Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A World in a Grain of Sand ❯ Anticipation ( Chapter 5 )

Author: Keiran

Title: A World in a Grain of Sand 5/?

Pairings: 1+2, minor 4x5x4 and 3xD (don't ask >.<) really mild R+1 (doesn't last at all), same goes for H+2

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. ^_^

This fic has been betaed by Sundaire. ^_^ <beams>

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Sunrises are always special.

Even if you have to abandon your warm bed to go and see them, they are well worth it. Or at least that's what Duo thought, seeing that he had to be up shortly after he usually got up in time to see the spectacle the sky presented, just for him. or anybody else who happened to be up at this ungodly hour.

That morning was especially beautiful. A delicate wind was blowing, caressing the face of the young healer, like the delicate touches of a lover's hand. The whistling of the breeze made him smile.

"I remember Solo saying that when you hear whistling in your head that means someone is thinking about you warmly," he said aloud to his friend. Hilde stood a few paces behind him.

"Duo?" He heard her soft voice. He turned his head and looked at the girl.

"I'm fine Hilde. Just thinking."

"I heard you were going away soon," she prompted. "Will you come back?"

The man looked at the sky with a smile. "Of course. But I need to go, my sister-in-law is getting married again, I have to attend." He smiled softly. During the five years he spent in the temple he visited his previous home a couple of times. He managed to form a tender friendship with his brother's wife, once she got over her husband's death. The fact that Duo was very fond of children and had his little nephew adoring him practically on sight helped a lot.

"Really? So who will become the next Lord Maxwell?" Hilde asked excitedly. Although her parents were nobles they weren't particularly wealthy and she was the youngest of ten children, so she had never been given much attention. However, she loved hearing stories about young nobles who became lords and ladies.

"Otto," Duo smiled. "He's my nephew, Solo's and Une's son. But until he is of age, that is for ten or twelve more years, Lord Treize Khusherenada, he was a close friend of Solo's, will be acting the part, as he has so far. He fell in love with Une during that time. His first wife had passed away while giving birth to their daughter, and I suppose they will be now trying to get Otto and Mariemaia married by the time they're twenty."

Hilde smiled softly. The world Duo was describing was alien to her. All of her sisters have been forced to marry at a very young age, rarely having much to say about the choice. They were fortunate enough that their parents didn't want splendor or money, so the men each of them married was around their age and able to provide them a good, though not easy, life. Nevertheless, Hilde had six sisters and three brothers, so there wasn't much she could possibly get as a dowry. One of her other sisters went to a monastery.

At least being a healer offered Hilde a chance of having a family. She smiled at Duo. Duo smiled back. The sky was becoming more and more blue. The girl stepped closer to her friend, but he seemed oblivious to her proximity. The man's eyes were closed when Hilde touched her lips to his lightly. At first contact, however, Duo's eyes snapped open and he recoiled violently, pushing the girl away. His breathing sped up.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," he gasped softly.

"It's okay. I should have asked, I know. I won't do that again." The words seemed sad coming from her lips. She took his hand. "I didn't want to frighten you." She let go and fled back into the temple. Duo kept looking after her, his expression torn.

"You didn't," he whispered to the air and followed the girl. It wasn't that he was scared of being touched, at least not entirely. He just hated it when things happened out of his control. Besides, Hilde was just fourteen years old. Not even old enough to be considered a maiden.

Duo knew, however, that he needed someone who would be strong enough to give him a sense of security.

Before midday, Duo and Hilde managed to settle the misunderstanding, and were best friends again. Once that was accomplished, they and few other novices went into the woods to collect herbs to replenish the temple's resources.

"Did you hear the news?" one of the novices asked. "They say that the great general is coming to the northern palace to stay."

Duo jerked. "What did you say?" he questioned the youth sharply. "Who said that?"

"My mother. She is a cook in the palace, healer," the boy answered respectfully. "I went to visit her yesterday, I saw there was a commotion in the palace and she explained that everybody was in a rush to get everything ready for the general's arrival. He is supposed to arrive within the next two weeks."

Duo paled hearing the news.

'Stop that!' he told himself. 'There is only one great general, true, but he wouldn't have come here only because of me.'

***

Heero was anxious. He was also annoyed, irritated and bored. His current position demanded that he traveled properly and that meant a carriage. Heero hated carriages. They made his skin itch, as ridiculous as it may have sounded.

The journey presented no problems, and he certainly wasn't eager to have it delayed. It was better to leave unsaid what happened to one of the accompanying soldiers when he suggested they take a break for a hunt.

Therefore, the group arrived at the small palace in relative peace. The designer of the building had obviously put his whole soul into the creation, taking in consideration that he had the natural environment to match. And he didn't disappoint. It was the kind of place that made a person think that the structure had grown there by itself, without any human influence. The task that awaited the general only served to make him more irritated. He did remember tips from Quatre and the king how to handle it.

