Thank you to everybody who reviewed this story

A lot of people seem to think that Wufei is coming to England together with Treize. He is not. Wufei will only be mentioned by name in this fic.

A special Thank You to Anne Olsen for beta reading.

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Journey of a Thousand Miles

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

-Confucius-

Part 19

It is quite amazing how time flies. Before we knew it Cousin Treize returned to England, and Zechs and I drove to New Haven to pick him up. I was quite excited about it too. Not only about my cousin's return, but also because I was looking forward to meeting the crew of the Rebecca again, especially Duo. I hadn't seen the braided boy since we returned from Sank and we had so much to catch up on.

*****

"Ah," Treize exclaimed as he climbed out of the carriage. He took a deep breath and looked around. "I do love to travel. But I think the best thing about traveling is to come home again."
"Welcome home, your Excellency," Xander bowed as he greeted the Duke.
"Thank you, Xander. I'm glad to be back."

The gray-haired man started to unload my cousin's luggage and take it into the house. Treize stopped him as he reached for one of the smaller leather bags.
"I'll take this one myself." He smiled at Zechs and I. "I have some presents in there for the two of you. Let's go inside, shall we?"
We settled down in the drawing room. I couldn't wait for my cousin to tell us more about his trip. I wanted to hear everything. Treize started to unpack his bag. He had brought some beautiful art books for Zechs. They were full of wonderful paintings and sculptures.

Next Treize removed a rectangular, wooden box from his bag and set it aside.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.
"A present Wufei gave me before we left," my cousin explained, as he handed it to me.
The box alone was beautiful. It was made from dark carved wood, with bone or ivory inlays. Inside the silk lined box I found an even more exquisite dagger-shaped letter opener.

"It looks wonderful," I gasped. "May I take it out?"
"By all means." Treize nodded.

As I took a closer look at the letter opener, my cousin turned to Zechs, who had been leafing through one of his books.

"You are awfully quiet. Is everything alright?"
"Oh yes, everything is fine. These books are wonderful. Thank you." Zechs assured him.

"I'm glad to hear that." Treize gave the blond aristocrat a peck on the cheek. "I missed you, Dear."

"I missed you too," Zechs told him.

My cousin gave him another quick, yet affectionate kiss before he returned to unpacking his bag.

"And this is for you, Quatre." Treize handed me a small box.

"A paperweight," I exclaimed as I opened it. "Thank you, cousin. I've always wanted one for my desk." I took the crystal ball from the box. It was heavy, and beautifully engraved. A long, serpent-like animal curled around the globe, and rested with its head on its own tail. "Is this a dragon?" I asked.
"Indeed." My cousin nodded. "In China dragons are regarded as symbols of good fortune, wisdom and strength. Wearing dragon jewelry or keeping them around your house is supposed to bring good luck and fend off evil spirits."

"How interesting. From what I've heard so far, the Chinese seem to have a very interesting culture," I said. "You'll have to tell me more about it."

"it will be my pleasure." Treize smiled. "Perhaps I'll take you with me the next time."

"You are planning to return to China?" I asked.
"I do. In fact I bought a house there."

Zechs looked up. "You bought a house?"

Treize grinned a little sheepishly. "It was such a good deal, I just couldn't resist. The property was somewhat damaged during the war. If nothing else I'll renovate it and make some profit by selling it in a few years."

"How are you going to take care of those repairs while you are here in England?" Zechs asked.
That was a very good question, I had to admit.
"I don't," Treize explained. "Not personally. Wufei will. For now, he and his family live there and in return Wufei will oversee the repairs, tend to the gardens and keep everything else in order."

"I see." Zechs nodded.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I have some pictures I wanted to show you. An Englishman just opened the first photographic studio in Canton and we took the opportunity to get pictures taken of us." Treize rose and went to retrieve said pictures. The first photograph that he handed me showed him and Duo.
"The whole concept of photography was very new to Wufei and he was a little wary about it. So Duo and I had our picture taken first to show him it was absolutely safe," he explained.

