to work. Soon Hilde arrived carrying a load of fresh linen. The great general was pale and sweating, but he still refused taking any pain-numbing herbs.

If the pain was what he needed to make Kirei, or perhaps Duo, touch him voluntarily, then be it.

***TBC***

[1] 'kirei' means beautiful in Japanese.