'Check the calculations first. Make sure everybody knows you checked the calculations. Then make a show of wanting to check them again. If anything is wrong, demand a talk with the offender. Make sure to let him get alive, but scare him out of his wits. If nothing is wrong, make sure to seem paranoid about wrongness. Ask a gardener or someone to do something tiny wrong. Make sure to interrogate him in front of witnesses who can't and won't hold their tongue. Let it spread.'

'Easier said than done,' Heero thought. 'Now, how to reach the temple from here?'

***

The great general hated waiting. He was pacing around the room he had chosen to be his study - after all he was supposed to spend a couple of years in the palace - but the time didn't seem to move any quicker.

"Just a few weeks," he kept repeating to himself, like a mantra. "Few weeks. He left a week ago, that makes it one week less. Journey there and back, about a week each. He will stay for a week at least. That makes it three weeks."

"To hell with it!" Heero cried finally, snatching a huge, heavy vase from a nearby table and throwing it against the wall. It smashed with a loud crack. The sound sobered Heero a little. He watched the pieces for a while, unmoving. "Fine. He is gone. I can get those bailiffs out of the way."

"Let them hope there is no reason for me to maim them." With that said, the great general sped into the kitchen, scaring most of the servants to death in the process. "Is the dinner prepared?" he asked tonelessly.

"No, my lord. I am sorry, we weren't informed you'd…"

"Good. Hold it then. And you," he turned to the major-domo "will get every single piece of report that has come here for the past ten years. I want it sorted properly, year by year. I will start going through it as soon as I'm back from the ride." He delivered everything at once, yet his voice sounded calm, monotone even. With every word he said, his control was returning. He had a death grip on himself once again. With the same detached calmness, he walked to the stables and prepared Wing to leave. His eyes were drawn to another steed - a horse so perfectly black that it seemed to suck light in.

"'is name's Deathscythe, milord."

Heero turned his head. The stable boy was standing at the entrance, looking both apologetic and frightened. There was only one, since the stable had never been overly extensive. "Am truly sorry, milord, I am 'sually 'ere, but 'very week a 'ealer comes 'ere and teaches the children of the servants to read and write… and I go and list'n." A blush colored his features when he admitted that. "The lessons're finished 'lready, but I w's talking to the 'ealer. It won't happen 'gain, am sorry, milord," he added quickly. The general looked at the boy for a long while.

"If I wanted your assistance, I would have asked for it. Do not fear. Whose steed is that?" Heero found himself amazed how easy he managed to get the child to relax.

"'e was born 'ere, milord. We 'sually allow 'im to run on the fields on 'is own, but during summer months we keep 'im mostly inside, milord, so that 'e doesn't serve any mare. We breed horses 'ere, but they are 'lways chosen. Deathscythe doesn't stay in the stables for the whole summer, 'e is taken for rides, but it isn't easy to make 'im carry a person. 'e allows only 'ealers and children on 'is back, milord."

"I see."

"'e is fond of 'ealer Maxwell the most, I think."

The general froze. "Maxwell?"

"Yes, milord. 'e is very nice too, milord, and usually it is 'im coming to teach us."

"I see." Indeed, Heero saw. Duo was coming to the palace out of his own free will. Of course there was the tiny detail that his visit had nothing to do with the general, but everything to do with the peasants. It was just a minor detail. Unworthy of mention. "Does he come here only to teach?"

"No, milord. 'e is friends with some people 'ere. And 'e comes to visit Deathscythe. 'e was here when Deathscythe was born, milord. 'e 'ould come again soon."

"I was told he left," Heero put in stiffly. It annoyed him that the stable boy knew more about Duo than he did.

"Yes, milord. 'e left to visit 'is family, milord. 'is sister-in-law is getting married again." Now, that was new.

"Duo has a family?" Heero was certain that he was an orphan.

"'e 'as sister-in-law, milord, and a nephew. 'e comes from Albion, milord. The lady is marrying Lord Khusherenada, the 'ealer said."

Heero choked. "Treize Khusherenada?" he asked incredulously. "But he is a Lord!"

"Yes, milord. So is the 'ealer. 'e lives 'ere, but 'is lands are in Albion. 'is parents are long dead, so is 'is older brother, so 'e is the lord now." Before the boy could say anything more Heero sent him away. He finished saddling Wing the fourteenth and left the stables, his head in turmoil. How was that possible?

Why didn't he say anything? If he had though, no one would have believed him, so it was obvious why he never said anything.

Why didn't he kill himself? The general was certain that should anything of that sort ever happened to him he would have plunged a sword through his own chest. Or bit through his wrists, if there was no other way.

Then he pictured the above with long, wavy, chestnut hair and violet eyes.

The nobility of it suddenly stopped looking appealing at all. In fact, if it hadn't turned out that Duo was born as an heir to something bigger than a stable, he would have started to consider leaving all of his titles behind and starting a new career as a stable boy.

The vision wouldn't leave his head. What was it Quatre said about finding Kirei? That he bought him from some sailors… who had definitely seen better days.

Heero shook his head and urged Wing into a gallop. The wind cleared his mind a little, enabling him to deal with his duties. Only one thing kept repeating itself in his mind.

'Just a few more weeks.'