"At least he overcame his misgivings," I said. "Some people, like Aunt Sophia, flat out refuse to get their picture taken, because they are convinced that photography is the devil's work."

Treize laughed. "Yes, Aunt Sophia and technology are two things that don't mix very well. If it was up to people like her we would still be living in caves."

The second photograph showed my cousin sitting in a chair, with Duo and another young man, Wufei I assumed, standing right and left of him. Wufei's skin was a lot darker than my cousin's. His eyes were slightly slanted and his dark hair was pulled together in a ponytail.

"Wufei looks rather handsome," I said as I passed the picture to Zechs. "And he is a lot younger than I had thought. For some reason, I always imagined him to be Zechs' age."
"Oh no, he is actually only a few months older than you are," Treize replied. "I thought I mentioned that in one of my letters."
"I don't think you did." I shook my head, as I looked at the third and last photograph. It showed Duo and Wufei standing next to each other. The braided boy was wearing a wide smile. He had his arm wrapped around Wufei's shoulder in a friendly manner.
"It looks like you had a wonderful time in China."

My cousin nodded. "For the most part I did," he said with a soft smile.

*****

A few days after my cousin's return, he, Zechs and I drove to Chesterfield.
Our first stop was at Bounderby's. I really hated going shopping for clothes, but I knew I needed a few new coats and pants. I had grown a lot over the past few months, and the tailor had already let out all the seams on the sleeves and pant legs.
Afterward we went to a small bistro for lunch, visited a new exhibit at the art museum, and had tea at Whites. All in all it was a wonderful day, or at least I thought it was.
On the way home the duke entertained us with a few more anecdotes about his trip to China.
"The day before we left Canton Wufei invited Duo and I to his house for a traditional Chinese feast. And a feast it was I tell you. I have come to develop a real taste for their food. It is so rich in flavor and variety. The best part however came when Duo, after a few glasses of rice wine, insisted on eating his "traditional meal" in traditional Chinese style. So he asked Wufei to teach him how to use chopsticks."
"I can imagine that being difficult enough even for a sober person," I chuckled. My cousin had brought a pair of those "chopsticks" back from his journey and had showed them to me. At first I had been convinced that he was trying to pull my leg when he told me that people in China were using them as utensils.
Treize laughed. "Most definitely. It was very amusing though to watch the two of them. Wufei did his best to teach Duo, but…"
"Is it possible that, for a change, we can talk about something else?" Zechs suddenly asked, rather tersely.

Treize and I looked at him, surprised.
"Excuse me?" my cousin asked, slightly bewildered.

"I'm sorry, but I'm growing a little tired of hearing those stories in which every second sentence begins or ends with the name Wufei."

"Well, excuse me. I had no idea it was bothering you that much."

Zechs didn't answer, but stared out of the window. After a long while of silence Treize suddenly asked. "Are you jealous, Zechs?"

"Should I be?" the blond aristocrat replied.

"Have I ever given you any reason to be jealous?"
"I don't know." Zechs looked at my cousin sharply. "Baron Kinnley says you used to have a lover in just about every port while you courted him. And that when you got bored at home you would just leave for a little trip."
Treize frowned, and I stared out of the window, pretending to be very interested in the scenery.

"Since when are you listening to anything that man has to say?"

"Is it true?" Zechs demanded.

"This is ridiculous," Treize announced. "And as far as I'm concerned this conversation is over."

Nobody spoke until we dropped Zechs off at his manor.

I didn't see the blond aristocrat for a couple of days. But the next time when he came by, he apologized for his outburst, claiming that he had been tired and a little under the weather.

Unfortunately this was only the beginning, and things would get a whole lot worse over the next few weeks.

*****

"Is everything alright, Quatre?"

I lowered my violin bow and looked at Trowa. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you played the first movement twice and you skipped the first half of the second movement altogether. Do you want to tell me what is bothering you?"

I sighed as I set my violin down in my lap. "I'm worried about Cousin Treize and Zechs," I confessed. "Something is wrong between the two of them."

