Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Kitsune-tsuki ❯ Chapter 1

Duo and his new traveling companion walked through the wood, each lost in their own thoughts. As dusk neared, Hilde broke the silence. "Please, sir, I tire easily. Can we not rest a while at the base of this tall tree?" Indeed, the delicate woman did appear tired and Duo felt sorry for her. He spread his coat on the ground, indicating that she should rest upon it.

"A true gentleman," she murmured. "Your wife must be very proud." She gazed up at him through slitted eyes, noting his reaction with interest. His muttered reply that he was not married did not explain the blush on his fair face.

"Not married? A handsome gentleman such as yourself?" She smiled up at him slyly. "You surprise me. Do sit and tell me about yourself." The young man appeared reluctant, but she added "It would make me more comfortable to know more about my traveling companion. Please …"

Thus it was that Duo lowered himself to a bed of leaves, and answered her questions about his past.

Duo was the son of a poor village woman and a traveling `amerikajin' merchant. He had never known his father, and his mother died giving him life. His youngest years were spent in the care of the pious old woman who had been the midwife. It was difficult to find a family for the boy of mixed blood. The village was poor and there were already many mouths to feed. Finally, the old woman's son, a hunter who lived alone at the edge of the village, took the boy to live with him.

The hunter was a solitary man, an eccentric, but he had skill with a bow. While he lived, he taught Duo how to walk quietly in a forest and stalk his prey. The young woman nodded. She too knew how to walk quietly, and how to stalk prey. But that was not a tale she planned to tell, and besides, Duo's story was not finished yet.

"That's very interesting," she said, "but tell me something I am curious about. Your hair is very long and fine, and I feel that there is a story behind it." Indeed, Duo's hair was longer than she had ever seen on a man. The thick braid he bound it in reached the back of his thigh.

The young man's face became troubled at her question, and he raised his blue-violet eyes to the sky as he spoke. "I am told my mother's hair looked the same," he said. "This braid is the only way that I can be close to the mother that I never knew." This comment ended the conversation, and as night was upon the travelers they prepared for sleep.

Duo fell into slumber quickly and deeply. His fellow traveler, however, paced for some time. Her agitated movements were punctuated by muttered comments. Had there been someone to observe her, that person might have noticed that she seemed to be arguing with herself.

"It is not right, it is not right," she spoke in a softened husky voice.

"It matters not," she answered in a lighter, lilting tone. "I shall do it."

"I shall not allow it, understand." A small hand clenched into a fist.

"You cannot stop me." The fist uncurled slowly, unwillingly, until the hand was open again. The hand moved to a small purse that hung on Hilde's side. It reached inside, and reappeared holding a small, straight blade that glinted under the moon's bright light.