"Yes, it seems that they are not spending as much time together as they used to. I noticed that too." Trowa said. "However, I wasn't sure if I was only imagining things."

"No, you aren't." I gave another sigh. "Zechs doesn't come over every day anymore, and last night Treize went to the opera without him. But what's even worse is that if they are together they usually start to fight. Arguing with each other has become their favorite pastime ever since Treize came back from China. I'm not sure why they are so angry at each other."

"You are right, it seems strange. They have always been so close."
I nodded. "I think it all started because of something that Baron Kinnley told Zechs about my cousin."
Trowa scowled. He hated the baron just as much as I did.

"I just wish there was something I could do."

"I don't think you can," Trowa said. "This is something the two of them need to work out by themselves."

"So, what would you suggest?" I asked. "Should we lock the two of them into a room and not let them out until they have talked things out?"
Trowa laughed. "That's one idea. But I'm afraid it could also backfire. So, while we attempt to come up with a better idea, should we give it another try?" He gestured at his flute.

I nodded, as I smiled at him. "I'll try to pay more attention this time." I promised.

*****

The following week Treize invited Zechs for a weekend trip to London.
I was thrilled, because I thought that meant that the two of them were starting to smooth out their relationship. So I was very surprised when I saw their carriage pull up in front of the manor on Saturday afternoon. I had not expected for them to return until late on Sunday.

I later learned that, while in London, Treize had found out about Zechs' duel with Baron Kinnley, which had led to yet another argument between them.

It seemed as though the two of them made up on the way home, because Zechs ended up staying for dinner.

At the table we avoided talking about anything related to the duke's China trip, or Baron Kinnley, and it turned out to be a rather enjoyable affair.

Shortly after dinner I retreated with the excuse that I wanted to preview some of my lessons for the next day. I thought that it would give my cousin and Zechs a chance to talk more privately. It turned out to be not such a good idea after all. Not long after I had settled at my desk, I heard them start to argue again.
I don't think they even realized how loud they were talking. But it was a warm summer's eve, and most of the windows in the house were open. The drawing room was just below my bedchamber, and I could hear every word.

I didn't want them to fight. I cared for both of them and wanted them to be happy again. Especially, since I couldn't see why they were arguing anyway. I didn't understand how my cousin was going to show Zechs that he cared for him by yelling at him; or why Zechs would believe the Baron's word over Treize's.
I sighed, as the subject of the duel between Zechs and Kinnley came up once again. It seemed like the duke was not as upset about the duel itself, as about the fact that Zechs hadn't told him about it, and he had to find out through somebody else. I felt a touch of guilt wash over me, because I had agreed with Zechs when he suggested not telling my cousin about the gunfight.

"I don't need you or anybody else to tell me what I should and what I shouldn't do. My father had been doing that for long enough. I think I'm old enough now to know what I am doing," Zechs said.

I could hear my cousin snort. "Are you really? Because it seems to me like you are acting rather childish right now."

"Childish?" Zechs asked. "Would you think of me as being more "manly" and "masculine" if I had a few lovers on the side somewhere?"

"Don't start again, Zechs. I'm sick and tired of you going into a jealous rage every time that I as much as look at another man. Your accusations are absolutely ridiculous. In fact this whole thing is ridiculous," Treize snapped.

There was a moment of silence and then my cousin spoke again; calmer and a lot quieter. "Milliardo, perhaps it would be a good idea if we would each go our own way, and not see each other…at least for a while."

"Your Excellency, I believe that's the first intelligent suggestion to come out of your mouth in days."

I could hear a chair being moved, then the front door closed and a few minutes later I heard the sound of hooves on the pavement. I swallowed, as I looked out of the window and watched Zechs riding down the cobblestone road.
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T.B.C.

Author's Note:

In case you would like to know a little more about what happened during Treize's China trip, keep your eyes open for another side fiction tom this story called "Onyx Dragon."

Feedback is greatly appreciated, constructive criticism is welcome :-)